Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c6.10

c6.10

The more decorated style of temple building in the Dakhan began to decline soon after the Muḥammadan invasion and eventually died out; the hand of the salāt had forgotten its cunning, or his removal to more congenial and remunerative spheres left no one to carry on his work. Under the sultāns of Gujarāt the Hindu salāts, or sutradāras, were encouraged to practise their craft, with certain necessary restrictions, upon the magnificent mosques and tombs of their conquerors in that province,¹ and there, as may be seen in such buildings as the temple of Hatisingh at Aḥmedābād, the descendants of those builders still follow out, to some extent, the traditions and canons of their forefathers. Other states demanded their skill at this time, such as Māndu, Bidar and Bijāpur. and, in their practice upon Muḥammadan work they, probably. gradually lost their peculiar knowledge as temple builders. Modern temple work in the Dakhan is in a hybrid style partaking, in great measure, of local Muḥammadan feeling, a fair example of which is seen is the accompanying illustration. Fig. No. 2, and the temple of Sundara Nārāyaṇa at Nāsik on plate CXII.