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INDIAN ARCHITECTURE
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See also:INDIAN See also:ARCHITECTURE . The development of architectural See also:art in See also:India is of the highest See also:interest for the See also:history of the subject; and whatever may be our estimate of its aesthetic qualities, we can hardly fail to realize that Indian builders attained with marked success the aims they had before them, though they employed arrangements and adopted forms and details very different from those of western builders in See also:ancient and See also:medieval times. These forms and adaptations, of course, require study properly to understand them, and to recognize the See also:adjustment of the designs to their purposes. But besides the scientific advantages of such a study, it has been well remarked by See also:Fergusson, to whose See also:genius the history of Indian architecture is so specially due as its creator, that " it will undoubtedly be conceded by those who are See also:familiar with the subject that, for certain qualities, the Indian buildings are unrivalled. They display an exuberance of See also:fancy, a lavishness of labour, and an elaboration of detail to be found nowhere else." Besides, if anywhere the history of a See also:country is imprinted in its architecture, it is in India that it throws the most continuous, distinct and varied See also:light on that history.
In the See also:early architecture of India, as in that of See also:Burma, See also:China and See also:Japan till the See also:present See also:day, See also:wood was solely or almost solely employed; and it was only about the 3rd See also:century B.C. that See also: For later periods there are fortunately a few examples dated by See also:inscriptions, and for others by applying the scientific principles See also:developed by See also: These railings and See also:gate-ways are their See also:principal architectural features; the rails are constructed as closely as possible after wooden patterns, and examples are still found at Sanchi and Buddh-Gaya'; what remained of the See also:Bharahat stupa was transferred to the See also:Calcutta Museum, and portions of the See also:Amravati See also:rail are now in the See also:British and See also:Madras museums. The uprights and See also:cross bars of the rails were in many cases covered with elaborate carvings of scenes of the most varied kinds, and are illustrative of See also:manners and customs as well as of the art of See also:sculpture. The great stupa at Sanchi in See also:Bhopal is now the most entire of the class, as it still retains the gateways—styled torans—which must have been a feature of all stfipas, though perhaps mostly ' The restoration of the See also:shrine at Buddh-Gaya was begun in 1908 under the auspices of the Buddhist Shrine Restoration Society, of which the Tashi Lama was first See also:president and the eldest son of the maharaja of See also:Sikkim See also:vice-president. in wood (see See also:Plate I. fig. 8). The whole of the superstructure of the Sanchi examples is essentially wooden in See also:character, and we are astonished that it should have stood " for twenty centuries nearly uninjured." These torans reappear to this day in Japan as tori-i and in China as p'ai-lus or p'ai-fangs. The whole of the surfaces, inside and out, are carved with elaborate sculptures I of much interest. A See also:cast of the eastern See also:toran from Sanchi is to be seen in the museums at S. See also:Kensington, See also:Edinburgh, See also:Dublin, See also:Paris and See also:Berlin. On the See also:southern one, an inscription appears to indicate that it was erected about 15o B.C. The earlier See also:cave temples are of about the same See also:age as the stupas; some of those in See also:Behar See also:bear inscriptions of Asoka and of his successor in the and century B.C. And the earlier cave facades in western India indicate the identity of style and construction in the patterns from which both must have been copied. These Buddhist See also:rock excavations are of two types: the chaitya or See also:chapel caves, with vaulted See also:roofs of considerable height, the earliest with wooden fronts and later with a See also:screen wall See also:left in the rock, but in both forms with a large See also:horse-See also:shoe shaped window over the entrance. The interior usually consisted
of a See also:nave, separated from the See also:side aisles by pillars, and containing a chaitya or small stupa at the inner and circular end. The facades of these chaitya chapels were covered with sculpture—some of them very richly; and to protect them from the See also:weather a screen was contrived and cut in the rock in front of the See also:facade, with large windows in the upper See also:half for the entrance of light. This mode of See also:lighting by a great See also:arch over the entrance has attracted considerable attention, as being admirably adapted for its purpose. As Fergusson remarked, " nothing invented before or since is lighted so perfectly, and the disposition of the parts or interior for an See also:assembly of the faithful . . . is what the Christians nearly reached in after-times but never quite equalled.”
