Speaking of James Fergusson (1808 -86), an architectural historian in Britain, just a few people know the name in current Japan. But he was the author of some great works on the history of world architecture no less than thirty years earlier than Banister Fletcher's famous "A History of Architecture."（*1） He was also compared to Vitruvius in Roman age in recognition of his deep thinking about architecture and a large number of well read writings. （*2）

Heinrich Schliemann, an archaeologist who had excavated Troia, dedicated one of his principal books the "Tiryns" to Fergusson. RIBA (Royal Institute of British architects) awarded him with a royal gold medal owing to his brilliant achievements concerning his research works on the history of architecture.

For the first educational teachings of architectural history in the Meiji era in Japan, at the architectural courses in the Great Institute of Technology and in the Imperial University of Tokyo, it was his books that they used as textbooks. According to the record before World War II as heard from Chuta Ito, the first Japanese architectural historian, by Hideto Kishida, the then professor of the Imperial University of Tokyo, "the lectures of the history of architecture were by and large direct translations and instructions from his book ("History of Architecture", James Fergusson, 1874) ...,"（*3） most of the Japanese architects who grew up in the Meiji era must have been familiar with his name.

But probably on account that none of his books were translated into Japanese, his name has almost sunk into oblivion, as Fletcher's "A History of Architecture"（*4） became widespread. In spite of his great contribution to the history of architecture scholars have hardly studied the development of his writings. It would be partly due to difficulty in grasping totally the substance of his work because of too wide a range of his writings, and partly for that his biggest achievement consists in systematizing the history of Indian architecture.

In Japan Chuta Ito in the Meiji era and Shun-ichi Amanuma in the Taisho era had been interested in Indian architecture and actually traveled in India, but no later architectural historians followed it, leaving Indian architecture out of concern. There have appeared no scholars who have specialized in Indian architecture; therefore the society of architectural history could not locate Fergusson properly in extent of history of the Indian and World architecture. Not surprisingly his name is not found in the "Grand Dictionary of Architecture and Construction" in Japan. Recently as the studying of Asia has begun thriving, at length they resumed paying attention to him.（*5）

The aim of this article is to make a general survey of Fergusson's pursuit of the history of Indian architecture. But under the circumstances that his full-length picture is not known I will put aside quests of details in his works, I am going to observe how he made his history of Indian architecture, in correlating with all his whole writings about world architecture.

Lithograph of the Lingaraja Temple based on Fergusson's sketch

James Fergusson became one of the leading architectural historians in the 19th century and was loaded with many honors. William White mentions in his article about Fergusson close to ten titles such as C.I.E., D.C.L. Oxon., LL.D. Edin., F.R.S., F.G.S., Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic Society, a Past Vice President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, etc.

But he did not learned architecture in a university. He taught himself after graduating from a private school and pursued world architecture at his own expense and went on to publish many treatises and books. He was not an academic architectural historian, however it is not surprising when you know that one apprenticed oneself in an architect's atelier rather than in a university to become an architect at the time.
Furthermore, that gave him a free sprit. He would look at monuments with his own eyes and think independently without adherence to the established theories in academicism or conventions in architectural society, and persisted in his own views however opposed to the current of the times they were.

Since a critical biography of James Fergusson has not been published even in his native country, details of the process of his study are not known, nor is his private life. According to the fragmentary descriptions in many books we are able to reconstruct an outline of his life as follows: （*6）

James Fergusson was born in 1808 at Ayr, the capital of the old Airshire State in Scotland, as the second son of a medical officer, Dr. William Fergusson. Owing to his father's job relocations he attended the High School in Edinburgh, then went to a private school in Hounslow. After graduation at the age of around 20 he immigrated to India. He was destined for employment in the firm of Fairlie, Fergusson, and Co., in Calcutta, where his older brother was a partner. But the company soon failed; he became an indigo planter accordingly and also started a new business in Calcutta along with his brother William.

This indigo plantation was successful and brought him riches. But he preferred to become a scholar of architecture rather than to continue the business. It seems that he judged himself more suitable for a life of studies than commercial pursuits as a result of his life in India, traveling to ancient sites with a continued interest in antiquities and foreign buildings from his childhood.

Putting an end to his 10 years commercial activity in Calcutta, he returned to London. He purchased a home in Langham Place and frequented libraries, immersing himself in the study of architecture. For about 10 years between 1834 and 1843 he went to India repeatedly investigating Indian architecture and took numerous field notes. It seems that he traveled in Europe and the Middle East on the way to India. It is not clear when and which parts of India he traveled due to discrepancies among various descriptions.

Although his last travel to India was in 1845, he wrote his first treatise the previous year and read it at the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland at the end of the year. This was "On the Rock-Cut Temples of India," and Fergusson was 35 years old.
It was in 1818 that General Taylor from England discovered Buddhist ruins at Sanchi, and the following year a cavalryman called John Smith discovered cave temples and their murals at Ajanta. Since then the study of Indian archaeology in the Buddhist period had thrived. As Fergusson lectured systematically about the cave temples in various regions quite early, he became well known in Britain as a specialist of Indian architecture. This lecture got such a good response that the British government launched into preserving them and reproducing their mural paintings. （*7）

Since then Fergusson incessantly collected architectural documents all over the world on top of his previous 10 year accumulation, developed them theoretically, and read the papers. He published many books, revising and enlarging them tirelessly to perfection until his demise at the age of 77.
As the range of his writings spread vastly from India to Europe, from ancient times to the 19th century, it became too difficult to grasp the total system of its contents. The result is the chaotic descriptions in a large amount of books that mention his works and the bibliographies differ from each other causing mistakes and contradictions. In order to rectify and restore them completely I made a systematic "Chronology of Fergusson's Writings." Now I am going to explain the system of his writings along this chronology.

