Travels in Western India, Embracing a Visit to the Sacred Mounts of the Jains

by James Tod

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1839 ...OF ANHULWARRA. 225 would be nearly the period of the Alhambra, ' the edifice, ' par excellence, raised by Haroun in the kingdom of Granada. I have already given an opinion that, although the Chaora prince established his dynasty at this epoch, it is most improbable that the city could have attained its extent or splendour during his sole reign; and we may surmise either that Vansraj, when driven from Deobunder for the piratical habits of his family, fled to a secondary metropolis, or that he succeeded to a more ancient dynasty. We know that the Caliphs of Bagdad, who added naval dominion to their wide conquests by land, inherited the exuberant prosperity of a long-established commercial intercourse with India, and that they nationalized whatever they discovered of value in art or science, in every country which they subjected. I have elsewhere stated, that so early as the eighth century, the arms of Islam were both on the Indus and the Ebro; but where did the Arab learn to turn this arch? Not from the Visigoth in Spain, nor from the architraved edifices of the ancient Greeks or Persians;--not from Tadmor in the desert, nor from Persepolis; neither from Hauran nor from Haleb. Did they then invent and spread it over Europe; or did they acquire the knowledge of it from the Silpi, or architect of the Hindus, who had their Vitruvius before Romulus was born? Of one thing we are confident, that this arch was erected by a Hindu mason, and that its ornaments are pure Hindu, and if the Arabians had anything to do with it, their merit was confined to the design. Can we reasonably concede even so much to probability? We know that the Mooslem never ruled in Patun; that when the race of Taka obtained Guzzerat, they almost immediately changed the metropolis; nor was it by a.

176 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2012

About the author

1782-1835