To
line it with burnt bricks without cement will cost from one to two
hundred rupees; and to add cement will cost a hundred more. Such
lining is necessary in light soil, and still more so in sandy or
_bhoor_. They frequently line their wells at little cost with long
thick cables, made of straw and twigs, and twisted round the surface
inside. The fields are everywhere irrigated from wells or pools, and
near villages well manured; and the wheat and other spring crops are
excellent. They have been greatly benefited by the late rains, and in
no case injured. The ground all the way covered with white hoar
frost, and the dews heavy in a cloudless sky. Finer weather I have
never known in any quarter of the world.
This place is held sacred from a tradition, that Ram, after his
expedition against Cylone, came here to bathe in a small tank near
our present camp, in order to wash away the sin of having killed a
_Brahmin_ in the person of Rawun, the monster king of that island,
who had taken away his wife, Seeta. Till he had done so, he could not
venture to revisit his capital, Ajoodheea. There are many legends
regarding the origin of the sanctity of this and the many other
places around, which pilgrims must visit to complete the _pykurma_,
or holy circuit. The most popular seems to be this. Twenty-eight
thousand sages of great sanctity were deputed, with the god Indur at
their head, on a mission to present an address to Brimha, as he
reposed upon the mountain Kylas, praying that he would vouchsafe to
point out to them the place in Hindoostan most worthy to be
consecrated to religious worship.
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