Tschahār Bāgh

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The Humayun Mausoleum in Delhi , India, as seen from the central basin of the Chahār Bāgh

Tschahār Bāgh ( Persian چهار باغ, DMG čahār-bāġ , tooچار باغ Tschārbāgh , DMG čār-bāġ , 'the four gardens'; Hindi चारबाग cārbāg , German 'four-part garden' ) is a type of Persian garden that is mainly found in Iran , Afghanistan and northern India .

definition

The Tschahār Bāgh is a rectangular, four-part garden with two intersecting axes. However, the term is partly broader. Marked Babur also provided with channels terraces and gardens as bank Charbagh, and even the Bagh-i Nilufar in Dholpur which is not applied symmetrically.

The palace gardens of the Iranian Safavids , divided by a longitudinal axis , were also referred to as Tschahār Bāgh (e.g. in Isfahan ), although Brignoli doubts that there were any (classical) Tschahār Bāghs in Iran.

A “typical” Tschahār Bāgh, such as the Humayun grave garden , is characterized by four right-angled canals that start from a simple water basin ( hauz ) or a raised basin in the center. A platform made of stone or bricks ( chabutra / chabutra) could serve as a resting place or carry a throne. If there was a pavilion (Turkish köşk or Pers. Kūšk ) on the platform , it was called kursi . Trees such as pomegranates , cypresses , oriental plane trees , mulberry trees and flowers have been planted on the edge of the canals .

In the terraced variant, as in the Shalimar Gardens in Kashmir and Lahore , a canal runs in the middle of a terraced rectangular area, on the individual terraces there can be axially intersecting canals and central water basins. The view is dominated by the downhill flowing canal.

In the bank variant, represented for example by the grave garden of the Taj Mahal, there is a raised terrace on the river bank, from which a central canal emerges, which in turn can be crossed by side canals. The river here represents a channel of the Chahār Bāgh, and the garden represents only two of the four quarters of the complete Tschahār Bāgh (or these are on the other side of the river ( Mahtab Bagh )). In Agra there were several of these waterfront gardens, which were mainly used by women.

The classical Tschahār Bāgh can be found mainly in Mughal India, where the term is rarely used after the time of Babur. In Persia, on the other hand, complexes are called Tschahār Bāgh, which are divided into two rather than four, such as the Bagh-e Farahābād of the last Safavid ruler Hussein (r. 1694-1722). In the following, the classical Tschahār Bāgh will be dealt with.

history

Attempts have been made to trace the Chahār Bāgh back to the time of the Achaemenids . This is based solely on the description given by Xenophon of the garden of the satrap Cyrus in Sardis (Oikonomikos 4.20f.). Then the trees stood straight in rows, were arranged at right angles and gave off a pleasant scent. This should hardly be enough to reconstruct the garden plan, but it was the basis of far-reaching speculations by the baroque physician Thomas Browne , which were particularly influential in the English-speaking world, without their foundations being checked. However, this derivation is largely rejected today.

Dickie sees the Tschahār Bāgh as a Timurid creation that was further developed in India and Persia. Tschahār Bāgh were built in the Mughal Empire , such as the Bagh-e Wafa near Jalalabad , which Babur had built. Also in front of Babur's tomb, the Bagh-e Babur in Kabul, there is a Tschahār Bāgh. Many royal tombs from the Mughal period are located in the center of a Tschahār Bāgh, which means they take the place of the central basin.

Even Sikhs built in India Gardens along the lines of Charbagh, but they had no religious significance. One example is the Hazuri Bagh in Lahore , which was built by Ranjit Singh between the Lahore Fort and the Badshahi Mosque , which he converted into an ammunition depot.

Lion Court of the Alhambra

The building of gardens was considered a central task of Persian rulers and is thus emphasized in the sources. According to Engelbert Kaempfer , Shah Abbas I (1587–1629) planned the Tschahār Bāgh-e Abbāsi personally in Isfahan and thus succeeded the Achaemenid ruler Cyrus , who carried the title of " ruler of the four regions " in the tradition of ancient oriental rulers .

