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 SCIENCE ANDNj&RT; DEPARTMENT 
 OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION, 
 SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 OF VARIOUS STYLES OF 
 
 INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 A SERIES OF FIFTEEN PHOTOGRAPHS 
 OF SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT BUILDINGS IN INDIA 
 ERECTED BETWEEN B.C. 250 AND A.D. 1S30. 
 
 WITH 
 
 A LECTURE ON THE STUDY OF INDIAN 
 ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 READ AT A MEETING OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS. ON 19th DECEMBER, 1866, 
 
 By JAMES FERGUSSON, F.R.S. 
 
 AND A REPORT OF THE DISCUSSION WHICH ENSUED. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS OF ART 
 IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 
 
 1869. 
 
 nJ 
 
U N l C I P A L ] 
 
 M U S !. I! .7 
 
 * A H tf : N C.T Q N J 
 ,,, . . . ^ 
 
 * 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Strangeways and Walden, Printers, 
 Castle St. Leicester Sq. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The photographs which are included in this little 
 volume were selected with a view of showing the 
 beauty of decoration, and the immense variety of 
 style, which are to be met with in the great buildings 
 which still exist among the cities and plains of India. 
 
 The study of Indian architecture ought, for many 
 reasons, to be most interesting to all Englishmen: 
 and now that photographers have sent over to this 
 country sun-pictures of hundreds of the chief monu¬ 
 ments of the Buddhist, Hindi!, and Mahommedan 
 religions, the student is offered every opportunity of 
 tracing the history and progress of an art which had 
 a splendid existence of upwards of sixteen centuries. 
 
 The subject of Indian Architecture has been treated 
 at some length by Mr. Fergusson in the last edition 
 of his ‘ History of Architecture in all Countries/ and 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 to this work, from which the following descriptions 
 were (with permission) chiefly taken, the student is 
 referred for further information. 
 
 In the Aid Library at the South Kensington 
 Museum there are many valuable illustrated works 
 on Indian Architecture, including several volumes of 
 photographs, which may at all times be consulted. 
 And at present an exhibition of more than two 
 hundred Indian photographs, collected and arranged 
 by Mr. Fergusson, may be seen in an adjoining 
 room. 
 
 J. C. 
 
 August , 18G9. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 THE TOPE AT SANCHI, NEAR BILSAH. From a Photograph taken by Lieut. 
 IVaterhouse, R.A. 
 
 2. TEMPLE OF MARTTAND, OR THE SUN, KASHMIR. View looking East, 
 
 From a Photograph taken by Mr. Burke, Peskawur,/or the Archaeological Survey, 
 North-Western Provinces India. 
 
 3. TEMPLE OF MARTTAND, OR THE SUN, KASHMIR. View of Peristyle, 
 
 North side of Enclosure. Front a Photograph taken by Mr. Burke, Peshawur, 
 for the Archceological Survey, North-Western Provinces India. 
 
 4. THE KYLAS AT ELLORA. From a Photograph. 
 
 5. COLONNADE OF HINDU PILLARS, NEAR THE KOOTUB AT DELHI. 
 
 From a Photograph taken by Mr. Bourne. 
 
 6. TEMPLE OF SIVA AT HULLABEED. From a Photograph taken by Dr. Neill. 
 
 7. PORCH OF THE TEMPLE OF VITOBA AT BEEJANUGGER. From a Photograph 
 
 taken by Dr. Neill. 
 
 8. MOHAFIZ KHAN’S MOSQUE, AHMEDABAD. FromaPhotographby Col. Biggs, R.A. 
 
 9. PALACE OF THE SULTANA, FUTTEHPORE SIKRI, NEAR AGRA. From a 
 
 Photograph taken by Mr. Bourne. 
 
 10. TOMB OF ETMADDOWLA, NEAR AGRA. From a Photograph taken by Mr. Bourne. 
 
 11. THE TAJ MEHAL AT AGRA. From an Engraving. 
 
 12. INTERIOR OF THE PALACE AT DELHI. From a Photograph taken by Mr. Bourne. 
 
 13. SUMEREE TEMPLE AT RAMNUGGER, NEAR BENARES. From a Photograph 
 
 taken by Mr. Bourne. 
 
 14. SUMEREE TEMPLE AT RAMNUGGER, NEAR BENARES. From a Photograph 
 
 taken by Mr. Bourne. 
 
 15. SIKH TEMPLE AT AMRITSIR. From a Photograph. 
 
 ON THE STUDY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. By J. Fergusson, Esq., F.R.S. 
 
 V All the Plates, except No. 11, produced by the Photo-relief Printing Company, and 
 
 are absolutely permanent. 
 
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 in 2019 with funding from 
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The Sanchi Tope. 
 
 From, a Photograph by lieutenant Waterhouse, 11,A. 
 
THE SANCHI TOPE. 
 
 IN BHOPAL, CENTRAL INDIA. 
 Buddhist.* 
 
 Probable date of the Tope f . . . b.c. 500. 
 
 Ditto Stone Railing, b.c. 250. 
 
 Ditto Gateways . . a.d. 19 to 37. 
 
 The Tope J at Sanchi, near Bilsah, in Central India, is by far 
 the finest, as well as the most perfect, in that country. The 
 principal building consists of a dome 106 feet in diameter, 
 and 42 feet in height. 
 
 The fence by which this Tope is surrounded is extremely 
 curious. It consists of stone posts 8 feet 8 inches high, and 
 little more than 2 feet apart, surmounted by a plain architrave, 
 and between every two uprights three horizontal cross-pieces 
 of stone are inserted. 
 
 Still more curious are the four gateways, one of which 
 (the eastern) is shown in the photograph. It consists of two 
 square pillars, covered with sculptures with bold elephant 
 capitals, rising to a height of 18 feet 4 inches; above this are 
 three lintels slightly curved upwards in the centre and ending 
 in Ionic scrolls ; they are supported by continuations of the 
 
 * Gautama Buddha , the founder of this religion , died 543 years b.c. 
 
 f General Cunningham. 
 
 f A solid mound of masonry, sometimes dedicated to Buddha, or erected 
 over the relics of Buddhist priests. 
 
 B 
 
THIS SANCHI TOPIS. 
 
 columns, and three uprights inserted in the spaces between 
 the lintels. They are covered with elaborate sculpture, and 
 surmounted by emblems. The total height is 33 feet 6 inches. 
 
 One gateway, the northern, has fallen, and if removed to 
 this country would raise the character of Indian sculpture, as 
 nothing comparable to it has yet been transported from that 
 part of the world to Europe.— Fergusson. 
 
I 
 
 —— - \ 
 
 M l i N i C i P A 1. | 
 
 h W A K f; NCTON^ 
 
 
Temple of Marttand.— View Looking East 
 
 F"''m aJOwtograyh by Mr. Burke. 
 
KASHMIR. 
 
 TEMPLE OF MARTTAND, OR THE SUN. 
 
 VIEW LOOKING EAST. 
 
 Probable, date a.d. 490-555. 
 
 Of all the existing remains of Kashmirian grandeur the most 
 striking in size and situation is the noble ruin of Marttand. 
 The mass of building now known by the name of Matan, or 
 Marttand, consists of one lofty central edifice with a small 
 detached temple on each side of the entrance, the whole stand¬ 
 ing in a large quadrangle surrounded by a colonnade of fluted 
 pillars, with intervening trefoiled headed recesses. 
 
 The exterior measurement of the central building is 61 feet 
 long by 41 feet wide. The whole interior and exterior sur¬ 
 faces are ornamented with rich sculptures, which have been 
 defaced and destroyed by the hand of the Mahommedan. 
 ‘ The Temple,’ says General Cunningham, ‘ was dedicated to 
 the Sun, who was “Brahma,” or Creator at morn; “Vishnu,” 
 or the Preserver at noon; and “ Siva,” or the Destroyer at 
 even.’— Lieut. H. H. Cole, R.E. 
 

 * 
 
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 .WAR R N CTON 
 
 
 
 
 
Temple of Maettand.—View of Peeistyle. 
 From a Photograph by Mr. Burke. 
 
KASHMIR. 
 
 TEMPLE OF MARTTAND, OR THE SUN. 
 
 VIEW OF PERISTYLE, NORTH SIDE OF ENCLOSURE. 
 
 Probable date, a.d. 693 to 729. 
 
 The Temple of Marttand is enclosed by a pillared quadrangle, 
 244 feet in length by 168 feet in breadth, containing 84 fluted 
 columns. This number was probably fixed with design, being 
 the famous 1 chourasi’ (84) of the Hindus, and is specially 
 emblematic of the ‘ Sun.’ Thus even the Colonnade is made 
 typical of the Deity to whom the Temple is consecrated.— 
 
 Lieut. II. II. Cole, R.E. 
 

 
 M U N l C t a L 
 
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 V L M H C T 0 N 
 
The Kylas at Elloka. (Ninth or Tenth Century.) 
 From a Photograph. 
 
THE KYLAS AT ELLORA, 
 
 Hindu — Ninth or Tenth Century, 
 
 One of the most interesting ornaments of Hindu architecture 
 is the rock-cut temple at Ellora,* generally known as the 
 Kylas {Paradise). Its beauty and singularity have always ex¬ 
 cited the astonishment of travellers, and in consequence it is 
 better known than almost any other structure in that country, 
 from the numerous views and sketches of it that have been 
 published. It is not a mere interior chamber cut in the 
 rock, but is a model of a complete temple such as might 
 have been erected on the plain. In other words, the rock 
 has been cut away externally as well as internally. 
 
