Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/119

 MARCH 1, 1872.]

THE SEA OF MEWAR.

he makes 913 of the Samvat of Vikramāditya. The date is probably either the 1st or 11th of the reign of Shrimat Mahipála Deva of Bengal. We hope the examples of Mr. Broadley and the late Mr.

95

Boswell of the Madras Civil Service will be followed

by many others, each in his own province adding somthing to our knowledge of the antiquities of the country.

MISCELLANEA. THE SEA OF MEWAR.

the designer. The enormous proportions of the grand IT is not often that a white face is seen on the band at

Debar, albeit that marble structure possesses no equal, as historians say. The main road through Mewar leads not past Debar, hence the limited number who see those fine piazzas in which the breezes revel, or those placid bays in which sport fish of no great flavour but of enormous size, and alligators said to be possessed of an unbounded stomach. Travellers wishing to visit the Debar Lake must

leave the Ahmadabad and Udepur road at Prasād, a small pal, or village, some twenty miles from Khédwada. From Prasād to Debar the way is rough, but on every hand beautiful jungle and beautiful birds fascinate the eye of the artist and the sportsman. A long and narrow nal, or pass, winds round the foot of the great hill at Prasād, one of the stations of the Trigonometrical Survey of India. Then theroad opens out to the plain of Chapan, the South-West Province of Mewar. Chaond, the principal village, is reached at about an hour and a half from Prasād.

Chaond is

perhaps hardly worthy of being remembered, except for the circumstance that it at one time afforded re

fuge to the great Pratāp, the patriot Rână of Udepur. At Chaond he lived, after having been driven from the hill fort of Komalmer, by the treachery of the Thakur of Mount Abu. At Chaond, Pratāp cut in pieces the army of Khan Ferid, the trusted general of Akbar, rolling back the tide of invasion towards the plains, and proving to the great Emperor of Dihli that some valour yet remained in the hills of the Rajput. The ruins of an old palace and fort rise from a ridge a short distance from the village, and here and there stands a fine chabutra, or temple, to shew that a large population once occupied the place. Ten or twelve miles from Chaond, towards the north west, is the Debar Lake. A few ruined houses, palaces, and temples beyond the village of Jharol are first noticeable, and then the fine palace overlook ing Debar itself rivets the eye. The whole of the northern side of the plain is bounded by an immense rocky natural wall; towards the east end alone can you descry a break. Across this, a massive barrier of stone has been thrown to keep the waters of the Lake within the bounds prescribed for them by the machi nations of man and nature combined. A great pool always existed towards the North : its waters escaped by a large and noble stream through the “fault” in the range. Jesingh, the ruler of Mewar, about the year 1681, when all his resources were taxed to the utmost, and while Aurangzeb pressed him hard, still found means of executing this splendid work. The name “Jaya-Samudra,” or “Sea of Victory,” which he gave to the former pool of Debar, served a double purpose : it served alike to celebrate the

triumph over the forces of nature, and to immortalize

wall strike the observer with wonder and admiration.

The outer embankment, 350 paces in length, and some

sixty or seventy feet in height, rises abruptly from the plain. A road cut on the left side of the hill leads to the top. Massive stones, one piled above the other, form the wall ; yet time has not been idle. It is a long pull to the top of the inner band. But, once you are there, a view opens out before you which well rewards your toil. You stand upon a magnificent rampart : below you, steps stretch away to the water's edge : right and left, are rugged hills, crowned with ruined forts and palaces ; and far away before you, stretches the lake until it touches the outlying spurs of the mighty Aravalis. Islands and hills covered with verdure, sweet bays silent beneath the glori ous sky, marble temples, piazzas, and terraces on the band itself, with the water dashing underneath— where could you look for a more lovely scene " Yet how seldom has an English eye gazed upon it! Thirty seven steps, by three flights, descend to the water. Piazzas of marble stand at each end of the bund, their roofs supported by thirty-two columns. In the space between the two, rises a splendidly carved quadrangular temple ; the building has never been completed, yet it is magnificent even now. Eight small chabutras, once surmounted by domes, fill up the intervening paces, each of these buildings standing upon the uppermost of a tier of platforms. Elephants rise up near the piazzas ; their mouths are some twelve or fifteen feet above the level of the water.

The natives

say that when the water in the lake rises so far as to lave these elephants' tusks, an opening in the hills allows the overplus to escape towards the east, upon the plains beneath. In ordinary seasons the rainfall would appear to be some five or six feet below the greatest capacity of the lake. The numerous platforms on the band have carved upon them, in bas relief, figures of elephants vanquishing wild beasts; and all around lie loosened stones upon which the images of the gods, in good condition, are engraved. Every stone in the band bears upon it the name of the master mason. In a niche below the great temple is beautifully represented Narayana, or Vishnu, resting on Shesha; the god Brahma springing from a lotus, which rises from his navel, whilst Lakshmi is seated at his feet. It is as though Jesinha had said

—“By the power of the gods this great work has been accomplished ; by Vishnu the Preserver, and it shall remain.” Yet, alas ! as remarked above,

neglect bids fair to destroy the noble structure ; mas sive stones have been forced from their places by the roots of the numerous trees and shrubs which spring from every crevice on the steps. The tiger, the pan ther, and the boar haunt the gardens and palaces of the Lion of Victory, whilst the very lake itself seems