SO-CALLED "GARDENS" IN ANCIENT INDIA 



E. W. SLATER 



Where Artificial Effects in Water were the Essential Feature as Suitable to a Torrid Climate; 

 Plants Being Mere Accessories — Passing of the Old under Pressure of Modern Western Ideals 



GATEWAY WITH WATER COURSES OF THE TAJ MAHAL 



The central channel has a long row of fountains down the middle and forms the main 

 feature, to which the supporting columnar evergreens and framing trees give emphasis 



IHE distinctive features of the ancient Indian gardens are 

 being altogether lost, and are being replaced by the 

 gardens which are typical of the West. In horti- 

 cultural work Indian artists had a skill and a taste 

 which was not without its value. It was the Mughal rulers who 

 gave the greatest attention to the cultivation of gardens, and 

 they came from Persia, a land where gardens are the most pic- 

 turesque in the East, maybe in the world. The gardens of 

 Persia have been praised by many a skilful poet, while not a few 

 artists have shown her glories on the canvas. 



No wonder then that the Mughal rulers should have sought 

 to introduce into the country they had invaded something of 

 the glory of their own land. Then too, in Rajputana, the Hindu 

 rulers devoted considerable attention to the cultivation of their 

 gardens, and still a few remain to show us what could be done by 

 those artistic workers. But for the most part, the ruling princes 

 of India are more and more enamoured of the Western idea 

 of a garden, and wherever possible, lawns and open places, wide 

 roads and parks are being made. 



The authorities in British India have shown little desire to 

 carry on the gardening schemes handed down from the Mughals, 

 though earnest appeals have been made in connection with the 

 building of the New Delhi, that the Indian scheme should be 

 followed as far as possible. 



A little observation of a few of the features of the ancient gar- 

 dens, discloses, as may be expected, that the features generally 

 were such as conformed to the conditions of the country, and 

 were adapted to a land that knows the discomforts of a 

 hot climate. How far they might be followed in the West is a 



matter on which it is not easy to give any opinion, though there 

 is no doubt that in countries where the summer is very hot, 

 certain features may be adopted. 



Shade and Cool in a Hot Climate 



THE Mughal rulers believed that "a garden was the purest 

 of human pleasures" and stinted neither time nor money in 

 the execution of their schemes. We read of Babar making many 

 long, wearisome journeys to one of his residences in order to 

 supervise the garden he was forming. The Indian was anxious 

 to create a garden which would give him the necessary shade and 

 afford him a place where he could rest in comfort during the 

 long, hot summer months. Water thus became the central motif. 

 He also sought to provide himself with a place in which he 

 could exercise his imagination and sentiment, and with this 

 in view, his garden was so arranged that it was most 

 attractive during the moonlight. It is interesting to note how 

 anxious these rulers were to obtain delightful moonlight ef- 

 fects, and many travelers have been most impressed by re- 

 membrance of the gardens by moonlight. 



Scarcely a visitor to Agra will miss the opportunity of seeing 

 the gardens of the Taj on a moonlight night. One instinctively 

 feels that the architect had such a possibility in his mind when 

 he created the gardens and the tomb. We know from the 

 accounts that have come down to us how greatly the wealthy 

 nobles appreciated the moonlit garden, and many a romance is 

 woven around such scenes. We may be sure that in the ancient 

 gardens these two features were always kept in view. 

 One cannot imagine an Eastern garden without a system of 



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