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MATHURA:

District ^^emoir

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F. S. GROWSE, M.A., |

BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE. j_

I^^-A-I^T I.

1874=.

PRINTED AT THE KOETH-WESTEBN PBOTIXCES' GOVERKMEMT PRISS.

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MATHURA:

DISTRICT 3TEMOIR

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RT BY

F. S, GROWSE, M.A.,

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JT BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE.

18 74=.

PEINXED AT THE NORTH-WESXEEN PROVINCES' GOVERNMENT PRESS.

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PREFACE.

As this Memoir will form one of the uniform series of local histo-
ries compiled by order of the Government, it requires no special
introduction beyond a few words explanatory of those points in
which my mode of treatment may be thought somewhat excep-
tional. Being intended mainly as a book of reference for the use
of district officers — a class including men of the most diverse tastes
and acquirements — it dwells — more especially in Part II. — upon
many topics which the general reader will condemn as trivial and
uninteresting ; while in the earlier chapters my explanations are
more detailed and minute than the professed student of history
and archaeology will probably deem at all necessary. But a local
memoir can never be a severely artistic performance. On a small
scale it resembles a dictionary or encyclopaedia, and must, if com-
plete, be composed of very heterogeneous materials, out of which
those who have occasion to consult it must select what they
require for their own purposes, without concluding that whatever
is superfluous for them is equally fomiliar or distasteful to other
people.

As good libraries of standard works of reference are scarcely
to be found anywhere in India out of the presidency towns, I
have invariably given in full the very words of my authorities,
both ancient and modern. And if I have occasion to mention
any historical character — though he may have achieved somewhat
more than a mere local re]nitation — I still narrate succinctly all the
material facts of his life rather than take them for granted as
already known. Thus, before quoting the Chinese Pilgrims, I ex-
plain under what circumstances they wrote; and when describing
the Mathurd, Observatory, I introduce an account of the famous
royal astronomer by whom it was constructed. Hence my pages

U PBEFAOE.

are not unfrequently overcrowded with names and dates, which
must give them rather a repellent appearance ; but I shall be com-
pensated for this reproach if residents on the spot find in them an
answer to all enquiries without occasion to consult other authori-
ties, which, though possibly far from obscure, may still under the
circumstances be difficult to obtain.

1 dwell at considerable length on the legends connected with
the deified Krishna, the tutelary divinity of the district : because,
however puerile and comparatively modern many of them may
be, they have materially afiected the whole course of local his-
tory, and are still household words to which allusion is constantly
made in conversation either to animate a description or enforce
an argument. The great years of famine and the mutiny of 1857,
though calamities which were much more lightly felt in this
neighbourhood than in many other parts of India, yet form the
eras by which the date of all domestic occurrences is ordinarily
calculated, and have therefore been duly noticed. But there has
been no need to enter much into general history, for Mathurd
has never been a political centre except during the short period
when it formed the theatre for the display of the ambitious pro-
jects of Siiraj Mall and his immediate successors on the throne
of Bharat-pur. All its special interest is derived from its reli-
gious associations in connection with the Vaishnava sects — far
out-numbering all other Hindu divisions — of whom some took birth
here. All regard it as their Holy Land. Thus, the space devoted
to the consideration of the doctrines which they profess and
the observances which they practise could scarcely be curtailed
without impairing the fidelity of the sketch by suppression of the
appropriate local colouring. It may also be desirable to explain
that the long extracts of Hindi poetry from local writers of the
last two centuries have been inserted, not only as apropos of the
subjects to which they refer, but also as affording the most un-
mistakeable proofs of what the language of the country really is.
No such specimens could be given of indigenous Urdu literature,
simply because it is non-existent, and is as foreign to the people
at large as English.

PREFACE. iii

So much irreparable damage has been done in past years from
simple ignorance as to the value of ancient architectural remains,
that I have been careful to describe in full every building in the
district which possesses the slightest historical or artistic interest.
I have also given a complete resume of all the results hitherto
obtained in archaeological research among the relics of an earlier
age. On both these heads my special thanks are due to the
Government for supplying me with funds for excavations, and in
supporting the claim which I put forward on behalf of the pre-
servation of the famous temple at Brindd-ban. The identifica-
tion which I have been able to establish between Maha-ban and
the Clisobora of Ptolemy and Arrian, and between Malioli and the
Madhu-puri of the Sanskrit chronicles — the most ancient capital
of the kingdom of Mathm*d — are definite contributions to Indian
archaeology, which I believe will be universally accepted as of some
slight but permanent value.

Besides noting the characteristics of peculiar castes, 1 have
given an account of the origin and present status of all the prin-
cipal residents in the district, mentioning every particular of any
interest connected with their family history or personal qualifica-
tions. Only a few such persons of special repute will be found
included in Part I. ; the remainder have been relegated to the more
strictly topographical sequel, where they are noticed in connection
with their estates. Upon purely agricultural statistics I touch
very briefly, thinking that such matters will be more ably dis-
cussed by the officer in charge of the settlement operations now
in progress. At their close, should a second edition of this Memoir
be required, it will be greatly enhanced in value by the incorpo-
ration of his report with my village lists.

It is hoped that these lists will prove usefid to district officials.
No one who has not had experience in matters of the kind can
form any idea of the labour and vexation involved in the prepara-
tion for the first time of such tables, when the materials on which
they are based consist exclusively of manuscripts written in the
Persian character. An attempt to secure accuracy induces a feel-
ing of absolute despair, for the names of the places and people

^ 1M

IV PREFACE.

mentioned can only be verified on the spot, inasmuch as they are
too obscure to be tested by reference to other authorities, and the
words as written, if not absolutely illegible, can be read at least
three or four different ways. The Qotes by which the lists are
accompanied furnish incidentally many illustrations to a ques-
tion which now more than any other is occupying the minds
of Indian statesmen. In 1857, Avhen all settled government was
in abeyance, a mutinous army marched through the entire
length of one division of the district ; but was regarded only with
aversion and dismay by all the people of the country, except-
ing one class. These were the victims of our revenue laws
and civil courts, who seized the opportunity of turning upon
the usurer by whom they had been ejected from their ances-
tral estates, and, whenever he was found rash enough to be
living among the people he had aggrieved, of putting him to
death, occasionally under circumstances of some atrocity, together
with the Patwdri, or village accountant, whom they regarded as
the instrument of his oppression and the official custodian of the
documents that recorded their degradation. To re-attach the
loyalty of so influential a class would be a supreme effort of legisla-
tion : nor need the remedy for the ill be a very drastic one. To
restore them in their old proprietary rights is an impossibility; but
to concede a few slight privileges, and (in accord with national sen-
timent) to recognise them as a class of higher social status than the
mere village serfs with whom in the eyes of the law they have been
assimilated, would go far to obliterate their animosity to existing
iustitutions. Either from mere reckless improvidence, or from
the impoverished condition of the laud — the result of over-assess-
u^ent — at the time of the forced sale, or in somewhat earlier days
from a distrust in the stability of British rule, and a belief that
they would soon in some political convulsion be able to recover
all that they had lost, — from these and other similar causes, the
price that they accepted from the in-coming landlord was so
utterly incommensurate with the value of the purchase, that the
slio'ht interference with the rights of property involved in the
subsequent creation of a privileged class of tenants could only

PREFACE. 1

be regarded as tbe recognitioii of a most just and equitable
claim.

The notes will be seen to vary greatly in point of fullness,
according to the situation of the pargana to which they refer. Of
the western half of the district I have been able to acquire a
thorough personal knowledge. But on the other side of the
Jamund, to the east of the town of Baladeva, I have spent only
two months of one cold season. My acquaintance, therefore, with
the whole of S'adabad and Jalesar and half of Mahd-ban is very
superficial, almost confined to the principal roads and towns, and
has been very scantily supplemented by the resident subordinate
officials.

The population returns show clearly the relative size of the
different villages, and may be accepted as close approximations
to the absolute truth. On the night of the Census no pains were
spared to ensure accuracy in the enumeration, and I fully believe
that success was attained. Whatever errors may exist are due
to other causes, for, what with illegible writing to begin with,
and a great number of subsequent erasures and insertions, it be-
came a matter of exceeding difficulty to add up the totals cor-
rectly ; the combination of correctness with rapidity may have
been unattainable.

After the final orders on the subject of transliteration issued
by the Supreme Government, the system which I have adopted
scarcely stands in need either of explanation or defence. I have,
however, been more consistent than is prescribed of necessity, in
the belief that compromise is always an evil, and in this matter
is exceptionally so, for with a definite orthography there is no
reason w^iatever w^hy in the course of two or three generations
the immense diversity of Indian alphabets, which at present form
such an obstacle to literary intercourse and intellectual progress,
should not all be abolished and the Roman character substituted
in their stead.

As to the word ' Mathura' itself: the place has had an histo-
rical existence for more than 2,000 years, and may reasonably
denuir to appearing in its old age under such a vulgar and ofi^en-
sive form as ' Muttra,' which represents neither the correct pro-

VI PREFACE.

nunciatioii nor tlie etymology. Though it has been visited by
Europeans of many different nationalities, it was never so muti-
lated till it fell into the hands of the English, now seventy years
ago ; and even the Chinese, with a language that renders trans-
literation all but impossible, represent it, more correctly than we
have hitherto done, under the form Mothulo. But this is a suliject
upon which, as my own personal views are not in accord with
those of the Local Government, it would be out of place for me
here to enlarge.

Camp, Kabahai: | p g^ GROWSE.

JSovemher 22nd, 1873. J

RULES FOR INDIAN PRONUNCIATION.

a unaccented is like

a accented is like

€ is always long, like ...

i unaccented is like

i accented is like

It unaccented is like

ti accented is like

o is always long, like ...

ai is like

au is like
The consonants are pronounced as in English
in father ; g is always hard, as in gag ; y is ahvays a consonant, and c, q, and x
are not used at all. The fixed sound of each letter never varies ; and it is,
therefore impossible for any person of the most ordiuaiy intelligence to hesi-
tate for a moment as to the correct way of pronouncing a word the first time he
sees it. Without the slightest knowledge of the language he may read a page
of a Sanskrit or Hindustaui book to an Indian audieuco, and be perfectly iu-
tellio-ible, if ho will only take the trouble to reuicuiber the few simple rules
given above.

in India.

„ hath.

„ fete.

„ India.

„ Mile.

„ put.

,, rural.

„ oval.

„ aisle.

,, cloud.

as in boot-hool; never as

CONTENTS,

PART I.

Chapter. Pagb.
I.— General description of the district ; its earlier extent and divisions ; character of
tiie people and their language ; notices of peculiar castes and leading fami-
lies ; agricultural classification of land ; canals ; years of famine ; Delhi road

and its saraes ... ... ... ... ... ... 1

A^o^e on CAap?er /.—Specimens of the Byom Sar and Suni Sar ... ... 19

II.— The Jats of Bharat-pur and Sahar ... ... ... ... 21

III,— The story of Krishna, the tutelary divinity of Mathura ... ... SO

Note on Chapter 111. — Krishna's genealogy ... ... ... 45

IV. — The Braj-mandal and the Ban-jatra ... ... ... ... 47

v.-— The city of Mathura ; its history ... ... ... ,., 61

VL— The city of Mathura ; its archasology and topography ... ,„ ... 72

Supplement to Chapter VI. — Buddhist sites ... ... ... ... 104

Notes to Chapter VI. — 1. Governors of Mathura in the seventeenth century ... 106

2. City quarters of Mathura ... ... ,„ 107

3. Principal buildings in the city of Mathura ,., 108

4. Mathura calendar ... .. ... 110

5. Wealthy residents in the city of Mathura ... 112
VII.— Brind4-han and the Vaishnava reformers ... ... ... ... 113

Notes to Chapter VII.— I. Brinda-ban calendar ... ... ... 140

2. Brinda-ban Ghats .. ... ... 143

3. City quarters of Brinda-ban ... ... ib.

4. The Laid Bftbu's Mathura estate ... ... 144

6. Inscriptions at the temple of Gobind Deva ... 145

Vin.— Maha-ban ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 147

Gokul and the Gokulastha Qosains ... ... ... ,., 153

Baladeva ... ,„ ... ... ,.. ,,, ,„ 161

Notes to Chapter VIII.— I. Catalogue of Vallahhacharya literature ... 164

2. Specimen of the Chaurasi Varta ... ... ib.

IX.— The three hill places of Mathura :

Gobardhan ... ... ... ,„ ... ... ,„ 168

Barsana ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 177

Nandganw ... ... ... ... ... ... ,., 180

List of iLLUsxRATioifs.

Map of the district ... ... ... ... ... ,„ 1

Environs of the city of Mathura ... ... ,„ ... ... 72

Plan of temple of Gobind Deva at Brinda-baa ... ... ... ... 134

Ditto of Madan Mohan ditto ... ... ,„ ... 127

Ditto of Rang Ji ditto ... ,., ... ... 135

Ditto of Radha Gopal ditto ... ... ,„ ... 138

Ditto of Hari Deva at Gobardhan ... ... ... ..♦ 172

M ATHUE A

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE DISTRICT; ITS EARLIER EXTENT AND DIVISIONS;
CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE, AND THEIR LANGUAGE ; NOTICES OF PECULIAR
CASTES AND LEADING FABIILIES ; AGRICULTURAL CLASSIFICATION OF LAND ;
CANALS; YEARS OF FAMINE; DELHI ROAD, AND ITS SARAES.

The district of Mathimi is in its form the result of jiolitical exigencies, and
consists of two tracts of country which have little or nothing in common
beyond the name which unites them. The outline is that of a carjDenter's square,
of which the two parallelograms are nearly equal in extent ; the upper one lying
due north and south, and the other, at right angles to it, stretching eastward
below. The capital of the local administration is situated near the interior angle
of junction, and is therefore more accessible from the contiguous district of
Aligarh and the independent State of Bharat-pur than from the greater part
of its own territory. Yet the position is the most central that could be deter-
mined in an area of such eccentric outline. It has, however, long been in con-
templation to cut off the whole of the Jalesar Pargana ; and if this were done,
and part of Mursnn and Hathras annexed in its stead, unquestionable advantage
would result, and the district "v^'ould be made much more compact and manage-
able. But if any change is made, it is more probable that the new territory will
be detached from Giirgjxnw ; an increment which will leave the district nearly
as straggling as ever and only transfer the inconvenience from one point of the
compass to another.

The eastern parallelogram, which as yet comprises the parganas of Jalesar,
Sa'dabad, and half of Mahaban, is some 42 miles long with an average breadth
of 16 miles. It is a fair specimen of the ordinary character of the Doab, and is
abundantly watered, mainly by wells and rivers, but also to some extent by the
Ganges Canal, and is carefully crdtivated. Its luxuriant crops and fine or-
chards indicate the fertility of the soil and render the landscape not unpleas-
ing to the eye ; but though far the most valuable part of the district for the pur-
poses of the farmer and the economist, it possesses few historical associations
to detain the antiquary. On the other hand, the western parallelogram, though
comparatively poor in natural products, is rich in mythological legend, and con-
tains a series of the masterpieces of modern Hindu architecture. Its still
greater wealth in earlier times is attested by the extraordinary merit of the few

2 EARLIER EXTENT OF THE DISTRICT.

specimens which have survived the torrent of Muhammadan barbarism and the
more slowly corroding lapse of time.

Yet, widely as the two traots of country differ in character, there is reason
to believe that their first union dates from a very early period. Thus, Vaniha
Mihira, writing in the latter half of the fifth centuiy of the Christian era, seems
to speak of Mathura as consisting at that time also of two very dissimilar por-
tions. For, in the 16th section of the Brihat Sanhita, he includes its eastern
half, with all river lands (such as is the Doab) under the protection of the planet
Budha, that is, Mercury ; and the western half, with the Bharatas and Purohits
and other managers of religious ceremonies (classes which still to the present
day form the mass of the population of Western Mathura, and more particularly
so if the Bharatas are taken to mean the Bharat-pur Jats) under the tutelage of
Jiva, that is, Jupiter. The Chinese pilgrim, Hwen Thsang, may also be adduced
as a -witness to the same effect. He visited India in the seventh century after
Christ, and describes the circumference of the kingdom of Mathura as 5,000 li,
i. e., 950 miles, taking the Chinese li as almost one-fifth of an English mile. Tlic
soil, he says, is rich and fertile and specially adapted to the cultivation of grain and
cotton; while the mango trees are so abundant that they form complete forests —
the fruit being of two varieties, a smaller kind, which turns yellow as it ripens,
and a larger, which remains always green. From this description it would ai>-
pear that the then kingdom of Mathura extended east of the capital along the
Doab in the direction of Mainpuri ; for there the mango flounshes most luxuri-
antly and almost every village boasts a fine grove ; whereas in Western Mathura
it will scarcely grow at all except under the most careful treatment. In support
of this inference it may be obseiwed that, notwithstanding the number of monas-
teries and stupas mentioned by the Buddhist pilgrims as existing in the kingdom
of Mathura., few ti-aces of any such buildings have been discovered in the modern
district, except in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital In Mainpun,
Oil the contrary, and more especially on the side where it touches Mathura, frag-
ments of Buddhist sculpture may be seen lying in heaps in almost every village.
In all probability the territory of Mathura, at the time of Hwen Thsang's visit,
included not only the eastern half of the modern district but also some small
});irt of Agra and the whole of the Shikohabud and Mustafabad Parganas of
IMuinpuri ; while the remainder of the present Mainpuri District fonned a por-
tion of the kingdom of Sankasya, which extended to the borders of Kanauj.
But all local recollection of this exceptional period has absolutely perished, and
the nmtilated effigies of Buddlia and Maya are replaced on their pedestals and
adored as Brahma and Devi by the ignorant villagers, whose forefathers, after
long struggles, had triumphed in their overthrow.

The modern district is one of the five which together make up the Agra
Division of the North-West Provinces. It has au area of 1,031,5 G2 acres, and

EARLIER DIVISIONS OF THE DISTRICT. ?,

is svilxlivided into seven parganas, co-extensive with as many talisils ; viz., on the
rio^ht bank of the Jamuna, Kosi, Chhata, and Mathura ; on the left, Mat cnm
Noh-jhil, Mahaban, Sa'dabad, and Jalesar. Its present existence dates only
from the year 1 832, when it was formed out of parts of the old Agra and Sa'da-
bad Districts. In Akbar's time, it came under three different Sarkars, or divi-
sions, viz., Agra, Sahar, and Kol. Tlie Agra Sarkar comprised 33 mahals, five of
them being Mathura, Maholi, Mangotla, Mahaban, and Jalesar. Of these, Ma-
holi (the Madhupuri of Sanskrit litei'ature) is now quite an insignificant vil-
lage and is only some four miles distant from Mathura ; while Mangotla, or Ma-
gora, has disappeared altogether from the revenue roll, ha^dng been divided, into
four pattis, which are now accounted so many distinct villages. In the first
years of Biitish administration it was included in the newly formed pargana of
Aring, which has quite recently been again made one with Mathui'a. Mahaban,
in Akbar's time, included some ten villages of the present Sa'dabad Pargana
and the whole of Mat ; while Noh-jhil was then the centre of Pargana Noh^
of Sarkar Kol. Tlie Sa dal^ad Pargana was not formed till the reign of Shah-
jalian, when his famous minister, Sa'dullah Khan, founded the tOAvn which still
bears his name and subordinated to it all the surrounding country, including part
of Khandauli, now in Agra. Jalesar extended beyond the modern Aligarh bor-
der, over a considerable part of Hathras and Mursan.

Tne Sahar Sarkar consisted of seven mahals, or pai'ganas, and included the
territory of Bharat-pur. Its home pargana comprised a large portion of the
modem Mathura District, extending from Kosi and Shergarh on the north to
x\ring on the south. It was not till after the dissolution of the Muhammadan
power that Kosi was formed by the Jats into a separate pai'gana; as also was
the case with Shahpur, near the Gurgdnw border, which is now merged again
in Kosi. About the same unsettled period a separate pargana was formed of Go-
bardhan. Subsequently, Sahar dropped oitt of the list of Sarkars altogether ;
great part of it, including its principal to%vn, was subject to Bharat-piu-, while
the remainder came rmder the head of Mathura, then called Islampur, or Islam-
abad. Since the mutiny, Sahar has ceased to give a name even to a pargana ;
as the head-quarters of the tahsildar were at that time removed, for greater
safety, to the large fort-like sarae at Chhata.

In 1871-72, the niunber of persons taxed in the district as ha^nng an annual
income of Es. 500 and upwards was 2,846 ; the total of their incomes amounted
to Bs. 36,56,394-10, and yielded a tax of Rs. 1,13,920-12-10. The total popu-
lation, according to the census of the same year was 892,542, making Mathura
seventeenth in the list of 35 districts which compose the North-West Pro\-inccs.

^ There is another large town, bearing the same strange name of Noh, at no great distance,
but Tvest of the Jamuna, in the district of Gurgaow. It is specially noted for its extensive salt-
workB.

4: LOCAL DIALECT.

Tlie vast majority, viz., 810,870, were Hindus, 75,G49 Muhammadans, and
the small remainder of 23 Christians. The Muhammadans are insigniticant,
not only numerically, but also from their social position ; a large proportion
of them are the descendants of converts made by force of the sword in earlier
days and are distinguished by the title of Malakana. In Western Mathura they
nowhere form a considerable community, except at Shahpur, where they are
the zamindars, and constitute nearly a half of the inhabitants of the town, and
at Kosi, where they have been attracted by the large cattle-market, Avhich they
attend as dealers. In the principal toA^nis of Eastern Mathura, as, for instance^
Jalesar, they are more numerous and of somewhat higher stamp ; and the head
of a Muliammadan family seated at Sa'dabad ranks among the leading gentry
of the district. There is also, at Mahaban, a Saiyid clan, who have been settled
there for several centuries, being the descendants of Sufi Yahya of Mashhad,
who recovered the fort from the Hindus in the reign of Ala-ud-din ; but they arc
not in veiy affluent circumstances, and, beyond their respectable pedigree, have
no other claim to distinction. The head of the family, Sarda,r Ali, now holds
the appointment of Naib Tahsildar at Chbatt'i. The ancestral estate consists, in
addition to the Thok Saiyidai at Mahaban, of the villages of Goharpur and
Nagara Bharu ; while some of his kinsmen are the proprietors of Shahpur
Ghosna, where they have resided for several generations.

As might be expected from this almost total absence of the Muliammadan
element, the language of the people, as distinct from that of the official classes, is
purely Hindi. In ordinary speech, "water" is jal; "land" is dJiarti; "a father,"
2nta; a "grandson," ?i a/ 1 (for the Sanskrit naptri) and "time" is often samay. Ge-
nerally speaking, the conventional Persian phrases of compliment are represent-
ed by Hindi equivalents, as, for instance, ikbdl hy pratdp and tash7'(f land hy
kripd karnd. The number of words absolutely peculiar to the district is probably
very small ; for Braj Bhasha (and Western Mathura is coterminous with Braj),
is the typical form of Hindi to which other local varieties are assimilated as far as
possible. A short list of some expressions that might strike a stranger as un-
usual has been prepared, and will be found in the Appendix. In village reckon-
ings, the Hindustani numerals, Avliich are of singularly irregular formation
and therefore difficult to remember, are seldom employed in their integrity, and
any sum above 20, except round numbers, is expressed by a pariphrasis — thus,
75 is not pachhattar, but pdnch ghat assi, i. e., 80 — 5 ; and 97 is not sattdnawe, but
Un ghat sau, i. e., 100 — 3. In pronunciation, there are some noticeable deviations
from established usage; thus — 1st, s is substituted for sh, as in sdmil for shdmil;
sum dr for shumdr ; ^nd, ch takes the place of s, as in cMta f or sitd, and occasion-
ally vice versd, as in charm for charcha ; and ^rd, in the vowels there is little
or no distinction between a and ?', thus we have Lakshmin for Lakshman. The
prevalence of this latter vulgarism explains the fact of the word Brahman being

HINDI TERMINOLOGY. 5

ordinarily spelt in English as Brahmin. It is still more noticeable in the
adjoining district of Mainpuri ; where, too, a generally becomes o, as clialo gayOy
" he went," for chald gajjd — a provincialism seldom heard in the mouths of the
Mathura peasants. It may also, as a grammatical pecnliarity, be remarked that
hayn, the older form of the past participle of the verb harvd, " to do," is much
more popular than its modern abbreviation, ki ; and the demonstrative pronouns
with the open vowel terminations, td and ivd, are always preferred to the sibi-
lant Urdu forms is and us. As for Muliammadan proper names, they have as
foreign a sound and are as much corrupted as English ; for example, Vazir-iid-
d{n would be known in his own village only as Wojii, and would himself be ra-
ther shy about claiming the longer title.

The merest glance at the map is sufficient proof of the almost exclusively
Hindi character of the district. In the two typical parganas of Kosi and Chhata,
there are 172 villages, not one of which bears a name with the familiar ter-
mination of -dbdd. Not a score of names altogether betray any admixture of
a Muliammadan element, and even these are formed with some Hindi ending, as
-pur, -nagar, or 'garli ; for instance, Akbar-pur, Sher-nagar, and Sher-garh. All
the remainder, to any one but a philological student, denote simply such and such
a village, but have no connotation whatever, and are at once set down as utterly
barbarous and unmeaning. Yet an application of the rules of the ancient
Prakrit Grammarian, Vararuchi, will, in many cases, without any wonderful
exercise of ingenuity, sviffice to discover the original Sanskrit form and explain
its corruption. Thus, Maholi is for Madhupuri ; Parsoli for Parasu-rama-puri
(Parsabeing the ordinary colloquial abbreviation for Parasurama) Dham-Sinha
for Dharma-Sinha, Bati for Bahula-vati, and Khaira for Khadira. It would seem
that the true explanation of these common endings, -oH, -auli, -aicri, -dwar, has
never before been clearly stated. They are merely corruptions of -puri or -pnra^
combined with the prior member of the compound, as explained by Vararuchi,
in Sutra II., 2, which directs the elision of certain consonants, includino- the letter
p, where they are simple and non-initial ; the term " non-initial" being expressly
extended to the first letter of the latter member of a compound.^ The Mu-
hammadans in their time made several attempts to remodel the local nomen-
clature, the most conspicuous illustrations of the vain endeavour being the sub-
stitution of Islam-pur for the venerable name of Mathura and Mi'iminabad
for Brinda-ban. The former is still occasionally heard in the law courts when

1 The practical application of this rule was first suggested to me by observing that the
two large tanks at Barsand and Gobardhan were called indiscriminately in the neighbourhood,
the one Kusam-sarovar or Kusumokhar (for Kusuma-Fushkara), the other Brikh-bhau-Pokhar,
or Bhanokhar. As the rule was laid down by Vararuchi 1800 years ago, I can only claim credit
for its practical resuscitation; but it is of great importance, and at once affords a clue to the
formation of otherwise unintelligible local names.

6 MATnUUlYA CHAUBES,

documents of the last generation liaA'e to be recited ; and several others, though
almost unknoAm in the places to which they refer, arc regularly recorded in the
register of the revenue otficials. Thus, a village near Gobardhan is Parsoli to
its inliabitants, but Muhammad-pur in the office ; and it would be possible to
live many 3'ears in Mathura before discovering that the extensive gardens on
the opposite side of the river were not, properly speaking, at Hans-ganj, but at
a place called Isa-pur. A yet more curious fact, and one which would scarcely
be possible in any country but India, is this, that a name has sometimes been
changed simply through the mistake of a copying-clerk. Thus, till the last set-
tlement, a village in the Kosi Pargana had always been known as Chacholi ; the
name was inadvertently copied as Piloli and has remained so ever since. Simi-
larly with two populous villages now called Great and Little Bharna in the
Chhata Pargana : the Bharna Khurd of the record-room is Lohra Marna on
the spot ; lohra being the Hindi equivalent for the more common chhotd,
" little," and Marna being the original name which from the close resem-
blance in Nagri writing of m to hh has been corrupted by a clerical error into
Bharna.

As in almost every part of the country where Hindus are predominant, the
population consists mainly of Brahmans, Thakurs, and Baniyas ; but to these
three classes a fourth of equal extent, the Jats, must be added as the specially
distinctive element. During part of last century the ancestors of the Jat Raja,
who still governs the border State of Bharat-pur, exercised sovereign power over
nearly all the western half of the district ; and their influence on the country has
been so permanent in its results that a separate chapter will be devoted to a
sketch of their history. Nothing more clearly indicates the alien character of
the Jalesar Pargana than the remark that in all its 203 villages the Jats occupy
only one ; while in Kosi and Mahaban they hold more than half, and in Chhata
at least one-third.

Of Bruhmans the most numerous class is the Sanadh, frequently called Sa-
naurhiya, and next the Gaur ; but these will be found in every part of India and
claim no special investigation. The Chaubes of Mathura, however, numbering
in all some 6,000 persons, are a pecuhar race, and must not be passed over so
summarily. Their learning and other virtues are extolled in the most extrava-
gant terms in the Mathura Mahatmya ; but either the writer was prejudiced, or
time has had a sadly deteriorating effect. They are now ordinarily described by
their own countrymen as a low and ignorant horde of rapacious mendicants.
Like the Prag-walas at Allahdbad, they are the recognized local cicerones ; and
they may always be seen with their portly forms lolling about the most popu-
lar ghats and temples, ready to bear down upon the first pilgrim that approaches.
One of their most noticcaljle peculiarities is that they are very reluctant to make
a match with an outsider, and, if by any possibility it can be managed, will

AnivAsiis. 7

always find bridegrooms for their daughters among the residents of the town.^
Hence the popular sa^ang —

^«7 tf[3 HT '^ SITU

which may be thus roughly rendered —

Mathura girls and Gokul cows
Will never move, while fate allows,
because, as is implied, there is no other place where they are likely to be so
well off. This custom results in two other exceptional usages : Jirst — that mar-
riage contracts are often made while one, or even both, of the parties most con-
cerned are still unborn ; and secondli/ — that little or no regard is paid to relative
age ; thus a Chaube, if his friend has no available daughter to bestovr upon him,
will agree to wait for the first grand-daughter. Many years ago, a considerable
migration was made to Mainpuri, where the Mathuriya Chaubes now form a
large and wealthy section of the community and are in every way of better re-
pute than the parent stock.

Another Brahmanical, or rather pseudo-Brahmanical, tribe peculiar to the dis-
trict, is that of the Ahivasis, a name which probably no one beyond the borders
of Mathura has ever heard, unless he has had dealings with them in the way of
business.^ They are largely employed as general carriers and have almost a
complete monopoly of the trade in salt, and some of them have thus acquired
considerable substance. They are also the hereditary proprietors of several
villages on the west of the Jamuna, chiefly in the pargana of Chhata, where they
rather aflFect large brick-built houses, two or more stories in height, and cover-
ing a considerable area of ground, but so faultily constructed that an uncracked
wall is a noticeable phenomenon. Without exception, they are utterly ignorant
and illiterate, and it is popularly believed that the mother of the race was a
Chamar woman, who has influenced the character of her offspring more than
the Brahman father. The name is derived from aid, the great " serpent" Kaliya,

1 Tieffenthaller mentions this as a peculiarity of the women of Gokul. He says, " Vis a vis
d' Aurengabad est un village nommo Gokul, ou Ton dit que demeuraient size raille femmes avec
les quelles Krishna etait marie Les femmes de ce village se distinguent in ce quelles n'en sortent
pas et ne se marient pas ailleurs." The writer, Father Joseph TiefEenthaller, a native of Bolzano,
in the Austrian Tyrol, came out to India as a Jesuit missionary in 1743, and remained in the coun-
try all the rest of his life, nearly 42 years. As he never resided long in any one place, his travels
eventually extended over nearly the whole continent, and supplied him with matter for several trea-
tises, which he composed in Latin. None of them hare been published in that language ; but a French
translation of his Indian Geography, from which the above extract is taken, appeared in 1786 at
Berlin, as the first volume of JBeruoulli's Description de 1' Inde. He died at Lucknow in July
1785, and his remains were interred in the Catholic Cemetery at Agra. I quote from him on
several oocasions, rather on account of the rarity than the intrinsic value of the book.

'•' They are not mentioned either by Wilson or Elliot in their Glossaries. There are two
sub-divisions called Dighija and Bajravat.

8 SARAUGIS.

whom Krishna ilofoated : and their first home is stated to have been the viUagc
of Sunrakh, which adjoins the KuH-mardan Ghat at Brinda-ban. The Pandes
of the great temple of Baladeva are all Aliivasis, and it is matter for regret that
tlie revenues of so wealthy a shrine should be at the absolute disposal of a com-
munity so extremely unlikely ever to make a good use of them.

The main divisions of Thakurs in ]\Iathura are the Jadon and the Graurua.
Tlie origin of the latter name is obscure, but it implies impui-e descent and is
merely the generic title which has as many subordinate branches as the original
Thakur stock. Thus we have Gauruas,who call themselves — some Kachhwahas,
some Bachhals, some Jasavats, and so on, throughout the whole series of Tha-
kur clans. Similarly, the Jadons of Mathura are not recognized as the same in
rank with the Jadons of Rajwara, though their present head. Raja Prithi Sinh,
is one of the wealthiest landed proprietors in the whole of Upper India.

The great majority of Baniyas in the district are Agarwalas. The Saraugis,
whose ranks are recrviited exclusively from the Baniya class, are not making
such rapid progress here as notably in the adjoining district of Mainpuri and
in some other parts of India. In this centre of orthodoxy the naked gods are
held in unaffected horror by the great mass of Hindus, and the submission of
any well-to-do convert is generally productive of local disturbance, as has been
the case more than once at Kosi. The temples of the sect are therefore few
and far between, and only to be found in the neighbourhood of the large trad-
ing marts. There is one in the centre of the city, close to Abd-un-nabi's mosque
and said to be of the same date with it, which is dedicated to Chandra Prabhu, the
same as Chandninana, one of the four Siisvat, or eternal, Jinas. In the suburb
of Keso-pur is another in honour of Jambu Swami. He is reputed the last
of the KevaHs, or divinely inspired teachers, being the pupil of Sudharma, who
was the only surviving disciple of Mahavira, the great apostle of the Digam-
baras, as Parsvanath was of the Svetambara sect. Before the present temple was
built by Mani Ram, the father of Seth Lakhmi Chand, there was a chabutara,
or charan-chauki, on the same site, said to be still there and to bear the date
Samhat 1522. Here is now held an annual fair, lasting for a week, from Kartik
badi 5 to 12, which was instituted in 1870 by Nain-sukh, a Saraugi of Bharat-
pur. There are other Jain temples at Hans-ganj, Jay-sinh-pm-a, Brinda-ban,
and Kosi.

From a report made to the Board of Commissioners by the acting Collector
of Aligarh in 1808, we learn that at that time the two principal landed proprie-
tors in this district wei-e Thakur Daya Ram of Hathras, who held Mat, Ma-
haban, Sonai, Raya, Hasan-garh, Sahpau and Kliandauli, and Raja Bhag-
avant Sinh of Mursan, who owned Sa'dabad, Sonkh, etc. Their title, however,
docs not appear to have been altogether unquestioned ; for the writer goes on
to say : — " The valuable and extensive parganas which they farmed were placed

THAKUR DAYA RAM. V

imder their authority by Lord Lake, immediately after the conquest of these
Provinces ; and they have since continued in their possession, as the resump-
tion of them was considered to be calculated to excite dissatisfaction and as it
was an object of temporary policy to conciliate their confidence."

This unwise reluctance on the part of the paramount power to enquire into
the validity of the title by which its vassals held their estates, was naturally
construed as a confession of weakness, and hastened the very evils which it
was intended to avert. Both chieftains claimed to be independent, and assumed
so menacing an attitude that it became necessary to dislodge them from their
strongholds. Mursan was reduced without dillficulty ; but Hathras, where the
defences had been improved in imitation of the neighbouring British fort of
Aligarh, was subjected to a regular siege. It is said that Thakur Daya Ram
was anxious to negotiate, but was opposed in this design by Nek Rtim Sinh
(his son by an ahiri concubine), who even made an attempt to have his father
assassinated as he Avas returning in a litter from the English camp. Hostili-
ties at all events were recommenced, and, on the 23rd of February, 1817, the
town was breached. On the evening of the same day, a magazine in the fort
exploded, and caused such general devastation that Daya Ram gave up all for
lost, and fled away by night on a little hunting pony, which took him the whole
way to Bharat-pur.^ There Raja Randhi'r Sinh declined to run the risk of
affording him protection, and he continued his flight to Jay-pur. His estates
were all confiscated ; but subsequently a pension of Rs. 2,200 was assigned
him. He died in 1841, leaving one son born in lawful wedlock, Gobind Sinh;
who after the mutiny, in compensation for loss sustained at the hand of the
rebels during their occupation of Brinda-ban, and in acknowledgment of his
loyalty under trying circumstances, received a grant from Government of the
confiscated villages in the Mathura District, which now yield his widow, the
Rani Sahib Kunvar, a gross rental of some Rs. 33,000 a year. The present
Mursan estate in the Sa'dabad Pargana, as enjoyed by Raja Tikam Sinh, Baha-
dur, C.S.L, the son of Raja Bhagwant Sinh, represents an annual income of
not more than Rs. 3,000.

The memory of Thakur Daya Ram is perpetuated by two poems entitled
**Byom Sar" and " Suni Sar," which Avere written by a Bairagi in his ser\nce,
named Bakhtawar, who is most enthusiastic in his patron's praises. Their pur-
port is to show that all is vanity, and that nothing in earth or in heaven, either
visible or invisible, natui'al or supernatural, has any real existence. Atheistical
works of the kind are very rare in Hindu literature ; and as neither of the
poems has ever yet been printed, nor is ever likely to be, some extracts taken
from a manuscript in the possession of the RajWs family are given at the end of
this chapter.

^ Hence "Thakur Daya I\am's pony'" is still n proverb in the neighbourhood.

10 THE RAJA OF AWA.

At the present day, though more than half tlie population are engaged in
agricultural pursuits, the number of landed gentry in the district is excep-
tionally small. To take four of the largest estates : one belongs to the Seths,
who are more properly city people ; two to the heads of religious establish-
ments, viz., Swami Rangachari and Gosain Purushottam Lai ; and the fourth
to absentees, the heirs of the Lala Babu, who was himself a native of Cal-
cutta. The only resident landowners of any note are Raja Prithi Siuh, of Awa ;
Chaudhari Daulat Sinh, of Riil ; Kunwar Irshad Ali Khan, of Sa'dabad ;
Tluikur Buddh Sinh, of Umargarh ; and Pachauri Kalyan Sinh, of Go-
kharauli.

Tlie fortmiate owner of the Awa estate does not lay claim to any very
illustrious descent. Tlie family annals go back only to the reign of Muham-
mad Shah (1720-48 A. D.), when Thakur Chaturbhuj, a zamindar of Nari in
the Chhata Pargana, came and settled at Jalesar and was employed by the
Local Governor in the professional capacity of a physician. His son, Bijay
Sinh, for a short time also followed the vocation of his father, but was after-
wards appointed to a small military command. Tlie Jadon zamindars of some
adjacent villages having become involved in pecuniary difficulties, were as-
sisted by Chaturbhuj, now become a wealthy man, and his son, themselves also
members of the Jadon elan. They thus acquired considerable local influence,
which was further extended by Bijay Sinli's eldest son, Bhakt Sinh. Two
of his younger brothers were named Ratii Siuli and Jawiihir Sinh ; the third
was carried off and killed by wolves while yet an infant. The heir was for
a time in the service of Jawahir Sinh, the Maharaja of Bharat-pur, and also
lent some support to Thakur Bahadur Sinh, of Umargarh, from whom he
received a grant of the village of Misa. A number of other villages, belonging
to different Thakur clans, also passed into his hands; and this accession of
revenue enabled him to enlist under his standard a troop of marauding Mewatis,
with whose aid he established himself, according to the custom of the time,
as an independent free-booting chief. Finally, he obtained a sanad from the
Mahrattas, authorizing him to build a fort at Awa. This was simply a garhi
with a circuit of mud walls ; the present formidable stronghold Avas built by
his successor, Hira Sinh.

For many years Bhakt Sinh was unblessed with issue. At last, in despair, he
betook himself to a fakir of much sanctity, who hved in the woods near Rajtiuli,
and besought him to have compassion on his childless estate. The fakir pro-
mised that a son should be born, and in due course the promise was fulfilled by
the birth of Hira Sinh. At the very same time the ftikir vanished from human
sight ; and, as the boy, on growing up to manhood, evinced a rude and unsociable
disposition, a rumour spread that he was no actual personage, but only the
fakir's temporary cnibodimcut. In the Mahraita ^^^Ar he was able to reader

CUAUDIIAUI DAULAT SINII. 11

some service to the English ; and in 1838, it is said that his son, Pitambar Sinh,
was honoured with the title of Raja. The latter, who died in 1845, had no issue
save one daughter, who was married to a Rajput chief in the Gwaliar territory.
It is probably this alliance to which Elliot refers in his Glossary (written in the
year 1844) under the word Jadon, where he says : — " Some marriages lately
made by the family of Awa Misa have raised their respectability to a high stand-
ard, insomuch that the Taluka-dar now lays claim to a direct descent from Anand
Pal, the son of the Kurauli Raja Kunwar Pal." Upon this passage it may be
remarked that the title of Raja, said to have been conferred in 1838, does not
appear to have been recognized by the Government six years later ; and, indeed,
rumour has it that the title was never formally granted, but only inadvertently
slipped into some official document, which established a precedent that was
never afterwards disputed.

However that may be, Raja Pi-ithi Sinh, Pitambar's adopted son and a des-
cendant of Thakur Bijay Sinh, the second of the family, has an estate which
many independent princes might envy. It yields an annual income of nearly
four lakhs of rupees and consists— ^rs^, of 55 villages, all immediately round
about Awa, which have come down to him from Bhakt Sinh ; secondly, of a
group of 19 villages called the Amanabad estate, acquired by Thakur Pitambar
Sinh from the old proprietors, who were mostly Dhakara Thakurs ; and thirdhj, of
seven villages known as the Ral estate in the home pargana. He is also part
proprietor of no less than 129 other villages in the Jalesar Pargana, of two or
three more in Sa'dabad, and has land besides in the four adjoining districts of
Eta, Agra, Main-puri, and Aligarh.

The mention of the Ral estate naturally suggests the name of Chaudhari
Daulat Sinh, whose family has for many years resided in that town. He is the
only Honorary Magistrate in the district, a gentleman of approved integrity,
and one held in high esteem by all his neighbours. Under the Mahratta Gov-
ernment, his ancestors are said to have enjoyed the chaiidhardyat of as many as
307 villages ; but his landed estate has now dwindled down almost to nothing,
and consists merely of the two small villages of Pasoli and Pilhora, in the Chhata
Pargana, and some 500 bighas of freehold in the township of Ral. His good
services in the mutiny were acknowledged by a donation of Rs. 7,000, to
which was originally added a grant of 43 villages ; but he only held them for
six months, when they were resumed. Though his proprietary rights in Ral
passed some years ago into the hands of the Raja of Awa, he has hitherto
managed the estate in an ill-defined intermediate capacity between landlord and
tenant. This anomalous position has naturally, but most unfortunately, eno-en-
dered a feeling of jealousy which has been developed into the most bitter ani-
mosity. The settlement now pending will doubtless determine authoritatively
the respective rights and privileges of either party.

12 PACHAURI KALYAN SINH.

Kuuwar Irsbad Ali Khun of Sa'diibad has already been inontionod as tbo sole
representative in the district of Muhammadan aristocracy. Even he, as his title
denotes, is the descendant of an ancient Thtikur family, who were converted to
Islam in the days of the Delhi Emperors. Strictly speaking, he is only the
manager of the estate on behalf of his aunt, the Thakurani Hakim-ul-nissa, but
is the presumptive heir. His brother, Nawab Faiz Ali Khan, C.S.I., is the
Prime Minister of the Maharaja of Jay-pur.

Thakur Buddh Sinh, of Uniar-garh is, like his neighbour the Raj.iof Awa, a
member of the Jadon clan, with greater pretensions on the score of family,
but with means that are quite inadequate to support him in any real rivalry.
The fort, where his ancestors have resided for many generations, encloses a wide
circuit in its crumbling walls, and spi-eading round about it in all directions are
magnificent mango groves — the unmistakeable signs of former affluence. The
family traces its descent from Biana in Bharat-pur ; its present representative is
the son of Thakur TIkam Sinh, who, in the mutiny, showed his good will to the
Government by protecting the inmates of the Umar-garh Indigo Factory. He
was the son of Moti Sinh and grandson of Bahadur Sinh, who is said to have
been the master of more than 300 villages, and is locally famous for a gallant
defence which he maintained for some days against the forces of Sindhia.

Pachauri Kalyan Sinh, of Grokharauli in Maha-ban is quite a type of the old
school in his uncultured address and rude style of living. The actual head of
the family, who has adopted one of his sons by name Ram Chand, is the Tha-
kurani Pran Kunwar, his cousin Bakhtiiwar Sink's widow. They ti'ace their
descent from one Bhupat Sinh of Savaran-khera in Bhadaura, who came from
thence to settle at Satoha, a village between Mathura and Gobardhan. There
he died and also his son, Parasu-ram Sinh ; but the grandson, Puran Chand,
removed to Gokharauli, where he acquired large possessions in the time of the
Mahrattas. At the present day there is not a single village in the old pargana
of Maha-ban, in which his descendants have not some share, though it may often
be a small one. In several they are sole proprietors, and they have other estates
in the Agra District. At the outbreak of the mutiny, the fort of Gokharauli
was surprised and taken in the absence of the head of the family, Ballabh Sinh,
grandson of Piiran Chand. It was, however, soon after recovered by him and
his cousin, Kalyan Sinh, then Risaldar Major in the 17th Regiment ; and their
great local influence further enabled them to raise a large body of volunteers
in pursuit of the rebel army. When the disturbances were over, Ballabh Sinh
was appointed Tahsildiir of Kosi, but he soon threw up the appointment, as he
had no taste for office work, and his private property required superintendence.
Of the smaller estates in the district, some few belong to respectable old families
of the yeoman type ; others have been recently acquired by speculating money-
lenders, but the far greater number are split u}) into infinitesimal fractions

AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. 13

among the whole village community. Owing to this prevalence of the Bhaiya-
chari system, as it is called, the small farmers who cultivate their own lands
constitute a very large class, while the total of the non-proprietary classes is
proportionately reduced. A decided majority of the latter have no assured
status, but are merely tenants-at-will. Throughout the district, all the land
brought under the plough is classified under two heads, — -first, according to its
productiveness; secondly, according to its accessibility. The fields capable of
artificial irrigation — and it is the supply of water which mostinfluences the amount
of produce — are styled clialii, all others khaki; those nearest the village are
known as hard, those rather more remote as mmijhd, and the furthest away bar-
Jta, The combinations of the two classes give six varieties, and, ordinarily, no
others are recognized, though alon^ the course of the Jamuna the tracts of alluvial
land are, as elsewhere, called k:}idar ; the high sterile banks are hangar, and
whei'e broken into ravines hehar ; a soil exceptionally sandy is hhilr, sand-hills are
imth, and the levels between the \a\\% pulaj. The Ganges Canal runs across the
north-east corner of the Jalesar Pargana, and has enormously increased the value
of land in its vicinity. The same result may be confidently anticipated from the
opening of the Agra Canal, now in course of construction. This will traverse
the entire length of Western Mathura, passing close to the towns of Kosi, Sahar,
and Aring, and having, as its extreme points, Hatana to the north and Little
Kosi to the south. A cut from the Aligarh Division of the Ganges Canal has
also been brought into the north of the Mat Pargana, but it extends only to
four villages, and stops short near the town of Bajana. The total area of rabi
crops brought under canal irrigation during the present season up to the end
of February was 12,544 acres.

In past years, when both roads and canals were alike unknown, Mathura, like
other parts of India, has suffered severely from drought and famine. In 1813-14
Sahar was one of the localities where the distress was most intense. Many
died from hunger, and others were glad to sell their wives and children for a
few rupees, or even for a single meal. In 1825-26, the whole of the territories
known at that time as the Western Provinces were afflicted with a terrible
drought. The rabi crops of the then Sa'dabad District were estimated by Mr.
Boddam, the Collector, as below the average by more than 200,00(J mans;
Mahaban and Jalesar being the two parganas which sufi^ored most. But the
famine of 1837-38 was a far greater calamity and still forms an epoch in native
chronology mider the name of" the chauranawd,''' or "the 94 ;" 1894 being its
date according to the Hindu era. Though Mathura was not one of the districts
most grievously afflicted, the distress was still extreme, as appears from the
report submitted by the Counnissioner, Mr. Hamilton, after personal inves-
tigation. About Raya, Mat, and Mahaban, he found the crops scanty and the
soil dry, and cultivated only ia the immediate vicinity of masonry ^vells. About

14 FAMINE OF 18G0-G1.

Matliurd, the people were almost in despair from the wells fast turning so brack-
ish and salt as to destroy, rather than refresh, vegetation. " All of the Ari'ng and
Gobardhan Parganas (he writes) which came under my observation was an
extensive arid waste, and for miles I rode over ground which had been both
ploughed and sown, but in which the seed had not germinated and where there
seemed no prospect of a harvest. The cattle in Aring were scarcely able to
crawl, and they were collected in the village and suffered to pull at the thatch,
the people declaring it useless to drive them forth to seek for pasture. Emi-
gration had already commenced, and people of all classes appeared to be suffering."
Of the famine of 1800-61, commonly called the dth-sei'a, the following
narrative was recorded by Mr. Robertson, the Officiating Collector : — " Among
prosperous agricultui'ists," he says, " about half the land usually brought under
cultivation is irrigated, and irrigated lands alone produced crops this year. But
though only half the crop procured in ordinary years was obtained by this class
of cultivators, the high price of corn enabled them, while realizing considerable
profits, to meet the Government demand without much difficulty. The poorer
class of cultivators were however ruined, and with the poorest in the cities taking
advantage of the position of Mathura as one of the border famine tracts, they
abandoned the district in large numbers, chiefly towards the close of 1860.
Rather more than one-fourth of the agricultural emigrants have returned, and
the quiet unmurmuring industry with which they have recommenced life is not
a less pleasing feature than the total absence of agrarian outrage during the
famine. The greatest number of deaths from stai'vation occurred during the
first three months of 1861, when the average per mensem was 497. During
the succeeding three months, this average was reduced to 85, while the deaths in
July and August were only five and six respectively. The total number of deaths
during the eight months has been 1,758. Viewing the universality of the famine,
these results sufficiently evidence the active co-operation in measures of relief
rendered by the native officials assisted by the Police, and the people every-
where most pointedly express their obligation to the Goverinnent and English
liberality. No return of the nximber of deaths caused by starvation seems to
have been kept from October, 1860, to January, 1861, but judging by the sub-
sequent returns, 250 per mensem might be considered as the highest average.
Thus the mortality caused by the famine in this district in the year 1860-61
may approximately be estimated at 2,500."^ If such a large number of persons
really died simply from starvation — and there seems no reason to doubt the fact —
the arrangements for dispensing relief can scarcely have merited all the praise
bestowed upon tlicm. There was certainly no lack of funds towards the end,

1 Mr. Ilobcrtson's narrative has been copied from the original paper in the District OfQcc;
the other particuhirs have bccQ extracted from Mr. Girdlestone'a report on past famines, pub-
lished by Government in 1868.

DELHI KO AD. 15

but possibly they came when it was almost too late. In the month of April,
some 8,000 men were employed daily on the Delhi road ; the local donations
amounted to Rs. 16,227, and this sum was increased by a contribution of
Rs. 8,000 from the Agra Central Committee, and Rs. 5,300 from Govern-
ment, making a total of Rs. 29,528. An allotment of Rs. 5,000 was also
made from the Central Committee for distribution among the indigent agricul-
turists that they might have wherewithal to purchase seed and cattle.

The metalling of the Delhi road, which has been incidentally mentioned as
the principal relief work, was not only a boon at the time, but still continues a
source of the greatest advantage to the district. The old imperial thoroughfare,
which connected the two capitals of Agra and Lahor, kept closely to the same
line as is shown by the ponderous kos minars, which are found still standing
at intervals of about three miles, and nowhere at any great distance from the
wayside. Here was the " delectable alley of trees, the most incomparable ever
beheld," which the Emperor Jahangir enjoys the credit of having planted. That
it was really a fine avenue is attested by the language of the sober Dutch topo-
grapher, John de Laet, who, in his India Vera, written in 1631, that is, early
in the reign of Shahjahan, speaks of it in the following terms : — " The whole of
the country between Agra and Lahor is well-watered and by far the most fertile
part of India. It abounds in all kinds of produce, especially sugar. The high-
way is bordered on either side by trees which bear a fruit not unlike the mul-
berry, ^ and," as he adds in another place, "form a beautiful avenue." "At
intervals of five or six coss," he continues, " there are saraes built either by the
king or by some of the nobles. In these, travellers can find bed and lodging ;
when a person has once taken possession he cannot be turned out by any one."
The glory of the road, however, seems to have been of short duration, for
Bernier, writing only 30 years later, that is, in 1663, says,— " Between Delhi
and Agra, a distance of 50 or 60 leagues, the whole road is cheerless and unin-
teresting ;" and even so late as 1825, Bishop Heber, on his way down to Cal-
cutta, was apparently much struck with what he calls " the wildness of the
country," but mentions no avenue, as he certainly would have done, had one
then existed. Thus it is clear that the more recent administrators of the dis-
trict, since its incorporation into British territory, are the only persons entitled
to the traveller's blessing for the magnificent and almost unbroken canopy of
over-arching boughs, which now extends for more than 30 miles from the city
of Mathura to the border of the Gurgdnw District, and forms a sufficient protec-
tion from even the mid-day glare of an Indian summer's sun. Though the
country is now generally brought under cultivation, and can scarcely be described

1 In the original Latin text the word is moras, which Mr. Lethbridge in his scholarly English

edition translates by " fig ;" but I think that "mulberry" is a more accurate rendering, and that

^ the tree intended

16 DE last's itinerary.

as even well-wooded, there are still, here and there, many patches of waste land
covered with low trees and jungle, which might be considered to justify the
Bishop's epithet of wild-looking. The herds of deer are so numerous that the
traveller Avill seldom go many miles in any direction along a bye-road without
seeing a black-buck, followed by his harem, bound across the path. The number
has probably inci'eased rather than diminished in late years, as the roving and
vagabond portion of the population, who used to keep them in check, were all
disarmed after the mutiny. Complaints are now frequent of the damage done
to the crops; and in some parts of the district yet more serious injury is occa-
sioned by the increase in the number of wolves.

From Jait, seven miles out of Mathura, the customs hedge runs beside the
Delhi road the whole way ; except that at Kosi it makes a detour to avoid pass-
ing through the centre of the town. At short intervals all along are huts for the
shelter of the cha'prasis, and two bungalows for the superior officers of the de-
partment, for a patrol at Kosi, for an assistant patrol at Chaumuha. All
salt consumed above the line at a distance of more than 7^ miles from the
hedge is free from duty, while all imported to any place below is taxed; the duty
on sugar, which is solely an export one, being considered an equivalent burden.

The quantity of sugar-cane now grown in this part of the district is very
inconsiderable. The case may have been different in De Laet's time ; but on
other grounds there seems reason for believing that his descriptions are not
drawTi from actual observation, and are therefore not thoroughly trustworthy.
For example, he gives the marches from Agra to Delhi as follows : — "From Agra,
the residence of the king, to Rownoctan, twelve coss ; to Bady, asarae,ten ; to Ach-
barpore, twelve ; this was formerly a considerable town, now it is only visited
by pilgrims who come on account of many holy Muhammadans buried here.
To Hondle, 1.3 coss ; to Puhvool, twelve ; to Fareedabad, twelve ; to Delhi, ten.'*
Now, this passage requires much manipulation before it can be reconciled with
established facts. Rownoctan, it may be presumed, would, if correctly spelt,
appear in the form Raunak-than, meaning " a royal halting-place," and was
probably merely the fashionable appellation, for the time, of the Hindu village
of Rankatj'i, which is still the first stage out of Agra. Bady or Bad, is a small
village on the narrow strip of Bharat-pur territory which so inconveniently in-
tersects the Agra and Mathura road. There has never been any sarae there ;
the one intended is the Jalal-pur sanic, some three kos further on, at the entrance
to the civil station. The fact that Mathiira has dropt out of the Itinerary alto-
gether, in favour of such an insignificant little hamlet as Bad, is a striking
illustration of the low estate to whi 'h the great Hindu city had been reduced afc
the time in question.'- Again, the place with the Muhammadan tombs is not

I Similarly it will be seen that Tavcrnicr, writing about 1G50, recognizes Mathura as tlie
name of a temple only, not of a towu at all.

IMPERIAL SARAES. 17

Akbar-pur, but the next village, Dotana ; and the sarae, which he ascribes to
Hondle, i. e., Hodal, has no existence there, but must he the one at Kosi.

These seraes are fine furt-like buildings, with massive battlemented Avails
and bastions and high-arched gateways. They are five in number ; one at the
entrance to the ci^-il station ; the second at 'Azamabad, two miles beyond the
city on the Delhi road ; another at Chaumuha ; the fourth at Chhata, and the fifth at
Kosi. The three latter are generally ascribed by local tradition to Sher Shah,
whose reign extended from 1540 to 1545, though it is also said that Itibar Khdn
was the name of the founder of the two at ]\Iathura and Kosi, and A'saf Khan
of the one at Chhata. It is probable that both traditions are based on facts :
for at Chhata it is obvious at a glance that both the gateways are double build-
ings, half dating from one period, and half from another. The inner front,
which is plain and heavy, may be referred to Sher Shah, while the lighter and
more elaborate stone front, looking towards the town, is a subsequent addition.
As A'saf Khan is simply a title of honour (the Asaph the Kecorder of the Old
Testament) which was borne by several persons in succession, a little doubt
arises at fii'st as to the precise individual intended. The presumption, howevei-,
is strongly in favour of Al)d-u!-majid, who was first Humayun's Diwdn, and
on Akbar's accession was appointed Grovernor of Delhi. The same post was
held later on by Khwaja Itibar Khau, the reputed founder of the Kosi sarao.
The general style of architecture is in exact conformity with that of similar
buildings known to have been erected in Akbar's reign, such, for example, as
the fort at Agra ; and there is a still more special reason for connecting two
of the saraes with that monarch, since they both bear, or rather bore, his name.
The one in the civil station, which is smaller than the others and has been much
modernized, has, for many years past, been occupied by the police reserves
and is ordinarily knoAvn as the Damdaraa. But its origiual name, and the
one still borne by the little hamlet at its rear, was Jalalpur sarae, after Akbar's
well-known title of Jalal-ud-din. Similarly the Chaumuha sarae^ is always des-
cribed in the old topographies as at Akbar-pur. This latter name is now res-
tricted in application to a village some three miles distant ; but in the 16th
century local divisions were few in num])er and wide in extent, and beyond a
doubt the foundation of the imperial sarae was the origin of the village name
which has now deserted the spot that suggested it. The separate existence of
Chaumuha is known to date from a very recent period, when the name was
bestowed in consequence of the discovery of an ancient Jain sculpture, supposed
by the ignorant rustics to represent the four-headed (chau-muhd) god, Brahma.
Though these saraes were primarily built mainly from selfish motives on the
line of road traversed by the imperial camp, they were at the same time enor-

^ Chaumuha is distorted by TiefiEtnthaler into Tschaomao. He speaks of its sarae as " hotel-
letie belle et commode."

18 'azamabad sarae.

jiious boons to the general iiublie ; for the highway was then beset with gangs
of robbers, with whose vocation the law either dared not, or cared not, to inter-
fere. On one occasion, in the reign of Jahangir, we read of a caravan having
to stay six weeks at Mathura before it was thought strong enough to proceed
to Delhi ; no smaller number than 500 or 600 men being deemed adequate to
encounter the dangers of the road. Now, the solitaiy traveller is so confident
of protection, that rather than drive his cart up the steep ascent that conducts
to the portals of the fortified enclosure, he prefers to spend the night unguarded
on the open plain. Hence it comes that not one of the saraes is now applied to
the precise purpose for which it was constructed. At Chhata, one corner is
occupied by the school, and another by the offices of the tahsildar and local
police, while the rest of the broad area is neaidy deserted ; at Chaumuha the
solid walls have in past years been undermined and carted away piecemeal for
building materials ; and at Kosi, the principal bazar lies between the two
gateways, and forms the nucleus of the town.

Still more complete destx'uction has overtaken the 'Azamabad sarae, which
eeems to have been the largest of the series, as it certainly was the plainest and
the most modern. Its erection is ordinarily ascribed by the people on the spot
to Prince 'Azam, the son of Aurangzeb, being the only historical personage of
the name Avith whom they are acquainted. But, as with the other buildings
of the same character, its real founder was a local governor, 'Azam Khan Mir
Muhammad Bakir, also called Iradat Khan, who was Faujdar of Mathura from
1642 to 1645. In the latter year he was superseded in office, as his age had
rendered him unequal to the task of suppressing the constant outbreaks against
the Government, and in 1648, he died.^ As the new road does not pass im-
mediately under the walls of the sarae, it had ceased to be of any use to tra-
vellers ; and, a few years ago, it was to a great extent demolished and the mate-
rials used in paving the streets of the adjoining city. Though there was little
or no architectural embellishment, the foundations were most securely laid,
reachino- down below the ground as many feet as the sui^erstructure which
they supported stood above it. Of this, ocular demonstration w\as recently
afforded ; for one of the villagers, in digging, came upon what he hoped would
prove the entrance to a subterranean treasure chamber ; but deeper excavations
showed it to be only one of the line of arches forming the foundation of the
sarae wall. The original mosque is still standing, but is little used for reli-
o-ious purposes, as the village numbers only nine Muhammadans in a population
of 343, all.of whom live within the old ruinous enclosure.

1 For this and several other facts gathered from the Persian chronicles, I am indebted to
Mr. Blochmann, the Secretary of the Calcutta Asiatic Society; a gentleman whose knowledge of
Muhammadan history and literature is so extensive as only to be C(iuallcd by the courtesy with
which he communicates it.

THE BYOM SAR. 19

NOTE ON CHAPTER I.

Of tlie following extracts, to which reference is made in page 9, the first
forms the commencement of the Byom Sar ; the second and third are taken from
the Suni Sar.

11 triT n
sqtrimT 371 ?rq 1 ^^T t^ ii ^R WT^ ^mTj^ tj% ^j^j o^J^ f%^TT ii % w

^■SWK <i4l<W rrt ^'TrTT ^ ^^ mil 5Tg ^Irim qPT ^127 T=^ ^^ m^ II ^ It

tn:f^ ^ ^ ^^ 1 Tw^^ ^ ^^^ ^^ ^^ ^Trm ^f=T fifsr f^rHiii %t =^^ ii 8 it
^fTT^ 5R ^giPT %* ^T fTif ^H sng ^3"f^ mm ^u ^ttr ^irt ^g n t ii
ffR 5FT 3im 2?iHT^ ^ ^^^r =ft^* i^TB sgiTT =gR ^T=T^ Hfrs^ '^^^ ^ wn^ ii < u

^^ ^* ^^ m^ % ^^ ^ ^r^i ^^T^ ^'^^^^T^^u^%^rl^T^^T^^^mm nun

'' This book is called the Byom Sar and contains the essence of the Vedas,
excogitated by Sri Thakur Daya Ram. Between the Jamuna and the Sursuri,
(i. e., the Ganges) stands Hathras in the midst, in the holy land of Antarbed,
where nought ill can thrive. There Tliakur Daya Ram holds undisturbed sway,
the fame of whose glory has spread through the Avhole universe — a thorn in the
breast of his enemies, a root of joy to his friends, ever growing in splendour
like the crescent moon. One Bakhtawar came and settled there and was fa-
voured by the Thakur, who recognized his fidelity. Under the light of his
gracious countenance, joy sprung up in his soul and he wrote the science of
Vanity for the enlightenment of the understanding. Be assured that all things
are like the void of heaven, contained in a void, as when you look into yourself
and see your o\^ti shadow. After long ruminating, the noble Tliakur has elicited
the cream of the matter. In accordance with his teaching, I publish these
thoughts. Listen, ye men of sense, to my array of arguments ; first understand,
then reply. The beginning of all things is in hollowness, hollow is also the
end and hollow the middle ; so says the preacher. Tlie highest, the lowest, and
the mean are all hollow ; so the wise man has expounded. From nothing all
things are born; in nothing all things perish ; even the illimitable ex])anse of

20 THE SUNI SAR.

sky is all liollowncss. What alone has no hcginning, nor will ever have an

end, and is still of one character, that is vacuum."

T%rT ^ mrT ^f| ^ 1^ I ^^ t^ '^T^ftl II
"5^11 mm ■^W% W^ ^^T% ^ ^SI ^iZl ^^ II I \l

•O vO xO C\

ig^r^ ^^T m^ T^^T ^^^ 5R^ '^FH IT w II

^Wl ^ '5pg =^ %^T ^^ IT ^3TT 'jpq '^T^^ II 3 ||
^^fi t^^ ^^ ff t^TT ^^f^ ^ ^R7 W\ ^m II
^^ ^1 ^^ ^T ^^ ^^fiR ^i T^ % q^fTm II « II
" All that is seen is nothing and is not really seen; lord or no lord, it is all one.
Maya is nothing ; Brahm is nothing ; all is false and delusive. The Avorld is all
emptiness ; the egg of Brahma, the seven dicipas, the nine kJiandas, the earth, the
heaven, the moon, the glorious sun, all, all are emptiness ; so are Brahma, Vishnu,
and Mahadeva; so are Kunna and Seshnag. The teacher is nothing, the disciple
nothing ; the ego and the 7ion ego are alike nothing. The temple and the god are
nought ; nought is the worship of nought, and nought the prayer addressed to
nought; so know they who are enlightened by the influence of the Guru."

'?(T^^ TTT]^ ^=|3i iT[ TTriT ■^t^ t|t ^^wi ti^ -Rim ii x w

^T% ^T^ ^T ^H W(^\ W{m ^ff Tm =3^^ tm 11
'gTlT ^if TIT^rlT ^3TT f%r\Wl ^ ^ ?7^ |^T II ^ II

^TT ^^ vs^^z ^^ »TH 'n ^^ ^w ^ii ^^ i??^ ii ^ u
^^ ^ -^n 2^ ^f T:rTt %Tfe sprr ^ ^-k -^^m w

q% 2^ ^^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^3T^T ^^TTT^r ^^q II 8 \\
" Tlie whole world was disconsolate, but is now gladdened for ever by the
doctrine of Vacuity : it is pkmged in joy and ecstatic delight, drunk with the
wine of perfect knowledge. I enuntiate the truth and doubt not ; I know
neither prince nor beggar ; I court, neither honour nor reverence ; I take a
friend by the hand and seek none other ; what comes easily I accept and am con-
tented ; a palace and a thicket to mc are all the same ; the error of mine and
thine is obliterated ; nothing is loss, nothing is gain. To get such a teacher of
the truth puts an end to the errors of a million of bii-ths. Such a teacher as has
now been revealed — the incomparable Thakur Daya Ram."

Wilson, in his Sketch of the Tleligious Sects of the Hindus, translates several
passages from the Suni Sar, but does not mention the Byoni Sar, and probably
was not awai'c of its existence.

CHAPTER II.

THE JATS OF BHARAT-PUR AJS^D SAHAR.

It is said that the local traditions of Biana and Bharat-pur point to Kanda-
har as the parent country of the Jats, and attempts have been made^ to
prove their ancient power and renown by identifying them ^%ath certain tribes
mentioned by the later classical authors — the Xanthii of Strabo, the Xuthii of
Dionysius of Samos, the Jatii of Pliny and Ptolemy, and at a more recent period
with the Jats or Zaths, whom the Muhammadans found in Sindh when they
first invaded that country.^ These are the speculations of European scholars,
which, it is needless to say, have never reached the ears of the persons most
interested in the discussion. But lately the subject has attracted the attention of
Native enquirers also, and a novel theory has Ijeen propounded in a little San-
skrit pamphlet, entitled Jiitharotpati, compiled by Sastri Angad Sarmma for the
gratification of Pandit Giri Prasad, himself an accomplished Sanskrit scholar,^
and a Jat by caste, who resides as Beswa on the Aligarh border. It is a
catena of all the ancient texts mentioning the obscure tribe of the Jatharas, with
whom the writer wishes to identify the modern Jats and so bring them into the
ranks of the Kshatriyas. The origin of the Jatharas is related in very similar
terms by all the authorities ; we select the passage from the Padma Purana as
being the shortest. It runs as follows : — " Of old, when the world had been
bereft by the son of Bhrigu of all the Kshatriya race, their daughters, seeing
the land thus solitary and being desirous of conceiving sons, laid hold of the
Brahmans, and carefully cherishing the seed sown in their womb (Jathara)
brought forth Kshatriya sons called Jatharas."* Now, there is no great
intrinsic improbability in the hypothesis that the word Jatharas has been

1 Cunningliam's Archaeological Survey, Vol. II., page 55.

- Tod, however, considered the last-mentioned tribe quite distinct. He writes, •' The Jata
or Jits, far more numerous than perhaps all the Rajput tribes put together, still retain their
ancient appellation throughout the whole of Sindh. They are amongst the oldest converts to
Islam."

3 He is the author of a commentary on the White Yajur Veda.

vjmm ^T wi II

f^^T^i^H^i yni

sh-^I^Cff ^•^^jj'ijl II

8([^UI|? 31JJ|WH4^^

^^I^i||^-^k<^q^zIl ii

^zX yiKri -m

w^ '^^X wm

5IT3^T? ^^SI^3lT5 H

22 ORIGIN OF THE JATS.

shortened into Jat ; but if the one race is really descended from the other, it is
exceedingly strange that the fact should never liave been so stated before.
This difficulty might be met by replying that the Jats have always been, with
very few exceptions, an illiterate class, Avho were not likely to trouble them-
selves about mythological pedigrees ; wdiile the story of their parentage would
not be of sufficient interest to induce outsiders to investigate it. But a more
unanswerable objection is found in a passage, which the Sastri himself quotes
from the Brihat Sanhita (XIV. 8.) This^ places the homo of the Jatharas
in the south-eastern quarter, whereas it is certain that the Jats ha^^e come from
the west. Probably the leaders of Jat society would refuse to accept as their
progenitors both the Jatharas of the Beswa Pandit and the Sindhian Zaths of
General Cunningham ; for the Bharat-pur princes affect to consider themselves
as the same race with the Jadavas, and the Court bards in their panegyrics are
always careful to style them Jadu-vansi.

However, all these speculations and assumptions have little basis beyond a
mere similarity of name, which is often a very delusive test ; and it is certain
that Avhatever may have been the status of the Jats in remote antiquity, in his-
toric times they were no way distinguished from other agricultural tribes, such as
the Kurmis and Lodhas, till so recent a period as the beginning of last century.

The fouuder of the present royal house was a robber chief, by name Chiira-
mani^ wdio built two petty forts in the villages of Thvin and Sinsini^ a little
south of DiiT, from which he organized marauding expeditions, and even ven-
tured to harass the rear of the imperial army on the occasion of Aurangzeb's
expedition to the Dakliin. This statement is contradicted by Thornton in his
Gazetteer, under the word Bharat-pur ; but his reasons for doing so are not
very conclusive. He writes, " Chura-man did not become the leader of the
Jats until after the death of Aurangzeb. Besides, the scene of the operations
of the Jats was widely remote from that of the disasters of Aurangzeb, which
occurred near Ahmad-nagar. According to the Sair-i-Muta aklikhirin, during
the struggle between Aurangzeb's sons 'Azam and Muazzim, Chura-man beset
the camp of the latter for the purpose of plunder." This correction, if it really
is one, is so slight as to be absolutely immaterial ; the army, which was led
into the Dakhin by Aurangzeb, was brought back by 'Azam after the Emperor's
decease, and both father and son died within four months of each other.

A little later. Jay Sinh of Amber was commissioned by the two Saiyids,
then in pow(;r at Delhi, to reduce the Jiit freebooters. He invested their two

2 General Cunnitigliam spcaka of Chura-man, Jut, migrating with his followers to Bharat-
pur from the banks of the Indus after the death of Aurangzeb ; but this can scarcely be accepted
as an accurate statemcut of facts.

3 From this place the Bharat-pur Raja's family derives its name of Sinsiuwar.

THAKUR BADAN SINH.

strono-holds, but could not succeed in making any impression upon them, and
accordingly retired : only, however, to return almost immediately ;"]]this time
bringing with him a larger army, and also a local informant in the person of
Badan Sinh, a younger l)rother of Chiira-mani's, who, in consequence of some
family feud, had been placed in confinement, from Avhich he had contrived to
escape and make his way to Jay-pur. Thun w\'is then (1712 A.D.) again
invested, and, after a seige of six months, taken, and its fortifications demo-
lished. Chiira-mani and his son Muhkam fled the country and Badan Sinh
was formally proclaimed as Dig as leader of the Jats, with the title of
Thakur.

He is chiefly commemorated in the Mathura District by the handsome man-
sion he built for himself at Sahar. This appears to have been his favourite
residence in the latter years of his life. Adjoining it is a very large tank, of
wdiich one side is faced with stone, and the rest left unfinished, the works having
probably been interrupted by his death. The house was occupied as a tahsili
imder the English Government till the mutiny, when all the records were
transferred for greater safety to Chhat-i, which has ever since continued the
head of the pargana, and the house at Sahar is now unoccupied and falhng
into ruin. He married into a family seated at Kamar, near Kosi, where also
is a large masonry tank, and in connection with it a walled garden con-
taining three Chhattris in memory of Chaudhari Maha Ram, Jat, and his wife
and child. The Chaudhari was the Thakurani's brother, and it appears that
her kinsmen were people of considerable wealth and importance, as the Castle
Hill at Kamar is still crowned with several imposing edifices of brick and stone
where they once resided. For some years before his death, Thakur Badan
Sinh had retired altogether from public life. To one of his younger sons,
by name Pratap Sinh,^ he had specially assigned the newly erected fort at
Wayar, south-west of Bharat-pur, vnth. the adjoining district; while the remain-
der of the Jat principality was administered by the eldest son, Siiraj Mai. On
his father's death, Suraj Mai assumed the title of Raja, and fixed his ca-
pital at Bharat-pur, from which place he had ejected the previous Governor,
a kinsman, by name Khema. The matrimonial alliances which he contracted
indicate his inferiority to the Rajput princes of the adjoining territories,
for one of his wives was a Kurmin, another a Malin, and the remainder
of his own caste, Jatnis. Yet, even at the commencement of his rule,
he had achieved a conspicuous position, since, in 1748, we find him accept-
ing the invitation of the Emperor Ahmad Shah to join with Holkar, under the
general command of the Vazir Safdar Jang, in sujipressing the revolt of the
Rohillas. In the subsequent dispute that arose between Safdar Jang and
Ghazi-ud-din, the grandson of the old Nizam, the former fell into open rebel-
^ Two other sons were named tiobha Ram and I3ir Narayau.

24 PAJA SURAJMA L.

lion and called in the assistance of the Jats, while his rival had recourse to the
Mahrattas. Safdar, seeing the coalition against him too strong, withdrew to
his vicero3\alty of Audh, leaving Siirnj Mai to bear alone the brunt of the battle.
Bharat-pur was besieged, but had not been invested many days when Ghazi-
iid-din, suspecting a secret understanding between his nominal allies, the Mah-
rattas and the Emperor, discontinued his operations against the Jats and re-
turned hastily to Delhi, where he deposed Ahmad Shah, and raised Alaragir
II. to the throne in his stead. This Avas in 1754. Three years later, when
the army of Ahmad Shah Durani, from Kandahar appeared before Delhi,
Ghazi-ud-din, by Avhose indiscretion the invasion had been provoked, was
admitted to pardon in consideration of the heavy tribute which he undertook
to collect from the Doab. Sardiir Jahan Khan was despatched on a like er-
rand into the Jat territory, but finding little to be gained there, as the entire
populace had withdrawn into their numerous petty fortresses, and his foraging
parties were cut off by their sudden sallies, he fell back upon the city of Ma-
thura, which he not only plundered of all its wealth, but further visited with
a Avholesale massacre of the inhabitants. In the second invasion of the Durani,
consequent upon the assassination of the Emperor Alamgir II., in 1759, the
infamous Ghazi-ud-din again appeared at the gates of Bharat-[)ur ; this time
not with a hostile army, but as a suppliant for protection. By his unnatural
persuasions a powerful Hindu confederacy was formed to oppose the progress
of the Muhammadan, but was scattered for ever in the great battle of Pani-
pat, in January, 1761, when the dreams of Maliratta supremacy were finally
dissolved. Siiraj Mai, foreseeing the inevitable result, withdrew his forces
before the battle, and falling unexpectedly upon Agra ejected from it the gar-
rison of his late allies and adopted it as his own favourite residence. Mean-
while, Shah Alam was recognized by the Durani as the rightful heir to the
throne, but continued to hold his poor semblance of a Court at Allahabad ; and,
at Delhi, his son Mi'rza Jawau Bakht was placed in nominal chai'ge of the
Government under the active protectorate of the Kohilla, Najib-ud-daula. With
this administrator of imperial power, Siiraj Mai, emboldened by past success,
now essayed to try his strength. He put forth a claim to the Faujdiirship of
Farrukh-nagar ; and when the envoy, sent from Delhi to confer with him on the
subject, demurred to the transfer, he dismissed him most unceremoniously and
at once advanced with an army to Shahdara on the Hindun, only six miles from
the capital. Here, in bravado, he was amusing himself in the chase, accom-
panied by only his personal retinue, when he was surprised by a flying squadron
of the enemy and put to death. His army coming leisurely up behind under
the command of his son Jawaliir Sinh, was charged by the Mughals, bearing
the head of Siiraj Mai on a horseman's lance as their standard, the first indi-
cation to the sou of his father's death. The shock was too much for the Jats,

EA.TA JAWAHIR SINH. 25

wlio were put to fliglit, Ijut still contiuued for tbree months hovei'lng about
Delhi in concert with Holkar. This was in 1764.*

In spite of this temporary discomfiture, the Jats were now at the zenith
of their power ; and Jawahir had not been a year on the throne when he
resolved to provoke a quarrel with the Raja of Jaypur. Accordingly, without
any previous intimation, he marched his troops through Jaypur territory with
the ostensible design of visiting the holy lake of Pushkara. There his vanity
was gratified by the sovereign of Marwar, Raja Bijay Sinh, who met him
on terms of brotherly equality; but he received warning from Jaypur that
if he passed through Amber territory on his return, it would be considered
a hostile aggression. As this was no more than he expected, he paid no
regard to the caution. A desperate conflict ensued on his homeward route
(17G5 A.D.), which resulted in the victory of the Kachhwahas, but a victory
accompanied with the death of almost every chieftain of note. Soon after,
Jawahir Sinh was murdered at Agra, at the instigation, as is supposed, of the
Jaypur Raja.

Sui-aj Mai had left five sons, viz., Jawahir Sinh, Ratn Sinh, Naval Sinh, and
Ranjit Sinh, and also an adopted son, Hardeva Bakhsh, whom he is said to
have picked up in the woods one day when hunting. On the death of Jawahir,
Ratn succeeded, but his rule was of very short duration. A pretended alchemist
from Brinda-ban had obtained large sums of money from the credulous prince
to prepare a process for the transmutation of the meaner metals into gold. When
the day for the crucial experiment arrived, and detection had become inevitable,
he assassinated his victim and fled.

His brother, Naval Sinh, succeeded, nominally as guardian for his infant
nephew Kesari, but virtually as Raja. The Mahrattas had now (1768) reco-
vered from the disastrous battle of Panipat, and re-asserting their old claim
to tribute, invaded first Jaypur and then Bharat-pur and mulcted both territo-
ries in a very considerable sum. They then entered into an understandino-
with the Delhi Government, which resulted in the restoration of Shah Alam to
his ancestral capital. But as the only line of policy which they consistently
maintained was the fomentation of perpetual quarrels, by which the strength
of all parties in the State might be exhausted, they never remained long faith-
ful to one side ; and, in the year 1772, we find them fighting with the Jats
against the Imperialists. Naval Sinh, or, according to some accounts, his bro-
ther and successor, Raujit Sinh, laid claim to the fort of Ballabh-garh, held by
another Jat chieftain. The latter applied to Delhi for help, and a force was
despatched for his relief ; but it was too weak to resist the combined armies

* A magnificent cenotaph was erected by Jawahir Sinh in honour of his father, on the mar-
gin of the KuBum Sarovar, an artificial lake a short distance from Golxardhan, and will be des-
cribed in conaection with that town.

26 KAJA RANjfT SINH.

of Sindbia and Bliarat-pnr, and was driven back in disorder. Tbe Mabrattas
tben pusbed on to Delbi, but finding the Commander-in-Chief, Niyaz Khan, ready
to receive them, they, with incomparable versatiHty, at once made terms with him
and even joined him in an expedition to Rohilkhand. Meanwhile, the Jdts, thus
lightly deserted, espoused the cause of Najafs unsuccessful rival, Zabita Khan.
But this Avas a most illjudged move on their part : their troops were not only
repulsed before Delhi, but their garrison was also ejected from Agra,* which
they had held for the last 13 years since its occupation by Siiraj Mai after the
battle of Panipat in 1701. From Agra the Vazir Najaf Khan hastily returned
in the direction of the capital, and found Ranji't Sinh and the Jats encamped
near Hodal. Dislodged from this position, they fell back upon Kotban and
Kosi, which they occupied for nearly a fortnight, and then finally withdrew
towards Dig ; but at Barsana wore overtaken by the Vazir and a pitched battle
ensued. The Jat infantry, 5,000 strong, were commanded by Sumroo, or,
to give him his proper name, Walter Reinhard, an adventurer who had first
taken service under Ranjit's father, Siiraj Mal.f Tlie ranks of the Imperialists
were broken by his gallant attack, and the Jats feeling assured of victory were
following in reckless disorder, when the enemy rallied from their sudden panic,
turned upon their pursviers, who were too scattered to offer any solid resis-
tance, and effectually routed them. They contrived, however, to secure a
retreat to Dig,$ while the town of Barsana, which was then a very wealthy
place, was given over to plunder, and several of the stately mansions recently
erected almost destroyed in the search for hidden treasure. Dig Avas not
reduced till March of the following year, 1776, the garrison escaping to the
neighbouring castle of Kumbhir. The value of the spoil taken is said to have
amounted to six lakhs of rujx^es. The whole of the country also was reduced
to subjection, and it was only at the intercession of the Rani Kishori, the
widow of Suraj Ma],§ that the conquei-or allowed Ranjit Sinh to retain the
fort of Bharat-pur with an extent of territory yielding an annual income of
nine lakhs.

* The comiiiamler of the Jat garrison ia Agvu was Dau Sahay, brother-iu-law (sdla) of
Naval Sinh,

f In the following year he established himself as a petty sovereign atSirdhana; where, after
his death, which occurred in 1778, as appears from the inscription on his tomb in the old cemetery
at Afjra, his widow, the Begam, who hid been received into the Catholic Church aiid baptized
in 1781, founded a cathedral and native seminary, which are still in existence ; though the for-
mer has ceased to be the seat of a bishop, and the latter has never yet supplied a candidate for
holy orders.

% According to local tradition, Naval Sinh died some 20 days after the battle of
Barsana.

§ Tliere is h little doubt as to the names of the different Bharat-pur Rauis. They are some-
times given as follows : the U:ini of Siiraj Mai, Svariipi ; the Ranis of Ranjit Sinh, Ganga and
Kishori ; the Rani of Randhir Sinh, Laksumi.

GHULAM KADIR. 27

In 1782, the great minister, Najaf Khan, died ; and in 1786 Sindhia, who
had been recognized as his successor in the administration of the empire, pro-
ceeded to demand arrears of tribute from the Rajputs of Jaypur. His claim
was partly satisfied ; but finding that he persisted in exacting the full amount,
the Eajas of Jaypur, Jodh-pur and Uday-pur, joined by other minor chiefs,
organized a formidable combination against him. The armies met at Lalsot,
and a battle ensued which extended over three days, but Avithout any deci-
sive result, till some 14,000 of Sindhia' s infantry, who were in arrears of pay,
went over to the enemy. In consequence of this defection, the Mahratta
fell back upon the Jats, and secured the alliance of Ranjit Sinh by the res-
toration of Dig, Avhich had been held by the Emperor since its capture by
Najaf Khan in 1776, and the cession of eleven pargauas yielding a revenue
of ten lakhs of rupees. The main object of the new allies was to raise the
siege of Agra, which was then being invested by Ismail Beg, the Imperial
captain, in concert Avith Zabita Khan's son, the infamous Ghulam Kadir.
In a battle that took place near Fatihpur Sikri, the Jats and Mahrattas met
a repulse, and were driven back upon Bharat-pur ; but later in the same
year, 1788, being reinforced by troops from the Dakhin under Rana Khan,
a brother of the officer in command of tbe besieged garrison, they finally
raised the blockade, and the province of Agra again acknowledged Sindhia as
its master.

Ghulam Kadir had previously removed to Delhi and Avas endeavouring to per-
suade the Emperor to break off intercourse Avith the Mahrattas. Failing in this,
he dropped all disguise and commenced firing upon the palace, and having in a
few days taken possession of the city, he indulged in the most brutal excesses,
and after insulting and torturing his miserable and defenceless sovereign in every
conceivable Avay, completed the tragedy by, at last, Avith his OAvn dagger, robbing
him of his eye-sight. Sindhia, Avho had before been urgently summoned from
Mathura, one of his faA'ourite residences, on heai'ing of these horrors, sent a
force to the relief of the city. Ghulam Kadir, whose atrocities had disgusted
all his adherents, fled to Merath, and, endeavouring to escape from there at
night alone on horseback, fell into a Avell from Avhich he Avas unable to extricate
himself. There he Avas found on the folloAving morning by a Brahman peasant
by name Bhikha, who had him seized and taken to the Malu-atta camp. Thence
he was despatched to Sindhia at Mathura who first sent him through the bazar
on an ass with his head to the tail, and then had him mutilated of all his mem-
bers one by one, his tongue being first torn out, and then his eyes, and subse-
quently his nose, ears, and hands cut off^^ In this horrible condition he Avas
despatched to Delhi ; but to anticipate his death from exhaustion, AA'hich seemed
imminent, he Avas hanged on a tree by the roadside. It is said that his barbarous
treatment of the Emperor, for which he suffered such a condign penalty, Avas in

28 SIEGE OF BHARAT-PUR.

revenge for an injury inflicted upon liim when a handsome child by Shah Alam,
who converted him into a haram page.

On the termination of the Mahratta War in 1803, the British Government
concluded a treaty with Ranjit Sinh, who with 5,000 horse had joined General
Lake at Agra, and thereby contributed to Sindhia's defeat. In return for this
service he received a grant of the districts of Kishangarh, Kathawar, Rewari,
Gokul, and Sahar. After the battle of Dig in the following year, Holkar fled
for refuge to the fort of Bharat-pur, whither he was pursued by General Lake.
His surrender was demanded; but Ranjit refused to give him up. The fort
was thereupon besieged ; Ranjit made a memorable defence, and repelled four
assaults with a loss to the besiegers of 3,000 men, but finally made overtures
for peace, which were accepted on the 4th of May, 1805. A new treaty was con-
cluded, by which he agreed to pay au indemnity of twenty lakhs of rupees,
seven of which were subsequently remitted, and was guaranteed in the terri-
tories which he held previously to the accession of the British Government.
The parganas granted to him in 1803 were resumed.

Ranjit died that same year, leaving four sons, Randhir, Baladeva, Harideva,
and Laehhman. He was succeeded by the eldest, Randhir, who died in 1823,
leaving the throne to his brother, Baladeva.* After a rule of about 18 months
he died, leaving a son, Balavaut, then six years of age. He was recognized by
the British Government, but his cousin, Durjan Sal, who had also advanced
claims to the succession on Randhir's death, x'ose up against him, and had him
cast into prison. Sir David Ochterlony, the resident at Delhi, promptly moved
out a force in support of the rightful heir, but their march was stopped by a
peremptory order from Lord Amherst, who, in accordance with the disastrous
policy of non-interference which was then in vogue, considered that the recog-
nition of the heir apparent during the life of his father did not impose on the
Government any obligation to maintain him in opposition to the presumed
wishes of the chiefs and people. Vast preparations were made, with the secret
support of the neighbouring Rajput and Mahratta States, and at last, when the
excitement threatened a protracted war, the Governor-General reluctantly con-
firmed the eloquent representations of Sir Charles Metcalfe, and consented to
the deposition of the usurper. After a siege that extended over nearly six
weeks, Bharat-pur was stormed by Lord Oombermere on the 18th of January,
182G. Durjan Sal was taken pi'isoner to Allahabad, and the young Maharaja
established on the throne under tlio regency of his mother and the Superinten-
dence of a Political Agent.f He died in 1853, and was succeeded by his only

* Randhir Sinh and Baladeva Sinh are commemorated by two handsome chhattries ou the
margin of the Milnasi Gangd at Gobardhan.

f The Rani of Jialavant Sinh was a native of Dhadhu in the Sa'dabad Pargana, where is a
garden with a double chhattri erected by her iu memory of two of her rclativea.

NOTE TO CHAPTER II. 29

son, Jasavant Singh, the present sovereign, who enjoys a revenue of about
Rs. 21,00,000, derived from a territory of 1,974 square miles in extent, with a
population of 650,000.

NOTE TO CHAPTER 11.

In compiling this chapter, though I have always consulted the original
authorities, I have in many places based my narrative on Keene's Mughal
Empire ; as being a lucid sketch of a dreary and involved period. The book
however is strangely misnamed : a more appropriate and far more taking title
would have been " The Fall of the Mughal Empire."

CHAPTER III.

THE STORY OF KRISHNA, THE TUTELARY DIVINITY OF MATHURA.

Of all the sacred places in India, none enjoys a greater popularity than the
capital of Braj, the holy city of Mathura. For nine montlis in the year festival
follows upon festival in rapid succession, and the ghats and temples are daily
thronged with new troops of wayworn pilgrims. So great is the sanctity of
the spot that its panegyrists do not hesitate to declare that a single day spent
at Mathura is more meritorious than a lifetime passed at Banaras. All this
celebrity is duo to the fact of its being the reputed birthplace of the demi-god
Krishna ; henco it must be a matter of some interest to ascertain who this
famous hero was, and what were the acts by which he achieved immortality.

Tlie attempt to extract a grain of historical truth from an accumulation of
mythological legend is an interesting but not very satisfactory undertaking ;
there is always a risk tliat the fancied substantial residuum is in reality as
imaginary as the later development. However, reduced to simplest elements,
the stor'y of Krishna runs as follows : — At a very remote period, a branch of
the great Jadav clan settled on the banks of the Jamvma and made Mathura
their capital city. Here Krishna Avas born. At the time of his birth, Ugra-
sen, the rightful occupant of the throne, had been deposed by his own son,
Kansa; who, relying on the support of Jarasandha, King of Magadha, whose
daughter he had married, ruled the country with a rod of iron, outraging alike
both gods and men. Krishna, who was a cousin of the usurper, but had been
brought up in obscurity and employed in the tending of cattle, raised the stan-
dard of revolt, defeated and slew Kansa, and restored Ugrasen to the throne
of his ancestors. All authorities lay great stress on the religious persecution
that had prevailed under the tyranny of Kansa, from which fact it has been
surmised that he was a convert to Buddhism, zealous in the propagation of his
adopted faith, and that Krishna owes much of his renown to the gratitude of the
Brdhmans, who, under his championship, recovered their ancient influence. If
however 1000 B. C. is accepted as the approximate date of the Great War, in
which Krishna took part, it is clear that his contemporary, Kansa, cannot have
been a Buddhist, since the founder of that religion, according to the received
chronology, was not born till the year 598 B. C. Probably the struggle was
really between the votaries of fSiva and Yishuu ; hcucc Krishna, the apostle of

THE niSTOmCAL KRISHNA. 31

the latter faction, would find a natural enemy in the King of Kashmir, a coun-
try Avhere Saivism has always predominated. On this hypothesis, Kansa was
the conservative monarch, and Krishna the innovator, a position which has been
inverted by the poets, influenced by the political events of their own times.
To avenge the death of his son-in-law, Jarasandha marched an army against
Mathura, and was supported by the powerful king of some western country, who
is thence styled Kala-Yavana : Yavana in Sanskrit corresponding to the Arabic
Yiinan (Ionia), and, like Vilayat in the modern vernacular, denoting any foreign
and specially any western country. The actual personage was probably the
King of Kashmir, Gonarda I., who is known to have accompanied Jarasandha ;
though the description would be more applicable to one of the Bactrian sover-
eigns of the Panjab. It is true they had not penetrated into India till some
hundreds of years after Krishna ; but their power was well established at the
time when the Mahabharat was written to record his achievements : hence the
anachronism. Similarly, in the Bhagavat Puriina, which was written after the
Muhammadan invasion, the description of the Yavana king is largely coloured
by the author's feelings towards the only western power with which he was
acquainted. Originally the word denoted the Greeks, and the Greeks only.
But the Yavanas were the foremost, the most di-eaded of the Mlechhas {i. e.
Barbarians), so that Yavana and Mlechha became synonymous. "When the
Muhammadans trod in the steps of the Greeks, they became the chief Mlech-
has, consequently Yavanas. Krishna eventually found it desirable to abandon
Mathura, and with the whole clan of Yadavs retired to the Bay of Kachh.
There he founded the flourishing city of Dwaraka, Avhich at some later period
was totally submerged in the sea. While he was reigning at Dwaraka, the
great war for the throne of Indraprastha (Delhi) arose between the five sons of
Paudn and Durjodhan, the son of Dhritarashtra. Krishna allied himself Avith
the Pandav princes, who were his cousins on the mother's side, and was the
main cause of their ultimate triumph. Before its commencement Krishna
had invaded Magadha, marching by a circuitous route through Tirhut, and
so taking Jarasandha by surprise ; his capital was forced to surrender, and
he himself slain in battle. Still, after his death, Kama, a cousin of Krishna's,
of illegitimate birth, was placed on the throne of Mathura, and maintained
there by the influence of the Kauravas, Krishna's enemies, a clear proof that
the latter's retirement to Dwaraka was involuntary.

Whether the above narrative has or has not any historical foundation, it is
certain that Krishna was celebrated as a gallant warrior prince for many ages
before he was metamorphosed into the amatory swain who now, under the title
of Kanhaiya, is worshipped throughout India. He is first mentioned in the
Mahabharat, the most voluminous of all Sanskrit poems, consisting in the
printed edition of 91,000 couplets. There he figures simply as the King of

32 LEGENDARY AUTHORITIES.

Dwdraka and ally of the Ptindavs ; nor in the whole length of the poem, of which
he is to a great extent the hero, is any allusion Nvhatever made to his early
hfe, except in one disputed passage. Hence it may be presumed that his boyish
frolics at Mathura and Brinda-ban, which now alone dwell in popular memory,
are all subsequent inventions. They are related at length in the Harivansa,
which is a com})aratively modern sequel to the Mahabharat,* and Avith still
greater circumstantiality in some of the later Puranas, which probably date
no further back than the tenth century after Christ. So rapid has been the
development of the original idea when once planted in the congenial soil of the
sensuous east, that Avhile in none of the more genuine Puranas, even those
specially devoted to the inculcation of Vaishnava doctrines, is so much as the
name mentioned of his favourite mistress, Radha, she now is jointly enthroned
with him in every shrine, and claims a full half of popular devotion. Among
ordinary Hindus the recognized authority for his life and exploits is the
Bhao-avat Purana,t or rather its tenth book, which has been translated into
every form of the modern vernacular. The Hindi version, entitled the Prem
Sagar, is the one held in most repute. In constructing the following legend
of Krishna, in his popular character as the tutelary divinity of Mathura, the
Vishnu Purana has been adopted as the basis of the narrative, while many
sup})lementary incidents have been extracted from the Bhagavat, and occa-
sional references made to the Harivansa.

In the days when Kama was king of Ajodhya, there stood near the bank of
the Jamuna a dense forest, once the stronghold of the terrible giant Madhu,
who called it after his own name, Madhu-ban. On his death it passed into
the hand of his son, Lavana, who in the pride of his superhuman strength sent
an insolent challenge to Rama, provoking him to single combat. The god-like
hero disdained the easy victory for himself, but, to relieve the world of such an
oppressor, sent his youngest brother, Satrughna, who vanquished and slew the
giant, hewed dow^n the wood in which he had entrenched himself, and on its
sitel founded the city of Mathura. The family of Bhoja, a remote descend-
ant of the great Jadu, the common father of all the Jadav race, occupied the
throne for many generations. The last of the line was King Ugrasen. In his

• Though many episodes of later date have been interpolated, the composition of the main
body of the Mahabharat may with some confidence be referred to the second or third century
before Christ.

f The B'.iiigavat is written in a more elegant style than any of the other Puranas, and is
traditionally ascribed to the grammarian Bopadeva, who flourished at the Court of Hemadri,
Eaji'i of Dcvagiri or Daulatabad, in the twelfth or tliirteeuth ccntTiry after Christ.

X The present Madhu-ban is in the village of Maholi, some five miles from Mathura and
the bank of the Jamuna. Tlie site, however, as now recognized must be very ancient, since it is
evident that the f>an has given its name to the village : Maholi being a corruption of the original
form, Madhupui'i.

THE BIRTH OF KRISHNA. 33

house Kansa was born, and was nurtured by the King as his o-wn son, though
in truth he had no earthly father, but was the great demon Kalauemi incar-
nate. As soon as he came to man's estate he deposed the aged monarch,
seated himself on the throne, and filled the city with carnage and desolation.
The priests and sacred cattle were ruthlessly massacred, and the temples of
the gods defiled with blood. Heaven was besieged with prayers for deliver-
ance from such a monster, nor were the prayers unheard. A supernatural
voice declared to Kansa that an avenger would be born in the person of the
eighth son of his kinsman, Vasudeva. Now, Vasudeva had married Devaki, a
niece of King Ugrasen, and was living away from the Court in retirement at the
hill of Gobardban. In the hope of defeating the prediction, Kansa immediately
summoned them to Mathura and there kept them closely watched.* From
year to year, as each successive child was born, it was taken and delivered to the
tyrant, and by him consigned to death. When Devaki became pregnant for
the seventh time, the embryo was miraculously transferred to the womb of
Rohini, another wife of Vasudeva, living at Gokul, on the opposite bank of
the Jamuna, and a report was circulated that the mother had miscarried from
the effects of her long imprisonment and constant anxiety. The child thus
marvellously preserved was first called Sankarshanat but afterwards received the
name of Balaram or Baladeva, under which he has become famous to all posterity.

Another year elapsed, and on the eighth of the dark fortnight of the month
of Bhadont Devaki was delivered of her eighth son, the immortal Krishna.
Vasudeva took the babe in his arms, and, favoured by the darkness of the night
and the direct interposition of heaven, passed through the prison guards, who
were charmed to sleep, and fled with his precious burden to the Jamuna. It
was then the season of the rains, and the mighty river was pouring down a
wild and resistless flood of waters. But he fearlessly stepped into the eddying
torrent : at the first step that he advanced the wave reached the foot of
the child slumbering in his arms ; then, marvellous to relate, the waters were
stilled at the touch of the divine infant and could rise no higher§ and in a
moment of time the wayfarer had traversed the torrent's broad expanse and
emerged in safety on the opposite shore. || Here he met Nanda, the chief
herdsman of Gokul, whose wife Jasoda at that very time had given birth to a

• The site of their prison-house, called the Kara-grah, or luore commonly Janmbhumi, t.e,
* birth-place,' is still marked by a small temple in Mathura near the Potara Kund.

f Signifying ' extraction,' i.e., from his mother's womb.

X On this day is celebrated the annual festival in honour of Krishna's birth, called the Janm
Ashtami.

§ This incident is popularly commemorated by a native toy called Vasudeva, of which
great numbers are manufactured at Mathura. From the centre of a brass cup rises the
figure of a man carrying a child at his side, and if water is poured into the cup it cannot rise
«bove the child's foot, being then carried off by a hidden duct and running out at the bottom,

il The landing-place is still shown at Gokul and called ' Uttaresvar Ghat.'

34 KRISHNA AT GOKTJL.

daughter, no earthly child however, save in semblance, but the delusive power
Joganidra. Vasudeva dexterously exchanged the two infants and, returning,
placed the female child in the bed of Devaki. At once it began to cry. The
guards rushed in and carried it off to the tyrant. He, assured that it was the
very child of fate, snatched it furiously from their hands and dashed it to the
ground ; but how great his terror when he sees it rise resplendent in celestial
beauty and ascend to heaven, there to be adored as the great goddess Dtirga.*
Kansa started from his momentary stupor, frantic with rage, and cursing the
gods as his eneuiies, issued savage orders that every one should be put to death
who dared to offer them saci-ifice, and that diligent search should be made
for all young children, that the infant son of Devaki, wherever concealed,
might perish amongst the number. Judging these precautions to be sufficient,
and that nothing farther was to be dreaded from the parents, he set Vasudeva
and Devaki at liberty. The former at once hastened to see Nanda, who had
come over to Mathura to pay his yearly tribute to the king, and after congra-
tulating him on Jasoda's having presented him with a son, begged him to take
back to Grokul Rohini's boy Balaram and let the two children be brought up to-
gether. To this Nanda gladly assented, and so it came to pass that the two
brothers Krishna and Balaram spent the days of their childhood together at
Gokul, imder the care of their foster-mother Jasodd.

They had not been there long, when one night the witch Putana, hovering
about for some mischief to do in the service of Kansa, saw the babe Krishna
lying asleep, and took him up in her arms and began to suckle him with her
own devil' s-milk. A mortal child would have been poisoned at the first drop,
but Krishna drew the breast with such strength that her life's blood was drained
with the milk, and the hideous fiend, terrifying the whole countr}' of Braj with
her groans of agony, fell lifeless to the ground. Another day Jasoda had gone
down to the river-bank to wash some clothes, and had left the child asleep
under one of the wagons. He all at once Avoke up hungry, and kicking out
with his baby foot upset the big cart, full at it Avas of pans and pails of milk.
AVhen Jasoda came running back to see what all the noise was about, she
found him in the midst of the broken fragments quietly asleep again, as if
nothing had happened. Again, one of Kansa's attendant demons, by name
Trinavart, hoping to destroy the child, came and swept him off in a whirlwind;
but the child was too much for him and made that his last journey to Braj.t

The older the boy grew the more troublesome did Jasoda find him ; he would
crawl about everywhere on his hands and knees, getting into the cattle-sheds and

♦ The scene or this trausforraatiou is laid at the Jog Ghdt in Mathura, so called from the
child Joganidia.

fThc event is comrucmoratcd by a small cell at Mahfihan, in which the demou whirlwiad
is represented by a pair of cuoruioiis wings ovcrshadowiDg the infant Krishna.

KRISHNA AT BRINDA-BAN. 35

pulling the calves by their tails, upsetting the pans of milk and whev, sticking
his fingers into the curds and butter, and daubing his face and clothes all over ;
and one day she got so angry with him that she put a cord round his waist and
tied him to the great wooden mortar* while she went to look after her household
affairs. No sooner was her back turned than the child, in his efforts to get loose,
dragged away the heavy wooden block till it got fixed between two immense
Arjun trees that were growing in the courtyai-d. It was wedged tight only
for a minute, one more pull and down came the two enormous trunks with a
thundering crash. Up ran the neighbovu-s, expecting an earthquake at least, and
found the village half buried under the branches of the fallen trees, with the
child between the two shattered stems laughing at the mischief it had caused.f

Alarmed at these successive portents, Nanda determined upon removing to
some other locality, and selected the neighbourhood of Brinda-ban as affording
the best pasturage for the cattle. Here the boys lived till they were seven years
old, not so much in Brinda-ban itself as in the copses on the opposite bank of
the river, near the town of Mat ; there they wandered about, merrily disporting
themselves, decking their heads with plumes of peacock's feathers, stringing
long wreaths of wild flowers round their necks, and making sweet music Avith
their rustic pipes. | At evening-tide they drove the cows home to the pens,
and joined in frolicsome sports with the herdsmen's children under the shade of
the great Bhandir tree.§

But even in their new home they were not secure from demoniacal ag-
gression. When they had come to five years of age, and were grazing their
cattle on the bank of the Jamuna, the demon Bachhdsur made an open onset
against them.|| When he had received the reward of his temeritv, the demon

* From this incident Krishna derives his popular name of Damodar, fi-om dam, a cord, and
itdar, the body. The mortar, or utuhhala, is generally a solid block of wood, three or four feet
high, hollowed out at the top into the shape of a basin.

t The traditionary scene of all these adventures is laid, not at Gokul as might have been
anticipated, hut at Mahaban, which is now a distinct town, further inland. There are shown the
jugal arjun ki thaur, or site of the two Arjua trees, and the spots where Putaua, Trinavart, and
Sakatasur, or the cart-demon (for in the Bhagavat the cart is said to have been upset by the
intervention of an evil spirit), met their fate. The village of Koila, on the opposite bank, is said
to derive its name from the fact that the ' ashes' from Piitana's funeral pile floated down there ;
or that Vasudeva, when crossing the river and thinking he was about to sink, called out for
some one to take the child, saying ' Koile, koile.'

X From these childish sports, Krishna derives his popular names of Ban mdli, « the wearer
of a chaplet of wild flowers,' and Bansi-dhar and Murli-dhar, 'the flute-player.' Hence, too, the
strolling singers, who frequent the fairs held on Krishna's fete days, attire themselves in high-
crowned caps decked with peacocks' feathers.

§ The Bhandir-ban is a dense thicket of ber and other low prickly shrubs in the hamlet of
Chhahiri, a little above Mat. In the centre is an open space with a small modern temple and
well. The Bhandir bat is an old tree a few hundred yards outside the grove,

II This adventure gives its aame to the Baclili-bau near Bmmmt z^-^- -

36 Krishna's boyish exploits.

Bakasur tried tlio efficacy of stratagem. Transforming himself into a crane of
gigantic proportions he perched on the hill-side, and when the cowherd's chil-
dren came to gaze at the monstrous apparition, snapped them all up one after the
other. But Krislina made such a hot mouthful that he was only too glad to
drop him ; and, as soon as the boy set his feet on the ground again, he seized
the monster by his long bill and rent him in twain.

On another day, as their playmate Tosh* and some of the other children
were rambling about, they spied what they took to be the mouth of a great
chasm in the rock. It was in truth the expanded jaws of the serpent-king,
Aghdsur, and as the boys were peeping in he drew a deep breath and sucked
them all down. But Krishna bid them be of good cheer, and swelled his body
to such a size that the serpent burst, and the children stept out into the plain
uninjured. Again, as they lay lazily one sultry noon under a Kadamb tree,
enjoying their lunch, the calves strayed away quite out of sight.f In fact,
the jealons god Brahma had stolen them. When the loss was detected, all
ran ofp in different directions to look for them ; but Krishna took a shorter
plan, and as soon as he found himself alone, created other cattle exactly like
them to take their place. He then waited a little for his companions' return ;
but when no signs of them appeared, he guessed, as was really the case, that
they too had been stolen by Brahma ; so without more ado he continued the
work of creation, and called into existence another group of children identical
in appearance with the absentees. Meanwhile, Brahma had dropped off into
one of his periodical dozes, and waking up after the lapse of a year, chuckled
to himself over the forlorn condition of Braj, without either cattle or children.
But when he got there and began to look about hira^ he found everything
iust the same as before : then he made his submission to Krishna, and acknow-
ledged him to be his lord and master.

One day, as Krishna was strolling by himself along the bank of the Jamund,
he came to a deep pool by the side of which grew a tall Kadamb tree. He
climbed the tree and took a plunge into the water. Now, this lake was the
haunt of a savage dragon, by name Kaliya, who at once started from the
depth, coiled himself round the intruder, and fastened upon him with his poi-
sonous fangs. The alarm spread, and Nanda, Jasodd, and Balaram, and all
the neio-hbours came running, frightened out of their senses, and found Krish-
na still and motionless, enveloped in the dragon's coils. The sight was so ter-
rible that all stood as if spell-bound ; but Krishna with a smile gently shook off
the serpent's folds, and seizing the hooded monster by one of his many heads,
pressed it down upon the margin of the lake, and danced upon it till the poor

* Hence the name of the village Tosh in the Mathura parg-ana.

+ The scene of this adventure is laid at Khadira-ban, near Khaira. The khadira is a species
of acacia. The Sanskrit word assumes in Prakrit the form khaira.

ADVENTURES AT TAL-BAN AND BHADRA-BAN. 37

wretch was so torn and lacerated that his wives all came from their watery cells
and threw themselves at Krishna's feet and begged for mercy. The dragon
himself in a feeble voice sued for pardon ; then the beneficent divinity not only
spared his life and allowed him to depart with all his family to the island of Rama-
nak, but further assured him that he would ever hereafter bear upon his brow
the impress of the divine feet, seeing which no enemy would dare to molest him.*
After this, as the two boys were straying with their herds from wood to
wood, they came to a large palm-grove (tal-ban), where they began shaking
the trees to bring down the fruit. Now, in this grove there dwelt a demon,
by name Dhenuk, who, hearing the fruit fall, rushed past in the form of an
ass and gave Balaram a flying kick full on the breast with both his hind legs.
But before his legs could again reach the ground, Balaram seized them in his
powerful grasp, and whirling the demon round his head hurled the carcase on
the top of one of the tallest trees, causing the fruit to drop like rain. The
boys then returned to thoir station at the Bhandir fig-trees, and that very
night, while they were in Bhadra-banf close by, there came on a violent storm.
The tall dry grass was kindled b}' the lightning and the whole forest was in
a blaze. Off scampered the cattle and the herdsmen too, but Krishna called
to the cowards to stop and close their eyes for a minute. When they opened
them again, the cows were all standing in their pens, and the moon shone
calndy down on the waving forest trees and rustling reeds.

Another day Krishna and Balaram were running a race up to the Bhandir
tree with their playmate Sridama, when the demon Pralamba came and
asked to make a fourth. In the race Pralamba was beaten by Balaram, and so,
according to the rules of the game, had to carry him on his back from the goal
to the starting point. No sooner was Balaram on his shoulders than Pralamba
ran off with him at the top of his speed, and recovering his proper diabolical
form made sure of destroying him. But Balaram soon taught him differently,
and squeezed him so tightly with his knees, and dealt him such cruel blows on
the head with his fists, that his skull and ribs were broken, and no life left in
the monster. Seeing this feat of strength, his comrades loudly greeted him
with the name of BalaramJ which title he ever after retained.

* One of the ghats at Brinda-ban is named in commemoration of this event Kali-mardan,
and the, or rather a, Kadamb tree is still shown there.

•f Bhadra-ban occupies a high point on the left bank of the Jamuna, some three miles above
Mat. With the usual fate of Hindi words, it is transformed in the official map of the district into
the Persian Bahddur-ban, Between it and Bhandir-ban, is a large straggling wood called mekh-
han. This, it is said, was open ground, till one day, many years ago, some great man encamped
there, and all the stakes to which his horses had been tethered touk root a d grew up.

% Balaram, under the name of Belus, is described by Latin writers as the Indian Hercules,
and said to be one of the tutelary divinities of Mathura ; a proof that the local cultus has a higher
antiquity than is sometimes allowed it.

38 KRISHNA AT GOBAKDIIAN.

But who so frolicsome as the boy Krishna ? Seeing the ftiir maids of Braj
performing their ahhitions in the Janiuna, he stole along the bank, and picking
up the clothes of which they had divested themselves, climbed up with them
into a Kadamb tree. There he mocked the frightened girls as they came shi-
vering out of the water ; nor would he yield a particle of vestment till all had
rann-ed before him in a row, and with clasped and uplifted hands most piteous-
ly entreated him. Thus the boy-god taught his votaries that submission to
the divine will was a more excellent virtue even than modesty.*

At the end of the rains all the herdsmen began to busy themselves in pre-
paring a great sacrifice in honour of Indra, as a token of their gratitude for the
refreshing showers he had bestowed upon the earth. But Krishna, who had
already made sport of Brahma, thought lightly enough of Indra's claims and
said to Nanda : — " The forests where we tend our cattle cluster round the foot
of the hills, and it is the sjiii-its of the hills that we ought rather to worship.
They can assume any shapes they please, and if we sHght them Avill surely
transform themselves into lions and wolves, and destroy both us and our
herds." The people of Braj were convinced by these arguments, and taking
all the rich gifts they had prepared, set out for Gobardhan, where they solemnly
circumambulated the mountain and presented their oflPerings to the new divi-
nity. Krishna himself, in the character of the mountain god, stood forth on
the highest peak and accepted the adoration of the assembled crowd, while
a fictitious image in his own proper person joined humbly in the ranks of the
devotees.

When Indra saw himself thus defrauded of the promised sacrifice, he was
very wroth, and summoning the clouds from every quarter of heaven bid them
all descend upon Braj in one fearful and unbroken torrent. In an instant
the sky was overhung with impenetrable gloom, and it was only by the vivid
flashes of lightning that the terrified herdsmen could see their houses and cattle
beaten down and swept away by the irresistible deluge. The ruin was but
for a moment ; with one hand Krishna uprooted the mountain from its base,
and balancing it on the tip of his finger called all the people under its cover.
There they remained secure for seven days and nights, and the storms of In-
dra beat harmlessly on the summit of the uplifted range ; while Krishna stood
erect and smiling, nor once did his finger tremble beneath the weight. When
Indra found his passion fruitless the heavens again became clear ; the people
of Braj stepped forth from under Gobardhan, and Krishna qiiietly restored it
to its original site. Then Indra, moved with desire to beliold and worship the
incarnate god, mounted his elephant Airavata and descended upon the plains of

* This popular incident is commemorated by tlie Chir Gliat at Siyara ; chir meaning clothes.
The same name is frequently given to the Chain Ghat at Briuda-bau, which is also so called
in the Vraja-hhakti-vilusa, written 1553 A.D.

KRISHNA AND THE GOPIS. 39

Eraj. There lie adored Krishna in his humble pastoral guise, and, saluting
him by the new titles of Upeudra* and Gobind, placed under his special
protection his own son the hero Arjun, who had then taken birth at Indra-
prastha in the family of Pandu.

When Krishna had completed his twelfth year, Nanda, in accordance with
a vow that he had made, went with all his family to perform a special devotion
at the temple of Devi. At night, when they were asleep, a huge boa-con-
strictor laid hold of Nanda by the toe and would speedily have devoured him ;
but Krishna, hearing his foster-father's cries, ran to his side and lightly set his
foot on the great serpent's head. At the very touch the monster was transform-
ed and assumed the figure of a lovely youth ; for, ages ago, a Ganymede of
heaven's court, by name Sudarsan, in the pride of beaiity aiid exalted birth, had
vexed the holy sage Angiras when deep in divine contemplation, by dancing
backwards and forwards before him, and by his curse had been metamorphosed
into a snake, in that vile shape to expiate his oifence until the advent of the
gracious Krishna.

Beholding all the glorious deeds that he had performed, the maids of Braj
could not restrain their admiration. Drawn from their lonely homes by the
low sweet notes of his seductive pipe, they floated around him in rapturous
love, and through the moonlight autumn nights joined with him in the circling
dance, passing from glade to glade in ever increasing ecstasy of devotion. To
whatever theme his voice was attuned, their song had but one burden — his per-
fect beauty ; and as they mingled in the mystic maze, with eyes closed in the
intensity of voluptuous passion, each nymph as she grasped the hand of her
partner thrilled at the touch, as though the hand were Krishna's and dreamed
herself alone supremely blest in the enjoyment of his undivided affection.
Badha, fairest of the fair, reigned queen of the revels, and so languished in the
heavenly delight of his embraces that all consciousness of earth and self was
obliterated, t

* The title Upendra was evidently conferred upon Krishna before the full development of
the Vaishnava School ; for however Pauranik writers may attempt to explain it, the only gram-
matical meaning of the compound is ' a lesser Ir.dra.' As Krishna has long been considered
much the greater god of the two, the title has fallen into disrepute and is now seldom used.
Similarly with ' Gobind;' its true meaning is not, as implied in the text, 'the Indra of cows,' but
simply ' a finder ' or ' tender of cows,' from the root ' vid.'

t Any sketch of Krishna's adventures would be greatly defective which contained no allu-
eion to his celebrated amours with the Gopis, or milkmaids of Braj. It is the one incident in
his life upon which modern Hindu writers love to lavish all the resources of their eloquence. Yet,
in the original authorities it occupies a no more prominent place in the narrative than that which
has been assigned it above. In pictorial representations of the 'circular dance,' or Rasmandal,
•whatever the number of the Gopis introduced, so often is the figure of Krishna repeated. Thus,
each Gopi can claim him as a partner, while again, in the centre of the circle, he stands in larger
form with his favourite Eddha.

40 THE ORIGIN OF KADHA-KUND.

One niglit, as tlie cLoir of attendant damsels followed through the woods the
notes of his wayward pipe, a lustful giant, by name Sankhchur, attempted to
intercept them. Then Krishna showed himself no timorous gallant, but cast-
ing crown and flute to the ground pursued the ravisher, and seizing him from
behind by his shaggy hair, cut oti' his head, and taking tl>e precious jewel which
he had worn on his front presented it to Balaram.

Yet once again was the dance of love rudely internipted. The demon
Arishta, disguised as a gigantic bull, dashed upon the scene and made straight
for Krishna. The intrepid youth, smiling, awaited the attack, and seizing him
by the horns forced down his head to the ground ; then twisting the monster s
neck as it had been a wet rag, he wrenched one of the horns from the socket
and with it so belaboured the brute that no life was left in his body. Then all
the herdsmen rejoiced ; but the crime of violating even the semblance of a bull
could not remain unexpiated. So all the sacred streams and places of pilgrim-
age, obedient to Krishna's summons, came in bodily shape to Grobardhan and
poured from their holy urns into two deep reservoirs prepared for the occasion.*
There Krishna bathed, and by the efficacy of this concentrated essence of sanctity
was washed clean of the pollution he had incurred.

When Kan saheai'd of the marvellous acts performed by the two boys at Brinda-
ban, he trembled with fear and recognized the fated avengers who had eluded all
his cruel vigilance and would yet wreak his doom. After pondering for a while
w^hat stratagem to adopt, he proclaimed a great tournay of arms, making sure
that if they were induced to come to Mathuni and enter the lists as combatants,
they would be inevitably destroyed by his two champions Chanur and Mushtika.
Of all the Jadav tribe Akrur was the only chieftain in whose integrity the tyrant
could confide; he accordingly was despatched with an invitation to Nanda and
all his family to attend the coming festival. But though Akrur started at once
on his mission, Kansa was too restless to wait the result: the demon Kesin,
terror of the woods of Brinda-ban, was ordered to try his strength against them
or ever they left their home. Disguised as a wild horse, the monster rushed
amongst the herds, scattering them in all directions. Krishna alone stood
calmly in his way, and when the demoniacal steed bearing down upon him
with wide-extended jaws made as though it would devour him, he thrust his
arm down the gaping throat and, with a mighty heave, burst the huge body
asunder, splitting it into two equal portions right down the back from nose to
tail.f

• These are the famous tanks of Hadluikund, which is the next village to Gohardhan.

f There are two kIkUb at IJrinda-han named after tliis adventure: the first Kesi Ghiit, where
the monster was slain ; the second Chain Ghat, where Krishna rested and bathed. It is from
this exploit, according^ to Pauranik etymology, that Krishna derives his popular name of Kesava,
The name, however, Is more ancient than the legend, and signifies simply the lung-hairid,
• crinitus,' or radiant— au appropriate epithet, if Krishna be taken for tlie Indian Apollo.

Krishna's return to mathura. 41

All unconcerned at this stupendous encounter, Krishna returned to his
childish sports and was enjoying a game of blind-man's buff when the demon
Byomasur came up in guise as a cowherd and asked to join the party. After
a little, he proposed to vary the amusement by a turn at wolf-and-goats, and
then lying in ambush and transforming himself into a real wolf he fell upon
the children, one by oue, and tore them in pieces, till Krishna, detecting his wiles,
dragged him from his cover and, seizing him by the throat, beat him to death.

At this juncture, Akriir* arrived with his treacherous invitation : it was at
once accepted, and the boys in high glee started for Mathurd, Nanda also, and
all the village encampment accompanying them. Just outside the city they
met the king's washerman and his train of donkeys laden with bundles of clothes
which he was taking back fresh washed from the river-side to the palace.
What better opportunity could be desired for country boys, who had never be-
fore left the woods and had no clothes fit to wear. They at once made a rush
at the bundles and tearing them open arrayed themselves in the finery just as
it came to hand, without any regard for fit or colour ; then on they went
again, laughing heartily at their own mountebank appearance, till a good tailor
called them into his shop, and there cut and snipped and stitched away till he
turned them out in the very height of fashion : and to complete their costume,
the mdli Sudama gave them each a nosegay of flowers. So going through
the streets like young princes, there met them the poor humped-back woman
Kubja, and Krishna, as he passed, putting one foot on her feet and one hand
under her chin, stretched out her body straight as a dart.f

In the courtyard before the palace was displayed the monstrous bow, the
test of skill and strength in the coming encounter of arms. None but a giant
could bend it ; but Krishna took it up in sport and it snapped in his fingers
like a twig. Out ran the king's guards, hearing the crash of the broken
beam, but all perished at the touch of the invincible child : not one survived
to tell how death was dealt.

When they had seen aU the sights of the city, they returned to Nanda, who
had been much disquieted by their long absence, and on the morrow all repaired
to the arena, where Kansa was enthroned in state on a high dais overlookino- the
lists. At the entrance they were confronted by the savage elephant Kuvalaya-
pida, upon whom Kansa relied to trample them to death. But Krishna, after
sporting with it for a while, seized it at last by the tail, and whirling it round
his head dashed it hfeless to the groimd. Then, each bearing one of its tusks
the two boys stepped into the ring and challenged all comers. Chanur was

* Akrur is the name of a hamlet between Mathura and Brinda-ban.

fKubja's well" in Mathura commemorates this event. It is on the Delhi Road, a little
beyond the Katra. Nearly opposite, a carved pillar from a Buddhist railing has been set up and
is worshipped as Parvati.

42 THE DEATH OF KANSA.

matched against Krishna, Mushtika against Balaram. The struggle was no sooner
begun than ended : both the king's champions were thrown and rose no more.
Then Kansa started from his throne, and cried aloud to his guards to seize and
put to death the two rash boys with their father Vasudeva — for his sons he
knew they were — and the old King Ugrasen. But Krishna with one bound
sprung upon the dais, seized the tyrant by the hair as he vainly sought to fly,
and hurled him down the giddy height upon the sand below.* Then they drag-
ged the lifeless body to the bank of the Jamuna, and there by the water's edge
at last sat down to ' rest,' whence the place is known to this day as the Visrant
Ghat.f Now that justice had been satisfied, Krishna was too righteous to insult
the dead ; he comforted the widows of the fallen monarch, and bid them cele-
brate the funeral rites with all due form, and himself applied the torch to the
pyre. Then Ugrasen was reseated on his ancient throne, and Mathura once more
knew peace and security.

As Krishna was determined on a lengthened stay, he persuaded Nanda to
return alone to Brinda-ban and console his foster-mother Jasoda with tidings of
his welfare. He and Balaram then underwent the ceremonies of caste-initia-
tion, which had been neglected during their sojourn with the herdsmen ; and^
after a few days, proceeded to Ujjayin, there to pursue the prescribed course of
study under the Kasya sage Sandipani. The rapidity with which they mastered
every science soon betrayed their divinity; and as they prepared to leave, their
instructor fell at their feet and begged of them a boon, namely, the restoration
of his son, who had been engulfed by the waves of the sea when on a pilgrim-
ao-e to Prabhasa. Ocean was summoned to answer the charge, and taxed the
demon Panchajana with the crime. Krishna at once plunged into the unfathom-
able depth and dragged the monster lifeless to the surface. Then with Bala-
ram he invaded the city of the dead, and claimed from Jama the Brahman's
son, whom they took back with them to the light of day and restored to his
enraptured parents. The shell in which the demon had dwelt (whence his title
Sankhasur) was ever thereafter borne by the hero as his special emblem^ under
the name of Panchajanya.

* Kansa's Hill and the Rang-Bhumi, or ' arena, ' with an image of Rangesvar Mahadeva,
where the bow was broken, the elephant killed, and the champion wrestlers defeated, are stiM
sacred sites immediately outside the city of Mathura, opposite the new dispensary.

t The Visrant Ghat, or Resting Ghat, is the most sacred spot in all Mathura. It occupies
the centre of the river front, and is thus made a prominent object, though it has no special
architectural beauty.

X The legend has been inrentcd to explain why the Sankha, or conch-shell, is employed
as a religious emblem : the simpler reason is to be found In the fact of its constant use as an aux-
iliary to temple worship. In conseriuencc of a slight similarity in the name, this incident i»
popularly connected with the village of Sonsa in the Mathurd Pargana, without much rcgaril
to theexigencics of the narrative, since Prabhasa, where Panchajana was slain, is far away on the
shore of the Western Ocean in Gnjarat.

THE SIEGE OF MATHUKA. 43

Meanwhile, the widows of King Kansa had fled to Magadha, their native
land, and implored their father, Jarasandha, to take up arms and avenge their
murdered lord. Scarcely had Krishna returned to Mathura from Banaras,
when the assembled hosts invested the city. The gallant prince did not wait
the attack; but, accompanied by Balaram, sallied forth, routed the enemy and
took Jarasandha prisoner. Compassionating the utterness of his defeat, they
allowed him to return to his own country, where, unmoved by the generosity
©f his victors, he immediately began to raise a new army on a still larger scale
than the preceding, and again invaded the dominions of Ugrasen. Seventeen
times did Jarasandha renew the attack, seventeen times was he repulsed by
Krishna. Finding it vain to continue the struggle alone, he at last called to
his aid King Kala-yavana,* who with his barbarous hordes from the far west
bore down upon the devoted city of Mathura. That very night Krishna bade
arise on the far distant shore of the Bay of Kachh the stately Fort of Dwaraka,
and thither, in a moment of time, transferred the whole of his faithful people :
the first intimation that reached them of their changed abode was the sound
of the roaring waves when they woke on the following morning. He then
returned alone to do battle against the allied invaders ; the barbarian king
was put to flight and his army annihilated ; but it was only by a stratagem
that Krishna and Balaram contrived to secure themselves from the fury of
the survivor. So Mathura fell into the hands of Jarasandha, who forth-
with destroyed all the palaces and temples and every memento of the former
dynasty, and erected new buildings in their place as monuments of his own
conquest.f

Thenceforth Krishna reigned with great glory at Dwaraka ; and not many
days had elapsed w'hen, fired with the report of the matchless beauty of the
princess Rukmini, daughter of Bhishmak, king of Kundalpur in the country
of Yidarbha, he broke in upon the marriage feast, and carried her off before
the very eyes of her betrothed, the Chanderi king Sisupal.f After this he
contracted many other splendid alliances, even to the number of sixteen thou-

* The soul of Kala-yavana is supposed in a second birth to have animated the body of the
tyrannical Aurangzeb.

t As Magadha became the great centre of Buddhism, and indeed derives its latter name
of Bihar from the numerous Viharas or Huddhist monasteries which it contained, its king Jara-
Bandha and his son-in-law Kansa, have been described by the orthodox writers of the Maha-
bbarat and Sri Bhagavat with all the animus they felt against the professors of that religion,
through in reality it had not come into existence till some 400 years after Jarasandha's death.
Thus the narrative of Krishna's retreat to Dwaraka and the subsequent demolition of Hindu
Mathura, besides its primary signification, represents also in mythological language the great
historical fact, attested by the notices of contemporary travellers and the results of recent anti-
quarian research, that for a time Brahmanism was almost eradicated from Central India and.
Buddhism established as the national religion.

t Sisopal was first cousin to Krishna 5 his mother, Srutadeva, being Vasudeva's sister.

44 CONNECTION OF KRISHNA WITH CHRIST.

sand and one hundred, and became the father of a hundred and eighty thou-
sand sons.* In the Great War he took up arms with his five cousins, the
Pandav princes, to terminate the tyranny of Duryodhan ; and accompanied by
Bhiraa and Arjuna, invaded Magadha, and taking Jarasandha by surprise, put
him to death and burnt his capital : and many other noble achievements did
he perform, which are written in the chronicles of Dwaraka ; but Mathur^
saw him no more, and the legends of Mathura are ended.

