viii GARDENS OF THE GREAT MUGHALS 



know," he said ; " nothing much, — ^just one of 

 those old Mughal baghs." 



Among the many books dealing with various 

 branches of Indian Art, it is remarkable that 

 none have so far been devoted to the subject of 

 Indian gardening ; although, in its traditional, 

 artistic, and symbolic aspects, the Mughal 

 Paradise Garden supplied the leading motive 

 in Mughal decorative art, and still underlies the 

 whole artistic world of the Indian craftsman 

 and builder. 



This attempt to break fresh ground, this 

 venture into the hitherto unexplored field of the 

 Indian Garden, naturally presents great difficul- 

 ties ; not the least being the short time allowed 

 me for the preparation of this volume, owing to 

 my desire to illustrate the bearing of Indian 

 garden-craft on tiie pressing problem of New 

 Delhi, as well as on the larger subject of the 

 Indian handicrafts. I hope, therefore, that alike 

 my Indian and my English readers wiU be as 

 lenient with me as they can. 



Eastern gardens and their buildings are so 

 closely and significantly interwoven, that the 

 subject of architecture generally, and incidently 

 that of New Delhi, cannot be avoided. Here 