 No insular rock being available, a pit was dug in the 
 sloping side of a hill, about 2/0 feet in length and loO 
 feet wide. In the centre of this rectangular court stands 
 the temple, consisting of a vimana between 80 feet and 90 
 feet in height, preceded by a large square porch supported 
 by sixteen columns ; before this stands a detached porch 
 {shown in the photograph) reached by a bridge; and in front 
 of all stands the gateway, which is in like manner connected 
 
 * Ellora is about 200 miles north-east of Bombay. 
 
Colonnade of Hindu Pillars. ( Eleventh Century.) 
 From a Photograph by Mr. Bourne. 
 
COLONNADE OF HINDU PILLARS, 
 
 NEAR THE KOOTUB AT DELHI. 
 
 Hindu — Eleventh Century. 
 
 At the end of the twelfth century the Great Ghorian con¬ 
 queror, Shahab ud-deen, entered India and defeated Pirthay, 
 the Rajah of Delhi. This success was followed by the con¬ 
 quest of Canouge; and after the fall of these two cities—the 
 capitals of the greatest Empires in the Peninsula—India may 
 be said to have been conquered. 
 
 At the death of Shahab in 1206, his great Empire fell 
 to pieces, and India fell to the share of one of his greatest 
 Generals, Kootub ud-deen Ibek. 
 
 In order to perpetuate the memory of his conquest of the 
 Hindus, Kootub erected a tall column of victory (the Kootub 
 Minar) within the precincts of the Palace of the unfortunate 
 Rajah Pirthay, and around this column a group of ruins of 
 the old palace still remains. Even in situation these ruins 
 are singularly beautiful, for they stand on the gentle slope 
 of a hill, over-looking a plain that had once apparently been 
 a lake, but which afterwards became the site of three successive 
 Capitals of the East. 
 
COLONNADE OF HINDU PILLARS. 
 
 It is a little difficult to determine whether the pillars now 
 stand as originally arranged by the Hindus, or whether 
 they have been taken down and re-arranged by the conquerors. 
 They are of the same order as those used at the Jaina Temple 
 on Mount Abu, except that those at Delhi are much richer 
 and more elaborate. They belong probably to the eleventh 
 or twelfth century, and are among the few specimens to be 
 found in India that seem to be over-loaded with ornament, 
 there not being one inch of plain surface from the capital 
 to the base. Still the ornament is so sharp and so cleverly 
 executed, and the effect in their present state of decay and 
 ruin so picturesque, that it is very difficult to find fault with 
 what is so beautiful.— Fergusson. 
 
M Si N i C ! A |_ '! 
 
 M U r- :. i I V j 
 
 i^Ahfi NCT'JNJ 
 
Temple of Siva, Hullabeed. Thirteenth Century. 
 From a Photograph by Dr. Neill. 
 
TEMPLE OF SIVA AT HULLABEED. 
 
 SCULPTURED DECORATIONS OF THE SOUTH-WEST FRONT 
 OF THE SOUTHERN VIM AN A. 
 
 Hind<j — Thirteenth Century. 
 
 The great Temple of Hullabeed* was unfortunately never 
 finished, the works having been stopped by the Mahom- 
 medan conquest in 1310, after they had been in progress 
 apparently for eighty-six years. This building is 160 ft. 
 north and south by 122 ft. east and west. The height, as 
 it now remains, to the cornice, is about 25 ft. from the 
 terrace on which it stands. 
 
 The material out of which the Temple is erected is an 
 indurated pot-stone of volcanic origin, found in the neigh¬ 
 bourhood. This stone is said to be soft when first quarried, 
 and easily cut in that state, though hardening on exposure 
 to the atmosphere ; its enduring qualities seem to be unrivalled, 
 for though neglected and exposed to all the vicissitudes of 
 a tropical climate for more than six centuries, the minutest 
 details are as clear and sharp as on the day they were 
 finished. 
 
 * On the eastern coast of Sovtli India. 
 
TEMPLE OF SIVA AT HULLABEED. 
 
 The building stands on a terrace about five feet high, 
 and paved with large slabs. On this stands a frieze of 
 Elephants, following all the sinuosities of the ground-plan, 
 and extending to some 710 ft. in length, and containing not 
 less than two thousand elephants, sculptured as only an 
 Oriental can represent the wisest of brutes. Above these is 
 a frieze of conventional lions ; then comes a scroll of infinite 
 beauty and variety of design; over this is a frieze of 
 horsemen and another scroll; over which is a bas-relief of 
 scenes from the Ramayana, representing the conquest of 
 Ceylon and all the varied incidents of that epic. Then come 
 celestial beasts and celestial birds, and all along the east 
 front a frieze of groups from human life, and then a cornice, 
 with a rail, divided into panels, each containing two figures. 
 Over this are windows of pierced slabs. In the centre, in 
 place of the windows, is first a scroll and then a frieze of 
 gods and heavenly apsaras, dancing girls, and other objects 
 of Hindu mythology. This frieze, w T hich is about 5 ft. 6 in. 
 in height, is continued all round the western front of the 
 building, and extends to some 400 ft. in length. Siva, with 
 his consort Parvati seated on his knee, is repeated at least 
 fourteen times; Vishnu in his nine Avatars even oftener. 
 Brahma occurs three or four times, and every great god of 
 the Hindu Pantheon finds his place. Some of these are 
 carved with a minute elaboration of detail which can only 
 be reproduced by photography, and may probably be con¬ 
 sidered as the most marvellous exhibition of patient human 
 labour that the world ever produced. — Fergusson. 
 

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Poech at Beejanugger. (Sixteenth Century.) 
 From a Photograph by Dr. Neill. 
 
PORCH OF THE TEMPLE OF VITOBA AT 
 
 BEEJANUGGER. 
 
 Hindu — Sixteenth Century. 
 
 At Beejanugger* there is a Porch erected in the 16th cen¬ 
 tury. ... As in almost every instance in the Dravidian 
 temples of Southern India, the material employed is granite, 
 each pier being generally one single stone, placed in position 
 in a rough form, and the little shafts and ornaments after¬ 
 wards detached by undercutting. It is difficult to realize the 
 amount of labour bestowed on this porch, but we must award 
 to the Dravidians the palm for patient industry over all the 
 builders in the world. 
 
 Where subordination of parts is preserved, the general 
 effect of these choultries and porches is pleasing, and from 
 their vastness, sometimes almost reaches to sublimity. 
 
 * In Southern India. 
 

 
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 MohXfjtz Khan’s Mosque, Ahmedabad. ( Sixteenth Century.) 
 
 From a Photograph by Col. Biggs, R.A. 
 
MOHAFIZ KHAN'S MOSQUE, AHMEDABAD. 
 
 / 
 
 BASE OF THE SOUTHERN MINARET. 
 
 Mahommedan — Sixteenth Century. 
 
 The details of this Mosque are exquisite, and it retains its 
 minarets, which is too seldom the case. As will be seen 
 from the photograph, the lower part of the minaret is of pure 
 Hindu architecture; all the bases at Ahmedabad are neither 
 more nor less than the perpendicular parts of the basement 
 of Hindu or Jaina temples elongated. . . . On the angles 
 of all Hindu temples are niches containing images ; this the 
 Moslems could not tolerate, so they filled them with tracery. 
 After a century’s experience they produced forms which, as 
 architectural ornaments, will in their own class, stand com¬ 
 parison with any employed in any age, or in any part of the 
 world; and in doing this, they invented a class of window- 
 tracery in which they are also unrivalled. 
 
 Above the roof of the Mosques the minarets are always 
 round towers slightly tapering, as in the Mosque of Mohafiz 
 Khan, relieved by galleries displaying great richness in the 
 brackets which support them, as well as in the balustrades 
 
MOHAFIZ KHAN’S MOSQUE, AHMEDABAI). 
 
 which serve for protection. The tower always terminates in 
 a conical top, relieved by various disks. They are, so far as 
 I know, the only minarets which surpass those of Cairo in 
 beauty of outline or richness of detail, excepting those of 
 the Ranee Seepree Mosque, which are still more beautiful.— 
 Fergusson. 
 
MUNICIPAL 
 
 MUSEUM 
 
 WANHlNCrCf' 
 
Palace of the Sultana.— Futtehpore Sikri. (Sixteenth Century.) 
 From a Photograph by Mr. Bourne. 
 
PALACE OF THE SULTANA—FUTTEHPORE 
 
 SIKRI, 
 
 NEAR AGRA. 
 
 Mahommedan — Sixteenth Century. 
 
 Futtehpore Sikri, near Agra, was long the favourite residence 
 of Akbar (a.d. 1556-1605), the greatest sovereign of his 
 race, and he adorned it with a series of buildings as remark¬ 
 able as anything of their class to be found in India. A 
 strong feeling for Hindu art prevails throughout, and the 
 whole is stamped with that bold originality which marked 
 every act of the great man to whom they owe their origin. 
 
 The palace has no pretension to be regarded as one great 
 architectural object; but as a picturesque group of elegant 
 
 buildings, it is unrivalled. All are built of the red sand¬ 
 stone of the hill on which the palace stands ; no marble is 
 
 used and no stucco, either inside or out, all the ornaments 
 
 being honestly carved in relief on the stone. The roofs as 
 well as the floors are all of the same material, and characterised 
 by that singular Hindu-like aversion to an arch which Akbar 
 alone, of all the Moslem monarelis, seems to have adopted.— 
 Fergusson. 
 

 
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 Tomb of Etmaddowla. (Sixteenth Century.) 
 From a Photograph by Mr. Bourne. 
 
TOMB OF ETMADDOWLA, 
 
 NEAR AGRA. 
 
 Mahommedan — Sixteenth Century . 
 
