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ASIATIC SOCIETIES.
MARCH, 1873.]
by as many Rajas. The peacocks and monkeys, with which the place abounds, enjoy the benefit of special endowmente, bequeathed by deceased princes of Kota and Bharatpur. There are some fifty chhattras, or dole houses, for the distribution 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 the city."
"But the foundation of all this material prosperity and religious exclusiveness was laid by the Gosains, who established themselves there in the reign of Akbar. The leaders of the community were by name Rúpa and Sanâtana from Gaur in Bengal. They were accompanied by six others; of whom three, Jíva, Madhu, and Gopal Bhat, came from the same neighbourhood; Swâmi Hari Dâs from Rájpár in the Mathurâ district, Haribans from Deva-ban in Saharanpur, and Byâs Hari Râm from Orchâ in Bundelkhand. It is said that, in 1570, the emperor was induced to pay them a visit, and was taken blindfold into the sacred enclosure of the Nidhban, where such marvellous vision was revealed to him, that he was fain to acknowledge the place as indeed holy ground. Hence the cordial support which he gave to the attendant rajâs, 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 sadly neglected condition. They bear the titles of Gobind Dava, Gopinath, Jugal-kishor, and Madan Mohan. The first named is not only the finest of this particular series, but is the most impressive religious 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 waggon 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 squareheaded doorway leads into the choir, a chamber some twenty feet deep. Beyond this was the sacrarium, 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 ge
The derivation of this word is a little questionable. It is the local name of the actual Brinds grove, to which the town owes its origin. The spot so designated is now of very
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neral effect of the interior is not unlike that produc= ed 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 surface, and the natural glow of the red sandstone, supply that relief and warmth of colouring which are an lamentably deficient in its Western rival.
"There must originally have been seven towersone over the central dome, one at the end of each transept, and the other four covering, respectively, the choir, sacrarium, and two chapels. The sacrarium has been utterly razed to the ground, and the other six towers levelled with the roof of the nave. Their loss has terribly marred the effect of the exterior, which must have been extremely majestic when the west front with its lofty triplet was supported on either side by the pyramidal mass of the 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 sanctus bell in Western ecclesiology. The ponderous walls, albeit none too massive to resist the enormous thrust once broughtto bear upon them, now, however much relieved by exuberant decoration, appear out of all proportion to the comparatively. low superstructure. As a further disfigurement, a plain masonry wall has 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 is an ugly modern excrescenee, and steps should be at once taken for its removal.
"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 Sambat 1647, i. e., A. D. 1590, under the direction of the two Gurus Rúpa and Sanâtana. The founder, Raja Man Sinha, was a Kachhwáhá Thakur, son of Rája Bhagawân Dâs of Amber, founder of the temple at Gobardhan, and an ancestor of the present Raja of Jaypar. He was appointed by Akbar successively governor of the districts along the Indus, of Kabul, and of Bihar. By his exertions, the whole of Orissa 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 Narayan, Raja of Koch Bihar, and at the time of his decease, which was in the ninth year of the reign of Jahangir, he had living one son, Bhão Sinha, 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, jea
limited area, hemmed in on all sides by streets, but protected from further encroachment by a high masonry wall. † Vide Professor Blochmann's Afn-i-Akbarf, p. 341.
