Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.390

v3.c43.t1.390

In the evening I went to visit Takaji-ka-kund, or ‘fountain of the snake-king.’ It is about two miles east of Nauli; the road, through a jungle, over the flat highland or Patar, presents no indication of the object of research, until you suddenly find yourself on the brink of a precipice nearly two hundred feet in depth, crowded with noble trees, on which the knotted kur was again conspicuous. The descent to this glen was over masses of rock; and about half-way down, on a small platform, are two shrines; one containing the statue of Takshak, the snake-king; the other of Dhanvantari, the physician, who was produced at the “churning of the ocean.” The kund, or fountain, at the southern extremity of the abyss, is about two hundred yards in circumference, and termed athah, or ‘unfathomable,’ according to my guide, and if we may judge from its dark sea-green lustre, it must be of considerable depth. It is filled by a cascade of full one hundred feet perpendicular height, under which is a stone seat, sacred to the genius of the spot. At the west side issues a rivulet, called the Takhaili, or serpentine, which, after pursuing a winding course for many miles, some hundred feet below the surface of the Patar, washes the eastern face of Hinglajgarh, and ultimately joins the Amjar. Ghasi, my native artist, is busy with the effigy of the snake-king, and Dhanvantari, the Vaidya. From the summit of the plateau we had a view of the castle of Hinglaj, celebrated in Lord Lake’s war with the Mahrattas, and which was taken by Captain Hutchinson with a few men of the Bengal artillery.¹