Page:Oriental Scenery — One Hundred and Fifty Views of the Architecture, Antiquities, and Landscape Scenery of Hindoostan.djvu/14

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ORIENTAL SCENERY.
5

No. XIX.

HINDOO TEMPLES AT AGOUREE, ON THE RIVER SOANE, BAHAR.

Agouree is pleasantly situated on the river Soane, surrounded with hills well covered with wood. In this place are many Hindoo temples, and also a small fort, which make a very picturesque appearance from the river.

Agouree is a place of worship of the greatest antiquity, which is obvious from the fragments of sculptured idols frequently to be met with there. The village at present is not very considerable.

The large tree in this view is the Banyan or Buhr.

Agouree is about fifty miles south from Chunar Gur.


No. XX.

VIEW OF PART OF ROTAS GHUR, IN BAHAR.

This view of Rotas Ghur was taken nearly at the top of the mountain within the works. A temple of the Hindoos, with a considerable flight of steps, formerly crowned the eminence on the left; the upper part of which has been thrown down by the Mahommedans, who erected a mosque near to it, and which in its turn is also become a ruin. No inhabitants are now to be found within the extensive walls of this magnificent fortress.

There are two gauts, or ways of ascent, to the fort, which are made tolerably easy by stone steps; the one called raje gaut (which is the superior), the other acbarpore gaut, which takes its name from the village of Acbarpore, near the foot of the mountain.


No. XXI.

HINDOO TEMPLE NEAR CURRAH, ON THE EASTERN BANK OF THE RIVER GANGES.

Currah was formerly a very considerable town, about one hundred miles above the city of Bernares, on the opposite side of the river. This temple, although built for the worship of Hindoo idols, is almost wholly in the Mahommedan style of design, as indeed are many other Hindoo temples.

The banks of the Ganges are here very lofty, steep, and picturesque; but are subject to considerable alterations in the rainy season, as the river then rises to the height of thirty feet.


No. XXII.

MAUSOLEUM OF SULTAN PURVEIZ, NEAR ALLAHABAD.

The remains of Sultan Purveiz, the son of the Emperor Jehangire, were here deposited about the year 1626. The simplicity of the general design of this Mausoleum, with its judicious and well-executed decorations, rank it amongst the most correct examples of Indian architecture. By time and neglect, however, this building is much impaired. The dome was originally covered with glazed tiles, so formed and disposed, as to produce a very rich effect, and of which there are many beautiful examples still remaining at Agra and Delhi.

This Mausoleum is in the same garden, near to that of his brother, Sultan Chusero.


No. XXIII.

THE JUMMAH MUSJED, AT DELHI.

The Jumma Musjed, or Friday's Mosque, is the principal place of religious worship of the followers of the Mahommedan doctrine in India. This edifice was built by the Emperor Shah Jehan, as before mentioned. The domes, and all the other parts which appear white, are of Cashmerian marble, the rest of red stone procured in the neighbourhood of Delhi. In regularity of design and correctness of execution this building is considered of the first class. It is approached by three magnificent gates, one of which is the subject of the first plate of these Views.