C hunar G ur.
Currab, from a town once of much confideration, as I imagine
now decayed.
F o r the greater part of the way above Allahabad the Ganges
runs with a direct courfe, below that city it begins to meander
frequently, and increafe in width : the narroweft part o f the bed
is half a mile broad, and the wideft three miles. About feventy
miles diftant from Allahabad is Merzapour; below that is Chunar
Gur, a fort o f great ftrength, feated on a lofty rock, flat at top, precipitous
on every fide but one, and impending over the Ganges;
the fummit is entirely fkirted with ftrong walls and towers.
At the foot of the rocks is another fort with angular towers ;
the firft is o f great antiquity. It was well defended in 1764,
when it belonged to the Nabob Sujab ul Dowlah. It was in that
year befieged by Major Heclor Munro. He found it. in vain to
attempt the place by a regular fiege, but flattered himfelf with
the hopes of taking it by furprife; he made his aflault in the
dead of night; the vigilant governor was prepared for his reception
; our troops fcaled the rock, but were overwhelmed
with torrents of ftones, the natural ammunition of the place,
rolled down by the garrifon (by hands and feet) and our brave
foldiers buried under the loofened ruins, made by their own
artillery. An AbeJJynian was the governor, who preferved his
fidelity to his matter till the year 1765, when affairs growing
defperate, he furrendered the place to Major Stibbert.. It was
foon after given up to the Nabob, who, in 1772, exchanged it
for his fort at Allahabad. We immediately made it a magazine
o f ammunition and provilion for the brigade of Cawnpqre, designed
for the defence o f the frontiers of the reigning prinGe ;
we
we alfo added a new citadel at the fouthern end. Mr. Hodges,
in his voh.i. tab. II. III. has given two fine views o f this for-
trefs.
I t is reafonably fuppofed to have been o f great antiquity, and
to have been built by the Hindoos, as all the hill forts originally
were. There is an altar of black ftone within its walls,
on which is feated the deity o f the place, except from fun rife
to 9 o’clock, when he vifits Benares; that interval, fay his
votaries, is the only time that Chunar Gur can be attacked with
fuccefs. When the Ayeen was written, the neighborhood was
inhabited by a race of people who went quite naked, and fub-
fifted by means of their bows and arrows. Elephants alfo were
common "in a ftate o f nature in the fame favage tradl. Population
and cultivation have driven thefe animals into more remote
parts of the country.
A t Chunar Gur is a mofque o f particular fanftity. The gate Gate to the
^ M osque a t
leading to it is of m o f t fingular beauty, and the capital fpecimen C h unar G u r.
of Oriental architeilure, and has been, fays Mr. Hodges, preferved
with the greateft care, not the fmalleft ornament having
received injury. Mr. Daniell, in his XXlVth plate, has been
peculiarly happy in his drawing. It has not in it a mark o f
mutilation. The entrance is a noble portico, within is a lefler
arch for accefs to the mofque. Above that arch is an elegant
projedting loggio, fupported by two confoles. On each fide of
the great portico are two others, the confoles under them prettily
carved. The front of the loggios are formed into open
work of ftone uncommonly fine, as\are the pillars which fup-
port their roofs. The finiihing above and the parapets have
peculiar elegance, the laft of open work of various patterns,
V ol. II. E e -each