27 
INDIAN CONSTRUCTION. 
Under the name of Indian Architecture may be included Hindus- 
tan, Gentoo, Chinese, or Turkish; which latter is a mixture of the 
other three. But this construction is distinct from the Gothic, in hav- 
ing little or no lateral pressure; and from the Grecian, in having a dif- 
ferent mode of applying the perpendicular pressure ; for although at 
the first sight we might be led to suppose the Arches constructed on 
a centre, like those of Europe ; yet on a closer examination they will 
be found to consist of horizontal strata, supported by the process of 
what is technically called ‘ corbelling out, or placing the materials 
in such a position, that the aperture may be larger at the bottom than 
the top, by each stratum of stone overhanging the other. From the 
specimens discovered in the Indian excavations, there is no doubt but 
the original idea was taken from those subterraneous caves or grottos. 
The people who formed these awful wonders of antiquity, instead 
of erecting buildings on the surface of the ground, began their opera- 
tions by cutting away the foundation of a rock to obtain room below, 
without endangering the superstructure ; and thus by degrees the Indian 
Architecture seems to have grown from the rudest excavations of Tro- 
glodite savages, to the most beautiful forms discovered in the Temples 
of Salsetta, of Elora, and Elephantis. 