Chronology of Fergusson's Writings

To begin with, let's categorize Fergusson's many writings into four. As the first category I chose is History of Indian architecture which he pursued through the better part of his life, the second must be the sphere of History of the World architecture from ancient times to the Middle Ages, and the third must be that of modern times or from the Renaissance to the 19th century.
The representative works of these three lineages are "A History of Architecture in All Countries," the "History of Indian and Eastern Architecture," and the "History of Modern Styles of Architecture." One may refer to these widespread books as his 'trilogy.'

I placed his other works in the fourth column as Miscellaneous, and the articles on journals as well, even though those themes correspond to the former three categories. Revised editions of the trilogy were published even posthumously. Above all the "History of Indian and Eastern Architecture" has often been reprinted in India and continues to be read till now by scholars and amateurs of Indian culture.

His first publication was the "Illustrations of the Rock-Cut Temples of India" in 1845, the text of which was the aforementioned paper "On the Rock-Cut Temples of India." He added many measured drawings to make it a small book, with which he combined the 18 pieces of large-sized lithographs made by T.C. Dibdin based on Fergusson's original drawings.

He wrote in the preface of this book that at the beginning he had not intended to publish just a book about the cave temples apart from other sort of architecture. His original plan was to publish a book with about 100 pieces of lithographs of the ancient Buddhist, Hindu, and Islamic buildings. So he hoped to introduce the totality of Indian architecture and its masterpieces, but considering the excessive cost for that he completed the cave temples as a first step. He was not necessarily interested in cave temples more than stone constructed buildings.

Lithograph of the Ajanta cave 19 based on Fergusson's sketch

His next luxurious publication accordingly was a 24 large-sized lithographs of stone-built architecture in India together with a 70 page explanation published in 1848 as the "Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Hindostan," which got such a good reputation it was reprinted.
Thus these two publications respecting the Indian architecture marked his public starting point, although his aspiration was not only studying the Indian architecture but to integrate the history of architecture all over the world. He was compiling wide-ranging materials and data from ancient times to the modern age, considering their natures and interrelations between them.

It is "An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture" written by Thomas Rickman (1776 -1841) in 1817 that had a great influence on Fergusson's accomplishment of that work.（*8） Rickman who was an architect as well as a researcher of church architecture had classified the Gothic architecture in England into smaller groups and had established the appellations such as 'Early English style,' 'Decorated style,' and 'Perpendicular style,' of which he explained the characteristics clearly in the book. So the book 'scientifically' clarified that it is above all 'style' that classifies each piece of architecture and settles its age, and determined it as the principle notion in the 19th century on the studying history of architecture.

Fergusson was deeply impressed with the book and thought that the notion of 'style' would be effective not only in Britain but even more in India.（*9）

"An Historical Inquiry into the True Principles" top page

Fergusson's first full-dress theoretical book is "An Historical Inquiry into the True Principles of Beauty in Art, more Especially with Reference to Architecture" published in 1849 (hereinafter referred to as "Historical Inquiry" in this essay). （*10）
A noticeable point in this book's long title is that he used the word 'True Principles,' that was the influence of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812 -52) .

In the beginning of the 19th century before which Neo-Classicism had been dominant in the society of British architecture, new architects and theoreticians appeared, who objected to it. Pugin, one of the representatives of that movement, insisted that the true figure of Christian architecture resided in the Gothic style and that the Classic style of pagan Greece and Rome was unsuitable.
In the Gothic architecture which principally uses pointed arches, its varied and intricate architectural expressions are based on the structural rationality and its attractive ornamentation is executed without disturbing it. That's why Gothic architecture is worthy and that is the 'True Principles' of architecture, he asserted.
Pugin's "The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture" published in 1841 became the theoretical backbone for the Gothic revival movement in the 19th century in England and other countries. Fergusson was deeply empathized with this idea and borrowed the words 'True Principles.'

The revivalists such as Pugin and George Gilbert Scott (who would design the Library and Convocation Hall of Bombay University in India afterward) spread the trend of 'praise to the Middle ages' among British architects, in designing new churches in the Gothic style.
But in spite of his appreciation of the Gothic style Fergusson did not consider that it is the absolute style and one should design contemporary buildings in that style. Some of the mediaevalists objected to this attitude of his, so he later wrote in the preface of the "History of Architecture" as follows, ( [ - ] shows supplementation by the author)

"My faith in the exclusive pre-eminence of [European] mediaeval art was first shaken when I became familiar with the splendid remains of the Mogul and Pathan emperors of Agra and Delhi [in India], and saw how many beauties of even the pointed style had been missed in Europe in the Middle Ages. My confidence [of the pre-eminence of European mediaeval art] was still further weakened when I saw what richness and variety the Hindoo [Indians] had elaborated not only without pointed arches, but indeed without any arches at all. And I was cured when, after a personal inspection of the ruins of Thebes and Athens, I perceived that at least equal beauty [as in Europe and India] could be obtained by processes diametrically opposed to those employed by the [European] mediaeval architects.
After so extended a survey, it was easy to perceive that beauty in architecture did not reside in pointed or in round arches, in bracket capitals or horizontal architraves, but in thoughtful appropriateness of design and intellectual elegance of detail. I became convinced that no form is in itself better than any other, and that in all instances those are best which are most appropriate to the purposes to which they are applied." （*12）

Fergusson thought as highly of the Gothic architecture as Pugin, but he judged it inappropriate to apply a past style to a new building in the present day (Fergusson's 19th century) since the social system and people's mentality are completely different from the Middle Ages. He considered many other styles all over the world as well as Gothic and concluded that they were beautiful and worthy because they were the best-adapted styles with the demand and need of the age and society that they belonged to. He just referred to that legitimacy as the 'True Principles.'

