42 
The Country of Braj. 
[No. 1, 
they should he husband and wife ; Prem-sarovar, or Love lake, where 
tirst the amorous tale was told, and Sankari Khor, the narrow pass 
between the hills, where Krishna lay in ambush and levied his toll 
of milk on the Gopis as they came in from Gahvarban, ‘ the thick 
forest’ beyond. Next are visited Sanket; Bithora, home of Chan- 
dravali, Badha’s faithful attendant; and Nand-ganw, long the abode 
of Nanda and Jasoda, with the great lake Pan-sarovar, at the foot 
of the hill, where Krishna morning and evening drove his foster- 
father’s cattle to 1 water’ (pan). Next in order come the villages of 
Karahla; Kamai,*' where one of Badha’s humble friends was 
honored by a visit from her lord and mistress in the course of 
their rambles; Ajnokh,f where Krishna pencilled his lady’s eye¬ 
brow with anjan , as she reclined in careless mood on the green 
sward; and Pisayo, where she found him fainting with ‘ thirst’ 
(piycts)\ and revived him with a draught of water. Then, still 
bearing due north, the pilgrims come to Kkadira-ban in Khaira ; 
Kumar-ban and Javak-ban in Jao, where Krishna tinged his lady’s 
feet with the red Javak dye ; and Kokila-ban, ever musical with the 
voice of the cuckoo; and so arrive at the foot of Charan Pahar in 
Little Bathan, where Indra descended from heaven on his elephant 
Airavati, and did homage to the lord of Braj, as to this day is at¬ 
tested by the prints of the divine feet (charan) impressed upon the 
rock. They then pass on through Dadliiganw, where Krishna 
stayed behind to divert himself with the village girls, having sent 
Bakieva on ahead with the cows to Bathan, and so reach Kot,ban,§ 
the northernmost point of the perambulation. 
The first village on the homeward route is Sessai (Sesha’s couch), 
where Krishna revealed his divinity by assuming the emblems of 
Narayan, and reclining under the canopjdng heads of the great 
serpent Sesha, into whose form Baldeva had transfigured himself; 
* Tliis simple name f Kamai ’ is distorted on the Government map into the 
unpronounceable form Kowyeen ! Khayra also appears as Khaeeruh. 
t Ajnokh, or in its fuller form Ajnokhari, is a contraction for Anjan pokha- 
ri, the Anjan lake. So Kusum Sarovar is sometimes called Kusumokhar. 
% The connection of Pisayo with piyas is rather far-fetched. But most of 
the other derivations are equally unscientific. They are quoted not for their 
philological value, but as shewing how thoroughly the whole country side is 
impregnated with the legends of Krishna, "where some allusion to him is detect¬ 
ed in the name of every village. 
§ As Tarsi derives its name from Talban, so it would seem, the town of Kosi 
from Kotban. 
