Indian Antiquary Vol 01

SR No.: 032493
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 430
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[AUGUST 2, 1872.
the front. Attached to Rani Hansiya's monu- The following legend in the Harivansa (cap. ment is a smaller one in commemoration of a 94) must be taken to refer to the foundation faithful attendant. Behind is an extensive gar- of the town, though apparently it has never den, and in front, at the foot of the terrace, is an hitherto been noticed in that connection. artificial lake, called the Kusum-Sarovar, 460 Arnong the descendants of Ikshváku, who feet square; the flights of stone steps on each reigned at Ayodhya, was Haryasva, who took side being broken into one central and four to wife Madhumati, the daughter of the giant smaller side compartments by panelled and ar- Madhur. Being expelled from the throne by caded walls running out 60 feet into the water. his elder brother, the king fled for refuge to the On the north side, some progress had been made court of his father-in-law, who received him most in the erection of a chhattri for Javáhir Siñh, affectionately, and ceded him the whole of his when the work was interrupted by a Muhamme- dominions, excepting only the capital Madhudan inroad and never renewed. On the same side vana, which he reserved for his son Lavana. the gháts of the lake are partly in ruins, and it is Thereupon Haryasva built, on the sacred Girisaid were reduced to this condition, a very few vara, a new royal residence, and consolidated the years after their completion, by the Gosain Him- kingdom of Anarta, to which he subsequently mat Bahadur, who carried away the materials to annexed the country of Arúpa, or as it is otherBrindá-ban, to be used in a house that he was wise and preferably read, Anupa. The third in building for himself there. Subsequently he es- descent from Yadu, the son and successor of Harytablished an independent sovereignty over a asva, was Bhima, in whose reign Ráma, the then considerable portion of Bandel-khand, and in sovereign of Ayodhya, cominissioned Satrughna 1803 entered into a special treaty with the Biri- to destroy Lavana's fort of Madhuvana, and erect tish Government.
in its stead the town of Mathurá. After the Other sacred spots in the town of Gobardhan departure of its founder, Mathuri was anare the temple of Chakreśvar Mahádeva, and nexed by Bhima, and continued in the posfour ponds called respectively Go-rochan, Dharm- session of his descendants down to Vasudeva. rochan, Páp-mochan and Kin-mochan. But The most important lines in the text run thus : these latter, even in the rains, are mere puddles, Haryavascha mahátejá divyo Chirivarottame and all the rest of the year are quite diy; while
Nivesaya masa puram vásartham amaropamah the former, in spite of its sanctity, is as
Anartam náma tadrashtram suráshtram Comean a little building as it is possible to
dhanáyutam conceive.
Achirenaiva kálena samriddham pratyaThe break in the hill, traversed by the road pádyata from Mathurá to Dig, is called the Dán Ghát,
Anúpa-vishayam chaiva vela vana-vibhúand is supposed to be the spot where Kộishna shitam. lay in watch to intercept the Gopis and levy a From the occurrence of the words Giri-vara toll (dán) on the milk they were bringing into || and Godhana, and the declared proximity to the town. A Brahman still sits at the receipt Mathura, it is clear that the capital of Haryasya of enstom, and extracts a copper coin or two must have been situate on the Guri-raj of Gobar from the passers-by. On the ridge over- dhan ; and it is probable that the country of looking the Ghát stands the temple of Dán Anúpa was to some extent identical with the Ráe.
more modern Braj. Anupa is once mentioned, in Of late years the paramount power has been an earlier canto of the poem, as having been beg'been repeatedly solicited by the Bharatpur Rája towed by king Prithu on the bard Sáta. The
to cede him Gobardhan in exchange for other name Anarta occurs also in canto X, where it is territory of equal value. It contains so many stated to have been settled by king Reva, the memorials of his ancestors that the request is a son of Saryati, who made Kupasthali its capital. very natural one for him to make, and it must In the Rámáyana IV. 43, it is described as a be admitted that the Bharatpur frontier stands western region on the set-coast, or at all events greatly in need of rectification. It would, how in that direction, and has therefore been identiever, be most impolitic for the Government to sfied with Gujarát. Thus there would seem to make the desired concession, and thereby lose have been an intimate connection between Gujaall control over a place so important both from rát and Mathura, long anterior to Kșishna's its position and its associations as Gobardhan. foundation of Dwaraka.