Chapter XXXVIII: Appendix: III (1)

BHINMÁL.

[Description.] Bhinmál, [1068] North Latitude 24° 42' East Longitude 72° 4', the historical Shrimál, the capital of the Gurjjaras from about the sixth to the ninth century, lies about fifty miles west of Ábu hill. The site of the city is in a wide plain about fifteen miles west of the last outlier of the Ábu range. To the east, between the hills and Bhinmál, except a few widely-separated village sites, the plain is chiefly a grazing ground with brakes of thorn and cassia bushes overtopped by standards of the camel-loved pilu Salvadora persica. To the south, the west, and the north the plain is smooth and bare passing westwards into sand. From the level of the plain stand out a few isolated blocks of hill, 500 to 800 feet high, of which one peak, about a mile west of the city, is crowned by the shrine of Chámunda the Srí or Luck of Bhinmál. From a distance the present Bhinmál shows few traces of being the site of an ancient capital. Its 1500 houses cover the gentle slope of an artificial mound, the level of their roofs broken by the spires of four Jain temples and by the ruined state office at the south end of the mound. Closer at hand the number and size of the old stone-stripped tank and fortification mounds and the large areas honeycombed by diggers for bricks show that the site of the present Bhinmál was once the centre of a great and widespread city. Of its fortifications, which, as late as A.D. 1611, the English merchant Nicholas Ufflet, in a journey from Jhálor to Ahmedábád, describes as enclosing a circuit of thirty-six miles (24 kos) containing many fine tanks going to ruin, almost no trace remains. [1069] The names of some of the old gates are remembered, Surya in the north-east, Srí Lakshmí in the south-east, Sanchor in the west, and Jhálor in the north. Sites are pointed out as old gateways five to six miles to the east and south-east of the present town, and, though their distance and isolation make it hard to believe that these ruined mounds were more than outworks, Ufflet's testimony seems to establish the correctness of the local memory. [1070] Besides these outlying gateways traces remain round the foot of the present Bhinmál mound of a smaller and later wall. To the east and south the line of fortification has been so cleared of masonry and is so confused with the lines of tank banks, which perhaps were worked into the scheme of defence, that all accurate local knowledge of their position has passed. The Gujarát gate in the south of the town though ruined is well marked. From the Gujarát gateway a line of mounds may be traced south and then west to the ruins of Pipalduara perhaps the western gateway. The wall seems then to have turned east crossing the watercourse and passing inside that is along the east bank of the watercourse north to the south-west corner of the Jaikop or Yaksha lake. From this corner it ran east along the south bank of Jaikop to the Jhálor or north gate which still remains in fair preservation its pointed arch showing it to be of Musalmán or late (17th-18th century) Ráhtor construction. From the Jhálor gate the foundations of the wall may be traced east to the Kanaksen or Karáda tank. The area to the east of the town from the Karáda tank to the Gujarát gate has been so quarried for brick to build the present Bhinmál that no sign remains of a line of fortifications running from the Karáda tank in the east to the Gujarát gate in the south.

The site of the present town the probable centre of the old city, is a mound stretching for about three-quarters of a mile north and south and swelling twenty to thirty feet out of the plain. On almost all sides its outskirts are protected by well made thorn fences enclosing either garden land or the pens and folds of Rabáris and Bhíls. The streets are narrow and winding. The dwellings are of three classes, the flat mud-roofed houses of the Mahájans or traders and of the better-to-do Bráhmans and craftsmen with canopied doors and fronts plastered with white clay: Second the tiled sloping-roofed sheds of the bulk of the craftsmen and gardeners and of the better-off Rabáris and Bhíls: and Third the thatched bee-hive huts of the bulk of the Rabáris and Bhíls and of some of the poorer craftsmen and husbandmen. Especially to the north-west and west the houses are skirted by a broad belt of garden land. In other parts patches of watered crops are separated by the bare banks of old tanks or by stretches of plain covered with thorn and cassia bushes or roughened by the heaps of old buildings honeycombed by shafts sunk by searchers for bricks. Besides the four spired temples to Párasnáth the only outstanding building is the old kacheri or state office a mass of ruins which tops the steep south end of the city mound.

[People.] Of the 1400 inhabited houses of Bhinmál the details are: Mahájans 475, chiefly Oswál Vánis of many subdivisions; Shrimáli Bráhmans, 200; Shevaks 35, Maga Bráhmans worshippers of the sun and priests to Oswáls; Sonárs, 30; Bándháras or Calico-printers, 35; Kásáras or Brass-smiths 4, Ghánchis or Oilpressers, 30; Mális or Gardeners, 25; Káthias or Woodworkers, 12; Bháts 120 including 80 Gunas or Grain-carriers, and 40 Rájbhats or Bráhm Bháts, Genealogists [1071]; Kumbhárs or Potters, 12; Musalmán Potters, 4; Rehbáris or Herdsmen, 70 [1072]; Shádhs Beggars, 10; Shámia Aliks Beggars, 10; Kotwál and Panjára Musalmáns, 15; Lohárs or Blacksmiths, 3; Darjis or Tailors, 12; Nais or Barbers, 7; Bhumiás that is Solanki Jágirdárs, 15 [1073]; Kavás Bhumiás servants, 12; Játs Cultivators, 2; Deshantris or Saturday Oilbeggars, 1; Achárayas or Funeral Bráhmans, 1; Dholis Drumbeaters, 12; Pátrias or Professionals that is Dancing Girls, 30 [1074]; Turki Vohorás that is Memons, 2; Vishayati Musalmán Padlock-makers, 1; Rangrez or Dyers, 2; Mochis or Shoemakers, 30; Karias or Salávats that is Masons, 6; Churigars Musalmán Ivory bangle-makers, 2; Jatiyas [1075] or Tanners, 17; Khátiks or Butchers working as tanners, 1; Sargaras, Bhíl messengers, 1; Bhíls, 120; Tirgars or Arrowmakers, 5; Gorádas priests to Bombias leather-workers, 2; Bombias literally Weavers now Leather-workers, 40; Wághria Castrator, 1; Mirásis Musalmán Drummers, 8; Mehtars or Sweepers, 1.

