History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c29.16

v2.c29.16

protection from the sun's rays to all worshippers, and every aisle being open at one or both ends, prevented anything like gloom, and admitted of far freer ventilation than was attainable in the enclosed courts, while the requisite privacy could easily have been obtained by a low enclosing wall at some distance from the mosque itself. On the whole, my impression is that the Kulbarga plan is the preferable one of the two, both for convenience and for architectural effect, so much so indeed, that it is very difficult to understand why, when once tried, it was never afterwards repeated. Probably the cause of its being abandoned was the difficulty of draining so extensive a flat roof during the rains. Any settlement or any crack must have been fatal; yet this mosque stands in seemingly good repair, after four centuries of comparative neglect. Whichever way the question is decided, it must be admitted that this is one of the finest of the old mosques of India, at least among those which are built wholly of original materials—and in the arcuate style of Muhammadan art. Those at Delhi and Ajmîr are more interesting of course, but it is from adventitious circumstances. This owes its greatness only to its own original merits of design.¹