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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles and Recollections of an Indian
+Official, by William Sleeman
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official
+
+Author: William Sleeman
+
+Release Date: March 27, 2005 [EBook #15483]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECOLLECTIONS INDIAN OFFICIAL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Philip H Hitchcock
+
+
+
+
+
+GENERAL SIR W. H SLEEMAN. K.C.B.
+
+RAMBLES
+AND
+RECOLLECTIONS
+OF AN
+INDIAN OFFICIAL
+
+BY
+
+MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.
+
+REVISED ANNOTATED EDITION
+BY
+VINCENT A. SMITH
+M.A. (DUBL. ET OXON.), M.R.A.S., F.R.N.S., LATE OF THE
+INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE,
+AUTHOR OF 'THE EARLY HISTORY OF INDIA'
+'A HISTORY OF FINE ART IN INDIA AND CEYLON'. ETC.
+
+HUMPHREY MILFORD
+OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
+LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW
+NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE BOMBAY
+1915
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+In producing this e-text the numerous notes have been moved to the
+end of their respective chapters and renumbered. The printed
+'Additions and Corrections' have been included in the relevant text.
+
+In the printed edition the spelling of certain words is not always
+consistent. This is especially true of the use of diacritical marks
+on certain words, even within a single page. This e-text attempts to
+reproduce the spellings exactly as used in the printed edition.
+
+The use of italics is shown as _italics_.
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S DEDICATION
+
+MY DEAR SISTER,
+
+Were any one to ask your countrymen in India what has been their
+greatest source of pleasure while there, perhaps nine in ten would
+say, the letters which they receive from their sisters at home.
+These, of all things, perhaps, tend most to link our affections with
+home by filling the landscapes, so dear to our recollections, with
+ever varying groups of the family circles, among whom our infancy and
+our boyhood have been passed; and among whom we still hope to spend
+the winter of our days.
+
+They have a very happy facility in making us familiar with the new
+additions made from time to time to the _dramatis personae_ of these
+scenes after we quit them, in the character of husbands, wives,
+children, or friends; and, while thus contributing so much to our
+happiness, they no doubt tend to make us better citizens of the
+world, and servants of government, than we should otherwise be, for,
+in our 'struggles through life in India', we have all, more or less,
+an eye to the approbation of those circles which our kind sisters
+represent--who may, therefore, be considered in the exalted light of
+a valuable species of _unpaid magistracy_ to the Government of India.
+
+No brother has ever had a kinder or better correspondent than I have
+had in you, my dear sister; and it was the consciousness of having
+left many of your valued letters unanswered, in the press of official
+duties, that made me first think of devoting a part of my leisure to
+you in these _Rambles and Recollections_, while on my way from the
+banks of the Nerbudda river to the Himâlaya mountains, in search of
+health, in the end of 1835 and beginning of 1836. To what I wrote
+during that journey I have now added a few notes, observations, and
+conversations with natives, on the subjects which my narrative seemed
+to embrace; and the whole will, I hope, interest and amuse you and
+the other members of our family; and appear, perchance, not
+altogether uninteresting or uninstructive to those who are strangers
+to us both.
+
+Of one thing I must beg you to be assured, that I have nowhere
+indulged in fiction, either in the narrative, the recollections, or
+the conversations. What I relate on the testimony of others I believe
+to be true; and what I relate upon my own you may rely upon as being
+so. Had I chosen to write a work of fiction, I might possibly have
+made it a good deal more interesting; but I question whether it would
+have been so much valued by you, or so useful to others; and these
+are the objects I have had in view. The work may, perhaps, tend to
+make the people of India better understood by those of my own
+countrymen whose destinies are cast among them, and inspire more
+kindly feelings towards them. Those parts which, to the general
+reader, will seem dry and tedious, may be considered, by the Indian
+statesman, as the most useful and important.
+
+The opportunities of observation, which varied employment has given
+me, have been such as fall to the lot of few; but, although I have
+endeavoured to make the most of them, the time of public servants is
+not their own; and that of few men has been more exclusively devoted
+to the service of their masters than mine. It may be, however, that
+the world, or that part of it which ventures to read these pages,
+will think that it had been better had I not been left even the
+little leisure that has been devoted to them.
+
+Your ever affectionate brother,
+
+ W. H. SLEEMAN.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+AUTHOR'S DEDICATION
+
+EDITOR'S PREFACES
+
+MEMOIR
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+CHAPTER 1
+Annual Fairs held on the Banks of Sacred Streams in India
+
+CHAPTER 2
+Hindoo System of Religion
+
+CHAPTER 3
+Legend of the Nerbudda River
+
+CHAPTER 4
+A Suttee on the Nerbudda
+
+CHAPTER 5
+Marriages of Trees--The Tank and the Plantain--Meteors--Rainbows
+
+CHAPTER 6
+Hindoo Marriages
+
+CHAPTER 7
+The Purveyance System
+
+CHAPTER 8
+Religious Sects--Self-government of the Castes--Chimneysweepers--
+Washerwomen [1]--Elephant Drivers
+
+CHAPTER 9
+The Great Iconoclast--Troops routed by Hornets--The Rânî of
+Garhâ--Hornets' Nests in India
+
+CHAPTER 10
+The Peasantry and the Land Settlement
+
+CHAPTER 11
+Witchcraft
+
+CHAPTER 12
+The Silver Tree, or 'Kalpa Briksha'--The 'Singhâra', or _Trapa
+bispinosa_, and the Guinea-Worm
+
+CHAPTER 13
+Thugs and Poisoners
+
+CHAPTER 14
+Basaltic Cappings of the Sandstone Hills of Central India--Suspension
+Bridge--Prospects of the Nerbudda Valley--Deification of a Mortal
+
+CHAPTER 15
+Legend of the Sâgar Lake--Paralysis from eating the Grain of the
+_Lathyrus sativus_
+
+CHAPTER 16
+Suttee Tombs--Insalubrity of deserted Fortresses
+
+CHAPTER 17
+Basaltic Cappings--Interview with a Native Chief--A Singular
+Character
+
+CHAPTER 18
+Birds' Nests--Sports of Boyhood
+
+CHAPTER 19
+Feeding Pilgrims--Marriage of a Stone with a Shrub
+
+CHAPTER 20
+The Men-Tigers
+
+CHAPTER 21
+Burning of Deorî by a Freebooter--A Suttee
+
+CHAPTER 22
+Interview with the Râjâ who marries the Stone to the Shrub--Order of
+the Moon and the Fish
+
+CHAPTER 23
+The Râjâ of Orchhâ--Murder of his many Ministers
+
+CHAPTER 24
+Corn Dealers--Scarcities--Famines in India
+
+CHAPTER 25
+Epidemic Diseases--Scape-goat
+
+CHAPTER 26
+Artificial Lakes in Bundêlkhand-Hindoo, Greek, and Roman Faith
+
+CHAPTER 27
+Blights
+
+CHAPTER 28
+Pestle-and-Mortar Sugar-Mills--Washing away of the Soil
+
+CHAPTER 29
+Interview with the Chiefs of Jhânsî--Disputed Succession
+
+CHAPTER 30
+Haunted Villages
+
+CHAPTER 31
+Interview with the Râjâ of Datiyâ--Fiscal Errors of Statesmen--
+Thieves and Robbers by Profession
+
+CHAPTER 32
+Sporting at Datiyâ--Fidelity of Followers to their Chiefs in India--
+Law of Primogeniture wanting among Muhammadans
+
+CHAPTER 33
+'Bhûmiâwat'
+
+CHAPTER 34
+The Suicide-Relations between Parents and Children in India
+
+CHAPTER 35
+Gwâlior Plain once the Bed of a Lake--Tameness of Peacocks
+
+CHAPTER 36
+Gwâlior and its Government
+
+CHAPTER 37 [2]
+Contest for Empire between the Sons of Shah Jahân
+
+CHAPTER 38 [2]
+Aurangzêb and Murâd Defeat their Father's Army near Ujain
+
+CHAPTER 39 [2]
+Dârâ Marches in Person against his Brothers, and is Defeated
+
+CHAPTER 40 [2]
+Dârâ Retreats towards Lahore--Is robbed by the Jâts--Their Character
+
+CHAPTER 41 [2]
+Shâh Jahân Imprisoned by his Two Sons, Aurangzêb and Murâd
+
+CHAPTER 42 [2]
+Aurangzêb Throws off the Mask, Imprisons his Brother Murâd, and
+Assumes the Government of the Empire
+
+CHAPTER 43 [2] Aurangzêb Meets Shujâ in Bengal, and Defeats him,
+after Pursuing Dârâ to the Hyphasis
+
+CHAPTER 44 [2]
+Aurangzêb Imprisons his Eldest Son--Shujâ and all his Family are
+Destroyed
+
+CHAPTER 45 [2]
+Second Defeat and Death of Dârâ, and Imprisonment of his Two Sons
+
+CHAPTER 46 [2]
+Death and Character of Amîr Jumla
+
+CHAPTER 47
+Reflections on the Preceding History
+
+CHAPTER 48
+The Great Diamond of Kohinûr
+
+CHAPTER 49
+Pindhârî System--Character of the Marâthâ Administration--Cause of
+their Dislike to the Paramount Power
+
+CHAPTER 50
+Dhôlpur, Capital of the Jât Chiefs of Gohad--Consequence of Obstacles
+to the Prosecution of Robbers
+
+CHAPTER 51
+Influence of Electricity on Vegetation--Agra and its Buildings
+
+CHAPTER 52
+Nûr Jahân, the Aunt of the Empress Nûr Mahal,[3] over whose Remains
+the Tâj is built
+
+CHAPTER 53
+Father Gregory's Notion of the Impediments to Conversion in India--
+Inability of Europeans to speak Eastern Languages
+
+CHAPTER 54
+Fathpur-Sîkrî--The Emperor Akbar's Pilgrimage--Birth of Jahângîr
+
+CHAPTER 55
+Bharatpur--Dîg--Want of Employment for the Military and the Educated
+Classes under the Company's Rule
+
+CHAPTER 56
+Govardhan, the Scene of Kriahna's Dalliance with the Milkmaids
+
+CHAPTER 57
+Veracity
+
+CHAPTER 58
+Declining Fertility of the Soil--Popular Notion of the Cause
+
+CHAPTER 59
+Concentration of Capital and its Effects
+
+CHAPTER 60
+Transit Duties in India--Mode of Collecting them
+
+CHAPTER 61
+Peasantry of India attached to no existing Government--Want of Trees
+in Upper India--Cause and Consequence--Wells and Groves
+
+CHAPTER 62
+Public Spirit of the Hindoos--Tree Cultivation and Suggestions for
+extending it
+
+CHAPTER 63
+Cities and Towns, formed by Public Establishments, disappear as
+Sovereigns and Governors change their Abodes
+
+CHAPTER 64
+Murder of Mr. Fraser, and Execution of the Nawâb Shams-ud-dîn
+
+
+CHAPTER 65
+Marriage of a Jât Chief
+
+CHAPTER 66
+Collegiate Endowment of Muhammadan Tombs and Mosques
+
+CHAPTER 67
+The Old City of Delhi
+
+CHAPTER 68
+New Delhi, or Shâhjahânâbâd
+
+CHAPTER 69
+Indian Police--Its Defects--and their Cause and Remedy
+
+CHAPTER 70
+Rent-free Tenures--Right of Government to Resume such Grants
+
+CHAPTER 71
+The Station of Meerut--'Atâlîs' who Dance and Sing gratuitously for
+the Benefit of the Poor
+
+CHAPTER 72
+Subdivisions of Lands--Want of Gradations of Rank--Taxes
+
+CHAPTER 73
+Meerut-Anglo-Indian Society
+
+CHAPTER 74
+Pilgrims of India
+
+CHAPTER 75
+The Bêgam Sumroo
+
+CHAPTER 76
+ON THE SPIRIT OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE IN THE NATIVE ARMY OF INDIA
+Abolition of Corporal Punishment--Increase of Pay with Length of
+Service--Promotion by Seniority
+
+CHAPTER 77
+Invalid Establishment
+
+Appendix:
+Thuggee and the part taken in its Suppression by General Sir W. H.
+Sleeman, K.C.B., by Captain J. L. Sleeman
+Supplementary Note by the Editor
+Additions and Corrections
+
+INDEX
+
+Notes:
+
+1. A blunder for 'Sweepers' and 'Washermen'
+
+2. Chapters 37 to 46, inclusive, are not reprinted in this edition.
+
+3. A mistake. See _post_, Chapter 52, note 1.
+
+
+
+
+
+EDITOR'S PREFACE (1893)[1]
+
+
+The _Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official_, always a
+costly book, has been scarce and difficult to procure for many years
+past. Among the crowd of books descriptive of Indian scenery,
+manners, and customs, the sterling merits of Sir William Sleeman's
+work have secured it pre-eminence, and kept it in constant demand,
+notwithstanding the lapse of nearly fifty years since its
+publication. The high reputation of this work does not rest upon its
+strictly literary qualities. The author was a busy man, immersed all
+his life in the practical affairs of administration, and too full of
+his subject to be careful of strict correctness of style or minute
+accuracy of expression. Yet, so great is the intrinsic value of his
+observations, and so attractive are the sincerity and sympathy with
+which he discusses a vast range of topics, that the reader refuses to
+be offended by slight formal defects in expression or arrangement,
+and willingly yields to the charm of the author's genial and
+unstudied conversation.
+
+It would be difficult to name any other book so full of instruction
+for the young Anglo-Indian administrator. When this work was
+published in 1844 the author had had thirty-five years' varied
+experience of Indian life, and had accumulated and assimilated an
+immense store of knowledge concerning the history, manners, and modes
+of thought of the complex population of India. He thoroughly
+understood the peculiarities of the various native races, and the
+characteristics which distinguish them from the nations of Europe;
+while his sympathetic insight into Indian life had not orientalized
+him, nor had it ever for one moment caused him to forget his position
+and heritage as an Englishman. This attitude of sane and
+discriminating sympathy is the right attitude for the Englishman in
+India.
+
+To enumerate the topics on which wise and profitable observations
+will be found in this book would be superfluous. The wine is good,
+and needs no bush. So much may be said that the book is one to
+interest that nondescript person, the general reader in Europe or
+America, as well as the Anglo-Indian official. Besides good advice
+and sound teaching on matters of policy and administration, it
+contains many charming, though inartificial, descriptions of scenery
+and customs, many ingenious speculations, and some capital stories.
+The ethnologist, the antiquary, the geologist, the soldier, and the
+missionary will all find in it something to suit their several
+tastes.
+
+In this edition the numerous misprints of the original edition have
+been all, and, for the most part, silently corrected. The extremely
+erratic punctuation has been freely modified, and the spelling of
+Indian words and names has been systematized. Two paragraphs,
+misplaced in the original edition at the end of Chapter 48 of Volume
+I, have been removed, and inserted in their proper place at the end
+of Chapter 47; and the supplementary notes printed at the end of the
+second volume of the original edition have been brought up to the
+positions which they were intended to occupy. Chapters 37 to 46 of
+the first volume, describing the contest for empire between the sons
+of Shâh Jahân, are in substance only a free version of Bernier's work
+entitled, _The Late Revolution of the Empire of the Great Mogol_.
+These chapters have not been reprinted because the history of that
+revolution can now be read much more satisfactorily in Mr.
+Constable's edition of Bernier's Travels. Except as above stated, the
+text of the present edition of the Rambles and Recollections is a
+faithful reprint of the Author's text.
+
+In the spelling of names and other words of Oriental languages the
+Editor has 'endeavoured to strike a mean between popular usage and
+academic precision, preferring to incur the charge of looseness to
+that of pedantry'. Diacritical marks intended to distinguish between
+the various sibilants, dentals, nasals, and so forth, of the Arabic
+and Sanskrit alphabets, have been purposely omitted. Long vowels are
+marked by the sign ^. Except in a few familiar words, such as
+Nerbudda and Hindoo, which are spelled in the traditional manner,
+vowels are to be pronounced as in Italian, or as in the following
+English examples, namely: â, as in 'call'; e, or ê, as the medial
+vowel in 'cake'; i, as in 'kill'; î, as the medial vowels in 'keel';
+u, as in 'full'; û, as the medial vowels in 'fool'; o, or ô, as in
+'bone'; ai, or âi, as 'eye' or 'aye', respectively; and au, as the
+medial sound in 'fowl'. Short a, with stress, is pronounced like the
+u in 'but'; and if without stress, as an indistinct vowel, like the A
+in 'America'.
+
+The Editor's notes, being designed merely to explain and illustrate
+the text, so as to render the book fully intelligible and helpful to
+readers of the present day, have been compressed into the narrowest
+possible limits. Even India changes, and observations and criticisms
+which were perfectly true when recorded can no longer be safely
+applied without explanation to the India of to-day. The Author's few
+notes are distinguished by his initials.
+
+A copious analytical index has been compiled. The bibliography is as
+complete as careful inquiry could make it, but it is possible that
+some anonymous papers by the Author, published in periodicals, may
+have escaped notice.
+
+The memoir of Sir William Sleeman is based on the slight sketch
+prefixed to the _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, supplemented
+by much additional matter derived from his published works and
+correspondence, as well as from his unpublished letters and other
+papers generously communicated by his only son, Captain Henry
+Sleeman. Ample materials exist for a full account of Sir William
+Sleeman's noble and interesting life, which well deserves to be
+recorded in detail; but the necessary limitations of these volumes
+preclude the Editor from making free use of the biographical matter
+at his command.
+
+The reproduction of the twenty-four coloured plates of varying merit
+which enrich the original edition has not been considered desirable.
+The map shows clearly the route taken by the Author in the journey
+the description of which is the leading theme of the book.
+
+
+
+
+EDITOR'S PREFACE (1915)
+
+My edition published by Archibald Constable and Company in 1893 being
+out of print but still in demand, Mr. Humphrey Milford, the present
+owner of the copyright, has requested me to revise the book and bring
+it up to date.
+
+This new edition is issued uniform with Mr. Beauchamp's third edition
+of _Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies_ by the Abbé J. A. Dubois
+(Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1906), a work bearing a strong
+resemblance in substance to the _Rambles and Recollections_, and,
+also like Sleeman's book in that it 'is as valuable to-day as ever it
+was--even more valuable in some respects'.
+
+The labour of revision has proved to be far more onerous than was
+expected. In the course of twenty-one years the numerous changes
+which have occurred in India, not only in administrative
+arrangements, but of various other kinds, necessitate the emendation
+of notes which, although accurate when written, no longer agree with
+existing facts. The appearance of many new books and improved
+editions involves changes in a multitude of references. Such
+alterations are most considerable in the annotations dealing with the
+buildings at Agra, Sikandara, Fathpur-Sîkrî, and Delhi, and the
+connected political history, concerning which much new information is
+now available. Certain small misstatements of fact in my old notes
+have been put right. Some of those errors which escaped the notice of
+critics have been detected by me, and some have been rectified by the
+aid of criticisms received from Sir George Grierson, C.I.E., Mr.
+William Crooke, sometime President of the Folklore Society, and other
+kind correspondents, to all of whom I am grateful. Naturally, the
+opportunity has been taken to revise the wording throughout and to
+eliminate misprints and typographical defects. The Index has been
+recast so as to suit the changed paging and to include the new
+matter.
+
+Captain James Lewis Sleeman of the Royal Sussex Regiment has been
+good enough to permit the reproduction of his grandfather's portrait,
+and has communicated papers which have enabled me to make corrections
+in and additions to the Memoir, largely enhancing the interest and
+value of that section of the book.
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Certain small changes have been made.
+
+
+MEMOIR
+OF
+MAJ.-GEN. SIR WILLIAM HENRY SLEEMAN, K.C.B.
+
+The Sleemans, an ancient Cornish family, for several generations
+owned the estate of Pool Park in the parish of Saint Judy, in the
+county of Cornwall. Captain Philip Sleeman, who married Mary Spry, a
+member of a distinguished family in the same county, was stationed at
+Stratton, in Cornwall, on August 8, 1788, when his son William Henry
+was born.
+
+In 1809, at the age of twenty-one, William Henry Sleeman was
+nominated, through the good offices of Lord De Dunstanville, to an
+Infantry Cadetship in the Bengal army. On the 24th of March, in the
+same year, he sailed from Gravesend in the ship Devonshire, and,
+having touched at Madeira and the Cape, reached India towards the
+close of the year. He arrived at the cantonment of Dinapore, near
+Patna, on the 20th December, and on Christmas Day began his military
+career as a cadet. He at once applied himself with exemplary
+diligence to the study of the Arabic and Persian languages, and of
+the religions and customs of India. Passing in due course through the
+ordinary early stages of military life, he was promoted to the rank
+of ensign on the 23rd September, 1810, and to that of lieutenant on
+the 16th December, 1814.
+
+Lieutenant Sleeman served in the war with Nepal, which began in 1814
+and terminated in 1816. During the campaign he narrowly escaped death
+from a violent epidemic fever, which nearly destroyed his regiment.
+'Three hundred of my own regiment,' he observes, 'consisting of about
+seven hundred, were obliged to be sent to their homes on sick leave.
+The greater number of those who remained continued to suffer, and a
+great many died. Of about ten European officers present with my
+regiment, seven had the fever and five died of it, almost all in a
+state of delirium. I was myself one of the two who survived, and I
+was for many days delirious.[1]
+
+The services of Lieutenant Sleeman during the war attracted
+attention, and accordingly, in 1816, he was selected to report on
+certain claims to prize-money. The report submitted by him in
+February, 1817, was accepted as 'able, impartial, and satisfactory'.
+After the termination of the war he served with his regiment at
+Allahabad, and in the neighbouring district of Partâbgarh, where he
+laid the foundation of the intimate knowledge of Oudh affairs
+displayed in his later writings.
+
+In 1820 he was selected for civil employ, and was appointed Junior
+Assistant to the Agent of the Governor-General, administering the
+Sâgar and Nerbudda territories. Those territories, which had been
+annexed from the Marâthâs two years previously, are now included in
+the jurisdiction of the Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces.
+In such a recently-conquered country, where the sale of all widows by
+auction for the benefit of the Treasury, and other strange customs
+still prevailed, the abilities of an able and zealous young officer
+had ample scope. Sleeman, after a brief apprenticeship, received, in
+1822, the independent civil charge of the District of Narsinghpur, in
+the Nerbudda valley, and there, for more than two years, 'by far the
+most laborious of his life', his whole attention was engrossed in
+preventing and remedying the disorders of his District.
+
+Sleeman, during the time that he was in charge of the Narsinghpur
+District, had no suspicion that it was a favourite resort of Thugs. A
+few years later, in or about 1830, he was astounded to learn that a
+gang of Thugs resided in the village of Kandêlî, not four hundred
+yards from his court-house, and that the extensive groves of Mandêsar
+on the Sâgar road, only one stage distant from his head-quarters,
+concealed one of the greatest _bhîls_, or places of murder, in all
+India. The arrest of Feringheea, one of the most influential Thug
+leaders, having given the key to the secret, his disclosures were
+followed up by Sleeman with consummate skill and untiring assiduity.
+In the years 1831 and 1832 the reports submitted by him and other
+officers at last opened the eyes of the superior authorities and
+forced them to recognize the fact that the murderous organization
+extended over every part of India. Adequate measures were then taken
+for the systematic suppression of the evil. 'Thuggee Sleeman' made it
+the main business of his life to hunt down the criminals and to
+extirpate their secret society. He recorded his experiences in the
+series of valuable publications described in the Bibliography. In
+this brief memoir it is impossible to narrate in detail the thrilling
+story of the suppression of Thuggee, and I must be content to pass on
+and give in bare outline the main facts of Sleeman's honourable
+career.[2]
+
+While at Narsinghpur, Sleeman received on the 24th April, 1824,
+brevet rank as Captain. In 1825, he was transferred, and on the 23rd
+September of the following year, was gazetted Captain. In 1826,
+failure of health compelled him to take leave on medical certificate.
+In March, 1828, Captain Sleeman assumed civil and executive charge of
+the Jabalpur (Jubbulpore) District, from which he was transferred to
+Sâgar in January, 1831. While stationed at Jabalpur, he married, on
+the 21st June, 1829, Amélie Josephine, the daughter of Count Blondin
+de Fontenne, a French nobleman, who, at the sacrifice of a
+considerable property, had managed to escape from the Revolution. A
+lady informs the editor that she remembers Sleeman's fine house at
+Jabalpur. It stood in a large walled park, stocked with spotted deer.
+Both house and park were destroyed when the railway was carried
+through the site.
+
+Mr. C. Eraser, on return from leave in January, 1832, resumed charge
+of the revenue and civil duties of the Sâgar district, leaving the
+magisterial duties to Captain Sleeman, who continued to discharge
+them till January, 1835. By the Resolution of Government dated 10th
+January, 1835, Captain Sleeman was directed to fix his head-quarters
+at Jabalpur, and was appointed General Superintendent of the
+operations for the Suppression of Thuggee, being relieved from every
+other charge. In 1835 his health again broke down, and he was obliged
+to take leave on medical certificate. Accompanied by his wife and
+little son, he went into camp in November, 1835, and marched through
+the Jabalpur, Damoh, and Sâgar districts of the Agency, and then
+through the Native States of Orchhâ, Datiyâ, and Gwâlior, arriving at
+Agra on the 1st January, 1836. After a brief halt at Agra, he
+proceeded through the Bharatpur State to Delhi and Meerut, and thence
+on leave to Simla. During his march from Jabalpur to Meerut he amused
+himself by keeping the journal which forms the basis of the _Rambles
+and Recollections of an Indian Official_. The manuscript of this work
+(except the two supplementary chapters) was completed in 1839, though
+not given to the world till 1844. On the 1st of February, 1837, in
+the twenty-eighth year of his service, Sleeman was gazetted Major.
+During the same year he made a tour in the interior of the Himalayas,
+which he described at length in an unpublished journal. Later in the
+year he went down to Calcutta to see his boy started on the voyage
+home.
+
+In February, 1839, he assumed charge of the office of Commissioner
+for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoity. Up to that date the
+office of Commissioner for the Suppression of Dacoity had been
+separate from that of General Superintendent of the measures for the
+Suppression of Thuggee, and had been filled by another officer, Mr.
+Hugh Eraser, of the Civil Service. During the next two years Sleeman
+passed much of his time in the North-Western Provinces, now the Agra
+Province in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, making Murâdâbâd
+his head-quarters, and thoroughly investigating the secret criminal
+organizations of Upper India.
+
+In 1841 he was offered the coveted and lucrative post of Resident at
+Lucknow, vacant by the resignation of Colonel Low; but that officer,
+immediately after his resignation, lost all his savings through the
+failure of his bankers, and Sleeman, moved by a generous impulse,
+wrote to Colonel Low, begging him to retain the appointment.
+
+Sleeman was then deputed on special duty to Bundêlkhand to
+investigate the grave disorders in that province. While at Jhânsî in
+December, 1842, he narrowly escaped assassination by a dismissed
+Afghan sepoy, who poured the contents of a blunderbuss into a native
+officer in attendance.[3]
+
+During the troubles with Sindhia which culminated in the battle of
+Mahârâjpur, fought on the 29th December, 1843, Sleeman, who had
+become a Lieut.-Colonel, was Resident at Gwâlior, and was actually in
+Sindhia's camp when the battle unexpectedly began. In 1848 the
+Residency at Lucknow again fell vacant, and Lord Dalhousie, by a
+letter dated 16th September, offered Sleeman the appointment in the
+following terms:
+
+ The high reputation you have earned, your experience of civil
+administration, your knowledge of the people, and the qualifications
+you possess as a public man, have led me to submit your name to the
+Council of India as an officer to whom I could commit this important
+charge with entire confidence that its duties would be well
+performed. I do myself, therefore, the honour of proposing to you to
+accept the office of Resident at Lucknow, with especial reference to
+the great changes which, in all probability, will take place.
+Retaining your superintendency of Thuggee affairs, it will be
+manifestly necessary that you should be relieved from the duty of the
+trials of Thugs usually condemned at Lucknow.
+ In the hope that you will not withhold from the Government your
+services in the capacity I have named, and in the further hope of
+finding an opportunity of personally making your acquaintance,
+ I have the honour to be,
+ Dear Colonel Sleeman,
+ Very faithfully yours,
+ DALHOUSIE.[4]
+
+The remainder of Sleeman's official life, from January, 1849, was
+spent in Oudh, and was chiefly devoted to ceaseless and hopeless
+endeavours to reform the King's administration and relieve the
+sufferings of his grievously oppressed subjects. On the 1st of
+December, 1849, the Resident began his memorable three months' tour
+through Oudh, so vividly described in the special work devoted to the
+purpose. The awful revelations of the _Journey through the Kingdom of
+Oude_ largely influenced the Court of Directors and the Imperial
+Government in forming their decision to annex the kingdom, although
+that decision was directly opposed to the advice of Sleeman, who
+consistently advocated reform of the administration, while
+deprecating annexation. His views are stated with absolute precision
+in a letter written in 1854 or 1855, and published in _The Times_ in
+November, 1857:
+
+ We have no right to annex or confiscate Oude; but we have a right,
+under the treaty of 1837, to take the management of it, but not to
+appropriate its revenues to ourselves. We can do this with honour to
+our Government and benefit to the people. To confiscate would be
+dishonest and dishonourable. To annex would be to give the people a
+government almost as bad as their own, if we put our screw upon them
+(_Journey_, ed. 1858, vol. i, Intro., p. xxi).
+
+The earnest efforts of the Resident to suppress crime and improve the
+administration of Oudh aroused the bitter resentment of a corrupt
+court and exposed his life to constant danger. Three deliberate
+attempts to assassinate him at Lucknow are recorded.
+
+The first, in December, 1851, is described in detail in a letter of
+Sleeman's dated the 16th of that month, and less fully by General
+Hervey, in _Some Records of Crime_, vol. ii, p. 479. The Resident's
+life was saved by a gallant orderly named Tîkarâm, who was badly
+wounded. Inquiry proved that the crime was instigated by the King's
+moonshee.
+
+The second attempt, on October 9, 1853, is fully narrated in an
+official letter to the Government of India (Bibliography, No. 15).
+Its failure may be reasonably ascribed to a special interposition of
+Providence. The Resident during all the years he had lived at Lucknow
+had been in the habit of sleeping in an upper chamber approached by a
+separate private staircase guarded by two sentries. On the night
+mentioned the sentries were drugged and two men stole up the stairs.
+They slashed at the bed with their swords, but found it empty,
+because on that one occasion General Sleeman had slept in another
+room.
+
+The third attempt was not carried as far, and the exact date is not
+ascertainable, but the incident is well remembered by the family and
+occurred between 1853 and 1856. One day the Resident was crossing his
+study when, for some reason or another, he looked behind a curtain
+screening a recess. He then saw a man standing there with a large
+knife in his hand. General Sleeman, who was unarmed, challenged the
+man as being a Thug. He at once admitted that he was such, and under
+the spell of a master-spirit allowed himself to be disarmed without
+resistance. He had been employed at the Residency for some time,
+unsuspected.
+
+Such personal risks produced no effect on the stout heart of Sleeman,
+who continued, unshaken and undismayed, his unselfish labours.
+
+In 1854 the long strain of forty-five years' service broke down
+Sleeman's strong constitution. He tried to regain health by a visit
+to the hills, but this expedient proved ineffectual, and he was
+ordered home. On the 10th of February, 1856, while on his way home on
+board the Monarch, he died off Ceylon, at the age of sixty-seven, and
+was buried at sea, just six days after he had been granted the
+dignity of K.C.B.
+
+Lord Dalhousie's desire to meet his trusted officer was never
+gratified. The following correspondence between the Governor-General
+and Sleeman, now published for the first time, is equally creditable
+to both parties:
+
+ BARRACKPORE PARK,
+ January 9th, 1856.
+ MY DEAR GENERAL SLEEMAN,
+ I have heard to-day of your arrival in Calcutta, and have heard at
+the same time with sincere concern that you are still suffering in
+health. A desire to disturb you as little as possible induces me to
+have recourse to my pen, in order to convey to you a communication
+which I had hoped to be able to make in person.
+ Some time since, when adjusting the details connected with my
+retirement from the Government of India, I solicited permission to
+recommend to Her Majesty's gracious consideration the names of some
+who seemed to me to be worthy of Her Majesty's favour. My request was
+moderate. I asked only to be allowed to submit the name of one
+officer from each Presidency. The name which is selected from the
+Bengal army was your own, and I ventured to express my hope that Her
+Majesty would be pleased to mark her sense of the long course of
+able, and honourable, and distinguished service through which you had
+passed, by conferring upon you the civil cross of a Knight Commander
+of the Bath.
+ As yet no reply has been received to my letter. But as you have now
+arrived at the Presidency, I lose no time in making known to you what
+has been done; in the hope that you will receive it as a proof of the
+high estimation in which your services and character arc held, as
+well by myself as by the entire community of India.
+ I beg to remain,
+ My dear General,
+ Very truly yours,
+ DALHOUSIE.
+
+Major-General Sleeman.
+
+Reply to above. Dated 11th January, 1856.
+
+MY LORD,
+ I was yesterday evening favoured with your Lordship's most kind and
+flattering letter of the 9th instant from Barrackpore.
+ I cannot adequately express how highly honoured I feel by the
+mention that you have been pleased to make of my services to Her
+Majesty the Queen, and how much gratified I am by this crowning act
+of kindness from your Lordship in addition to the many favours I have
+received at your hands during the last eight years; and whether it
+may, or may not, be my fate to live long enough to see the honourable
+rank actually conferred upon me, which you have been so considerate
+and generous as to ask for me, the letter now received from your
+Lordship will of itself be deemed by my family as a substantial
+honour, and it will so preserved, I trust, by my son, with feelings
+of honest pride, at the thought that his father had merited such a
+mark of distinction from so eminent a statesman as the Marquis of
+Dalhousie.
+ My right hand is so crippled by rheumatism that I am obliged to make
+use of an amanuensis to write this letter, and my bodily strength is
+so much reduced, that I cannot hope before embarking for England to
+pay my personal respects to your Lordship.
+ Under these unfortunate circumstances, I now beg to take my leave of
+your Lordship; to offer my unfeigned and anxious wishes for your
+Lordship's health and happiness, and with every sentiment of respect
+and gratitude, to subscribe myself,
+
+ Your Lordship's most faithful and
+ Obedient servant,
+ W. H. SLEEMAN,
+ Major-General.
+
+ To the Most Noble
+ The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.,
+ Governor-General, &c., &c.,
+ Calcutta.
+
+Sir William Sleeman was an accomplished Oriental linguist, well
+versed in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, and also in possession of a good
+working knowledge of Latin, Greek, and French. His writings afford
+many proofs of his keen interest in the sciences of geology,
+agricultural chemistry, and political economy, and of his intelligent
+appreciation of the lessons taught by history. Nor was he insensible
+to the charms of art, especially those of poetry. His favourite
+authors among the poets seem to have been Shakespeare, Milton, Scott,
+Wordsworth, and Cowper. His knowledge of the customs and modes of
+thought of the natives of India, rarely equalled and never surpassed,
+was more than half the secret of his notable success as an
+administrator. The greatest achievement of his busy and unselfish
+life was the suppression of the system of organized murder known as
+Thuggee, and in the execution of that prolonged and onerous task he
+displayed the most delicate tact, the keenest sagacity, and the
+highest power of organization.
+
+His own words are his best epitaph: 'I have gone on quietly,' he
+writes, '"through evil and through good report", doing, to the best
+of my ability, the duties which it has pleased the Government of
+India, from time to time, to confide to me in the manner which
+appeared to me most conformable to its wishes and its honour,
+satisfied and grateful for the trust and confidence which enabled me
+to do so much good for the people, and to secure so much of their
+attachment and gratitude to their rulers.' [5]
+
+His grandson. Captain J. L. Sleeman, who, when stationed in India
+from 1903 to 1908, visited the scenes of his grandfather's labours,
+states that everywhere he found the memory of his respected ancestor
+revered, and was given the assurance that no Englishman had ever
+understood the native of India so well, or removed so many oppressive
+evils as General Sir W. H. Sleeman, and that his memory would endure
+for ever in the Empire to which he devoted his life's work.
+
+This necessarily meagre account of a life which deserves more ample
+commemoration may be fitly closed by a few words concerning the
+relatives and descendants of Sir William Sleeman.
+
+His sister and regular correspondent, to whom he dedicated the
+_Rambles and Recollections_, was married to Captain Furse, R.N.
+
+ His brother's son James came out to India in 1827, joined the 73rd
+Regiment of the Bengal Army, was selected for employment in the
+Political Department, and was thus enabled to give valuable aid in
+the campaign against Thuggee. In due course he was appointed to the
+office of General Superintendent of the Operations against Thuggee,
+which had been held by his uncle. He rose to the rank of Colonel, and
+after a long period of excellent service, lived to enjoy nearly
+thirty years of honourable retirement. He died at his residence near
+Ross in 1899 at the age of eighty-one.
+
+In 1831 Sir William's only son, Henry Arthur, was gazetted to the
+16th (Queen's) Lancers, and having retired early from the army, with
+the rank of Captain, died in 1905.
+
+His elder son William Henry died while serving with the Mounted
+Infantry during the South African War. His younger son, James Lewis,
+a Captain in the Royal Sussex Regiment, who also saw active service
+during the war, and was mentioned in dispatches, has a distinguished
+African and Indian record, and recently received the honorary degree
+of M.A. from the Belfast University for good work done in
+establishing the first Officers' Training Corps in Ireland. The
+family of Captain James Lewis Sleeman consists of two sons and a
+daughter, namely, John Cuthbert, Richard Brian, and Ursula Mary.
+Captain Sleeman, as the head of his family, possesses the MSS. &c. of
+his distinguished grandfather. The two daughters of Sir William who
+survived their father married respectively Colonel Dunbar and Colonel
+Brooke.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, vol. ii, p. 105.
+
+2. The general reader may consult with advantage Meadows Taylor, _The
+Confessions of a Thug_, the first edition of which appeared in 1839;
+and the vivid account by Mark Twain in _More Tramps Abroad_, chapters
+49,50.
+
+3. The incident is described in detail in a letter dated December 18,
+1842, from Sleeman to his sister Mrs. Furse. Captain J. L. Sleeman
+has kindly furnished me with a copy of the letter, which is too long
+for reproduction in this place.
+
+4. This letter is printed in full in the _Journey through the Kingdom
+of Oude_, pp. xvii-xix.
+
+5. Letter to Lord Hardinge, dated Jhansee, 4th March, 1848, printed
+in _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, vol. i, p. xxvii.
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+OF THE
+WRITINGS OF
+MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.
+
+_I.--PRINTED_
+
+(1.) 1819 Pamphlet.
+Letter addressed to Dr. Tytler, of Allahabad, by Lieut. W. H.
+Sleeman, August 20th, 1819.
+Copied from the _Asiatic Mirror_ of September the 1st, 1819.
+[This letter describes a great pestilence at Lucknow in 1818, and
+discusses the theory that cholera may be caused by 'eating a certain
+kind of rice'.]
+
+
+(2.) Calcutta, 1836, 1 vol. 8vo.
+_Ramaseeana_, or a Vocabulary of the Peculiar Language used by the
+Thugs, with an Introduction and Appendix descriptive of the Calcutta
+system pursued by that fraternity, and of the measures which have
+been adopted by the Supreme Government of India for its suppression.
+
+Calcutta, G. H. Huttmann, Military Orphan Press, 1836.
+[No author's name on title-page, but most of the articles are signed
+by W. H. Sleeman.]
+Appendices A to Z, and A.2, contain correspondence and copious
+details of particular crimes, pp. 1-515. Total pages (v,+270+515)
+790.
+A very roughly compiled and coarsely printed collection of valuable
+documents. [A copy in the Bodleian Library and two copies in the
+British Museum. One copy in India Office Library.]
+
+
+(2a.) Philadelphia 1839, 1 vol. 8vo.
+The work described as follows in the printed Catalogue of Printed
+Books in the British Museum appears to be a pirated edition of
+_Ramaseeana_:
+
+_The Thugs or Phansîgars of India: comprising a history of the rise
+and progress of that extraordinary fraternity of assassins; and a
+description of the system which it pursues, &c._
+Carey and Hart. Philadelphia, 1839. 8vo.
+
+ A Hindustani MS. in the India Office Library seems to be the
+original of the vocabulary and is valuable as a guide to the spelling
+of the words.
+
+
+(3.) (?)1836 or 1837, Pamphlet.
+On the Admission of Documentary Evidence.
+_Extract._
+[This reprint is an extract from _Ramaseeana_. The rules relating to
+the admission of evidence in criminal trials are discussed. 24
+pages.]
+
+
+(4.) 1837, Pamphlet.
+Copy of a Letter
+which appeared in the _Calcutta Courier_ of the 29th March, 1837,
+under the signature of 'Hirtius', relative to the Intrigues of Jotha
+Ram.
+[This letter deals with the intrigues and disturbances in the Jaipur
+(Jyepoor) State in 1835, and the murder of Mr. Blake, the Assistant
+to the Resident. (See post, chap, 67, end.) The reprint is a pamphlet
+of sixteen pages. At the beginning reference is made to a previous
+letter by the author on the same subject, which had been inserted in
+the _Calcutta Courier_ in November, 1836.]
+
+
+(5.) Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. vi. (1837), p. 621.
+_History of the Gurha Mundala Rajas, by Captain W. H. Sleeman._
+[An elaborate history of the Gond dynasty of Garhâ Mandlâ, 'which is
+believed to be founded principally on the chronicles of the Bâjpai
+family, who were the hereditary prime ministers of the Gond princes.'
+(_Central Provinces Gazetteer,_ 1870, p. 282, note.) The history is,
+therefore, subject to the doubts which necessarily attach to all
+Indian family traditions.]
+
+
+(6.) W. H. Sleeman. _Analysis and Review of the Peculiar Doctrines of
+the Ricardo or New School of Political Economy._
+8vo, Serampore, 1837.
+[A copy is entered in the printed catalogue of the library of the
+Asiatic Society of Bengal.]
+
+
+(7.) Calcutta (Serampore), 1839, 8vo.
+A REPORT on THE SYSTEM OF MEGPUNNAISM,
+or
+The Murder of Indigent Parents for their Young Children (who are sold
+as Slaves) as it prevails in the Delhi Territories, and the Native
+States of Rajpootana, Ulwar, and Bhurtpore.
+By Major W. H. Sleeman.
+----
+From the Serampore Press.
+1839.
+[Thin 8vo, pp. iv and 121.
+A very curious and valuable account of a little-known variety of
+Thuggee, which possibly may still be practised. Copies exist in the
+British Museum and India Office Libraries, but the Bodleian has not a
+copy.]
+
+
+(8.) Calcutta, 1840, 8vo.
+REPORT ON THE DEPREDATIONS COMMITTED BY THE THUG GANGS of UPPER AND
+CENTRAL INDIA,
+From the Cold Season of 1836-7, down to their Gradual Suppression,
+under the operation of the measures adopted against them by the
+Supreme Government in the year 1839.
+
+By Major Sleeman
+_Commissioner for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoitee._
+
+Calcutta:
+G. H. Huttmann, Bengal Military Orphan Press.
+1840.
+[Thick 8vo, pp. lviii, 549 and xxvi.
+The information recorded is similar to that given in the earlier
+_Ramaseeana_ volume. Pages xxv-lviii, by Captain N. Lowis, describe
+River Thuggee. Copies in the British Museum and India Office, but
+none in the Bodleian. This is the only work by Sleeman which has an
+alphabetical index.]
+
+(9.) Calcutta 1841, 8vo.
+On the SPIRIT OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE
+in our
+NATIVE INDIAN ARMY.
+
+By Major N.[_sic_] H. Sleeman, Bengal Native Infantry.
+'Europaeque saccubuit Asia.'
+'The misfortune of all history is, that while the motives of a few
+princes and leaders in their various projects of ambition are
+detailed with accuracy, the motives which crowd their standards with
+military followers are totally overlooked.'--_Malthus._
+ Calcutta:
+Bishop's College Press.
+M.DCCC.XLI.
+[Thin 8vo. Introduction, pp. i-xiii; On the Spirit of Military
+Discipline in the Native Army of India, pp. 1-59; page 60 blank;
+Invalid Establishment, pp. 61-84. The text of these two essays is
+reprinted as chapters 28 and 29 of vol. ii of _Rambles and
+Recollections_ in the original edition, corresponding to Chapters 21
+and 22 of the edition of 1893 and Chapters 76, 77 of this (1915)
+edition. Most of the observations in the Introduction are utilized in
+various places in that work. The author's remark in the Introduction
+to these essays--'They may never be published, but I cannot deny
+myself the gratification of printing them'--indicates that, though
+printed, they were never published in their separate form. The copy
+of the separately printed tract which I have seen is that in the
+India Office Library. Another is in the British Museum. The pamphlet
+is not in the Bodleian.]
+
+
+(10.) 1841 Pamphlet.
+MAJOR SLEEMAN
+on the
+PUBLIC SPIRIT of THE HINDOOS.
+_From the Transactions of the Agricultural and Horticultural
+Society,_ vol. 8.
+Art. XXII, _Public Spirit among the Hindoo Race as indicated in
+the flourishing condition of the Jubbulpore District in former times,
+with a sketch of its present state: also on the great importance of
+attending to Tree Cultivation and suggestions for extending it. By
+Major Sleeman, late in charge of the Jubbulpore District._
+
+[Read at the Meeting of the Society on the 8th September, 1841.]
+
+[This reprint is a pamphlet of eight pages. The text was again
+reprinted verbatim as Chapter 14 of vol. 2 of the _Rambles and
+Recollections_ in the original edition, corresponding to Chapter 7 of
+the edition of 1893, and Chapter 62 of this (1915) edition. No
+contributions by the author of later date than the above to any
+periodical have been traced. In a letter dated Lucknow, 12th January,
+1853 (_Journey,_ vol. 2, p. 390) the author says-'I was asked by Dr.
+Duff, the editor of the _Calcutta Review,_ before he went home, to
+write some articles for that journal to expose the fallacies, and to
+counteract the influences of this [_scil_. annexationist] school; but
+I have for many years ceased to contribute to the periodical papers,
+and have felt bound by my position not to write for them.']
+
+
+(11.) London, 1844, 2 vols. large 8vo.
+RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN OFFICIAL
+by
+Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Sleeman, of the Bengal Army.
+'The proper study of mankind is man.'--POPE.
+In Two Volumes.
+London:
+J. Hatchard and Son, 187, Piccadilly.
+1844.
+[Vol. I, pp. v and 478. Frontispiece, in colours, a portrait of 'The
+late Emperor of Delhi', namely, Akbar II. At end of volume, six full-
+page coloured plates, numbered 25-30, viz. No. 25, 'Plant'; No. 26,
+'Plant'; No. 27, 'Plant'; No. 28, 'Ornament'; No. 29, 'Ornament'; No.
+30, 'Ornaments'.
+
+Vol. 2, pp. vii and 459. Frontispiece, in colours, comprising five
+miniatures; and Plates numbered 1-24, irregularly inserted, and with
+several misprints in the titles.
+
+The three notes printed at the close of the second volume were
+brought up to their proper places in the edition of 1893, and are
+there retained in this (1915) edition. The following paragraph is
+prefixed to these notes in the original edition: 'In consequence of
+this work not having had the advantage of the author's
+superintendence while passing through the press, and of the
+manuscript having reached England in insulated portions, some errors
+and omissions have unavoidably taken place, a few of which the
+following notes are intended to rectify or supply.' The edition of
+1844 has been scarce for many years,]
+
+
+(11a.) Lahore 1888, 2 vols. in one 8vo.
+RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS, &o.
+(Title as in edition of 1844.)
+Republished by A. C, Majumdar.
+Lahore:
+Printed at the Mufid-i-am Press.
+1888.
+[Vol. 1, pp. xi and 351. Vol. 2, pp. v and 339. A very roughly
+executed reprint, containing many misprints. No illustrations. This
+reprint is seldom met with.]
+
+
+(11b.) Westminster, 1893, 2 vols. in 8vo.
+RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS, &c.
+A New Edition, edited by Vincent Arthur Smith, I.C.S.; being vol. 5
+of Constable's Oriental Miscellany. The book is now scarce.
+
+
+(12.) Calcutta, 1849.
+REPORT
+On
+BUDHUK
+Alias
+BAGREE DECOITS
+and other
+GANG ROBBERS BY HEREDITARY PROFESSION,
+and on
+The Measures adopted by the Government of India
+for their Suppression.
+By Lieut.-Col. W. H. Sleeman, Bengal Army.
+Calcutta:
+J. C. Sherriff, Bengal Military Orphan Press.
+1849.
+[Folio, pp. iv and 433. Map. Printed on blue paper. A valuable work.
+In their Dispatch No. 27, dated 18th September, 1850, the Honourable
+Court of Directors observe that 'This Report is as important and
+interesting as that of the same able officer on the Thugs'. Copies
+exist in the British Museum and India Office Libraries, but there is
+none in the Bodleian. The work was first prepared for press in 1842
+(Journey, vol. 1, p, xxvi).]
+
+
+(13.) 1852, Plymouth, Pamphlet.
+AN ACCOUNT of WOLVES NURTURING CHILDREN IN THEIR DENS.
+By an Indian Official.
+Plymouth:
+Jenkin Thomas, Printer,
+9, Cornwall Street.
+1852.
+[Octavo pamphlet. 15 pages. The cases cited are also described in the
+_Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, and are discussed in V. Ball,
+_Jungle Life in India_ (De la Rue, 1880), pp. 454-66. The only copy
+known to me is that in possession of the author's grandson.]
+
+
+(14.)Lucknow, 1852.
+Sir William Sleeman printed his _Diary of a Journey through Oude_
+privately at a press in the Residency. He had purchased a small
+press and type for the purpose of printing it at his own house, so
+that no one but himself and the compositor might see it. He intended,
+if he could find time, to give the history of the reigning family in
+a third volume, which was written, but has never been published. The
+title is: Diary of a Tour through Oude in December, 1849, and January
+and February, 1850.
+
+By The Resident
+Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Sleeman.
+Printed at Lucknow in a Parlour Press.
+1852.
+
+Two vols. large 8vo. with wide margins. Printed well on good paper.
+Vol. 1 has map of Oude, 305 pp. text, and at end a printed slip of
+errata. Vol. 2 has 302 pp. text, with a similar slip of errata. The
+brief Preface contains the following statements:
+ 'I have had the Diary printed at my own expense in a small parlour
+press which I purchased, with type, for the purpose. . . . The Diary
+must for the present be considered as an official document, which may
+be perused, but cannot be published wholly or in part without the
+sanction of Government previously obtained.' [1]
+ Eighteen copies of the Diary were so printed and were coarsely bound
+by a local binder. Of these copies twelve were distributed as
+follows, one to each person or authority: Government, Calcutta; Court
+of Directors; Governor-General; Chairman of Court of Directors;
+Deputy Chairman; brother of author; five children of author, one each
+(5); Col. Sykes, Director E.I.C.
+ A Memorandum of Errata was put up along with some of the copies
+distributed. (_Private Correspondence,_ Journey, _vol._ 2, _pp._ 357,
+393, _under dates 4 April, 1852, and 12 Jan., 1853._) The Bodleian
+copy, purchased in June, 1891, was that belonging to Mrs, (Lady)
+Sleeman, and bears her signature 'A. J. Sleeman' on the fly-leaf of
+each volume. The book was handsomely bound in morocco or russia, with
+gilt edges, by Martin of Calcutta. The British Museum Catalogue does
+not include a copy of this issue. The India Office Library has a copy
+of vol. 1 only. Captain J. L. Sleeman has both volumes.
+
+ (15.) 1853, Pamphlet.
+Reprint of letter No. 34 of 1853 from the author to J, P. Grant,
+Esq., Officiating Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign
+Department, Fort William. Dated Lucknow Residency, 12th October,
+1853.
+[Six pages. Describes another attempt to assassinate the author on
+the 9th October, 1853. See ante, p. xxvi.]
+
+(16.) London 1858, 2 vols. 8vo.
+_A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, in 1849-50, by direction of
+the Right Hon. the Earl of Dalhousie, Governor-General._
+With Private Correspondence relative to the Annexation of Oude to
+British India, &c.
+By Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman, K.C.B., Resident at the Court of
+Lucknow.
+
+In two Volumes.
+London:
+Richard Bentley, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1858.
+[Small 8vo. Frontispiece of vol. 1 is a Map of the Kingdom of Oude.
+The contents of vol. 1 are: Title, preface, and contents, pp. i-x;
+Biographical Sketch of Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman, K.C.B., pp.
+xi-xvi; Introduction, pp. xvii-xxii; Private Correspondence preceding
+the Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, pp. xxiii-lxxx; Diary of a
+Tour through Oude, chapters i-vi, pp. 1-337. The contents of vol. 2
+are: Title and contents, pp. i-vi; Diary of a Tour through Oude, pp.
+1-331; Private Correspondence relating to the Annexation of the
+Kingdom of Oude to British India, pp. 332-424. The letters printed in
+this volume were written between 5th Dec., 1849, and 11th Sept.,
+1854, during and after the Tour. The dates of the letters in the
+first volume extend from 20th Feb., 1848, to 11th Oct., 1849. The
+Tour began on 1st Dec., 1849, The book, though rather scarce, is to
+be found in most of the principal libraries, and may be obtained from
+time to time.]
+
+
+
+_II.--UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS_
+
+(1.) 1809.
+Two books describing author's voyage to India round the Cape.
+
+
+(2.) 1837.
+Journal of a Trip from Simla to Gurgoohee.
+[Referred to in unpublished letters dated 5th and 30th August, 1837.]
+
+
+(3.) _Circa_1824.
+Preliminary Observations and Notes on Mr. Molony's Report on
+Narsinghpur.
+[Referred to in _Central Provinces Gazetteer_, Nâgpur, 2nd ed., 1870,
+pp. xcix, cii, &c. The papers seem to be preserved in the record room
+at Narsinghpur.]
+
+
+(4.) 1841.
+History of Byza Bae (Baiza Bâî).
+[Not to be published till after author's death. See unpublished
+_letter dated Jhânsî,_ Oct. 22nd, 1841.]
+
+
+(5.)
+History of the Reigning Family of Oude.
+[Intended to form a third volume of the _Journey._ See Author's
+_Letter to Sir James Weir Hogg, Deputy Chairman, India House,_ dated
+Lucknow, 4th April, 1852; printed in _Journey,_ vol. 2, p. 358.]
+
+
+The manuscripts Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5, and the printed papers Nos. 1,
+3, 4, 10, 13, and 15, are in the possession of Captain J, L. Sleeman,
+Royal Sussex Regiment, grandson of the author. The India Office
+Library possesses copies of the printed works Nos. 2, 7, 8, 9, 11a,
+12, 14 (vol. 1 only) and 16.
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The book was written in 1851, and the Directors' permission to
+publish was given in December, 1852. (_Journey,_ ii, pp. 358, 393,
+ed. 1858. The Preface to that ed. wrongly indicates December, 1851,
+as the date of that permission.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+COMPARATIVE TABLE OF CHAPTERS
+
+ _Edition_ 1844. _Edition_ 1893. _Edition_
+1915.
+Vol. 1, chap. 1-36 Vol. 1, chap. 1-36 Chap. 1-36
+ " " 37-46 " " 37-46 titles only " 37-46
+titles only
+ " " 47,48 " " 47,48 " 47,48
+Vol. 2, " 1 " " 49 " 49
+ " " 2 " " 50 " 50
+ " " 3 " " 51 " 51
+ " " 4 " " 52 " 52
+ " " 5 " " 53 " 53
+ " " 6 " " 54 " 54
+ " " 7 " " 55 " 55
+ " " 8 Vol. 2 " 1 " 56
+ " " 9 " " 2 " 57
+ " " 10 " " 3 " 58
+ " " 11 " " 4 " 59
+ " " 12 " " 5 " 60
+ " " 13 " " 6 " 61
+ " " 14 " " 7 " 62
+ " " 15 " " 8 " 63
+ " " 16 " " 9 " 64
+ " " 17 " " 10 " 65
+ " " 18 " " 11 " 66
+ " " 19 " " 12 " 67
+ " " 20 " " 13 " 68
+ " " 21 " " 14 " 69
+ " " 22 " " 15 " 70
+ " " 23 " " 16 " 71
+ " " 24 " " 17 " 72
+ " " 25 " " 18 " 73
+ " " 26 " " 19 " 74
+ " " 27 " " 20 " 75
+ " " 28 " " 21 " 76
+ " " 29 " " 22 " 77
+
+
+
+
+ ABBREVIATIONS
+
+A.C. After Christ.
+
+_Ann. Rep. Annual Report._
+
+A.S. Archaeological Survey.
+
+_A.S.R. Archaeological Survey Reports,_ by Sir Alexander Cunningham
+and his assistants; 23 vols. 8vo, Simla and Calcutta, 1871-87, with
+General Index (vol. xxiv, 1887) by V. A. Smith.
+
+_A.S.W.I. Archaeological Survey Reports, Western India._
+
+Beale. T. W. Beale, _Oriental Biographical Dictionary,_ ed. Keene,
+1894.
+
+C.P. Central Provinces.
+
+E.& D. Sir H. M. Elliot and Professor J. Dowson, _The History of
+India as told by its own Historians, Muhammadan Period;_ 8 vols. 8vo,
+London, 1867-77.
+
+_E.H.I._ V. A. Smith, _Early History of India,_ 3rd ed., Oxford,
+1914.
+
+_Ep. Ind. Epigraphia Indica,_ Calcutta.
+
+Fanshawe. H. C. Fanshawe, _Delhi Past and Present,_ Murray, London,
+1902.
+
+_H.F.A._ V. A. Smith, _A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon,_
+4to, Oxford, 1911.
+
+_I.G. Imperial Gazetteer of India_, Oxford, 1907, 1908.
+
+_Ind. Ant. Indian Antiquary,_ Bombay.
+
+_J.A.S.B. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,_ Calcutta.
+
+_J.R.A.S. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,_ London.
+
+_N.I.N.& Qu. North-Indian Notes and Queries,_ Allahabad, 1891-6
+
+N.W.P. North-Western Provinces.
+
+_Z.D.M.G. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft,_
+Leipzig.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 1
+
+
+Annual Fairs held upon the Banks of Sacred Streams in India.
+
+Before setting out on our journey towards the Himâlaya we formed once
+more an agreeable party to visit the Marble Rocks of the Nerbudda at
+Bherâghât.[1] It was the end of Kârtik,[2] when the Hindoos hold
+fairs on all their sacred streams at places consecrated by poetry or
+tradition as the scene of some divine work or manifestation. These
+fairs are at once festive and holy; every person who comes enjoying
+himself as much as he can, and at the same time seeking purification
+from all past transgressions by bathing and praying in the holy
+stream, and making laudable resolutions to be better for the future.
+The ceremonies last five days, and take place at the same time upon
+all the sacred rivers throughout India; and the greater part of the
+whole Hindoo population, from the summits of the Himâlaya mountains
+to Cape Comôrin, will, I believe, during these five days, be found
+congregated at these fairs. In sailing down the Ganges one may pass
+in the course of a day half a dozen such fairs, each with a multitude
+equal to the population of a large city, and rendered beautifully
+picturesque by the magnificence and variety of the tent equipages of
+the great and wealthy. The preserver of the universe (_Bhagvân_)
+Vishnu is supposed, on the 26th of Asârh, to descend to the world
+below (_Pâtâl_) to defend Râjâ Bali from the attacks of Indra, to
+stay with him four months, and to come up again on the 26th
+Kârtik.[3] During his absence almost all kinds of worship and
+festivities are suspended; and they recommence at these fairs, where
+people assemble to hail his resurrection.
+
+Our tents were pitched upon a green sward on one bank of a small
+stream running into the Nerbudda close by, while the multitude
+occupied the other bank. At night all the tents and booths are
+illuminated, and the scene is hardly less animated by night than by
+day; but what strikes a European most is the entire absence of all
+tumult and disorder at such places. He not only sees no disturbance,
+but feels assured that there will be none; and leaves his wife and
+children in the midst of a crowd of a hundred thousand persons all
+strangers to them, and all speaking a language and following a
+religion different from theirs, while he goes off the whole day,
+hunting and shooting in the distant jungles, without the slightest
+feeling of apprehension for their safety or comfort. It is a singular
+fact, which I know to be true, that during the great mutiny of our
+native troops at Barrackpore in 1824, the chief leaders bound
+themselves by a solemn oath not to suffer any European lady or child
+to be injured or molested, happen what might to them in the collision
+with their officers and the Government. My friend Captain Reid, one
+of the general staff, used to allow his children, five in number, to
+go into the lines and play with the soldiers of the mutinous
+regiments up to the very day when the artillery opened upon them;
+and, of above thirty European ladies then at the station, not one
+thought of leaving the place till they heard the guns.[4] Mrs.
+Colonel Faithful, with her daughter and another young lady, who had
+both just arrived from England, went lately all the way from Calcutta
+to Lûdiâna on the banks of the Hyphasis, a distance of more than
+twelve hundred miles, in their palankeens with relays of bearers, and
+without even a servant to attend them.[5] They were travelling night
+and day for fourteen days without the slightest apprehension of
+injury or of insult. Cases of ladies travelling in the same manner by
+_dâk_ (stages) immediately after their arrival from England to all
+parts of the country occur every day, and I know of no instance of
+injury or insult sustained by them.[6] Does not this speak volumes
+for the character of our rule in India? Would men trust their wives
+and daughters in this manner unprotected among a people that disliked
+them and their rule? We have not a garrison, or walled cantonments,
+or fortified position of any kind for our residence from one end of
+our Eastern empire to the other, save at the three capitals of
+Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.[7] We know and feel that the people
+everywhere look up to and respect us, in spite of all our faults, and
+we like to let them know and feel that we have confidence in them.
+
+Sir Thomas Munro has justly observed, 'I do not exactly know what is
+meant by civilizing the people of India. In the theory and practice
+of good government they may be deficient; but, if a good system of
+agriculture, if unrivalled manufactures, if the establishment of
+schools for reading and writing, if the general practice of kindness
+and hospitality, and, above all, if a scrupulous respect and delicacy
+towards the female sex are amongst the points that denote a civilized
+people; then the Hindoos are not inferior in civilization to the
+people of Europe'.[8]
+
+Bishop Heber writes in the same favourable terms of the Hindoos in
+the narrative of his journey through India; and where shall we find a
+mind more capable of judging of the merits and demerits of a people
+than his?[9]
+
+The concourse of people at this fair was, as usual, immense; but a
+great many who could not afford to provide tents for the
+accommodation of their families were driven away before their time by
+some heavy showers of, to them, unseasonable rains. On this and
+similar occasions the people bathe in the Nerbudda without the aid of
+priests, but a number of poor Brahmans attend at these festivals to
+receive charity, though not to assist at the ceremonies. Those who
+could afford it gave a trifle to these men as they came out of the
+sacred stream, but in no case was it demanded, or even solicited with
+any appearance of importunity, as it commonly is at fairs and holy
+places on the Ganges. The first day, the people bathe below the rapid
+over which the river falls after it emerges from its peaceful abode
+among the marble rocks; on the second day, just above this rapid; and
+on the third day, two miles further up at the cascade, when the whole
+body of the limpid stream of the Nerbudda, confined to a narrow
+channel of only a few yards wide, falls tumultuously down in a
+beautiful cascade into a deep chasm of marble rocks. This fall of
+their sacred stream the people call the 'Dhuândhâr', or 'the smoky
+fall', from the thick vapour which is always seen rising from it in
+the morning. From below, the river glides quietly and imperceptibly
+for a mile and a half along a deep, and, according to popular belief,
+a fathomless channel of from ten to fifty yards wide, with snow-white
+marble rocks rising perpendicularly on either side from a hundred to
+a hundred and fifty feet high, and in some parts fearfully
+overhanging. Suspended in recesses of these white rocks are numerous
+large black nests of hornets ready to descend upon any unlucky wight
+who may venture to disturb their repose;[10] and, as the boats of the
+curious European visitors pass up and down to the sound of music,
+clouds of wild pigeons rise from each side, and seem sometimes to
+fill the air above them. Here, according to native legends, repose
+the Pândavas, the heroes of their great Homeric poem, the
+Mahâbhârata, whose names they have transferred to the valley of the
+Nerbudda. Every fantastic appearance of the rocks, caused by those
+great convulsions of nature which have so much disturbed the crust of
+the globe, or by the slow and silent working of the, waters, is
+attributed to the god-like power of those great heroes of Indian
+romance, and is associated with the recollection of scenes in which
+they are supposed to have figured.[11]
+
+The strata of the Kaimûr range of sandstone hills, which runs
+diagonally across the valley of the Nerbudda, are thrown up almost
+perpendicularly, in some places many hundred feet above the level of
+the plain, while in others for many miles together their tops are
+only visible above the surface. These are so many strings of the oxen
+which the arrows of Arjun, one of the five brothers, converted into
+stone; and many a stream which now waters the valley first sprang
+from the surface of the earth at the touch of his lance, as his
+troops wanted water. The image of the gods of a former day, which now
+lie scattered among the ruins of old cities, buried in the depth of
+the forest, are nothing less than the bodies of the kings of the
+earth turned into stone for their temerity in contending with these
+demigods in battle. Ponds among the rocks of the Nerbudda, where all
+the great fairs are held, still bear the names of the five brothers,
+who are the heroes of this great poem;[12] and they are every year
+visited by hundreds of thousands who implicitly believe that their
+waters once received upon their bosoms the wearied limbs of those
+whose names they bear. What is life without the charms of fiction,
+and without the leisure and recreations which these sacred imaginings
+tend to give to the great mass of those who have nothing but the
+labour of their hands to depend upon for their subsistence! Let no
+such fictions be believed, and the holidays and pastimes of the lower
+orders in every country would soon cease, for they have almost
+everywhere owed their origin and support to some religious dream
+which has commanded the faith and influenced the conduct of great
+masses of mankind, and prevented one man from presuming to work on
+the day that another wished to rest from his labours. The people were
+of opinion, they told me, that the Ganges, as a sacred stream, could
+last only sixty years more, when the Nerbudda would take its place.
+The waters of the Nerbudda are, they say already so much more sacred
+than those of the Ganges that to see them is sufficient to cleanse
+men from their sins, whereas the Ganges must be touched before it can
+have that effect.[13]
+
+At the temple built on the top of a conical hill at Bherâghât,
+overlooking the river, is a statue of a bull carrying Siva, the god
+of destruction, and his wife Pârvatî seated behind him; they have
+both snakes in their hands, and Siva has a large one round his loins
+as a waistband. There are several demons in human shape lying
+prostrate under the belly of the bull, and the whole are well cut out
+of one large slab of hard basalt from a dyke in the marble rock
+beneath. They call the whole group 'Gaurî Sankar', and I found in the
+fair, exposed for sale, a brass model of a similar one from Jeypore
+(Jaipur), but not so well shaped and proportioned. On noticing this
+we were told that 'such difference was to be expected, since the
+brass must have been made by man, whereas the "Gaurî Sankar" of the
+temple above was a real Pâkhân, or a conversion of living beings into
+stone by the gods;[14] they were therefore the exact resemblance of
+living beings, while the others could only be rude imitations'.
+'Gaurî', or the Fair, is the name of Pârvatî, or Dêvî, when she
+appears with her husband Siva. On such occasions she is always fair
+and beautiful. Sankar is another name of Siva, or Mahâdêo, or Rudra.
+On looking into the temple at the statue, a lady expressed her
+surprise at the entireness as well as the excellence of the figures,
+while all round had been so much mutilated by the Muhammadans. 'They
+are quite a different thing from the others', said a respectable old
+landholder; 'they are a conversion of real flesh and blood into
+stone, and no human hands can either imitate or hurt them.' She
+smiled incredulously, while he looked very grave, and appealed to the
+whole crowd of spectators assembled, who all testified to the truth
+of what he had said; and added that 'at no distant day the figures
+would be all restored to life again, the deities would all come back
+without doubt and reanimate their old bodies again'.
+
+All the people who come to bathe at the fair bring chaplets of yellow
+jasmine, and hang them as offerings round the necks of the god and
+his consort; and at the same time they make some small offerings of
+rice to each of the many images that stand within the same apartment,
+and also to those which, under a stone roof supported upon stone
+pillars, line the inside of the wall that surrounds the circular
+area, in the centre of which the temple stands. The images inside the
+temple are those of the three great gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva,
+with their primaeval consorts;[15] but those that occupy the piazza
+outside are the representations of the consorts of the different
+incarnations of these three gods, and these consorts are themselves
+the incarnations of the primaeval wives, who followed their husbands
+in all their earthly ramblings. They have all the female form, and
+are about the size of ordinary women, and extremely well cut out of
+fine white and green sandstone; but their heads are those of the
+animals in which their respective husbands became incarnate, such as
+the lion, the elephant, &c., or those of the '_vâhans_', or animals
+on which they rode, such as the bull, the swan, the eagle, &c. But
+these, I presume, are mere _capricios_ of the founder of the temple.
+The figures are sixty-four in number, all mounted upon their
+respective '_vâhans_', but have been sadly mutilated by the pious
+Muhammadans.[16]
+
+The old 'Mahant', or high priest, told us that Mahâdêo and his wife
+were in reality our Adam and Eve; 'they came here together', said he,
+'on a visit to the mountain Kailâs,[17] and being earnestly solicited
+to leave some memorial of their visit, got themselves turned into
+stone'. The popular belief is that some very holy man, who had been
+occupied on the top of this little conical hill, where the temple now
+stands, in austere devotions for some few thousand years, was at last
+honoured with a visit from Siva and his consort, who asked him what
+they could do for him. He begged them to wait till he should bring
+some flowers from the woods to make them a suitable offering. They
+promised to do so, and he ran down, plunged into the Nerbudda and
+drowned himself, in order that these august persons might for ever
+remain and do honour to his residence and his name. They, however,
+left only their 'mortal coil', but will one day return and resume it.
+I know not whether I am singular in the notion or not, but I think
+Mahâdêo and his consort are really our Adam and Eve, and that the
+people have converted them into the god and goddess of destruction,
+from some vague idea of their original sin, which involved all their
+race in destruction. The snakes, which form the only dress of
+Mahâdêo, would seem to confirm this notion.[18]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The Nerbudda (Narbadâ, or Narmadâ) river is the boundary between
+Hindustan, or Northern India, and the Deccan (Dakhin), or Southern
+India. The beautiful gorge of the Marble Rocks, near Jubbulpore
+(Jabalpur), is familiar to modern tourists (see _I.G._, 1908, s.v.
+'Marble Rocks'). The remarkable antiquities at Bherâghât are
+described and illustrated in _A.S.R._, vol. ix, pp. 60-76, pl. xii-
+xvi. Additions and corrections to Cunningham's account will be found
+in _A.S.W.I Progr. Rep._, 1893-4, p. 5; and _A.S. Ann. Rep., E.
+Circle_, 1907-8, pp. 14-18.
+
+2. The eighth month of the Hindoo luni-solar year, corresponding to
+part of October and part of November. In Northern India the year
+begins with the month Chait, in March. The most commonly used names
+of the months are: (1) Chait; (2) Baisâkh; (3) Jêth; (4) Asârh; (5)
+Sâwan; (6) Bhâdon; (7) Kuâr; (8) Kârtik; (9) Aghan; (10) Pûs; (II)
+Mâgh; and (12) Phâlgun.
+
+3. _Bhagvân_ is often used as equivalent for the word God in its most
+general sense, but is specially applicable to the Deity as manifested
+in Vishnu the Preserver. _Asârh_ corresponds to June-July, _Pâtâl_ is
+the Hindoo Hades. Râjâ Bali is a demon, and Indra is the lord of the
+heavens. The fairs take place at the time of full moon.
+
+4. Barrackpore, fifteen miles north of Calcutta, is still a
+cantonment. The Governor General has a country house there. The
+mutiny of the native troops stationed there occurred on Nov. 1, 1824,
+and was due to the discontent caused by orders moving the 47th Native
+Infantry to Rangoon to take part in the Burmese War. The outbreak was
+promptly suppressed. Captain Pogson published a _Memoir of the Mutiny
+at Barrackpore_ (8vo, Serampore, 1833).
+
+5. Lûdiâna, the capital of the district of the same name, now under
+the Punjab Government. Hyphasis is the Greek name of the Biâs river,
+one of the five rivers of the Punjâb.
+
+6. Railways have rendered almost obsolete the mode of travelling
+described in the text. In Northern India palankeens (pâlkîs) are now
+seldom used, even by Indians, except for purposes of ceremony.
+
+7. This statement is no longer quite accurate, though fortified
+positions are still very few.
+
+8. The editor cannot find the exact passage quoted, but remarks to
+the same effect will be found in _The Life of Sir Thomas Munro,_ by
+the Rev. G. R. Gleig, in two volumes, a new edition (London, 1831),
+vol. ii, p. 175.
+
+9. _Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, from
+Calcutta to Bombay, 1834-5, and a Journey to the Southern Provinces
+in 1826_ (2nd edition, 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1828.)
+
+10. The bees at the Marble Rocks are the _Apis dorsata_. An
+Englishman named Biddington, when trying to escape from them, was
+drowned, and they stung to death one of Captain Forsyth's baggage
+ponies (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia of India,_ 3rd ed., 1885, s.v. Bee').
+
+11. The vast epic poem, or collection of poems known as the
+Mahâbhârata, consists of over 100,000 Sanskrit verses. The main
+subject is the war between the five Pândavas, or sons of Pândû, and
+their cousins the Kauravas, sons of Dhritarâshtra. Many poems of
+various origins and dates are interwoven with the main work. The best
+known of the episodes is that of _Nala and Damayantî,_ which was well
+translated by Dean Milman, See Macdonell, _A History of Sanskrit
+Literature_ (Heinemann, 1900).
+
+12. The five Pândava brothers were Yudhishthira, Bhîmia, Arjuna,
+Nakula, and Sahadeva, the children of Pândû, by his wives Kuntî, or
+Prithâ, and Madrî.
+
+13. 'The Narbadâ has its special admirers, who exalt it oven above
+the Ganges, . . . The sanctity of the Ganges will, they say, cease in
+1895, whereas that of the Narbadâ will continue for ever' (Monier
+Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India,_ London, 1883, p.
+348), See _post,_ Chapter 27.
+
+14. Sleeman wrote 'Py-Khan', a corrupt spelling of pâkhân, the
+Sanskrit pâshâna or pâsâna, 'a stone'. The compound pâshâna-mûrti is
+commonly used in the sense of 'stone image'. The sibilant _sh_ or _s_
+usually is pronounced as _kh_ in Northern India (Grierson,
+_J.R.A.S.,_ 1903, p. 363).
+
+15. Sarasvatî, consort of Brahma; Dêvî (Pârvatî, Durgâ, &c.), consort
+of Siva; and Lakshmî, consort of Vishnu. All Hindoo deities have many
+names.
+
+16. The author's explanation is partly erroneous. The temple, which
+is a very remarkable one, is dedicated to the sixty-four Joginîs.
+Only five temples in India are known to be dedicated to these demons.
+For details see Cunningham, _A.S.R.,_ vol. ix, pp. 61-74, pl. xii-
+xvi; vol. ii, p. 416; and vol. xxi, p. 57. The word _vâhana_ means
+'vehicle'. Each deity has his peculiar vehicle.
+
+17. The heaven of Siva, as distinguished from Vaikuntha, the heaven
+of Vishnu. It is supposed to be somewhere in the Himâlaya mountains.
+The wonderful excavated rock temple at Ellora is believed to be a
+model of Kailâs.
+
+18. This 'notion' of the author's is not likely to find acceptance at
+the present day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 2
+
+
+Hindoo System of Religion.
+
+The Hindoo system is this. A great divine spirit or essence,
+'Brahma', pervades the whole universe; and the soul of every human
+being is a drop from this great ocean, to which, when it becomes
+perfectly purified, it is reunited. The reunion is the eternal
+beatitude to which all look forward with hope; and the soul of the
+Brahman is nearest to it. If he has been a good man, his soul becomes
+absorbed in the 'Brahma'; and, if a bad man, it goes to 'Narak',
+hell; and after the expiration of its period there of _limited
+imprisonment_, it returns to earth, and occupies the body of some
+other animal. It again advances by degrees to the body of the
+Brahman; and thence, when fitted for it, into the great 'Brahma'.[1]
+
+From this great eternal essence emanate Brahma, the Creator, whose
+consort is Sarasvatî;[2] Vishnu, the Preserver, whose consort is
+Lakshmî; and Siva, _alias_ Mahâdêo, the Destroyer, whose consort is
+Pârvatî. According to popular belief Jamrâj (Yamarâja) is the
+judicial deity who has been appointed by the greater powers to pass
+the final judgement on the tenor of men's lives, according to
+proceedings drawn up by his secretary Chitragupta. If men's actions
+have been good, their souls are, as the next stage, advanced a step
+towards the great essence, Brahma; and, if bad, they are thrown back,
+and obliged to occupy the bodies of brutes or of people of inferior
+caste, as the balance against them may be great or small. There is an
+intermediate stage, a 'Narak', or hell, for bad men, and a
+'Baikunth', or paradise, for the good, in which they find their
+felicity in serving that god of the three to which they have
+specially devoted themselves while on earth. But from this stage,
+after the period of their sentence is expired, men go back to their
+pilgrimage on earth again.
+
+There are numerous Dêos (Devas), or good spirits, of whom Indra is
+the chief; [3] and Daityas, or bad spirits; and there have also been
+a great number of incarnations from the three great gods, and their
+consorts, who have made their appearance upon the earth when required
+for particular purposes. All these incarnations are called 'Avatârs',
+or descents. Vishnu has been eleven times on the globe in different
+shapes, and Siva seven times.[4] The avatârs of Vishnu are celebrated
+in many popular poems, such as the Râmâyana, or history of the Rape
+of Sitâ, the wife of Râma, the seventh incarnation;[5] the
+Mahâbhârata, and the Bhâgavata [Purâna], which describe the wars and
+amours of this god in his last human shape.[6] All these books are
+believed to have been written either by the hand or by the
+inspiration of the god himself thousands of years before the events
+they describe actually took place. 'It was', they say, 'as easy for
+the deity to write or dictate a battle, an amour, or any other
+important event ten thousand years before as the day after it took
+place'; and I believe nine-tenths, perhaps ninety-nine in a hundred,
+of the Hindoo population believe implicitly that these accounts were
+also written. It is now pretty clear that all these works are of
+comparatively recent date, that the great poem of the Mahâbhârata
+could not have been written before the year 786 of the Christian era,
+and was probably written so late as A.D. 1157; that Krishna, _if born
+at all_, must have been born on the 7th of August, A.D. 600, but was
+most likely a mere creation of the imagination to serve the purpose
+of the Brahmans of Ujain, in whom the fiction originated; that the
+other incarnations were invented about the same time, and for the
+same object, though the other persons described as incarnations were
+real princes, Parasu Râma, before Christ 1176, and Râma, born before
+Christ 961. In the Mahâbhârata Krishna is described as fighting in
+the same army with Yudhishthira and his four brothers. Yudhishthira
+was a real person, who ascended the throne at Delhi 575 B.C., or 1175
+years before the birth of Krishna.[7] Bentley supposes that the
+incarnations, particularly that of Krishna, were invented by the
+Brahmans of Ujain with a view to check the progress of Christianity
+in that part of the world (see his historical view of the Hindoo
+astronomy). That we find in no history any account of the alarming
+progress of Christianity about the time these fables were written is
+no proof that Bentley was wrong.[8]
+
+When Monsieur Thevenot was at Agra [in] 1666, the Christian
+population was roughly estimated at twenty-five thousand families.
+They had all passed away before it became one of our civil and
+military stations in the beginning of the present century, and we
+might search history in vain for any mention of them (see his
+_Travels in India_, Part III). One single prince, well disposed to
+give Christians encouragement and employment, might, in a few years,
+get the same number around his capital; and it is probable that the
+early Christians in India occasionally found such princes, and gave
+just cause of alarm to the Brahman priests, who were then in the
+infancy of their despotic power.[9]
+
+During the war with Nepal, in 1814 and 1815,[10] the division with
+which I served came upon an extremely interesting colony of about two
+thousand Christian families at Betiyâ in the Tirhût District, on the
+borders of the Tarâi forest. This colony had been created by one man,
+the Bishop, a Venetian by birth, under the protection of a small
+Hindoo prince, the Râjâ, of Betiyâ.[11] This holy man had been some
+fifty years among these people, with little or no support from Europe
+or from any other quarter. The only aid he got from the Râjâ was a
+pledge that no member of his Church should be subject to the
+_Purveyance system_, under which the people everywhere suffered so
+much,[12] and this pledge the Râjâ, though a Hindoo, had never
+suffered to be violated. There were men of all trades among them, and
+they formed one very large street remarkable for the superior style
+of its buildings and the sober industry of its inhabitants. The
+masons, carpenters, and blacksmiths of this little colony were
+working in our camp every day, while we remained in the vicinity, and
+better workmen I have never seen in India; but they would all insist
+upon going to divine service at the prescribed hours. They had built
+a splendid _pucka_[13] dwelling-house for their bishop, and a still
+more splendid church, and formed for him the finest garden I have
+seen in India, surrounded with a good wall, and provided with
+admirable pucka wells. The native Christian servants who attended at
+the old bishop's table, taught by himself, spoke Latin to him; but he
+was become very feeble, and spoke himself a mixture of Latin,
+Italian, his native tongue, and Hindustânî. We used to have him at
+our messes, and take as much care of him as of an infant, for he was
+become almost as frail as one. The joy and the excitement of being
+once more among Europeans, and treated by them with so much reverence
+in the midst of his flock, were perhaps too much for him, for he
+sickened and died soon after.
+
+The Râjâ died soon after him, and in all probability the flock has
+disappeared. No Europeans except a few indigo planters of the
+neighbourhood had ever before known or heard of this colony; and they
+seemed to consider them only as a set of great scoundrels, who had
+better carts and bullocks than anybody else in the country, which
+they refused to let out at the same rate as the others, and which
+they (the indigo lords) were not permitted to seize and employ at
+discretion. Roman Catholics have a greater facility in making
+converts in India than Protestants, from having so much more in their
+form of worship to win the affections through the medium of the
+imagination.[14]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Men are occasionally exempted from the necessity of becoming a
+Brahman first. Men of low caste, if they die at particular places,
+where it is the interest of the Brahmans to invite rich men to die,
+are promised absorption into the great 'Brahma' at once. Immense
+numbers of wealthy men go every year from the most distant parts of
+India to die at Benares, where they spend large sums of money among
+the Brahmans. It is by their means that this, the second city in
+India, is supported. [W. H. S.] Bombay is now the second city in
+India, so far as population is concerned.
+
+2. Brahma, with the short vowel, is the eternal Essence or Spirit;
+Brahmâ, with the long vowel, is 'the primaeval male god, the first
+personal product of the purely spiritual Brahma, when overspread by
+Maya, or illusory creative force', according to the Vedanta system
+(Monier Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 44).
+
+3. Indra was originally, in the Vedas, the Rain-god. The statement in
+the text refers to modern Hinduism.
+
+4. The incarnations of Vishnu are ordinarily reckoned as ten, namely,
+(1) Fish, (2) Tortoise, (3) Boar, (4) Man-lion, (5) Dwarf, (6) Râma
+with the axe, (7) Râma Chandra, (8) Krishna, (9) Buddha, (10) Kalkî,
+or Kalkin, who is yet to come. I do not know any authority for eleven
+incarnations of Vishnu. The number is stated in some Purânas as
+twenty-two, twenty-four, or even twenty-eight. Seven incarnations of
+Siva are not generally recognized (see Monier Williams, _Religious
+Thought and Life in India_, pp. 78-86, and 107-16). For the theory
+and mystical meaning of _avatârs_, see Grierson, _J.R.A.S._, 1909,
+pp. 621-44. The word avatâr means 'descent', _scil_. of the Deity to
+earth, and covers more than the term 'incarnation'.
+
+5. Sitâ was an incarnation of Lakshmî. She became incarnate again,
+many centuries afterwards, as the wife of Krishna, another
+incarnation of Vishnu [W. H. S.]. Reckoning by centuries is, of
+course, inapplicable to pure myth. The author believed in Bentley's
+baseless chronology.
+
+6. For the Mahâbhârata, see _ante_, note 11, Chapter 1. The Bhâgavata
+Purâna is the most popular of the Purânas, The Hindi version of the
+tenth book (_skandha_) is known as the 'Prem Sâgar'. The date of the
+composition of the Purânas is uncertain.
+
+7. The dates given in this passage are purely imaginary. Parts of the
+Mahâbhârata are very ancient. Yudhishthira is no more an historical
+personage than Achilles or Romulus. It is improbable that a 'throne
+of Delhi' existed in 575 B.C., and hardly anything is known about the
+state of India at that date.
+
+8. It is hardly necessary to observe that this grotesque theory is
+utterly at variance with the facts, as now known.
+
+9. The existing settlements of native Christians at Agra are mostly
+of modern origin. Very ancient Christian communities exist near
+Madras, and on the Malabar coast. The travels of Jean de Thevenot
+were published in 1684, under the title of _Voyage, contenant la
+Relation de l'Indostan_. The English version, by A. Lovell (London,
+1687), is entitled _The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the
+Levant, in three Parts_. Part III deals with the East Indies, The
+passage referred to is: 'Some affirm that there are twenty-five
+thousand Christian Families in Agra, but all do not agree in that'
+(Part III, p. 35). Thevonot's statement about the Christians of Agra
+is further discussed post in Chapter 52.
+
+10. The war with Nepal began in October, 1814, and was not concluded
+till 1816. During its progress the British arms suffered several
+reverses.
+
+11. The Betiyâ (Bettiah of _I. G_., 1908) Râj is a great estate with
+an area of 1,824 square miles in the northern part of the Champâran
+District of Bihâr, in the Province of Bihâr and Orissa. A great
+portion of the estate is held (1908) on permanent leases by European
+indigo-planters.
+
+12. For discussion of this system see post, Chapter 7.
+
+13. 'Pucka' (_pakkâ_) here means 'masonry', as opposed to 'Kutcha'
+(_kachchâ_), meaning 'earthen'.
+
+14. Native Christians, according to the census of 1872, number 1,214
+persons, who are principally found in Bettiâ thâna [police-circle].
+There are two Missions, one at Bettiâ, and the other at the village
+of Chuhârî, both supported by the Roman Catholic Church. The former
+was founded in 1746 by a certain Father Joseph, from Garingano in
+Italy, who went to Bettiâ on the invitation of the Mahârâja. The
+present number of converts is about 1,000 persons. Being principally
+descendants of Brahmans, they hold a fair social position; but some
+of them are extremely poor. About one-fourth are carpenters, one-
+tenth blacksmiths, one-tenth servants, the remainder carters. The
+Chuhârî Mission was founded in 1770 by three Catholic priests, who
+had been expelled from Nepal [after the Gôrkha conquest in 1768].
+There are now 283 converts, mostly descendants of Nepâlis. They are
+all agriculturists, and very poor (Article 'Champâran District' in
+_Statistical Account of Bengal_, 1877).
+
+ The statement in _I.G._ 1908, s.v. Bettiah, differs slightly, as
+follows:
+
+ 'A Roman Catholic Mission was established about 1740 by Father
+Joseph Mary, an Italian missionary of the Capuchin Order, who was
+passing near Bettiah on his way to Nepâl, when he was summoned by
+Râjâ Dhruva Shah to attend his daughter, who was dangerously ill. He
+succeeded in curing her, and the grateful Raja invited him to stay at
+Bettiah and gave him a house and ninety acres of land.' The Bettiah
+Mission still exists and maintains the Catholic Mission Press, where
+publications illustrating the history of the Capuchin Missions have
+been printed. Father Felix, O.C., is at work on the subject.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 3
+
+
+Legend of the Nerbudda River.
+
+The legend is that the Nerbudda, which flows west into the Gulf of
+Cambay, was wooed and won in the usual way by the Sôn river, which
+rises from the same tableland of Amarkantak, and flows east into the
+Ganges and Bay of Bengal.[1] All the previous ceremonies having been
+performed, the Sôn [2] came with 'due pomp and circumstance' to fetch
+his bride in the procession called the 'Barât', up to which time the
+bride and bridegroom are supposed never to have seen each other,
+unless perchance they have met in infancy. Her Majesty the Nerbudda
+became exceedingly impatient to know what sort of a personage her
+destinies were to be linked to, while his Majesty the Sôn advanced at
+a slow and stately pace. At last the Queen sent Johilâ, the daughter
+of the barber, to take a close view of him, and to return and make a
+faithful and particular report of his person. His Majesty was
+captivated with the little Johilâ, the barber's daughter, at first
+sight; and she, 'nothing loath', yielded to his caresses. Some say
+that she actually pretended to be Queen herself; and that his Majesty
+was no further in fault than in mistaking the humble handmaid for her
+noble mistress; but, be that as it may, her Majesty no sooner heard
+of the good understanding between them, than she rushed forward, and
+with one foot sent the Sôn rolling back to the east whence he came,
+and with the other kicked little Johilâ sprawling after him; for,
+said the high priest, who told us the story, 'You see what a towering
+passion she was likely to have been in under such indignities from
+the furious manner in which she cuts her way through the marble rocks
+beneath us, and casts huge masses right and left as she goes along,
+as if they were really so many coco-nuts'. 'And was she', asked I,
+'to have flown eastward with him, or was he to have flown westward
+with her?' 'She was to have accompanied him eastward', said the high
+priest, 'but her Majesty, after this indignity, declared that she
+would not go a single pace in the same direction with such wretches,
+and would flow west, though all the other rivers in India might flow
+east; and west she flows accordingly, a virgin queen.' I asked some
+of the Hindoos about us why they called her 'Mother Nerbudda', if she
+was really never married. 'Her Majesty', said they with great
+respect, 'would really never consent to be married after the
+indignity she suffered from her affianced bridegroom the Sôn; and we
+call her Mother because she blesses us all, and we are anxious to
+accost her by the name which we consider to be at once the most
+respectful and endearing.'
+
+Any Englishman can easily conceive a poet in his highest 'calenture
+of the brain' addressing the ocean as 'a steed that knows his rider',
+and patting the crested billow as his flowing mane; but he must come
+to India to understand how every individual of a whole community of
+many millions can address a fine river as a living being, a sovereign
+princess, who hears and understands all they say, and exercises a
+kind of local superintendence over their affairs, without a single
+temple in which her image is worshipped, or a single priest to profit
+by the delusion. As in the case of the Ganges, it is the river itself
+to whom they address themselves, and not to any deity residing in it,
+or presiding over it: the stream itself is the deity which fills
+their imaginations, and receives their homage.
+
+Among the Romans and ancient Persians rivers were propitiated by
+sacrifices. When Vitellius crossed the Euphrates with the Roman
+legions to put Tiridates on the throne of Armenia, they propitiated
+the river according to the rites of their country by the
+_suovetaurilia_, the sacrifice of the hog, the ram, and the bull.
+Tiridates did the same by the sacrifice of a horse. Tacitus does not
+mention the river _god_, but the river _itself_, as propitiated (see
+[_Annals_,] book vi, chap. 37).[3] Plato makes Socrates condemn Homer
+for making Achilles behave disrespectfully towards the river Xanthus,
+though acknowledged to be a divinity, in offering to fight him,[4]
+and towards the river Sperchius, another acknowledged god, in
+presenting to the dead body of Patroclus the locks of his hair which
+he had promised to that river.[5]
+
+The Sôn river, which rises near the source of the Nerbudda on the
+tableland of Amarkantak, takes a westerly course for some miles, and
+then turns off suddenly to the east, and is joined by the little
+stream of the Johilâ before it descends the great cascade; and hence
+the poets have created this fiction, which the mass of the population
+receive as divine revelation. The statue of little Johilâ, the
+barber's daughter, in stone, stands in the temple of the goddess
+Nerbudda at Amarkantak, bound in chains.[6] It may here be remarked
+that the first overtures in India must always be made through the
+medium of the barber, whether they be from the prince or the
+peasant.[7] If a sovereign prince sends proposals to a sovereign
+princess, they must be conveyed through the medium of the barber, or
+they will never be considered as done in due form, as likely to prove
+propitious. The prince will, of course, send some relation or high
+functionary with him; but in all the credentials the barber must be
+named as the principal functionary. Hence it was that Her Majesty was
+supposed to have sent a barber's daughter to meet her husband.
+
+The 'Mahâtam' (greatness or holiness) of the Ganges is said, as I
+have already stated, to be on the wane, and not likely to endure
+sixty years longer; while that of the Nerbudda is on the increase,
+and in sixty years is entirely to supersede the sanctity of her
+sister. If the valley of the Nerbudda should continue for sixty years
+longer under such a government as it has enjoyed since we took
+possession of it in 1817,[8] it may become infinitely more rich, more
+populous, and more beautiful than that of the Nile ever was; and, if
+the Hindoos there continue, as I hope they will, to acquire wealth
+and honour under a rule to which they are so much attached, the
+prophecy may be realized in as far as the increase of honour paid to
+the Nerbudda is concerned. But I know no ground to expect that the
+reverence[9] paid to the Ganges will diminish, unless education and
+the concentration of capital in manufactures should work an important
+change in the religious feelings and opinions of the people along the
+course of that river; although this, it must be admitted, is a
+consummation which may be looked for more speedily on the banks of
+the Ganges than on those of a stream like the Nerbudda, which is
+neither navigable at present nor, in my opinion, capable of being
+rendered so. Commerce and manufactures, and the concentration of
+capital in the maintenance of the new communities employed in them,
+will, I think, be the great media through which this change will be
+chiefly effected; and they are always more likely to follow the
+course of rivers that are navigable than that of rivers which are
+not.[10]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Amarkantak, formerly in the Sohâgpur pargana of the Bilâspur
+District of the Central Provinces, is situated on a high tableland,
+and is a famous place of pilgrimage. The temples are described by
+Beglar in _A.S.R._, vol. vii, pp. 227-34, pl. xx, xxi. The hill has
+been transferred to the Rîwâ State (_Central Provinces Gazetteer_
+(1870), and _I.G._ (1908), s.v. Amarkantak).
+
+2. The name is misspelled Sohan in the author's text. The Sôn rises
+at Sôn Mundâ, about twenty miles from Amarkantak (_A.S.R._, vol. vii,
+236).
+
+3. 'Sacrificantibus, cum hic more Romano suovetaurilia daret, ille
+equum placando amni adornasset.'
+
+4. [Greek text]--_Iliad_ xx, 73.
+
+5. _Iliad_ xxiii. 140-153.
+
+6. Mr. Crooke observes that the binding was intended to prevent the
+object of worship from deserting her shrine or possibly doing
+mischief elsewhere, and refers to his article, 'The Binding of a God,
+a Study of the Basis of Idolatry', in _Folklore_, vol. viii (1897),
+p.134. The name is spelt Johillâ in _I.G._ (1908), s.v. Sôn River.
+
+7. Monier Williams denies the barber's monopoly of match-making. 'In
+some parts of Northern India the match-maker for some castes is the
+family barber; but for the higher castes he is more generally a
+Brahman, who goes about from one house to another till he discovers a
+baby-girl of suitable rank' (_Religious Thought and Life in India_,
+p. 377). So far as the editor knows, the barber is ordinarily
+employed in Northern India.
+
+8. During the operations against the Pindhârî freebooters. Many
+treaties were negotiated with the Peshwa and other native powers in
+the years 1817 and 1818.
+
+9. The word in the text is 'revenue'.
+
+10. Concerning the prophecy that the sanctity of the Ganges will
+cease in 1895, see note to Chapter 1, _ante_, [13]. The prophecy was
+much talked of some years ago, but the reverence for the Ganges
+continues undiminished, while the development of commerce and
+manufactures has not affected, the religious feelings and opinions of
+the people. Railways, in fact, facilitate pilgrimages and increase
+their popularity. The course of commerce now follows the line of
+rail, not the navigable rivers. The author, when writing this book,
+evidently never contemplated the possibility of railway construction
+in India. Later in life, in 1852, he fully appreciated the value of
+the new means of communication (_Journey_, ii, 370, &c.).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 4
+
+
+A Suttee[1] on the Nerbudda.
+
+We took a ride one evening to Gopâlpur, a small village situated on
+the same bank of the Nerbudda, about three miles up from Bherâghât.
+On our way we met a party of women and girls coming to the fair.
+Their legs were uncovered half-way up the thigh; but, as we passed,
+they all carefully covered up their faces. 'Good God!' exclaimed one
+of the ladies, 'how can these people be so very indecent?' They
+thought it, no doubt, equally extraordinary that she should have her
+face uncovered, while she so carefully concealed her legs; for they
+were really all modest peasantry, going from the village to bathe in
+the holy stream.[2]
+
+Here there are some very pretty temples, built for the most part to
+the memory of widows who have burned themselves with the remains of
+their husbands, and upon the very spot where they committed
+themselves to the flames. There was one which had been recently
+raised over the ashes of one of the most extraordinary old ladies
+that I have ever seen, who burned herself in my presence in 1829. I
+prohibited the building of any temple upon the spot, but my successor
+in the civil charge of the district, Major Low, was never, I believe,
+made acquainted with the prohibition nor with the progress of the
+work; which therefore went on to completion in my absence. As suttees
+are now prohibited in our dominions[3] and cannot be often seen or
+described by Europeans, I shall here relate the circumstances of this
+as they were recorded by me at the time, and the reader may rely upon
+the truth of the whole tale.
+
+On the 29th November, 1829, this old woman, then about sixty-five
+years of age, here mixed her ashes with those of her husband, who had
+been burned alone four days before. On receiving civil charge of the
+district (Jubbulpore) in March, 1828, I issued a proclamation
+prohibiting any one from aiding or assisting in suttee, and
+distinctly stating that to bring one ounce of wood for the purpose
+would be considered as so doing. If the woman burned herself with the
+body of her husband, any one who brought wood for the purpose of
+burning him would become liable to punishment; consequently, the body
+of the husband must be first consumed, and the widow must bring a
+fresh supply for herself. On Tuesday, 24th November, 1829, I had an
+application from the heads of the most respectable and most extensive
+family of Brahmans in the district to suffer this old woman to burn
+herself with the remains of her husband, Ummêd Singh Upadhya, who had
+that morning died upon the banks of the Nerbudda.[4] I threatened to
+enforce my order, and punish severely any man who assisted; and
+placed a police guard for the purpose of seeing that no one did so.
+She remained sitting by the edge of the water without eating or
+drinking. The next day the body of her husband was burned to ashes in
+a small pit of about eight feet square, and three or four feet deep,
+before several thousand spectators who had assembled to see the
+suttee. All strangers dispersed before evening, as there seemed to be
+no prospect of my yielding to the urgent solicitations of her family,
+who dared not touch food till she had burned herself, or declared
+herself willing to return to them. Her sons, grandsons, and some
+other relations remained with her, while the rest surrounded my
+house, the one urging me to allow her to burn, and the other urging
+her to desist. She remained sitting on a bare rock in the bed of the
+Nerbudda, refusing every kind of sustenance, and exposed to the
+intense heat of the sun by day, and the severe cold of the night,
+with only a thin sheet thrown over her shoulders. On Thursday, to cut
+off all hope of her being moved from her purpose, she put on the
+dhajâ, or coarse red turban, and broke her bracelets in pieces, by
+which she became dead in law, and for ever excluded from caste.
+Should she choose to live after this, she could never return to her
+family. Her children and grandchildren were still with her, but all
+their entreaties were unavailing; and I became satisfied that she
+would starve herself to death, if not allowed to burn, by which the
+family would be disgraced, her miseries prolonged, and I myself
+rendered liable to be charged with a wanton abuse of authority, for
+no prohibition of the kind I had issued had as yet received the
+formal sanction of the Government.
+
+On Saturday, the 28th, in the morning, I rode out ten miles to the
+spot, and found the poor old widow sitting with the dhajâ round her
+head, a brass plate before her with undressed rice and flowers, and a
+coco-nut in each hand. She talked very collectedly, telling me that
+'she had determined to mix her ashes with those of her departed
+husband, and should patiently wait my permission to do so, assured
+that God would enable her to sustain life till that was given, though
+she dared not eat or drink'. Looking at the sun, then rising before
+her over a long and beautiful reach of the Nerbudda river, she said
+calmly, 'My soul has been for five days with my husband's near that
+sun, nothing but my earthly frame is left; and this, I know, you will
+in time suffer to be mixed with the ashes of his in yonder pit,
+because it is not in your nature or usage wantonly to prolong the
+miseries of a poor old woman'.
+
+'Indeed, it is not,--my object and duty is to save and preserve them
+[_sic_]; and I am come to dissuade you from this idle purpose, to
+urge you to live, and to keep your family from the disgrace of being
+thought your murderers.'
+
+'I am not afraid of their ever being so thought: they have all, like
+good children, done everything in their power to induce me to live
+among them; and, if I had done so, I know they would have loved and
+honoured me; but my duties to them have now ended. I commit them all
+to your care, and I go to attend my husband, _Ummêd Singh Upadhya_,
+with whose ashes on the funeral pile mine have been already three
+times mixed.'[5]
+
+This was the first time in her long life that she had ever pronounced
+the name of her husband, for in India no woman, high or low, ever
+pronounces the name of her husband,--she would consider it
+disrespectful towards him to do so; and it is often amusing to see
+their embarrassment when asked the question by any European
+gentleman. They look right and left for some one to relieve them from
+the dilemma of appearing disrespectful either to the querist or to
+their absent husbands--they perceive that he is unacquainted with
+their duties on this point, and are afraid he will attribute their
+silence to disrespect. They know that few European gentlemen are
+acquainted with them; and when women go into our courts of justice,
+or other places where they are liable to be asked the names of their
+husbands, they commonly take one of their children or some other
+relation with them to pronounce the words in their stead. When the
+old lady named her husband, as she did with strong emphasis, and in a
+very deliberate manner, every one present was satisfied that she had
+resolved to die. 'I have', she continued, 'tasted largely of the
+bounty of Government, having been maintained by it with all my large
+family in ease and comfort upon our rent-free lands; and I feel
+assured that my children will not be suffered to want; but with them
+I have nothing more to do, our intercourse and communion here end. My
+soul (_prân_) is with _Ummêd Singh Upadhya_: and my ashes must here
+mix with his.'
+
+
+Again looking to the sun--'I see them together', said she, with a
+tone and countenance that affected me a good deal, 'under the bridal
+canopy!'--alluding to the ceremonies of marriage; and I am satisfied
+that she at that moment really believed that she saw her own spirit
+and that of her husband under the bridal canopy in paradise.
+
+I tried to work upon her pride and her fears. I told her that it was
+probable that the rent-free lands by which her family had been so
+long supported might be resumed by the Government, as a mark of its
+displeasure against the children for not dissuading her from the
+sacrifice; that the temples over her ancestors upon the bank might be
+levelled with the ground, in order to prevent their operating to
+induce others to make similar sacrifices; and lastly, that not one
+single brick or stone should ever mark the place where she died if
+she persisted in her resolution. But, if she consented to live, a
+splendid habitation should be built for her among these temples, a
+handsome provision assigned for her support out of these rent-free
+lands, her children should come daily to visit her, and I should
+frequently do the same. She smiled, but held out her arm and said,
+'My pulse has long ceased to beat, my spirit has departed, and I have
+nothing left but a little _earth_, that I wish to mix with the ashes
+of my husband. I shall suffer nothing in burning; and, if you wish
+proof, order some fire, and you shall see this arm consumed without
+giving me any pain'. I did not attempt to feel her pulse, but some of
+my people did, and declared that it had ceased to be perceptible. At
+this time every native present believed that she was incapable of
+suffering pain; and her end confirmed them in their opinion.
+
+Satisfied myself that it would be unavailing to attempt to save her
+life, I sent for all the principal members of the family, and
+consented that she should be suffered to burn herself if they would
+enter into engagements that no other member of their family should
+ever do the same. This they all agreed to, and the papers having been
+drawn out in due form about midday, I sent down notice to the old
+lady, who seemed extremely pleased and thankful. The ceremonies of
+bathing were gone through before three [o'clock], while the wood and
+other combustible materials for a strong fire were collected and put
+into the pit. After bathing, she called for a 'pan' (betel leaf) and
+ate it, then rose up, and with one arm on the shoulder of her eldest
+son, and the other on that of her nephew, approached the fire. I had
+sentries placed all round, and no other person was allowed to
+approach within five paces. As she rose up fire was set to the pile,
+and it was instantly in a blaze. The distance was about 150 yards.
+She came on with a calm and cheerful countenance, stopped once, and,
+casting her eyes upward, said, 'Why have they kept me five days from
+thee, my husband?' On coming to the sentries her supporters stopped;
+she walked once round the pit, paused a moment, and, while muttering
+a prayer, threw some flowers into the fire. She then walked up
+deliberately and steadily to the brink, stepped into the centre of
+the flame, sat down, and leaning back in the midst as if reposing
+upon a couch, was consumed without uttering a shriek or betraying one
+sign of agony.
+
+A few instruments of music had been provided, and they played, as
+usual, as she approached the fire, not, as is commonly supposed, in
+order to drown screams, but to prevent the last words of the victim
+from being heard, as these are supposed to be prophetic, and might
+become sources of pain or strife to the living.[6] It was not
+expected that I should yield, and but few people had assembled to
+witness the sacrifice, so that there was little or nothing in the
+circumstances immediately around to stimulate her to any
+extraordinary exertions; and I am persuaded that it was the desire of
+again being united to her husband in the next world, and the entire
+confidence that she would be so if she now burned herself, that alone
+sustained her. From the morning he died (Tuesday) till Wednesday
+evening she ate 'pans' or betel leaves, but nothing else; and from
+Wednesday evening she ceased eating them. She drank no water from
+Tuesday. She went into the fire with the same cloth about her that
+she had worn in the bed of the river; but it was made wet from a
+persuasion that even the shadow of any impure thing falling upon her
+from going to the pile contaminates the woman unless counteracted by
+the sheet moistened in the holy stream.
+
+I must do the family the justice to say that they all exerted
+themselves to dissuade the widow from her purpose, and had she lived
+she would assuredly have been cherished and honoured as the first
+female member of the whole house. There is no people in the world
+among whom parents are more loved, honoured, and obeyed than among
+the Hindoos; and the grandmother is always more honoured than the
+mother. No queen upon her throne could ever have been approached with
+more reverence by her subjects than was this old lady by all the
+members of her family as she sat upon a naked rock in the bed of the
+river, with only a red rag upon her head and a single-white sheet
+over her shoulders.
+
+Soon after the battle of Trafalgar I heard a young lady exclaim, 'I
+could really wish to have had a brother killed in that action'. There
+is no doubt that a family in which a suttee takes place feels a good
+deal exalted in its own esteem and that of the community by the
+sacrifice. The sister of the Râjâ of Rîwâ was one of four or five
+wives who burned themselves with the remains of the Râjâ of Udaipur;
+and nothing in the course of his life will ever be recollected by her
+brother with so much of pride and pleasure, since the Udaipur Râjâ is
+the head of the Râjpût tribes.[7]
+
+I asked the old lady when she had first resolved upon becoming a
+suttee, and she told me that about thirteen years before, while
+bathing in the river Nerbudda, near the spot where she then sat, with
+many other females of the family, the resolution had fixed itself in
+her mind as she looked at the splendid temples on the bank of the
+river erected by the different branches of the family over the ashes
+of her female relations who had at different times become suttees.
+Two, I think, were over her aunts, and one over the mother of her
+husband. They were very beautiful buildings, and had been erected at
+great cost and kept in good repair. She told me that she had never
+mentioned this her resolution to any one from that time, nor breathed
+a syllable on the subject till she called out 'Sat, sat, sat',[8]
+when her husband breathed his last with his head in her lap on the
+bank of the Nerbudda, to which he had been taken when no hopes
+remained of his surviving the fever of which he died.
+
+Charles Harding, of the Bengal Civil Service, as magistrate of
+Benares, in 1806 prevented the widow of a Brahman from being burned.
+Twelve months after her husband's death she had been goaded by her
+family into the expression of a wish to burn with some relic of her
+husband, preserved for the purpose. The pile was raised to her at
+Râmnagar,[9] some two miles above Benares, on the opposite side of
+the river Ganges. She was not well secured upon the pile, and as soon
+as she felt the fire she jumped off and plunged into the river. The
+people all ran after her along the bank, but the current drove her
+towards Benares, whence a police boat put off and took her in.
+
+She was almost dead with the fright and the water, in which she had
+been kept afloat by her clothes. She was taken to Harding; but the
+whole city of Benares was in an uproar, at the rescue of a Brahman's
+widow from the funeral pile, for such it had been considered, though
+the man had been a year dead. Thousands surrounded his house, and his
+court was filled with the principal men of the city, imploring him to
+surrender the woman; and among the rest was the poor woman's father,
+who declared that he could not support his daughter; and that she
+had, therefore, better be burned, as her husband's family would no
+longer receive her. The uproar was quite alarming to a young man, who
+felt all the responsibility upon himself in such a city as[10]
+Benares, with a population of three hundred thousand people,[11] so
+prone to popular insurrections, or risings _en masse_ very like them.
+He long argued the point of the time that had elapsed, and the
+unwillingness of the woman, but in vain; until at last the thought
+struck him suddenly, and he said that 'The sacrifice was manifestly
+unacceptable to their God--that the sacred river, as such, had
+rejected her; she had, without being able to swim, floated down two
+miles upon its bosom, in the face of an immense multitude; and it was
+clear that she had been rejected. Had she been an acceptable
+sacrifice, after the fire had touched her, the river would have
+received her'. This satisfied the whole crowd. The father said that,
+after this unanswerable argument, he would receive his daughter; and
+the whole crowd dispersed satisfied.[12]
+
+The following conversation took place one morning between me and a
+native gentleman at Jubbulpore soon after suttees had been prohibited
+by Government:--
+
+'What are the castes among whom women are not permitted to remarry
+after the death of their husbands?'
+
+'They are, sir, Brahmans, Râjpûts, Baniyâs (shopkeepers), Kâyaths
+(writers).'
+
+'Why not permit them to marry, now that they are no longer permitted
+to burn themselves with the dead bodies of their husbands?'
+
+'The knowledge that they cannot unite themselves to a second husband
+without degradation from caste, tends strongly to secure their
+fidelity to the first, sir. Besides, if all widows were permitted to
+marry again, what distinction would remain between us and people of
+lower caste? We should all soon sink to a level with the lowest.'
+
+'And so you are content to keep up your caste at the expense of the
+poor widows?'
+
+'No; they are themselves as proud of the distinction as their
+husbands are.'
+
+'And would they, do you think, like to hear the good old custom of
+burning themselves restored?'
+
+'Some of them would, no doubt.'
+
+'Why?'
+
+'Because they become reunited to their husbands in paradise, and are
+there happy, free from all the troubles of this life.'
+
+'But you should not let them have any troubles as widows.'
+
+'If they behave well, they are the most honoured members of their
+deceased husbands' families; nothing in such families is ever done
+without consulting them, because all are proud to have the memory of
+their lost fathers, sons, and brothers so honoured by their
+widows.[13] But women feel that they are frail, and would often
+rather burn themselves than be exposed all their lives to temptation
+and suspicion.'
+
+'And why do not the men burn themselves to avoid the troubles of
+life?'
+
+'Because they are not called to it from Heaven, as the women are.'
+
+'And you think that the women were really called to be burned by the
+Deity?'
+
+'No doubt; we all believe that they were called and supported by the
+Deity; and that no tender beings like women could otherwise
+voluntarily undergo such tortures--they become inspired with
+supernatural powers of courage and fortitude. When Dulî Sukul, the
+Sihôrâ[14] banker's father, died, the wife of a Lodhî cultivator of
+the town declared, all at once, that she had been a suttee with him
+six times before; and that she would now go into paradise with him a
+seventh time. Nothing could persuade her from burning herself. She
+was between fifty and sixty years of age, and had grandchildren, and
+all her family tried to persuade her that it must be a mistake, but
+all in vain. She became a suttee, and was burnt the day after the
+body of the banker.'
+
+'Did not Dulî Sukul's family, who were Brahmans, try to dissuade her
+from it, she being a Lodhî, a very low caste?'
+
+'They did; but they said all things were possible with God; and it
+was generally believed that this was a call from Heaven.'
+
+'And what became of the banker's widow?'
+
+'She said that she felt no divine call to the flames. This was thirty
+years ago; and the banker was about thirty years of age when he
+died.'
+
+'Then he will have rather an old wife in paradise?'
+
+'No, sir; after they pass through the flames upon earth, both become
+young in paradise.'
+
+'Sometimes women used to burn themselves with any relic of a husband,
+who had died far from home, did they not?'
+
+'Yes, sir, I remember a fisherman, about twenty years ago, who went
+on some business to Benares from Jubbulpore, and who was to have been
+back in two months. Six months passed away without any news of him;
+and at last the wife dreamed that he had died on the road, and began
+forthwith, in the middle of the night, to call out "Sat, sat, sat!"
+Nothing could dissuade her from burning; and in the morning a pile
+was raised for her, on the north bank of the large tank of
+Hanumân,[15] where you have planted an avenue of trees. There I saw
+her burned with her husband's turban in her arms, and in ten days
+after her husband came back.'
+
+'Now the burning has been prohibited, a man cannot get rid of a bad
+wife so easily?'
+
+'But she was a good wife, sir, and bad ones do not often become
+suttees.'
+
+'Who made the pile for her?'
+
+'Some of her family, but I forget who. They thought it must have been
+a call from Heaven, when, in reality, it was only a dream.'
+
+'You are a Râjpût?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Do Râjpûts in this part of India now destroy their female infants?'
+
+'Never; that practice has ceased everywhere in these parts; and is
+growing into disuse in Bundêlkhand, where the Râjâs, at the request
+of the British Government, have prohibited it among their subjects.
+This was a measure of real good. You see girls now at play in
+villages, where the face of one was never seen before, nor the voice
+of one heard.'
+
+'But still those who have them grumble, and say that the Government
+which caused them to be preserved should undertake to provide for
+their marriage. Is it not so?'
+
+'At first they grumbled a little, sir; but as the infants grew on
+their affections, they thought no more about it.'[16]
+
+
+ Gurcharan Baboo, the Principal of the little Jubbulpore College,[17]
+called upon me one forenoon, soon after this conversation. He was
+educated in the Calcutta College; speaks and writes English
+exceedingly well; is tolerably well read in English literature, and
+is decidedly a _thinking man_. After talking over the matter which
+caused his visit, I told him of the Lodhî woman's burning herself
+with the Brahman banker at Sihôrâ, and asked him what he thought of
+it. He said that 'In all probability this woman had really been the
+wife of the Brahman in some former birth--of which transposition a
+singular case had occurred in his own family.
+
+
+'His great-grandfather had three wives, who all burnt themselves with
+his body. While they were burning, a large serpent came up, and,
+ascending the pile, was burnt with them. Soon after another came up,
+and did the same. They were seen by the whole multitude, who were
+satisfied that they had been the wives of his great-grandfather in a
+former birth, and would become so again after this sacrifice. When
+the "srâddh", or funeral obsequies, were performed after the
+prescribed intervals,[18] the offerings and prayers were regularly
+made for _six souls_ instead of four; and, to this day, every member
+of his family, and every Hindoo who had heard the story, believed
+that these two serpents had a just right to be considered among his
+ancestors, and to be prayed for accordingly in all "srâddh".'
+
+A few days after this conversation with the Principal of the
+Jubbulpore College, I had a visit from Bholî Sukul, the present head
+of the Sihôrâ banker's family, and youngest brother of the Brahman
+with whose ashes the Lodhî woman burned herself. I requested him to
+tell me all that he recollected about this singular suttee, and he
+did so as follows:
+
+'When my eldest brother, the father of the late Dulî Sukul, who was
+so long a native collector under you in this district, died about
+twenty years ago at Sihôrâ, a Lodhî woman, who resided two miles
+distant in the village of Khitolî, which has been held by our family
+for several generations, declared that she would burn herself with
+him on the funeral pile; that she had been his wife in three
+different births, had already burnt herself with him three times, and
+had to burn with him four times more. She was then sixty years of
+age, and had a husband living [of] about the same age. We were all
+astounded when she came forward with this story, and told her that it
+must be a mistake, as we were Brahmans, while she was a Lodhî. She
+said that there was no mistake in the matter; that she, in the last
+birth, resided with my brother in the sacred city of Benares, and one
+day gave a holy man who came to ask charity salt, by mistake, instead
+of sugar, with his food. That, in consequence, he told her she
+should, in the next birth, be separated from her husband, and be of
+inferior caste; but that, if she did her duty well in that state, she
+should be reunited to him in the following birth. We told her that
+all this must be a dream, and the widow of my brother insisted that,
+if she were not allowed to burn herself, the other should not be
+allowed to take her place. We prevented the widow from ascending the
+pile, and she died at a good old age only two years ago at Sihôrâ. My
+brother's body was burned at Sihôrâ, and the poor Lodhî woman came
+and stole one handful of the ashes, which she placed in her bosom,
+and took back with her to Khitolî. There she prevailed upon her
+husband and her brother to assist her in her return to her former
+husband and caste as a Brahman. No soul else would assist them, as we
+got the then native chief to prohibit it; and these three persons
+brought on their own heads the pile, on which she seated herself,
+with the ashes in her bosom. The husband and his brother set fire to
+the pile, and she was burned.'[19]
+
+'And what is now your opinion, after a lapse of twenty years?'
+
+'Why, that she had really been the wife of my brother; for at the
+pile she prophesied that my nephew Dulî should be, what his
+grandfather had been, high in the service of the Government, and, as
+you know, he soon after became so.'
+
+'And what did your father think?'
+
+'He was so satisfied that she had been the wife of his eldest son in
+a former birth, that he defrayed all the expenses of her funeral
+ceremonies, and had them all observed with as much magnificence as
+those of any member of the family. Her tomb is still to be seen at
+Khitolî, and that of my brother at Sihôrâ.'
+
+I went to look at these tombs with Bholî Sukul himself some short
+time after this conversation, and found that all the people of the
+town of Sihôrâ and village of Khitolî really believed that the old
+Lodhî woman had been his brother's wife in a former birth, and had
+now burned herself as his widow for the fourth time. Her tomb is at
+Khitolî, and his at Sihôrâ.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. _Satî_, a virtuous woman, especially one who burns herself with
+her husband. The word, in common usage, is transferred to the
+sacrifice of the woman.
+
+2. The women of Bundêlkhand wear the same costume, a full loin-cloth,
+as those of the Jubbulpore district. North of the Jumna an ordinary
+petticoat is generally worn.
+
+3. Suttee was prohibited during the administration of Lord William
+Bentinck by the Bengal Regulation xvii, dated 4th December, 1829,
+extended in 1830 to Madras and Bombay. The advocates of the practice
+unsuccessfully appealed to the Privy Council. Several European
+officers defended the custom. A well-written account of the suttee
+legislation is given in Mr. D. Boulger's work on Lord William
+Bentinck in the 'Rulers of India' series.
+
+4. Whenever it is practicable, Hindoos are placed on the banks of
+sacred rivers to die, especially in Bengal.
+
+5. For explanation of this phrase, see the following story of the
+Lodhî woman, following note [14], in this chapter. The name is
+abnormal. _Upadhya_ is a Brahman title meaning 'spiritual preceptor'.
+Brahmans serving in the army sometimes take the title Singh, which is
+more properly assumed by Râjpûts or Sikhs.
+
+6. An instance of such a prophecy, of a favourable kind, will be
+found at the end of this chapter; and another, disastrously
+fulfilled, in Chapter 21, _post_.
+
+7. Rîwâ (Rewah) is a considerable principality lying south of
+Allahabad and Mirzapore and north of Sâgar. The chiefs are Baghêl
+Râjpûts. The proper title of the Udaipur, or Mêwâr, chief is Rânâ,
+not Raja. See 'Annals of Mewar', chapters 1-18, pp. 173-401, in the
+Popular Edition of Tod's _Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan_
+(Routledge, 1914), an excellent and cheap reprint. The original
+quarto edition is almost unobtainable.
+
+8. The masculine form of the word satî (suttee).
+
+9. Well known to tourists as the seat of the Mahârâja of Benares.
+
+10. 'of' in text.
+
+11. In the author's time no regular census had been taken. His rough
+estimate was excessive. The census figures, including the
+cantonments, are: 1872, 175,188; 1901, 209,331; 1911, 203,804.
+
+12. This Benares story, accidentally omitted from the author's text,
+was printed as a note at the end of the second volume. It has now
+been inserted in the place which seems most suitable. Interesting and
+well-told narratives of several suttees will be found in Bernier,
+_Travels in the Mogul Empire_, pp. 306-14, ed. Constable. See also
+Dubois, _Hindu Manners_, &c., 3rd ed. (1906), chapter 19.
+
+13. Widows are not always so well treated. Their life in Lower
+Bengal, especially, is not a pleasant one,
+
+14. Sihôrâ, on the road from Jubbulpore to Mirzâpur, twenty-seven
+miles from the former, is a town with a population of more than
+5,000. A smaller town with the same name exists in the Bhandâra
+district of the Central Provinces.
+
+15. The monkey-god. His shrines are very numerous in the Central
+Provinces and Bundêlkhand.
+
+16. Within the last hundred years more than one officer has believed
+that infanticide had been suppressed by his efforts, and yet the
+practice is by no means extinct. In the Agra Province the severely
+inquisitorial measures adopted in 1870, and rigorously enforced, have
+no doubt done much to break the custom, but, in the neighbouring
+province of Oudh, the practice continued to be common for many years
+later. A clear case in the Râi Barelî District came before me in
+1889, though no one was punished, for lack of judicial proof against
+any individual. The author discusses infanticide as practised in Oudh
+in many passages of his _Journey through the Kingdom of Oudh_
+(Bentley, 1858), It is possible that female infanticide may be still
+prevalent in many Native States. Mr. Willoughby in the years
+preceding A.D. 1849 made great progress in stamping it out among the
+Jharejas of the Kathiâwâr States in the Bombay Presidency. There is
+reason to hope that the crime will gradually disappear from all parts
+of India, but it is difficult to say how far it still prevails,
+though the general opinion is that it is now comparatively rare
+(_Census Report, India_, 1911, p. 217).
+
+17. A college of more pretensions now exists at Jabalpur
+(Jubbulpore), and is affiliated in Arts and Law to the University of
+Allahabad established in 1887. The small college alluded to in the
+text was abolished in 1850.
+
+18. For description of the tedious and complicated 'srâddh'
+ceremonies see chapter 11 of Monier Williams's _Religious Thought and
+Life in India_.
+
+19. This version of the story differs in some minute particulars from
+the version given _ante_, [14].
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 5
+
+
+Marriages of Trees--The Tank and the Plantain--Meteors--Rainbows.
+
+Before quitting Jubbulpore, to which place I thought it very unlikely
+that I should ever return, I went to visit the groves in the
+vicinity, which, at the time I held the civil charge of the district
+in 1828, had been planted by different native gentlemen upon lands
+assigned to them rent-free for the purpose, on condition that the
+holder should bind himself to plant trees at the rate of twenty-five
+to the acre, and keep them up at that rate; and that for each grove,
+however small, he should build and keep in repair a well, lined with
+masonry, for watering the trees, and for the benefit of
+travellers.[1]
+
+
+Some of these groves had already begun to yield fruit, and all had
+been _married_. Among the Hindoos, neither the man who plants a
+grove, nor his wife, can taste of the fruit till he has _married_ one
+of the mango-trees to some other tree (commonly the tamarind-tree)
+that grows near it in the same grove. The proprietor of one of these
+groves that stands between the cantonment and the town, old Barjôr
+Singh, had spent so much in planting and watering the grove, and
+building walls and wells of _pucka_[2] masonry, that he could not
+afford to defray the expense of the marriage ceremonies till one of
+the trees, which was older than the rest when planted, began to bear
+fruit in 1833, and poor old Barjôr Singh and his wife were in great
+distress that they dared not taste of the fruit whose flavour was so
+much prized by their children. They began to think that they had
+neglected a serious duty, and might, in consequence, be taken off
+before another season could come round. They therefore sold all their
+silver and gold ornaments, and borrowed all they could; and before
+the next season the grove was married with all due pomp and ceremony,
+to the great delight of the old pair, who tasted of the fruit in June
+1834.
+
+The larger the number of the Brahmans that are fed on the occasion of
+the marriage, the greater the glory of the proprietor of the grove;
+and when I asked old Barjôr Singh, during my visit to his grove, how
+many he had feasted, he said, with a heavy sigh, that he had been
+able to feast only one hundred and fifty. He showed me the mango-tree
+which had acted the part of the bridegroom on the occasion, but the
+bride had disappeared from his side. 'And where is the bride, the
+tamarind?' 'The only tamarind I had in the grove died', said the old
+man, 'before we could bring about the wedding; and I was obliged to
+get a jasmine for a wife for my mango. I planted it here, so that we
+might, as required, cover both bride and bridegroom under one canopy
+during the ceremonies; but, after the marriage was over, the gardener
+neglected her, and she pined away and died.'
+
+'And what made you prefer the jasmine to all other trees after the
+tamarind?'
+
+'Because it is the most celebrated of all trees, save the rose.'
+
+'And why not have chosen the rose for a wife?'
+
+'Because no one ever heard of marriage between the rose and the
+mango; while they [_sic_] take place every day between the mango and
+the _chambêlî_ (jasmine).'[3]
+
+After returning from the groves, I had a visit after breakfast from a
+learned Muhammadan, now guardian to the young Râjâ of Uchahara,[4]
+who resides part of his time at Jubbulpore. I mentioned my visit to
+the groves and the curious notion of the Hindoos regarding the
+necessity of marrying them; and he told me that, among Hindoos, the
+man who went to the expense of making a tank dared not drink of its
+waters till he had married his tank to some banana-tree, planted on
+the bank for the purpose.[5]
+
+'But what', said he with a smile, 'could you expect from men who
+believe that Indra is the god who rules the heavens immediately over
+the earth, that he sleeps during eight months in the year, and during
+the other four his time is divided between his duties of sending down
+rain upon the earth, and repelling with his arrows Râjâ Bali, who by
+his austere devotions (_tapasya_) has received from the higher gods a
+promise of the reversion of his dominions? The lightning which we
+see', said the learned Maulavî, 'they believe to be nothing more than
+the glittering of these arrows, as they are shot from the bow of
+Indra upon his foe Râjâ Bali '.[6]
+
+'But, my good friend Maulavî Sâhib, there are many good Muhammadans
+who believe that the meteors, which we call shooting stars, are in
+reality stars which the guardian angels of men snatch from the
+spheres, and throw at the devil as they see him passing through the
+air, or hiding himself under one or other of the constellations. Is
+it not so?'
+
+'Yes, it is; but we have the authority of the holy prophet for this,
+as delivered down to us by his companions in the sacred traditions,
+and we are bound to believe it. When our holy prophet came upon the
+earth, he found it to be infested with a host of magicians, who, by
+their abominable rites and incantations, get into their interest
+certain devils, or demons, whom they used to send up to heaven to
+listen to the orders which the angels received from God regarding men
+and the world below. On hearing these orders, they came off and
+reported them to the magicians, who were thereby enabled to foretell
+the events which the angels were ordered to bring about. In this
+manner they often overheard the orders which the angel Gabriel
+received from God, and communicated them to the magicians as soon as
+he could deliver them to our holy prophet. Exulting in the knowledge
+obtained in this diabolical manner, these wretches tried to turn his
+prophecies into ridicule; and, seeing the evil effects of such
+practices among men, he prayed God to put a stop to them. From that
+time guardian angels have been stationed in different parts of the
+heavens, to keep off the devils; and as soon as one of them sees a
+devil sneaking too near the heaven of heavens, he snatches the
+nearest star, and flings it at him.'[7] This, he added, was what all
+true Muhammadans believed regarding the shooting of stars. He had
+read nothing about them in the works of Plato, Aristotle,
+Hippocrates, or Galen, all of which he had carefully studied, and
+should be glad to learn from me what modern philosophers in Europe
+thought about them.
+
+I explained to him the supposed distance and bulk of the fixed stars
+visible to the naked eye; their being radiant with unborrowed light,
+and probably every one of them, like our own sun, the great centre of
+a solar system of its own; embracing the vast orbits of numerous
+planets, revolving around it with their attendant satellites; the
+stars visible to the naked eye being but a very small portion of the
+whole which the telescope had now made distinctly visible to us; and
+those distinctly visible being one cluster among many thousand with
+which the genius of Galileo, Newton, the Herschells, and many other
+modern philosophers had discovered the heavens to be studded. I
+remarked that the notion that these mighty suns, the centres of
+planetary systems, should be made merely to be thrown at devils and
+demons, appeared to us just as unaccountable as those of the Hindoos
+regarding Indra's arrows.
+
+'But', said he, 'these foolish Hindoos believe still greater
+absurdities. They believe that the rainbow is nothing but the fume of
+a large snake, concealed under the ground; that he vomits forth this
+fume from a hole in the surface of the earth, without being himself
+seen; and, when you ask them why, in that case, the rainbow should be
+in the west while the sun is in the east, and in the east while the
+sun is in the west, they know not what to say.'[8]
+
+'The truth is, my friend Maulavî Sahib, the Hindoos, like a very
+great part of every other nation, are very much disposed to attribute
+to supernatural influences effects that the wiser portion of our
+species know to rise from natural causes.'
+
+The Maulavî was right. In the _Mishkât-ul-Masâbih_,[9] the authentic
+traditions of their prophet,[10] it is stated that Ayesha, the widow
+of Muhammad, said, 'I heard His Majesty say, "The angels come down to
+the region next the world, and mention the works that have been pre-
+ordained in heaven; and the devils, who descend to the lowest region,
+listen to what the angels say, and hear the orders predestined in
+heaven, and carry them to fortune-tellers; therefore, they tell a
+hundred lies with it from themselves "'[11]
+
+'Ibn Abbâs said, "A man of His Majesty's friends informed me, that
+whilst His Majesty's friends were sitting with him one night, a very
+bright star shot; and His Highness said, "What did you say in the
+days of ignorance when a star shot like this?" They said, "God and
+His messenger know best; we used to say, a great man was born to-
+night, and a great man died."[12] Then His Majesty said, "You
+mistook, because the shootings of these stars are neither for the
+life nor death of any person; but when our cherisher orders a work,
+the bearers of the imperial throne sing hallelujahs; and the
+inhabitants of the regions who are near the bearers repeat it, till
+it reaches the lowest regions. After the angels which are near the
+bearers of the imperial throne say, "What did your cherisher order?"
+Then they are informed; and so it is handed from one region to
+another, till the information reaches the people of the lowest
+region. Then the devils steal it, and carry it to their friends,
+(that is) magicians; and these stars are thrown at these devils; not
+for the birth or death of any person. Then the things which the
+magicians tell, having heard from the devils, are true, but these
+magicians tell lies, and exaggerate in what they hear".'
+
+Kutâdah said, 'God has created stars for three uses; one of them, as
+a cause of ornament of the regions; the second, to stone the devil
+with; the third, to direct people going through forests and on the
+sea. Therefore, whoever shall explain them otherwise, does wrong, and
+loses his time, and speaks from his own invention and
+embellishes'.[13]
+
+Ibn Abbâs. ['The prophet said,] "Whoever attains to the knowledge of
+astrology for any other explanation than the three aforementioned,
+then verily he has attained to a branch of magic. An astrologer is a
+magician, and a magician is a necromancer, and a necromancer is an
+infidel."'[14]
+
+This work contains the precepts and sayings of Muhammad, as declared
+by his companions, who themselves heard them, or by those who heard
+them immediately from those companions; and they are considered to be
+binding upon the faith and conduct of Musalmans, though not all
+delivered from inspiration.
+
+Everything that is written in the Korân itself is supposed to have
+been brought direct from God by the angel Gabriel.[15]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. In planting mango groves, it is a rule that they shall be as far
+from each other as not to admit of their branches ever meeting.
+'Plant trees, but let them not touch' ('_Âm lagao, nis lageñ nahîñ_')
+is the maxim. [W. H. S.]
+
+2. _Pakkâ_; the word here means 'cemented with lime mortar', and not
+only with mud (_kachchâ_).
+
+3. The _chambêlî_ is known in science as the _Jasminum grandiflorum_,
+and the mango-tree as _Mangifera Indica_.
+
+4. A small principality west of Rîwâ, and 110 miles north-west of
+Jubbulpore. It is also known as Nâgaudh, or Nâgod.
+
+5. Compare the account of the marriage of the _tulasî_ shrub (_Ocymum
+sanctum_) with the sâlagrâm stone, or fossil ammonite, in Chapter 19,
+_post_.
+
+6. There is a sublime passage in the Psalms of David, where the
+lightning is said to be the arrows of God. Psalm lxxvii:
+ 17, 'The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine
+arrows also went abroad.
+ 18. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven; the lightnings
+lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.' [W. H. S.]
+ The passage is quoted from the Authorized Bible version; the Prayer
+Book version is finer.
+
+7. 'We guard them from every devil driven away with stones; except
+him who listeneth by stealth, at whom a visible flame is darted.'
+Korân, chapter 15, Sale's translation. See _post_, end of this
+chapter.
+
+8. Nine Hindoos out of ten, or perhaps ninety-nine in a hundred,
+throughout India, believe the rainbow to arise from the breath of the
+snake, thrown up from the surface of the earth, as water is thrown up
+by whales from the surface of the ocean. [W. H. S,]
+
+9. '_Mishkât_ is a hole in a wall in which a lamp is placed, and
+_Masâbih_ the plural of "a lamp", because traditions are compared to
+lamps, and this book is like that which containeth a lamp. Another
+reason is, that _Masâbih_ is the name of a book, and this book
+comprehends its contents' (Matthews's translation, vol. i, p. v,
+note).
+
+10. The full title is _Mishkât-ul-Masâbih, or a Collection of the
+most Authentic Traditions regarding the Actions and Sayings of
+Muhammed; exhibiting the Origin of the Manners and Customs; the
+Civil, Religious, and Military Policy of the Muslemâns_. Translated
+from the original Arabic by Captain A. N. Matthews, Bengal Artillery.
+Two vols. 4to; Calcutta, 1809-10, This valuable work, published by
+subscription, is now very scarce. A fine copy is in the India Office
+Library.
+
+11. Book xxi, chapter 3, part i; vol. ii, p. 384. The quotations as
+given by the author are inexact. The editor has substituted correct
+extracts from Matthews's text. Matthews spells the name of the
+prophet's widow as Aáyeshah.
+
+12. In Sparta, the Ephoroi, once every nine years, watched the sky
+during a whole cloudless, moonless night, in profound silence; and,
+if they saw a shooting star, it was understood to indicate that the
+kings of Sparta had disobeyed the gods, and their authority was, in
+consequence, suspended till they had been purified by an oracle from
+Delphi or Olympia. [W. H. S.] This statement rests on the authority
+of Plutarch, _Agis_, 11.
+
+13. _Mishkât_. Part iii of same chapter; vol. ii, p. 386.
+
+14. Ibid. p. 386.
+
+15. But the prying character of these devils is described in the
+Korân itself. According to Muhammadans, they had access to all the
+seven heavens till the time of Moses, who got them excluded from
+three. Christ got them excluded from three more; and Muhammad managed
+to get them excluded from the seventh and last. 'We have placed the
+twelve signs in the heavens, and have set them out in various figures
+for the observation of spectators, and we guard them from every devil
+driven away with stones; except him who listeneth by stealth, at whom
+a visible flame is darted' (Chapter 15).
+
+'We have adorned the lower heaven with the ornament of stars, and we
+have placed therein a guard against every rebellious devil, that they
+may not listen to the discourse of exalted princes, for they are
+darted at from every side, to repel them, and a lasting torment is
+prepared for them; except him who catcheth a word by stealth, and is
+pursued by a shining flame' (Chapter 37). [W. H. 8.] Passages of this
+kind should he remembered by persons who expect orthodox Muhammadans
+to accept the results of modern science.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 6
+
+
+Hindoo Marriages.
+
+Certain it is that no Hindoo will have a marriage in his family
+during the four months of the rainy season; for among eighty millions
+of souls[1] not one doubts that the Great Preserver of the universe
+is, during these four months, down on a visit to Râjâ Bali, and,
+consequently, unable to bless the contract with his presence.[2]
+
+Marriage is a sacred duty among Hindoos, a duty which every parent
+must perform for his children, otherwise they owe him no reverence. A
+family with a daughter unmarried after the age of puberty is
+considered to labour under the displeasure of the gods; and no member
+of the other sex considers himself _respectable_ after the age of
+puberty till he is married. It is the duty of his parent or elder
+brothers to have him suitably married; and, if they do not do so, he
+reproaches them with his _degraded condition_. The same feeling, in a
+degree, pervades all the Muhammadan community; and nothing appears so
+strange to them as the apparent indifference of old bachelors among
+us to their _sad condition_.
+
+Marriage, with all its ceremonies, its rights, and its duties, fills
+their imagination from infancy to age; and I do not believe there is
+a country upon earth in which a larger portion of the wealth of the
+community is spent in the ceremonies, or where the rights are better
+secured, or the duties better enforced, notwithstanding all the
+disadvantages of the laws of polygamy. Not one man in ten can afford
+to maintain more than one wife, and not one in ten of those who can
+afford it will venture upon 'a sea of troubles' in taking a second,
+if he has a child by the first. One of the evils which press most
+upon Indian society is the necessity which long usage has established
+of squandering large sums in marriage ceremonies. Instead of giving
+what they can to their children to establish them, and enable them to
+provide for their families and rise in the world, parents everywhere
+feel bound to squander all they can borrow in the festivities of
+their marriage. Men in India could never feel secure of being
+permitted freely to enjoy their property under despotic and unsettled
+governments, the only kind of governments they knew or hoped for; and
+much of the means that would otherwise have been laid out in forming
+substantial works, with a view to a return in income of some sort or
+another, for the remainder of their own lives and of those of their
+children, were expended in tombs, temples, sarâis, tanks, groves, and
+other works--useful and ornamental, no doubt, but from which neither
+they nor their children could ever hope to derive income of any kind.
+The same feeling of insecurity gave birth, no doubt, to this
+preposterous usage, which tends so much to keep down the great mass
+of the people of India to that grade in which they were born, and in
+which they have nothing but their manual labour to depend upon for
+their subsistence. Every man feels himself bound to waste all his
+stock and capital, and exhaust all his credit, in feeding idlers
+during the ceremonies which attend the marriage of his children,
+because his ancestors squandered similar sums, and he would sink in
+the estimation of society if he were to allow his children to be
+married with less.