[Objects. In the Town.] Inside of the town the objects of interest are few. The four temples of Párasnáth are either modern or altered by modern repairs. A rest-house to the south of a temple of Barági or Varáha the Boar in the east of the town has white marble pillars with inscriptions of the eleventh and thirteenth centuries which show that the pillars have been brought from the ruined temple of the sun or Jag Svámi Lord of the World on the mound about eighty yards east of the south or modern Gujarát gate. In the west of the town, close to the wall of the enclosure of the old Mahálakshmi temple, is a portion of a white marble pillar with an inscription dated S. 1342 (A.D. 1286) which apparently has been brought from the same ruined sun temple. In the kacheri ruins at the south end of the mound the only object of interest is a small shrine to Máta with two snakes supporting her seat and above in modern characters the words Nágáne the kuldevi or tribe guardian of the Ráhtors.

[Surroundings.] The chief object of interest at Bhinmál is the ruined temple of the Sun on a mound close to the south of the town. Of this temple and its inscriptions details are given below. About fifty yards west of the Sun temple are the remains of a gateway known as the Gujarát gateway. This modern name and the presence near it of blocks of the white quartz-marble of the Sun temple make it probable that the gateway is not older than Musalmán or eighteenth century Ráhtor times. Close to the west of the gate is Khári Báva the Salt Well an old step and water-bag well with many old stones mixed with brick work. About a hundred yards south of the Gujarát gate, in a brick-walled enclosure about sixteen yards by eight and nine feet high topped by a shield parapet, is the shrine of Mahádeva Naulákheshwar. An inscription dated S. 1800 (A.D. 1744) states that the enclosure marks the site of an old temple to Naulákheshwar. About fifty yards east of the Naulákheshwar shrine is a large brick enclosure about seventy-five yards square with walls about twelve feet high and a pointed-arched gateway in the Moslim wave-edged style. On entering, to the left, is a plinth with a large Hanumán and further to the left in domed shrines are a Ganpati and a Máta. A few paces south is Brahma's Pool or Brahmakhund with steep steps on the west and north, a rough stone and brick wall to the east, and a circular well to the south. The pool walls and steps have been repaired by stones taken from Hindu temples or from former decorations of the pool on some of which are old figures of Matás in good repair. The story is that Som, according to one account the builder of the Sun temple according to another account a restorer of Shrimál, wandering in search of a cure for leprosy, came to the south gate of Shrimál. Som's dog which was suffering from mange disappeared and soon after appeared sound and clean. The king traced the dog's footmarks to the Brahmakhund, bathed in it, and was cured. As a thank-offering he surrounded the pool with masonry walls. To the south of the pool, to the right, are an underground ling sacred to Patáleshwar the lord of the Under World and south of the ling a small domed shrine of Chandi Devi. To the left, at the east side of a small brick enclosure is a snake-canopied ling known as Chandeshwar hung about with strings of rudráksh Elæocarpus ganitrus beads. [1076] In front of Chandeshwar's shrine is a small inscribed stone with at its top a cow and calf recording a land grant to Shrimáli Bráhmans. About forty yards north-east of the Brahmakhund a large straggling heap of brick and earth, now known as Lakshamíthala or Lakshmí's settlement, is said to be the site of a temple to Lakshmí built, according to the local legend, by a Bráhman to whom in return for his devotedness Lakshmí had given great wealth. The hollow to the south-east is known as the Khandália pool. About fifty yards south-east at the end of a small enclosure is a shrine and cistern of Jageshwar, said to be called after a certain Jag who in return for the gift of a son built the temple. Several old carved and dressed stones are built into the walls of this temple. About seventy-five yards further south-east a large area rough with heaps of brick is said to be the site of an old Vidhya-Sála or Sanskrit College. This college is mentioned in the local Mahátmya as a famous place of learning the resort of scholars from distant lands. [1077] The local account states that as the Bhils grew too powerful the Bráhmans were unable to live in the college and retired to Dholka in north Gujarát.