Attempts have been made to establish a connection between the legend of
Krishna and the earlier chapters of S. Matthew's Gospel. There is an obvi-
ous similarity of sound between the names Christ and Krishna; Herod's mas-
sacre of the innocents may be compared with the massacre of the children of
Mathura by Kansa ; the flight into Egypt with the flight to Gokul ; as Christ
had a forerunner of supernatural birth in the person of S. John Baptist, so
had Krishna in Balardm ; and as the infant Saviour was cradled in a manger
and first worshipped by shepherds, though descended from the royal house of
Judah, so Krishna, though a near kinsman of the reigning pi-ince, was brought
up amongst cattle and first manifested his divinity to herdsmen.! The in-
ference drawn from these coincidences is corroborated by an ecclesiastical tra-
dition that the Gospel which S. Thomas the Apostle brought with him to India
was that of S. Matthew, and that when his relics were discovered, a copy
of it was found to have been buried with him. It is, on the other hand, abso-
lutely certain that the name of Krishna, however late the full development of
the legendary cycle, was celebrated throughout India long before the Chris-
tian era; thus the only possible hypothesis is that some pandit, struck by the
marvellous circumstances of our Lord's infancy, as related in the Gospel, trans-
ferred them to his own indigenous mythology, and on account of the similarity
of name selected Krishna as their hero. It may be added that the Harivansa,
which possibly is as oldj as any of the Vaishnava Puranas, was certainly
written by a stranger to the country of Braj ;§ and not only so, but it further
shows distinct traces of a southern origin, as in its description of the exclu-
sively Dakhini festival, the Punjal : and it is only in the south of India that a

* These extravagant numl>er3 are merely intended to indicate the wide diffusion and power
of tlic great Jadava (vulgarly Jadon) clan.

f Hindu pictures of the infant Krishna in the arms of his foster-mother Jasodd, with a glory
encirclinfj the heads both of mother and child and a background of Oriental scenery, are indis-
tinguishable, except in name, from representations of Christ and the Madonna.

X It is quoted by BirunI (born 970, died 1038 A. D.) as a standard authority in hie
time.

§ The proof of this statement is that all his topographical descriptions are utterly irreconcil-
able with facts. Thus he mentions that Krishna and Balarama were brought up at a spot selected
by NanJaon the bank of the Jamuna near the hill of Gobardhan (Cauto 61). Now, Gobardhan is
some fifteen miles from the river ; and the neighbourliood of Gokula and Maha-bau, which all
other written authorities and also ancient tradition agree in declaring to have been the scene of

Krishna's deification. 45

Brdhman would be likely to meet with Christian traditions. But after all that
can be urged, the coiucidences, though curious, are too slight, in the absence
of any historical proof, to establish a connection between the two narratives :
probably they would uever have attracted attention had it not been for the
similarity of name ; and it is thoroughly established by literary criticism that the
two names had each an independent origin. Thus the speculation may be dis-
missed as idle and unfounded.

To many persons it will appear profane to institute a comparison between
the inspired oracles of Christianity and Hinduism. But if we fairly consider
the legend as above sketched, and allow for a slight element of the grotesque
and that tendency to exaggerate which is inalienable from Oriental imagina-
tion, we shall find nothing incongruous with the primary idea of a beneficent
divinity, manifested in the flesh in order to deliver the world from oppression
and restore the practice of true religion. Even as regards the greatest stumbhng
block, viz., the " Panchadyaya," or five chapters of the Bhagavat, which des-
cribe Krishna's amours with the Gopis, the language is scarcely, if at all,
more glowing and impassioned than that employed in " the song of songs, which
is Solomon's ;" and if theologians maintain that the latter must be mystical be-
cause inspired, how can a similar defence be denied to the Hindu philosopher ?
As to those wayward caprices of the child-god, for which no adequate explana-
tion can be assigned, the Brahman without any derogation from his intellect
may regard them as the sport of the Almighty, the mysterious dealings of an
inscrutable Providence, styled in Sanskrit terminology mdt/d, and in the lan-
guage of Holy Church sapientia — sapientia ludens omni tempoi'e^ ludens in orbe
terrarum.

NOTE TO CHAPTER III.

Though it can only be mentioned as a fanciful coincidence rather than as a
basis for soHd argument, another point of resemblance between Krishna and
our Lord may be found in the fact that his genealogy is popularly traced not
through the father, but through the mother. As the course of events in the
legend is much influenced by the relationship existing between the principal

Krishna's infancy, is several miles further distant from the ridge and on the other side of the
Jamuna. Again Tal-bau is described (Canto 70) as lying north of Gobardhan —

^^^m mj Ci|t if^ rrr^^^ hi^

It is south-east of Gobardhan and with the city of Mathura between it and Brinda-ban, though in
the Bhagavat it is said to be close to the latter town. So also Bhindir-ban is represented in the
Harivansa as being on the same side of the river as the Kali-Mardau Ghat, being iu reality nearly
opposite to it.

46 krtshna's genealogy.

characters, it may be convenient to subjoin in a concise form his table of descent
on either side : —

Descent of Krishna through his father Vasudeva, from the Siirajvansi Kshatriyas.

From the patriarch Ikshvaku, generated by a sneeze of the Supreme Being, descended at a
long interval Madliu, giant King of Madhu-vana.

Haryasva, banished King of Ajodliya,=Madhumati. Lavana, slain by

founder of Gobardhan. ,,,^1 Satrughna.

Madliava.

Bhima (annexes Mathura).

Andhaka.

I
Revati.

Visvagarbha.

I
Vasu, or Sura.

r I >

■Vasudeva=Devaki. The Sun-God=Pritha=Pandu. Suprabha=^naraa-Ghosha, Raja

or I or V^ of Chcdi.

Kunti. I Sruta-srava. \

— \ i ^ I

Krishna. Kama. Yudhiethir. Bhima. Arjuna. Sisupal.

Descent of Krishna through his mother Devahi from the Yddava clan of Soma-
vansi Kshatriyas.

Soma, the Moon-God, by Tara ' the bright star ' whom he stole away from Vrihaspati, had a
son Budlia, married to Ila. From this union sprang Pururavas=UrTasi, ' the dawn,'

Ayu3.

Nahusha.

Yayati.

Yadtt.

Vidarbha.

Andhaka.
Abhijit.
Ahuka.

Devaka. Ugrasen, King of Mathura.

Devaki==Vasudeva=Rohini. Kansa=Rajivalochana, daughter

of Jarasandha, King

J V_

Krishna=Rukmini, daughter of Bhishmaka, Balalama=Revati. of Magadha.

I King of Vid=irbha.

rradyumna==a daughter of Rukmin, the brother of Rukmini.

Aniruddha==Usha.

Vajra, who is generally said (o have been crowned King of Matliura on Krishna's doath. But
this belief rests on a verse in the Vishnu I'uraiia, wlicrc for ^Matliurii other MSS. — preferably as it
would seem from the context — read Indra-prastha, or llastinapura. The more unscientific native
philologerB are disposed to derive from Vajra the name of the country, Vraja (Braj).

CHAPTER IV.

THE BRAJ-MANDAL AND THE BAN-JATRA.

Not only the city of Mathura, but with it the whole of the western half
of the district, has a special interest of its own as the birth-place and abiding
home of Vaishnava Hinduism. It is about 42 miles in length, with an aver-
age breadth of 30 miles, and is intersected throughout by the river Jamuna.
On the right bank of the stream are the parganas of Kosi and Chhata, so
named after their principal towns, with the home pargana below them to the
south ; and on the left bank the united parganas of Mat and Noh-jhil, with
half the pargana of Maha-ban as fiir east as the town of Baladeva. This
extent of country is almost absolutely identical with the Braj-mandal of Hindu
topography ; the circuit of 84 kos in the neighbourhood of Gokul and Brinda-
ban ; where the divine brothers Krishna and Balaram gi-azed their herds.

The first aspect of the country is a little disappointing to the student of Sans-
krit literature, who has been led by the glowing eulogiums of the poets to antici-
pate a second vale of Tempe. The soil, being poor and thin, is unfavourable
to the growth of most large forest trees ; the mango and shisham, the glory
of the lower Doab, are conspicuously absent, and their place is most inade-
quately supplied by tl;e nim, faras^ and various species of the fig tribe. For
the same reason the dust in any ordinary weather is deep on all the thorouo-h-
fares, and if the slightest air is stirring rises in a dense cloud and veils the
whole landscape in an impenetrable haze. The Jamuna, the one great river of
Braj, during eight months of the year meanders sullenly a mere rivulet be-
tween wide expanses of sand, bounded by monotonous flats of arable land, or
high banks which the rapidly expended force of contributory torrents has
cracked and broken into ugly chasms and stony ravines, naked of all vegeta-
tion.

As the limits of Braj from north to south on one side are defined by the
high lands to the east of the Jamuna, so are they on the other side by the hill
ranges of Bharat-pur ; but there are few peaks of conspicuous height, and the
general outline is tame and unimpressive. The villages, though large, are
meanly built, and betray the untidiness characteristic of Jats and Gujars, who
form the bulk of the population. From a distance they are often picturesque,
being built on the slope of natural or artificial mounds, and thus gaining dio--
nity by elevation. But on nearer approach they are found to consist of laby-
rinths of the narrowest lanes winding between tlie mud walls of large enclo-
sures, which are rather cattle-yards than houses. At the base of the hill is ordi-

48 CHARACTER OF THE SCENERY.

narily a broad circle of waste laud, studded with low trees, which afford grateful
shade and pasturage for the cattle; while the large pond, from which the earth
was dug to construct the village site, supplies them throughout the year with
water. These natural woods commonly consist of p'du, chhoyihar, and kadamb
trees, among which are always interspersed clumps of karil, with its leafless
evergreen t\vigs and bright-coloured flower and fruit. The pasenda, pdjyri,
ami, hinrfot, ajdn-rukh, gondi, harna, and dho also occur, but less frequently;
though the last-named, the Sanskrit dhava, at Barsana, clothes the whole of the
hillside. At sun-rise and sun-set the thoroughfares are all but impassable, as
the straggling herds of oxen and buffaloes leave and return to the homestead;
for in the straitened precincts of an ordinary village are stalled every night
from 500 or 600 to 1,000 head of cattle, at least equalling, often outnumbering,
the human population.

The general poverty of the district forms the motif o? iho following popular
Hindi couplet, in which Krishua's neglect to enrich the land of his birth with
any choicer product than the karil, or wild caper, is cited as an illustration of
his wilfulness :

^1^^ ^ T[^^ cRTT 33 ^^ ^1 TTTTW II

which may be thus done into English :

Krishna, you see, will never lose his wayward whims ami vapours ;
For Kabul teems with luscious fruit, while Braj boasts only capers.

In the rains, however, at which season of the year all pilgi-images are made,
the Jamuna is a mighty stream, a mile or more broad ; its many contributory
torrents and all the ponds and lakes with which the district abounds are filled to
overflowing; the rocks and hills are clothed with foliage, the dusty plain is trans-
formed into a green sward, and the smiling prospect goes ftxr to justify the warm-
est panegyrics of the Hindu poets, whose appreciation of the scenery, it mustbe
remembered, has been further intensified by religious enthusiasm. Even at all
seasons of the year the landscape has a quiet charm of its own ; a sudden turn
in the winding lane reveals a grassy knoll with stonc-biiilt well and overhang-
ing pipal ; or some sacred grove, where gleaming tufts of kaHl and the white-
blossomed anxsa weed are dotted about between the groups of weird pihi trees
with their clusters of tiny berries and strangely gnarled and twisted trunks,
all entangled in a dense undergrowth of prickly her and liins and chhonJcar;
while in the centre, bordered with flowering oleander and ?iivdra, a still cool lake
reflects the modest shrine and well-fenced bush of tulsi that surmount the raised
terrace, from which a broad flight of steps, gift of some thankful pilgrim from
afar, leads down to the water's edge. The most pleasing architectural works
in the district arc the large masonry tanks, which arc very numerous and often

LOCALIZATION OF LEGEKDS. 49

display excellent taste in design and skill in execution. The temples, though
in some instances of considerable size, are all, excepting those in the three
towns of Mathura, Brinda-ban and Gobardhan, utterly devoid of artistic merit.
To a very recent period, almost the whole of this large area was pasture and
woodland, and, as we have already remarked, many of the villages are still en-
vironed with belts of trees. These are variously designated as ghand, jhdrij
rakhyd, ban, or khandi* and are often of considerable extent. Thus, the Koki-
la-ban at Great Bathan covers 723 acres; the rakhyd at Kamar more than
1,000; and in the contiguous villages of Pisayo and Karahla the rakliyd and
kadamh-khandi together amount to nearly as much. The year of the great
famine, 1838 A. D., is invariably given as the date when the land began to bo
largely reclaimed ; the immediate cause being the number of new roads then
opened out for the purpose of affording employment to the starving population.
Almost every spot is traditionally connected with some event in the life of
Krishna or of his mythical mistress Radha, sometimes to the prejudice of an
earlier divinity. Thus, two prominent peaks in the Bharat-pur range are crowned
with the villages of Nand-ganw and Barsana ; of which the former is venerated
as the home of Krishna's foster-father Nanda, and the latter as the resi-
dence of Radha's parents, Vrisha-bhanu and Kirat.f Both legends are now as
implicitly credited as the fact that Krishna was born at Mathura ; while in
reality, the name JSTand-ganw, the sole foundation for the belief, is an ingenious
substitution for Nandisvar, a title of Maha-deva, and Barsana is a corruption
of Brahma-sanu, the hill of Brahma. Only the Giri-raj at Gobardhan was,
according to the original distribution, dedicated to Vishnu, the second person
of the tri-murti, or Hindu trinity; though now he is recognized as the tutelary
divinity at all three hill-places. Similarly, Bhau-gauw on the right bank of
the Jamuna, was clearly so called from Bhava, one of the eight manifestations
of Siva; but the name is now generally modified to Bhay-ganw, and is supposed to
commemorate the alarm (hhay) felt in the neighbourhood at the time when Nanda,
bathing in the river, was carried off by the god Varuna. A masonry landing-
place on the water's edge, called Nand-Ghat, with a small temple, dating only
from last century, are the foundation and support of the local legend. Of a
still more obsolete cultus, viz., snake-worship, faint indications may be detected
in a few local names and customs. Thus, at Jait, on the high-road to Delhi, an
ancient five-headed Naga, carved in stone, rises beside a small tank in the
centre of a low plain to the height of some four feet above the surface of the

* When the last term is used, the name of the most prevalent kind of tree is always added,
as for instance kadamb-khandi.

f Kirat is the only name popularly known in the locality, but in the Brahma Vaivarta
Purana it is given as Kalavati. It may also be mentioned that Vrisha-bhanu is always pro-
nounced Brikh-bhan.

50 EXPLANATION OF LOCAL NOMENCLATURE.

ground, while its tail was supposed to reach away to the Kali-mardan Ghat at
Brinda-ban, a distance of seven miles. A slight excavation at the base of tho
figure has, for a few years at least, dispelled the local superstition. So again,
at the village of Pai-gauw, a grove and lake called respectively Pai-ban and
Pai-ban-kund are the scene of an annual fair known as the Barasi Ndjd ji
mela. This is now regarded more as the anniversary of the death of a certain
Mahant ; but in all probabiHty it dates from a much earlier period, and the
village name would seem to be derived from the large offerings of milk (paijas)
with which it is usual to propitiate the Naga, or serpent-god.

Till the close of the 16th century, except in the neighbourhood of the one
great thoroughfare, there was only here and there a scattered hamlet in tlie
midst of unreclaimed woodland. The Vaishuava cultus then first developed
into its present form under the influence of the celebrated Bengali Gosains of
Brinda-ban; and it is not imj^robable that they were the authors of the Brahma
Vaivarta Punina,* the recognized Sanskrit authority for all the modern local
legends. From them it was that every lake and grove in the circuit of Braj
received a distinctive name, in addition to the some seven or eight spots which
alone are mentioned in the earlier Puranas. In the course of time, small vil-
lages sprung up in the neighbourhood of the different shrines, bearing the same
name with them, though perhaps in a slightly modified form. Thus the khadira-
han, or acacia grove, gives its name to the village of Khaira ; and the aiijan
pohhar, on whose green bank Krishna pencilled his lady's eye-brows with anjnn^
gives its name to the village of Ajuokh, occasionally written at greater length
Ajnokhari. Similarly, when Krishna's home was fixed at Nand-ganw and Ra-
dha's at Barsana, a grove half-way between the two hills was fancifully selected
as the spot where the youthful couple used to meet to enjoy the delights of
love. There a temple was built with the title of Radha-Raman, and the village
that grew up under it walls was called Sanket, that is, ' the place of assigna-
tion.' Thus we may readily fall in with Hindu pi'ejudices, and admit that
many of the names on the map are etymologically connected with events in
Krishna's life, and yet deny that those events have any real connection with
the spot; inasmuch as neither the village nor the local name had any existence
till centuries after the incidents occurred which they are supposed to comme-

* The Brahma Vaivarta Purdna is, as all critics admit, an essentially modern composition,
and Professor Wilson has stated his belief that it emanated from the sect of the Vallabhachiiris,
or Gosains of Gokul. Their great ancestor settled there about the year 1480 A. D. The popular
Dindi authority for Radha's Life and Loves is the Braj Bihis of Braj-vasi Das. The precise date
of the poem, sambat 1800, corresponding to 1743 A, D,, is given in the following line—

Another work of high repute is tho Sur Siigar of Sur Diis Ji (one of the disciples Of tlw
great religious teacher Ramdnaud) as edited and expanded by Krishndnand Vyasa.

JIYTHOLOGICAL DERIVATIONS. 51

morate. Tlie really old local names are almost all derived from the physical
character of the country, which has always been celebrated for its Avide extent
of pasture land and many herds of cattle. Thus Gokul means originally a herd
of kine ; Gobardhan a rearer of kine; Mat is so called from mat a milk-pail;
and Dadhi-ganw (contracted into Dah-ganw) in the Kosi Pargana, from dadhi,
* curds.' Thus, too, ' Braj ' in the first instance means ' a herd,' from the root
vraj ' to go,' in allusion to the constant moves of nomadic tribes. And hence
it arises that in the earliest authorities for Krishna's adventures, both Vraja and
Gokula are used to denote, not the definite localities now bearing those names,
but any chance spot temporarily used for stalling cattle ; inattention to this
archaism has led to much confusion in assigning sites to the various legends.
The word ' Mathura,' also, is probably connected with the Sanskrit root ma^A,
' to churn ;' the churn forming a prominent feature in all poetical descriptions
of the local scenery. Take, for example, the following lines from the Hari-
vansa, 3395 : —

3[mWTII^|c^ TT^Tl^Rm^^ li

" A fine country of many pasture-lands and well-nurtured people, full of
ropes for tethering cattle, resonant with the voice of the sputtering churn, and
flowing with butter-milk ; where the soil is ever moist with milky froth, and
the stick with its circling cord sputters merrily in the pail as the girls spin it
round."

And, again, in section 73 of the same poem —

^%2 "^ f^^^W TT37TlJKWTm II

" In homesteads gladdened by the sputtering churn."
In many cases a false analogy has suggested a mythological derivation.
Thus, all native scholars see in Mathura an allusion to Madhu-niathan, a title of
•Krishna. Again, the word Bathan is still current in some parts of India to
designate a pasture-ground, and in that sense has given a name to two exteu-
eive parishes in Kosi ; but as the term is not a familiar one thereabouts a
legend was invented in explanation, and it was said that here Balarama ' sat
down' (baithen) to wait for Krishna. The myth was accepted ; a lake imme-
diately outside the village was styled Bal-bhadra kund, was furnished with a
handsome masonry ghat by Rvip Earn, the Katara, of Barsana, and is now re ward-
ed as positive proof of the popular etymology which connects the place with
Balarama. Of Hup Ram, the Katara, further mention will be made in connec-
tion with his birth-place, Barsaua. There is scarcely a sacred site in the

52 EXTENT OF THE BRAJ MANDAL.

whole of Braj which does not exhibit some ruinous record, in the shape of
temple or tank, of his unbounded wealth and liberality. His descendant in
the fourth degree, a most worthy man, by name Lakshman Das, lives in a
corner of one of his ancestor's palaces and is dependent on charity for his
daily bread. The present owners of many of the villages which Riip Ram so
munificently endowed are the heirs of the Lalu Babu, of whom also an account
will be given further on.

In the Varaha Pui'ana, or rather in the interpolated section of that work
known as the Mathura Miihatmya, the Mathura Mandal is described as twenty
yojajias in extent.

n^ n^ ^t: ^ini w^^ ^lmri%: ii

" My Mathurji circle is one of twenty ijojans ; by bathing at any place
therein a man is redeemed from all his sins."

And taking the yojana as 7 miles and the kos as If mile, 20 yojanas would
be nearly equal to 84 kos, the popular estimate of the distance travelled by the
pilgrims in performing the Pari-krama or ' perambulation' of Braj. It is pro-
bable that if an accurate measurement were made, this would be found a very
rough approximation to the actual length of the way ; though liberal allow-
ance must be made for the constant ins and outs, turns and returns, which
ultimately result in the circuit of a not very wide-spread area. There can be
no doubt that the number 84, whicli in ancient Indian territorial divisions
occurs as frequently as a Hundred in English counties, and which enters largely
into every cycle of Hindu legend and cosmogony, was originally selected for
such general adoption as being the multiple of the number of months in the
year with the number of days in the week. It is therefore peculiarly appro-
priate in connection with the Braj Mandal; if Krishna, in whose honour the
perambulation is performed, be regarded as the Indian Apollo, or Sun-God.
Thus the magnificent temple in Kashmir, dedicated to the sun under the title of
Martand, has a colonnade of exactly 84 pillars.

It is sometimes said that the circle originally must have been of wider
extent than now, since the city of Mathura, which is described as its centre, is
more than 30 miles distant from the most northern point, Kotban, and only six
from Tarsi to the south ; and Elliot in his glossary quotes the following couplet
as fixing its limits : —

" On one side Bar, on aiiotlior Sona, on the third the town of Slirasen ; these
are the limits of the Braj Chauriisi, the Mathura circle."'

THE BAN-JATRA. 53

According to this authority the area has been diminished by one half ; as
Bar is in the Aligarh District ; Sotia, famous for its hot sulphur springs, is in
Gur-ganw ; while the ' Surasen ka ganw' is supposed to be Batesar,* a place of
some note on the Jamuna and the scene of a large horse fair held on the full moon
of Kartik. It might equally mean any town in the kingdom of Mathura, or even
the capital itself, as king Ugrasen, whom Krishna restored to the thone, is some-
times styled Siirasen. Thus, too, Arrian mentions Mathura as a chief town of
the Suraseni, a people specially devoted to the worship of Hercules, who may
be identified with Balarama : and Manu (II. 19.) clearly intends Mathura by
Surasenaf when he includes that country with Kuru-kshetra, Pauchala, and
Matsya, in the region of Brahmarshi, as distinguished, from Brahmavarta.
But though it must be admitted that the circle is sometimes drawn with a
wider circumference, as will be seen in the sequel to this chapter, still it is
not certain which of the two rests upon the better authority. In any case, the
lines above quoted cannot be of great antiquity, seeing that they contain the
Persian word hadd ; and, as regards the unequal distances between the city
of Mathura and different points on the circumference, it has only to be re-
membered that the circle is an ideal one, and any point within its outer verge
may be roughly regarded as its centre.

As the anniversary of Krishna's birth is kept in the month of Bhadon, it is
then that the perambulation takes place, and a series of melas is held at the dif-
ferent woods, where the rds-Uld is celebrated in commemoration of his sports with
the Gopis. The arrangement of these dances forms the recognized occupation of
a class of Brahmans very numerous in some of the villages, who are called Ras-
dharis, and have no other profession or means of livelihood. The number of sacred
places, woods, groves, ponds, wells, hills, and temples — all to be visited in fixed
order — is very considerable ; there are generally reckoned five hills, eleven rocks,
four lakes, eighty-four ponds and twelve wells ; but the twelve bans or woods,
and the twenty-four upabans or groves, are the characteristic feature of the
pilgrimage, which is thence called the Ban-jatra. The numbers 12 and 24 have
been arbitrarily selected on account of their mystic significance ; and few of the
local pandits, if required to enumerate either group off hand, would be able to
complete the total without some recourse to guess work. A little Hindi manual
for the guidance of pilgrims has been published at Mathura and is the popular

* Father Tieifenthaler in his Geography of India makes the following mention of Batesar
«' Lieu celebre et bien bati sur le Djemua, 28 milles d'Agra. Une multitude de peuple s'y ras-
semble pour se laver dans ce fleuve et pour cuKbrerunefoire en Octobre. On rend un culte ici
dans beaucoup de temples batis sur le Djemna, a Mahadeo tant revere de tout I'univers adonnca la
luxure; car Mahadeo est le Priape des anciena qn'encen«cnt ah quelle honte ! toutes les nations."

54 MADHU-BAN.

authority on the subject. Tlio compiler, hon^ever great his local knowledge and
priestly reputation, has certainly no pretensions to accuracy of scholarship. His
attempts at etymology ai*e, as a rule, absolutely grotesque, as in the two suffi-
ciently obvious names of Khaira (for Khadira) and Sher-garh (from Sher Shah),
the one of which he derives from khedna, ' to drive cattle,' and the other, still
more preposterously, from sihara, 'a marriage crown.' The list which he gives is
as follows, his fiiulty orthography in some of the words being corrected: —

The 12 Bans : Madhu-ban, Tal-ban, Kumud-bau, Bahula-ban, Kam-ban,
Khadira-ban, Brinda-ban, Bhadra-ban, Bhandir-bau, Bel-ban, Loha-ban and
Maha-ban.

The 24 Upabans : Gokul, Gobardhan, Barsana, Nand-ganw, Sanket, Para-
niadra, Aring, Sessai, Mat, Uncha-ganw, Khcl-ban, Sri-kund, Gandharv-ban,
Parsoh, Bilchhu, Bechh-ban, Adi-badri^ Karahla, Ajnokh, Pisayo, Kokila-ban,
Dadhi-ganw, Kot-ban and Baval.

This list bears internal evidence of some antiquity in its want of close cor-
respondence with existing facts ; since several of the places, though retaining
their traditionary repute, have now nothing that can be dignified with the
name either of wood or grove ; while others are known only by the villagers
in the immediate neighbourhood and have been supplanted in popular estima-
tion by rival sites of more easy access or greater natural attractions.

Starting from Mathura, the pilgrims make their first halt at Madhu-ban, in
the village of Maholi, some four or five miles to the south-west of the city.
Here, according to the Puranas, Rama's brother, Satrughna, after hewing down
the forest stronghold of the giant Madhu, founded on its site the town of
Madhu-puri. All native scholars regard this as merely another name for
Mathura, regardless of the fact that the locality is several miles from the river.
Awhile Mathura has always, from the earliest period, been described as situate
on its immediate bank. The confusion between the two places runs apparently
through the whole of classical Sanskrit literature ; as, for example, in the
Harivansa (Canto 95) we find the city founded by Satrughna distinctly called,
not Madhu-puri, but Mathura, which Bhima, the king of Gobardhan, is repre-
sented as annexing : — ■

w^^^ 2^T ^^ T]w^j^^=^^iTwm II

^^^ ^imrTI xi^ ^JlXl^lf%rTT r{^\ II

COURSE OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 55

" When Sumitra's delight, prince Satrughna, had killed Lavana, he cut
down the forest of Madhu, and in the place of that Madhu-ban founded the
present city of Mathura. Then, after Eama and Bharata had left the world,
and the two sons of Suraitra had taken their place in heaven, Bhima, in order
to consolidate his dominions, brought the city, which had formerly been inde-
pendent, under the sway of his own family."

Some reminiscence of the ancient importance of Maholi would seem to have
long survived ; for though so close to Mathura, it was, in Akbar's time and
for many years subsequently, the head of a local division. By the sacred
wood is a pond called Madhu-kund, and a temple dedicated to Krishna under his
title of Chatur-bhuj, where an annual mela is held on the 11th of the dark
fortnight of Bhddon.

From Maholi, the pilgrims turn south to Tal-ban, 'the palm grove,' where
Balarama was attacked by the demon Dhenuk. The village, in which it is
situated, is called Tarsi, probably in allusion to the legend; though locally the
name is referred only to the founder, one Tara Chand, a Kachhwaiia Thakur,
who in quite modern times moved to it from Satoha, a place a few miles off on
the road to Grobardhan. They then visit Kumud-ban, 'of the many water-lihes,'
in Uncha-ganw, and Bahuld-ban in Bati, where the sacred cow Bahula gored
to death the lion that dared to molest her, as is commemorated by the little
shrine of Bahula Gae, still standing on the margin of the Krishna-kund. They
next pass through the villages of Tos, Jakhin-gnnw and Mukharai, and ar-
rive at Radha-kund, where are the two famous tanks prepared for Krishna's
expiatory ablution after he had slain the bull, Arishta. Thence they pass on
to Grobardhan, scene of many a marvellous incident, and visit all the sacred
sites in its neighbourhood ; the village of Basai, where the two divine children
with their foster parents once came and dwelt (basde) the Kallol-kund by
the grove of Aring ; Madhuri-kund ; Mor-ban, the haunt of the peacock, and
Chandra-sarovar, 'the moon lake;' where Bi-ahma, joining with the Gopis
in the mystic dance, was so em-aptured with delight that, all unconscious of
the fleeting hours, he allowed the single night to extend over a period of six
months. This is at a village called Parsoli by the people, but which appears
on the maps and in the revenue-roll only as Muhammad-pur. The tank
is a fine octagonal basin with stone ghats, the work of Raja Nahr Sinh of
Bharat-pur. After a visit to Paitha, where the people of Braj ' came in '
(paithd) to take shelter from the storms of Indra under the uplifted range, they
pass along the heights of the Giri-raj to Anyor, ' the other side,' and so by
many saci-ed rocks, as Sugandhi-sila, Sinduri-sila and Sundar-sila, with its
temple of Gobardhan-nath to Gopal-pur, Bilchhu, and Ganthauli, where the
marriage 'knot' (gdnth) was tied, that confirmed the union of Eadha and
Krishna.

56 COURSE OF THE PILGRIMAGE.

Then, following the line of frontier, the pilgrims arrive at Kam-ban, now the
head-quarters of a tahsili in Bharat-pur territory, 39 miles from Mathura, with
the Luk-luk cave, where the bojs played blind-man's-buff; and Aghasur's cave,
where the demon of that name was destroyed ; and leaving Kanwaro-ganw,
enter again upoa British ground near the village of Uncha-gauw, with its ancient
temple of Baladeva, High on the peak above is Barsana, with its series of
temples dedicated to Larliji, where Radha was brought up by her parents, Brikh-
bhan and Kirat ; and in the glade below, Dohani-kund near Chaksauli, where
as Jasoda was cleansing her milk-pail (dohani) she first saw the youthful pair
together, and vowed that one day they should be husband and wife. There
too, is Prem Sarovar, or ' love lake,' where first the amorous tale was told ;
and Sankari Khor, ' the narrow opening ' between the hills, where Krishna lay
in anibush and levied his toll of milk on the Gopis as they came in from Gahvar-
ban, the ' thick forest' beyond. Next are visited Sanket, the place of assig-
nation ; Rithora, home of Chandravali, Radha's faithful attendant ; and Nand-
ganw, long the residence of Nanda and Jasoda, with the great lake Pan-Saro-
var, at the foot of the hill, where Krishna morning and evening drove his
foster-father's cattle to water Cpcln). Next in order come Karahla,* with its fine
Jcaclamh trees ; Kamai, where one of Radha's humble friends was honoured by a
visit from her lord and mistress in the course of their rambles ; Ajnokh,t
where Krishna pencilled his lady's eye-brows with anjan, as she reclined in
careless mood on the green sward ; and Pisayo,t where she found him fainting
with ' thirst,' and revived him with a draught of water. Then, still bearing due
north, the pilgrims come to Khadira-ban, 'the acacia grove,' in Khaira ; Kumar-
ban and Javak-ban in Jau, where Krishna tinged his lady's feet with the red
Javak dye, and Kokila-ban, ever musical with the voice of ' the cuckoo ' ; and so
arrive at the base of Charan Pahar in Little Bathan, the favoured spot, where the
minstrel god delighted most to stop and play his flute, and where Indra descend-
ed from heaven on his elephant Airavata, to do him homage, as is to this day
attested by the prints of the divine ' feet' (charan) impressed upon the rock.

• Karahla, or, as it is often spelt, Karhela, is locally derived, from /tar hilna, the movements
of the hamis in the rds Uld. At the village of Little Marna, a pond bears the same name —
karhela-kund — which is there explained as harm hilna, equivalent to pdp-mochan. But in the Main-
puri district is a large town called Karhal — the same word in a slightly modified form — where
neither of the above etymologies could hold. The name is more probably connected with a
Biinple natural feature, viz., the abundance of the karil plant at each place.

f Ajnokh, or, in its fuller form, Ajnokhari, is a contraction for Anjan-Fokhar, • the anjan
lake.'

{ BhukJw pisdi/o is, in the language of the country, a common expression for 'hungry and
thirsty.' But moat of these derivations are quoted, not for their philological value, but as show-
ing how thoroughly the whole country side is impregnated with the legends of Krishna, when
some allusion to hiru is detected in crery village name. In the Vraja-bhakti-vila;a, Pisayo is called
Pip;isa-vana.

COURSE OF THE PILGRIMAGE. ^ 57

They then pass ou through Dadhi-gaaw, where Krishna stayed behind to di-
vert himself with the milk-maids, having sent Baladeva on ahead with the
cows to wait for him at Bathan ; and so reach Kot-ban, the northernmost point
of the perambulation. The first village ou the homeward route is Sessai (a
hamlet of Hatana) where Krishua revealed his divinity by assuming the em-
blems of Narayan and reclining undor the canopying heads of the great serpent
Sesha, of whom Baladeva was an incarnation ; but the vision was all too high
a mystery for the herdsmen's simple daughters, who begged the two boys to
doff such fantastic guise and once more, as they were wont, join them in the
sprightly dance.* Then, reaching the Jamuna at Khel-ban by Shergarh,t
where Krishna's temples were decked with ' the marriage wreath' (sihajxi),
they follow the course of the river through Bihar-ban in Pir-pur, and by Chir-
ghat in the village of Si}ara, where the frolicsome god stole J the bathers'
'clothes' (cMr), and arrive at Nand-ghat. Here Nanda, bathing one night,
was carried oif by the myrmidons of the sea-god, Varuna, who had long been
lying in wait for this very purpose, since their master knew that Krishna
would at once follow to recov^er his foster-father, and thus, the depths of ocean
too, no less than earth, would be gladdened with the vision of the incarnate
deity. The adjoining village of Bhay-ganw derives its name from the 'terror'
(bhay) that ensued on the news of Nanda's disappearance. The pilgrims next
pass through Bachh-ban, where the demon Bachhasur was slain ; the two
villages of Basai, where the Gopis were first ' subdued ' (bas-di) by the power
of love ; Atas, Nari-semri,§ Chhatikra, and Akriir, where Kansa's perfidious
invitation to the contest of arms was received ; and wending their way beneath
the temple of Bhatrond, whei-e one day when the boys' stock of provisions
had run short some Brahmans' wives supplied their wants, though the husbands,
to whom application was first made, had churlishly refused, || and so arrive at
Briuda-ban, where many a sacred ghat and venerable shrine claim devout
attention.

* According to the Vishnu Puruiia, this transformation was not effected for the benefit
of the Gopis, but was a vision vouchsafed to Akriir on the bank of the Janiuuathe day he fetched
the toys from Brinda-ban to altenJ the tourney at Mathura.

f This is a curious specimen of perverted etymology illustrating the persistency with which
Hindus and Muhammadans each go their own way and ignore the other's existence. The towa
unquestionably derivei its name from a large fort, of which the ruins still remain, built by the
Emperor Sher Shah.

X In the Vishnu Pui'ana this famous incident is not mentioned at all.

§ A large fair, called the Nan Durg:i, is held at the village of Nari-Semri during the dark fort-
night of Chait, the commencement of the Hindu year. The sams^ festival is also celebrated at San-
chauli in the Kosi Pargana and at Nagar-Kot in Gui-ganw, though not on precisely the same days.

II To commemorate the event, a fair called the Bhatmela, is held on the spot, on the full-
moon of Kartik. Compare the st jry of David repulsed by the churlish Nabal, but afterwards
succoured by his wife Abigail.

58 END OF THE PILGRIMAGE.

The pilgrims then cross the river and visit the tangled thickets of Bel-ban
in Jahangir-pur ; the town of Mat with the adjoining woods of Bhadra-ban,
scene of the great conflagi-ation, and Bhandir-ban, where the son of Rohini first
received his distinctive title of Bala-riima, i. e., Rama the strong, in consequence
of the prowess he had displayed in vanquishing the demon Pralamba ; Dangoli,
where Krishna dropt his ' staff' (dang)* and the fair lake of Man-sarovar, scene
of a fit of lover's 'pettishness' (man). Tlien follow the villages of Piparauli,
with its broad spreading p{paHrees ; Lohaban, perpetuating the defeat of the
demon Lohasurt Gopalpur, favourite station of the herdsmen, and Raval, where
Eadha's mother Kirat lived with her father Surbhan till she went to join her hus-
band at Barsana. Next comes Burhiya ka-khera, home of the old dame whose
son had taken in marriage Radha's companion, Manvati. The fickle Krishna
saw and loved and, in order to gratify his passion undisturbed, assumed the hus-
band's form. The unsuspecting bride received him fondly to her arms ; while
the good mother was enjoined to keep close watch below and, if any one came
to the door pretending to be her son, by no means to open to him, but rather,
if he persisted, pelt him with brick-bats till he ran away. So the honest man
lost his wife and got his head broken into the bargain.

After leaving the scene of this merry jest, the pilgrims pass on to Bandi-

ganw, name commemorative of Jasoda's two faithful domestics, Bandi and

Anandi, and arrive at Baladeva, with its wealthy temple dedicated in honour of

that divinity and his spouse, Revati. Tlien, beyond the village of Hataura are

the two river landing places, Chinta-haran, ' the end of doubt,' and Brahmdn-

da, 'creation,' ghat. Here Krishna's playmates came running to tell Jasoda

that the naughty boy had filled his mouth with mud. She took up a stick to

punish him, but then, to prove the story false, he unclosed his lips and showed

her there, within the compass of his baby cheeks, the whole ' created' universe

with all its worlds and circling seas distinct. Close by is the town of Maha-

ban famous for many incidents in Krishna's infancy, where he was rocked in

the cradle, and received his name from the great pandit, Grarg, and where he

put to death Piitana and the other evil spirits whom Kansa had commissioned

to destroy him. At Gokul, on the river-bank, are innumerable shrines and

temples dedicated to the god under some one or other of his favourite titles,

Madan Mohan, Madhava Rae, Brajesvar, Gokul-nath, Navanit-priya, and

Dwaraka-nath ; and when all have been duly honoured with a visit, the weary

pilcrrims finally rocross the stream and sit down to rest at the point from

which they started, the Visrant Ghat, the holiest place in the holy city of

Mathura.

* The name Dangoli is really derived from the position of the village on the ' high river-
bank,' w hich is also called ddn^.

+ The name is really derived from the tree lodha or lodhra.

THE VRAJ-BHAKTI VILASA. 59

As may be gatliered from the above narrative, it is only the twelve bans
that, as a rule, are connected vs^ith the Panranik legends of Krishna and Bala-
rama, and these are all specified by name in the Mathura Mahatmya. On the
other hand, the twenty-four tipahans refer mainly to Radha's adventures and
have no ancient authority whatever. Of the entire number, only three were, till
quite recent times, places of any note, viz., Grokul, Grobai'dhan, and Radlia-kund,
and their exceptional character admits of easy explanation : Gokul, in aU clas-
sical Sanskrit literature, is the same as Maha-ban, which is included among the
bans ; Gobardhan is as much a centre of sanctity as Mathura itself, and is only
for the sake of uniformity inserted in either Hst ; while Radha-kund, as the
name denotes, is the one primary source from which the goddess derives her
modern reputation. It is now insisted that the parallelism is in all respects
complete ; for, as Krishna has four special dwelling-places, Mathura, Maha-ban,
Gobardhan, and Nand-ganw, so has Radha four also in exact correspondence,
viz., Brinda-ban, Raval, Radha-kund, and Barsana.

The perambulation, as traced in the foregoing sketch, is the one ordinarily
performed, and includes all the most popular shrines ; but a far more elaborate
enumeration of the holy places of Braj is given in a Sanskrit work, existing only in
manuscript, entitled Vraja-bhakti-vilasa. It is of no great antiquity, having been
compiled in the year, 1553 A.D. by Narayan Bhatt,* who is said to have been
a resident of Uncha-ganw near Barsana, though he describes himself as writiuo-
at Sri-kund. It is divided into 13 sections extending over 108 leaves, and is
professedly based on the Paramahansa Sanhita. It specifies as many as 133
bans or woods, 91 on the right bank of the Jamuna and 42 on the left, and
groups them under different heads as follows ; —

I.— The 12 Bans : 1 Maha-ban ; 2 Kamya-ban ; 3 Kokila-ban; 4 Tal-ban;
5 Kumud-ban ; 6 Bhandir-ban ; 7 Chhatra-ban ;t 8 Khadira-ban ; 9 Loha-bau ;
10 Bhadra-ban; 11 Bahula-ban ; 12 Vilva-ban, i. e., Bel-ban.

II. — The 12 Upabans: 1 Brahma-ban ; 2 Apsara-ban ; 3 Yihvala-ban ;
4 Kadamb-ban; 5 Svarna-ban ; 6 Surabhi-ban ; 7 Prem-ban •,% 8 Mayura, i. e.,
Mor-ban; 9 Manengiti-ban ; 10 Sesha-saiyi-ban ; 11 Narada-ban; 12 Parama-
nanda-ban.

III.— The 12 Prati-bans : 1 Ranka-ban; 2 Yarta-ban; 3 Karaha ;
4 Kamya-ban ; 5 Anjana-ban ; 6 Kama-ban ; 7 Krishna-kshipanaka ; 8 Nanda-

* Narayan Bhatt is better known by his work on Sanskrit Prosody, a commentary on the
"Vritta Ratnakara. The colophon of the Vraja-bhakti-vilasa runs as follows: — Srimad Bhaskar-
itmaja-Narayana-Bhatta-virachite Vraj-bhakti-vilase Paramahansa-saahito daharaue Vraja-Mah-
atmj-a-nirupane Vana-yatra-prasange Vraja-yatra-prasangike trayodaso 'dhyayah.

t Chhatra-ban represents the town of Chhata, The only spot mentioned in connectioo
with it is the Suraj-kund, a pond which still exists and bears the same name, but ia not now-
held in any regard.

X Surabhi-baQ adjoins Gobardhan, Near Prem-bau is the Prem-sarovar.

GO THE VRAJ-BHAKTI VILASA.

prekshana ; 9 Indra-ban ; 10 Sikslia-ban ; 11 Chandrdvati-ban ; 12 Loha-
ban.*

IV.— Tlie 12 Adhi-bans ; 1 Matlnirii ; 2 Eadha-kund ; 3 Nanda-^rrama ;
4 Gata-sthana ; 5 Lalita-grama ; G Brisha-bhanu-purt ; 7 Gokul ; 8 Baladeva ;
9 Gobardhan ; 10 Java-ban; 11 Brinda-ban ; 12 Sanket.

V. The 5 Sevja-bans; VI. The 12 Tapo-bans; VII. the 12 Moksha-bans ;
VIII. the 12 Kama-bans ; IX. the 12 Artha-bans ; X. the 12 Dharma-bans ; XI.
the 12 Siddhi-bans. All of which the reader will probably think it unnecessary
to enumerate in detail.

To every Ban is assigned its own tutelary divinity ; thus Halayudha (Balade-
va) is the pati-on of Maha-ban ; Gopinath of Kam-ban ; Nata-vara of Kokila-
ban ; Damodar of Tal-ban ; Kesava of Kumud-ban ; Sridhara of Bhandir-ban;
Hari of Chhatra-ban ; Narayan of Khadira-ban ; Hayagriva of Bhadra-ban ;
Padma-nabha of Bahula-ban ; Janardana of Bel-ban ; Adi-vadi*isvara of Para-
mananda ; Paramesvara of Kam-ban (prati-ban) ; Jasoda-nandan of Nand-
ganw ; Gokul-chandrama of Gokul ; Murlidhar of Karahla ; Lila-kamala-lo-
chana of Hasya-ban; Lokesvara of Upahara-ban ; Lankadhipa-kula-dlvansi
of Jahnu-ban ; and Sri-shatsilankshyana of Bhuvana-ban.

The four last named woods are given as the limits of the Braj Mandal in
the following sloka, and it is distinctly noted that the city of Mathura is at the
same distance, viz., 21 kos, from each one of them.

3[I%W ^^^^ISR g^^l^^ET rl^lrl^ II

The Pandits, who were asked to reconcile these limits with those mentioned
in the Hindi couplet previously quoted, declai'ed Hasya-ban in the east to be
the same as Barhadd in Aligarh ; Upahara-ban in the west as Sona in Gnr-
ganw ; and Jahnu-ban to the south the same as Surasen-ka-ganw, or Batesar.
The identification is probably little more than conjectural ; but a superstition
which is at once both comparatively modern and also practically obsolete
scarcely deserves a more protracted investigation than has already been bestow-
ed upon it.

* The one Loha-ban on the right bank of the river is described as the scene of the de-
struction of Jaraaandha's armies ; the other, on the left bank is more correctly styled Loha-
jangha-ban.

•j- Brisha-bhanu-pur is intended aa the Sanskrit original of Barsaua, but incorrectly so.

CHAPTER V.

THE CITY OF MATHURA: ITS HISTORY.

Apart from its connection with the deified Krishna, the city of Mathura has
been a place of note from the most distant antiquity. In Buddhist times it
was one of the centres of that religion, and its sacred shrines and relics at-
tracted pilgrims even from China, two of whom have left records of their travels.
The first, by name Fa Hian, spent, as he informs us, three years in Western
Asia, visiting all the places connected with events in the life of the great teacher
or of his immediate successors ; his main object being to collect authentic
copies of the oldest theological texts and commentaries to take back with him to
his own coiintry. Commencing his journey from Tibet, he passed successively
through Kashmir, Kabul, Kandahar, and the Panjab, and so arrived in Cen-
tral India, the madhya-des of Hindu geographers. Here the first kingdom
that he entered was Mathtira, with its capital of the same name situate on the
bank of the Jamuna. All the people from the highest to the lowest were staunch
Buddhists, and maintained that they had been so ever since the time of Sakya
Muni's translation. This statement must be accepted with considerable reserve,
since other evidence tends to show that Hinduism was the prevalent religion
during part of the interval between Buddha's death and Fa Hian's visit, which
was made about the year 400 A. D. He assures us, however, that many of
the ecclesiastical establishments possessed copper plates engraved with the ori-
ginal deeds of endowment in attestation of their antiquity. In the capital —
where he rested a whole month — and its vicinity, on the opposite banks of the
river, were twenty monasteries, containing in all some 3,000 monks. There
were, moreover, six relic-towers, or stiipas, of which the most famous was the
one erected in honour of the great apostle Sari-putra. The five other stiipas
are also mentioned by name ; two of them commemorated respectively Ananda,
the special patron of religious women, and Mudgala-putra, the great doctor of
Samddhi or contemplative devotion. The remaining three were dedicated to
the cultus of the Abhi-dharma, the Sutra and the Vinaya, divisions of the
sacred books, treating respectively of Metaphysics, Religion, and Morality, and
known in Buddhist literature by the collective name of the Tri-pitaka or ' three
baskets,'

Some 200 years later, Hwen Thsang, another pilgrim from the Flowery
Land, was impelled by like religious zeal to spend sixteen years, from 629 to
645 A, D., travelling throughout India. On his return to China, he compiled,

62 HWEN thsang's description of mathura.

by special command of the Emperor, a work in twelve books entitled ' Memoirs
of Western Countries,' giving succinct geographical descriptions of all the
kingdoms, amounting in number to 128, that he had either personally visited,
or of which he had been able to acquire authentic information. After his death,
two of his disciples, wishing to individuaUze the record of their master's adven-
tures, compiled in ten books a special narrative of his life and Indian travels.
This has been translated into French by the great Orientalist, Mons. S. Julien.
Mathura is described as being 20 li, or four miles in circumference, and as con-
taining still, as in the days of Fa Hian, 20 monasteries. But the number of
resident monks had been reduced to 2,000, and five temples had been erected to
Brahmanical divinities ; both facts indicating the gradual decline of Buddhism.
Seven stupas were reverenced as containing relics of the great teachers of the
law ; and apparently — though there is some slight variation in the titles — are
the same as those mentioned by the earlier pilgrim, with the addition of one
dedicated to the memory of Rahula, the son of Buddha. To quote the original : —
*' In the kingdom of Mathura there are still to be seen the stupas in which were
deposited of old the relics of the holy disciples of Sakya Muni, viz., Sari-putra,
Mudgalayana, Purna-maitrayani-putra, Upali, Ananda, Rahula, and Manjusri.
On the yearly festivals, the religious assemble in crowds at these stilpas, and
make their several offerings at the one which is the object of their devotion.
The followers of Abhi-dharma offer to Sari-putra, and those who practise con-
templation (dhydna) to Mudgalyayana. Those who adhere to the Sutras pay
their homage to Purna-maitrayani-putra ; those who study the Yinaya honour
Upali ; religious women honour Ananda ; those who have not yet been fully
instructed (catechumens) honour Eahula; those who study the Maha-yana
honour all the Bodhi-satwas.* Five or six li — i.e., about a mile and a quarter —
to the east of the town is a monastery on a hill, said to have been built by the
venerable Upagupta. His nails and beard are preserved there as relics. At
a hill to the north of this monastery is a cave in the rock, twenty feet high and
thirty feet broad, where had been collected an immense number of little bambu
spikes, each only four inches long. When any man or woman, whom the
venerable Upagupta had converted and instructed, obtained the rank of an
Arhan,t he added a spike. But he took no note of other persons, even though
they had attained the same degree of sanctity." In the Memoirs it is added
that 25 li to the south-east of this cave was a large dry tank, where it was said
that one day as Buddha was pacing up and down, he was offered some honey
by a monkey, which he graciously accepted. The monkey was so charmed at
the condescension that he forgot where he was, and in his ecstasy fell over into

• A B.jdlu eatwa is deflncd iis a being wlio haa arrived at supreme wisdom (bodhi), and yet
consents to remain as a creature (satwa) for tlie good of men.

t Au Arhaa is a saiut who has attained to the fourth grade in the scale of perfection.

MATHURA SACKED BY MAHMUD OF GAZNI. 63

the tank and was drowned : as a reward for his meritorious conduct, when he
next took birth, it was in human form. A httle to the north of this tank* was
a wood with several stt/pas to mark the spots that had been hallowed by the
presence of the four earlier Buddhas, and where various famous teachers of the
law had either sat in meditation or had expounded the Scriptures.

After Hwen Thsang's visit in 634 A.D., there is no contemporary record of
Mathurd till the year 1017, when it was sacked by Mahmiid of Gazni in his
ninth invasion of India. The original source of information respecting Mah-
miid's campaigns is the Tari'kh Yamini of Al Utbi, who was himself secretary
to the Sultan, though he did not accompany him in his expeditions. He men-
tions by name neither Mathura nor Maha-ban, but only describes certain
localities which have been so identified by Firishta and later historians. The
place supposed to be Maha-ban, he calls ' the Fort of Kulchand,' a Raja, who
(he writes) " was, not without good reason, confident in his strength ; for no one
had fought against him without being defeated. He had vast territories, enor-
mous wealth, a numerous and brave army, huge elephants, and strong forts
that no enemy had been able to reduce. When he saw that the Sultan advanced
against him, he drew up his army and elephants in a 'deep forest'f ready for
action. But finding every attempt to repulse the invaders fail, the beleaguered
infidels at last quitted the fort, and tried to cross the broad river which flowed
in its rear. When some 50,000 men had been killed or drowned, Kulchand
took a dagger with which he first slew his wife, and then drove it into his own
body. The Sultan obtained by this victory 185 fine elephants besides other
booty." In the neighbouring holy city, identified as Mathura, " he saw a build-
ing of exquisite structure, which the inhabitants declared to be the handiwork
not of men but of Genii.J The town wall was constructed of hard stone, and
had opening on to the river two gates, raised on high, and massive basements
to protect them from the floods. On the two sides of the city were thousands
of houses with idol temples attached, all of masonry and strengthened throuo-h-
out with bars of iron ; and opposite them were other buildings supported on
stout wooden pillars. In the middle of the city Avas a temple, larger and finer
than the rest, to which neither painting nor description could do justice. The
Sultan thus wrote respecting it :— ' If any one wished to construct a building
equal to it, he would not be able to do so without expending a hundred million
dinars, and the work would occupy two hundred years, even though the most
able and experienced workmen were employed.' Orders were given that all

* Identified with the tank at the back of the Damdama or Jalalpur sarae, to the north-
west of whicli are the mounds on the Sonkh road.

t These words may be intended as a literal translation of the name Maha-ban.

% Possibly 'Jin a,' the name both of the Buddhist and Jami deity, was the word actually
used, which was mistaken for the Arabic 'Jinn.'

64 MATHURA UNDER THE EARLY MUHAMMADAN EMPERORS.

the temples should be burnt with naphtha and fire, and levelled with the ground."
The city was given up to plunder for twenty days. Among the spoil are said
to have been five great idols of pure gold with eyes of rubies and adornments
of other precious stones, together with a vast number of smaller silver images,
which, when broken up, formed a load for more than a hundred camels. The
total value of the spoil has been estimated at three millions of rupis ; while the
number of Hindus carried away into captivity exceeded 5,000.

Nizam-ud-din, Firishta, and the other late Muhammadan historians take
for granted that Mathura was at that time an exclusively Brahmanical city.
It is barely possible that such was really the case ; but the original authorities
leave the point open, and speak only in general terms of idolaters, a name
equally applicable to Buddhists. Many of the temples, after being gutted of
all their valuable contents, were left standing; probably because they were too
massive to admit of easy destruction. Some writers allege that the conqueror
spared them on account of their exceeding beauty, founding this opinion on the
eulogistic expressions employed by Mahmiid in his letter to the Governor of
Gazni quoted above. It is also stated that, on his return home, he introduced
the Indian style of architecture at his own capital, where he erected a splendid
mosque, upon which he bestowed the name of ' the Celestial Bride.' But, how-
ever much he may have admired the magnificence of Mathura, it is clear that
he was influenced by other motives than admiration in sparing the fabric of the
temples ; for the gold and silver images, which he did not hesitate to demolish,
must have been of still more excellent workmanship.

During the period of Muhammadan supremacy, the history of Mathura is
almost a total blank. The natural dislike of the ruling power to be brought
into close personal connection with such a centre of superstition divested the
town of all ]iolitical importance; while the Hindu pilgrims, who still continued
to frequent its impoverished shrines, were not invited to present, as the priests
were not anxious to receive, any lavish donation which would only excite the
jealousy of the rival faith. Thus, while there are abundant remains of the
earlier Buddhist period, there is not a single building, nor fragment of a build-
ing, which can be assigned to any year in the long interval between the inva-
sion of Mahmdd in 1017 A.D., and the reign of Akbar in the latter half of the
sixteenth century.

Nor can this be wondered at, since whenever the unfortunate city did attract
the emperor's notice, it became at once a mark for pillage and desecration :
and the more religious the sovereign, the more thorough the persecution. Take
for example the following passage from t!ic Tilrikh-i-Dauili of Abdullah (a
•writer in the reign of Jahangir), who is speaking of Sultan Sikandar Lodi
(X488 — 1516 A.D.), one of the most able and accomplished of all the occupants
of the Dellii throne : " lie was so zealous a Musalman that he utterly destroyed

MATHURA VISITED BY AURANGZEB. 65

many places of worship of the infidels, and left not a single vestige remaining
of them. He entirely ruined the shrines of Mathura, that mine of heathenism,
and turned their principal temples into sarcies and colleges. Their stone images
were given to the butchers to serve them as meat-weights, and all the Hindus
in Mathura were strictly prohibited from shaving their heads and beards, and
performing their ablutions. He thus put an end to all the idolatrous rites of
the infidels there ; and no Hindu, if he wished to have his head or beard shaved,
could get a barber to do it."

The reign of tolerance which Akbar* had initiated was of very short duration ;
for in 1636 we find Murshid Kuli Khan made a commander of 2,000 horse,
and appointed by the Emperor Shah-jahan Grovernor of Mathura and Maha-
ban with express instructions to be zealous in stamping out all rebellion and
idolatry. But the climax of wanton destruction was attained by Aurangzeb,
the Oliver Cromwell of India, who, not content with demolishing the most
sacred of its shrines, thought also to destroy even the ancient name of the city,
by substituting for it Islampur or Islamabad. Thus it is only from the days
when the Jats and Mahrattas began to be the virtual sovereigns of the country,
that any series of monumental records exists.

Mathura was connected with two important events in Aurangzeb's life.
Here was born, in 1639, his eldest son, Muhammad Sultan, who expiated the sin
of primogeniture in the Oriental fashion by ending his days in a dungeon ; as
one of the first acts of his father, on his accession to the throne, was to confine
him in the fortress of Gwaliar, where he died in 1665. In the last year of the
reign of Shah-jahan, Aurangzeb was again at Mathura, and here established
his pretensions to the crown by compassing the death of his brother, Murad.
This was in 1658, a few days after the momentous battle of Samogarh,f in
which the combined forces of the two princes had routed the army of the right-
ful heir, Dara. The conquerors encamped together, being apparently on the
most cordial and aflFeetionate terms ; and Aurangzeb, protesting that for him-
self he desired only some sequestered spot, where, unharassed by the toils of
government, he might pass his time in prayer and religious meditation, persist-
ently addressed Munid by the royal title as the recognized successor of Shah-
jahan. The evening was spent at the banquet ; and when the wine cup had begun
to circulate freely, the pious Aurangzeb, feigning religious scruples, begged
permission to retire. It would have been well for MuraH, had he also regarded
the prohibition of the Koran. The stupor of intoxication soon overpowered him,
and he was only restored to consciousness by a contemptuous kick from the foot

* As an indication of reviving importance, it may be mentimed that in Akbar's time there
was a mint at Mathura, though only for copper coinage.

t Samogarh is a village, one march from Agra, since named, in honour of the event, Fatha-
1 41, 'the place of victory.'

GQ REBELLION OF 16G8 A. D.

of the brother ■\vho had just declared himself his faithfid vassal. That same
night the unfortunate Murad, heavily fettered, was sent a prisoner to Delhi,
and thrown into the fortress of Saliin-garh.* He, too, was subsequently re-
moved to Gwaliar, and there murdered.

In spite of the agreeable reminiscences which a man of Aurangzeb's tem-
perament must have cherished in connection with a place where an act of such
unnatural perfidy had been successfully accomplished, his fanaticism was not a
whit mitigated in favour of the city of Mathura. In 1668, a local rebellion
afforded him a fit pretext for a crusade against Hinduism. The insurgents had
mustered at Sahora,t a village in the Maha-ban pargana, where (as we learn
from the Maasir-i-Alamgiri) the Governor Abd-ul-Nabi advanced to meet them.
" He was at first victorious and succeeded in killing the ringleaders ; but in
the middle of the fight he was struck by a bullet, and died the death of a
martyr." He was followed in office by SafF-Shikan Khan ; but as he was not
able to suppress the revolt, which began to assume formidable dimensions, he
was removed at the end of the year 1669, and Hasan Ali Khan appointed
Faujdar in his place. The ringleader of the disturbances, a Jat, by name
Kokila, who had plundered the Sa'dabad pargana, and was regarded as the
instrument of Abd-ul-Nabi's death, fell into the hands of the new Governor's
Deputy, Shaikh Razi-ud-din, and was sent to Agra and there executed. ^ A
few months earlier, in February of the same year, during the fast of Ramazan,
the time when religious bigotry would be most infliamed, Aurangzeb had des-
cended in person on Mathura. The temple, specially marked out for destruc-
tion, was one built so recently as the reign of Jahaugir, at a cost of 33
lakhs, by Bir Sinh Deva, Bundela, of Urcha. Beyond all doubt this was the last
of the famous shrines of Kesava Deva, of which further mention will be made
hereafter. To judge from the language of the author of the Maasir, its demo-
lition was regarded as a death-blow to Hinduism. He writes in the following
triumphant strain: — '' In a short time, with the help of numerous workmen,
this seat of error was utterly broken down. Glory be to God that so difficult
an imdertaking has been successfully accomplished in the present auspicious
reign, wherein so many dens of heathenism and idolatry have been destroyed.

* Bernier, on whose narrative the above paragraph is founded, calls Sallm-garh by the very
English-looking name • Slinger ;' a fine illustration of the absurdity of the phonetic system.

f As is always the case when an attempt is made to identify the local names mentioned by
any historian who writes in the Persian character, it is extremely uncertain whether Sahora la
really the village intended. The word as given in the manuscript begins Avith s and ends with rt,
and has an r in the middle ; but beyond that much it is impossible to predicate anything with
certainty about it.

% His son and daughter were both brought up as Muhammadans, and eventually the girl
married Shall Kuli, and the boy, who hud received the name ol Fazil, became famous for hia skill
in reciting the Koran,

MATHDRA OCCUPIED BY HOLKAR 1804 A. D. 67

Seeing the power of Islam and the efficacy of true religion, the proud Rajas
felt their breath burning in their throats, and became as dumb as a picture on a
wall. The idols, large and small alike, all adorned with costly jewels, were carried
away from the heathen shrine and taken to Agra, where they were buried
under the steps of Nawab Kudsia Begam's mosque, so that people might trample
upon them for ever." It was from this event that Mathura was called Islamabad.
In 1707 Aurangzeb died; and the land had rest for 50 years, till the mas-
sacre by Ahmad Shah Durani. Another lapse of 30 years, and in 1788 it wit-
nesses the horrible death of Grhulam Kadir ; but both these events have already
been recorded in the general narrative of the Jat and Mahratta period (pages
24-27), and need not here be repeated. Suffice it to note that, throughout the
Muhammadan period, Mathura twice only claims a conspicuous place in the
pages of history ; once at the very first appearance of the conquering race, and
once again in the last days of the declining empire. On both occasions the
events to be recorded are of a similar character, viz., plunder and massacre ;
while the more domestic incidents which crop up to the surface during the
same long period are equally characterised by baseness and barbarity.

It was in 1803 that Mathura passed under British rule, and became a military
station on the line of frontier, which was then definitely extended to the Jamuna.
This was at the termination of the successful war with Daulat Rao Sindhia ;
when the independent French State, that had been established by Perron, and
was beginning to assume formidable dimensions, had been extinguished by the
fall of Aligarh ; while the protectorate of the nominal sovereign of Delhi, trans-
ferred by the submission of the capital, invested the administration of the Com-
pany with the prestige of imperial sanction. In September of the following
year Mathura was held for a few days by the troops of Holkar Jasavant Rao ;
but on the arrival of reinforcements from Agra was re-occupied by the British
finally and permanently. Meanwhile, Holkar had advanced upon Delhi, but the
defence was so gallantly conducted by Ochterlony that the assault was a signal
failure. His army broke up into two divisions, one of which was pursued to
the neighbourhood of Farrukhabad, and there totally dispersed by General
Lake ; while the other was overtaken by G-eneral Fraser between Dig and
Gobardhan, and defeated with great slaughter. In this latter engagement the
brilliant victory was purchased by the death of the officer in command, who
was brought into Mathura fatally wounded, and survived only a few days. He
was buried in the Cantonment Cemetery, where a monument* is erected to
his memory with the following inscription : —

" Sacred to the memory of Major-General Henry Fraser, of His Majesty's 11th Regiment of
Foot, who commanded the British Array at the battle of Deig on the 13th of November, 1804,

* To judge from the extreme clumsiness both of the design and execution, the irregular
spacing of the inscription, and the quaint shape of some of the letters, this must have been che
very first attempt of a native mason to work on European instructions.

68 MUTINY OF 1857 A. D.

and by his judgment and valour achieved an important and glorious victory. He died in conse-
quence of a wound he received when leading on the troops, and was interred here on the 25th of
November, 1804, in the 40th year of his age. The army lament his loss with the deepest sorrow ;
•his country regards his heroic conduct with grateful admiration ; history will record his fame
and perpetuate the glory of his illustrious deeds."

The next half-century was a period of undisturbed peace and growing pros-
perity; and, simply recording the fact that in 1832 the city of Mathura was
made the capital of a new district, then formed out of parts of the old disti'icts
of Agra and Sa'dabad, we come down to the year 1857. It was on the 14th
of May in that eventful year that news arrived of the mutiny at Merath. Mr.
Mark Thoruhill, who was then magistrate and collector of the district, with
Ghulam Husain as deputy collector, sent an immediate requisition for aid to
Bharat-pur. Captain Nixon, the political agent, accompanied by Chaudhari
Katn Sinh, chief of the five sardars, and Gobardhan Sinh the faujdar, came
with a small force to Kosi on the northern border of the district, and there
stayed for a time in readiness to check the approach of the Mewatis of Gurgaon,
and the other rebels from Delhi. Mr. Thornhill bad meanwhile removed to
C/hhata, a small town on the high-road some eight miles short of Kosi, as being
a place which was at once a centre of disaffection, and at the same time pos-
sessed in its fortified sarcie a stronghold capable of long resistance against it.
The first outbreak, however, was at Mathura itself. The sum of money then
in the district treasury amounted to rather more than 5^ lakhs, and arrange-
ments had been made for its despatch to Agra, with the exception of one lakh
kept in reserve for local requirements. The escort consisted of one company
of soldiers from the cantonments, sujiported by another company which had
come over from Agra for the purpose* The chests were being put on the carts,
when one of the subadars suddenly called out hoshiydr sipdhi, ' look alive, my
man,' which was evidently a preconcerted signal ; and at once a shot was fired,
which killed Lieut. Burl ton, commandant of the escort, dead on the spot.f The
rebels then seized the treasure, together with the private effects of the residents

• There were present at the time Mr. Elliot Colvin, the son of the Lieutenant-Governor,
who had been sent from Agra to supersede Mr. Clifford, laid up by severe fever ; Lieutenant
Graham, one of the officers of the Treasury Guard ; Mr. Joyce, the Head Clerk, and two of his
Bubordinates, by name Hashman. As they were cut off from the civil station by the rebels, who
occupied the intermediate ground, they made their way into the city to the Seth, by whom they
were helped on to Mr. Thornhill's camp at Chhatd. Mr. NichoUs, the Chaplain, with his wife
aud child, and a Native Christian nurse, took refuge in the collector's house, and waited there
for some time in hopes of being joined by the others ; but on hearing that the jail was broken
open, they fled to Agra.

t The site of the old Court-house is now utterly out of the beaten track, and is all over-
grown with dense vegetation, among which may be seen a plain but very substantial stone table
tomb, with the following inscription : " Sacred to the memory of Lieut. P. H. C. Burlton, 67th
N. L, who was shot by a dotachiucnt of his rcf^imciit and of the 11th N. L near this spot oa the
aotUuf May 1867. This tomb is erected by his brother officers."

THE IMUTINY OF 1857 A. D. 69

in the station, which were also ready to be transported to Agra, and went off
in a body to the magistrate's court-house, which they set on fire, destroying
all the records, and then took the road to Delhi. But first they broke open
the jail and carried all the prisoners with them as far as the city, where they
got smiths to strike off their fetters. Besides Lieut. Burlton, one of the trea-
sury officials also was killed. An attempt was made to check the rebel body
as it marched through Ohhata, but it was quite ineffectual, and on the Slat
of May they entered the town of Kosi. There, after burning down the customs
bungalow and pilhiging the police station, they proceeded to plunder the tah-
sili. But some Rs. 150 was all they could find in the treasury, and most of
the records also escaped them. The townspeople and most of the adjoining
villages remained well-affected to the Government ; and subsequently, as a
reward, one year's revenue demand was remitted, and a grant of Rs. 50 made
to each head-man. Mr. Thornhill and the other Europeans with him now
determined to abandon their position at Chhata and return to Mathura, where
they took refuge in the city in the house of Seth Lakhmi Chand. While there,
a report came that the Jats had set up a Raja, one Devi Sinh, at Raya on the
other side of the Jamuna. His i-eign was of no long continuance, for the
Kota Contingent, which happened to be on the spot at the time, seized and
hanged him with little ceremony. But as soon as this was accomplished,
they themselves mutinied ; and Mr. Thornhill, who had accompanied them to
Raya, had to make a hasty flight back to Mathura, bringing some small trea-
sure in the buggy with him.

On the 6th of July, the mutineers of Morar and Nimach, on their retreat
from Agra, entered the city. In anticipation of their arrival, Mr. Thornhill,
disguised as a native, and accompanied by a trusty jamadar, Dilawar Khan,
started to flee to Agra. When they reached Aurangabad, only some four
miles on the way, they found the whole county on both sides of the road in
the possession of the rebels. The men whom the Seth had despatched as
an escort took fright and decamped ; but the jamadar, by his adroit answers
to all enquiries, was enabled to divert suspicion and bring Mr. Thornhill safely
through to Agra. On the suppression of the disturbances, he received, as a
reward for his loyalty, a small piece of land on the Brinda-ban road, just out-
side Mathura, called after the name of a Bairagi who had once lived there,
Dudhadhari.

Though the rebels stayed two days in Mathura before they passed on to
Delhi, the city was not given up to general plunder, partly in consequence of
the prudent management of Seth Mangi Lai, who levied a contribution, accor-
ding to their means, on all the principal inhabitants. At this time Seth Lakh-
mi Chand was at Dig, but the greater part of his establishment remained be-
hind, and rendered Government the most valuable assistance by the despatch

70- SUPrRESSION OF THE MUTINY.

of intelligence. Order in the citj was chiefly maintained by Mi'r ImdaJ
AH Khan, thasildar of Kosi, who had been specially appointed depnty col-
lector.

On the 26th of September, the rebels, in their retreat from Delhi, again
passed through Mathura. Their stay on this occasion lasted for a week, and
great oppression was practised on the inhabitants, both here and in the neigh-
bouring town of Brinda-ban. They were only diverted from general pillage
by the influence of one of their own leaders, a subadar from Nimach, by name
Hira Sinh, who prevailed upon them to spare the Holy City. For a few days
there was a show of regular government ; some of the chief officers in the col-
lector's court, such as the sadr kanungo, Rahmat-ullah, the sarishtadar, Mano-
har Lai and Vazir Ali, one of the miiharrirs, were taken by force and compelled
to issue the orders of the new administrators; while Maulvi Karamat Ali was
proclaimed in the Jama Masjid as the Viceroy of the Delhi Emperor. It
would seem that he also was an involuntary tool in their hands, as he was sub-
sequently put on his trial but acquitted. He is since dead. It is said that
during their stay in the city, the rebels found their most obhging friends
among the Mathuriya Chaubes, who, perhaps, more than any others, have grown
rich and fat under the tolerance of British rule. After threatening Brinda-
ban with their cannon and levying a contribution on the inhabitants, they mov-
ed away to Hathras, and Bareli. Mir Imdad Ali and the Seth returned from
Bharat-pur ; and, in October, Mr. Thornhill arrived from Agra with a company
of troops, which in the following month he marched up to Chhata. There the
rebel zamindars had taken possession of the fortified same and one of its bas-
tions had to be blown up before an entry could be effected : at the same timo
the town was set on fire and partially destroyed, and twenty-two of the lead-
ing men were shot. A few days previously, Mir Imdad Ali, with Nathu Lai,
tahsildar of Sahar, had gone up into the Kosi pargana and restored order
among the Gujars there, who alone of all the natives of the district had been
active promoters of disaff"ection. While engaged in their suppression, Imdad
Ali received a gun-shot wound in the chest ; but fortunately it had no fatal
result, and he is now deputy collector of Kanhpur, with a special additional
allowance of Rs. 150 per mensem. By the end of November, general tran-
quality was restored ; but it was not till July, 1858, that the treasury was trans-
ferred from the Seth's house in the city to the police lines in the civil sta-
tion.* In Christmas week of the following year, 1859, the Viceroy held a
Darbar, in which many honours were conferred upon diff'erent individuals,
and in particular the ten villages, which the Gujars had forfeited by tlieir open

* Here it remained till after the completion, in 1861, of the new court-house and district
offices, which, with important results to archajological research, as will hereafter be showD,
were rebuilt on a ucw site.

SUPPRESSION OF THE MUTINY. 71

rebellion Avere bestowed upon Raju Gobind Sinh of Hathras, in acknowlcdo--
ment of his distinguished loyalty and good services. The value of this o-rant
has been largely diminished by the persistent lawlessness of the ejected Gii-
jars, who have always sullenly resented the loss of their estates. A few
months ago their ill-deeds culminated in the barbarous murder of the widow-
ed Rani's land-agent, Jay Ram Sinh, who was rash enough to pass the nio-ht
in Jatwari, one of the confiscated villages.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CITY OF MATHURA : ITS ARCHEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY.

In consequence of the chanr^es in religion and tlie long lapse of time, the
whole of the ancient Buddhist buildings described by the Chinese pilgrims had
been overthrown, buried, and forgotten, till quite recently, when some frag-
ments of them have been again brought to light. The first discovery was
made by General Cunningham in 1853, who noticed some capitals and pillars
lying about within the enclosure of the Katra, the site of the Hindu temple of
Kesava Deva. A subsequent search revealed the architrave of a gateway and
other sculptures, including in particular a standing figure of Buddha, three and-
a-half feet high, which was found at the bottom of a well, with an inscription
at its base recording the gift of the statue to the ' Jasa Vihara,' or ' Convent of
Glory,' which may be taken as the name of one of the Buddhist establishments
that had existed on the spot. The date of the presentation was recorded in
figures which could not be certainly deciphered.*

A far more important discovery was made in 18(50, in digging the founda-
tion of the magistrate and collector's new court-house. The site selected
for this building was an extensive mound overhanging the Agra road at the
entrance to the civil station. It had always been regarded as merely the re-
mains of a series of brick-kilns, and had been further protected against explora-
tion by the fact that it was crowned by a small mosque. This was, for military
reasons, blown down during the mutiny; and afterwards, on clearing away the
rubbish and excavating for the new foundations, it was found to have been
erected, in accordance with the common usage of the Muhammadan conque-
rors, upon the ruins of a destroyed temple. A number of Buddhist statues, pil-
lars, and bas-reliefs, were disinterred ; and from the inscriptions, which have
been partially deciphered, it appears that the mound was occupied by at least
four monasteries, bearing, according to General Cunningham, the names of
Sanghamittra-sada Vihara, Udapani Arama, Huvishka Vihara, and Kundo-
khara,t or as it may be read, Kunda-Suka Vihara. On the pedestal of a seated
figure was found recorded the first half of a king's name, Vasu ; the latter
part was broken away, but the lacuna should probably be supplied with the
Avord ' Deva,' as a group of figures inscribed with the name of King Vasudeva
and date Sambat 87, was discovered in 1871 at a neighbouring mound called

* This statue was one of those removed by Dr. Playfair to tlie Museum at Agra.
t It must be admitted that Kundokhara, i. e., Kuuda-pushkara, is a very questionable com-
pound, since the two members of which it is compuscd would bear each precisely the same meaning.

THE GREEKS AT MATHURA. 73

the ' Kankali tila.' Transcripts and translations of many of the inscriptions
have been recently made by the learned Sanskrit scholar Babu Eajendra Lai
Mitra, and published in the Journal of the Calcutta Asiatic Society for 1870.
They are all brief votive records, giving only the name of the obscure donor,
accompanied by some stereotyped religious formula. The dates, which it
would be interesting to ascertain, are indicated by figures difficult to decipher,
and which when deciphered still leave uncertain the era intended. The Babu
concludes that they refer to the Saka era, beginning from 76 A. D. ; and if so,
they range between 120 and 206 A. D. ; but it is quite possible that they are
computed from some more exclusively Buddhist era, of which there were several
in use. The most numerous remains were portions of stone railing of the parti-
cular type used to enclose Buddhist shrines and monuments. These have been
collected in the grounds of the Agra Museum and roughly put together in
such a way as to indicate the original arrangement. Many of the pillars were
marked with figures as a guide to the builder ; and thus we learn that one set,
for they were of various sizes, consisted of at least as many as 129 pieces.
There were also found three large seated figures of Buddha, of which two were
full, the third a little less than life-size ; and the bases of some 30 large
columns. It was chiefly round these bases that the inscriptions were engraved.
One of the most noticeable fragments was a stone hand, measuring a foot across
the palm, which must have belonged to a statue not less than from 20 to 24 feet
in height. It would be interesting to unearth the remainder of this enormous
colossus. Most of the sculptures were executed in common red sandstone and
were of indifferent workmanship, in every way inferior to the specimens more
recently discovered at other mounds in the neighbourhood. The most artistic
was the figure of a dancing-girl rather more than half life-size, in a natural and
graceful attitude.* Like the so-called figure of Silenus, discovered by James
Prinsep in 1836, it was probably the work of a Greek artist : a conjecture
which involves no historical difficulty, since in the Yuga-Purana of the (xargi-
Sauhita, written about the year 50 B. C, it is explicitly stated that Mathura
was reduced by the Greeks, and that their victorious armies advanced into the
very heart of Hindustan, even as far as Patali-putra. The text is as followsf : —

* Two representations of this figure are given in Cunningham's Archajological Survey, Vol.
I., page 240.

t I q.iiote from Dr. Kern's Brihat Sanhita, for though several of the Mathura Pandits have
good collections of MSS., the genuine Gargi-Sanhita is so scarce a work that it is not to be

1i HUSHKA KING OF KASHMIR.

^' Then those hateful conquerors, the Greeks, after reducing Saketa, the
country of Pauchala and Mathura, will take Kusuma-dhvaja (Patali-i)utra); and
^vhen Pushpa-pura (i. e., Patali-putra) is taken, every province will assuredly
become disordered."

As mentioned above, one of the inscriptions gave the name of Huvishka,*
^nd is therefore of special interest, since the Eaja-Tarangini mentions among
the successoi-s of the great Asoka, in the latter half of the century immediately
preceding the birth of Christ, three kings of foreign descent named Hushka
(or Huvishka), Jushka, and Kanishka. The later Muhammadan writers repre-
sent them as brothers ; but it is not so stated in the Sanskrit chronicle, the woi'ds
of which are simply as follows : —

m-^ Ti^?T^w mi RTi[: ^i^RTi^rs^ i

" There, too, the three kings Hushka, Jushka, and Kanishka, born of
Turushka descent, monarchs of eminent virtue. In their exalted reign a
great part of the region of Kashmir was occupied by peripatetic Buddhist
■ascetics."

Their dominions are known to have included Kabul, Kashmir, and the Pan-
jdb; and recently-discovered inscriptions, as this at Mathura, imply that their
sway extended further over a considerable portion of Upper India. It is true
that many of the religious buildings in holy places have been founded by
fbreigQ princes who had no territorial connection with the neighbourhood;
but there seems to have been some special bond of union between Mathura and
Kashmir. Incredible as it has been deemed by most geographers, it is yet
within the range of possibility that Ptolemy intended, by the close similarity
of names, to indicate a connection between Kao-n-'7/3tavTOTdsToi; Yjuld cttov Kal tov
'2avhoj3a\ Kal rod 'Poahlos -mjr-^ds—ihzi is, Kdsperia, or Kashmir, at the sources

found in auy of tbeiii. The siege of Saketa is aBcertaiiied to have taken place early in the reign
of Mcnander, who ascended the throne in the year 141 B. C, Pushpa-mitra being at that time
King of Patali-putra.

* This inscription, which, like most of the others, was round the base of a pillar (now pre-
served in the Museum of the Asiatic Society at Calcutta), has been deciphered and translated
by Babu Rajendra Lai Mitra, conjecturally, as follows : —

^ iia f^ 80 iqif TTi^^ TmxH T^^ 5^2^^ ^1%^^ f%WK ^1^

" Presented on the 4th day of the year 60, to the Vihara of the great king, king of kings,
the heaven-born Huvishka, by the mendicant Jivaka Udiyauaka, known by the name of the
breath-Buspeudcd ! May it prove a blessing to all ni.ankiud. The fourteenth congregation I"

CONNECTION BJITWEEN" MATHURA AND KASHMIR. 75

of the Vitasta, the Chandra-bhaga aud the Ravi — and the Kashpciroei, dwelliug
lower down on the Vindhya range, and the banks of the Jamuna, one of whose
chief towns was Mathura. For, further, Ptolemy represents 'f/ iravlcuov Xtvpa,
the country of Pandu, as lying in the neighbourhood of the Vitasta,
or Jhelam ; while Arrian, quoting from Megasthenes, says it derived its
name from Pandoea, the daughter of Hercules, the divinity specially vene-
rated by the Suraseni on the Jamuna, Thus, as it would seem, he identifies
Mathura, the chief town of the Suraseni, Avith Pandoea. Balarama, one of
its two tutelary divinities, may be certainly recognized as Belus, the Indian
Hercules ; while, if we allow for a little distortion of the original legend, Pritha,
another name of Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas and sister of Kinshna and
Balarama's father, Vasudeva, may be considered the native form which was
corrupted into Pandoea. In historical illustration of the same line of argument,
it may be remarked that Gonarda I., the king of Kashmir, contemporary
with Krishna, is related (Raja-Tarangini, I., 59)* to have been a kinsman of
Jarasandha and to have assisted him in the siege of Mathura. He was slain
there on the bank of the Kalindi, i. e., the Jamuna, by Balarama. His son
and successor, Damodara, a few years later, .thinking to avenge his father's
death, made an attack on a party of Krishna's friends as they were returning
from a wedding at Gandhara near the Indus, but himself met his death at that
hero's hands. The next occupant of the throne of Mathura in succession
to Jarasandha was Kama, the faithful ally of the Kauravas, against whom
the great war was waged by Krishna and the Pandavas. Gonaixla II., the
son of Damodara, was too young to take any part in the protracted struggle ;
but the reigning houses of Mathura and Kashmir acknowledged a common
enemy in Krishna, and the fact appears to have conduced to a friendly feeling
between the two families, which lasted for many generations. Thus we read
in the Raja-Tarangini (IV,, 512)t that when Jayapida, who reigned over
Kashmir at the end of the eighth century after Christ, built his noAV capital
of Jayapura, a stately temple Avas founded there and dedicated to Mahadeva

9F1^IT^: ^ 37j^i: I

" Gonarda, the king of Kashmir, having been sumnioiiecl by \\U relation, Jarasandha, to his
assistance, besieged with a mighty army Krishna's city of Mathurfi."

TioT^rr: Ti^T^^^ ^irrifiT T^^Tiif^: i

76 THE KANKALI TILA.

under the title of Achesvara, by Acha, the son-in-law of Pramoda, the king of
Mathura.*

In close proximity to the mound where the antiquities, which we have des-
cribed above, were discovered, is a large walled enclosure, called the Damdama,
for some years past occupied by the reserves of the district police, but origin-
ally one of a series of sardes erected in the time of the Emperor Jalal-ud-din
Akbar, along the road between the two royal residences of Agra and Delhi.
Hence the adjoining hamlet derives its name of Jalalpur; and for the sake of
convenience, when future reference is made to the mound, it will be by that
title. As it is at some distance to the south-east of the katra, the traditional
site of ancient Mathura, and so far agrees with the position assigned by Hwen
Thsang to the stupa erected to commemorate Buddha's interview with the mon-
key, there is plausible ground for identifying the two places. The identifica-
tion is confirmed by the discovery of the inscription with the name Kundo
Khara or Kundasuka ; for, whichever way the word is read, it would seem to
contain a reference to a tank (kunda), and a tank was the characteristic fea-
ture of Hwen Tlisang's monkey stupa. It at first appears a little strange that
there should be, as the inscriptions lead us to infer, four separate monasteries
on one hill, but General Cunningham states that in Banna, where Buddhism is
still the national religion, such juxtaposition is by no means uncommon.

Incidental allusion has already been made to the Kankali, or, as it is
occasionally called, the Jaini Tila.f This is an extensive mound on the side
of the road which leads from Jalalpur sarae to the katra. A fragment of a
carved Buddhist pillar is set up in a mean little shed on its summit and does
duty for the goddess Kankali, to whom it is dedicated. A few years ago, the
hill was partially trenched, when two colossal statues of Buddha in his character
of teacher were discovered. They are each seven and a half feet in height, and
are now in the grounds of the Agra Museum. Whatever else was found was col-
lected on the same spot as the remains from the Jalalpur mound, and it is there-
fore possible (as no accurate note was made at the time) that some of the speci-
mens referred to the latter locality were not really found there ; but there is no
doubt as to the inscriptions, and this is the only point of any importance. Fur-
ther excavations resulted in the discovery of several mutilated statues of finer
stone and superior execution, and it was thought that many more might still

• I have not been able to trace king Pram ida's name elsewhere. He may have been one of
the seven Nas^as ("or, according to another MS., Mauaa) princes, whom the Vayu Purana men-
tions as destined to reign over Mathura —

" The seven Niigas will possess the pleasant city of Mathura."
f By the roadside, between the Kankali Tila and Siva Tal a handsome chhatri is now being
built in memory of Chaube Genda, Puroliit to the Rdjd of Jhalra-pattan.

THK KANKALI TILA. 77

remain buried; as the adjoining fields for a considerable distance were strewn
with fragments applied to all sorts of vile purposes. A large figure of an elephant
— unfortunately without its trunk — standing on the capital of a pillar and in all
respects similar to the well-known example at Sankisa, but of much coarser work,
was found in 1871 in a neighbouring garden. On the front of the abacus is
engraved an inscription with the name of King Huvishka and date ' Sambat
39.' Another inscription, containing the name of King Kanishka with date
' Sambat 9/ was discovered the same day on the mound itself below a square
pillar, carved with four nude figures, one on each face. This is of special in-
terest, inasmuch as nude figures are always considered a distinctive mark of the
Jain sect, which is supposed to be a late perversion of Buddhism ; an opinion
which will have to be modified if tlie date in the present instance has been
correctly read.

A special grant for the purpose having been sanctioned by the Local
Government, a supplementary exploration of the Kankali Tila was taken in hand
August, 1873, and brought to completion while these sheets were passing
through the press. The only objects of interest that have been found are as
follows : —

1st. — A life-size seated figure with an elaborately carved nimbus and lono-
hair flowing over the shoulders and down the back. The head is lost.

2nd. — A teacher of the law standing between two tiers of small fio-ures
seated in the attitude of contemplation, with a Caliban-like monster sprawlino-
over the top of the canopy above his head. The arms and feet of the principal
figure are missing ; but with this exception the group is in good preservation
and is well executed.

Brd. — A spandril of a doorway carved with the representation of a tri-
umphal column surmounted by an elephant. This would be of some value as a
model.

4:th. — A chaumukhi, or pillar of four (headless) Buddhas, seated back to
back, well executed in fine white stone.

6th. — A chaumukhi of four standing nude figures, roughly carved in coarse
red sandstone.

6th. — A pair of columns, 3^ feet high, characteristically carved with three
horizontal bands of conventional fohage and festoons, which are slightly sucp-
gestive of a classic model.

7th. — A cross-bar of a Buddhist railing with a sculptured medallion on
either side.

The discoveries have been less extensive than vvas anticipated ; but even
a purely negative result, if placed on record, would have been of value as
affording a definite answer to future enquirers. It is worthy of remark that no
definite line of foundation was brought to hght, nor any large remains of plain

78 BUDDHIST RAILINGS.

masonry superstructure ; but only a confused medley of broken statues -with-
out even the pedestals on which they must haA-e been originally erected. This
suggests a suspicion that possibly there never was a temple on the site, but
that the sculptures were brought from different places in the neighbourhood
and here thrown into a pit by the Muhammadans to be buried. They clearly
beloncr to two very different periods. The more ancient are roughly carved
in coarse red sandstone, and whenever there is any lettering it is in an obsolete
character : the more modern display much higher artistic skill, are executed
in much finer material, and from the fragments of inscription, which are all
in the Nagari character, apparently belong to the eleventh century after Christ.
Explorations have now been commenced at two other large mounds, which
have never hitherto attracted the notice of the archaeologist, lying about half a
mile from the back of the Damdama by the side of the circular road, on the
outskirts of the village of Mirzapur and within the limits of cantonments.
Here have been found, only partially buried in the soil, the lower extremities
of two laro-e figures ; the one a seated Buddha with a single line of inscription
in the Gupta character, the other a female figure with a child in her lap and
other accessories.

The third of the principal Buddhist sites is the vicinity of the katra. Here,
at the back of the temple of Bhutesvar Mahadeva, is rather a high hill of very
limited area, on the top of which stood, till removeil by the writer, a Buddhist
pillar of unusually large dimensions. It is carved in front with a female figure,
nearly life-size, bearing an umbrella, and above her head is a grotesque bas-
relief representing two monkeys, a bird, and a misshapen human dwarf. Im-
mediately opposite the temple is a large ruinous tank, called Balbhadra Kund,
with a skirting wall, into which had been built up some perfect specimens of the
cross-bars of a Buddhist railing. These are remarkably curious ; for though
the uprights are often found, the smaller horizontal pieces of the ballustrade
are very rare; so much so, that Fergusson, in his History of Architecture, speaks
of the Sanclii railing as the only built example yet discovered ; as an architec-
tural ornament it may be seen carved on every ancient Buddhist shrine. From
an adjoining well was recovered a plain pillar measuring four feet seven inches in
height by eleven inches in breadth, carved in front merely with two roses. The
elliptical holes in the sides of the pillar were too large for the cross-bars, which
must have belonged to a smaller range. They measure only one foot three inches
in leno-th, and are enriched with vai'ious devices, such as a rose, a lotus, some
winged monster, &c. These were eleven in number : four of the most perfect
were taken away by General Cunningham, the rest are still in situ. Built into
the verandah of a chaupdl close by were five other Buddhist pillars of elaborate
design and almost perfect preservation. It is said that there was originally a
sixth, which some years ago was sent down to Calcutta ; there it has now been

BUDDHIST RELIQUARY. 79

followed by t^A'o more ; the remaining three are in the possession of the writer.
They are each four feet four inches in height and eleven inches broad ; the front
is carved with a standing female figure whose feet rest upon a crouching monster.
In an upper compartment, divided off by a band of Buddhist railing, are two
demi-figures, male and female, in amorous attitudes, of very superior execu-
tion. On one pillar the principal figure is represented as gathering up her
drapery, in another as painting her face with the aid of a mirror, and in the
third as supporting with one hand a wine-jar, and in the other, which hangs
down by her side, holding a bunch of grapes. Each of these figures is entirely
devoid of clothing : the drapery mentioned as belonging to one of them is
simply being gathered up from behind. They have, however, a profusion of
ornaments — karas on the ankles, a belt round the waist, a mohan-mdld on the
neck, karn phids in the ears, and bdju-band, churi, and jyahunchi on the arms
and wrists. There are also three bas-reliefs at the back of each pillar; the sub-
ject of one is most grossly indecent; another represents Buddha's mother, Mciya
Devi, with the Bo-tree. A fragment of a pillar from one of the smaller con-
centric circles of this same set was at some time sent to Labor, and is now to
be seen in the museum there.

Close at the back of the Balbhadra Kund and the katra is a range of hills
of considerable elevation, commonly called d/idl kot, literally ' dust-heaps,' the
name given to the accumulation of refuse that collects outside a city, and so
corresponding precisely to the Monte Testaccio at Rome. These are, however,
clearly of natural formation, and probably indicate the old course of the
Jarauna. But at the distance of about a mile and a half to the south-west is a
group of some twelve or fourteen circular mounds, strewn with fragments of brick
and stone, which would seem all to have been stupas. Certainly one was, for in
the year 1868 a road, leading to the village of Sonkh, was carried through it, and
in the centre was disclosed a masonry cell containing a small gold reliquary, the
size and shape of a pill-box. Inside was a tooth, the safe-guard of which was
the sole object of box, cell, and hill, but it was thrown away as of no value. The
box was preserved on account of the material and has been given to the writer
by Mr, Hind, the district engineer, whose workmen had discovered it. As
these hills are to the north of the Jalalpur mound, they may with great pro])a-
bility be identified with the group of stiipas described by Hwen Thsang as lying
to the north of Hhe monkey tank.'

Just outside the south, or, as it is called, the Holi Gate of the city, is a hill
known as the Kans-ka Tila, from the summit of which the tyrant of that name
is supposed to have been tumbled down by Krishna. General Cunningham
suggests that this might be one of the seven great stupas mentioned by the
Chinese pilgrims, and adds that on the north of the city there are two hills still
bearing the names of Anaud and Yiuayaka, titles which they specify. But in

80 SITE OF BUDDHIST MATHURA.

this it appeal's that he was niisinformed, as no such localities can be traced.
Of the hills to the north of Mathura, the most conspicuous are called respect-
ively Kailas, Mahal,* Hanuman, and Ganes. An Anant tirtha, easily to be
confounded with Anand, is noted in the Mathura Mahatmj'a; and the fact
that Vinayaka, besides its Buddhist meaning, is also an epithet of Ganes, may
have given rise to an error in the other name. Further, all these hills, includ-
ing the Kans-ka Tila, appear to be of natural formation, the whole country
being broken up into heights and hollows of indefinite number and extent.
All the ancient Buddhist sites must be looked for at a greater distance from
the river and outside the modern city in the open country between the Dam-
dama, the circular road, and the back of the katra.

It is evident that the Kankali Tila was the site of a very large religious
establishment, most probably the Upagupta monastery mentioned by Hwen
Thsang as lying to the east of the town. It is a little to the east of the katra,
which may be taken as the centre of the old town, since local tradition invari-
ably represents it to have been so. The town, no doubt, always stood on the
water's edge ; but the tradition is confirmed by the appearance of the ground
immediately around the katra, which has evidently been affected by fluvial
action and also by the present habits of the river, which is persistent in endea-
vouring to desert its present channel in favour of one still more to the east.
The stream may have so worked its way between the natural hills and artificial
mounds that the temples, which once stood on its east bank, found themselves
on the west, while those that were oi'iginally on the western verge of the river
were eventually left far inland. This was the view taken by Tavernier more
than two centuries ago,t who was so far influenced by the popular tradition
and the appearance of the country as to assert positively, not only that the
course of the river had changed, but that the change had taken place quite
recently. His words are as follows: — "At Cheki Sera (by which he must
intend the Ab amah ad sarae, then recently built) may be seen one of the largest
pagodas in all India. Connected with it is a hospital for monkeys, not only
for those that ai-e ordinarily on the spot, but also for any that may come from
the surrounding country, and Hindus are employed to feed them. This pagoda
is called Matura, and was once held in much greater veneration by the heathen
than it is now ; the reason being that the Jamuna (Gemene) used to flow at
its foot, and so the Hindus, whether natives or strangers, who had come from
a distance on a pilgrimage for purposes of devotion, had facilities for bathing
in the river both before they entered the pagoda and also before eating when
they went away. For they must not eat Avithout bathing, and they believe
that their sins are best efi\iced by a dip in flowing water. But for some years

* So called from a dwelling-house that was built there by Sawae Jay Siah.
t The editiou from which I translate was publiehed at Paris iu 1677.

SITE OF ANCIENT MATHUEA. 81

past the river has takeu a turn to the north, and now flows at the distance of a
kos or more ; whence it comes about that the shrine is less frequented by pil-
grims than it used to be." General Cunninojham in his Archaeological Report
has identified the Upagupta monastery with the Jasa Yihara inside the katra;
but in all probability he would not now adhere to this theory ; for, at the time
when he advanced it, he had never visited the Kankali Tila, and was also under
the impression that the fort had always been, as it noAV is, the centre of the
city. Even then, to maintain his theory, he was obliged to have recourse to a
very violent expedient, and in the text of the Chinese pilgrim alter the word
* east' to ' west,' because, he writes, "a mile to the east would take us to the
low ground on the opposite bank of the Jamuna, where no ruins exist ;" forget-
ting, apparently, Fa Hian's distinct statement that in his time there were monas-
teries on both sides of the river. This expression, it is true, must not be pressed
too closely, since it may refer exclusively, as it certainly refers in part, to the
rehgious buildings in the town of Maha-ban, which stands on the opposite bank
of the river. But, however this may be, it is certain that the topographical
descriptions of the two pilgrims may be reconciled with existing facts without
any tampering with the text of their narrative. Taking the katra, or the ad-
joining shrine of Bhutesvar, as the omphalos of the ancient city, and the pro-
bable site of the great stiipa of Sariputra, a short distance to the east will bring
us to the Kankali Tila, i. e., the monastery of Upagupta ; while the Jalalpur
mound has already been identified with the monkey stiipa, and the mounds on
the Sonkh road with "the stiipas of the four earlier Buddhas and other great
teachers of the law."

On the decline of Buddhism, IMathura acquired that character for sanctity
which it still retains, as the re]Aited birth-place of the deified Krishna. Or, more
probably, the triumph of Buddhism was a mere episode, on the conclusion of
which the city re-acquired a character which it had before enjoyed at a much
eralier period ; for it may be inferred from the language of the Greek geographers
that Brahmanism was in their time the religion of the country, and Hindu tradi-
tion is uniform in maintaining its claims both to holiness and antiquity. Thus
it is represented as the second of the capitals of the Lunar race, which were in
succession Prayag, Mathura, Kusasthali, and Dwaraka ; and in the following
well-known couplet it is ranked among the seven sanctuaries of Hindustan: —

Kasi Kanti cha Mayakhya twayodhya Dwaravatyapi
Mathuravantika chaita sapta puryo tra mokslifidah.

"Kasi {i. e., Banaras), Kanti (probably Kanchi), Maya (i. e., Haridwar),
with Ayodhya, Dwaravati, Mathura, and Avantika, are the seven cities of
salvation."

At the present day, though crowded with sacred sites, the traditionary scenes
of Krishna's adventures, there is not, thanks to Muliammadan intolerance, a

82 TEMPLK OF EESAVA DEVA IN 1650 A. D.

single building of any antiquity either in the city or its environs. Its most
famous temple — that dedicated to Kesava Dera — was destroyed, as mentioned
above, in 1669, in the eleventh year of the reign of the iconolastic Aurangzeb.
The mo?qne erected on its ruins is a building of little architectural value, but
the natural advantages of its lofty and isolated position render it a striking
feature in the landscape. The so-called katra, in which it stands, a place to
which frequent allusion has been made in the course of this sketch, is an
oblong enclosure, like a sarde, 804 feet in length by 653 feet in breadth. Upon
a raised terrace, 172 feet long and 86 feet broad, stands the mosque, occupying
the entire length of the terrace, but only 60 feet of its breadth. About five feet
lower is another terrace measuring 286 feet by 268. There may still be seen
let into the Muhammadan pavement some votive tablets with Nagari inscrip-
tions dated Sambat 1713 and 1720, coi-responding to 1656 and 1663 A. U.
In the latter year the temple was seen standing by Bernier, who writes : —
" Between Delhi and Agra, a distance of fifty or sixty leagues, there are no
fine towns, the whole road is cheerless and uninteresting ; nothing is worthy of
observation but Mathura, where an ancient and magnificent pagan temple is
still to be seen." The plinth of the temple-wall was traced by General Cun-
ningham for a distance of 163 feet, and there is reason to believe it extended
still further.* The building is described at considerable length by Tavernier,
who saw it about the year 1650. He writes :—" After the temples of Jagre-
nath and Banai'ous, the most important is that of Matura, about 18 A;ost from
Ao-ra on the road to Delhi. It is one of the most sumptuous edifices in all
India, and the place where there used to be formerly the greatest concourse of
pilgrims ; but now they are not so many, the Hindus having gradually lost
their previous veneration for the temple, on account of the Jamuna, which
used to pass close by, now having changed its bed and formed a new channel
half a league away. For, after bathing in the river, they lose too much time in
returning to the temple, and on the way might come across something to render
them unclean.

" The temple is of such a vast size that, though in a hollow, one can see it five
or six kos off, the building being very lofty and very magnificent. The stone
used in it is of a reddish tint, brought from a large quarry near Agra. It splits
like our slate, and you can have slabs 15 feet long, and nine or ten broad, and only
some six inches thick; in fact, you can split them just as you like and according

• General Cunningham's remarks on the date of this temple are most singuhuly and un-
accountably wide of the mark.

f Here he states the distance correctly ; hut in another place he gives the 8taa:es from Delhi
to Agra as follows :— " From Delhi to Badelpoura, 8 /ws ; from Badelpoura to Pelwel ki sera,
18 ; from Pelwel ki sera to Cot ki sera (Ko.si) 15 ; from Cot ki sera to Cheki sera (Mathura) 16;
from Cheki sera to Goodki sora, 6 ; from Goodki sera to Agra, 6." One stage must have been
omitted at the end.

TEMPLE OF KESAVA DEVA. 83

to your requirements, while you can also have fine columns. The whole of the
fort at Agra, the walls of JehanabaJ, the king's palace, and some of the
houses of the nobles are built of this stone. To return to the temple. — It is set
on a large octagonal platform, which is all faced with cut stone, and has round
about it two bands of many kinds of animals, but particularly monkeys, in relief;
the one band being only two feet off the ground level, the other, two feet from
the top. The ascent is by two staircases of 15 or 16 steps each ; the steps be-
ing only two feet in length, so that two people cannot mount abreast. One of
these staircases leads to the grand entrance of the tem])le, the other to the back
of the choir. The temple, however, occupies only half the platform, the other
half making a grand square in front. Like other temples, it is in the form of a
cross, and has a great dome in the middle with two rather smaller at the sides.
Outside, the building is covered from top to bottom with figures of animals,
such as rams, monkeys, and elephants, carved in stone ; and all round there are
nothing but niclies occupied by different monsters. In each of the three towers
there are at every stage from the base to the pinnacle windows five or six feet
high, each provided with a kind of balcony, where four persons can sit. Each
balcony is covered with a little vault, supported some by four, others by eight
columns arranged in pairs and all touching. Hound these towers there are yet
more niches full of figures representing demons, one has four arms, another
four legs ; some human heads on bodies of beasts with horns and lono- tails
twining round their thighs. There are also many figures of monkeys, and it
is quite shocking to have before one's eyes such a host of monstrosities.

" The pagoda has only one entrance, which is very lofty, with many columns
and images of men and beasts on either side. The choir is enclosed by a screen
composed of stone pillars, five or six inches in diameter, and no one is allowed
inside but the chief Brahmans, who make use of a little secret door which I could
not discover. When in the temple, I asked some of the Brahmans if I could
see the great Ram Ram, meaning the great idol. They replied that if I would
give them something, they would go and ask permission of their superior ;*
which they did as soon as I had put in their hands a couple of rupees. After
waiting about half an hour, the Brahmans opened a door on the inside in the
middle of the screen — outside, the screen is entirely closed — and, at about 15 or

* Regarding tho veneration paid to the head of the temple, Tavernier in another place relates
the following anecdote : — " While I was at Agra in the year 1642, a very odd thing happened. A
Hindu broker in Dutch employ, by name Voldas, some 70 or 80 years of age, received tidings of
the death of the chief Brahman, that is to say, the high priest of the temple of Matura. He at
once went to the head of the office, and begged him to talce his accounts and finish them off, for
as his high priest was dead he wished to die too, that he might seree the holy man in the other
world. Directly his accounts had been inspected, he got into his carriage together with some
relations who followed him, and, as he had taken nothing either to eat or drink since the news had
reached him, he died on the road, without ever expressing a wish for any food."

84 IMAGE OF KESAVA DEVA.

16 feet from the door, I saw, as it were, a square altar, covered witli old gold and
silver brocade, and on it the great idol that they call Ham Ram. The head
only is visible, and is of very black marble, with what seemed to be two rubies
for eyes. The whole body from the neck to the feet was covered with an
embroidered robe of red velvet, and no arms could be seen. There were two
other idols, one on either side, two feet high, or thereabouts, and got up in the
same style, only with white faces ; these they called Becchor. I also noticed ni
the temjde a structure 15 or 16 feet square, and from 12 to 15 feet high,
covered with coloured cloths representing all sorts of demons. This structure
was raised on four little wheels, and they told me it was the movable altar,
on which they set the great god on high feast days, when he goes to visit the
other gods, and when they take him to the river with all the people on their
chief holiday."

From the above description, the temple would seem to have been crowded
with coarse figure-sculptures, and not in such pure taste as the somewhat older
temple of Govind Deva at Brinda-ban and Hari Deva at Gobardhan ; but it
must still have been a most sumptuous and imposing edifice, and we cannot but
detest the bigotry of the barbarian who destroyed it. At the time of its demo-
lition it had been in existc^ice only some fifty years, but it is certain that an
earlier shrine, or series of shrines, on the same site and under the same dedica-
tion, had been famous for many ages. Thus it is said in the Varaha Puraua —
Na Kesava samo deva na Mathura gamo cTvija,
" No god like Kesava, and no Brahman like a Mathuriya Chaube."

In still earlier times the site had been appropriated by another religion, as
is attested by the Buddhist remains which we have already described as found
there.

In anticipation of Aurangzeb's raid, the ancient image of the god was
removed by liana, Kaj Sinh of Mewar, and was set up on the spot where, as they
journeyed, the wheels of the chariot sank in the deep sand and refused to be
extricated. It happened to be an obscure little village, then called Siarh, on
the Banas, 22 miles nortli-east of Udaypur. But the old name is now lost in
the celebrity of the temp] 3 of Nath ji, 'the Lord,' which gives its designation
to the town of Nath-dwara, which has grown up round it. This is the most
highly venerated of all the statues of Krishna. There are seven other of great
repute, which also deserve mention here, as a large proportion of them came
from the neighbourhood of Mathura, viz , Nava-nita at Nathdwara ; Mathura-
nath at Kota ; Dwaraka-nath at Kankarauli, brought from Kanauj ; Jadu-
nath at Surat from Maha-ban ; Bitthal-nath or Pandu-rang at Kota from Ba-
naras ; Madan Mohan from Brinda-ban ; and Gokul-nath, or Gokul-chandraraa,
from Gokul ; which two last were at Jaypur till a few years ago, when, in con-
sequence of the Maharaja's disUkc to all the votaries of Vishnu, they were

THE POTARA-KUND. 85

removed to Kara-ban ia Bharat-pur territory. In all probability before very
long they will be brought back to their original homes.

At the back of the katra is the modern temple of Kesava Deva, a cloistered
quadrangle of no particular architectural merit, and, except on special occasions,
little frequented in consequence of its distance from the main town. It is sup-
ported by an annual endowment of Rs. 1,027, the rents of the village of Undi
in the Chhata pargana. Close by is a very large quadrangular tank of solid
masonry, called the Potara-kund, in which, as the name denotes, Krishna's
' baby-Hnen ' was washed. There is little or no architectural decoration, but
the great size and massiveness of the work render it imposing, while the effect
is greatly enhanced by the venerable trees which overhang the enclosing wall.
Unfortunately the soil is so porous that the sup])ly of water is rapidly absorbed,
and in every season but the rains the long flights of steps are diy to their very
base. Its last restoration was made at considerable cost in 1850 by the Kam-
dar of the G-waliar Raj. A small cell on the margin of the tank, called in-
differently Kara-grah, ' the prison-house,' or Janra-bhiimi, ' the birth-place,'
marks the spot where Vasudeva and Devaki were kei)t in confinement, and
where their son Krishna was born. The adjoining suburb, in its name Mall-
pura, commemorates, it is said, Kansa's two famous mallas, i. e., 'wrestlers,'
Chanura and Mushtika.

In connection with the discovery of Buddhist antiquities, allusion has
already been made to the temple of Bhutesvar Mahadeva, which overlooks the
old and ruinous Balbhadra-kund. In its present form it is a quadrangle of
ordinary character with pyramidal tower and cloister built by the Mahrattas
towards the end of last century. The site has probably been occupied bv suc-
cessive religious buildings from most remote antiquity, and was at one time
the centre of the town of Mathura, Avhich has now moved away from it more
than a mile to the east. In the earlier days of Brahmanism, before the develop-
ment of the Krishna cultus, it may be surmised that Bhutesvar M^as the special
local divinity. There are in Braj three other shrines of Mahadeva of high tradi-
tional repute, in spite of the meanness of their modern accessories, viz., Kamesvar
at Kama, Chakresvar at Gobardhan, and Gopesvar at Brinda-ban.

Of the many little shrines that cluster about the Balbhadra-kund,* one is
dedicated to Balarama under his title of Dau-ji, ' the elder brother ;' another to
Ganes, and a third to Nar-Sinha, ' the man-lion,' the fourth incai-nation of
Vishnu. According to the legend, there was an impious king, by name Hiranya-
Kasipu, who claimed universal sovereignty over all powers on earth, in heaven,

* A mela is held by the Balbhadra-kund on tlie full moon of Srawan, the feast of the Saliiuo.
A branch of the canal will soon be brought into the immediate neighbourhood, and it may bo
hoped that some wealthy and devout Hindu may then be moved to undertake the restoration of
what is certainly one of the most aucient of all the holy places in Mathura.

06 THE SARASVATI-KUND.

and hell. No one had the hardihood to oppose him, save his own son, the pious
prince Prahhid, who was for ever singing the praises of the great god Vishnu,
" If," said the king, " your god is everywhere present, let him now show himself in
this pillar which I strike." At the word the pillar parted in twain and revealed
the god in terrible form, half lion half man, who seized the boastful monarch
and tore him in pieces and devoured him.

In an adjoining orchard called the Kazi's Bagh, is a small modern mosque,
and in connection with it a curious square building of red sandstone. It now
encloses a Muhammadan tomb, and, if originally constructed for that purpose,
is a striking illustration of theinfluence of the genius loci; for it has nothing
Saracenic about it, and is a good specimen of the pure Hindu style of architec-
ture with characteristic columns and quasi arches.

After lea\dng the great entrance to the katra, the Delhi road passes a
masonry well* called ' Kubja's,' in commemoration of the miracle which Krishna
wrought in straightening the hump-backed maiden who met him there. A little
further on, a handsome bridge, built by Seth Lakhmi Chand in 1849, crosses a
natural Avatercourse known as the Sarasvati Sangam, or ' confluence of the
Saras vati,' to the right of which is a hill called Kailas, with the temple of Go-
karuesvar Mahadeva, and to the left an open plain, where the sports of the Ram
Lila are celebrated on the festival of the Dasahara. Close by is a tank called
the Sarasvati-kund, measuring 125 feet square. Owing to some fault in the
construction, it is almost always dry, and the adjoining buildings have also rather
a ruinous and deserted appearance. We learn, however, from the following in-
scription which is on a tablet over the entrance to the temple, that the last
restoration was completed so recently as the year 1846 : —

^T ^ ^\nr{ ^^^m ^^^^ \nw\ ^\vh^ ^o <{^ ^o <i£o^

The above, which exliibits several peculiarities, both in style and phraseology,
may be rendered as follows : — " Baladeva Oosain, resident of the Dasavatar
Gali of Mathura, the devoted servant of the venerable contemplative ascetic the
right reverend Swami Paramhans, thoroughly restored from ruin the Sarasvati-
kund, and built this new temple and in due form set up a god in it. His agents
were Chhote Lai and Mannii Lai, Sanadhs ; the head of the works Chunni ; the
cost Rs. 2,735. Kartik sudi 13th, Sambat 1903." Tlie Swami's actual name

* Imraediattly oppcsite the well a fragment of a sculptured Buddhist pillar has been set up,
and receives religious honours as reprcseutiug the Hindu goddess Devi.

THE SIVA TAL. 87

was Narajcan, and liig disciple Baladeva was a foundling whom he picked up
in the street. Both were Pandits of high local repute. At no great distance
is the temple of Maha-Vidya Devi. The original image with that dedication is
said to have been set up by the Pandavas; the present shrine, a Sikhara of
ordinary character in a small quadrangle, was built by the Peshwa towards the
end of last century. The hill u2:)on which it stands is ascended by flights of
masonry steps between 30 and 40 in number. At the foot is a small dry tank,
completely overgrown with a dense jungle of ber, pilu, and hins. In the court-
yard, which occupies the entire plateau, is a karil tree said to be of enormous
age, under which may be seen, among other fragments, a Buddhist pillar carved
with the figure of Maya Devi under a Bo-tree, and a square stone box with a
seated Buddha on each of its four sides. Two melas are held here on the 8th
of the light fortnight of Chait and Kuwar.

At several of the holy places, as we have had occasion to remark, a large tank
forms one of the principal features ; but the only one that can be called a success
is the Siva Tal, not far from the Kankali Tila. This is a spacious quadrangular
basin of "great depth, and always well supplied with water. It is enclosed in a
high boundary wall with corner kiosques and a small arched doorway in the
centre of three of its sides. On the fourth side is the slope for watering cattle
or ' Go-ghat,' with two memorial inscriptions facing each other, the one in
Sanskrit, the other in Persian ; from which we learn that the tank was con-
structed by order of Raja Patni Mall (of Banaras) in the year 1807 A.D. : —

"In the holy circuit of Mathura, reverenced by the gods, pure home of the
votaries of Siva, is a sacred place, whose virtues ai-e told in the Varaha Punina,
inaccessible by men save through the efficacy of virtuous deeds performed in a
previous state of existence ; chief of all sacred places, giver of special graces ;
a pellucid lake, whose praises no length of time would suffice fully to tell. After
a careful survey and employing the best of architects, who adorned it with
tracery of varied design, the ceremony of its donation was performed by Raja
Patni Mall through the Brahmans, causing gladness like that which arises from

88 RAJA PATNI MALL.

the touch of the foot of Yishnu, rejoicing even the gods. In the year of the
(4) oceans, the (6) members, the (8) elephants, and the (solitary) moon, (that is,
Samhat 1864) on Friday, the 10th of the light fortnight of the month Jeth."

cijUo ^JU ^A.x^ jii'^ J^^iX^<!;:i.lj*j.li:|jU-^|j:i.^^l»)U Ja| ^ia^^xj
UijU_5l^ ^(^oIj ^\y» jji^***' JU* y-..^;0 1^^)505 Li^*«J 5 ^-051^5 ^l>^Ci

i__y vs^ I f y r -si.-/

" He is the one who is asked for help and who is constantly worshipped. The
famous remains of this ancient shrine in the neighbourhood of Mathura, the
place of pilgrimage from all six quarters, have now been renewed. When the
old buildings of the Siva Tal were restored by that generous and benevolent
founder, the goal of good deeds, the bestower of benefits on all the people of the
world, the centre of public gratitude, Raja Patni Mall, Bahadur, fountain of ex-
cellent virtue ; then the year of its construction — for the remembrance of all
the world — was found to be 1222. Thought (or the poet Zaka) suggested the
following tdrikli according to the abjad reckoning [illegible] water of life."
The design and execution are both of singular excellence, and reflect the high-
est credit on the architect whom he employed ; the sculptured arcades, which pro-
ject far into the centre of the basin, and break up the long flights of steps into
three compartments on each side, being especially graceful. The place is visited
by a large number of bathers from the neighbourhood every morning, and is
the scene of an annual mela held on the 11th of the dark fortnight of the month
Bhadon. Outside the enclosure is a small temple in the same style of architec-
ture dedicated to Mahudeva under the title of Achalesvar. In the Manoharjiur
quarter of the city is a large temple of the Raja's foundation bearing the title
of Dirgha Vishnu. The name is unusual and refers to the 'gigantic' stature
which the boy Krishna assumed when he entered the arena to fight with Kansa's
champions, Chanura and Mushtika. The Raja's dwelling-house is still stand-
ing on the Nakarchi Tila, and was recently occupied for a time as a normal
school for the training of female teachers. He is further commemorated by
another small shrine near the Holi gate of the city, which he re-built in honour
of Vira-bhadra, the terrible being ci'eated by Siva and Devi in their wrath to
disturb the sacrifice of Daksha, a ceremony to which they had not been invited.
His great ambition was to rebuild the ancient temple of Kesava Dcva, and
with this view he had gradually acquired a considerable part of the site. But
as some of the Muhammadans, who had occupied the ground for nearly two
centuries, refused to bo bought out, and the law upheld them in their refusal,

MA170HAR-PUR MOSQUE. 89

he was at last, and after great expense had been incurred, reluctantly obliged
to abandon the idea. Should a stranger visit the tank early in the morning,
and enquire of any Hindu he meets there by whom it was constructed, he will
find considerable difficulty in eliciting a straightforward answer. The Eajd,
it is said, was a man of such delicate constitution that he never could take at
one time more than a very few morsels even of the simplest food : hence arises
a belief that anyone who mentions him by name the first thing in the morning,
wiU, like him, have to pass the day fasting.

From the katra, the centre of all the localities which we have hitherto been
describing, a fine broad road has been carried through the rising grounds along
the outskirts of the city, down to the edge of the river. On the right hand side
is the stone-cuttei-'s quarter with the small old temple of Bankandi Mahadeva,
and on the left the suburb of Manoharpur, with a mosque which, as we learn
from the following inscription over the centre arch, was erected in the year 1158
Hijri, L e.j 1745 A.D., during the reign of Muhammad Shah —

1. In the reign of Shah Muhammad Shah, Abdurrashid built this mosque.

2. Thought suggested the tdnhh, ' He built a beautiful mosque.' [A. H.
1158; or A.D. 1745].

In the streets are many broken Buddhist pillars and other sculptures. The road
was constructed in the collectorate of Mr. Best, and in the progress of the work
a column was found bearing an inscription in some ancient character : to reduce
the size of the stone, the inscribed face was ruthlessly cut away, and it was then
converted into a buttress for a bridge. As it approaches the river, the road
opens out into a fine square, Avith graceful arcades of carved stone. These are
the property of the Maharaja of Bharat-pur and Gosain Purushottam Lai, and
though ordinarily they have rather a deserted appearance, on the occasion of
any great local festival they let for as much as Rs. 2 or 3 each a day. On the
other side of the square opposite the road is a pontoon bi'idge, which was opened
for traffic in 1870. The tolls are farmed at the large sum of Rs. 40,500 for the
year : whence it is obvious that any reasonable outlay incurred in its construc-
tion would soon have been repaid. But unfortunately in the revision of esti-
mate, everything was sacrificed to a false economy; it was too narrow to al-
low of two carts passing, and too weak to bear even a single cart if heavily
laden. Thus it was no sooner opened than it broke down ; and repairs were in
constant progress, till the night of the 13th of August, 1871, — when it was com-
pletely swept away by a heavy flood. It has since been re-constructed ; but
it is impossible that it should ever present a satisfactory appearance, while at
the same time its cost has been excessive.

90 THE FORT or MATHUflA.

The citj stretclioa for about a mile and a half along the right hank of tlie
Jamuna, and from the opposite side has a very striking and picturesque appear-
ance, which is owing not a little to the broken cliaracter of the ground on which
it is built. Were it not for this peculiarity of site, the almost total absence of
towers and spires would be felt as a great drawback ; as all the large modern
temples have no sikfuvas, as are usually seen in similar edifices, but are siiuj^lo
cloistered quadrangles of uniform height. The only exceptions are the lofty
minarets of the Jama Masjid on the one si<le, and the campanile of the English
church seen through the trees in the distance below.

Looking up the stream, the most prominent object is the old Fort, or rather
its massive substructure, for that is all that now remains, called by the people
Kans-ka Kila. Whatever its legendary antiquity, it was rebuilt in historical
times by Raja Man Sinh of Jaypur, the chief of ihe Hindu princes at Akbar's
"Court ; and was the occasional residence of Man Slab's still more famous suc-
cessor on the throne of Amber, the great astronomer Sawai Jay Sinh. He
commenced his long reign of 44 years in 1GD9 A.D., and till the day of his death
was engaged in almost constant warfare. Still he is less known to posterity by
his military successes, brilliant though thoy wore, than by his enlightened civil
administration and still more exceptional literary achievements. At the outset
he made a false move ; for in the war of succession, that eusued upon the death
of Aurangzeb, he attached himself to prince Bedar Bakht, and fought by his
side in the fatal battle of Dhol-pur. One of the first acts of Shah Ahim on his
consequent elevation to the throne was to sequester the principality of Amber.
An Imperial Governor was sent to take possession, but Jay Sinh drove hiin out,
sword in hand, and then formed a league with Ajit Sinh of Marwdr for mutual
protection. From that day forward he was prominently concerned in all the
troubles and warfare of that anarchic period, but never again on the losing side.
In 1721, he was appointed Governor of the Province of Agra and later of Malwa ;
but he o-radually loosened his connection with the Court at Delhi, from a con-
viction that the dissolution of the Muhammadan empire was inevitable, and con-
cluded terms with the Mahrattas. At his accession, Amber consisted only of the
three parganas of Amber, Deosa, and Barsao, as the Shaikhawats had made
themselves independent, and the western tracts had been attached to Ajmer.
He not only recovered all that had been lost, but further extended his frontiers
by the reduction of the Bargujars of Deoti and Rajaur, and made his State
■worthy to be called the dominions of a Raja — a title which he was the first of
his line to assume. The new capital, which he founded, ho called after his own
name Jaypur, and it is still to the present day the most striking native city in
India, and the only one built upon a regular plan. He is said to have been
assisted both in the design and the execution by an architect from Bengal. In
consequence of his profountl knowledge of astronomy, ho was eutrusttxl by Mu-

SETH LAKIlMI CHAND. 01

hammad Shall witli tbe reformation of the calendar. To ensure that amount of
accuracy which he considered the small instruments in ordinary vise must always
fail to command, he constructed observatories with instruments of his own
invention on a gigantic scale. One of these was on the top of the Mathura Fort,
the others at Delhi, Jaypur, Ujjaiyin, and Banaras. His success was so signal
that he was able to detect errors in the tables of De la Hire, which had been
communicated to hixn. by the King of Portugal. His own tables were com-
pleted in 1728, and are those still used by native astronomers. He died in
1743. His voluminous correspondence is said by Tod* still to exist, and his
acts to be recorded in a miscellaneous diary entitled Kalpadruma, and a collec-
tion of anecdotes called the Eksau nau gun Jay Sink kd. The whole of the
Mathura observatory has now disappeared. A little before the mutiny the
buildings were sold to the great Government contractor, Joti Prasad, who
destroyed them for the sake of the materials. Certainly, they had ceased
to be of any practical use ; but they were of interest, both in the history of
science and as a memorial of one of the most remarkable men in the long
line of Indian sovereigns, and their inconsiderate demolition is a matter for
regret.

From the Fort a continuous succession of ghiUs, all simple flights of stone
steps with occasional shrines and kiosques, lines the water's edge down to a large
walled garden below the city, called the Jamuna B.igh. This was the property
of Seth Lakhmi Chaud, and contains two handsome chhattris or cenotaphs, in
memory of his two predecessors, Mani Ram and Parikh Ji.

The latter was a Gujarati Brahman of the Vallabhacharya persuasion, and
held the lucrative appointment of Treasurer to the Gwaliar State. Being child-
less and on bad terms with his only brother, he bequeathed the whole of his
mimense Avealth to Mani Ram, one of his office subordinates, for whom he had
conceived a great affection ; notwithstanding that the latter was a Jaini, and
thus the difference of religion between them so great that it was impossible to
adopt him formally as a son. As was to be expected, the will was fiercely dis-
puted by the surviving brother ; but after a litigation, which extended over
several years, its validity was finally declared by the highest court of appeal, and
the property confirmed in Mani Ram's possession. On his death, it dev-olved
in great part upon the eldest of his three sons, the millionaire Seth Lakhmi
Chand, who has left an only son, by name Raghunath Das, who seems scarcely
to have inherited his father's talent for business. His two uncles, Radha Kri-
shan and Gobind Das, became converts to Vaishnavism, under the influence of
the learned scholar Swami Rangacharya, and founded the great temple of
Rang Ji at Briuda-ban, the only establishment (it is believed) in all Upper India
that is owned by the followers of Ramanuja. The survivor, Gobind Das, has
* From whom all the facts in the above narrative of Jay Sinh'a life are borrowed.

92 THE VISRANT GHAT.

no issue, but stands in the liglit of a fother to his nephew, Lachhman Dds, the
onlj son of his deceased brother, Radha Krishan.

About the centre of the river front is the most sacred of all the ghats, mark-
ing the spot Avhere Krishna sat down to take ' rest ' after he had slain the tyrant
Kansa, and hence called the Visrant Ghat. Tlie small open court has a marble
arch facing the Avater, which distinguishes it from all the other landing-places :
and on the other three sides are various buildings erected at intervals during the
last century and a half by several pi-incely families, but none of them possesses
any architectural beauty. Close by is a natural watercourse, said to have been
caused by the passage of Kansa's giant body, as it was dragged down to the
river to be burnt, and hence called the ' Kansa Khar.' The following lines
in the Vishnu Purana are alleged in support of the tradition : —

" By the trailing body of Kansa, with its prodigious weight, a channel was
made as by the rush of a mighty stream."

It is now arched over like the Fleet river in London, and forms one of the
main sewers of the town, a circumstance which possibl}^ does not affect the
sanctity, but certainly detracts somewhat from the material purity of this favour-
ite bathing-place. It swarms with turtles of an enormous size, which are consi-
dered in a way sacred, and generally receive a handful or two of grain from
every visitor.

Reference has already been made more than once to the Mathura Mahdtmya,
or Religious Chronicle of Mathura. It is an interpolation on the Yaraha Purana,
and of sufficient extent to be itself divided into 29 sections. After expatiating
in the most extravagant terms on the learning, piety, and other virtues of the
Mathuriya Chaubes, and the incomparable sanctity of the city in which they
dwell, it briefly enumerates the twelve Vanas or woods, that are included in the
perambulation of the land of Braj, and then at greater length describes the
principal shrines which the pilgrim is bound to visit in the capital itself. As a
rule, no attempt is made to explain either the names borne by the different holy
places, or the origin of their reputed sanctity; but their virtue is attested by the
recital of some of the miracles which have been worked through their super-
natural influence. Take for example the following legend in connection with
the Visrant Ghat : —

" Once upon a time there, was a Brahman living at Ujjaiyin, who neglected
all his religious duties, never bathed, never said a prayer, never went near a
temple. One night, when out with a gang of thieves, he was surprised by the
city watchmen, and in running away from them fell down a diy well and broke
his neck. His ghost was doomed to haunt the place, and was so fierce that it

THE MATHURA MAHATMYA. 93

would tear to pieces and devour everyone who came near it. This went on for
many years, till at last one day a band of travellers happened to pitch their
tents by the well, and among their number was a very holy and learnel Brah-
man. So soon as he knew how the neighbourhood was afflicted, he had recourse
to his spells and compelled the evil spirit to appear before him. Discovering,
in the course of his examination, that the wretched creature had in his lifetime
been a Brahman, he was moved with pity for him and promised to do all in his
power to alleviate his sentence. Whereupon the ghost begged him to go straight
to Mathura, and bathe on his behalf at the Visrant Ghat, ' for,' said he, ' I once
in my life went into a temple of Vishnu, and heard the priest repeat this holy
name and tell its wondrous saving power.' The Brahman had often bathed
there and readily agreed to transfer the merit of one such ablution. The words
of consent had no sooner passed his lips than the guilty soul was absolved from
all further suffering. "*

On either side of this sacred spot, a number of minor ghats stretch up and
down the river, those to the north being called the uttar kot, and those to the
south the dakshin kot. They are invariably represented as twenty-four in all,
twelve in either set ; but there is a considerable discrepancy as to the particular
names- The following list has been supplied by a Pandit of high local repute,
Makhan Misr, a Gaur Brahman, from whose extensive hbrary of manuscripts
I have been able to procure almost every Sanskrit work that 1 have had occa-
sion to consult.

To the north : Ganes Ghat ; Manasa Ghat ; Dasasvamedha Ghat, under the
hill of Ambarisha ; Chakra tirtha Ghat ; Krishna-Ganga Gh4t, with the shrine
of Kalinjaresvar Mahadeva; Som-tirtha Ghat, more commonly called Vasudeva
Ghat or Shaikh Ghat ; Brahmalok Ghat ; Ghantabharan Ghat ; Dhara-patan

• To a devout Hindu, who believes that Krishna was an incarnation of the Deity, and that he
hallowed with his presence the place now called the Visrant Ghat, there is no intrinsic absurdity
in the legend as above quoted. It can be paralleled in all its particulars by many that have been
recorded for the edification of the faithful by canonized saints of the Church. That the merit of
good deeds can be transferred— the point upon which the story mainly turns — is a cardinal
Catholic doctrine ; and as to the dying in sin and yet being saved through the efficacy of a formal
act of devotion, take the following example from the pages of S. Alphonsus Liguori : - " A cer-
tain Canon was reciting some pra^-ers in honour of the Divine Mother, and, whilst duino- so fell
into the river Seine and was drowned. Being in mortal sin, the devils came to take him to hell.
In the same moment Mary appeared and said, ' How do you dare to take possession of one who
died in the act of praising me ?' Then addressing herself to the sinner, she siid, 'Now change
thy life and nourish devotion to my Conception.' He returned to life and became a Heligious."
Here the concluding words correspond precisely with the finale of the story of the barber Tinduk,
as told on the next page. In short, the Hindu idea of divine worship, of the religious life, of the
efficacy of faith and good works, of the earnest sympathy of the Divine Being with human dis-
tress, and his occasional miraculous intervention for its relief, falls little, if at all, short of Catho-
lie truth; but unhappily, with regard to the God, the proper object of this right devotion, their
eyes are so blinded that they cannot see.

