Page:Imperial India — An Artist's Journals.djvu/196

170 brought about by the conduct of his followers in slaughtering sacred animals, it was found convenient to lodge him in an island, and the Palace of Jugmunda was built. A pleasant place this island, with a most lovely view of the blue hills and glistening towers of Oodeypore. Here is the chair of state, prepared by the care of the Rana, for the future Emperor of the hated Moslems; and here, too, is a mosque for him to worship in according to

THE ISLAND OF JUGMUNDA, FROM JUGNAWAS, OODEYPORE.

his belief. Pleasant courts and gardens there are, with rich decorations, and some of the best figure work I have seen in India. Alas! the floods two years ago have destroyed much that was good, as in the neighbouring island of Jugnawas, and the gardens have not yet recovered their pristine splendour.

It was reserved for the Rana to hail Shah Jehan Emperor of Hindostan, and he was crowned in the palace hard by. Emperor and Rana, in sign of brotherly affection, changed pugrees, and Shah Jehan's is still to be seen in the treasury of Oodeypore; while on the island is still kept trimmed the light that burnt before the shrine at which he worshipped; a curious instance of the tolerance of the Hindoo. Fancy a Moslem doing the same for anybody else's gods!

On the afternoon of the 18th I drove to the Gungore ghât, where we have usually taken boat for our excursions on the lake. I found the streets full of people, mostly women, who squatted close together on parapet, corner, and housetop, in many-coloured