The slope and skirts of the town beyond the thorn-fenced enclosures of Bhils and Rabáris lie in heaps honeycombed with holes hollowed by searchers for bricks. Beyond this fringe of fenced enclosures from a half to a whole mile from the city are the bare white banks of pools and tanks some for size worthy to be called lakes. Of these, working from the south northwards, the three chief are the Nimbáli or Narmukhsarovar, the Goni or Gayakund, and the Talbi or Trambaksarovar. The Nimbáli tank, about 300 yards south-east of the college site, is a large area opening eastwards whence it draws its supply of water and enclosed with high bare banks scattered with bricks along the south-west and north. The lake is said to be named Nimbáli after a Váni to whom Mahádeva granted a son and for whom Mahádeva formed the hollow of the lake by ploughing it with his thunderbolt. About half a mile north-east of Nimbáli a horseshoe bank fifteen to thirty feet high, except to the open east, is the remains of the Goni lake. Lines of stone along the foot of the north-west and north-east banks shew that portions at least of these sides were once lined with masonry. A trace of steps remains at a place known as the Gau Ghát or Cowgate. The lake is said to have been named Goni after a Bráhman whose parents being eaten by a Rákshas went to hell. For their benefit Goni devoted his life to the worship of Vishnu and built a temple and lake. In reward Vishnu gave to the water of the lake the merit or cleansing virtue of the water of Gáya. In the foreground a row of small chatris or pavilions marks the burying ground of the Mahajan or high Hindu community of Bhinmál. Behind the pavilions are the bare banks of the Talbi lake. At the west end is the Bombáro well and near the south-west is the shrine of Trímbakeshvar Mahádev. This lake is said to have been made in connection with a great sacrifice or yag, that is yajna, held by Bráhmans to induce or to compel the god Trimbakeshwar to slay the demon Tripurásur. Beginning close to the south of Talbi lake and stretching north-west towards the city is the Karádá Sarovar or Karádá lake said to have been built by Kanaksen or Kanishka the great founder of the Skythian era (A.D. 78). On the western bank of the lake stands an open air ling of Karaiteshwar. [1078] At the south end of the Karádá lake, which stretches close to the fenced enclosures round the city, are the remains of a modern bastion and of a wall which runs north-west to the Jhálor gate. Beyond the site of the bastion is an enclosure and shrine of Maheshwar Mahádev. To the north and north-west of the Karait sea lie four large tanks. Of these the most eastern, about 300 yards north-west of Karádá, is Brahmasarovar a large area fed from the north and with high broken banks. Next, about 500 yards north-west, lies the far-stretching Vánkund or Forest Pool open to the north-east. About 800 yards west is Gautam's tank which holds water throughout the year. The banks of brick and kankar form nearly a complete circle except at the feeding channels in the east and south. In the centre of the lake is an islet on which are the white-stone foundations (18' × 12') of Gautam's hermitage. On the bank above the east feeding-channel is an image of Hanumán and on the east side of the southern channel at the foot of the bank is a white inscribed stone with letters so worn that nothing but the date S. 1106 (A.D. 1049) has been made out. Of the balls of kankar or nodular limestone which are piled into the bank of the tank those which are pierced with holes are lucky and are kept to guard wooden partitions against the attacks of insects. The last and westmost of the north row of tanks is the Jaikop properly Jakshkop that is the Yaksha's Pool about 600 yards south-west of the Gautam tank and close to the north-west of the town. [1079] This tank holds water throughout the year and supplies most of the town's demand. Along the south bank of the Jaikop, where are tombs, a shrine to Bhairav and a ruined mosque, the line of the later city walls used to run. At the south-east corner of the tank are three square masonry plinths each with a headstone carved with the figure of a man or woman. One of the plinths which is adorned with a pillared canopy has a stone carved with a man on horseback and a standing woman in memory of a Tehsildar of Bhinmál of recent date (S. 1869; A.D. 1812) whose wife became Sati. About 200 yards south-east is a row of white pália or memorial slabs of which the third from the south end of the row is dated S. 1245 (A.D. 1186). On the south-east bank is the shrine of Nimghoria Bhairav at which Shrávaks as well as other Hindus worship. In the centre of the shrine is a leaning pillar about five feet high with four fronts, Hanumán on the east, a standing Snake on the south, a Sakti on the west, and Bhairav on the north. To the south of the pillar, about a foot out of the ground rises a five-faced ling or pillar-home of the god one facing each quarter of the heaven and one uncarved facing the sky. Close to a well within the circuit of the lake near the south-east corner is a stone inscribed with letters which are too worn to be read. At the east end of the north bank under a pilu Salvadora persica tree is a massive seated figure still worshipped and still dignified though the features have been broken off, and the left lower arm and leg and both feet have disappeared. This is believed to be the image of the Yaksha king who made the tank. Details are given Below pages 456-458. To the west of the seated statue are the marks of the foundations of a temple, shrine hall and outer hall, which is believed to have originally been the shrine of Yaksh. About a hundred yards west, under a pillared canopy of white quartz, are two Musalmán graves in honour of Ghazni Khán and Hamál Khán who were killed about 400 years ago at Jhálor fighting for Shrimál. In obedience to their dying request their Bháts brought the champions' bodies to Yaksh's tank. The white quartz, the shape of the pillars, and an inscription on one of them dated S. 1333 (A.D. 1276), go to show that the stones have been brought from the Sun temple to the south of the town. To the north of the canopy is a large step-well the Dadeli Well separated into an outer and an inner section by a row of Hindu pillars supporting flat architraves. Some of the stones have figures of goddesses and in a niche is an old goddess' image. The upper part of the well and the parapet are of recent brick work. On a low mound about 150 yards to the north is the shrine of Nilkanth Máhádev, with, about a hundred paces to the south-east, a fine old step-well. The lake was fed from the south-west corner where is a silt trap built of stones in many cases taken from old temples and carved with the chaitya or horse-shoe ornament. Some of the stones have apparently been brought from the great white quartz Sun temple. Several of them have a few letters of the fourteenth century character apparently the names of masons or carvers. Some of the blocks are of a rich red sandstone which is said to be found only in the Rupe quarries eight miles south of Bhinmál.