94 THE TWENTY-FOUR GHATS.

Gliiit ; Saugaman-tirtha Gliiit, otherwise called Yaikunth Gb4t ; Nava-tirtha
Gbat; and Asikunda Ghat.

To the south : Avimukta Ghat ; Yisrduti Ghat ; Prag Ghat ; Kankhal Gh:it ;
Tinduk Ghat ; Surya Ghiit ; Chinta-maui Ghat ; Dhruva Ghat ; Ri^hi Ghat ;
Moksha Ghat ; Koti Ghat ; and Buddh Ghat.

The more common division is to include the Avimukta Ghat in the first set,
from which the Manasa is then omitted, to except the Visrant Ghat altogether
from the number of the twenty-four, and to begin the second series with the
Balabhadra and the Jog Ghat. By the former of these two are the Satghara
or ' seven chapels,' commemorating Krishna's seven favourite titles, and the
shrine of Gata Sram or ' ended toil.' The latter is supposed to mark the spot
where Joga-Nidra, the infant daughter of Nanda and Jasoda, whom Vasudeva
had substituted for his own child Krishna, was dashed to the ground by Kansa,
and thence in new form ascendeil to heaven as the goddess Durga. Botweeu it
and the Priig Ghat is one more modern called Sringar Ghat with two temples
dedicated respectively to Pipalesvar Mahadeva and Batuk-nath, and by Prag-
Ghat the slirine of Ramesvar Mahadeva. The list further omits two ghats
which occupy far more conspicuous sites than any of the others, but arc devoid
of any legendary reputation. The first bears the name of Sanii Ghat, not, as
niio-ht be supposed, a corruption of Sicduil^ but of Sdinhne, ' opposite,' as it fiices
the main street of the city, where is a mansion of carved stone built hy the
famous Hup Earn, Katara, of Barsana. The second is the Bengali Ghat, at the
foot of the pontoon bridge, and close to a large house, the property of the Baja
of Jhalra-pattan.

Most of the titles refer to well-known legends, and there is no occasion to
dwell at length upon them all. A little beyond the Ganes Ghat, which appro-
priately heads the list, in the direction of Jay-Sinli-pura, is a shrine bearing the
singular name of Gargi Sarofi, or, as it is sometimes called, the Great and Little
Pathawari. They are said to have been the two wives of Gokarn, who was
translated to heaven as an equal of Mahadeva. The mantra to be repeated iu
honour of the younger lady runs as follows : —

W^ ^T^ ^TR ^i^T raf^^TRJ^T II
"Honor to thee, 0 divine Pargi ! the Ilishi's beautiful wife, happy mother,
beneficent incarnation of Gauri, over l)ostowing success."

The word Ghantabharan (wliich avouUI be derived from ghanfd, 'a bell,' and
Iharan, ' bearing,') is in the Vraj-bhakti-vilas perhaps more correctly written
Gliantabhan, bhan meaning ' sound.' The allusion is to the bell, by the ringing
of which Vishnu is roused from his four months' slumber on the 11th of the
month Ktirtik.

THE TWENTY-FOUR GHATS. 95

The name Dharapatan (from dhdrci, 'a stream,' and. patan, 'falling,') pro-
bably referred primarily to the position of the ghat, which is on a projecting
point where it bears the full force of the 'fall of the stream.' Bnt in the Mahat-
mya it is explained by the following legend : — "Once upon a time, a woman,
whose home was on the bank of the Ganges, came on a pilgrimage to Mathura,
and arrived there on the 12th of Kartik. As she was stepping into a boat near
the place where now is the Dhara-patau Ghat, she fell over and was drowned.
By virtue of this immersion in the sacred flood, she w^as born again in an exalted
position as the daughter of the king of Banaras, and, under the name of the Rani
Pivari, was married to Kshatra-dhanu, the king of Surashtra, by whom she had
seven sons and five daughters. Upon one occasion when the royal pair were
comparing notes, it came to light that he too had undergone a very similar ex-
perience : for, originally he had been a wild savage, who had come over to
Mathura from the Naimisha forest, and was crossing the Jamuna with his shoes
balanced on the top of his head, when they fell off into the water. He dipped
down to recover them, and was swept away by the torrent and drowned. Every
stain of sin being thus washed out of his body, when he again took birth it was
no longer as a barbarous Nishadha, or wild man of the w^oods, but as a noble
Kshatriya king.

Ambarisha, who gives a name to the hill by the Dasasvamedh Ghat, was a
devout -worshipper of Vishnu, and thereby excited the hostility of the sage
Durvasas, the most intolerant apostle of the supremacy of Siva. A terrific
encounter took place between the two champions of the rival gods, but no
weapons could avail against the magic discus of Vishnu ; Durvasas barely
escaped with life, and Ambarisha has ever since been one of the most favoui'ite
themes for Vaishnava laudation.

Dhruva was the son of King Uttana-pada, and indignant at the slights put
upon him by his stepmother, he left his father's palace to make a name for him-
self in the world. By the advice of the seven great Rishis, Marichi, Atri,
Angiras, Pulastya, Kratu, Pulaha, and Vasishta, he repaired to Madhu-ban near
Mathura, and there, absorbed in the contemplation of Vishnu, continued for
seven years a course of the severest penance. At last the god appeared to him
in person, and promised to grant him any boon he might desire. His request
was for a station exalted above every station, and which should endure for ever,
whereupon he was translated to heaven as the polar star with his mother ISuniti.

On the Dhruva Hla, or hill, is a small temple, built Sambat lb94, in place of
an older shrine of which the ruins remain close by, dedicated to Dhruva Ji.
The Pujdris, or priests in charge, by name Damodar Das and Chhote Lai, be-
long to the ISanakadi or Nimbarak Sampradaya of Vaishnavas, and produce a
manuscript pedigree in Sanskrit in proof of their direct ecclesiastical descent
from Kesava Bhatt, Nimbdrak's successor, who is regarded as the head of the

96 THE NIMDARAK SAMPRADAYA.

secular, or Gnhastha, subdivision of the sect, as his brother-in-law Hari Vyasa
was of the celibate, or Virakla, order. In the temple are figures of Hadhd
Krishan, whom the Nimbaraks have adopted as their special j^atrons. The List
of Superiors, or Guru-Parampara, as it is called, runs as follows : —

I. — 1 Hansavatar; 2 Sanakadi; 3 Narada; 4 Nimbarak Swaiui: all deified
characters.

II. — 1 Nivasaeharya ; 2 Biswacharya; 3 Purushottam ; 4 Bilusa ; 5 Saruj)a ;
6 Madhava; 7 Balbhadra; 8 Padina ; 9 Syama ; 10 Gopala ; 11 Kripala ; 12
Deva : all distinguished by the title of Acharya.

III. — 1 Sundar Bhatt ; 2 Padma-nabha ; 3 Sri Pama-chaudra; 4 Bamau ; 5
Sri Krishna ; (J Padmakara ; 7 Sravan; 8 Bhiiri; 9 JMadhava ; 10 Syama; 11
Gopala ; 12 Sri-bal, or Balbhadra; 13 Gopinath; 14 Kesava; 15 Gangal; 16 Ke-
sava Kashmiri ; 17 Sri Bhatt ; 18 Kesava Biaiani : all bearing the title of Bhatt.

IV.— 1 Giridhar Gosain; 2 Ballabh Lai; 3 Mukund Lai; 4 Nand Ldl;
5 Mohan Lai ; 6 Earn Ji Lai ; 7 Mauu Lai ; 8 Padhii Lai ; 9 Kanhaiya Lai ;
and 10 Damodar Das : all bearing the title of Gosain.

The Nimbaraks have also a temple at Brinda-bau, dedicated to Rasak Bihari.
Their distinguishing sectarial mark consists of two white perpendicular streaks
on the forehead with a black spot in the centre. The natural parents of their
founder are said to have been named Aruna Rishi and Jayanti.

Tinduk, who gives his name to a ghat, was, according to the Mahatmya, a
barber, lived at Kampilya, the capital of Panchala, in the reign of King De^-ad-
atta. After losing all his family, he came to live at Mathura, and there practised
such rigorous austerities, and balhed so constantly in the sanctifying stream of
the Jam ana, that after death he took birth once more as a high-caste Brahman.
The legend of the Asikunda Ghat is told on this wise: — " There was a virtu-
ous king, Sumati, who started on a pilgrimage, but died before he was able to
complete it. His son, Vimati, on succeeding to the throne, was visited by the
sage Narad, who, at the time of taking his departure, uttered this oracular sen-
tence: 'A pious son settles his father's debts.' After consulting with his
ministers, the prince concluded that the debt was a debt of vengeance, which
he was bound to exact from the places of [)ilgrimage, which had tempted his
father to undertake the fatal journey. Accordingly, having ascertained that
every holy place paid an annual visit in the season of the rains to the city of
Mathura, he assembled an army and marched thither with full intent to destroy
them all. They fled in terror to Kalpa-grama to implore the aid of Vishnu,
who at last yielded to their entreaties, and assuming the form of a boar joined
in combat with King Vimati on the bank of the Jamuna and slew him. In the
fray, the point of the divine sword, ' asi,' snapped ofl^' and fell to the ground ;
hence the ghat to this day is called Asi-kuuda Ghat, and the plain adjoining it
Varaha Kshetra, or ' the field of the boar.'

THE SATI BURJ. 97

Tlius much for the twenty-four ghats and their legends ; but, before leaving
the river side, one other building claims a few words, vt., ' the Sati Burj.' This
is a slender quadrangular tower of red sandstone commemorating the self-sacri-
fice of some faithful wife. According to the best authenticated tradition, she is
said to have been the Queen of Raja Bhar Mai of Jaypur, and the mother of the
famous Raja Bhagavan Da^, by whom the monument was erected in the year
1570 A.D. It has a total height of 55 feet and is in four stories, surmounted
by a low and ugly modern dome. The lowest story forms a solid basement ;
the second and third are lighted by square windows, and are supplied with an
internal staircase by which access is gained to the top. The exterior is orna-
mented with rude bas-reliefs of elephants and other devices. It is of no great
architectural value, but forms a picturesque feature in the river front.

On a rising ground in the very heart of the city stands the Jama Masjid,
erected in the year 1661 A.D., by Abd-un-Nabi Khan, the Local Governor.
The following inscription seems very clearly to indicate that it was erected on
the ruins of a Hindu temple : —

)J>.^Jy iJl^^t ^y.J SS ^jS).^\fl:^ ^kx^ ^M&J m ^j[j £.U].::^x^ (_^j| O;}) O^S^M-^O Ijijl-V

" 1. Li the reign of Shah 'Alamgi'r Muhiuddi'n walmiUah, the kino* of the
world, Aurangzib, who is adorned with justice,

" 2. Tlie lustre of Islam shone forth to the glory of God ; for 'Abdunnabi
Khan built this beautiful mosque.

" 3. This second 'Holy Temple' caused the idols to bow down in worship.
You will now see the true meaning of the text, ' Truth came and error vanished.'
[' Kordn, XVII., 83.']

" 4. Whilst I searched for a tdriJJi, a voice came from blissful Truth, order-
ing me to say ' Abdunnabi Khan is the builder of this beautiful mosque.' A.H.
1071, or 1600-61."

ijtii^ y<j ij>y£ ,:i. li^'j ^33.-^ * ui,Uj /y^ iS^^Si »2>. oJj ,-^b

" 1. May this Jama Masjid of majestic structure shine forth for ever like
the hearts of the pious I

" 2. Its roof is high like aspirations of love ; its courtyard is wide like tlie-
arena of thought."*

The founder is first mentioned by the Muhammadan historians as iio-hfcin"-
on the side of Dara Shikoh at the battle of Samogarh in 1658. About a week

♦ For this and other translations from the Persian, I am indebted to the kindness of m7.
Blochmann, the learned Secretary of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta.

98 ABD-UN-NABI'S MOSQUE.

after the defeat, he joined Aurangzeb, and was immediately appointed Faujdar
of Itawa. This office he retained only till the following year, when he was
transferred to Sirhind, and thence, after a few months, to Mathura. Here he
remained from August, 1660, to May, 1668, when, as we have already men-
tioned, he met his death at Sahora, a village in the Maha-ban Pargana on the
opposite side of the Jamuna, while engaged in quelling a popular emeute. The
author of the Maasir-i-Alanigi'ri says of him : — " He was an excellent and
pious man, and as courageous in war as successful in his administration. He
has left a mosque in Mathura as a monument, which, for a long time to come,
will remind people of him. Muhammad Anwar, his nephew, received from His
Majesty a mourning dress of honour ; but the property of the deceased lapsed
(according to custom) to the State, and the Imperial Mutasaddis reported it to
be 93,000 gold muhrs, 13,00,000 rupees, and 14,50,000 rupees' worth of pro-
perty." The architecture of his mosque is not of particularly graceful character,
but there are four lofty minarets, and as these and other parts of the building were
originally veneered with bright-coloured plaster mosaics, of which a few panels
still remain, it must at one time have presented a brilliant appearance. It is
now little used, and is rapidly falling into decay.*

From this central point diverge the main thoroughfares, leading respectively
towards Brinda-ban, Dig, Bharat-pur,t and the civil station. They are some-
what broader than is usual in Indian cities, having an average breadth of 24
feet, and were first opened out at the instance of Mr. E. F. Taylor, in 1843. A
number of houses wei'e demolished for the purpose, but, in every instance, all
claim to compensation was waived. Seth Lakhmi Chand's loss, thus voluntarily
sustained for the public good, was estimated at a lakh of rupees, as he had re-
cently completed some handsome premises, which had to be taken down and re-
built.

Those streets have now, throughout their entire length and breadth, been
paved at the cost of the municipality with substantial stone flags brought from

• Father Tieffenthallcr, who visited Mathura in 1745, after mentioning the two mosques,
Bays that Abd-nu-nabi was a convert froQi Hinduism, a statement for which there seems to be no
authority. He describes the mosaics as " un ouvrage plombc en divcrses couleurs et incruste a la
tnanieredont sent vernis les poeles in Allemagne." "Lavillc," lie says, "est entour^ d'une levee de
terre, ct obeit aujourdhui au Djat. Auparavant elle etait sous les ordres du Kaja de Djcpour a
qui I'empcrcur Mogol en avait coufie le gouvernement" : i. e.,Raja Jay Sinh, who died 1743. He
goes on to describe the streets as narrow and dirty, and most of the buildings as in ruins ; the fort
very large and massive, like a mountain of hewn stone, with an observatory which was only a
feeble imitation of the one at Jaypur, but with the advantage of being much better raised. The
only other spot that he particularises is the Visrant Ghat.

t Close to the mosque on the left hand side of the Bharat-pur gate bazar, is a high hill
■with very steep ascent, all built over. On the summit, which is called Sitala Ghat, may be
seen many fragments of Cuddhist pilhus and bas-reliefs, aud an armless seated figure, the size
of life.

THE seth's temple OF dwarakadh/s. 99

the Bharat-pur quarries.* Though, as is the custom in the East, many mean
tumble-down hovelsf are allowed to obtrude themselves upon the view, the
majority of the buildings that face the principal thoroughfares, are of hand-
some and imposing character, all erected during the seventy years of British
rule. Whether secular or ecclesiastical, the design is in either case very similar.
The front is of carved stone with a grand central archway and arcades on both
sides let out as shops on the ground floor. Story upon story above are project-
ing balconies supported on quaint corbels, the arches being filled in with the
most minute reticulated tracery of an infinite variety of pattern, and protected
from the weather by broad eaves, the under-surface of which is brightly painted.
One of the most noticeable buildings in point of size, though the decorations
perhaps are scarcely so elegant as in some of the later examples, is the temple
of Dwarakadhi's, founded by the Grwaliar Treasurer, Parikh Ji, and visited in
1825 by Bishop Heber, who in his journal describes it as follows: — "In the
centre, or nearly so, of the town, Colonel Penny took us into the court of a beautiful
temple or dwelling-house, for it seemed to be designed for both in one, lately
built, and not yet quite finished, by Gokul Pattie Binh, Sindhia's Treasurer, and
who has also a principal share in a great native banking-house, one branch of
which is fixed at Mathura. The building is enclosed by a small but richly carved
gateway with a flight of steps, which leads from the street to a square court,
cloistered round, and containing in the centre a building, also square, supported
by a triple row of pillars, all which, as well as the ceiling, are richly carved,
painted, and gilt. The effect internally is much like that of the Egyptian tomb,
of which the model was exhibited in London by Belzoni ; externally, the carv-
ing is very beautiful. The cloisters round were represented to me as the intended
habitations of the Brahmans attached to the fane ; and in front, towards the
street, were to be apartments for the founder on his occasional visits to Mathura."
To show how differently the same building sometimes impresses different people,
it may be mentioned that Jacquemont, only four years later, describes thetemj^le
as like nothing but a barrack or cotton factory : but possibly he may have seen
it soon after the festival of the Diwali, when, according to barbarous Hindu
custom, the whole of the stone front is beautified with a thick coat of white-
wash.

This temple has always been in the hands of the Yallabhacharyas, the sect
to which the founder belonged. It is now administered by Gosain Giridhar
Lai, who is the hereditary lord of the much older and yet wealthier shrine \Aath

* This important work was commenced in November, 1867.

f As an indication that many of the houses are not of the most substantial construction, it
may be observed that, after three days of exceptionally heavy rain in the month of August this
year (18T3), as many as 6,000 were officially reported to have come down ; 14 persons, chiefly
children, having been crushed to death under the ruins.

100 CITY ARCHITECTURE.

the same name at Kankarauli iu Udaypiiv (see page 84). Hitherto the expenses
©f the Mathuni estabhshments have been defrayed by annual grants from the
Setli's estate ; but this year the firm has made an absohite transfer to the
Gosain of landed property yieldiug an income of lis. 25,000 ; thus religiously
carrying out the intention of their ancestor, though in so doing they further the
interests of a sect not a little antagonistic to the one of which they themselves
are members.

On the opposite side of the street is the palace of the Princes of Bharat-
pur, with a lofty and highly enriched entrance gateway added by Raja Balavant
Sinh ; and close by is the mansion of Seth Lakhmi Chand, built at a cost of
Es. 1,00,000. The latest of the architectural works with which the city is deco-
rated, and one of the most admirable for elegance and elaboration is a temple
near the Chhata Bazar built by Deva Chand Bohra, and completed only at the
end of the year 1871. Whatever other buildings there are of any note will be
found enumerated in the list at the end of this chapter. In most cases the
greatest amount of finish has been bestowed upon the street front, while the
interior court is small and confined; and the practice of having only a single
gate both for entrance and exit occasions great, and sometimes dangerous,
crowding on high feast days. It is, as before remarked, a peculiainty of the
Mathura temple architecture to have no tower over the seat of the god.

If the city was ever surrounded by walls, not a vestige of them now remains,
though the foiir principal entrances are still called the Brinda-ban, Dig, Bharat-
pur, and Holi Gates. The last-named is the approach from the civil station,
and here a lofty and elaborately sculptured stone arch has been erected over
the roadway,* in accordance with a tasteful design in the local style su])plied
by a native artist. As the work was commenced at the instance of the late Mr.
Bradford Hardingo, who was for several years collector of the district, and
took a most lively interest in all the city improvements, it is to be named in
his honour 'the Hardingo arch.' The clock-case by which the centre of the
portal is at })rescnt surmounted is too small to present a satisfactory appear-
ance ; but over this it is intended to erect a high and richly-decorated cupola
at a further cost of lis. 2,000. It will then be further necessary, in order to
complete the design, to build up double-storied shops against the ax'ch on either
side, which will serve to receive and conceal the ponderous staged buttresses,
which, as now seen, are most obtrusive deformities.

As may be inferred from the above remarks, stone-carving, the only indi-
genous art of which Mathura can boast, is carried to great perfection. All the
temples afford specimens of elegant design in panels of reticulated tracery (jdli)
as also do the chluUvis of the Seth's fiimily in the Jamuiui Bagh, and those of
the Bharat-i)ur Hajas at Gobardhan. But the most refined and delicate work of
* At a cost of sumething over Ks. 9,000,

MR. THORNHILl's REST-HOUSE, 101

tlie kind ever executed is to bo seen in a building erected by public subscription
at the suggestion of Mr. Mark Thornbill, Collector of the district in 1856. lb
was intended as a rest-house for the reception of native gentlemen of rank when-
ever they had occasion to visit the sadr station ; but the work was interrupted
by the mutiny after an expenditure of Rs. 30,000, and has never been complet-
ed. The following inscription is worked into the cornice of the central hall : —

y^Aj >,^i 6..

^a iS" ^C^l ijx^J ^a. |^al:aj * ^C^j ^Vl;'! ^^^^ J-.^j'-^^ "f ^^

" The State having thought good to promote the ease of its subjects, gave
intimation to the Magistrate and Collector ; who then, by the co-operation of the
chief men of Mathura, had this house for travellers built, with the choicest
carved work.* Its doors and walls are polished like a mirror; in its sculpture
every kind of flower-bed appears in view ; its width and height were assigned in
harmonious proportion ; from top to bottom it is well shaped and well balanced.
It may very properly be compared to the dome of Afrasztib, or it may justly be
styled the palace of an emperor. One who saw its magnificence {or the poet
Shaukat on seeing it) composed this tcirikh : so elegant a rest-house makes even
the flower garden envious."

Unfortunately, the site selected was so remote from the bazar as to render
the building unsuitable for the purpose intended, nor has it ever yet been applied
to any other. At a slight expense it might be converted into a local museum, an
institution which might reasonably expect to flourish in such a centre of wealth,
learning, and archaeological interest.

In addition to its stone carving, Mathura has two other minor specialities,
the one being the manufacture of little brass images, which, though of exceed-
ingly coarse execution, command a large sale among pilgrims and visitors, espe-
cially the rehgious toy called Vasiideva Katora, (described at page 33) : the
other the manufacture of paper. This is made in three sizes ; the smallest,
which is chiefly in demand, is called Miin-sinhi, and varies in price according to
quality from Rs. 1-8 to Rs. 2-6 a gadclL The medium size, called Bichanda,

* Upon the word munabbat, which is used here to denote arabesque carving, but in Agra the
inlaid marble work such as we see at the Taj, Mr. Blochniann has communicated the following
note : — " The Arabic nabata, means ' to plant,' and the intensive form of the verb has either the
same signification or that of 'causing to appear like plants :' hence munabbat cimes to mean
'traced with flowers,' and may be compared with mushajjar, 'caused to appear like trees,' wliich
is the word applied to silk with tret-patterns on it," like the more common ' buta-dir.'

102 PROPOSED RAILWAY.

sells for Es. 4 a gadcli ; and the larger size, called Syalkoti, for Rs. 10. The
factories are some 100 in number, and can turn out in the course of the day-
ISO gaddis, every gaddi containing 10 dastas of 24 takhtas, or sheets, each.

A light railway on the metre-gauge system, which shall eventually extend
from Hatliras to Bharat-pur, has been definitely sanctioned by the Govern-
ment, and the first section from the Hathi'as Road Station to the city of
Mathura will probably be commenced in the course of the present year. The
cost of the undertaking is estimated at 15 lakhs, of which the Government
hopes to receive five as a loan from native capitalists resident in the districts
which the line would specially benefit, on a guarantee of 4 per cent, per
annum ; the remainder being supplied from the provincial balances. It is fur-
ther proposed that the managing board should consi&t of five non-official mem-
bers elected by the native shareholders, who should be assisted by a European
consulting engineer, and perhaps one or more official but non-professional
members. It is impossible to doubt that the new line will be a financial success
and will much increase the prosperity of the city of Mathura : for at the
one extremity, Hathras is so large a mart that it will find no difficulty in
filling a new channel ; while at the other, Mathura, though at present a place
of no mercantile importance, will become a depot for the vast supplies of
cotton from up-country which now pass through it to take the train at Agra.
The daily influx of pilgrims alone would suffice to render the passenger traffic
exceptionally large from the very beginning.

The municipality has an annual income of a little under Rs. 50,000 ; derived,
in the absence of any special trade, almost exclusively from an octroi tax on
articles of food, the consumption of which is naturally very large and out of all
proportion to the resident population, in consequence of the frequent influx of
huge troops of pilgrims. The celebrity among natives of the Mathura perd,
a particular kind of sweetmeat, also contributes to the same result. Besides
the permanent maintenance of a large police and conservancy establishment,
the entire cost of paving the city streets has been defrayed out of municipal
funds, and a fixed proportion is annually allotted for the support of diff'erent
educational establishments.

The High School, a handsome building though in a very un-Oriental style of
architecture, was opened by His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor on the 21st of
January, 1870, and is now attended by 250 pupils, all learning English. It was
erected at a cost of Rs. 13,000 ; of which sum Rs. 2,000 were collected by volun-
tary subscription, Rs. 3,000 were voted by the municipality, and the balance of
Rs. 8,000 granted by Government. The City Dispensary immediately opposite
the Kans ka tila, and adjoining the Munsif's Court, has accommodation for 20
in-door patients ; thei'c is an ordinary attendance per diem of 50 applicants for
out-door relief, and it is in every respect a well managed and useful institution.

CANTONMENTS AND CIVIL LINES. 103

The cantonments, which are of considerable extent, occupy some broken and
undulating ground along the river-side between the city and the civil lines.
In consequence of the facilities for obtaining an abundant supply of grass in
the neighbourhood, they are always occupied by an English cavalry regiment,
the present one being the 10th Royal Hussars. The barracks are very widely-
scattered, an arrangement which doubtless is attended with some inconveni-
ences, but is apparently conducive to the health of the troops, for there is no
station in India where there is less sickness* — a happy result, which is also
due in part to the dryness of the climate during the greater part of the year
and the excellence of the natural drainage in the rains. The English church,
consecrated by Bishop Dealtry in December, 1856, is in a nondescript style of
architecture, but has an elegant Italian campanile, which is visible from a long
distance, and even the body of the building from some points of view has in it
an element of the picturesque. Adjoining it is a miserably mean and dilapi-
dated shed, which hitherto has served as a Catholic chapel, and is not inappro-
priately dedicated to S, Francis, the apostle of poverty. An attempt is now
being made to replace it with something more sightly, and a plan has beea
prepared at an estimated cost of Rs. G,10Q, of whioh oum Ro. 3;,87o have bacH,
jgiood. by anbaofiptiono on tho cpot. y^^^^"*^-

In the civil station most of the houses are large and commodious, and
being the property of the Seth, the most liberal of landlords, are never allowed
to offend the eye by falling out of repair. One built immediately after the mu-
tiny for the use of the Collector of the district is an exceptionally handsome
and substantial edifice. The Court-house, as already mentioned on page 70, was
completed in the year 1861, and has a long and imposing facade ; but, though it
stands at a distance of not more than 100 yards from the high road, the ground
in front of it has been so carelessly laid out, that a pei'son who had no profes-
sional business to take him there might live within a stone's throw for years
and never see it. In immediate proximity are the offices of the Tahsilclar, a
singularly mean and contracted range of buildings, as if intended to be a foil to
the elegance of Mr. Thornhill's rest-house which stands in the same enclosure.
Opposite is the public garden, Avhich contains a large variety of choice trees
and shrubs, but unfortunately has not been laid ovit with much taste and is too
extensive to be kept in good order out of the funds that are allowed for its
maintenance. A little further on is the jail, constructed on the approved
radiating principle, and sufficiently strong under ordinary circumstances to
ensure the safe-guard of native prisoners, though a European would probably
find its walls not very difficult either to scale or break through. This exhausts
the list of public institutions and objects of interest; whence it may be rightly

* Occasionally it has so happeued that every single ward iu the hospital has beea
empty.

104 SITE OF ANCIENT MATHURA.

inferred that the English quarter of Mathura, is as dull and common-place as
most other Indian stations. Still, in the rains it has a pleasant park-like ap-
pearance ; when the wide expanse of green- sward reserved for military uses from
the enoi'oachments of the plough, the well-kept roads with substantial bridges
to span the frequent ravines, and the long avenues of trees that half conceal the
thatched and verandahcd bungalows that lie behind, each in its own enclosure
of garden and pasture land, while in the distant back ground an occasional
glimpse is caught of the broad stream of the Jamuna, all combine to form a
landscape that is far from unattractive.

SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER YI.

The excavations which have been in progress while this chapter was pass-
inn- throufh the press, and the more minute knowledge of the neighbourhood,
which has been acquired in their superintendence, enable me now to speak in
more positive terms as to the site of Buddhist Mathura. All the villages that
lie between Satoha to the north, Maholi to the soutli, and Mathura to the east,
are distinctly of modern foundation. The ancient Madhu-puri, where the ab-
original king Madhu held his court what time he ruled the province of Ma-
thura, must have extended its suburbs the whole distance from the modern
village of Maholi down to the bank of the Jamuna. Subsequently to his defeat,
the Aryan city was built on the lands nearer the river, in the neighbourhood of
the present Katra and the temple of Bhiitcsvar ; and, being the seat of the new
Government, it appropriated in a special way the name which formerly had
denoted, not the capital, but the whole extent of territory. This A'iew is con-
firmed by observing that, philologically, ' Mathura ' appears a more fitting name
for a country than for a city, and one that could be applied to the latter only
inferentially. The present city is the third in order, and has for its centre the
fort, as the second had the temple of Bhutesvar, and the first the grove of
Madhu-ban. Thus, speaking generally, the further we move back from the city
in the direction of MahoH, the older will probably be the date of any antiquities
that may be discovered.

With regard to the change in the course of the stream, all engineers whom
I have consulted are unanimous in declaring that the main channel of the
Jamuna can never in historic times have been at the foot of the temple of Kesava
Deva, as Tavernier imagined. The traces of fluvial action wliich he observed
are unmistakeable, but they date from the most remote antiquity. This, how-
ever, need not occasion any difficulty: for, as Madhu-puri, the first capital, Avas
estabUshed at a point which clearly the Jamuna could never have reached, there
is no improbability in supposing that the second capital also, though much
nearer the stream, was not actually on its bank. The temples, which Fa Hian

BUDDHIST STUPAS. 105

mentions as being on the opposite side, must, as I liad previously surmised, bs
those at Malia-bau.*

Though the discovery of no lines of foundation at the Kankali tila seems a
little suspicious, it may be explained by the fact that the mound has long served
as a quarry, and that bricks and small blocks of stone, beiug more useful for
ordinary building purposes, would all be removed Avhen cumbrous, and at the
same time broken statues might be left undisturbed. I see, therefore, no suffi-
cient reason for distrusting the probability of my original theory, stated at page
81, which places the Upagupta Monastery at the Kankali tila. It may further
be noticed that there is no trace of any large tank in its immediate proximity,
and, on this account also, it was more probably the site of a monastery than of
a stupa. For a tank was almost a necessary concomitant of the latter ; its ex-
cavation supplying the earth for the construction of the mound in the centre of
which the relics were deposited. Hence, a different procedure has to be adopted
jin exploring a mound believed to have been a stiipa from what would be fol-
lowed in other cases. Unless the object be to discover the relics, it is ordinarily
a waste of labour to cut deep into its centre, for the images which surmounted
it must have fallen down outside its base, where they have been gradually
buried by the crumbling away of the stupa over them, and will be found at no
great depth below the surface. But, in the case of a temple or monastery, the
mound is itself the ruined building, and, if Muhammadans were the destroyers,
was generally utilized as the substructure of a mosque.

Between the Kankali tila and the Sonkh Road, the fields are dotted with a
great number of mounds, so close together and so much worn by time that many
of them can scarcely be distinguished from the natural level of the ground. At
the point where the village-track to Naugama branches off froui the Sonkh
Road, and occupying the angle between the two, is the mound where the gold
reliquary Avas discovered. A few hundred yards further on and to the right of
the Naugama cart-track, is a cluster of mounds, one of which is now beiug
trenched (marked d in sketch-map, page 72.) It has yielded the head of a colossal
figure of very Egyptian cast of features with a round hole in its forehead in
which was once set a ruby or other precious stone.f The lower part of a large
seated Buddha has also been unearthed with an inscription in the Asoka
character on the ledge beneath, of which the first three words read Mahw'djdsf/a
Devaputrasi/a Huvishkasya, i.e., ' of the gi*eat king, the heaven-born Huvishka.'

* A tributary stream, the bed of which is now partly occupied by the Delhi Road, flowed past
the katra, and being joined at the point still called the Saugam, or ' confluence,' by another con-
siderable stream from the opposite direction, fell into the channel now crossed by the Seth's
bridge, and so reached the Jamuna.

t When the Muhammadan historians speak of idols with rubies for eyes, tliis is probably an
error on their part, as it seems that the stoae was set, not in, but between, the eyes, as a tilak, or
frontal mark.

106 MUSAMMADAN GOVERNORS.

This mound immediately adjoins the boundary pillar which marks the limits of
the township of Mathuni. A little further on within the borders of Giridhar-
pur, may be traced a very extensive tank, now converted into ploughed fields,
with a series of mounds all round its margin. These are unquestionably Bud-
dhist stiipas, and will be examined. Tlicy are covered with small fragments
of carved stone, indicating that here destruction was more than usually com-
plete, and that the images were not only thrown down but deliberately broken
to pieces. It is, therefore, improbable that any large statue will be recovered,
but inscriptions may have escaped, and these will be of equal, if not greater,
interest.

NOTES ON CHAPTER VI.

I. — List of Governors of Mathura in the 17th Century.

1629. Mirza Isa Tarkhan ; who gave his name to the suburb of Isa-pur
(now more commonly called Hans-ganj), on the opposite bank of the river.

1636. Murshid Kuli Khan, promoted, at the time of his appointment, to
be commander of 2,000 horse, as an incentive to be zealous in stamping out
idolatry and rebellion. From him the suburb of Murshid-pur derives its name.

1639. Allah Virdi Khan. After holding office for three years, some dis-
loyal expressions to which he had given utterance were reported to the Emperor,
who thereupon confiscated his estates and removed him to Delhi.

1642. Azam Khan Mir Muhammad Bakir, also called Inxdat Khan. He
is commemorated by the Azam-abad Sarae, which he founded (see page 18),
and by the two villages of Azam-pur, and Bakir-pur. He came of a noble family
seated at Sawa in Persia, and having attached himself to the service of Asaf
Khan Mirza Jafar, the distinguished poet and courtier, soon after became his
son-in-law and was introduced to the notice of the Emperor Jahangir. He thus
gained his first appointment under the Crown; but his subsequent promotion
was due to the influence of Yamin-ud-daula, Asaf Khan IV., the father of
Mumtaz Mahall, the favourite wife of Shah-jahan. On the accession of that
monarch he was appointed commander of 5,000, and served with distinction in
the Dakhin in the war against the rebel Khan Jahan Lodi and in the opera-
tions against the Nizam Sbahi's troops. In the fifth year of the reign, he was
made Governor of Bengal in succession to Kasim Khan Juwaini. Three
years later he was transferred to Allahabad, but did not remain there long,
being moved in the very next year to Gujarat, as fcjubadar. In the twelfth year
of Shah-jahan his daughter Avas married to Prince Shuja, Avho had by her a son
named Zain-ul-abidin. From 1642 to 1645 he was Governor of Mathura, but
in the latter year, as he did not act with sufficient vigour against the Hindu
malcontents, his advanced ago was made the pretext for transferring him to

CITY QUARTERS.

107

Bihar. Thi'ee years later he received orders for Kashmir ; but as he objected
to the cold climate of that country he was allowed to exchange it for Jaun-pur,
where he died in 1648, at the age of 76. He is described in the Maasir-ul-
Umara as a man of most estimable character, but very harsh in his mode of
collecting the State revenue. Azamgarh, the capital of the district of that name
in the Banaras Division, was also founded by him.

1645. Makramat Khi'm, formerly Governor of Delhi.

1658. Jafar, son of Allah Virdi Khan.

1659. Kasim Khan, transferred from Murddabad, but murdered on his
way down.

1660. Abd-un-Nabi, founder of the Jama Masjid (see page 98).

1668. SafF-Shikan Khan. Fails in quelling the rebellion.

1669. Hasan Ali Khan. During his incmnbency the great temple of Ke-
sava Deva was destroyed.

1676. Sultan KuU Khdn.

II. — Names of the City Quarters or Mahallas.

1 Mandavi Rani.

30 Zer masjid.

59 Dharmsald Raja

2 Bairag-pura.

Kushk.

Awa (built by Raja

3 Khirki Bisati.

Sami Ghat.

Pitambar Sinh).

4 Naya-bas.

Makbdum Shah.

60 Dln-uva Ghat.

5 Arjun-pura.

Asi-kunda Ghat.

61 Dhruva tila.

6 Tek-narnaul.

35 Visrant Ghat.

62 Bal tila.

7 Gali Seru Kasera.

Kans-khar.

63 Bdrd Jay Ram Das.

8 Gali Ravaliva.

Gali Dasavatar.

64 General-ganj.

9 Gali Ram-pal.

Gor-para.

65 Anta-pard.

10 Tek Rand Khati,,

Gosdin Ghat.

66 Gobind ganj.

11 Gali Mathura Me-

Kil-math.

67 Cbhagan-pura.

gha.

Sydm Ghat.

68 Santokh-pura.

12 Bazar Chauk.

Kam Ghat.

69 Cbhdb kathauti.

13 Gaii Bhairon.

Ramjl-dwdra.

70 Kotwali.

14 Gali Thathera.

Bihari-pura.

71 Bharatpur Darwaza.

15 Lai Darwaza.

Ballabh Ghat.

72 Laid ganj.

16 Gali Lohiya.

Maru Gali.

73 Sitala Paesa.

17 Gali Nanda.

Bengdli Ghdt.

74 Maholi Pol.

18 Teli-para.

Kald Mahal

75 Nagara Paesa.

19 Tila Chaube

Chiina kankar.

76 Gujarhdna.

20 Brindaban Darwaza.

Chamarhaud.

77 Rosban-ganj.

21 Gher Gobiudi.

Gopdl-pura.

78 Bhar-ki gali.

22 Gab Gopa Shah.

Sardi Rajd Bhadau-

79 Khirki Dalpat Rae.

23 Shah-ganj Darwaza.

ria.

80 Tdj-pura.

24 Halan-ganj.

Scngal-pnra.

81 Chaubachcha.

25 Chakra Tirath.

Chhonkar-para

82 Sat Ghard.

26 Krishan Ganga.

Mir-ganj.

83 Chbald Bazar.

27 Go-gbat.

Holi Darwaza.

84 Gali Pdthakdn.

28 Kans ka kila.

Sitala Gali.

85 Mandar Pdrikh Ji.

29 Hanuman tila.

Kampu Ghat,

86 Kazi-pdra.

108

BIATIIURA TEMrLES.

87 Naya Bazar (from
Mr. Thornton's time).

88 Gliciti cLikno pat
baron ki,

89 Gall Gotawala.

90 Gata sram.

91 Ratn kiind.

92 Chlionka-para.

93 Miuiik chauk.

94 Gaja Taesa.

103 Mandavi Ghi'ya.

9') Gluiti Bitthal Rae.

104 Gali Dbusaron ki.

90 Sitala Gbiiti.

105 ]\[anohar-pura.

97 Naktirchi tila.

10() Kasai-paia.

98 Gujar Gliati.

107 Keso-]mra.

99 Gali Kalal.

108 Mandavi Ram Diis.

100 Kaserat.

109 Mativa Darwiiza.

101 Gali Durga Chanel.

110 Di<T barwaza.

102 Bazazii.

Ill Maballa kbakrobau

III.— Principal Buildings in the City of Mathura.

1. Hardinge Arch, or Holi Darwaza, forming the Agra gate of the city,
erected by the municipabty, at a cost of Rs. 9,200, in the year 1872.

2. Temple of Radhii Kishan, founded by Deva Chand, bohra, of Tenda-
Khera near Jabalpur, in 1870-71. Cost Rs. 40,000. In the Chhata Bazar.

3. Temple of Bijay Gobind, in the Satghara Mahal la, built in ]867 by
Bijay Ram, bohra, of Dattia, at a cost of Rs. 65,000.

4. Temple of Bala Deva, in the Khans-khar Bazar, built in 1865 by Kush-
ali Rdm, bohra, of Sher-garh, at a cost of Rs. 25,000.

5. Temple of Bhairav Nath, in the Lobars' quarter, built by Bishan Lai,
Khattri, at a cost of Rs. 10,000. It is better known by the name of Sarvar
Sultan, as it contains a chapel dedicated in honour of that famous Muhammadaii
saint ; regarding whom it may be of interest to subjoin a few particulars. Tho
parent shrine, situate in desert country at the mouth of a pass leading into
Kandahar, is served by a company of some 1,650 priests besides women and chil-
dren ; who, with the exception of a small grant from Government yielding au
amuial income of only Rs. 350, are entirely dependent for subsistence on the
charity of pilgrims. The shrine is equally reverenced by Hindus, Sikhs, and
Muhammadans, and it is said to be visited in the course of a year by as many as
200,000 people of all castes and denominations, who come chiefly from the
Panjab and Sindh. The saint in his lifetime was so eminent for his universal
benevolence and libei'ality (whence his title of sakhi) that he is believed still
to retain after death the power and will to grant every petition that is presented
to him. At the large fair held in February, March, and April, the shrine is
crowded with applicants, many of whom beg for aid in money. As the shrino
is poor and supported by charity, this cannot be given on the spot ; but the
petitioner is told to name some liberal-minded j^erson, upon whom an order is
then written and sealed with the great seal of the temple and handed to the
applicant. "When presented by him to the person on whom it was drawn it is
not unfrcquently honored. Such a parwana, drawn on one Muhammad Khan
Afo^han was found on the fakir Nawab Shah, who in 1871 made a murderous

MATHURA TEMPLES. 109

attack on the Secretary of the Lahor Municipality. A report on the peculiar
circumstances of the case was submitted to Gorernment, and it is from it that
the above sketch has been extracted in explanation of the singular fact that a
Muhammadan saint has been enthroned as a deity in a Hindu temple in the
most exclusive of all Hindu cities.

6. Temple of Gata-sram, near the Visrant Ghat, built by Pran-nath
Sastri, at a cost of Rs. 25,000, about the year 1800.

7. Temple of Dwarakadhis, commonly called the Seth's temple, in the
Asikunda Bazar, built by Parikh Ji, in 1815, at a cost of Rs. 20,000.

8. House of the Bharat-pur Rajas with gateway added by the late Raja
Balavant Sinh.

9. House of Seth Lakhmi Chand, built in 1845 at a cost of Rs. 1,00,000.

10. Temple of Madan Mohan, by the Sami Ghat, built by Seth Anant
Ram of Churi by Ram-garh, in 1859, at a cost of Rs. 20,000.

11. Temple of Gobardhan Nath, built by Seth Kushal, commonly called
Seth Babii, kamdar of the Barodara Raja, in 1830.

12. Temple of Bibari Ji, built by Kanhaiya Liil, banker, in 1850, at a
cost of Rs. 25,000, in Dhiisar-para.

] 3. Temple of Gobind Deva, near the Nakarchi tila, built by Gaur Sahay
Mai and Ghan-Syam Das, his son, Seths of Churi, in 1848, with their resi-
dences and that of Ghan-Svam's uncle, Ramehandra, adjoining.

14. Temple of Gopi-nath, by the Sami Ghat, built by Gulriij and Jagan-
nath, Seths of Churi, in 1866, at a cost of Rs. 30,000.

15. Temple of Baladeva, near the Hardiuge Arch, built by Bala, Ahir, a
servant of Seth Lakhmi Chand, as a dwelling-house about the year 1820, at a
cost of Rs. 50,000, and sold to Rae Biii, a baniya's wife, who converted it
into a temple.

16. Temple of Mohan Ji, in the Satghara Mahalla, built about 70 years
ago by Kripa Ram, Bohra ; more conmonly known as Daukala Kunj, after
the Chaube who was the founder's purohoit.

17. Temple of Madan Mohan, in the Asikunda Mahalla, built by Dhan-
raj, Bohra, of Aligarh.

18. Temple of Gobardhan Kath, in the Kans-kliar, built by Devi Das,
Bohra, of Urai.

19. Temple of Dirgha Yishnu, by the street leading to the Bharat-pur
Gate, bnilt by Raja Patni Mai of Banaras,

20. The Sati Burj, or ' faithful widow's tower,' built by Raja Bhagavan
Das in 1570.

21. The mosque of Abd-uu-Nabi Khan, built 1662.

22. The mosque of Auraugzeb, built 1669 on the site of the temple of
Kesava Deva.

110 MATHURA CALENDAR.

IT. — Calendar of Festivals observed in the City of Mathura.
Chait Siidi (April 1-15^.

1. Chait Siidi 8. — Dnrga Aslitami. Held at the temple of Maliavidya Devi.

2. Chait Sudi 9. — Earn Navami. Held at the Earn Ji Dwara.

Baisdkh (Api'il — May).

3. Baisdhh Sudi 14. — Nar Sinh ka mela. Held at Gor-para, Mauik Chauk,
and the temple of Dwarakadhis.

4. Baisahlt fall moon. — Perambulation of Mathura, called Ban-bihar, start-
ing from the Visrant Ghat.

5. Jeth Sudi 10. — The Jeth Dasahara. la the middle of the day, bathing
at the Dasasvaraedh Ghat, in the evening kite-flying from the Gokarnesvar hill.

6. Jethfidl moon. — Jal-jatra. All the principal people bring the water for
the ablution of the god into the temples on their own shoulders in little silver urns.

Asdrh (June — July).

7. Asdrh Sudi 2. — Eath-jatra.

8. Asdrh Sudi 11. — Principal perambulation of the city. From this day
the god is supposed to go to sleep for four months.

9. Asdrh full moon.— By is-^inja. In the morning the Guru is formally
reverenced ; in the evening there are wrestling matches, and the Pandits
assemble on the hills or house-tops for the ' pavan pariksha,' or watching of the
wind ; from which they predict when the rains will commence and what sort of
a season there will be.

10. Srdvan Sudi 3. — Mela at the temple of Bhutesvar Mahadeva.

Srdoan (July — August).

11. Srdvan Sudi 5. — The Panch Tirath mela begins. A pilgrimage starts
from the Visrant Ghat for Madhu-ban, and proceeds on the next day to San-
tana kund at Satoha and the Gyan-bauli near the Katra, on the third day to
Gokarnesvar, on the fourth to the shrine of Garur Gobind at Chhatikra and
on the fifth to the Brahm kund at Brinda-ban.

12. Srdoan Sudi U.— Perambulation of Mathura and Pavitra-dharan, or
offering of Brahmanical threads to the Thakur.

13 Srdvan full moon. — The Saluno. At the temple of Bhutesvar.
Bhddon (August — September).

14. Bhddon Badi 8. — Janm Ashtami ; Krishna's birthday. A fast till
midnight.

15. Bhddon Sudi 11.— A special pilgrimage to Madhu-ban, Tal-ban, and
Kumud-ban. The general Ban-jatra also commences and lasts for 15 days.

Kuvdr (September — October).

16. Kuvdr Badi 8.— Perambulation of the city followed by five days' festi-
vities, with offerings in the different temples of the little figures called sdnjhi,

MATHUKA CALENDAR. Ill

and performances all through the night of the Ras dance, in which the actora
are dressed to represent Krishna and the Gopis.

17. Kuvdr Sudi 8. — Meghnath Lila. Commencement of the Ram Lila
by a representation of the death of Ravan's son Megh-nath. Held near tho
temple of Mahavidya.

18. Kuvdr Sudi 9. — Kumbhakaran Lila, with representation of the death
of Ravan's brother, Kumbhakaran.

19. Kuvdr Sudi 10. — Great day of the Dasahara, with representation of
Rama's final victory over Ravan. Though this fete attracts a large concourse
of people, the show is a very poor one, and the display of fireworks much in-
ferior to what may be seen in many second-rate Hindu cities.

20. Kuwar Sud{\l. — Bharat Milap. A platform is erected in the street
under the Jama Masjid, on which is enacted a representation of the meeting at
Ajudhya between Prince Bharat and Rama, Sita and Lakshman on their re-
turn from their wanderings. For the whole distance from that central spot to
the Holi Gate not only the thoroughfare itself, but all the balconies and tops
of the houses are crowded with people in gay holiday attire ; and as the
fronts of all the principal buildings are also draped with party-colored hang-
ings, and the shops dressed up to look their best, the result is a very picturesque
spectacle, which is more pleasing to the European eye than any other feast
in the Hindu calendar ; the throng, however, is so dense that it is rather a
hazardous matter to drive a carriage through it.

21. Kuvdr full moon. — Sarad-purno. Throughout the night visits are paid
to the different temples.

Kdriik ( October — Novem her) .

22. Kdrtik, new moon. — Diwali, or Dip-dan — feast of lamps.

23. Kdrtik Sudi 1. — Anna-kiit. The same observances as at Gobardhan,
but on a smaller scale.

24. Kdrtik Sudi 7. — Dhobi-maran Lila. Held near the Brindaban Gate
to commemorate Krishna's spoliation of Kansa's washermen.

25. Kdrtik Sudi 8. — Gocharan, or pasturing the cattle. Held in the even-
ing at the Gopal Bagh on the Agra Road.

26. Kdrtik Sudi 9.— Akhay Navami. The second great perambulation of
the city, beginning immediately after midnight.

27. Kdrtik Sudi 10. — Kans badh ka mela, at the Rangesvar Mahadeva.
Towards evening, a large wicker figure of Kans is brought out on to the road
near the Katra, when two boys, dressed to represent Krishna and Baladeva, and
mounted either on horses or an elephant, give the signal, with the staves all
wreathed with flowers that they have in their hands, for an assault upon the
monster. In a few minutes it is torn to shreds and tatters by the crowd, and a
procession is then made to the Visrant Ghat.

112

WEALTHY RESIDENTS.

28. Kdrtik Sudi 11. — Deottbun. The awakening of the god from his four
months' shmiber.

Mugh (.Jamiary — February).

29. Mdgli Sudi 5. — Basant Pauchanii. The return of spring ; correspond-
ing to the Enghsh Maj-day.

Phdlgun (Fehruary — March).

30. Phdlgun, fullmoon. — The HoH, or Indian saturnalia.

Chait badi (March 15— 30^.

31. Chait Dadi 1. — Gathering at the temple of Kesava Deva.

32. Chait Badi 5. — Phul-dol. Processions with flowers and music and
dancing.

V. — List of the Wealthiest Residents in the City.

Estimated net

No.

Name,

annual in-
come.

Rs.

Seths Gobind Das, Raghunath Dils, and Lachhman Das ...

2,25,000

Swaini Rangachai'ya, head of the Seth's temple at Briiidabaa ...

93,000

Gosain Purushottam Lai

64,000

Devi Das and Ganga Bishan, of Dig, trading also at Ghazipur, Mirza-
pur, and Ilathras.

30,000

Sahs Kundan Lai and Madhuri Saran ... ... „.

29,000

Chunni Lai, Sahukar

28,120

Durga Prasad, son of Jwala Nath, Khattri ... ... ,..

25,000

Seth Roshan Lai, Khattri

17,400

Chaudhari Radha Krishan, son of Sr{ Gopal

15,200

Radha Lai and Nand Warn of Roshan-ganj ...

1 1 ,000

Joshi Ainar Lai, Mnafldar ... ... ...

10 COO

Seth Gobardhan Das, son of Rupchand ...

10,300

In England, the publication of such a list as the above, based on the in-
come-tax returns, would be considered a breach of confidence. But I do not
anticipate that it will be so regarded here in India, where every one, as a rule,
knows his neighbour's income as accurately as his own ; and where a well-to-do
native, calling on a stranger, will j;)rubably mention, among his other claims to
consideration, the exact amount at which he was rated in the last assessment.

CHAPTER VII.

BRINDA-BAN.

Some six miles above Matliura is a point where the right bank of the Jamu-
nii assumes the appearance of a peninsula, owing to the eccentricity of the
stream, which first makes an abrupt turn to the north and then as sudden a
return upon its accustomed southern course. Here, washed on three of its
sides by the sacred flood, stands the town of Brinda-ban, at the present day a
rich and increasing municipality, and for many centuries past one of the most
holy places of the Hindus. A little higher up the stream a similar promontory
occurs, and in both cases the curious formation is traditionally ascribed to the
resentment of Baladeva. He, it is said, foi'getful one day of his habitual
reserve, and emulous of his younger brother's popular graces, led out the
Gopis for a dance upon the sands. But he performed his part so badly, that
the Jamuna could not forbear from taiinting him with his failure and recom-
mending him never again to exhibit so clumsy an imitation of Krishna's agile
movements. The stalwart god w^as much vexed at this criticism, and, taking
up the heavy plough which he had but that moment laid aside, he drew with
it so deep a furrow from the shore that the unfortunate river, perforce, fell into
it, was drawn helplessly away, and has never since been able to recover its
original channel.

Such is the local rendering of the legend ; but in the Puranas and other
early Sanskrit authorities, the story is differently told, in this wise ; that as
Balarama was roa^niug through the woods of Brinda-ban, he found concealed
in the cleft of a kadamb tree some spirituous liquor, which he at once con-
sumed with his usual avidity. Heated by intoxication he longed, above all
things, for a bathe in the river, and seeing the Jamuna at some little distance,
he shouted for it to come near. The stream, however, remained deaf to his
summons ; whereupon tlie infuriated god took up his })loughshare and breaking
clown the bank drew the water into a new channel, and forced it to follow
wherever he led. In the Bhagavata it is added that the Jamuna is still to be
seen fallowing the course along which she was thus dragged. Professor Wilson
in his edition of the Vishnu Purana says, " The legend probably alludes to
the construction of canals from the Jamuna for the purpose of irrigation ; and
the works of the Muhammadans in this way, which are well known, were no
doubt preceded by similar canals dug by order of Hindu princes." Upon this
suggestion it may be remarked, first, that in Upper Lidia no irrigation works

114 EOADS TO BP.IKDA-BAN.

of any extent are known ever to have been executed either hy Hindus or
Muhammadans ; certainly, there are no traces of any such operations in the
neighbourhood of Brindii-ban ; and secondly, both legends represent the
Jamuna itself as diverted from its straight course into a single winding channel,
not as divided into a multiplicity of streams. Hence it may more reasonably
be inferred that the still existing involution of the river is the sole foundation
for the myth.

The high road from Mathura to Brindii-ban passes through two villages,
Jay-sinh-pur and Ahalya-ganj ; but with these exceptions, the country on either
side has rather a waste and desolate appearance, mth fewer gardens and houses
than Avould be expected on a thoroughfare connecting two places of such
popular resort. An explanation is afforded by the fact that the present road
is of quite recent construction ; its predecessor kept much closer to the Jamuna,
lying just along the h^dar lands — which in the rains form part of the river-bed —
and then among the ravines, where it was periodically destroyed by the rush
of water from the land. This is now almost entirely disused ; but for the
first two miles out of Brinda-ban its course is marked by lines of trees and
several works of considerable magnitude. The first is a large garden more
than 40 bighas in extent, surrounded by a masonry wall and supplied with
■water from a distance by long aqueducts. In its centre is a stone temple of
some size, and among the trees, with which the grounds are over-crowded, some
venerable specimens of the hhimi form an imposing avenue. The garden
bears the name of Kushal, a wealthy Seth from Gujarat, at whose expense
it was constructed, and who also founded one of the largest temples in the
city of Mathura. A little beyond, on the opposite side of the way, in a piece
of waste ground, which Avas once an orchard, is a large and handsome bdnli
of red sandstone, Avith a flight of 57 steps leading down to the level of the
water. This was the gift of Ahalya Bai, the celebrated Mahratta Queen of
Indor, who died in 1795. It is still in perfect preservation, but quite unused.
Further on, in the hamlet of Akrur, on the verge of a cliff overlooking a wide
expanse of alluvial land, is the temple of Bhat-rond, a solitary toAver containing
an image of Bihari Ji. In front of it is a forlorn little court-yard Avith walls
and entrance gateway all crumbling into ruin. Opposite is a large garden of
the Seth's, and on the roadAvay that runs between, a fair, called the Bhat-mela,
is held on the full moon of Kartik; Avhen sweetmeats are scrambled among
the crowd by the visitors of higher rank, seated on the top of the gate. The
word Bhat-rond is ahvays popularly connected with the incident in Krishna's
life Avhich the moOa commemorates— how that he and his brother Balardm one
day, having forgotten to supply themselves with provisions before leaA-ing
home, had to borroAV a meal of rice (hhdt) from some Brahmans' Avives — but
the true etymology (though an orthodox Hindu Avould regard the suggestion

ETYMOLOGY OF BRINDA-BAN. 115

as heretical) refers, like most of the local names in the neighbourhood, merely
to physical phenomena, and Bhat-rond may be translated ' tide-wall, ' or
* breakwater.'

Similarh-, tho word Brinda-ban is derived from an obvious physical feature,
and when first attached to the spot signified no more than the ' tulsi grove ;'
hrindd and tnlsi being synonymous terms, used indifferently to denote the sacred
aromatic herb known to botanists as Ocymum sanctum. But this explanation
is far too simple to find favour with the more modern and extravagant school
of Vaishnava sectaries ; and in the Brahma Vaivarta Puraiia, a mythical per-
sonage has been invented bearing the name of Vrindii. According to that
spurious composition (Brah. Vai., v. iv. 2) the deified Rudha, though inhabit-
ing the Paradise of Goloka, was not exempt from human passions, and in a fit
of jealousy condemned a Gopa by name Sridama to descend upon earth in the
form of the demon Sankhachura. He, in retaliation, sentenced her to become
a nymph of Brinda-ban ; and there accordingly she was born, being, as was
supposed, the daughter of Kedara, but in reality the divine mistress of Krishna ;
and it was simply his love for her which induced the god to leave his solitary
throne in heaven and become incarnate. Hence iu the following exhaustive
list of Radha's titles, as given by the same authority (Brah. Vai., v. iv. 17j,
there are three which refer to her predilection for Brinda-ban : —

Bddha, Rdsesvari, Rdsavdsini, Rdsikesvari,

Krlshna-prdnddldkd, Krishna-priija, Rrishna-sivarupinif

Krishna, Vrinddvani, Vrindd, Vrinddvana-mnodinij

Chanddvati, Chdndra-kdntd, Sata-chandra-nibhdnand,

Krishna-vdmdnga-samhhutd, Paramdnanda-Tiipini*
There is no reason to suppose that Brinda-ban was ever the seat of any
large Buddhist establishment; and though from the very earliest period of Brah-
manical history it has enjoyed high repute as a sacred place of pilgrimage, it
is probable that for many centuries it was merely a wild uninhabited jungle, a
description still applicable to Bhandir-ban, on the opposite side of the river, a
spot of equal celebrity in Sanskrit literature. Its most ancient temples, four
in number, take us back only to the reign of our own Queen Elizabeth ; the
stately courts that adorn the river bank and attest the wealth and magnificence
of the Bharat-pur Eajas, date only from the middle of last century ; while the
space no<v occupied by a series of the largest and most magnificent shrines ever
erected in Upper India was, fifty years ago, an unclaimed belt of jungle and
pasture -ground for cattle. Now that communication has been established with

♦•'Kadha, queen of the dance, constant at the dance, queen of the dancer; dearer than
Krishna's life, Krishna's delight, Krishna's counter-part ; Krishna, Brinda, Brinda-ban-born,
sporting at Brinda-ban ; moon-like spouse of the moon-like god, with face bricrht as a hundred
moons ; created as at the left half of Krishna's body, incarnation of heavenlj bliss. "

116 ENDOWMENTS AND CHARITIES OF BRINDA-EAN,

the remotest parts of India, every year sees some splendid addition made to
the artistic treasures of the town ; as -wealthy devotees recognize in the stability
of British rule an assm'ance that their pious donations will be completed in peace
and remain undisturbed in perpetuity.

When Father Tieffenthaler visited Brinda-ban in 1 754, ho noticed only ons
long street, but states that this was adorned with handsome, not to say magnifi-
cent buildings of beautifully carved stone, which had been erected by difiterent
Hindu Rajas and nobles, either for mere display, or as occasional I'esidences, or
as eml)ellishmonts that would be acceptable to the local divinity. The absurdity
of people coming from long distances merely for the sake of dying on holy
ground, all among the monkeys— which he describes as a most intolerable nui-
sance— 'together with the frantic idolatry that he saw rampant all around, and
the grotesque resemblance of the Bainigis to the hermits and ascetics of the
earlier ages of Christianity, seem to have given the worthy missionary such a shock
that his remarks on the buildings are singulaidy vague and indiscx'iminating.

At the present time there arc within the limits of the municipality about a
thousand temples, including, of course, many which, strictly speaking, are mere-
ly private chapels, and thirty-two ghats constructed by different princely bene-
factors. The tanks of reputed sanctity are only two in number. The first is the
Brahm Kund at the back of the Seth's temple, which is now in a very ruinous
condition. The other, called Gobind Kund, is in an out-of-the-way spot near the
Mathura Road. Hitherto it has been little more than a natural pond, but has
lately been enclosed on all four sides with masonry walls and flights of steps
at a cost of Rs. 30,000 by Chaudharani Kali Sundari from Rajshahi in
Bengal. The peacocks and monkeys, with which the place abounds, enjoy the
benefit of special endowments, bequeathed by deceased Rajas of Kota and
Bharat-pur. There are some fifty chhattras, or dole houses, for the distribu-
tion of alms, and extraordinary donations are not unfrequently made by royal
and distinguished visitors. Thus the Raja of Datia, a few years ago, made an
offering to every single shrine and every single Brahman that was found in tho
city. The whole population amounts to 21,000, of which the Brahmans^
Bairagis, and Vaishnavas together make up about one-half. In the time of
the emperors, the Muhammadans made a futile attempt to abolish tho ancient
name, Brinda-ban, and in its stead substitute that of Miiminabad ; but now,
more wisely, they leave the place to its own Hindu name and devices, and
keep themselves as clear of it as possible. Thus, besides an occasional official,
there are in Brinda-ban no followers of the prophet beyond only some fifty
families who live close together in its outskirts, and are all of the humblest
order, such as oilmen, lime-burners, and the like.

It is still customary to consider the religion of the Hindus as a compact
system, which has existed continuously and without any material change

THE HINDU KEFORMERS. 117

ever since the remote and almost pre-historic period when it finally abandoned
the comparatively simple form of worship incvilcated by the ritual of the
Vedas. The real facts, however, are far different. So far as it is possible to
compare things sacred with profane, the com-se of Hinduism and Christianity
has been identical in character ; both were subjected to a violent disruption
which occurred in the two quarters of the globe nearly simultaneously, and
which is still attested by the multitude of uncouth fragments into which the
ancient edifice was disintegrated as it fell. In the west, the revival of ancient
literature and the study of forgotten systems of philosophy stimulated enquiry
into the validity of those theological conclusions which previously had been
unhesitatingly accepted — from ignorance that any counter-theory could be
honestly maintained by thinking men. Similarly in the east, the Muham-
madan invasion and the consequent contact with new races and new modes of
thought brought home to the Indian moralist that his old basis of faith was
too narrow; that the division of the human species into the four Manava castes,
and an outer world of barbarians was too much at variance with facts to be
accepted as satisfactory, and that the ancient inspired oracles, if riglitly inter-
preted, must disclose some means of salvation applicable to all men alike, with-
out respect to colour or nationality. The professed object of the Reformers was
the same in Asia as in Europe — to discover the real purpose for which the
second Person of the Trinity became incarnate ; to disencumber the truth, as Ho
had revealed it, from the accretions of later superstition ; to abolish the extrava-
gant pretensions of a dominant class and to restore a simpler and more
severely intellectual form of public worship.* In Upper India the tyrannv of
the Muhammadans was too tangible a fact to allow of the hope or even the
wish that the conquerors and conquered could ever coalesce in one common
faith ; but in the Dakhin and the remote regions of Eastern Beno-al, to which
the sword of Islam had scarcely extended, and where no inveterate antipathy had
been created, the contingency appeared less improbable. Accordingly, it was
in those parts of India that the great teachers of the reformed Vaishuava creed
first meditated and reduced to system those doctrines which it was the one ob-
ject of all their later life to promulgate throughout Hindustan, It was their
ambition to elaborate a scheme so bi'oad and yet so orthodox that it mio-ht
satisfy the requirements of the Hindu and yet not exclude the Muhammadan
who was to be admitted on equal terms into the new fraternity : all mankind be-
coming one great family and every caste distinction being utterly abolished.

Thus Kablr, a contemporary of the Emperor Sikandar Lodi (1488-1517
A. D.), is acknowledged as one of the greatest leaders among the Reformers,

* Thus, as it may be interesting to note, the Brahma Samaj of the present day is no isolated
movement, but only the most modern of a long series of similar reactions against corrupt super-
stition.

118 THE KABIR-PANTHIS AND PRAN NATIIIS.

and was tlie founder of a sect called the Kabfr-Pantliis. Though a foundling,
and therefore of uncertain parentage, he was certainly brought up in a family
of juldhas, Muhamniadan weavers ; and after his death a A'iolent dispute arose as
to the disposal of his body — the Hindus claiming it for cremation, the Muhara-
niadans for burial. Neither party succeeded in establishing an absolute right
to the sacred remains ; for, on lifting up the cloth with which they had been
reverently covered, their miraculous assumption iuto heaven was attested by the
heap of divine flowers which alone marked the spot where they had reposed.
Of these flowers, half were taken to Banaras and there burnt, the other half were
buried at Magar near Gorakhpur, where he had died. This latter shrine has
been richly endowed and is visited specially by Muhammadans, as the Kabir
Chaura at Banaras is by Hindus.

Similarly, the fundamental doctrine of the Pran Nathis, or Dhamis (Dhau
beino- a name of the Supreme Being or Paramatma), is the absolute equality
before God, not only of Hindus and Muhammadans, but also of Christians.
Their founder, Pran Nath, was a Kshatriya by caste and a native of Bundel-
khand, who lived towards the end of the reign of the Emperor Aurangzeb.
His polemical treatises, fourteen in number, are written in Hindi verse with
a laro-e admixture of the Arabic phraseology of the Koran.* He is repre-
sented in Mathura by a solitary ascetic named Karak Das, who has a small
shrine near the Seth's garden on the Jamuna, The only object exposed fur
adoration on the altar is a set of Pran Nath's works, the whole of which he
knows by heart. It is said to be an essential part of the ceremony of initia-
tion that Hindus and Muhammadans should eat together ; bub iu the presence
of his Hindu countrymen whose prejudices on the point are so strong, he was
very reluctant to admit the fact, and maintained, what no doubt is the case,
that the practice at all events was never repeated after once the initiation had
been eff"ected.

Hence it is by no means correct to assert of modern Hinduism that it is
essentially a non-proselytizing religion ; accidentally it has become so, but only
from concession to the prejudices of the outside world and in direct opposition
to the tenets of its founders. Their initial success was necessarily due to their
intense zeal in proselytizing, and was marvellously rapid. At the present day
their followers constitute the more influential, and it may be even numerically
the larger half of the Hindu population : but precisely as in Europe so in
India, no two men of the reformed sects, however immaterial their doctrinal

• The fourteen books are named as follows : the titles alone being sufficient to indicate the
curious mixed dialect in which they are composed : 1 the book of Kas ; 2 of Prakiis ; 3 of Shat-
rit ; 4 of Kalas ; 5 of Sanandh ; 6 of Kirantan ; 7 of Khulasa ; 8 of Khclvat ; 9 of Prakratna
Illahi Dulhan, an allegory in which the Church, or ' Bride of God,' is represented as a holy
city ; 10 of Sagar Siugar ; 11 of Bare Singar ; 12 of Siodhi Bhasa ; 13 of Marafat Sagar ; 14 of
Kyamat-nama.

VAISHNAVA DIVISIONS. 119

differences, can be induced to amalgamate ; each forms a new caste moro
bigoted and exclusive than any of those which it was intended to supersede,
while the founder has become a deified character, for whom it is necessary to
erect a new niche in the very Pantheon he had laboured to destroy.

The four main divisions, or Sampradayas, as they are called, of the reformed
Vaishnavas are the Sri Yaishnava, the Nimbaratk Yaishnava, the Madhva
Vaishnava, and the Vishnu Swami. The last sect is now virtually extinct ; for
though the name is occasionally retained, their doctrines were entirely remo-
delled in the sixteenth century by the famous Gokul Gosain V"allabhdcharya,
after whom his adherents are ordinarily styled either Vallabhacharyas or
Gokulastha Gosains. Their history and tenets will find more appropriate place
in connection with the town of Gokul, which is still their head-quarters : suffice
it here to say that, both in the lateness of their origin and the scandalous
nature of their peculiar doctrines, they correspond most closely witli the Mor-
mons of the west, and are as little to be regarded as exponents of ordinary
Hindu belief and practice as the followers of Joseph Smith and Brighara
Young are of conventional Christianity.

In addition to the four Sampradayas, there are two schools of somewhat
more modern origin, called respectively Bengali or Gauriya Vaishnavas and
Radha Vallabhfs. The former are the disciples of Chaitanya, the latter of Ha-
rivansa, a far less celebrated character. Both are very largely ro]}resented at
Brinda-ban, where the latter originated, and the former established their prin-
cipal propaganda.

The Sri Sampradaya was altogether unknown at Brinda-ban till quite re-
cently, when the two brothers of Seth Lakhmi Cliand, after abjuring the Jaini
faith, were enlisted in its ranks, and by the advice of the Guru, who had re-
ceived their submission, founded at enormous cost the gi'eat temple of Hmg Ji.
It is the most ancient and the most respectable of the four reformed Vaishnava
communities, and is based on the teaching of Raraanuja, who flourished in the
11th or 12th century of the Christian era. The whole of his life was spent in
the Dakhin, where he is said to have established no less than 700 monastei'ies,
of which the chief were at Kanchi and Sri Ranga. The standard authorities
for his theological system are certain Sanskrit treatises of his own composition
entitled the Sri Bhashya, Gita Bhashya, Vediirtha Sangraha, Vedanta Pradipa
and Vedanta Siira. All the naoro popular works are composed in the dialects of
the south, and the establishment at Brinda-ban is attended exclusively by for-
eigners, the rites and ceremonies there observed exciting little interest among
the Hindus of the neighbourhood, who are quite ignorant of their meanino-.
The sectarial mark by which the Sri Vaishnavas may be distinguished consists
of two white perpendicular streaks down the forehead joined by a cross line
at the root of the nose with a streak of red between. Their chief dogma called

120 NIMBARAK VAISnNAVAS.

Visishthadwaita, is the assertion that Vishnu, the one Supreme God, though
invisible as cause, is, as eti'ect, visible in a secondary form in material creation.
Thej diifer in one marked respect from the mass of the people at Brinda-
ban, in that they refuse to recognise RaJh'i as an object of religious adoration.
In this they are in complete accord with all the older authorities, which regard
her simply as Krishna's mistress and Rukmini as his wife. Their mantra or
formula of initiatiozi, corresponding to the In nomine Pains, &c., of Christian
Baptism, is said to be Om Rwndya namah, that is, ' Om, reverence to Rama.'

The Nimbarak Vaishnavas, as mentioned in the preceding chaptci', have
one of their oldest shines on the Dhruva hill at Mathura. Literally interpre-
ted, the word Nimbarak means 'the sun in a vim tree;' a curious designation,
which is explained as follows. The founder of the sect, an ascetic, by name
Bhaskaracharya, had invited a Bainigi to dine with him, and had prepared every-
thing for his reception, but unfortunately delayed to go and fetch his guest
till after sunset. Now, the holy man was forbidden by the rules of his order to
eat except in the day-time, and was greatly afraid that he would be compelled
to practise an unwilling abstinence : but at the solicitation of his host, the sun-
god, Suraj Narayan, descended upon the niia tree under which the repast was
spread and continued beaming upon them till the claims of hunger were fully
satisfied. Thenceforth the saint was known by the name of Nimbarka or Nim-
baditya. His special tenets are little known ; for, unlike the other Sampra-
dayas, his followers have no special literature of their own either in Sanskrit or
Hindi ; a fact which they explain by saying that all their books were burnt by
Aurangzeb, the conventional bete noire of Indian history, who is made respon-
sible for every act of destruction. Though they form a numerous class at
Brinda-ban, they have no temple there of any note.

The same may be said of the Madhva Vaishnavas whose founder, Madliva-
chi'iry a was a native of Southern India, born in the year 1199 A. D. The temple
where he ordinarily resided is gtill in existence at a place called Udipi. Here
lie had set up a miraculous image of Krishna, made with the hero Arjun's own
hands, which had been casually thrown as ballast into a ship from Dwaraka,
which was wrecked on the Malabar coast. He is said to have been only nine years
of age when he composed the Bhasha or commentary on the Gita, which
bis disciples accept as of divine authority. Their distinctive doctrine is the
assertion of an essential Duality (Dwaita) between the Jivatma, or principle
of Hfe, and the Paramatma, or Supreme Being. Their sectarial mark consists
of two perpendicular white lines down the forehead, joined at the root of the noso
and with a straight black streak between, terminating in a round mark made
with turmeric.

The Radha Vallabhis have a tenqde at Brinda-ban dedicated to Krishna
under his title Sri Iladhu Vallabha, >Yhich is said to havo been built in the

BENGALI VAISHNAVAS. 121

year 1585, by Hari Vansa, the founder of the sect, a native of Deva-ban in the
Saharanpur District. There are several inscriptions rudely scrawled on the
walls, but the oldest at present visible bears the date of Sanibat 1 684 (1G27A.D.)
Most of their works are written ia Hindi, and apparently agree in doctrine with
the teaching of Chaitanya, the father of the Bengali Vaishnavas.

This last-named community has had a moi-e marked influence on Brinda-
b:in than any of the rival schools, as the foundation of all the material pros-
perity and religious exclusiveness, by which the place is now pre-eminently
characterized, was laid by Chaitanya's immediate disciples. He was born at
Nadiya in Bengal in 1485 A.D., and in his youth is said to have married a
daughter of Vallabhacharya. However that may be, when he had arrived at
tlie age of 24 he formally resigned all connection with secular aud domestic
affairs and commenced his career as a religious teacher. After spending six years
in pilgrimages between Mathura and Jagannath, he finally settled down at
the latter place, where in 1527 A.D., being then only 42 years old, he disap-
peared from the world. There is reason to believe that he was drowned in the
sea, into which he had walked in an ecstasy, mistaking it for the shallow waters
of the Jamuna, where he saw, in a vision, Krishna sporting with the Gropis.
His life and doctrines are recoi'ded in a most voluminous Bengali Avork entitled
Chaitanya Charitararita, composed in 1590 by one of his disciples, Krishna Das.
Two of his colleagues, Adwaitanand and Nityanand who, like himself, are
styled Maha Prabhus, presided over his establishments in Bengal ; while other
six Grosains settled at Brinda-ban. Apart from metaphysical subtleties, which
naturally have but little hold on the minds of the populace, the special tenet of the
BengaU Vaishnavas is the all sufficiency of faith in the divine Krishna ; such
faiih being adequately expressed by the mere repetition of his name without
a 113^ added prayer or concomitant feeling of genuine devotion. Thus roughly
stated, the doctrine appears absurd; and possibly its true bearing is as little
regarded by many of the more ignorant among the Vaishnavas themselves,
as it is by the majority of superficial outside observers. It is, however, a legiti-
mate deduction from sound principles : for it may be presumed that the formal act
of devotion would never have been commenced, had it not been prompted at
the outset by a devotional intention, which intention is virtually continued so
long as the act is in performance. And to quote from a manual of a purer faith,
*' it is not necessary that the intention should be actual throughout; it is
sufficient if we pray in a human manner ; and for this only a virtual intentioa
is required ; that is to say, an intention which has beeu actual and is supposed to
continue although through inadvertence or distraction we may have lost sight of
it." The sectarial mark consists of two white perpendicular sti'eaks down the fore-
head, united at the root of the nose, and crmtinued to near the tip. Another
characteristic is the use of a rosary of 108 beads made of the wood of the iuUi.

122 THE BTHNPA-BAN GOSAINS.

The recognized leaders of the BrinJii-ban commuQity were by name Riipa
and Sanataua, the authors of several doctrinal commentaries, and also, as is said,
of the Mathura, Mahatmja. Witli them were associated a nephew, named Jiva,
who founded the temple of Radha Damodar ; Gopal Bhatt, founder of the tem-
ple of Kadha Raman ; Raghunath Das, a Kayath from Radha Kund ; and, om-
pleting the six, Raghunatli Bhatt. Of the last nothing special has been recorded,
and in some lists another name is substituted in his place.* One of the eaidiest
converts, Swami Hari Das, a native of the adjoining village of Raj pur, has
acquired a celebrity equal to that of any of his masters, and in some parts of
Bengal is said to receive divine honours in the same way as Chaitanya. Tradi-
tion goes that he established his reputation for sanctity by spending several
years in solitude in the woods and everyday repeating Krishna's name 300,000
times. In the Bhakta Mala, Riipa and Sanatana and their companions are
mentioned as follows : —

f^^lol^ 5 3^TH ^^ =^T^^ ^3^1^T I

^TI^^T^^ ^T TTT^T ^TH iflTM ^1^I3[^ l^^T II

^R^fi ^TT^i^ ^M^m T^imFi T^^ ^KTi I

T^^i^H cfi nrafi ^i^ wi^ ^i^T^^ f^^T II !? II I

* The Tuzuk mentions another famous Gosain of somewhat later date, 1619 A. D., by
name Jadu-Rup, who came from Ujjaiyin to Mathura, and who had been visited both by Akbar
and Jahiingir.

t In the above passage the words underlined are proper names.

TEMPLE OF GOBIND DEYA. 123

On tlieir arrival at Brinda-ban, the first shrine which the Gosains erected
was in honour of the local divinity, Brinda Devi. Of this no traces now
remain, if (as some say) it stood in the Seva Kunj, which is now a large
walled garden with a masonry tank near the Ras Mandal. Their fame spread
so rapidly that iti 1570 the Emperor Akbar was induced to pay them a visit,
and was taken blindfold into the sacred enclosure of the Nidhban,* where
such a marvellous vision was revealed to him, that he was fain to acknowledo-e
the place as indeed holy ground. Hence the cordial support which he gave
to the attendant Rajas, when they declared their intention of erecting a series
of buildings more worthy of the local divinity.

The four temples commenced in honour of this event still remain, though
in a ruinous and hitherto sadly neglected condition. They bear the titles of
Gobind Deva, Gopi-nath, Jugal-Kishor, and Madan Mohan. The first named
is not only the finest of this particular series, but is the most impressive reli-
gious edifice that Hindu art has ever produced, at least in Upper India. The
body of the building is in the form of a Greek cross, the nave being a hundred
feet in length and the breadth across the transepts the same. The central
compartment is surmounted by a dome of singularly graceful proportions ; and
the four arms of the cross are roofed by a wagon vault of pointed form, not,
as is usual in Hindu architecture, composed of overlapping brackets, but
constructed of true radiating arches as in our Gothic cathedrals. The walls
have an average thickness of ten feet, and are pierced in two stages, the upper
stage being a regular triforium, to which access is obtained by an internal
staircase. At the east entrance of the nave, a small narthex projects fifteen
feet; and at the west end, between two niches and incased in a rich canopy of
sculpture, a square-headed doorway leads into the choir, a chamber some
twenty feet deep. Beyond this was the sacrarium,t flanked on either side by a
lateral chapel; each of these three cells being of the same dimensions as the
choir, and like it vaulted by a lofty dome. The general effect of the interior
is not unlike that produced by St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The latter
building has greatly the advantage in size, but in the other, the central dome
is more elegant, while the richer decoration of the wall surfiice and the
natural glow of the red sandstone supply that relief and warmth of colouring
which are so lamentably deficient in its western rival.

* The derivation of this word is a little questiouable. It is the local name of tlie actual Brinda
grove to which the town owes its origin. The spot so designated is now of very limited area,
hemmed in on all sides bj streets, but protected from further encroachmont by a high masonry
wall.

t The Sanskrit terms for the component parts of a temple are — the nave, mandapa ; the choir,
antardla, and the sacrarium garbha griha. The more ordinary Hindi substitutes are— fur the nave,
sabhd, and for the choir, jag-mohan ; while mandir, the temple, specially denotes the sacrarium,
aud ar:y aide chapel is styled a mahall.

124 TEJITLE OF GOBIND DEVA.

The groimd-plan is so similar to that of many European churches as to
suggest the idea that the architect was assisted by the Jesuit missionaries, who
were people of considerable influence at Akbar's court: were this really the case,
the temple would be one of the most eclectic buildings in the world, havnng a
Christian ground-plan, a Hindu elevation, and a roof of modified Saracenic
character. But the surmise, though a curious one, must not be too closely
pressed ; for some of the temples at Khajurao, by Mahoba, are of similar design
and of much earlier date.

It would seem that there were originally Bearoa towers ; one over the central
dome, one nt-the end of each tranjopt, and the other four covering respectively
the choir, sacrarium, aud two chapels.* Tlie sacrarium has been uttterly razod to
the ground,t and the other e« towers levelled with the roof of the nave. Their
loss has terribly marred the effect of the exterior, which must have been ex-
tremely majestic when the west front with its lofty triplet was supported on
either side by the p^Tamidttl massif tiho transepts and backed by the still more
towering height that crowned the central dome. The choir tower was of slighter
elevation, occupying the same relative position as the spirelet over the sanc-
tus bell in western eeclesiology The ponderous walls, albeit none too massive
to resist the enormus thrust once brought to bear upon them, now, however
much relieved by exuberant decoration, appear out of all proportion to the com-
paratively low superstructure. As a further disfigurement, a plain masonry
wall had been run along the top of the centre dome. It is generally believed
that this was built by Aurangzeb for the purpose of desecrating the temple;
though it is also said to have been put up by the Hindus themselves to assist
in some grand illumination. In either case it was an ugly modern excrescence,
and its removal was the very first step taken at the commencement of the re[)airs
now in progress. t

Under one of the niches at the west end of the nave is a tablet with a long
Sanskrit inscription. This has unfortunately been much mutilated, but enough
remains as record of the fact that the temple was built in Samhat 1647, ^. e.,

* The soutli-west chapel encluscs a subterraiieau cell, called Fatal Devi, whicli is said by
Bome to be the Gosains' original shrine in honour of the goddess Brinda.

t The sacrarium has been roughly rebuilt in brick, and contains an image of Krishna in his
character of Giridhari (the mountain-supporter), with two subordinate figures representing, the
one Maha Prabhu, i. e., Chaitanya, the other Nityanand.

J One section of this work originally appeared in the " Calcutta Review," and a cor-
respondent who saw it there has favomvd me with the following note of a tradition ar. lo the
cau'icof the wall being bnilt. lie writes, — "Aurangzeb hiid often of an evening remarked a very
bright light shining in the far distant south-east horizon, and in reply to his enquiries regarding
it, was told that it was a light burning in a temple of great wealth and magnificence at Uriiida-ban.
He accordingly resolved that it should be effectually put out, and soon after sent some troops to the
place, who plundered and threw down as munh of the temple as they could, and then erccled on
the top of the ruins a mosque wall, where, in order to complete the desecration, the Emperor is
said to have offered up his prayers."

TEMPLE OF G08IND-D£:VA \

BRINDA-BAN.

J'
\

|]^::^:a

^0 20 o „^^ '"^

TEMPLE OF GfBIND DEVA. 125

A. D. 1590, undsr the direction of -the two Grtirus, Rupa and Sanatana. The
founder, Eaja Man Siuli, was a Kachliwaha Thakur, son of Raja Bhao-awaa
Das of Amber, founder of the temple at Gobardhan, and an ancestor of the
present Raja of Jaypur. He was appointed by Akbar successively Governor
of the districts along the Indus, of Kabul, and of Bihar. By his exertions, the
whole of Orisa and Eastern Bengal were re-annexed ; and so highly were his
merits appreciated at court, that though a Hindu, he was raised to a higher
rank than any other officer in the realm. He married a sister of Lakshmi Nara-
yan. Raja of Koch Bihar, and at the time of his decease, which was in the ninth
year of the reign of Jahatigir, he had living one son, Bhao Sinh, who succeeded
him upon the throne of Amber, and died in 1621, A. D.* There is a tradition
to the effect that Akbar at the last, jealous of his powerful vassal, and desirous
to rid himself of him, had a confection prepared, part of which contained poison,
but, caught in his own snare, he presented the innoxious portion to the Raja and
ate that drugged with death himself^ The unworthy deed is explained by Mhn
Sinh's design, which apparently had reached the Emperor's ears, to alter tha
succession in fiivour of Khusrau, his nephew, instead of Salim.f

In anticipation of a visit from Aurangzeb, the image of the god was trans-
ferred to Jaypui', and the Gosain of the temple there has ever since been reo-ard-
ed as the head of the endowment. The name of the present incumbent is S\a:n
Sundar, who has two agents, resident at Brinda-ban. ^ There is said to be still in
existence at Jaypur the original plan of the temple, showing its seven towers, but
there is a difficulty in obtaining any definite information on the subject. How-
ever, local tradition is fully agreed as to their number and position ; while tlioir
architectural character can be determined beyond a doubt by comparison Avith
the smaller temples of the same age and style, the ruins of which still remain.
It is therefore not a little strange that of all the architects who have described
this famous building, not one has noticed this, its most characteristic feature: the
harmonious combination of dome and spire is still quoted as the great crux of
modern art, though nearly 300 years ago the difficulty was solved by the Hin-
dus with characteristic grace and ingenuity.

From the reign of Aurangzeb to the present time not a single step had ever
been taken to ensure the preservation from further decay of this most interestinof
architectural monument. Large trees had been allowed to grow up in the
fissures of the walls, and in the course of a few more summers their spreading
roots would have caused irreparable damage. Accordingly, after an ineffectual
attempt to enlist the sympathies of the Archseological Department, the writer took

* Vide Professor Blochmanu's Aini Akbari, p. 341.

•f The above traJitionis quoted from Tod's l.'ajasthdn. De Laet, as translated by Mr. Leth-
bridge, (or Man Sinh substitutes the name of ^Mirza Gliazi B' ^.
X They are by name Babus Kailds Chandra and Bhola-Xath.

126 REPAIRS OF THE TEMPLE OF GOBIND DEVA.

the opportimity of Sir William Muir's presence in the district, on tour, to solicit
the adoption on the part of the Government of some means for averting a
catastrophe that every student of architecture throughout the world would have
regarded as a national disgrace. With the ready appreciation that was to be
expected in such a quarter, the proposals submitted were at once endorsed and
forwarded for the consideration of the Government of India, who communicated
them to the Maharaja of Jaj'^pur, the temple's hereditaiy guardian. His
Highness, without the slightest hesitation, expressed his entire approval, and
undertook to supply a sum of Rs. 5,000, which had been estimated as sufficient
to defray the cost of all absolutely essential repairs.* The work was taken in
hand at the beginning of this month (August, 1873), and some progress has
been already made. The obtrusive wall erected by the Muhammadans on the
top of the dome has been demolished ; the interior has been cleared of several
unsightly party-walls and other modern excrescences, and the debris, which had
accumulated round the base of the building to the astonishing height of eight
feet, and in some places even more, entirely concealing the handsomely moulded
plinth, has been removed ; by which means a considerable addition is made to
the height of the building — the one point in which, since the loss of the original
towers, the design had appeared defective. Many of the houses which had
been allowed to crowd the court-yard close up to the very walls of the temple
have been taken down, and two broad approaches are being opened out from
the great eastern portal and the south transept. Hitherto, the only access was
by a narrow winding lane ; and there was not a single point from which it
w^as possible to obtain a complete view of the fabric.

The next thing to be imdertaken is the removal of a huge masonry pillar
that has been inserted under the north bay of the nave to support a broken
lintel. It is proposed to effect this by pinning up the fractured stone with
three strong iron bolts ; a simple and economical contrivance, suggested by
Mr. Inglis, Executive Engineer on the Agra Canal, in lieu of the costly and
tedious process of inserting a new lintel, and meanwhile supporting the wall
by a masonry arch, which, though temporary, would have to be most carefully
and substantially constructed.

On the south side of the choir stood a large domed and pillared chhattri of
later date than the temple, as is evident from the fact that it must have
been erected after the accumulation of soil had taken place, but still of hand-
some and harmoniou3 design. t As this was before very insecure, and had been

♦ A revised estimate has now been prepared by the District Engineer, who puts it at
Bs. 75,000 for the exterior, and Ri9. 57,857 for the inti'rior, making a total of Rs. 1,32,857 I

f Whtn the above was written, I had not noticed an inscription rudely cut on one of tho
pillars, recording the erection of the chhullri in the reign of the Emperor Sliabj'ihan, Sambat
1693, i. e., 1636 A. D., or 4G years after the tcuiplc was built. A copy of the iuscriptioa will be
found at the end of this chapter.

TEMPLE OF MADAN MOHAN

BH! N DA- BAN.

NL.'V TEMP! £.

Sfre/:t

D a c

rr=^ ^.

so ifj< -- i t-/7.cA>.

1 .

TEMPLK OF MAD AN MOHAN. 127

rcudered still more so by reducing the level of the ground round its founda-
tions, it has been taken down and re-erected on the platform that marks the
site of the old sacrarium, where it will serve to conceal the bare rubble wall
that rises behind it. The roof of the entire building will also be submitted to
a careful examination, with a view to preventing the settlement of rain and
consequent leakage ; and in all places, so far as funds allow, wherever the
stone facing of the walls has been destroyed, it will be renewed. The re-build-
ing of any such part as has utterly perished — for example, any one of the towers —
is out of the question, and not perhaps desirable in the absence of the original
design. The fabric must at one time have been subjected to some stupendous
shock, more like an earthquake than any act of mere human violence ; and
possibly the works were thus interrupted before the towers had been actually
completed. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain how every trace of them has
so totally disappeared ; for, in clearing the basements, comparatively few frag-
ments of carved stone have been discovered imbedded in the soil. There are
more built up into the adjoining houses, but these are mostly corbels and shafts
taken from the lower stories of the temple which are still standing.

A modern temple, under the old dedication, has been erected within the
precincts and absorbs the whole of the endowment. The ordinary annual income
amounts to Es. 17,500 ; but by far the greater part of this, viz., Rs. 13,000,
is made up by votive offerings. The fixed estate includes one village in Alwar
and another in Jaypur, but consists principally of house property in the town
of Brinda-ban, where is also a large orchard, called Radha Bagh. This has
been greatly diminished in area by a long series of encroachments. About a
hundred years ago it must have been very extensive and densely wooded, as
Father Tieffenthaller, in his notice of Brinda-ban, describes it in the followincr
terms : — " L'endroit est convert de beaucoup d'arbres et ressemble a un bois
sacre des anciens ; il est triste par le morne silence qui y regno, quoiqu' ao-re-
able par 1' ombre epaisse des arbres, desquels on n'ose arracher un rameau, ni
meme une feuille ; ce serait un grand delit." The site of the Seth's temple was
also purchased from the Gobind Deva estate, and a further subsidy of Rs. 102
a year is still paid on its account.

The next temple to be described, viz., that of Madan Mohan, one of Krishna's
innumerable titles, stands at the upper end of the town on the river bank near
the Kali-mardan Ghat, where the god trampled on the head of the great serpent
Kali. It consists of a nave 57 feet long, with a choir of 20 feet square at the
west end, and a sanctuary of the same dimensions beyond. The total heio-ht of
the nave would seem to have been only about 22 feet, but its vaulted roof has
entirely disappeared : the upper part of the choir tower has also been destroyed.
That surmounting the sacrarium is a lofty octagon of curvilinear outline taper-
ing towards the summit ; and attached to its south side is a tower-crowned

128 TEMPLE OF MADAN MOHAN.

chapel of precisely similar elevation, and differing only in tlie one respect tliat
its exterior surface is enriched with sculptured panels, while the other is quite
plain. Over its single door, which is at the east end, is a Sanskrit inscription,
given first io Bengali and then in Nagari characters, which runs as follows :—

" Of Guru descent, a compeer of Mahadeva, whose fiither was Rarachandra,
whose son was Radha Vasant, a jewel of good men; that mass of virtue, by
name Sri Gunanand, dedicated in approved fashion this temple to the son of
Nanda (Nandkishor, i. e., Krishna.)"

The above, it is believed, has never been copied before. As the letters
were raised, instead of incised, and also much worn, a transcript was a matter
of some little difficulty ; and the Brahman in charge of the shrine declared the
inscription to be absolutely illegible, or at least if the letters could be decypherod,
quite unintelligible. The information it gives is certainly not veiy perspicuous,
and there is no indication of a date. The main building, which may possibly
be a little older, is popularly ascribed to one Ram Das, a Kshatriya of Multtiu.
The court-yai'd is entered, after the ascent of a flight of steps, through a mas-
sive square gateway with a pyramidal tower, which gi'oups very effectively with
the two towei's of the temple. As the buildings are not only in ruins, but also
from pecularities of style ill-adapted to modern requirements, they are seldom,
if ever, used for religious service, which is ordinarily performed in an elegant
and substantial edifice erected on the other side of the street under the shadow
of the older fane. The annual income is estimated at Rs. 10,100, of which
sum, Rs. 8,000 are the voluntary ofi"erings of the faithful, while only Rs. 2,100
arc derived from permanent endowment.* A branch establishment at Radha
Kund with the same dedication is also supported from the funds of the parent
house.

With reference to this temple, or it may be some other shrine bearing the
same title, for the narrative is not very explicit, a curious anecdote is told in the
Bhakta Mala of a devout Vaishnava, by name Siir Das. He was Governor
(Amin) of Sandila in Akbar's reign, and on one occasion consumed all the
revenues of his district in entertaining the priests and pilgrims at the temple.
The treasure chests were duly despatched to Delhi, but when opened were found
to contain nothing but stones. Such exaggerated devotion failed to com-

* On the road from Brinda-ban to Jait, within the bouiul:iric8 of the villaije of Siiirakli,
is a walled garden with a tank, called Kjiiu Till, part of the property of the temple of Madaa
Mohua.

SPECIMENT OF THE BHAKTA-MALA. 129'

mend itself even to the Hindu minister, Todar Mai, who threw the enthusiast
into prison ; but the grateful god could not forget his faithful servant and speedily
moved the indulgent emperor to order his release. As the Bhakta Mala, or
Lives of the Vaishnava Saints, is a scarce and curious work, the original text
of the above narrative is subjoined. The reputed author is Nabhi'i Ji, a famous
commentator of the school of Ramanand ; but only the opening stanzas are his
composition ; the subsequent paraphrases having been added by one Priya Das.

■^■^TM T^Wl rtmX f%f%l^ WIFTR ^K TTi^T I
^nr^R ^T ^^?a ^W ^i ^l^^T ^IrTT ^TT^ I

^JSim ^m "^^ ^oT '5gTlq?:iTT

^^ ^^ i^m^ -^^ ^tS ^tt ^ni^ % II
ftf?r 5T ^M -^-m ^m 3^ ^t^ w 11

5Flt xr^T XTit ^N T73[V[THT1^ ^1^
HT ^^ ^m]^ o?TTi3[ ^5ITTT ^3l^ W II

'^l^T f^RI W ^i JT f%5l ^MT %TTT ^S
^^WT ^ni^T ^T^ ^ITT f^ m^ W II
U3[^ ^^T^T *Tf?fi^^ ^T^l^T gft

^1^ ^K ?7T2[T % %T|^ ^#t '^l^ If II

5RRT TO =^W TO Rf€f3[^ TTi^ If I)
Wrl?: g^i^ ^miit ^R ^IIT ^K
%^1 ^iifT ^R ^#1 ^^ XfTT ^<3Ti^ If II

130 SP. CIMEN OF THE BHAKTA-MALA.

^mi ^I Xsf oTl%i ^*^ TIRT VW ^rf ^fl

m^T ^ *^T ^]^ ^^tTi THf% *TT^ w II

^^T T^l% ^IT ^m ^3 ^ ^ ^^ ^
^iS ITT ^3^ W ^^ ^^ ^I^ W U

j^vi Ti ^ ^^1^ f^l ^^ rTR ^R^T i li

3i^T f^TTR ^^1 ^H ^T \^l^^^ t^St

TOT flWlf T ^Tf^ ^5 ^g ^R^T t 1 1
^TIT MI^^l^l ^5Rg(T ^i% fi]«r ^T^T
^itl ^IWT §TT ^m ^-^ ^^ ^IT^T i II
'55nil T^^R^ T{^ W^^T TT ^Tf^ T^T
cRlJT %t| ^3■ §^T ^.^ T^ TIRI t II

^1 ft^ yn^ ^9t ^9t ^r? ^i^^ ^
^T ^^ 3r^ FT^ m^ ^w 31^ ml

^T%T^ ^WT ^m fell ^^iira 1 II

As will be seen from tlie above specimen, the poem is singularly abrupt and
incolierent in style, and abounds in brief enigmatical allusions to obscure inci-
dents and traditions, which almost defy literal translation. The following is a
tolerably faithful version of the opening stanza; the remainder is rendered
sufficiently intelligible by the abstract of the narrative already given.

" Joined together like two links in a chain are the god Madan Mohan
and Sur Das, that paragon of excellence in verse and song, incarnation of
the good and beneficent, votary of li:i<lhii Krishan, master of mystic delights.
Manifold his songs of love; the muse of love, (luceii of the nine, came dancing

TEMPLE or GOPINATTT. 131

on foot* to the melodies that he uttered ; his persuasiveness as unbounded as
that of the fabled twin brothers f. Joined together like two links in a chain are
the god Madan Mohan and Siir Das."

The temple of Gopinath, which may be slightly the earliest of the series,
is said to have been built by Raesil Ji, a progenitor of the Shaikhtu^at branch
of the Kachhwaha Thakurs. This great Rajput family claim ultimate descent
from Baloji, the third son of Raja Uday Karan, who succeeded to the throne
of Amber in 1389 A. D. To Baloji fell by inheritance the district of Amritsar,
and after him to his son Mokal. This latter was long childless, till, through the
blessing of the Muhammadan saint Shaikh Burhan, he became the father of a
son, called after his spiritual progenitor Shaikh Ji. He is accounted the patriarch
of all the Shaikhavvat race, who for more than four ct;nturies have continued
to observe the obligations criginally contracted with him. At the birth of
every male infant, a goat is sacrificed, and while the Kalima is recited, the
child is sprinkled with the blood. He is invested with the baddhiya, or cross-
strings, usually worn by little Muhammadans; and when he laid them aside,
he was bound to suspend them at the saint's dargah, still existing six miles
from Achrol. For two years he wears a blue tunic and cap, and for life
abstains from hog's flesh and all meat in which the blood remains. Shaikh Ji,
by conquest from his neighbours, consolidated under his own sway 3(30 villages,
in complete independence of the parent State of Amber : and they so continued
till the time of Sawai Jay Sinh, the founder of Jaypur. Shaikh Ji's heir,
Haemal, had three sons, Nou-karan, Riiesil, and Gopal. By the advice of Devi
Das, a shrewd minister, who had been dismissed by Non-Karan, Raesil proceeded
to Dihli with a following of 20 horsemen, and so distinguished himself in the
repulse of an Afghan invasion, that Akbar bestowed upon him the title of
Darbari, with a grant of land and the important command of 1,250 horse.
Khandela and Udaypur, then called Kasumbi, which he conquered from the
Narbhans, a branch of the Chauhaus, after contracting a marriage with the
daughter of the prince of that race, became the principal cities of the Shaikha-
wat confederation. He accompanied his liege lord. Raja Man Sinh of Amber,
against the Mewar Rana Pratap, and further distinguished himself in the ex-
pedition to Kabul. The date of his death is not known. J The temple, of which
he is the reputed founder, corresponds very closely both in style and dimensions
with that of Madan Mohan already described ; and has a similar chapel attached

* Each Has (tho Hindu equivalent for the European Muse) has a special vehicle of its own,
and the meaning appears to be that the Has Sringar, or Erotic Muse, alighted on foot tho better
to catch the sound of his voice.

f The fabled twin brothers are probably the two Gandharvas (heavenly musicians), who
were metamorphosed into arjun trees till restored by Krishna to their proper form.

J The above particulars are extracted from Tod's Kajasthdu and Professor Blochmann'g
Ain-i-Akbari.

132 TEMPLE OF JUGAL KISHOR.

to the south side of the sacrarium. It is, however, in a far more ruinous con-
dition : the nave has entirely disappeared ; the three towers hare been levelled
with the roof ; and the entrance gateway of the court-yard is tottering to its fall.
The special feature of the building is a curious arcade of three bracket arches,
serving apparently no constructural purpose, but merely added as an orna-
mental screen to the bare south wall. The choir arch is also of handsome design,
elaborately decorated with arabesque sculptures; but it is partly concealed from
view by mean sheds which have been built up against it, while the interior is
Used as a stable and the north side is blocked by the modeni temple. Tlie votive
offerings here made are estimated at Rs. 3,000 a year, in addition to which
there is an endowment yielding an annual income of Rs. 1,200.*

The temple of Jugal Kishor, the last of the old series, stands at the lower
end of the town near tlie Kesi Ghat. Its constnic.tion is refei-red to th(! year
Sambat 1684, i. e., 1627 A. D., in the reign of Jahangir, and the founder's
name is preserved as Non-Karan. He is said to have been a Chauhan Thakur ;
but it is not improbable that he was the elder brother of Raesil, who built the
temple of Gopinath. The choir, which is slightly larger than in the other ex-
amples, being 25 feet square, has the principal entrance as usual at the east
end, but is peculiar in having also, both north and south, a small doorway
under a hood supported on eight closely-set brackets carved into the form of
elephants. The nave has been completely destroyed.

Some of the smaller temples have already been casually mentioned in con-
nection with their founders. Though of ancient date, they have been often
renewed, and possess no special architectural merit. The same may be said of
the Bengali temple of Sringar Bat, near the Madan Mohan, which, however,
enjoys an annual income of Rs. 13,500, divided among three shareholders, who
each take the religious services for four months at a time. The village of Ja-
hangirpui', on the opposite bank of the river, including the sacred grove of Bel-
ban, forms part of the endowment.

Of the modern temples, five claim special notice. The first in time of
erection is the temple of Krishna Chandrama, built about the year 1810,
at a cost of 25 lakhs, by the wealthy Bengali Kayath, Krishan Chandra
Sinh, better known as the LaUi Babu. It stands in a large court-yard,
which is laid out not very tastefully as a garden, and enclosed by a lofty
wall of solid masonry, with an arched gateway at either end. The building
is of quadrangular form, 160 feet in length, with a front central compartment
of three arches and a lateral colonnade of five bays reaching back on either
side towards the cella. The workmanship throughout is of excellent character,
and the stone has been carefully selected. The two towers, or sikharas, arc

• Tlie Seth's Garden, where stands the Brahmotsava Pavilion, was purchased from tlie
temple of Gopinath, and ia still liable to an annual charge of Rs, 18.

THE LALA BABtT. 133

singularly plain, but have been wisely so designed, that tbeir smooth polished
surface may remain unsullied by rain and dust.

The founder's ancestor, Babu Murli Mohan Sinh, son of one Har Krislma
Sinh, was a wealthy merchant and landed proprietor at Kandi in Murshid-
abad. His heir, Bihari Lai Sinh, had three sons, Eadha Gobind, Ganga
Gobind, and Radha Charan : of these, the last-named, on inheriting his share
of the paternal estate, broke off connection with the rest of the family and has
dropped out of sight. Eadha Gobind took service under Allah Virdi Khan and
Sinij-ud-daula, Nawabs of Murshidabad, and was by them promoted to posts
of high honour. A rest-house for travellers and a temple of Radha-ballabh
which he founded, are still in existence. He died without issue, leaving his
property to his brother, Ganga Gobind, who took a prominent part in the
revision of the Bengal settlement under Lord William Bentinck, in 1828. He
built a number of dharmsaJas for the reception of pilgrims and four temples
at Ramchaudrapur in Nadiya. These latter have all been washed away by
the river, but the images of the gods were transferred to Kandi. He also
maintained several Sanskrit schools in Nadiya ; and distinguished himself
by the extraordinary pomp with which he celebrated his father's obsequies,
spending, moreover, every year on the anniversary of his death a lakh of
rupees in religious observances. Ganga Gobind's son, Pran Krishan Sinh, si ill
further augmented his magnificent patrimony before it passed in succession
to his son, Krishan Chandra iSinh, better known under the soubriquet of ' the
Lala Babu.' He held office first in Bardwan and then in Orisa, and when
about thirty years of age, came to settle in the holy land of Braj. In con-
nexion with his temple at Brinda-ban he founded also a rest-houFC, whore a
large number of pilgrims are still daily fed ; the annual cost of the whole
establishment being, as is stated, Es. 22,000. He also enclosed the sacred
tanks at Radha-kund with handsome gbats and terraces of stone at the cost
of a lakh. When some forty years of age, he renounced the world, and in
the character of a Bairagi continued for two years to wander about the woods
and plains of Braj, begging his bread from day to day till the time of his
death, which was accidentally caused by the kick of a horse at Gobardhan.
He was frequently accompanied in his rambles by Mani Ram, father of the
famous Seth Lakhmi Chand, who also had adopted the life of an ascetic.
In the course of the ten years which the Lala Babu spent as a worldling in
the Mathura District, he contrived to buy up all the villages most noted as
places of pilgrimage in a manner Avhich strikingly illustrates his hereditary
capacity for business. The zamindars were assured that he had no pecuniary
object in view, but only the strict preservation of the hallowed spots. Again,
as in the days of Krishna, they would become the secluded haunts of the
monkey and the peacock, while the former proprietors would remain undis-

134 THE LALA BABU.

turbed, the liappy guardians of so many new Arcadias. Tims tTie wise man
from the East picked up one estate after another at a price in every case far
below the real value, and in some instances for a purely nominal sum. How-
ever binding his fair promises may have been on the conscience of the pious
Babu, they were never recorded on paper, and therefore are naturally ignored
by his absentee descendants and their agents, from whom any appeal ad
misericordiam on the part of the impoverished representatives of the ol I
owners of the soil meets with very scant consideration. The villages which
he acquired in the Mathura District are fifteen in number, viz., in the Kosi
Pargana, Jjiu ; in Chhata, Nandgunw, Barsana, Sanket, Karhela, Garhi, and
Hathiya ; and in the home pargana, Mathura, Jait, Maholi, and Nabi-pur ; all
these, except the last, being more or less places of pilgrimage. To these must
be added the four Gujar villages of Pirpur, Gulalpur, Chamar-garhi, and
Dhimri. For Nand-ganw he gave Rs. 900 ; for Barsana, Rs. 600 ; for Sanket,
Rs. 800 ; and for Karhela, Rs. 500 ; the annual revenue derived from these
places being now as follows ; from JS'andganw, Rs. 6,712 ; from Barsana,
Rs. 3,109 ; from Sanket, Rs. 1,642 ; and from Karhela, Rs. 1,900. It may
also be noted that payment was invariably made in Brinda-ban rupees, which
are worth only thirteen or fourteen annas each. The Babu further purchased
seventy-two villages in 'Aligarh and Bulandshahr from Raja Bir Sinh,
Chauhan ; but twelve of these were sold at auction in the time of his heir,
Babu Sri Narayan Sinh. This latter, being a minor at his father's death,
remained for a time under the tutelage of his mother, the Rani Kaitani,
who ao-ain, on his decease when only thirty years old, managed the estate
till the coming of age of the two sons whom his widows had been specially
authorized to adopt. The elder of the two, Pratap Chandra, founded an English
school at Kandi and dispensary at Calcutta. He was for some time a Member
of the Legislative Council of Bengal, received from Government the title of
Bahadur, and was enrolled as a Companion of the Star of India. He died in
1867 ; his brother Isvarchandra in 1863. The latter left one son, Indrachand,
who with his three cousins, Puran-chandra, Kari-chandra, and Sarad-chandra,
the sons of Pratap-chandra, are the present owners of the estate, which during
their minority is under the control of the Court of Wards ; the General Mana-
ger being Mr. Robert Harvey of Calcutta in subordination to the Collector of
the 24 Parganas.

The great temple, founded by Scths Gobind Das and Radha Krishan, bro-
thers of the famous millionaire Lakhmi Chaud, is dedicated to Rang Ji, or Sri
Eanga Nath, that being the special name of Vishnu most affected by Ramanu-
ja, the founder of the Sri Sampradaya. It is built in the Madras style, in
accordance with plans supplied by their guru, the great Sanskrit scholar, Swa-
mi Rangacharya, a native of that part of India, who still presides over the

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135

magnificent establishment.* The Avorks were commenceJ in IS-iS and comple-
ted in 1851, at a cost of 45 lakhs of rupees. The outer walls measure 773 feet
in length, by 440 in breadth, and enclose a fine tank and garden in addition to
the actual temple-court. This latter has lofty gate-towers, or c/opuras, covered
with a profusion of coarse sculpture. In front of the god is erected a pillar, or
dhicajaslha stamhha, of copper gilt, sixty feet in height and also sunk some
twenty-four feet more below the surface of the ground. This alone cost
Es. 10,000. The principal or western entrance of the outer court is surmounted
by a pavilion, ninety-three feet high, constructed in the Mathura style after the
design of a native artist. In its graceful outlines and the elegance of its
reticulated tracery, it presents a striking contrast to the heavy and misshapen
masses of the Madras Gopura, which rises immediately in front of it. A little to
one side of the entrance is a detached shed, in which the god's rath, or carriage,
is kept. It is an enormous wooden tower in several stages, with monstrous
effigies at the corners, and is brought out only once a year in the month of
Chait during the festival of the Brahmotsav. The mela lasts for ten days, on
each of which the god is taken in state from the temple along the road, a dis-
tance of 690 yards, to a garden where a pavilion has been erected for his recep-
tion. The procession is always attended with torches, music, and incense, and
some military display contributed by the Raja of Bharat-pur ; and on the clos-
ing day, when only the rath is used, there is a grand show of fireworks, which
people of all classes congregate from long distances to see. The image, com-
posed of the eight metals, is seated in the centre of the car, with attendant
Brahmans standing beside to fan it with chauries. Each of the Seths, with
the rest of the throng, gives an occasional hand to the ropes by which the
ponderous machine is drawn ; and by dint of much exertion, the distance is
ordinarily accomplished in the space of about two and a half hours. On the
other days of the mela the god has a wide choice of vehicles, being borne now
on a palki, a richly gilt tabernacle (pumja-kotJd), a throne (sinhdsanj, or a tree,
either the kadamb, or the tree of Paradise (kalpavriksha) ; now on some demi-
god, as the sun or the moon, Gariira, Hanuman, or Sesha ; now again on some
animal, as a horse, an elephant, a lion, a swan, or the fabulous eight-footed
Sarabha. The ordinary cost of one of these celebrations is about Rs. 5,000,
while the annual expenses of the whole establishment amount to no less than

* He ha3 translated some of Ramanuja's works from the language of Southern India into
Sanskrit, and is the author of two polemical treatises in defence of the orthodoxy of Vaishnavism,
The first is a pamphlet entitled Durjana-kari-panchanana, which was written as an answer to
eight questions propounded for solution by the Saivite Pandits of Jaypur. The Maharaja not
being convinced liad a rejoinder published under the name of Sajjana-mano-nuranjana, which
elicited a more elaborate work from the Swami, called Vyamoha-vidnivanani, in which he has
brought together a great number of texts from the canonical Scriptures of the Hiudus in sup-
port of bis owu views and iu refutation of those of his oppoaeuts.

136 THE seth's temple.

Es. 57,000, the largest Item iu that total being Rs. 30,000 for the hhog or food,
which after being presented to the god is then consumed by the priests or
given away in chai'ity. Every day 500 of the Sri Vaishnava sect are fed at the
temple, and every morning up to ten o'clock a dole of ata is given to anyone
of any denomination who chooses to apply for it.

The endowment consists of thirty-three villages, yielding a gross income of
Rs. 1,17,000, on which the Government demand amounts to Rs. 64,000. Of
the thirty -three villages, seventeen, including one quarter of Brinda-ban, are
in the Mathura, and sixteen in the Agra District. The votive offerings amount
on an averag to Rs. 2,000 a year, and there is further a sum invested in the
funds which yields in annual interest as much as Rs. 11,800. In 1868, the
whole estate was transferred by the Swami — the deed of transfer bearing a stamp
of Rs. 2,000 — to a committee of management, who on his death are bound
to appoint a successor. This arrangement was necessitated by the bad conduct
of liis son Nivasacharya — named ac(!ording to family custom after the grand-
father— who resides at present at Gobardhan in the precincts of the temple
of Lakshmi ISarayan, rebuilt by Seth Radha Krishan. Though the terms
of tlie deed are clear, there is cause for apprehension that the property will
at some no very distant date become the subject of ruinous litigation, un-
less a successor is definitely appointed during the life of the present incumbent
or other similar precaution taken. The young Swami shows no intention
of reforming his evil practices : so far from being a scholar like his father^
he is barely educated up to the ordinary level of his countrymen; while his
profligacy is open and notorious. Immorality and priestly dignity, it is true,
are not universally accounted as incompatible qualities ; but the scandal in
his case is augmented by the ceremonial pollution he incurs from his habit
of familiar intercourse with the lowest classes of the people and his fondness
for bears and dogs and other unclean animals which he allowed to roam at
large though the precincts of the Gobardhan temple. Not long ago a fixed
allowance of Rs. 250 a month was assigned for his maintenance and a fur-
ther donation made of Rs. 7,000 for the settlement of all his debts ; but he
is now again deeply involved, and has borrowed large sums on the security
of post-obits. On the event of the contemplated contingency, the holders of
these documents are evidently prepared to make a desperate struggle in pro-
portion to the magnitude of the interest at stake. But it is scarcely jiossible
that they should ultimately succeed : for their client has no more legal claim to
the succession than the son of an Anglican Bishop is entitled, on his fiither's
death, to usurp the vacant episcopal thi-ono; the existence of a son at all being
an anomaly in both cases not contemj)latcd in the days of more rigid ortho-
doxy. To simplify the matter, there is no personal ))roperty of any kind what-
ever. When Swami Rangucharya first came into this part of the country, his

THE SAH'S temple OF RADHA EAMAN. 137

only possession was his learning. All the wealth that he now has proceeds
from the munificence of the Seths, who bestowed it upon him after they had
installed him as head of their new temple, and distinctly in virtue of such in-
stallation. Finding that his son is incorrigible, his wisest course would be for-
mally to disow7i him, or at once I'esign the teinporalities of his office into the
hands of the trustees. Naturally enough, he is reluctant to take this extreme
stop ; like Heli of old, who on seeing the enormities committed by his two sons
Ophni and Phinees was provoked to sore grief and indignation, but would, not
give up the wealth and plenty which through them flowed into his house, till
death and irreparable disaster overtook both them and him and all that was
most dear to him.

Of the villages that form the endowment, five of those in the Mathura
District, viz., three in Mahaban and two in Jalesar, were conferred on the
temple by Eaja Man Sinh of Jay pur. Though the lawful heir to the throne,
he never took his seat upon it. He was the posthumous son of Eaja Prithi
Sinh, on whose death, in 1779 A.D., the surviving brother Pratap Sinh, claimed
the succession. The nephew's right was subsequently upheld by Daulat Rao
ISindhia, but the young prince was devoted to letters and religion, and on
being assured of an annual income of Rs. 30,000 he gladly relinquished the
royal title and retired to Brinda-ban. Here he spent the remainder of his
days in the practice of the most rigid austerities, till death overtook him at the
age of 70, in 1848. For 27 years he had remained sitting cross-legged in one
position, never moving from his seat but once a week when nature compelled
him to withdraw. Five days before his death he predicted his coming end
and solemnly bequeathed to the Seth the care of his old servants, from one of
whom, Lakshmi Narayan Byas, the writer gathered these particulars. He was
for some years manager of the temple estate, and to the great regret of all who
knew him died as these sheets were passing through the press.

If the effect of the Seths' lavish endowment is impaired by the ill-judged
adoption of a foreign style of architecture, still more is this error apparent in
the temple of Radha Raman, completed within the last few years. The founder
is Sah Kundan Lai, of Lakhnau, who has built on a design suggested by the
modern secular buildings of that city. The principal entrance to the court-yard
is, in a grandiose way, decidedly effective ; and the temple itself is constructed
of the most costly materials and fronted with a colonnade of spiral marble pil-
lars, each shaft being of a single piece, which though rather too attenuated are
unquestionably elegant. The mechanical execution is also good ; but all is ren-
dered of no avail by the abominable taste of the design. The facade with its
uncouth pediment, flanked by sprawling monsters, and its row of life-size female
figures in meretricious but at the same time most ungraceful attitudes, re-
sembles nothing so much as a disreputable London casino ; a severe though

138 MAHARAJA OF GWALIAR'S TEMPLE,

doubtless unintended satire, on the pai't of the architect, on the character of the
divinity to whom it is consecrated. Ten lakhs of rujjces are said to have been
wasted on its coustruction.*

In striking contrast to this tasteless edifice is the temple of Ealhji Indra
Kishor, built by Eaui Indrajit Kunwar, widow of Het Euin, Brahman zamin-
djir, of Tikiiri by Gaya. It has been six years in building, and was completed
at the end of 1871. It is a square of seventy feet divided into three aisles of
five bays each, with a fourth space of equal dimensions for the reception of the
god. The sikhara is surmounted with a copper kolas, or finial, heavily gilt,
•which alone cost Rs. 5,000. The piers are composed of four conjoined pillars,
each shaft being a single piece of stone, brought from the Pahrapur quarry in
Bharat-pur territory. The building is raised on a high and enriched plinth, and
the entire design is singularly light and gi'aceful. Its cost has been three lakhs.

The temple of Ealha Gopal, built by the Maharaja of Gwaliar, under
the direction of his guru Brahmachari Giri-dhari Das, is also entitled to some
special notice. The interior is an exact counterpart of an Italian church and
■would be an excellent model for our architects to follow, since it secures to per-
fection both free ventilation and a softened light. It consists of a nave 58 feet
long, with four aisles, two on either side, a sacrariura 21 feet in depth and
a narthex of the same dimensions at the entrance. The outer aisles of the nave,
instead of being closed in with solid walls, have open arches stopped only
with wooden bars; and the tier of windows above gives on to a balcony and
verandah. Thus any glare of light is impossible. The building was opened
for religious service in 1860, and as it stands has cost four lakhs of rupees.
The exterior has a mean and unsightly appearance, which might be obviated
by the substitution of reticulated stone tracery for the wooden bars of the outer
arches below and a more substantial balcony and verandah in lieu of the present
rickety erection above.

There are in Briuda-ban no secular buildings of any great antiquity. Tlie
oldest is the court, or Ghera, as it is called, of Sawai Jay Sinh, tlie founder
of Jaypur, who made Brinda-ban an occasional residence during the time that
he was Governor of the Province of Agra (1721-1728). It is a large walled
enclosure with a paviUon at one end consisting of two aisles divided into
five bays by piers of coupled columns of red sandstone. The river front of the
town has a succession of ghats reaching for a distance of about a mile and a
half; the one highest up the stream being the Kali-raardan Ghat with the

• In imitation of the bad example thus set, a new temple dedicated to Radhii Gopal has been
built this year (1873) by Liila Braj Kishor, a wealthy resident of Shahjahanpore, where he is
district treasurer. It has a long frontage facing one of the principal streets, with a continuous
balcony to the upper story, in which each pillar is a clumsily carved stoue fi^iurc of a Sakhi, or
« dancing gir!.'

TEMPLE OF RABHA GOPAL

BRINDA-BAN.

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BRIXDA-BAN MUNICIPALITY. 139

kadanib tree from which Krishna phmged into tlie water to encounter tlie
^reat serpent Kaliya; and at the other end Kesi Ghat, wliere he slew the equine
demon of that name. Near the latter are two handsome mansions built by the
Eanis Kishori and Lachhmi, consorts of Ranjit Siuh and Randhir Sinh, two
successive Rajas of Bharat-pur. In both the arrangement is identical with
that of a mediaeval college, carried out on a minature scale but with extreme
elaboration of detail. The buildings are disposed in the form of a quadrangle,
with an enriched gateway in the centre of one front and oposite it the chapel,
o'' more imposing elevation than the ordinary domestic apartments which
constitute the two flanks of the square. In Rani Lachmi's kunj (such being
the distinctive name for a building of this character), the temple front is a very
rich and graceful composition, with a colonnade of five arches standing on a
high plinth, which like every part of the wall surface is covered with the most
delicate carving, and shaded above by overhanging eaves supported on bold
brackets. The work of the elder Rani is of much plainer character ; and a
third kutij, v/hich stands a little lower down the river, close to the temple of
Dhi'r Sami'r, built by Thdkur Badan Siuh, the father of Siiraj Mai, the first of
the Bharat-pur Rajas, though large, has no architectural pretensions whatever.
The most striking of the whole series is, however, the Ganga Mohan Kunj, built
in the next generation by Ganga, Siiraj Mai's Rani. The river front, which
is all that was ever completed, has a high and massive basement story, which
on the land side as seen from the interior of the court, becomes a mere plinth
for the support of a majestic double cloister with broad and lofty arch and
massive clustered pier. The style is precisely the same as that which prevails
in the Garden Palace at Dig, a work of the same chief ; who, however rude and
uncultured himself, appears to have been able to appreciate and command the
services of the highest available talent whether in the arts of war or peace.

A few years ago the town was exceedingly dirty and ill kept; but this
state of things ceased from the introduction of a municipality. The conser-
vancy arrangements are now of a most satisfactory character and all the
streets of any importance have been either paved or metalled. This unambi-
tious but most essential work has up to the present time absorbed almost all the
surplus income. Education, however, has not been neglected ; for, in addition to
the two primary schools — one for boys, the other for girls — which are supported
by Government, there is a free school recently opened and an Anglo-vernacular
department in connection with the tahsili school, which are both dependent
upon the municipality. The building in which the latter is held was completed
in 1868 at a cost of Rs. 3,710, which included a donation of Rs. 500 from
Swami Rangacharya, the head of the Seth's temple. The number of pupils,
though variable, is never very large, as the children find it more lucrative and
amusing to hang about the temples and act as guides to the pilgrims and sight-

140 BRIKDA-BAN CALENDAR.

Beers. The dispensary, also opened in 1868, cost the small sum of only
Es. 1,943 ; but as yet it has had no accommodation for in-door patients, whii-h
is to be provided in the course of the ensuing year. As such a large number of
people come to Brinda-ban simply for the sake of dying there, while of the
resident population nearly one-half are professed celibates, the proportion of
births to deaths is almost in inverse ratio to that which prevails elsewhere;
a circumstance which might well startle anyone who was unacquainted with
the exceptional character of the locality. The municipal income for the year
1871-72 was Rs. 17,549, which may be regarded as a fair average. Of this
sum, Rs. 16,666 were derived from octroi collections; the tax on articles of food
alone amounting to Rs. 13,248. These figures indicate very clearly, what
might also be inferred from the preceding sketch, that there is no local trade or
manufacture, and that the town is maintained entirely by its temples and re-
ligious reputation.

NOTES TO CHAPTER VII.
I. — Calendar of Local Festivals at Brinda-ban

CJiait Sudi (April 1 — 15 J.

1. Chait Sudi 3. — Gangaur : adoration of Ganpati and Gauri. In the
older Sanskrit calendars this day is generally named Saubhagya Sayana, and is
appropriated to a special devotion in honour of the goddess Arundhati, which
is recommended to be practised by all women who desire to lead a haj>py
married life and escape the curse of early widowhood. At the present day the
oblations to Gauri are accompanied by the repetition of the following uncouth
formula, in commemoration of a Rani of Uday-pur, who, after enjoying a life
of the utmost domestic felicity had the further happiness of dying at the same
moment as her husband : —

^K 7TXIT xriT^^T ^TT ^ Tl^R fs^^T I

2. Chaif, Sudi 9. — Ram Navami. Rama's birthday.

3. Chait Sudi 11.— Phul dol.

JBaisdkh (April — May).

4. Baisakh Sudi 3. — Akhay Tij. Among agriculturists, the day for settling
the accounts of the past harvest. Visits are paid to the image of Bihari, which
on this festival only has the whole body exposed. The ceremony is hence
called ' Chandan baga ka darsan,' as the idol, though besmeared Avith sandal-wood
(chandan)y has no clothing (Idgctj. The temple hhog on this day consists cxclu-

BRINDA-BAN CALENDAR. 141

sively of kakris (a kind of cucumber), f/a/, and a mash made of wheat, barley,
and chand ground up and mixed with sugar and gld.

5. Baisdkh Sudi 9. — Janaki Navami. Held at Akrur. Si'ta's birthday.

6. Bcnsdkh Sudi 10. — Hit ji ka utsav : at the Kas Maudal. Anniversary
of the birth of one of the Gosains.

7. Baisdkh Sudi 14. — Narsinh avatar (see page 85).

Jeth (May — June).

8. Jeth Badi 2. — Perambulation, called Ban bihar ka parikrama. The dis-
tance traversed is between five and six miles, each pilgim starting from the
point which happens to be most convenient.

9. Jeth Badi 5. — The same, but at night.

10. Jeth Badi 11. — Ras Mandal.

11. Jeth Sudi 5. — Jal Jatra.

On the full moon of Jeth, Gaj-graha ka Mela: representation of a fight
between an elephant and a crocodile in the tank at the back of the Seth's temple.
Asdrh ( Jit ne — Ju lij) .

12. Asdrh Sudi 2. — Rath Jatra. The god's collation, or hhoc/, consists on
this day only of mangoes, jdman fruit, and chand.

13. Asdrh full moon. — Dhio dhio ka mela at Madan Mohan, followed by
the Pavan pariksha.

Srdvan (July — August).

14. Srdoan Badi 5. — Hadba Raman Ji ka dhio dhio. Mourning for the
death of Gosain Gopal Bhatt, the founder of the temple.

15. Srdvan Badi 8. — Gokulanand ka dhio dhio. Mourning for the death
of Gosain Gokulanand.

16. Srdvan Sudi 3. — Hindol, or Jhul-jatra. Swinging festival.

17. Srdvan Sudi 9. — Fair at the Brahm Kund.

18. Srdvan Sudi 11. — Pavitra-dharan, or presentation of Brahraanical
threads.

19. Srdvan full moon. — Fair at the Gyan gudari.

Bliddon (August — Septemher.)

20. Bhddon Badi 8. — Janm Ashtami. Krishna's birthday.

21. Bhddon Badi 9. — Climbing a greasy pole, which is set up outside the
temple of Rang Ji, with a dhoti, a lota, five sirs of sweetmeats, and Rs. 5 on the
top, for the man who can succeed in getting them. This takes place in the after-
noon. In the evening, the Nandotsav, or festival in honour of iS'anda, is held
at the Sringar-bat, and continued through the night with music and dancing.

22. Bhddon Sudi 8. — Radha Ashtami. Radha's birthday. A large as-
semblage also at the Mauni Das ki tatti by the Nidh-ban, in honour of a saint
who kept a vow of perpetual silence.

142 BRIXDA-BAN CALENDAR.

23. BJiddon Sud'i 11. — Jal jlioliii mela, or Karwatni, ' the turning of tlie
god' in his four mouths' sleep.

Kuvdr ( Septertiher — Octoher) .

24. Kiivdr Badi 11. — Festival of the Sanjhi, lasting for five days ; and niela
at the Brahm kund.

25. Kuvdr Siidi 1. — Dan Lila at the Gyan-gudari and mela of the Kalpa
vriksha.

26. Kuvdr Sudi 10. — The Dasahara. Commemoration of Rama's conquest
of Ceylon.

27. Kuvdr Sudi 11. — Perambulation.

Kdrtik (October — November).