Since having started from Indian architecture he studied architecture throughout the world and pursued the style-classification and those respective characteristics, while he developed such a view of the architecture and decided to systematize it to publish as a theoretical writing. That is the aforementioned "Historical Inquiry."
But there were no commercial publishers who would agree to publish a book, which declared original architectural thought opposing the general tendency. So he eventually financed the publication with Longmans Publisher. Although that was the 'part the first' of 3 planned volumes, only 4 copies were sold, as had been feared. He abandoned his plan to continue publication and left it as an unfinished writing. Fergusson was 41 years old. （*13）

It was John Murray, a proprietor of a long-established publishing company, who paid attention to this book. He was the same age as Fergusson by coincidence. As publishing widely from general books to scholaly ones, he recommended Fergusson, who was collecting historical materials of worldwide architecture, to rewrite his study in geographical order.
Fergusson had realized that a highbrow theoretical writing could not be accepted by society. He accepted John Murray's advice to write about world architecture fully starting from India to Europe 'in the more popular form.' That is his epochal book "The Illustrated Handbook of Architecture" in 2 volumes published in 1855, when Fergusson was 47 years old.

"The Illustrated Handbook of Architecture" top page

Since its exact title is as long as it is; "The Illustrated Handbook of Architecture: Being a Concise and Popular Account of the Different Styles of Architecture Prevailing in All Ages and Countries," I simply refer to it as "Handbook" in this article.

Fergusson, who was compared to Linne in the field of botany（*14） classifying passionately the architecture of the world, intended to insert figures in this book as profusely as possible. Since the technique of photoengraving did not exist yet, he got as many as 840 minute architectural drawings engraved by the method of cutting on the end grain of woodblocks, which thrrove at the time. So it became an unprecedented publication that showed pictorially diverse architectural styles from all over the world. Combined with the explicit descriptions, the book gained a favorable assessment and was reprinted.

It was also diffused on the European continent and even in America. As for Japan, "The Rules and Subjects of study of the Great Institute of Technology" mentioned 'Fergusson's "History of Zouka-gaku" (James Fergusson: The Illustrated Handbook of Architecture) . . . '（*15） as one of the reference books for architecture, which means many Japanese students of architecture might have bought this book too. After this success almost all of Fergusson's books were to be published in a similar book form by John Murray.

The "Handbook" dealt with world architecture the order being India, China, Western Asia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia, and Islam in the first volume. The second volume dealt with the European medieval architecture the order being France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Britain, Northern Europe, then added Byzantine lastly. Seeing that half of the book was dedicated to European, one might consider that Fergusson was a Europe supremacist. But, as shown in the aforementioned quotation, he intended to deal with worldwide architectural styles as thoroughly as possible. Such an attitude was rare in the 19th century and it can be said that he was a 'cultural relativist,' to use a current term.（*16）

Even so, it is possible to surmise from his writings that he considered the architecture of ancient Greece and medieval Europe particularly valuable. Regarding India including neighboring countries, he spent 171 pages accounting them in his book. Here, for the first time, Indian architecture was described totally even if it was not sufficiently matured.(table 2)

Woodcut of Jami Masjid in Delhi based on Fergusson's sketch

The "Handbook" is a voluminous work in which each page has the largest quantity of words among Fergusson' books and its total number of pages exceeds 1,000. One could feel awkward that it is entitled 'handbook' like a light book in spite of that.
The reason is that John Murray was publishing a series of guidebooks under the title of "Handbook for Travelers" and requested Fergusson to write about Indian architecture as one of the series.（*17） But it became a much more abundant and scholastic work rather than a guidebook, so the publisher deleted 'for travelers' to leave solely 'handbook' in its title.

Fergusson writes in the preface of this book that studies of architecture were 'the mere amusement of the amateur' in the 18th century, but 'new principles of criticism have been evolved' in his 19th century and they 'are now becoming objects of philosophical inquiry, and assuming a rank among the most important elements of historical research ( . . . ) have made such rapid and satisfactory progress' during the first fifty years of the 19th century.
His architectural theory, that should be considered as the essence of his unfinished "Historical Inquiry," is unfolded through 33 pages of the introduction. He explains in the first place what are 'True Principles' in architecture. （*18）

It was the tendency of 'imitation of forms and orders' employed in ancient Greece and Rome that was prevalent 50 years before. At the present day (i.e. middle of the 19th century) it had switched over to the 'correct reproductions of mediaeval designs.' However these are 'the mere changing fashions of art' and not real or essential art. What we should do is to 'obtain a true definition of the art or of its purposes' below the surface.
First of all, it is essential that we bear in mind the 'two systems' of architecture that have existied in the world's history. The first is the styles that prevailed in ancient and medieval Europe and other countries 'wherever European civilization or its influences have not yet penetrated.' The second is the styles in Europe since the time of the Reformation (i.e. the age of Renaissance)' and wherever European influence has established itself.'