The second type of rock excavations are known as viharas or monasteries devoted to the See also:residence of monks and ascetics. They usually consisted of a See also: The scenes depicted, however, have frequently an architectural setting in which we find represented facades with pillars fashioned with distinctly Corinthian capitals. These sculptures we can now assign with confidence, from dated epigraphs, to dates from the last years of the century B.C. till the 4th century A.D. One inscription of A.D. 47 is of a See also: It stands in a See also:court 220 ft. See also:long by 142 ft. wide surrounded by the ruins of some eighty small cells, with a large entrance See also:porch at the east end. The temple itself was 6o ft. long by 38 ft. wide, with two wings, and consisted of two apartments—a naos and cc/la. The trefoiled or cusped arch on the doors of the temple and cells is a striking peculiarity of the style,. and may have been derived from the See also:section of the Buddhist chaitya. It is used decoratively, however, rather than constructively. The pillars and pilasters of the See also:portico and temple bear a See also:close resemblance to some of the later forms of the See also:Roman Doric, and have usually sixteen shallow flutes on the shafts, with numerous members in the base and capital. A triangular See also:pediment surmounts the doorways, and on gable-ends or projecting faces are representations" of See also:double sloping roofs, much in the style of See also:modern Kashmir wooden roofs, of which also many of the temple-roofs in Nepal are exaggerated examples. The Martand temple was, in all See also:probability, built in the 8th century, between A.D. 725 and 760, and was erected as a temple of the See also:Sun, one of whose names is Martand. For, till the See also:lath century at least,' Sun-worship was quite prevalent in the north and west of India. At a remote See also:village called Buniar is a much better preserved „j Gi y,.„v.ii//-/iii!/ a aUaa°aaa00a0CI 0 000 0 0 '% 0 © o 0 a a a a a a a a a D u o a aa® Martand. specimen of the style: and at Avantipur, Vangath, Payer and Pandrethan are other interesting examples of the style. That at Pandrethan about 3 M. from See also:Srinagar is a well-preserved little temple, built between A.D. 906 and 921, and perhaps exhibits the most clearly the characteristics of the style. In the Himalayas the architecture is still largely wooden, raised on stone basements and is often picturesque. In the Nepal valley we meet with hemispherical chaityas or stupas on low bases with lofty brick spires, and some of them of great antiquity, along with temples having three o'r four storeys divided by sloping roofs, and others in the modern See also:Hindu style of See also:northern India. In See also:South See also:Kanara, especially at Mudbidare (Mudbidri), there are' also Jain temples and tombs with double and triple sloping roofs that resemble the native temples of Nepal, with which, however, they had no connexion. The whole style is closely in imitation of wooden originals, the forms of which have been derived from the See also:local thatched dwellings of the See also:district. The interiors of the Kanara temples are often very See also:rich in See also:carving, the massive pillars being carved like See also:ivory or the See also:precious metals. Associated with these and other temples are elegant, monolithic pillars placed on square bases, the shafts richly carved and the capitals wide-spreading, some of them supporting, on four very small colonnettes, a square roof elaborately modelled. These stambhas or pillars are the representatives of the early Buddhist lilts or columns raised at their temples, and bear emblems distinctive of the sects to which they respectively belong. The southern portion of the See also:peninsula is peopled by a See also:race known as Dravidians, and to the style of architecture practised over most of this See also:area we may conveniently apply the name of the race. This See also:Dravidian architecture was essentially different from that of other regions of India and is of one type. One of the best-known See also:groups of monuments in this style is that of the " Seven Pagodas " or the Mamallapuram raths, on the seashore, south from Madras. These raths are each hewn out of a See also:block of See also:granite, and are rather See also:models of temples than such. They are the earliest forms of Dravidian architecture and belong to the 7th century. To the same age belongs the temple of Kailasanath at See also:Conjeeveram, and to the following century some of the temples in the south of the Bombay See also:Presidency, and the famous monolithic temple of the See also:Kailas at See also:Ellora near See also:Aurangabad. Buildings in the Dravidian style are very numerous in proportion to the extent of the area in which they are found. The temples generally consist of a square base, ornamented externally by thin tall pilasters, and containing the See also:cell in which the image is kept. In front of this may be added a mautapam or