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Description: | Pencil drawings by Frederick Charles Maisey of various buildings in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, taken from an album of 60 drawings dated 1847-1854.
In the 'Descriptive list of drawings of Captain Maisey' the artist wrote about each sketch seen here; fig.1 is described as: "The village of Kotawah is situated on the small river Ahsin, about 9 kos north of Gwalior: there are traces of a considerable town here, now totally ruined, and many of the modern buildings are formed of the debris of temples and other structures. Here formerly existed a city here called Khuntalpur…A little to the S.E. of the village stands the small building shown in Plate 2 fig.1. It is I fancy a Pathan tomb; and having nothing else to do, I sketched it as a specimen of a style of building very common hereabout. On the spandrels of each of its four entrances are Arabic inscriptions..." Fig.2 is described as: "...a ruined baoli of Hindu workmanship: it is still used though much coked up. It has four rows of galleries. The style is coarse and rude, that of the archways is seen in Plate 2 fig.2. A hardly cut inscription to right of entrance contains a date of …AD 1605, though of course the baoli is attributed to Kuntibhoja." Fig.3: "Sonawal is a place of Jaina worship 5 or 6 miles north of Datya. It is a striking and conspicuous place, there being no more than 57 temples, clustered together on and along a low rocky ridge, the ascent of which is by steps and ramps of masonery…one has an inscription dated Sambat 1760 (AD. 1703): the other, which resembles it in style, but is evidently older, I made a sketch, plan, and section of, which render any verbal description needless (Plate 2 fig.3: and Plate 3)." Fig. 4: "At Ramgarh, to the west [of Bhander], is a small temple of Ramachandra, and to the south, on the hill of Birpanath, is the (so called) temple of Lakshmana, which is nearly a domed Chabutra (Plate 2. fig.4). It has apparently once been closed in, and presents rather the appearance of Muhammadan tomb partly formed of Hindu materials…". Fig.5: "The ruins of Ratangarh are situated among the low hills near the left bank of the Sind, between Birscha and Deogarh…The temple of Marulah Devi, the main edifice to be seen here, is conspicuously situated on the highest point of one of the main ridges of the hills: there are traces of an artificial ascent to it from below. A low wall with ornamented battlements, and loopholed, forms a small quadrangle, in the center of which, slightly raised above the ground level, stands the temple, which is a poor looking structure faced with rudely moulded plaster, and enshrining an image of the Goddess and a few debris of sculpture. The temple is curious for its unusual shape, which is that of a pyramidal frustrum, ending in a pyramidal apex, which is crowned by a peculiar “turreted” ornament, exactly similar to that forming the head dress of “Cybele” (vide Plate 2.fig.5)…” | License: | http://www.bl.uk/services/copy/permission.html | Rights holder: | British Library | Source: | Collect Britain | Creator: | Maisey, Frederick Charles (1825-1892) | Identifier: | http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personal... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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