On the right, about half a mile south of the south-west corner of the Jaikop lake, is a ruined heap hid among trees called the Pipal Duára or Gateway perhaps the remains of the western Gateway which may have formed part of the later line of fortifications which can be traced running south along the inner bank of the Jaikop feeding channel. About a mile south of the Pipal Duára are the bare banks of the large lake Bansarovar the Desert Sea. To the north-west north and north-east its great earthen banks remain stripped of their masonry gradually sloping to the west and south the direction of its supply of water. The island in the centre is Lakhára. This lake was made by Gauri or Párvati when she came from Sunda hill to slay the female demon Uttamiyár. When Párvati killed the demon she piled over her body Shri's hill which she had brought with her to form a burial mound. At the same time Párvati scooped the tank, and crowned Shri's hill with a tower-like temple. This hill, where lives the Srí or Luck of Shrimál, rises 500 feet out of the plain about a mile west of the town. It is approached from the south by a flight of unhewn stones roughly laid as steps. The hill-top is smoothed into a level pavement of brick and cement. The pavement is supported on the east side by a lofty bastion-like wall. It is surrounded by a parapet about two feet high. On the platform two shrines face eastwards. To the left or south is the main temple of Lakshmí and to the right or north the smaller shrine of Sunda Máta. The main shrine has a porch with pillars and shield frieze of white quartz limestone apparently spoils of the great Sun Temple. Three or four bells hang from the roof of the porch and some loose white stones apparently also from the Sun temple are scattered about. In the west wall of the main shrine facing east is the image of the Guardian of Bhinmál covered with red paint and gold leaf. The only trace of ornament on the outside of Lakshmí's shrine is in the north-face portion of a belt of the horse-shoe or chaitya pattern and a disc perhaps the disc of the Sun. The smaller shrine of Sunda Máta to the right or north is square and flat-roofed. The ceiling is partly made of carved stones apparently prepared for, perhaps formerly the centre slabs of domes. The door posts and lintels are of white quartz marble. On the right door post are two short inscriptions of A.D. 1612 and 1664 (S. 1669 and 1691). A second pillar bears the date A.D. 1543 (S. 1600). The roof is supported by four square central pillars which with eight wall pilasters form four shallow domes with lotus carved roof-stones from some other or some older temple. In a recess in the west wall, surmounted with a stone carved in the chaitya or horse-shoe pattern, is the Trident or Trisula of Sunda Máta the only object of worship.

From the hill-top the mound of Bhinmál hardly seems to stand out of the general level. The mound seems hidden in trees. Only in the south gleam the white pillars of the Sun Temple and to the north rise the high mound of the old offices, and still further north the spires of the four temples of Párasnáth. Beyond the town to the south and west spread green gardens fenced with dry thorn hedges. Outside of the garden enclosures to the south-east south and south-west run the lofty bare banks of dry lakes confused in places with the lines of old fortifications. To the north-west and north shine the waters of the Jaikop and Gautam tanks. Westwards the plain, dark with thorn brake and green with acacias, stretches to the horizon. On other sides the sea-like level of the plain is broken by groups of hills the Borta range along the north and north-east and to the east the handsomer Ratanágar, Thur, and Ram Sen rising southwards to the lofty clear-cut ranges of Dodala and Sunda.

Only two objects of interest in Bhinmál require special description, the massive broken statue of the Jaksha or Yaksha on the north bank of the Jaikop lake, and the temple to Jagsvámi the Sun at the south-east entrance to the city.