 The neighbourhood of Agra is crowded with the Tombs of 
 Nobles of the Court, some of them scarcely less magnificent 
 than those of their masters. Among these, one, erected 
 by Etmaddowla, the Minister of Akbar, for himself, is 
 one of the most splendid in elaboration, though far from 
 being the most graceful in design. The whole is of white 
 marble and inlaid with precious stones in various patterns, 
 to a greater extent, perhaps, than any other building in 
 I ndia. — Fergusson. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
^MUNlClP^L j 
 MUSEUM 1 
 w i\ H K I N C T C N ' 
 
5 
 
THE TAJ MEHAL AT AGRA. 
 
 Seventeenth Century. 
 
 The Taj Mehal at Agra was erected by the Emperor Shah 
 Jehan, about 1645, to contain the remains of his favourite wife. 
 It was his intention to have erected his own tomb on the op¬ 
 posite side of the river Jumna, but this he did not carry into 
 effect, and he was buried near his wife in the Taj. The build¬ 
 ing consists of a platform 18 feet high and about 300 feet 
 square. On, and in the centre of this is the tomb, 186 feet 
 square, with corners cut off to the extent of 33 feet 9 inches; 
 the Dome is 58 feet in diameter and 80 feet in height. The 
 whole structure is faced with white marble inlaid with pre¬ 
 cious stones, arranged in designs of exquisite beauty; and the 
 judgment with which this style of ornament is applied to the 
 features of the building gives a high idea of the skill and taste 
 of the designer.— Lieut. H. H. Cole , Ii.E. 
 
/--— N 
 
 MUNICIPAL | 
 
 museum 
 W a R K ! N CtnN- 
 
Interior of the Palace at Delhi. ( Seventeenth Century.) 
 From a Photograph by Mr. Bourne. 
 
V 
 
 THE PALACE AT DELHI. 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE DEWANNEE KHAS. 
 
 Mahommedan — Seventeenth Century. 
 
 On the accession of Shah. Jehan (1628), the Mahommedan 
 style again flourished in all its magnificence. It was this 
 King who built the present city of Delhi, with its great 
 Mosques and Palaces, the latter the most perfect and complete 
 examples of the style in India. 
 
 The principal entrance to the Palace at Delhi faces the 
 Chaudnee Chouk, a splendid wide street, nearly a mile long, 
 planted with two rows of trees and with a canal of water 
 flowing down its centre. Entering within the deeply-recessed 
 portal, you find yourself beneath the roof of a 'vaulted hall, 
 similar in plan to a Gothic cathedral, many of which it 
 exceeds in dimensions. Opposite to this great entrance is 
 the Dewannee Khas, or principal hall, containing in its 
 centre directly facing the entrance a niche richly ornamented, 
 where on a platform of marble, inlaid with precious stones, 
 
THE PALACE AT DELHI. 
 
 once stood the famous peacock throne. To the left of this 
 great court is a smaller one, containing the private hall of 
 audience. It is round the frieze of this hall that the famous 
 inscription runs, ‘ If there is a heaven on earth it is this, 
 it is this.’— Fergusson. 
 
\ 
 
 / 
 
Sum£ree Temple at Ramnuggeil (.Eighteenth Century.) 
 From a Photograph by Mr. Bourne. 
 
 imm 
 
SUMEREE TEMPLE AT RAMNUGGER, 
 
 NEAR BENARES. 
 
 Hindu —Eighteenth Century. 
 
 Benares is one of the most picturesque and beautiful cities 
 in India, and may be one of the oldest. No building, 
 however, exists in it now whose date is anterior to the 
 thirteenth century ; almost all those on the banks of the 
 river, one of which is represented in the accompanying 
 photograph, being of comparatively recent date. 
 

M U N ! C I P A 
 M U S [ l M 
 A R H I M r r - 
 

 
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 Lower Part of Sijmeree Temple at Ramnugger. 
 From a Photograph by Mr Bourne. 
 
SUMEREE TEMPLE AT RAMNUGGER. 
 
 NEAR BENARES. 
 
 Hindu — Eighteenth Century. 
 
 SCULPTURE IN THE LOWER PORTION. 
 
 The lower portion of the Temple at Ramnugger is divided, 
 into panels which are filled with various sculptured decora¬ 
 tions, among which the elephant, as usual, figures prominently. 
 
 Many of the Gods of Hindu mythology are likewise 
 represented with their usual accompaniments. 
 

/ --—~~— \ 
 
 MUNICIPAL 
 
 M U S Ell M 
 
 VV A M H I N c: T 0 N 
 
Sikh Tempi,e at Ambitsir. 
 
 From a Photograph. 
 
 * 
 
SIKH TEMPLE AT AMPITSIR 
 
 Sikh — Nineteenth Century. 
 
 The Temple at Amritsir,* of which the photograph re¬ 
 presents a view of the interior, owes its existence to the 
 magnificence of the late Rajah, Runjeet Sing. It shows 
 great splendour, but a marked decline in taste from the 
 temples erected in India proper, either contemporaneously, 
 or at an earlier date.— Fergusson. 
 
 ® (The Pool of Immortality') In the Punjaub—near Lahore. 
 
THE STUD\ 
 
 OF 
 
 INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 HEAD AT A MEETING OF THE SOCIETY OE ARTS, 
 On Wednesday, R)th December, 1860. 
 
 By JAMES FERGUSSON, F.R.S. 
 
SKETCH MAP OF INDIA. 
 
 Showing the approximate Distribution of the four principal Styles of Hindu 
 
 Architecture, viz.: — 
 
 Buddhist, distinguished by horizontal hatching 
 
 Dravidian, by perpendicular lines 
 
 Northern Hindu, by lines sloping to the right 
 
 Ohalukya and .Taina, by lines sloping to the left 
 
With the Sanction of the 
 of the Committee of 
 
 Science and Art Department 
 Council on Education. 
 
 THE S T UDY 
 
 OF 
 
 INDIAN ARCII ITECTURE 
 
 READ AT A MEETING OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS 
 
 On Wednesday, 19th December, 1866, 
 
 By JAMES FEROUSSON, F.R.S. 
 
 ffiitb a llcpovt of % discussion fobicb eusiteb. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1867. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ON THE 
 
 STUDY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 By JAMES FERGUSSON, F.R.S. 
 
 The varieties of the styles of Indian Architecture are so nu¬ 
 merous, and their relations to one another so complex, that it 
 would bo impossible to convey even an elementary idea of the 
 subject without entering into details and employing an amount 
 of illustration which would be utterly incompatible with the 
 extent of a single lecture. All, therefore, that I propose to 
 attempt on the present occasion is, to try to explain to you the 
 importance of the study of Indian Art. First, as bearing di¬ 
 rectly on our knowledge of India itself; secondly, as elucidating 
 the true position of Architecture in this country ; — in doing 
 this, I will also endeavour to point out which are the principal 
 means by which a knowledge of that art may be obtained. 
 
 When I was in India, between twenty and thirty years ago, 
 the subject of Indian Architecture had hardly been touched. 
 Views of Indian buildings had, it is true, been published by 
 Daniell and others, but no attempt had been made to classify 
 them, and the vaguest possible ideas prevailed as to their age 
 or relative antiquity. At that time, thanks to the learning and 
 enthusiasm of Mr. James Prinsep, great progress was being 
 made in the decipherment of Indian inscriptions, and the study 
 of the antiquities of the country, and I determined to try if the 
 architecture could not be brought within the domain of science. 
 For several years I pursued the study almost unremittingly, and 
 
 is 
 
OX THE STUDY OF 
 
 6 
 
 bit by bit tlio mystery unravelled itself. I learnt that there 
 was not only one Hindu, and one Mohamedan style in India, but 
 several species of eacli class ; that these occupied well-defined 
 local provinces, and belonged each to ascertained ethnological 
 divisions of the people. 1 also found out, much to my disap¬ 
 pointment, that the boasted primaeval antiquity of the rock-cut 
 examples was a myth; and that the whole could be arranged 
 into consecutive series, with well-defined boundaries. 
 
 The results of these investigations were published in various 
 forms after my return from India. Like most previous works 
 of their class, however, they were, from the nature of their illus¬ 
 trations, both cumbrous and expensive. This has hitherto had 
 the effect of limiting the knowledge of Indian Architecture to 
 the few who were rich enough to purchase such works, and no 
 general interest in the subject is diffused among the public at 
 large. These difficulties were probably inherent in the nature 
 of the subject, and it is not very easy to see how the requisite 
 information could have been rendered accessible, had it not been 
 that Photography has latterly been extensively employed in the 
 illustration of Indian Art, and several splendid photographic 
 works been published on the subject. And owing to the sub¬ 
 scriptions of several natives of Bombay, and the gratuitous 
 co-operation of others, these have been given to the public at 
 prices below the cost of production. In addition to these, new 
 sets of Photographs are constantly being sent home from India. 
 Almost all the best-known buildings have been taken—some 
 very imperfectly, it must be confessed, but still sufficiently well 
 to authenticate or correct previous illustrations, and any one, 
 at a small expense, may now make himself master of any branch 
 of the inquiry. For myself I may say, that I have learnt as 
 much, if not more, of Indian Architecture during the last two 
 or three years, than I did during my residence in India, and 
 I now see that the whole subject may be made intelligible, and 
 I see how it can be done. The defect of what has been under¬ 
 taken hitherto is, that it has been done without system, and 
 that unless the investigator has such previous knowledge as I 
 
INDIAN AROHITF.CTIT RK. 
 
 i 
 
 happened to obtain when in the East, it is difficult to know 
 where to begin ; and this difficulty will, I fear, remain till some 
 good handbook or grammar of the subject is published. I have 
 attempted something of the sort in the volume of my history 
 just published, but it is meagre and far too short. 300 pages 
 and 200 woodcuts will not suffice for so vast a subject, and 
 something more must be done before the study of Indian 
 Architecture will be easy or popular. 
 
