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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

Again, Tāl-b an is described (canto 70) as lying north of Gob a r d h an:— Go v ar dd h an asyottarato Yamunā-tiramasri

[May 3, 1872.

commemoration of Balarāma's victory over the demon D he nuk, who, as described in the

tam

Puránas, attacked the two boys in the form of an ass, as they were shaking down the fruit from

Dadrišāte tato virau ramyam Tala-vanam mahat.

the palm trees.

In the Bhāgavat it is said to be close to Brind a-b an ; while in fact it is south-east

proximity to each other, the one at Un cha

of Gob a r dh an and, with the city of Ma

g aſ w, the other at B a ti, a contraction for

thur à, half-way between it and Brin dà-b a n.

So also B h a n dir-b a n is represented as being

Bahu la-v at i. The former has no special legend attaching to it, and the latter is only

on the same side of the river as the Kāli

said to have been the

mar dan Gh āt, being in reality nearly oppo

counter between a cow and a lion, in which the

site to it.

cow came off victorious. There is a pond call ed Krish n a-kun d, with a temple dedicated

But to return from this digression; it is clear on etymological no less than topographical con siderations

that Math ur à

and Madhu

puri were always distinct places; for M a holi, the traditional site of the Madhu-v a na, is simply the Prakrit corruption of the Sanskrit Mad hu-puri.

By Vararuchi, II. 27. h is

substituted for dh, (as bahira for badhira, ‘deaf") which gives us Mah up uri; and by Sūtra II. 2, the p of puri is elided (the initial letter of the last member of a compound being con

sidered non-initial for the purposes of the rule), and thus we get Mahuri, easily convertible into M. a holi.

Some faint

reminiscences

of its

ancient importance would seem to have long sur vived; for though so close to M at hur à, it was in Akbar's time and subsequently for many years the head of a local division.

By the sacred

wood is a pond called Madhu-kun d, and a temple dedicated to Krish n a under his title of Ch a tur - bhuj, where a mela is held on the 11th of the dark fortnight of Bhādon. T âl-b a n is about 6 miles from Mathur à on

the road to B h a rat pur. The village in which it is situate is called Târs i, probably in allusion to the ancient-wood, though locally it is referred only to the name of the founder, one Tārā-chand, a Kachhwāhā Thakur, who, in quite modern times, moved to it from S a to ha,” a place a few miles off. The annual mela is held on the 11th of the light fortnight of Bhādon, in
 * At

S a to ha

is a sacred

tank called

Kumud-ban and Bahula-ban are in close

scene of

a

terrific

en

to Bahulā Gäe on its margin. Käm-b a n is by the town of Kām a, the head of a Tahsili in the Bharatpur territory, 39 miles from Mathurā. K had i r a-b a n is some 4 or 5 miles from

Chh at à, immediately outside the village of Khaira, which derives its name from it ; the letter d, when simple and non-initial, being elided in accordance with Vararuchi's rule (II. 2,) as for examplet ber for badara, the Zizyphus jujuba. The wood is at present of small extent, and consists of kadamb, pilu and chhonkar trees with

out a single specimen of the khadira, i.e., the acacia. Hence probably the popular misconcep tion of the name, which is unusually spelt Khidr, and derived from the Hindi root khedni.

Ad

joining it is a large pond called Krish an Kun d, with a temple of Baldeva, and in the village another temple dedicated to Gopinath, said to have been founded by the famous Todar Mal of Akbar's reign. Bh a drab an occupies a high point on the left bank of the Jamunā, some 3 miles above Māt. With the usual fate of Hindi words under the present Muhammadanizing regime, it is transformed in the official map of the district into Bahádur-ban.

It is the traditional scene of the Dāvānala, or forest conflagration, which Krishna is described

in the Bhāgavat as miraculously extinguishing. The neighbouring village is called B had a ma, i. e. Bhadra-pura. Close by, in the hamlet of

S fin tan

Here it is incumbent upon the female devotees, who would

kun d, after king Såntanu, who, it is said, for many years practised the severest, religious austerities here in the hope of obtaining a son. His wishes were at last gratified by a union with the goddess Gangă, who bore him hishma, one of the famous heroes of the Mahābhārat. Every Sunday

have their prayers effectual, to make some offering to the shrine, and inscribe on the ground or wall the mystic device

the tank is frequented by women who are desirous of issue, and a large mela is held there on the 6th of the light fort

of the Sathia.

Raja Santanu is mentioned in several of the

Purānas as the father of Bhishma by the river Gangă, and his name also occurs in the Nirukta ; but the legend there related of him has nothing to do with his desire of progeny.

The local superstition has probably arisen from a confusion

night of Bhādon. The tank, which is of very considerable

of the king's name Santanu with the Sanskrit word for

dimensions, was faced all round with stone, early last cen

‘children,' santina. Satoha is absurdly supposed on the spot to be derived from Sattu, as that was the royal ascetic's only diet; it is really a corruption of Santanu.

tury, by Sawai Jay Sinh of Amber, but is now somewhat dilapidated. In its centre is a high hill, connected with the mainland by a bridge. The sides of the island are

t This illustration has not the

authority of Vararuchi,

covered with fine ritha trees, and on the summit, which is

who most unnecessarily, as it would seem, invents a special

approached by a flight of 50 stone steps, is a small temple.

rule to explain the formation of be r from b a da ra.