Mathura A District Memoir With Numerous Illustrations

This Memoir was originally intended to form one of the uniform series of local histories compiled by order of the Government. Its main object was therefore to serve as a book of reference for the use of district officers; thus it touches upon many topics which the general reader will condemn as trivial and uninteresting, and in the earlier chapters the explanations are more detailed and minute than the professed student of history and archaeology will probably deem at all necessary. But a local memoir can never be a severely artistic performance. On a small scale it resembles a dictionary or encyclopaedia and must, if complete, be composed of very heterogeneous materials, out of which those who have occasion to consult it must select what they require for their own purposes, without concluding that whatever is superfluous for them is equally familiar or distasteful to other people. It is a fairly exhaustive work that describes the Vaishnava sects, their doctrine, and history. Any building of historical interest is also described and further and given the results of archaeological research. Castes are also noticed and notes are given on the principal families. All major sites are described. The book has 13 chapters that cover all aspects of the city. The book contains 32 illustrations to delineate the subject appropriately. This book is a reprint of the 1882 edition.