12. Leaving these, which may be called the true styles of Mahomedan architecture, we have two which may be designated as the bastard styles. The first of these is that of Oude (A.D. 1756-1847). In its capital there are ranges of building equal in extent and richness to those of any of the capitals above enumerated, but degraded in taste to an extent it is hardly possible to credit in a people who so shortly before had shown themselves capable of such noble aspirations.
13. The style adopted by the short-lived dynasty of Mysore (A.D. 1760-1799), being further removed from the influences of European vulgarity, is not so degraded as that of Lucknow, but is poor and inartistic when compared with earlier styles.
In an exhaustive treatise on the subject, the styles of Ahmednugger and Arungabad, A.D. 1490-1707, ought, perhaps, to be enumerated, and some minor styles elsewhere. These have not, however, sufficient individuality to deserve being erected into separate styles, and the amount of illustration that can be introduced into a work like the present is not sufficient to render the differences sensible to those who are not personally acquainted with the examples.
Even as it is, it would require a much more extensive series of illustrations than that here given to make even their most marked merits or peculiarities evident to those who have no other means than what such a work as this affords of forming an opinion regarding them. Each of these thirteen styles deserves a monograph; but, except for Bijapur[482] and Ahmedabad,[483] nothing of the sort has yet been attempted, and even the two works in which this has been attempted for these two capitals by no means exhaust the materials available for the purpose. Let us hope that these deficiencies will be supplied, and the others undertaken before long and before it is too late, for the buildings are fast perishing from the ravages of time and climate and the still more destructive exigences of the present governing power in India.
CHAPTER II.
GHAZNI.
CONTENTS.
Tomb of Mahmúd—Gates of Somnath—Minars on the Plain.
CHRONOLOGY.
| Sabuktagin, founder | A.D. 975 |
| Mahmúd | 977 |
| Masúd | 1030 |
| Abdul-rashid | 1048 |
| Ibrahim | 1054 |
| Shahab ud-dîn (first of Ghori dynasty) | 1139 |