Under the name of Indian Architecture, may be included Hindustan, Gentoo, Chinese, or Turkish; which latter is a mixture of the other three. But this construction is distinct from the Gothic, in having little or no lateral pressure; and from the Grecian, in having a different mode of applying the perpendicular pressure; for although, at the first sight, we might be led to suppose the arches constructed on a center, like those of Europe, yet, on a closer examination, they will be found to consist of horizontal strata, supported by what is technically called ' corbelling out,' or placing the materials in such a position that the aperture may be larger at the bottom than the top, by each stratum of stone over banging the other [see fig. 2]. From the specimens discovered in the Indian excavations, there is no doubt but the original idea was taken from those subterraneous caves or grottos. "The people who formed these awful wonders of antiquity, instead of erecting buildings on the surface of the ground, began their operations by cutting away the foundation of a rock, to obtain room below, without endangering the superstructure and thus, by degrees, the Indian architecture seems to have grown from the rudest excavations of Troglodite savages, to the most beautiful forms discovered in the temples of Salsetta, of Elora, and Elephantis.

Fig. 4. Sketch exhibiting the principle of forming abutmeuts for Gothic arches, as (generally adopted in ecclesiastical buildings.

"When these natural subterraneous vaults were imitated above ground, in buildings of later date, the same construction prevailed; and, therefore, both in the arches and domes of the Indian style, we observe the same principle of perpendicular pressure [see fig. 5].