Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/226

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i8 4 CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. BOOK VI. throne of Udaypur in 1653, to form the lake of Rajasamudra (Woodcut No. 366), which is the second most extensive in his dominions. It was undertaken, too, as a relief work during the great famine of 1661. This band is about 1070 feet in 366. Band of Lake Rajasamudra. (From a Sketch by the Author.) length, and wholly covered with white marble steps ; and with its beautiful kiosks projecting into the water, and the old palaces which crown the hill at one end, it makes up a fairy scene of architectural beauty, with its waters and its woods, which is hardly surpassed by any in the East. 1 It would be tedious, however, to enumerate, without illustrating them, which the limits of this work will not permit, all the modes of architectural magnificence of the Hindus. Like all people untrammelled by rules derived from incongruous objects, and gifted with a feeling for the beautiful, they adorn whatever they require, and convert every object, however utilitarian in its purposes, into an object of beauty. They long ago found out that it is not temples and palaces alone that are capable of such display, but that everything which man 1 * Architecture and Scenery in Gujarat and Rajputana,' pp. 25, 26 and photo- graph 13. Though not shown in the woodcut, but standing back at the head of an upper flight of steps, are four Kirtti-stambhas, of no great size, but adding to the pleasing character of the structure.