Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/276

 232 INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. BOOK VII. the Jaina and Muhammadan arrangements of that day. The form of the pillars and the details generally are practically the same in both buildings, the Hindu being richer and more elaborate. In plan, the mosque looks monotonous as com- pared with the temple ; but this is redeemed, to some extent, by the different heights of the domes, as shown in the elevation (Woodcut No. 387), and by the elevation of each division being studiously varied. My own feeling is in favour of the poetry of the temple, but there is a sobriety about the plan of the mosque which, after all, may be in better taste. Both plans, it need hardly be remarked, are infinitely superior to the monotony of the southern halls of 1000 pillars. The latter are remarkable for their size and the amount of labour bestowed upon them ; but it requires more than this to constitute good architecture. The general character of the elevation will be understood from the Woodcut No. 387, but unfortunately its minarets are gone. When Forbes 1 drew it, they were still standing, and were celebrated in Eastern story as the shaking minarets of Ahmadabad; an earthquake in A.D. 1819 shook them too much, but there are several others still standing in the city from which their form can easily be restored. The plan and lateral extension of the Jami' Masjid are exceptional. The usual form taken by the mosques at Ahmadabad was that of the Rani Rupawanti or Queen's Mosque in the Mirzapur ward, and consists of three domes standing on twelve pillars each, with the central part so raised as to admit light to the interior (Wood- cuts 388, 389). The mode in which this was effected will be under- stood from the annexed diagram (Woodcut No. 390). The pillars which support the central domes are twice as high as those of the side domes, and two rows of dwarf columns stand on the roof to make up the Plan of the Queen's Mosque, Mirzapur. Scale 50 ft. to i in. 339. Elevation of the Queen's Mosque, MJrzapur. Scale 50 ft. to i in. 1 See plate in Forbes' ' Oriental Memoirs,' vol. iii. ch. xxx. ; or ' Archaeological Survey of Western India/ vol. vii. p. 30.