28. Kdrtik new moon. — Dipotsav, or festival of lamps.

29. Kdrtik Sudi 1. — Anna-kut, as at Gobardhan.

30. Kdrtik Sudi 8. — Perambulation and Go-charan.

31. Kdrtik Sudi 12.— Festival of the Davanal, or forest-conflagation (see
page 37).

32. Kdrtik Sudi 13. — Festival of Kesi Danav (see page 40).

33. Kdrtik Sudi 14. — Nag-lila : at the Kali-mardan Ghat with procession
of boats.

34. Kdrtik fidl moon. Fair at Bhat-rond (see page 57).

Agdhn ( ISovemher — December).

35. Agdhn Badi 1. — Byahle-ka-mcla, or marriage feast, at the Pas Mandal
and Chain Ghat.

36. Agdhn Badi 3. — Ram Hid.

37. Agdhn full moon. Dau ji-ka-mela, in honour of Balaram.

38. Agdhn Sudi 5. — Bihari jaumotsav, or birth of Bihari ; also the Bha-
rat-milap.

Ptis (December — January).

39. Pus Sudi 5 to 11. — Dhanur-mas-otsav, observed at the Seth's temple
with processions issuing from the Vaikunth gate : ' Dhauur ' being tlie sign

Sagittarius. Throughout the month distribution of khichri (pulse and rice) is
mado at the temple of Riidha Ballabh.

A/dgh (January — Febrxiary).

40. Mdgh Sudi 5.— Basantotsav. The spring festival.

Phdlgun (February — March).

41. Phdlgun Badi 11, — Festival at the Man-sarovar.

42. Phdlgun Sudi 11.— Phuldol.

43. Phdlgun full moon. The Iluli or Carnival.

BRINDA-BAN GHATS.

143

Chait Badi (March \6th to Slst).

44. Chait Badi 1. — Dhurendi or sprinkling of the Holi-powder, and Dol jatra.

45. Chait Badi 5. —Kali dahan and pliul dol.

46. Brahmotsav. Festival at the Seth's temple, beginning Chait Badi 2,
and lasting ten days.

II. — List of River-side Gha'ts at Brind^-ban.

1 Madan Ter Gbat, built by Pandit

Moti Lai.

2 Eam-gol Gbat, built by the Gosain
of the temple of Bibari Ji.

3 Kali-daba Ghat, built by Holkar Rao.

4 Gopal Ghat, built by 'Madan Pal,
Raja of Kurauli.

5 ^^abha\vala Ghat, built by Raja
Hira Sinh of Nabha.

6 Praskandan Ghat, re-built by Go-
sains of temple of Madan Mohan.

7 Suraj Ghat.

8 Koriya Ghat, said to be named after
certain Gosains fx*om Kol.

9 Jugal Ghat, built by Hari Das and
Gobind Das, Thakurs.

10 Dhusar Ghat. _

11 Nay a Ghat, built by Gosain Bhajan
Lai.

12 Sri-ji Ghat, built by Raja of Jaypur.

13 Bihar Ghat, built by Appa Ram,
from the Dakliin.

14 Dhurawara Ghat, built by Raja
Randhir Sinh of Dhiira.

15 ^agari Das.

16 Bhim Ghat, built by the Raja of
Kota.

17 Andha (i. e., the dark or covered)
Ghat, built by Raja Man, of Jaypur.

18 Tehriwara Ghat, built by the Raja
of Tehri.

19 Imla Ghat.

20 Bardwan Ghat, built by a Raja of
Bardwan.

21 Barwara Ghat.

22 Ranawat Ghat, built by the Rana
of Udaypur.

23 Singar Ghat, built by the Gosain

of the temple of Singarbat.

24 Ganga Mohan Ghat, built by
Ganga, Rani of Siiraj Mai, of
Bharat-pur.

25 Gobind Ghat, built by Raja Man,
of Jaypur.

26 Himmat Bahadur's Ghat, built by
Goi^ain Himmat Bahadur (see
page 175).

27 Chir Ghat or Chain Ghat, built by
Malhar Rao, Holkar.

28 Hanuman Ghat, built by SawaiJay
Sinh, of Jaypur.

29 Bhaunra Gliat, built by Sawai Jay
Sinh, of Jaypur.

30 Kishor Rani's Ghat, built by
Kishori, Rani of Siiraj Mai of Bha-
rat-pur.

31 Paudawara Ghat, built by Chau-
dhari Jagannath, of Lakhnau.

32 Kesi Ghat, built by the Bharat-pur
Rani, Lachhmi.

III. — Names of Mahallas, or City Quarters, at Brinda-ban,

Gyan Gudari.
Gopesvar Mahadeva.
Bansi-bat.
Gopinath Bagh.
Bazar Gopinath.
Brahm-kuud.
Radha Nivas,

8 Kesi Ghat.

9 Radha Raman.

10 Nidh-ban.

11 Pathar-pura.

12 Nagara Gopinath.

13 Ghera Gopinath.

14 Nagara Gopal.

144

LALA BAEU S ESTATE.

15 Chir out.

16 Mandi Darwaza.

17 Gbera Gobind Jf.

18 Nafjara Gobind Ji.

19 Gali Taksar.

20 Riim Ji Dwara.

21 Bazar Kantbiwara (i.e., sellers of
rosaries and necklaces).

22 Sewa Kunj.

23 Kunj Gali.

24 By as ka Ghera.

25 8ingcU'-bat.

26 Ras Mandal.

27 Kislior ))ura.

28 Dhobiwari Gali.

29 Hangi Ltil ki Gali.

30 Sukban Mata Gali {i. e., street of
dried up small-pox).

31 Purana Sbabr (i. e., old town).

32 Lariawari Gali.

33 Gabdua ki Gali.

34 Gobardban Darwaza.

35 Abir-para.

36 Dusait (the name, it is said, of a

sub-division of the Sanadh tribe).

37 JMaballa Barwara (from the number

of bar trees).

38 Ghera Madan Mohan.

39 Bihari-pura.

40 Purohit-wara.

41 Mnni-para.

42 Gautam-para.

43 Ath-khamba.

44 Gobind baorh.

45 Loi Bazar (the blanket mart).*

46 Betiya Bazar.

47 Ban-khandi Mahddeva.

48 Chbipi k( Gali.

49 Raewai-i Gali (occupied by Bbats,
or bards, who are always distin-
o;uisbed by the title Rae).

50 Bundele ka Bagh. Bundela is
the god propitiated in time of
cholera. He is always represent-
ed as riding on a horse. When
small-pox, the twin scoui'ge of
India, is raging, an ass is tlie
animal to which offerings are
made.

51 Matbura Darwaza.

52 Gbera Sawai Jay Sinh.

53 Dbir 8amir.

54 Mauni Das ki tatti.

55 Gahvar ban.

56 Gobind kund.

57 Radba Bagh.

VI. — Official Report on the Lala Babu's Mathura Estate

FOR THE YEAR 1872-73.

" The estate of which the management is herein described was attached urnh^r
Act XL. of 1858, and is administered by this office under the said Act. Tbo
orders of the Judge of the 24 Parganas under which this office assumed
charge of the estate are numbered 119, and dated September, 1866. The names
and ages of the proprietors are as follows : —

Kunvar Kanti Chandra Sinh, 17 last birthday,
Sarad Chandra Sinh, 12 „ „
Indra Chandra Sinh, 15 ,, „
" Of the above minors, the first two are sons of Raja Pratdp Chandra Sinh,
and share along with their elder brothers Kunvar Giris Chandra Sinh and
Pnran Chandra Sinh, aged 25 and 20, respectively, the half of the property.
The elder sons have, of their own will, made over their shares under Section 3

* There is a large sale of Loi, or country blanketing, at Brinda-ban. Tlie material is im-
ported chiefly from Marwar and Bikaner in an old and worn condition; but 'a worked up agaia
so thoroughly that natives account it as good as new.

INSCRIPTIONS AT TEMPLE OF GOBIND DEVA. 145

of Act IV. of 1870, B. C, to the Court of "Wards to act on their behalf the
same as for the minors. Kuiivar Indra Chandra is the son of Raja Isvar
Chandra Sinh, and heir to the other half of the property,

" The minors are, for the present, being educated by Captain R. D. Osborn,
B. S. C, their private tutor, and a native private tutor ; and the youngest of them
attends also the Hindu School attached to the Presidency College, Calcutta.

"The estate, which is scattered over 19 zilas in Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and
the North- Western Provinces, is managed as wards' estate. The manager
(who is also the guardian) is Mr. Hobert Harvey, who resides at head-quarters
near Paikpara, Calcutta. This property has always been managed as a joint and
undivided one, and stands in the joint names of the elder brothers and the minors.
" 13th June, 1873. " ROBT. HARVEY."

From the figured statements that accompanied the above report, it appears
that the gross rental of the ]\Iathura estate was Rs. 69,738, upon which the
Government demand, including the 10 per cent, cess, was Rs. 39,356-11-11.
The value of the property when taken in charge was estimated at Rs. 2,40,193;
it has now increased to Rs. 3,51,912.

V. — Inscriptions at the Temple of Gobind Deva.
The inscription inside the building at the west end of the nave is too much
defaced to be transcribed ; but, as it was in verse, it probably would have added
nothing to our information, and its loss is not greatly to be regretted. The fol-
lowing is taken from the exterior of the north-west chapel, where it is cut into
the wall some ten feet from the ground, and is of considerable interest : —

57WRi^iraTi^ ^mi^r^w^^ ^i 1 3:1^^ %i7t ifi^^iH
'^i^f^ifi Tnf%^=^5 %mT^ f^^^iR Ttif%^^TH Cm-

"In the 34th year of the era inaugurated by the reign of the Emperor Akbar,
Sri Maharaj Man Sinh Deva, son of Maharaj Bhagavau Das, of the family of
Maharaj Prithiraj, founded, at the holy station of Brinda-ban, this temple of Gobind
Deva. The head of the works, Kalyan Das, the Assistant Superintendent, Manik
Chan.ifChopar (?), the architect, Gobind Das of Delhi, the sculptor, Gorakh
Das." There is some mistake in the engraving of the last words, which scum
to be intended for Subha^m Mai'a^like the Latin ' Felix, faustumque sit.

14G INSCRIPTTONS AT TEMPLE OF GOBIOT) DEYA.

Eao Pritlii Sinh mentioned in the aboye was the founder's great-grand-
father. He had seventeen sons, of whom twelve came to man's estate, and to
each of them he assigned a separate appanage, which, collectively, are known
as the twelve kothris of Amber.

The following inscription is mdelj cut on one of the pillars of the chhattn,
which originally stood in front of the south transept, and now has been taken
down and re-erected at the west end : —

^^ R^£? ^T^ ^ifn^F ^]^ i| ^^^^ W^TrT ^

m^ ^TH^WT i:i^ xmi ^j'^'RTv^wwi ^i ^31 tt^t

"In the year Sambat 1693 {i.e., 1636 A.D.), on an auspicious day, Kartik
Badi 5, in the reign of the Emperor Shahjahan, this chhaitri was erected by
Eani Rambhavati, widow of Raja Bhi'm, the son of Rana Amar Sinh."

Rand Amar Sinh, though one of the most gallant princes of his line, was
the first sovereign of Mewar who had to stoop to acknowledge himself a vassal
of the Delhi Emperor : not without a manful struggle, in which it is said that
he fought against Jahangir's forces in as many as seventeen pitched battles.
He was succeeded on the throne, in 1621 A.D., hy his eldest son, Karan Sinh;
while the younger, the Bhim of the inscription, being high in the favour of Prince
Khuram, received also the title of Raja with a gi-ant of territory on the Baniis,
where he built himself a capital, called Rajmahal. He did not, however, long
enjoy his honours ; in his friendsliip for the young prince he induced him to
conspire against his elder brother, Parviz, the rightful heir to the throne, and,
in the disturbances that ensued, he was slain ; while Prince Khuram took refuge
at the court of Uday-pur till his father's death, in 1628 A.D., summoned him to
ascend the throne of Delhi with the title of Shahjahan.

CHAPTER VIIL

MAHA-BAN, GOKUL, AND BALADEVA.

The town of MaLa-ban is some five or six miles from Mathura, lower down
the stream and on tlie opposite bank of the Jamuna. Thongli the country in
its neighbourhood is now singularly bare, the name indicates that it must at one
time have been densely wooded ; and so late as the year 1634 A.D., we find the
Emperor Shahjahan ordering a hunt there and killing four tigers. It stands
a little inland, about a mile distant from Gokul ; which latter place has appro-
priated the more famous name, though it is in reality only the water-side
suburb of the ancient town. This is clearly indicated by the fact that all the
traditional sites of Krishna's adventures, described in the Puranas as havinor
taken place at Gokul, are shown at Maha-ban ; while the Gokul temples are
essentially modern in all their associations, and whatever celebrity they possess
is derived from their having been founded by the descendants of Vallabhacharya,
the great heresiarch of the sixteenth century. The existence of Q-okul as a
distinct town was no doubt long antecedent to its religious aggrandizement, and
probably dates from the time when the old Hindu fort was occupied by a Mu-
hammadan garrison, and the Hindus expelled beyond its immediate precincts.

Taking then Maha-ban as equivalent to the Gokul of Sanskrit literature,
the connection between it and Mathuni lias always been of a most intimate
character. For, according to the legend, Krishna was born at the one and
cradled at the other. Both, too, make their first appearance in history together,
and under most unfortunate circumstances, having been sacked by Mahmiid of
Ghazni in the year 1017 A. D. From the effects of this catastrophe, it would
seem that Maha-ban was never able to recover itself. It is casually mentioned
in connection with the year 1234 A. U., by Minhaj-i-Siraj, a contemporary
writer, as one of the gathering places for the imperial army sent by Shams-ud-
dfn against Kalinjar ; and the Emperor Babar, in his memoirs, incidentally
refers to it, as if it were a place of some importance still, in the year 1526 A. D. ;
but the name occurs in the pages of no other chronicle ; and at the present day,
though it is the seat of a tahsili, it can scarcely be called more than a consider-
able-village. Within the last few years, one or two large and handsome private
residences have been built, with fronts of carved stone in the Mathura style ; but
the temples are all exceedingly tnean and of no antiquity. The largest and also
the most sacred is that dedicated to Mathuni-nath, which boasts of a pvramidal
tower, or sikhara, of some height and bulk, but constructed only of brick and

148 THE FORT AT MAHA-BAN.

plaster. The Brahman in charge used to enjoy an endowment of Rs. 2 a day,
the gift of Sindhia, but this has long lapsed. There are two other small shrines
of some interest : in the one, the demon Trinavart is represented as a pair of
enormous wings overhanging the infant god ; the other bears the dedication of
Mahti Mall Hae, the great champion prince, a title given to Krishna after his
discomfiture of the various evil spirits sent against him by Kansa.

Great part of the town is occupied by a high hill, partly natural and partly
artificial, extending over more than 100 bighas of land, where stood the old fort.*
This is said to have been built by the same Eana Katira of Mewar to whom is
also ascribed the fort at Jalesar. According to a tradition current in the
Main-puri District, he had been driven from his own country by an invasion of
the Muhammadans, and took refuge with the Rajji of Mtdia-ban, by name Dig-
pal, whose daughter un s{u)sequently married, and by her became the ancestor

township of Maha-ban to his Purohits, or family priests, who were Sanadh Brah-
maus, of the Parasar family. Their descendants bear the distinctive title of
Chaudhari, and still own two shares in Maha-ban, called Thok Cliaudhariyan.
The fort was recovered by the Muhammadans in the reign of Ala-ud-din,
by Sufi Yahya of Mashhad, who introduced himself and a party of soldiers
inside the walls in litters, disguised as Hindu ladies who wished to visit the
shrines of Syam Lala and Kohini. The liana was killed, and one-third of the
town was granted by the sovereign to the Saiyid Yahya. This sharef is still
called Thok Saiyidat, and is owned by his descendants ; the present head of the
family being Sardar Ali, who holds the post of Naib Tahsildar at Chhata. The
place where his great ancestor was buried is shown, but is unmarked by any
monument.

* With the exception of the /iila, or keep, the rest of the hill is known as the kot.
t The division of proprietary rights in Mcaha-ban is of a very perplexing character, tlic
several shares being very ditferent in extent from what their names seem to indicate. TI1&
total area is 6,529 bighas and 10 biswas, distributed as follows : —

Bighas. Big.
The 1 1 biswa Thok Chaudhariyan
The 9 ditto ditto

The Thok Saiyidat

Free lands, resumed by Government .„
Common land ... ... ...

Total, ... 6,52'J 10

One-third of the profits of Ihe common land goes to the Saijids ; the remaining' two-thlrda
arc then again sub-dividtid into three, of which one part goes to the 9 biswa thok, and two to the
11 biswas.

1,397

703

570

1,750

2,107

THE ASSI-KHAMBA. 149

The stoiy as told in different localities is so identical in all its main features
that it may reasonably be accepted as based on fact ; but it is difficult to de-
termine an exact date for the event, or decide which of the Sissodia Princes
of Chitor is intended by the personage styled ' the Eana Katira.' Still, though
certainty is unattainable, a conjectural date may be assigned Avith some amount
of probability ; for as the Riina Katira is represented as still living at the time
when the fort of MahA-ban was recovered by Ala-ud-din, his flight from his
own country cannot have occurred very long previously, and may plausibly
be connected with Ala-ud-din's memorable sack of Chitor, which took place in
the year 1303. If so, he can scarcely have been more than a cadet of the
royal line ; for, according to accepted tradition, the actual Rana of Mewar and
all his family had perished in the siege with the exception only of the second son
and his infant nephew Hamir, the heir to the throne, who eventually not only
recovered the ancient capital of his forefathers, but made it the centre of a far
wider dominion than had ever previously acknowledged their sway. The stra-
tao"em of introducing armed men disguised as women in closed litters into the
heart of the enemy's camp had been successfully practised against Ala-ud-din him-
self after a former siege of Chitor, and had resulted in the escape of the captured
Rana. This may have suggested the adoption of the same expedient at Maha-
ban, either in fact to the Sufi, who is said to have carried it into execution, or to
the local legend-monger, who has used it as an embellishment to his narrative.

The shrine of Syam Lala, to which allusion has been made above, still
exists as a mean little cell, perched on the highest point of the fortifications
on the side where they overlook the Jamuna. It is believed to mark the spot
where Jasoda gave birth to Maya, or Joga-nidra, substituted by Vasudeva
for the infant Krislma. But by far the most interesting building is a covered
court called ]J5anda's Pahico, or more commonly the Assi-Khamba, i. e., the
eighty pillars. It is divided by five rows of sixteen pillars each into four
aisles, or rather into a centre and two narrower side aisles, with one broad
outer cloister. The external pillars of this outer cloister are each of one mas-
sive shaft, cut into many narrow facets, with two horizontal bands of carv-
ing : the capitals are decorated either with grotesque heads or the usual four
squat figures. The pillars of the inner aisles vary much in design, some
being exceedingly plain and others as richly ornamented with profuse and
often graceful arabesques. Three of the more elaborate are calhid respect-
ively the Satya, Dvviipar, and Treta Yug ; while the name of the Kali Yuo-
is given to another somewhat plainer. All these interior pillars, however,
agree in consisting as it were of two short columns set one upon the other.
The style is precisely similar to that of the Hindu colonnades by the Kutb
Minar at Delhi ; and both works may reasonably be referred to about the same
age. As it is probable that the latter were not built in the years immediately

150 HINDU COLUMNS.

preceding the fall of Delhi in 1194, so also it would seem that the court at
Maha-ban must have been completed before the assault of Mahmiid in 1017 ;
for after that date the place was too insignificant to be selected as the site of so
elaborate an edifice. Thus, Fcrgusson's conjecture is confirmed, that the Delhi
pillars are to be ascribed to the ninth or tenth century. Another long-mooted
point may also be considered as almost definitely set at I'est, for it can scarcely
be doubted that the pillars as they now stand at Maha-ban ocoupy their ori-
ginal poirtion. Fergusson, who was unaware of their existence, in his notice
of the Delhi Cloister, doubts whether it now stands as originally arranged by
the Hindus, or whether it had been taken down and re-arranged by the con-
querors; but concludes as most probable that the former was the case, aiid
that it was an open colonnade surrounding the Palace of Prithi Raj. " If so,"
he adds, " it is the only instance known of Hindii pillars being left undisturb-
ed." General Cunningham comments upon these remarks, finding it utterly
incredible that any architect, designing an original building and wishing to
obtain height, should have recourse to such a rude expedient as constructing
two distinct pillars, and then, without any disguise, piling up one on the top
of the other. But, however extraordinary the procedure, it is clear that this
is what was done at Maha-ban, aa 40 proved hf tho outer row of columns
whioh are each of one unbroken shaft, yet precisely the same in height as the
double pilWo of tho iimcr aialca. The roof is flat and perfectly plain excei)t in
two compartments, where it is cut into a pretty quasi-doine of concentric raul-
tifoil circles. Mothers come here for their purification on the sixth day after
childbirth — chhathi pi'ija — and it is visited by enormous crowds of people for
several days about the anniversary of Krishna's birth in the month of Bhadon.
A representation of the infant god's cradle is displayed to view, with his foster-
mother's churn and other domestic articles. The place being regarded not
exactly as a temple, but as Nanda and Jasoda's actual dwelling-house, all
persons, without regard to the religion they profess, are allowed to walk about
in it with perfect freedom. Considering the size, the antiquity, the artistic ex-
cellence, the exceptional archa3ological interest, the celebrity amongst natives,
and the close proximity to Mathura of this building, it is strange that it has not
attracted more attention from European writers, especially those whose pro-
fessed object it has been to illustrate the architectural antiquities of the neigh-
bourhood.

A good illustration from another point of view of the Hindu fancy for bro-
ken pillars may be seen at Noh-jhil, a town across the Ganges in the extreme
north of the district. Here is a Muhammadan dargah, constructed out of the
wreck of a Hindu temple. Tho pillars, twenty in number, are very simple in
character, but exceptional in two respects ; first, as being all of uniform design,
which is quite anomalous in Hindu architecture ; secondly, as being, though of

THE ASST-KHAMBA. 151

fair heiglit, each cut out of a single piece of stone. The only decoration on the
otherwise plain shaft consists of four deep scroll-shaped notches half way
between the base and capital ; the result of which is to make each column
appear as if it were in two pieces. The explanation is obvious. In earlier days,
when large blocks of stone were difficult to procure, there was also lack of
sufficient art to conceal the unavoidable join in the structure. In course of
time, the eye became accustomed to the defect, and eventually required its
apparent introduction even where it did not really exist. A similar conserva-
tism may be traced in the art history of every nation, and more especially in
religious art. In breaking up his columns into two pieces and thus perpetua-
ting, as a decoration, what in its origin had been a signal defect, the Hindu
architect was unconsciously influenced by the same motive as the Greek, who
to the very last continued to introduce, as prominent features in his temple
facades, the meto])es and triglyphs which had been necessities in the days of
wooden construction, but had become unmeaning when repeated in stone.

Like this building at Noh-jhil, the Assi-Khamba at Maha-ban was also,
it is said, for some time used as a mosque, and the statement is confirmed by
Father Tieffenthaller, who writes : — " On voit a Maha-ban dans une grande
maison portee par 80 colonnes, une peintm-e qui represente Krishna volant du
lait, en jettant le clair, et jouant avec d'autres. Get edifice a ete converti en
partie en une mosquee, en partie en une pagodc." Let into its outer wall
is a small figure of Buddha ; and it is said that whenever foundations are sunk
within the precincts of the fort, many fragments of sculpture — of Buddhist
character, it may be presumed — have been brought to light ; but hitherto they
have always been buried again, or broken up as building materials. Doubtless,
Maha-ban was the site of some of those Buddhist monasteries, which the Chinese
pilgrim Fa Hian distinctly states existed in his time on both sides of the river.
And further, whatever may be the exact Indian word concealed under the form
Klisoboras, or Clisobora, given by Arrian and Pliny as the name of the town
between Avhich and Mathura the Jamuna flowed — Amnis Jomanes in Gangem
per Palibothros decumt inter oppida Methora et Clisobora, Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi.,
22 — it may be concluded with certainty that Maha-ban is the site intended.*

* The parallel passage in Arrian's India is as follows : — royrov tov HpaKXca^fidXianj
TTpbs iovpacTTjwcov yepa/psadai Iv^ikov b6veos, Li/a h^o 7r6X/£s fisydXaL, MsBopd re
kat kXsiCo^opa., kdi. ttotjioS Taj(3dpnis uXovroQ Qu/ppet ■nji' X'^'*'7^ avriJl. As
both authors seem to be quoting from the same original, the insertion of the words per Palibothro^
in Pliny must be due to an error on the part of some copyist, misled by the frequent mention
of Palibothra in the preceding paragraphs. The mistake cannot be credited to Pliny himself,
who fixes the site of Palibothra as 415 miles to the east of the confluence of the Ganges and
the Jamuna. The gods whom Arrian proceeds to describe under the names of Dionysus
and Hercules correspond closely with Krishna and Balarama, who are still the local divinities
of Mathura.

152 IDENTIFICATION OF MAHA-BAN WITH C'LISOBOKA.

Its other literary names are Brihad-vana, Bribad-aranya, Gokula, and Nanda-
grama ; and no one of these, it is true, in the slightest resein])Ies the word
Clisobora, which would seem rather to be a ccrrupiion of 'Krishna-pura,' or
some similar compound in which ' Krishna' was at all events the first element,
whatever the second might be ; and which was used by the speaker as a descrip-
tive title, but taken by the foreign traveller for the ordinary jjroper name.
General Cunningham in his 'Ancient Geography' identifies Clisobora (read in
one MS., as Cyrisoborka) with Brinda-ban, assuming that Kalikavartta, or
' Kalika's Whirlpocd,' was an earlier name of the town, in allusion to Krishna's
combat with the serpent Kiilika. But in the first place, the Janmna does not
flow between Mathura and Brinda-ban, seeing that both are on the same bank ;
secondly, the ordinary name of the great serpent is not Kalika, but Kaliya ;
and thirdly, it does not appear u])on what authority it is so boldly stated that
" the earlier name of the place was Kalikavartta." Upon this latter point, a
reference has been made to the great Brinda-ban Pandit, Swami Rangacharya,
who, if any one, might be expected to speak with positive knowledge, and
his reply was that in the course of all his reading, he had never met with
Brinda-ban under any other name than tliat Avhich it now bears. In order to
establish the identification of Clisobora with Malia-ban, it was necessary to
notice General Cunningham's counter theory and to condemn it as at variance
with facts ; ordinarily the accuracy of his research and the soundness of his
judgment are entitled to the highest respect.

The glories of Maha-ban are told in a special (interpolated) section of the
Brahmanda Parana, called the Brihad-vana Mahatmya. In this, its tirthas, or
holy places, are reckoned to be twenty-one in number as follows : —
Eka-vinsali-iirlhena yuhtam bh urigundnvitam,
Yamal-ch'jima pwiyatamam, Nanda-kupam tathaiva c/ia,
C/iintd-haraiia Brdlundndam^ kuvdam Sanisvatam tuthd,
Surasvali sild tatra, Vishmi-kimda-saindnvitam,
Karna-Mpam^ Kvishia-kundum, Gopti-kiipam tathaiva cha,
liamanam-ramana-stltdnam, N drada-sthdnam eva cha,
Fiitand-patana sthdnam, Trinavarttdkhja pdtanam,
Nanda-harmyam, Nanda-geham, Ghdtam Ii,ama7ia-samjnakam^
Mathurdndthodbhavam-kslietram piinyam ptdpa-prandsanaiHy
Janma-sthdnam tu Sheshas;/a, jananam Yogamdijaya.
The Putana-patana-sthanam of the above lines is a ravine, commonly call-
ed Putana khar, which is crossed by the Mathura road a short distance out-
side the town. It is a mile or more in length, reaching down to the bank of
the Jamuna, and, as the name denotes, is supposed to have been caused by
the passage of Putand's giant body, in the same way as the Kans Khar at
Mathura.

HAHA-BAN FESTIVALS. 153

The remainder of the twenty-one tirthas have been already noticed in the
course of this narrative, and commemorate such well-known incidents in Krish-
na's childhood that any further explanation is unnecessary.

The principal Hindu festivals observed in Maha-ban are the Ram Lila in the
month of Ku\ ar, first set on foot by a late Tahsildar, Mnnshi Bhajan Lai ; the
Piitana mela, Kartik Sudi 6th ; the Jakhaiya mela, held on the Sundays of the
month of Magh (there is a similar festival held at Paindhat in the Mustafabad
Pargana of the Mainpuri District, which is believed to have great influence on
the fall of rain in the winter season) ; the Raman Reti, held on the sands of the
Jamuna, Phalgun Sudi 11th ; and the Parikama, or Perambulation, Kartik Sudi
5th ; this includes the town of Gokul and village of Raval, at which latter place
Radha's mother is said to have lived. The Muhammadans have several small
mosques and two festivals. One of these, the Chatiyal Madar, is held on the
3rd of Jamadi-ul-awul, in honour of Saiyid Badia-ud-din, better known as
Shah Madar, whose principal shrine is at Makhanpur on the Isan. His festivals,
wherever held, are distinguished by the name of Chatiyal, meaning 'an open
place,' and the hereditary hierophants bear the title of Khalifa. The second
Muhammadan mela is the Urs Dargah of Shah Gilan, or Saiyid Makhdum.
The dargah was built about a century ago by Nawab Sulaiman Beg.

Gokul,

The town of Gokul being the head-quarters of the Vallabhacharyas, or
Gokulastha Gosains, is throughout the year crowded with pilgrims, of whom
the majority come from Gujarat and Bombay, where the doctrines of the sect
have been very widely propagated, more especially among the Bhattias and
other mercantile classes. In many of its physical characteristics the place pre-
sents a striking parallel to the presumed morality of its habitues. Its streets
are tortuous and unsavoury, its buildings unartistic, its environs waste and un-
inviting ; and though it is only five or six miles distant from Mathura, it is out
off from easy access by the river, and is thus at once both near and remote, in
the same way as its literature is modern and yet obscure. From the opposite
bank it has a picturesque appearance, which is destroyed on nearer approach.
For the temples, though they amount to a prodigious number, and are many
of them richly endowed, are all modern in date and tasteless in design ; while
the thoroughfares are in the rains mere channels for the floods which pour down
through them to the Jamuna, and at all other times of the year so rough and
broken that the rudest wheeled vehicle can with difficulty make its way along
them. Efforts have been made within the last few years to improve its sanitation,
but the Gosain Muafidars are indifferent to any reform of the kind, and are w^ell
content to let things remain as they are. The filthy condition of the town is

154 VALLABIIACHARYA.

largely OAving to the number of cattle driven within its walls every night, which
render it really what the name denotes, ' a cattle yard,' rather than an abode of men.
Its only noteworthy ornament is a spacious masonry tank constructed some
thirty years ago by a Seth named Chunna. The trees on its margin are always
•white with flocks of large wator-fow^l of a quite distinct species from any to be
found elsewliere in the neighbourhood. They are a new colony, being all descen-
ded from a few pairs which casually settled there tio more than ten or twelve years
ago. Their plumage is peculiar and ornamental, but not at all times easy to
obtain, as the birds are considered to enjoy the benefit of sanctuary, and on one
occasion, when a party of soldiers from the Mathura cantonments attempted
to shoot a number of them, the townspeople rose en masse for their protection.

The great heresiarch, Vallabhacharya, from whom Gokul derives all its
modem celebrity, was born in the year 1479 A. D., being the second son
of Lakshman Bhatt, a Telinga Brahman of the Vishnu Swami Sampra-
daya. By the accident of birth, though not by descent, he can be claimed as
a native of Upper India, having been born at Champaranya, a wild solitude
in the neighbourhood of Banaras, whither his parents had travelled up from the
south on a pilgrimage. Their stay in the holy city was cut short by a popular
emeute, the result of religious intolerance ; and the mother, who was little in a
condition to encounter the distress and fatigue of so hasty a flight, prematurely
gave birth on the way to an eight months' child. Either from an exagge-
rated alarm as to their own peril, or, as was afterwards said, from a sublime
confidence in the promised protection of Heaven, they laid the babe under a
tree and abandoned it to its fate. When some days had elapsed, and their fears
had subsided, they cautiously retraced their steps, and finding the child still
alive and uninjured on the very spot where he had been left, they took him with
them to Banaras. After a very short stay there, they fixed their home at Go-
kul, where the child was placed under the tuition of the Pandit Narayan Bhatt,
and in four months mastered the whole vast range of Sanskrit literature and
philosophy. His followers, it may be remarked, are conscientious imitators of
their founder in respect of the shoit time which they devote to their studies ;
but the result in their case is more in accordance with ordinary experience,
and their scholarship of the very slightest. When eleven years of age, he lost
his father, and almost immediately afterwards commenced his career as a reli-
gious teacher. His earliest triumphs were achieved in Southern India, where
he secured his first convert, Diimodar Das, and in a public disputation at Vijay-
nagar, the place where his mother's family resided, he refuted the arguments
of the Court Pandits with such authority that even the king, Krishna Deva,
was convinced by his eloquence and adopted the youthful stranger as his
spiritual guide. Thenceforth his success was ensured ; and at every place
that he visited, Ujaiyin, Banaras, Haridwar, and Allahabad, the new doctrine3

vallabhacharya's succESSons. 155

enlisted a multitude of adherents, A life of celibacy being utterly at variance
with his ideas of a reasonable religion, he took to himself a wife at Banaras,
and became the father of two sons, by name Gopinath, born in 1511, and
Bitthalnath in 1516. His visits to Braj were long and frequent. There, in
1520, he founded at Gobardhan the great temple of Sri-nath ; and at Brinda-
ban saw in a vision the god Krishna, who directed him to introduce a new
devotion in his honour, wherein he should be adored in the form of a child
under the title of Baikrishan or Bal Gopal; which is still the cultus most affect-
ed by his descendants at the present day. His permanent home, however,
was at Bauaras, where he composed his theological works, of which the most
extensive is a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, called the Subodhini, and
where he died in the year 1531.

He was succeeded in the pontificate by his second son, Bitthalnath, who
propagated his father's doctrines with great zeal and success throughout all the
south and west of India, and himself received 252 distinguished proselytes,
whose acts are recorded in a Hindi work called the ' Do Sau Biivan Varta.'
Finally, in 1565, he settled down at Gokul, and, at the age of seventy, breathed
his last on the sacred hill of Gobardhan. By his two wives he had a family of
seven sons, Giridhar, Gobind, Bal-krishan, Gokulnath, Raghunath, Jadunath
and Ghansyara. Of these, the fourth, Gokulnath, is by far the most famous,
aad his descendants in consequence claim some slight pre-eminence above their
kinsmen. His principal representative is the Gosain at Bombay.

Unlike other Hindu sects, in which the religious teachers are ordinarily un-
married, all the Gosains among the Vallabhacharyas are invariably family men
and engage freely in secular pursuits. They are the epicureans of the east and
are not ashamed to avow their belief that the ideal life consists rather in social
ejijoyment than in solitude and mortification. Such a creed is naturally des-
tructive of all self-i'cstraint even in matters where indulgence is by common
consent held criminal ; and the profligacy to which it has given rise is so notori-
ous that the Maharaja of Jaypur was moved to expel from his capital the ancient
image of Gokul Chandrama, for which the sect entertained a special veneration,
and has further conceived such a prejudice against Vaishnavas in general, that
all his subjects are compelled, before they appear in his presence, to mark their
forehead with the three horizontal lines that indicate a votary of Siva. The
scandalous practices of the Gosains and the unnatural subserviency of the people
in ministering to their gratification received a crushing exposd in a cause celehre
for libel tried before the Supreme Court of Bombay in 1862, from the detailed
narative of which I have borrowed a considerable amount of information.

The dogma of Brahma-Sambandh, or ' union with the divine,' upon which
Vallabhasharya constructed his whole system was, as he declares, revealed to
him by the Deity in person and recorded word for word as it was uttered. This

156 THE SIDDHANTA RAHASTA.

inspired text is called tlie Siddlianta Rahasya, and being very brief and of quite
exceptional interest, it is here given in full : —

^^^MrfcT^^T rI^JT15^^JTTm<5 II

f^^itw: ^T:iw^^l5^Tf^mf^i?r: i

^ ?qf? $^§:^^ ^TI*I^Tn^flT3q?!i |i
rl^l^T^T ^^^iS ^^oT^^lTiOT I

^ J^nWWm ^m it W^m^iTT TTrf I

^^oRT^T ^^i ^1% ^^wtt: nre^f?T ii

'TTTlf^^ f^^T2f ^Irl^^^lfq ^^it I

" At dead of night, on the 11th of the bright fortnight of Srdvan, what is
here written was declared to me, word for word, by God himself. Every sin,
whether of body or soul is put away by union with the Creator ; of whatever
kind the sin may be, whether, 1st, original ; 2nd, accidental (i. e., born of time
and place) ; 3rd, social or ceremonial (i. e., special offences defined by custom or
the Vedas) ; 4th, sins of abetment ; or 5th, sins sensual.* No one of these is to
be accounted any longer existent ; but when there is no union with the Creator
there is no putting away of sin. Therefore, one should abstain from anything
that has not been consecrated ; but when once a thing has been dedicated the

* There is a paraphrase on the Siddhanta Hahasya by Gosain Gokulnath, called Bhakti Sid-
dhanta Vivritl ; in which, with the characteristic fondness of Sanskrit commentators for scho-
lastic refinements, he explains these lernis in a much more narrow and technical sense than that
vhich I have applied to them. As the text contains an uneven number of lines, it would appear
at first sight to be imperfect; but this suspicion can scarcely be well founded, since in Gokul-
nuth'B time it stood preciBtly as now.

THE SAMAUPANA. 157

offerer may do with it what he likes : this is the rule. The God of gods will not
accept any offering which has already been used by the owner. Therefore, at
the outset of ever action there should be u.nreserved offering. It is said by those
of a different persuasion, ' what is once given cannot be taken away ; it is all
God's '; but as is the practice of servants on earth, so would we act in the dedi-
cation through which everything becomes God's. Ganges water is full of impu-
rities; and *the holy Ganges' may be pi'edicated of bad as well as good. Pre-
cisely the same in our case."

The last four lines are rather obscurely expressed. The idea intended is that
as servants* use what remains of that which they have prepared for their masters^
so what we offer to God we may afterwards use for ourselves ; and as dirty
water flowing into the Ganges becomes assimilated with the sacred stream, so
vile humanity becomes purified by union with God.

The practice of the sect has been modelled strictly in accordance with these
instructions. A child is Krishna-ed (christened) while still an infant by the
Gosain's putting on its neck a string of beads and repeating over it the formula
called the Ashtakshar Mantra, Sri Krishna saranam mama (Deus adjutorium
meum), but before the neophyte can claim the privileges of full communion
he has to undergo a rite similar to that of confirmation, and at the age
of twelve or thereabouts, when ready to take upon himself the responsibilities
of life he initiates his career by a solemn dedication (samarpana) of all that
he has and is to the god of his devotion. This oblation of tan, man, dhan, as it
is popularly expressed — that is, of body, soul, and substance — is couched in the
following terms : —

^Wf^^T^^RrIrIlxr^^Rrirr[TmTtl¥ ^^i^^ ^ffX^iTJ

xrTifl:JrToR^T ^w ^T^^^nw ^miw f w ri^ii^ ii

" Om. The god Krishna is my refuge. Distracted by the infinite pain and
torment caused by the separation from Krishna, which has extended over a
space of time measured by thousands of years, I now, to the holy Krishna,
do dedicate my bodily faculties, my life, my sovxl and its belongings, with my
wife, my house, my children, my whole substance and my own self. 0, Krish-
na! I am thy servant."!

* Heuce Sevakdn, ' servants,' is the distinctive name for lay members of the Vallabha-
charya commmiity. The whole system of doctrine is known as ' Pushti Marg,' or way of happi-
ness and its practice as ' Daivi jivan,' the Divine life. Their sectarial mark consists of two red
perpendicular lines down the forehead meeting in a curve at the root of the nose with a red spot
between them.

t Thii formula is, I find, based on a passage in the Narada Pancharatra.

158- DOCTEINE OF THE BRAHMA SAMBANDH.

Now, all this may be so interpreted as to couvey a most iinexceptionalile
meaning: that man should consecrate to God, wholly and without reserve,
his body, soul, and substance, his every thought, word, and action, and all
that he has, or does, or suffers ; that such consecration is sufficient to hallow
and ennoble the meanest actions of our ordinary life and is an effectual preser-
vative from all evil, while even good works done without such consecration
are unprofitable and "have even the nature of sin."* This is the doctrine of
Christianity, and it may be deduced from Vallabliacharya's revelation with-
out forcing the sense of a single word. But though there may be some slight
doubt as to his own views, there can be none as to those entertained by his most
immediate successors and transmitted by them to his disciples at the present
day. For Gokulnath, who is regai'ded as the most authoritative exponent of his
grandfather's tenets, repeatedly insists in all his works, with the most marked
emphasis, in the absolute identity of the Gosaiu with the Divinity.f In fiict,
lie goes even a step beyond this, and represents the Gosain as so powerful a
mediator that practically his favour is of more importance to us than God's:
for, if God is displeased, the Gosain can deprecate his wrath; but if the Gosain
is displeased, God will be affected towards us in the same way, and conciliation
will then be impossible. When to this it is added that the Gosain obtains his
position solely by birth, and that no defect, moral or intellectual, can impair
liis hereditary claim to the adoration of his followers, Avho are exhorted to close
their eyes and ears to anything that tends to his discredit,^ it is obvious that a
door is opened to scandals of a most intolerable description. By the act of
do Jicition, a man submits to the pleasure of the Gosain, as God's representative,
not only the first fruits of his wealth but also the virginity of his daughter
or his newly-wedded wife ; while the doctrine of the Brahma Sambandh
is explained to mean that such adulterous connection is the same as ecstatic
union with the god, and the most mgritorious act of devotion that can bo
performed. This glorification of immorality forms the only point in a large
proportion of the stories in the Chaura,si Varta, or ' Accounts of Yallablia-
charya's 84 great proselytes.' One of the most extravagant will be found
given in full at the end of this chapter. The woi'k commences with reference
to the Revelation of the Siddhanta Rahasya, preceded by a brief colloquy

* The final climax states the doctrine of the Anglican, but not of the Catholic
Church.

t This extravaorant doctrine pervades all the later Vaishnava Schools, and is accepted by
the disciples of Chaitanya no less than by those of Vallabhacliilrya. The foundation upon which
it rests is a line in the Bhugavat, where the Guru is styled Sarva-deva-maya, 'made up of all
divinity.'

J Thisis considered socssential a duty, tliat in the Dasa Marma, or Vallabhacbarya Oeca»
logue, ' See no faults,' stands as the tenth commandmeut.

VALLABHACHARYA THEOLOGY. 159

between the Deity and the Gosain, of which the following words arc the most
important : —

^^TT ^T ^t; ^l^rT IT WI ^T^J^'fT W ^T ^TT ^t ^^^

^% 11^ rT^ 5^i3t^?:^"t ^m ^W %T 3^ Ct^^ ^t

" VaUabha. — You know the nature of life, that it is full of defects ; how
can there be union between it and you ?

" Kruhna. — You will effect the union of the divinity with living creatures,
and I will accept them. You will give your name to them and all their sins
shall be put away."

Professor Wilson interprets this as merely the declaration of a pliilosopl il-
eal dogma, that life aiid spirit are identical; but (it can scarcely be doubted)
the passage means rather that human life can only be purified by bringing it
into intimate connection with God, or in default of God, with God's repre-
sentative, the Gosain.

Such being the revolting character of their theological literature, it is easy
to understand why the Vallabhacharyas have always shown a great reluct-
ance to submit it to the criticism of the outer world of unbelievers, who might
not be prepared to accept such advanced doctrines. Though there are several
copyists at Gokul, whose sole occupation it is to make transcripts for the use
of pilgrims, they would ordinarily refuse to sell a manuscript to any one who
was not of their own denomination ; and none of their books had ever been
published till quite recently, when two or three of the less esoteric were issued
from Pandit Giri Pnisad's Pi-ess at Beswa in the Aligarh District. However,
as in many other forms of religion, and happily so in this case, practice is not
always in accordance with doctrine. Though there may be much that is re-
prehensible in the inner life of the Gosains, it is not at Gokul obtruded on
the public, and has never occasioned any open scandal ; while the present head
of the community, Gosain Purushottam Lai, a descendant of Bitthaluatli's
sixth son, Jadunath, deserves honourable mention for exceptional liberality and
enlightment. He is the head of the temple of Navanit-Priya, popularly called,
by way of pre-eminence, Raja Thakur,* and is the proprietor of the whole of
the township of Gokul. His uncle and predecessor, Gobind Lai, died, leaving
a widow, Janaki Ban Ji, and an only daughter. The latter, according to inva-
riable custom, was married to a Bhatt, and by him had two sons by name

* He also presides over two temples dedicated to Baladeva and Madan Mohan near the
Kaukhal Ghat in Mathura, where he ordinarily resides.

160 GOSAIN PURUSHOTTAM LAL OF GOKUL.

Ran-chhor Lai and Gop Ji. But, as by Salic law neither of them could suc-
ceed to the spiritual dignity, the widow adopted her nephew Purushottara, the
son of her husband's brother Braj Pal. The adoption was disputed by the two
sons, who carried their suit in appeal even up to the Privy Council, and there
were finally defeated. Under their mother's will, they enjoy a maintenance
allowance of Rs. 900 a year, paid to the elder brother by the Gosain, and
they have further retained — though under protest — all the property conferred
by the Maharaja of Jodhpur on their common ancestor Murlidhar, the father of
Gobind Lai and Braj Lai, who was the founder of the family's temporal pros-
perity and was the first muafidar of Gokul by grant from Sindhia.

Gosain Purushottam Lai has one son, Raman Lai, through whom he is the
grandfather of Braj Lai and Kanhaiya Lai. The latter of these has been
adopted by Lachhman Ji, a descendant of Bitthalnath's fourth son, Gokulnath,
and is now the Gosain of the temple bearing that title. Thus the two prin-
cipal endowments have both come into one branch of the family, and the
Gosain is one ""of the very lai'gest landowners and wealthiest residents in
the district ; while he wields, at the same time, in virtue of his religious
character, an influence which is absolutely unbounded among his own people,
and very considerable in all classes of Hindu society. In the official world,
however, he is barely known even by name, as his estates are too well
managed to bring him before the courts, and he is still so far fettered
by the traditions of his order that he declines all social intercourse with
Europeans, even of the highest rank : so much so, that when the Lieutenant-
Governor of these Provinces visited the station in 1873, and, being un-
aware of this peculiarity, expressed in Avriting a desire to see him, the invi-
tation was not accepted. The compliment was prompted by the Gosain's
annual gift of a prize of Rs. 300 for the student who passes first in the gene-
ral Entrance Examination for the Calcutta Univei-sity; a donation which, under
the circumstances, cannot have been suggested by any ulterior motive be-
yond a genuine desire for the furtherance of education. In the same spirit,
though he makes no claim to any high degree of scholarship himself, he has
maintained for some years past in the city of Mathura a Sanskrit school, whicli
is attended by a large number of adults as well as boys, for whom he has
secured very competent teachers. He has also contributed freely to a new
school to be built in the course of the ensuing year for the use of the two
towns of Gokul and Maha-ban.

At all the Vallabhacharya temples, the daily services are eight in number-
viz., 1st, Mangala, the morning levee, a little after sun-rise, when the god is
taken from his couch and bathed; 2nd, Sringara, an hour and a half later, Avhcn
the god is attired in all his jewels and seated on his throne ; 3rd, Gwala, after
an interval of about three-quarters of an hour, when the god is supposed to bo

YALLADHAOHARYA TEMPLES AT GOKULa 161

starting to graze his cattle in the woods of Braj ; 4th, Eaj Bhog, the mid-day
meal, which, after presentation, is consumed by the priests and distributed
among the votaries who have assisted at the ceremonies ; 5th, Uttapan, about
3 P. M., when the god awakes from his siesta; 6th, Bhog, the evening collation ;
7tb, Sandbya, the disrobing at sunset; and 8th, Sayan, the retiring to rest.
Upon all these occasions, the ritual concerns only the priests, and the lay wor-
shipper is simply a spectator, who evinces his reverence by any of the ordinary
forms with which he would approach a human siaperior. As has already been
mentioned, none of the buildings present a very imposing appearance. The
three oldest, dedicated respectively to Gokul Nath, Madan Mohan and Bitthal
Nath, are ascribed to the year 1511 A. D. The most notable of the remainder
are Dwaraka Nath, dating from 1546 A. D., Balkrishan, from 1636, with an
annual income of Rs. 4,420; Navanlt Priya, or Dau Ji, the latter name being that
of the Gosain, whose grandson, Giridhari Ji, is now in possession, with an in-
come of Rs. 9,382; Braj Ratn, under Gosain Gokul Nath Ji, a descendant of
Bitthal Nath's younger son, Ghan Syam, with an income of Rs. 10,650; Srf
Chandrama, with Rs. 4,050, and Navanit Lai, Natwar, Mathures, Gopal Lai, and
Brajeswar ; all of these being quite modern. There are also two shrines in
honour of Mahadeva, built by Bijay Sinh, Raja of Jodhpur in 1602. The prin-
cipal melas are the Janm Ashtami, Krishna's birthday, in Bliadon, and Ann-
kut on the day after the new moon of Kartik. The Trinavart mela is also
held Kartik badi 4th, when paper figures of the demon are first paraded and
then torn to pieces.

Baladeva, or Bal-deo.*

Some six miles beyond Maha-ban, a little to the right of the high road lead-
in cr to Sa'dabad and Jalesar, is the famous temple of Baladeva in the centre of the
modern town to which it gives a name. The original village was called Rirha
and still exists, but only as a mean suburb occupied by the labouring classes.
Adjoining the temple, is a brick-built tank, about SO yards square, called variously
Kshir Sagar, the ' sea of milk,' or Kshir Kund, or Balbhadra Kund. It is in a di-
lapidated condition, and the surface of the water is always covered with a repul-
sive thick green scum, which, however, does not deter the pilgrims either from
drinking or bathing in it. Here it is said that Gosain Gokul Nath was warned
in a vision that a god lay concealed. Lnmediate search was made, and th3
statue of Baladeva, that has ever since been regarded as the tutelary divinity
of the place, was revealed to the adoring gaze of the assembled multitude.

• The latter name represents the common pronunciation, which (as in all similar words)
has become corrupted by the practice of writing in Persian characters, which are inadequate to
express the va termination.

162 TEMPLE OF BALADEVA.

Attempts woro made to remove it to Gokul ; but as every cart broke down, either
from the weight of the stone, or the reluctance of the god to change his abode,
a shrine was erected for his reception on the spot, and an Ahivasi of Bhartiya,
by name Kaly;in, constituted guardian. From his two sons, Jamuna Das and
Musiya, or Sukadeva, are descended the whole horde of Pandas, who now find
the god a very A'aluablc property. They have acquired, by purchase from the
Jats, the old village of Rirha,* and are also considerable landowners in six other
villages — viz., Artoni, Nera, Chhibarau, Kharaira, Niir-pur and Shahab-pur,
whence they derive an annual income of Rs. 3,853. This estate, which was for
the most part a grant from Sindhia, forms however but a small part of their
Wealth, as the offerings made at the shrine in the course of the year are esti-
mated to yield a net profit of Hs. 30,000 more.

The temple, despite its popularity, is neither handsome nor well appointed.
Its precincts include as many as eleven cloistered quadrangles, where accom-
modation is provided for the pilgrims and resident priests. No definite charge
is levied on the former, but they are expected to make a voluntary donation ac-
cording to their means. Each court, or hmj, as it is called, bears the name
of its founder as follows : — 1st Kunj, of Eashk Lai of Agra and Lakhnau,
1817 A.D. ; 2nd, of Bachharaj, Baniya, of Hathras, 1825 ; 3rd, of Naval Karan,
Baniya, of Agra, 1768; 4th, of Bhim Sen and Hulas Rai, Baniyas, of Math ur a,
3828 ; 5th, of Das Mai, Khattri, of Agi-a, 1801 ; 6th, of Bhattacharya of Jaypur,
1794 ; 7th, of Gopal, Brahman, of Jaypur ; 8th, of Chiman Lai of Mathura,
1778 ; 9th, of fSada Ram, Khattri, of Agi-a, 1768; 10th, of Chunna, Halwai, of
Bharat-pur, 1808; and 11th, of Puran Chand, Pachauri, of Mahaban, 1801.
The actual temple, built by Seth Syam Das of Delhi, towards the end of last
century, stands at the back of one of the inner courts, and on each of its
three disengaged sides has an arcade of three bays with broad flanking piers.
On each of these three sides a door gives access to the cella, which is sur-
mounted by a squat pyramidal tower. In addition to the principal figure,
Baladeva, who is generally very richly dressed and bedizened with jewels, it
contains another life-sized statue, supposed to represent his spouse Revati.
Apparently, she was an after thought, as she is put away in a corner, off the
dais. In an adjoining court is shown the small vaulted chamber which served
the god as a residence for the first century after his epiphany. Near the
tank is a shrine dedicated by Bihdri LjiI, Bohra, of Mursan, in 1803, to the
honour of the god Harideva, and two stone chhatris in memory of the Pandas,
Harideva and Jagannath.

• Besides the entire zamindari, tlie Pandas hold also 255J bi'ghas io Eirha as Muufidars. Of

this area, 79 bl,'ha8 are occupied by buildings, while the remainder is cither waste or orchard. As

the township has no arable land attached to it, the name Baladeva does not appear al all iu the
diatrict rent-roll.

THE BALADEVA PANDAS. 163

Two annual melas are held at Baladeva, the one Bhadou Sudi 6th (commouly
called Deo Chhatt), the other on the i'ull moun of Agahu ; but there is probably
not a single day in the course of the whole year in which the temple courts are
not occupied by at least as many as a hundred pilgrims, who come from all parts
of Nortlieru India. The cost of the religious ceremonial cannot be much ; but
a charitable dole of an ana a piece is given to every applicant ; and as the Pandas
with their families now number between 300 and 400 persons, the annual
cost of their maintenance must be very considerable. After reasonable deduc-
tions on these three heads— viz., temple expenses, charity, and maintenance of
the priests, the balance of profits is calculated at over Rs. 30,000. There is
ordinarily a division among the shareholders at the end of every three months,
when they make an allotment into twelve equal portions, that being the num-
ber of the principal sub-divisions of the clan, and then each sub-division makes a
separate distribution among its own members. The votive offerings in the
vast majority of cases are individually of very trifling amount ; but even so,
their collective value is not altogether to be despised. Thus, poorer pilgrims, in
addition to a few copper coins, often present a piece of sugar ; and the heap of
sugar accumulated in three or four days has been sold by auction for as much
as Rs. 80. The shrine is a very popular one among all classes ; scarcely ever
is an important venture made without a vow that the god shall receive a fixed
share of the profits, if he bring it to a successful issue; and even casual votaries,
who have no special boon to beg, are often most lavish in their donations, either
of money, horned cattle, carriages, horses, or other property. For example, a
iew years ago, Siiraj-bhan, a wealthy merchant of Agra, gave Rs. 4,000 worth
of jewellery for the personal adornment of the god.

It is unfortunate that the hereditary guardians of so wealthy a shrine
should be such a low and thriftless set as the Ahivasis are. The temple-garden
occupies 52 bighas of land, and was once a well-planted grove. It is now a
dirty, unsightly waste, as the Pandas have gradually cut down all the trees for
firewood, without a thought of replacing them, and have thus not cnly dete-
riorated the value of their property, but also forfeited a grant that used to be
made by the Maharaja of Bharat-pur for its maintenance. It is also asserted
to be a common practice for the younger members of the clan, when they see
any devotee prostrate in devotion before the god, to be very forward in assistino-
them to rise and leading them away, and to take the opportunity of despoiliiKy
them of any loose cash or valuable ornaments that they can lay their hands
upon. It is believed that thefts of the kind are frequent ; though the victim
generally prefers to accept the loss in silence, rather than incur the odium
of bringing a charge, that there might not be legal evidence to substantiate,
against a professedly religious community. It appears in every way desirable
that some extra police should be maintained at the expense of the Pandas,

164 VALLABHACHABYA LITEBATUBE.

and a constable or two kept permanently on duty in the inner court of tlie
temple.

NOTES TO CHAPTER VIII.
1. — Catalogue of Vallabhacharya Literature.

I. — Sanskrit works ascribed to the founder himself, divided into two classes:
First, commentaries of considerable length on older writings of authority, being
four in number, viz., Bhagavata Tika Subodhini, Vyasa Siitra Bliashya, Jaimini
Sutra Bhashya, and Tattva Dipa Nibandha. None of these have I seen. Second-
ly, seventeen very short original poems entitled — Siddhanta Rahasya, Siddhanta
Muktavali, Pushti Pravaha Maryada, Antah-karanah Prabodha, Nava Ratna,
Viveka Dhairyasraya, Krishnasraya, Bhakti Vardhani, Jala-bheda, Sannyasa
Nirnaya, Nirodha Lakshana, Seva-phala, Bal-bodh, Chatur-sloki, Panch-sloki,
Yamunashtakam, and Purushottam Sahasr-uama. Of all of these, except the
last, 1 have obtained copies from Gokul.

II. — Sanskrit works ascribed to Vallabhacharya's immediate successors.
These also are, for the most part, very short. The principal are as follows :
Sarvottama-stotram of Agui-Kumar, Ratna Vivarna of Bitthalnath, Bhakti
Siddhanta Vivriti of Gokulnath, Vallabhashtakam of Bitthaluath, Ki'ishna
Premamritam of Bitthalnath, Siksha Patram, Gokulashtakam, Prem-Ami'itam
of Gokulnath, Sri Vallabha-bhavashtakara of Hari Das, Madhur Ashtakam,
Saran Ashtakam, Namavali Acharya, Namavali Goswami, Sidhanta Bhavana,
Virodha Lakshana, Srinagara Rasamandala, Saranopadesa, Rasa-Sindhu, Kal-
padruma, Mala Prasanga, and Chita Prabodha.

III. — Works in the modern vernacular, i. e., the Braj-Bhasha. Such are the
Nij Varta, Chaurasi Varta, Do Sau Bavan Varta, Dwadasa Kunja, Pavitra
Mandala, Purnamasi, Nitya Sovaprakara, Rasa Bhavana of Gokulnath, Va-
chanami-ita of Gokulnath, Braj Bilas of Braj-basi Diis, Ban-Jatra, Vallabhakh-
yana, Dhola, Nitya-pada, Sri Gobardhan-nath Ji ka Pragatya, Gosain Jf Pra-
gatya, Lila Bhavana, Swarupa Bhavana, Guru Seva, Seva Prakara, Miila Pu-
rusha, Dasa Marama, Vaishnava Battisi Lakshana, Chaurasi Siksha, Otsava
Pada, Yamuna Ji Pada, and others.

II. — Specimen of the Tone and Style of popular Vallabhacharya
Literature,

The following story of ' how Krishan Diis showed his devotion to the Go-
sains' is extracted from the Chaurasi Varta, and is interesting as a specimen, both
of the dialect and religious superstition of the locality. Though written some
two hundred years ago, it might, for all internal evidence to the contrary, have

THE CHAURASI VARTA. 165

been taken down only yesterday, word for word, from the mouth of a village
gossip. It does not contain a single archaic term, and in its unartificial
style and rustic phraseology is an exact representation of the colloquial idiom
of middle-class Hindus of the present century ; yet it has absolutely nothing
in common with the language officially designated the vernacular of the coun-
try, either as regards the arrangement of the sentence or the choice of words ;
the latter being all taken from the Hindi vocabulary, with the exception of
three only — viz., kaul, a * promise,' sauda, ' merchandise,' and k/iabr, ' news.'
These are inserted as if on purpose to show that the non-admission of a larger
number was a spontaneous and not a pedantic exclusion. As to its purport ;
the eulogy which it bestows on the extraordinary sacrifice of personal de-
cency and honour, merely for the sake of procuring the Gosains a good dinner, is
so revolting to the principles of natural morality that it condemns the w^hole
tenour of Vallabhacharya doctrine more strongly than any argument that could
be adduced by an opponent. The style of the narrative is so easy and perspi-
cuous that it can present no difficulty to the student, who alone will take an
interest in the matter, and therefore I have not considered it necessary to add
a translation : —

^I'gm^l JillTIIg^ % ^^^ TTiTT ^ TlH W^ ^T ^X^l WiFiS ?^3iT

c!i ^T ^m r\^ ^W^IH HI ^T WH ^IWT ^^ ^}^ ^ ^TIT ^1^ ^lU
nm V^ TTiTT ^^T rlWi ^W ^ ^^ W^ %K ^W^T^^T Ct ^T ^T

^T^ ^f%^ ^IlTrl ^T^T ^^ITR ^R^ ^T TJ ^SK ^\^ "^X Ti

^ll ^T ^1 IT^ITT ^i%^T ^1^i f^rJI 31^ ^TrT W ^R ^Irf W %T

^TW^T =^lT^rI W ^1 §3 %§ jh^K =RrS "^1^% TT^ Tt tlW ^1 =^#
^1 ciT ^RZft 5^T W13 ^^X ^^ rT=f ^T cfFTui ^ W13 "S^T 31^1 rl^

166 "' STORY OF KRISHAN DAS.

gi^T %T ^mi ^ifriiifT ^wi ^ ^iw w ^wi n^K afmi risi %t n^ t

W^ mS ^T 2^^^ §i^ ^^ ^ ^r3T TTl HH.^f f^^T %T ^TT% ^^
m-g ^TXl^ ^^TT T.f% ^TT^rl ^ItIi ^^rT ^Trfl ^^r ^^RT OTT rl^

^c( li^n^ f w^^w wiii^ ^^ rm ^^^]^ ^ifrei gR 3^^t ^ii^gixr

im ^m "^^^ ^^ ^1^ ^"^ ^^ ^l^T^T^l *"t ^^1 5FfR^ '^TU ^T-
9lr1 ^i ^^ ^1^ ^T "^ T^T% ^R^ ^T^T^T^ ^i ^m ^?qx^l ^[TI
S^TIXI ^l^reT 5RR^ TTWlU^l^ ^ii% T?^ rTcf ^W^IH ^i^ ^T

^^i ^1 ^iW "citi §^ri %raTt( rii^ ^i^T ^1^ jn ofrRj ni *;^t i

cT^ W( ^iti ^of3%i crR^ ^r crR^ ^R %I ^r %t r^^R WT^f

^T ^^ ^^^ ^#1 ^^^ ^1 ^^^ ^ ^1"^ ^llrTT rTI^ ^m ^iW^ra
7f ^1 ^i oFflT %I ^TT ^^ gfi^^T ^^T ll3 ^^ ^M ^il^m ^T^
^IrlT ^^ ^IT^ 5Rl=gl1 *;R ^}Tl^ W^ Tf oRl^ ^i ^ rl^ ^T %t

?«lcl oJT cK^mi ^ felT %lf^%' ^Tlr^T ^Tsfl rT^ ^W ^1^ ^l^^%f

STORY OF KRISHAN DAS. 167

Ti ^I^ VTf W H^ ^iJ7 %TT ^T Tt rT^ 3^ ^T ^ cR^T %T rf

Tjf^% ^WT ^W rT nn ^IJT ^R rT^ ^T ^^T^T "^ ^^ %T ^W

f^^%T %^T TT^ ^i%l ¥ %R ^Tc!i U^ %lfT$ ^f^T^^rT ^fl ^IT ^^It

i %T rW m Tl^iJ WT ^1^ ^W ^^TOT ^^^^1^ ^T Tmil):^^ ^1

% ^cT^TT^ ^3t rllri ^tt ^t^t ftf ^^t^^T^ ^T ^X^\ m^ ^f
^^T^t ffiaiF^T^ ^t ^^T ^1^1 ^TlrT Tl^T ^R f W^^ Ct ^T ^T
^11% ^ ^^-^ Tjm t ffTau^m ^T ^1=^1^ ^ ^^^^^ ^ ^^

^li rlit \^W^ ^mi H^TT II ^ II ^^"^ ^^0 ^T^QjoT 11^811

CHAPTER IX.

THE THREE HILL-PLACES OF MATHURA : GOBARDHAN, BAR8ANA, AND

NAND-GANW.

At a distance of three miles from the city of Mathurd, the road to Gobar-
dhan runs throufrh the village of Satoha, by the side of a large tank of very
sacred repute, called Santanu Kuud. The name commemorates a Raja Sdntanu,
Avho (as is said on the spot) here practised, through a long course of years, the
severest religious austerities in the hope of obtaining a son. His -wishes were
at last gratified by a union with the goddess Ganga, who bore him Bhishma, one
of the famous heroes of the Mahabharat. Every Sunday, the place is frequented
by women who are desirous of issue, and a large mela is held there on the 6th
of the light fortnight of Bhadon. The tank, which is of very considerable
dimensions, was faced all round with stone, early last century, by Sawai Jay
Siuh of Amber, but a great part of the masonry is now much dilapidated. In its
centre is a high hill connected with the main land by a bridge. The sides of
the island are covered with fine ritha trees, and on the summit, which is ap-
proached by a flight of fifty stone steps, is a small temple. Here it is incum-
bent upon the female devotees, who would have their prayers effectual, to make
some offering to the shrine, and inscribe on the ground or wall the mystic device
called in Sanskrit Svastikd and in Hindi Sathiya, the fylfot of Western eccle-
siology. The local superstition is probably not a little confirmed by the acci-
dental resemblance that the king's name bears to the Sanskrit word for ' children,'
aantdna. For, though Raja Santanu is a mythological personage of nuich ancient
celebrity, being mentioned not only in several of the Puranas, but also in one
of the hymns of the Rig Veda, he is not much known at the present day, and
what is told of him at Satoha is a very confused jumble of the original legend.
The signal and, according to Hindu ideas, absolutely fearful abnegation of self,
there ascribed to the father, was undergone for his gratification by the dutiful
son, who thence derived his name of Bhishma, 'the fearful.' For, in extreme
old age, the Raja was anxious to Aved again, but the parents of the fair girl on
whom he had fixed his affections would not consent to the union, as the fruit
of the marriage would be debarred by Bhishma's seniority from the succession
to the throne. The difficvilty was removed by Bhishma's filial devotion, who
took an oath to renounce his birthright and never to beget a son to revive the
claim. Hence every religious Hindu accounts it a duty to make him amends
for this want of direct descendants by once a year ofifering libations to Bhishma's

THE GIRI-RAJ AT GOBARDHAN. 1C9

spirit in the same way as to one of bis own ancestors. The formula to be used
is as follows : — " I present this water to the childless hero, Bhishma, of the
race of Vyaghrapada, the chief of the house of Sankriti. I\Iay Bhishma, the
son of Santanu, the speaker of truth, and subjugator of his passions, obtain by
this water the oblations due from sons and grandsons."

The story in the Nirukta Vedanga relates to an earlier period in the king's
life, if, indeed, it refers to the same personage at all, which has been doubted.
It is there recorded that, on his father's death, Santanu took possession of
the throne, though he had an elder brother, by name Devapi, living. This
violation of the right of primogeniture caused the land to be afflicted with a
drought of twelve years' continuance, which was only terminated by the recitation
of a hymn of prayer (Rig Yeda, x., 98) composed by Devapi himself, who had
voluntarily adopted the life of a religious. The name Satoha is absurdly derived
by the Brahmans of the place from satlu, ' bran,' which is said to have been the
royal ascetic's only diet. In all probability it is formed from the word Santanu
itself, combined with some locative affix, such as sthdna.

Ten miles further to the west is the famous place of Hindu pilgrimage, Go-
bardhan, i. e., according to the literal meaning of the Sanskrit compound, ' the
nurse of cattle.' The town, which is of considerable size, occupies a break in a
narrow limestone range of hill, which rises abruptly from the alluvial plain,
and stretches in a south-easterly direction for a distance of some four or five
miles, with an average elevation of about 100 feet.

This is the hill which Krishna is fabled to have held aloft on the tip of his
finger for seven days and nights to cover the people of Braj from the storms pour-
ed down upon them by Indra when deprived of his wonted sacrifices. In pic-
torial representations it always appears as an isolated conical peak, Avhich is as
unlike the reality as possible. It is ordinarily styled by Hindus of the present
day, the Giri-raj, or royal hill, but in earlier literature is more frequently
designated the Anna-kiit. There is a firm belief in the neighbourhood that,
as the waters of the Jamuna are yearly decreasing in body, so too the sacred hill
is steadily diminishing in height ; for in past times it was visible from Aring,
a town four or five miles distant, whereas now a few hundred j-ards are
sufficient to remove it from sight. It may be hoped that the marvellous
fact reconciles the credulous pilgrim to the insignificant appearance presented
by the object of his adoration. It is accounted so holy that not a particle
of the stone is allowed to be taken for any building purpose ; and even
the road which crosses it at its lowest point, where only a few fragments of
the rock crop up above the ground, had to be carried over them by a paved
causeway.

The ridge attains its greatest elevation towards the south between the vil-
lages of Jatipura and Anyor. Here, on the summit, was an ancient temple

170 PERAMBULATION OF THE GIRI-RAJ.

founded in the year 1520 A.D. by the famous Vallabhachaiya of Gokul, and
dedicated to Sri-nath. In anticipation of one of Auran^zeb's raids, the image
of the god was removed to Nathdwara in Udajpur territory, and has remained
there ever since. The temple on the Giri-raj was thus allowed to fall into ruin,
and the wide walled enclosure now exhibits only long lines of foundations and
steep flights of steps, AAath a small, untenanted, and quite modern shrine. The
plateau, however, commands a very extensive view of the neighbouring coun-
try, both on the Mathura and the Bharat-pur side, with the fort of Dig and the
heights of Nand-ganw and Barsana in the distance. At the foot of the hill on
one side is the little village of Jatipura with several temples, of which one, de-
dicated to G-okul-nath, though a very mean building in appearance, has con-
siderable local celebrity. Its head is the Gosain of the temple with the same
title at Gokul, and it is the annual scene of two religious solemnities both
celebrated on the day after the Dip-dan at Gobardhan. Tlie first is the ador-
ation of the sacred hill, called ihe Giri-raj Puja, and the second the Anna-kiit,
or commemoration of Krishna's sacrifice. The right to take the lead in the
procession has been vehemently disputed by the priests of the two rival tem-
ples, Sri-nath and Gokul-nath ; and it is generally found desirable, a little
before the anniversary, to bind both parties over in heavy sums to keep the
peace. Immediately opposite Jatipura, and only parted from it by the inter-
vening range, is the village of Anyor — literally ' the other side ' — with the
temple of Sri-nath on the summit between them. A little distance beyond
both is the village of Puchhri, which, as the name denotes, is considered ' the
extreme limit ' of the Giri-raj.

Kartik, the month in which most of Krishna's exploits are believed to have
been performed, is the favourite time for the pari-krama, or perambulation of
the sacred hill. The dusty circular road which winds round its base has a length
of seven hos, that is, about twelve miles, and is frequently measured by devotees
who at every step prostrate themselves at full length. When flat on the ground,
they mark a line in the sand as far as their hands can reach, then rising they
prostrate themselves again from the line so marked, and continue in the same
style till the whole weary circuit has been accomplished. This ceremony, called
JDandavati -pari-krama, occupies from a week to a fortnight, and is generally
performed for wealthy sinners vicariously by the Brahman s of the place, who
receive from Rs. 50 to Rs. 100 for their trouble, and transfer all the merit of
the act to their employers. The ceremony has been performed with a hundred
and eight prostrations at each step (that being the number of beads in the
Vaishnava rosary) ; it then occupied some two years, and was remunerated by
a donation of Rs. 1,000.

About the centre of the range stands the town of Gobardhan, on the
margin of a very largo irregularly sliapod masomy tank, called the Manasi

THE MANASI GANGA. 171

Ganga, supposed to have been called into existence by the mere action of the
divine will (mdnasa). At one end the boundary is formed by the jutting
crags of the holy hill, on all other sides the water is approached by long
flights of stone steps. It has frequently been repaired at great cost by the
Rajas of Bharat-pur ; but is said to have been originally constructed in its
present form by Raja Man Sinh of Jaypur, whose father built the adjoining
temple of Harideva. There is also at Banaras a tank constructed by Man
Sinh, called Man Sarovar, and by it a temple dedicated to Mdnesvar : facts
which suggest a suspicion that the name ' Mauasi ' is of much less antiquity
than is popularly believed. Unfortunately, there is neither a natural spring,
nor any constant artificial supply of water, and for half the year the
tank is always dry. But ordinarily at the annual illumination, or Dip-dan,
which occurs soon after the close of the rains, during the festival of the
Diwali, a fine broad sheet of water reflects the light of the innumerable
lamps, which are ranged tier above tier, along the ghats and adjacent build-
ings, by the one hundred thousand pilgrims with whom the town is then
crowded.

In the year 1871, as there was no heavy rain towards the end of the
season, and the festival of the Diwali also fell later than usual, it so happened
that on the bathing-day, the 12th of November, the tank was entirely dry,
with the exception of two or three green and muddy little puddles. To obviate
this mischance, several holes were made and wells sunk in the area of the tank,
with one large pit, some 30 feet square and as many deep, in whose turbid
waters many thousand pilgrims had the happiness of immersing themselves. For
several hours no less than twenty-five persons a minute continued to descend, and
as many to ascend, the steep and slippery steps ; while the yet more fetid patches
of mud and water in other parts of the basin were quite as densely crowded.
At night, the vast amphitheatre, dotted with groups of people and glimmering
circles of light, presented a no less picturesque appearance than in previous
years when it was a brimming lake. To the spectator from the garden-side of
the broad and deep expanse, as the line of demarkation between the steep
flights of steps and the irregular masses of building which immediately sur-
mount them ceased to be perceptible, the town presented the perfect semblance
of a long and lofty mountain range dotted with fire-lit villages ; while the clash
of cymbals, the beat of drums, the occasional toll of bells from the adjoining-
temples, with the sudden and long-sustained cry of some enthusiastic band,
vociferating the praises of mother Ganga, the clapping of hands that began
scarce heard but was quickly caught up and passed on from tier to tier, and
prolonged into a wild tumult of applause, — all blended with the ceaseless mur-
mur of the stirring crowd in a not discordant medley of exciting sound. Accor-
ding to popular belief, the ill-omened drying up of the water, which had not

172 TEMPLE OF HARI-DEVA,

occurred before in the memory of man, was the result of the curse of one Ha-
bib-ullah Shah, a Muhammadan fakir. He had built himself a hut on the top
of the Giri-raj, to the annoyance of the priests of the neighbouring temple of
Dan-Rae, who complained that the holy ground was defiled by the bones and
other fragments of his unclean diet, and procured an order from the Civil Court
for his ejectment. Thereupon the fakir disappeared, leaving a curse upon his
persecutors ; and this has borne fruit in the drying up of the healing waters of
the Manasi Ganga.

Close by, is the famous temple of Hari-deva, erected during the tolerant
reign of Akbar by Raja Bhagawan Dds of Amber on a site long previously oc-
cupied by a succession of humbler fanes. It consists of a nave 68 feet in length
and 20 feet broad, leading to a choir 20 feet square, with a sacrarium of about
the same dimensions beyond. The nave has five arches on either side with
clerestory windows above, and is about 30 feet high to the cornice, which is
decorated at intervals with large projecting heads of elephants and sea-
monsters. There was a double roof, each entirely of stone : the outer one
a high pitched gable, the inner an arched ceiling, or rather the nearest ap-
proach to an arch ever seen in Hindu design. The centre was really flat,
but it was so deeply coved at the sides that, the width of the building being
inconsiderable, it had all the effect of a vault, and no doubt suggested the
possibility of the true radiating vault, which we find in the temple of Govind
Deva built by Bhagawan's son and successor, Man Sinh, at Brinda-ban. The
construction is extremely massive, and even the exterior is still solemn and
imposing, though the two towers which originally crowned the choir and
sacrarium were long ago levelled with the roof of the nave. The material
employed throughout the superstructure is red sandstone from the Bharat-
pur quarries, while the foundations are composed of rough blocks of the lime-
stone found in the neighbourhood. These have been laid bare to the depth
of several feet; and a large deposit of earth all round the basement would much
enhance the appearance as well as the stability of the building. Bihari Mall,
the father of the reputed founder, was the first Rajput who attached himself
to the court of a Muhammadan emperor. He was chief of the ilajuwat branch
of the Kachhwaha Thakurs seated at Ambor, and claimed to be eighteenth in
descent from the founder of the family. The capital was subsequently trans-
ferred to Jaypur in 1728 A.D.; the present Maharajii being the thirty-fourth
descendant of the original stock. In the battle of Sariidl, Bhagawan Das had
the good fortune to save Akbar's hfe, and was subsequently appointed govern-
or of the Panjab. He died about the year 1590 at Labor. His daughter was
married to Prince Salim, who eventually became emperor under the title of
Jahangir ; the fruit of their marriage being the unfortunate prince Khusrn.
The temple has a yeariy income of some Rs. 2,300, derived from the two vil-

TE^rrLE OF HARI-DEVA. 173

lages, Bliagosa and Lodhipuri, the latter estate being a recent grant, in lien of an
annual money donation of Rs. 500, on the part of the Raja of Bbarat-pur, who
further makes a fixed monthly offering to the shrine at the rate of one rupee per
diem. The hereditarj^ Gosains have long devoted the entire income to their own
private uses, completely neglecting the fabric of the temple and its religious ser-
vices.* In consequence of such short-sighted greed, the votive offerings at this, one
ofthe most famous shrines in Upper India, have dwindled down to about Rs. 50
a year. Not only so, but, early in 1872, the roof of the nave, which had hither-
to been quite perfect, began to give way. An attempt was made by the writer
of this memoir to procure an order from the Civil Court authorizing the expen-
diture, on the repair of the fabric, of the proceeds of the temple estate, which, in
consequence of the dispute among the shareholders had for some months past been
paid as a deposit into the district treasury and had accumulated to more than
Rs. 3,000. There was no unwillingness on the part of the Local Government
to further the proposal, and an engineer was deputed to examine and report on
the probable cost. Meanwhile, the whole of tlie roof had fallen in with the
exception of one compartment; which, however, would have been sufficient to
serve as a model in the work of restoration. The estimate was made out for
Rs. 8,767 ; and as there w^as a good balance in hand to begin upon, operations
mi^ht have been commenced at once and completed without any difficulty in
the course of tw' o or three years. But no further orders were communicated to
the district authorities from April, when the estimate was submitted, till the
following October, and in the interim a baniya from the neighbouring town
of Aring, by name Chhitar Mai, hoping to immortalize himself at a moderate
outlay, came to the relief of the temple proprietors and undertook to do all that
was necessary at his own private cost. He has, accordingly, ruthlessly demolish-
ed all that yet remained of the original roof, breaking down at the same time not
a little of the curious cornice, and in its place is simply throwing across, from
wall to wall, rough and unshapen wooden beams, of which the best that can be
said is, that they may, for some few years, serve as a protection from the wea-
ther. But all that was unique and characteristic in the design has ceased to
exist ; and thus another of the few pages in the fragmentary annals of Indian
architecture has been blotted out for ever. Like the temple of Gobind Deva at
Brinda-ban, it has none of the coarse figure sculpture which detract so largely
from the artistic appearance of most Hindu religious buildings ; and thouo-li
originally consecrated to idolatrous worship, it was in all points of construc-
* The estate is divided into tweuty-lour bats, or shares, allotted among seventeen different
families. It appears that all are agreed as to the distribution, with the exception of one maa by
name Xarayan, who, in addition to his own original share claims also as sole rejiresentative of a
shareholder deceased. This claim is not admitted by the others, and the zamindars continue to
pay the revenue as a deposit into the district treasury, till such time as the muafidars can
concur in making a joint application for its transfer to themselves.

174 CHHATTRIS OF THE BHARAT-PUR RAJAS.

tion equally well adapted for the public ceremonial of the purest faith, plad it
been preserved as a national monument, it might at some day, in the future
golden age, have been to Gobardhan what the Pagan Pantheon is now to
Christian Rome.

On the opposite side of the Mdnasi Ganga are two stately cenotaphs, or
chhattris, to the memory of Randhir Sinh and Baladeva Sinh, Rajas of Bharat-
pur. Both are of similar design, consisting of a lofty and substantial square
masonry terrace with corner kiosks and lateral alcoves, and in the centre the
monument itself, still further raised on a richly decorated plinth. The cella,
enclosed in a colonnade of five open arches on each side, is a square apartment
surmounted by a dome, and having each wall divided into three bays, of which
one is left for the doorway, and the remainder are filled in with reticulated
tracery. The cloister has a small dome at each corner, and the curious curvi-
linear roof, distinctive of the style, over the central compartments. In the
larger monument, the visitor's attention is specially directed to the pannels of
the doors, painted in miniature with scenes from the life of Krishna, and to the
cornice, a flowered design of some vitreous material executed at Delhi. This
commemorates Baladeva Sinh, who died in 1825, and was erected by his son
and successor the late Raja Balavant Sinh, who was placed on the throne after
the reduction of the fort of Bharat-pur by Lord Combermere in 1826. The
British army figures conspicuously in the paintings on the ceilings of the
pavilions. Raja Randhir Sinh, who is commemorated by the companion
monument, was the elder brother and predecessor of Baladeva, and died in
the year 1823.

A mile or so from the town, on the borders of the parish of Radha-kund, is
a yet more magnificent architectural group erected by Javahir Sinh, in honour
of his father Suraj Mai, the founder of the family, who met his death at Delhi
in 1764 (see page 24). The principal chhattri, which is 57 feet square, of
precisely the same style as the two already described, is flanked on either side
by one of somewhat less dimensions, commemorating the Raja's two queens,
Hansiya* and Kishorl. The lofty terrace upon which they stand is 460 feet in
length, with a long shallow pavilion serving as a screen at each end, and nine
two-storied kiosks of varied outline to relieve the front. Attached to Rani
Hansiya' s monument is a smaller one in commemoration of a faithful atten-
dant. Behind is an extensive garden, and in front, at the foot of the terrace,
is an artificial lake, called the Kusum-Sarovar, 460 feet square ; the flights of
stone steps on each side being broken into one central and four smaller side

• Hans-ganj, on the bank of the Jamuna, iramediatcly opposite Mathura, was founded by
this Rani. In consequence of a diversion of the road which once passed throng; h it, the village is
now that most melancholy of all spectacles, a modern ruin ; though it comprises sorao spaoioua
walled gardeaa, crowded with magaificeat trees.

GOSAIN niMMAT BAHADUR. 175

compartments by pannelled and arcaded walls running out 00 feet into the
water. On the north side, some progress had been made in the erection of
a chhattri for Javahir Sinh, when the work was interrupted by Munammadan
inroad and never renewed. On the same side, the ghats of the lake are partly
in ruins, and it is said were reduced to this condition, a very few years after
their completion, by the Gosain Hinimat Bahadur, who carried away the ma-
terials to Brinda-ban, to be used in the construction of a ghat which still com-
memorates his name there. Such a wanton exercise of power seems a little
startling, and therefore it will not be out of place to explain a little in detail
who this warlike Gosain was. A native of Bundel-khand, he became a pupil
of Mahant Rajendra Giri, who had seceded from the Dasnamis* or followers of
Sankaracharya, the most fanatical of all Hindu sectaries, and had joined the
Saiva Naga, which is characterized by equal turbulence unfettered by even an
assumption of any religious motive. Through his instigations, Ali Bahadur,
an illegitimate grandson of Baji Rao, the first Peshwa, was induced to take up
arms against Siudliia and establish himself in Bundel-khand as virtually an
independent sovereign. In 1802, Ali Bahadur fell at the siege of Kalinjar, leav-
ing a son, Shamsher Bahadur. At first the heir was supported by Himmat, who,
however, continued quietly to extend his own influence as far as possible ; and,
on the combination of the Mahratta chiefs against the British Government, in
which they were joined by Shamsher, foreseeing in their success an immediate
diminution of his own authority, he determined to co-operate Avith the British.
On the 4th of Septembei', 1803, a treaty was concluded between Lord Wellesley
and ' Anup-giri Himmat Bahadur,' by which nearly all the territory on the west
bank of the Jamuna from Kalpi to Allahabad was assigned to him. His death,
however, occurred in the following year, when the lands were resumed and pen-
sions in lieu thereof granted to his family.

Other sacred spots in the town of Gobardhan are the temple of Cha-
kresvar Mahadeva, and four ponds called respectively Go-rochan, Dharm-
rochan, Pap-mochan and Rin-raochan. But these latter, even in the rains,
are mere puddles, and all the rest of the year are quite dry; while the
former, in spite of its sanctity, is as mean a little building as it is possible io
conceive.

The break in the hill, traversed by the road from Mathura to Dig, is called
the Dan Ghat, and is supposed to be the spot where Krishna lay in wait to
intercept the Gopis and levy a toll (dan) on the milk they were bringing into
the town. A Brahman still sits at the receipt of custom, and extracts a copper

* The ten names —whence the title Dasn ami — are tirtha, dsrama, vana, araivja, sarasvati,
puri, Bhdrati, giri, parvata, and sdgara, one of which is attached to his pcraon-a/Dame by every
member of the order.

176 FOUNDATION OF GOBARDHAN.

coin or two from the passers-b3^ On the ridge overlooking the ghat stands
the temple of Dan Rae.

Of late years, the paramouut power has been repeatedly solicited by the
Bliarat-pur Raja to cede him Gobardlian in exchange for other territory of equal
vahxe. It contains so many memorials of his ancestors that the request is a
very natural one for him to make, and it must be admitted that tlie Bharat-pur
frontier stands greatly in need of rectification. It would, however, be most
impolitic for the Government to make the desired concession, and thereby lose
all control over a place so important, both from its position and its associations,
as Gobardhan.

The following legend in the Harivansa (cap. 94) must be taken to refer to the
foundation of the town, though apparently it has never hitherto been noticed in
that connection. Among the descendants of Ikshvaku, who reigned at Ayodhva,
was Haryasva, who took to wife Madhumati, the daughter of the giant Madhu.
Being expelled from the throne by his elder brother, the king fled for refuge
to the court of his father-in-law, who received him most affectionately, and
ceded him the whole of his dominions, excepting only the capital Madhuvana,
which he reserved for his son Lavana. Thereupon, Haryasva built, on the
sacred Girivara, a new royal residence, and consolidated the kingdom of Anavta,
to which he subsequently annexed the country of Ariipa, or (as it is otherwise
and preferably read) Aniipa. The third in descent from Yadu, the son and suc-
cessor of Haryasva, was Bhima, in whose reign Eama, the then sovereign
of Ayodhya, commissioned Satrughna to destroy Lavana's fort of Madhu-
vana, and erect in its stead the town of Mathura. After the departure of its
founder, Mathura was annexed by Bhima, and continued in the possession of
his descendants down to Vasudeva. The most important lines in the text
run thus : —

Haryasvascha mahateja divye Girivarottame
Nivesayamasa puram vasartham amaropamah
Anartam nama tadrashtram surashtram Godhanayutam.
Achircnaiva kalena samriddham pratyapadyata
Amipa-vishayam chaiva vela-vana-vibhushitara.
From the occurrence of the Avords Giri-vara and Godhana, and the declared
proximity to Mathura, it is clear that the capital of Haryasva must have been
situate on the Giri-raj of Gobardhan ; and it is probable that the country
of Anupa was to some extent identical with the more modern Braj. Anupa
is once mentioned, in an earlier canto of the poem, as having been bestowed
by king Prithu on the bard Siita. The name Anarta occurs also in canto
X., where it is stated to have been settled by king Reva, the son of Saryati,
who made Kusasthali its capital. In the Rtimayana IV., 43, it is described
as a western region on the sea-coast, or at all events in that direction, and

r>UP RAM OF BAR SANA. 177

has therefore been identified with Gujarat. Thus there wouLl seem to have

been an intimate connection betAveen Gujarat and Mathurii, k^ng anterior to
Krishna's foundation of Dwaraka.

Bars ANA.

Barsana, according to modern Hindu belief the home of Krishna's favourite
mistress Kadha, is a town which enjoyed a brief period of great prosperity
about the middle of last century. It is built at the foot and on the slope of a
ridge, originally dedicated to the god Brahma, AAhich rises abruptly from the
l)lain, near the Bharat-pur border of the Chhata Bargana, to a height of some
200 feet at its extreme point, and runs in a south-westerly direction for about
a quarter of a mile. Its summit is crowned by a series of temples in honour of
Larli-Ji, a local title of Badha, meaning 'the beloved.' These were all erected
at intervals within the last two hundred years, and now form a connected mass
of building with a lofty wall enclosing the court in which they stand. Each of
the successive shrines was on a somewhat grander scale than its predecessor,
and was for a time honoured with the presence of the divinity, but even the
last and largest, in which she is now enthroned, is an edifice of no special pre-
tension ; though seated, as it is, on the very brow of the rock, and seen in con-
junction with the earlier buildings, it forms an imposing feature in the land-
scape to the spectator from the plain below. A long flight of stone steps, bro-
ken about half way by a temple in honour of Eadha's grandfather, Mahibhan,
leads down from the summit to the foot of the hill, where are two other small
temples. One of them is dedicated to Eadha's female companions, called the
Sakhis, who are eight in number, as follows : Lalita, Visakha, Champaka-lata,
Ranga-devi, Chitra-lekha, Dulekha, Sudevi, and Chandravali. The other con-
tains a life-size image of the mythical Brikh-bhan robed in appropriate costume
and supported on the one side by his daughter Radha, and on the other by
Sridama, a Pauranik character, here for the nonce represented as her brother.

The town consists almost entirely of magnificent mansions all in ruins, and
lofty but crumbling walls now enclosing vast, desolate, dusty areas, which once
were busy courts and markets or secluded pleasure grounds. All date from
the time of Riip Earn, a Katara Brahman, who, having acquired great reputa-
tion as a Pandit in the earlier part of last century, became Purohit to Bharat-pur,
Sindhia,* and Holkar, and was enriched by those princes with the most lavish
donations, the whole of which he appears to have expended on the embellish-

* It appears that Barsana was an occasional residence of Madho Rao Sindhia ; for a treaty
of hi8 with the Company, regarding trade at Baroch, dated the 30th of September, 1786, was
signed by him there, as also the supplementary article dated the following January.

178 GREAT FAMILIES OF BARSANA,

ment of Barsaaa and the other sacred places within the limits of Braj, his
native country. Before his time, Barsana, if inhabited at all, was a mere
hamlet of the adjoining village Unchu-ganw, which now, under its Gujar
landlords, is a mean and miserable place, though it boasts the remains of a
fort and an ancient and well-endowed temple, dedicated to Baladeva. Riip
Ram was the founder of one of the now superseded temples of Larli-Jf, with
the stone staircase up the side of the hill. He also constructed the largest
market-place in the town, with as many, it is said, as sixty-four walled gardens ;
a princely mansion for his own residence ; several small temples and chapels, and
other courts and pavilions. One of the latter, a handsome arcaded building of
carved stone, has for some years past been occupied by the Government as a
police-station without any award of compensation, though the present represen-
tative of the family is living on the spot and is an absolute pauper. Three
cJJiattris, commemorating Rup Ram himself and two of his immediate relatives,
stand by the side of a large stone tank with broad flights of steps and flanking
towers, which he restored and brought into its present shape. This is esteemed
sacred and commonly called Bhanokhar, that is, the tank of Brkhai-bhan,
Radha's reputed father. In connection with it is a smaller reservoir, named
after her mother Kirat. On the mai'gin of the Bhanokhar is a pleasure-house
in three stories, known as the Jal-mahall. It is supported on a series of vaulted
colormades which open direct on to the water, for the convenience of the ladies
of the family, who were thus enabled to bathe in perfect seclusion, as the two
tanks and the palace are all enclosed in one court-yard by a lofty bastioned and
embattled wall with tower-like gateways.* Besides these works, Riip Ram
also constructed another large masonry tank for the convenience of a hamlet in
the neighbourhood, which he settled and called after his own name Rup-nagar ;
and on the opposite side of the town, in the village of Ghazipur, faced with
octagonal stone ghats, the sacred lake called Prem Sarovar. Opposite the latter
is a walled garden with an elegant domed monument, in the form of a Greek
cross, to his brother Hem-rdj.

Contemporar}'- with Rup Ram, two other wealthy families resided at Bar-
sana and were his rivals in magnificence. The head of the one family was
Mohan Rdm, a Lavaniya Brahman ; and of the other Lalji, a Tantia Thakur.
It is said that the latter was by birth merely a common labourer, who went off
to Lakhnau to make his foxiune. There he became first a Harkara, then a
jamadar, and eventually the leading favourite at court. Towards the close of
his life he begged permission to return to his native place and there leave some
permanent memorial of the royal favour. The Nawiib not only granted the
request, but further presented him with carte bla?iche on the state treasury

• Both the house and Bhanokluir have been considerably damaged by the new proprietor,
wlio has removed many of the larger slabs of stouc.

THE SANKHAEI-KHOR. 179

for the prosecution of liis desisjns. Besides the stately mansion, now much
dilapidated, he constructed a large bdoli, still in excellent preservation, and two
wells, sunk at great expense in sandy tracts where previously all irrigation had
been impracticable.

The sacred tank on the outskirts of the town called Priya-kund, or Piri-po-
khar, was faced with stone by the Lavaniyas, who ai'e further commemorated
by a large katra, or market-place, the ruins of the vast and elaborate mansion
where they resided, and by elegant stone chhattris at the foot of the hill. They
held office under the Haja of Bharat-pur, and their present representative, Ram
Kaniyan, is now Tahsildar of Kama in that territory.

Barsana had scarcely been built, when, by the fortune of war, it was des-
troyed beyond all hope of restoration, as has already been related in Chapter II.
of this memoir, page 26. As if this blow were not enough, in the year 1812 it
sustained a further misfortune, when the Gaurua Thakurs, its zamiudars,
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 Lala Babil for the paltry sum of Rs. 602
and the condition of holding land on rather more favourable terms than other
tenants. The parish now yields Government an annual rental of Rs. 3,109
and the absentee landlords about as much, while it receives nothing from them
in return, though their donations for charitable purposes in the neighbour-
hood of their own home in Bengal are often on a magnificent scale. Thus the
appearance now presented by Barsana is a most forlorn and melancholy one.

The hill is still, to a limited extent, known as Brahna-kd-pahdr or Brahma's
hill : and hence it may be inferred with certainty that Barsana is a corruption
of the Sanskrit compound Brahma-sdnii, 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 temples
dedicated to Larli Ji, the other three with smaller edifices, known respectively
as the Man-Mandir, the Dan-garh and the Mor-Kutti. A second hill, of less
extent and elevation, completes 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 Sankari-khor,*
literally ' the narrow opening,' and is the scene of a mela (called the Biirhi
Lila) on the 13th of the month of Bhadon, often attended by as many as 10 000
people. The crowds divide according to their sex, and cluster about the rocks
round two little shrines erected on either side of the ravine for the temporary

* A similar use of the local form Khor, for Khol, may be observed in the village of Khaira
where is a pond called Chinta-Khori Kuod, corresponding to the more common Sanskrit compound
Chinta-harana.

180 NAND-GANW.

reception of figures of Rdcllid and Krishna, and indulge to tlieir heart's content
in all the licentious banter api)ropriate to the occasion. At the other mouth of
the pass is a deep dell between the two high peaks of the Man-Mandir and the
Mor-Kutti Avith a masonry tank in the centre of a dense thicket called the
Gahrwar-ban : and a 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 foi-m of the title Larli, equiv^alent to the Sanskrit
Lalita, may be taken as an indication of the modern growth of the local
cultus. Even in the Brahma Vaivarta, the last of the Purdnas, and the one
specially devoted to Hadha's praises, there is no authority for any such appel-
lation. In the Vraja-l>hakti-vilasa the mantra or formula of incantation which
the prilgrims are instructed to repeat runs as follows : —

Lalita-sanyutam krishnam sarvaishu sakhibhir yutam.

Dhyaye tri-veni-kilpa-stham maha-rasa-kritotsavam.

Nand-ganw.

Nand-ganw, as the reputed home of Krishna's foster-father, with its spa-
t;ious temple of Nand Bae Ji on the brow of the hill overlooking the viHage, is
in all respects an exact parallel to Barsana. The distance between the two
places is only five miles, and Avhen the nakdra is beaten at the one, it can be
heard at i\\e other. The temple of Nand Eae, though large, is in a clumsy
style of architecture, and apparently dates only from the middle of last century.
Its founder is said to have been one liiip Sinh, a Sinsinwar Jat. It consists
of an o])en nave, with choir and sacrarium 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 ot a paved court-yard, surrounded by a lofty wall with
corner kiosks, which conunaud a very extensive view of the Bliarat-pur hills
and the level expanse of the Mathura District as far as Gobardhan, The
village, which clusters at the foot and on the slope of the rock is, for the most
part, of a mean description, but contains a few handsome houses, more espe-
cially one erected by the famous Hup Rdm of Barsana. With the exception
of one temple dedicated to Manasa Devi, all the remainder bear some title of
the one popular divinity, such as Nar-sinha, Gopinath, Nritya-Gopal, Giri-
dhari, Nanda-nandan, Radha-Mohan, and Jasoda-nandan. This last is on a
larger scale than the others, and stands in a court-yard of its own, half way up
the hill. It is much in the same style and apparently of the same date as the
temple of Nand-Rae, or probably a little older. An opinion which is confirmed

INDIAN VICISSITUDES. 181

by its being meBtioned in the mantra, which runs as follows : — Yasodd —
nandanam hande nanda-grwna—vanddhipam. A flight of 114 broad steps, con-
structed of well-wrought stone from the Bharat-pur quarries, leads from the
level of the plain up to the steep and narrow street which terminates at the
main entrance of the great temple. This staircase was made at the cost of
Babu Graur Prasad of Calcutta, in the year 1818 A. D. At the foot of the hill
is a large unfinished squai'e with a range of stone buildings on one side for the
accommodation of dealers and pilgrims, constructed by Suraj Mai's Kani, the Rani
Kishori. At the back is an extensive garden with some fine kJdrui trees, the
property of the Eaja of Bharat-pur. They are, however, gradually disappearing,
one by one every year, and no attempt made to replace them. A little beyond
this is the sacred lake called Pan Sarovar, a magnificent sheet of water with
noble masonry ghats on all its sides, the work of one of the Eajas of Bardwan.
It measures 810 feet by 378, and therefore covers all but six acres. It is said to
be designed in the form of a ship ; but the resemblance is not very apparent
to an uninformed observer. This is one of the four lakes of highest repute in
Braj ; the others being the Chandra-sarovar at Parsoli by Gobardhan, the Prera-
sarovar at Ghazipur near Barsana, and the Man-sarovar at Arua in the Mat
Pargana. According to popular belief, there are within the limits of Nandgaiiw
no less than fifty-six smaller lakes or kunds ; though it is admitted that in this
degenerate age all of them are not readily visible. In every instance the name
is commemorative of Krishna and his pastoral occupations. Like Barsaua and
so many other of the holy places, Nandganw is part of the estate of the repre-
sentatives of the Lala Babu, who, in 1811 A. D., acquired it in free gift from
the then zamindars.

If the few squalid buildings which at present disfigure the square at the foot
of the hill were removed, and replaced by a well, or temple, or other public
edifice, and the line of shops completed on the other side, an exceedingly pic-
turesque effect might be secured at a comparatively small cost. But it is
needless to expect any local improvements from the absentee landlords, while
the inhabitants are too impoverished to have a thought for anything beyond
their daily bread.

The above sketch has entered rather largely into details regarding two com-
paratively unimportant places. But the intention has been first to rescue from
oblivion the name of a local worthy, who has been somewhat hardly treated by
posterity ; and secondly, to illustrate by a view of the fortunes of one small
town, a curious transitional period in Indian history. After a checquered exist-
ence of five himdred years, there expired with Aurangzeb all the vital energy
of the Muhammadan empire. The English power, its fated successor, Avas
yet unconscious of its destiny and all reluctant to advance any claim to the
vacant throne. Every petty chieftain, as for example Bharat-pur, scorning the

182 INDIAN VICISSITUDES.

narrow limits of his ancestral domains, pressed forward to grasp the glittering
prize ; and spared no outlay in the attempt to enlist in his service the ablest men
of any nationality, either like Sumroo to lead his armies in the field, or like
Riip 'Ram to direct his counsels in the cabinet. Thus men, whatever their
rank in life, if only endowed by nature with genius or audacity, rose in an
incredibly short space of time from obscurity to all but regal power. The
wealth so rapidly secured was as profusely lavished ; nor was there any object
in hoarding, when the next chance of war would either increase the treasure
ten-fold, or transfer it bodily to a victorious rival. Thus, a hamlet became in
one day the centre of a princely court, crowded with magnificent buildings, aiid
again, ere the architect had well completed his design, sunk with its founders
into utter ruin and desolation.

END OF PART I.

ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.

Page 1. Add at end ofparciffraph : — The simplest and most satisfactory plan
of all would be to^make — with the Agra District — an exchange of the Jalesar
for the Farrah Pargana.

Page 7. — Among the other peculiarities of the Mathuriya Chaubes, it
should have been noted that they are very celebrated as Avrestlers.

Page 17, line 2. — I am now informed that there is an old sarde at Hodal —
■a place out of the district, and also out of the Province, whence my want of more
definite knowledge concerning it. Thus, De Laet's inaccuracy on this point
consists only in his omission of the sarae at Kosi, one of the most important of
the series.

Page 20. — Some lines of the Suni Sar, it may be curious to notice, are
almost literally translated from the Vedanta Sara of Sadananda Parivrajaka-
charya.

Page 44, hne 21. — Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, is aiithority for
the fact that Pantrenus, the teacher of Clemens Alexandrinus, preached in India
in the second century, and brought back with him to Alexandria a copy of the
Hebrew Gospel of S. Matthew. S. Chrysostom also speaks of a translation into
the Indian tongue of a Christian Gospel or Catechism.

Page 49. Add to second note : — In the Padma Purana, the name of Radha's
mother is given as Sri Kirrtida.

Page 74. — It should have been noted that the speculations regarding
Ptolemy's Kasperia are borrowed from an article of Professor H. H. Wilson's.

Page 78, line 10. — The sculptures are clearly of different dates, being
probably successive contributions to a temple which was in existence for some
hundreds of years ; but the eleventh century after Christ seems much too modern
a date for any of them.

Page 78, line 17. — A female figure of very similar character is figured at
page 36 of Mr. Oldham's Memoir of Ghazipur, among the antiquities found at
a place which he calls Aonreehar.

Page 80. Fo7' line 12, i^ead : — If there ever was any building on the Kankali
tila at aU, it must have been, &c.

Page 80, line 16. — Dele the loords "The town, no doubt, always stood on
the water's edge, but"
• Page 93, hne 20.— For ' Gaur' read Sarasvat.

( ii )

Pack 94. Add after line 24 ;— A little below the Saini Gbat is a small
mosque and group of tombs commemorating a Muhammadan Saint, Makhdura
Shah "Wilajat, of Hirdt. The tombs date ai)pareutlj from the sixteenth century,
and the architecture is in all its details so essentially of Hindu design, that,
were it not for the word 'Allah,' introduced here and there into the sculptured
decorations, there would be nothing to distinguish them from Hindu Chhattris.
Page 96, line 1'^.— After 'barber' insert the word who.
Page 101, line 32. — Add^ Some of the brass thdlis, or salvers, ai-e embos33d
with tasteful designs, and are of more finished execution.

Page 103. Add at line 19. — The foundations of the new Catholic Church, to
be dedicated to the Sacred Heart, were laid on the 18th of January, 1874, being
the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. The works are under the control of the
writer, who hopes, so far as very limited funds allow, to innovate on estab-
lished usage by the introduction of several novel architectural features, or rather
by the novel application to Christian ecclesiology of local materials and local
forms of design. Hitherto, our Indian church-builders have been content to
disfigure the land with clumsy reproductions of gothic details worked up on
eminently un-gothic principles : the effect has yet to be tried of what seems
a more promising experiment, viz., the combination of gothic principles wdtH
Indian details.

Page 115, line 16. — In the Padma Purana, Radha's incarnation is explained
in somewhat different fashion: that Vishnu, being enamoured of Vrinda, the
wufe of Jalandhara, the gods, in their desire to cure him of his guilty passion,
begged of Lakshmi the gift of certain seeds. These, when sown, came up as the
tidsi, mdlati, and dhdtri plants, which assumed female forms of such beauty that
Vishnu on seeing them lost all regard for the former object of his affections.

Page 115, line 18. — ' Exhaustive' is scarcely the correct Avord to use, since
the full number of Radhd's titles amounts to as many as 108.

Page 134, line 31 : read his four cousins, Girischaudra, Puranchandra,
Kdnti-chandra and Sarad-chandra.

Page 145, line 3 from bottom : for ' Chan ' read Chand.
Page 145, last line : for ' Subhaum bhavat' i^'ead Subham bhavatu.
Page 160. Add to line 28. — The Gosain has now converted this annual
grant into a permanent endowment.

Page 161. Add at end of section. — A large trade is done at Gokul in the
manufacture of silver toys and ornaments — figures of peacocks, cows, and other
animals and devices — which are principaly purchased as souvenirs by pilgrims.
The designs are very conventional, and the work roughly finished ; but consi-
derable taste is often displayed, and when better models are supplied, they are
copied with much readiness and ingenuity. The trade has been largely en-
couraged by Lord Ralph Kerr and other oflEicers of the 10th Royal Hussars

( iii )

who have been purchasers to the extent of more than Rs. 1,000. The articles
being of pure silver, are sold for their weight in rupees with the addition of two
anas in the rupee for the work, unless it is exceptionally well finished, when a
somewhat higher rate is demanded.

Page 174. Add to line 24. — In the garden attached to the principal Chhattri
is a house, the property of the Raja, which is obligingly placed at the dispo-
sal of European visitors.

Page 175. Add to line 27. — For many years past one of the most striking
sights of Gobardhan has been an aged Hindu ascetic, who had bound himself
by a vow of absolute silence. Whatever the hour of the day, or time of the year,
or however long the interval that might have elapsed since a previous visit, a
stranger was sure to find him sitting exactly on the same spot and in the same
position, as if he had never once stirred; a slight awning suspended over his
head, and immediately in front of him a miniature shrine containing an em-
blem of the god. The half century, which was the limit of his vow, has at length
expired; but his tongue, bound for so many years, has now lost the power of utter-
ing any articulate sound. In a little dog-kennel at the side sits another devotee,
with his legs crossed under him, ready to enter into conversation with all comers,
and looking one of the happiest and most contented of mortals; though the cell
in which he has immured himself is so confined that he can neither stand up
nor lie down in it.

INDEX TO PART I.

Abd-nl-^fajid, 17.

Abd-nn-Nabi Khau, 8, 66, 97, 98, 107.

Acha, 76,

Adwaitanand, 121.

Agarwala Baniyas, 8.

ARhasur, 36.

Ajrra City, 24, 27.

Agra Sarkiir, 2, 3.

Ahalva Bai, 114,

Ahiviisis, 7, 8, 162, 163.

Ahmad-nfigar, 52.

Ahmad Shah Durani, 24, 67.

Airavata, 38, .56.

Ajit Sinh of Marwar, 90.

Ajnokh. 50, 56.

Akbar, 3, 64, 65, 123—125, 1.^1, 172.

Akbar-pur, 5, 16, 17.

Akrur, 41, 57, 114, 141.

Ahi-ud-din, 4, 148.

Ali Bahadur, 175.

Aligarh District, 1, 3, 8, 9.

Ali^arh Fort, 67.

Allaliabad. 6.

Allah Virdi Khan, 106.

Alphonsua Liguori, S., 93.

Al-utbi, 63.

Amanabad estate 1 1.

Amar Sinh, Rana of Mewar, 14S.

Ambaii?ha, 95.

Amber, 90.

Amherst, Lord, 28.

Ananda, 62.

Anarta, 176.

Angad Sarmma Sastri, 21.

Angiras. 39, 95.

Anupa or Arupa, 176.

Anyor, 55, 169.

Arhan, 62.

Ariiig, 3, 13. 14, 55.

Arishta, 40, 55.

Arjun, 39, 44, 46, 120.

Arrian, 75, 111.

Asaf Khan, 17, 106.

Asikuuda (Jhat, 96,

Asoka, 74.

Asii-khamba, 149.

Aurangabad, 7, 69.

Aurangzeb, 22, 43, 65—67, 82, 84, 9

l'^4, 125.
Awa, 10, 11.

Azamabad Sarae, 17, 18, 106.
Azam-garh, 107.
Azam Khan, 18, 106,
Azam, Prince, 18, 22.
Azam-pur, 106.

Bahar, Emperor, 147,

Bachhals. 8.

Bachhasur, 35.

Bachh-ban, 35, 57.

Badan Sinh, Tii.aknr, 23, I S9.

Bahadur Sinh, ThaUur, 12.

Hahula-ban. 5, 55, 59, 60.

Bajravats, 7.

Bakasur, 36.

Bakhtawar, Bairagi, 9, 19

Bakht;iwar Sinh, Pachaiiri, 12.

Bakir-pur, 106.

llaladeva Gosain, 86.

Baladeva town, 8, 47, 58, 60, 161—164.

Baladeva Sinh, Raja. 2S, 173.

Balarama, 33—46, 53, 58, 75, 113.

Balavant Sinh, Eaja, 28 100, 173,

Balbhadra-kund, 78, 79, 85.

Ballabh-gaih, 25.

Ballabh Sinb, Pachauri, 12.

Hanaras. 30, 118, 154, 171.

Bandi-ganw, 58.

Ban-jatra, 53, 60,

Bans, the twelve, 54, 59.

Bar-hadd, 52, 53, GO.

Earsana, 5, 26, 48— 51, 56, 69, 60, 134, 177—180.

Basal, 55, 57.

Batesar, 53, f.O.

Bathan, 49, 51, 56, 57.

Biiti, 5, 55.

Bedar Bakht, 90,

Bel-ban, 58, 59, 60, 132,

Bengali Vaishnavas, r9, 121,

Bernier, 82.

Bernouilli, 7.

Bhadra ban, 37, 58 . 60.

Bhagawan Das, Kaja of Jay-pur, 97, 125, 145,

172.
Bhagawant Sinh of ^Tursan, 8, 9,
Bhagavat Purana, 31, 32.
Bhaiyaehari tenure, 13.
Bhalit Mala, 128—130.
Bhakt Sinh, Thakur, 10, 11.
Bhandir ban, 87, 45, 58, 59, 60, 115.
Bhanokhar, 5, 17 8.
Bhao Sinh, Raja, 125.
Bharatas, 2.

Bharat pur, 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 21 — 29,
Bluir Mall, or Bihari Mall, Raja of Jay-pur, 97,.

172.
Bharna, 6.
Bhat-rond, 57, 114.
Bhau-ganw, 49, 57.
Bhikha, Brahman, 57.
Bhima, 44, 46, 54, 65, 176.

Bhim, Eaja of Rajmahal, 146.

Bhi'shma, 168, 169.

Phoja, 32.

Bhupat Sinh, Pacliauri, 1 2.

Blmtesvar, temple of, 78, 81, 83, 104.

Biana, 12, 21.

Biliar-ban, 57.

Bijay Sinh, Kajii. 25.

Bijay Sinh.Thaknr, 10, 11.

Eir Sinh Deva, Bundela, 66.

Bir Siuh, Raja Chanhan, 134.

Biruni, 44.

Bitthal-nath, Gosain, )55.

Blochmann, Mr., 18, 97, 101,

Eoddam, Mr., 13.

Bodlii-satwa, 62.

Bopadeva, 32.

Brahmanda Ghat, 58.

Brahmdnda Pin-ana, 152.

Brahma Samaj, 117

Brahma Sambaudh, 155—158.

Brahma-Vaivarta FMima, 49, 50, 115.

Brahm Kuiul, 110— i 16.

Braj, 30, 44, 46, 47—60.

Braj Bihis, 5rt, 164.

Brihat Sanhlta, 2, 22.

Brikli-bhaii-p'jkhar, 5, 178.

Brinda-ban, 8, 9, 32, 35, 37, 40, 42, 57— 59,'60, 70;

113—144, 152.
Biidha 2, 46.

Buddhism, 30, 31, 43, 61—64.
Buddhist antiquities, 72—81.
Buddhist sites, 104, 105.
Buddh Sinh, Thakur, 10, 12.
Bundehi, 144.
Bundel-khand, 175.
Burhan Shaikh, 131.
Burhiya-ka-kherii, 58.
Burlton, Lieutenant, 68, 69.
Byomasur, 41.
Byom Sar, the, 9, 19.

Calendar for Brinda-ban, 140—143.

Calendar for Matlmra, 110—112.

Cantomuents, 103.

Chacholi, 6.

Chaitanya, 121, 124.

Chaksauli, 56.

Champarauya, 154.

Chandra-prabhu, 8.

Chandra Sarovar, 55, 181.

Chanur, 40, 41, 85, 88.

Charan Pahar, 56.

Chatiir-bhuj, Thakur, 10.

Chaube iirahman.s 6, 7, 70, 84.

Chaunmha, 16 — 18.

Chaunisi Varta, 158, 159, 164—167.

Chhahiri, 35.

Chhatii, 3, 5, 6, 17, 18, 47, 59, 68—70.

Chhatikra, 57.

Chir Ghat, 38, 57.

Cliinta-baran Ghat, 58.

Chitor, 149.

Christ and Krishna compared, 44.

Churaniani, Jat, 22,23,

Churches, 103.

Chiiri, Seths of, 109.

Clisobora, 151, 152.

Conibcrmere, Lord, 28, 174.

Court-house, 70, 72, 103.

Cunningham, General, 21, 22, 72, 76, 78, 79, 81,

82. 150— ir,2.
Customs-hedge, 16.

Dah-gauw, 51, 57.

Daksha, 88.

Hamodar, 35.

Damodar of Kashmir, 75.

Damodar Das, 154.

Dan Ghat, 175.

Diingoli, 58.

Dara, Prince, 65, 97.

Dasuamis, the, 175.

Uanlat-abad, 32.

Daulat Rao, Sindhia, 67.

DaulH Sinh, of Hal, 10, 11.

Daya Ram, of Ilathras, 8, 9, 19, 20.

DeLaet, 15, 16.

De la Hire, 91.

Delhi, 25—27.

Delhi road, 15—17.

Deva-ban, in Saharanpur, 121.

Devaki, 33, 34, 46.

Devapi, 169.

Devi Sinh, Jat, 69.

Dhadhu, 28.

Dhakaras. 11.

Dham Sinha, 6.

Dhara patau Ghat, 95.

Dhenuk, 37, 55.

Dhritarashtra, 31.

Dhruva, 95.

Dig, 22, 26—28, 67, 69, 139.

Digambaras, 8.

Dighiyas, 7.

Dig-pal, l{aja of Maha-ban, 148.

Dilawar Khan, Jamadar, 69.

Dirgha Vishnu, ^8.

Dispensary at Mathura, 102.

Diwali at Gobardhan, 171.

Doab, 1, 2, 24.

Dotana, 17.

Durjan Sal, 28.

Durjodhau, 31,44.

Durvasas, 95.

Dwaraka, 31, 43,81. 177.

Dwarakadhis, Seth's temple of, 99.

Elliot's Glossary, 7, U, 62.

Fa Ilian, 61, 62, 81, 104, 151.

Faiz AH Khi'in, Nawab, 12.

Farrukh-abad, 67.

Farrukh-nagar, 24.

Fatili-pur Sikri, 27.

Fergusson's Architecture, 78, 160.

Plrishta, 63, 04.

Fort at Maha-ban, 148, 149.

INDEX.

Fort at Mathura, 90, 91.
Fraser, Major-General, 67.

Gandhara, 75.

Ganges Canal, 1, 13.

Ganthauli, 55.

Garden, Public, 103,

Gargi-Sargi, 94.

Gnur Brahmans, 6.

Gaurua Thakurs, 8.

Ghantabharan Ghat, 94.

(ihats, tlie, of Brinda-han, 143.

Ghats, the 24, of Mathura, 93-97.

Gluizi-ud-din, 23, 24.

(Ihulani Hnsain, Deputy Collector, 6H.

Ghulaiu Kadir, 27, 67.

Giridhar Lai, Gosain, 99

Giri-prasad, Pandit, 21, 159.

Giridhar-pur, 106.

Girinij, 1G9, 170, 176.

Giris Chandra Sinh, Babu, 134, 144.

Gobaidhan, S, 5, 6, 14, 28, 33—38, 40, 44, 55, 59,

60, '55, 169—177.
Gobind, 39.

Gobind Das, Seth, 91, 112, 134.
Go bind Deva temple, 123—127, 145, 146.
G.bhid Kund, 116.
Gcbind Sinh, Haja, 9, 71.
Gohar-pur 4.
Gokarn, 94.
G 'kharauli, 10, 12.

Gokul, 7, 28, 33—35, 44, 51, 5S— 60, 84, 15.3—161
Gokulnath, Gusiiin, 155 — 158, 160.
Goloka, 115
Gonarda, 31, 75.
Gopal Bhatt, 122, 141.
Gopiil-pur, 68.

Gopinath, temple of, 131, 132.
Gusains of Brindii-ban, 122.
Governr.rs of Mathura, 106, 107.
Greeks at Mathura, 73,
Gujars, 47, 71.
Gurganw, 1, 3.

Hakim-un-Nissa, Thakurani, 12.
Hamilton, Mr., 13,
Hansgunj, 6, 8, 174.
Hardeva liaklisli, 23.
Hardinge, Mr. Bradford, 100.
Hari Das, Swami, 122.
Harideva, temple of, 172 — 174.
Harivansa, 32, 44, 54,
Hari^ansa, Gosain 121.
Hari Vyasa, Bhatt, S6.
Harvey, Mr. Robert, 134, 145.
Haryasva, 46, 176.
Hasan Ali Khan, 66, 107.
Hasangarh, H.
Hataiia, !3, 57.
Hathras, 1, .3, 8,9, 102.
Heber, Bishop, 15, 99.

Hemadri, 32.

Hcrculeg, 75, 151.

High School, 102.

Himmat Bahadur, Gosain, 175.

Hiranya Kasipu, 85.

Hira Sinh, Subadar, 70.

Hira Sinh, Thakur, 10.

Hodal, 26

Holi Gate, 100.

Holkar, 55, 28

Hushka or Huvishka, 74, 7 7, 105.

Hwen Thsang, 2, 61 — 63, 71, 79, tO.

Ikshvaku,46,176.

Indra, 38, 56

Indra-prastha, 31.

Irshad Ali Khan, Kunvar, 10, 12.

Isa-pur, 6, lOG.

Isa Tarkhan, Mirza, 106.

Islamabad, 3, 65, 67,

Ismail Beg, 27.

Itawa, 98.

Itibar Khan, 17.

Jacquemont, 99.

Jadon Thakurs. 8, 10, 11, 30—32, 44.

Jadunath, Gosain, 155, 159.

Jiifar Kluin, 107.

Jahangir, 172.

Jahangir-pur, 58.

Jahan Khan, Sardiir, 24.

Jail, the, 103

Jait, 16, 49, 134.

Jakhaiya, 153.

Jakhin-ganw, 55.

Jalal-pur Sarae, 16, 17, 76.

Jalesar, 1, 3, 4, 6 10, 148.

Jama Masjid, 97, 98.

Jamuna 47, 48, 113.

Jamuua Bagh, 100.

Jambu Swami, 8.

Janaki Ban ji, 159.

Jaraaandha, 30, 31, 43, 41, 46, 75.

Jasavant Sinh, Kaja, 29.

Jasavant Kao, Holkar, 67.

Jasavats, 8.

Jasdda, 34, 36, 42, 44, 94.

Jatharas, 21, 22.

Jatharotpati, the, 21.

Jatipura, 169, 171.

Jat9,the, 2, 3, 21—29, 47.

Jau, 56, 134.

Jawahir Sinh, Raja, 10, 24, 25, 173.

Jawan Hakht, Mirza, 24.

Jaya-pida, 75.

Jay -pur, 9, 12, 23, 25, 27, 84, 90, 125, 127.

Jay-piir, Maharaja of, 126, 155.

Jay-Siuhpura, 8, 114.

Jay Sinh Sawae, 22, 90, 91, 98, 13 i, 138, 143, 1(

Jiva (JupiterJ, 2.

JIva, Gosain, 122.

INDEX.

Jonranidra, 34, 94, 149,
Joti Prasad, contractor, 91.
Jusbka, 74.

Kahir, 117, 11 f.

Kachhwahas, 8, 25.

Kiila ncmi, 33.

Kala-yavaiia, .31, 43.

Kali-mardan Gliat, 37, 127.

Kali Sundari, Chaudhanini, 116.

Kaliya, 3t;, 152.

Kalyan Siuh, Pachauri, 10, 12.

Kamai, 56.

Kam-ban, 56, 59, 60, 85.

Kiimar, 23, 49.

Kanauj, 2.

Kanchi, 81, 119.

Kandi, 133, 13-1.

Kfuiishka, 74, 77.

Kankali tlla, 76—78, 80, 81, 105.

Kaukarauli, 84, 100.

Kansa, 30, 32—34, 40—42, 46.

Kana-ka tila, 42, 79.

Kans-khar, 92.

Karalila, 49, 56, 60, 134,

Karatuat Ali, Maulvi, 70.

Karan Sinh, liana of Mewar, 146.

Kama, 31, 4G, 75.

Kasim Khan, 107.

Kauravas, the 31, 75.

Kedara, 115.

Keene, Mr. H. G., 29.

Kesari, Kaja, 25.

Kesava, 40.

KesaTa Bhatt, 95, 96.

Kesava Deva, temple of, 66, 62 — 84, 8S.

Kesi, 40.

Kcso-pur, 8.

Khaira, 5, 36, 50, 54, 56.

Khajurao, 124.

Khandauli, 3.

Khelban, 67.

^'Irat (Kalavati), 58, 178.

Kistiitit-earb, 28.

Kishori, Rai'i, -26, 1.19, 174.

Kokila-ban, 49, 56, ;, 9, 60.

Kokila, Jat, 66.

Kol, 3.

Kosi, 3,4, 5, 6, 8, 13, 16, 17, 26, 47, 68, i

Kosi, Little, 13.

Kot-bau, 26, 52, 57.

Krishna, 30—60, 75, 81, 93, 147, 152.

Krishna Deva, Eaja, 154.

Kubja, 41, 86.

Kulchand, R:ija, 63.

Kumbbir, 26.

Kumud-ban, 55, 59, 60.

Knndal-pnr, 43.

Kundan Lai S:ih, 112, 137.

Kunjesat Baladeva, 162.

Kuiijcs at brinda-ban, 139.

Kunti or Pritha, 46, 75.

Kunvar Pal, Riija, 11.

Kiirauli, 1 1.

Kusam Sarovar, 5, 25, 173, 174.

Kusaiitbali 81.

Kushal, Setli, 109, 114.
Kuvalaya Pida, 41.

Lachman Das, Seth, 92.

Lake, Lord, 9, 28, 67.

Lakshmau Uas of Marsana, 52, 178.

Lakhrai Chand, .Seth, 8, 69, 70, 86, 91, 98 119.

Lakshnii Narayan, Byiis, 137.

Lakshmi Narayan, Kaj;i, 125.

Laid Babu, 10,'lj2— 134, J44, U5, 179, 181.

Lalsot, 27

Ldrli Ji, temple of, 177.

Lavann, .<)2, 4t;, 55, 176.

Lavaniya Tbakurs, 178.

Lethbridge, Mr., 15, 125.

Loha-ban, 5S, 60.

Madan Mohan, temple of, 127 — 130,

Madhu, 46, 54, 104, 176.

Madhu-ban, 32, 46, 54, 55, 176.

Madhvacharya, 1 20.

Magadha, 30, 31, 43, 44.

Maha-ban, 1, 3, 4, 8, 13, 34, 35, 47, 58—60, 63, 65,

81. 105, 147-153.
Maha-ban festivals, 153.
Mahabharat, 31, 32.
Mahallas of Brinda-ban, 14-3, 144.
Mahallas of Mathura, 107.
Maha Kam, Jilt, 23.
Mahavidya Devi, 87,
Mahavira, 8.
Mahi-bhan, 177.

Mahmiid of Ghazni, 63, 64, 147.
Maholi, 3, 5, 32, 54, 55, 104, 134,
Mainpuri, 2, 5, 7, 148, 153.
Maklian, Misr, 9.3.
Makhaii pur, 153.
Makramat Khan, 107
Malakanas, 4.

Manasi Ganga, 21, 170—172.
Mangi Lai, Keth, 69.
Mangotla, 3.

Mani Ram, Setli, 8. 91, 133.
Manohar-pur Mosque, 89.
Man Sarovar, 58, 181.
Man Sinh I., 90, 125, 131, 145, 171.
Man Sinh IL, 137, 143.
ilanvati, 58.
Marna, 6, 56.
JMiirland, 52.
Mat, 3, tf, 13, ."5, 47, 58.
Mathura Mahalmya, 6, 59, 92 — 96,
Mathura-nath, temple of, 147.
Matthew, Saint, 44.
Merath, 27, 6f.
Metcalfe, Sir Charles, 28.
Mir Inidad Ali Klian, 70.
Misa, 10.
Mokal, 131.
Mor-ban, 55.
Moti Sinh, Thakur, 12.
Maazzam, Prince, 22.
Muhammad Anwar, y8.
Muhammad-pur, 6, 55.
Muhammad Shah, 89, 91.

INDEX.

Muhammarl Sultan, 65.
Mu:iiin-aba 1, 5, 116.
Municipality of Brinda-ban, 139.
Municipality of ^lathura, 102.
Jfurad, Prince, 65, 6-j.
Mursan, 1, 3, 8, 9.
Mushtika, 40, 42 85, 89.
Mustaf-abad, 2, 153.

Nabha Ji, 129.

Nadiya, 121, 1.33.

Nahar Sinh, Haja, 55.

Kaiii-sukh, Siran^i, 8.

Najaf Khan, 26, 27.

2\ajib-ud-daula 24.

Kanda, .33, 35, 36, 39—42, 57, 149.

Nand gainv, 49, 50, 56, 59, 6;', 134,

Nanrt gliat, 49, 57.

Karayan, Hhatt, 59.

Narayan Swdmi, 87.

Nari, lO, 57.

Nar-siuha; 85, 86, 110, 141.

Iv'ath-dwara, 84, 170.

Nachu Lai, Tahsildar, 70.

Naus^ania, l(i5.

Kaval 8inh, Raja, 25, 26.

Nek Ram Sinh, 9.

Kicdiolls, Kev, W. W., 68.

Nidh-han, 123.

Nimliarak Sainpradaya, 95, 96, 103.

Nit-a land, 121, 124.

Kivasacharya SMami, 136, 137.

Nixon, ( aptain, 6B.

Niyaz Khan, 26.

Noh, 3.

Noh-jhil, 3, 15P, 151.

Non-karan, Shaikhawat, 131, 132.

Ochterlony, Sir David, 28.
P.

Padma Purana, 21.

J ai-ganw, 5i.'.

Paikpara Estate, 144, 145.

Paitha, 55

Pancbajana, 42.

Pancliala, 53, 74.

Pandavas, 75, 87.

Panilu, 3!, 46.

Panipat, 24, 26.

?an iSaTovar, 56, 181.

Parasuraoi Siuh, Pachaiiri, 12,

Parasar Brahmans, 148.

Parilch .Ji, 91.

Parsoli, 5, 55.

Parsvauath; 8.

Pataliputra'or Palibothra, 73, 74, 151.

Patui Mall, Kaja, 87, 88.

Perron, Monsieur, 67,

Phatak Ahirs, 148.

Pilhora, 11.

PiloU, 6.

Piparauli. 58.
Fir-pur, 57.
Pisayo, 49, 56.
Pitambar Sinh, Eaja, 11.
Playfair, Dr., 72.
Pliny, 151.
Potara-kund, 33. 85.
Pontoon bridge, 89.
I'rabhasa, 42.
Pragwalas, 6.
Prahlad, 86.
Pralamba, 37, 5^
Prami da, kinc; of Mathura, 76.
Pran Kunvar, Thakuruai, 1 2.
Pran-nathis, the, 118.
Pratap Sinh, Jat, 23.
'ratap Sinh, Kaja of Jay-pur 137
Preni Sagar, 32.
Prem Sarovar, 56, 59, 178.
Frit hi Sinh, Raja of Awa, 8, 10, 11.
Prithi Sinh, Rao of Amber, 146.
Priya Das, 129.
Ptolemy, 74, 75.
Puchhri, 170.

Purau Chand, Pachauri, 12.
Puriiravas, 46.

Purushottam Lai, Gosain, 10, 112, 159, 160.
Pushkara lake, 25
Putana, 34, .35, 152,
Putana-khiir, 152.

