The Gol Gumbaz (; ), also written as Gol Gumbad, is a dark gray basalt mausoleum located in the city of Bijapur in northern Karnataka, India. It contains the tomb of Mohammad Adil Shah, the seventh ruler of the Sultanate of Bijapur, alongside the tombs of his two wives, mistress, daughter and grandson. Construction of the monument began in the early 17th century following Adil Shah's ascension to the throne, and halted in 1656 after his death; at the time, the structure was not yet fully complete, with several decorative elements remaining unfinished. The mausoleum is a prominent example of Indo-Islamic architecture in the Deccan region, and combines elements of Persian, Mughal, and local architectural styles.
A notable architectural feature of the tomb is its central hemispherical dome. With an external diameter of , it was the largest unsupported dome in India and among the largest domes of the medieval era at the time of its completion. In 1892, during the British Raj, the mausoleum was opened to the public and the Gol Gumbaz Archaeological Museum was established within the tomb complex. The central dome's whispering gallery has since become a popular tourist attraction. Following Indian independence, the management and maintenance of the complex was handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India in 1962.
In addition to the main mausoleum, the overall complex encompasses multiple Indo-Persian structures, including a mosque, a dargah, and a naqqar khana surrounded by a charbagh garden. UNESCO has included the Gol Gumbaz within a broader group of monuments known as the Monuments and Forts of the Deccan Sultanate, which was added to the organization's tentative list as a proposed World Heritage Site in 2014.
Etymology The name Gol Gumbaz is of Deccani origin. Gol (lit. "round"), inherited from the Sanskrit word gola, refers to a round or spherical object. The word gumbaz (lit. "dome") is derived from the Farsi word گنبد (gumbad), and refers to the monument's large central dome, a feature commonly seen in Islamic mausoleums constructed in Persia, Central Asia and South Asia during the medieval period.
History
In 1627, Mohammed Adil Shah ascended the throne of Bijapur, succeeding his father Ibrahim Adil Shah II. Ibrahim was known as a significant patron of the arts, and had commissioned the construction of a large mausoleum and prayer hall on the outskirts of Bijapur during his reign. The mausoleum, known as the Ibrahim Rauza, was completed by Ibrahim's wife Taj Sultana shortly before his demise in 1627, and is noted by art historians for its intricate stone carvings and calligraphic compositions. During Mohammed Adil Shah's rule, the Sultanate of Bijapur reached its greatest territorial extent. Adil Shah signed a peace treaty with the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1636, following the latter's conquest of the Ahmednagar Sultanate, and conducted several raids into Tamilakam and other areas of southern India, ably supported by his generals Ranadulla Khan and Shahaji Bhonsle.
Construction
Construction of the Gol Gumbaz began during the early years of Mohammed Adil Shah's reign, and continued until his death in 1656. Mohammed intended for the finished tomb to surpass his father's mausoleum in size and scale, continuing a tradition of the rulers of Bijapur. To this end, the sultan commissioned architects and engineers from different regions of the Indian subcontinent to plan and construct the mausoleum, while hiring local laborers to perform decorative work. The Gol Gumbaz was built in three distinct stages, beginning with the construction of the foundation and a raised platform at its center, followed by the building of the four exterior basalt walls joined by octagonal minarets at each corner, and culminating in the erection of the massive central dome made of brick and layers of lime mortar. The mausoleum's façade, inner walls and other exposed surfaces were subsequently decorated with plaster. While the chief architect of the mausoleum is not known from any contemporary inscriptions, historians have speculated that Malik Yaqut, an Abyssinian slave architect who oversaw the completion of the Jamiya Masjid during Mohammed's reign, played a significant role in the design of the Gol Gumbaz.
An inscription in the tomb records that Mohammed imported a piece of soil from the shrine of Husayn ibn Ali in Karbala and had it placed in the central vault of the Gol Gumbaz during its construction. The site of the mausoleum was located directly behind the dargah of Hashim Peer Dastagir, a Sufi saint who counted Mohammed as one of his disciples; historian Richard Eaton views this as suggestive of the close relationship between the ruler and the saint. Following Mohammed's death, which occurred while the inner walls of the tomb were still being plastered, construction of the complex was brought to a halt, and the mausoleum was left in an unfinished state. Mohammed Adil Shah's death was recorded in a Persian inscription above the southern entrance to the tomb dated to 1656, which reads:
During the reign of Mohammed's successor Ali Adil Shah II, a separate wing was added to the northern side of the tomb at an unknown date. The addition was unfinished, and remains unoccupied.
