A Tour In The Panjab And Rajputana In 1883-1884

The author reveals that during the past field season, his work laid for the most part in Eastern Rajputana, and included some of the southern districts of the Panjab. Leaving Simla in 1883, he examined the ancient forts at Bhatinda, Sirsar and Hansi, together with the mosques and monolith of Firuz Shah Tughlak at Fatehabad. The next place of importance on this route is Tusham, celebrated for its rockcut Gupta inscriptions, of which he secured photographs. A quantity of inscribed data was also collected at the old sites of Hansi, Bairat etc; it is to be regretted that the Asoka inscription at the latter place is almost entirely effaced, and does not lend itself to reproduction by mechanical means; he concludes, however, that it is merely a transcript of Asoka’s edicts, of which so many copies are found incised on rocks and boulders in Northern India. From Bairat his route passed through Amba and Jaipur (the old and new cities of the Kachhwahas) to Ajmir, after a short halt at which place he marched across the Indian desert to Nagor or Nagapuri, an ancient site in the Marwar state, hitherto unexplored; and which contains, amongst other interesting objects, some fine temples. He made his way south via Bhatinda, Sirsar, Hansi, Fatehabad, Bairaat, Amba, Jaipur, Ajmer, Nagapuri, Mandor, Jodhpur, crossing the Aravali hill he then arrived at Nathdwara, and then Chitor; his tour terminated at Agra on the 31st March 1884. All along the way he surveys old forts, mosques, temples, pavilions, towers, and any other structure of historical and archaeological importance. There are 28 illustrations, charts, plans, maps, and photographs that accompany the narrative. This book was first published in 1887.