Leaving the tomb of the precocious infant we again mount the steps and devote some time to looking at the fine outer arch, which has a character of elegance combined with boldness of invention. The grey and pink sandstone columns, the marble ornaments, the bold flowing Arabic characters on the white ground, all lend grace to one of the finest portals in the world. This was the opinion of Finch, who visited it two centuries ago. He writes : " At the head of this street stands the King's house, or Moholl, with much curious building : beyond which, on an ascent, is the goodliest mosque in all the east. It has a flight of some twenty four or thirty steps to the gate, which is, in my opinion, one of the loftiest and handsomest in the world, having a great number of clustering pyramids on the top, very curiously disposed. The top of this gate may be distinctly seen from the distance of eight or ten miles. Within the gate is a spacious court curiously paved with stone, about six times the size of the Exchange of London, with a fine covered walk along the sides, more than twice as broad and double the height of those in our London Exchange, supported by numerous pillars all of one stone ; and all around about are entrances into numerous rooms very ingeniously contrived. Opposite the grand gate stands a fair and sumptuous tomb, most artificially inlaid with mother-o' pearl and inclosed by a stone balustrade curiously carved, the ceiling being curiously plastered and painted. In this tomb is deposited the body of a calender or Mahometan devotee, at whose cost the whole of this splendid mosque was built. Under the courtyard is a goodly tank of excellent water ; none other being to be had in the whole extent of the city, except brackish and corroding, by the use of which so great a mortality was occasioned among the inhabitants of this city, that Akbar left it before it was quite finished, and removed his seat of empire to Agra, so that this splendid city was built and ruined in the space of fifty or sixty years." Leaving the mosque and passing the houses of Akbar's two great friends—Ab-ul-Fazl, the compiler of the Ain-i Akbari, and his brother the poet, we enter by a lofty and richly carved gate a large quadrangle, on the north and south sides of which are a series of apartments roofed with sloping slabs covered with blue enamel. This is called the Jehangir Mahal or Jodh Bhai Mahal, on the supposition that it was the residence of the Hindoo princess Jodh Bhai, the mother of Jehangir. Jodh Bhai was, however, the wife and not the mother of Jehangir. Who was the mother of Jehan gir is uncertain, but her son reverently informs us that she was called Mariam Zamanah, or Mary of the Period, thus showing the respect with which she was regarded, for the Muhammadans hold in reverence the memory of the Virgin Mary. To this circumstance is probably due the legend that Akbar had a Christian wife called Bibi Mariam. From the palace we proceed to what is supposed to have been the Christian lady's residence, and over the door one is shown what is supposed to have been an Annun ciation. But it is so faded that it is difficult to make out the figures, and the frescoes, which tradition says represented scenes from Firdusi's poem the Shah-nama, have faded beyond hope of restoration. The house was once profusely gilded and painted, from which it derived its name, Sonehri Manzil, or Golden Palace. Akbar may have wished that the residence of his Hindu consort should surpass in magnificence the residence built almost opposite by Rajah Birbal for his daughter. The Hindu Minister had won the heart of the Emperor by his wit and love of letters, and it was he who led his master from the straight path of orthodoxy. The house he erected for his daughter proves that he had a keen appreciation of the beautiful. But it does not seem to be a house, but a casket in red sandstone, carved and ornamented after the pattern of some ebony or sandalwood casket. Not a piece of wood is used in the whole edifice, but the whole building and its entire ornamentation remind us that the Hindu architects loved to imitate their old structures, which were entirely of wood. Wood lent itself to the Hindu genius for elaborate ornamentation, for it could with facility be carved. At Fattelipur-Sikri the Hindu found red sandstone so soft that it could be easily chiselled clean and sharp ; and he covered every inch of it with ornaments perfect in taste and design. But his love of orna ment led him sometimes to outwardly curve a stone bracket meant to represent a wooden truss, and so destroyed the impression of reality and durability. The limitation and strength of the Hindu intellect is vividly illustrated in his architecture. He is endowed with great powers of analysis, and a rich imagination which displays itself in the variety and richness of his work, but he is lacking in the power of inven tion. He laid a large slab across his columns of stone, and he made the whole beautiful by rich carving ; but he never thought of creating the radiating arch, and its complement, the radiating dome. The rooms in the upper story of Birbal's house are, it is true, crowned by massive domes, but these are due to Muhammadan influence. The ceilings of the rooms below, fifteen feet square, are constructed of slabs fifteen feet in length and one foot in breadth, which rest upon bold cornices supported by deeply arched penden tives. The rooms are examples of the best and most perfect manual skill, and it is impossible not to admire them, because the work is good and strong and the ornaments so finished ; but it is not certain that the ugly goblins and formless monsters carved on an old cathedral front do not give more pleasure. There is the joy of life and vigour about them ; but Birbal's house affords one only sensuous delight. Near it rises a fanciful construction called Panch Mahal—the " five palaces "—which consists of four platforms each smaller than the one beneath, and supported on rows of columns which diminish in number from fifty supporting the ground floor to four supporting the small kiosque. The thirty-five columns which support the second terrace are all different, and illustrate the way the Hindu architect treated the pillar. Unlike the Greeks and Romans, who make their
columns always round, the Hindu constructed his of every shape. There is also no fixed intercolumniation in the Hindu architecture, as is found in the Grecian, but the spaces allowed between pillar and pillar in different Hindu buildings are found nearly to coincide with the Grecian mode of intercolumniation, though in many instances they differ widely from it ; and the same, perhaps, may be said of the Egyptian colonnades. " The Indian pedestals and bases are made more systematically, and afford by far a greater variety of proportions and ornaments than the Grecian and Roman. In the European architecture the form and dimensions of the pedestals and bases are fixed by invariable rules, with respect to the orders in which they are employed ; but in the Indian the choice is left to the option of the artists. The capitals of the Grecian columns invariably mark the distinction of the several orders : those of the Indian are varied at pleasure, though not without regard to the diameters and length of the shaft ; and the forms of the plainest of them, though they have nothing in common with the Grecian order, are found, at a distant view, to bear some resemblance to the Doric and Ionic capitals ; but those of a more elaborate kind are sometimes so overloaded with a sort of filigree ornament as to destroy the effect of the beauti ful proportion of the whole." There has been some discus sion as to the use of the Panch Mahal, since it could not have been used as a habitation, and commanding a view of the Harem, strangers could not have been admitted to it. But it must be borne in mind that Eastern despots did not erect buildings merely from consideration of use. This elaborate and quaint erection moreover may have been constructed to enable the Emperor to enjoy the cool air on a summer's night.