Radha, 32. 49—59, 115, 120, 177.

Radha Gopal, temple of, 138.

Radha Krishan, Seth, 91, 92, 134, 136.

Radha-kuiid, 40, 55, 59, 60, 133.

Radha Vallahhis, 119-121,

Rae-sil, Shaikhawat, 131, 132.

Raghunath Das, Seth, 91, 112.

Rahula, 62.

Railway to Mathura 102.

Raja Tarangini, 74, 75.

Hajauli, 10,

Rajeudra Lai .Mithra, 73, 74.

Haj Siuh, Ra^a, 84.

Ral, 10, 11.

Rama, 32.

Hamanak, 37.

Uamanand, 129.

Ramanuja, 91, 11!', I35.

Kam Chand, Pachauri 12.

Ram Tal, 12s.

Riina Katira, 148, 149.

Handiiir Sinh, Raja, 9, 28, 139, 173.

Rangacharya Swami, 10, 91, 112, 134 136, 139

152.
Rang Ji, temple of, 91, 119, 134—137.
Hani Sahib Kunvar, 9.
Ran jit Sinh, Uaja, 25 — 28, 139.
Rankata, J C,
Ras-dharis, 53.
Kas-maudal, 39.
Ratu Sinh, Chaudhari, 68.
Hatn Siuh, Kaja, 25.
Kaval, 58, 59.
Raya, 8, 69.

INDEX.

Kazi-ud-din, 66.
Eevati, 46, 162.
Eirha, 161, 162.
Rithora, 56.
Bobertson, IMr., 14.
Kohini, 33, 34, 46.
Kukinini, 43, 46.
Eupa. Gosain, 122, I25.
Eup Ram, Katara, 51, 94, 177

Sa'dabad, 1, 3, 4, 8, 13.

Sa'dullah Khan, 3.

Safdar Jang, n azir. 23, 24.

Saff-Shikan Khan, C6, 1U7.

Sahilr, 3, 13, '^3, 28.

Sahora, 66, as.

Sahpau. 8.

Saketa, 74.

Sakhis, the eight, 177.

Sakya Muni, 61, 62.

Salim-garh, 6fi.

Samarpana, form of, 157.

Sami Ghat, 94.

Samoizaih, 65, 97.

Sanadhs, 6

Saiiatana, Gosain, 122, 125.

San.-hanli, 57.

Saniiipani 42.

Sandila, 128.

Sankarshana, 33.

Sankasya, 2.

Sankliasur, 42.

banket, 50, .'J6 60.

Sankhari khor, 56 179.

Sankh-chur, 40, li5.

Santanu, 168, 169.

Sarae.s, Imperial, 16, 18.

Sara.svati kund, 86.

SarauuiB, 8.

Sardar Ali, 4, 148.

Sariputia, 6', 62. 81.

Sarvar Sultan, 108.

Sati Burj, 97.

Satoha, 12, 55, !04, 168, 169.

Satru«hna, 32, 64, 55, 176.

Sessai, 57.

Shah Alam I., 90.

Shah Ahun II., 24, 25, 28.

Shahjahan, 65, 106, 146, 147.

Shah-pur, 3, 4.

Shaikhawats, 90, \^\

Shanisher, Bahadur, 175.

bliams-vid-din, 147.

Shergarh, 3, 5, 54, 67.

Shtr Shah, 17, 54, 57.

Shikoh-ftbad, 2

Shuja, Prince, 106.

Siddhanta Rahasya, 156.

Sikandar Lodi, 61.

Sinsini, 29.

Sirhind, 98.

Sirdh.ana, 20.

Sisupiil, 43, 46.

Sitala Ghati, 98.

Siva Tal, 87.

Siyara, 38, 57.

Sona, 52, 53, 60.

Sonai, 8.

Sonkh, 8.

Sonsa, 42

Sridama, 37, 177.

Srinalli, temple of, 155, 170.

Sringd'-bat, temple of, 132.

Sri Siimpradaya, 119.

Suda.na, 41.

Sudarsan, .^9.

Sudliarnia, 8

Sultan Kuii Khan, 107.

Suniitra, 55.

Sumroo, 56.

Sun! Sar, the, 9, 19.

Snnrakh, 8, 12S.

Suraj Mall, 2:j-26, 139, 173, 174.

Suraj-bhati of Agra, 1C3.

Surasen, 52.

Suraseni, 53, 76, 151.

Sur Das, 128—131.

Svctambaras, 8.

Syani Lala, shrine of, 149.

Tal-ban, 37. 45, 55.

Taiitia Thakurs, i78.^

Tai a-chand, Kachhwaha, 55.

Tarsi, 55.

Tavernier, 16, 80, 82—84, 104.

Taylor, Mr. E. F., 98.

Temple of Dwarakadhis, 99.

iJitto Gobind Deva, 12.J— 127, 146, 146.

Ditto Gopinath, 131, 132.

Ditto .Jngal-kishor, 132.

Ditto Larii Ji (Barsana) 177.

Ditto Madan M dian, 127 — 130.

Ditto Mathurd-nath, 1 47, 148.

Ditto Mand Hae, 180.

Ditto Radha Gopal, 138.

Ditto Radha Indra Kishor, 138.

Ditto Radhi Raman, 137.

Ditto Hang Ji, 134—37.

Ditto Sringar-bat, 132.
Temples in Gokul, 161.

,, „ Mathui-a City, 08, 109.
Thomas, Saint, 44.
Thoruhill. Mr. Mark, 68, 70, 101.
Thornton's Gazetteer, 22.
Thun^ 22, 23.
Tietfeuthaller, Father, 7, 17, 63, 98, 116, 127,

151.
Tikiim Sinh, Raja, 9.
Tikani Sinh, Thakur, 12.
Tikari Rani's temi^le, 138.
Tindi.k, 93, 96.
Tirhiit, 31
Todar Mall, 129,
Tod's liajasthan, 21, 91.
Tush, 36, 55.
Trinavart, 34,35, 148.

Uday Karan, Raja, 131.

INDEX.

Udipi, '20.

Ugrasen, 30—33, 42, 43, 46, 53.

Ujjaiyin, 42.

Umar-garh, ,10, 12.

Uncha-ganw (Chhata), 56, 59, 178.

IjDcha-ganw (Mathura,) 55.

Upabans, the, 54, f<9.

Upagupta, 62, 80, 81.

Upendra, 39,

Usha, 46.

Vaishaava Reformers, 117.

Vaishnava Sampradayas, 119 — 121.

"Vajra, 46.

Vallabhacharya, 119, 121, 154, 155.

Vallabhacharya literature, 164 — 167.

Vallabhacharya doctriues, 153 — 161.

Varaha Miliira, 2.

Vararuchi, 5.

Varuna, 57.

Vasudeva, 33 — 35, 42, 46, 149.

Vidarbha, 43^ 46.

Vijaynagar, 154.

Vira Bhadra, 88.

Vishnu Purana, 32, 92.

Vishnu Swarai Sampradaya, 119, 154.

Visrant Ghat, 42, 58, 92, 93.

Vraja Bhakti-Vilasa, 59, 60, 94, 180.

Vrisha-Bhauu or brikh-bhan, 149, 56, 77.

Wealthy residents of Mathura, 112.
Wilson, Professor H. H., 113, 159.

Yahya, Sufi, of Mash-had, 4, 148,149.
Yamin-ud-daula, 106.
Yavanaa, 31.
Yudhishthir, 46.

Zabita Khan, 26, 27.

^m ^T^ ^ ITTXTT^sm r^^l^ZTT JlT^fr^f^

M A T H U R A

DISTRICT lEMOIK.

5 _^ : J

& BY ^5

r. S, GROWSE, M.A.,

BP BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE.

18 74:.

PRINTED AT THE NOSTH-WESTERN PROVINCES' GOVERNMENT PRESS.

aj 'm3JJiX\ f ?T ^1^ n^^'g T^^^lrT

TO TJIE READER.

In consequence of the official jDractice of spelling all Indian
names phonetically, the following village lists acquire an accidental
value for the philologist, as being probably the only attempt yet
made to exhibit with accuracy and completeness the local nomen-
clature of the whok of a definite tract of country.

In preparing such a catalogue there are three main impedi-
ments to be surmounted:— /r.vf, the dullness of the English ear in
distinguishing between dental and cerebral letters, and in detecting
the presence or otherwise of an aspirate. Hence the difficulty so
frequently experienced in telling sdt^ 'seven,' from sdth, 'sixty';
Jdt from jdt ; and Idt, 'a kick,' from latli., ' a club' : though iu these
two particulars a native of the country is never at fault. Sccondlj/,
the dullness of the Indian ear in distinguishing between the
short vowels, which constantly leads to the substitution in vulgar
writing of i for a ; and thirdly, the fancy of office clerks for assimi-
lating Hindi words which they do not understand to Persian words
of somewhat kindred sound, from which they imagine them to have
been corrupted. In my first draft the errors arising from these
causes were numerous, and it is possible that some may yet re-
main for future elimination.

A study of the lists suggests two remarks of some little import-
ance in the history of language. First, so many names that at a
hasty glance appear utterly unmeaning can be positively traced
back to original Sanskrit forms as to raise a presumption that the
remainder — though more effectually disguised — will ultimately be
found capable of similar treatment : a strong argument being thus
afforded against those scholars who maintain that the modern Ver-
nacular is impregnated with a very large non-Aryan element.
Secondly, the course of phonetic decay in all its stages is so strictly
in accord with the rules laid down by the Prdkrit Grammarians,

( ii )

as to demonstrate that the Prdkrit of the dramas (to which the
rules particularly apply), even though extinct at the time when
the dramas were composed for the delectation of a specially learned
audience, had once been the popular language of the country, and
as Anglo-Saxon imperceptibly developed into modern English, so
has Priikrit been transmuted into modern Hindi — more by the
gradual loss of its inflections than by the violent operation of any
external influences.

Mathura : f
May 10th, 1874. j F. S. GROWSE.

CONTENTS OF PART II-

Page.

Section I. — Pargana Kosi ... ... ... ... ... 1

Town of Kosi ... ... ... ... ... 3

Bathaa ... ... ... ... ... ... 7

Dotana ... ... ... ... ... ... 8

Kamar ... ... ... ... ... ... 9

Shah-pur ... ... ... ... ... .. 10

Alphabetical List of Kosi Tillages ... ,m ... 12

Sectiok n.— Pargana Chhaia ... ... ... ... ... 18

Chaumuha ,.. ... „, „<, ... 21

Chhata ... ... ... ... .. ... 22

Sahar ... ... ... ... ... ... 22

Sher-garh... ... ... ... ... ... 23

Alphabetical List of Chhata villages ... ... ... 24

Section IIL— Pai-gana Mathura ... ... ... ... ... 37

AriDg ... ... ... ... ... ... 38

Aurangabad ... ... ,,. ... ... 39

Alphabetical List of Mathura villages ... ... ... 40

Section IV.— Pargana Mat ... ... ... ... ... 60

Town of Mat ... ... ... ... ... 65

Bajana ... ... ... ... ... ... 66

Noh-jhil ... ... ... ... ... ... 67

Surir ... ... ... ... ... ... 62

Alphabetical List of Mat villages ... ... ... 70

Section V. — Pargana Maha-ban ... ... ... ... ... 86

Alphabetical List of Maha-ban villages ... ... ... 8D

Section VL — Pargana Sa'dabad ... ... ,„ ... ... 105

Alphabetical List of Sa'dabad villages ... ... ... 108

Section "VII.— Pargana Jalesar ... ... ... ... ... 121

Town of Jalesar ... ... ... ... ... 125

Awa ... ... ... ... ... 127

L^mar-garh ... ... ... ... „, 128

Alphabetical List of Jalesar villages ... ... ... 129

Scpplementart Village Notes —

Kosi ... ... ... ... ... ... 139

Chhata ... ... ... ... ... ... 141

Mathura ... ... ... ... ... ... 144

MiSCELLANEODS STATISTICS ... ... ... ... ... 148

Appendix A.— Indian Caste ... ... ... ... ... 163

Appendix B. — Latest results of Archaeological research ... ... ... 171

Glossary ,., „. ... ... ,., ... ... 177

PART II.

I.— PARGANA KOSI.

The Pariranfi of Kosi is tlie most northei'n of the three on the ■wcstei'n side
of the Jaimin;i and bordei-s on the district of Glur^aon. It is tlie smallest of
the Matlmrd seven, having an area of 152 square miles, or 97,301 acres, and
yields an annnnl revcime of Rg. 1,52,013. Its villages, only sixty-one in number,
with six exceptions are all bhaii/dc/fdri, divided into infinitesimal shares among the
whole of the community ; so that, barring a few shopkeejiers and menial servants,
every resident is to some extent a ])roprietor. In the ordinary course of events, all
■would be not only members of the same caste, but also descendants of one man,
the founder of the settlement ; but in many instances, in spite of the right of i)re-
emption, several of the subordinate shart^s have been bought up by oiatsiders. A
fresh assessment is made jn-ivately every year ; and, according to the amount of
land actually under cultivation, each tenant-proprietor pays his quota, at so much
per biglia, into the treasury, and enjoys the remaining profits as his private income.
The (xovernment denumd is realized tlii'ough the head-men or himberdars, of
whom there are several in each village. As a natural result of this minute sub-
division of estates, there is not a single landed proprietor in the wliole pargana
of any social distinctioii. Tlie two wealthiest inhabitants are both traders in
the town of Kosi,— Chunni Lai, son of Mohan Lai, and Kushali Ram, son of
Lai Ji IMail, with incomes of Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 4,943, respectively. The former
has no land at all, the other owns one small village.

Of the six zamindiiri villages, only two were so previous to the last settlement ;
viz., P;'ikhar-pur, the property of Kushuli Ram abo\'e mentioned, and Jau, a
purchase of the Laid Babu. The other four have acquired their exceptional
character only Avithin the last few years; Garhi having been bought from the
Jats by Sah Kundan L^l, of Lakhnau ; Majhoi and Ram-pur having been con-
ferred, after the mutiny, on Raja Grobind Sinh, of Hathras, and Chauki on Shiv
Bahay Mall, of Delhi, at the same time. One mahal of Chaundras has also quite
recently been constituted into a zaminddri ; and two or three other villages, now
in the hands of money-lending mortgagees, will probably become so before long.
The Muhammadans number only 8,()G8 out of a total population of 74,211),
and, with the exception of a few scattered families, are almost confined to seven
places, viz., Barha, Bisambiiara, Dotana, Jalal-pur, Kosi, Mahroli, and Shah-pur,

2 PARGANA KOSI.

At three of tbeso, viz.^ Bisambliara, Dotdna and Jalal-pur, they even slightly
outnumber the Hindus.

The predominant Hindu castes are Juts, Gauruas^and Jadons, and there are
also a considerable number of" Gujars, though these latter have now in every
]>lace ceased to be proprietors. They nmster stronger in the adjoining pargana
of CIiLata, and were ringleaders of disaffection during the mutiny. In conse-
quence, eight of their villages — Majhoi and Hani-pur in Kosi ; Basai, Husaini,
Jatwari, Karahri, Khnrsi, and Ujhani in Chhata — were cimfiscatcd and con-
ferred on Raja Gobind Sinh. They had previously disposed of their four other
Chhata villages, Chamar-garbi, Dhimri, Gulal-pur and Pir-pur, to the Lala
Babu. Tlie course of years has not reconciled the ejected community to their
changed circumstances, and so recently as the 29th of September, 1872, the
widowed Rani's agent. Jay Ram Sinh, was, in result of a general conspiracy,
barbarously murdered at night while sleeping in the Jatwai-i chaupdl. Si.-c of
the murderers were apprehended, and, after conviction of the crime, were sen-
tenced to death, but one escaped from the jail before the sentence was executed.
In the year 1857, the period during which there was no recognition of any
government whatever extended from the 12th of July to the 5th of December.
With the exception of the Gitjars, who assembled at Slier-garh and distinctly
declared themselves indopendent, there was little or no ill-feeling towards the
British Crown expressed by any class of the poi)ulation ; though many persons
took advantage of the favourable opportnnity for paying off old scores against
ill neighbours, and especially for avenging themselves on their natural ene-
mies— tlie Pafwdris or village accountants and /jo/irrts or money-lenders. Thus
there was a pitched battle between Hatdna and the adjoining village of Banswa
in Gurgaon ; the patwaris at Barha and Bisambhara had all their papers des-
troyed ; at Pakhar-pur, Ganga Dan, bohra, was plundered by the zamindars of
Kadona and Sirthala ; at Kotban, Dhan-raj, bobra, was only set at liberty on
payment of a ransom ; and at Little Bathan, Lckhraj, buhra, after seeing all his
papers seized and burnt, was himself \)\\i to death. The Jats of Kamar, after
plundering Moti Ram, bohra, proceeded to turn the police out of the place, and
raised a flame which spr(?ad across the border into the adjoining district ; but
thoy afterwards atoned for this indiscretion by the assistance which they gave
to the Deputy Collector, Imdad 'Ali, in suppressing the Gujars**

The trees mast commonly foimd growing wild in the pargana are the nim and
the //t/?i, while every \Aqoq of waste ground (and there are several such tracts
of large extent,) is dotted with clumps of haril. The soil is not suited to the
growth of tlie mango, and there are scarcely any considerable gro\'es either of

• Tln> Akiioiid of Suiit, the virtual ruler of all the inflcpendciit tribes from Kibul to reshii\yar
and fnim Swat to Siiulh, is a Gujar by descent, and maintains the traditions of his race in bis,
iuvfcttrate antipathy to the British Government.

PAKOANA KOSI. 3

that or indeed of any other tree ; the one at Shah-pur beinjT the only notable
exception. Of the total area of 97,301 acres, there are 71,490 of aral)le land ;
the crops most extensively gro vn l:>eing jodr, chand, and barley. The vrheat
sold at the Ko;^i market comes chiefly from across the Jamnna. The number
of wells has been much increased in late years and is now put at 1,379, of which
846 are of masonry construction. The Jamuna which forms the eastern
boundary of the pargana, is crossed by ferries at Shah'j)ur, Khair^l and "Majhci.
The new Agra Canal will pass through the villages of Hataua, Kharot, Hasan-
pur Nagara, Kosi, Aziz-pur, Tumaula, and Dham Sinha, a length of ten miles,
and will be bridged at Kharot, Kosi, Aziz-pur, and Tumaula. The high road to
Delhi traverses the centre of the pargana, })assing through the town of Kosi and
the villages of Kotban, Aziz-pur and Dotaua ; and from the town of Kosi there
is a first-class unmetalled road to Sher-garh, a distance of eleven miles. The
Ilalkabandi or Primary schools are twelve in number, being one for every five
villages, an unusually favourable average : ihe attendance, however, is scarcely
so good as in some other parts of the district; as it is difKcnlt to convince a
purely agricultural population that tending cattle is not always the most pro-
fitable occupation in which boys can be employed.

In additiun to the capital, there are only four places which merit special
notice, viz., Bathan, Uotana, Kamar and Shah-pur.

Kosi is a flourishing municipality and busy mai'ket town, twenty-six miles
from the city of Mathuni, most advantageously situated in the very centre of
the pargana to which it gives a name and on the high road to Delhi. As this
road was only constructed as a relief work in the famine of 1860, it avoids all
the most densely inhabited quarters, and the through traveller sees little from
it but mud walls and the backs of houses. The Agra Canal, which will probably
be opened in 1875, runs nearly parallel to it still further back, and a bridc;e
has already been built at the point where it crosses the road leading to Majhoi
and Sher-garh. A second bridge is in course of construction at Aziz-pur, a
mile out of the town on the road to Mathura.

The zamindars are Jats, Shaikhs, and Brahmans; but the population, which
amounts to 12,770, consists chiefly of baniyas and Muhammadan ha^d'js (or
butchers) who are attracted to the place by its large trade in cotton and cattle.
It is estimated that about 75,000 mans of cotton are collected in the course of
the year and sent on down to Calcutta.*

The noklikhdfi, or cattle market, is of large extent and supplied with every
convenience— a fine masonry well, long ranges of feeding troughs, &c. On every
beast sold, the zamindars levy a toll of two anas, and the Chaudharis as much;
in consideration for which payment they are bound to maintain twochankVl.irs

* The outturn of cotton fur the -n-hole district was estimated iu the year 1872-73 iii i:.;5,C368
mans, the exportation therefore must te very coneiderable.

4 PARGANA KOSI.

for watch and ward, and also to keep tlie place clean and in repair. Prices^
of course, vary considerably, but the following may be taken as the average*
rates : — Well-bullocks from Es. 30 to Rs. 60 each ; cart-bullod^s from
Es. 50 to 75; a cow from Es. 15 to 50 ; a calf from Es. 10 to 30; a buffala
from Ep. 25 to 50 ; and a male buffalo calf from Kh. 2 to 10. There are two
market days every week, on Tuesday and Wednesday; and in 18()8-6U, wiien a
tax of one and a quarter ana was levied on every beast sold, it yielded as much as
Es. 2,188-13-0 : the^^amindars' recei])ts rst two anas ahead and the Chaudharis' at
the same rate amounted to Rs. 3,502 2-0 each. Taking Rs. 25 as an average price
]ier head, Avhich would be rathei- bcloW than above the mark, the »ni»Wr of
©ft4t*e changing hands in the course of the year Avas 1 00, 4:2bX:T\ie exports of
grain are put at 200,000 mans; and there are in the town some 100 khnfius, or
cellars, ordinarily well filled witb reserve stores for the consumption not only
of the residemts^ hut also of the nttmerous travellers passing up and down the
great thoroughfare on which the town stands, and who naturnlly take in at
Kosi several days' sn[)plies, both for themselves and their caftfe. There is
also a very considerable business done in ountry cloth ; as all the villages in
the neighbourhotxl are purely agricultural, and supply most of their wants
from the one central mart.

As the town lies in a hollo^v, it is liable to be flooded after a few days' con'^
tinuance of heavy rain by a torrent which poitrs in upon it from Hodal. This
was the case in 1873, when nmch damage was done to house projjerty ; and
the subsequent drying up of the waters — which was a tedious process, there being
no outlet for their oscajie — was attended with very general and senous siekne>s.
The only remedy lies in develcping the natural line of drainage, the course of
Avhich is marked in the acconipanying sketch. Tlie necessity of some such
operation has forced itself upon the notice of the canal department, and it is
probable that before v(,'ry long some definite steps will be taken in the matter.

The income of the municipality is about Rs. 12,000 per aimum ; but this
sum is a very inadequate test of the actual trade done, since there is no duty
cither on cotton or on cattle, excepting beasts intended for slaughter.

The area of the parish is 2,277 acres, on which the government demand used
to be Es. 6,700 ; but the assessment was proved to be too severe by the distress
it caused to the zamindars, and it has been reduced to Es. 4,790.

The principal annual melas arc — 1st, the Dasahara, only started between forty
and fifty years ago by Lain Sinh, khattri, and Darbari Sildi, baniya ; 2nd, the
JIuliarrnm ; and 3rdly, the Phul-(K)I, on Chait hadi 2, which is a general gather-
ing for all the Jt'lts of the Dcnda pal from Dah-ganvv, Kot-ban^ Nabi-pur, Um-
raura, and Nagara Hasan-pur.

In the ccntn; of the town stands a large sarae, covering nine and a half bighas
of land, with high embatthd walls, corner kiosques, and two arched gateways, uU

THE AGKA CANAL

MATHURA DISTRICT.

digM

G0\/ARD!JAt§4

J. fv mo LIS,

PAUGASA KOSt. 5

bf stone, ascribed to Khwaja I'tihar Kliaii, governor of Delhi, in the rei'rrn of the
Emperor Akbar. On the inside there are ranges of vanlted aj)artments all round^
and the principal bazar lies between the two gateways. The building is being
i-epaired by the municipality at a cost of lis, 4,000, and if the ground could be
partially cleared and better laid out, it might form a remunerative property. At
present it yields an income of between Rs. 300 and 400 a year, even that being
a considerable increase on what had ever previously been realized. A lar^e
masonry tank, of nearly equal area with the sarae, dates from the same time, and
is called the Ratnakar Kund, or more commonly the ' pakka taldo.' Unfortu-
nately it is always dry except during the rains. The nlunicij^ality were desirous
of lla^^ng it repaired, but it was found that the cost would amount to Rs. o,500j
a larger sum than the funds could afford. The enclosing walls are twenty-
feet high and the exact measurement is (520 by 400 feet. Three other tanks
bear the names of Maya-kund, Bisiikha-kuud and Gomati-kund ; in allusion to
places so styled at the holy city of DwarakA, or Kusasthali — a circumstance
which has given rise to, or at least confirms, the popular belief that Kosi is only
a contraction of Knsasthali. It is, however, more probable that the name Kosi
is connected with the adjoining sacred grove of Kot-ban, as Tarsi in the Mathur4
pargana with Tal-ban. There ai'e a few handsome and substantial private houses
in the quarter of the town called Baladeva Ganj ; but as a rule the shops and
other buildings have a very mean a])pcarance ; and though there are a number
of Hindu temples and four mosques, they, too, are all quite modern and few have
any architectural pretensions.

The Sarangis, or Jainis, have also three temples, dedicated respectively to
Padma-Prabhu, the sixth of the Jlnas or Tirthankaras; Nem-nath (.r Arishtanemi,
the twenty-second ; and Mahavi'ra, or Varddhamdna, the twenty-fourth and last
of the series,* who is supposed to have died about the year oOO B. C. A mehi
or festival is held at the temple of Nem-nath, which is the smallest and most
modern of the three, on the day after the full moon of Bhadoft, when water is
brought for the ablution of the idol from a well In a garden at some little
distance. Any processional display, or beating of drums, or nttering of a
party cry is so certain to result in a riot that extra police are always told off to
prevent anything of the kind and to confine every religious demonstration
strictly within the walls of the temple. The antipathy to the rival faith on the
part of the Vaishnava Hindus is so strong that it is ordinarilj^ expressed by
saying that it would be better, on meeting a mad elephant in a narrow street, to
stand still and be trampled to death than to escape by crossing the threshhold of
a Jaini temple.

• Each Tirthabkara has his own distinctive sign : Mahavira, a lion ; Padma-Prahhu, a lotus j
Nem-nath, a conch ; Chandra-Prabhu, a moun, &c. ; and it is only by these marks that thty can
be distingulbhtd froni one auotlier as all uic sculpt uted in the same altitude.

6 PARGANA KOSr.

As regards tlie essential matters of conservancv, water supply and road
communioation, the condition of the town is satisfactorj and has been much
improved by municipal action. Most of the streets are either metalled or paved,
and lighted by lamps at night ; a neat dispensary has been opened and is M'ell
attended, though as yet it has no accommodatiun for in-door patients ; and an
office has been built in which the committee holds its meetings. The ground
between the dispensary and the municipal offices is being laid out as a garden
for the supply of fruit and vegetables and as a decorative feature at the entrance
of the town. A new cotton market is also in course of construction with lines
of substantial brick-built and stone-fronted shops of uniform design, arranged
on three sides of a square which has been secm-cd and levelled for the purpose.
Rs. 6,000 have already been expended, and in order to secure the speedier com-
pletion of a work which will so much improve both the apjiearance of the town
and also the finances of the municipality, a loan of Rs. 12,000 has been con-
tracted, with the sanction of Government, to be repaid in the course of four
years by half-yearly instalments, beginning from October, 1874. In the pro-
gress of the works an illustration was afforded of the extraordinary mania with
which the local baniyas are possessed for hoarding large quantities of grain.
This they do in the hope that a year of famine will come when they will be able
to realize a rapid fortune by selling their stores at enormously high rates. Aa
the grain is simplv thrown into a pit sunk in the ground and no precautions
taken to preserve it from the damp, in a few years the greater part of it be-
comes quite unfit for human consumption, and its sale would only increase the
general distress by spreading disease. This, however, is a consideration which
has no influence on the mind of a baniya : he has a fixed method of squaring
accounts with Providence, and holds that the foundation of a sumptuous tenijde,
at the close of his life, is an ample atonement for all sins of fraud and peculation,
and the only one which Divine justice is entitled to demand from him. Such
a pit came to light after the heavy rains of 1873. Five of the shops then in
course of construction began to settle and give way to such an extent that thej
had to be takcm down. On digging a few feet below the foundations to ascer-
tain, if possible, the cause of the accidcmt, a subterranean granary was revealed
with an invoice stating that it had been filled in Samhat 1898 (1841 A.D.), and
contained in all 1,303 mans of different kinds of grain. The greater part of
this was so much damaged that it had to be destroyed, and the sale of the ro-
maindcr realized only Rs. 324.

The Tahsili School numbers over 1 00 pupils, of whom about half arc learning
English ; the attendance will no doubt be largely increased when the school
is removed from its present crowded and otherwise objectionable quarters in
the sarae to the more commodious premises now preparing for erection at a cost
of Rs. GjOOO. The Police, uiaiutaiued by the muuici])ality ou an annual grant

PARGANA KOSI. 7

of Rs. 1,800, are" also located in a corner of the sarae, with an entrance made
through the old Avail directly on to the high road, opposite the parao. The
latter is the property of private individuals, who levy a toll on every animal or
vehicle driven into its enclosure,— the rates being fixed by the municipality —
and ])ay lis. 10 a month for the monopoly.

On the 31st of May, 1857, the rebels on their march to Delhi stopped at
Kosi and, after burning down the Customs bungalow and ransacking the police
station, proceeded to plunder the tahsili, but Rs. 150 was all that they found
in the treasury tlicrc. The records were scattered to the four winds, but
were to a great extent subsequently recovered. The Musalmans of Dotana,
the Jdts of Aziz-pur, and the Gujars of Majhoi and Ram-pur lent a willing hand
to any deed of mischief; but the townspeople and the inhabitants of the ad-
joining villages of Hasan-pur Nagara, Umraura, Dah-ganw and Nabi-pur, o-ave
what assistance they could in maintaining order, and as an acknowledgment
of their good behaviour one year's jama was remitted and a grant of Rs. 50
made to each Inmberdar. The position of the town between Agra and Delhi
and the strength of its fortified sarae haAe rendered it a place of some import-
ance at other periods of local disturbance. Thus, in 1774, the Jat Raja
Ranjit Sinh, on his retreat to Rarsana, occupied it for some time ; and again,
in 1782, after the death of Najaf Khan, his nephew, Mirza Shafi, fled to it as a
temporary refuge from before his rival Afrazyab Klian.

Bathan, Great and Little, are two po])ul()us and extensive Jat villao-es
in the immediate neighbnurliood of the town of Kosi. Accmding to poi)uIar
belief, the name is derived from the circumstance that Balarama here ' sat down'
(haithen) to wait for his brother Krishna ; but like so many of the older local
names, which are now fancifully connected aa ith some my thological incident
the word is really descriptive simjily of the natural features of the spot ; hatJian
being still employed in some parts of India to denote a pasture-ground for
cattle. In the same Avay Brin da-ban, ' the tulsl gi-ove,' is noAv referred ^.o a o-od-
dess Vrinda ; Loh-ban, ' the lodhri grove' to a demon Loha-jangha ; and even
Kotl)an, ' the last of the groves,' to a demon Kota, whose head was tossed to Sir-
thala, and his hands brought to Hataua. On the outskirts of Great Bathan is
an extensive sheet of water, Avith a masonry ghat built by Rup Ram, the Ka-
tara of Barsana; Avhich, by its nnme Balbhadra-kund, has either occasioned, or
at least serves to perpetuate, the belief that Balarama Avas the eponymous
hero of the place. At a distance of tAvo miles is Kokila-ban, the most
celebrated in Hindi poetry of all the woods of Braj; so much so, indeed,
that the Avord is often used as a synonyme for 'the garden of Eden.' It com-
prises a Avide and densely-Avooded area, the trees becoming thicker and thicker
toAvards the centre, Avhere a pretty natural lake spreads cool and clear, and re-
flects iu its deep still Avaters the over-hanging branches of a magnificent banyan

8 PAROANA KOSI.

tree. It is oouncctod with a nifisonrv tank of very wcontric confi ouration, also
the work of Rup Ram ; on the niaroin of wliioh are several shrines and pavilions
for the accommodation of pilgrims, who assemble here to the number of some
10,000, Bhddon sudi 10, when the Rds Li'la is celebrated. There is also a Availed
garden, planted by Ghan-pat R/un, a merchant of Kosi, with a variety of shrubs
and fruit trees ; but, like most native gardens, it is rapidly becoming a tangled
and impenetrable jiniglo.

Between Kokila-ban and the village are two other holy places, called Kabir-
ban and Padai*-Ganga. The origin of the word Padar is obscure : it is inter-
preted by hard, ' green,' and therefore may be a corruption of the Sanskrit
pddapa, ' a tree.'* At the Holanga mehi, Chait hadi 3, there is a con(Hmrse
of some 15,000 to 16,000 people, and a sham fight takes place between the
women of Bathan, who are armed with clubs, and the men from the adjoining
village of Jau, who defend themselves with bundles of jhnu twigs.

At Little Bathan, a curious ridge of rock, called Charan Pa bar, crops
up above the ground, the stone being of precisely the same character as at
Barsdna and Nand-ganw. It was once proposed to utilize some of it for engi-
neering purposes, but such strenuous objections Avere raised that the design
was never carried into execution. This, it is said, was one of the places where
Krishna most delighted to stop and play his flute, and many of the stones still

mensions,

bear the impress of his feet. The hill is of very insignificant di
havino- an average height of only some twenty or thirty feet, and a total
length of at most a quarter of a mile. It is environed by a small belt of
jungle, in which may bo found almost every variety of the curious inedible
fruits for Avhich Braj is noted, viz., the karil, pilii, pasendu, hingot, barna,
and anjdn-rukh, A little beyond the neighbouring town of Kumar, just across
the Gurgaon border, is a very similar ridge called the Bichor hill, from a large
village of that name.

DoTANA is a Muhammadan A'illnge on the high road between Kosi and
Chhata Avith a number of old buildings Avhich are sure to attract the traveller's
attention. There are seven large tombs dating from the time of Shah-jahan
and Aurangzeb if not earlier (there are no inscriptions) and three mosques of
the same period, erected respectively by Inayat-uUah Khan, K^zi Haidar Khan,
and Ruh-ullah Khan. There is also a masoniy tank constructed by Shaikhs
Hudhan and Jaman, a modern masque founded by Abd-ul Barkat, and four
small gardens. Many of the large brick houses in the village are in a most ruin-
ous condition, and the zamindars are noAv in poor circumstances. In the mutiny
they joined the rebels in plundering the Kosi Tahsili, and part of their estate
Avas confiscated and bestoAved on KuuAvar Sham Prasad, a Kashmiri, at present
Tahsildar of Mahd-ban, Avho has transferred it to his sister, Maharani. The

* It is mentioned by uame iu tUc Vraja-bhakti-vihisa as m^g?;?!^

PARGANA KOST. 9

name Dotana is thought to be derived from Danton, a tooth-brush, and if so, is
rather suggestive of Buddhist legends. The place is mentioned by Bishop
Heber in his Journal, who writes : " January 7th, 1825, traversed a wild but
more woody country to Dotana. Here I saw the first instance of a custom
which I am told I shall see a good deal of in my southern journey, a number
of women, about a dozen, who came with pitchers on their heads, dancing and
singing to meet me. There is, if I recollect right, an account of this sort of
dance in Kehama. They all professed to be Gopis, or milk-maids, and are in
fact, as the thdnadar assured me, the wives and daughters of the Grwala caste.
Their voices and style of singing were by no means unpleasant ; they had all
the ajipearance of extreme poverty, and I thought a rupee well bestowed upon
them, for which they were very thankful." There can be no doubt also that
this is the place to which John de Laet, in 1631, alludes in his India Vera,
though he calls it Akbar-pur, the name of the next village, " This was formerly
a considerable town ; now it is only visited by pilgrims who come on account
of many holy Muhammadans buried here." Annual fairs are still held in
honor of three of these holy men, who are styled Hasan Shahid, Shah Nizam-ud-
din, and Pir Shakar-ganj, alias Baba Farid. The shrines, however, are merely
commemorative and not actual tombs ; for the Hasan, ' the Martyr,' is probably
All's son, the brother of Husain ; Nizam-ud-din Aulia is buried at Delhi ; and
the famous Fai'id-ud-din Ganj-i-Shakkar lies at Pak Patau near the Satlaj.

Kamar, six miles from Kosi on the Gurgaon border, is still a populous Jafc
town with a considerable trade in cotton ; but in the early part of last century
was a place of much greater wealth and importance, when a daughter of one
of the principal families was taken in marriage by Thakur Badan Sinh of Sahar,
the father of Siiraj Mall, the first of the Bharat-pur Rajas. On the outskirts
of the town is a large walled gaixlen with some monuments to his mother's
relations, and in connection with it a spacious masonry tank filled with water
by aqueducts from the surrounding rakhjd, which is more than a thousand acres
in extent. At a little greater distance is an artificial lake with unfinished stone
ghats, the work of the Raja ; this is called Durvasas-kund after the irascible
saint of that name, but there is no genuinb tradition to connect him with the
spot ; though it is sometimes said that the town derives its name from a ' blanket'
(kamal) with which Krishna persuaded him to cover his nakedness. In the
town are several large brick mansions built by Chaudharis Jasavant Sinh and
Sita Eam, the Raja's connections, and one of them has a fine gateway in three
stories, which forms a conspicuous land-mark : but all are now in ruins. At the
back of the artificial hill on which they stand, and excavated to supply the earth
for its construction, is a third tank of still greater extent than the other two,
but of irregular outline, and with only an occasional flight of stone steps here
and there on its maroin.

10 PARGAXA KOSI.

A temple of Suraj Mall's foundation, dedicated to Madan Mohan, is spe-
cially affected by all the Jats of the Bahia-war pal,* who are accounted its
chelas and assemble here to tlie number of some 4,000, on Chait hadi 2 and the
following day, to celebrate the mcla of the Phul-dol, There is a halkabandi
school, not a very prosperous institution ; and a weekly market. The Chau-
kfdari Act has been extended to the town ; but it yields a monthly income of
onlv Rs. GO, which, after pnyment of the establishment, leaves an utterly insig-
nificaut balaiice for local im|)rovements. The only work of the kind which has
been cairied out is the metalling of the principal bazar.

Shah-pur, under the Juts the head of a pargana, is a large but somewhat
decayed village on the bank of the Jamuna, some ten miles to the north-east of
Kosi. It is one of the very few places in this part of the country where the
population is almost equally divided between the two great rehgions of India ;
there being, according to the census of 1872, as many as 1,205 Muhammadaiis
to 1,341 Hindus. The total area is 3,577 acres, of which 2,263 are under the
plough and 1,314 are untillcd. Of the arable land, 612 acres are watered by
wells, which number in all 63 and are many of masonry construction. The
Government demand is Hs. 3,907. The village was founded towards the middle
of the sixteenth century, in the reign either of Shor Shah or Sali'm Shah by an
officer of the Court known as Mir Ji, of Biluch extraction, who c:dled it Shah-
pur in honour of his royal master. The tomb of the founder still exists not far
from the river bank on the road to Chaundras. It is a square building of red
sandstone, surmounted by a dome and divided on each side into three bays by
pillars and bracket arches of purely Hindu design. By cutting off the corners
of the square and inserting at each angle an additional pillar the tomb on the
inside assumes the form of a dodecagon. On the other side of the village, by
the I'oad to Bakhai ari, is another tomb in memory of Lashkar Khan, a grand-
son of the village founder : it is soHdly constructed of brick and mortar, but
quite plain and of ordinary design. Nearly opposite is the hamlet of Chauki
with the remains of a fort erected by Nawab Ashraf Khan and Arif Khan,
upon whom Shah-pur with other villages, yielding an annual revenue of
Rs. 28,000, were conferred as a' jagir for life by Lord Lake. There is a
double circuit of mud walls with bastions and two gateways of masonry de-
fended by outworks, and in the inner court a set of brick buildings now fallen
into ruin. This was the ordinary residence of the Nawab, and it was during
his lifetime that Shah-pur enjoyed a brief spell of prosperity as a populous
and iini)nitant town. It would seem that the fort was not entirely the work of
Ashraf Klu'm but had been originally constructed some years earlier by Agha

* r<J' is tlir jiocu'iiir niinie for any suh-divisioii of Jats. In the Kosi Pargana, the principal
Ja' Pals in a<iaiti(>n to tlif B.ihin-Wiir, who own K;iniar and 11 other villages, arc the Denda,
Lok lau, and Ghatoui. Similarly, every sub-Jivisiou of Mcwatis ia called a chhat.

PARGANA KOSI. 11

Haidar, a local governor under the Maliratta>>, who alsu planted the adjoining
grove of troops.

The village has continiTod to the present day in the possession of Mir Ji's
descendants, to one of whom, Ftizil Muhammad, the great grandfather of Natha
Khan, now lumberdar, we are indebted for the large bagh, which makes Sliah-pur
the most agreeable camping place in the whole of the Kosi pargana. It covers
some sixty or seventy bighas, and, besides containing a number of fine forest
trees, mango, jd>nan, mahud and lahera, has separate orchards of limes and hev
trees ; while the borders are fenced with the prickly r,dg-phani, interspersed with
nims a.\\di babuls, h^Ying their bi'anches overspread with tangled masses of the
amar-bel with its long clusters of pale and faint-scented blossoms. The yearly-
contracts for the different kinds of fruit yield close upon Rs. ] ,000. Though a mile
or more from the ordinary bed of the river, it is occasionally, as for example in
the year 1871, flooded to the depth of some two or three feet by the rising of the
stream. The more exten-^ive the inundation, the greater the public benefit; for all
the fields reached by it produce excellent rabi crops Avithout any necessity for
artificial irrigation till at all events late in the season. In the village are three
mosques, but all small ; as the Muhammadan population, though considerable,
consists to a great extent merely of kasdhs; there is also a temple erected by
the Mahrattas. The chief local festivals are the Dasahara for Hindus and the
Muharram for Muliammadans, both of which are largely attended. There is a
weekly market on Monday and a small manufacture of earthen hdndis. The hal-
kabandi school maintains a struggling existence and has an average of only
twenty pupils.

PARGANA KOSI.
Alphabetical List of Villages in the Kosi Parr/ana.

Note. — When column 6 is left blank, it implies that the village community, of the caste
specified in columa 7, are the proprietors.

No.

Name.

Ainch

Aziz-pur

Barchauli

Barha

B a r h a n a cum
Pench-ghar.

Barka

Bathan (Great)
cum D h a n 0 t -
khera and Koki-
la-ban.

Population.

Bathan (Xittle)
cum Charan Ta-
har.

Bisarabhara ...

Bukharari

Chacholi : the ori-
ginal name for
riloli.

Chandauri

928

l,OSO

781

869

869
2,649

732
1,550

Mil sal-
man

33
6

266
20

Total.

Principal Proprie- iPredominant
tors. caste.

1,047
889

738
72

1,470
1,622

Shiv Sahay Mall,
Khatri of Delhi.

Jat
Brahman ,

Ahir
Jat

Jadon
Jat

Mewati
Jadon

Jat

Acreage.

1,177
1,580

1,728
1,438

1,797
5,266

1,272

1,268
2,329

J,221

1, Ainch.—On the Gurgaon border. After the mutiny, part of the village was conferred on
Khatri Sliiv Sahay Mall.

3. BarchduH. — The original name is said to have been Banauli.

4. Barha ■ — The name given on removal of the people here from Tonda Khera. The Phul-dol
mela is held on Chait badi 3. Biluchis and Shaiklis once owned all the village, but have now
Bold a considerable part of it to Dhusars, Baniyas, and Jats. A bagh of the Shaikhs and new
mosque. A struggling halkabandi school.

5. Barhdna.' — The Ras-lilii mela is held here, Bhadon siidi 8.

6. Barkd. — Here is a new temple of Gobardhan-nath, built by Ilarsukh, baniya,

7 and 8. Bathan,— (^^^ page 189). A halkabandi school at each of the two villages.

9. Bimmhhara. — The Muh.ammadans have a mela here on the 5th and 6th of Rabi-us-sSai
in honour of two fakirs, Shah Chet and Mir Vilayat Shah. There is a new mosque.

10. Buhhardri.~ln the village is a substantial house, built about seventy years ago by a
wealthy baniya named Bhika : there is also a bagh that he planted. His descendants have still a
share in the village aud iu Mahroli and llup-nagar. Halkabandi school. Temple of Siva Ji.

11. C/j./mZa/trjis supposed to be a corruption of Chandravali, the name of one of Radha's
attendant*, but is more piobably for Chanda-puri, after some Chanda, its founder. Here is a
temple oi Malui-deva.

PARGAXA KOSI. 13

Alphahetical List of Villages in the Kosi Ptv^g ina —(continued).

Name.

Population

•

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Chauki

167

192

Sliiv Sahav Mall,
Kliatri of Delhi

Gaurua ...

933

Chaundras; 2 ma-
hals.

121

129

Shaikh Shia.lal, of
one Qiahal.

I'tahman...

570

Dahi-g:an-w cum
Kasoli.

2,107

2,152

Jat

2,952

Dham Siiiha

829

849

B rahraan ...

lj252

Dhanota

851

854

Maya Ram, bohra.

Jadon ...

1,748

Dot ana

Garhi Barwari ...

69G
314

715
13

1,411
327

Sah Madhuri Sa-
rau.

Shaikh ...
Jat

2,400
1,448

Gaunhari ,„

502

511

Ditto

866

12. Chauki. — So called from being an old 'out-post' fC/iai^AiJ on the Gurgaon road.. The
original zamindar.s were Gauruas : on their falling into arrears, their estate was put up to auction
and bought in by Government. In the mutiny, the inustajir, Hidayat Ali Khan, took part with
the rebels and was accordingly dispossessed, and the village cimferred on Khatri Shiv Sahay
Mall, in recognition of his good services. There is a ruined fort, regarding which see page
192.

13. Chaundras.^The original Brahman proprietora have sold part of their estate to the
Shaikhs, who have formed it into a separate zamindari mahal.

14. Dah gdnw. — The original form of the name is Dadlii-ganw, i. e.. Milk-ham. This is one
of the stations of the Ban-jatra, the niela being held near the Da Ihi-kund on tha oth of Bhadou
sudi, when some 2,00J or 3,000 people assemble, ami there is a siiam fight with guns and match-
locks between Dah-gauw and Hasanpur Nagara and other adjoining villages. There is a
temple of some antiquity ascribed to Raja ilaa, dedicated to Krishna under his title of Braj-
bhukhan. A halkabandi school.

15. Dham Sinha. — Dham is the Prakrit form of the Sanskrit Dharma, and, as it may be
presumed, Dharma Sinha was the name of the founder. The road immediately below the village
leading to the town of Kosi traverses the centre of a considerable rahhi/d, in which is a pond
called Mohari-kund ; a word of doubtful derivation, though it might be taken a"* equivalent
to chintdharan. With the exception of one group of pasendus and kadambs, and two large
baniyaiis near the pond, all the trees are pilus and of very great age, with no young ones coming
on anywhere. This curious fact is probatdy to be explained by the number of cattle that are
turned out to graze; for in the rains they cat down the young shoots as soon as they appear
above the ground. The villagers, however, look upon it as one of the many indications that
they are fallen upon evil times and that the good old days are gone for ever. The lias HI a is
celebrated here on the 6th of Bhadon sudi.

16. Dhanota. — The Giijars had a share in the village, which they have sold to the bohra.
Here is a mango grove planted by Jiya Kam, mortgagee.

17. Dotdna. See page 190.

18. Garhi Barwdri. — It is said that the first settlers were Brahmans, who called the place
Brahmandari, and that it was afterwards refounded by a Jat named Udhma, who called it Udhma
Garhi, the modern name being a confused combination of tlie two. It has now been bought by
Sah Kundan Lai, whose son is the present proprietor.

19. Gaunhdri.—The Phul-dol mela is celebrated here, Chait badi 5.
planted by Gulab Jat aud Harideya, f ujari.

There are two bagha

14 . PAR a AN A KOSI.

Alphabetical List of Villages in the Kosi Pargnna — (continued).

Kame.

I'vpuladon.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

I'l-edoniiuant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musnl-
inaii.

Total.

Acreage.

Giroi

2,-i39

::,2 6

Jat

2,'J03

Goheta, 3 biswas,
cum Palii Garhi

147

...

147

Ditto

394

Goheta, 7 biswas..

578

592

Ditto ■ ...

904

Gjheta, 10 bis was.

712

Ditto

1 ,302

Halwai.a

1,911

1 958

Ditto

2,289

Hasan-pur Nagara

1,006

1,.303

Ditto

1,191

Hatana rum Sara-
ya and Stssai.

2,347

2.a70

Ditto

3,450

Jalal-pur

148

165

313

Shailch ...

616

Jau

2,0 : 7

2,036

PleirsofLalaBabii

Jdt

2,377

Kalona

1,076

1 ,085

Ditto

1,112

Kamar

4,! 59

161

4,323

Ditto

3,509

Khairdl, 3J biswas.

...

Jadon.

...

452

Khairal, 7 5 bis was,

405

432

Jadcn ...

20. Giroi. — The ziuuindars belong to tne same ])dl as those of the adjoinintr village of Naiid-
ganw, and both ill concert cclcl)rat.e the Phiil-dol here on L^haljjun sndi 13, near a pond called
Geiidokhar kund. There ari' two temples of .Jugal-kishor and Alnrli Mauohar, built respective!/
hy Naiid Das and Gomati Das. A halkabaudi school.

24. Halwdtia is more commonly called Pipalwara. A mela in honour of Baladeva is held
Bliad u sudi 6. There are two small modern temples. A hulliabandi school.

25. Hasan pur Angara. — The old name was simply Nagara, till one Hasan Ali conferred liis
own name on the plnce. .Since the mutiny, the I'hul-dol meia has been celebrated liere on (^iiait
badi 3. The people of Hasan-pur used to keep it at 13athau till they quarrelled with the zamiu-
dars there.

26. Hatana. — Here is a grove called Nand-ban. The hamlet of Little Sessai was founded
by some Gosains from Great Sessai iu Gurgaon ; it is one of the stations iu the Ban-jatra. A
halkabandi school.

27. Jaldl-pur, — Founded by a Shaikh Jaliil. Jats and Brahmans have also shares iu the village.

2S. Jan. — Here is ,Tavak-ban, a station in the Ban-jatra, from which the village derives its
name, also a pond cnlled Kishori kund. There are two temples, one of Haillia-kant, founded by
a Seth of Ilaidar-abaJ, the other of Kunj Biluiri, founded by Kup Rain, the Katara, of IJarsaua.
There are two annual melas ; the Holauga, Chait badi 2, and the Kds-lila, Bhadou sudi 10.

29. Kddona was founded by the Mowatis. Here are two temples of Brikh-bhan and Mahadeva.

30. Kdmar.ScQ page 191.

31. Khairdl (3J biswas) — The older name is Susar-garhi.

32. Kh<urdl {1\ hiswas).— There are two annual meltis in honour of Barahi Devi, held Chait
sudi 14 and Kuwiir sudi 14. There is a ba^jh of Neui Siuh, Jadin. The remuiaiug biswas form the
village of Sher-nagar.

PARGANA KOST. 15

Alphahefical Lht of Villages in the Kosi Pargana — ^eontinuerl).

Name.

PopnJatiun.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
ca.stc.

No.

Ilimlus.

Musal-

Total.

Acreage.

Kharot

I,:- 7 4

1,651

.lat

3,t4l

34 Khiita.ta

6!8

6!2

Ditto

1,295

35 Kosi

8,T9-<

.3,972

i 2,770

Jat, Shaikh and
Brahman.

Baniya

'i,m

36 : K< t-ban

1,977

2,019

Jat

2,997

37 ' L:il-pnr

1,094

I, 24

Ditto

1,833

Lcclri

...

Ditto

319

Mahanki

...

Jat and Brahman.

...

298

Mahroli

180

169

349

Sah Kundan Lai,
mortgagee.

Pathan ...

8j9

M.ijhoi

8S6

902

Eani Saliib Kun-
war.

Gujar

2,386

Mandora

...

Jat and Brahman.

799

Nab:-pur

652

680

Jdt

1,070

Nagariya

3C5

...

385

Aliivasi ...

554

33. Kharot — Tlic Urs mela of a Fakir named Dost 'Ali Shiih is held here on the 1 1th of Rabi-
us-sani. A tiaarh bears tl*c name of Matlub Shah, Fakir. In the viila^p are four substantial houses,
now in ruin.';, built by Chinta-mani, a Brahmau in the service of Baja Siiraj Mall. Shaikhs and
Brahman 8 are part proprietors

34. Khatdnta. — Brahmar.s and Jngis are also part proprietors. Here is a ba;^h of one Madho
Siiih.

35. A'osi.— See page 185. Tahsfli, municipality, police station, imperial pnst-ofEce, tahsili
sch ol, free scIiojI, customs bung:il)\v, municipal bungalow available as a rest house.

36. Kot-han^ — This is the northern limit of the Ban-jatra. A pond bears the name of Sital-
kund. There is II temple of Siti Ua ii, two l!U-;^e brick-houses and a masmry tank constructed by
Chaudhari Sita UaJi, a connection ot the Bharat-pur Rajas. The bohras have bought up part
of the village.

40. Mahroli. — Here is a mosque built by Ilasti and Basti Khai, and on the 4th of Rabi-us-sani
a mela is held in honour of Mir Muhammad Farrukh.

41. Majkoi. — One of the confiscated Gujar villages on the Jamuiia. Two large ba?hs record
the names of Chaina and Serhu, both members of that community. Two melas in honour of Devi
are held Chait sudi 8 and Kuwar sudi 8. There are alsu two Sati tombs. A police station is
maintained here, and a district post-otSce.

42. Mandora. — This village was deserted about 80 years .ago.

43. Nabi-pur. — This was originally part of Dah-ganw.

44. I^'agariya. — This villagre was formed by Thiikur Badan Siiih who took two and-a-half
biewas out of fjham Siuha and two biswas out of Khaira and bestowed them on Purushottam,
Gautam, and Chura, Ahivasis, of the latter village.

K) PARGA>TA KOSI.

Alphahetical List of Villages in (he Kosi Pargana — (continued).

Population

Principal Proprie-
tors.

No.

Name.

llindos.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

Pai-ganw

2,607

2,637

Jat

3,467

Pakhar-pur ...

169

...

169

Kusliali Ram, boli-
ra.

Ditto

554

Plialan cum Garhi
Kaja,Garlu BJii-
kha and Supha-
11 a.

3,920

107

4,027

Ditto

5,127

Piloli

Pipal-waia : t li e
more common
nameofHalwana.

Shaikhs of Jalal-
pur.

197

Piithri

141

...

141

Jat

Gujar

4S9

ham-pur

261

...

261

Rani Sahib Kun-
war.

Ditto

1,144

Rup-nap;ar cum
Buddha Gavlii.

47 1

487

Jadon

1,240

Ruthri

...

.-anchauli

769

863

Jat

1,045

45. Pai-t/dnw. — On the road from Sher-garh to Kosi. Here is a large tract of woodland known
as Pai-ban, with a pond called l^ai-ban-kund, where a mela styled the Barasi Naga Ji is iield on
Kuwar badi 7. The pilgrims, about 1,00 ) in number, are fed by the Mahant of the temple of
Chatur-bhuj. A balkabandi school and a rest-house on a Rajbaha of the Agra Canal.

46. ra/;Aar-/3Mr.— Formerly belonged to the State of Bharat-pur.

47. Phdkin.—A special mcla called the mela Prahlail Ji, is held here at the time of the Iloli,
on the full moon of Phalgun, when the hherapal, or hereditary Panda, after bathing in the
Prahlad-kuT\d, jumps into the blazing lloli hon-flrc and always comes out unscorohed. For per-
forming this ceremony, which is ordinarily witnessed by some 15,000 spectators, he enjoys a
small piece of land rent-free and has all the oiferiiigs made at tlie shrine The name Phalan is
supposed to be connected with the word ^jAdr ddlna, ' to tear in pieces, ' in allusion to the legend
of ar Siiilia and Iliranya-Ivasipu, I'rahlad's isithi.Y (See page 85) There is a weekly market on
Monday, and a halkabandi school. Tlie three hamlets are named after their respective founders :
at Suphana, there is a temple of Baladeva, and a bagli planted by a Brahman, Sawai.

48. Piloli — Tiic real name of this village is Chacholi, but in the last settlement papers' the
nanv was accidentally mis-spelt, and the mistake has been perpetuated. It was formerly part
of Jalal-pur.

49. Pidhri.—TiW about a century ago, this was included in the Rajput Chaurasi of Kama in
Bharat-pur. It for some time remained uninhabited. The name is derived from tlie sand-hills,
puth.

51. Bup-nmar was founded by Riip Siiih, a relative of the Bharat-pur Raja. A bagh bears
the name of Medda, JaJon.

63. Sdnchdiili. — Here is a temple of Sanclii Devi at which two annual melas are held, Chait
sudi 7 and Kuwar sudi7. Mewatis and Biahmanb are also part proprietors.

PARGANA KOSI. 17

Alpliabetical List of Villages in the Kosi Pargana — (concluded).

Name,

Population.

Principal Proprie-
turs.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
maii.

Total.

Acreage,

Sliah-pur ; 4 ma-
hals.

1,341

1£05

2,546

Biluchis ...

3,577

Shahzad-pur

586

655

.Tadon ...

1,071

Sher-nagar

686

761

Ditto

2,018

Sirthala

683

708

Jat

1,378

Sujauli

338

...

338

JarJon ...

500

Surwari ; 2 malials

243

...

243

Jat

540

Tumaala

1,755

1,760

Jat and Brahman.

Ditto

2,501

Umraura

353

358

Ditto

605

54. S/idh-pur. — Sec page 192.

55. Shdhzdd-pur once formed part of Majhoi.

56. Sher-nagar, originally called Khairal, derives its present name from its founder, Sher
Khan. Here are four biighs, planted by Maha-ram, Indra and Maharaj, Gopal, and Pita.

68, Sujduli. — Named after Sujan, a Jat of Khairal.

69. Surwari. — The two new mahals are]reepectively 18| and I j biswas.

60. Tumdida. — Hal!<abandi schoal, canal brtd;je. Just above the bridge the canal has been
carried through a very large tank, which iu tlie e mrse of centuries had been partially filled up.
Wiien the excavations were in progress, a life-size statue was discovered, much deface! and
with the head severed from the body. It has no very distinctive attributes, but might be in-
tended to represent the god Kama, or the Haja who constructed the tank. The antif|uity of
the work is attested by the enormous size of the bricks used in the foundations. The site of
the reservoir was so well selected that the Canal Engineers will probably have some difBculty
iu keeping up their embankments against the large body of water which collects on the spot in
the rains,

61. Vmrdura — Separated from Dah-gauw by the zaminddrs of that village and given to one
Umrao, after whom it is named.

II.— PARGANA CHHATA.

The Pargaua of Cliluita, Avliich lies immediately to the south of KosI, has the
same boundaries as it to the west and east, viz., the State of Bhavat-pur and the
river Jamiina,and further resembles its northern neighbour in most of its social
and physical characteristics. Being the very centre of Braj, it includes within
its limits many of the groves held sacred by the votaries of Krishna ; but, with
the exception of these bits of wild Avoodland, it is but indifferently stocked with
timber, and the orchards of fruit trees are small and few in number. The prin-
cipal crops are joar and ehand; there being 63,000 acres under the former, and
20,000 grown with chand, out of a total area of 160,433. A large amount of
cotton is also raised, the ordinaiy out-turn being about 20,000 mans. But the cro]-)
varies greatly according to the season; and it is calculated that this year (1873)
it will not exceed 1,500 mans, in consequence of the very lieavj^ and continuous
rains at the beginning of the monsoon, which prevented the seed from being
sown till it was too late for the pod to ripen. The coarse limestone which can
be obtained in any quantity from the hills of Nand-ganw and Barsana, is not
now used to any extent for building purposes ; but it is the material out of
which the imperial saraes at Chhata and Kosi were constructed, and is there
shown to be both durable and architecturally eflFectivo. The western side of the
pargana is liable to inundation in exceptionally rainy seasons from the over-
flowing of a large j/t/Z near Kama in Bharat-pur territory; its waters being aug-
mented in their subsequent course by junction with the natural line of drainage
extending down from Hodal, as shown in the sketch at page 186. In 1861,
and again in the present year, the flood passed through Uncha-ganw, Barsana,
Chaksauli, and Hatliiya, and extended as far even as Grobardhan ; but no great
damage was caused, and the deposit left on the surface of the land is beneficial
rather than otherwise.

The first assessment, made in 1809, was for Rs. 1,02,906, which has been
gradually increased to E,s. 1,77,876, and will certainly be further enhanced at
the close of the settlement now pending. For much land, as yet lying waste for
want of water, will bo brought under cultivation when the Agra Canal has
been completed. This will have a total length of 11 miles in the pargana, from
Bhadiival to Little Bharna, with bridges at each of those places and also at
Eahera and Sahar.

Till 1838, Sher-garh and Saliar were two separate parganas, subordinate
to the Aring Tahsili ; but in that year Sahar was constituted the head-quarters of

PAEGAXA CHHATA. 19

a Talisildar, and so remained till tlie mutiny, wlien Lis office was transferred to
Chhata. The latter place has the advantage of being on the high-road, and is
tolerably equi-distant from east and west, the only points necessary to be con-
sidered, on account of the extreme narrowness of the pargana from north to south.
Thus, its close proximity to the town of Kosi — only seven miles off — is rather a
fanciful than a real objection to the maintenance of Chhata as a local capital.

The predominant classes in the population are Jats, Jadons, and Gaurua
Thakurs of the Bachhal sub-division ; while several villages are occupied almost
exclusively by the exceptional tribe of Ahivasis (see page 7) who are chiefly
engaged in the salt trade. A large proportion of the land — though not quite to
so great an extent as in Kosi — is still owned by the original Bhaiyachari com-
munities ; and hence agrarian outrage on a serious scale is limited to the com-
jiaratively small area, where unfortunately alienation has taken place, more by
improvident private sales, or well-deserved confiscation on account of the gravest
political oifences, than from any defect in the constitution or administration of the
law. The two largest estates thus acquired during the present century, are enjoyed
by non-residents, viz., the heirs of the Lala Babu (see page 134), who are natives
of Calcutta, and the Rani Sahib Kunvar, whose principal residence is at Hathras,
though she is now living with the young Raja at Briuda-ban. Of resident land-
lords, the three largest all belong to the Dhiisar caste, and are as follows : — First,
Kanhaiya Lai, Sukhvasi Lai, Bhajan Lai, and Bihari Lai, sons of Ram Bakhsh
of Saluir, where they have jn-operty, as also at Bhai'auli and three other villages,
yielding an annual profit of Rs. 3,536. Second, Munshi Nathu Lai — who for a
time was in Government service as Tahsildar — with his son, Sardar Sinh, also
of Sahar, who have an assessable estate of Rs. 3,874, derived from Astoli, Tatar-
pur, and shares in nine other villages ; Nathu Lai's father, Girdhar Lai, was
sometime Munsif of Jalesar, and was descended from one Harsukh Rae, who re-
ceived from Raja Suraj Mall the grant of Tatar-pur with the title of Muushi,
by which all the members of the family are still distinguished. Third in the
list is Lala Syam Suudar Das, son of Shiw Sahay Mall, a man of far greater
wealth— his annual profits being estimated at a lakh of rupees. He is the
head of a firm which has branch houses at Kanh-pur, Agra, and Amritsar, and
other places, and owns the whole of the large village of Naxigama and half of
Taroli. Though he is thus a considerable landed proprietor, his instincts are
still entirely those of the money-lender ; as he proves to the cost of the unfor-
tunate community who are now struggling to retain, as his tenants, the fields
where once they were masters. As a typical illustration of a state of things
which unfortmiately is becoming far from uncommon, a detailed description of
the circumstances of his estate is here given.

The original village was Taroli, and Naugama exists only from the time
when (probably to protect themselves from some threatened exaction) one half

20 P AEG AN A CnnATA.

of the old Buchlial clan agreed to become Miihammadans and moved to an out-
lying spot where they formed an independent settlement. Like most Malakanas,
•svlio have been converted in this summary manner, though they have ceased
to be Hindus, they have never been taught even the rudiments of their new
faith, and are thus virtually without any moral restraint whatever ; while their
social isolation has had such a deadening effect upon their mental faculties that in
intelligence or acquired information they soarcely rank one step above the level of
the brute creation. Probably the best of landlords would find them a trouble3om3
and uninteresting set to deal with, however considerate his treatment of them ;
certainly no improvement can result from the procedure adopted by their
present lord. To prevent the possibility of any individual acquiring a fixed
status, leases are never given but for very short periods ; at the outset an
advance is freely made to the new tenant, at an usurious rate of interest anl
without any official record of fchs transaction ; accuiialation of arrears of rent
is encouraged for the three years that the law allows, when immediate action is
taken for the recovery of the full amount increased by interest; if any piy-
nient has been made in the interim, though the tenant intended it to be oi
account of rent, the landlord maintains that it is absorbei in the clearing o!f
of the advances; no intimation is given to the patwari of the amount of thes?
advances, nor, as a rule, is any payment made in his presence ; but after th ;
lapse of some weeks, when the ignorant boor, who probably did not pay in cash,
but through the intervention of a baniya, has forgottou what the amount wa-',
the patwari is ordered to write a receipt for such and such a sum, and this
document is accepted by the stolid clown without a question — ordinarily
without even hearing it read— and is at once put away and either lost or eaten
by white ants ; while the counter-part remains as legal evidence against him.
To increase the confusion, the rent is collected not only wdthout adequate wit-
nesses or any written memorandum, but also at any odd time and by a variety
of different persons, who are ignorant of each others' proceedings ; the agenls
are changed every six months or so, and (as the patwari can only read Hindi,)
are by preference people who know only the Persian character. The result is,
that any adjustment of accounts is absolutely impossible ; the patwari, the
agents, and the tenants, are all equally at fault, and the latter are solely depend-
ent on the mercy of the landlord, who at a fortnight's notice can eject every
single man on the estate. Tims, during one month of the current year moi-o
than a hundred suits were filed against the people of Naugdma for arrears con-
tracted in 1870. After the lapse of three yoai*s, the defendants — who are so igno-
rant that they cannot state the amount of their liability for the present season,
but depend entirely upon the patwari and the baniya — can only urge that the 9"
know they have paid in full, but (almost necessarily under the circumstances)
tl;ey hare no oral witnesses to the fact, while the village account-books, which

PAP.GANA CHHATA. 21

constitute the documentary evidence, are so imperfect as to form no basis for a
judgment. At the same time, in the hope of producing the impression that an
innocent man was being made the victim of a gigantic conspiracy, actions for
fraud and corruption were instituted against both agent and patwari, and other
criminal proceedings were taken against the villagers for petty infringements of
manoi'ial rights. The scaiidal and the probability of some criminal distur-
bance are so great that it may probably be thought expedient before long to
Avithdraw the estate from the direct control of the proprietor and apjjoint a
manager under the Government.

The two places of most interest in the pargana, Barsana and Nand-ganw
have already been fully described in Part I. ; there remain Chaumuha, Chhatd,
Sabar and Sher-garh, which may each claim a few words of special mention.

Chaumuha, on the high road to Delhi, 12 miles from Mathura station, was
included in the home pargana till the year 1816. It has the remains of a large
brick-built sanie, covering upwards of four bighas of land, said to have been con-
structed in the reign of the Emperor Sher Shah. It now brings in a rental of
oidy some Rs. 20 a year, being in a very ruinous state. This fact, combined
Avith tbe perfect preservation of the parallel buildings at Chhata and Kosi, has
given rise to a local legend that the work Avas bad in the first instance and
the architect, being convicted of misappropi'iating the funds at his disposal, Avas
as a punishment built up alive into one of the AA'alls ; the corpse, hoAA-ever, has
not been discovered. When iMalho Kao Sindhia Avas the paramount poAA'or,
he IjestoAA-ed the village as an ondoAA'ment for educational purposes on a panlit
by name Ganga-dhar; to Avhose sons, Tika-dhar and Murli-dhar, it AA'as confirm-
ed in 1824. The settlement Avas made AA^ith the zamincUirs at Rs. 5,000, noAv
Es. 4,974, of A\-hich sum three-quarters, viz., Rs. 3,730, go to the GoA-ernment
College at Agra; the remaining quarter, after some deductions, to Ganga-dhar's
heirs, by name Ntig-nath, Badri-nath, and Gopi-nath. In the old topographies
tlie sarae is described as situate at Akbar-pur, a name now restricted to the
next village, since the di^^coA'cry of an ancient sculpture sujjposed to represent
the four-faced (chaumuha) god Brahma. It is in reality tbe circular pedestal
of a Jaini statue or column, with a liou at each corner and a mule female
figure in each of the f jur intervening spaces ; the upper border being roughly
carved Avith the Buddhist rail pattern. The inhabitants are chiefly Gaurua
Tbakurs. A weekly market is held on Tuesday. There is a primary school,
and a bungalow occupied by an assistant patrol in the customs ; a small new
mosque inside the sarde, a temple of Bi'u'iri Ji, built by Kiisi Das, Bai'nigi,
some 200 years ago and kept in repair by his succssor.^, and two ponds known
as Bih'iri-kund and Chandokhar. As a punishment for mal-practices during the
mutiny, the village was burnt down and for one year the Government demand
Avas raised to half as much a^rain.

ti2 PAEGANA CHHATA.

Chhata, since tlic mutiny the capital of the pargana, is on the high road to
Delhi, 19 miles from Mathurii, and lias a camping ground for troops, about 46
Lighas in extent. The principal feature of the town is its sarae, covering 20 bigahs
of laud, which has been noticed at page 17. In 1857, it was occu])ied b_y the
rebel zamindars and one of the towers (now built up square) had to be blown
down before an entrance could be effected. The town was subsequently set on
fire and partially destroyed, and twenty-two of the leading men were shot. It
was originally intended to confiscate tbe zamindars' Avhole estate, but eventu-
ally the jama was only raised to half as much again for one year. The popu-
lation are chiefly Jats, the next most numerous class being Jadons. The name
is derived by the local pandits from the Chhattra-dhdraaa-Ula, which Krishna is
said to have held there ; but there is no popular legend regarding such an
event, nor any very ancient sacred place in its vicinity ; though the Yraja-bhakti-
vilasa(lo53 A.D.) mentions, it is true, a Chhattra-ban and a Suraj-kund, of which
the latter is still in existence on the Mathura side of the town, and shows soiue
traces of an old masonry embankment but lias lost all reputation of sancti^y.
The word Chhata probably refers to the stone chhaitrls which surmount the sarae
gateways, and form prominent objects in the landscape from a long distance.
There is a tahsili school, and a weekly market on Fridays. The Hindus have
nine small temples and the Muhammadans four mosques.

Sahar, seven miles from Chhata and nine from Gobai'dhan, was, from 1838
to 1857, the head-quarters of a tahsili. At the beginning of last century it was a
])lace of considerable importance under the Jats, being the favourite residence
of Thukur Badan Sinh, the father of Suraj Mall, tbe first of the Bharat-pur
Etijas. The handsome house which he built for himself is now unoccupied and
to a great extent in ruins, and the very large masonry tank which adjoins it was
left unfinished at his death and has never since been completed. The town-
ship is divided into two thoh^^hc one of Brahmans, the other of Muhammadans,
and the latter have four small mosques and a dargah. The Government demand
under the present settlement is (including nuzul) Rs. 5,392, collected by 1(5
lumberdiirs. Part of the land has been transferred by the old proprietors to
the two Dhi'isar families that have been seated here for some generations and
arc really the principal people in the ])lace. In the town are sev^eral old houses
with carved stone gateways of some architectural pretension; also a tank with
two masonry ghats called Mahesar-kund, another known as Manik-Das-wdla-
kund, and a small ruined temple of Baladeva. There is a police station, post
office, and a very well attended primary school. A weekly market is held on
Wednesday. The Agra Canal runs close to the town and is bridged at the point
where it crosses the Gobardhanroad, In the mutiny there was no disturbance
here except that the lock-un was brok(mopen, u sn,s[)ected rebel let loose, aud the
patwdri's papers seized and destroyed.

PARGANA CHHATA. 23

Sher-garh, eight miles from Chbatii, with which phxce it is connected by a
metalled road, derives its name from a large fort, now in rnins, Iniilt by the
Emperor Slier Shah. The Jamuna, which one washed the foot of its walls, is
now more than a mile distant from it. The original zamindars were Pathans,
but in 1859, in execution of a decree held by Kishori Lai, bohra, the whole of
their estate, excepting 1^ biswa, now enjoyed by Asaf Khan, a descendant of the
old famil}^, was put up to auction and sold for lis. 16,200 to Muhammad Nur
Khan of Merath, from whom it was purchased for Rs. 20,000 by Seth Gobind
Das. It now forms part of the endowment of tbe temple of Dwarakadhis in the
city of Mathura. In the mutiny considerable alarm was caused to the towns-
people by the Gujars of the neighbouring villages, who made this their centre,
and whose estates were afterwards confiscated and bestowed on Raja Gobind
Sinh of Hathi-as. The Hindus have twelve small temples, the Saraugis one dedi-
cated to Parsvanath, and the Muhammadans three mosques. The weekly market
is held on Thursday, There is a police station, a district post-office, a primary
school for boys and two for girls, one of the latter being supported by Asaf
Khan. The town is siugularly well supplied with roads, for, in addition to the
one to Chhata, it has three others (unmetalled) leading direct to Kosi, to Jait,
and, across a bridge of boats, to Noh-jhil.

PARGANA CHHATA.
Alphahetical List of Villages

'op'ilatiun

rriiicipal Proprie-
tors.

Ko,

Name.

Hindus.

:\Iusal-
u)aii.

Totiil.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

Adam -pur,

580

Brahman .,.

979

Agaryula,

1,367

1,429

...

Gaurua

2,917

Ahori,

...

Anaiid Kislior,
15niiiman.

Ditto

502

Ajhai, (Great)...

...

Ditto (Ka-
chliwaha )

340

Ajhai, (Little.)..

2,413

2,429

...

Gaurua

2,424

Ajlmokhi

787

804

...

Jaion

1,304

Ajinothi

381

383

B r a h m a n
(Upadhya.)

791

Akbar-pur

2,424

2,484

SahMadhuri Sar-
au.

Gaurua (Ba-
chhal ;

2,607

1. Adam-pur .-'On the Ciduita and Sher-garh road. lu the mutiny the villagers joined the
Giijars in phindering the Shcr-garh Bazar, for which they were fined 10 per cent, on the jama.
Four lumberdars. Jama Us. 1,583. A temjile of Balmukund.

2. Agarydld.— A large rakhya with some fine kad.nmb trees and two ponds called Bhushani
and Tali, two baghs, four small sbrines dedicated to Hihari Ji, Jugal Bihari, and two to Sfta
Kam. Jama Rs. 3,957. Four lumberdars lu the mutiny the villagers had a fight with the
Giijars.

3. Alwri — 'I'he Gaurui zaminddrs in 18.19 sold their estate to Gosain Alblieli Lai for
Rs 7 10, and his heirs, in 1859, resold it for ]{s. 9iO to Anand-kishor, Brahman. In the mutiny this
vill.age joined in the attack on the Gaurua Bachhals of Semri. Jama Rs 327.

4. Ajhai (Great). — Conferred by sanad of Daulat Uao Sindhia on Gosain Mathura Pas for
support of the temple of Sita Kaui, which grant was confirmed to his chela in 1633. The zamin-
dars live at Little Ajhai.

5. Ajhai (Little).— On the Delhi road. For wounding a regimental grass-cutter in the mutiny,
the village was attacked and .set on fire, 28 men beina killed in the affair, and a fine imposed
of Rs. 5U0. A kadamb and dhak rakhya. Jama Rs. 2,305. Eight lumberdars. Temple of Bihari Ji.

6. Ajhnokhi derives its name from the anjan sila and pohhar, otherwise called the Kishori
kund, where the R:is Lilii is celebrated in Bhadon. .Lama Rs. 2,000. Three lumberdars,

7. Ajinothi. — Temple of Bihari Ji. Jama Rs. 1,000. Five lumberdars.

8. Ahhirpur. — On the Delhi road. In the mutiny the ziniindars plundered the travellers
on the high-way and attacked the Jadons uf Seniri, in which affair they lost two men. For this,
the jama of one year was raised to half as much again. Since the feud with the men of Semri
the people of Akbar-pur have a nielaof their own every year, (^haitsudi 8, instead of going there,
as before. Part of the village has been purchased by Sah Madhuri Saran. Jama Rs. 2,700.
Five lumberdars. Ilalkabandi school. By the roadside is a large and very deep bauli ap-
proached by a flight of 76 steps, once cased with stone, which has now been almost all stripped off
and applied by the villagers to other purposes. Immediately adjoining, arc the ruins of a
luosque and tomb, and a masonry tank 12 bighas in extent. The boundary walls of the latter are
now for the most part broken down, and of the eight kiosques that crowned the extremities of
the ghats only one remains. These extensive works are said to have been constructed some
two centuries ago by a converted Tliakur named Dhakmal. A rajbaha of the Agra Canal passes
through the village lands, and a rest-house is being built at the poiut where it crosses the high-
road.

PARGANA CHHATA.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population.

Priucipal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant

caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Alwai

541

652

Jadon ...

910

Astuli

310

332

Nathu Lai, Dhu-
sar, of Sahar.

Cbamar

955

Badan-ga^h ...

709

713

...

Jafc

1,505

Badavali

149

...

Malakana ...

448

Bahja

882

112

994

Sardar Sinh, Dhu-
sar, of Sahar.

Gauraa „.

1,912

Rajana

...

Bhakt Kunwar ...

364

Bajhera

735

762

•>•

Gujar „

1,263

Barahra ...

399

...

399

Muhr-pal Brahman,

Gaurua (Ba-
chhal.)

1,290

Baroli

503

607

...

Ditto

756

Barsana

2,598

182

2,780

Heira of Lala Babu.Gaurua

2,140

9. Alwdi. — On Chhata and Gobardhan road. Temple of Eadha-ballabh. Jama Ks. 1,160.
Two lumberdars.

10. Astoli.—Oia. Jait and Sher-gai;h road. Bought by present zamindar from the Gujars,
Jama Ks. I,18S.

11. Badan-garli. — So called after ThakurBadan Sinh of Sahar. Jama Rs, 2,550. Six lumber-
dars.

12, BnddvaU, now in two raahals, of 5 biawas and 15 biswas respectively, was muaS till
1836. A dbak rakhya 62 bighas in extent. Jama Ks, 470.

13 Bahta. — On the Janiuna. Tlie village passed first from the Gaurua proprietors through
a Kayath mortgagee to a Baniya of Sher garh, who has still three biswas, while seven are held by
Mewatis and ten by Sardar Sinh. There is a bagli of fruit trees. Jama Rs. 2,131.

14. Bdjana.—ThQ oldzamindars were Gaurua Eachhals. After changing hands several times,
the estate was sold in 1856 to Fatih Kunwar aud Bhakt Kunwar, daughters of Raja Syam Sinh of
Bikanir. Jama Rs. 325.

15. Bajhera. — On Jait and Sahar road. Was given by Al.a-ud-din to a fraternity of Jogis, of
whose descendants a moiety, in tlie lime of Muliammad Shah, became converted to Muhamniadan-
isra. Nearly half the estate is now owned by Gujars. There is a dharm-sala, also two small tem-
ples, and a rakhya of chhonkar trees.

16. Barahra.— Ta.xt has been recently sold by the Gauruas. There is an old temple of Gopi-
nath and a chhonkar rakhya. Jama Ks. 905. Two lumberdars,

17. BaroU. — Two thoks of ten biswas each. Jama Rs. 775. Three lumbc'vlars. In the
mutiny the villagers joined in the attack on bemri, and were in turn attacked by Chhata and
Semri combined.

18. Bar^dna. — See page 177. Jama Rs. 3,109. Halkabandi school, police station, and district
post-office.

2(5

PARC. ANA CHniTA.
Alphaheticcd List of Villafies—{QO\-\\m\\Q([).

Name.

PopiilafioTi

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Basai(Sher-garli,)

266

271

Rani Sahib Kun-
war.

Gujar

1,367

Basai ("Great) ...

611

...

611

Madan Gopal, Ktl-
yath.

Brahman ...

695

Basai (Little) ...

167

...

167

Muna Lai, mort-
gagee.

Gaurna

725

Bazid-pur ...

...

Brahman (Sa-
nadh)

206

BhacUval

1,119

1,1S0

Ahivasi ...

1,824

Bharauli

4(52

495

Sukhvasi Lai, and
brother, Dhusars.

Gujar

1,574

EharnaCGreat)...

1,459

1,494

Ahivasi ...

2,179

Bharna (Little)...

1,954

1,992

...

Ditto

2,900

Bhayokar

479

495

Hira Siiih, Jat ...

u, ...

1,130

19. Basai hi/ Sher-garh. — On the Kosi and Shcr-garh ro.ad, and adjoining the .Tamunii. One
of the confiscated Giijar villages. A small rakliyaof babul and cbhonkar trees. The name 'Basai,'
so common in this district, corresponds precisely to the English ' Thorpe.'

20. Basal (Great).^The original proprietoi-a were Gaurua Bachhals, who now own only eight
biswas, and Kayaths the other 12. Jama lis. 1,051.

21. Basai (Li If It).— On the Janmtui. A muiifi village granted by 'Miidho Rao Sindhia .and
confirmed by order ot 1843 in favour of the Pnjaris of the temple of Atal Biluiri. The Gaurua
zamindars have sold three biswas to Bralmians and mortgaged other 15 to the nuiafidars.

22 Bdzid-pur.— -On the Jamuna. .Tama Rg. 199. Two luniberdars,

23. Bhniluval. — This was a miiafi grant on the part of Daulat Rao Sindhia to Diwan Champa
Ram, but was resumed by Government in the time of his son 8n rb-Sukh, and the jama fixed at
Ra. 2,8()9. Dhir Sarwar, the anocstir of the Bajravat clan of Ahivasia, and sole zamindar, gave 16
bNwas to the Sanadhs, his purohits. Of tlie four biswas that he retained, part has passed out of
the hands of his descendants. There are eleven lumberdars. A bridge here on the Agra Canal
and fiist-class rest house.

24. Bhnrduli. — On the Chhata aixl Sher-garh road. The original Gujar proprietors sold or
mortgigcd almost all their estate to Ram Bakhsh, Dhusar, whose sons are the present proprietors.
Jama lis. ),698. Two lumberdars. Shrine of Gopal Ji. A small rakhy.a of pasendu trees.

25. Bhnrnrt( Great). — More commonly called 3farna in supposed allusion to a demon 'slain'by
Krishna. Jama Rs. 3,056. Fourteen lumberdars. In the mutiny the people, being members of tlio
J a Ion guhur, or eonfeder.acy, joined the Jadons in their fight with tlie Gauruas. Three temples
and two tanks called NaUha and Murari.

20. Bharna ( Little.) — Or., as best known by the people, Mama Lohra. On the Agra Canal
with abridge. Jama Hs. 4,800. Twelve luniberdars. The mel.-i of the Phul-dol is held here Chait
bndi 2. near h pond called the 8uraj-kund, whure is an old temple of Suraj Narayan, refounded by
Rup Ham, 1 he Kaliira. Tliis kund has two masonry ghats ; there is another called Karahla. Hal-
kubandi schoul.

27. Bkaroliar, in the muliny joined the Kamar guhar in an attack on Nand-g;inw. Jama
Rs, 1,736. live lumberdurs.

tAEGANA CHHATA
Alphabetical List of Vilkiges — (Gontinued).

Name.

'op Illation

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predomiuaut
casto.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
luan.

Total.

Acreage.

Bhartjya

364

873

Lachhman Siuh,
Kachhwaha.

Gaurua (Ba-
chhal )

535

Bhau-gaaw

5S3

575

Sail Madhuri Saran.

Ditto

869

BJ'iwari

728

Ahivasi ...

632

Biloncja

140

168

Sukhvasi Lai, Dhu-
sar.

Malakana,

418

Bilothi

379

Muafi

Mina ...

545

Chaksauli

503

,..

503

J Brahman (Gaur)
4 JadoB.

Jadun ...

1,142

Chamar-gatlii ...

...

Heirs of Laid
Babu.

Dliiuiar ...

226

Cliaumuha „.

2,648

219

2,867

Gosain Giridbari,

Gaurua ...

4,970

Ciihata

5,654

1,070

6,724

...

Jat and Ja-
don.

...

28. Z?Aarf»>cs. — The origiual zamindars were Gaurua Bachhals of 15 biswas and Sana Ihy of
five bi.swas : but the whole estate was bought for Rs. 860 by Baladeva Siuh, Gaurua Ivachhwaiia,
of Brinda-bau, whose son is the preseut proprietor. Jama Ks. 750.

29. Bhau-ijanw.- — On the Janiuna and liable to diluvian. It is divided into two thoks of tr/ii
hiswas fach. Part has been sold and Dther part mortgaged to the Sah. Present jama lis l,»31.
Kand-gbat -with its temple of Nand Kai, is one of the stations in the Ban-jatra, a:ul the uame is
popularly derived from the terror (bluiy) felt by the iuhabitauta when Nuuda was swept away by
the flood while batbiug.

30, Bijwdri. — Seven lumberdars. Jama Rs. 1,125.

31. BilonJa. — The old zamindars were Gaurua Malakanas.

m. nuonaa. — j.iie om zamuiuars were uaurua iviaiaKanas. Their estate passed in 1847 to
Kanhaiya Lai, Dhusar, wbo sold it to Lachhman Siuh, Hrahiuan, of Gobardhan,f(,r Ra. 200, and he
resold it, in 1860, for lis. 991, to Sukhvasi Lai and Bihari Lai, brothers of Kauliaiya Liil. Jamn
Ks. 700.

32. Bihihu'-On tb-e Mathuri and Delhi road. This was a grant from Nawab Najaf Khan to
one Premuand, to wbose grandsons, Bal-mukund and Bihari Lill, it was confirmed iu 1819. In 1827
they sold the property for Rs. 5,600 to Sukh-deva Das, and Baladeva Das ; the latter being uony
succeeded by his son Harideva Das.

33. Chaksauli. — At the foot of the BarsMia hill, and separated from that town by the narrow
pass called the ' Saukari khor.' Two raelas are held here, Bhadon audi 9 and 13, at the .Mor-kutli,
a pavilion on the ridge overlooking the gorge. There are two thoks of teu biswas each. Four
lumberdars. Jama Rs. 1,425.

34. Cliamar-garhi — The original zamindars were Giijars, but after being farmed by differ-
ent people for many years, the estate was at last purchased by the widow of the Lala Babii iu
1854. Jama Rs. 350.

35. Chaumuhd. — See page 21. Italkabaudi school. Customs Buugalow.

36. CAAaVa.— See page 22. Talisili, police station, post office, tahsili school, girla' sciiool,
district bungalow available as a rest-house.

PAROANA CHHATA.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

No,

Name,

Population,

Dahroli

Dalota

Darauli

Dera-pura

Dhimri

Dibhala
Gangroli

44 Garlii

Ghazi-pur

46 Gora

Hindus. ; ^^^.^^^ Total.

607
790

558
4J5
409

645

607
790

559
445

425

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

...

Aliivasi ...

931

...

G a u r n a

(Bachhal).

1,035

...

Jadon ...

848

...

Ditto ...

7iO

Heirs of Lalti
Cabu.

Gujar

827

...

Ditto ...

1,534

1,185

Ditto

Ditto ...

234

...

Jadon

634

Udha, Malakana,

Gaurua ...

624

37. Dahroli. — Two thoks of three biswa* each Three lumberdars Jama Rs. 1,090. The
Pliul-ddl mela is kept Chait badi parivva. Im the mutiny the Ahivasi proprietors, who belong to
the Jadon (juhdr, joined that confederacy in t,<eir attack on the Gauruas of Pali.

38. /?6( /o^a.— .Tama Es. 1,150. Six lumberdars,

39. Darauli.— Ts^n ihoks. Six lumberdars. .Fama Rs. 1,084. Two temples of Radha Kriahan
and Ram Lala, and a large tank.

40. Deva-pura. — Two thoks. Three lumberdars. Jama Rs. 1,020, A temple of Gopal and a
Kachahri, built by Muhkam Siuh, the ancestor of the present Jadon proprietors.

41. Dhimri, near the Jamuna, was sold by the old Gujar proprietors in 1S09 A. D. to tho
Lala Eiihu. The jama is now Us. 1,050. After the mutiny, m whi;^h the villagers had taken pare
vith tlieir hrotlier Gujars at L'jhani, three of the ringleaders were h'ntjfil. There are two
ponds and groves of kadamb trees, called Bhukhan-bau and Niwar-ban, both visited in the Bau-
jatra.

42. Dihhdhi. — Three lumbavdars. Jama Rs. 950. Here is Ratn-kund, a station in the Ban-
jatra, with an old temple and ti'.rdi-i, and tl:e chattri of a b ihra's wife. The village is ou the hill
range which reaches from Uucha-gaiiw and Barsana to Nahra.

43. Gdnffroli. — Given at the end of last century by JIadho Rao Sindhia to IMohau Diis,
Baird'^i, and eonlirmed in 1838 to Kiim Ratn, still living, for the use of the temple of KaiUui-
kaiit at Brindil-ban. The zamindars, who are Gaurua Bachhals, are allowed Ra. 7-8-0 per cent,
ou the muaiidar's rental. There is also a jama of Ks. 18 ou laud lately reco-vcrcd from the river.

44. Gr/r//j.— Sold in 1812 A.D. to the Laid Bdbu for Ra. 50O. The yearly jama is now
Rs. 1,460. In the mutiny five ot the Gujar community were hanged.

45. Ghdzi-pur by Barsana. — Two thoks of ten bisw.as each ; owned, the one by nrahmans, the
other by .liidcns. Jama Rs 650. Five lumberdars. Here ir( the sacrtd pond oLPrem Sarovar.
faced with sioue by liup lUini, Katara ; with three temples dedicated to Kishori Balbibh, Lalita
M(dian, and Gopal Ji,tlie two latter being foundations of blip Ham's, Opposite is a walled -iarden
viih a handsome stone chattri m memory of liis brother Uem-raj. lu the adjoining ralJiydis
celebrated the Has Lid Bhudon sudi 12.

46. Gora.— The old Uaolih.al zamindars have sold 13.^ bis was f o Udha, Malakana, of Undi, and
Mohan Das, Bairiigi, of Brinud ban. There is a rakliya of chhonkar trees. Jama Ra. CUO. Three
lumberdars.

PABGANA CHHATA.

Jlphahetical List of Villages— (continned).

Name.

Populaiion.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Gu!al-pur

203

262

Heirs of LalaBabd.

Gujar ...

1,417

Hathija

1,329

796

2,125

Ditto, muafidiirs.

Mewati ...

4,466

Hazara

430

452

Kayath mortga-
gees, Brdlmian
mortgagdrs.

Mdli

689

Husaini

401

450

Edni Sahib Kun-
war.

Gujar ...

1,794

Jalt-pur

441

...

441

GauruaCFia-
chlial).

373

Jamal-pur

...

Dhusars

Garariya

950

Jatwari

790

818

Uani Sahib Kun-
war.

Gujar ...

1,496

Javali

534

538

Gaurua(nachhal),

Gaurua and
Bralimaix.

798

Kajiroth

390

415

Rajput3

Gaurua o..

814

to the Laid Edbu, The jama, which

47. Guldl-piir, on the Jamund. Sold by the Guj i
used to be iucluded with that of Garhi, is now Rs. 900.

49. Hdthit/a.— Given with Rup-nagar in 1792 A.D. by MdHlio Rao Sindhia, to Kripd Sankar,
Jotishi, and sold by his hur Goi)ind Lai for Rs. 2I,0^H) to the Lala lidhii iu 1814, who appropriated
it to the use of liis temple of Krishna Cliandramd at Drinda-ban. After his death, in 1829, it
was confirmed to his son Sri Nardyan. Of the zamindari, (inurnas had U biswas, Jalons and
Brahmans five, and Mewdiis one, and they received a maliUana of 5 i)er cent, on the miiattdar's
rental ; but now i7i bis was have passed into the hands of tiie La!a Babiis lieirs. There is a large
mango grove, and a new mosque.

49. Hazdm on the Jamund, was held mudfi by one Chand Siromani, and afterwards farmed
by hiB chela ("haran Das, whose heirs have mortg:ii:cd it to Laraiti Ldl, Kayath. Jama Rs. 960.
Tlie old zaminddrs were Baclihals. There are two ba^hs

50, Husaini, on the Kosi and Sher-garh road, derives its name from a Saiyid'a dargah. A
rakhyd of Icadamb trees. Jama Rs. 1,890. One of the confiscated (iiijar villages.

61. JajY-/j«r, on the Jamund. Jama Rs. 776. Four lumberdars.

52. Jamdl-pur, in Akbar's time, was part of the jasrir of Nawab Fatih Khan and Rahraat Khan,
and ^yas called Fatih-pur. The Dhusar zamindars live at S ilidr. Three th<)ks. live lumberdars.
Jama Rs. 1,300. There is a kadamb-khaadi and a pond called Chandan-kuad.

53. Ja/wa/-t.— Four biswas were sold by the Gujars before the mutiny to Lachhman Dag,
Baniya, Sita Uam Ahir, and some Brahmans, and after the mutiny the other 16 biswas were con-
ferred on iiaja Gtjbind Sinh, who has also bought, for Rs. 1,190, the baniya's 1^ biswa. Jama
Es. 1,412. There is a mango grove.

54. Jdvali. — A muafi grant of Aurangzeh's, confirmed by Sindhia, and subsequently by the
English Government. The present Bairdgi muafidars are Lachhman Das, Bhagawan Das, and Bala-
deva Las. Jama Rs. 1,050. Four thoks.

55. Kdjiroth. — On the Jamund. Given by the old Eachhal zaminddrs to their purohits,
Sanddhs ; whi.ise descendants have gradually transferred all but one biswa, held by Gopal, Sana ih. to
Eajputs. These latter, about the year 1800 A. D,, divided tiie village into two thoks called Kdnha
and Harsukh. Tliere are three lumberdars. Jama &a, 1,126. A temple of Sita Ram, and a tree
called Akhai-bat are visited iu the Ban-jatra.

PARGANA CIIHATA.

Alpliahetical List of Villages — (coutiuued).

Name.

Fopulation.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
Caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Kamai

2,416

2,464

Jalon „.

3,979

Karahla

1,587

1,615

Heirs of Lala Babu.

Jadon

J,540

Karahri

176

205

Rani Sahib Kun-
war.

Gujar ...

718

Khaira

2,927

100

3,027

...

Ahivasi ...

4,054

Khan-pur

776

785

...

Ditto ...

1,046

Khandwai ,.,

161

•••

161

Nathu Lai, Dhu-
sar, of Sahar.

Gujar ...

412

Khursi ...

164

...

164

Rani Sahib Kun-
war-

Ditto

272

Konkera

449

...

449

...

Jat

338

56. Kamai.— In the mutiny three of the Jadon zaraindars were killed fightinp^ with their
clansmen against the Gauruas There is aii unusually substantial and commodious village school
recently built, chiefly at the cost of the inhabitants. This is one of the stations in the Ban-jatra,
and the Ras Lilais celebrated, Bhadou sudi 6 The mela of the Thiil-dol is also kept, Chait badi 5,
but this latter is of modern institution. There are four small temples and three sacred ponds
called Hari-kuad, Baladeva-kund and Piri-pokhar. The jama is Ks. 5,383, Fourteen lumber-
dars,

57. Karahla was sold by the Jadons in 1811 A. D., to the Lahi Rabu for Rs. 500, The
yearly jama is Rs. 1,900. Tliere is a very extensive kadamb-khandi, with a pond called Krishan-
kund, where the Ras Lila is celebrated, Bha.;lou sudi 7. Threo teuiples. A halkabandi
school.

58- Karahri, till 1836, used to be assessed with Pingari. The separate jama is now Rg. 535.

69. Khaira consists of 18 biswas only, the other two having been cut off about 150 years
ago to form the village of Nagariya in the Kosi Pargana. The name Khaira is derived from the
Khadira-ban, where is a pond called Krishaii-kund, the s 'cne of an annual mehi, and on its margin
a temple of Baladeva with rather a handsome chattri in memory of one Riip Ram, Bohra, built
by his widow 30 or 40 years ago. A temple with the title of Gopi-nath is said to have been
founded by the famous Todar Mall of Akbar's time Three other small temples are dedicated
respectively to Madan Mohan, Darsau Bihari, and Mahaprabhu, and two ponds bear the names of
Bhawaiii and Chiuta-khori. There is a halkabandi school, and a weekly market on Saturday.

60. Khdn-pur. — On the Agra Canal. Two thoks. Five lumberdars. Jama Rs. 1,80'1. There
is a pond called Syain-kund with a temple of Hihari Ji, near which the Phul-dol is held, Phalgua
sudi 12, and is attended by all the people of the five or six adjoining villages. As in most places
where there is a cunsiderable Ahivasi population, there are several largo brick-built houses.

61. Khandwdi. — On the Kosi and Sher-garh road. After being mortgaged for some years,
the whole village has now been tran.«ferred outrigiU — 7J biswas to Jamuua Das, 12J to Nathu
Lai, Dhiisar. Jama Rs. 497. A garden of mango and jamau trees.

62. Khursi.— Oa the Chhata and Shcr-gayh road. Oue of the confiscated Giijar villages.
Jama Rs. 493.

63. Konkera.— ^omc Kuntel Jajs from Sonkh were settled here by Thakur I'adan Sinh, and
held the village first as a jagir, but were afterwards constituted by Nizaru KLa:i joint zamiudara
with the former Thakur proprietorB. Jama Rs. 560. Three lumberdars.

PAKGANA CHHATA.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

'Population.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant

caste.

No.

Hindu s.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Lahrwari

245

...

245

...

Gujar ...

573

Lar-pur

892

929

Kalua, Gujar ...

Litto ...

1,680

Lodhauli

215

...

215

...

Jadon ...

410

Mahrana ,.,

2,336

103

2,4.39

...

Jdt

1,732

Mai

337

345

Godha, Gaurua ...

Gaurua

(Bachhal).

1,400

Man^oi

214

...

214

Bundle Lai, Brah-
man.

Jadon

452

Mungroli ^

118

Nathu Lai, Dhu-
sar, of Sahar.

Gaurua
(Bachhal).

368

Man -pur

210

217

...

R a j p u t
(Kachh-
waha).

481

Nahra

241

248

...

Gaurua (Ja-
Bavat).

815

64. Lahrwari.— Some 500 years apro the then Gujar proprietor had four sons Bhum, Patain,
Rasnial and Shora, who divided the village into as many thoks of five biswas each. About the
year 1700 A.D., Shera's descendants removed to Maha-ban, and their lands were divided between
the three other thoks Jama Rs. 750, Three lumberdars.

65. Lar-pur.— Tvro thoks, often biswas each, called Purbaira and Pachhaija. the latter sub-
dividedinto four bahris, tho fornierinto two, called Ganga Bishan ('mortgaged in 1860 for Rs. 1,000)
and Kalua. Jama Rs. ) 949. Eight lumberdars. In the mutiny the villagers joining the Bachhals
and other Gauruas against the Jadons lost two men. A small temple of Uihari Ji built about a
century and half ago.

66. Lodhduli.-
Three lumberdars.

-A rakhya of kadamb trees with pond called Lalita-kund. Jama R-s. 650.

67. Mahrana belongs to the Kamar confederacy. A rakhya of chhonfcar trees. Jama
Rs. 3,300. Seven thoks. Fourteen lumberdars.

68. Mai. — Part sold and part mortgaged to Baijnath, Kunj Bihari Lai, Kayaths of Brinda-
ban, and Godha, one of the original baehhal proprietors. Jama Rs. 1,063. Three lumberdars.

69. A/an(/oj.— .Jama Rs. 558. Three lumberdars. Part has been sold to Brahmans. A bagb,
planted by Jasi, hasdhari, and a pond called .Acharya-kund.

71. Mdn-pur by Barsana. Here is the temple called Man-ma ndir, lately restored by Ram
Dayal, of Khurja, where the Alan-lila is held Bhadon sudi 12, and Gahvar ban and kund ("see
page 179) Jama Rs. 270.

72. A^d^ra.— At the end of the Barsana ridge. In 1839 the Jasavat zamindara mortgaged
their estate for Rs. 425 ; and some years later the sole surviving mortgagee, Ganga-dhar, sofd his
interest for the same sum to Bboja, Baniya. This latter was murdered in 186-.i by Nand-kishor
and Bani Sinh, Brahmans, hereditary purohits of the old Jasavat family. Bhoja's three sons are
now absolute proprietors of the whole village, but the feud continues, and an affray having occur-
red this year (1873) when they happened to meet at a mela at Barsana, all parties have been
bound over to keep the peace : before the twelve months had elapsed they forfeited their recogni-
zances. The jama is Rs. 448. There ia a rakhya of kadamb trees.

PARGANA CHHATA.

Alphabetical Lixl of Villages — (continued).

Name,

Population.

Principal Proprie-
turs.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Miis.ll-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Xand-ganW ...

3,887

129

4,016

Heirs of Ldla Bd-
bii.

Jdt

5,236

Nari

1,462

1,492

Jadons and Sa-
nadha

Jddon ,^

2,020

Nau-gama

729

1,306

2,035

Sjani S u u d a r,
Dliusar.

Malakana,

3,584

Pali

674

684

Jddon ...

690

Parkham

725

746

...

Gujar ...

1,616

Pasoli

746

Chnudhari Daulat
Siiih of Kdl.

Gaurua ..

1,408

Pelkhu

1,418

1,456

Ahivdsi ...

1,968

Pilhora

264

Chandhavi Daulat
Sinh of Kal.

Gaurua
(Bdchhal)

655

Pingari

Clilu'tar Mai, Ba-
niya.

Garariya...

464

73. Nand-gdnw.—^GC page l&O.

74. IS/ari was the jdgir of a Begara till 1830, in which year it was first assessed. The jama
is now Rs. 2,650. There are four thoks, each sub-divided into two pattis. and eight lumberdars.
A halkabaiidi school, two small tcniiJJes, and three pouds called Bisokhar, Suraj-kund and Lai
Meo, from the name of the Mewati wlio dug it.

75. Nau-qdma. — (i. e , New-ton) On the Jait and Sher-garh road Bought at auction from the
Bachhal Malaka.ia zauiinrlars in 1840 by Shiw Sahay, Dhii^ar, whose sou Syam Sundar Das is tlie
present proprirtor. A temple of Mai Rihari, built a century and half ago. Two baghs. Jama
lis. 4,976. This village was part of Tdroli, till separated by those of the zamindara who adopted
the faith of Islam.

76. T'dli on the Chhata and Gobardhan road, was held ranafi by Mahant Pitanihar Das
and his chela Sdlagiam till ,839, when it was settled with Miihant I dl .Viukinid at lis. 950. The
■whiile has now been sold to Jadons and others. A temple of Murli Manohar and a rakhya of
karil and chhonkar trees.

77. P:irkhnm was in the Mathura Pargana till 1334. There are three thoks, called Brah-
manan 5 biswas, Bakhshi 7i and Cliura 7^ biswas. The jama is Ks. 1,50 ). Stveu lumberdars.
There are fuur pouds called Pokhar, I'okhar Kalan Kund, and Samokhar.

78. Pasoli, oil the Jait and Sher-garh road, was first put up to auction in 1840, and sold for
Rfi. 1,031; but the purchaser fell into arrears and absconded; and, after being farmed for some
years, the estate was conferred on Chnudhari Daulat Siiih. Jama Us. 1,139. There is a pond
called Mauasa-kund, where a mtla is held IJhddon audi 6.

79. FeMAu.— About the year 1700 A.D., the Giijars sold 2i biswas to Ahivasis, since
which time there have been two thoks. Jama, Ks. 2,200. Seven lumberdars. A rakhya of kadamb
trees. A halkabandi school.

80. Pilhora.— In 1831 mortgaged by the Bachhals to Nand-kishor, Bhat, of Brinda-ban, who
re-mortgaged to Babu Pdrbati Charan, a Bengali. On the tatter's .absconding, the estate was
bought in by Government and finally conferred on Chaudhari Daulat Siiih. Jama its. 900,

81. Pinrjari used to he assessed with Kardhri. The separate jama is now Rs 380. The za-
mindars, Gaur Brahmans of Seuwa, liave mortgaged the village to Chhitar Mall, Bauiya, of Chhata.

PARGANA CHHATA.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Mu.snl-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Pir-pur

140

141

Heirs of Ldia Ba-
bu.

Giijar ...

1,028

Pisayo

961

981

...

Jadon

1,384

Bahera

1,384

1,406

Ditto ...

2,000

Eanera

],481

1,493

Gaurua ...

2,575

Rankoli

560

579

Giijar ...

810

Ranwari

918

934

.Tadon ...

1,536

Ei'thora

654

662

...

Brahman,

1,356

Hup-nagar

180

Araar Lai, Brah-
man.

J.it

280

8y. Pir-pur, on the .Tamuna near Sher-garh, is so called from a Saiyid's tomb. It waa
bought in 1841 for Rs. 300 by the widow of the Lala IJalju of one Gur Das, wlio had acquired it
from the old Oujar proprietors. The jama is now Rs. 1,049 Here is Bih.-ir-ban, in which is a
tank with one tlight of masomy steps, and a temple of Bihari Ji, built abuut 1830 by a Bulira'a
widow, of Chha:iiri.

83. Pisdj/o. — The Rakhya, called in the Sanskrit topographies Pipda-vana, is one of the
most picturesque spots in the whole district. It is of very tjreat extent, and in the centre con-
sists of a series of open glades, leading one into the other, each encircled with a deep belt of mag-
nificent hudamh tre^s, interspersed with a few specimens of the pfz/jri, ;jrtseHf/M, c///a^ and sa/iora,
of lower growth These glades, with are often of such regular ouiline that they scarcely seem to
be of natural formation, are poptilarly known as the /«/ya« cAawA, or ' 52 courts,' thousjh they
are not really so many. They all swarm with troops of monkej-s. On the eastern border, the
jungle is of mi.re ordinary character, with ragged pdu and reiija tret s ani karil bushes ; but to the
west, wiiere a pretty view is oiitained of the temple-crowned heights of bar.^aiia in the distance,
almost every tree is accompanied by a stem of the ami, which here grows to a considerable
height, and scents the whole air with its masses of flower, which both in perfume and appearance
much resemble the English honey-suckle. Adjoining the village is a pond called Kishori-kund
and two temples, visited by the B m-ja:ra pilgrims, Bhadon sudi 9. Jama Rs. 1,950. Three
tboks. Eight lumberdars.

84. Ruhera, on the Agra Canal with a bridge. There is a small rakhya, where the Ras Lila
is celebrated, Bhadon sudi 6. Jama, Rs. 2,739. Six thoks. Nine lumberdars. A halkabaudi
school.

85. Bdnpra, on the Chhata and Sher-jjarh road. Founded by one Param Sukh from Jay-
pur, whose three sons are commemorated by the tlirce still existing tlioks, called Arami, Kidu, and
Amar-chand. The village was granted nuiaf by Madho Raj Siudhia to Gopinath, Bhat, and con-
firmed in 18.38 to bis heir Raghu-nath, Jama Rs. 3,120.

86. Bdnkoli, on the Barsana range, is in the Gaurua guhdr or confederacy. Jama Rs. 660.
Four lumberdars.

87. Ranwdn, on the Chhata and Gobardhan road, is iu the J a Ion guhdr. Jama Rs. 2,350.
Two thoks. Five lumberdars.

88. Bithora, by Nand-ganw. Jama Rs. 1,850. Four thoks. Five lumberdars. A rakhya of
Dim and chhonkar trees.

89. Pup-nngrtr .—Were is a fine masonry tank constructed by Riip R.am of Barsana. who
founded and named the village. It was granted muaf with Ilathiya by Malho Rao Sindhia to
Kripa Sankar, Jotishi, whcse present representative, Amar Lai is both muatidar and zamindar.

PARC ANA CHHATA.

Alphaheiical List of Villages — (continned).

Name.

Population.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Eindus.

Mnsal.
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Sahar

3,375

912

4,297

Bralimaii and
Musalnian.

Bralimans,

4,109

Saiy id-pur

111

122

...

Gaiirua ...

288

Sanket

965

9^2

Heirs of Lala Ba-
bu.

Jaion

1,174

Saiikhl

782

789

...

Ditto ...

1,607

Sawal

1,241

l,26i

Gujar „.

2,276

SeM

2,343

206

2,549

SvvamiRangacharya

G a u r u a ,
(Bachhal.)

4936

Semri

!,131

1.169

...

JaJon

2,750

Senwa

1,413

1,4 !9

...

Brahman
CSanadh.;

1,499

Sher-garh

3,560

1,741

5,301

Seth Haglumath Das

Path an

3,424:

Sihaoa

1 ....:

1,172

Biliari Lai, Brah-
man.

G a u r u a ,
(Bachhal.)

1,601

Police station, branch poat-ufEce. The old tahsili has an upper

90. Sahdr.—See p igc 22.
story available as a rest-house.

92. S«nZ'e<.— 'The place of nssignatioii,' between Nand-ganw and Barsana, was sold in 1812
for Rs. .301 to the Lala Babu, The jama is now Rs. 1,G42. There is a large temple dedicated to
Badlia Raman, which was huilt by Riip l^am, of Barsana, and two others fonndcd respectively-
by the Rajii of Bardwan and the Maharaja of Gwaliar. Two sacred ponds are called Kishau-kund
and Bimala kund.

The Ras Lila is kept here on the full

Seven lumberdars.

93. Sdnfihi, on the Chhata and Gobardhan road,
moon of BhaJon. Jama, Rs. 1,680. Two thoks.

94. Satcdl, on the Jait and Sahar road. Jama Rs, 2,594- Four thoks.
A rakhya of kadamb trees.

95 Schi was, in 1842, put up to auction for arrears and bought in by Government. After
being farmed for some years by Kunwar Faiz Ali Khan, it was sold in 1862 for Rs. 4,800 to Seth
Gobind Das, who in the following year sold it to Svanii Rangacluirya for Rs. 10,000. Jama
Rs. 6,100. There are two temples and a mosque built 200 years ago by the ancestor of llahini Khau,
Paihan.

96. Semri, on the Delhi road, was part of the jagir of the Begam Sahib till 1836. The jama
is now Rs. 2,930. Eleven lumberdars. About lOO years ago two hamlets were formed, Hirja and
Devi Sinh, and somewhat later a third, Garhi Dadhi. In the mutiny the Ja Ion zamindars and
their clansmen had a pitched battle with the Gauruas. Besides several small modern temples,
their is an ancient shrine of Devi of much hical repute, where two annual melas, each lasting for
B fortnight, are held, the one in the light Iialf of I aisakh, the other and much the larger one in
the light half of Chait. There is a rakhya of dhak trees. .1^. '■' m'-^.i-^^i^'. lu.

97. Sennui. — Four thoks separately assessed; 18 lumberdars ; jama, Rs. 2,800. A sacred
pond called Sya.n-kund indicates the probablo derivation of tlie name. A hulkabandi school.

98. S/uT-ya?/*.— See page 23.

99. Sthuna, on the Jait and Sahar road. Given by IMadho Rao Sindhia to Mahant Gobardhan
Dkd for the use of the temple of Rasik Bihari I.al at Uriuda-ban and cuuiirmcd in i84i to his b«ir.

PARGANA CHHATA.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Principal proprie-

ttrs.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

100

Si^ara

10-5

1,0»5

Bhulanath B ahman
mortgagee.

G a u r 11 a
(Eachhai;

1,827

iol

Taroli

3,170

228

3,398

Syam Siindar Das
and Durgii Prasad.

G a u r u a

(Bachbal).

4,514

102

Tatar-pur

a53

...

253

Sundar Lai, Dim-
sar.

Ahivasi ...

608

103

Uba

373

Kishori Lai ...

Jadon ...

880

104

Ujhani

491

503

Eaci Saliib Kun-
war.

Gujar ...

1,667

103

Umrao

5S4

614

...

Jadon ...

1,304

Niruttam Das, who has now been succeded by Mahant Banmali Saran. Jama, Rs. 2,20.». A mango
orchard and a large brick house bear the name of Ham Bal, a Bh Tat-pur Jat, who lived about two
centuries ago. Two ponds are called respectively Kshir-Sagar and Dhanokhar. A halkabandi
school.

1 00. Siydrd, on the Jamuna, which is crossed by a ferry, was held muifl by Bihari Lai,
Braliman till his death in 1841, when it was first assessed. The present jamais Rs. 1,474. Five
lunibtniars. Tliere are two thoks of ten biswas each, called Siyara Khas and Nagariya ; the far-
mer is still held by the old Bachhal zamindars ; the latter has been purtly sold to Seth Roshau
L:il, and the remainder mortgaged for Hs. 1,150 to Bholanath, Brahman. A bagh of Randhir,
Thikur. Tliere are three small temples, one built by Madho Hao Sindhia ; and the Chir Ghat on
the rivi-r bank is one of the most noted stations in the Ban-jatra. The Phul-dol is kept Phalgun
Budi II.

101. Td'oU, for Tira-puri, is a very extensive pvrish a little oft the Jait and Sher-garh
road. Having been put up t > auction for arrears on the part of the old Baehhal zamindars, it was
first fnrmcd for some years and eventually, in 1862, sold for Rs. 5,7''0 to Syam Sundar Das and
Har Narayan, Dhiisars, whose sen and daughter had married. Ear ^'a.raya"n■s son sold his half
for Us l.T,< Oil to Babii Durga Prasal of Brinda-ban, and, in 1867, there was a complete separation
of the two estates. Jama, Rs. 5, .38-2. A halkabandi school. A market on Jlonday. There is
an annual me'a on the full moon of Kartik and the two preceding days in honour of one Swami
Biira Babu, who is supposed to be panicula'iy efBcacious in the cure of skin diseases, lu the
village is a large temple dedicated to Kadha Gobind, recently built out of subscriptions collected
by a Bairagi, which has a front of carved sti/ne ; and there are several substantial shOiO and
houses belonging to well-to-do Baniyas. The old zamindars state that their ancestor came from
Chitor some 7U0 years ago, and that they have borne the inferior title of Gauruas only of lato
years since some of their number adopted the practice of kirm or kiroya, that is, of marriage
with the widuvv of a deceased elder brother. For their treatment by the new landlord see paga
20.

103. U(ja, on the Jamuna, given by Madho Rao Sindhia to Sesh Mall, Misr, for Saddvrat,
i. e., for the perpetual maintenance of a dole-house, and confirmed to his heirs for the same use
in 183S. The muafidars' jama is Rs. 875 ; the Government a'so receiving a jama of i^s. 130 for
alluvial and resumed land. The zamindars were originally Gautam Brahmans of one moiety,
J4 Ions of the (jther ; but now the former hold only 8| biswas and all the remainder nf the village
has been transferred to Kishori Lai. On the river is a temple of Baladeva, built by Riip Ram of
Barsana, where two annual fairs are held ; the Phiil-dol, Chait badi 5, and the Hiudol, Sawau sudi
6. A mango grove perpetuates the name of its planter, Mohan:i, Brdhman,

One of the couSscated Gi'ijar villages. Jama, Rs. 1,44J. A
ndhia to Bal Kishan, Shastri, and

104. Ujhani, on the Jamun
mango orchard.

105. Umrao, on the Agra Canai, given by Madho Rao sinania to JtSal Kishan, Shastri, and
in 1C62 confirmed to his heirs. The original zamindars were Gujars^ who sold 12^ biswas to

PARGANA CHHATA.

AJphahetical List of Villages — (continued).

Same.

Population.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

I'rcdominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musnl-
iiiau.

Total.

Acreage.

106

Unclia-g;'mw

823

830

Guj^ir ..

1,742

107

Undi

376

550

926

:\[alakaua,

895

108

Haji-pnr liy Basai
(Great).

...

Mndau G o p a 1,
Kayath, Dull
Rain, Gaurua.

...

278

109

Kama 1-pur, by
Nand-gauw.

Jats.

...

179

Khor by Barsaiia,

...

Temple of Liirli Ji
at Barsatia.

292

111

Lohrari by Basai
(Great).

...

Bralimaus

...

234

Kayaths ; but both the old and new proprietors fell into difficulties and to a great extent aban-
domd the village, whereupon it was occupied by a Jadon from Dig, named Parsa. Subse-
quently the Gi'ijars returned, partially dispossts^ed the Jadous and gave some of the land to
Earn Bal, a Jat of Undi. There are now three tlioks, one for each of the specified castes A
hamlet called Umar-pur is occupied by the zamindars of Kanwari, who have 6 per cent on the
EQuafidar's rental ; the zamindars of Umrao have 7 per cent. There is a rakhya of chhunkar
trees, an ancient temple of Bihari and a pond called Kisliori-kun(J.

106. Unchd-i/dnw, by Barsana. Here is a temple of Baladeva, built by Eaja Todar Mall.
Khfltri, Akbar's minister, and a pond called Deva-kund, where a fair is held on tlie forenoo)i of
Hhadon sudi 12 by the pilgrims of the Han-jatra on their way to Barsana. Jama, lis. 1,325.
Four lumberdars.

107. Undi. — Given by Madho Kati Sindhia to the temple of Ke«ava Deva at Mathura.
There are four thoks of five biswas each. Jama, Ks. |,00(). A s.cred pond is called Prem-kuud.
In the mutiny, the villagers fighting with the Chliata people had two men killed.

108. Hdji-pur, was formerly assessed with Lohrari. The separate jama is now Rs. 10). The
old zamindars wore Bachhals ; now Daulat Kam, Gaurua of Bhau-gaaw, has eight bibw.is, and
J^ladan Gopal, Kayath of Mathura, the other 12.

109. Kdmdl-pur is held by the Jats of Nand-ga iw. Jama, Rs. QIO.

110. Khor ({. e., khol, an ' opening' between the hills ) lies under the Barsana range. It was
given by Madho Pa) Sindhia to the temple of Larli Ji and confirmed in 1S43. The zamindars
have an annual allowance of Ks. 20,

111. Lohrari used to be united with Haji-pnr. The separate jama is now Rs. 250. The Brah-
mans of Basai havo 12^ biswas ; Moti Paiu and Baladeva, sous of Maiuisa Raui, tlie other 7i.

III.— PARGANA MATHURA.

The Mathura Pargana is the last of the three lying to the west of tho
Jamuna. Towards the south it abuts on the Farrah Pargana of the Agra Dis-
trict, and at some places the border is only five or six miles distant from the
cnpital. A suggestion has therefore been made in an influential quarter that if
Jalesar were attached, not to Eta (as has ordinarily been proposed), but to Agra,
the Farrah Pargana would form tiie readiest compensation. This would be a
partial return to tho old arrangement, as several of the villages now in Mathura.
were once under Farrah ; and it seems to satisfy every local requirement and to
be in all respects most desirable.

With the sole exception of Jalesar, with which it corresponds very closely
in extent, the pargana is the largest in the district; having an area of 183,233
acres, with 163 villages and townships and 194 separate estates, of which 23
are held rent-free. Under the Jat and Mahratta Governments of last century
it was in four divisions, Aring, Sonkh, Sonsa, and Gobardhan; A ring being the
jdgir of Baji Bai, the queen of Daulat Rao Sindhia, who (if local traditions are
to be believed) inherited all the ferocious qualities of her infamous father,
Ghatgay Shirzi Rao, tho perpetrator of the massacre of Piina. In 1803, after its
cession to the Company, it was formed into two parganas, Matlumi and Ari'ng,
under a Tahsildar whose head-quarters were fixed at the latter place, and so
continued till 1868, when they were transferred to their present more appro-
priate location at the capital.

The first settlement was assessed at Rs. 5,149 for Mathura and Rs. 98,885
for Aring, making a total of Rs. 1,04,034, which was gradually increased to
Rs. 2,14,336 ; the actual area also having undergone considerable change.
For, in 1828, after the conclusion of the war with Durjan Sal, 15 villages on
the Bharat-pur border were annexed, and about the same time several mudfi
estates in the neighbourhood of Mathura were resumed. The first contractor
for the Government revenue was a local magnate, whose name is still occasion-
ally quoted, Chaube Rudra-man, who after one year was succeeded by Khattri
Beni Ram.

In addition to the city, it includes within its limits some of the most notable
places in the district, as Brinda-ban, Gobardhan, and Radha-kund, as also
several large and populous villages of modern growth and no special charac-
teristic beyond their mere size, as Palson, Phondar, Usphar and others, each
with two or three thousand inhabitants. The principal landed proprietors are

38 PARGANA MATHURA.

Swdmi Rangik'liarya, as head of the Setli's temple at Briufla-ban ; Gosain
Purusliottam Lai of Gokul ; Raja Pritbi Sinh of Awa ; the heirs of the Lala
Babii, in Calcutta; and Seths Ghansyam Das and Gobardhan Dils ofMathura;
not one of -whom resides immediately upon his estate.

The predominant classes of the population are Juts, Brahmans and Gaunia
Kachhwahas. The ancestor of all the latter, by name Jasraj, is traditionally
reported to have come at some remote, but unspecified, period from Amber,
and to have established his family at the village of Kota, whence it spread
on the one side to Jait, and on the other to Satoha, Giridhar-pur, Piili-kherd,
Maholi, Nahrauli, Naugama, NawaJa, and Tarsi; which at that time must
have formed a continuous tract of country, as the villages which now intervene
are of much more modern foundation. The estates continued for the most
part with his descendants till the beginning of the present century ; but seventy
years of British legislation have sufficed to alienate them almost entirely.

The most common indigenous trees are the oiim, babiU, remja and kadamb:
and the principal crops tobacco, sugar-cane, chand, cotton, and barley ; hajra
and jodr being also largely grown, though not ordinarily to such an extent as
the varieties first named. Wheat, which in the adjoining parganas is scarcely
to be seen at all, here forms an average crop. The cold-weather instalment of
the Government demand is realized principally from the outturn of cotton. An
average yield per acre is calculated as one man of cotton, seven of jodv, three
of bdjrd, six of wheat, eight of barley, five of chand, eight of tobacco, and ten
and a half of gur, the extract of the sugar-cane. The cost of cultivation
per acre is put at Rs. 7 for the kharif and Rs. 10 for rabi crops. The
river is of little or no use for irrigation pui'poses ; but after the abatement of
the rains it is navigated by country boats, which are always brought to anchor
at night. Water is generally found at a depth of 49 feet below the surface of
the soil ; and it is thus a matter of considerable expense to sink a well, more
especially as the sandiness of the soil ordinarily necessitates the construction of
a masonry cylinder. The Agra Canal, when opeucd, will be a great boon to
the agriculturist : it will have a length of 16 miles in the pargaiia from Konai
to Sonoth, with bridges at Basonti, Aring, Sonsa, Lal-pur and Little Kosi.

Ar/ng, nine miles from Mathura, on the high road to Dig, was, from 1803 to
1868, the head of a Tahsili, removed in the latter year to the Civil Station. Till
1818 the town was a jagir of a Kashmir Pandit, by name Baba Bisvanath. On
his death it was resumed and assessed at Rs. 6,447, Avhich sum has subsequently
been raised to Rs. 10,000. In 1852, the old Gaurua zamindars' estate wag
transferred at auction to Scth Gobind Das, who has made it part of the endow-
ment of his temple at Brinda-bau. In the mutiny the rebels marched upon the
place with the intention of plundering the trcasuxy, but were stoutly opposed
by the zemindars and resident officials, and driven back after a few shots had

PARGANA MATHURA. 39

been fired. Lala Earn Baklish, the hereditary patwari, Avho also acted as the
Seth's agent, was conspicuous for his loyalty, and subsequently received from
the Government a grant of Rs. 1,000 and the quarter jama of the village of
Kothra, which he still enjoys. The Tahsildar, Munshi Bhajan Lai, also had a
grant of Rs. 1,200, and smaller donations were conferred upon several other
inhabitants of the town, chiefly Bvahmans. It is much to be regretted that a
misunderstanding with regard to the management of the estate has arisen within
the last year or two between the Seth and his agent, the Lala, which threatens
to sever entirely the latter's connection with the place. Aring is generally
counted as one of the 24 upabans, and has a sacred pond called Kilol-kund, but
no vestige of any grove. Various mythological etymologies for the name are
assigned by the local pandits; but, as usual, they are very unsound ; and probably
the word was originally written Arang, which means ' a mart,' in allusion to the
trading capabilities of the town, situate as it is on the great throughfare between
Matliura and Dig. There is a school of the tashi'li class (which hitherto has
been liberally supported by Lala Rum Bakhsh), a post-office, and a police-station
in charge of a Sub-Lispector. Three small temples are dedicated respectively
to Baladeva, Bibari Ji and Pipale^var Mahadeva ; and the ruins of a fort con-
structed last century preserve the name of Phunda Ram, a Jat, who held a large
tract of territory here as ajdgir under Raja Siiraj i\lall of Bharat-pur. The Agra
Canal passes close to the town and is bridged at the point where it crosses the
main road. The market day is Sunday. The avenue of trees extending from
Mathura through Aring to Gobardhan was mainly planted by Seth Sukhauand,
AuRANGABAD, four miles from Mathura on the Agra road, derives its name from
the Emperor Aurangzeb, who is said to have made a grant of it to one Bhim
Bhoj, a Tomar Thakur, with whose descendants it continued for many years. For
some time previously to 1861 it was however held rent-free by a Fakir, commonly
called Bottle Shah, from his bibulous propensities, a grantee of Daulat Rao
Sindhia. 0(i his death it was assessed at Rs. 601, AA^hich has since been raised to
Rs. 898. The place is frequently, but incorrectly, called Naurangabad. It also
has the subsidiary name of Mohanpur, from one Mohan Lai, a Sanadh, a man
of some importance, AA'ho came from Mat and settled there last century. On
the bank of the Jamuna is an extensive garden, and beside the high road the
ruins of a handsome red-sandstone mosque. The weekly market is held on
Friday and is chiefly for the sale of thread and cotton. The GoAernment in-
stitutions consist of a police-station and a primary school ; the latter for some
years past bearing an exceptionally high character. A reach of sandy and broken
ground extends from the town to the river, Avhere a bridge-of-boats affords
means of communication Avith Gokul and Mahaban on the opposite bank. Aur-
angabad is the chief place for the manufacture of wicker chairs and couches,
Avhich find a ready sale among the English residents of the adjoining station.

■> ^ y ^ ^ ^ ' '

^ / ' / f

PAROANA MATnURA.
Alphabetical List of Villages.

Nftme.

Papilla f tor

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

]\rusal-
uiaii.

Total.

Acreage.

Ahalvii-ginj ...

318

325

Bijay Lal.Saraugi,

Chamdr ...

964

Ahmal (Great) ...

847

873

J at. (Kun-

tei;.

723

Ahmal (Little) ...

472

Ditto ...

7C9

Ajal

195

Ditto ...

SOS

Aji't Va\ii

Akrur: a hamlet
of Uhauiera.

471

...

471

Ditto ...

1,035

Alha-pur

ChunniLal, .Jaf ..

Brah 111 a n,
(Gautam.)

390

Anyor

871

7(59

1,6)3

MilnUiinas and
Biaiiiaans.

Malakana,

2,034

Ar.lzi Shamilat ...

...

Jats

Bairagi ...

Arhera, or Arahra,

245

331

Balarieva Siiih,
Brah in an, of

Gokul.

Malak ana
andCharaar.

90 4

1. Akali/d-genij, on the road to Brinda-ban, was so named by Tuka Ji Holkar (who died 1795
A. D.,) after his" wife Alialya. A Hairagi by name Ham Das held it with the neighbouring village
of Dhaurera as a free grant from Simlhia for s;>mi.' years but it was resumed before the mutiny.
The original zamindars were Kaclih«aias ; but now one l)i-!wa is held by (Jautain Brahmins, tlie
remainder by Bijay Lai, Sa;aiigi, son of I'iwan Sirb-sukli, whose ancestors were DiA-aas to the
Maharaja of Jay-pur. There is s >uie kha lar land, but no irrigation from wells.

2. Ahmal ( Great) is so called after the village founder, Ahmil, who carae from Sonkh.

3. A/ini'd (Little) was fiunded from Great Ahmal by one Si^ Ram. After the mutiny it
was conferred for a time upon Ctiaudhari Daubit SinU >f liiil, wli > transfered it to St;th Gobind
JJa^ ; but it was eventually restored to the old proprietv)rs.

4. yl/aZ. — See Sonkh. Jama, Rs. 575.

