chap, xii MATHURA 187
Agra,
on the road to Delhi. It is one of the most sumptuous buildings in all
India, and was visited by the greatest conÂcourse of pilgrims ; but at
present scarcely any are to be seen there, the idolaters having
gradually lost the devotion which they had for this pagoda, since the
river Jumna, which used to pass close to it, has changed its course,
and now flows half a league away.1 For when pilgrims have
bathed in the river it takes them too much time to return to the
pagoda, and during that period they may encounter something which
renders them impure and unclean. Although this pagoda, which is very
large, is in a hollow, it is visible from more than 5 or 6 coss
distance, the building being very elevated and magnificent. The stones
which were used in its conÂstruction are of a red colour, and are
obtained from a large quarry near Agra. They split like our slates, and
some of them, which are 15 feet long and 9 or 10 feet wide, are not 6
fingers in thickness, that is to say, they are split by the quarrymen
to the required size ; beautiful columns are made of them also. The
fortress of Agra, the walls of Jahanabad, the palace of the Emperor,
the two mosques, and some houses of the great nobles are built of the
same stone.2
Returning
,to the pagoda, it is seated on a great platform of octagonal shape
faced with cut stone, around which there are two courses of animals,
chiefly monkeys, carved in relief. One of the courses is only 2 feet
from the ground floor, and the other 2 feet from the level of the
platform. It is reached
was destroyed by Aurangzeb in 1669-70, and a mosque built on the site (Growse, 126 if. ; Jadunath Sarkar, History of Aurangzib, iii. 321).
1
The main channel of the Jumna can never in historic times have flowed
near the temple. The traces of fluvial action are unmistakable, but
they date from remote antiquity (Growse, 129).
2
For an account of these sandstones, which are derived from the Vindhyan
formation, reference may be made to the chapter on Building Stones in
the Economic Geology of India. Tavernier's statements as to the
fissile character and the large size of the pieces which can be
obtained are quite accurate. One of the most remarkable, though not the
most successful uses to which they have been put in modern times is in
the manufacture of telegraph-wire posts. Latterly these have been
replaced by metal posts. The best quarries are at Fatehpur Sikri, in
Agra District, and Bansi Faharpur in Bharatpur State (Watt, Diet. Economic Products, vi, part 3,369 f.; Imperial Gazetteer, v. 78, viii. 82; Ain-i-Akbari, ii. 180 f.).