 As hinted above, the interest of the study of Indian Art is 
 twofold, the most legitimate branch being that which directly 
 concerns India itself, and which, consequently, we will take 
 first. 
 
 It is of course difficult for me to guess wdiat information 
 my present audience may have on this subject, but this I know, 
 that, in general society, very few have clear ideas of who the 
 inhabitants of India are, or whence they came. With most 
 people the Hindus, or as they used to be called, the Gentoos, 
 are one people, at least as uniform as the Germans or French, 
 and worshipping certain gods, whom they have superstitiously 
 reverenced - from time immemorial. When you begin to look 
 below the surface you find the case is widely different. In the 
 first place, the valley of the Ganges was, at the very dawn of 
 history, inhabited by races whom we now r are forced to call 
 aboriginal, as w r e know nothing of their origin, and we find 
 detached fragments of them existing in the hills under the name 
 of Bhils, Coles, Gonds, &c. Leaving them for a moment, we 
 find there a people whom we call Aryans, who came into India 
 across the Upper Indus, it may be about 2000 years before 
 Christ, or even earlier. They first settled in the Punjaub ; then 
 on the water-shed between the Sutlej and the Jumna ; and, 
 lastly, in Oude and further eastward. These were the Sanscrit- 
 speaking races, to whom we owe all the important literary 
 productions of India. 
 
 After a thousand years’ sojourn in India they lost their 
 purity of race, apparently by intermingling with the aboriginal 
 races, and by the innate decay of enervation by the climate. 
 
8 
 
 ON THE STUDY OF 
 
 This enabled a prophet called Sakya Muni, or now generally 
 known as Buddha, to call upon the aboriginal races, and ulti¬ 
 mately to convert the whole of Northern India to the religion 
 that bears his name. It was not, however, till 300 years after 
 his death, which happened in 543, that this faith became 
 the religion of the state. This happened in the reign of king 
 Asoka, about 250 years before Christ, and for 1000 years Budd¬ 
 hism continued the prevailing religion, though at the present 
 
 Facade of Cave in Behar (temp. Asuka, rs.c. '250). 
 
 hour there is not a native-born Buddhist in India, and but 
 for the monuments we might almost be allowed to doubt its 
 prevalence. 
 
 It is with this religion, and this king Asoka, that our 
 architectural history begins in India. Before his time we 
 have nothing, and in the illustration we have a proof that 
 then we ought not to expect to find anything. It is a well- 
 authenticated example of his reign, and though cut in the 
 granite rock, every form and every detail is copied from some 
 
INDIAN AKCHITECTUIIE . 
 
 9 
 
 wooden original, showing that at the time it was executed 
 stone architecture was unknown in India, and men were only 
 beginning to think of a more durable material. From that 
 time we have hundreds of examples, in which we seethe wooden 
 forms gradually being replaced by those more appropriate to 
 stone; and at last, after following it for 1000 years, we find it 
 gradually fading into the style contemporaneously elaborated 
 by the Jains and Hindus, and dying out with the religion that 
 gave birth to it. 
 
 Leaving the valley of the Ganges, we find another great 
 immigration taking place. This time it was that of the 
 Dravidian tribes, but instead of Balkh and Bokhara, from 
 which the Aryan tribes came, their seat was further south ; 
 they crossed the Lower Indus to Guzerat, but before we became 
 acquainted with them they had got pressed down by subsequent 
 immigrations into the southern angle of the peninsula. They 
 now occupy the whole, or nearly so, of the Madras Presidency, 
 and are one of the greatest building races in the world, but 
 totally distinct from those found further north. 
 
 The next great immigration commenced a century or two 
 before the Christian era, and continued through the centuries 
 immediately following that event. They came across the 
 Lower Indus, occupied Guzerat and Bajpootana, and eventu¬ 
 ally extended to the Mysore on the south, and to Agra and 
 Delhi on the north. The fourth great immigration was that 
 of the Mahommedans, from the 11th to the 13th and 14th 
 centuries. They came across the Upper Indus, and eventu¬ 
 ally spread down as far as the Mysore, occupying the whole 
 of India more nearly than any of the preceding races. The 
 fifth civilization is our own. W e are the only people who 
 came, not across the Indus, but by sea; but, of course, I need 
 not allude either to our ethnology or our art on the present 
 occasion. 
 
 Whether it arises from the want of roads as means of com¬ 
 munication, or from the absence of any great permanent 
 capital or state, the great fact of Indian ethnography is that 
 
10 
 
 ON THE STUDY OF 
 
 all these various people retain most of their individuality to 
 the present day. What is, however, more to our present 
 purpose is, that each and all of them have left most distinct 
 traces of their peculiarities in the buildings they erected, and 
 the different styles of architecture they from time to time 
 adopted. 
 
 No one who travels through the country, and is familiar 
 with such researches, can fail to perceive easily when and 
 where the Buddhist religion arose, and how far it spread- 
 how pure it was at first, and how it gradually became ido¬ 
 latrous and corrupt, and how at last it perished beneath its 
 own overgrown hierarchy. Nor can he help seeing how and 
 where the Jaina religion superseded Buddhism among the 
 Rajpoots, and how that eventually degenerated into the reli ¬ 
 gion of Yishnu, which is at present one of its most corrupted 
 forms. 
 
 The limits of the Dravidian style are quite as strongly 
 and clearly marked, and from this architecture we learn how 
 far they ever penetrated northwards, and at what time, and 
 from whence, and. how they were pressed backwards by the 
 northern races. We can also see the aboriginal tribes of 
 Bengal, who were driven to the hills by the Aryans, and who 
 retained their ancient faith in spite of the Buddhist reform, 
 emerging again from their fastnesses in modern times, and 
 gradually extending their style over the plains they had 
 originally occupied. In fact, the architecture of the country 
 may be considered as a great stone book, in which each tribe 
 and race has written its annals and recorded its faith, and that 
 in a manner so clear that those who run may read. 
 
 It may be objected that all this ethnography can be learned 
 from the language of the people, and has already been done 
 to a great extent. Perhaps it has ; and, if you will learn 
 Sanscrit and Pali, and all the Pracrits—if you will master 
 Tarnul and Teloogoo and Canarese — and study Bengalee, Ma- 
 liarattee, Gujerattee, and fifty other other dialects—and if you 
 are tolerably familiar, in addition, with Persian and Turkish, 
 

 
 I N 1)1 AN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 you may 
 
 acquire 
 
 the knowledge I 
 
 have 
 
 been 
 
 pointing 
 
 out, 
 
 provided 
 
 you can 
 
 ascertain where 
 
 a 11 or 
 
 each 
 
 of these 
 
 Ian- 
 
 guages is or was spoken in India, and when it was introduced 
 or ceased to be used. Even then the architecture has llie 
 advantage, that it is more distinct, that it never shifts its 
 locality, and that it does not change with time : and in India 
 especially, where we have so many rock-cut examples, we 
 know exactly what the religion, what the art, and what the 
 
 Dravidkin and .Bengalee Temples at Badamee. 
 
 civilization of the people were who excavated them. We 
 stand actually, as it were, beside the people who were hewing 
 the mountain into form, and we can read the thoughts they 
 then were wishing to express. 
 
 It is the same with the structural buildings. To take an 
 instance among many. Here is a representation of temples 
 at Badamee, on the limit between the northern and southern 
 architectural provinces. Any one at all familiar with the 
 subject will at once recognize the difference between the two. 
 
12 
 
 ON THE STUDY OF 
 
 That on the left is a straight-lined low pyramid, divided into 
 storeys, and adorned with pilasters. That on the right is 
 curvilinear, with no trace of storeys or pilasters, and instead 
 of the domical form that crowns the one, it terminates in a 
 conventional fruit-like ornament. I know that the people 
 who erected the first must have been speaking Tamul or some 
 of the allied languages when at work upon it, and that those 
 who erected the other were speaking Bengalee or some tongue 
 with a strong infusion of Sanscrit in its composition. If we 
 knew their dates we could tell when the southern races ex¬ 
 tended so far north as this, or when the northern people 
 penetrated so far south. So it is all over the country. 
 
 It seems almost impossible to over-estimate the value of 
 these stone landmarks in a country where so few books exist, 
 and so little history, and where what does exist is so very 
 untrustworthy. So far as I can form an opinion, the archi¬ 
 tecture of India is not only the best means of elucidating the 
 manners and customs of the country, but of checking their 
 fables, and is frequently the only means that remain to us ; 
 and, if this be so, is it possible to over-estimate its value to 
 those who wish to know who and what the people are or were, 
 whom we have undertaken to guide and govern? 
 
 It is not, however, only the ethnography that the archi¬ 
 tecture of India seems so completely to illustrate. It equally 
 seems to fix the ever-varying forms of the religion of that 
 country, and to preserve them for our examination. In a 
 country where printing was till very recently unknown, and 
 where the climate is so destructive of writing materials, old 
 books rarely exist, and it was too frequently the fashion to 
 adapt each succeeding transcription to the taste and feeling 
 of the day. It is, consequently, only by an appeal from the 
 paper to the stone book, that we can know how far a religion 
 had become degraded at any time, or when it prevailed, and 
 by what people it is practised. One of the great character¬ 
 istics of Indian Architecture is the profusion of sculpture, which 
 forms an absolutely essential part of it. . And in this sculpture, 
 
l XI )T A X ARCH I rECTt: IIE . 
 
 13 
 
 more truly than in any written document, we can read the 
 exact form of faith at any particular period. 
 
