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PALACE AT DATIYĀ
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tions," which contains the durbar-hall, offices, and apartments for the Rāja's retinue, etc. The exterior of the block measures over 300 feet on each side: it is like the Rāja's tower, four stories high; but the two lowest, serving as public reception-halls, form a vaulted basement about 40 feet high covering the whole area. The two highest stories of the tower therefore rise above the roofs of the surrounding buildings. The outer walls of this great fortress palace are shown in Pl. XXXVI, a, which gives the side overlooking the lake. It forms a perfect architectural unity, most finely conceived and much more stately in its massive grandeur than the palaces at Fatehpur Sikri and Agra, which were built in the preceding century by the Rajput master-masons employed by Akbar, or that built by his grandson, Shah Jahān, at Delhi. The fine courtyard of the Jahāngīri Mahall at Agra (Pl. XXXVI, b), probably built by Akbar, is a good example of the same style, modified in decorative detail in accordance with Muhammadan rules.

It will be noticed that the general scheme of the Indian palace, like that of the monastery, was based upon the traditional plan of the joint-family house described above. The Mogul palaces were planned on the same principle, combining the Indian dwelling-house with the garden pavilion, or pleasure-house, of which accounts are given in the oldest Buddhist literature. The nucleus of the great monastery at Nālanda was said to have been a garden-house where the Buddha himself had lived and taught for three months. Judging by the descriptions of Hiuen Tsang, it would seem that the monks of Nālanda, like those of Europe, were great gardeners. The administration of the Indian village community had its garden and