+
+But it could not have been solely because men could not invest their
+means in profitable works, with any chance of being long permitted to
+enjoy the profits under such despotic and unsettled governments, that
+they squandered them in feeding idle people in marriage ceremonies;
+since temples, tanks, and groves secured esteem in this life, and
+promised some advantage in the next, and an outlay in such works
+might therefore have been preferred. But under such governments a
+man's title even to the exclusive possession of his wife might not be
+considered as altogether secure under the mere sanction of religion;
+and the outlay in feeding the family, tribe, and neighbourhood during
+the marriage ceremony seems to have been considered as a kind of
+value in exchange given for her to society. There is nothing that she
+and her husband recollect through life with so much pride and
+pleasure as the cost of their marriage, if it happen to be large for
+their condition of life; it is their _amoka_, their title of
+nobility;[3] and their parents consider it their duty to make it as
+large as they can. A man would hardly feel secure of the sympathy of
+his family, tribe, circle of society, or rulers, for the loss of 'his
+ox, or his ass, or anything that is his', if it should happen to have
+cost him nothing; and, till he could feel secure of their sympathy
+for the loss, he would not feel very secure in the possession. He,
+therefore, or those who are interested in his welfare, strengthen his
+security by an outlay which invests his wife with a tangible value in
+cost, well understood by his circle and rulers. His family, tribe,
+and circle have received the purchase money, and feel bound to secure
+to him the commodity purchased; and, as they are in all such matters
+commonly much stronger than the rulers themselves, the money spent
+among them is more efficacious in securing the exclusive enjoyment of
+the wife than if it had been paid in taxes or fees to them for a
+marriage licence.[4] The pride of families and tribes, and the desire
+of the multitude to participate in the enjoyment of such ceremonies,
+tend to keep up this usage after the cause in which it originated may
+have ceased to operate; but it will, it is to be hoped, gradually
+decline with the increased feeling of security to person, property,
+and character under our rule. Nothing is now more common than to see
+an individual in the humblest rank spending all that he has, or can
+borrow, in the marriage of one of many daughters, and trusting to
+Providence for the means of marrying the others; nor in the higher,
+to find a young man, whose estates have, during a long minority,
+under the careful management of Government officers, been freed from
+very heavy debts, with which an improvident father had left them
+encumbered, the moment he attains his majority and enters upon the
+management, borrowing three times their annual rent, at an exorbitant
+interest, to marry a couple of sisters, at the same rate of outlay in
+feasts and fireworks that his grandmother was married with.[5]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The author's figure of 'eighty millions' was a mere guess, and
+probably, even in his time, was much below the mark. The figures of
+the census of 1911 are:
+ Total population of India, excluding
+ Burma . . . . 301,432,623
+ Hindus . . . . 217,197,213
+The proportions in different provinces vary enormously.
+
+2. See _ante_. Chapter 1, note 3.
+
+3. The word _amoka_ is corrupt, and even Sir George Grierson cannot
+suggest a plausible explanation. Can it be a misprint for _anka_, in
+the sense of 'stamp'?
+
+4. Akbar levied a tax on marriages, ranging from a single copper coin
+(_dâm_ = 1/40th of rupee) for poor people to 10 gold mohurs, or about
+150 rupees, for high officials. Abûl Fazl declares that 'the payment
+of this tax is looked upon as auspicious', a statement open to doubt
+(Blochmann, transl. _Aîn_, vol. i, p. 278). In 1772 Warren Hastings
+abolished the marriage fees levied up to that time in Bengal by the
+Muhammadan law-officers. But I am disposed to think that a modern
+finance minister might reconsider the propriety of imposing a
+moderate tax, carefully graduated.
+
+5. Extravagance in marriage expenses is still one of the principal
+curses of Indian society. Considerable efforts to secure reform have
+been made by various castes during recent years, but, as yet, small
+results only have been attained. The editor has seen numerous painful
+examples of the wreck of fine estates by young proprietors assuming
+the management after a long term of the careful stewardship of the
+Court of Wards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 7
+
+
+The Purveyance System,
+
+We left Jubbulpore on the morning of the 20th November, 1835, and
+came on ten miles to Baghaurî. Several of our friends of the 29th
+Native Infantry accompanied us this first stage, where they had a
+good day's shooting. In 1830 I established here some venders in wood
+to save the people from the miseries of the purveyance system; but I
+now found that a native collector, soon after I had resigned the
+civil charge of the district, and gone to Sâgar,[1] in order to
+ingratiate himself with the officers and get from them favourable
+testimonials, gave two regiments, as they marched over this road,
+free permission to help themselves gratis out of the store-rooms of
+these poor men, whom I had set up with a loan from the public
+treasury, declaring that it must be the wish and intention of
+Government to supply their public officers free of cost; and
+consequently that no excuses could be attended to. From that time
+shops and shopkeepers have disappeared. Wood for all public officers
+and establishments passing this road has ever since, as in former
+times, been collected from the surrounding villages gratis, under the
+purveyance system, in which all native public officers delight, and
+which, I am afraid, is encouraged by European officers, either from
+their ignorance or their indolence. They do not like the trouble of
+seeing the men paid either for their wood or their labour; and their
+head servants of the kitchen or the wardrobe weary and worry them out
+of their best resolutions on the subject. They make the poor men sit
+aloof by telling them that their master is a tiger before breakfast,
+and will eat them if they approach; and they tell their masters that
+there is no hope of getting the poor men to come for their money till
+they have bathed or taken their breakfast. The latter wait in hopes
+that the gentleman will come out or send for them as soon as he has
+been tamed by his breakfast; but this meal has put him in good humour
+with all the world, and he is now no longer unwilling to trust the
+payment of the poor men to his butler, or his _valet de chambre_.
+They keep the poor wretches waiting, declaring that they have as yet
+received no orders to pay them, till, hungry and weary, in the
+afternoon they all walk back to their homes in utter despair of
+getting anything.
+
+If, in the meantime, the gentleman comes out, and finds the men, his
+servants pacify him by declaring either that they have not yet had
+time to carry his orders into effect, that they could not get copper
+change for silver rupees, or that they were anxious to collect all
+the people together before they paid any, lest they might pay some of
+them twice over. It is seldom, however, that he comes among them at
+all; he takes it for granted that the people have all been paid; and
+passes the charge in the account of his servants, who all get what
+these porters ought to have received. Or, perhaps the gentleman may
+persuade himself that, if he pays his valet or butler, these
+functionaries will never pay the poor men, and think that he had
+better sit quiet and keep the money in his own pocket. The native
+police or revenue officer is directed by his superior to have wood
+collected for the camp of a regiment or great civil officers, and he
+sends out his myrmidons to employ the people around in felling trees,
+and cutting up wood enough to supply not only the camp, but his own
+cook-rooms and those of his friends for the next six months. The men
+so employed commonly get nothing; but the native officer receives
+credit for all manner of superlatively good qualities, which are
+enumerated in a certificate. Many a fine tree, dear to the affections
+of families and village communities, has been cut down in spite, or
+redeemed from the axe by a handsome present to this officer or his
+myrmidons. Lambs, kids, fowls, milk, vegetables, all come flowing in
+for the great man's table from poor people, who are too hopeless to
+seek for payment, or who are represented as too proud and wealthy to
+receive it. Such always have been and such always will be some of the
+evils of the purveyance system. If a police officer receives an order
+from the magistrate to provide a regiment, detachment, or individual
+with boats, carts, bullocks, or porters, he has all that can be found
+within his jurisdiction forthwith seized--releases all those whose
+proprietors are able and willing to pay what he demands, and
+furnishes the rest, which are generally the worst, to the persons who
+require them. Police officers derive so much profit from these
+applications that they are always anxious they should be made; and
+will privately defeat all attempts of private individuals to provide
+themselves by dissuading or intimidating the proprietors of vehicles
+from voluntarily furnishing them. The gentleman's servant who is sent
+to procure them returns and tells his master that there are plenty of
+vehicles, but that their proprietors dare not send them without
+orders from the police; and that the police tell him they dare not
+give such orders without the special sanction of the magistrate. The
+magistrate is written to, but declares that his police have been
+prohibited from interfering in such matters without special orders,
+since the proprietors ought to be permitted to send their vehicles to
+whom they choose, except on occasions of great public emergency; and,
+as the present cannot be considered as one of these occasions, he
+does not feel authorized to issue such orders. On the Ganges, many
+men have made large fortunes by pretending a general authority to
+seize boats for the use of the commissariat, or for other Government
+purposes, on the ground of having been once or twice employed on that
+duty; and what they get is but a small portion of that which the
+public lose. One of these self-constituted functionaries has a boat
+seized on its way down or up the river; and the crew, who are merely
+hired for the occasion, and have a month's wages in advance, seeing
+no prospect of getting soon out of the hands of this pretended
+Government servant, desert, and leave the boat on the sands; while
+the owner, if he ever learns the real state of the case, thinks it
+better to put up with his loss than to seek redress through expensive
+courts, and distant local authorities. If the boat happens to be
+loaded and to have a supercargo, who will not or cannot bribe high
+enough, he is abandoned on the sands by his crew; in his search for
+aid from the neighbourhood, his helplessness becomes known--he is
+perhaps murdered, or runs away in the apprehension of being so--the
+boat is plundered and made a wreck. Still the dread of the delays and
+costs of our courts, and the utter hopelessness of ever recovering
+the lost property, prevent the proprietors from seeking redress, and
+our Government authorities know nothing of the circumstances.
+
+We remained at Baghaurî the 21st to enable our people to prepare for
+the long march they had before them, and to see a little more of our
+Jubbulpore friends, who were to have another day's shooting, as black
+partridges[2] and quail had been found abundant in the neighbourhood
+of our camp.[3]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Or Saugor, the head-quarters of the district of that name in the
+Central Provinces. The town is 109 miles north-west of Jabalpur. The
+author took charge of the Sâgar district in January 1831.
+
+2. _Francolinus vulgaris_.
+
+3. The purveyance system (Persian _rasad rasânî_) above described is
+one of the necessary evils of Oriental life. It will be observed that
+the author, though so keenly sensitive to the abuses attending the
+system, proposes no substitute for it, and confesses that the small
+attempt he made to check abuse was a failure. From time immemorial it
+has been the custom for Government officials in India to be supplied
+with necessaries by the people of the country through which their
+camps pass. Under native Governments no officials ever dream of
+paying for anything. In British territory requisitions are limited,
+and in well ordered civil camps nothing is taken without payment
+except wood, coarse earthen vessels, and grass. The hereditary
+village potter supplies the pots, and this duty is fully recognized
+as one attaching to his office. The landholders supply the wood and
+grass. None of these things are ordinarily procurable by private
+purchase in sufficient quantity, and in most cases could not be
+bought at all. Officers commanding troops send in advance
+requisitions specifying the quantities of each article needed, and
+the indent is met by the civil authorities. Everything so indented
+for, including wood and grass, is supposed to be paid for, but in
+practice it is often impossible, with the agency available, to ensure
+actual payment to the persons entitled. Troops and the people in
+civil camps must live, and all that can be done is to check abuse, so
+far as possible, by vigilant administration. The obligation of
+landholders to supply necessaries for troops and officials on the
+march is so well established that it forms one of the conditions of
+the contract with Government under which proprietors in the
+permanently settled province of Benares hold their lands. The extreme
+abuses of which the system is capable under a lax and corrupt native
+Government are abundantly illustrated in the author's _Journey
+through the Kingdom of Oudh_. 'The System of Purveyance and Forced
+Labour' is the subject of article xxv in the Hon. F, J, Shore's
+curious book, _Notes on Indian Affairs_ (London, 1837, 2 vols. 8vo).
+Many of the abuses denounced by Mr. Shore have been suppressed, but
+some, unhappily, still exist, and are likely to continue for many
+years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 8
+
+
+Religious Sects--Self-government of the Castes--Chimney-sweepers--
+Washerwomen[1]--Elephant Drivers.
+
+Mîr Salâmat Alî, the head native collector of the district, a
+venerable old Musalmân and most valuable public servant, who has been
+labouring in the same vineyard with me for the last fifteen years
+with great zeal, ability, and integrity, came to visit me after
+breakfast with two very pretty and interesting young sons. While we
+were sitting together my wife's under-woman[2] said to some one who
+was talking with her outside the tent-door, 'If that were really the
+case, should I not be degraded?' 'You see, Mîr Sâhib',[3] said I,
+'that the very lowest members of society among these Hindoos still
+feel the pride of caste, and dread exclusion from their own, however
+low.'[4]
+
+'Yes', said the Mîr, 'they are a very strange kind of people, and I
+question whether they ever had a real prophet among them.'
+
+'I question, Mîr Sahib, whether they really ever had such a person.
+They of course think the incarnations of their three great divinities
+were beings infinitely superior to prophets, being in all their
+attributes and prerogatives equal to the divinities themselves.[5]
+But we are disposed to think that these incarnations were nothing
+more than great men whom their flatterers and poets have exalted into
+gods--this was the way in which men made their gods in ancient Greece
+and Egypt. These great men were generally conquerors whose glory
+consisted in the destruction of their fellow creatures; and this is
+the glory which their flatterers are most prone to extol. All that
+the poets have sung of the actions of men is now received as
+revelation from heaven; though nothing can be more monstrous than the
+actions attributed to the best incarnation, Krishna, of the best of
+their gods, Vishnu.[6]
+
+'No doubt', said Salâmat Ali; 'and had they ever had a real prophet
+among them he would have revealed better things to them. Strange
+people! when their women go on pilgrimages to Gayâ, they have their
+heads shaved before the image of their god; and the offering of the
+hair is equivalent to the offer of their heads;[7] for heads, thank
+God, they dare no longer offer within the Company's territories.'
+
+'Do you. Mîr Sahib, think that they continue to offer up human
+sacrifices anywhere?'
+
+'Certainly I do. There is a Râjâ at Ratanpur, or somewhere between
+Mandlâ and Sambalpur, who has a man offered up to Dêvî every year,
+and that man must be a Brahman. If he can get a Brahman traveller,
+well and good; if not, he and his priests offer one of his own
+subjects. Every Brahman that has to pass through this territory goes
+in disguise.[8] With what energy did our emperor Aurangzêb apply
+himself to put down iniquities like this in the Râjputâna states, but
+all in vain. If a Râjâ died, all his numerous wives burnt themselves
+with his body--even their servants, male and female, were obliged to
+do the same; for, said his friends, what is he to do in the next
+world without attendants? The pile was enormous. On the top sat the
+queen with the body of the prince; the servants, male and female,
+according to their degree, below; and a large army stood all round to
+drive into the fire again or kill all who should attempt to
+escape.'[9]
+
+'This is all very true, Mîr Sâhib, but you must admit that, though
+there is a great deal of absurdity in their customs and opinions,
+there is, on the other hand, much that we might all take an example
+from. The Hindoo believes that Christians and Musalmâns may be as
+good men in all relations of life as himself, and in as fair a way to
+heaven as he is; for he believes that my Bible and your Korân are as
+much revelations framed by the Deity for our guidance, as the
+Shâstras are for his. He doubts not that our Christ was the Son of
+God, nor that Muhammad was the prophet of God; and all that he asks
+from us is to allow him freely to believe in his own gods, and to
+worship in his own way. Nor does one caste or sect of Hindoos ever
+believe itself to be alone in the right way, or detest any other for
+not following in the same path, as they have as much of toleration
+for each other as they have for us.[10]
+
+'True,' exclaimed Salâmat Alî, 'too true! we have ruined each other;
+we have cut each other's throats; we have lost the empire, and we
+deserve to lose it. You won it, and you preserved it by your _union_-
+-ten men with one heart are equal to a hundred men with different
+hearts. A Hindoo may feel himself authorized to take in a Musalmân,
+and might even think it _meritorious_ to do so; but he would never
+think it meritorious to take in one of his own religion. There are no
+less than seventy-two sects of Muhammadans; and every one of these
+sects would not only take in the followers of every other religion on
+earth, but every member of every one of the other seventy-one sects;
+and the nearer that sect is to its own, the greater the merit in
+taking in its members.'[11]
+
+'Something has happened of late to annoy you, I fear, Mîr Sâhib?'
+
+'Something happens to annoy us every day, sir, where we are more than
+one sect of us together; and wherever you find Musalmâns you will
+find them divided into sects.'
+
+It is not, perhaps, known to many of my countrymen in India that in
+every city and town in the country the right of sweeping the houses
+and streets is one of the most intolerable of monopolies, supported
+entirely by the pride of caste among the scavengers, who are all of
+the lowest class. The right of sweeping within a certain range is
+recognized by the caste to belong to a certain member; and, if any
+other member presumes to sweep within that range, he is
+excommunicated--no other member will smoke out of his pipe, or drink
+out of his jug; and he can get restored to caste only by a feast to
+the whole body of sweepers. If any housekeeper within a particular
+circle happens to offend the sweeper of that range, none of his filth
+will be removed till he pacifies him, because no other sweeper will
+dare to touch it; and the people of a town are often more tyrannized
+over by these people than by any other.[12]
+
+It is worthy of remark that in India the spirit of combination is
+always in the inverse ratio to the rank of the class; weakest in the
+highest, and strongest in the lowest class. All infringements upon
+the rules of the class are punished by fines. Every fine furnishes a
+feast at which every member sits and enjoys himself. Payment is
+enforced by excommunication--no one of the caste will eat, drink, or
+smoke with the convicted till the fine is paid; and, as every one
+shares in the fine, every one does his best to enforce payment. The
+fines are imposed by the elders, who know the circumstances of the
+culprit, and fix the amount accordingly. Washermen will often at a
+large station combine to prevent the washermen of one gentleman from
+washing the clothes of the servants of any other gentleman, or the
+servants of one gentleman from getting their clothes washed by any
+other person than their own master's washerman. This enables them
+sometimes to raise the rate of washing to double the fair or ordinary
+rate; and at such places the washermen are always drunk with one
+continued routine of feasts from the fines levied.[13] The cost of
+these fees falls ultimately upon the poor servants or their masters.
+This combination, however, is not always for bad or selfish purposes.
+I was once on the staff of an officer commanding a brigade on
+service, whose elephant driver exercised an influence over him that
+was often mischievous and sometimes dangerous;[14] for in marching
+and choosing his ground, this man was more often consulted than the
+quarter-master-general. His bearing was most insolent, and became
+intolerable, as well to the European gentlemen as to the people of
+his caste.[15] He at last committed himself by saying that he would
+spit in the face of another gentleman's elephant driver with whom he
+was disputing. All the elephant drivers in our large camp were
+immediately assembled, and it was determined in council to refer the
+matter to the decision of the Râjâ of Darbhanga's driver, who was
+acknowledged the head of the class. We were all breakfasting with the
+brigadier after muster when the reply came-the distance to Darbhanga
+from Nâthpur on the Kûsî river, where we then were, must have been a
+hundred and fifty miles.[16] We saw men running in all directions
+through the camp, without knowing why, till at last one came and
+summoned the brigadier's driver. With a face of terror he came and
+implored the protection of the brigadier; who got angry, and fumed a
+good deal, but seeing no expression of sympathy on the faces of his
+officers, he told the man to go and hear his sentence. He was
+escorted to a circle formed by all the drivers in camp, who were
+seated on the grass. The offender was taken into the middle of the
+circle and commanded to stand on one leg[17] while the Raja's
+driver's letter was read. He did so, and the letter directed him to
+apologize to the offended party, pay a heavy fine for a feast, and
+pledge himself to the offended drivers never to offend again. All the
+officers in camp were delighted, and some, who went to hear the
+sentence explained, declared that in no court in the world could the
+thing have been done with more solemnity and effect. The man's
+character was quite altered by it, and he became the most docile of
+drivers. On the same principle here stated of enlisting the community
+in the punishment of offenders, the New Zealanders, and other savage
+tribes who have been fond of human flesh, have generally been found
+to confine the feast to the body of those who were put to death for
+offences against the state or the individual. I and all the officers
+of my regiment were at one time in the habit of making every servant
+who required punishment or admonition to bring immediately, and give
+to the first religious mendicant we could pick up, the fine we
+thought just. All the religionists in the neighbourhood declared that
+justice had never been so well administered in any other regiment; no
+servant got any sympathy from them--they were all told that their
+masters were far too lenient.
+
+We crossed the Hiran river[18] about ten miles from our last ground
+on the 22nd,[19] and came on two miles to our tents in a mango grove
+close to the town of Katangî,[20] and under the Vindhya range of
+sandstone hills, which rise almost perpendicular to the height of
+some eight hundred feet over the town. This range from Katangî skirts
+the Nerbudda valley to the north, as the Sâtpura range skirts it to
+the south; and both are of the same sandstone formation capped with
+basalt upon which here and there are found masses of laterite, or
+iron clay. Nothing has ever yet been found reposing upon this iron
+clay.[21] The strata of this range have a gentle and almost
+imperceptible dip to the north, at right angles to its face which
+overlooks the valley, and this face has everywhere the appearance of
+a range of gigantic round bastions projecting into what was perhaps a
+lake, and is now a well-peopled, well-cultivated, and very happy
+valley, about twenty miles wide. The river crosses and recrosses it
+diagonally. Near Jubbulpore it flows along for some distance close
+under the Sâtpura range to the south; and crossing over the valley
+from Bheraghât, it reaches the Vindhya range to the north, at the
+point where it reaches the Hiran river, forty miles below.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. This is a slip, probably due to the printer's reader. There are no
+chimney-sweepers in India. The word should be 'sweepers'. The members
+of this caste and a few other degraded communities, such as the Doms,
+do all the sweeping, scavenging, and conservancy work in India.
+'Washerwomen' is another slip: read 'Washermen'.
+
+2. The 'under-woman', or 'second ayah', was a member of the sweeper
+caste.
+
+3. The title Mîr Sâhib implies that Salâmat Alî was a Sayyid,
+claiming descent from Alî, the cousin, son-in-law, and pupil of
+Muhammad, who became Khalîf in A.D. 656.
+
+4. The sweeper castes stand outside the Hindoo pale, and often
+incline to Muhammadan practices. They worship a special form of the
+Deity, under the names of Lâl Beg, Lâl Guru, &c.
+
+5. No _avatâr_ or incarnation of Brahma is known to most Hindoos, and
+incarnations of Siva are rarely mentioned. The only _avatârs_
+ordinarily recognized are those of Vishnu, as enumerated ante.
+Chapter 2, note 4.
+
+6. This theory is a very inadequate explanation of the doctrine of
+_avatârs_.
+
+7. 'Women . . . are most careful to preserve their hair intact. They
+pride themselves on its length and weight. For a woman to have to
+part with her hair is one of the greatest of degradations, and the
+most terrible of all trials. It is the mark of widowhood. Yet in some
+sacred places, especially at the confluence of rivers, the cutting
+off and offering of a few locks of hair (_Venî-dânam_) by a virtuous
+wife is considered a highly meritorious act' (Monier Williams,
+_Religious Thought and Life in India_, p, 375). Gayâ in Bihâr, fifty-
+five miles south of Patna, is much frequented by pilgrims devoted to
+Vishnu.
+
+8. All the places named are in the Central Provinces. Ratanpur, in
+the Bilâspur District, is a place of much antiquarian interest, full
+of ruins; Mandlâ, in the Mandlâ District, was the capital of the
+later Gond chiefs of Garhâ Mandlâ; and Sambalpur is the capital of
+the Sambalpur District. If the story is true, the selection of a
+Brahman for sacrifice is remarkable, though not without precedent.
+Human sacrifice has prevailed largely in India, and is not yet quite
+extinct. In 1891 some Jâts in the Muzaffarnagar District of the
+United Provinces sacrificed a boy in a very painful manner for some
+unascertained magical purpose. It was supposed that the object was to
+induce the gods to grant offspring to a childless woman. Other
+similar cases have occurred in recent years. One occurred close to
+Calcutta in 1892. In the hill tracts of Orissa bordering on the
+Central Provinces the rite of human sacrifice was practised by the
+Khonds on an awful scale, and with horrid cruelty, It was suppressed
+by the special efforts of Macpherson, Campbell, MacViccar, and other
+officers, between the years 1837 and 1854. Daring that period the
+British officers rescued 1,506 victims intended for sacrifice
+(_Narrative of Major-General John Campbell, C.B., of his Operations
+in the Hill Tracts of Orissa for the Suppression of Human Sacrifices
+and Female Infanticide_. Printed for private circulation. London:
+Hurst and Blackett, 1861). The rite, when practised by Hindoos, may
+have been borrowed from some of the aboriginal races. The practice,
+however, has been so general throughout the world that few peoples
+can claim the honour of freedom from the stain of adopting it at one
+time or another, Much curious information on the subject, and many
+modern instances of human sacrifices in India, are collected in the
+article 'Sacrifice' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia of India_, 3rd edition,
+1885. Major S. C. Macpherson, _Memorials of Service in India_ (1865),
+and Frazer, _Golden Bough_, 3rd edition, Part V, vol. i (1912), pp.
+236 seq., may also be consulted.
+
+9. Bernier vividly describes an 'infernal tragedy' of this kind which
+he witnessed, in or about the year 1659, during Aurangzêb's reign, in
+Râjputâna. On that occasion five female slaves burnt themselves with
+their mistress (_Travels_, ed. Constable and V. A. Smith (1914), p.
+309).
+
+10. Hinduism is a social system, not a creed, A Hindoo may believe,
+or disbelieve, what speculative doctrine he chooses, but he must not
+eat, drink, or marry, save in accordance with the custom of his
+caste. Compare Asoka on toleration; 'The sects of other people all
+deserve reverence for one reason or another' (Rock Edict xii; V. A.
+Smith, _Asoka_, 2nd edition (1909), p. 170).
+
+11. Mîr Salâmat Alî is a stanch Sunnî, the sect of Osmân; and they
+are always at daggers drawn with the Shîas, or the sect of Alî. He
+alludes to the Shîas when he says that one of the seventy-two sects
+is always ready to take in the whole of the other seventy-one.
+Muhammad, according to the traditions, was one day heard to say, 'The
+time will come when my followers will he divided into seventy-three
+sects; all of them will assuredly go to hell save one.' Every one of
+the seventy-three sects believes itself to be the one happily
+excepted by their prophet, and predestined to paradise. I am
+sometimes disposed to think Muhammad was self-deluded, however
+difficult it might be to account for so much 'method in his madness'.
+It is difficult to conceive a man placed in such circumstances with
+more amiable dispositions or with juster views of the rights and
+duties of men in all their relations with each other, than are
+exhibited by him on almost all occasions, save where the question of
+_faith_ in his divine mission was concerned.
+
+A very interesting and useful book might be made out of the history
+of those men, more or less mad, by whom multitudes of mankind have
+been led and perhaps governed; and a philosophical analysis of the
+points on which they were really mad and really sane, would show many
+of them to have been fit subjects for a madhouse during the whole
+career of their glory. [W. H. S.]
+
+For an account of Muhammadan sects, see section viii of the
+Preliminary Dissertation in Sale's Korân, entitled, 'Of the Principal
+Sects among the Muhammadans; and of those who have pretended to
+Prophecy among the Arabs, in or since the Time of Muhammad'; and T.
+P. Hughes, _Dictionary of Islam_ (1885). The chief sects of the
+Sunnîs, or Traditionists, are four in number. 'The principal sects of
+the Shîas are five, which are subdivided into an almost innumerable
+number.' The court of the kings of Oudh was Shîa. In most parts of
+India the Sunnî faith prevails.
+
+The relation between genius and insanity is well expressed by Dryden
+(_Absalom and Achitopfel_):
+
+ Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
+ And thin partitions do their bounds divide.
+
+The treatise of Professor Cesare Lombroso, entitled _The Man of
+Genius_ (London edition, 1891), is devoted to proof and illustration
+of the proposition that genius is 'a special morbid condition'. He
+deals briefly with the case of Muhammad at pages 31, 39, and 325,
+maintaining that the prophet, like Saint Paul, Julius Caesar, and
+many other men of genius, was subject to epileptic fits. The
+Professor's book seems to be exactly what Sir W. H. Sleeman desired
+to see.
+
+12. In the author's time, when municipal conservancy and sanitation
+were almost unknown in India, the tyranny of the sweepers' guild was
+chiefly felt as a private inconvenience. It is now one of the
+principal of the many difficulties, little understood in Europe,
+which bar the progress of Indian sanitary reform. The sweepers cannot
+be readily coerced because no Hindoo or Musalmân would do their work
+to save his life, nor will he pollute himself even by beating the
+refractory scavenger. A strike of sweepers on the occasion of a great
+fair, or of a cholera epidemic, is a most dangerous calamity. The
+vested rights described in the text are so fully recognized in
+practice that they are frequently the subject of sale or mortgage.
+
+13. The low-caste Hindoos are generally fond of drink, when they can
+get it, but seldom commit crime under its influence.
+
+14. An elephant driver, by reason of his position on the animal, has
+opportunities for private conversation with his master.
+
+
+15. Elephant drivers (_mahouts_) are Muhammadans, who should have no
+caste, but Indian Musalmâns have become Hinduized, and fallen under
+the dominion of caste.
+
+16. Darbhanga is in Tirhût, seventy miles NE. of Dinapore. The Kûsî
+(Kôsî or Koosee) river rises in the mountains of Nepâl, and falls
+into the Ganges after a course of about 325 miles. Nâthpur, in the
+Puraniya (Purneah) District, is a mart for the trade with Nepal.
+
+17. The customary attitude of a suppliant.
+
+18. A small river which falls into the Nerbudda on the right-hand
+side, at Sânkal. Its general course is south-west.
+
+19. November, 1835.
+
+20. Described in the _Gazetteer_ (1870) as 'a large but decaying
+village in the Jabalpur district, situated at the foot of the Bhânrer
+hills, twenty-two miles to the north-west of Jabalpur, on the north
+side of the Hiran, and on the road to Sâgar'.
+
+21. The convenient restriction of the name Vindhya to the hills
+north, and of Sâtpura to the hills south of the Nerbudda is of modern
+origin (_Manual of the Geology of India_, 1st ed., Part I, p. iv).
+The Sâtpura range, thus defined, separates the valley of the Nerbudda
+from the valleys of the Taptî flowing west, and the Mahânadî flowing
+east. The Vindhyan sandstones certainly are a formation of immense
+antiquity, perhaps pre-Silurian. They are azoic, or devoid of
+fossils; and it is consequently impossible to determine exactly their
+geological age, or 'horizon' (ibid. p. xxiii). The cappings of
+basalt, in some cases with laterite superimposed, suggest many
+difficult problems, which will be briefly discussed in the notes to
+Chapters 14 and 17.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 9
+
+
+The Great Iconoclast--Troops routed by Hornets--The Rânî of Garhâ--
+Hornets' Nests in India.
+
+On the 23rd,[1] we came on nine miles to Sangrâmpur, and, on the
+24th, nine more to the valley of Jabêrâ,[2] situated on the western
+extremity of the bed of a large lake, which is now covered by twenty-
+four villages. The waters were kept in by a large wall that united
+two hills about four miles south of Jabêrâ. This wall was built of
+great cut freestone blocks from the two hills of the Vindhiya range,
+which it united. It was about half a mile long, one hundred feet
+broad at the base, and about one hundred feet high. The stones,
+though cut, were never, apparently, cemented; and the wall has long
+given way in the centre, through which now falls a small stream that
+passes from east to west of what was once the bottom of the lake, and
+now is the site of so many industrious and happy little village
+communities.[3] The proprietor of the village of Jabêrâ, in whose
+mango grove our tents were pitched, conducted me to the ruins of the
+wall; and told me that it had been broken down by the order of the
+Emperor Aurangzêb.[4] History to these people is all a fairy tale;
+and this emperor is the great destroyer of everything that the
+Muhammadans in their fanaticism have demolished of the Hindoo
+sculpture or architecture; and yet, singular as it may appear, they
+never mention his name with any feelings of indignation or hatred.
+With every scene of his supposed outrage against their gods or their
+temples, there is always associated the recollection of some instance
+of his piety, and the Hindoos' glory--of some idol, for instance, or
+column, preserved from his fury by a miracle, whose divine origin he
+is supposed at once to have recognized with all due reverence.
+
+ At Bherâgarh,[5] the high priest of the temple told us that
+Aurangzêb and his soldiers knocked off the heads, arms, and noses of
+all the idols, saying that 'if they had really any of the godhead in
+them, they would assuredly now show it, and save themselves'. But
+when they came to the door of Gaurî Sankar's apartments, they were
+attacked by a nest of hornets, that put the whole of the emperor's
+army to the rout; and his imperial majesty called out: 'Here we have
+really something like a god, and we shall not suffer him to be
+molested; if all your gods could give us proof like this of their
+divinity, not a nose of them would ever be touched'.
+
+The popular belief, however, is that after Aurangzêb's army had
+struck off all the prominent features of the other gods, one of the
+soldiers entered the temple, and struck off the ear of one of the
+prostrate images underneath their vehicle, the Bull. 'My dear', said
+Gaurî, 'do you see what these saucy men are about?' Her consort
+turned round his head;[6] and, seeing the soldiers around him,
+brought all the hornets up from the marble rocks below, where there
+are still so many nests of them, and the whole army fled before them
+to Teorî, five miles.[7] It is very likely that some body of troops
+by whom the rest of the images had been mutilated, may have been
+driven off by a nest of hornets from within the temple where this
+statue stands. I have seen six companies of infantry, with a train of
+artillery and a squadron of horse, all put to the rout by a single
+nest of hornets, and driven off some miles with all their horses and
+bullocks. The officers generally save themselves by keeping within
+their tents, and creeping under their bed-clothes, or their carpets;
+and servants often escape by covering themselves up in their
+blankets, and lying perfectly still. Horses are often stung to a
+state of madness, in which they throw themselves over precipices and
+break their limbs, or kill themselves. The grooms, in trying to save
+their horses, are generally the people who suffer most in a camp
+attacked by such an enemy. I have seen some so stung as to recover
+with difficulty; and I believe there have been instances of people
+not recovering at all. In such a frightful scene I have seen a
+bullock sitting and chewing the cud as calmly as if the whole thing
+had been got up for his amusement. The hornets seldom touch any
+animal that remains perfectly still.
+
+On the bank of the Bînâ river at Eran, in the Sâgar district, is a
+beautiful pillar of a single freestone, more than fifty feet high,
+surmounted by a figure of Krishna, with the glory round his head.[8]
+Some few of the rays of this glory have been struck off by lightning;
+but the people declare that this was done by a shot fired at it from
+a cannon by order of Aurangzêb, as his army was marching by on its
+way to the Deccan. Before the scattered fragments, however, could
+reach the ground, the air was filled, they say, by a swarm of
+hornets, that put
+the whole army to flight; and the emperor ordered his gunners to
+desist, declaring that he was 'satisfied of the presence of the god'.
+There is hardly any part of India in which, according to popular
+belief, similar miracles were not worked to convince the emperor of
+the peculiar merits or sanctity of particular idols or temples,
+according to the traditions of the people, derived, of course, from
+the inventions of priests. I should mention that these hornets
+suspend their nests to the branches of the highest trees, under
+rocks, or in old deserted temples. Native travellers, soldiers, and
+camp followers, cook and eat their food under such trees; but they
+always avoid one in which there is a nest of hornets, particularly on
+a still day. Sometimes they do not discover the nest till it is too
+late. The unlucky wight goes on feeding his fire, and delighting in
+the prospect of the feast before him, as the smoke ascends in curling
+eddies to the nest of the hornets. The moment it touches them they
+sally forth and descend, and sting like mad creatures every living
+thing they find in motion. Three companies of my regiment were
+escorting treasure in boats from Allahabad to Cawnpore for the army
+under the Marquis of Hastings, in 1817.[9] The soldiers all took
+their dinners on shore every day; and one still afternoon a sipâhî
+(sepoy), by cooking his dinner under one of those nests without
+seeing it, sent the infuriated swarm among the whole of his comrades,
+who were cooking in the same grove, and undressed, as they always are
+on such occasions. Treasure, food, and all were immediately deserted,
+and the whole of the party, save the European officers, were up to
+their noses in the river Ganges. The hornets hovered over them; and
+it was amusing to see them bobbing their heads under as the insects
+tried to pounce upon them. The officers covered themselves up in the
+carpets of their boats; and, as the day was a hot one, their
+situation was still more uncomfortable than that of the men. Darkness
+alone put an end to the conflict.
+
+I should mention that the poor old Rânî, or Queen of Garhâ, Lachhmî
+Kuâr, came out as far as Katangî with us to take leave of my wife, to
+whom she has always been attached. She had been in the habit of
+spending a day with her at my house once a week; and being the only
+European lady from whom she had ever received any attention, or
+indeed ever been on terms of any intimacy with, she feels the more
+sensible of the little offices of kindness and courtesy she has
+received from her.[10] Her husband, Narhar Sâ, was the last of the
+long line of sixty-two sovereigns who reigned over these territories
+from the year A.D. 358 to the Sâgar conquest, A.D. 1781.[11] He died
+a prisoner in the fortress of Kûrai, in the Sâgar district, in A. D.
+1789, leaving two widows.[12] One burnt herself upon the funeral
+pile, and the other was prevented from doing so, merely because she
+was thought too young, as she was not then fifteen years of age. She
+received a small pension from the Sâgar Government, which was still
+further reduced under the Nâgpur Government which succeeded it in the
+Jubbulpore district in which the pension had been assigned; and it
+was not thought necessary to increase the amount of this pension when
+the territory came under our dominion,[13] so that she has had barely
+enough to subsist upon, about one hundred rupees a month. She is now
+about sixty years of age, and still a very good-looking woman. In her
+youth she must have been beautiful. She does not object to appear
+unveiled before gentlemen on any particular occasion; and, when Lord
+W. Bentinck was at Jubbulpore in 1833, I introduced, the old queen to
+him. He seemed much interested, and ordered the old lady a pair of
+shawls. None but very coarse ones were found in the store-rooms of
+the Governor-General's representative, and his lordship said these
+were not such as a Governor-General could present, or a queen,
+however poor, receive; and as his own 'toshakhâna' (wardrobe) had
+gone on,[l4] he desired that a pair of the finest kind should be
+purchased and presented to her in his name. The orders were given in
+her presence and mine. I was obliged to return to Sâgar before they
+could be carried into effect; and, when I returned in 1835,[15] I
+found that the _rejected_ shawls had been presented to her, and were
+such coarse things that she was ashamed to wear them, as much, I
+really believe, on account of the exalted person who had given them,
+as her own. She never mentioned the subject till I asked her to let
+me see the shawls, which she did reluctantly, and she was too proud
+to complain. How the good intentions of the Governor-General had been
+frustrated in this case I have never learned. The native officer in
+charge of the store was dead, and the Governor-General's
+representative had left the place. Better could not, I suppose, be
+got at this time, and he did not like to defer giving them.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. November, 1835.
+
+2. Sangrâmpur is in the Jabalpur District, thirty miles north-west of
+Jabalpur, or the road to Sâgar, The village of Jabêrâ is thirty-nine
+miles from Jabalpur.
+
+3. Similar lakes, formed by means of huge dams thrown across valleys,
+are numerous in the Central Provinces and Bundêlkhand. The
+embankments of some of these lakes are maintained by the Indian
+Government, and the water is distributed for irrigation. Many of the
+lakes are extremely beautiful, and the ruins of grand temples and
+palaces are often found on their banks. Several of the embankments
+are known to have been built by the Chandêl princes between A.D. 800
+and 1200, and some are believed to be the work of an earlier Parihâr
+dynasty.
+
+4. A.D. 1658--1707. Aurangzêb, though possibly credited with more
+destruction than he accomplished, did really destroy many hundreds of
+Hindoo temples. A historian mentions the demolition of 262 at three
+places in Râjputâna in a single year (A.D. 1679-80) (E. and D. vii,
+188).
+
+5. This name is used as a synonym for Bheraghât, _ante_, Chapter 1,
+paragraph 1. It is written Beragur in the author's text. The author,
+in _Ramaseeana_, Introduction, p. 77, note, describes the Gaurî-
+Sankar sculpture as being 'at Beragur on the Nerbudda river'.
+
+6. Gaurî is one of the many names of Pârvatî, or Dêvî, the consort of
+the god Siva, Sankar, or Mahâdêo, who rides upon the bull Nandî.
+
+7. This village seems to be the same as Tewar, the ancient Tripura,
+'six miles to the west of Jabalpur; and on the south side of the
+Bombay road' (_A. S. R_., vol. ix, p. 57). The adjacent ruins are
+known by the name of Karanbêl.
+
+8. The pillar bears an inscription showing that it was erected during
+the reign of Budha Gupta, in the year 165 of the Gupta era,
+corresponding to A.D. 484-5. This, and the other important remains of
+antiquity at Eran, are fully described in _A. S. R_., vol. vii, p.
+88; vol. x, pp. 76-90, pl. xxiii-xxx; and vol. xiv, p. 149, pl. xxxi;
+also in Fleet, _Gupta Inscriptions_ (Calcutta, 1888). The material of
+the pillar is red sandstone. According to Cunningham the total height
+is 43 feet. The peculiar double-faced, two-armed image on the summit
+does not seem to be intended for Krishna, but I cannot say what the
+meaning is (H. F. A., p. 174, fig. 121).
+
+9. During the wars with the Marâthâs and Pindhârîs, which ended in
+1819.
+
+10. After we left Jubbulpore, the old Rânî used to receive much kind
+and considerate attention from the Hon. Mrs. Shore, a very amiable
+woman, the wife of the Governor-General's representative, the Hon.
+Mr. Shore, a very worthy and able member of the Bengal Civil Service.
+[W. H. S.] For notice of Mr. Shore, see note at end of Chapter 13.
+
+11. See the author's paper entitled '_History of the Gurha Mundala
+Rajas_', in _J. A. S. B_., vol. vi (1837), p. 621, and the article
+'Mandla' in _C. P. Gazetteer_ (1870).
+
+12. Kûrai is on the route from Sâgar to Nasîrâbâd, thirty-one miles
+WNW. of the former.
+
+13. The 'Sâgar and Nerbudda Territories', comprising the Sâgar,
+Jabalpur, Hoshangâbâd, Seonî, Damoh, Narsinghpur, and Baitûl Mandlâ
+Districts, are now under the Local Administration of the Chief
+Commissioner of the Central Provinces, established in 1861 by Lord
+Canning, who appointed Sir Richard Temple Chief Commissioner. These
+territories were at first administered by a semi-political agency,
+but were afterwards, in 1852, placed under the Lieutenant-Governor of
+the North-Western Provinces (now the Agra Province in the United
+Provinces of Agra and Oudh), to whom they remained subject until
+1861. They had been ceded by the Marâthâs to the British in 1818, and
+the cession was confirmed by the treaty of 1826.
+
+14. All official presents given by native chiefs to the Governor-
+General are credited to the 'toshakhâna', from which also are taken
+the official gifts bestowed in return.
+
+15. By resolution of Government, dated January 10, 1836, the author
+was appointed General Superintendent of the Operations against
+Thuggee, with his head-quarters at Jubbulpore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 10
+
+
+The Peasantry and the Land Settlement.
+
+The officers of the 29th had found game so plentiful, and the weather
+so fine, that they came on with us as far as Jaberâ, where we had the
+pleasure of their society on the evening of the 24th, and left them
+on the morning of the 25th.[1] A great many of my native friends,
+from among the native landholders and merchants of the country,
+flocked to our camp at every stage to pay their respects, and bid me
+farewell, for they never expected to see me back among them again.
+They generally came out a mile or two to meet and escort us to our
+tents; and much do I fear that my poor boy will never again, in any
+part of the world, have the blessings of Heaven so fervently invoked
+upon him by so many worthy and respectable men as met us at every
+stage on our way from Jubbulpore. I am much attached to the
+agricultural classes of India generally, and I have found among them
+some of the best men I have ever known. The peasantry in India have
+generally very good manners, and are exceedingly intelligent, from
+having so much more leisure and unreserved and easy intercourse with
+those above them. The constant habit of meeting and discussing
+subjects connected with their own interests, in their own fields, and
+'under their own fig-trees', with their landlords and Government
+functionaries of all kinds and degrees, prevents their ever feeling
+or appearing impudent or obtrusive; though it certainly tends to give
+them stentorian voices, that often startle us when they come into our
+houses to discuss the same points with us.
+
+Nine-tenths of the immediate cultivators of the soil in India are
+little farmers, who hold a lease for one or more years, as the case
+may be, of their lands, which they cultivate with their own stock.
+One of these cultivators, with a good plough and bullocks, and a good
+character, can always get good land on moderate terms from holders of
+villages.[2] Those cultivators are, I think, the best, who learn to
+depend upon their stock and character for favourable terms, hold
+themselves free to change their holdings when their leases expire,
+and pretend not to any hereditary right in the soil. The lands are, I
+think, best cultivated, and the society best constituted in India,
+where the holders of estates of villages have a feeling of permanent
+interest in them, an assurance of an hereditary right of property
+which is liable only to the payment of a moderate Government demand,
+descends undivided by the law of primogeniture, and is unaffected by
+the common law, which prescribes the equal subdivision among children
+of landed as well as other private property, among the Hindoos and
+Muhammadans; and where the immediate cultivators hold the lands they
+till by no other law than that of common specific contract.
+
+When I speak of holders of villages, I mean the holders of lands that
+belong to villages. The whole face of India is parcelled out into
+estates of villages.[3] The village communities are composed of those
+who hold and cultivate the land, the established village servants,
+priest, blacksmith, carpenter, accountant, washerman, basket-maker
+(whose wife is ex officio the midwife of the little village
+community), potter, watchman, barber, shoemaker, &c., &c.[4] To these
+may be added the little banker, or agricultural capitalist, the
+shopkeeper, the brazier, the confectioner, the ironmonger, the
+weaver, the dyer, the astronomer or astrologer, who points out to the
+people the lucky day for every earthly undertaking, and the
+prescribed times for all religious ceremonies and observances. In
+some villages the whole of the lands are parcelled out among
+cultivating proprietors, and are liable to eternal subdivisions by
+the law of inheritance, which gives to each son the same share. In
+others, the whole of the lands are parcelled out among cultivators,
+who hold them on a specific lease for limited periods from a
+proprietor who holds the whole collectively under Government, at a
+rate of rent fixed either permanently or for limited periods. These
+are the two extremes. There are but few villages in which all the
+cultivators are considered as proprietors--at least but few in our
+Nerbudda territories; and these will almost invariably be found of a
+caste of Brahmans or a caste of Râjpûts, descended from a common
+ancestor, to whom the estate was originally given in rent-free
+tenure, or at a quit-rent, by the existing Government for his prayers
+as a priest, or his services as a soldier. Subsequent Governments,
+which resumed unceremoniously the estates of others, were deterred
+from resuming these by a dread of the curses of the one and the
+swords of the other.[5] Such communities of cultivating proprietors
+are of two kinds: those among whom the lands are parcelled out, each
+member holding his share as a distinct estate, and being individually
+responsible for the payment of the share of the Government demand
+assessed upon it; and those among whom the lands are not parcelled
+out, but the profits divided as among copartners of an estate held
+jointly. They, in either case, nominate one of their members to
+collect and pay the Government demand; or Government appoints a man
+for this duty, either as a salaried servant or a lessee, with
+authority to levy from the cultivating proprietors a certain sum over
+and above what is demandable from him.
+
+The communities in which the cultivators are considered merely as
+leaseholders are far more numerous; indeed, the greater part of the
+village communities in this part of India are of this description;
+and, where the communities are of a mixed character, the cultivating
+proprietors are considered to have merely a right of occupancy, and
+are liable to have their lands assessed at the same rate as those
+held on a mere lease tenure. In all parts of India the cultivating
+proprietors in such mixed communities are similarly situated; they
+are liable to be assessed at the same rate as others holding the same
+sort of lands, and often pay a higher rate, with which others are not
+encumbered. But this is not general; it is as much the interest of
+the proprietor to have good cultivating tenants as it is that of the
+tenants to have good proprietors; and it is felt to be the interest
+of both to adjust their terms amicably among themselves, without a
+reference to a third and superior party, which is always costly and
+commonly ruinous.[6]
+
+It is a question of very great importance, no less morally and
+politically than fiscally, which of these systems deserves most
+encouragement--that in which the Government considers the immediate
+cultivators to be the hereditary proprietors, and, through its own
+public officers, parcels out the lands among them, and adjusts the
+rates of rent demandable from every minute partition, as the lands
+become more and more subdivided by the Hindoo and Muhammadan law of
+inheritance; or that in which the Government considers him who holds
+the area of a whole village or estate collectively as the hereditary
+proprietor, and the immediate cultivators as his lease-tenants--
+leaving the rates of rent to be adjusted among the parties without
+the aid of public officers, or interposing only to enforce the
+fulfilment of their mutual contracts. In the latter of these two
+systems the land will supply more and better members to the middle
+and higher classes of the society, and create and preserve a better
+feeling between them and the peasantry, or immediate cultivators of
+the soil; and it will occasion the re-investment upon the soil, in
+works of ornament and utility, of a greater portion of the annual
+returns of rent and profit, and a less expenditure in the costs of
+litigation in our civil courts, and bribery to our public officers.
+
+Those who advocate the other system, which makes the immediate
+cultivators the proprietors, will, for the most part, be found to
+reason upon false premisses--upon the assumption that the rates of
+rent demandable from the immediate cultivators of the soil _were
+everywhere limited and established by immemorial usage, in a certain
+sum of money per acre, or a certain share of the crop produced from
+it_; and that 'these rates were not only so limited and fixed, but
+everywhere _well known to the people_', and might, consequently, have
+become well known to the Government, and recorded in public
+registers. Now every practical man in India, who has had
+opportunities of becoming well acquainted with the matter, knows that
+_the reverse is the case_; that the rate of rent demandable from
+these cultivators _never was the same upon any two estates at the
+same time: nor even the same upon any one estate at different limes,
+or for any consecutive number of years_.[7] The rates vary every year
+on every estate, according to the varying circumstances that
+influence them--such as greater or less exhaustion of the soil,
+greater or less facilities of irrigation, manure, transit to market,
+drainage--or from fortuitous advantages on one hand, or calamities of
+season on the other; or many other circumstances which affect the
+value of the land, and the abilities of the cultivators to pay. It is
+not so much the proprietors of the estate or the Government as the
+cultivators themselves who demand every year a readjustment of the
+rate demandable upon their different holdings. This readjustment must
+take place; and, if there is no landlord to effect it, Government
+must effect it through its own officers. Every holding becomes
+subdivided when the cultivating proprietor dies and leaves more than
+one child; and, as the whole face of the country is open and without
+hedges, the division is easily and speedily made. Thus the field-map
+which represents an estate one year will never represent it fairly
+five years after; in fact, we might almost as well attempt to map the
+waves of the ocean as field-map the face of any considerable area in
+any part of India.[8]
+
+If there be any truth in my conclusions, our Government has acted
+unwisely in going, as it has generally done, into [one or other of]
+the two extremes, in its settlement of the land revenue.
+
+In the Zamîndârî settlement of Bengal, it conferred the hereditary
+right of property over areas larger than English counties on
+individuals, and left the immediate cultivators mere tenants-at-
+will.[9] These individuals felt no interest in promoting the comfort
+and welfare of the village communities, or conciliating the
+affections of the cultivators, whom they never saw or wished to see;
+and they let out the village, or other subdivision of their estates,
+to second parties quite as little interested, who again let them out
+to others, so that the system of rack-renting went on over the whole
+area of the immense possession. This was a system 'more honoured in
+the breach than in the observance'; for, as the great landholders
+became involved in the ruin of their cultivators, their estates were
+sold for arrears of revenue due to Government, and thus the
+proprietary right of one individual has become divided among many,
+who will have the feelings which the larger holders wanted, and so
+remedy the evil. In the other extreme, Government has constituted the
+immediate cultivators the proprietors; thereby preventing any one who
+is supported upon the rent of land, or the profits of agricultural
+stock, from rising above the grade of a peasant, and so depriving
+society of one of its best and most essential elements. The remedy of
+both is in village settlements, in which the estate shall be of
+moderate size, and the hereditary property of the holder, descending
+on the principle of a principality, by the right of primogeniture,
+unaffected by the common law. This is the system which has been
+adopted in the Nerbudda territory, and which, I trust, will be always
+adhered to.
+
+When we enter upon the government of any new territorial acquisition
+in India, we do not require or pretend to change the civil laws of
+the people; because their civil laws and their religion are in
+reality one and the same, and are contained in one and the same code,
+as certainly among the Hindoos, the Muhammadans, and the Parsees, as
+they were among the Israelites. By these codes, and the established
+usages everywhere well understood by the people, are their rights and
+duties in marriage, inheritance, succession, caste, contract, and all
+the other civil relations of life, ascertained; and when we displace
+another Government we do not pretend to alter such rights and duties
+in relation to each other, we merely change the machinery and mode of
+procedure by which these rights are secured and these duties
+enforced.[10]
+
+Of criminal law no system was ever either regularly established or
+administered in any state in India, by any Government to which we
+have succeeded; and the people always consider the existing
+Government free to adopt that which may seem best calculated to
+effect the one great object, which criminal law has everywhere in
+view--_the security of life, property, and character, and the
+enjoyment of all their advantages_. The actions by which these are
+affected and endangered, the evidence by which such actions require
+to be proved, and the penalties with which they require to be
+visited, in order to prevent their recurrence, are, or ought to be,
+so much the same in every society, that the people never think us
+bound to search for what Muhammad and his companions thought in the
+wilds of Arabia, or the Sanskrit poets sang about them in courts and
+cloisters. They would be just as well pleased everywhere to find us
+searching for these things in the writings of Confucius and
+Zoroaster, as in those of Muhammad and Manu: and much more so, to see
+us consulting our own common-sense, and forming a penal code of our
+own, suitable to the wants of such a mixed community.[11]
+
+The fiscal laws which define the rights and duties of the landed
+interests and the agricultural classes in relation to each other and
+to the ruling powers were also everywhere exceedingly simple and well
+understood by the people. What in England is now a mere fiction of
+law is still in India an essential principle. All lands are held
+directly or indirectly of the sovereign: to this rule there is no
+exception.[12] The reigning sovereign is essentially the proprietor
+of the whole of the lands in every part of India, where he has not
+voluntarily alienated them; and he holds these lands for the payment
+of those public establishments which are maintained for the public
+good, and are supported by the rents of the lands either directly
+under assignment, or indirectly through the sovereign proprietor.
+When a Muhammadan or Hindoo sovereign assigned lands rent-free in
+_perpetuity_, it was always understood, both by the donor and
+receiver, to be with the _small reservation_ of a right in his
+successor to resume them for the public good, if he should think
+fit.[13] Hindoo sovereigns, or their priests for them, often tried to
+bar this right by _invoking curses_ on the head of that successor who
+should exercise it.[14] It is a proverb among the people of these
+territories, and, I believe, among the people of India generally,
+that the lands which pay no rent to Government have no 'barkat',
+blessing from above--that the man who holds them is not blessed in
+their returns like the man who pays rent to Government and thereby
+contributes his aid to the protection of the community. The fact is
+that every family that holds rent-free lands must, in a few
+generations, become miserable from the minute subdivision of the
+property, and the litigation in our civil courts which it entails
+upon the holders.[15] It is certainly the general opinion of the
+people of India that no land should be held without paying rent to
+Government, or providing for people employed in the service of
+Government, for the benefit of the people in its defensive,
+religious, judicial, educational, and other establishments. Nine-
+tenths of the land in these Nerbudda territories are held in lease
+immediately under Government by the heads of villages, whose leases
+have been renewable every five years; but they are now to have a
+settlement for twenty.[l6] The other tenth is held by these heads of
+villages intermediately under some chief, who holds several portions
+of land immediately under Government at a quit-rent, or for service
+performed, or to be performed, for Government, and lets them out to
+farmers. These are, for the most part, situated in the more hilly and
+less cultivated parts.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. November, 1835.
+
+2. This observation does not hold good in densely populated tracts,
+which are now numerous.
+
+3. These 'estates of villages' are known by the Persian name of
+'mauza'. The topographical division of the country into 'mauzas',
+which may be also translated by the terms 'townlands' or 'townships',
+has developed spontaneously. Some 'mauzas' are uninhabited, and are
+cultivated by the residents of neighbouring villages.
+
+4. In some parts of Central and Southern India, the 'Gârpagrî', who
+charms away hail-storms from the crops, and 'Bhûmkâ', who charms away
+tigers from the people and their cattle, are added to the number of
+village servants, [W. H .S.] 'In many parts of Berâr and Mâlwa every
+village has its "bhûmkâ", whose office it is to charm the tigers; and
+its "gârpagrî", whose duty it is to keep off the hail-storms. They
+are part of the village servants, and paid by the village community,
+After a severe hail-storm took place in the district of Narsinghpur,
+of which I had the civil charge in 1823, the office of "gârpagrî" was
+restored to several villages in which it had ceased for several
+generations. They are all Brahmans, and take advantage of such
+calamities to impress the people with an opinion of their usefulness.
+The "bhûmkâs" are all Gônds, or people of the woods, who worship
+their own Lares and Penates' (_Ramaseeana_, Introduction, p. 13.
+note).
+
+5. Very often the Government of the country know nothing of these
+tenures; the local authorities allowed them to continue as a
+perquisite of their own. The holders were willing to pay them a good
+share of the rent, assured that they would be resumed if reported by
+the local authorities to the Government. These authorities consented
+to take a moderate share of the rent, assured that they should get
+little or nothing if the lands were resumed. [W. H. S.] 'Rent' here
+means 'land-revenue'. Of course, under modern British administration
+the particulars of all tenures are known and recorded in great
+detail,
+
+6. Since the author wrote these remarks the legal position of
+cultivating proprietors and tenants has been largely modified by the
+pressure of population and a long course of legislation. The Rent
+Acts, which began with Act x of 1859, are now numerous, and have been
+accompanied by a series of Land Revenue Acts, and many collateral
+enactments. All the problems of the Irish land question are familiar
+topics to the Anglo-Indian courts and legislatures.
+
+7. This proposition no doubt was true for the 'Sâgar and Nerbudda
+Territories' in 1835, but it cannot be predicated of the thickly
+populated and settled districts in the Gangetic valley without
+considerable qualification. Examples of long-established, unchanged,
+well-known rent-rates are not uncommon.
+
+8. In recent years this task of 'mapping the waves of the ocean' has
+been attempted. Every periodical settlement of the land revenue in
+Northern India since 1833 has been accompanied by the preparation of
+detailed village maps, showing each field, even the tiniest, a few
+yards square, with a separate number. In many cases these maps were
+roughly constructed under non-professional supervision, but in many
+districts they have been prepared by the cadastral branch of the
+Survey Department. The difficulty mentioned by the author has been
+severely felt, and it constantly happens that beautiful maps become
+useless in four or five years. Efforts are made to insert annual
+corrections in copies of the maps through the agency of the village
+accountants, and the 'kânûngos', or officers who supervise them, but
+the task is an enormous one, and only partial success is attained. In
+addition to the maps, records of great bulk are annually prepared
+which give the most minute details about every holding and each
+field.
+
+9. The Permanent Settlement of Bengal, effected under the orders of
+Lord Cornwallis in 1793, was soon afterwards extended to the province
+of Benares, now included in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.
+Illusory provisions were made to protect the rights of tenants, but
+nothing at all effectual was done till the passing of Act x of 1859,
+which has been largely modified by later legislation.
+
+10. The general principle here stated of respect for personal
+substantive law in civil matters is still the guide of the Indian
+Legislature, but the accumulation of Privy Council and High Court
+rulings, combined with the action of codes, has effected considerable
+gradual change. Direct legislation has anglicized the law of
+contract, and has modified, though not so largely, the law of
+marriage, inheritance, and succession.
+
+11. In the author's time the courts of the East India Company still
+followed the Muhammadan criminal law, as modified by the Regulations.
+The Indian Penal Code of 1869 placed the substantive criminal law on
+a thoroughly scientific basis. This code was framed with such
+masterly skill that to this day it has needed little material
+amendment. The first Criminal Procedure Code, passed in 1861, has
+been twice recast. The law of evidence was codified by Sir James
+FitzJames Stephen in the Indian Evidence Act of 1870.
+
+12. This proposition, in the editor's opinion, truly states the
+theory of land tenures in India, and it was a generally accurate
+statement of actual fact in the author's time. Since then the long
+continuance of settled government, by fostering the growth of private
+rights, has tended to obscure the idea of state ownership. The modern
+revenue codes, instead of postulating the ownership of the state,
+enact that the claims of the state--that is to say, the land-revenue-
+-are the first charge on the land and its produce. The Malabar coast
+offers an exception to the general Hindu role of state ownership of
+land. The Nairs, Coorgs, and Tulus enjoyed full proprietary rights
+(Dubois, _Hindu Manners, &c_., 3rd edition (1906), p. 57).
+
+13. Amîr Khân, the Nawâb of Tonk, assigned to his physician, who had
+cured him of an intermittent fever, lands yielding one thousand
+rupees a year, in rent-free tenure, and gave him a deed signed by
+himself and his heir-apparent, declaring expressly that it should
+descend to him and his heir for ever. He died lately, and his son and
+successor, who had signed the deed, resumed the estate without
+ceremony. On being remonstrated with, he said that 'his father, while
+living, was, of course, master, and could make him sign what he
+pleased, and give land rent-free to whom he pleased; but his
+successor must now be considered the best judge whether they could be
+spared or not; that if lands were to be alienated in perpetuity by
+every reigning Nawâb for every dose of medicine or dose of prayers
+that he or the members of his family required, none would soon be
+left for the payment of the soldiers, or other necessary public
+servants of any description'. This was told me by the son of the old
+physician, who was the person to whom the speech was made, his father
+having died before Amîr Khân. [W. H. S.] Amîr Khân was the famous
+Pindhârî leader. H. T. Prinsep translated his Memoirs from the
+Persian of Busawun Lâl (Calcutta, 1832).
+
+14. The ancient deeds of grant, engraved on copper, of which so many
+have been published within the last hundred years, almost invariably
+conclude with fearful curses on the head of any rash mortal who may
+dare to revoke the grant. Usually the pious hope is expressed that,
+if he should be guilty of such wickedness, he may rot in filth, and
+be reborn a worm.
+
+15. Revenue officers commonly observe that revenue-free grants, which
+the author calls rent-free, are often ill cultivated. The simple
+reason is that the stimulus of the collector's demand is wanting to
+make the owner exert himself.
+
+16. These leases now carry with them a right of ownership, involving
+the power of alienation, subject to the lien of the land revenue as a
+first charge. Conversely, the modern codes lay down the principle
+that the revenue settlement must be made with the proprietor. The
+author's rule of agricultural succession by primogeniture in the
+Nerbudda territories has survived only in certain districts (see
+_post_, Chapter 47). The land-revenue law and the law concerning the
+relations between landlords and tenants have now been more or less
+successfully codified in each province. Mr. B. H. Baden-Powell's
+encyclopaedic work _The Land Systems of British India_ (3 volumes:
+Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1892) gives very full information concerning
+Indian tenures as now existing, and the law applicable to them at the
+date of publication.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 11
+
+
+Witchcraft.
+
+On leaving Jabêrâ,[1] I saw an old acquaintance from the eastern part
+of the Jubbulpore district, Kehrî Singh.
+
+'I understand, Kehrî Singh', said I, 'that certain men among the
+Gonds of the jungle, towards the source of the Nerbudda, eat human
+flesh. Is it so?'
+
+'No, sir; the men never eat people, but the Gond women do.'
+
+'Where?'
+
+'Everywhere, sir; there is not a parish, nay, a village, among the
+Gonds, in which you will not find one or more such women.'
+
+'And how do they eat people?'
+
+'They eat their livers, sir.'
+
+'Oh, I understand; you mean witches?'
+
+'Of course! Who ever heard of other people eating human beings?'
+
+'And you really still think, in spite of all that we have done and
+said, that there are such things as witches?'
+
+'Of course we do--do not we find instances of it every day? European
+gentlemen are too apt to believe that things like this are not to be
+found here, because they are not to be found in their own country.
+Major Wardlow, when in charge of the Seonî district, denied the
+existence of witchcraft for a long time, but he was at last
+convinced.'
+
+'How?'
+
+'One of his troopers, one morning after a long march, took some milk
+for his master's breakfast from an old woman without paying for it.
+Before the major had got over his breakfast the poor trooper was down
+upon his back, screaming from the agony of internal pains. We all
+knew immediately that he had been bewitched, and recommended the
+major to send for some one learned in these matters to find out the
+witch. He did so, and, after hearing from the trooper the story about
+the milk, this person at once declared that the woman from whom he
+got it was the criminal. She was searched for, found, and brought to
+the trooper, and commanded to cure him. She flatly denied that she
+had herself conjured him; but admitted that her household gods might,
+unknown to her, have punished him for his wickedness. This, however,
+would not do. She was commanded to cure the man, and she set about
+collecting materials for the "pûjâ" (worship); and before she could
+get quite through the ceremonies, all his pains had left him. Had we
+not been resolute with her, the man must have died before evening, so
+violent were his torments.'
+
+'Did not a similar case occur to Mr. Fraser at Jubbulpore?'
+
+'A "chaprâsî"[2] of his, while he had charge of the Jubbulpore
+district, was sent out to Mandlâ[3] with a message of some kind or
+other. He took a cock from an old Gond woman without paying for it,
+and, being hungry after a long journey, ate the whole of it in a
+curry. He heard the woman mutter something, but being a raw,
+unsuspecting young man, he thought nothing of it, ate his cock, and
+went to sleep. He had not been asleep three hours before he was
+seized with internal pains, and the old cock was actually heard
+crowing in his belly. He made the best of his way back to Jubbulpore,
+several stages, and all the most skilful men were employed to charm
+away the effect of the old woman's spell, but in vain. He died, and
+the cock never ceased crowing at intervals up to the hour of his
+death.'
+
+'And was Mr. Fraser convinced?'
+
+'I never heard, but suppose he must have been.'
+
+'Who ate the livers of the victims? The witches themselves, or the
+evil spirits with whom they had dealings?'
+
+'The evil spirits ate the livers; but they are set on to do so by the
+witches, who get them into their power by such accursed sacrifices
+and offerings. They will often dig up young children from their
+graves, bring them to life, and allow these devils to feed upon their
+livers, as falconers allow their hawks to feed on the breasts of
+pigeons. You "sâhib lôg" (European gentlemen) will not believe all
+this, but it is, nevertheless, all very true.'[4]
+
+The belief in sorcery among these people owes its origin, in a great
+measure, to the diseases of the liver and spleen to which the
+natives, and particularly the children, are much subject in the
+jungly parts of Central India. From these affections children pine
+away and die, without showing any external marks of disease. Their
+death is attributed to witchcraft, and any querulous old woman, who
+has been in the habit of murmuring at slights and ill treatment in
+the neighbourhood, is immediately set down as the cause. Men who
+practise medicine among them are very commonly supposed to be at the
+same time wizards. Seeking to inspire confidence in their
+prescriptions by repeating prayers and incantations over the patient,
+or over the medicine they give him, they make him believe that they
+derive aid from supernatural power; and the patient concludes that
+those who can command these powers to cure can, if they will, command
+them to destroy. He and his friends believe that the man who can
+command these powers to cure one individual can command them to cure
+any other; and, if he does not do so, they believe that it arises
+from a desire to destroy the patient. I have, in these territories,
+known a great many instances of medical practitioners having been put
+to death for not curing young people for whom they were required to
+prescribe. Several cases have come before me as a magistrate in which
+the father has stood over the doctor with a drawn sword by the side
+of the bed of his child, and cut him down and killed him the moment
+the child died, as he had sworn to do when he found the patient
+sinking under his prescriptions.[5]
+
+The town of Jubbulpore contains a population of twenty thousand
+souls,[6] and they all believed in this story of the cock. I one day
+asked a most respectable merchant in the town, Nâdû Chaudhrî, how the
+people could believe in such things, when he replied that he had no
+doubt witches were to be found in every part of India, though they
+abounded most, no doubt, in the central parts of it, and that we
+ought to consider ourselves very fortunate in having no such things
+in England. 'But', added he, 'of all countries that between Mandlâ
+and Katâk (Cuttack)[7] is the worst for witches. I had once occasion
+to go to the city of Ratanpur[8] on business, and was one day, about
+noon, walking in the market-place and eating a very fine piece of
+sugar-cane. In the crowd I happened, by accident, to jostle an old
+woman as she passed me. I looked back, intending to apologize for the
+accident, and heard her muttering indistinctly as she passed on.
+Knowing the propensities of these old ladies, I became somewhat
+uneasy, and on turning round to my cane I found, to my great terror,
+that the juice had been all _turned to blood_. Not a minute had
+elapsed, such were the fearful powers of this old woman. I collected
+my followers, and, leaving my agents there to settle my accounts, was
+beyond the boundaries of the old wretch's influence before dark; had
+I remained, nothing could have saved me. I should certainly have been
+a dead man before morning. It is well known', said the old gentleman,
+'that their spells and curses can only reach a certain distance, ten
+or twelve miles; and, if you offend one of them, the sooner you place
+that distance between you the better.'
+
+Jangbâr Khân, the representative of the Shâhgarh Râjâ,[9] as grave
+and reverend an old gentleman as ever sat in the senate of Venice,
+told me one day that he was himself an eye-witness of the powers of
+the women of Khilautî. He was with a great concourse of people at a
+fair held at the town of Râipur,[10] and, while sauntering with many
+other strangers in the fair, one of them began bargaining with two
+women of middle age for some very fine sugar-canes. They asked double
+the fair price for their canes. The man got angry, and took up one of
+them, when the women seized the other end, and a struggle ensued. The
+purchaser offered a fair price, seller demanded double. The crowd
+looked on, and a good deal of abuse of the female relations on both
+sides took place. At last a sepoy of the governor came up, armed to
+the teeth, and called out to the man, in a very imperious tone, to
+let go his hold of the cane. He refused, saying that 'when people
+came to the fair to sell, they should be made to sell at reasonable
+prices, or be turned out'. 'I', said Jangbâr Khân, 'thought the man
+right, and told the sepoy that, if he took the part of this woman, we
+should take that of the other, and see fair play. Without further
+ceremony the functionary drew his sword, and cut the cane in two in
+the middle; and, pointing to both pieces, 'There', said he, 'you see
+the cause of my interference'. We looked down, and actually saw blood
+running from both pieces, and forming a little pool on the ground.
+The fact was that the woman was a sorceress of the very worst kind,
+and was actually drawing the blood from the man through the cane, to
+feed the abominable devil from whom she derived her detestable
+powers. But for the timely interference of the sepoy he would have
+been dead in another minute; for he no sooner saw the real state of
+the case than he fainted. He had hardly any blood left in him, and I
+was afterwards told that he was not able to walk for ten days. We all
+went to the governor to demand justice, declaring that, unless the
+women were made an example of at once, the fair would be deserted,
+for no stranger's life would be safe. He consented, and they were
+both sewn up in sacks and thrown into the river; but they had
+conjured the water and would not sink. They ought to have been put to
+death, but the governor was himself afraid of this kind of people,
+and let them off. There is not', continued Jangbâr, 'a village, or a
+single family, without its witch in that part of the country; indeed,
+no man will give his daughter in marriage to a family without one,
+saying, "If my daughter has children, what will become of them
+without a witch to protect them from the witches of other families in
+the neighbourhood?" It is a fearful country, though the cheapest and
+most fertile in India.'
+
+We can easily understand how a man, impressed with the idea that his
+blood had all been drawn from him by a sorceress, should become
+faint, and remain many days in a languid state; but how the people
+around should believe that they saw the blood flowing from both parts
+of the cane at the place cut through, it is not so easy to conceive.
+
+I am satisfied that old Jangbâr believed the whole story to be true,
+and that at the time he thought the juice of the cane red; but the
+little pool of blood grew, no doubt, by degrees, as years rolled on
+and he related this tale of the fearful powers of the Khilautî
+witches.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. _Ante_, Chapter 9.
+
+2. An orderly, or official messenger, who wears a 'chaprâs', or badge
+of office.
+
+3. On the Nerbudda, fifty miles south-east of Jubbulpore.
+
+4. Of the supposed powers and dispositions of witches among the
+Romans we have horrible pictures in the 5th Ode of the 6th Book of
+Horace, and in the 6th Book of Lucan's _Pharsalia_. [W. H. S.] The
+reference to Horace should be to the 5th Epode. The passage in the
+_Pharsalia_, Book VI, lines 420-830, describes the proceedings of
+Thessalian witches.
+
+5. Such awkward incidents of medical practice are not heard of
+nowadays.
+
+6. The population of Jabalpur (including cantonments) has increased
+steadily, and in 1911 was 100,651, as compared with 84,556 in 1891,
+and 76,023 in 1881.
+
+7. Katâk, or Cuttack, a district, with town of same name, in Orissa.
+
+8. In the Bilâspur district of the Central Provinces. The distance in
+a direct line between Mandlâ and Katâk is about 400 miles.
+
+9. Shâhgarh was formerly a petty native state, with town of same
+name. The chief joined the rebels in 1857, with the result that his
+dominions were confiscated, and distributed between the districts of
+Sâgar and Damoh in the Central Provinces, and Jhânsî (formerly
+Lalitpur) in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The town of
+Shâhgarh is in the Sâgar district.
+
+10. Râipur is the chief town of the district of the same name in the
+Central Provinces, which was not finally annexed to the British
+dominions until 1854, when the Nâgpur State lapsed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 12
+
+
+The Silver Tree, or 'Kalpa Briksha'--The Singhâra or _Trapa
+bispinosa_, and the Guinea-Worm.
+
+Poor old Salâmat Alî wept bitterly at the last meeting in my tent,
+and his two nice boys, without exactly knowing why, began to do the
+same; and my little son Henry[1] caught the infection, and wept
+louder than any of them. I was obliged to hurry over the interview
+lest I should feel disposed to do the same. The poor old Rânî,[2]
+too, suffered a good deal in parting from my wife, whom, she says,
+she can never hope to see again. Her fine large eyes shed many a tear
+as she was getting into her palankeen to return.
+
+Between Jaberâ and Harduâ, the next stage, we find a great many of
+those large forest trees called 'kalap', or 'Kalpa Briksha' (the same
+which in the paradise of Indra grants what is desired), with a soft,
+silvery bark, and scarcely any leaves. We are told that the name of
+the god Râm (Râma) and his consort Sîtâ will be found written by the
+hand of God upon all.[3]
+
+I had the curiosity to examine a good many in the forest on both
+sides of the road, and found the name of this incarnation of Vishnu
+written on everyone in Sanskrit characters, apparently by some
+supernatural hand; that is, there was a softness in the impression,
+as if the finger of some supernatural being had traced the
+characters. Nathû, one of our belted attendants[4] told me that we
+might search as deeply as we would in the forest, but we should
+certainly find the name of God upon every one; 'for', said he, 'it is
+God himself who writes it'. I tried to argue him out of this notion;
+but, unfortunately, could find no tree without these characters--some
+high up, and some lower down in the trunk--some large and others
+small--but still to be found on every tree. I was almost in despair
+when we came to a part of the wood where we found one of these trees
+down in a hollow, under the road, and another upon the precipice
+above. I was ready to stake my credit upon the probability that no
+traveller would take the trouble to go up to the tree above, or down
+to the tree below, merely to write the name of the god upon them; and
+at once pledged myself to Nathû that he should find neither the god's
+name nor that of his wife. I sent one man up, and another man down,
+and they found no letters on the trees; but this did not alter their
+opinion on the point. 'God', said one, 'had no doubt put his name on
+these trees, but they had somehow or other got rubbed off. He would
+in good time renew them, that men's eyes might be blessed with the
+sight of His holy name, even in the deepest forest, and on the most
+leafless tree.'[5] 'But', said Nathû, 'he might not have thought it
+worth while to write his name upon those trees which no travellers go
+to see.' 'Cannot you see', said I, 'that these letters have been
+engraved by man? Are they not all to be found on the trunk within
+reach of a man's hand?' 'Of course they are', replied he, 'because
+people would not be able conveniently to distinguish them if God were
+to write them higher up.'
+
+Shaikh Sâdî has a very pretty couplet, 'Every leaf of the foliage of
+a green tree is, in the eye of a wise man, a library to teach him the
+wisdom of his Creator.'[6] I may remark that, where an Englishman
+would write his own name, a Hindoo would write that of his god, his
+parent, or his benefactor. This difference is traceable, of course,
+to the difference in their governments and institutions. If a Hindoo
+built a town, he called it after his local governor; if a local
+governor built it, he called it after the favourite son of the
+Emperor. In well regulated Hindoo families, one cannot ask a younger
+brother after his children in presence of the elder brother who
+happens to be the head of the family; it would be disrespectful for
+him even to speak of his children as his own in such presence--the
+elder brother relieves his embarrassment by answering for him.
+
+On the 27th[7] we reached Damoh,[8] where our friends, the Browns,
+were to leave us on their return to Jubbulpore. Damoh is a pretty
+place. The town contains some five or six thousand people, and has
+some very handsome Hindoo temples. On a hill immediately above it is
+the shrine of a Muhammadan saint, which has a very picturesque
+appearance.
+
+
+There are no manufactures at Damoh, except such as supply the wants
+of the immediate neighbourhood; and the town is supported by the
+residence of a few merchants, a few landholders, and agricultural
+capitalists, and the establishment of a native collector. The people
+here suffer much from the guinea-worm, and consider it to arise from
+drinking the water of the old tank, which is now very dirty and full
+of weeds. I have no doubt that it is occasioned either by drinking
+the water of this tank, or by wading in it: for I have known European
+gentlemen get the worm in their legs from wading in similar lakes or
+swamps after snipes, and the servants who followed them with their
+ammunition experience the same effect.[9] Here, as in most other
+parts of India, the tanks get spoiled by the water-chestnut,
+'singhâra' (_Trapa bispinosa_), which is everywhere as regularly
+planted and cultivated _in fields_ under a large surface of water, as
+wheat or barley is on the dry plains. It is cultivated by a class of
+men called Dhîmars, who are everywhere fishermen and palankeen
+bearers; and they keep boats for the planting, weeding, and gathering
+the 'singhâra'.[10] The holdings or tenements of each cultivator are
+marked out carefully on the surface of the water by long bamboos
+stuck up in it; and they pay so much the acre for the portion they
+till. The long straws of the plants reach up to the surface of the
+waters, upon which float their green leaves; and their pure white
+flowers expand beautifully among them in the latter part of the
+afternoon. The nut grows under the water after the flowers decay, and
+is of a triangular shape, and covered with a tough brown integument
+adhering strongly to the kernel, which is white, esculent, and of a
+fine cartilaginous texture. The people are very fond of these nuts,
+and they are carried often upon bullocks' backs two or three hundred
+miles to market. They ripen in the latter end of the rains, or in
+September, and are eatable till the end of November. The rent paid
+for an ordinary tank by the cultivator is about one hundred rupees a
+year. I have known two hundred rupees to be paid for a very large
+one, and even three hundred, or thirty pounds a year.[11] But the mud
+increases so rapidly from this cultivation that it soon destroys all
+reservoirs in which it is permitted; and, where it is thought
+desirable to keep up the tank for the sake of the water, it should be
+carefully prohibited. This is done by stipulating with the renter of
+the village, at the renewal of the lease, that no 'singhâra' shall be
+planted in the tank; otherwise, he will never forgo the advantage to
+himself of the rent for the sake of the convenience, and that only
+prospective, of the village community in general.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Afterwards Captain H. A. Sleeman, He died in 1905.
+
+2. Of Garhâ, see _ante_, Chapter 9, prior to note 10.
+
+3. The real 'kalpa', which now stands in the garden of the god Indra
+in the first heaven, was one of the fourteen varieties found at the
+churning of the ocean by the gods and demons. It fell to the share of
+Indra. [W. H. S.] The tree referred to in the text perhaps may be the
+_Erythrina arborescens_, or coral-tree, which sheds its leaves after
+the hot weather.
+
+4. That is to say, orderlies, or 'chaprâsîs'.
+
+5. Every Hindoo is thoroughly convinced that the names of Râm and his
+consort Sîtâ are written on this tree by the hand of God, and nine-
+tenths of the Musalmâns believe the same.
+
+ Happy the man who sees a God employed
+ In all the good and ill that chequer life,
+ Resolving all events, with their effects
+ And manifold results, into the will
+ And arbitration wise of the Supreme.
+
+ COWPER. [W. H. S.]
+
+The quotation is from _The Task_, Book II, line 161.
+
+6. Sâdî (Sa'dî) is the poetic name, or _nom de plume_, of the
+celebrated Persian poet, whose proper name is said to have been
+Shaikh Maslah-ud-dîn, or, according to other authorities, Sharf-ud-
+dîn Mislah. He was born about A.D. 1194, and is supposed to have
+lived for more than a hundred years. Some writers say that he died in
+A.D. 1292. His best known works are the _Gulistân_ and _Bûstân_. The
+editor has failed to trace in either of these works the couplet
+quoted. Sâdî says in the _Gulistân_, ii. 26, 'That heart which has an
+ear is full of the divine mystery. It is not the nightingale that
+alone serenades his rose; for every thorn on the rose-bush is a
+tongue in his or God's praise' (Ross's translation).
+
+7. November, 1835.
+
+8. Spelled Dhamow in the author's text. The town, the head-quarters
+of the district of the same name, is forty-five miles east of Sâgar,
+and fifty-five miles north-west of Jabalpur. The _C. P. Gazetteer_
+(1870) states the population to be 8,563. In 1901 it had grown to
+13,335; and the town is still increasing in importance (_I. G._,
+1908). Inscriptions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries at
+Damoh are noticed in _A. S. R._, vol. xxi, p. 168.
+
+9. The guinea-worm (_Filaria medinensis_) is a very troublesome
+parasite, which sometimes grows to a length of three feet. It occurs
+in Africa, Arabia, Persia, and Turkistan, as well as in India.
+
+10. The Dhîmars (Sanskrit _dhîvara_, 'fisherman') are the same caste
+as the Kahârs, or 'bearers'. The boats used by them are commonly
+'dugout' canoes, exactly like those used in prehistoric Europe, and
+now treasured in museums.
+
+11. In the author's time the rupee was worth two shillings, or more,
+that is to say, the ninth or tenth part of a sovereign. After 1873
+the gold value of the rupee fell, so that at times it was worth
+little more than a shilling. Since 1899 special legislation has
+succeeded in keeping the rupee practically steady at 1s. 4d. In other
+words, fifteen rupees are the legal equivalent of a sovereign, and a
+hundred rupees are worth 6 pounds 13s. 4d.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 13
+
+
+Thugs and Poisoners.
+
+Lieutenant Brown had come on to Damoh chiefly with a view to
+investigate a case of murder, which had taken place at the village of
+Sujaina, about ten miles from Damoh, on the road to Hattâ.[1] A gang
+of two hundred Thugs were encamped in the grove at Hindoria in the
+cold season of 1814, when, early in the morning, seven men well armed
+with swords and matchlocks passed them, bearing treasure from the
+bank of Motî Kochia at Jubbulpore to their correspondents at
+Bânda,[2] to the value of four thousand five hundred rupees.[3] The
+value of their burden was immediately perceived by these _keen-eyed_
+sportsmen, and Kosarî, Drigpâl, and Faringia, three of the leaders,
+with forty of their fleetest and stoutest followers, were immediately
+selected for the pursuit. They followed seven miles unperceived; and,
+coming up with the treasure-bearers in a watercourse half a mile from
+the village of Sujaina, they rushed in upon them and put them all to
+death with their swords.[4] While they were doing so a tanner from
+Sujaina approached with his buffalo, and to prevent him giving the
+alarm they put him to death also, and made off with the treasure,
+leaving the bodies unburied. A heavy shower of rain fell, and none of
+the village people came to the place till the next morning early;
+when some females, passing it on their way to Hattâ, saw the bodies,
+and returning to Sujaina, reported the circumstance to their friends.
+The whole village thereupon flocked to the spot, and the body of the
+tanner was burned by his relations with the usual ceremonies, while
+all the rest were left to be eaten by jackals, dogs and vultures, who
+make short work of such things in India.[5]
+
+We had occasion to examine a very respectable old gentleman at Damoh
+upon the case, Gobind Dâs, a revenue officer under the former
+Government,[6] and now about seventy years of age. He told us that he
+had no knowledge whatever of the murder of the eight men at Sujaina;
+but he well remembered another which took place seven years before
+the time we mentioned at Abhâna, a stage or two back, on the road to
+Jubbulpore. Seventeen treasure-bearers lodged in the grove near that
+town on their way from Jubbulpore to Sâgar. At night they were set
+upon by a large gang of Thugs, and sixteen of them strangled; but the
+seventeenth laid hold of the noose before it could be brought to bear
+upon his throat, pulled down the villain who held it, and made his
+way good to the town. The Râjâ, Dharak Singh, went to the spot with
+all the followers he could collect; but he found there nothing but
+the sixteen naked bodies lying in the grove, with their eyes
+apparently starting out of their sockets. The Thugs had all gone off
+with the treasure and their clothes, and the Râjâ searched for them
+in vain.
+
+A native commissioned officer of a regiment of native infantry one
+day told me that, while he was on duty over some Thugs at Lucknow,
+one of them related with great seeming pleasure the following case,
+which seemed to him one of the most remarkable that he had heard them
+speak of during the time they were under his charge.
+
+'A stout Mogul[7] officer of noble bearing and singularly handsome
+countenance, on his way from the Punjab to Oudh, crossed the Ganges
+at Garhmuktesar Ghât, near Meerut, to pass through Murâdâbâd and
+Bareilly.[8] He was mounted on a fine Tûrkî horse, and attended by
+his "khidmatgâr" (butler) and groom. Soon after crossing the river,
+he fell in with a small party of well-dressed and modest-looking men
+going the same road. They accosted him in a respectful manner, and
+attempted to enter into conversation with him. He had heard of Thugs,
+and told them to be off. They smiled at his idle suspicions, and
+tried to remove them, but in vain. The Mogul was determined; they saw
+his nostrils swelling with indignation, took their leave, and
+followed slowly. The next morning he overtook the same number of men,
+but of a different appearance, all Musalmâns. They accosted him in
+the same respectful manner; talked of the danger of the road, and the
+necessity of their keeping together, and taking advantage of the
+protection of any mounted gentleman that happened to be going the
+same way. The Mogul officer said not a word in reply, resolved to
+have no companions on the road. They persisted--his nostrils began
+again to swell, and putting his hand to his sword, he bid them all be
+off, or he would have their heads from their shoulders. He had a bow
+and quiver full of arrows over his shoulders,[9] a brace of loaded
+pistols in his waist-belt, and a sword by his side, and was
+altogether a very formidable-looking cavalier. In the evening another
+party that lodged in the same "sarâi"[10] became very intimate with
+the butler and groom. They were going the same road; and, as the
+Mogul overtook them in the morning, they made their bows
+respectfully, and began to enter into conversation with their two
+friends, the groom and butler, who were coming up behind. The Mogul's
+nostrils began again to swell, and he bid the strangers be off. The
+groom and butler interceded, for their master was a grave, sedate
+man, and they wanted companions. All would not do, and the strangers
+fell in the rear. The next day, when they had got to the middle of an
+extensive and uninhabited plain, the Mogul in advance, and his two
+servants a few hundred yards behind, he came up to a party of six
+poor Musalmâns, sitting weeping by the side of a dead companion. They
+were soldiers from Lahore,[11] on their way to Lucknow, worn down by
+fatigue in their anxiety to see their wives and children once more,
+after a long and painful service. Their companion, the hope and prop
+of his family, had sunk under the fatigue, and they had made a grave
+for him; but they were poor unlettered men, and unable to repeat the
+funeral service from the holy Koran-would his Highness but perform
+this last office for them, he would, no doubt, find his reward in
+this world and the next. The Mogul dismounted--the body had been
+placed in its proper position, with its head towards Mecca. A carpet
+was spread--the Mogul took off his bow and quiver, then his pistols
+and sword, and placed them on the ground near the body--called for
+water, and washed his feet, hands, and face, that he might not
+pronounce the holy words in an unclean state. He then knelt down and
+began to repeat the funeral service, in a clear, loud voice. Two of
+the poor soldiers knelt by him, one on each side in silence. The
+other four went off a few paces to beg that the butler and groom
+would not come so near as to interrupt the good Samaritan at his
+devotions.
+
+'All being ready, one of the four, in a low undertone, gave the
+"jhirnî" (signal),[12] the handkerchiefs were thrown over their
+necks, and in a few minutes all three--the Mogul and his servants--
+were dead, and lying in the grave in the usual manner, the head of
+one at the feet of the one below him. All the parties they had met on
+the road belonged to a gang of Jamâldehî Thugs, of the kingdom of
+Oudh.[13] In despair of being able to win the Mogul's confidence in
+the usual way, and determined to have the money and jewels, which
+they knew he carried with him, they had adopted this plan of
+disarming him; dug the grave by the side of the road, in the open
+plain, and made a handsome young Musalmân of the party the dead
+soldier. The Mogul, being a very stout man, died almost without a
+struggle, as is usually the case with such; and his two servants made
+no resistance.'
+
+People of great sensibility, with hearts overcharged with sorrow,
+often appear cold and callous to those who seem to them to feel no
+interest in their afflictions. An instance of this kind I will here
+mention; it is one of thousands that I have met with in my Indian
+rambles. It was mentioned to me one day that an old 'fakîr',[14] who
+lived in a small hut close by a little shrine on the side of the road
+near the town of Morâdâbâd, had lately lost his son, poisoned by a
+party of 'daturiâs', or professional poisoners,[15] that now infest
+every road throughout India. I sent for him, and requested him to
+tell me his story, as I might perhaps be able to trace the murderers.
+He did so, and a Persian writer took it down while I listened with
+all the coldness of a magistrate who wanted merely to learn facts and
+have nothing whatever to do with feelings. This is his story
+literally:
+
+'I reside in my hut by the side of the road a mile and [a] half from
+the town, and live upon the bounty of travellers, and the people of
+the surrounding villages. About six weeks ago, I was sitting by the
+side of my shrine after saying prayers, with my only son, about ten
+years of age, when a man came up with his wife, his son, and his
+daughter, the one a little older, and the other a little younger than
+my boy. They baked and ate their bread near my shrine, and gave me
+flour enough to make two cakes. This I prepared and baked. My boy was
+hungry, and ate one cake and a half. I ate only half a one, for I was
+not hungry. I had a few days before purchased a new blanket for my
+boy, and it was hanging in a branch of the tree that shaded the
+shrine, when these people came. My son and I soon became stupefied. I
+saw him fall asleep, and I soon followed. I awoke again in the
+evening, and found myself in a pool of water. I had sense enough to
+crawl towards my boy. I found him still breathing, and I sat by him
+with his head in my lap, where he soon died. It was now evening, and
+I got up, and wandered about all night picking straws--I know not
+why. I was not yet quite sensible. During the night the wolves ate my
+poor boy. I heard this from travellers, and went and gathered up his
+bones and buried them in the shrine. I did not quite recover till the
+third day, when I found that some washerwomen had put me into the
+pool, and left me there with my head out, in hopes that this would
+revive me; but they had no hope of my son. I was then taken to the
+police of the town; but the landholders had begged me to say nothing
+about the poisoners, lest it might get them and their village
+community into trouble. The man was tall and fair, and about thirty-
+five; the woman short, stout, and fair, and about thirty; two of her
+teeth projected a good deal; the boy's eyelids were much diseased.'
+
+All this he told me without the slightest appearance of emotion, for
+he had not seen any appearance of it in me, or my Persian writer; and
+a casual European observer would perhaps have exclaimed, 'What brutes
+these natives are! This fellow feels no more for the loss of his only
+son than he would for that of a goat'. But I knew the feeling was
+there. The Persian writer put up his paper, and closed his inkstand,
+and the following dialogue, word for word, took place between me and
+the old man:
+
+_Question_.--What made you conceal the real cause of your boy's
+death, and tell the police that he had been killed, as well as eaten,
+by wolves?
+
+_Answer_.--The landholders told me that they could never bring back
+my boy to life, and the whole village would be worried to death by
+them if I made any mention of the poison.
+
+_Question_.--And if they were to be punished for this they would
+annoy you?
+
+_Answer_.--Certainly. But I believed they advised me for my own good
+as well as their own.
+
+_Question_.--And if they should turn you away from that place, could
+you not make another?
+
+_Answer_.-Are not the bones of my poor boy there, and the trees that
+he and I planted and watched together for ten years?
+
+_Question_.-Have you no other relations? What became of your boy's
+mother?
+
+_Answer_.-She died at that place when my boy was only three months
+old. I have brought him up myself from that age; he was my only
+child, and he has been poisoned for the sake of the blanket! (Here
+the poor old man sobbed as if his heartstrings would break; and I was
+obliged to make him sit down on the floor while I walked up and down
+the room.)
+
+_Question_.--Had you any children before?
+
+_Answer_.--Yes, sir, we had several, but they all died before their
+mother. We had been reduced to beggary by misfortunes, and I had
+become too weak and ill to work. I buried my poor wife's bones by the
+side of the road where she died; raised the little shrine over them,
+planted the trees, and there have I sat ever since by her side, with
+our poor boy in my bosom. It is a sad place for wolves, and we used
+often to hear them howling outside; but my poor boy was never afraid
+of them when he knew I was near him. God preserved him to me, till
+the sight of the new blanket, for I had nothing else in the world,
+made these people poison us. I bought it for him only a few days
+before, when the rains were coming on, out of my savings-it was all I
+had. (The poor old man sobbed again, and sat down while I paced the
+room, lest I should sob also; my heart was becoming a little too
+large for its apartment.) 'I will never', continued he, 'quit the
+bones of my wife and child, and the tree that he and I watered for so
+many years. I have not many years to live; there I will spend them,
+whatever the landholders may do--they advised me for my own good, and
+will never turn me out.'
+
+I found all the poor man stated to be true; the man and his wife had
+mixed poison with the flour to destroy the poor old man and his son
+for the sake of the new blanket which they saw hanging in the branch
+of the tree, and carried away with them. The poison used on such
+occasions is commonly the datura, and it is sometimes given in the
+hookah to be smoked, and at others in food. When they require to
+poison children as well as grown-up people, or women who do not
+smoke, they mix up the poison in food. The intention is almost always
+to destroy life, as 'dead men tell no tales'; but the poisoned people
+sometimes recover, as in the present case, and lead to the detection
+of the poisoners. The cases in which they recover are, however, rare,
+and of those who recover few are ever able to trace the poisoners;
+and, of those who recover and trace them, very few will ever
+undertake to prosecute them through the several courts of the
+magistrate, the sessions, and that of last instance in a distant
+district, to which the proceedings must be sent for final orders.
+
+The impunity with which this crime is everywhere perpetrated, and its
+consequent increase in every part of India, are among the greatest
+evils with which the country is at this time affected. These
+poisoners are spread all over India, and are as numerous over the
+Bombay and Madras Presidencies as over that of Bengal. There is no
+road free from them, and throughout India there must be many hundreds
+who gain their subsistence by this trade alone. They put on all
+manner of disguises to suit their purpose; and, as they prey chiefly
+upon the poorer sort of travellers, they require to destroy the
+greater number of lives to make up their incomes. A party of two or
+three poisoners have very often succeeded in destroying another of
+eight or ten travellers with whom they have journeyed for some days,
+by pretending to give them a feast on the celebration of the
+anniversary of some family event. Sometimes an old woman or man will
+manage the thing alone, by gaining the confidence of travellers, and
+getting near the cooking-pots while they go aside; or when employed
+to bring the flour for the meal from the bazaar. The poison is put
+into the flour or the pot, as opportunity offers.
+
+People of all castes and callings take to this trade, some casually,
+others for life, and others derive it from their parents or teachers.
+They assume all manner of disguises to suit their purposes; and the
+habits of cooking, eating, and sleeping on the side of the road, and
+smoking with strangers of seemingly the same caste, greatly
+facilitate their designs upon travellers. The small parties are
+unconnected with each other, and two parties never unite in the same
+cruise. The members of one party may be sometimes convicted and
+punished, but their conviction is accidental, for the system which
+has enabled us to put down the Thug associations cannot be applied,
+with any fair prospect of success, to the suppression of these pests
+to society.[16]
+
+The Thugs went on their adventures in large gangs, and two or more
+were commonly united in the course of an expedition in the
+perpetration of many murders. Every man shared in the booty according
+to the rank he held in the gang, or the part he took in the murders;
+and the rank of every man and the part he took generally, or in any
+particular murder, were generally well known to all. From among these
+gangs, when arrested, we found the evidence we required for their
+conviction--or the means of tracing it--among the families and
+friends of their victims, or with persons to whom the property taken
+had been disposed of, and in the graves to which the victims had been
+consigned.
+
+To give an idea of the system by which the Government of India has
+been enabled to effect so great a good for the people as the
+suppression of these associations, I will suppose that two sporting
+gentlemen, A at Delhi, and B in Calcutta, had both described the
+killing of a tiger in an island in the Ganges, near Hardwâr[17] and
+mentioned the names of the persons engaged with them. Among the
+persons thus named were C, who had since returned to America, D, who
+had retired to New South Wales, E to England, and F to Scotland.
+There were four other persons named who were still in India, but they
+are deeply interested in A and B's story not being believed. A says
+that B got the skin of the tiger, and B states that he gave it to C,
+who cut out two of the claws. Application is made to C, D, E, and F,
+and without the possibility of any collusion, or even communication
+between them, their statements correspond precisely with those of A
+and B, as to the time, place, circumstances, and persons engaged.
+Their statements are sworn to before magistrates in presence of
+witnesses, and duly attested. C states that he got the skin from B,
+and gave it to the Nawâb of Râmpur[18] for a hookah carpet, but that
+he took from the left forefoot two of the claws, and gave them to the
+minister of the King of Oudh for a charm for his sick child.
+
+ The Nawâb of Râmpur, being applied to, states that he received the
+skin from C, at the time and place mentioned, and that he still
+smokes his hookah upon it; and that it had lost the two claws upon
+the left forefoot. The minister of the King of Oudh states that he
+received the two claws nicely set in gold; that they had cured his
+boy, who still wore them round his neck to guard him from the evil
+eye. The goldsmith states that he set the two claws in gold for C,
+who paid him handsomely for his work. The peasantry, whose cattle
+graze on the island, declare that certain gentlemen did kill a tiger
+there about the time mentioned, and that they saw the body after the
+skin had been taken off, and the vultures had begun to descend upon
+it.
+
+To prove that what A and B had stated could not possibly be true, the
+other party appeal to some of their townsmen, who are said to be well
+acquainted with their characters. They state that they really know
+nothing about the matter in dispute; that their friends, who are
+opposed to A and B, are much liked by their townspeople and
+neighbours, as they have plenty of money, which they spend freely,
+but that they are certainly very much addicted to field-sports, and
+generally absent in pursuit of wild beasts for three or four months
+every year; but whether they were or were not present at the killing
+of the great Garhmuktesar tiger, they could not say.
+
+Most persons would, after examining this evidence, be tolerably well
+satisfied that the said tiger had really been killed at the time and
+place, and by the persons mentioned by A and B; but, to establish the
+fact judicially, it would be necessary to bring A, B, C, D, E, and F,
+the Nawâb of Râmpur, the minister of the King of Oudh, and the
+goldsmith to the criminal court at Meerut, to be confronted with the
+person whose interest it was that A and B should not be believed.
+They would all, perhaps, come to the said court from the different
+quarters of the world in which they had thought themselves snugly
+settled; but the thing would annoy them so much, and be so much
+talked of, that sporting gentlemen, nawâbs, ministers, and goldsmiths
+would in future take good care to have 'forgotten' everything
+connected with the matter in dispute, should another similar
+reference be made to them, and so A and B would never again have any
+chance.
+
+Thug approvers, whose evidence we required, were employed in all
+parts of India, under the officers appointed to put down these
+associations; and it was difficult to bring all whose evidence was
+necessary at the trials to the court of the district in which the
+particular murder was perpetrated. The victims were, for the most
+part, money-carriers, whose masters and families resided hundreds of
+miles from the place where they were murdered, or people on their way
+to their distant homes from foreign service. There was no chance of
+recovering any of the property taken from the victims, as Thugs were
+known to spend what they got freely, and never to have money by them;
+and the friends of the victims, and the bankers whose money they
+carried, were everywhere found exceedingly averse to take share in
+the prosecution.
+
+To obviate all these difficulties separate courts were formed, with
+permission to receive whatever evidence they might think likely to
+prove valuable, attaching to each portion, whether documentary or
+oral, whatever weight it might seem to deserve. Such courts were
+formed at Hyderabad, Mysore, Indore, Lucknow, Gwâlior, and were
+presided over by our highest diplomatic functionaries, in concurrence
+with the princes at whose courts they were accredited; and who at
+Jubbulpore, were under the direction of the representative of the
+Governor-General of India.[l9] By this means we had a most valuable
+species of unpaid agency; and I believe there is no part of their
+public life on which these high functionaries look back with more
+pride than that spent in presiding over such courts, and assisting
+the supreme Government in relieving the people of India from this
+fearful evil.[20]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. A town on the Allahabad and Sâgar road, sixty-one miles north-east
+of Sâgar. It was the head-quarters of the Damoh district from 1818 to
+1835.
+
+2. The chief town of the district of the same name in Bundêlkhand,
+situated on the Kên river, ninety-five miles south-west from
+Allahabad.
+
+3. Worth at that time 450 pounds sterling, or a little more.
+
+4. An unusual mode of procedure for professed Thugs to adopt, who
+usually strangled their victims with a cloth. Faringia (Feringheea)
+Brahman was one of the most noted Thug leaders. He is frequently
+mentioned in the author's _Report on the Depredations committed by
+the Thug Gangs_ (1840), and the story of the Sujaina crime is fully
+told in the Introduction to that volume. Faringia became a valuable
+approver.
+
+5. Lieutenant Brown was suddenly called back to Jubbulpore, and could
+not himself go to Sujaina. He sent, however, an intelligent native
+officer to the place, but no man could be induced to acknowledge that
+he had ever seen the bodies or heard of the affair, though Faringia
+pointed out to them exactly where they all lay. They said it must be
+quite a mistake--that such a thing could not have taken place and
+they know nothing of it. Lieutenant Brown was aware that all this
+affected ignorance arose entirely from the dread these people have of
+being summoned to give evidence to any of our district courts of
+justice; and wrote to the officer in the civil charge of the district
+to request that he would assure them that their presence would not be
+required. Mr. Doolan, the assistant magistrate, happened to be going
+through Sujaina from Sâgar on deputation at the time; and, sending
+for all the respectable old men of the place, he requested that they
+would be under no apprehension, but tell him the real truth, as he
+would pledge himself that not one of them should ever be summoned to
+any district court to give evidence. They then took him to the spot
+and pointed out to him where the bodies had been found, and mentioned
+that the body of the tanner had been burned by his friends. The
+banker, whose treasure they had been carrying, had an equal dislike
+to be summoned to court to give evidence, now that he could no longer
+hope to recover any portion of his lost money; and it was not till
+after Lieutenant Brown had given him a similar assurance, that he
+would consent to have his books examined. The loss of the four
+thousand five hundred rupees was then found entered, with the names
+of the men who had been killed at Sujaina in carrying it. These are
+specimens of some of the minor difficulties we had to contend with in
+our efforts to put down the most dreadful of all crimes. All the
+prisoners accused of these murders had just been tried for others, or
+Lieutenant Brown would not have been able to give the pledge he did.
+[W. H. S.] Difficulties of the same kind beset the administration of
+criminal justice in India to this day.
+
+6. Of the Marâthâs. The district was ceded in 1818.
+
+7. More correctly written Mughal. The term is properly applied to
+Muhammadans of Turk (Mongol) descent. Such persons commonly affix the
+title Beg to their names, and often prefix the Persian title Mîrzâ.
+
+8. Meerut, the well-known cantonment, in the district of the same
+name. The name is written Meeruth by the author, and may be also
+written Mîrath. Ghât (ghaut) means a ferry, or crossing-place.
+Murâdâbâd and Bareilly (Barelî) are in Rohilkhand. The latter has a
+considerable garrison. Both places are large cities, and the head-
+quarter of districts.
+
+9. The bow and quiver are now rarely seen, except, possibly, in
+remote parts of Râjputâna. A body of archers helped to hold the Shâh
+Najaf building at Lucknow against Sir Colin Campbell in 1858. Even in
+1903-4 some of the Tibetans who resisted the British advance were
+armed with bows and arrows.
+
+10. An inn of the Oriental pattern, often called caravanserai in
+books of travel.
+
+11. Then the capital of Ranjit Singh, the great Sikh chief.
+
+12. 'This is commonly given either by the leader of the gang or the
+_belhâ_, who has chosen the place for the murder.' It was usually
+some commonplace order, such as 'Bring the tobacco' (_Ramaseeana_,
+p.99, &c.). See also Meadows Taylor, _Confessions of a Thug_.
+
+13. The Jamâldehî Thugs resided 'in Oude and some other parts east of
+the Ganges. They are considered very clever and expert, and more
+stanch to their oath of secrecy than most other classes' (ibid. p.
+97). At the time referred to Oudh was a separate kingdom, which
+lasted as such until 1856. A map included in the printed Thuggee
+papers reveals the appalling fact that the Thugs had 274 fixed
+burying-places for their victims in the area of the small kingdom,
+about half the size of Ireland.
+
+14. Fakîr (fakeer), a religious mendicant. The word properly applies
+to Muhammadans only, but is often laxly used to include Hindoo
+ascetics.
+
+15. So called because the poison they use is made of the seeds of the
+'datura' plant (_Datura alba_), and other species of the same genus.
+It is a powerful narcotic.
+
+16. The crime of poisoning travellers is still prevalent, and its
+detection is still attended by the difficulties described in the
+text. In some cases the criminals have been proved to belong to
+families of Thug stranglers. The poisoning of cattle by arsenic, for
+the sake of their hides, was very prevalent forty years ago,
+especially in the districts near Benares, but is now believed to be
+less practised. It was checked under the ordinary law by numerous
+convictions and severe sentences.
+
+17. In the Sahâranpur district, where the Ganges issues from the
+hills.
+
+18. A small principality in Rohilkhand, between Murâdâbâd and
+Bareilly (Barêlî).
+
+19. The special laws on the subject, namely: Acts xxx of 1836, xviii
+of 1837, xix of 1837, xviii of 1839, xviii of 1843, xxiv of 1843, xiv
+of 1844, v of 1847, x of 1847, iii of 1848, and xi of 1848, are
+printed in pp. 353-7 of the author's _Report on Budhuk alias Bagree
+Decoits, &c._ (1849). See Bibliography, _ante._ No. 12.
+
+20. I may here mention the names of a few diplomatic officers of
+distinction who have aided in the good cause. _Of the Civil Service_-
+-Mr. F. C. Smith, Mr. Martin, Mr. George Stockwell, Mr. Charles
+Fraser, the Hon. Mr. Wellesley, the Hon. Mr. Shore, the Hon. Mr.
+Cavendish, Mr. George Clerk, Mr. L. Wilkinson, Mr, Bax; _Majors-
+General_--Cubbon and Fraser; _Colonels_--Low, Stewart, Alves, Spiers,
+Caulfield, Sutherland, and Wade; Major Wilkinson; and, among the
+foremost, Major Borthwick and Captain Paton. [W. H. S.]
+
+The author's characteristic modesty has prevented him from dwelling
+upon his own services, which were greater than those of any other
+officer. Some idea of them may be gathered from the collection of
+papers entitled _Ramaseeana_, the contents of which are enumerated in
+the Bibliography, _ante._ No. 2. Colonel Meadows Taylor has given a
+more popular account of the measures taken for the suppression of
+Thuggee (thagî) in his _Confessions of a Thug_, written in 1837 (1st
+ed. 1839). The Thug organization dated from ancient times, but
+attracted little notice from the East India Company's Government
+until the author, then Captain Sleeman, submitted his reports on the
+subject while employed in the Sâgar and Nerbudda Territories, where
+he had been posted in 1820. He proved that the Thug crimes were
+committed by a numerous and highly organized fraternity operating in
+all parts of India. In consequence of his reports, Mr. F. C. Smith,
+Agent to the Governor-General in the Sâgar and Nerbudda Territories,
+was invested, in the year 1829, with special powers, and the author,
+then Major Sleeman, was employed, in addition to his district duties,
+as Mr, Smith's coadjutor and assistant. In 1835 the author was
+relieved from district work, and appointed General Superintendent of
+the operations for the suppression of the Thug gangs. He went on
+leave to the hills in 1836, and on resuming duty in February, 1839,
+was appointed Commissioner for the suppression of Thuggee and
+Dacoity, which office he continued to hold in addition to his other
+appointments.
+
+Between 1826 and 1835, 1,562 prisoners were tried for the crime of
+Thuggee, of whom 1,404 were either hanged or transported for life.
+Some individuals are said to have confessed to over 200 murders, and
+one confessed to 719. The Thug approvers, whose lives were spared,
+were detained in a special prison at Jubbulpore, where the remnant of
+them, with their families, were kept under surveillance. They were
+employed in a tent and carpet factory, known as the School of
+Industry, founded in 1838 by the author and Captain Charles Brown. If
+released, they would certainly have resumed their hereditary
+occupation, which exercised an awful fascination over its votaries.
+Most of the Thug gangs had been broken up by 1860, but cases of
+Thuggee have occurred occasionally since that date. A gang of Kahârs
+(palanquin bearers) committed a series of Thug murders in, I think,
+1877, at Etâwa, in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The office
+of Superintendent of Thuggee and Dacoity was kept up until 1904, but
+the officer in charge was more concerned with Dacoity (that is to
+say, organized gang-robbery with violence) in the Native States than
+with the secret crime of Thuggee. Secret crime is now watched by the
+Central Criminal Intelligence Department under the direct control of
+the Government of India, and has to deal with novel forms of evil-
+doing. In India it is never safe to assume that any ancient practice
+has been suppressed, and I have little doubt that, if administrative
+pressure were relaxed, the old form of Thuggee would again be heard
+of. The occasional discovery of murdered beggars, who could not have
+been killed for the sake of their property, leads me to suppose that
+the Megpunnia variety of Thuggee, that is to say, murder of poor
+persons in order to kidnap and sell their children, is still
+sometimes practised.
+
+Among the officers named by the author the best known is Sir Mark
+Cubbon, who came to India in 1800, and died at Suez in 1861. During
+the interval he had never quitted India. He ruled over Mysore for
+nearly thirty years with almost despotic power, and reorganized the
+administration of that country with conspicuous success (Buckland,
+_Dict. of Indian Biography_, Sonnenschein, 1906).
+
+The Hon. Frederick John Shore, of the Bengal Civil Service,
+officiated in 1836 as Civil Commissioner and Political Agent of the
+Sâgar and Nerbudda Territories. In 1837 he published his _Notes on
+Indian Affairs_ (London, 2 vols. 8vo), a series of articles dealing
+in the most outspoken way with the abuses and weaknesses of Anglo-
+Indian administration at that time.
+
+Mr. F. C. Smith was Agent to the Governor-General at Jubbulpore in
+1830 and subsequent years. The author was then immediately
+subordinate to him. Messrs. Martin and Wellesley were Residents at
+Holkar's court at Indore. Mr. Stockwell tried some of the Thug
+prisoners at Cawnpore and Allahabad as Special Commissioner, in
+addition to his ordinary duties: correspondence between him and the
+author is printed in _Ramaseeana_. Mr. Charles Fraser preceded the
+author in charge of the Sâgar district, and in January, 1832, resumed
+charge of the revenue and civil duties of that district, leaving the
+criminal work to the author. The Hon. Mr. Cavendish was Resident at
+Sindhia's court at Gwâlior. Mr. George Clerk became Sir George Clerk
+and Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, Governor of
+Bombay, and Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India; he died at
+a great age in 1889. Mr. Lancelot Wilkinson, Political Agent in
+Bhopal, was considered by the author to be 'one of the most able and
+estimable members of the India Civil Service' (_Journey_, ii. 403).
+Mr. Bax was Resident at Indore; Colonel (afterwards Sir John) Low,
+was Resident at Lucknow, and had served at Jubbulpore; Colonel
+Stewart and Major-General Fraser were Residents at Hyderabad; Major
+(Colonel) Alves was Political Agent in Bhopal and Agent in Râjputâna;
+Colonel Spiers was Agent at Nîmach, and officiated as Agent in
+Râjputâna; Colonel Caulfield had been Political Agent at Harautî;
+Colonel Sutherland was Resident at Gwâlior, and afterwards Agent in
+Râjputâna; Colonel (Sir C. M.) Wade had been Political Agent at
+Lûdiâna; Major Borthwick was employed at Indore; Captain Paton was
+Assistant Resident at Lucknow (see _Journey through Kingdom of Oudh_,
+vol. ii, pp. 152-69).
+
+Besides the officers above named, others are specified in
+_Ramaseeana_ as having done good service.
+
+_Note._--Mr. Crooke suggests, and, I think, correctly, that the words
+_Megpunnia_ and _Megpunnaism_ (_ante_, note 20, and Bibliography No.
+7) are corruptions of the Hindî _Mêkh-phandiyâ_, from _mêkh_, 'a
+peg', and _phandâ_, 'a noose', equivalent to the Persian _tasmabâz_,
+meaning 'playing tricks with a strap'. Creagh, a private in a British
+regiment at Cawnpore about 1803, is said to have initiated three men
+into the peg and strap trick, as practised by English rogues. These
+men became the leaders of three Tasmabâz Thug gangs, whose
+proceedings are described by Mr. R. Montgomery in _Selections of the
+Records of Government_, N.W.P., vol. i, p. 312. A strap is doubled
+and folded up in different shapes. The art consists in putting in a
+stick or peg in such a way that the strap when unfolded shall come
+out double. The Tasmabâz Thugs seem to be identical with the
+'Megpunnia' (_N.I.N.& Qu._, vol. i, p. 108, note 721, September
+1891).
+
+ General Hervey records seven modern instances of strangulation by
+Megpunnia Thugs in Râjputâna (_Some Records of Crime_ (1867), vol. i,
+pp. 126-31).
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 14
+
+
+Basaltic Cappings of the Sandstone Hills of Central India--Suspension
+Bridge--Prospects of the Nerbudda Valley--Deification of a Mortal.
+
+On the 29th[1] we came on to Pathariâ, a considerable little town
+thirty miles from Sâgar, supported almost entirely by a few farmers,
+small agricultural capitalists, and the establishment of a native
+collector,[2] On leaving Pathariâ, we ascend gradually along the side
+of the basaltic hills on our left to the south for three miles to a
+point whence we see before us this plane of basaltic cappings
+extending as far as the eye can reach to the west, south, and north,
+with frequent breaks, but still preserving one uniform level. On the
+top of these tables are here and there little conical elevations of
+laterite, or indurated iron clay.[3] The cappings everywhere repose
+immediately upon the sandstone of the Vindhya range; but they have
+occasional beds of limestone, formed apparently by springs rising
+from their sides, and strongly impregnated with carbonic acid gas.
+For the most part this is mere travertine, but in some places they
+get good lime from the beds for building.
+
+On the 1st of December we came to the pretty village of Sanodâ, near
+the suspension bridge built over the river Biâs by Colonel Presgrave,
+while he was assay master of the Sâgar mint.[4] I was present at
+laying the foundation-stone of this bridge in December 1827. Mr.
+Maddock was the Governor-General's representative in these
+territories, and the work was undertaken more with a view to show
+what could be done out of their own resources, under minds capable of
+developing them, than to supply any pressing or urgent want.
+
+The work was completed in June, 1830; and I have several times seen
+upon the bridge as many as it could hold of a regiment of infantry
+while it moved over; and, at other times, as many of a corps of
+cavalry, and often several elephants at once. The bridge is between
+the points of suspension two hundred feet, and the clear portion of
+the platform measures one hundred and ninety feet by eleven and a
+half. The whole cost of the work amounted to about fifty thousand
+rupees; and, under a less able and careful person than Colonel
+Presgrave, would have cost, perhaps, double the amount. This work has
+been declared by a very competent judge to be equal to any structure
+of the same kind in Europe, and is eminently calculated to show what
+genius and perseverance can produce out of the resources of a country
+even in the rudest state of industry and the arts.
+
+The river Nerbudda neither is nor ever can, I fear, be made
+navigable, and the produce of its valley would require to find its
+way to distant markets over the Vindhya range of hills to the north,
+or the Sâtpura to the south. If the produce of the soil, mines, and
+industry of the valley cannot be transported to distant markets, the
+Government cannot possibly find in it any available net surplus
+revenue in money; for it has no mines of the precious metals, and the
+precious metals can flow in only in exchange for the produce of the
+land, and the industry of the valley that flows out. If the
+Government wishes to draw a net surplus revenue from the valley or
+from the districts that border upon it, that is, a revenue beyond its
+expenditure in support of the local public establishments, it must
+either draw it in produce, or for what can be got for that produce in
+distant markets.[5] Hitherto little beyond the rude produce of the
+soil has been able to find its way into distant markets from the
+valley of the Nerbudda; yet this valley abounds in iron mines,[6] and
+its soil, where unexhausted by cropping, is of the richest
+quality.[7] It is not then too much to hope that in time the iron of
+the mines will be worked with machinery for manufactures; and that
+multitudes, aided by this machinery, and subsisted on the rude
+agricultural produce, which now flows out, will invest the value of
+their labour in manufactured commodities adapted to the demand of
+foreign markets and better able from their superior value, compared
+with their bulk, to pay the cost of transport by land. Then, and not
+till then, can we expect to see these territories pay a considerable
+net surplus revenue to Government, and abound in a middle class of
+merchants, manufacturers, and agricultural capitalists.[8]
+
+At Sanodâ there is a very beautiful little fortress or castle now
+unoccupied, though still entire. It was built by an officer of the
+Râjâ Chhatar Sâl of Bundêlkhand, about one hundred and twenty years
+ago.[9] He had a grant, on the tenure of military service, of twelve
+villages situated round this place; and a man who could build such a
+castle to defend the surrounding country from the inroads of
+freebooters, and to secure himself and his troops from any sudden
+impulse of the people's resentment, was as likely to acquire an
+increase of territorial possession in these parts as he would have
+been in Europe during the Middle Ages. The son of this chief, by name
+Râi Singh, was, soon after the castle had been completed, killed in
+an attack upon a town near Chitrakôt;[10] and having, in the
+estimation of the people, _become a god_, he had a temple and a tomb
+raised to him close to our encampment. I asked the people how he had
+become a _god_; and was told that some one who had been long
+suffering from a quartan ague went to the tomb one night, and
+promised Râi Singh, whose ashes lay under it, that if he could
+contrive to cure his ague for him, he would, during the rest of his
+life, make offerings to his shrine. After that he had never another
+attack, and was very punctual in his offerings. Others followed his
+example, and with like success, till Râi Singh was recognized among
+them universally as a god, and a temple raised to his name. This is
+the way that gods were made all over the world at one time, and are
+still made all over India. Happy had it been for mankind if those
+only who were supposed to do good had been deified.[11]
+
+On the 2nd we came on to the village of Khojanpur (leaving the town
+and cantonments of Sâgar to our left), a distance of some fourteen
+miles. The road for a great part of the way was over the bare back of
+the sandstone strata, the covering of basalt having been washed off.
+The hills, however, are, at this distance from the city and
+cantonments of Sâgar, nicely wooded; and, being constantly
+intersected by pretty little valleys, the country we came over was
+picturesque and beautiful. The soil of all these valleys is rich from
+the detritus of the basalt that forms or caps the hills; but it is
+now in a bad state of cultivation, partly from several successive
+seasons of great calamity, under which the people have been
+suffering, and partly from over-assessment; and this posture of
+affairs is continued by that loss of energy, industry, and character,
+among the farmers and cultivators, which must everywhere result from
+these two evils. In India, where the people have learnt so well to
+govern themselves, from the want of settled government, good or bad
+government really depends almost altogether upon _good or bad
+settlements of the land revenue_. Where the Government demand is
+imposed with moderation, and enforced with justice, there will the
+people be generally found happy and contented, and disposed to
+perform their duties to each other and to the state; except when they
+have the misfortune to suffer from drought, blight, and other
+calamities of season.[l2]
+
+I have mentioned that the basalt in the Sâgar district reposes for
+the most part immediately upon the sandstone of the Vindhya range;
+and it must have been deposited on the sand, while the latter was yet
+at the bottom of the ocean, though this range is now, I believe,
+nowhere less than from fifteen hundred to two thousand feet above the
+level of the sea. The marks of the ripple of the sea may be observed
+in some places where the basalt has been recently washed off,
+beautifully defined, as if formed only yesterday, and there is no
+other substance to be seen between the two rocks.
+
+The texture of the sandstone at the surface, where it comes in
+contact with the basalt, has in some places been altered by it, but
+in others it seems to have been as little changed as the habitations
+of the people who were suffocated by the ashes of Vesuvius in the
+city of Pompeii. I am satisfied, from long and careful examination,
+that the greater part of this basalt, which covers the tableland of
+Central and Southern India, must have been held for some time in
+suspension in the ocean or lake into which it was first thrown in the
+shape of ashes, and then gradually deposited. This alone can account
+for its frequent appearance of stratification, for the gentle
+blending of its particles with those of the sand near the surface of
+the latter; and, above all, for those level steps, or tables, lying
+one above another horizontally in parallel bars on one range,
+corresponding exactly with the same parallel lines one above another
+on a range twenty or thirty miles across the valley. Mr. Scrope's
+theory is, I believe, that these are all mere flowing _coulées_ of
+lava, which, in their liquid state, filled hollows, but afterwards
+became of a harder texture, as they dried and crystallized, than the
+higher rocks around them; the consequence of which is that the latter
+has been decomposed and washed away, while the basalt has been left
+to form the highest elevations. My opinion is that these steps, or
+stairs, at one time formed the beds of the ocean, or of great lakes,
+and that the substance of which they are composed was, for the most
+part, projected into the water, and there held in suspension till
+gradually deposited. There are, however, amidst these steps, and
+beneath them, masses of more compact and crystalline basalt, that
+bear evident signs of having been flows of lava.[l3]
+
+Reasoning from analogy at Jubbulpore, where some of the basaltic
+cappings of the hills had evidently been thrown out of craters long
+after this surface had been raised above the waters, and become the
+habitation both of vegetable and animal life, I made the first
+discovery of fossil remains in the Nerbudda valley. I went first to a
+hill within sight of my house in 1828,[14] and searched exactly
+between the plateau of basalt that covered it and the stratum
+immediately below, and there I found several small trees with roots,
+trunks, and branches, all entire, and beautifully petrified. They had
+been only recently uncovered by the washing away of a part of the
+basaltic plateau. I soon after found some fossil bones of
+animals.[15] Going over to Sâgar, in the end of 1830, and reasoning
+there upon the same analogy, I searched for fossil remains along the
+line of contact between the basalt and the surface upon which it had
+been deposited, and I found a grove of silicified palm-trees within a
+mile of the cantonments. These palm-trees had grown upon a calcareous
+deposit formed from springs rising out of the basaltic range of hills
+to the south. The commissariat officer had cut a road through this
+grove, and all the European officers of a large military station had
+been every day riding through it without observing the geological
+treasure; and it was some time before I could convince them that the
+stones which they had every day seen were really petrified palm-
+trees. The roots and trunks were beautifully perfect.[l6]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. November, 1835.
+
+2. In the Damoh District, twenty-four miles west of Damoh. The name
+appears to be derived from the 'great quantity of hewn stone (Hind.
+_patthar_ or _pâthar_) lying about in all directions'. The _C. P.
+Gazetteer_ (1870) calls the place 'a considerable village'.
+
+3. A peculiar formation, of 'widespread occurrence in the tropical
+and subtropical regions of the world'. It is ordinarily of a reddish
+ferruginous or brick-dust colour, sometimes deepened into dark red.
+Apparently the special character which distinguishes laterite from
+other forms of red-coloured weathering is the presence of hydrous
+oxide of alumina in varying proportions. . . . 'Though there is still
+a great deal of uncertainty about the way in which laterite was
+formed, the facts which are known of its distribution seem to show
+that it is a distinct form of weathering, which is confined to low
+latitudes and humid climates; its formation seems to have been a slow
+process, only possible on flat or nearly flat surfaces, where surface
+rain-wash could not act' (Oldham, in _The Oxford Survey of the
+British Empire_, vol. ii, Asia, p. 10: Oxford, 1914). It hardens and
+darkens by exposure to air, and is occasionally used as a building
+stone.
+
+4. The Sâgar mint was erected in 1820 by Captain Presgrave, the assay
+master, and used to employ four hundred men, but, after about ten or
+twelve years, the business was transferred to Calcutta, and the
+buildings converted to other uses (_C. P. Gazetteer_, 1870). Mints
+are now kept up at Calcutta and Bombay only. The Biâs is a small
+stream flowing into the Sunâr river, and belonging to the Jumna river
+system. The name is printed Beeose in the original edition.
+
+5. Since the author's time the conditions have been completely
+changed by the introduction of railways. The East Indian, Great
+Indian Peninsular, and other railways now enter the Nerbudda Valley,
+so that the produce of most districts can be readily transported to
+distant markets. A large enhancement of the land revenue has been
+obtained by revisions of the settlement.
+
+6. Details will be found in the _Central Provinces Gazetteer_ (1870).
+The references are collected under the head 'Iron' in the index to
+that work. Chapter VIII of _Ball's Economic Geology of India_ gives
+full information concerning the iron mines of the Central Provinces
+and all parts of India. That work forms Part III of the _Manual of
+the Geology of India_.
+
+7. The soil of the valley of the Nerbudda, and that of the Nerbudda
+and Sâgar territories generally, is formed for the most part of the
+detritus of trap-rocks that everywhere covered the sandstone of the
+Vindhya and Sâtpura ranges which run through these territories. This
+basaltic detritus forms what is called the black cotton soil by the
+English, for what reason I know not. [W. H. S.] The reason is that
+cotton is very largely grown in the Nerbudda Valley, both on the
+black soil and other soils. In Bundêlkhand the black, friable soil,
+often with a high proportion of organic matter, is called 'mâr', and
+is chiefly devoted to raising crops of wheat, gram, or chick-pea
+(_Cicer arietinum_), linseed, and joâr (_Holcus sorghum_). Cotton is
+also sown in it, but not very generally. This black soil requires
+little rain, and is fertile without manure. It absorbs water too
+freely to be suitable for irrigation, and in most seasons does not
+need it. The 'black cotton soil' is often known as _regur_, a
+corruption of a Tamil word. 'The origin of _regur_ is a doubtful
+question. . . . The dark coloration was attributed by earlier writers
+to vegetable matter, and taken to indicate a large amount of humus in
+the soil; more recent investigations make this doubtful, and in all
+probability the colour is due to mineral constitution rather than to
+the very scanty organic constituents of the soil,' It may possibly be
+formed of 'wind-borne dust', like the loess plains of China (Oldham,
+in _The Oxford Survey of the British Empire_, vol. ii, Asia, p. 9:
+Oxford, 1914).
+
+8. The land revenue has been largely increased, and the resources and
+communications of the country have been greatly developed during the
+last half-century. The formation of the Central Provinces as a
+separate administration in 1861 secured for the Sâgar and Nerbudda
+territories the attention which they failed to obtain from the
+distant Government of the North-Western Provinces. Sir Richard
+Temple, the first Chief Commissioner, administered the Central
+Provinces with extraordinary energy and success.
+
+9. Râjâ Chhatarsâl Bundela was Râjâ of Pannâ. The history of
+Chhatarsâl is related in _I.G._ (1908), vol. xix, p. 400, s.v. Panna
+State. In 1729 he called in the Marâthâs to help him against Muhammad
+Khan Bangash, and when he died in 1731 rewarded them by bequeathing
+one-third of his dominions to the Peshwa. The correct date of his
+death is Pûs Badi 3, Samvat 1788 (_Hamîrpur Settlement Report_
+(1880), note at end of chapter 2). The date is often given
+inaccurately.
+
+10. Chitrakôt, in the Bânda district of Bundêlkhand, under the
+government of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, and seventy-one
+miles distant from Allahabad, is a famous place of pilgrimage, much
+frequented by the votaries of Râma. Large fairs are held there.
+
+11. The performance of miraculous cures at the tomb is not necessary
+for the deification of a person who has been specially feared in his
+lifetime, or has died a violent death. Either of these conditions is
+enough to render his ghost formidable, and worthy of propitiation.
+Shrines to such persons are very numerous both in Bundêlkhand and
+other parts of India, Miracles, of course, occur at nearly every
+shrine, and are too common and well attested to attract much
+attention.
+
+12. These observations are as true to-day as they were in the
+author's time. Disastrous cases of over-assessment were common in the
+early years of British rule, and the mischief so wrought has been
+sometimes traceable for generations afterwards. Since 1833 the error,
+though less common, has not been unknown.
+
+13. Since writing the above, I have seen Colonel Sykes's notes on the
+formations of Southern India in the _Indian Review_. The facts there
+described seem all to support my conclusion, and his map would answer
+just as well for Central as for Southern India; for the banks of the
+Nerbudda and Chambal, Sôn, and Mahânadî, as well as for those of the
+Bâm and the Bîmâ. Colonel Sykes does not, I believe, attempt to
+account for the stratification of the basalt; he merely describes it.
+[W. H. S.]
+
+The author's theory of the subaqueous origin of the greater part of
+the basalt of Central and Southern India, otherwise known as the
+'Deccan Trap Series', had been supported by numerous excellent
+geologists, but W. T. Blanford proved the theory to be untenable,
+there being 'clear and unmistakable evidence that the traps were in
+great part of sub-aerial formation', The intercalation of sedimentary
+beds with fresh-water fossils is conclusive proof that the lava-flows
+associated with such beds cannot be submarine. The hypothesis that
+the lower beds of traps were poured out in a vast, but shallow,
+freshwater lake extending throughout the area over which the inter-
+trappean limestone formation extends appears to be extremely
+improbable. The lava seems to have been poured, during a long
+succession of ages, over a land surface, uneven and broken in parts,
+'with intervals of rest sufficient for lakes, stocked with fresh-
+water mollusca, to form on the cold surfaces of several of the lava-
+flows' (Holland, in _I.G._ (1907), i. 88). A great tract of the
+volcanic region appears to have remained almost undisturbed to the
+present day, affected by sub-aerial erosion alone. The geological
+horizon of the Deccan trap cannot be precisely defined, but is now
+vaguely stated as 'the close of the cretaceous period'. The 'steps',
+or conspicuous terraces, traceable on the hill-sides for great
+distances, are explained as being 'due to the outcrop of the harder
+basaltic strata, or of those beds which resist best the
+disintegrating influences of exposure'.
+
+The general horizontality of the Deccan trap over an area of not less
+than 200,000 square miles, and the absence of volcanic hills of the
+usual conical form, are difficulties which have caused much
+discussion. Some of the 'old volcanic vents' appear to have existed
+near Poona and Mahâblêshwar. The entire area has been subjected to
+sub-aerial denudation on a gigantic scale, which explains the
+occurrence of the basalt as the caps of isolated hills. Much further
+investigation is required to clear up details (_Manual of the Geology
+of India_, ed. 1, Part I, chap. 13)
+
+14. The author took charge of the Jubbulpore District in March 1828.
+
+15. The fossiliferous beds near Jubbulpore, described in the text,
+seem to belong to the group now classed as the Lamêtâ beds. The bones
+of a large dinosaurian reptile (_Titanosaurus indicus_) have been
+identified (_I.G._, 1907, vol. i, p. 88).
+
+16. 'Many years ago Dr. Spry (_Note on the Fossil Palms and Shells
+lately discovered on the Table-Land of Sâgar in Central India_, in
+_J.A.S.B._ for 1833, vol. ii, p. 639) and, subsequently to him,
+Captain Nicholls (_Journal of Asiatic Soc. of Bombay_, vol. v, p.
+614), studied and described certain trunks of palm-trees, whose
+silicified remains are found imbedded in the soft intertrappean mud-
+beds near Sâgar. . . . The trees are imbedded in a layer of
+calcareous black earth, which formed the surface soil in which they
+grew; this soil rests on, and was made up of the disintegration of, a
+layer of basalt. It is covered over by another and similar layer of
+the same rock near where the trees occur. . . . The palm-trees, now
+found fossilized, grew in the soil, which, in the condition of a
+black calcareous earthy bed, we now find lying round their prostrate
+stems. They fell (from whatever cause), and lay until their
+silicification was complete. A slight depression of the surface, or
+some local or accidental check of some drainage-course, or any other
+similar and trivial cause, may have laid them under water. The
+process of silicification proceeded gradually but steadily, and after
+they had there, in lapse of ages, become lapidified, the next
+outburst of volcanic matter overwhelmed them, broke them, partially
+enveloped, and bruised them, until long subsequent denudation once
+more brought them to light' (J. G. Medlicott, in _Memoirs of the
+Geological Survey of India_, vol. ii. Part II, pp. 200, 203, 204,
+205, 216, as quoted in _C. P. Gazetteer_ (1870), p. 435). The
+intertrappean fossils are all those of organisms which would occur in
+shallow fresh-water lakes or marshy ground.
+
+Besides the author's friend and relative, Dr. H. H. Spry, Dr.
+Spilsbury contributed papers on the Nerbudda fossils to vols. iii,
+vi, viii, ix, x, and xiii of the _J.A.S.B._ Other writers also have
+treated of the subject, but it appears to be by no means fully worked
+out. James Prinsep, to whom no topic came amiss, discussed the
+Jubbulpore fossil bones in the volume in which Dr. Spry's paper
+appeared. Dr. Spry was the author of a work entitled _Modern India:
+with Illustrations of the Resources and Capabilities of Hindustan_ (2
+vols. 8vo, 1838). He became F.R.S.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 15
+
+
+Legend of the Sâgar Lake--Paralysis from eating the Grain of the
+_Lathyrus sativus_.
+
+The cantonments of Sâgar are about two miles from the city and
+occupied by three regiments of native infantry, one of local horse,
+and a company of European artillery.[1] The city occupies two sides
+of one of the most beautiful lakes of India, formed by a wall which
+unites two sandstone hills on the north side. The fort and part of
+the town stands upon this wall, which, according to tradition, was
+built by a wealthy merchant of the Banjâra caste.[2] After he had
+finished it, the bed of the lake still remained dry; and he was told
+in a dream, or by a priest, that it would continue so till he should
+consent to sacrifice his own daughter, then a girl, and the young lad
+to whom she was affianced, to the tutelary god of the place. He
+accordingly built a little shrine in the centre of the valley, which
+was to become the bed of the lake, put the two children in, and built
+up the doorway. He had no sooner done so than the whole of the valley
+became filled with water, and the old merchant, the priest, the
+masons, and spectators, made their escape with much difficulty. From
+that time the lake has been inexhaustible; but no living soul of the
+Banjâra caste has ever since been known to drink of its waters.
+Certainly all of that caste at present religiously avoid drinking the
+water of the lake; and the old people of the city say that they have
+always done so since they can remember, and that they used to hear
+from their parents that they had always done so. In nothing does the
+Founder of the Christian religion appear more amiable than in His
+injunction, 'Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them
+not'. In nothing do the Hindoo deities appear more horrible than in
+the delight they are supposed to take in their sacrifice--it is
+everywhere the helpless, the female, and the infant that they seek to
+devour--and so it was among the Phoenicians and their Carthaginian
+colonies. Human sacrifices were certainly offered in the cities of
+Sâgar during the whole of the Marâtha government up to the year 1800,
+when they were put a stop to by the local governor, Âsâ Sâhib, a very
+humane man; and I once heard a very learned Brahman priest say that
+he thought the decline of his family and government arose from this
+_innovation_. 'There is', said he, 'no sin in _not_ offering human
+sacrifices to the gods where none have been offered; but, where the
+gods have been accustomed to them, they are naturally annoyed when
+the rite is abolished, and visit the place and people with all kinds
+of calamities.' He did not seem to think that there was anything
+singular in this mode of reasoning, and perhaps three Brahman priests
+out of four would have reasoned in the same manner.[3]
+
+On descending into the valley of the Nerbudda over the Vindhya range
+of hills from Bhopal, one may see by the side of the road, upon a
+spur of the hill, a singular pillar of sandstone rising in two
+spires, one turning above and rising over the other, to the height of
+from twenty to thirty feet. On a spur of a hill half a mile distant
+is another sandstone pillar not quite so high. The tradition is that
+the smaller pillar was the affianced bride of the taller one, who was
+a youth of a family of great eminence in these parts. Coming with his
+uncle to pay his first visit to his bride in the procession they call
+the 'barât', he grew more and more impatient as he approached nearer
+and nearer, and she shared the feeling. At last, unable to restrain
+himself, he jumped upon his uncle's shoulder, and looked with all his
+might towards the spot where his bride was said to be seated.
+Unhappily she felt no less impatient than he did, and raised 'the
+fringed curtains of her eye', as he raised his, [and] they saw each
+other at the same moment. In that moment the bride, bridegroom, and
+uncle were all converted into stone pillars; and there they stand to
+this day a monument, in the estimation of the people, to warn men and
+womankind against too strong an inclination to indulge curiosity. It
+is a singular fact that in one of the most extensive tribes of the
+Gond population of Central India, to which this couple is said to
+have belonged, the bride always goes to the bridegroom in the
+procession of the 'barât', to prevent a recurrence of this calamity.
+It is the bridegroom who goes to the bride among every other class of
+the people of India, as well Muhammadans as Hindoos. Whether the
+usage grew out of the tradition, or the tradition out of the usage,
+is a question that will admit of much being said on both sides. I can
+only vouch for the existence of both. I have seen the pillars, heard
+the tradition from the people, and ascertained the usage; as in the
+case of that of the Sâgar lake.
+
+The Mahâdêo sandstone hills, which in the Sâtpura range overlook the
+Nerbudda to the south, rise to between four and five thousand feet
+above the level of the sea;[4] and in one of the highest parts a fair
+was formerly, and is, perhaps, still held[5] for the enjoyment of
+those who assemble to witness the self devotion of a few young men,
+who offer themselves as a sacrifice to fulfil the vows of their
+mothers. When a woman is without children she makes votive offerings
+to all the gods, who can, she thinks, assist her, and promises of
+still greater in case they should grant what she wants. Smaller
+promises being found of no avail, she at last promises her first-
+born, if a male, to the god of destruction, Mahâdêo. If she gets a
+son, she conceals from him her vows till he has attained the age of
+puberty; she then communicates it [_sic_] to him, and enjoins him to
+fulfil it. He believes it to be his paramount duty to obey his
+mother's call; and from that moment he considers himself as devoted
+to the god. Without breathing to any living soul a syllable of what
+she has told him, he puts on the habit of a pilgrim or religious
+mendicant, visits all the celebrated temples dedicated to this god in
+different parts of India;[6] and, at the annual fair on the Mahâdêo
+hills, throws himself from a perpendicular height of four or five
+hundred feet, and is dashed to pieces upon the rocks below.[7] If the
+youth does not feel himself quite prepared for the sacrifice on the
+first visit, he spends another year in pilgrimages, and returns to
+fulfil his mother's vow at the next fair. Some have, I believe, been
+known to postpone the sacrifice to a third fair; but the interval is
+always spent in painful pilgrimages to the celebrated temples of the
+god. When Sir R. Jenkins was the Governor-General's representative at
+the court of Nâgpur,[8] great efforts were made by him and all the
+European officers under him to put a stop to these horrors by doing
+away with the fair; and their efforts were assisted by the _cholera
+morbus_, which broke out among the multitude one season while they
+were so employed, and carried off the greater part of them. This
+seasonable visitation was, I believe, considered as an intimation on
+the part of the god that the people ought to have been more attentive
+to the wishes of the white men, for it so happens that Mahâdêo is the
+only one of the Hindoo gods who is represented with a white face.[9]
+He figures among the _dramatis personae_ of the great pantomime of
+the Râmlîlâ[10] or fight for the recovery of Sitâ from the demon king
+of Ceylon; and is the only one with a white face. I know not whether
+the fair has ever been revived, but [I] think not.
+
+In 1829 the wheat and other spring crops in this and the surrounding
+villages were destroyed by a severe hail-storm; in 1830 they were
+deficient from the want of seasonable rains; and in 1831 they were
+destroyed by blight. During these three years the 'teorî', or what in
+other parts of India is called 'kesârî' (the _Lathyrus sativus_ of
+botanists), a kind of wild vetch, which, though not sown itself, is
+left carelessly to grow among the wheat and other grain, and given in
+the green and dry state to cattle, remained uninjured, and thrived
+with great luxuriance.[11] In 1831 they reaped a rich crop of it from
+the blighted wheat-fields, and subsisted upon its grain during that
+and the following years, giving the stalks and leaves only to their
+cattle. In 1833 the sad effects of this food began to manifest
+themselves. The younger part of the population of this and the
+surrounding villages, from the age of thirty downwards, began to be
+deprived of the use of their limbs below the waist by paralytic
+strokes, in all cases sudden, but in some cases more severe than in
+others. About half the youth of this village of both sexes became
+affected during the years 1833 and 1834, and many of them have lost
+the use of their lower limbs entirely, and are unable to move. The
+youth of the surrounding villages, in which the 'teorî' from the same
+causes formed the chief article of food during the years 1831 and
+1832, have suffered to an equal degree. Since the year 1834 no new
+case has occurred; but no person once attacked had been found to
+recover the use of the limbs affected; and my tent was surrounded by
+great numbers of the youth in different stages of the disease,
+imploring my advice and assistance under this dreadful visitation.
