Page:Bulandshahr- Or, Sketches of an Indian District- Social, Historical and Architectural.djvu/132

 and its external 'get up' is creditable to the Government Press of Allahabad, where it has been printed. Altogether the work is a model of what a district memoir ought to be, and Mr. Growse is to be congratulated on the success which he has achieved."—Calcutta Review.

"Mr. Growse modestly informs us, in the preface to the first edition, that this is one of the uniform series of local histories compiled by the order of the Government. It would, however, be a very fortunate Government that could obtain a series of district memoirs all prepared with the same accuracy and fulness of detail and in the same scientific spirit as this one. Mr. Growse has brought to his task an amount of general and special scholarship and of enthusiasm which few district officers possess, and he has produced a work which, take it altogether, stands without rival among local Indian histories."—Calcutta Review.

“हमने मिस्तर ग्राऊस साहब की बनाई हुई मथुरा मेमाघर (Mathurá Memoir) नाम पुस्तक जिसका द्वितीय संस्कार हो चुका है अवलोकन की ब्रज का प्राचीन और नवीन वृत्तान्स इस पुस्तक के भवलोकन से भली भांति बिदित होता है अब तक हम जिस ब्रज भूमि के प्राचीन चिन्हों को बिना समझे देख कर चले जाते थे और स्वार्धशील तीर्थबासियों से कुछ इतिहास संबन्धी पता नहीं लगता था—ब पुस्तक के अवलोकन करने से वेहो स्थान विशेष आनन्ददायक होंगे—प्रत्येक स्थान की रचना और महिमा का इबिस्तर बसान्त इस पुस्तक में मिलता हैमें ब्रज के बन बन भ्रमण करने में जो ग्रानन्द मिलता है तो इस पुस्तक के पढ़ने से प्राप्त होता है—कोई मंदिर या मूर्ति ऐसी नहीं जिसका वर्णन इस में न हो—कोई ब्रजवासी चराचर जीव ऐसा नहीं रहा जिसने उक्त पुस्तक में स्थान न पाया हो-ब्रज की प्रोति रोति का पूरा वर्णन इस में मिलता है—बहुत सी ऐसी बातें हमारी दृष्टि पड़ीं कि हमको तो क्या ब्रजवासियों को भी बिदित न होंगी बनयात्रा का प्रसंग भी बड़ी उत्तमता से वर्णन किया गया है- ब्रजमंडल में निवास करने वालों बेण्डव और इसर सम्प्रदायों का सविस्तर वर्णन इस में मिलता है—जल थल बुच बल्ली, स्वग मग, सब का बर्णन इस में है—ऐसी पुस्तक यात्रियों के लिये बड़ी लाभदायक है अब तक जितनी बनयात्रा बनी में उन से विदेशियों को कुछ लाभ नहीं होता—यदि इस पुस्तक का सार भाग भाषा में हो जावे तो बहुत बड़ा उपकार को ग्रंथकसी को हम अनेक धन्यबाद देते हैं और बाशा रखते हैं कि जिस प्रकार ब्रज को उचति में उक्त महाभय अब तक दस चित्त रहे हैं उसी प्रकार दूर या पास होने पर निरंतर कृपा दृष्टि रक्जें" ॥—Bharat Bandhu.

"A work which is remarkable, no less as a monument of sound scholarship and patient industry than as giving the fullest information respecting a comparatively unknown portion of our Oriental dependencies……as sumptuous in appearance as it is interesting in respect of its contents.

"Mr. Growse's explanation of the various systems of mythology which have prevailed in the district forms not the least valuable portion of his work to students. One notable feature is the almost entire absence of Muhammadanism among the native population, in spite of the attempts at Moslem rule made in former days; side by side with this may be noted the author's account of that strange race the Játs, as well as his history of Rájput caste generally. One section is devoted to an examination into the cultus of the deified hero Krishna, and a curious inquiry into the resemblance which has so often been noticed between the myths attaching thereto and some of the great truths of Christianity; Mr. Growse, than whom few can be better qualified to judge, is disposed to look on this as merely fortuitous. Equally worthy of note are his accounts of the annual miracle play, the great pilgrimage of which it forms a prominent feature, and the peculiar Holi festival, in connection with which may be studied the history of the intrusion of Buddhism into the province, the reform under the Vaishnava sectaries, and the modern introduction of Catholicism, in which Mr. Growse has taken no small part. All artists must approve of his plea for the adaptation of native architectural forms to the requirements of Christian worship, instead of the obtrusion of unsuitable alien styles, and the photograph of the church at Mathurá is enough to show how successfully this may be done by a competent architect. The antiquarian portion of the volume is not the least important, dealing with the discoveries, by the author and others, of sculptures, inscriptions, and so forth, invaluable alike to artist and historian. The temples at