The art of architecture in the former system is the design 'most suitable and convenient for the purposes it was wanted for.' Each part has 'the stately and ornamental effect consistent with its uses,' and its ornament is 'appropriate to the purposes of the building' and 'harmonise with the construction.' The architects took care to make the ornament 'most elegant in itself.' This system has 'succeeded in producing great and beautiful buildings' in not only ancient Egypt, Greece, Gothic, but also in 'indolent' India, 'stolid' Tibet and China, and 'savage' Mexico.
Working on this system, 'no race, however rude and remote, has failed to produce [great] buildings,' and there has been no single building that is not beautiful in the age of such 'true art.'

On the contrary, the result of the latter system (in Europe since the Renaissance and European influenced regions) is widely different from this. 'It has now been practiced in Europe for more than three centuries by people who have more knowledge of architectural forms, more constructive skill, and more power of combining science and art to effect a great object, than any people who ever existed before.' But 'not one building has been produced that is admitted to be entirely satisfactory, or which permanently retains a hold on general admiration'.

Although 'many are large and stately to an extent almost unknown before, and many are ornamented with a profuseness of which not previous examples exist', only conform to the passing fashion, they soon become antiquated and out of date'. It is not permanently successful because it is sham and false.
It is impossible to make the situation that the classical art established in Greece and Rome or the people's emotion to be actual again. 'Gothic art belongs to a state of society so totally different from what now exists.' So 'any attempt to reproduce it now must at best be a masqureade.'

The above written is Fergusson's principal recognition of the architectural history, namely, while ancient and medieval architecture is excellent everywhere in the world because it was based on the 'true principles,' European architecture after the age of Renaissance is neither beautiful nor useful because it has degenerated into imitation of the past styles.
Fergusson incessantly developed his study of architectural history and rewrote it in the wake of discoveries of new facts and procurement of new materials, but he kept this recognition invariably until the end of his life.

The reason that he gained such recognition completely different from contemporary architects and architectural historians should be found in the fact that he started his career from residing in India and pursuit of Indian architecture. If he had studied architecture in Europe from the start, he would have equipped the sense of value of the architectural society of that time.
Spending his youth in India and extending the area of study from Indian architecture to worldwide one, he must have gotten an unacceptable impression from the European architecture that was imitating past styles one after the other. In addition to that, the then colonial buildings in India were imitations of contemporary classicism architecture in Europe that had no relation with the climate and life styles in India, therefore he must have had negativel feelings toward them.

Woodcut of the St Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta

Fergusson and Pugin were in accordance when admitting that the Gothic architecture was an excellent style based on the 'true principles.' But they both reached the exact opposite conclusions from each other from the same premise. While Pugin used to apply the Gothic style to new buildings, Fergusson blamed resolutely the imitations of past styles. I have to omit here the detail of his theory, he wrote in the introduction of his "Handbook" roughly as follows; （*19）

'Our knowledge of the style becomes greater, the heavier will our chains become, and anything like originality or progress in this important branch of architecture more absolutely impossible.' On the other hand, 'in civil engineering, the lowest and most prosaic branch of architectural art, our progress has been brilliant and rapid.'
And 'if we had made the same progress', 'we should see a Gothic cathedral pulled down with the same indifference, content to know that we could easily replace it by one far nobler and more worthy of our age and intelligence. No architect during the middle ages ever hesitated to pull down any part of a cathedral that was old and going to decay, and to replace it with something in the style of the day, however incongruous that might be.'

Fergusson was radical. This insistence that reminds us of Le Corbusier's critical book "Quand les Cathédrales étaient Blanches (When the Cathedrals were White)" might be regarded as a logic of 20th century's avant-garde architect rather than 1855's historian.（*20）
What he looked for was not a reappearance of the past, but a reconstruction of the 'true principle.' The omen was found in the Crystal Palace built for the London World Fair 4 years before the publishing of his "Handbook." It was as great building as Gothic in which the principles of true style of art were overall penetrated, only the materials suitable for the purpose were used, there are no dispensable elements, it depends wholly for its effect on the arrangement of its parts and the display of its structure.

But Fergusson was not satisfied here either. 'Art, however, will not be regenerated by buildings so ephemeral as Crystal Palaces, or so prosaic as Manchester warehouses, nor by anything so essentially utilitarian as the works of our engineers.' 'Having commenced at the bottom, the true system may extend upwards, and come at last to be applied to our palaces and churches.' After our long wanderings in the dark by 'a false system, daylight may again enlighten our path and gladden our hearts'.

