

JOURNAL 



ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



SEPTEMBER, 1848. 



An Essay on the Avian Order of Architecture, as exhibited in the Tem- 

 ples of Kashmir. By Captain A. Cunningham, Engineers. (Com- 

 municated by H. M. Elliot, Esq. Secretary to the Government of 

 India.) 



Introduction. 



1. The architectural remains of Kashmir are perhaps the most 

 remarkable of the existing monuments of India, as they exhibit un- 

 doubted traces of the influence of Grecian art. The Hindu temple is 

 generally a sort of architectural pasty, a huge collection of ornamental 

 fritters huddled together either with or without keeping ; while the Jain 

 temple is usually a vast forest of pillars, made to look as unlike one 

 another as possible, by some paltry differences in their petty details. 

 On the other hand, the Kashmirian fanes are distinguished by the grace- 

 ful elegance of their outlines, by the massive boldness of their parts, and 

 by the happy propriety of their decorations. They cannot indeed vie 

 with the severe simplicity of the Parthenon, nor with the luxuriant 

 gracefulness of the monument of Lysicrates: but they possess great 

 beauty ; different indeed, yet quite their own. 



2. The characteristic features of the Kashmirian architecture are 

 its lofty pyramidal roofs, its trefoiled doorways covered by pyramidal 

 pediments, and the great width of its intercolumniations. The Grecian 

 pediment is very low, and its roof exceedingly flat : the Kashmirian 

 pediment, on the contrary, is extremely lofty, and its roof, high. The 

 former is adapted for a sunny and almost rainless climate, while the 



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