The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c30.s1.16.2

v3.c30.s1.16.2

It has been described as second to none of the mosques of Gujarāt, and undoubtedly it is a most striking edifice, a particularly fine effect being produced in the interior of the prayer chamber by three tiers of columns rising one above the other and supporting the dome, with richly carved balconies between the tiers and an equally rich frieze beneath the ribbed soffit of the ceiling. But, considered as an organic whole, it will not bear comparison with its older namesake in Ahmadābād. Its parts are neither so well proportioned nor so successfully co-ordinated. The elevation of the prayer chamber is too cramped; the minarets flanking the main archway overpoweringly heavy; and the transition from the side wings to the central hall altogether too abrupt. The truth is that by the end of the fifteenth century the faculty for composition on a grand scale which distinguished the architecture of Ahmad Shāh and which had come down as a legacy from Khaljī times had all but exhausted itself. For constructional purposes, it is true, the arch and dome were now playing an increasingly important part; but though the architects of Mahmūd Begarha and his successors made free use of these features, and could handle them, on occasion, with consummate skill and taste, still they were never so much at home with them as they were with their own traditional pillar and lintel system;