As the scope of architecture that the "Handbook" had covered had been exclusively the ancient and middle ages, Fergusson wrote a history of architecture in modern times as a sequel. This is the "History of the Modern Styles of Architecture" published in 1862, which, he wrote in the preface, might be considered either as the third volume of the "Handbook" or treated as an entirely separate work complete itself. (Hereafter it is abbreviated to "Modern Styles" in this article.)
The contents of this book is the history of each country's architecture in Europe since the Renaissance, history of European influenced countries', so to speak, western style architecture in Asia and North and South America, 'theatres' as a new sort of architecture, and lastly dealt with the development of civil and military engineering. It is natural in the course of nature that 80% of the book was distributed to Europe. （*21）

The book's descriptions of architectural history by region entailing full of visual woodcut figures, the same as the previous books, are quite useful as printed records and materials.
However, from Fergusson's architectural theory as described in the previous chapter, the architecture since the Renaissance that had degenerated into imitations of past styles must have been considered worthless. Actually, he explained his intention of publishing this book as follows:

"It is principally in the hope that a clear exposition of the mistaken system on which the art is now practiced may lead to some amelioration that this work has been written. How far it may be successful depends on those who read it, or from its study may be led to perceive how false and mistaken the principles are on which modern Architecture is based, and how easy, on the contrary, it would be to succeed if we were only content to follow in the same path which has led to perfection [of architecture] in all counties of the world and in all ages preceding that to which the history contained in this volume extends." （*22）

What Fergusson wrote in the "Modern Styles" is the 'history of false and mistaken architecture.' Between any of the architectural styles in the world is there no superiority or inferiority as far as being based on the 'true principles.' But the history of architecture since the Renaissance of which architects have learned past history and styles fell into decay of repeating them incessantly is the 'history of false and mistaken systems.'
When such styles based on the false principles are transmitted to countries outside Europe, they would even spoil those countries' traditions. Let's look at the case of India; （*23）

After Neoclassicism, colonial buildings were built in Gothic style in India too. However it does not suit the climate of India at all. If one constructs a Gothic church, 'various changes in arrangement must be made' such as 'the aisles of a church must be placed outside, the tracery must be double and fitted with Venetians blinds' etc. But revivalists did not permit it.
In the meantime, Indian builders who were subordinate to rulers without understanding the origin and motive of 'Order' followed construction with 'bastard style.' Here, he insists, the 'common-sense' guided by 'taste' has been lost.

A sample of bastard style buildings in Lucknow

Then, why had European architecture since the Renaissance lost 'common-sense' and had fallen into a state of constructing 'false buildings'?
What Fergusson paid attention to for an answer was 'ethnology' or 'race theory' growing at that time. He was led to the idea that the reason of Europeans' loss of architectural creativity and incessant imitation of the past was that the character of Aryans in Europeans had become predominant, and in the first place, Aryans were not the 'Architectural (artistic) race.'

Since the Age of Great Voyages, in accordance with the trespassing in Asia and America, Europeans described those societies and religions, and published those articles and travelogues that were referred to as 'ethnography.' Accumulation of those ethnographies on the various lands in the world would grow in due course into the sciences as 'ethnology' or 'anthropology.'
The discovery of the resemblance of grammatical structures between Sanskrit (Indian classic language), Ancient Greek, and Latin opened the way to comparative linguistics in the end of 18th century and generated the notion of a linguistic family; 'Indo-European.' It accompanied the dawning of comparative mythology and comparative religious studies, which would develop the classification of nations or races in the world and the pursuit of interrelations between them. The middle of the 19th century, where Fergusson wrote the "Handbook," was just the age of the blossoming of those academic studies.

When Fergusson started to classify the styles of Indian temple architecture, he divided it into 'Northern Hindu Style' and 'Southern Hindu Style' based on the phenomenon that the forms of Hindu temples in Northern India and Southern India were clearly different from each other, and applied them to the racial distinction between 'Arian (i.e. Aryan) race' in the North and 'Tamul (i.e. Tamil) race' in the South, which also showed clear differences. He therefore referred to the former as 'Arian Hindu Style' too. （*24）

This might be when he began to get accustomed to referring to ethnographies of every region in extending his territory of writing from Indian to global architecture. If a description about architecture is only an enumeration of styles, it cannot be considered a science. Historians must systematize them while showing the distinctive features of each style. He thought that it would be 'architectural ethnography.'
The term 'ethnography' came into use early in the 19th century. Fergusson preferred to use it with almost the same meaning as 'ethnology' or 'race theory.' In the introduction of the "Handbook" in 1855, he allotted only half a page for Section XII entitled 'Ethnography,' in which he wrote as follows:

"Looking on an ancient building, we can not only tell in what state of civilization its builders lived, or how far they were advanced in the arts, but we can almost certainly say also to what race they belonged, and what their affinities were with the other races or tribes of mankind. So far as my knowledge extends, I do not know a single exception to this rule ; and, as far as I can judge, I believe that architecture is in all this instances as correct a test of race as language, and one far more easily applied and understood. Languages alter and become mixed, and when a change has once been established it is extremely difficult to follow it back to its origin, and unravel the elements which compose it; but a building once erected stands unchanged to testify to the time when it was built, and the feelings and motives of its builders remain stamped indelibly upon it as long as it lasts." （*25）

"The Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored" top page

The young Friedrich Max Muller (1823-1900) who had published the most sacred epic in India the "Rig Veda" in Sanskrit was developing comparative linguistics and cultivating comparative religious studies in the middle of the 19th century, insisting that there were close corresponding relations among languages, religions and nations. Based mainly on his theory Fergusson adopted the classification of races in the (considered) scientific standard at that time and wrote a whole 36 page chapter of 'Ethnology from an Architectural Point of View' as an appendix at the end of his "Modern Styles." （*26）
Although this theory is not adopted at all at the present, he organized it quite clearly and enunciated it with the intention to settle it as the foundation of architectural history. He seemed so confident in this theory that he incorporated it into the posterior "History of Architecture" to be dealt with later as Part III of the introduction, almost intact with a few revisions in changing the title to 'Ethnography as Applied to Architectural Art.' As it remained intact in the 2nd and 3rd editions too, it was read by a number of readers.

