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PART II: 1854 to 1875 AFTERMATH OF THE INDIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
- 1854
Nagpur state was annexed by Lord Dalhousie.
Max Muller becomes a full Professor.
- 1855
Illustrated Handbook of Architecture, being a concise and proper account
of the different styles of architecture prevailing in all ages and countries
by James Fergusson was published. He begins his handbook with Indian Architecture
and tells us :
BOOK I : INDIA
CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTORY
p 2 " In all the older British settlements [in India] all
architectural remains have nearly disappeared; and very little has been
done to elucidate those which remain."
Chapter VIII - JAINA ARCHITECTURE
p 78 " It would be a curious subject of speculation to find
out whether the Buddhists ever built domes..... It still appears probable
that the Buddhists never constructed, or knew of, a true dome of any sort.....
no one of the caves or rock cut temples of any sort show any tendency even
to this architectural form.......in no one instance, ... is there a semblance
of a stone roof of any kind, nor even of an arch, either horizontally constructed
or on the radiating principle; much less of a dome, which is a far more
complicated thing to construct than a mere arch. I think therefore, it
must be admitted that they were ignorant of the form."
pp 80-81 " In the Bengal provinces several of these Jaina
temples have been converted into mosques, constituting some of the few
remains of more ancient times that the bigotry of the Moslems have spared
to us.....The process by which conversion of a Jaina temple to a Moslem
mosque was effected will be easily understood by referring to the plan
of that of Vimala Sah, on Mount Abu (woodcut 43, p. 70) .....Thus, without
a single new column or carved stone being required, they obtained a mosque
which, for convenience and beauty, was unsurpassed by anything they afterwards
erected from their own designs."
[Note : So, conversions of Hindu temples into mosques is accepted by
Fergusson. Exactly when the Muslims started to build from their own design,
Fergusson does not say. How can he ? Even the 17th century European travelers have noted forcible conversions of temples into mosques.]
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