The Ancient Geography of India/Mathura
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10. Mathura.
[p.373]: In the seventh century the famous city of Mathura was the capital of a large kingdom, which is said to have been 5000 li, or 833 miles, in circuit.[1] If this estimate is correct, the province must have included not only the whole of the country lying between the districts of Bairat and Atranji, but a still larger tract beyond Agra, as far as Narwar and Seopuri on the south, and the Sindh river on the east. Within these limits the circuit of the province is 650 miles measured direct, or upwards of 750 miles by road distance. It includes the present district of Mathura, with the small states of Bharatpur, Kiraoli, and Dholpur, and the northern half of the Gwalior territory. To the east it would have been bounded by the kingdom of Jijhaoti, and on the south by Malwa, both of which are described by Hwen Thsang as separate kingdoms.
In the seventh century the city was 20 li, or 3.3 miles, in circuit, which agrees with its size at the present day. But the position is not exactly the same, as the houses have been gradually moving to the north and west as the Jumna encroached on the east. The old city is said to have extended from the Nabi Masjid and Fort of Raja-kansa on the north to the mounds
- ↑ Julien's 'Hiouen Thsang,' ii. 207. See Map No. X.
[p.374]: called Tila Kans and Tila Sat Rikh on the south ; but the southern half of this space is now deserted, and an equal space has been gradually built upon outside the old city to the north and west of the Nabi Masjid. The city is surrounded by numbers of high mounds ; several of which are no doubt old brick kilns ; but many of them are the remains of extensive buildings, which, having been dug over for ages in search of bricks, are now mere heaps of brick-dust and broken brick. I refer more especially to the great mound near the jail, 3 miles to the south of the city, which from its appearance was always supposed to be the remains of a brick and tile kiln. But this unpromising-looking mound has since yielded numbers of statues and inscribed pillars, which prove that it is the remains of at least two large Buddhist monasteries of as early a date as the begining of the Christian era.
The holy city of Mathura is one of the most ancient places in India. It is famous in the history of Krishna, as the stronghold of his enemy Raja Kansa ; and it is noticed by Arrian,[1] on the authority of Megasthenes, as the capital of the Suraseni. Now Surasena was the grandfather of Krishna, and from him Krishna and his descendants, who held Mathura after the death of Kansa, were called Surasenas. According to Arrian the Suraseni possessed two great cities, Methoras and Klisoboras, and the navigable river Jobares flowed through their territories. Pliny- names the river Jomanes, that is the Jumna, and says that it passed between the towns of Meihora and Clisobora. Ptolemy mentions only Mathura, under the form of Modura, Modovpa, to which he adds " the city of the gods," or holy city.
Vrindavana
[p.375]: The city of Klisoboras has not yet been identified, but I feel satisfied that it must be Vrindavana, 6 miles to the north of Mathura.[1] Vrindavana means the " grove of basil-trees," which is famed over all India as the scene of Krishna's sports with the milkmaids. But the earlier name of the place was Kalikavartta, or " Kalika's whirlpool," because the serpent Kalika was fabled to have taken up his abode just above the town, in a Kadamb tree, overhanging the Jumna. Here he was attacked by Krishna, and the rapid convolutions of his tail in his dying struggles are said to have caused the eddy, which is now known by his name. Now, the Latin name of Clisobora is also written Carisobora and Carisoborka in different MSS., from which I infer that the original spelling was Kalisoborka, or, by a slight change of two letters, Kalikoborta or Kalilcabarta. In the Prem Sagar this whirlpool of the Jumna is attributed to the poison that was vomited forth by the serpent Kali against Krishna, when he was swimming in the river. Allusion is made to the natural increase of the serpent's poison by offerings of milk, which would seem to refer to a previous state of serpent-worship. Milk offerings are still made occasionally, but only to test the divine nature of the serpent, who is supposed to possess the most miraculous powers of drinking. In the last century, Raja Chet Singh, of Benares, is said to have poured all the milk of the two cities of Mathura and Vrindavan down the hollow Kadamb tree, and as the waters of the Jumna were not even tinged, the serpent Kalika's miraculous powers of milk- drinking were established more firmly than ever.
- ↑ See Map No. X.