hall, or even two such. Over the shrine rises the See also:spire, of pyramidal form, but always divided into storeys and crowned by a small dome, either circular or polygonal in shape. The cornices are of double curvature, whilst in other Indian styles they are mostly straight with a downward slope. Another feature of these temples, especially those of later date, is the gopurams or great gateways, placed at the en-trances to the surrounding courts, and often on all four sides. In general See also:design they are like the spires over the shrines, but about twice as wide as deep, and very frequently far more imposing than the temples them- selves. The style is distinctly of wooden origin, and of this the very attenuated pilasters on the See also:outer walls and the square pillars of small section are evidences. As the contemporary northern styles are characterized by the prevalence of See also:vertical lines, the Dravidian is marked by See also:horizontal See also:mouldings and shadows, ind the towers and gopurams are storeyed. The more important temples are also surrounded by courts enclosing great corridors and pillared halls. One of the best examples of this style is the great temple at See also:Tanjore. It would appear to have been begun on a definite See also:plan, and not as a series of extensions of some small temple which, by See also:accident, had grown famous and acquired See also:wealth by which successively to enlarge its courts, as that at Tiruvallur seems to have grown by a series of accretions. The See also:body of the Tanjore temple is of two storeys and fully 8o ft. high, whilst the sikhara or pyramidal tower rises in eleven storeys to a See also:total height of Igo ft. This dominates the gopurams over the entrances to the court in which it stands, and to an outer court, added in front of the first, but which does not, as in other cases, surround it. The central shrine, so far as we know, was erected about A.D. 1025.
The Srirangam temple in See also:Trichinopoly, the largest in India, is architecturally the converse of this: it is one of the latest in date, the fifth court having been left unfinished in the middle of the 18th century. The shrine is quite insignificant and distinguished only by a gilt dome, whilst proceeding outwards, the gopurams to each court are each larger and more decorative than the preceding. The successive See also:independent additions, however, proved incompatible with any considered design or arrangement of parts.
Most of the See also:Deccan was ruled by the See also:Chalukya dynasty from early in the 6th century, and the style prevailing over this area,
Reproduced, by permission of Mr See also: Some of them have distinctly northern spires, others are closely allied to the southern style; and it was perhaps only gradually that the type acquired its distinctive characteristics. Till a See also:late date we find temples with towers differing so little in form from Dravidian vimanas that, other details apart, they might readily be ascribed to that order. Among Chalukyan temples a prevalent form is that of three shrines round one central hall. The support of the roofs of these halls is almost always after the Dravidian plan of four pillars, or multiples of four, in squares, so that larger domes were never attempted. Both in Dravidian and northern temples the projections on the walls are generally formed by increments of slight thickness added flatly to their faces, and, however thick, they are so placed as to leave the true corners of the shrines, &c., more or less recessed. In the Chalukyan temples the sides are often made prominent by increments placed over them, or the whole plan is See also:star-shaped, the projecting angles having equal adjacent faces lying in a circle, as in the temple of Behar in See also:Mysore, built about A.D. 1120, and in others. The roofs are stepped and more or less pyramidal in form, with breaks corresponding to the See also:minor angles made on the walls. Some of the details of this style are very elaborate; in fact, many of the finer temples were completely overlaid with sculptural ornament. The pillars are markedly different from the earlier Dravidian forms: they are massive, richly carved, often circular and highly polished. Their capitals are usually spread out, with a number of circular mouldings immediately below; and under these is a square block, while the middle section of the See also:shaft is richly carved with mouldings in the round. In many cases the capitals and circular mouldings have been actually turned in a sort of See also:lathe. They are almost always in pairs of the same design, the whole effect being singularly varied and elegant. The great temple at See also:Halebid (see Plate II. fig. ir), begun about A.D. 1250, was left unfinished at the Mahommedan conquest in 1310. It is a double temple, measuring 16o ft. by 122 ft., and is covered with an amazing amount of the richest sculpture. But the spires were never raised over the shrines. The Kedares.