+Some of them were very fine-looking young men of good caste and
+respectable families; and all stated that their pains and infirmities
+were confined entirely to the parts below the waist. They described
+the attack as coming on suddenly, often while the person was asleep,
+and without any warning symptoms whatever; and stated that a greater
+portion of the young men were attacked than of the young women. It is
+the prevailing opinion of the natives throughout the country that
+both horses and bullocks, which have been much fed upon 'teorî', are
+liable to lose the use of their limbs; but, if the poisonous
+qualities abound more in the grain than in the stalk or leaves, man,
+who eats nothing but the grain, must be more liable to suffer from
+the use of this food than beasts, which eat it merely as they eat
+grass or hay.
+
+I sent the son of the head man of the village and another, who were
+among the young people least affected, into Sâgar with a letter to my
+friend Dr. Foley, with a request that he would try what he could do
+for them; and if he had any fair prospect of being able to restore
+these people to the use of their limbs, that measures might be
+adopted through the civil authorities to provide them with
+accommodation and the means of subsistence, either by private
+subscription, or by application to Government. The civil authorities,
+however, could find neither accommodation nor funds to maintain these
+people while under Dr. Foley's care; and several seasons of calamity
+had deprived them of the means of maintaining themselves at a
+distance from their families. Nor is a medical man in India provided
+with the means found most effectual in removing such affections, such
+as baths, galvanic batteries, &c. It is lamentable to think how very
+little we have as yet done for the country in the healing art, that
+art which, above all others, a benevolent and enlightened Government
+should encourage among the people of India.
+
+All we have as yet done has been to provide medical attendants for
+our European officers; regiments, and jails. It must not, however, be
+supposed that the people of India are without medical advice, for
+there is not a town or considerable village in India without its
+practitioners, the Hindoos following the Egyptian (Misrânî), and the
+Musalmâns the Grecian (Yunânî) practice. The first prescribe little
+physic and much fasting; and the second follow the good old rules of
+Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicenna, with which they are all tolerably
+well acquainted. As far as the office of physician goes, the natives
+of India of all classes, high and low, have much more confidence in
+their own practitioners than in ours, whom they consider too reckless
+and better adapted to treat diseases in a cold than a hot climate.
+They cannot afford to give the only fees which European physicians
+would accept; and they see them, in their hospital practice, trust
+much to their native assistants, who are very few of them able to
+read any book, much less to study the profound doctrines of the great
+masters of the science of medicine.[12] No native ventures to offer
+an opinion upon this abstruse subject in any circle where he is not
+known to be profoundly read in either Arabic or Sanskrit lore; nor
+would he venture to give a prescription without first consulting,
+'spectacles on nose', a book as large as a church Bible. The educated
+class, as indeed all classes, say that they do not want our
+physicians, but stand much in need of our surgeons. Here they feel
+that they are helpless, and we are strong; and they seek our aid
+whenever they see any chance of obtaining it, as in the present
+case.[13] Considering that every European gentleman they meet is more
+or less a surgeon, or hoping to find him so, people who are
+afflicted, or have children afflicted, with any kind of malformation,
+or malorganization, flock round them [_sic_] wherever they go, and
+implore their aid; but implore in vain, for, when they do happen to
+fall in with a surgeon, he is a mere passer-by, without the means or
+the time to afford relief. In travelling over India there is nothing
+which distresses a benevolent man so much as the necessity he is
+daily under of telling poor parents, who, with aching hearts and
+tearful eyes, approach him with their suffering children in their
+arms, that to relieve them requires time and means which are not at a
+traveller's command, or a species of knowledge which he does not
+possess; it is bitter thus to dash to the ground the cup of hope
+which our approach has raised to the lip of mother, father, and
+child; but he consoles himself with the prospect, that at no distant
+period a benevolent and enlightened Government will distribute over
+the land those from whom the afflicted will not seek relief in
+vain.[14]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The garrison is stated in the _Gazetteer_ (1870) to consist of a
+European regiment of infantry, two batteries of European artillery,
+one native cavalry and one native infantry regiment. In 1893 it
+consisted of one battery of Royal Artillery, a detachment of British
+Infantry, a regiment of Bengal Cavalry, and a detachment of Bengal
+Infantry. According to the census of 1911, the population of Sâgar
+was 45,908.
+
+2. The Banjâras, or Brinjâras, are a wandering tribe, principally
+employed as carriers of grain and salt on bullocks and cows. They
+used to form the transport service of the Moghal armies, and of the
+Company's forces at least as late as 1819. Their organization and
+customs are in many ways peculiar. The development of roads and
+railways has much diminished the importance of the tribe. A good
+account of it will be found in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia of India_, 3rd
+ed., 1885, s. v. 'Banjâra'. Dubois (_Hindu Manners, &c._, 3rd ed.
+(1906), p. 70) states that 'of all the castes of the Hindus, this
+particular one is acknowledged to be the most brutal'.
+
+3. See note on human sacrifice, _ante_, Chapter 8, note 8.
+
+4. In the Hoshangâbâd district of the Central Provinces. The
+sandstone formation here attains its highest development, and is
+known to geologists as the 'Mahâdêo sandstones'. The new sanitarium
+of Pachmarhî is situated in these hills.
+
+5. It has been long since suppressed.
+
+6. Benares is the principal seat of the worship of Mahâdêo (Siva),
+but his shrines are found everywhere throughout India. One hundred
+and eight of these are reckoned as important. In Southern India the
+most notable, perhaps, is the great temple at Tanjore (see chap. 17
+of Monier Williams's _Religious Thought and Life in India_).
+
+7. 'This mode of suicide is called Bhrigu-pâtâ, "throwing one's self
+from a precipice". It was once equally common at the rock of Girnâr
+[in Kâthiâwâr], and has only recently been prohibited' (ibid. p.
+349).
+
+8. Nagpore (Nâgpur) was governed by Marâthâ rulers, with the title of
+Bhônslâ, also known as the Râjâs of Berâr. The last Râjâ, Raghojî,
+died without heirs in 1853. His dominions were then annexed as lapsed
+territory by Lord Dalhousie. Sir Richard Jenkins was Resident at
+Nâgpur from 1810 to 1827. Nâgpur is now the head-quarters of the
+Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces.
+
+9. 'There is a legend that Siva appeared in the Kali age, for the
+good of the Brahmans, as "Sveta", "the white one", and that he had
+four disciples, to all of whom the epithet "Sveta" is applied'
+(Monier Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 80, note
+2). Various explanations of the legend have been offered. Professor
+A. Weber is inclined to think that the various references to white
+teachers in Indian legends allude to Christian missionaries. The
+Mahâbhârata mentions the travels of Nârada and others across the sea
+to 'Sveta-dwîpa', the 'Island of the White Men', in order to learn
+the doctrine of the unity of God. This tradition appears to be
+intelligible only if understood to commemorate the journeys of pious
+Indians to Alexandria, and their study of Christianity there (_Die
+Griechen in Indien_, 1890, p. 34).
+
+10. The Râmlîlâ, a performance corresponding to the mediaeval
+European 'miracle-play', is celebrated in Northern India in the month
+of Kuâr (or Asvin, September-October), at the same time as the Durgâ
+Pûjâ is solemnized in Bengal. Râma and his brother Lachhman are
+impersonated by boys, who are seated on thrones in state. The
+performance concludes by the burning of a wicker image of Râvana, the
+demon king of Lankâ (Ceylon), who had carried off Râma's queen, Sitâ.
+The story is the leading subject of the great epic called the
+Râmâyana.
+
+11. The _Lathyrus sativus_ is cultivated in the Punjab and in Tibet.
+Its poisonous qualities are attributed to its excessive proportion of
+nitrogenous matter, which requires dilution. Another species of the
+genus, _L. cicer_, grown in Spain, has similar properties. The
+distressing effects described in the text have been witnessed by
+other observers (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., 1885, s.v.
+'Lathyrus').
+
+12. One of the tent-pitchers one morning, after pitching our tent,
+asked the loan of a small extra one for the use of his wife, who was
+about to be confined. The basket-maker's wife of the village near
+which we were encamped was called; and the poor woman, before we had
+finished our breakfast, gave birth to a daughter. The charge is half
+a rupee, or one shilling for a boy, and a quarter, or sixpence, for a
+girl. The tent-pitcher gave her ninepence, which the poor midwife
+thought very handsome, The mother had come fourteen miles upon a
+loaded cart over rough roads the night before; and went the same
+distance with her child the night after, upon the same cart. The
+first midwife in Europe could not have done her duty better than this
+poor basket-maker's wife did hers. [W. H. S.]
+
+13. The 'present case' was of a medical, not a surgical, nature.
+
+14. The Hindoo practitioners are called 'baid' (Sanskrit 'vaidya',
+followers of the Veda, that is to say, the Ayur Veda). The Musalmân
+practitioners are generally called 'hakîm'. The Egyptian school
+(Misrânî, Misrî, or Suryânî, that is, Syrian) never practise
+bleeding, and are partial to the use of metallic oxides. The Yunânî
+physicians approve of bleeding, and prefer vegetable drugs. The older
+writers on India fancied that the Hindoo system of medicine was of
+enormous antiquity, and that the principles of Galenical medical
+science were ultimately derived from India. Modern investigation has
+proved that Hindoo medicine, like Hindoo astronomy, is largely of
+Greek origin. This conclusion has been expressed in an exaggerated
+form by some writers, but its general truth appears to be
+established. The Hindoo books treating of medicine are certainly
+older than Wilson supposed, for the Bower manuscript, written in the
+second half of the fourth century of our era, contains three Sanskrit
+medical treatises. The writers had, however, plenty of time to borrow
+from Galen, who lived in the second century. The Indian aversion to
+European medicine, as distinguished from surgery, still exists,
+though in a degree somewhat less than in the author's time. Many
+municipal boards have insisted on employing 'baids' and 'hakîms' in
+addition to the practitioners trained in European methods. Well-to-do
+patients often delay resort to the English physician until they have
+exhausted all resources of the 'hakîm' and have been nearly killed by
+his drastic treatment. One medical innovation, the use of quinine as
+a febrifuge, has secured universal approbation. I never heard of an
+Indian who disbelieved in quinine. Chlorodyne also is fully
+appreciated, but most of the European medicines are regarded with
+little faith.
+
+Since the author wrote, great progress has been made in providing
+hospital and dispensary accommodation. Each 'district', or unit of
+civil administration, has a fairly well equipped combined hospital
+and dispensary at head-quarters, and branch dispensaries exist in
+almost every district. An Inspector-General of Dispensaries
+supervises the medical administration of each province, and medical
+schools have been organized at Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Lahore, and
+Agra. During Lord Dufferin's Viceroyalty and afterwards, energetic
+steps were taken to improve the system of medical relief for females.
+Pandit Madhusadan Gupta, on January 10, 1836, was the first Hindoo
+who ventured to dissect a human body and teach anatomy. India can now
+boast of a considerable number of Hindoo and Musalmân practitioners,
+trained in European methods, and skilful in their profession. Much
+has been done, infinitely more remains to be done. Details will be
+found in _I.G._ (1907), vol. iv, chap. 14, 'Medical Administration',
+The article 'Medicine' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., 1885, on
+which I have drawn for some of the facts above stated, gives a good
+summary of the earlier history of medicine in India, but greatly
+exaggerates the antiquity of the Hindoo books. On this question
+Weber's paper, 'Die Griechen in Indien' (Berlin, 1890, p. 28), and
+Dr. Hoernle's remarks on the Bower manuscript (in _J.A.S.B._, vol. lx
+(1891), Part I, p. 145) may be consulted. Dr. Hoernle's annotated
+edition and translation of the Bower MS. were completed in 1912. Part
+of the work is reprinted with additions in the _Ind. Ant._ for 1913
+and 1914.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 16
+
+
+Suttee Tombs--Insalubrity of deserted Fortresses.
+
+On the 3rd we came to Bahrol,[1] where I had encamped with Lord
+William Bentinck on the last day of December, 1832, when the
+quicksilver in the thermometer at sunrise, outside our tents, was
+down to twenty-six degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The village
+stands upon a gentle swelling hill of decomposed basalt, and is
+surrounded by hills of the same formation. The Dasân river flows
+close under the village, and has two beautiful reaches, one above,
+the other below, separated by the dyke of basalt, over which lies the
+ford of the river.[2]
+
+There are beautiful reaches of the kind in all the rivers in this
+part of India, and they are almost everywhere formed in the same
+manner. At Bahrol there is a very unusual number of tombs built over
+the ashes of women who have burnt themselves with the remains of
+their husbands. Upon each tomb stands erect a tablet of freestone,
+with the sun, the new moon, and a rose engraved upon it in bas-relief
+in one field;[3] and the man and woman, hand in hand, in the other.
+On one stone of this kind I saw a third field below these two, with
+the figure of a horse in bas-relief, and I asked one of the gentlemen
+farmers, who was riding with me, what it meant. He told me that he
+thought it indicated that the woman rode on horseback to bathe before
+she ascended the pile.[4] I asked him whether he thought the measure
+prohibiting the practice of burning good or bad.
+
+'It is', said he, 'in some respects good, and in others bad. Widows
+cannot marry among us, and those who had no prospect of a comfortable
+provision among their husband's relations, or who dreaded the
+possibility of going astray, and thereby sinking into contempt and
+misery, were enabled in this way to relieve their minds, and follow
+their husbands, under the full assurance of being happily united to
+them in the next world.'
+
+When I passed this place on horseback with Lord William Bentinck, he
+asked me what these tombs were, for he had never seen any of the kind
+before. When I told him what they were, he said not a word; but he
+must have felt a proud consciousness of the debt of gratitude which
+India owes to the statesman who had the courage to put a stop to this
+great evil, in spite of all the fearful obstacles which bigotry and
+prejudice opposed to the measure. The seven European functionaries in
+charge of the seven districts of the newly-acquired territories were
+requested, during the administration of Lord Amherst in 1826, to
+state whether the burning of widows could or should be prohibited;
+and I believe every one of them declared that it should not. And yet,
+when it was put a stop to only a few years after by Lord William, not
+a complaint or murmur was heard. The replies to the Governor-
+General's inquiries were, I believe, throughout India, for the most
+part, opposed to the measure.[5]
+
+ On the 4th we came to Dhamonî, ten miles. The only thing remarkable
+here is the magnificent fortress, which is built upon a small
+projection of the Vindhya range, looking down on each side into two
+enormously deep glens, through which the two branches of the Dasân
+river descend over the tableland into the plains of Bundêlkhand.[6]
+The rays of the sun seldom penetrate to the bottom of these glens,
+and things are, in consequence, grown there that could not be grown
+in parts more exposed.
+
+Every inch of the level ground in the bed of the streams below seems
+to be cultivated with care. This fortress is said to have cost more
+than a million of money, and to have been only one of fifty-two great
+works, of which a former Râjâ of Bundêlkhand, Bîrsingh Deo, laid the
+foundation in the same _happy hour_ which had been pointed out to him
+by his astrologers.[7] The works form an acute triangle, with the
+base towards the tableland, and the two sides hanging perpendicularly
+over the glens, while the apex points to the course of the streams as
+they again unite, and pass out through a deep chasm into the plains
+of Bundêlkhand.
+
+The fortress is now entirely deserted, and the town, which the
+garrison supported, is occupied by only a small police-guard,
+stationed here to see that robbers do not take up their abode among
+the ruins. There is no fear of this. All old deserted fortresses in
+India become filled by a dense stream of carbonic acid gas, which is
+found so inimical to animal life that those who attempt to occupy
+them become ill, and, sooner or later, almost all die of the
+consequences. This gas, being specifically much heavier than common
+air, descends into the bottom of such unoccupied fortresses, and
+remains stagnant like water in old reservoirs. The current of pure
+air continually passes over, without being able to carry off the mass
+of stagnant air below; and the only way to render such places
+habitable is to make large openings in the walls on all sides, from
+the top to the bottom, so that the foul air may be driven out by the
+current of pure atmospheric air, which will then be continually
+rushing in. When these fortresses are thickly peopled, the continual
+motion within tends, I think, to mix up this gas with the air above;
+while the numerous fires lighted within, by rarefying that below,
+tend to draw down a regular supply of the atmospheric air from above
+for the benefit of the inhabitants. When natives enter upon the
+occupation of an old fortress of this kind, that has remained long
+unoccupied, they always make a solemn religions ceremony of it; and,
+having fed the priests, the troops, and a crowd of followers, all
+rush in at once with beat of drums, and as much noise as they can
+make. By this rush, and the fires that follow, the bad air is,
+perhaps, driven off, and never suffered to collect again while the
+fortress remains fully occupied. Whatever may be the cause, the fact
+is certain that these fortresses become deadly places of abode for
+small detachments of troops, or small parties of any kind. They all
+get ill, and few recover from the diseases they contract in them.
+
+From the year 1817, when we first took possession of the Sâgar and
+Nerbudda Territories, almost all the detachments of troops we
+required to keep at a distance from the headquarters of their
+regiments were posted in these old deserted fortifications. Our
+collections of revenue were deposited in them; and, in some cases,
+they were converted into jails for the accommodation of our
+prisoners. Of the soldiers so lodged, I do not believe that one in
+four ever came out well; and, of those who came out ill, I do not
+believe that one in four survived five years. They were all abandoned
+one after the other; but it is painful to think how many hundreds, I
+may say thousands, of our brave soldiers were sacrificed before this
+resolution was taken. I have known the whole of the survivors of
+strong detachments that went in, in robust health, three months
+before, brought away mere skeletons, and in a hopeless and dying
+state. All were sent to their homes on medical certificate, but they
+almost all died there, or in the course of their journey.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835. The name of the village is spelled Behrole by the
+author.
+
+2. The Dasân river rises in the Bhopâl State, flows through the Sâgar
+district of the Central Provinces, and along the southern boundary of
+the Lalitpur subdivision of the Jhânsî District, United Provinces of
+Agra and Oudh. It also forms the boundary between the Jhânsî and
+Hamîrpur Districts, and falls into the Betwa after a course of about
+220 miles. The name is often, but erroneously, written Dhasân. It is
+the Sanskrit Dasârna.
+
+3. This emblem is a lotus, not a rose flower. The latter is never
+used in Hindoo symbolism. The lotus is a solar emblem, and intimately
+associated with the worship of Vishnu.
+
+4. It rather indicates that the husband was on horseback when killed.
+The sculptures on satî pillars often commemorate the mode of death of
+the husband. Sometimes these pillars are inscribed. They usually face
+the east. An open hand is often carved in the upper compartment as
+well as the sun and moon. A drawing of such a pillar will be found in
+_J.A.S.B._, vol. xlvi. Part I, 1877, pl. xiv. _A.S.R._, vol. iii, p.
+10; vol. vii, p. 137; vol. x, p. 75; and vol. xxi, p. 101, may be
+consulted.
+
+5. The 'newly-acquired territories' referred to are the Sâgar and
+Nerbudda Territories, comprising the seven districts, Sâgar,
+Jubbulpore, Hoshangâbâd, Seonî, Damoh, Narsinghpur, and Baitûl, ceded
+in 1818, and now included in the Central Provinces. The tenor of the
+replies given to Lord Amherst's queries shows how far the process of
+Hindooizing had advanced among the European officials of the Company.
+Lord Amherst left India in March, 1828. See _ante._ Chapter 4 and
+Chapter 8, for cases of satî (suttees). For a good account of the
+suttee discussions and legislation, see D. Boulger, _Lord William
+Bentinck_ (1897), chap. v, in 'Rulers of India' Series. No other
+biography of Lord William Bentinck exists.
+
+6. Dhamonî is in the Sâgar district of the Central Provinces, about
+twenty-nine miles north of Sâgar. The fort was taken by General
+Marshall in 1818. It had been rebuilt by Râjâ Bîrsingh Deo of Orchhâ
+on an enormous scale about the end of the sixteenth century. In the
+original edition, the author's march is said to have taken place 'on
+the 24th'. This must be a mistake for 'on the 4th'; as the last date,
+that of the march to Bahrol, was the 3rd December. The author reached
+Agra on January 1, 1836,
+
+7. The number fifty-two is one of the Hindoo favourite numbers, like
+seven, twelve, and eighty-four, held sacred for astronomical or
+astrological reasons. Bîrsingh Deo was the younger brother of
+Râmchand, head of the Bundêla clan. To oblige Prince Salîm,
+afterwards the Emperor Jahângîr, he murdered Abûl Fazl, the
+celebrated minister and historian of Akbar, on August 12, 1602,
+Jahângîr, after his accession, rewarded the murderer by allowing him
+to supersede his brother in the headship of his clan, and by
+appointing him to the rank of 'commander of three thousand'. The
+capital of Bîrsingh was Orchhâ. His successors are often spoken of as
+Râjâs of Tehrî. The murder is fully described in _The Emperor Akbar_
+by Count von Noer, translated by A. S. Beveridge, Calcutta, 1890,
+vol. ii, pp. 384-404. Orchhâ is described _post_, Chapters 22,23.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 17
+
+
+Basaltic Cappings--Interview with a Native Chief--A Singular
+Character.
+
+On the 5th[1] we came to the village of Seorî. Soon after leaving
+Dhamonî, we descended the northern face of the Vindhya range into the
+plains of Bundêlkhand. The face of this range overlooking the valley
+of the Nerbudda to the south is, as I have before stated, a series of
+mural precipices, like so many rounded bastions, the slight dip of
+the strata being to the north. The northern face towards Bundêlkhand,
+on the contrary, here descends gradually, as the strata dip slightly
+towards the north, and we pass down gently over their back. The
+strata have, however, been a good deal broken, and the road was so
+rugged that two of our carts broke down in descending. From the
+descent over the northern face of the tableland into Bundêlkhand to
+the descent over the southern face into the valley of the Nerbudda
+must be a distance of one hundred miles directly north and south.
+
+The descent over the northern face is not everywhere so gradual; on
+the contrary, there are but few places where it is at all feasible;
+and some of the rivers of the tableland between Jubbulpore and
+Mirzapore have a perpendicular fall of more than four hundred feet
+over these mural precipices of the northern face of the Vindhya
+range.[2] A man, if he have good nerve, may hang over the summits,
+and suspend in his hand a plummet that shall reach the bottom.
+
+I should mention that this tableland is not only intersected by
+ranges, but everywhere studded with isolated hills rising suddenly
+out of basins or valleys. These ranges and isolated hills are all of
+the same sandstone formation, and capped with basalt, more or less
+amygdaloidal. The valleys and cappings have often a substratum of
+very compact basalt, which must evidently have flowed into them after
+these islands were formed. The question is, how were these valleys
+and basins scooped out? 'Time, time, time!' says Mr. Scrope; 'grant
+me only time, and I can account for everything.' I think, however,
+that I am right in considering the basaltic cappings of these ranges
+and isolated hills to have once formed part of continued flat beds of
+great lakes. The flat parallel planes of these cappings,
+corresponding with each other, however distantly separated the hills
+they cover may be, would seem to indicate that they could not all
+have been subject to the convulsions of nature by which the whole
+substrata were upheaved above the ocean. I am disposed to think that
+such islands and ranges of the sandstone were formed before the
+deposit of the basalt, and that the form of the surface is now
+returning to what it then was, by the gradual decomposition and
+wearing away of the latter rock. Much, however, may be said on both
+sides of this, as of every other question. After descending from the
+sandstone of the Vindhya[3] range into Bundêlkhand, we pass over
+basalt and basaltic soil, reposing immediately on syenitic granite,
+with here and there beds and veins of pure feldspar, hornblende, and
+quartz.
+
+Takht Singh, the younger brother of Arjun Singh, the Râjâ of
+Shâhgarh,[4] came out several miles to meet me on his elephant.
+Finding me on horseback, he got off from his elephant, and mounted
+his horse, and we rode on till we met the Râjâ himself, about a mile
+from our tents. He was on horseback, with a large and splendidly
+dressed train of followers, all mounted on fine sleek horses, bred in
+the Râjâ's own stables. He was mounted on a snow-white steed of his
+own breeding (and I have rarely seen a finer animal), and dressed in
+a light suit of silver brocade made to represent the scales of steel
+armour, surmounted by a gold turban. Takht Singh was more plainly
+dressed, but is a much finer and more intelligent-looking man. Having
+escorted us to our tents, they took their leave, and returned to
+their own, which were pitched on a rising ground on the other side of
+a small stream, half a mile distant. Takht Singh resides here in a
+very pretty fortified castle on an eminence. It is a square building,
+with a round bastion at each corner, and one on each face, rising
+into towers above the walls.
+
+A little after midday the Râjâ and his brother came to pay us a
+visit; and about four o'clock I went to return it, accompanied by
+Lieutenant Thomas. As usual, he had a nautch (dance) upon carpets,
+spread upon the sward under awnings in front of the pavilion in which
+we were received. While the women were dancing and singing, a very
+fine panther was brought in to be shown to us. He had been caught,
+full-grown, two years before, and, in the hands of a skilful man, was
+fit for the chase in six months. It was a very beautiful animal, but,
+for the sake of the sport, kept wretchedly thin.[5] He seemed
+especially indifferent to the crowd and the music, but could not bear
+to see the woman whirling about in the dance with her red mantle
+floating in the breeze; and, whenever his head was turned towards
+her, he cropped his ears. She at last, in play, swept close by him,
+and with open mouth he attempted to spring upon her, but was pulled
+back by the keeper. She gave a shriek, and nearly fell upon her back
+in fright.
+
+The Râjâ is a man of no parts or character, and, his expenditure
+being beyond his income, he is killing his goose for the sake of her
+eggs--that is, he is ruining all the farmers and cultivators of his
+large estate by exactions, and thereby throwing immense tracts of
+fine land out of tillage. He was the heir to the fortress and
+territory of Garhâ Kotâ, near Sâgar, which was taken by Sindhia's
+army, under the command of Jean Baptiste Filose,[6] just before our
+conquest in 1817. I was then with my regiment, which was commanded by
+Colonel, afterwards Major-General, G------,[7] a very singular
+character. When our surgeon. Dr. E------, received the newspaper
+announcing the capture of Garhâ Kotâ in Central India by _Jean-
+Baptiste_, an officer of the corps was with him, who called on the
+colonel on his way home, and mentioned this as a bit of news. As soon
+as this officer had left him, the colonel wrote off a note to the
+doctor: 'My dear Doctor,--I understand that that fellow, _John the
+Baptist_, has got into Sindhia's service, and now commands an army--
+do send me the newspapers.' These were certainly the words of his
+note, and, at the only time I heard him speak on the subject of
+religion he discomfited his adversary in an argument at the mess by
+'Why, sir, you do not suppose that I believe in those fellows,
+Luther, Calvin, and John the Baptist, do you?'
+
+Nothing could stand this argument. All the party burst into a laugh,
+which the old gentleman took for an unequivocal recognition of his
+victory, and his adversary was silenced. He was an old man when I
+first became acquainted with him. I put into his hands, when in camp,
+Miss Edgeworth's novels, in the hope of being able to induce him to
+read by degrees; and I have frequently seen the tears stealing down
+over his furrowed cheeks, as he sat pondering over her pages in the
+corner of his tent. A braver soldier never lived than old G------;
+and he distinguished himself greatly in the command of his regiment,
+under Lord Lake, at the battle of Laswâri[8] and siege of
+Bharatpur.[9] It was impossible ever to persuade him that the
+characters and incidents of these novels were the mere creations of
+fancy--he felt them to be true--he wished them to be true, and he
+would have them to be true. We were not very anxious to undeceive
+him, as the illusion gave him pleasure and did him good. Bolingbroke
+says, after an ancient author, 'History is philosophy teaching by
+example.'[10] With equal truth may we say that fiction, like that of
+Maria Edgeworth, is philosophy teaching by emotion. It certainly
+taught old G------ to be a better man, to leave much of the little
+evil he had been in the habit of doing, and to do much of the good he
+had been accustomed to leave undone.
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December 5, 1835, The date is misprinted '3rd' in the original
+edition. See note 2 to last preceding chapter, p. 110.
+
+2. A good view of the precipices of the Kaimûr range, the eastern
+continuation of the Vindhyan chain, is given facing page 41 of vol. i
+of Hooker's _Himalayan Journals_ (ed. 1855).
+
+3. The author's theory is untenable. He failed, to realize the vast
+effects of sub-aerial denudation. All the evidence shows that the
+successive lava outflows which make up the Deccan trap series
+ultimately converted the surface of the land over which they welled
+out into an enormous, nearly uniform, plain of basalt, resting on the
+Vindhyan sandstone and other rocks. This great sheet of lava,
+extending, east and west, from Nâgpur to Bombay, a distance of about
+five hundred miles, was then, in succeeding millenniums, subjected to
+the denuding forces of air and water, until gradually huge tracts of
+it were worn away, forming beds of conglomerate, gravel, and clay.
+The flat-topped hills have been carved out of the basaltic surface by
+the agencies which wore away the massive sheet of lava. The basaltic
+cappings of the hills certainly cannot have 'formed part of continued
+flat beds of great lakes'. See the notes to Chapter 14, _ante_. Mr.
+Scrope was quite right. Vast periods of time must be allowed for
+geological history, and millions of years must have elapsed since the
+flow of the Deccan lava.
+
+4. In the Sâgar district. The last Raja joined the rebels in 1857,
+and so forfeited his rank and territory.
+
+5. The name panther is usually applied only to the large, fulvous
+variety of _Felis pardus (Linn.) (F. leopardus, Leopardus varius)_.
+The animal described in the text evidently was a specimen of the
+hunting leopard, _Felis jubata (F. guttata, F. venatica)_.
+
+6. This officer was one of the many '_condottieri_' of various
+nationality who served the native powers during the eighteenth
+century, and the early years of the nineteenth. He commanded five
+infantry regiments at Gwâlior. His 'kingdom-taking' raid in 1815 or
+1816 is described _post_ in Chapter 49. The history of the family is
+given by Compton in _European Military Adventures of Hindustan from
+1784 to 1803_ (Unwin, 1892), App. pp, 352-6. In 1911 Michael Filose
+of Gwâlior was appointed K.C.I.E.
+
+7.'G------' appears to have been Robert Gregory C.B.
+
+8. The fiercely contested battle of Laswâri was fought on November 1,
+1803, between the British force under Lord Lake and the flower of
+Sindhia's army, known as the 'Deccan Invincibles'. Sindhia's troops
+lost about seven thousand killed and two thousand prisoners. The
+British loss in killed and wounded amounted to more than eight
+hundred. A medal to commemorate the victory was struck in London in
+1851, and presented to the survivors. Laswâri is a village in the
+Alwar State, 128 miles south of Delhi.
+
+9. Bharatpur (Bhurtpore), in the Jât State of the same name, is
+thirty-four miles west of Agra. In January and February, 1805, Lord
+Lake four times attempted to take it by assault, and each time was
+repulsed with heavy loss. On January 18, 1826, Lord Combermere
+stormed the fortress. The fortifications were then dismantled. A
+large portion of the walls is now standing, and presents an imposing
+appearance. They seem to have been repaired. See _post_, Chapter 62.
+
+10. 'I will answer you by quoting what I have read somewhere or
+other--in _Dionysius Halicarn_., I think--that history is philosophy
+teaching by example' (Bolingbroke, _Letters on the Study and Use of
+History_, Letter II, p. 14 of vol. viii of edition printed by T.
+Cadell, London, 1770). The Greek words are. . . . . . . .
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 18
+
+
+Birds' Nests--Sports of Boyhood.
+
+On the 6th[1] we came to Sayyidpur, ten miles, over an undulating
+country, with a fine soil of decomposed basalt, reposing upon
+syenite, with veins of feldspar and quartz. Cultivation partial, and
+very bad; and population extremely scanty. We passed close to a
+village, in which the children were all at play; while upon the
+bushes over their heads were suspended an immense number of the
+beautiful nests of the sagacious 'bayâ' bird, or Indian yellow-
+hammer,[2] all within reach of a grown-up boy, and one so near the
+road that a grown-up man might actually look into it as he passed
+along, and could hardly help shaking it. It cannot fail to strike a
+European as singular to see so many birds' nests, situated close to a
+village, remain unmolested within reach of so many boisterous
+children, with their little proprietors and families fluttering and
+chirping among them with as great a feeling of security and gaiety of
+heart as the children themselves enjoy.
+
+In any part of Europe not a nest of such a colony could have lived an
+hour within reach of such a population; for the bayâ bird has no
+peculiar respect paid to it by the people here, like the wren and
+robin-redbreast in England. No boy in India has the slightest wish to
+molest birds in their nests; it enters not into their pastimes, and
+they have no feeling of pride or pleasure in it. With us it is
+different--to discover birds' nests is one of the first modes in
+which a boy exercises his powers, and displays his love of art. Upon
+his skill in finding them he is willing to rest his first claim to
+superior sagacity and enterprise. His trophies are his string of
+eggs; and the eggs most prized among them are those of the nests that
+are discovered with most difficulty, and attained with most danger.
+The same feeling of desire to display their skill and enterprise in
+search after birds' nests in early life renders the youth of England
+the enemy almost of the whole animal creation throughout their after
+career. The boy prides himself on his dexterity in throwing a stone
+or a stick; and he practises on almost every animal that comes in his
+way, till he never sees one without the desire to knock it down, or
+at least to hit it; and, if it is lawful to do so, he feels it to be
+a most serious misfortune not to have a stone within his reach at the
+time. As he grows up, he prides himself upon his dexterity in
+shooting, and he never sees a member of the feathered tribe within
+shot, without a desire to shoot it, or without regretting that he has
+not a gun in his hand to shoot it. That he is not entirely destitute
+of sympathy, however, with the animals he maims for his amusement is
+sufficiently manifest from his anxiety to put them out of pain the
+moment he gets them.
+
+A friend of mine, now no more, Captain Medwin, was once looking with
+me at a beautiful landscape painting through a glass. At last he put
+aside the glass, saying: 'You may say what you like, S--, but the
+best landscape I know is a fine black partridge[3] falling before my
+Joe Manton.'
+
+The following lines of Walter Scott, in his _Rokeby_, have always
+struck me as very beautiful:-
+
+ As yet the conscious pride of art
+ Had steel'd him in his treacherous part;
+ A powerful spring of force unguessed
+ That hath each gentler mood suppressed,
+ And reigned in many a human breast;
+ From his that plans the rude campaign,
+ To his that wastes the woodland reign, &c.[4]
+
+Among the people of India it is very different. Children do not learn
+to exercise their powers either in discovering and robbing the nests
+of birds, or in knocking them down with stones and staves; and, as
+they grow up, they hardly ever think of hunting or shooting for mere
+amusement. It is with them a matter of business; the animal they
+cannot eat they seldom think of molesting.
+
+Some officers were one day pursuing a jackal, with a pack of dogs,
+through my grounds. The animal passed close to one of my guard, who
+cut him in two with his sword, and held up the reeking blade in
+triumph to the indignant cavalcade; who, when they came up, were
+ready to eat him alive. 'What have I done', said the poor man, 'to
+offend you?' 'Have you not killed the jackal?' shouted the whipper-
+in, in a fury.
+
+'Of course I have; but were you not all trying to kill him?' replied
+the poor man. He thought their only object had been to kill the
+jackal, as they would have killed a serpent, merely because he was a
+mischievous and noisy beast.
+
+The European traveller in India is often in doubt whether the
+peacocks, partridges, and ducks, which he finds round populous
+villages, are tame or wild, till he asks some of the villagers
+themselves, so assured of safety do these creatures become, and so
+willing to take advantage of it for the food they find in the
+suburbs. They very soon find the difference, however, between the
+white-faced visitor and the dark-faced inhabitants. There is a fine
+date-tree overhanging a kind of school at the end of one of the
+streets in the town of Jubbulpore, quite covered with the nests of
+the bayâ birds; and they are seen, every day and all day, fluttering
+and chirping about there in scores, while the noisy children at their
+play fill the street below, almost within arm's length of them. I
+have often thought that such a tree so peopled at the door of a
+school in England might work a great revolution in the early habits
+and propensities of the youth educated in it. The European traveller
+is often amused to see the pariah dog[5] squatted close in front of
+the traveller during the whole time he is occupied in cooking and
+eating his dinner, under a tree by the roadside, assured that he
+shall have at least a part of the last cake thrown to him by the
+stranger, instead of a stick or a stone. The stranger regards him
+with complacency, as one that reposes a quiet confidence in his
+charitable disposition, and flings towards him the whole or part of
+his last cake, as if his meal had put him in the best possible humour
+with him and all the world.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835. The name of the village is given in the author's
+text as Seindpore. It seems to be the place which is called Siedpore
+in the next chapter.
+
+2. The common weaver bird, _Phoceus baya, Blyth. 'Ploceinae_, the
+weaver birds. . . . They build nests like a crucible, with the
+opening downwards, and usually attach them to the tender branches of
+a tree hanging over a well or tank. _P. baya_ is found throughout
+India; its nest is made of grasses and strips of the plantain or
+date-palm stripped while green. It is easily tamed and taught some
+tricks, such as to load and fire a toy cannon, to pick up a ring,
+&c,' (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., 1885, s.v. 'Ploceinae').
+
+3. _Francolinus vulgaris_; a capital game bird.
+
+4. Canto V, stanza 22, line 3.
+
+5. The author spells the word Pareear. The editor has used the form
+now customary. The word is the Tamil appellation of a large body of
+the population of Southern India, which stands outside the orthodox
+Hindoo castes, but has a caste organization of its own. Europeans
+apply the term to the low-caste mongrel dogs which infest villages
+and towns throughout India. See Yule and Burnell, _Glossary of Anglo-
+Indian Words (Hobson-Jobson)_, in either edition, s.v.; and Dubois,
+_Hindu Manners, &c._, 3rd ed. (1906, index, s.v.).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 19
+
+
+Feeding Pilgrims--Marriage of a Stone with a Shrub.
+
+At Sayyidpur[1] we encamped in a pretty little mango grove, and here
+I had a visit from my old friend Jânkî Sewak, the high priest of the
+great temple that projects into the Sâgar lake, and is called
+Bindrâban.[2] He has two villages rent free, worth a thousand rupees
+a year; collects something more through his numerous disciples, who
+wander over the country; and spends the whole in feeding all the
+members of his fraternity (Bairâgîs), devotees of Vishnu, as they
+pass his temple in their pilgrimages. Every one who comes is
+considered entitled to a good meal and a night's lodging; and he has
+to feed and lodge about a hundred a day. He is a man of very pleasing
+manners and gentle disposition, and everybody likes him. He was on
+his return from the town of Ludhaura,[3] where he had been, at the
+invitation of the Râjâ of Orchhâ, to assist at the celebration of the
+marriage of Sâlagrâm with the Tulasî,[4] which there takes place
+every year under the auspices and at the expense of the Râjâ, who
+must be present. 'Sâlagrâms'[5] are rounded pebbles which contain the
+impressions of ammonites, and are washed down into the plains of
+India by the rivers from the limestone rocks in which these shells
+are imbedded in the mountains of the Himalaya.[6] The Spiti valley[7]
+contains an immense deposit of fossil ammonites and belemnites[8] in
+limestone rocks, now elevated above sixteen thousand feet above the
+level of the sea; and from such beds as these are brought down the
+fragments, which, when rounded in their course, the poor Hindoo takes
+for representatives of Vishnu, the preserving god of the Hindoo
+triad. The Sâlagrâm is the only stone idol among the Hindoos that is
+_essentially sacred_, and entitled to divine honours without the
+ceremonies of consecration.[9] It is everywhere held most sacred.
+During the war against Nepâl,[10] Captain B------, who commanded a
+reconnoitring party from the division in which I served, one day
+brought back to camp some four or five Sâlagrâms, which he had found
+at the hut of some priest within the enemy's frontier. He called for
+a large stone and hammer, and proceeded to examine them. The Hindoos
+were all in a dreadful state of consternation, and expected to see
+the earth open and swallow up the whole camp, while he sat calmly
+cracking _their gods_ with his hammer, as he would have cracked so
+many walnuts. The Tulasî is a small sacred shrub (_Ocymum sanctum_),
+which is a metamorphosis of Sîtâ, the wife of Râma, the seventh
+incarnation of Vishnu.
+
+This little _pebble_ is every year married to this little _shrub_;
+and the high priest told me that on the present occasion the
+procession consisted of eight elephants, twelve hundred camels, four
+thousand horses, all mounted and elegantly caparisoned. On the
+leading elephant of this _cortège_, and the most sumptuously
+decorated, was carried the _pebble god_, who was taken to pay his
+bridal visit (barât) to the little _shrub goddess_. All the
+ceremonies of a regular marriage are gone through; and, when
+completed, the bride and bridegroom are left to repose together in
+the temple of Ludhaura[11] till the next season. 'Above a hundred
+thousand people', the priest said, 'were present at the ceremony this
+year at the Râjâ's invitation, and feasted upon his bounty.'[12]
+
+The old man and I got into a conversation upon the characters of
+different governments, and their effects upon the people; and he said
+that bad governments would sooner or later be always put down by the
+deity; and quoted this verse, which I took down with my pencil:
+
+ Tulasî, gharîb na sâtâe,
+ Burî gharîb kî hai;
+ Marî khâl ke phûnk se
+ Lohâ bhasm ho jâe.
+
+'Oh, Râjâ Tulasî! oppress not the poor; for the groans of the
+wretched bring retribution from heaven. The contemptible skin (in the
+smith's bellows) in time melts away the hardest iron.'[13]
+
+On leaving our tents in the morning, we found the ground all round
+white with hoar frost, as we had found it for several mornings
+before;[14] and a little canary bird, one of the two which travelled
+in my wife's palankeen, having, by the carelessness of the servants
+been put upon the top without any covering to the cage, was killed by
+the cold, to her great affliction. All attempts to restore it to life
+by the warmth of her bosom were fruitless.
+
+On the 7th[15] we came nine miles to Bamhaurî over a soil still
+basaltic, though less rich, reposing upon syenite, which frequently
+rises and protrudes its head above the surface, which is partially
+and badly cultivated, and scantily peopled. The silent signs of bad
+government could not be more manifest. All the extensive plains,
+covered with fine long grass, which is rotting in the ground from
+want of domestic cattle or distant markets. Here, as in every other
+part of Central India, the people have a great variety of good
+spontaneous, but few cultivated, grasses. They understand the
+character and qualities of these grasses extremely well. They find
+some thrive best in dry, and some in wet seasons; and that of
+inferior quality is often prized most because it thrives best when
+other kinds cannot thrive at all, from an excess or a deficiency of
+rain. When cut green they all make good hay, and have the common
+denomination of 'sahîa'. The finest of these grasses are two which
+are generally found growing spontaneously together, and are often
+cultivated together-'kêl' and 'musêl'; the third 'parwana'; fourth
+'bhawâr', or 'gûniâr'; fifth 'sainâ'.[16]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Spelled Siedpore in the author's text.
+
+2. More correctly Brindâban (Vrindâvana). The name originally belongs
+to one of the most sacred spots in India, situated near Mathurâ
+(Muttra) on the Jumna, and the reputed scene of the dalliance between
+Krishna and the milkmaids (Gopîs); also associated with the legend
+Râma.
+
+3. Twenty-seven miles north-west of Tehrî in the Orchhâ State.
+
+4. The Tulasî plant, or basil, _Ocymum sanctum_, is 'not merely
+sacred to Vishnu or to his wife Lakshmî; it is pervaded by the
+essence of these deities, and itself worshipped as a deity and prayed
+to accordingly. . . . The Tulasî is the object of more adoration than
+any other plant at present worshipped in India. . . .It is to be
+found in almost every respectable household throughout India. It is a
+small shrub, not too big to be cultivated in a good-sized flower-pot,
+and often placed in rooms. Generally, however, it is planted in the
+courtyard of a well-to-do man's house, with a space round it for
+reverential circumambulation. In real fact the Tulasî is _par
+excellence_ a domestic divinity, or rather, perhaps, a woman's
+divinity' (M. Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p.
+333).
+
+5. The fossil ammonites found in India include at least fifteen
+species. They occur between Trichinopoly and Pondicherry as well as
+in the Himalayan rocks. They are particularly abundant in the river
+Gandak, which rises near Dhaulagiri in Nepâl, and falls into the
+Ganges near Patna. The upper course of this river is consequently
+called Sâlagrâmî. Various forms of the fossils are supposed to
+represent various _avatârs_ of Vishnu (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd
+ed., s.v. 'Ammonite', 'Gandak', 'Salagrama'; M. Williams, _Religious
+Thought and Life in India_, pp. 69, 349). A good account of the
+reverence paid to both _sâlagrâms_ and the _tulasî_ plant will be
+found in Dubois, _Hindu Manners_, &c., 3rd ed. (1906), pp. 648-51.
+
+6. The author writes 'Himmalah'. The current spelling Himalaya is
+correct, but the word should be pronounced Himâlaya. It means 'abode
+of snow'.
+
+7. The north-eastern corner of the Punjâb, an elevated valley along
+the course of the Spiti or the Li river, a tributary of the Satlaj.
+
+8. Fossils of the genus Belemnites and related genera are common,
+like the ammonites, near Trichinopoly, as well as in the Himalaya.
+
+9. This statement is not quite correct. The pebbles representing the
+Linga of Siva, called Bâna-linga, or Vâna-linga, and apparently of
+white quartz, which are found in the Nerbudda river, enjoy the same
+distinction. 'Both are held to be of their own nature pervaded by the
+special presence of the deity, and need no consecration. Offerings
+made to these pebbles--such, for instance, as Bilwa leaves laid on
+the white stone of Vishnu--are believed to confer extraordinary
+merit' (M. Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 69).
+
+10. In 1814-16.
+
+11. 'Sadora' in author's text, which seems to be a misprint for
+Ludora or Ludhaura.
+
+12. The Tulasî shrub is sometimes married to an image of Krishna,
+instead of to the sâlagrâma, in Western India (M. Williams,
+_Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 334). Compare the account
+of the marriage between the mango-tree and the jasmine, _ante_,
+Chapter 5, Note [3].
+
+13. These Hindî verses are incorrectly printed, and loosely rendered
+by the author. The translation of the text, after necessary
+emendation, is: 'Tulasî, oppress not the poor; evil is the lot of the
+poor. From the blast of the dead hide iron becomes ashes.' Mr. W.
+Crooke informs me that the verses are found in the Kabîrkî Sakhî, and
+are attributable to Kabîr Dâs, rather than to Tulasî Dâs. But the
+authorship of such verses is very uncertain. Mr. Crooke further
+observes that the lines as given in the text do not scan, and that
+the better version is:
+
+ Durbal ko na satâiye,
+ Jâki mâti hai;
+ Mûê khâl ke sâns se
+ Sâr bhasm ho jâe.
+
+_Sâr_ means iron. The author was, of course, mistaken in supposing
+the poet Tulasî Dâs to be a Râjâ. As usual in Hindî verse, the poet
+addresses himself by name.
+
+14. Such slight frosts are common in Bundêlkhand, especially near the
+rivers, in January, but only last for a few mornings. They often
+cause great damage to the more delicate crops. The weather becomes
+hot in February.
+
+15. December, 1835.
+
+16. 'Musêl' is a very sweet-scented grass, highly esteemed as fodder.
+It belongs to the genus _Anthistiria_; the species is either
+_cimicina_ or _prostrata_. 'Bhawâr' is probably the 'bhaunr' of
+Edgeworth's list, _Anthistiria scandens_. I cannot identify the other
+grasses named in the text. The haycocks in Bundêlkhand are a pleasant
+sight to English eyes. Edgeworth's list of plants found in the Bândâ
+district, as revised by Messrs. Waterfield and Atkinson, is given in
+_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. i, pp. 78-86.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 20
+
+
+The Men-Tigers.
+
+ Râm Chand Râo, commonly called the Sarîmant, chief of Deorî,[1] here
+overtook me. He came out from Sâgar to visit me at Dhamonî[2] and,
+not reaching that place in time, came on after me. He held Deorî
+under the Peshwâ, as the Sâgar chief held Sâgar, for the payment of
+the public establishments kept up by the local administration. It
+yielded him about ten thousand a year, and, when we took possession
+of the country, he got an estate in the Sâgar district, in rent-free
+tenure, estimated at fifteen hundred a year. This is equal to about
+six thousand pounds a year in England. The tastes of native gentlemen
+lead them always to expend the greater part of their incomes in the
+wages of trains of followers of all descriptions, and in horses,
+elephants, &c.; and labour and the subsistence of labour are about
+four times cheaper in India than in England. By the breaking up of
+public establishments, and consequent diminution of the local demand
+for agricultural produce, the value of land throughout all Central
+India, after the termination of the Mahrâtha War in 1817, fell by
+degrees thirty per cent.; and, among the rest, that of my poor friend
+the Sarîmant. While I had the civil charge of the Sâgar district in
+1831 I represented this case of hardship; and Government, in the
+spirit of liberality which has generally characterized their measures
+in this part of India, made up to him the difference between what he
+actually received and what they had intended to give him; and he has
+ever since felt grateful to me.[3] He is a very small man, not more
+than five feet high, but he has the handsomest face I have almost
+ever seen, and his manners are those of the most perfect native
+gentleman. He came to call upon me after breakfast, and the
+conversation turned upon the number of people that had of late been
+killed by tigers between Sâgar and Deorî, his ancient capital, which
+lies about midway between Sâgar and the Nerbudda river.
+
+One of his followers, who stood beside his chair, said[4] that 'when
+a tiger had killed one man he was safe, for the spirit of the man
+rode upon his head, and guided him from all danger. The spirit knew
+very well that the tiger would be watched for many days at the place
+where he had committed the homicide, and always guided him off to
+some other more secure place, when he killed other men without any
+risk to himself. He did not exactly know why the spirit of the man
+should thus befriend the beast that had killed him; but', added he,
+'there is a mischief inherent in spirits; and the better the man the
+more mischievous is his ghost, if means are not taken to put him to
+rest.' This is the popular and general belief throughout India; and
+it is supposed that the only sure mode of destroying a tiger who has
+killed many people is to begin by making offerings to the spirits of
+his victims, and thereby depriving him of their valuable services.[5]
+The belief that men are turned into tigers by eating of a root is no
+less general throughout India.
+
+The Sarîmant, on being asked by me what he thought of the matter,
+observed 'there was no doubt much truth in what the man said: but he
+was himself of opinion that the tigers which now infest the wood from
+Sâgar to Deorî were of a different kind--in fact, that they were
+neither more nor less than men turned into tigers--a thing which took
+place in the woods of Central India much more often than people were
+aware of. The only visible difference between the two', added the
+Sarîmant, 'is that the metamorphosed tiger has _no tail_, while the
+_bora_, or ordinary tiger, has a very long one. In the jungle about
+Deorî', continued he, 'there is a root, which, if a man eat of, he is
+converted into a tiger on the spot; and if, in this state, he can eat
+of another, he becomes a man again--a melancholy instance of the
+former of which', said he, 'occurred, I am told, in my own father's
+family when I was an infant. His washerman, Raghu, was, like all
+washermen, a great drunkard; and, being seized with a violent desire
+to ascertain what a man felt in the state of a tiger, he went one day
+to the jungle and brought home two of these roots, and desired his
+wife to stand by with one of them, and the instant she saw him assume
+the tiger shape, to thrust it into his mouth. She consented, the
+washerman ate his root, and became instantly a tiger; but his wife
+was so terrified at the sight of her husband in this shape that she
+ran off with the antidote in her hand. Poor old Raghu took to the
+woods, and there ate a good many of his old friends from neighbouring
+villages; but he was at last shot, and recognized from the
+circumstance of his _having no tail_. You may be quite sure,'
+concluded Sarîmant, 'when you hear of a tiger without a tail, that it
+is some unfortunate man who has eaten of that root, and of all the
+tigers he will be found the most mischievous.'
+
+How my friend had satisfied himself of the truth of this story I know
+not, but he religiously believes it, and so do all his attendants and
+mine; and, out of a population of thirty thousand people in the town
+of Sâgar, not one would doubt the story of the washerman if he heard
+it.
+
+I was one day talking with my friend the Râjâ of Maihar.[6] on the
+road between Jubbulpore and Mirzapore, on the subject of the number
+of men who had been lately killed by tigers at the Katrâ Pass on that
+road,[7] and the best means of removing the danger. 'Nothing', said
+the Râjâ, 'could be more easy or more cheap than the destruction of
+these tigers, if they were of the ordinary sort; but the tigers that
+kill men by wholesale, as these do, are, you may be sure, men
+themselves converted into tigers by the force of their science, and
+such animals are of all the most unmanageable.'
+
+'And how is it. Râjâ Sâhib, that these men convert themselves into
+tigers?'
+
+'Nothing', said he, 'is more easy than this to persons who have once
+acquired the science; but how they learn it, or what it is, we
+unlettered men know not.'
+
+'There was once a high priest of a large temple, in this very valley
+of Maihar, who was in the habit of getting himself converted into a
+tiger by the force of this science, which he had thoroughly acquired.
+He had a necklace, which one of his disciples used to throw over his
+neck the moment the tiger's form became fully developed. He had,
+however, long given up the practice, and all his old disciples had
+gone off on their pilgrimages to distant shrines, when he was one day
+seized with a violent desire to take his old form of the tiger. He
+expressed the wish to one of his new disciples, and demanded whether
+he thought he might rely on his courage to stand by and put on the
+necklace. 'Assuredly you may', said the disciple; 'such is my faith
+in you, and in the God we serve, that I fear nothing.' The high
+priest upon this put the necklace into his hand with the requisite
+instructions, and forthwith began to change his form. The disciple
+stood trembling in every limb, till he heard him give a roar that
+shook the whole edifice, when he fell flat upon his face, and dropped
+the necklace on the floor. The tiger bounded over him, and out of the
+door, and infested all the roads leading to the temple for many years
+afterwards.'
+
+'Do you think, Râjâ Sahib, that the old high priest is one of the
+tigers at the Katrâ Pass?'
+
+'No, I do not; but I think they may be all men who have become imbued
+with a little too much of the high priest's _science_--when men once
+acquire this science they can't help exercising it, though it be to
+their own ruin, and that of others.'
+
+'But, supposing them to be ordinary tigers, what is the simple plan
+you propose to put a stop to their depredations, Râjâ Sahib?'
+
+'I propose', said he, 'to have the spirits that guide them
+propitiated by proper prayers and offerings; for the spirit of every
+man or woman who has been killed by a tiger rides upon his head, or
+runs before him, and tells him where to go to get prey, and to avoid
+danger. Get some of the Gonds, or wild people from the jungles, who
+are well skilled in these matters--give them ten or twenty rupees,
+and bid them go and raise a small shrine, and there sacrifice to
+these spirits. The Gonds will tell them that they shall on this
+shrine have regular worship, and good sacrifices of fowls, goats, and
+pigs, every year at least, if they will but relinquish their offices
+with the tigers and be quiet. If this is done, I pledge myself', said
+the Raja, 'that the tigers will soon get killed themselves, or cease
+from killing men. If they do not, you may be quite sure that they are
+not ordinary tigers, but men turned into tigers, or that the Gonds
+have appropriated all you gave them to their own use, instead of
+applying it to conciliate the spirits of the unfortunate people.'[8]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Deorî, in the Sâgar district, about forty miles south-east of
+Sâgar. In 1767, the town and attached tract called the Panj Mahâl
+were bestowed by the Peshwâ, rent-free, on Dhôndo Dattâtraya, a
+Marâtha pundit, ancestor of the author's friend. The Panj Mahal was
+finally made part of British territory by the treaty with Sindhia in
+1860, and constitutes the District called Pânch Mâhals in the
+Northern Division of the Bombay Presidency. The vernacular word
+_pânch_ like the Persian _panj_, means 'five'. The title Sarîmant
+appears to be a popular pronunciation of the Sanskrit _srîmant_ or
+_srîmân_, 'fortunate', and is still used by Marâthâ nobles.
+
+2. _Ante_, Chapter 16, note 6. The name is here erroneously printed
+'Dhamoree' in the author's text.
+
+3. He had good reason for his gratitude, inasmuch as the depression
+in rents was merely temporary.
+
+4. An Indian chief is generally accompanied into the room by a
+confidential follower, who frequently relieves his master of the
+trouble of talking, and answers on his behalf all questions.
+
+5. When Agrippina, in her rage with her son Nero, threatens to take
+her stepson, Britannicus, to the camp of the Legion, and there assert
+his right to the throne, she invokes the spirit of his father, whom
+she had poisoned, and the manes of the Silani, whom she had murdered.
+'Simul attendere manus, aggerere probra; consecratum Claudium,
+infernos Silanorum manes invocare, et tot invita fari nova.'-
+(Tacitus, lib, xviii, sec. 14.) [W. H. S.] The quotation is from the
+_Annals_. Another reading of the concluding words is 'et tot irrita
+facinora', which gives much better sense. In the author's text
+'aggerere' is printed 'aggere'.
+
+6. A small principality, detached from the Pannâ State. Its chief
+town is about one hundred miles north-east of Jubbulpore, on the
+route from Allahabad to Jubbulpore. The state is now traversed by the
+East Indian Railway. It is under the superintendence of the Political
+Agent of Baghêlkhand, resident at Rîwâ.
+
+7. This pass is sixty-three miles south-east of Allahabad, on the
+road from that city to Rîwâ.
+
+8. These myths are based on the well-known facts that man-eating
+tigers are few, and exceptionally wary and cunning. The conditions
+which predispose a tiger to man-eating have been much discussed. It
+seems to be established that the animals which seek human prey are
+generally, though not invariably, those which, owing to old wounds or
+other physical defects, are unable to attack with confidence the
+stronger animals. The conversations given in the text are excellent
+illustrations of the mode of formation of modern myths, and of the
+kind of reasoning which satisfies the mind of the unconscious myth-
+maker.
+
+The text may be compared with the following passage from the _Journey
+through the Kingdom of Oudh_ (vol. i, p. 124): 'I asked him (the Râjâ
+of Balrâmpur), whether the people in the Tarâi forest were still
+afraid to point out tigers to sportsmen. "I was lately out with a
+party after a tiger", he said, "which had killed a cowherd, but his
+companions refused to point out any trace of him, saying that their
+relative's spirit must be now riding upon his head, to guide him from
+all danger, and we should have no chance of shooting him. We did
+shoot him, however", said the Râjâ exultingly, "and they were all
+afterwards very glad of it. The tigers in the Tarâi do not often kill
+men, sir, for they find plenty of deer and cattle to eat,"'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 21
+
+
+Burning of Deorî by a Freebooter--A Suttee.
+
+Sarîmant had been one of the few who escaped from the flames which
+consumed his capital of Deorî in the month of April 1813, and were
+supposed to have destroyed thirty thousand souls. I asked him to tell
+me how this happened, and he referred me to his attendant, a learned
+old pundit, Râm Chand, who stood by his side, as he was himself, he
+said, then only five years of age, and could recollect nothing of it.
+
+'Mardân Singh,' said the pundit, 'the father of Râjâ Arpan Singh,
+whom you saw at Seorî, was then our neighbour, reigning over Garhâ
+Kotâ;[1] and he had a worthless nephew, Zâlim Singh, who had
+collected together an army of five thousand men, in the hope of
+getting a little principality for himself in the general scramble for
+dominion incident on the rise of the Pindhârîs and Amîr Khan,[2] and
+the destruction of all balance of power among the great sovereigns of
+Central India. He came to attack our capital, which was an emporium
+of considerable trade and the seat of many useful manufactures, in
+the expectation of being able to squeeze out of us a good sum to aid
+him in his enterprise. While his troops blocked up every gate, fire
+was, by accident, set to the fence of some man's garden within. There
+had been no rain for six months; and everything was so much dried up
+that the flames spread rapidly; and, though there was no wind when
+they began, it soon blew a gale. The Sarîmant was then a little boy
+with his mother in the fortress, where she lived with his father[3]
+and nine other relations. The flames soon extended to the fortress,
+and the powder-magazine blew up. The house in which they lived was
+burned down, and every soul, except the lieutenant [_sic_] himself,
+perished in it. His mother tried to bear him off in her arms, but
+fell down in her struggle to get out with him and died. His nurse,
+Tulsî Kurmin,[4] snatched him up, and ran with him outside of the
+fortress to the bank of the river, where she made him over unhurt to
+Harirâm, the Mârwârî merchant.[5] He was mounted on a good horse,
+and, making off across the river, he carried him safely to his
+friends at Gaurjhâmar; but poor Tulsî the Kurmin fell down exhausted
+when she saw her charge safe, and died.
+
+'The wind appeared to blow in upon the poor devoted city from every
+side; and the troops of Zâlim Singh, who at first prevented the
+people from rushing out at the gates, made off in a panic at the
+horrors before them. All our establishments had been driven into the
+city at the approach of Zâlim Singh's troops; and scores of
+elephants, hundreds of camels, and thousands of horses and ponies
+perished in the flames, besides twenty-five thousand souls. Only
+about five thousand persons escaped out of thirty thousand, and these
+were reduced to beggary and wretchedness by the loss of their dearest
+relations and their property. At the time the flames first began to
+spread, an immense crowd of people had assembled under the fortress
+on the bank of the Sonâr river to see the widow of a soldier burn
+herself. Her husband had been shot by one of Zâlim Singh's soldiers
+in the morning; and before midday she was by the side of his body on
+the funeral pile. People, as usual, begged her to tell them what
+would happen, and she replied, "The city will know in less than four
+hours"; in less than four hours the whole city had been reduced to
+ashes; and we all concluded that, since the event was so clearly
+foretold, it must have been decreed by God.'[6]
+
+'No doubt it was,' said Sarîmant; 'how could it otherwise happen? Do
+not all events depend upon His will? Had it not been His will to save
+me, how could poor Tulsî the Kurmin have carried me upon her
+shoulders through such a scene as this, when every other member of
+our family perished?'
+
+'No doubt', said Râm Chand, 'all these things are brought about by
+the will of God, and it is not for us to ask why.'[7]
+
+I have heard this event described by many other people, and I believe
+the account of the old pundit to be a very fair one.
+
+One day, in October 1833, the horse of the district surgeon, Doctor
+Spry, as he was mounting him, reared, fell back with his head upon a
+stone, and died upon the spot. The doctor was not much hurt, and the
+little Sarîmant called a few days after, and offered his
+congratulations upon his narrow escape. The cause of so quiet a horse
+rearing at this time, when he had never been known to do so before,
+was discussed; and he said that there could be no doubt that the
+horse, or the doctor himself, must have seen some unlucky face before
+he mounted that morning--that he had been in many places in his life,
+but in none where a man was liable to see so many ugly or unfortunate
+faces; and, for his part, he never left his house till an hour after
+sunrise, lest he should encounter them.[8]
+
+Many natives were present, and every one seemed to consider the
+Sarîmant's explanation of the cause quite satisfactory and
+philosophical. Some days after, Spry was going down to sleep in the
+bungalow where the accident happened. His native assistant and all
+his servants came and prayed that he would not attempt to sleep in
+the bungalow, as they were sure the horse must have been frightened
+by a ghost, and quoted several instances of ghosts appearing to
+people there. He, however, slept in the bungalow, and, to their great
+astonishment, saw no ghost and suffered no evil.[9]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. A fortress, twenty-five miles cast of Sâgar, captured by a
+British force under General Watson in October 1818, For Seorî and
+Râjâ Arjun Singh see _ante_, Chapter 17, text by notes 1 and 4.
+
+2. Amîr Khân, a leader of predatory horse, has been justly described
+as 'one of the most atrocious villains that India ever produced'. He
+first came into notice in 1804, as an officer in Holkar's service,
+and in the following year opposed Lord Lake at Bharatpur. A treaty
+made with him in 1817 put an end to his activity. The Pindhârîs were
+organized bands of mounted robbers, who desolated Northern and
+Central India during the period of anarchy which followed the
+dissolution of the Moghal empire. They were associated with the
+Marâthâs in the war which terminated with the capture of Asîrgarh in
+April 1819. In the same year the Pindhârî forces ceased to exist as a
+distinct and recognized, body.
+
+ My father was an Afghân, and came from Kandahar:
+ He rode with Nawâb Amir Khan in the old Marâthâ war:
+ From the Dekhan to the Himalay, five hundred of one clan,
+ They asked no leave of prince or chief as they swept thro'
+Hindusthan.
+
+(Sir A. Lyall, 'The Old Pindaree'; in _Verses written in India_,
+London, 1889).
+
+3. Named Govind Râo. The proper name of the Sarîmant was Râmchand Râo
+(_C.P. Gazetteer_, 1870).
+
+4. Kurmin is the feminine of Kurmî, the name of a widely spread and
+most industrious agricultural caste, closely connected, at least in
+Bundêlkhand, with the similar Lodhî caste.
+
+5. Mârwâr, or Jodhpur, is one of the leading states in Râjputâna. It
+supplies the rest of India with many of the keenest merchants and
+bankers.
+
+6. See _ante_, Chapter 4, note 6, for remarks on the supposed
+prophetic gifts of satî women.
+
+7. Such feelings of resignation to the Divine will, or fate, are
+common alike to Hindoos and Musalmâns.
+
+8. 'One of a wife's duties should be to keep all bad omens out of her
+husband's way, or manage to make him look at something lucky in the
+early morning. . . . Different lists of inauspicious objects are
+given, which, if looked upon in the early morning, might cause
+disaster' (M. Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p.
+397).
+
+9. Dr. Spry died in 1842, and his estate was administered by the
+author. The doctor's works are described _ante_, Chapter 14, note 16.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 22
+
+
+Interview with the Râjâ who marries the Stone to the Shrub--Order of
+the Moon and the Fish.
+
+On the 8th,[1] after a march of twelve miles, we readied Tehrî, the
+present capital of the Râjâ of Orchhâ.[2] Our road lay over an
+undulating surface of soil composed of the detritus of the syenitic
+rock, and poor, both from its quality and want of depth. About three
+miles from our last territory we entered the boundary of the Orchhâ
+Râjâ's territory, at the village of Aslôn, which has a very pretty
+little fortified castle, built upon ground slightly elevated in the
+midst of an open grass plain.
+
+This, and all the villages we have lately passed, are built upon the
+bare back of the syenitic rock, which seems to rise to the surface in
+large but gentle swells, like the broad waves of the ocean in a calm
+after a storm. A great difference appeared to me to be observable
+between the minds and manners of the people among whom we were now
+travelling, and those of the people of the Sâgar and Nerbudda
+territories. They seemed here to want the urbanity and intelligence
+we find among our subjects in the latter quarters.
+
+The apparent stupidity of the people when questioned upon points the
+most interesting to them, regarding their history, their agriculture,
+their tanks, and temples, was most provoking; and their manners
+seemed to me more rude and clownish than those of people in any other
+part of India I had travelled over. I asked my little friend the
+Sarîmant, who rode with me, what he thought of this.
+
+'I think', said he, 'that it arises from the harsh character of the
+government under which they live; it makes every man wish to appear a
+fool, in order that he may be thought a beggar and not worth the
+plundering.'
+
+'It strikes me, my friend Sarîmant, that their government has made
+them in reality the beggars and the fools that they appear to be.'
+
+'God only knows', said Sarîmant; 'certain it is that they are neither
+in mind nor in manners what the people of our districts are.'
+
+The Râjâ had no notice of our approach till intimation of it reached
+him at Ludhaura, the day before we came in. He was there resting, and
+dismissing the people after the ceremonies of the marriage between
+the Salagrâm and the Tulasî. Ludhaura is twenty-seven miles north-
+west of Tehrî, on the opposite side from that on which I was
+approaching. He sent off two men on camels with a 'kharîtâ'
+(letter),[3] requesting that I would let him know my movements, and
+arrange a meeting in a manner that might prevent his appearing
+wanting in respect and hospitality; that is, in plain terms, which he
+was too polite to use, that I would consent to remain one stage from
+his capital, till he could return and meet me half-way, with all due
+pomp and ceremony. These men reached me at Bamhaurî,[4] a distance of
+thirty-nine miles, in the evening, and I sent back a kharîtâ, which
+reached him by relays of camels before midnight. He set out for his
+capital to receive me, and, as I would not wait to be met half-way in
+due form, he reached his palace, and we reached our tents at the same
+time, under a salute from his two brass field-pieces.
+
+We halted at Tehrî on the 9th, and about eleven o'clock the Râjâ came
+to pay his visit of congratulation, with a magnificent _cortège_ of
+elephants, camels, and horses, all mounted and splendidly
+caparisoned, and the noise of his band was deafening. I had had both
+my tents pitched, and one of them handsomely fitted up, as it always
+is, for occasions of ceremony like the present. He came to within
+twenty paces of the door on his elephant, and from its back, as it
+sat down, he entered his splendid litter, without alighting on the
+ground.[5] In this vehicle he was brought to my tent door, where I
+received him, and, after the usual embraces, conducted him up through
+two rows of chairs, placed for his followers of distinction and my
+own, who are always anxious to assist in ceremonies like these.
+
+ At the head of this lane we sat upon chairs placed across, and
+facing down the middle of the two rows; and we conversed upon all the
+subjects usually introduced on such occasions, but more especially
+upon the august ceremonies of the marriage of the Salagrâm with the
+Tulasî, in which his highness had been so _piously_ engaged at
+Ludhaura.[6] After he had sat with me an hour and a half he took his
+leave, and I conducted him to the door, whence he was carried to his
+elephant in his litter, from which he mounted without touching the
+ground.
+
+This litter is called a 'nâlkî'. It is one of the three great
+insignia which the Mogul Emperors of Delhi conferred upon independent
+princes of the first class, and could never be used by any person
+upon whom, or upon whose ancestors, they had not been so conferred.
+These were the nâlkî, the order of the Fish, and the fan of the
+peacock's feathers. These insignia could be used only by the prince
+who inherited the sovereignty of the one on whom they had been
+originally conferred. The order of the Fish, or Mahî Marâtib, was
+first instituted by Khusrû Parvîz, King of Persia, and grandson of
+the celebrated Naushîrvân the Just. Having been deposed by his
+general, Bahrâm, Khusrû fled for protection to the Greek emperor,
+Maurice, whose daughter, Shîrîn, he married, and he was sent back to
+Persia, with an army under the command of Narses, who placed him on
+the throne of his ancestors in the year A.D. 591.[7] He ascertained
+from his astrologer, Araz Khushasp, that when he ascended the throne
+the moon was in the constellation of the Fish, and he gave orders to
+have two balls made of polished steel, which were to be called
+Kaukabas (planets),[8] and mounted on long poles. These two planets,
+with large fish made of gold, upon a third pole in the centre, were
+ordered to be carried in all regal processions immediately after the
+king, and before the prime minister, whose _cortège_ always followed
+immediately after that of the king. The two kaûkabas are now
+generally made of copper, and plated, and in the shape of a jar,
+instead of quite round as at first; but the fish is still made of
+gold. Two planets are always considered necessary to one fish, and
+they are still carried in all processions between the prince and his
+prime minister.
+
+The court of this prince Khusrû Pârvîz was celebrated throughout the
+East for its splendour and magnificence; and the chaste love of the
+poet Farhad for his beautiful queen Shîrîn is the theme of almost as
+many poems in the East as that of Petrarch's for Laura is in the
+West. Nûh Samânî, who ascended the throne of Persia after the
+Sassanians,[9] ascertained that the moon was in the sign Leo at the
+time of his accession, and ordered that the gold head of a lion
+should thenceforward accompany the fishes, and the two balls, in all
+royal processions. The Persian order of knighthood is, therefore,
+that of the Fish, the Moon, and the Lion, and not the Lion and Sun,
+as generally supposed. The emperors of the house of Taimûr in
+Hindustan assumed the right of conferring the order upon all whom
+they pleased, and they conferred it upon the great territorial
+sovereigns of the country without distinction as to religion. He only
+who inherits the sovereignty can wear the order, and I believe no
+prince would venture to wear or carry the order who was not generally
+reputed to have received the investiture from one of the emperors of
+Delhi.[10]
+
+As I could not wait another day, it was determined that I should
+return his visit in the afternoon; and about four o'clock we set out
+upon our elephant--Lieutenant Thomas, Sarîmant, and myself, attended
+by all my troopers and those of Sarîmant. We had our silver-stick men
+with us; but still all made a sorry figure compared with the splendid
+_cortège_ of the Râjâ. We dismounted at the foot of the stairs
+leading to the Râjâ's hall of audience, and were there met by his two
+chief officers of state, who conducted us to the entrance of the
+hall, when we were received by the Râjâ himself, who led us up
+through two rows of chairs laid out exactly as mine had been in the
+morning. In front were assembled a party of native comedians, who
+exhibited a few scenes of the insolence of office in the attendants
+of great men, and the obtrusive importunity of place-seekers, in a
+manner that pleased us much more than a dance would have done.
+Conversation was kept up very well, and the visit passed off without
+any feeling of ennui, or anything whatever to recollect with regret.
+The ladies looked at us from their apartments through gratings, and
+without our being able to see them very distinctly. We were anxious
+to see the tombs of the late Râjâ, the elder brother of the present,
+who lately died, and that of his son, which are in progress in a very
+fine garden outside the city walls, and, in consequence, we did not
+sit above half an hour. The Râjâ conducted us to the head of the
+stairs, and the same two officers attended us to the bottom, and
+mounted their horses, and attended us to the tombs.
+
+After the dust of the town raised by the immense crowd that attended
+us, and the ceremonies of the day, a walk in this beautiful garden
+was very agreeable, and I prolonged it till dark. The Râjâ had given
+orders to have all the cisterns filled during our stay, under the
+impression that we should wish to see the garden; and, as soon as we
+entered, the _jets d'eau_ poured into the air their little floods
+from a hundred mouths. Our old cicerone told us that, if we would
+take the old capital of Orchhâ in our way, we might there see the
+thing in perfection, and amidst the deluges of the rains of Sâwân and
+Bhâdon (July and August) see the lightning and hear the thunder. The
+Râjâs of this, the oldest principality in Bundêlkhand, were all
+formerly buried or burned at the old capital of Orchhâ, even after
+they had changed their residence to Tehrî. These tombs over the ashes
+of the Râjâ, his wife, and son, are the first that have been built at
+Tehrî, where their posterity are all to repose in future.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. The State of Orchhâ, also known as Tehrî or Tîkamgarh, situated to
+the south of the Jhânsî district, is the oldest and the highest in
+rank of the Bundela principalities. The town of Tehrî is seventy-two
+miles north-west of Sâgar. The town of Orchhâ, founded in A.D. 1531,
+is 131 miles north of Sâgar, and about forty miles from Tehrî.
+Tîkamgarh is the fort of Tehrî.
+
+3. A _kharîtâ_ is a letter enclosed in a bag of rich brocade,
+contained in another of fine muslin. The mouth is tied with a string
+of silk, to which hangs suspended the great seal, which is a flat
+round mass of sealing-wax, with the seal impressed on each side of
+it. This is the kind of letter which passes between natives of great
+rank in India, and between them and the public functionaries of
+Government. [W. H. S.]
+
+4. _Ante_, Chapter 19, after note [15].
+
+5. The Râjâ's unwillingness to touch the ground is an example of a
+very widespread and primitive belief. 'Two of those rules or taboos
+by which . . . the life of divine kings or priests is regulated. The
+first is . . . that the divine personage may not touch the ground
+with his foot.' This prohibition applies to the Mikado of Japan and
+many other sacred personages. 'The second rule is that the sun may
+not shine upon the sacred person.' This second rule explains the use
+of the umbrella as a royal appendage in India and Burma. (Frazer,
+_The Golden Bough_, 1st ed., vol. ii, pp. 224, 225.)
+
+6 _Ante_, Chapter 19, note 3.
+
+7. During the time he remained the guest of the emperor he resided at
+Hierapolis, and did not visit Constantinople. The Greeks do not admit
+that Shîrîn was the daughter of Maurice, though a Roman by birth and
+a Christian by religion. The Persians and Turks speak of her as the
+emperor's daughter. [W. H. S.] Khusrû Pârvîz (Eberwiz), or Khusrû II,
+reigned as King of Persia from A.D. 591 to 628. In the course of his
+wars he took Jerusalem, and reduced Egypt, and a large part of
+northern Africa, extending for a time the bounds of the Persian
+empire to the Aegean and the Nile. Khusrû I, surnamed Naushîrvân, or
+(more correctly) Anushîrvân, reigned from A.D. 531 to 579. His
+successful wars with the Romans and his vigorous internal
+administration captivated the Oriental imagination, and he is
+generally spoken of as Âdil, or The Just. His name has become
+proverbial, and to describe a superior as rivalling Naushîrvân in
+justice is a commonplace of flattery. The prophet Muhammad was born
+during his reign, and was proud of the fact. The alleged expedition
+of Naushîrvân into India is discredited by the best modern writers.
+Gibbon tells the story of the wars between the two Khusrûs and the
+Romans in his forty-sixth chapter, and a critical history of the
+reigns of both Khusrû (Khosrau) I and Khusrû II will be found in
+Professor Rawlinson's _Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy_ (London,
+1876). European authors have, until recently, generally written the
+name Khusrû in its Greek form as Chosroes. The name of Shîrîn is also
+written Sira.
+
+'With the name of Shirin and the rock of Bahistun the Persians have
+associated one of those poetic romances so dear to the national
+genius. Ferhad, the most famous sculptor of his time, who was very
+likely employed by Chosroes II to execute these bas-reliefs, is said
+in the legend to have fallen madly in love with Shîrîn, and to have
+received a promise of her from the king, if he would cut through the
+rock of Behistun, and divert a stream to the Kermanshah plain. The
+lover set to work, and had all but completed his gigantic enterprise
+(of which the remains, however interpreted, are still to be seen),
+when he was falsely informed by an emissary from the king of his
+lady's death. In despair he leaped from the rock, and was dashed to
+pieces. The legend of the unhappy lover is familiar throughout the
+East, and is used to explain many traces of rock-cutting or
+excavation as far east as Beluchistan' (_Persia and the Persian
+Question_, by the Hon. George N. Curzon, M.P. (London, 1892), vol. i,
+p. 562, note. See also Malcolm, _History of Persia_, vol. i, p. 129).
+
+8. _Kaukab_ in Arabic means 'a star'. Steingass (_Persian
+Dictionary_) defines _Kaukaba_ as 'a polished steel ball suspended to
+a long pole, and carried as an ensign before the king; a star of
+gold, silver, or tinsel, worn as ornament or sign of rank; a
+concourse of people; a royal train, retinue, cavalcade; splendour'.
+
+9. Yezdegird III (Isdigerd), the last of the Sassanians, was defeated
+in A.D. 641 at the battle of Nahavend by the Arab Nomân, general of
+the Khalîf Omar, and driven from his throne. The supremacy of the
+Khalîfs over Persia lasted till A.D. 1258. The subordinate Samâni
+dynasty ruled over Khurâsân, Seistân, Balkh, and the countries of
+Trans-Oxiana in the tenth century. Two of the princes of this line
+were named Nûh, or Noah. The author probably refers to the better
+known of the two, Amir Nûh II (Malcolm, _History of Persia_, ed.
+1829, vol. i, pp. 158-66).
+
+10. The poor old blind emperor. Shâh Alam, when delivered from the
+Marâthâs in 1803 by Lord Lake, did all he could to show his gratitude
+by conferring on his deliverer honours and titles, and among them the
+'Mahî Maratîb'. The editor has been unable to discover the source of
+the author's story of the origin of the Persian order of knighthood.
+Malcolm, an excellent authority, gives the following very different
+account: 'Their sovereigns have, for many centuries, preserved as the
+peculiar arms of the country,[e] the sign or figure of Sol in the
+constellation of Leo; and this device, a lion couchant and the sun
+rising at his back, has not only been sculptured upon their
+palaces[f] and embroidered upon their banners.[g] but has been
+converted into an Order,[h] which in the form of gold and silver
+medals, has been given to such as have distinguished themselves
+against the enemies of their country.[i]
+
+_Note e_. The causes which led to the sign of Sol in Leo becoming the
+arms of Persia cannot be distinctly traced, but there is reason to
+believe that the use of this symbol is not of very great antiquity.
+We meet with it upon the coins of one of the Seljukian princes of
+Iconium; and, when this family had been destroyed by Hulâkû [A.D.
+1258], the grandson of Chengiz, that prince, or his successors,
+perhaps adopted this emblem as a trophy of their conquest, whence it
+has remained ever since among the most remarkable of the royal
+insignia. A learned friend, who has a valuable collection of Oriental
+coins, and whose information and opinion have enabled me to make this
+conjecture, believes that the emblematical representation of Sol in
+Leo was first adopted by Ghiâs-ud-din Kai Khusrû bin Kaikobâd, who
+began to reign A.H. 634, A.D. 1236, and died A.H. 642, A.D. 1244; and
+this emblem, he adds, is supposed to have reference either to his own
+horoscope or to that of his queen, who was a princess of Georgia.
+
+_Note f_. Hanway states, vol. i, p. 199, that over the gate which
+forms the entrance of the palace built by Shah Abbâs the Great [A.D.
+1586 to 1628] at Ashrâf, in Mazenderan, are 'the arms of Persia,
+being a lion, and the sun rising behind it'.
+
+_Note g_. The emblem of the Lion and Sun is upon all the banners
+given to the regular corps of infantry lately formed. They are
+presented to the regiments with great ceremony. A mûllâ, or priest,
+attends, and implores the divine blessing on them.
+
+_Note h_. This order, with additional decorations, has been lately
+conferred upon several ministers and representatives of European
+Governments in alliance with Persia.
+
+_Note i_. The medals which have been struck with this symbol upon
+them have been chiefly given to the Persian officers and men of the
+regular corps who have distinguished themselves in the war with the
+Russians. An English officer, who served with these troops, informs
+me that those on whom these medals have been conferred are very proud
+of this distinction, and that all are extremely anxious to obtain
+them (_History of Persia_, ed. 1829, vol. ii, p. 406).
+
+In Curzon's figure the lion is standing, not 'couchant', as stated by
+Malcolm, and grasps a scimitar in his off forepaw.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 23
+
+
+The Râjâ of Orchhâ--Murder of his many Ministers.
+
+The present Râjâ, Mathurâ Dâs, succeeded his brother Bikramâjît, who
+died in 1834. He had made over the government to his only son, Râjâ
+Bahâdur, whom he almost adored; but, the young man dying some years
+before him, the father resumed the reins of government, and held them
+till his death. He was a man of considerable capacity, but of a harsh
+and unscrupulous character. His son resembled him; but the present
+Râjâ is a man of mild temper and disposition, though of weak
+intellect. The fate of the last three prime ministers will show the
+character of the Râjâ and his son, and the nature of their rule.
+
+The minister at the time the old man made over the reins of
+government to his son was Khânjû Purôhit.[1] Wishing to get rid of
+him a few years after, this son, Râjâ Bahâdur, employed Muhram Singh,
+one of his feudal Râjpût barons, to assassinate him. As a reward for
+this service he received the seals of office; and the Râjâ
+confiscated all the property of the deceased, amounting to four lakhs
+of rupees[2] and resumed the whole of the estates held by the family.
+
+The young Râjâ died soon after; and his father, when he resumed the
+reins of government, wishing to remove the new minister, got him
+assassinated by Gambhîr Singh, another feudal Râjpût baron, who, as
+his reward, received in his turn the seals of office. This man was a
+most atrocious villain, and employed the public establishments of his
+chief to plunder travellers on the high road. In 1833 his followers
+robbed four men, who were carrying treasure to the amount of ten
+thousand rupees from Sâgar to Jhânsî through Tehrî, and intended to
+murder them; but, by the sagacity of one of the party, and a lucky
+accident, they escaped, made their way back to Sâgar, and complained
+to the magistrate.[3] The[4] minister discovered the nature of their
+burdens as they lodged at Tehrî on their way, and sent after them a
+party of soldiers, with orders to put them in the bed of a rivulet
+that separated the territory of Orchhâ from that of the Jhânsî Râjâ.
+One of the treasure party discovered their object; and, on reaching
+the bank of the rivulet in a deep grass jungle, he threw down his
+bundle, dashed unperceived through the grass, and reached a party of
+travellers whom he saw ascending a hill about half a mile in advance.
+The myrmidons of the minister, when they found that one had escaped,
+were afraid to murder the others, but took their treasure. In spite
+of great obstacles, and with much danger to the families of three of
+those men, who resided in the capital of Tehrî, the magistrate of
+Sâgar brought the crime home to the minister, and the Râjâ, anxious
+to avail himself of the occasion to fill his coffers, got him
+assassinated. The Râjâ was then about eighty years of age, and his
+minister was a strong, athletic, and brave man. One morning while he
+was sitting with him in private conversation, the former pretended a
+wish to drink some of the water in which his household god had been
+washed (the 'chandan mirt'),[5] and begged the minister to go and
+fetch it from the place where it stood by the side of the idol in the
+court of the palace. As a man cannot take his sword before the idol,
+the minister put it down, as the Râjâ knew he would, and going to the
+idol, prostrated himself before it preparatory to taking away the
+water. In that state he was cut down by Bihârî,[6] another feudal
+Râjpût baron, who aspired to the seals, and some of his friends, who
+had been placed there on purpose by the Râjâ. He obtained the seals
+by his service, and, as he was allowed to place one brother in
+command of the forces, and to make another chamberlain, he hoped to
+retain them longer than any of his predecessors had done. Gambhîr
+Singh's brother, Jhujhâr Singh, and the husband of his sister,
+hearing of his murder, made off, but were soon pursued and put to
+death. The widows were all three put into prison, and all the
+property and estates were confiscated. The movable property amounted
+to three lakhs of rupees.[7] The Râjâ boasted to the Governor-
+General's representative in Bundêlkhand of this act of retributive
+justice, and pretended that it was executed merely as a punishment
+for the robbery; but it was with infinite difficulty the merchants
+could recover from him any share of the plundered property out of
+that confiscated. The Râjâ alleged that, according to our _rules_,
+the chief within whose boundary the robbery might have been
+committed, was obliged to make good the property. On inspection, it
+was found that the robbery was perpetrated upon the very boundary
+line, and 'in spite of pride, in erring reason's spite', the Jhânsî
+Râjâ was made to pay one-half of the plundered treasure.
+
+The old Râjâ, Bikramâjît, died in June, 1834; and, though his death
+had been some time expected, he no sooner breathed his last than
+charges of 'dînaî', slow poison, were got up, as usual, in the zenana
+(seraglio).
+
+Here the widow of Râjâ Bahâdur, a violent and sanguinary woman, was
+supreme; and she persuaded the present Râjâ, a weak old man, to take
+advantage of the funeral ceremonies to avenge the death of his
+brother. He did so; and Bihârî, and his three brothers, with above
+fifty of his relations, were murdered. The widows of the four
+brothers were the only members of all the families left alive. One of
+them had a son four months old; another one of two years; the four
+brothers had no other children. Immediately after the death of their
+husbands, the two children were snatched from their mothers' breasts,
+and threatened with instant death unless their mothers pointed out
+all their ornaments and other property. They did so; and the spoilers
+having got from them property to the amount of one hundred and fifty
+thousand rupees, and been assured that there was no more, threw the
+children over the high wall, by which they were dashed to pieces. The
+poor widows were tendered as wives to four sweepers, the lowest of
+all low castes; but the tribe of sweepers would not suffer any of its
+members to take the widows of men of such high caste and station as
+wives, notwithstanding the tempting offer of five hundred rupees as a
+present, and a village in rent-free tenure.[8] I secured a promise
+while at Tehrî that these poor widows should be provided for, as they
+had, up to that time, been preserved by the good feeling of a little
+community of the lowest of castes, on whom they had been bestowed as
+a punishment worse than death, inasmuch as it would disgrace the
+whole class to which they belonged, the Parihâr Râjpûts.[9]
+
+Tehrî is a wretched town, without one respectable dwelling-house
+tenanted beyond the palace, or one merchant, or even shopkeeper of
+capital and credit. There are some tolerable houses unoccupied and in
+ruins; and there are a few neat temples built as tombs, or cenotaphs,
+in or around the city, if city it can be called. The stables and
+accommodations for all public establishments seem to be all in the
+same ruinous state as the dwelling-houses. The revenues of the state
+are spent in feeding Brahmans and religious mendicants of all kinds;
+and in such idle ceremonies as those at which the Râjâ and all his
+court have just been assisting--ceremonies which concentrate for a
+few days the most useless of the people of India, the devotee
+followers (Bairâgîs) of the god Vishnu, and tend to no purpose,
+either useful or ornamental, to the state or to the people.
+
+This marriage of a stone to a shrub, which takes place every year, is
+supposed to cost the Râjâ, at the most moderate estimate, three lakhs
+of rupees a year, or one-fourth of his annual revenue.[10] The
+highest officers of which his government is composed receive small
+beggarly salaries, hardly more than sufficient for their subsistence;
+and the money they make by indirect means they dare not spend like
+gentlemen, lest the Râjâ might be tempted to take their lives in
+order to get hold of it. All his feudal barons are of the same tribe
+as himself, that is, Râjpûts; but they are divided into three clans--
+Bundêlas, Pawârs, and Chandêls. A Bundêla cannot marry a woman of his
+own clan, he must take a wife from the Pawârs or Chandêls; and so of
+the other two clans--no member of one can take a wife from his own
+clan, but must go to one of the other two for her. They are very much
+disposed to fight with each other, but not less are they disposed to
+unite against any third party, not of the same tribe. Braver men do
+not, I believe, exist than the Râjpûts of Bundêlkhand, who all carry
+their swords from their infancy.[11]
+
+It may be said of the Râjpûts of Mâlwa and Central India generally,
+that the Mogul Emperors of Delhi made the same use of them that the
+Emperors of Germany and the Popes made of the military chiefs and
+classes of Europe during the Middle Ages. Industry and the peaceful
+arts being reduced to agriculture alone under bad government or no
+government at all, the land remained the only thing worth
+appropriating; and it accordingly became appropriated by those alone
+who had the power to do so--by the Hindoo military classes collected
+around the heads of their clans, and powerful in their union. These
+held it under the paramount power on the feudal tenure of military
+service, as militia; or it was appropriated by the paramount power
+itself, who let it out on allodial tenure to peaceful peasantry. The
+one was the Zamîndârî, and the other the Mâlguzârî tenure of
+India.[12]
+
+The military chiefs, essentially either soldiers or robbers, were
+continually fighting, either against each other, or against the
+peasantry, or public officers of the paramount power, like the barons
+of Europe; and that paramount power, or its delegates, often found
+that the easiest way to crush one of these refractory vassals was to
+put him, as such men had been put in Germany, to _the ban of the
+empire_, and offer his lands, his castles, and his wealth to the
+victor. This victor brought his own clansmen to occupy the lands and
+castles of the vanquished; and, as these were the only things thought
+worth living for, the change commonly involved the utter destruction
+of the former occupants. The new possessors gave the name of their
+leader, their clan, or their former place of abode, to their new
+possession, and the tract of country over which they spread. Thus
+were founded the Bundêlas, Pawârs, and Chandêls [_sic_] upon the ruin
+of the Chandêls of Bundêlkhand, the Baghêlas in Baghêlkhand, or Rîwâ,
+the Kachhwâhâs, the Sakarwârs, and others along the Chambal river,
+and throughout all parts of India.[13]
+
+These classes have never learnt anything, or considered anything
+worth learning, but the use of the sword; and a Râjpût chief, next to
+leading a gang of his own on great enterprises, delights in nothing
+so much as having a gang or two under his patronage for little ones.
+
+There is hardly a single chief of the Hindoo military class in the
+Bundêlkhand or Gwâlior territories, who does not keep a gang of
+robbers of some kind or other, and consider it as a very valuable and
+legitimate source of revenue; or who would not embrace with
+cordiality the leader of a gang of assassins by profession who should
+bring him home from every expedition a good horse, a good sword, or a
+valuable pair of shawls, taken from their victims. It is much the
+same in the kingdom of Oudh, where the lands are for the most part
+held by the same Hindoo military classes, who are in a continual
+state of war with each other, or with the Government authorities.
+Three-fourths of the recruits for native infantry regiments are from
+this class of military agriculturists of Oudh, who have been trained
+up in this school of contest; and many of the lads, when they enter
+our ranks, are found to have marks of the cold steel upon their
+persons. A braver set of men is hardly anywhere to be found; or one
+trained up with finer feelings of devotion towards the power whose
+salt they eat.[14] A good many of the other fourth of the recruits
+for our native infantry are drawn from among the Ujainî Râjpûts, or
+Râjpûts from Ujain,[15] who were established many generations ago in
+the same manner at Bhôjpur on the bank of the Ganges.[16]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. A purôhit is a Brahman family priest.
+
+2. Four hundred thousand rupees, worth at that time more than forty
+thousand pounds sterling.
+
+3. The magistrate was the author.
+
+4. 'That' in author's text.
+
+5. The water of the Ganges, with which the image of the god Vishnu
+has been washed, is considered a very holy draught, fit for princes.
+That with which the image of the god Siva, alias Mahâdêo, is washed
+must not be drunk. The popular belief is that in a dispute between
+him and his wife, Pârvatî, alias Kâlî, she cursed the person that
+should thenceforward dare to drink of the water that flowed over his
+images on earth. The river Ganges is supposed to flow from the top-
+knot of Siva's head, and no one would drink of it after this curse,
+were it not that the sacred stream is supposed to come first from the
+_heel_ of Vishnu, the Preserver. All the little images of Siva, that
+are made out of stones taken from the bed of the Nerbudda river, are
+supposed to be absolved from this curse, and water thrown upon _them_
+can be drunk with impunity. [W. H. S.] The natural emblems of Siva,
+the Bâna-linga quartz pebbles found in the Nerbudda, have already
+been referred to in the note to Chapter 19, _ante_, note 9. In the
+Marâthâ country the 'household gods' generally comprise five sacred
+symbols, namely, the _sâlagrâma_ stone of Vishnu, the _bâna-linga_ of
+Siva, a metallic stone representing the female principle in nature
+(Sakti), a crystal representing the sun, and a red stone representing
+Ganesh, the remover of obstacles. The details of the tiresome ritual
+observed in the worship of these objects occupy pp. 412 to 416 of
+Monier Williams's _Religious Thought and Life in India_.
+
+6. 'Beearee' in author's text.
+
+7. Then worth more than thirty thousand pounds sterling.
+
+8. On the customs of the sweeper caste, see _ante_, Chapter 8,
+following note [11].
+
+9. The Parihârs were the rulers of Bundêlkhand before the Chandêls.
+The chief of Uchhahara belongs to this clan.
+
+10. Wealthy Hindoos, throughout India, spend money in the same
+ceremonies of marrying the stone to the shrub. [W. H. S.] Three lakhs
+of rupees were then worth thirty thousand pounds sterling or more.
+
+11. The numerous clans, more or less devoted to war, grouped together
+under the name of Râjpûts (literally 'king's sons'), are in reality
+of multifarious origin, and include representatives of many races.
+They are the Kshatriyas of the law-books, and are still often called
+Chhattrî (_E.H.I._, 3rd ed., pp. 407-15). In some parts of the
+country the word Thâkur is more familiar as their general title.
+Thirty-six clans are considered as specially pure-blooded and are
+called, at any rate in books, the 'royal races'. All the clans follow
+the custom of exogamy. The Chandêls (Chandella) ruled Bundêlkhand
+from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries. Their capital was Mahoba,
+now a station on the Midland Railway. The Bundêlas became prominent
+at a later date, and attained their greatest power under Chhatarsâl
+(_circa_ A.D. 1671-1731). Their territory is now known as
+Bundêlkhand. The country so designated is not an administrative
+division. It is partly in the United Provinces, partly in the Central
+Provinces, and partly in Native States. It is bounded on the north by
+the Jumna; on the north and west by the Chambal river; on the south
+by the Central Provinces, and on the south and east by Rîwâ and the
+Kaimûr hills. The traditions of both the Bundêlas and Chandellas show
+that there is a strain of the blood of the earlier, so--called
+aboriginal, races in both clans. The Pawâr (Pramara) clan ranks high,
+but is now of little political importance (See _N.W.P. Gazetteer_,
+1st ed., vol. vii, p. 68).
+
+12. The paramount power often assigned a portion of its reserved
+lands in 'Jâgîr' to public officers for the establishments they
+required for the performance of the duties, military or civil, which
+were expected from them. Other portions were assigned in rent-free
+tenure for services already performed, or to favourites; but, in both
+cases, the rights of the village or land owner, or allodial
+proprietors, were supposed to be unaffected, as the Government was
+presumed to assign only its own claim to a certain portion as
+revenue. [W. H. S.] The term 'ryotwar' (raiyatwâr) is commonly used
+to designate the system under which the cultivators hold their lands
+direct from the State. The subject of tenures is further discussed by
+the author in Chapters 70, 71.
+
+13. For elaborate comparisons between the Râjpût policy and the
+feudal system of Europe, Tod's _Rajasthân_ may be consulted. The
+parallel is not really so close as it appears to be at first sight.
+In some respects the organization of the Highland clans is more
+similar to that of the Râjpûts than the feudal system is. The Chambal
+river rises in Mâlwâ, and, after a course of some five hundred and
+seventy miles, falls into the Jumna forty miles below Etâwa. The
+statement in the text concerning the succession of clans is confused.
+The ruling family of Rîwâ still belongs to the Baghêl clan. The
+Maharâjâ of Jaipur (Jeypore) is a Kachhwâha.
+
+14. The barbarous habit of alliance and connivance with robber gangs
+is by no means confined to Râjpût nobles and landholders. Men of all
+creeds and castes yield to the temptation and magistrates are
+sometimes startled to find that Honorary Magistrates, Members of
+District Boards, and others of apparently the highest respectability,
+are the abettors and secret organizers of robber bands. A modern
+example of this fact was discovered in the Meerut and Muzaffarnagar
+Districts of the United Provinces in 1890 and 1891. In this case the
+wealthy supporters of the banditti were Jâts and Muhammadans.
+
+The unfortunate condition of Oudh previous to the annexation in 1856
+is vividly described in the author's _Journey through the Kingdom of
+Oude_, published in 1858. The tour took place in 1849-50. Some
+districts of the kingdom, especially Hardoî, are still tainted by the
+old lawlessness.
+
+The remarks on the fine feelings of devotion shown by the sepoys must
+now be read in the light of the events of the Mutiny. Since that time
+the army has been reorganized, and depends on Oudh for its recruits
+much less than it did in the author's day.
+
+15. Ujain (Ujjain, Oojeyn) is a very ancient city, on the river
+Sipra, in Mâlwa, in the dominions of Sindhia, the chief of Gwâlior.
+
+16. Bhajpore in the author's text. The town referred to is Bhôjpur in
+the Shâhâbâd district of South Bihâr.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 24
+
+
+Corn Dealers--Scarcities--Famines in India.
+
+Near Tehrî we saw the people irrigating a field of wheat from a tank
+by means of a canoe, in a mode quite new to me. The surface of the
+water was about three feet below that of the field to be watered. The
+inner end of the canoe was open, and placed to the mouth of a gutter
+leading into the wheat-field. The outer end was closed, and suspended
+by a rope to the outer end of a pole, which was again suspended to
+cross-bars. On the inner end of this pole was fixed a weight of
+stones sufficient to raise the canoe when filled with water; and at
+the outer end stood five men, who pulled down and sank the canoe into
+the water as often as it was raised by the stones, and emptied into
+the gutter. The canoe was more curved at the outer end than ordinary
+canoes are, and seemed to have been made for the purpose. The lands
+round the town generally were watered by the Persian wheel; but,
+where it [_scil._ the water] is near the surface, this [_scil._ the
+canoe arrangement] I should think a better method.[1]
+
+On the 10th[2] we came on to the village of Bilgaî, twelve miles over
+a bad soil, badly cultivated; the hard syenitic rock rising either
+above or near to the surface all the way--in some places abruptly, in
+small hills, decomposing into large rounded boulders--in others
+slightly and gently, like the backs of whales in the ocean-in others,
+the whole surface of the country resembled very much the face of the
+sea, not after, but really in, a storm, full of waves of all sizes,
+contending with each other 'in most admired disorder'. After the dust
+of Tehrî, and the fatiguing ceremonies of its court, the quiet
+morning I spent in this secluded spot under the shade of some
+beautiful trees, with the surviving canary singing, my boy playing,
+and my wife sleeping off the fatigues of her journey, was to me most
+delightful. Henry was extremely ill when we left Jubbulpore; but the
+change of air, and all the other changes incident to a march, have
+restored him to health.
+
+During the scarcity of 1833 two hundred people died of starvation in
+this village alone;[3] and were all thrown into one large well, which
+has, of course, ever since remained closed. Autumn crops chiefly are
+cultivated; and they depend entirely on the sky for water, while the
+poor people of the village depend upon the returns of a single season
+for subsistence during the whole year. They lingered on in the hope
+of aid from above till the greater part had become too weak from want
+of food to emigrate. The Râjâ gave half a crown to every family;[4]
+but this served merely to kindle their hopes of more, and to prolong
+their misery. Till the people have a better government they can never
+be secure from frequent returns of similar calamities. Such security
+must depend upon a greater variety of crops, and better means of
+irrigation; better roads to bring supplies over from distant parts
+which have not suffered from the same calamities; and greater means
+in reserve of paying for such supplies when brought--things that can
+never be hoped for under a government like this, which allows no man
+the free enjoyment of property.
+
+Close to the village a large wall has been made to unite two small
+hills, and form a small lake; but the wall is formed of the rounded
+boulders of the syenitic rock without cement, and does not retain the
+water. The land which was to have formed the bed of the lake is all
+in tillage; and I had some conversation with the man who cultivated
+it. He told me that the wall had been built with the money of _sin_,
+and not the money of _piety_ (_pâp kê paisâ sê, na pun kê paisâ sê
+banâ_), that the man who built it must have laid out his money with a
+_worldly_, and not a _religious_ mind (_nîyat_); that on such
+occasions men generally assembled Brahmans and other deserving
+people, and fed and clothed them, and thereby _consecrated_ a great
+work, and made it acceptable to God, and he had heard from his
+ancestors that the man who had built this wall had failed to do this;
+that the construction could never, of course, answer the purpose for
+which it was intended--and that the builder's name had actually been
+forgotten, and the work did him no good either in this world or the
+next. This village, which a year or two ago was large and populous,
+is now reduced to two wretched huts inhabited by two very miserable
+families.
+
+Bundêlkhand suffers more often and more severely from the want of
+seasonable showers of rain than any other part of India; while the
+province of Mâlwa, which adjoins it on the west and south, hardly
+ever suffers at all.[5] There is a couplet, which, like all other
+good couplets on rural subjects, is attributed to Sahdêo [Sahadeva],
+one of the five demigod brothers of the Mahâbhârata, to this effect:
+'If you hear not the thunder on such a night, you, father, go to
+Mâlwa, I to Gujarât;'--that is, there will be no rain, and we must
+seek subsistence where rains never fail, and the harvests are secure.
+
+The province of Mâlwa is well studded with hills and groves of fine
+trees, which intercept the clouds as they are wafted by the
+prevailing westerly winds, from the Gulf of Cambay to the valley of
+the Ganges, and make them drop their contents upon a soil of great
+natural powers, formed chiefly from the detritus of the decomposing
+basaltic rocks, which cap and intersect these hills.[6]
+
+During the famine of 1833, as on all similar occasions, grain of
+every kind, attracted by high prices, flowed up in large streams from
+this favoured province towards Bundêlkhand; and the population of
+Bundêlkhand, as usual in such times of dearth and scarcity, flowed
+off towards Mâlwa against the stream of supply, under the assurance
+that the nearer they got to the source, the greater would be their
+chance of employment and subsistence. Every village had its numbers
+of the dead and the dying; and the roads were all strewed with them;
+but they were mostly concentrated upon the great towns and civil and
+military stations, where subscriptions were open[ed] for their
+support, by both the European and native communities. The funds
+arising from these subscriptions lasted till the rains had set fairly
+in, when all able-bodied persons could easily find employment in
+tillage among the agricultural communities of villages around. After
+the rains have fairly set in, the _sick_ and _helpless_ only should
+be kept concentrated upon large towns and stations, where little or
+no employment is to be found; for the oldest and youngest of those
+who are able to work can then easily find employment in weeding the
+cotton, rice, sugar-cane, and other fields under autumn crops, and in
+preparing the lands for the reception of the wheat, gram,[7] and
+other spring seeds; and get advances from the farmers, agricultural
+capitalists[8] and other members of the village communities, who are
+all glad to share their superfluities with the distressed, and to pay
+liberally for the little service they are able to give in return.
+
+It is very unwise to give from such funds what may be considered a
+full rate of subsistence to able-bodied persons, as it tends to keep
+concentrated upon such points vast numbers who would otherwise be
+scattered over the surface of the country among the village
+communities, who would be glad to advance them stock and the means of
+subsistence upon the pledge of their future services when the season
+of tillage commences. The rate of subsistence should always be
+something less than what the able-bodied person usually consumes, and
+can get for his labour in the field. For the sick and feeble this
+rate will be enough, and the healthy and able-bodied, with unimpaired
+appetites, will seek a greater rate by the offer of their services
+among the farmers and cultivators of the surrounding country. By this
+precaution, the mass of suffering will be gradually diffused over the
+country, so as best to receive what the country can afford to give
+for its relief. As soon as the rains set in, all the able-bodied men,
+women, and children should be sent off with each a good blanket, and
+a rupee or two, as the funds can afford, to last them till they can
+engage themselves with the farmers. Not a farthing after that day
+should be given out, except to the feeble and sick, who may be
+considered as hospital patients.[9]
+
+At large places, where the greater numbers are concentrated, the
+scene becomes exceedingly distressing, for, in spite of the best
+dispositions and greatest efforts on the part of Government and its
+officers, and the European and native communities, thousands commonly
+die of starvation. At Sâgar, mothers, as they lay in the streets
+unable to walk, were seen holding up their infants, and imploring the
+passing stranger to take them in slavery, that they might at least
+live--hundreds were seen creeping into gardens, courtyards, and old
+ruins, concealing themselves under shrubs, grass, mats, or straw,
+where they might die quietly, without having their bodies torn by
+birds and beasts before the breath had left them. Respectable
+families, who left home in search of the favoured land of Mâlwa,
+while yet a little property remained, finding all exhausted, took
+opium rather than beg, and husband, wife, and children died in each
+other's arms. Still more of such families lingered on in hope till
+all had been expended; then shut their doors, took poison and died
+all together, rather than expose their misery, and submit to the
+degradation of begging. All these things I have myself known and
+seen; and, in the midst of these and a hundred other harrowing scenes
+which present themselves on such occasions, the European cannot fail
+to remark the patient resignation with which the poor people submit
+to their fate; and the absence of almost all those revolting acts
+which have characterized the famines of which he has read in other
+countries--such as the living feeding on the dead, and mothers
+devouring their own children. No such things are witnessed in Indian
+famines;[10] here all who suffer attribute the disaster to its real
+cause, the want of rain in due season; and indulge in no feelings of
+hatred against their rulers, superiors, or more fortunate equals in
+society who happen to live beyond the range of such calamities. They
+gratefully receive the superfluities which the more favoured are
+always found ready to share with the afflicted in India; and, though
+their sufferings often subdue the strongest of all pride, the pride
+of caste, they rarely ever drive the people to acts of violence. The
+stream of emigration, guided as it always is by that of the
+agricultural produce flowing in from the more favoured countries,
+must necessarily concentrate upon the communities along the line it
+takes a greater number of people than they have the means of
+relieving, however benevolent their dispositions; and I must say that
+I have never either seen or read of a nobler spirit than seems to
+animate all classes of these communities in India on such distressing
+occasions.
+
+In such seasons of distress, we often, in India, hear of very
+injudicious interference with grain dealers on the part of civil and
+military authorities, who contrive to persuade themselves that the
+interest of these corn-dealers, instead of being in accordance with
+the interests of the people, are entirely opposed to them; and
+conclude that, whenever grain becomes dear, they have a right to make
+them open their granaries, and sell their grain at such price as
+they, in their wisdom, may deem reasonable. If they cannot make them
+do this by persuasion, fine, or imprisonment, they cause their pits
+to be opened by their own soldiers or native officers, and the grain
+to be sold at an arbitrary price. If, in a hundred pits thus opened,
+they find one in which the corn happens to be damaged by damp, they
+come to the sage conclusion that the proprietors must be what they
+have all along supposed them to be, and treated as such--_the common
+enemies of mankind_--who, blind alike to their own interests and
+those of the people, purchase up the superabundance of seasons of
+plenty, not to sell it again in seasons of scarcity, but _to destroy
+it_; and that the whole of the grain in the other ninety-nine pits,
+but for their _timely interference_, must have inevitably shared the
+same fate.[11]
+
+During the season here mentioned, grain had become very dear at
+Sâgar, from the unusual demand in Bundêlkhand and other districts to
+the north. As usual, supplies of land produce flowed up from the
+Nerbudda districts along the great roads to the east and west of the
+city; but the military authorities in the cantonments would not be
+persuaded out of their dread of a famine. There were three regiments
+of infantry, a corps of cavalry, and two companies of artillery
+cantoned at that time at Sâgar. They were a mile from the city, and
+the grain for their supply was exempted from town duties to which
+that for the city was liable. The people in cantonments got their
+supply, in consequence, a good deal cheaper than the people in the
+city got theirs; and none but persons belonging bona fide to the
+cantonments were ever allowed to purchase grain within them. When the
+dread of famine began, the commissariat officer, Major Gregory,
+apprehended that he might not be permitted to have recourse to the
+markets of the city in times of scarcity, since the people of the
+city had not been suffered to have recourse to those of the
+cantonments in times of plenty; but he was told by the magistrate to
+purchase as much as he liked, since he considered every man as free
+to sell his grain as his cloth, or pots and pans, to whom he
+chose.[12] He added that he did not share in the fears of the
+military authorities--that he had no apprehension whatever of a
+famine, or when prices rose high enough they would be sure to divert
+away into the city, from the streams then flowing up from the valley
+of the Nerbudda and the districts of Mâlwa towards Bundêlkhand, a
+supply of grain sufficient for all.
+
+This new demand upon the city increased rapidly the price of grain,
+and augmented the alarm of the people, who began to urge the
+magistrate to listen to their prayers, and coerce the sordid corn-
+dealers, who had, no doubt, numerous pits yet unopened. The alarm
+became still greater in the cantonments, where the commanding officer
+attributed all the evil to the inefficiency of the commissariat and
+the villany of the corn-dealers; and Major Gregory was in dread of
+being torn to pieces by the soldiery. Only one day's supply was left
+in the cantonment bazaars--the troops had become clamorous almost to
+a state of mutiny--the people of the town began to rush in upon every
+supply that was offered for sale; and those who had grain to dispose
+of could no longer venture to expose it. The magistrate was hard
+pressed on all sides to have recourse to the old salutary method of
+searching for and forcibly opening the grain pits, and selling the
+contents at such price as might appear reasonable. The kotwâl[13] of
+the town declared that the lives of his police would be no longer
+safe unless this great and never-failing remedy, which had now
+unhappily been too long deferred, were immediately adopted.
+
+The magistrate, who had already taken every other means of declaring
+his resolution never to suffer any man's granary to be forcibly
+opened, now issued a formal proclamation, pledging himself to see
+that such granaries should be as much respected as any other property
+in the city--that every man might keep his grain and expose it for
+sale, wherever and whenever he pleased; and expressing a hope that,
+as the people knew him too well not to feel assured that his word
+thus solemnly pledged would never be broken, he trusted they would
+sell what stores they had, and apply themselves without apprehension
+to the collecting of more.
+
+This proclamation he showed to Major Gregory, assuring him that no
+degree of distress or clamour among the people of the city or the
+cantonments should ever make him violate the pledge therein given to
+the corn-dealers; and that he was prepared to risk his situation and
+reputation as a public officer upon the result. After issuing this
+proclamation about noon, he had his police establishments augmented,
+and so placed and employed as to give to the people entire confidence
+in the assurances conveyed in it. The grain-dealers, no longer
+apprehensive of danger, opened their pits of grain, and sent off all
+their available means to bring in more. In the morning the bazaars
+were all supplied, and every man who had money could buy as much as
+he pleased. The troops got as much as they required from the city.
+Major Gregory was astonished and delighted. The colonel, a fine old
+soldier from the banks of the Indus, who had commanded a corps of
+horse under the former government, came to the magistrate in
+amazement; every shop had become full of grain as if by supernatural
+agency.
+
+_'Kâle âdmî kî akl kahân talak chalêgî_?' said he. 'How little could
+a black man's wisdom serve him in such an emergency?'
+
+There was little wisdom in all this; but there was a firm reliance
+upon the truth of the general principle which should guide all public
+officers on such occasions. The magistrate judged that there were a
+great many pits of grain in the town known only to their own
+proprietors, who were afraid to open them, or get more grain, while
+there was a chance of the civil authorities yielding to the clamours
+of the people and the anxiety of the officers commanding the troops;
+and that he had only to remove these fears, by offering a solemn
+pledge, and manifesting the means and the will to abide by it, in
+order to induce the proprietors, not only to sell what they had, but
+to apply all their means to the collecting of more. But it is a
+singular fact that almost all the officers of the cantonments thought
+the conduct of the magistrate in refusing to have the grain pits
+opened under such pressing circumstances extremely reprehensible.
+
+Had he done so, he might have given the people of the city and the
+cantonments the supply at hand; but the injury done to the corn-
+dealers by so very unwise a measure would have recoiled upon the
+public, since every one would have been discouraged from exerting
+himself to renew the supply, and from laying up stores to meet
+similar necessities in future. By acting as he did, he not only
+secured for the public the best exertions of all the existing corn-
+dealers of the place, but actually converted for the time a great
+many to that trade from other employments, or from idleness. A great
+many families, who had never traded before, employed their means in
+bringing a supply of grain, and converted their dwellings into corn
+shops, induced by the high profits and assurance of protection.
+During the time when he was most pressed the magistrate received a
+letter from Captain Robinson, who was in charge of the bazaars at
+Elichpur in the Hyderabad territory,[14] where the dearth had become
+even more felt than at Sâgar, requesting to know what measures had
+been adopted to regulate the price, and secure the supply of grain
+for the city and cantonments at Sâgar, since no good seemed to result
+from those hitherto pursued at Elichpur. He told him in reply that
+these things had hitherto been regulated at Sâgar as he thought 'they
+ought to be regulated everywhere else, by being left entirely to the
+discretion of the corn-dealers themselves, whose self-interest will
+always prompt them to have a sufficient supply, as long as they may
+feel secure of being permitted to do what they please with what they
+collect. The commanding officer, in his anxiety to secure food for
+the people, had hitherto been continually interfering to coerce sales
+and regulate prices, and continually aggravating the evils of the
+dearth by so doing'. On the receipt of the Sâgar magistrate's letter
+a different course was adopted; the same assurances were given to the
+corn-dealers, the same ability and inclination to enforce them
+manifested, and the same result followed. The people and the troops
+were steadily supplied; and all were astonished that so very simple a
+remedy had not before been thought of.
+
+The ignorance of the first principles of political economy among
+European gentlemen of otherwise first-rate education and abilities in
+India is quite lamentable, for there are really few public officers,
+even in the army, who are not occasionally liable to be placed in the
+situations where they may, by false measures, arising out of such
+ignorance, aggravate the evils of dearth among great bodies of their
+fellow men. A soldier may, however, find some excuse for such
+ignorance, because a knowledge of these principles is not generally
+considered to form any indispensable part of a soldier's education;
+but no excuse can be admitted for a civil functionary who is so
+ignorant, since a thorough acquaintance with the principles of
+political economy must be, and, indeed, always is considered as an
+essential branch of that knowledge which is to fit him for public
+employment in India.[15]
+
+In India unfavourable seasons produce much more disastrous
+consequences than in Europe. In England not more than one-fourth of
+the population derive their incomes from the cultivation of the lands
+around them. Three-fourths of the people have incomes independent of
+the annual returns from those lands; and with these incomes they can
+purchase agricultural produce from other lands when the crops upon
+them fail. The farmers, who form so large a portion of the fourth
+class, have stock equal in value to _four times the amount of the
+annual rent of their lands_. They have also a great variety of crops;
+and it is very rare that more than one or two of them fail, or are
+considerably affected, the same season. If they fail in one district
+or province, the deficiency is very easily supplied to a people who
+have equivalents to give for the produce of another. The sea,
+navigable rivers, fine roads, all are open and ready at all times for
+the transport of the superabundance of one quarter to supply the
+deficiencies of another. In India, the reverse of all this is
+unhappily to be found; more than three-fourths of the whole
+population are engaged in the cultivation of the land, and depend
+upon its annual returns for subsistence.[16] The farmers and
+cultivators have none of their stock equal in value to more than
+_half the amount of the annual rent of their lands_.[17] They have a
+great variety of crops; but all are exposed to the same accidents,
+and commonly fail at the same time. The autumn crops are sown in June
+and July, and ripen in October and November; and, if seasonable
+showers do not fall during July, August, and September, all fail. The
+spring crops are sown in October and November, and ripen in March;
+and, if seasonable showers do not happen to fall during December or
+January, all, save what are artificially irrigated, fail.[18] If they
+fail in one district or province, the people have few equivalents to
+offer for a supply of land produce from any other. Their roads are
+scarcely anywhere passable for wheeled carriages at _any season_, and
+nowhere _at all seasons_--they have nowhere a navigable canal, and
+only in one line a navigable river.
+
+Their land produce is conveyed upon the backs of bullocks, that move
+at the rate of six or eight miles a day, and add one hundred per
+cent. to the cost of every hundred miles they carry it in the best
+seasons, and more than two hundred in the worst.[19] What in Europe
+is felt merely as a _dearth_, becomes in India, under all these
+disadvantages, a scarcity, and what is there a _scarcity_ becomes
+here a _famine_. Tens of thousands die here of starvation, under
+calamities of season, which in Europe would involve little of
+suffering to any class. Here man does everything, and he must have
+his daily food or starve. In England machinery does more than three-
+fourths of the collective work of society in the production,
+preparation, and distribution of man's physical enjoyments, and it
+stands in no need of this daily food to sustain its powers; they are
+independent of the seasons; the water, fire, air, and other elemental
+powers which they require to render them subservient to our use are
+always available in abundance.
+
+This machinery is the great assistant of the present generation,
+provided for us by the wisdom and industry of the past; wanting no
+food itself, it can always provide its proprietors with the means of
+purchasing what they require from other countries, when the harvests
+of their own fail. When calamities of season deprive men of
+employment for a time in tillage, they can, in England, commonly find
+it in other branches of industry, because agricultural industry forms
+so small a portion of the collective industry of the nation; and
+because every man can, without prejudice to his status in society,
+take to what branch of industry he pleases. But, when these
+calamities of season throw men out of employment in tillage for a
+time in India, they cannot find it in any other branch, because
+agricultural industry forms so very large a portion of the collective
+industry of every part of the country; and because men are often
+prevented by the prejudices of caste from taking to that which they
+can find.[20]
+
+In societies constituted like that of India the trade of the corn-
+dealer is more essentially necessary for the welfare of the community
+than in any other, for it is among them that the superabundance of
+seasons of plenty requires most to be stored up for seasons of
+scarcity; and if public functionaries will take upon themselves to
+seize such stores, and sell them at their own arbitrary prices,
+whenever prices happen to rise beyond the rate which they in their
+short-sighted wisdom think just, no corn-dealer will ever collect
+such stores. Hitherto, whenever grain has become dear at any military
+or civil station, we have seen the civil functionaries urged to
+prohibit its egress--to search for the hidden stores, and to coerce
+the proprietors to the sale in all manner of ways; and, if they do
+not yield to the ignorant clamour, they are set down as indifferent
+to the sufferings of their fellow creatures around them, and as
+blindly supporting the worst enemies of mankind in the worst species
+of iniquity.
+
+If those who urge them to such measures are asked whether
+silversmiths or linendrapers, who should be treated in the same
+manner as they wish the corn-dealers to be treated, would ever
+collect and keep stores of plate and cloth for their use, they
+readily answer--No; they see at once the evil effects of interfering
+with the free disposal of the property of the one, but are totally
+blind to that which must as surely follow any interference with that
+of the other, whose entire freedom is of so much more vital
+importance to the public. There was a time, and that not very remote,
+when grave historians, like Smollett, could, even in England, fan the
+flame of this vulgar prejudice against one of the most useful classes
+of society. That day is, thank God, past; and no man can now venture
+to write such trash in his history, or even utter it in any well-
+informed circle of English society; and, if any man were to broach
+such a subject in an English House of Commons, he would be considered
+as a fit subject for a madhouse.
+
+ But some, who retain their prejudices against corn-dealers, and are
+yet ashamed to acknowledge their ignorance of the first principles of
+political economy, try to persuade themselves and their friends that,
+however applicable these may be to the state of society in European
+or Christian countries, they are not so to countries occupied by
+Hindoos and Muhammadans. This is a sad delusion, and may be a very
+mischievous one, when indulged by public officers in India.[21]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+
+1. Irrigation by means of a 'dug-out' canoe used as a lever is
+commonly practised in many parts of the country. The author gives a
+rough sketch, not worth reproduction. The Persian wheel is suitable
+for use in wide-mouthed wells. It may be described as a mill-wheel
+with buckets on the circumference, which are filled and emptied as
+the wheel revolves. It is worked by bullock-power acting on a rude
+cog-wheel.
+
+2. December, 1835.
+
+3. A.D. 1833 corresponds to the year 1890 of the _Vikrama Samvat_, or
+era, current in Bundêlkhand. About 1880 the editor found this great
+famine still remembered as that of the year '90.
+
+4. Half a crown seems to be used in this passage as a synonym for the
+rupee, now (1914) worth a shilling and four pence.
+
+5. Bundêlkhand seems to be the meeting-place of the east and west
+monsoons, and the moist current is, in consequence, often feeble and
+variable. The country suffered again from famine in 1861 and 1877,
+although not so severely as in 1833. In northern Bundêlkhand a canal
+from the Betwa river has been constructed, but is of only very
+limited use. The peculiarities of the soil and climate forbid the
+wide extension of irrigation. For the prevention of acute famine in
+this region the chief reliance must be on improved communications.
+The country has been opened up by the Indian Midland and other
+railways. In 1899-1900, notwithstanding improved communications,
+Mâlwa suffered severely from famine. Aurangzêb considered Gujarât to
+be 'the ornament and jewel of India' (Bilimoria, _Letters of
+Aurungzebie_, 1908, no. lxiv).
+
+6. The influence of trees on climate is undoubted, but the author in
+this passage probably ascribes too much power to the groves of Mâlwa.
+On the formation of the black soil see note 7 to Chapter 14, _ante_.
+
+7. The word in the author's text is 'grain', a misprint for 'gram'
+(_Cicer arietinum_), a pulse, also known as chick-pea, and very
+largely grown in Bundêlkhand. 'Gram' is a corruption of the
+Portuguese word for grain, and, like many other Portuguese words, has
+passed into the speech of Anglo-Indians. See Yule and Burnell,
+_Glossary of Anglo-Indian Words_, s.v.
+
+8. 'Agricultural capitalist' is a rather large phrase for the humble
+village money-lender, whose transactions are usually on a very small
+scale.
+
+9. The author's advice on the subject of famine relief is weighty and
+perfectly sound. It is in accordance with the policy formulated by
+the Government of India in the Famine Relief Code, based on the
+Report of the Famine Commission which followed the terrible Madras
+famine of 1877.
+
+10. This statement is too general. Examples of the horror alluded to
+are recorded in several Indian famines. Cases of cannibalism occurred
+during the Madras famine of 1877. But it is true that horrors of the
+kind are rare in India, and the author's praise of the patient
+resignation of the people is fully justified. An admirable summary of
+the history of Indian famines will be found in the articles 'Famines'
+and 'Food' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed. (1885). For further and
+more recent information see _I.G._ (1907), vol. iii, chap. 10.
+
+11. No European officer, military or civil, could now venture to
+adopt such arbitrary measures. In a Native State they might very
+probably be enforced.
+
+12. 'The magistrate' was the author himself.
+
+13. The chief police officer of a town. In the modern reorganized
+system he always holds the rank of either Inspector or Sub-Inspector.
+Under native governments he was a more important official.
+
+14. Elichpur (Îlichpur) is in Berâr, otherwise known as the Assigned
+Districts, a territory made over in Lord Dalhousie's time to British
+administration in order to defray the cost of the armed force called
+the Hyderabad Contingent. Since 1903 Berâr has ceased to be a
+separate province. It is now merely a Division attached to the
+Central Provinces. From the same date the Hyderabad Contingent lost
+its separate existence, being redistributed and merged in the Indian
+Army.
+
+15. Political Economy was for many years a compulsory subject for the
+selected candidates for the Civil Service of India; but since 1892
+its study has been optional.
+
+16. The census of 1911 shows that about 71 per cent. of the
+301,000,000 inhabiting India, excluding Burma, are supported by the
+cultivation of the soil and the care of cattle. The proportion varies
+widely in different provinces.
+
+17. This proposition does not apply fully to Northern India at the
+present day. The amount of capital invested is small, although not
+quite so small as is stated in the text.
+
+18. The times of harvest vary slightly with the latitude, being later
+towards the north. The cold-weather rains of December and January are
+variable and uncertain, and rarely last more than a few days. The
+spring crops depend largely on the heavy dews which occur daring the
+cold season.
+
+19. Daring the years which have elapsed since the famine of 1833,
+great changes have taken place in India, and many of the author's
+remarks are only partially applicable to the present time. The great
+canals, above all, the wonderful Ganges Canal, have protected immense
+areas of Northern India from the possibility of absolute famine, and
+Southern India has also been to a considerable, though less, extent,
+protected by similar works. A few new staples, of which potatoes are
+the most important, have been introduced. The whole system of
+distribution has been revolutionized by the development of railways,
+metalled roads, wheeled vehicles, motors, telegraphs, and navigable
+canals. Carriage on the backs of animals, whether bullocks, camels,
+or donkeys, now plays a very subordinate part in the distribution of
+agricultural produce. Prices are, in great measure, dependent on the
+rates prevailing in Liverpool, Odessa, and Chicago. Food grains now
+stand ordinarily at prices which, in the author's time, would have
+been reckoned famine rates. The changes which have taken place in
+England are too familiar to need comment.
+
+20. Since the author's time certain industries, the most important
+being cotton-pressing, cotton-spinning, and jute-spinning, have
+sprung up and assumed in Bombay, Calcutta, Cawnpore, and a few other
+places, proportions which, absolutely, are large. But India is so
+vast that these local developments of manufactures, large though they
+are, seem to be as nothing when regarded in comparison with the
+country as a whole. India is still, and, to all appearance, always
+must be, essentially an agricultural country.
+
+21. The author's teaching concerning freedom of trade in times of
+famine and the function of dealers in corn is as sound as his
+doctrine of famine relief. The 'vulgar prejudice', which he
+denounces, still flourishes, and the 'sad delusion', which he
+deplores, still obscures the truth. As each period of scarcity or
+famine comes round, the old cries are again heard, and the executive
+authorities are implored and adjured to forbid export, to fix fair
+prices, and to clip the profits of the corn merchant. During the
+Bengal famine of 1873-4, the demand for the prohibition of the export
+of rice was urged by men who should have known better, and Lord
+Northbrook is entitled to no small credit for having firmly withstood
+the clamour. The more recent experiences of the Russian Government
+should be remembered when the clamour is again raised, as it will be.
+The principles on which the author acted in the crisis at Sâgar in
+1833 should guide every magistrate who finds himself in a similar
+position, and should be applied with unhesitating firmness and
+decision.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 25
+
+
+Epidemic Diseases--Scape-goat.
+
+In the evening, after my conversation with the cultivator upon the
+wall that united the two hills,[1] I received a visit from my little
+friend the Sarîmant. His fine rose-coloured turban is always put on
+very gracefully; every hair of his jet-black eyebrows and mustachios
+seems to be kept always most religiously in the same place; and he
+has always the same charming smile upon his little face, which was
+never, I believe, distorted into an absolute laugh or frown. No man
+was ever more perfectly master of what the natives call 'the art of
+rising or sitting' (_nishisht wa barkhâst_), namely, good manners. I
+should as soon expect to see him set the Nerbudda on fire as commit
+any infringement of the _convenances_ on this head established in
+good Indian society, or be guilty of anything vulgar in speech,
+sentiment, or manners. I asked him by what means it was that the old
+queen of Sâgar[2] drove out the influenza that afflicted the people
+so much in 1832, while he was there on a visit to me. He told me that
+he took no part in the ceremonies, nor was he aware of them till
+awoke one night by 'the noise, when his attendants informed him that
+the queen and the greater part of the city were making offerings to
+the new god, Hardaul Lâla. He found next morning that a goat had been
+offered up with as much noise as possible, and with good effect, for
+the disease was found to give way from that moment. About six years
+before, when great numbers were dying in his own little capital of
+Pithoria[3] from a similar epidemic, he had, he said, tried the same
+thing with still greater effect; but, on that occasion, he had the
+aid of a man very learned in such matters. This man caused a small
+carriage to be made up after a plan of his own, for _a pair of scape-
+goats_, which were harnessed to it, and driven during the ceremonies
+to a wood some distance from the town, where they were let loose.
+From that hour the disease entirely ceased in the town. The goats
+never returned. 'Had they come back,' said Sarîmant, 'the disease
+must have come back with them; so he took them a long way into the
+wood--indeed (he believed), the man, to make sure of them, had
+afterwards caused them to be offered up as a sacrifice to the shrine
+of Hardaul Lâla, in that very wood. He had himself never seen a
+_pûjâ_ (religious ceremony) so entirely and immediately efficacious
+as this, and much of its success was, no doubt, attributable to the
+_science_ of the man who planned the carriage, and himself drove the
+pair of goats to the wood. No one had ever before heard of the plan
+of a pair of _scape-goats_ being driven in a carriage; but it was
+likely (he thought) to be extensively adopted in future.'[4]
+
+Sarîmant's man of affairs mentioned that when Lord Hastings took the
+field against the Pindhârîs, in 1817,[5] and the division of the
+grand army under his command was encamped near the grove in
+Bundêlkhand, where repose the ashes of Hardaul Lâla, under a small
+shrine, a cow was taken into this grove to be converted into beef for
+the use of the Europeans. The priest in attendance remonstrated, but
+in vain--the cow was killed and eaten. The priest complained, and
+from that day the cholera morbus broke out in the camp; and from this
+central point it was, he said, generally understood to have spread
+all over India.[6] The story of the cow travelled at the same time,
+and the spirit of Hardaul Lâla was everywhere supposed to be riding
+in the whirlwind, and _directing the storm_. Temples were everywhere
+erected, and offerings made to appease him; and in six years after,
+he had himself seen them as far as Lahore, and in almost every
+village throughout the whole course of his journey to that distant
+capital and back. He is one of the most sensible and freely spoken
+men that I have met with. 'Up to within the last few years', added
+he, 'the spirit of Hardaul Lâla had been propitiated only in cases of
+cholera morbus; but now he is supposed to preside over all kinds of
+epidemic diseases, and offerings have everywhere been made to his
+shrine during late influenzas.'[7]
+
+'This of course arises', I observed, 'from the industry of his
+priests, who are now spread all over the country; and you know that
+there is hardly a village or hamlet in which there are not some of
+them to be found subsisting upon the fears of the people.'
+
+'I have no doubt', replied he, 'that the cures which the people
+attribute to the spirit of Hardaul Lâla often arise merely from the
+firmness of their faith (_itikâd_) in the efficacy of their
+offerings; and that any other ceremonies, that should give to their
+minds the same assurance of recovery, would be of great advantage in
+cases of epidemic diseases. I remember a singular instance of this,'
+said he. 'When Jeswant Râo Holkar was flying before Lord Lake to the
+banks of the Hyphasis,[8] a poor trooper of one of his lordship's
+irregular corps, when he tied the grain-bag to his horse's mouth,
+said 'Take this in the name of Jeswant Râo Holkar, for to him you and
+I owe all that we have.' The poor man had been suffering from an
+attack of ague and fever; but from that moment he felt himself
+relieved, and the fever never returned. At that time this fever
+prevailed more generally among the people of Hindustan than any I
+have ever known, though I am now an old man. The speech of the
+trooper and the supposed result soon spread; and others tried the
+experiment with similar success, and it acted everywhere like a
+charm. I had the fever myself, and, though by no means a
+superstitious man, and certainly no lover of Jeswant Râo Holkar, I
+tried the experiment, and the fever left me from that day. From that
+time, till the epidemic disappeared, no man, from the Nerbudda to the
+Indus, fed his horse without invoking the spirit of Jeswant Râo,
+though the chief was then alive and well. Some one had said he found
+great relief from plunging into the stream during the paroxysms of
+the fever; others followed the example, and some remained for half an
+hour at a time, and the sufferers generally found relief. The streams
+and tanks throughout the districts between the Ganges and Jumna
+became crowded, till the propitiatory offering to the spirit of the
+living Jeswant Râo Holkar were [sic] found equally good, and far less
+troublesome to those who had horses that must have got their grain,
+whether in Holkar's name or not.'
+
+There is no doubt that the great mass of those who had nothing but
+their horses and their _good blades_ to depend upon for their
+subsistence did most fervently pray throughout India for the safety
+of this Marâthâ chief, when he fled before Lord Lake's army; for they
+considered that, with his fall, the Company's dominion would become
+everywhere securely established, and that good soldiers would be at a
+discount. '_Company kê amal men kuchh rozgâr nahin hai_,'--'There is
+no employment in the Company's dominion,' is a common maxim, not only
+among the men of the sword and the spear, but among those merchants
+who lived by supporting native civil and military establishments with
+the luxuries and elegancies which, under the new order of things,
+they have no longer the means to enjoy.
+
+The noisy _pûjâ_ (worship), about which our conversation began, took
+place at Sâgar in April, 1832, while I was at that station. More than
+four-fifths of the people of the city and cantonments had been
+affected by a violent influenza, which commenced with a distressing
+cough, was followed by fever, and, in some cases, terminated in
+death. I had an application from the old Queen Dowager of Sâgar, who
+received a pension of ten thousand pounds a year from the British
+Government,[9] and resided in the city, to allow of a _noisy_
+religious procession to implore deliverance from this great calamity.
+Men, women, and children in this procession were to do their utmost
+to add to the noise by 'raising their voices in _psalmody_', beating
+upon their brass pots and pans with all their might, and discharging
+fire-arms where they could get them; and before the noisy crowd was
+to be driven a buffalo, which had been purchased by a general
+subscription, in order that every family might participate in the
+merit. They were to follow it out for eight miles, where it was to be
+turned loose for any man who would take it. If the animal returned,
+the disease, it was said, must return with it, and the ceremony be
+performed over again. I was requested to intimate the circumstance to
+the officer commanding the troops in cantonments, in order that the
+hideous noise they intended to make might not excite any alarm, and
+bring down upon them the visit of the soldiery. It was, however,
+subsequently determined that the animal should be a goat, and he was
+driven before the crowd accordingly. I have on several occasions been
+requested to allow of such noisy _pûjâs_ in cases of epidemics; and
+the confidence they feel in their efficiency has, no doubt, a good
+effect.
+
+While in civil charge of the district of Narsinghpur, in the valley
+of the Nerbudda, in April 1823, the cholera morbus raged in almost
+every house of Narsinghpur and Kandelî, situated near each other,[l0]
+and one of them close to my dwelling-house and court. The European
+physicians lost all confidence in their prescriptions, and the people
+declared that the hand of God was upon them, and by appeasing Him
+could they alone hope to be saved.[11] A religious procession was
+determined upon; but the population of both towns was divided upon
+the point whether a silent or a noisy one would be most acceptable to
+God. Hundreds were dying around me when I was applied to to settle
+this knotty point between the parties. I found that both in point of
+numbers and respectability the majority was in favour of the silent
+procession, and I recommended that this should be adopted. The
+procession took place about nine the same night, with all due
+ceremony; but the advocates for noise would none of them assist in
+it. Strange as it may appear, the disease abated from that moment;
+and the great majority of the population of both towns believed that
+their prayers had been heard; and I went to bed with a mind somewhat
+relieved by the hope that this feeling of confidence might be useful.
+About one o'clock I was awoke from a sound sleep by the most hideous
+noise that I had ever heard; and, not at that moment recollecting the
+proposal for the noisy procession, ran out of my house, in
+expectation of seeing both towns in flames. I found that the
+advocates for noise, resolving to have their procession, had
+assembled together about midnight; and, apprehensive that they might
+be borne down by the advocates for silence and my police
+establishment, had determined to make the most of their time, and put
+in requisition all the pots, pans, shells, trumpets, pistols, and
+muskets that they could muster. All opened at once about one o'clock;
+and, had there been any virtue in discord, the cholera must soon have
+deserted the place, for such another hideous compound of noises I
+never heard. The disease, which seemed to have subsided with the
+silent procession before I went to bed, now returned with double
+violence, as I was assured by numbers who flocked to my house in
+terror; and the whole population became exasperated with the leaders
+of the noisy faction, who had, they believed, been the means of
+bringing back among them all the horrors of this dreadful scourge.
+
+I asked the Hindoo Sadar Amîn, or head native judicial officer at
+Sâgar, a very profound Sanskrit scholar, what he thought of the
+efficacy of these processions in checking epidemic diseases. He said
+that 'there could be nothing more clear than the total inefficiency
+of medicine in such cases; and, when medicine failed, a man's only
+resource was in prayers; that the diseases of mankind were to be
+classed under three general heads: first, those suffered for sins
+committed in some former births; second, those suffered for sins
+committed in the present birth; third, those merely accidental. Now,'
+said the old gentleman, 'it must be clear to every unprejudiced mind
+that the third only can be cured or checked by the physician.'
+Epidemics, he thought, must all be classed under the second head, and
+as inflicted by the Deity for some very general sin; consequently, to
+be removed only by prayers; and, whether silent or noisy, was, he
+thought, matter of little importance, provided they were offered in
+the same spirit. I believe that, among the great mass of the people
+of India, three-fourths of the diseases of individuals are attributed
+to evil spirits and evil eyes; and for every physician among them
+there are certainly ten _exorcisers_. The faith in them is very great
+and very general; and, as the gift is supposed to be supernatural, it
+is commonly exercised without fee or reward. The gifted person
+subsists upon some other employment, and _exorcises_ gratis.
+
+A child of one of our servants was one day in convulsions from its
+sufferings in cutting its teeth. The Civil Surgeon happened to call
+that morning, and he offered to lance the child's gums. The poor
+mother thanked him, but stated that there could be no possible doubt
+as to the source of her child's sufferings--that the devil had got
+into it during the night, and would certainly not be frightened out
+by his little lancet; but she expected every moment my old tent-
+pitcher, whose exorcisms no devil of this description had ever yet
+been able to withstand.
+
+The small-pox had been raging in the town of Jubbulpore for some time
+during one hot season that I was there, and a great many children had
+died from it. The severity of the disease was considered to have been
+a good deal augmented by a very untoward circumstance that had taken
+place in the family of the principal banker of the town, Khushhâl
+Chand. Sêwâ Râm Sêth, the old man, had lately died, leaving two sons.
