Volume 1

History of Indian and Eastern architecture / by the late James Fergusson ; revised and ed. with additions, Indian architecture by James Burgess, and Eastern architecture by R. Phené Spiers.

James Fergusson

Date:: 1910

Credit: History of Indian and Eastern architecture / by the late James Fergusson ; revised and ed. with additions, Indian architecture by James Burgess, and Eastern architecture by R. Phené Spiers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$coux'i ^kJn; W. fq3o 'HIE MONUMENTS OF INDIA TEMPLES, MOSQUES, AND PALACES TOMBS OF THE PRINCES (FROM A COmtSSFCNDuIJT) Every one who thinks of travelling temples, mosques, tombs, and paioces which much of her history is written ; but though some of tho best of these are/ to be found in the big cities, which are easily reached in a few weeks’ cold- wouther tour, thero are muny others lying off tho beaten track to which a special pilgrimage is necessary. Tho buried cities which excavators’ spudes aro bringing to light in the Sind Valley liavo a .~i>cchil interest for the nrolueologist. and race-historian, and may bo expected to illuminato some region j of the darkness in which tho antiquity! of India’s civilization is hidden. But of the standing monuments which primarily interest the tourist, none dates later than about 200 b.c., when tho groat. King Asoka carved on rocks and pillars tho main precepts of the Buddhist faith. Two of tho Asoka pillars aro to be seen at Delhi- one in tho ruined puluce of Feroz Shall, and one on the Ridge near Hindu Ruo’s house. A better pillar, which also bears later Guptannd Moghul inscriptions, rises in tho Forfafc Allahabad. BUDDHIST STUPAS The liuest specimens of Buddhist build- ing, however, are the topes (vtupaa) which mark some spot sacred to Buddha, or were inenut to contain same relics of his, the rails which surrounded these and other holy places, tho c/iaiti/as or churches, and tho vihornts or monasteries. Far the most impressive group that survives is that at. Sunchi in t.hn Bhopal State, on the I railway between Bombay and Agra, j Topes,' rails, monasteries, and some later temples are nobly set on a hill com- manding wide and ^beautiful views, and , I ho visitor wjll indtXHl he dull of imagi- tho 14th century. Closer to Now Delhi rise tho tombs of the Lodi kings, with , thoir low strong domes and buttresses!: ootugoual walls. Akin to these is tho severe and massive Black Mosquo in I Delhi City. Bitt meanwhile under Moglml,I governors Who lmd assumed inde- pendence a? tho bharqi kings, were built | tho Jotnn Masjid and tho A tula Masjid at i Jarnpur, Splendid virile oroatioiiH with massive propylons screening small domes or barrel vaults aiul with no minarets. , At Muiidu, too, in Central India, Huslmng, tho founder of the Ghori kings, built himself a capital, which till to-day is mujrfstio in rum ; and at Gujarat Almmd Slum and his successors have left notable monuments, only surpassed by those of Bi/upur when Vijiatmyar, the last Hindu kingdom in the south, had fallen before tpo Muslim conqueror. /.Teat ago of Muslim building was reached. /Baber certainly built, I hough no work of his has been identified. His son Humo- yun's tomb stunds out prominently south of Delhi -, and to tho usurper, Slier Shah is attributed a beautiful j mosquo in tho fort of Puranu Kiln. Akbar lias left us not merely the aroi*»- I forts of Agra, Delhi, and Allahabad, but the old palaco in the Agra Fort and tho immortal' city of Fathpur Sikri, and his own stately tomb at- Sikaudra. Less known than these, but still worthy of a isit. is his hall of audience in tho Allahabad Fort. Jahangir built himself a mosquo and tomb in Lahore, as well os a tomb for his minister Itimnd- uddaula in a garden by the Jumna at Agra. THE TAJ But the greatest of builders was Shah Julian, who lias given us not only the unequalled Taj and the great mosques both at Delhi and Agru, but also the imperial pulaces within the forte at both capitals, which, after suffering many evil things during a utilitarian usurpation, have been partly restored to their ancient beauty by the Arelucologiual Department which' India owes to Lord Cumin. Upon these world-famous creations there is here neither n~>d nor hohco to dwell. Nor is it possible to enumerate the tombs of tho princes and nobles of the Moghul Court which are to bo found throughout tho country. Worthy examples ure those in tho Khusru Bugli, at Allahabad, or tho tomb of Safdar Jang, at Delhi. Tho decay of Moghul building is best exemplified in Lucknow, whore, with the possible excoption of tho great Imambara, tho sheer sizo and long horizontal lines of which redeem its mi- win umwu ....... v/i other weaknesses, thore is hardly a ml ion who'does not feel the sanctity' l palace, tomb, or mosque that escapes i and grandeur of a place that is almost |i banality, at least of a later date than the comparable with tho