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F. S. Growse — The Tirthas of Vrindd-vana and Gokula. [No. 4, 
of the whole series is, however, the Ganga Mohan Kunj, built in the next 
generation by Ganga, Suraj Mai’s Rani. The river front, which is all that 
was ever completed, has a high and massive basement story, which, on the 
land side as seen from the interior of the court, becomes a mere plinth for 
the support of a majestic double cloister with broad and lofty arch and 
massive clustered pier. The style is precisely the same as that which 
prevails in the Garden Palace at Dig, a work of the same chief ; who, 
however rude and uncultured himself, appears to have been able to appreciate 
and command the services of the highest available talent whether in the 
arts of war or peace. 
2. Gokula. 
The town of Malia-ban is some five or six miles from Mathura, lower 
down the stream and on the opposite bank of the Jamuna. It stands a little 
in land, about a mile distant from Gokul, which latter place has appropriated 
the more famous name, though it is in reality only the modern water side 
suburb of the ancient town. All the traditional sites of Krishna’s adven- 
tures, described in the Puranas as being at Gokul, are shewn at Maha-ban, 
which in short is the place intended whenever Gokul is mentioned in 
Sanskrit literature. However, in consequence of its retaining the more 
famous name, Gokul is popularly credited with a far greater amount of 
sanctity. From the opposite side of tho river it has a very picturesque 
appearance ; but on nearer approach its tortuous streets are found to be 
inconceivably mean, crowded, and unsavoury, in the rains mere channels for 
the floods, which pom 1 down through them to the Jamuna, and at all other 
times of the year so rough and broken by the action of the wator, that the 
rudest wheeled vehicle can with difficulty make its way along them. Stre- 
nuous efforts have been made within the last few years to improve its sanita- 
tion, but the Gosain Mu’afidars, the descendants (through his only son 
Bitthal-nath) of the famous Vallabhaeharaj, who settled there in Sambat 
1535, are most impracticable and intolerant of reform. The filthy condi- 
tion of the place is largely owing to the enormous number of cattle driven 
within its walls every night, which render it really what the name denotes 
a cow-stall,’ rather than a human habitation. The temples amount to a 
prodigious number, but they are all mean in appearance and recent in date ; 
and the only noteworthy ornament of the town is a large masonry tank 
constructed some thirty years ago by a Seth, named Chunna. 
The trees on its margin are always white with flocks of large water-fowl, 
of a quite distinct species from any to be found elsewhere in the neighbour- 
hood. They are a new colony, being all descended from a few pairs which 
casually settled there no more than 10 or 12 years ago. Their plumage is 
peculiai and ornamental, but difficult to obtain, as the birds are considered 
