Having alluded to the analogy between the details in the columns and those in our Gothic buildings (as they are called), and surmised that the Saracenic arch is of Hindu origin; I may further, with this temple and screen before us, speculate on the possibility of its having furnished some hints to the architects of Europe. It is well known that the Saracenic arch has crept into many of those structures called Gothic, erected in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when a more florid style succeeded to the severity of the Saxon or Romans; but I believe it has been doubted whence the Saracens obtained their model; certainly it was neither from Egypt nor Persia. The early caliphs of Baghdad, who were as enlightened as they were powerful, kept alive the light of science when Europe was in darkness; and the most accomplished noble who accompanied our Cœur de Lion, though “brave as his sword,” was a clown compared to the infidel Saladin, in mind as well as manners. The influence of these polished foes on European society it would be superfluous to descant upon. The lieutenants of these caliphs, who penetrated from the Delta of the Indus to the Ganges from four to five centuries prior to this event, when Walid’s arms triumphed simultaneously on the Indus and the Ebro, produced no trifling results to the arts. This very spot, Ajmer, according to traditional couplets and the poetic legends of its ancient princes, the Chauhans, was visited by the first hostile force which Islam sent across the Indus, and to which Manika Rae fell a sacrifice. What ideas might not this Jain temple have afforded to [782] “the Light of Ali,” for Roshan Ali is the name preserved of him who, “in ships landing at Anjar,” marched through the very heart of India, and took Garh Bitli, the citadel of Ajmer, by assault. The period is one of total darkness in the history of India, save for the scattered and flickering rays which emanate from the chronicles of the Chauhans and Guhilots. But let us leave the temple, and slightly describe the castle of Manika Rae, on whose battlements an infidel’s arrow of Roshan’s army reached the heir of the Chauhan; since which Lot, for such was his name, has been adopted amongst the lares and penates of this celebrated race. This was the first Rajput blood which the arms of conversion shed, and the impression must have been strong to be thus handed down to posterity.

The mind, after all, retires dissatisfied: with me it might be from association. Even the gateway, however elegant, is unsuitable to the genius of the place. Separately considered, they are each magnificent; together, it is as if a modern sculptor were (like our actors of the last age) to adorn the head of Cato with a peruke. I left this precious relic, with a malediction upon all the spoilers of art—whether the Thane who pillaged Minerva’s portico at Athens, or the Turk who dilapidated the Jain temple at Ajmer.[[6]]

FORTRESS AND TOWN OF AJMER.
To face page 900.

Ajmer Fort.

There was a day when they were young and proud,

Banners on high, and battles passed below;

But they who fought are in a bloody shroud,

And those which waved are shredless dust ere now,

And the bleak battlements shall bear no future blow;[[7]]