 There is still another aspect in which the architecture is 
 vitally important, and that is with regard to history. I need 
 hardly tell you that in India there are no written annals which 
 can be trusted. It is only when it can be authenticated by 
 inscriptions and coins that we can feel sure of the existence 
 of any King, and it is only when we can find his buildings 
 that we can measure his greatness or ascertain what his ten¬ 
 dencies were, or what the degree of civilization to which either 
 he or his people had attained. 
 
 These are vast subjects, the extent of which can hardly be 
 even indicated on the present occasion ; but the point to which 
 I especially wish to direct attention at present is this—if we. 
 take the period of Indian history which elapsed between 
 Asoka, b.c. 250, and Mahmoud of Guzni, a.d. 1030, it is the 
 darkest and most perplexed of the whole. There are no annals, 
 properly so called — no authentic account of the religion, the 
 manners and customs of the people, but throughout these 
 thirteen centuries we have numerous buildings covered with 
 sculpture, and frequently bearing inscriptions. They, and they 
 only, tell us who the people were who occupied any particular 
 locality, what their faith was at any particular period, and in 
 what state of civilization and prosperity they then existed. If 
 all this is engraved on the architecture of the country, I cer¬ 
 tainly feel justified in asserting that the study of it is worthy 
 of the attention of all those who wish to know who the people 
 of this great country are, and in what state they existed before 
 the Mahommedan invasion first let the light of history into 
 their annals. It is equally important to those who wish to 
 know how far they have deteriorated and advanced under the 
 rule of the Moslems ; and still more, what effect our civilization 
 has had on the natives of India. 
 
ON THE STUDY OF 
 
 1 1 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Before attempting to explain to you the importance of 
 Indian Architecture as bearing on our own, allow me to guard 
 myself most distinctly against anything I am about to say 
 being construed into a recommendation to copy any of the 
 forms or details of the Indian styles. My conviction is, that 
 the system of copying different styles is the great — if not the 
 sole cause of the present anomalous style of the art, and if I 
 thought anything I said would encourage such a practice I 
 would be silent. Although, therefore, I must consider copy¬ 
 ing the Indian styles as a crime, I feel convinced that there 
 are principles underlying them which cannot be too deeply 
 studied, and that there are many suggestions to be derived 
 from the practice of the Indian architect which cannot fail, if 
 properly used, to be useful to our own. The great merit, how¬ 
 ever, of the study I conceive to be the widening of our base of 
 observation, and so enabling' students to realise the true defini- 
 tion of the art, for till that is grasped there seems little hope of 
 any improvement in our architecture. 
 
 I may perhaps make what I mean clearer by referring to 
 our own recent experience. During the last century, when 
 the education of gentlemen was confined to the classics, we 
 knew and practised only Roman architecture; and as the 
 middle and lower orders of our countrymen had no sympathy 
 with Doric or Corinthian orders, they were content to go with¬ 
 out architecture altogether. In the beginning of the century, 
 Greek architecture was practically discovered, and eagerly 
 adopted by the highly-educated classes, but in the same 
 manner as the other. We copied it without having any real 
 sympathy with it. At last we discovered that the Middle Ages 
 had also an architecture of their own, and one with which wc 
 
INDIAN ARCH1TECTURE . 
 
 15 
 
 had, or might have, infinitely more sympathy. This was an 
 enormous gain, not only because it enlisted a much wider class 
 in the art, but more—because it taught the architects how much 
 wider the field of architectural design was, than had been ori¬ 
 ginally supposed. Unfortunately, we took to copying Gothic 
 art, as we then copied Classical, and so far retarded progress. 
 At last we begin to be tired of reproducing old things, and arc 
 beginning to think, instead of copying. The first symptom of 
 this is, that classical designs are not so rigidly classical as they 
 were, but a certain amount of Gothic feeling is instilled into 
 them; and Gothic designs are sometimes not so ludicrously 
 mediaeval as they used to be, but a certain amount of refine¬ 
 ment and of modern feeling and adaptation is thought expe¬ 
 dient in civil, though hardly yet in ecclesiastical, architecture. 
 The two are approaching one another. When they are fused, 
 we shall have an architecture of our owfi; and I know nothing 
 so likely to lead to such a result, as the study of an entirely 
 foreign style like that of India. I feel certain that no one can 
 familiarise himself with Indian art without feeling that the 
 architects of that country were as successful as either those of 
 Home or the Middle Ages, in reaching the aims they were as- 
 spiring to ; though, in doing this, they employed arrangements 
 as different as possible from those we are furnished with, and 
 adopted details and forms diametrically opposed in principle 
 to those we have hitherto been taught to admire. Of course a 
 man requires to familiarise himself with these forms before he 
 can admire them, and he must understand their application 
 before he can appreciate their adaptability; but once he has 
 conquered this, it seems to me impossible he should arrive at 
 any other conclusion than this: — That there is no form into 
 which stone can be carved which is not beautiful, it it is appro¬ 
 priate to the purpose for which it is employed ; and that no one 
 form is preferable in architecture to any other form, except in 
 so far as it is better adapted constructively for the situation in 
 which it is employed, or artistically more aptly expresses the 
 purpose of the building of which it forms a part. 
 
16 
 
 ON THE STUDY OF 
 
 The principle, in fact, is the same that pervades all the 
 works of nature. I defy any one to give a good logical reason 
 why the form of a man’s nose, or ear, or head, is beautiful. 
 There is nothing in the shape of an eye, or an arm, or leg, or 
 hand, or foot, that is beautiful abstractively; but they are all 
 beautiful, because they are exquisitely adapted to the purposes 
 to which they are applied. So in every animal and every 
 plant; when we understand and appreciate its structure, we 
 see beauty in all its forms. It is the highest merit of the art 
 of architecture, that of all man’s works, it is that which most 
 closely copies the principles which we gather from a study of 
 the works of nature. Its greatest glory is, that in architecture 
 man adapts means to an end, and employs ornament in exactly 
 the same manner—in so far as we can understand it—as 
 nature follows in the creation of plants and animals. It is a 
 creative, not a copying art, and, though in an immensely lower 
 degree, it is creative exactly in the same sense in which all 
 understand the creative powers of nature, and may be judged 
 of and criticised by the same rules. 
 
 As architecture has hitherto been studied, it has been im¬ 
 possible to perceive this; and so long as we continue cribbed 
 in the narrow school of Classical or Gothic art, it will be impos¬ 
 sible to rise to such considerations. Once a man gets out of 
 that groove, and perceives how wide the field is, and how cer¬ 
 tain the result when following certain principles of common 
 sense, the art becomes easy and failure impossible, and that 
 principle may, I conceive, be more easily learnt in India than 
 anywhere else I know of. This facility of learning arises not 
 only from the immense number and variety of the ancient ex¬ 
 amples in every part of that country, but because you may at 
 the present day see those who can neither read, nor write, nor 
 draw, building temples and palaces as beautiful in form and 
 detail as those of their forefathers, and which are not copies, 
 but elaborated on the same principles as resulted in the produc¬ 
 tions of our great mediaeval cathedrals. But I must not detain 
 you too long with these abstract doctrines. The lesson, I con- 
 
INDIAN AID'D ITKCTI RK. 
 
 17 
 
 ceivo, that every one must learn who studies such an art as 
 that of India is, that a man can hardly fail in producing a 
 good design if he thinks only of what he is doing, and how he 
 can do it best. Not only in architecture, hut in every similar 
 art, a thoroughly purpose-like and appropriate design must be 
 permanently successful. The most obvious proof of this is 
 that in Egypt, as in Greece and Rome; in the Middle Ages, in 
 India and Cambodia, or China; even in Mexico and Peru ; in 
 every age and in every part of the world, men, in every stage 
 of civilization, succeeded in producing beautiful and appro¬ 
 priate objects of architecture. Failure was unknown, till in 
 the fifteenth century some evil-disposed persons took it into 
 their heads to revive, by copying classical art. Since that day 
 success has been impossible, notwithstanding all our civilization 
 and power, and all our mechanical skill; for since then nothing 
 but failure after failure has marked the architecture of Europe. 
 If, however, an architect could once be taught to think, inde¬ 
 pendently of copying, I feel convinced they might easily sur¬ 
 pass all that has hitherto been done; and I do not know how 
 they could learn this so easily and so pleasantly, as by the 
 study of an art which differs from all they have hitherto been 
 accustomed to admire, but which still attains its ends as cer¬ 
 tainly and as successfully, as was done in any of those styles 
 with which we have up to this time been familiar. 
 
 Turning from these principles to the suggestions that may 
 be derived from the study of Indian art, we approach a subject 
 that admits of infinite illustration. I must, however, confine 
 myself only to such as will explain what I mean, without at¬ 
 tempting to do more. One of the best illustrations for the 
 purpose that occurs to me, is that of the arrangement of Jaina 
 domes. Every one will, I fancy, admit that abstractedly the 
 dome is the most beautiful form of roof that has yet been in¬ 
 vented, but there are very great difficulties in fitting its cir¬ 
 cular outline to the square and rectangular form of our halls 
 and churches, and it is in consequence rarely employed in 
 Europe. 
 
18 
 
 ON THE STUDY OF 
 
 In India they have surmounted these difficulties with great 
 success, and generally in the following manner. As a rule the 
 dome rests on eight pillars ; but as an octagonal outline is ne¬ 
 cessarily a weak one, they almost invariably add four pillars, 
 one on each angle, which makes up the number to 12, and the 
 figure to a square. This in itself forms a very pleasing pa¬ 
 vilion, and this form is very generally used. When an exten¬ 
 sion is wanted, two pillars are added on each face, making a 
 quasi-cruciform plan, with 20 pillars ; or again, 4 are added on 
 each face, making 36 pillars; or again, 5 on each face, making 
 
 Diagrams of Indian Dome Construction. 
 
 up 56 pillars, as shown in the diagram, which is the largest 
 number I ever saw employed in a single porch. 
 
