316 Lieut.-Colonel Tod on the Religious Establishmenls of Mewar. 



Nat'iidwara ; and the gods of Vrij had sufficient prescience to know that 

 they could guard neither their priests nor followers from the Pat'han and 

 Mahratta, to whom the crown (rniikta) of the god, and the nutna {jiose- 

 jexvel) of Radha would be alike acceptable : nor would they have 

 scrupled to retain both the deities and priests as hostages for such imposi- 

 tion as they might deem within their means. Accordingly, of late years, 

 tliere had been no congress of the gods of Vrij, who remained fixtures on 

 their altars, till the halcyon days of A.D. 1818 permitted their liberation.* 



The Sat'h-rupa, or seven statues of Kaniya, are the forms he assumed 

 in the Ras-mandala, or mystic dance, with Radha and the Gopis. Balba 

 AcHARYA, the high-priest of Crishna, first collected these, and having 

 brought them together established the festival of the Ancida. The diffe- 

 rent images remained in the same sanctuary, or at least under one supreme 

 head, until the time of Girdhari, the grandson of Balba, who having 

 seven sons, gave to each a rupa, and their descendants continue in the office 

 of priest. The names and present abodes of the gods are as follows : 



Nat'h-ji, the god, or Gordan-Nat'h, god of the mount Nat'hdwara. 



1. NoNiTA Nat'hdwara. 



2. Mat'hura Nat'h , Kotah. 



3. DwAR-CA Nat'h Kankerowli. 



4. Gokul-Nat'h, or Gokul Chandrama ... Jeipur. 



5. Yadu-Nat'h Surat. 



6. Vitul-Nat'h Kotah. 



7. MuDHUN MoiiUNA Jeipur. 



These names are derived eitiier from some peculiar attribute or from the 

 original seat of the shrine. The god, Nat'h-ji, is not enumerated amongst 

 the forms ; he stands supreme over all, 



f I enjoyed no small degree of favour with the supreme pontiff of the shrine of Apollo and 

 all his votaries, for effecting a meeting of the seven statues of Vishnu. In contriving this, I 

 had not only to reconcile ancient animosities between the priests of the different shrines, in 

 order to obtain a free passport for the gods, but to pledge myself to the princes in whose 

 capitals they were established, for their safe return : for they dreaded lest bribery might entice 

 the priests to fix them elsewhere, which would have involved their loss of sanctity, dignity, 

 and prosperity. It cost me no little trouble, and still more anxiety, to keep the assembled 

 multitudes at peace with each other, for they are as outrageous as any sectarians in contesting 

 the supreme power and worth of their respective forms (rupa). Yet they all separated not 

 only without violence, but without even any attempt at robbery, so common on those occasions. 



