History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c19.s8.8

v1.c19.s8.8

The general effect of such a design as this may be gathered from the bird’s-eye view (Woodcut No. 217). As an artistic design, nothing can be worse. The gateways, irregularly spaced in a great blank wall, lose half their dignity from their positions; and the bathos of their decreasing in size and elaboration, as they approach the sanctuary, is a mistake which nothing can redeem. We may admire beauty of detail, and be astonished at the elaboration and evidence of labour, if they are found in such a temple as this, but as an architectural design it is altogether detestable.