History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c31.s2.2

v2.c31.s2.2

The most perfect of his buildings that I am acquainted with is the mosque in the Purânâ Kìlâ or Kilâ Kohnâ at Delhi. The walls of this place were repaired by Humâyûn in A.D. 1533, and, according to the latest authorities, it is said to have been built by Sher Shâh in A.D. 1541 (Plate XXXII.).¹ It is a single hall, with five openings in front through pointed arches of what we would call Tudor form, but beautifully varied in design, and arranged in panels carved with the most exquisite designs and ornamented with parti-coloured marbles. It is 168 ft. long by 44 ft. 6 in. wide, and about 44 ft. high. The brackets under the balconies are the precursors of the type so marked in the red sandstone palace in the fort at Agra; and the pendentives inside, below the dome, are effective. One important dome, pierced with twelve small windows, crowns the centre; it has, however, no minarets and no courtyard, but even without these adjuncts it is one of the most satisfactory buildings of its class in India.