+Ram Kishan, the eldest, and Khushhâl Chand, the second. The eldest
+gave up all the management of the sublunary concerns of the family,
+and devoted his mind entirely to religious duties. They had a very
+fine family temple of their own, in which they placed an image of
+their god Vishnu, cut out of the choicest stone of the Nerbudda, and
+consecrated after the most approved form, and with very expensive
+ceremonies. This idol Râm Kishan used every day to wash with his own
+hands with rosewater, and anoint with precious ointments. One day,
+while he had the image in his arms, and was busily employed in
+anointing it, it fell to the ground upon the stone pavement, and one
+of the arms was broken. To live after such an untoward accident was
+quite out of the question, and poor Râm Kishan proceeded at once
+quietly to hang himself. He got a rope from the stable, and having
+tied it over the beam in the room where he had let the god fall upon
+the stone pavement, he was putting his head calmly into the noose,
+when his brother came in, laid hold of him, called for assistance,
+and put him under restraint. A conclave of the priests of that sect
+was immediately held in the town, and Râm Kishan was told that
+hanging himself was not absolutely necessary; that it might do if he
+would take the stone image, broken arm and all, upon his own back,
+and carry it two hundred and sixty miles to Benares, where resided
+the high priest of the sect, who would, no doubt, be able to suggest
+the proper measures for pacifying the god.
+
+At this time, the only son of his brother, Khushhâl Chand, an
+interesting little boy of about four years of age, was extremely ill
+of the small-pox; and it is a rule with Hindoos never to undertake
+any journey, even one of pilgrimage to a holy shrine, while any
+member of the family is afflicted with this disease; they must all
+sit at home clothed in sackcloth and ashes. He was told that he had
+better defer his journey to Benares till the child should recover;
+but he could neither sleep nor eat, so great was his terror, lest
+some dreadful calamity should befall the whole family before he could
+expiate his crime, or take the advice of his high priest as to the
+best means of doing it: and he resolved to leave the decision of the
+question to God Himself. He took two pieces of paper, and having
+caused Benares to be written upon one, and Jubbulpore upon the other,
+he put them both into a brass vessel. After shaking the vessel well,
+he drew forth that on which Benares had been written. 'It is the will
+of God,' said Râm Kishan. All the family, who were interested in the
+preservation of the poor boy, implored him not to set out, lest Dêvî,
+who presides over small-pox, should become angry. It was all in vain.
+He would set out with his household god; and, unable to carry it
+himself, he put it into a small litter upon a pole, and hired a
+bearer to carry it at one end, while he supported it at the other.
+His brother, Khushhâl Chand, sent his second wife at the same time
+with offerings for Dêvî, to ward off the effects of his brother's
+rashness from his child. By the time the brother had got with his god
+to Adhartâl, three miles from Jubbulpore, on the road to Benares, he
+heard of the death of his nephew; but he seemed not to feel this
+slight blow in his terror of the dreadful but undefined calamity
+which he felt to be impending over him and the whole family, and he
+trotted on his road. Soon after, an infant son of their uncle died of
+the same disease; and the whole town became at once divided into two
+parties--those who held that the children had been killed by Dêvî as
+a punishment for Râm Kishan's presuming to leave Jubbulpore before
+they recovered; and those who held that they were killed by the god
+Vishnu himself, for having been so rudely deprived of one of his
+arms. Khushhâl Chand's wife sickened on the road, and died on
+reaching Mirzapore, of fever; and, as Dêvî was supposed to have
+nothing to do with fevers, this event greatly augmented the advocates
+of Vishnu. It is a rule with the Hindoos to bury, and not to burn,
+the bodies of those who die of the small-pox; 'for', say they, 'the
+small-pox is not only caused by the goddess Dêvî, but is, in fact,
+_Dêvî herself_', and to burn the body of the person affected with
+this disease is, in reality, neither more nor less than _to burn the
+goddess_'.
+
+Khushhâl Chand was strongly urged to bury, and not burn, his child,
+particularly as it was usual with Hindoos to bury infants and
+children of that age, of whatever disease they might die; but he
+insisted upon having his boy burned with all due pomp and ceremony,
+and burned he was accordingly. From that moment, it is said, the
+disease began to rage with increased violence throughout the town of
+Jubbulpore. At least one-half of the children affected had before
+survived; but, from that hour, at least three out of four died; and,
+instead of the condolence which he expected from his fellow citizens,
+poor Khushhâl Chand, a very amiable and worthy man, received nothing
+but their execrations for bringing down so many calamities upon their
+heads; first, by maltreating his own god, and then by setting fire to
+theirs.
+
+I had, a few days after, a visit from Gangâdhar Râo, the Sadar Amîn,
+or head native judicial officer of this district, whose father had
+been for a short time the ruler of the district, under the former
+government; and I asked him whether the small-pox had diminished in
+the town since the rains had now set in. He told me that he thought
+it had, but that a great many children had been taken off by the
+disease.[12]
+
+'I understand, Râo Sahib, that Khushhâl Chand, the banker, is
+supposed to have augmented the virulence of the disease by burning
+his boy; was it so?'
+
+'Certainly,' said my friend, with a grave, long face; 'the disease
+was much increased by this man's folly.' I looked very grave in my
+turn, and he continued:- 'Not a child escaped after he had burned his
+boy. Such incredible folly! To set fire to the _goddess_ in the midst
+of a population of twenty thousand souls; it might have brought
+destruction on us all!'
+
+'What makes you think that the disease is itself the goddess?'
+
+'Because we always say, when any member of a family becomes attacked
+by the small-pox, "_Dêvî nikalî_", that is, Dêvî has shown herself in
+that family, or in that individual. And the person affected can wear
+nothing but plain white clothing, not a silken or coloured garment,
+nor an ornament of any kind; nor can he or any of his family
+undertake a journey, or participate in any kind of rejoicings, lest
+he give offence to her. They broke the arm of their god, and he drove
+them all mad.[l3] The elder brother set out on a journey with it, and
+his nephew, cousin, and sister-in-law fell victims to his temerity;
+and then Khushhâl Chand brings down the goddess upon the whole
+community by burning his boy![14] No doubt he was very fond of his
+child--so we all are--and wished to do him all honour; but some
+regard is surely due to the people around us, and I told him so when
+he was making preparations for the funeral; but he would not listen
+to reason.'
+
+A complicated religious code, like that of the Hindoos, is to the
+priest what a complicated civil code, like that of the English, is to
+the lawyers. A Hindoo can do nothing without consulting his priest,
+and an Englishman can do nothing without consulting his lawyer.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. _Ante_, Chapter 24, following note [4].
+
+2. Sâgar was ceded by the Peshwa in 1818, and a yearly sum of two and
+a half lakhs of rupees was allotted by Government for pensions to
+Rukmâ Bâî, Vinâyak Râo, and the other officers of the Marâthâ
+Government. A descendant of Rukmâ Bâî continued for many years to
+enjoy a pension of R.10,000 per annum (_C.P. Gazetteer_ (1870), p,
+442). The lady referred to in the text seems to be Rukmâ Bâî.
+
+3. A village about twenty miles north-west of Sâgar. The estate
+consists of twenty-six revenue-free villages.
+
+4. The Jewish ceremonial is described in Leviticus xvi. 20-26. After
+completing the atonement for the impurities of the holy place, the
+tabernacle, and the altar, Aaron was directed to lay 'his hands upon
+the head of the live goat', so putting all the sins of the people
+upon the animal, and then to 'send him away by the hand of a fit man
+into the wilderness; and the goat shall bear upon him all their
+iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in
+the wilderness'. The subject of scape-goats is discussed at length
+and copiously illustrated by Mr. Frazer in _The Golden Bough_, 1st
+ed., vol. ii, section 15, pp. 182-217; 3rd ed. (1913) Part VI. The
+author's stories in the text are quoted by Mr. Frazer.
+
+5. During the season of 1816-17 the ravages of the Pindhârîs were
+exceptionally daring and extensive. The Governor-General, the Marquis
+of Hastings, organized an army in several divisions to crush the
+marauders, and himself joined the central division in October 1817.
+The operations were ended by the capture of Asîrgarh in March 1819.
+
+6. The people in the Sâgar territories used to show several decayed
+mango-trees in groves where European troops had encamped during the
+campaigns of 1816 and 1817, and declared that they had been seen to
+wither from the day that beef for the use of these troops had been
+tied to their branches. The only coincidence was in the decay of the
+trees, and the encamping of the troops in the groves; that the
+withering trees were those to which the beef had been tied was of
+course taken for granted. [W. H. S.] The Hindoo veneration for the
+cow amounts to a passion, and its intensity is very inadequately
+explained by the current utilitarian explanations. The best analysis
+of the motives underlying the passionate Hindoo feeling on the
+subject is to be found in Mr. William Crooke's article 'The
+Veneration of the Cow in India' (_Folklore_, Sept. 1912, pp. 275-
+306). In modern times an active, though absolutely hopeless,
+agitation has been kept up, directed against the reasonable liberty
+of those communities in India who are not members of the Hindoo
+system. This agitation for the prohibition of cow-killing has caused
+some riots, and has evoked much ill-feeling. The editor had to deal
+with it in the Muzaffarnagar district in 1890, and had much trouble
+to keep the peace. The local leaders of the movement went so far as
+to send telegrams direct to the Government of India. Many other
+magistrates have had similar experiences. The authorities take every
+precaution to protect Hindoo susceptibilities from needless wounds,
+but they are equally bound to defend the lawful liberty of subjects
+who are not Hindoos. The Government of the United Provinces on one
+occasion yielded to the Hindoo demands so far as to prohibit cow-
+killing in at least one town where the practice was not fully
+established, but the legality and expediency of such an order are
+both open to criticism. The administrative difficulty is much
+enhanced by the fact that the Indian Muhammadans profess to be under
+a religious obligation to sacrifice cows at the Îdul Bakr festival.
+Cholera has been known to exist in India at least since the
+seventeenth century (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia of India_, 3rd ed. (1885),
+s.v.).
+
+7. The cultus of Hardaul is further discussed _post_ in Chapter 31.
+In 1875, the editor, who was then employed in the Hamîrpur district
+of Bundêlkhand, published some popular Hindi songs in praise of the
+hero, with the following abstract of the _Legend of Hardaul_:
+'Hardaul, a son of the famous Bîr Singh Deo Bundêla of Orchhâ, was
+born at Datiyâ. His brother, Jhajhâr Singh, suspected him of undue
+intimacy with his wife, and at a feast poisoned him with all his
+followers. After this tragedy, it happened that the daughter of
+Kunjâvatî, the sister of Jhajhâr and Hardaul, was about to be
+married. Kunjâvatî accordingly sent an invitation to Jhajhâr Singh,
+requesting him to attend the wedding. He refused, and mockingly
+replied that she had better invite her favourite brother Hardaul.
+Thereupon she went in despair to his tomb and lamented aloud. Hardaul
+from below answered her cries, and said that he would come to the
+wedding and make all arrangements. The ghost kept his promise, and
+arranged the nuptials as befitted the honour of his house.
+Subsequently, he visited at night the bedside of Akbar, and besought
+the emperor to command _chabûtras_ to be erected and honour paid to
+him in every village throughout the empire, promising that, if he
+were duly honoured, a wedding should never be marred by storm or
+rain, and that no one who first presented a share of his meal to
+Hardaul should ever want for food. Akbar complied with these
+requests, and since that time Hardaul's ghost has been worshipped in
+every village. He is chiefly honoured at weddings and in Baisâkh
+(April-May), during which month the women, especially those of the
+lower castes, visit his _chabûtra_ and eat there. His chabûtra is
+always built outside the village. On the day but one before the
+arrival of a wedding procession, the women of the family worship the
+gods and Hardaul, and invite them to the wedding. If any signs of a
+storm appears, Hardaul is propitiated with songs '(_J.A.S.B._, vol.
+xliv (1875), Part I, p. 389). The belief that Hardaul worship and
+cholera had been introduced at the same time prevailed in Hamîrpur,
+as elsewhere. The _chabûtra_ referred to in the above extract is a
+small platform built of mud or masonry.
+
+8. The Hyphasis is the Greek name for the river Biâs in the Panjâb.
+Holkar's flight into the Panjâb occurred in 1805, and in the same
+year the long war with him was terminated by a treaty, much too
+favourable to the marauding chief. He became insane a few years
+later, and died in 1811.
+
+9. See note 2,_ante_.
+
+10. Narsinghpur and Kandelî are practically one town. The Government
+offices and houses of the European residents are in Kandelî, which is
+a mile east of Narsinghpur. The original name of Narsinghpur was
+Gadariâ Khêrâ. The modern name is due to the erection of a large
+temple to Narsingha, one of the forms of Vishnu. The district of
+Narsinghpur lies in the Nerbudda valley, west and south-west of
+Jubbulpore.
+
+11. All classes of Indians still frequently refuse to employ any
+medicines in cases of either cholera or small-pox, supposing that the
+attempt to use ordinary human means is an insult to, and a defiance
+of, the Deity.
+
+12. Vaccination was not practised in India in those days. The
+practice of it, although still unpopular in most places, has extended
+sufficiently to check greatly the ravages of small-pox. In many
+municipal towns vaccination is compulsory.
+
+13._Quem deus vult perdere, prius dementat_.
+
+14. The judge cleverly combines the opinions of the adherents of both
+sects.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 26
+
+
+Artificial Lakes in Bundêlkhand--Hindoo, Greek, and Roman Faith.
+
+On the 11th[1] we came on twelve miles to the town of Bamhaurî,
+whence extends to the south-west a ridge of high and bare quartz
+hills, towering above all others, curling and foaming at the top,
+like a wave ready to burst, when suddenly arrested by the hand of
+Omnipotence, and turned into white stone. The soil all the way is
+wretchedly poor in quality, being formed of the detritus of syenitic
+and quartz rocks, and very thin. Bamhaurî is a nice little town,[2]
+beautifully situated on the bank of a fine lake, the waters of which
+preserved during the late famine the population of this and six other
+small towns, which are situated near its borders, and have their
+lands irrigated from it. Besides water for their fields, this lake
+yielded the people abundance of water-chestnuts[3] and fish. In the
+driest season the water has been found sufficient to supply the wants
+of all the people of those towns and villages, and those of all the
+country around, as far as the people can avail themselves of it.
+
+This large lake is formed by an artificial bank or wall at the south-
+east end, which rests one arm upon the high range of quartz rocks,
+which run along its south-west side for several miles, looking down
+into the clear deep water, and forming a beautiful landscape.
+
+From this pretty town, Ludhaura, where the great marriage had lately
+taken place, was in sight, and only four miles distant.[4] It was, I
+learnt, the residence of the present Râjâ of Orchhâ, before the death
+of his brother called him to the throne. Many people were returning
+from the ceremonies of the marriage of 'sâlagrâm' with 'Tulasî'; who
+told me that the concourse had been immense--at least one hundred and
+fifty thousand; and that the Râjâ had feasted them all for four days
+during the progress of the ceremonies, but that they were obliged to
+defray their expenses going and coming, except when they came by
+special invitation to do honour to the occasion, as in the case of my
+little friend the Sâgar high priest, Jânkî Sewak. They told me that
+they called this festival the 'Dhanuk jag';[5] and that Janakrâj, the
+father of Sîtâ, had in his possession the 'dhanuk', or immortal bow
+of Parasrâm, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, with which he
+exterminated all the Kshatriyas, or original military class of India,
+and which required no less than four thousand men to raise it on one
+end.[6] The prince offered his daughter in marriage to any man who
+should bend this bow. Hundreds of heroes and demigods aspired to the
+hand of the fair Sîtâ, and essayed to bend the bow; but all in vain,
+till young Râm, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu,[7] then a lad of
+only ten years of age, came; and at the touch of his great toe the
+bow flew into a thousand pieces, which are supposed to have been all
+taken up into heaven. Sîtâ became the wife of Râm; and the popular
+poem of the Râmâyana describes the abduction of the heroine by the
+monster king of Ceylon, Râvana, and her recovery by means of the
+monkey general Hanumân. Every word of this poem, the people assured
+me, was written, if not by the hand of the Deity himself, at least by
+his inspiration, which was the same thing, and it must, consequently,
+be true.[8] Ninety-nine out of a hundred among the Hindoos implicitly
+believe, not only every word of this poem, but every word of every
+poem that has ever been written in Sanskrit. If you ask a man whether
+he really believes any very egregious absurdity quoted from these
+books, he replies with the greatest _naïveté_ in the world, 'Is it
+not written in the book; and how should it be there written if not
+true?' The Hindoo religion reposes upon an entire prostration of
+mind, that continual and habitual surrender of the reasoning
+faculties, which we are accustomed to make occasionally. While
+engaged at the theatre, or in the perusal of works of fiction, we
+allow the scenes, characters, and incidents to pass before 'our
+mind's eye', and move our feelings, without asking, or stopping a
+moment to ask, whether they are real or true. There is only this
+difference that, with people of education among us, even in such
+short intervals of illusion or abandon, any extravagance in acting,
+or flagrant improbability in the fiction, destroys the charm, breaks
+the spell by which we have been so mysteriously bound, stops the
+smooth current of sympathetic emotion, and restores us to reason and
+to the realities of ordinary life. With the Hindoos, on the contrary,
+the greater the improbability, the more monstrous and preposterous
+the fiction, the greater is the charm it has over their minds;[9] and
+the greater their learning in the Sanskrit the more are they under
+the influence of this charm. Believing all to be written by the
+Deity, or by his inspiration, and the men and things of former days
+to have been very different from the men and things of the present
+day, and the heroes of these fables to have been demigods, or people
+endowed with powers far superior to those of the ordinary men of
+their own day, the analogies of nature are never for a moment
+considered; nor do questions of probability, or possibility,
+according to those analogies, ever obtrude to dispel the charm with
+which they are so pleasingly bound. They go on through life reading
+and talking of these monstrous fictions, which shock the taste and
+understanding of other nations, without once questioning the truth of
+one single incident, or hearing it questioned. There was a time, and
+that not very distant, when it was the same in England, and in every
+other European nation; and there are, I am afraid, some parts of
+Europe where it is so still. But the Hindoo faith, so far as
+religious questions are concerned, is not more capacious or absurd
+than that of the Greeks and Romans in the days of Socrates and
+Cicero--the only difference is, that among the Hindoos a greater
+number of the questions which interest mankind are brought under the
+head of religion.
+
+There is nothing in the Hindoos more absurd than the _piety_ of
+Tiberius in offering up sacrifices in the temple, and before the
+image of Augustus; while he was solicited by all the great cities of
+the empire to suffer temples to be built and sacrifices to be made to
+himself while still living; or than Alexander's attempt to make a
+goddess of his mother while yet alive, that he might feel the more
+secure of being made a god himself after his death.[10] In all
+religions there are points at which the professors declare that
+reason must stop, and cease to be a guide to faith. The pious man
+thinks that all which he cannot comprehend or reconcile to reason in
+his own religion must be above it. The superstitions of the people of
+India will diminish before the spread of science, art, and
+literature; and good works of history and fiction would, I think,
+make far greater havoc among these superstitions even than good works
+in any of the sciences, save the physical, such as astronomy,
+chemistry, &c.[11]
+
+In the evening we went out with the intention of making an excursion
+of the lake, in boats that had been prepared for our reception by
+tying three or four fishing canoes together;[12] but, on reaching the
+ridge of quartz hills which runs along the south-east side, we
+preferred moving along its summit to entering the boats. The prospect
+on either side of this ridge was truly beautiful. A noble sheet of
+clear water, about four miles long by two broad, on our right; and on
+our left a no less noble sheet of rich wheat cultivation, irrigated
+from the lake by drains passing between small breaks in the ridges of
+the hills. The Persian wheel is used to raise the water.[13] This
+sheet of rich cultivation is beautifully studded with mango groves
+and fields of sugar-cane. The lake is almost double the size of that
+of Sâgar, and the idea of its great utility for purposes of
+irrigation made it appear to me far more beautiful; but my little
+friend the Sarîmant, who accompanied us in our walk, said that 'it
+could not be so handsome, since it had not a fine city and castle on
+two sides, and a fine Government house on the third'.
+
+'But', said I, 'no man's field is watered from that lake.'
+
+'No', replied he, 'but for every man that drinks of the waters of
+this, fifty drink of the waters of that; from that lake thirty
+thousand people get _ârâm_ (comfort) every day.'
+
+This lake is called Kêwlas after Kêwal Varmma, the Chandêl prince by
+whom it was formed.[14] His palace, now in ruins, stood on the top of
+the ridge of rocks in a very beautiful situation. From the summit,
+about eight miles to the west, we could see a still larger lake,
+called the Nandanvârâ Lake, extending under a similar range of quartz
+hills running parallel with that on which we stood.[15] That lake, we
+were told, answered upon a much larger scale the same admirable
+purpose of supplying water for the fields, and securing the people
+from the dreadful effects of droughts. The extensive level plains
+through which the rivers of Central India[16] generally cut their way
+have, for the most part, been the beds of immense natural lakes;[17]
+and there rivers sink so deep into their beds, and leave such ghastly
+chasms and ravines on either side, that their waters are hardly ever
+available in due season for irrigation. It is this characteristic of
+the rivers of Central India that makes such lakes so valuable to the
+people, particularly in seasons of drought.[l8] The river Nerbudda
+has been known to rise seventy feet in the course of a couple of days
+in the rains; and, during the season when its waters are wanted for
+irrigation, they can nowhere be found within that [distance] of the
+surface; while a level piece of ground fit for irrigation is rarely
+to be met with within a mile of the stream.[19]
+
+The people appeared to improve as we advanced farther into
+Bundêlkhand in appearance, manners, and intelligence. There is a bold
+bearing about the Bundêlas, which at first one is apt to take for
+rudeness or impudence, but which in time he finds not to be so.
+
+The employés of the Râjâ were everywhere attentive, frank, and
+polite; and the peasantry seemed no longer inferior to those of our
+Sâgar and Nerbudda territories. The females of almost all the
+villages through which we passed came out with their _Kalas_ in
+procession to meet us--one of the most affecting marks of respect
+from the peasantry for their superiors that I know. One woman carries
+on her head a brass jug, brightly polished, full of water; while all
+the other families of the village crowd around her, and sing in
+chorus some rural song, that lasts from the time the respected
+visitor comes in sight till he disappears. He usually puts into the
+Kalas a rupee to purchase 'gur' (coarse sugar), of which all the
+females partake, as a sacred offering to the sex. No member of the
+other sex presumes to partake of it, and during the chorus all the
+men stand aloof in respectful silence. This custom prevails all over
+India, or over all parts of it that I have seen; and yet I have
+witnessed a Governor-General of India, with all his suite, passing by
+this interesting group, without knowing or asking what it was. I
+lingered behind, and quietly put my silver into the jug, as if from
+the Governor-General.[20]
+
+The man who administers the government over these seven villages in
+all its branches, civil, criminal, and fiscal, receives a salary of
+only two hundred rupees a year. He collects the revenues on the part
+of Government; and, with the assistance of the heads and the elders
+of the villages, adjusts all petty matters of dispute among the
+people, both civil and criminal. Disputes of a more serious character
+are sent to be adjusted at the capital by the Râjâ and his ministers.
+The person who reigns over the seven villages of the lake is about
+thirty years of age, of the Râjpût caste, and, I think, one of the
+finest young men I have ever seen. His ancestors have served the
+Orchhâ State in the same station for seven generations; and he tells
+me that he hopes his posterity will serve them [_sic_] for as many
+more, provided they do not forfeit their claims to do so by their
+infidelity or incapacity. This young man seemed to have the respect
+and affection of every member of the little communities of the
+villages through which we passed, and it was evident that he deserved
+their attachment. I have rarely seen any similar signs of attachment
+to one of our own native officers. This arises chiefly from the
+circumstance of their being less frequently placed in authority among
+those upon whose good feelings and opinions their welfare and
+comfort, as those of their children, are likely permanently to
+depend. In India, under native rule, office became hereditary,
+because officers expended the whole of their incomes in religious
+ceremonies, or works of ornament and utility, and left their families
+in hopeless dependence upon the chief in whose service they had
+laboured all their lives, while they had been educating their sons
+exclusively with the view of serving that chief in the same capacity
+that their fathers had served him before them. It is in this case,
+and this alone, that the law of primogeniture is in force in
+India.[21] Among Muhammadans, as well as Hindoos, all property, real
+and personal, is divided equally among the children;[22] but the
+duties of an office will not admit of the same subdivision; and this,
+therefore, when hereditary, as it often is, descends to the eldest
+son with the obligation of providing for the rest of the family. The
+family consists of all the members who remain united to the parent
+stock, including the widows and orphans of the sons or brothers who
+were so up to the time of their death.[23]
+
+The old 'chobdâr', or silver-stick bearer, who came with us from the
+Râjâ, gets fifteen rupees a month, and his ancestors have served the
+Râjâ for several generations. The Dîwân, who has charge of the
+treasury, receives only one thousand rupees a year, and the Bakshî,
+or paymaster of the army, who seems at present to rule the state as
+the prime favourite, the same. These latter are at present the only
+two great officers of state; and, though they are, no doubt,
+realizing handsome incomes by indirect means, they dare not make any
+display, lest signs of wealth might induce the Râjâ or his successors
+to treat them as their predecessors in office were treated for some
+time past.[24] The Jâgîrdârs, or feudal chiefs, as I have before
+stated, are almost all of the same family or class as the Râjâ, and
+they spend all the revenues of their estates in the maintenance of
+military retainers, upon whose courage and fidelity they can
+generally rely. These Jâgîrdârs are bound to attend the prince on all
+great occasions, and at certain intervals; and are made to contribute
+something to his exchequer in tribute. Almost all live beyond their
+legitimate means, and make up the deficiency by maintaining upon
+their estates gangs of thieves, robbers, and murderers, who extend
+their depredations into the country around, and share the prey with
+these chiefs, and their officers and under-tenants. They keep them as
+_poachers_ keep their _dogs_; and the paramount power, whose subjects
+they plunder, might as well ask them for the best horse in the stable
+as for the best thief that lives under their protection.[25]
+
+I should mention an incident that occurred during the Râjâ's visit to
+me at Tehrî. Lieutenant Thomas was sitting next to the little
+Sarîmant, and during the interview he asked him to allow him to look
+at his beautiful little gold-hilted sword. The Sarîmant held it fast,
+and told him that he should do himself the honour of waiting upon him
+in his tent in the course of the day, when he would show him the
+sword and tell him its history. After the Râjâ, left me, Thomas
+mentioned this, and said he felt very much hurt at the incivility of
+my little friend; but I told him that he was in everything he did and
+said so perfectly the gentleman, that I felt quite sure he would
+explain all to his satisfaction when he called upon him. During his
+visit to Thomas he apologized for not having given over his sword to
+him, and said, 'You European gentlemen have such perfect confidence
+in each other, that you can, at all times, and in all situations,
+venture to gratify your curiosity in these matters, and draw your
+swords in a crowd just as well as when alone; but, had you drawn mine
+from the scabbard in such a situation, with the tent full of the
+Râjâ's personal attendants, and surrounded by a devoted and not very
+orderly soldiery, it might have been attended by very serious
+consequences. Any man outside might have seen the blade gloaming,
+and, not observing distinctly why it had been drawn, might have
+suspected treachery, and called out "_To the rescue_", when we should
+all have been cut down--the lady, child, and all.' Thomas was not
+only satisfied with the Sarîmant's apology, but was so much delighted
+with him, that he has ever since been longing to get his portrait;
+for he says it was really his intention to draw the sword had the
+Sarîmant given it to him. As I have said, his face is extremely
+beautiful, quite a model for a painter or a statuary, and his figure,
+though small, is handsome. He dresses with great elegance, mostly in
+azure-coloured satin, surmounted by a rose-coloured turban and a
+waistband of the same colour. All his motions are graceful, and his
+manners have an exquisite polish. A greater master of all the
+_convenances_ I have never seen, though he is of slender capacity,
+and, as I have said, in stature less than five feet high.
+
+
+A poor, half-naked man, reduced to beggary by the late famine, ran
+along by my horse to show me the road, and, to the great amusement of
+my attendants, exclaimed that he felt exactly as if he were always
+falling down a well, meaning as if he were immersed in cold water. He
+said that the cold season was suited only to gentlemen who could
+afford to be well clothed; but, to a poor man like himself, and the
+great mass of people, in Bundêlkhand at least, the hot season was
+much better. He told me that 'the late Râjâ, though a harsh, was
+thought to be a just man;[26] and that his good sense, and, above
+all, his _good fortune_ (ikbâl) had preserved the principality
+entire; but that God only, and the forbearance of the Honourable
+Company, could now serve it under such an imbecile as the present
+chief'. He seemed quite melancholy at the thought of living to see
+this principality, the oldest in Bundêlkhand, lose its independence.
+Even this poor, unclothed, and starving wretch had a feeling of
+patriotism, a pride of country, though that country had been so
+wretchedly governed, and was now desolated by a famine.
+
+Just such a feeling had the impressed seamen who fought our battles
+in the great struggle. No nation has ever had a more disgraceful
+institution than that of the press-gang of England. This institution,
+if so it can be called, must be an eternal stain upon her glory--
+posterity will never be able to read the history of her naval
+victories without a blush--without reproaching her lawgivers who
+could allow them to be purchased with the blood of such men as those
+who fought for us the battles of the Nile and Trafalgar. '_England
+expected every man to do his duty_' on that day, but had England done
+her duty to every man who was on that day to fight for her? Was not
+every English gentleman of the Lords and Commons a David sending his
+Uriah to battle?[27]
+
+The intellectual stock which we require in good seamen for our navy,
+and which is acquired in scenes of peril 'upon the high and giddy
+mast', is as much their property as that which other men acquire in
+schools and colleges; and we had no more right to seize and employ
+these seamen in our battles upon the wages of common, uninstructed
+labour, than we should have had to seize and employ as many
+clergymen, barristers, and physicians. When I have stood on the
+quarter-deck of a ship in a storm, and seen the seamen covering the
+yards in taking in sail, with the thunder rolling, and the lightning
+flashing fearfully around them--the sea covered with foam, and each
+succeeding billow, as it rushed by, seeming ready to sweep them all
+from their frail footing into the fathomless abyss below--I have
+asked myself, 'Are men like these to be seized like common felons,
+torn from their wives and children as soon as they reach their native
+land, subject every day to the lash, and put in front of those
+battles on which the wealth, the honour, and the independence of the
+nation depend, merely because British legislators know that when
+there, a regard for their own personal character among their
+companions in danger will make them fight like Englishmen?'
+
+This feeling of nationality which exists in the little states of
+Bundêlkhand, arises from the circumstance that the mass of the
+landholders are of the same class as the chief Bundêlas; and that the
+public establishments of the state are recruited almost exclusively
+from that mass. The states of Jhânsî[28] and Jâlaun[29] are the only
+exceptions. There the rulers are Brahmans and not Râjpûts, and they
+recruit their public establishments from all classes and all
+countries. The landed aristocracy, however, there, as elsewhere, are
+Râjpûts-either Pawârs, Chandêls, or Bundêlas.
+
+The Râjpût landholders of Bundêlkhand are linked to the soil in all
+their grades, from the prince to the peasant, as the Highlanders of
+Scotland were not long ago; and the holder of a hundred acres is as
+proud as the holder of a million.[30] He boasts the same descent, and
+the same exclusive possession of arms and agriculture, to which
+unhappily the industry of their little territories is almost
+exclusively confined, for no other branch can grow up among so
+turbulent a set, whose quarrels with their chiefs, or among each
+other, are constantly involving them in civil wars, which render life
+and property exceedingly insecure. Besides, as I have stated, their
+propensity to keep bands of thieves, robbers, and murderers in their
+baronial castles, as poachers keep their dogs, has scared away the
+wealthy and respectable capitalist and peaceful and industrious
+manufacturer.
+
+All the landholders are uneducated, and unfit to serve in any of our
+civil establishments, or in those of any very civilized Governments;
+and they are just as unfitted to serve in our military
+establishments, where strict discipline is required. The lands they
+occupy are cultivated because they depend almost entirely upon the
+rents they get from them for subsistence; and because every petty
+chief and his family hold their lands rent-free, or at a trifling
+quit-rent, on the tenure of military service, and their residue forms
+all the market for land produce which the cultivators require. They
+dread the transfer of the rule to our Government, because they now
+form almost exclusively all the establishments of their domestic
+chief, civil as well as military; and know that, were our rule to be
+substituted, they would be almost entirely excluded from these, at
+least for a generation or two. In our regiments, horse or foot, there
+is hardly a man from Bundêlkhand, for the reasons above stated; nor
+are there any in the Gwâlior regiments and contingents which are
+stationed in the neighbourhood; though the land among them is become
+minutely subdivided, and they are obliged to seek service or starve.
+They are all too proud for manual labour, even at the plough. No
+Bundêlkhand Râjpût will, I believe, condescend to put his hand to
+one.
+
+Among the Marâthâ states, Sikhs, and Muhammadans, there is no bond of
+union of this kind. The establishments, military as well as civil,
+are everywhere among them composed for the most part of foreigners;
+and the landed interests under such Governments would dread nothing
+from the prospect of a transfer to our rule; on the contrary, they
+and the mass of the people would almost everywhere hail it as a
+blessing.
+
+There are two reasons why we should leave these small native states
+under their own chiefs, even when the claim to the succession is
+feeble or defective; first, because it tends to relieve the minds of
+other native chiefs from the apprehension, already too prevalent
+among them, that we desire by degrees to absorb them all, because we
+think our government would do better for the people; and secondly,
+because, by leaving them as a contrast, we afford to the people of
+India the opportunity of observing the superior advantages of our
+rule.
+
+'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,' in governments as well
+as in landscapes; and if the people of India, instead of the living
+proofs of what perilous things native governments, whether Hindoo or
+Muhammadan, are in reality, were acquainted with nothing but such
+pictures of them as are to be found in their histories and in the
+imaginations of their priests and learned men (who lose much of their
+influence and importance under our rule), they would certainly, with
+proneness like theirs to delight in the marvellous, be far from
+satisfied, as they now are, that they never had a government so good
+as ours, and that they never could hope for another so good, were
+ours removed.[31]
+
+ For the advantages which we derive from leaving them independent, we
+are, no doubt, obliged to pay a heavy penalty in the plunder of our
+wealthy native subjects by the gangs of robbers of all descriptions
+whom they foster; but this evil may be greatly diminished by a
+judicious interposition of our authority to put down such bands.[32]
+
+In Bundêlkhand, at present, the government and the lands of the
+native chiefs are in the hands of three of the Hindoo military
+classes, Bundêlas, Dhandêlas, and Pawârs. The principal chiefs are of
+the first, and their feudatories are chiefly of the other two. A
+Bundêla cannot marry the daughter of a Bundêla; he must take his wife
+from one or other of the other two tribes; nor can a member of either
+of the other two take his wife from his own tribe; he must take her
+from the Bundêlas, or the other tribe. The wives of the greatest
+chiefs are commonly from the poorest families of their vassals; nor
+does the proud family from which she has been taken feel itself
+exalted by the alliance; neither does the poorest vassal among the
+Pawârs and Dhandêls feel that the daughter of his prince has
+condescended in becoming his wife. All they expect is a service for a
+few more yeomen of the family among the retainers of the sovereign.
+
+The people are in this manner, from the prince to the peasant,
+indissolubly linked to each other, and to the soil they occupy; for,
+where industry is confined almost exclusively to agriculture, the
+proprietors of the soil and the officers of Government, who are
+maintained out of its rents, constitute nearly the whole of the
+middle and higher classes. About one-half of the lands of every state
+are held on service tenure by vassals of the same family or clan as
+the chief; and there is hardly one of them who is not connected with
+that chief by marriage. The revenue derived from the other half is
+spent in the maintenance of establishments formed almost exclusively
+of the members of these families.
+
+They are none of them educated for civil offices under any other
+rule, nor could they, for a generation or two, be induced to submit
+to wear military uniform, or learn the drill of regular soldiers.
+They are mere militia, brave as men can be, but unsusceptible of
+discipline. They have, therefore, a natural horror at the thought of
+their states coming under any other than a domestic rule, for they
+could have no chance of employment in the civil or military
+establishments of a foreign power; and their lands would, they fear,
+be resumed, since the service for which they had been given would be
+no longer available to the rulers. It is said that, in the long
+interval from the commencement of the reign of Alexander the third to
+the end of that of David the second,[33] not a single baron could be
+found in Scotland able to sign his own name. The Bundêlkhand barons
+have never, I believe, been quite so bad as this, though they have
+never yet learned enough to fit them for civil offices under us. Many
+of them can write and read their own language, which is that common
+to the other countries around them.[34]
+
+Bundêlkhand was formerly possessed by another tribe of Râjpûts, the
+proud Chandêls, who have now disappeared altogether from this
+province. If one of that tribe can still be found, it is in the
+humblest rank of the peasant or the soldier; but its former strength
+is indicated by the magnificent artificial lakes and ruined castles
+which are traced to them; and by the reverence which is still felt by
+the present dominant classes of [_sic_] their old capital of Mahoba.
+Within a certain distance around that ruined city no one now dares to
+beat the 'nakkâra', or great drum used in festivals or processions,
+lest the spirits of the old Chandêl chiefs who there repose should be
+roused to vengeance;[35] and a kingdom could not tempt one of the
+Bundêlas, Pawârs, or Chandêls to accept the government of the parish
+['mauza'] in which it is situated. They will take subordinate offices
+there under others with fear and trembling, but nothing could induce
+one of them to meet the governor. When the deadly struggle between
+these two tribes took place cannot now be discovered.[36]
+
+In the time of Akbar, the Chandêls were powerful in Mahoba, as the
+celebrated Durgâvatî, the queen of Garhâ Mandlâ, whose reign extended
+over the Sâgar and Nerbudda territories and the greater part of
+Berâr, was a daughter of the reigning Chandêl prince of Mahoba. He
+condescended to give his daughter only on condition that the Gond
+prince who demanded her should, to save his character, come with an
+army of fifty thousand men to take her. He did so, and 'nothing
+loth', Durgâvatî departed to reign over a country where her name is
+now more revered than that of any other sovereign it has ever had.
+She was killed above two hundred and fifty years ago, about twelve
+miles from Jubbulpore, while gallantly leading on her troops in their
+third and last attempt to stem the torrent of Muhammadan invasion.
+Her tomb is still to be seen where she fell, in a narrow defile
+between two hills; and a pair of large rounded stones which stand
+near are, according to popular belief, her royal drums turned into
+stone, which, in the dead of night, are still heard resounding
+through the woods, and calling the spirits of her warriors from their
+thousand graves around her. The travellers who pass this solitary
+spot respectfully place upon the tomb the prettiest specimen they can
+find of the crystals which abound in the neighbourhood; and, with so
+much of kindly feeling had the history of Durgâvatî inspired me, that
+I could not resist the temptation of adding one to the number when I
+visited her tomb some sixteen years ago.[37]
+
+I should mention that the Râjâ of Samthar in Bundêlkhand.[38] is by
+caste a Gûjar;[39] and he has not yet any landed aristocracy like
+that of the Bundêlas about him. One of his ancestors, not long ago,
+seized upon a fine open plain, and built a fort upon it, and the
+family has ever since, by means of this fort, kept possession of the
+country around, and drawn part of their revenues from depredations
+upon their neighbours and travellers. The Jhânsî and Jâlaun chiefs
+are Brahmans of the same family as the Peshwâ.
+
+In the states governed by chiefs of the military classes, nearly the
+whole produce of the land goes to maintain soldiers, or military
+retainers, who are always ready to fight or rob for their chief. In
+those governed by the Brahmanical class, nearly the whole produce
+goes to maintain priests; and the other chiefs would soon devour
+them, as the black ants devour the white, were not the paramount
+power to interpose and save them. While the Peshwâ lived, he
+interposed; but all his dominions were _running into priesthood_,
+like those in Sâgar and Bundêlkhand, and must soon have been
+swallowed up by the military chiefs around him, had we not taken his
+place. Jâlaun and Jhânsî are preserved only by us, for, with all
+their religious, it is impossible for them to maintain efficient
+military establishments; and the Bundêla chiefs have always a strong
+desire to eat them up, since these states were all sliced out of
+their principalities when the Peshwâ was all-powerful in Hindustan.
+
+The Chhatarpur Râjâ is a Pawâr. His father had been in the service of
+the Bundêla Râjâ; but, when we entered upon our duties as the
+paramount power in Bundêlkhand, the son had succeeded to the little
+principality seized upon by his father; and, on the principle of
+respecting actual possession, he was recognized by us as the
+sovereign.[40] The Bundela Râjâs, east of the Dasân river, are
+descended from Râjâ Chhatarsâl, and are looked down upon by the
+Bundêla Râjâs of Orchhâ, Chandêrî, and Datiyâ, west of the Dasân, as
+Chhatarsâl was in the service of one of their ancestors, from whom he
+wrested the estates which his descendants now enjoy. Chhatarsâl, in
+his will, gave one-third of the dominion he had thus acquired to the
+strongest power then in India, the Peshwâ, in order to secure the
+other two-thirds to his two sons Hardî Sâ and Jagatrâj, in the same
+manner as princes of the Roman empire used to bequeath a portion of
+theirs to the emperor.[41] Of the Peshwâ's share we have now got all,
+except Jâlaun. Jhânsî was subsequently acquired by the Peshwâ, or
+rather by his subordinates, with his sanction and assistance.[42]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. In the Orchhâ State. This seems to be the same town which the
+author had already visited on his way to Tehrî on the 7th December.
+_Ante_, Chapter 19 note [15].
+
+3. _Ante_, Chapter 12 following note [9].
+
+4. Sodora in the author's text; see _ante_, Chapter 19, note 11.
+
+5. 'Bow-sacrifice.'
+
+6. The tradition is that a prince of this military class was sporting
+in a river with his thousand wives, when Renukâ, the wife of
+Jamadagni, went to bring water. He offended her, and her husband
+cursed the prince, but was put to death by him. His son Parasrâm was
+no less a person than the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, who had
+assumed the human shape merely to destroy these tyrants. He vowed,
+now that his mother had been insulted, and his father killed, not to
+leave one on the face of the earth. He destroyed them all twenty-one
+times, the women with child producing a new race each time. [W. H.
+S.] The legend is not narrated quite correctly.
+
+7. Râma Chandra, son of Dasaratha.
+
+8. When Râm set out with his army for Ceylon, he is supposed to have
+worshipped the little tree called 'cheonkul', which stood near his
+capital of Ajodhya. It is a wretched little thing, between a shrub
+and a tree; but I have seen a procession of more than seventy
+thousand persons attend their prince to the worship of it on the
+festival of the Dasahara, which is held in celebration of this
+expedition to Ceylon. [W. H. S.] 'As Arjuna and his brothers
+worshipped the shumee-tree, the _Acacia suma_, and hung up their arms
+upon it, so the Hindus go forth to worship that tree on the festival
+of the Dasahara. They address the tree under the name of Aparajita,
+the invincible goddess, sprinkle it with five ambrosial liquids, the
+'panchamrit', a mixture of milk, curds, sugar, clarified butter, and
+honey, wash it with water, and hang garments upon it. They light
+lamps and burn incense before the symbol of Aparajita, make
+'chandlos' upon the tree, sprinkle it with rose-coloured water, and
+set offerings of food before it' (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed.,
+s.v. 'Dasahara'). The 'cheonkul' is the _chhonkar_ or _chhaunkar
+(Prosopis spicigera_, Linn.), described by Growse as follows:--
+
+'Very common throughout the district; occasionally grows to quite a
+large tree, as in the Dohani Kund at Chaksauli. It is used for
+religious worship at the festival of the Dasahara, and considered
+sacred to Siva. The pods (called _sangri_) are much used for fodder.
+Probably _chhonkar_ and _sangri_, which latter is in some parts of
+India the name of the tree as well as of the pod, are both
+dialectical corruptions of the Sanskrit _sankara_, a name of Siva;
+for the palatal and sibilant are frequently interchangeable' ('List
+of Indigenous Trees' in _Mathurâ, A. District Memoir_, 3rd ed.,
+Allahabad, 1883, p. 422). Sundry leguminous trees are used in
+Dasahara ceremonies in the different parts of India, under varying
+local names.
+
+9. _Credo quia impossibile_.
+
+10. This comparison is not a happy one. The elements in some of the
+Hindoo myths specially repulsive to European taste are their
+monstrosity, their inartistic and hideous exaggeration, their
+accumulation of sanguinary horrors, and their childish triviality.
+Few of the classical myths exhibit these characteristics. The vanity
+or policy of Tiberius and Alexander in believing themselves to be, or
+wishing to be believed, divine, has nothing in common with the
+grotesque imagination of Puranic Hinduism.
+
+11. The roots of Hinduism are so deeply fixed in a thick soil of
+custom and inherited sentiment, the growth of thousands of years,
+that English education has less effect than might be expected in
+loosening the bonds of beliefs which seem to every one but a Hindoo
+the merest superstition. Hindoos who can read English with fluency,
+and write it with accuracy, are often extremely devout, and Hindoo
+devoutness must ever appear to an outsider, even to a European as
+sympathetic as the author, to be no better than superstition. A
+Hindoo able to read English with ease has at his command all the rich
+stores of the knowledge of the West, but very often does not care to
+taste them. Enmeshed in a web of ritual and belief inseparable from
+himself, he remains as much as ever a Hindoo, and uses his skill in
+English merely as an article of professional equipment. 'Good works
+of history and fiction' do not interest him, and he usually fails to
+digest and assimilate the physical or biological science administered
+to him at school or college. In fact, he does not believe it. The
+monstrous legends of the Purânas continue to be for his mind the
+realities; while the truths of science are to him phantoms, shadowy
+and unsubstantial, the outlandish notions of alien and casteless
+unbelievers. These observations, of course, are not universally true,
+and a few Hindoos, growing in number, are able to heartily accept and
+thoroughly assimilate the facts of history and the results of
+inductive science. But such Hindoos are few, and it may well be
+doubted if it is possible for a man really to believe the amount of
+history and science known to an ordinary English schoolboy, and still
+be a devout Hindoo. The old bottles cannot contain the new wine. The
+Hindoo scriptures do not treat of history and science in a merely
+incidental way; they teach, after their fashion, both history and
+science formally and systematically; grammar, logic, medicine,
+astronomy, the history of gods and men, are all taught in books which
+form part of the sacred canon. Inductive science and matter-of-fact
+history are absolutely destructive of, and irreconcilable with,
+veneration for the Hindoo scriptures as authoritative and infallible
+guides. It is impossible, within the narrow limits of a note, to
+discuss the problems suggested by the author's remarks. Enough,
+perhaps, has been said to show that the many-rooted banyan tree of
+Hinduism is in little danger of overthrow from the attacks either of
+history or of science, not to speak of 'good works of fiction'.
+
+12. A 'dug-out' canoe is rather a shaky craft. When two or three are
+lashed together, and a native cot (_chârpâi_) is stretched across,
+the passenger can make himself very comfortable. The boats are poled
+by men standing in the stern.
+
+13. _Ante_, Chapter 24, note 1.
+
+14. This prince is not included in the authentic dynastic lists given
+in the Chandêl inscriptions. He was probably a younger son, who never
+reigned. The principal authorities for the history of the Chandêl
+dynasty are _A.S.R._, vol. ii, pp. 439-51; vol. xxi, pp. 77-90, and
+V. A. Smith, 'Contributions to the History of Bundêlkhand', in
+_J.A.S.B._ vol. 1 (1881), Part I, p. 1; and 'The History and Coinage
+of the Chandêl (Chandella) Dynasty' in _Ind. Ant._, 1908, pp. 114-48.
+A brief summary will be found in _Early History of India_, 3rd ed.
+(1914), pp. 390-4. Most of the great works of the dynasty date from
+the period A.D. 950-1200.
+
+15. The long ridges of quartz traversing the gneiss are marked
+features in the scenery of Bundêlkhand.
+
+16. The author always uses the phrase Central India as a vague
+geographical expression. The phrase is now generally used to mean an
+administrative division, namely, the group of Native States under the
+Central India Agency at Indore, which deals with about 148 chiefs and
+rulers of various rank. Central India in this official sense must not
+be confounded with the Central Provinces, of which the capital is
+Nâgpur.
+
+17. On this lake theory, see _ante_, Chapter 14, note 13.
+
+18. During a residence of six years in Bundêlkhand the editor came to
+the conclusion that most of the ancient artificial lakes were not
+constructed for purposes of irrigation. The embankments seem
+generally to have been built as adjuncts to palaces or temples. Many
+of the lakes command no considerable area of irrigable ground, and
+there are no traces of ancient irrigation channels. In modern times
+small canals have been drawn from some of the lakes.
+
+19. The desolation of the ravines of the rivers of Central India and
+Bundêlkhand offers a very striking spectacle, presenting to the
+geologist a signal example of the effects of sub-aerial denudation.
+
+20. This pretty custom is also described, in Tod's _Râjasthân_; and
+is still common in Alwar, and perhaps in other parts of Râjputâna
+(_N.I. Notes and Queries_, vol. ii (Dec. 1892), p. 152), It does not
+seem to be now known in the Gangetic valley.
+
+21. Principalities, and the estates of the talukdârs of Oudh also
+descend to the eldest son. The author states (_ante_, Chapter 10, see
+text before note [10].) that the same rule applied in his time to the
+small agricultural holdings in the Sâgar and Nerbudda territories.
+
+22. This statement is inexact; Hindoo daughters, as a rule, inherit
+nothing from their fathers; a Muhammadan daughter takes half the
+share of a son.
+
+23. But it is only the smaller local ministerial officers who are
+secure in their tenure of office under native Governments; those on
+whose efficiency the well-being of village communities depends. The
+greatest evil of Governments of the kind is the feeling of insecurity
+which pervades all the higher officers of Government, and the
+instability of all engagements made by the Government with them, and
+by them with the people. [W. H. S.]
+
+24. _Ante_, Chapter 23, text at note [8].
+
+25. In the Gwâlior territory, the Marâthâ 'âmils' or governors of
+districts, do the same, and keep gangs of robbers on purpose to
+plunder their neighbours; and, if you ask them for their thieves,
+they will actually tell you that to part with them would be ruin, as
+they are their only defence against the thieves of their neighbours.
+[W. H. S.] These notions and habits are by no means extinct. In
+October, 1892, a force of about two hundred men, cavalry and
+infantry, was sent into Bundêlkhand to suppress robber gangs. Such
+gangs are constantly breaking out in that region, in most native
+states, and in many British districts. See _ante_, chapter 23, text
+following note [13].
+
+26. My poor guide had as little sympathy with the prime ministers,
+whom the Tehrî Râjâ put to death, as the peasantry of England had
+with the great men and women whom Harry the Eighth sacrificed. [W. H.
+S.] _Ante_, Chapter 23, beginning to note [9].
+
+27. The cruel practice of impressment for the royal navy is
+authorized by a series of statutes extending from the reign of Philip
+and Mary to that of George III. Seamen of the merchant navy, and,
+with few exceptions, all seafaring men between the ages of eighteen
+and thirty-five, are liable, under the provisions of these harsh
+statutes, to be forcibly seized by the press-gang, and compelled to
+serve on board a man-of-war. The acts legalizing impressment were
+freely made use of during the Napoleonic wars, but since then have
+been little acted on, and no Government at the present day could
+venture to use them, though they have never been repealed. The fleet
+sent against the Russians in 1855 was the first English fleet ever
+manned without recourse to forcible impressment: see the article
+'Impressment' by David Hannay, in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th
+ed., 1910. The work by J. B. Hutchinson entitled _The Press-gang
+Afloat and Ashore_ (London: Nash, 1913) gives copious details of the
+infamous proceedings.
+
+28. The Brahman chief of Jhânsî was originally a governor under the
+Peshwâ. The treaty of November 18, 1817, recognized the then chief
+Râmchand Râo, his heirs and successors, as hereditary rulers of
+Jhânsî. Râmchand Râo was granted the title of Râjâ by the British
+Government in 1832, and died without issue on August 20, 1835
+(_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. i, p. 296). See _post_, Chapter
+29.
+
+29. The chiefs of Jâlaun also were officers under the Marâtha
+Government of the Peshwâ up to 1817. In consequence of gross
+misgovernment, an English superintendent was appointed in 1838, and
+the state lapsed to the British Government, owing to failure of
+heirs, in 1840 (ibid. p. 229).
+
+30. _Ante_ Chapter 23, note 13.
+
+31. Lapse of years has increased the distance and the enchantment, so
+that modern agitators and sentimentalists discover marvellous
+excellences in the native Governments of the now remote past. The
+methods of government in the existing native states have been so
+profoundly modified by the influence of the Imperial Government that
+these states are no longer as instructive in the way of contrast as
+they were in the author's day.
+
+32. The author consistently held the views above enunciated, and
+defended the policy of maintaining the native states. He was of
+opinion that the system of annexation favoured by Lord Dalhousie and
+his Council 'had a downward tendency, and tended to crush all the
+higher and middle classes connected with the land'. He considered
+that the Government of India should have undertaken the management of
+Oudh, but that it had no right to annex the province, and appropriate
+its revenues (_Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, p. 22, &c.).
+Since 1858 the policy of annexation has been repudiated. See Sir W.
+Lee-Warner, _The Protected Princes of India_ (Macmillan, 1894), and
+_The Native States of India_ (1910).
+
+33. A.D. 1249 to A.D. 1371.
+
+34. The Hindi spoken in different parts of Bundêlkhand comprises
+several distinct dialects: see Kellogg, _A Grammar of the Hindî
+Language_, 2nd ed., 1893; and Grierson, _Linguistic Survey_, vol. vi
+(1904), pp. 18-23, where the dialects of Eastern Bundêlkhand are
+discussed. Bundêlî, the speech of Bundêlkhand proper, will be treated
+as a dialect of Western Hindi in a volume of the _Survey_ not yet
+published. Sir G. Grierson has favoured me with perusal of the
+proofs, and has used materials collected by me in the Hamîrpur
+District nearly forty years ago. Bundêlî has a considerable
+literature.
+
+35. The editor was told of a case in which two chiefs suffered for
+beating their drums in Mahoba.
+
+36. See _ante_, Chapter 23 note 11, and Chapter 26 note 14, and the
+authorities there cited. The Chandêl history occupies an important
+place in the mediaeval annals of India. Several important
+inscriptions of the dynasty have been correctly edited in the
+_Epigraphia Indica_. Mahoba is not now a 'ruined city'; it is a
+moderately prosperous country town, with a tolerable bazaar, and
+about eleven thousand inhabitants. It is the head-quarters of a
+'tahsîldâr', or sub-collector, and a station on the Midland Railway.
+The ruined temples and places in and near the town are of much
+interest. For many miles round the country is full of remarkable
+remains, some of which are in fairly good preservation. The published
+descriptions of these works are far from being exhaustive. The author
+was mistaken in supposing that the power of the Chandêls was broken
+by the Bundêlas. The last Chandêl king, who ruled over an extensive
+dominion, was Paramardi Deva, or Parmâl. This prince was defeated in
+a pitched battle, or rather a series of battles, near the Betwa
+river, by Prithîrâj Chauhân, king of Kanauj, in the year 1182. A few
+years later, the victor was himself vanquished and slain by the
+advancing Muhammadans. Mahoba and the surrounding territories then
+passed through many vicissitudes, imperfectly recorded in the pages
+of history, and were ruled from time to time by Musalmâns, Bhars,
+Khangârs, and others. The Bundêlas, an offshoot of the Gaharwâr clan,
+did not come into notice before the middle of the fourteenth century,
+and first became a power in India under the leadership of Champat
+Râi, the contemporary of Jahângîr and Shah Jâhan, in the first half
+of the seventeenth century. The line of Chandêl kings was continued
+in the persons of obscure local chiefs, whose very names are, for the
+most part, forgotten. The story of Durgâvatî, briefly told in the
+text, casts a momentary flash of light on their obscurity. The
+principal nobleman of the Chandêl race now occupying a dignified
+position is the Râjâ of Gidhaur in the Mungir (Monghyr) district of
+Bengal, whose ancestor emigrated from Mahoba.
+
+The war between the Chandêls and Chauhâns is the subject of a long
+section or canto of the Hindi epic, the _Chand-Râisâ_, written by
+Chand Bardâi, the court poet of Prithîrâj, of which the original MS.
+in 5,000 verses still exists. It was subsequently expanded to 125,000
+verses (_E.H.I._, 3rd ed., 1914, p. 387 note). The war is also the
+theme of the songs of many popular rhapsodists. The story is, of
+course, encrusted with a thick deposit of miraculous legend, and none
+of the details can be relied on. But the fact and the date of the war
+are fully proved by incontestable evidence.
+
+37. The marriage of Durgâvatî is no proof that her father, the
+Chandêl Râjâ, was powerful in Mahoba in the time of Akbar. It is
+rather an indication that he was poor and weak. If he had been rich
+and strong, he would probably have refused his daughter to a Gond,
+even though complaisant bards might invent a Râjpût genealogy for the
+bridegroom. The story about the army of fifty thousand men cannot be
+readily accepted as sober fact. It looks like a courtly invention to
+explain a mésalliance. The inducement really offered to the proud but
+poor Chandêl was, in all likelihood, a large sum of money, according
+to the usual practice in such cases. Several indications exist of
+close relations between the Gonds and Chandêls in earlier times.
+
+Early in Akbar's reign, in the year 1564, Âsaf Khân, the imperial
+viceroy of Karrâ Mânikpur, obtained permission to invade the Gond
+territory. The young Râjâ of Garhâ Mandlâ, Bîr Narâyan, was then a
+minor, and the defence of the kingdom devolved on Durgâvatî, the
+dowager queen. She first took up her position at the great fortress
+of Singaurgarh, north-west of Jabalpur, and, being there defeated,
+retired through Garhâ, to the south-east, towards Mandlâ. After an
+obstinately contested fight the invaders were again successful, and
+broke the queen's stout resistance. 'Mounted on an elephant, she
+refused to retire, though she was severely wounded, until her troops
+had time to recover the shock of the first discharge of artillery,
+and, notwithstanding that she had received an arrow-wound in her eye,
+bravely defended the pass in person. But, by an extraordinary
+coincidence, the river in the rear of her position, which had been
+nearly dry a few hours before the action commenced, began suddenly to
+rise, and soon became unfordable. Finding her plan of retreat thus
+frustrated, and seeing her troops give way, she snatched a dagger
+from her elephant-driver, and plunged it into her bosom. . . . Of all
+the sovereigns of this dynasty she lives most in the recollection of
+the people; she carried out many highly useful works in different
+parts of her kingdom, and one of the large reservoirs near Jabalpur
+is still called the Rânî Talâo in memory of her. During the fifteen
+years of her regency she did much for the country, and won the hearts
+of the people, while her end was as noble and devoted as her life had
+been useful' (_C.P. Gazetteer_ (1870), p. 283; with references to
+Sleeman's article on the Râjâs of Garhâ Mandlâ, and 'Briggs'
+Farishta', ed. 1829, vol. ii, pp. 217, 218). A memoir of Âsaf Khan
+Abdul Majîd, the general who overcame Durgâvatî, will be found in
+Blochmann's translation of the _Aîn-i-Akbarî_, vol. i, p. 366.
+
+38. Samthar is a small state, lying between the Betwa and Pahûj
+rivers, to the south-west of the Jâlaun district. It was separated
+from the Datiyâ State only one generation previous to the British
+occupation of Bundêlkhand. A treaty was concluded with the Râjâ in
+1812 (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_ (1st ed.), vol. i, p. 578).
+
+39. Gûjars occupy more than a hundred villages in the Jâlaun
+district, chiefly among the ravines of the Pahûj river. The Gûjar
+caste is most numerous in the Panjâb and the upper districts of the
+United Provinces. It is not very highly esteemed, being of about
+equal rank with the Âhîr caste and rather below the Jât. Gûjar
+colonies are settled in the Hoshangâbâd and Nîmâr districts of the
+Central Provinces. The Gûjars are inveterate cattle-lifters, and
+always ready to take advantage of any relaxation of the bonds of
+order to prey upon their neighbours. Many sections of the caste have
+adopted the Muhammadan faith.
+
+40. The small state of Chhatarpur lies to the south of the Hamîrpur
+district, between the Dasân and Ken rivers. The town of Chhatarpur,
+on the military road from Bânda to Sâgar, is remarkable for the
+mausoleum and ruined palace of Râjâ Chhatarsâl, after whom the town
+is named. Khajurâho, the ancient religious capital of the Chandêl
+monarchy, with its magnificent group of mediaeval Hindoo and Jain
+temples, is within the limits of the state, about eighteen miles
+south-east of Chhatarpur, and thirty-four miles south of Mahoba. The
+Pawâr adventurer, who succeeded in separating Chhatarpur from the
+Panna state, was originally a common soldier.
+
+41. Concerning Chhatarsâl (A.D. 1671 to 1731), see notes _ante_,
+Chapter 14 note 9, and chapter 23 note 11. He was one of the sons of
+Champat Râi. The correct date of the death of Chhatarsâl is Pûs Badi
+3, Sanwat, 1788 = A.D. 1731. Hardî (Hirdai) Sâ succeeded to the Râj,
+or kingdom, of Pannâ, and Jagatrâj to that of Jaitpur. These kingdoms
+quickly broke up, and the fragments are now in part native states and
+in part British territory. The Orchhâ State was formed about the
+beginning of the sixteenth century, and the Chandêrî and Datiyâ
+States are offshoots from it, which separated during the seventeenth
+century.
+
+42. As already observed (_ante_, Chapter 26, note 29), the Jâlaun
+State became British territory in 1840, four years after the tour
+described in the text, and four years before the, publication of the
+book. The Jhânsî State similarly lapsed on the death of Râjâ
+Gangâdhar Râo in November, 1853. The Rânî Lachhmî Bâî joined the
+mutineers, and was killed in battle in June, 1858.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 27
+
+
+Blights.
+
+I had a visit from my little friend the Sarîmant, and the
+conversation turned upon the causes and effects of the dreadful
+blight to which the wheat crops in the Nerbudda districts had of late
+years been subject. He said that 'the people at first attributed this
+great calamity to an increase in the crime of adultery which had
+followed the introduction of our rule, and which', he said, 'was
+understood to follow it everywhere; that afterwards it was by most
+people attributed to our frequent measurement of the land, and
+inspection of fields, with a view to estimate their capabilities to
+pay; which the people considered a kind of _incest_, and which he
+himself, the Deity, can never tolerate. The land is', said he,
+'considered as the _mother_ of the prince or chief who holds it--the
+great parent from whom he derives all that maintains him--his family
+and his establishments. If well treated, she yields this in abundance
+to her son; but, if he presumes to look upon her with the eye of
+desire, she ceases to be fruitful; or the Deity sends down hail or
+blight to destroy all that she yields. The measuring the surface of
+the fields, and the frequent inspecting the crops by the chief
+himself, or by his immediate agents were considered by the people in
+this light; and, in consequence, he never ventured upon these things.
+They were', he thought, 'fully satisfied that we did it more with a
+view to distribute the burthen of taxation equally upon the people
+than to increase it collectively; still', he thought that, 'either we
+should not do it at all, or delegate the duty to inferior agents,
+whose close inspection of the great _parent_ could not be so
+displeasing to the Deity.'[1]
+
+Râm Chand Pundit said that 'there was no doubt much truth in what
+Sarîmant Sâhib had stated; that the crops of late had unquestionably
+suffered from the constant measuring going on upon the lands; but
+that the people (as he knew) had now become unanimous in attributing
+the calamities of season, under which these districts had been
+suffering so much, to the _eating of beef_-this was', he thought,
+'the great source of all their sufferings.'
+
+Sarîmant declared that he thought 'his Pundit was right, and that it
+would, no doubt, be of great advantage to them and to their rulers if
+Government could be prevailed upon to prohibit the eating of beef;
+that so great and general were the sufferings of the people from
+these calamities of seasons, and so firm, and now so general, the
+opinion that they arose chiefly from the practice of killing and
+eating cows that, in spite of all the other superior blessings of our
+rule, the people were almost beginning to wish their old Marâthâ
+rulers in power again.'
+
+I reminded him of the still greater calamities the people of
+Bundêlkhand had been suffering under.
+
+'True,' said he, 'but among them there are crimes enough of everyday
+occurrence to account for these things; but, under your rule, the
+Deity has only one or other of these three things to be offended
+with; and, of these three, it must be admitted that the eating of
+beef so near the sacred stream of the Nerbudda is the worst.'
+
+The blight of which we were speaking had, for several seasons from
+the year 1829, destroyed the greater part of the wheat crops over
+extensive districts along the line of the Nerbudda, and through Mâlwâ
+generally; and old people stated that they recollected two returns of
+this calamity at intervals from twenty to twenty-four years. The
+pores, with which the stalks are abundantly supplied to admit of
+their readily taking up the aqueous particles that float in the air,
+seem to be more open in an easterly wind than in any other; and, when
+this wind prevails at the same time that the air is filled with the
+farina of the small parasitic fungus, whose depredations on the corn
+constitute what they call the rust, mildew, or blight, the particles
+penetrate into these pores, speedily sprout and spread their small
+roots into the cellular texture, where they intercept, and feed on,
+the sap in its ascent; and the grain in the ear, deprived of its
+nourishment, becomes shrivelled, and the whole crop is often not
+worth the reaping.[2] It is at first of a light, beautiful orange-
+colour, and found chiefly upon the 'alsî' (linseed)[3] which it does
+not seem much to injure; but, about the end of February, the fungi
+ripen, and shed their seeds rapidly, and they are taken up by the
+wind, and carried over the corn-fields. I have sometimes seen the air
+tinted of an orange colour for many days by the quantity of these
+seeds which it has contained; and that without the wheat crops
+suffering at all, when any but an easterly wind has prevailed; but,
+when the air is so charged with this farina, let but an easterly wind
+blow for twenty-four hours, and all the wheat crops under its
+influence are destroyed--nothing can save them. The stalks and leaves
+become first of an orange colour from the light colour of the farina
+which adheres to them, but this changes to deep brown. All that part
+of the stalk that is exposed seems as if it had been pricked with
+needles, and had exuded blood from every puncture; and the grain in
+the ear withers in proportion to the number of fungi that intercept
+and feed upon its sap; but the parts of the stalks that are covered
+by the leaves remain entirely uninjured; and, when the leaves are
+drawn off from them, they form a beautiful contrast to the others,
+which have been exposed to the depredations of these parasitic
+plants.
+
+Every pore, it is said, may contain from twenty to forty of these
+plants, and each plant may shed a hundred seeds,[4] so that a single
+shrub, infected with the disease, may disseminate it over the face of
+a whole district; for, in the warm month of March, when the wheat is
+attaining maturity, these plants ripen and shed their seeds in a
+week, and consequently increase with enormous rapidity, when they
+find plants with their pores open ready to receive and nourish them.
+I went over a rich sheet of wheat cultivation in the district of
+Jubbulpore in January, 1836, which appeared to me devoted to
+inevitable destruction. It was intersected by slips and fields of
+'alsî', which the cultivators often sow along the borders of their
+wheat-fields, which are exposed to the road, to prevent trespass.[5]
+All this 'alsî' had become of a beautiful light orange colour from
+these fungi; and the cultivators, who had had every field destroyed
+the year before by the same plant, surrounded my tent in despair,
+imploring me to tell them of some remedy. I knew of none; but, as the
+'alsî' is not a very valuable plant, I recommended them, as their
+only chance, to pull it all up by the roots, and fling it into large
+tanks that were everywhere to be found. They did so, and no 'alsî'
+was _intentionally_ left in the district, for, like drowning men
+catching at a straw, they caught everywhere at the little gleam of
+hope that my suggestion seemed to offer. Not a field of wheat was
+that season injured in the district of Jubbulpore; but I was soon
+satisfied that my suggestion had had nothing whatever to do with
+their escape, for not a single stalk of the wheat was, I believe,
+affected; while _some_ stalks of the affected 'alsî' must have been
+left by accident. Besides, in several of the adjoining districts,
+where the 'alsî' remained in the ground, the wheat escaped. I found
+that, about the time when the blight usually attacks the wheat,
+westerly winds prevailed, and that it never blew from the east for
+many hours together. The common belief among the natives was that the
+prevalence of an east wind was necessary to give full effect to the
+attack of this disease, though they none of them pretended to know
+anything of its _modus operandi_--indeed they considered the blight
+to be a demon, which was to be driven off only by prayers and
+sacrifices.
+
+It is worthy of remark that hardly anything suffered from the attacks
+of these fungi but the wheat. The 'alsî', upon which it always first
+made its appearance, suffered something certainly, but not much,
+though the stems and leaves were covered with them. The gram (_Cicer
+arietinum_) suffered still less--indeed the grain in this plant often
+remained uninjured, while the stems and leaves were covered with the
+fungi, in the midst of fields of wheat that were entirely destroyed
+by ravages of the same kind. None of the other pulses were injured,
+though situated in the same manner in the midst of the fields of
+wheat that were destroyed. I have seen rich fields of uninterrupted
+wheat cultivation for twenty miles by ten, in the valley of the
+Nerbudda, so entirely destroyed by this disease that the people would
+not go to the trouble of gathering one field in four, for the stalks
+and the leaves were so much injured that they were considered as
+unfit or unsafe for fodder; and during the same season its ravages
+were equally felt in the districts along the tablelands of the
+Vindhya range, north of the valley and, I believe, those upon the
+Sâtpura range, south. The last time I saw this blight was in March,
+1832, in the Sâgar district, where its ravages were very great, but
+partial; and I kept bundles of the blighted wheat hanging up in my
+house, for the inspection of the curious, till the beginning of
+1835.[6]
+
+When I assumed charge of the district of Sâgar in 1831 the opinion
+among the farmers and landholders generally was that the calamities
+of season under which we had been suffering were attributable to the
+increase of _adultery_, arising, as they thought, from our
+indifference, as we seemed to treat it as a matter of little
+importance; whereas it had always been considered under former
+Governments as a case of _life and death_. The husband or his friends
+waited till they caught the offending parties together in criminal
+correspondence, and then put them both to death; and the death of one
+pair generally acted, they thought, as a sedative upon the evil
+passions of a whole district for a year or two. Nothing can be more
+unsatisfactory than our laws for the punishment of adultery in India,
+where the Muhammadan criminal code has been followed, though the
+people subjected to it are not one-tenth Muhammadans. This law was
+enacted by Muhammad on the occasion of his favourite wife Ayesha
+being found under very suspicious circumstances with another man. A
+special direction from heaven required that four witnesses should
+swear positively to the _fact_.
+
+Ayesha and her paramour were, of course, acquitted, and the
+witnesses, being less than four, received the same punishment which
+would have been inflicted upon the criminals had the fact been proved
+by the direct testimony of the prescribed number--that is, eighty
+stripes of the 'korâ', almost equal to a sentence of death. (See
+Korân, chap. 24, and chap. 4.)[7] This became the law among all
+Muhammadans. Ayesha's father succeeded Muhammad, and Omar succeeded
+Abû Bakr.[8] Soon after his accession to the throne, Omar had to sit
+in judgement upon Mughîra, a companion of the prophet, the governor
+of Basrah,[9] who had been accidentally seen in an awkward position
+with a lady of rank by four men while they sat in an adjoining
+apartment. The door or window which concealed the criminal parties
+was flung open by the wind, at the time when they wished it most to
+remain closed. Three of the four men swore directly to the point.
+Mughîra was Omar's favourite, and had been appointed to the
+government by him, Zâid, the brother of one of the three who had
+sworn to the fact, hesitated to swear to the entire fact.
+
+'I think', said Omar, 'that I see before me a man whom God would not
+make the means of disgracing one of the companions of the holy
+prophet.'
+
+Zâid then described circumstantially the most unequivocal position
+that was, perhaps, ever described in a public court of justice; but,
+still hesitating to swear to the entire completion of the crime, the
+criminals were acquitted, and his brother and the two others received
+the punishment described. This decision of the _Brutus of his age_
+and country settled the law of evidence in these matters; and no
+Muhammadan judge would now give a verdict against any person charged
+with adultery, without the four witnesses to the _entire fact_. No
+man hopes for a conviction for this crime in our courts; and, as he
+would have to drag his wife or paramour through no less than three--
+that of the police officer, the magistrate, and the judge--to seek
+it, he has recourse to poison, either secretly or with his wife's
+consent. She will commonly rather die than be turned out into the
+streets a degraded outcast. The seducer escapes with impunity, while
+his victim suffers all that human nature is capable of enduring.
+Where husbands are in the habit of poisoning their guilty wives from
+the want of _legal_ means of redress, they will sometimes poison
+those who are suspected upon insufficient grounds. No magistrate ever
+hopes to get a conviction in the judge's court, if he commits a
+criminal for trial on this charge (under Regulation 17 of 1817), and,
+therefore, he never does commit. Regulation 7 of 1819 authorizes a
+magistrate to punish any person convicted of enticing away a wife or
+unmarried daughter for another's use; and an indignant functionary
+may sometimes feel disposed to stretch a point that the guilty man
+may not altogether escape.[10]
+
+Redress for these wrongs is never sought in our courts, because they
+can never hope to get it. But it is a great mistake to suppose that
+the people of India want a heavier punishment for the crime than we
+are disposed to inflict--all they want is a fair chance of conviction
+upon such reasonable proof as cases of this nature admit of, and such
+a measure of punishment as shall make it appear that their rulers
+think the crime a serious one, and that they are disposed to protect
+them from it. Sometimes the poorest man would refuse pecuniary
+compensation; but generally husbands of the poorer classes would be
+glad to get what the heads of their caste or circle of society might
+consider the expenses of a second marriage. They do not dare to live
+in adultery, they would be outcasts if they did; they must be married
+according to the forms of their caste, and it is reasonable that the
+seducer of the wife should be obliged to defray the coats of the
+injured husband's second marriage. The rich will, of course, always
+refuse such a compensation, but a law declaring the man convicted of
+this crime liable to imprisonment in irons at hard labour for two
+years, but entitled to his discharge within that time on an
+application from the injured husband or father, would be extremely
+popular throughout India. The poor man would make the application
+when assured of the sum which the elders of his caste consider
+sufficient; and they would take into consideration the means of the
+offender to pay. The woman is sufficiently punished by her degraded
+condition. The _fatwa_ of a Muhammadan law officer should be
+dispensed with in such cases.[11]
+
+In 1832 the people began to search for other causes [_scilicet_, of
+bad seasons]. The frequent measurements of the land, with a view to
+equalize the assessments, were thought of; even the operations of the
+Trigonometrical Survey,[12] which were then making a great noise in
+Central India, where their fires were seen every night burning upon
+the peaks of the highest ranges, were supposed to have had some share
+in exasperating the Deity; and the services of the most holy Brahmans
+were put in requisition to exorcise the peaks from which the
+engineers had taken their angles, the moment their instruments were
+removed. In many places, to the great annoyance and consternation of
+the engineers, the landmarks which they had left to enable them to
+correct their work as they advanced, were found to have been removed
+during their short intervals of absence, and they were obliged to do
+their work over again. The priests encouraged the disposition on the
+part of the peasantry to believe that men who required to do their
+work by the aid of fires lighted in the dead of the night upon _high
+places_, and work which no one but themselves seemed able to
+comprehend, must hold communion with supernatural beings, a communion
+which they thought might be displeasing to the Deity.
+
+At last, in the year 1833, a very holy Brahman, who lived in his
+cloister near the iron suspension bridge over the Biâs river, ten
+miles from Sâgar, sat down with a determination to _wrestle with the
+Deity_ till he should be compelled to reveal to him the real cause of
+all these calamities of season under which the people were
+groaning.[l3] After three days and nights of fasting and prayer, he
+saw a vision which stood before him in a white mantle, and told him
+that all these calamities arose from the slaughter of cows; and that
+under former Governments this practice had been strictly prohibited,
+and the returns of the harvest had, in consequence, been always
+abundant, and subsistence cheap, in spite of invasion from without,
+insurrection within, and a good deal of misrule and oppression on the
+part of the local government. The holy man was enjoined by the vision
+to make this revelation known to the constituted authorities, and to
+persuade the people generally throughout the district to join in the
+petition for the prohibition of _beef-eating_ throughout our Nerbudda
+territories. He got a good many of the most respectable of the
+landholders around him, and explained the wishes of the vision of the
+preceding night. A petition was soon drawn up and signed by many
+hundreds of the most respectable people in the district, and
+presented to the Governor-General's representative in these parts,
+Mr. F. C. Smith. Others were presented to the civil authorities of
+the district, and all stating in the most respectful terms how
+sensible the people were of the inestimable benefits of our rule, and
+how grateful they all felt for the protection to life and property,
+and to the free employment of all their advantages, which they had
+under it; and for the frequent and large reduction in the
+assessments, and remission in the demand, on account of calamities of
+seasons. These, they stated, were all that Government could do to
+relieve a suffering people, but they had all proved unavailing; and
+yet, under this truly paternal rule, the people were suffering more
+than under any former Government in its worst period of misrule--the
+hand of an _incensed God_ was upon them; and, as they had now, at
+last after many fruitless attempts, discovered the real cause of this
+anger of the Deity, they trusted that we would listen to their
+prayers, and restore plenty and all its blessings to the country by
+prohibiting the _eating of beef_. All these dreadful evils had, they
+said, unquestionably originated in the (Sadr Bâzâr) great market of
+the cantonments, where, for the first time, within one hundred miles
+of the sacred stream of the Nerbudda, men had purchased and eaten
+cows' flesh.
+
+These people were all much attached to us and to our rule, and were
+many of them on the most intimate terms of social intercourse with
+us; and, at the time they signed this petition, were entirely
+satisfied that they had discovered the real cause of all their
+sufferings, and impressed with the idea that we should be convinced,
+and grant their prayers.[l4] The day is past. Beef continued to be
+eaten with undiminished appetite, the blight, nevertheless,
+disappeared, and every other sign of vengeance from above; and the
+people are now, I believe, satisfied that they were mistaken. They
+still think that the lands do not yield so many returns of the seed
+under us as under former rulers; that they have lost some of the
+_barkat_ (blessings) which they enjoyed under them--they know not
+why. The fact is that under us the lands do not enjoy the salutary
+fallows which frequent invasions and civil wars used to cause under
+former Governments. Those who survived such civil wars and invasions
+got better returns for their seed.
+
+During the discussion of the question with the people, I had one day
+a conversation with the Sadr Amîn, or head native judicial officer,
+whom I have already mentioned. He told me that 'there could be no
+doubt of the truth of the conclusion to which the people had at
+length come. 'There are', he said, 'some countries in which
+punishments follow crimes after long intervals, and, indeed, do not
+take place till some future birth; in others, they follow crimes
+immediately; and such is the country bordering the stream of _Mother
+Nerbudda_. This', said he, 'is a stream more holy than that of the
+great Ganges herself, since no man is supposed to derive any benefit
+from that stream unless he either bathe in it or drink from it; but
+the sight of the Nerbudda from a distant hill could bless him, and
+purify him. In other countries, the slaughter of cows and bullocks
+might not be punished for ages; and the harvest, in such countries,
+might continue good through many successive generations under such
+enormities; indeed, he was not quite sure that there might not be
+countries in which no punishment at all would inevitably follow; but,
+so near the Nerbudda, this could not be the case.[l5] Providence
+could never suffer beef to be eaten so near her sacred majesty
+without visiting the crops with blight, hail, or some other calamity,
+and the people with cholera morbus, small-pox, and other great
+pestilences. As for himself, he should never be persuaded that all
+these afflictions did not arise wholly and solely from this dreadful
+habit of eating beef. I declare', concluded he, 'that if the
+Government would but consent to prohibit the eating of beef, it might
+levy from the lands three times the revenue that they now pay.'
+
+The great festival of the Holî, the Saturnalia of India, terminates
+on the last day of Phâlgun, or 16th of March.[16] On that day the
+Holî is burned; and on that day the ravages of the monster (for
+monster they will have it to be) are supposed to cease. Any field
+that has remained untouched up to that time is considered to be quite
+secure from the moment the Holî has been committed to the flames.
+What gave rise to the notion I have never been able to discover, but
+such is the general belief. I suppose the siliceous epidermis must
+then have become too hard, and the pores in the stem too much closed
+up to admit of the further depredation of the fungi.
+
+In the latter end of 1831, while I was at Sâgar, a cowherd in driving
+his cattle to water at a reach of the Biâs river, called the
+Nardhardhâr, near the little village of Jasrathî, was reported to
+have seen a vision that told him the waters of that reach, taken up
+and conveyed to the fields in pitchers, would effectually keep off
+the blight from the wheat, provided the pitchers were not suffered to
+touch the ground on the way. On reaching the field, a small hole was
+to be made in the bottom of the pitcher, so as to keep up a small but
+steady stream, as the bearer carried it round the borders of the
+field, that the water might fall in a complete ring, except at a
+small opening--which was to be kept dry, in order that the _monster_
+or _demon blight_ might make his escape through it, not being able to
+cross over any part watered by the holy stream. The waters Of the
+Bias river generally are not supposed to have any peculiar virtues.
+The report of this vision spread rapidly over the country; and the
+people who had been suffering under so many seasons of great calamity
+were anxious to try anything that promised the slightest chance of
+relief. Every cultivator of the district prepared pots for the
+conveyance of the water, with tripods to support them while they
+rested on the road, that they might not touch the ground. The spot
+pointed out for taking the water was immediately under a fine large
+pîpal-tree[l7] which had fallen into the river, and on each bank was
+seated a Bairâgî, or priest of Vishnu. The blight began to manifest
+itself in the alsî (linseed) in January, 1832, but the wheat is never
+considered to be in danger till late in February, when it is nearly
+ripe; and during that month and the following the banks of the river
+were crowded with people in search of the water. Some of the people
+came more than one hundred miles to fetch it, and all seemed quite
+sure that the holy water would save them. Each person gave the
+Bairâgî priest of his own side of the river two half-pence (copper
+pice), two pice weight of ghî (clarified butter), and two pounds of
+flour, before he filled his pitcher, to secure his blessings from it.
+These priests were strangers, and the offerings were entirely
+voluntary. The roads from this reach of the Bias river, up to the
+capital of the Orchhâ Râjâ, more than a hundred miles, were literally
+lined with these water-carriers; and I estimated the number of
+persons who passed with the water every day for six weeks at ten
+thousand a day.[18] After they had ceased to take the water, the
+banks were long crowded with people who flocked to see the place
+where priests and waters had worked such miracles, and to try and
+discover the source whence the water derived its virtues. It was
+remarked by some that the pîpal-tree, which had fallen from the bank
+above many years before, had still continued to throw out the richest
+foliage from the branches above the surface of the water. Others
+declared that they saw a _monkey_ on the bank near the spot, which no
+sooner perceived it was observed than it plunged into the stream and
+disappeared. Others again saw some flights of steps under the water,
+indicating that it had in days of yore been the site of a temple,
+whose god, no doubt, gave to the waters the wonderful virtues it had
+been found to possess. The priests would say nothing but that 'it was
+the work of God, and, like all his works, beyond the reach of man's
+understanding.' They made their fortunes, and got up the vision and
+miracle, no doubt, for that especial purpose.[l9] As to the effect, I
+was told by hundreds of farmers who had tried the waters that, though
+it had not anywhere kept the blight entirely off from the wheat, it
+was found that the fields which had not the advantages of water were
+entirely destroyed; and, where the pot had been taken all round the
+field without leaving any dry opening for the demon to escape
+through, it was almost as bad; but, when a small opening had been
+left, and the water carefully dropped around the field elsewhere, the
+crops had been very little injured; which showed clearly the efficacy
+of the water, when all the ceremonies and observances prescribed by
+the vision had been attended to.
+
+I could never find the cowherd who was said to have seen this vision,
+and, in speaking to my old friend, the Sadr Amîn, learned in the
+shâstras,[20] on the subject, I told him that we had a short saying
+that would explain all this: 'A drowning man catches at a straw.'
+
+'Yes,' said he, without any hesitation, 'and we have another just as
+good for the occasion: "Sheep will follow each other, though it
+should be into a well".'
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. We are told in 2 Samuel, chap. xxiv, that the Deity was displeased
+at a census of the people, taken by Joab by the order of David, and
+destroyed of the people of Israel seventy thousand, besides women and
+children. [W. H. S.] The editor, in the course of seven years'
+experience in the Settlement department, six of which were agent in
+Bundêlkhand, never heard of the doctrine as to the incestuous
+character of surveys. Probably it had died out. Even a census no
+longer gives rise to alarm in most parts of the country. The wild
+rumours and theories common in 1872 and 1881 did not prevail when the
+census of 1891 was taken, or during subsequent operations.
+
+2. This theory is, of course, erroneous.
+
+3. The flax plant (_Linum usitatissimum_) is grown in India solely
+for the sake of the linseed. Linen is never made, and the stalk of
+the plant, as ordinarily grown, is too short for the manufacture of
+fibre. The attempts to introduce flax manufacture into India, though
+not ultimately successful, have proved that good flax can be made in
+the country, from Riga seed. Indian linseed is very largely exported.
+(Article 'Flax' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed.)
+
+4. Spores is the more accurate word.
+
+5. That is to say, cattle-trespass. Cattle do not care to eat the
+green flax plant. The fields are not fenced.
+
+6. The rust, or blight, described in the text probably was a species
+of _Unedo_. The gram, or chick-pea, and various kinds of pea and
+vetch are grown intermixed with the wheat. They ripen earlier, and
+are plucked up by the roots before the wheat is cut.
+
+7. Chap. 4 of the Korân is entitled 'Women', and chap. 24 is entitled
+'Light'. The story of Ayesha's misadventure is given in Sale's notes
+to chap. 24.
+
+8. Muhammad died A.D. 632. Abû Bakr succeeded him, and after a
+khalîfate of only two years, was succeeded by Omar, who was
+assassinated in the twelfth year of his reign.
+
+9. Basrah (Bassorah, Bussorah) in the province of Baghdad, on the
+Shatt-ul-Arab, or combined stream of the Tigris and Euphrates, was
+founded by the Khalîf Omar.
+
+10. In the author's time the Muhammadan criminal law was applied to
+the whole population by Anglo-Indian judges, assisted by Muhammadan
+legal assessors, who gave rulings called _fatwas_ on legal points.
+The Penal Code enacted in 1859 swept away the whole jungle of
+Regulations and _fatwas_, and established a scientific System of
+criminal jurisprudence, which bas remained substantially unchanged to
+this day. Adultery is punishable under the Code by the Court of
+Session, but prosecutions for this offence are very rare. Enticing
+away a married woman is also defined as an offence, and is punishable
+by a magistrate. Complaints under this head are extremely numerous,
+and mostly false. Secret and unpunished murders of women undoubtedly
+are common, and often reported as deaths from snake-bite or cholera.
+An aggrieved husband frequently tries to save his honour, and at the
+same time satisfy his vengeance, by tromping up a false charge of
+burglary against the suspected paramour, who generally replies by an
+equally false _alibi_.
+
+11. A prosecution under the Penal Code for adultery can be instituted
+only by the husband, or the guardian representing him, and the woman
+is not punishable. Although the Muhammadan law of evidence has been
+got rid of, the Anglo-Indian courts are still unsuitable for the
+prosecution of adultery cases, especially where Indians are
+concerned. The English courts, though they do not require any
+specified number of witnesses, demand strict proof given in open
+court, and no Indian, whose honour has really been touched, cares to
+expose his domestic troubles to be wrangled over by lawyers. Many
+officers, including the editor, would be glad to see the section
+which renders adultery penal struck out of the Code. The matrimonial
+delinquencies of Indians are better dealt with by the caste
+organizations, and those of Europeans by civil action.
+
+12. The Trigonometrical Survey, originated by Colonel Lambton, was
+begun at Cape Comôrin in 1800. It is now almost, if not quite,
+complete, except in Burma. See Markham, _A Memoir of the Indian
+Surveys_ (2nd ed., 1878). The stations are marked by masonry pillars,
+for the partial repair of which a small sum is annually allotted.
+
+13. Hindoos believe that holy men, by means of great austerities, can
+attain power to compel the gods to do their bidding.
+
+14. For some account of the modern agitation against cow-killing. See
+note _ante_, Chapter 26, note 6.
+
+15. On the sacredness of the Nerbudda see note _ante_, Chapter 1,
+note 13.
+
+16. The Holî festival marks approximately the time of the vernal
+equinox, ten days before the full moon of the Hindoo month Phâlgun.
+The day of the bonfire does not always fall on the 16th of March. It
+is not considered lucky to begin harvest till the Holî has been
+burnt. Mr. Crooke holds that 'on the whole, there seems to be some
+reason to believe that the intention to promote the fertility of men,
+animals, and crops, supplies the basis of the rites' ('The Holî, a
+Vernal Festival of the Hindus', _Folklore_, vol. xxv (1914), p. 83).
+I agree.
+
+17. The pîpal-tree (_Ficus religiosa_, Linn.; _Urostigma religiosum_,
+Gasp.) is sacred to Vishnu, and universally venerated throughout
+India.
+
+18. About four hundred thousand persons.
+
+19. Two pice x 400,000 = 800,000 pice, = 200,000 annas, = 12,500
+rupees. Even if the author's estimate of the numbers be much too
+large, the pecuniary result must have been handsome, not to mention
+the butter and flour.
+
+20. Hindoo sacred books.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 28
+
+
+Pestle-and-Mortar Sugar-Mills--Washing away of the Soil.
+
+On the 13th [December, 1885] we came to Barwâ Sâgar,[1] over a road
+winding among small ridges and conical hills, none of them much
+elevated or very steep; the whole being a bed of brown syenite,
+generally exposed to the surface in a decomposing state, intersected
+by veins and beds of quartz rocks, and here and there a narrow and
+shallow bed of dark basalt. One of these beds of basalt was converted
+into grey syenite by a large granular mixture of white quartz and
+feldspar with the black hornblende. From this rock the people form
+their sugar-mills, which are made like a pestle and mortar, the
+mortar being cut out of the hornblende rock, and the pestle out of
+wood.[2]
+
+We saw a great many of these mortars during the march that could not
+have been in use for the last half-dozen centuries, but they are
+precisely the same as those still used all over India. The driver
+sits upon the end of the horizontal beam to which the bullocks are
+yoked; and in cold mornings it is very common to see him with a pair
+of good hot embers at his buttocks, resting upon a little projection
+made behind him to the beam for the purpose of sustaining it [_sic_].
+I am disposed to think that the most productive parts of the surface
+of Bundêlkhand, like that of some of the districts of the Nerbudda
+territories which repose upon the back of the sandstone of the
+Vindhya chain, is [_sic_] fast flowing off to the sea through the
+great rivers, which seem by degrees to extend the channels of their
+tributary streams into every man's field, to drain away its substance
+by degrees, for the benefit of those who may in some future age
+occupy the islands of their delta. I have often seen a valuable
+estate reduced in value to almost nothing in a few years by some new
+_antennae_, if I may so call them, thrown out from the tributary
+streams of great rivers into their richest and deepest soils.
+Declivities are formed, the soil gets nothing from the cultivator but
+the mechanical aid of the plough, and the more its surface is
+ploughed and cross-ploughed, the more of its substance is washed away
+towards the Bay of Bengal in the Ganges, or the Gulf of Cambay in the
+Nerbudda. In the districts of the Nerbudda, we often see these black
+hornblende mortars, in which sugar-canes were once pressed by a happy
+peasantry, now standing upon a bare and barren surface of sandstone
+rock, twenty feet above the present surface of the culturable lands
+of the country. There are evident signs of the surface on which they
+now stand having been that on which they were last worked. The people
+get more juice from their small straw-coloured canes in these pestle-
+and-mortar mills than they can from those with cylindrical rollers in
+the present rude state of the mechanical arts all over India; and the
+straw-coloured cane is the only kind that yields good sugar. The
+large purple canes yield a watery and very inferior juice; and are
+generally and almost universally sold in the markets as a fruit. The
+straw-coloured canes, from being crowded under a very slovenly
+System, with little manure and less weeding, degenerate into a mere
+reed. The Otaheite cane, which was introduced into India by me in
+1827, has spread over the Nerbudda, and many other territories; but
+that that will degenerate in the same manner under the same slovenly
+system of tillage, is too probable.[3]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The lake known as Barwâ Sâgar was formed by a Bundêla chief, who
+constructed an embankment nearly three-quarters of a mile long to
+retain the waters of the Barwâ stream, a tributary of the Betwâ. The
+work was begun in 1705 and completed in 1737. The town is situated at
+the north-west corner of the lake, on the road from Jhânsî to the
+cantonment of Nowgong (properly Naugâon, or Nayâgâon), at a distance
+of twelve miles from Jhânsî (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. i, pp.
+243 and 387).
+
+2. The rude sketch given here in the author's text is not worth
+reproduction.
+
+3. The 'pestle-and-mortar' pattern of mill above described is the
+indigenous model formerly in universal use in India, but, in most
+parts of the country, where stone is not available, the 'mortar'
+portion was made of wood. The stone mills are expensive. In the Bânda
+and Hamîrpur districts of Bundêlkhand sugar-cane is now grown only in
+the small areas where good loam soil is found. The method of
+cultivation differs in several respects from that practised in the
+Gangetic plains, but the editor never observed the slovenliness of
+which the author complains. He always found the cultivation in sugar-
+cane villages to be extremely careful and laborious. Ancient stone
+mills are sometimes found in black soil country, and it is difficult
+to understand how sugarcane can ever have been grown there. The
+author was mistaken in supposing that the indigenous pattern of mill
+is superior to a good roller mill. The indigenous mill has been
+completely superseded in most parts of the Panjâb, United Provinces,
+and Bihâr, by the roller mill patented by Messrs. Mylne and Thompson
+of Bihîa in 1869, and largely improved by subsequent modifications.
+The original patent having expired, thousands of roller mills are
+annually made by native artisans, with little regard to the rights of
+the Bihîa firm. The iron rollers, cast in Delhi and other places, are
+completed on costly lathes in many country towns. The mills are
+generally hired out for the season, and kept in repair by the
+speculator. The Râjâ of Nâhan or Sirmûr in the Panjâb, who has a
+foundry employing six hundred men, does a large business of this
+kind, and finds it profitable. Since the first patent was taken out,
+many improvements in the design have been effected, and the best
+mills squeeze the cane absolutely dry. Messrs. Mylne and Thompson
+have been successful in introducing other improved machinery for the
+manufacture of sugar in villages. The Rosa factory near Shahjahânpur
+in the United Provinces makes sugar on a large scale by European
+methods.
+
+When the author says that the large canes are sold 'as a fruit' he
+means that the canes are used for eating, or rather sucking like a
+sugar-stick. The varieties of sugar-cane are numerous, and the names
+vary much in different districts. According to Balfour, the Otaheite
+(Tahiti) cane is 'probably _Saccharum violaceum_'. The ordinary
+Indian kinds belong to the species _Saccharum officinarum_. The
+Otaheite cane was introduced into the West Indies about 1794, and
+came to India from the Mauritius. It is more suitable for the roller
+mill than for the indigenous mill, the stems being hard (_Cyclopaedia
+of India_, 3rd ed., 1885, s.v. 'Saccharum'). In a letter dated
+December 15, 1844, the author refers to his introduction of the
+Otaheite cane, and mentions that the Indian Agricultural Society
+awarded him a gold medal for this service. The cane was first planted
+in the Government Botanical Garden at Calcutta.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 29
+
+
+Interview with the Chiefs of Jhânsî--Disputed Succession.
+
+On the 14th[1] we came on fourteen miles to Jhânsî.[2] About five
+miles from our last ground we crossed the Baitantî river over a bed
+of syenite. At this river we mounted our elephant to cross, as the
+water was waist-deep at the ford. My wife returned to her palankeen
+as soon as we had crossed, but our little boy came on with me on the
+elephant, to meet the grand procession which I knew was approaching
+to greet us from the city. The Râjâ of Jhânsî, Râm Chandar Râo, died
+a few months ago, leaving a young widow and a mother, but no
+child.[3]
+
+He was a young man of about twenty-eight years of age, timid, but of
+good capacity, and most amiable disposition. My duties brought us
+much into communication; and, though we never met, we had conceived a
+mutual esteem for each other. He had been long suffering from an
+affection of the liver, and had latterly persuaded himself that his
+mother was practising upon his life, with a view to secure the
+government to the eldest son of her daughter, which would, she
+thought, ensure the real power to her for life. That she wished him
+dead with this view, I had no doubt; for she had ruled the state for
+several years up to 1831, during what she was pleased to consider his
+minority; and she surrendered the power into his hands with great
+reluctance, since it enabled her to employ her _paramour_ as
+minister, and enjoy his society as much as she pleased, under the
+pretence of holding _privy councils_ upon affairs of great public
+interest.[4] He used to communicate his fears to me; and I was not
+without apprehension that his mother might some day attempt to hasten
+his death by poison. About a month before his death he wrote to me to
+say that spears had been found stuck in the ground, under the water
+where he was accustomed to swim, with their sharp points upwards;
+and, had he not, contrary to his usual practice, walked into the
+water, and struck his foot against one of them, he must have been
+killed. This was, no doubt, a thing got up by some designing person
+who wanted to ingratiate himself with the young man; for the mother
+was too shrewd a woman ever to attempt her son's life by such awkward
+means. About four months before I reached the capital, this amiable
+young prince died, leaving two paternal uncles, a mother, a widow,
+and one sister, the wife of one of our Sâgar pensioners, Morîsar Râo.
+The mother claimed the inheritance for her grandson by this daughter,
+a very handsome young lad, then at Jhânsî, on the pretence that her
+son had adopted him on his death-bed. She had his head shaved, and
+made him go through all the other ceremonies of mourning, as for the
+death of his real father. The eldest of his uncles, Raghunâth Râo,
+claimed the inheritance as the next heir; and all his party turned
+the young lad out of caste as a Brahman, for daring to go into
+mourning for a father who was yet alive; one of the greatest of
+crimes, according to Hindoo law, for they would not admit that he had
+been adopted by the deceased prince.[5]
+
+The question of inheritance had been referred for decision to the
+Supreme Government through the prescribed channel when I arrived, and
+the decision was every day expected. The mother, with her daughter
+and grandson, and the widow, occupied the castle, situated on a high
+hill overlooking the city; while the two uncles of the deceased
+occupied their private dwellings in the city below. Raghunâth Râo,
+the eldest, headed the procession that came out to meet me about
+three miles, mounted upon a fine female elephant, with his younger
+brother by his side. The minister, Nârû Gopâl, followed, mounted upon
+another, on the part of the mother and widow. Some of the Râjâ's
+relations were upon two of the finest male elephants I have ever
+seen; and some of their friends, with the 'Bakshî', or paymaster
+(always an important personage), upon two others. Raghunâth Râo's
+elephant drew up on the right of mine, and that of the minister on
+the left; and, after the usual compliments had passed between us, all
+the others fell back, and formed a line in our rear. They had about
+fifty troopers mounted upon very fine horses in excellent condition,
+which curvetted before and on both sides of us; together with a good
+many men on camels, and some four or five hundred foot attendants,
+all well dressed, but in various costumes. The elephants were so
+close to each other that the conversation, which we managed to keep
+up tolerably well, was general almost all the way to our tents; every
+man taking a part as he found the opportunity of a pause to introduce
+his little compliment to the Honourable Company or to myself, which I
+did my best to answer or divert. I was glad to see the affectionate
+respect with which the old man was everywhere received, for I had in
+my own mind no doubt whatever that the decision of the Supreme
+Government would be in his favour. The whole _cortège_ escorted me
+through the town to my tent, which was pitched on the other side; and
+then they took their leave, still seated on their elephants, while I
+sat on mine, with my boy on my knee, till all had made their bow and
+departed. The elephants, camels, and horses were all magnificently
+caparisoned, and the housings of the whole were extremely rich. A
+good many of the troopers were dressed in chain-armour, which, worn
+outside their light-coloured quilted vests, looked very like black
+gauze scarfs.
+
+My little friend the Sarîmant's own elephant had lately died; and,
+being unable to go to the cost of another with all its appendages, he
+had come thus far on horseback. A native gentleman can never
+condescend to ride an elephant without a train of at least a dozen
+attendants on horseback--he would almost as soon ride a horse
+_without a tail_.[6] Having been considered at one time as the equal
+of all these Râjâs, I knew that he would feel a little mortified at
+finding himself buried in the crowd and dust; and invited him, as we
+approached the city, to take a seat by my side. This gained him
+consideration, and evidently gave him great pleasure. It was late
+before we reached our tents, as we were obliged to move slowly
+through the streets of the city, as well for our own convenience as
+for the safety of the crowd on foot before and around us. My wife,
+who had gone on before to avoid the crowd and dust, reached the tents
+halt an hour before us.
+
+In the afternoon, when my second large tent had been pitched, the
+minister came to pay me a visit with a large train of followers, but
+with little display; and I found him a very sensible, mild, and
+gentlemanly man, just as I expected from the high character he bears
+with both parties, and with the people of the country generally. Any
+unreserved conversation here in such a crowd was, of course, out of
+the question, and I told the minister that it was my intention early
+next morning to visit the tomb of his late master; where I should be
+very glad to meet him, if he could make it convenient to come without
+any ceremony. He seemed much pleased with the proposal, and next
+morning we met a little before sunrise within the railing that
+encloses the tomb or cenotaph; and there had a good deal of quiet
+and, I believe, unreserved talk about the affairs of the Jhânsî
+state, and the family of the late prince. He told me that, a few
+hours before the Râjâ's death, his mother had placed in his arms for
+adoption the son of his sister, a very handsome lad of ten years of
+age--but whether the Râjâ was or was not sensible at the time he
+could not say, for he never after heard him speak; that the mother of
+the deceased considered the adoption as complete, and made her
+grandson go through the funeral ceremonies as at the death of his
+father, which for nine days were performed unmolested; but, when it
+came to the tenth and last--which, had it passed quietly, would have
+been considered as completing the title of adoption--Raghunâth Râo
+and his friends interposed, and prevented further proceedings,
+declaring that, while there were so many male heirs, no son could be
+adopted for the deceased prince according to the usages of the
+family.
+
+The widow of the Râjâ, a timid, amiable young woman, of twenty-five
+years of age, was by no means anxious for this adoption, having
+shared the suspicions of her husband regarding the practices of his
+mother; and found his sister, who now resided with them in the
+castle, a most violent and overbearing woman, who would be likely to
+exclude her from all share in the administration, and make her life
+very miserable, were her son to be declared the Râjâ. Her wish was to
+be allowed to adopt, in the name of her deceased husband, a young
+cousin of his, Sadâsheo, the son of Nânâ Bhâo. Gangâdhar, the younger
+brother of Raghunâth Râo, was exceedingly anxious to have his elder
+brother declared Râjâ, because he had no sons, and from the
+debilitated state of his frame, must soon die, and leave the
+principality to him. Every one of the three parties had sent agents
+to the Governor-General's representative in Bundêlkhand to urge their
+claim; and, till the final decision, the widow of the late chief was
+to be considered the sovereign. The minister told me that there was
+one unanswerable argument against Raghunâth Râo's succeeding, which,
+out of regard to his feelings, he had not yet urged, and about which
+he wished to consult me as a friend of the late prince and his widow;
+this was, that he was a leper, and that the signs of the disease were
+becoming every day more and more manifest.
+
+I told him that I had observed them in his face, but was not aware
+that any one else had noticed them. I urged him, however, not to
+advance this as a ground of exclusion, since they all knew him to be
+a very worthy man, while his younger brother was said to be the
+reverse; and more especially I thought it would be very cruel and
+unwise to distress and exasperate him by so doing, as I had no doubt
+that, before this ground could be brought to their notice, Government
+would declare in his favour, right being so clearly on his side.
+
+After an agreeable conversation with this sensible and excellent man,
+I returned to my tents to prepare for the reception of Raghunâth Râo
+and his party. They came about nine o'clock with a much greater
+display of elephants and followers than the minister had brought with
+him. He and his friends kept me in close conversation till eleven
+o'clock, in spite of my wife's many considerate messages to say
+breakfast was waiting. He told me that the mother of the late Râjâ,
+his nephew, was a very violent woman, who had involved the state in
+much trouble during the period of her regency, which she managed to
+prolong till her son was twenty-five years of age, and resigned with
+infinite reluctance only three years ago; that her minister during
+her regency, Gangadhar Mûlî, was at the same time her _paramour_, and
+would be surely restored to power and to her embraces, were her
+grandson's claim to the succession recognized; that it was with great
+difficulty he had been able to keep this atrocious character under
+surveillance pending the consideration of their claims by the Supreme
+Government; that, by having the head of her grandson shaved, and
+making him go through all the other funeral ceremonies with the other
+members of the family, she had involved him and his young _innocent
+wife_ (who had unhappily continued to drink out of the same cup with
+her husband) _in the dreadful crime of mourning for a father whom
+they knew to be yet alive_, a crime that must be expiated by the
+'prâyaschit,'[7] which-would be exacted from the young couple on
+their return to Sâgar before they could be restored to caste, from
+which they were now considered as excommunicated. As for the young
+widow, she was everything they could wish; but she was so timid that
+she would be governed by the old lady, if she should have any
+ostensible part assigned her in the administration.[8]
+
+I told the old gentleman that I believed it would be my duty to pay
+the first visit to the widow and mother of the late prince, as one of
+pure condolence, and that I hoped my doing so would not be considered
+any mark of disrespect towards him, who must now be looked up to as
+the head of the family. He remonstrated against this most earnestly;
+and, at last, tears came into his eyes as he told me that, if I paid
+the first visit to the castle, he should never again be able to show
+his face outside his door, so great would be the indignity he would
+be considered to have suffered; but, rather than I should do this, he
+would come to my tents, and escort me himself to the castle. Much was
+to be said on both sides of the weighty question; but, at last, I
+thought that the arguments were in his favour--that, if I went to the
+castle first, he might possibly resent it upon the poor woman and the
+prime minister when he came into power, as I had no doubt he soon
+would--and that I might be consulting their interest as much as his
+feelings by going to his house first. In the evening I received a
+message from the old lady, urging the necessity of my paying the
+first visit of condolence for the death of my young friend to the
+widow and mother. 'The rights of mothers', said she, 'are respected
+in all countries; and, in India, the first visit of condolence for
+the death of a man is always due to the mother, if alive.' I told the
+messenger that my resolution was unaltered, and would, I trusted, be
+found the best for all parties under present circumstances. I told
+him that I dreaded the resentment towards them of Raghunâth Râo, if
+he came into power.
+
+'Never mind that,' said he: 'my mistress is of too proud a spirit to
+dread resentment from any one--pay her the compliment of the first
+visit, and let her enemies do their worst.' I told him that I could
+leave Jhânsî without visiting either of them, but could not go first
+to the castle; and he said that my departing thus would please the
+old lady better than the _second visit_. The minister would not have
+said this--the old lady would not have ventured to send such a
+message by him--the man was an understrapper; and I left him to mount
+my elephant and pay my two visits.[9]
+
+With the best _cortège_ I could muster, I went to Raghunâth Râo's,
+where I was received with a salute from some large guns in his
+courtyard, and entertained with a party of dancing girls and
+musicians in the usual manner. Attar of roses and 'pân'[10] were
+given, and valuable shawls put before me, and refused in the politest
+terms I could think of; such as, 'Pray do me the favour to keep these
+things for me till I have the happiness of visiting Jhânsî again, as
+I am going through Gwâlior, where nothing valuable is a moment safe
+from thieves'. After sitting an hour, I mounted my elephant, and
+proceeded up to the castle, where I was received with another salute
+from the bastions. I sat for half an hour in the hall of audience
+with the minister and all the principal men of the court, as
+Raghunâth Râo was to be considered as a private gentleman till the
+decision of the Supreme Government should be made known; and the
+handsome lad, Krishan Râo, whom the old woman wished to adopt, and
+whom I had often seen at Sâgar, was at my request brought in and
+seated by my side. By him I sent my message of condolence to the
+widow and mother of his deceased uncle, couched in the usual terms--
+that the happy effects of good government in the prosperity of this
+city, and the comfort and happiness of the people, had extended the
+fame of the family all over India; and that I trusted the reigning
+member of that family, whoever he might be, would be sensible that it
+was his duty to sustain that reputation by imitating the example of
+those who had gone before him. After attar of roses and pân had been
+handed round in the usual manner, I went to the summit of the highest
+tower in the castle, which commands an extensive view of the country
+around.
+
+The castle stands upon the summit of a small hill of syenitic rock.
+The elevation of the outer wall is about one hundred feet above the
+level of the plain, and the top of the tower on which I stood about
+one hundred feet more, as the buildings rise gradually from the sides
+to the summit of the hill. The city extends out into the plain to the
+east from the foot of the hill on which the castle stands. Around the
+city there is a good deal of land, irrigated from four or five tanks
+in the neighbourhood, and now under rich wheat crops; and the gardens
+are very numerous, and abound in all the fruit and vegetables that
+the people most like. Oranges are very abundant and very fine, and
+our tents have been actually buried in them and all the other fruits
+and vegetables which the kind people of Jhânsî have poured in upon
+us. The city of Jhânsî contains about sixty thousand inhabitants, and
+is celebrated for its manufacture of carpets.[11] There are some very
+beautiful temples in the city, all built by Gosâins, one [_sic_] of
+the priests of Siva who here engage in trade, and accumulate much
+wealth.[12] The family of the chief do not build tombs; and that now
+raised over the place where the late prince was buried is dedicated
+as a temple to Siva, and was made merely with a view to secure the
+place from all danger of profanation.[13]
+
+The face of the country beyond the influence of the tanks is neither
+rich nor interesting. The cultivation seemed scanty and the
+population thin, owing to the irremediable sterility of soil, from
+the poverty of the primitive rock from whose detritus it is chiefly
+formed. Raghunâth Râo told me that the wish of the people in the
+castle to adopt a child as the successor to his nephew arose from the
+desire to escape the scrutiny into the past accounts of disbursements
+which he might be likely to order. I told him that I had myself no
+doubt that he would be declared the Râjâ, and urged him to turn all
+his thoughts to the future, and to allow no inquiries to be made into
+the past, with a view to gratify either his own resentment, or that
+of others; that the Rajas of Jhânsî had hitherto been served by the
+most respectable, able, and honourable men in the country, while the
+other chiefs of Bundêlkhand could get no man of this class to do
+their work for them--that this was the only court in Bundêlkhand in
+which such men could be seen, simply because it was the only one in
+which they could feel themselves secure--while other chiefs
+confiscated the property of ministers who had served them with
+fidelity, on the pretence of embezzlement; the wealth thus acquired,
+however, soon disappearing, and its possessors being obliged either
+to conceal it or go out of the country to enjoy it. Such rulers thus
+found their courts and capitals deprived of all those men of wealth
+and respectability who adorned the courts of princes in other
+countries, and embellished, not merely their capitals, but the face
+of their dominions in general with their chateaus and other works of
+ornament and utility. Much more of this sort passed between us, and
+seemed to make an impression upon him; for he promised to do all that
+I had recommended to him. Poor man! he can have but a short and
+miserable existence, for that dreadful disease, the leprosy, is
+making sad inroads in his System already.[14] His uncle, Raghunâth
+Râo, was afflicted with it; and, having understood from the priests
+that by _drowning_ himself in the Ganges (taking the 'samâdh'), he
+should remove all traces of it from his family, he went to Benares,
+and there drowned himself, some twenty years ago. He had no children,
+and is said to have been the first of his family in whom the disease
+showed itself.[15]
+
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. Now the head-quarters of the British district of the same name,
+and also of the Indian Midland Railway. Since the opening of this
+railway and the restoration of the Gwâlior fort to Sindhia in 1886,
+the importance of Jhânsî, both civil and military, has much
+increased. The native town was given up by Sindhia in exchange for
+the Gwâlior stronghold.
+
+3. This chief is called Râjâ Râo Râmchand in the _N.W.P. Gazetteer_,
+1st ed. He died on August 20, 1835. His administration had been weak,
+and his finances were left in great disorder. Under his successor the
+disorder of the administration became still greater.
+
+4. Dowagers in Indian princely families are frequently involved in
+such intrigues and plots. The editor could specify instances in his
+personal experience. Compare Chapter 34, _post_.
+
+5. An adopted son passes completely out of the family of his natural,
+into that of his adoptive, father, all his rights and duties as a son
+being at the same time transferred. In this case, the adoption had
+not really taken place, and the lad's duty to his living natural
+father remained unaffected.
+
+6. This statement will not apply to those districts in the United
+Provinces where elephants are numerous and often kept by gentry of no
+great rank or wealth, A Râjâ, of course, always likes to have a few
+mounted men clattering behind him, if possible.
+
+7. The 'prâyaschit' is an expiating atonement by which the person
+humbles himself in public. It is often imposed for crimes committed
+in a _former birth_, as indicated by inflictions suffered in this.
+[W. H. S.] The practical working of Hindoo caste rules is often
+frightfully cruel. The victims of these rules in the case described
+by the author were a boy ten years old, and his child-wife of still
+more tender years. Yet all the penalties, including rigorous fasts,
+would be mercilessly exacted from these innocent children. Leprosy
+and childlessness are among the afflictions supposed to prove the
+sinfulness of the sufferer in some former birth, perhaps thousands of
+years ago.
+
+8. The poor young widow died of grief some months after my visit; her
+spirits never rallied after the death of her husband, and she never
+ceased to regret that she had not burned herself with his remains.
+The people of Jhânsî generally believe that the prince's mother
+brought about his death by (_dînâî_) slow poison, and I am afraid
+that that was the impression on the mind of the poor widow. The
+minister, who was entirely on her side, and a most worthy and able
+man, was quite satisfied that this suspicion was without any
+foundation whatever in truth. [W. H. S.]
+
+9. Considering the fact that, 'till the final decision, the widow of
+the late chief was to be considered the sovereign', it would be
+difficult to justify the anthor's decision. The reigning sovereign
+was clearly entitled to the first visit. Questions of precedence,
+salutes, and etiquette are as the very breath of their nostrils to
+the Indian nobility.
+
+10. The leaf of _Piper betel_, handed to guests at ceremonial
+entertainments, along with the nut of _Areca catechu_, made up in a
+packet of gold or silver leaf.
+
+11. This estimate of the population was probably excessive. The
+population in 1891, including the cantonments, was 53,779, and in
+1911, 70,208. The fort of Gwâlior and the cantonment of Morâr were
+surrendered by the Government of India to Sindhia in exchange for the
+fort and town of Jhânsî on March 10, 1886. Sindhia also relinquished
+fifty-eight villages in exchange for thirty given up by the
+Government of India, the difference in value being adjusted by cash
+payments. The arrangements were finally sanctioned by Lord Dufferin
+on June 13, 1888.
+
+12. These buildings are both tombs and temples. The Gosâins of Jhânsî
+do not burn, but bury their dead; and over the grave those who can
+afford to do so raise a handsome temple, and dedicate it to Siva. [W.
+H. S.] The custom of burial is not peculiar to the Saiva Gosâins of
+Jhânsî. It is the ordinary practice of Gosâins throughout India. Many
+of the Gosâins are devoted to the worship of Vishnu. Burial of the
+dead is practised by a considerable number of the Hindoo castes of
+the artisan grade, and by some divisions of the sweeper caste. See
+Crooke, 'Primitive Rites of Disposal of the Dead' (_J. Anthrop.
+Institute_, vol. xxix, N.S., vol. ii (1900), pp. 271-92).
+
+13. This tact lends some support to W. Simpson's theory that the
+Hindoo temple is derived from a sepulchral structure.
+
+14. This chief died of leprosy in May, 1838. [W. H. S.]
+
+15. Raghunâth Râo was the first of his family invested by the Peshwâ
+with the government of the Jhânsî territory, which he had acquired
+from the Bundêlkhand chiefs. He went to Benares in 1795 to drown
+himself, leaving his government to his third brother, Sheorâm Bhâo,
+as his next brother, Lachchhman Râo, was dead, and his sons were
+considered incapable. Sheorâm Bhâo died in 1815, and his eldest son,
+Krishan Râo, had died four years before him, in 1811, leaving one
+son, the late Râjâ, and two daughters. This was a noble sacrifice to
+what he had been taught by his spiritual teachers to consider as a
+duty towards his family; and we must admire the man while we condemn
+the religion and the priests. There is no country in the world where
+parents are more reverenced than in India, or where they more readily
+make sacrifices of all sorts for their children, or for those they
+consider as such. We succeeded in [June] 1817 to all the rights of
+the Peshwâ in Bundêlkhand, and, with great generosity, converted the
+viceroys of Jhânsî and Jâlaun into independent sovereigns of
+hereditary principalities, yielding each ten lakhs of rupees. [W. H.
+S.] The statement in the note that Raghunâth Râo I 'went to Benares
+in 1795 to drown himself' is inconsistent with the statement in the
+text that this event happened 'some twenty years ago'. The word
+'twenty' is evidently a mistake for 'forty'. The _N. W. P.
+Gazetteer_, 1st ed., names several persons who governed Jhânsî on
+behalf of the Peshwâ between 1742 and 1770, in which latter year
+Raghunâth Râo I received charge. According to the same authority,
+Sheo (Shio) Râm Bhâo is called 'Sheo Bhâo Hari, better known as Sheo
+Râo Bhâo', and is said to have succeeded Raghunâth Râo I in 1794, and
+to have died in 1814, not 1816. A few words may here be added to
+complete the history. The leper Raghunâth Râo II, whose claim the
+author strangely favoured, was declared Râjâ, and died, as already
+noted, in May, 1838, 'his brief period of rule being rendered unquiet
+by the opposition made to him, professedly on the ground of his being
+a leper'. His revenues fell from twelve lâkhs (£120,000) to three
+lâkhs of rupees (£30,000) a year. On his death in 1838, the
+succession was again contested by four claimants. Pending inquiry
+into the merits of their claims, the Governor-General's Agent assumed
+the administration. Ultimately, Gangâdhar Râo, younger brother of the
+leper, was appointed Râjâ. The disorder in the state rendered
+administration by British officers necessary as a temporary measure,
+and Gangâdhar Râo did not obtain power until 1842. His rule was, on
+the whole, good. He died childless in November, 1853, and Lord
+Dalhousie, applying the doctrine of lapse, annexed the estate in
+1854, granting a pension of five thousand rupees, or about five
+hundred pounds, monthly to Lacchhmî Bâî, Gangâdhar Râo's widow, who
+also succeeded to personal property worth about one hundred thousand
+pounds. She resented the refusal of permission to adopt a son, and
+the consequent annexation of the state, and was further deeply
+offended by several acts of the English Administration, above all by
+the permission of cow-slaughter. Accordingly, when the Mutiny broke
+out, she quickly joined the rebels. On the 7th and 8th June, 1857,
+all the Europeans in Jhânsî, men, women, and children, to the number
+of about seventy persons, were cruelly murdered by her orders, or
+with her sanction. On the 9th June her authority was proclaimed. In
+the prolonged fighting which ensued, she placed herself at the head
+of her troops, whom she led with great gallantry. In June, 1858,
+after a year's bloodstained reign, she was killed in battle. By
+November, 1858, the country was pacified.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 30
+
+
+Haunted Villages.
+
+On the 16th[1] we came on nine miles to Amabâi, the frontier village
+of the Jhânsî territory, bordering upon Datiyâ,[2] where I had to
+receive the farewell visits of many members of the Jhânsî parties,
+who came on to have a quiet opportunity to assure me that, whatever
+may be the final order of the Supreme Government, they will do their
+best for the good of the people and the state; for I have always
+considered Jhânsî among the native states of Bundêlkhand as a kind of
+oasis in the desert, the only one in which a man can accumulate
+property with the confidence of being permitted by its rulers freely
+to display and enjoy it. I had also to receive the visit of
+messengers from the Râjâ of Datiyâ, at whose capital we were to
+encamp the next day, and, finally, to take leave of my amiable little
+friend the Sarîmant, who here left me on his return to Sâgar, with a
+heavy heart I really believe.
+
+We talked of the common belief among the agricultural classes of
+villages being haunted by the spirits of ancient proprietors whom it
+was thought necessary to propitiate. 'He knew', he said, 'many
+instances where these spirits were so very _froward_ that the present
+heads of villages which they haunted, and the members of their little
+communities, found it almost impossible to keep them in good humour;
+and their cattle and children were, in consequence, always liable to
+serious accidents of one kind or another. Sometimes they were bitten
+by snakes, sometimes became possessed by devils, and, at others, were
+thrown down and beaten most unmercifully. Any person who falls down
+in an epileptic fit is supposed to be thrown down by a ghost, or
+possessed by a devil.[3] They feel little of our mysterious dread of
+ghosts; a sound _drubbing_ is what they dread from them, and he who
+hurts himself in one of the fits is considered to have got it. 'As
+for himself, whenever he found any one of the villages upon his
+estate haunted by the spirit of an old "patêl" (village proprietor),
+he always made a point of giving him a _neat little shrine_, and
+having it well endowed and attended, to keep him in good humour; this
+he thought was a duty that every landlord owed to his tenants.'
+Râmchand, the pundit, said that 'villages which had been held by old
+Gond (mountaineer) proprietors were more liable than any other to
+those kinds of visitations; that it was easy to say what village was
+and was not haunted, but often exceedingly difficult to discover to
+whom the ghost belonged. This once discovered, his nearest surviving
+relation was, of course, expected to take steps to put him to rest;
+but', said he, 'it is wrong to suppose that the ghost of an old
+proprietor must be always doing mischief--he is often the best friend
+of the cultivators, and of the present proprietor too, if he treats
+him with proper respect; for he will not allow the people of any
+other village to encroach upon their boundaries with impunity, and
+they will be saved all the expense and annoyance of a reference to
+the "adâlat" (judicial tribunals) for the settlement of boundary
+disputes. It will not cost much to conciliate these spirits, and the
+money is generally well laid out.'
+
+Several anecdotes were told me in illustration; and all that I could
+urge against the probability or possibility of such Visitation
+appeared to them very inconclusive and unsatisfactory. They mentioned
+the case of the family of village proprietors in the Sâgar district,
+who had for several generations, at every new settlement, insisted
+upon having the name of the spirit of the old proprietor inserted in
+the lease instead of their own, and thereby secured his good graces
+on all occasions. Mr. Fraser had before mentioned this case to me. In
+August, 1834, while engaged in the settlement of the land revenue of
+the Sâgar district for twenty years, he was about to deliver the
+lease of the estate made out in due form to the head of the family, a
+very honest and respectable old gentleman, when he asked him
+respectfully in whose name it had been made out. 'In yours, to be
+sure; have you not renewed your lease for twenty years?' The old man,
+in a state of great alarm, begged him to have it altered immediately,
+or he and his family would all be destroyed--that the spirit of the
+ancient proprietor presided over the village community and its
+interests, and that all affairs of importance were transacted is his
+name. 'He is', said the old man, 'a very jealous spirit, and will not
+admit of any living man being considered for a moment as a proprietor
+or joint proprietor of the estate. It has been held by me and my
+ancestors immediately under Government for many generations; but the
+lease deeds have always been made out in his name, and ours have been
+inserted merely as his managers or bailiffs--were this good old rule,
+under which we have so long prospered, to be now infringed, we should
+all perish under his anger.' Mr. Fraser found, upon inquiring, that
+this had really been the case; and, to relieve the old man and his
+family from their fears, he had the papers made out afresh, and the
+_ghost_ inserted as the proprietor. The modes of flattering and
+propitiating these beings, natural and supernatural, who are supposed
+to have the power to do mischief, are endless.[4]
+
+While I was in charge of the district of Narsinghpur, in the valley
+of the Nerbudda, in 1823, a cultivator of the village of Bêdû, about
+twelve miles distant from my court, was one day engaged in the
+cultivation of his field on the border of the village of Barkharâ,
+which was supposed to be haunted by the spirit of an old proprietor,
+whose temper was so froward and violent that the lands could hardly
+be let for anything, for hardly any man would venture to cultivate
+them lest he might unintentionally incur his ghostship's displeasure.
+The poor cultivator, after begging his pardon in secret, ventured to
+drive his plough a few yards beyond the proper line of his boundary,
+and thus add half an acre of Barkharâ to his own little tenement,
+which was situated in Bêdû. That very night his only son was bitten
+by a snake, and his two bullocks were seized with the murrain. In
+terror he went of to the village temple, confessed his sin, and
+vowed, not only to restore the half-acre of land to the village of
+Barkharâ, but to build a very handsome shrine upon the spot as a
+perpetual sign of his repentance. The boy and the bullocks all three
+recovered, and the shrine was built; and is, I believe, still to be
+seen as the boundary mark.
+
+
+The fact was that the village stood upon an elevated piece of ground
+rising out of a moist plain, and a colony of snakes had taken up
+their abode in it. The bites of these snakes had on many occasions
+proved fatal, and such accidents were all attributed to the anger of
+a spirit which was supposed to haunt the village. At one time, under
+the former government, no one would take a lease of the village on
+any terms, and it had become almost entirely deserted, though the
+soil was the finest in the whole district. With a view to remove the
+whole prejudices of the people, the governor, Goroba Pundit, took the
+lease himself at the rent of one thousand rupees a year; and, in the
+month of June, went from his residence, twelve miles, with ten of his
+own ploughs to superintend the commencement of so _perilous_ an
+undertaking.
+
+On reaching the middle of the village, situated on the top of the
+little hill, he alighted from his horse, sat down upon a carpet that
+had been spread for him under a large and beautiful banyan-tree, and
+began to refresh himself with a pipe before going to work in the
+fields. As he quaffed his hookah, and railed at the follies of the
+men, 'whose absurd superstitions had made them desert so beautiful a
+village with so noble a tree in its centre', his eyes fell upon an
+enormous black snake, which had coiled round one of its branches
+immediately over his head, and seemed as if resolved at once to
+pounce down and punish him for his blasphemy. He gave his pipe to his
+attendant, mounted his horse, from which the saddle had not yet been
+taken, and never pulled rein till he got home. Nothing could ever
+induce him to visit this village again, though he was afterwards
+employed under me as a native collector; and he has often told me
+that he verily believed this was the spirit of the old landlord that
+he had unhappily neglected to propitiate before taking possession.
+
+My predecessor in the civil charge of that district, the late Mr.
+Lindsay of the Bengal Civil Service, again tried to remove the
+prejudices of the people against the occupation and cultivation of
+this fine village. It had never been measured, and all the revenue
+officers, backed by all the farmers and cultivators of the
+neighbourhood, declared that the spirit of the old proprietor would
+never allow it to be so. Mr. Lindsay was a good geometrician, and had
+long been in the habit of superintending his revenue surveys himself,
+and on this occasion be thought himself particularly called upon to
+do so. A new measuring cord was made for the occasion, and, with fear
+and trembling, all his officers attended him to the first field; but
+in measuring it the rope, by some accident, broke. Poor Lindsay was
+that morning taken ill and obliged to return to Narsinghpur, where he
+died soon after from fever. No man was ever more beloved by all
+classes of the people of his district than he was; and I believe
+there was not one person among them who did not believe him to have
+fallen a victim to the resentment of the spirit of the old
+proprietor. When I went to the village some years afterwards, the
+people in the neighbourhood all declared to me that they saw the cord
+with which he was measuring fly into a thousand pieces the moment the
+men attempted to straighten it over the first field.[5]
+
+A very respectable old gentleman from the Concan, or Malabar
+coast,[6] told me one day that every man there protects his field of
+corn and his fruit-tree by dedicating it to one or other of the
+spirits which there abound, or confiding it to his guardianship. He
+sticks up something in the field, or ties on something to the tree,
+in the name of the said spirit, who from that moment feels himself
+responsible for its safe keeping. If any one, without permission from
+the proprietor, presumes to take either an ear of corn from the
+field, or fruit from the tree, he is sure to be killed outright, or
+made extremely ill. 'No other protection is required', said the old
+gentleman, 'for our fields and fruit-trees in that direction, though
+whole armies should have to march through them.' I once saw a man
+come to the proprietor of a jack-tree,[7] embrace his feet, and in
+the most piteous manner implore his protection. He asked what was the
+matter. 'I took', said the man, 'a jack from your tree yonder three
+days ago, as I passed at night; and I have been suffering dreadful
+agony in my stomach ever since. The spirit of the tree is upon me,
+and you only can pacify him.' The proprietor took up a bit of cow-
+dung, moistened it, and made a mark with it upon the man's forehead,
+_in the name of the spirit_, and put some of it into the knot of hair
+on the top of his head. He had no sooner done this than the man's
+pains all left him, and he went off, vowing never again to give
+similar cause of offence to one of these guardian spirits. 'Men',
+said my old friend, 'do not die there in the same regulated spirit,
+with their thoughts directed exclusively towards God, as in other
+parts; and whether a man's spirit is to haunt the world or not after
+his death all depends on that.'
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. Datiyâ (Datia, Dutteeah) is a small state, with an area of about
+911 square miles, and a cash revenue of about four lâkhs of rupees.
+On the east it touches the Jhânsî district, but in all other
+directions it is enclosed by the territories of Sindhia, the Maharaja
+of Gwâlior. The principality was separated from Orchhâ by a family
+partition in the seventeenth century. The first treaty between the
+Râjâ and the British Government was concluded on the 15th March,
+1804.
+
+3. The belief that epileptic patients are possessed by devils is, of
+course, in no wise peculiar to India. It is almost universal.
+Professor Lombroso discusses the belief in diabolical possession in
+chap. 4 of _The Man of Genius_ (London ed., 1891).
+
+4. 'The educated European of the nineteenth century cannot realize
+the dread in which the Hindoo stands of devils. They haunt his paths
+from the cradle to the grave. The Tamil proverb in fact says, "The
+devil who seizes yon in the cradle, goes with you to the funeral
+pile".' The fear and worship of ghosts, demons, and devils are
+universal throughout India, and the rites practised are often
+comical. The ghost of a bibulous European official with a hot temper,
+who died at Muzaffarnagar, in the United Provinces, many years ago,
+was propitiated by offerings of beer and whisky at 'his tomb. Much
+information on the subject is collected in the articles 'Demon',
+'Devils', 'Dehwâr', and 'Deified Warriors' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia
+of India_ (3rd ed.). Almost every number of Mr. Crooke's periodical
+_North Indian Notes and Queries_ (Allahabad: Pioneer Press; London:
+A. Constable & Co., 5 vols., from 1891-2 to 1895-6) gave fresh
+instances of the oddities of demon-worship.
+
+5. The officials of the native Governments were content to use either
+a rope or a bamboo for field measurements, and these primitive
+instruments continued to satisfy the early British officers. For many
+years past a proper chain has been always employed for revenue
+surveys.
+
+6. 'The author uses the term 'Concan' (Konkan) in a wide sense, so as
+to cover all the territory between the Western Ghâts and the sea,
+including Malabar in the south. The term is often used in a more
+restricted sense to mean Bombay and certain other districts, to the
+north of Malabar.
+
+7. _Artocarpus integrifolius_. The jack fruit attains an enormous
+size, and sometimes weighs fifty or sixty pounds. Indians delight in
+it, but to most Europeans it is extremely offensive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 31
+
+Interview with the Râjâ of Datiyâ--Fiscal Errors of Statesmen--
+Thieves and Robbers by Profession.
+
+On the 17th[1] we came to Datiyâ, nine miles over a dry and poor
+soil, thinly, and only partially, covering a bed of brown and grey
+syenite, with veins of quartz and feldspar, and here and there dykes
+of basalt, and a few boulders scattered over the surface. The old
+Râjâ, Parîchhit,[2] on one elephant, and his cousin, Dalîp Singh,
+upon a second, and several of their relations upon others, all
+splendidly caparisoned, came out two miles to meet us, with a very
+large and splendid _cortège_. My wife, as usual, had gone on in her
+palankeen very early, to avoid the crowd and dust of this 'istikbâl',
+or meeting; and my little boy, Henry, went on at the same time in the
+palankeen, having got a slight fever from too much exposure to the
+sun in our slow and stately entrance into Jhânsî. There were more men
+in steel chain armour in this _cortège_ than in that of Jhânsî; and,
+though the elephants were not quite so fine, they were just as
+numerous, while the crowd of foot attendants was still greater. They
+were in fancy dresses, individually handsome, and collectively
+picturesque; though, being all soldiers, not quite pleasing to the
+eye of a soldier. I remarked to the Râjâ, as we rode side by side on
+our elephants, that we attached much importance to having our
+soldiers all in uniform dresses, according to their corps, while he
+seemed to care little about these matters. 'Yes,' said the old man,
+with a smile, 'with me every man pleases himself in his dress, and I
+care not what he wears, provided it is neat and clean.' They
+certainly formed a body more picturesque from being allowed
+individually to consult their own fancies in their dresses, for the
+native taste in dress is generally very good. Our three elephants
+came on abreast, and the Râjâ and I conversed as freely as men in
+such situations can converse. He is a stout, cheerful old gentleman,
+as careless apparently about his own dress as about that of his
+soldiers, and a much more sensible and agreeable person than I
+expected; and I was sorry to learn from him that he had for twelve
+years been suffering from an attack of sciatica on one side, which
+had deprived him of the use of one of his legs. I was obliged to
+consent to halt the next day that I might hunt in his preserve
+(_ramnâ_) in the morning, and return his visit in the evening. In the
+Râjâ's cortege there were several men mounted on excellent horses,
+who carried guitars, and played upon them, and sang in a very
+agreeable style, I had never before seen or heard of such a band, and
+was both surprised and pleased.
+
+The great part of the wheat, gram,[3] and other exportable land
+produce which the people consume, as far as we have yet come, is
+drawn from our Nerbudda districts, and those of Mâlwa which border
+upon them; and, _par conséquent_, the price has been rapidly
+increasing as we recede from them in our advance northward. Were the
+soil of those Nerbudda districts, situated as they are at such a
+distance from any great market for their agricultural products, as
+bad as it is in the parts of Bundêlkhand that I came over, no net
+surplus revenue could possibly be drawn from them in the present
+state of arts and industry. The high prices paid here for land
+produce, arising from the necessity of drawing a great part of what
+is consumed from such distant lands, enables the Râjâs of these
+Bundêlkhand states to draw the large revenue they do. These chiefs
+expend the whole of their revenue in the maintenance of public
+establishments of one kind or other; and, as the essential articles
+of subsistence, wheat and gram, &c., which are produced in their own
+districts, or those immediately around them, are not sufficient for
+the supply of these establishments, they must draw them from distant
+territories. All this produce is brought on the backs of bullocks,
+because there is no road from the districts whence they obtain it,
+over which a wheeled carriage can be drawn with safety; and, as this
+mode of transit is very expensive, the price of the produce, when it
+reaches the capitals, around which these local establishments are
+concentrated, becomes very high. They must pay a price equal to the
+collective cost of purchasing and bringing this substance from the
+most distant districts, to which they are at any time obliged to have
+recourse for a supply, or they will not be supplied; and, as there
+cannot be two prices for the same thing in the same market, the wheat
+and gram produced in the neighbourhood of one of these Bundêlkhand
+capitals fetch as high a price there as that brought from the most
+remote districts on the banks of the Nerbudda river; while it costs
+comparatively nothing to bring it from the former lands to the
+markets. Such lands, in consequence, yield a rate of rent much
+greater compared with their natural powers of fertility than those of
+the remotest districts whence produce is drawn for these markets or
+capitals; and, as all the lands are the property of the Râjâs, they
+drew all those rents as revenue.[4]
+
+Were we to take this revenue, which the Rajas now enjoy, in tribute
+for the maintenance of public establishments concentrated at distant
+seats, all these local establishments would, of course, be at once
+disbanded; and all the effectual demand which they afford for the raw
+agricultural produce of distant districts would cease. The price of
+this produce would diminish in proportion, and with it the value of
+the lands of the districts around such capitals. Hence the folly of
+conquerors and paramount powers, from the days of the Greeks and
+Romans down to those of Lord Hastings[5] and Sir John Malcolm,[6] who
+were all bad political economists, supposing that conquered and ceded
+territories could always be made to yield to a foreign state the same
+amount of gross revenue as they had paid to their domestic
+government, whatever their situation with reference to the markets
+for their produce--whatever the state of their arts and their
+industry--and whatever the character and extent of the local
+establishments maintained out of it. The settlements of the land
+revenue in all the territories acquired in Central India during the
+Marâthâ war, which ended in 1817, were made upon the supposition that
+the lands would continue to pay the same rate of rent under the new
+as they had paid under the old government, uninfluenced by the
+diminution of all local establishments, civil and military, to one-
+tenth of what they had been; that, under the new order of things, all
+the waste lands must be brought into tillage, and be able to pay as
+high a rate of rent as before tillage, and, consequently, that the
+aggregate available net revenue must greatly and rapidly increase.
+Those who had the making of the settlements and the governing of
+these new territories did not consider that the diminution of every
+_establishment_ was the removal of a _market_, of an effectual demand
+for land produce; and that, when all the waste lands should be
+brought into tillage, the whole would deteriorate in fertility, from
+the want of fallows, Under the prevailing system of agriculture,
+which afforded the lands no other means of renovation from over-
+cropping. The settlements of land which were made throughout our new
+land acquisitions upon these fallacious assumptions of course failed.
+During a series of quinquennial settlements the assessment has been
+everywhere gradually reduced to about two-thirds of what it was when
+our rule began, to less than one-half of what Sir John Malcolm, and
+all the other local authorities, and even the worthy Marquis of
+Hastings himself, under the influence of their opinions, expected it
+would be. The land revenues of the native princes of Central India,
+who reduced their public establishments, which the new order of
+things seemed to render useless, and thereby diminished the only
+markets for the raw produce of their lands, have been everywhere
+falling off in the same proportion; and scarcely one of them now
+draws two-thirds of the income he drew from the same lands in 1817.
+
+There are in the valley of the Nerbudda districts that yield a great
+deal more produce every year than either Orchhâ, Jhânsî, or Datiyâ;
+and yet, from the want of the same domestic markets, they do not
+yield one-fourth of the amount of land revenue. The lands are,
+however, rated equally high to the assessment, in proportion to their
+value to the farmers and cultivators. To enable them to yield a
+larger revenue to Government, they require to have larger
+establishments as markets for land produce. These establishments may
+be either public, and paid by Government; or they may be private, as
+manufactories, by which the land produce of these districts would be
+consumed by people employed in investing the value of their labour in
+commodities suited to the demand of distant markets, and more
+valuable than land produce in proportion to their weight and bulk.[7]
+These are the establishments which Government should exert itself to
+introduce and foster; since the valley of the Nerbudda, in addition
+to a soil exceedingly fertile, has in its whole line, from its source
+to its embouchure, rich beds of coal reposing for the use of future
+generations, under the sandstone of the Sâtpura and Vindhya ranges,
+and beds no less rich of very fine iron. These advantages have not
+yet been justly appreciated; but they will be so by and by.[8]
+
+About half-past four in the afternoon of the day we reached Datiyâ, I
+had a visit from the Râjâ, who came in his palankeen, with a very
+respectable, but not very numerous or noisy, train, and he sat with
+me about an hour. My large tents were both pitched parallel to each
+other, about twenty paces distant, and united to each other at both
+ends by separate 'kanâts', or cloth curtains. My little boy was
+present, and behaved extremely well in steadily refusing, without
+even a look from me, a handful of gold mohurs, which the Râjâ pressed
+several times upon his acceptance. I received him at the door of my
+tent, and supported him upon my arm to his chair, as he cannot walk
+without some slight assistance, from the affection already mentioned
+in his leg. A salute from the guns at his castle announced his
+departure and return to it. After the audience, Lieutenant Thomas and
+I ascended to the summit of a palace of the former Râjâs of this
+state, which stands upon a high rock close inside the eastern gate of
+the city, whence we could see to the west of the city a still larger
+and handsomer palace standing, I asked our conductors, the Râjâ's
+servants, why it was unoccupied. 'No prince these degenerate days',
+said they, 'could muster a family and court worthy of such a palace--
+the family and court of the largest of them would, within the walls
+of such a building, feel as if they were in a desert. Such palaces
+were made for princes of the older times, who were quite different
+beings from those of the present day.'
