The Country of Braj. 
[No. 1, 
6 
It is probable that if an accurate measurement were made, 84 
Jcos would be found a very rough approximation, more or less, to 
the actual distance traversed by the pilgrims in performing the 
Pari-krama, or Perambulation of Braj. In ancient Indian terri¬ 
torial divisions, a chaurasi, or group of 84 villages, occurs as fre¬ 
quently as a hundred in English counties. The same number, as 
has been most elaborately demonstrated by Sir Henry Elliot in his 
Supplementary Glossary, enters largely into every cycle of Hindu 
legend and cosmogony. There can be no doubt that it was ori¬ 
ginally selected for such general adoption as being the multiple of 
the number of months in the year with the number of days in the 
week. It is therefore peculiarly appropriate in connection with 
the Braj Mandal, if Krishna, in whose honour the perambulation 
is performed, be regarded as the Indian Apollo, or sun-god. 
The first aspect of the country is a little disappointing to the 
✓ 
student of Sanskrit literature, whom the glowing eulogiums of the 
poets have led to anticipate a second vale of Tempe. The soil, be¬ 
ing poor and thin, is unfavourable to the growth of most large 
forest trees : the mango and sliisham, the glory of the lower Duab 
are conspicuously absent, their place being most inadequately sup¬ 
plied by the nim, faras, and various species of the fig tribe. Eor 
the same reason the dust in any ordinary weather is deep on all 
the thoroughfares, and if the slightest air is stirring, rises in a 
dense cloud and veils the whole landscape in an impenetrable haze. 
The Jamuna, the one great river of Braj, during eight months of 
the year meanders slowly a mere rivulet between wide expanses of 
sand, bounded by monotonous flats of arable land, or high banks 
cracked and broken by the rapidly expended force of contributory 
torrents into ugly chasms and stony ravines naked of all vegeta¬ 
tion. As the limits of Braj from north to south on one side are 
defined by the high lands across the Jamuna, so are they on the 
other side by the hill range of Bharatpur, but there are few peaks 
of conspicuous height and the general outline is tame and unim¬ 
pressive. The villages, though large, are meanly built, and betray 
the untidiness characteristic of Jats and Giijars, the chief proprie¬ 
tary classes. From a distance they are often picturesque, being 
built on the slope of natural or artificial mounds, and thus gain 
