Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/293

CHAP. VI. MALWA MANDU. 249 for the sake of uniformity, to widen the central avenues on the intersection of which the domes stand. It follows from this that the four sides of the octagon supporting the dome, which are parallel to the sides of the court, are shorter than the four diagonal sides. Internally, this produces a very awkward appearance ; but it could not have been avoided except by running into another difficulty that of having oblong spaces at the intersections of the wider aisles with the narrower, to which the smaller domes must have been fitted. Perhaps, on the whole, the architect took the less inconvenient course of the two. The interior of the court is represented in Woodcut No. 403, and for simple grandeur and expression of power it may, perhaps, 403. Courtyard of Great Mosque at Mandu. (From a Sketch by the Author.) be taken as one of the very best specimens now to be found in India. It was, however, fast falling to decay, and a few years ago considerable repairs were executed on it and others of the Mandu monuments at the expense of the Dhar state. The tomb of the founder, which stands behind the mosque, though not remarkable for size, is a very grand specimen of the last resting-place of a stern old Pathan king. Both inter- nally and externally it is reveted with white marble, artistically, but not constructively, applied, and consequently was in many places peeling off. The light is admitted by the doorway and