+
+From the deserted palace we went to the new garden which is preparing
+for the young Râjâ, an adopted son of about ten years of age. It is
+close to the southern wall of the city, and is very extensive and
+well managed. The orange-trees are all grafted, and sinking under the
+weight of as fine fruit as any in India. Attempting to ascend the
+steps of an empty bungalow upon a raised terrace at the southern
+extremity of the garden, the attendants told us respectfully that
+they hoped we would take off our shoes if we wished to enter, as the
+ancestor of the Râjâ by whom it was built, Râm Chand, had lately
+_become a god_, and was there worshipped. The roof is of stone,
+supported on carved stone pillars. On the centre pillar, upon a
+ground of whitewash, is a hand or trident. This is the only sign of a
+sacred character the building has yet assumed; and I found that it
+owed this character of sanctity to the circumstance of some one
+having vowed an offering to the manes of the builder, if he obtained
+what his soul most desired; and, having obtained it, all the people
+believe that those who do the same at the same place in a pure spirit
+of faith will obtain what they pray for.
+
+I made some inquiries about Hardaul Lâla, the son of Bîrsingh Deo,
+who built the fort of Dhamonî, one of the ancestors of the Datiyâ
+Râjâ, and found that he was as much worshipped here at his birthplace
+as upon the banks of the Nerbudda as the supposed great _originator_
+of the cholera morbus. There is at Datiyâ a temple dedicated to him
+and much frequented; and one of the priests brought me a flower in
+his name, and chanted something indicating that Hardaul Lâla was now
+worshipped even so far as the British _capital of Calcutta_, I asked
+the old prince what he thought of the origin of the worship of this
+his ancestor; and he told me that when the cholera broke out first in
+the camp of Lord Hastings, then pitched about three stages from his
+capital, on the bank of the Sindh at Chândpur Sunârî, several people
+recovered from the disease immediately after making votive offerings
+in his name; and that he really thought the spirit of his great-
+grandfather had worked some wonderful cures upon people afflicted
+with this dreadful malady.[9]
+
+The town of Datiyâ contains a population of between forty and fifty
+thousand souls. The streets are narrow, for, in buildings, as in
+dress, the Râjâ allows every man to consult his own inclinations.
+There are, however, a great many excellent houses in Datiyâ, and the
+appearance of the place is altogether very good. Many of his
+feudatory chiefs reside occasionally in the city, and have all their
+establishments with them, a practice which does not, I believe,
+prevail anywhere else among these Bundêlkhand chiefs, and this makes
+the capital much larger, handsomer, and more populous than that of
+Tehrî. This indicates more of mutual confidence between the chief and
+his vassals, and accords well with the character they bear in the
+surrounding countries. Some of the houses occupied by these barons
+are very pretty. They spend the revenue of their distant estates in
+adorning them, and embellishing the capital, which they certainly
+could not have ventured to do under the late Râjâs of Tehrî, and may
+not possibly be able to do under the future Rajas of Datiyâ. The
+present minister of Datiyâ, Ganêsh, is a very great knave, and
+encourages the residence upon his master's estate of all kinds of
+thieves and robbers, who bring back from distant districts every
+season vast quantities of booty, which they share with him. The chief
+himself is a mild old gentleman, who would not suffer violence to be
+offered to any of his nobles, though he would not, perhaps, quarrel
+with his minister for getting him a little addition to his revenue
+from without, by affording a sanctuary to such kind of people. As in
+Tehrî, so here, the pickpockets constitute the entire population of
+several villages, and carry their depredations northward to the banks
+of the Indus, and southward to Bombay and Madras.[10] But colonies of
+thieves and robbers like these abound no less in our own territories
+than in those of native states. There are more than a thousand
+families of them in the districts of Muzaffarnagar, Sahâranpur, and
+Meerut in the Upper Doâb,[11] all well enough known to the local
+authorities, who can do nothing with them.
+
+They extend their depredations into remote districts, and the booty
+they bring home with them they share liberally with the native police
+and landholders under whose protection they live. Many landholders
+and police officers make large fortunes from the share they get of
+this booty. Magistrates do not molest them, because they would
+despair of ever finding the proprietors of the property that might be
+found upon them; and, if they could trace them, they would never be
+able to persuade them to come and 'enter upon a worse sea of
+troubles' in prosecuting them. These thieves and robbers of the
+professional classes, who have the sagacity to avoid plundering near
+home, are always just as secure in our best regulated districts as
+they are in the worst native states, from the only three things which
+such depredators care about--the penal laws, the odium of the society
+in which they move, and the vengeance of the god they worship; and
+they are always well received in the society around them, as long as
+they can avoid having their neighbours annoyed by summons to give
+evidence for or against them in our courts. They feel quite sure of
+the goodwill of the god they worship, provided they give a fair share
+of their booty to his priests; and no less secure of immunity from
+penal laws, except on very rare occasions when they happen to be
+taken in the tact, in a country where such laws happen to be in
+force.[12]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. Râjâ Parîchhit died in 1839.
+
+3. The word gram (_Cicer arietinum_) is misprinted 'grain' in the
+author's text, in this place and in many others.
+
+4. Bundêlkhand exports to the Ganges a great quantity of cotton,
+which enables it to pay for the wheat, gram, and other land produce
+which it draws from distant districts, [W. H. S.] Other considerable
+exports from Bundêlkhand used to be the root of the _Morinda
+citrifolia_, yielding a dark red dye, and the coarse _kharwâ_ cloth,
+a kind of canvas, dyed with this dye, which is known by the name of
+'_ âl_'. But modern chemistry has nearly killed the trade in
+vegetable dyes. The construction of railways and roads has
+revolutionized the System of trade, and equalized prices.
+
+5. Governor-General from October 4, 1813, till January 1, 1823. He
+was Earl of Moira when he assumed office.
+
+6. Sir John Malcolm was Agent to the Governor-General in Central
+India from 1817 to 1822, and was appointed Governor of Bombay in
+1827.
+
+7. The construction of railways and the development of trade with
+Europe have completely altered the conditions. The Nerbudda valley
+can now yield a considerable revenue.
+
+8. The iron ore no doubt is good, but the difficulties in the way of
+working it profitably are so great that the author's sanguine
+expectations seem unlikely to be fully realized. V. Ball, in his day
+the best authority on the subject, observes, 'As will be abundantly
+shown in the course of the following pages, the manufacture of iron
+has, in many parts of India, been wholly crushed out of existence by
+competition with English iron, while in others it is steadily
+decreasing, and it seems destined to become extinct' (_Economic
+Geology_ (1881), being part of the _Manual of the Geology of India_,
+p. 338). Ball thought that, if improved methods of reduction should
+be employed, the Chândâ ore might be worked profitably. As regards
+the rest of India, with the doubtful exception of Upper Assam, he had
+little hope of success. Full details of the working of the mines in
+the Jabalpur, Narsinghpur, and Chândâ districts of the Central
+Provinces are given in pp. 384 to 392 of the same work. See also _I.
+G._ (1908), vol. x, p. 51; and _The Oxford Survey of the British
+Empire_ (Oxford, 1914), vol. ii, Asia, pp. 143, 160. A powerful
+company formed at Bombay in 1907, operating at a spot on the borders
+of the Central Provinces and Orissa, hopes to turn out 7,000 tons of
+'steel shapes' per month.
+
+Coal is not found below the very ancient sandstone rocks, classed by
+geologists under the name of the Vindhyan Series. The principal beds
+of coal are found in the great series of rocks, known collectively as
+the Gondwâna System, which is supposed to range in age from the
+Permian to the Upper Jurassic periods of European geologists
+(_Manual_, vol. i, p. 102). This Gondwâna System includes sandstones.
+A coalfield at Mohpâni, ninety-five miles west-south-west from
+Jabalpur by rail, was worked from 1862 to 1904 by the Nerbudda Coal
+and Iron Company; and is now worked by the G. I. P. Railway Company.
+The principal coal-field of the Central Provinces for some years was
+that near Warôrâ in the Chândâ district, but the amount which can be
+extracted profitably is approaching exhaustion; in fact the colliery
+was closed in 1906. Thick seams are known to exist to the south of
+Chândâ near the Wardhâ river. See _I. G._, 1907, vol. iii, chap. iii,
+p. 135; vol. x. p. 51.
+
+9. See note to Chapter 25, _ante_, note 7.
+
+10. 'Pickpockets' is not a suitable term.
+
+11. The Persian word 'doâb' means the tract of land between two
+rivers, which ultimately meet. The upper doâb referred to in the text
+lies between the Ganges and the Jumna.
+
+12. These 'colonies of thieves and robbers' are still the despair of
+the Indian administrator. They are known to Anglo-Indian law as
+'criminal tribes', and a special Act has been passed for their
+regulation. The principle of that Act is police supervision,
+exercised by means of visits of inspection, and the issue of
+passports. The Act has been applied from time to time to various
+tribes, but has in every case failed. In 1891, Sir Auckland Colvin,
+then Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, adopted the
+strong measure of suddenly capturing many hundreds of Sânsias, a
+troublesome criminal tribe, in the Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, and Alîgarh
+Districts. Some of the prisoners were sent to a special jail, or
+reformatory, called a 'settlement', at Sultânpur in Oudh, and the
+others were drafted off to various landlords' estates. These latter
+were supposed to devote themselves to agriculture. The editor, as
+Magistrate of Muzaffarnagar, effected the capture of more than seven
+hundred Sânsias in that district, and dispatched them in accordance
+with orders. As most people expected, the agricultural pupils
+promptly absconded. Multitudes of Sânsias in the Panjâb and elsewhere
+remained unaffected by the raid, which could not have any permanent
+effect. The milder expedient of settling and nursing a large colony,
+organized in villages, of another criminal tribe, the Bâwarias
+(Boureahs), was also tried many years ago in the same district of
+Muzaffarnagar. The people settled readily enough, and reclaimed a
+considerable area of waste land, but were not in the least degree
+reformed. At the beginning of the cold season, in October or
+November, most of the able-bodied men annually leave the villages,
+and remain absent on distant forays till March or April, when they
+return with their booty, enjoying almost complete immunity, for the
+reasons stated in the text. On one occasion some of these Bâwarias of
+Muzaffarnagar stole a lâkh and a half of rupees (about £12,000 at
+that time), in currency notes at Tuticorin, in the south of the
+peninsula, 1,400 miles distant from their home. The number of such
+criminal tribes, or castes, is very great, and the larger of these
+communities, such as the Sânsias, each comprise many thousands of
+members, diffused over an enormous area in several provinces. It is,
+therefore, impossible to put them down, except by the use of drastic
+measures such as no civilized European Government could propose or
+sanction. The criminal tribes, or castes, are, to a large extent,
+races; but, in many of these castes, fresh blood is constantly
+introduced by the admission of outsiders, who are willing to eat with
+the members of the tribe, and so become for ever incorporated in the
+brotherhood. The gipsies of Europe are closely related to certain of
+these Indian tribes. The official literature on the subject is of
+considerable bulk. Mr. W. Crooke's small book, _An Ethnographic
+Glossary_, published in 1891 (Government Press, Allahabad), is a
+convenient summary of most of the facts on record concerning the
+criminal and other castes of Northern India, and gives abundant
+references to other publications. See also his larger work, _Castes
+and Tribes of the N. W. P. and Oudh_, 4 vols. Calcutta, 1906. The
+author's folio book, _Report on the Budhuk alias Bagree Decoits and
+other Gang Robbers by Hereditary Profession, and on the Measures
+adopted by the Government of India for their Suppression_ (Calcutta,
+1849), _ante_, Bibliography No. 12, probably is the most valuable of
+the original authorities on the subject, but it is rare and seldom
+consulted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 32
+
+
+Sporting at Datiyâ--Fidelity of Followers to their Chiefs in India--
+Law of Primogeniture wanting among Muhammadans.
+
+The morning after we reached Datiyâ, I went out with Lieutenant
+Thomas to shoot and hunt in the Râjâ's large preserve, and with the
+_humane_ and determined resolution of killing no more game than our
+camp would be likely to eat; for we were told that the deer and wild
+hogs were so very numerous that we might shoot just as many as we
+pleased.[l] We were posted upon two terraces, one near the gateway,
+and the other in the centre of the preserve; and, after waiting here
+an hour, we got each a shot at a hog. Hares we saw, and might have
+shot, but we had loaded all our barrels with ball for other game. We
+left the 'ramnâ', which is a quadrangle of about one hundred acres of
+thick grass, shrubs, and brushwood, enclosed by a high stone wall.
+There is one gate on the west side, and this is kept open during the
+night, to let the game out and in. It is shut and guarded during the
+day, when the animals are left to repose in the shade, except on such
+occasions as the present, when the Râjâ wants to give his guests a
+morning's sport. On the plains and woods outside we saw a good many
+large deer, but could not manage to get near them in our own way, and
+had not patience to try that of the natives, so that we came back
+without killing anything, or having had any occasion to exercise our
+_forbearance_. The Râjâ's people, as soon as we left them, went about
+their sport after their own fashion, and brought us a fine buck
+antelope after breakfast. They have a bullock trained to go about the
+fields with them, led at a quick pace by a halter, with which the
+sportsman guides him, as he walks along with him by the side opposite
+to that facing the deer he is in pursuit of. He goes round the deer
+as he grazes in the field, shortening the distance at every circle
+till he comes within shot. At the signal given the bullock stands
+still, and the sportsman rests his gun upon his back and fires. They
+seldom miss. Others go with a fine buck and doe antelope, tame, and
+trained to browse upon the fresh bushes, which are woven for the
+occasion into a kind of hand-hurdle, behind which a man creeps along
+over the fields towards the herd of wild ones, or sits still with his
+matchlock ready, and pointed out through the leaves. The herd seeing
+the male and female strangers so very busily and agreeably employed
+upon their apparently inviting repast, advance to accost them, and
+are shot when they get within a secure distance.[2] The hurdle was
+filled with branches from the 'dhau' (_Lythrum fructuosum_) tree, of
+which the jungle is for the most part composed, plucked as we went
+along; and the tame antelopes, having been kept long fasting for the
+purpose, fed eagerly upon them. We had also two pairs of falcons; but
+a knowledge of the brutal manner in which these birds are fed and
+taught is enough to prevent any but a _brute_ from taking much
+delight in the sport they afford.[3]
+
+The officer who conducted us was evidently much disappointed, for he
+was really very anxious, as he knew his master the Râjâ was, that we
+should have a good day's sport. On our way back I made him ride by my
+side, and talk to me about Datiyâ, since he had been unable to show
+me any sport. I got his thoughts into a train that I knew would
+animate him, if he had any soul at all for poetry or poetical
+recollections, as I thought he had. 'The noble works in palaces and
+temples,' said he, 'which you see around you, Sir, mouldering in
+ruins, were built by princes who had beaten emperors in battle, and
+whose spirits still hover over and protect the place. Several times,
+under the late disorders which preceded your paramount rule in
+Hindustan, when hostile forces assembled around us, and threatened
+our capital with destruction, lights and elephants innumerable were
+seen from the tops of those battlements, passing and repassing under
+the walls, ready to defend them had the enemy attempted an assault.
+Whenever our soldiers endeavoured to approach near them, they
+disappeared; and everybody knew that they were spirits of men like
+Bîrsingh Deo and Hardaul Lâla that had come to our aid, and we never
+lost confidence.' It is easy to understand the devotion of men to
+their chiefs when they believe their progenitors to have been
+demigods, and to have been faithfully served by their ancestors for
+several generations. We neither have, nor ever can have, servants so
+personally devoted to us as these men are to their chiefs, though we
+have soldiers who will fight under our banners with as much courage
+and fidelity. They know that their grandfathers served the
+grandfathers of these chiefs, and they hope their grandchildren will
+serve their grandsons. The one feels as much pride and pleasure in so
+serving, as the other in being so served; and both hope that the link
+which binds them may never be severed. Our servants, on the contrary,
+private and public, are always in dread that some accident, some
+trivial fault, or some slight offence, not to be avoided, will sever
+for ever the link that binds them to their master.
+
+The fidelity of the military classes of the people of India to their
+immediate chief, or leader, whose _salt they eat_, has been always
+very remarkable, and commonly bears little relation to his _moral
+virtues_, or conduct to _his_ superiors. They feel that it is their
+duty to serve him who feeds and protects them and their families in
+all situations, and under all circumstances; and the chief feels
+that, while he has a right to their services, it is his imperative
+duty so to feed and protect them and their families. He may change
+sides as often as he pleases, but the relations between him and his
+followers remain unchanged. About the side he chooses to take in a
+contest for dominion, they ask no questions, and feel no
+responsibility. God has placed their destinies in dependence upon
+his; and to him they cling to the last. In Mâlwa, Bhopâl, and other
+parts of Central India, the Muhammadan rule could be established over
+that of the Râjpût chief only by the annihilation of the entire race
+of their followers.[4] In no part of the world has the devotion of
+soldiers to their immediate chief been more remarkable than in India
+among the Râjpûts; and in no part of the world bas the fidelity of
+these chiefs to the paramount power been more unsteady, or their
+devotion less to be relied upon. The laws of Muhammad, which
+prescribe that the property in land be divided equally among the
+sons,[5] leaves no rule for succession to territorial or political
+dominion. It has been justly observed by Hume: 'The right of
+primogeniture was introduced with the feudal law; an institution
+which is hurtful by producing and maintaining an unequal division of
+property; but it is advantageous in another respect by accustoming
+the people to a preference for the eldest son, and thereby preventing
+a partition or disputed succession in the monarchy.'
+
+Among the Muhammadan princes there was no law that bound the whole
+members of a family to obey the eldest son of a deceased prince.
+Every son of the Emperor of Hindustan considered that he had a right
+to set up his claim to the throne, vacated by the death of his
+father; and, in anticipation of that death, to strengthen his claim
+by negotiations and intrigues with all the territorial chiefs and
+influential nobles of the empire. However _prejudicial to the
+interests_ of his elder brother such measures might be, they were
+never considered to be an _invasion of his rights_, because such
+rights had never been established by the laws of their prophet. As
+all the sons considered that they had an equal right to solicit the
+support of the chiefs and nobles, so all the chiefs and nobles
+considered that they could adopt the cause of whichever _son_ they
+chose, without incurring the reproach of either _treason_ or
+dishonour. The one who succeeded thought himself justified by the law
+of self-preservation to put, not only his brothers, but all their
+sons, to death; so that there was, after every new succession, an
+entire _clearance_ of all the male members of the imperial family.
+Aurangzêb said to his pedantic tutor, who wished to be raised to high
+station on his accession to the imperial throne, 'Should not you,
+instead of your flattery, have taught me something of that point so
+important to a king, which is, what are the reciprocal duties of a
+sovereign to his subjects, and those of the subjects to their
+sovereign? And ought not you to have considered that one day I should
+be obliged, with the sword, to dispute my life and the crown with my
+brothers? Is not that the destiny, almost of all the sons of
+Hindustan?'[6] Now that they have become pensioners of the British
+Government, the members increase like white ants; and, as Malthus has
+it, 'press so hard against their means of subsistence' that a great
+many of them are absolutely starving, in spite of the enormous
+pension the head of the family receives for their maintenance.[7]
+
+The city of Datiyâ is surrounded by a stone wall about thirty feet
+high, with its foundation on a solid rock; but it has no ditch or
+glacis, and is capable of little or no defence against cannon. In the
+afternoon I went, accompanied by Lieutenant Thomas, and followed by
+the best _cortège_ we could muster, to return the Râjâ's visit. He
+resides within the walls of the city in a large square garden,
+enclosed with a high wall, and filled with fine orange-trees, at this
+time bending under the weight of the most delicious fruit. The old
+chief received us at the bottom of a fine flight of steps leading up
+to a handsome pavilion, built upon the wall of one of the faces of
+this garden. It was enclosed at the back, and in front looked into
+the garden through open arcades. The floors were spread with handsome
+carpets of the Jhânsî manufacture. In front of the pavilion was a
+wide terrace of polished stone, extending to the top of the flight of
+the steps; and, in the centre of this terrace, and directly opposite
+to us as we looked into the garden, was a fine _jet d'eau_ in a large
+basin of water in full play, and, with its shower of diamonds,
+showing off the rich green and red of the orange-trees to the best
+advantage.
+
+The large quadrangle thus occupied is called the 'kila', or fort, and
+the wall that surrounds it is thirty feet high, with a round
+embattled tower at each corner. On the east face is a fine large
+gateway for the entrance, with a curtain as high as the wall itself.
+Inside the gate is a piece of ordnance painted red, with the largest
+calibre I ever saw.[8] This is fired once a year, at the festival of
+the Dasahra.[9]
+
+Our arrival at the wall was announced by a salute from some fine
+brass guns upon the bastions near the gateway. As we advanced from
+the gateway up through the garden to the pavilion, we were again
+serenaded by our friends with their guitars and excellent voices.
+They were now on foot, and arranged along both sides of the walk that
+we had to pass through. The open garden space within the walls
+appeared to me to be about ten acres. It is crossed and recrossed at
+right angles by numerous walks, having rows of plantain and other
+fruit trees on each side; and orange, pomegranate, and other small
+fruit trees to fill the space between; and anything more rich and
+luxuriant one can hardly conceive. In the centre of the north and
+west sides are pavilions with apartments for the family above,
+behind, and on each side of the great reception room, exactly similar
+to that in which we were received on the south face. The whole
+formed, I think, the most delightful residence that I have seen for a
+hot climate. There is, however, no doubt that the most healthy
+stations in this, and every other hot climate, are those situated
+upon dry, open, sandy plains, with neither shrubberies nor
+basins.[10]
+
+We were introduced to the young Râjâ, the old man's adopted son, a
+lad of about ten years of age, who is to be married in February next.
+He is plain in person, but has a pleasing expression of countenance;
+and, if he be moulded after the old man, and not after his minister,
+the country may perhaps have in him the 'lucky accident' of a good
+governor.[11] I have rarely seen a finer or more prepossessing man
+than the Râjâ, and all his subjects speak well of him. We had an
+elephant, a horse, abundance of shawls, and other fine clothes placed
+before us as presents; but I prayed the old gentleman to keep them
+all for me till I returned, as I was a mere voyageur without the
+means of carrying such valuable things in safety; but he would not be
+satisfied till I had taken two plain hilts of swords and spears, the
+manufacture of Datiyâ, and of little value, which Lieutenant Thomas
+and I promised to keep for his sake. The rest of the presents were
+all taken back to their places. After an hour's talk with the old man
+and his ministers, attar of roses and pân were distributed, and we
+took our leave to go and visit the old palace, which as yet we had
+seen only from a distance. There were only two men besides the Râjâ,
+his son, and ourselves, seated upon chairs. All the other principal
+persons of the court sat around cross-legged on the carpet; but they
+joined freely in the conversation, I was told by these courtiers how
+often the young chief had, during the day, asked when he could have
+the happiness of seeing me; and the old chief was told, in my
+hearing, how many _good things_ I had said since I came into his
+territories, all tending to his honour and my credit. This is a
+species of barefaced flattery to which we are all doomed to submit in
+our intercourse with these native chiefs; but still, to a man of
+sense, it never ceases to be distressing and offensive; for he can
+hardly ever help feeling that they must think him a mere child before
+they could venture to treat him with it. This is, however, to put too
+harsh a construction upon what in reality, the people mean only as
+civility; and they, who can so easily consider the grandfathers of
+their chiefs as gods, and worship them as such, may be suffered to
+treat _us_ as heroes and sayers of good things without offence.[12]
+
+We ascended to the summit of the old palace, and were well repaid for
+the trouble by the view of an extremely rich sheet of wheat, gram,
+and other spring crops, extending to the north and east, as far as
+the eye could reach, from the dark belt of forest, three miles deep,
+with which the Râjâ has surrounded his capital on every side as
+hunting grounds. The lands comprised in this forest are, for the most
+part, exceedingly poor, and water for irrigation is unattainable
+within them, so that little is lost by this taste of the chief for
+the sports of the field, in which, however, he cannot himself now
+indulge.
+
+On the 19th[13] we left Datiyâ, and, after emerging from the
+surrounding forest, came over a fine plain covered with rich spring
+crops for ten miles, till we entered among the ravines of the river
+Sindh, whose banks are, like those of all rivers in this part of
+India, bordered to a great distance by these deep and ugly
+inequalities. Here they are almost without grass or shrubs to clothe
+their hideous nakedness, and have been formed by the torrents, which,
+in the season of the rains, rush from the extensive plain, as from a
+wide ocean, down to the deep channel of the river in narrow streams.
+These streams cut their way easily through the soft alluvial soil,
+which must once have formed the bed of a vast lake.[14] On coming
+through the forest, before sunrise we discovered our error of the day
+before, for we found excellent deer-shooting in the long grass and
+brushwood, which grow luxuriantly at some distance from the city. Had
+we come out a couple of miles the day before, we might have had noble
+sport, and really required the _forbearance and humanity_ to which we
+had so magnanimously resolved to sacrifice our 'pride of art' as
+sportsmen; for we saw many herds of the nîlgâi, antelope, and spotted
+deer,[15] browsing within a few paces of us, within the long grass
+and brushwood on both sides of the road. We could not stay, however,
+to indulge in much sport, having a long march before us.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Some readers may be shocked at the notion of the author shooting
+pig, but, in Bundêlkhand, where pig-sticking, or hog-hunting, as the
+older writers call it, is not practised, hog-shooting is quite
+legitimate.
+
+2. The common antelope, or black buck (_Antilope bezoartica_, or
+_cervicapra_) feed in herds, sometimes numbering many hundreds, in
+the open plains, especially those of black soil. Men armed with
+matchlocks can scarcely get a shot except by adopting artifices
+similar to those described in the text.
+
+3. Sixteen species of hawks, belonging to several genera, are trained
+in India. They are often fed by being allowed to suck the blood from
+the breasts of live pigeons, and their eyes are darkened by means of
+a silken thread passed through holes in the eyelids. 'Hawking is a
+very dull and very cruel sport. A person must become insensible to
+the sufferings of the most beautiful and most inoffensive of the
+brute creation before he can feel any enjoyment in it. The cruelty
+lies chiefly in the mode of feeding the hawks' (_Journey through the
+Kingdom of Oude_, vol. i, p, 109). Asoka forbade the practice by the
+words: 'The living must not be fed with the living' (Pillar Edict V,
+_c._ 243 B.C., in V. A. Smith, _Asoka_, 2nd ed. (1909), p. 188).
+
+4. The wording of this sentence is unfortunate, and it is not easy to
+understand why the author mentioned Bhopâl. The principality of
+Bhopâl was formed by Dost Mohammed Khân, an Afghân officer of
+Aurangzêb, who became independent a few years after that sovereign's
+death in 1707. Since that time the dynasty has always continued to be
+Muhammadan. The services of Sikandar Bêgam in the Mutiny are well
+known. Mâlwa is the country lying between Bundêlkhand, on the east,
+and Râjputâna, on the west, and includes Bhopâl. Most of the states
+in this region are now ruled by Hindoos, but the local dynasty which
+ruled the kingdom of Mâlwa and Mândû from A.D. 1401 to 1531 was
+Musalmân. (See Thomas, _Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Dehli_, pp.
+346-53.)
+
+5. All near relatives succeed to a Muhammadan's estate, which is
+divided, under complicated rules, into the necessary number of
+shares. A son's share is double that of a daughter. As between
+themselves all sons share equally.
+
+6. Bernier's _Revolutions of the Mogul Empire_. [W. H. S.] The author
+seems to have used either the London edition of 1671, entitled _The
+History of the Late Revolution of the Empire of the Great Mogul_, or
+one of the reprints of that edition. The anecdote referred to is
+called by Bernier 'an uncommonly good story'. Aurangzêb made a long
+speech, ending by dismissing the unlucky pedagogue with the words:
+'Go! withdraw to thy native village. Henceforth let no man know
+either who thou art, or what is become of thee.' (Bernier, _Travels
+in the Mogul Empire_, pp. 154-161, ed. Constable and V. A, Smith,
+1914.) Manucci repeats the story with slight variations (_Storie da
+Mogor_, vol. ii, pp. 29-33).
+
+7. Compare the forcible description of the state of the Delhi royal
+family in Chapter 76, _post_. The old emperor's pension was one
+hundred thousand rupees a month. The events of the Mutiny effected a
+considerable clearance, though the number of persons claiming
+relationship with the royal house is still large. A few of these have
+taken service under the British Government, but have not
+distinguished themselves.
+
+8. The author, unfortunately, does not give the dimensions of this
+piece. Rûmî Khân's gun at Bîjâpur, which was cast in the sixteenth
+century at Ahmadnagar, is generally considered the largest ancient
+cannon in India. It is fifteen feet long, and weighs about forty-one
+tons, the calibre being two feet four inches. Like the gun at Datiyâ,
+it is painted with red lead, and is worshipped by Hindoos, who are
+always ready to worship every manifestation of power. Another big gun
+at Bîjâpur is thirty feet in length, built up of bars bound together.
+Other very large pieces exist at Gâwîlgarh in Berâr, and Bîdar in the
+Nîzam's dominions. (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., s.v. Gun,
+Bîjâpur, Gawilgarh Hill Range, and Beder.)
+
+9. The Dasahra festival, celebrated at the beginning of October,
+marks the close of the rains and the commencement of the cold season.
+It is observed by all classes of Hindus, but especially by Râjâs and
+the military classes, for whom this festival has peculiar importance.
+In the old days no prince or commander, whether his command consisted
+of soldiers or robbers, ever undertook regular operations until the
+Dasahra had been duly observed. All Râjâs still receive valuable
+offerings on this occasion, which form an important element in their
+revenue. In some places buffaloes are sacrificed by the Râjâ in
+person. The soldiers worship the weapons which they hope to use
+during the coming season. Among the Marâthâs the ordnance received
+especial attention and worship. The ceremony of worshipping certain
+leguminous trees at this festival has been noticed _ante_, Chapter 26
+note 8.
+
+10. Few Europeans nowadays could join in the author's enthusiastic
+admiration of the Datiyâ garden. The arrangements seem to have been
+those usual in large formal native gardens in Northern India.
+
+11. This lad has since succeeded his adoptive father as the chief of
+the Datiyâ principality. The old chief found him one day lying in the
+grass, as he was shooting through one of his preserves. His elephant
+was very near treading upon the infant before he saw it. He brought
+home the boy, adopted him as his son, and declared him his successor,
+from having no son of his own. The British Government, finding that
+the people generally seemed to acquiesce in the old man's wishes,
+sanctioned the measure, as the paramount power. [W. H. S.] The old
+Râjâ died in 1839, and the succession of the boy, Bijai Bahâdur, thus
+strangely favoured by fortune, was unsuccessfully opposed by one of
+the nobles of the state. Bijai Bahâdur governed the state with
+sufficient success until his death in 1857. The succession was then
+again disputed, and disturbances took place which were suppressed by
+an armed British force. The state is still governed by its hereditary
+ruler, who has been granted the privilege of adoption (_N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. i, p. 410, s.v. Datiyâ).
+
+12. The fact is that all Oriental rulers thoroughly enjoy the most
+outrageous flattery, and would feel defrauded if they did not get it
+in abundance. Even Akbar, the greatest of them, could enjoy it, and
+allow the courtly poet to say 'See Akbar, and you see God'. Indians
+find it difficult to believe that European officials really dislike
+attentions which are exacted by rulers of their own races.
+
+13. December, 1835.
+
+14. This theory is probably incorrect. See _ante_, Chapter 14, note
+7, on formation of black soil.
+
+15. Nîlgâi, or 'blue-bull', a huge, heavy antelope of bovine form,
+common in India, scientifically named _Portax pictus_. By 'antelope'
+the author means the common antelope, or black buck, the _Antilope
+bezoartica_, or _cervicapra_ of naturalists. The spotted deer, or
+'chîtal', a very handsome creature, is the _Axis maculata_ of Gray,
+the _Cervus axis_ of other zoologists.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 33
+
+
+'Bhûmiâwat.'
+
+Though no doubt very familiar to our ancestors during the Middle
+Ages, this is a thing happily but little understood in Europe at the
+present day. 'Bhûmiâwat', in Bundêlkhand, signifies a war or fight
+for landed inheritance, from 'bhûm', the land, earth, &c.; 'bhûmia',
+a landed proprietor.
+
+When a member of the landed aristocracy, no matter how small, has a
+dispute with his ruler, he collects his followers, and levies
+indiscriminate war upon his territories, plundering and burning his
+towns and villages, and murdering their inhabitants till he is
+invited back upon his own terms. During this war it is a point of
+honour not to allow a single acre of land to be tilled upon the
+estate which he has deserted, or from which he has been driven; and
+he will murder any man who attempts to drive a plough in it, together
+with all his family, if he can. The smallest member of this landed
+aristocracy of the Hindoo military class will often cause a terrible
+devastation during the interval that he is engaged in his bhûmiâwat;
+for there are always vast numbers of loose characters floating upon
+the surface of Indian society, ready to 'gird up their loins' and use
+their sharp swords in the service of marauders of this kind, when
+they cannot get employment in that of the constituted authorities of
+government.
+
+Such a marauder has generally the sympathy of nearly all the members
+of his own class and clan, who are apt to think that his case may one
+day be their own. He is thus looked upon as contending for the
+interests of all; and, if his chief happens to be on bad terms with
+other chiefs in the neighbourhood, the latter will clandestinely
+support the outlaw and his cause, by giving him and his followers
+shelter in the hills and jungles, and concealing their families and
+stolen property in their castles. It is a maxim in India, and, in the
+less settled parts of it, a very true one, that 'one Pindhâra or
+robber makes a hundred'; that is, where one robber, by a series of
+atrocious murders and robberies, frightens the people into non-
+resistance, a hundred loose characters from among the peasantry of
+the country will take advantage of the occasion, and adopt his name,
+in order to plunder with the smallest possible degree of personal
+risk to themselves.
+
+Some magistrates and local rulers, under such circumstances, have
+very unwisely adopted the measure of prohibiting the people from
+carrying or having arms in their houses, the very thing which, above
+all others, such robbers most wish; for they know, though such
+magistrates and rulers do not, that it is the innocent only, and the
+friends to order, who will obey the command. The robber will always
+be able to conceal his arms, or keep with them out of reach of the
+magistrate; and he is now relieved altogether from the salutary dread
+of a shot from a door or window. He may rob at his leisure, or sit
+down like a gentleman and have all that the people of the surrounding
+towns and villages possess brought to him, for no man can any longer
+attempt to defend himself or his family.[1] Weak governments are
+obliged soon to invite back the robber on his own terms, for the
+people can pay them no revenue, being prevented from cultivating
+their lands, and obliged to give all they have to the robbers, or
+submit to be plundered of it. Jhânsî and Jâlaun are exceedingly weak
+governments, from having their territories studded with estates held
+rent-free, or at a quit-rent, by Pawâr, Bundêla, and Dhandêl barons,
+who have always the sympathy of the numerous chiefs and their barons
+of the same class around.
+
+In the year 1832, the Pawâr barons of the estates of Noner, Jignî,
+Udgâon, and Bilharî in Jhânsî had some cause of dissatisfaction with
+their chief; and this they presented to Lord William Bentinck as he
+passed through the province in December. His lordship told them that
+these were questions of internal administration which they must
+settle among themselves, as the Supreme Government would not
+interfere. They had, therefore, only one way of settling such
+disputes, and that was to raise the standard of bhûmiâwat, and cry,
+'To your tents, O Israel!' This they did; and, though the Jhânsî
+chief had a military force of twelve thousand men, they burnt down
+every town and village in the territory that did not come into their
+terms; and the chief had possession of only two, Jhânsî, the capital,
+and the large commercial town of Mau,[2] when the Bundêla Râjâs of
+Orchhâ and Datiyâ, who had hitherto clandestinely supported the
+insurgents, consented to become the arbitrators. A suspension of arms
+followed, the barons got all they demanded, and the bhûmiâwat ceased.
+But the Jhânsî chief, who had hitherto lent large sums to the other
+chiefs in the province, was reduced to the necessity of borrowing
+from them all, and from Gwâlior, and mortgaging to them a good
+portion of his lands.[3]
+
+Gwâlior is itself weak in the same way. A great portion of its lands
+are held by barons of the Hindoo military classes, equally addicted
+to bhûmiâwat, and one or more of them is always engaged in this kind
+of indiscriminate warfare; and it must be confessed that, unless they
+are always considered to be ready to engage in it, they have very
+little chance of retaining their possessions on moderate terms, for
+these weak governments are generally the most rapacious when they
+have it in their power.
+
+A good deal of the lands of the Muhammadan sovereign of Oudh are, in
+the same manner, held by barons of the Râjpût tribe; and some of them
+are almost always in the field engaged in the same kind of warfare
+against their sovereign. The baron who pursues it with vigour is
+almost sure to be invited back upon his own terms very soon. If his
+lands are worth a hundred thousand a year, he will get them for ten;
+and have this remitted for the next five years, until he is ready for
+another bhûmiâwat, on the ground of the injuries sustained during the
+last, from which his estate has to recover. The baron who is
+peaceable and obedient soon gets rack-rented out of his estate, and
+reduced to beggary.[4]
+
+In 1818, some companies of my regiment were for several months
+employed in Oudh, after a young 'bhûmiâwatî' of this kind, Sheo Ratan
+Singh. He was the nephew and heir of the Râjâ of Partâbgarh,[5] who
+wished to exclude him from his inheritance by the adoption of a
+brother of his young bride. Sheo Ratan had a small village for his
+maintenance, and said nothing to his old uncle till the governor of
+the province, Ghulâm Husani[6], accepted an invitation to be present
+at the ceremony of adoption. He knew that, if he acquiesced any
+longer, he would lose his inheritance, and cried, 'To your tents, 0
+Israel!' He got a small band of three hundred Râjpûts, with nothing
+but their swords, shields, and spears, to follow him, all of the same
+clan and true men. They were bivouacked in a jungle not more than
+seven miles from our cantonments at Partâbgarh, when Ghulâm Husain
+marched to attack them with three regiments of infantry, one of
+cavalry, and two nine-pounders. He thought he should surprise them,
+and contrived so that he should come upon them about daybreak. Sheo
+Ratan knew all his plans. He placed one hundred and fifty of his men
+in ambuscade at the entrance to the jungle, and kept the other
+hundred and fifty by him in the centre. When they had got well in,
+the party in ambush rushed upon the rear, while he attacked them in
+front. After a short resistance, Ghulâm Husain's force took to
+flight, leaving five hundred men dead on the field, and their guns
+behind them. Ghulâm Husain was so ashamed of the drubbing he got that
+he bribed all the news-writers[7] within twenty miles of the place to
+say nothing about it in their reports to court, and he never made any
+report of it himself. A detachment of my regiment passed over the
+dead bodies in the course of the day, on their return to cantonments
+from detached command, or we should have known nothing about it. It
+is true, we heard the firing, but that we heard every day; and I have
+seen from my bungalow half a dozen villages in flames, at the same
+time, from this species of contest between the Râjpût landholders and
+the government authorities. Our cantonments were generally full of
+the women and children who had been burnt out of house and home.
+
+In Oudh such contests generally begin with the harvests. During the
+season of tillage all is quiet; but, when the crops begin to ripen,
+the governor begins to rise in his demands for revenue, and the
+Râjpût landholders and cultivators to sharpen their swords and
+burnish their spears. One hundred of them always consider themselves
+a match for one thousand of the king's troops in a fair field,
+because they have all one heart and soul, while the king's troops
+have many.[8]
+
+While the Pawârs were ravaging the Jhânsî state with their bhûmiâwat,
+a merchant of Sâgar had a large convoy of valuable cloths, to the
+amount, I think, of forty thousand rupees,[9] intercepted by them on
+its way from Mirzâpur[10] to Râjputâna. I was then at Sâgar, and
+wrote off to the insurgents to say that they had mistaken one of our
+subjects for one of the Jhânsî chiefs, and must release the convoy.
+They did so, and not a piece of the cloth was lost. This bhûmiâwat is
+supposed to have cost the Jhânsî chief above twenty lâkhs of
+rupees,[11] and his subjects double that sum.
+
+Gopâl Singh, a Bundêla, who had been in the service of the chief of
+Pannâ,[12] took to bhûmiâwat in 1809, and kept a large British force
+employed in pursuit through Bundêlkhand and the Sâgar territories for
+three years, till he was invited back by our Government in the year
+1812, by the gift of a fine estate on the banks of the Dasân river,
+yielding twenty thousand rupees[13] a year, which his son now enjoys,
+and which is to descend to his posterity, many of whom will, no
+doubt, animated by their fortunate ancestor's example, take to the
+same trade. He had been a man of no note till he took to this trade,
+but by his predatory exploits he soon became celebrated throughout
+India; and, when I came to the country, no other man's chivalry was
+so much talked of.
+
+A Bundêla, or other landholder of the Hindoo military class, does not
+think himself, nor is he indeed thought by others, in the slightest
+degree less respectable for having waged this indiscriminate war upon
+the innocent and unoffending, provided he has any cause of
+dissatisfaction with his liege lord; that is, provided he cannot get
+his land or his appointment in his service upon his own terms,
+because all others of the same class and clan feel more or less
+interested in his success.
+
+They feel that their tenure of land, or of office, is improved by the
+mischief he does; because every peasant he murders, and every field
+he throws out of tillage, affects their liege lord in his most tender
+point, his treasury; and indisposes him to interfere with their
+salaries, their privileges, or their rents. He who wages this war
+goes on marrying his sisters or his daughters to the other barons or
+landholders of the same clan, and receiving theirs in marriage during
+the whole of his bhûmiâwat,[14] as if nothing at all extraordinary
+had happened, and thereby strengthening his hand at the game he is
+playing.
+
+Umrâo Singh of Jaklôn in Chandêrî, a district of Gwâlior bordering
+upon Sâgar,[15] has been at this game for more than fifteen years out
+of twenty, but his alliances among the baronial families around have
+not been in the slightest degree affected by it. His sons and his
+grandsons have, perhaps, made better matches than they might, had the
+old man been at peace with all the world, during the time that he has
+been desolating one district by his atrocities, and demoralizing all
+those around it by his example, and by inviting the youth to join him
+occasionally in his murderous enterprises. Neither age nor sex is
+respected in their attacks upon towns or villages; and no Muhammadan
+can take more pride and pleasure in defacing idols--the most
+monstrous idol--than a 'bhûmiâwatî' takes in maiming an innocent
+peasant, who presumes to drive his plough in lands that he chooses to
+put under the _ban_.
+
+In the kingdom of Oudh, this bhûmiâwat is a kind of nursery for our
+native army; for the sons of Râjpût yeomen who have been trained in
+it are all exceedingly anxious to enlist in our native infantry
+regiments, having no dislike to their drill or their uniform. The
+same class of men in Bundêlkhand and the Gwâlior State have a great
+horror of the drill and uniform of our regular infantry, and nothing
+can induce them to enlist in our ranks. Both are equally brave, and
+equally faithful to their salt--that is, to the person who employs
+them; but the Oudh Râjpût is a much more tameable animal than the
+Bundêla. In Oudh this class of people have all inherited from their
+fathers a respect for our rule and a love for our service. In
+Bundêlkhand they have not yet become reconciled to our service, and
+they still look upon our rule as interfering a good deal too much
+with their sporting propensities.[16]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Since the author's time conditions have much changed. Then, and
+for long afterwards, up to the Mutiny, every village throughout the
+country was fall of arms, and almost every man was armed.
+Consequently, in those tracts where the Mutiny of the native army was
+accompanied by popular insurrection, the flame of rebellion burned
+fiercely, and was subdued with difficulty. The painful experience of
+1857 and 1858 proved the necessity of general disarmament, and nearly
+the whole of British India has been disarmed under the provisions of
+a series of Acts. Licences to have and carry ordinary arms and
+ammunition are granted by the magistrates of districts. Licences to
+possess artillery are granted only by the Governor-General in
+Council. The improved organization of the police and of the executive
+power generally renders possible the strict enforcement of the law.
+Some arms are concealed, but very few of these are serviceable. With
+rare exceptions, arms are now carried only for display, and knowledge
+of the use of weapons has died out in most classes of the population.
+The village forts have been everywhere dismantled. Robbery by armed
+gangs still occurs in certain districts (_see ante_, Chapter 23, note
+14), but is much less frequent than it used to be in the author's
+days.
+
+2. Many towns and villages bear the name of Mau (_auglicè_, Mhow),
+which may be, as Mr. Growse suggests, a form of the Sanskrit _mahi_,
+'land' or 'ground'. The town referred to in the text is the principal
+town of the Jhânsî district, distinguished from its homonyms as Mau-
+Rânîpur, situated about east-south-east from Jhânsî, at a distance of
+forty miles from that city. Its special export used to be the
+'kharwâ' cloth, dyed with 'ai' (_see ante_., Chapter 31, note 4).
+
+3. This insurrection continued into the year 1833. 'The inhabitants
+were reduced to the greatest distress, and have, even to the present
+day, scarcely recovered the losses they then sustained' (_N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_, vol. i (1870), p. 296).
+
+4. See the author's _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, passim_.
+
+5. Partâbgarh is now a separate district in the Fyzâbâd Division of
+Oudh. The chief town, also called Partâbgarh, is thirty-two miles
+north of Allahabad, and still possesses a Râjâ, who, at present
+(1914), is a most respectable gentleman, with no thoughts of
+violence. Further details about the Partâbgarh family are given in
+the _Journey_, vol. i, p. 231.
+
+6. Transcriber's note:- The author then uses the spelling 'Husain'
+consistently.
+
+7. 'The news department is under a Superintendent-General, who has
+sometimes contracted for it, as for the revenues of a district, but
+more commonly holds it in _amânî_, as a manager. . . . He nominates
+his subordinates, and appoints them to their several offices, taking
+from each a present gratuity and a pledge for such monthly payments
+as he thinks the post will enable him to make. They receive from four
+to fifteen rupees a month each, and have each to pay to their
+President, for distribution among his patrons or patronesses at
+Court, from one hundred to five hundred rupees a month in ordinary
+times. Those to whom they are accredited have to pay them, under
+ordinary circumstances, certain sums monthly, to prevent their
+inventing or exaggerating cases of abuse of power or neglect of duty
+on their part; but, when they happen to be really guilty of great
+acts of atrocity, or great neglect of duty, they are required to pay
+extraordinary sums, not only to the news-writers, who are especially
+accredited to them, but to all others who happen to be in the
+neighbourhood at the time. There are six hundred and sixty news-
+writers of this kind employed by the king, and paid monthly three
+thousand one hundred and ninety-four rupees, or, on an average,
+between four and five rupees each; and the sums paid by them to their
+President for distribution among influential officers and Court
+favourites averages [sic] above one hundred and fifty thousand rupees
+a year. . . . Such are the reporters of the circumstances in all the
+cases on which the sovereign and his ministers have to pass orders
+every day in Oudh. . . . the European magistrate of one of our
+neighbouring districts one day, before the Oudh Frontier Police was
+raised, entered the Oudh territory at the head of his police in
+pursuit of some robbers, who had found an asylum in one of the King's
+villages. In the attempt to secure them some lives were lost: and,
+apprehensive of the consequences, he sent for the official news-
+writer, and _gratified_ him in the usual way. No report of the
+circumstances was made to the Oudh Darbâr; and neither the King, the
+President, nor the British Government ever heard anything about it'
+(_Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, vol. i, pp. 67-69). Such a
+System of official news-writers was usually maintained by Asiatic
+despots from the most ancient times.
+
+8. full details of the rotten state of the king's army are given in
+the _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_.
+
+9. Then worth £4,000, or more.
+
+10. Mirzâpur (Mirzapore) on the Ganges, twenty-seven miles from
+Benares, was, in the author's time, the principal depot for the
+cotton and cloth trade of Northern India. Although the East Indian
+Railway passes through the city, the construction of the railway has
+diverted the bulk of the trade from Mirzâpur, which is now a
+declining place. The population, which wag 70,621 in 1881, fell to
+32,332 in 1911. The carpets made there are well known.
+
+11. Then equal to £200,000, or more.
+
+12. The Pannâ State lies between the British districts of Bândâ, in
+the United Provinces, on the north, and Damoh and Jabalpur, in the
+Central Provinces, on the south. The chief is a descendant of
+Chhatarsâl. For description and engraving of the diamond mines see
+_Economic Geology_ (1881), p. 39.
+
+13. Then equivalent to £2,000, or more.
+
+14. The words 'of the same clan' are inexact. The author has shown
+(_ante_, Chapter 23 following [10], and Chapter 26 following [32])
+that Râjpûts never marry into their own clan.
+
+15. 'The Râjâ of Chandêrî belonged to the same family as the Orchhâ
+chief. Sindhia annexed a great part of the Chandêrî State in 1811.
+Chandêrî was for a time British territory, but is now again in
+Sindhia's dominions. Its vicissitudes are related in _N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_ (1870), vol. i, pp. 351-8.
+
+16. In Oudh the misgovernment, anarchy, and cruel rapine, briefly
+alluded to in the text, and vividly described in detail by the author
+in his _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, lasted until the
+annexation of the kingdom by Lord Dalhousie in 1856, and, after a
+brief lull, were renewed during the insurrection of 1857 and 1858.
+The events of those years are a curious commentary on the author's
+belief that the people of Oudh entertained 'a respect for our rule
+and a love for our service'. The service of the British Government is
+sought because it pays, but a foreign Government must not expect
+love. Respect for the British rule depends upon the strength of that
+rule. Oudh still sends many recruits to the native army, though the
+young men no longer enjoy the advantage of a training in 'bhûmiâwat'.
+An occasional gang-robbery or bludgeon fight is the meagre modern
+substitute. The Râjpûts or Thâkurs of Bundêlkhand and Gwâlior still
+retain their old character for turbulence, but, of course, have less
+scope for what the author calls their 'sporting propensities' than
+they had in his time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 34
+
+
+The Suicide--Relations between Parents and Children in India.
+
+The day before we left Datiyâ our cook had a violent dispute with his
+mother, a thing of almost daily occurrence; for though a very fat and
+handsome old lady, she was a very violent one. He was a quiet man,
+but, unable to bear any longer the abuse she was heaping upon him, he
+first took up a pitcher of water and flung it at her head. It missed
+her, and he then snatched up a stick, and, for the first time in his
+life, struck her. He was her only son. She quietly took up all her
+things, and, walking off towards a temple, said she would leave him
+for ever; and he, having passed the Rubicon, declared that he was
+resolved no longer to submit to the parental tyranny which she had
+hitherto exercised over him. My water carrier, however, prevailed
+upon her with much difficulty to return, and take up her quarters
+with him and his wife and five children in a small tent we had given
+them. Maddened at the thought of a blow from her son, the old lady
+about sunset swallowed a large quantity of opium; and before the
+circumstance was discovered, it was too late to apply a remedy. We
+were told of it about eight o'clock at night, and found her lying in
+her son's arms--tried every remedy at hand, but without success, and
+about midnight she died. She loved her son, and he respected her; and
+yet not a day passed without their having some desperate quarrel,
+generally about the orphan daughter of her brother, who lived with
+them, and was to be married, as soon as the cook could save out of
+his pay enough money to defray the expenses of the ceremonies. The
+old woman was always reproaching him for not saving money fast
+enough. This little cousin had now stolen some of the cook's tobacco
+for his young assistant; and the old lady thought it right to
+admonish her. The cook likewise thought it right to add his
+admonitions to those of his mother; but the old lady would have her
+niece abused by nobody but herself, and she flew into a violent
+passion at his presuming to interfere. This led to the son's outrage,
+and the mother's suicide. The son is a mild, good-tempered young man,
+who bears an excellent character among his equals, and is a very good
+servant. Had he been less mild it had perhaps been better; for his
+mother would by degrees have given up that despotic sway over her
+child, which in infancy is necessary, in youth useful, but in manhood
+becomes intolerable. 'God defend us from the anger of the mild in
+spirit', said an excellent judge of human nature, Muhammad, the
+founder of this cook's religion;[1] and certainly the mildest tempers
+are those which become the most ungovernable when roused beyond a
+certain degree; and the proud spirit of the old woman could not brook
+the outrage which her son, so roused, had been guilty of. From the
+time that she was discovered to have taken poison till she breathed
+her last she lay in the arms of the poor man, who besought her to
+live, that her only son might atone for his crime, and not be a
+parricide.
+
+There is no part of the world, I believe, where parents are so much
+reverenced by their sons as they are in India, in all classes of
+society. This is sufficiently evinced in the desire that parents feel
+to have sons. The duty of daughters is from the day of their marriage
+transferred entirely to their husbands and their husbands' parents,
+on whom alone devolves the duty of protecting and supporting them
+through the wedded and the widowed state. The links that united them
+to their parents are broken. All the reciprocity of rights and duties
+which have bound together the parent and child from infancy is
+considered to end with the consummation of her marriage; nor does the
+stain of any subsequent female backsliding ever affect the family of
+her parents; it can affect that only of her husband, who is held
+alone responsible for her conduct. If a widow inherits the property
+of her husband, on her death the property would go to her husband's
+brother, supposing neither had any children by their husbands, in
+preference to her own brother; but between the son and his parents
+this reciprocity of rights and duties follows them to the grave.[2]
+One is delighted to see in sons this habitual reverence for the
+mother; but, as in the present case, it is too apt to occasion a
+domineering spirit, which produces much mischief even in private
+families, but still more in sovereign ones. A prince, when he attains
+the age of manhood, and ought to take upon himself the duties of the
+government, is often obliged to witness a great deal of oppression
+and misrule, from his inability to persuade his widowed mother to
+resign the power willingly into his hands. He often tamely submits to
+see his country ruined, and his family dishonoured, as at Jhânsî,
+before he can bring himself, by some act of desperate resolution, to
+wrest it from her grasp.[3] In order to prevent his doing so, or to
+recover the reins he has thus obtained, the mother has often been
+known to poison her own son; and many a princess in India, like
+Isabella of England, has, I believe, destroyed her husband, to enjoy
+more freely the society of her paramour, and hold these reins during
+the minority of her son.[4]
+
+In the exercise of dominion from behind the curtain (for it is those
+who live behind the curtain that seem most anxious to hold it), women
+select ministers who, to secure duration to their influence, become
+their paramours, or, at least, make the world believe that they are
+so, to serve their own selfish purposes. The sons are tyrannized over
+through youth by their mothers, who endeavour to subdue their spirit
+to the yoke, which they wish to bind heavy upon their necks for life;
+and they remain through manhood timid, ignorant, and altogether
+unfitted for the conduct of public affairs, and for the government of
+men under a despotic rule, whose essential principle is a _salutary
+fear_ of the prince in all his public officers. Every unlettered
+native of India is as sensible of this principle [as] Montesquieu
+was; and will tell us that, in countries like India, a chief, to
+govern well, must have a _smack of the devil_ ('shaitân') in him;
+for, if he has not, his public servants will prey upon his innocent
+and industrious subjects.[5] In India there are no universities or
+public schools, in which young men might escape, as they do in
+Europe, from the enervating and stultifying influence of the
+zanâna.[6] The state of mental imbecility to which a youth of
+naturally average powers of mind, born to territorial dominion, is in
+India often reduced by a haughty and ambitious mother, would be
+absolutely incredible to a man bred up in such schools. They are
+often utterly unable to act, think, or speak for themselves. If they
+happen, as they sometimes do, to get well informed in reading and
+conversation, they remain, Hamlet-like, nervous and diffident; and,
+however speculatively or _ruminatively_ wise, quite unfit for action,
+or for performing their part in the great drama of life.
+
+In my evening ramble on the bank of the river, which was flowing
+against the wind and rising into waves, my mind wandered back to the
+hours of infancy and boyhood when I sat with my brothers watching our
+little vessels as they scudded over the ponds and streams of my
+native land; and then of my poor brothers John and Louis, whose bones
+now he beneath the ocean. As we advance in age the dearest scenes of
+early days must necessarily become more and more associated in our
+recollection with painful feelings; for they who enjoyed such scenes
+with us must by degrees pass away, and be remembered with sorrow even
+by those who are conscious of having fulfilled all their duties in
+life towards them--but with how much more by those who can never
+remember them without thinking of occasions of kindness and
+assistance neglected or disregarded. Many of them have perhaps left
+behind them widows and children struggling with adversity, and
+soliciting from us aid which we strive in vain to give.
+
+During my visit to the Râjâ, a person in the disguise of one of my
+sipâhîs[7] went to a shop and purchased for me five-and-twenty
+rupees' worth of fine Europe chintz, for which he paid in good
+rupees, which were forthwith assayed by a neighbouring goldsmith. The
+sipâhî put these rupees into his own purse, and laid it down, saying
+that he should go and ascertain from me whether I wished to keep the
+whole of the chintz or not; and, if not, he should require back the
+same money--that I was to halt to-morrow, when he would return to the
+shop again. Just as he was going away, however, he recollected that
+he wanted a turban for himself, and requested the shopkeeper to bring
+him one. They were sitting in the verandah, and the shopkeeper had to
+go into his shop to bring out the turban. When he came out with it,
+the sipâhî said it would not suit his purpose, and went off, leaving
+the purse where it lay, cautioning the shopkeeper against changing
+any of the rupees, as he should require his own identical money back
+if his master rejected any of the chintz. The shopkeeper waited till
+four o'clock in the afternoon of the next day without looking into
+the purse.
+
+Hearing then that I had left Datiyâ, and seeing no signs of the
+sipâhî, he opened the purse, and found that the rupees were all
+copper, with a thin coating of silver. The man had changed them while
+he went into the shop for a turban, and substituted a purse exactly
+the same in appearance. After ascertaining that the story was true,
+and that the ingenious thief was not one of my followers, I insisted
+upon the man's taking the money from me, in spite of a great deal of
+remonstrance on the part of the Râjâ's agent, who had come on with
+us.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The editor has failed to trace this quotation, which may possibly
+be from the _Mishkat-ul-Masâbih_ (_ante_, Chapter 5, note 10).
+Compare '"There is nothing more horrible than the rebellion of a
+sheep", said de Marsay' (Balzac, _Lost by a Laugh_).
+
+2. The English doggerel expresses the opposite sentiment,
+ 'My son's my son till he gets him a wife;
+ My daughter's my daughter all her life.'
+
+3. _Ante_, chap. 29, text at [4], and before [7].
+
+4. Edward II, A.D. 1327.
+
+5. The principle, so bluntly enunciated by the author, is true,
+though the truth may be unpalatable to people who think they know
+better, and it applies with as much force to European officials as it
+does to Indian princes. The 'shaitân' is more familiar in his English
+dress as Satan. The editor has failed to find any such phrase in the
+works of Montesquieu. In chapter 9 of Book III of _L'Esprit des Lois_
+that author lays down the principle that 'il faut de la crainte dans
+un gouvernement despotique; pour la vertu, elle n'y est point
+nécessaire,'
+
+6. It can no longer be said that universities do not exist, at least
+in name, in India. Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Lahore, and Allahabad
+are the seats of universities, and new foundations at Dacca and Patna
+are promised (1914). The Indian universities, when first established,
+were mere examining bodies, on the model of the University of London.
+But changes, initiated by Lord Curzon, are in progress, and the
+University of London is being remodelled (1914). The Indian
+institutions are not frequented by young princes and nobles, and have
+little influence on their education. Attempts have been made, with
+partial success, to provide special boarding schools, or 'Chiefs'
+Colleges', for the sons of ruling princes and native nobles. The most
+notable of such institution are the colleges at Ajmêr, Râjkôt in
+Kâthiâwâr, and Indore. The influence of the zanâna is invariably
+directed against every proposal to remove a young nobleman from home
+for the purpose of education, and obstacles of many kinds render the
+task of rightly educating such a youth extraordinarily difficult and
+unsatisfactory. In some cases a considerable degree of success has
+been attained.
+
+7. Armed follower. The word is more familiar in the corrupt form
+'sepoy'.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 35
+
+
+Gwâlior Plain once the Bed of a Lake--Tameness of Peacocks.
+
+On the 19th, 20th, and 21st[1] we came on forty miles to the village
+of Antrî in the Gwâlior territory, over a fine plain of rich alluvial
+soil under spring crops. This plain bears manifest signs of having
+been at no very remote period, like the kingdom of Bohemia, the bed
+of a vast lake bounded by the ranges of sandstone hills which now
+seem to skirt the horizon all round; and studded with innumerable
+islands of all shapes and sizes, which now rise abruptly in all
+directions out of the cultivated plain.[2] The plain is still like
+the unruffled surface of a vast lake; and the rich green of the
+spring crops, which cover the surface in one wide sheet unintersected
+by hedges, tends to keep up the illusion, which the rivers have
+little tendency to dispel; for, though they have cut their way down
+immense depths to their present beds through this soft alluvial
+deposit, the traveller no sooner emerges from the hideous ravines,
+which disfigure their banks, than he loses all trace of them. Their
+course is unmarked by trees, large shrubs, or any of the signs which
+mark the course of rivers in other quarters.
+
+The soil over the vast plain is everywhere of good quality, and
+everywhere cultivated, or rather worked, for we can hardly consider a
+soil cultivated which is never either irrigated or manured, or
+voluntarily relieved by fallows or an alternation of crops, till it
+has descended to the last stage of exhaustion. The prince rack-rents
+the farmer, the farmer rack-rents the cultivator, and the cultivator
+rack-rents the soil. Soon after crossing the Sindh river we enter
+upon the territories of the Gwâlior chief, Sindhia.
+
+The villages are everywhere few, and their communities very small.
+The greater part of the produce goes for sale to the capital of
+Gwâlior, when the money it brings is paid into the treasury in rent,
+or revenue, to the chief, who distributes it in salaries among his
+establishments, who again pay it for land produce to the cultivators,
+farmers, and agricultural capitalists, who again pay it back into the
+treasury in land revenue. No more people reside in the villages than
+are absolutely necessary to the cultivation of the land, because the
+chief takes all the produce beyond what is necessary for their bare
+subsistence; and, out of what he takes, maintains establishments that
+reside elsewhere. There is nowhere any jungle to be seen, and very
+few of the villages that are scattered over the plains have any fruit
+or ornamental trees left; and, when the spring crops, to which the
+tillage is chiefly confined, are taken off the ground, the face of
+the country must have a very naked and dreary appearance.[3] Near one
+village on the road I saw some men threshing corn in a field, and
+among them a peacock (which, of course, I took to be domesticated)
+breakfasting very comfortably upon the grain as it flew around him. A
+little farther on I saw another quietly working his way into a stack
+of corn, as if he understood it to have been made for his use alone.
+It was so close to me as I passed that I put out my stick to push it
+off in play, and, to my surprise, it flew off in a fright at my white
+face and strange dress, and was followed by the others. I found that
+they were all wild, if that term can be applied to birds that live on
+such excellent terms with mankind. On reaching our tents we found
+several feeding in the corn-fields close around them, undisturbed by
+our host of camp-followers; and were told by the villagers, who had
+assembled to greet us, that they were all wild. 'Why', said they,
+'should we think of _keeping_ birds that live among us on such easy
+terms without being _kept_?' I asked whether they ever shot them, and
+was told that they never killed or molested them, but that any one
+who wished to shoot them might do so, since they had here no
+religions regard for them.[4] Like the pariah dogs the peacocks seem
+to disarm the people by confiding in them--their tameness is at once
+the cause and the effect of their security. The members of the little
+communities among whom they live on such friendly terms would not
+have the heart to shoot them; and travellers either take them to be
+domesticated, or are at once disarmed by their tameness.
+
+At Antrî a sufficient quantity of salt is manufactured for the
+consumption of the people of the town. The earth that contains most
+salt is dug up at some distance from the town, and brought to small
+reservoirs made close outside the walls. Water is here poured over
+it, as over tea and coffee. Passing through the earth, it flows out
+below into a small conduit, which takes it to small pits some yards'
+distance, whence it is removed in buckets to small enclosed
+platforms, where it is exposed to the Sun's rays, till the water
+evaporates, and leaves the salt dry.[5] The want of trees over this
+vast plain of fine soil from the Sindh river is quite lamentable. The
+people of Antrî pointed out the place close to my tents where a
+beautiful grove of mango-trees had been lately taken off to Gwâlior
+for _gun-carriages_ and firewood, in spite of all the proprietor
+could urge of the detriment to his own interest in this world, and to
+those of his ancestors in that to which they had gone. Wherever the
+army of this chief moved they invariably swept off the groves of
+fruit-trees in the same reckless manner. Parts of the country, which
+they merely passed through, have recovered their trees, because the
+desire to propitiate the Deity, and to perpetuate their name by such
+a work, will always operate among Hindoos as a sufficient incentive
+to secure groves, wherever man has be made to feel that their rights
+of property in the trees will be respected.[6] The lands around the
+village, which had a well for irrigation, paid four times as much as
+those of the same quality which had none, and were made to yield two
+crops in the year. As everywhere else, so here, those lands into
+which water flows from the town and can be made to stand for a time,
+are esteemed the best, as this water brings down with it manures of
+all kinds.[7] I had a good deal of talk with the cultivators as I
+walked through the fields in the evenings; and they seemed to dwell
+much upon the good faith which is observed by the farmers and
+cultivators in the Honourable Company's territories, and the total
+absence of it in those of Sindhia's, where no work, requiring an
+outlay of capital from the land, is, in consequence, ever thought of-
+-both farmers and cultivators engaging from year to year, and no
+farmer ever feeling secure of his lease for more than one.
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. The anthor's favourite theory. See _ante_, Chapter 14 note 7,
+Chapter 24 note 6, on the formation of black cotton soil. The Gwâlior
+plain is covered with this soil.
+
+3. It has a very desolate appearance. The Indian Midland Railway now
+passes through Gwâlior.
+
+4. In many parts of India, especially in Mathurâ (Mattra) on the
+Jumna, and the neighbouring districts, the peacock is held strictly
+sacred, and shooting one would be likely to cause a riot. Tavernier
+relates a story of a rich Persian merchant being beaten to death by
+the Hindoos of Gujarât for shooting a peacock. (Tavernier, _Travels_,
+transl. Ball, vol. i, p. 70.) the bird is regarded as the vehicle of
+the Hindoo god of war, variously called Kumâra, Skanda, or Kârtikeya.
+the editor, like the author, has observed that in Bundêlkhand no
+objection is raised to the shooting of peacocks by any one who cares
+for such poor sport.
+
+5. In British India the manufacture of salt can be practised only by
+persons duly licensed.
+
+6. The Revenue Settlement Regulations now in force in British India
+provide liberally for the encouragement of groves, and hundred of
+miles of road are annually planted with trees.
+
+7. Sanitation did not trouble native states in those days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 36
+
+Gwâlior and its Government.
+
+On the 22nd,[1] we came on fourteen miles to Gwâlior, over some
+ranges of sandstone hills, which are seemingly continuations of the
+Vindhyan range. Hills of indurated brown and red iron clay repose
+upon and intervene between these ranges, with strata generally
+horizontal, but occasionally bearing signs of having been shaken by
+internal convulsions. These convulsions are also indicated by some
+dykes of compact basalt which cross the road.[2]
+
+Nothing can be more unprepossessing than the approach to Gwâlior; the
+hills being naked, black, and ugly, with rounded tops devoid of grass
+or shrubs, and the soil of the valleys a poor red dust without any
+appearance of verdure or vegetation, since the few autumn crops that
+lately stood upon them have been removed.[3] From Antrî to Gwâlior
+there is no sign of any human habitation, save that of a miserable
+police guard of four or five, who occupy a wretched hut on the side
+of the road midway, and seem by their presence to render the scene
+around more dreary.[4] the road is a mere footpath unimproved and
+unadorned by any single work of art; and, except in this footpath,
+and the small police guard, there is absolutely no single sign in all
+this long march to indicate the dominion, or even the presence, of
+man; and yet it is between two contiguous [_sic_] capitals, one
+occupied by one of the most ancient, and the other by one of the
+greatest native sovereigns of Hindustan.[5] One cannot but feel that
+he approaches the capital of a dynasty of barbarian princes, who,
+like Attila, would choose their places of residence, as devils choose
+their pandemonia, for their ugliness, and rather reside in the dreary
+wastes of Tartary than on the shores of the Bosphorus. There are
+within the dominions of Sindhia seats for a capital that would not
+yield to any in India in convenience, beauty, and salubrity; but, in
+all these dominions, there is not, perhaps, another place so
+hideously ugly as Gwâlior, or so hot and unhealthy. It has not one
+redeeming quality that should recommend it to the choice of a
+rational prince, particularly to one who still considers his capital
+as his camp, and makes every officer of his army feel that he has as
+little of permanent interest in his house as he would have in his
+tent.[6]
+
+Phûl Bâgh, or the _flower-garden_, was suggested to me as the best
+place for my tents, where Sindhia had built a splendid summer-house.
+As I came over this most gloomy and uninteresting march, in which the
+heart of a rational man sickens, as he recollects that all the
+revenues of such an enormous extent of dominion over the richest soil
+and the most peaceable people in the world should have been so long
+concentrated upon this point, and squandered without leaving one sign
+of human art or industry, I looked forward with pleasure to a quiet
+residence in the _flower-garden_, with good foliage above, and a fine
+sward below, and an atmosphere free from dust, such as we find in and
+around all the residences of Muhammadan princes. On reaching my tents
+I found them pitched close outside the _flower-garden_, in a small
+dusty plain, without a blade of grass or a shrub to hide its
+deformity--just such a place as the pig-keepers occupy in the suburbs
+of other towns. On one side of this little plain, and looking into
+it, was the _summer-house_ of the prince, without one inch of green
+sward or one small shrub before it.
+
+Around the wretched little _flower-garden_ was a low, naked, and
+shattered mud wall, such as we generally see in the suburbs thrown up
+to keep out and in the pigs that usually swarm in such places--'and
+the swine they crawled out, and the swine they crawled in'.[7] When I
+cantered up to my tent-door, a sipâhî of my guard came up, and
+reported that as the day began to dawn a gang of thieves had stolen
+one of my best carpets, all the brass brackets of my tent-poles, and
+the brass bell with which the sentries on duty sounded the hour; all
+Lieutenant Thomas's cooking utensils, and many other things, several
+of which they had found lying between the tents and the prince's
+_pleasure-house_, particularly the contents of a large heavy box of
+geological specimens. They had, in consequence, concluded the gang to
+be lodged in the prince's pleasure-house. The guard on duty at this
+place would make no answer to their inquiries, and I really believe
+that they were themselves the thieves. The tents of the Râjâ of
+Raghugarh, who had come to pay his respects to the Sindhia, his liege
+lord, were pitched near mine. He had the day before had five horses
+stolen from him, with all the plate, jewels, and valuable clothes he
+possessed; and I was told that I must move forthwith from the
+_flower-garden_, or cut off the tail of every horse in my camp.
+Without tails they might not be stolen, with them they certainly
+would. Having had sufficient proof of their dexterity, we moved our
+tents to a grove near the residency, four miles from the flower-
+garden and the court.[8]
+
+As a citizen of the world I could not help thinking that it would be
+an immense blessing upon a large portion of our species if an
+earthquake were to swallow up this court of Gwâlior, and the army
+that surrounds it. Nothing worse could possibly succeed, and
+something better might. It is lamentable to think how much of evil
+this court and camp inflict upon the people who are subject to them.
+In January, 1828, I was passing with a party of gentlemen through the
+town of Bhîlsâ, which belongs to this chief, and lies between Sâgar
+and Bhopal,[9] when we found, lying and bleeding in one of the
+streets, twelve men belonging to a merchant at Mirzapore, who had the
+day before been wounded and plundered by a gang of robbers close
+outside the walls of the town. Those who were able ran in to the
+Âmil, or chief of the district, who resides in the town; and begged
+him to send some horsemen after the banditti, and intercept them as
+they passed over the great plains. 'Send your own people', said he,
+'or hire men to send. Am I here to look after the private affairs of
+merchants and travellers, or to collect the revenues of the prince?'
+Neither he, nor the prince himself, nor any other officer of the
+public establishments ever dreamed that it was their duty to protect
+the life, property, or character of travellers, or indeed of any
+other human beings, save the members of their own families. In this
+pithy question the Âmil of Bhîlsâ described the nature and character
+of the government. All the revenues of his immense dominions are
+spent entirely in the maintenance of the court and camps of the
+prince; and every officer employed beyond the boundary of the court
+and camp considers his duties to be limited to the collection of the
+revenue. Protected from all external enemies by our military forces,
+which surround him on every side, his whole army is left to him for
+purposes of parade and display; and having, according to his notions,
+no use for them elsewhere, he concentrates them around his capital,
+where he lives among them in the perpetual dread of mutiny and
+assassination. He has nowhere any police, nor any establishment
+whatever, for the protection of the life and property of his
+subjects; nor has he, any more than his predecessors, ever, I
+believe, for one moment thought that those from whose industry and
+frugality he draws his revenues have any right whatever to expect
+from him the use of such establishments in return. They have never
+formed any legitimate part of the Marâthâ government, and, I fear,
+never will.[10]
+
+The misrule of such states, situated in the midst of our dominions,
+is not without its use. There is, as Gibbon justly observes, 'a
+strong propensity in human nature to depreciate the advantages, and
+to magnify the evils, of the present times'; and, if the people had
+not before their eyes such specimens of native rule to contrast with
+ours, they would think more highly than they do of that of their past
+Muhammadan and Hindoo sovereigns; and be much less disposed than they
+are to estimate fairly the advantages of being under ours. The native
+governments of the present day are fair specimens of what they have
+always been--grinding military despotisms--their whole history is
+that of 'Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of
+thousands'; as if rulers were made merely to slay, and the ruled to
+be slain. In politics, as in landscape, ''Tis distance lends
+enchantment to the view', and the past might be all _couleur de rose_
+in the imaginations of the people were it not represented in these
+ill-governed states, where the 'lucky accident' of a good governor is
+not to be expected in a century, and where the secret of the
+responsibility of ministers to the people is yet undiscovered.[11]
+
+The fortress of Gwâlior stands upon a tableland, a mile and a half
+long by a quarter of a mile wide, at the north-east end of a small
+insulated sandstone hill, running north-east and south-west, and
+rising at both ends about three hundred and forty feet above the
+level of the plain below. At the base is a kind of glacis, which runs
+up at an angle of forty-five from the plain to within fifty, and, in
+some places, within twenty feet of the foot of the wall.
+
+The interval is the perpendicular face of the horizontal strata of
+the sandstone rock. The glacis is formed of a bed of basalt in all
+stages of decomposition, with which this, like the other sandstone
+hills of Central India, was once covered, and of the debris and
+chippings of the rocks above. The walls are raised a certain uniform
+height all round upon the verge of the precipice, and being thus made
+to correspond with the edge of the rock, the line is extremely
+irregular. They are rudely built of the fine sandstone of the rock on
+which they stand, and have some square and some semicircular bastions
+of different sizes, few of these raised above the level of the wall
+itself.[12] On the eastern face of the rock, between the glacis and
+foot of the wall, are cut out, in bold relief, the colossal figures
+of men sitting bareheaded under canopies, on each side of a throne or
+temple; and, in another place, the colossal figure of a man standing
+naked, and facing outward, which I took to be that of Buddha.[l3]
+
+The town of Gwâlior extends along the foot of the hill on one side,
+and consists of a single street above a mile long. There is a very
+beautiful mosque, with one end built by a Muhammad Khan, A.D. 1665,
+of the white sandstone of the rock above it. It looks as fresh as if
+it had not been finished a month; and struck, as I passed it, with so
+noble a work, apparently new, and under such a government, I alighted
+from my horse, went in, and read the inscription, which told me the
+date of the building and the name of the founder. There is no stucco-
+work over any part of it, nor is any required on such beautiful
+materials; and the stones are all so nicely cut that cement seems to
+have been considered useless. It has the usual two minarets or
+towers, and over the arches and alcoves are carved, as customary,
+passages from the Korân, in the beautiful Kufic characters.[14] The
+court and camp of the chief extends out from the southern end of the
+hill for several miles.
+
+The whole of the hill on which the fort of Gwâlior stands had
+evidently, at no very distant period, been covered by a mass of
+basalt, surmounted by a crust of indurated brown and red iron clay,
+with lithomarge, which often assumes the appearance of common
+laterite. The boulders of basalt, which still cap some part of the
+hill, and form the greater part of the glacis at the bottom, are for
+the most part in a state of rapid decomposition; but some of them are
+still so hard and fresh that the hammer rings upon them as upon a
+bell, and their fracture is brilliantly crystalline. The basalt is
+the same as that which caps the sandstone hills of the Vindhya range
+throughout Mâlwâ. The sandstone hills around Gwâlior all rise in the
+same abrupt manner from the plain as those through Mâlwâ generally;
+and they have almost all of them the same basaltic glacis at their
+base, with boulders of that rock scattered over the top, all
+indicating that they were at one time buried, in the same manner
+under one great mass of volcanic matter, thrown out from their
+submarine craters in streams of lava, or diffused through the ocean
+or lakes in ashes, and deposited in strata. The geological character
+of the country about Gwâlior is very similar to that of the country
+about Sâgar; and I may say the same of the Vindhya range generally,
+as far as I have seen it, from Mirzapore on the Ganges to Bhopâl in
+Mâlwâ--hills of sandstone rising suddenly from alluvial plain, and
+capped, or bearing signs of having been capped, by basalt reposing
+immediately upon it, and partly covered in its turn by beds of
+indurated iron clay.[15]
+
+The fortress of Gwâlior was celebrated for its strength under the
+Hindoo sovereigns of India; but was taken by the Muhammadans after a
+long siege, A.D. 1197.[16] the Hindoos regained possession, but were
+again expelled by the Emperor Îltutmish, A. D. 1235.[17] the Hindoos
+again got possession, and after holding it one hundred years, again
+surrendered it to the forces of the Emperor Ibrâhîm, A.D. 1519.[18]
+In 1543 it was surrendered up by the troops of the Emperor
+Humâyûn[19] to Shêr Khân, his successful competitor for the
+empire.[20] It afterwards fell into the hands of a Jât chief, the
+Rânâ of Gohad,[21] from whom it was taken by the Marâthâs. While in
+their possession, it was invested by our troops under the command of
+Major Popham; and, on the 3rd of August, 1780, taken by escalade.[22]
+The party that scaled the wall was gallantly led by a very
+distinguished and most promising officer, Captain Bruce, brother of
+the celebrated traveller.[23]
+
+It was made over to us by the Rânâ of Gohad, who had been our ally in
+the war. Failing in his engagement to us, he was afterwards abandoned
+to the resentment of Mâdhojî Sindhia, chief of the Marâthâs.[24] In
+1783, Gwâlior was invested by Mâdhojî Sindhia's troops, under the
+command of one of the most extraordinary men that have ever figured
+in Indian history, the justly celebrated General De Boigne.[25] After
+many unsuccessful attempts to take it by escalade, he bought over
+part of the garrison, and made himself master of the place. Gohad
+itself was taken soon after in 1784; but the Rânâ, Chhatarpat, made
+his escape. He was closely pursued, made prisoner at Karaulî, and
+confined in the fortress of Gwâlior, where he died in the year
+1785.[26] He left no son, and his claims upon Gohad devolved upon his
+nephew, Kîrat Singh, who, at the close of our war with the Marâthâs,
+got from Lord Lake, in lieu of these claims, the estate of Dholpur,
+situated on the left banks of the river Chambal, which is estimated
+at the annual value of three hundred thousand, or three lâkhs, of
+rupees. He died this year, 1835, and has been succeeded by his son,
+Bhagwant Singh, a lad of seventeen years of age.[27]
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. Throughout the northern edge of the trap country in Râjputâna,
+Gwâlior, and Bundêlkhand, dykes are rare or wanting.' (W. T.
+Blandford, in _Manual of the Geology of India_, 1st ed., Part 1, p.
+328.) The dykes mentioned in the text may not have been visited by
+the officers of the Geological Surrey.
+
+3. 'Basalt generally disintegrates into a reddish soil, quite
+different from _regar_ in character. This reddish soil may be seen
+passing into _regar_, but, as a rule, the black soil is confined to
+the flatter ground at the bottom of the valleys, or on flat hill-
+tops, the brown or red soils occupying the slopes' (ibid. p. 433).
+
+4. Johnson, in his _Journey to the Western Islands_, observes: 'Now
+and then we espied a little corn-field, which served to impress more
+strongly the general barrenness.' [W. H. S.] The remark referred to
+the shores of Loch Ness (p. 237 of volume viii of Johnson's Works,
+London, 1820).
+
+5. By this awkward phrase the author seems to mean Lucknow, on the
+east, the capital of the kingdom of Oudh, and Udaipur, to the west,
+the capital of the long-descended chieftain of Mêwâr. Alternatively,
+the author may possibly have referred to Agra and Gwâlior, rather
+than Lucknow and Udaipur.
+
+6. 'The new city at Gwâlior below the fortress is, like the city of
+Jhânsî, known as the 'Lashkar', or camp. The old city of Gwâlior
+encircles the north end of the fortress. The new city, or Lashkar,
+lies to the south, more than a mile distant. In January, 1859, the
+population of the two cities together amounted to 142,044 persons
+(_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 331).
+
+7. Only those readers who have lived in India can fully understand
+the reasons why the pigs should frequent such a place, and how great
+would be the horrors of encamping in it.
+
+8. In the description of the author's encampment at Gwâlior, he fell
+into a mistake, which he discovered too late for correction in his
+journal. His tents were not pitched within the Phûl Bâgh, as he
+supposed, but without; and seeing nothing of this place, he imagined
+that the dirty and naked ground outside was actually the flower-
+garden. The Phûl Bâgh, however, is a very pleasing and well-ordered
+garden, although so completely secluded from observation by lofty
+walls that many other travellers must have encamped on the same spot
+without being aware of its existence. (_Publishers' note at end of
+volume ii of original edition_. )
+
+9. Bhîlsâ is the principal town of the Isâgarh subdivision in the
+Gwâlior State. The famous Buddhist antiquities near it are described
+at length in Cunningham, _The Bhîlsâ Topes, or Buddhist Monuments of
+Central India_ (1854), and in Maisey, _Sânchi and its Remains. A full
+Description of the Ancient Buildings, Sculptures, and Inscriptions at
+Sânchi, near Bhîlsâ, in Central India_. With an Introductory Note by
+Major-General Sir Alexander Cunningham, K.C.I.E. (1892). It is
+surprising that so keen an observer as the author appears not to have
+noticed any of the great Buddhist buildings of Central India.
+
+10. The government of Gwâlior has improved since the author wrote.
+Many reforms have been begun and more or less fully executed. In May,
+1887, the vast hoard of rupees buried in pits in the fort, valued at
+five millions sterling, was exhumed, and lent to the Government of
+India to be usefully employed. The passive opposition of a court like
+that of Gwâlior to the effectual execution of reforms is continuous
+and difficult to overcome.
+
+11. The author's description of the ordinary Asiatic government at
+almost all times and in all places as 'a grinding military despotism'
+is correct. Sentimental persons in both India and England are apt to
+forget this weighty truth. The golden age of India, excepting,
+perhaps, the Gupta period between A.D. 330 and 455, is as mythical as
+that of Ireland. What Persia now is, that would India be, if she had
+been left to her own devices.
+
+12. Sir A. Cunningham was stationed at Gwâlior for five years, and
+had thus an exceptionally accurate knowledge of the fortress. His
+account, which corrects the text in some particulars, is as follows:-
+'the great fortress of Gwâlior is situated on a precipitous, flat-
+topped, and isolated hill of sandstone, which rises 300 feet above
+the town at the north end, but only 274 feet at the upper gate of the
+principal entrance. The hill is long and narrow; its extreme length
+from north to south being one mile and three-quarters, while its
+breadth varies from 600 feet opposite the main entrance to 2,800 feet
+in the middle opposite the great temple. The walls are from 30 to 35
+feet in height, and the rock immediately below them is steeply, but
+irregularly, scarped all round the hill. The long line of battlements
+which crowns the steep scarp on the east is broken only by the lofty
+towers and fretted domes of the noble palace of Râjâ Mân Singh. On
+the opposite side, the line of battlements is relieved by the deep
+recess of the Urwâhi valley, and by the zigzag and serrated parapets
+and loopholed bastions which flank the numerous gates of the two
+western entrances. At the northern end, where the rock has been
+quarried for ages, the jagged masses of the overhanging cliff seem
+ready to fall upon the city beneath them. To the south the hill is
+less lofty, but the rock has been steeply scarped, and is generally
+quite inaccessible. Midway over all towers the giant form of a
+massive Hindu temple, grey with the moss of ages. Altogether, the
+fort of Gwâlior forms one of the most picturesque views in Northern
+India' (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 330).
+
+13. The nakedness of the image in itself proves that Buddha could not
+be the person represented. His statues are never nude. The Gwâlior
+figures are images of some of the twenty-four great saints
+(Tîrthankaras or Jinas) of the Digambara sect of the Jain religion.
+Jain statues are frequently of colossal size. The largest of those at
+Gwâlior is fifty-seven feet high. The Gwâlior sculptures are of late
+date--the middle of the fifteenth century. The antiquities of
+Gwâlior, including these sculptures, are well described in _A.S.R._,
+vol. ii, pp. 330-95, plates lxxxvi to xci.
+
+14. This mosque is the Jâmi', or cathedral, mosque 'situated at the
+eastern foot of the fortress, near the Âlamgîrî Darwâza (gate). It is
+a neat and favourable specimen of the later Moghal architecture. Its
+beauty, however, is partly due to the fine light-coloured sandstone
+of which it is built. This at once attracted the notice of Sir Wm.
+Sleeman, who, &c.' (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 370). This mosque is in the
+old city, described as 'a crowded mass of small flat-roofed stone
+houses' (ibid. p. 330).
+
+15. The Geological Survey recognizes a special group of 'transition'
+rocks between the metamorphic and the Vindhyan series under the name
+of the Gwâlior area. 'The Gwâlior area is . . . only fifty miles long
+from east to west, and about fifteen miles wide. It takes its name
+from the city of Gwâlior, which stands upon it, surrounding the
+famous fort built upon a scarped outlier of Vindhyan sandstone, which
+rests upon a base of massive bedded trap belonging to the transition
+period' (_Manual of Geology of India_, 1st ed., Part l, p. 56). The
+writers of the manual do not notice the basaltic cap of the fort hill
+described by the author, and at p. 300 use language which implies
+that the hill is outside the limits of the Deccan trap. But the
+author's observations seem sufficiently precise to warrant the
+conclusion that he was right in believing the basaltic cap of the
+Gwâlior hill to be an outlying fragment of the vast Deccan trap
+sheet. The relation between laterite and lithomarge is discussed in
+p. 353 of the _Manual_, and the occurrence of laterite caps on the
+highest ground of the country, at two places-near Gwâlior, 'outside
+of the trap area', is noticed (ibid. p. 356). These two places are at
+Râipur hill, and on the Kaimûr sandstone, about two miles to the
+north-west. No doubt these two hills are outliers of the Central
+India spread of laterite, which has been traced as far as Siprî,
+about sixty miles south of the Râipur hill (Hacket, _Geology of
+Gwâlior and Vicinity_, in _Records of Geol. Survey of India_, vol.
+iii, p. 41). The geology of Gwâlior is also discussed in Mallet's
+paper entitled 'Sketch of the Geology of Scindia's Territories'
+(_Records_, vol. viii, p. 55). Neither writer refers to the basaltic
+cap of Gwâlior fort hill. For the refutation of the author's theory
+of the subaqueous origin of the Deccan trap see notes Chapters 14,
+note 13, and Chapter 17, note 3 _ante_.
+
+16. In the reign of Muizz-ud-dîn, Muhammad bin Sâm, also known by the
+names of Shibâb-ud-din, and Muhammad Ghorî. He struck billon coins at
+the Gwâlior mint. the correct date is A.D. 1196. The Hîjrî year 592
+began on the 6th Dec., A.D. 1195.
+
+17. Shams-ud-dîn Îltutmish, 'the greatest of the Slave Kings',
+reigned from A.D. 1210 to 1235 (A.H. 607-633). He besieged Gwâlior in
+A.H. 629 and after eleven months' resistance captured the place in
+the month Safar, A.H. 630, equivalent to Nov.-Dec. A.D. 1232. The
+date given in the text is wrong. The correct name of this king is
+Îltutmish (_Z.D.M.G._, vol. lxi (1907), pp. 192, 193). It is written
+Altumash by the author, and Altamsh by Thomas and Cunningham. A
+summary of the events of his reign, based on coins and other original
+documents, is given on page 45 of Thomas, _Chronicles of the Pathân
+Kings of Delhi_. Îltutmish recorded an inscription dated A.H. 630 at
+Gwâlior (ibid. p. 80). This inscription was seen by Bâbur, but has
+since disappeared.
+
+18. Ibrâhîm Lodî, A.D. 1517-26. He was defeated and killed by Bâbur
+at the first battle of Pânîpat, A.D. 1526. the correct date of his
+capture of Gwâlior, according to Cunningham (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p.
+340), is 1518.
+
+19. Humâyûn was son of Bâbur, and father of Akbar the Great. His
+first reign lasted from A.D. 1530 to 1540; his second brief reign of
+less than six months was terminated by an accident in January A.D.
+1556. The correct date of the surrender of Gwâlior to Shêr Shâh was
+A.D. 1542, corresponding to A.H. 949 (_A. S .R._, vol. ii, p. 393),
+which year began 17th April, 1542.
+
+20. Shêr Khan is generally known as Shêr (or Shîr) Shâh. A good
+summary of his career from A.D. 1528 to his death in A.D. 1545 (A.H.
+934 to 952) is given by Thomas (op. cit. p. 393). He struck coins at
+Gwâlior in A.H. 950, 951, 952 (ibid. p. 403).
+
+21. Gohad lies between Etawah (Itâwâ) and Gwâlior, twenty-eight miles
+north-east of the latter. The chief, originally an obscure Jât
+landholder, rose to power during the confusion of the eighteenth
+century, and allied himself with the British in 1789 (Thornton,
+_Gazetteer_, s.v. 'Gohad').
+
+22. This memorable exploit was performed during Warren Hastings's war
+with the Marâthâs, Sir Eyre Coote being Commander-in-Chief. Captain
+Popham first stormed the fort of Lahar, a stronghold west of Kâlpî
+(Calpee), and then, by a cleverly arranged escalade, captured 'with
+little trouble and small loss' the Gwâlior fortress, which was
+garrisoned by a thousand men, and commonly supposed to be
+impregnable. 'Captain Popham was rewarded for his gallant services by
+being promoted to the rank of Major' (Thornton, _The History of the
+British Empire in India_, 2nd ed., 1859, p. 149). 'It is said that
+the spot (for escalade) was pointed out to Popham by a cowherd, and
+that the whole of the attacking party were supplied with grass shoes
+to prevent them from slipping on the ledges of rock. There is a story
+also that the cost of these grass shoes was deducted from Popham's
+pay when he was about to leave India as a Major-General, nearly a
+quarter of a century afterwards' (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 340).
+
+23. James Bruce, 'the celebrated traveller', was Consul at Algiers.
+He explored Tripoli, Tunis, Syria, and Egypt, and travelled in
+Abyssinia from November 1769 to December 1771. He returned to Egypt
+by the Nile, arriving at Cairo in January 1773. His travels were
+published in 1790. He died in 1794.
+
+24. The Sindhia family of Gwâlior was founded by Rânojî Sindhia, a
+man of humble origin, in the service of the Peshwâ. Rânojî died about
+A.D. 1750, and was succeeded by one of his natural sons, Mâhâdajî
+(corruptly Mahdaju, &c.) Sindhia, whose turbulent and chequered
+career lasted till 1794, when he was succeeded by his grand-nephew,
+Daulat Râo. The Marâthâ power under Daulat Râo was broken in 1803, by
+Sir Arthur Wellesley at Assaye and Argaum, and by Lord Lake at
+Laswârî. Mâhâdajî's career is treated fully by Grant Duff, _A History
+of the Mahrattas_ (1826 and reprint). Mr. H. G. Keene in his little
+book (_Rulers of India_, Oxford, 1892) erroneously gives the chiefs
+name as 'Mâdhava Rao'. The anthor's 'Mâdhojî' also is wrong.
+
+25. It is impossible within the limits of a note to give an account
+of the extraordinary career of General De Boigne. His Indian
+adventures began in 1778, and terminated in September 1796, when he
+retired from Sindhia's service, and sold his private regiment of
+Persian cavalry, six hundred strong, to Lord Cornwallis, on behalf of
+the East India Company, for three lakhs of rupees (about £30,000). He
+settled in his native town, Chambéri in Savoy, and lived, in the
+enjoyment of his great wealth, and of high honours conferred by the
+sovereigns of France and Italy, until 21st June, 1830. He was created
+a Count, and was succeeded in the title by his son. See G. M.
+Raymond, _Mémoire sur la Carrière Militaire et Politique de M. le
+Général Comte de Boigne, 2ième_ ed., Chambéry, 1830. Nine chapters of
+Mr. Herbert Compton's book, _A Particular Account of European
+Military Adventurers of Hindustan_ (London, 1892), are devoted to De
+Boigne.
+
+26. The cession of Gohad to Sindhia, sanctioned in the year 1805,
+during the brief and inglorious second term of office of Lord
+Cornwallis, was effected by Sir George Barlow. The transaction is
+severely censured by Thornton (_History_, p. 343) as a breach of
+faith. Gwâlior was given up to Sindhia along with Gohad. In January
+1844, shortly after the battle of Maharâjpur, Gwâlior was again
+occupied by the forces of the Company, and the fortress (save for the
+Mutiny period) continued in British occupation until the 2nd December
+1885, when Lord Dufferin restored it to Sindhia in exchange for
+Jhânsî. In June 1857 the Gwâlior soldiery mutinied and massacred the
+Europeans, but the Maharâjâ remained throughout loyal to the English
+Government.
+
+Sir Hugh Rose recaptured the place by assault on the 28th June 1858.
+In the changed circumstances of the country, and with regard to the
+modern developments of the art of war, the Gwâlior fortress is now of
+slight military value.
+
+27. The territory of the Dholpur chief is about fifty-four miles long
+by twenty-three broad. The town of Dholpur is nearly midway between
+Agra and Gwâlior. The revenue is estimated by Thornton (1858) as
+seven lâkhs, not only three lâkhs as stated by the author. It was
+about eight lâkhs in 1904 (_I.G._, 1908).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 37
+
+
+ Content for Empire between the Sons of Shâh Jahân.
+
+Under the Emperors of Delhi the fortress of Gwâlior was always
+considered as an imperial State prison, in which they confined those
+rivals and competitors for dominion whom they did not like to put to
+a violent death. They kept a large menagerie, and other things, for
+their amusement. Among the best of the princes who ended their days
+in this great prison was Sulaimân Shikoh, the eldest son of the
+unhappy Dârâ.[1] A narrative of the contest for empire between the
+four sons of Shâh Jahân may, perhaps, prove both interesting and
+instructive; and, as I shall have occasion, in the course of my
+rambles, to refer to the characters who figured in it, I shall
+venture to give it a place. . . .[2]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. 'The prisons of Gwâlior are situated in a small outwork on the
+western side of the fortress, immediately above the Dhondha gateway.
+They are called "nau chaukî", or "the nine cells", and are both well
+lighted and well ventilated. But in spite of their height, from
+fifteen to twenty-six feet, they must be insufferably close in the
+hot season. These were the State prisons in which Akbar confined his
+rebellious cousins, and Aurangzêb the troublesome sons of Dârâ and
+Murâd, as well as his own more dangerous son Muhammad. During these
+times the fort was strictly guarded, and no one was allowed to enter
+without a pass' (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 369), Sulaimân Shikoh, whom
+Manucci credits with 'all the gifts of nature', was poisoned at
+Gwâlior early in the reign of Aurangzêb, by order of that monarch,
+paternal uncle of the victim (Irvine, _Storia do Mogor_, i. 380). The
+author, following Bernier, always calls Shâhjahân's eldest son simply
+Dârâ. His name really was Dârâ Shikoh (or Shukoh), meaning 'in
+splendour like Darius'.
+
+2. The following twelve chapters contain an historical piece, to the
+personages and events of which the author will have frequent occasion
+to refer; and it is introduced in this place from its connexion with
+Gwâlior, the State prison in which some of its actors ended their
+days. [W. H. S.]
+
+The 'historical piece' which occupies chapters 37 to 46, inclusive of
+the author's text is little more than a paraphrase of _The History of
+the Late Rebellion in the States of the Great Mogol_ by Bernier, as
+the disquisition is called in Brock's translation. Mr. A. Constable's
+revised and annotated translation of Bernier's work (Constable and
+Co., 1891; reprinted with corrections. Oxford University Press, 1914)
+renders superfluous the reprinting of Sleeman's paraphrase, which
+would require much correction and comment before it could be
+presented to readers of the present day. The main facts of the
+narrative are, moreover, now easily accessible in the histories of
+Elphinstone and innumerable other writers. Such explanations as may
+be required to elucidate allusions to the excised portion in the
+later chapters of the anthor's work will be found in the notes. The
+titles of the chapters which have not been reprinted follow here for
+facility of reference.
+
+
+CHAPTER 38
+
+Aurangzêb and Murâd Defeat their Father's Army near Ujain.
+
+
+CHAPTER 39
+
+Dârâ Marches in Person against his Brothers, and is Defeated.
+
+
+CHAPTER 40
+
+Dârâ Retreats towards Lahore--Is robbed by the Jâts--Their Character.
+
+
+CHAPTER 41
+
+Shâh Jahân Imprisoned by his Two Sons, Aurangzêb and Murâd.
+
+
+CHAPTER 42
+
+Aurangzêb Throws off the Mask, Imprisons his Brother Murâd, and
+Assumes the Government of the Empire.
+
+
+CHAPTER 43
+
+Aurangzêb Meets Shujâ in Bengal and Defeats him, after Pursuing Dârâ
+to the Hyphasis.
+
+
+CHAPTER 44
+
+Aurangzêb Imprisons his Eldest Son--Shujâ and all his Family are
+Destroyed.
+
+
+CHAPTER 45
+
+Second Defeat and Death of Dârâ, and Imprisonment of his Two Sons.
+
+
+CHAPTER 46
+
+Death and Character of Amîr Jumla,
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 47
+
+
+Reflections on the Preceding History.
+
+The contest for the empire of India here described is very like that
+which preceded it, between the sons of Jahângîr, in which Shâh Jahân
+succeeded in destroying all his brothers and nephews; and that which
+succeeded it, forty years after,[1] in which Mu'azzam, the second of
+the four sons of Aurangzêb, did the same;[2] and it may, like the
+rest of Indian history, teach us a few useful lessons. First, we
+perceive the advantages of the law of primogeniture, which accustoms
+people to consider the right of the eldest son as sacred, and the
+conduct of any man who attempts to violate it as criminal. Among
+Muhammadans, property, as well real as personal, is divided equally
+among the sons;[3] and their Korân, which is their only civil and
+criminal, as well as religions, code, makes no provision for the
+successions to sovereignty. The death of every sovereign is, in
+consequence, followed by a contest between his sons, unless they are
+overawed by some paramount power; and he who succeeds in this contest
+finds it necessary, for his own security, to put all his brothers and
+nephews to death, lest they should be rescued by factions, and made
+the cause of future civil wars. But sons, who exercise the powers of
+viceroys and command armies, cannot, where the succession is
+unsettled, wait patiently for the natural death of their father--
+delay may be dangerous. Circumstances, which now seem more favourable
+to their views than to those of their brothers, may alter; the
+military aristocracy depend upon the success of the chief they choose
+in the enterprise, and the army more upon plunder than regular pay;
+both may desert the cause of the more wary for that of the more
+daring; each is flattered into an overweening confidence in his own
+ability and good fortune; and all rush on to seize upon the throne
+yet filled by their wretched parent, who, in the history of his own
+crimes, now reads those of his children. Gibbon has justly observed
+(chap. 7): 'the superior prerogative of birth, when it has obtained
+the sanction of time and popular opinion, is the plainest and least
+invidious of all distinctions among mankind. The acknowledged right
+extinguishes the hopes of faction; and the conscious security disarms
+the cruelty of the monarch. To the firm establishment of this idea we
+owe the peaceful succession and mild administration of European
+monarchies. To the defect of it we must attribute the frequent civil
+wars through which an Asiatic despot is obliged to cut his way to the
+throne of his fathers. Yet, even in the East, the sphere of
+contention is usually limited to the princes of the reigning house;
+and, as soon as the fortunate competitor has removed his brethren by
+the sword and the bowstring, he no longer entertains any jealousy of
+his meaner subjects.'
+
+Among Hindoos, both real and personal property is divided in the same
+manner equally among the sons;[4] but a principality is, among them,
+considered as an exception to this rule; and every large estate,
+within which the proprietor holds criminal jurisdiction, and
+maintains a military establishment, is considered a principality. In
+such cases the law of primogeniture is rigorously enforced; and the
+death of the prince scarcely ever involves a contest for power and
+dominion between his sons. The feelings of the people, who are
+accustomed to consider the right of the eldest son to the succession
+as religiously sacred, would be greatly shocked at the attempt of any
+of his brothers to invade it. The younger brothers, never for a
+moment supposing they could be supported in such a sacrilegious
+attempt, feel for their eldest brother a reverence inferior only to
+that which they feel for their father; and the eldest brother, never
+supposing such attempts on their part as possible, feels towards them
+as towards his own children. All the members of such a family
+commonly live in the greatest harmony.[5] In the laws, usages, and
+feelings of the people upon this subject we had the means of
+preventing that eternal subdivision of landed property, which ever
+has been, and ever will be, the bane of everything that is great and
+good in India; but, unhappily, our rulers have never had the wisdom
+to avail themselves of them. In a great part of India the property,
+or the lease of a _village_ held in farm under Government, was
+considered as a _principality_, and subject strictly to the same laws
+of primogeniture--it was a _fief_, held under Government on condition
+of either direct service, rendered to the State in war, in education,
+or charitable or religions duties, or of furnishing the means, in
+money or in kind, to provide for such service. In every part of the
+Sâgar and Nerbudda Territories the law of primogeniture in such
+leases was in force when we took possession, and has been ever since
+preserved.[6] The eldest of the sons that remain united with the
+father, at his death, succeeds to the estate, and to the obligation
+of maintaining all the widows and orphan children of those of his
+brothers who remained united to their parent stock up to their death,
+all his unmarried sisters, and, above all, his mother. All the
+younger brothers aid him in the management, and are maintained by him
+till they wish to separate, when a division of the stock takes place,
+and is adjusted by the elders of the village. The member, who thus
+separates from the parent stock, from that time forfeits for ever all
+claims to support from the possessor of the ancestral estate, either
+for himself, his widow, or his orphan children.[7]
+
+Next, it is obvious that no existing Government in India could, in
+case of invasion or civil war, count upon the fidelity of their
+aristocracy either of land or of office. It is observed by Hume, in
+treating of the reign of King John in England, that 'men easily
+change sides in a civil war, especially where the power is founded
+upon an hereditary and independent authority, and is not derived from
+the opinion and favour of the people'--that is, upon the people
+collectively or the nation; for the hereditary and independent
+authority of the English baron in the time of King John was founded
+upon the opinion and fidelity of only that portion of the people over
+which he ruled, in the same manner as that of the Hindoo chiefs of
+India in the time of Shâh Jahân; but it was without reference either
+to the honesty of the cause he espoused, or to the opinion and
+feeling of the nation or empire generally regarding it. The Hindoo
+territorial chiefs, like the feudal barons of the Middle Ages in
+Europe, employed all the revenues of their estates in the maintenance
+of military followers, upon whose fidelity they could entirely rely,
+whatever side they might themselves take in a civil war; and the more
+of these resources that were left at their disposal, the more
+impatient they became of the restraints which settled governments
+imposed upon them. Under such settled governments they felt that they
+had an _arm_ which they could not use; and the stronger that arm, the
+stronger was their desire to use it in the subjugation of their
+neighbours. The reigning emperors tried to secure their fidelity by
+assigning to them posts of honour about their court that required
+their personal attendance in all their pomp of pride; and by taking
+from each a daughter in marriage. If any one rebelled or neglected
+his duties, he was either crushed by the imperial forces, or put to
+the _ban of the empire_', and his territories were assigned to any
+one who would undertake to conquer them.[8] Their attendance at our
+viceroyal court would be a sad encumbrance;[9] and our Governor-
+General could not well conciliate them by matrimonial alliances,
+unless we were to alter a good deal in their favour our law against
+polygamy; nor would it be desirable to 'let slip the dogs of war'
+once more throughout the land by adopting the plan of putting the
+refractory chiefs to the ban of the empire. Their troops would be of
+no use to us in the way they are organized and disciplined, even if
+we could rely upon their fidelity in time of need; and this I do not
+think we ever can.[10]
+
+If it be the duty of all such territorial chiefs to contribute to the
+support of the public establishments of the paramount power by which
+they are secured in the possession of their estates, and defended
+from all external danger, as it most assuredly is, it is the duty of
+that power to take such contribution in money, or the means of
+maintaining establishments more suited to its purpose than their rude
+militia can ever be; and thereby to impair the _powers_ of that arm
+which they are so impatient to wield for their own aggrandizement,
+and to the prejudice of their neighbours; and to strengthen that of
+the paramount power by which the whole are kept in peace, harmony,
+and security. We give to India what India never had before our rule,
+and never could have without it, the assurance that there will always
+be at the head of the Government a sensible ruler trained up to
+office in the best school in the world; and that the security of the
+rights, and the enforcement of the duties, presented or defined by
+law, will not depend upon the will or caprice of individuals in
+power. These assurances the people in India now everywhere thoroughly
+understand and appreciate. They see in the native states around them
+that the lucky accident of an able governor is too rare ever to be
+calculated upon; while all that the people have of property, office,
+or character, depends not only upon their governor, but upon every
+change that he may make in his ministers.
+
+The government of the Muhammadans was always essentially military,
+and the aristocracy was always one of military office. There was
+nothing else upon which an aristocracy could be formed. All high
+civil offices were combined with the military commands. The emperor
+was the great proprietor of all the lands, and collected and
+distributed their rents through his own servants. Every Musalmân with
+his Korân in his hand was his own priest and his own lawyer; and the
+people were nowhere represented in any municipal or legislative
+assembly--there was no bar, bench, senate, corporation, art, science,
+or literature by which men could rise to eminence and power. Capital
+had nowhere been concentrated upon great commercial or manufacturing
+establishments. There were, in short, no great men but the military
+servants of Government; and all the servants of Government held their
+posts at the will and pleasure of their sovereign.[11]
+
+If a man was appointed by the emperor to the command of five
+thousand, the whole of this five thousand depended entirely on his
+favour for their employment, and upon their employment for their
+subsistence, whether paid from the imperial treasury, or by an
+assignment of land in some distant province.[12] In our armies there
+is a regular gradation of rank; and every officer feels that he holds
+his commission by a tenure as high in origin, as secure in
+possession, and as independent in its exercise, as that of the
+general who commands; and the soldiers all know and feel that the
+places of those officers, who are killed or disabled in action, will
+be immediately filled by those next in rank, who are equally trained
+to command, and whose authority none will dispute. In the Muhammadan
+armies there was no such gradation of rank. Every man held his office
+at the will of the chief whom he followed, and he was every moment
+made to feel that all his hopes of advancement must depend upon his
+pleasure. The relation between them was that of patron and client;
+the client felt bound to yield implicit obedience to the commands of
+his patron, whatever they might be; and the patron, in like manner,
+felt bound to protect and promote the interests of his client, as
+long as he continued to do so. As often as the patron changed sides
+in a civil war, his clients all blindly followed him; and when he was
+killed, they instantly dispersed to serve under any other leader whom
+they might find willing to take their services on the same terms.
+
+The Hindoo chiefs of the military class had hereditary territorial
+possessions; and the greater part of these possessions were commonly
+distributed on conditions of military service among their followers,
+who were all of the same clan. But the highest Muhammadan officers of
+the empire had not an acre more of land than they required for their
+dwelling-houses, gardens, and cemeteries. They had nothing but their
+office to depend upon, and were always naturally anxious to hold it
+under the strongest side in any competition for dominion. When the
+star of the competitor under whom they served seemed to be on the
+wane, they soon found some plausible excuse to make their peace with
+his rival, and serve under his banners. Each competitor fought for
+his own life, and those of his children; the imperial throne could be
+filled by only one man; and that man dared not leave one single
+brother alive. His father had taken good care to dispose of all his
+own brothers and nephews in the last contest. The subsistence of the
+highest, as well as that of the lowest, officer in the army depended
+upon their employment in the public service, and all such employments
+would be given to those who served the victor in the struggle. Under
+such circumstances one is rather surprised that the history of civil
+wars in India exhibits so many instances of fidelity and devotion.
+
+The mass of the people stood aloof in such contests without any
+feeling of interest, save the dread that their homes might become the
+seat of the war, or the tracks of armies which were alike destructive
+to the people in their course whatever side they might follow. The
+result could have no effect upon their laws and institutions, and
+little upon their industry and property. As ships are from necessity
+formed to weather the storms to which they are constantly liable at
+sea, so were the Indian village communities framed to weather those
+of invasion and civil war, to which they were so much accustomed by
+land; and, in the course of a year or two, no traces were found of
+ravages that one might have supposed it would have taken ages to
+recover from. The lands remained the same, and their fertility was
+improved by the fallow; every man carried away with him the
+implements of his trade, and brought them back with him when he
+returned; and the industry of every village supplied every necessary
+article that the community required for their food, clothing,
+furniture, and accommodation. Each of these little communities, when
+left unmolested, was in itself sufficient to secure the rights and
+enforce the duties of all the different members; and all they wanted
+from their government was moderation in the land taxes, and
+protection from external violence. Arrian says: 'If any intestine war
+happens to break forth among the Indians, it is deemed a heinous
+crime either to seize the husbandmen or spoil their harvest. All the
+rest wage war against each other, and kill and slay as they think
+convenient, while they live quietly and peaceably among them, and
+employ themselves at their rural affairs either in their fields or
+vineyards.'[13] I am afraid armies were not much more disposed to
+forbearance in the days of Alexander than at present, and that his
+followers must have supposed they remained untouched, merely because
+they heard of their sudden rise again from their ruins by that spirit
+of moral and political vitality with which necessity seems to have
+endowed them.[14]
+
+During the early part of his life and reign, Aurangzêb was employed
+in conquering and destroying the two independent kingdoms of Golconda
+and Bîjâpur in the Deccan, which he formed into two provinces
+governed by viceroys. Each had had an army of above a hundred
+thousand men while independent. The officers and soldiers of these
+armies had nothing but their courage and their swords to depend upon
+for their subsistence. Finding no longer any employment under settled
+and legitimate authority in defending the life, property, and
+independence of the people, they were obliged to seek it around the
+standards of lawless freebooters; and upon the ruins of these
+independent kingdoms and their disbanded armies rose the Marâthâ
+power, the hydra-headed monster which Aurangzêb thus created by his
+ambition, and spent the last twenty years of his life in vain
+attempts to crush.[15] The monster has been since crushed by being
+deprived of its Peshwâ, the head which alone could infuse into all
+the members of the confederacy a feeling of nationality, and direct
+all their efforts, when required, to one common object. Sindhia, the
+chief of Gwâlior, is one of the surviving members of this great
+confederacy--the rest are the Holkars of Indore, the Bhônslâs of
+Nâgpur, and the Gaikwârs of Barodâ,[16] the grandchildren of the
+commandants of predatory armies, who formed capital cities out of
+their standing camps in the countries they invaded and conquered in
+the name of their head, the Sâtârâ Râjâ,[17] and afterwards in that
+of his mayor of the palace, the Peshwâ. There is not now the
+slightest feeling of nationality left among the Marâthâ States,
+either collectively or individually.[18] There is not the slightest
+feeling of sympathy between the mass of the people and the chief who
+rules over them, and his public establishments. To maintain these
+public establishments he everywhere plunders the people, who most
+heartily detest him and them. These public establishments are
+composed of men of all religions and sects, gathered from all
+quarters of India, and bound together by no common feeling, save the
+hope of plunder and promotion. Not one in ten is from, or has his
+family in, the country where he serves, nor is one in ten of the same
+clan with his chief. Not one of them has any hope of a provision
+either for himself, when disabled from wounds or old age from serving
+his chief any longer, or for his family, should he lose his life in
+his service.
+
+In India[19] there are a great many native chiefs who were enabled,
+during the disorders which attended the decline and fall of the
+Muhammadan power and the rise and progress of the Marâthâs and
+English, to raise and maintain armies by the plunder of their
+neighbours. The paramount power of the British being now securely
+established throughout the country, they are prevented from indulging
+any longer in such sporting propensities; and might employ their vast
+revenues in securing the blessing of good civil government for the
+territories in the possession of which they are secured by our
+military establishment. But these chiefs are not much disposed to
+convert their swords into ploughshares; they continue to spend their
+revenues on useless military establishments for purposes of parade
+and show. A native prince would, they say, be as insignificant
+without an army as a native gentleman upon an elephant without a
+cavalcade, or upon a horse without a tail. But the said army have
+learnt from their forefathers that they were to look to aggressions
+upon their neighbours--to pillage, plunder, and conquest, for wealth
+and promotion; and they continue to prevent their prince from
+indulging in any disposition to turn his attention to the duties of
+civil government. They all live in the hope of some disaster to the
+paramount power which secures the increasing wealth of the
+surrounding countries from their grasp; and threatened innovations
+from the north-west raise their spirits and hopes in proportion as
+they depress those of the classes engaged in all branches of peaceful
+industry.
+
+There are, in all parts of India, thousands and tens of thousands who
+have lived by the sword, or who wish to live by the sword, but cannot
+find employment suited to their tastes. These would all flock to the
+standard of the first lawless chief who could offer them a fair
+prospect of plunder; and to them all wars and rumours of war are
+delightful. The moment they hear of a threatened invasion from the
+north-west, they whet their swords, and look fiercely around upon
+those from whose breasts they are 'to cut their pound of flesh'.[20]
+
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. 'Fifty years after' would be more nearly correct. Aurangzêb wa
+crowned 23rd July, 1658, according to the author. See end of next
+note.
+
+2. On the death of Aurangzêb, which took place in the Deccan, on the
+3rd of March, 1707 (N.S.), his son 'Azam marched at the head of the
+troops which he commanded in the Deccan, to meet Mu'azzam, who was
+viceroy in Kabul. They met and fought near Agra. 'Azam was defeated
+and killed. The victor marched to meet his other brother, Kâm Baksh,
+whom he killed near Hyderabad in the Deccan, and secured to himself
+the empire. On his death, which took place in 1713, his four sons
+contended in the same way for the throne at the head of the armies of
+their respective viceroyalties. Mu'izz-ud-dîn, the most crafty,
+persuaded his two brothers, Rafî-ash-Shân and Jahân Shâh, to unite
+their forces with his own against their ambitions brother, Azîm-ash-
+Shân, whom they defeated and killed, Mu'izz-ud-dîn then destroyed his
+two allies. [W. H. S.]
+
+The above note is not altogether accurate. 'Azam, the third son of
+Aurangzêb, was killed in battle near Agra, in June 1707. During the
+interval between Aurangzêb's death and his own, he had struck coins.
+Mu'azzam, the second, and eldest then surviving son, after the defeat
+of his rival, ascended the throne under the title of Shâh Âlam
+Bahâdur Shâh, and is generally known as Bahâdur Shâh. He was then
+sixty-four years of age, his father having been eighty-seven years
+old when he died. The events following the death of Bahâdur Shâh are
+narrated as follows by Mr. Lane-Poole; 'The Deccan was the weakest
+point in the empire from the beginning of the reign. Hardly had
+Bahâdur appointed his youngest brother, Kâm Baksh ('Wish-fulfiller'),
+viceroy of Bîjâpur and Haidarâbâd, when that infatuated prince
+rebelled and committed such atrocities that the Emperor was compelled
+to attack him. Zû-l-Fikâr engaged and defeated the rebel king (who
+was striking coins in full assumption of sovereignty) near
+Haidarâbâd, and Kâm Baksh died of his wounds (1708, A.H. 1120).
+
+
+'In the midst of this confusion, and surrounded by portents of coming
+disruption, Bahâdur died, 1712 (1124). He left four sons, who
+immediately entered with the zest of their race upon the struggle for
+the crown. The eldest, 'Azîm-ash-Shân ("Strong of Heart"), first
+assumed the sceptre, but Zû-l-Fikâr, the prime minister, opposed and
+routed him, and the prince was drowned in his flight. The successful
+general next defeated and slew two other brothers, Khujistah Akhtâr
+Jahân-Shâh and Rafî-ash-Shân, and placed the surviving of the four
+sons of Bahâdur [i.e. Mu'izz-ud-dîn] on the throne with the title of
+Jahândâr ("World-owner"). The new Emperor was an irredeemable
+poltroon and an abandoned debauchee.' (_The History of the Moghul
+Emperors of Hindustan illustrated by their Coins_, Constable, 1892,
+and in Introd. to _B. M. Catal. of Moghul Emperors_, same date.)
+
+He was killed in 1713, and was succeeded by Farrukh-sîyar, the son of
+Azîm-ush-Shân. The chronology is as follows:-
+
+ No. Sovereign. A.H. A.D.
+ VI. Aurangzêb Âlamgîr, Muhayî-ud-dîn . 1068 1658
+ ['Azam Shâh . . . . . 1118 1707
+ Kâm Baksh . . . . . 1119-20 1708]
+ VII. Bahâdur Shâh-'Âlam, Kutb-ud-dîn . . 1119 1707
+ VIII. Jahândâr Shâh, Mu'izz-ud-dîn . . 1124 1713
+ IX. Farrukhsîyar . . . . . 1124 1713
+
+The question concerning the exact date from which the beginning of
+Aurangzêb's reign should be reckoned is obscured by the conflict of
+authorities and has given rise to much discussion. The results may be
+stated briefly as follow:--
+
+Aurangzêb formally took possession of the throne in a garden outside
+Delhi on the 1st Zû'l Q'adah, A.H. 1068, July 31, A.D. 1658, but
+subsequently orders were passed to antedate the beginning of the
+reign to 1st Ramazân in the same year, equivalent to June 2, 1658.
+After the destruction of Shâh Shujâ, Aurangzêb returned to Delhi in
+May, A.D. 1659, and was again enthroned with full ceremonial on June
+15, 1659 (= A.H. 1069). Some authors consequently assume the
+accession to have taken place in 1659. But the reign certainly began
+in A.D. 1658, and should be reckoned as running from the official
+date, June 2 of that year. The dates given above are in New Style
+(N.S.). If recorded in Old Style (O.S.) they would be ten days
+earlier. (See Irvine and Hoernle in _J.A.S.B._, Part I, vol. lxii
+(1893), pp. 256-67; and Irvine, in _Ind. Ant._, vol. xl (1911), pp.
+74, 75.)
+
+3. The author invariably ignores the fact that daughters and other
+female relatives inherit under Muhammadan law.
+
+4. Hindoo law does not ordinarily recognize any right of succession
+for daughters, and so differs essentially from the law of Islam. The
+exceptions to this general rule are unimportant.
+
+5. The experience of most officials does not confirm this statement.
+
+6. The statement now requires modification. After the Central
+Provinces were constituted in 1861, the principle of succession by
+primogeniture was maintained only in the Hoshangâbâd, Chhindwâra,
+Chândâ, and Chhattîsgarh Districts. But even there the legal effect
+of the restrictions on alienation and partition is 'not quite free
+from doubt' (_I.G._ 1908, x. 73). The tendency of the law courts is
+to apply everywhere uniform rules taken from the Hindoo law books.
+
+7. 'See _ante_, Chapter 10, notes 10, 16. The gradual conversion of
+tenure by leases from Government into proprietary right in land has
+brought the land under the operation of the ordinary Hindoo law, and
+each member of a joint family can now enforce partition of the land
+as well as of the stock upon it. The evils resulting from incessant
+partition are obvious, but no remedy can be devised. The people
+insist on partition, and will effect it privately, if the law imposes
+obstacles to a formal public division.
+
+8. These remarks attribute too much System to the disorderly working
+of an Asiatic despotism. No institution resembling the formal 'ban of
+the empire' ever really existed in India.
+
+9. The Râjâs at Simla might now be considered by some people as an
+encumbrance.
+
+10. The author could not foresee the gallant service to be rendered
+by the Chiefs of the Panjâb and other territories in the Mutiny, nor
+the institution of the Imperial Service Troops. Those troops, first
+organized in 1888, in response to the voluntary offers made by many
+princes as a reply to the Russian aggression on Panjdeh, are select
+bodies, picked from the soldiery of certain native states, and
+equipped and drilled in the European manner. Cashmere (Kâshmîr) and
+many States in the Panjâb and elsewhere furnish troops of this kind,
+officered by local gentlemen, under the guidance of English
+inspecting officers. The Kâshmîr Imperial Service Troops did
+excellent service during the campaign of 1892 in Hunza and Nagar. the
+System so happily introduced is likely to be much further developed.
+In 1907 the authorized strength was a little over 18,000 (_I.G._, iv
+(1907), pp. 87, 373).
+
+11. 'In Rome, as in Egypt and India, many of the great works which,
+in modern nations, form the basis of gradations of rank in society,
+were executed by Government out of public revenue, or by individuals
+gratuitously for the benefit of the public; for instance, roads,
+canals, aqueducts, bridges, &c., from which no one derived an income,
+though all derived benefit. There was no capital invested, with a
+view to profit, in machinery, railroads, canals, steam-engines, and
+other great works which, in the preparation and distribution of man's
+enjoyments, save the labour of so many millions to the nations of
+modern Europe and America, and supply the incomes of many of the most
+useful and most enlightened members of their middle and higher
+classes of society. During the republic, and under the first
+emperors, the laws were simple, and few derived any considerable
+income from explaining them. Still fewer derived their incomes from
+expounding the religion of the people till the establishment of
+Christianity.
+
+Man was the principal machine in which property was invested with a
+view to profit, and the concentration of capital in hordes of slaves,
+and the farm of the public revenues of conquered provinces and
+tributary states, were, with the land, the great basis of the
+aristocracies of Rome, and the Roman world generally. The senatorial
+and equestrian orders were supported chiefly by lending out their
+slaves as gladiators and artificers, and by farming the revenues, and
+lending money to the oppressed subjects of the provinces, and to
+vanquished princes, at an exorbitant interest, to enable them to pay
+what the state or its public officers demanded. The slaves throughout
+the Roman empire were about equal in number to the free population,
+and they were for the most part concentrated in the hands of the
+members of the upper and middle classes, who derived their incomes
+from lending and employing them. They were to those classes in the
+old world what canals, railroads, steam-engines, &c., are to those of
+modern days. Some Roman citizens had as many as five thousand slaves
+educated to the one occupation of gladiators for the public shows of
+Rome. Julius Caesar had this number in Italy waiting his return from
+Gaul; and Gordianus used commonly to give five hundred pair for a
+public festival, and never less than one hundred and fifty.
+
+In India slavery is happily but little known;[a] the church had no
+hierarchy either among the Hindoos or Muhammadans; nor had the law
+any high interpreters. In all its civil branches of marriage,
+inheritance, succession, and contract, it was to the people of the
+two religions as simple as the laws of the twelve tables; and
+contributed just as little to the support of the aristocracy as they
+did. In all these respects, China is much the same; the land belongs
+to the sovereign, and is minutely subdivided among those who farm and
+cultivate it--the great works in canals, aqueducts, bridges, roads,
+&c., are made by Government, and yield no private income. Capital is
+nowhere concentrated in expensive machinery; their church is without
+a hierarchy, their law without barristers-their higher classes are
+therefore composed almost exclusively of the public servants of the
+Government. The rule which prescribes that princes of the blood shall
+not be employed in the government of provinces and the command of
+armies, and that the reigning sovereign shall have the nomination of
+his successor, has saved China from a frequent return of the scenes
+which I have described. None of the princes are put to death, because
+it is known that all will acquiesce in the nomination when made
+known, supported as it always is by the popular sentiment throughout
+the empire. [W. H. S.]
+
+a. the anthor's statement that in the year 1836 slavery was 'but
+little known in India' is a truly astonishing one. Slavery of various
+kinds--racial, predial, domestic--the slavery of captives, and of
+debtors, had existed in India from time immemorial, and still
+flourished in 1836. Slavery, so far as the law can abolish it, was
+abolished by the Indian Act v of 1843, but the final blow was not
+dealt until January l, 1862, when sections 370, &c., of the Indian
+Penal Code came into force. In practice, domestic servitude exists to
+this day in great Muhammadan households, and multitudes of
+agricultural labourers have a very dim consciousness of personal
+freedom. The Criminal Law Commissioners, who reported previous to the
+passage of Act v of 1843, estimated that in British India, as then
+constituted, the proportion of the slave to the free population
+varied from one-sixth to two-fifths. Sir Bartle Frere estimated the
+slave population of the territories included in British India in the
+year 1841 as being between eight and nine millions. Slaves were
+heritable and transferable property, and could be mortgaged or let
+out on hire. The article 'Slave' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_ (3rd ed.),
+from which most of the above particulars are taken, is copious, and
+gives references to various authorities. The following works may also
+be consulted: _The Law and Custom of Slavery in British India_, by
+William Adam, 8vo, 1840; _An Account of Slave Population in the
+Western Peninsula of India_, 1822, with an Appendix on Slavery in
+Malabar; _India's Cries to British Humanity_, by J. Peggs, 8vo, 1830;
+and _E.H.I._, 3rd ed. (1914), pp. 100, 178, 180, 441.
+
+12. In Akbar's time there were thirty-three grades of official rank,
+and the officers were known as 'commanders of ten thousand',
+'commanders of five thousand', and so on. Only princes of the blood
+royal were granted the commands of seven thousand and of ten
+thousand. The number of troopers actually provided by each officer
+did not correspond with the number indicated by his title. The graded
+officials were called _mansabdârs_, no clear distinction between
+civil and military duties being drawn (_The Emperor Akbar_, by Count
+Von Noer; translated by Annette S. Beveridge, Calcutta, 1890, vol. i,
+p. 267).
+
+13. Diodorus Siculus has the same observation. 'No enemy ever does
+any prejudice to the husbandmen; but, out of a due regard to the
+common good, forbear to injure them in the least degree; and,
+therefore, the land being never spoiled or wasted, yields its fruit
+in great abundance, and furnishes the inhabitants with plenty of
+victual and all other provisions.' Book II, chap. 3. [W. H. S.] These
+allegations certainly cannot be accepted as accurate statements of
+fact, however they may be explained. See _E.H.I._, 3rd ed. (1914), p.
+442.
+
+14. The rapid recovery of Indian villages and villagers from the
+effects of war does not need for its explanation the evocation of 'a
+spirit of moral and political vitality'. The real explanation is to
+be found in the simplicity of the village life and needs, as
+expounded by the author in the preceding passage. Human societies
+with a low standard of comfort and a simple scheme of life are, like
+individual organisms of lowly structure and few functions, hard to
+kill. Human labour, and a few cattle, with a little grain and some
+sticks, are the only essential requisites for the foundation or
+reconstruction of a village.
+
+15. Golconda was taken by Aurangzêb, after a protracted siege, in
+1677. Bîjâpur surrendered to him on the 15th October, 1686. The vast
+ruins of this splendid city, which was deserted after the conquest,
+occupy a space thirty miles in circumference. The town has partially
+recovered, and is now the head-quarters of a Bombay District, with
+about 24,000 inhabitants. Sivâjî, the founder of the Marâthâ power,
+died in 1680.
+
+16. The Indore and Barodâ States still survive, and the reigning
+chiefs of both have frequently visited England, and paid their
+respects to their Sovereign. Bhônslâ was the family name of the
+chiefs of Berâr, also known as the Râjâs of Nâgpur. The last Râjâ,
+Raghojî III, died in December 1853, leaving no child begotten or
+adopted. Lord Dalhousie annexed the State as lapsed, and his action
+was confirmed in 1864 by the Court of Directors and the Crown.
+
+17. The State of Sâtârâ, like that of Nâgpur, lapsed owing to failure
+of heirs, and was annexed in 1854. It is now a district in the Bombay
+Presidency.
+
+18. During the early years of the twentieth century a spirit of
+Marâthâ nationalism has been sedulously cultivated, with inconvenient
+results.
+
+19. This paragraph, and that next following, are, in the original
+edition, printed as part of Chapter 48, 'The Great Diamond of
+Kohinûr', with which they have nothing to do. They seem to belong
+properly to Chapter 47, and are therefore inserted here. The
+observations in both paragraphs are merely repetitions of remarks
+already recorded.
+
+20. It need hardly be said that these fire-eaters no longer exist.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 48
+
+
+The Great Diamond of Kohinûr.
+
+The foregoing historical episode occupies too large a space in what
+might otherwise be termed a personal narrative; but still I am
+tempted to append to it a sketch of the fortunes of that famous
+diamond, called with Oriental extravagance the Mountain of Light,
+which, by exciting the cupidity of Shâh Jahân, played so important a
+part in the drama.
+
+After slumbering for the greater part of a century in the imperial
+treasury, it was afterwards taken by Nâdir Shâh, the king of Persia,
+who invaded India under the reign of Muhammad Shâh, in the year
+1738.[1] Nadir Shâh, in one of his mad fits, had put out the eyes of
+his son, Razâ Kulî Mirzâ, and, when he was assassinated, the
+conspirators gave the throne and the diamond to this son's son,
+Shâhrukh Mirza, who fixed his residence at Meshed.[2] Ahmad Shâh, the
+Abdâlî, commanded the Afghân cavalry in the service of Nâdir Shâh,
+and had the charge of the military chest at the time he was put to
+death. With this chest, he and his cavalry left the camp during the
+disorders that followed the murder of the king, and returned with all
+haste to Kandahâr, where they met Tarîkî Khân, on his way to Nâdir
+Shâh's camp with the tribute of the five provinces which he had
+retained of his Indian conquests, Kandahâr, Kâbul, Tatta, Bakkar,
+Multân, and Peshâwar. They gave him the first news of the death of
+the king, seized upon his treasure, and, with the aid of this and the
+military chest, Ahmad Shâh took possession of these five provinces,
+and formed them into the little independent kingdom of Afghânistan,
+over which he long reigned, and from which he occasionally invaded
+India and Khurâsân.[3]
+
+Shâhrukh Mirzâ had his eyes put out some time after by a faction.
+Ahmad Shâh marched to his relief, put the rebels to death, and united
+his eldest son, Taimûr Shâh, in marriage to the daughter of the
+unfortunate prince, from whom he took the diamond, since it could be
+of no use to a man who could no longer see its beauties. He
+established Taimûr as his viceroy at Herât, and his youngest son at
+Kandahâr; and fixed his own residence at Kâbul, where he died.[4] He
+was succeeded by Taimûr Shâh, who was succeeded by his eldest son,
+Zamân Shâh, who, after a reign of a few years, was driven from his
+throne by his younger brother, Mahmûd. He sought an asylum with his
+friend Ashîk, who commanded a distant fortress, and who betrayed him
+to the usurper, and put him into confinement. He concealed the great
+diamond in a crevice in the wall of the room in which he was
+confined; and the rest of his jewels in a hole made in the ground
+with his dagger. As soon as Mahmûd received intimation of the arrest
+from Ashîk, he sent for his brother, had his eyes put out, and
+demanded the jewels, but Zamân Shâh pretended that he had thrown them
+into the river as he passed over. Two years after this, the third
+brother, the Sultân Shujâ, deposed Mahmûd, ascended the throne by the
+consent of his elder brother, and, as a fair specimen of his notions
+of retributive justice, he blew away from the mouths of cannon, not
+only Ashîk himself, but his wife and all his innocent and unoffending
+children.
+
+He intended to put out the eyes of his deposed brother, Mahmûd, but
+was dissuaded from it by his mother and Zamân Shâh, who now pointed
+out to him the place where he had concealed the great diamond. Mahmûd
+made his escape from prison, raised a party, drove out his brothers,
+and once more ascended the throne. The two brothers sought an asylum
+in the Honourable Company's territories; and have from that time
+resided at an out frontier station of Lûdiâna, upon the banks of the
+Hyphasis,[5] upon a liberal pension assigned for their maintenance by
+our Government. On their way through the territories of the Sikh
+chief, Ranjit Singh, Shujâ was discovered to have this great diamond,
+the Mountain of Light, about his person; and he was, by a little
+torture skilfully applied to the mind and body, made to surrender it
+to his generous host.[6] Mahmûd was succeeded in the government of
+the fortress and province of Herât by his son Kâmrân; but the throne
+of Kâbul was seized by the mayor of the palace, who bequeathed it to
+his son Dost Muhammad, a man, in all the qualities requisite in a
+sovereign, immeasurably superior to any member of the house of Ahmad
+Shâh Abdâlî. Ranjit Singh had wrested from him the province of
+Peshâwar in times of difficulty, and, as we would not assist him in
+recovering it from our old ally, he thought himself justified in
+seeking the aid of those who would, the Russians and Persians, who
+were eager to avail themselves of so fair an occasion to establish a
+footing in India. Such a footing would have been manifestly
+incompatible with the peace and security of our dominions in India,
+and we were obliged, in self-defence, to give to Shujâ the aid which
+he had so often before in vain solicited, to enable him to recover
+the throne of his very limited number of legal ancestors.[7]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Nâdir Shâh was crowned king of Persia in 1736, entered the Panjâb,
+at the close of 1738, and occupied Delhi in March 1739. Having
+perpetrated an awful massacre of the inhabitants, he retired after a
+stay of fifty-eight days, He was assassinated in May 1747.
+
+2. Meshed, properly Mashhad ('the place of martyrdom'), is the chief
+city of Khurâsân. Nâdir Shâh was killed while encamped there.
+
+3. Ahmad Shâh defeated the Marâthâs in the third great battle of
+Pânîpat, A.D. 1761. He had conquered the Panjâb in 1748. He invaded
+India five times.
+
+4. In 1773.
+
+5. Lûdiâna (misspelt 'Ludhiâna' in _I.G._, 1908) is named from the
+Lodî Afghâns, who founded it in 1481. The town is now the
+headquarters of the district of the same name under the Panjâb
+Government. Part of the district lapsed to the British Government in
+1836, other parts lapsed during the years 1846 and 1847, and the rest
+came from territory already British by rearrangement of jurisdiction.
+Hyphasis is the Greek name for the Biâs river.
+
+6. The above history of the Kohinûr may, I believe, be relied upon. I
+received a narrative of it from Shâh Zamân, the blind old king
+himself, through General Smith, who commanded the troops at Lûdiâna;
+forming a detail of the several revolutions too long and too full of
+new names for insertion here. [W. H. S.] The above note is, in the
+original edition, misplaced, and appended to two paragraphs of the
+text, which have no connexion with the story of the diamond, and
+really belong to Chapter 47, to which they have been removed in this
+edition.
+
+The author assumes the identity of the Kohinûr with the great diamond
+found in one of the Golconda mines, and presented by Amîr Jumla to
+Shâh Jahân. The much-disputed history of the Kohinûr has been
+exhaustively discussed by Valentine Ball (Tavernier's _Travels in
+India_: Appendix I (1), 'The Great Mogul's Diamond and the true
+History of the Koh-i-nur; and (2) 'Summary History of the Koh-i-
+nur'). He has proved that the Kohinûr is almost certainly the diamond
+given by Amîr (Mîr) Jumla to Shâh Jahân, though now much reduced in
+weight by mutilation and repeated cutting. Assuming the identity of
+the Kohinûr with Amîr Jumla's gift, the leading incidents in the
+history of this famous jewel are as follows;--
+
+ Event. Approximate
+ Date.
+ Found at mine of Kollûr on the Kistna (Krishna)
+ river . . . . . . . . .Not known
+ Presented to Shâh Jahân by Mîr Jumla, being
+ uncut, and weighing about 756 English carats 1656 or 1657
+ Ground by Hortensio Borgio, and greatly reduced
+ in weight . . . . . . . about 1657
+ Seen and weighed by Tavernier in Aurangzêb's
+ treasury, its weight being 268 19/50 English
+ carats . . . . . . . . . 1665
+ Taken by Nadir Shâh of Persia from Muhammad
+ Shâh of Delhi, and named Kohinûr . . . 1739
+ Inherited by Shâh Rukh, grandson of Nadir Shâh. . 1747
+ Given up by Shâh Rukh to Ahmad Shâh Abdâlî . . 1751
+ Inherited by Tîmûr, son of Ahmad Shâh . . . 1772
+ Inherited by Shâh Zamân, son of Tîmûr . . . 1793
+ Taken by Shâh Shujâ, brother of Shâh Zamân . . 1795
+ Taken by Ranjit Singh, of Lahore, from Shâh Shujâ . 1813
+ Inherited by Dilîp (Dhuleep) Singh,
+ reputed son of Ranjit Singh. . . . . 1839
+ Annexed, with the Panjâb, and passed, through
+ John Lawrence's waistcoat pocket
+ (see his _Life_), into the possession
+ of H.M. the Queen, its weight then being
+ 186 1/16 English carats . . . . . 1849
+ Exhibited at Great Exhibition in London . . . 1851
+ Recut under supervision of Messrs. Garrards, and
+ reduced in weight to 106 1/16 English carats . 1852
+
+The difference in weight between 268 19/50 carats in 1665 and 186
+1/16 carats in 1849 seems to be due to mutilation of the stone during
+its stay in Persia and Afghanistan.
+
+7. The policy of the first Afghan War has been, it is hardly
+necessary to observe, much disputed, and the author's confident
+defence of Lord Auckland's action cannot be accepted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 49
+
+
+Pindhârî System--Character of the Marâthâ Administration--Cause of
+their Dislike to the Paramount Power.
+
+The attempt of the Marquis of Hastings to rescue India from that
+dreadful scourge, the Pindhârî system, involved him in a war with all
+the great Marâthâ states, except Gwâlior; that is, with the Peshwâ at
+Pûnâ, Holkâr at Indore, and the Bhonslâ at Nâgpur; and Gwâlior was
+prevented from joining the other states in their unholy league
+against us only by the presence of the grand division of the army,
+under the personal command of the Marquis, in the immediate vicinity
+of his capital. It was not that these chiefs liked the Pindhârîs, or
+felt any interest in their welfare, but because they were always
+anxious to crush that rising paramount authority which had the power,
+and had always manifested the will, to interpose and prevent the free
+indulgence of their predatory habits--the free exercise of that
+weapon, a standing army, which the disorders incident upon the
+decline and fall of the Muhammadan army had put into their hands, and
+which a continued series of successful aggressions upon their
+neighbours could alone enable them to pay or keep under control. They
+seized with avidity any occasion of quarrel with the paramount power
+which seemed likely to unite them all in one great effort to shake it
+off; and they are still prepared to do the same, because they feel
+that they could easily extend their depredations if that power were
+withdrawn; and they know no other road to wealth and glory but such
+successful depredations. Their ancestors rose by them, their states
+were formed by them, and their armies have been maintained by them.
+They look back upon them for all that seems to them honourable in the
+history of their families. Their bards sing of them in all their
+marriage and funeral processions; and, as their imaginations kindle
+at the recollection, they detest the arm that is extended to defend
+the wealth and the industry of the surrounding territories from their
+grasp. As the industrious classes acquire and display their wealth in
+the countries around during a long peace, under a strong and settled
+government, these native chiefs, with their little disorderly armies,
+feel precisely as an English country gentleman would feel with a pack
+of foxhounds, in a country swarming with foxes, and without the
+privilege of hunting them.[1]
+
+Their armies always took the auspices and set out _kingdom taking_
+(mulk gîrî) after the Dasahra,[2] in November, as regularly as
+English gentlemen go partridge-shooting on the 1st of September; and
+I may here give, as a specimen, the excursion of Jean Baptiste
+Filose,[3] who sallied forth on such an expedition, at the head of a
+division of Sindhia's army, just before this Pindhârî war commenced.
