Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/383

 CHAP. X. MYSORE AND OUDH. 329 145 ft. This immense building is covered with vaults of very simple form and still simpler construction, being of a rubble or coarse concrete several feet in thickness, which is laid on a rude mould or centering of bricks and mud, and allowed to stand a year or two to set and dry. The centering is then removed, 440. Plan of Imanlbara at Lucknovv. (From Measurements by the Author.) Scale 100 ft. to i in. and the vault, being in one piece, stands without abutment or thrust, apparently a better and more durable form of roof than our most scientific Gothic vaulting ; certainly far cheaper and far more easily made, since it is literally cast on a mud form, which may be moulded into any shape the fancy of the architect may dictate. The earlier settlers in India felt themselves so completely expatriated and cut off from intercourse with Europe, that they adopted many of the habits and feelings of the people among whom they were dwelling. Among other peculiarities they seem to have been seized with a mania for sepulchral magnificence ; and at Surat, Ahmadabad, and other early settlements on the West Coast, we find Dutch and English tombs of the i/th century which rival in dimensions and are similar in form to those of the Muhammadan princes of the day. It is true, when closely looked into, their details will not bear examination. Their builders had a notion that pillars should be round, and arches circular, and a hazy reminiscence of the Orders ; but they could not draw them, and the natives could not realise what was wanted from imperfect verbal instructions. The consequence is, we find domes supported on twelve pillars of no style whatever, and native details mixed with something which has no name, in a manner that is perplexing, though often picturesque. Being all in brickwork and stucco, most of them are now falling to ruin ; but that of Sir George Oxenden (died 1669) and his brother Christopher at Surat is still kept in repair, and would