74 Kavi Raj Shyamal Das— Antiquities at Nagari. [No. 2, 
Antiquities at Nagari. — By Kavi Raj Shyamal Das, M.R.A.S., F.R.H.S. 
Translated by Babu Ram Prasad. (With two Plates.) 
Nagari is a small village in Me war and is situated on the east or 
right bank of the Berach, about six miles north-east of Chitor. At one 
time it was part of the jagir of the Thakur of Bassi, but it is now included 
in the estate of the Rao of Bedla, a Chauhan Rajput and a first class 
vassal of the Maharana of IJdaypur who belongs to the Guliilot or Gehlot 
clan. The name of this clan is derived from Guhil, the son of the Bappa 
Rawal who in Samvat 784, A. D. 728, according to Col. Tod, or S. 791, 
A. D. 7o5, as I believe, took Chitor from Man’mori, the last of the Mori 
or Pramar dynasty.* 
Though we do not know the dates of the foundation, or the destruc¬ 
tion of Nagari, yet the latter event must have occurred before the time 
of Bappa who lived more than eleven centuries ago ; and it would seem 
from two inscriptions at Nagari being in the Southern Asoka character 
that the city was flourishing before the Christian era. The inhabitants 
point out the remains of an ancient fort at Nagari, and say that its moat 
was formed by a ravine lying to the eastward. An examination of the 
spot shows that some building must have stood there, for large bricks 
are occasionally dug up in the neighbourhood. The north-east and south 
quarters of Nagari also contain many isolated specimens of ancient archi¬ 
tecture. The old rampart of the town is said by the villagers to be repre¬ 
sented by a crescent-shaped embankment which skirts Nagari, commen¬ 
cing on the south at the river and encompassing the south-east, east and 
north-east quarters, and ending at the north on the river bank again. 
The entrance to the old city is traceable on the road leading to Bassi. 
In some places we find old mortar floorings, and sometimes masonry 
ghats are exposed to view by the erosion of the river banks. 
Two earthen vessels measuring 12 feet in height and 3 in diameter, 
with sides an inch 'thick, are to be seen in the shaft of a well sunk by a 
barber. Such vessels called nand 3 to 4 feot high and l \ in 
diameter, arc manufactured at the present day by potters on their wheels, 
but those two old vessels seom to have boon constructed by joining 
several layers, each 4 inches high, and then baking them in a kiln. 
The rims of similar vessels may bo seen peeping out from iho ground in 
two other placos. 
Udthiom led bd}'d. 
About half a mile east of tho village there is an open rectangular 
enclosure which goes by tho abovo name, i. e., tho elephant-enclosure. 
* Tradition says that Chitrang Mori removed to Chitor, on Nagari having been 
doomed to destruction by tho course of an aHOotic. 