+From Gwâlior he proceeded to Karaulî,[4] and took from that chief the
+district of Sabalgarh, yielding four lâkhs of rupees yearly.[5] He
+then took the territory of the Râjâ of Chandêrî,[6] Mor Pahlâd, one
+of the oldest of the Bundêlkhand chiefs, which then yielded about
+seven lâkhs of rupees,[7] but now yields only four. The Râjâ got an
+allowance of forty thousand rupees a year. He then took the
+territories of the Râjâs of Raghugarh and Bajranggarh,[8] yielding
+three lâkhs a year; and Bahâdurgarh, yielding two lâkhs a year;[9]
+and the three princes got fifty thousand rupees a year for
+subsistence among them. He then took Lopar, yielding two lâkhs and a
+half, and assigned the Râjâ twenty-five thousand. He then took Garhâ
+Kota,[10] whose chief gets subsistence from our Government. Baptiste
+had just completed his kingdom taking expedition, when our armies
+took the field against the Pindhârîs; and, on the termination of that
+war in 1817, all these acquisitions were confirmed and guaranteed to
+his master Sindhia by our Government. It cannot be supposed that
+either he or his army can ever feel any great attachment towards a
+paramount authority that has the power and the will to interpose, and
+prevent their indulging in such sporting excursions as these, or any
+great disinclination to take advantage of any occasion that may seem
+likely to unite all the native chiefs in a common effort to crush it.
+The Nepalese have the same feeling as the Marâthâs in a still
+stronger degree, since their kingdom-taking excursions had been still
+greater and more successful; and, being all soldiers from the same
+soil, they were easily persuaded, by a long series of successful
+aggressions, that their courage was superior to that of all other
+men.[11]
+
+In the year 1833, the Gwâlior territory yielded a net revenue to the
+treasury of ninety-two lâkhs of rupees, after discharging all the
+local costs of the civil and fiscal administration of the different
+districts, in officers, establishments, charitable institutions,
+religions endowments, military fiefs, &c.[12] In the remote
+districts, which are much infested by the predatory tribes of
+Bhîls,[13] and in consequence badly peopled and cultivated, the net
+revenue is estimated to be about one-third of the gross collections;
+but, in the districts near the capital, which are tolerably well
+cultivated, the net revenue brought to the treasury is about five-
+sixths of the gross collections; and these collections are equal to
+the whole annual rent of the land; for every man by whom the land is
+held or cultivated is a mere tenant at will, liable every season to
+be turned out, to give place to any other man that may offer more for
+the holding.
+
+There is nowhere to be seen upon the land any useful or ornamental
+work, calculated to attach the people to the soil or to their
+villages; and, as hardly any of the recruits for the regiments are
+drawn from the peasantry of the country, the agricultural classes
+have nowhere any feeling of interest in the welfare or existence of
+the government. I am persuaded that there is not a single village in
+all the Gwâlior dominions in which nine-tenths of the people would
+not be glad to see that government destroyed, under the persuasion
+that they could not possibly have a worse, and would be very likely
+to find a better.
+
+The present force at Gwâlior consists of three regiments of infantry,
+under Colonel Alexander; six under the command of Apâjî, the adopted
+son of the late Bâlâ Bâî;[14] eleven under Colonel Jacobs and his
+son; five under Colonel Jean Baptiste Filose; two under the command
+of the Mâmû Sâhib, the maternal uncle of the Mahârâjâ; three in what
+is called Bâbû Bâolî's camp; in all thirty regiments, consisting,
+when complete, of six hundred men each, with four field-pieces. The
+'Jinsî', or artillery, consists of two hundred guns of different
+calibre. There are but few corps of cavalry, and these are not
+considered very efficient, I believe.[15]
+
+Robbers and murderers of all descriptions have always been in the
+habit of taking the field in India immediately after the festival of
+the Dasahrâ,[16] at the end of October, from the sovereign of a state
+at the head of his armies, down to the leader of a little band of
+pickpockets from the corner of some obscure village. All invoke the
+Deity, and take the auspices to ascertain his will, nearly in the
+same way; and all expect that he will guide them successfully through
+their enterprises, as long as they find the omens favourable. No one
+among them ever dreams that his undertaking can be less acceptable to
+the Deity than that of another, provided he gives him the same due
+share of what he acquires in his thefts, his robberies, or his
+conquests, in sacrifices and offerings upon his shrines, and in
+donations to his priests.[17] Nor does the robber often dream that he
+shall be considered a less respectable citizen by the circle in which
+he moves than the soldier, provided he spends his income as
+liberally, and discharges all his duties in his relations with them
+as well; and this he generally does to secure their goodwill,
+whatever may be the character of his depredations upon distant
+circles of society and communities. The man who returned to Oudh, or
+Rohilkhand, after a campaign under a Pindhârî chief, was as well
+received as one who returned after serving one under Sindhia, Holkâr,
+or Ranjît Singh. A friend of mine one day asked a leader of a band of
+'dacoits', or banditti, whether they did not often commit murder.
+'God forbid', said he, 'that we should ever commit murder; but, if
+people choose to oppose us, we, of course, _strike and kill_; but you
+do the same. I hear that there is now a large assemblage of troops in
+the upper provinces going to take foreign countries; if they are
+opposed, they will kill people. We only do the same.'[18] The history
+of the rise of every nation in the world unhappily bears out the
+notion that princes are only robbers upon a large scale, till their
+ambition is curbed by a balance of power among nations.
+
+On the 25th[19] we came on to Dhamêlâ, fourteen miles, over a plain,
+with the range of sandstone hills on the left, receding from us to
+the west; and that on the right receding still more to the east. Here
+and there were some insulated hills of the same formation rising
+abruptly from the plain to our right. All the villages we saw were
+built upon masses of this sandstone rock, rising abruptly at
+intervals from the surface of the plain, in horizontal strata. These
+hillocks afford the people stone for building, and great facilities
+for defending themselves against the inroads of freebooters. There is
+not, I suppose, in the world a finer stone for building than these
+sandstone hills afford; and we passed a great many carts carrying
+them off to distant places in slabs or flags from ten to sixteen feet
+long, two to three feet wide, and six inches thick. They are white,
+with very minute pink spots, and of a texture so very fine that they
+would be taken for indurated clay on a slight inspection. The houses
+of the poorest peasants are here built of this beautiful freestone,
+which, after two hundred years, looks as if it had been quarried only
+yesterday.
+
+About three miles from our tents we crossed over the little river
+Ghorapachhâr,[20] flowing over a bed of this sandstone. The soil all
+the way very light, and the cultivation scanty and bad. Except within
+the enclosures of men's houses, scarcely a tree to be anywhere seen
+to give shelter and shade to the weary traveller; and we could find
+no ground for our camp with a shrub to shelter man or beast. All are
+swept away to form gun-carriages for the Gwâlior artillery, with a
+philosophical disregard to the comforts of the living, the repose of
+the dead who planted them with a view to a comfortable berth in the
+next world, and to the will of the gods to whom they are dedicated.
+There is nothing left upon the land of animal or vegetable life to
+enrich it; nothing of stock but what is necessary to draw from the
+soil an annual crop, and which looks to one harvest for its entire
+return. The sovereign proprietor of the soil lets it out by the year,
+in farms or villages, to men who depend entirely upon the year's
+return for the means of payment. He, in his turn, lets the lands in
+detail to those who till them, and who depend for their subsistence,
+and for the means of paying their rents, upon the returns of the
+single harvest. There is no manufacture anywhere to be seen, save of
+brass pots and rude cooking utensils; no trade or commerce, save in
+the transport of the rude produce of the land to the great camp at
+Gwâlior, upon the backs of bullocks, for want of roads fit for
+wheeled carriages. No one resides in the villages, save those whose
+labour is indispensably necessary to the rudest tillage, and those
+who collect the dues of government, and are paid upon the lowest
+possible scale. Such is the state of the Gwâlior territories in every
+part of India where I have seen them.[21] The miseries and misrule of
+the Oudh, Hyderabad, and other Muhammadan governments, are heard of
+everywhere, because there are, under these governments, a middle and
+higher class upon the land to suffer and proclaim them; but those of
+the Gwâlior state are never heard of, because no such classes are
+ever allowed to grow up upon the land. Had Russia governed Poland,
+and Turkey Greece, in the way that Gwâlior has governed her conquered
+territories, we should never have heard of the wrongs of the one or
+the other.
+
+In my morning's ride the day before I left Gwâlior, I saw a fine
+leopard standing by the side of the most frequented road, and staring
+at every one who passed. It was held by two men, who sat by and
+talked to it as if it had been a human being. I thought it was an
+animal for show, and I was about to give them something, when they
+told me that they were servants of the Mahârâjâ, and were training
+the leopard to bear the sight and society of man. 'It had', they
+said, 'been caught about three months ago in the jungles, where it
+could never bear the sight and society of man, or of any animal that
+it could not prey upon; and must be kept upon the most frequented
+road till quite tamed. Leopards taken when very young would', they
+said, 'do very well as pets, but never answered for hunting; a good
+leopard for hunting must, before taken, be allowed to be a season or
+two providing for himself, and living upon the deer he takes in the
+jungles and plains.'
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. For the characteristics of the Marâthâs and Pindhârîs, see _ante_,
+Chapter 21, note 2.
+
+2. _Ante_, Chapter 26, note 8, and Chapter 32, note 9.
+
+3. _Ante_, Chapter 17, note 6.
+
+4. A small principality, about seventy miles equidistant from Agra,
+Gwâlior, Mathurâ, Alwar, Jaipur, and Tonk. The attack on Karaulî
+occurred in 1813. Full details are given in the author's _Report on
+Budhuk alias Bagree Decoits_, pp. 99-104.
+
+5. Four hundred thousand rupees.
+
+6. _Ante_, Chapter 33, note 15.
+
+7. Seven hundred thousand rupees.
+
+8. Raghugarh is now a mediatized chiefship in the Central India
+Agency, controlled by the Resident at Gwâlior. Bajranggarh, a
+stronghold eleven miles south of Gûnâ (Goonah), and about 140 miles
+distant from Gwâlior, is in the Raghugarh territory.
+
+9. Three hundred thousand and two hundred thousand rupees,
+respectively. Bahâdurgarh is now included in the Isâgarh district of
+the Gwâlior State.
+
+10. I cannot find any mention of Lopar, if the name is correctly
+printed. Garhâ Kota seems to be a slip of the pen for Garhâ. Garhâ
+Kota is in British territory, in the Sâgar District, C. P. But Garhâ
+is a petty state, formerly included in the Raghugarh State. The town
+of Garhâ is on the eastern slope of the Mâlwâ plateau in 25° 2' N.
+and 78° 3' E. (_I.G._, 1908, s.v.).
+
+11. On the coronation or installation of every new prince of the
+house of Sindhia, orders are given to plunder a few shops in the town
+as a part of the ceremony, and this they call or consider 'taking the
+auspices'. Compensation is _supposed_ to be made to the proprietors,
+but rarely is made. I believe the same auspices are taken at the
+installation of a new prince of every other Marâthâ house. The Moghal
+invaders of India were, in the same manner, obliged to allow their
+armies to _take the auspices_ in the sack of a few towns, though they
+had surrendered without resistance. They were given up to pillage as
+a _religions duty_. Even the accomplished Bâbar was obliged to
+concede this privilege to his army. [W. H. S.]
+
+In reply to the editor's inquiries, Colonel Biddulph, officiating
+Resident at Gwâlior, has kindly communicated the following
+information on the subject of the above note, in a letter dated 30th
+December, 1892. 'The custom of looting some "Banias'" shops on the
+installation of a new Maharaja in Gwâlior is still observed. It was
+observed when the present Mâdho Râo Sindhia was installed on the
+_gadî_ on 3rd July, 1886, and the looting was stopped by the police
+on the owners of the shops calling out "Dohai Mâdho Mahârâjkî!" five
+shops were looted on the occasion, and compensation to the amount of
+Rs. 427, 4, 3 was paid to the owners. My informant tells me that the
+custom has apparently no connexion with religion, but is believed to
+refer to the days when the period between the decease of one ruler
+and the accession of his successor was one of disorder and plunder.
+The maintenance of the custom is supposed to notify to the people
+that they must now look to the new ruler for protection.
+
+'According to another informant, some "banias" are called by the
+palace officers and directed to open their shops in the palace
+precincts, and money is given them to stock their shops. The poor
+people are then allowed to loot them. No shops are allowed to be
+looted in the bazaar.
+
+'I cannot learn that any particular name is given to the ceremony,
+and there appears to be some doubt as to its meaning; but the best
+information seems to show that the reason assigned above is the
+correct one.
+
+'I cannot give any information as to the existence of the custom in
+other Mahratta states.'
+
+The custom was observed late in the sixth century at the birth of
+King Harsha-vardhana (_Harsa-Caritâ_, transl, Cowell and Thomas, p.
+111). Anthropologists classify such practices as rites de passage,
+marking a transition from the old to the new.
+
+'Bania', or 'baniyâ', means shopkeeper, especially a grain dealer;
+'gadî', or 'gaddî', is the cushioned seat, also known as 'masnad',
+which serves a Hindoo prince as a throne; and 'dohâi' is the ordinary
+form of a cry for redress.
+
+12. Ninety-two lâkhs of rupees were then worth more than £920,000.
+The _I.G._ (1908) states the normal revenue as 150 lâkhs of rupees,
+equivalent (at the rate of exchange of 1_s._ 4_d._ to the rupee, or R
+15 = £1) to one million pounds sterling. The fall in exchange has
+greatly lowered the sterling equivalent.
+
+13. The Bhîl tribes are included in the large group of tribes which
+have been driven back by the more cultivated races into the hills and
+jungles. They are found among the woods along the banks of the
+Nerbudda, Taptî, and Mahî, and in many parts of Central India and
+Râjputâna. Of late years they have generally kept quiet; in the
+earlier part of the nineteenth century they gave much trouble in
+Khândêsh. In Râjputâna two irregular corps of Bhîls have been
+organized.
+
+14. Daughter of Mâhâdajî Sindhia. She died in 1834. See _post_,
+Chapter 70.
+
+15. 'In 1886 the fort of Gwâlior and the cantonment of Morâr were
+surrendered by the Government of India to Sindhia in exchange for the
+fort and town of Jhânsî. Both forts were mutually surrendered and
+occupied on 10th March, 1886. As the occupation of the fort of
+Gwâlior necessitated an increase of Sindhia's army, the Mahârâjâ was
+allowed to add 3,000 men to his infantry' (_Letter of Officiating
+Resident, dated 30th Dec._, 1892). In 1908 the Gwâlior army,
+comprising all arms, including three regiments of Imperial Service
+Cavalry, numbered more than 12,000 men, described as troops of 'very
+fair quality' (_I.G._, 1908).
+
+16. _Ante_, Chapter 26, note 8; Chapter 32, note 9; Chapter 49, note
+2.
+
+17. In _Ramaseeana_ the author has fully described the practices of
+the Thugs in taking omens, and the feelings with which they regarded
+their profession. Similar information concerning other criminal
+classes is copiously given in the _Report on Budhuk alias Bagree
+Decoits_. See also Meadows Taylor, _Confessions of a Thug_, in any
+edition.
+
+18. These notions are still prevalent.
+
+19. December, 1835, Christmas Day.
+
+20. 'Overthrower of horses'; the same epithet is applied to the
+Utangan river, south of the Agra district, owing to the difficulty
+with which it is crossed when in flood (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed.,
+vol. vii, p. 423).
+
+21. Sindhia's territories, measuring 25,041 square miles, are in
+parts intermixed with those of other princes, and so extend over a
+wide space. Gwâlior and its government have been discussed already in
+Chapter 36.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 50
+
+
+Dhôlpur, Capital of the Jât Chiefs of Gohad--Consequence of Obstacles
+to the Prosecution of Robbers.
+
+On the morning of the 26th,[1] we sent on one tent, with the
+intention of following it in the afternoon; but about three o'clock a
+thunder-storm came on so heavily that I was afraid that which we
+occupied would come down upon us; and, putting my wife and child in a
+palankeen, I took them to the dwelling of an old Bairâgî, about two
+hundred yards from us. He received us very kindly, and paid us many
+compliments about the honour we had conferred upon him. He was a kind
+and, I think, a good old man, and had six disciples who seemed to
+reverence him very much. A large stone image of Hanumân, the monkey-
+god, painted red, and a good store of buffaloes, very comfortably
+sheltered from the pitiless storm, were in an inner court. The
+peacocks in dozens sought shelter under the walls and in the tree
+that stood in the courtyard; and I believe that they would have come
+into the old man's apartment had they not seen our white faces there.
+I had a great deal of talk with him, but did not take any notes of
+it. These old Bairâgîs, who spend the early and middle parts of life
+as disciples in pilgrimages to the celebrated temples of their god
+Vishnu in all parts of India, and the latter part of it as high
+priests or apostles in listening to the reports of the numerous
+disciples employed in similar wanderings are, perhaps, the most
+intelligent men in the country. They are from all the castes and
+classes of society. The lowest Hindoo may become a Bairâgî, and the
+very highest are often tempted to become so; the service of the god
+to which they devote themselves levelling all distinctions. Few of
+them can write or read, but they are shrewd observers of men and
+things, and often exceedingly agreeable and instructive companions to
+those who understand them, and can make them enter into unreserved
+conversation. Our tent stood out the storm pretty well, but we were
+obliged to defer our march till the next day. On the afternoon of the
+27th we went on twelve miles, over a plain of deep alluvion, through
+which two rivers have cut their way to the Chambal; and, as usual,
+the ravines along their banks are deep, long, and dreary.
+
+About half-way we were overtaken by one of the heaviest showers of
+rain I ever saw; it threatened us from neither side, but began to
+descend from an apparently small bed of clouds directly over our
+heads, which seemed to spread out on every side as the rain fell, and
+fill the whole vault of heaven with one dark and dense mass. The wind
+changed frequently; and in less than half an hour the whole surface
+of the country over which we were travelling was under water. This
+dense mass of clouds passed off in about two hours to the east; but
+twice, when the sun opened and beamed divinely upon us in a cloudless
+sky to the west, the wind changed suddenly round, and rushed back
+angrily from the east, to fill up the space which had been quickly
+rarefied by the genial heat of its rays, till we were again enveloped
+in darkness, and began to despair of reaching any human habitation
+before night. Some hail fell among the rain, but not large enough to
+hurt any one. The thunder was loud and often startling to the
+strongest nerves, and the lightning vivid, and almost incessant. We
+managed to keep the road because it was merely a beaten pathway below
+the common level of the country, and we could trace it by the greater
+depth of the water, and the absence of all shrubs and grass. All
+roads in India soon become watercourses--they are nowhere metalled;
+and, being left for four or five months every year without rain,
+their soil is reduced to powder by friction, and carried off by the
+winds over the surrounding country.[2] I was on horseback, but my
+wife and child were secure in a good palankeen that sheltered them
+from the rain. The bearers were obliged to move with great caution
+and slowly, and I sent on every person I could spare that they might
+keep moving, for the cold blast blowing over their thin and wet
+clothes seemed intolerable to those who were idle. My child's
+playmate, Gulâb, a lad of about ten years of age, resolutely kept by
+the side of the palankeen, trotting through the water with his teeth
+chattering as if he had been in an ague. The rain at last ceased, and
+the sky in the west cleared up beautifully about half an hour before
+sunset. Little Gulâb threw off his stuffed and quilted vest, and got
+a good dry English blanket to wrap round him from the palankeen. We
+soon after reached a small village, in which I treated all who had
+remained with us to as much coarse sugar (_gur_) as they could eat;
+and, as people of all castes can eat of sweetmeats from the hands of
+confectioners without prejudice to their caste, and this sugar is
+considered to be the best of all good things for guarding against
+colds in man or beast, they all ate very heartily, and went on in
+high spirits. As the sun sank below us on the left, a bright moon
+shone out upon us from the right, and about an hour after dark we
+reached our tents on the north bank of the Kuârî river, where we
+found an excellent dinner for ourselves, and good fires, and good
+shelter for our servants. Little rain had fallen near the tents, and
+the river Kuârî, over which we had to cross, had not, fortunately,
+much swelled; nor did much fall on the ground we had left; and, as
+the tents there had been struck and laden before it came on, they
+came up the next morning early, and went on to our next ground.
+
+On the 28th, we went on to Dhôlpur, the capital of the Jât chiefs of
+Gohad,[3] on the left bank of the Chambal, over a plain with a
+variety of crops, but not one that requires two seasons to reach
+maturity. The soil excellent in quality and deep, but not a tree
+anywhere to be seen, nor any such thing as a work of ornament or
+general utility of any kind. We saw the fort of Dhôlpur at a distance
+of six miles, rising apparently from the surface of the level plain,
+but in reality situated on the summit of the opposite and high bank
+of a large river, its foundation at least one hundred feet above the
+level of the water. The immense pandemonia of ravines that separated
+us from this fort were not visible till we began to descend into them
+some two or three miles from the bed of the river. Like all the
+ravines that border the rivers in these parts, they are naked,
+gloomy, and ghastly, and the knowledge that no solitary traveller is
+ever safe in them does not tend to improve the impression they make
+upon us. The river is a beautiful clear stream, here flowing over a
+bed of fine sand with a motion so gentle, that one can hardly
+conceive it is she who has played such fantastic tricks along the
+borders, and made such 'frightful gashes' in them. As we passed over
+this noble reach of the river Chambal in a ferry-boat, the boatman
+told us of the magnificent bridge formed here by the Baiza Bâî for
+Lord William Bentinck in 1832, from boats brought down from Agra for
+the purpose. 'Little', said they, 'did it avail her with the
+Governor-General in her hour of need.[4]
+
+The town of Dhôlpur lies some short way in from the north bank of the
+Chambal, at the extremity of a range of sandstone hills which runs
+diagonally across that of Gwâlior. This range was once capped with
+basalt, and some boulders are still found upon it in a state of rapid
+decomposition. It was quite refreshing to see the beautiful mango
+groves on the Dhôlpur side of the river, after passing through a
+large tract of country in which no tree of any kind was to be seen.
+On returning from a long ride over the range of sandstone hills the
+morning after we reached Dhôlpur, I passed through an encampment of
+camels taking rude iron from some mines in the hills to the south
+towards Agra. They waited here within the frontier of a native state
+for a pass from the Agra custom house,[5] lest any one should, after
+they enter our frontier, pretend that they were going to smuggle it,
+and thus get them into trouble. 'Are you not', said I, 'afraid to
+remain here so near the ravines of the Chambal, when thieves are said
+to be so numerous?' 'Not at all,' replied they. 'I suppose thieves do
+not think it worth while to steal rude iron?' 'Thieves, sir, think it
+worth while to steal anything they can get, but we do not fear them
+much here.' 'Where, then, do you fear them much?' 'We fear them when
+we get into the Company's territories.' 'And how is this, when we
+have good police establishments, and the Dhôlpur people none?' 'When
+the Dhôlpur people get hold of a thief, they make him disgorge all
+that he has got of our property for us, and they confiscate all the
+rest that he has for themselves, and cut off his nose or his hands,
+and turn him adrift to deter others. You, on the contrary, when you
+get hold of a thief, worry us to death in the prosecution of your
+courts; and, when we have proved the robbery to your satisfaction,
+you leave all this ill-gotten wealth to his family,[6] and provide
+him with good food and clothing for himself, while he works for you a
+couple of years on the roads.[7] The consequence is, that here
+fellows are afraid to rob a traveller, if they find him at all on his
+guard, as we generally are, while in your districts they rob us where
+and when they like.'
+
+'But, my friends, you are sure to recover what we do get of your
+property from the thieves.' 'Not quite sure of that neither,' said
+they, 'or the greater part is generally absorbed on its way back to
+us through the officers of your court; and we would always rather put
+up with the first loss than run the risk of a greater by prosecution,
+if we happen to get robbed within the Company's territories.'
+
+The loss and annoyances to which prosecutors and witnesses are
+subject in our courts are a source of very great evil to the country.
+They enable police-officers everywhere to grow rich upon the
+concealment of crimes. The man who has been robbed will bribe them to
+conceal the robbery, that he may escape the further loss of the
+prosecution in our courts, generally very distant; and the witnesses
+will bribe them to avoid attending to give evidence; the whole
+village communities bribe them, because every man feels that they
+have the power of getting him summoned to the court in some capacity
+or other, if they like; and that they will certainly like to do so,
+if not bribed.
+
+The obstacles which our system opposes to the successful prosecution
+of robbers of all denominations and descriptions deprive our
+Government of all popular support in the administration of criminal
+justice; and this is considered everywhere to be the worst, and,
+indeed, the only radically bad feature of our government. No
+magistrate hopes to get a conviction against one in four of the most
+atrocious gang of robbers and murderers of his district, and his only
+resource is in the security laws, which enable him to keep them in
+jail under a requisition of security for short periods. To this an
+idle or apathetic magistrate will not have recourse, and under him
+these robbers have a free licence.
+
+In England, a judicial acquittal does not send back the culprit to
+follow the same trade in the same field, as in India; for the
+published proceedings of the court bring down upon him the
+indignation of society--the moral and religions feelings of his
+fellow men are arrayed against him, and from these salutary checks no
+flaw in the indictment can save him. Not so in India. There no moral
+or religions feelings interpose to assist or to supply the
+deficiencies of the penal law. Provided he eats, drinks, smokes,
+marries, and makes his offerings to his priest according to the rules
+of his caste, the robber and the murderer incurs no odium in the
+circle in which he moves, either religious or moral, and this is the
+only circle for whose feelings he has any regard.[8]
+
+The man who passed off his bad coin at Datiyâ, passed off more at
+Dhôlpur while my advanced people were coming in, pretending that he
+wanted things for me, and was in a great hurry to be ready with them
+at my tents by the time I came up. The bad rupees were brought to a
+native officer of my guard, who went with the shopkeepers in search
+of the knave, but he could nowhere be found. The gates of the town
+were shut up all night at my suggestion, and in the morning every
+lodging-house in the town was searched for him in vain--he had gone
+on. I had left some sharp men behind me, expecting that he would
+endeavour to pass off his bad money immediately after my departure;
+but in expectation of this he was now evidently keeping a little in
+advance of me. I sent on some men with the shopkeepers whom he had
+cheated to our next stage, in the hope of overtaking him; but he had
+left the place before they arrived without passing any of his bad
+coin, and gone on to Agra. The shopkeepers could not be persuaded to
+go any further after him, for, if they caught him, they should, they
+said, have infinite trouble in prosecuting him in our courts, without
+any chance of recovering from him what they had lost.
+
+On the 29th, we remained at Dhôlpur to receive and return the visits
+of the young Râjâ, or, as he is called, the young Rânâ, a lad of
+about fifteen years of age, very plain, and very dull. He came about
+ten in the forenoon with a very respectable and well-dressed retinue,
+and a tolerable show of elephants and horses. The uniforms of his
+guards were made after those of our own soldiers, and did not please
+me half so much as those of the Datiyâ guards, who were permitted to
+consult their own tastes; and the music of the drums and fifes seemed
+to me infinitely inferior to that of the mounted minstrels of my old
+friend Parîchhit.[9] The lad had with him about a dozen old public
+servants entitled to chairs, some of whom had served his father above
+thirty years; while the ancestors of others had served his
+grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and I could not help telling the
+lad in their presence that 'these were the greatest ornament of a
+prince's throne and the best signs and pledges of a good government'.
+They were all evidently much pleased at the compliment, and I thought
+they deserved to be pleased, from the good character they bore among
+the peasantry of the country. I mentioned that I had understood the
+boatmen of the Chambal at Dhôlpur never caught or ate fish. The lad
+seemed embarrassed, and the minister took upon himself to reply that
+'there was no market for it, since the Hindoos of Dhôlpur never ate
+fish, and the Muhammadans had all disappeared'. I asked the lad
+whether he was fond of hunting. He seemed again confounded, and the
+minister said that 'his highness never either hunted or fished, as
+people of his caste were prohibited from destroying life'. 'And yet',
+said I, 'they have often showed themselves good soldiers in battle.'
+They were all pleased again, and said that they were not prohibited
+from killing tigers; but that there was no jungle of any kind near
+Dhôlpur, and, consequently, no tigers to be found. The Jâts are
+descendants of the Getae, and were people of very low caste, or
+rather of no caste at all, among the Hindoos, and they are now trying
+to raise themselves by abstaining from killing and eating
+animals.[10] Among Hindoos this is everything; a man of low caste is
+'_sab kuchh khâtâ_', sticks at nothing in the way of eating; and a
+man of high caste is a man who abstains from eating anything but
+vegetable or farinaceous food; if, at the same time, he abstains from
+using in his cook-room all woods but one, and has that one washed
+before he uses it, he is canonized.[11] Having attained to military
+renown and territorial dominion in the usual way by robbery, the Jâts
+naturally enough seek the distinction of high caste to enable them
+the better to enjoy their position in society.
+
+It had been stipulated that I should walk to the bottom of the steps
+to receive the Rânâ, as is the usage on such occasions, and carpets
+were accordingly spread thus far. Here he got out of his chair, and I
+led him into the large room of the bungalow, which we occupied during
+our stay, followed by all his and my attendants. The bungalow had
+been built by the former Resident at Gwâlior, the Honourable R.
+Cavendish, for his residence during the latter part of the rains,
+when Gwâlior is considered to be unhealthy. At his departure the Rânâ
+purchased this bungalow for the use of European gentlemen and ladies
+passing through his capital.
+
+In the afternoon, about four o'clock, I went to return his visit in a
+small palace not yet finished, a pretty piece of miniature
+fortification, surrounded by what they call their 'chhâonî', or
+cantonments. The streets are good, and the buildings neat and
+substantial; but there is nothing to strike or particularly interest
+the stranger. The interview passed off without anything remarkable;
+and I was more than ever pleased with the people by whom this young
+chief is surrounded. Indeed, I had much reason to be pleased with the
+manners of all the people on this side of the Chambal. They are those
+of a people well pleased to see English gentlemen among them, and
+anxious to make themselves useful and agreeable to us. They know that
+their chief is indebted to the British Government for all the country
+he has, and that he would be swallowed up by Sindhia's greedy army,
+were not the sevenfold shield of the Honourable Company spread over
+him. His establishments, civil and military, like those of the
+Bundêlkhand chiefs, are raised from the peasantry and yeomanry or the
+country; who all, in consequence, feel an interest in the prosperity
+and independent respectability of their chief. On the Gwâlior side,
+the members of all the public establishments know and feel that it is
+we who interpose and prevent their master from swallowing up all his
+neighbours, and thereby having increased means of promoting their
+interest and that of their friends; and they detest us all most
+cordially in consequence. The peasantry of the Gwâlior territory seem
+to consider their own government as a kind of minotaur, which they
+would be glad to see destroyed, no matter how or by whom; since it
+gives no lucrative or honourable employment to any of their members,
+so as to interest either their pride or their affections; nor throws
+back among them for purposes of local advantage any of the produce of
+their land and labour which it exacts. It is worthy of remark that,
+though the Dhôlpur chief is peculiarly the creature of the British
+Government, and indebted to it for all he has or ever will have, and
+though he has never had anything, and never can have, or can hope to
+have, anything from the poor pageant of the house of Tîmûr, who now
+sits upon the throne of Delhi;[12] yet, on his seal of office he
+declares himself to be the slave and creature of that imperial
+'warrior for the faith of Islam'. As he abstains from eating the good
+fish of the river Chambal to enhance his claim to caste among
+Hindoos, so he abstains from acknowledging his deep debt of gratitude
+to the Honourable Company, or the British Government, with a view to
+give the rust of age to his rank and title. To acknowledge himself a
+creature of the British Government were to acknowledge that he was a
+man of yesterday; to acknowledge himself the slave of the Emperor is
+to claim for his poor veins 'the blood of a line of kings'. The petty
+chiefs of Bundêlkhand, who are in the same manner especially
+dependent on the British Government, do the same thing.
+
+At Dhôlpur, there are some noble old mosques and mausoleums built
+three hundred years ago, in the reign of the Emperor Humâyûn, by some
+great officers of his government, whose remains still rest
+undisturbed among them, though the names of their families have been
+for many ages forgotten, and no men of their creed now live near to
+demand for them the respect of the living. These tombs are all
+elaborately built and worked out of the fine freestone of the country
+and the trellis-work upon some of their stone screens is still as
+beautiful as when first made. There are Persian and Arabic
+inscriptions upon all of them, and I found from them that one of the
+mosques had been built by the Emperor Shâh Jahân in A.D. 1634,[13]
+when he little dreamed that his three sons would here meet to fight
+the great fight for the throne while he yet sat upon it.[14]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. The author's remark that in India the roads are 'nowhere metalled'
+must seem hardly credible to a modern traveller, who sees the country
+intersected by thousands of miles of metalled road. The Grand Trunk
+Road from Calcutta to Lahore, constructed in Lord Dalhousie's time,
+alone measures about 1,200 miles. The development of roads since 1850
+ha been enormous, and yet the mileage of good roads would have to be
+increased tenfold to put India on an equality with the more advanced
+countries of Europe.
+
+3. _Ante_, Chanter 36, notes 26 & 27.
+
+
+4. The Baiza Bâî was the widow of Daulat Râo Sindhia. He had died on
+March 21, 1827. With the consent of the Government of India, she
+adopted a boy as his successor, but, being an ambitions and
+intriguing woman, she tried to keep all power in her own hands. The
+young Mahârâjâ fled from her, and took refuge in the Residency in
+October, 1832. In December of the same year Lord William Bentinck
+visited Gwâlior, and assumed an attitude of absolute neutrality. The
+result was that trouble continued, and seven months later the
+Mahârâjâ again fled to the Residency. The troops then revolted
+against the Baiza Bâî, and compelled her to retire to Dhôlpur. This
+event put an end to her political activity. Ultimately she was
+allowed to return to Gwâlior, and died there in 1862 (Malleson, _The
+Native States of India_, pp. 160-4). The author wrote an unpublished
+history of Baiza Bâî (_ante_, Bibliography).
+
+5. Long since abolished.
+
+6. The law now permits the person injured to be compensated out of
+any fine realized.
+
+7. The system of employing gangs of prisoners on the roads was open
+to great abuses, and has been long given up. The prisoners are now,
+as a rule, employed only on the jail promises, and cannot be utilized
+for outside work, except under special circumstances by special
+sanction.
+
+8. The notes to this edition have recorded many changes in India, but
+no change has taken place in the difficulties which beset the
+administration of criminal law. They are still those which the author
+describes, and Police Commissions cannot remove them. The power to
+exact security for good behaviour from known bad characters still
+exists, and, when discreetly used, is of great value. The conviction
+of atrocious robbers and murderers is, perhaps, less rare than it was
+in the author's time, though many still escape even the minor penalty
+of arrest. The want of a sound moral public opinion is the
+fundamental difficulty in Indian police administration--a truth fully
+Understood by the author, but rarely realized by members of
+Parliament.
+
+9. The title of the Dhôlpur chief is now Mahârâjâ Rânâ. In 1905 his
+reduced army numbered 1,216 of all ranks (_I. G._, 1908). The force
+is not of serious military value.
+
+10. The identification of the Jâts, or Jats, with the Getae is not
+even probable. The anchor exaggerates the lowness of the social rank
+of the Jâts, who cannot properly be described as people of 'very low
+caste'. They are, and have long been, numerous and powerful in the
+Panjâb and the neighbouring countries. It is true that they hate
+Brahmans, care little for Brahman notions of propriety, either as
+regards food or marriage, and to a certain extent stand outside the
+orthodox Hindoo system; but they are heterodox rather than low-caste.
+The Râjâs of Bharatpur, Dhôlpur, Nâbha, Patiâlâ, and Jînd are all
+Jâts. The Jâts are a fine and interesting people, who seem to suffer
+little deterioration from the notorious laxity of their matrimonial
+arrangements. They are skilled and industrious cultivators. A saying
+has been current in Upper India that, if the British power is ever
+broken, the succession will pass to the Jâts.
+
+11. This is the Brahman and Baniyâ theory. A high-spirited Râjpût of
+Râjputâna, full of pride in his long ancestry, and yet fond of wild
+boar's flesh, would indeed be wroth if denounced as a low-caste man.
+It is, however, unfortunately, quite true that all races which become
+entangled in the meshes of Hinduism tend to gradually surrender their
+freedom, and to become proud of submission to the senseless
+formalities and restrictions which the Brahman loves.
+
+12. Akbar II. He was titular emperor from A.D. 1806 to 1837, and was
+succeeded by Bahâdur Shâh II, the last of his line. The portrait of
+Akbar II is the frontispiece to volume i of the original edition of
+this work, and a miniature portrait of him is given in the
+frontispiece of volume ii.
+
+13. One of these tombs, namely, that of Bîbî Zarîna, dated A.H. 942 =
+A.D. 1535-6, is described by Cunningham (_A.S.R._, xx, p. 113, pl.
+xxxvii), who notes that according to an obviously false local popular
+story, the lady was a daughter of Shâh Jahân, who lived a century
+later. This story seems to have misled the author. No inscription of
+the reign of Shâh Jahân at Dhôlpur is recorded.
+
+14. The three sons were Dârâ Shikoh, Aurangzêb, and Murâd Baksh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 51
+
+
+Influence of Electricity on Vegetation--Agra and its Buildings.
+
+On the 30th and 31st,[1] we went twenty-four miles over a dry plain,
+with a sandy soil covered with excellent crops where irrigated, and a
+very poor one where not. We met several long strings of camels
+carrying grain from Agra to Gwâlior. A single man takes charge of
+twenty or thirty, holding the bridle of the first, and walking on
+before its nose. The bridles of all the rest are tied one after the
+other to the saddles of those immediately preceding them, and all
+move along after the leader in single file. Water must tend to
+attract and to impart to vegetables a good deal of electricity and
+other vivifying powers that would otherwise he dormant in the earth
+at a distance. The mere circumstance of moistening the earth from
+within reach of the roots would not be sufficient to account for the
+vast difference between the crops of fields that are irrigated, and
+those that are not. One day, in the middle of the season of the
+rains, I asked my gardener, while walking with him over my grounds,
+how it was that some of the fine clusters of bamboos had not yet
+begun to throw out their shoots. 'We have not yet had a thunderstorm,
+sir,' replied the gardener. 'What in the name of God has the
+thunderstorm to do with the shooting of the bamboos?' asked I in
+amazement. 'I don't know, sir,' said he, 'but certain it is that no
+bamboos begin to throw out their shoots well till we get a good deal
+of thunder and lightning.' The thunder and lightning came, and the
+bamboo shoots soon followed in abundance. It might have been a mere
+coincidence; or the tall bamboo may bring down from the passing
+clouds, and convey to the roots, the electric fluid they require for
+nourishment, or for conductors of nourishment.[2]
+
+In the Isle of France,[3] people have a notion that the mushrooms
+always come up best after a thunderstorm. Electricity has certainly
+much more to do in the business of the world than we are yet aware
+of, in the animal, mineral, and vegetable developments.[4]
+
+At our ground this day, I met a very respectable and intelligent
+native revenue officer who had been employed to settle some boundary
+disputes between the yeomen of our territory and those of the
+adjoining territory of Dhôlpur.
+
+'The Honourable Company's rights and those of its yeomen must', said
+he, 'be inevitably sacrificed in all such cases; for the Dhôlpur
+chief, or his minister, says to all their witnesses, "You are, of
+course, expected to speak the truth regarding the land in dispute;
+but, by the sacred stream of the Ganges, if you speak so as to lose
+this estate one inch of it, you lose both your ears"--and most
+assuredly would they lose them,' continued he, 'if they were not to
+swear most resolutely that all the land in question belonged to
+Dhôlpur. Had I the same power to cut off the ears of witnesses on our
+side, we should meet on equal terms. Were I to threaten to cut them
+off, they would laugh in my face.' There was much truth in what the
+poor man said, for the Dhôlpur witnesses always make it appear that
+the claims of their yeomen are just and moderate, and a salutary
+dread of losing their ears operates, no doubt, very strongly. The
+threatened punishment of the prince is quick, while that of the gods,
+however just, is certainly very slow--
+
+ Ut sit magna, tamen certe lenta ira deorum est.
+
+On the 1st of January, 1836, we went on sixteen miles to Agra, and,
+when within about six miles of the city, the dome and minarets of the
+Tâj opened upon us from behind a small grove of fruit-trees, close by
+us on the side of the road. The morning was not clear, but it was a
+good one for a first sight of this building, which appeared larger
+through the dusty haze than it would have done through a clear sky.
+For five-and-twenty years of my life had I been looking forward to
+the sight now before me. Of no building on earth had I heard so much
+as of this, which contains the remains of the Emperor Shâh Jahân and
+his wife, the father and mother of the children whose struggles for
+dominion have been already described. We had ordered our tents to be
+pitched in the gardens of this splendid mausoleum, that we might have
+our fill of the enjoyment which everybody seemed to derive from it;
+and we reached them about eight o'clock. I went over the whole
+building before I entered my tent, and, from the first sight of the
+dome and minarets on the distant horizon to the last glance back from
+my tent-ropes to the magnificent gateway that forms the entrance from
+our camp to the quadrangle in which they stand, I can truly say that
+everything surpassed my expectations. I at first thought the dome
+formed too large a portion of the whole building; that its neck was
+too long and too much exposed; and that the minarets were too plain
+in their design; but, after going repeatedly over every part, and
+examining the _tout ensemble_ from all possible positions, and in all
+possible lights, from that of the full moon at midnight in a
+cloudless sky to that of the noonday sun, the mind seemed to repose
+in the calm persuasion that there was an entire harmony of parts, a
+faultless congregation of architectural beauties, on which it could
+dwell for ever without fatigue.
+
+After my quarter of a century of anticipated pleasure, I went on from
+part to part in the expectation that I must by and by come to
+something that would disappoint me; but no, the emotion which one
+feels at first is never impaired; on the contrary, it goes on
+improving from the first _coup d'œil_ of the dome in the distance to
+the minute inspection of the last flower upon the screen round the
+tomb. One returns and returns to it with undiminished pleasure; and
+though at every return one's attention to the smaller parts becomes
+less and less, the pleasure which he derives from the contemplation
+of the greater, and of the whole collectively, seems to increase; and
+he leaves with a feeling of regret that he could not have it all his
+life within his reach, and of assurance that the image of what he has
+seen can never be obliterated from his mind 'while memory holds her
+seat'. I felt that it was to me in architecture what Kemble and his
+sister, Mrs. Siddons, had been to me a quarter of a century before in
+acting--something that must stand alone--something that I should
+never cease to see clearly in my mind's eye, and yet never be able
+clearly to describe to others.[5]
+
+The Emperor and his Queen he buried side by side in a vault beneath
+the building, to which we descend by a flight of steps. Their remains
+are covered by two slabs of marble; and directly over these slabs,
+upon the floor above, in the great centre room under the dome, stand
+two other slabs, or cenotaphs, of the same marble exquisitely worked
+in mosaic. Upon that of the Queen, amid wreaths of flowers, are
+worked in black letters passages from the Korân, one of which, at the
+end facing the entrance, terminates with 'And defend us from the
+tribe of unbelievers'; that very tribe which is now gathered from all
+quarters of the civilized world to admire the splendour of the tomb
+which was raised to perpetuate her name.[6] On the slab over her
+husband there are no passages from the Korân--merely mosaic work of
+flowers with his name and the date of his death.[7] I asked some of
+the learned Muhammadan attendants the cause of this difference, and
+was told that Shâh Jahân had himself designed the slab over his wife,
+and saw no harm in inscribing the words of God upon it; but that the
+slab over himself was designed by his more pious son, Aurangzêb, who
+did not think it right to place these holy words upon a stone which
+the foot of man might some day touch, though that stone covered the
+remains of his own father. Such was this 'man of prayers', this
+'Namâzî' (as Dara called him), to the last. He knew mankind well,
+and, above all, that part of them which he was called upon to govern,
+and which he governed for forty years with so much ability.[8]
+
+The slab over the Queen occupies the centre of the apartments above
+and in the vault below, and that over her husband lies on the left as
+we enter. At one end of the slab in the vault her name is inwrought,
+'Mumtâz-i-mahal Bânû Bêgam', the ornament of the palace, Bânû Bêgam,
+and the date of her death, 1631. That of her husband and the date of
+his death, 1666, are inwrought upon the other.[9]
+
+She died in giving birth to a daughter, who is said to have been
+heard crying in the womb by herself and her other daughters. She sent
+for the Emperor, and told him that she believed no mother had ever
+been known to survive the birth of a child so heard, and that she
+felt her end was near. She had, she said, only two requests to make;
+first, that he would not marry again after her death, and get
+children to contend with hers for his favour and dominions; and,
+secondly, that he would build for her the tomb with which he had
+promised to perpetuate her name. She died in giving birth to the
+child, as might have been expected when the Emperor, in his anxiety,
+called all the midwives of the city, and all his secretaries of state
+and privy counsellors to prescribe for her. Both her dying requests
+were granted. Her tomb was commenced upon immediately. No woman ever
+pretended to supply her place in the palace; nor had Shâh Jahân, that
+we know of, children by any other.[10] Tavernier saw this building
+completed and finished; and tells us that it occupied twenty thousand
+men for twenty-two years.[11] The mausoleum itself and all the
+buildings that appertain to it cost 3,17,48,026--three _karôr_,
+seventeen lâkhs, forty-eight thousand and twenty-six rupees, or
+3,174,802 pounds sterling;--three million one hundred and seventy-
+four thousand eight hundred and two![12] I asked my wife, when she
+had gone over it, what she thought of the building. 'I cannot', said
+she, 'tell you what I think, for I know not how to criticize such a
+building, but I can tell you what I feel. I would die to-morrow to
+have such another over me.' This is what many a lady has felt, no
+doubt.
+
+The building stands upon the north side of a large quadrangle,
+looking down into the clear blue stream of the river Jumna, while the
+other three sides are enclosed with a high wall of red sandstone.[13]
+The entrance to this quadrangle is through a magnificent gateway in
+the south side opposite the tomb; and on the other two sides are very
+beautiful mosques facing inwards, and corresponding exactly with each
+other in size, design, and execution. That on the left, or west, side
+is the only one that can be used as a mosque or church; because the
+faces of the audience, and those of all men at their prayers, must be
+turned towards the tomb of their prophet to the west. The pulpit is
+always against the dead wall at the back, and the audience face
+towards it, standing with their backs to the open front of the
+building. The church on the east side is used for the accommodation
+of visitors, or for any secular purpose, and was built merely as a
+'jawâb' (answer) to the real one.[14] The whole area is laid out in
+square parterres, planted with flowers and shrubs in the centre, and
+with fine trees, chiefly the cypress, all round the borders, forming
+an avenue to every road. These roads are all paved with slabs of
+freestone, and have, running along the centre, a basin, with a row of
+_jets d'eau_ in the middle from one extremity to the other. These are
+made to play almost every evening, when the gardens are much
+frequented by the European gentlemen and ladies of the station, and
+by natives of all religions and sects. The quadrangle is from east to
+west nine hundred and sixty-four feet, and from north to south three
+hundred and twenty-nine.[l5]
+
+The mausoleum itself, the terrace upon which it stands, and the
+minarets, are all formed of the finest white marble, inlaid with
+precious stones. The wall around the quadrangle, including the river
+face of the terrace, is made of red sandstone, with cupolas and
+pillars of the same white marble. The insides of the churches and
+apartments in and upon the walls are all lined with marble or with
+stucco work that looks like marble; but, on the outside, the red
+sandstone resembles uncovered bricks. The dazzling white marble of
+the mausoleum itself rising over the red wall is apt, at first sight,
+to make a disagreeable impression, from the idea of a whitewashed
+head to an unfinished building; but this impression is very soon
+removed, and tends, perhaps, to improve that which is afterwards
+received from a nearer inspection. The marble was all brought from
+the Jeypore territories upon wheeled carriages, a distance, I
+believe, of two or three hundred miles; and the sandstone from the
+neighbourhood of Dhôlpur and Fathpur Sîkrî.[16] Shâh Jâhan is said to
+have inherited his partiality for this colour from his grandfather,
+Akbar, who constructed almost all his buildings from the same stone,
+though he might have had the beautiful white freestone at the same
+cost. What was figuratively said of Augustus may be most literally
+said of Shâh Jahân; he found the cities (Agra and Delhi) all brick,
+and left them all marble; for all the marble buildings, and additions
+to buildings, were formed by him.[17]
+
+This magnificent building and the palaces at Agra and Delhi were, I
+believe, designed by Austin de Bordeaux, a Frenchman of great talent
+and merit, in whose ability and integrity the Emperor placed much
+reliance. He was called by the natives 'Ustân [_sic_] Isâ, Nâdir-ul-
+asr', 'the wonderful of the age'; and, for his office of 'naksha
+navîs', or plan-drawer, he received a regular salary of one thousand
+rupees a month, with occasional presents, that made his income very
+large. He had finished the palace at Delhi, and the mausoleum and
+palace of Agra; and was engaged in designing a silver ceiling for one
+of the galleries in the latter, when he was sent by the Emperor to
+settle some affairs of great importance at Goa. He died at Cochin on
+his way back, and is supposed to have been poisoned by the
+Portuguese, who were extremely jealous of his influence at court. He
+left a son by a native, called Muhammad Sharîf, who was employed as
+an architect on a salary of five hundred rupees a month, and who
+became, as I conclude from his name, a Musalmân. Shâh Jahân had
+commenced his own tomb on the opposite side of the Jumna; and both
+were to have been united by a bridge.[18] The death of Austin de
+Bordeaux, and the wars between his [_scil._ Shâh Jahân's] sons that
+followed prevented the completion of these magnificent works.[19]
+
+We were encamped upon a fine green sward outside the entrance to the
+south, in a kind of large court, enclosed by a high cloistered wall,
+in which all our attendants and followers found shelter. Colonel and
+Mrs. King, and some other gentlemen, were encamped in the same place,
+and for the same purpose; and we had a very agreeable party. The band
+of our friend Major Godby's regiment played sometimes in the evening
+upon the terrace of the Tâj; but, of all the complicated music ever
+heard upon earth, that of a flute blown gently in the vault below,
+where the remains of the Emperor and his consort repose, as the sound
+rises to the dome amidst a hundred arched alcoves around, and
+descends in heavenly reverberations upon those who sit or recline
+upon the cenotaphs above the vault, is, perhaps, the finest to an
+inartificial car. We feel as if it were from heaven, and breathed by
+angels; it is to the ear what the building itself is to the eye; but,
+unhappily, it cannot, like the building, live in our recollections.
+All that we can, in after life, remember is that it was heavenly, and
+produced heavenly emotions.
+
+ We went all over the palace in the fort, a very magnificent building
+constructed by Shâh Jahân within fortifications raised by his
+grandfather Akbar.[20]
+
+The fretwork and mosaic upon the marble pillars and panels are equal
+to those of the Tâj; or, if possible, superior; nor is the design or
+execution in any respect inferior, and yet a European feels that he
+could get a house much more commodious, and more to his taste, for a
+much less sum than must have been expended upon it. The Marquis of
+Hastings, when Governor-General of India, broke up one of the most
+beautiful marble baths of this palace to send home to George IV of
+England, then Prince Regent, and the rest of the marble of the suite
+of apartments from which it had been taken, with all its exquisite
+fretwork and mosaic, was afterwards sold by auction, on account of
+our Government, by order of the then Governor-General, Lord W.
+Bentinck. Had these things fetched the price expected, it is probable
+that the whole of the palace, and even the Tâj itself, would have
+been pulled down, and sold in the same manner.[21]
+
+We visited the Motî Masjid or Pearl Mosque. It was built by Shâh
+Jahân, entirely of white marble; and completed, as we learn from an
+inscription on the portico, in the year A.D. 1656.[22] There is no
+mosaic upon any of the pillars or panels of this mosque; but the
+design and execution of the flowers in bas-relief are exceedingly
+beautiful. It is a chaste, simple, and majestic building;[23] and is
+by some people admired even more than the Tâj, because they have
+heard less of it; and their pleasure is heightened by surprise. We
+feel that it is to all other mosques what the Tâj is to all other
+mausoleums, a _facile princeps_.
+
+Few, however, go to see the 'mosque of pearls' more than once, stay
+as long as they will at Agra; and when they go, the building appears
+less and less to deserve their admiration; while they go to the Tâj
+as often as they can, and find new beauties in it, or new feelings of
+pleasure from it, every time[24]
+
+I went out to visit this tomb of the Emperor Akbar at Sikandara, a
+magnificent building, raised over him by his son, the Emperor
+Jahângîr. His remains he deposited in a deep vault under the centre,
+and are covered by a plain slab of marble, without fretwork or
+mosaic. On the top of the building, which is three or four stories
+high, is another marble slab, corresponding with the one in the vault
+below.[25] This is beautifully carved, with the 'nau nauwê nâm'-the
+ninety-nine names, or attributes of the Deity, from the Korân.[26] It
+is covered by an awning, not to protect the tomb, but to defend the
+'words of God' from the rain, as my cicerone assured me.[27] He told
+me that the attendants upon this tomb used to have the hay of the
+large quadrangle of forty acres in which it stands,[28] in addition
+to their small salaries, and that it yielded them some fifty rupees a
+year; but the chief native officer of the Tâj establishment demanded
+half of the sum, and when they refused to give him so much, he
+persuaded his master, the European engineer, _with much difficulty_,
+to take all this hay for the public cattle. 'And why could you not
+adjust such a matter between you, without pestering the engineer?'
+'Is not this the way', said he, with emotion, 'that Hindustan has cut
+its own throat, and brought in the stranger at all times? Have they
+ever had, or can they ever have, confidence in each other, or let
+each other alone to enjoy the little they have in peace?' Considering
+all the circumstances of time and place, Akbar has always appeared to
+me among sovereigns what Shakespeare was among poets; and, feeling as
+a citizen of the world, I reverenced the marble slab that covers his
+bones more, perhaps, than I should that over any other sovereign with
+whose history I am acquainted.[29]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. It is not, perhaps, generally known, though it deserves to be so,
+that the bamboo seeds only once, and dies immediately after seeding.
+All bamboos from the same seed die at the same time, whenever they
+may have been planted. The life of the common large bamboo is about
+fifty years. [W. H. S.] The period is said to vary between thirty and
+sixty years. Bamboo seed is eaten as rice when obtainable. The
+author's theories about electricity are more ingenious than
+satisfactory.
+
+3. Better known as the Mauritius.
+
+4. This proposition may be accepted with confidence. Electricity is a
+great mystery, which becomes more mysterious the more it is studied.
+
+5. A letter of the author's, dated 13th March, 1809, is extant, in
+which he gives a full description of the performance of _Macbeth_ at
+the Haymarket by Kemble and Mrs. Siddons on Saturday, 11th March. The
+author sailed in the _Devonshire_ on the 24th March.
+
+6. No European had ever before, I believe, noted this, [W. H. S.]
+Moîn-ud-dîn (p. 49) says that this phrase, 'Thou art our patron, help
+as therefore against the unbelieving nations,' is from the long
+chapter 2 ('The Cow') of the Korân, but I have not succeeded in
+finding the exact words in Sale's version of that chapter. I suspect
+that the words have been misread. Moîn-ud-dîn gives as the words at
+the north side of the tomb, _script characters_ 'the unbelieving
+nations', whereas Muh. Latîf (_Agra_, p. 111) says that the words 'on
+the head of the sarcophagus' are _script characters_ 'He is the
+everlasting. He is sufficient.' It will be observed that the
+characters in the two readings are almost identical.
+
+7. The Empress had been a good deal exasperated against the
+Portuguese and Dutch by the treatment her husband received from them
+when a fugitive, after an unsuccessful rebellion against his father;
+and her hatred to them extended, in some degree, to all Christians,
+whom she considered to be included in the term 'Kâfir', or
+unbeliever. [W. H. S.] Prince Shâh Jahân (Khurram) rebelled against
+his father, Jahângîr, in A.D. 1623, and submitted in A.D. 1625. The
+terrible punishment inflicted by Shâh Jahân when Emperor on the
+Portuguese of Hûgli (Hooghly) is related by Bernier (Constable's ed.,
+pp. 177, 287). The Emperor had previously destroyed the Jesuits'
+church at Lahore completely, and the greater part of the church at
+Agra.
+
+8. The cleverness, astuteness, energy, and business capacity of
+Aurangzêb are undoubted, and yet his long reign was a disastrous
+failure. The author reflects the praises of Muhammadans who cherish
+the memory of the 'namâzî'. The Emperor himself knew better when, in
+his old ago, he wrote to his son Azam the pathetic words, 'I have not
+done well by the country or its people. My years have gone by
+profitless' (Lane-Poole's version in _Aurangzib_ (Rulers of India),
+p. 203. Letter No. 72 in Bilimoria, _Letters of Aurungzbe_, Bombay,
+1908. Another version in E. and D. vii, 562.) His reign lasted for
+almost forty-nine years, from June 1658 to February 1707, and not for
+only forty years.
+
+9. The real tombs are in the vault below. Beautiful cenotaphs stand
+under the dome. The inscription on the tomb of the Empress is exactly
+repeated on her cenotaph, and runs thus:-
+ 'The splendid sepulchre of Arjumand Bânô Bêgam, entitled Mumtâz
+Mahall, deceased in the year 1040 Hijrî.'
+
+The epitaph on Shâh Jahân's tomb is as follows:-
+ 'The sacred sepulchre of His Moat Exalted Majesty, nesting in
+Paradise, the Second Lord of the Conjunction, Shâh Jahân, the
+Emperor. May his mausoleum ever flourish. Year 1076 Hijrî.'
+
+The inscription on Shâh Jahân's cenotaph adds more titles and gives
+the exact date of death as 'the night of Rajab 28, A.H. 1076'. 1040
+Hîjrî corresponds with the period from July 31, A.D. 1630 to July 19,
+1631; and 1076 Hijrî with the period July 4, A. D. 1665 to June 23,
+1666, Old Style. The dates in New Style would be ten days later.
+
+The epithet 'nesting in Paradise' (_firdaus âshiyânî_) was the
+official posthumous title of Shâh Jahân, frequently used by
+historians instead of his name.
+
+The title 'Second Lord of the Conjunction' means that Shâh Jahân was
+held to have been born under the fortunate conjunction of Venus and
+Jupiter, as his ancestor Tîmûr had been.
+
+10. The details in the text are inaccurate. Arjumand Bânô Bêgam,
+daughter of Âsaf Khân, brother of Nûr Jahân, the queen of Jahângîr,
+was born in A.D. 1592, married in 1612, and died July 7, 1631 (o.s.),
+at Burhânpur in the Deccan. After a delay of six months her remains
+were removed to Agra, and there rested six months longer at a spot in
+the Tâj gardens still remembered, until her tomb was sufficiently
+advanced for the final interment. Her titles were Mumtâz-i-Mahall,
+'Exalted in the Palace'; Qudsia Bêgam, and Nawâb Aliyâ Bêgam. She
+bore her husband eight sons and six daughters, fourteen children in
+all, of whom seven were alive at the time of her death. The child
+whose birth cost the mother's life was Gauharârâ Bêgam, who survived
+for many years (Irvine, _Storia do Mogor_, iv. 425). Beale wrongly
+gives her name as Dahar Ârâ.
+
+Shâh Jahân, two years before his union with Arjumand Bâno Bêgam, had
+been married to a Persian princess, by whom he had a daughter who
+died young. Five and a half years after his marriage to Arjumand Bâno
+Bêgam, he espoused a third wife, daughter of Shâh Nawâz Khân, by whom
+he had a son, who died in infancy. This third marriage was dictated
+by motives of policy, and did not impair the Emperor's devotion to
+his favourite consort (Muh. Latîf, _Agra_, p. 101).
+
+11. The testimony of Tavernier is doubtless correct if understood as
+referring to the whole complex of buildings connected with the
+mausoleum. He visited Agra several times. He left India in January,
+1654, returning to the country in 1659. Work on the Tâj began in
+1632, and so appears to have been completed about the close of, 1653
+(Tavernier, _Travels_, transl. Ball, vol. i, pp. xxi, xxii, 25, 110,
+142, 149). The latest dated inscription, that of the calligraphist
+Amânat Khan at the entrance to the domed mausoleum, was recorded in
+the twelfth year of the reign, A.H. 1048, equivalent to A.D. 1638-9.
+That year may be taken as the date of the completion of the mausoleum
+itself, as distinguished from the great mass of supplementary
+structures.
+
+12. Various records of the cost differ enormously, apparently because
+they refer to different things. If all the buildings and the vast
+value of the materials be included, the highest estimate, namely,
+four and a half millions of pounds sterling, in round numbers, is not
+excessive (_H.F.A._, 1911, p. 415) The figures are recorded with
+minute accuracy as 411 lâkhs, 48,826 rupees, 7 annas, and 6 pies. A
+_karôr_ (crore) is 100 lâkhs, or 10 millions.
+
+13. The enclosure occupies a space of more than forty-two acres.
+
+14. This statement, though commonly made, is erroneous. The building
+is named the 'assembly house' (jamâ'at khâna), or 'guest-house'
+(mihmân khâna) and was intended as the place for the congregation to
+assemble before prayers, or on the anniversaries of the deaths of the
+Emperor Shâh Jahân or his consort. Tâj Mahal (Muh. Latîf, _Agra_, p.
+113). Of course, it also serves as an architectural balance for the
+mosque.
+
+15. The gardens of the Tâj have been much improved since the author's
+time, and are now under the care of a skilled European
+superintendent, and full of beautiful shrubs and trees. The author's
+measurements of the quadrangle seem to be wrong. Different figures
+are given by Moîn-ud-dîn (_Hist. of the Tâj_, p. 29) and Fergusson
+(ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 313). No official survey is available.
+
+16. The white marble that forms the substance of the building came,
+Mr. Keene thinks, from Makrâna near Jaipur, but according to Mr.
+Hacket (_Records of the Geographical Survey of India_, x. 84), from
+Raiwâla in Jaipur, near the Alwar border [note]. The account of these
+marbles given in the _Râjputâna Gazetteer_, 1st ed. (ii. 127) favours
+Mr. Keene's view' (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. vii, p. 707).
+The ornamental stones used for the inlay work in the Tâj are lapis
+lazuli, jasper, heliotrope, Chalcedon agate, chalcedony, cornelian,
+sarde, plasma (or quartz and chlorite), yellow and striped marble,
+clay slate, and nephrite, or jade (_Dr. Voysey, in Asiatic
+Researches_, vol. xv, p. 429, quoted by V. Bail in _Records of the
+Geological Survey of India_, vii. 109). Moîn-ud-dîn (pp. 27-9) gives
+a longer list, from the custodians' Persian account.
+
+17. There is some exaggeration in this statement. Shâh Jahân's
+concern was with his wife's tomb, and his fortified palaces, more
+than with 'the cities'.
+
+18. Sleeman's talk about Austin de Bordeaux is wholly based on his
+misreading of _Ustân_ for _Ustâd_, meaning 'Master', in the Persian
+account, which names Muhammed-i-Îsâ Afandi (Effendi) as the chief
+designer. He had the title of Ustâd, and some versions represent
+Muhammad Sharîf, the second draughtsman, as his son. Muhammad, the
+son of Îsâ ('Jesus'), apparently was a Turk. He had the Turkish title
+of 'Effendi', and the Persian MS. used by Moîn-ud-dîn asserts that he
+came from Turkey. The same authority states that Muhammad Sharîf was
+a native of Samarkand.
+
+Austin de Bordeaux was wholly distinct from Muhammad-i-Îsâ, Ustâd
+Afandi, and there is no reason to suppose that he had anything to do
+with the Tâj. Sleeman's story about his work at Agra and his death
+comes from Tavernier (i. 108, transl. Ball: see next note). Austin
+was in the service of Jahângîr as early as 1621, and probably came
+out to India from Persia in 1614. He is described as an engineer
+(_ingénieur_), and is recorded to have made a golden throne for
+Jahângîr (_J.R.A.S._, 1910, pp. 494, 1343-5). Sleeman's misreading of
+_ustâd_ as _ustân_, and his consequent blunders, have misled
+innumerable writers. In cursive Persian the misreading is easy and
+natural. He took Ustân as intended for 'Austin'. Certain marks in the
+garden on the other side of the river indicate the spot where Shâh
+Jahân had begun work on his own tomb. Aurangzêb, as Tavernier
+observes, was 'not disposed to complete it' (see _A.S.R._, iv. 180).
+
+For a summary of the controversy concerning the alleged share of
+Geronimo Veroneo in the design of the Tâj, see _H.F.A._, 1911, pp.
+416-18. Personally, I am of opinion, as I was more than twenty years
+ago, that 'the incomparable Tâj is the product of a combination of
+European and Asiatic genius'. That opinion makes some people very
+angry.
+
+19. I would not be thought very positive upon this point, I think I
+am right, but feel that I may be wrong. Tavernier says that Shâh
+Jahân was obliged to give up his intention of completing a silver
+ceiling to the great hall in the palace, because Austin de Bordeaux
+had been killed, and no other person could venture to attempt it.
+Ustân [_sic_] Îsâ, in all the Persian accounts, stands first among
+the salaried architects. [W. H. S.] Tavernier's words are, 'Shâh
+Jahân had intended to cover the arch of a great gallery which is on
+the right hand with silver, and a Frenchman, named Augustin de
+Bordeaux, was to have done the work. But the Great Mogul, seeing
+there was no one in his kingdom who was more capable to send to Goa
+to negotiate an affair with the Portuguese, the work was not done,
+for, as the ability of Augustin was feared, he was poisoned on his
+return from Cochin.' (_Tavernier_, transl. Ball, vol. i, p. 108. )
+The statement that Austin had 'finished the palace at Delhi, and the
+mausoleum and palace of Agra' is not warranted by any evidence known
+to the editor.
+
+20. Akbar erected his works on the site of an older fort, named
+Bâdalgarh, presumably of Hindu origin, 'which was of brick, and had
+become ruinous.' No existing building within the precincts can be
+referred with certainty to an earlier date than that of Akbar. The
+erection began in A.H. 972, corresponding to A.D. 1564-5, and the
+work continued for eight (or, according to another authority, four)
+years, costing 3,500,000 rupees, or about £350,000 sterling. The
+walls are of rubble, faced with red sandstone. The best account is
+the article by Nûr Baksh, entitled 'The Agra Fort and its Buildings',
+in _A.S. Ann. Rep._, 1903-4, pp. 164-93.
+
+21. It is difficult to understand how men like the Marquis of
+Hastings and Lord William Bentinck could have been guilty of such
+barbarous stupidity. But the fact is beyond doubt, and numberless
+officials of less exalted rank must share the disgrace of the ruin
+and spoliation, which, both at Agra and Delhi, have destroyed two
+noble palaces, and left but a few disconnected fragments. Fergusson's
+indignant protests (_History of Indian and Eastern Architecture_, ed.
+1910, vol. ii, p. 312, &c.) are none too strong. Sir John Strachey,
+who was Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces in 1876,
+is entitled to the credit of having done all that lay in his power to
+remedy the effects of the parsimony and neglect of his predecessors.
+The buildings which remain at both Agra and Delhi are now well cared
+for, and large sums are spent yearly on their reparation and
+conservation. The credit for the modern policy of reverence for the
+ancient monuments is due to Lord Curzon more than to any one else.
+
+22. This date is erroneous. The inscription is dated A.H. 1063, in
+the 26th year of Shâh Jahân, equivalent practically to A.D. 1653. It
+is given in full, with both text and translation, in _A.S. Ann. Rep._
+for 1903-4, p. 183. It states that the building was erected in the
+course of seven years at a cost of 300,000 rupees, which = £33,750,
+at the rate of 2_s_. 3_d_. to the rupee current at the time. Errors
+on the subject disfigure most of the guide-books and other works
+commonly read.
+
+23. The beauty of the Motî Masjid, like that of most mosques, is all
+internal. The exterior is ugly. The interior deserves all praise.
+Fergusson describes this mosque as 'one of the purest and most
+elegant buildings of its class to be found anywhere', and truly
+observes that 'the moment you enter by the eastern gateway the effect
+of its courtyard is surpassingly beautiful'. 'I hardly know
+anywhere', he adds, 'of a building so perfectly pure and elegant.'
+(_Ind. and E. Arch._, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 317. See also _H.F.A._,
+p. 412, fig. 242.)
+
+24. I would, however, here enter my humble protest against the
+quadrille and tiffin [_scil._ lunch] parties, which are sometimes
+given to the European ladies and gentlemen of the station at this
+imperial tomb; drinking and dancing are, no doubt, very good things
+in their season, even in a hot climate, but they are sadly out of
+place in a sepulchre, and never fail to shock the good feelings of
+sober-minded people when given there. Good church music gives us
+great pleasure, without exciting us to dancing or drinking; the Tâj
+does the same, at least to the sober-minded. [W. H. S.] The
+regulations now in force prevent any unseemly proceedings. The
+gardens at the Tâj, of Itimâd-ud-daula's tomb, of Akbar's mausoleum
+at Sikandara, and the Râm Bâgh, are kept up by means of income
+derived from crown lands, aided by liberal grants from Government.
+
+25. The anthor's curiously meagre description of the magnificent
+mausoleum of Akbar is, in the original edition, supplemented by
+coloured plates, prepared apparently from drawings by Indian artists.
+The structure is absolutely unique, being a square pyramid of five
+stories, the uppermost of which is built of pure white marble, while
+the four lower ones are of red sandstone. All earlier descriptions of
+the building have been superseded by the posthumous work of E. W.
+Smith, a splendidly illustrated quarto, entitled, _Akbar's Tomb,
+Sikandarah, Agra_, Allahabad Government Press, 1909, being vol. xxxv
+of A. S. India. Work had been begun in the lifetime of Akbar. The
+lower part of the enclosing wall of the park dates from his reign.
+The whole of the mausoleum itself probably is to be assigned to the
+reign of Jahângîr, who in 1608 disapproved of the structure which had
+been three or four years in course of erection, and caused the design
+to be altered to please himself. The work was finished in 1613 at a
+cost of five millions of rupees (50 lâkhs, more than half a million
+of pounds sterling). The exquisitely carved cenotaph on the top story
+is inadequately described by Sleeman as 'another marble slab'. It is
+a single block of marble 3 1/4 feet high. The tomb in the vault 'is
+perfectly plain with the exception of a few mouldings'.
+
+26. The ninety-nine names of God do not occur in the Korân. They are
+enumerated in chapter 1 of Book X of the 'Mishkât-ul-Masâbih' (see
+note 10, Chapter 5 _ante_): 'Abû Hurairah said, "Verily there are
+ninety-nine names for God; and whoever counts them shall enter into
+paradise. He is Allaho, than which there is no other; Al-Rahmân-ul-
+Rahîmo, the compassionate and merciful," &c., &c.' (Matthews, vol. i,
+p. 542.) The list is reproduced in the introduction to Palmer's
+translation of the Korân, and in Bosworth-Smith, _Muhammad and
+Muhammadanism_.
+
+27. The court, 70 feet square, of the topmost story, is open to the
+sky, but the original intention was to provide a light dome,
+presumably similar to that built a little later to crown the
+mausoleum of Itimâd-ud-daula. Finch, the traveller, who was at Agra
+about 1611, was informed that the cenotaph was 'to be inarched over
+with the most curious white and speckled marble, and to be seeled all
+within with pure sheet gold, richly inwrought.' The reason for
+omitting the dome is not recorded.
+
+28. The area is much larger than 40 acres, being really about 150
+acres. Each side is approximately 3 1/2 furlongs.
+
+29. This remarkable eulogium is quoted with approval by another
+enthusiastic admirer of Akbar, Count von Noer (Prince Frederick
+Augustus of Schleswig-Holstein), who observes that 'as Akbar was
+unique amongst his contemporaries, so was his place of burial among
+Indian tombs--indeed, one may say with confidence, among the
+sepulchres of Asia.' (_The Emperor Akbar, a Contribution towards the
+History of India in the 16th Century_, by Frederick Augustus, Count
+of Noer; edited from the Author's papers by Dr. Gustav von Buchwald;
+translated from the German by Annette S. Beveridge. Calcutta, 1890.)
+This work of Count von Noer, unsatisfactory though it is in many
+respects, is still the best exiting modern account of Akbar's reign.
+The competent scholar who will undertake the exhaustive treatment of
+the life and reign of Akbar will be in possession of perhaps the
+finest great historical subject as yet unappropriated. The editor
+long cherished the idea of writing such an exhaustive work, but if he
+should now attempt to deal with the fascinating theme, he must be
+content with a less ambitions performance. Colonel Malleson's little
+book in the 'Rulers of India' series, although serviceable as a
+sketch, adds nothing to the world's knowledge. Akbar's reign (1556-
+1605) was almost exactly coincident with that of Queen Elizabeth
+(1558-1603). The character and deeds of the Indian monarch will bear
+criticism as well as those of his great English contemporary. 'In
+dealing', observes Mr. Lane-Poole, 'with the difficulties arising in
+the Government of a peculiarly heterogeneous empire, he stands
+absently supreme among Oriental sovereigns, and may even challenge
+comparison with the greatest of European rulers.'
+
+Unhappily, there is reason to believe that the marble slab no longer
+covers the bones of Akbar. Manucci states positively that 'During the
+time that Aurangzêb was actively at war with Shivâ Jî [_scil._ the
+Marâthâs], the villagers of whom I spoke before broke into the
+mausoleum in the year 1691 [in words], and after stealing all the
+stones and all the gold work to be found, extracted the king's bones
+and had the temerity to throw them on a fire and burn them' (_Storia
+do Mogor_, i. 142). The statement is repeated with some additional
+particulars in a later passage, which concludes with the words:
+'Dragging out the bones of Akbar, they threw them angrily into the
+fire and burnt them' (ibid. ii. 320). Irvine notes that the
+plundering of the tomb by the Jâts is mentioned in detail by only one
+other writer, Ishar Dâs Nâgar, author of the _Fatûhât-I-Alamgîrî_, a
+manuscript in the British Museum. Manucci seems to be the sole
+authority for the alleged burning of Akbar's bones. I should be glad
+to disbelieve him, but cannot find any reason for doing so.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 52
+
+
+Nûr Jahân, the Aunt of the Empress Nûr Mahal, over whose Remains the
+Tâj is built.[1]
+
+I crossed over the river Jumna one morning to look at the tomb of
+Itimâd-ud-daula, the most remarkable mausoleum in the neighbourhood
+after those of Akbar and the Tâj. On my way back, I asked one of the
+boatmen who was rowing me who had built what appeared to me a new
+dome within the fort. 'One of the Emperors, of course,' said he.
+'What makes you think so?'
+
+'Because such things are made only by Emperors,' replied the man
+quietly, without relaxing his pull at the oar.
+
+'True, very true,' said an old Musalmân trooper, with large white
+whiskers and moustachios, who had dismounted to follow me across the
+river, with a melancholy shake of the head, 'very true; who but
+Emperors could do such things as these?'
+
+Encouraged by the trooper, the boatman continued:--'The Jâts and the
+Marâthâs did nothing but pull down and destroy while they held their
+_accursed dominion_ here; and the European gentlemen who now govern
+seem to have no pleasure in building anything but _factories, courts
+of justice, and jails_.'
+
+Feeling as an Englishman, as we all must sometimes do, be where we
+will, I could hardly help wishing that the beautiful panels and
+pillars of the bath-room had fetched a better price, and that palace,
+Tâj, and all at Agra, had gone to the hammer--so sadly do they exalt
+the past at the expense of the present in the imaginations of the
+people.
+
+ The tomb contains in the centre the remains of Khwâja Ghiâs,[2] one
+of the most prominent characters of the reign of Jahângîr, and those
+of his wife. The remains of the other members of his family repose in
+rooms all round them; and are covered with slabs of marble richly
+cut. It is an exceedingly beautiful building, but a great part of the
+most valuable stones of the mosaic work have been picked out and
+stolen, and the whole is about to be sold by auction, by a decree of
+the civil court, to pay the debt of the present proprietor, who is
+entirely unconnected with the family whose members repose under it,
+and especially indifferent as to what becomes of their bones. The
+building and garden in which it stands were, some sixty years ago,
+given away, I believe, by Nâjîf Khân, the prime minister, to one of
+his nephews, to whose family it still belongs.[3] Khwaja Ghiâs, a
+native of Western Tartary, left that country for India, where he had
+some relations at the imperial court, who seemed likely to be able to
+secure his advancement. He was a man of handsome person, and of good
+education and address. He set out with his wife, a bullock, and a
+small sum of money, which he realized by the sale of all his other
+property. The wife, who was pregnant, rode upon the bullock, while he
+walked by her side. Their stock of money had become exhausted, and
+they had been three days without food in the great desert, when she
+was taken in labour, and gave birth to a daughter. The mother could
+hardly keep her seat on the bullock, and the father had become too
+exhausted to afford her any support; and in their distress they
+agreed to abandon the infant. They covered it over with leaves, and
+towards evening pursued their journey. When they had gone on about a
+mile, and had lost sight of the solitary shrub under which they had
+left their child, the mother, in an agony of grief, threw herself
+from the bullock upon the ground, exclaiming, 'My child, my child!'
+Ghiâs could not resist this appeal. He went back to the spot, took up
+his child, and brought it to its mother's breast. Some travellers
+soon after came up, and relieved their distress, and they reached
+Lahore, where the Emperor Akbar then held his court.[4]
+
+Âsaf Khan, a distant relation of Ghiâs, held a high place at court,
+and was much in the confidence of the Emperor. He made his kinsman
+his private secretary. Much pleased with his diligence and ability,
+Âsaf soon brought his merits to the special notice of Akbar, who
+raised him to the command of a thousand horse, and soon after
+appointed him master of the household. From this he was promoted
+afterwards to that of Itimâd-ud-daula, or high treasurer, one of the
+first ministers.[5]
+
+The daughter who had been born in the desert became celebrated for
+her great beauty, parts, and accomplishments, and won the affections
+of the eldest son of the Emperor, the Prince Salîm, who saw her
+unveiled, by accident, at a party given by her father. She had been
+betrothed before this to Shêr Afgan, a Turkoman gentleman of rank at
+court, and of great repute for his high spirit, strength, and
+courage.[6] Salîm in vain entreated his father to interpose his
+authority to make him resign his claim in his favour; and she became
+the wife of Shêr Afgan. Salîm dare not, during his father's life,
+make any open attempt to revenge himself; but he, and those courtiers
+who thought it their interest to worship the rising sun, soon made
+his [Afgan's] residence at the capital disagreeable, and he retired
+with his wife to Bengal, where he obtained from the governor the
+superintendency of the district of Bardwân.
+
+Salîm succeeded his father on the throne;[7] and, no longer
+restrained by his (_scil._ Akbar's) rigid sense of justice, he
+recalled Shêr Afgan to court at Delhi. He was promoted to high
+offices, and concluded that time had removed from the Emperor's mind
+all feelings of love for his wife, and of resentment against his
+successful rival--but he was mistaken; Salîm had never forgiven him,
+nor had the desire to possess his wife at all diminished. A
+Muhammadan of such high feeling and station would, the Emperor knew,
+never survive the dishonour, or suspected dishonour, of his wife; and
+to possess her he must make away with the husband. He dared not do
+this openly, because he dreaded the universal odium in which he knew
+it would involve him; and he made several unsuccessful attempts to
+get him removed by means that might not appear to have been contrived
+or executed by his orders. At one time he designedly, in his own
+presence, placed him in a situation where the pride of the chief made
+him contend, single-handed, with a large tiger, which he killed; and,
+at another, with a mad elephant, whose proboscis he cut off with his
+sword; but the Emperor's motives in all these attempts to put him
+foremost in situations of danger became so manifest that Shêr Afgan
+solicited, and obtained, permission to retire with his wife to
+Bengal.
+
+The governor of this province, Kutb,[8] having been made acquainted
+with the Emperor's desire to have the chief made away with, hired
+forty ruffians, who stole into his house one night. There happened to
+be nobody else in the house; but one of the party, touched by remorse
+on seeing so fine a man about to be murdered in his sleep, called out
+to him to defend himself. He seized his sword, placed himself in one
+corner of the room, and defended himself so well that nearly one-half
+of the party are said to have been killed or wounded. The rest all
+made off, persuaded that he was endowed with supernatural force.
+After this escape he retired from Tânda, the capital of Bengal,[9] to
+his old residence of Bardwân. Soon after, Kutb came to the city with
+a splendid retinue, on pretence of making a tour of inspection
+through the provinces under his charge, but in reality for the sole
+purpose of making away with Shêr Afgan, who as soon as he heard of
+his approach, came out some miles to meet him on horseback, attended
+by only two followers. He was received with marks of great
+consideration, and he and the governor rode on for some time side by
+side, talking of their mutual friends, and the happy days they had
+spent together at the capital. At last, as they were about to enter
+the city, the governor suddenly called for his elephant of state, and
+mounted, saying it would be necessary for him to pass through the
+city on the first visit in some state. Shêr sat on horseback while he
+mounted, but one of the governor's pikemen struck his horse, and
+began to drive him before them. Shêr drew his sword, and, seeing all
+the governor's followers with theirs ready drawn to attack him, he
+concluded at once that the affront had been put upon him by the
+orders of Kutb, and with the design to provoke him to an unequal
+fight. Determined to have his life first, he spurred his horse upon
+the elephant, and killed Kutb with his spear. He now attacked the
+principal of officers, and five noblemen of the first rank fell by
+his sword. All the crowd now rolled back, and formed a circle round
+Shêr and his two companions, and galled them with arrows and musket
+balls from a distance. His horse fell under him and expired; and,
+having received six balls and several arrows in his body, Shêr
+himself at last fell exhausted to the ground; and the crowd, seeing
+the sword drop from his grasp, rushed in and cut him to pieces.[l0]
+
+His widow was sent, 'nothing loth', to court, with her only child, a
+daughter. She was graciously received by the Emperor's mother, and
+had apartments assigned her in the palace; but the Emperor himself is
+said not to have seen her for four years, during which time the fame
+of her beauty, talents, and accomplishments filled the palace and
+city. After the expiration of this time the feelings, whatever they
+were, which prevented his seeing her, subsided; and when he at last
+surprised her with a visit, he found her to exceed all that his
+imagination had painted since their last separation. In a few days
+their marriage was celebrated with great magnificence;[11] and from
+that hour the Emperor resigned the reins of government almost
+entirely into her hands; and, till his death, under the name first of
+Nûr Mahall, 'Light of the Palace', and afterwards of Nûr Jahân,
+'Light of the World ', she ruled the destinies of this great empire.
+Her father was now raised from the station of high treasurer to that
+of prime minister. Her two brothers obtained the titles of Âsaf Jâh
+and Itikâd Khan; and the relations of the family poured in from
+Tartary in search of employment, as soon as they heard of their
+success.[12] Nûr Jahân had by Sher Afgan, as I have stated, one
+daughter; but she had never any child by the Emperor Jahângîr.[13]
+
+Âsaf Jâh became prime minister on the death of his father; and, in
+spite of his sister, he managed to secure the crown to Shâh Jahân,
+the third son of Jahângîr, who had married his daughter, the lady
+over whose remains the Tâj was afterwards built. Jahângîr's eldest
+son, Khusrû, had his eyes put out by his father's orders for repeated
+rebellions, to which he had been instigated by a desire to revenge
+his mother's murder, and by the ambition of her brother, the Hindoo
+prince, Mân Singh,[14] who wished to see his own nephew on the
+throne, and by his wife's father, the prime minister of Akbar, Khan
+Azam.[15] Nûr Jahân had invited the mother of Khusrû, the sister of
+Râjâ Mân Singh, to look with her down a well in the courtyard of her
+apartments by moonlight, and as she did so she threw her in. As soon
+as she saw that she had ceased to struggle she gave the alarm, and
+pretended that she had fallen in by accident.[16]
+
+By the murder of the mother of the heir-apparent she expected to
+secure the throne to a creature of her own. Khusrû was treated with
+great kindness by his father, after he had been barbarously deprived
+of sight;[17] but when his brother, Shâh Jahân, was appointed to the
+government of Southern India, he pretended great solicitude about the
+comforts of his _poor blind brother_, which he thought would not be
+attended to at court, and took him with him to his government in the
+Deccan, where he got him assassinated, as the only sure mode of
+securing the throne to himself.[18] Parwîz, the second son, died a
+natural death;[19] so also did his only son; and so also Dâniyâl, the
+fourth son of the Emperor.[20] Nûr Jahân's daughter by Shêr Afgan had
+married Shahryâr, a young son of the Emperor by a concubine; and,
+just before his death he (the Emperor), at the instigation of Nûr
+Jahân, named this son as his successor in his will. He was placed
+upon the throne, and put in possession of the treasury, and at the
+head of a respectable army;[21] but the Empress's brother, Âsaf,
+designed the throne for his own son-in-law, Shâh Jahân; and, as soon
+as the Emperor died, he put up a puppet to amuse the people till he
+could come up with his army from the Deccan--Bulâkî, the eldest son
+of the deceased Khusrû. Shahryâr's troops were defeated; he was taken
+prisoner, and had his eyes put out forthwith, and the Empress was put
+into close confinement. As Shâh Jahân approached Lahore with his
+army, Âsaf put his puppet, Bulâkî, and his younger brother, with the
+two young sons of Dâniyâl, into prison, where they were strangled by
+a messenger sent on for the purpose by Shâh Jahân, with the sanction
+of Âsaf.[22] This measure left no male heir alive of the house of
+Tîmûr (Tamerlane) in Hindustan, save Shâh Jahân himself and his four
+sons. Dârâ was then thirteen years of age, Shujâ twelve, Aurangzêb
+ten, and Murâd four;[23] and all were present to learn from their
+father this sad lesson--that such of them who might be alive on his
+death, save one, must, with their sons, be hunted down and destroyed
+like mad dogs, lest they might get into the hands of the disaffected,
+and be made the tools of faction.
+
+Monsieur de Thevenot, who visited Agra, as I have before stated, in
+1666, says, 'Some affirm that there are twenty-five thousand
+Christian families in Agra; but all do not agree in that. The Dutch
+have a factory in the town, but the English have now none, because it
+did not turn to account.' The number must have been great, or so
+sober a man as Monsieur Thevenot would not have thought such an
+estimate worthy to be quoted without contradiction.[24] They were
+all, except those connected with the single Dutch factory, maintained
+from the salaries of office; and they gradually disappeared as their
+offices became filled with Muhammadans and Hindoos. The duties of the
+artillery, its arsenals, and foundries, were the chief foundation
+upon which the superstructure of Christianity then stood in India.
+These duties were everywhere entrusted exclusively to Europeans, and
+all Europeans were Christians, and, under Shâh Jahân, permitted
+freely to follow their own modes of worship. They were, too. Roman
+Catholic, and spent the greater part of their incomes in the
+maintenance of priests. But they could never forget that they were
+strangers in the land, and held their offices upon a precarious
+tenure; and, consequently, they never felt disposed to expend the
+little wealth they had in raising durable tombs, churches, and other
+public buildings, to tell posterity who or what they were. Present
+physical enjoyment, and the prayers of their priests for a good berth
+in the next world, were the only objects of their ambition.
+Muhammadans and Hindoos soon learned to perform duties which they saw
+bring to the Christians so much of honour and emolument; and, as they
+did so, they necessarily sapped the walls of the fabric. Christianity
+never became independent of office in India, and, I am afraid, never
+will; even under our rule, it still mainly rests upon that
+foundation.[25]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The names and titles of the empress 'over whose remains the Tâj is
+built' were Nawâb Aliyâ Begam, Arjumand Bânû, Mumtâz-i-Mahall. The
+title Nûr Mahall, as applied to her, is without authority: it
+properly belongs to her aunt. 'It is usual in this country', Bernier
+observes, 'to give similar names to the members of the reigning
+family. Thus the wife of _Chah-Jehan_--so renowned for her beauty,
+and whose splendid mausoleum is more worthy of a place among the
+wonders of the world than the unshapen masses and heaps of stones in
+Egypt--was named _Tâge Mehalle_ [Mumtâz-i-Mahall], or the Crown of
+the Seraglio; and the wife of Jehan-Guyre, who so long wielded the
+sceptre, while her husband abandoned himself to drunkenness and
+dissipation, was known first by the name of _Nour Mehalle_, the Light
+of the Seraglio, and afterwards by that of _Nour-Jehan-Begum_, the
+Light of the World.' (Bernier, _Travels_, ed. Constable, and V. A.
+Smith, 1914, p. 5.)
+
+2. Properly, Ghiâs-ud-dîn, meaning 'succourer of religion'. The word
+Ghiâs cannot stand as a name by itself.
+
+3. The author's slight description of Itimâd-ud-daula's exquisite
+sepulchre is, in the original edition, illustrated by two coloured
+plates, one of the exterior, and the other of the interior
+(restored). The lack of grandeur in this building is amply atoned for
+by its elegance and marvellous beauty of detail. An inscription,
+dated A.H. 1027 = A.D. 1618, alleged to exist in connexion with the
+building, has not, apparently, been published. (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_,
+1st ed., vol. vii, p. 687.)
+
+Fergusson's description and just criticism deserve quotation. 'The
+tomb known as that of Itimâd-ud-daula, at Agra, . . . cannot be
+passed over, not only from its own beauty of design, but also because
+it marks an epoch in the style to which it belongs. It was erected by
+Nûr-Jahân in memory of her father, who died in 1621, and [it] was
+completed in 1628. It is situated on the left bank of the river, in
+the midst of a garden surrounded by a wall measuring 540 feet on each
+side. In the centre of this, on a raised platform, stands the tomb
+itself, a square measuring 69 feet on each side. It is two stories in
+height, and at each angle is an octagonal tower, surmounted by an
+open pavilion. The towers, however, are rather squat in proportion,
+and the general design of the building very far from being so
+pleasing as that of many less pretentious tombs in the neighbourhood.
+Had it, indeed, been built in red sandstone, or even with an inlay of
+white marble like that of Humâyûn, it would not have attracted much
+attention, its real merit consists in being wholly in white marble,
+and being covered throughout with a mosaic in 'pietra dura'--the
+first, apparently, and certainly one of the most splendid, examples
+of that class of ornamentation in India....
+
+'As one of the first, the tomb of Itimâd-ud-daula was certainly one
+of the least successful specimens of its class. The patterns do not
+quite fit the places where they are put, and the spaces are not
+always those best suited for this style of decoration. [Altogether I
+cannot help fancying that the Italians had more to do with the design
+of this building than was at all desirable, and they are to blame for
+its want of grace.[a]] But, on the other hand, the beautiful tracery
+of the pierced marble slabs of its Windows, which resemble those of
+Salîm Chishtî's tomb at Fatehpur Sikrî, the beauty of its white
+marble walls, and the rich colour of its decorations, make up so
+beautiful a whole, that it is only on comparing it with the works of
+Shâh Jahân that we are justified in finding fault.' (_Indian and
+Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, pp. 305-7.) Further details will be
+found in Syad Muhammad Latîf, _Agra_ (Calcutta, 1896); _A.S.R._ iv,
+pp. 137-41 (Calcutta, 1874); and more satisfactorily, in E. W. Smith,
+_Moghul Colour Decoration of Agra_ (Allahabad, 1901), pp. 18-20, pl.
+lxv-lxxvii. Mr. E. W. Smith, if he had lived, would have produced a
+separate volume descriptive of this unique building.
+
+The building is now carefully guarded and kept in repair. The
+restoration of the inlay of precious stones is so enormously
+expensive that much progress in that branch of the work is
+impracticable. The mausoleum contains seven tombs.
+
+a. This sentence has been deleted by Dr. Burgess in his edition,
+1910.
+
+4. This tale is mythical. The alleged circumstances could not be
+known to any person besides the father and mother, neither of whom
+would be likely to make them public. Blochmann (transl. _Âîn_, i.
+508) gives a full account of Itimâd-ud-daula and his family. The
+historians state that Nûr Jahân was born at Kandahâr, on the way to
+India. Her father was the son of a high Persian official, but for
+some reason or other was obliged to quit Persia with his family. He
+was a native of Teheran, not of 'Western Tartary'. The personal name
+of Nûr Jahân was Mihr-un-nisâ.
+
+5. This story is erroneous, and inconsistent with the correct
+statement in the heading of the chapter that Nûr Jahân, daughter of
+Ghiâs-ud-dîn, was aunt of the Lady of the Tâj. The author makes out
+Ghiâs-ud-dîn (whom he corruptly calls Aeeas) to be a distant relation
+of Âsaf Khan. In reality, Âsaf Khân (whose original name was Mirzâ
+Abûl Hasan) was the second son of Ghiâs-ud-dîn, and was elder brother
+of Nûr Jahân, The genealogy, so far as relevant, is best shown in a
+tabular form, thus:--
+
+
+ Mirzâ Ghiâs-ud-dîn Beg
+ (alias Itimâd-ud-daula).
+ |
+ |
+ |----------------|-------------------------|
+ | | |
+ Muhammad Âsaf Khan *Nûr Mahall*
+ Sharîf. (_alias_ Mirzâ (_alias_ *Nûrjâahân*),
+ Abûl Hasan). *Empress of Jahângîr*
+ | (and widow of
+ | Shêr Afgan).
+ |
+ *Mumtâz-i-Mahall*
+ (_alias_ Arjumand Bânû Bêgam,
+ _alias_ Nawâb Aliyâ Bêgam),
+ *Empress of Shâh Jahân*.
+
+
+
+6. Alî Qulî Beg, from Persia entered Akbar's service, and in the war
+with the Rânâ of Chitôr, served under Prince Salîm (Jahângîr), who
+gave him the title of Shêr Afgan, 'tiger-thrower', with reverence to
+his deeds of prowess. The spelling _afgan_ is correct. The word is
+the radical of the Persian verb _afgandan_, 'to throw down'.
+
+7. In October, 1605.
+
+8. Properly Kutb-ud-dîn Khan. He was foster-brother of Prince Salîm
+(Jahângîr), and his appointment as viceroy alarmed Shêr Afgan, and
+caused the latter to throw up his appointment in Bengal. The word
+Kutb (Qutb) cannot stand alone as a name. Kutb (Qutb)-ud-dîn means
+'pole-star of religion'.
+
+9. Tândân, or Tânra. Ancient town, now a petty village, in Mâlda
+District, Bengal, the capital of Bengal after the decadence of Gaur.
+Its history is obscure, and the very site of the city has not been
+accurately determined. It is certain that it was in the immediate
+neighbourhood of Gaur, and south-west of that town beyond the
+Bhâgîrathî. Old Tândân has been utterly swept away by the changes in
+the course of the Pâglâ. It was occupied by the Afghan king of Bengal
+in A.D. 1564, and is not mentioned after 1660. (_I.G._, 1908.)
+
+10. This narrative, notwithstanding all the minute details with which
+it is garnished, cannot be accepted as sober history; and I do not
+know from what source the author obtained it. 'This lady, whose
+maiden name was Muhr-un-Nisâ, or "Seal of Womankind", had attracted
+the admiration of Jahângîr when he was crown prince, but Akbar
+married her to a young Turkomân and settled them in Bengal. After
+Jahângîr's accession the husband was killed in a quarrel with the
+governor of the province, and the wife was placed under the care of
+one of Akbar's widows, with whom she remained four years, and then
+married Jahângîr (1610). There is nothing to justify a suspicion of
+the Emperor's connivance in the husband's death; nor do Indian
+historians corroborate the invidious criticisms of "Normal" by
+European travellers; on the contrary, they portray Nûr-Mahall as a
+pattern of all the virtues, and worthy to wield the supreme influence
+which she obtained over the Emperor.' (Lane-Poole, _The History of
+the Moghul Emperors of Hindustan illustrated by their Coins_, p.
+xix.) The authorities on which this statement is founded are given in
+_E. & D._, vol. vi, pp. 397 and 402-5. See also Blochmann, _Âîn_,
+vol. i, pp. 496, 524. Details of such stories in the various
+chronicles always differ. Jahângîr openly rejoiced in the death of
+Shêr Afgan, and it is by no means clear that he was not responsible
+for the event. He was not troubled by nice scruples. The first
+element in the lady's personal name seems to be _Mihr_, 'sun', not
+_Muhr_, 'seal'. The words are identical in ordinary Persian writing.
+
+11. The long interval which elapsed between Shêr Afgan's death and
+the marriage with the Emperor is a fact opposed to the assumptions
+which the author adopts that Nûr Mahall was 'nothing loth', and that
+the death of her first husband was contrived by Jahângîr.
+
+12. Quaint Sir Thomas Herbert thus expresses himself: 'Meher Metzia
+[Mihr-un-nisâ] is forthwith espoused with all solemnity to the King,
+and her name changed to Nourshabegem [Nûr Shâh Bêgam], or Nor-mahal,
+i.e., Light or Glory of the Court; her Father upon this affinity
+advanced upon all the other Umbraes ['umarâ', or nobles]; her
+brother, Assaph-Chan [Âsaf Khân], and most of her kindred, smiled
+upon, with the addition of Honours, Wealth, and Command. And in this
+Sun-shine of content Jangheer [Jahângîr] spends some years with his
+lovely Queen, without regarding ought save Cupid's Currantoes'
+(_Travels_, ed. 1677, p. 74). Authority exists for the title Âsaf
+Jâh, as well as for the variant Âsaf Khân.
+
+Coins were struck in the joint names of Jahângîr and his consort,
+bearing a rhyming Persian couplet to the effect that
+
+'By command of Jahângîr the King, from the name of Nûr Jahân his
+Queen, gold gained a hundred beauties.'
+
+The Queen's administration is censured by some of the European
+travellers who visited India during Jahângîr's reign as being venal
+and inefficient, and she is accused of cruelty and perfidy. She died
+on the 18th December (N.S.), 1645, and was buried by the aide of
+Jahângîr in his mausoleum at Lahore. At her death she was in her 72nd
+year, according to the Muhammadan lunar reckoning, and would thus
+have been thirty-four solar years of age when the Emperor married her
+in 1610 (Beale: Blochmann).
+
+13. According to Sir Thomas Herbert (_Travels_, ed. 1677, p. 99),
+'Queen Normahal and her three daughters' were confined by order of
+Shâh Jahân in A.D. 1628.
+
+14. Son of Bhagwân Dâs, of Ambêr or Jaipur, in Râjputâna, and one of
+the greatest of Akbar's officers.
+
+15. Also known as Azîz Kokah, a foster-brother of Akbar.
+
+16. This story may or may not be true; but a charge of this kind is
+absolutely incapable of proof, and would be readily generated in the
+palace atmosphere.
+
+17. According to a contemporary authority, the blinding was only
+partial, and the prince recovered the sight of one eye (_E. & D._ vi.
+448). With regard to such details the discrepancies in the histories
+are innumerable.
+
+18. A.H. 1031 = A.D. 1621-2. The charge seems to be true.
+
+19. A.H. 1036 = A.D. 1626-7.
+
+20. This is a blunder. Jahângîr's fourth son was named Jahândâr, and
+died in or about A.H. 1035 = A.D. 1625-6. Dâniyâl was third son of
+Akbar, and younger brother of Jahângîr. He died from _delirium
+tremens_ in A.D. 1605, a few months before the death of Akbar,
+
+21. Jahângîr died, when returning from Kâshmîr, on the 8th November,
+A.D. 1627 (N.S.), and was buried near Lahore. The fight with Shahryâr
+took place at Lahore.
+
+22. Bulâkî assumed the title of Dâwar Baksh during his short reign,
+and struck coins at Lahore. He 'vanished--probably to Persia--after
+his three months' pretence of royalty; and on 25th January, 1628 (18
+Jumâda I, 1037), Shâh-Jahân ascended at Agra the throne which he was
+to occupy for thirty years'. Shahryâr was known by the nickname of
+_Nâ-shudanî_, or 'Good-for-nothing' (Lane-Poole, _The History of the
+Moghul Emperors of Hindustan, illustrated by their Coins_, p. xxiii).
+The two nephews of Jahângîr, the sons of Dâniyâl, slaughtered at this
+time, had been, according to Herbert, baptized as Christians
+(_Travels_, ed. 1677, pp. 74, 98). There are great discrepancies in
+the accounts given by various authorities concerning the fate of
+Bulâkî and the other victims of Shâh Jahân. A dissuasion of the
+evidence would take too much apace, and must be inconclusive, the
+fact being that the proceedings were secret, and pains were taken to
+conceal the truth.
+
+23. The dates of birth are, in Old Style:-Dârâ Shikoh, March 20,
+1615; Sultan Shujâ, May 12, 1616; Aurangzêb, October 10, 1619; and
+Murâd Baksh, not stated (Beale).
+
+24. _Ante_, Chapter 2, text following [8]. The quotation is from Part
+III, chap. 19, p. 35 of _The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot, now
+made English. London, Printed in the year MDCLXXXVII_. The author, in
+his quotation, omits between 'that' and 'The Dutch' the clause 'This
+indeed is certain that there are few Heathens and Parsis in respect
+of Mahometans there, and these surpass all the other sects in power
+as they do in number.'
+
+25. During the reign of Akbar, many Christians, Portuguese, English,
+and others, visited Agra, and a considerable number settled there. A
+Roman Catholic church was built, the steeple of which was pulled down
+by Shâh Jahân. The oldest inscriptions in the cemetery adjoining the
+Roman Catholic cathedral are in the Armenian character. Three
+Catholic cemeteries exist at or near Agra, namely
+
+(l) the old Catholic graveyard at the village of Lashkarpur, dating
+from the time of Akbar, who made a grant of the site about A.D. 1600.
+This cemetery includes the Martyrs' Chapel, also known as the Chapel
+of Father Santus (Santucci), which was erected in memory of Khoja
+Mortenepus, an Armenian merchant, whose epitaph is dated 1611. The
+next oldest tombstone, that of Father Emmanuel d' Anhaya, who died in
+prison, bears the date August, 1633. Father Joseph de Castro, who
+died at Lahore, on December 15, 1646, lies in the same building.
+
+(2) A cemetery in Pâdrîtola, the native Christian ward of the city
+behind the old cathedral. Father Tieffenthaler is buried there.
+
+(3) A cemetery in an unnamed village, granted by Jahângîr, and
+situated a mile north of Lashkarpur. An unpublished letter in the
+British Museum shows that Jahângîr closed the churches in his
+dominions in 1615. Notwithstanding, the College at Agra was founded
+about 1617 by an Armenian who is known by his title Mirzâ Zul-
+Qarnain. The acute persecution by Shâh Jahân occurred in 1631.
+
+The artillery men in the Mogul service were not all European
+Christians. Turks from the Ottoman Empire were freely employed. (See
+_Ep. Ind._, ii, 132 note.)
+
+The facts concerning the early history of Christianity in Northern
+India have been imperfectly studied. In this note I have used chiefly
+a pamphlet by Father H. Hosten, S. J., entitled _Jesuit Missionaries
+in Northern India, &c._ (Catholic Orphan Press, Calcutta, 1907), and
+the confused little book by Fanthome, _Reminiscences of Agra_ (2nd
+ed., Thacker, Spink & Co., Calcutta, 1895). The Jesuit and Capuchin
+Fathers are working at the subject and hope to elucidate it. From the
+_A.S. Progress Rep. N. Circle, Muhammadan Monuments_, for 1911-12, p.
+21, it appears that arrangements for the proper maintenance of the
+Old Catholic cemetery are in hand.
+
+The author's observations concerning the official relations of
+Christianity in India do not apply at all to the very ancient
+churches of the South (See _E.H.I._, 3rd ed., 1914, App. M, pp. 245-
+7). Even in the north, the modern missionary operations may claim to
+be 'independent of office'.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 53
+
+
+Father Gregory's Notion of the Impediments to Conversion in India--
+Inability of Europeans to speak Eastern Languages.
+
+Father Gregory, the Roman Catholic priest, dined with us one evening,
+and Major Godby took occasion to ask him at table, 'What progress our
+religion was making among the people?'
+
+'Progress!' said he; 'why, what progress can we ever hope to make
+among a people who, the moment we begin to talk to them about the
+miracles performed by Christ, begin to tell us of those infinitely
+more wonderful performed by Krishna, who lifted a mountain upon his
+little finger, as an umbrella, to defend his shepherdesses at
+Govardhan from a shower of rain.[1] The Hindoos never doubt any part
+of the miracles and prophecies of our scripture--they believe every
+word of them; and the only thing that surprises them is that they
+should be so much less wonderful than those of their own scriptures,
+in which also they implicitly believe. Men who believe that the
+histories of the wars and amours of Râm and Krishna, two of the
+incarnations of Vishnu, were written some fifty thousand years before
+these wars and amours actually took place upon the earth, would of
+course easily believe in the fulfilment of any prophecy that might be
+related to them out of any other book;[2] and, as to miracles, there
+is absolutely nothing too extraordinary for their belief. If a
+Christian of respectability were to tell a Hindoo that, to satisfy
+some scruples of the Corinthians, St. Paul had brought the sun and
+moon down upon the earth, and made them rebound off again into their
+places, like tennis balls, without the slightest injury to any of the
+three planets [_sic_], I do not think he would feel the slightest
+doubt of the truth of it; but he would immediately be put in mind of
+something still more extraordinary that Krishna did to amuse the
+milkmaids, or to satisfy some sceptics of his day, and relate it with
+all the _naïveté_ imaginable.
+
+I saw at Agra Mirzâ Kâm Baksh, the eldest son of Sulaimân Shikoh, the
+eldest son of the brother of the present Emperor. He had spent a
+season with us at Jubbulpore, while prosecuting his claim to an
+estate against the Râjâ of Rîwâ. The Emperor, Shâh Âlam, in his
+flight before our troops from Bengal (1762), struck off the high road
+to Delhi at Mirzapore, and came down to Rîwâ, where he found an
+asylum during the season of the rains with the Rîwâ Râjâ, who
+assigned for his residence the village of Makanpur.[3] His wife, the
+Empress, was here delivered of a son, the present Emperor, of
+Hindustân, Akbar Shâh;[4] and the Râjâ assigned to him and his heirs
+for ever the fee simple of this village. As the members of this
+family increased in geometrical ratio, under the new system, which
+gave them plenty to eat with nothing to do, the Emperor had of late
+been obliged to hunt round for little additions to his income; and in
+his search he found that Makanpur gave name to a 'pargana', or little
+district, of which it was the capital, and that a good deal of
+merchandize passed through this district, and paid heavy dues to the
+Râjâ. Nothing, he thought, would be lost by trying to get the whole
+district instead of the village; and for this purpose he sent down
+Kâm Baksh, the ablest man of the whole family, to urge and prosecute
+his claim; but the Râjâ was a close, shrewd man, and not to be done
+out of his revenue, and Kâm Baksh was obliged to return minus some
+thousand rupees, which he had spent in attempting to keep up
+appearances.
+
+The best of us Europeans feel our deficiencies in conversation with
+Muhammadans of high rank and education, when we are called upon to
+talk upon subjects beyond the everyday occurrences of life. A
+Muhammadan gentleman of education is tolerably acquainted with
+astronomy, as it was taught by Ptolemy; with the logic and ethics of
+Aristotle and Plato; with the works of Hippocrates and Galen, through
+those of Avicenna, or, as they call him, Abû-Alîsîna;[5] and he is
+very capable of talking upon all subjects of philosophy, literature,
+science, and the arts, and very much inclined to do so; and of
+understanding the nature of the improvements that have been made in
+them in modern times. But, however capable we may feel of discussing
+these subjects, or explaining these improvements in our own language,
+we all feel ourselves very much at a loss when we attempt to do it in
+theirs. Perhaps few Europeans have mixed and conversed more freely
+with all classes than I have; and yet I feel myself sadly deficient
+when I enter, as I often do, into discussions with Muhammadan
+gentlemen of education upon the subject of the character of the
+governments and institutions of different countries--their effects
+upon the character and condition of the people; the arts and the
+sciences; the faculties and operations of the human mind; and the
+thousand other things which are subjects of everyday conversation
+among educated and thinking; men in our country. I feel that they
+could understand me quite well if I could find words for my ideas;
+but these I cannot find, though their languages abound in them, nor
+have I ever met the European gentleman who could. East Indians
+can;[6] but they commonly want the ideas as much as we want the
+language. The chief cause of this deficiency is the want of
+sufficient intercourse with men in whose presence we should be
+ashamed to appear ignorant--this is the great secret, and all should
+know and acknowledge it.
+
+We are not ashamed to convey our orders to our native servants in a
+barbarous language. Military officers seldom speak to their 'sipâhîs'
+(sepoys) and native officers, about anything but arms, accoutrements,
+and drill; or to other natives about anything but the sports of the
+field; and, as long as they are understood, they care not one straw
+in what language they express themselves. The conversation of the
+civil servants with their native officers takes sometimes a wider
+range; but they have the same philosophical indifference as to the
+language in which they attempt to convey their ideas; and I have
+heard some of our highest diplomatic characters talking,[7] without
+the slightest feeling of shame or embarrassment, to native princes on
+the most ordinary subjects of everyday interest in a language which
+no human being but themselves could understand. We shall remain the
+same till some change of system inspire us with stronger motives to
+please and conciliate the educated classes of the native community.
+They may be reconciled, but they can never be charmed out of their
+prejudices or the errors of their preconceived opinions by such
+language as the European gentlemen are now in the habit of speaking
+to them.[8] We must learn their language better, or we must teach
+them our own, before we can venture to introduce among them those
+free institutions which would oblige us to meet them on equal terms
+at the bar, on the bench, and in the senate.[9] Perhaps two of the
+best secular works that were ever written upon the facilities and
+operations of the human mind, and the duties of men in their
+relations with each other, are those of Imâm-ud-dîn Ghazzâlî, and
+Nasîr-ud-dîn of Tûs.[10] Their idol was Plato, but their works are of
+a more practical character than his, and less dry than those of
+Aristotle.
+
+I may here mention the following, among many instances that occur to
+me, of the amusing mistakes into which Europeans are liable to fall
+in their conversation with natives.
+
+Mr. J. W------n, of the Bengal Civil Service, commonly known by the
+name of Beau W------n,[11] was the Honourable Company's opium agent
+at Patna, when I arrived at Dinapore to join my regiment in 1810.[12]
+He had a splendid house, and lived in excellent style; and was never
+so happy as when he had a dozen young men from the Dinapore
+cantonments living with him. He complained that year, as I was told,
+that he had not been able to save more than one hundred thousand
+rupees that season out of his salary and commission upon the opium,
+purchased by the Government from the cultivators.[13] The members of
+the civil service, in the other branches of public service, were all
+anxious to have it believed by their countrymen that they were well
+acquainted with their duties, and able and willing to perform them;
+but the Honourable Company's commercial agents were, on the contrary,
+generally anxious to make their countrymen believe that they neither
+knew nor cared anything about their duties, because they were ashamed
+of them. They were sinecure posts for the drones of the service, or
+for those who had great interest and no capacity.[14] Had any young
+man made it appear that he really thought W------n knew or cared
+anything about his duties, he would certainly never have been invited
+to his house again; and if any one knew, certainly no one seemed to
+know that he had any other duty than that of entertaining his guests.
+
+No one ever spoke the native language so badly, because no man had
+ever so little intercourse with the natives; and it was, I have been
+told, to his ignorance of the native languages that his bosom friend,
+Mr. P------st, owed his life on one occasion. W. sat by the sick-bed
+of his friend with unwearied attention, for some days and nights,
+after the doctors had declared his case entirely hopeless. He
+proposed at last to try change of air, and take him on the river
+Ganges. The doctors, thinking that he might as well die in his boat
+on the river as in his house at Calcutta, consented to his taking him
+on board. They got up as far as Hooghly, when P. said that he felt
+better and thought he could eat something. What should it be? A
+little roasted kid perhaps. The very thing that he was longing for!
+W. went out upon the deck to give orders for the kid, that his friend
+might not be disturbed by the gruff voice of the old 'khânsâmâ'
+(butler). P. heard the conversation, however.
+
+'Khânsâmâ', said the Beau W., 'you know that my friend Mr. P. is very
+ill?'
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'And that he has not eaten anything for a month?'
+
+'A long time for a man to fast, sir.'
+
+'Yes, Khânsâmâ, and his stomach is now become very delicate, and
+could not stand anything strong.'
+
+'Certainly not, sir.'
+
+'Well, Khânsâmâ, then he has taken a fancy to a roasted _mare_'
+('mâdiyân'), meaning a 'halwân', or kid.'[15]
+
+'A roasted mare, sir?'
+
+'Yes, Khânsâmâ, a roasted mare, which you must have nicely prepared.'
+
+'What, the whole, sir?'
+
+'Not the whole at one time; but have the whole ready as there is no
+knowing what part he may like best.'
+
+The old butter had heard of the Tartars eating their horses when in
+robust health, but the idea of a sick man, not able to move in his
+bed without assistance, taking a fancy to a roasted mare, quite
+staggered him.
+
+'But, sir, I may not be able to get such a thing as a mare at a
+moment's notice; and if I get her she will be very dear.'
+
+'Never mind, Khânsâmâ, get you the mare, cost what she will; if she
+costs a thousand rupees my friend shall have her. He has taken a
+fancy to the mare, and the mare he shall have, if she costs a
+thousand rupees.'
+
+The butter made his salaam, said he would do his best, and took his
+leave, requesting that the boats might be kept at the bank of the
+river till he came back.
+
+W. went into his sick friend, who, with great difficulty, managed to
+keep his countenance while he complained of the liberties old
+servants were in the habit of taking with their masters. 'They think
+themselves privileged', said W., 'to conjure up difficulties in the
+way of everything that one wants to have done.'
+
+'Yes', said P------st, 'we like to have old and faithful servants
+about us, particularly when we are sick; but they are apt to take
+liberties, which new ones will not.'
+
+In about two hours the butler's approach was announced from the deck,
+and W. walked out to scold him for his delay. The old gentleman was
+coming down over the bank, followed by about eight men bearing the
+four quarters of an old mare. The butler was very fat; and the proud
+consciousness of having done his duty, and met his master's wishes in
+a very difficult and important point, had made him a perfect
+Falstaff. He marshalled his men in front of the cooking-boat, and
+then came towards his master, who for some time stood amazed, and
+unable to speak. At last he roared out, 'And what the devil have you
+here?'
+
+'Why, the _mare_ that the sick gentleman took a fancy for; and dear
+enough she has cost me; not a farthing less than two hundred rupees
+would the fellow take for his mare.'
+
+P------st could contain himself no longer; he burst into an
+immoderate fit of laughter, during which the abscess in his liver
+burst into the intestines, and he felt himself relieved, as if by
+enchantment. The mistake was rectified--he got his kid; and in ten
+days he was taken back to Calcutta a sound man, to the great
+astonishment of all the doctors.
+
+During the first campaign against Nepâl, in 1815, Colonel, now Major-
+General, O.H., who commanded the------Regiment, N. I.,[16] had to
+march with his regiment through the town of Darbhanga, the capital of
+the Râjâ, who came to pay his respects to him. He brought a number of
+presents, but the colonel, a high-minded, amiable man, never took
+anything himself, nor suffered any person in his camp to do so, in
+the districts they passed through without paying for it. He politely
+declined to take any of the presents; but said that he 'had heard
+that Darbhanga produced _crows_ ("kauwâ"), and should be glad to get
+some of them if the Râjâ could spare them,'--meaning coffee, or
+'kahwâ'.
+
+The Râjâ stared, and said that certainly they had abundance of crows
+in Darbhanga; but he thought they were equally abundant in all parts
+of India.
+
+'Quite the contrary, Râjâ Sâhib, I assure you,' said the colonel;
+'there is not such a thing as a crow to be found in any part of the
+Company's dominions that I have seen, and I have been all over them.'
+
+'Very strange!' said the Râjâ, turning round to his followers.
+
+'Yes,' replied they,' it is very strange, Râjâ Sâhib; but such is
+your 'ikbâl' (good fortune), that everything thrives under it; and,
+if the colonel should wish to have a few crows, we could easily
+collect them for him.'
+
+'If', said the colonel, greatly delighted, 'you could provide us with
+a few of these crows, we should really feel very much obliged to you;
+for we have a long and cold campaign before us among the bleak hills
+of Nepal; and we are all fond of crows.'
+
+'Indeed,' returned the Râjâ, 'I shall be happy to send you as many as
+you wish.' ('Much' and 'many' are expressed by the same term.)
+
+'Then we should be glad to have two or three bags full, if it would
+not be robbing you.'
+
+'Not in the least,' said the Râjâ; 'I will go home and order them to
+be collected immediately.'
+
+In the evening, as the officers, with the colonel at their head, were
+sitting down to dinner, a man came up to announce the Râjâ's present.
+Three fine large bags were brought in, and the colonel requested that
+one might be opened immediately. It was opened accordingly, and the
+mess butler ('khansâmân') drew out by the legs a fine old crow. The
+colonel immediately saw the mistake, and laughed as heartily as the
+rest at the result. A polite message was sent to the Râjâ, requesting
+that he would excuse his having made it--for he had had half a dozen
+men out shooting crows all day with their matchlocks. Few Europeans
+spoke the language better than General ------, and I do not believe
+that one European in a thousand, at this very moment, makes any
+difference, or knows any difference, in the sound of the two terms.
+
+Kâm Baksh had one sister married to the King of Oudh, and another to
+Mirzâ Salîm, the younger son of the Emperor. Mirzâ Salîm and his wife
+could not agree, and a separation took place, and she went to reside
+with her sister, the Queen of Oudh. The King saw her frequently; and,
+finding her more beautiful than his wife, he demanded her also in
+marriage from her father, who resided at Lucknow, the capital of
+Oudh, on a pension of five thousand rupees a month from the King. He
+would not consent, and demanded his daughter; the King, finding her
+willing to share his bed and board with her sister, would not give
+her up.[17] The father got his old friend, Colonel Gardiner, who had
+married a Muhammadan woman of rank, to come down and plead his cause.
+The King gave up the young woman, but at the same time stopped the
+father's pension, and ordered him and all his family out of his
+dominions. He set out with Colonel Gardiner and his daughter, on his
+road to Delhi, through Kâsganj, the residence of the colonel, who was
+one day recommending the prince to seek consolation for the loss of
+his pension in the proud recollection of having saved the honour of
+the _house of Tamerlane_, when news was brought to them that the
+daughter had run off from camp with his (Colonel Gardiner's) son
+James, who had accompanied him to Lucknow. The prince and the colonel
+mounted their horses, and rode after him; but they were so much
+heavier and older than the young ones, that they soon gave up the
+chase in despair. Sulaimân Shikoh insisted upon the colonel
+immediately fighting him, after the fashion of the English, with
+swords or pistols, but was soon persuaded that the honour of the
+house of Tîmûr would be much better preserved by allowing the
+offending parties to marry ![18] The King of Oudh was delighted to
+find that the old man had been so punished; and the Queen no less so
+to find herself so suddenly and unexpectedly relieved from all dread
+of her sister's return. All parties wrote to my friend Kâm Baksh, who
+was then at Jubbulpore;[19] and he came off with their letters to me
+to ask whether I thought the incident might not be turned to account
+in getting the pension for his father restored.[20]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Govardhan is a very sacred place of pilgrimage, full of temples,
+situated in the Mathurâ (Muttra) district, sixteen miles west of
+Mathurâ, Regulation V of 1826 annexed Govardhan to the Agra district.
+In 1832 Mathurâ was made the head-quarters of a new district,
+Govardhan and other territory being transferred from Agra.
+
+2. The Purânas, even when narrating history after a fashion, are cast
+in the form of prophecies. The Bhâgavat Purâna is especially devoted
+to the legends of Krishna. The Hindî version of the 10th Book
+(_skandha_) is known as the 'Prêm Sâgar', or 'Ocean of Love', and is,
+perhaps, the most wearisome book in the world.
+
+3. This flight occurred during the struggles following the battle of
+Plassy in 1757, which were terminated by the battle of Buxar in 1764,
+and the grant to the East India Company of the civil administration
+of Bengal, Bihâr and Orissa in the following year. Shâh Âlam bore, in
+weakness and misery, the burden of the imperial title from 1759 to
+1806. From 1765 to 1771 he was the dependent of the English at
+Allahabad. From 1771 to 1803 he was usually under the control of
+Marâthâ chiefs, and from the time of Lord Lake's entry into Delhi, in
+1803 he became simply a prisoner of the British Government. His
+successors occupied the same position. In 1788 he was barbarously
+blinded by the Rohilla chief, Ghulâm Kâdir.
+
+4. Akbar II. His position as Emperor was purely titular.
+
+5. The name is printed as Booalee Shina in the original edition. His
+full designation is Abû Alî al-Husain ibn Abdullah ibn Sînâ, which
+means 'that Sînâ was his grandfather. Avicenna is a corruption of
+either Abû Sînâ or Ibn Sînâ. He lived a strenuous, passionate life,
+but found time to compose about a hundred treatises on medicine and
+almost every subject known to Arabian science. He died in A.D. 1037.
+A good biography of him will be found in _Encyclo. Brit._, 11th ed.,
+1910.
+
+6. Otherwise called Eurasians, or, according to the latest official
+decree, Anglo-Indians.
+
+7. 'Diplomatic characters' would now be described as officers of the
+Political Department.
+
+8. These remarks of the author should help to dispel the common
+delusion that the English officials of the olden time spoke the
+Indian languages better than their more highly trained successors.
+
+9. The author wrote these words at the moment of the inauguration by
+Lord William Bentinck and Macaulay of the new policy which
+established English as the official language of India, and the
+vehicle for the higher instruction of its people, as enunciated in
+the resolution dated 7th March, 1835, and described by Boulger in
+_Lord William Bentinck_ (Rulers of India, 1897), chap. 8. The
+decision then formed and acted on alone rendered possible the
+employment of natives of India in the higher branches of the
+administration. Such employment has gradually year by year increased,
+and certainly will further increase, at least up to the extreme limit
+of safety. Indians now (1914) occupy seats in the Council of India in
+London, and in the Executive and Legislative Councils of the
+Governor-General, Provincial Governors, and Lieutenant-Governors.
+They hold most of the judicial appointments and fill many responsible
+executive offices.
+
+10. Khojah Nasîr-ud-dîn of Tûs in Persia was a great astronomer,
+philosopher, and mathematician in the thirteenth century. The
+author's Imâm-ud-dîn Ghazzâlî is intended for Abû Hâmid Imâm al
+Ghazzâlî, one of the most famous of Musulmân doctors. He was born at
+Tûs, the modern Mashhad (Meshed) in Khurâsân, and died in A.D. 1111.
+His works are numerous. One is entitled _The Ruin of Philosophies_,
+and another, the most celebrated, is _The Resuscitation of Religious
+Sciences_ (F. J. Arbuthnot, _A Manual of Arabian History and
+Literature_, London, 1890). These authors are again referred to in a
+subsequent chapter. I am not able to judge the propriety of Sleeman's
+enthusiastic praise.
+
+11. The gentleman referred to was Mr. John Wilton, who was appointed
+to the service in 1775.
+
+12. The cantonments at Dinapore (properly Dânâpur) are ten miles
+distant from the great city of Patna.
+
+13. The rupee was worth more than two shillings in 1810. The
+remuneration of high officials by commission has been long abolished.
+
+14. There used to be two opium agents, one at Patna, and the other at
+Ghâzîpur, who administered the Opium Department under the control of
+the Board of Revenue in Calcutta. In deference to the demands of the
+Chinese Government and of public opinion in England, the Agency at
+Ghâzîpur has been closed, and the Government of India is withdrawing
+gradually from the opium trade. Such lucrative sinecures as those
+described in the text have long ceased to exist.
+
+15. These Persian words would not now be used in orders to servants.
+
+16. This officer was Sir Joseph O'Halloran, K.C.B., attached to the
+18th Regiment, N.I. He became a Lieutenant-Colonel on June 4, 1814,
+and Major-General on January 10, 1837. He is mentioned in
+_Ramaseeana_ (p 59) as Brigadier-General commanding the Sâgar
+Division.
+
+17. The King's demand was improper and illegal. The Muhammadan law,
+like the Jewish (Leviticus xviii, 18), prohibits a man from being
+married to two sisters at once. 'Ye are also forbidden to take to
+wife two sisters; except what is already past: for God is gracious
+and merciful' (_Korân_, chap. iv). Compare the ruling in 'Mishkât-ul-
+Masâbih', Book XIII, chap. v, Part II (Matthews, vol. ii, p. 94).
+
+18. The colonel's son has succeeded to his father's estates, and he
+and his wife are, I believe, very happy together. [W. H. S.] Such an
+incident would, of course, be now inconceivable. The family name is
+also spelled Gardner. The romantic history of the Gardners is
+summarized in the appendix to _A Particular Account of the European
+Military Adventures of Hindustan, from 1784 to 1803_; compiled by
+Herbert Compton: London, 1892.
+
+19. _Ante_, Chapter 53 text between [2] and [3].
+
+20. Kâsganj, the residence of Colonel Gardner, is in the Etah
+district of the United Provinces. In 1911 the population was 16,429.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 54
+
+Fathpur-Sîkrî--The Emperor Akbar's Pilgrimage--Birth of Jahângîr.
+
+On the 6th January we left Agra, which soon after became the
+residence of the Governor of the North-Western Provinces, Sir Charles
+Metcalfe.[1] It was, when I was there, the residence of a civil
+commissioner, a judge, a magistrate, a collector of land revenue, a
+collector of customs, and all their assistants and establishments. A
+brigadier commands the station, which contained a park of artillery,
+one regiment of European and four regiments of native infantry.[2]
+
+Near the artillery practice-ground, we passed the tomb of Jodh Bâî,
+the wife of the Emperor Akbar, and the mother of Jahângîr. She was of
+Râjpût caste, daughter of the Hindoo chief of Jodhpur, a very
+beautiful, and, it is said, a very amiable woman.[3] The Mogul
+Emperors, though Muhammadans, were then in the habit of taking their
+wives from among the Râjpût princes of the country, with a view to
+secure their allegiance. The tomb itself is in ruins, having only
+part of the dome standing, and the walls and magnificent gateway that
+at one time surrounded it have been all taken away and sold by a
+thrifty Government, or appropriated to purposes of more practical
+utility.[4]
+
+
+
+
+I have heard many Muhammadans say that they could trace the decline
+of their empire in Hindustan to the loss of the Râjpût blood in the
+veins of their princes.[5] 'Better blood' than that of the Râjpûts of
+India certainly never flowed in the veins of any human beings; or,
+what is the same thing, no blood was ever believed to be finer by the
+people themselves and those they had to deal with. The difference is
+all in the imagination, and the imagination is all-powerful with
+nations as with individuals. The Britons thought their blood the
+finest in the world till they were conquered by the Romans, the
+Picts, the Scots, and the Saxons. The Saxons thought theirs the
+finest in the world till they were conquered by the Danes and the
+Normans. This is the history of the human race. The quality of the
+blood of a whole people has depended often upon the fate of a battle,
+which in the ancient world doomed the vanquished to the hammer; and
+the hammer changed the blood of those sold by it from generation to
+generation. How many Norman robbers got their blood ennobled, and how
+many Saxon nobles got theirs plebeianized by the Battle of Hastings;
+and how difficult it would be for any of us to say from which we
+descended--the Britons or the Saxons, the Danes or the Normans; or in
+what particular action our ancestors were the victors or the
+vanquished, and became ennobled or plebeianized by the thousand
+accidents which influence the fate of battles. A series of successful
+aggressions upon their neighbours will commonly give a nation a
+notion that they are superior in courage; and pride will make them
+attribute this superiority to blood--that is, to an old date. This
+was, perhaps, never more exemplified than in the case of the Gûrkhas
+of Nepal, a small diminutive race of men not unlike the Huns, but
+certainly as brave as any men can possibly be. A Gûrkha thought
+himself equal to any four other men of the hills, though they were
+all much stronger; just as a Dane thought himself equal to four
+Saxons at one time in Britain. The other men of the hills began to
+think that he really was so, and could not stand before him.[6]
+
+We passed many wells from which the people were watering their
+fields, and found those which yielded a brackish water were
+considered to be much more valuable for irrigation than those which
+yielded sweet water. It is the same in the valley of the Nerbudda,
+but brackish water does not suit some soils and some crops. On the
+8th we reached Fathpur Sîkrî, which lies about twenty-four miles from
+Agra, and stands upon the back of a narrow range of sandstone hills,
+rising abruptly from the alluvial plains to the highest, about one
+hundred feet, and extends three miles north-north-east and south-
+south-west. This place owes its celebrity to a Muhammadan saint, the
+Shaikh Salîm of Chisht, a town in Persia, who owed his to the
+following circumstance:
+
+The Emperor Akbar's sons had all died in infancy, and he made a
+pilgrimage to the shrine of the celebrated Muîn-ud-dîn of Chisht, at
+Ajmêr. He and his family went all the way on foot at the rate of
+three 'kôs', or four miles, a day, a distance of about three hundred
+and fifty miles. 'Kanâts', or cloth walls, were raised on each side
+of the road, carpets spread over it, and high towers of burnt bricks
+erected at every stage, to mark the places where he rested. On
+reaching the shrine he made a supplication to the saint, who at night
+appeared to him in his sleep, and recommended him to go and entreat
+the intercession of a very holy old man, who lived a secluded life
+upon the top of the little range of hills at Sîkrî. He went
+accordingly, and was assured by the old man, then ninety-six years of
+age, that the Empress Jodh Bâî, the daughter of a Hindoo prince,
+would be delivered of a son, who would live to a good old age. She
+was then pregnant, and remained in the vicinity of the old man's
+hermitage till her confinement, which took place 31st of August,
+1569. The infant was called after the hermit, Mirzâ Salîm, and became
+in time Emperor of Hindostan, under the name of Jahângîr.[7] It was
+to this Emperor Jahângîr that Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador, was
+sent from the English Court.[8] Akbar, in order to secure to himself,
+his family, and his people, the advantage of the continued
+intercessions of so holy a man, took up his residence at Sîkrî, and
+covered the hill with magnificent buildings for himself, his
+courtiers, and his public establishments.[9]
+
+The quadrangle, which contains the mosque on the west side, and tomb
+of the old hermit in the centre, was completed in the year 1578, six
+years before his death; and is, perhaps, one of the finest in the
+world. It is five hundred and seventy-five feet square, and
+surrounded by a high wall, with a magnificent cloister all around
+within.[10] On the outside is a magnificent gateway, at the top of a
+noble flight of steps twenty-four feet high. The whole gateway is one
+hundred and twenty feet in height, and the same in breadth, and
+presents beyond the wall five sides of an octagon, of which the front
+face is eighty feet wide. The arch in the centre of this space is
+sixty feet high by forty wide.[11] This gateway is no doubt extremely
+grand and beautiful; but what strikes one most is the disproportion
+between the thing wanted and the thing provided--there seems to be
+something quite preposterous in forming so enormous an entrance for a
+poor diminutive man to walk through--and walk he must, unless carried
+through on men's shoulders; for neither elephant, horse, nor bullock
+could ascend over the flight of steps. In all these places the
+staircases, on the contrary, are as disproportionately small; they
+look as if they were made for rats to crawl through, while the
+gateways seem as if they were made for ships to sail under.[12] One
+of the most interesting sights was the immense swarms of swallows
+flying round the thick bed of nests that occupy the apex of this
+arch, and, to the spectators below, they look precisely like swarm of
+bees round a large honeycomb. I quoted a passage in the Korân in
+praise of the swallows, and asked the guardians of the place whether
+they did not think themselves happy in having such swarms of sacred
+birds over their heads all day long. 'Not at all,' said they; 'they
+oblige us to sweep the gateway ten times a day; but there is no
+getting at their nests, or we should soon get rid of them.' They then
+told me that the sacred bird of the Korân was the 'abâbîl', or large
+black swallow, and not the 'partâdîl', a little piebald thing of no
+religious merit whatever.[13] On the right side of the entrance is
+engraven on stone in large letters, standing out in bas-relief, the
+following passage in Arabic: 'Jesus, on whom be peace, has said, "The
+word is merely a bridge; you are to pass over it, and not to build
+your dwellings upon it".' Where this saying of Christ is to be found
+I know not, nor has any Muhammadan yet been able to tell me; but the
+quoting of such a passage, in such a place, is a proof of the absence
+of all bigotry on the part of Akbar.[14]
+
+The tomb of Shaikh Salîm, the hermit, is a very beautiful little
+building, in the centre of the quadrangle.[15] The man who guards it
+told me that the Jâts, while they reigned, robbed this tomb, as well
+as those at Agra, of some of the most beautiful and valuable portion
+of the mosaic work.[16] 'But,' said he, 'they were well plundered in
+their turn by your troops at Bharatpur; retribution always follows
+the wicked sooner or later.'[17] He showed us the little roof of
+stone tiles, close to the original little dingy mosque of the old
+hermit, where the Empress gave birth to Jahângîr;[18] and told us
+that she was a very sensible woman, whose counsels had great weight
+with the Emperor.[19] 'His majesty's only fault was', he said, 'an
+inclination to learn the art of magic, which was taught him by an old
+Hindoo religious mendicant,' whose apartment near the palace he
+pointed out to us.
+
+'Fortunately,' said our cicerone, 'the fellow died before the Emperor
+had learnt enough to practise the art without his aid.'
+
+
+Shaikh Salîm had, he declared, gone more than twenty times on
+pilgrimage to the tomb of the holy prophet; and was not much pleased
+to have his repose so much disturbed by the noise and bustle of the
+imperial court. At last, Akbar wanted to surround the hill with
+regular fortifications, and the Shaikh could stand it no longer.[20]
+'Either you or I must leave this hill,' said he to the Emperor; 'if
+the efficacy of my prayers is no longer to be relied upon, let me
+depart in peace.' 'If it be _your majesty's_ will,' replied the
+Emperor, 'that one should go, let it be your slave, I pray.' The old
+story: 'There is nothing like relying upon the efficacy of our
+prayers,' say the priests, 'Nothing like relying upon that of our
+sharp swords,' say the soldiers; and, as nations advance from
+barbarism, they generally contrive to divide between them the surplus
+produce of the land and labour of society.
+
+The old hermit consented to remain, and pointed out Agra as a place
+which he thought would answer the Emperor's purpose extremely well.
+Agra, then an unpeopled waste, soon became a city, and Fathpur-Sîkrî
+was deserted.[21] Cities which, like this, are maintained by the
+public establishments that attend and surround the courts of
+sovereign princes, must always, like this, become deserted when these
+sovereigns change their resting-places. To the history of the rise
+and progress, decline and fall, of how many cities is this the key?
+
+Close to the tomb of the saint is another containing the remains of a
+great number of his descendants, who continue to enjoy, under the
+successors of Akbar, large grants of rent-free lands for their own
+support, and for that of the mosque and mausoleum. These grants have,
+by degrees, been nearly all resumed;[22] and, as the repair of the
+buildings is now entrusted to the public officers of our government,
+the surviving members of the saint's family, who still reside among
+the ruins, are extremely poor. What strikes a European most in going
+over these palaces of the Moghal Emperors is the want of what a
+gentleman of fortune in his own country would consider elegantly
+comfortable accommodations. Five hundred pounds a year would at the
+present day secure him more of this in any civilized country of
+Europe or America than the greatest of those Emperors could command.
+He would, perhaps, have the same impression in going over the
+domestic architecture of the most civilized nations of the ancient
+world, Persia and Egypt, Greece and Rome.[23]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The Act of 1833 (3 & 4 William IV, c. 85), which reconstituted the
+government of India, provided that the upper Provinces should be
+formed into a separate Presidency under the name of Agra, and Sir
+Charles Metcalfe was nominated as the first Governor. On
+reconsideration, this arrangement was modified, and instead of the
+Presidency of Agra, the Lieutenant-Governorship of the North-Western
+Provinces was formed, with head-quarters at Agra. Sir C. Metcalfe
+became Lieutenant-Governor in 1836, but held the office for a short
+time only, until January, 1838, when Lord Auckland, the Governor-
+General, took over temporary charge. The seat of the Local Government
+was moved to Allahabad in 1868. From 1877 the Lieutenant-Governor of
+the North-Western Provinces was also Chief Commissioner of Oudh. The
+name North-Western Provinces, which had become unsuitable and
+misleading since the annexation of the Panjâb in 1849, could not be
+retained after the formation of the North-West Frontier Province in
+1902. Accordingly, from that year the combined jurisdiction of the
+North-Western Provinces and Oudh received the new official name of
+the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The title of Chief
+Commissioner of Oudh was dropped at the same time, but the legal
+System and administration of the old kingdom of Oudh continued to be
+distinct in certain respects.
+
+2. The civil establishment and garrison are still nearly the same as
+in the author's time. The inland customs department is now concerned
+only with the restrictions on the manufacture of salt. The offices of
+district magistrate and collector of land revenue have long been
+combined in a single officer.
+
+3. Akbar married the daughter of Bihârî Mal, chief of Jaipur, in A.D.
+1562. There is little doubt that she, _Mariam-uz-Zamânî_, was the
+mother of Jahângîr. See Blochmann, transl. _Aîn_, vol. i, p. 619. Mr.
+Beveridge has given up the opinion which he formerly advocated in
+_J.A.S.B._, vol. lvi (1887), Part I, pp. 164-7.
+
+The Jodhpur princess was given the posthumous title of 'Mariam-uz-
+Zamânî', or 'Mary of the age', which circumstance probably originated
+the belief that Akbar had one Christian queen. Her tomb at Sikandara
+is locally known simply as Rauza Maryam, 'the mausoleum of Mary', a
+designation which has had much to do with the persistence of the
+erroneous belief in the existence of a Christian consort of Akbar.
+Mr. Beveridge holds, and I think rightly, that Jodh Bâî is not a
+proper name. It seems to mean merely 'princess of Jodhpur'. The only
+lady really known as Jodh Bâî was the daughter of Udai Singh (Môth
+Râjâ) of Jaipur, who became a consort of Jahângîr. Sleeman's notion
+that Jahângîr's mother also was called Jodh Bâî is mistaken
+(Blochmann, _ut supra_).
+
+4. It was blown up about 1832 by order of the Government, and the
+materials of the gates, walls, and outer towns were used for the
+building of barracks. But the mausoleum itself resisted the spoiler
+and remained 'a huge shapeless heap of massive fragments of masonry'.
+The building consisted of a square room raised on a platform with a
+vault below. The marble tomb or cenotaph of the queen still exists in
+the vault. A fine gateway formerly stood at the entrance to the
+enclosure, and there was a small mosque to the west of the tomb
+(_A.S.R._ vol. iv. (1874), p. 121: Muh. Latif, _Agra_, p. 192). It is
+painful to be obliged to record so many instances of vandalism
+committed by English officials. This tomb is the memorial of Jodh
+Bâî, daughter of Udai Singh, _alias_ Môth Râjâ, who was married to
+Jahângîr in A.D. 1585, and was the mother of Shâh Jahân. Her personal
+names were Jagat Goshaini and Bâlmatî. She died in A.D. 1619. Akbar's
+queen, Maryam-uz-Zamânî, daughter of Râjâ Bihârî Mall of Jaipur
+(Ambêr), who died in A.D. 1623, is buried at Sîkandra. (See Beale,
+s.v. 'Jodh Bâî' and 'Mariam Zamânî'; Blochmann, transl. _Aîn_, pp.
+429, 619.) The tomb of Maryam-uz-Zamânî has been purchased by
+Government from the missionaries, who had used it as a school, and
+has been restored. (_Ann. Rep. A.S., India_, 1910-11, pp. 92-6.)
