DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15172#0061
28 HINGLAJ.—FAMOUS PILGRIMAGE, chap. n.
they are lofty, with flat roofs, but very confined, and
resemble square towers; their colour, which is of a
greyish murky hue, gives an appearance of solidity
to the frail materials of which they are constructed.
Some of the better sort have a base of brickwork;
but stone has only been used in the foundations of
one or two mosques, though it may be had in abun-
dance. There is little in modern Tatta to remind
one of its former greatness. A spacious brick mosque,
built by Shah Jehan, still remains, but is crumbling
to decay.
Tatta stands on the high road from India to
Hinglaj, in Mekran, a place of pilgrimage and
great celebrity, situated under the barren moun-
tains of Hala (the Irus of the ancients), and
marked only by a spring of fresh water, without
house or temple. The spot is believed to have
been visited by Ramchunder, the Hindoo demigod,
himself; an event which is chronicled on the
rock, with figures of the sun and moon engraven
as further testimony! The distance from Tatta
exceeds 200 miles; and the road passes by Curachee,
Sonmeeanee, and the province of Lus, the country
of the Noomrees, a portion of the route of Alexander
the Great. A journey to Hinglaj purifies the pilgrim
from his sins; a cocoa-nut, cast into a cistern, ex-
hibits the nature of his career: if the water bubbles
up, his life has been, and will continue, pure; but
if still and silent, the Hindoo must undergo further
penance, to appease the deity. The tribe of Goseins,
who are a kind of religious mendicants, though fre-
quently merchants and most wealthy, frequent this
they are lofty, with flat roofs, but very confined, and
resemble square towers; their colour, which is of a
greyish murky hue, gives an appearance of solidity
to the frail materials of which they are constructed.
Some of the better sort have a base of brickwork;
but stone has only been used in the foundations of
one or two mosques, though it may be had in abun-
dance. There is little in modern Tatta to remind
one of its former greatness. A spacious brick mosque,
built by Shah Jehan, still remains, but is crumbling
to decay.
Tatta stands on the high road from India to
Hinglaj, in Mekran, a place of pilgrimage and
great celebrity, situated under the barren moun-
tains of Hala (the Irus of the ancients), and
marked only by a spring of fresh water, without
house or temple. The spot is believed to have
been visited by Ramchunder, the Hindoo demigod,
himself; an event which is chronicled on the
rock, with figures of the sun and moon engraven
as further testimony! The distance from Tatta
exceeds 200 miles; and the road passes by Curachee,
Sonmeeanee, and the province of Lus, the country
of the Noomrees, a portion of the route of Alexander
the Great. A journey to Hinglaj purifies the pilgrim
from his sins; a cocoa-nut, cast into a cistern, ex-
hibits the nature of his career: if the water bubbles
up, his life has been, and will continue, pure; but
if still and silent, the Hindoo must undergo further
penance, to appease the deity. The tribe of Goseins,
who are a kind of religious mendicants, though fre-
quently merchants and most wealthy, frequent this