Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c38.18

c38.18

There now remains the last of the great movements enumerated above, which brought into Bengal a phase of the building art of considerable beauty and consequence. This may be described as an extension of the “ Eastern School ” of architecture and art, which, due to the incentive of the Pala and Sena dynasties appears to have flourished with great effect at Lakhnauti, the capital of the Senas, now almost a lost site near Malda, but originally comprising a large complex of basalt buildings of a particularly substantial and ornate description. It was, however, completely de-spoiled by the Muhammedans after its capture in 1197, in order to provide materials for their own capital at Gaur. From the remains incorporated in the mosques and tombs of the conquerors, it is possible to obtain sufficient evidence for the character of the style of the Sena architecture to be conjectured. Situated as Lakhanauti was on the banks of the Ganges, yet within easy reach of the Rajmahal hills, it was not difficult to obtain from this rocky range a fine textured grade of black basalt, of which stone the principal buildings were constructed. Records of two kinds of buildings are recognizable, one religious, consisting of tem-ples and shrines, and the other secular, apparently a royal palace and fortress.