of the Western Gothic school, with which Indo-Muhammadan architecture has many affinities, and fulfilling a similar aesthetic idea with the modifications necessitated by the requirements of a tropical climate. The origin of these stone trellises can be traced back through the pierced stone windows of Hindu temples to the wooden screens which filled the windows of Buddhist stūpa-houses.
Gujerat was also famous for its magnificent step-wells and irrigation works, serving public orchards and ordinary agricultural purposes, which both, under Hindu and Muhammadan rule, were constructed as a part of the religious duty of the State. The finest of these step-wells now in use is at Asārwā, near Ahmadābād (Pl. XLVI, a). It was built, according to the Sanskrit inscription in one of its pillared galleries, in the first year of the sixteenth century by a Hindu lady, Bāī Srī Harīra, whose husband was apparently connected with Mahmūd Shah's court.[1] The underground chambers surrounding step-wells were designed to provide a cool retreat in the torrid heat of the Indian summer.
On the north-eastern side of India, Gaur was for several centuries one of the most important building centres of Hindustan. In the sixteenth century it was reckoned by the Portuguese as one of the greatest of Indian cities, its population being estimated at over a million. Its early history as the capital of the Hindu kingdom of Gaur, when it was known under the name of Lakhnauti, goes back to many centuries before Christ. Situated as it was on the banks of the Ganges with easy access to the sea, it had a maritime trade which no doubt extended to the whole of the
- ↑ For description of the well and illustrations see Indian Architecture, by the Author (Murray, 19 13), pp. 143-4.
