CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



525 



Hi*ry. 



Delhi 



founded by 

 Belli, 300 

 B.C.; 



detroyed 

 in 1399,l>y 

 Timiir. 



founded 

 by Akbar. 



Delhi re- 

 Mored; 



totally de- 

 stroyed 

 1760. 



Lahore. 



deo Rhator (or the Mahratta) entered Canouge in tri- 

 umph, and reigned there 54 years. The last king un- 

 der whom this city may be considered as the metropolis 

 of a great empire was Maldeo, who, about the begin- 

 ning of the 6th century, added Delhi to his dominions. 

 At this time, Canouge was said to contain 30,000 shops, 

 in which areca was sold. Although jnot the metropo- 

 lis, it long after continued of great consequence. About 

 the year 1000, when Sultan Mahmcd invested it, it is 

 represented as a city which, in strength, had no equal. 

 It became an appendage to the empire established by 

 Mahmed. Ftrishta, vol. i. p. 27. 



Major Rennel is of opinion that Canouge and Palibo- 

 thra were the same. Others endeavour to prove the con- 

 trary ; and that both may have existed at the same time 

 capitals of the Prasii, as Delhi and Agra have done in 

 later times. 



The precise period of the origin of Delhi is not cor- 

 rectly ascertained : According to the Ferishta, it was 

 founded by Delu, who usurped the throne about 300 years 

 before Christ. The Ayeen Akbery fixes it about the 

 commencement of this zra, and informs us, that twenty 

 princes of the name of Bal, or Paul, followed in regu- 

 lar succession for 437 years ; that the last of its native 

 princes was Pithoura, when it was conquered by the 

 Mahomedan slave Cattub, named by Herbelot, Cath- 

 baddin Ibek, who made Delhi the capital of the vast 

 empire he established in Hindostan ; and that each suc- 

 cessive monarch of the Mahomedan dynasty adorned it 

 with splendid edifices, appropriated to the purposes of 

 religion and commerce. At the invasion of Timur Bee, 

 it had arrived at the highest distinction for commerce 

 and wealth, being then the centre of the traffic carried 

 on between Persia, Arabia, and China. Timur entered 

 it on the 4th July 1399 ; and on the 13th of the same 

 month, this celebrated city was destroyed. LSherifed- 

 den, the Persian historian, says, that Old Delhi was ce- 

 lebrated for a mosque and palace, built by an ancient 

 Indian king, in which were 1000 marble columns. Un- 

 der the dynasty which succeeded Timur, it recovered its 

 original splendour, and was again ornamented with 

 mosques, baths, caravan&erahs, and sepulchres. 



The great Akbar, the glory of the Timur house, ha- 

 ving fixed his residence at Agra, Delhi, of course, ex- 

 perienced a partial eclipse ; but in 1647, according to 

 Fraser, Ischaim Shah, the grandson of Akbar, restored 

 Delhi under the name of Ischaimbad, where he built a 

 magnificent palace, formed extensive gardens, and con- 

 structed a throne in the shape of a peacock, whose ex- 

 panded tail was entirely composed of diamonds, and 

 other precious stones. It continued the capital of Hin- 

 dostan till 1738, when it was sacked by Nadir ; and af- 

 terwards repeatedly by Ahmed Abdallah, from 1756 to 

 1 760, when it was totally destroyed. During the reign 

 of Aurenzcbe, it was said to contain two millions of 

 habitants. 



Lahore is situated to the north-west of Delhi, on the 

 banks of the Rauvee, the ancient Hydraotes : it appears 

 to have been the Bucephalus of Alexander. Jeipal, the 

 rajah of Lahore, during the incursions of Subuita- 

 gi, and his son Mahmud, defended his possessions with 

 great bravery ; and so great were his riches, that, when 

 taken prisoner, around his.neck alone was suspended six- 

 teen strings of jewels, each of which was valued at 

 180,000 rupees, and the whole at L. 320,000. Lahore 

 continu.-d to flourish under the sultan of Cosro, and was 

 the imperial seat of Cuttub before he removed it to 

 Delhi ; even afterwards it remained the general store- 

 house for the traffic of Persia, Arabia, India, and China. 



