DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0548
524
INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.
Book VII.
a fair idea of the style : the greater part of the eastern side of the
court has been taken down and removed by the English to repair
station-roads and bridges, for which in their estimation these pillars
are admirably adapted.
The smallest of the mosques in the city is the Lall Durwaza or
Red Gate. It is in the same style as the others ; audits propylon—
represented in Woodcut No. 292—displays not only the bold niassive-
ness with which these mosques were erected, but shows also that
strange admixture of Hindu and Mahomedan architecture which per-
vaded the style during the whole period of its continuance.
Of all the mosques remaining at Jaunpore, the Atala Musjid is
the most ornate and the most beautiful. The colonnades surrounding
its court are four aisles in depth, the outer columns, as well as those
next the court, being double square pillars. The three intermediate
rows are single square columns, supporting a flat roof of slabs,
arranged as in Jaiua temples. Externally, too, it is two storeys in
height, the lower storey being occupied by a series of cells opening
outwardly. All this is so like a Hindu arrangement that one might
almost at first sight be tempted, like Baron Hiigel, to fancy it was
originally a Buddhist monastery. He failed to remark, however, that
both here and in the Jumma Musjid the cells open outwardly, and
are below the level of the courtyard of the mosque—an arrange-
ment common enough in Mahomedan, but never found in Buddhist,
buildings. Its gateways, however, which are the principal ornaments
of the outer court, are purely Saracenic, and the western face is
adorned by three propylons similar to that represented in the last
woodcut, but richer and more beautiful, while its interior domes and
roofs are superior to an)' other specimen of Mahomedan art I am
acquainted with of so early an age. They are, too, perhaps, more
striking here, because, though in juxtaposition with the quasi-Hindu-
ism of the court, they exhibit the arched style of the Saracenic
architects in as great a degree of completeness as it exhibited at
any subsequent period.
The other buildings hardly require particular mention, though, as
transition specimens between the two styles, these Jaunpore examples
are well worthy of illustration, and in themselves possess a simplicity
and grandeur not often met with in this style. An appearance of
strength, moreover, is imparted to them by their sloping walls- which
is foreign to our general conception of Saracenic art, though at Tug-
luckabad and elsewhere it is earned even further than at Jaunpore.
Among the Pathans of India the expression of strength is as charac-
teristic of the style as massiveuess is of that of the Normans in
England. In India it is found conjoined witli a degree of refinement
seldom met with elsewhere, and totally free from the coarseness which
in other countries usually besets vigour and boldness of design.
INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.
Book VII.
a fair idea of the style : the greater part of the eastern side of the
court has been taken down and removed by the English to repair
station-roads and bridges, for which in their estimation these pillars
are admirably adapted.
The smallest of the mosques in the city is the Lall Durwaza or
Red Gate. It is in the same style as the others ; audits propylon—
represented in Woodcut No. 292—displays not only the bold niassive-
ness with which these mosques were erected, but shows also that
strange admixture of Hindu and Mahomedan architecture which per-
vaded the style during the whole period of its continuance.
Of all the mosques remaining at Jaunpore, the Atala Musjid is
the most ornate and the most beautiful. The colonnades surrounding
its court are four aisles in depth, the outer columns, as well as those
next the court, being double square pillars. The three intermediate
rows are single square columns, supporting a flat roof of slabs,
arranged as in Jaiua temples. Externally, too, it is two storeys in
height, the lower storey being occupied by a series of cells opening
outwardly. All this is so like a Hindu arrangement that one might
almost at first sight be tempted, like Baron Hiigel, to fancy it was
originally a Buddhist monastery. He failed to remark, however, that
both here and in the Jumma Musjid the cells open outwardly, and
are below the level of the courtyard of the mosque—an arrange-
ment common enough in Mahomedan, but never found in Buddhist,
buildings. Its gateways, however, which are the principal ornaments
of the outer court, are purely Saracenic, and the western face is
adorned by three propylons similar to that represented in the last
woodcut, but richer and more beautiful, while its interior domes and
roofs are superior to an)' other specimen of Mahomedan art I am
acquainted with of so early an age. They are, too, perhaps, more
striking here, because, though in juxtaposition with the quasi-Hindu-
ism of the court, they exhibit the arched style of the Saracenic
architects in as great a degree of completeness as it exhibited at
any subsequent period.
The other buildings hardly require particular mention, though, as
transition specimens between the two styles, these Jaunpore examples
are well worthy of illustration, and in themselves possess a simplicity
and grandeur not often met with in this style. An appearance of
strength, moreover, is imparted to them by their sloping walls- which
is foreign to our general conception of Saracenic art, though at Tug-
luckabad and elsewhere it is earned even further than at Jaunpore.
Among the Pathans of India the expression of strength is as charac-
teristic of the style as massiveuess is of that of the Normans in
England. In India it is found conjoined witli a degree of refinement
seldom met with elsewhere, and totally free from the coarseness which
in other countries usually besets vigour and boldness of design.