NEW DELHI: Exquisite geometrical patterns, pools and charming fountains nestled amid scented stocks of flowers, which is typical of every Mughal garden’s design, is derived from the Persian Charbagh which attempts to depict the vision of paradise, according to experts.

A Charbagh is based on Persian architectural design and features canals and pools along the axes, which divides a garden into four equal parts, and has fountains and waterfalls to add to the aesthetics.

Exquisite gardens were built in numerous cities of yore in the Indian subcontinent and their designs were perhaps refined during the Mughal period which lent them the nomenclature, according to historians.

Some of the famous such gardens are -- the Mughal gardens of Kashmir, the gardens of Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi, the gardens of the Taj Mahal in Agra, and the Shalimar Gardens of Lahore -- the last three being parts of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The centuries-old Yadavindra Gardens or Pinjore gardens in

Haryana are built in the style of Mughal gardens.

The celebrated Mughal Gardens of Kashmir -- Nishat Bagh, Shalimar Bagh, Achabal Bagh, Chashma Shahi, Pari Mahal and Verinag -- are jointly in the Tentative List of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, added in 2010, according to the UNESCO website.

“A typical Mughal garden draws inspiration from the Persian Charbagh that has water channels running in two axes that cross each other and divide a garden into four equal parts broadly. It portrays the vision of ‘jannat’ (heaven),” says Delhi-based historian and author Swapna Liddle.

The Mughals refined them and built several of them during their rule in the Indian subcontinent, and hence they came to be popularly referred to as a Mughal garden.

Over a period of time, many gardens were built in the modern era, drawing inspiration from the Mughal gardens, including the sprawling one on the western side of the Rashtrapati Bhavan (originally Viceroy’s House), designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens that came to be known as Mughal Gardens.

Lutyens had finalised the design of the gardens as early as 1917. However, it was only from 1928 to 1929 that plantings were done. His collaborator for the gardens was the Director of Horticulture, William Mustoe.

The resplendent Mughal Gardens, a horticultural paradise in the sprawling premises of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, which has been recently renamed ‘Amrit Udyan’ is spread over 15 acres and boasts of over 150 varieties of roses, tulips and other flowers.