118 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
ground by the haughty warrior, in consequence of 
the abominable idolatries there practised. Mahmood 
was a fierce iconoclast, and found abundant exercise 
for his intolerant zeal, the fury of which he poured 
out upon this devoted city. It was subsequently re- 
built with much superior magnificence, being embel- 
lished with several splendid temples and other orna- 
ments of art which rendered it a place of even greater 
celebrity than it had formerly been. Krishna was 
worshipped in still more gorgeous temples, and the 
number of his votaries had been gradually increasing 
since the destruction of his shrine by the unrelenting 
Mahmood. 
It is said that Abdulnubbi Khan was seduced from 
his spiritual allegiance to the prophet of Mecca, and 
persuaded to offer his oblations on the altar of the 
Hindoo god. He was detected in the act of pro- 
stration before the Pagan image and the circumstance 
forthwith reported to Aurungzebe, who, being a perfect 
fanatic in the observance of religious austerities, was 
highly scandalized at a Mussulmaun degrading him- 
self by so preposterous a fealty. The convicted neo- 
phyte, soon convinced of the folly of his proselytism to 
such a degrading superstition, returned to the spiritual 
service of the Prophet, and, in order to regain the em- 
peror’s favour, pulled down the sanctuary of the god 
to whom he had so lately dedicated his homage, and 
raised a mosque on its site. The mosque, however, 
of which a most faithful representation is given in the 
accompanying engraving, is stated by some historians, 
who question the fact just related, to have been built 
by the emperor himself with the materials of a temple 