-vara temple at Balagamvi is perhaps one of the See also:oldest of the style in Mysore, and there are other See also:good examples at Kubatttrr, Harnhalli, Arsikere, Harihar, Koravangala and elsewhere; but their plans vary greatly. Coming now to Northern India, we find the Hindu architectural style more widely spread and more varied than in the south, but wanting somewhat in individuality. Examples of the same order, however, are to be found also far to the south in the Chalukyan area. The characteristic that first appeals to our See also:notice is the See also:curvilinear spires of the temples, and the See also:absence of that exuberance of sculpture seen in the great Chalukyan temples of the South; whilst in many cases, as in the Jain temples. a greater central area has been obtained in the halls by arranging twelve columns so as to support a dome on an octagonal disposition of lintels. The shrines are square in plan and only slightly modified by additions to the walls of parallel projections; the walls were raised on a moulded See also:plinth of some height, over which was a deep base, the two together rising, roughly, to about half the height of the walls. Over this is the panelled See also:face devoted to figure sculptures in compartments, but the tall, thin pilasters of the southern style have disappeared. Above is the many-membered See also:architrave and See also:cornice supporting the roof and spire. The latter follow the vertical lines of the walls, presenting no trace of divisions into storeys or steps, but they vary in other details with the age. In See also:Rajputana and Western India a variety of this northern style has been known as the Jain order. Though used by the Hindus and See also:Jains alike, it was employed in its most ornate form by the Jains in their famous temples on See also:Mount See also:Abu and else-where. A striking feature of this style is the elaborately carved roofs over their corridors and the domes of their porches and halls (see Plate II. fig. 12). Nothing can exceed the delicacy and elaboration of details in these sculptured roofs and vaults. Combined with the diversified arrangement of the variously spaced and highly sculptured pillars supporting them, these convey an impression of symmetry and beauty that is highly pleasing. See also:Gujarat must have been rich in splendid temples before the 12th century, but it was devastated so often by the Moslems that the more notable have all perished, though the once magnificent Sun Temple at Mudhera still witnesses, in its ruins, to the architectural style and grandeur of the See also:period—the early See also:part of the 11th century—when it was erected. A notable See also:group of between See also:thirty and See also:forty temples in this style exists at Khajuraho in See also:Bundelkhand. They belong to both the Hindu and the Jain cults, and mostly date from the loth and rith centuries. Many of them are covered, inside and out, with the richest sculpture, and may be regarded architecturally as " the most beautiful in form as well as the most elegant in detail " of the temples of Northern India. With these, the temples at Bhuvaneswar in Orissa exhibit this style at its best. The latter have the earlier form of spire, nearly perpendicular below, but curving inwards near the summit. The temple of Kanarak, known as the " See also:Black See also:Pagoda " see Plate III. fig. 13), which for its See also:size is, externally at least, the most richly ornamented See also:building in the See also:world. It has lately been filled up with stones and See also:sand, as the only method the Archaeological Survey could devise to prevent its threatened collapse. _ In the later examples of the style the spire is still a square curvilinear See also:pyramid, to the faces of which are added smaller copies of the same form, carrying up the offsets of the walls; and in some examples these are multiplied to an extraordinary extent. The Mahommedan architecture, also known as Indian Saracenic, begins in India with the 13th century and varied much at different periods and under the various dynasties, imperial and local. The imperial rulers at See also:Delhi, for the first three centuries, were Pathans, and were succeeded in 1526 by See also:Baber, who founded the See also:Mogul dynasty. Under the earlier See also:Pathan emperors the style of building was massive but profusely ornamented and of extreme beauty in its details. Among the examples of this style may be instanced the Qutb Minar at Delhi (see Plate I. fig. 9), one of the finest pillars in the world, built in the first See also:quarter of the 13th century. It is still 240 ft. high and ornamented by projecting balconies and richly carved belts between; the three See also:lower storeys are cut up by projecting vertical ribs that add to its beauty. Beside it the See also:tomb of Altamsh is also profusely sculptured and of extreme beauty of detail, and other examples are seen in the eastern portion of the adjoining See also:mosque, the tomb of See also:Ala-ud-din Khilji, and the Alai Darwaza. After about 1320 the Pathan architecture