The lion court of the Alhambra in Spain also follows the pattern of Tschahār Bāgh, here the central basin is designed as a raised bowl that is carried by lions. However, the relationship between Tschahār Bāgh and the Maghreb Agdal Garden has not yet been well studied.

In classical modernism , the motif of the Tschahār Bāgh was taken up again by Luis Barragán , among others , who was influenced by the Moorish gardens of Spain.

swell

The Irschad az-zira'a ("Guide to Agriculture"), a garden manual from the Timurid period written in 1515 , describes the structure of a Tschahār Bāgh. Here, special forms are described in which only one channel starts from a water basin and is crossed by several side arms.

Karim describes a structure of a wide canal with a basin in the middle. The boundaries of the garden are marked by two smaller channels, approx. 1/2 m wide and 1.5 m apart. Poplars should be planted on the outer canal, peaches, apricots and roses on the inner canal. Fruits such as pomegranate, quince, peach and pear should thrive in the four main beds. Clover covers the ground between the flower beds.

Tschahār Bāgh on a 17th century carpet from Isfahan

A miniature of the reign of Jahangir shows a Tschahār Bāgh in which the canal edges are planted with cypress trees, while meadows of flowers and bushes grow in the four beds.

Tschahār Bāgh are also often depicted on carpets.

interpretation

It is often claimed that Islamic gardens modeled on the Chahār bāgh were based on the description of paradise in the Koran .

The word Janna can denote both garden and paradise (cf. the change in the Persian paradeisos ). It occurs 147 times in the Koran. The terms ' adn , firdaws and rawḍah (pers. Rouże ) are also used. The term 'adn corresponds to the biblical Eden .

The abode of orthodox believers after their death is a garden, "rushed through by brooks" ( Sura 2 , 25), in which numerous fruits grow. Palms, vines (2, 266; 17, 91; 36, 34) and pomegranates (55, 68) are mentioned as plants. Sura 47 mentions the "parable of the garden which is promised to the godly" (47, 15). It contains “streams of water that does not go stale, and streams of milk the taste of which does not change, and streams of wine that is delicious to those who drink, and streams of clarified honey.” Further, those who fear God receive “from all fruits and forgiveness from their Lord. ”According to sura 55 the orthodox come to a garden with two springs, which contains two specimens of each kind of fruit (55, 52). Islamic theologians often interpret these descriptions as metaphors.

God also created the earthly gardens, with fruits, date palms (13, 4), grain, “fragrant plants” (55, 11-12), olive trees, vines and pomegranates (6, 99), gardens “with trellises and without trellises "(6, 141).

According to the garden historian Penelope Hobhouse , the canals of the Tschahār bāgh represent the four paradise rivers, the garden itself the earthly paradise . However, this contradicts the fact that the four paradise rivers are known from the Old Testament , but not from the Koran. Here the Garden of Eden cannot simply be equated with the whereabouts of the orthodox after their death. As already mentioned above, this only contained streams of various kinds.

For Wescoat, the Mughal Gardens are more associated with the traditions of a pre-Islamic god - kingdom than with the message of the Koran. Quran quotes in the Taj Mahal mostly refer to water in general, according to the story of the Queen of Sheba . Especially suras 36 (Yā-Sīn) and 48 (Al-Fāth) are used.

Examples

(Only Tschahār Bāgh with a "classic" floor plan are listed here)