[Jaikop.] On the north bank of the Jaikop or Yaksha Lake, [1080] leaning against the stem of a pilu or jál Salvadora persica tree, is a massive stone about 4' high by 2' 6'' broad and 1' thick. The block is carved with considerable skill into the seated figure of a king. The figure is greatly damaged by the blows of a mace. The nose and mouth are broken off, half of the right hand and the whole of the left hand and leg are gone and the feet and almost the whole of the seat or throne have disappeared. The figure is seated on a narrow lion-supported throne or sinhásan the right hand resting on the right knee and holding a round ball of stone about six inches in diameter. The left foot was drawn back like the right foot and the left hand apparently lay on the left knee, but, as no trace remains except the fracture on the side of the stone the position of the left hand and of the left leg is uncertain. The head is massive. The hair falls about two feet from the crown of the head in four long lines of curls on to the shoulders, and, over the curls, or what seems more likely the curled wig, is a diadem or mukut with a central spike and two upright side ornaments connected by two round bands. The face is broken flat. It seems to have been clean shaved or at least beardless. A heavy ring hangs from each ear. A stiff collar-like band encircles the neck and strings of beads or plates hang on the chest too worn to be distinguished. On both arms are upper armlets, a centre lion-face still showing clear on the left armlet. On the right hand is a bracelet composed of two outer bands and a central row of beads. A light belt encircles the waist. Lower down are the kandora or hip girdle and the kopul or dhotar knot. [1081] In spite of its featureless face and its broken hands and feet the figure has considerable dignity. The head is well set and the curls and diadem are an effective ornament. The chest and the full rounded belly are carved with skill. The main fault in proportion, the overshortened lower arm and leg and the narrowness of the throne, are due to the want of depth in the stone. The chief details of interest are the figure's head-dress and the ball of stone in its right hand. The head-dress seems to be a wig with a row of crisp round curls across the brow and four lines of long curls hanging down to the shoulders and crisp curls on the top of the head. The mukut or diadem has three upright faces, a front face over the nose and side faces over the ears joined together by two rounded bands. At first sight the stone ball in the right hand seems a cocoanut which the king might hold in dedicating the lake. Examination shows on the left side of the ball an outstanding semicircle very like a human ear. Also that above the ear are three rolls as if turban folds. And that the right ear may be hid either by the end of the turban drawn under the chin or by the fingers of the half-closed hand. That the front of the ball has been wilfully smashed further supports the view that it was its human features that drew upon it the Muslim mace. The local Bráhmans contend that the ball is either a round sweetmeat or a handful of mud held in the right hand of the king during the dedication service. But Tappa a Bráhm-Bhát, a man of curiously correct information, was urgent that the stone ball is a human head. Tappa gives the following tale to explain why the king should hold a human head in his hand. An evil spirit called Satka had been wasting the Bráhmans by carrying off the head of each bridegroom so soon as a wedding ceremony was completed. The king vowed that by the help of his goddess Chamunda he would put a stop to this evil. The marriage of a hundred Bráhman couples was arranged for one night. The king sat by. So long as the king remained awake the demon dared not appear. When the hundredth marriage was being performed the king gave way to sleep. Satka dashed in and carried off the last bridegroom's head. The girl-bride awoke the king and said I will curse you. You watched for the others, for me you did not watch. The king said to his Luck Chamunda, What shall I do. Chamunda said Ride after Satka. The king rode after Satka. He overtook her fourteen miles out of Shrimál and killed her. But before her death Satka had eaten the bridegroom's head. What is to be done the king asked Chamunda. Trust me said his guardian. The king rode back to Shrimál. As he was entering the city the goddess pointed out to him a gardener or Máli and said off with his head. The king obeyed. The goddess caught the falling head, stuck it to the bridegroom's neck, and the bridegroom came to life. Thus, ends the tale, the local Bráhmans are known as Shrimális that is men with gardeners' heads. This meaning-making pun and the likeness of the stone-ball to a human head may be the origin of this story. On the other hand the story may be older than the image and may be the reason why the king is shown holding a human head in his hand. On the whole it seems likely that the story was made to explain the image and that the image is a Bhairav holding the head of a human sacrifice and acting as gatekeeper or guardian of some Buddhist or Sun-worshipping temple. [1082] The appearance of the figure, its massive well-proportioned and dignified pose, and the long wiglike curls, like the bag wig on the figure of Chánd on the south-west or marriage compartment of the great Elephanta Cave, make it probable that this statue is the oldest relic of Shrimál, belonging like the Elephanta wigged figures to the sixth or early seventh century the probable date of the founding or refounding of the city by the Gurjjarás. [1083] According to the local story the image stands about twenty paces east of the temple where it was originally enshrined and worshipped. The lie of the ground and traces of foundations seem to show about fifty paces west of the present image the sites of an entrance porch, a central hall or mandap, and a western shrine. The surface of what seemed the site of the shrine was dug about two feet deep on the chance that the base of the throne might still be in site. Nothing was found but loose brickwork. Mutilated as he is the Yaksha is still worshipped. His high day is the A'shad (July-August) fullmoon when as rain-mediator between them and Indra the villagers lay in front of him gugri that is wheat boiled in water and milk, butter, flour, molasses, and sugar.

