History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c25.s26.2

v2.c25.s26.2

To persons not familiar with the East such an architectural object as a baolî may seem a strange perversion of ingenuity, but the grateful coolness of all subterranean apartments, especially when accompanied by water, and the quiet shade of these recesses, fully compensate, in the eyes of the Hindû, for the more attractive magnificence of the ghâts. Consequently, the descending flights of which we are now speaking, have often been made more elaborate and expensive pieces of architecture than any of the buildings above ground found in their vicinity.¹