is marked by a stern simplicity of design and a See also:solemn gloom and nakedness, in marked contrast to the elaborate richness of ornamentation of the preceding period. The tomb of Ghiyas-ud din Tughlak at New Delhi, with its sloping walls and massive solidity, is a typical example of this period, as is also the Kalan mosque at Delhi completed in 1386. Early in the 15th century, however, a reaction had set in, and the later style was hardly less rich and much more appropriate for its purposes than the earlier in the end of the 12th and early 13th century. The facades of the mosques became more ornamental, were often encrusted with See also:marble, and usually adorned with rich and beautiful sculpture. This was clearly a return to the elaborateness of the past, but with every detail fitted to its place and purpose and presenting one of the completest architectural styles of the world. About the beginning of the 15th century several local dynasties arose, each of which developed a style more or less their own. Of the Sharki dynasty of See also:Jaunpur only three great mosques in that See also:city have come down to us, with several tombs. The cloisters surrounding the open courts of the mosques and the galleries within are closely allied to the Hindu style, being constructed with See also:short square pillars having See also:bracket capitals supporting lintels and roof of See also:flat slabs. But the gateways and See also:main features of the mosques are arched. The mosque itself consists of a central square hall covered by a lofty dome of the whole width of it, in front of which stands the great propylon or gate, of massive outline and rising to the full height of the central dome. This propylon had a large recessed arch between the two piers, in the lower portion of which was the entrance to the mosque, whilst the upper formed a pierced screen. On each side of the dome is a compartment divided into two storeys by a stone See also:floor supported on pillars, and beyond this, on each side, is a larger apartment covered by a pointed ribbed vault. The ornamental work is bold and striking rather than delicate, and the mihr¢bs or qiblas are marked by severe simplicity, and form a See also:link in the See also:evolution of the later form under Mogul See also:rule. These buildings afford a marked expression of strength combined with a degree of refinement that is rare in other styles. Other examples of this style are met with at See also:Benares, See also:Kanauj and places within the Jaunpur See also:kingdom.
In 1401 Dilawar See also:Khan assumed See also:independence in See also:Malwa, of which See also:Mandu became the capital, and his son Hoshang adorned it with important buildings. They are of a modified form of the Pathan style of the 14th century. Among themthe finest is the great Jama Masjid, which was finished by Mahmud Shah I. in 1454. It covers a nearly square area, 290 ft. from east to west by 275 ft. from north to south, exclusive of the porch on the east, which projects about 56 ft. Inside, the court is an almost exact square, surrounded by See also:arches on each side, See also:standing on See also:plain square piers 10 ft. high, each of a single block of red See also:sandstone; behind these are triple arcades on the north and south, a double one on the east, and on the west the mosque, having three great domes on its west side. This court, in its simple grandeur and expression of See also:power, may be regarded as one of the very best specimens of this style to be found in India. The tombs and palaces of Mandu, mostly much ruined, it would occupy too much space to describe. But here, as elsewhere, the available materials have exercised a marked See also:influence upon the architecture; the prevalence of a red sandstone is emphasized in the piers of the Jama Masjid, more than 300 of them being each of a single block of this material; and for more decorative purposes marble, both See also: The capital of the See also:Bengal kingdom was at See also:Gaur, which had been the See also:metropolis of a native kingdom probably since the 9th century. As the country is practically without stone, the Hindu buildings would be chiefly of brick, but pillars, images and details were of hard potstone or See also:hornblende; and these would afford materials for the Moslem conquerors. The construction of large buildings of brick required heavy piers for the arches and thicker walls than those constructed of stone. Then such piers and walls, when enriched by a facing of moulded or glazed tiles, would appear still heavier; and sometimes for tiles a casing of carved stone was substituted. Hence this style is a purely local one with short, heavy pillars faced with stone and supporting pointed brick arches and vaults. The use of brick further forced the builders to employ an arched style of their own and a mode of roofing in which a curvilinear form was given to the See also:eaves descending at the corners of the structures. This form spread later up through Hindustan as far as the See also:Punjab. The