Delhi. They
were brought from Topra near the Jamna in Ambala and from Meerut by
Firoz Shah. The traveller by train from Jhelam to Rawalpindi can see to
the west of the line at Mankiala a great _stupa_ raised to celebrate the
self-sacrifice of the Bodhisattva who gave his life to feed a starving
tigress. There is a ruined _stupa_ at Sui Vihar in the Bahawalpur State.
The Chinese pilgrims described the largest of Indian _stupas_ built by
Kanishka near Peshawar to enshrine precious relics of Gautama Buddha and
a great monastery beside it. Recent excavations have proved the truth
of the conjecture that the two mounds at Shahji ki dheri covered the
remains of these buildings, and the six-sided crystal reliquary
containing three small fragments of bone has after long centuries been
disinterred and is now in the great pagoda at Rangoon. In the Lahore
museum there is a rich collection of the sculptures recovered from the
Peshawar Valley, the ancient Gandhara. They exhibit strong traces of
Greek influence. The best age of Gandhara sculpture was probably over
before the reign of Kanishka. The site of the famous town of Taxila is
now a protected area, and excavation there may yield a rich reward.

[Illustration: Fig. 74. Payer Temple.]

[Illustration: Fig. 75. Reliquary.]

[Illustration: Fig. 76. Colonnade in Kuwwat ul Islam Mosque.]

~Muhammadan Architecture.~--The Muhammadan architecture of North-Western
India may be divided into three periods:

(_a_) The Pathan 1191-1320
(_b_) The Tughlak 1320-1556
(_c_) The Moghal 1556-1753

[Illustration: Fig. 77. Kutb Minar.]

In the Pathan period the royal builders drew their inspiration from
Ghazni, but their work was also much affected by Hindu influences for
two reasons. They used the materials of Hindu temples in constructing
their mosques and they employed masons imbued with the traditions of
Hindu art. The best specimens of this period are to be found in the
group of buildings in Old Delhi or _Kila' Rai Pithora_, close to
Mahrauli and eleven miles to the south of the present city. These
buildings are the magnificent _Kuwwat ul Islam_ (Might of Islam) Mosque
(1191-1225), with its splendid tower, the _Kutb Minar_ (1200-1220), from
which the _mu'azzin_ called the faithful to prayer, the tomb of the
Emperor Altamsh (1238), and the great gateway built in 1310 by Ala ud
din Khalji. In the second period, named after the house that occupied
the imperial throne wh