Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/99

Rh seraglio, and commanded a view of the river across the sandy tract where the elephant fights took place and the Rája's troops paraded. The lofty walls were slightly fortified with battlements and towers and surrounded by a moat, and small field pieces were pointed upon the town from the embrasures. The palace within was the most magnificent building of its kind in the East, and the private rooms or mahall alone covered more than twice the space of the Escurial or of any European palace. One entered the fort between two gigantic stone elephants carrying the statues of Rájas Jai Mal and Pattá of Chitór, who offered a determined resistance to Akbar, and, sooner than submit, died in a last desperate sally; so that their memory was cherished even by their enemies. Passing between these stone heroes 'with indiscribable awe and respect,' and crossing the courtyard within, the long and spacious Silver Street stretched before one, with its canal running down the middle, and its raised pavements and arcades on either side. Other streets opened in every direction, and here and there were seen the merchants' caravanserais and the great workshops where the artisans employed by the Emperor and the nobles plied their hereditary crafts of embroidery, silver and gold smithery, gun-making, lacquer-work, muslin, painting, turning, and so forth.

Delhi was famous for its skill in the arts and crafts. It was only under royal or aristocratic patronage that the artist flourished; elsewhere the artisan was at the mercy of his temporary employer, who paid him