Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/256

212 INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. BOOK VII. ruined. The principal entrance is, of course, on the east side, but there was another on the south with a projecting porch. The north side is built close to the scarped rock of the hill. The open court would be about 200 ft. wide by 175 ft. to the front of the Masjid on its west side, which is the only part now standing; and Woodcut No. 376 shows all that now exists 1 qfc I 376. Plan of Ajmir Mosque as it exists (from a drawing by Mr. H. Cousens). Scale TOO ft. to i in. of the mosque itself. No tower at the north-west corner probably ever existed, whilst that at the south-west has been the shrine of a small Hindu temple of which the .nkhara was demolished ; but the small bastions on the east corners of the court are Muhammadan and of the same plan as the turrets over the central piers of the screen. The corridor on the east has been rebuilt but of much less width than is shown on the restored plan; of the north corridor there is no trace, and only the wall of the south one is left. What remains, however, is sufficient to show that, if completed, it must originally have been a singularly elegant specimen of an early Indian mosque. The roof extends only over six of the front piers, or about 141 ft, beyond which about 54 ft. at each end is quite open and even unpaved. Behind the screen piers the area of the mosque is 40 ft. 8 in. deep. The roof is supported by four rows of lofty shafts and another of pilasters (or pillars built into the back wall) 70 in all each formed of three superimposed Hindu pillars. These are arranged as in Jaina and Hindu temples so as to support on eight pillars each the roof and its five domes, or rather, conical roofs, which are all that exist. 1 The glory, however, of this mosque, as of that of the Qutb, is the screen of seven arches with which Altamsh adorned the courtyard (Woodcut No. 377). Its dimensions are very similar to those of its rival. The central arch is 22 ft. 2 in. wide ; the two on each side 1 3 ft. 3 in., and those at the ends 13 ft. 4 in. and 12 ft. 8 in. Each arch is surrounded by three lines of 1 The outer form of these early domes, in conformity with their interiors, being conical, was regarded as ugly, and the Archaeological Survey replaced them a few years ago by "better shaped hemi- spherical ones."