The Mûti Masjid.

The road to the left after passing the Elephant Gate leads up to the
entrance of the Mûti Masjid, or "Pearl Mosque," placed on the highest
point of the Fort enclosure. [6] You pass on the left a building
known as Dansa Jât's house, said to have been occupied by the Rajahs
of Bharatpur when the Jâts held the Fort. It has been made hideous
by modern additions which have converted it into officers' quarters.

The entrance to the Mûti Masjid is very plain and unpretending, so
that one is hardly prepared for the beauty, purity, and the unaffected
expression of an exalted religious feeling which characterize the
interior. It is rare to find an Indian building in which the effect
is produced with hardly any ornament, but solely by the perfection
of proportions, beauty of material, and harmony of constructive
design. The courtyard, in front of the mosque, with its arcades
and gateways, is a noble setting to the Pearl, as the mosque is
appropriately called. There is a subtle rhythm in the placing of the
three domes over the seven arches of the mosque, which saves the whole
design from monotony, while the marvellous grace of the contours,
which is so characteristic of the finest of Shah Jahan's buildings,
makes each dome grow up from the roof like a flower-bud on the point of
unfolding. The octagonal pavilions at the four corners of the mosque,
and the dainty little kiosques placed as decoration over the arches
and over the gateways of the courtyard, echo the harmonies of the
larger constructive details, and give completeness to the composition.

The interior of the mosque owes its dignity to the same greatness of
style and perfection of the proportions. The three aisles are formed
by massive piers of single blocks of marble. With all its simplicity,