History of Indian and Eastern ArchitectureFergusson, James
History
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture
Fergusson, James
Architecture -- India; Architecture, Asian
We are hardly yet in a position to push these speculations to their
legitimate issue, and must wait for further information before any
satisfactory conclusion can be derived from them; but meanwhile it may
be pointed out how curiously characteristic of Indian art it is that
this little remote province of Tulava, or Canara, should have a style of
its own, differing essentially from that found in any other part of the
Indian continent, but still having affinities with outlying and distant
countries, with which one would hardly suspect any connection but for
the indications derived from their architecture.
I cannot offer even a plausible conjecture how or at what time a
connection existed between Nepal and Thibet and Canara; but I cannot
doubt that such was the case, and that some one with better
opportunities will hereafter explain what now seems so mysterious. It is
less difficult to conjecture how early and frequent intercourse may have
existed between the Persian Gulf and the western shores of India, and
how the relations between these two countries may have been so intimate
as to account for the amount of Assyrian, or, as we now call them
Armenian, forms we now find in the Jaina architecture of southern India,
especially in that below the Ghâts. It will require, however, that the
Indian branch of the subject should be much more fully and more
scientifically investigated than has hitherto been the case before it is
worth while to do more than indicate how rich a field lies open to
reward the industry of any future explorer.
[Illustration: Map of
INDIA,
Shewing the Principal
INDO-ARYAN
CHALUKYAN & DRAVIDIAN
LOCALITIES.
Vincent Brooks, Day & Son lith.]
BOOK III.
ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.
CHAPTER I.
KASHMIR.
CONTENTS.
Temples--Marttand--Avantipore--Bhaniyar.
Although neither so beautiful in itself, nor so interesting either from
an artistic or historical point of view as many others, the architecture
of the valley of Kashmir has attracted more attention in modern times
than that of any other styles in India, and a greater number of special
treatises have been written regarding it than are devoted to all the
other styles put together. This arises partly from the beauty of the
valley in which the Kashmiri temples are situated. The beauty of its
scenery has at all times attracted tourists to its verdant
snow-encircled plains, and the perfection of its climate has induced
them to linger there, and devote their leisure to the investigation of
its treasures, natural and artistic. In this respect their fate is
widely different from that of temples situated on the hot and dusty
plains of India, where every official is too busy to devote himself to
such a task, and travellers too hurried to linger for a leisurely and
loving survey of their beauties.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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