From the Caves and Jungles of HindostanBlavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Religion
From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna), 1831-1891; India -- Description and travel; India -- Religion
In 1570 this town was called Shadiabad, the abode of happiness. The
Franciscan missionaries, Adolf Aquaviva, Antario de Moncerotti, and
others, who came here in that very year as an embassy from Goa to seek
various privileges from the Mogul Government, described it over and over
again. At this epoch it was one of the greatest cities of the world,
whose magnificent streets and luxurious ways used to astonish the most
pompous courts of India. It seems almost incredible that in such a short
period nothing should remain of this town but the heaps of rubbish,
amongst which we could hardly find room enough for our tent. At last we
decided to pitch it in the only building which remained in a tolerable
state of preservation, in Yami-Masjid, the cathedral-mosque, on a
granite platform about twenty-five steps higher than the square. The
stairs, constructed of pure marble like the greater part of the town
buildings, are broad and almost untouched by time, but the roof has
entirely disappeared, and so we were obliged to put up with the stars
for a canopy. All round this building runs a low gallery supported by
several rows of thick pillars. From a distance it reminds one, in spite
of its being somewhat clumsy and lacking in proportion, of the Acropolis
of Athens. From the stairs, where we rested for a while, there was a
view of the mausoleum of Gushanga-Guri, King of Malwa, in whose reign
the town was at the culmination of its brilliancy and glory. It is a
massive, majestic, white marble edifice, with a sheltered peristyle and
finely carved pillars. This peristyle once led straight to the palace,
but now it is surrounded with a deep ravine, full of broken stones and
overgrown with cacti. The interior of the mausoleum is covered with
golden lettering of inscriptions from the Koran, and the sarcophagus
of the sultan is placed in the middle. Close by it stands the palace
of Baz-Bahadur, all broken to pieces--nothing now but a heap of dust
covered with trees.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account