24 ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. REPORT OF A TOUR IN BUNDELKHAND AND MALWA, 1871-72. Leaving Delhi, the first place on the road to Mathurá that possesses any architectural pretensions is Ballabgarh. The fort is the common small enclosure with octagonal towers and battlemented walls of no ancient date. It is, however, in good order, and is a conspicuous object in the flat country around it. A small chhatri (cenotaph) with a marble dome, supported on carved marble pillars, near a tank on the roadside, is the only building of any consequence. It is a modern building in the late Mughal style. In plan the terrace is similar to that of Safdar Jang's tomb on a small scale; but, instead of having a great building in the centre, it has only this single small dome supported on pillars. At Palwal there is an old tomb of red sandstone, said to be of a local Muhammadan saint; the dome of this is very slightly bulbous, and is intermediate in style between Humayun's and Shah Jehán's. The dome is pointed, like Humayun's; the sides have a doorway each, closed on three sides by plain hexagonal pattern lattices in red sandstone; the pendentives inside are peculiar, being formed of portions of two pointed vaults intersecting. Two tombs not centrically placed occupy the interior. Tradition states that the tomb was built by the fakir during his lifetime, with stones obtained by begging, one out of each cart-load that passed that way from the quarries to Delhi, when Shah Jehán's citadel and the buildings of Delhi Shahjehánabád were in course of construction. A large ruinous-looking serai in the city of Palwal is ascribed to Shah Jehán's period. VOL. VII. A Just before reaching the city, to the west of the road, are the ruins of a mud fort with a masjid, and a masjid and tank; they are said to be of very recent date. A short way off the saint's tomb is an old masjid of three domes, with the dargâh of a local saint, still reverenced by the people. I could obtain no particulars regarding it, but from the style of the building, it should be of a period between Humayun and Shah Jehán; it is very small, and of no architectural pretensions. At Hodal is a small fort, or fortified serai, with walls of rubble, battlemented tops, and the usual towers; two fine gateways opposite each other are yet in good order. The interior face of the fort wall is arcaded, as in Tughlakâbâd, possibly to serve as quarters for troops. Outside the fort, near one corner, is a lofty mud tower, said to be not over one hundred and fifty years old; but why or by whom it was built no one could inform me. Near the opposite corner of the fort is a small masjid, which, from its sloping walls, would appear to belong to an ancient period; but the entrance archways are unusually small, much like the small entrances common in modern masjids, especially in Bengal, and which can be traced gradually diminishing in size from Shah Jehán's era downwards. In Shah Jehán's great masjid in Delhi, the small archways have been noticed in my report as marring the effect of the building greatly; but although the real central archway there is also comparatively small, the great false opening, with its semi-dome in front, forming apparently the entrance, prevents the real inner small arch from being noticed. Here, there is no false large arch to screen the real small entrances; and the entrances are very small indeed, only the size of ordinary doorways of native dwelling-houses. Near Dotánáh village, and to the west of the road to Mathurá, are extensive remains of buildings, which, from their style, appear to be of Firoz Shah's period; the pendentives of many are similar to those of Khirki masjid at Delhi, and traces of colored glazed tiles still remain in the sheltered parts; tradition, however, ascribes the founding of the place to Shah Jehán. At Kotwan are several chhatris and an immense block of buildings in the mixed Hindu and Muhammadan style, commonly seen in large buildings erected within the last 150 years; the block is built mostly of small bricks, of the kind commonly used in native houses, and were apparently taken from older buildings. Chátah possesses a citadel, or small fortified serai, ascribed to Akbar; the walls are similar to the usual run of such walls, namely, of rubble with battlemented top, and quarters for troops in the interior face. Its two gateways are very fine. The place is ascribed to Akbar, and said to have been intended for a serai. Outside, at the foot of the serai wall, exists an old-looking mandir; as it stands, the mandir is an odd construction, apparently of various periods, and fragments of sculpture, resembling those at the Kutb, are inserted in the walls. Tradition ascribes the mandir to Shah Jehán's reign, which is probably correct; but it must have been built on the site, and with the materials, of a much older temple. Chowmhán possesses a battlemented wall and gates in a ruinous condition. The Mán mandir of Brindaban is a building, the age of which it is difficult to judge from its style. Fortunately, its age is well known; but we see in this the influence of Muhammadan on Hindu architecture, just as in the Kutb masjid we see the influence of Hindu on Muhammadan architecture. This building is especially valuable as being one of the rare early specimens of what General Cunningham, in his "Chronological Division of Hindu Architecture," calls modern Brahmanical. I was not allowed to see the interior (as the ministering Brahman gravely assured me that the deity inside was very hungry, and was at his meals) notwithstanding my offer of money to provide food to appease the deity's hunger; but from what could be seen by me, it appears that Muhammadan art influenced the Hindu only in