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HINDOSTAN ILLUSTRATED.

winds, but now it spreads into a broad expanse, and now winds through thenarrowest inlets. Squalls which threaten to drive vessels under 'water, have verylittle effect upon the smooth unagitated bosom of the deep, which, amid theseflowery labyrinths, retains its placidity during the brief dominion of the summertempests.

PORTICO OF A HINDOO TEMPLE.

In the engraving forming the frontispiece to the present volume, it is intended to givesome of the leading characteristics of the sacred architecture of India . The spectatoris supposed to stand in the porch of a Hindoo temple; the proportions and details ofwhich are strictly copied from a very ancient shrine dedicated to Mahades, of extra-ordinary richness, still existing at Moondheyra, in the north-west of Guzerat near theancient Nehruala, now called Puttun, or “ the city.”

This elaborate specimen of what may be called the best age of Hindoo architecture,has been in ruins since the invasion of Alla o Deen, surnamed Khoonee, or the Bloody,about a. d. 1296; to whose intolerant spirit the tradition of the country attributesthe sacrifices of that and innumerable other religious edifices in Guzerat.

The ancient Mahometan fortress of Puttun was erected upon a foundation formedchiefly of the marble fragments of Hindoo temples, which the zeal and bigotry of thefollowers of the Prophet deemed an effectual and praiseworthy mode of hiding theidolatrous abominations with which the province of Guzerat richly abounded.

Since the establishment of the Marhatta power, these foundations have been opened,and have long served as an almost inexhaustible quarry of materials for the constructionand repair of Hindoo temples. Confused piles of massive fragments, in marble andstone, of statues, pillars, capitals, and various portions of architecture, most of themwrought with surprising richness and taste, present a striking example of retributivejustice, though tardy in its operation. It would be an endless task to describe thevarious beauties of the temple, of which the portico only is represented in the engraving.“ Many parts of the sculpture,” says Captain Grindlay, “were in a considerable stateof preservation, and displayed a fertility of imagination and a purity of taste whichwould not disgrace the architects of ancient Greece.”

Colonel Monier Williams, who was surveyor-general in India , says—“There is oneof the finest specimens of ancient Hindoo architecture at Moondheyra I ever saw.It is a pagoda very similar in construction to those of the present day; but ornamentedso profusely, that it is very evident the founder was determined to make it the mostfinished piece of work that it was possible for the compass of human art to effect.Most of the natives, however, believe it to be the performance of a deity. All theupper part of it is supported on pillars, which are of an order the most elegant, and