On The Muhammadan Architecture of Bharoch, Cambay, Dholka, Champanir and Mahmudabad in Gujarat

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The present volume is one-and the smaller one-of two in which the Muhammadan architecture of what may be described as the more important provincial towns of Gujarat is illustrated. The larger one deals almost exclusively with the capital- Ahmadabad-and its suburbs. The two will thus, together, present a pretty comprehensive view of the Muslim remains in the British districts of Gujarat.

Among the many varieties in the style of Muhammadan architecture prevailing in different provinces of India, that which arose in Gujarat in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is one of the most instructive and deserving of study, as it is also the most beautiful. Like the Sharqi architecture of Jaunpur, it bears a markedly local impress, while the elements which compose it are of even a better and higher class than are to be found in any part of Gangetic India. Into any detailed examination of these elements it is not intended here to enter; the other volume will present a more suitable opportunity for remarks on this subject. Though there are not to be found at Ahmadadad any such early examples as at Bharoch, Cambay, and Dholka, we have in that city a more consecutive series of buildings illustrative of the development of the style from the beginning of the fourteenth century when it began to take distinctive form and character till the seventeenth when it had begun to decay,-or, at least, when the erection of new buildings of importance architecturally had ceased to be undertaken by the Muhammadans.

The illustrations in this volume, however present in sufficient detail the earlier Muslim mosques-erected at Bharoch and other towns on the overthrow of the Hindu power by the Moghus from Delhi in the early part of the fourteenth century. .As showing the first examples of the style, they will be found of much interest by anyone setting himself patiently to study the evolution and growth of so beautiful a form of Art; indeed such illustrations are indispensable for any such purpose.

Descriptions of the many details represented in the plates would have greatly expanded the letterpress; but the architectural student will be as well pleased when left to study the drawings and photographs themselves. The drawings are the work of native draftsmen, trained in the Survey, and were all made under the careful personal supervision of Mr. Henry Cousens, my then assistant, or of myself; they have only been reduced by photolithography.