 Now I have no hesitation in asserting, that the pillars of 
 these porches are more artistically arranged than any equal 
 number in any building in the West. In the first place, the 
 octagon in the centre has the happy property, that when its 
 sides are produced into a square they are in the ratio of 10 to 7, 
 and this proportion consequently pervades the whole structure, 
 
1XI)IAN AR( HITE('TURF,, 
 
 19 
 
 the lon-gtli of the greater and lesser aisles being in the same 
 ratio. Tn Gothic buildings, the ratio of the side to the centre 
 aisles is as one to two generally, and the height of the principal 
 one is also doubled. In India they are of one height, and just 
 in that proportion which is best suited to give dignity to the 
 central without overpowering the side aisles. By this arrange¬ 
 ment, also, the principal aisles are longer than the minor ones 
 in the same ratio, as they run along the diagram of the square. 
 But the greatest beauty of the arrangement, perhaps, is the 
 position of the dome in the centre, exactly where dignity is 
 wanted. The only attempt at a similar effect in Gothic Archi¬ 
 tecture is at Ely. The central lantern there is beautiful in so 
 far as it follows these arrangements, and fails just when it 
 ceases to carry them to their legitimate extent. 
 
 Externally, the effect is as happy as it is internally. The 
 breaking up of the external parts gives a play of light and 
 shade, and a sparkling brilliancy of effect, not to be obtained 
 by any other process that I am aware of; the salient and re¬ 
 entering angles give those vertical lines which the Gothic 
 architects sought, somewhat clumsily, to attain by the employ¬ 
 ment of buttresses and other mechanical expedients, and the 
 classic architects still more clumsily, by the employment ot 
 pilasters and three-quarter columns. The Hindoos alone seem 
 to have effected this by true constructive expedients. 
 
 Fortunately, any one who wishes to lorm an opinion as to 
 the beauty of this arrangement internally, can do so by paying 
 a visit to the Church of St. Stephen’s, Walbrook. It is 
 avowedly Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece, and, both on the 
 Continent and in this country, allowed to be one of the most 
 beautiful classical interiors erected in modern times. The 
 success is entirely owing to its architect having hit upon the 
 same idea as the Jaina dome builders. In some respects it is 
 inferior to them, but this arises either from the space in the 
 City being limited, or Sir Christopher Wren not having carried 
 the principle far enough. 
 
 It is not only, however, in constructive arrangement that 
 
20 
 
 OX THE STUDY OF 
 
 the Indian architects might afford important suggestions. There 
 are probably few things our Gothic, antiquarians are so justly 
 proud of as our window tracery ; but I question if there is any¬ 
 thing in Europe of that class so beautiful as the windows of the 
 Bhudder at Ahmedabad. There is just that admixture of con¬ 
 structive forms with those of conventionalised nature, which makes 
 up the perfection of decoration in all styles; and if those windows 
 were glazed with coloured mosaic glass, with that brilliant har- 
 mony so general in the East, it would be difficult to match them 
 for beauty in their class, from examples in any other style. 
 
 Window of the Blnidderat Alnnedadad. 
 
 Besides these, however, there are some hundreds of examples of 
 the same class of decoration at Ahmedabad used merely as orna¬ 
 ment, and, consequently, hardly constructive, but such as might 
 be freely imitated in metal or in terra-cotta, and if used appro¬ 
 priately, would be more beautiful than anything of the kind we 
 have yet seen. 
 
INDIAN AR('HITKCTURE. 
 
 21 
 
 One other peculiarity of our Gothic style, to which we are 
 accustomed to turn witli pride, is the form of the pendants from 
 our Gothic roofs. Those, however, which the Jains in Guzerat, 
 hung from the centre of their domes, are not only more beau¬ 
 tiful in form, but far richer in ornament, and every detail so 
 exquisitely designed to the place in which it is put, that our 
 Gothic architect must yield the palm to them, as in this or in 
 other respects. 
 
 It would be easy to go on multiplying examples of this sort, 
 but time will not permit, and without detailed illustration it is 
 impossible to make the subject understood, and I shall not 
 therefore attempt it. Before concluding, however, let me call 
 your attention to another subject, though its interest is more 
 archaeological than artistic. You have all heard what a bone 
 of contention the age of cromlechs, dolmens, and menhirs are 
 to our antiquaries, and how much divine wrath the subject 
 excites in certain bosoms. Now here is a new fact for dis¬ 
 cussion. In the spring of the present year a surveyor—luckily 
 not a railway surveyor, for had it been the latter the monu¬ 
 ments would before this have been utilized, but one employed 
 in the trigonometrical survey — in cutting his way through the 
 Neermull jungle, half-way between Ilydrabad and Nagpore, 
 came to a group of cromlechs and crosses, of which he made 
 some photographs, and sent them home. The cromlechs are 
 identical in every form with those in Brittany and Wales. 
 The crosses, nine to ten feet in height, are such as might 
 be found in Ireland or in Kensal Green Cemetery. That 
 they are of Christian origin can hardly be doubted, and that 
 they are of the same age as the cromlechs seems a certainty, 
 and that the two forms belonged to the same people. Who 
 those people were, and when they lived, I must leave to 
 others to determine. All I wish to point out here is, that it 
 is another point of interest in the study of architecture in 
 India. 
 
 Allow me, before concluding, to recapitulate as briefly 
 but as clearly as I can, the principal points on which I 
 
 <; 
 
22 
 
 OX I'HE STUDY OF 
 
 have dwelt in the preceding paper, in order that you may 
 judge how far I have made out my case, or made myself 
 understood. 
 
 I consider the study of Indian Architecture important, 
 because it affords the readiest and most direct means of ascer¬ 
 taining the ethnological relations of the different races inha¬ 
 biting India. It points out more clearly than can he done by 
 other means, how they succeeded each other, where they 
 settled, flow they mixed, or when they were absorbed. 
 
 In the next place, I consider it important, because it affords 
 the best picture of the religious faiths of the country, showing 
 how and when they arose, how they became corrupted, and 
 when and by what steps they sank to their present level. 
 
 It is also, I believe, important, because in a country which 
 has no written histories, it affords almost the only means that 
 exist for steadying any conclusion we may arrive at, and is a 
 measure of the greatness or decay of the dynasties that ruled 
 that country in ancient times. 
 
 These considerations refer wholly to India, and to the im¬ 
 portance of the study as bearing on Indian questions only ; 
 but I consider it as important also, because of its bearings on 
 architectural art in our own country. First, because by 
 widening the base of our observations and extending our 
 views to a style wholly different from our own, we are able 
 to look at architecture from a new and outside point of view, 
 and by doing this, to master principles which are wholly 
 hidden from those whose study is confined to one style so 
 mixed up with adventitious associations as our local styles 
 inevitably are. 
 
 It also is important, because architecture in India is still a 
 living art. We can see there, at the present day, buildings as 
 important as works of art, as our mediaeval cathedrals erected 
 by master masons, on precisely the same principle and in the 
 same manner that guided our mediaeval masons to such glorious 
 results. 
 
 It also is, I conceive, important, as offering many sug- 
 
INDIAN' ARCH ITINTIRK. 
 
 2b 
 
 gestions, which, if adopted in a modified form, might tend 
 considerably 1o the improvement of our own architectural 
 designs. 
 
 Lastly, I consider the study worthy of attention from the 
 light it may he expected to throw on some of our own archaeo¬ 
 logical problems. 
 
 Besides these seven, there are many other reasons that I 
 could urge, to prove that the study is worthy of more attention 
 than it has hitherto received; but if I have succeeded in 
 making these at all clear, they are amply sufficient to my 
 purpose. If you feel at all with me on the subject, I need no 
 apology for concluding by saying that if Indian Architecture 
 is worthy of study, it is worth while that something should be 
 done to obtain the materials requisite for that purpose; and I 
 do hope that some sort of organization may be got together to 
 collect and bring home such representations of Indian buildings 
 as may render the study easy and accessible to all. A good 
 deal has been done lately, but it has been done without system. 
 Those temples only have been photographed which are situated 
 near where some artist with the necessary apparatus hap¬ 
 pened to reside. Many of the most important are still unre¬ 
 presented. In no instance — except one — have they been 
 accompanied with the plans or measurements or descriptions 
 necessary to make them intelligible, without at least a very 
 disproportionate amount of study. By organization all these 
 difficulties might be avoided, and with it I think the results 
 would be such as would surpass the most sanguine anticipa¬ 
 tions. 
 
 If anything is to be done, it ought to be done quickly, for 
 in a tropical country like that of India, ‘ Decay’s effacing 
 fingers’ work much more rapidly than in a temperate climate. 
 Vegetation there is also an active power, always tending to tear 
 down temples and destroy the most elaborate buildings ; and 
 there is a third power more perniciously active than either in 
 the shape of the barrack department, which is fast obliterating 
 beauty in the land. Within the last few years, one-half of the 
 
24 
 
 ON THE STUDY OF 
 
 palace at Delhi lias been pulled down to make way for a regi¬ 
 mental barrack. The fort of Gwalior has still more recently 
 been handed over to the department, and everywhere, from the 
 causes above-mentioned, destruction is stalking over the land ; 
 and unless something is done, and done quickly, to perpetuate 
 by representation the forms of those beautiful buildings, it may 
 be too late, and their memory pass away for ever. 
 
INDIAN ARCHITE(TURE . 
 
 25 
 
 DISCUSSION. 
 
