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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

[DECEMBER, 1873.

and-except the doli, a seat 18 inches square,

ed.

slung from two poles and carried by four Kolis– no mode of conveyance would be even tolerably

north, surrounded by clumps of trees, is the town of Pål it à n à, and in all directions the eye wanders over a vast plain, with gentle undula tions here and there, and declining away to the east and south-east; generally it is cultivated. though not nearly to the extent it admits of. At intervals the eye falls on groups of umbrage ous trees, from beside which peep out the temples and huts of many a village. To the east the prospect extends to the Gulf of Kham bhāt about Gho go and Bhā un a gar; to the north it is bounded by the granite range of Sih or and the Cham a r di peak; to the north-west and west the plain extends as far as the eye can reach, except where broken, in the far distance due west, by the summits of Mount G i r n a r—revered alike by Hindu, Buddhist,

comfortable either for ascent or descent.

The

winding path is paved with rough stones all the way up, only interrupted here and there by regular flights of steps. At frequent intervals also are the rest-houses already mentioned, more

pretty at a distance than convenient for actual use, but still deserving of attention. High up, when near the top, we come to a

small temple of H a nu m a n,-the image of course bedaubed with red lead in ultra-barbaric

style; at this point the path bifurcates–to the right leading to the northern peak, and to the left to the valley between, and through it to the southern summit. Ascending by the first of these, we enter through a narrow door into an outer enclosure, at the left corner of which, un der a tree, is the shrine or dargah of Heng a r,

a Musalmán pir; so that Hindu and Muslim alike contend for the representation of their creeds on this sacred hill of the Jainas.

This

He mg a r or A ngã r Šâ Pir, they say, when living, “could control the elements,” but he was foolish enough to try his mace on A din à tha, and the Jaina, though unable to protect himself from the blow, struck his enemy dead. His ghost, however, was malicious enough to annoy the pijárás at their prayers, and in a solemn council they summoned him to state his wishes: “Lay my bones on that corner of the hill,” said the ghost, and the matter was settled. Our endeavours to discover who this saint

was, and when he flourished, were equally fruit less with those of Colonel Tod; there seems to

Just under the brow of the hill to the

and Jaina—the latter of whom claim it as sacred

to N e m in a t ha, their twenty-second Tirthai kara, whom they represent as having, after seven hundred years' austerities, become fit to leave this and all worlds on yonder six-peaked moun tain, at some date in the far past that would astonish even a geologist. From west to east, like a silver ribbon, across the foreground to the south, winds the Satru fijay a * river, which the eye follows until it is lost between the Ta 1 fi jā and Khok a rā hills in the south-west. The nearer scene on the hill itself is thus de

scribed by the author of the Rás Málá :—“Street after street, and square after square,” he says, “extend these shrines of the Jaina faith, with

their stately enclosures, half palace, half fortress. raised in marble magnificence upon the lonely and majestic mountain, and, like the mansions

be no information respecting him “beyond the

of another world, far removed in upper air from

tradition that it was in the time of G h or i

the ordinary tread of mortals. In the dark re cesses of each temple, one image or more of

B e i a m, nephew of the king of Dehli, who re sided in Pālitănă, and by whom the mosks and

Ādīnātha, of Ajita, or of some other of the Tir.

'idºu hs, both inside and outside, were erected.”

thaikaras, is seated, whose alabaster features,

“At present, however,” he adds, “the darresh

wearing an expression of listless repose, are rendered dimly visible by the faint light shed from silver lamps; incense perfumes the air, and barefooted, with noiseless tread, upon the polish ed floors, the female votaries, glittering in scarlet

attendants on the tomb of their saint have found

it requisite to conform to the rules of the place, and never touch food on the rock, nor partake of animal food below.”

The view that presents itself from this point

and gold, move round and round in circles,

may well arrest the attention. It is magnificent in extent; a splendid setting for the unique

melodious, hymns. Satruijaya indeed might

picture—this work of human toil we have reach

• Dr. Wilson thinks this is the river mentioned by

Ptolemy under the designation of Codrana or Sodrang.

chanting forth their monotonous, but not un fitly represent one of the fancied hills of Eastern Jour. Bomb. Br. R. Asiat. Soc. vol. III. pt. ii. pp. 88, Sø. Ptol. Geog. lib. vii.