Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/387

 CHAP. XL WOODEN ARCHITECTURE. 333 CHAPTER XI. WOODEN ARCHITECTURE. CONTENTS. Mosque of Shah Hamadan, Srinagar. KASHMIR. TURNING for the nonce from this quasi-wooden style which is only an indication of decadence and decrepitude it would be pleasing if we could finish our narrative with the description of a true wooden style as it exists in Kashmir. The Jami' Masjid, in the city of 5rinagar, is a large and important building, and if not so magnificent as some of those described in the preceding pages, is of great interest from being designed to be constructed in wood, and wood only. A knowledge of its peculiarities would, consequently, help us much in understanding many problems that arise in investigating the history of archi- tecture in India. Unfortunately it is not a fashionable building, and of the 1001 tourists who visit the valley no one mentions it, and no photographer has yet set up his camera within its precincts. 1 Its plan is the usual one : a courtyard surrounded by cloisters of three arcades wide on the east side and four on the other three, its peculiarity being that all the pillars that support its roofs are of Deodar pine not used, of course, to imitate stone or stone construction, but honest wooden forms, as in Burmese monasteries and elsewhere. The carving on them is, I believe, rich and beautiful, and though dilapidated, the effect is said to be still singularly pleasing. There is one other mosque in the same city, known as that 1 If Lieut. Cole, instead of repeating plans and details of buildings which had already been published by Gen. Cunning- ham, had given us a plan and details of this unknown building, he might have rendered a service all would have been grateful for. What I know of it is princi- pally derived from verbal communication with Col. Montgomerie, R.E.