Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/244

 202 INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. BOOK VII. the two-storeyed pavilions in the angles, and those behind the screen, may perhaps be as originally erected ; but to this we will return when speaking of the Ajmir mosque, where the Hindu pillars are probably all re-arranged. It is quite certain, how- ever, that some of the pillars at the Qutb are made up of dissimilar fragments, and all were placed where they now stand by the builders of the mosque. It may, however, be necessary to explain that there could be no difficulty in taking down and rebuilding these erections, because the joints of the pillars are all fitted with the precision that Hindu patience alone could give. Each compartment of the roof is composed of nine stones four architraves, four angular and one central slab (as explained in diagram No. 174, vol. i., p. 314), all so exactly fitted, and so in- dependent of cement, as easily to be taken down and put up again. The same is true of the domes, all which being honestly and fairly fitted, would suffer no damage from the process of removal and re-erection. The section (Woodcut No. 370), of one half of the principal colonnade (the one facing the great series of arches) will explain 370. Section 01 part of East Colonnade at the Qutb, Old Delhi. Scale 25 ft. to i in. its form better than words can do. It is so purely Jaina in arrangement, that it should, perhaps, have been mentioned in speaking of that style ; but as forming a part of the earliest mosque in India, it is more appropriately introduced in this place. The pillars are of the same order as those used on Mount Abu (Woodcut No. 284), except that those at Delhi are much richer and more elaborate. Most of them probably belong to the nth or I2th century, and are among the few p. 176). This, however, proves little, unless we know what the temples were like which were destroyed for this pur- pose. Twenty-seven temples like those at Khajuraho, excepting the Ghantai, would not provide pillars for one half the inner court. One temple like that at Ranpur near Sadari would supply a sufficiency for the whole mosque, and though the latter is more modern, we have no reason for supposing that similar temples did not exist before Muhammadan times.