Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/230

 i88 INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. BOOK VII. had settled which characterised their practice in the countries just mentioned. It thus happens that in India we have at least twelve or fifteen different styles of Muhammadan archi- tecture : and if an attempt were made to exhaust all the examples, it would be found necessary to enumerate even a greater number. Meanwhile, however, the following thirteen divisions will probably be found sufficient for present purposes: 1. The first of these is that of Ghazni, which, though not, strictly speaking, in India, had without doubt the most important influence on the Indian styles, and formed in fact the stepping-stone by means of which the architecture of the West was introduced into India, and it long remained the connecting link between the styles of the Eastern and those of the Western world. It would consequently be of the greatest importance in enabling us to understand the early examples of the style in India Proper, if we could describe this one with anything like precision, but for that we must wait till some qualified person visits the province. 2. Next to this comes the Pathdn style of northern India (A.D. 1193-1554), spreading over the whole of Upper India, and lasting for about three centuries and a half. After the death, however, of 'Alau-d-Din Muhammad Shah I. (A.D. 1316) the central power was at times so weak, that the recently conquered outlying provinces were frequently enabled to render themselves independent, and, when this was the case, exhibited their individuality everywhere, by inventing a style of architecture expressive of their local peculiarities. 3. One of the first to exhibit this tendency was the brilliant but short-lived Sharqi dynasty of Jaunpur (A.D. 1394-1476). Though existing for less than a century, they adorned their capital and other cities with a series of mosques and other buildings which are hardly surpassed by those of any city and district in India for magnificence, and by none for a well-marked individuality of treatment. 4. The style adopted by the kings of Gujarat during their period of independence (A.D. 1396-1572) was richer and more varied than that of Jaunpur, though hardly so original or marked by such individuality. They borrowed too much, physically as well as intellectually, from the architecture of the Hindus and Jains, among whom they were located, to be entirely independent ; but the richness of their style is in pro- portion to the Hindu details they introduced. 5. Mdlwd became independent in A.D. 1401, and between that date and A.D. 1569, when they were absorbed in the Mughal empire, her kings adorned their capital at Mandti with palaces and mosques of great magnificence, but more