Page:Bulandshahr- Or, Sketches of an Indian District- Social, Historical and Architectural.djvu/130

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MATHURÁ.

autotype illustrations are from negatives taken by native photographers of Mathurá, and, except in one case, are remarkably successful. Amongst the photographs is one of the Catholic Church at Mathurá, which, with this book, will be an abiding proof of how wide a field there is in India for the working of English learning and culture and taste. A labour of love rather than duty, and therefore, unlike most similar performances, Mr. Growse’s work amply proves the superiority of the man who has something to say over the man who has to say something. It is a pity, if nothing more, that an officer so intimate with Mathurá and its people should have been transferred to less familiar and less congenial fields of administration. With the accession of another king who knew not Joseph, Mr. Growse found himself compelled to bid farewell to his favourite antiquities, to leave his restorations unfinished, and to depart for Bulandshahr. He carried with him, however, the notes which have enabled him to produce this second edition." — Pioneer (two notices).


"Unusually full of matter for the student of antiquity, the historian, and the general reader.... The work of an accurate and pains-taking scholar stimulated by much enthusiasm and local knowledge." — Indian Observer.


"Some years ago the Government of the North-Western Provinces resolved to publish a series of local memoirs of the various districts constituting that province. The Memoir under review is one of that series: and it is unquestionably the fullest and most valuable of all that have been hitherto published. Its value is sufficiently shown by the fact that this is already the second edition after the short interval of six years, the first edition having been published in 1874. Good as the latter was, the value of the second edition has been much increased by the addition of new and important matter. The best of these additions undoubtedly is the last chapter of the first part, which treats of ‘the etymology of local names in Northern India as exemplified in the district of Mathurá.’ Mr. Growse has certainly succeeded in proving his general position that ‘local names in Upper India are, as a rule, of no very remote antiquity, and are, primâ facie, referable to Sanskrit and Hindi rather than to any other language,’ though some of his derivations perhaps will not meet with general acceptance. Another valuable new chapter is the fourth, which gives probably the fullest extant description of the Holi festival of the Hindus; and the eighth, which gives a very detailed account of some of the most important Vaishnava reformers. Of the older portions of the Memoir, the most interesting are the two historical and archæological chapters: one of which narrates the fortunes of Mathurá during the period of Muhammadan supremacy, while the other relates what is known of the history of that city and its famous monasteries and stupas in the early centuries of our era, when it was almost wholly given up to Buddhism. The extremely interesting remains of this period, the discovery and preservation of which are mainly due to the indefatigable exertions of the author of the Memoir, are carefully and minutely described. Not the least of the merits of the book consists in the many beautiful photographic and other illustrations of the most notable persons, buildings and antiquities of Mathurá. Altogether it is a model of what a district memoir may be made, and the author is to be congratulated on the success which he has achieved." — Indian Antiguary.


"More fortunate than Lahore is Mathurá in yielding treasures of ancient times and in possessing a man who has entered heart and soul into its history, past and present. In 1874 Mr. Growse published the first edition of his interesting work on Mathurá, which formed one of a uniform series of local histories compiled by order of the Government. To what was a most interesting memoir the author has added in the second edition, recently published, many important chapters, extended a few remarks on the etymology of local names into a thorough philological discussion, and supplemented topographical notes. The memoir is, moreover, beautifully illustrated with plates produced by the London Autotype Company, so as to give the reader a vivid picture of the subject in hand. Mr. Growse points out with justice the possibility of an Anglo-Indian architecture—but not as carried out by the Public Works Department—being spread throughout India, with as great a success as Indo-Greek art in the days of Asoka, or the Hindu-Saracenic art in the reign of Akbar. The author of Mathurá is a man of taste as well as of learning, and has in consequence produced a memoir which will not merely serve as a reference with regard to the district it describes, but is of historical, archæological, ethnological, philological, and artistic information besides." — Lahore Civil and Military Gazette.


"The author is well known not only as a scholar and archæologist, but by the great service he has