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186
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AJODHYA
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BOOK III
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image
of a child, standing, made of massive silver, and nearly 2 feet in
height, and it is said that this girl living a holy life, the infant
was taken to her by the Brahmans to learn her creed and how to live
well; but at the end of three or four years, during which the child had
dwelt with the girl, it became so clever and accomplished that all the
Rajas and Princes of the country wished for it, and, at last, one of
them carried it off one night and it has not since been seen. This idol
has on her left, at the base of the altar, another idol representing an
old irian, whom they say had been the servant of Ram-Marion and the
child, and the Brahmans pay great reverence to this idol. They come to
it only once a year for worship, and it is necessary for them to arrive
on a prescribed day, which is the first day of the moon in November,
because the pagoda is only opened at full moon.1 During the
fifteen days which intervene all the pilgrims, both men and women, must
fast at times, and bathe three times every day, without leaving a
single hair on their bodies, all being easily removed by the use of a
certain earth with which they rub themselves.2
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CHAPTER XII
Continuation of the description of the principal Pagodas of the Idolaters of India.
After the pagodas of Jagannath and Benares, the most considerable used to be that of Muttra,3 about 18 coss from
interpreted
to mean ' he that moves on the waters', really means ' Son of Nara, the
Primal Male', in Hindu belief. Tavernier, writing from hearsay,
represents the image as that of a goddess.
1
The reference is perhaps to the Ramlila, or miracle play describing the
exploits of Bama, held from the 8th day of the waning moon of the month
Kuar, September-October, until the 15th of the waxing moon. But there
is an important local bathing fair in honour of Rama in
October-November (Imperial Gazetteer, v. 176).
* The reference is to the use of lime and arsenic as depilatories.
3
Matura in the original. The antiquities of Muttra, or, as it is
properly called, Mathura, have been very fully described by F. S.
Growse, Mathura, 3rd ed. Allahabad, 1883. The temple on the
platform described by Ta vernier was that of Kesavadeva, Krishna with
the long locks, which
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