This is the substance: The original seat of the Asian and European races was in Central Asia, from which races migrated four times with intervals. Those four great races are 'Turanian', 'Semitic', 'Celtic', and 'Aryan' and Fergusson insisted that each race's purity and mixture rate determined the character of its architecture. He inferred those four great race's features and described them assertively on the items of religion, government, morals, literature, arts, and sciences respectively.

Turanians that is the most elusive were the main race of the Stone Age and distributed widely from Asia to Africa. Egyptians, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Tamils, Turks, Magyars, and others belong to this race. The next race Semites immigrated to the Middle East, consisting of Akkadians, Arameans, Hebrews, Arabians, and Ethiopians.
It was the Celts who had installed bronze ware and they immigrated to Western Europe. The race that immigrated lastly was Aryans. They invaded Europe, Persia, and India, conquering aboriginal Turanians and ruled over them.

The race that displayed the richest artistic talents in great constructions was the Turanians, of which ancient Egyptians and Tamils or Mughals in India are typical examples. In contrast to them, Semites gave birth to the idea of absolute Gods and religions of the Creators, but were not as great in the field of architecture. The Celts conversely did not produce any great religions, mixing with other peoples everywhere, but nurtured subtle and valuable arts in Europe.
Despite being the most intellectual race, Aryans were the least talented in architecture. As 'convenience is the first thing' they gained what they desired 'by the readiest and the easiest means.' Even in the case to emulating others in construction, they simply made their buildings ornamental and were 'willing to copy what experience had proved to be successful in former works.' They did not apply their money or energy to architecture, but 'without which nothing great or good was ever done in Art.'
'The immaterial nature of their faith has always deprived the Aryan races of the principal incentive to architectural magnificence.' It is contrastive to 'the Turanian and Celtic races always have the most implicit faith in ceremonial worship and in the necessity of architectural splendor as its indispensable accompaniment.'
Persians, being Aryans, did not have temple architecture. Although the Greeks were Aryans, the greatness of Greek architecture owed much to Pelasgis who were of apparent Turanian race with whom invading Aryans had mixed. As for Europe, the arts prospered in the age of the Celtic race's dominancy, but declined after the Aryan race's influence augmented. The above is the gist of Fergusson's theory.

It is surprising that Fergusson, who should be considered to belong to the Aryan race, reached such a race theory by studying architecture. Is this Aryan self-criticism?
But there is room to make a shrewd guess. As the name Fergusson demonstrates, he was a pure Scotsman. So, did he place a high value on the culture of the Celts, which was considered as an ancestor of the Scottish, and want to saddle Aryans with the blame of the degeneration of architecture in the modern age? （*27）
At that time Scottish nationalism was rising with the intention of getting out of England's rule. Fergusson could have such an emotion in the depth of his mind. But it is unfair to discern his motive in studying world architecture so extensively in such nationalism.

His preterhuman work was achieved by the promping of some mysterious 'power of architecture' in order to return the degenerated modern architecture again to its great height, and he devoted his life to write the architectural history and theoretical treatises on architecture.
He hoped, in Europe or India or anywhere in the world, people would create their own architectural styles suitable to their periods, nations, and social systems.

"A History of Architecture in All Countries" top page

As new materials and reports on world architecture came together successively during the 10 years after the publication of the "Handbook," Fergusson felt the need to make a new edition to incorporate them. On that occasion, since the "Handbook" had been written in geographical order, it was appropriate to arrange it in historical order and largely rewrite in order to make it literally a 'history of world architecture.' That is the two volumes of "A History of Architecture in All Countries, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day," which he was proud of as 'the first attempt to write a universal history of architecture.' （*28）

The first volume of it was published in 1865, and the second volume, which was due to be published the next year, was delayed until 1867, when he was 59 years old. They were bulky books up to 1,500 pages along with 1,180 woodcut figures altogether, about half of which remained unchanged from the "Handbook" and the other half was revision or enlargement of the original materials. Since his historical view itself had not altered and the method of description of the medieval architecture also continued the previous one in accordance with countries, this publication was not so sensational as the appearance of the "Handbook" ten years before. It is suitable to consider it as a book furthering the detail and elaboration.

The "Modern Styles" written as the third volume of the "Handbook" was regarded as the third volume of the "History of Architecture" since then, so that Fergusson enhanced his fame noticeably as the historian who had completed an entire history of world architecture.
The Indian part including abutting countries, which had been discussed in 171 pages in the "Handbook," was augmented considerably, increasing to 288 pages in the second volume of "History of Architecture" as 'book three to six' with enriched substance. (table 2)

Furthermore what Fergusson passionately intended was to elaborate the history of Indian and trans-Indian architecture to evolve it into an independent volume.
After Alexander Cunningham (1814 -93) took a position as the first Director General of Archaeological Survey of India that was established in 1860, Indian archaeology developed rapidly with the publcation of numerous reports on ancient sites and buildings one after another. Fergusson who had started in Indian architecture aimed to complete his history of Indian architecture while incorporating all of these findings in it.
In order to accomplish it, it was necessary to totally reorganize his "History of Architecture." Firstly he wholly revised the "Modern Styles" deleting the part of 'ethnography' that had been already relocated to the "History of Architecture," then he published it in 1873 as the second edition of the "Modern Styles," writing in the preface that it was 'intended to form the fourth volume of a new edition' of the "History of Architecture."