[Sun Temple.] The second and main object of interest is the ruined Sun temple in the south of the town on a brick mound about eighty yards east of the remains of the Gujarát gateway. The brick mound which is crowned by the white marble pillars and the massive laterite ruins of the temple of Jagsvámi Lord of the World has been so dug into that its true form and size cannot be determined. The size of many of the bricks 1' 16'' × 1' × 3'' suggests that the mound is older even than the massive laterite masonry of the shrine. And that here as at Multán about the sixth century during the supremacy of the sun-worshipping White Húnas a temple of the Sun was raised on the ruins of a Buddhist temple or relic mound. Still except the doubtful evidence of the size of the bricks nothing has been found to support the theory that the Sun temple stands on an earlier Buddhist ruin. The apparent present dimensions of the mound are 42' broad 60' long and 20' high. Of the temple the north side and north-west corner are fairly complete. The east entrance to the hall, the south pillars of the hall, and with them the hall dome and the outer wall of the temple round the south and west of the shrine have disappeared. A confused heap of bricks on the top of the shrine and of the entrance from the hall to the shrine is all that is left of the spire and upper buildings. The materials used are of three kinds. The pillars of the hall are of a white quartzlike marble; the masonry of the shrine walls and of the passage round the north of the shrine is of a reddish yellow laterite, and the interior of the spire and apparently some other roof buildings are of brick. Beginning from the original east entrance the ground has been cut away so close to the temple and so many of the pillars have fallen that almost no trace of the entrance is left. The first masonry, entering from the east, are the two eastern pillars of the hall dome and to the north of this central pair the pillar that supported the north-eastern corner of the dome. Except the lowest rim, on the east side, all trace of the dome and of the roof over the dome are gone. The centre of the hall is open to the sky. The south side is even more ruined than the east side. The whole outer wall has fallen and been removed. The south-east corner the two south pillars of the dome and the south-west corner pillars are gone. The north side is better preserved. The masonry that rounds off the corners from which the dome sprung remains and along the rim of the north face runs a belt of finely carved female figures. The north-east corner pillar, the two north pillars of the dome, and the north-west corner pillar all remain. Outside of the pillars runs a passage about four feet broad and eleven feet high, and, beyond the passage, stands the north wall of the temple with an outstanding deep-eaved window balcony with white marble seats and backs and massive pillars whose six feet shafts are in three sections square eightsided and round and on whose double-disc capitals rest brackets which support a shallow cross-cornered dome. At its west end the north passage is ornamented with a rich gokla or recess 3 1/2 broad with side pillars 3 1/4 feet high. On the west side of the dome the central pair of dome pillars and as has been noticed the north corner pillar remain. About three feet west of the west pair of dome pillars a second pair support the domed entrance to the shrine. The richly carved side pillars, a goddess with fly-flap bearers, and the lintel of the shrine door remain but the bare square chamber of the shrine is open to the sky. To the south of the shrine the entire basis of the south side of the spire, the outer circling or pradakshana passage and the outer wall of the temple have disappeared. The north side is much less ruinous. There remain the massive blocks of yellow and red trap which formed the basis of the spire built in horizontal bands of deep-cut cushions, and in the centre of the north wall a niche with outstanding pillared frame, the circling passage with walls of plain trap and roof of single slabs laid across and the outer wall of the temple with bracket capitaled pillars and a central deep-eaved and pillared hanging window of white marble. The circling passage and the outer wall of the temple end at the north-west corner. Of the western outer wall all trace is gone. The pillars of the temple are massive and handsome with pleasantly broken outline, a pedestal, a square, an eightsided band, a sixteensided band, a round belt, a narrow band of horned faces, the capital a pair of discs, and above the discs outstanding brackets each ending in a crouching four-armed male or female human figure upholding the roof. The six central dome pillars resemble the rest except that instead of the sixteensided band the inner face is carved into an urn from whose mouth overhang rich leafy festoons and which stand on a roll of cloth or a ring of cane such as women set between the head and the waterpot. [1084] On the roof piles of bricks show that besides the spire some building rose over the central dome and eastern entrance but of its structure nothing can now be traced.

[History.] According to a local legend this temple of the Sun was built by Yayati the son of king Nahush [1085] of the Chandravansi or Moon stock. Yayati came to Shrimál accompanied by his two queens Sharmistha and Devyani, and began to perform severe austerities at one of the places sacred to Surya the Sun. Surya was so pleased by the fervour of Yayati's devotion that he appeared before him and asked Yayati to name a boon. Yayati said May I with god-like vision see thee in thy true form. The Sun granted this wish and told Yayati to name a second boon. Yayati said I am weary of ruling and of the pleasures of life. My one wish is that for the good of Shrimálpur you may be present here in your true form. The Sun agreed. An image was set up in the Sun's true form (apparently meaning in a human form) and a Hariya Bráhman was set over it. [1086] The God said Call me Jagat-Svámi the Lord of the World for I am its only protector. According to a local Bráhman account the original image of the Sun was of wood and is still preserved in Lakshmí's temple at Pátan in North Gujarát. [1087] Another account makes the builder of the temple Shripunj or Jagsom. According to one legend Jagsom's true name was Kanak who came from Kashmír. According to the Bráhm Bhát Tappa Jagsom was a king of Kashmír of the Jamáwal tribe who established himself in Bhinmál about 500 years before Kumárapála. As Kumárapála's date is A.D. 1186, Jagsom's date would be A.D. 680. According to the common local story Jagsom was tormented by the presence of a live snake in his belly. When Jagsom halted at the south gate of Bhinmál in the course of a pilgrimage from Káshmír to Dwárka, he fell asleep and the snake came out at his mouth. At the same time a snake issued from a hole close to the city gate and said to the king's belly snake 'You should depart and cease to afflict the king.' 'There is a fine treasure in your hole' said the belly snake. 'How would you like to leave it? Why then ask me to leave my home?' The gate snake said 'If any servant of the king is near let him hearken. If some leaves of the kir Capparis aphylla tree are plucked and mixed with the flowers of a creeper that grows under it and boiled and given to the king the snake inside him will be killed.' 'If any servant of the king is near' retorted the king's snake 'let him hearken. If boiling oil is poured down the hole of the gate-snake the snake will perish and great treasure will be found.' A clever Kayasth of the king's retinue was near and took notes. He found the kir tree and the creeper growing under it: he prepared the medicine and gave it to the king. The writhing of the snake caused the king so much agony that he ordered the Kayasth to be killed. Presently the king became sick and the dead snake was thrown up through the king's mouth. The king mourned for the dead Kayasth. So clever a man, he said, must have made other good notes. They examined the Kayasth's note book, poured the boiling oil down the hole, killed the gate-snake, and found the treasure. To appease the Kayasths and the two snakes lákhs were spent in feeding Bráhmans. With the rest a magnificent temple was built to the Sun and an image duly enshrined. Nine upper stories were afterwards added by Vishvakarma.