5. 4/i< raWi'. — Sec Mangotla. Jama, Rs. 2, 100.

6. Alha-pur, on the Dehli road, was settled some 201 years ago by one Lahnan, Oautam, Avho
named it after his son Alkha His descendants have now parted with almost all the estate to Jat»
and Khattris. The village is held muafi by the Gautama of thy temple of Lakshooi Naiayan at
lirinda-ban. Present jama, Hh. 40u.

7. Anj/or, on the Giri-raj, but 'at the other end* f^ny or) from Gobardhan. Here are two
ancient temples deilicated to Gobind Dova and Baliidova, and a sacred tank, called Gobiud kund, as-
aacribed to Uani Padmavati, the waters of which are supposed to be very efficacious in the cure
of leprosy. The Pind-dan, or offerings to the dead, in the ceremonial of the Sra Idh, have as much
virtue here .as even .at (iaya. There arc 4» acres of m'o idlaml. Tiie original occupants are snid
to have been Kirars. After the mutiny the village was conferred for a time on Chaudhari Daulat
Sinh, but eventually restored to the existing zamindars. Jama, lis. 2,653.

8. Ardzi Shdmildt —One of the eleven mahiils into which the origin.al village of Nainu Vn\^i
has been divided ; the other ten being Saida, Nagara Kalan, Nagara Bhau, Nagara Bhiiuchha,
Nagara Ghaniya, Nagara Chauthaiya, Daum-pura, Jangali Bari, Khilu, and Nagara Kanku.

9. Arhera vras f o\inded some 300 years ago by Bhoja, Malakana, and the family of Ram Chand,
Giijar, from the neiglibuuring village of Kota. Their descendants continued to be the proprie-

PARGANA MATHURA.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

PopnlatioT

No.

Name,

Hindus.

^lusal-
man.

Total.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage,

Aymg

3,9 1.1

190

4,171

Swami R a n g a-
cliarya

Ganrua, Jat,
and Brah-
man.

5.503

ArukiMiimin-pur,

1,203

1,231

Ganes Panda,
Gujarati.

Chamar ...

1,489

Ks&

880

...

380

Jat, (KuQ'
tel.)

470

Altas

854

353

1,207

AkalanandjGosaiu,

Malakana...

3,612

Aurang-abiid Mo-
hau-pur.

1,745

541

2,286

Brahmana

Baniya and
Musaloian.

916

Azam-abad Sarae,

534

343

G a u r u a,
CKachh-
waha.)

135

Azam-pnr

...

Gujar

255

tora till recfnMy,when thoir e.-;tate was put up to auction for arrera, and has finally passed into
the hands of BaUulova Siilli, Hrahman, of Gokul, Thy jama, now lis. 1,500, was for some years
previous to 1811 enjoyed as a free grant.

10. Aring. — See page 38.

11. Aruki Mumin-pur, founded some 600 years aoto by Nizsim, Gujar; Maluk, Brahman Sanadh,
and Daya lllm Gaurua, who came from across the Ganges and dispossessed the former occupants,
who were KaUils The founders' descendants have now sold part of the village to a Gujarati
Panda, livmg at Mathura, by name Ganes. The jama CUa. 1,949) was granted by Sindhia to
Chanbes Kesava Deva, Su'ich Deva, and Ratn Lai, of whom the last-meutiuued only survives, and
his interest, which ia only for lite, has been transferred to Sah Kundan Lai.

12. J^s^ — See Sonkh. Jama, Rs 1,073.

\^. Atas, on the hank of the Jamuna, is divided into three Nagara-?, — Atas Afiyan, Atas
Hindu, and Atas Devi. Tlie founder, Mahta, Tomar. who expelled the Kirarsfrom the place, had
two sons, Makhu and Samar, of whom the former turned Muharamadan and took as his share the
lialf of the estate thence called Atas Miyan, while his brother and his descendants kept Atas
Hindu. 2§ biswiis known as Atas Devi, on account of a temple that bears that name, were origin-
ally conferred on one Ciiiira, a Gujar servant, but have passed through various hands to Akala-
nand, Gosain of the temple of Sringar Bat at Brinda-ban, who is also the muafidar.

14. Aurang dbdd Mohcm-pur.—See page 39.

15. Azam-dhdd Sarde, outside the city of Mathura, on the Delhi road, derives its name from
a very large sarae ascribed to Azam Shah, son of the Emperor Aurangzeb (seepage 18). It
covered a wider area even than the one at Chhata, and was most substantially built, the founda-
tions being sunk to an enormous deptli, but there was little or no architectural decoration. It
is now a ruin, and the materials have been largely employed in paving the streets of the city.
As it stands at some distance from tiie new road, it had ceased to be of any use to travellers.
The land was taken from the adjoining villages of Jay-Sinh-pur and Gobind-pur, and conferred on
Madho Sinh, whose descendants still retain the greater part, though three biswas have passed
to Durga Prasad, Khattri. Jama Rs., 359.

16. Azam-piir, near Anraug-dbad, was founded in the reign of Aurangzeb by Azam Khan,
the Governor of Mathura from 1642 to 1615 A.D., who gave it to a servant, Gulab, Gujar. After
the mutiny it was temporarily conferred on Seth Rusbau Lai. Jama, Rs, 316.

4»

PARGANA MATHURA.

Alphabetical List of ]"///o(/fc«— (continued).

Name.

Vopuhition.

rrincqial proprie-
tors.

Predominant
tiistc.

No.

IliiKlus

Musal-
luaii.

Total

Acreage.

Baburi

1'5

262

Gosain Purushot-
tam Lai.

Malakaia,

640

Bachh-ganw

2,0-24

2,044

J at. (Klin-
tel.)

3,694

Bajana

373

385

Seth G h ansyarn
Da^, mortgagee.

Gujsr, and
Chaniar.

419

Bakir-pur

209

213

Gosain Purusliot-
tam Lai.

Sanadh ...

686

Bavhota

750

777

G a n rti a ,
CKachli.
waha )

1,739

Basai

140

...

140

Gujar ...

307

Basonti

540

663

Raja Prithi Sinh
of Awa.

Gauriia, (Ja-
siivat.)

1,2U

17. Baburi, 'the halul grove,' near the Agra road, was origin.ally occupied hy K:ilal9, who
were ejected by one Mai, a Tarkan Gaiuua. One of his descendants turned Muharam,ad:iu, adopt-
ing the name of Fatih Mubarak, ami is the ancestor of the present Malakaiia family. The village
has been divided into two mahals, called Pachhwaiya and Purwaiya, of seven and three biswas,
respectively ; the latter was sold to Pachauri ballabh Sinh of Mahii-ban, and has passed from
him to Gosain I'urushottam Lai. Baburi was part of the ja^ir of Baija Bai, wife of Daulat Rao
Sindhia, and was originally included in the Sonsa, and later in the Aring, Pargana. Atter the
mutiny the Malakana mahal was coniiscated for a time and conferred on Seth Roshan Lai. The
jama is Rs. 686.

18. Bachh-gdnw, on the Bharat-pnr border. The predecessors of the present Ja| zamindara
were Kirara. 'J'he place is said to derive its name from, and to have been the scene of, a famous
incident in Krishna's life, who, when the jealous god Brahma took away the calves (tiachhe) from
his herd, at once created others to supply their place. The legend, however, has no ancient
connection with the locality, and is referred to it simply in explanation of the village name.
There is a weekly market on Monday, a halkabaodi school, and four small temples. Jama,
lis. 6,800.

19. Bajana was founded by tw) Gujars, Mohan and Eaka, whose descendants transferred it
toChaubes, by whom it has been mortgaged to Gaur Sahay Mall (deceased) and Ghansyam Dag.
The jama (now Ks. 548) was enjoyed by Hakim Nam-dar Khau till 1817, when it was resumed.

•iO. Bdkir-ptir is so called after Azam Khan Mir Muhammad Bakir governor of Mathura,
■who changed its name fr:)m Kaly.an-pur and bestowed it upon two Bra mians, named Lahnan and
L )rha, that were in his service. It is now divi<led into five mahals, of which tiie largest one — ■
beitiL,' eleven biswas — ^is ;jwned by Gosain Purushoitam Lai; in the smaller the old Sanadh family
still retain some interest. Jama, Rs„ 727. Close to the junction of the boundaries of Uakir-pur,
(iiridhar-pur, and Mathura, may be traced a large aacieut tauk with a number of Buddhist stupas
on its margin.

21. Barhoti. — The predecessors of the present Gaurua zamindars were Kirara. There is a
hadamh-hkandi of 166 bighas with a temple of Buddlianaud Lakshmi Narayan, built by Maugal Das,
liairagi, about a century ago. Jama, Rs. 1,600.

In 1868 it was divided into two equal

22. Basdi was settled by Giijars in Akbar's rei
nialals called Uda and Kauha.

23. Basonti, on the Agra Canal, with a bridge and rest-house. The old Jasavat family
now uvti. only 2^ biswas, the Maja of Awa 15, and Brahmans the remaining 2^. Jama, Hs. 1,350.

PATIGANA MATHURA.
Alphabetical Lut of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Populatim.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
nian.

Total.

Acreage.

Batlii

1,759

139

1,89S

Mahaut Gob--iid
Diis.

G a u r u a ,
(Kac b h-
Avaha.)

2,990

Berka

283

289

Ditto and
Jat.

235

Bhadal

853

874

Sauadh ...

1,670

Bhadar ...

264

...

2C4

520

Bhagosa

617

Sanadh ...

1,637

Bhavau-pura ...

9H3

•

979

Jat, (Ktin-
tel.)

383

31)

Bija-pur

459

485

Prasad! L.al,

Cbaube.

Chamar ...

815

Boripa

728

778

Jat CKuntel),

1,493

Brinda-ban

20,160

836

20,996

2,027

24. Bdthi, en the customs line between Satoba and Chaumuba, bus long been held rauafi
by tbe Gurus of the Raja of Bharat-pur for the use of the temple c,f Si: a liain, of which they are
the berrditary mabants. The shrine stands within the walls of the villasje fort, built by Mahant
Kani Kidun Das in tbe time of Siiraj Mall. The first zamindars were Kaliils, then Gauruas, and
tbe latter have sold eiglit hiswas to the mnafilar, Gobind Das. In the Siicred t;rove of Bahnla-
ban, from which the plice derives its name, are several small shrines, and a mela is held at it, as
one of the atati.ms in the Ban jatra, on Bbadon badi 12.

25. Berka, 'the ber tree grove,' was originally held by Kirars, but re-founded by one Balaram,
the ancestor of the present zamindars. Jama Ks. .097.

26. Bhaddl was divide 1 in 1851 into two mabals, the one of llf, tbe otiier 8| biswas, and
this latter has been again subdividert int > f ur. Both were 1 >ng mortgiged to Jngal Das, Bairagi,
and ISi a Ran Kliattri, but have nov^ been .-edeemed with tbe exceptiou of a small share, of which
the Bairagis have acquired absolute possession. Jama, Us. 1,900

27. Bhadar . fouivled by Indra and Ltilman, Bhadauriya Thakurs, whence the name. There
19 a fort built by Man ^Sinh. Jat, and a nnsonry tank due to Incha, zainindar. 224 bighas are
Ciccnpied by a. da liar, ov w)od. Jama, Ks. 710. In the mutiny the zamindars were attacked by
the people of Singa and had to flee to Phenehri.

28. Bhagosa. — The jama (Hs. 1,659_) is appropriated to the maintenance of the temple of
Harideva at Gobardhan (see page 173). The old zamindars were Kirars ; are now Sanadhs.

29. Bhavan-pura. — One of the villages conferred for a time after tbe mutiny on Chaudhari
Daulat Sinh. Jama, Rs. 1,009. Brabmans are now shareholders to a small extent.

30. Bijd-pur, founded 250 years aso, by Bijay Sinh, R:ijpr.t, who took half of tbe villaoeof
Narhauli and called it after his own name. Till 1841 it was all minifl, an. I 4o;? li Im^ nr^ so
still, held by a Cbaube who also owns 15 biswas of the zamiuoaii. The Gjvernment jama is
Ks. 203

31. Boripa. — The old zamindars were Kirars, the present are Jafs and Dlmsars. Jama,
Ks. 2,107.

32. ^ri»f/d-6a?«.— See page 113. For some unexplained and inexplicable reason the official
designatioQ of this town is declared to be Bindrabun .'

PARGANA MATHURA.
Alphaletical List of Villages — (continned).

Population.

No.

Name.

Hindus.

]\rusal-
luan.

Total.

I'l'incipal proprie-
tors.

Predominant

caste.

Acreage.

Chhatikra

667

690

Baiiinali Charan
Das, Maliant.

Gaurua

1,364

Chhirora

.394

407

...

Lodha

746

Datij-a, 5 biswas

...

Brahmane.

Sanadh

160

Ditto 15 biswas,

258

287

Ditto

Gaurua and
Jat.

502

Daulat-pur

151

279

430

Mewati ...

403

Daum-pura

158

...

158

Jat (Kuntel),

Dhan-ganw

1,047

1,075

GujaratiBrahmans

Gaurua

1,522

Dhaurera

Gosain Purushot-
tam Lai.

Brahman ...

1,267

Dyoseras

1,132

494

1,626

Ditto and Me-
wati.

2,804

Ganesara

745

748

Brahman ...

1,145

33. ChhaUkra, on the Delhi road, was founded by Manu, .lama, and Kor, three Kaehwa'ias
from Kal. Their descendants now retain only 1| biswa, the rest liaving been sold to the mahant of
the temple of Syum Sundar at Brinda-ban, who is also muafidar. Tnere is n jhdri, or wood, with a
email shrine dedicated to Garur Gobind, which is reputed to be of great antiquity, and is highly
venerated. On bawan sudi 8, during what is called the pilnch tirith-ka-mela it ia visited
by a large number of pilgnm.s ; the other four holy places being Maithu ban at Maholi, l^'alltallU-
kund at Satoha, Gokarnesvar at Mathura, and the Brahm-kund, at Brinda-ban.

34. Chhirura, (Chhitara-pura), founded by Man and Manoliar, two Lodhas, who came with
Eaja Jasaraj, Kaclihw aha, from Amber, and settled tirst i>t Kofa, and thence removed to Chhinira,

which they named after a relative Chhitar. The zamindars are now Bairagis, Khattris, Baiiiy;i8,
and Dhusars. The jama (Hs, 1,420) till 1817 was enjoyed by a Chaube named Nand Lai. Tin re
is a stone bduli dating tn-ni tHe time of the Dellii Emperors. lu the present map of the distiict
this place is spelt Juhrewruh !

37. Dnulat-pur derives its present name from Daulat Sinh, Mewati, to whom it was given
by Raja Suraj Mall. The old name was Lechoia, and the zamindars Jasavats. Jama, 1\8.550.

35. Daum-pura. — See Niiinu Patti.

39. Dhan-ydnw, founded by Ati-bal, a Tarkan G.iurua, who came from Sarsa and expelled
the Ivirars. Till »826 the village was included in the Larrah pargana of the Agra District.
Jama, lis. 2,199.

40. Dhaurera, on the Jamuna, between Mathura and Brinda-ban, was also called Shah-al>atl.
The village founders were Kachhwahas, from whom the estate bus passed to Gosain Purusholtuni
Lai. At the small hamltt of Akrur, which is populated entirely by Gosaiiis, is the ancient tem-
ple of Biiiari Ji, better known by the name Bhatrund, where a meld is held on the iull moon of
Kartik. (See page 114.) Jama, lis. 1,000.

41. Di/nscras.— The name is said to be derivid from the Hish.i Durvasas and the pond is
shown where he is said to have practised penance : but the derivation does not, appcHr very-
probable. The olfl zainindiirs were Bralimana and Jasavats ; the present proprietor is liadha,
■widow of Har Prasad, the purohit of the Baja of Bharat-pur. Jama, Ks. 3,000.

42. Ganesara, founded by one Gur Deva from Rasiya in Bliarat-pur, whose descendants
still retain 16 biswas. With the exception of 316 bighas 18 biswas, assessed in 1854 at Ks. 290

TARGANA MATHUHA.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name,

Population

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Principal proprie-
tors.

i'redominant
caste.

Acreage.

Ganthauli

1,467

1,490

HarPhul,Brilhman,
Roshan Lai,
Kbattri.

Sanadh

2,360

Ghatam Patti ...

228

230

Jat (Kuntel),

572

Giridhar-pur ...

210

...

210

Mall ant Kishan-
Das.

Gaurua

435

Gobardhan (Brali-
man:in).

1,750

1,758

Gobardhan ("Gau-
nia.)

2,244

195

2,439

Gobind-pur

Brahmans

Chamar ...

455

Gopal-pur

...

Rani Rakhsh and
Zahiriya, Bani-

Jat (Kuntel),

208

Hakim-pur

4)6

428

yas.

Jat

501

Iiidau

1,227

...

1,227

Ditto

1,319

Jachaundba ...

873

875

SwaraiRangaclia-
rya.

Gaurua (Ka-
chhwalial.

1,640

Jait

1,743

1.832

Heirs of Lala Ba-
hu

Gaurua

3,925

and called Maliai Ramhba Chaubin. after the name of the htsc grantee, the v\ liole village is
enjoyed muaf by Raghu-uath, Bhiit There is a,jhdri of 31 bighas.

43. Gd'ilhduli, on the road to Df^. Here is a sacred pond called Gu!a!-kund, with a temple
and dhanu-sala. Tiie old zaminJars were Gujars, Jasav^ats, and Braiinians, of whom the last
named still remain, while the others have been superseded by Khattria. Jama, Rb. 2,987,

44. Ghdt.im Palti.—See Mangotla. Jama, Rs. 1,730.

45. Giridhar-pur, s) called from Giridhir, a Kichhwa'ia. who came fram Satoha. His
descendants have sold the greater pirt to the maailar, the mahant of the temple of Dan Rae
at Brindri-ban. There is an old temple of Devi.

46-47. Gobardhan.— See -page \ 60.

48. Gobind-pur has never been assessed, being held muaf by the heirs of Jacannath, Bhat
who are at the present time Gobardhan- nath, Mathura-nath, Gopi-nath, and Som-nath. ' '

50. Hahim-pnr.' — So called after the founder, a p'lvsici.an at the Rmpcror's court. The old
zamindars were Kirars, are now Pachandra and Kudar Jats and Baniyas. Here is a dharm-sala
built by Sabha, Chaube. The village, divided by recpnt Batwara into three raahals, of 19 6, and
2 biswas respectively, was after the mutiny confiscated for a time and bestowed on Chaudhari
Daulat Sinh.

51. Indaii. — So called after the founder, a .Tat, from Bachh-ganw, who expelled the old oc-
cupants, Kirars Seven of his descendants have given their names to as many nagaras, Sabala

Deviya, Sherd, Gulal, Maruf, Ilarpal, and Shafi. Jama, Rs. 2,200.

52. Jachaunda, on the road to Dig. Purchased from the Gauruas by Saiyid Imdad Ali
Deputy Collector, and sold by him to Swami Rangacharya. Jama, lis. 2,300.

53. Jait. — On tlie Delhi road. Police station, district post oilice, and halkahandi school.
Was founded by Raja Jasaraj, Kachhwaha, from Kota, and transferred by his descendants in 18 H

PARGANA MATnURA.

Alpliahetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

rojiulution

Principal Pruprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Uiudus.

Miisal-
luali.

Total.

Acreage.

Jajan Patfi

1.461

1,505

JaKKuntel),

1,241

Jakhin-ganw ...

785

820

Raja Prithi Sinh
of A^va.

Gaiirua

1,760

£6

Jamal-pur Sarao,

451

458

Gobardlian an d
Bhavani Sinh,
Toniare.

Cliamar

656

Jamunauta

324

328

Swiimi Hangaclia-
rya.

Ganrua (Ja-
.avat).

1,125

Jangali Bayi

909

913

Jat (Kuntel)

586

Janu

1,617

1,665

Ganrua (Ja-
savat).

3,162

Jati-jiura

725

121

846

Sii Giridliari Ji,
Gosain,

Malakana &
Bralinian.

841

A. D , witliout any written agreement or definite consideration to tiie La la Babii Till I808, tho
village was part of the ja^ir of Baija R:ii, and included in the Sonsa Pargaua ; then was attach-
ed to the Farrah, and in 1834, to the Mathura Pargana. Jami, Ks. 4,952.

54. Jdjan Patti.—See Mangotla. Jama, Rb. 2,829.

55. Jahhin-gdnw. — Sold to the Raja of Awa by Keso-nand, Gosain of the temple of Srinear-
bat at Brinda-bau This is one of tlie stations in the Ban-jatra ; and there is a temple of Bala-
deva built by Rup Ram of Bars-ana. The Agra Canal passes through the village lands. Jama,
Ks. 1,800.

56. Jamdl-pur Sarde, in the Mathura Civil Lines, is said to have been first founded by a
Tomar from Mai Mirza-pur, but derives its present name from the Sarae, now used as the Police
Damdama, built by Khwaja Itibar Khan, governor of Delhi, in Akhar's reign, who also built the
Sarae at Kosi. In the mutiny the Tomar zamindars, Scrhu and Man Sinh, pillaged and burned
the houses in the station, in return for which they were flogged almost to death, and their village
destroyed. It has been rebuilt on another spot, but the old .site is occupied by the Magistrate's
Court-house. The jama is Rs. 280 ; part has been mortgaged to Rati, Garariya, of Nagara Baha-
dur.

57. Jamunauta is said to have been once on the river-bank. Jama, Rs. 2,006. On the road-
eide north of the village is a dharm-siila built by Majlis Rao, Baniya, of Bharat-pur.

58. Janyali Ban.— See Nainu Pat^i.

59. Jdau.—On the Bharatpur border. The former zamindars were Kirars: a part is now
owned by Baniyas. There is a dttdk trc^ jungle of 21 bighas, in which is the hut of a fakir, Ram-
zaii Shall, with a piind. Four small tenii)k'8. Jama, Rs.2,s00. This was one of the villages tem-
porarily confiscated after the mutiny and bestowed on Chaudhari Daulat Sinh.

60. Jati-pura, on the Gobardhan range, was first so called by Gosain Bitthal-nath, alias
Jati Ji: its older name was Gopal-pur. The original zamindars were Gaiiruas, but tlieir estate
has passed into the hands of (he muafldar, the Gosain of the temple of Navanit-priya at Gokul.
There has never been a Government assessment. There is a kuciamb-khandi of 273 bi«has, where
the Raslila i;- celebrated, Bhadon sudi 11; and on the day after the new moon of Iviirtik the Anii-
kut mela is held at the temple of Gokul-nath. On every full moon throughout the year, people
will be seen perforuiing the pari-krania. On the summit of the ridge are the remains of the old
temple of Sii-nath, built by liallabhacliarj'a, and in the village many other temples and tanks —
Navanit-prya, Bitthal-nath, Mathura-nath, and Sukta-kund constructed by Gosain Bitthal-nath;
Bijay-iiath, built by Raja Jay Sinh ; Udliokund, Airavati-kund constructed by Raja jNahar Sijih
oi Bliarat-pur, aud Ilari Ji-kund by Seth Lajja Ram of liharol.

PARGANA MATHURA.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Nauie.

Popuhitio

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus

Musal-
uiaa.

Total.

Acreage.

Jay-siuh-pura ...

M35

116

1,251

Kishori Lai, Dlm-
sar.

Chamar and
Musalman,

1,001

Jhapra

176

»77

Jdt

322

Jonai

286

BrahnianBandTha-
kurs.

Brahman,

592

Junedi

637

651

P.aja Prithi Siuh
of Awa.

Ditto

1,178

Junsujhl

1,118

1,194

S e t h Gobardhan
Daa

G a u r u a

(Kachhwa-
ha).

1,720

Kaniaul

298

320

Gopain Piirushot-
tam Lai.

Tar!< ar Tha
kurs and
Chamars.

900

Keso-pur

...

Lodhas

Mali

170

61. Jay-sinh-pura, on the Brinda-han road, was originally known as Daiid-pur, subsequent-
ly as Hae-pur after K:le Rana one of Akbar's nobles, and derives its present name from the foun-
der of Jay-pur. He gave it to certain Muhammadans and Giijars ; and the former are still zamiu-
dars of 16 biswas, while the remaininsr 4, constituted into a separate estate, are owned by Kishori
Lai, Dhusar. Jama, Ks. 517. On a hill overlooking the Jamuna are the remains of Jay Sinh's
mansion, now commonly called Mihal Dudliadhari. Before the mutiny the Nana of Bithor had
a house and garden of 17 bighas here The former was razed to the ground and the materials
sold to iJurga Prasad, Kfcattri, wlio has built shops on the site ; the garden was given to Pandit
Durga Prasad, Deputy Collector, in district Aligarh. On Kartik sudi 9 the mela of the Jugadi
Navarai is held, and every fortniglit, from Asarh sudi 11 to the stme date in Kartik, perambula-
tions of Muthura are made, starting from the Sarasvati-kund. There is a shrine of Chamun4a
Devi aud a Saraugi temple.

62. Jhaprd. —The Jat zamindars belong to the Pachandara clan. Jama, Es. 468. This was
one of the villages given temporarily after the mutmy to Chaudhari Daul.it Siuh.

6-^. Ji<7i«i was founded by Gopal Sinh, Rajput, whose descendants still rttiin 10 biswas;
the other 10 have passtd to Brahniaus. In |8U7, Jonai was part of the j:igir of Baija Bai iu par-
gana Sonsa, and was included iu the Sahar Tahsili till 1843, \yheu it was first assessed at Rs. 425.
The present jama is Ks. 666.

64. J"uHet/i was sold to the Raja by Kesavanand, Gosaiu of the temple of Sringar-bat at
Briuda-ban. Jama, Rs. 1,400.

65. Junauthi. — The Katchhwahas have sold 19 biswi
J is held by Jafs. Jama, Rs. 2,662.

to Seth Gobardhan Das, the remaininc

66. Karndul is said to derive its name from Raja Kama, is certainly named after some
Kama or other. 800 years ago it was re-settled by Angan, Tarkar, fromTartora, and Chaud, Ahir,
from Maha-ban, who.se descendants partly told, partly mortgaged, tlie estate to Seth Rup Chand,
■whose sou Gobardhan Das made a gift of it to Gosains Bittlial-nach and Purushottam Lai. The
latter now enjoys it with hilthal-nalli's two sous, Kalyan Kae and Braj-riath. Till 1817, it was
held muafl by one Ram Kishan, but resumed on his death iu that year. Jatna, Rs. 1,363,

67. Keso-pur, so called after the famous temple of Kesava Deva, comprises the city
suburbs about the Katra, Here is a Jaiui temple built by Mani Ram the father of Seth Lakhmi
Chand. Jama, Rs. 131.

PAR G AN A MAT nun A,
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Population.

iNo.

Name.

Hindus.

IMnsal-
niau.

Total.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

Klianiiui

047

716

Tuisi Kaiu, Baniya

Gujar

846

Khilu

753

767

Jat(Kuutel)

623

Koila, 'Ali-pur ...

667

6S4

Brahman
Chamar.

1,638

Konai

954

975

Raja Prithi Sinli
of Awa.

Jadun

1,894

Kosi (Little) ...

737

767

S w ii m i Ranga-
charya.

G a u r u a
(Tarkars).

1,874

Kota

486

600

Janaki PrasaJ of
Raya.

Gaurua and
Chamar.

1,316

68. Khdmini, on the road to Gobardlian, originally belonged to Kachhwahas and Gujars, from
whom it has passed to Tuisi Ram, modi of the Raja of Bharat-pur. Jama, lis. 1,500.

69. Khila.—'&eQ Naitiu Patti.

70. Koila 'Ali-piir, on the .Tamnna opposite Gokul, was held muafi by IVIunawar Ali Shah of
Agra, till his death in 1831, when it was resumed. The jama is now Hs. 1,617. It was nnce two
distinct villages, Sinalh Upalhj'as beim? the znmindars of Kaila and Guiruas of 'Ali-pur. Part
is now owned by Gosain Purushottam Lai. There are a sarae and mosque, built by Bhuri Begain
in the time of the Mughal Emperors.

71. Konai, on the Agra Cunal, was sold to the Haja by Kcsavanand, Gosain of the temple of
Sringar-bat at Brinda-ban. Jama, lis. 1,550. Thtre is a rahhyu of very cimsiderable extent, with
a fine group of kadanib trees in tlie centre, on the margin of a large i)ond; the whole furuiing a
very pitturesque spot. On the outskirts of this hudamb-khnndi, in addition to the usual bushes
of hins and kuril, and many chlionkar, renja, and Libera trees, there are several of the rarer akol
and the sahora, and also by a second pond one venerablf sptcimen of the ptlu/i/uin, a variety of
the fig genus, scarcely fcmnd anywhere else in the district, with foliage resembling that of the
pi/ja/ and fruit like tile ^rt/rty. Tliere is a temple of Devi, a substantial iniclv-built pyramidal
tower, partly in ruins, with elaborately carved jambs and lintel to its doorway and many frag-
ments of sculpture of a somewhat earlier date. Also a small stone clihatti in memory of Jasu,
an officer in the service of the bharat-pur Raj, whose grandson, Pitambar, is still living in the
village. Adjoining it is a very large and deep well, tiie water of which is so brackish that it
is impossible to use it for any purpi se whatever. The want of good water is general through-
out the whole of the village, and in consequeace 1,418 biglias of land are now lying waste, out of a
total aica of 3,308. The canal will probably cause a great part of this to be brought under
cultivation : but there is some difficulty in tiie matter, for 750 liighas, including 575 of
waste, lie west of the canal, and can only IJe readied after going round either by the Basoiati or
Bharna bridge, eacii being more tiian two miles distant from the vilinge, The oljjectiou to
founding a subordinate liamlet across the canal is tiiat no water fit for drinking purposes can be
obtained there. The inhaljitauts are petitioning for the coustructioa of an additional bridge.

72. Kosi (Lilile), on the Bharat-pur road, has a bridge over the Agra Canal and rest-
house, a temple of Hihari Ji, and an old mud-built sarao. There is a market on Saturday.
Jama, Rs. 3,000. The masonry wells, of Avhich one occurs here and others at intervals along the
road were suuk at the expense of a Rani of the present Bharat-pur Ciiief, a daughter of the Raja
of Pattiala.

73. Kola, on the Delhi road, is said to have been once called K;itak-ban. Tlie ancestor of
the old Kaciibwalia zamiiulars was one Jasraj from Amber, wiio.so descendants sold tlie estate to
Hardcva Das and Baladova Das the heirs of Sarang Das, who bad been mmifidar till his death in
1850. The Government assessment is now Rs. 1,815. Janaki Prasad, Baniya of Raya, now owns
19| biswas, the rtmiining ;} biswa being administered by tho Court of Wards on behalf of Har-
deva Prasad, grandson of Durga Prasad.

PARGANA MATHURA.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
Caste.

No.

Hindus.

:\rusai-

man.

Total.

Acreage.

Kothra

329

...

329

Earn BakhBh of
Ariog.

Jat (Kuntel)

612

Kunjera

704

729

...

Jadon ...

1,627

Lal-pur

670

675

Katara Brahmans.

Jogi,

1,664

Ldi^-pur

282

348

Sridhar, Chaube,

Brahman and
Malakaaa.

1,127

LoTha PatU

1,534

1,580

Jat (Kuntel)

1,563

Madan-pura

108

113

Mir Madad Ali,
road contractor.

Ahir, ...

392

Madho-pur

227

243

Mahamai, sister of
Syama Prasad,
Tahsildar.

Mallah, ...

223

Madhuri-kund ...

1,112

221

1,333

Gaurua, ...

1,545

74. Kothra.— The Jama is Rs 1,000; but since the mutiny only Ks. 750 are paid to Go-
vernment, the balance being a grant to the lumberdar for his good services.

75. Kunjera, or Kunj-ban, has a sacred pond called Baladeva-kund, with a small temple
bearing the same title. Jama, Rs. 2,271. The old zamindars were Jasavats ; are now Jadons.

76. Ldlpur, on the Sonkh road, with a bridge over the Agra Canal, founded by one Lain,
Gaurua, was in the time of Thakur Chura-raani of Bharat-pur held as a jagir by Mumrez, J;i{.
It was subsequently resumed, but the zamindari was confirmed to his heirs, who transferred it
to a family of Katara Brahmans. One of the latter, by name Khumani, purohit of the Rana of
Dhol-pur, was killed by the Jats in the mutiny.

77. Ldr-pur, was founded by a Tarkar named Laram, who came from across the Ganges. Of
his descendants, Ganga, the owner of 5 biswas, turned Muhammadan ; other 5 biswas have been
sold to Sarwar and Fancham, Brahmans ; the remainder continued with the Hindu portion of
the old family till recently, when the entire village was purchased by Sridhara, Chaube. He
also owns 7^ biawas of the hamlet of Mani Ram, while the other 12,^ biswas arc held as a separ-
ate niahal by Brahmans of a different family. Lar-pur was held mudf by Baladeva, Gosaiii, a
disciple of Swami Haribans, by grant of Madho Rao Sindhia, till 1856, when it was assessed at
Rs. 850.

78. Lirha-Patti, on the Sjnkh road, is so called after its founder. The original zamindars
•were Kirars. Jama, Rs. 3,?00.

79. Madan-pura, on the Jamuna and liable to diluvion, was founded by an Ahir from the
neighbouring village of Karnaul. His descendants have transferred it to Contractor Mir Madad
Ali. Till 8161 it was part of the jaglr of Fakir Bottle Shah of Aurangabad. Jama, Ra. 350.

80. Mddho-pur, on the Jamuna, adjoining the cantonments, was formed out of Mathur:i, Ja-
malpur, and May Mirza-pur by Salim Sliah some 300 years ago, who gave it to a Mallah, Chaina.
It was confiscated after the mutiny, and conferred, first on Seth Roshan Lai, but finally on Pandit
Durga Prasad, Deputy Collector. In consequence of diluvian, the jama has been reduced from
Rs. 382 to Rs. 250.

81. Mddkuri-khund, on the Agra. Canal, is now divided into three mahala called Ram-bal,
Purbal, and Magol. The kund is said to be named after one of Radha's companions ; and bathing
in it on a Wednesday is thought to be sure to bring as much good luck as a visit to 68 places of
l)i1grimase. There ;s a temple of Mohan-ji and a nameless Chhattri in a garden. The old zamindars
vwe Kirara, are now Kaclihwahas. For tlieir good ctmdiict in the m'ltiny they received a dona-
tio* of lis, 400, and one year's jama, Rs. 1,337, was remitted.

PABGANA MATnTTRA.

AlpJiahetical List of Villa ges^ — (continued).

Name.

Population

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Mnsal-
luan.

Total.

Acreage.

Magbera

7S8

791

Brahman
(Gautam)

1,290

Maholi

1,113

1,167

Heirs of Lala
Eabu.

Gaurua ...

2,37S

Mahrauli ...

1,507

1,553

Riidha, widow of
Har Prasad,
Purohit.

G a u r u a
(Jasavat),

2,901

May Mirza-pur...

624

628

Seth Mangi Lai „.

Gaurua
Chamar.

296

Malhu

977

991

Jat (Kuntel)

992

jMalsariie
Mangotla

60O

601

Jat

645

Marora ...

335

324

659

...

Mewati ...

1,253

Miisiim-nagar ...

209

214

Param-anand, Misr,

Gil jar

390

The zamindara were

82. Mag/wra is held muaf by Nand Kuuwar, Bhat, of Brinda ban.
formerly Kuars ; are now Ahivasis.

83 Mnhnli, i. e, Afadhupuri, was refounded by two Kachhwahas, ndj-deva and Bhoj-deva,
the sons of Jasraj of Kota. The estate continued with their descendants till 1812, wlieu it vf»a
6' Id for the insignificant sum of Rs. 900 to the l.a!a Eabu. The jama is now Ks. 3,23'.). Though
only a few uiilet? from Matiuira, tlie village was long tlic heail of a pargana and subsequently was
included in Arfng till 1833. By the sacred grove of Madhu-ban is a masonry tank called Madhu
kund, with a temple of Chafur-bhuj where a mc'a is held by the Ban-jatra pilgrims, Bhadou badi
11. There is a halkabandi school. For further particulars see page 54.

84. Mdhrdnii, probably a corruption of Mahidhara-puri, has a kadamb-khandi of 18 bisjhas
and two small temples. The oM zaraindars were Jasavats ; tlie present proprietor is the widow of
Har Prasad the Purohit of the Eajaof Bharat-pur. Jama, lis. 3,600.

85. May Mirza-pur, on the Jarauna, adjoining the cantonments, was founded by Rana Baha-
dur, a Tomar from Delhi, wlio named it after his son Maya Ram. From his heirs it has passed to
S( th Mangi Liil. For a few years it was held inuaf by HaUiiu Nam-dar Kbau, The present jama,
liable to revision, as the stream aft'ects the area, is Rs. 287.

86. Malhu and the village of Singa were founded by the two sons of one Mahta, who called
them after their own names. On the road to Mat'nira is a dharm-sala, built by Manasa Ram
Sahukar, of Kumbhir, about 35 years ago, Jatna, Us. 2,200.

87. Malsarde has passed from the old Kirar zamlndars to Sinsinw.ar Jata. Jama, Rs. 1,287.

Mangotla, more commonly written and pronounced Magora, on the road to Bharat-pur, was,
both under the Muharamadans and the Jilts, the head of a local division, and is reputed a place
of great antiquity. After being long deserted, it was re-settled by a family of , Tomar Tbakurs,
who divided it into four estates, which they called after their own names, Ghatam, Kain, Ajit and
.TaJMH. These four pattis are now to all intents and purpo.ses distinct villages with the Mangotla
ba>.ar as a common centre. There is a weekly market on Thur.^day and a halkabandi school.

88. Marora, held muaf by Nand-kishor and Z;ihiriya, Biahmans. The old zamindars were
Kiraru, are now .Tasavats and Chaurasiya Bi alunans, these latter being a branch of the Gaur
tribe, from Mewat. A pond be.irs the name of Barokhar.

b9. Md.ium-vngnr, originally culled Flaidar-pur, derives its later name fmm Ma^um Ali,
Amil of Malhura under N.ij.af Kliau. It was founded in the first instance by bhoj-deva and

PARGANA MATHURA.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predoniinanl
caste.

Ko.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total,

Acreage.

Mathura (City) ...

45,03.3

8,291

54,324

Heirs of Lala
Biibu.

3,234

Mora

927

948

...

Gaurua ...

1,628

Muhammadpur

613

...

613

...

Brahman...

563

Mukuud-pur

420

413

ScthMangiLal,..

Jat

492

Mukharai

582

691

Sanalh ...

9?1

Murcsi

751

756

...

Bra'.mian...

964

Murseraa ...

1,041

1,059

Gohardhan SiiLh,
Jit.

Gaurua (.Fa-
fa'.' a t )
aud ,Iat.

2,200

Mursliid-pur ...

...

Brdliaian...

168

Nabi-pur

283

299

Heirs of Lai a
Babu,

Gaurua and
Cliamar,

1,176

Kaj-deva, sons of Jasraj, Kachhwaha, from Kota, who gave it to their foster-fatlur, Buddha a
Gujar. With his descendants it continued till 1810, when it was bought by Gujar Mall, sou of
Dayanand :Mi8r, and father of the present proprietor. It was part of the jagir cf Baija Bai till
1805, when it was fir.st assessed at Rs. 450.

91. Mora, given muaf by Sindhia to Gn\ al, Bliat, whose heirs retained the half jama till
1841, when it was settled with the Kachhwaha zamindars at l\s. 1.600. It hss now passed to
Seth Gobardhan Das. In the mutiny one of the old zamindars, Chhitar, took a prominent part
looting all the adjoining villages : he died in jail. '

92. Muhammad -pur, known on the spot only by its older name of Parsoli, is so cnlled after
Muhammad Shah, in whose time it was resettled by si, me Bralimans from the neighbouriiifi town
of Gobardhan. Here is the Chandra-Satovar, a fine octagonal tank with a temple of Lachhman
both constructed by Kaja Nahar Siuh of Bharat-pur. Jama, Rs. 1,001. ' '

93. Mukund-pur, so called from the founder, a Mahnitta. Subsequently it wns occupied
by some Jats from Kamar, named Gulah Lai, Sisa, Bhoja, and Jawahir, with Avhose descendanta
it continued till after the mutiny. Jama, Rs. 1,047.

94. A/i/^7irtra?, is held muaf by Mahant Ram Bakhsh. The old zamirdars were Kirars are
now Sanadhs, Dhusars and Bairagis. In 1868 it was divided into three mahals. Jama, Hs. l'360.

95. Muresi, on the Bharat-pur ro^id, is held muaf by the temple of Gaues, at Jay-sinb-pura.
The founder was a Brahman from Kumbhir, named Bas.

Rs. 1,900.

Murseras, bought by the Jats from the old Gujar and Jasavat zemindars.

Jama,

97. Murshid-pur, on the Jamuna, adj. lining the city, derives its name from the local gover-
nor, Mursliid Kuli Khan. It was first as-^essed in 1841. The jama, which varies accordino-'to the
course of the river, is n w Rs. 430. The descendants of Sat ham, Sanadh, the village f'^.undcr
still hold 7^ biswas ; Syam Lai and Madho Lai, sons of Shankar Lai, the old mukaddam (,f
the city, 5 biswas ; Nand-kishor, Baniya, other 5, and Hardeva Frasad, Khattri, the reuiaining 2.'.

98. Nahi-pvr derives its name from Abd-ul-nabi, the founder of the mosque in the centre of
the city. It was s<dd by the Kachhwaha zamindars to the Hani Kaitani, the widow of the Lal£
Babii. Jama, Us. l.ruo,

PARGANA MATIIUKA.

AJphahetical List of Villages — (continued).

Population.

No.

Name.

II Indus.

Mu sal-
man.

Total

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

Nagara Bbaa ,..

...

Baladeva Misr and
Lhagirath.

Jat (Kun-
tel).

252

100

„ Bliunchba,

227

...

Ditto .„

120

101

„ Chauthai-
ya.

...

Ditto ...

272

102

Nagara Chhinga...

407

428

Ditto ...

678

103

„ Gaju ...

413

417

Sanadh ...

239

104

„ Ghaniya,

262

266

Jat (Kna -
lel).

105

„ Kalaa ...

418

Ditto ...

231

106

„ Kanku ...

144

...

144

Ditto ...

211

107

„ Kdsi ...

396

397

S e t h Ghansyam
Dai.

G a u r u a
(Kachh -
waha).

920

108

„ Neta ...

163

...

163

Jat

280

109

„ Sa m a n t
Nainu Patti.

Jat (Kun-
tel).

208

93, 100, 101. JSagaras Blidn, Bltuachha, Chauthaii/a.—See Nainu Patti.

102, IVagarti Chhinga.— In the time ot Tha'.iur Clmra-mani of Thun in Bharat-pur, a Kuntel
Jat, by name Banarasi, "luld part of Sonsa and Boripa as jagir. His grandson fouudtd this ham-
let, which he called after his own nanii'. Jama, Ks. 1,109.

103, Nagara Gaju was first called Nagara Brahman, after the caste of its founders, who
came from JuuButhi. Jama, Ks. 594.

104, 105, 1U6, Nagaras Ghaniija, Kaldn, and Kanku.— See Nainu Patti.

107. Nagara Kdsi, so called after its founder, who came from Junsuthi, was sold by the
Kachhwahai to Seth Ghansyam Das, son of Gur Sahay Mall. Jama, Rs. 1,204.

108. Nagara JSela was settled by J iUs from Barhota, with whose descendants it still con-
tinues. Jama, Ks. 325.

109. Nagara Sdmant, near Lal-pur on the Agra Canal, in the time of Thakur Chura-mani,
of Thun, was held muaf by one of his Ivinsmeu named Muiurcz. The settlement was subsequent-
ly made with the Jajs, but now they have only five biswas and Brahmans the other 15. Jama,
Its. 215.

Nainu i'w^/j consists of 11 distinct mahals «;?«., Arazi Shamilat, Daum-pura, Jangali Bari,
Khilu, Saida ; and Nagaras Bhau, Bliu.icliha, Chautlia'ya, Ghaniya, Kalan and Kanku. These
were formed by tlie sons and relations of the original Jiit proj)rietjr, Nainu, viz., Jangali Biiri,
Kiulu and Saida, by his three sons so named; Nagaras Bhuehh i, Ghaniya, Kalan and Kanku, by the
children of his fourth s jh Kirat ; and Nagaras Lihau and Chauthaiya and Daum-pura by his kins-
men. A bainigi I'riya D:ls held 70 bighas 7 biawas miiAt, and this land wlien resumed waa
c instituted the Arazi bhiimilat. The older zamiudars were Ivirars. There is a small temple of
liiaj-bhulihau.

PARGANA MATHURA.
Alphahetical List of Villages — (continued).

Population.

No.

Name,

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage,

110

Nahrauli

685

723

Chamar and
Gaurua.

705

111

Naugama ...

563

684

Baglichi Bohra,
mortgagee.

Gaurua ...

1,265

112

Naugama Mahal...

...

Harideva Das,
Bairagi.

Ditto ...

...

113

Nawada

211

...

211

Ealyan Lumber-
dar.

Ditto ...

€50

114

Nim-gauw

917

938

...

Gaurua
(Jasavat)

2,159

115

Paitha

1,614

1,712

...

Sanadh ...

3,080

116

Pali (Brahmanan),

195

...

Ditto ...

242

117

„ (Gaurua) ...

...

Nathu Sinh, Kachh-
waha.

Mali

243

110. Nahrduli, on the Bharat-pur road, was founded by Jasraj, Kachhwaha, and named
after Nahar, one of his relatives. His descendants still retain one-third, while Palti 13aladeva has
been acquired by Bhau and Pratap of Mat, and Patti t'awdi by Keval and others of Maholi.
Jama, Ks. 1,079. To punish the people for the part they had taken in pillaging the Civil Station,
their village was burnt down after the mutiny, and for a time given to Seth Eoshaa Lai. On a
chabutara by the roadside is an ancient Mabadeva, sculptured with a head in relief.

111. Nangdma is said to derive its name from one Nag, a Kachhwaha, who came from
Maholi and ejected the Kalars : in which case the original form of tiie name must have been
Nagama. Part has been mortgaged to Biighchi, Bohra; and part sold to .Janaki Prasad of Paya.
The jama, Rs. 1,942, is enjoyed mudf by Anand Lai and Madho Lai, Baidjas, a gift from Sindhia.

112. T^augdma Mahal was held muaf by Prahlad Das, Bairagi, and formed into a separate
estate on his death, when it was settled at Es. 35 with his chela, Chhabiia Das, who has now been
succeeded by Harideva Das. This latter has mortgaged it to Kundan Lai, Baniya, agent for two
Mahratta ladies, Tapi Bai and Jamuna Bai.

113. Nau-dda, like Naugama, was formed by Nag, Kachhwaha, the son of Sarang, and grand-
son of Jasraj, who came from Satoha and and took 400 bighas out of each of the four adjoining
villages, Aurangabad, Bija-pur, Aruki, and Tartora. His descendants are still in part possession.
Jama, Rs. 872.

114. Mm-jrdnw, on the Chhata and Gobardhan road, is so called after Gosain Manohar Das,
of the Nimbarak Sampradaya, who built a small temple, still standing. Jama, Rs. 2,307.

115. Pai/Aa, near Gobardhan (.Jama, Rs. 3,166), is held muaf by Misrs Baladeva Lai and
Ganga Ram of Mathura, of whom the former is accounted the most learned astronomer and astro-
logist in this part of India. The zamindars of old were Kirars ; are now Brahmans and Gujars.
There is a masonry tank called Narayan Sarovar, and by it a small temple, of great reputed
antiquity, dedicated to Chaturbhuj, with a curiously twisted tree known as the A'lntha kadamb, and
a natural cave believed to reach the whole way to Gobardhan, and to be the one that the people of
Braj went into to save themselves from the wrath of Indra. There are also two other small tem-
ples, and, on the load to Gobardhan, a Mahaleva called Muhari that is said to be sunk an im-
mense depth in the ground, and will never allow itself to be covered over. Several attempts have
been made to build a temple over it -, but whenever the roof began to be put on, the walls were
sure to fall in. This and several other of the sacred sites in the neighbourhood are marked by
inscribed tablets set up last ceutury by an officer under Sindhia.

116, 117. Pali, divided before the mutiny into two Mahals, in one of which Brahmaus from
Bayhota; io the other Gaurua Jasavats are zimiadars. The jama of each is Rs. 330.

PARGANA MATHURA.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

118

„ CDungara) ...

149

...

149

Jat (Kun-
tel.)

196

119

„ Khera

481

...

481

Ditto ...

650

120

„ Malita

413

440

Ditto ...

528

121

Panua-pur

...

Madho Lai Chau-
be.

Ditto ...

398

122

Paral

683

647

Sanadli ...

1,861

123

Parson

2,416

2,445

Raja Prithi Siuh
of Kishan-garh.

Ahivasi ...

3,712

124

Phenchri

335

339

Zalim Sinh and
Ram C h a n d,
Lumberdars.

Jat (Kun-
tel).

693

125

Phondar

2,989

3,070

Ditto ...

3,242

125

Pura

452

458

Ditto ...

1,240

127

Piifua

868

236

1,104

Ditto ...

508

118 and 120. rdli, on the road to Sonkh, ia said to have been named in honour of Anang
Pal of Delhi, by a Tliakur, three of whose descendants, Dungara, Lorha, and Mahta formed it into
as many separate mahals, Lorha, which is uninhabited, has a jama of lis. 310, Dungara, Ks. 420,
and Mahta, Rs. 150.

119. Pali Kherd was founded by the sons of Jasraj, Rachhwiihas from Maholi, who named
it after their sovereign lord, Anang Pal of Delhi. It continued witli their descendants till above
100 years ago, when Nagaru and Dalua sold 174 biswas to Dhan Sinh, Gujar, and Kripa, Jat.
The remaining 2i biswas were acquired by Gujars in 1813. Jama, Ks. 479.

121. Pavna-pur, founded about the year 1725, by Pajina, Khwaja, in the service of
Sawai Jay Sinh, who took 200 biglias from Mathura and as many from Nahrauli and Maholi.
It was made over to Tuisi, Gujar, his foster-tather, who bestowed five biswas of it on Hrah-
tnans. The present zamindars are Chaubes, Gujars and Bairagis. Jama, Ks. 273. It is uuia-
habited.

122. Pdral, on the Chhata and Gobardhan road, was made into two mahals in 1842; Brah-
mans having 12J, and Khattris 7i biswas. Jama, Ks. 1,936.

123. Parson, the present Ahivasi zamindars acquired from the Kirars. The Raja of
Kiahangarh is muafidar. Two small temijles and a halkabandi school.

124. PAencAn.— The prepcnt Pahchandra, Dliusar, and Brahman zamindars acquired from
the Kachhw alias. Jama, Ks. 1,093. Eamchand, Brahman, is only a fictitious owner ou behalf
of liabii Parvati Prasad.

125. Phondar, on the Bharat-pur border, has a kadamh-khandi of 20^ bi'gahs, with a pond,
from the flowering lotuses in which the name is supposed to be derived.

126. Pura is said to have been originally called Jogi-pura, The old zamindars were Ravat
2 ats. Jama, Ks. ] ,800.

127. Puma. See Sonkh. Jama, Rs. 1,215.

PAnGANA MATHURA.
Alphabdrical List of Villages. — (continuofl).

Name.

Po) ulatinn.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Mnsal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

128

Kadhakun^ .».

2,255

2,328

Raja Prithi Sin'i
and.">wamiRan-
gacharya.

...

2,778

129

Raj-pur

339

••

339

Tikam Sinh of
B rind a- ban.

Brahman ...

1,598

loO

Ral

3,302

123

3,425

Raja Prithi Sinh
of Awa.

Th ak u r
Kachhvvalia.

5,110

131

Ram Patti

3,392

185

3,577

Jat (Kuntel).

...

132

Ram-pur

898

948

Jat (Kunte!
and Pahch-
audra).

784

133

Rasul-pur

912

926

Jat (Kuntel),

1,296

134

Ratu

261

...

261

Ditto

412

135

Raunchi

Brahman ...

449

128. Rddlid-kunJ. — For a description of its famous tanks, sec pages 40 and 133. The old
zamindars were Gauruas; the present proprietors are Swa ni Rangiicharya, the Guru of the Seth'a
temple at Brinda ban, and Raja Prithi Sinh of Awa, who hold each in ecpial shares. Here is a
large colony of Bengals, one of wliom keeps a Sanskrit school Tliere is also a lialkabandi
school. The Kusum-sarovar and Chliattri of Kaja Suraj Mt.ll are on the extreme border of the
village land towards Gobardhan (see page 174).

129. Raj-pur, on the Jamuna, adjoining Brinda-ban, was first so called with reference to
the Raj-ghat, an old ford and reputed tirtha, by Bhagawan, a Sanadh from Kamar, who came
and settled here Before, it liad been known as Malhu Khtra, after a Kachh«alia named ll^lhu.
Part of the village is still held by Gauruas and Bra'imans. descendants of the old stock. Here
is a fine bauli of red sandstone constructed by Mulhar Ra) Sindhia ; another ma<ie by Gi pal
Rao ; and two very large walled gardens, the one near the temple of Bhatrond, laid out by
Parikh Ji, the grandfather of Seth Lakhmi Chaud, the other by BliiU Kuslial, Seth of Gujarac.
The latter is tenanted by Baira^ia and the village rental, lis. 836, is devoted to their support
and the maintenance of the garden,

130. lidl. — The ol i Ganrua zamindars sold their estate to Kesavanand, Gosain of the tem-
ple of Sringar-lat at B in a ban, from whom it has ben purchased by Raja Prithi 8inh of
Awa. The principal resident in the town is Ghaudhari Daulat Suih, a descendant of the old
family. See page II. In a garden outside the town are three chliattris in memory of his ances-
tors, Maha Sinh, Gopal 8inh and Devi Sinh. The large mud fort wcia built by the last named.
There are two large tracts of woodland, abounding in game, the one 3-24, the other 566 bij^has in
extent, a halkabandi school, and three small temples, dedicated respectively to Baladeva, Mohau
Ji and Kesava Deva.

131. /?dm Pa^<t.— See Mangotla.

132. Rdm-pur derives its name from a sacred pond called Ram-tal. It is now divided into
two mahals, owned, the one by Kuntel, the other by Pahchandra, Jats. Jama, Ks. ^50.

133. Rasul-pur on the road to Bharat-pur, and on that account made a police station.
Here is a dhirm-^ala built by Narayan Das, bjhra ; and a temple of baladeva and a masonry tank
construL-ted by Ram Das, Bairagi. Jama, Rs. 2,4u0. A district post-office.

134. Rata was formed into a separate village by Ratu, a Jat from Bachh-ganw. Jama, Rs. 700.

135. Raunchi, on the Jamuna, was founded by Hamir, a Kachhwaba from Pal. Of his two
sons, Miram and Ganes, the former turned Muhammadan. Sume of their descendants are still

r-ARGANA MATIIITUA.

yup/iahetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

ipulation.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
nian.

1
Total.

Acreage,

136

Sadr Bazar

5,G84

1,873

7,557

...

137

Sahjua

1,894

123

2,017

Jat

Brahman ...

...

138

Saida

346

...

346

..'at (Kuntel)

...

139

Sakaraya

972

977

Kislian Sab ay,
Braliniaii,Luni-
berdiir.

Ganrua and
Chamar,

2,487

140

Sakarwa

1,108

...

1,J08

Si^ami Hangacha-
rya.

Mali

1,599

141

Sakitra, 5 biswas,

241

...

241

Raja Jasavant
binli of Bharat-
piir.

Brahman and
Gaurua.

273

142

„ 16 biswas

1,219

1,251

Gauriias

Chamar

771

143

Sakna

362

368

Nand Kishor, Ba-
il iy a

Brahman ...

605

144

Salim-pur

596

603

.Jat.

584

part proprietors, while other part is held by Seth Roshan Lai and Murli and Tiilsi, B aliman.s,
of Auranga'-al. The muafi estate has also been acquired by purchase from Gosain Mathura-
rath by beth Roshan Lai,

137. Sahjua.' — See Sonkh. Jama, Rs 1,500,

138. Sflu/a.— See Nainu-Patti.

139. Sakardi/a, founded by a Ganrua named Santokh, whose descendants still own a small
share; the rest has been tninsferred to Btahmans. The jama, Rs. 1,404, is an endowment of the
temple of Ralha-kant at Brinda-ban. Overlooking the Jiimnna is an old mud fort, S.akar-b.an,
from which the village derives its name — Sakra being a title of Indra — is one of the places visit-
ed in the Ban-j.-itra, and extends over 340 bighas. A m.iha! of 118 biirhas 6 biswas held nuiaf
hy (lohardhan Da<( and Ganga Das, Bairagis of Brioda-bau, was resumed in 1855 and settled with
their heirs at Rs. 63.

140. Sakarwa also derives its name from Sakra. It was purchased by the Swami from the
old zamindars, who were Brahmans and Jasavats. Jama, Rs. 2,364.

141. Sakilra, 5 biswas, comprises part of the town of Gobardhan, including all the most
famous sites, viz , the Manasi Ganga, the Chhattris of Rajas Ranjit Sinh and Baladeva Sinh, the
Gwal I'okhar, the temple of Chakresvar Ma'iadeva, built by Su'aj Mall, the temple of Lakshmi
Niiravan rebuilt by Seth Radha Krishan and Swami Niva.sa-chari, the Chhattris of Ranis Hup
Kunwar and Amrit Kunwar, and many other small shrines and monuments. The old zamindacs
were JasaVats, but now the Raja of Bharat-pur is both muatidar and zamindar. There is a
market on Saturday.

142. Sakitra, 15 bisiras, has a jhiiri of 81 bighas. Jama, Rs. 1,123.

143. Saknn has a temple of Baladeva. The zamindars were formerly Br.-ihmans and Ahirs ;
are now Brahmans, Baniyas, an-l Malakanas. Jama, Rs. 900.

144. Salim-ptir, was founded by Bhoja, Jiit, an officer of Salim Shah's. The greater part
of the estate has passed from his descon Innts to Hnniy.as. Thp village was formerly included
in I'argana Sonsa, and was part of the jajjir of Ba ja "B:ii : later it was attached to Pargana
Sahar till 1833. Jama, Rs. 1,196.

PARGANA MATHURA.
Alphoh<4ical List of Villages — {conii\n$n$.

Name.

Population

Principal proprie-
tors.

L'rc.loiuinant

caste.

No.

Hindus

Mu?m1.
man.

Total.

Acreage.

145

Satoha Askarpur,

1,494

1,518

Kachwaha3

Gaurua

1,305

146

Sehan

616

633

Daui Kaui

Jat (Kuntel)

532

147

Sehi

1,102

1,116

Ahivasi

1,592

148

Shah- pur, Chain-
pur.

27/

288

Laiji, Chaiibe ...

Gaurua

793

149

Shah-pur Ja^an...

251

258

Jat

259

150

Siiiga

1,210

1,292

Jat (Kuutel)

1,214

151

Sou
Sonkh

l,-'56

1,298

Uday Ram

Ditto ...
Ditto

1,502
2,267

152

Sonoth

434

437

Ea'iii Ilavichand-
raand HuiKllu'r.

Gaurua

1,120

'45. Safoha is on tho road to Gobardhan- For a description of the Santanu-kund see page
168. The old zaniindars were Kachhwahas, the descendants of Sarang, the son of jasriij, nf
Maholi ; thiy have now been partially superseded by Haniyas and Dlu'isars There is a halka-
bindi .-ichool. and by t le tank a bungalow occupied by a Patrol in the Customs Department.
Two hunilets are called Sadola and Askar-pur : the latter has been purcliased by Selh Ragliu-
uath Das.

146. Selid-K also called l!aghunath-pur, on the Agra Canal, ha'! a temple of Bilniri Ji. Tin's
was one 'f the villages gi.'en temporarily after the mutiny to Chaudhari Daulat Sinh, Jama,
Rs. 1,150.

14;

Sehi was acquired by the Ahi\asis from the Kirars.

14S-I49 Shdh-pur, on the Agra Canal, with a bridge and bungalow, was founded hy one
Shahn.an, a Gaurua Kachhwaha from Sonsa ; and Chain-pura, at first a separate village, by one
Ciiaina tr mi the same pla-e ; this latter is now deserted Some years a'.;o two mahals were
f< rmtd, the one Shah-pur Chain-]>nra, now owned hy Chaube zamindara, with a jama of Rs. 1,078,
the other Shah-pur Jatan, held by Pahchaiidra Jals, with a jama of Rs. 432.

150. Sitigd, on the Sonkh road, is so called after the founder, as the village of Malhu after
that of his brother. In the mutiny the Jat zamindars plundered the people of Bhadar, for which
they had to pay Ks. 1,060 compensation. There are seven hamlots. Jama, Ks. 2,7 OD.

151. Sun, said to have been founded by a Kaja of that name, has been acquired in part by
Janaki Prasad, Bauiya of Kaya. Jama, Rs. .3,010.

Sonkh, on the road from Mathui a to Kumbhir, is supposed to derive its name from the demon
Sankhasur. Under the Jats it was the head of a local division The Jat founder, one Ahlal,
liad five sons, by name Ase, Ajal, Purna, Tasiha, and Sahjua, who divided the estate into as m:!ny
pattis, wiiich still exist and are to nil intents and purposes distinct villages, with the Sonkh bazar
as a common centr3. A police station, a district p st-office, an establishment of town ch-»uki-
dars umUr Act XX. of 1856, and a halkabandi school. A market at Sahjua on Thursday, at
Purna on Monday. Tlie latter place has also an old mud fort.

152. Sonoth is said to derive its name from Sohan Pal, Tomar. It has hren divided into two
mahals: Jarui.i, held by l:eugali Kayaths, with a jama of Rs. 800; Shiniali, held by Gaurua
Gdurs, with a jama of Rs. 812. There is an old mud furt, built by one Dabbal, in ruins since
the time of Najaf Kluia, and a temple of Devi, built by Sinduia, where a mela is held on the
lull moon of Bais-akh.

PARGANA MATHURA.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (contimied).

Name.

Population.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
mau.

Total.

Acreage.

153

Sonsa

934

968

Gaurua

1,145

164

Sunrakh

580

...

680

Brahman ...

2,446

156

Tarsi

728

749

Seth Gobardhan
Das.

Ganrua.

...

156

Tasiha

279

136

415

Jat (Kuntel),

513

157

Tehra

525

532

Lodha

500

158

Ton4

165

187

Kanhay and Pir
Bakhsh.

Mewuti

6 5

159

Tosh

697

729

raja Prithi Sinh
of A wa.

Jadon

1,324

160

Uncha-ganw ...

738

753

Amar Lai, Jotiahi,

Gauraa (Ka-
clihwalui.)

1,612

161

Usphar

1,032

1,206

2,238

Durga Prasad ...

Malakaaa ...

.••

153. Sonaa, on the Agra Canal, near the Sonkh road, has a jharl of »8 bighas, an old fort
built by the Mahrattas, and a temple of Mahadeva built by Manasa Ram, Sahukar of Kumbhir.
After the mutiny the zamindars received some small rewards for good services doie to the Gov-
ernment. In the time of the Jats Sonsa was the head of a pargana. There is a halkabandi school.

]5t. Sunrakh, on the Jamuna between Briiida-ban and Jait, was the original seat of the
Ahivasis who were expelled some 300 years ago by Jliokman, Kachhwaha from Bathi, and Rai
Kam a Gautam from Kal, and the present Gautam and Gaurua zamindars are their descendants.
Thtre is an old fort built by one Hira Sinh of Kal, Jama, Ks. 1,873.

155. Tarsi, on the Bharat-pur road, was founded by Tura-chand, a Kachhwaha from
Satoha' From his descendants the estate has passed to Seth Gobardhan Das and Syam Sundar
Das Dhusar, of whom the first owns two-thirds ami the latter one-third. Jama, Rs. 2,201. Here
is the sacred' grove of Tal-ban, where a mela is held Bhadon sudi 11. The bungaluw, occupied
by an assistant patrul in the Customs Department, was destroyed by the villagt-rs in the mutiny,
for which act they had to pay a compensation of Hs. 800. When the canal is opened, the cus-
toms line will follow its course and the bungalow will be removed to Little Kosi.

156. Tasiha.— Ste Sonkh. Jama, Hs. 1,200.

157 Tehra was founded by Arjun, a Lodha, from Amber, who named it after his son.
There is a jluiri of 25 bighas. The village was held muaf by Kam Narayan, Chaube, till 1863,
■when it was assessed at Ks. 915.

158. Tend. The zamindars were formerly Kolis and Jogis, are now Jats, Baniyas, and

Mewatis. There is a jhari of of 8 bighas with a shrine of Kanva Deva, where the Kolis hold a
mela in Bhadon.

159. Tosh, bought by Thakur Pitambar Sinh of Awa from the Kachhwaha zamindars In
the mutiny the peopte ranged themselves on the side of the Government under Chaudhari Daulat
Sinh. Jama, Ks. 1,450.

160. Unchd-rjdnw, on the Sonkh road, was sold by the old Kachhwaha zamindars to Amar
Lai, Jotishi, who is also the muafidar. Jama, lis. 1,961. Here is the sacred grove ot Kumud-ban,
68 i bighas in extent, where a mela is held Bhadon badi 1 1.

ICl. Uspluir, near the Simkh road, was sold by the old Thakur zamindars to Isvari Sinh,
Banlya, who resold 15 biswas of it to Murija I'rasad, Bengali. Jama, Rs. 2,804 In the mutmy
tlic rep'reseutalives of the old proprietor made an attempt to eject their new masters.

TARGANA MATHUEA.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (concluded).

Name.

Population.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

H indue.

Musal-
ma n.

Total.

Acreage.

162
163

Dhak-pura
Tartora

...

Seth Roshan Lai ..

...

393
492

162. Dhah-pura, uninhabited, so called from the number of dlidk trees. Jama, Ra. 750.

163. Tartora, another uninhabited village, was founded by Padam Slifih, a Tarkar Thakur
from across the Ganges, whose descendants have sold it to it tu Sith Koshan Lai, Khattri. Jama
Rs. 751. The old village Kiiera immediately adjoins the regimental racecourse, and by a well a'
little way beyond, towards Aurangabad, are arranged a number of sculptured stone Iragments,
some of them ornamented with the pattern known as the Buddhist railing.

IV.— PARGANA MAT.

The Pargaiia of Mat is the most nortliern of the four on the oast of the
Jamuna, and is a lono^j naiTow, strag<2;hn<r tract of country lying between tlio
river and the Ah'garh border. As it abounds in game of Vnrious kinds — bhick
buck, wiki boar, and water-fowl — it has considerable attractions for the sports-
jnan ; but in every other point of view it is a singularly uninviting part of the
district. There are no large towns, no places of legendary or historical interest,
no roads, no local trade or manufacture, and no resident fiimilies of any distinc-
tion. The soil also is generally poor, the water bad, and, except quite at the
north, there are {"ew groves of trees to relieve the dusty monotony of the land-
scape. As if to enhance the physical disadvantages of the locality by an artificial
inconvenience, the tahsili has been fixed at the village of Mat, in the extreme
south, on the very borders of the Maha-ban pargana ; though the merest glance
at the map will show that Surir — a place of almost exactly the same size as
Mat — is the natural centre of the division. Its recognition in that character
would be an immense boon both to Government officials and to the agriculturist.
The present arrangement dates from a time when the j)argana was of very
different extent, and Mat easily accessible from all parts of it. For, till 1860,
it included the whole of the Raya sub-division to the south; while in the north,
Noh-jhil formed an entirely separate tahsili. This was more in accordance with
the division of territory existing in the reign of the Emperor Akbar, when the
whole of Mat proper came under Maha-ban, and Noh-jhil made part of pargana
Noll in the Kol Sarkar. Immediately before the cession of 1804, the latter was
the estate of General Perron ; while Mat, with Maha-ban, Sa'dabad,and Sah-pau,
was held by General Duboigne.

As now constituted, the pargana comprises 141 villages, forming 153 se-
parate estates. Of these, the great majority are Bhaiyachari, and thus it comes
about that the richest resident landlords are the members of a Brahman family,
quite of the yeoman class, living at Ohhahiri, a hamlet of Mat. They are by
name Poia Ram and Parasuram, sons of Radha, and Kalhan, sou of Bal-kishor,
and have jointly an assessable income of Rs. 9,276 a year, derived from lands
in Mat, Bijauli, Ilarnaul, Jaiswa, Jawara, Nasithi, and Samauli. They have
lately been at considerable expense in building a school in their natiA'c place.
Three other men of substance, of nuich the same social position, are Lachhman,
Brdhman, of Bliadra-ban ; Serhu, Brahman, of Tenti-kii-ganw, and Lala Ram,
Baniya, of Jawara. Of non-residents, Bao Abdullah Khdu of Salim-pur in

PARC ANA MAT. 61

Aligarh, a connection of the Sa' Jabtid family, has estates about Khanwal and
Kai ahri, on which the aiuiual Government demand is about Rs. 2,000 ; Eajd
Tikam Sinh of Mursan enjoys a royalty of Rs. 1,061 from the Dunetiya Circle ;
and Lalas Mahi Lai and Janaki Prasad own the two large villages of Arua and
Bhadanwara.

After the mutiny as many as eighteen villages (eleven in Avhole and seven
in part), belonging to the rebel leader Umrao Bahadur of Nanak-pur, were
contiscaterl, and all the proprietary rights conferred on Seth Lakhmi Chand
rent-free for the term of his natural life. On his death, the grant was further
extended to his son, Scth Raghunath Das, on payment of the half jama ; but
the muati estate (being about Rs. 8,000 a year), which alone he retains in his
own hands, it may be presumed, will lapse entirely on the termination of the
second life. The zamindari has been transfei-red to his uncle, Seth Gobind
Das, and by him constituted part of the endowment of the temple of Dwa-
raka Ihis at Mathura. The original proprietor was a member of a family that
had always been in opposition to the British Government, and died fighting
against us at Delhi. Thoir principal seat was at Kumona in Bulandshahr,
where, in 1807, Dunde Khan, with his eldest son, Ran-mast Klian, who is said to
have been possessed of perfectly marvellous and herculean strength, held the fort
for three months, though the garrison consisted of a mere handful of men. After
the surrender, a pension t)f Rs. 6,000 a year was settled upon Ran-mast Khan,
which his widow enjoyed till her death, an event which took place about a year
ago ; but the father's whole estate was declared forfeit and bestowed upon Mar-
dan Ali Khan of Chitari, a scion of the same stock. Umrao Bahadur was the
child by adoption of Dunde Khan's second son, Nawab Ashraf Khan of Nanak-
pur, and, as above mentioned, was killed in the rebel army before Delhi. With
him fell his youngest brother, Mazhar Ali Khan, who left a sou by name Rahim
Ali Khan, who is now either dead or at the Andamans ; the sole surviving re-
presentative of the family being a son of Umrao Baha lur's— Amir Bahadur —
who vvas too young to be engaged in the rebellion with his father.

The total population of the pargana according to the census of 1872 was
100,248 ;* the predominant class to the south being Gaurua Thakurs ; while in the
north the agricultural community are almost exclusively Jats, mainly of the Noh-
war sub-division. The principal winter crops a,rejudr, bajra, maize and cotton, the
latter occupying some 13,000 acres, while til, arhar, and hemp are also grown,
but ordinarily in the same field with jodr. In the hot weather about 24,000
acres are un ler chand, 18,000 under wheat, and 13,000 under barley. Thouo-h
there are indigo factories at four places, viz., Lohi, Karahri, Bhalai and Arua,
the first named has almost entirely suspended operations, and at the other three
the plant used is mainly growai in villages across the border in the Aligarh dis-
• According to the lahbili calculation, 99,823.

62 PARC AN A MAT.

trict. The most productive lands are the aUuvial flats, which in the rains form
part of the river bed ; the high bank that bounds them is generally bare and
broken, and the soil further inland poor and sandy, where the only trees that
thrive well are iilm, fards and babul. Coimection with the opposite parganas of
Kosi, Chhata, and Mathura, is maintained by two bridges-of-boats (the one from
Chhin-pahari by Noh-jliil to Sher-garh, the other from Dangoli to Brinda-ban,)
and as many as seven ferries, at Rae-pur, Faridam-pur, Musmina, Surir, Ohawa,
Iloli Guzar, and Mat. Scarcely any attempt has been made to provide for
internal communication. In the whole pargana there is not a single yard of
metalled road except in the Mat bazar, where it has been constructed out of the
Chaukidari tax ; the only bit of first-class unmetalled road is the four miles from
Noh-jhil to the Sher-garh bridge^ and all the remaining thoroughfares are nar-
row, winding cart tracks, sunk so much below the level of the adjoining fields
that in the rains they assume the appearance of small rivers. In 1856, a strip
of land was taken up of sufficient width for the construction of a good broad
road to extend from the Brinda-ban bridge to the town of Noh-jhil, thus tra-
versing all the southern half of the pargana. But little was done beyond
marking it out ; and as all the lower part of it for some miles lies across the
ravines, where it is annually cut away by the rains, it is for at least six months
in the year all but impassable ; the sum allowed for its maintenance, Rs. 5 a
mile, being quite inadequate to carry out more than the most superficial repairs.
The number of bridges and culverts required would undoubtedly render it
rather a costly undertaking ; but the pargana one per cent, contribution to the
road cess is out of all proportion to the benefit which it receives in return ; for
the jama is Rs. 2,37,734, while the road-allotment is only the paltry sum of
Rs. 405. The claim to more liberal treatment is therefore not unreasonable;
while the road, in behalf of which the special claim is advanced, is one of the
most crying wants of the district. It would connect three places of some import-
ance in the pargana, viz., Mat, Surir and Noh-jhil, at the one end with Sher-
garh, which is a perfect terminus of roads, and at the other with Brinda-ban and
Mathura; while a short branch from Mat would bring it in contact with a sta-
tion on the new line of Railway at Raya, and another from Noh-jhil with the
market of Bajana.

Many of the smaller thoroughfares here, as in other parts of the district,
are rapidly being obliterated, and unless speedy measures are taken for their
preservation very great inconvenience must eventually result. The occupants
of the fields through which they pass encroach upon them year by year till at
last in the less frequented tracts nothing is left but a mere ridge scarcely broad
enough for a foot-path. When the traffic is too considerable to allow of this
complete appropriation, the lane is narrowed till it barely admits the passage
of a single curt ; a high bank is then raised on cither side with earth always

PAP.GANA MAT. 63

excavated from the roadway, which thus is sunk several feet below the level
of the country and in the rains becomes a deep water-course. In the dry sea-
son of the year it is rendered equally impassable by huge aqueducts carried
across it at short intervals in order to convey water for irrigation purposes from
a well on one side to lands forming part of the same farm that happen to lie
on the other. A small sum is annually allotted for the maintenance of village
roads, and might be more advantageously expended than has hitherto been the
custom, in the prevention of encroachments and the construction of an occasional
syphon drain.

As a rule, the Bhaiyachari villages have a much more prosperous appearance
than those which have passed into the hands of some one wealthy proprietor.
In the former case every shareholder plants the borders and waste corners of
his fields with quick growing trees, such as the fards, or tamarisk ; which he
fells from time to time as he wants timber for his well or agricultural implements,
or for roofing his house ; but immediately stipplies their place by new cuttings.
Thus the village lands from a little distance often look picturesque and well-
w^ooded, though possibly there may not be a single grove or orchard on them.
In a zamindari estate, on the other hand, the absentee landlord is represented on
the spot only by an agent, whose sole duty it is to secure as large a yearly
return as possible for his employer. Every manorial right is strictly enforced,
and trees are felled and sold in large quantities, and never replaced, either by the
tenant, who is not allowed to cut a single stick, however urgent his requirements,
and therefore has no object in planting, or by the landlord, who cares nothing
for the well-being of tiie village which can be sold as soon as its productiveness
is exhausted. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to mention a single in-
stance in the whole district of one of the new landlords doing anything what-
ever for the permanent improvement of his estate. It never even occurs to
them that their tenants have the slightest claim upon their consideration. Hav-
ing probably amassed their fortune by usury, they are willing to make advances
at exorbitant rates of interest for any improvements the cultivators may wish to
carry out themselves ; but their ears are closed to any other application. Thus
virtually these pseudo-zamiudars refuse to accept the position of landlords ;
they are mere contractors for the collection of the Imperial revenue, and it
seems imperative upon the Government to recognize them only in that inferior
capacity and itself to undertake all the responsibilities of the real landlord.
Since they have no influence for good, both policy and humanity demand that
at least their power for evil should be restricted within the narrowest possible
limits.

The most noticeable feature of the pargana is the extensive morass from
which the town of Noh-jhil derives the latter part of its name. Its dimensions
vary very much at different seasons of the year and according to the heaviness

64 PARGANA MAT,

of the raiu-fall, but it not imfrequcntly spreads over an area measuring six miles
in length hy one in breadth. It is the favourite haunt of hirgo swarms of
water-fowl, which are caught at night in nets, into which they are frightened
by torches and fires lit on the opposite bank. They ordinarily sell for about
Es. 4-8 the hundred. The hinds wliicli have a chance of being left dry by the
subsidence of the waters in time to be sown with hot-weather crops, bear the
distinctive name of Ldna, and are formed into 'separate estates which it is a
matter of no b'ttle difficulty to assess at their average value. When there is
any harvest at oil, it is exceptionally good ; but not unfrequently the land re-
mains flooded till seed-time is over, and the only source of profit then left to
the proprietor is the pasturage. The inundation, though primarily the result
of the natural low level of the country, has been artificially increased by exca-
vations made some centuries ago with the express object of laying the approaches
to the Fort under water : this being one of the special modes of rendering a
stronghold impregnable laid down in Sanskrit treatises on the art of war.
An outlet was provided by a winding channel, some five miles in length, called
the Dhundal Nahi, which passed under Firoz-pur and joined the Jamuna near
Mangal-khoh ; but its mouth is now completely blocked for a long distance.
The cost of re-opening it has been estimated at Hs. 2,093 ; an expenditure which
■would soon be recovered by the settled revenue of the reclaimed land. A
simpler, but at the same time a less efficient, remoly might be found in the re-
construction of an embankment ascribed to Nawab Ashraf Khan, which formerly
existed near the village of Musmina, and was kept in partial repair by the Jat
zamindars of that place till 1866. In that year, the jbil was entirely dry, and
the dam being in consequence neglected, the next heavy flood washed it away.
To provide an exit for the water seems, however, far preferable to blocking its
entrance; as the temporary submersion has a very beneficial 09*001 on the land,
and its total prevention might result in rou lering a largo area absolutely un-
culturablc. A well-devisei scheme of drainage for this part of the country,
the transfer of the tahsili from Mat to JSurir, and the construction of a good
serviceable road from Noh-jhil to the Brinda-ban bridge, are the three groat
requirements of the district which urgently demand a speedy settlement.

A i'ew words upon local etymology. The formation of a village name by
simply attaching kd, the sign of the genitive case, to the name of the founder,
is a peculiarity of which several instances will be found in the alphabetical list
at the end of this section, though it is of rare occurrence elsewhere. It has an
exact parallel in some English names of [)laces, as for instajice, ' S. Leonard's.'
Other more common suffixes have equally close counter-parts : thus, pur, jnira,
and puri, correspond with 'ton' or 'town,' as in Newton, Canningtown ; (jdin,
ijdma, or gdmo Avith 'ham' for ' hamo,' as in Oldham ; nngar with ' burgh,' as in
Edinburgh ; kherd, usually indicative of antiquity, with * Chester,' as iu Winchester ;

PARGANA MAT, 65

garh or garhi, with 'castle'; as in Newcastle ; thdna, not often found except in a
very corrupt and contracted form, with 'stow/ as in Godstow ; guzar with
*ford' or 'bridge,' as in Oxford or Cambridge ; ganj with ' market,' as in
Newmarket; ban with 'wood,' as in Norwood ; basdi a,nd bds with 'thorpe,' as in
"Woodthorpe ; and the more modern abaci with the American ' ville,' as in
Smithville. In all the earlier names where the termination pur or puri is used,
it has coalesced with the former part of the compound in such a way as not to
be readily distinguishable, as in ' Mithauli.'

Mat, though for some years past it has given a name to a pargana, is
nothing but an exceptionally mean assemblage of mud hovels, without any bazdr
or even a single brick-built house. Tliough it str.nds immediately on the high
bank of the Jamuna, it is separated from the actual bed of the stream by a mile
of deep sand, and the ferry which connects it with Sakaraya on the opposite
side is therefore very little used. Four miles lower down the stream is the
Brinda-ban bridge-of-boats ; but the road which leads to this also, as already
mentioned, lies across the ravines and is so imperfectly constructed that for a
great part of the year it is almost impassable. About half-way it skirts the
margin of an extensive morass, called the Moti-jhil, which though never very-
broad, sometimes attains a length of nearly two miles. The township (jama
Es. 8,983) is divided into twothoks. Raja and Mula, and was till recently owned
entirely by Brahmans and Thakurs, but some Muhammadans are now in part
possession as mortgagees. The Chaukidari Act is in force, but yields an income
of only lis. 52 a month, which leaves a very small balance for local improve-
ments. The school is merely of the primary class, and not so well attended as
the one in the adjoining hamlet of Chhahiri. There is an old mud fort, and
within its enclosure stand the tahsili and police-station, the only substantial
buildings in the place. Though there is no grove of trees to justify the title, it
is still designated as one of the Upabans, and is a station in the Ban-jatra ; the
name being derived from 'the milk-pails' (mdf) here upset by Krishna in his
childish sports. At Chhahiri, a little higher up the stream, is the sacred wood
of Bhandir-ban, a dense thicket of her, hins, and other low prickly shurbs, with
a small modern temple, rest-house, and well in an open space in the centre.
Just outside is an ancient fig-tree (bat) which Krishna and his playmates
Balaram and Sridama are said to have made their goal when they ran races
against each each other. (See page 37. ) A large meld, chiefly attended by Bengalis,
is held here, Chait badi 9, and is called the Gwal-mandala. The temple in the
grove is dedicated to Bihari, that under the Bhaadir-bat, to Sridama. In the
village are three other small shrines in honour of Eadha Mohan, Gopdl, and
Mahadeva. Two mosques have also been recently built by the Muhammadans.
In the mutiny the only act of violence committed was the seizure of six grain-
boats passing down the river, for which the zamiudars were subsequently fined.

QQ PARGANA MAT.

Bajana, about five miles north-cast of Noh-jliil, has from time immemorial
been occupied by Jats. Many years ago, the three leading men divided it into
as many estates, called after their own names, Sultan Patti, Dilu Patti, and Sia
Patti. These are now to all intents and purposes distinct villages, each with
several subordinate hamlets, where most of the landed proprietors reside, while
the old bazdr still remains as a common centre, but is mainly occupied by
tradespeople. In it are the sarae, police-station, bnilt in 1869, and halkabandi
school. Here, too, every Saturday, a large market is held; all the dealers
who attend it having to pay an octroi tax at graduated rates, according to
the commodities which they have for sale. These duties are farmed out to a
contractor, Avho in 1865, the year Avhen the last revision of settlement took place,
paid for the privilege Rs. 340, a sum which has now been increased to
Rs. 429. This income certainly is not very large, but as the market is a popu-
lar one, it might, beyond a doubt, be greatly increased, if only the headmen
would recognize the obligation under which they lie of occasionally devoting
part of the proceeds to local improvements. Up to the pi^esent tinie they have
done nothing : the market is held in the main street, which is so densely crowd-
ed from one end to the other that all through traffic is obstructed ; the sarae is
too small to accommodate one half the number of visitors, and there is no separate
yard in which to stall horses and cattle; the clouds of dust that rise from the
unmetalled roadway make it painfid to see and breathe, and would seriously
damage any goods of better quality that might be brought; and, in addition to
all this, an open space at the end of the street, where the crowd is the very
thickest, has been selected as a convenient spot for depositing all the sweepings
of the town till they are carted away as manure for the fields Even the two
substantial masonry wells, which there are in the bazar, have not been con-
structed by the market trustees, but are the gift of one of the resident shop-keep-
ers. In the next settlement, when the lumberdars' rights are recorded, some
mention might also be made of their responsibilities.

Another market is held on Thursday, but exclusively for the sale of cattle.
A considei'able amount of business is transacted, though the animals offered
for sale are generally inferior in quality to those brought to the Kosi market
on the opposite side of the river. Bajana has also been one of the depots for
Government stallions since 1856, when the establishment was transferred here
from the adjoining A'illage of Shankar-garhi. The horses are four in number,
one Arab, one Turkish, and two country-bred. They are made over to the care
of the zamindars, who are paid Rs. 8 a month for each horse and further re-
ceive a fee of Re. 1 for every mare that is brought to be covered. The groom
on each such occasion expects a gratuity of four anas, which may or may not be
supplemented by a fixed salary from the zamindars. An inspection is held
on the spot once a year in the cold weather, by the Stud Committee, when some

PARGANA MAT. 67

60 or 70 colts are generally brought up for view, the limit of age being from
nine months to three years. Some are summarily rejected ; others bought up at
once ; and the rest returned for further inspection within the limit of age above
specified. In the hot weather the colts are sent with the brood-mares to be
inspected by the committee at Ahgarh.

The two patiis of Sultan and Dilu are watered by a short branch of the
Ganges Canal, which enters the district at the village of Ahmad-pur, and passes
also through Shankar-garhi. In Siu Patti the proprietary shares are not
reckoned by biswas but by wells, which, whether really so or not, are put
at 36 in number. The jama is Rs. 3,400 and the quota of each ' well ' is
Rs. 96, making a total of Rs. 3,456 ; the surplus of Rs. 56 going to the
lumberdars. Similarly in Mat the reckoning is by ploughs and bulls; a
plough being a share and a bull half a share. Dilu Patti has two hamlets,
Murliya Jawahir and Murliya Badam ; Sultan Patti five, viz.^ Naya-ba<^, Dal-
garhi, Prahlad-garhi (of which one biswa was sold 18 years ago to an Athwa-
raya), Ajnot, and Idalgarhi ; and Siu Patti three, viz., Jareliya, Maha-ram-garhi,
and Bhiit-garhi. At the time of the mutiny Umrao Bahadur was proprietor of 2^
biswas in Dilu Patti, was mortgagee of 10 biswas in Thok Badam and fiirmed as
much of Thok Hira. This was confiscated with the rest of his estates ; the 2|
biswas were conferred on Seth Lakhmi Chand, the other parcels of land have
reverted to their original owners. Half of Thok Kamala was also declared
forfeit, but eventually returned on payment of a fine ; the zamindars having
joined in the assault on the Fort of Noh-jhil. One of the number, Khuba,
who had been specially foi'ward in attempting the life of the Tahsildar, Sukhvasi
Lai, died in jail before sentence. The Arazi Kasht Sultan Patti and Arazi Dilu
Patti are lands rccovei'ed from the jhil and separately assessed — the one at
Rs. 90, the other at Rs. 152.

Noh-jhil is a decayed town, 30 miles from Mathura, which up to the year
I860 was the head of a separate tahsili now incorporated with Mat. The
original proprietors were Chauhdn Thakurs, who were expelled in the thirteenth
century by some Jats from Narwari near Tappal, and others from Jartiili near
Khair, in the Aligarh District, who afterwards acquired the name of Nohwar,
and at the present time are further distinguished by the title of Chaudhari.
They brought with them as purohits some Gaur Bnihmans of the Pliatak clan,
who received various grants of land, and at the last settlement their descend-
ants owned 15 biswas of the township, the remaining five being held by Muham-
raadan Shaikhs. In the seventeenth century some Biluehis were stationed here
by the emperor for the express purpose of overawing the Jats ; but their
occupation did not last above 80 years. On the 4th of June, 1857, the
Nohwar Jats of the place with their kinsmen from the neighbouring villages of
Musmina and Parsoli, attacked the fort and plundered all the inhabitants except

68 PARGANA MAT.

the Brahmans, with whom, as above shown, they had an hereditary connection.
The lumberdar, Ghaus Muhammad, was killed, and all the Government officials
fled to the village of Tehra by Surir, where the Malakana zamindars gave them
shelter, and in acknowledgment of their loyalty subsequently received a dona-
tion of Ks. 151 and a remission of Rs. 100 on the yearly jama, which still con-
tinues. The estate is now held as follows : 12^ biswas by the Brahmans, 3| by
Shaikhs, and 4^ biswas of alluvial land by the Seths. This latter share had been
purchased at auction by Umrao Bahadur's father, and was confiscated with the
rest of his property. Two outlying suburbs ai-e called respectively Toli Shaikhan
and Toli Khtklim-i-dargab. The Fort, of which incidental mention has been al-
ready made, is of great extent, covering 31 bighas of land. It was rebuilt
about the year 1740 by Thakur Devi Siuh, an officer in the service of the Bha-
rat-pur Raja. It is now all in ruins, but its crumbling bastions command a fine
view of the extensive lake that spreads for miles beneath it. Within its enclo-
sure is the old tahsili, built in 1826, now converted into a police-station, and
a lofty tower, erected in 1836 for the purposes of the Trigonometrical Sur-
vey : ascent is impossible, as the ladder in the lower story was destroyed in the
mutiny and has not been replaced. Outside the town is a Muhammadan mak-
hara, or tomb, called the dargah of Makhdum Sahib Shah Hasan Ghori, tra-
ditionally ascribed to a Dor Raja of Kol Sarkar who flourished some 300 years
ago. This is not in itself improbable, for about that time all the Aligarh Dors be-
came converts to Islam. The buildings are now in a dilapidated condition, but
include a covered colonnade of 20 pillars which has been constructed out of the
wreck of a Hindu or Buddhist temple. Each shaft is a single piece of stone
5| feet long, and is surmounted by a capital which adds an additional foot to
the height. The latter are sculptured with grotesques, of which the one most
frequently repeated represents a squat four-armed monster, who with his feet and
one pair of hands raised above his head supports, as it were, the weight of the
. architrave. The shafts though almost absolutely plain are characteristic speci-
mens of an eccentricity of Hindu architecture. (See page 150.) Several other
columns have been built up into the roof; one carved in low relief with several
groups of figures, parted from one another by bands of the pattern known as the
'Buddhist railing,' has been taken out and transported to Mathurd. The statues
which adorned the temple have probably been buried under ground; but no ex-
cavations can be made, as the place is used for Muhammadan interments. The
saint's ?<rs or mela is held on the 14tli of Ramazan, and his tomb is visited hy
some of the people of the neighbourhood every Thursday evening. There was
an endowment of 300 bighas of land and a yearly pension of Rs. 100, but the
latter ceased on the death of Makhdum Bakhsh, the representative of the original
grantee, and the land was settled at half jama (Rs. 80) in 1837. In the bazar
are a small mosque and two temples built by the Mahrattas. The proximity of

PARGANA MAT. fi9

the jhil renders the town feverish and unhealthy, and the estahhshnient of a
branch dispensary would be a great boon to the inhabitants.

SufifR, by its position the natural centre of the pargana, is a small toAvn
on the high road half-way between Slat and Noh-jhil. It is about a mile from
the left bank of the Jamuna, where is a ferry to Bahta on the opposite side.
It is said to have been called at one time Sugriv-khera, after the name of one of
the different founders ; but this appellation is now quite obsolete. The orio-inal
occupants were Kalars (the local name, as it would seem, for any aboriginal tribe)
who were expelled by Dhakaras, and these again by Raja Jitpal, a Jaes Tha-
kur. His posterity still constitute a large part of the population, but have
been gradually supplanted in much of the proprietary estate by Baniyas and
Bairagis. The township (jama, Rs. 9,619) is divided into two thoks, called
Bija and Kalan, and there are 1 1 subordinate hamlets. Three small temples
are dedicated respectively to Mahadeva, Lakshmi Narayan, and Baladeva.
There is a police station, a primary school and a weekly market held on Mon-
day. At the time of the mutiny, Lachhman, thelumberddr, with 11 others was
arrested on the charge of being concerned in the disturbances that took place at
the neighbouring village of Bhadanwara, in which the zamiudar, Kunvar Dildar
Ali Khan, was murdered, his wife violated, and a large mansion that he was then
building totally destroyed. He was considerably in the debt of his banker,
Naud Ram of Raya, who when the estate was put up to auction bought it in
and has been succeeded as proprietor by his nephew, Janaki Prasad.

PARGANA MAT-
Alphahatical List of Villages.

Population.

No.

Name.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominent
caste.

Acreage.

Abhai-pura ...

137

...

137

SetliRaghunathDa^

Brahman ...

490

AhmaJ-pur

694

...

694

Tiwari Brahmans,

Ditto

638

Akbar-pur

1,025

1,03'-'

Ditto

1,240

Aman-ullahpur.,

741

764

Gaurua

973

Arua

3,o69

3,461

Mabi Lai, Baniya.
and others.

Jat

4,708

Asaf-aba(J

346

Brdhman ...

300

Awa-khera

298

Jat

329

Badan-pur

624

660

Naju Khan

Brahman and
Gaurua.

1,068

1. Abhai-pura, originally founded by Abhai Sinh, a Jat from Kaulana. Some 50 years ago
the proprietor was a Biahman by name Serlni, who sold 15 biswas to Baiaram, Jat; and in 1854
the remaining five biswas were bou'j;bt by Nawab Ashraf Khan, and at the time of thu mutiny
•were held by his son, Umrao Bahaclnr, the whole of whose estate was confiscated and conferred
on Seth Lakhnii Ohand, whose son Haghunalh Das now holds it at half jama. The other 15 bis-
•was have been recovered by the Brahmans.

2. Ahmad-pur has 201 bighas irrigated by the Aligarh branch of the Ganges Canal, A
halkabandi sch<,ol.

3. Akbar-pur, on the Mat and Surir road, was by Raja Siiraj Mall re-named Tenti-kaganw
(from the abundance of the harll plant, the fruit of which is called Tenti), and it is by this latter
name that it is still most commonly known in the neighbourhood. The old zamindars were Mala-
kanas, but now are Brahmans, descended from one Sikham. A hamlet is called Nagara Hariya.

4. Amdn-ullah-pur, also called Mahrand-garhi, after the name of the foimdor, a native of Lohi,
which it adjoins There are two annual melds held, the one on Bliadon sudi 8, the other on Chait
badi 1, in honour of Babare Liaba, a local saint.

8. Arua, between Mat and Raya, includes the deserted village site of Bindrauli. It was re-
founded by a Jat nained Bijay-pati, whose descendants, some 25 years ago, partly sold and partly
mortgaged th(-ir estate. At present the largest proprietors are IMahi Lai, Baniya of Raya, who
has about ISbiswas, and LakhmiDa'^, the Pujari of the temple of Larli Ji by the Man Sarovar, who
has 2^. Two market days, Monday and Friilay ; and two indigo factories, belonging, the one to
Mr. O'Brien Saunders, the other t() Mahi Lai and Janmna Prasad. In the mutiny, ijdha, one of the
zamindars, was put to death by the zam ndars of the next village, Javvara ; whereupon his friends
at Arua and Ayra-khera assembled a large force for an attack upon Jawara, and in the engage-
ment many lives were lost on both sides. For this and other acts of depredation Arua was fined
lis. 10,000. On the village border is the lake of Man Sarovar. There are 12 bubordinate hamlets,
the largest being called Darwa, where is a halkabandi school.

6. Asaf-dbdd was founded from Khaira, of which it was formerly a hamlet. Here is a
block kankar quarry.

7. Awa-khera, after being long deserted, was rc-peoplcd some 70 years ago from
Kaulana. In the mutiny the people joined in the attack on the Noh-Jhil Tahsi'l, and were fined
Rs. 186.

8. Badaii-pvr, shortly before the mutiny, was purchased from the old Gaurua zamindars for
Rs. 409 by Khairati Khan of Farrukhabad, who in the disturbances had his estate damaged to an
amount estimated at Rs. 24,500. On the Jarara border is a dahar of 12 bighas, and near the
Tillage, a large mango orchard.

PARGANA MAT.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Population

Predominant
c aste.

No.

Name.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Acreage.

Badauth

469

...

469

822

Eaghai

487

508

Ditto

649

Bagharra

196

Athwaraya Brah- Ditto
mans.

647

Bahdin

132

Brahmans, Ja^, and Ditto
Banijas. |

121

Baikunth-pur ...

113

135

248

Brahmans ...jMalakana ...

383

Bajana made up of

Dilu Pa

tti, Siu

Patti, an

d Sultan Patti.

Bakla

403

409

Jat

263

Baland-pur

363

...

363

Lachman, Tliakur,

Brahman ...

313

Bal(-pur

101

102

Ditto

134

Baranth

2,212

2,352

Seth Baghunath
Das.

Jat

844

BasauD

...

Ditto

9. Badauth, one of the 40 Bajana Tillages, has 200 bighas watered by the Aligayh branch
of the Ganges Canal.

10. Bdghai, founded by Man-Sukh, a Jat from Kaulana, is also called Kateliya, There are
49 bighas oi jhit.

1 1. Bagharra. — One of the 1 2 Jat villages. The old village site, now deserted, is called Sher-
k»-khera. The Athwarayaa purchased from the Jats about 25 years ago.

12. Bahdin. — There is a market on Sunday held on the border of Nagara Humayun. A
malikana is paid to Raja Tikam Sinh.

13. Baikunth-pur. — Founded 300 years ago by Surkh-ru, Malakana, by whose name it is still
most popularly known. His descendants first mortgaged and then sold to Serhu and Ajay Kam,
Brahmans.

Bajana. — See page 66.

14. Bakld, so called after the founder, a grandson of Ram Narayan. The people live
mostly at Nagara Sham.

15. Baland-pur. — Founded 200 years ago by Balavant, Jat, and Mukund, Jaes from Harnaul.
Now Lichhman, Thakur, of Karahri, has 17i biswas, and Lachhman, Bohra, of Bhadra-
ban 2^.

16. Bali-pur. — Founded 125 years ago, by Bali, a Jat from Bajana.

17. Barauth, near the Jamuna, one of the 12 Jat villages. Thok Kida, 1,720 bighas,
was sold for arrears to Nawab Ashraf Khan of Nanak-pur, and, after passing to his son Umrao
Bahadur, was confiscated and, with the rest of his estate, bestowed rent-free for life on Seth
Lakhmi Chand. In the mutiny the zamindars joined with those of Suhag-pur in plundering
the patwari, Lai Ji ; his brother, Hira Lai, the patwari of Pal-khera, they killed. There are five

18. Basdun is included with Daulat-pur. The Jat zamindars were fined Rs, 96 for attack-
ing the Fort at Noh-jhil ia the mutiny.

PARGANA MAT.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

AcreBge.

Regam-pur

Swami Rangacharya

Brahman ...

£87

Bera

855

880

i)o. and Jaus,

1,111

Bhadanwara

1 488

102

1,590

Janaki Prasad of
Kaya.

(Jaurua

2,741

Bhadra-bau

75 i

752

Brahman ...

1,680

Bhalai

1,291

l,.36:i

Brahmanf3,Baniyap,
andMuharamaiiane

Thakur ...

1,935

Bhartiya ka

275

280

Jat

503

Bherai

673

704

Ditto

2,166

Bhidauni

873

913

Kayaths, Tiiakurs,
and Biahmans.

Brahman and
Thakur.

1,941

Bliiun

246

250

Diwan Sarb Sukh,

Chamar

1,180

19. Bcfiam pur, opposite Briiida-ban, is so called from the Uegara of the Emptror Jahaiijfir.
It passed from the old Brahman zaminJars to Zuhur Ali, for Rs, 421, who in 1842 sold it
for Rs. 935 to Shaikh Jivan, of whom Swami Raugacharj'a has purchased it for Rs. 1,000.

20. Berd, 'the ber-tree orchard,' was founded 400 years ago by Thakurs from Jarara.
There is &jhdrl of kadamb trees 10 bighas in extent, called Alakh-ban, with a temple endowed
■with the singhara crop of the adjoining pond.

21. Bhridanwdrd was founded by Gauruas from Surir about 300 years ago. There are a
number of hamlets, viz., Birhal, Naya-bas, Garhi Ham-bal, G;irhi Sisa, Garhi Khuba, Garhi Neta,
Ramkaran or Jawahir and Garhi Bhuriya. At the time of the nmtiny the estate was farmed by
Knnwar Dildar Ali Khan, who was attacked by the old proprietors; a large mansion wliich lie
■was then building was totally wrecked and he himself murdered. Two of the ringUaders were
hanged and others transported. The property was bouijht up for Rs. 13,800 by Nand Ram, a
Baniya of Raya, from whom it has passed to his nephew by adoption, Janaki Prasal. A market
on Friday. A large mango orchard, called the Patwaris'.

22. Bhadra-ban, on the high bank of the Jamuna, above M.at, with a hamlet called Hhadaura,
is one of the most noted i>f the .sacred woods of Hraj. It is wrongly named on tlie District Map
Bahadur-ban. In the ban are shrines of Maksudan and Ranclihor. The old zamindars were Thakurs.

23. Bhdlai originally belonged to Bhala Thakurs (whence the name). They were dispos-
sessed by Jaes Thakurs, who gave part of the laud to Biahmans, whose descendunts still re-
tain a share in the village ; the other sharehoUlers now being Baniyas and Muhammadans. An
iniligo factory belongs to Gurmukh Rae and Dulichaudof Uathras. There are two hamlets. A
halkabandi school.

24. Bhartiya-hd, founded by Bhartiya, a Jat, from Bajana.

25. Bherai, founded by Rama, Jat, is the parent of eight other settlements. In the mutiny
the zamindars killed the Patwari Bhagirath with his son and brother-in-law and joined in the
attack on the fort at Noh-jhil ; for which acts their e8t;»te was confiscated ani sold to Devi
Shankar, Kayath of Muthura. There are 290 bighas of re ed- jungle and 187 bighas of common.
Two hamlets.

26. Bhidiiuni, founded by Puhapa. a Rajput ; butn >w Kayaths have 10 biswas, Jaes Thakurs
7i, and Athwaraya Brahmaas 2J. There are two temples of Bihari and Layli Lai. There is a
hamlet called Nahariya.

27. /?/uurt, bought in 1825 for Rs. 300 by Diwans Bijay Lai (who built a temple here to
Bijay Bihari) and Jamuna Ram, and now held by Diwan Sarb Sukh,

Alphabetical List of Villages — (contluued).

Name.

Population.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total,

Acreage.

Bhureka

522

566

Kewal Kam Bohra

Chamilr

S75

Bijauli

257

327

Brahma n 3 and
Thakurs.

Brahman ...

1,519

Birju-garhi

594

610

Jit

425

Bulak-pur „,

...

B r a h m a n
and J at.

288

Chaiidauli

214

...

214

Brahman...

...

Chaiid-pur (Great,)

611

638

Brahman
and .Tat.

1,060

Chaud-pur CLittle,)

433

4.')0

Jat

665

Chaukaia
Chhahiri : a ham-
let uf Mat,

323

328

Salagram Ja| ...

Brahman
and Jat.

501

Chhic-pahari ...

608

666

...

Jat and
Mallah.

70S

28. Bhureka, on the Aligarh border, founded by Bhnre, Jat, whose descendants between 40
and 50 years ago sold it to Daalat Ram, Bohra. He was murdered in the mutiny ; the present
proprietor is his sou, Keval liam, who pays a yearly jama of Ks. 1,279. There is a fine large
mango orchard, planted by his father, 24 Lijhas in extent, and adjoining it 67 bighas of dhdk
ghana A halkabandi school with between 20 and 30 pupils. Five biswaa form a separate
hamlet called Marahla.

29. Bijdiili, founded by Raja Bijay Sinh. Here are a ghana of 134 bighas called Mekh-
ban, a temple of Radha M.)han by a sacred pond called Pap-mochan, which is visited in the Bau-
jatra ; and a dargah of Shah Bilawal.

30. Birju-garhi, named after its founder, a Jat from Musmina.

31. Buldk-pur, one of the 12 Jat villages, named after its founder. Half the village has
been sold to Brahmaus.

32. ChandduU, first called Chandal-khera, is included in Nabi-pur.

33. Chdnd-pur (Great), founded by a Barwdr Jat named Himanchal, and given to his son-in-
law, a Kanjir from iJurseni in Aligarh, Being put up to auction for arrears, it was purohased
by Khairati Khan, Pathan, who sold it to Omkar, an Athwaraya of Barauth, in 1866. In the muti-
ny, the latter, who was then mortgagee, had his house plundered, three men being killed in the
attack. The Jats of Parsauli now own two-thirds and the Athwarayas one-third. A halkabandi
school.

84. Chdnd-pur (Little,) was founded by a Jat named Chand from Bherai. In the mutiny
the zamindars joined in the attack on Noh-jhil and were fined Rs. 637-8. There is a temple of
Mahadeva with rude stucco images and a well, both constructed by Radlia, a Baniya, in the
famine year li3". Opposite is an orchard belonging to the Jat zamindars with mango, pipal
and other trees. A halkabandi school,

35. Cluaihard, one of the eight Kaulana villages. In 1927 it was put up to auction and pur-
chased by Salagram, a Jat of Kateliya. There is an orchard with a temple built by Serhu, Bani-
ya of ilarahla Chiuta, a hamlet of Birju-garhi.

36, Chhin-pahdri, on the Jamuna opposite Sher-garh, is sometimes spelt Chhin-pharai, and per-
haps more correctly so, as there is no sign of a hill, or pahdr, anywhere near. The old zamindars

PAfeGANA MAT.
Alphcibetical List of Villages — (continued).

Population.

Principal proprie-
tors.

No.

Name.

Hindus.

Musal-
nuin.

Total.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage;

Chinta-garhi

344

...

344

...

Jat

218

Dandisara

767

813

J w a 1 a Prasad,
K h a t t r i, and
others.

Gaurua ...

!,429

Dangauli

Darwa, a hamlet of

236
Arua...

118

354

Swiimi R a n g a-
charya.

Malakana...

979

Daulat-pur

713

730

Jat

1,141

Dedna

287

310

Dhan-raj, Ath-
waraya.

Ditto

78t

Dilu Patti

1,148

215

1,363

...

Ditto

1,383

Dunetiya

202

208

J at and Brahman,

Brahman
andKachhi.

410

Faridam-pur

144

...

144

J at

Jat and
Dliimar.

939

riroz-pur

180

Seth Raghuuath
Uas,

Mall ah ...

306

were Thakurs, who about a century ago transferred their rights to Jats from Siu Patti, Bcijana,
\^ biswa that had been acquired by Umrao Bahadur, was, with the remainder of his estate, confis-
cated after the mutiny.

37. Chintd-garhi was founded about 150 years ago by a Jat named Chinta, A halkabandi
school.

38. Dandisara. — Here is Narad kund with a temple of Murli-Tilanohar and a Kadamb-
khandi of 1 >* bigiias. The old zauiind^jrs weie Gauruas, but now Kanhaiya Lai, Kayath, lias live
blBwap, Jwala i rasad, Khattri, 7^, and Khub Lai, Kayatli, 7^. Two hamlets.

39. Dangauli (for Danga-puri, ddnya being 'a high bank,') is on the Jamuna opposite
Brindaban. The old Dluikara zamindars were ejected by one Dhir, a descendant of Chet Pal,
whose heirs, two years ago, sold the estate to Swami Rangacharya.

40. Daulat-pur, on the Jamuna, named after its founder, includes Basaun.

41. Dednd, or Didna, on the Jamuna, was sold by the Jat zamindars 25 years ago to
Parasu- ram, an Athwaraya, from whom it passed in 18G4 to anotlier Alhwaraya, Dhan-raj of
Kosi.

42. Dilu-patti. See Bajana, page 66.

43. Dunetiya, said to be so named after Dule, the ancestor of the present Jat zamindars,
who founded it some centuries a<;o.

44. Faridam-pur, with a ferry across the Jamuna, was founded by Jats from Musmina. It
had been mortgaged to Muhanmiad Ashraf Khan, and at the time of tlic mutiny was so held by
his son Umrao Baliadnr, and was confiscated with the remainder of his estate. The mortgagors
transferred their riglit to Devi Shaukar Sahay, Kayath of Mathura, and the mortgage was paid ofE
in 1868.

45. Ftrozpiir was founded some 250 years ago by Jats from Muin-ud-din-pur, and having
been purchaseil l)y Ashraf Khan was confiscated after the mutiny, and conferred muaf for life
on fcjcth Lakhmi Chand, whose son Kaghuoath Dsis now holds it at half jama.

PARGANA MAT.
AlpTiahetical List of Villages — (continued).

Population.

No.

Name.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

Garhi Kaulahar ...

295

...

295

Brahman
and Jat.

401

Hamza-pur

...

Jat

432

Haruaul

2,103

113

2,216

Ditto

2,157

Hasan-pur

1,788

122

1,910

Ditto and
Brahman.

2,232

Ikhu Fath-garh ...

1,164

1,2U

Brahman ...

987

Iloli Guzar

1,237

1,276

T hakur
(Jdes.)

1,572

Iloli Zanardar ...

804

816

Brahman ...

1,164

ImlakSawadKasba
(town-lauds.j

...

Ditto

...

46. Garhi-Kauldhar has 30 bighas watered by the Canal. 10 biswas are owned by Jats, the
other 10 by Pathak Bnihraans.

47. Hamza-pur. The site of the old village founded by Biluchis, is called Chau-khera. The
present Jat village is otherwise called Mau-garhi.

48. Hurnaul, or corruptly Tlirnaul, and then by an easy transition Hindol, is said to hare
been founded by two Jati, Hari Sinh and Naval Sinh, who formed a name for it by combining
their own names. There is an olJ temple of Murli Manohar and a large mud fort constructed
by Alraf Khan and YusuE Kliau. Under the Mahrattas, Harnaul was the head of a tahsili with
24 subor.iinate villages : it has now two hamlets. The weekly market is on Sunday. A halka-

[bandi school.

49. Hasan-pur was founded some 250 years ago by Hansa, a Jat from Baranth. There is still
a gateway called Chaukhat Ilansa, and the name Hasan-pur originates simply with a mistake la
the Settlement oitice. There are two Nagaras, Jareliya, divided into two mahals, and Maka-
rand-garhi where is a dhak tree ghana of 88 bigbas. An old Khera bears the name Mahona. A
halkabandi school.

50. Ikhu Fafh-garh.— The first name refers to the quantity of ' sugarcane' grown in the
neighbourhood, the second was added about 125 years ago when the fort and town-walls, now in
ruius, were constructed by Thakur Devi Sinh, a Kamdar of the Bharat-pur P.aj. The present
Brahman zatnindara are the descendants of Bishan Pathak, the piirohit of the .Jats who confer-
red the estate upon hiiu. There is a hamlet called Masnad-garhi, where cheap striped cloths, blue
and white, called dobaras, are manufactured and exported to places so far distant as Kauh-pur
and Mirza-pur.

51. Iloli Guzar, (for Ila-puri) with a 'ferry' across the Jamuna, was in 1791 given muaf by
Madho Rao Sindhia to Nand Liil, Kas-dhari, for life. The muafidar lived till 1859. The estate,
•which had previously been mortgaged for many years was theu assessed at Rs. 2,867 ; Seth Bit-
thai Das, one of the previous mortgagees, having a share in it. Other five biswas are owned by
Lachhman, Hrahman. There is a temple of Baladeva. Four hamlets.

52. Jloli Zanardar, as the latter part of the name denotes, is a Brahman estate. There is a
Kadamb-khandi of eight bitjhas, a sacred pond called Gahvar-kund, and also three small tem-
ples built by Pran-Sukh, Kayath,

53. Imldk Saiodd Kasba. The town-lands of Noh-Jbil, were for 300 years held muaf by
the Kanungos, but were resumed by the English Government and assessed at Rs. 120. Another
name is Julla-garhi, after a Brahman to whom part of the land was given by Brinda-ban Das,
Kanuogo,

PARGANA MAT.
Alphahdlcal List of Villages— {cowiinwcxV).

Name.

Population.

rrincipal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No,

Hindus

Mnsal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Inayat-garh

184

195

J^t

901)

Inayat-pxir

...

BrahmaDS

Ditto

284

Jafar-pur ...

242

252

Seth Raghunath
Das.

Ditto

900

Jahangir-p«r

TOO

704

Temple of Sringgr
Bat.

Thakurand
Mallah.

l,91S

Jaiswa

516

531

Jat

922

Jarara

1,530

153

1,683

Brahmana

T h a k u r
(Jics.)

2,080

Jat-pura ...

£23

229

Jat

694

Jawara ...

[

4,231

206

4,440

Brahman
and jAt.

4,383

54. Inaydt-Garh, on the Jaimm.a. In 1867 five biswas were sold by the Jata to Radha
Gobiud, and If biswas in 1871, to Jaysi Rain, Jat of Chiuta-garhi.

55. Jndi/at-puy.^The old family of Brahman zaraindars now hold only nine bi&was, while H
hare been acquired by other Brahmans of Ahmad-pur.

56. Jdfar-pur, one of the eight Bhcrai villages, was about the year 1800 acquired by a Jatnf
Knuhina, and soon after sold to Mazhar Ali Khan of Kumona in Bulandshahr, brother of Nawab
Ashraf Khan. After the mutiny it was confiscated and given rent-fee for life to Seth Lakhmi
Chand. There are 401 bighas that form part of the jhil, and 501 bighas of reed-jungle, the pro-
duce of which goes to the zamindars,

67. Jahdngir-pur, on the Jamuna, opposite Erinda-bnn, was founded by Jaes Gauruas from
Miit. In the time of Nawab Najaf Khau, it was giv«n mnaf to Gokulanand, Gosain of the temple
of Sringar-bat at Brinda-ban, to whose succcss:)r in the same office it has been confirmed by the
English Government. Here is Bel-ban, one of the most noted of the woods of Braj, with a temple
of Lachhmi and Gop:iI. There are six hamlets, i-i's, Nagara, Adda Moti, Adda Serhu, Adda
Eupa, Adda Chaina, and Nagara Chamaran,

68. Jaiswa wais reH5ettlcd hy Jaisi, Jat, some forty years ago, and has now been partly ac-
quired by Athwaraya Bnihmans.

69. Jardrd, founded by Jait Sinh some centuries ago, whose descendants have now solct or
mortgaged almost all, chiefly to Bralnnans, but a small share to Muhammadans. There is an
ancient temple of Ram Gopal, and there are four dahars, covering in all nearly 100 bighas. Two
hamlets.

60. Jat-pura was founded by Jats, from the adjoining village of Shal. There is a small
jhdri oipilu, Iter, ehhonkar and karil with a few large ma/iua trees.

61. Jdivara — The older name was Jlmna-garli. Here is the pacred grove of Chandra-ban
named after the Sakhi, Chandravati, 65 bighas in extent, with a Bairaai's cell under the tutelage
of Bal-mukimd. Also a dargah of Mir Sahib Shaikh Saddu, where people assemble every Wednes-
day and Saturday. The trees in ilie Ban arc chiefly pila, babul and pascndu, with a few large
and venerable hadambs. The leaves of the latter often grow in the shape of perfect imps,
which in the summer attain to a coiisideraljlc size. This curious formation is said to have origi-
nated tor Krishna's convenience ; who one day in his rambles through the woods found the supply
of cups and platters that he hnd with him in.adequatc for the requirements of all his companions.
Similar leaves are found in tlie Maiia-garhi ghnnd i these are of a lighter colour than the ordi-
nary foliage and are esteemed sufficient curiosities for Hindus to send as presents to their friend*
at a distance, lu the mutiny there was a pitched battle between the zamiudars here and those

fARGANA MAT.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population.

Principal Troprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Mnsal-
maii.

Total.

Acreage.

Kane-ka

10-t

104

Jit

...

Kankar-garhi

289

316

Ditto

282

€4

Karahri

2,5 U

219

2,730

Jaes, Thakurs, and
liao Abdullah
of Sa'.im pur.

Tiiakur ...

2,666

Kaulahar

1,301

1,338

...

Jat

966

Ivaulana ...

846

917

Seth Raghunath
Das,

Ditto ...

1,340

Khaira

806

856

Jaes

1,322

Khan-pur

...

Jat

...

Khanwal

1,749

106

1,855

Erahmfinand
Thakur.

2,120

of Pachahra and Ayra-khera, in which as many as 450 lives are said to have been lost. There
are two market days every week, Monday and Friday. The subordinate hamlets including eight
Bairagis' stations (sthala) number as many as 28. There is a halkabandi school.

62, Kdne-kd, so called from the Jat founder, is included in Nabi-pur.

63. Kankar-garhi, so called from the nature of the soil, was settled from Barauth. The
Jats bare sold two biswas to Brahmans.

6i. Karahri. — The zamindars were once Dhakaras ; but now Jaes Thakurs have 12 biswas,
aBhal Thakur two, and Rao Abdullah Khan, of Salim-pnr in the Aligarh district, six. There
are two temples in honour of Gopal and the Salagrain. There is a miscellaneous market ou
Tuesday and another for the sale of cattle on Friday. A sarae, a halkabandi school, and an
indigo factory belonging to Mr. Saunders. Two hamlets. A large orchard of mango, Jdmaw,
dmla, Jahera, and other trees, belonging to the Thakur zamind.ars, forms one of the pleasantest
camping-places in the pargana ; though, for want of watering, the trees have been greatly thinned.

€5. Kaulahar. — The old zamindars were Tiwari Brjihmans, but now they have only one
thok at a jama of Ks. 428, while Jats have the remainder at Rs. 2,571. Here is a limestone
quarry. Market-day is Tuesday. There are two hamlets called Udiya-garhi and Garhi Gyasiya :
the former is occupied solely by cldpis, who get sale for their goods at Bajana. A halkabandi
school.

66. Kauldna is the parent of eight other villages. 40O bighas are in the jhil. In 1846 it was
purchased by Kahim Ali Khan, a son of Mazhar Ali Kh.an of Kuraona, and, with the other possess-
ions of that family was conti.scated after the mutiny and bestowed rent-free on Seth Lakhmi
Chand. A halkabandi school.

67. Khdira. Near the village pond (pokhar) are the remains of a small shrine massively
constructed of block kankar.

68. Khdn-pur is included in Nabi-pur,

69. Klidnwul was founded by Khumaui, a Thakur of Rhadanwara, whose descendants are still
part zamindars, though, in J 851, they disposed of the greater part of the estate to Brahmans,
Khattris and Hao Abdullah Khan of Salim-pur. The latter's estates in this p.argana pay a mal-
guzari of Rs. 2,000. There is a Kadamb-khandi of 14 bighas, with a temple of l^adha Krishan ;
also another temple dedicated to Murii M.anohar and a Garhi. There are three hamlets, called
Garhi Uaja, Garhi Tula, and Garhi Sudama. Jiva, the lumberdarof the latter, was implicated in
the murder of Kunwar Dildar Ali Khuu at Bhadanwara, but died pending trial. A halkabandi
Buhool.

t'AKGANA MAI*.
Ali'^hahetical List of Villages — (continued.)

Popvhition.

No.

Xanie.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

Khwaja-pur ...

406

414

Seth Eaghunath
Das.

Jat

836

Kheriya

Ditto ...

102

Kurauli

...

Ilrahmans „.

Ditto ...

...

Kunvara

834

868

Jat and
Br ah man.

1,009

Lal-garhi

24S

256

Jat

248

Lal-pur

193

...

193

Ditto

422

Lamtauri

350

356

Brahman ...

331

Lana Kasba Noli-
jhil.

Sardar Sinh, Dhii-
sar.

..«

672

Lina Maklidum-
pur.

277

...

277

Seth Raghunatli
Uas.

Baniya ...

929

Lohi

1,661

299

],9C0

Jaes

1,773

70. Khwdja-pur,9,o called from possessing the tomb of one KhwajaPir, was founded by Jata
from Bhcrai. and having been sold to Ashraf Khan, was confiscated with his other estates and con-
ferred rent-free for life on Seth Lakhmi Chand. The Jat residents were among the ring leaders
in the attack on Noh-jliil.

71. Kkerii/a wna founded by Sar-taj, a Jat fromDunctiya. A malikana of Rs. 50 is paid
; to Raja Tikaui Siuli of Mursan.

72. Kurduli, included in Muin-ud-din-pur, was sold by the Jats in 1843 to Athwaraya Briih-
mans.

73. Kurwdra. Part has been acquired from the Jats by Magni Ram, Baniya, and Dulichacd,
Bohra.

74. Ldl (jarhi, founded by Lalji, a Jat from Ilarnaul.

75. Ldl-pnr, founded by Lai Siiih, a Jat from Parsauli.

76. Lamtauri, founded 150 years ago by Durji, a Sarasvat Brahman.

77. Ldna Kasha was first recovered from the jhil in 1814, and then assessed at Rs. 1,400.
When the floods are not excessive, excellent crops are produced ; but in some years only 200 bighas
dry up sufficiently to allow of cultivation. In 1854 the Brahman zamindars of Kasba Noh-jhil had
l.^biswas, and Shaikh Hakfm-uilah the other 7 ; but of the 13 hisw.os 2 were subsequently sold to
Umrao Baliadur and confiscated with the rest of liis estate ; and now the Shaikhs have little more
than two biswas, while the remainder of the village has been transferred by them and the Brah-
mans to Sardar Sinh, Dhilsar, of Sahar.

78. Ldna Makhdum-pur, the only one of the four Lanas never under water, was part of the
estate of Nawab Ashraf Kliaii, which wns confiscated and bestowed muaf on Seth Laklmii Chand.
The two other lanas of Musmina and Kaulahar amount together to 957 acres, but arc uninhabited.

79. Zo/((.— Here is an indigo factory belonging to Knsera, Baniya, and on the side of the vil-
lage pond a Daigah of I'ir Bakhsh, built by Bhai-irath and Chain-sukh L;it. There is a halka-
bandi school, antl a market held on Saturday. 'J he old Kalar occupants of the place were ejected
by Dhiikaras and they in turn by the Tliakurs under Uajii Chet Tal of Kanauj. There are two
hamlets oposite each other, V)oth called J.ay-sinha, and near them a garden of the Pat waris planted
with jjuaTa, pomegranate, and other trees.

PARGANA MAT.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population

Principal Proprie-
tors,

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus,

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Madhua-ka

473

...

473

Seth Raghunath Das

Jat

502

Makbdiim-pur ...

354

359

Parasu-ram, Ath-
waraya.

Ditto ...

750

Miina-garhi

711

765

Ditto ...

936

Mangal-khoh

Seth Raghunath Das

Brahman ,„.

Mani-garhi

499

503

Ditto

Jat

1,008

Marahla Mukha ,.,

225

...

225

S y a m Shankar,
mortgagee.

Ditto

531

Mat

4,246

504

4,750

Brahmans and
Thakurs.

Thakur ...

Milk Kalan

...

Athwarayas

J :i t and
Brahman.

177

Mir-pur

311

...

311

G a u r u a,
(■Jaes.)

851

Mirtana

407

429

Brahman ...

504

80. Madhua-kd is said to derive its name from Man-dliata, a Bairagi. It was purchased
from the .Jats by Nawab Muhammad Ashraf Khan and confiscated after the mutiny with the rest
of his estates.

Makhdum-pur, on the Noh-jhil and Sher-garh road. The old zamindars were Jadons,
ats ; and now Parasu-ram, Athwaraya, Bohra of Iglas in Aligarh, who purchased at auctioa

81
then Jats
about 1»50,

82. Mdnd-garhi, founded by one Mana, a Jat from Bherai. Tliere is a ghana of kadamh and
other trees still, 279 bigliaa in extent, and not many years ago very much larger, as is shown by
the number of trees dotted about the adjoining fields. It stretches also across the Aliaarh bor-
der into the village of Gangoli. After the mutiny, a fine of Rs. 677-8, was imposed on the zamin-
dars, who had joined in the attack on Noh-jhil, A halkabaudi school.

83. Mangal-khoh, founded last century by Mangal-Sen, a Jat from Bharat-pur, on a creek
(khoh) of the river. The Jats had five biswas which were sold to IJmrao Baha lur, and being con-
fiscated with the rest of his estates were given muaf for life to Seth Likhmi Chand. Tlie other
15 biswas, held by Brahmans, were also confiscated, but eventually restored on payment of a fine.

84. Mani-garhi, founded by Mani, a Jat from Musmina, and purchased from his descendants
by Nawab Ashraf Khan,

86. Marahla Mukha, on the Jamuna, founded by Mukha, a Jat from Barauth. The fine im-
posed after the mutiny not being realized, the village was sold by auction to De\i Shankar Sahay,
Kavath of Mathura, who in 1867 made a gift of it to Dhan Kunwar, Brahmani, The latter has
mortgaged it to Syam Shankar.

86. Ma7.— Tahsili, police station, branch post-office, halkabandi school. See page 65.

87_. Milk Kaldi, has now been bought by Athwarayas, Milk khurd, with an area of only 67
acres, is uninhabited. It originally belonged to Jats from Dunetiya, who have sold it to Brahmans.

88. Mir-pur, on the Jamuna, is one of the eight Thakur villages.

69. Mii-tdna is said to have been founded by one Eam-ji, who Jiamecl it after his graud^An^
Amntliao. Here is a temple of Murli Maaohar. '

PARGANA MAT.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Populadon.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
mau.

Total.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

Mithauli

530

534

Jat

958

Morja

...

Brahman and Jat,

Ditto

161

Mubarak-pur

210

...

210

Bra'iman ...

389

Muin-ud-din-pur

637

573

Jat

l.liJS

Musniina

1,708

1,739

Ditto

1,791

Kabi-pur

S86

419

Jat

Ditto and
Chamar.

768

Nagara Birbala ,..

Jat

402

Nagara I am' ...

376

393

Brahman

175

Nagara Dehi

RajiiTikam Sinh
of Mursau.

Jat

177

Nagara Huniayun,

...

857

lOO

Nagara Maliru ...

139

...

139

Brahman

10]

Nanak-pur

842

896

Seth Raghnnath Das

Jat

732

90. Mithauli, founded by Mitha, Jat. A fine of lis. 750 was imposed after the mutiny.

91. Morja, founded by Mor Kaj from Dunetiya. Here is a marhi sacred to Mahadeva, with
eeven biswas of land.

92. Mubdrah-pur was, after the mutiny, fined Rs. 250-8,

93. Muit-ud-din-pur, included with Kurauli, was founded by Jats from Parsauli and B.ai,ina.
Sund.iy is market day. Tiie Muh»»mmadan name is a little inexplicable ; it is generally corrupted
on the spot into Mundi-pur. The remains of a fort and some fine old trees, the survivors of a large
bagh, shew that the place was once of more importance than it is now.

94. Musmina, on the Jamuna opposite Majhoi, with a ferry to connect the two places. At
the mouth of the channel which lead? from the river to the jhil, there was once a dam to prevent
the inundation, but this has been washed away. In tiic rains, m.any boats laden with grain start
from here for Agra and other places down the stream. Chaudhari Het Kam, luuiberdar, is a
man of great influence among all the Jats in the neighbourhood. After the mutiny a tine of
Ks. 1,100 was imposed upon him and the ether zamindars. A hamlet called Bliagt bliakareliya
was founded about a century ago, and is separately assessed. There is a temple of Mahadcva,
and two annual melds are held in honour of Barahi Devi ou the full moon of Chait and the full
moon of Kuwar.

95. Nabi-pur, founded from Siu-Patti of Bajana, includes in its area Chandauli, Kane-ka,
and Khan-pur.

96. J^agara Birbala., founded by a Jat of that name from Harnaul.

97. Nagara Ddni. — Part has been lately acquired by Athwarayas.

98. Nagara De/i«.— Here is a ruinous mud fort of Padma, zamiudar. The former proprie-
tors were J.at3 of Pachahra, who in 1830 sold to the iiaja of Mursau.

100. Nagara Mahru. — Jats have now acquired part from the Brahmans. Raja Tikara Sinh
has a malikaua of Rs. 23.

101. Ndnak-pur, founded from Musmina, was sold by the Ja^s to Nawab Ashraf Khan.
The large moated fort which he coustructed was in the mutiny beseiged for about a week by the

PARGANA MAT.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Population.

No.

Name.

Hindus.

Mnsal-
man.

Total

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominaut
caste

Acreage.

102

NasitW

1,493

1,562

Jat and
15raliman.

1,485

103

Ndvali

1,421

1,507

Seth Eaghunath
Das.

Jat

2,161

104

Nauslier-put

698

612

Ditto

605

105

N.-li-jhil

2,215

976

3,191

Brahmans and
Muhammadans.

3,640

105

Niir-pur

177

2G0

Seth Raglmnath
Das.

Charaar ...

