Page:The Architecture of Ancient Delhi Especially the Buildings Around the Kutb Minar 1872 by Henry Hardy Cole.djvu/80

 5 4 Masjid-i-Kutb-ul-Isldm. shoulder.] They probably contain milk, for next to them is a female figure engaged in churning milk into butter and she is doing this in the same way as frequently practised in India at the present day. A long bamboo stick with prongs at the end is being twisted in a vessel by means of a leather strap which is passed two or three times round it. The operation is very similar to that practised by sailors in spuming the water out of a mop. The next figure is carrying a vessel on her head, then follows a sentinel holding a stick, and in the centre of the carving is a small building or temple, inside which is a standing figure. Outside this and on the right is another sentinel, with his hand placed over his mouth as if to restrain a burst of laughter. Beyond are four figures seated on low stools round a Rajah and his wife; the latter is being fanned by a female attendant. The party seem to be enjoving a feast, and their fun has no doubt excited the merriment of the sentinel. In most native entertamments butter is very largely used and its preparation in the left compartment is probably in reference to the repast here portrayed. The heads of all the figures are a good deal mutilated, but the remarkable mode of dressing the hair into a sort of " chignon " may be easily traced. It resembles the Buddhist head-dresses in the sculptures on the Gateways of the Sanchi Tope, in Central India, and is very likely an adaptation from them. (A facsimile of this may be seen in the Kensington Museum.) M. De Tassy. in describing the buildings about Delhi and that at the Kutb, adopts, in reference to the latter, the text of Syud Ahmed, and has fallen into the local error of supposing this identical building to have been a Hindu palace and temple previous to the Muhammadan invasion. His description runs as follows : — De Tas?v*s descrip- " Xear the palace of the Rajah Pithora was a large temple, which was very celebrated. tion of the Colon- nade. At the four corners of this temple were four apartments, and in the centre was a court - vard. There were doors on the north, south, and east, the sacred image being situated to the west. The Palace and Temple were erected in the year 538 of the Hejira (a.d. 1143). The construction is so admirable, and the artists were so clever in the sculpture of the stonework, that it is impossible to conceive anything more perfect. On each stone were engraved such beautiful scrolls of flowers as to outdo description. On all the doors, walls and pillars, were carved figures of idols and bells hanging from chains. At the present