Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/663

 INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. " More thought than woe was in her dusky face, For she was prophesying of her glory : And in lier wide imagination stood Pahn-shaded temples and high rival fanes By Oxiis or on Ganges' sacred isles."' — Keats. I. INFLUENCES. i. Geographical. — India — a three-cornered country — occupies an area fifteen times greater than Great Britain. Bounded on the North by the Himalayas, on the North-West by the Suleiman mountains, and on the East by the heights of Southern Assam, the remaining portion is bounded by the sea. The coasts, deficient in good harbours, may have helped to keep the people aloof from extraneous influences ; but by her position she was destined to receive the human overflow from the ancient breeding grounds of Central Asia. The rivers, as the Nerbudda, Ganges, Indus, Krishna, and Jumna, were important as affording employment to thousands of boatmen, and were utilized for rafting down timber used for building from the immense forests. By forming trade routes or cheap highways they assisted in the formation of great cities. The Ganges-Jumna Valley contains some of the principal cities of architectural importance. Delhi (the " Rome of India "), a collec- tion of ruins of different cities, covers nearly 50 square miles. It was the capital of the Mogul Emperors (page 671). Its architectural importance was probably gained through being at the junction of four historic roads, viz. : that from the Lower Ganges, the Hindu Koosh, the Indus Valley and the Gulf of Cambay. Delhi is therefore the centre of India, as London is of England. The rock-cut temples on the Western Ghats are attributed by some to the influence of Egypt, Persia, and Assyria, as they contain capitals and columns of similar design. The proximity of the Greek Bactrian Kingdom in the north-west had consider- able classical influence on the architecture, primarily of the