Mughal-era finials – their grandeur, architectural traditions

Subject: History

Section: Art and Culture

Context

After a thunderstorm recently damaged the finial of the 17th century Jama Masjid dome in Delhi, the Delhi Wakf Board, which manages the mosque, wrote to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) requesting removal of the dangling part of the crown and repair of the ornamental structure that has topped the grand mosque since its construction.

What are finials?

Most commonly seen in monumental architecture, finials are decorative devices used to emphasise the top of a dome, tower or spire.
Architecturally speaking, the way a building touched the sky was given a lot of importance. That’s how finials became important eventually.

Mughal-era finials:

In May 2014, a storm knocked down the 18-ft finial — made of Sal wood encased in nine copper utensils with a brass finish — above the dome of the Humayun’s Tomb in the Capital. It took the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) more than a year to restore the finial back on the dome of the 16th century mausoleum.
The access to the finial vessels at Humayun’s Tomb allowed heritage experts an opportunity to analyse and document “the remarkable scientific achievement of the Mughal builders and the immense art-history value.
Several inscriptions were found on the finial mentioning past repairs as well as artwork depicting a bearded man praying.
Scientific analysis revealed 99.42 percent pure copper sheets had been used in Humayun’s tomb finial, by the Mughals – in eight-inch strips – embedded into one another.
Copper of such purity is not commercially available even today, some 450 years after it was used at Humayun’s Tomb.
The use of pure gold to finish the finial was revealed during repetitive lab analysis of the metal fragments– underlying the significance of the finial as well as continuity of Indian craft traditions by the Mughals.
Just as the chattris or canopies on the roof of Humayun’s Tomb are inspired from Rajput architecture, its copper-gold finial seems to have been inspired by temple architecture.

Architectural traditions

The finals on Mughal tombs all over India represent the pluralistic architectural traditions employed by them by adopting elements from monuments pre-dating their arrival in India.
Decorative roof finials are also a common feature of Malaysian religious and residential architecture. In Malacca, there are 38 mosques with traditional roof finials, with layered and crown-shaped designs, known as Makhota Atap Masjid. On mosques built after the 20th century, these finials have been replaced by bulbous domes.
In Japanese architecture, chigi are finials that were used atop Shinto shrines in Ise and Izumo and the imperial palace.
In Java and Bali, a rooftop finial is known as mustaka or kemuncak. In Thailand, there are finials on domestic and religious buildings.
Hti is a finial found on Burmese Buddhist temples and pagodas.