It was restored by Homaion, who, amongst other mag- Histcrf. 

 nificent buildings, erected a palace, which was comple- "'"Y**^ 

 ted by Ischaim Geer, the son of Akbar. This palace, 

 according to Mr Finch, who visited it in 1609, had Visited in 

 twelve gates, nine towards the landside, and three to- J5 F h 

 wards the river. He says, the rarities were too nume- 

 rous and glorious to be represented in a description ; 

 that the mahls, courts, galleries, and rooms of state, 

 were almost endless ; and that, in the king's lodgings, 

 the walls and cielings were overlaid with plates of gold. 

 M. Bernier, who was in this city in the suit of Aureng- 

 zebe, speaks of this palace as a high and magnificent 

 building, but then hastening to ruin. 



Agra, the Agara of Ptolemy, situated in 27 15' north Agra 

 latitude, on the bank of the Jumna, we have already 

 observed, was raised to splendour by the great Acbar. 

 He caused the earthen wall, by which the city had been 

 inclosed by the Patan monarchs, to be taken away, and 

 replaced by one of hewn stone, brought from the quar- 

 ries of Fettipore. He collected the most skilful artifi- 

 cers from every part of his dominions ; and the palace 

 alone employed above 1000 workmen for twelve years. 

 The castle was built in the form of a crescent, upon the 

 banks of the Jumna ; and in a line with it were ranged 

 the palaces of the princes and great rajahs, intersected 

 with canals and beautiful gardens. Acbar also erected 

 many caravanserahs and mosques. He invited foreigners 

 of all nations ; he built them factories ; and permitted to made a free 

 all the free use of their religion. It was soon crowded city by 

 with Persian, Arabian, and Chinese merchants, besides Ac ar ' 

 those immediately from European settlements. But when 

 Ischaim removed the imperial insignia and treasures to 

 Delhi, and made it the residence of his court, Agra sunk 

 rapidly to decay. 



These five imperial cities seem, with regard to extent, 

 splendour, and wealth, to have exceeded the greatest 

 cities of the western world : And, beside these, many 

 others were almost of equal magnificence ; for Chundery 

 is said to have contained 384 markets, and 360 caravan* 

 serahs ; and Ahmedabad was once so large as to require 

 to be divided into 360 quarters. Maurice, Ind. Antiq. 

 vol. i. pp. 118, 124. 



These extensive and proud cities, were evidently the 

 symbols of temporary policy and power, and have passed 

 away, like so many splendid scenes on the great theatre 

 of the East. From the particulars which will be detail- 

 ed under the Practice of Architecture, we shall be able to 

 form some notion of the eastern manner of building ; but 

 as the religion of India has been more permanent than 

 their political relations, it is from the sacred edifices we 

 are to trace most distinctly the characters of Indian archi- 

 tecture, and be enabled to judge how far they have any Temples in 

 affinity with those of other nations. Of their large temples five differ, 

 (pagodas) we find accounts of five different forms. *"' form "' 



1. Simple pyramids constructed of large stonea, and Pyramids, 

 diminished by regular recesses or steps, as at Deogur 



and Tanjore ; the exterior rude, and the interior having 

 only lights from without by a small entrance door ; illu- 

 minated by a profusion of lamps, with the exception of 

 a chamber in the middle, which has only a single lamp. 

 Aquetil says, that to him one of the mountains of Cana- 

 ra seemed hewn to a point by human art. 



2. The second kind were formed by excavations in Eicava- 

 the sides of rocky mountains. Abul Fazel (Ayeet^ Ak- tiom. 

 lory, vol. ii. p. 208.) says, that, in the soobah of Cash* 



mere, in the middle of the mountains, 12,000 recesses 

 were cut out of the solid rock. From Captain U'ilford's 

 paper on Caucasus, inserted in the sixth volume of the 

 Asiatic Researches, we learn, that an extensive branch, 



