capitals, and these architects soon got influenced by the Saracenic style of building, which they gradually introduced into the construction of palaces and temples in their own country. The famous Tájmahal at Agra, and the palaces, baths, cenotaphs, and mosques at Agra and Delhi all shew the very high excellence to which stone-carving attained in Upper India. The quarries of Makráná, in the Jodhpur territory on the side of the Salt Lake of Sambhar, supplied the white marble for the Táj; while Bhartpur furnished the red sandstone used in the construction of the palace of Akbar at Fatehpur Sikri. Jaipur and Ajmir supplied the coloured marble, and Jessalmir the nummulitic limestones, for the decoration of these edifices.
On the Bengal side, the hilly countries on the west, and Orissa on the south, made considerable advance in the art of stone-carving. The temples, embankments, and ruins in Orissa attest to considerable skill in this industrial art.
In the North-Western Provinces, Agra and Mirzapur are the two places where decorative stone-carvings for architectural purposes are largely made. In Agra stone trellis-work in sandstone is made for from R15 to R18 per slab measuring about 2′ 6″ square. In the same place is also made exquisitely fine work in marble and in alabaster in imitation of the marble screens of the Tájmahal; price about R30 to R40 for a small slab or screen. The following account of the present stone-carving of Agra is taken from the Journal of Indian Art, Vol. I, page 96:—
