Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.549

v3.c43.t1.549

Begūn,² February.—We commenced our march at break of day, along the very crest [750] of the Patar ; but the thick woods through which lay our path did not allow us a peep at the plains of Medpat until we reached the peak, where once stood the castle of Alu Hara. But silent were the walls of Bumbaoda ; desolation was in the courts of Alu Hara. We could trace, however, the plan of this famed residence of a hero, which consisted of an exterior and an interior castle, the latter being a hundred and seventy cubits by a hundred and twelve. There are the ruins of three Jain temples, to Siva, Hanuman, and Dharmaraja, the Hindu Minos; also three tanks, one of which was in excellent preservation. There are likewise the remains of one hall, called the Andhyari Kothri, or ‘dark chamber,’ perhaps that in which Alu (according to tradition) locked up his nephew, when he carried his feud into the desert. The site commands an extensive view of the plains of Mewar, and of the Arne-ghati (pass), down the side of the mountain, to the valley of Begun. Beneath, on a ledge of rock, guarding the ascent, was the gigantic statue of Jogini Mata, placed on the very verge of the precipice, and overlooking one of the noblest prospects in nature. The hill here forms a re-entering angle of considerable depth, the sides scarped, lofty, and wooded to the base; all the plain below is covered with lofty trees, over whose tops the parasitic Amarvela forms an umbrageous canopy, extending from rock to rock, and if its superfluous supports were removed, it would form a sylvan hall, where twenty thousand men might assemble.