^^88 Lieut. -Colonel Tod on the Religious Establishments of Mewar. 



followers of Siva oppressing those of Kaniva ; the priests of Jui'iter driving 

 the pastoral Apollo from the Parnassus {Girdhana) of Vrij. At the inter- 

 cession, however, of a princess of Udyapur, Apollo was replaced on his 

 altar, where he remained till ARUNGzi^:iiE became emperor of the Moguls. 

 In such detestation did the Hindus hold this intolerant king, that in like 

 manner as they supposed the beneficent Akber to be Mokimd Brimachari, 

 the most devout of men, in a former birth, so. they invest the tyrant's 

 body with the soul of Kal Yaman, the foe of Crishna, ere his apotheosis, 

 and to avoid whom he fled from the sacred territory to Dwarica, and thence 

 acquired the name of Rinchor.* 



When Arungzlue proscribed Kaniya, and rendered his shrines impure 

 throughout Vrij, Rana Raj Sing of Udyapur " oflTered the heads of one 

 hundred thousand of his Rajpiits for his service," and tiie god was con- 

 ducted by the route of Kotah and Rampura to Mewar. An omen decided 

 the spot of the future residence of Kaniya, for as he journied to gain the 

 capital of the Sisodias, the chariot-wheel sunk deep into the earth and 

 defied extrication. The Stikuni (augur) inteipreted tiie pleasure of the 

 god, that he desired to dwell there. This circumstance occurred at an 

 inconsiderable village called Siarh, in the fief of Dailwara, one of the six- 

 teen nobles of Mewar. 



Rejoiced at this decided manifestation of favour, the chief hastened to 

 make a perpetual gift of the village and its lands, which was speedily con- 

 firmed by the patent of the Rana.\ ISlat^hji {the god) was removed from his 

 car, and in time a temple was erected for his reception, wlien tlie hamlet of 

 Siarh became the town of Nat'hdwara, which now contains many thousand 

 inhabitants, of all denominations, who, reposing under the especial protec- 

 tion of the god, are exempt from every mortal tribunal. Its site is not 

 uninteresting, nor is it devoid of the means of defence. To the east it 

 is shut in by a cluster of hills, and to the westward flov.s the Bunas, which 

 nearly bathes the extreme points of the hills. Within these bounds is the 

 sanctuary (sir?ia) of Kaniya, where the criminal is free from pursuit ; nor 



* Rin, the " field of battle," Clior, from chnrna, to abandon. Hence Rinchor, one of the 

 titles under which Crishna is worshipped at Dwarica, i > most unpropitious to the martial Kajput. 

 Kal-Yamun, the foe from whom he fled, and who is figured as a serpent, is doubtless the 

 Tak, the ancient foe of the Yacliis, who slew Jas.v£ja, emperor of the Pnndiis. 



■\ See Appendix to this paper, No. VIII. 



