WATER MAGIC 113 



passing glance as we drive or ride or motor 

 by. But who would wish to motor through a 

 garden ? 



A garden is for leisurely delights, delicate 

 scents, delightful harmonies of colour, open spaces 

 for games, and maybe clear reservoirs to swim in ; 

 but in India, where the chosen and recurrent 

 theme of every art is the beauty of contempla- 

 tion, the garden should indeed above all be a 

 place of cool restfulness, a real Arama, for tired 

 eyes and minds. It is the new roads more than 

 anything else which have ruined gardens like 

 the old pleasance of the Princess Roshanara, 

 or the Queen's Gardens in Delhi City ; the 

 winding drives which give a sense of restlessness 

 and exposure, as they cut up the garden with their 

 broad bare gravel sweeps, and make the flower 

 borders, however large, look mean and unrelated 

 to each other. The beautiful canals of Indian 

 gardens, on the other hand — the cosmic cross 

 on which the old designs are based — ^have just 

 the opposite effect. The long lines of the great 

 water-ways and paths, hedged in by trees, produce 

 a wonderful sense of stately dignity and peace, 

 while the tranquil breadth of water repeats the 

 flowers, trees, and buildings with a double magic 



15 



