History of Indian and Eastern ArchitectureFergusson, James
History
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture
Fergusson, James
Architecture -- India; Architecture, Asian
To this we shall have occasion to revert presently, when describing the
Dravidian style; but meanwhile it may be assumed that this theory
represents the facts of the case more nearly than any hitherto brought
forward. The Chalukyas of Kalian were situated on the border-line,
halfway between the north and the south, and they, or their subjects,
seemed to have practised the styles of architecture belonging to those
two divisions indiscriminately--it might almost be said alternately--and
we consequently find them mixed up here and at Dhumnar in a manner that
is most puzzling.
The last king of this race, Vicramaditya II., ascended the throne A.D.
733,[289] and died probably in or about the year A.D. 750. It was
probably, therefore, before that date that these Dravidian temple-forms
were introduced by the Jains at Ellora. The Kylas and other great Saiva
temples were, I believe, excavated by the Cheras or Cholas, who were the
Dravidian races, and, if I mistake not, superseded the Chalukyas on the
death of Vicramaditya, their last king, and carried their power, as will
presently be explained, up to the Nerbudda. The Jains, however, seem to
have been earlier in the field, and this little shrine in the court of
the Indra Subha looks very much as if it may have been the model that
suggested the Kylas, the greatest of all Indian rock-cut examples of its
class.
CONVERTED MOSQUES.
Another form in which we can study the architecture of the Jains in the
north of India is the courtyards of the early mosques which the
Mahomedans erected on their first entry into India. So essentially do
some of these retain their former features that it might be convenient
to describe them here. It is doubtful, however, in some instances
whether the pillars are--some or all of them--in their original
position, or to what extent they have been altered or eked out by the
conquerors. Be this as it may, for our present purposes the one fact
that is certain is, that none of them are now Jaina temples. All are
Mahomedan mosques, and it will, therefore, be more logical, as well as
more convenient, to group them with the latter rather than with the
former class of buildings.
Were it not for this, the Arhaí-dín-ka Jomphra, at Ajmir--so
called--might be, and has been, described as a Jaina temple.[290] So
might a great part of the mosque at the Kutub, Delhi. That at Canouge,
however, was originally a rearrangement, and has been much altered since
I knew it; that at Dhar, near Mandu, is of comparatively recent date;
while the Jaina pillars, so frequently used at Ahmedabad in the 15th
century, are all imported, and used in positions for which they never
were intended.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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