Source: British LibraryPhotographer: Charles Lickfold
This signed photograph was taken by Charles Lickfold in 1880s. The image shows the tomb of Darya Khan, which now lies in the northern suburbs of modern-day Ahmadabad. It was built in 1453 whilst the city was the capital of the thriving sultanate of Gujarat. The majority of tombs of the period in Gujarat are built using local post and lintel or trabeate methods of construction in yellow sandstone. This tomb differs in two ways: first, it is built using baked brick; and secondly, its architects chose to use true arches and domes according to arcuate methods to create a cavernous interior in which the cenotaph is housed with a surrounded arcaded verandah with five entrances on each of the four sides. The use of the arch and dome was imported to South Asia from Islamic lands to the west. It is likely that Darya Khan was himself an immigrant from Persia, where such methods of construction were more familiar, who required that his own tomb be built in a style in keeping with those of his homeland. He is also attributed with the construction of a mosque using similar arcuate methods.