capital at one time was moved to See also:Pandua, north of Gaur, and there was built (1358–1368) the great Adina mosque, 500 ft. in length by 285 in See also:depth containing a large court surrounded by a thick wall of brick. The roof was supported by 266 stone pillars and covered by 378 domes, all of one form. Such a design has little architectural merit, but its size and the richness of its details make it an interesting study, and the same character belongs to most of the works of the Bengal Moslem rulers. The Bahmani dynasty, founded in 1347, had its capital at See also:Gulbarga till 1428,' when it was moved to Bidar. During this period the city was adorned with important buildings of which the most notable now remaining is the great mosque, one of the most striking in India. It See also:measures over all 216 ft. from east to west by 176 from north to south. It differs from all the great mosques in India in having the whole central area covered over as in the great mosque at See also:Cordova—what in others would be an open court being roofed by sixty-three small domes. The light is admitted through the side-walls, which are pierced by great arches on all sides except the west. The study is plain and substantial, with but little ornament. The tombs of the kings are massive square-domed buildings, with handsome stone See also:tracery on their outer walls, and are elaborately finished inside. At Bidar, mosques, palaces and tombs were also erected, but most of them have perished, the great mosque in the fort being the only one fairly entire. The ten tombs of the later Bahmani kings, 5 M. from the city, are of like See also:pattern with those of Gulbarga and of considerable The Indian Saracenic style of the Mogul dynasty began under the emperor Balser, 1526; but one of the first and most characteristic examples that remain is the mosque of Sher Shah (1541) near Delhi (see Plate I. fig. io), and others exist at Rohtas. These earlier structures are interesting as the initial forms of the style, but are little known to Europeans. The emperor See also:Akbar (1556-1605) built largely, and the style developed so vigorously during his reign that it would be difficult to enumerate the peculiarities of his numerous buildings. As in the Gujarat and other styles, there is a See also:combination of Hindu and Mahommedan features in his works which were never perfectly blended. Like their predecessors, the Pathans, the Moguls were a tomb-building race, and those of the latter are even more splendid than those of the former, more See also:artistic in design, and more elaborately decorated. The See also:fine tomb of Akbar's See also:father, See also:Humayun, and the numerous structures at See also:Fatehpur Sikri best illustrate the style of his works, and the great mosque there is scarcely matched in elegance and architectural effect; the south gateway is well known, and from its size and structure excels any similar entrance in India. And his tomb at Sikandra, near See also:Agra, is a unique structure of the See also:kind and of great merit. Under See also:Jahangir the Hindu features vanished from the style; his great mosque at See also:Lahore is in the Persian style, covered with enamelled tiles; his tomb near by (1630-1640) was made a See also:quarry of by the Sikhs from which to build their temple at See also:Amritsar. At Agra,,the tomb of Itimad-ud-daula (see Plate IV. fig. 16), completed in 1628, built entirely of white marble and covered wholly by pietra dura See also:mosaic, is one of the most splendid examples of that class of ornamentation anywhere to be found. The force and originality of the style gave way under Shah Jahan (1627-1658) to a delicate elegance and refinement of detail, illustrated in the magnificent palaces erected in his reign at Agra and Delhi, the latter once the most exquisitely beautiful in India. The most splendid of the Mogul tombs, and the most renowned building in India, is the far-famed See also:mausoleum, the Taj Mahal at Agra (see Plate IV. fig. 17), the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of Shah Jahan. It is surrounded by a See also:garden, as were almost all Moslem tombs. The extreme delicacy of the Taj Mahal, the richness of its material, and the complexity of its magnificent design have been dwelt on by writers of all countries. So also of the surpassingly pure and elegant Moti Masjid in the Agra fort, all of white marble: these are among the gems of the style. The Jama Masjid at Delhi is an imposing building, and its position and architecture have been carefully considered so as to produce a pleasing effect and feeling of spacious elegance and well-balanced proportion of parts. In his works Shah Jahan presents himself as the most magnificent builder of Indian sovereigns. In See also:Aurangzeb's reign squared stone and marble gave way to brick or See also:rubble with See also:stucco ornament, and the decline of See also:taste rapidly set in. The buildings at See also:Seringapatam and See also:Lucknow are of still later date, and though in certain