The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c30.s1.10.5

v3.c30.s1.10.5

Both stonework and reliefs, to be sure, had long before been anticipated in the Ādīna *Masjid*; but in those early days the stone had been stripped from Hindu temples, and when the supply from this source had failed, its place had been taken by brick. From now onwards stone again comes into fashion, being specially quarried in the distant Balasore and Rājmahal Hills and conveyed to Gaur by water. Although, too, the reliefs in the Gunmant mosque were doubtless inspired by those in the Ādīna, the new work was very different from the old. This will be apparent at a glance if the reader will compare the illustrations of the Ādīna *Masjid* carvings (Figs. 33 and 34) with those of the Gunmant and Chhotā Sonā masjids (Figs. 38 and 41). Technically and artistically the former are far superior. They exhibit all the refinement and natural spontaneity of the old Hindu school of Eastern India which for five centuries and more had been producing carving of this kind in stone. The latter are careful, painstaking efforts and by no means unattractive, but in a great measure imitative of the terracotta relief work which for some generations had supplanted stone sculpture, and which being moulded out of soft clay was little adapted for reproduction in the harder material.