constructive details, and that chiefly internally. The Hindus, in short, appear to have adopted the constructive expedients of the true dome resting on pendentives formed of true arches and the true arch itself; beyond this, the influence of Muhammadan architecture did not extend; neither the outer profile nor the plan shewed foreign influence. Color, however, appears to have been used internally, and also very sparingly externally. It is evident from this example that as late as Akbar's reign, Hindu architects of the old school had not quite died out in and about the capital, and that the influence of Muhammadan architecture had up to then been remarkably small. There are many fine buildings in Brindâban, but mostly modern; it is, however, an ancient place, and worth detailed examination. I pass Mathurá over, it being noticed fully by General Cunningham, who has this season further made a great deal of excavation and research there. From Mathurá to Ágrá, and near Sikandrá, are a number of half-ruined buildings, tombs apparently, but of no special interest. Near Jáit, however, one march from Mathurá and near the Jamna River, is a small jhil with the statue of a hooded serpent, half ruined, in it. The legend attached to it is, that on a certain occasion a princess was married to a Raja from a distant unknown country, who, after a short stay, wished to depart to his own country with his wife. She, however, refused, unless he should declare to her his lineage. The Raja on this earnestly represented to her that she would regret asking him regarding his lineage (vansa,) and long entreated her to forego her curiosity. His efforts to dissuade her not succeeding, he desired her to accompany him to the river; on arrival there, he again attempted to dissuade her; but finding it of no avail, he entreated her not to be alarmed, or give expression to fear or regret at what she might see, adding that, if she did, she would lose him; saying this, he began slowly to descend into the water, all the time trying to dissuade her before it became too late, till the water rose to his neck; then, after a last attempt to induce her to give up her curiosity, he dived, and re-appeared in the form of a nága; raising his expanded hood above the level of the water, and moving it from side to side, he said, "This is my vansa; I am a nágavansi." The princess on this could not suppress an exclamation of deep grief, on which the nága was turned into stone at once, and exists there to this day. Tradition further asserts that, however high the river may rise during floods, the head of the stone serpent always keeps above it. The river has now left its old course, and runs further east a long way, leaving a hollow to mark its ancient bed, which in the rains becomes a jhil. I did not hear the story till I had entered the Mahoba district, when it was too late to ascertain further particulars. The remains at Ágrá are numerous, and have attracted the attention of all travellers. They have been examined and described by Mr. Carlleyle, Assistant, Archæological Survey of India, and I refer to his report. Occasionally, a few fine buildings are to be seen south of Ágrá, on the road to Bateswar, but, beyond a few miles, all traces of the vicinity of a large town, once the capital of Hindustan, cease, and the solitary road winds onwards, with scarcely a cart or traveller to enliven its dreary monotony. Bateswar is a small place, on the right bank of the Jamna, forty-three miles south-east from Ágrá. It is situated amidst a mass of the great ravines of the Jamna. An annual fair is held there, lasting about a week; great numbers of camels and horses are then brought and exposed for sale, besides goods of other kinds; the fair is held in honour of Bateswar Nâth Mahadeva, represented by a large lingam in a commonplace-looking temple, one of the immense number lining the banks of the river for more than a mile in length. These temples are all modern, not dating beyond Shah Jehán's era, though a few may, from their style, be considered as old as Akbar. The scene during the fair is singularly beautiful; the long line of temples reflected from the green waters of the Jamna, which here is deep, and washes the massive and long line of steps reaching down from the temples to the river, enlivened by the gay dresses of the females, who flock from great distances and in great numbers to bathe, on the full moon, in the Jamna, here considered holy, and the glitter and show of the followers of the native chiefs, who come here from various parts of Gwalior and Bundelkhand, make up a whole not easily surpassed. Over the gay mass below, towers the dilapidated fort and palace of the present Raja, a building by no means pretty or in good preservation, but yet imposing from its position on the top of one of the ravines, and picturesque from the semitransparent veil thrown over it by the clouds of dust, which, at this time, persistently hover round the place. The fair is held in a long strip of flat sandy ground, running nearly east and west from the great ghat on the river. It is about half a mile wide and wonderfully flat, considering its locality within a mass of ravines. The floods of the Jamna do not usually overtop the ghats; but last rains, the flood waters did overtop by several feet the great masonry band, which, adorned with temples and ghats, restrains the river on this side, and ran along the great plain, where, as just mentioned, the fair is held, back to the Jamna, which, after a great detour, comes back to a point almost exactly due east of the great line of ghats at a distance of about two and a half miles. The legend regarding these temples is, that at the time when the first of the line of Bhaduria Rajas reigned, it was |