Report of tie Arclceological Survey. liii 



to the eastward but to the southward, as are also those of the Taj Mahal, 

 and of most other modern tombs. The only exception that I know is the 

 tomb of Altamish, of which the entrance is to theeastward. Theargument 

 of Sy ad Ahmad includes also the position of the entrance doors of Hindu 

 buildings, which, as he says, are always placed to the northward. 

 But this is an undoubted mistake, as a very great majority of Hindu 

 temples have their entrances to the eastward. On referring to my 

 note-books, I find that, out of 50 temples, of which I have a record, 

 no less than 38 have their entrances to the east, 10 to the west, and 

 only 2 to the north, both of which last are in the Fort of Gwalior. 



101. 4th. — Syad Ahmad further objects that " it is customary for 

 the Hindus to commence such buildings without any platform (or 

 plinth), whereas the Muhammadans always erect their buildings upon 

 a raised terrace or platform, as may be seen in the unfinished Minar 

 of Ala-uddin Khilji." In this statement about the Hindu buildings, 

 Syad Ahmad is again mistaken, as it is most undoubtedly the usual 

 custom of the Hindus to raise their temples on plinths. I can point 

 to the gigantic Buddhist temple at Buddha Gaya as springing from a 

 plinth nearly 20 feet in height. The two largest temples in the Fort 

 of Gwalior, one Brahmanical and the other Jain, are both raised on 

 plinths, so also are the elaborately sculptured temples of Kajraha, 

 and so are most of the temples in Kashmir. Lastly, the Great Pillar 

 at Chitor has a plinth not less than 8 or 10 feet in height, as may be 

 seen in Fergusson's and Tod's Drawings, and which Tod* describes 

 as " an ample terrace 42 feet square." The smaller pillar at Chitor 

 must also have a good plinth, as Fergusson describes the entrance as 

 at some height above the base. That the Muhammadans in India 

 also erect their buildings on plinths or raised terraces, I readily 

 admit • for, on the same principle that a cuckoo may be said to build 

 a nest, the Musalmans usually placed their buildings on the sites of 

 Hindu temples which they had previously destroyed. The Mosques 

 at Mathura, Kanoj, and Jonpur, are signal examples of this practice. 

 The raised terrace is therefore only an accidental adjunct of the 

 Muhammadan building, whereas it is a fundamental part of the Hindu 

 structure. But the early Musalmans did not place their buildings on 

 raised terraces or platforms, as may be seen by a reference to the 

 drawings of Mosques in Syria and Persia, which are given in Fer- 

 gusson's Hand-book. f The Ghaznivides also, who were the more 

 * Rajasthan, II. 761. t Vol. L, p. 415. 