[Legends.] The legends of Bhinmál are collected in the Shrimál Mahátmya of the Skanda Purána a work supposed to be about 400 years old. According to the Mahátmya the city has been known by a different name in each of the chief cycles or Yugs. In the Satyayug it was Shrimál, in the Tretayug Ratanmál, in the Dwáparyug Pushpamal, and in the Káliyug Bhinmál. In the Satyayug Shrimál or Shrinagar had 84 Chandis; 336 Kshetrapáls; 27 Varáhas; 101 Suryás; 51 Mátás; 21 Brehispatis; 300 to 11,000 Lingas; 88,000 Rushis; 999 Wells and Tanks; and 3 3/4 krors of tirthas or holy places. At first the plain of Bhinmál was sea and Bhraghurishi called on Surya and the sun dried the water and made it land. Then Braghu started a hermitage and the saints Kashyáp, Atri, Baradwaj, Gautam, Jámdagni, Vishvamitra, and Vashista came from Ábu to interview Braghu. Gautam was pleased with the land to the north of Braghu's hermitage and prayed Trimbakeshwar that the place might combine the holiness of all holy places and that he and his wife Ahilya might live there in happiness. The God granted the sage's prayer. A lake was formed and in the centre an island was raised on which Gautam built his hermitage the foundations of which may still be seen. The channel which feeds Gautam's lake from the north-east was cut by an ascetic Bráhman named Yajanasila and in the channel a stone is set with writing none of which but the date S. 1117 (A.D. 1060) is legible. Some years after Gautam had settled at Shrimál a daughter named Lakshmí was born in the house of the sage Braghu. When the girl came of age Braghu consulted Naradji about a husband. When Naradji saw Lakshmí, he said; This girl can be the wife of no one but of Vishnu. Naradji went to Vishnu and said that in consequence of the curse of Durvasarashi Lakshmí could not be born anywhere except in Braghu's house and that Vishnu ought to marry her. Vishnu agreed. After the marriage the bride and bridegroom bathed together in the holy Trimbak pond about half a mile east of Gautam's island. The holy water cleared the veil of forgetfulness and Lakshmí remembered her former life. The devtas or guardians came to worship her. They asked her what she would wish. Lakshmí replied; May the country be decked with the houses of Bráhmans as the sky is decked with their carriers the stars. Bhagwán that is Vishnu, pleased with this wish, sent messengers to fetch Bráhmans and called Vishvakarma the divine architect to build a town. Vishvakarma built the town. He received golden bangles and a garland of gold lotus flowers and the promise that his work would meet with the praise of men and that his descendants would rule the art of building. This town said the Gods has been decked as it were with the garlands or mála of Srí or Lakshmí. So it shall be called Shrimála. When the houses were ready Bráhmans began to gather from all parts. [1088] When the Bráhmans were gathered Lakshmí asked Vishnu to which among the Bráhmans worship was first due. The Bráhmans agreed that Gautam's claim was the highest. The Bráhmans from Sindh objected and withdrew in anger. Then Vishnu and Lakshmí made presents of clothes, money and jewels to the Bráhmans, and they, because they had settled in the town of Shrimál, came to be known as Shrimáli Bráhmans.

The angry Sindh Bráhmans in their own country worshipped the Sea. And at their request Samudra sent the demon Sarika to ruin Shrimál. Sarika carried off the marriageable Bráhman girls. And the Bráhmans finding no one to protect them withdrew to Ábu. Shrimál became waste and the dwellings ruins. [1089] When Shrimál had long lain waste a king named Shripunj, according to one account suffering from worms, according to another account stricken with leprosy, came to the Brahmakund to the south of the city and was cleansed. [1090] Thankful at heart Shripunj collected Bráhmans and restored Shrimála and at the Brahmakund built a temple of Chandish Mahádev. When they heard that the Shrimál Bráhmans had returned to their old city and were prospering the Bráhmans of Sindh once more sent Sarika to carry away their marriageable daughters. One girl as she was being haled away called on her house goddess and Sarika was spell-bound to the spot. King Shripunj came up and was about to slay Sarika with an arrow when Sarika said Do not kill me. Make some provision for my food and I will henceforth guard your Bráhmans. The king asked her what she required. Sarika said Let your Bráhmans at their weddings give a dinner in my honour and let them also marry their daughters in unwashed clothes. If they follow these two rules I will protect them. The king agreed and gave Sarika leave to go. Sarika could not move. While the king wondered the home-goddess of the maiden appeared and told the king she had stopped the fiend. Truly said the king you are the rightful guardian. But Sarika is not ill disposed let her go. On this Sarika fled to Sindh. And in her honour the people both of Shrimál and of Jodhpur still marry their daughters in unwashed clothes. [1091] The Bráhman girls whom Sarika had carried off had been placed in charge of the snake Kankal lord of the under world. The Bráhmans found this out and Kankal agreed to restore the girls if the Bráhmans would worship snakes or nágs at the beginning of their shrádh or after-death ceremonies. Since that time the Shrimális set up the image of a Nág when they perform death rites. Other legends relating to the building of the Jagsvámi or Sun temple, to the temple of Chandish Mahádev near the Brahmakund, [1092] and to the making of the Jaikop lake are given above. The dates preserved by local tradition are S. 222 (A.D. 166) the building of the first temple of the Sun; S. 265 (A.D. 209) a destructive attack on the city; S. 494 (A.D. 438) a second sack by a Rákshasa; S. 700 (A.D. 644) a re-building; S. 900 (A.D. 844) a third destruction; S. 955 (A.D. 899) a new restoration followed by a period of prosperity which lasted till the beginning of the fourteenth century.