+
+5. Although it may be admitted that the Râjpût strain of blood
+improved the constitution of the royal family of Delhi, the decline
+and fall of the Timuride dynasty cannot be truly ascribed to 'the
+loss of the Râjpût blood in the veins' of the ruling princes. The
+empire was tottering to its fall long before the death of Aurangzêb,
+who 'had himself married two Hindoo wives; and he wedded his son
+Muazzam (afterwards the Emperor Bahâdur) to a Hindoo princess, as his
+forefathers had done before him'. (Lane-Poole, _The History of the
+Moghul Emperors of Hindustan illustrated by their Coins_, p. xviii. )
+The wonder is, not that the empire of Delhi fell, but that it lasted
+so long.
+
+6. When the author wrote the above remarks, Englishmen knew the
+gallant Gûrkhas as enemies only; they now know them as worthy and
+equal brethren in arms. The recruitment of Gûrkhas for the British
+service began in 1838. The spelling 'Gôrkhâ' is more accurate.
+
+7. The 'kôs' varies much in value, but in most parts of the United
+Provinces it is reckoned as equal to two miles. According to the
+_N.W.P. Gazetteer_ (p. 568), the nearest approximate value for the
+Agra kôs is 1 3/4 mile. Three kôs would, therefore, be equal to about
+5 1/4 miles. Muîn-ud-dîn died in A.D. 1236. Sleeman, on I know not
+what authority, represents Akbar as resorting to Salîm Chishtî,
+Shaikh of Fathpur-Sîkrî, on the advice given by a vision accorded at
+Ajmêr. The _Tabaqât-i-Akbarî_ simply records that Akbar had visited
+the Shaikh, the 'very holy old man' of Sleeman, several times, and
+had obtained the promise of a son. That promise was fulfilled by the
+birth of the princes Salîm and Murâd, who both saw the light at
+Fathpur-Sîkrî. The pilgrimage of Akbar on foot to Ajmêr, which began
+on Friday, Shabân (8th month) 12, A.H. 977, took place _after_ the
+birth of Prince Salîm, which occurred on the 18th of Rabî-ul-auwwal
+(3rd month) of the same Hijrî year. Akbar travelled at the rate of 7
+or 8 _kôs_ a day, and spent about 25 days on the journey (E. & D. v.
+333, 334). If he had moved at the rate stated by Sleeman he would
+have been nearly three months on the road. He reached Ajmêr about the
+middle of February (N.S.). Shaikh Salîm Chishtî died in A.D. 1572 (A.
+H. 979) aged 96 lunar years.
+
+8. Sir Thomas Roe was sent out by James I, and arrived at Jahângîr's
+court in January, 1616. He remained there till 1618, and secured for
+his countrymen the privilege of trading at Surat. The best edition of
+his book is that by Mr. William Foster (Hakluyt Soc., 1899).
+
+9. Fathpur-Sîkrî is fully described and illustrated in the late Mr.
+E. W. Smith's fine work in quarto entitled _The Moghul Architecture
+of Fathpur-Sîkrî_ (4 Parts, Allahabad Govt. Press, 1894-8), which
+supersedes all other writings on the subject. The double name of the
+town means 'Fathpur at Sîkrî' according to a familiar Indian
+practice. The name Fathpur ('City of Victory') was bestowed in A.D.
+1573 to commemorate the glorious campaign in Gujarât, but building on
+the site had been begun in 1569. The historians usually call the town
+simply Fathpur, which name also is found on the coinage, from
+probably A.H. 977 (A.D. 1569-70). The mint was not in regular working
+order until eight years later (A.H. 985). Coins continued to be
+struck regularly at Fathpur until A.H. 989 (A.D. 1581-2). Akbar
+abandoned his costly foundation a little later. The only coin from
+the Fathpur mint of subsequent date is one of the first year of
+Shâhjahân (Wright, _Catalogue of Coins in Indian Museum, Mughal
+Emperors_, 1908, p. xlvii). But Rodgers believed in the genuineness
+of a zodiacal gold coin of Jahângîr purporting to be struck at
+Fathpur (_J.A.S.B._, vol. lvii (1888), Part I, p. 26).
+
+10. Sleeman's dates and details require much correction. The mosque
+was completed at some time in the year A.H. 979 (May 26, 1571, to May
+13, 1572, o.s.), excepting the Buland Darwâza, which was erected in
+A.H. 983 (1575-6). The 'old hermit', Shaikh Salîm, died on February
+13, 1572 (Ramazân 27, A.H. 979). E. W. Smith (_op. cit._, Part IV, p.
+1) gives the correct measurements as follow: 'Exclusive of the
+bastions upon the angles it measures 542' from east to west to the
+outside of the _lîwân_ or sanctuary, or 515' 3" to the outside of the
+west main wall (which sets back from the outer wall of the lîwân) and
+438' from north to south. The general plan adopted by Muhammadans for
+their masjids has been followed. In the centre is a vast courtyard
+open to the heavens, measuring 359' 10" by 438' 9", surrounded on the
+north, south, and east sides by spacious cloisters 38' 3" in depth,
+and on the west by the lîwân itself, 288' 2" in length by 65' deep.
+It is said to be copied from one at Makka [Mecca], and was erected
+according to a chronogram over the main arch in A.D. 1571, or at the
+same time as Rajah Bir Bal's house.' The 'six years before his death'
+of Sleeman's text should be 'six months' (Latif, _Agra_, p. 149).
+
+11. The southern portal, known as the Buland Darwâza, or Lofty
+Gateway, does not match the other gateways. It was built in A.D.
+1575-6 (A.H. 983), and was adorned in A.D. 1601-2 (A.H. 1010) with an
+inscription recording Akbar's triumphant return from his campaign in
+the Deccan. The date is fixed by a chronogram, preserved in Beale's
+work entitled _Miftâh-ul-tawârîkh_ (_Ann. Progr. Rep. A. S. Northern
+Circle_, for 1905-6, p. 34, correcting E. W. Smith). Correct
+measurements are:
+
+ From roadway below to pavement . . . 42 feet
+ From pavement to top of finial . . . 134 "
+ Breadth across main front . . . . 130 "
+ Breadth across back facing the mosque . . 123 "
+ Depth . . . . . . . . 88 1/2 feet.
+
+Full details, with ample illustrations, are given by E. W. Smith, op.
+cit., Part IV, chap. ii. In the original edition of Sleeman a
+chromolithograph of the gateway is inserted. Photographs are
+reproduced in _H.F.A._, Pl. xcvi, and Fergusson, _History of Indian
+and E. Archit._ (ed. 1910), fig. 425.
+
+12. Fergusson (ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 297) successfully justifies the
+vast size of the gateway. 'The semi-dome is the modulus of the
+design, and its scale that by which the imagination measures its
+magnificence.'
+
+The cramped staircases criticized by Sleeman are those ascending from
+the pavement to the roof, one on the north-west, and the other on the
+north-east side of the gate. Each flight has 123 steep steps.
+
+13. See the 105th chapter of the Korân. 'Hast thou not seen how thy
+Lord dealt with the masters of the elephant? Did he not make their
+treacherous design an occasion of drawing them into error; and send
+against them flocks of _swallows_ which cast down upon them stones of
+baked clay, and rendered them like the leaves of corn eaten by
+cattle?' [W. H. S.] The quotation is from Sale's translation, but
+Sale uses the word 'birds', and not '_swallows_'. In his note, where
+he tells the whole story, he speaks of 'a large flock of birds like
+swallows'. The Arabic, Persian, and Hindustânî dictionaries give no
+other word than 'abâbîl' for swallow. The word 'partâdîl' (purtadeel)
+occurs in none of them. According to Oates, _Fauna of British India_
+(London, 1890), the 'abâbîl' is the common swallow, _Hirundo
+rustica_; and the 'mosque-swallow' ('masjid-abâbîl'), otherwise
+called 'Sykes's striated swallow', is the _H. erythropygia, H.
+Daurica_ of Balfour, _Cyclop. of India_, 3rd ed., s.v. Hirundinidae.
+This latter species is the 'little piebald thing' mentioned by the
+author.
+
+14. Muh. Latif (Agra, pp. 146, 147) gives the text and English
+rendering of the inscription, which is in Persian, except the
+_logion_ ascribed to Jesus, which is in Arabic. His translation of
+the Jesus saying is as follows:
+
+'So said Jeans, on whom be peace! "The world is a bridge; pass over
+it, but build no house on it. He who reflected on the distresses of
+the Day of Judgement gained pleasure everlasting.
+
+'"Worldly pleasures are but momentary; spend, then, thy life in
+devotion and remember that what remains of it is valueless".'
+
+Like the author, I am unable to trace the source of the quotation.
+The inscription probably was recorded after Akbar's breach with
+Islam, which may be dated from 1579 or 1580. When he built the
+mosque, in 1571-5, he was still a devout Musalman, although
+entertaining liberal opinions. He died on October 25, 1605 (N.S.;
+October 15, O.S.)
+
+15. For a full account of the exquisite sepulchre of Shaikh Salîm,
+see E. W. Smith, op. cit.. Part III, chap. ii. An inscription over
+the doorway is dated A.H. 979 = 1571-2, the year of the saint's
+death. The building, constructed regardless of expense, must be
+somewhat later. 'As originally built by Akbar, the tomb was of red
+sandstone, and the marble trellis-work, the chief ornament of the
+tomb, was erected subsequently by the Emperor Jahângîr' (Latif,
+_Agra_, p. 144).
+
+16. The first plundering of Akbar's tomb at Sikandra by the Jâts
+occurred in 1691 according to Manucci (_ante_, chapter 51, note 29.).
+The outrages at Fathpur-Sîkrî seem to have been later in date, and to
+have happened after the capture of Agra in 1761 by Sûraj Mall, the
+famous Râjâ of Bhurtpore (Bharatpur). The Jâts retained possession of
+Agra until 1774 (_I.G._, 1908, vol. viii, p. 76). That is the period
+while they reigned, to use the author's words. Tradition affirms that
+daring that time they shot away the tops of the minarets at the
+entrance to the Sikandra park; took the armour and books of Akbar
+from his tomb, and sent them to Bharatpur, and also melted down two
+silver doors at the Tâj, which had cost Shâh Jahân more than 125,000
+rupees (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. vii, p. 619)
+
+17. We besieged and took Bharatpur in order to rescue the young
+prince, our ally, from his uncle, who had forcibly assumed the office
+of prime minister to his nephew. As soon as we got possession, all
+the property we found, belonging either to the nephew or the uncle,
+was declared to be prize-money, and taken for the troops. The young
+prince was obliged to borrow an elephant from the prize agents to
+ride upon. He has ever since enjoyed the whole of the revenue of his
+large territory. [W. H. S.] The final siege and capture of Bharatpur
+by Lord Combermere took place in January, 1826. The plundering, as
+Metcalfe observed, 'has been very disgraceful, and has tarnished our
+well-earned honours'. All the state treasures and jewels, amounting
+to forty-eight lâkhs of rupees, or say half a million of pounds
+sterling, which should have been made over to the rightful Râjâ, were
+treated as lawful prize, and at once distributed among the officers
+and men. Lord Combermere himself took six lâkhs (Marshman, _History
+of India_, ed., 1869, vol. ii, p. 409).
+
+18. The 'little dingy mosque' was built over the cave in which the
+saint dwelt, and was presented to him by the local quarry-men. It is
+therefore called The Stone-cutters' Mosque. It is fully described by
+E. W. Smith, op. cit., Part IV. chap. iii. It is earlier in date than
+any of Akbar's buildings, having been built in A. H. 945 (A.D. 1538-
+9), a year after the saint had settled in the 'dangerous jungle'
+(_Progr. Rep. A. S. N. Circle_, 1905-6, p. 35).
+
+19. The people of India no doubt owed much of the good they enjoyed
+under the long reign of Akbar to this most excellent woman, who
+inspired not only her husband but the most able Muhammadan minister
+that India has ever had, with feelings of universal benevolence. It
+was from her that this great minister, Abûl Fazl, derived the spirit
+that dictated the following passages in his admirable work, the Aîn-
+i-Akbarî; 'Every sect becomes infatuated with its particular
+doctrines; animosity and dissension prevail, and each man deeming the
+tenets of his sect to be the dictates of truth itself, aims at the
+destruction of all others, vilifies reputation, stains the earth with
+blood, and has the vanity to imagine that he is performing
+meritorious actions. Were the voice of reason attended to, mankind
+would be sensible of their error, and lament the weaknesses which led
+them to interfere in the religious concerns of each other.
+Persecution, after all, defeats its own end; it obliges men to
+conceal their opinions, but produces no change in them.
+
+'Summarily, the Hindoos are religious, affable, courteous to
+strangers, prone to inflict austerities on themselves, lovers of
+justice, given to retirement, able in business, grateful, admirers of
+truth, and of unbounded fidelity in all their dealings.
+
+'This character shines brightest in adversity. Their soldiers know
+not what it is to fly from the field of battle; when the success of
+the combat becomes doubtful, they dismount from their horses, and
+throw away their lives in payment of the debt of valour. They have
+great respect for their tutors; and make no account of their lives
+when they can devote them to the service of their God.
+
+'They consider the Supreme Being to be above all labour, and believe
+Brahmâ to be the creator of the world, Vishnu its preserver, and Siva
+its destroyer. But one sect believes that God, who hath no equal,
+appeared on earth under the three above-mentioned forms, without
+having been thereby polluted in the smallest degree, in the same
+manner as the Christians speak of the Messiah; others hold that all
+these were only human beings, who, on account of their sanctity and
+righteousness, were raised to these high dignities.' [W. H. S.] The
+passage quoted is from Gladwin's translation, vol. ii, p. 318 (4th
+ed., London, 1800). The wording varies in different editions of
+Gladwin's work. A better version will be found in Jarrett, transl.
+_Âîn_ (Calcutta, 1894), vol. iii, p. 8.
+
+There is no substantial foundation for the author's statement that
+Abûl Fazl learned his charity and toleration from the Hindoo mother
+of Jahângîr. The influences which really moulded the opinions of both
+Abûl Fazl and his royal master are well known. When Akbar and Abûl
+Fazl are compared with Elizabeth and Burleigh, Philip II and Alva, or
+the other sovereigns and ministers of the age in Europe, it seems to
+be little less than a miracle that the Indian statesmen should have
+held and practised the noble philosophy expounded in the above
+quotation from the 'Institutes of Akbar'. No man has deserved better
+than Akbar the stately eulogy pronounced by Wordsworth on a hero now
+obscure:
+
+ A meteor wert thou in a darksome night;
+ Yet shall thy name, conspicuous and sublime,
+ Stand in the spacious firmament of time,
+ Fixed as a star: such glory is thy right.
+ (_Sonnets dedicated to Liberty_, Part Second, No. XVII.)
+
+
+20. The story is absurd, the saint having died early in 1572, when
+the Fathpur-Sîkrî buildings were in progress.
+
+'The city . . . is enclosed on three sides by high embattlemented
+stone walls pierced by. . . gateways protected by heavy and grim
+semi-circular bastions of rubble masonry. The fourth side was
+protected by a large lake.' There were nine gateways (E. W. Smith,
+op. cit., pp. 1, 59; pl. xci, xciii). The Sangîn Burj, or Stone
+Tower, is a fine unfinished fortification (ibid., p. 34). The dam of
+the lake burst in the 27th year of the reign, A.D. 1582 (Latif,
+_Agra_, p. 159). The circumference of the town is variously stated as
+either six or seven miles.
+
+21. Akbar began the works at the fort of Agra in A.H. 972,
+corresponding to A.D. 1564-65, several years before he began those at
+Fathpur in A.D. 1569-70 (E. & D., vol. v, pp. 295, 332); and the
+buildings at Agra and Fathpur were carried on concurrently. He
+continued building at Fathpur nearly to the close of his reign. Agra
+was never 'an unpeopled waste' during Akbar's reign. Sikandar Lodî
+had made it his capital in A.D. 1501.
+
+22. That is to say, the grantees have now to pay land revenue, or
+rent, to the state.
+
+23. No good general description of the buildings at Agra, Sikandra,
+and Fathpur-Sîkrî exists. The following list indicates the beat
+treatises available.
+
+(1) Syad Muhammad Latif--_Agra, Historical and Descriptive., &c._;
+8vo, Calcutta, 1896, Useful, but crude and badly illustrated.
+
+(2) E. W. Smith--_The Moghul Architecture of Fathpur-Sikri_; 4 Parts,
+4to, Government Press, Allahabad, 1894-8.
+
+(3) Same author--_Moghul Colour Decoration of Agra_; 4to, Government
+Press, Allahabad, 1901.
+
+(4) Same author--_Akbar's Tomb, Sikandarah_; posthumous; 4to,
+Allahabad Government Press, 1909.
+
+The three works by Mr. E. W. Smith are magnificently illustrated and
+worthy of the subject.
+
+(5) Nûr Baksh--'The Agra Fort and its Buildings', in _A.S. Annual
+Report_ for 1903-4, pp. 164-93.
+
+(6) Moin-ud-din--_The History of the Taj, &c._; thin 8vo, 116 pp.;
+Moon Press, Agra, 1905. Useful, as being the only book devoted to the
+Tâj and connected buildings, but crude and inadequate.
+
+The Archaeological Survey of India, since its reorganization, has not
+had time to study the Tâj buildings, except for conservation
+purposes. The report by Mr. Carlleyle on the minor remains at and
+near Agra in _A.S.R._, vol. iv, 1874, is almost worthless.
+
+In 1873 Major Cole prepared a handsome volume entitled _Illustrations
+of Buildings near Muttra and Agra, &c._
+
+Some information, to be used with caution, is to be found in
+gazetteers of different dates.
+
+The brief observations in Fergusson's _History of Indian and Eastern
+Architecture_ (ed. 1910) are of permanent value. The plan of the
+editor's work, _A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon_ (H. F.
+A.), Oxford, 1911, does not permit of detailed descriptions. The
+well-known little Handbook by Mr. H. G. Keene contains many errors
+and is unworthy of the author's reputation as an historian.
+
+A good guide-book, prepared with knowledge and accuracy, is badly
+wanted. It would be difficult to find an author possessed of the
+needful local knowledge and sufficiently well read to compile a
+satisfactory book. An adequate illustrated history of the Tâj
+buildings on the lines of Mr. E. W. Smith's work on Fathpur-Sîkrî is
+much to be desired, but would be a formidable undertaking, and is not
+likely to be written for a long time to come. Perhaps some wealthy
+admirer of Akbar and his achievements may appear and provide the
+considerable funds required for the preparation of the desired
+treatise. The Christian antiquities of Agra also deserve systematic
+treatment. At present the information on record is in a chaotic
+state.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 55
+
+
+Bharatpur--Dîg--Want of employment for the Military and the Educated
+Classes under the Company's Rule.
+
+Our old friends, Mr. Charles Fraser, the Commissioner of the Agra
+Division, then on his circuit, and Major Godby, had come on with us
+from Agra and made our party very agreeable. On the 9th, we went
+fourteen miles to Bharatpur, over a plain of alluvial, but seemingly
+poor, soil, intersected by one low range of sandstone hills running
+north-east and south-west. The thick belt of jungle, three miles
+wide, with which the chiefs of Bharatpur used to surround their
+fortress while they were freebooters, and always liable to be brought
+into collision with their neighbours, has been fast diminishing since
+the capture of the place by our troops in 1826; and will very soon
+disappear altogether, and give place to rich sheets of cultivation,
+and happy little village communities. Our tents had been pitched
+close outside the Mathurâ gate, near a small grove of fruit-trees,
+which formed the left flank of the last attack on this fortress by
+Lord Combermere.[1] Major Godby had been present during the whole
+siege; and, as we went round the place in the evening on our
+elephants, he pointed out all the points of attack, and told all the
+anecdotes of the day that were interesting enough to be remembered
+for ten years. We went through the town, out at the opposite gate,
+and passed along the line of Lord Lake's attack in 1805.[2] All the
+points of his attack were also pointed out to us by our cicerone, an
+old officer in the service of the Râjâ. It happened to be the
+anniversary of the first attempt to storm, which was made on the 9th
+of January, thirty-one years before. One old officer told us that he
+remembered Lord Lake sitting with three other gentlemen on chairs not
+more than half a mile from the ramparts of the fort.
+
+The old man thought that the men of those days were quite a different
+sort of thing to the men of the present day, as well those who
+defended, as those who attacked the fort; and, if the truth must be
+told, he thought that the European lords and gentlemen had fallen off
+in the same scale as the rest.
+
+'But', said the old man, 'all these things are matter of destiny and
+providence. Upon that very bastion (pointing to the right point of
+Lord Lake's attack) stood a large twenty-four pounder, which was
+loaded and discharged three times by supernatural agency during one
+of your attacks--not a living soul was near it.' We all smiled,
+incredulous; and the old man offered to bring a score of witnesses to
+the fact, men of unquestionable veracity. The left point of Lord
+Lake's attack was the Baldêo bastion, so called alter Baldêo Singh,
+the second son of the then reigning chief, Ranjît Singh. The feats
+which Hector performed in the defence of Troy sink into utter
+insignificance before those which Baldêo performed in the defence of
+Bharatpur, according to the best testimony of the survivors of that
+great day. 'But', said the old man, 'he was, of course, acting under
+supernatural influence; he condescended to measure swords only with
+Europeans'; and their bodies filled the whole bastion in which he
+stood, according to the belief of the people, though no European
+entered it, I believe, during the whole siege. They pointed out to us
+where the different corps were posted. There was one corps which had
+signalized itself a good deal, but of which I had never before heard,
+though all around me seemed extremely well acquainted with it--this
+was the _Antâ Gurgurs_. At last Godby came to my side, and told me
+this was the name by which the Bombay troops were always known in
+Bengal, though no one seemed to know whence it came. I am disposed to
+think that they derive it from the peculiar form of the caps of their
+sepoys, which are in form like the common hookah, called a 'gurgurî',
+with a small ball at the top, like an 'antâ', or tennis, or billiard
+ball; hence 'Antâ Gurgurs'. The Bombay sepoys were, I am told, always
+very angry when they heard that they were known by this term--they
+have always behaved like good soldiers, and need not be ashamed of
+this or any other name.[3]
+
+The water in the lake, about a mile to the west of Bharatpur, stands
+higher than the ground about the fortress; and a drain had been
+opened, through which the water rushed in and filled the ditch all
+round the fort and great part of the plain to the south and east,
+before Lord Lake undertook the siege in 1805.[4] This water might, I
+believe, have been taken off to the eastward into the Jumna, had the
+outlet been discovered by the engineers. An attempt was made to cut
+the same drain on the approach of Lord Combermere in 1826; but a
+party went on, and stopped the work before much water had passed, and
+the ditch was almost dry when the siege began.
+
+The walls being all of mud, and now dismantled, had a wretched
+appearance;[5] and the town which is contained within them is, though
+very populous, a mere collection of wretched hovels; the only
+respectable habitation within is the palace, which consists of three
+detached buildings--one for the chief, another for the females of his
+family, and the third for his court of justice, I could not find a
+single trace of the European officers who had been killed there,
+either at the first or second siege, though I had been told that a
+small tomb had been built in a neighbouring grove over the remains of
+Brigadier-General Edwards, who fell in the last storm. It is, I
+believe, the only one that has ever been raised. The scenes of
+battles fought by the Muhammadan conquerors of India were commonly
+crowded with magnificent tombs, built over the slain, and provided
+for a time with the means of maintaining holy men who read the Korân
+over their graves. Not that this duty was necessary for the repose of
+their souls, for every Muhammadan killed in fighting against men who
+believed not in his prophet went, as a matter of course, to paradise;
+and every unbeliever, killed in the same action, went as surely to
+hell. There are only a few hundred men, exclusive of the prophets,
+who, according to Muhammad, have the first place in paradise--those
+who shared in one or other of his first three battles, and believed
+in his holy mission before they had the evidence of a single victory
+over the unbelievers to support it. At the head of these are the men
+who accompanied him in his flight from Mecca to Medina, when he had
+no evidence either from _victories_ or _miracles_. In all such
+matters the less the evidence adduced in proof of a mission the
+greater the merit of those who believe in it, according to the person
+who pretends to it; and unhappily, the less the evidence a man has
+for his faith, the greater is his anger against other men for not
+joining in it with him. No man gets very angry with another for not
+joining with him in his faith in the demonstration of a problem in
+mathematics. Man likes to think that he is on the way to heaven upon
+such easy terms; but gets angry at the notion that others won't join
+him, because they may consider him an imbecile for thinking that he
+is so. The Muhammadan generals and historians are sometimes almost as
+concise as Caesar himself in describing very conscientiously a battle
+of this kind; instead of 'I came, I saw, I conquered', it is 'Ten
+thousand Musâlmâns on that day tasted of the blessed fruit of
+paradise, after sending fifty thousand unbelievers to the flames of
+hell'.
+
+On the 10th we came on twelve miles to Kumbhîr, over a plain of poor
+soil, much impregnated with salt, and with some works in which salt
+is made, with solar evaporation. The earth is dug up, water is
+filtered through it, and drawn off into small square beds, where it
+is evaporated by exposure to the solar heat. The gate of this fort
+leading out to the road we came is called, modestly enough, after
+Kumbhîr, a place only ten miles distant; that leading to Mathurâ,
+three or four stages distant, is called the Mathurâ gate. At Delhi,
+the gates of the city walls are called ostentatiously after distant
+places--the _Kashmîr_, the _Kâbul_, the _Constantinople_ gates.
+Outside the Kumbhîr gate, I saw, for the first time in my life, the
+well peculiar to Upper India. It is built up in the form of a round
+tower or cylindrical shell of burnt bricks, well cemented with good
+mortar, and covered inside and out with good stucco work, and let
+down by degrees, as the earth is removed by men at work in digging
+under the light earthy or sandy foundation inside and out. This well
+is about twenty feet below and twenty feet above the surface, and had
+to be built higher as it was let into the ground.[6]
+
+On the 11th we came on twelve miles to Dîg (Deeg), over a plain of
+poor and badly cultivated soil, which must be almost all under water
+in the rains. This was, and still is, the country seat of the Jâts of
+Bharatpur, who rose, as I have already stated, to wealth and power by
+aggressions upon their immediate neighbours, and the plunder of
+tribute on its way to the imperial capital, and of the baggage of
+passing armies during the contests for dominion that followed the
+death of the Emperors, and during the decline and fall of the empire.
+The Jâts found the morasses with which they were surrounded here a
+source of strength. They emigrated from the banks of the Indus about
+Multân, and took up their abode by degrees on the banks of the Jumna,
+and those of the Chambal, from their confluence upwards, where they
+became cultivators and robbers upon a small scale, till they had the
+means to build garrisons, when they entered the lists with princes,
+who were only robbers upon a large scale. The Jâts, like the
+Marâthâs, rose, by a feeling of nationality, among a people who had
+none. Single landholders were every day rising to principalities by
+means of their gangs of robbers; but they could seldom be cemented
+under one common head by a bond of national feeling.
+
+They have a noble quadrangular garden at Dîg, surrounded by a high
+wall. In the centre of each of the four faces is one of the most
+beautiful Hindoo buildings for accommodation that I have ever seen,
+formed of a very fine sandstone brought from the quarries of Rûpbâs,
+which he between thirty and forty miles to the south, and eight or
+ten miles west of Fathpur-Sîkrî. These stones are brought in in flags
+some sixteen feet long, from two to three feet wide, and one thick,
+with sides as flat as glass, the flags being of the natural thickness
+of the strata. The garden is four hundred and seventy-five feet long,
+by three hundred and fifty feet wide; and in the centre is an
+octagonal pond, with openings on the four sides leading up to the
+four buildings, each opening having, from the centre of the pond to
+the foot of the flight of steps leading into them, an avenue of _jets
+d'eau_.
+
+Dîg as much surpassed, as Bharatpur fell short of, my expectations. I
+had seen nothing in India of architectural beauty to be compared with
+the buildings in this garden, except at Agra. The useful and the
+elegant are here everywhere happily blended; nothing seems
+disproportionate, or unsuitable to the purpose for which it was
+designed; and all that one regrets is that so beautiful a garden
+should be situated in so vile a swamp.[7] There was a general
+complaint among the people of the town of a want of 'rozgâr'
+(employment), and its fruit, subsistence; the taking of Bharatpur
+had, they said, produced a sad change among them for the worse. Godby
+observed to some of the respectable men about us, who complained of
+this, that happily their chief had now no enemy to employ them
+against. 'But what', said they, 'is a prince without an army? and why
+do you keep up yours now that all your enemies have been subdued?'
+'We want them', replied Godby, 'to prevent our friends from cutting
+each other's throats, and to defend them all against a foreign
+enemy.' 'True,' said they, 'but what are we to do who have nothing
+but our swords to depend upon, now that our chief no longer wants us,
+and you won't take us?' 'And what,' said some shopkeepers, 'are we to
+do who provided these troops with clothes, food, and furniture, which
+they can no longer afford to pay for?' _Company ke amal men kuchh
+rozgâr nahîn_ ('Under the Company's dominion there is no
+employment'). This is too true; we do the soldiers' work with one-
+tenth of the soldiers that had before been employed in it over the
+territories we acquire, and turn the other nine-tenths adrift. They
+all sink into the lowest class of religions mendicants, or retainers;
+or live among their friends as drones upon the land; while the
+manufacturing, trading, and commercial industry that provided them
+with the comforts, conveniences, and elegancies of life while they
+were in a higher grade of service is in its turn thrown out of
+employment; and the whole frame of society becomes, for a time,
+deranged by the local diminution in the demand _for the services of
+men and the produce of their industry_.
+
+I say we do the soldiers' work with one-tenth of the numbers that
+were formerly required for it. I will mention an anecdote to
+illustrate this. In the year 1816 I was marching with my regiment
+from the Nepâl frontier, after the war, to Allahabad. We encamped
+about four miles from a mud fort in the kingdom of Oudh, and heard
+the guns of the Amil, or chief of the district, playing all day upon
+this fort, from which his batteries were removed at least two miles.
+He had three regiments of infantry, a corps or two of cavalry, and a
+good park of artillery; while the garrison consisted of only about
+two hundred stout Râjpût landholders and cultivators, or yeomen. In
+the evening, just as we had sat down to dinner, a messenger came to
+the commanding officer, Colonel Gregory, who was a member of the
+mess, from the said Amil, and begged permission to deliver his
+message in private. I, as the senior staff officer, was requested to
+hear what he had to say.
+
+'What do you require from the commanding officer?'
+
+'I require the loan of the regiment.'
+
+'I know the commanding officer will not let you have the regiment.'
+
+'If the Amil cannot get more, he will be glad to get two companies;
+and I have brought with me this bag of gold, containing some two or
+three hundred gold mohurs.'
+
+I delivered the message to Colonel Gregory, before all the officers,
+who desired me to say that he could not spare a single man, as he had
+no authority to assist the Amil, and was merely marching through the
+country to his destination, I did so. The man urged me to beg the
+commanding officer, if he could do no more, merely to halt the next
+day where he was, and lend the Amil the use of one of his drummers.
+
+'And what will you do with him?'
+
+'Why, just before daylight, we will take him down near one of the
+gates of the fort, and make him beat his drum as hard as he can; and
+the people within, thinking the whole regiment is upon them, will
+make out as fast as possible at the opposite gate.'
+
+'And the bag of gold--what is to become of that?'
+
+'You and the old gentleman can divide it between you, and I will
+double it for you, if you like.'
+
+I delivered the message before all the officers to their great
+amusement; and the poor man was obliged to carry back his bag of gold
+to the Amil. The Amil is the collector of revenues in Oudh, and he is
+armed with all the powers of government, and has generally several
+regiments and a train of artillery with him.
+
+The large landholders build these mud forts, which they defend by
+their Râjpût cultivators, who are among the bravest men in the world.
+One hundred of them would never hesitate to attack a thousand of the
+king's regular troops, because they know the Amil would be ashamed to
+have any noise made about it at court; but they know also that, if
+they were to beat one hundred of the Company's troops, they would
+soon have a thousand upon them; and, if they were to beat one
+thousand, they would soon have ten. They provide for the maintenance
+of those who are wounded in their fight, and for the widows and
+orphans of those who are killed. Their prince provides for neither,
+and his soldiers are, consequently, somewhat chary of fighting. It is
+from this peasantry, the military cultivators of Oudh, that our
+Bengal native infantry draws three out of four of its recruits, and
+finer young men for soldiers can hardly anywhere be found.[8]
+
+The advantage which arises to society from doing the soldiers' duty
+with a smaller number has never been sufficiently appreciated in
+India; but it will become every day more manifest, as our dominion
+becomes more and more stable--for men who have lived by the sword do
+not in India like to live by anything else, or to see their children
+anything but soldiers. Under the former government men brought their
+own arms and horses to the service, and took them away with them
+again when discharged. The supply always greatly exceeded the demand
+for soldiers, both in the cavalry and the infantry, and a very great
+portion of the men armed and accoutred as soldiers were always
+without service, roaming over the country in search of it. To such
+men the profession next in rank after that of the soldier robbing in
+the service of the sovereign was that of the robber plundering on his
+own account. '_Materia munificentiae per bella et raptus. Nec arare
+terram, aut expectare annum, tam facile persuaseris, quam vocare
+hostes et vulnera mereri; pigrum quinimmo et iners videtur sudore
+acquirere, quod possis sanguine parare._' 'War and rapine supply the
+prince with the means of his munificence. You cannot persuade the
+German to cultivate the fields and wait patiently for the harvest so
+easily as you can to challenge the enemy, and expose himself to
+honourable wounds. They hold it to be base and dishonourable to earn
+by the sweat of their brow what they might acquire by their
+blood.'[9]
+
+The equestrian robber had his horse, and was called 'ghurâsî', horse-
+robber, a term which he never thought disgraceful. The foot-robber
+under the native government stood in the same relation to the horse-
+robber as the foot-soldier to the horse-soldier, because the trooper
+furnished his own horses, arms, and accoutrements, and considered
+himself a man of rank and wealth compared with the foot-soldier;
+both, however, had the wherewithal to rob the traveller on the
+highway; and, in the intervals between wars, the high roads were
+covered with them. There was a time in England, it is said, when the
+supply of clergymen was so great compared with the demand for them,
+from the undue stimulus given to clerical education, that it was not
+thought disgraceful for them to take to robbing on the highway; and
+all the high roads were, in consequence, infested by them.[10] How
+much more likely is a soldier to consider himself justified in this
+pursuit, and to be held so by the feelings of society in general,
+when he seeks in vain for regular service under his sovereign and his
+viceroys.
+
+The individual soldiers not only armed, accoutred, and mounted
+themselves, but they generally ranged themselves under leaders, and
+formed well-organized bands for any purpose of war or plunder. They
+followed the fortunes of such leaders whether in service or out of
+it; and, when dismissed from that of their sovereign, they assisted
+them in robbing on the highway, or in pillaging the country till the
+sovereign was compelled to take them back, or give them estates in
+rent-free tenure for their maintenance and that of their followers.
+
+All this is reversed under our government. We do the soldiers' work
+much better than it was ever before done with one-tenth--nay, I may
+say, one-fiftieth--part of the numbers that were employed to do it by
+our predecessors; and the whole number of the soldiers employed by us
+is not equal to that of those who were under them actually in the
+transition state, or on their way from the place where they had lost
+service to the place where they hoped to find it; extorting the means
+of subsistence either by intimidation or by open violence. Those who
+are in this transition state under us are neither armed, accoutred,
+nor mounted; we do not disband en masse, we only dismiss individuals
+for offences, and they have no leaders to range themselves under.
+Those who come to seek our service are the sons of yeomen, bred up
+from their infancy with all those feelings of deference for superiors
+which we require in soldiers. They have neither arms, horses, nor
+accoutrements; and, when they leave us permanently or temporarily,
+they take none with them--they never rob or steal--they will often
+dispute with the shopkeepers on the road about the price of
+provisions, or get a man to carry their bundles gratis for a few
+miles, but this is the utmost of their transgressions, and for these
+things they are often severely handled by our police.
+
+It is extremely gratifying to an Englishman to hear the general
+testimony borne by all classes of people to the merits of our rule in
+this respect; they all say that no former government ever devoted so
+much attention to the formation of good roads and to the protection
+of those who travel on them; and much of the security arises from the
+change I have here remarked in the character and number of our
+military establishments. It is equally gratifying to reflect that the
+advantages must go on increasing, as those who have been thrown out
+of employment in the army find other occupations for themselves and
+their children; for find them they must or turn mendicants, if India
+should be blessed with a long interval of peace. All soldiers under
+us who have served the government faithfully for a certain number of
+years, are, when no longer fit for the active duties of their
+profession, sent back with the means of subsistence in honourable
+retirement for the rest of their lives among their families and
+friends, where they form, as it were, fountains of good feeling
+towards the government they have served. Under former governments, a
+trooper was discharged as soon as his horse got disabled, and a foot-
+soldier as soon as he got disabled himself--no matter how--whether in
+the service of the prince, or otherwise; no matter how long they had
+served, whether they were still fit for any other service or not.
+Like the old soldier in _Gil Blas_, they tumed robbers on the
+highway, where they could still present a spear or a matchlock at a
+traveller, though no longer deemed worthy to serve in the ranks of
+the army. Nothing tended so much to the civilization of Europe as the
+substitution of standing armies for militia; and nothing has tended
+so much to the improvement of India under our rule.
+
+The troops to which our standing armies in India succeeded were much
+the same in character as those licentious bodies to which the
+standing armies of the different nations of Europe succeeded; and the
+result has been, and will, I hope, continue to be the same, highly
+beneficial to the great mass of the people.
+
+By a statute of Elizabeth it was made a capital offence, felony
+without benefit of clergy, for soldiers or sailors to beg on the high
+roads without a pass; and I suppose this statute arose from their
+frequently robbing on the highways in the character of beggars.[11]
+There must at that time have been an immense number of soldiers in
+the transition state in England; men who disdained the labours of
+peaceful life, or had by long habit become unfitted for them.
+Religions mendicity has hitherto been the great safety valve through
+which the unquiet transition spirit has found vent under our strong
+and settled government. A Hindoo of any caste may become a religious
+mendicant of the two great monastic orders--of Gosâins, who are
+disciples of Siva, and Bairâgîs, who are disciples of Vishnu; and any
+Muhammadan may become a Fakîr; and Gosâins, Bairâgîs, and Fakîrs, can
+always secure, or extort, food from the communities they visit.[12]
+
+Still, however, there is enough of this unquiet transition spirit
+left to give anxiety to a settled government; for the moment
+insurrection breaks out at any point, from whatever cause, to that
+point thousands are found flocking from north, east, west, and south,
+with their arms and their horses, if they happen to have any, in the
+hope of finding service either under the local authorities or the
+insurgents themselves; as the troubled winds of heaven rush to the
+point where the pressure of the atmosphere has been diminished.[13]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. On the sieges of Bharatpur see _ante_, chapter 17, note 9.
+
+2. In the original edition the year is misprinted 1804, though the
+correct date is indicated by the phrase 'thirty-one years before'.
+The operations on January 9, 1805, are described in considerable
+detail in Thornton's history, and Pearse, _The Life and Military
+Services of Viscount Lake_ (Blackwood, 1908). Dîg was taken on
+December 24, 1804, and Lord Lake's army moved from Mathurâ towards
+Bharatpur on January 1, 1805.
+
+3. The Bombay column joined Lord Lake on February 11, and took part
+in the third and fourth assaults on the fortress.
+
+4. As in the previous passage, this date is printed 1804 in the
+original edition.
+
+5. They have been repaired to some extent, and the town has improved
+much since the author's time.
+
+6. That is to say, the well-cylinder is gradually sunk by its own
+weight, aided, if necessary, by heavy additional weights piled upon
+it. The sinking often takes many months, and is continued till a
+suitable resting-place is found. The cylinder is built on a strong
+ring of timber. Indian bridge-piers commonly rest on wells of this
+kind. The ring is sometimes made of iron. Such a method of sinking is
+possible only in deep alluvium, free from rock, and consequently had
+not been seen in the Sâgar and Nerbudda territories.
+
+7. In the original edition Dîg is illustrated by four coloured
+plates. The buildings are all the work of Sûraj Mal, the virtual
+founder of the Bharatpur dynasty, between A.D. 1725 and 1763. The
+palace wants, say Fergusson, 'the massive character of the fortified
+palaces of other Râjpût states, but for grandeur of conception and
+beauty of detail it surpasses them all. . . . The greatest defect of
+the palace is that the style, when it was erected, was losing its
+true form of lithic propriety. The forms of its pillars and their
+ornaments are better suited for wood or metal than for stone
+architecture.' It is a 'fairy creation'. (_History of Indian and
+Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, vol. ii, pp. 178-81.)
+
+8. On these topics see the 'Journey through the Kingdom of Oude',
+_passim_. The composition of the Bengal army has been much changed.
+
+9. The quotation is from the end of chapter 14 of the _Germania_ of
+Tacitus.
+
+10. This picture of English roads infested by clergymen turned
+highwaymen is not to be found in the ordinary histories.
+
+11. The Act alluded to probably is 14 Elizabeth, c. 5. Other Acts of
+the same reign dealing with vagrancy and the first poor-law are 39
+Elizabeth, c. 3, and 43 Elizabeth, c. 2 (A.D. 1601). In 1595 vagrancy
+had assumed such alarming proportions in London that a provost-
+marshal was appointed to give the wanderers the short shrift of
+martial law. The course of legislation on the subject is summarized
+in the article 'Poor Laws' in Chambers's _Encyclopaedia_ (1904), and
+the articles 'Poor-Law and Vagrancy' in the _Encyclopaedia
+Britannica_, 11th ed., 1910. See also the chapter entitled 'The
+England of Elizabeth' in Green's History of the English People.
+
+12. As already observed, chapter 29, note 12, the term Gosâin is by
+no means restricted to the special devotees of Siva; many Gosâins--
+for example, those in Bengal and those at Gokul in the Mathurâ
+district--are followers of Vishnu. The term 'fakîr' is vaguely used,
+and often applied to Hindoos.
+
+13. Even still, something of this unquiet spirit hovers about India,
+and the incompatibility between the ideas of twentieth-century
+Englishmen and those of Indian peoples whose mental attitude
+approaches that of Europeans of the twelfth century is a perennial
+source of unrest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 56
+
+
+Govardhan, the Scene of Krishna's Dalliance with the Milkmaids.
+
+On the 10th[1] we came on ten miles over a plain to Govardhan, a
+place celebrated in ancient history as the birthplace of Krishna, the
+seventh incarnation of the Hindoo god of preservation, Vishnu, and
+the scene of his dalliance with the milkmaids (_gôpîs_); and, in
+modern days, as the burial--or burning-place of the Jât chiefs of
+Bharatpur and Dîg, by whose tombs, with their endowments, this once
+favourite abode of the god is prevented from being entirely
+deserted.[2] The town stands upon a narrow ridge of sandstone hills,
+about ten miles long, rising suddenly out of an alluvial plain and
+running north-east and south-west. The population is now very small,
+and composed chiefly of Brahmans, who are supported by the endowments
+of these tombs, and the contributions of a few pilgrims. All our
+Hindoo followers were much gratified as we happened to arrive on a
+day of peculiar sanctity; and they were enabled to bathe and perform
+their devotions to the different shrines with the prospect of great
+advantage. This range of hills is believed by Hindoos to be part of a
+fragment of the Himâlaya mountains which Hanumân, the monkey general
+of Râma, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, was taking down to aid his
+master in the formation of his bridge from the continent to the
+island of Ceylon, when engaged in the war with the demon king of that
+island for the recovery of his wife Sîtâ. He made a false step by
+some accident in passing Govardhan, and this small bit of his load
+fell off. The rocks begged either to be taken on to the god Râma, or
+back to their old place; but Hanumân was hard pressed for time, and
+told them not to be uneasy, as they would have a comfortable resting-
+place, and be worshipped by millions in future ages--thus, according
+to popular belief, foretelling that it would become the residence of
+a future incarnation, and the scene of Krishna's miracles. The range
+was then about twenty miles long, ten having since disappeared under
+the ground. It was of full length during Krishna's days; and, on one
+occasion, he took up the whole upon his little finger to defend his
+favourite town and its milkmaids from the wrath of Indra, who got
+angry with the people, and poured down upon them a shower of burning
+ashes.
+
+As I rode along this range, which rises gently from the plains at
+both ends and abruptly from the sides, with my groom by my side, I
+asked him what made Hanumân drop all his burthen here.
+
+'_All_ his burthen!' exclaimed he with a smile; 'had it been all,
+would it not have been an immense mountain, with all its towns and
+villages? while this is but an insignificant belt of rock. A mountain
+upon the back of men of former days, sir, was no more than a bundle
+of grass upon the back of one of your grass-cutters in the present
+day.'
+
+ Nathû, whose mind had been full of the wonders of this place from
+his infancy, happened to be with us, and he now chimed in.
+
+'It was night when Hanumân passed this place, and the lamps were seen
+burning in a hundred towns upon the mountain he had upon his back--
+the people were all at their usual occupations, quite undisturbed;
+this is a mere fragment of his great burthen.'
+
+'And how was it that the men of those towns should have been so much
+smaller than the men who carried them?' 'God only knew; but the fact
+of the men of the plains having been so large was undisputed--their
+beards were as many miles long as those of the present day are
+inches. Did not Bhîm throw the forty-cubit stone pillar, that now
+stands at Eran,[3] a distance of thirty miles, after the man who was
+running away with his cattle?'
+
+ I thought of poor Father Gregory at Agra, and the heavy sigh he gave
+when asked by Godby what progress he was making among the people in
+the way of conversion.[4] The faith of these people is certainly
+larger than all the mustard-seeds in the world.
+
+I told a very opulent and respectable Hindoo banker one day that it
+seemed to us very strange that Vishnu should come upon the earth
+merely to sport with milkmaids, and to hold up an umbrella, however
+large, to defend them from a shower. 'The earth, sir,' said he, 'was
+at that time infested with innumerable demons and giants, who
+swallowed up men and women as bears swallow white ants; and his
+highness, Krishna, came down to destroy them. His own mother's
+brother, Kans, who then reigned at Mathurâ over Govardhan, was one of
+these horrible demons. Hearing that his sister would give birth to a
+son that was to destroy him, he put to death several of her progeny
+as soon as they were born.[5] When Krishna was seven days old, he
+sent a nurse, with poison on her nipple, to destroy him likewise; but
+his highness gave such a pull at it, that the nurse dropped down
+dead. In falling, she resumed her real shape of a she-demon, and her
+body covered no less than six square miles, and it took several
+thousand men to cut her up and burn her, to prevent the pestilence
+that must have followed. His uncle then sent a crane, which caught up
+his highness, who always looked very small for his age, and swallowed
+him as he would swallow a frog. But his highness kicked up such a
+rumpus in the bird's stomach that he was immediately thrown up again.
+When he was seven years old his uncle invited him to a feast, and got
+the largest and most ferocious elephant in India to tread him to
+death as he alighted at the door. His highness, though then not
+higher than my waist, took the enormous beast by one tusk, and, after
+whirling him round in the air with one hand half a dozen times, he
+dashed him on the ground and killed him.[6] Unable any longer to
+stand the wickedness of his uncle, he seized him by the beard,
+dragged him from his throne, and dashed him to the ground in the same
+manner.'
+
+I thought of poor old Father Gregory and the mustard-seeds again, and
+told my rich old friend that it all appeared to us indeed passing
+strange.
+
+The orthodox belief among the Muhammadans is that Moses was sixty
+yards high; that he carried a mace sixty yards long; and that he
+sprang sixty yards from the ground when he aimed the fatal blow at
+the giant Ûj, the son of Anak, who came from the land of Canaan, with
+a mountain on his back, to crush the army of Israelites. Still, the
+head of his mace could reach only to the ankle-bone of the giant.
+This was broken with the blow. The giant fell, and was crushed under
+the weight of his own mountain. Now a person whose ankle-bone was one
+hundred and eighty yards high must have been almost as prodigious as
+he who carried the fragment of the Himâlaya upon his back; and he who
+believes in the one cannot fairly find fault with his neighbour for
+believing in the other.[7] I was one day talking with a very sensible
+and respectable Hindoo gentleman of Bundêlkhand about the accident
+which made Hanumân drop this fragment of his load at Govardhan. 'All
+doubts upon that point,' said the old gentleman, 'have been put at
+rest by holy writ. It is related in our scriptures.
+
+'Bharat, the brother of Râma, was left regent of the kingdom of
+Ajodhya,[8] during his absence at the conquest of Ceylon. He happened
+at night to see Hanumân passing with the mountain upon his back, and
+thinking he might be one of the king of Ceylon's demons about
+mischief, he let fly one of his blunt arrows at him. It hit him on
+the leg, and he fell, mountain and all, to the ground. As he fell, he
+called out in his agony, 'Râm, Râm', from which Bharat discovered his
+mistake. He went up, raised him in his arms, and with his kind
+attentions restored him to his senses. Learning from him the object
+of his journey, and fearing that his wounded brother Lachhman would
+die before he could get to Ceylon with the requisite remedy, he
+offered to send Hanumân on upon the barb of one of his arrows,
+mountain and all. To try him Hanumân took up his mountain and seated
+himself with it upon the barb of the arrow as desired. Bharat placed
+the arrow to the string of his bow, and drawing it till the barb
+touched the bow, asked Hanumân whether he was ready. 'Quite ready,'
+said Hanumân, 'but I am now satisfied that you really are the brother
+of our prince, and regent of his kingdom, which was all I desired.
+Pray let me descend; and be sure that I shall be at Ceylon in time to
+save your wounded brother.' He got off, knelt down, placed his
+forehead on Bharat's feet in submission, resumed his load, and was at
+Ceylon by the time the day broke next morning, leaving behind him the
+small and insignificant fragment, on which the town and temples of
+Govardhan now stand.
+
+'While little Krishna was frisking about among the milkmaids of
+Govardhan,' continued my old friend, 'stealing their milk, cream, and
+butter, Brahmâ, the creator of the universe, who had heard of his
+being an incarnation of Vishnu, the great preserver of the universe,
+visited the place, and had some misgivings, from his size and
+employment, as to his real character. To try him, he took off through
+the sky a herd of cattle, on which some of his favourite playmates
+were attending, old and young, boys and all. Krishna, knowing how
+much the parents of the boys and owners of the cattle would be
+distressed, created, in a moment, another herd and other attendants
+so exactly like those that Brahmâ had taken, that the owners of the
+one, and the parents of the other, remained ignorant of the change.
+Even the new creations themselves remained equally ignorant; and the
+cattle walked into their stalls, and the boys into their houses,
+where they recognized and were recognized by their parents, as if
+nothing had happened.
+
+'Brahmâ was now satisfied that Krishna was a true incarnation of
+Vishnu, and restored to him the real herd and attendants. The others
+were removed out of the way by Krishna, as soon as he saw the real
+ones coming back.'
+
+'But,' said I to the good old man, who told me this with a grave
+face, 'must they not have suffered in passing from the life given to
+death; and why create them merely to destroy them again?'
+
+'Was he not God the Creator himself?' said the old man; 'does he not
+send one generation into the world after another to fulfil their
+destiny, and then to return to the earth from which they came, just
+as he spreads over the land the grass and corn? All is gathered in
+its season, or withers as that passes away and dies.' The old
+gentleman might have quoted Wordsworth:
+
+ We die, my friend,
+ Nor we alone, but that which each man loved
+ And prized in his peculiar nook of earth
+ Dies with him, or is changed; and very soon,
+ Even of the good is no memorial left.[9]
+
+I was one day out shooting with my friend, the Râjâ of Maihar,[10]
+under the Vindhya range, which rises five or six hundred feet, almost
+perpendicularly. He was an excellent shot with an English double-
+barrel, and had with him six men just as good. I asked him whether we
+were likely to fall in with any hares, using the term 'khargosh', or
+'ass-eared'.
+
+'Certainly not,' said the Râjâ, 'if you begin by abusing them with
+such a name; call them "lambkanâs", sir, "long-eared", and we shall
+get plenty.'
+
+He shot one, and attributed my bad luck to the opprobrious name I had
+used. While he was reloading, I took occasion to ask him how this
+range of hills had grown up where it was.
+
+'No one can say,' replied the Râjâ, 'but we believe that when Râma
+went to recover his wife Sîtâ from the demon king of Ceylon, Râvan,
+he wanted to throw a bridge across from the continent to the island,
+and sent some of his followers up to the Himâlaya mountains for
+stones. He had completed his bridge before they all returned, and a
+messenger was sent to tell those who had not yet come to throw down
+their burdens, and rejoin him in all haste. Two long lines of these
+people had got thus far on their return when the messenger met them.
+They threw down their loads here, and here they have remained ever
+since, one forming the Vindhya range to the north of this valley, and
+the other the Kaimûr range to the south.'
+
+The Vindhya range extends from Mirzapore, on the Ganges, nearly to
+the Gulf of Cambay, some six or seven hundred miles, so that my
+sporting friend's faith was as capacious as any priest could well
+wish it; and those who have it are likely never to die, or suffer
+much, from an over stretch of the reasoning faculties in a hot
+climate.
+
+The town stands upon the belt of rocks, about two miles from its
+north-eastern extremity; and in the midst is the handsome tomb of
+Ranjit Singh, who defended Bharatpur so bravely against Lord Lake's
+army.[11] The tomb has on one side a tank filled with water, and, on
+the other, another much deeper than the first, but without any water
+at all. We were surprised at this, and asked what the cause could be.
+The people told us, with the air of men who had never known what it
+was to feel the uneasy sensation of doubt, that 'Krishna, one hot
+day, after skying with the milkmaids, had drunk it all dry; and that
+no water would ever stay in it, lest it might be quaffed by less
+noble lips'. No orthodox Hindoo would ever for a moment doubt that
+this was the real cause of the phenomenon. Happy people! How much do
+they escape of that pain which in hot climates wears us all down in
+our efforts to trace moral and physical phenomena to their real
+causes and sources! Mind! mind! mind! without any of it, those
+Europeans who eat and drink moderately might get on very well in this
+climate. Much of it weighs them down.
+
+ Oh, sir, the good die first, and those whose hearts (_brains_)
+ Are dry as summer dust burn to the socket.[12]
+
+One is apt sometimes to think that Muhammad, Manu, and Confucius
+would have been great benefactors in saving so many millions of their
+species from the pain of thinking too much in hot climates, if they
+had only written their books in languages less difficult of
+acquirement. Their works are at once 'the bane and antidote' of
+despotism--the source whence it comes, and the shield which defends
+the people from its consuming fire.
+
+The tomb of Sûraj Mall, the great founder of the Jât power at
+Bharatpur, stands on the north-east extremity of this belt of rocks,
+about two miles from the town, and is an extremely handsome building,
+conceived in the very best taste, and executed in the very best
+style.[13] With its appendages of temples and smaller tombs, it
+occupies the whole of one side of a magnificent tank full of clear
+water; and on the other side it looks into a large and beautiful
+garden. All the buildings and pavements are formed of the fine white
+sandstone of Rûpbâs, scarcely inferior either in quality or
+appearance to white marble. The stone is carved in relief with
+flowers in good taste. In the centre of the tomb is the small marble
+slab covering the grave, with the two feet of Krishna carved in the
+centre, and around them the emblems of the god, the discus, the
+skull, the sword, the rosary. These emblems of the god are put on
+that people may have something godly to fix their thoughts upon. It
+is by degrees, and with fear and trembling, that the Hindoos imitate
+the Muhammadans in the magnificence of their tombs. The object is
+ostensibly to keep the ground on which the bodies have been burned
+from being defiled; and generally Hindoos have been content to raise
+small open terraces of brick and stucco work over the spot, with some
+image or emblem of the god upon it. The Jâts here, like the princes
+and Gosâins in Bundêlkhand, have gone a stage beyond this, and raised
+tombs equal in costliness and beauty to those over Muhammadans of the
+highest rank; still they do not venture to leave it without a divine
+image or emblem, lest the gods might become jealous, and revenge
+themselves upon the souls of the deceased and the bodies of the
+living. On one side of Sûraj Mall's tomb is that of his wife, or some
+other female member of his family; and upon the slab over her grave,
+that is, over the precise spot where she was burned, are the same
+emblems, except the sword, for which a necklace is substituted. At
+each end of this range of tombs stands a temple dedicated to Baldêo,
+the brother of Krishna; and in one of them I found his image, with
+large eyes, a jet black complexion, and an _African countenance_. Why
+is this that Baldêo should be always represented of this countenance
+and colour, and his brother Krishna, either white, or of an azure
+colour, and the _Caucasian countenance_?[14] The inside of the tomb
+is covered with beautiful snow-white stucco work that resembles the
+finest marble; but this is disfigured by wretched paintings,
+representing, on one side of the dome, Sûraj Mall in 'darbâr',
+smoking his hookah, and giving orders to his ministers; in another,
+he is at his devotions; on the third, at his sports, shooting hogs
+and deer; and on the fourth, at war, with some French officers of
+distinction figuring before him. He is distinguished by his portly
+person in all, and by his favourite light-brown dress in three
+places. At his devotions he is standing all in white before the
+tutelary god of his house, Hardêo.[15] In various parts, Krishna is
+represented at his sports with the milkmaids. The colours are gaudy,
+and apparently as fresh as when first put on eighty years ago; but
+the paintings are all in the worst possible taste and style.[16]
+Inside the dome of Ranjît Singh's tomb the siege of Bharatpur is
+represented in the same rude taste and style. Lord Lake is
+dismounted, and standing before his white horse giving orders to his
+soldiers. On the opposite side of the dome, Ranjît Singh, in a plain
+white dress, is standing erect before his idol at his devotions, with
+his ministers behind him. On the other two sides he is at his
+favourite field sports. What strikes one most in all this is the
+entire absence of priestcraft. He wanted all his revenue for his
+soldiers; and his tutelary god seems, in consequence, to have been
+well pleased to dispense with the mediatory services of priests.[17]
+There are few temples anywhere to be seen in the territories of these
+Jât chiefs; and, as few of their subjects have yet ventured to follow
+them in this innovation upon the old Hindoo usages of building
+tombs,[18] the countries under their dominion are less richly
+ornamented than those of their neighbours. Those who build tombs or
+temples generally surround them with groves of mango and other fine
+fruit-trees, with good wells to supply water for them, and, if they
+have the means, they add tanks, so that every religions edifice, or
+work of ornament, leads to one or more of utility. So it was in
+Europe; often the Northern hordes swept away all that had grown up
+under the institution of the Romans and the Saracens; for almost all
+the great works of ornament and utility, by which these countries
+became first adorned and enriched, had their origin in church
+establishments. That portion of India, where the greater part of the
+revenue goes to the priesthood, will generally be much more studded
+with works of ornament and utility than that in which the greater
+part goes to the soldiery. I once asked a Hindoo gentleman, who had
+travelled all over India, what part of it he thought most happy and
+beautiful. He mentioned some part of Southern India, about Tanjore, I
+think, where you could hardly go a mile without meeting some happy
+procession, or coming to a temple full of priests, or find an acre of
+land uncultivated.
+
+The countries under the Marâthâ Government improved much in
+appearance, and in happiness, I believe, after the mayors of the
+palace, who were Brahmans, assumed the Government, and put aside the
+Sâtârâ Rajas, the descendants of the great Sivâjî.[19] Wherever they
+could, they conferred the Government of their distant territories
+upon Brahmans, who filled all the high offices under them with men of
+the same caste, who spent the greater part of their incomes in tombs,
+temples, groves, and tanks, that embellished and enriched the face of
+the country, and thereby diffused a taste for such works generally
+among the people they governed. The appearance of those parts of the
+Marâthâ dominion so governed is infinitely superior to that of the
+countries governed by the leaders of the military class, such as
+Sindhia, Holkâr, and the Bhonslâ, whose capitals are still mere
+standing camps--a collection of hovels, and whose countries are
+almost entirely devoid of all those works of ornament and utility
+that enrich and adorn those of their neighbours.[20] They destroyed
+all they found in those countries when they conquered them; and they
+have had neither the wisdom nor the taste to raise others to supply
+their places. The Sikh Government is of exactly the same character;
+and the countries they governed have, I believe, the same wretched
+appearance--they are swarms of human locusts, who prey upon all that
+is calculated to enrich and embellish the face of the land they
+infest, and all that can tend to improve men in their social
+relations, and to link their affection to their soil and their
+government.[21] A Hindoo prince is always running to the extreme; he
+can never take and keep a middle course. He is either ambitious, and
+therefore appropriates all his revenues to the maintenance of
+soldiers, to pour out in inroads upon his neighbours; or he is
+superstitions, and devotes all his revenue to his priesthood, who
+embellish his country at the same time that they weaken it, and
+invite invasion, as their prince becomes less and less able to repel
+it.
+
+The more popular belief regarding this range of sandstone hills at
+Govardhan is that Lachhman, the brother of Râma, having been wounded
+by Râvan, the demon king of Ceylon, his surgeon declared that his
+wound could be cured only by a decoction of the leaves of a certain
+tree, to be found in a certain hill in the Himâlaya mountains.
+Hanumân volunteered to go for it, but on reaching the place he found
+that he had entirely forgotten the description of the tree required;
+and, to prevent mistake, he took up the whole mountain upon his back,
+and walked off with it to the plains. As he passed Govardhan, where
+Bharat and Charat, the third and fourth brothers of Râma, then
+reigned, he was seen by them.[22] It was night; and, thinking him a
+strange sort of fish, Bharat let fly one of his arrows at him. It hit
+him in the leg, and the sudden jerk caused this small fragment of his
+huge burden to fall off. He called out in his agony, 'Râm, Râm', from
+which they learned that he belonged to the army of their brother, and
+let him pass on; but he remained lame for life from the wound. This
+accounts very satisfactorily, according to popular belief, for the
+halting gait of all the monkeys of that species;[23] those who are
+descended lineally from the general inherit it, of course; and those
+who are not, adopt it out of respect for his memory, as all the
+soldiers of Alexander contrived to make one shoulder higher than the
+other, because one of his happened to be so. When he passed,
+thousands and tens of thousands of lamps were burning upon his
+mountain, as the people remained entirely unconscious of the change,
+and at their usual occupations. Hanumân reached Ceylon with his
+mountain, the tree was found upon it, and Lachhman's wound cured.[24]
+
+Govardhan is now within the boundary of our territory, and a native
+collector resides here from Agra.[25]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. See note on Govardhan, _ante_, chapter 53, note 1.
+
+3. _Ante_, chapter 9, note 8.
+
+4. _Ante_, beginning of chapter 53.
+
+5. This Hindoo version of the Massacre of the Innocents necessarily
+recalls to mind the story in St. Matthew's Gospel. Numerous incidents
+of the Gospel narrative, including the birth among the cattle, the
+stable, the manger, and the imperial census, are repeated in the
+Indian legends of Krishna. The exact channel of communication is not
+known, but the intercourse between Alexandria and India is, in
+general terms, the explanation of the coincidences (Weber, _Die
+Griechen in Indien_, 1890, and _Abh. über Krishna's Geburtfest_,
+1868).
+
+6. This story may be an adaptation of the similar Buddhist tale.
+
+7. Ûj is the Og, King of Bashan, of the Hebrew version of the legend.
+The extravagant stories quoted in the text are not in the Korân, but
+are the inventions of the commentators. Sale gives references in his
+notes to chap. 5 of the Korân.
+
+8. The kingdom included the modern Oudh (Awadh). The capital was the
+ancient city, also named Ajodhya, adjoining Fyzabad, which is still a
+very sacred place of pilgrimage.
+
+9. It is, I think, absolutely impossible for the most sympathetic
+European to understand, or enter into, the mental position of the
+learned and devout Hindoo who implicitly believes the wild myth
+related in the text, and sees no incongruity in the congeries of
+inconsistent ideas which are involved in the story. We may dimly
+apprehend that Brahmâ is conceived as a [Greek text], or Architect of
+the Universe, working in subordination to an impersonal higher power,
+and not as the infinite, omniscient, omnipotent Creator whom the
+Hebrews reverenced, but we shall still be a long way from attaining
+the Hindoo point of view. The relations of Krishna, Vishnu, Brahma,
+Râma, Siva, and all the other deities, with one another and with
+mankind, seem to be conceived by the Hindoo in a manner so confused
+and contradictory that every attempt at elucidation or explanation
+must necessarily fail. A Hindoo is born, not made, and the
+'inwardness' of Hinduism is not to be penetrated, even by the most
+learned of 'barbarian' pundits.
+
+10. _Ante_, chapter 20, note 6.
+
+11. Râjâ of Bharatpur, not to be confounded with the Lion of the
+Panjâb.
+
+12. Wordsworth, _Excursion_, Book I.
+
+13. The original edition gives a coloured plate of this tomb, which
+is not noticed by Fergusson. That author's remarks on the palace at
+Dîg would apply to this tomb also; the style is good, but not quite
+the best. Sûraj Mall was killed in a skirmish in 1763.
+
+14. Baldêo, or in Sanskrit Bâladeva, Bâlabhadra, or Bâlarâma, was the
+elder brother of Krishna. His myth in some respects resembles that of
+Herakles, as that of Krishna is related to the myths of Apollo. The
+editor is not able to solve the queries propounded by the author.
+
+15. i.e. Hari deva, a form of Vishnu. The temple of Hari deva at
+Govardhan was built about A.D. 1560. (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed.,
+vol. viii, p. 94.)
+
+16. Modern India shows little appreciation of good art, and the
+paintings ordinarily executed for decorative purposes are as crude as
+those described by the author. A school of clever artists in Bengal
+is doing something to raise the public taste. The high merit of the
+ancient Indian paintings at Ajantâ and elsewhere is now fully
+recognized. A great revival of pictorial art took place about A.D.
+1570 in the reign of Akbar. From that date the Indo-Persian and
+Indian schools of painting maintained a high standard of excellence,
+especially in portraiture, for a century approximately. During the
+eighteenth century marked deterioration may be observed. See _A
+History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon_, Oxford, 1911.
+
+17. The Jâts detest Brahmans. The members of a Jât deputation
+complained one day to the editor when in the Muzaffarnagar district
+that they suffered many evils by reason of the Brahmans.
+
+18. The author's meaning seems to be that building tombs is not an
+old Hindoo usage.
+
+
+19. Sivâjî, the indomitable opponent of Aurangzêb in the Deccan,
+belonged to the agricultural Kunbî caste. He was born in May A.D.
+1627, and died in April 1680. The Brahman ministers of the Râjâs of
+Sâtârâ were known by the title of Peshwâ. Bâjî Râo I, who died in
+1740, the second Peshwâ, was the first who superseded in actual power
+his nominal master. The last of the Peshwâs was Bâjî Râo II, who
+abdicated in 1818, after the termination of the great Marâthâ war,
+and retired to Bithûr near Cawnpore. His adopted son was the
+notorious Nânâ Sâhib. The Marquis of Hastings, in 1818, drew the Râjâ
+of Sâtârâ from captivity, and re-established his dignity and power.
+In 1839 the Râjâ's treachery compelled the Government of India to
+depose him. His territory is now a district of the Bombay Presidency.
+See Mânkar, _The Life and Exploits of Shivâji_, 2nd ed., Bombay,
+Nirnayasâgar Press, 1886.
+
+20. The Râjâ of Berâr, also known as the Râjâ of Nâgpur, was called
+the Bhonslâ. The misrule of Gwâlior has been described _ante_, in
+chapters 36 and 49. The condition of Gwâlior and Indore, the capitals
+of Sindhia and Holkâr respectively, is now very different. The
+Bhonslâ has vanished.
+
+21. Since the annexation of the Panjâb in 1849, the Sikhs have justly
+earned so much praise as loyal and gallant soldiers, the flower of
+the Indian army, that their earlier less honourable reputation has
+been effaced, Captain Francklin, writing in 1803, and apparently
+expressing the opinion of George Thomas, declares that 'the Seiks are
+false, sanguinary, and faithless; they are addicted to plunder and
+the acquirement of wealth by any means, however nefarious'.
+(_Military Memoirs of Mr. George Thomas, London reprint_, p. 112.)
+The Sikh states of the Panjâb are now sufficiently well governed.
+
+22. I know of no authority for the name Charat (Churut), which seems
+to be a blunder for Satrughna. The sons of Dasaratha were Râma, by
+the chief queen; Bharat, by a second; and Lachhman (Lakshmana), and
+Satrughna by a third consort.
+
+23. The species referred to is the long-tailed monkey called
+'Hanumân', and 'langûr' in Hindi, the _Presbytis entellus_ of Jerdon
+(=_P. anchises_, Elliot; = _Semnopithecus_, Cuvier).
+
+24. The author seems to have forgotten that he has already told this
+story, _ante_, this chapter following [8] in the text.
+
+25. It is in the Mathurâ district. The town of Mathurâ (Muttra)
+became the head-quarters of a separate District in 1832. The official
+at Govardhan in 1836 must, therefore, have been subordinate to
+Mathurâ, not to Agra.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 57
+
+
+Veracity.
+
+The people of Britain are described by Diodorus Siculus (Book V,
+chap. 2) as in a very simple and rude state, subsisting almost
+entirely on the produce of the land, but as being 'a people of much
+integrity and sincerity, far from the craft and knavery of men among
+us, contented with plain and homely fare, and strangers to the
+luxuries and excesses of the rich'. In India we find strict veracity
+most prevalent among the wildest and half-savage tribes of the hills
+and jungles in Central India, or the chain of the Himâlaya mountains;
+and among those where we find it prevail most, we find cattle-
+stealing most common; the men of one tribe not deeming it to be any
+disgrace to _lift_, or steal, the cattle of another. I have known the
+man among the Gonds of the woods of Central India, whom nothing could
+induce to tell a lie, join a party of robbers to lift a herd of
+cattle from the neighbouring plains for nothing more than as much
+spirits as he could enjoy at one bout. I asked a native gentleman of
+the plains, in the valley of the Nerbudda, one day, what made the
+people of the woods to the north and south more disposed to speak the
+truth than those more civilized of the valley itself. 'They have not
+yet learned the value of a lie,' said he, with the greatest
+simplicity and sincerity, for he was a very honest and plain-spoken
+man.
+
+Veracity is found to prevail most where there is least to tempt to
+falsehood, and most to be feared from it. In a very rude state of
+society, like that of which I have been speaking, the only shape in
+which property is accumulated is in cattle; things are bartered for
+each other without the use of a circulating medium, and one member of
+a community has no means of concealing from the other the articles of
+property he has. If they were to steal from each other, they would
+not be able to conceal what they stole--to steal, therefore, would be
+no advantage. In such societies every little community is left to
+govern itself; to secure the rights, and enforce the duties, of all
+its several members in their relations with each other; they are too
+poor to pay taxes to keep up expensive establishments, and their
+Governments seldom maintain among them any for the administration of
+justice, or the protection of life, property, or character. All the
+members of all such little communities will often unite in robbing
+the members of another community of their flocks and herds, the only
+kind of property they have, or in applauding those who most
+distinguish themselves in such enterprises; but the well-being of the
+community demands that each member should respect the property of the
+others, and be punished by the odium of all if he does not.[1]
+
+It is equally necessary to the well-being of the community that every
+member should be able to rely upon the veracity of the other upon the
+very few points where their rights, duties, and interests clash. In
+the very rudest state of society, among the woods and hills of India,
+the people have some deity whose power they dread, and whose name
+they invoke when much is supposed to depend upon the truth of what
+one man is about to declare. The 'pîpal' tree (_Ficus religiosa_) is
+everywhere sacred to the gods, who are supposed to sit among its
+leaves and listen to the music of their rustling. The deponent takes
+one of these leaves in his hand, and invokes the god who sits above
+him to crush him, or those dear to him, as he crushes the leaf in his
+hand, if he speak anything but the truth; he then plucks and crushes
+the leaf, and states what he has to say.[2]
+
+The large cotton-tree is, among the wild tribes of India, the
+favourite seat of gods still more terrible,[3] because their
+superintendence is confined exclusively to the neighbourhood; and
+having their attention less occupied, they can venture to make a more
+minute scrutiny into the conduct of the people immediately around
+them. The 'pîpal' is occupied by one or other of the Hindoo triad,
+the god of creation, preservation, or destruction, who have the
+affairs of the universe to look after;[4] but the cotton and other
+trees are occupied by some minor deities, who are vested with a local
+superintendence over the affairs of a district, or perhaps, of a
+single village.[5] These are always in the view of the people, and
+every man knows that he is every moment liable to be taken to their
+court, and to be made to invoke their vengeance upon himself, or
+those dear to him, if he has told a falsehood in what he has stated,
+or tells one in what he is about to state. Men so situated adhere
+habitually, and I may say religiously, to the truth; and I have had
+before me hundreds of cases in which a man's property, liberty, or
+life has depended upon his telling a lie, and he has refused to tell
+it to save either; as my friend told me, 'they had not learned the
+value of a lie', or rather, they had not learned with how much
+impunity a lie could be told in the tribunals of civilized society.
+In their own tribunals, under the pîpal-tree or cotton-tree,
+imagination commonly did what the deities, who were supposed to
+preside, had the credit of doing; if the deponent told a lie, he
+believed that the deity who sat on the sylvan throne above him, and
+searched the heart of man, must know it; and from that moment he knew
+no rest--he was always in dread of his vengeance; if any accident
+happened to him, or to those dear to him, it was attributed to this
+offended deity; and if no accident happened, some evil was brought
+about by his own disordered imagination.[6]
+
+In the tribunals we introduce among them, such people soon find that
+the judges who preside can seldom search deeply into the hearts of
+men, or clearly distinguish truth from falsehood in the declarations
+of deponents; and when they can distinguish it, it is seldom that
+they can secure their conviction for perjury. They generally learn
+very soon that these judges, instead of being, like the judges of
+their own woods and wilds, the only beings who can search the hearts
+of men, and punish them for falsehood, are frequently the persons, of
+all others, most blind to the real state of the deponent's mind, and
+the degree of truth and falsehood in his narrative; that, however
+well-intentioned, they are often labouring in the 'darkness visible'
+created by the native officers around them. They not only learn this,
+but they learn what is still worse, that they may tell what lies they
+please in these tribunals; and that not one of them shall become
+known to the circle in which they move, and whose good opinion they
+value. If, by his lies told in such tribunals, a man has robbed
+another, or caused him to be robbed, of his property, his character,
+his liberty, or his life, he can easily persuade the circle in which
+he resides that it has arisen, not from any false statements of his,
+but from the blindness of the judge, or the wickedness of the native
+officers of his court, because all circles consider the blindness of
+the one, and the wickedness of the other, to be everywhere very
+great.
+
+Arrian, in speaking of the class of supervisors in India, says: 'They
+may not be guilty of falsehood; and indeed none of the Indians were
+ever accused of that crime.'[7] I believe that as little falsehood is
+spoken by the people of India, in their village communities, as in
+any part of the world with an equal area and population. It is in our
+courts of justice where falsehoods prevail most, and the longer they
+have been anywhere established, the greater the degree of falsehood
+that prevails in them. Those entrusted with the administration of a
+newly-acquired territory are surprised to find the disposition among
+both principals and witnesses in cases to tell the plain and simple
+truth. As magistrates, they find it very often difficult to make
+thieves and robbers tell lies, according to the English fashion, to
+avoid running a risk of criminating themselves. In England, this
+habit of making criminals tell lies arose from the severity of the
+penal code, which made the punishment so monstrously disproportionate
+to the crime, that the accused, however clear and notorious his
+crimes, became an object of general sympathy.[8] In India,
+punishments have nowhere been, under our rule, disproportionate to
+the crimes; on the contrary, they have generally been more mild than
+the people would wish them to be, or think they ought to be, in order
+to deter from similar crimes; and, in newly-acquired territories,
+they have generally been more mild than in our old possessions. The
+accused are, therefore, nowhere considered as objects of public
+sympathy; and in newly-acquired territories they are willing to tell
+the truth, and are allowed to do so, in order to save the people whom
+they have injured, and their neighbours generally, the great loss and
+annoyance unavoidably attending upon a summons to our courts. In the
+native courts, to which ours succeed, the truth was seen through
+immediately, the judges who presided could commonly distinguish truth
+from falsehood in the evidence before them, almost as well as the
+sylvan gods who sat in the pîpal- or cotton-trees; though they were
+seldom supposed by the people to be quite so just in their decisions.
+When we take possession of such countries, they, for a time at least,
+give us credit for the same sagacity, with a little more integrity.
+The prisoner knows that his neighbours expect him to tell the truth
+to save them trouble, and will detest him if he does not; he supposes
+that we shall have the sense to find out the truth whether he tells
+it or not, and then humanity to visit his crime with the punishment
+it merits, and no more.
+
+The magistrate asks the prisoner what made him steal; and the
+prisoner enters at once into an explanation of the circumstances
+which reduced him to the necessity of doing so, and offers to bring
+witnesses to prove them; but never dreams of offering to bring
+witnesses to prove that he did not steal, if he really had done so;
+because the general feeling would be in favour of his doing the one,
+and against his doing the other. Tavernier gives an amusing sketch of
+Amîr Jumla presiding in a court of justice, during a visit he paid
+him in the kingdom of Golconda, in the year 1648. (See Book I, Part
+II, chap. 11.)[9]
+
+I asked a native law officer, who called on me one day, what he
+thought would be the effect of an Act to dispense with oaths on the
+Korân and Ganges water, and substitute a solemn declaration made in
+the name of God, and under the same penal liabilities, as if the
+Korân or Ganges water had been in the deponent's hand. 'I have
+practised In the courts thirty years, sir,' said he, 'and during that
+time I have found only three kinds of witnesses--two of whom would,
+by such an Act, be left precisely where they were, while the third
+would be released by it from a very salutary check.' 'And, pray, what
+are the three classes into which you divide the witnesses in our
+courts?'
+
+'First, sir, are those who will always tell the truth, whether they
+are required to state what they know in the form of an oath or not.'
+'Do you think this a large class?'
+
+'Yes, I think it is; and I have found among them many whom nothing on
+earth could make to swerve from the truth; do what you please, you
+could never frighten or bribe them into a deliberate falsehood. The
+second are those who will not hesitate to tell a lie when they have a
+motive for it, and are not restrained by an oath. In taking an oath
+they are afraid of two things, the anger of God and the odium of men.
+Only three days ago, 'continued my friend,' I required a power of
+attorney from a lady of rank, to enable me to act for her in a case
+pending before the court in this town. It was given to me by her
+brother, and two witnesses came to declare that she had given it.
+"Now," said I, "this lady is known to live under the curtain; and you
+will be asked by the judge whether you saw her give this paper; what
+will you say?" They both replied: "If the judge asks us the question
+without an oath, we will say yes--it will save much trouble, and we
+know that she did give this paper, though we did not really see her
+give it; but if he puts the Korân into our hands we must say no, for
+we should otherwise be pointed at by all the town as perjured
+wretches--our enemies would soon tell everybody that we had taken a
+false oath." Now,' my friend went on, 'the form of an oath is a great
+check upon this sort of persons. The third class consists of men who
+will tell lies whenever they have sufficient motive, whether they
+have the Korân or Ganges water in their hands or not. Nothing will
+ever prevent their doing so; and the declaration which you propose
+would be just as well as any other for them.'
+
+'Which class do you consider the most numerous of the three?'
+
+'I consider the second the most numerous, and wish the oath to be
+retained for them.'
+
+'That is of all the men you see examined in our courts, you think the
+most come under the class of those who will, under the influence of
+strong motives, tell lies if they have not the Korân or Ganges water
+in their hands?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'But do not a great many of those, whom you consider to be included
+among the second class, come from the village communities--the
+peasantry of the country?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'And do you not think that the greatest part of those men who tell
+lies in the court, under the influence of strong motives, unless they
+bear the Korân or Ganges water in their hands, would refuse to tell
+lies, if questioned before the people of their villages among the
+circle in which they live?'
+
+'Of course I do; three-fourths of those who do not scruple to lie in
+our courts, would be ashamed to be before their neighbours, or the
+elders of their village.'
+
+'You think that the people of the village communities are more
+ashamed to tell lies before their neighbours than the people of
+towns?'
+
+'Much more[10] here is no comparison.'
+
+'And the people of towns and cities bear in India but a small
+proportion to the people of the village communities?'
+
+'I should think a very small proportion indeed.'
+
+'Then you think that in the mass of the population of India out of
+our courts, and in their own circles, the first class, or those who
+speak truth, whether they have the Korân or Ganges water in their
+hands or not, would be found more numerous than the other two?'
+
+'Certainly I do; if they were always to be questioned before their
+neighbours or elders, or so that they could feel that their
+neighbours and elders would know what they say.'
+
+This man is a very worthy and learned Muhammadan, who has read all
+the works on medicine to be found in Persian and Arabia; gives up his
+time from sunrise in the morning till nine, to the indigent sick of
+the town, whom he supplies gratuitously with his advice and
+medicines, that cost him thirty rupees a month, out of about one
+hundred and twenty that he can make by his labours all the rest of
+the day.
+
+There can be no doubt that, even in England, the fear of the odium of
+society, which is sure to follow the man who has perjured himself,
+acts more powerfully in making men tell the truth, when they have the
+Bible in their hands before a competent and public tribunal, and with
+a strong worldly motive to tell a lie, than the fear of punishment by
+the Deity in the next world for having 'taken his name in vain' in
+this. Christians, as well as other people, are too apt to think that
+there is yet abundance of time to appease the Deity by repentance and
+reformation; but they know that they cannot escape the odium of
+society, with a free press and high tone of moral and religions
+feeling, like those of England, if they deliberately perjure
+themselves in open court, whose proceedings are watched with so much
+jealousy. They learn to dread the name of 'perjured villain' or
+'perjured wretch', which would embitter the rest of their lives, and
+perhaps the lives of their children.[11]
+
+In a society much advanced in arts and the refinements of life,
+temptations to falsehood become very great, and require strong checks
+from law, religion, or moral feeling. Religion is seldom of itself
+found sufficient; for, though men cannot hope to conceal their
+transgressions from the Deity, they can, as I have stated, always
+hope in time to appease Him. Penal laws are not alone sufficient, for
+men can always hope to conceal their trespasses from those who are
+appointed to administer them, or at least to prevent their getting
+that measure of judicial proof required for their conviction; the
+dread of the indignation of their circle of society is everywhere the
+more efficient of the three checks; and this check will generally be
+found most to prevail where the community is left most to self-
+government--hence the proverb, 'There is honour among thieves'. A
+gang of robbers, who are outlaws, are, of course, left to govern
+themselves; and, unless these could rely on each other's veracity and
+honour in their relations with each other, they could do nothing. If
+Governments were to leave no degree of self-government to the
+communities of which the society is composed, this moral check would
+really cease--the law would undertake to secure every right, and
+enforce every duty; and men would cease to depend upon each other's
+good opinion and good feelings.[12]
+
+There is perhaps no part of the world where the communities of which
+the society is composed have been left so much to self-government as
+in India. There has seldom been any idea of a reciprocity of duties
+and rights between the governing and the governed; the sovereign who
+has possession feels that he has a right to levy certain taxes from
+the land for the maintenance of the public establishments, which he
+requires to keep down rebellion against his rule, and to defend his
+dominions against all who may wish to intrude and seize upon them;
+and to assist him in acquiring the dominions of other princes when
+favourable opportunities offer; but he has no idea of a reciprocal
+duty towards those from whom he draws his revenues. The peasantry
+from whom the prince draws his revenues feel that they are bound to
+pay that revenue; that, if they do not pay it, he will, with his
+strong arm, turn them out and give to others their possessions--but
+they have no idea of any right on their part to any return from him.
+The village communities were everywhere left almost entirely to self-
+government; and the virtues of truth and honesty, in all their
+relations with each other, were indispensably necessary to enable
+them to govern themselves.[13] A common interest often united a good
+many village communities in a bond of union, and established a kind
+of brotherhood over extensive tracts of richly cultivated land. Self-
+interest required that they should unite to defend themselves against
+attacks with which they were threatened at every returning harvest in
+a country where every prince was a robber upon a scale more or less
+large according to his means, and took the field to rob while the
+lands were covered with the ripe crops upon which his troops might
+subsist; and where every man who practised robbery with open violence
+followed what he called an '_imperial_ trade' (pâdshâhî kâm)--the
+only trade worthy the character of a gentleman. The same interest
+required that they should unite in deceiving their own prince, and
+all his officers, great and small, as to the real resources of their
+estates; because they all knew that the prince would admit of no
+other limits to his exactions than their abilities to pay at the
+harvest. Though, in their relations with each other, all these
+village communities spoke as much truth as those of any other
+communities in the world; still, in their relation with the
+Government, they told as many lies;--for falsehood, in the one set of
+relations, would have incurred the odium of the whole of their
+circles of society--truth, in the other, would often have involved
+the same penalty. If a man had told a lie to _cheat_ his neighbour,
+he would have become an object of hatred and contempt--if he told a
+lie to _save_ his neighbour's fields from an increase of rent or tax,
+he would have become an object of esteem and respect.[14] If the
+Government officers were asked whether there was any truth to be
+found among such communities, they would say, _No, that the truth was
+not in them_; because they would not cut each other's throats by
+telling them the real value of each other's fields.
+
+If the peasantry were asked, they would say there was plenty of truth
+to be found everywhere except among a few scoundrels, who, to curry
+favour with the Government officers, betrayed their trust, and told
+the value of their neighbours' fields. In their ideas, he might as
+well have gone off, and brought down the common enemy upon them in
+the shape of some princely robber of the neighbourhood.
+
+Locke says: 'Outlaws themselves keep faith and rules of justice one
+with another--they practise them as rules of convenience within their
+own communities; but it is impossible to conceive that they embrace
+justice as a practical principle who act fairly with their fellow
+highwaymen, and at the same time plunder or kill the next honest man
+they meet.' (Vol. i, p. 37.) In India, the difference between the
+army of a prince and the gang of a robber was, in the general
+estimation of the people, only in _degree_--they were both driving an
+_imperial trade_, a 'pâdshâhî kâm'. Both took the auspices, and set
+out on their expedition after the Dasahrâ, when the autumn crops were
+ripening; and both thought the Deity propitiated as soon as they
+found the omens favourable;[15] one attacked palaces and capitals,
+the other villages and merchants' storerooms. The members of the army
+of the prince thought as little of the justice or injustice of his
+cause as those of the gang of the robber; the people of his capital
+hailed the return of the victorious prince who had contributed so
+much to their wealth, to his booty, and to their self-love by his
+victory. The village community received back the robber and his gang
+with the same feelings: by their skill and daring they had come back
+loaded with wealth, which they were always disposed to spend
+liberally with their neighbours. There was no more of truth in the
+prince and his army in their relations with the princes and people of
+neighbouring principalities, than in the robber and his gang in their
+relations with the people robbed. The prince flatters the self-love
+of his army and his people; the robber flatters that of his gang and
+his village--the question is only in degree; the persons whose self-
+love is flattered are blind to the injustice and cruelty of the
+attack--the prince is the idol of a people, the robber the idol of a
+gang. Was ever robber more atrocious in his attacks upon a merchant
+or a village than Louis XIV of France in his attacks upon the
+Palatine and Palatinate of the Rhine? How many thousand similar
+instances might be quoted of princes idolized by their people for
+deeds equally atrocious in their relations with other people? What
+nation or sovereign ever found fault with their ambassadors for
+telling lies to the kings, courts, and people of other countries?[16]
+
+Rome, during the whole period of her history, was a mere den of
+execrable thieves, whose feelings were systematically brutalized by
+the most revolting spectacles, that they might have none of those
+sympathies with suffering humanity, none of those 'compunctious
+visitings of conscience', which might be found prejudicial to the
+interests of the gang, and beneficial to the rest of mankind. Take,
+for example, the conduct of this atrocious gang under Aemilius
+Paulus, against Epirus and Greece generally after the defeat of
+Perseus, all under the deliberate decrees of the senate: take that of
+this gang under his son Scipio the younger, against Carthage and
+Numantia; under Cato, at Cyprus--all in the same manner under the
+_deliberate decrees of the senate_. Take indeed the whole of her
+history as a republic, and we find it that of the most atrocious band
+of robbers that was ever associated against the rest of their
+species. In her relations with the rest of mankind Rome was
+collectively devoid of truth; and her citizens, who were sent to
+govern conquered countries, were no less devoid of truth
+individually--they cared nothing whatever for the feelings or the
+opinions of the people governed; in their dealings with them, truth
+and honour were entirely disregarded. The only people whose
+favourable opinion they had any desire to cultivate were the members
+of the great gang; and the most effectual mode of conciliating them
+was to plunder the people of conquered countries, and distribute the
+fruits among them in presents of one kind or another. Can any man
+read without shuddering that it was the practice among this atrocious
+gang to have all the multitude of unhappy prisoners of both sexes,
+and of all ranks and ages,--who annually graced the triumphs of their
+generals, taken off and murdered just at the moment when these
+generals reached the Capitol, amid the shouts of the multitude, that
+their joys might be augmented by the sight or consciousness of the
+sufferings of others? (See Hooke's _Roman History_, vol. iii, p. 488;
+vol. iv, p. 541.) 'It was the custom that, when the triumphant
+conqueror tumed his chariot towards the Capitol, he commanded the
+captives to be led to prison, and there put to death, that so the
+glory of the victor and the miseries of the vanquished might be in
+the same moment at the utmost.' How many millions of the most
+innocent and amiable of their species must have been offered up as
+human sacrifices to the triumphs of the leaders of this great gang!
+The women were almost as brutalized as the men; lovers met to talk
+'soft nonsense', at exhibitions of gladiators. Valeria, the daughter
+and sister of two of the first men in Rome, was beautiful, gay, and
+lively, and of unblemished reputation. Having been divorced from her
+husband, she and the monster Sylla made love to each other at one of
+these exhibitions of gladiators, and were soon after married. Gibbon,
+in speaking of the lies which Severus told his two competitors in the
+contest for empire, says, 'Falsehood and insincerity, unsuitable as
+they seem to the dignity of public transactions, offend us with a
+less degrading idea of meanness than when they are found in the
+intercourse of private life. In the latter, they discover a want of
+courage; in the other, only a defect of power; and, as it is
+impossible for the most able statesmen to subdue millions of
+followers and enemies by their own personal strength, the world,
+under the name of _policy_, seems to have granted them a very liberal
+indulgence of craft and dissimulation.'[17]
+
+But the weak in society are often obliged to defend themselves
+against the strong by the same weapons; and the world grants them the
+same liberal indulgence. Men advocate the use of the ballot in
+elections that the weak may defend themselves and the free
+institutions of the country, by dissimulation, against the strong who
+would oppress them.[18] The circumstances under which falsehood and
+insincerity are tolerated by the community in the best societies of
+modern days are very numerous; and the worst society of modern days
+in the civilized world, when slavery does not prevail, is
+immeasurably superior to the best in ancient days, or in the Middle
+Ages. Do we not every day hear men and women, in what are called the
+best societies, declaring to one individual or one set of
+acquaintances that the pity, the sympathy, the love, or the
+admiration they have been expressing for others is, in reality, all
+feigned to soothe or please? As long as the motive is not base, men
+do not spurn the falsehood as such. How much of untruth is tolerated
+in the best circles of the most civilized nations, in the relations
+between electors to corporate and legislative bodies and the
+candidates for election? between nominators to offices under
+Government and the candidates for nomination? between lawyers and
+clients, vendors and purchasers? (particularly of horses), between
+the recruiting sergeant and the young recruit, whom he has found a
+little angry with his widowed mother, whom he makes him kill by false
+pictures of what a soldier may hope for in the 'bellaque matribus
+detestata' to which he invites him?[19]
+
+There is, I believe, no class of men in India from whom it is more
+difficult to get the true statement of a case pending before a court
+than the sepoys of our native regiments; and yet there are, I
+believe, no people in the world from whom it is more easy to get it
+in their own village communities, where they state it before their
+relations, elders, and neighbours, whose esteem is necessary to their
+happiness, and can be obtained only by adherence to truth. Every case
+that comes before a regimental court involves, or is supposed to
+involve, the interest or feelings of some one or other of their
+companions; and the question which the deponent asks himself is-not
+what religion, public justice, the interests of discipline and order,
+or the wishes of his officers require, or what would appear manly and
+honourable before the elders of his own little village, but what will
+secure the esteem, and what will excite the hatred, of his comrades.
+This will often be downright, deliberate falsehood, sworn upon the
+Korân or the Ganges water before his officers.
+
+Many a brave sepoy have I seen faint away from the agitated state of
+his feelings, under the dread of the Deity if he told lies with the
+Ganges water in his hands, and of his companions if he told the
+truth, and caused them to be punished. Every question becomes a party
+question, and the 'point of honour' requires that every witness shall
+tell as many lies about it as possible.[20] When I go into a village,
+and talk with the people in any part of India, I know that I shall
+get the truth out of them on all subjects as long as I can satisfy
+them that I am not come on the part of the Government to inquire into
+the value of their fields with a view to new impositions, and this I
+can always do; but, when I go among the sepoys to ask about anything,
+I feel pretty sure that I have little chance of getting at the truth;
+they will take the alarm and try to deceive me, lest what I learn
+should be brought up at some future day against them or their
+comrades. The Duke of Wellington says, speaking of the English
+soldiers: 'It is most difficult to convict a prisoner before a
+regimental court-martial, for, I am sorry to say, that soldiers have
+little regard to the oath administered to them; and the officers who
+are sworn well and truly to try and determine _according to the
+evidence_, the matter before them, have too much regard to the strict
+_letter_ of that administered to them.' Again: 'The witnesses being
+in almost every instance common soldiers, whose conduct this tribunal
+was instituted to control, the consequence is that perjury is almost
+as common an offence as drunkenness and plunder, &c.'[21]
+
+In the ordinary civil tribunals of Europe and America a man commonly
+feels that, though he is removed far from the immediate presence of
+those whose esteem is necessary for him, their eyes are still upon
+him, because the statements he may give will find their way to them
+through the medium of the press. This he does not feel in the civil
+courts of India, nor in the military courts of Europe, or of any
+other part of the world, and the man who judges of the veracity of a
+whole people from the specimens he may witness in such courts, cannot
+judge soundly.
+
+Shaikh Sâdî, in his _Gulistân_, has the following tale: 'I have heard
+that a prince commanded the execution of a captive who was brought
+before him; when the captive, having no hope of life, told the prince
+that he disgraced his throne. The prince, not understanding him,
+tumed to one of his ministers and asked him what he had said. "He
+says," replied the minister, quoting a passage from the Korân, "God
+loves those who subdue their passions, forgive injuries, and do good
+to his creatures." The prince pitied the poor captive, and
+countermanded the orders for the execution. Another minister, who
+owed a spite to the one who first spoke, said, "Nothing but truth
+should be spoken by such persons as we in the presence of the prince;
+the captive spoke abusively and insolently, and you have not
+interpreted his words truly". The prince frowned and said, "His false
+interpretation pleases me more than thy true one, because his was
+given for a good, and thine for a malignant, purpose; and wise men
+have said that 'a peace-making lie is better than a factious or anger
+exciting truth'."'[22]
+
+He who would too fastidiously condemn this doctrine should think of
+the massacre of Thessalonica, and how much better it would have been
+for the great Theodosius to have had by his side the peace-making
+Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, than the anger-exciting Rufinus, when
+he heard of the offence which that city had committed.[23]
+
+In despotic governments, where lives, characters, and liberties are
+every moment at the mercy, not only of the prince but of all his
+public officers from the highest to the lowest, the occasions in
+which men feel authorized and actually called upon by the common
+feelings of humanity to tell 'peacemaking lies' occur every day--nay,
+every hour, every petty officer of government, 'armed with his little
+brief authority', is a little tyrant surrounded by men whose all
+depends upon his will, and who dare not tell him the truth--the
+'point of honour' in this little circle demands that every one should
+be prepared to tell him 'peace-making lies'; and the man who does not
+do so when the occasion seems to call for it, incurs the odium of the
+whole circle, as one maliciously disposed to speak 'anger-exciting or
+factions truths'. Poor Cromwell and Anne Boleyn were obliged to talk
+of _love_ and _duty_ toward their brutal murderer, Henry VIII, and
+tell 'peace-making lies' on the scaffold to save their poor children
+from his resentment. European gentlemen in India often, by their
+violence surround themselves with circles of the same kind, in which
+the 'point of honour' demands that every member shall be prepared to
+tell 'peace-making lies', to save the others from the effects of
+their master's ungovernable passions--falsehood is their only
+safeguard; and, consequently, falsehood ceases to be odious.
+Countenanced in the circles of the violent, falsehood soon becomes
+countenanced in those of the mild and forbearing; their domestics
+pretend a dread of their anger which they really do not feel; and
+they gain credit for having the same good excuse among those who have
+no opportunity of becoming acquainted with the real character of the
+gentlemen in their domestic relations--all are thought to be more or
+less _tigerish_ in these relations, particularly _before breakfast_,
+because some are _known_ to be so.[24]
+
+I have known the native officers of a judge who was really a very
+mild and worthy man, but who lived a very secluded life, plead as
+their excuse for all manner of bribery and corruption, that their
+persons and character were never safe from his violence; and urge
+that men whose tenure of office was very insecure, and who were every
+hour in the day exposed to so much indignity, could not possibly be
+blamed for making the most of their position. The society around
+believed all this, and blamed, not the native officers, but the
+judge, or the Government, who placed them in such a situation. Other
+judges and magistrates have been known to do what this person was
+merely reported to do, otherwise society would neither have given
+credit to his officers nor have held them excused for their
+malpractices.[25] Those European gentlemen who allow their passions
+to get the better of their reason among their domestics do much to
+lower the character of their countrymen in the estimation of the
+people; but the high officials who forget what they owe to themselves
+and the native officers of their courts, when presiding on the bench
+of justice, do ten thousand times more; and I grieve to say that I
+have known a few officials of this class.
+
+We have in England known many occasions, particularly in the cases of
+prosecutions by the officers of Government for offences against the
+State, where little circles of society have made it a 'point of
+honour' for some individuals to speak untruths, and for others to
+give verdicts against their consciences; some occasions indeed where
+those who ventured to speak the truth, or give a verdict according to
+their conscience, were in danger from the violence of popular
+resentment. Have we not, unhappily, in England and among our
+countrymen in all parts of the world, experience of a wide difference
+between what is exacted from members of particular circles of society
+by the 'point of honour', and what is held to be strict religions
+truth by the rest of society? Do we not see gentlemen cheating their
+tradesmen, while they dare not leave a gambling debt unpaid? The
+'point of honour' in the circle to which they belong demands that the
+one should be paid, because the non-payment would involve a breach of
+faith in their relations with each other, as in the case of the
+members of a gang of robbers; but the non-payment of a tradesman's
+bill involves only a breach of faith in a gentleman's relations with
+a lower order. At least, some gentlemen do not feel any apprehension
+of incurring the odium of the circle in which they move by cheating
+of this kind. In the same manner the roué, or libertine of rank, may
+often be guilty of all manner of falsehoods and crimes to the females
+of the class below him, without any fear of incurring the odium of
+either males or females of his own circle; on the contrary, the more
+crimes he commits of this sort, the more sometimes he may expect to
+be caressed by males and females of his own order. The man who would
+not hesitate a moment to destroy the happiness of a family by the
+seduction of the wife or the daughter, would not dare to leave one
+shilling of a gambling debt unpaid--the one would bring down upon him
+the odium of his circle, but the other would not; and the odium of
+that circle is the only kind of odium he dreads. Appius Claudius
+apprehended no odium from his own order--the patrician--from the
+violation of the daughter of Virginius, of the plebeian order; nor
+did Sextus Tarquinius of the royal order, apprehend any from the
+violation of Lucretia, of the patrician order--neither would have
+been punished by their own order, but they were both punished by the
+injured orders below them.
+
+Our own penal code punished with death the poor man who stole a
+little food to save his children from starvation, while it left to
+exult in the caresses of his own order, the wealthy libertine who
+robbed a father and mother of their only daughter, and consigned her
+to a life of infamy and misery. The poor victim of man's brutal
+passions and base falsehood suffered inevitable and exquisite
+punishment, while the laws and usages of society left the man himself
+untouched. He had nothing to apprehend if the father of his victim
+happened to be of the lower order, or a minister of the Church of
+Christ; because his own order would justify his refusing to meet the
+one in single combat, and the other dared not invite him to it, and
+the law left no remedy.[26]
+
+Take the two parties in England into which society is politically
+divided. There is hardly any species of falsehood uttered by the
+members of the party out of power against the members of the party in
+power that is not tolerated and even applauded by one party; men
+state deliberately what they know to be utterly devoid of truth
+regarding the conduct of their opponent; they basely ascribe to them
+motives by which they know they were never actuated, merely to
+deceive the public, and to promote the interests of their party,
+without the slightest fear of incurring odium by so doing in the
+minds of any but their political opponents. If a foreigner were to
+judge of the people of England from the tone of their newspapers, he
+would say that there was assuredly neither honour, honesty, nor truth
+to be found among the classes which furnished the nation with its
+ministers and legislators; for a set of miscreants more atrocious
+than the Whig and Tory ministers and legislators of England were
+represented to be in these papers never disgraced the society of any
+nation upon earth.
+
+Happily, all foreigners who read these journals know that in what the
+members of one party say of those of the other, or are reported to
+say, there is often but little truth; and that there is still less of
+truth in what the editors and correspondents of the ultra journals of
+one party write about the characters, conduct, and sentiments of the
+members of the other.
+
+There is one species of untruth to which we English people are
+particularly prone in India, and, I am assured, everywhere else. It
+is this. Young 'miss in her teens', as soon as she finds her female
+attendants in the wrong, no matter in what way, exclaims, 'It is so
+like the natives'; and the idea of the same error, vice, or crime,
+becomes so habitually associated in her mind with every native she
+afterwards sees, that she can no more separate them than she can the
+idea of ghosts and hobgoblins from darkness and solitude. The young
+cadet or civilian, as soon as he finds his valet, butler, or groom in
+the wrong, exclaims, 'It is so like blacky--so like the niggers; they
+are all alike!' And what could you expect from him? He has been
+constantly accustomed to the same vicious association of ideas in his
+native land--if he has been brought up in a family of Tories, he has
+constantly heard those he most reverenced exclaim, when they have
+found, or fancied they found, a Whig in the wrong, 'It is so like the
+Whigs--they are all alike--there is no trusting any of them.' If a
+Protestant, 'It is so like the Catholics; there is no trusting them
+in any condition of life.' The members of Whig and Catholic families
+may say the same, perhaps, of Tories and Protestants. An untravelled
+Englishman will sometimes say the same of a Frenchman; and the idea
+of everything that is bad in man will be associated in his mind with
+the image of a Frenchman. If he hears of an act of dishonour by a
+person of that nation, 'It is so like a Frenchman--they are all
+alike; there is no honour in them.' A Tory goes to America,
+predisposed to find in all who live under republican governments
+every species of vice and crime; and no sooner sees a man or woman
+misbehave than he exclaims, 'It is so like the Americans--they are
+all alike; but what could you expect from republicans?' At home, when
+he considers himself in relation to the members of the parties
+opposed to him in religion or politics, they are associated in his
+mind with everything that is vicious; abroad, when he considers the
+people of other countries in relation to his own, if they happen to
+be Christians, he will find them associated in his mind with
+everything that is good, or everything that is bad, in proportion as
+their institutions happen to conform to those which his party
+advocates. A Tory will abuse America and Americans, and praise the
+Austrians. A Whig will, _perhaps_, abuse the Austrians and others who
+live under paternal or despotic governments, and praise the
+Americans, who live under institutions still more free than his own.
+ This has properly been considered by Locke as a species of madness
+to which all mankind are more or less subject, and from which hardly
+any individual can entirely free himself. 'There is', he says,
+'scarce a man so free from it, but that if he should always, on all
+occasions, argue or do as in some cases he constantly does, would not
+be thought fitter for Bedlam than civil conversation. I do not here
+mean when he is under the power of an unruly passion, but in the
+steady, calm course of his life. That which thus captivates their
+reason, and leads men of sincerity blindfold from common sense will,
+when examined, be found to be what we are speaking of. Some
+independent ideas, of no alliance to one another, are, by education,
+custom, and the constant din of their party, so coupled in their
+minds, that they always appear there together, and they can no more
+separate them in their thoughts than if they were but one idea, and
+they operate as if they really were so.' (Book II, Chap. 33.)
+
+Perjury had long since ceased to be considered disgraceful, or even
+discreditable, among the patrician order in Rome before the soldiers
+ventured to break their oaths of allegiance. Military service had,
+from the ignorance and selfishness of this order, been rendered
+extremely odious to free-born Romans; and they frequently mutinied
+and murdered their generals, though they would not desert, because
+they had sworn not to do so. To break his oath by deserting the
+standards of Rome was to incur the hatred and contempt of the great
+mass of the people--the soldier dared not hazard this. But patricians
+of senatorial and consular rank did not hesitate to violate their
+oaths whenever it promised any advantage to the patrician order
+collectively or individually, because it excited neither contempt nor
+indignation in that order. 'They have been false to their generals,'
+said Fabius, 'but they have never deceived the gods. I know they
+_can_ conquer, and they shall swear to do so.' They swore, and
+conquered.
+
+Instead of adopting measures to make the duties of a soldier less
+odious, the patricians tumed their hatred of these duties to account,
+and at a high price sold an absolution from their oath. While the
+members of the patrician order bought and sold oaths among themselves
+merely to deceive the lower orders, they were still respected among
+the plebeians; but when they began to sell dispensations to the
+members of this lower order, the latter also, by degrees, ceased to
+feel any veneration for the oath, and it was no longer deemed
+disgraceful to desert duties which the higher order made no effort to
+render less odious.
+
+'That they who draw the breath of life in a court, and pass all their
+days in an atmosphere of lies, should have any very sacred regard for
+truth, is hardly to be expected. They experience such falsehood in
+all who surround them, that deception, at least suppression of the
+truth, almost seems necessary for self-defence; and, accordingly, if
+their speech be not framed upon the theory of the French cardinal,
+that language was given to man for the better concealment of his
+thoughts, they at least seem to regard in what they say, not its
+resemblance to the tact in question, but rather its subserviency to
+the purpose in view.' (Brougham's _George IV._) 'Yet, let it never be
+forgotten, that princes are nurtured in falsehood by the atmosphere
+of lies which envelops their palace; steeled against natural
+sympathies by the selfish natures of all that surround them; hardened
+in cruelty, partly indeed by the fears incident to their position,
+but partly too by the unfeeling creatures, the factions, the
+unnatural productions of a court whom alone they deal with; trained
+for tyrants by the prostration which they find in all the minds which
+they come in contact with; encouraged to domineer by the unresisting
+medium through which all their steps to power and its abuse are
+made.' (Brougham's _Carnot_.)
+
+But Lord Brougham is too harsh. Johnson has observed truly enough,
+'Honesty is not necessarily greater where elegance is less'; nor does
+a sense of supreme or despotic power necessarily imply the exercise
+or abuse of it. Princes have, happily, the same yearning as the
+peasant after the respect and affection of the circle around them,
+and the people under them; and they must generally seek it by the
+same means.
+
+I have mentioned the village communities of India as that class of
+the population among whom truth prevails most; but I believe there is
+no class of men in the world more strictly honourable in their
+dealings than the mercantile classes of India. Under native
+governments a merchant's books were appealed to as 'holy writ', and
+the confidence in them has certainly not diminished under our rule.
+There have been instances of their being seized by the magistrate,
+and subjected to the inspection of the officers of his court. No
+officer of a native government ventured to seize them; the merchant
+was required to produce them as proof of particular entries, and,
+while the officers of government did no more, there was no danger of
+false accounts.
+
+An instance of deliberate fraud or falsehood among native merchants
+of respectable station in society is extremely rare. Among the many
+hundreds of bills I have had to take from them for private
+remittances, I have never had one dishonoured, or the payment upon
+one delayed beyond the day specified; nor do I recollect ever hearing
+of one who had. They are so careful not to speculate beyond their
+means, that an instance of failure is extremely rare among them. No
+one ever in India hears of families reduced to ruin or distress by
+the failure of merchants or bankers; though here, as in all other
+countries advanced in the arts, a vast number of families subsist
+upon the interest of money employed by them.[27]
+
+There is no class of men more interested in the stability of our rule
+in India than this of the respectable merchants; nor is there any
+upon whom the welfare of our Government and that of the people more
+depend. Frugal, first upon principle, that they may not in their
+expenditure encroach upon their capitals, they become so by habit;
+and when they advance in life they lay out their accumulated wealth
+in the formation of those works which shall secure for them, from
+generation to generation, the blessings of the people of the towns in
+which they have resided, and those of the country around. It would
+not be too much to say that one-half of the great works which
+embellish and enrich the face of India, in tanks, groves, wells,
+temples, &c., have been formed by this class of the people solely
+with the view of securing the blessings of mankind by contributing to
+their happiness in solid and permanent works.[28] 'The man who has
+left behind him great works in temples, bridges, reservoirs, and
+caravanserais for the public good, does not die,' says Shaikh
+Sâdî,[29] the greatest of Eastern poets, whose works are more read
+and loved than those of any other uninspired man that has ever
+written, not excepting our own beloved Shakspeare.[30] He is as much
+loved and admired by Hindoos as by Muhammadans; and from boyhood to
+old age he continues the idol of the imaginations of both. The boy of
+ten, and the old man of seventy, alike delight to read and quote him
+for the music of his verses, and the beauty of his sentiments,
+precepts, and imagery.[31]
+
+It was to the class last mentioned, whose incomes are derived from
+the profits of stock invested in manufactures and commerce, that
+Europe chiefly owed its rise and progress after the downfall of the
+Roman Empire, and the long night of darkness and desolation which
+followed it. It was through the means of mercantile industry, and the
+municipal institutions to which it gave rise, that the enlightened
+sovereigns of Europe were enabled to curb the licence of the feudal
+aristocracy, and to give to life, property, and character that
+security without which society could not possibly advance; and it was
+through the same means that the people were afterwards enabled to put
+those limits to the authority of the sovereign, and to secure to
+themselves that share in the government without which society could
+not possibly be free or well constituted. Upon the same foundation
+may we hope to raise a superstructure of municipal corporations and
+institutions in India, such as will give security and dignity to the
+society; and the sooner we begin upon the work the better.[32]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Johnson says: 'Mountaineers are thievish because they are poor;
+and, having neither manufactures nor commerce, can grow rich only by
+robbery. They regularly plunder their neighbours, for their
+neighbours are commonly their enemies; and, having lost that
+reverence for property by which the order of civil life is preserved,
+soon consider all as enemies whom they do not reckon as friends, and
+think themselves licensed to invade whatever they are not obliged to
+protect.' [W. H. S.] The quotation is from _A Journey to the Western
+Islands of Scotland_.
+
+The observations in the text apply largely to the settled Hindoo
+villages, as well as to the forest tribes.
+
+2. _Ficus religiosa_ is the Linnaean name for the 'pîpal'. Other
+botanists call it _Urostigma religiosum_. In the original edition the
+botanical name is erroneously given as _Ficus indicus_. The _Ficus
+indica_ (_F. Bengalensis_, or _Urostigma B._) is the banyan. A story
+is current that the traders of a certain town begged the magistrate
+to remove a pîpal-tree which he had planted in the market-place,
+because, so long as it remained, business could not be conducted.
+They knew 'the value of a lie'.
+
+3. The red cotton, or silk-cotton, tree, when in spring covered with
+its huge magnolia-shaped scarlet blossoms, is one of the most
+magnificent objects in nature. Its botanical name is _Salmalia
+malabarica_ (_Bombax malabaricum; B. heptaphyllum_). This is the tree
+referred to in the text. The white silk-cotton tree (_Eriodendron
+anfractuosum; Bombax 'pentandrum; Ceiba pentandra; Gossampinus
+Rumphii_) has a more southern habitat. (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd
+ed., s.v. 'Salmalia' and 'Eriodendron'.)
+
+4. The pîpal is usually regarded as sacred only to Vishnu, the
+Preserver. The _Ficus indica_, or banyan, is sacred to Siva, the
+Destroyer, and the _Butea frondosa_ (Hind. 'dhâk', 'palâs', or
+'chhyûl ') to Brahmâ, the Creator, or [Greek text].
+
+5. The sacred trees and plants of India are numerous. 'Balfour
+(Cyclop., 3rd ed., s.v. 'Sacred') enumerates eighty, and the list is
+by no mean complete. The same author's article, 'Tree', may also be
+consulted. The minor 'deities' alluded to by the author are the real
+gods of popular rural Hinduism. The observations of Mr. William
+Crooke, probably the best authority on the subject of Indian popular
+religion, though made with reference to a particular locality, are
+generally applicable. 'Hinduism certainly shows no signs of weakness,
+and is practically untouched by Christian and Muhammadan proselytism.
+The gods of the Vedas are as dead as Jupiter, and the Krishna worship
+only succeeds from its marvellous adaptability to the sensuous and
+romantic side of the native mind. But it would be too much to say
+that the creed exercises any real effect on life or morals. With the
+majority of its devotees it is probably more sympathetic than
+practical, and ranks with the periodical ablutions in the Ganges and
+Jumna, and the traditional worship of the local gods and ghosts,
+which really impress the rustic. He is enclosed on all sides by a
+ring of precepts, which attribute luck or ill-luck to certain things
+or actions. These and the bonds of caste, with its obligations for
+the performance of marriage, death, and other ceremonies, make up the
+religions life of the peasant. Nearly every village and hamlet has
+its local ghost, usually the shrine of a childless man, or one whose
+funeral rites remained for some reason unperformed. In the expressive
+popular phrase, he is 'deprived of water' (_aud_). The pious make
+oblations to his cenotaph twice a year, and propitiate his ghost with
+offerings of water to allay his thirst in the lower world. The
+primaeval serpent-worship is perpetuated in the reverence paid to
+traditional village-snakes. Of the local ghosts some are beneficent.
+Sometimes they are only mischievous, like Robin Goodfellow, and will
+milk the cows, and sour the milk, or pull your hair, if you wander
+about at night in certain well-known uncanny places. A more dangerous
+demon is heard in the crackling of the dry leaves of the date-tree in
+the night wind; and some trees are haunted by a vampire, who will
+drag you up and devour you, if you venture near them in the
+darkness.' (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. vii. _Supplement_, p.
+4.) See also the same author's work _Popular Religion and Folklore of
+Northern India_, 2nd ed., 2 vols. Constable, 1896.
+
+6. Compare the story of Râmkishan in Chapter 25. Books on
+anthropology cite many instances of deaths caused by superstitious
+fears.
+
+7. Arrian, _Indica_, chap. 12: 'The sixth class consists of those
+called "superintendents". They spy out what goes on in country and
+town, and report everything to the king where the people have a king,
+and to the magistrates where the people are self-governed, and it is
+against use and wont for them to give a false report;--but indeed no
+Indian is accused of lying.' (McCrindle, _Ancient India, as described
+by Megasthenes and Arrian_, Trübner, 1877, p. 211). Arrian uses the
+word [Greek text 1]; in the Fragments of Megasthenes quoted by
+Diodorus and Strabo, the word is [Greek text 2]. The people referred
+to seem to be the well-known 'news-writers' employed by Oriental
+sovereigns (_ante_, chapter 33, note 7); a simple explanation missed
+by McCrindle (op. cit. p. 43, note). The remark about the
+truthfulness of the Indians appears to be Arrian's addition. It is
+not in the Fragment of Megasthenes from which Arrian copies, and the
+falsity of the remark is proved by the statement (ibid., p. 71) that
+'a person convicted of bearing false witness suffers mutilation of
+his extremities'. But in Fragment XXVII from Strabo (op. cit., p. 70)
+Megasthenes says, 'Truth and virtue they hold alike in esteem'; and
+in Fragment XXXIII (ibid., p. 85) he asserts that 'the ablest and
+moat trustworthy men' are appointed [Greek text 2].
+
+8. Up to the year 1827 'grand larceny', that is to say, stealing to a
+value exceeding twelve pence, was punishable with death. The Act 7
+George IV, cap. 28, abolished the distinction of grand and petty
+larceny. In 1837, the first year of Queen Victoria's reign, the
+punishment of death was abolished in the case of between thirty and
+forty offences. Other statutes have further mitigated the ferocity of
+the old law.
+
+9. The year was 1652, not 1648 (Tavernier, _Travels_, transl. Ball,
+vol. i, p. 260, note). The passages describing the criminal procedure
+of Amîr Jumla are not very long, and deserve quotation, as giving an
+accurate account of the administration of penal justice by an able
+native ruler. 'On the 14th [September] we went to the tent of the
+Nawâb to take leave of him, and to hear what he had to say regarding
+the goods which we had shown him. But we were told that he was
+engaged examining a number of criminals, who had been brought to him
+for immediate punishment. It is the custom in this country not to
+keep a man in prison; but immediately the accused is taken he is
+examined and sentence is pronounced on him, which is then executed
+without any delay. If the person whom they have seized is found
+innocent, he is released at once; and whatever the nature of the case
+may be, it is promptly concluded. . . . On the 15th, at seven o'clock
+in the morning, we went to the Nawâb, and immediately we were
+announced he asked us to enter his tent, where he was seated with two
+of his secretaries by him. . . . The Nawâb had the intervals between
+his toes full of letters, and he also had many between the fingers of
+his left hand. He drew them sometimes from his feet, sometimes from
+his hand, and sent his replies through his two secretaries, writing
+some also himself. . . . While we were with the Nawâb he was informed
+that four prisoners, who were then at the door of the tent, had
+arrived. He remained more than half an hour without replying, writing
+continually and making his secretaries write, but at length he
+suddenly ordered the criminals to be brought in; and after having
+questioned them, and made them confess with their own mouths the
+crime of which they were accused, he remained nearly an hour without
+saying anything, continuing to write and to make his secretaries
+write, . . . Among these four prisoners who were brought into his
+presence there was one who had entered a house and slain a mother and
+her three infants. He was condemned forthwith to have his feet and
+hands cut off, and to be thrown into a field near the high road to
+end his days. Another had stolen on the high road, and the Nawâb
+ordered him to have his stomach slit open and to be flung in a drain,
+I could not ascertain what the others had done, but both their heads
+were cut off. While all this passed the dinner was served, for the
+Nawâb generally eats at ten o'clock, and he made us dine with him.'
+(Ibid., pp. 290-3.) Such swift procedure and sharp punishments would
+still be highly approved of by the great mass of Indian opinion in
+the villages.
+
+10. Misprinted 'much less' in original edition.
+
+11. The new Act, V of 1840, prescribes the following declaration: 'I
+solemnly affirm, in the presence of Almighty God, that what I shall
+state shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
+truth',--and declares that a false statement made on this shall be
+punished as perjury. [W. H. S.] The law now in force is to the same
+effect. This form of declaration is absolutely worthless as a check
+on perjury, and never hinders any witness from lying to his heart's
+content. The use of the Korân and Ganges water in the courts has been
+given up.
+
+12. The tendency of modern India is to rely too much on formal law
+and the exercise of the powers of the central government. The
+contemplation of the vast administrative machinery working with its
+irresistible force and unfailing regularity in obedience to the will
+of rulers, whose motives are not understood, undoubtedly has a
+paralysing influence on the life of the nations of India, which, if
+not counteracted, would work deep mischief. Something in the way of
+counteraction has been done, though not always with knowledge. The
+difficulties inherent in the problem of reconciling foreign rule with
+self-government in an Asiatic country are enormous.
+
+13. But panegyrics on the self-government of Indian villages must
+always be read with the qualification that the standard of such
+government was low, and that hundreds of acts and omissions were
+tolerated, which are intolerable to a modern European Government.
+Hence comes the difficulty of enforcing numerous reforms loudly
+called for by European opinion. The vast Indian population hates
+reform and innovation for many reasons, and, above all, because they
+involve expense, which to the Indian mind appears wholly
+unwarrantable.
+
+14. The same phenomenon is observable in rural Ireland, where, as in
+India, an unhappy history has generated profound distrust and dislike
+of official authority. The Irish peasant has always been ready to
+give his neighbour 'the loan of an oath', and a refusal to give it
+would be thought unneighbourly. An Irish Land Commission and an
+Indian Settlement Officer must alike expect to receive startling
+information about the value of land.
+
+15. _Ante_, chapter 49, text at [16].
+
+16. Hume, in speaking of Scotland in the fifteenth century, says,
+'Arms more than laws prevailed; and courage, preferably to equity and
+justice, was the virtue most valued and respected. The nobility, in
+whom the whole power resided, were so connected by hereditary
+alliances, or so divided by inveterate enmities, that it was
+impossible, without employing an armed force, either to punish the
+most flagrant guilt, or to give security to the most entire
+innocence. Rapine and violence, when employed against a hostile
+tribe, instead of making a person odious among his own clan, rather
+recommended him to their esteem and approbation; and, by rendering
+him useful to the chieftain, entitled him to the preference above his
+fellows.' [W. H. S.]
+
+17. Gibbon, chap. 5. The remark refers to Septimius Severus.
+
+18. The Ballot Act became law in 1872.
+
+19. All that the author says is true, and yet it does not alter the
+fact that Indian society is and always has been permeated and
+paralysed by almost universal distrust. Such universal distrust does
+not prevail in England. This difference between the two societies is
+fundamental, and its reality is fully recognized by natives of India.
+
+20. Compare the author's account of the fraudulent practices of the
+Company's sepoys when on leave in Oudh. (_Journey through the Kingdom
+of Oude_, vol. i, pp. 286-304.)
+
+21. The editor has failed to find these quotations in the Wellington
+Dispatches.
+
+22. This is the first story in the first chapter of the _Gulistân_.
+The _Mishkât-ul-Masâbih_ (Matthews, vol. ii, p. 427) teaches the same
+doctrine as Sâdî: 'That person is not a liar who makes peace between
+two people, and speaks good words to do away their quarrel although
+they should be lies; and that person who carries good words from one
+to another is not a tale-bearer.'
+
+23. Gibbon, chapter 27. In the year A.D. 390 Botheric, the general of
+Theodosius was murdered by a mob at Thessalonica. Acting on the
+advice of Rufinus, the emperor avenged his officer's death by an
+indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants, in which numbers
+variously estimated at from 7,000 to 15,000 perished. The emperor
+quickly felt remorse for the atrocity of which he had been guilty,
+and submitted to do public penance under the direction of Ambrose.
+
+24. The sum total of truth in India would not, I fear, be appreciably
+increased if every European had the temper of an angel.
+
+25. The editor has never known a reputation for corruption in any way
+lower the social position of an official of Indian birth.
+
+26. The argument in the anthor's mind seems to be that the unveracity
+practised and condoned by certain classes of the natives of India on
+certain occasions is, at least, not more reprehensible than the vices
+practised and condoned by certain classes of Europeans on certain
+occasions.
+
+27. Since the author wrote the above remarks, the conditions of
+Indian trade have been revolutionized by the development of roads,
+railways, motors, telegraph, postal facilities, and exports. The
+Indian merchant has been drawn into the vortex of European and
+American commerce. He is, in consequence, not quite so cautions as he
+used to be, and is more liable to severe loss or failure, though he
+is still, as a rule, far more inclined to caution than are his
+Western rivals. The Indian private banker undoubtedly is honest in
+ordinary banking transactions and anxious to maintain his commercial
+credit, but he will often stoop to the most discreditable devices in
+the purchase of a coveted estate, the foreclosure of a mortgage, and
+the like. His books, nowadays, are certainly not 'appealed to as holy
+writ', and many merchants keep a duplicate set for income-tax
+purposes. The happy people of 1836 had never heard of income tax.
+Private remittances are now made usually through the post office or
+the joint-stock banks, which did not exist in the author's days. In
+recent times failures of banks and merchants have been frequent.
+
+28. These observations, which are perfectly true, form a corrective
+to the fashionable abuse of the Indian capitalist, whose virtues and
+merits are seldom noticed.
+
+29. The editor has not succeeded in tracing this quotation, but
+several passages to a similar effect occur in the _Gulistân_.
+
+30. I ought to except Confucius, the great Chinese moralist. [W. H.
+S.]
+
+31. For a brief notice of Sâdî (Sa'dî) see _ante_, chapter 12, note
+6. The _Gulistân_ is everywhere used as a text-book in schools where
+Persian is taught. The author's extant correspondence shows that he
+was fascinated by the charms of Persian poetry, even during the first
+year of his residence in India.
+
+32. The work was 'begun upon' many years ago, and 'a superstructure
+of municipal corporations and institutions' now exists in every part
+of India. But 'the same foundation' does not exist. The stout
+burghers of the mediaeval English and German towns have no Indian
+equivalents. The superstructure of the municipal institutions is all
+that Acts of the Legislature can make it; the difficulty is to find
+or make a solid foundation. Still, it was right and necessary to
+establish municipal institutions in India, and, notwithstanding all
+weaknesses and defects, they are of considerable value, and are
+slowly developing.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 58
+
+Declining Fertility of the Soil--Popular Notion of the Cause.
+
+On the 18th[1] we came on ten miles to Sâhar, over a plain of poor
+soil, carelessly cultivated, and without either manure or irrigation.
+Major Godby left us at Govardhan to return to Agra. He would have
+gone on with us to Delhi; but having the command of his regiment, and
+being a zealous officer, he did not like to leave it so long during
+the exercising season. We felt much the loss of his society. He is a
+man of great observation and practical good sense; has an infinite
+fund of good humour, and a cheerfulness of temperament that never
+seems to flag--a more agreeable companion I have never met. The
+villages in these parts are literally crowded with peafowl. I counted
+no less than forty-six feeding close by among the houses of one
+hamlet on the road, all wild, or rather _unappropriated_, for they
+seemed on the best possible terms with the inhabitants. At Sâhar our
+water was drawn from wells eighty feet deep, and this is said to be
+the ordinary depth from which water is drawn; consequently irrigation
+is too expensive to be common. It is confined almost exclusively to
+small patches of garden cultivation in the vicinity of villages.
+
+On the 14th we came on sixteen miles to Kosî, for the most part over
+a poor soil badly cultivated, and almost exclusively devoted to
+autumn crops, of which cotton is the principal. I lost the road in
+the morning before daylight,[2] and the trooper, who usually rode
+with me, had not come up. I got an old landholder from one of the
+villages to walk on with me a mile, and put me in the right road. I
+asked him what had been the state of the country under the former
+government of the Jâts and Marâthâs, and was told that the greater
+part was a wild jungle. 'I remember,' said the old man, 'when you
+could not have got out of the road hereabouts without a good deal of
+risk. I could not have ventured a hundred yards from the village
+without the chance of having my clothes stripped off my back. Now the
+whole face of the country is under cultivation, and the roads are
+safe; formerly the governments kept no faith with their landholders
+and cultivators, exacting ten rupees where they had bargained for
+five, whenever they found the crops good; but, in spite of all this
+"zulm"' (oppression), said the old man, 'there was then more "barkat"
+(blessings from above) than now. The lands yielded more returns to
+the cultivator, and he could maintain his little family better upon
+five acres than he can now upon ten.'
+
+'To what, my old friend, do you attribute this very unfavourable
+change in the productive powers of your soil?'
+
+'A man cannot, sir, venture to tell the truth at all times, and in
+all places,' said he.
+
+'You may tell it now with safety, my good old friend; I am a mere
+traveller ("musafir") going to the hills in search of health, from
+the valley of the Nerbudda, where the people have been suffering much
+from blight, and are much perplexed in their endeavour to find a
+cause.'
+
+'Here, sir, we all attribute these evils to the dreadful System of
+_perjury_, which the practices of your judicial courts have brought
+among the people. You are perpetually putting the Ganges water into
+the hands of the Hindoos, and the Korân into those of Muhammadans;
+and all kinds of lies are every day told upon them. God Almighty can
+stand this no longer; and the lands have ceased to be blessed with
+that fertility which they had before this sad practice began. This,
+sir, is almost the only fault we have, any of us, to find with your
+government; men, by this System of perjury, are able to cheat each
+other out of their rights, and bring down sterility upon the land, by
+which the innocent are made to suffer for the guilty.'
+
+On reaching our tents, I asked a respectable farmer, who came to pay
+his respects to the Commissioner of the division, Mr. Fraser, what he
+thought of the matter, telling him what I had heard from my old
+friend on the road. 'The diminished fertility is,' said he, 'owing no
+doubt to the want of those salutary fallows which the fields got
+under former governments, when invasions and civil wars were things
+of common occurrence, and kept at least two-thirds of the land waste;
+but there is, on the other hand, no doubt that you have encouraged
+perjury a good deal in your courts of justice; and this perjury must
+have some effect in depriving the land of the blessing of God.[3]
+Every man now, who has a cause in your civil courts, seems to think
+it necessary either to swear falsely himself, or to get others to do
+it for him. The European gentlemen, no doubt, do all they can to
+secure every man his right, but, surrounded as they are by perjured
+witnesses, and corrupt native officers, they commonly labour in the
+dark.'
+
+Much of truth is to be found among the village communities of India,
+where they have been carefully maintained, if people will go among
+them to seek it. Here, as almost everywhere else, truth is the result
+of self-government, whether arising from choice, under municipal
+institutions, or necessity, under despotism and anarchy; self-
+government produces self-esteem and pride of character.
+
+Close to our tents we found the people at work, irrigating their
+fields from several wells, whose waters were all brackish. The crops
+watered from these wells were admirable--likely to yield at least
+fifteen returns of the seed. Wherever we go, we find the signs of a
+great government passed away--signs that must tend to keep alive the
+recollections, and exalt the ideas of it in the minds of the people.
+Beyond the boundary of our military and civil stations we find as yet
+few indications of our reign or character, to link us with the
+affections of the people. There is hardly anything to indicate our
+existence as a people or a government in this country; and it is
+melancholy to think that in the wide extent of country over which I
+have travelled there should be so few signs of that superiority in
+science and arts which we boast of, and really do possess, and ought
+to make conducive to the welfare and happiness of the people in every
+part of our dominions. The people and the face of the country are
+just what they might have been had they been governed by police
+officers and tax-gatherers from the Sandwich Islands, capable of
+securing life, property, and character, and levying honestly the
+means of maintaining the establishments requisite for the purpose.[4]
+Some time after the journey here described, in the early part of
+November, after a heavy fall of rain, I was driving alone in my buggy
+from Garhmuktesar on the Ganges to Meerut. The roads were very bad,
+the stage a double one, and my horse became tired, and unable to go
+on.[5] I got out at a small village to give him a little rest and
+food; and sat down, under the shade of one old tree, upon the trunk
+of another that the storm had blown down, while my groom, the only
+servant I had with me, rubbed down and baited my horse. I called for
+some parched gram from the same shop which supplied my horse, and got
+a draught of good water, drawn from the well by an old woman in a
+brass jug lent to me for the purpose by the shopkeeper.[6]
+
+While I sat contentedly and happily stripping my parched gram of its
+shell, and eating it grain by grain, the farmer, or head landholder
+of the village, a sturdy old Râjpût, came up and sat himself, without
+any ceremony, down by my side, to have a little conversation. To one
+of the dignitaries of the land, in whose presence the aristocracy are
+alone entitled to chairs, this easy familiarity on the part of a poor
+farmer seems at first somewhat strange and unaccountable; he is
+afraid that the man intends to offer him some indignity, or, what is
+still worse, mistakes him for something less than the dignitary. The
+following dialogue took place.
+
+'You are a Râjpût, and a "zamîndâr"?' (landholder).
+
+'Yes; I am the head landholder of this village.'
+
+'Can you tell me how that village in the distance is elevated above
+the ground? Is it from the debris of old villages, or from a rock
+underneath?'
+
+'It is from the debris of old villages. That is the original seat of
+all the Râjpûts around; we all trace our descent from the founders of
+that village who built and peopled it many centuries ago.'
+
+'And you have gone on subdividing your inheritances here, as
+elsewhere, no doubt, till you have hardly any of you anything to
+eat?'
+
+'True, we have hardy any of us enough to eat; but that is the fault
+of the Government, that does not leave us enough, that takes from us
+as much when the season is bad as when it is good.'[7]
+
+'But your assessment has not been increased, has it?' 'No, we have
+concluded a settlement for twenty years upon the same footing as
+formerly.'
+
+'And if the sky were to shower down upon you pearls and diamonds,
+instead of water, the Government would never demand more from you
+than the rate fixed upon?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'Then why should you expect remissions in the bad seasons?'
+
+'It cannot be disputed that the "barkat" (blessing from above) is
+less under you than it used to be formerly, and that the lands yield
+less to our labour.'
+
+'True, my old friend, but do you know the reason why?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'Then I will tell you. Forty or fifty years ago, in what you call the
+times of the "barkat" (blessing from above), the cavalry of Sikh
+freebooters from the Panjâb used to sweep over this fine plain, in
+which stands the said village from which you are all descended; and
+to massacre the whole population of some villages, and a certain
+portion of that of every other village; and the lands of those killed
+used to be waste for want of cultivators. Is not this all true?'
+
+'Yes, quite true.'
+
+'And the fine groves which had been planted over the plain by your
+ancestors, as they separated from the great parent stock, and formed
+independent villages and hamlets for themselves, were all swept away
+and destroyed by the same hordes of freebooters, from whom your poor
+imbecile emperors, cooped up in yonder large city of Delhi, were
+utterly unable to defend you?'
+
+'Quite true,' said the old man with a sigh. 'I remember when all this
+fine plain was as thickly studded with fine groves of mango-trees as
+Rohilkhand, or any other part of India.'
+
+'You know that the land requires rest from labour, as well as men and
+bullocks, and that, if you go on sowing wheat and other exhausting
+crops, it will go on yielding less and less returns, and at last not
+be worth the tilling?'
+
+'Quite well.'
+
+'Then why do you not give the land rest by leaving it longer fallow,
+or by a more frequent alternation of crops relieve it?'
+
+'Because we have now increased so much that we should not get enough
+to eat were we to leave it to fallow; and unless we tilled it with
+exhausting crops we should not get the means of paying our rents to
+the Government.'
+
+'The Sikh hordes in former days prevented this; they killed off a
+certain portion of your families, and gave the land the rest which
+you now refuse it. When you had exhausted one part, you found another
+recovered by a long fallow, so that you had better returns; but now
+that we neither kill you, nor suffer you to be killed by others, you
+have brought all the cultivable lands into tillage; and under the old
+System of cropping to exhaustion, it is not surprising that they
+yield you less returns.'[8]
+
+By this time we had a crowd of people seated around us upon the
+ground, as I went on munching my parched gram, and talking to the old
+patriarch.
+
+They all laughed at the old man at the conclusion of my last speech,
+and he confessed I was right.
+
+'This is all true, sir, but still your Government is not considerate;
+it goes on taking kingdom after kingdom, and adding to its dominions
+without diminishing the burden upon us, its old subjects. Here you
+have had armies away taking Afghanistan, but we shall not have one
+rupee the less to pay.'[9]
+
+'True, my friend, nor would you demand a rupee less from those honest
+cultivators around us, if we were to leave you all your lands
+untaxed. You complain of the Government--they complain of you.' (Here
+the circle around us laughed at the old man again.) 'Nor would you
+subdivide the lands the less for having it rent-free; on the
+contrary, it would be every generation subdivided the more, inasmuch
+as there would be more of local ties, and a greater disinclination of
+families to separate and seek service abroad.'
+
+'True, sir, very true--that is, no doubt, a very great evil.'
+
+'And you know it is not an evil produced by us, but one arising out
+of your own laws of inheritance. You have heard, no doubt, that with
+us the eldest son gets the whole of the land, and the younger sons
+all go out in search of service, with such share as they can get of
+the other property of their father?'
+
+'Yes, sir; but when shall we get service?--you have none to give us.
+I would serve to-morrow if you would take me as a soldier,' said he,
+stroking his white whiskers.
+
+The crowd laughed heartily; and some wag observed that I should
+perhaps think him too old.
+
+'Well,' said the old man, smiling, 'the gentleman himself is not very
+young, and yet I dare say he is a good servant of his Government.'
+
+This was paying me off for making the people laugh at his expense.
+
+'True, my old friend,' said I, 'but I began to serve when I was
+young, and have been long learning.'
+
+'Very well,' said the old man, 'but I should be glad to serve the
+rest of my life upon a less salary than you got when you began to
+learn.'
+
+'Well, my friend, you complain of our Government; but you must
+acknowledge that we do all we can to protect you, though it is true
+that we are often acting in the dark.'
+
+'Often, sir? you are always acting in the dark; you, hardly any of
+you, know anything of what your revenue and police officers are
+doing; there is no justice or redress to be got without paying for
+it, and it is not often that those who pay can get it.'
+
+'True, my old friend, that is bad all over the world. You cannot
+presume to ask anything even from the Deity Himself, without paying
+the priest who officiates in His temples; and if you should, you
+would none of you hope to get from your Deity what you asked for.'
+
+Here the crowd laughed again, and one of them said that 'there was
+this certainly to be said for our Government, that the European
+gentlemen themselves never took bribes, whatever those under them
+might do'.
+
+'You must not be too sure of that, neither. Did not the Lâl Bîbî, the
+Red Lady, get a bribe for soliciting the judge, her husband, to let
+go Amîr Singh, who had been confined in jail?'
+
+'How did this take place?'
+
+'About three years ago Amîr Singh was sentenced to imprisonment, and
+his friends spent a great deal of money in bribes to the native
+officers of the court, but all in vain. At last they were recommended
+to give a handsome present to the Red Lady. They did so, and Amîr
+Singh was released.'
+
+'But did they give the present into the lady's own hand?'
+
+'No, they gave it to one of her women.'
+
+'And how do you know that she ever gave it to her mistress, or that
+her mistress ever heard of the transaction?'
+
+'She might certainly have been acting without her mistress'
+knowledge; but the popular belief is that the Lâl Bîbî got the
+present.'
+
+I then told the story of the affair at Jubbulpore, when Mrs. Smith's
+name had been used for a similar purpose, and the people around us
+were all highly amused; and the old man's opinion of the transaction
+with the Red Lady evidently underwent a change.[10]
+
+We became good friends, and the old man begged me to have my tents,
+which he supposed were coming up, pitched among them, that he might
+have an opportunity of showing that he was not a bad subject, though
+he grumbled against the Government.
+
+The next day at Meerut I got a visit from the chief native judge,
+whose son, a talented youth, is in my office. Among other things, I
+asked him whether it might not be possible to improve the character
+of the police by increasing the salaries of the officers, and
+mentioned my conversation with the landholder.
+
+'Never, sir,' said the old gentleman; 'the man that now gets twenty-
+five rupees a month is contented with making perhaps fifty or
+seventy-five more; and the people subject to his authority pay him
+accordingly. Give him a hundred, sir, and he will put a shawl over
+his shoulders, and the poor people will be obliged to pay him at a
+rate that will make up his income to four hundred. You will only
+alter his style of living, and make him a greater burthen to the
+people. He will always take as long as he thinks he can with
+impunity.'
+
+'But do you not think that when people see a man adequately paid by
+the Government they will the more readily complain of any attempt at
+unauthorized exactions?'
+
+'Not a bit, sir, as long as they see the same difficulties in the way
+of prosecuting him to conviction. In the administration of civil
+justice' (the old gentleman is a civil judge), 'you may occasionally
+see your way, and understand what is doing; but in revenue and police
+you never have seen it in India, and never will, I think. The
+officers you employ will all add to their incomes by unauthorized
+means; and the lower these incomes, the less their pretensions, and
+the less the populace have to pay.'[11]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. The old Anglo-Indian rose much earlier than his successor of the
+present day commonly does.
+
+3. For other popular explanations of the alleged decrease in
+fertility of the soil, see _ante_, Chapter 27, where three
+explanations are offered, namely, the eating of beef, the prevalence
+of adultery, and the impiety of surveys.
