Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/209

 CHAP. V. PALACES, 169 gonistic feelings of the two religions into at least a superficial similarity. At Kota, about 50 miles N.N.W. from Jhalrapathan, is a fine marble mausoleum erected in memory of the Maharao Umed Singh who died in 1819. It is of considerable size, and the taste shown in the rich surface decorations, as well as in the arrangement, is good. The style is more Muhammadan than Hindu, and the dome appears heavy for the supporting columns. 1 Further north, where the Jaina style had not been used to the same extent at least as in the south-west, the Hindus adopted quite a different style in their palaces and cenotaphs. It was much more of an arched style, and though never, so far as I know, using a true arch, they adopted the form of the foliated arch, which is so common in the palaces of Agra and Delhi, and in all the Mughal buildings. In the palace at Dig, and in the cenotaphs of Govardhan, this style is seen in great perfection. It is well illustrated, with all its peculiarities, in the preceding view of the tomb of Bakhtawar Singh at Alwar, erected about 1815 (Woodcut No. 358). To a European eye, perhaps the least pleasing part will be the Bengali curved cornices alluded to in the last chapter ; but to any one familiar with the style, its employment gets over many difficulties that a straight line could hardly meet, and altogether it makes up with its domes and pavilions as pleasing a group of its class as is to be found in India, of its age at least. The tombs of the Bharatpur Rajas, Randhir Singh and Baldeva Singh, at Govardhan, with the earlier one of Suraj Mai (about 1770) are similar to this one, but on a larger scale, and some of them being older, are in better taste ; but the more modern ones avoid most of the faults that are only too characteristic of the art in India at the present day, and some of them are very modern. One was in course of construction when I was there in 1839, and from its architect I learned more of the secrets of art as practised in the Middle Ages than I have learned from all the books I have since read. Another was commenced after the time of my visit, and it is far from being one of the worst buildings of its class. If one could only inspire the natives with a feeling of pride in their own style, there seems little doubt that even now they could rival the works of their forefathers. PALACES. Another feature by which the northern style is most pleasingly distinguished from the southern, is the number and beauty of the palaces, which are found in all the capitals of the 1 A view of this is given on plate 23 of 'Architecture, etc., in Gujarat and Rajputana.'