[Caste Legends.] That Shrimál was once the capital of the Gurjjaras seems to explain the local saying that Jagatsen the son of the builder of the Sun temple gave Shrimál to Gujarát Bráhmans where Gujarát is a natural alteration of the forgotten Gurjjaras or Gurjjara Bráhmans. That Shrimál was once a centre of population is shown by the Shrimáli subdivisions of the Bráhman and Váni castes who are widely scattered over north Gujarát and Káthiáváda. Most Shrimáli Vánis are Shrávaks. It seems probable that their history closely resembles the history of the Osvál Shrávaks or Jains who take their name from the ancient city of Osia about fifteen miles south of Jodhpur to which they still go to pay vows. The bulk of these Osvál Vánis, who are Jains by religion, were Solanki Rájputs before their change of faith which according to Jain records took place about A.D. 743 (S. 800). [1093] The present Bhinmál bards claim the Osváls as originally people of Shrimál. Lakshmí they say when she was being married to Vishnu at Shrimál looked into her bosom and the Jariya goldsmiths came forth: she looked north and the Oswáls appeared, east and from her look were born the Porwáls. [1094] From her lucky necklace of flowers sprang the Shrimáli Bráhmans. According to other accounts the Shrimáli Bráhmans and Vánis were of Kashmír origin of the Jamawála caste and were brought to south Márwár by Jag Som by which name apparently Kanaksen that is the Kushán or Kshatrapa (A.D. 78-250) dynasty is meant. They say that in S. 759 (A.D. 703) Bugra an Arab laid the country waste and that from fear of him the Shrimáli Bráhmans and Vánis fled south. Another account giving the date A.D. 744 (S. 800) says the assailants were Songara Rájputs. The Shrimális were brought back to Bhinmál by Abhai Singh Ráhtor when viceroy of Gujarát in A.D. 1694 (S. 1750).

The memory of the Gurjjaras, who they say are descended from Garab Rishi, lingers among the Bháts or bards of Shrimál. They say the Gurjjaras moved from Shrimál to Pushkar about ten miles north-west of Ajmír and there dug the great lake. They are aware that Gurjjaras have a very sacred burning ground at Pushkar or Pokarn and also that the Sávitrí or wife of Brahma at Pokarn was a Gurjjara maiden.

But as the leading Gurjjarás have dropped their tribe name in becoming Kshatriyás or Rájputs the bards naturally do not know of the Gurjjaras as a ruling race. The ordinary Gurjjara they say is the same as the Rehbári; the Bad or High Gujjars to whom Krishna belonged are Rájputs. The bards further say that the Sompuras who live near Poshkar (Pokarn north of Ajmír) and are the best builders who alone know the names of all ornamental patterns are of Gurjjara descent and of Shrimál origin. They do not admit that the Chávadás were Gurjjarás. In their opinion Chávadás are the same as Bhárods and came north into Márwár from Dánta in Jháláváda in north-east Káthiáváda. The Choháns they say came from Sámbhar to Ajmír, from Ajmír to Delhi, from Delhi to Nágor north of Jodhpur, from Nágor to Jodhpur, from Jodhpur to Bhadgaon thirty miles south of Bhinmál, and from Bhadgaon to Sirohi. According to a local Jaghirdár of the Devra caste the Choháns' original seat was at Jhálor forty miles north of Shrimál. They say that in the eighteenth century the Solankis came north from Pátan in north Gujarát to Hiyu in Pálanpur where they have still a settlement, and that from Hiyu they went to Bhinmál.

In connection with the Sun temple and the traces of sun worship among the Jains, whose gurus or religious guides have a sun face which they say was given them by the Rána of Chitor, the existence in Bhinmál of so many (thirty-five) houses of Shevaks is interesting. These Shevaks are the religious dependents of the Oswál Shrávaks. They are strange highnosed hatchet-faced men with long lank hair and long beards and whiskers. They were originally Magha Bráhmans and still are Vaishnavas worshipping the sun. They know that their story is told in the Námagranth of the Surya Purána. The Bhinmál Shevaks know of sixteen branches or sákas but remember the names of ten only: Aboti, Bhinmála, Devira, Hirgota, Kuwara, Lalár, Mahtariya, Mundiara, Saparwála, and Shánda. The story of these Maghás in the Surya and Bhavishya Puránas, how they were brought by Garuda from the land of the Sakas and were fire and sun worshippers, gives these Shevaks a special interest. The Devalás are believed to have come from Kashmír with Jog Svámi who is said to have been a Yaksh of the Rákshas division of Parihár Rájputs. The other division of Parihárs were girásias of Ábu who in virtue of the fire baptism of the Agnikund became Kshatriyás. The Devalás are supposed to get their name because they built Jag Som's temple at Bhinmál. The Devra Rájputs whose head is the Sirohi chief and who according to the bards are of Chohán descent, came at the same time and marry with the Devalás. With this origin from Kanaksen it is natural to associate the Devras and Devalás with the Devaputras of the Samudragupta (A.D. 370-395) inscription. Of Húna or of Javla, the tribe name of the great Húna conquerors Toramána and Mihirakula (A.D. 450-530), few signs have been traced. The Jaghirdár of Devala knows the name Húna. They are a Rákshasa people he says. He mentions Honots or Sonots who may be a trace of Húnas, and Húnáls in Káthiáváda and a Huni subdivision among the Kunbis of Márwár. Jávla he does not know as a caste name.