Lieut. -Colonel Tod on the Religious Establishments of Mewar. 307 



manner described above, the ras-mandal is sculptured in alto-relievo in the 

 vaulted temples dedicated to the god,* or in secular edifices by way of 

 ornament ; as in the triumphal column of Chitore. On the festival of 

 the Jenem, or ' birth-day,' there is a scenic representation of Kaniya and 

 the Gopis (Apollo and the muses) : when are rehearsed in the mellifluous 

 accents of the Ionic land of Vrij, the songs of Jydeva, as addressed by 

 Kaniya to Radha and the Gopis. A specimen of these, as translated by 

 that elegant scholar Sir W. Jones, may not be considered inappropriate 

 here. 



I have had occasion to remark elsewhere t that the Rajput bards, like 

 the heroic Scalds of the north, lose no opportunity of lauding themselves ; 

 and Jydeva, the bard of the Yadiis, has set an eminent example of this in 

 the opening of " the songs of Govinda." 



" If thy soul be delighted with the remembrance of Heri, or sensible to 

 " the raptures of love, listen to the voice of Jydeva, whose notes are both 

 " sweet and brilliant." 



The poet opens the first interview of Crishna and Radha with an 

 animated description of a night in the rainy season, in which Heri is i-epre- 

 sented as a wanderer, and Radha, daughter of the shepherd Nanda, is sent 

 to offer him shelter in their cot. Nanda thus speaks to Radha : " The 

 " firmament is obscured by clouds ; the woodlands are black with Tamdla 

 " trees ; that youth who roves in the forest will be fearful in the gloom of 

 " night ; go, my daughter, bring the wanderer home to my rustic mansion. 

 " Such was the command of Nanda the herdsman, and hence arose the 

 " love of Radha and MADHAVA."t 



The poet proceeds to apostrophize Heri, which the Hindu bard terms 

 rupaca, or " personal description :" 



" O THOU who reclinest on the bosom of Camala, whose ears flame with 

 •' gems, and whose locks are embellished with sylvan flowers, thou, from 

 " whom the day-star derived his effulgence, who slewest the venom- 



* I have often been struck with a characteristic analogy in the sculptures of the most ancient 

 Saxon cathedrals in England and on the continent, to Kaniya and the Gopis. Both may be 

 intended to represent divine harmony. Did the Asi and Jits of Scandinavia, the ancestors of 

 the Saxons, bring them from Asia ? 



f Trans. Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i, p. 146. 



X Madhu in the dialect of Vrij. 



2 R 2 



