Rhymes Of Rajasthan --MOUNT A'BU 1894

Today I received this extract via email, and I would like to share it with you as it depicts the beauty of this hill station through the eyes of this historical writer.

Mount Abu

 

 

Olympus is the hill, from age

Unknown it has been sacred ground;

Rishis and Munis, gods and sages

Dwelt in these woods and rocks around

 

 

And now perchance when earthquake rumbling

   Goes muttering thro' the mountain-side

It may be some old god a-grumbling

At want of worship, wounded pride.

                                                

Yet superstition, which by horror

And promise long has reigned supreme,

  Brings thousands yearly to Dilwarra,

Whose temples surely are a dream:

 

A dream beyond all comprehension

 Of art that e'en a Goth might saint;

No wonder if they draw attention

  To lore and legend growing faint.

 

The worship of the Jain who raised them

  Has now diminished thro' the land,

But pilgrims who have come and praised them

Are not required to understand.

 

 The White man smiles and from a guide book chatters

     Of Vishnu, Parasn'ath,of Brahman,Jain;

The brown one looks on worship, faith,as matters

Ordained for each race by a different sign.

 

Whether he climb to trace in cave or high nook

The footsteps of some deity, or kneel

Before Dilwarra's gods or those of Gae Mukh

  Enough for him, unlettered soul ,to feel,

 

Whoe'er in Abuji may rule as master,

Men of an ancient creed or men without

  The pooja of his childhood and his Pastor

Is his to follow,let who may have doubt.

 

He hears unmoved how the Chauhan once wrested

  From the Pramar this mountain hold sublime;

His thoughts are further back, when Vishnu crested

Proud Guru Sikr in the world's young prime.

 

So the old stream of pilgrims ripples yearly,

While some there be who stay awhile and grow

To love the Hill and its cool breezes dearly,

 As refuge from the burning plains below:

 

As clothed with natural, not celestial beauty_

A home for children of the Frank, and place

  For England'ssoldiers when on foreign duty

   Health to renew and tired nerve to brace.

 

To these the rocks which bear the names of Nun

  And Toad , The Gates and SunsetPoint,the play

Of light upon the Lake from Moon and Sun

Are Abu's chief divinities to-day.

 

 

 

----Rajputana Gazetteer_____ 1894  By  Col. G. H. Trevor, C.S.I.

                                                        Agent to the Governor-General For Rajputana

 

Col. Trevor has extracted this from ''The Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan'' by Col James Tod. 1829 To read more click on the link
Rhymes of Rajputana