540

107

O'nawa

919

951

Ilakim-un-Nissa ...

G a u r u a

(Jaes.)

2,511

lOS

Pabbi-pur

380

384

Brahman

395

109

Pachahra

958

977

Ditto

1,426

Mnsmina, Bherai and Kaulaaa c >nfederacy ; but by the assistance of some of the principal
zamindiirs in the neisjhbouriiood. Het Ra-u of Musinina. Gliaus Muhammad of Noh-jhil, Khumani
of Kae-pur and others, Umrao I'aliiidur, who had then succecaed his father Ashraf Khan in the
estate, contrived to escape with all his valu-ible movahle property to Ali/arh ; after remaining
there for a month, he joined his uncle Mazhar Ali Khan at Khelij-a in Bulandshahr and eventu-
ally met his deith in the rebel army at Delhi. The village was cor.fiscated and conferred on
Seth Likhmi Chand. Till lately there was a fine mango grove here, planted by Ashraf Khan, 2J
bighns in extent, but it ha? now been very much tliinned and a great part of it ploughed up.

102. AV/.9i7/i«. — A halkibanli school. Twa h.aralets.

103, A'n'.-u/i, so called from its Jat fomder. Naval. 1,302 bi'ghas assessed at Rs 1,740, the
property ot Kishana and Daukali, were put. up to auction and purchased by Nawab Ashraf Khan,
and confiscated with the rest of his son Umrao Balui Inr's estate In the mutiny the old Jat
zamindars took part in the murder of Danlat Ram, B ihra of Bhure-ka, the next village, and iti
tiie attack on the Athwarayas of Ciiandpur. There are two hamlets, o le calle 1 Sainant-garhi.
By the village pon 1 (po'c/iar) is a small ming > grove near which a colony of Harbhuns has
been estiblished fiir the last seven or eight years, and on the Seth's estate another orchard of
much greater extent.

101 NaifihiT-piir, foundel from Parsauli by N'am-ang, Jat. A fine of Rs. 752 was imposed
after the mutiny.

105. Soh-jhil. — Tahsili, police station, pist-

halkabandi school. See page 67.

106. A'wr-pur, so Ciilled after Nur Khan, a Piithan, but originally named Bhanvarda, after
Bhanvar Siuh, a Jat from Kauliina. Having been purchased at auction sale by Mazhar Ali Khan
of Kumona, it shared the same fate as the rest of his estates after the mtitiny.

107. Olid'oa, — About 100 years ago the zamindtri passed from the .Tats to a Kayath, who
Bold five biswas to Sada Rdm, Bohra, while the otiier 15 were sold by auction and were eventually
acquired by Knnwar Dildar Ali Khan of IJhidanwara Threi^ of the Ohawa people were trans-
ported for taking part in his murder at the time of the mutiny, and the estate was sold by his
widow to Thakurani Hakim-ul-Nissaof Sa'dabal, the widow of Husain Ali Khan. Founder, Rata
Skuh.

108. Pabhi-pur, otherwise called Harad-pur, after a relative of the founder, Bil, Brahman.

109. Pachahra. — Given by the Jats to the ancestors of the present proprietors s^me 300
years ago. A halkabandi school.

PARGANA MAT.
Alphahetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population,

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predomiuant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man

Total.

Acreage.

110

Pal-khera

1,345

1,433

.Tnt and
JSrahuian.

577

111

Parsauli

1,500

1,557

Jat

1,066

112

Pati-piira

129

.•k

129

Jat and Baniya...

Jat and
Brahman.

151

113

Piparaiili

104

106

Gost'in Piirushot-
tauj Lai,

Brahman

743

114

Pitaura

Brahman

346

115

Polua (Great) ...

...

Baladeva, Banira,

Jooi and
Malhili.

204

116

Rac-pur

1,121

1,130

.lat

,.0.

117

Ram-garhi

156

...

156

Ditto

550

118

Eam-nagara

435

446

Ditt.> a n d
lirahmtn.

662

119

Sadik-pur ...

267

...

267

Jdt

«.

110. rdl-hhera (from the • Vi\-V family or dynasty), one of the 12 Barauth rillagrps is held
15 biswas by Jat-f and 5 by Brahmans. Between the village and a hamlet called Lnkhatiya-par is
the Patawaiya Naia, which commences in the Buiund-ihahr district and terminates in the Jarauna.
In the mutiny the people of thok Bandhir plnndercd tlie patwari of Barauth and killed his brother
HiraLal. A market on Monday. A halkabandi school.

111. Parsauli, (for Parsa-puri) founded by Serhn, .Jat from Bajana was fined after the mutiny
Rs. 1,450. The Arazi Kasht Parsauli is land recovered from the jhil,39l acres in extent, assessed
at lis. 133.

112. Pati-pnra. — Founded by Pati, a Jiit from Dunetij-a.

113. Piparduli.-— (For Pippala-pnri). The old zimindars were Jati, but now Gosain Pnrushot-
tam of Gokul is mortgagee of five biswas under L;iU-shmi Das, Bairagi of the temple of Larli Ji on
the Man Sarovar, who is in po.ssession of all the remainder.

114. Pitaura. — (For Pi(a-pura). Two-thirds of the village are now held by Jiits who live at
Barauth and I'alkhera.

115. Polua (Great). — The present zamindars are Baladeva, Baniya; Jamund, Brahmani; and
Kishan Sinh, Jat: originally they were all Jiits. A market is he'd every Monday on the Hahdin
bi.rder. A malikana is paid to Raja Tikam Sinh of Mursaii. Little Polua, which is uninhabited,
•witli an area of 105 acres, ia owned by the Maja.

116. Rae-puT, on the Jamunii and with a ferry between it and Shiih-pur in Kosi, wai
founded from M\ismina. Half a mile to the west of the villiige is Ajliari 20 bighas in extent with
a temple of B.iladeva, built about two centuries ago by iSain-sukh, zamiiidar. Two hamlets.

117. Rdm-fjnrhi, so called after Ram-sukh, Jat, ia one of the eight Kaulana villages. Its older
name was t haniar-garhi. The Jat zamindars came fi'om Maholi in I'alwal, and half of them still
live there.

118. Pd-ii-nru/ara, so cnllod affrr Uiln Sinh, Jii^, is one of the 12 Narwaran villages, Half of
the zamindari belongs to BrahmauB.

PARGANA MAT.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name. |

Population

I'rincipal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Ng.

Hindus .

Musal-
nian.

Total.

Acreage.

120

Saclr-pur

...

Balaram, Jat

.Tat

814

121

Sakat-pur

500

505

Brahmaa

585

122

Salaka

138

142

Dharm Das, Ath-
waraya.

Jat

123

Samauli

473

480

Lachhman, Bohra.
HiraLal, Athwara-
ya.

Brahman

866

124

Shal

801

850

...

Jat

894

125

Shankar-garlii ...

388

444

Ditto ...

556

12f>

Singauni

188

...

,83

Het Ram. Jat of
Musmina.

Ditto ...

704

127

Sikandar-pur ...

1,364

1,424

Sevak Riim, Jiit
and others.

Thdkur

1,828

128

Siraila

265

293

Brahman...

475

129

Siu Patti

1,825

i,864

2,046

120. Sadr-pur, one of the eight Kanlana villases, is accounted part of Udhan-pur. It has
passed from the old JaJ shareholders to Balaram, JaJ of Kateliya.

121. Sa/iat-pur. — Given to Brahmans by the Jats.

122. Saldhd, po called after its founder Salah, is one of the 12 Narwaran villages. 21 years
ago the Jats sold 10 biswas to Dharm Das, Athwaraya.

123 Samauli, (for Syama-puri), on the .Jamuna, is so called after its founder Syama, Brah-
man. Gauruas owned a considerable part of the village, but have now sold part to Lachhman.
Bf)hra of Bhadra-ban, and Hira Lai, Athwaraya, and mortgaged the remainder to Devi Sinh and
Basant Ham.

124. !>hrtl. — Near the village pond (tdli) is ajdman orchard belonging to some Manihars, and
on the Bali-pur side a fine, large, mango grove named after Kalu the lumberdar.

125. Skanhar-girhi, so ca.\\ei after its .lat founder; has 200 bighas watered by a Kajbaha
of the Ganges Canal. A market on Tuesday.

126. SingauU, founded by JaU from IMusmina. was farmed till 1854 by Nawab A-^hraf
Khan. It then returned to the old .lat proprietors, but as they ioined in the attack on Noh-jhil
in the mntinv, a fine of Rs. 500 was imposed upon them, and in default of payment the estate
was sold to Het Ram of Musmina,

127. S'kanrlnr-pur, founded by Sikandar. a Ja-js Tbaknr from .Tarara. In 1821 it was soM at
auction to'Moti Ram, Brahm.Tu, and Ghaus ^luhammad, Shaikh, of N(ih-jhil. Subsequently, Moti
Ram sold 5 biswas to l.'am Kishan, Thakur, and Madan Mohan. Baniva, and the otlier 5 to Laohh-
man, Brahman, while the Shaikh .=5o]d his 10 to Sevak K'am, Jat, and Randhir, Thakur. To the
west of the village is a ghand of dlLdk aud hins trees witli a pond covering 8J bighas. A market
on Wednesday. Two hamlets.

128. Siraila, founded by Sri and Tulsi, Jats from Harnaul.
129. Siu Patii.—See Bajana, page 66.

fARGANA MAT.

Alpiiahetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population.

Principal proprie-
tors.

PredDminant
ca'^te.

No.

Hindus.

jMusal •
mail.

Total.

Acreage.

120

Suhag-pur

528

538

Jat

4'6

181

Sultan-palti

1,591

1,620

Ditto ...

1 ,9) \

132

Sultau pur

125

187

Malakana
and Brah-
man

66.'

133

Suiir

4,9i:7

314

5,271

...

4,4li5

134

Smka

177

...

177

Raja Tikam Sinh
of Mursan.

Jat

4(12

135

Tehra

158

401

559

Malakaia...

420

Tenti-ka ganw au

other

name for

Akbar-

pur.

136

Thenua

355 i

371

Jat

?.01

137

Tilkagarhi

629 1

646

Het Ram, Jat of
Musiiiiiia

Ditto ...

910

138

Toll

»l

Zuhur All.

Saiyid ...

...

139

Udhau-pur

15 1

...

Jat Noil war,

...

130. Sultdy-pur.~ One of tlie 12 Narwaraa villages. Tliere is a jhdri of kins and other trcfs
extending over 52.J bi'ghas. In the mutiny the zamindars j iined in the attack on Lalji, PatMari of
Baroth, and iu the murder of his bruther Hira Lil.

131. SuUdn-patti. — Ste Bajana, page 66.

132. Sulfdn-pur, on tlie Jamuna, so called after its founder Sultdn, aMalakana. Fifty years
ago it was sold aw;iy frum his desceudants at auctiaa to Khairati Khan, I'athan, whose heirs aru
now in possession, tiiough they have lately mortgaged to Sahib Ram and Chet Ram, Baniyas of
Surir.

134, Surkd, on the Road between Mat and Ilathras, was founded by Jats from Dunetiya.

136. Te/ira.oueof the eight Thakur villages, was foundid by a Jaes from Kahnur, whose des-
cendants, some 20O years ago, turned .Vluhamraadans. In thunMitiiiy they received and sheltered
for five months tlie refugees trom Noh-jhi! : and as an acknowledgment of their loyalty, one-tenth
of the Jama, viz., Ris. loo, was remitted from the year 1859 (the remission still coutinuingj and
the zamindars Zauki, Serhu, and Tara, received each a donation of Us. 60.

138. Thenua, one of the 12 Narwar villages was given to ThauJa, a Jat of the Thenua got,
whence its name. Here is a temple built by Khuba zamindar.

1.37. Tilkd-garhi. — So called after its founder, a Jat from Musmina. A few years later
anolhtr Jat by name Bhagawan founded the hamlet of Bliairawjin-gvrhi. This latter, being TJ
biswas of the whole, hus been sold to Het Ham of Musmina. For joining in the attack on Noh-
jhil, the zamindars, after the mutiny, M-ere fined Rs. 662.

138. Toli, called in full Toli Saiyid, was taken out of Noh-jhil and given rent-free to
one Zuhfir AH. I'hc grant was resumed by the British Government and the assessment fixed at
Rs. 640. Subseiuently it was all sold ; lo biswas to Brahmans, 6 to Baniyas, and 6 to Kunjras.
Zuhur All, a descendant of theold Saiyid, has now re-purchased 5 biswas from Tulsi Kam, Bauiya,
and the Kunjras have sold IJ biswas to Indrajit, Brahman,

Udhan-puT is included with Sadr-pur.

PARGANA MAT.

A Ipltabet ical L ist of Villages — (con chided ) .

Name.

Population.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

H indus.

Musal-
mau.

Total

Acreage.

14)
141

Udhar

Nagara Himna ..

372

404

P.aja Tikam Sinh
and Jaiiaki Irasal.

Jogiand Jat,
Jdt

540

140. Udhar, founded by Udlio, Jat from Dunctiya. There is a r/hajia, i73^ bi'ghas in extent,
called Batmar. A nialikaua or royalty is paid to Raja Tikam iSinh of Mur.^au There is one brick-
built house in the village -a most exceptional thing in this pargana— occupied by Kishaii Sinb,
Lumberdar.

141. Nagara-Himna, was purchased from the Jat^ one-third by Kaja Tikam Sinh and two-
thirds by one Bhagiruth, who has resold to Janaki Prasad and A'azir Khan.

v.— PARGAXA MAHA-BAN.

The Maha-ban Pargana forms the cuiinecting link between the two divi-
sions of the district. Its western half, which hes along the bank of the Jamuna,
forms part of the Braj Mandal, and closely resembles in all its characteristics
the tracts that we have hitherto been describing: its towns are places of consi-
derable interest, bnt the land is poor and barren, dotted with sandhills and in-
tersected with frequent ravines. To the east, beyond Baladeva, the country is
assimilated to the rest of the Doab ; the soil, being of greater productiveness,
has from time immemorial been exclusively devoted to agricultural purposes,
and thus there are no large centres of population nor sites of historic interest.
Li area and subordination the pargana has undergone several changes; for
originally it formed part of Aligarh, and then for some years recognized Sa'dii-
bad as its capital, before it was finally constituted a member of the district of
Mathura. In 18G1 it made over to Sa'dabiid some few villages on the boi'der,
and received instead the whole of the Raya circle, including as many as eighty-
nine villages, which, till then, had been included in Mat ; together with three
others, Baltikri, Birbal, and Sonkh, which were detached from Hathras. A
glance at the map will show that a further rectification of its boundary line to
the north is still most desirable ; as the narrow tongue of land that runs up along
the Aligarh border, in innnediate proximity to the Mat Tahsili, Avould clearly be
benefited by inclusion in Mat jurisdiction.

The river forms the boundary of the pargana to the south as well as the west,
and in the lower part of its course is involved in such a series of sinuosities that
its length is out of all proportion to the area it traverses, and thus necessitates
the maintenance of no less than eleven crossing-places, viz., the pontoon bridge
at the city, a bridge-of-boats at Gokul, and ferries at Paui-gunw, Habib-pur or
Basai, Baroli, Kanjauli, Koila, Tappa Saiyid-pur, Sehat, Akos, and Nera. The
contracts for all these, excepting the one at Koila, are given in the Agra district.
Of the 151,846 acres that form the total area, 110,013 are ordinarily under
cultivation. The crops principally grown are jodr, hajra, and the like, on
57,000 acres; wheat and barley on 38,700; cotton on 8,000, and clutnd on
4,000. "Water-melons are also raised in large quantities on the river-sands; and
the long grass and reeds, produced in the same localities, are valuable as materials
for making ropes, mats, and articles of wicker-work.

The number of distinct estates is 216, of which 18 are enjoyed rent-free by
religious persons or establishments, and 89 are in the hands of sole proprietors,

PARGANA MAIIA-BaN. 87

as distinct from village communities. The castes thai muster strongest are Jats
and Brahmans, who together constitute one-half of the entire population. The
great temples at Baladeva and Gokul, though they have also endowments in
land, derive the principal part of their income from the voluntary offerings of
pilgrims and devotees. Of secular proprietors, the Avcalthiest— as in most other
parts of the country now-a-days — are 7wvi Jtom{7ies of the baniya class, who have
laid the foundation of their fortune in trade. First in this order come Mahi
Lai and Janaki Prasad of Raya. Their ancestor, Nand Bam, was a petty
trader of that town, who realized large profits by the sale of grain in the famine
of 1838. In partnership with him was his brother, Magni Lf'il, who, havino- no
natural heir, adopted his sister's grandson, Janaki Prasad. In 1840 Nand Bam
died, and as of his two sons, Mahi Lai and Bhajan Lai, the latter was already
deceased, leaving issue, Jamuna Prasad and Manohar L^'d, he left his estate in
three equal shares, — the one to his son, the second to his two grandsons, and
the third to his adopted nephew. Fur some years the property was held as a
joint undivided estate ; but in 1 800 an agreement was executed constituting three
estates in severalty ; Janaki Prasad's share being the village of Bhadanwara
Mahi Lai's that of Arua, both in Mat ; and Jamuna Prasad and Manohar Lai's,
ten smaller villages in the M aba-ban pargana. As the main object of this ao-ree-
nient was simply to get rid of Janaki Prasad, the others continued to hold their
two-thirds of the original estate as one projicrty. But after a time, thinkino-
that the discrepancy between recorded rights and actual possession might lead to
difficulties, in 1870 they executed another deed, b_y which the two shares were
again amalgamated. This joint estate, including business returns, was assessed
for purposes of the income tax, as yielding an annual profit of Rs. 16,066;
the Maba-ban villages, in which they are the largest shareholders, being Acharu
Chura-Hansi, Dhaku, Gonga, Xagal, and Thana Amar Sinh. Some mis-
understanding has now arisen, and the uncle and nephew have commenced a
litigation which promises to be long protracted and will probably leave them
both poorer men. Their kinsman Jiinaki Prasatl, in addition to his Mat villao-e
of Bhadanwara, has shares in Gainra, Ivakarari and 15 other villa o-es in Maba-
ban, from which he derives a net income of Rs. 14,200.

Of much the same, or perhaps rather lower, social standing are a family of
Sanadh Brahmans at Jagadis-pur, money-lenders by profession, who are gra-
dually consolidating a considerable estate out of lands which for the most part
they first held only in mortgage. The head of the firm in their native villao-e
where they have been settled for many generations, is by name Harideva, with
■whom is associated in partnership his nephew, Chunni Lai, son of a deceased
brother, Isvari. Besides owning three parts of Jagadis-]Hir, tbey have also
shares in Daulat-pur, Habib-pur, Karab, Kakarari, Sahora, Wairani and 16
other villages, producing a net income of Rs. 12,572. A brother of Harideva's,

PAR G AN A MAHA-BAN.

by name Purau Mall, has a separate estate, being part proprietor of Bahadur-
piu-, Itauli, &c., while a relative, Baladeva, living at Grokul, has a further income
of Rs. 13,311 derived from trade and lands that he owns at Daghaita and
Arhera in the Mathura Pargana. This latter's father, Param Sukh, was the
brother of Hira-mani, Hurideva's father ; and it was their father Jawahir — nick-
named Kuteliya, ' the pedlar' — son of another Harideva, who began in a very
small way to form a nucleus for the fortune which his descendants have so
rapidly accumulated.

The Pachauris of Gokharauli and the Saiyids of Maha-ban {see page 4)
thouo-h of inferior wealth have claims to a more ancient and honorable pedigree.
The latter have a joint income of Rs. 6,084, drawn chiefly from the township
of Maha-ban, and the villages of Nagara Bhdru, Gohar-pui', Shah-pur Grhosna,
and Narauli : but the shareholders are so numerous that no one of them is in
affluent circumstances, and the head of the family. Sirdar 'Ali Khan, is glad to
accept service under Governinet in a subordinate position as Naib Tahsildar.
An account has already been given of the Gokarauli Pachauris [page 12) whose
joint income is estimated at Rs. 10,695 : but as the present head of the family
is a childless widow and her adoption of a san has given rise to much litigation
on the part of the rival claimants to the inheritance, it may be of use to add a
genealogical table showing clearly the degrees of relationship : —

Bliupat Siiih,
(of Savaran-khera in Bliada var ; came from there and settled at Satoha)

Parusu-raiu Sinh, of Satoha.

Puran-chand, of Gokharauli.

Giridhar Sinh,
of Bhada.var.

I'.alhibli Sinh,
Tahsiltlar of
Ko^i, died s. p.

Mukund Sinh,
of Gokharauli,

ijaiisidhar.

Giijar Mall.

Gobind Kaiii,
Tahsildar of
Sikandra Ka;),

Bakhtawar Sinh = rran Kiinwar,
of Gi kharauli present head of
died s. p. the family.

I I Har Prasad Kaly.an Sinh.

I 2 Lalita Prasad of Go-

\ji Jamuna Prasad kharauli

l.am-chaud, adopted by Pran Kuuwar.
Beyond the three towns of Gokul, Maha-ban, and Baladeva, which have
already been fully described, there is no other place in the pargana which
requires more than the most cursory notice.

PARGANA MAHA-BAN.

Alphabetical List of Villages.

Name.

Population.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

VTusal-
mau.

Total.

Acreage.

'Abd-un-Nabi-pur
Gokula.

605

652

Nainsukh, Jat ...

Jat

662

Acharu Ladhora,

929

938

Nand-kisbor and
Jamun a Prasad,
Baniyas.

Ditto ...

1,184

Akos

3,252

3,340

Bakhshi, Jat ...

Ditto ...

3,426

'Ali-pur

530

...

680

Moti Ram, Brah-
man.

Brahman...

290

Amir-pur

323

366

Chandan Sinh,
Jadon.

Jit

448

Anaundba

2,253

2,3,30

Bbawani, Jat ...

Ditto ...

2,230

Angai

712

760

Gobinda, Jat ...

Ditto and
Brahman.

827

Arazi Islam-pur,

127

...

127

Sadik Ali, Saiyid,

Brahman...

...

Arazi Milk Bika-
EU Shah.

...

Rajab Ali, Saiyid,

Saiyid ...

Arazi Milk Gaiiffa-
Tasi

...

Kewal Kishan.
Brahman.

Arazi Milk Kaiiiin-
goan.

...

Jamaiyat R a e,
Kayath.

...

172

Artoui

624

559

Ajay Ram, Jat...

Jat

635

I. ' Abd-uti-Nabi-pur Gokula. — Jats own only half the village, Brahmans and Kayaths the
other half.

t. Acharu Ladhora. — The present proprietors purchased fmra the Jats. In 1857 two of the
zamindars, Dhani Ham and Sesh Kam, were hanged as mutineers, two others died in jail.

3. Akos, — O.T the bank of the Jamuna. Here is a hill known as Bbim Tila. Market on Mon-
day. Halkabandi school.

4. 'Ali-pur. — Founded by Shaikh Ali, risaldar. The former proprietors were Kayaths.

5. .<4mir-/3«r, — Founded by Maharaj Sinh, Jat : mortgaged by his descendants to Chandan
Sinh. In the mutiny a native of the place, by name Suraj, touk the additional title of Mall, and
was proclaimed Raja.

6. Aniuml'id or Anaurha. — Founded by Mahi-pat, Jat. Kesari, Brahman, who had purchased
a share in the village shortly before the mutiny, was then attacked and plundered by the old pro-
prietors. A market on Tuesday and Saturday.

7. Angai. — Founded by Isvar, Jat. A halkabandi school.

9. Arazi Milk Bikdnu Shah.— Hern is a tomb of the founder's son, Fazl Shah.

10. Arazi Milk Gangd-vdsi. — .A muafi grant of Sindhia's, but resumed.

II. Arazi Milk Kdnungodn. — A grant to Ilarsukh Rae Kanungo, made by the zamindars of
ueveral adjoining villages.

12. Artoni.—llQ\(}, muafi by the Temple of Baladeva.

TARGANA MAHA-BAN.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continuod).

Name.

Fupulation.

riiiicipal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

xMusal-
iiian.

Total.

Acreage.

Ayra

244

247

Narayan S i n h,
Thakur,

Jat

557

Ajra kherii

1,852

129

1,981

...

Ditto and
Baiiiya.

Badon

1,059

1,080

Uandhir, Jat

Jat

992

Bahadur-pur ...

170

Chi ran ji Lai. Brah-

Ditto ...

374

Baladeva.

See El

rha, No.

1G7

man.

Balaiainpur

138

...

138

Jamai3'at R a e,
Kayath.

Jat

163

Baltikn

825

851

Mittrasen, Baniya,

Ditto ...

1,177

I'J

Banan

440

...

440

Lachtnan, Jat ...

Ditto ...

305

Banarasi-pur ...

.,.

Hukma, Brahmaui,

Brahman..

152

Band!

1,301

1,476

Kehar Siiih, Jadon,

Jadon ...

1,200

Bansa

690

616

Jats

Jat

807

Barha

Ilaghubar, Brah-
man

Ditto ...

403

Baroli

2,090

1C7

2,257

Pran Kun war,
i^achauri.

Jat

l,fil7

13. Ayrd, — Eouiuled by Arami, J;it, and purchased from his descendants by the present
Thakur proprietor. Here much sale used to be manufactured, the soil being extremtly s.ilme.
A halkabandi school.

14. Ayrd-KJierd. — A township, the centre of 18 villages, but with no arable land. Market
on Wednesday and Saturday.

15. JBd(/on.— Pounded by Badu, Jat: a share has beeu purchased from his descendants by
Janaki Prasad, Baniya, of Kaya.

16. Bahddur-piir. — Pounded by Bahadur, Jat.

17. Balardm-pur. — Pounded by Sobha Rae, Kayath.

18. BaUikri. — Founded by Balaram, Jat, and sold by his descendants to Mitlra-sen, Baniya,
of Hathras.

19 Binidn. — Two of the Jat zamindars were seized for taking part m the mutiny, but died
before trial.

20. Bandrasi'pur. — Founded by Banarasi, Brahman.

21. Bandi. — Here is the temple of Bandi Anandi, Jasoda's two favourite servants, with a
tank, now in ruins, constructed by Budhan Iliivat.

22. Bansa. — In taluka Ar-Lashkar-pur. Jama, TJs. 1,546.

94. Baroli. — .\ tappa of Mandaur, originally belonged to the Jats. A market on Tuesday
and Saturday. Halkabandi school.

PARGANA MAHA-BAN.
Alphabetical List of Villages— (co-nimued).

Name.

Population.

Triucipal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Mu>al-
man.

Total.

Acreage,

Basai : the more

common

name

for Ila-

bib-pur.

Basar bhikhandi,

180

...

180

Kaja Tikam Siuh,
Jat.

Jat

402

Ijliainsara

1,611

1,650

Puhapa, Jat

Ditto ...

829

Bliankar-pur

334

357

RaeSinh, Jut ...

Ditto ...

463

Bhartiya

2,467

2,555

Radha Krisbnn,
Brahman ; liiim
Jas, Jat.

Ditto ...

1,332

Bharu-garh

103

104

Bharat Sinh, Jat

Chamar ...

351

a J

Bhima

295

...

295

Daya Earn, Brah-
man.

Brahman...

r78

Bhit-Baberi

...

Dhani Ram, Jat...

Jat

244

Bhojua

204

...

204

Raja Tikam Sinh,
of Mursau.

Ditto

258

Hhura

212

238

Kalyan Sinh, Pa-
chauri.

Ditto

513

Bl.ura

358

40 5

Moh:ina, Jat

Ditto

635

Bhurari

148

...

148

Gangi, Jat

Ditto

16.^

Bicli-puri Polua...

171

Basudeva, Daniya

Ditto

272

Bibauli

392

...

392

Baladera,Brahman

P)rahman ...

800

Bu-alial.dJ

242

...

242

Jats and Baniyas,

Jat

250

Bindu-bulr'iki

871

8J1

Ham Ratn, Jat ...

1 Ditto

1,079

25. Bdiar-bhi'ihandi. — Founded by Bal-umkund, Jat. Bluklianda is the name of a particular
shrub. Jama, lis. 656. In the taluka Ar-Lashkar-pur.

26. Bhainsdra. — Founded by Bhainsa, Jat Th" Raja of Kapurthala is muafidar ; the estate
having been sold to liis ancestor Fatih Sinh i)y Raja Man Sinh, the heir to the throne of Jay-pur,
who lived as an ascetic at Brinda-ban (see page 137 )

28. Bhartiya. — Founded by Bharat, Jat. Market on Monday. Halkabandi school.

29. Bharu-garh. — Founded by some .Jats in the service of Suraj Mall of Bharat-pur.

31. Bliit-baheri, — Founded by Parta, Jat. Seth Gobind Das his a small share.

32. Bhojna. — In the taluka Madam. Jama, Rs. 585.

36. Bich-ptiri Polua. — Fonnced by Bijay Ram, J.-it, is in the taluka Alr-Lashkar-pur. Half
the village has been purchased by Brahmans and Baniyas. .Tama, Rs. 700.

37. Bifjduli. — Here is a temple of Chamar CChamuuda) Devi, built by Nain-sen, where two
annual melas are held, in Chait and Kuwar.

38. Bir-aliahdf].. — In the taluka Air-Lash kar-pur. Jama, Rs. 620.

39. Bindu-buldhi. — Founded by two J;Us, Biudu and Bu'.ald.

PAEGANA MAHA-BAN.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

)pitlation.

No.

Hindus, i

Musal-
mau.

Total.

rrincipnl Proprie- Predominant Acreage,
tors. caste.

Birahna

601

614

Sita Ram, Baniya,

Jat

865

Birbal

482

488

Navala, Jat

Ditto

747

Birona

298

3)5

Jasi Ram, Panda,

Ditto

412

Bisauli

922

936

Akbar, Jat

Ditto

1,143

Byonhin

1,797

173

1,970

Kiinwar T o d ar
Sinb, Jat.

Ditto

1,796

Chauhari

427

459

Bbiip Sinb, Brah-
man

Brahman ...

275

Chhauli

1,033

1,043

Akhai Ram, Jat ...

Jat

962

Chhibarau

238

240

Prasad! Lai, Panda

Ditto

407

Cbhikara

291

299

Kalu, Jat

Ditto

433

Chura-Hansi

551

557

Raudbir, Jat

Ditto

288

Daghaita

1,814

1,893

Baladeva Sinb,
Brahman of
Gokul.

Ditto

2,401

Daulat-pur

938

996

Nathu, Jat

Ditto

1,135

Dhaku

3*5

425

Jamuna Prasad,
Baniya.

Ditto

564

Dhanoti ..,

644

710

Bi jay K u n w a r,
Jadon.

Ditto

899

Daharua

332

273

605

Raja Udait Nara-
yan, Brabmau.

Malakana...

828

42. Birona. — The Jat^ still bold one-fourth of the village, the remainder has been transfer-
red to Baniyas and the Paudes of Baladeva.

43. Bisauli. — Swiimi Rangacbarya is rauafidar, by grant from Raja Man Sinh, the recluse.

44. Bi/onldn. — Here arc 125 bighas of woodland and karila.

45. Chauhari. — The original proprietors were Jats.

46. C/i//a'"/i.— Founded by Mabaraj Sinh, Jat

48. Chhihdra.—ln the taluka Madam. Jama, Rs. 830.

49. Chura-Hansi — Founded by two Jats, Chura and Hansi.

50. Daghaita.— The present proprietor purchased from the Jats.

62. Dh'i/ni.—Yotm(\ed by Dhakola, Jat, and sold by his descendants to Jamuna Prasad, Baniya.
Here are two temples, built by Sabaj RaniBalragi, and Pandit Pern Raj, Kashmiri.

53. Dhdiwli. — Purchased from the Jats.

64. Daharua. — So called from the dahar or waste laud in its viuiuity.

TARGANA MAHA-EAN.

Alphahefical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population

Principal Troprie-

tors.

J'redominant
caste.

No.

„. , ' Musal-
"'"'^"^•1 man

Total.

Acreage.

Diwana

],098

1,108

Bhagirath, Jat ...

Jat

1,462

FaMh-pura

492

Chhitar Mall, Ba-
niya.

Brahman...

333

Gainra

1,959

1,966

Bhawani, Jat

Jat

1,470

Gaju

Garsauli, another

643

form of

Gur.saal

665

Parsa, Jat

Ditto

692

Ghainchauli

399

422

Jannina Prasad,
Pachauri.

Ditto

729

Ghiya=;-pur

Mukund Lai, Ka-
yath.

...

163

Guhar-pur, the more
Gokbarauli

common
850

name for
6

Haiyat-
856

pur

Pran Kimwar, P.i-
ch.iiui.

Ditto

968

€2

j Gokul

4,190

4,240

Purushottam Lai,
Gosiiin.

Brahman ...

333

' Gonga

635

...

e35

Har Gobind, Jat...

Jat

524

Gotha

221

2.30

Chidu JIal, Baniya,

Ditto ...

644

Gulshan-abal ..,

...

BankeLal,Kayatli,

...

231

Gunsauli

1,365

1,419

Plan K u n war,
Pachauri.

Ditto ...

1,175

Gurera

1.119

1,132

Basudeva, Baniya,
and Jats.

Ditto ...

756

55. Diwana. — Founded by Diwan Sinh, Jat Held nmafi by Swami Kangacliarya, a grant from
Kaja Mail Siuh. Abiut half of the ztimindari has also been acquired by purchase. Halkahandi
school.

school.

day.

Fatih-pura, — Part still owned by the original Jalon and Brahman families. Halkabandi
Ghainchauli. — The original Jat families still own half the village. A market on Wednes-

60. Ghiyds-pur. — Founded by Nawab Kamr-ud-diu Khan.

61. Gokharduli. — Purchased from the Jats. In the mutiny the fort was surprised and occupied
for some days by the rebels and three ti.en were killed in the attack. A halkabandi school.

64. Gotha. — Sold by the Jats to the Baniyas.

65. Gulshan-dhdd, a/j'as Indora : refounded by an Afghan, Gulshan Khan.

66. Gunsauli, or Garsauli. ]\[arket on Tuesday. Halkabandi school.

67. Gwerd — Here a mela is hold in propitiation of Devi Barahi, the goddess of sores. An
oldruined fort bears the name of Alr-Lashkar-pur^ the head of the Ar-Lashkar-purTaluka. A market
on Monday and Friday. . Jama, Ks. 1,700.

PARGANA MAHA-BAK.
Alphahetical List of Villaors — rcontiimpcl).

Name.

Vopuhifion-

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

i\ru«al
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Habib-pur

se-t

5*^8

Laja Ram, Parasar.

Ahir

1,19>)

Haiyat-pur

1,149

313

1,462

SardarAli.Saiyid,

.Malak iina
andCliamar.

1,671

Hans-gaiij, the mo

re comm

on name,

fur Isa-p

ur.

Hasan- piir ...

546

561

Dliarm-piil^Baniya

Baniya and
.lat.

549

Hataiira

721

743

Tamodar Das,
Kayatli

Jat

P75

Hatkauli

1,186

1,234

Swami Eantracha-
rya.

Ditto ...

960

Ibrahim-pur

126

Hari(l(va S i n h,
Brahman.

Ahir

20S

Indora, another n

ame for

Gulshaii-

aiad.

Isa-pur

1,653

181

1,834

Pevi Sinh, Jat ...

Jat

790

Islam-pur

Ilar-jas LAI, Gosain

Ahir a n d
Brahman.

500

Itauli

652

671

Puran Mai, Brah-
man.

Jat a n d
Biahman

1,250

Jadon pur

488

496

Ajai Chand, .Jiit ..

.;at

545

Jagadis-pur

273

'J 7 4

Harideva S i n li,
Brahman.

Bra h man
and Cha-
mar.

276

Jagatiya

...

K.aja Tikam Siidi,
Jat, of ilursan.

Jat

259

Jamal-pur

.,.

...

Janiaiyat R a c,
Kayatli.

...

141

Jataura

405

40.)

I'urusliottam Lai,
Gosain.

Biiiiman...

755

Jharotha

639

709

Sunilar, .J:it

Jat

676

6i. Hubib-j)ur, alsD, and nu.re oonnno'dv, callea Basai : originally founded by Giridhar,
Ahir, and subsequently by llabib Khan, Patha:i. Half has been purchased by Harideva Sinh|
Buhra. Here is a ferry, for whic.i the contract is given in the Agra district.

69. Jfaiydf,-piir —Aha called Gohar-pnr. The Persinn name vras piven by Yahya Sufi, who
recovered the fort of Maha-bau from the Hindus in the time of Ala-ud-din Ghori.

70. Uasan-pur. — Ilalkabandi School.

72. Hatkauli — The Jats sti!l own half the village. Market on Wednesday.

78. Jar/ndls'pur. — Founded by Jagadeva, Parasar, whose descendants still own one-quarter,
the remainder havmg been sold to Harideva, Bohra.

79. Jagaliya. — One of the Taluka Madan villages. Jama, Ks. 400.

PAEGANA MAHA-BAN.

AJphahetlcal List of Fi/%«s— (continued).

Name.

Population.

Principal proprie-
tors.

t'redominant
caste.

No.

Hindus

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Jogi-pur

...

Swami R a n g a-
charya.

Jogi

389

Jugsana

2,u75

2,173

Bhtigirath, Jat ...

Jdt

1,600

Kachnau

776

786

Bhura, Jat

Brahman
and Jat.

813

Kakarari

1,425

1,474

Jiva Ham, Jat ...

Jat

1,301

Kalyaii-pur

486

487

llarphul, Brahman,

Brahman...

530

Kanaura

3!6

320

Natha, Jdt

Jat

942

Kanjauli

1,304

1,346

Chanda, Jat ...

Ditto ...

1,875

Kaiab

2,594

2,669

Fati Kam, Jat ...

Jat and
Brahman,

3,033

Kariiau

255

...

255

Nanda, Brahman,

Brahman...

436

Karsaura

7S6

750

Muni Lai, Brah-
man.

Jat

1,2?2

Kasim-pur, another

name of

Saiyid-p

ur.

Kateliya, another na

me for N

agara Ba

ri.

Khalana

187

206

Eanjit Sinh, Jat,

Ditto

331

Khandiya

AmritSinh, Brah-
man.

Ditto ...

269

Khan-pur

417

...

417

Bihari, Tarasar ...

Bra hman
and Cha-
mar.

1,075

Kharaira

221

Dam-dir Panda,

Brajl.an.

Jat

385

Khar w a

743

772

Khumani, Jat ...

Jat and
brahman.

840

Kberiya

152

...

152

Baliadur Sinh,
Brahman.

Brahman ...

376

83. Jugi-pur. — Also called luayat-pur, from one Inayat Khau.

84. Jugsana. — Ilalkabandi school.

9J. Kdrab. — Market on Thursday. Halkabandi school.

92. Karsaua. — The original proprietors were Jats.

93, Khalana. — Founded by Khairati, Jat, five biswas belong to Eaja Tikam Sinh of Mursan,
Jama, Ks. 7-30. Is in the Taluka A!r-Lashkar-pur.

95. Khdapur, — Founded by Ali Khan, Pathan. Part has been sold to Harideva, Bohra.

97. Kharwa. — Held muafi by Swami Rangacharya, a grant from Haja Maa Sinh, the recluse
of Brinda-bau, Remains of an old fort.

&8. Kheriya.—l'&ii has been sold to Baniyas.

PARGANA MAHA-BAN.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population.

Priucipal Proprie-

Predominant

No.

Acreage.

Hindus.

Musal-
tuan.

Total.

tors.

caste.

Khajuri

136

151

Rdja Tikam Sinh.
Jat, of Mursan.

Jat

28 4

TOO

Khirari

445

478

ChiranjiLal.Biali-
man.

Ditto

385

101

Kinari

132

...

jS2

liar Gobind, Ka-
yath.

Brah m a n
and Cha-
mar.

353

102

Kinauli

548

579

Balavanta, Jat ...

Jat

5.-)5

103

Kishan-pur

616

...

616

MunnaLiil, Brah-
man.

Brahman...

145

104

Koil

331

348

Laclilinian, Brah-
man.

Brahman ...

286

105

Lahrauli

689

696

Kora, Jat

Ja t^ and
Brahman.

1,176

106

Lttlpur

276

Khiyali, Brahfuan,

Brahman...

298

107

Loli-ban

2,063

2,121

Fakira, Brahman

Ditto

1,371

108

Maha->)an

5,33 1

1,600

6,930

Basudeva, Parasar,

Ditto

4,b60

109

Mahpai

Salagiraui, Bra'!-
man.

Jdt

742

^'alhai

Jugalkishor Jadon,

Ditto

152

111

Manilla Balu

1,069

1,126

Badam, Jat

Ditto

976

112

Manohar-pur

334

...

334

Laja-Ram Parasar

Kachhi ...

678

99. JiTAayi/rJ.— In the Taluka Air Laslvluir pur. Jama, Ks 6.5.

101. Kindri.- — On the ' bank' of the Jamima,

103. Kishan-pur. — Cnt off from the village of Karib, a".d made a grant to Hirduy Ram, Para-
sar. Ha'.f has been sold to llariaeva, Bolira. Ilalkabandi school.

104 Koil. — So called from the number of Koil birds in the thickets. Here are two grardens,
■with well and tiwara, constructed, the one by Ja^aki Prasalof Ruya, the otlier by a Brajbasi
Brahman, in 1837. Mohan J.al, zamindar, was imprisoned for taking pirt in the mutiny.

105. Lahrauli. — In the mutiny the zamindars of this and several adj lininp; villages plundered
a wealthy bohra, by namr> Tika Ram, who had lately purchased some of their land. He is still
living, but has never recovered from the loss then sustained.

107. Zo/i-icfn.— This is a station in the Ran-jatra and is said to derive its name from the
demon Loha, slain by Krishna In late locnl Sanskrit literature lie is styled Lohajaiij^liH, but
apparently is not mcntif)ned at all in any ancient work. Tlu; pilgrims make oiferings of iron
(loha). There is a temple of Gopiniith, built Sambat i 702, and a tank called Krishna-bund. Ilal-
kabandi school

108. Mahd-ban.—Sec page 147. Tahsili, imperial pust-ofHce, police station, and tahsiH school.

109. Mahpai.Snul to derive its name from the founder Mahi, a Jat, by whose descendants
it has been sold to the present Brahman proprietor.

PARGANA MAHA-BAN.

Al2'>habetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Fopulalion.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musrtl ■
man.

Total.

Acreage

Mayaura

792

852

Isvari Prasad, Brah-
mauof Agra.

Jat and

Maiakana.

1,048

114

Mavali

265

276

Dala, Brahman ...

Jat and
Brahman.

684

116

Milk Bitthalnath

108

...

108

Pnrushottam L a 1
Gosain.

Jdt

168

116

Milk K i B h a n a
Chaube.

...

Lachha and Khubi
Brahmans.

Chamar ...

Misri

215

...

2)5

Balu, Jat

Jat

686

118

Slohan-pur „

Mohan Lai, Brah-
man.

Brahman ...

105

119

Mubarak-pur

...

Baladeva Sinh,
Brahman.

620

120

Mujahid-pur

£7

Ram Dayal, Ka-

yath.

Ahir

121

Mursena

210

...

210

Dhan Sinh, Jat ...

Ja{

122

Murshid-abad ...

Prithi, Brahman,

Brahman ...

251

123

Muzaffar-pur

192

198

Raghunath Eewan

Ditto

347

1^4

Nabi-pur

393

396

Chhitar Mal.Bani-
ya.

Ahir

702

125

Nagal

1,040

Ram Sinh, Jat ...

Jat

903

126

Nagara AkoB

494

...

494

Nandkishor, Jat,

Ditto

1,321

127

NagaraArjun ...

Karan Sinh, Jat...

366

1 13. Maraura. — Founded by a Ea/at named Madan. Part is still owned by the original Ja^
and Maiakana families.

114. il/dya/t.— Janaki Da3 and Baladeva Das, Bairagis, of Brinda ban, are muafidars.
119. AfM6ara^-/)ttr. —Mortgaged to the Gosains of Gokul.

121. Mursena. — The zamindars of this and several adjoining villages took the opportunity
in the mutiny of plundering Dhaui Earn, a wealthy Bohra.

122. Murshid-dhdd.—H'h.is was given by Akbar to a Brahman, named Ramkishan.

123. Muzaffar-pur. — So called by Muzaffar Khan, Pathaa. The original name was Madan-

125. Ndgal — Part has been sold to the Baniyas of Raya. Here is a temple built by Raai
Das, Bairagi; a tiwara by Hemraj of Hathras, three gardens planted by Kishan Das, and Husain
Beg, and two small mosques, one of them constructed by Chandan, a Baniya of Raya.

125. Nagara Akos.—la also called Nagara Haga, the name given by its first founder Abhaya-
chand. On the Jamuna.

PARGANA MAHA-BAN.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

I'red'minant

cuatu.

No.

Hindus.

]\rii,=al-
n^an.

Total.

Acreage.

128

Nagara A^zam ...

238

...

238

Parsa, Ja^

liralmian ...

856

129

NagaraBali (K.i-
teliya.;

1,150

1,249

Jivani, Mahcsari
Haniyin.

J :\ t and
Rewari.

748

130

Nagara Bari

274

281

Daya K r i s h a n ,
Baniya.

Jat

13J

Ditto Bharn ...

625

647

Sardar 'Ali, Sai-
yid.

Ditto

1,060

132

Ditto Eirbal ...

134

136

Harideva, Jat ...

Ditto

194

133

Ditto Dhainia...

186

...

186

Raja Tikam Sinh,
of Mursan.

Ditto

298

134

Nagara Giridhar,..

233

217

.Tamfdyat Pae,
Kiiyath,

Ditto

670

135

Ditto Gokharauli

518

657

Gobardhan Das,
Kayath.

Ditto

825

136

Ditto Had

143

..,

143

Devi Sinh, Jat ...

Ditto

403

137

Ditto Iliia ...

109

Dhani Ram, Brah-
man.

Ditto

254

138

Ditto Jangali ...

167

182

Bakhsha, Jat ...

Ditto

648

139

Ditto Karan ...

...

RiijA Tikam Sinh,
of Miu-sau.

103

140

Ditto Kazi

364

361

Raja Udait Na-
rayau, Brah-
man,

248

141

Ditto Mir Bulaki

295

303

Fida Husain,
Saiyid.

Brahman ...

120

142

Ditto Thana ...

116

...

116

Swami Rangacha-
rya

Jat

160

143

Ditto Todar ...

236

237

Rati Ram, Jat ...

Ditto

323

128. IS'cKjara Azam.—1& also called Senthri, Is on the Jamutia,

129. Nagara Bali, — Or Kateliya, Halkabandi-school.

134. Nagara Giridhar.— Is also called Nagara Maharath, after the original founder, Giridhar
being his son.

135. iVagrara Go/f/frtraw/i.— Also called, after the founder, Nagara Magna. The real total of
the census returns, when corrccily added up, is 856.

136. Nagara JIari. — Part has been transferred to Swami Rangacharya.

1 40. Nagara JSazt.— Founded by Kazi Muhammad Ali in Akbar's time. Raja Udait Narayan
is muafidar.

141. Nagara iJ/ir-JSM/JAi.— Called also Nagara Gopi, after the first fouuder.

PAEGANA MAHA-BAN.
Alphabetical List of Villages — '^coutinued).

Population.

No.

Name

Hindus.

IVrusal-
man.

Total.

PrinciTial Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

144

Nagara Tulsi ...

180

192

PaUu, Jat.

Jat

203

145

Narauli Zanardar

356

...

356

Pandas of Bala-
deva.

Brahman...

482

146

Narwa-Hanei

130

••

1.S6

Baladeva Sinh,
Brahman o f
Hathras.

Jat

861

147

Nasir-pur Gonpa,

...

Zauki, Jat

...

143

Naurauga

184

200

Raja Tikam Siuh,
of Mursan.

Ditto

463

149

Nera

1,897

i73

2,070

Gokula, Jat

Ditto

3,565

150

Nigora

437

449

Kuiiwar Kishan
Prasad, Jat of
JIursaii.

Ditto

796

151

Xioi-ganw

2,698

16.5

2,8ti3

Lachlimao Sinh,
Jadon.

Ditto

2,855

152

Nonera

387

4'-' 7

Raja likim Siuh,
of Mursan.

Ditto

369

153

Nui--pur

.21

222

Pandas of Bala-
deva.

Brahman...

375

154

Ochhata

190

...

190

Rahi Ram, Jat ...

Jat

156

155

Pacliawar

3,757

170

3,927

Nihal, Jat

Jat, Brah-
man, and
Baiiiya.

3,248

145. Narauli Zanardar. — Founded by one Hans- raj, and on his death Ijestowed on the Brah-
mans; hence its second name, zd«ar being the Brahmauical cord. It has now passed to tho
Pandes of Baladeva.

146. Nariva-Hansi.-'Sold to the present proprietor by the Jats.

147. Nasir-pur. — Founded by Nasir Khan and All Khan. Jats own five and-a-half biswaf,
Blayaths the remainder.

14S. Nauranga. — Purchased by the Raja about 20 years ago. Jama, Rs. 900.

149. Nera. — Probably derives its name trom its nearness to the river. One of the zamin-
dars, Karan Sinh, in the mutiny, fired at the Joint Masfistrate : his sh.are in the village, five bis-
•was, was cnnfi-cated and bestowed on Kunj Bihari Lai, Kaiiungo of Shikoh-abal. Market on
Monday. Halkabandi school.

150. — Nigora. — In the Taluka Alr-Lashkar-pur. Jama, Rs. 1,411.

151. Nim-gdniv.— The Jats still own nearly half the village. Market on Thursday.

152. Nonera.— In the Taluka Ar-Lashkar-pur, Jama, Rs, 763.

155 Pachdiofir.—The founder, Bijay Sinh, had two con^i, '^'mI! and Dhyan, aftnr whom two
thoks into which the village is divided are still called. Five biswas have been bought by the

100

PARGANA MAHA-BAN.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

157

158

160
161

162

163
164

165
166

Pan -ganw

ratnauli
Pavesarfi

Pindaraii ...

Piri

Pokhar Hriday,
(Allah-pur).

Prasua
Eacloi
Rae-pur Mai

Eausanga
Eaval

''opulation

Hindus.

IMnsal-
man.

Total.

2,620

2,652

1,759

1,805

857

920

858

879

345

361

222

671

...

671

754

811

371

376

215

...

215

G98

716

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Eaja of Bharat-
pur.

Raja Eaoi, Jii\ ...

Raja Tikam Sinh,
of Mursan.

Swami Eangecha-
rya, mortgagee.

Jasa, Ja^ ,„

Gbisa, .Tat

Kunwar Todar
Sinh, .J at.

Karaal Kunwar,
Pachauri.

Eaja Udait Nara-
yan, Brahman.

Bhola, Jat
ClihoteLal, Br ah-

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

Jat

3,711

Ditto

1,768

Ditto

9,05 4

Ditto

824

Ditto

629

Ditto

381

Brahman ..

8SS

Jat

769

Gujar, Brali-
nian and

l,?Ol

389

Chamar ...

1,483

Dhusars of Mathura. The Baniyas here have several substantial brick houses. Market on
Sunday. Ilalkabandi school.

156. Pdni-Gdnw. — The two thoks, Madiir and Hansu, are so named after two brothers and
are entirel}' distinct. Four of the inhabitants were hanged in the mutiny. A temple built by
Mohani, th'e Eani of Suraj Mall of Hharat-pur. Mela of Plml Dol on Phalgun badi 11. Halka-
bandi school.

157. Patnauli. — Part has been sold by the .Tats to Brahmans.

158. ravesara. — Ilalkabandi school. Jama, Es. 1,839. In the Talnka A^r-Lashkar-pur.

161. Po/tlinr Hridaj/.—'Fonndcd by one Akrn, who named it after his two song. Part ha»
been bought np by the Baniyas of Raya and Brahmans of Brinda-ban.

162. Prasua. — So called from a temple of Parasu-ram,

164. Bderw-Mai — So called from its founder Rai Sinh Subsequently named Gopal-pur, by
one Gopal, a Rajput, by whose descendants it has been sold to the present proprietors.

165. Itamanga.— One of the Taluka Madam villages. Jama, Rs. 725.

166. — 7?«>a/ —A contraction for Riija-k'ila. Here Sur-bhan, Eadha's maternal grandfather
Is inid to have lived. There is a temple of Larli Ji, a title of Radha, with a bagli, the gift of
Kn<:hal Sinh, whore a mela is hold, Bhadon Su li «. The village is still inclurled in the perambu-
lation of (T"kul and till the foundation of the new temple of Larli Ji at Barsana was a much
more popular place of pilgrimage than it is now. Seven and-a-half biswas have been sold to
llajii Udait Narayan.

PARGANA MAHA-BAN.

Alphabetical List of Villagefs — (continued).

101

Name.

ropulation.

Trincipal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musul-
inan.

Total.

Acreage.

1C7

Eirha cum Balade-
va.

3,258

120

3,378

Jasi Ram, Panda,

Jat, Baniya,
and Brah-
man.

458

lec

Raya

2,336

589

?,925

Baniya ...

...

16>

Sabali

1,256

1,308

Parsa, Jat

Jat

931

170

Sahora

2,653

2,722

Nathi Ram, Jat ..

Ditto

2,623

171

Salian-abad

120

126

Ram Sinh, Jat ...

Ditto

322

I7J

Sampat Jogi ...

293

313

Ati Bal, Jat ...

Ditto

709

1-3

Sarae 'Ali Khan...

A mr i t Kiinwar,
brahmani.

174

Sarae Diiud

356

400

Jugala, Uaniya ...

Ditto and
Brahman.

442

175

Sarae Salivahana,

253

282

Gobardhan Das,
Kay all].

Ditto

279

176

Saras

314

Lai Sinh, Brah-
man.

ii\

339

167. Baladeva. — See page 161. Police Station, district post-office, and halliabandi school.

168 Eai/d — A township with no arable land of its own, hut the recognized centre of the 14
Burrounding villages, is on the high road to Aligarli , seven miles from Maihura There is an old
fort, built by the founder. Kai Sen, frjni wh(im the place derives its name. Market on Monday
and Friday. Police station, branch post-office and pargana schoid. Section 34 of Act V., of 1861
is in force.

169. Sabali. — Founded by Sabal, Jat. Part has been sold to Net Eam, Brahman.

170. Sahorn —So called from a temple of Sahori Devi. The former ovmera were Mathura
Kayaths. Fart has been sold to Harideva .and Prahlad, Bohras. In the mutiny the Jat z^miindars
attacked the patwari and killed Khushi Khan, one of the tahsil chaprasis, for which the ringleader's
Eam Sukh's share was confiscated. Market on Wednesday. Halkabandi school. A hamlet
called Tara-pur.

171. Salim-dbdd. — So called from Saliiu Khan Jagirdar : also known as Phul-pur from its ori-
ginal founder Phula, Ja{.

172. Sampat-jogi.— So called after its two foimders, Sampat and Jogi, Jats.

173. Sarae AH AV; an.— Founded by Ali Khan in the time of Sher Shah. A tomb which ho
erected in memory of one Bibi Rasti is still in existence, but there is no trace of any Sarae.

174 Sarae Z^avr/.— Founded by Nawab Daud in Akbar's reign. The Pachauris of Maha-ban
have purchased part from the Jats.

175, Sarae Sdlivdhann. — Th? founder was one of Akbar's kamdars.

176. Suras. — This has been sold by the .Tats. In the mutiny three of the zamindars, Hulasi,
Sawae, and Akbar plundered the Baniyas of Raya, for which they were thrown into jail and died
there.

102

PARGANA MAHA-BAN,

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Population

Principal Proprie-
tors.

I'rcdomiuant
caste.

No.

Hindus
905

iiian.

Total.

Acreage.

177

Saiyid-pur

953

Hupa, Jat

J{x\

1,398

178

Sarkaud Kl.era...

179

...

179

Anirit Ktinwar,
Pachaun lirali-
mani.

Ditto

458

179

Saur

127

...

127

B'uajan Lai, Bani-
ya.

Ditto

7 85

180

Sohat

448

...

448

HiraLai, Crahman,

Brahman...

962

181

Sfcl-khera

927

957

Achal Sinh, .Jaf...

613

Seuthri : an Ulier

name for

Nagara

A'zani

182

Shahab-pur

155

^lukiind Lai, Ka-

yath.

Chamar ...

751

183

Shali-pur Ghosna,

872

119

991

M a h f u z AH,
Saiyid of the
M a i\ a-b a n fa-
mi ly.

Saiyid ...

827

184

Shaz;i(l-piir I n -
dauli.

223

...

228

Jawahir, Ja{

J.at

373

185

Sliahzad-pur Tap-
pa SulKli.

Hain i'ra,sal, Pa-
rasar.

Ditto

191

186

Sbenii

32'.'

IC.

338

Moti, Jaf

Ditto

610

187

Shcrpur

...

Jugal-kishor, Pa-
rasar.

Ahii-

617

183

Siyara

Souai : see No. 193.

472

496

Ka-.u Eaklish, Jdf,

Jat

...

177. Suhjid-pur. — Known also as Kasim-pur. In the mutiny the ziniindars helped to plunder
Tika Ram, Bohra, to whom part of the village had been sold. Much of the land is jungle and ra-
vine along ilie river bank. Tiiere is an English tomb, but withimt inscription.

179. Saur, — Founded by Sur Kam, Jat. Half has been bought by Swanii Eangacharya.

180. SeAai.— This parish occupies 1 nook, almost entirely surrounded by the Jamuna. Here
is a ferry, called Swami Ghat, for which tlie contract is given in Agia.

181. Set- filter d. — From 'sel, a spear.'

182. Shahdh-pur. — Founded by Saiyid Shahahud din, whose descendants still own part.
Part has been mortgaged to the I'andes of Baladeva.

183. Shdh-pnr. — Said to have been fonndo 1 by the Rani Katira of Mewar. There is an old
fort built by a chobilar of Bliarat-pur, named Marchna.

184. Shdli-zdd-pur.SoV\ by the Jats to the Parasar chaudharis

186. S/icrn».— Part has been sold to the Baniyas of Ayra-khera,

PARGANA MAHA-BAN.
Alphabetical List of Villages — ^continued).

103

Name.

opulation.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
mau.

Total.

Acreage.

189

Sonkh

384

412

Swami R a n g a
charya.

Jat

190

Suraj

690

603

Gulab Sinh, J.it ..

Ditto

543

191

Taiyib-pur

139

Murli. Brahman ...

Brah man
;m<l Mula-
kuua.

332

192

Tal-garbi

£50

356

Parma, .Jaf

Jat

631

193

Tatarota

!,271

1,302

Ummoda, Jat ...

Ditto

2,000

194

Tchra

482

497

Gopal Das, Baniya,

Ditto

763

195

Thana Amar Sink,

241

251

Bijay llaui Jat ...

Ditto

835

196

Thok Bindavani,
Sonai.

1,393

157

1,555

Maha pati, Brali-
mau

Brahman...

125

197

Thok Gyaa

243

...

243

Harnam, Brahman

Ditto

359

198

Thok Kamal ...

ai8

...

318

Kushali, Jat ...

Jat

290

199

Thok Saru

227

244

Bliagirath, Jat ...

Ditto ...

830

20(

Thok Sumera ...

235

278

Kripa Ram, Ja{ ...

Ditto

322

201

Tirwa

291

...

291

Har Naraj'an, Brah-
man, mortgagee.

Ditto ...

301

190. Suraj. — A Parao and masonry well constructed by Prasddi and tialagram, Baniyas.

192. Tdl Carhi.So called from a tank ("tal) constructed by the village founder, Serhu,
JaJ.

Tdluka Ar-Lashkar-pur. — A collective name for the eleven villages of Bir-ali-abad, Basar-
bhikhandi, Bich-puri, Bansa, Gurera, Khajuri, Khalann, Pavesara, Polua, Nigora, and Sujaii-pur.
The last-named is uninhabited : it belongs to Raja Tikam Sinh, and is assessed at Rs 745, on an
area of 243 acres.

Tdluka Madam. — A collective name for the five villages of Bhojna, Chhikara, Jagatiya,
Nauranga, and Rausanga.

193. Tatarota. — Acquired by one Sewa, Jat, from the Kdals. Part has been purchased by
Dhusars. In the mutiny one of the zaraindars, Ad Ram, was thrown into jail for joining in the
attack on Tika Ram the wealthy Bohra of Nagara Bali.

195. Thdnd Amar Sinh. — Here is a temple built by Naval Sinh, karadar of Bharat-pur in
Sambat 1819.

1 96. Thok Binddi-nni.—So called from its founder, a Brahman. This, with Thok Gjln, Thok
Kamal, Thok Saru, Thok sumera, lihiirari, Nagara Bari and Nas^ara Jangali make up the town-
ship of Sonai. A fort built by Be?am Umrao Shah in 1828 Sambat was for some years used as a
tahsili. Sarae made by Tahsildar Znhur Ali Khan 40 years ago, a police station, a halkabandi
school. Market on Sunday and Thursday.

201. Tirwa.— In the mutiny the Ja{ lumbcrdar, Chain-Sukh, was thrown into jail and died
there.

104

TAKGANA MAHA-BAN.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (concluded).

Ncame.

Population.

Piiucipal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus

.lusal- ^^,,_

Acreage.

202
203

Wairani

Zikarija-itur

4,215

192

4,407

liar phul. J at ...

Jamuiiii Prasad,
iirahmau.

Jiit and
Iirahmau.

3,114
101

202. TT'fliVa/ii— Founded by the Kulals, Part has been sold by the Jats to Haridevu, Bohra.
Market on Tuesday and Saturday.

203. Zi/.a/ti'a-/j«r. —Foimerly belonged to the Kanungoes.

VI— PARGANA SA'DABAD.

The Pargana of Sa'dabad lies between the Districts of Aligarh and of Agra
to the North and South, and the Mathura Parganas of Maha-ban and Jalesar to
the West and East. It has an area of 1,15,498 acres, and is divided into 131
separate estates, of which 52 are held by sole proprietors and the remainder by
communities of shareholders. Though water is ordinarily found only at the
considerable depth of 30 feet below the surface and is often brackish, most of
the land is of excellent quality, yielding a good return on e very species of agricul-
tural produce; barley, cotton, joa?- and ai^har being the principal crops, with a
considerable amount also of hemp and indigo. The predominant classes are
Jats and Brahmans, who together constitute nearly one half of the total popu-
lation. At the beginning of the century. Raja Bhagavant Sinh of Mursan was
one of the lai-gest landed proprietors ; but now his estate in Sa'dabad, as held by
his son, Raja Tikam Sinh, consists only of the villages of Bhurka, Jhagarari,
and Nagara Ghariba, which yield an annual income of Rs. 3,000, Another local
magnate of great importance at the same period was also a Jat by caste, Thakur
Kushal Sinh, the brother-in-law of Durjan Sal, the usurper of the throne of
Bharat-pur. His estates, some 10 or 11 villages lying round about Mahrara,
now on the line of Railway, were all confiscated at the close of the war, when
a settlement was made with the former proprietors and some of the hereditary
cultivators. At present the principal people in the pargana are the Muhammadan
family seated at the town of Sa'dabad, at whose head is the Thakurani Hakim-
un-Nissa, the widow of Kunwar Husain Ali Khan. The latter was the eldest
son of Mardan AU Khan, of Chatari in Bulandshahr, the purchaser of the
estate, which now yields an annual net income of Rs. 48,569, derived from as
many as 26 different villages. The property is managed on behalf of the
Thakurani by her nephew, Kunwar Irshad Ali Khan. His brother, Nawub Faiz
Ali Khan, Bahadur, C. S. I., was for some time prime minister of the Jay-pur
State, and owns the village of Nanau; while another member of the family
Zeb-un-Nissa, the widow of Kamr Ali Khan, is the proprietor of Chhava
and Dauhai, with a net income of Rs. 1,993. The villages of Bahardoi and
Narayanpur are also in the possession of a Muhammadan, Ghulam Muhammad
Khan, the son of Hidayat' Ali Khan, whose income was rated at Rs. 3,555.
The relationship existing between the different members of the Sa'dabad

106

PARGANA Sa'DABAD.

family will be best understood from a glance at the following genealogical
table :—
Mavdan 'Ali Khan, of Chatari, purchaser of the Sa'dabad estate.

(1) Husain =Hakim- (2;Vazir (3) Ziihur (4) Mardau (5) A dau.=Yakub (6) Mahniud (7)KararAli
All Khan un-Nissa, Ali 'Ali Ali | 'Ali Ali Khan, Khan.ofChha

cf Sa'dabad, ) i v i u
^ied«./). 1874.

K h an. Khan.
Deputy
Collec-
tor.

Khan.

Dildar Ali Khan, of Faiz Ali Khan, Irshad Ali Khan,

Bhadanwara, kil- prime minis- present Maua-

led in the mutiny ter of Jay- ger of Sa'dabad

of 1857. pur. estate.

Khan ofOhitaii: va=Zeb-un-
of by second Nissa.
Amba- wife.

Abdullah Khan, of
Salim-pur, in Ali-
garli Pistrict, with
estates in Mat.

The family claim descent from Kunwar Pratap Sinh, a Bargiijar Thaknr of
Bajaur, in Riijputana, who joined Prithi Kaj of Delhi, in his expedition against
Mahoba. On his way thither he assisted the Dor Raja of Kol in reducing a
rebellion of the Minas, and was rewarded by receiving in marriage the Riij^'s
daughter with a dowry of 150 villages in the neighbourhood of Pahasu. The
eleventh in descent from Pratap Sinh was Lai Sinh, who, though a Hindu,
received from the Emperor Akbar the title of Khan ; whence the name
Lal-Khani by which the family is ordinarily designated. It was his grandson
Itimad Rae, in the reign of Aurangzeb, who first embraced Muhainmadan-
ism. The seventh in descent from Itimad Rae Avas Nahar Ali Khan, Avho,
with his nephew Dundi Khan, held the Fort of Kumona against the English, and
thus forfeited his estate, which was conferred upon his relative Mardan Ali Khan.

The remaining large landowners are of a different stamp, being noiivcaux
riches, who have acquired whatever wealth they possess within the last few years
by the practice of trade and usury. The most prominent members of this class
are — 1st, Sri Ram, Bohra, son of Madari L41, Brahman, of Salai-pur, who returns
his net income at Rs. 15,500, derived from shares in 20 different villages ; 2nd,
Mittra Sen, a Baniya of Hathras, who has an income of Rs. 12,125, arising
from lands in Mirhavali, Samad-pur, and four other places ; and 3rd, Thakur Das
and Sita Ram, the sons of Jay Gopiil, Dhusar, who enjoy an income of
Rs. 12,116, from Jatoi, Kupa and Nagara Dali, and shares in II other villages.
Most of the indigo factories are branches of the Chotua concern — a firm which
has its head-quarters near Sonai, in the Hathras pargana — Mr. John O'Brien
Saunders, of the Engluhman, being the senior partner.

Stictly speaking, there is not in the whole of Sadabdd a single town; fof
even the capital is merely a largish village. It was founded by a character of
considerable historical eminence, Vazir Sa'dullah Khan — the minister of the
Emporor Shahjahuu — who died in 1655, three years before the accession of Au-

PARGANA SA'DABAD. 107

rangzeb. For some time after the annexation of 1803, it continued to be
recognized as the capital of a very extensive district, which had the Jamuna as
its western boundary and comprised the Parganas of Jalesar, Mat, Noh-jhil,
Maha-ban, Raya, Khandauli, Sikandra Kao, and Firozabad, in addition to the
one named after itself. This arrangement existed till 1832, when the Mathura
District was formed and absorbed the whole of the Sa'dabad circle, with the
exception of Sikandra Rao, which was attached to Aligai-h, and Firozabad and
Khandauli, which compensated Agra for the loss of Mathura. If the size of the
place had accorded in the least with its natural advantages, it would have
been impossible to find a more convenient and accessible local centre ; as it
stands on a small stream, called the Jharna, which facilitates both drainage and
irrigation, and it is also at the junction of four important high roads. Of these,
one runs straight to Mathura, a distance of 24 miles ; another to the Railway
Station at Manik-pur, which is nine miles off; while the remaining two connect it
with the towns of Agra and Aligarh. The Tahsili, which was originally a Fort
of the Gosain Himmat Bahadur's, is a small but substantial building, with a deep
fosse and pierced and battlemented walls. As it has the further advantage of
occupying an elevated position, and is supplied with a good masonry well in
the court-yard, it might in case of emergency be found capable of standing a
siege. There is in the main street a largish temple with an architectural
facade; but the most conspicuous building in the town is a glittering white
mosque, recently erected by Kunwar Irshad AH Khan, near his private resi-
dence. There are two other small mosques ; one built by Ahmad AH Khan,
Tahsildar, the other ascribed to the Vazir, from whom the place derives its name.
The zamindari estate was at one time divided between Brahmans, Jats, and
Galliots; of whom only the former now retain part possession, the remainder of
the land having been transferred to Muhammadans and baniyas. The principal
meld is the Ram Lila, started only 40 years ago by Pachauri Mulcund Sinh, when
Tahsildar. The oldest temples are two in honour of Mahadeva, one of Hanu-
miin, and a fourth founded by Daulat Rao Sindha, dedicated to Murli Manohar.
In the mutiny the place was attacked by the Jats, and seven lives were lost
before they could be repulsed. A Thakur of Hathras, by name Samant Sinh,
who led the defence, subsequently had a grant of a village in Aligarh, while two
of the Jat ringleaders, Zalim and Deokaran of Kursanda, were hanged.

Immediately opposite the road that branches off to Jalesar is a neat little
rest-house for the accommodation of the officers of the Public Works Depart-
ment ; and about half a mile from the town on the Agra side iS a large and
commodious bimgalow of the Kunwar's which is always placed at the disposal
of his English friends. It is surrounded by extensive mango groves, and at-
tached to it is a spacious garden, very prettily laid out and well-kept, contain-
ing many choice varieties of trees, flowers, and creepers.

108

No.

pARrxANA SA'dABAD.

A^yhabetical List of Villages.

Name.

Abhay-pura

Arautha

Arazi Milk

Kxix

Aturra

Baghaina

Baghpur

Bahadur-pur

Bahardoi

Barahar

Population.

Hindus.

Musal-
mau

Total.

289

296

1,028

1,0.'7

949

1,022

207

218

842

915

162

173

384

405

40O

470

796

858

552

689

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Ila-iiin-un-Nissa...
Narayan, Baniya,..

Chhitar Sinh, Jat,

Slohan Lai and
Sita Ram.

Hari deva, Jat ...
Gosains

Ghulatu Muham-
mad Khdn.

Mittra Sen, Baniya Jats
of H^thras.

Predominant
caste.

Ja t a and
Brahraans.

Ditto

Chamars ...
Jats ,„

Ditto
Ditto
Ditto

Mahajans...
Chamars ...

Acreage.

479

1,262
16

1,022
864

707
182
662
412

1,015

815

1. Abhay-pura, founded by Abhay Ram, a Thenua Jat from Naupura, and transferred
from his descendants to Kuuwar Husaiu 'Ali Khan of Sa'dabad.

2. Arautha, founded by Daiila, Jat, a descenJant of Bijay Pal, of Biana, whose family still
retain one-flfth. The remainder has been transferred to Baniyas and Brahmana. In the mutiny
Kasi Ram asid Devi Ram, two of the old zauiindars looted the Patwari, and ejected the Lumber*
dar Mohan Lai. There is a temi)le built by one Radhika Das.

3. Ardzi Milk, taken for the Kanungos from Sherpur and Sa'dabad.

4. Arti was founded some 700 years ago by Bhoj-raj, a Gahlot, from whose descendants it
passed to Laiji, JaJ He has sold the greater part to Thakurani Hakim-un-Nissa of Sa'dabad.

"There is a temple of Mahideva built by Saraad Puri, Gosain, ancestor of Chetan l^uri, the present
muafidar. In the mutiny Ilira Siiih and others of the old zamindars looted the lumberdar
Chhattra Siiih.

5. Aturra was founded by Rae, a Haga Jat from Susahau, Avhose descendants have mortga-
ged it to Mohan Lai.

6. Baghaina was founded some 400 years ago by Adhar, a Theuna Ja^, whose descendants
hare sold one-fourth to Dip-chand, Jat.

7. Bdgh-pur was founded some 300 years ago by Bagh-raj, Jat, whose descendants are still
lu part possession. Fathlu and Durjan are mortgagees of the remainder.

8. Bahddur-pur, sold by the old Jat proprietors to other Jats and Gosains,

9. Bahddur-pur, founded some 200 years ago by Ransi, Ahir, from the other Bahadur-pur.
From his descendants it pa'ised to Deokaran, Mahajan, who was forcibly expelled from the
Tillage in the mutiny, but his heirs are now in peaceable possession.

10. 7?rt/wrJoi was founded by a descendant of the Rana Katira. From the Thakurs it passed
to Ghulam Muhammad Kliiin, whose agent was looted in the mutiny by Ajita and others of the
old zamindars.

1 1. Bardhar, said to have been given on the barhdr, or day after the wedding, by Than Sifih
of Bisana in Uathras to his son in law, Naval Sinh. Now the village is mortgaged to Mittra
Sen. Here is an indigo factory.

PAKGANA SA DABAD.
Alphabetical List of Fi7/a^es— (continued).

109

Name.

Population.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Baraich

529

641

Ganga Prasad
Ahir.

Ahirs and
Baniyas.

360

Bara-mai

726

753

Hakim-un-Nissa of
Sa'dabad.

Jats

983

Baraus

420

100

620

Hira Lai and Lai
Chand, Athwa-
rayas.

Chamars ...

724

Bauli

333

358

ManoharSinh.Tha-
kur.

Ditto

468

Bedai

1,965

156

2,121

„

Thakurs ...

2,343

Bhukalara

674

688

Bhawani Sinh, and
Sri Ram.

Brahmans...

544

Bhurka

650

654

Raja Tikam Sinh
of Mursan.

Jats

642

Bich-pari

198

202

Gosains

Jats and
Gosains.

355

Bijal-pur

235

251

Hakim-un-Nissa...

Thakurs ...

916

Bilara

852

895

„

Jats

778

12. Baraich, founded 500 years ago by Bhupal, Ahir, from Bhagari in Firozabad. Part has
been transferred by his descendants to Baniyas.

1 3. Bard Mai was sold by the Jats to Murad 'A li Khan, father of Kunwar Husain 'Ali Khaa
of Sa'dabad, whose widow, Hakiai-un-.Vissa, is the present proprietor.

14. Baraus was sold by Sita, Malakana, to Thakurs, from whom it passed to Prithi-raj,
Bohra, whose heirs are uow in possession. In the mutiny he was expelled by Moti Sinh and otheri
of the old zamindars and looted to the amount of Ks. 5,000.

15. Bauli was founded by Ram Sahae, a Thakur from Sahpau, and finally passed by gift to
Manohar Sinh from his father-in-law Bakhtawar Sinh.

16. Bedai was founded by Godhu, Chauhan, whose descendants have sold part to Brah-
mans and Baniyas. Here the Phul Dol is celebrated Chait badi 8. In the mutiny the zamindars
Bijay Sinh and Chandan Sinh took part in looting the town of Si'dabad. The River Karwan, or
Jharna, dry at all times of the year except during the rains, passes through the village lands.

17. Bhukalara has been transferred in part by the old Thakur zamindars to Sri Ram,
Bohra,

18. Bhurka, has been sold by the Jats to Raja Tikam Sinh of Mursan.

19. Bich-pari, was acquired by Bhupat, a Baghotiya Jat from Khondu, who married a
daughter of Sultau Sinh of Kajarothi, and in Sambat 1647 formed it into a separate village, which
he named Bichpari from its lying • between' (bich) the other two villagts, From his descendants
it passed to Gosain Kartar Giri, whose heirs are the present proprietors.

20. Bijal-pur, on the small stream called the Karwan, was founded by one Gegal a Bargujar,
but has been sold to Thakurani Hakim-un-Nissa by the former Rajput and Brahman proprietors.

21. Bildra was founded some 400 years ago by a Jat named Karl Ravat, from whose des-
cendants part has now passed to Baniyas.

110

PARGANA SA DABAD.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continiioci).

Name.

Popiihttwn.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Hindus.

Musal-
mau.

Total.

Acreage.

Bir-nagar ...

223

227

Gaiija,Kayathni...

Tliakurs ...

352

Bisdwar

4,974

247

5,221

„

Jats

4,391

Burj Nau Ji

138

148

Moti Ram, Jat ...

Ditto

142

Chatuar-pura ...

319

382

Sri Kara, Bolira...

Ditto

245

Chauwara

457

460

Dala, Bralimaa ...

Thakiirs ...

461

Chhatara

308

331

Thakur Das and
Sita Ram, Ulifi-
sars.

Ditto

473

Chhara

327

329

Zeb-un-Nissa

Jats

404

Chirauli

302

308

Dliani Ram, Brah-
man.

Ditto

829

Dagsai

420

460

Kushali Ram, Brah-
man.

Ditto

685

Dauhai

553

562

Zcb-uu-Nissa ...

Jats and
Thakurs.

911

ae. Bir-nagar was founded by Mani-pal, a Gahlot, from ACrti, and given by his descendants
to Lokman Das, Kayath, wliose heirs are the present proprietors. In the mutiny the mortgagee,
Chaudika Prasad, was ejected by llira Sinh and others of tiie old Thakur family,

23. Bisdwar, originally a dense jungle cleared by one Ram Sen, Jat, some 9"0 years ago. His
descendanls have transferred one-fifth of the estate to Brahnjaas and B iniyas. In the ghaiid, which
Btill covers an area of 2,000 bighas a weekly mela is held on Saturday in honour of a'Bara Miyan.
There is a market on Friday. Two temples are dedicated respectively to Bihari Ji and Mahade-
ra. In the mutiny the Jats joined the pe.ple of Pachavari in looting Daulat Uam, the lumber-
dar of the latter village. A halkabandi school.

24. Burj Ndu Ji consists of 200 bjghas originally comprised in Sahpan, given about a cen-
tury ago by Paijsa, a zamindar of that place, to Nau Ji, a .lat of Chamar-pura. His heirs retain
8 biswas, the remaining 12 have been acquired by Hulasi audBhavaiii, also .hits.

25. Vhamar-pxira. — Purchased at auction from the .lats by Sri Ram, Bohra.

26. Chauvdra, originally occupied by Thakurs and Chobdars, of whom the former are still
in possession, while the latter have sold their share to Moti Ram, Jaesvar. Brahmans are also
part proprietors.

27. C/i/((-/<dra.— So called from a Thakur of Ughai, whose descendants have sold the estate
to Thakur Das and Sita Ram, Dhusars.

28. Chhdmi was founded by Ratn Sinh, Jat, of Kursanda, whose descendants have sold
part to the Muhammadan family at Sa'dabad.

29. Chirauli.So called after one Chira (Chiranjiv) a Jat from Sarauth. Part has now
been transferred to Brahmans and Kaniyas.

80. /-'ff^.vat.— Transferred by auction sale from the old Jat proprietors, five biswas to Thi-
kurfini HakJui-un-Nissa of Sa'dabad and the remainder to Kushdli Ram, Bohra.

31. Dauhai. — The old Thakur family still retain part, but a share has been acquired by
Lachhi Ram, Bohra, and ten biswas were purchased by Zeb-un-Nissa of Sa'dabad.

PARGANA SA DABAD.
Alphabetical Li^t of Vill(tges—{conimned).

Ill

Name.

Popiihifion.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
m:in.

Total.

Acreage.

Phadhu

1,596

105

,,;o,

Jdta

1,816

Dhak-pura

148

155

Fatiii Charid, Ma
hajaii.

Thakiirs ...

297

Dhanoli

496

541

Jats and
lirahmans

913

Fatli-allah-pur ...

230

249

...

Thakurs and
(jola-pur-
abs

659

Garhi Ahvaran ...

353

355

Thakurs ...

314

GarhiChiira ...

332

...

332

Sri Ram, Bohra...

Ditto ...

428

(•arhi MIkanth ...

...

Yadnv Lai and Mo-
han Lal.Eaniyas
of Sa'dabad.

199

Garhi Kustam ...

106

188

KunwarZiihurAli
Khan.

Kayathsand
.lats.

242

G;irumara

1,347

1,369

...

Jats

1,143

32. Dhddhu, founded 200 years ago by Dhandhu. J.at, from Dhavali. Sii Pam, Pohra, ii
now proprietor of one-third. There is a tenlp'.e of Radlia.Ji built by Hatn Kunvar of Haihras ;
and a garden containing a large and handf^nme donhle chhattri of stone erected by the Paiii of
Balavaut 8inh of Blmrat-pur in memory of two of her relatives who were natives of this village.
Here is a halkabandi school.

33. Dhak'pura, sold by the Gahlots to Deo-karan, Bohra, who in the mutiny was plun-
dered of 469 man of grain and turned out of the place by Chhattra and Lai Sinh, two of the ex-
proprietors. His sons are now in possession.

34 Dhanoli (for Vlian-puri) founded some 700 years ago by a member of the family of the
Raiia Katera. On the Thakurs falling into arears their estate was bousjht in by t;'overnment
and eventuilly sold for Us. 2,425 to Har Kishan, Bohra, who was put to death in the mutiny, but
whose heiis are now in possession. The Karwan Nadi runs through the village lands.

35. Fath-a lah-pur. — The founder, in spite of the Muharamadan name, is said to have been a
Gahlot from Gutahra, from whose descendants the estate has passed to Brahmans and Gola-
p'irab Baniyas.

S6. Garhi Ahvaran was orijiinally included in Nagara Dali till one of the joint proprie-
tors, Ahvaran Sahae, in the time of .A mil Abd-un-Nahi Khan, separated his sliare and called it
Abd-un-Nabi-pur Garhi Ahvaran. His descendants are still in possession.

37. Garhi Chinfd, founded 700 years ago by Chinta-mani, Gahlot, and almost all sold by his
descendants to Sri ilam, B^hra.

38. Garhi Ml/tanth, so called after its Jaesvar founder, is uninhabited.

39. Garhi Rustam. — In the time of Akbar, Dungar Sinh, one of the Gahlot zaindars, to
clear himself from a charge of rebellion, turned Miihainraadan and took the name of Saj Khan.
The estate was bought in by Government from his Malakana desc^ndiints and farmed by Ziiliur
Ali Khan at Rs. 461 for some 30 years, till his death at Mecca in 1872, when Kara Baklis, a repre-
sentative of the old family took it at Rs. 600.

40 Garumara was founded 500 years ago by Abhai and Nathu, two Haga Jats from the west.
Part has been sold to Bal Kishan, Baniya, and Uaulat Ram, Bohra. A hafkabaiidi school.

112

PARGANA SA DABAD.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

No.

Name.

Ghatani-pur

Ghuclia

Gigla

Gursauthi

Gutahra

Hasan-pur Baru ,

Tdal-pur

Isaunda

Jaitai

Jaru

Population

457
621

348

654

799
699

Musal-
mau.

Total.

197

499

657

370

155

1,985

683

155

954

724

993

123

2,479

Principal Proprie
tor.s.

Hakim-un-Nissa of
Sadabad,

PrabhuLal Kayath
Hakim-un-Nissa

'isambhar Natli,
KliHttri

Subaran Sahay,
Thakur.

Damodar Das, Ka-
yath,

Keval Ram, Brah-
man.

Predominant
caste.

Jats and
Brahmans.

Jats

Thakurs ...

Thakursand
Brahmans.

Ditto ...
Jats

Thakurs and
Brahmans.

Thakurs ...

Thakurs aud
Brahmans.

.\creag*.

576
631
464

2,505

695
794
845

1,933

41. Ghdtam-pur, formerly called Saiullah Ghatam-pur, was founded by one Ghatam, a
Haga Jat, in the days of Amil Sadullah Khan. It was sold by the Jats to Daul it Sinh of Mursan,
and subs'quentiy half was bought at auction by Daulat Hani, but possession could not be had
from the Kani Kukmini. Part has been acquired by Thakuran. HaUim-un-Nissa of Sa'dabad.

42. Ghuchd. —Part has been bought at auction from the Jats by Hemu, Bohra.

43. Gigld, on the Agra road with a police station, founded some 700 years ago by Qagu,
a Chauhan Thakur from Semal It has passed from his descendants to Brahmans and Kayaths.

44. G«rsau</it.— Deserted by the old Chauhan zamindars io time of famine and bought at
auction by Matdan 'Ali Khan, whose heirs are now in possession.

45. Gutahra, founded by Shio-raj, a Gahlot from Chitor, who ejected the Ahirs then in
possession. His heirs still retain 5 biswas ; the remaining i5 have been mortgaged to Babu Bisam-
bhar-nath, Khattri, and others. Another name of the place was Khera 'AH Saiyid.

46. Hasan-pur Bdru, founded by Sikandar, a Gahlot, from Parsoli in Hathras, whoee heirs
still retain half. The other 10 biswas have been sold to Murli and Tota, Baniyas. There is a
dhdh ghand, where, for fear of a fakir's curse (an) no trees are allowed to be cut.

47. /<f a /-/>Mr. -One-half has been sold by the Jats to Sita Ram and others, Brahmans and
Baniyas.

48. Isaunda, founded 700 years ago by Surat Sahae, a Gahlot Thakur, whose descendants
Btill own I2J biswas; the remaining 7,i have been transferred to Lachhi Ram, Brahman (whose
fion, Ganga Bishan, is now in possession) and Panni Lai, son of Nar Sinh Das, Baniya.

49. Jaitai, founded fOO years ago by one Jait, a Gahlot from Khera Waliya. Now 1*4 his-
was are owned by the heirs of Kiuibchand, Kayath, and only the remaining 2j biswas by the old
family. The Karwan Nadi runs through the village lands.

50. Jdru, founded 600 years ago by Dip Sinh, Chauhan from Baman, from whose descen-
dants half has been traasferred to Brahmans; is on the Karwan Nadi. Here is a halkabandi
school.

PARGANA SA DABAD.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

113

No.

Name.

Jat .i

Jhagaiari

Kajarothi

Kanjauli
Karraiya
Karkauli
Kaunkna, Great.,

Kaunkna, Little,
Klieriya

Klionda ,

Kukar-Kania

Population

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

912

170

1,082

218

229

1,106

167

1.273

2.931

212

3,U3

295

298

751

817

567

592

388

403

452

477

1,546

1,6.34

457

465

Principal Proprie- Predominant
tors. ! caste.

Sita Uiim and Tl
kurLa5,Dhusars.

Haja Tikam Siuli
of jMursau

Ilakim-un-Nissa,
of Sadabal.

Jiva Ram, Bohra,

Ditto
Ditto

Bhuri Siiih Jat ,..

Jats and
Brahmans.

Jats ...

Ditto

Gola Purabs

Thakiirsand
Brahmans,

Ditto

Thakursand
Jats.

Jats

Acreage.

2,234

1,969
265
714
637

377
142

51. Jatoi. — Sold by the Jats to Zalim Siuh, Dliusar, and by him to Jay Gopal, a Dliusar
also, whose sons are now in possession.

52. Jhagardri derives its name from a ' dispute' (jliagard) with the village of Kajarothi ia
the time of Abd-un-Nabi Khan. The foimder was one (Jhnndra-bhan, a Jat, whose descendants
sold the estate to lUjii 'iikam Siiih of Mursau ; and he again has sold 16 biswas to Har Kishan,
father of Laohhman Siuh.

53 Rajarot'ii, founded by Kheraa and Dain, two Jats from the west and sold to Thakur
Mardan 'Ali Klian. Thtre is a temple of the Salagram, built by Jiva Das, Bairagi.

54. Kanjauli — '200 bighas have been sold by the old Jat proprietors to Brahmans. Here is
a halkabandi suliool.

55. Kairaiija. — The ancestor of the present Badhautiya Jat proprietors was one Khem Ji:
their predecessors were Malakanas,

56. KarhauU. — The founder, one Muddi, Gola Piirab, came from Banwari.

57. Ku unhid, Great, founded by Sakat, Chauhan, and Hari, a Gautam Brahman. The
village has been called at different times Sakat-pur and Nagara Pasendu. The estatx' has now
entirely passed away from the old families to Jiva Kam, Brahman, and Tiknn Siiih, Jat.

58. Kaunkna, Little, founded by Gopal, Chauhan: 12 biswas have beon purchased at
auction by Jiva liam, Athwaraya Brahman.

59. Kherya, taken out of Little Kaunkna and formed into a separate village about 120
years a^jo by Giridhari and Hulasi, two Chauhans ; lias now been purchased by Jiva Kam,
Athwaraya.

60. Khondd, founded 500 years ago by Karan, a Badhautiya Jat from Karauli. Part
has been purchased at auction by Bhagawan Das, Bauiya. Here is a halkabandi .scho )l.

61. Kuhar-gamd — Here is an ancient shrine of Knkar Devi, where a mela is held on the
festival of the Phul-dol. Part of the estate has been transferred from the old Tha'vur zamindars
to Jay Devi, widow of Basudeva, Baniya, and Sri liam, Bohra. Here is a halkabandi school.

114

PARGANA SA DABAD

AJphahetical List of Villages — 'continued).

Name.

ropulation.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

I'redominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

jrnsal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

Kukatai

244

•

215

Lachman Das, Ba-
niya.

Thakurs ...

518

Kumarai

lo9

209

Sant Lai, Era'iman,

Jats

410

Kupa ,„

845

900

Thakur Das, Dhu-
sar.

Ditto

1,295

Kursanda

6,726

418

7,144

.lata and
Br^hnians.

4,467

Lodhai

932

958

Laclilnnan a n d
Nav;il Brali-
iiiaiis.

Brahmans...

82S

Madanai ...

959

1,032

LI u 1 K u n war, Ba-
niyin.

Jjits

1, 125

Magaru

5S3

6 CO

Janinna. Prasad,
Di.u.ar.

Tliakurs ...

9S8'

Mahabat-pur ...

309

3(19

Baniyas

Jats

453

Mahrara

1,314

1.380

Lachhnian, Brah-
man.

Bnihmars...

},^\9

62. Kukatai. — I'art has been trausferreil at auction to Lachhman Oiis from the old Galilot
and Brahman zamindars.

63. Kumarai, founded 400 years ago by a Burnagar Jat from Biliira. Ilis descendants
still hold 5 biswas ; the remainder has been purchased by Babu Sant Lai and Pandit Gupab
Prasad, Deputy Inspector of schools.

64. Kupa, founded by Karan and Mag'ol, Badliantiya Jats from Sankr;\nl on the Ganges.
Their predecessors were Kalars. Little Kupa is a hanilot. Tlie grc.iter part of ttie estate has
passed into the hands of Thakur Das, 8ila liam and Maugi Lai, Baniyas. The Sadabad riveP
Karwan runs through the village land.

65. Kursanda. — A very large straggling village on the Atrra and Aligarh road. It was-
settled by a Ilaga Jat, named Puran Ohand, who bestowed part of the land on his purol.it,
Chandii, Panda. Their descendants are still in possession, except of a part which has been ac-
quired by Y\thwarayas. There are four small temples. A market is held twice a week, on Sunday
and Thursday. In the mutiny two of the zamindars, Zaliin and Deo Iviran, were hanged for the
part they look in looting Sadabad. Here is a halkabandi school.

GG. Lodhai, founded 300 years ago by Hargun, a Dikshit Sanadh from Maha-ban. Part
has been purchased by Dan Sahay, Brahman, and f'trmed into a separate mahal. Here is a pond
where children sufEering from the itch are brought to drink the water,

67. Madani
Hoti Lai.

founded by Mandan, a Gendar Jat ; mortgaged to IMul Kunwar, widow of

68. MagarH. — Five biswas have passed from the old Gahlot zamindars to Biibu Hari Gobind
nnd Jamunii Prasad. Uhiisars have also a share. There are two temples of Maha leva and a halka-
bandi school.

69. Mahubat-pur. — Sold by the Jiits to Ilira Liil and others, Banij-as,

70. MahrAra, on the line of Railway, formed part of the estate of Thakur Kushal Sinli,
Jat, brother-in-law of Durjan Sal of Bliarat-pnr. Afti.r the capture of that Fort in 1827, the
tillage was confiscated and restored to the old Gautam proprietors. There is a fiuetuango grove,.

PARGANA SA'dABAD.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

115

Populatioj

No.

Name.

Hindus.

Musul-
mau.

Total.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage,

Mai

1,333

119

1,352

Ealadeva, Athwa-
raya.

Jats

580

Makan-pur

441

458

...

Ditto

516

Mandaur

1,762

1,847

Ditto

4,850

Manik-pur

249

-31

280

Ditto

356

Mansiya

1,149

2,2 £3

...

Ditto

981

Marha Bhoj

771

130

9)7

Mittra.Sen, Bani-
ya ot: Hatliras.

Ditto

981

Marha Pithu ...

1,'97

1,213

Ditto

1,606

Mir-pur

.•J 7 4

390

Bhola, Jat

Ditto

474

Mirhavali

2,643

133

2,773

P audit K a in
Chand.

Brdhtn ans
and Jats.

4,135

22 biglias in extent with a liadsome stone chhattri in its centre, 'built in memory of a Badhak
naimd Cliauda, by his br >ther Sewa. The latter was a man of cousidarabla influence, and the
land was given him by the Jats, as a species of black-mail, in order to secure immunity from the
gangs of highway robbers witii whim he was connecti'd. The clihattri has delicately sculptured
columns in the st3'Ie of the Bliarat-pur Raja^' monuments, and a vaulted chamber underground.
Most of the arches are uow filled up with mud ; au expeiieiit by which a Mr. (311iver, a sub-
ordinate on the Uuilway, converted it some few years ago into a dwelling-house for himself.
This might be removed at any time ; but other wanton damage has been done by hacking away
pieces df the stone pillars, a barbarism with whicli the Brahman zaminJars are credited. A
daughter-in-law and three grandsons of Sewa are still on the spot; but they are too thriftless and
too conscious of the ill reputation generally borne by members of their caste to take any steps
either to preserve their ancestor's monument or to replace the trees which are uow growing too
eld to be productive. Here is a hallcabandi school.

71. Mai, said to have been founded by Madde, Ravat, a Tlienua Jat from Adan-garh. Eight
biswas were sold before the mutiny to Baladava, Athvvaraya, whom the old zamindara then took
the opportunity of looting. A halkabandi school.

73. Mandaur, at the head of a reach of the Jamuna, wa=* formerly the seat of some extensive
salt-works, yielding a royalty of Rs 4)0, remitted by Mr. Tiiornton in \&^^. Part of the village
has been transferred from the Jats to Biniyas. Tliere is a temple of Maha.leva, aud a halkabandi
school.

74. Mdnih-pur, on the liigh-road from Sa'dat/ad to .Talesar, has a railway station, officially
designated .Jalesar Road Tiie founder, Blaim, a Gahla Jat, named it after his sou Manik. One-
fourth has been purchased by Jaesvars.

75. Mansiya, or Mansiha, was founded by a Pttndiir Jat from Sarabhai. Part has been sold
to Brahmans and Baniyas. There is a temple of Mahadeva, built by Lachhman Das, Athwaraya,
and a chhattri of Bhikha Ram, Jat.

76 Marha Bhoj, one-third of the original Jat village of Marhaka named after the parti-
cular shareholder. Part has been acquired by Dhusars and Musalmans.

77. Marha Pithu, a second sliare of the same original village as Marha Bhoj. Pait has
been purchased by Mittra Sen and Thakur Das, Bauiyas.

78. Mir-pur — Part has been sold by the Jats to a Gosain.

79. MirhdcaU, founded by Kuki, Ravat, a Jat, from whose descendants one-sixth has passed
by auction to Bialimans and Baniyas. There is a temple of Salagraua. A halkabandi schooi.

iiG

PAUGANA SA DABAD.

Alphabetical List of Villages — {conimwcA).

Name.

'\)piilaiion

Principal ProprU;-
tors.

Prcilominant
caste.

Ko.

Ilintlus.

Musal-
uiaii.

Total.

Acreage.

Nagara Baiiu ...

4 -J 'J

474

Tluikurs ...

313

Nagara Baiuirasi,

343

390

Babu Har Gobind

Kiiyatli.

Jat3

343

„ Biliiiri ...

135

...

135

Sii Ham,, Bohra ...

Bratimaiis..,

246

Call ...

472

532

Daulat i;am, Jat ;
Thakiir I) a s,
and yita Ham,
Diiri-ara.

Thakurs &
Jats

69»

„ Ghaiiba,

101

RajaTikam Sinh
Raof Mursan.

Jats

33e8

„ Kali

7C6

721

Haki n-un-Nis-ia of
t^a'dabad.

Dtto

632

„ Khan z a -

...

Sri Ram, Bohra...

Chamars ...

169

„ Maiiji ...

235

255

Hiirideva, Jat ...

Jats

212

„ Saliiii ...

471

482

Baladeva Sinh,
Brahman.

Ahirs

451

Nanau

386

398

Knnvar Faiz 'Ali
Kliaa.

Jats

736

Narayan-pur-Ba 1,

279

285

Ghulam Muhara-
mild Khan.

Thakurs ...

299

80. Nagara Bairn -Separatt-d fr )in Ugliai some 200 years ago. The Thakurs and Bnlhmans-
have sold part to Panna Lai and Chhattra.

81. Nagara Bmidrasi: so called after the founder, a Thenua Jat from Mai. Oue-fiflh has.
been sold to Babu llari Gobind and Baladeva, Athwaraya.

82. Nagara Bihori -. separate 1 off f ram Sahpau in favour of Bihiri, a Jat froai Klierii by So-
nai. It has been purchased by Sri Ram, Bolira.

83. Nagara Dali has almost entirely passed from the Gahlots to Jats and Dhusars.

84. Nagara Gliarlba'. separated < ff from BaraMai by one of the Jat Z'mindars, who called it
after his own name. It has been transferred by his de.scendants to Raja Tikam Sinh of Mursan..

85. Nagara Kali has passed from the Jats to Thakurani Hakiui-un-Nissa, widow of Kuuvar
Husain 'Ali Khan.

86. Nagara Kkdmmdn: sold by the Mal.akanas to Sri Ram, Bohra.

87. Nagara Mauji: separated oft' from Kukar-gaina. Two-thirds have been purchased at
auction by HaUdeva, Brahman.

88. Sagara Salin: \f^% biswas had been acquired before the mutiny by Baladeva Sinh,
Brahman from the Ahirs, who then took the opportunity of looting him.

89 Ndnnu, founded by Uddar, a Jat of Nan-pur.a. It has been sold to Kunvar Faiz Air
Khan, lately Prime Mmister of the Maharaja of Jaypur. There is a temple built by Dilbakhsh.
Patwan, whom the zamindars looted in the mutiny.

90. Ndrdnan-pur-Bad: founded by one Kunjal at the instigation of Gosiiin Narayan Das It was
transferred l.v the old Thakur ziimindars to Kuuvar Zuhur 'Ali Khau and farmud by Ghulau
Muhammad Khau.

PARGANA SA DABAD.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

117

Name.

Population.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
nian.

Total.

Acreage.

Nasii-pur

...

Kiinwar Sen of
KanjauU.

...

287

Xasir-pur

464

536

1,000

Cliuraiiian Siiih,
Thakur.

Jats and
Thakurs.

1,205

Naugama

4,019

■2-29

4,248

Jaydevi, Baniyin,

Jats

3,670

Naupura

813

824

...

Ditto

597

Pachavari

SOS

315

PannaLal, Baniya,

•Tata and
Bralimans.

704

Parsaiira

3t4

374

Hakim-un-Xissa of
Sa'daLad.

Jats

657

Patti Bahram ...

372

419

Khvali Ram and
Kill) war Sen,
Jat..

Jats and
Lrahmans.

369

„ Sakti

168

...

168

Hakim-nn-Xissaof
Sa'dabad.

Jats

516

Pihura

298

324

Sri Ram, Brahman,

Ditto

312

100

Pi'para Mai

587

128

715

11 !i ki n)-nn-Xi?sa,
of Sa'dabad.

Ditto

1,393

101

Pusaini

198

2)9

Liclilinian, Brah-
uKin.

Ditto

317

91. A^dsiV -/jur, now deserted, was founded by one Dala, a Ciiur.l Jut from Sakra. It has
been sold to other Jats and Jaesvars.

92 Nasir-pur, othirwise called L'ismai, was founded by two Haga Jats from Uncha-gaiiw
by Susaha I. It h^is been sold to Cliur.i-m:in Sinh, who in the mutiny was temporarily ejected
by the old zamiudars. Here is a halkabandi school.

93. Naugdma was founded by Dhani Paehauri and Adu, Jat. Now one-third has been sold
to Baniyas and ilusalraans. Here is a halkabandi school.

95. Pachdvati, founded 400 years ago by Sikru and Paran, Haga Jats, descendants of
Raja l:anpal. The estate was bought at auction by Daulat Ram, Baniya, who was forcibly ex-
pelled in the mutiny, but whose heirs are now in possession.

96. Parsaura passed from the Thakurs 50 years ago to IMaya Ram, a Badhautiya Jat from
Marha Bhoj. Halt has been bought at auction by Thakurani Hakim-uu-Nissa.

97. Patti Bahrdm, otherwise called Patti Algarazi. Five biswas have passed from the Jats
to A.thwarayas.

98. Patti Sakti, or Saurai, has been in greater part transferred from the Jats to Thakurani
Bakim-un-N issa.

99. Pihura: founded 400 years ago by Ummed, a Jat from Marhaka, has been transferred
to Sri Ram, Liohra, Hira Lai, Brahman, and Panna Lai, Baniya.

_ 100. Pipara Mai : purchased at auction from the Jats bv Thakurani Hakim-un-Nissa Here
is an old temple of Salagram.

101. Pusaini: founded by Rati and Shah-zada, Jats from Kursanda, has been sold to
LacLhuau, Athwaraja ; Bahadur, Jaesvar ; and Jivan and Chuttan, Musalnians.

118

PAUGANA SA DABAD.

Alphabetical List of Villages — . continncd).

Name.

piihitiuii.

rriiicipal Proprie-
tois.

Prcdoniiuant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

]y[nsal-
man.

4-20

Acreage. >

102

R;'io-piira

37S

Unirao S i n h,
Tiiakur.

Thakurs ...

574

103

Raj-nagar

343

349

Gol.ardhiin, Brah-

UUUl.

Brah ma n s
and Tha-
kurs.

364

104

Kam-pura

24T

147

387

Maliajans

Cliamars and
Maluijaus.

278

105

Rashid-pur

441

4G;5

Klniniaiii, Brah-
man.

J ) r a li m a n s
and Jats.

3G8

106

Ris-gaina

£9 J

944

G y a n S i n h,

Thakur.

Tliakurs ...

1,336

107

Rudajal

156

La chhinan and
Kanliai, Gura-
riyas.

Onhlots and
Chamars

174

108

S:i'(lal;ad

2,706

1,228

3,934

Baladeva, Brah-
man.

B r a h m a n s
and Baniyas.

1,017

109

Sabpau

4,059

556

4,615

Pa una Lai, Baniya,

Bmiyas and
Brahmans.

2,431

Salai-pur Chand-
wara.

312

337

Sri Ram, Bohra ..

Thakurs and
Brahtnans.

567

102. Rde-piira: named by SuklvU'va the founaer, a Gahlot of Gutahra, after his grandson,
Eae-sukh. It has been sold to the Chaiihans.

103. Jldi-naqar : f.iumlcd by Riri Ibar, a Gabl't, from Alrti. His descendants still retain
five biswas ; the remainder has b en sold to Gobardhan, Biahmau, and Tara-chaud, Jaesva-.

104. JRdm-pura: foundc i by Man Mall, a Gautam Biahman from Sahpau : sold to Devkaran
and Maya R;im, wh so lieir.s are now in possession. In the mutiny Murlidbar a s m of Dev-
Karan's, distingui.shed himself by the capture of a mutinous sepoy, f . r which he had a reward of
Ks. SO.

105. RashH-])itr : 8i>ld in part by the .lats to Khuiiiilni, Brahman.

106. nis-r/dina: eight biswas have been purchased at auction from the Jats by Sii Ram and
Jiva Ram, Boliras.

107. Rndi'ii/ith — In 1809 the zamindars were Teja, Gahlnt and Pnsa, Chamar, whose heirs
are still in pussessiuu of the greater part, though a share has been acquired by Kripa Ram,
Garariya,

108. Sa^lahdil. — Tahsili — police station — branch post-offlce — talisili school (seepage ).

109. 5a///}r/u (for iS'rt/i-pMrrt).— The original zaniind.ars were Brahmans, who still have a
itialikiina of Us. 62-8 per annum. From them it passcil t> Tbakurs, who now hold only 7^ biswas,
the remaining 12^ having boen acquired by Bmidh Sinb, Tliakur, and I'aniii Lai, Biniya. There
is an old mud fort, a Saraiigi lempb' built by the Jaesvars, 7 small Hindu shrines built by
different Bairagis, a police station, u district post office, and a halkabandi school.

110. SaAti-;j«r C/ic<«'i(i«'(i.'a.— The jiint founders arc said to have been Sabala, a Brahman
from Bhukaldra and Ghandu, an Abir from the Jalesar i'argana. Prom their descendants the estate
passed to Madari, llolira, whose son, Sri Ram, is now in possession. In the mutiny the old
zamindars looted Baladeva, Buhra, of Bhukalara, of property valued at more than Rs. 30,000.

PARC ANA SA DAB AD.
Alphahefical List of VWacfes. — (continued).

110

Name.

Population.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hiudus.

man.

Total.

Acreage.

1 11

Siilim-pur

1,622

129

l.T'Jl

Hiri Sinli, Brah-
man aid :MiUra
Sen, Eitniy.i.

Jdts ...

1,793

112

Samatl-par

5S7

COS

MittraSen.Buiiya
of Hatbras.

Ditto ...

544

113

Sarauth

1,383

1,453

Ditto

039

114

Sarmast-pur

128

Ilira Sinh, Thakur,

Brahmans..

154

115

Sedariya

493

495

Seth Raghunath
iias.

Ditto

648

116

Shahbaz-pur

274

293

^Mahajans

C li am a r s
and Tha-
kurs.

409

117

Sher-pur

336

S41

Jhaman Lai,
lianiya.

Jats ...

969

118

Sikhara

872

873

...

Brahmans,

1,075

119

Sistai

510

589

Hira Lai, Athwa-
raya.

Jats

1,113

120

Sithara-pur

460

473

I itto ...

458

1 11. Salim-pur. — Part lias been sold by tlie Jits to Brahmans, Bmiya?, Kayatlis, and Mewats.
Here is a hulkabandi scIijoI.

112. Samid-pur. —The fimnder is sold to have b^cn a Charaj .Fat from Biman in Khiindauli,
named Savadha'i ; and it is most pmbable that tiie village was oriijinally called after him, and
that the Persian vford (Samail, ' t!ie L>rd') is only a corraptir)n The Jats .^till retain eight bis-
AVas; theremainint; 12 have been sild or mortgaged to Mittra Sen, Baniya of Hathras.

113. Sarauth, founded by a Jat from Mai.

114. Sarm3s^/7!<r, foundeil by Tulsi, a Brahin:m fromBirhan in Jalesar. His descendants
have mortgaged 5 biswas to Hira Sinh

115. Sedariya: sold in part by the old Brahnan zamin lars to Flari Rim, Rra'iman, and
Baniyas.

116. Shahbdz-tjur: separated from Arti, by Dharmu, Gahlit, one of the zamindars of that
village : now sold to Jats and Mahajans,

117. Sher-pur: founded in Samhtt 1097 hy Sarup, son of Pi!tn, ,Jit. whose de-cendants
Btill own one-third ; trie remaindur his been sold to Thakuraii U iki n-uu-Nissa and Mohan Lai,
Baniya. The Karwaa Nadi runs through the village land.

118. Sikhara: separated from Sahpxu and triven by the zamindars of that villaje to Sri
Chand, Paida, whos'^ d'-cendants still own 1 1 biswis : the rom liiidor has been sold to Raja
Prithi Sinh and Sawai Bam, Brahman.

119. Sisfai: purchased at auction from the Thakurs by Ganes, Bohra, and sold by him to
Hira Lai and Lai Chand. who were temporarily ejected in the mutiny by Dhan Sinh and Devi
Sinh, two of the old zamindars,

120. Sitkard-pur, or Gobara, was separated from Garumra by Jasu, one of the Jat zamin-
dars of that village ; his descendants arc still in possession.

120

PARGANA SA DABAD.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continuod).

Name.

Popidalion.

Principal I'ropric-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

:\rusai-

uian.

Total.

Acreage.

121

Sultiiu-pur

279

285

Devi Sinh, Thakur,

C'h obda rs
and Ahirs.

525

122

Susahan

1,157

105

1,2 '.2

M u I - k u n V a r,
Baiiiyin.

JiiU and
Bi ah mans.

1,794

123

Taj-pura

1,048

!,110

II a kim-nii-Nissa,
of Sa'dabad.

Jat8

1,003

124

Tamsi

502

574

rritlii, Jat

Ditto

541

125

Tasigau

2,222

127

2 349

Ditto

2,276

126

Tharaura

553

572

Kesari, Aliir ...

Aiiirs ...

615

127

Udhaina

737

7.^2

Nasar Sahay, Tha-
kur.

Tliakurs ...

784

128

Ughai

520

577

Thakur Das and
bita Kam, Dhu-
sars.

Ditto

592

129

Zari-pura

126

...

126

Sri Rim, Brah-
man.

Briilimans
and Gara-
riyas.

331

121. Sulldi-pnr: half ha.s been sold by the ChobJars and Aliirs to Sri llain, Bohra, and
some .Jaesvars.

122. Susahan, or Uncha-ganw, hii3 been uDrtgigel by the J;its to Mul-kunvar, widow of
Hoti Lai, Bauiya.

123. Tdj-pura; purchased at auction from tlie Jiit^ by Thakurani Ilakim-un-Nissa.

12*. Tdmni: founded by Thiini, a Badhautiya Jat and Sukh-Ram, a Chauudar Jat from
Marhaka. Half has been soU'i to Sri Ram, Bolira.

125. Tasi (J au.- Founded by Adu Pal, a Ilaga Jat from Susalian. Half has been sold to
Brahmans and Baniyas. A halkabandi school.

126. Tharaura: Fotmded by one Thilii, Ahir, whose descem'.ants are still in possession.

127. Udhaina: 75 bi^'lias have been sold by the old Thakur zamindars to Amar Chand,
Athwaraya. Here is a halkabandi school.

128. Ui]hai: Fonndcd by Raja Ugrascn from Cliitor. The Gahlots have sold part to Thakur
Das and Sita Uam, Dhisars ; Nand Das, Bairagi ; and Giridhar, liolira.

129. Zari-pura: sold to Sri liain, Bohra^ by the Th^kurs.

VIL— PARGANA JALESAR.

The Jalesar Pargana affords a marked contrast to all the rest of the district,
from which it differs no less in soil and scenery than in the character and social
status of the population. In the other six parganas, wheat, indigo, and rice are
seldom or never to be seen, here they form the staple crops; there the pasturage
is abundant and every villager has his herd of cattle, here all the land is arable,
and no more cattle are kept than are barely enough to work the plough ; there the
country is dotted with natura' woods and groves, but has no enclosed orchards,
here the mango and other fruit trees are freely planted and thrive well, but there
is no open jungle ; there the village communities still for the most part retain pos-
session of their ancestral lands, here they have been ousted almost completely by
modern capitalists ; there the Jats constitute the great mass of the population,
here they occupy one solitary village ; there the Muhammadans have never gained
any permanent footing and every spot is impregnated with Hindu traditions,
here what local history there is is mainly associated with Muhammadan families.
These differences for the most part involve no necessity for any chan o-e in
political administration ; and their existence might seem to render a district
more complete and self-contained by the supply of mutual deficiencies. But
inaccessibility is a more serious consideration ; and the towns of Awa and Jalesar
are respectively 55 and 43 miles from the Local Courts, a greater distance than
separates them from the capitals of the four adjoining districts. This, under any
conditions, would be justly accounted an inconvenience, and it is rendered more
so by some of the peculiar circumstances enumerated above. In consequence
of the general transfer of the land from the old proprietors, there is a restless
and impatient feeling abroad, which is certainly intensified by the remoteness
of the Courts and the consequent unwillingness to have recourse to them for the
settlement of a dispute in its incipient stages. Hence the frequent occurrence
of serious outrages, such as burglaries and highway robberies, which are often
carried out with more or less impunity, notwithstanding the number of people
that must have been privy to their commission. However willing the autho-
rities of the different districts may be to act in concert, investigation on the
part of the Police is greatly hampered by the readiness with which the
cruniuals can escape across the border, and disperse themselves through the five
districts of Mathura, Agra, Mainpuri, Eta, and Aligarh. Thus, though a
local administrator is naturally jealous of any change calculated to diminish
the importance of his charge, and Jalesar is unquestionably the richest portion of

122 PARGANA JALESAR.

the district, still it has always been admitted by each successive Magistrate and
Collector that its exchange for a tract of country with much fewer natural
advantages would be a most politic and beneficial measure.

Of the total area of 174,698 acres, 130,733 are under cultivation. Not only
is water found nearer the surface than in the other parganas and generally good
in quality, but special facilities for irrigation are afforded by the Etawa Branch
of the Agra Canal, which runs through the north-east corner of the pargana,^
and has numerous subordinate cuts and channels ; for the use of which a water
rate is paid of Rs. 35,402. There are also two small streams, fed in the dry
Aveather mainly by the canal, viz., the Sengar, or Sarsa, wliich flows by the towns
of Jalesar and Umar-garh, and the Isan, which lias a more easterly course and
runs into Mainpuri. There is thus scarcely any }.>art of the country where arti-
ficial irrigation is not easily practicable ; except in some few reaches of ■dsar
land, as from Noh-Khera to Awa, whence is obtained the reh, or alkali, for the
glass manufacture carried on in the town of Jalesar.

The Ahivasis, of the same stock as in Chhata, have a small settlement near

Aharan ; and several villages about Barhan are to a great extent populated by

another Brahmanical class, of limited extension, called Grola-piirab. These latter

have the character of being very industrious agriculturists, and are found in

greater numbers across the Agra border in the IrsiJat-nagar Pargana. Five

villages in the same neighbourhood have been jn'oclaimed under Act VIII. of

1870, as addicted to the crime of female infanticide, viz., Baghai, Shaikhu-j)ur-

Mandan-pur, Bajmal, W alidad-pur, and Eajauli ; but it is hoped that in the

course of a very short time they Avill be able to shake off this evil imputation,

and clear themselves from the consequent liabilities. Only three villages are

religious endowments, viz., Uncha-ganw, Lohcha, and Gorakh-pur; of which

the two first are held rent-free by Swami Rangacharya of Brinda-ban, and the

third by Gosain Purushottam Lai of Gokul. The earliest local traditions are

connected with a Raja of Biana — called by my Muhammadan informant Sbauhar

Pal, which obviously cannot have been his name '^ — who had gone on a pijo-rim-

age, and in his absence had been despoiled of his kingdom by Raja Har Pal

of Mahoba. Hearing of this disaster on his homeward march, lie stopped short

at the village now called Sona near Jalesar, and there established himself. By

oac'h of his three Ranis he had male issue : one son founded Ram-o-arh in the

immediate neighbourhood, and Narkhi in Firozabdd ; his second Rani's son was

the founder of Mursama; while the third Rdni's two sous became, one the lord

of Daulatabad with the title of Thakur Mandan, and the other of Chauudri in

Firozabad.

1 Tliero is one iirsl- class rest-house on the Canal in the district, at rilkathra.

2 Possibly he may have been the same Raja Son, or Sohan Pal, who has left his mark on the
Matburd Pargana at the villages of Son, Sousa, &c.

PARGANA JALESAR. 123

The Fidna Katira of Mewar, already mentioned in connection with Maha-
ban, is said to have penetrated to Jalesar and to have bnilt the Fort. Shah-
nagar is also ascribed to him as well as Sarae Nim ami Begam-pur, and his
posterity spread as fiir as Shaikhu-Mandan-pur, Tehu, Rajmal, Sahpau, and
Rohini in Hathras. The descendants of his elder son are distinguished by the
word ' Sah' attached to their names, as Khumani Sah— whence Sahpau, for
Sah-pura — while those of the younger sou are called Chaudharis ; in Hathras,
however, their title is Rao.

Till the annexation of 1803 the Pargana was in two divisions, Jalesar and
Rustam-nagar ; though, in 1786, we find that the Amil, Nawalj Muhammad
Khan, who bore the title of Samsam-nd-daula, 'the sharp sword of the State,'
had his two subordinate zilladars, Bakhsh Sinh and Uday KaJ, posted, the one
at Barhan, the other at Ahai-an. About the same period Jalesar was the seat
of a Muhamraadan magnate, by name Bahlim Khan, who gained a high reputa-
tion both by his successes in war and also by the magnificence which he dis-
played in the shorter intervals of peace. One of the quarters of the town still
bears his name, while another, being the place where his elephants Avere kept,
is called Hathi-khana. His son, Rashid Khan (commemorated by Rashid-pur),
had two heirs, Zain-ud-din and Badr-ud-din, who in a few years squandered
the whole of their patrimony.

Other persons of some little note in their time, whose fixmilies are now either
extinct or ntterly reduced in circumstances, were as follows : —

1. "^^ Sultan Khan and Maksiid Khaa established at Sakra and Maksud-pur ;
the sons of a Jadon by name Riip Das, whose father, Siikh Das, had a consider-
able estate about Dariya-pnr in Hathras. Rup Das was a younger son, and,
on his conversion to Muhammadanism, is said to have received a grant from
the Emperor of as many as fifty-two villages.

2. Mirzas Raza and Taja, two brothers, who lived, the one at Paundri, the
other at Simrau. The former was killed by a Gujar servant, named Ram Bakhsh,
who had been instigated to the deed by one of his master's nephews. The widow,
to avenge her husband's death, betook herself to General De Boigne, with whom
she spent the remainder of her life, after becoming a Christian and placing him
in possession of all her jdgir, comprising the villages of Paundri, Punhera, Rejua,
and others.

3. Mirza Muhammad Beg Agha, of Firozabad, a kinsman of Nawab Mu-
hammad Khan, whose grandson, Ghulam 'Ali Khan, planted the large mango
grove in the suburbs of Jalesar, now accounted Nuziil land.

4. Bihari Das, Kayath, who entered the service of Nawab Sadullah Khan,
and built out of funds supplied by his patron the Katra, or market-place, at
Jalesar, which has fallen into utter ruin, but still bears his name. His repre-
sentative is now the Fatwari of Nagara Gol.

124 PARGANA JALESAR.

5. Sri Ram, Kdnimgo, the proprietor of Banwdri-pur and other villages,
who built a fine house in Jalesar, on the Awa road, which was purchased from
his grandson, Khub Sinh, by Raja Pitambar.

At the present day the one great landed proprietor is the Raja Prithi Sinh of
Awa, whose assessable income for the year 1872 was returned as Rs. 3,05,813.
His estate is composed of two talukas, one the Amaoabad, with the fixed number
of nineteen villages, the other the Awa Mi'sa, which includes all the remainder.
A third taluka, known as the Ramgarh, comprises nine villages, and is the pro-
perty of Thakur BuddhSinhof Umar-garh, whose income was put at Rs. 18,250,
including the profits of his indigo factory. A kinsman of the Raja's, Kunwar
Jugal-Kishor, and his brother, Pratap Sinh, sons of Rudra Sinh, have an estate
of Rs. 12,423 a year ; and Narayan Sinh of Plasan-garh, with other lands at
Muhammad-pur, Daulat-pur, Mushki, and Mehki, is a Thakur of good family
and reputation, though of no very great wealth. The estate was acquired by
his father, Pratap Sinh, a resident of Gangni in Firozabad.

Several well-to-do money-lenders and indigo factors, who have lately pushed
their way into prominent positions, may also be briefly mentioned : —

1. Ganga Bishan, son of Lachhi Ram, Bohra, of Berni, who has shares in
Kherd-Gwarau, and four other villages, yielding an annual profit of Rs. 8,629.

2. Gopal Das and Narayan Das, traders and indigo factors of Jalesar, with
land at Agar-pur, Deva-karan-pur, &c., assessed at Rs, 8,879. Their father,
Baladeva Dds, was a man of very violent temper and abusive tongue, who was
driven into one of his own indigo vats by a servant whom he had provoked, and
there drowned.

3. Magn Biliari Lai, a Kayath, of a Patwari family, with land at Nagara,
Bari, and other villages, yielding an income of Rs. 7,338. His father, Rudra
Sinh, was murdered by the old proi)rietors, whom he had ousted.

4. Sada Ram and Sewa Ram, Marwari money-lenders, sons of Rati Ram
of Jalesar, with lands in Akbar-pur-Haveli, &c., assessed at Rs. 7,185.

5. Uday Ram of Khanda and Jamal-nagar Bhainsa, who has recently pur-
chased an estate for Rs. 25,000.

6. Fakir-chand, Baniya, of Biruni, the son of Gobardhan, whose father,
Bidhi-chand was a small shop-keeper at Khanda.

7. Talewar Sinh and Chatm-bhuj, of Bara Hasan Jahan-pur, Nagara
Bari, and Sahor-garh, the sons of Mahi Lai, who was in the service of Thdkur
Buddh Sinh of Umar-garh.

This catalogue might be considerably extended, as there are more moneyed
people in Jalesar than in all the other rural parts of the district ; but as they
have neither family history nor influence, it will be sufficient to mention them
in the alphabetical list at the end of this section, by merely appending their
names to the villages of which they have acquired possession.

PARGANA JALESAR. 125

The town of Jalesar is situated between two branches of the rirer Sarsa ;
and as the surrounding country is naturally of a low level and was further
excavated in ancient times to supply earth for the construction of the hill on
which the Fort was built, the place is often in the rains entirely surrounded by
the floods. The name, a slight and very modern modification of Jalesvar,^
' Lord of water,' is then seen to be highly appropriate. The foundation of the
Fort, of which only the substructure now remains, is popularly ascribed (as has
been already mentioned) to the Rana Katira of Mewar, whose most probable
date would seem to be 1303, the year of the capture of Chitor. It is said that
the Muharamadan army that essayed to oppose his progress, was commanded
by a Saiyid Ibrahim, who fell on the field, and has ever since been reverenced
as a saint and martyr. His Urs, or annual feast, is held on the 20th and 21st
of the month Shaban, seven days after the Shab-i-Barat ; and the Dargah, where
his tomb is shown, comprises a tolerably extensive range of buildings. These
have lately been repaired at the cost of the Municipality, though they are of no
special interest, being built in the very clumsiest style of architecture, and
apparently not more than 100 years old. The Nakar-Khana, which is of the
same type as the rest, bears an inscribed tablet recording its erection by one
Ghulam Mustafa in the year 1179 Hijra. The guardians of the shrine attach
great value to a document in their possession, believing it to attest the truth of
their traditions. The manuscript is only a few lines in length, and gives the
ordinary succession of the Muhammadan Imams, among whom Saiyid Ibrahim
is mentioned as a son of Imam Miisa Kazira, and is said to have come to Jalesar
from Tabriz. I am able to state, on Mr. Blochmann's authority, that there is no
external confirmation whatever of such an assertion ; and the tomb can scarcely
be more than a commemorative cenotaph. If the real Saiyid Ibrahim were
buried in it, Jalesar would be a place of pilgrimage for all the Shiahs in India.
About a quarter of a mile from the further end of the town is another Muham-
madan shrine of equally apocryphal character. It is known as that of ' the
Bara Miyan,' a Malang fakir, who, some 250 years ago, came from Ajmer and
attracted attention chiefly by the singularity of his diet. When children are
bewitched, which is — or is supposed to be — a very common occurrence in India
it is customary to take them to a cross-road or other open place and there
pass some article or other backwards and forwards over their head in the hope
that the evil spirit may be induced to enter it. Fruits and vegetables which
had thus become possessed by satanic influences were all the food the holy man
would eat. A mela, attended by Hindus quite as much, if not more, than by
Muhammadans, is held in his honour every Saturday throughout the year ;
and the owners of the ground, some 15 or 16 persons, Shaikhs of Jalesar

^ Hence (since in Persian writing no distinction can be made between o and va.) the town in
Bengal with the same name is spelt by English oflScials as ' Jelasore.'

126 PARGANA JALERAR.

are computed to realize annually some lis, G,000 from the offerings of the
credulous.

The summit of the hill, where once stood the Fort, is now occupied by
the Courts of the Munsif and the Tahsildar and the Munici[)al Office, the
latter a very substantial and commodious building. To these will be added
in the course of a few months a new school, for which an allotment has
been made of Rs. 6,000; the one moiety being contributed by the Munici-
pality and the District Educational Fund, and the balance supplied by the
Government.

It appears from the Census Reports that, between the years 1853 and 18G5,
there Avas a decrease of 2,000 in the population, a fact, if f^ict it be, which is
explained by a decline in the weaving trade. A revival of comparative pros-
perity dates from the time when the Municipality was constituted. Since
then the entire length of the one main street has been metalled and a system
of drainage — wdiich was a most urgent requirement — satisfactorily completed.
The town, however, is still an exceedingly mean-looking place without a single
shop, private house, or public building of any pretension. The dispensary is a
useful institution and is conveniently situated in a very central locality; but
there has certainly been no sacrifice to architectural grace in its design and
the area it occupies is extremely narrow and confined. At one end of the
Bazar, a large market-square was cleared and ranges of shops of uniform
design — all of brick— erected at the suggestion of Mr. Fisher, in 1869-70,
when he was Municipal Secretary. The cost was defrayed chiefly by private
individuals, who hoped to recoup themselves for the outlay by the rent of the
shops. But as the squai'c was designed on a scale which avowedly bore no
proportion to the actual i-equirements of the local trade, a large number of the
tenements have never yet been occupied ; and, indeed, were they all taken up
by the resident population, the remainder of the town would be deserted. It
was hoped at the time that Jalesar might be developed into a flourishing mart
by improving the roads in its neighbourhood ; and one step to that end has
been taken this year by metalling the eight miles that lie between it and
the Railway Station at Manikpur. But much more remains to be done
before it can be brought into the ordinary line of traffic ; for though there
are several great mercantile depots at no great distance, still in whatever
direction they lie, whether in Agra, Eta, or Aligarh, Jalesar is cut off from all
by the exceptional heaviness of the cart-tracks, by which alone they can be
reached.

As a grain-market, therefore, its capabilities are entirely in embryo; and
its manufactures are equally unimportant, its one speciality being glass, of
which small phials and drinking vessels are made. To this it may be added
that a considerable amount of cloth is woven, chiefly of the qualities known

PARGANA JALESAR. 127

as gdra and adhotar; that the Jalesar clfdris, or bangles, have some reputation
in the immediate neighbourhood ; and that in the suburb of Khalil-ganj there
is a numerous guild of workers in brass.

The sum at the disposal of the Municipality for the year 1872-73 was
Rs. 14,255, from which, however, should be deducted an opening balance of
Bs. 1,946 ; leaving Rs. 12,309, as the actual income. Of this amount, the
greater part, viz., Rs. 10,795, was the result of octroi taxation. The principal
commodities imported liable to duty were articles of food, from which was
derived more than half the entire income, viz., Rs. 6,597 ; the tax on metals,
which yielded Rs. 1,278, being next in importance.

AwA is a small and apparently modern town, noticeable only as the resi-
dence of Raja Prithi Sinh, who has a large Fort immediately outside it. In
the mutiny, cannon were mounted on the walls, and every preparation made
for sustaining a siege. Happily, there was no occasion to test their adequacy,
but there can be no doubt that the existence of so formidable a stronghold in
their midst had a considerable effect in repressing the energies of the dis-
affected. The first Fort was constructed by Thakur Bhakt Sinh, but only on a
small and rude scale. His son, Thakur Hira Sinh, was virtually the founder
of the existing range of buildings, to which large additions have been made
by the present Raja; the most prominent being a suite of reception rooms
profusely furni.'hed in quasi-Euro] can fashion. All the f-urn unding country
consists of dreary tim?' plains, scarcely, if at all, available for the purposes of
the agriculturist ; but their desert appearance has now been happily relieved
by the number of mango groves planted by the Raja and his ancestors. The
tree seems specially to affect such a soil, as its growth is most rapid and luxu-
riant ; a result promoted in no slight degree by the neighbourhood of the
canal and the facilities for obtaining a constant supply of water. At the
back of one of the largest orchards is a bdoli constructed of block kankar ; a
stone which is quarried here in great abundance and is most serviceable as a
building material where no finished decoration is required. The town or
Ganj, as it is called, is surrounded by a crumbling mud wall ; and between it
and the Fort the Raja is now building a very fine and substantial mansion
intended for the accommodation of his English friends. It stands in the centre
of an extensive walled enclosure, containing all necessary oflfices for servants
&c., and a pleasure-garden Avith an ornamental sheet of water. The Chauki-
dari Act is in force in the town, but the monthly income is so small that the
only local improvement yet carried out has been the partial metalling of the
main street. The school, an unusually commodious building of its class is
due to the liberality of the Eaja. The new PoHce Station has been removed
a little distance from its old site in the Bazar and now stands on the side of
the high road that leads from Eta to Agra,

128 PARGANA JALESAR.

Umar-garh is the seat of the ancient Jddon family, of whom Thakur
Buddh Sinh is the present representative. The Fort Avhere he resides was ori-
ginally on a very large scale and defended by a deep fosse, but this is now
partially filled up and the dilapidated state of the buildings indicates the
reduced circumstances of their master. The village is a poor, half deserted
place, and is said to have been so ever since it was plundered by the Mahrattas
in the time of Thakur Bahadur Sinh (see Part I., page 12). The glory of the
place consists in its magnificent mango groves, 16 in number, which have no
rival anywhere in the district. In addition to the indigo factory belonging to
the Thakur, there is another, with a handsome residence for themanagei', in the
hands of Europeans, Mr. Rennie, of the Bank of Bengal, being the principal
partner.

