DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27192#0307
272
INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. Book VII.
(Woodcut No. 408), it will be seen what immense strides the
Indian architects had made in constructive skill and elegance
of detail during the century and a half that elapsed between
the erection of these two buildings. If they were drawn to the
same scale this would be more apparent than it is at first
sight; but on half the present scale the details of the Kulbarga
mosque could hardly be expressed, while the largeness of the
parts, and regularity of arrangement can, in the scale adopted,
be made perfectly clear in the Bijapur example. The latter
is, undoubtedly, the more perfect of the two, but there is a
picturesqueness about the earlier building, and a poetry about
its arrangements, that go far to make up for the want of the
skill and the elegance exhibited in its more modern rival.
The tomb which ’All ’Adil Shah II. (1656-1672) commenced
for himself was placed on a high square basement, measuring
215 ft. each way, and had it been completed as designed would
have rivalled any tomb in India. The central apartment is
79 ft. square, and is surrounded by a double arcade, the arches
of which resemble the Gothic form being struck from two
centres, and the curves reaching the crown.
It is one of the disadvantages of the Turanian system of
each king building his own tomb, that if he dies early his work
remains unfinished. This defect is more than compensated
in practice by the fact
that unless a man builds
his own sepulchre, the
chances are very much
against anything worthy
of admirationbeing dedi-
cated to his memory by
his surviving relatives.
His grandfather,
Ibrahim 11.(1579-1626),
had commenced his
mausoleum on so small
a plan—116 ft. square—
that, as he enjoyed a
long and prosperous
reign, it was only by
ornament that he could
414. Tomb or Rauza of Ibrahim. (From a Plan by him
Mr Cumming.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in. . "Oruiy 01 mrj)~
self, his favourite wife,
and other members of his family.1 This, however, he accomplished
1 Zohra Sultana, his favourite daughter, 5 of whom an inscription states that the
and his mother occupy the graves on Rauza is a memorial; and the graves of
each side of Ibrahim’s ; his wife Taj two sons complete the series.
SuMna’s is next her mother-in-law’s,
INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. Book VII.
(Woodcut No. 408), it will be seen what immense strides the
Indian architects had made in constructive skill and elegance
of detail during the century and a half that elapsed between
the erection of these two buildings. If they were drawn to the
same scale this would be more apparent than it is at first
sight; but on half the present scale the details of the Kulbarga
mosque could hardly be expressed, while the largeness of the
parts, and regularity of arrangement can, in the scale adopted,
be made perfectly clear in the Bijapur example. The latter
is, undoubtedly, the more perfect of the two, but there is a
picturesqueness about the earlier building, and a poetry about
its arrangements, that go far to make up for the want of the
skill and the elegance exhibited in its more modern rival.
The tomb which ’All ’Adil Shah II. (1656-1672) commenced
for himself was placed on a high square basement, measuring
215 ft. each way, and had it been completed as designed would
have rivalled any tomb in India. The central apartment is
79 ft. square, and is surrounded by a double arcade, the arches
of which resemble the Gothic form being struck from two
centres, and the curves reaching the crown.
It is one of the disadvantages of the Turanian system of
each king building his own tomb, that if he dies early his work
remains unfinished. This defect is more than compensated
in practice by the fact
that unless a man builds
his own sepulchre, the
chances are very much
against anything worthy
of admirationbeing dedi-
cated to his memory by
his surviving relatives.
His grandfather,
Ibrahim 11.(1579-1626),
had commenced his
mausoleum on so small
a plan—116 ft. square—
that, as he enjoyed a
long and prosperous
reign, it was only by
ornament that he could
414. Tomb or Rauza of Ibrahim. (From a Plan by him
Mr Cumming.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in. . "Oruiy 01 mrj)~
self, his favourite wife,
and other members of his family.1 This, however, he accomplished
1 Zohra Sultana, his favourite daughter, 5 of whom an inscription states that the
and his mother occupy the graves on Rauza is a memorial; and the graves of
each side of Ibrahim’s ; his wife Taj two sons complete the series.
SuMna’s is next her mother-in-law’s,