Angela Ballard, Master Gardener
Peruse any of the Hindu sacred books such as the Kama Sutra, the Mahabharata, the Rigveda, or the Ramayna, and you’ll find incredibly detailed descriptions of the gardens of Ancient India:
There Champac and As’oka flowers
Hung glorious o’er the summer bowers,
And mid the waving verdure rose
Gold, silver, ivory porticoes.
Through all the months in ceaseless store
The trees both fruit and blossom bore.
With many a lake the grounds were graced;
Seats gold and silver, here were placed;
Here every viand wooed the taste,
It was a garden meet to vie
E’en with the home of Gods on high.
(Ramayna, Canto X, ca. 300 BCE)
Texts describe lotus-shaped pools, swings, menageries, and other fantastical features, and visitors from other cultures describe them in great detail as well. “An azure pool winds around the monasteries, adorned with the full-blown cups of the blue lotus; the dazzling red flowers of the lovely kanaka hang here and there, and outside groves of mango trees offer the inhabitants their dense and protective shade,” wrote Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang in the 7th century.
Ancient Indian gardens followed four styles: udyan, paramadodvana, vrikshavatika, and nandanavana. Udyan were gardens where kings played chess and enjoyed the entertainment of dancers and jesters. Paramadodvanawere the gardens designated for royal couples to enjoy. Designed by royalty, vrikshavatika were for the use of high-placed courtiers within the kingdom. And nandanavana gardens were dedicated to Lord Krishna, a major deity in Hinduism who is god of love, protection, and compassion.
Many of the gardens of Ancient India followed the influence of Ancient Persian gardens, particularly those designed during the Mughul reign from 1526 to 1720.
Some of the most famous classical gardens of India can be found at the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum in Agra commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It also contains the tomb of Shah Jahan himself.
The Taj Mahal gardens feature the four quarter design of the Ancient Persian gardens after which they were modeled, with each quarter further divided into 16 sunken parterres. The reflecting pool running through the center of the garden is placed to reflect the image of the mausoleum and makes stunning photographs for modern visitors to the gardens.
