DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0559
Chap. A'.
GUJERAT : TOMBS.
535
the base of the dome is a dodecagon, and a very considerable amount
of variety is obtained by grouping the pillars in twos and fours,
and by the different spacing. In elevation the dome looks heavy for
the substructure, but not so in perspective; and when the screens
were added to inclose the central square, it was altogether the
most successful sepulchral design earned out in the pillared style at
Ahmedabad.
Towards the end of their career, the architects of Ahmedabad
evinced a strong tendency to revert to the arched forms generally
used by their brethren in other countries. Mahinud Begurra built
himself a tomb near Kaira, which is wholly in the arched style, and
remains one of the most splendid sepulchres in India.1 lie also
erected at Butwa, near Ahmedabad, a tomb over the grave of a saint,
which is in every respect in the same style. So little, however, were
the builders accustomed to arched forms, that, though the plan is
judiciously disposed by placing smaller arches outside the larger, so
as to abut them, still all those of the outer range have fallen down,
and the whole is very much crippled, while the tomb without arches,
that stands within a few yards of it, remains entire. The scale of the
two, however (Plan No. 305), reveals the secret of the preference
accorded to the arch as a constructive expedient The larger piers,
the wider spacing, the whole dimensions, were on a grander scale
than could be attained with beams only, as the Hindus used them.
As the Greeks and Romans employed these features, any dimensions
that were feasible with arches could be attained by pillars ; but
the Hindus worked to a smaller modulus, and do not seem to have
known how to increase it. It must, however, be remarked that they
generally used pillars only in courts, where there was nothing to
compare them with but the spectator's own height; and there
the forms employed by them were large enough. It was only
when the Moslems came to use them externally, and in conjunction
with arches and other larger features, that their diminutive scale
became apparent.
It is perhaps the evidence of a declining age to find size becoming
the principal aim. But it is certainly one great and important
ingredient in architectural design, and so thought the later architects
of Ahmedabad. In their later mosques and buildings they attained
greater dimensions, but it was at the expense of all that renders their
earlier style so beautiful and so interesting.2
1 Described farther on, p. 538, Wood-
cuts Xos. 306 and 307.
'-' I understand from Mr. Burgess that,
daring his recent visit t«« Almicduliud.
lie copied a number of inscriptions from
llic mosques there which prove that some
of the names given to the buildings arc
erroneous. When these are published
new names and dates must in some
instances lie given to several of the
buildings, but the alterations, as I
understand it. are not vary important.
GUJERAT : TOMBS.
535
the base of the dome is a dodecagon, and a very considerable amount
of variety is obtained by grouping the pillars in twos and fours,
and by the different spacing. In elevation the dome looks heavy for
the substructure, but not so in perspective; and when the screens
were added to inclose the central square, it was altogether the
most successful sepulchral design earned out in the pillared style at
Ahmedabad.
Towards the end of their career, the architects of Ahmedabad
evinced a strong tendency to revert to the arched forms generally
used by their brethren in other countries. Mahinud Begurra built
himself a tomb near Kaira, which is wholly in the arched style, and
remains one of the most splendid sepulchres in India.1 lie also
erected at Butwa, near Ahmedabad, a tomb over the grave of a saint,
which is in every respect in the same style. So little, however, were
the builders accustomed to arched forms, that, though the plan is
judiciously disposed by placing smaller arches outside the larger, so
as to abut them, still all those of the outer range have fallen down,
and the whole is very much crippled, while the tomb without arches,
that stands within a few yards of it, remains entire. The scale of the
two, however (Plan No. 305), reveals the secret of the preference
accorded to the arch as a constructive expedient The larger piers,
the wider spacing, the whole dimensions, were on a grander scale
than could be attained with beams only, as the Hindus used them.
As the Greeks and Romans employed these features, any dimensions
that were feasible with arches could be attained by pillars ; but
the Hindus worked to a smaller modulus, and do not seem to have
known how to increase it. It must, however, be remarked that they
generally used pillars only in courts, where there was nothing to
compare them with but the spectator's own height; and there
the forms employed by them were large enough. It was only
when the Moslems came to use them externally, and in conjunction
with arches and other larger features, that their diminutive scale
became apparent.
It is perhaps the evidence of a declining age to find size becoming
the principal aim. But it is certainly one great and important
ingredient in architectural design, and so thought the later architects
of Ahmedabad. In their later mosques and buildings they attained
greater dimensions, but it was at the expense of all that renders their
earlier style so beautiful and so interesting.2
1 Described farther on, p. 538, Wood-
cuts Xos. 306 and 307.
'-' I understand from Mr. Burgess that,
daring his recent visit t«« Almicduliud.
lie copied a number of inscriptions from
llic mosques there which prove that some
of the names given to the buildings arc
erroneous. When these are published
new names and dates must in some
instances lie given to several of the
buildings, but the alterations, as I
understand it. are not vary important.