New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-26

SAND Miles Awheel Among the Temples and
People of the Indian Plain By William Hunter
Workman. NJ. A. NJ D.. and Fanny Bullock
Workman With map and 22 illustrations
from photographs. mostly by the authors
Royal Svo, pp- xiv. $50. Imported b. Charles
Scribners Sons
In series Of bicycle trips through and across.
not to say I'D and down. India, those tireless
travellers and observers DIR. and Mrs Work
man wheeled fourteen thousand miles. indepen-
dent OF various long and short journeys by boat.
rail and wagon. going to all sorts Of out Of tina
way places for the purpose Of seeing and photo
graphing the remarkable architectural remains
of the Deccan Peninsula Their pictures illus
trate the present volume. the text Of which is
divided between descriptions OF the people and
adventures they met by the way and of the
buildings and ruins they inspected. More atten-
ton is properly given to the less well known
places and temples than to those more generally
visited, such. for instance as the Tai NIahaL
which the authors do not consider so supremacy
beautiful some enthusiasts would have Us
believe
Like some beautiful women It lacks soul. the
national soul Of Indian architecture, which speaks
ist cave temples Of Karl. Bhaja and Atlanta
E.ten llS Je"eIIeu Ln3FoleS jar soIIieW slEeea-
I'VE as they are OF the presence OF llalian artists
1t stands passive, like a bird with folded wIugs,
the temples at Somnathpur and KhaJurdha
of the temples alluded to in the foregoing quo
tation will serve to explain the authors pref
erence even to those who do not agree with
their rather hypercritical depreciation OF the
Tai The Workmans have apparently little SYM
pathy with any of the Moslem architecture
which they regard as alien TO the country. how
ever representative IL may now be OF the re-
ligious life OF eighty millions Of the pOpu-
lation. We apt to value most that which Is
most difficult of attainment. fact which may
have had some effect in influencing the authors
Judgment. The Tai is easy OF access, and their
search for the hidden wonders of indigenous ar
chitecture was prosecuted at the cost Of no in
considerable hardship and privation- The Ma
hometan architecture Of Ahmedabad, which
they saw under many difficulties. struck them
as being "superlatively interesting and "ex-
Quisite''
Apart from its architectural. historical and
chronological interest the book is noteworthy as
an account of athletic prowess and perseverance.
Bicycle riding in India. as may well be imagined.
is no chiId's play. The roads are bad, the sun is
hot the temperature rising sometimes to 10
degrees on the shadeless highways and byways
they had to travel, and over which they made
little of wheeling from fifty to eightyeght miles
a day with from thirty to sixty pounds of bag
gage apiece In order to convey relative idea
of the size of the different buildings. the authors
usually introduced human figure into their
picture and in the absence of convenient natives
Mrs. Workman frequently posed in the photo
graphs. AS one reads of the fatiguing runs they
took day after day, Of their uncomfortable
nights in the dirty and i'll furnished dak bunga-
lows or rest houses, and Of their irregular and
often insufficient meals. one watches anxiously
to detect signs of her gradual wasting away.
But each recurring negative reveals her ap-
parently undiminished in weight or vigor. a re-
suit attributed by the authors to their habit OF
repairing the inevitable waste by drinking thres
or more quarts of water and weak tea every day.
The book is full of suggestions to routes
and roads that will be valuable to other cyclists.
tracks. The rewards OF the enterprise would be-
great, as the volume teStifes, but il would seem
as if there must be few indeed who combine so
much muscular ability with so great antiquarian
fervor. IF any such there be, it behOOves them
to make haste, as the destruction OF some OF
the most interesting remains is rapidly going on
This is due not only to the vandalism OF man.
but to the forces of nature as well Most OF ths
old temples were built without mortar. and dirt
accumulates between the stones:
develop into bushes and later into trees Slender
rootetS are sent out which insert themselves INTO
the crevices between the stones Here, IN spite OF
pressure and the narrow space, they grow anu
blocks gradually apart until these become OoSenou
from their places and fall to the ground