From the Panch Mahal we entered the K has Mahal, and walking to the south we arrive at the Khwabgah, or sleeping place. Ascending a narrow staircase we come to a small, well-proportioned room of red sandstone without any orna ment. This was the bedroom of the Great Akbar. Opposite is the light and elegant Diwan-i-Khas with its handsome balcony and well carved balustrades. On the left is a small red building used as a girls' school. Above it towers the ele gant Panch Mahal. On the right is the apartment occupied by Akbar's chief wife, Ruquina Sultana Descend ing the steps we walk across the court to it. Upon the de coration of this little palace, the Hindu has concentrated all his powers of imagination and invention. Here we see the splendid caprice of the East. Here is carved in stone the rich and lavish life of the tropics. On the panels round the room the Hindu has carved the palm, beneath whose trunk, according to Moslem tradition, was born the holy Son of Mary, and the cypress which grew in the Moslem's terrestrial paradise, and we have cunningly wrought pheasants perching on trees, and the tiger wandering through the jungle. The vine and the pomegranate clasp the shafts. The roof is carved in geometrical patterns as rich and careful as the skill of man can make them. From each door we gaze on two pillars, also luxuriantly carved, and the bright light of the sun falls upon the cool green leaves of the graceful neem tree. The jewelled and enamelled marble caskets which Shah Jehan constructed for his mistress excite admiration by their voluptuous beauty, and about the Taj hovers the poetry of death : about the apartment of the Stamboul Begum hovers the poetry of love.
With deep regret we left it and walked to the Diwan-i-Am, a small redstone hall, with a deep redstone balcony, on each side of which is a redstone screen. To this balcony Akbar arrayed in robes of State used to repair each day and in quire into and redress the grievances of the people who used to crowd the courtyard below. It was here he used to receive the strangers who used to flock to his court from all parts of the earth. Here he received the Jesuits of Goa who brought him the leaves and seeds of tobacco, and it was at Fattehpur-Sikri the hookah is supposed to have been in vented. From the Diwan-i-Am the Emperor passed to the Diwan-i-K has, or Privy Council Chamber. It is a lofty hall, in the centre of which is an enormous column of red sand stone, which terminates at some distance from the ceiling in a capital richly carved in the Hindu style. This capital forms a platform encircled by a light balustrade, and from it radiate four stone causeways leading to four niches in the buildings. Legend states that the Emperor used to take his seat on the platform, his Ministers occupying the niches, while the ambassadors, commanders, and nobles, who had to transact business, remained below. It is also supposed that this hall is the place mentioned by Badaoni, where Akbar held his religious controversies. We have mention of a building as possessing four aiwans, one for each class of religionists, and it is possible that the disputants occupied the four corners, while the Emperor sat in the middle. Wearied of work or religious controversy, the Emperor pro ceeded, when the heat of the afternoon began to decline, to the court nigh at hand, marked out by alternate squares of black and white marble as a puchisi-board. The game is played by four players with four pawns apiece, and the moves are regulated by throwing three long dice, the highest throws being twenty-five, from which the game derives its name. The object of the game is to get one's four pawns into the centre square of the board. Akbar played it in an Imperial manner with sixteen handsome slave girls as pawns. North of the puchisi-board is the Ankh Michauli, or hide-and seek place, where it is said Jehangir used to play at hide-and seek as a child. Judging from the building it was more probably used as a treasury. Close to the Ankh Michauli is a small platform shaded by a canopy, where, according to tradition, sat a Hindu teacher tolerated by Akbar. It is a building of the purest Jain architecture, each of the archi traves being supported by two highly carved struts issuing from the mouths of monsters and meeting in the middle.