Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c13.s5.2

c13.s5.2

Down in the bottom of the crater, around the margin of the lake, are a number of old temples, and there are others in the descent to the lake from the gaumukha temple. From this temple, down to the lake, extends a ravine which is the only break in the continuity of the circular walls of the crater, and it is down the sides of this cleft that the pathway leads to the bottom. The head of the ravine bifurcates near the top, and it is at the head of the western branch that the spring is located from which the water is led through a gaumukha, or cow's mouth, cut in stone, into a small square tank in which Hindu pilgrims of both sexes, old and young, bathe promiscuously. The water is supposed to come from the Ganges, in proof of which it is said that a marked stick thrown into that river was found to emerge at the spring! A temple, and an accumulation of small cell-shrines, all of more or less modern growth, have sprung up around the tank. The Muhammadans had the audacity to invade this snuggery of the Hindus, and they actually began to build a mosque right in their midst, upon the western side of the sacred tank, but Were eventually stopped in their rash venture and were warned off. The foundation of the building still remains.