A guldasta is a corner finial, or pinnacle.1 At Humayun's Tomb, a pair of very large guldastas can be seen at the top of the corners of each pishtaq facade. These guldastas start as octagonal column shafts that bloom into a dome that is crowned with its own finial. All of the white marble corner engaged colonettes that frame the facades are crowned with smaller guldastas. These guldastas are comprised of a pot sitting inside a flower. This flower is nearly identical to the flower fountains in the garden. Carved stone jug and flower ornamentation is a common feature of Hindustani temple ornamentation that began sometime between the fifth and seventh centuries.2
1. Catherine B. Asher, Architecture of Mughal India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 145.
2. George Michell, The Hindu Temple (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988), 94-95.
Burton-Page, John. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Vol. 20, Indian Islamic Architecture: Forms and Typologies, Sites and Monuments. Leiden; Boston: E.J. Brill, 2008.
Michell, George. The Hindu Temple. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988, 94-158.