The next year he published two volumes of the "History of Architecture" also as the second edition, deleting the Indian and Eastern part, revising, enlarging, and rearranging its composition. (This was intended to be the first and second volume of the "History of Architecture.")
Finally in 1876, two years later, he published the first edition of the long desired "History of Indian and Eastern Architecture," a voluminous 775 pages. (Hereafter it is abbreviated to "Indian and Eastern" in this article.) He regarded it as the third volume of the "History of Architecture." Thus his highly developed 'trilogy' of architectural history came to perfection, it had developed into a great work of 2,600 pages altogether in 4 volumes, when Fergusson reached 68 years old.

"History of Indian and Eastern Architecture" top page

Even posthumously a revised edition of the 'trilogy' was published by John Murray who had given most of Fergusson's writings to the public. The "Indian and Eastern" revised and enlarged into two volumes by J. Burgess and R. Phené Spiers appeared in 1910, 34 years after the first edition. This became the definitive book on the history of Indian architecture and was read widely for a long time.
The revisions by James Burgess (1832 -1917) were quite conscientious in respecting Fergusson's original theory, incorporating subsequent research results, and correcting old unripe points, but we should pay attention to the fact that this revised edition is not Fergusson's itself.

How the descriptive quantity and constitution of history of Indian architecture made progress from the early "Handbook" to the entirely systematized "Indian and Eastern" is shown in the schema of 'Making a History of Indian Architecture by James Fergusson' that I have drawn up here.

Making a History of Indian Architecture

As we cannot afford to thoroughly discuss its contents in this article, we will particularly examine how he made his classification of architectural styles in India. What we have to make clear for a start is that since the Indus civilization had not yet been known in the 19th century, the 20th century's aporia such as who had been the bearers of this ancient culture had not yet existed.

In his early "Handbook," he made a distinction between Tamuls in southern India and Arians in northern India. （*29） In the paragraph of 'Ethnology of India' in the "History of Architecture," he used the word 'Dravidians' for the first time, writing that while there were indigenous people in India akin to current mountain tribes, Dravidians speaking Tamul language came first, then Aryans speaking Sanskrit came later. （*30）
But after that he changed his description in which he had a tendency to emphasize distinction of religions rather than races. It was a demand coming from actual research of temple architecture. In other words, it was difficult to define architectural styles solely based on racial distinctions, but it needed to rely upon religious distinctions.
Thriving religions in India were Buddhism in ancient times, Hinduism and Jainism from early middle to modern ages, and Islam from late middle to early modern ages. Supposing that they evolved around different styles respectively, he had described Indian architecture by each religion's chapter since the "Handbook." It was his theme to combine this method to his race theory.
As for Aryans only, he had drawn a conclusion in the 'Ethnology' appended to the "Modern Styles," that is, since they were not a talented nation in architecture, they had not left any buildings in ancient times accordingly, in spite of the creation of the religion of Veda.

Classification of architectural styles in the middle ages was most complicated. At the stage of the "History of Architecture," contrary to the "Handbook," he quit nominating 'Aryan' for 'Northern Hindu Style,' applying 'Dravidian Style' to 'Southern Hindu Style.'
Then for the third style recognized later, he used a name 'Chalukya or Rajpoot Style' for the first time. But since he confused Chaulukyans (Solankis) in western India with Chalukyans in the Deccan Plateau, he identified Jain temple architecture in Solanki dynasty with this by mistake. It would be corrected in the "Indian and Eastern."

Although it was in the introduction of the "Indian and Eastern" that Fergusson's race theory which applied to India was minutely discussed, before the examination of it, I will explain concisely, according to its text, the classification and grouping of Indian styles he finally adopted.
First of all, since there remain only Buddhist ruins from ancient times, Book I was assigned to Buuddhist Architecture. Architecture of Jainism, brotherly religion of Buddhism, was discussed in Book II. Fergusson regarded it as almost the same form as Buddhist architecture in its earlier phase, then it flourished independently in the middle ages. Book III treated Himalayan architecture in a different style from that of Indian Plain.
Then he discussed Hindu architecture that stood in the center of the history of Indian architecture, establishing nomenclature of three styles to bring former trials to a conclusion. He firstly explained southern 'Dravidian Style' in Book IV, subsequently central 'Chalkyan Style' in Book V, lastly 'Indo-Aryan Style' in Book VI.
Since Islamic architecture, which was referred to as 'Saracenic' architecture at that time, coming fundamentally from outside developed greatly since the early 13th century; he discussed it in large Book VII. He made a distinction there between architecture of Delhi Sultanate ages, which he referred to as 'Pathan Style,' and that of Mughal era. Further he discussed local styles of Islamic architecture in the various regions.
Book VIII consists of areas beyond India, namely, Burma, Siam, Java, and Cambodia.

Map of India showing locations of the architectural styles

Fergusson's theory about the relation between race and architectural style having started from India returned to India after having been hypertrophied to human history. （*31） Leaving out mythical parts based on the "Veda" or "Mahabharata," let's see a more concrete characterization for each race at the outset.
He wrote that it was not clear if Dravidian people, which were said to belong to the Turanian race, were immigrants or aboriginals who originated in the south. If they were immigrants, there original land might not have been Central Asia but a southern region such as Babylonia, he wrote.
Dravidians were less intellectual than Aryans, nevertheless, as Turanians retaining their pure lineage and racial characteristic, they could develop great temple architecture in the middle ages. Fergusson designated it as 'Dravidian Style.'

