3. One of the first to exhibit this tendency was the brilliant but short-lived Sharki dynasty of Jaunpore (A.D. 1394-1476). Though existing for less than a century, they adorned their capital with a series of mosques and other buildings which are hardly surpassed by those of any city in India for magnificence, and by none for a well-marked individuality of treatment.
4. The style adopted by the kings of Gujerat during their period of independence (A.D. 1396-1572) was richer and more varied than that of Jaunpore, though hardly so original or marked by such individuality. They borrowed too much, physically as well as intellectually, from the architecture of the Jains, among whom they were located, to be entirely independent; but the richness of their style is in proportion to the Hindu details they introduced.
5. Malwa became independent in A.D. 1401, and between that date and A.D. 1568, when they were absorbed in the Mogul empire, her kings adorned their capital at Mandu with palaces and mosques of great magnificence, but more similar to the parent style at Delhi than the two last-named styles, and wanting, consequently, in the local individuality.
6. Bengal was early erected into a separate kingdom—in A.D. 1203—more or less independent of the central power; and during its continuance—till A.D. 1573—the capitals, Gaur and Maldah, were adorned with many splendid edifices. Generally these were in brick, and are now so overgrown by jungle as to be either ruined or nearly invisible. They are singularly picturesque, however, and display all the features of a strongly-marked individuality of style.
These six divisions are probably sufficient to characterise the Mahomedan styles north of the Nerbudda. To the south of that river there are three well-marked styles.
7. First that of the Bahmani dynasty. First at Kalbergah, A.D. 1347, and afterwards at Bidar, A.D. 1426, they adorned their capitals with edifices of great magnificence and well-marked individuality, before they were absorbed, in A.D. 1525, in the great Mogul empire.
8. Next to these was the still more celebrated Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur (A.D. 1489-1660). Their style differed most essentially from all those above enumerated, and was marked by a grandeur of conception and boldness in construction unequalled by any edifices erected in India.
9. The third southern style is that of the Kutub Shahi dynasty of Golconda, A.D. 1512-1672. Their tombs are splendid, and form one of the most striking groups in India, but show evident signs of a decadence that was too surely invading art at the age when they were erected.
10. One by one all these brilliant individualities were absorbed in the great Mogul empire, founded by Baber, A.D. 1494, and which, though practically perishing on the death of Aurungzebe, A.D. 1706, may be considered as existing till the middle of the last century, A.D. 1750. It is to this dynasty that Agra, Delhi, and most of the towns in northern India owe their most splendid edifices.
11. Before leaving this branch of the subject, it may be expedient to enumerate the style of Moslem art existing in Scinde. Practically, it is Persian both in its form and the style of decoration, and must have existed in this province from a very ancient time. All the examples, however, now known of it are comparatively modern, and bring us back, curiously enough, to the neighbourhood of Ghazni, from which we started in our enumeration.