Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.230

v3.c43.t1.230

The Philosopher's Stone.—The first possession the founder had was Larpura, a town of great antiquity. He had in his service a Bhil, named Mandu, who, while guarding the sugar-cane from the wild hog, came upon one sound asleep. To ensure his arrow piercing the animal, he began to sharpen it upon a stone; and, to his astonishment, found it transmuted to [679] gold. He repaired to his master, who returned with Mandu, and found the stone, with the hog still asleep beside it; but no sooner had he seized upon his prize, than Baraha disappeared.¹ With the possession of the *paras-patthar*, the ‘philosopher's stone,’ he raised the walls of Mandalgarh, which was so named after the fortunate Bhil. By an act of injustice to one of his subjects, he forfeited Mandalgarh to a descendant. This subject was a Jogi, who had a mare of such extraordinary speed as to be able to run down an antelope. Whether the Balnot prince thought the sport unsuitable to an ascetic we are not told; but he forcibly took away the mare. The Jogi complained to the king, who sent a force and expelled the Balnot from Mandalgarh, and his descendants are petty Bhumias at Jawal and Kachrod, retaining, though mere peasants, the distinctive title of Rao. The numerous stories of this kind, common throughout Rajwara, accounting for the foundation of many ancient places, may merely record, in this manner, the discovery of mineral wealth; from the acquisition and the loss of which the legendary moralist has constructed his tale.