Immediately behind the north-west corner of the mosque stands the tomb of Altumsh, the founder. Though small, it is one of the richest examples of Hindu art applied to Mahomedan purposes that Old Delhi affords, and is extremely beautiful, though the builders still display a certain degree of inaptness in fitting the details to their new purposes. The effect at present is injured by the want of a roof, which, judging from appearance, was never completed, if ever commenced. In addition to the beauty of its details it is interesting as being the oldest tomb known to exist in India. He died A.D. 1236.
282. Interior of a Tomb at Old Delhi. (From a Sketch by the Author.)
A more beautiful example than even this is the other, shown on the left hand of the plan ([Woodcut No. 277]). It was erected by Ala ud-dîn Khilji, and the date 1310 is found among its inscriptions. It is therefore about a century more modern than the other buildings of the place, and displays the Pathan style at its period of greatest perfection, when the Hindu masons had learned to fit their exquisite style of decoration to the forms of their foreign masters. Its walls are decorated internally with a diaper pattern of unrivalled excellence, and the mode in which the square is changed into an octagon is more simply elegant and appropriate than any other example I am acquainted with in India. The pendentives accord perfectly with the pointed openings in the four other faces, and are in every respect appropriately constructive.[503] True, there are defects. For instance, they are rather too plain for the elaborate diapering which covers the whole of the lower part of the building both internally and externally; but ornament might easily have been added; and their plainness accords with the simplicity of the dome, which is indeed by no means worthy of the substructure. Not being pierced with windows, it seems as if the architect assumed that its plainness would not be detected in the gloom that in consequence prevails.
This building, though small—it is only 53 ft. square externally, and with an internal apartment only 34 ft. 6 in. in plan—marks the culminating point of the Pathan style in Delhi. Nothing so complete had been done before, nothing so ornate was attempted by them afterwards. In the provinces wonderful buildings were erected between this period and the Mogul conquest, but in the capital their edifices were more marked by solemn gloom and nakedness than by ornamentation or any of the higher graces of architectural art. Externally it is a good deal damaged, but its effect is still equal to that of any building of its class in India.
Ajmir.
The mosque at Ajmir ([Woodcut No. 283]) was commenced apparently in the year 1200 and was certainly completed during the reign of Altumsh, A.D. 1211-1236.[504] According to tradition, it was finished in two days and a half; hence the only name by which it is now known—the “Arhai dîn ka Jhompra,” which, if it means anything, can only apply to the clearing away of the Pagan temples and symbols, and the dedication of a heathen shrine to purposes of the Faithful. In this instance it seems almost certain, whatever may be the case at Delhi, that the pillars are in situ. At all events, if they were taken down by the Mahomedans, they certainly have been re-erected exactly as they were originally designed to stand.[505] The pillars, their architraves, the roofing stones, and the domes, are all of a piece, and so exactly what we find at Abu and Girnar as to leave no doubt that we see before us a part of the courtyard of a Jaina Temple, which probably had been used by the followers of that religion for a couple of centuries at least before it was appropriated by the conquerors. It is only the west side, with its nine domes, that is now standing. The cloisters on the other three sides are in ruins, though their plan can easily be traced even now. What remains, however, is sufficient to show that it must originally have been a singularly elegant specimen of its class. The pillars are taller and more slender than those of the mosque at Delhi, but purer and more elegant in design.