Acropolis. Less j! little mosquo on tho Lachinantda hillock impressive than Sanchi, but not less in- Ij by the Goomteo, with slim white minarets foresting, is tho tope at Samatli, near rising against a blue sky arid wind-sown Bonnies, which marks tho beginning ol I vegetation sprouting from its dome. Buddha's mission as teacher. Tho work II of the . Arclueologicnl Department, descrilied by Ah-. Hargreaves on this page, has made the purpose of tho several [buildings very clear, und an admirable littlo museum bouses some famous pieces of Buddhist sculpture. Holier than either of these in Buddhist eyes is the temple at Buddh-Gaya, near by tho bodhi-treo where Buddha attained enlightenment, a lofty pyramid-liko build- ing said to lmvo been built by a Brahman in tho days of religious tolerance about a.d. 500, before Buddhism was swept out of India by tho Brahmanic revival. The later development of the charac- teristic Buddhist railing can bo studied best at Amraoti uiul Bherlmt, but tho best specimens of chailytis are the rock- hewn caves of the Bombay Presidency, of which tho most famous are those at Kiirli, Beddn. Nussik. Ajiuito.and Elloro. .Some of these in plan are curiously like an curly Christian church, with nave, aisles, mid ap-e. Karli is architecturally the finest, but tho cave pictures of Ajonta have a nobility which tho art of painting never again attained in India, and from them some of tho best Indian urtisfe of to-duy draw inspiration. JAIN AND HINDU Buddhist architecture, ns the rail con- spicuously shows, was derived from building in timber. To the Juins belongs the credit for the introduction of tho dome It is characteristic of the Jains that they inass thoir temples together I on hill-tops, as at Palitana in Gujarat, or Mount Abu in Rajputana, where the temple of Vimala .Suh is one of the noblest exumples of tho stylo. There ure notable groups also at Khnjuraho in Central India, and at Deoghor in the lliuusi district. Later Jain work is to be seen ut Sunagir, neai Dutin. but by this t iino tho bulbous Moghul dome has mingled with tho .pyramidal spire of earlier days. Fergusson luys it down that all that is intellectually great in India pertains (•) tho Aryue, und ull that is urtisticully great belongs to other races, cither aboriginal, or earlier or later immigrants than those from tho north. The great Hindu temples are to bo found in the Druvidian country of tho south in amazing numbers and variety. They uro remarkable less for thoir beauty than for I their euthcdrnl-Iiko sizo, and for a pro- fusion of ornament which to many Western observers is unpleasing. Often they are enclosed within high walls with |towering doorways in each face. The general impre-ssion is ono of colossal labour and effort which somehow fails. A journey from Madras throucll Tiru- vnllur, Conjeevurum, Vellore, Polur, und Chilamburarn to Tanjoro and Srirangam, uml thence on to Madura und Rame- kw a ram on its islotid, enables ull the finest | examples to bo seen, even ut the risk of satiety. Hindu temples in Northern India are generally smaller, simpler, and more scattered, except where they uro multi- plied to serve the pilgrims at a place of special sanctity. There aro few pleasanter sights in tho Northern plains than that of tho flamc-liko sniko of the ahivala peeping over the villago trees like some country church spire in England. But tho pulse of Hindu worship at its strongest is to bo felt at a few famous places along the holy rivers ; notably at Hordwar (tho gate of Han), where the] Ganges breaks into tho plain through tho outer hills ; at Muttra, on tho Jumna, where Rama sported with the milkmaids ; and, ubove all, at most holy Benares. where, if ho could, every Hindu '-1 come to die. THE KUTB MINAR High ubovo the crest of tho Benares ver-bank nud on tho site of an old Hindu templo soars tho Mosque of Aurangzeb. a striking reminder that in later days a new race nud a now religion lard entered India. TheaiSam develop- ment of Muslim building in India can be observed at Delhi and Agra. Nearly 800 years ago Kutb-uddin proclaimed himself Emperor and built the Kutb Minar ; ” beyond comparison,'’ says Sir Valentino Chirol, “the loftiest and noblest foi-m in which the Mnsalman nail to prayer has ever gono forth ; and with it the mosquo known as the Power of Islam,” on tho site of Hindu temples and constructed of materials tom from them. To this time belongs also* the finely decorated tomb of Altamsh. Kuth - buoeessor. Tho Alai Darwnzu close by pertains to tho next dynasty. \ lew miles south are tho tiUuiie nan* j'lNiglukabad. und tla. soldierly jo'''*1 TugUluk Shall, tho outstanding hgurc o$

History of Indian and Eastern architecture / by the late James Fergusson ; revised and ed. with additions, Indian architecture by James Burgess, and Eastern architecture by R. Phené Spiers.

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