 Mr. Henry Cole, C.B., remarked, tliat if anything- were 
 wanting to convince Englishmen how much there was in 
 India of which they were ignorant, it was the able paper they 
 had heard this evening. His own impression was, that they 
 knew very little indeed of India, excepting what they read in 
 prices current of grey shirtings, twills, cotton twist, indigo, 
 and the like. Of the people of India they knew very little; 
 and of their architecture still less. He thought it hardly too 
 much to say that there were scarcely half-a-dozen architects 
 in this country who could pass an examination in Indian archi¬ 
 tecture ; and yet here was the great fact that there was an 
 architecture, whether beautiful or ugly did not affect the 
 question, which might be said to give the history of a people 
 living in a state of considerable civilization even 500 years 
 before the Christian era. That the architects of this country 
 should know very little about Indian architecture was not sur¬ 
 prising, when it was recollected that even within the memory 
 of members not older than himself, they knew very little about 
 Gothic architecture. Fifty years ago, nobody knew anything 
 about Gothic architecture, and he remembered being sent to 
 look at the new church of St. Luke’s, Chelsea, as something- 
 wonderful and novel. We knew how great a revival there had 
 been in that branch of art. If such had been the case with 
 Gothic architecture, he thought that eventually they might 
 hope to have some little knowledge, at least, of the architecture 
 of India. Not more than a hundred years ago, Horace Walpole 
 built that structure, which was then thought to be excellent- 
 Gothic, at Strawberry Hill; and scarcely fifty years had elapsed 
 since Wyatt, in Durham Cathedral, and elsewhere, exercised 
 his taste in what he considered to be Gothic; and yet at the 
 present time, there was not an architect’s pupil who would 
 
not consider himself disgraced if lie had produced such works. He 
 therefore did not despair of seeing Indian architecture studied in this 
 country. He did not desire to see it copied. As to the suggestions it 
 offered, ho might mention that visitors to Paris next year would see a 
 building in connexion with the Exhibition there, the design of which 
 was somewhat in the form of an Indian temple photo¬ 
 graphed in Mr. Hope’s book on architecture. In the 
 English department of the Paris Exhibition it had been 
 found necessary to erect a building to contain several 
 boilers, which were in the first place to be exhibited as 
 specimens of manufacture, and also to be used to drive 
 the machinery. Of course, in connexion with the boilers 
 there must be a chimney, and it was desired to have it 
 ornamental; the building must also be extremely airy, 
 so as to make it as cool as possible. Looking over 
 Mr. Hope’s work on architecture, was found a repre¬ 
 sentation of a mosque of which Syud Oosman was said 
 
 The English Boiler-house at the Paris Exhibition, 1867. 
 
 to have been the builder, and this gave, in addition to extremely 
 ornamental forms like chimneys, colonnades which afforded open spaces 
 for tlie public to inspect the boilers in. It afforded suggestions for 
 the exact building wanted. It was most remarkable how much in- 
 fllionet the display of Indian productions shown in the Exhibition of 
 
INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 27 
 
 1851 liad had upon our taste, especially in the manufacture of 
 carpets and other fabrics*. Mr. Peter Graham, a competent 
 witness, was present, and could testify to this. Instead of 
 flaring patterns in perspective, they had decorous flat patterns, 
 on which they could place furniture without feelings of dis¬ 
 comfort, and it was the fact that a large trade had since been 
 established in Masulipatam carpets. The same influence, he 
 believed, would ultimately be exerted by the architecture as by 
 the manufactures of India. He also remembered that in the 
 Exhibition of 1851, whilst they had these beautiful patterns 
 designed by the “benighted” people of India, there were 
 beside them some most abominable imitations of European 
 patterns from India. Indeed, there was nothing so bad as 
 when an Indian attempted to imitate European art; and he 
 confessed he had some fear lest the Schools of Design lately 
 established in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, instead of leading 
 the natives to advance in their own styles of art, should create 
 a hybrid style, the most detestable ever seen. In his opinion, 
 we had a great deal more to learn from the Indians than we 
 could hope to teach them in the designing of patterns, and 
 he protested against Schools of Art in India, which should 
 corrupt native talent and taste. He might mention another 
 point. He read in the Builder a little time ago, that for the 
 University of Calcutta it had been determined to adopt the 
 Doric style of architecture. It might possibly be right to have 
 Doric columns in the University of Calcutta, but it could 
 hardly be right that they should be of cast stucco imported 
 from England. Could they conceive anything more likely 
 to debase Indian art than taking cast stucco columns from 
 England to Calcutta? Mr. Fergusson had alluded to the 
 importance of having some kind of systematic mode of collect¬ 
 ing information on the architecture of India. He was quite 
 sure, supposing they none of them cared at all about art, they 
 must nevertheless feel an interest in the millions of human 
 beings, who were at present subjects of Queen Victoria, and must 
 long to know something about these remarkable people. He 
 
28 
 
 ON THE STUDY OF 
 
 would ask how that rude cross and cromlech, shown in a 
 diagram on the walls, could have got into the place where it 
 was described to have been found P It was a veritable duplicate 
 of Kit’s Cotty-house in Kent, and yet it was in the midst, 
 of a dense jungle. Let them try and penetrate the history of 
 such things as these. Mr. Fergusson had suggested that they 
 should go on systematically obtaining photographic representa¬ 
 tions of objects of art in India. He (Mr. Cole) hoped some 
 plan would be arranged by which we might be able to have in 
 this country a systematic collection of photographs of Indian 
 buildings ; there were already skilful photographers high up in 
 the hills in India, who were in possession of thousands of these 
 photographs, and he hoped we should soon see them in this 
 country. He was enabled to state that it was intended that in 
 the Indian court of the Paris Exhibition, Indian architecture 
 should be represented. In addition to photographs, he would 
 suggest plans, sections, and casts. Only the difficulty of cost, 
 which Englishmen very soon overcame, stood in the way of 
 procuring casts of all the typical buildings of India. The 
 public money had been already employed in obtaining casts of 
 the finest objects in Italy, Spain, and France. We had re¬ 
 cently imported into this country, at a cost of between 2000/. 
 and 3000/., a cast of the beautiful gate of the convent of San¬ 
 tiago, in Spain; and if it were well to have these casts from 
 Spain, it would be well to have them from India also. This was 
 the more important when it, was recollected how rapid was the 
 destruction of such works in that country from various causes ; 
 and while on this subject, he would read the following extract, 
 from a work on the architecture of Ahmedabad, which showed 
 how wantonly even those who ought to respect such monuments 
 sometimes treated them : —- 
 
 “ Sedee Syeed’s mosque at Ahmedabad is now built into the north¬ 
 eastern corner of the modern wall of the ‘ Shudder.’ Its position 
 exposed it in after times to more than usually rough treatment. After 
 being desecrated by the Mahrattas, it has been converted by the British 
 into one of the public offices, and has been hacked about to suit official 
 
IN 1)1 AN AR< HITECITURE. 
 
 29 
 
 convenience as much as the Chapter House at Westminster. But its 
 principal glory still remains intact in two windows of perforated marble, 
 which may be safely affirmed to be unrivalled throughout the East. 
 Their dimensions are ten feet wide by seven feet high .”—■Architecture 
 of A 1 medabad, pp. 46, 47. (See illustration p. 20.) 
 
 Though he sympathised with the feelings that would abstain 
 from robbing a country of its treasures, yet he thought when 
 they were converting palaces and mosques into barracks and 
 offices for Government clerks, they might be allowed to put in 
 a word on behalf of saving treasures like those described by Mr. 
 Fergusson, and applying them to more appropriate uses.* If 
 the India Museum to be in Downing Street could not be ade¬ 
 quately extended, some other place might be found in which 
 those rich stores of ancient art might be deposited. Members 
 would recollect, that in 1852 this Society announced its inten¬ 
 tion of forming a large and comprehensive exhibition of Indian 
 art. A correspondence on the subject was opened with the 
 Indian authorities, and their late President, the Prince Consort, 
 was consulted, and gave his cordial support to the plan. Various 
 difficulties, however, prevented the realization of the scheme, 
 and the objects already collected were handed over to the 
 authorities of the Dublin Exhibition. If the Society would, at 
 a future time, again take up the idea, and hold a complete In¬ 
 dian Exhibition, embracing a proper representation of architec¬ 
 ture, coupled, perhaps, with a complete Colonial exhibition, he 
 believed a most interesting and valuable display would result. 
 Speaking as a member of the Society and not as one of the 
 Council, he would urge upon the members, if they took an inte- 
 
 * Major Alexander Cunningham of the Bengal Engineers in 1854 re¬ 
 commended that the two fallen gateways of the Sanchi Tope should be 
 removed to the British Museum, which would ensure their preservation. 
 
 He also expressed a hope that the Court of Directors would cause the 
 numerous Topes which still exist in North and South Bahar to be opened, 
 and a report to be made on all the Buddhist remains of Kapila and 
 Kusimrgara, of Vaisala and Rajagriha, which were the principal scenes of 
 Sakya’s labours. 
 
ON THE STUDY OF 
 
 30 
 
 rest in the subject, to endeavour to get up a thorough represent¬ 
 ation of the arts and manufactures of India, as well as of the 
 products and raw materials of its commerce. On the occasion 
 to which he had alluded, in the year 1852, there was great 
 difficulty in providing a building for the exhibition, but that 
 difficulty would in a year or two be removed. There would 
 then be in existence a building, the great Central Hall, which 
 would be sufficiently large to accommodate an exhibition of this 
 kind, besides a good many other things. 
 
 Colonel Scott, H.E., would take the opportunity of asking 
 Mr. Fergusson to what extent he considered the architecture of 
 any one of these races of India had influenced the architecture 
 of the race that succeeded it, and whether in the architecture of 
 the present day any purer system was followed, or whether 
 what was styled by Mr. Cole a hybrid character of architecture 
 now prevailed in India ? 
 
