Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/347

 Oct. 4, 1872.]

313

SKETCHES OF MATHURA.

Is not certainly known. He was succeeded by his brother Ranjit Siâh ; but the whole country had been so thoroughly subjugated, that the ti

banter appropriate to the occasion. At the other mouth of the pass is a deep dell between the two high peaks of the Mán-Mandir and the

It was

Mor-Kutti with a masonry tank in the centre of

only at the intercession of Sūraj Mal's widow, the Râni Kishori, that the conqueror allowed the new Rájá to retain the Fort of Bharatpur with an extent of territory yielding an annual income

a dense thicket called the Gahrwarban : and a

tle was at first merely a barren honour.

of nine lakhs.

Barsána never recovered from

this blow, and in 1812 sustained a further mis

fortune, when the Gaurna Thákurs, its Zamin dārs, being in circumstances of difficulty, and probably distrustful of the stability of British rule, then only recently established, were mad enough to transfer their whole estate to the oft quoted Lālā Bābū for the paltry sum of Rs. 602

principal feature in the diversions of the day is the scrambling of sweetmeats by the better class of visitors, seated on the terraces of the Peacock

Pavilion above, among the multitudes that throng the margin of the tank some 150 feet below.

The essentially Hindi form of the title Lárli,

parish now yields Government an annual rental

equivalent to the Sanskrit Lalitá, may be taken as an indication of the modern growth of the local cultus. Even in the Brahma Vaivarta, the last of the Puránas, and the one specially devoted to Rádhá's praises, there is no authority for any such appellation, though it gives a pro fessedly exhaustive list of her titles, which are

of Rs. 3109, and the absentee landlords about

16 in number and as follows:–

and the condition of holding land on rather more favourable terms than other tenants.

The

as much, while it receives nothing from them in return, though their donations for charitable pur poses in the neighbourhood of their own home in Bengal are often on a magnificent scale. Thus the appearance now presented by Barsána is a most forlorn and melancholy one. The hill is still to a limited extent known as

Brahmaká-pahár or Brahma's hill: and hence it may be inferred with certainty that Barsána is a corruption of the Sanskrit compound Brahma sånu, which bears the same meaning. Its four prominent peaks are regarded as emblematic of the four-faced divinity and are each crowned with some building ; the first with the group of tem

Rádhá, Răsesvari, Räsäväsini, Ránkeśvari, Krishna-pánádhikā, Krishna-priyá, Krishna svarápini,

Krishná, Vrindé-vani, Vrindé, Vrindavana inodini,

Chandrávati, Chandra-Kántá, Sata-chandra nibhánana,

Krishna-vámánga-sambhūtá,

Paramānanda

rúpini.

ples dedicated to Lárli Ji, the other three

N a n d-g, ğ n w, as the reputed home of Krish ná's foster-father, with its spacious temple of Nand Ráe Ji on the brow of the hill overlooking the village, is in all respects an exact parallel to Barsána. The distance between the two places is only 5 miles, and when the makóra is beaten at

with smaller edifices, known respectively as the Mán-Mandir, the Dán-garh and the Mor–Kutti.

ple of Nand Ráe, though large, is in a clumsy

A second hill of less extent and elevation com

pletes the amphitheatre in which the town is set, and the space between the two ranges gradually contracts to a narrow path which barely allows

a single traveller on foot to pass between the shelving crags that tower above him on either side. This pass is famous as the Sánkari-khor, literally “the narrow opening” and is the scene of a mela in the month of Bhádon, often attend

the one, it can be heard at the other.

The tem

style of architecture and apparently dates only from the middle of last century. Its founder is said to have been one Rup Síňh, a Sinsinwär Ját. It consists of an open nave, with choir and sac

rarium beyond, the latter being flanked on either side by a Rasoi and a Sej-mahall, and has two towers, or sikharas. It stands in the centre of a paved court-yard, surrounded by a lofty wall with corner kiosks, which command a very

ed by as many as 10,000 people. The crowds

extensive view of the Bharatpur hills and the

divide according to their sex, and cluster about

level expanse of the Mathurá district as far as Gobardhan. The village which clusters at the

the rocks round two little shrines erected on

either side of the ravine for the temporary recep

foot and on the slope of the rock is for the most

tion of figures of Rádhá and Krishna, and in dulge to their heart's content in all the licentious

part of a mean description, but contains a few handsome houses, more especially one erected by


 * A similar use of the local form Khor, for Khol, may be

Chintá-Khori Kund, corresponding to the more common Sanskrit compound Chinta-harana.

observed in the village of Khaira, where is a pond called