Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/264

 256 KHE believe that the length of their lives and of their reigns is granted them in recompense for their kindness to the Arabs. In truth, there are no princes more heartily affectionate to the Arabs, and their subjects profess the same friendship for us. “Before we abandon the arch of Anhalwara to time and the Guicowar we may ask,--how has this escaped the general ruin? We can find no motive but its intrinsic beauty to account for its solitary towers, with the pure Hindu kankras and embattled parapets being untouched by Hindu and Toork. I have already said that there remain only the skeleton ribs from the spring to the apex, without a particle of loading; the pilasters supporting these ribs have lost nothing of their perpendicularity, and they are as firmly rivetted to the masonry which supports them as on the day of erection. They are chaste and well proportioned to the arch, and the capitals are purely Hindu, being ornamented with chain festoons, having the vira-gantha war-bell, the most ancient and ge Tal decoration of the columnar architecture of the Jairs (of which faith were the Bal.' haras), suspended by a chain between each festoon, like the columns at Barolli. On each side and about half way up the segment of the arch is the lotus. “We proceed to the other object of interest, the pothi-bindur or library, the existence of which was totally unknown until my visit to it. It is contained in subterranean apartments in that quarter of the new town which has appropriately received the name of Anbalwara. Its position screened it from the lynx-eyed scrutiny of Alla, when he destroyed all that was destructible in this ancient abode." We learn that this race was then distinguished for its maritime enter- prise, for its architecture, for the extent of its conquests, for its humanity; that it was the patron of learned men; that commerce found protection and encouragement from its excellent organization in matters of trade, coinage, and police ; further, that its instincts were peaceful; it sought the welfare of its old subjects rather than the conquest of new lands; and to crown the glories which still glow through the past round Anhalwára and its kings, a great library was founded, and such care was taken for its preservation, with such religious devotion was it regarded by the caste to whom its peculiar care was wisely committed, that even now after the lapse of a thousand years, its treasures are found safely stored in caves beneath the earth ; they have survived alike the march of time and the attacks of the fierce barbarian Alá-ud-din Khilji, who ploughed over the prostrate city-site with asses. What are the Cháwars now? For one thousand years not a single man from their body has risen to distinction except one Rája Lone Singh, who was finally transported for life. The peasant points to no bridge or temple as proof that any single man in their many generations ever cared for the people or the country where he ruled. In fact, they pretend that an ancient sage pronounced a curse upon any of their number who should ever place two bricks together in any building or well. They are illiterate in the extreme; even family pride has not kept alive any interest in the past; not