GOVARDHAN.—The tombs of Suraj Mal and his two Ranis are at Govardhan, a very picturesque place about eight miles from Dig. There are also a number of very interesting tombs and buildings of later date. Fergusson [17] says of one of these, which was in course of construction when he was there in 1839, that he acquired from its native architect more knowledge of the secrets of art as practised in the Middle Ages than he had learnt from all the books he had read. The same living architectural art is practised all over Rajputana at the present day. The preference we show for the incomparably inferior art of the mongrel eclectic styles we have imported into India, is only a proof that there is something wanting in the superior civilization and culture which we believe ourselves to possess.
There is also at Govardhan a very fine Hindu temple, dating from the time of Akbar.
A great fair is held here every year about the end of October,
or beginning of November, on the occasion of the Hindu Diwâli, or
Feast of Lamps, one of the most beautiful and impressive of all the
Hindu festivals.
Muttra, the Mathora of the Greeks, about fourteen miles from Govardhan, and within easy reach of Agra by rail, is one of the most sacred places of the Hindus, from being the reputed birthplace of Krishna. It is a great centre for the worship of Vishnu.
Brindâban, or Bindarâban, which is a very short distance further by rail, possesses an old Hindu temple, dedicated to Govind Deva, or Vishnu, of the same period as the other at Govardhan, and built by the same person, Rajah Man Singh of Amber, an ancestor of the present Maharajah of Jaipur. Fergusson describes it as one of the most interesting and elegant temples in India.
There is also a great Vishnu temple of the last century, in the Dravidian style of Southern India, built by a Hindu millionaire merchant. Krishna's childhood and early youth were passed in the vicinity of Brindâban, and on that account it is held especially sacred by the followers of the Vaishnavite sect of Hinduism, who flock there in thousands on the anniversary of Krishna's birth, in the month of Bhadon (August—September).
NOTES
[1] Babar's "Memoirs," translated by Erskine.
[2] For further particulars of Babar's history the reader is referred to the "Memoirs," or to Stanley Lane-Poolers admirable "Life of Babar," in the "Rulers of India Series" (Macmillan & Co.).
[3] The State documents of the Mogul Emperors, "given under the royal hand and seal," were sometimes actually impressed by the royal hand. Plate I. reproduces part of a letter, addressed by Shah Jahan to an ancestor of the present Maharajah of Gidhour. In this letter the Raja Dalan Singh is informed that "the auspicious impress of the royal hand" is sent as a mark of royal favour, and he is commanded to proceed to Court to participate in the festivities and to pay homage to the Emperor.