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MAY 3, 1872.)
SKETCHES OF MATHURA.
133
SKETCHES OF MATHURA. By F. S. GROWSE, M. A., OXON, B.C.S.
II.-THE BAN-JATRA. THOUGH the number of bans is invariably most powerful monarch of the time, the great
1 stated as twelve, and of upabans as twenty- Rama, then reigning at Ayodhya. The four, there is often considerable difference in the god-like hero disdained the easy victory for specification, and probably few of the local pan- himself, but sent his youngest brother $adits, if required to enumerate either group off- trughna to Madhu-vana, who vanquished hand, would be able to complete the total with- and slew the monster, hewed down the wood out some recourse to guess work. A little Hindi in which he had trusted for defence, and on manual for the guidance of pilgrims has been its site founded the city of Madhu-puri. published at Mathura, and is considered to This is uniforinly regarded by native scholars embody the most authentic traditions on the as merely another name for Mathurâ, resubject. The compiler, however great his local gardless of the fact that the forest is several knowledge and priestly reputation, has certainly miles from the river, while Mathurâ has no pretensions to accuracy of scholarship. His always, from the earliest period, been described attempts at etymology are as a rule absolutely as situate on its immediate bank. The confusion grotesque ;' as for example in the two sufficiently between the two places runs apparently through obvious names Khaira and Shergarh, the one of the whole of classical Sanskrit literature ; es which he derives from khedna, to drive cattle, for example in the Harivans'a, (canto) 95, where and the other, still more preposterously, from we find the city founded by Satrughna dissihara, 'a marriage wreath.' The list which he tinctly called, not Madhu-puri, but Mathura, gives is as follows, his faulty orthography in which, it is said, Bhim a subsequently annexed, some of the words being corrected :
Bhima's own original capital being, according The 12 Bans: Madhu-ban ; Tal-ban ; Kumud to this isolated legend, Gobardhan. ban; Bahula-ban; Kam-ban ; Khadira-bun; Satrughno Lavanam hatwa chichchheda Brindá-ban ; Bhadra-ban ; Bhandir-ban ; Bel- sa Mndhor vanam ban; Loha-ban; and Maha-ban.
Tasmin Madhu-vane sthâne purim cha MaThe 24 Upabans: Gokul, Gobardhan, Barsana, thuram imam Nand-gânw, Sanket, Paramadra, Asing, Sessai, Nivesayîmîsa vibhuh Sumitra-nandi-varddhanah. Mât, Uncha-gânw, Khel-ban, Śri-kund, Gand- Paryaye chaiva Ramasya Bharatasya tathaiva harv-ban, Parsoli, Bilchhu, Bachh-ban, Adi- cha badri, Karhela, Ajnokh, Pisâyo, Kokila-ban, Sumitra-sutayoś chaiva prâptayor Vaishnavam Dadhi-gânw, Kot-ban and Raval.
padam This list bears internal evidence of some anti- Bhimeneyam puri tena rajya-sambandha-karanát quity in its want of close correspondence with Svavanso sthapitâ purvam svayam-adhyâsitâ existing facts ; since some of the places, though tatha. retaining their traditionary repute, have now But there are many very clear indications nothing that can be dignified with the name that the writer of the Harivans'a was a comeither of wood or grove: while others are known plete stranger to the country of Braj, the only by the villagers in the immediate neigh- scene of his poem ; for almost all the topograbourhood, and have been supplanted in popular phical descriptions are utterly irreconcileable estimation by rival sites of more easy access or with facts. Thus he states that Krishna and greater natural attractions. But first to take Balar à ma were brought up at a spot selectin order the twelve Bans:
ed by Nanda on the bank of the Jamu na Madh u-ban is situate in a village, now near the hill of Gobardh an canto 61.) Now called Maholi, some 4 or 5 miles to the south- Gobardhan is some 15 miles from the river, west of Mathura. This forest, according to the and the neighbourhood of Gokul and MaParåņas, was the stronghold of the giant h à ban, which all other written authorities Madhu, and from him derived its name. On and also ancient tradition agree in declaring his decease it passed to his son Lavaņa, who, to have been the scene of Krishna's infancy, inflamed with the lust of universal conquest, pre- is several miles further distant from the ridge sumed to send an insolent challenge to the and on the other side of the Jamuna.
