File:Indika. The country and the people of India and Ceylon (1891) (14790198203).jpg

Identifier: indikacountrypeo00hursuoft (find matches)
Title: Indika. The country and the people of India and Ceylon
Year: 1891 (1890s)
Authors: Hurst, J. F. (John Fletcher), 1834-1903
Subjects: Sri Lanka India
Publisher: New York, Harper
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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e foot-bridges, and by and by reached the curious excavations wherepeople worshipped in ages long since gone. Each one of thesecave-altars has its sacred associations, its special deity to guardit, and its long and marvellous history. Flowers lie upon thepathway and on the sanctuary, which show how strong the holdof the past is on the pagan people of the present. The templebears the name of the Shrine of the Four-Armed, having thedate Samvat 933, which is equivalent to a.d. 876. There arecolossal carvings along the side of the rock, some of single figuresand others of groups, but all of hardly a later date than a thou-sand years ago. All are curious remnants of the Jain faith. When the climb to the top of the hill is nearly finished, thebroad road by which one has come brings him directly up to theportal of an immense palace. You enter the curiously carvedvestibule, and find yourself within the precincts of what must havebeen one of the most magnificent palaces of ancient India. This,
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FACADE OF THE PALACE OF PAL, OWALIOB. THE PALACES OF GWALIOR 597 however, is only one of six palaces. Their majestic and richlyornamented walls once adorned a good part of the whole plaiaof the acropolis. This lofty hill, with its foundations of firmrock, was too commanding and secure for one palace. Sucoeasive dynasties saw in it the best place in all their realm for a peaidence, and here they lived and reared their families, and downthis worn way they marched to foreign wars. The palaces are now in all stages of decrepitude and ruin.Here is the Man Palace, which hangs on the verge f the preci-pice. It is also called the Chit Mandir, or Painted Palace, forall along its facade there once ran rich tiles, which the artists ofthe Mogul era knew how to make to perfection. This is ,1 pal-ace of grandeur and horrors. It is two stories below groundand two above. I was as curious to see the subterraneanchambers as the upper. My guide was well acquainted with theplace, and I was satisf

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