DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26747#0510
44 G
SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.
Book IX.
Hindu-like aversion to an areh which Akhar alone of all the Moslenl
monarchs seems to liave adopted.1
H is palace at Agra is merely one pavilion, or rather corps de logis,
and cannot therefore be compared with the great palace in size; but it
is singularly elegant in detail, and, having escaped ihe fate of so many
of the palaces of Inclia, time has only softened witliout destroying the
beauty of its features. Intemally it encloses a court 71 ft. 2 in. square,
one side of which is occupied by a hall 62 ft. 8 in. by 35 ft. 3 in., of almost
purely Hindu design, and almost as elaborate and elegant in detail.
In the opposite side of the court is a smaller liall. The two remaining
sides are occupied by two entrances with porches and halls. Beyond
this an open court overlooks tlie river and the country on the other
side of the Jumna. Like all his buildings, this is of red sandstone
ornamented in relief, and generally without arches, thus forming a
singular contrast to the marble lialls of Shah Jehan, which adjoin it.
Allahabad was a more favourite residence of this monarch than
Agra, perhaps even more than Futtehpore Sicri; but tlie English
having appropriated the fort, its glories have been nearly obliterated.
The most beautiful thing was the pavilion of the Chalees Sitoon, or
40 pillars, so called from its having that niunber on the principal
floor, disposed in two concentric octagonal ranges, one internal of 16
pillars, the other outside of 24. Above tliis, supported by the inner
colonnade, was an upper range of the same number of pillars crowned
by a dome. This building has entirely disappeared, its materials
being wanted to repair tlie fortifications. The great hall, however,
still remains, represented in the annexed woodcut (Xo. 354). It is
1 How much of this pnlace now remains it
is impossible to say. When 1 was tliere the
(jovernment were selling the stones at 10
rupees the hundred maunds—a little less
than it would cost to quarry them. I saw
one ol the nohlest bowlees being so destroyed
by the Company’s servants, and its materials
being carted away to build the wretched
Barree of a neighbouring Zemindar. 200/.
or 300/. might thus be added to a revenue
of 22 millions, which, thanks t.o thesc Moguls,
we are able to wring from the poorest pea-
santry in the world.
SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.
Book IX.
Hindu-like aversion to an areh which Akhar alone of all the Moslenl
monarchs seems to liave adopted.1
H is palace at Agra is merely one pavilion, or rather corps de logis,
and cannot therefore be compared with the great palace in size; but it
is singularly elegant in detail, and, having escaped ihe fate of so many
of the palaces of Inclia, time has only softened witliout destroying the
beauty of its features. Intemally it encloses a court 71 ft. 2 in. square,
one side of which is occupied by a hall 62 ft. 8 in. by 35 ft. 3 in., of almost
purely Hindu design, and almost as elaborate and elegant in detail.
In the opposite side of the court is a smaller liall. The two remaining
sides are occupied by two entrances with porches and halls. Beyond
this an open court overlooks tlie river and the country on the other
side of the Jumna. Like all his buildings, this is of red sandstone
ornamented in relief, and generally without arches, thus forming a
singular contrast to the marble lialls of Shah Jehan, which adjoin it.
Allahabad was a more favourite residence of this monarch than
Agra, perhaps even more than Futtehpore Sicri; but tlie English
having appropriated the fort, its glories have been nearly obliterated.
The most beautiful thing was the pavilion of the Chalees Sitoon, or
40 pillars, so called from its having that niunber on the principal
floor, disposed in two concentric octagonal ranges, one internal of 16
pillars, the other outside of 24. Above tliis, supported by the inner
colonnade, was an upper range of the same number of pillars crowned
by a dome. This building has entirely disappeared, its materials
being wanted to repair tlie fortifications. The great hall, however,
still remains, represented in the annexed woodcut (Xo. 354). It is
1 How much of this pnlace now remains it
is impossible to say. When 1 was tliere the
(jovernment were selling the stones at 10
rupees the hundred maunds—a little less
than it would cost to quarry them. I saw
one ol the nohlest bowlees being so destroyed
by the Company’s servants, and its materials
being carted away to build the wretched
Barree of a neighbouring Zemindar. 200/.
or 300/. might thus be added to a revenue
of 22 millions, which, thanks t.o thesc Moguls,
we are able to wring from the poorest pea-
santry in the world.