INDRAPUT. 69 



escape from Cashmere, and Runjeet Singh bequeathed 

 the gem m 1839 to the shrine of Juggernaut in Orissa ; 

 but ten years later, on the extinction of the Pim- 

 jab kingdom, it got into the possession of the British 

 Crown. A few private apartments and bath rooms of 

 white marble inlaid, and a small mosque of the same 

 material is all that now remains of this noble royal 

 residence. 



An excellent college, and a number of more or less 

 elaborate religious buildings, complete the list of public 

 edifices ; but I must not omit a visit on horseback to 

 the ruins of Old Delhi, or " Indraput " (Indra, the firma- 

 ment), a very ancient Hindu city, which covers an 

 inunense area on the banks of the Jumna. These 

 remains belong to temples, palaces, and tombs — the 

 very image of desolation. Amongst them we come 

 upon an interesting rehc in the shape of an unsightly 

 tall black metal (edict) pillar, or " stambhas," twenty- 

 three feet, eight inches high, marking the sight of an 

 old Patau palace erected in the fourth or fifth century. 

 The Patans are an Afghan race which had to make 

 room for the Mogul emperors. 



The Kuttab minaret merits special mention amongst 

 that mass of granite and marble scattered every- 

 where. It belonged to an enormous mosque built 700 

 years ago by the first Mohamedan ruler of this 



