Page:The Lucknow album 1874 by Darogha Ubbas Alli.djvu/60

 which it was intended, that is, a mausoleum for the interment of the King himself. The building will hardly bear comparison with the Taj at Agra, the designs being of quite a diverse order, the one is remarkable for the beauty of its configuration and intricacy of its embellishments, the other for the solemnity of its contour and colossal grandeur of its preparations ; both are, however, as superb curiosities, equally worthy of a visit.

It has been the custom of Mohumedan potentates to provide, before their death, for the maintenance of the Imambaras, that were to contain their remains, by a rich endowment, but in this case, Nawab Ausuf-ood-dowlah seems to have neglected this important matter, hence the splendid building is now used as a gun-shed and ordnance store, a purpose that its illustrious founder certainly never anticipated it would be put to. It now stands as a monument of the utter futility of monarchs attempting to perpetuate their names and continue, after their demise, a sort of travestie of the courtly extravagance that caused them to be flattered and worshipped in life.

''Leaving the Great Imambara, on the way to the next Imambara, an archway has to be passed. This is e tiled the — ''

This is supposed to be a model, or copied reconstruction, of an archway now standing in one of the principal streets of Constantinople, as to whether it is such, is doubtful : it was built by Nawab Ausuf-ood-dowlah, and it is possible that monarch may have been the victim of a deception ; however, it was represented to him as such, and anything coming, or professing to come, from the capital of the Sultan, the head of the faith, must needs be a valuable acquisition. Hence it