DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0510
486
NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.
Book VI.
hot a climate, and an especially favourite resort with a people so fond
of washing and so cleanly in their habits as the Hindus.
Reservoirs.
The same fondness for water has given rise to another species of
architectural display peculiar to India, in the great reservoirs or
bowlees, which are found wherever the wells are deep and water far
from the surface. In design they are exactly the reverse of the ghats,
since the steps are wholly below the ground, and descend to the
water often at a depth of 80 ft, or 100 ft. Externally they make no
display, the only objects usually seen above ground being two pavilions
to mark the entrance, between which a bold flight of steps, from 20 ft.
to 40 ft. in width, leads down to the water. Facing the entrance is
a great screen, rising perpendicularly from the water to the surface of
the ground, and dividing the stairs from a circular shaft or well, up
which the water is drawn by pulleys by those who prefer that mode of
obtaining it instead of descending the steps. The walls between which
the steps descend are ornamented by niches, or covered with galleries
leading to the great screen. Where the depth is great, there is often
a screen across the stairs about half-way down.
To persons not familiar with the Mast such an architectural object
as a bowlee may seem a strange perversion of ingenuity, but the
grateful coolness of all subterranean apartments, especially when accom-
panied by water, and the quiet gloom of these recesses, fully com-
pensate, in the eyes of the Hindu, for the more attractive magnificence
of the ghats. Consequently, the descending flights of which we are
now speaking, have often been made more elaborate and expensive
pieces of architecture than any of the buildings above ground found
in their vicinity.
Dams.
In the same manner the bunds or dams of the artificial lakes, or
great tanks, which are so necessary for irrigation, are often made
works of great architectural magnificence, first by covering them
with flights of steps, like those of the ghats, and then erecting
temples or pavilions, and kiosks, interspersed with fountains and
statues in breaks between these flights. Where all these are of marble,
as is sometimes the case in Rajputana, the whole make up as perfect
a piece of architectural combination as any the Hindus can boast of.
One of the most beautiful of these is that erected by Raj Sing,
who ascended the throne of Oudeypore, in 1653, to form the lake of
Rajsamundra (Woodcut No. 274), which is one of the most extensive
in his dominions. Tins bund is 376 paces in length, and wholly
NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.
Book VI.
hot a climate, and an especially favourite resort with a people so fond
of washing and so cleanly in their habits as the Hindus.
Reservoirs.
The same fondness for water has given rise to another species of
architectural display peculiar to India, in the great reservoirs or
bowlees, which are found wherever the wells are deep and water far
from the surface. In design they are exactly the reverse of the ghats,
since the steps are wholly below the ground, and descend to the
water often at a depth of 80 ft, or 100 ft. Externally they make no
display, the only objects usually seen above ground being two pavilions
to mark the entrance, between which a bold flight of steps, from 20 ft.
to 40 ft. in width, leads down to the water. Facing the entrance is
a great screen, rising perpendicularly from the water to the surface of
the ground, and dividing the stairs from a circular shaft or well, up
which the water is drawn by pulleys by those who prefer that mode of
obtaining it instead of descending the steps. The walls between which
the steps descend are ornamented by niches, or covered with galleries
leading to the great screen. Where the depth is great, there is often
a screen across the stairs about half-way down.
To persons not familiar with the Mast such an architectural object
as a bowlee may seem a strange perversion of ingenuity, but the
grateful coolness of all subterranean apartments, especially when accom-
panied by water, and the quiet gloom of these recesses, fully com-
pensate, in the eyes of the Hindu, for the more attractive magnificence
of the ghats. Consequently, the descending flights of which we are
now speaking, have often been made more elaborate and expensive
pieces of architecture than any of the buildings above ground found
in their vicinity.
Dams.
In the same manner the bunds or dams of the artificial lakes, or
great tanks, which are so necessary for irrigation, are often made
works of great architectural magnificence, first by covering them
with flights of steps, like those of the ghats, and then erecting
temples or pavilions, and kiosks, interspersed with fountains and
statues in breaks between these flights. Where all these are of marble,
as is sometimes the case in Rajputana, the whole make up as perfect
a piece of architectural combination as any the Hindus can boast of.
One of the most beautiful of these is that erected by Raj Sing,
who ascended the throne of Oudeypore, in 1653, to form the lake of
Rajsamundra (Woodcut No. 274), which is one of the most extensive
in his dominions. Tins bund is 376 paces in length, and wholly