AJMERE, a city of Hindustan, in the district of the same name, situate on the slope of a hill, and surrounded by a wall of stone. It was nearly ruined in the long period of anarchy and misgovernment which prevailed in Central India prior to 1818; but since its acquisition by the British, it has greatly improved. Bishop Heber, who visited it in 1825, describes it as a well-built town of moderate size. Its principal streets are broad and convenient, and among the mansions more recently erected, some are stated to have been constructed upon so grand a scale as to form imposing objects even from the outside of the city walls. Above, on the mountain top, is a very remarkable fortress called Taraghur, nearly two miles in circuit, but of irregular shape and surface. It consists of a plain stone wall along the edge of a mountain, strengthened with a few round bastions; and it has an abundant supply of good water in all seasons from cisterns cut in the rock. The fortress was dismantled in 1830, and the works are going to decay. The most beautiful of the buildings of Ajmere is an antique Jain temple on the lower
part of the mountain Taraghur. Though much injured by time, or by the hands of the Mussulmans, the relics are not excelled in beauty of architecture and sculpture by any remains of Hindu art. The columns supporting the roof are forty in number; but no two are alike, and great fertility of invention, as well as much taste, is manifested in the execution of the ornaments. The portion of this building which has survived the attacks of time or hostile feeling, has been converted into a mosque. Ajmere is renowned as a place of pilgrimage, the great attraction being the tomb of Khoja-Moyen-ud-Deen, famed as a great Mahometan saint, whose miracles are celebrated all over India. The tomb is of white marble, but remarkable neither for style nor beauty of architecture. To this place the emperor Achar made a pilgrimage on foot from Agra, a distance of upwards of 200 miles, to implore at the sainted tomb the blessing of male offspring. Outside the city wall is the ruinous palace of Shah Jehan, and another of Achar, now converted into an arsenal. In 1849 a school having an English department was opened, but the results have not yet been reported. The town is well supplied with water from the Ana Sagur Lake; its population in 1837 was estimated at 23,000 inhabitants, and is believed to be progressively improving. Ajmere is distant from Delhi 258 miles; from Calcutta 1039. Lat. 26. 29. Long. 74. 43. (E. T.)