it Kartik badi, 11. The true date* is, however, Kártika sudi ekádasi, on the 11th of the bright half of Kártik; that is, just four days before the full moon of that month. According to tradition this fair was established by Raja Rukmángada, from whom it was named the Rukhmángada ekádasi.† 15. According to the Bhagta-mála, the Rukhmángada Ekadasi was instituted in commemoration of an Apsara (or heavenly nymph) having pricked her foot with the thorn of a Bhangan plant in Rukhmángada's garden. 16. According to the Rukmángada cheritra, Rukmángada was the son of Rohitaswa, and the grandson of Harischandra. He had a son named Dharmangada by his wife, whom he neglected for the beautiful Apsara Viswa Mohoni, and his after life was embittered until he made propitiation by the establishment of the festival called the Rukmángada ekadasi. 17. Rukmin or Rukam was the name of a prince who was slain by Balaráma, the brother of Krishna. An existing tradition says that one of the Rajas of Bhilsa had a white horse, which, for security, was stabled on the top of the precipitous rock of Lohángi, *The first date was obtained by my brother; the latter by Lieutenant Maisey, as communicated by Captain Ellis. The beginning of the Buddhist Wasso is still celebrated at Bhilsa by the illumination of the Ziárat, or shrine of Lohángi Pir or the "Saint of Lohángi," on the full moon of Asarh. + My authority refers to the Matsya Purána for this account. For these two references I am indebted to the kindness of Captain Ellis. to the eastward of Bhilsa. But the Raja was overcome by the Pândus, who carried off the white horse for the performance of the aswamedha, or horsesacrifice. This prince was most probably the Rukam, or Rukma of the Prem Ságar, and the brother of Rukmani, who became one of the eight wives of Krishna. Rukma, in Sanskrit, means "iron,” and therefore Rukmangada is only a synonyme of Lohángada, or Lohángi, the name of the famous Bhilsa rock.* It is true that Krishna was a Yádava and not a Pándava; but as I have always found that the latter name is used in a general manner throughout India to denote any hero of ancient times, the tradidition of the Pandu conqueror may be applied to Krishna and his brother Balarama. ; 18. According to the Prem Ságur, Rukma was the son of Bhikmak, the Raja of Vidarbha, or Berar. His sister Rukmini is often called Vidarbhajá, or "born in Vidarbha." The name of Vi-darbha implied a country in which the holy Kusa grass is not found and it is generally applied to the modern Berar Proper. But if I am correct in my identification of Raja Rukma of Vidarbha with Rukmángada of Besnagar, there can be no doubt that Vidarbha must, in ancient times, have included the whole of Bhopal and Bhilsa to the north of the Narbada. 19. In my account of Asoka's reign, I have already shown that Besnagar was a large city in 270 B. C., and that it was also called Chaityagiri, or the "hill of * It is also called Loháchal, or "Iron-hill." * chaityas," because the Tope-covered hill was in its immediate neighbourhood. According to tradition, Besnagar was founded by Rukmángada, in the Dwâpur-yug (the third age, or age of copper), one million and three hundred thousand years ago. It stands at the Triveni, or triple junction of the rivers Betwa, Bes (or Besali), and Ganga, of which the last is believed to flow underground. 20. The less ancient city of Bhilsa, or Bhadravati, is said to have been the capital of Yavanaswa Chandravansi.† The same story which I have related above is told about him and the Aswamedha, or white horse with a black ear, which was carried off by a Pandu prince. The existence of the Pandus in this part of the country is proved by the inscriptions of No. 2 Tope at Sánchi, which certainly dates as high as 200 B. C. The trough from which the horse used to drink is still pointed out; but this is only a bell capital of a gigantic Buddhist pillar, of which nothing more now remains. The capital is 3 feet high, and 3 feet broad; and as the Sánchi capitals are only 3 feet, the Lohángi pillar must have been nearly 50 feet high. The capital is now standing upside down, and has been hollowed out to a depth of 15 inches, with a diameter of 21 inches, so as to form a large bowl. * 21. A glance at the map (Plate I.) will show the re Captain Ellis's information says the Satya-yug; that is, the first, or golden age. + Called Alamgirpur by the Mahomedans. lative positions of all the Tope stations with respect to Besnagara and Bhilsa. The ancient city of Besnagara extended from the junction of the Betwa and Bes rivers, as far south as the Udayagiri hill, and the Lohángi rock of Bhilsa, from which point the Chetiyagiri (or Tope range of hills), stretching from Satdhára and Sonári, by Sánchi Káná-khera to Bhojpur and Andher, was only three miles distant. The presence of these large monastic establishments must, for a time at least, have brought both wealth and prosperity to the country; and the remains of three embankments thrown across the valleys between Sánchi and Satdhára, show that the Buddhist monks were as famous for practical agricultural, as for philosophical learning. 22. Let the imagination wander back for two thousand years, and the mind's eye will behold the Chaityagiri, or Tope range of hills, "glittering with the yellow robes" of the monks. Along the road side, and in sequestered spots, will be seen numerous trees, beneath which half-naked ascetics sit silent and still, brooding upon futurity. The classical reader will recal the Tabasi Magorum (or ascetic Magians), and the Tabaso gens (or ascetic nation), both of whom Ptolemy places to the eastward of Ujain, and who could therefore only be the Tapasyas, or "ascetics" of the Chaityagiri hills. Thrice blest the man who with himself can hold And view successive ages as they change: Kingdoms and empires long since passed away, And kings and conquerors, the mighty of their day. Thus, Fancy-led, the aspiring Soul can spring The men most celebrated in their day, The young and beautiful, the old and sage, And all who've famous been in this life's pilgrimage. Or, with prophetic eye and buoyant hope, With quick-ey'd Fancy, the mind's telescope, Smiling with hope amid her rainbow tears, And blest that spiritual happiness which sees A beauty in her strangest images, And in her quaintest forms; that power which flings |