Woodcut of the Brihadishwara Temple in Dravidian style

On the other hand, he continued, Aryan people immigrated into India around the Kali Yuga age, 3101 BC based on the Hindu theory about the world cycles （*32）, and their racial purity grew less definite gradually, mixing with indigenous peoples.
Although it was Aryans who gave birth to Buddhism, it was not pure Aryans but a mixed race with Turanians that diffused it widely and built 'stupas' and cave temples. Although Hinduism too was commenced as the religion of Veda by Aryans, namely the age of Brahmanism, it was a much later mixed race of Aryans and Turanians that would produce actual outcomes of architecture in the age of Gupta.
Thus Fergusson brought into India the characterization of the four great races established in his history of world architecture.

Then, what sort of Turan race had settled themselves in India? Though its nomenclature had not been established among ethnologists at that time, he had already mentioned 'Dasyu' people for that race in his book "Tree and Serpent Worship," in which he had studied stupas and sculptures at Sanchi and Amaravati in 1868, and assumed that they might have been the people depicted on reliefs found at Sanchi and other ancient sites. （*33）
Dasyu or Dasa is a nomenclature for the aboriginal people conquered by Aryans in "Rig Veda." They were described as people with black skin and flat noses, living in forts called 'pur,' and speaking gibberish. Fergusson assumed that they were the indigenous Turanians, and it was them that much later accepted Buddhism in the earliest stage.

Since Dasyus belonged to the Turan race, they were an architectural nation. The form of Hindu temples that they built in northern India are like this soaring tower with a curvilinear outline on a square base as seen below. Non-artistic Aryans did not contribute for creating this, so the proper nomenclature for this, he wrote, would be rather 'Dasyu style' than 'Indo-Aryan Style' even if it was an unfamiliar name. （*34）

Woodcut of Kali Temple in Barakar in Dasyu style

When it comes to Fergusson's history of Indian architecture, everybody would be familiar with the 2nd edition of "Indian and Eastern" revised by James Burgess, they could be confused by this name 'Dasyu style.'
Actually, Burgess deleted this portion of description in the first edition when preparing a revised edition. Although Burgess was the successor of Fergusson and served as the second Director General of Archaeological Survey of India, advancing the study of architectural history and archaeology, he judged that Fergusson's opinion that 'Dasyu Style' was more suitable than 'Indo-Aryan Style' should be erased for the publication of the revised edition in the early part of the 20th century.

By the way, Fergusson referred to architectural styles of medieval India with racial names such as 'Indo-Aryan Style' (or 'Dasyu Style') and 'Dravidian Style,' but he could not find an appropriate ethnicity that could be applied to the style developed in the central India between them. He consequently designated it with a name of a dynasty that had thrived there in the Middle Ages, as the 'Chalukyan Style.'
Thus his way of nomenclature would be criticized later because of its inconsistency confusing the racial names and dynastic one. In addition to that, many other dynasties as well as Chalukyans also built edifices in that area Fergusson identified as the 'Chalukyan Style.'

However, Fergusson's "Indian and Eastern," which wholly systematized the architecture of India for the first time and was reinforced much by Burgess, became a monumental work in the history of studying Indian architecture, combining races, religions, and geography.
"Indian Architecture" written by a historian of art and architecture of India, Percy Brown (1872-1955) in two volumes much later has deprived Fergusson's book of the status as a textbook for students because of rich details including the outcomes of new research, but its contents are only an extension of Fergusson's system, and its classification of styles entirely follows Fergusson's, moreover, without explanation of his own 'ethnography' it is not clear why he adopted such nomenclature 66 years after Fergusson's definition.

It was an art historian from England, Ernest Binfield Havell (1861 -1934) who thoroughly criticized Fergusson's classification and nomenclature of styles. He was the same generation as Japanese philosopher, Kakuzo (Tenshin) Okakura and took a position close to Okakura's art movement in Japan, intending to reinstate traditional arts in India while being principal of Calcutta Government School of Art. That is to say a theory of unbroken continuity in Indian art, and he upbraided Fergusson, insisting it was completely absurd to emphasize differences between architectural styles based on the religions or races.

However, Havell published later in 1918 a history of India centering on art history, "The History of Aryan Rule in India" explaining that it was always Aryans and their principles that had been ruling India from ancient times up to the contemporary age. He elaborated the cultural history of India from the settlement of Indo-Aryans in India to Akbar's rule in the Mughal era from the Aryan view of history, through which he confirmed the rule of India by the English as Aryans.
It can be seen as either Havell's rivalry with Fergusson who had looked down Aryans as non-artistic nation, or as a reflection of the changing times flowing from Fergusson's naive race theory to a discriminatory race theory of the Nazis.

Fergusson was not an ethnologist. He only applied the newest ethnology and race theory at that epoch in order to give a bone structure to his study of architectural history. The style names that he gave in such a manner are seldom made formal use of in current history of Indian architecture.
But his writings' influence was so great that his nomenclature has been widely distributed in the general public in India. Owing also to P. Brown's following, even the specialists often view Indian architecture with Fergusson's old classification.