36 



The Garden Magazine, September, 1921 



WATER CHUTE IN MUHAMMADAN GARDEN 



Water falling from a considerable height is introduced largely 

 for the fact that the spray has a cooling influence on the air 



water, and that not merely for the feeding of the plants, but 

 for the cooling of the atmosphere inside the garden. Running 

 water was essential to an Eastern garden. In some cases 

 the water was brought into the garden by means of long 

 channels which then divided into many smaller channels 

 supplying the various parts of the gardens; or a running stream 

 was dammed and brought into use. When the Emperor Babar 

 came to India he was greatly disappointed at the lack of 

 suitable water conditions for his gardens, and when he sought 

 to make a garden worthy of his old country near to Agra, 

 he had to spend large sums of money in digging wells to 

 give him the necessary supply. Unless the gardener was as- 

 sured of an adequate supply of water for his channels, and 

 his fountains, he would not begin his work. 



It is impossible at this time to give more than a few notes on 

 the methods by which the water was made an essential part of 

 the Indian garden, but some useful information can be obtained 

 from a book written several years ago "The Gardens of the 

 Great Mughals" by Mrs. C. M. Villiers Stuart; and from the 

 accompanying illustrations it will be seen how important a part 

 the water plays. In the Taj Mahal it will be seen that the cen- 

 tral channel, which has a long row of foun- 

 tains, is the main feature of the garden. 

 From the central tank two arms go, at right 

 angles, the whole width of the garden, while 

 again from these smaller branches go to the 

 inner parts. Some of the most wonderful 

 reflections can be obtained of the beautiful 

 Taj, a fact which adds to the peculiar beauty 

 of the channel and tank scheme of the 

 garden. 



Not only did these Indian garden- 

 ers introduce water by means of such 

 channels as have been referred to; 

 but it was not uncommon, where a 

 good fall could be obtained, to have 

 one or more waterfalls. While the 

 effect of these is most picturesque 

 there was, above all else, the resulting 

 cooling of the air. Seldom does one 

 see anything to correspond with 

 these artificial waterfalls in the 

 gardens of the West, and, while they 

 may introduce an air of artificiality, 

 there can be no doubt they lend 

 considerable picturesqueness to the 

 garden as a whole. Again, we find 

 the use to which water is put in a 

 Zenana Garden in Udaipur, the 

 Fairy-land city of Rajputana. The 

 square tank fills practically the 

 whole of the garden. In the centre 

 is erected a dainty pavilion, under 

 which the ladies sometimes sit. The 

 whole effect of this enclosed garden, 

 used exclusively by the ladies of 

 the royal household, is pretty; while it affords the coolest shelter 

 from the hot winds of the desert around. The island gardens 

 of Udaipur need a special note, for they are unique in many 

 respects. Advantage has been taken of the islands in the 

 lake, for these have been transformed into island gardens. On 

 each of these is a palace, and around the palace, which is built 

 of marble, there is a lovely garden, with the usual water channels 

 running from one side to the other. The water effects, both 

 inside the island and outside are wonderful, and leave an impres- 

 sion not soon erased. Percival Landon describes his impres- 

 sions as he visited these island gardens. "Tier above tier the 

 snowy walls and terraces rise from the very ripples of the lake, 

 where under the kiss of the wind their reflection makes a matted 

 tangle of white. Here and there the whiteness of the half- 

 translucent architecture is relieved by a touch of green where 

 a banyan or a group of acacias rises from a walled-in garden 

 plot, but the same quick white, of half a hundred shades and 

 values, argent in the sun and veil-blue in the shadows, spreads 

 along the palace wall or points itself into the dome and pinnacle 

 of the roof, till the upper line cuts the blue of the air, white 

 from end to end of the thousand feet of the palace sky line, 



ANGURI BAGH IN 

 THE AGRA FORT 



The one garden left com- 

 plete in these Mughal pal- 

 aces, with its elaborate 

 stone design having only 

 grass between its masonry 

 features. Gardens were not 

 yet made for or by plants 