 Mr. Fergusson replied, — The styles in India had changed 
 like those in this country, but each was a complete indication of 
 the race of people to which it belonged. Each style differed 
 from the preceding one, but was entirely without foreign admix¬ 
 ture ; and when they were familiar with the whole, the ethno¬ 
 logy of the people was distinctly to be traced in the different 
 styles. Where European influences prevailed architecturally, 
 as in Lucknow and Hyderabad, the style had become corrupt 
 and bad to the last degree, and all Mr. Cole had said was not 
 half the truth. 
 
 Mr. J. Crawfurd said the architecture of India was certainly 
 wonderful and curious, though he thought not very beautiful or 
 graceful; and he contended that we were a more advanced 
 people in this respect than those of India. 
 
 Mr. Peter Graham observed, that Mr. Cole having appealed 
 
IN MAN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 ' 31 
 
 to him with regard to the influence exerted upon the manufac¬ 
 tures of this country by the Indian department of the Exhi¬ 
 bition of 1851, he had no hesitation in stating he entirely con¬ 
 curred in the views of-that gentleman. He believed he was 
 warranted in saying, that in the choicest specimen of ornament¬ 
 ation of the cinque-cento period, there might be traced an influ¬ 
 ence derived from Eastern objects of art that had been seen by 
 the artists of that period. This could be discerned most dis¬ 
 tinctly ; and he thought they could not do better than study those 
 works — he did not mean as copyists — but as affording sugges¬ 
 tions by which taste in the manufactures of this country might 
 be improved. 
 
 Mr. Robert Rawlinson, C.B., considered that the employing 
 architects and engineers, and allowing them to send out articles 
 from this country for use in India, was an enormous waste of 
 the public money. He knew that many things sent out from 
 this country to India served no better purpose than affording a 
 good commission to the parties who gave the orders for them. 
 In water-works construction, it was evident that the Hindoos 
 were in advance of us. There were reservoirs in India 2000 
 years old, and we might learn a lesson from them in this 
 respect. 
 
 Mr. J. Beavington Atkinson believed the earliest building 
 of which they had a record was something like 250 years before 
 Christ, whereas Thebes and Memphis were supposed to have 
 been founded 2000 years before Christ, and Rome 750 years,; 
 whilst the great period of the Greeks was, he believed, nearly 
 contemporaneous with some of the photographs exhibited. 
 Therefore, he would ask Mr. Fergusson how much further it 
 was possible to go back in chronology, in order to arrive at the 
 ethnography of the arts of India, and whether between the 
 Eastern and Western architectures there could be traced any 
 correspondence as to the details P 
 
ON THE STUDY OF 
 
 32 
 
 Mr. Philip Palmer answered some remarks of Mr. Raw- 
 1 inson. 
 
 Mr. Fergusson, in reply upon the discussion, said Mr. Raw- 
 linson laboured under a mistake in the views he had expressed 
 relative to the square form of temple he referred to. It was 
 impossible within the limits of a paper to point out all the de¬ 
 tails, but there were no separate apartments in the building, as 
 Mr. Rawlinson had supposed; but the building, of which the plan 
 was given on p. 26, was, in fact, a vast porch, standing on 56 
 pillars, and was perfectly open,' the ventilation being, of course, 
 in excess. The Dravidian temple belonged to a different style of 
 architecture and a different age altogether. He had endea¬ 
 voured to make it clear that he by no means wished these 
 productions to be copied. All he said was, that there were 
 principles in these buildings which were worthy of the study 
 of architects, and it was by going to foreign styles, where 
 they were not hampered by association, that they could most 
 clearly understand what the true principles of architecture were. 
 With regard to the remarks of Mr. Crawfurd, as to the absence 
 of domestic architecture in India, that gentleman must surely 
 be aware of the existence of numerous large and beautiful 
 palaces, which, in point of form and ornamentation, were equal 
 to anything in Europe. In reply to the question of Mr. 
 Atkinson, as to how far Mahommedan architecture was Hindoo, 
 and why he had applied the term Mahommedan to it, he would 
 refer to the circumstance that when the Mahommedans went 
 to Constantinople they did not take with them the archi¬ 
 tecture of Cairo, Syria, Spain, or Persia, but they literally 
 copied the church of St. Sophia, which they found there, in 
 the works which they erected in that city. Wherever the 
 Mahommedans went they introduced no style of their own, 
 but employed the native people to build their mosques for 
 them; and this accounted for the fact that some of the most 
 beautiful Mahommedan buildings in India were purely Hindoo 
 from first to last. With regard to the ethnography of the 
 
INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 33 
 
 buildings, be could not in India get beyond 250 years before 
 Christ, but, as far as general knowledge on the subject went, 
 from the building of the first pyramid in Egypt down to the 
 present day in India, and down to the fifteenth century in 
 Europe, there was not a single building which did not more or 
 less mark the ethnography of the people who built it. What 
 gave the study of architecture the greatest interest, was the 
 fact that they could trace this ethnological relation not only in 
 India, but also in Africa and China, and other parts of the 
 world. Indian architecture itself formed but a small branch 
 of this subject, though a pleasing and important one, because, 
 from the want of inter-communication, they retained their 
 peculiar idiosyncracies to a larger extent and more distinctly 
 than any other people he knew. With regard to the request 
 made by Mr. Graham, he should be happy that the photo¬ 
 graphs should go to South Kensington; but he hoped before 
 long there would be a better collection in that establishment. 
 
 Sir Thomas Phillips, Q.C., said, before the closing of the 
 discussion on the admirable paper they had heard, it might not 
 be inappropriate to the presence of the Chairman (Sir James 
 Fergusson), that the meeting should pronounce what he was 
 sure they all felt, viz. that it was the duty of the Government 
 of this country to do what in them lay to preserve as far as 
 possible the recollection of those great architectural works 
 throughout our Indian dependencies. Without entering into 
 the disputed question of how far those buildings were really 
 beautiful, there seemed no doubt that, as the rulers of a great, 
 people, who had occupied a territory extending over a consi¬ 
 derable part of the globe, for a period of 2000 or 3000 years, 
 it was the duty of the British Government to preserve, as far 
 as might be, the memory of those great and distinctive works 
 of art. Happily, we were in possession of an art which enabled 
 us to preserve the representation of these great monuments at 
 small cost and with great accuracy ; and he could not doubt 
 that means would be taken for obtaining, especially by means 
 
34 
 
 ON THK STUDY OF 
 
 of photography, such memorials as might be regarded as objects 
 of real national interest. 
 
 The Chairman said the evident interest with which the 
 meeting had listened to the very valuable paper which Mr. 
 Fergusson had delivered, made him feel that it would be a mere 
 matter of form on his part to propose that the meeting should 
 accord their most grateful thanks to that gentleman. But he 
 could not omit the opportunity to say how greatly the grati¬ 
 fication he had felt at the honour conferred upon him, in being 
 invited to occupy this distinguished chair, had been enhanced 
 by the deep interest he had felt in listening to Mr. Fergusson’s 
 paper. It was certainly an unusual thing for an Under-Secre¬ 
 tary of State for India to vary his ordinary duties, which he 
 hoped were not altogether useless, by attending such a meeting 
 as this, and hearing such a subject discussed. lie was usually 
 confined to the drier matters of how to make Indian railways 
 pay; how to pay the public servants in India; and too often, 
 perhaps, how not to pay them. In some of the speeches deli¬ 
 vered this evening, rather pointed allusions had been made to 
 the responsibilities of the Home Government of India, in which 
 he had the honour to hold a humble position ; and some slight 
 imputation was cast upon the Government on account of what 
 were considered breaches of taste in connexion with public 
 works in India. It should, however, be remembered, that the 
 government of India was mainly conducted in that country ; 
 and not only were the puolic works promoted there, but the 
 duty of preserving the ancient monuments of the country must 
 be discharged by those who were on the spot. Great as the 
 influence of this Society was, there were kindred societies in 
 India, which showed that Europeans in that country were not 
 unmindful of the subject which had been treated this evening ; 
 and the Society at home might be doing wrong in taking the 
 matter out of their hands, inasmuch as through their agency, 
 working through the government of India, they might accom¬ 
 plish the end in view. Undoubtedly, it was desirable to possess 
 
 / - — N 
 
 MUNICIPAL 
 
 M U S L U M 
 
 W A R H l N C T n N 
 
INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 35 
 
 authentic records of these monuments of ancient times, but it 
 might be a question with those who had to administer the 
 scanty revenues of India, as to how far the public funds should 
 he devoted to such a- purpose. He ventured to think, that if 
 they wished to obtain these records from India, it could only be 
 done for the most part by private enterprise ; at the same time, 
 he was quite sure that the men at the head of the government 
 were far too enlightened to be unmindful of these works of art, 
 and that they would only he too happy to facilitate opportu¬ 
 nities for procuring the memorials referred to, for any benefit 
 thus conferred upon the arts in this country would be reflected 
 back upon the people of India themselves. lie believed the 
 more the people of this country—especially the educated and 
 learned classes—were led to bend their thoughts towards that 
 great dependency, which involved such deep responsibilities 
 upon ourselves, the greater would he the amount of benefit to 
 the people of India; and he hoped that indirectly this might 
 be the means of attracting more of the capital of this country 
 to the development of the commercial resources of India, while 
 at the same time our rule there was not unmarked by attention 
 to those arts which refined and civilised mankind. lie was 
 sure he carried with him the feeling of the meeting, in ten¬ 
 dering to Mr. Fergusson their cordial thanks for the paper he 
 had favoured them with. 
 
 The vote of thanks was passed unanimously. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by Stran'cewavs it Walden, 
 28 Castle St. Leicester Sq. 
 

 
 >