Travels in India (Tavernier) 17.2.3

17.2.3

From this second court a third is entered by a large gate, by the side of which there is, as it were, a small room raised two or three feet from the ground. It is where the royal wardrobe is kept, and from whence the khil'at is obtained whenever the King wishes to honour a stranger or one of his subjects. A little further on, over the same gate, is the place where the drums, trumpets, and hautboys are kept, which are heard some moments before the King enters his throne of justice, to give notice to the Omrahs, and again when the King is about to rise. When entering this third court you face the divan where the King gives audience. It is a grand hall elevated some four feet above the ground floor, and open on three sides. Thirty-two marble columns sustain as many arches, and these columns are about four feet square with their pedestals and some mouldings. When Sháh Jahán commenced the building of this hall he intended that it should be enriched throughout by wonderful works in mosaic, like those in the chapel of the Grand Duke in Italy; but having made a trial upon two or three pillars to the height of two or three feet, he considered that it would be impossible to find enough stones for so considerable a design, and that moreover it would cost an enormous sum of money; this compelled him to stop the work, contenting himself with a representation of different flowers.