THE MARBLE DAMS OF RAJPUTANA 



479 



what from the ordinary 

 mirage, in that they con- 

 stantly fade and gently 

 reappear, as though on 

 a slow motion - picture 

 screen. 



At all times there is 

 something in the atmos- 

 phere here best described 

 as elusive radiance, 

 which makes panoramic 

 photography disappoint- 

 ing. Objects at an ap- 

 palling distance leap into 

 the field of the camera, 

 while those in the fore- 

 ground seem to recede. 

 Of course, the necessity 

 of photographing at long 

 range and from great 

 heights anything so ex- 

 tensive as the marble 

 dams and mountain fort- 

 resses would naturally 

 distort the classic out- 

 lines of the one and 

 greatly reduce the im- 

 posing effect of the 

 other. 



EKLINGI IS A SUMPTU- 

 OUS COLLECTION OP 

 SHRINES 



Temples in India are 

 usually found near rivers 

 or beside living springs, 

 as water for bathing 

 purposes is an important 

 phase of both the Hindu 

 and Mohammedan re- 

 ligions ; so that the 

 waterless and most inac- 

 cessible portion of Raj- 

 putana is the last place where one would 

 expect to find anything so sumptuous and 

 altogether unusual as Eklingi. In the 

 words of a pertinent Hindu aphorism, it 

 lies in a deep defile, "like a tongue be- 

 tween thirty-two teeth," surrounded by a 

 massive wall, which keeps the parasitic 

 Candelabra euphorbia bushes at bay. Low 

 mountains rise on all sides, with rock- 

 scarped summits covered with black 

 honeycomb, the habitation of millions of 

 bees, the vicious little black Indian va- 

 riety that will rout an army. 



Eklingi, like the dams of Mewar, is 





sm 



THE PILLAR OP VICTORY AT CHITOR 



This is one of the most remarkable monuments of its kind in 

 India, with a height of 122 feet and each of its four faces 

 measuring 35 feet at its base. Its carvings represent every object 

 known to Hindu mythology, yet in such fine detail that it can 

 only be appreciated through field-glasses. Erected in 1451, it 

 stands today firm and undefaced on its rock foundation. 



of white marble from the foundation 

 stones up, immense and most elaborately 

 embellished. It is difficult to convey a 

 comprehensive idea of anything so com- 

 plicated, for the temple as a whole repre- 

 sents the accumulated work of a long line 

 of kings (see illustration, page 471). 



Whenever one of the "Sun-born" won 

 a battle, or through favor of the gods 

 was blessed with an heir, he added a 

 statue or shrine to Eklingi, regardless of 

 labor or expense, the ambition of each 

 being to make his more elaborate and 

 costly than the others. Grouped round 



