THE MARBLE DAMS OF RAJPUTAXA 



497 



deeply carved, the figures standing out 

 free from the surface, held by a slender 

 thread of stone or marble, the perfected 

 art of Aryan chisel. 



This is noticeable in what remains of 

 the Temple to Brahma, which in its day 

 must have been one of the most beautiful 

 specimens to be found in India. Al- 

 though now a ruin, strangely enough it 

 was not defaced by the Mohammedans, 

 Avhose fanaticism took the form of knock- 

 ing off noses and ears from the Hindu 

 gods. But, as the Brahma temple was 

 dedicated to the Creator of all, it con- 

 tained no "idols," either inside or out; 

 so they passed it by (see page 477)- 



There is hardly an inch of plain surface 

 on this temple. The figures are princi- 

 pally coryphees executing the "Dance of 

 Joy." At the base is a procession of 

 ceremonial elephants, each with its trunk 

 curled around the tail of the one preced- 

 ing. Another row portrays the heads of 

 cats, or perhaps tigers. Intricately 

 wrought medallions project like great 

 cameos ; small receptacles, or niches, 

 pierced several inches into the marble, 

 contain precious objects carved something 

 after the fashion of Chinese puzzles, 

 from the inside out — an ideal spot for 

 nesting birds. 



The Tower of Fame is more ornate 

 than in good taste, with the exception of 

 the first section, which redeems the whole 

 by what are called true Hindu arches on 

 each of its four faces. For the rest, here 

 also there is not an inch of plain surface 

 visible. It gives the impression that, 

 having exhausted reproductions of every 

 known object on the Pillar of Victory, 

 the artists wound the Tower of Fame 

 with sculptured bands resembling lace. 



MANY OF THE PALACES REMARKABLY 

 PRESERVED 



It is not usual to find royal dwellings 

 among ruins of the fourteenth and fif- 

 teenth centuries with much, if any, of 

 their original architecture left ; yet many 

 of the palaces at Chitor present an im- 

 posing and almost inhabited appearance, 

 until they are explored. At first, one 

 might expect to hear women's voices, or 

 see the flutter of a gay silken sari or 

 gleam of golden ornaments from the up- 

 per balcony of an unmistakable old royal 

 zenana, with sheer, unscalable walls. 



Many conditions have contributed to 

 the preservation of these buildings since 

 man first laid them waste. In the first 

 place, they were built of the hard Raj- 

 putana marble, limestone, and quartz, on 

 a solid rock foundation that stands several 

 hundred feet above the plain, in a hot. 

 dry climate. Then, the life ambition of 

 the Maharana of Udaipur is to restore 

 the fallen capital of his ancestors on the 

 old ground plan. For twenty years he 

 has been engaged in repairing broken 

 walls, in strengthening foundations, and 

 in the herculean task of rebuilding the 

 great city wall. 



chitor's amazing story oe heroism 

 and tragedy 



Following a rugged path through a 

 tangle of custard-apple trees to a lonely 

 spot in a deep cleft of rock, any one who 

 has read Kipling's "Naulakha" would 

 recognize the "Gau-Mukh," or "Cow's 

 Mouth," where the "water trickles with a 

 soft chuckle" from a grotesquely carved 

 cow's mouth into a stone tank wrenched 

 asunder by the "snaky roots of old mi- 

 mosa trees." Here, too, is the entrance 

 and also the exit to a series of subter- 

 ranean galleries with secrets of their own. 



Chitor » has an amazing history of fine 

 romance, heroism, and almost unthink- 

 able tragedy, so strange that the few In- 

 dian writers who have said much about 

 it have entrenched themselves behind 

 chronological data. Yet these happen- 

 ings are as much a part of Chitor as the 

 stones themselves. 



The royal fortress city, almost from 

 its foundation, was an object of greed 

 and lust. It was three times sacked by 

 the Mogul kings of Delhi, whose armies 

 swarmed into the states of Rajputana 

 like ants to honey-pots. More than all 

 else, they coveted the modest "lotus- 

 eyed" Hindu women. 



Princess Padmini, the "Hindu Helen," 

 was the wife of Prince Bhemsi, uncle 

 and regent of the minor heir to the 

 throne. The third and last sack of 

 Chitor occurred when tales of her won- 

 drous beauty reached Ala-u-din Khilji, 

 then King of Delhi, who promptly set out 

 with the sole object of capturing her. 



After long and fierce resistance on the 

 part of the Rajputs, Ala-u-din offered to 

 remove his armies if he might be per- 



