316 
F. S. Growse — The Tvrfhas of Vrindd-vana and Gokula. [No. 4, 
But, as said above, the foundation of all this material prosperity and 
religious exclusiveness was laid by the Gosains who established themselves 
there in the reign of Akbar. The leaders of the community were by name 
Bupa and feanatana from Gain* in Bengal, They were accompanied by six 
others, ol whom three, Jiva, Madhu and Gopul Bhat, came from the same 
neighbourhood, Swami Hari Das from Rajpur in the Mathura District, Hari 
bans from Deva-ban in Saharanpur, and Byas Hari Earn from Orcha in 
Bundelkhand. It is said that, in 1570, the emperor was induced to pay 
them a visit, and was taken blindfold into the sacred enclosure of the Nidh- 
ban, # where such a marvellous vision was revealed to him, that he was fain 
to acknowledge the place as indeed holy ground. Hence the cordial sup- 
port which he gave to the attendant liajas, when they declared their inten- 
tion of erecting a series of buildings more worthy of the local divinity. 
The four temples, commenced in honour of this event, still remain, 
though in a ruinous and sadly neglected condition. They bear the titles of 
Gobind Deva, Gopi-niith, Jugal-kishor, and Madan Mohan. The first named 
is not only the finest of this particular series, but is the most impressive 
religious edifice that Hindu art has ever produced, at least in Upper India, 
the body ol the building is in the form of a Greek cross, the nave being a 
hundred feet in length and the breadth across the transepts the same. The 
central compartment is surmounted by a dome of singularly graceful propor- 
tions ; and the four arms of the cross are roofed by a waggon vault of point- 
ed form, not — as is usual in Hindu architecture — composed of overlapping 
brackets, but constructed of true radiating arches as in our Gothic cathe- 
drals. The walls have an average thickness of ten feet, and are pierced in 
two stages, the upper stage being a regular triforium, to which access is 
obtained by an internal staircase. At the east entrance of the nave, a small 
n art hex projects fifteen feet ; and at the west end, between two niches and 
incased in a rich canopy of sculpture, a square-headed doorway leads into 
the choir, a chamber some twenty leet deep. Beyond this was the sacrarium, 
flanked on either side by a lateral chapel ; each of these three cells being of 
the same dimensions as the choir and like it vaulted by a lofty dome. The 
general effect of the interior is not unlike that produced by St. Paul’s cathe- 
dral in London. The latter building has greatly the advantage in size, but 
in the other, the central dome is more elegant, while the richer decoration 
of the wall surface and the natural glow of the red sandstone supply that 
relief and warmth of colouring which are so lamentably deficient in its Wes- 
tern rival. 
* The derivation of this word is a little questionable. It is the local name of the 
actual Brinda grove, to which the town owes its origin. The spot so designated is now 
of very limited area, hemmed in on all sides by streets, but protected from further 
encroachment by a liigh masonry wall. 
