History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c24.3

c24.3

Against their bloody wars and their ruthless destruction of Hindu and Jain temples, is the constructive will of the Turkish invaders, which manifested itself pre-eminently in the huge edifices they erected. In the beginning they obtained their material from Hindu temples, reducing them to mere debris; but later, when Muslim hegemony was firmly established, they planned and constructed independently. In India itself, architecture had greatly developed, and Alberūnī, who had seen the architectural splendour of Bāghdād, was greatly amazed at the excellence of Indian craftsmanship. About the temples and buildings of India he says that his people "are unable to describe them, much less to construct anything like them." Obviously there was no dearth of skilled architects and masons in this country. The early Muslim Sultans employed them freely, and the buildings constructed by them to suit the taste of their Muslim patrons bear an impress of both Hindu and Muslim styles of architecture—"sometimes uncouthly mingled, at others beautifully blended.'¹ Scholars like Havell think that Indo-Islamic architecture is nothing but a modified form of Hindu architecture. Fergusson and G. A. Page, on the other hand, are inclined to discover in it a larger share of Islamic influence.