Later years
Following the death of Mohammed Adil Shah, the Adil Shahi dynasty entered a period of decline due to recurring conflicts with the Mughals and Marathas. In 1686, Aurangzeb captured the city of Bijapur after a prolonged siege, and annexed the former Sultanate of Bijapur as a subah of the Mughal Empire. In the years following the Mughal conquest, the Gol Gumbaz and the surrounding tomb complex were largely abandoned, and the city of Bijapur was depopulated due to famine, floods and a cholera epidemic. In 1818, the city was occupied by armies of the East India Company at the conclusion of the Third Anglo-Maratha War, and formally absorbed into the Bombay Presidency in 1848. The British administration designated Bijapur as the administrative headquarters of the district in 1885.
In 1891, Scottish archaeologist Henry Cousens visited Bijapur in order to establish a museum under the aegis of the Archaeological Survey of India. Cousens surveyed and wrote extensively on the architectural remains of Bijapur, including the Gol Gumbaz, which he described as "one of the greatest domes the world has seen". The following year, the British administration opened the Gol Gumbaz Archaeological Museum in the adjacent naqqar khana (drum house), and used it to store a variety of sculptures, manuscripts, and other historical artifacts found throughout the Deccan. The administration also repaired a damaged cornice on the eastern side of the Gol Gumbaz in 1900, and performed further repair work of the monument's central dome in 1937, which had begun to show radial cracks and signs of damage due to rainwater seepage. Officials attempted to waterproof the dome and repair the cracked sections by covering the exterior with a thick layer of gunite, and repeated the process on the interior surface of the dome in 1949.
In 1962, the Gol Gumbaz, along with the surrounding complex, was brought under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India.
On November 16, 2022, Salim Tikkotkar, a 55-year old resident of Bijapur, committed suicide at the Gol Gumbaz by jumping from the roof. The following month, a 19-year old girl committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of the monument. District authorities expressed concern over the mausoleum becoming a potential "suicide point", and responded by increasing the police presence at the monument, citing the difficulty of managing large numbers of students and tourists within the tomb.
Architecture
The Gol Gumbaz has been described as one of the most ambitious architectural achievements of the Adil Shahi dynasty. At the time of Mohammed Adil Shah's death, it was the most technically advanced domed structure to have been erected in the Deccan, and one of the largest single-chamber structures in the world. Architectural historian Elizabeth Merklinger suggests that the size of the Gol Gumbaz's central dome was an attempt to assert the stature of the Adil Shahi dynasty, in light of its conflict with and subsequent absorption by the Mughal Empire. The mausoleum was chiefly constructed of brown basalt mined from local quarries, and decorated with gilded plaster.
The syncretic architectural style of the Gol Gumbaz combines elements from several sources, and is primarily characterized by Persian and Central Asian design features. The profile of the central dome is largely Persian in derivation, while several of the mausoleum's structural elements draw inspiration from Egyptian, Byzantine and Ottoman architectural styles. Art historian Sara Mondini notes that multiple exterior decorations feature elements of Hindu architecture, including the large chhajjas and support brackets above the central arch on each façade, and were likely built by local craftsmen.
Plan and exterior
Despite the grand nature of the monument, the plan of the Gol Gumbaz is simple. The total width of the mausoleum, including the minarets at each corner, is , and is topped by a hemispherical dome approximately in diameter. Domed octagonal towers, each divided into seven floors and topped by a bulbous dome, line the four corners of the cube. The levels of the towers are marked by arcades and contain staircases within.
The walls of the structure are built of dark grey basalt and decorated plaster. Each side wall of the cube bears three blind arches; the spandrels of the arches contain medallion motifs, and the central arch on each side wall is filled with a stone screen containing doorways and windows. Within each wall is a stairway leading from the ground floor of the mausoleum to the roof. A large cornice projects from each wall of the building, and is supported by corbels. Atop the cornices are rows of small arches, which are topped by large merlons. Decorative leaves surround the base of the mausoleum's dome, hiding the joint between the dome and its drum.
Interior
The interior hall is a huge single chamber, approximately across and in height from the floor to the top of the dome. In the center of the chamber floor is a raised platform bearing the six cenotaphs of Mohammed Adil Shah, his younger wife Arus Bibi, his older wife, his favorite mistress Rhamba, his daughter, and his grandson. The cenotaphs mark the location of the actual tombs, which are found in a crypt underneath the main hall accessible by a staircase beneath the western entrance of the mausoleum. Though typical of Indian Muslim tombs, this is the only instance of such practice in Adil Shahi architecture. Mohammad Adil Shah's cenotaph is covered by a wooden canopy, speculated to be a later addition. A half-octagonal room, constructed during the reign of Mohammed's son Ali Adil Shah II for unknown purposes, is attached to the north facade of the building.
Dome