Note. — The transfer, so repeatedly advocated in the course of this narrative, is now on the
point of being carried out ; and from the comtQencement of the official year 1874-75 the Jalesar
Parganawill form part of the Agra District. No orders have yet been passed regarding the tract
to be awarded in compensation ; but it m ly be hoped that it will be the Farraii Pargana.

PARGANA JALESAR.
Alphabetical List of Villages.

129

Name.

Population.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
niau.

Total.

Acreage.

Abd-ul-hai-pur or
Nagara Hira.

396

126

522

RajaofAwa ...

Jadons ...

824

Abhay-raj-pur or
Khuti-pura.

232

235

...

483

A gar-pur

186

204

GopilDas Nara-
yan Das, Bani-

yas.

...

696

Aharan

2,559

197

2,756

ThakuraniHakim-
ur>-NisBa,of Sa'd-
abad.

GahlotTha-
kurs.

2,795

Akbar-pur Hareli,

287

126

413

Eaja of Awa and
others.

Chamirs ...

126

Akbar-pur San-
thai.

198

204

Jadons ...

361

Amanabad „.

456

481

Raja of Awa ...

Chamars ...

797

Arab-garh ...

225

234

Brahmans

Ditto ...

412

Arazi Berhar ...

Kazi Mumtaz 'Ali.

Ahirs ...

Ata-ullah-pur ...

...

Raja of Awa ...

Jadons ...

217

Aunera

320

327

...

Brahmans,

471

Awa

4,838

746

5,584

•••

Jadons

3,177

Babar-pur

680

749

...

1,556

Badan-pur Kazi-
pur.

427

...

427

Ahirs

Ahirs ...

389

Badhan-purKunj-
man-pur.

642

697

Natha Ram, Jadon,
mortgagee.

Jadons ...

684

Badhavali

1,120

1,190

Raja of Awa ...

Brahmans,

1,252

Baghai

557

582

Jadons

JaJons ...

640

Bahadur-pur ...

282

299

Ahirs

185

Balesra

479

499

Raja of Awa ,„

Brahmans,

925

Banwari-pur

303

...

303

...

Jad.)ns

277

Bara Bhundela ...

961

1,032

Brahmans,

669

Bara Hasan Jahaa-
pur.

931

978

TalewarSinh.Cha-
turbhuj Sinh,
Kayaihs.

Kachhis ...

1,141

Barai Kalyan-pur
Allah vardi-pur,
or Khusrai,

1,076

1,148

Raja of Awa ...

Brahmans,

1,680

130

PARGANA JALESAR.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Fopulation

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total,

Acreage,

Barhan

3,8 J 8

199

4,017

...

Chain ars ...

5,49 9

Begaiu-pur

371

Chunni Lai nnd
others, Braii-
nums.

Mewatis ...

330

Benai

1,181

1,254

Haja of A^wa and
others.

Jats

1,046

Berni

1,397

1,-I93

Brahmans

Brahmans,

1,439

Bhainsa Braj-pur,

713

778

Tota lian: and
others, Baaiyas.

Chamars ...

613

£9

Bhyao

353

441

Galliots and Seth
Kaghunath Das.

Gahlots ...

500

Bich-puri

658

684

Gahlots

...

839

Bir-nagar

1,180

1,266

liaja of Aiwa ...

Lodhas ...

1,875

Biruui

696

657

Fakir Chand, Ba-
ni^a, and others.

Thakurs ...

744

Bishan-pur

...

Dwiiraka Das and
others.

Ahirs ...

Bora, Great

1,582

1,669

Isvari and others,
Gahlots.

Giihlots ...

2,093

Bora, Little

494

609

Eaja of Awa and

others.

Brahmans,

803

Braj-pur Clianda,

Jadons

Jadons ...

628

Budhaira

339

348

Raja of Aiwa ...

Lodhas ...

490

Chir-gama

996

1,039

Chiimars...

1,272

Chiihar-pur

146

204

MadanBihariLiil,
Kajath.

Ahirs ...

£92

Churthara

511

534

Kaja of Aiwa ...

Hrahmans,

719

Dalsa-pur

627

653

...

Chamars...

708

Daluat-pur.Gilola

374

401

SttaTJam.riardeva
ymh, .lad ■) n s,
murtgagtes. "

Lwdhas ...

337

Daulat-pur Mu6h-
ki

270

282

Seth Roshan Lai
and N a r a y a n
Siuh, JaJon.

Ahirs ...

590

De\a-karan-pur,

250

303

Gnnga Prasad,
Baniya, mort-
gagee.

Chamars...

662

PAR G ANA JALESAR.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

131

Name.

Populuticn.

Principal proprie-
tors.

Predominan
caste.

Hindus.

Miisal-
man

Total.

Acreage.

Dos-par

274

290

Sita Ram and
others, Jalons.

Brahmans,

619

Dulha

411

434

Raja of Aiwa ...

Lodhas ...

690

Eta

467

470

Brahmans

Gola-purab
Brahmans.

458

Farid-pur

270

...

270

Raja of Aiwa ...

Jadons ...

305

Gadesra

195

210

...

Ahirs

30r

Gairi

395

415

EajaofAlwa ...

Jadons ...

7^4

Ganes-pur

1,390

1,486

Jadons

Ditto ...

2,265

Gehia

282

...

282

Ditto

...

360

Gopal-pur, or
Sarae Kaj-nagar,

664

696

Mohan Lai, Kay-
ath and others.

Lodhas ...

1,012

Gorakh-pur

...

Gosain Purushot-
tom Lai and

others.

Jadons ...

192

Gothua

846

100

946

Raja of Awa ...

...

1,246

Gundao

301

364

Padam Sinh, Jad-
on, Bi l.de va
Siiih, Brahman.

Chamars...

956

Gwaliyara

211

252

Mohan Kunwar,
Jadon.

Jadons ...

156

Habib-uUah pur
Aztuat-ptir.

147

151

Mahbub Sinh
Brahman.

••«

291

Haiida 1-pur, o r
Takuiwar.

420

438

Raja of Awa ...

Chamars...

399

Hasan-abad

313

...

313

Rajaof Awa.Seth
Roilian Lai, and
others.

Brahmans,

231

Hasan- al i-pur
Basai

687

706

Thakur Das, mort-
gagee.

Jadons ,.,

1,142

Hasan-garh „.

654

697

Ram Prasad,

Jadon.

Kachhis ...

1,377

Hemraj-pur, o r
Chaiidar

190

209

Gokul Sinh, Ja-
dwn.

Chamars...

404

Hindona

502

519

nu;j Kunwar and
others, Brahmans.

Lodhas ...

834

Ibrahim-nagar ...

...

Lai Chura -man'
Sinh, J a Ion.

Jadons ..,

103

132

PARGANA JALESAK.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Papula tion

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Isaui

983

1,015

Jain-pura

339

Jalesar

8,335

6,507

14,902

Jallu-khera

591

627

Jamal-pux

349

367

Jamal-pur Gadri,

597

648

Jamal-nagar
Bhainsa.

907

963

Jamaun

924

980

Jam-pur Chamar-
aula.

899

969

Janavali

769

829

Jarani

1,029

1,125

Kaprahi

155

...

155

Karahla Kasim-

129

pur.

Karthani

296

306

Kasarra Amrit-

166

pur.

Khalil-ganj.orRus-
tam-nagar.

2,382

338

2,720

Khanda

3,143

266

3,409

Kharkaua

333

338

Khatauta

1,126

1,174

Khe?a Gwarau ...

400

420

Kherara

743

793

Khpri Gurhi Ilar-
rae

1,455

1,536

Priucipal proprie-

turs.

1
Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

Jadons

Jadons ...

1,667

Kaja of Aiwa ...

Cbamars ...

603

Raja of Awaand
Baiyid Intizam
Ali, &c.

Musalmans,

3,812

Raja of Aiwa, Kus-
lial Siuh, &c.

Chamars ,..

1,040

DurjanLaljBaniya

Baniyas ...

410

Raja of Kvra. ...

Jadona

780

Murli Sinh, Uday
Ram, and others.

Ahirs ...

1,141

Gahlots

Gahlots ...

326

Sri Gopal, Bohra,

Ahirs

478

Raja of Aiwa ...

Jadons ...

1,529

Megh Sinh, Brah-

Chamars ...

1,251

man.

Raja of Aiwa ...

Ditto

234

Gahlots ...

831

Kesar, Durga and
others.

Ahirs ...

184

Saiyid Ahmad Ali,
Hira-man, Bohra

Raja of Awa and
oihers.

Baladeva, Haride-
va, and others,
Gahlots.

Riija of Awa, Nek-
Ram, and others.

Lachhi Ram and
others, baniyas.

Raja of Awa ...

Lacliman Sinh,
mortgagee, and
others.

Ditto ...
Baniyas ...
Ahirs ...
Brahmaus,

Chamais ...
Ahirs

Chamars ...

Gola.j)urah
brahmaus.

PARGANA JALESAR.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

133

Name.

Population

P rincipal proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

1
Hindus.

Musal-
mau.

Total.

Acreage,

Kheriya Taj ...

482

658

Eaja of Aiwa ...

Chanaars ...

635

Kosma

610

619

Tika Earn, Bohra,

Garariyas,

652

Kunjal-pur ...

418

457

Ganga B i s h a n
Earn Prasad,
Bohras.

Brahmans,

321

Kurgama

495

610

Eaja of Aiwa, Kun-
da.i Lai, Ahivasi,

Kachhis ...

434

Kuswa

1,233

1,305

Eaja of Awa, Mo-
lian Sinh and
others.

Ahirs ...

1,420

Lakhmi-pur, or
ijarai Usar.

319

342

Eaja of Awa ...

Charaars ...

833

Lodhi-pur

177

192

Daya Earn, mort-
gagee.

Lodhas ...

258

Lohcha Xahar-pur,

685

720

Baladeva Sahay,
and vSwamiEau-
gacharya.

Ahirs

1,087

Mahabat-pur ...

...

EajaofAwa ...

Brahioans.

225

Mahan-mai

806

883

Khub Lil and
others, Brah-
mans.

Ditto ...

1,116

Mai

514

562

Mr. Hashman

Lodhas ...

626

Maksud pur

39i

«e

935

Eaja of ^wa and
others.

Musalmans,

i,0I4

100

Mandan-pur

362

381

Eaja of Aiwa.

Chamars •••

944

101

Marl! a Prahlad-
nagar.

337

360

Ditto

Lodhas ...

663

102

Marsena

578

649

Buddh Sinh of
Umar-garh and
others.

Dhakara
Thakurs.

1,049

103

Mauzam-pur

171

..,

171

Muktayal Sinh,
mortgagee, J adon.

Lodhas ...

339

104

Mehki

305

356

Murli Sinh, Vazir-
ali, and others.

Jadons ...

649

105

Mirza pur

306

...

306

T.)ta Earn Baniya,

Brahma n s',

499

106

Misa, Great

991

1,064

EajaofAwa

Jadons

1,876

107

„ Little

420

423

Baniyaa ...

497

108

Misauli Hemraj-
pur.

544

679

Thakur Buddh
Sinh i)f Um ar -
garh and others.

Brahmans,

1,154

134

PARGANA JALESAR.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name.

Po/ u 'at ion .

Principal proprie-
tore.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Mu«al-
miin.

Total.

Acreage.

109

Mi'avali Shaikh-
pura.

1,733

1,813

ThaknraniHakim-
un-Nissa.

Brahma ns
and Cha-
mara

2,449

110

Mitraul

822

850

Kaja of Aiwa ...

Lodhas ,..

670

111

Mohan-pur

440

449

...

Chamars ...

805

112

Mubarak-pur Na-
dauli

179

...

179

Raja of Awa and
iianchhor Das.

Kabars

218

113

Muhabbat-pur ...

249

257

Raja of Aiwa

Brahman s ,

301

114

Miihammad-nagar
Kha.i-pur.

Thakurani Hakim-
uu-Nissa.

Ahirs ...

275

115

Muhammad-pur...

164

172

Narayan Sinh, of
Hasangarli,

Lodhas ...

396

116

Muhsin-abad

369

392

Raja of Aiwa ...

Gola-purab
Brahmaus.

289

117

Muka^-pur

152

153

Rnti Ram, Nand-
kishor, m..rt-
gageea, Ahirs.

Ahirs

195

118

Mukhwar

1,290

1,361

Raja of Aiwa ...

Dh a k a r a
Thakurs.

2,354

119

Murlidhar-pur ...

207

213

...

Cliamars ...

150

1?0

Mursama

8 15

816

Ram Kunwar and

others.

Jadons

1,088

12)

Murthar Ali-pur...

731

751

...

Chamars ...

1,461

122

Nagara Adhu ...

661

5S3

Hem Sinh and
others, Thakiirs,
and Mansa Ram,
Kayath.

Dh a k a r a
Thakurs.

...

123

„ Ani

650

592

Nandu and Gyiis
Kunwar, Ahirius.

Ahirs

426

124

„ Bari

673

598

Masn Rihari Lai,
Kayath.

Ch.raars ...

650

125

„ Bel

644

695

Raja of Aiwa and
others.

Ditto

1,050

126

„ Chaad ...

171

217

Rup R a Ti and others'
Jianiyas.

Ditto

638

127

„ Gol

391

406

Kanhay Sinh, Jadon
and others.

Gola-purab
Brahiuaus.

498

128

„ Khokar ...

...

Raja of Aiwa and
Madan Biliari
Lai.

Brahmans,

232

PARQANA JALESAR.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

133

Name.

Populatio

Principal Proprie-
tors,

Predominant
caste.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

129

Xagara Kumar ...

116

Kishan Sinh and
Hakim-un-Nissa.

Gahlot Tha
kurs.

274

130

„ Maha-sinh,

537

585

Talewar Sinh and
others, Kayaths

Brahman s.

388

131

„ Mitan, or
Dilokiiara.

729

749

Tulsi Ram. Seih
KoshHu Lai, and
others.

Garariy a s

1,409

132

,, Pachauri,

252

...

252

Eaja of Awa, Ke-
sari, and others.

Brahman s,

394

133

„ Sarji ...

313

...

313

A man Sinh and
others Jad'.ns-

Jadons ...

450

134

„ Sarup

725

735

Chain Sukh and
others, Bohras.

Chamars ...

1,120

135

„ Sukhdeva,
Bali-pur.

807

822

Raja of ^wa ...

Jadons ...

1,190

136

Nagwai Abu-na-
gar.

792

813

Shib Sinh and
others, mortga-
gees.

Ahirs ...

866

137

XarauEirnagar...

518

558

Hajaof^wa ...

Jadona ...

1,046

138

Narholi

800

853

Ditto

1,235

139

Narora

1,340

185

1,525

Ditto ...

1,259

140

Nim-Khera

945

1,004

Tliakiir Das, murt-

gagte.

Ditto

fc05

141

Noh

1,455

204

1,659

Kajii of Aiwa

Ditto

2,367

142

Noh-khera

62!i

660

...

Ditto

1,029

143

Pabha

480

545

...

Bralimans..

505

144

Pabar

333

...

333

Chunni Lai, Brah-
m!in, ar.d Man
Sinh, Gahlot.

Ditto

676

145

Pahari-pur

1,057

1,113

Ganga Ram and
others, Gahlots.

Chamars...

1,120

146

Pahar-mal-pur ...

Rup Kunwar, Ka-

yath.

Ditto

136

147

Paiyanda-pur ...

173

188

Thaknr Devi Sinh,
Gahlot.

Ditto

441

143

Pasiya-pur Be-
gam-pur.

110

205

RajaofAwa ...

Ditto

445

149

"■atna

676

587

Moti Sinh, and
others, Jadons.

Jadong ...

1,240

136

PARGANA JALESAR.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (continued).

Name,

Population.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Predominant
caste.

No.

Hindus.

Musal-
man.

Total.

Acreage.

150

Paundri ...

1,013

1,052

Kaja of Awa ...

Jadons ...

!,543

151

Pilkathra

1,695

1,771

Chamara ..

2,090

152

Punhera

1,822

112

1,9.34

Raja of ^wa ...

Brahmans.

1,844

153

Raja Ram-pur ...

304

310

ManoharSinh and
others,.] a Jons..

Chamars...

500

154

Rajauli

759

788

Muktaynl Sinhand
others, Jadons.

Jadons ...

797

155

Eajmal-pur Tim-
rua.

460

478

Lachhman Sinh
and others, Ba-
niyas,

Ahirs

684

156

Ram-ga?li

4,482

447

4,929

Thakur Buddh
Sinh of Umar-
garh.

Chamars...

7,261

157

Ramrae pur ,„

...

Swami R an g a-
charya.

G ahlot
Tliakurs.

228

168

Ranosa

181

203

Dungar Sinh, Ba-
niya, and others

Ahirs ...

207

159

Rashid-pur

13S

139

Raja of Awa ...

Lodhas ...

329

160

Raalu'd-pur. o r
Kheriya Khati.

208

Kachhis ...

289

161

Rf shid-pur M i •
traul.

213

...

Lodhas ...

227

162

Raza-nagar

213

126

339

Si'ta Ram and
others, Gahlots.

G ahlot
Thdkurs.

379

163

Rejua

1 035

1,105

Lekhraj and
others, Ahirs.

Brahmans .

1,008

164

Rohina Mirza-pur

2,470

171

2,641

Raja of Kvra. ...

Chamars ...

4,072

165

Sahor-garh

151

...

151

Badam Sinh and
others, Gahlots.

Ditto

384

166

Saif-uddin-pur...

212

236

Sukhdeva and
others, Bjhras.

Ahirs ...

381

167

Sakra

843

876

Raja of K^& ...

Brahmans.

1,109

168

Sakrauli

1,991

340

2,331

...

Jadons ...

2,747

169

Sala-mai

310

313

Raja of ^wa, and
others.

Ahira ...

264

170

Salim-pur Eta ...

426

441

Bhup Sinh, Brah-
man.

D h a kara
Thakurs.

1,036

171

Mitraul,

425

443

Raja of Kwa. ...

Kachhis ...

402

PARGANA JALESAR.
Alphabetical List of Villages — (continuec^).

137

HinduB.

Population.

Principal Proprie-
tors.

Pi'edominan
caste.

No.

Name.

Musal-
man.

Total.

t Acreage.

172

Salivahan-pur ...

448

...

448

Bihiiri Lai and
others, Bohras.

Lodhas ...

58()

173

Santhai Nabi-pur,

746

775

Sahi Eani and
others, Gahlot-.

Chamars ...

1,505

174

Sarae Jay Ram ...

680

600

Kanhay Sinh, Ja-
d-.n.

Baniyas ...

355

175

„ Nfin

715

778

OeviSinh, ") ^ .
SundarSinh. fp-;^^^-
DhaunJit, 31°'«

Brahmans
and Baniyas

623

176

Sarani

607

631

Raja of A wa ...

Garariyas,.,

715

177

Sarkari

473

...

Chamars ...

361

178

Senua

930

976

Ditto ...

1,164

179

Shah-nagar Tiin-
rua.

1,933

2,024

Nek Ram, and
others, Gahlots.

Thakurs ...

2,438

IbO

Shaikhu-purMan-
danpur.

1,366

1,415

Magn Bihari I.al.
Kayath,andTha-
kurs.

Chamars ..

1,807

181

mal.

1,700

157

1,857

Magn^ Bihari Lai,
Svvanii Rauga-
charya.

Ditto ...

2,259

182

Sbams-pur

384

385

Raja of Aiwa

Ditto ...

1,290

183

Sikandar-pur ...

426

434

Jadons and
Chamars.

762

184

Simrau

1,348

1,420

.Tas Ram, and others,
Thakurs, and
Shadi Lai, Kajath.

Thakurs ...

1,876

185

Sirgama

272

S09

Clmnni Lai Brah-
man.

Bbats

609

186

Sona

373

395

Thakur B u d d h
Sinh of Umar-
garh.

Lodhas ...

753

187

Sujan-pur

369

...

369

Tara Sahay and
others, Gahlots.

Gahlot Tha-
kurs.

400

188

Takhawan

928

967

Thakur Das, Jadon,

Chamars ...

1,872

189

Tamaach-garli ...

700

776

„ Devi Sinh,
Gahlot.

Chamars and
Garariyas.

1,159

190

Tehu

1,860

1,945

Seth Roshan Lai
and others.

Thakurs ...

2,333

191

Tikathar

1,047

1,130

Baladeva Sinh,
Brdhman.

Ditto ...

2,222

138

PARGANA JALESAR.

Alphabetical List of Villages — (concluded).

Population.

No.

Kame.

Hindus.

Mu?al-
man.

Total.

Principal proprie-

turs.

Predominant
caste.

Acreage.

192

Tisar

447

491

iHhulan Sinh and
others, Gahlots.

Bargujars..

937

193

Uderi

329

373

Raja of Awa

Jadons

375

194

Uncha-ganw ...

1,968

110

2,068

Swami Ranaachar-
ya and others.

Gahlots am.
Cbamars.

1,499

195

"Walidad-pur ...

723

732

Sundar Pokhpal
and others.

Ahira ...

440

199

Yusuf-pur

263

279

Amar Siuh, Kaynth,
Chain Sukli and
others, Bohras.

Chamars ...

584

SUPPLEMENTARY VILLAGE NOTES

Pargana Kosi.

3. Barchauli.— This name appears to be only an office corruption ; on tlio
spot the word is always pronounced Bancliauli.

7. Bathan.—O^ the two schools, the one at Little Bathan has been closed;
at the other there is an attendance of forty-five boys. The Kokila-ban, which
lies between two smaller groves, each called Padar Ganga— the one in Bathan,
the other in Jav— is 212 bighas in extent; 54 bighas being held rent-free by
the Mahant of the Hermitage, who also has all the pasturage and fallen tim-
ber of the whole area, with a further endowment of 22 bighas of arable
land in Jav. The walled garden near the lake was planted by a Seth of Mir-
zapur, through the agency of Ghanpat Ram of Kosi ; and the adjoining bar ah-
dari, or pavilion, was built by Nem Ji, a Baniya, also of Kosi, in 1870, out of
money left for the purpose by his brother, Bansidhar. A fair is held in th&
grove every Saturday, and a larger one on every full-moon ; when the princi-
pal diversion consists in seeing the immense swarms of monkeys fight for the
grain that is scrambled among them. The Bairagi belongs to the Nimbarak
Sampradaya, and states that the distinctive doctrines of the sect are not abso-
lutely unwritten (as is ordinarily supposed), but are comprised in ten Sanskrit
couplets that form the basis of a commentary in as many thousands. One
of bis disciples is a very intelligent and argumentative theological student ;-
and a sketch of his belief may be here given as a proof that the esoteric doc-
trines of the Vaishnavas generally have little in common with the gross idola-
try which the Christian Missionary is too often content to demolish as the
equivalent of Hinduism. So far is this from being the case, that many of their
dogmas are of an eminently philosophical character, and contrast favorably,
not only with the colourless abstractions of the Brahma Samaj, but also with
the defiant materialism into which the greater pai*t of non-Catholic Europe is
rapidly lapsing. The one infinite and invisible God is the only real existence
and the only proper object of devout contemplation. But as the incomprehen-
sible is utterly beyond the reach of human faculties. He is partially manifested
for our behoof in the book of creation, in which natural objects are the letters
of the universal alphabet, and express the sentiments of the Divine Author. A
printed page, however, conveys no meaning to anyone but a scholar, and is liable
to be misunderstood even by him ; so, too, with the book of the world. Whether

140 PARGANA KOSI.

the traditional scenes of Krishna's adventures have been rightly determined is
a matter of little consequence, if only a visit to them excites the believer's reli-
gious enthusiasm. The places are mere symbols of no value in themselves ;
the idea they convey is the direct emanation from the spirit of the author.
But it may be equally well expressed by different types ; in the same way as
two copies of a book may be word for woi'd the same in sound and sense though
entirely different in appearance, one being written in Nagari, the other in Eng-
lish characters. To enquire into the cause of the diversity between the religi-
ous symbols adopted by different nationalities may be an interesting study, but
is not one that can affect th3 basis of faith. And thus it matters little Avhether
Radha and Krishna were ever real personages ; the mysteries of divine love which
they symbolize remain, though the symbols disappear ; in the same way as a
poem may have existed long before it was committed to writing, and may be
remembered long after the writing has been destroyed. The transcription is a
relief to the mind ; but though obviously advantageous on the whole, istili
in minor points it may rather have the effect of stereotyping error : fi)r
no material form, however perfect and semi-divine, can ever be created with-
out containing in itself an element of deception; its appearance varies ac-
cording to the point of view and the distance from which it is regarded. It is
to convictions of this kind that must be attributed the utter indifference of the
Hindu to chronological accuracy and historical research The annals of Hin-
dustan date only from its conquest by the Muhammadans — a people whose
faith is based on the misconception of a fact, as the Hindus' is on the corrupt
embodiment of a conception. Thus the literature of the former deals exclusively
with events ; of the latter with ideas.

14. Dah-adnw. — The boundary line between this and the adjoining village
of Garhi in Gur-ganw has been the subject of violent contention for the last
thirty years, and the dispute is not settled yet. The school has an attendance
of no more than thirty boys ; of whom only seven are sons of the Jat agricul-
turists. By the temple of Braj-bhiikhan, which is of considerable size, is a
small pond called Bhankru, with an old kadamb tree, reputed sacred on account
of a curious excrescence on the trunk resembling Krishna's mukut, or ' crown '
The Dadhi-kuud is 35 bighas in extent, and the total amount of rakhyd, o20
}>ighas, including Rasoli, or Ras-ban, which is uninhabited except by a Bairagi.

26. Hathdaa. — One and-a-half biswa is owned by Gautam Brahmans ; all
the remainder by Jats of the Sorot sub-division, who are very numerous in the
neighbourhood. The rakhyd adjoining the village is 435 bighas in extent ;
but the trees are almost aWp'das, and those of small size. The daharo^ Nand-
ban (365 bighas) lies on the other side of the canal near Sessai. This,
though according to present arrangements accounted a hamlet of Hathana, is,
properly speaking, an offshoot of Great Sessai in Gur-ganw, from which it is

PARGANA KOSI. 141

only parted by a few paces of waste land. A temple of some size and very
considerable local celebrity, dedicated to Lakshmi Nartiyan, stands on the mar-
gin of an extensive lake faced on the temple side with masonry ghats. This is
known as the KsMr Sd<jar, or ' Milky Sea,' a name which the colour of the
water renders not inappropriate. It is most unfortunate that the boundary
line between the two Provinces should have been drawn where it is, as the
exclusion of the Sanadh Swamis of Little Sessai from a share in the emoluments
of the temple, enjoyed by their kinsmen living in the origins! village, has re-
sulted in the most intense animosity, displayed in the mutiny by a pitched
battle in which twenty-seven persons lost their lives. Much of the land attach-
ed to the hamlet of Sara 7 lies across the canal, greatly to the inconvenience of
its cultivators, who have to go round a long distance by the Sessai Bridge to
reach it. It was at one time an entirely distinct village ; and hence to the
present day Hathana is accounted to comprise forty biswas, being divided into
two thoks, one of twenty-five, the other of fifteen biswas. There are seven
lumberdars. The school has an attendance of thirty-three boys, of whom nine-
teen are Jats.

28. ./ay.— There is no special Javak-ban now recognized by that name ;
Java-bat or Java-ban, being regarded as the name of the village. There are
four rakhyds ; Chir-kund and Jugal-kutti, both of small extent ; Kishori-bat
(36 bighas) with the Kishori-kund and kunj built by Hup Ram ; and the Padar
Ganga (15 bighas) with an orchard of mango and khlrni trees planted by
Siirma, a Bairagi who also built the temple of Radha-kant out of grants he re-
ceived from the chiefs of Rajwara. On his death the temple was deserted for
a time till taken over by a Gosain of Brinda-ban, who makes it an allowance
of Rs. 10 a month. Not a stick can be taken from the rakhyds for the use of
the villages or the local temples without the express permission of the absentee
landlord.

Pargana Chhata.

21. Based Little. — For the last ten years the river has been retreatincr,
and the land recovered from its bed now amounts to 304 acres, which have been
constituted into a separate mahal and assigned to Daya Ram, a Thakur of
Mathura. The village zamindars, who had the offer of the land when the
increment first began, and then declined it, now bitterly regret their error of
judgment, as the estate is yearly increasing in value.

33. Chaksaull. — The rakkyd adjoins the Gahrvar-ban, which is accounted
part of Man-pur, and with it extends over an area of all but 108 bighas, exclu-
sive of the hill-side, which also is densely wooded, being covered from top to
bottom with dho trees. These latter, however, are always perfecdy bare of

142 PARGANA CHHATA.

foliage except during the rains. In the rakhyd is the Bihar-kund, a natural
pond ; and also a masonry tank, four acres in extent, known as the Dohani-
kuntl, which is at all seasons of the year quite dry, and must have been so for
a great length of time, as it is filled with large kadamb trees, some of which
would seem to be not less than a hundred years old. The quaint seclusion of
this spacious stone bason, buried in the midst of the green woods, with the
ruined courts and palaces of Barsana, though out of sight, almost within a
'stone's throw, and the range of rocks in the back-ground with some tcmjde or
pavilion crowning each prominent peak, renders the spot one of the most plea-
sant and picturesque that can be found in the district. The building on the
western ridge is the Man-Mandir, on the eastern the Bilas-Mandir, while those
on the central range are the Mor-kutti, the Ddn-Mandir and the temples of
Ldrli Ji'.

35. Chaumuhd. — Pandit Ganga-dhar's endowment covers half the entire
cost of the Agra College.

42. JJibhdra. — On the I'idge is a round tower built by the villagers in the
mutiny as a stronghold for resort in case of an attack from the Mewatis. The
Ratn-kund lies at the back of the hill beyond a small temple and watch-tower
built in earlier times to command the pass. Near the village is another pond,
called Suraj kund, with a stone cliliattri of some size erected about thirty years
ago in memory of one of the Gujar zamindars by name Ranjit.

51. Jait-pur. — For the last five years the river has been making a dead
set at the village, washing away its land to Bijauli and Bhadra-ban on the
opposite bank. Two hundred and twenty-five bighas have been swept off these
last rains, and the area, which in 1837 was 583 acres, is now reduced to 244;
each of the two thoks (Sri Ram and Jag-rup) having suffered about equally. A
house or two has already disappeared, and there is scarcely a hope that any of
the remainder will outlast another year. The people, however, so soon to be
rendered homeless and landless, are making no provision against the impend-
ing calamity ; probably in the hope that the wayward stream may yet relent
and spare them by returning to its original channel. In default of such an
event, they will be much to be pitied ; for with their land, they lose also their
social status, and even if they are abls to rent fields in the adjoining villages,
it can only be as tenants-at-will.

57. KaraJila. — The pond which covers an area of more than eleven bighas
is also called Lalita-kund. On its margin is ajhiiJd Avith high and substantial
masonry ]:illars, where, on feast-days, two little boys, dressed to personate
Radlia and Krishna, are seated and swung. The kadamh-khandi is upwards of
460 biglias in extent. Of three temples, only the one dedicated to Radha
Raman is of masonry construction. The school has an attendance of thirty-one
boys, all of whom are Brahmans and Baniyas with the exception of only two

PARGANA CHHATA. 143

Jadons — one of them, too, coming from the next village, Ajnokh — thus show-
ing that the agricultural community in the present generation are no wiser
than their fathers, who parted with the whole of their birth-right to the Lala
Babu for about the value of a single field.

85. Rdnera. — The muafidar, who is the son by adoption of his predecessor,
Shio-nath, resides in Mathara, and is the rent-free proprietor of another village
also, Ganesara, in the home pargana. Two mahals have now been formed, the
one of eight biswas with three lumberdars, the other of twelve with four ; each
including some part of the three thoks. Rami, Khadu, and Amu Jait. Of the
zamindari two and-a-half biswas have been acquired by the Bhat muafi lar, four
and-a-quarter by some Bohras, while the Gauruas retain the remaining thir-
teen and-a-quarter. Their ancestor, Bhiipal, was the founder of twenty-four
villages in the neighbourhood ; his brother, Tenpal, of twelve on the Ganges.
They were Sissodias from Chitor (the name of the village commemorating the
Chitor Rana), and their descendants have taken the distinctive title of Bachhal
only in consequence of their Guru having his seat at the Bachh-ban in Sehi.
The above information was gathered on the spot ; the original incorrect note
was based on the settlement papers, written in the Persian character, in which
Jay-pur and Chitor are absolutely identical in form — a fair illustration of the
utter unfitness of such a character for purposes of record. The school has an
attendance of fifty-one boys, of whom fourteen are the sons of the Thakur za-
raindars.

88. Eithora, probably for Ritha-pura, from the ritha tree. Hindus, when
mentioning the place, almost invariably add ' Chandravali ka ganw ;' Chandra-
vali being one of of Radha's favourite companions, who is said to have lived
there.

92. Sanket. — The temple of Radha Raman is in precisely the same style as
the one at Nand-ganw, though on rather a smaller scale. The exterior has an
imposing appearance, and is visible from a considerable distance, but there is
nothing worth seeing inside, the workmanship being of a clumsy description,
and the whole of the cloistered court-yard crowded with the meanest hovels.
There is, however, a pretty view from the top of the walls. The original shrine,
which Riip Ram restored, is ascribed to Todar Mall, Akbar's famous minister.
The httle temple of Bihari (otherwise called Sija Mahal), built by a Raja of
Bardwan, seems to be accounted much more sacred. It stands in a walled
garden, all overgrown with Mns jungle, in which is a high jkild with several
laithaks, and other holy spots marked by inscribed commemorative tablets set
up by one of Sindhia's Generals (as at Paitha and other places in the neigh-
bourhood) in Sambat 1885. It is here, on the occasion of anyjdtra, that the
spectacle of Krishna's marriage is represented as a scene in the Ras Lila. The
Krishan-kund is a large sheet of water, fifty yards square, with masonry

144 PARGANA CHHATa'.

steps ou one of its sides. In the village are three large and handsome dwell-
ing-houses, built in the reign of Suraj Mall, by one of his officials, Jauhari
Blall of Fatihabad, and said to have been reduced to their present ruinous con-
dition bj the succeeding occupant of the Bharat-pur throne, the Raja Jawahir
Sinh. The Vihvala-kund is a few hundred yards from the village on the road
to Karahla. It is of stone, and has on its margin a temple of Devi, built by a
Maharaja of Gwaliar.

The Doman-ban is within the boundaries of Nand-ganw, but is about the
same distance from that town as it is from Bijwari and Sanket. It is a very
pretty spot of the same character as Pisayo, and of considerable extent ; the
name being always explained to mean ' the double wood,' as if a corruption of do
van. At either extremity is a large pond embosomed in the trees, the one called
Puran-masi, ' the full moon,' the other Rundki jhundki, 'jingle jingle.' A few
fields beyond is the Kamal-pur grove.

95. Sehi. — Here is the tirtha of Bachh-ban, which in Part I., page 35, is
incorrectly placed at Basai.

Pargana Mathura.

83. Malwli. — The school has been closed. The so-called * Ban' is but a
bare and dreary spot fringed with a single line of kadamh trees. The adjoin-
ing tank, which swarms with snakes — not of a venomous description — is
enclosed with masonry walls and flights of steps, and let into one of the piers is
a tablet with a defaced inscription, bearing apparently the date Samhat 1702.
The work is said to have been repaired by the Mahratta Rani Baji Bai. The
temple on the margin is known by the title of Kuuwar Kalyan Rae, and adjoin-
ing it is a substantially-built Baithak, or rest-house, for the accommodation of
the Gosain on his annual visit in the month of Bhadon. On the other side of
the village, encircled by a belt of Mns jungle with a few remja and saliora
trees, is a steep hill, called Dhruva tila, covered with broken bricks ; and
in front of the Bairagi's cell, on its summit, I noticed (January, 1874) the
cross-bar of a Buddhist railing. From this point to the temple of Kesava Deva
in Mathura, the distance in a straight line across the fields can scarcely be much
more than two miles. Without any leading question on my part the villagers
repeated the tradition that the Jamuna used to flow immediately under the hill.
(See Part I., page 104).

115. Paitha. — The original temple of Chatur-bhuj is said to have been
destroyed by Aurangzeb. Its successor, which also is now in ruins, was pro-
bably built on the old foundations, as it comprised a nave, choir, and sacrarium,
each of the two latter cells being surmounted by a sikhara, and thus bore a
general resemblance to the temples of Akbar's reign at Brind^-ban. The

PARGANA MATHURA. 145

nave is unroofed, and both the towers partly demolished ; what remains per-
fect is only of brick, and quite plain and unornamented. It stands in the
kadamh-khandi (107 bighas), which spreads over the low ground at the foot of
the village Khera ; its deepest hollows forming the Narayan ISarovar, which is
only a succession of ponds with here and there a flight of masonry steps. The
Mahesar Mahadeva is in the Moha-ban on the road to Gobardhan close to Par-
soli. The school has an attendance of only twenty-five boys, fifteen of whom
are sons of the Brahman zamindars. There are three thoks, Jasua, Binayak,
and Gujaran ka ; and ten lumberdars, of whom one is a Gujar, the other nine
Sanadlis. The closely. adjoining Kliera, called Garhi, is a hamlet of Jangali
Bari.

118. Pali. — The date of Anang Pal, the re-builder of Delhi, and founder
of the Tomar dynasty at that city, is the first half of the eighth century,
736 A.D, The occurrence of his name here confirms a tradition mentioned
by General Cunningham, that his dominions extended as far south as Agra.

119. Pali Khera. — From a small mound immediately adjoining the village.
I have recently disinterred a solid block of red sand-stone, measuring four feet
in height by three feet four inches in breadth, and carved on either side with a
very curious Bacchanalian group, as described in the archaeological appendix.

123. Parson. — The absurd derivation of the name current on the spot, and
gravely entered in the Settlement records, is that Krishna, the third day after
he had slain the demon Kesi, met some of his friends here, who asked him what
day it was when the fight took place, and he answered Parson, ' the day before
yesterday.' The true explanation is suggested by a large pond, with the re-
mains of a kadamh-khandi adjoining it, which still bears the unmutilated name
of Parasuram-kund : Parsa being the ordinary abbreviation for Parasuram,
the transition is an easy one from Parsa-ganw through Parsaun to Parson.
On the margin of the pond is a temple of some size dedicated to Radha Mohan,
built by Girwar Das, Bairagi, at a cost of some Rs. 2,000, opened last year on
the feast of the Basant Panchami. In the village is an older shrine with the
title of Radha Raman, and on a small khera towards Mahroli are some massive
slabs of stone and sculptured fragments called Balbhadra. The Raja Prithi
Sinh, in addition to the rent-free estate, owns the zamindari also of nearly
eighteen biswas, the greater part of which was purchased at auction in the
year 1844. The muafi grant was made to his ancestor. Raja Bardh Sinh, in
1788 A. D., by Madho Rao Sindliia, for the maintenance of a dole-house at
Brinda-ban, to which purpose the revenue is still devoted. At the time of the
grant the jama was only Rs. 1,200 which has been gradually increased to
Rs. 7,040. The x\hivasis who now own only two biswas, represent themselves to
be the descendants of Kishan Ram, Dharm-jit, »Tay Ram, and Fatih Ram, the
sous of one Maha Das, who came from Sunrakh in the ninth century, in

146 PARGAKA MATHURA.

the reign of Raja Gangal of Amber. To tlieir piirohits, who were Vyds Brdh-
mans, they made a grant of one-fourth biswa, which their descendants still
enjoy. The Ahivasis are found also in Hathras and Mewat, and recognize as
many as seventy-two gots or sub-divisions among themselves. In Parson they
are all engaged in the salt trade, and leave the cultivation of the land almost
entirely to the women and children. Hence the only crops grown to any extent
are cham, bdjrd, and jodr, which require little or no irrigation. There are twen-
ty-seven masonry wells, and according to the census computation the village
contains as many as 121 brick-built houses; but this gives rather a false impres-
sion, being the number not of separate houses, but of separate sets of rooms.
The school has an attendance of forty-two boys, of whom exactly half are Ahi-
vasis.

125. P ho Jidar.— The old kherd of considerable height and extent is desert-
ed; but lying round about it are as many as nineteen hamlets named as follows:
Ajit, Bhuchha, Dariwara, Andhu-ka, Bhau, Garhi, Jarpa, Thakura, Sri Chand,
Dalsay, Gharu, Gola, Kharu, Hamla, Dabda, Sihado, Dham Bari, Dham Chhoti,
and Khana. There are eighteen lumberdars, of whom one is a Chaube, and all
the rest Juts.

151. Son. — As the kherd, or artificial hill on which the ■N'illage stands, is
of great height and area, it is very probable that at some remote period the
place was one of considerable importance, and (according to the tradition) the
capital of a Raja. It may plausibly be conjectured that Sonsa, Sonkh, and
Sonoth were also part of his ten'itory and named after him.

Sonkk. — The original foundation of the place is by local tradition connected
with Anaug Pal, the re-builder of Delhi (736 A. D.). The Sahjua and Purna
market-places are both in the Bazar. This lies immediately under the kherd,
which is crowned by the crumbKng walls and bastions of the old Fort. A
considerable amount of business is transacted every day of the week ; there
being as many as 200 baniyas' shops and almost enough local trade to justify
the incorporation of a Municipality. In Sahjua there are several extensive
orchards of mango and ber trees, with an octagonal stone chhattri (commemo-
rating the grandfiither of the present lumberdar), and three masonry wells of
exceptionally large dimensions ; all attesting the greater wealth and importance
of the Jat proprietors during the short period of the Bharat-pur Hegemony.
About a mile from the Bazar, just across the Bharat-pur border, at a place called
Gunsara, is a vei'y fine masonry tank, worthy of a visit from anyone in the neigh-
bourhood, being on the same scale and in much the same style as the Kusum-Sar-
ovar near Gobardhan. This was the work of the Rdni Lakshmi, the consort of
Raja Randhir Siidi, who also built the beautiful kiinj that bears her name on
the bank of the Jamuna at Brinda-ban. The tank was not quite completed at
the time of her death, and accordin 5: to native custom has never been touched

PARGANA MATHURA.

147

since. Adjoining it is an extensive walled garden overgrown with hhirni and
other trees that are sadlj in need of thinning. In the centre is an elaborately
carved stone plinth for a building that was designed but never executed.
Though the population of Sonkh exceeds 4,000, the school has an attendance
of no more than sixty pupils of whom only six are the sons of the Jat zamindars.
The five Fattis stand as follows : —

Name

Ajal
Ab5
Purna
Sahjua
Tasi ha

Total

Thoks,

Lumber-
dars.

Wells.

Popula-
tion.

4
2
2
2
3

2
6
2

4
S

7
6
15
2

195

380

1,104

2,017

415

4,111

The Ajal thoks are called Bhagmall,
Jagraj, Sirmaur, and Kunja.

Ase is now divided into two distinct
niahals.

The Purna thoks are named Kisana and
Isvar.

The Sahjua ; Biluchi and Bewal.

The Tasiha ; Tajj Urang, and Manohar.

Where the road branches off to Gobardhan is a towered temple of Mahadeva,
with a masonry tank of no great area but very considerable depth, which was
commenced twenty years ago by a Bairagi, Earn Das. It is now all but complet-
ed, after an outlay of Rs. 1,300, which he laboriously collected in small sums
from the people of the neighbourhood, with the exception of Rs. 200 or 300,
which were granted him from the balance of the Chaukidari fund. The avenue
of trees along the road between Sonkh and Gobardhan was almost entirely
planted by another Bairagi by name Salagram, who began the work out of a
donation made him by the deceased Raja of Bharat-pur on the birth of his son
and heir.

160. Unclid-gdnw. — The Kumud-ban is close to the seventh mile-stone on
the Sonkh road, which runs between it and the village. Its full extent is 282
bighas, but it is mostly karil jungle, with only in the centre a small thicket of
kadamb, pdpri, pasendu, chhonkar and sahora trees, none of them being of very
large growth. Adjoining it is an extensive pond with a hamlet of ten or twelve
houses, occupied by Jogis. A field or two off is a garden of the muafidar's with
an arched brick entrance gateway, and a small shrine of Mahadeva on a terrace
in the centre. The water has lately become so brackish, that the trees — chiefly
mango, jdman, and labera — are all being destroyed.

MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS.

r. — Abstract of Population, Area, and Resources.

PonvlnfAon

Iitcome

Tax lie-

turns {a) 1870-71.

Pargana

CM M .

^°^

c-g

-a

3
o

■2 £ S

a'i

Rs.

Ks.

Rs.

KoBi

65,274

8,534

73,808

97,301

1,51,996

330

8,08.1

Chhata

92,539

9051

101,590

160,433

115

1,77,876

251

5.8J4

Wathura

183,315

18,359

201,67 2

183,2:53

194

2,14,043

934

45,633

Mat

93,7 21

6,521

100,248

139,659

159

2,37,734

259

8,183

Malia-ban

136,430

7,5^3

143.955

151,h46

216

2,8S,808

389

13,876

Sadabad

100,381

7,924

108,3U5

115,498

131

2 86,526

245

9,462

Jalesar

141,335

16,433

157,775

183,592

203

3,04,167

438

23,121

Total ...

812,995

74,347

887.353

1,031,562

1,048

16,61,150

2,846

1,14,204

63,431

Tlie population of the four municipalities is as follows : —
Mathura

Including the City propei* ... ... ... 54,331

The Sadr Bazar ... ... ... 4,509

Regimental Bazar ... ... ... 1,764

Civil Lines and Cantonments, ... ... 1,285

Part of Jaysinh-pura ... ... 625

Part of Hans-ganj .». ... ... 917

Brindd-ban

Jalesar

Kosi

(a ) No person was taxed whose annual profits were less than Re. 500.

(b.) The census papers, as added np in the Tahsilis, gave the general results as follows!
Hindus, 816,870; Muhammadaus, 76,649 ; Christians, 23 : Total, 8,92,542.

63,431

. 21,004

. 14,902

. 12,770

CASTE RETUENS.

IT. — Caste Returns, AccoRDtNa to the Census of 1872.

149

Brahman ...

148,762

Ghosi

5,907

Nai

17,183

Baniya

70,100

Gujar

2,045

Nat

252

Thkur

52,822

Harbhura ...

271

Nonera

554

Agari (?) ...

JaTighara ...

1,367

Aheri ya

953

Jat

141,073

Patwa

193

Abir

16,487

Jotishi

151

Eadha (?) ...

130

Badhak ...

Julaha

Rann-rez ...

Banjara

1,149

Kachhi

10,106

Rewari

877

Bartri

395

Kabar ...

10,468

Saikal-gar ...

Barhai

18,411

KakU

725

Sliisha-gar...

Bari

193

Kaiijar

425

Singhariya,

278

Basur (?) ...

Kavath ...

5,062

Sonar

5,103

Bathal (?) ...

Khatik

5,933

Taga

Bhangi

14,936

Khattri

1,443

Tamboli ...

500

Bhar-bhunja,

1,288

Kori

23,060

Taw^if

Bhat

2,353

Kumhar

12,291

Teli

3,304
355

Bhninhar ...

Kurmi

2,027

Thathera ...

Bishnavi ...

Lakhera ...

Turha

Bulai (?) ...

Lodlia

10,183

Bairagi

12,103

Chamar

138,123

Lobar

3.501

Gosaiu

524

Chhipi ...

1,486

Mahiijan ...

1,195

Jogi

4,618

Chobdar ...

212

Miniar

772

Sadh _ ...

119

Dakaut

105

MaH

7,580

San jogi

Darzi

4,596

Makakana ...

110

Sarlihangi ...

145

Dhaiiuk

457

Mallah ...

5,633

Bangali

510

Dhobi . ...

8,161

Manihar

556

Mina

212

Dhunia

4,827

Mirasi

Ujjaini

Dom

156

Mochi

351

Pahari

Garariya ...

20,873

Murai (?) ...

J 00

Musahnans,

74,347

Gma("?) ...

Musdhar ...

286

la the above list there are some names of obscure castes which I have beea
nnable to identify. The Malakanas, who are a very numerous class, formino- al-
most the entire population of many considerable villages, are strangely represent-
ed as only 110 in number. The vast majority must have been included under
the general name of Muhammadans. The same remark probably applies also
to the Rangrez or 'dyer' class : and the morality of the district, it may be feared
is not so high as to render 94 even an approximately correct estimate of the
number of professional prostitutes (taicaif) 34 of whom, oddly enough, are repre-
sented as males. No mention is made of the pseudo-Brahmanical Ahivasis
nor of the Mathuriya Chaubes, and it does not appear under what head they are
grouped. It may further be noted that the Dhiisars, ranked with Baniyas and
put at 112 only, must be greatly under-rated ; and with regard to the Thakurs
a large proportion of them would more properly be designated as Gauruas.
The Trades' List for the city of Mathura is also curiously defective, at least in

160

CASTE RETURNS.

one respect ; since it entirely omits stone-masons; though they ftr:n a numer-
ous community, and in fact stone-carving is the great speciahty of the place.
These remarks are not intended as captious criticisms on the performance of a
task which must have been one of exceeding difficulty, but rather as notes to
be remembered hereafter, when the census is again taken, and a comparison
instituted between it and previous returns.

III. — Towns administered under Act XX,

ot' 1856.

No.

Name.

Popula-

No. of'

Houses

Ordinary

Cost of

tion.

houses.

assessed.

Income.

Police.

Rs.

Kamar

4,243

991

919

714

450

Chhata

6,720

1,631

1,250

1,570

930

Shergarh

5,305

1,266

790

1,100

690

Sahar

4,187

942

758

770

480

Gobardhan

5,689

1,414

1,400

1,927

1,392

Sonkh

4,111

682

570

595

336

Mat

4,746

1,088

711

631

480

Raya

2,925

639

632

720

336

Maha-ban

6,930

1,949

1,037

1,378

912

Gokul

4,245

1,315

981

1,200

834

Baladeva

3,378

988

552

960

642

Sa'dabad

3,934

908

570

450

432

Salipau

4,615

1,042

736

448

384

Awa

5,584

1,110

503

460

384

IV. — Metalled High Roads.

Agra and Delhi, road ; from Kotban (north) to Aurangabad

(south.)
Mathura and Bharat-pur road ; to the border at Rasul-pur ...
Mathura and Hathras road ; to Sonai on the Aligarh border ...
Agra and Hathras road: passing through Sadabad ...
Mathura and Dig road; to Ganthauli on the Bharat-pur border,
Mathura to Brinda-ban
Chliata to Shergarh
Mathura to Jalesar

Branch road to Aligarh; from the Hathras road
Eta and Agra road ; from Awa to Umar-garh

Miles.

40^

14|

41i

H
12

176

ROADS. 151

The East Indian Railway cuts across the Sa'dabdd and Jalesar Parganas, with
one Station in each, viz., Manik-pur (officially styled Jalesar Road) and Barhan.
Both, however, are little used either for goods or passenger traffic by the people
of the district who ordinarily find Hathras and Aligarb more convenient.
There is no made road, either metalled or unmetalled, any wliere near Barhan.

V. — Principal Unmetalled Roads.

No.

Miles.

Matlmra (Dig Darwuza) to Sonkh

Chhatato Gobardhan...

JaittoSahar

Jait to Shergarh

Kosi to 8hergarh and on to Nob-jhil across the river

Raya to Baladeva

Jalesar to Awa

Jalesar and Sikandra Rao road ...

Jalesar and Hathras road ... ... ^ ...

Jait to Brinda-ban

115A

For the maintenance and repair of these roads an annual allotment is made
at the rate of Rs. 25 per mile.

VI. — Second-class Unmetalled Roads.

No.

1. In Kosi Fargana :

Miles.

Kosi to Dham-Sitiha (towards Sahar)

Ditto Jan (towards Nand-ganw) ...

Ditto Gindoi ( towards Kain-ba n in Bharat-pur ) . . .

Ditto l^^anchauli

Ditto Kamar

Ditto Lal-pur (towards Punahana in Gur-ganw)..

Ditto Sessai

Ditto Ainch

lOi

Ditto Majhoi

Ditto Shdh-pur

77|

2. In Chhdtd Pargana :

Sher-garh to Bahta Ferry

Dig and Kosi road ; by Sahar and Bhadaval

Mathura and Kamar road ; from Pelkhu to Uncha-ganw

Clihata to Barsana

Chaumuba to Siyara Fei'ry

••

152

No.

3. In Matliurd Pargana :

Miles.

Aring to Soukli

...

Ditto towards Agra

... ...

Aurangabad to Mukund-pur

...

Brinda-ban to Gobardhan

...

12*

Mathura tliroiigh Ral to Sahar

...

Sonkh to Gobardhan

...

Ditto towards Agra
4. In Mat Pargana :

()

531

Noli-jbil to Kesi Ghat, Brinda-ban ...

Mat towards Beswa in Aligarh

...

Ditto Raya

... ,,,

Noh-jhil to Bajana

...

Akbar-pur to Khaira on Aligarh border

...

Bajana to Pitaura (on Noh-jhil and Brinda-ban

road)

Surir towards Beswa

...

Ditto to Bahta Ferry

... •••

Ditto Siyiira Ferry
5. — In Mahd-han Pargana :

Baladeva to Sohat Ferry ...

...

Gokul to Maha- ban

...

Hataura to Bhartiya (towards Khandauli)

...

Maha-ban to Koila Ferry

Ditto to Brahnianda Ghdt

...

Ditto to Basai Habib-pur Ferry...

...

Raya towards Mat

...

Pontoon Bridge through Raval to Sarae Ddud
G. — In Sa'dabdd Pargana :

551

Manik-pur Railway Station to Nagara Salim

...

Sa'dabad to Bahddur-pur...

...

Ditto to Mandaur

...

Ditto to Pi para Mai ...

.«• •»•

Ditto to Sikara

SECOND-CLASS UNMETALLED ROADS.

153

No.

7. — In Jalesar Pargana :

Miles.

Jalesar towards Firozabad in the Agra District ...

Ditto to Umar-garh

Ditto to Pilkathra

Ditto towards Hathras ...

...

Ditto to Noh-khera

Ditto to Aliaran

Ditto and Khanda Road

Aliaran to Barlian Railway Station ..

Noh-khera to Awa

Umar-garh to Aharan

Pilkathra to Noh-khera ...

For the maintenance and repair of these roads, amounting in all to 414f
miles, an annual allotment is made at the rate of Rs. 5 per mile.

VII. — Distance of Principal Towns from the City of Mathura.

Awa ...

.. 55 miles.

Chhata ...

miles.

Maha-ban

... 6 miles.

Aring...

.. n

Gobardhan..

13i

Sa'dabad

...26

Baladeva

.. 11

Jalesar

Sahar

... 15

Brinda-ban

.. 6

Kosi

25i

Sher-garh

... 21

))

VIII. — Bridges and Ferries.

The total income is thus Rs. 52,031, from which, however, a district allot-
ment is made of only Rs. 16,000 or Rs. 17,000 a year.

154

POLICE STATIONS ; POST-OFFICES ; MARKET-TOWNS.

IX.— Police Stations.
The Kotwali : the Sadr Bazar

Bharat-pur Road and

Auranofabad : Brinda-ban : Gobar-

l.—In the City.
Brinda-ban Road.

2. — In Mathurd Pargana : Ar{nq . _ .

dhan ; Jait ; Rasiil-pur and Sonkh.

3. — In Chhdtd Pargana : Barsana ; Chhata ; Sahar and Shergarh.

4.^/n the Kosi Pargana : Kosi and Majhoi.

5. — In the Mat Pargana : Mat ; NoH-Jnfii ; Surir ; and Bajana outpost.

6. — hi the Mahd-han Pargana : Baladeva ; Hansganj outpost ; Maha-ban ;
Eaya ; and Sonai outpost.

7. — In the Sa'dahdd Pargana : Sa'dabad ; Sahpau ; and Gigla outpost.

8. — In the Jalesar Pargana : Aharan ; Aiwa ; Jalesar ; Noh-khcra out-
post and Umar-garh.

The Force consists of one European and three Native Inspectors, 15 Sub-
Inspectors, 86 Head Constables, and 372 Rank and File, under the control of
the District Superintendent. At each of the places printed in capitals there is
a Sub-Inspector ; at the other Stations two Head Constables, and at the out-
posts one. There are also 11 Sawars : two at Chhata, two at Raya, two at
Sa'dabad and the remaining five, together with three Camel-Sawars, in the Lines.

X. — Post- Offices.
Mathura ; Brinda-ban ; Chhata ; Jalesar Railway Station, and

Jalesar ; Maha-ban ; Mat ; Noh-

Imperial .
Kosi.

Branch : Aring ; A:\va ; Gobardhan
jhil ; Raya ; Sa'dabad, and Sahar.

District : Aharan ; Baladeva ; Barsana ; Jait ; Majhoi ; Noh-khera ; Rasiil-
pur ; Sahpau ; Sher-garh ; Sonkh ; Surir, and Umar-garh.

At the Branch offices there is a Deputy Post-master ; at the District offices
only a Muharrir, who draws his pay from the District Dak Fund.

XL— Market Towns.

Pargana.

Town.

Day.

Kosi

Ditto ...
Chhata ...

Ditto ...

Ditto

Ditto ...

Ditto ....

Kosi

Shah-pur...
Chhata ...
Chaumuha
Khaira ...
Sahar ...
Shergarh...
Taroli "...

Tuesday and Wednesday.

Monday.

Friday.

Tuesday.

Saturday.

Wednesday.

Thursday.

Monday.

MARKET-TOWNS.

155

Pargana.

Town.

Mathura ...

Aring

Ditto ...

Aurangabad

Ditto ...

Bachh-ganw

Ditto ...

Brindd-ban

Ditto ...

Kosi (Little)

Ditto ...

Mangotla...

Ditto ...

Piirna

Ditto ...

Sahjua

Ditto ...

Sakitra ..

Mat

Arua

Ditto ...

Bajana ...

Ditto ...

Barauth ...

Ditto ...

Bhadanwara

Ditto ...

Harnaul ...

Ditto ...

Jawara ...

Ditto ...

Karahri ...

Ditto ...

Kaulahar...

Ditto ...

Lohi

Ditto ...

Mat

Ditto ...

Muin-ud-din-pur

Ditto ...

Navali ...

Ditto ...

Noh-jhil ...

Ditto ...

Pal-khera

Ditto ...

Shankar Grarhi

Ditto ...

Sikandar-pur

Ditto ..

Surir

Maha-ban;..

Akos

Ditto ...

Anaundha

Ditto ...

Ayra Khera

Ditto ...

Baroli .'..

Ditto ...

Bbartiya ...

Ditto ...

Bhura

Ditto ... ■ ...

Diwana ...

Ditto ...

Garsauli ...

Ditto ...

Jngsuna ...

Ditto ...

Kanjauli ...

Ditto ...

Karab

Ditto ...

Nagara Gokharauli ...

Ditto ...

Pacha var...

Ditto ...

Raya

Ditto ...

Sahora

Ditto ...

Sarae Daud

Ditto ...

Sonai

Ditto ...

Wairani ...

Sa'dabad...

Kvti

Ditto ...

Bahardoi ...

Ditto ...

Bisawar ...

Day.

Sunday.

Friday.

Saturday.

Tuesday.

Friday.

Thursday.

Monday.

Thursday.

Saturday.

Monday and Friday.

Thursday and Saturday.

Thursday.

Friday.

Sunday.

Monday and Friday.

Tuesday and Friday.

Tuesday.

Saturday.

Thursday.

Sunday.

Ditto.
Friday.
Monday.

Ditto.
Wednesday.
Monday.

Ditto.
Tuesday and Saturday.
Wednesday and Saturday.
Tuesday and Saturday.
Monday.

Ditto.
Saturday.

Tuesday and Saturday.
Wednesday.

Ditto.
Thursday.
Tuesday.
Sunday.

Monday and Friday.
Wednesday.
Thursday.

Sunday and Wednesday.
Tuesday and Saturday.
Monday and Thursday.
Sunday.
Friday.

156

MARKET-TOWNS.

Pargana.

Town.

Day.

Sa'dabaJ ...

Hasanpur Bam

Saturday.

Ditto ...

Jaru

Monday and Friday.

Ditto ...

Jatoi

Monday.

Ditto ...

Kajarothi

Wednesday and Saturday.

Ditto ...

Kursauda

Sunday.

Ditto ...

Mahrara ...

Monday and Friday.

Ditto ...

Mai

Wednesday.

Ditto ...

Mangru ...

Friday.

Ditto ...

Nasir-pur...

Thursday.

Ditto ...

Nauoama

Sunday and Wednesday.

Ditto ...

Patt'i Bahram

Friday.

Ditto ...

Sa'daMd ...

Tuesday and Saturday.

Ditto ...

Sahpau ...

Sunday and Wednesday.

Ditto ...

Salimpur...

Sunday.

Ditto ...

Susahan ... ..-

Monday.

Ditto ..

Tasigan ...

Tuesday.

Ditto ...

Udhaina ...

Wednesday.

Jalesar ,..

Aliaran ...

Sunday and Thursday.

Ditto ...

K^ya,

Sunday and Tuesday.

Ditto ...

Badan-pur Kunjmallpur,

Tuesday.

Ditto ..>

Barhan ...

Monday and Friday.

Ditto ...

Bora (Great)

Sunday and Thursday.

Ditto ...

Clnirthara...

Wednesday.

Ditto ...

Daiilat-pur Gilola

Saturday.

Ditto ...

Jalesar ...

...

Ditto ...

Kaprai

Wednesday.

Ditto ...

K hand a ...

Tuesday and Saturday.

Ditto ...

Mai

Wednesday.

Ditto ...

Mandan-pitr

Ditto.

Ditto ...

Mauzam-pur

Ditto.

Ditto ...

Nahrora ...

Tliursday and Saturday.

Ditto ...

Pilkathra...

Sunday.

Ditto ...

Punliera ...

Wednesday and Friday.

Ditto ...

Rejua

Friday.

Ditto ...

Sakroli ...

Sunday and Wednesday.

Ditto ...

Sautliai Nabi-piir

Wednesday.

Jitto ...

tSarae Nim

Monday and Friday.

Ditto ...

Sluihuagar Tiinrua

Friday.

Ditto ...

N agar a Arjun

Saturday.

Ditto ...

Shaikhu-ijur Raj mall...

Wednesday and Saturday-

Ditto ...

Tehu ...

Wednesday.

Ditto ...

Umar-garh

Sunday and Thursday.

Ditto ...

Unclia-ganw

Ditto ditto.

The singular lack of village markets in the Kosi Pargana admits of easy
explanation. There the one great central mart is so exceptionally well placed,
in the very centre of the Pargana, on an important high road, and with as

REST-HOUSES AND EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS.

157

many as eleven branch roads radiating from it in different directions, that
almost every householder in the whole of the pargana is enabled to resort to it
for his ordinary weekly purchases, without any inconvenience and with much
benefit as regards the choice and quality of goods.

XII. — Rest Houses.
( Arailahle for the occasional use of District Officers and others.)

Place.

Description.

Place.

Description.

Akbar-pur ...
Basonthi
Bhadaval ...
Chhata
Gobardhan...

Canal Bungalow.
Canal Kothi.

Ditto.
Road Bungalow.
Maharaja of Bharat-

Kosi

Kosi (Little,)

Mathura ...

Ditto
Paiganw ...

Municipal Bungalow.
Canal Kothi.
Dak Bungalow (public.)
Sessions Bungalow.
Canal Bungalow.

Jait

Jalesar
A wa

pur's House.
Upper story of Po- J

lice Station. (
Municipal Office.
Raja of Awa's House.

Pilkathra ...
Sa'dabad ...

Ditto
Sahar

Canal Kothi.
The Kunwar Ji's House.
Road Bungalow.
Old Tahsili.

XIIL

— Educational.

Number of
pupils.

Income.

Charges.

Class of School.

3 "

.s-s

■3

1
S

a
1

•s

Ks.

Rs.

R,s.

R.S

Rs.

High School ..,

219

lo' 229

16-

5,830

907

6.737

5,P58

136

307

6,102

^ f Aided Anglo

2 91

720

176

720

1,616

1,342

...

150

1,492

5 Ternacular.
»J 1 Tahsili and

111

4 115

250

335

293

320

^ j Town (supe-
S1 rior.)

g Halkabandi

257

21 278 213

257

...

205

462

410

5!>

462

^ 1 (superior.)
•^ (^Unaided native

120

1,640

205 1,845, 976

...

6,519

...

6,519

...

6.519

f Tahsili and

516

73 589 426

2,140

675

2,828

2,023

130

196

2,349

Town (infe

Tior.;

Halkabandi

;33

4,971

104 5,163 3,891

8,491

...

8,102

16,593

11,866 6.35

299 12.801

(lufenor.)

1 j

Female (Go-

424

55I 479 386

1,543

1,468

fin

1,542

vernment.)

Female (aided)

...

180

157

180

Unaided na-
. tive.

280

290

172

...

432

393

...

432

Total ...

297

8,551

574

9,124

6,387

19,315

8,740

9,190

37,245

25,129

988

1,080

27,197

158

EDUCATIONAL.

2.—

Distribution of Schools.

t-*

■y:

r=3

• C

Pargana.

> m

L/J

v,i

o ^

f-' ja

'V -a

-s

1^^

'T3

c=<

Kosi

ChMtk

...

Mathura

Mat

Maha-ban ...

Sa'dabad ...

Jalesar

...

13
120

Total ..

136

297

After all that can be urged as to tlie want of discipline, the faultiness of
the toxt-books, and the singulai-lj illiterate habits and defective training of the
teachers, it must still be admitted that the village schools are little, if at all,
inferior to any institutions of a similar character that existed in England even
so recently as the beginning of the present century. , The object with which they
have been established is often, however, greatly misunderstood, both by the
people and also the subordinate officers of the Department. The aim, as I con-
ceive it, should be, not to impart either very advanced or very technical instruc-
tion, and thus create a horde of applicants for Government employ, many of whom
must be unsuccessful ; but simply to afford the rising generation of the agricultu-
ral community as much mathematical and literary knowledge as will protect them
from fraud, enable them to speak, read, and write their own mother-tongue with
ease and precision, and develope a generally intelligent frame of mind, which,
far from rendering them discontented with their natural sphere of life^ will
rather bind them to it by exhibiting its wider interests and capabilities.

This amount of education would amply satisfy the requirements of the great
mass of the people ; and it is only when a boy displays exceptional ability in
some particular line that he should be encouraged to develope it by a higher
course of study. The cry that is being raised by certain utilitarians for the
general establishment of practical schools of art and design is greatly to be de-
precated. The ordinary level of art-feeling is already much higher in India
than it is in England ; and in almost every large town there is some special
manufacture (as for example at Mathura the art of the stone-mason) which

SCHOOLS: INDIGENOUS TREES. 159

would inevitably be vulgarized and destroyed by our interference. Excepting
only purely utilitarian works, such as bridges, the buildings erected on behalf
of the Government by trained EngHsh Engineers arc a most humiliating spec-
tacle when contrasted with the performances of the co nmonntive mason paid
at the rate of five anas a day. He evolves an infinite variety of the most grace-
ful and intricate decorative designs with little or no apparent effort ; and even
when his work is of the plainest, it almost invariably displays that architectural
propriety and readiness in the adaptation of local materials which most distin-
guish true from false art.

One most unfortunate defect in the existing system deserves to be noted ;
as the schools were primarily intended for the benefit of the agriculturist, it is
he only who is taxed for their support. Hence has arisen an anomaly that
could never have been contemplated. The poorest section of the community
and the one which has the most special claim upon the Government, is sino-led
out for a burden from which a richer and less deserving class is exempted. And
not only so, for while the farmer's son is mostly out in the fields with his father's
cattle, and makes little use of the school, the rich, who do use it pay nothino- for
the privilege. Nor is this the only matter in which the tiller of the soil is un-
duly weighted in his up-hill race against the Baniya. Though he never writes
a letter, never leaves his own village, and has no property that can be stolen
beyond the crops which he stays out in the fields all night himself to protect ; still it
is he that pays for the district post, the district roads, and the village watchmen ;
while the Bazar shop-keeper, who makes a liberal use of one and all of these
institutions, has them presented to him as a free gift by his less fortunate neio-h-
bours. And the same policy has now been still further developed by the institu-
tion of Free Schools in the Municipal towns, being the places where tradespeople
most congregate. These schools are purely experimental and have only been in
existence for about a year. It is therefore premature to pronounce definitely upon
their failure or success ; but probably their object would be equally well obtained
by the admission of a limited number of Free scholars into the Tahsili schools.

XIV. — List of Trees.
( That are indigenous to, or thrive well in, Western Mathurd.)
Akol (for Sanskrit anhola) Alangium (?) a tree with yellow flower found
in the Konai rakhyd.

* Amaltas, Cassia fistula.

* Amla, Emblica officinalis. The name (Sanskrit amla, Latin atnarus) refers
to the sourness of the fruit.

Anjan-rukh, Hardwickia Binata (?) found at Charan-Pahar.
Arni, Clerodendron Phlomoides ^ in flower and habit resembling the
honeysuckle.

160 INDIGENOUS TREES.

* AsoK, Jonesia asoca.
Babul, Acacia Arabica.
Bakatan, Melia semper-virens.
Bar, Ficus Bengalensis.

Bakna, (for Sanskrit varana) Cratoeva niirvala.

* Bel, (for Sanskrit vilva) Mgle Marmelos.
Ber, (for Sanskrit badara ) Zizyphus jujuba.

* Champa, Micbelia cbampaka.

Chhonkar, Prosopis spicigera ^a tree that in general appearance closely
resembles the Eemja, only without the russet seed-pods that distinguish the
latter.

Dhak, (for Sanskrit dagdha, 'on fire') Butea frondosa.

Dho, (for Sanskrit dhava) Conocarpus latifolius (?) at Barsana.

DuNGAR, another name for the PiLU. /A^-^-^^ i .."c^^-.-i^/ ,

Far AS, Tamarix Indica.

GoNDi, Cordia angustifolia, a good furniture wood ; at Barsana.

GuLAR, Ficus racemosa.

HiNGOT, Balanites Egyptiaca, at Charan-Pahar and Kokila-ban.

HiNS, a very strong, thorny creeper.- t^^'^Aa-U-f 'f<^t-au.^ .

Imli, Tamarindus Indica.

* Jaman, Syzygium Jambolanum.

Jhau, Tamarix dioica; a dwarf variety of the Faras, which springs up after
the rains on hhddar land, and forms a dense jungle.
Kachnar, Bavihinia variegata.
Kadamb, Nauclea Kadamba.
Karil, (for Sanskrit karira) Capparis aphylla.
Khajur, (for Sanskrit kharj-dra) Phoenix sylvestris.

* Khirni, (for Sanskrit ksMrini, 'the milky') Mimusops Kauki.
KiKAR, another name for the bahil.

Labera and Lasora, cordia myxa and latifolia.
Mahua, (for Sanskrit madhnha) Bassia latifolia.

* Malsuri, Mimusops elengi.

Nfivi, (for Sanskrit nimha) Melia azaddirachta.

NfM Chambeli, Millingtonia hortensis.

Papri, Holoptolia integrifolia ^

Pasendu, Diospyros cordifolia (^ aBr®TOi»rw« tree with very dense foliage
and a small round yellow fruit that ripens in February, and consists of nothing
but rind and wedge-shaped stones.

PfLU, Salvadora persica ^

PiLUKHAN, with leaf like the pipal, and fruit like the giilar : found at Konai
and Kokila-ban: ,-^l*»-.- ^-r:^' .-^'^ .

BUILDING MATERIALS. 161

PfpAL, Ficus Reli'triosa.

Remja, Acacia Farnesiana.

Ritha, Sapindus detergens ; found at Satoha; -a ^^*«^^'- ^^^^r -

Sahajna, Hyperanthera Morunga; ^ .>«-, ***^ -^ ^ *

Sahora, Epicarpurus Orientalis (?)

Shah-tut, Morus Indica.

81RIS, (for Sanskrit sirisha) Acacia speciosa.
Note. — The trees marked* are found only in gardens; the others grow wild.
The botanical names marked with a query are very conjectural.

XV.— Note on Building Materials.^

A kind of bastard sandstone, fit for building purposes, is procurable at
two places on the western border of the district, viz., Barsana and Nand-
gknw. Except on the spot and immediate neighbourhood, this stone is not
much used, and the slight demand probably explains the fact of its never
being properly quarried, the usual method being to fracture the large blocks
that are lying about on the surface into handy and portable pieces. The
Canal Officers are collecting it for the bridges and other works that are to be
built on the Agra Canal. The same kind of stone is to be found at Gobardhan,
but the Hindus consider every chip sacred, and will not allow any of it
to be utilized. The cost of the stone depends very much on the distance
from the quarry to the site of work. It can be quarried at Rs. 1-8-0 to Rs. 2
the 100 cubic feet. The carriage costs from 12 anas to He. 1 the 100 cubic
feet per mile.

Sandstone from the Rupbas and other quarries in the Bharat-pur territoiy
is largely employed in the towns of Mathura, Brinda-ban, Gobardhan, and
Gokul, and costs on an average Hs. 45 per 100 man.

Bricks can be made in every part of the district : the clay needs but little
working and tempering to ensure its burning of a good colour. The native
Pazawa is the usual description of kiln in which the bricks are burned with
cow -dung or other refuse as fuel. The brick burners are well up to their
business. Bricks of small dimensions, 5 + 3 -f- 1 inch, and 7x4x1^ inch, are
most generally made : the expenditure of fuel not being so large as is necessary
for bigger bricks, and successful burning being more certain. Hence it is
only when bricks are wanted for Government purposes that the large size are
made. The small country bricks (lahhauri or <\J at hard- bad,) sell at from Rs. 55
to Rs. 120 per lakh, delivered. The Government sizes at Rs. 550 to Rs. 750
per lakh at kiln. Carriage to site costs from 12 anas to Re. 1 the thousand,
per mile.

^ Communicated by Mr. C. G. Hind, District Engineer.

162 BUILDING MATERIALS.

Wood is scarce all over the district ; there is no timber wood, and all we
have may be classed as fuel, which dry and cut into billets sells at 2^ to 3 tnan
the rupee. Wood is not used as a fuel for burning lime, bricks, &c,, being too
expensive and difficult to pi'ocure in large quantities.

There is no real Ihne-stone found in the district. Kaiikar, a variety of lime-
stone, is generally used for making lime, and forms an excellent hard -setting,
strong lime, if carefully managed. Kaukar when required for lime, after being
excavated, is spread out for exposure to air and sun for two or three days pre-
paratory to cleaning and freeing it of clay, sand, &c., which is done by beating
the kankar with short sticks and screening it by throwing it on frames woven
withmunj, ban, or sutli, verj' often a native charpae is used. The modus operandi
with the kiln is as follows : a bed is laid, about one foot deep, of upla {i. e., dried
cow dung) in a circular form : the dimensions depending on the quantity of lime to
be prepared ; a thick bamboo or straight limb of a tree is set upright in the centre
to form the firing hole : the packing of the kiln then goes on in alternate layer.s
of kaukar and upla, each layer decreasing in diameter till it takes the form (>f
a cone. The kiln is then well covered in with broken up upla and upla-dust
beaten lightly. The kiln is now ready for firing, the bamboo is withdrawn and
fire thrown in so that the burning begins fron the bottom and middle right up
the cone. While the kiln is burning care must be taken to prevent the flame from
bursting out. In opening the kiln, the lime must be removed layer by layer
otherwise the upla-ash gets mixed with the burnt kankar. The upla sliould bo
laid in the kiln unbroken ; when this is attended to, the ash can be easily
removed, as it keeps its form of a pat and docs not crumble. The cost of tlio
lime depends on the distance the kankar and fuel have to be brought, and varies
from Rs. 6 to Ks. 11 the hundred cubic feet.

Kankar is abundant all over the district, but there is a great difference in
the quality of what is got east and west of tie Janmna. That from the ea^t
is larger, harder, good ashy blue in colour, and in thicker strata. That found
westward is small, soft, somewhat disintegrated, and light in colour ; the quar-
ries are poor, too. Block kankar is found in tSa'dabad and Jalesar Parganas and
is well adapted for masonry. The best kankar is found round about Jalesar.
The cost of kankar averages Rs. 3-4-0 stacked on the road, and of metalling a mile
twelve feet wide and six inches deep Rs. 1 ,350.

Tiles are made of small size. The lock tiles arc made on a chak or wheel
in a cylindrical form and cut in two with wires. The pantiles are rolled out
in tempered clay and cut to size according to wooden templates, the sides being
turned up against templates of less width; neither the lock nor pantiles are
neatly made. Tiles are not much used ; chiefly because they are so liable to be
damaged by the monkeys. The i)oorcr dwellings are roofed with thatch, and the
larger houses have flat roofs. The cost of tiles is from Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 the thousand.

BUILDING MATERIALS. 163

Grass for thatching is plentiful, both gdndar and sarpata; cost, Es. 3 to
Rs. 10 the thousand bundles, or p^las, according to the size of the pula and
length of the orass.

APPENDIX A.

CASTE : ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT.

Indian caste is ordinarily regarded as an institution sui generis, which must
be accepted as a potent social influence, but cannot be explained either by
parallel facts in other countries or by an enquiry into its own development,
since that is buried in the depths of pre-historic antiquity. Such an opinion is not
altogether well-founded for — whatever may be thouglit as to the similarity be-
tween the restrictions imposed by caste in India and by other artificial contri-
vances in Europe — it is certain that, though the broadly-marked separation of
the Brahman from the Tliakur dates from an extremely remote period, the forma-
tion of subordinate castes is a process which continues in full operation to the
present day and admits of direct observation in all its stages. The course of
Indian tradition is, to all appearance, unbroken, and until some breach of con-
tinuity is clearly proved, the modern practice must be acknowledged as the
legitimate develojjment of the primary idea.

It is nothing strange that the Hindus themselves should fail to give any
reasonable exi^lanation of the matter ; since not only are they restricted by
religious dogma, but every society is naturally as blind to the phenomena of its
own existence as the individual man is unconscious of his daily physical growth.
On the other hand, European outsiders, who might be expected to record simple
facts with the accuracy of impartial observers, are misled by the prejudices
which they have inherited from the early investigators of Oi'iental literature.

The Code of Manu was among the first, if not the very first, Sanskrit
didactic Avork of any importance made known to the world at large throuo-h
the medium of a translation. At that time it was unhesitatingly accepted as
the ultimate authority on all the subjects of which it treated, and hence the
fuur-fuld division of Hindu society into Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya, and
Sudra was universally recognized as an absolute fact. The later discovery
of the Vedas, and the vast reach of antiquity which opened out upon their in-
terpretation, made the Manava Dharma Sastra appear a comparatively modern
production. Thus the explanations, which it gives of phenomena datino- back
in their origin to the remotest past, can only be regarded as theories, not as
positive verities ; while, again, the vast range of later Sanskrit literature which
has now become available to the student afl:brds a test of its accm-acy in the
descriptions which it gives of contemporary society. Impartially judged by
either standard, the authority of the Code will be found materially shaken. Its
theories of origin are as devoid of Yedic confirmation as its pictm-es of existent

164 INDIAN CASTE.

society are irreconcilable with the testimony of all independent literature,
whatever the age in which it was produced. If such a clearly defined four-
fold division ever existed, how happens it that one-half of the division remains
in full force to the present day while the other moietj^ has sunk into absolute
oblivion ? The Brahmanical order is still a living entity, and the Kshatriyais
adequately represented in modern speech by the word Tluii^ur or Rajput,
while the Vaisya and Sudra have so completely disappeared — both in name and
fact— that an unlettered Hindu will neither understand the words when he
hears them nor recogniz(i the classes implied when their meaning is exj)lained
to him.

And not only is this the case in the present day, but it ajpoars to have
been so all along. In the great epic ])ooms, in the dramas, and the whole
range of miscellaneous literature, the sacerdotal and military classes are every-
where recognized, and mention of them crops up involuntarih- in every familiar
narrative. But with the Vaisya and Siidra it is far different. These words
(I speak under correction) never occur as caste names, except with deliberate
reference to the Manava Code. They might be exjmnged both from the Eam-
^yana and the Maluibhiirat without imparing the integrity of either composition.
Only a few moral discourses, which are unquestionably late Brahmanical
interpolations, and one entire episodiacal narrative, would have to be sacrificed :
the poem in all essentials woukl be left intact. But shoukl we proceed in the
same way to strike out the Brahman and the Kshatriya, the whole framework
of the poem would immediately collapse. There is abundant mention of Dhi-
vars and Napitas, Sutradharas and Kumbhakaras, Mahajanas and Banijes,
but no comprehension of them all under two heads in the same familiar way
that all chieftains are Kshat.-iyas, and all priests and litterateurs Brahmans.

It is also noteworthy that Manu, in his 12th book, where he classifies gods
and men according to their quality (gnna), omits the Vaisya altogether ; and,
a-^ain, in the Adi Parvan of the Mahabharat (v. 3139) we read —

IBrahma-Ksliatradayas tasuiad Manor jatas tu maiiavah,
Tato 'bhavad, Maharaja, Brahma Kshattreua sangatain

From which it is clear that the writer recognized a definite connection between
the Brahman and the Kshatriya, while all the rest of mankmd were relegated to
the indeterminate. And, further, if the Vaisyas had ever formed one united body,
they woukl inevitably, at some period or another, have taken a more prominent
part in Indian politics than there is reason to suppose they ever did. Investi-
ture with the symbolic cord gave them social position, and the wealth which
their occupation enabled them to amass gave them power. Union apjxarently
was the only condition re(piired to make them the predominant body in the State.
With tiir humbler pretensions and less internal cohesion than Manu assigns to
the Vaisyas, the free cities of Germany and the burghers of England

INDIAN CASTE. 165

established their independence aojainst an aristocracy and an ecclesiastical
system in comparison with which Kshatriyas and Brahmans were contemp-
tible.

The obvious, and indeed inevitable, inference from this popular ignorance,
literary silence, and historical insignificance appears to be that the two classes of
Vaisya and Siidra never existed (^except in Mann's theory) as distin.jt bodies ;
:ind that the names are merely convenient abstractions to denote the middle
and lower orders of society, which have indeed distinctive class features
engendered by similarity of occupation, but no community of origin, and in
reality no closer blood connection between the component sub-divisions than
exists between any one of those sub-divisions and a Brahmanical or Kshatriya
i'amily.

In the whole of the Rig Veda the word Vaisya occurs only once, viz., in
the 12th verse of the famous Purusha Si'ikta. Dr. Muir, Professor Max
Miiller, and in fact all Sanskrit scholars, with the solitary exception of Dr.
Hang, assign this hymn to a comparatively late period. It is the only one
which mentions the four different kinds of Vedic composition rich, sdi/ian,
chhanda, and yajush, a peculiarity noticed by Professor Aufrecht, and which
seems to be absolutely conclusive proof of late composition. And not only is
the hymn itself more recent than the body of the work, but the two verses
which alone refer to the four castes seem to be a still more modern interpolation.
In the first place, there is nothing the least archaic in their style, and they
might stand in any one of the Puranas without exciting a comment. That
this may be apparent they are quoted in the original : —

Brahmauo 'sya mukhani asid, bahu Rajanyah kritah,
Uru tad asya yad Vaisyah, padbhyam Sudro ajayata.

Secondly, they are irreconcilable Avith the context ; for, while they des-
cribe the Brahman as the mouth of Purusha and the Sudra as born from his
fe<"t, the very next lines speak of Indra and Agni as proceeding from his
mouth and the Earth from his feet.

We are, therefore, justified in saying that in the genuine Veda there was
no mention of caste whatever ; nor was it possible that there should be, on the
hypothesis now to be advanced, that the institution of caste was the simple
result of residence in a conquered country. This is confirmed by observino-
that in Kashmir, which was one of the original homes of the Aryan race, and
also for many ages secured by its position from foreign aggression, there is to
the present day no distinction of caste, but all Hindus are Brahmans. Thus,
too, the following remarkable lines from the Maha'hharat, which distinctly
declare that in the beginning there was no caste division, but all men, as creat-
ed by God, were Brahmans : —

Na visesho 'sti varnanam, Barvam Brahman idam jagat,
Brahmaua purva-srishtam hi karmabhir varuatam gatam.

166 INDIAN CASTE.

At the time when the older Vedic hymns were written, the Aryan was still in his
jtrimcval home, antl had not 3^et descended upon the i)lains of Hindnslaii.
After the invasion, the conquerors naturally resigned all menial occupations to
the aborigines, whom they had vanquished and partially dispossessed, and cii-
joyed the fruits of victory while prosecuting the congenial pursuits of arms or
letters. For several years, or possibly generations, the invaders formed only a
small garrison in a hostile country, and constant Avarfarc necessitated the for-
mation of a permanent military body, the ancestors of the modern Kshatriva.s
and Tbakurs. The other part devoted themselves to the maintenance of tlio
reli""ious rites which they brought with them from their trans-Himalayan lionic,
and the preservation of the sacred hymns and formula} used in the celebration
of public worship. Of this mystic and unwritten lore, once familiar to all, but
now, through the exigency of circumstances, retained in the memory of only a
few, these special families would soon become the sole depositaries. The iiilcr-
val between the two classes would gradually widen, till the full-blown Bralini:in
was devfiloped, conscious of his superior and exclusive knowledge, and Ijc.-it
upon asserting its prerogatives. The conquered aborigines were knov.n by i1k3
name of Niigas or MIcchhas, or other contemptuous term, and formed the niulciis
of all the low castes, whom Manu subsequently grouped together as Siubas,
esteeming them little, if at all, higher than the brute creation. (Hustijias -■lut
turangas cha Sutrd Mlecliclilids clia garliitdli— Sinha vyd<jhrd vardhds cha. \[\.

43.;

But a society, consisting only of priests, warriors, and slaves could noi long
exist. Hence the gradual formation of a middle class, consisting of the off-
spring of mixed marriages, enterprizing natives and such unaspiring menilxn-s of
the dominant race as found trade more profitable, or congenial to their taslcs,
than either arms or letters. The character of this mixed population would ho
influenced in the first instan-^e by the nature of the country in which they u (;: ti
resident. In one district the soil w«)uld bo better adaptetl for pasturag;', in
another f )r agricultun^ But in both it would bo worked principally by iibo i-
gines, both (m account of the greattn- labour involved, and also becansi; iIh;
occupation of grazing large flocks and herds (which had been characteristic of
the Aryan race in Vedic times) is incompatible with the concentration which
is essential for the security of a small invading force. The Graziers would
receive some name descriptive of their nomadic habits, as for example ' Ahir' ;
the word being derived from abhi, ' circnm,' ir, ' ire,' the ' ci.cumewites,^
or wanderei's. Similarly, other pastoral tribes such as the Gwalas,
the Ghosis, and the Gadarias, derive their distinctive names from go, ' a cow,'
ghosha, 'a cattle station,' and gadar, 'a sheep.' In an agricultural district the
corresponding class would also adopt some title indicative of their occupation,
as, for example, the Kisuus from krishi, 'husbandary,' the Bhuuhars from b/aiinj

INDIAN CASTE. 167

' the ground/ and iu Bengal the Chiisis from clids, 'ploughing.' Or (and the
same remark applies to every other class) they might retain the old InJiaji
name of the district in which they were located, as the Kachhis from the coun-
try of Kachh. Again, so long as vast tracts of lands were still covered with
forest, the followers of the chase Avould be at least as numerous as the tillers of
the soil or the grazers of cattle. And, since the Aryan element in the middle
and lower strata of society was composed of those persons who, without any
penchant for learned study like the Brahmans, entertained a preference for se-
dentary pursuits rather than those of a more exciting nature such as the majo-
rity of their Thakur kinsmen affected, so the castes that followed the chasii,
not as an amusement, but as a means of livelihood, would naturally consist
exclusively of aborigines. And, as a matter of fact, it is found to be the
case, that all such castes have the dark complexion and the other physical
characteristics of the lower race. Such are the Badhaks and Aheriyas, who
derive their name — the one from the root bxdk, ' to kill,' the other from the
Hindi aher, ' game' — so, too, the Dhanuks and the Lodhas, whose names are
contracted forms of Dhaaushka, ' a bowman,' and Lubdhaka, 'a huntsman.'
These two tribes have now abandoned their hereditary avocations, — the Dha-
niUvS being ordinarily village watchman, and che Lodhas agriculturists — though
in Oudh the latter were, till quite recently, still connected with the forest rathjr
than the fields; being the wood-cutters, whose business it was to fell tiaiber a id
transport it by the Grhjghra river to Bahram Ghat and other marts.

In this way the majority of the servile, or so-called Siidra, castes ca no
into existence, in order to supply the unproductive classes with food ; and su'o-
sequently, when population grew and towns were built, their number was vastly
increased by the new trades that s]n-ang up to satisfy the more complex re-
quirements of urban life. Then, too, last of all, and by no means simultaneously
with the other three, as represented in tlie legends, the Vaisya order was pro-
duced. For the purpose of facilitating barter and exchange, traders established
themselves eitlier on the sea-coast or at places convenient of accjss for thj in-
habitants of tw^o dissimilar tracts of country, and forming a confederation
among themselves would take a collective name, either from the locality wbieii
they occupied, as Ajudhyavasis, Mathuriyas, or Agarvvalas, or simply from
the special branch of trade which they pursued, as Sonars, Lohiyas, or Bani-
yas. From the facility of acquiring wealth and the civilizing influence of
social contact these merchants would soon form a striking contrast to the sim-
ple rural population who brought tlioir produce for barter, and would receive
some vulgar title indicative of the difference ; hence the name of Mahajans, ' the
great people.' And all such names, having once firmly attached themselves,
would be retained even when they ceased to be strictly appHcable, in consequence
of migration from the origuial seat or change in profession or circumstances.

168 INDIAN CASTE,

Upon this theory we come to a clear understanding of the popular feeling
about caste — a feeling ^Yhich unmistakeably exists in the native mind, though
opposed to dogmatic teaching — that below the Brahman and the Thakur there
are a number of miscellaneous divisions, but no two well-defined collective
groups. There is a vague impression that the Vaisya is properly a tradesman
and the Siidra a servant; while it is definitely ruled that the former is the
much more resjiectable appellation of the two. Thus, a difficulty arises with
regard to a family that is distinctly neither of Brdhman nor Thakur descent,
and from time immemorial has been engaged in some specially ignoble trade or
exceptionally honourable service. The latter aspires to be included in the
higher order, in spite of his servitude ; while the former, though a trader, is
popularly ranked in the same grade as people who, if they are to be known by
any class name at all, ai-e clearly Sudras. This never occurs in precisely the
same way with the two higher Manava caste*?, though one or two facts may be
quoted which at first sight seem to tell against such an assertion. For exam-
ple, there are a numerous body of carpenters called Ojhas (the Avord being a
corruption of Upadhya'^, who are admitted to be of Brahmanical descent and
are invested with the sacred cord. But common interests forming a stronger
bond of union than common origin, they are regarded rather as a sjiecies of
the genus Barhai than of the genus Brahman ; their claim, however, to the latter
title never being disputed if they choose to assert it. Similarly, as the trade
of the usurer is highly incompatible with priestly pretensions, the Brahmans who
practise it are gradually being recognized as quite distinct castes under the name
of ' Bohras and Athwarayars.' There are also some pseudo-Brdhmiin\ciil and
pf:rndo-Th{iknY tribes who rank very low in the social scale ; but even their case
is by no means a parallel one, for it is admitted on all sides that the original
ancestor of — for example —the Bhats and Ahivasis was a Brahman, and of the
Gauruas a Thakur. The doubt is, whether the descendants, in consequence of
the bar-sinister on their blazon, have altogether lost their ancestral title or only
tarnished its dignity ; whereas with a Sonar who claims to be a Vaisya, it is
not any suspicion of illegitimate descent, nor any incompatibility of emjiloy-
ment, that raises a doubt ; but rather the radical incompleteness of the original
theory and the absence of any standard by which his pretensions may be
tested.

In short, excepting only the Brdhman and the Thakur, all other Indian
castes correspond, not to the Scottish clans — with which they are st) often com-
pared, and from which they are utterly dissimilar— but to the close guilds
which in medi;eval times had so great an influence on European society. As
the Goldsmiths formed themselves into a compani/ for mutual protection, so the
Sonars combined to make a caste ; — the former admitted many provincial
guilds with special customs and regulations, the latter recognized many subor-

INDIAN CASTE. 169

dinate gotras ; the farmer required a long term of apprenticeship, amounting
virtually to adoption, the latter made the profession hereditary ; the former
required an oath of secrecy, the latter insured secrecy by restricting social in-
tercourse with outsiders. As the founders of the company had no mutual con-
nection beyond community of interest, so neither had the founders of the caste.
When we say that all architects are sons of S. Barbara, or all shoemakers of S.
Crispin, these being their patron saints, the expression is quite intelligible.
What more is implied in saying that all Sanadhs are sons of Sanat-Kumara ?
To attach any literal meaning to a tradition which represents a Brahmanical
caste as born of the Gayatri (a Vedic metre) is a precisely similar absurdity
to saying a company was born of the Pater-Noster and Ave Maria, because
on certain days every member was bound to repeat his rosary. A history
of caste, in the sense in which the phrase is generally understood, viz., the
tracing each caste to one definite pair of ancestors, is, from the circumstances
of the case, an impossibility.

With Brahmans and Kshatrias matters stand somewhat differently.
Though so far as any one subordinate division is concerned, it may often
happen that its individual members never at any time formed one family, yet
as all the sub- divisions are in the main descendants of the early Aryan con-
querors, to that limited extent they have a genuine community of origin. So
long as the line of demarcation which separated them from the aboriginal inha-
bitants of India remained clearly defined, while the only distinction among
themselves lay in the difference of occupation, the conv^ersion of a Kshatriya
into a Biahmxu would not be a more unusual occurrence than the retirement of
a Christian knight, when wearied with warfare, into the peaceful seclusion of
the cloister. The most famous example of such a transformation is that sup-
plied by the legend of Visvamitra, which must ever prove an insuperable diffi-
culty to the orthodox Hindu who accepts the Manava doctrine of an essential
and eternal difference between the two castes. At the present day, when Brah-
manism has become an inseparable hereditary quality, the priestly character
has been transferred to the religious mendicants and ascetics who, allowing
for the changed circumstances of time and place, correspond to the Brahmans
of antiquity, and like them freely admit associates from every rank and condi-
tion of Hindu society. The apparent difference is mainly due to the fact that
in primitive times the Aryan outsiders were all of one status, while now they
are infinite in variety.

Theoretically, the essence of the Kshatriya is as incapable of transfer or
acquisition except by natural descent as that of the Brahman, but the practice
of the two classes has always been very different. The strength of a commu-
nity that lays claim to any esoteric knowledge lies in its exclusiveness ; but a
military body thrives by extension, and to secure its own efficiency must be

170 INDIAN CASTE.

lax in restrictions. It may be observed as a singular fact tbat all the very
lowest castes in the country, if interrogated as to their origin, will say that
they are in some way or another Thakur : and this is illustrated by a passage
in Manu, where he mentions several outcast tribes as Kshatriyas by descent.
Whence we may infer that at all times there has been a great freedom of in-
tercourse between that class and others. Indeed, if we are to accept the legend
of Parasurara as in any sense expressing an historical event, the whole Thakur
race has been repeatedly extirpated and as often re-formed out of alien elements.
Nor is this at variance with modern usage, for no Hindu rises to the rank of
Rdja, whatever his original descent, without acquiring a kind of Thakur cha-
racter, which in most instances is unhesitatingly claimed by and conceded to
his descendants in the third or fourth generation, after alliances with older
families have given some colour to the pretension. And the illegitimate sons
of Thdkurs, who by the Code of Manu would be Ugras — their mothers being
Musalmanis or low-caste Hindu women — are, as is notorious, generally accept-
ed, either themselves or in the person of their immediate descendants, as gen-
uine Thakurs. Again, many of the higher Thakur class acknowledge the im-
purity of their birth in the popular tradition of their origin. Thus the Chan-
dels (i. e., the moon-born) profess to be derived from the daughter of a Bandras
Brahman, who had an intrigue with the moon-god ; and the Gahlots (the cave-
born) from a Rani of Mewar, who took refuge with some mountaineers on the
Malya range.

From all this it follows that, whatever the dignity and antiquity of some
particular Thakur families, the Thakur caste is a heterogeneous body ; which,
like the miscellaneous communities of lower pretensions which we have already
discussed, is held together more by similarity of circumstances than unity of
origin. The same principle of caste-formation is still actively at work through
all grades of Indian society. The comparatively modern organization of many
so-called castes is attested by the Persian names which they have thought pro-
per to assumi^, — -for example, the Darzis, the Mallahs, the Mimars, &c. A
large proportion of the first-named are really Kayaths, which shows that the
term ' Darzi' is still in a transitional state, and has not yet thoroughly shaken
off its original trade meaning. The older word for a tailor is stiji, which, like
so much of the Hindi vocabulary, having become unfashionable, now implies a
workman of an inferior description. Similarly, randi ' a woman,' has become
a term of reproach for ' a woman of bad character ;' and nagara, Hindi for ' a
city,' is at the present day used to denote, not even a village, but only a mere
* hamlet.' The desire to dignify a mean calling by a high-sounding name — as
when a sweeper is called military ' a prince,' and a cook JchaMfa, — has been often
cited as an Oriental idiosyncracy, which to the mind of a European is product-
ive of ridicule rather than respect. It gives occasion, however, to many a new

INDIAN CASTE. 171

caste-name. Thus, the khdhrob of the town regards himself under that Persian
designation as the superior of the village hhangi : and the Mimar, or Shoragar,
or Chuna-paz, or Kori, or even Mochi, in assuming the name descriptive of
his calling, almost forgets that he belongs to the universally-despised caste of
the Chainar.

To judge from the Census Returns, it would seem that these partially-
developed castes are only recognized in some few districts, and totally ignored
in others. Thus, Mathura is a great centre of the stone-cutter's art ; but the
men who pi-actise it belong to different ranks, and have not adopted the distinct-
ive trade-name of sang-tardsh, which seems to be recognized in Aligarh, Ha-
mirpur, and Kumaon. Again, in every market town there are a number of
weighmen, who, no doubt, in each place have special guild regulations of their
own ; but only in Banaras do they appear as a distinct caste, with the name of
palle-ddrs. So too at Saharanpur some fruit-sellers— whose trade it may be
presumed has been encouraged by the large public garden at that station — have
separated themselves from the common herd of Kimjrds, or ' costermongers,'
and decorated their small community with the Persian title of Mewafarosh.
As might be expected, this distintegration of society and adoption of a novel
nomenclature prevails most extensively among the lower orders, where the
associations connected with the old name that is discarded are of an unpleasant
nature. But even in the higher classes, where the generic title is one of hon-
our, it is frequently superseded in common parlance by one that is more dis-
tinctive, though it may be of less favourable import. Thus, among Brahmans
a Bohra sub-caste is in course of formation, and a Chaube of the Mathura
branch when settled elsewhere is invariably styled, neither Brahman nor
Chaube, but Mathuriya. Illustrations might be multiplied indefinitely ; but
the few now cited are sufficient to prove how caste-sub -divisions are formed
in the present day , and to suggest how they originated in the first instance.

APPENDIX B.

LATEST RESULTS OF ARCH^OLOGICAL RESEARCH.

The Greek and Scythian Princes, whose names are recorded on the coins and
in the votive inscriptions found at Mathura, are arranged by General Cunnino--
ham in the following order : —

1st. — The Satrap (Mahdshatapa) Rajabal, or Ranjabal, from 120 to 80 B. C.
His gold coins are imitations of the hemi-drachm as of Straton, and bear on
the obverse a rude head with a corrupt Greek legend, read as follows : — .
BA^IAEOS EASIAEON SUTHPOS PAZIOBAAOU

On the reverse is the figure of Athene Promachos with the legend in PaU
characters.— Chhatrapasa a-pratihaia-chakrasa Ranjubulasa. The copper coins

172 ARCH^OLOGIOAL.

have on the obverse a standing male figure, who holds a flowing banner in the
right hand, and has to bis side on the left a swastika surmounted by a doable
trident. The reverse shows a female figure standing between two elephants,
who are pouring water over her from their trunks.

2nd. — The Satrap Saudasa, from 80 to 57 B, C, probably the son of the pre-
ceding. His copper coins are of the same type, but bear the legend — Mahd-
hhatapasa putrasa Khatapasa Saudasasa. The only inscription of his that has
been found is engraved on a stone slab from the Jalalpur Sarae mound —

Swamisya Mahakshatripasya Saudasasya Gajavarena Brahiuanena sanarrava-saffotrena

rani. Ima Kshayamada pushkaranainam paschinia puslikaranini udapano arara > stambhab.

The general meaning appears to be that in the tima of the great Satrap Sau-
dasa, Viceroy of a lord paramount, whose name is lost, a Brahman of the San-
grava gotra, by name Gajavara, made a gift for religious ])urpose3 of a ' garden'
(di'dina) with its tanks and appurtenances. The monastery, with the name of
Udapani A'rama (conjectured from a trial rendering of this inscription), may
therefore be expunged from Part I., page 74.

drd. — Wema Kadphises, an Indo-Scythian conqueror, establishes in 57 B. C.
the so-called Vikramaditya era. His coins are common in all parts of the north-
west.

Ath. — The Maharaja Kanishka, of whom two inscriptions have been found in
the Kankali tila, one dated samvatsare navame, ' the ninth year.'

6th. — The Maharaja Huvishka, whose name occurs the most frequently of
all. After many revisions by different scholars, the inscription from the Jalal-
pur sarae mound, given at page 74 of Part I., is read as follows : —
Sam. 47, Gri. 4, Div. 4, Maharajasya Rajatirajasya Devaputrasya Huvisbkasya Vihare da-
natn bhikshusya Jivakasya Udeyanakasya Kumbhako 25. Sarva hita sukham bhavatu. —
Saghe chaturdise.

On the 4th day of the 4th summer month of the 47th year of the heaven-
born sovereign lord Huvishka. Gift of Jivaka, a mendicant of Udeyana. Base
of column 25. May it be for the good of all friends. In the Catholic assetnblv.
The inscription on the abacus of the elephant column (page 77, Part 1.) is
read as follows : —

Maharajasya i)evaputra8ya Huvishkasya Sam, 39. He. 3, Dir. 11., Etaye purvaya pra-

tishtbapito Si^a-dasa-sresbti-putrena sresbtina aryyena Rudra-dasena arbatena pujaye.

The more recently discovered inscription (page 105, Part I.) commences in
the same way ; and after the date, which is sam. 33, gri. 1, di. 8, 'the 8th day
of the 1st summer month of the 33rd year,' are read the words ' TripitaJcasya
.... Bhagavanta charane Buddlia^ya^ from which it may be inferred that the
Sonkh road mounds by the Giridhar-pur boundary- pillar are the Stiipas of
the Abhi-dharma, the Siitra and the Vinaya (collectively called Tripitaka)
mentioned by both the Chinese Pilgrims- — an identification of very consider-
able interest.

ARCH^OLOGICAL. 173

Sth. — The Maharaja Vasudeva, whose reign extended down to 51 A.D.,
when it would seem that he was succeeded by Ghatal Kacha, the father of
Chandra Gupta I. In an inscription found at the Jalalpnr saraa mound, he
is styled, h"ke his two predecessors, ' Maharaja Rajatiraja Devaputra' ; and ia
one found atthe Kankali tila for ' Devaputra' is substituted ' Sliahi.' This was
the distinctive title of the Indo-Scythian Princes, and thus there can be little
doubt that he should be referred to that dynasty, notwithstanding his purely
Indian name. On his gold coins the name is given as BAZOZ.IIO. and on
the copper BAZA HO.

The dates, as given in the above list, are absolutely correct only if it
be granted that whenever the word Sarnbat occurs in an inscription, it refers to
the so-called Vikramaditya era. As mentioned in Chapter VI., Babii Rajendra-
lala Mitra — the most learned Hindu antiquary that has yet arisen on this side
of India — originally maintained that the Saka era was intended. From this
view I ventured to express my dissent, and I now find that it has commended
itself as Httle to scholars at home, and has been finally withdrawn even by its
proposer. But, though the Saka era has been thus decisively rejected, it does
not follow that the Vikramaditya era must necessarily be accepted. I have re-
cently discovered at the Jalalpur sarao mound a small fragment of an inscrip-
tion, in which what few words remain are exceptionally clearly cut, and it reads
as follows : — . . . shkasya* rajya samvatsare 28 Hemant, 3 div. ... Of this
the most obvious translation would be 'on the — day of the third winter month
of the 28th year of the reign of . . .' Nor need any difficulty be occasioned by
the use of the word Sambat to denote the year of a monarch's reign. For
though modern practice restricts the term exclusively to the Vikramaditya era,
such was not always the case : witness the inscription on the temple of Gobind
Deva at Brinda-ban — Sambat 34, Sri Sakabandh Akbar Shah raj— 'in the
34th year of the reign of the Emperor Akbar.' Again, one inscription, dated
47, mentions Huvishka as king, while two others bearing Vasudeva's name are
dated respectively 44 and 83 ; and thus, if all three refer to the same era, the
two kings would be contemporaries for some part at least of their reigns. There
is, however, a further difficulty, for one inscription from under a figui'e of Maha-
vira at the Kankali tUa is dated — Vasudeva^ya Samvatsare 90 — and it is ia
the highest degree improbable that any reign would extend to such a length as
90 years. And occasionally no king is mentioned at all, as in the following :—
Samvatsare sato panchatrisottara tame 135 Pushy a-mase vinsati 20 — 'on
the 20th (twentieth) day of the month Pus, year 135 (one hundred and
thirty-five).' Here there can be no doubt as to the number, since it is

* The word was probably Kanishkasya ; as the consonant preceding the sh had a tail, which is
Btill visible on the stone, and might belong to the letter n, but could not form any part of the
name Huvishkasya.

174 ARCH^OLOQICAL.

expressed in words as well as in figures, and it must be referred to some
generally accepted era. Probably, usage was not unifonn ; in some inscrip-
tions the Samhat dates from the king's accession, in others from a fixed era,
which may be the Vikramaditya, but is not absolutely proved to be so.
This element of doubt, however, does not affect the general result establi'^hed
by the Mathura inscriptions, viz., that just before and just after the Christian
era this part of India was definitely included in the dominions of a powerful
Indo-Scythian dynasty.*

The inscription (already mentioned) from under a figure of Mahavira, which
dates from the reign of Vasudeva, not only throws a light upon secular chrono-
logy, but is also of interest from a religious point of view. It is, as it would seem,
the most ancient memorial of the Jainis that has yet been discovered in any part
of India, The oldest known to Professor Wilson dated only from the end of the
9th century A.D., and thus he inferred that, though the TirthanUara Mahavira
flourished some centuries before the Christian era, his disciples were not formed
into a separate body till more than as many centuries after that epoch. But, in
explanation of so sti'ange a circumstance, he adds that the Jainis may have existed
in earlier times as a division of the Buddhists. This surmise is strikingly con-
firmed by the explorations at the Kankali Hla. For the statues there found
have their antiquity attested by the Huvishka and Vasudeva inscriptions, while
they are mostly nude figures and such as would now be stigmatized as Jaini
by orthodox Buddhists ; and yet another inscription on the back of the carved
spandrel (pacfe 77), which I haA^e quite recently unearthed, contains the name
of Mugali-putra, a famous Buddhist teacher ; from which it may be inferred
that the two sects were once in joint possession of the site. Even so, if the spot
were one of generally acknowledged sanctity, the differences between the two
sects may have been as considerable as those that separate Greek from Latin
Christians, both of whom have Chapels of their own in the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre at Jerusalem. The original agreement of the two religions has been
rendered yet more probable by the more accurate date for Buddha's Nirvana,
which has lately been established by Dr. Kern. He fixes it about the year 380
B.C., while Mahavira is said to have died in B.C. 388. The coincidence between
the two dates seems too close to be accidental, and the more so since the legends

* The following interesting note has been sent me by General Cunningham, in support of his
theory as to the practical identity of the Indo-Scythian with the Vikrameditya era: " The in-
scription of Gondophanes is dated Sambai 103 (46 A.D.) in the 26th year of his reign ; so that
he began to rci^n in A.D. •^l, Now, we know that he was a contemporary of S. Thomas, and of
ArtabanuB of Parthia. The Sambat, which is now called that of Vikramaditya will therefore
exactly suit hira ; and we thus have a continuity of dates from Kanishka through Hurishka,
and Vasudeva to Gondophanes. The latest date yet founded of Vasudeva being 98, while hero
we have Gondophanes in 103.

ARCH^OLOOICAL. 175

of Mah^vira and Sakya Muni exhibit certain points of resemblance, which of
themselves had attracted attention.

I conclude by placing on record the sites explored, and miscellaneous sculp-
tures found durintj the progress of this AA'ork through the Press. After trench-
ing the Kankali tUa with the results specified at page 77 of Part I., I proceeded
to excavate the very large mound in Cantonments, marked a in the sketch map.
A trench, 177 feet long and 12 wide, was carried from its southern verge to-
wards the centi-e, where another at right angles to it was dug for a length of
45 feet to the west. The whole mound formed a mass of broken bricks — some
of them of very large size, a proof of antiquity — but no stone was found bej^ond
one massive slab four-and-a-half feet long, and a rounded pedestal of a pillar.
At the small adjoining mound, marked 6, on the very border of the Circular Road,
were found only the figures mentioned at page 78. The inscription begins Varsha
rndsa, 2 divas, 6 — ' the 6th day of the 2nd month of the rains ;' but the year has
been cut away, and the three or four other words that remain cannot be decj'-
phered with certainty. From the Dhruva Hla, near the Pontoon bridge, I have
recovered a set of rails, with three uprights, and the cross-bars and top-bar all
complete, cut out of a single slab of stone, measuring two feet two inches square ;
and from a high mound in the Bankhaudi Mahalla, lying back from the main
streets between the Dispensary and the Kotwali, and now surmounted by a
ruinous temple of Bihari, I have brought a Buddhist pillar, four feet ten inches
high, bearing the figure of a dancing-girl with a leonine monster at her feet.
Over her head is a group, representing a teacher of the law holding an umbrella
and addressing an audience of ten ^jersons.

The mound near the Sonkh road, at the junction of the boundaries of Mathura,
Bakirpur, and Giridhar-pur, was, as I am now informed, examined by General
Cunningham in 1872, when, on sinking a well through its centre, he found at a
depth of 13^ feet from the summit a small steatite relic-casket imbedded in a
mass of unburnt bricks. I have since carried a trench almost entirely round
its base, and, in addition to the Tripitaka inscription of Huvishka's reio-n al-
ready mentioned, have come upon several cross-bars and uprights of Buddhist
rails of different sizes and a great number of small fragments of male and female
figures, animals, grotesques, and decorative patterns, showing that the sculp-
tures here must have been far more varied in design than at most of the other
sites. One of the uprights has a well-executed and decently-draped figure of a
dancing-girl with the right hand raised, and two figures placed upon her chin.
The lower part of the post has been broken away, carrying with it her feet and
the third of the three groups at the back. Of the two groups that remain, the
upper one represents two seated figures, apparently a teacher and his disciple
with two attendants standing in the back- ground, and has a single line of in-
scription below, recording the donor's name. The second group shows a sacred

176 ARCH^OLOGICAL.

tree enclosed with the conventional rails, and a pilgrim on either side approach-
ing in an attitude of veneration. Tlie only other sculpture deserving special
notice is a sninll bas-relief that represents a capacious throne resembling a garden
chair of rustic wood-work, with a foot-stool in front of it, and some drapery
spread over the seat on which is placed a relic-casket. In the back-ground are
two figures leaning over the high back of the chair. Their peculiarly furtive
attitude is characteristic of the style ; almost every group includes one or more
fio-ures peeping over a balcony or a curtain, or from behind a tree. On this
stone was found a copper coin so much corroded that no legend was visible, but
bearing in its centre a running figure, which was the device employed both by
Kanishka and Huvishka. I had great hopes of discovering another inscription
here, as 1 had come upon a small fragment with the letters qO'i, that is,
* Budhanara' cut very clear and deep; but my search was unsuccessful. Dig-
gino- in the field some twenty paces fron. the base of the mound, I came upon
the ori o-inal pavement only two or three feet below the surface, with three large
square graduated pedestals, ranged in close line, one overthrown, the other two
erect. A capital, found by General Cunningham in 1872, measuring 3ft. X 2 X 2,
and carved with four winged lions and bulls conjoined, probably belonged to
one of the pillars that had surmounted these pedestals. They have been left
in situ, and, in order to define the locality, the knee of a colossal statue found in
sinkino- the well has been placed on the summit of the mound. The large dry
tank mentioned at page 106 of Part I., is now proved to be of Buddhist con-
struction, as I had anticipated ; since, I have found in one of the mounds on its
martrin a broken stone inscribed with the letters j5Zc6 that is, ' Danam Chh.'

The mound marked c in the map, after an exploration extending over several
days, yielded nothing beyond a few arabesque fragments and, at a de|)th of
six feet below the surface, a small pediment containing in a niche, flanked by
fabulous monsters, and surmounted by the mystic wheel, a figure of Buddha,
canopied by a many-headed serpent and seated on a lion throne. A mound
immediately adjoining the pillar that marks the boundary of the township of
Mathura, and the villages of Maholi and Pali-khera, lying due south of the
Kankali iila, and east of the Giridhar-pur mound, has yielded a strange squat
fitrure of a dwarf, three feet nine inches high, and two feet broad, of uncertain anti-
quity; and at another mound, just outside the Pali-khera village site, a much more
curious sculpture has now been unearthed. The stone measures four feet in height
by three feet four inches in breadth, and is carved on both sides. On the one face
is a seated figure holding a drinking cup in his right hand, with two attendants
at his back, one on either side, and a little child at his knee. Two female
firrures, draped down to the feet, with their hair confined by a fillet across the
forehead, but flowing in curls over the back of the neck, are advancing the one
with a drinking cup, the other with apparently some fruit. The group on the

AECH^OLOGICAL. 177

other face of the block is more mutilated. The principal figure has, it would
seem, drained the cup and is unable to keep himself straight in his sitting
posture but for the hel]) of two attendants, who on either side support his out-
stretched arms. At the top the stone swells out into the form of a shallow
bason, AAith a cavity in its centre, as if it had formed the basis of a shaft.

Thus every mound, that has as yet been touched, has at least afforded proof
of its artificial formation, and of once having been the site of some building :
and the number of mounds is so very great, extending as they do in close proxi-
mity to one another over an area of some two or three square miles, that they
cannot, I think, be sufficiently explained by supposing them to be the remains
of merely suburban temples and monasteries, but they must rather be taken to
indicate the actual centre of the old Buddhist City.

GLOSSARY.

A'n, a curse.

Anosak, domestic work, cleaning up (for an-avasar).

Anti, an ear-ring.

A'then, evening (for athmana).

A-UD, waterless (from a privative and uda^ water) a term applied to a man who
dies childless, with no son to make him the ordinary funeral libations. It is also
the name given to the little masonry terrace often seen near a village, on which
twace a year jars full of water are set, in order to lay the ghost of some childless
person.

Bachhal, a class of Gaurua Tliakurs, occupying as many as 00 villages
in the Chhata Pargana. They are by descent Sissodiyas from Chitor, who ac-
cording to their o%^ti traditions emigrated some 700 or 800 years ago; probably
therefore after Ala-ud-din's famous siege of 1303. As they gave the name
of Eanera to one of their original settlements in the Mathura District, it is
clear that the emigration took place after the year 1202, when the sovereign
of Chitor first assumed the title of Rana in place of the older Rawal. They
represent the word Bachhal as derived from the fact that their Guru was a
hermit of Bachh-ban near Sehi.

Baithak, the village Club and Hospice; also a rest-house at a holy place for
the accommodation of the Gosain on his annual visit on the Feast-dav.

Bakhab, a house,

Bardh, a bullock.

Barhi, a class of weavers.

Bas, a hamlet, as distinguished from kherd, the parent settlement.

Bhabhi, a brother's wife (for hhrdtri-vadhv).

BHAGAVADfyA, dcvOUt.

Bhainkra, crying, as of a child.

178 GLOSSARY.

Bhabna, the capital of a pillar.

Bharota, a bundle of wood or fodder.

BhuX, a father's sister.

Bhtjmiya, a low altar or platform on the outskrits of a village dedicated to
the local divinity, or rather demon, corresponding to the Gram Devi of the
Mainpuri and other districts. It often resembles in form a Muhammadan grave
consisting of an oblong block of stone or brickwork with a recessed pillar at
one end, and offerings arc made upon it to avert the spells of witchcraft, &c.

Bhumra, early morning.

Birokha, afternoon.

BiTONDA, a stack of cow-dung fuel.

BiYARA, supper-time, evening.

Bohr-gat, the trade of a bohra, or money-lender.

Chacha, a father's younger brother.

Chhajja, stone eaves of a house or other building, supported On projecting
brackets ^

Chhattra, a dole-house, where cooked food is given in charity to indigent
applicants.

Chhaba, small, paltry, slight ; as chhari saiodri, ' a small retinue.'

Chhari, the shaft of a pillar.

Chhora, Chhori, a boy, a girl.

Chira, the capital of a pillar, when it has brackets attached to it.

Chunai, masonry work.

Dangra, a bullock or other horned animal of inferior quahty.

DXsa, in architecture a string-course.

Dehri, a threshold; also, a strip of pavement between two piers of an arcado.

Dhar, stature.

Dherh, a Chamar.

Dhevati, a daughter's daughter.

DoTHAiN, early morning, sun-rise.

Faujdar, a title much affected by Jats and used simply as equivalent to
their caste name.

Garai, the occupation of a grazier (for gwdrai.)

Garua, a brass drinking-vessel.

Gauchh, the moustache.

Gaurua, a name given to certain clans of Thakur descent that are held in
lower esteem than other branches of the same parent stock, in consequence of
their lax views regarding marriage and other social institutions.

1 This and the other architectural terms given are probably common throughout the North-
West ; but they do not occur in the ordinary dictionaries, and therefore it was thought that
their insertion might be useful, architecture being one of the specialities of Mathura.

GLOSSARY. 179

GoHNJO, GoHNJi, a father-in-law, mother-in-law.

GoKH, a small window (for gavdksha.)

GoLA, a bundle of leaves, fodder, &c., and especially of jhar-heri.

Got, an enclosure, generally made by a thorn fence, and used for stacking
straw, fuel, &c.

GuHAK, a confederacy.

GuTH-jANA, to close in wrestling.

Hanoi, a sieve.

Hato, Hate, was, were (for tlia and the.)

Hela parn^, to call ; the same as awaz dena.

I, frequently substituted for a, thus Lachhmin for Lakshman.

Inch, an undertaking on the part of the village baniya to settle the land-
lord's demand for rent, on the security of the tenants' crops, of which he takes
delivery after harvest. Tlie arrangement, which results in an account of the
most complicated description, is so carried out as totally to frustrate the inten-
tion of some of the main provisions of the Rent Law; and as it pauperizes the
tenant without in any way enriching the landlord, it may justly be regarded as
one of the main causes of the prevalent agricultural distress.

Ja, the oblique case of the demonstrative pronoun, as jd samay, ' at that
time'; jdko pita ' his father.' Those who argue from the existence of this and a
few similar peculiarities that Hindi is only a generic name for a variety of vulgar
dialects that have little or nothing in common, might with equal reason maintain
that in Shakespear's time there was no such language as English ; for even the
greatest writers of that period, when books were few and man untravelled, oc-
casionally betray by their provincialisms the county that gave them birth.

Jag-Mohan, the choir, or central compartment of a Hindu temple, usually
surmounted by a sikhara, or tower.

Jengra, a calf.

Jeri, a two-pronged pitch-fork, otherwise called lagi.

Jharap, a prop, an attached shaft or pilaster.

JherX, a blind well.

Jhunjharka, early morning.

JiJA, a sister's husband.

JlJiYA, a sister.

JirnoddhXr, the restoration of a ruined building.

Jure, near.

KAkA, a father's younger brother.

Kan-vrit, professional begging.

Kathauta, ' in the lump' ; equivalent to the more common gol or the Arabic
Revenue term bilmukta.

Karkas, a kind of water fowl abounding at Gokul and Gobardhan.

180 GLOSSARY.

Kauka, a morsel.

Khan, time ; for kshan.

Khandi, an instalment.

KhandXr, brush-wood.

KherX, the original village site, as distinguished from the subordinate
hamlets of later formation.

Khera-pat, ' the lord of the kherd,' the hereditary village Purohit. His
office is called Pathayati.

Khor, a double sheet or wrapper, as an article of clothing.

Khurka, a sound, like dhat. Thus khurku so bhayo, ' there Avas some sort
of a noise.'

Khili, a cry, and alarm ; as main ne khili niachdt, ' I gave the alarm.'

KoMARA Ch/khX, 'easy noon,' a little before noon, koviara being like varm,
' easy,' and chdkka ' the mid-day collation.' The phrase is sometimes altered to
komara dopalir.

Kripa, grace or favour, used as equivalent to the Persian complimentary
phrase tashrif. Thus dj to dp ne kahdn kripd kari ? ' where has your honor been
to-day ?'

KuNj, a court ; an occasional residence or rest-house, generally a building
of elaborate architectural design, in the form of a cloistered quadrangle.

KusKUT, sharpening plough-shares ; the work of a village smith.

Lang, side.

LXsH, the Persian word for ' a corpse,' often used of a man who is simply
wounded.

Latak, side, direction ; as purab ki latak, ' to the east' ; also ' figure ' or
' attitude.'

Laudri, a twig or switch.

Labara, young of cattle.

LohndX, a small iron pan.

Malariya, a small earthen pot.

Maluk, good.

Maraz mubXrak, ' the lucky disease' ; a euphemism for khdj, ' the itch,'

Marhaiya, a hut or hovel.

Mathauriya, an earthen pot used in churning,

MuDDAi, the Arabic law-term for ' a prosecutor' ; generally used by vil-
lagers in the sense of 'an enemy,' and thus frequently applied to the 'defendant.

MuK-MUKKA, a blow with the fist.

Namat, attentive to.

NXtni, a son's daughter (for napti).

NikhrX, bright and clean.

Nohra, a cattle-yard.

GLOSSARY. 181

0, a frequent substitute for a as a masculine termination in nouns and verbs.
Ojha, a Brahman carpenter (for upadhi/dya).

01, a hostage.

Or, a class of weavers.

Paliwar, a class of Gaur Brahmans.

PanhX, shoes.

PiCHHAURA, a single sheet or wrapper, used as an article of clothing.

PisXyo, thirsty.

PoLi, tlie entrance-room, or door of a house.

PratXp, a term of compliment, like the Latin auspice, or the Persian ikhdl.

PuLAJ, low lands lying between sand-hills ; used at 8anket.

Pur, a hide.

PuTH, Sand-hills.

EakhyX, ' a preserve' ; a bit of wood-land near a village, in which, from a
religious sentiment, no trees are allowed to be cut hy anyone ; even the dry
timber being generally accounted the perquisite of some Bainigi, who has his
hermitage on the spot. Any villager found cutting a green bouo-h would be
excommunicated from caste privileges for a term of years.

RXs-dhXri, a choragus, belonging to a class of Brahrnans residino- chieflv
in the villages of Karahla and Pisayo, whose special occupation it is to superin-
tend the performance of the Ras Lila. This is an unwritten religious drama,
which represents the most popular incidents in the life of Krishna, and thus
corresponds very closely with the Miracle Plays of Medieval Christianity. The
complete series of representations extends over a month or more, each scene being
acted on the very spot with which the original event is traditionally connected.
The luarriage scene, as performed at Sanket, is the only one that I have had
the fortune to witness : with a garden-terrace for a stage, a grey stone temple
for back-ground, the bright moon over head, and an occasional flambeau that
shot a flickering gleam over the central tableau framed in its deep border of
intent and sympathizing faces, the spectacle was a prett}^ one and was marked
by a total absence of anything even verging upon indecorum. The cost of
the whole perambulation with the performances at the different stations on the
route is provided by some one wealthy individual, often a trader from Bombay
or other distant part of India ; and, as he is always accompanied by a large
gathering of friends and retainers, numbering at least 200 or 300 persons, the
outlay is seldom less than Rs. 5,000 or Rs. 6,000. The local Gosain, whom he
acknowledges as his spiritual director, organizes all the arrangements through
one of the Ras-dharis, who collects the troupe (or mandali as it is called) of
singers and musicians, and himself takes the chief part in the performance,
declaiming in set recitative with the mandali for chorus, while the children who
personate Radha and Krishna act only in dumb show.

182 GLOSSARY.

Rengna, to walk slowly.

Rengta, an ass's foal.

Rent, any substance from which dye can be extracted (from the Sanskrit
root ri, ' to distil').

SABHXj^the nave of a temple.

SakXrau, early in the morning.

SXnta, a thonged stick for driving cattle.

SIr, a'cow-house.

Saub, a quilt, or padded wrapper.

Senhan, a well-digger (from sendhna, ' to mine').

Seth-ganth, cobbling (from se^ra, a derivative o^ si, ' to bind').

Son, substituted for the affix se.

Ti^NKHi, a reservoir for water when cut out of the natural rock, as on the
Barsana and Nand-ganw hills. The derivation is thus probably from tdnki, a
chisel.

TXp, the base of a pillar.

Tarak, a squared beam.

TXu, a father's older brother.

Thari, a shop-keeper's stall.

ToRA, architectural brackets supporting the eaves of a building or lintel of
a doorway.

UsarXna, to chan'ge or remove, as courses at a dinner.

AVX, the demonstrative pronoun or definite article, as wd bani^a ne lod stri
son JcaJd, ' the baniya said to the woman.'

ZamindXr, ordinarily ' a land- owner' ; used as equivalent simply to a Jat
by caste ; without special reference to occupation.

ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.

PAUT I.

Page 5, lino 3. — For ' seldom heard' read 'common also.'

„ line 3 of note. — For ' Kusam' read'Kusum.'
Page 13, lino 13.— For ^ kddar read ' Ihddar,' and for ' bdiijar' read
' hangar.''
„ line 20 and passim. — For ' Hatana' read ' Hatliana.'
Page 24, line 35. — For 'Shab-dara' read 'Shah-dera.'
Page 136.— Swami Rangacharya died ou the night of the 26th of March,
1874, and his successor has not yet been nominated. Meanwhile the Temple
estate is administered by the Trustees.

PART II.

Page 2, last hne.— For 'groves' read 'orchards ;' and on first line of next
page, for ' trees' read 'fruit-trees.'

Page 3, line 27.— The canal, though officially opened by Sir William Mnir
on the 5th of March, 1874, Avill not be available for irrigation purposes till the
end of 1875, as all the rajbahas have yet to be constructed. Its leno-th from
Okhla to the Utangan River at Bihari below Fatihabad is 140 miles, and it
commands an area of three-quarters of a million acres, of which probably one-
third — that is, 250,000 acres — will be annually irrigated. The cost has been
above £710,000, while the net income will be about £58,000, beino- a return of
8 per cent. It will be practicable for boats and barges both in its main line and
its distributaries, and thus, instead of the shallow uncertain course of the Jamuna
there Avill be sure and easy navigation betM'een the three great cities of Delhi
Mathura, and Agra.

Page 10, line 5. — There is now no market at Kamar.

Page 11, last line.— A new school has now been built at Shah-pur, and the
attendance has more than doubled.

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