DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0567
Chap. VI.
MALWA.
543
Courtyard of Great Mosque at Matidu. (From a Sketch l»y the"Author.)
place of a stern old Pathan king. Both internally and externally it
is reveted with white niarhle, artistically, but not constructively,
applied, and consequently in many places peeling off. The light is
only admitted by the doorway and two small windows, so that the
interior is gloomy, but not more so than seems suitable to its
destination.
On one side of tbe mosque is a splendid Dharmsala, or hall, 230 ft.
long, supported by three ranges of pillars, twenty-eight in each row.
These are either borrowed from a Hindu edifice, or formed by some
native architect from stones originally Hindu, and on the north side
is a porch, which is avowedly only a re-erection of the pillars of a
Jaina dome.
The palaces of Mandu are, however, perhaps even more remarkable
than its mosques. Of these the principal is called Jehaj Mehal, from
its being situated between two great tanks—almost literally in the
water, like a "ship." It is so covered with vegetation that it is almost
impossible to sketch or photograph it,1 but its mass and picturesque
outline make it one of the most remarkable edifices of its date ; very
unlike the refined elegance afterwards introduced by the Moguls, but
well worthy of being the residence of an independent Pathan chief of
a warrior state.
The principal apartment is a vaulted hall, some 24 ft. wide by
1 A view of this palace, but not from the best point of view, will be found in
Elliot's ' Viows in the Kust.'
MALWA.
543
Courtyard of Great Mosque at Matidu. (From a Sketch l»y the"Author.)
place of a stern old Pathan king. Both internally and externally it
is reveted with white niarhle, artistically, but not constructively,
applied, and consequently in many places peeling off. The light is
only admitted by the doorway and two small windows, so that the
interior is gloomy, but not more so than seems suitable to its
destination.
On one side of tbe mosque is a splendid Dharmsala, or hall, 230 ft.
long, supported by three ranges of pillars, twenty-eight in each row.
These are either borrowed from a Hindu edifice, or formed by some
native architect from stones originally Hindu, and on the north side
is a porch, which is avowedly only a re-erection of the pillars of a
Jaina dome.
The palaces of Mandu are, however, perhaps even more remarkable
than its mosques. Of these the principal is called Jehaj Mehal, from
its being situated between two great tanks—almost literally in the
water, like a "ship." It is so covered with vegetation that it is almost
impossible to sketch or photograph it,1 but its mass and picturesque
outline make it one of the most remarkable edifices of its date ; very
unlike the refined elegance afterwards introduced by the Moguls, but
well worthy of being the residence of an independent Pathan chief of
a warrior state.
The principal apartment is a vaulted hall, some 24 ft. wide by
1 A view of this palace, but not from the best point of view, will be found in
Elliot's ' Viows in the Kust.'