literature

  • Jonas Lehrman: Earthly Paradise. Garden and Courtyard in Islam. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 1980, ISBN 0-520-04363-4 .
  • Philip Swindells: The Master Book of the Water Garden. The Ultimate Guide to the Design and Maintenance of the Water Garden with more than 150 Plant Profiles. Salamander Books, London 1997, ISBN 0-86101-884-2 , p. 15.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Rüdiger Lohlker: Persian Gardens, a manual from the 16th century. In: Iran Information. No. 36, 2009, pp. 8–11, here p. 8.
  2. ↑ Michel Conan (Ed.): Middle East Garden Traditions. Unity and Diversity. Questions, Methods and Resources in a Multicultural Perspective. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection et al., Washington DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-88402-329-6 , p. 340.
  3. ↑ Ebba Koch : My Garden Is Hindustan: The Mughal Padshah's Realization of a Political Metaphor. In: Michel Conan (Ed.): Middle East Garden Traditions. Unity and Diversity. Questions, Methods and Resources in a Multicultural Perspective. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection et al., Washington DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-88402-329-6 , pp. 159-175, here p. 159.
  4. ↑ a b Ebba Koch: My Garden Is Hindustan: The Mughal Padshah's Realization of a Political Metaphor. In: Michel Conan (Ed.): Middle East Garden Traditions. Unity and Diversity. Questions, Methods and Resources in a Multicultural Perspective. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection et al., Washington DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-88402-329-6 , pp. 159-175, here p. 161.
  5. ^ Jean-Do Brignoli: The Royal Gardens of Farahābād and the Fall of Shah Sultan Husayn revisited. In: Michel Conan (Ed.): Middle East Garden Traditions. Unity and Diversity. Questions, Methods and Resources in a Multicultural Perspective. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection et al., Washington DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-88402-329-6 , pp. 139-775, here p. 149.
  6. ^ Penelope Hobhouse : Gardening through the Ages. An illustrated History of Plants and their Influence on Garden Styles, from Ancient Egypt to the present Day. Simon & Schuster, New York NY et al. 1992, ISBN 0-671-72887-3 , p. 44.
  7. ↑ James Dickie (Yaqub Zaki): The Mughal Garden: Gateway to Paradise. In: Muqarnas. 3, 1985, ISSN  0732-2992 , pp. 128-137, here p. 130, doi : 10.2307 / 1523089 .
  8. ↑ Persian كوشك- This term originally comes from Middle Persian .
  9. ↑ James Dickie (Yaqub Zaki): The Mughal Garden: Gateway to Paradise. In: Muqarnas. 3, 1985, ISSN  0732-2992 , pp. 128-137, here p. 131, doi : 10.2307 / 1523089 .
  10. ↑ Ebba Koch: My Garden Is Hindustan: The Mughal Padshah's Realization of a Political Metaphor. In: Michel Conan (Ed.): Middle East Garden Traditions. Unity and Diversity. Questions, Methods and Resources in a Multicultural Perspective. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection et al., Washington DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-88402-329-6 , pp. 159-175, here p. 160.
  11. ↑ James L. Wescoat Jr .: Questions about the Political Significance of Mughal Garden Waterworks. In: Michel Conan (Ed.): Middle East Garden Traditions. Unity and Diversity. Questions, Methods and Resources in a Multicultural Perspective. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection et al., Washington DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-88402-329-6 , pp. 177-195, here p. 178.
  12. ↑ James L. Wescoat Jr .: Questions about the Political Significance of Mughal Garden Waterworks. In: Michel Conan (Ed.): Middle East Garden Traditions. Unity and Diversity. Questions, Methods and Resources in a Multicultural Perspective. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection et al., Washington DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-88402-329-6 , pp. 177-195, here pp. 181-182.
