AJMER is the capital of the British districts in Rajputana, and is beautifully situated on the north-eastern slope of a hill—one of a number which surrounds the basin or small valley in which it stands. It is surrounded by a wall of stone, and has five gateways—all on the north and west sides. The houses of the wealthier classes are well built, and the principal streets are wide and handsome. Above the city, on the crest of the hill to the west, at the base of which it stands, is the old fort of Tdrâgarh, where are the residences of some of the officials. There are also some pretty villas on the band of the Ana-sagar, a beautiful artificial lake to the north of the town, which sometimes attains a circumference of six miles in the rainy season, and Is said to owe its origin to Ana or Anal Raja, who reigned here about the end of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century. About a mile to the east, in the centre of the valley, is another artificial lake, the Bisâl-taldo—from Bisal, or Vira Btsal, the grandfather of Anâ, who formed it about the middle of the eleventh century. It is an oval, two and a half miles in circumference and originally faced all round with stone.

Near the former of these is the “Daulat Bagh,” or “ garden of wealth,” built by Jehangir for his residence when he undertook to conquer the Râjputs. This is the palace in which he received the English Ambassador sent by James I.

About eight miles west of Ajmer is the sacred lake and town of Pushkar or Brahma-kâ Sthân at the foot of the Ajaypâl hills.1

• 1. See Indian Antiquary vol. i. p. 275; Tod's Annals, vol. i. pp. 777—784 (Madras ed. 664—670) ; Cunningham's Archeolog. Surv. Rep. vol. ii. pp. 252 seqq. ; Jacquemont, Voyages tom. vi. pp. 389—391 ; Irvine's General and Medical Topography of Ajmere, pp. 42—47, 58—68, 95, 97, 112, 121; Briggs' Ferishta, vol. i. pp. 47, 172, 173, 177, vol. ii. p. 208 Fraser’s Journey from Delhi to Bombay; Bird's Mirat-i Ahmadi, pp. 24, 25, 71, 72, 80 ; Boileau's Personal Narrative p. 150 seq. ; Heber's Journal, voL ii. (12mo. ed.), pp. 48 seqq.; &c.[.fn]