Born in Scotland, James Fergusson (1808 86) spent ten years as an indigo planter in India, the profits from which allowed him to embark upon a second career as an architectural historian. Although he had no formal training, he became one of the most respected researchers in the field, particularly in Indian architecture. He made numerous trips around India in order to study and document its cave temples, publishing his first book on the subject in 1845. In 1880, he returned to the subject, collaborating with the archaeologist James Burgess (1832 1916) as part of the Archaeological Survey of...

Born in Scotland, James Fergusson (1808 86) spent ten years as an indigo planter in India before embarking upon a second career as an architectural historian. Although he had no formal training, he became one of the most respected researchers in the field and an expert on India's cave temples. His History of Indian and Eastern Architecture was first published in 1876 and became a standard work. It was revised in this two-volume edition of 1910 by James Burgess (1832 1916), former Director of the Archaeological Survey of India, and Richard Spiers (1838 1916), a noted architect and historian of...

Born in Scotland, James Fergusson (1808 86) spent ten years as an indigo planter in India before embarking upon a second career as an architectural historian. Although he had no formal training, he became one of the most respected researchers in the field and an expert on India's cave temples. His History of Indian and Eastern Architecture was first published in 1876 and became a standard work. It was revised in this two-volume edition of 1910 by James Burgess (1832 1916), former Director of the Archaeological Survey of India, and Richard Spiers (1838 1916), a noted architect and historian of...

The architecture of India Proper is treated in an exhaustive manner in this work. Its description might easily extended even beyond these limits, but without plans and more accurate architectural details, any such additions would practically contribute very little that was valuable to the information the work already contains.

One of the most interesting of antiquarian studies is that which relates to the origin and purpose of the many ancient mounds and monuments found in almost every country. Antiquaries have never agreed whether the circles are temples or tombs or observatories, whether the dolmens are monuments of the dead or altars for sacrificing living men, and whether the mounds are tombs or law courts. This book compiles a Historical and Statistical account of the Rude Stone Monuments in all parts of the world.