I70
AJME ER CITY
Ajmer City.-A large and important city in Rajputana, and the
administrative head-quarters of the small British Province of Ajmer-
Merwara, situated in 26° 27' N. and 74° 37' E., 677 miles north of
Bombay; 275 miles south of Delhi, 228 miles west of Agra, 305 miles
north of Ahmadabad, and 393 miles north of Khandwa, the four
principal termini of the Rajputana-Malwa Railway. Population, (I872)
Population. 35,III, (I88I) 48,735, (i89r) 68,843, and (I9oI)
73,839: namely, males, 39,467; females, 34,372.
Hindus numbered 43,622 in 90oI; Muhammadans, 25,569; Jains,
2,483; Christians, 1,871; Sikhs, I93; and Parsis, Ioi. The opening
of the railway in I879 brought with it a large influx of inhabitants, and
since then the population has steadily increased. For the history of
the city see AJMER-MERWARA.
Ajmer lies at the foot of the T&ragarh hill. It has some well-built
open streets, contains many fine houses, and is surrounded by a stone
Description. wall, now in disrepair, with five gates. The ancient
town stood in the Indrakot valley, through which
the road leads to Taragarh. A small portion of the population, all
Muhammadans, and known as Indrakotis, still reside at the entrance
to the valley, immediately outside the Tirpolia Gate. The hill, on the
summit of which the fort of Taragarh was built, towers in an imposing
manner immediately above the city, commanding it at every point. It
stands, with precipitous surroundings, at a height of 2,855 feet above
sea-level, and between 1,300 and I,400 feet above the valley at its base;
and it is partially enclosed by a wall some 20 feet thick and as many
high, built of huge blocks of stone, cut and squared. The hill fort was
dismantled in 1832, and since i860 has been used as a sanitarium for
the European troops stationed at Nasirabad and Mhow. Within it
stands the shrine of a Muhammadan saint, Saiyid Husain, known as the
Ganj Shahiddn (' treasury of martyrs ').
Ajmer is rich in buildings of antiquarian interest. The most
important is the mosque known as the Arhai-din-ka-Jhonpra, or 'two
Histori and a half days' shed.' This, originally a Hindu
buildings. college, established by the Chauhan king Visaldev,
is said to have been converted into a mosque by
order of Muhammad Ghori, the legend being that, as he passed the
college, he ordered that it should be ready for him to pray in on his
return in two and a half days. The pillars and roof of the college were
permitted to remain, but the rest of the building was demolished and
much of the carving on the pillars defaced. A facade of remarkable
beauty was then erected, forming the front of the present mosque, which
was surrounded by lofty cloisters, with a tower at each corner of the
quadrangle. The cloisters have largely fallen in, and the surviving
portion of the towers is very imperfect. The facade, however, and the
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