836 Observation upon the past and present [Oct, 



pies, or resting against the door, or occupying a deserted sewala, and 

 the pious villager as he passes one under a tree mistakes the sculpture 

 for some form of divinity and besmears it with ochre. Milk once rained 

 at Rome but it was polluted with blood. Lycus tells of a fountain in 

 India from which the natives fed their lamps. But the streams of 

 Oujein more rich and curious, produce not a polluted liquid, or mere 

 food for lamps, but milk, fresh, wholesome milk. Abul Fazl who 

 believed that the Sipra displayed this phenomenon*, was not aware 

 that other waters of the vicinity have the same property. Of seven 

 sacred tanks at Oujein two occasionally manifest the miracle. The 

 Rvdra Sagar-\, or rather the dtidh-talao which is near it, and the Khair 

 (Ksliira) Sugar, which derives its name from the mess so called made 

 of rice and milk. A like prodigy is related of a pool near Chittrakoth 

 in Bundelkhand, which may be annually verified on the dark half of the 

 month Kartik during the night only. 



The miracle is sometimes reversed ; for the Sola Sugar, which is now 

 a large piece of water, was originally a small cup of milk. A rishi 

 observing that his cows returned from grazing with undistended udders, 

 concealed himself and detected agowala in the act of milking the cows. 

 The discovered thief ran away, and in his haste dropped the vessel 

 which contained the stolen milk, — the spilt milk was the origin of 

 Sola Sugar. 



The credulous Oujeinis receive, in its literal sense, the name of ano- 

 ther of the lakes, the Raina Sugar, and believe that precious stones at 

 times rise out of the water and glitter in the eyes of the fortunate 

 worshipper. It was originally no doubt a mere complimentary epi- 

 thet, just as the Dee is called the Ratndkara or house of gems. But the 

 Sipra is, par excellence, the stream of wonders. Its sanctity commences 

 about four miles south of Oujein at the Triveni, where the three waters 

 the Riatka, the Rutkia, and the Chippra, (Sipra) meet. During the 

 drought which desolated this part of India three or four years ago, so 

 little water remained in the river, that the citizens became alarmed. 

 Numerous were the prayers, the homas, the offerings of ghee and milk 

 on its banks. " One morning (I use the words of the chief Mulla of 

 the Bhoras who prefaced his tale with the ominous caution of " you'll 

 not believe me") I went down to the ghats, what was my astonishment 

 at finding the bed of the river which I had left nearly dry a few 



* It is amusing to find Gladwin taxing his ingenuity to explain this— why 

 did he not also explain the Parus-pattal and the mermaids. 



f The Rudra Sagur is not ^infrequently dry ; the natives tell you that bones 

 thrown into it in the rains, are decomposed, by the time that the dry weather 

 exposes its bed. 