  13. ^ Jean-Do Brignoli: The Royal Gardens of Farahābād and the Fall of Shah Sultan Husayn revisited. In: Michel Conan (Ed.): Middle East Garden Traditions. Unity and Diversity. Questions, Methods and Resources in a Multicultural Perspective. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection et al., Washington DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-88402-329-6 , pp. 139-775, here p. 151.
  14. ↑ ČAHĀRBĀḠ . ( Encyclopædia Iranica )
  15. ↑ Hydriotaphia, urn-buriall, or A discourse of the sepulchrall urnes lately found in Norfolk. Together with The garden of Cyrus, or The quincunciall lozenge, or network plantations of the ancients, artificially, naturally, mystically considered. Hen. Brome, London 1658, (later: William A. Greenhill (ed.): Sir Thomas Browne's Hydriotaphia and the Garden of Cyrus. Macmillan & Co., London et al. 1896, ( digitized )).
  16. ↑ a b c James Dickie (Yaqub Zaki): The Mughal Garden: Gateway to Paradise. In: Muqarnas. 3, 1985, ISSN  0732-2992 , pp. 128-137, here p. 129, doi : 10.2307 / 1523089 .
  17. ↑ James L. Wescoat Jr .: From the gardens of the Qur'an to the "gardens" of Lahore. In: Landscape Research. Vol. 20, No. 1, 1995, ISSN  0142-6397 , pp. 19-29, here p. 21, doi : 10.1080 / 01426399508706451 .
  18. ↑ James L. Wescoat Jr .: From the gardens of the Qur'an to the "gardens" of Lahore. In: Landscape Research. Vol. 20, No. 1, 1995, ISSN  0142-6397 , pp. 19-29, here p. 26, doi : 10.1080 / 01426399508706451 .
  19. ^ Rüdiger Lohlker: Persian Gardens, a manual from the 16th century. In: Iran Information. No. 36, 2009, pp. 8–11, here p. 10.
  20. ^ Rüdiger Lohlker: Persian Gardens, a manual from the 16th century. In: Iran Information. No. 36, 2009, pp. 8–11, here p. 9.
  21. ↑ a b c Penelope Hobhouse: Gardening through the Ages. An illustrated History of Plants and their Influence on Garden Styles, from Ancient Egypt to the present Day. Simon & Schuster, New York NY et al. 1992, ISBN 0-671-72887-3 , p. 50
  22. ^ Nader Ardalan: "Simultaneous Perplexity": The Paradise Garden as the quintessential visual Paradigm of Islamic Architecture and beyond. In: Attilio Petruccioli, Khalil K. Pirani (eds.): Understanding Islamic architecture. Routledge Shorton, London et al. 2002, ISBN 0-7007-1437-5 , pp. 9-18; Marianne Barruccand: Gardens and designed landscape as an earthly paradise: Gardens in Western Islam. In: Islam. Vol. 65, No. 2, 1988, ISSN  0021-1818 , pp. 244-267, doi : 10.1515 / islm.1988.65.2.244 ; John Henry Brookes: Gardens of Paradise. The History and Design of the great Islamic Gardens. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1987, ISBN 0-297-78682-2 ; Jonas Lehrman: Earthly Paradise. Garden and Courtyard in Islam. University of California Press, Berkeley et al. CA 1980, ISBN 0-520-04363-4 ; Elizabeth B. Moynihan: Paradise as a Garden. In Persia and Mughal India. Braziller, New York NY 1979, ISBN 0-8076-0931-5 ; Annemarie Schimmel : The Celestial Garden in Islam. In: Elisabeth B. MacDougall; Richard Ettinghausen (Ed.): The Islamic Garden (= Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium on the History of Landscape Architecture. 4, ZDB -ID 970734-7 ). Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University, Washington DC 1976, pp. 11-39.
  23. ↑ James L. Wescoat Jr .: From the gardens of the Qur'an to the "gardens" of Lahore. In: Landscape Research. Vol. 20, No. 1, 1995, ISSN  0142-6397 , pp. 19-29, here p. 20, doi : 10.1080 / 01426399508706451 .
  24. ↑ James L. Wescoat Jr .: From the gardens of the Qur'an to the "gardens" of Lahore. In: Landscape Research. Vol. 20, No. 1, 1995, ISSN  0142-6397 , pp. 19-29, here p. 27, doi : 10.1080 / 01426399508706451 .
  25. ↑ James L. Wescoat Jr .: Questions about the Political Significance of Mughal Garden Waterworks. In: Michel Conan (Ed.): Middle East Garden Traditions. Unity and Diversity. Questions, Methods and Resources in a Multicultural Perspective. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection et al., Washington DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-88402-329-6 , pp. 177-195, here p. 182.