When the regent took advantage of the times to invite the wealthy of all the surrounding regions to become settlers in this new mart, he wisely appealed to the evidence of their senses as the best pledge for the fulfilment of his promises. Simultaneously with the charter, the fortifications were commenced, and an adequate garrison was placed here under a commandant well known and respected. He excavated wells, repaired the dam of the old lake, and either built anew or repaired the religious edifices of all sects at the expense of the State; and, to secure uniformity and solidity in the new habitations, he advanced to every man who required it half the money necessary for their construction. But the greatest boon of all was his leaving the administration of justice, as well as of internal police, entirely in the hands of the municipal authorities, who, to their credit, resolved that the fines and forfeitures arising therefrom, instead of becoming a bait for avarice and vexatious interference, should be offerings to the shrine of Dwarkanath.
It is proper to say that the chief magistrate, Sah Maniram, who is of the Vaishnava sect, has a coadjutor in Gumaniram, of the Oswal tribe and Jain faith, and each has his separate tribunal for the classes he represents, while the whole form a joint council for the general weal. They pull well together, and each has founded a pura, or suburb, named after their children. The Chauthias, or members of this council, are selected according to the general sense entertained of their fitness; and were the chief magistrates also the free choice of the inhabitants at large, ‘the city of bells’ would require no addition to her freedom. Thus, in the short space of twenty years, has been raised a city of six thousand comfortable dwellings, with a population of at least twenty-five thousand souls. But the hereditary principle, so powerful throughout these countries, and which, though it perpetuates many evils, has likewise been productive of much good, and has preserved these States from annihilation, will inevitably [731] make the ‘turban’ of magistracy descend from the head of Maniram or Gumani to their children, under whom, if they be not imbued with the same discretion as their parents, the stone tablet, as well as the subsequent privileges of Jhalrapatan, may become a dead letter. The only officers of government residing in the town are the commandant and the collector of the imposts; and so jealous are they of the least interference on his part, that a fine would be inflicted on any individual who, by delaying the payment of the authorized duties, furnished an excuse for his interference.
Such is an outline of an internal administration, on which I have just had a commentary of the most agreeable description: a public visit from all the wealth and worth of Patan. First came the merchants, the brokers, the insurers of the Vaishnava persuasion, each being introduced with the name of the firm; then followed the Oswal merchants, in similar form, and both of them I seated in the order of their introduction and respectability. After them followed the trades, the Chauthia or deacons, each making his nazar in the name of the whole body. Then came the artisans, goldsmiths, braziers, dyers, confectioners, down to the barbers, and town-crier. The agricultural interest was evidently at a discount in Patan, and subordinate to the commercial; the old Mandloi Patels were, “though last, not least” in this interesting assemblage. Even the frail sisterhood paid their devoirs, and, in their modesty of demeanour, recalled the passage of Burke applied in contrast to a neighbouring State, “vice lost half its deformity, by losing all its grossness.”[[9]] Sah Maniram himself preserved order outside, while to his colleague he left the formalities of introduction. The goldsmiths’ company presented, as their nazar, a small silver powder-flask, shaped as an alligator, and covered with delicate chain-work, which I shall retain not only as a specimen of the craft, but in remembrance of a day full of unusual interest. They retired in the same order as they came, preceded by the town band, flags, trumpets, and drums.
Such is Jhalrapatan. May the demon of anarchy keep from its walls, and the orthodox and heterodox Duumvirs live in amity for the sake of the general good, nor by their animosities increase the resemblance which this mart bears to the free cities of Europe!
From all I could learn, justice is distributed with as even a hand as in most societies, but wherever existed the community that submitted to restraint, or did not murmur at the fiat of the law? Jhalrapatan is now the grand commercial mart of Upper Malwa, and has swallowed up all the commerce of the central towns between [732] its own latitude and Indore. Though not even on the high road, when established, this difficulty was overcome by the road coming to it. The transit-duties on salt alone must be considerable, as that of the lakes of western Rajwara passes through it in its way to the south-east. It is not famed, however, for any staple article of trade, but merely as an entrepôt.
ENTRANCE TO THE SANCTUARY OF A TEMPLE AT CHANDRAVATI.
To face page 1784.
Ruins of Chandrāvati.
The sites of temples mark the course of the stream for a considerable distance, the banks being strewed with ruins. Flights of steps, forming ghats, reach to the water’s edge, where multitudes of gods, goddesses, and demons, are piled, and some [733] of the more perfect placed upon altars of clay, around which some lazy, well-fed Gosains loiter, basking in the sun. Understanding that no umbrage could be taken if I exported some of them to Udaipur, I carried off Narayan on his hydra-couch, a Parbati, a Trimurti, and a cartload of the dii minores, which I found huddled together under a bar-tree. There was a fine statue of Ganesa, but our efforts to move Wisdom were ineffectual, and occasioned not a few jokes among my Brahmans; nor must I pass over a colossal Baraha (boar), of which no artist in Europe need be ashamed.
The powers of Destruction and Reproduction were those propitiated among the one hundred and eight shrines of Chandravati; of which only two or three imperfect specimens remain to attest the grandeur of past days. Everywhere, the symbolic lingam was scattered about, and the mandap of one of those still standing I found filled with representations of the Hindu Hecate and a host of lesser infernals, the sculpture of which, though far inferior to that at Barolli, is of a high order compared with aught of modern times. The attitudes are especially well managed, though there is a want of just proportion. Even the anatomical display of the muscles is attended to; but the dust, oil, and sendur (vermilion) of twelve centuries were upon them, and the place was dark and damp, which deterred us from disturbing them.