respects they are imposing, they are too often See also:tawdry in detail. splendour. They are not much ornamented, but are structurally good and impressive by their massive proportions. Of the various forms which the Moslem architecture assumed, " that of Ahmedabad," Fergusson has justly remarked, " may probably be considered as the most elegant, as it certainly is the most characteristic of all. No other form is so essentially Indian, and no one tells its See also:tale with the same unmistakable distinctness." Under the Mahommedan rule the Hindu architects employed introduced forms and ornaments into the works they constructed for their rulers, See also:superior in elegance to any the latter knew or could have invented. Hence there arose a style combining all the beauty and finish of the previous native art with a certain magnificence of conception which is deficient in their own works. The elevations of the mosques have usually been studiously arranged with a view to See also:express at once the structural arrangements, and to avoid monotony of outline by the varied See also:elevation of each See also:division. The central portion of the facade was raised by a See also:storey over the roof of the wings, and to the front of this was attached the minarets, in the earliest mosques forming only small turrets over the facade, but soon after they became richly carved towers of considerable height. The upper storey formed a See also:gallery under the central dome which was supported on pillars connected by open stone trellis work, admitting a subdued light, and providing perfect See also:ventilation (see Plate III. fig. 15). At first the facades were pierced by arched entrances, but at a later date a screen of columns formed an open front and the minarets were removed to the corners, no longer for the mu'azzin, but simply as architectural ornaments. The tombs were pillared pavilions of varying dimensions, the central area over the See also:grave covered by a dome standing on twelve pillars. These pillars connected by screens of stone trellis work carved in ever-varying patterns, and round this there might be a See also:verandah with twenty pillars in the periphery, or a double See also:aisle with thirty-two in the outer square. And as these were irregularly spaced in order to allow the inner twelve to support the lintels of a See also:regular octagon for the dome, the monotony of equal spacing was avoided. For further details and examples of this style, however, we must refer the reader to the published volumes of the archaeological survey of Western India See also:relating to Ahmedabad and Gujarat. The Adil Shahi dynasty of See also:Bijapur (1492-1686) was of See also:foreign extraction and held the Shiah form of See also:Islam, prevalent in Persia, whilst they largely employed Persian See also:officers. This probably influenced their architecture and led to that largeness of See also:scale and grandeur which characterized the style, differing markedly from that of the buildings of Agra and Delhi, but scarcely, if at all, inferior in originality of design and boldness of See also:execution. There is no trace of Hindu forms or details; the style was their own, and was worked out with striking boldness and marked success. The mode in which the thrusts are provided for in the See also:giant dome (see Plate III. fig. 14) of Mahommed Adil Shah's tomb (A.D. 1650), by the use of massive pendentives, See also:hanging the See also:weight inside, has See also:drawn the admiration of See also:European architects. And this dome, rising to about 175 ft. from the floor, roofs over an area 130 ft. square, or 2500 sq. ft. larger than the Pantheon at See also:Rome, where stability is secured only by throwing a great See also:mass of See also:masonry on the haunches. The Jami masjid, begun by All Adil Shah, 1567, but never quite completed, is one of the finest mosques in India. The central area of the mosque proper is covered by a large dome, supported in the same way as that on Mahommed Shah's tomb. This dome, like all the earlier ones in India, perhaps wants in outside elevation; but in the splendid See also:Ibrahim Rauza and mosque we find the domes elevated above See also:mere segments. In this latter group, erected about 1626, the domes are more elevated, and we have every detail of the structure covered with the most delicate and exquisitely elaborate carving, the windows filled with tracery, and the cornices supported by wonderfully rich brackets. In the tomb too—as if in See also:defiance of constructional demands—the See also:room, 40 ft. sq., is covered by a perfectly level stone roof, supported only by a See also:cove projecting on each side from the walls. lI. Cousens, Bijapur, the Old Capital of the Adil Shahi Kings (8vo, See also:Poona, 1908) ; G. W. See also:Forrest, Cities of India (8vo, 19133) ; Dr W. H. and Mrs Workman, Through See also:Town and See also:Jungle, among the Temples and See also:People of the Indian Plains (8vo, 1904). (J. 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