CHABUTRA FOUNTAINS 161 



used as much in the open garden as they were 

 in rooms or verandahs. Sometimes they were 

 introduced in the centre of a raised stone 

 chabutra ; or placed at intervals along the 

 narrow watercourses like those at Hazrat Bal, 

 the finest of which we found hidden away 

 under the wooden platform of the mosque. This 

 was almost lost, buried under the mud and refuse, 

 when, thanks to the exertions of some village 

 boys urged on by two white-bearded elders, we 

 unearthed this really fine example of the stone- 

 mason's art. It is a large oval basin cut in 

 eight deep flutes radiating from the centre ; each 

 division having a fish or wild duck carved in relief, 

 represented as about to swim away over the edge 

 of the fountain. A crane or stork is carved at 

 each end where the basin is cut away to meet 

 the swirl of the water as it rushed in and out 

 from the narrow canal. The second fountain is 

 similar, but smaller. 



Charming as they are from a purely decorative 

 point of view, these fountains are more notice- 

 able on account of the birds and living creatures 

 used in their ornamentation. This points to their 

 early origin, when under the wise, art-loving 



Akbar the old Hindu temple carvers and crafts- 



21 