+
+4. The inapplicability of these observations of the author to the
+present time is a good measure of the material progress of India
+since his day. The Ganges Canal, the bridges over the Indus, Ganges,
+and other great rivers, and numberless engineering works throughout
+the empire, are permanent witnesses to the scientific superiority of
+the ruling race. Buildings which can claim any high degree of
+architectural excellence are, unfortunately, still rare, but the
+public edifices of Bombay will not suffer by comparison with those of
+most capital cities, and for some years past, considerable attention
+has been paid to architecture as an art. A great architectural
+experiment is in progress at the new official capital of Delhi
+(1914).
+
+5. The road is now an excellent one.
+
+6. Parched gram, or chick-pea, is commonly used by Indian travellers
+as a convenient and readily portable form of food. The 'brass jug'
+lent to the author could be purified by fire after his use of it.
+
+7. Growls of this kind must not be interpreted too literally. Any
+village landholder, if encouraged, would grumble in the same strain.
+
+8. This is the permanent difficulty of Indian revenue administration,
+which no Government measures can seriously diminish.
+
+9. The mission to Kabul, under Captain Alexander Burnes, was not
+dispatched till September, 1837, and troops did not assemble before
+the conclusion of the treaty with the Sikhs in June, 1838. The army
+crossed the Indus in January, 1839. The conversation in the text is
+stated to have taken place 'some time after the journey herein
+described', and must, apparently, be dated in November, 1839. The
+author was in the North-Western Provinces in that year.
+
+10. Some of Mrs. Smith's suitors entered into a combination to
+defraud a suitor in his court of a large sum of money, which he was
+to pay to Mrs. Smith as she walked in the garden. A dancing girl from
+the town of Jubbulpore was made to represent Mrs. Smith, and a suit
+of Mrs. Smith's clothes was borrowed for her from the washerman. The
+butler took the suitor to the garden, and introduced him to the
+supposed Mrs. Smith, who received him very graciously, and
+condescended to accept his offer of five thousand rupees in gold
+mohurs. The plot was afterwards discovered, and the old butler,
+washerman, and all, were sentenced to work in a rope on the roads.
+[W. H. S.]
+
+Penal labour on the roads has been discontinued long since. Similar
+plots probably have often escaped detection. The whole conversation
+is a valuable illustration of Indian habits and modes of thought.
+
+11. The subject of the police administration is more fully discussed
+_post_, in Chapter 69.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 59
+
+
+Concentration of Capital and its Effects.
+
+Kosî[1] stands on the borders of Fîrôzpur, the estate of the late
+Shams-ud-dîn, who was hanged at Delhi on the 3rd of October, 1835,
+for the murder of William Fraser, the representative of the Governor-
+General in the Delhi city and territories.[2] The Mewâtîs of Fîrôzpur
+are notorious thieves and robbers. During the Nawâb's time they dared
+not plunder within his territory, but had a free licence to plunder
+wherever they pleased beyond it.[3] They will now be able to plunder
+at home, since our tribunals have been introduced to worry
+prosecutors and their witnesses to death by the distance they have to
+go, and the tediousness of our process; and thereby to secure
+impunity to offenders, by making it the interest of those who have
+been robbed, not only to bear with the first loss without complaint,
+but largely to bribe police officers to conceal the crimes from their
+master, the magistrate, when they happen to come to their knowledge.
+Here it was that Jeswant Râo Holkâr gave a grand ball on the 14th of
+October, 1804, while he was with his cavalry covering the siege of
+Delhi by his regular brigade. In the midst of the festivity he had a
+European soldier of the King's 76th Regiment, who had been taken
+prisoner, strangled behind the curtain, and his head stuck upon a
+spear and placed in the midst of the assembly, where the 'nâch'
+(nautch) girls were made to dance round it. Lord Lake reached the
+place the next morning in pursuit of this monster; and the gallant
+regiment, who here heard the story, had soon an opportunity of
+revenging the foul murder of their comrade in the battle of Dîg, one
+of the most gallant passages of arms we have ever had in India.[4]
+
+Near Kosî there is a factory in ruins belonging to the late firm of
+Mercer & Company. Here the cotton of the district used to be
+collected and screwed under the superintendence of European agents,
+preparatory to its embarkation for Calcutta on the river Jumna. On
+the failure of the firm, the establishment was broken up, and the
+work, which was then done by one great European merchant, is now done
+by a score or two of native merchants. There is, perhaps, nothing
+which India wants more than the concentration of capital; and the
+failure of a I [5] the great commercial houses in Calcutta, in the
+year 1833, was, unquestionably, a great calamity. They none of them
+brought a particle of capital into the country, nor does India want a
+particle from any country; but they _concentrated_ it; and had they
+employed the whole, as they certainly did a good deal of it, in
+judiciously improving and extending the industry of the natives, they
+might have been the source of incalculable good to India, its people,
+and government.[6]
+
+To this concentration of capital in great commercial and
+manufacturing establishments, which forms the grand characteristic of
+European in contradistinction to Asiatic societies in the present
+day, must we look for those changes which we consider desirable in
+the social and religions institutions of the people. Where land is
+liable to eternal subdivision by the law and the religion of both the
+Muhammadan and Hindoo population; where every great work that
+improves its productive powers, and facilitates the distribution of
+its produce among the people, in canals, roads, bridges, &c., is made
+by Government; where capital is nowhere concentrated in great
+commercial or manufacturing establishments, there can be no upper
+classes in society but those of office; and of all societies, perhaps
+that is the worst in which the higher classes are so exclusively
+composed. In India, public office has been, and must continue to be,
+the only road to distinction, until we have a _law of primogeniture_,
+and a _concentration of capital_. In India no man has ever thought
+himself respectable, or been thought so by others, unless he is armed
+with his little 'hukûmat'; his 'little brief authority' under
+Government, that gives him the command of some public establishment
+paid out of the revenues of the State.[7] In Europe and America,
+where capital has been concentrated in great commercial and
+manufacturing establishments, and free institutions prevail almost as
+the natural consequence, industry is everything; and those who direct
+and command it are, happily, looked up to as the source of the
+wealth, the strength, the virtue, and the happiness of the nation.
+The concentration of capital in such establishments may, indeed, be
+considered, not only as the natural consequence, but as the
+prevailing cause of the free institutions by which the mass of the
+people in European countries are blessed.[8] The mass of the people
+were as much brutalized and oppressed by the landed aristocracy as
+they could have been by any official aristocracy before towns and
+higher classes were created by the concentration of capital.
+
+The same observations are applicable to China. There the land all
+belongs to the sovereign, as in India; and, as in India, it is liable
+to the same eternal subdivision among the sons of those who hold it
+under him. Capital is nowhere more concentrated in China than in
+India; and all the great works that add to the fertility of the soil,
+and facilitate the distribution of the land labour of the country are
+formed by the sovereign out of the public revenue. The revenue is, in
+consequence, one of office;[9] and no man considers himself
+respectable,[10] unless invested with some office under Government,
+that is, under the Emperor. Subdivision of labour, concentration of
+capital, and machinery render an Englishman everywhere dependent upon
+the co-operation of multitudes; while the Chinaman, who as yet knows
+little of either, is everywhere independent, and able to work his way
+among strangers. But this very dependence of the Englishman upon the
+concentration of capital is the greatest source of his strength and
+pledge of his security, since it supports those members of the higher
+orders who can best understand and assert the rights and interests of
+the whole.[11]
+
+If we had any great establishment of this sort in which Christians
+could find employment and the means of religious and secular
+instruction, thousands of converts would soon flock to them; and they
+would become vast sources of future improvement in industry, social
+comfort, municipal institutions, and religion. What chiefly prevents
+the spread of Christianity in India is the dread of exclusion from
+caste and all its privileges; and the utter hopelessness of their
+ever finding any respectable circle of society of the adopted
+religion, which converts, or would-be converts, to Christianity now
+everywhere feel. Form such circles for them, make the members of
+these circles happy in the exertion of honest and independent
+industry, let those who rise to eminence in them feel that they are
+considered as respectable and as important in the social system as
+the servants of Government, and converts will flock around you from
+all parts, and from all classes of the Hindoo community. I have,
+since I have been in India, had, I may say, at least a score of
+Hindoo grass-cutters turn Musalmâns, merely because the grooms and
+the other grass-cutters of my establishment happened to be of that
+religion, and they could neither eat, drink, nor smoke with them.
+Thousands of Hindoos all over India become every year Musalmâns from
+the same motive;[12] and we do not get the same number of converts to
+Christianity, merely because we cannot offer them the same
+advantages. I am persuaded that a dozen such establishments as that
+of Mr. Thomas Ashton of Hyde, as described by a physician at
+Manchester, and noticed in Mr. Baines's admirable work on the _Cotton
+Manufactures of Great Britain_ (page 447), would do more in the way
+of conversion among the people of India than has ever yet been done
+by all the religious establishments, or ever will be done by them,
+without such aid.[13]
+
+I have said that the great commercial houses of Calcutta, which in
+their ruin involved that of so many useful establishments scattered
+over India, like that of Kosî, brought no capital into the
+country.[14] They borrowed from one part of the civil and military
+servants of Government at a high interest that portion of their
+salary which they saved; and lent it at a higher interest to others
+of the same establishment, who for a time required or wished to spend
+more than they received; or they employed it at a higher rate of
+profit for great commercial and manufacturing establishments
+scattered over India, or spread over the ocean. Their great error was
+in mistaking nominal for real profits. Calculating their dividend on
+the nominal profits, and never supposing that there could be any such
+things as losses in commercial speculation, or bad debts from
+misfortunes and bad faith, they squandered them in lavish hospitality
+and ostentatious display, or allowed their retiring members to take
+them to England and to every other part of the world where their
+creditors might not find them, till they discovered that all the real
+capital left at their command was hardly sufficient to pay back with
+the stipulated interest one-tenth of what they had borrowed. The
+members of those houses who remained in India up to the time of the
+general wreck were of course reduced to ruin, and obliged to bear the
+burthen of the odium and indignation which the ruin of so many
+thousands of confiding constituents brought down upon them. Since
+that time the savings of civil and military servants have been
+invested either in Government securities at a small interest, or in
+banks, which make their profit in the ordinary way, by discounting
+bills of exchange, and circulating their own notes for the purpose,
+or by lending out their money at a high interest of 10 or 12 per
+cent. to other members of the same services.[15]
+
+On the 16th of January we went on to Horal, ten miles over a plain,
+with villages numerous and large, and in every one some fine large
+building of olden times--sarâi, palace, temple, or tomb, but all
+going to decay.[16] The population much more dense than in any of the
+native states I have seen; villages larger and more numerous; trade
+in the transit of cotton, salt, sugar, and grain, much brisker. A
+great number of hares were here brought to us for sale at threepence
+apiece, a rate at which they sell at this season in almost all parts
+of Upper India, where they are very numerous, and very easily caught
+in nets.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Kosî is twenty-five miles north-west of Mathurâ.
+
+2. The story of the murder of Mr. Fraser is fully detailed _post_ in
+Chapter 64. After the execution of Shams-ud-dîn, the estate of the
+criminal was taken possession of by Government, and the town of
+Fîrôzpur is now the head-quarters of a sub-collectorship of the
+Gurgâon district in the Panjâb. The Delhi territories were placed
+under the government of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjâb in
+1858.
+
+3. The Mewâtî depredations had gone on for centuries. The Sultân
+Balban (Ghiâs-ud-dîn, alias Ulugh Khan), who reigned from A.D. 1265-
+87, temporarily suppressed them by punishments of awful cruelty,
+flaying the criminals alive, and so forth. The Mewâtîs now supply men
+to a few robber gangs, but are incapable of mischief on a large
+scale.
+
+4. Delhi was most nobly defended against Holkâr by a very small force
+under Lieutenant-Colonel Burn, who 'repelled an assault, and defended
+a city ten miles in circumference, and which had ever before been
+given up at the first appearance of an enemy at its gates'.
+
+The battle of Dîg was fought on November 13, 1804, by the division
+under the command of General Fraser on the one side, and Holkâr's
+infantry and artillery on the other. 'The 76th led the way, with its
+wonted alacrity and determination,' and forced its way into the
+village in advance of its supports. The fight resulted in the total
+defeat of the Marâthâs, who lost nearly two thousand men, and eighty-
+seven pieces of cannon. The English loss also was heavy, amounting to
+upwards of six hundred and forty killed and wounded, including the
+brave commander, who was mortally wounded, and survived the victory
+only a few days.
+
+On the night of November 17, General Lake in person routed Holkâr and
+his cavalry, killing about three thousand men. The English loss on
+this occasion amounted to only two men killed, and about twenty
+wounded.
+
+The fort of Dîg, with a hundred guns and a considerable quantity of
+ammunition and military stores, was captured on December 24 of the
+same year. (Thornton, _History of British India_, pp. 316-19, 2nd
+ed., 1859.)
+
+5. Transcription note. This clause is not intelligible to the
+transcriber. The character '1' or 'I' appears in the text. Some words
+appear to be missing.
+
+6. The author was grievously mistaken in supposing that India did not
+require 'a particle' of foreign capital. The railways, and the great
+tea, coffee, indigo, and other industries, built up and developed
+during the nineteenth century, and still growing, owe their existence
+to the hundreds of millions sterling of English capital poured into
+the country, and could not possibly have been financed from Indian
+resources. The author seems not to have expected the construction of
+railways in India, although when he wrote a beginning of the railway
+system in England had been made.
+
+7. This sentiment is still potent, and explains the eagerness often
+shown by wealthy landholders of high social rank to obtain official
+appointments, which to the European mind seem unworthy of their
+acceptance.
+
+8. Few readers are likely to accept this proposition.
+
+9. This clause is not intelligible to the editor. The word 'revenue'
+probably is a misprint for 'aristocracy'.
+
+10. The original edition prints, 'No man considers himself less
+respectable', which is nonsense.
+
+11. This sentiment reads oddly in these days of social democracy and
+continual conflict between capital and labour.
+
+12. The steady progress of Islam in Lower and Eastern Bengal, first
+made apparent by the census of 1872, has been confirmed by the
+enumerations of 1901 and 1911. The feeling that the religion of the
+Prophet gives its adherent a better position in both this world and
+the next than Hinduism can offer to a low-caste man is the most
+powerful motive for conversion. See Dr. James Wise's valuable
+treatise, 'The Muhammadans of Eastern Bengal' (_J.A.S.B._, Part III
+(1894), pp. 28-63), and the Census Reports from 1872 to 1911.
+
+13. The author's whimsical notion that a development of commercial
+and manufacturing organization in India would cause converts to flock
+from all parts, and from all classes of the Hindoo community, has not
+been verified by experience. Much capital is now concentrated in the
+great cities, and the number of cotton, jute, and other factories is
+considerable, but Christian converts are not among the goods
+produced.
+
+14. The modern commercial houses bring a large proportion of their
+capital from Europe.
+
+15. The three Presidency Banks, the Bank of Bengal, the Bank of
+Madras, and the Bank of Bombay, in which the Indian Government is
+interested, are the leading Indian banks. The Bank of Bengal was
+opened in 1806. No bank in India is allowed to issue notes. The paper
+money in use is issued by the Paper Currency Department of the
+Government of India, and the notes are known as 'currency notes'. The
+issue of these notes began in 1862-3. (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd
+ed., s.v. 'Bank and Paper Currency'). Much Indian capital is now
+invested in joint-stock companies of every kind.
+
+16. More correctly, Hodal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 60
+
+
+Transit Duties in India--Mode of Collecting them.
+
+At Horal[1] resides a Collector of Customs with two or three
+uncovenanted European assistants as patrol officers.[2] The rule now
+is to tax only the staple articles of produce from the west on their
+transit down into the valley of the Jumna and Ganges, and to have
+only one line on which these articles shall be liable to duties.[3]
+They are free to pass everywhere else without search or molestation.
+This has, no doubt, relieved the people of these provinces from an
+infinite deal of loss and annoyance inflicted upon them by the former
+System of levying the Customs duties, and that without much
+diminishing the net receipts of Government from this branch of its
+revenues. But the time may come when Government will be constrained
+to raise a greater proportion of its collective revenues than it has
+hitherto done from indirect taxation, and when this time comes, the
+rule which confines the impost to a single line must of course be
+abandoned.[4] Under the former system, one great man, with a very
+high salary, was put in to preside over a host of native agents with
+very small salaries, and without any responsible intermediate agent
+whatever to aid him, and to watch over them. The great man was
+selected without any reference to his knowledge of, or fitness for,
+the duties entrusted to him, merely because he happened to be of a
+certain standing in a certain exclusive service, which entitled him
+to a certain scale of salary, or because he had been found unfit for
+judicial or other duties requiring more intellect and energy of
+character. The consequence was that for every one rupee that went
+into the public treasury, ten were taken by these harpies from the
+merchants, or other people over whom they had, or could pretend to
+have, a right of search.[5]
+
+Some irresponsible native officer who happened to have the confidence
+of the great man (no matter in what capacity he served him) sold for
+his own profit, and for that of those whose goodwill he might think
+it worth while to conciliate, the offices of all the subordinate
+agents immediately employed in the collection of the duties. A man
+who was to receive an avowed salary of seven rupees a month would
+give him three or four thousand for his post, because it would give
+him charge of a detached post, in which he could soon repay himself
+with a handsome profit. A poor 'peon', who was to serve under others,
+and could never hope for an independent charge, would give five
+hundred rupees for an office which yielded him avowedly only four
+rupees a month. All arrogated the right of search, and the state of
+Indian society and the climate were admirably suited to their
+purpose. A person of any respectability would feel himself
+dishonoured were the females of his family to be _seen_, much less
+_touched_, while passing along the road in their palanquin or covered
+carnage; and to save himself from such dishonour he was everywhere
+obliged to pay these custom-house officers. Many articles that pass
+in transit through India would suffer much damage from being opened
+along the road at any season, and be liable to be spoiled altogether
+during that of the rains; and these harpies could always make the
+merchants open them, unless they paid liberally for their
+forbearance. Articles were rated to the duty according to their
+value; and articles of the same weight were often, of course, of very
+different values. These officers could always pretend that packages
+liable to injury from exposure contained within them, among the
+articles set forth in the invoice, others of greater value in
+proportion to their weight. Men who carried pearls, jewels, and other
+articles very valuable compared with their bulk, always depended for
+their security from robbers and thieves on their concealment; and
+there was nothing which they dreaded so much as the insolence and
+rapacity of these custom-house officers, who made them pay large
+bribes, or exposed their goods. Gangs of thieves had members in
+disguise at such stations, who were soon able to discover through the
+insolence of the officers, and the fears and entreaties of the
+merchants, whether they had anything worth taking or not.
+
+A party of thieves from Datiyâ, in 1882, followed Lord William
+Bentinck's camp to the bank of the river Jumna near Mathurâ, where
+they found a poor merchant humbly entreating an insolent custom-house
+officer not to insist upon his showing the contents of the little box
+he carried in his carriage, lest it might attract the attention of
+thieves, who were always to be found among the followers of such a
+camp, and offering to give him anything reasonable for his
+forbearance. Nothing he could be got to offer would satisfy the
+rapacity of the man; the box was taken out and opened. It contained
+jewels which the poor man hoped to sell to advantage among the
+European ladies and gentlemen of the Governor-General's suite. He
+replaced his box in his carriage; but in half an hour it was
+travelling post-haste to Datiyâ, by relays of thieves who had been
+posted along the road for such occasions. They quarrelled about the
+division; swords were drawn, and wounds inflicted. One of the gang
+ran off to the magistrate at Sâgar, with whom he had before been
+acquainted;[6] and he sent him back with a small party, and a letter
+to the Datiyâ Râjâ requesting that he would get the box of jewels for
+the poor merchant. The party took the precaution of searching the
+house of the thieves before they delivered the letter to their friend
+the minister, and by this means recovered about half the jewels,
+which amounted in all to about seven thousand rupees. The merchant
+was agreeably surprised when he got back so much of his property
+through the magistrate of Mathurâ, and confirmed the statement of the
+thief regarding the dispute with the custom-house officer which
+enabled them to discover the value of the box.
+
+Should Government by and by extend the System that obtains in this
+single line to the Customs all over India they may greatly augment
+their revenue without any injury, and with but little necessary loss
+and inconvenience to merchants. The object of all just taxation is to
+make the subjects contribute to the public burthen in proportion to
+their means, and with as little loss and inconvenience to themselves
+as possible. The people who reside west of this line enjoy all their
+salt, cotton, and other articles which are taxed on crossing the line
+without the payment of any duties, while those to the east of it are
+obliged to pay. It is, therefore, not a just line. The advantages
+are, first, that it interposes a body of most efficient officers
+between the mass of harpies and the heads of the department, who now
+virtually superintend the whole System, whereas they used formerly to
+do so merely ostensibly. They are at once the _tapis_ of Prince
+Husain and the telescope of Prince Alî; they enable the heads of
+departments to be everywhere and see everything, whereas before they
+were nowhere and saw nothing.[7] Secondly, it makes the great staple
+articles of general consumption alone liable to the payment of
+duties, and thereby does away in a great measure with the odious
+right of search.
+
+At Kosî our friend, Charles Fraser, left us to proceed through
+Mathurâ to Agra. He is a very worthy man and excellent public
+officer, one of those whom one always meets again with pleasure, and
+of whose society one never tires. Mr. Wilmot, the Collector of
+Customs, and Mr. Wright, one of the patrol officers, came to dine
+with us. The wind blew so hard all day that the cook and khânsâmân
+(butler) were long in despair of being able to give us any dinner at
+all. At last we managed to get a tent, closed at every crevice to
+keep out the dust, for a cook-room; and they were thus able to
+preserve their master's credit, which, no doubt, according to their
+notions, depended altogether on the quality of his dinner.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The place is a small town in the Gurgâon District, Panjâb.
+
+2. The term 'uncovenanted' may require explanation for readers not
+familiar with the details of Indian administration. The Civil Service
+of India, commonly called Indian Civil Service, which supplies most
+of the higher administrative and judicial officers, used to be known
+as the Covenanted service, because its members sign a covenant with
+the Secretary of State. All the other departmental services--Public
+Works, Postal and the rest--were grouped together as uncovenanted. In
+accordance with the Report of the Public Service Commission (1886-7)
+the terms 'covenanted' and 'uncovenanted' have been disused.
+
+3. The text refers to what was known as the 'customs hedge'. Before
+the establishment of the British supremacy each of the innumerable
+native jurisdictions levied transit duties on many kinds of goods at
+each of its frontiers, to the infinite vexation of traders. Such
+duties were gradually abolished in British territory, and few, if
+any, are now enforced by native states. Salt cannot be manufactured
+in British India without a licence, and the Salt (formerly called
+Inland Customs) Department is charged with the duty of preventing the
+manufacture or sale of illicit salt. In its later developments the
+Customs hedge was used for the collection of the salt duty only. Sir
+John Strachey took a leading part in its abolition. To secure the
+levy of the duty on salt, he writes, 'there grew up gradually a
+monstrous system, to which it would be almost impossible to find a
+parallel in any tolerably civilized country. A Customs line was
+established which stretched across the whole of India, which in 1869
+extended from the Indus to the Mahânadî in Madras, a distance of
+2,300 miles; and it was guarded by nearly 12,000 men and petty
+officers, at an annual cost of £162,000. It would have stretched from
+London to Constantinople. . . . It consisted principally of an
+immense impenetrable hedge of thorny trees and bushes . . . A similar
+line, 280 miles in length, was maintained in the north-eastern part
+of the Bombay Presidency from Dohud to the Runn of Cutch.' In 1878
+the salt duties were revised, and the necessary arrangements with the
+native states were made. With effect from the 1st April, 1879, the
+whole Customs line was abolished, with the exception of a small
+portion on the Indus. (Sir J. Strachey, _The Finances and Public
+Works of India_, 1869-81, London, 1882, pp. 219, 220, 225.) Great
+mines of rock salt are worked near the Indus.
+
+4. Most people who know India intimately are of opinion that indirect
+taxation is more suitable to the circumstances of the country than
+direct taxation. For municipal purposes, indirect taxation, under the
+name of octroi, is levied by most considerable towns, and
+notwithstanding its inconveniences, is far less unpopular and far
+more productive than any form of direct taxation. The people have
+been accustomed to indirect taxation of divers kinds from the most
+remote times, and hate income tax or any other direct impost, however
+reasonable it may be in theory. Since 1895 the general customs duty
+is 5 per cent. _ad valorem_ on commodities imported into British
+India by sea. (See _I.G._, 1907, vol. iv, chapter 8). The above
+remarks on the suitability of indirect taxation for India are not
+intended as a defence of the barbarous device of the 'Customs hedge',
+which was indefensible.
+
+5. That unsound System prevailed in all departments during the early
+years of the nineteenth century. 'In Bengal, the monopoly of salt in
+one form or other dates at least from the establishment of the Board
+of Trade there in 1765. The strict monopoly of salt commenced in
+1780, under a System of agencies. The System introduced in 1780
+continued in force with occasional modifications till 1862, when the
+several salt agencies were gradually abolished, leaving the Supply of
+salt, whether by importations or excise manufacture, to private
+enterprise. Since then, for Bengal Proper, the supply of the
+condiment has been obtained chiefly by importation, but in part by
+private manufacture under a System of excise.' (Balfour,
+_Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., s.v. Salt.) At present the Salt Department is
+controlled by a single Commissioner with the Government of India, The
+fee payable for a licence to manufacture salt is fifty rupees. It is
+inaccurate to describe the limitation imposed on the manufacture of
+salt as a monopoly. Any one can sell salt, but it can be made only
+under licence.
+
+6. The author.
+
+7. The same observations, _mutatis mutandis_, are applicable to the
+magistracy of the country; and the remedy for all the great existing
+evils must be sought in the same means, the interposition of a body
+of efficient officers between the magistrate and the 'thânadârs', or
+present head police officers of small divisions. [W. H. S.] Much has
+been done to carry out this advice. The 'most efficient officers' of
+the inland Customs department alluded to in the text were the
+European or Eurasian 'uncovenanted' Collectors of Customs and their
+assistants. The allusion to Prince Husain and Prince Alî refers to
+the well-known tale in the _Arabian Nights_, 'The story of Prince
+Ahmad and the Fairy Peri-Banu'. It is omitted, I believe, from Lane's
+version.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 61
+
+
+Peasantry of India attached to no existing Government--Want of Trees
+in Upper India [1]--Cause and Consequence--Wells and Groves.
+
+What strikes one most after crossing the Chambal is, I think, the
+improved size and bearing of the men; they are much stouter, and more
+bold and manly, without being at all less respectful. They are
+certainly a noble peasantry, full of courage, spirit, and
+intelligence; and heartily do I wish that we could adopt any system
+that would give our Government a deep root in their affections, or
+link their interests inseparably with its prosperity; for, with all
+its defects, life, property, and character are certainly more secure,
+and all their advantages more freely enjoyed under our Government
+than under any other they have ever heard of, or that exists at
+present in any other part of the country. The eternal subdivision of
+the landed property reduces them too much to one common level, and
+prevents the formation of that middle class which is the basis of all
+that is great and good in European societies--the great vivifying
+spirit which animates all that is good above it in the community.[2]
+It is a singular fact that the peasantry, and, I may say, the landed
+interest of the country generally, have never been the friends of any
+existing government, have never considered their interests and that
+of their government the same; and, consequently, have never felt any
+desire for its success or its duration.[3]
+
+The towns and villages all stand upon high mounds formed of the
+debris of former towns and villages, that have been accumulating,
+most of them, for thousands of years. They are for the most part mere
+collections of wretched hovels built of frail materials, and destined
+only for a brief period.
+
+ Man wants but little here below,
+ Nor wants that little long.[4]
+
+And certainly there is no climate in the world where man wants less
+than in this of India generally, and Upper India particularly. The
+peasant lives in the open air; and a house to him is merely a thing
+to eat and sleep in, and to give him shelter in the storm, which
+comes upon him but seldom, and never in a pitiless shape. The society
+of his friends he enjoys in the open air, and he never furnishes his
+house for their reception or for display. The peasantry of India, in
+consequence of living and talking so much in the open air, have all
+stentorian voices, which they find it exceedingly difficult to
+modulate to our taste when they come into our rooms.
+
+Another thing in this part of India strikes a traveller from other
+parts--the want of groves of fruit-trees around the villages and
+along the roads. In every other part of India he can at every stage
+have his tents pitched in a grove of mango-trees, that defend his
+followers from the direct rays of the sun in the daytime, and from
+the cold dews at night; but in the district above Agra, he may go for
+ten marches without getting the shelter of a grove in one.[5] The
+Sikhs, the Marâthâs, the Jâts, and the Pathâns destroyed them all
+during the disorders attending the decline of the Muhammadan empire;
+and they have never been renewed, because no man could feel secure
+that they would be suffered to stand ten years. A Hindoo believes
+that his soul in the next world is benefited by the blessings and
+grateful feelings of those of his fellow creatures who unmolested eat
+the fruit and enjoy the shade of the trees he has planted during his
+sojourn in this world; and, unless he can feel assured that the
+traveller and the public in general will be permitted to do so, he
+can have no hope of any permanent benefit from his good work. It
+might as well be cut down as pass into the hands of another person
+who had no feeling of interest in the eternal repose of the soul of
+the planter. That person would himself have no advantage in the next
+world from giving the fruit and the shade of the trees to the public,
+since the prayers of those who enjoyed them would be offered for the
+soul of the planter, and not for his--he, therefore, takes all their
+advantage to himself in this world, and the planter and the public
+are defrauded. Our Government thought they had done enough to
+encourage the renewal of these groves, when by a regulation they gave
+to the present lessees of villages the privilege of planting them
+themselves, or permitting others to plant them; but where they held
+their leases for a term of only five years, of course they would be
+unwilling to plant them. They might lose their lease when the term
+expired, or forfeit it before; and the successor would have the land
+on which the trees stood, and would be able to exclude the public, if
+not the proprietor, from the enjoyment of any of their advantages.
+Our Government has, in effect, during the thirty-five years that it
+has held the dominion of the North-Western Provinces,[6] prohibited
+the planting of mango groves, while the old ones are every year
+disappearing. On the resumption of rent-free lands, even the ground
+on which the finest of these groves stand has been recklessly
+resumed, and the proprietors told me that they may keep the trees
+they have, but cannot be allowed to renew them, as the lands are
+become the property of Government. The lands of groves that have been
+the pride of families for a century and a half have been thus
+resumed. Government is not aware of the irreparable mischief they do
+the country they govern by such measures.[7]
+
+On my way back from Meerut, after the conversation already related
+with the farmer of a small village (_ante_, chapter 58, text at [7]),
+my tents were one day pitched, in the month of December, amidst some
+very fine garden cultivation in the district of Alîgarh;[8] and in
+the evening I walked out as usual to have some talk with the
+peasantry. I came to a neighbouring well at which four pair of
+bullocks were employed watering the surrounding fields of wheat for
+the market, and vegetables for the families of the cultivators. Four
+men were employed at the well, and two more in guiding the water into
+the little embanked squares into which they divide their fields.
+
+I soon discovered that the most intelligent of the four was a Jât;
+and I had a good deal of conversation with him as he stood landing
+the leather buckets, as the two pair of bullocks on his side of the
+well drew them to the top, a distance of forty cubits from the
+surface of the water beneath.
+
+'Who built this well?' I began.
+
+'It was built by one of my ancestors, six generations ago.'
+
+'How much longer will it last?'
+
+'Ten generations more, I hope; for it is now just as good as when
+first made. It is of 'pakkâ' bricks without mortar cement.'[9]
+
+'How many waterings do you give?'
+
+'If there should be no rain, we shall require to give the land six
+waterings, as the water is sweet; had it been brackish four would do.
+Brackish water is better for wheat than sweet water; but it is not so
+good for vegetables or sugar-cane.'
+
+'How many "bîghâs" are watered from this well?'
+
+'We water twenty "bîghâs", or one hundred and five "jarîbs", from
+this well.'[10]
+
+'And you pay the Government how much?'
+
+'One hundred rupees, at the rate of five rupees the bîghâ. But only
+the five immediately around the well are mine, the rest belong to
+others.'
+
+'But the well belongs to you; and I suppose you get from the
+proprietors of the other fifteen something for your water?'
+
+'Nothing. There is more water for my five bîghâs, and I give them
+what they require gratis; they acknowledge that it is a gift from me,
+and that is all I want.'
+
+'And what does the land beyond the range of your water of the same
+quality pay?'
+
+'It pays at the rate of two rupees the bîghâ, and it is with
+difficulty that they can be made to pay that. Water, sir, is a great
+thing, and with that and manure we get good crops from the land.'[11]
+
+'How many returns of the seed?'
+
+'From these twenty bîghâs with six waterings, and cross ploughing,
+and good manure, we contrive to get twenty returns; that is, if God
+is pleased with us and blesses our efforts.'
+
+'And you maintain your family comfortably out of the return from your
+five?'
+
+'If they were mine I could; but we had two or three bad seasons seven
+years ago, and I was obliged to borrow eighty rupees from our banker
+at 24 per cent., for the subsistence of my family. I have hardly been
+able to pay him the interest with all I can earn by my labour, and I
+now serve him upon two rupees a month.'
+
+'But that is not enough to maintain you and your family?'
+
+'No; but he only requires my services for half the day, and during
+the other half I work with others to get enough for them.'
+
+'And when do you expect to pay off your debt?'
+
+'God only knows; if I exert myself, and keep a good "nîyat" (pure
+mind or intentions), he will enable me or my children to do so some
+day or other. In the meantime he has my five bîghâs of land in
+mortgage, and I serve him in the cultivation.'
+
+'But under those misfortunes, you could surely venture to demand
+something from the proprietors of the other fifteen bîghâs for the
+water of your well?'
+
+'Never, sir; it would be said all over the country that such an one
+sold God's water for his neighbours' fields, and I should be ashamed
+to show my face. Though poor, and obliged to work hard, and serve
+others, I have still too much pride for that.'
+
+'How many bullocks are required for the tillage of these twenty
+bîghâs watered from your well?'
+
+'These eight bullocks do all the work; they are dear now. This was
+purchased the other day on the death of the old one, for twenty-six
+rupees. They cost about fifty rupees a pair--the late famine has made
+them dear.'[12]
+
+'What did the well cost in making?'
+
+'I have heard that it cost about one hundred and twenty rupees; it
+would cost about that sum to make one of this kind in the present
+day, not more.'
+
+'How long have the families of your caste been settled in these
+parts?'
+
+'About six or seven generations; the country had before been occupied
+by a peasantry of the Kalâr caste. Our ancestors came, built up mud
+fortifications, dug wells, and brought the country under cultivation;
+it had been reduced to a waste; for a long time we were obliged to
+follow the plough with our swords by our sides, and our friends
+around us with their matchlocks in their hand, and their matches
+lighted.'
+
+'Did the water in your well fail during the late seasons of drought?'
+
+'No, sir, the water of this well never fails.'
+
+'Then how did bad seasons affect you?'
+
+'My bullocks all died one after the other from want of fodder, and I
+had not the means to till my lands; subsistence became dear, and to
+maintain my family, I was obliged to contract the debt for which my
+lands are now mortgaged. I work hard to get them back, and, if I do
+not succeed, my children will, I hope, with the blessing of God.'[13]
+
+The next morning I went on to Kâkâ, fifteen miles; and finding tents,
+people, and cattle, without a tree to shelter them, I was much
+pleased to see in my neighbourhood a plantation of mango and other
+fruit-trees. It had, I was told, been planted only three years ago by
+Hîrâman and Môtîrâm, and I sent for them, knowing that they would be
+pleased to have their good work noticed by any European gentleman.
+The trees are now covered with cones of thatch to shelter them from
+the frost. The merchants came, evidently much pleased, and I had a
+good deal of talk with them.
+
+'Who planted this new grove?'
+
+'We planted it three years ago.'
+
+'What did your well cost you, and how many trees have you?'
+
+'We have about four hundred trees, and the well has cost us two
+hundred rupees, and will cost us two hundred more.'
+
+'How long will you require to water them?'
+
+'We shall require to water the mango and other large trees ten or
+twelve years; but the orange, pomegranate, and other small trees will
+always require watering.'
+
+'What quantity of ground do the trees occupy?'
+
+'They occupy twenty-two "bîghâs" of one hundred and five "jarîbs". We
+place them all twelve yards from each other, that is, the large
+trees; and the small ones we plant between them.'
+
+'How did you get the land?'
+
+'We were many years trying in vain to get a grant from the Government
+through the collector; at last we got him to certify on paper that,
+if the landholder would give us land to plant our grove upon, the
+Government would have no objection. We induced the landholder, who is
+a constituent of ours, to grant us the land; and we made our well,
+and planted our trees.'
+
+'You have done a good thing; what reward do you expect?'
+
+'We hope that those who enjoy the shade, the water, and the fruit,
+will think kindly of us when they are gone. The names of the great
+men who built the castles, palaces, and tombs at Delhi and Agra have
+been almost all forgotten, because no one enjoys any advantage from
+them; but the names of those who planted the few mango groves we see
+are still remembered and blessed by all who eat of their fruit, sit
+in their shade, and drink of their water, from whatever part of the
+world they come. Even the European gentlemen remember their names
+with kindness; indeed, it was at the suggestion of a European
+gentleman, who was passing this place many years ago, and talking
+with us as you are now, that we commenced this grove. "Look over this
+plain," said he, "it has been all denuded of the fine groves with
+which it was, no doubt, once studded; though it is tolerably well
+cultivated, the traveller finds no shelter in it from the noonday
+sun--even the birds seem to have deserted you, because you refuse
+them the habitations they find in other parts of India." We told him
+that we would have the grove planted, and we have done so; and we
+hope God will bless our undertaking.'
+
+'The difficulty of getting land is, I suppose, the reason why more
+groves are not planted, now that property is secure?'
+
+'How could men plant without feeling secure of the land they planted
+upon, and when Government would not guarantee it? The landholder
+could guarantee it only during the five years of lease;[14] and, if
+at the end of that time Government should transfer the lease of the
+estate to another, the land of the grove would be transferred with
+it. We plant not for worldly or immediate profits, but for the
+benefit of our souls in the next world--for the prayers of those who
+may derive benefit from our works when we are gone. Our landholders
+are good men, and will never resume the lands they have given us; and
+if the lands be sold at auction by Government, or transferred to
+others, we hope the certificate of the collector will protect us from
+his grasp.'[15]
+
+'You like your present Government, do you not?'
+
+'We like it much. There has never been a Government that gave so much
+security to life and property; all we want is a little more of public
+service, and a little more of trade; but we have no cause to
+complain; it is our own fault if we are not happy.'
+
+'But I have been told that the people find the returns from the soil
+diminishing, and attribute it to the perjury that takes place in our
+courts occasionally.'
+
+'That, sir, is no doubt true; there has been a manifest falling off
+in the returns; and people everywhere think that you make too much
+use of the Korân and the Ganges water in your courts. God does not
+like to hear lies told upon one or other, and we are apt to think
+that we are all punished for the sins of those who tell them. May we
+ask, sir, what office you hold?'
+
+'It is my office to do the work which God assigns to me in this
+world.'
+
+'The work of God, sir, is the greatest of all works, and those are
+fortunate who are chosen to do it.'
+
+Their respect for me evidently increased when they took me for a
+clergyman. I was dressed in black.
+
+'In the first place, it is my duty to tell you that God does not
+punish the innocent for the guilty, and that the perjury in courts
+has nothing to do with the diminution of returns from the soil. Where
+you apply water and manure, and alternate your crops, you always get
+good returns, do you not?'
+
+'Very good returns; but we have had several bad seasons that have
+carried away the greater part of our population; but a small portion
+of our lands can be irrigated for want of wells, and we had no rain
+for two or three years, or hardly any in due season; and it was this
+deficiency of rain which the people thought a chastisement from
+heaven.'
+
+'But the wells were not dried up, were they?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'And the people whose fields they watered had good returns, and high
+prices for produce?'
+
+'Yes, they had; but their cattle died for want of food, for there was
+no grass any where to be found.'
+
+'Still they were better off than those who had no wells to draw water
+from for their fields; and the only way to provide against such evils
+in future is to have a well for every field. God has given you the
+fields, and he has given you the water; and when it does not come
+from the clouds, you must draw it from your wells.'[16]
+
+
+'True, sir, very true; but the people are very poor, and have not the
+means to form the wells they require.'
+
+'And if they borrow the money from you, you charge them with
+interest?'
+
+
+'From one to two per cent. a month according to their character and
+circumstances; but interest is very often merely nominal, and we are
+in most cases glad to get back the principal alone.'[17]
+
+'And what security have you for the land of your grove in case the
+landholder should change his mind, or die and leave sons not so well
+disposed.'
+
+'In the first place, we hold his bonds for a debt of nine thousand
+rupees which he owes us, and which we have no hopes of his ever
+paying. In the next, we have on stamped paper his deed of gift, in
+which he declares that he has given us the land, and that he and his
+heirs for ever shall be bound to make good the rents, should
+Government sell the estate for arrears of revenue. We wanted him to
+write this document in the regular form of a deed of sale; but he
+said that none of his ancestors had ever yet sold their lands, and
+that he would not be the first to disgrace his family, or record
+their disgrace on stamped paper--it should, he was resolved, be a
+deed of gift.'
+
+'But, of course, you prevailed upon him to take the price?'
+
+'Yes, we prevailed upon him to take two hundred rupees for the land,
+and got his receipt for the same; indeed, it is so mentioned in the
+deed of gift; but still the landlord, who is a near relation of the
+late chief of Hatrâs, would persist in having the paper made out as a
+deed, not of sale, but of gift. God knows whether, after all, our
+grove will be secure--we must run the risk now we have begun upon
+it.'
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. This phrase is misleading. There is no want of trees in Upper
+India generally; only certain limited areas are ill wooded. Most of
+the districts in the plains of the Ganges and Jumna are well wooded.
+
+2. This is a favourite doctrine of the author, often reiterated. The
+absence of a powerful middle class is a characteristic, not of India
+only, but of all Oriental despotisms, and the subdivision of landed
+property is only one of the causes of the non-existence of such a
+class.
+
+3. This is quite true. The rural population want two things, first a
+light assessment, secondly the minimum of official interference, They
+do not care a straw who the ruler is, and they like best that ruler,
+be his name or nationality what it may, who worries them least, and
+takes least money from them.
+
+4. Goldsmith, 'The Hermit' (in chapter 8 of _The Vicar of
+Wakefield_).
+
+5. Groves are still scarce in the Agra country, but much planting has
+been done on the roads.
+
+6. Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, and some other districts, forming half of the
+old province of Oudh, ceded by the ruler of Oudh in 1801, were long
+known as the Ceded Provinces. The western districts of the North-
+Western Provinces, known as the Conquered Provinces, were taken from
+the Marâthâs in 1803-5. The Province of Benares became British
+territory in 1775. The hill districts of the Kumaun Division were
+annexed in 1816, at the close of the war with Nepal. All the regions
+named are now included in the Agra Province of the United Provinces
+of Agra and Oudh, in which the editor served for twenty-nine years.
+
+7. The author's remarks are not readily intelligible to readers
+unversed in the technicalities of Indian revenue administration. The
+author writes on the assumption that Government was the proprietor of
+the soil. While he was writing, the settlements under Regulation IX
+of 1833 were in progress. Those settlements, or revenue contracts,
+were ordinarily sanctioned for periods of thirty years, and the
+landholders, whom the author calls 'lessees', have gradually changed
+into 'proprietors', with full power over their land, subject only to
+the State lien for the 'land revenue' (Crown rent, or State share of
+the produce), and to the laws of inheritance and succession. The
+'resumption of rent-free lands' simply means the subjection of those
+lands to the payment of 'land revenue'. It is inaccurate to say that
+the lands are become 'the property of Government' by reason of their
+being assessed. Even when land generally was regarded as the property
+of the State, and the landholders were considered to be only lessees,
+no objection would have been made to the planting of groves if
+payment of the 'land revenue' had been continued for the planted area
+as for cultivated land. Now that landholders have been recognized as
+proprietors, there is nothing to prevent them from planting as much
+land as they like with trees, although the State has not always been
+willing to exempt the whole planted area from assessment. No one ever
+objected to the renewal of trees except on the ground that the area
+under trees might be excluded from assessment. For many years past
+the Government of India has been most anxious to encourage tree-
+planting, and has sanctioned liberal rules respecting the exemption
+of grove land from assessment to 'land revenue', or 'rent', as the
+author calls it. The Government of the United Provinces certainly is
+not now liable to reproach for indifference to the value of groves.
+Enormous progress in the planting of road avenues has also been made.
+The deficiency of trees in the country about Agra is partly due to
+nature, much of the ground being cut up by ravines, and unfavourable
+for planting.
+
+8. The Alîgarh district lies to the north and east of the Mathurâ
+district. The fort of Alîgarh is fifty-five miles north of Agra, and
+eighty-four miles south-east of Delhi.
+
+9. 'pakkâ' here means 'burned in a kiln', as distinguished from 'sun-
+dried'.
+
+10. The 'bîghâ' is the unit of superficial land measure, varying, but
+often taken as five-eighths of an acre. The 'jarîb' is a smaller
+measure.
+
+11. The rules now in force require assessing officers to make
+allowance for permanent improvements, such as the well described in
+the text, so as to give the fair benefit of the improvement to the
+maker. In the early settlements this important matter was commonly
+neglected.
+
+12. Tolerable bullocks, fit for use at the well and in the plough,
+would now cost much more. This conversation appears to have taken
+place in the year 1839, The famine alluded to is that of 1837-8.
+
+13. This conversation gives a very vivid and truthful picture of
+rural life in Northern India. Most revenue officers have held similar
+conversations with rustics, but the author is almost the only writer
+on Indian affairs who has perceived that exact notes of casual chats
+in the fields would be found interesting and valuable.
+
+14. The early settlements were made for short terms.
+
+15. The certificate would not be of much avail in a civil court.
+
+16. The Alîgarh district is now irrigated by canals.
+
+17. This is the lender's view of his business; the borrowers might
+have a different story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 62
+
+
+Public Spirit of the Hindoos--Tree Cultivation and Suggestions for
+extending it.
+
+I may here be permitted to introduce as something germane to the
+matter of the foregoing chapter a recollection of Jubbulpore,
+although we are now far past that locality.
+
+My tents are pitched where they have often been before, on the verge
+of a very large and beautiful tank in a fine grove of mango-trees,
+and close to a handsome temple. There are more handsome temples and
+buildings for accommodation on the other side of the tank, but they
+are gone sadly out of repair. The bank all round this noble tank is
+beautifully ornamented by fine banyan and pîpal trees, between which
+and the water's edge intervene numerous clusters of the graceful
+bamboo. These works were formed about eighty years ago by a
+respectable agricultural capitalist who resided at this place, and
+died about twenty years after they were completed. No relation of his
+can now be found in the district, and not one in a thousand of those
+who drink of the water or eat of the fruit knows to whom he is
+indebted. There are round the place some beautiful 'bâolîs', or large
+wells with flights of stone steps from the top to the water's edge,
+imbedded in clusters of beautiful trees. They were formed about the
+same time for the use of the public by men whose grandchildren have
+descended to the grade of cultivators of the soil, or belted
+attendants upon the present native collectors, without the means of
+repairing any of the injury which time is inflicting upon these
+magnificent works. Three or four young pîpal-trees have begun to
+spread their delicate branches and pale green leaves rustling in the
+breeze from the dome of this fine temple; which these infant
+Herculeses hold in their deadly grasp and doom to inevitable
+destruction. Pigeons deposit the seeds of the pîpal-tree, on which
+they chiefly feed, in the crevices of buildings.
+
+No Hindoo dares, and no Christian or Muhammadan will condescend, to
+lop off the heads of these young trees, and if they did, it would
+only put off the evil and inevitable day; for such are the vital
+powers of their roots, when they have once penetrated deeply into a
+building, that they will send out their branches again, cut them off
+as often as you may, and carry on their internal attack with
+undiminished vigour.[1] No wonder that superstition should have
+consecrated this tree, delicate and beautiful as it is, to the gods.
+The palace, the castle, the temple, and the tomb, all those works
+which man is most proud to raise to spread and to perpetuate his
+name, crumble to dust beneath her withering grasp. She rises
+triumphant over them all in her lofty beauty, bearing high in air
+amidst her light green foliage fragments of the wreck she has made,
+to show the nothingness of man's greatest efforts.
+
+While sitting at my tent-door looking out upon this beautiful sheet
+of water, and upon all the noble works around me, I thought of the
+charge, so often made against the people of this fine land, of the
+total want of _public spirit_ among them, by those who have spent
+their Indian days in the busy courts of law, and still more busy
+commercial establishments of our great metropolis.
+
+If by the term public spirit be meant a disposition on the part of
+individuals to sacrifice their own enjoyments, or their own means of
+enjoyment for the common good, there is perhaps no people in the
+world among whom it abounds so much as among the people of India. To
+live in the grateful recollections of their countrymen for benefits
+conferred upon them in great works of ornament and utility is the
+study of every Hindoo of rank and property.[2] Such works tend, in
+his opinion, not only to spread and perpetuate his name in this
+world, but, through the good wishes and prayers of those who are
+benefited by them, to secure the favour of the Deity in the next.
+
+According to their notions, every drop of rain-water or dew that
+falls to the ground from the green leaf of a fruit-tree, planted by
+them for the common good, proves a refreshing draught for their souls
+in the next [world]. When no descendant remains to pour the funeral
+libations in their name, the water from the trees they have planted
+for the public good is destined to supply its place. Everything
+judiciously laid out to promote the happiness of their fellow
+creatures will in the next world be repaid to them tenfold by the
+Deity.
+
+In marching over the country in the hot season, we every morning find
+our tents pitched on the green sward amid beautiful groves of fruit-
+trees, with wells of 'pakkâ' (brick or stone) masonry, built at great
+expense, and containing the most delicious water; but how few of us
+ever dream of asking at whose cost the trees that afford us and our
+followers such agreeable shade were planted, or the wells that afford
+us such copious streams of fine water in the midst of dry, arid
+plains were formed! We go on enjoying all the advantages which arise
+from the _noble public spirit_ that animates the people of India to
+benevolent exertions, without once calling in question the truth of
+the assertion of our metropolitan friends that 'the people of India
+have no public spirit'.
+
+Mânmôr, a respectable merchant of Mirzapore, who traded chiefly in
+bringing cotton from the valley of the Nerbudda and Southern India
+through Jubbulpore to Mirzapore, and in carrying back sugar and
+spices in return, learning how much travellers on this great road
+suffered from the want of water near the Hiliyâ pass, under the
+Vindhya range of hills, commenced a work to remedy the evil in 1822.
+Not a drop of wholesome water was to be found within ten miles of the
+bottom of the pass, where the laden bullocks were obliged to rest
+during the hot months, when the greatest thoroughfare always took
+place. Mânmôr commenced a large tank and garden, and had laid out
+about twenty thousand rupees in the work, when he died. His son, Lalû
+Mânmôr, completed the work soon after his father's death, at a cost
+of eighty thousand rupees more, that travellers might enjoy all the
+advantages that his good old father had benevolently intended for
+them. The tank is very large, always full of fine water even in the
+driest part of the dry season, with flights of steps of cut freestone
+from the water's edge to the top all round. A fine garden and
+shrubbery, with temples and buildings for accommodations, are
+attached, with an establishment of people to attend and keep them in
+order.[3]
+
+All the country around this magnificent work was a dreary solitude--
+there was not a human habitation within many miles on any side. Tens
+of thousands who passed this road every year were blessing the name
+of the man who had created it where it was so much wanted, when the
+new road from the Nerbudda to Mirzapore was made by the British
+Government to descend some ten miles to the north of it. As many
+miles were saved in the distance by the new cut, and the passage down
+made comparatively easy at great cost, travellers forsook the Hiliyâ
+road, and poor Mânmôr's work became comparatively useless. I brought
+the work to the notice of Lord William Bentinck, who, in passing
+Mirzapore some time after, sent for the son, and conferred upon him a
+rich dress of honour, of which he has ever since been extremely
+proud.[4]
+
+Hundreds of works like this are undertaken every year for the benefit
+of the public by benevolent and unostentatious individuals, who look
+for their reward, not in the applause of newspapers and public
+meetings, but in the grateful prayers and good wishes of those who
+are benefited by them; and in the favour of the Deity in the next
+world, for benefits conferred upon his creatures in this.[5]
+
+What the people of India want is not public spirit, for no men in the
+world have more of it than the Hindoos, but a disposition on the part
+of private individuals to combine their efforts and means in
+effecting great objects for the public good. With this disposition
+they will be, in time, inspired under our rule, when the enemies of
+all settled governments may permit us to divert a little of our
+intellect and our revenue from the duties of war to those of
+peace.[6]
+
+
+In the year 1829, while I held the civil charge of the district of
+Jubbulpore, in this valley of the Nerbudda, I caused an estimate to
+be made of the public works of utility and ornament it contained. The
+population of the district at that time amounted to 500,000 souls,
+distributed among 4,053 occupied towns, villages, and hamlets. There
+were 1,000 villages more which had formerly been occupied, but were
+then deserted. There were 2,288 tanks, 209 'bâolîs', or large wells
+with flights of steps extending from the top down to the water when
+in its lowest stage; 1,560 wells lined with brick and stone, cemented
+with lime, but without stairs; 860 Hindoo temples, and 22 Muhammadan
+mosques. The estimated cost of these works in grain at the present
+price, had the labour been paid in kind at the ordinary rate, was
+R86,66,043 (866,604 pounds sterling).[7]
+
+The labourer was estimated to be paid at the rate of about two-thirds
+the quantity of corn he would get in England if paid in kind, and
+corn sells here at about one-third the price it fetches in average
+seasons in England. In Europe, therefore, these works, supposing the
+labour equally efficient, would have cost at least four times the sum
+here estimated; and such works formed by private individuals for the
+public good, without any view whatever to return in profits, indicate
+a very high degree of _public spirit_.
+
+The whole annual rent of the lands of this district amounts to
+R650,000 (65,000 pounds sterling), that is, 500,000 demandable by the
+Government, and 150,000 by those who hold the lands at lease
+immediately under Government, over and above what may be considered
+as the profits of their stock as farmers. These works must,
+therefore, have cost about thirteen times the amount of the annual
+rent of the whole of the lands of the district, or the whole annual
+rent for above thirteen years.[8]
+
+But I have not included the groves of mango and tamarind, and other
+fine trees with which the district abounds. Two-thirds of the towns
+and villages are imbedded in fine groves of these trees, mixed with
+the banyan (_Ficus Indica_) and the pîpal (_Ficus religiosa_). I am
+sorry they were not numbered; but I should estimate them at three
+thousand, and the outlay upon a mango grove is, on an average, about
+four hundred rupees.
+
+The groves of fruit-trees planted by individuals for the use of the
+public, without any view to a return in profit, would in this
+district, according to this estimate, have cost twelve lâkhs
+[12,00,000] more, or about twice the amount of the annual rent of the
+whole of the lands. It should be remarked that the whole of these
+works had been formed under former governments. Ours was established
+in the year 1817.[9]
+
+The Upper Doâb and the Delhi Territories were denuded of their trees
+in the wars that attended the decline and fall of the Muhammadan
+empire, and the rise and progress of the Sikhs, Jâts, and Marâthâs in
+that quarter. These lawless freebooters soon swept all the groves
+from the face of every country they occupied with their troops, and
+they never attempted to renew them or encourage the renewal. We have
+not been much more sparing; and the finest groves of fruit-trees have
+everywhere been recklessly swept down by our barrack-masters to
+furnish fuel for their brick-kilns; and I am afraid little or no
+encouragement is given for planting others to supply their place in
+those parts of India where they are most wanted.
+
+We have a regulation authorizing the lessee of a village to plant a
+grove in his grounds, but where the settlements of the land-revenue
+have been for short periods, as in all Upper and Central India, this
+authority is by no means sufficient to induce them to invest their
+property in such works. It gives no sufficient guarantee that the
+lessee for the next settlement shall respect a grant made by his
+predecessors; and every grove of mango-trees requires outlay and care
+for at least ten years. Though a man destines the fruit, the shade,
+and the water for the use of the public, he requires to feel that it
+will be held for the public in his name, and by his children and
+descendants, and never be exclusively appropriated by any man in
+power for his own use.
+
+If the lands were still to belong to the lessee of the estate under
+Government, and the trees only to the planter and his heirs, he to
+whom the land belonged might very soon render the property in the
+trees of no value to the planter or his heirs.[10]
+
+If Government wishes the Upper Doâb, the Delhi, Mathurâ, and Agra
+districts again enriched and embellished with mango groves, they will
+not delay to convey this feeling to the hundreds, nay, thousands, who
+would be willing to plant them upon a single guarantee that the lands
+upon which the trees stand shall be considered to belong to them and
+their heirs as long as these trees stand upon them.[11] That the
+land, the shade, the fruit, and the water will be left to the free
+enjoyment of the public we may take for granted, since the good which
+the planter's soul is to derive from such a work in the next world
+must depend upon their being so; and all that is required to be
+stipulated in such grants is that mango tamarind, pîpal, or 'bar'
+(i.e. banyan) trees, at the rate of twenty-five the English acre,
+shall be planted and kept up in every piece of land granted for the
+purpose; and that a well of 'pakkâ' masonry shall be made for the
+purpose of watering them, in the smallest, as well as in the largest,
+piece of ground granted, and kept always in repair.
+
+If the grantee fulfil the conditions, he ought, in order to cover
+part of the expense, to be permitted to till the land under the trees
+till they grow to maturity and yield their fruit; if he fails, the
+lands, having been declared liable to resumption, should be resumed.
+The person soliciting such grants should be required to certify in
+his application that he had already obtained the sanction of the
+present lessee of the village in which he wishes to have his grove,
+and for this sanction he would, of course, have to pay the full value
+of the land for the period of his lease. When his lease expires, the
+land in which the grove is planted would be excluded from the
+assessment; and when it is considered that every good grove must cost
+the planter more than fifty times the annual rent of the land,
+Government may be satisfied that they secure the advantage to their
+people at a very cheap rate.[12]
+
+Over and above the advantage of fruit, water, and shade for the
+public, these groves tend much to secure the districts that are well
+studded with them from the dreadful calamities that in India always
+attend upon deficient falls of rain in due season. They attract the
+clouds, and make them deposit their stores in districts that would
+not otherwise be blessed with them; and hot and dry countries denuded
+of their trees, and by that means deprived of a great portion of that
+moisture to which they had been accustomed, and which they require to
+support vegetation, soon become dreary and arid wastes. The lighter
+particles, which formed the richest portion of their soil, blow off,
+and leave only the heavy arenaceous portion; and hence, perhaps,
+those sandy deserts in which are often to be found the signs of a
+population once very dense.
+
+In the Mauritius, the rivers were found to be diminishing under the
+rapid disappearance of the woods in the interior, when Government had
+recourse to the measure of preventing further depredations, and they
+soon recovered their size.
+
+The clouds brought up from the southern ocean by the south-east trade
+wind are attracted, as they pass over the island, by the forests in
+the interior, and made to drop their stores in daily refreshing
+showers. In many other parts of the world governments have now become
+aware of this mysterious provision of nature; and have adopted
+measures to take advantage of it for the benefit of the people; and
+the dreadful sufferings to which the people of those of our
+districts, which have been the most denuded of their trees, have been
+of late years exposed from the want of rain in due season, may,
+perhaps, induce our Indian Government to turn its thoughts to the
+subject.[13]
+
+The province of Mâlwâ, which is bordered by the Nerbudda on the
+south, Gujarât on the west, Râjputâna on the north, and Allahabad on
+the east, is said never to have been visited by a famine; and this
+exemption from so great a calamity must arise chiefly from its being
+so well studded with hills and groves. The natives have a couplet,
+which, like all good couplets on rural subjects, is attributed to
+Sahadêo, one of the five demigod brothers of the Mahâbhârata, to this
+effect: 'If it does not thunder on such a night, you, father, must go
+to Mâlwâ, and I to Gujarât', meaning, 'The rains will fail us here,
+and we must go to those quarters where they never fail'[14]
+
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The Archaeological Survey is engaged in unceasing battle with the
+pîpal seedlings.
+
+2. This proposition is too general.
+
+3. The Hiliyâ, or Haliyâ, Pass is near the town of the same name in
+the Mirzâpur district, thirty-one miles south-west of Mirzâpur. A
+bilingual inscription, in English and Hindî, on a large slab on the
+bank of the river, records the capture of the fort of Bhôpârî in 1811
+by the 21st Regiment Native Infantry. The tank described in the text
+is at Dibhôr, twelve miles south of Haliyâ, and is 430 feet long by
+352 broad. The full name of the builder is Srîmân Nâyak Mânmôr, who
+was the head of the Banjâra merchants of Mirzâpur. The inscription on
+his temple is dated 23 February, 1825, A.D. 'I suppose', remarks
+Cunningham, 'that the vagrant instinct of the old Banjâra preferred a
+jungle site. No doubt he got the ground cheap; and from this vantage
+point he was able to supply Mirzâpur with both wood and charcoal.'
+(_A.S.R._, vol. xxi, pp. 121-5, pl. xxxi.)
+
+
+4. The new road passes through the Katrâ Pass. The pass via Dibhôr
+and Haliyâ, which the author calls the Hiliyâ Pass, is properly
+called the Kerahi (Kerâi) Pass. Both old and new roads are now little
+used. The construction of railways has altogether changed the course
+of trade, and Cawnpore has risen on the ruins of Mirzâpur. Lalû,
+Nâyak's 'grandson, died in comparative obscurity some years ago, and
+only a few female relatives remain to represent the family--a
+striking example, if one were needed, of the instability of Oriental
+fortunes.' (_A.S.R._, vol. xxi, p. 124, quoting _Gazetteer_.)
+
+
+5. Within a few miles of Gosalpur, at the village of Talwâ, which
+stands upon the old high road leading to Mirzapore, is a still more
+magnificent tank with one of the most beautiful temples in India, all
+executed two or three generations ago at the expense of two or three
+lakhs of rupees for the benefit of the public, by a very worthy man,
+who became rich in the service of the former Government. His
+descendants, all save one, now follow the plough; and that one has a
+small rent-free village held on condition of appropriating the rents
+to the repair of the tank. [W. H. S.]
+
+The name Talwâ is only the rustic way of pronouncing 'tâl', meaning
+the tank. Gosalpur is nineteen miles north-east of Jabalpur. Two or
+three lakhs of rupees were then (in eighteenth century) worth about
+22,000 pounds to 33,000 pounds sterling.
+
+6. India, except on the frontiers, has been at peace since 1858, and
+much revenue has been spent on the duties of peace, but the power of
+combination for public objects has developed among the people to a
+less degree than the author seems to have expected, though some
+development undoubtedly has taken place.
+
+7. In the original edition these statistics are given in words.
+Figures have been used in this edition as being more readily grasped.
+The _Central Provinces Gazetteer_ (1870) gives the following figures:
+Area of district, 4,261 square miles; population, 620,201; villages,
+2,707; wells in use, 5,515. The _Gazetteer_ figures apparently
+include wells of all kinds, and do not reckon hamlets separately.
+Wells are, of course, an absolute necessity, and their construction
+could not be avoided in a country occupied by a fixed population. The
+number of temples and mosques was very small for so large a
+population. Many of the tanks, too, are indispensably necessary for
+watering the cattle employed in agriculture. The 'bâolîs' may fairly
+be reckoned as the fruit of the public spirit of individuals. This
+chapter is a reprint of a paper entitled 'On the Public Spirit of the
+Hindoos'. _See_ Bibliography, _ante_, No. 10.
+
+
+8. The _C.P. Gazetteer_ (1870) states that in 1868-9 the land-revenue
+was R5,70,434, as compared with R500,000 in the author's time. It has
+since been largely enhanced. The lessees (zamîndârs) have now become
+proprietors, and the land-revenue, according to the rule in force for
+many years past, should not exceed half the estimated profit rental.
+The early settlements were made in accordance with the theory of
+native Governments that the land is the property of the State, and
+that the lessees are entitled only to subsistence, with a small
+percentage as payment for the trouble of collection from the actual
+cultivators. The author's estimate gives the zamîndârs only 15/80ths,
+or 3/16ths of the profit rental.
+
+9. The people of the Jubbulpore district must have been very
+different from those of the rest of India if they planted their
+groves solely for the public benefit. The editor has never known the
+fruit, not to mention the timber and firewood, of a grove to be
+available for the use of the general public. Universal custom allows
+all comers to use the shade of any established grove, but the fruit
+is always jealousy guarded and gathered by the owners. Even one tree
+is often the property of many sharing, and disputes about the
+division of mangoes and other fruits are extremely frequent. The
+framing of a correct record of rights in trees is one of the most
+embarrassing tasks of a revenue officer.
+
+10. Under the modern System it often happens that the land belongs to
+one party, and the trees to another. Disputes, of course, occur, but,
+as a rule, the rights of the owner of the trees are not interfered
+with by the owner of the land. In thousands of such cases both
+parties exercise their rights without friction.
+
+11. This sentence shows clearly how remote from the author's mind was
+the idea of private property in land in India. Government has long
+since parted with the power of giving grants such as the author
+recommends. The upper Doâb districts of Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, and
+Sahâranpur now have plenty of groves.
+
+12. The cost of establishing a grove varies much according to
+circumstances, of which the distance of water from the surface is the
+most important. Where water is distant, the cost of constructing and
+working a well is very high. Where water is near, these items of
+expense are small, because the roots of the trees soon reach a moist
+stratum, and can dispense with irrigation.
+
+13. The author, in his appreciation of the value of arboriculture and
+forest conservancy, was far in advance of his Anglo-Indian
+contemporaries. A modern meteorologist might object to some of his
+phraseology, but the substance of his remarks is quite sound. His
+statement of the ways in which trees benefit climate is incomplete.
+One important function performed by the roots of trees is the raising
+of water from the depths below the surface, to be dispersed by the
+leaves in the form of vapour. Trees act beneficially in many other
+ways also, which it would be tedious to specify.
+
+The Indian Government long remained blind to the importance of the
+duty of saving the country from denudation. The first forest
+conservancy establishments were organized in 1852 for Madras and
+Burma, and, by Act vii of 1865, the Forest Department was established
+on a legal basis. Its operations have since been largely extended,
+and trained foresters are now sent out each year to India. The
+Department at the present time controls many thousand square miles of
+forest. The reader may consult the article 'Forests' in Balfour,
+_Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., and sundry official reports for further
+details.
+
+A yearly grant for arboriculture is now made to every district.
+Thousands of miles of roads have been lined with trees, and
+multitudes of groves have been established by both Government and
+private individuals. The author was himself a great tree-planter. In
+a letter dated 15th December, 1844, he describes the avenue which he
+had planted along the road from Maihar to Jubbulpore in 1829 and
+1830, and another, eighty-six miles long, from Jhânsî Ghât on the
+Nerbudda to Châka. The trees planted were banyan, pîpal, mango,
+tamarind, and jâman (_Eugenia jambolana_). He remarks that these
+trees will last for centuries.
+
+14. 'In 1899-1900 Mâlwâ suffered from a severe famine, such as had
+not visited this favoured spot for more than thirty years. The people
+were unused to, and quite unprepared for, this calamity, the distress
+being aggravated by the great influx of immigrants from Râjputâna,
+who had hitherto always been sure of relief in this region, of which
+the fertility is proverbial. In 1903 a new calamity appeared in the
+shape of plague, which has seriously reduced the agricultural
+population in some districts' (_I.G._, 1908, xvii. 105).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 63
+
+
+Cities and Towns, formed by Public Establishments, disappear as
+Sovereigns and Governors change their Abodes.
+
+On the 17th and 18th,[1] we went on twenty miles to Palwal,[2] which
+stands upon an immense mound, in some places a hundred feet high,
+formed entirely of the debris of old buildings. There are an immense
+number of fine brick buildings in ruins, but not one of brick or
+stone at present inhabited. The place was once evidently under the
+former government the seat of some great public establishments,
+which, with their followers and dependants, constituted almost the
+entire population. The occasion which keeps such establishments at a
+place no sooner passes away than the place is deserted and goes to
+ruin as a matter of course. Such is the history of Nineveh,
+Babylon,[3] and all cities which have owed their origin and support
+entirely to the public establishments of the sovereign--any
+revolution that changed the seat of government depopulated a city.
+
+Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador of James the First of England to the
+court of Delhi during the reign of Jahângîr, passing through some of
+the old capital cities of Western India, then deserted and in ruins,
+writes to the Archbishop of Canterbury: 'I know not by what policy
+the Emperors seek the ruin of all the ancient cities which were nobly
+built, but now be desolate and in rubbish. It must arise from a wish
+to destroy all the ancient cities in order that there might appear
+nothing great to have existed before their time.'[4] But these
+cities, like all which are supported in the same manner, by the
+residence of a court and its establishments, become deserted as the
+seat of dominion is changed. Nineveh, built by Ninus out of the
+spoils he brought back from the wide range of his conquests,
+continued to be the residence of the court and the principal seat of
+its military establishments for thirteen centuries to the reign of
+Sardanapalus. During the whole of this time it was the practice of
+the sovereigns to collect from all the provinces of the empire their
+respective quotas of troops, and to canton them within the city for
+one year, at the expiration of which they were relieved by fresh
+troops.' In the last years of Sardanapalus, four provinces of the
+empire, Media, Persia, Babylonia, and Arabia, are said to have
+furnished a quota of four hundred thousand; and, in the rebellion
+which closed his reign, these troops were often beaten by those from
+the other provinces of the empire, which could not have been much
+less in number. The successful rebel, Arbaces, transferred the court
+and his own appendages to its capital, and Nineveh became deserted,
+and for more than eighteen centuries lost to the civilized world.[5]
+
+Babylon in the same manner; and Susa, Ecbatana, Persepolis, and
+Seleucia, all, one after the other, became deserted as sovereigns
+changed their residence, and with it the seats of their public
+establishments, which alone supported them. Thus Thebes became
+deserted for Memphis, Memphis for Alexandria, and Alexandria for
+Cairo, as the sovereigns of Egypt changed theirs; and thus it has
+always been in India, where cities have been almost all founded on
+the same bases--the residence of princes, and their public
+establishments, civil, military, or ecclesiastical.
+
+The city of Kanauj, on the Ganges, when conquered by Mahmûd of
+Ghaznî,[6] is stated by the historians of the conqueror to have
+contained a standing army of five hundred thousand infantry, with a
+due proportion of cavalry and elephants, thirty thousand shops for
+the sale of 'pân' alone, and sixty thousand families of opera
+girls.[7] The 'pân' dealers and opera girls were part and parcel of
+the court and its public establishments, and as much dependent on the
+residence of the sovereign as the civil, military, and ecclesiastical
+officers who ate their 'pân', and enjoyed their dancing and music;
+and this great city no sooner ceased to be the residence of the
+sovereign, the great proprietor of all the lands in the country, than
+it became deserted.
+
+After the establishment of the Muhammadan dominion in India almost
+all the Hindoo cities, within the wide range of their conquest,
+became deserted as the necessary consequence, as the military
+establishments were all destroyed or disbanded, and the religions
+establishments scattered, their lands confiscated, their idols
+broken, and their temples either reduced to ruins in the first
+ebullition of fanatical zeal, or left deserted and neglected to decay
+from want of those revenues by which alone they had been, or could
+be, supported.[8] The towns and cities of the Roman empire which owed
+their origin to the same cause, the residence of governors and their
+legions or other public establishments, resisted similar shocks with
+more endurance, because they had most of them ceased to depend upon
+the causes in which they originated, and began to rest upon other
+bases. When destroyed by wave after wave of barbarian conquest, they
+were restored for the most part by the residence of church
+dignitaries and their establishments; and the military establishments
+of the new order of things, instead of remaining as standing armies
+about the courts of princes, dispersed after every campaign like
+militia, to enjoy the fruits of the lands assigned for their
+maintenance, when alone they could be enjoyed in the rude state to
+which society had been reduced--upon the lands themselves.
+
+For some time after the Muhammadan conquest of India, that part of it
+which was brought effectually under the new dominion can hardly be
+considered to have had more than one city with its dependent towns
+and villages;[9] because the emperor chose to concentrate the greater
+part of his military establishments around the seat of his residence,
+and this great city became deserted whenever he thought it necessary
+or convenient to change that seat.
+
+But when the emperor began to govern his distant provinces by
+viceroys, he was obliged to confide to them a share of his military
+establishments, the only public establishments which a conqueror
+thought it worth while to maintain; and while they moved about in
+their respective provinces, the imperial camp became fixed. The great
+officers of state, enriched by the plunder of conquered provinces,
+began to spend their wealth in the construction of magnificent works
+for private pleasure or public convenience. In time, the viceroys
+began to govern their provinces by means of deputies, who moved about
+their respective districts, and enabled their masters, the viceroys
+of provinces, to convert their camps into cities, which in
+magnificence often rivalled that of the emperor their master. The
+deputies themselves in time found that they could govern their
+respective districts from a central point; and as their camps became
+fixed in the chosen spots, towns of considerable magnitude rose, and
+sometimes rivalled the capitals of the viceroys. The Muhammadans had
+always a greater taste for architectural magnificence, as well in
+their private as in their public edifices, than the Hindoos,[10] who
+sought the respect and good wishes of mankind through the medium of
+groves and reservoirs diffused over the country for their benefit.
+Whenever a Muhammadan camp was converted into a town or city almost
+all the means of individuals were spent in the gratification of this
+taste. Their wealth in money and movables would be, on their death,
+at the mercy of their prince--their offices would be conferred on
+strangers; tombs and temples, canals, bridges, and caravanserais,
+gratuitously for the public good, would tend to propitiate the Deity,
+and conciliate the goodwill of mankind, and might also tend to the
+advancement of their children in the service of their sovereign. The
+towns and cities which rose upon the sites of the standing camps of
+the governors of provinces and districts in India were many of them
+as much adorned by private and public edifices as those which rose
+upon the standing camps of the Muhammadan conquerors of Spain.[11]
+Standing camps converted into towns and cities, it became in time
+necessary to fortify with walls against any surprise under any sudden
+ebullition among the conquered people; and fortifications and strong
+garrisons often suggested to the bold and ambitions governors of
+distant provinces attempts to shake off the imperial yoke.[12] That
+portion of the annual revenue, which had hitherto flowed in copious
+streams of tribute to the imperial capital, was now arrested, and
+made to augment the local establishments, adorn the cities, and
+enrich the towns of the viceroys, now become the sovereigns of
+independent kingdoms. The lieutenant-governors of these new
+sovereigns, possessed of fortified towns, in their turn often shook
+off the yoke of their masters in the same manner, and became in their
+turn the independent sovereigns of their respective districts. The
+whole resources of the countries subject to their rule being employed
+to strengthen and improve their condition, they soon became rich and
+powerful kingdoms, adorned with splendid cities and populous towns,
+since the public establishments of the sovereigns, among whom all the
+revenues were expended, spent all they received in the purchase of
+the produce of the land and labour of the surrounding country, which
+required no other market.
+
+Thus the successful rebellion of one viceroy converted Southern India
+into an independent kingdom; and the successful rebellion, of his
+lieutenant-governors in time divided it into four independent
+kingdoms, each with a standing army of a hundred thousand men, and
+adorned with towns and cities of great strength and magnificence.[13]
+But they continued to depend upon the causes in which they
+originated--the public establishments of the sovereign; and when the
+Emperor Akbar and his successors, aided by their own [_sic_]
+intestine wars, had conquered these sovereigns, and again reduced
+their kingdoms to tributary provinces, almost all these cities and
+towns became depopulated as the necessary consequence. The public
+establishments were again moving about with the courts and camps of
+the emperor and his viceroys; and drawing in their train all those
+who found employment and subsistence in contributing to their
+efficiency and enjoyment. It was not, as our ambassador in the
+simplicity of his heart supposed, the disinclination of the emperors
+to see any other towns magnificent, save those in which they resided,
+which destroyed them, but their ambition to reduce all independent
+kingdoms to tributary provinces.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. A small town, thirty-six miles south of Delhi, situated in the
+Gurgâon district, now included in the Panjâb, but in the author's
+time attached to the North-Western Provinces. The town is the chief
+place in the 'pargana' of the same name.
+
+3. Nineveh is not a well-chosen example, inasmuch as its decay was
+due to deliberate destruction, and not to mere desertion by a
+sovereign. It was deliberately burned and ruined by Nabopolassar,
+viceroy of Babylon, and his allies, about 606 B.C. The decay of
+Babylon was gradual. See note _post_, note 5.
+
+4. Extract from a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, dated from
+Ajmêr, January 29, 1616. The words immediately following 'rubbish'
+are 'His own [i.e. the King's] houses are of stone, handsome and
+uniform. His great men build not, for want of inheritance; but, as
+far as I have yet seen, live in tents, or in houses worse than our
+cottages. Yet, when the King likes, as at Agra, because it is a city
+erected by him, the buildings, as is reported, are fair and of carved
+stone.' (Pinkerton's _Collection_, vol. viii, p. 45.) The passage is
+not reprinted in the Hakluyt Society edition (vol. i, p. 122), where
+only extracts from the letter are given.
+
+5. The site of Nineveh was forgotten for a period even longer than
+that stated by the author. Mr. Claudius Rich, the Resident at
+Baghdad, was the first European to make a tentative identification of
+Nineveh with the mounds opposite Mosal, in 1818. Real knowledge of
+the site and its history dates from the excavations of Botta begun in
+1843, and those of Layard begun two years later. (Bonomi, _Nineveh
+and its Palaces_, 2nd ed., 1853; Layard, _Nineveh and its Remains_, 2
+vols, 1849.) The author's account of the fall of Nineveh, based on
+that of Diodorus Siculus, is not in accordance with the conclusions
+of the best modern authorities. The destruction of the city in or
+about 606 B.C. was really effected some years after the death of
+Sardanapalus (Assur-banipal), in 625 B.C., by Nabopolassar (Nabupal-
+uzur), the rebel viceroy of Babylon, in alliance with Necho of Egypt,
+Cyaxares of Media, and the King of Armenia. The Assyrian monarch who
+perished in the assault was not Sardanapalus (Assur-banipal), but his
+son Assur-ebel-ili, or, according to Professor Sayce, a king called
+Saracus, After the destruction of Nineveh, Babylon became the capital
+of the Mesopotamian empire, and under Nebuchadrezzar
+(Nebuchadnezzar), son of Nabopolassar, who came to the throne in 604
+B.C., attained the height of glory and renown. It was occupied by
+Cyrus in 539 B.C., and decayed gradually, but was still a place of
+importance in the time of Alexander the Great. The eponymous hero,
+Ninus, is of course purely mythical. The results of modern research
+will be found in the _Encycl. Brit._, 11th ed., 1910, in the articles
+'Babylon' (Sayce), 'Babylonia and Assyria' (Sayce and Jastrow), and
+'Nineveh' (Johns). See also, ibid., 'Cyrus' (Meyer).
+
+6. Kanauj, now in the Farrukhâbâd district of the United Provinces,
+was sacked by Mahmûd of Ghaznî in January, A.D. 1019. The name of
+Mahmûd's capital may be spelled Ghaznih, Ghaznî, or Ghaznîn.
+(Raverty, in _J.A.S.B._, Part I, vol. lxi (1892), p. 156, note.)
+
+7. 'Pân', the well-known Indian condiment (_ante_, chapter 29, note
+10). 'Opera girls' is a rather whimsical rendering of the more usual
+phrase 'nâch (nautch) girls', or 'dancing girls'. The traditional
+numbers cited must not be accepted as historical facts. See V. A.
+Smith, 'The History of the City of Kanauj' (_J.R.A.S._, 1908, pp.
+767-93).
+
+8. This statement is too general. Benares, Allahabad (Prayâg), and
+many other important Hindoo cities, were never deserted, and
+continued to be populous through all vicissitudes. It is true that in
+most places the principal temples were desecrated or destroyed, and
+were frequently converted into mosques.
+
+9. The statement is much exaggerated. The Hindoo Râjâs who paid
+tribute to the Sultans of Delhi often maintained considerable courts
+in populous towns.
+
+10. This proposition, which is not true of Southern India at all,
+applies only to secular buildings in Northern India. The temples of
+Khajurâho, Mount Abû, and numberless other places, equal in
+magnificence the architecture of the Muhammadans, or, indeed, that of
+any people in the world.
+
+
+11. The anthor's remarks seem likely to convey wrong notions. Very
+few of the capitals of the Muhammadan viceroys and governors were new
+foundations. Nearly all of them were ancient Hindoo towns adopted as
+convenient official residences, and enlarged and beautified by the
+new rulers, much of the old beauties being at the same time
+destroyed. Fyzabad certainly was a new foundation of the Nawâb Wazîrs
+of Oudh, but it lies so close to the extremely ancient city of
+Ajodhya that it should rather be regarded as a Muhammadan extension
+of that city. Lucknow occupies the site of a Hindoo city of great
+antiquity.
+
+12. It would be difficult to point out an example of a _Muhammadan_
+standing camp which was first converted into an open, and then into a
+fortified town.
+
+13. This abstract of the history of the Deccan, or Southern India, is
+not quite accurate. The Emperor, or Sultan, Muhammad bin Tughlak,
+after A.D. 1325, reduced the Deccan to a certain extent to
+submission, but the country revolted in A.D. 1347, when Hasan Gango
+founded the Bâhmani dynasty of Gulbarga, afterwards known as that of
+Bîdar. At the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth
+century, the kingdom so founded broke up into five, not four,
+separate states, namely, Bîjâpur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda, Berâr, and
+Bîdar. The Berâr state had a separate existence for about eighty-five
+years, and then became merged in the kingdom of Ahmadnagar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 64
+
+
+Murder of Mr. Fraser, and Execution of the Nawâb Shams-ud-dîn.
+
+
+
+
+At Palwal Mr. Wilmot and Mr. Wright, who had come on business, and
+Mr. Gubbins, breakfasted and dined with us. They complained sadly of
+the solitude to which they were condemned, but admitted that they
+should not be able to get through half so much business were they
+placed at a large station, and exposed to all the temptations and
+distractions of a gay and extensive circle, nor feel the same
+interest in their duties, or sympathy with the people, as they do
+when thrown among them in this manner. To give young men good
+feelings towards the natives, the only good way is to throw them
+among them at those out-stations in the early part of their career,
+when all their feelings are fresh about them. This holds good as well
+with the military as the civil officer, but more especially with the
+latter. A young officer at an outpost with his corps, or part of it,
+for the first season or two, commonly lays in a store of good feeling
+towards his men that lasts him for life; and a young gentleman of the
+Civil Service lays in, in the same manner, a good store of sympathy
+and fellow feeling with the natives in general.[1]
+
+Mr. Gubbins is the Magistrate and Collector of one of the three
+districts into which the Delhi territories are divided, and he has
+charge of Fîrôzpur, the resumed estate of the late Nawâb Shams-ud-
+dîn, which yields a net revenue of about two hundred thousand rupees
+a year.[2] I have already stated that this Nawâb took good care that
+his Mewâtî plunderers should not rob within his own estate; but he
+not only gave them free permission to rob over the surrounding
+districts of our territory, but encouraged them to do so, that he
+might share in their booty.[3] He was a handsome young man, and an
+extremely agreeable companion; but a most unprincipled and licentious
+character. No man who was reputed to have a handsome wife or daughter
+was for a moment safe within his territories. The following account
+of Mr. William Fraser's assassination by this Nawâb may, I think, be
+relied upon.[4]
+
+The Fîrôzpur Jâgîr was one of the principalities created under the
+principle of Lord Cornwallis's second administration, which was to
+make the security of the British dominions dependent upon the
+divisions among the independent native chiefs upon their frontiers.
+The person receiving the grant or confirmation of such principality
+from the British Government 'pledged himself to relinquish all claims
+to aid, and to maintain the peace in his own possessions.'[5]
+Fîrôzpur was conferred by Lord Lake, in 1805, upon Ahmad Baksh, for
+his diplomatic services, out of the territories acquired by us west
+of the Jumna during the Marâthâ wars. He had been the agent on the
+part of the Hindoo chiefs of Alwar in attendance upon Lord Lake
+during the whole of that war. He was a great favourite, and his
+lordship's personal regard for him was thought by those chiefs to
+have been so favourable to their cause that they conferred upon him
+the 'pargana' of Lohârû in hereditary rent-free tenure.
+
+
+In 1822, Ahmad Baksh declared Shams-ud-dîn, his eldest son, his heir,
+with the sanction of the British Government and the Râjâs of Alwar.
+In February, 1825, Shams-ud-dîn, at the request of his father, by a
+formal deed assigned over the pargana of Lohârû as a provision for
+his younger brothers by another mother, Amîn-ud-dîn and Ziâ-ud-
+dîn;[6] and in October 1826 he was finally invested by his father
+with the management; and the circumstance was notified to the British
+Government, through the Resident at Delhi, Sir Charles Metcalfe.
+Ahmad Baksh died in October, 1827. Disputes soon after arose between
+the brothers, and they expressed a desire to submit their claims to
+the arbitration of Sir Edward Colebrooke,[7] who had succeeded Sir
+Charles Metcalfe in the Residency of Delhi.[8] He referred the matter
+to the Supreme Government; and by their instructions, under date 11th
+of April, 1828, he was authorized to adjust the matter. He decided
+that Shams-ud-dîn should make a complete and unencumbered cession to
+his younger brothers of the pargana of Lohârû, without the
+reservation of any right of interference in the management, or of any
+condition of obedience to himself whatever; and that Amîn-ud-dîn
+should, till his younger brother came of age, pay into the Delhi
+treasury for him the annual sum of five thousand two hundred and ten
+rupees, as his half share of the net proceeds, to be there held in
+deposit for him; and that the estate should, from the time he came of
+age, be divided between them in equal shares. This award was
+confirmed by Government; but Sir Edward was recommended to alter it
+for an annual money payment to the two younger brothers, if he could
+do so with the consent of the parties.
+
+The pargana was transferred, as the money payment could not be agreed
+upon; and in September Mr. Martin, who had succeeded Sir E.
+Colebrooke, proposed to Government that the pargana of Lohârû should
+be restored to Shams-ud-dîn in lieu of a fixed sum of twenty-six
+thousand rupees a year to be paid by him annually to his two younger
+brothers. This proposal was made on the ground that Amîn-ud-dîn could
+not collect the revenues from the refractory landholders (instigated,
+no doubt, by the emissaries of Shams-ud-dîn), and consequently could
+not pay his younger brother's revenue into the treasury. In
+calculating the annual net revenue of 10,420 rupees, 15,000 of the
+_gross_ revenue had been estimated as the annual expenses of the
+mutual [_sic_] establishments of the two brothers. To the arrangement
+proposed by Mr. Martin the younger brothers strongly objected; and
+proposed in preference to make over the pargana to the British
+Government, on condition of receiving the net revenue, whatever might
+be the amount. Mr. Martin was desired by the Governor-General to
+effect this arrangement, should Amîn-ud-dîn appear still to wish it;
+but he preferred retaining the management of it in his own hands, in
+the hope that circumstances would improve.
+
+Shams-ud-dîn, however, pressed his claim to the restoration of the
+pargana so often that it was at last, in September, 1833, insisted
+upon by Government, on the ground that Amîn-ud-dîn had failed to
+fulfil that article of the agreement which bound him to pay annually
+into the Delhi treasury 5,210 rupees for his younger brother, though
+that brother had never complained; on the contrary, lived with him on
+the best possible terms, and was as averse as himself to the
+retransfer of the pargana, on condition that they gave up their
+claims to a large share of the movable property of their late father,
+which had been already decided in their favour in the court of first
+instance. Mr. W. Fraser, who had succeeded to the office of Governor-
+General's representative in the Delhi Territories, remonstrated
+strongly against this measure; and wished to bring it again under the
+consideration of Government; on the grounds that Ziâ-ud-dîn had never
+made any complaint against his brother Amîn-ud-dîn for want of
+punctuality in the payment of his share of the net revenue after the
+payment of their mutual establishments; that the two brothers would
+be deprived by this measure of an hereditary estate to the value of
+sixty thousand rupees a year in perpetuity, burthened with the
+condition that they relinquished a suit already gained in the court
+of first instance, and likely to be gained in appeal, involving a sum
+that would of itself yield them that annual sum at the moderate
+interest of 6 per cent. The grounds alleged by him were not
+considered valid, and the pargana was made over to Shams-ud-dîn. The
+pargana now yields 40,000 rupees a year, and under good management
+may yield 70,000.
+
+At Mr. Fraser's recommendation, Amîn-ud-dîn went himself to Calcutta,
+and is said to have prevailed upon the Government to take his case
+again into their consideration. Shams-ud-dîn had become a debauched
+and licentious character; and having criminal jurisdiction within his
+own estate, no one's wife or daughter was considered safe; for, when
+other means failed him, he did not scruple to employ assassins to
+effect his hated purposes, by removing the husband or father.[9] Mr.
+Fraser became so disgusted with his conduct that he would not admit
+him into his house when he came to Delhi, though he had, it may be
+said, brought him up as a child of his own; indeed he had been as
+fond of him as he could be of a child of his own; and the boy used to
+spend the greater part of his time with him. One day after Mr. Fraser
+had refused to admit the Nawâb to his house. Colonel Skinner, having
+some apprehensions that by such slights he might be driven to seek
+revenge by assassination, is said to have remonstrated with Mr.
+Fraser as his oldest and most valued friend.[10] Mr. Fraser told him
+that he considered the Nawâb to be still but a boy, and the only way
+to improve him was to treat him as such. It was, however, more by
+these slights than by any supposed injuries that Shams-ud-dîn was
+exasperated; and from that day he determined to have Mr. Fraser
+assassinated.[11]
+
+Having prevailed upon a man, Karîm Khân, who was at once his servant
+and boon companion, he sent him to Delhi with one of his carriages,
+which he was to have sold through Mr. McPherson, a European merchant
+of the city. He was ordered to stay there ostensibly for the purpose
+of learning the process of extracting copper from the fossil
+containing the ore, and purchasing dogs for the Nawâb. He was to
+watch his opportunity and shoot Mr. Fraser whenever he might find him
+out at night, attended by only one or two orderlies; to be in no
+haste, but to wait till he found a favourable opportunity, though it
+should be for several months. He had with him a groom named Rûplâ,
+and a Mewâtî attendant named Aniâ, and they lodged in apartments of
+the Nawâb's at Daryâoganj. He rode out morning and evening, attended
+by Aniâ on foot, for three months, during which he often met Mr.
+Fraser, but never under circumstances favourable to his purpose; and
+at last, in despair, returned to Fîrôzpur. Aniâ, had importuned him
+for leave to go home to see his children, who had been ill, and Karîm
+Khân did not like to remain without him. The Nawâb was displeased
+with him for returning without leave, and ordered him to return to
+his post, and effect the object of his mission. Aniâ declined to
+return, and the Nawâb recommended Karîm to take somebody else, but he
+had, he said, explained all his designs to this man, and it would be
+dangerous to entrust the secret to another; and he could, moreover,
+rely entirely upon the courage of Aniâ on any trying occasion.
+
+Twenty rupees were due to the treasury by Aniâ on account of the rent
+of the little tenement he held under the Nawâb; and the treasurer
+consented, at the request of Karîm Khân, to receive this by small
+instalments, to be deducted out of the monthly wages he was to
+receive from him. He was, moreover, assured that he should have
+nothing to do but to cook and eat; and should share liberally with
+Karîm in the one hundred rupees he was taking with him in money, and
+the letter of credit upon the Nawâb's bankers at Delhi for one
+thousand rupees more. The Nawâb himself came with them as far as the
+village of Nagîna, where he used to hunt; and there Karîm requested
+permission to change his groom, as he thought Rûplâ too shrewd a man
+for such a purpose. He wanted, he said, a stupid, sleepy man, who
+would neither ask nor understand anything; but the Nawâb told him
+that Rûplâ was an old and quiet servant, upon whose fidelity he could
+entirely rely; and Karîm consented to take him. Aniâ's little
+tenement, upon which his wife and children resided, was only two
+miles distant, and he went to give instructions about gathering in
+the harvest, and to take leave of them. He told his wife that he was
+going to the capital on a difficult and dangerous duty, but that his
+companion Karîm would do it all, no doubt. Aniâ asked Karîm before
+they left Nagîna what was to be his reward; and he told him that the
+Nawâb had promised them five villages in rent-free tenure. Aniâ
+wished to learn from the Nawâb himself what he might expect; and
+being taken to him by Karîm, was assured that he and his family
+should be provided for handsomely for the rest of their lives, if he
+did his duty well on this occasion.
+
+
+On reaching Delhi they took up their quarters near Colonel Skinner's
+house, in the Bulvemar's Ward,[12] where they resided for two months.
+The Nawâb had told Karîm to get a gun made for his purpose at Delhi,
+or purchase one, stating that his guns had all been purchased through
+Colonel Skinner, and would lead to suspicion if seen in his
+possession. On reaching Delhi, Karîm purchased an old gun, and
+desired Aniâ to go to a certain man in the Chândnî Chauk, and get it
+made in the form of a short blunderbuss, with a peculiar stock, that
+would admit of its being concealed under a cloak; and to say that he
+was going to Gwâlior to seek service, if any one questioned him. The
+barrel was cut, and the instrument made exactly as Karîm wished it to
+be by the man whom he pointed out. They met Mr. Fraser every day, but
+never at night; and Karîm expressed regret that the Nawâb should have
+so strictly enjoined him not to shoot him in the daytime, which he
+thought he might do without much risk. Aniâ got an attack of fever,
+and urged Karîm to give up the attempt and return home, or at least
+permit him to do so. Karîm himself became weary, and said he would do
+so very soon if he could not succeed; but that he should certainly
+shoot _some European gentleman_ before he set out, and tell his
+master that he had taken him for Mr. Fraser--to save appearances.
+Aniâ told him that this was a question between him and his master,
+and no concern of his.
+
+At the expiration of two months, a peon came to learn what they were
+doing. Karîm wrote a letter by him to the Nawâb, saying that '_the
+dog_ he wished was never to be seen without ten or twelve people
+about him; and that he saw no chance whatever of finding him, except
+in the midst of them; but that if he wished, he would purchase this
+_dog_ in the midst of the crowd'. The Nawâb wrote a reply, which was
+sent by a trooper, with orders that it should be opened in presence
+of no one but Aniâ. The contents were: 'I command you not to purchase
+_the dog_ in presence of many persons, as its price will be greatly
+raised. You may purchase him before one person, or even two, but not
+before more; I am in no hurry, the longer the time you take the
+better; but do not return without purchasing _the dog_.'[13] That is,
+without killing Mr. Fraser.
+
+They went on every day to watch Mr. Fraser's movements. Leaving the
+horse with the groom, sometimes in one old ruin of the city, and
+sometimes in another, ready saddled for flight, with orders that he
+should not be exposed to the view of passers-by, Karîm and Aniâ used
+to pace the streets, and on several occasions fell in with him, but
+always found him attended by too many followers of one kind or
+another for their purpose. At last, on Sunday, the 13th of March,
+1835, Karîm heard that Mr. Fraser was to attend a 'nâch' (dance),
+given by Hindoo Râo, the brother of the Baiza Bâi,[14] who then
+resided at Delhi; and determining to try whether he could not shoot
+him from horseback, he sent away his groom as soon as he had
+ascertained that Mr. Fraser was actually at the dance. Aniâ went in
+and mixed among the assembly; and as soon as he saw Mr. Fraser rise
+to depart, he gave intimation to Karîm, who ordered him to keep
+behind, and make off as fast as he could, as soon as he should hear
+the report of his gun.
+
+
+A little way from Hindoo Rao's house the road branches off; that to
+the left is straight, while that to the right is circuitous. Mr.
+Fraser was known always to take the straight road, and upon that
+Karîm posted himself, as the road up to the place where it branched
+off was too public for his purpose. As it happened, Mr. Fraser, for
+the first time, took the circuitous road to the right, and reached
+his home without meeting Karîm. Aniâ placed himself at the cross way,
+and waited there till Karîm came up to him. On hearing that he had
+taken the right road, Karîm said that 'a man in Mr. Fraser's
+situation must be a strange ('kâfir') unbeliever not to have such a
+thing as a torch with him in a dark night. Had he had what he ought',
+he said, 'I should not have lost him this time'.
+
+They passed him on the road somewhere or other almost every afternoon
+after this for seven days, but could never fall in with him after
+dark. On the eighth day, Sunday, the 22nd of March, Karîm went, as
+usual, in the forenoon to the great mosque to say his prayers; and on
+his way back in the afternoon he purchased some plums which he was
+eating when he came up to Aniâ, whom he found cooking his dinner. He
+ordered his horse to be saddled immediately, and told Aniâ to make
+haste and eat his dinner, as he had seen Mr. Fraser at a party given
+by the Râjâ of Kishangarh. '_When his time is come_,' said Karîm, 'we
+shall no doubt find an opportunity to kill him, if we watch him
+carefully.' They left the groom at home that evening, and proceeded
+to the 'dargâh' (church) near the canal. Seeing Aniâ with merely a
+Stick in his hand, Karîm bid him go back and change it for a sword,
+while he went in and said his evening prayers.
+
+On being rejoined by Aniâ, they took the road to cantonments, which
+passed by Mr. Fraser's house; and Aniâ observed that the risk was
+hardly equal in this undertaking, he being on foot, while Karîm was
+on horseback; that he should be sure to be taken, while the other
+might have a fair chance of escape. It was now quite dark, and Karîm
+bid him stand by sword in hand; and if anybody attempted to seize his
+horse when he fired, cut him down, and be assured that while he had
+life he would never suffer him, Aniâ, to be taken. Karîm continued to
+patrol up and down on the high-road, that nobody might notice him,
+while Aniâ stood by the road-side. At last, about eleven o'clock,
+they heard Mr. Fraser approach, attended by one trooper, and two
+'peons' on foot; and Karîm walked his horse slowly, as if he had been
+going from the city to the cantonments, till Mr. Fraser came up
+within a few paces of him, near the gate leading into his house.
+Karîm Khân, on leaving his house, had put one large ball into his
+short blunderbuss; and when confident that he should now have an
+opportunity of shooting Mr. Fraser, he put in two more small ones. As
+Mr. Fraser's horse was coming up on the left side, Karîm Khân tumed
+round his, and, as he passed, presented his blunderbuss, fired, and
+all three balls passed into Mr. Fraser's breast. All three horses
+reared at the report and flash, and Mr. Fraser fell dead on the
+ground. Karîm galloped off, followed at a short distance by the
+trooper, and the two peons went off and gave information to Major Pew
+and Cornet Robinson, who resided near the place. They came in all
+haste to the spot, and had the body taken to the deceased's own
+house; but no signs of life remained. They reported the murder to the
+magistrate, and the city gates were closed, as the assassin had been
+seen to enter the city by the trooper.
+
+Aniâ ran home through the Kabul gate of the city, unperceived, while
+Karîm entered by the Ajmêr gate, and passed first through the
+encampment of Hindoo Rao, to efface the traces of his horse's feet.
+When he reached their lodgings, he found Aniâ there before him; and
+Rûplâ, the groom, seeing his horse in a sweat, told him that he had
+had a narrow escape--that Mr. Fraser had been killed, and orders
+given for the arrest of any horseman that might be found in or near
+the city. He told him to hold his tongue, and take care of the horse;
+and calling for a light, he and Aniâ tore up every letter he had
+received from Fîrôzpur, and dipped the fragments in water, to efface
+the ink from them. Aniâ asked him what he had done with the
+blunderbuss, and was told that it had been thrown into a well. Aniâ
+now concealed three flints that he kept about him in some sand in the
+upper story they occupied, and threw an iron ramrod and two spare
+bullets into a well near the mosque.
+
+The next morning, when he heard that the city gates had been all shut
+to prevent any one from going out till strict search should be made,
+Karîm became a good deal alarmed, and went to seek counsel from
+Moghal Beg, the friend of his master; but when in the evening he
+heard that they had been again opened, he recovered his spirits; and
+the next day he wrote a letter to the Nawâb, saying that he had
+purchased the dogs that he wanted, and would soon return with them.
+He then went to Mr. McPherson, and actually purchased from him for
+the Nawâb some dogs and pictures, and the following day sent Rûplâ,
+the groom, with them to Fîrôzpur, accompanied by two bearers. A
+pilgrim lodged in the same place with these men, and was present when
+Karîm came home from the murder, and gave his horse to Rûplâ. In the
+evening, after the departure of Rûplâ with the dogs, four men of the
+Gûjar caste came to the place, and Karîm sat down and smoked a pipe
+with one of them,[15] who said that he had lost his bread by Mr.
+Fraser's death, and should be glad to see the murderer punished--that
+he was known to have worn a green vest, and he hoped he would soon be
+discovered. The pilgrim came up to Karîm shortly after these four men
+went away, and said that he had heard from some one that he, Karîm,
+was himself suspected of the murder. He went again to Moghal Beg, who
+told him not to be alarmed, that, happily, the Regulations were now
+in force in the Delhi Territory, and that he had only to stick
+steadily to one story to be safe.
+
+He now desired Aniâ to return to Fîrôzpur with a letter to the Nawâb,
+and to assure him that he would be stanch and stick to one story,
+though they should seize him and confine him in prison for twelve
+years. He had, he said, already sent off part of his clothes, and
+Aniâ should now take away the rest, so that nothing suspicious should
+be left near him.
+
+The next morning Aniâ set out on foot, accompanied by Islâmullah, a
+servant of Moghal Beg's, who was also the bearer of a letter to the
+Nawâb. They hired two ponies when they became tired, but both flagged
+before they reached Nagîna, whence Aniâ proceeded to Fîrôzpur, on a
+mare belonging to the native collector, leaving Islâmullah behind. He
+gave his letter to the Nawâb, who desired him to describe the affair
+of the murder. He did so. The Nawâb seemed very much pleased, and
+asked him whether Karîm appeared to be in any alarm. Aniâ told him
+that he did not, and had resolved to stick to one story, though he
+should be imprisoned for twelve years. 'Karîm Khân,' said the Nawâb,
+turning to the brother-in-law of the former, Wâsil Khân, and Hasan
+Alî, who stood near him--'Karîm Khân is a very brave man, whose
+courage may be always relied on.' He gave Aniâ eighteen rupees, and
+told him to change his name, and keep close to Wâsil Khân. They
+retired together; but, while Wâsil Khân went to his house, Aniâ stood
+on the road unperceived, but near enough to hear Hasan Alî urge the
+Nawâb to have him put to death immediately, as the only chance of
+keeping the fatal secret. He went off immediately to Wâsil Khân, and
+prevailed upon him to give him leave to go home for that night to see
+his family, promising to be back the next morning early.
+
+He set out forthwith, but had not been long at home when he learned
+that Hasan Alî, and another confidential servant of the Nawâb, were
+come in search of him with some troopers. He concealed himself in the
+roof of his house, and heard them ask his wife and children where he
+was, saying they wanted his aid in getting out some hyaenas they had
+traced into their dens in the neighbourhood. They were told that he
+had gone back to Fîrôzpur, and returned; but were sent back by the
+Nawâb to make a more careful search for him. Before they came,
+however, he had gone off to his friends Kamruddîn and Joharî, two
+brothers who resided in the Râo Râjâ's territory. To this place he
+was followed by some Mewâtîs, whom the Nawâb had induced, under the
+promise of a large reward, to undertake to kill him. One night he
+went to two acquaintances, Makrâm and Shahâmat, in a neighbouring
+village, and begged them to send to some English gentleman in Delhi,
+and solicit for him a pardon, on condition of his disclosing all the
+circumstances of Mr. Fraser's murder. They promised to get everything
+done for him through a friend in the police at Delhi, and set out for
+that purpose, while Aniâ returned and concealed himself in the hills.
+In six days they came with a paper, purporting to be a promise of
+pardon from the court of Delhi, and desired Kamr-ud-dîn to introduce
+them to Aniâ. He told them to return to him in three days, and he
+would do so; but he went off to Aniâ in the hills, and told him that
+he did not think these men had really got the papers from the English
+gentlemen--that they appeared to him to be in the service of the
+Nawâb himself. Aniâ was, however, introduced to them when they came
+back, and requested that the paper might be read to him. Seeing
+through their designs, he again made off to the hills, while they
+went out in search, they pretended, of a man to read it, but in
+reality to get some people who were waiting in the neighbourhood to
+assist in securing him, and taking him off to the Nawâb.
+
+
+Finding on their return that Aniâ had escaped, they offered high
+rewards to the two brothers if they would assist in tracing him out;
+and Joharî was taken to the Nawâb, who offered him a very high reward
+if he would bring Aniâ to him, or, at least, take measures to prevent
+his going to the English gentlemen. This was communicated to Aniâ,
+who went through Bharatpur to Bareilly, and from Bareilly to
+Secunderabad, where he heard, in the beginning of July, that both
+Karîm and the Nawâb were to be tried for the murder, and that the
+judge, Mr. Colvin, had already arrived at Delhi to conduct the trial.
+He now determined to go to Delhi and give himself up. On his way he
+was met by Mr. Simon Fraser's man, who took him to Delhi, when he
+confessed his share in the crime, became king's evidence at the
+trial, and gave an interesting narrative of the whole affair.
+
+Two water-carriers, in attempting to draw up the brass jug of a
+carpenter, which had fallen into the well the morning after the
+murder, pulled up the blunderbuss which Karîm Khân had thrown into
+the same well. This was afterwards recognized by Aniâ, and the man
+whom he pointed out as having made it for him. Two of the four
+Gûjars, who were mentioned as having visited Karîm immediately after
+the murder, went to Brigadier Fast, who commanded the troops at
+Delhi, fearing that the native officers of the European civil
+functionaries might be in the interest of the Nawâb, and get them
+made away with. They told him that Karîm Khân seemed to answer the
+description of the man named in the proclamation as the murderer of
+Mr. Fraser; and he sent them with a note to the Commissioner, Mr.
+Metcalfe, who sent them to the Magistrate, Mr. Fraser, who
+accompanied them to the place, and secured Karîm, with some fragments
+of important papers. The two Mewâtîs, who had been sent to
+assassinate Aniâ, were found, and they confessed the fact: the
+brother of Aniâ, Rahmat, was found and he described the difficulty
+Aniâ had to escape from the Nawâb's people sent to murder him. Rûplâ,
+the groom, deposed to all that he had seen during the time he was
+employed as Karîm's groom at Delhi. Several men deposed to having met
+Karîm, and heard him asking after Mr. Fraser a few days before the
+murder. The two peons, who were with Mr. Fraser when he was shot,
+deposed to the horse which he rode at the time, and which was found
+with him.
+
+
+Karîm Khân and the Nawâb were both convicted of the crime, sentenced
+to death, and executed at Delhi, I should mention that suspicion had
+immediately attached to Karîm Khân; he was known for some time to
+have been lurking about Delhi, on the pretence of purchasing dogs;
+and it was said that, had the Nawâb really wanted dogs, he would not
+have sent to purchase them by a man whom he admitted to his table,
+and treated on terms of equality. He was suspected of having been
+employed on such occasions before--known to be a good shot, and a
+good rider, who could fire and reload very quickly while his horse
+was in full gallop, and called in consequence the 'Bharmârû.'[16] His
+horse, which was found in the stable by the Gûjar spies, who had
+before been in Mr. Fraser's service, answered the description given
+of the murderer's horse by Mr. Fraser's attendants; and the Nawâb was
+known to cherish feelings of bitter hatred against Mr. Fraser.
+
+The Nawâb was executed some time after Karîm, on Thursday morning,
+the 3rd of October, 1835, close outside the north, or Kashmir Gate,
+leading to the cantonments. He prepared himself for the execution in
+an extremely rich and beautiful dress of light green, the colour
+which martyrs wear; but he was made to exchange this, and he then
+chose one of simple white, and was too conscious of his guilt to urge
+strongly his claim to wear what dress he liked on such an occasion.
+
+The following corps were drawn up around the gallows, forming three
+sides of a square: the 1st Regiment of Cavalry, the 20th, 39th, and
+69th Regiments of Native Infantry, Major Pew's Light Field Battery,
+and a strong party of police. On ascending the scaffold, the Nawâb
+manifested symptoms of disgust at the approach to his person of the
+sweeper, who was to put the rope round his neck;[17] but he soon
+mastered his feelings, and submitted with a good grace to his fate.
+Just as he expired his body made a last turn, and left his face
+towards the _west_, or the _tomb of his Prophet_, which the
+Muhammadans of Delhi considered a miracle, indicating that he was a
+martyr--not as being innocent of the murder, but as being executed
+for the murder of an unbeliever. Pilgrimages were for some time made
+to the Nawâb's tomb,[18] but I believe they have long since ceased
+with the short gleam of sympathy that his fate excited. The only
+people that still recollect him with feelings of kindness are the
+prostitutes and dancing women of the city of Delhi, among whom most
+of his revenues were squandered[19] In the same manner was Wazîr Ali
+recollected for many years by the prostitutes and dancing women of
+Benares, after the massacre of Mr. Cherry and all the European
+gentlemen of that station, save one, Mr. Davis, who bravely defended
+himself, wife, and children against a host with a hog spear on the
+top of his house. No European could pass Benares for twenty years
+after Wazîr Alî's arrest and confinement in the garrison of Fort
+William, without hearing from the Windows songs in his praise, and in
+praise of the massacre.[20]
+
+It is supposed that the Nawâb Faiz Muhammad Khan of Jhajjar was
+deeply implicated in this murder, though no proof of it could be
+found. He died soon after the execution of Shams-ud-dîn, and was
+succeeded in his fief by his eldest son, Faiz Alî Khân.[21] This fief
+was bestowed on the father of the deceased, whose name was Najâbat
+Alî Khân, by Lord Lake, on the termination of the war in 1805, for
+the aid he had given to the retreating army under Colonel Monson.[22]
+
+One circumstance attending the execution of the Nawâb Shams-ud-dîn
+seems worthy of remark. The magistrate, Mr. Frascott, desired his
+crier to go through the city the evening before the execution, and
+proclaim to the people that those who might wish to be present at the
+execution were not to encroach upon the line of sentries that would
+be formed to keep clear an allotted space round the gallows, nor to
+carry with them any kind of arms; but the crier, seemingly retaining
+in his recollection only the words _arms_ and _sentries_, gave out
+after his 'Oyes, Oyes,'[23] that the sentries had orders to use their
+arms, and shoot any man, woman, or child that should presume to go
+outside the wall to look at the execution of the Nawâb. No person, in
+consequence, ventured out till the execution was over, when they went
+to see the Nawâb himself converted into smoke; as the general
+impression was that as life should leave it, the body was to be blown
+off into the air by a general discharge of musketry and artillery.
+Moghal Bêg was acquitted for want of judicial proof of his guilty
+participation in the crime.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The author's remarks concerning military officers refer to
+officers serving with native regiments, now known as the Indian Army.
+Before the institution of the reformed police in 1861 the native
+troops used to be much scattered in detachments, guarding treasuries,
+and performing other duties since entrusted to the police.
+Detachments are now rarely sent out, except on frontier service.
+
+2. Fîrôzpur, the Fîrozpur-Jhirka of the _I.G._, is now the head-
+quarters of a sub-collectorate in the Gurgâon district. The three
+Districts of the Delhi Territories in Sleeman's time seem to have
+been Delhi, Pânîpat (= Karnâl), and Rohtak, which were under the
+jurisdiction of the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western
+Provinces. In 1858, after the Mutiny, they were transferred to the
+Panjâb. Since then, many administrative changes have occurred. The
+latest took place on October 1, 1912, on the occasion of Delhi
+becoming the official capital of India, instead of Calcutta. The city
+of Delhi with a small surrounding area, 557 square miles in all, now
+forms a tiny distinct province, ruled by a Chief Commissioner under
+the direct orders of the Government of India. The Delhi Division has
+ceased to exist, and six Districts, namely, Hissar, Rohtak, Karnâl,
+Ambâla (Umballa), Gurgâon, and Simla, now constitute the
+Commissioner's Division of Ambâla in the Panjâb.
+
+3. _Ante_, chapter 31, text between [10] and [11]. Some great
+landholders of the present day pursue the same policy.
+
+4. The story of the murder of Fraser is told very differently in
+Bosworth-Smith's _Life of Lord Lawrence_, where all the detective
+credit is given to Lord L., apparently on his own authority. See also
+an article in the _Quarterly Review_ for April 1883, by Sir H. Yule,
+and another in _Blackwoods Magazine_ for January 1878.
+
+Miniature medallion portraits of Nawâb Shams-ud-dîn and his servant
+Karîm Khân are given on the frontispiece of Volume II in the original
+edition.
+
+5. The inglorious second administration of Lord Cornwallis lasted
+only from 30th of July, 1805, the date on which he relieved the
+Marquis Wellesley, to the 5th of October of the same year, the date
+of his death at Ghâzîpur. 'The Marquis Cornwallis arrived in India,
+prepared to abandon, as far as might be practicable, all the
+advantages gained for the British Government by the wisdom, energy,
+and perseverance of his predecessor; to relax the bands by which the
+Marquis Wellesley had connected the greater portion of the states of
+India with the British Government; and to reduce that Government from
+the position of arbiter of the destinies of India to the rank of one
+among many equals.' His policy was zealously carried out by Sir
+George Barlow, who succeeded him, and held office till July, 1807.
+That statesman was not ashamed to write that 'the British possessions
+in the Doâb will derive additional security from the contests of the
+neighbouring states'. (Thornton, _The History of the British Empire
+in India_, chap. 21.) This fatuous policy produced twelve years of
+anarchy, which were terminated by the Marquis of Hastings's great war
+with the Marâthâs and Pindhârîs in 1817, so often referred to in this
+book. Lord Lake addressed the most earnest remonstrances to Sir
+George Barlow without avail.
+
+6. Amîn-ud-dîn and Ziâ-ud-dîn's mother was the Bhâo Bêgam, or wife;
+Shams-ud-dîn's the Bhâo Khânum, or mistress. [W. H. S.]
+
+7. Sir James Edward, third baronet, who died November 5, 1838. He was
+paternal uncle of Henry Thomas Colebrooke, F.R.S., the greatest of
+Anglo-Indian Sanskritists. The fifth baronet, Edward Arthur, was
+created Baron Colebrooke in 1906.
+
+8. Sir Charles Metcalfe was for a time Assistant Resident at Delhi,
+and was first appointed to the Residency at the extraordinarily early
+age of twenty-six. He was then transferred to other posts. In 1824 he
+returned to the Delhi Residency, superseding Sir David Ochterlony,
+whose measures had been disapproved by the Government of India. He
+left the Residency in 1827.
+
+9. The editor once had occasion to deal with a similar case, which
+resulted in the loss by the offending Râjâ of his rank and title. The
+orders were passed by the Government of Lord Dufferin.
+
+10. Colonel Skinner, who raised the famous troops known as Skinner's
+Horse, died in 1841, and was buried in the church of St. James at
+Delhi which he had built. The church still exists. The Colonel
+erected opposite the church, as a memorial of his friend Fraser, a
+fine inlaid marble cross, which was destroyed in the Mutiny (General
+Hervey, _Some Records of Crime_, vol. i, p. 403).
+
+11. According to General Hervey, the provocation was that Mr. Fraser
+had inquired from the Nawâb about his sister by name (op. cit., p.
+279).
+
+12. I print this word 'Bulvemar's' as it stands in the original
+edition, not knowing what it means.
+
+13. The habits of Europeans have now changed, and to most people
+escorts have become distasteful. High officials now constantly go
+about unattended, and could be assassinated with little difficulty.
+Happily crimes of the kind are rare, except on the Afghan frontier,
+where special precautions are taken.
+
+14. For the 'Bâiza Bai' see _ante_, chapter 50 note 4. Hindoo Râo's
+house became famous in 1857 as the head-quarters of the British force
+on the Ridge, during the siege of Delhi.
+
+15. Many of the Gûjar caste are Muhammadans.
+
+16. That is to say 'load and fire', or 'sharpshooter'.
+
+17. No one but a member of one of the 'outcaste castes', if the
+'bull' be allowable, will act as executioner.
+
+18. This sinister incident shows clearly the real feeling of the
+Muhammadan populace towards the ruling power. That feeling is
+unchanged, and is not altogether confined to the Muslim populace. See
+the following remark about the populace of Benares.
+
+19. This remark was evidently written some time after the author's
+first visit to Delhi, and probably was written in the year 1839.
+
+20. On the death of Âsaf-ud-daula, Wazîr Alî was, in spite of doubts
+as to his legitimacy, recognized by Sir John Shore (Lord Teignmouth)
+as the Nawâb Wazîr of Oudh, in 1797. On reconsideration, the
+Governor-General cancelled the recognition of Wazîr Alî, and
+recognized his rival Saâdat Alî. Wazîr Alî was removed from Lucknow,
+but injudiciously allowed to reside at Benares. The Marquis
+Wellesley, then Earl of Mornington, took charge of the office of
+Governor-General in 1798, and soon resolved that it was expedient to
+remove Wazîr Alî to a greater distance from Lucknow. Mr. Cherry, the
+Agent to the Governor-General, was accordingly instructed to remove
+him from Benares to Calcutta. The outbreak alluded to in the text
+occurred on January 14, 1799, and was the expression of Wazîr Ali's
+resentment at these orders. It is described as follows by Thornton
+(_History_, chap. xvii): 'A visit which Wazîr Alî made, accompanied
+by his suite, to the British Agent, afforded the means of
+accomplishing the meditated revenge. He had engaged himself to
+breakfast with Mr. Cherry, and the parties met in apparent amity. The
+usual compliments were exchanged. Wazîr Alî then began to expatiate
+on his wrongs; and having pursued this subject for some time, he
+suddenly rose with his attendants, and put to death Mr. Cherry and
+Captain Conway, an English gentleman who happened to be present. The
+assassins then rushed out, and meeting another Englishman named
+Graham, they added him to the list of their victims. They thence
+proceeded to the house of Mr. Davis, judge and magistrate, who had
+just time to remove his family to an upper terrace, which could only
+be reached by a very narrow staircase. At the top of this staircase,
+Mr. Davis, armed with a spear, took his post, and so successfully did
+he defend it, that the assailants, after several attempts to dislodge
+him, were compelled to retire without effecting their object. The
+benefit derived from the resistance of this intrepid man extended
+beyond his own family: the delay thereby occasioned afforded to the
+rest of the English inhabitants opportunity of escaping to the place
+where the troops stationed for the protection of the city were
+encamped. General Erskine, on learning what had occurred, dispatched
+a party to the relief of Mr. Davis, and Wazîr Alî thereupon retired
+to his own residence.' Wazîr Alî escaped, but was ultimately given up
+by a chief with whom he had taken refuge, 'on condition that his life
+should be spared, and that his limbs should not be disgraced by
+chains'. Some of his accomplices were executed. 'He was confined at
+Port William, in a sort of iron cage, where he died in May, 1817,
+aged thirty-six, after an imprisonment of seventeen years and some
+odd months.' (_Men whom India has Known_, 2nd ed., 1874, art. 'Vizier
+Ali.') But Beale asserts that after many years' captivity in
+Calcutta, the prisoner was removed to Vellore, where he died (_Or.
+Biogr. Dict._, ed. Keene, 1894, p. 416). It will be observed that the
+author was mistaken in supposing that 'all the European gentlemen,
+except Mr. Davis and his family, were included in the massacre.'
+
+21. These names stand in the original edition as 'Tyz Mahomed Khan,
+of Ghujper,' and 'Tyz Alee Khan'. In 1857 the then Nawâb of Jhajjar
+joined the rebels. He was accordingly hanged, and his estate was
+confiscated. It is now included in the Rohtak District. See
+Fanshawe's _Settlement Report_ of that District.
+
+
+22. The disastrous retreat of Colonel Monson before Jeswant Râo
+Holkâr during the rainy season of 1804 is one of the few serious
+reverses which have interrupted the long series of British victories
+in India. A considerable force under the command of Colonel Monson,
+sent out by General Lake at the beginning of May in pursuit of
+Holkâr, was withdrawn too far from its base, and was compelled to
+retreat through Râjputâna, and fall back on Agra. During the retreat
+the rains broke, and, under pressure caused by the difficulties of
+the march and incessant attacks of the enemy, the Company's troops
+became disorganized, and lost their guns and baggage. The shattered
+remnants of the force straggled into Agra at the end of August. The
+disgrace of this retreat was speedily avenged by the great victory of
+Dîg.
+
+
+23. This old Norman-French formula. Oyez, Oyez, meaning 'Hear!' is
+still, or recently was, used at the Assizes in the High Court,
+Calcutta. The formula would not now be heard at Delhi, or elsewhere
+beyond the precincts of the High Court.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 65
+
+
+Marriage of a Jât Chief.
+
+ON the 19th[1] we came on to Balamgarh,[2] fifteen miles over a
+plain, better cultivated and more studded with trees than that which
+we had been coming over for many days before. The water was near the
+surface, more of the field were irrigated, and those which were not
+so looked better--[a] range of sandstone hills, ten miles off to the
+west, running north and south. Balamgarh is held in rent-free tenure
+by a young Jât chief, now about ten years of age. He resides in a mud
+fort in a handsome palace built in the European fashion. In an
+extensive orange garden, close outside the fort, he is building a
+very handsome tomb over the spot where his father's elder brother was
+buried. The whole is formed of white and black marble, and the firm
+white sandstone of Rûpbâs, and so well conceived and executed as to
+make it evident that demand is the only thing wanted to cover India
+with works of art equal to any that were formed in the palmy days of
+the Muhammadan empire.[3] The Râjâ's young sister had just been
+married to the son of the Jât chief of Nâbhâ, who was accompanied in
+his matrimonial visit (barât) by the chief of Ludhaura, and the son
+of the Sikh chief of Patiâlâ,[4] with a _cortège_ of one hundred
+elephants, and above fifteen thousand people.[5]
+
+The young chief of Balamgarh mustered a _cortège_ of sixty elephants
+and about ten thousand men to attend him out in the 'istikbâl', to
+meet and welcome his guests. The bridegroom's party had to expend
+about six hundred thousand rupees in this visit alone. They scattered
+copper money all along the road from their homes to within seven
+miles of Balamgarh. From this point to the gate of the fort they had
+to scatter silver, and from this gate to the door of the palace they
+scattered gold and jewels of all kinds. The son of the Patiâlâ chief,
+a lad of about ten years of age, sat upon his elephant with a bag
+containing six hundred gold mohurs of two guineas each, mixed up with
+an infinite variety of gold earrings, pearls, and precious stones,
+which he scattered in handfuls among the crowd. The scattering of the
+copper and silver had been left to inferior hands. The costs of the
+family of the bride are always much greater than that of the
+bridegroom; they are obliged to entertain at their own expense all
+the bridegroom's guests as well as their own, as long as they remain;
+and over and above this, on the present occasion, the Râjâ gave a
+rupee to every person that came, invited or uninvited. An immense
+concourse of people had assembled to share in this donation, and to
+scramble for the money scattered along the road; and ready money
+enough was not found in the treasury. Before a further supply could
+be got, thirty thousand more had collected, and every one got his
+rupee. They have them all put into pens like sheep. When all are in,
+the doors are opened at a signal given, and every person is paid his
+rupee as he goes out. Some European gentlemen were standing upon the
+top of the Râjâ's palace, looking at the procession as it entered the
+fort, and passed underneath; and the young chief threw up some
+handfuls of pearls, gold, and jewels among them. Not one of them
+would of course condescend to stoop to take up any; but their
+servants showed none of the same dignified forbearance.[6]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. 'Balamgarh' is a mistake for Ballabgarh of _I. G._ (properly
+Ballabhgarh), which is about twenty-four miles from Delhi. In 1857
+the chief was hanged for rebellion. The estate was confiscated and
+included in the Delhi District, under the Panjâb Government. From
+October 1, 1912, that District ceased to exist. Part of the
+Ballabhgarh sub-district has been included in the new Chief
+Commissioner's Province of Delhi, and part in the Gurgâon District.
+
+3. Few observers will accept this proposition without considerable
+reservation.
+
+4. Patiâlâ is the principal of the Cis-Satlaj Sikh Protected States.
+Nâbhâ belongs to the same group. Both states are very loyal, and
+supply Imperial Service troops. For a sketch of their history see
+chapters 2 and 9 of Sir Lepel Griffin's _Ranjît Singh_.
+
+5. The Sikh is a military nation formed out of the Jâts (who were
+without a place among the castes of the Hindoos),[a] by that strong
+bond of union, the love of conquest and plunder. Their religions and
+civil codes are the Granths, books written by their reputed prophets,
+the last of whom was Guru Govind,[b] in whose name Ranjît Singh
+stamps his gold coins with this legend: 'The sword, the _pot_,
+victory, and conquest were quickly found in the grace of Guru Govind
+Singh,'[c] This prophet died insane in the end of the seventeenth
+century. He was the son of a priest Têg Bahâdur, who was made a
+martyr of by the bigoted Muhammadans of Patna in 1675. The son became
+a Peter the Hermit, in the same manner as Hargovind before him, when
+his father, Arjun Mal, was made a martyr by the fanaticism of the
+same people. A few more such martyrdoms would have set the Sikhs up
+for ever. They admit converts freely, and while they have a fair
+prospect of conquest and plunder they will find them; but, when they
+cease, they will be swallowed up in the great ocean of Hinduism,
+since they have no chance of getting up an 'army of martyrs' while we
+have the supreme power.[d] They detest us for the same reason that
+the military followers of the other native chiefs detest us, because
+we say 'Thus far shall you go, and no farther' in your career of
+conquest and plunder.[e] As governors, they are even worse than the
+Marâthâs--utterly detestable. They have not the slightest idea of a
+duty towards the people from whose industry they are provided. Such a
+thing was never dreamed of by a Sikh. They continue to receive in
+marriage the daughters of Jâts, as in this case; but they will not
+give their daughters to Jâts. [W. H. S.]
+
+6. The Emperors of Delhi, from Jahângîr onwards, used to strike
+special coins, generally of small size, bearing the word _nisâr_,
+which means 'scattering', for the purpose of distribution among the
+crowd on the occasion of a wedding, or other great festivity.
+
+a. It has already been observed that the author was completely
+mistaken in his estimate of the social position of Jâts. It is not
+correct to say that they 'were without a place among the castes of
+the Hindoos'. 'The Jât is in every respect the most important of the
+Panjâb peoples. . . . The distinction between Jât and Râjpût is
+social rather than ethnic. . . . Socially the Jât occupies a position
+which is shared by the Rôr, the Gûjar, and the Ahîr; all four eating
+and smoking together. Among the races of purely Hindoo origin I think
+that the Jât stands next after the Brahman, the Râjpût, and the
+Khatrî. . . . There are Jâts and Jâts. . . . His is the highest of
+the castes practising widow marriage.' (Ibbetson, _Outlines of Panjâb
+Ethnography_, Calcutta, 1883, pp. 220 sqq.) The Jâts in the United
+Provinces occupy much the same relative position.
+
+b. The Sikhs are mostly, but not all, Jâts. The organization is
+essentially a religions one, and a few Brahmans and many members of
+various other castes join it. Even sweepers are admitted with certain
+limitations. The word Sikh means 'disciple'. Nânak Shâh, the founder,
+was born in A.D. 1469. The _Âdi Granth_, the Sikh Bible, containing
+compositions by Nânak, his next four successors, and other persons,
+was completed in 1604. A second _Granth_ was compiled in 1734 by
+Govind Singh, the tenth Guru. The only authoritative version of the
+Sikh scriptures is the great work by Macauliffe, _The Sikh Religion_
+(Oxford, 1909, 6 vols.).
+
+The political power of the sect rested on the institutions of Guru
+Govind, as framed between 1690 and 1708. In 1764 the Sikhs occupied
+Lahore. Full details of their history will be found in Cunningham, _A
+History of the Sikhs_ (1st ed., 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1849, suppressed
+and scarce; 2nd ed. 1853); and more briefly in Sir Lepel Griffin's
+excellent little book, _Ranjît Singh_ (Oxford, 'Rulers of India'
+series, 1892).
+
+
+c. See R. 0. Temple, 'The Coins of the Modern Chiefs of the Panjâb'
+(_Ind. Ant._, vol. xviii (1889), pp. 321-41); and C. J. Rodgers, 'On
+the Coins of the Sikhs' (_J.A.S.B._, vol. 1. Part I (1881), pp. 71-
+93). The couplet is in Persian, which may be transliterated thus:--
+
+ Dêg, têgh, wa fath, wa nasrat bê darang
+ Yâft az Nânak Gûrû Govind Singh.
+
+
+
+The word _dêg_, meaning pot or cauldron, is used as a symbol of
+plenty. The correct rendering is:--
+
+ Plenty, the sword, victory, and help without delay,
+ Gûrû Govind Singh obtained from Nânak.
+
+d. This prophecy has not been fulfilled. The annexation of the Panjâb
+in 1849 put an end to Sikh hopes of 'conquest and plunder', and yet
+the sect has not been 'swallowed up in the great ocean of Hinduism'.
+At the census of 1881 its numbers were returned as 1,853,426, or
+nearly two millions, for all India. The corresponding figure for 1891
+is 1,907,833. At the time of the first British census of 1855 the
+outside influences were depressing: the great Khâlsa army had fallen,
+and Sikh fathers were slow to bring forward their sons for baptism
+(_pâhul_). The Mutiny, in the suppression of which the Sikhs took so
+great a part, worked a change. The Sikhs recovered their spirits and
+self-respect, and found honourable careers open in the British army
+and constabulary. 'Thus the creed received a new impulse, and many
+sons of Sikhs, whose baptism had been deferred, received the _pâhul_,
+while new candidates from among the Jâts and lower caste Hindoos
+joined the faith.' Some reaction then, perhaps, took place, but, on
+the whole, the numbers of the sect have been maintained or increased.
+(Sir Lepel Griffin, _Ranjît Singh_, pp. 25-34.) For various reasons,
+which I have not space to explain, the statistics of Sikhism are
+untrustworthy. The returns for 1911 show an increase of 37 per cent.
+in the Panjâb. We may, at least, be assured that the numbers are not
+diminishing.
+
+e. The Sikhs do not now detest us. They willingly furnish soldiers
+and military police of the best class, equal to the Gôrkhâs, and fit
+to fight in line with English soldiers. The Panjâb chieftains have
+been among the foremost in offers of loyal assistance to the
+Government of India in times of danger, and in organizing the
+Imperial Service troops. The Sikh states are now sufficiently well
+governed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 66
+
+
+Collegiate Endowment of Muhammadan Tombs and Mosques.
+
+On the 20th[1] we came to Badarpur, twelve miles over a plain, with
+the range of hills on our left approaching nearer and nearer the
+road, and separating us from the old city of Delhi. We passed through
+Farîdpur, once a large town, and called after its founder, Shaikh
+Farîd, whose mosque is still in good order, though there is no person
+to read or hear prayers in it.[2] We passed also two fine bridges,
+one of three, and one of four arches, both over what were once
+streams, but are now dry beds of sand.[3] The whole road shows signs
+of having been once thickly peopled, and highly adorned with useful
+and ornamental works when Delhi was in its glory.
+
+Every handsome mausoleum among Muhammadans was provided with its
+mosque, and endowed by the founder with the means of maintaining men
+of learning to read their Korân over the grave of the deceased and in
+his chapel; and, as long as the endowment lasted, the tomb continued
+to be at the same time a college. They read the Korân morning and
+evening over the grave, and prayers in the chapel at the stated
+periods; and the rest of their time is commonly devoted to the
+instruction of the youths of their neighbourhood, either gratis or
+for a small consideration. Apartments in the tomb were usually set
+aside for the purpose, and these tombs did ten times more for
+education in Hindustan than all the colleges formed especially for
+the purpose.[4] We might suppose that rulers who formed and endowed
+such works all over the land must have had more of the respect and
+the affections of the great mass of the people than we, who, as my
+friend upon the Jumna has it, 'build nothing but private dwelling-
+houses, factories, courts of justice, and jails', can ever have; but
+this conclusion would not be altogether just.[5] Though every mosque
+and mausoleum was a seat of learning, that learning, instead of being
+a source of attraction and conciliation between the Muhammadans and
+Hindoos, was, on the contrary, a source of perpetual repulsion and
+enmity between them--it tended to keep alive in the breasts of the
+Musalmâns a strong feeling of religions indignation against the
+worshippers of idols; and of dread and hatred in those of the
+Hindoos.
+
+The Korân was the Book of books, spoken by God to the angel Gabriel
+in parts as occasion required, and repeated by him to Muhammad; who,
+unable to write himself, dictated them to any one who happened to be
+present when he received the divine communications;[6] it contained
+all that it was worth man's while to study or know--it was from the
+Deity, but at the same time coeternal with Him--it was His divine
+eternal spirit, inseparable from Him from the beginning, and
+therefore, like Him, uncreated. This book, to read which was of
+itself declared to be the highest of all species of worship, taught
+war against the worshippers of idols to be of all merits the greatest
+in the eye of God; and no man could well rise from the perusal
+without the wish to serve God by some act of outrage against them.
+These buildings were, therefore, looked upon by the Hindoos, who
+composed the great mass of the people, as a kind of religions
+volcanoes, always ready to explode and pour out their lava of
+intolerance and outrage upon the innocent people of the surrounding
+country.
+
+If a Hindoo fancied himself injured or insulted by a Muhammadan he
+was apt to revenge himself upon the Muhammadans generally, and insult
+their religion by throwing swine's flesh, or swine's blood, into one
+of their tombs or churches; and the latter either flew to arms at
+once to revenge their God, or retaliated by throwing the flesh or the
+blood of the cow into the first Hindoo temple at hand, which made the
+Hindoos fly to arms. The guilty and the wicked commonly escaped,
+while numbers of the weak, the innocent and the unoffending were
+slaughtered. The magnificent buildings, therefore, instead of being
+at the time bonds of union, were commonly sources of the greatest
+discord among the whole community, and of the most painful
+humiliation to the Hindoo population. During the bigoted reign of
+Aurangzêb and his successors a Hindoo's presence was hardly tolerated
+within sight of these tombs or churches; and had he been discovered
+entering one of them, he would probably have been hunted down like a
+mad dog. The recollection of such outrages, and the humiliation to
+which they gave rise, associated as they always are in the minds of
+the Hindoos with the sight of these buildings, are perhaps the
+greatest source of our strength in India; because they at the same
+time feel that it is to us alone they owe the protection which they
+now enjoy from similar injuries. Many of my countrymen, full of
+virtuous indignation at the outrages which often occur during the
+processions of the Muharram, particularly when these happen to take
+place at the same time with some religious procession of the Hindoos,
+are very anxious that our Government should interpose its authority
+to put down both. But these processions and occasional outrages are
+really sources of great strength to us; they show at once the
+necessity for the interposition of an impartial tribunal, and a
+disposition on the part of the rulers to interpose impartially. The
+Muhammadan festivals are regulated by the lunar, and those of the
+Hindoos by the solar year, and they cross each other every thirty or
+forty years, and furnish fair occasions for the local authorities to
+interpose effectually.[7] People who receive or imagine insults or
+injuries commonly postpone their revenge till these religious
+festivals come round, when they hope to be able to settle their
+accounts with impunity among the excited crowd. The mournful
+procession of the Muharram, when the Muhammadans are inflamed to
+madness by the recollection of the really affecting incidents of the
+massacre of the grandchildren of their prophet, and by the images of
+their tombs, and their sombre music,[8] crosses that of the Holî[9]
+(in which the Hindoos are excited to tumultuous and licentious joy by
+their bacchanalian songs and dances) every thirty-six years; and they
+reign together for some four or five days, during which the scene in
+every large town is really terrific. The processions are liable to
+meet in the street, and the lees of the wine of the Hindoos, or the
+red powder which is substituted for them, is liable to fall upon the
+tombs of the others. Hindoos pass on, forgetting in their saturnalian
+joy all distinctions of age, sex, or religion, their clothes and
+persons besmeared with the red powder, which is moistened and thrown
+from all kinds of machines over friend and foe; while meeting these
+come the Muhammadans, clothed in their green mourning, with gloomy
+downcast looks, beating their breasts, ready to kill themselves, and
+too anxious for an excuse to kill anybody else. Let but one drop of
+the lees of joy fall upon the image of the tomb as it passes, and a
+hundred swords fly from their scabbards; many an innocent person
+falls; and woe be to the town in which the magistrate is not at hand
+with his police and military force. Proudly conscious of their power,
+the magistrates refuse to prohibit one class from laughing because
+the other happens to be weeping; and the Hindoos on such occasions
+laugh the more heartily to let the world see that they are free to do
+so.
+
+A very learned Hindoo once told me in Central India that the oracle
+of Mahâdêo had been at the same time consulted at three of his
+greatest temples--one in the Deccan, one in Râjputâna, and one, I
+think, in Bengal--as to the result of the government of India by
+Europeans, who seemed determined to fill all the high offices of
+administration with their own countrymen, to the exclusion of the
+people of the country. A day was appointed for the answer; and when
+the priest came to receive it they found Mahâdêo (Siva) himself with
+a European complexion, and dressed in European clothes. He told them
+that their European Government was in reality nothing more than a
+multiplied incarnation of himself; and that he had come among them in
+this shape to prevent their cutting each other's throats as they had
+been doing for some centuries past; that these, his incarnations,
+appeared to have no religion themselves in order that they might be
+the more impartial arbitrators between the people of so many
+different creeds and sects who now inhabited the country; that they
+must be aware that they never had before been so impartially
+governed, and that they must continue to obey these their governors,
+without attempting to pry further into futurity or the will of the
+gods. Mahâdêo performs a part in the great drama of the Râmâyana, or
+the Rape of Sîta, and he is the only figure there that is represented
+with a _white face_.[10]
+
+I was one day praising the law of primogeniture among ourselves to a
+Muhammadan gentleman of high rank, and defending it on the ground
+that it prevented that rivalry and bitterness of feeling among
+brothers which were always found among the Muhammadans, whose law
+prescribes an equal division of property, real and personal, among
+the sons, and the _choice of the wisest_ among them as successor to
+the government.[11] 'This', said he, 'is no doubt the source of our
+weakness, but why should you condemn a law which is to you a source
+of so much strength? I, one day', said he, 'asked Mr. Seaton, the
+Governor-General's representative at the court of Delhi, which of all
+things he had seen in India he liked best. "You have", replied he,
+smiling, "a small species of melon called 'phût' (disunion); this is
+the thing we like best in your land." There was', continued my
+Muhammadan friend, 'an infinite deal of sound political wisdom in
+this one sentence. Mr. Seaton was a very good and a very wise man.
+Our European governors of the present day are not at all the same
+kind of thing. I asked Mr. B., a judge, the same question many years
+afterwards, and he told me that he thought the rupees were the best
+things he had found in India. I asked Mr. T., the Commissioner, and
+he told me that he thought the tobacco which he smoked in his hookah
+was the best thing. And pray, sir, what do you think the best thing?'
+
+'Why, Nawâb Sâhib, I am always very well pleased when I am free from
+pain, and can get my nostrils full of cool air, and my mouth full of
+cold water in this hot land of yours; and I think most of my
+countrymen are the same. Next to these, the thing we all admire most
+in India, Nawâb Sâhib, is the entire exemption which you and I and
+every other gentleman, native or European, enjoy from the taxes which
+press so heavily upon them in other countries.[12] In Kâshmîr, no
+midwife is allowed to attend a woman in her confinement till a heavy
+tax has been paid to Ranjît Singh for the infant; and in England, a
+man cannot let the light of heaven into his house till he has paid a
+tax for the window.'[13]
+
+'Nor keep a dog, nor shoot a partridge in the jungle, I am told,'
+said the Nawâb.
+
+'Quite true, Nawâb Sâhib.'
+
+'Hindustan, sir,' said he, 'is, after all, the best country in the
+world; the only thing wanted is a little more (_rozgâr_) employment
+for the educated classes under Government.'
+
+'True, Nawâb Sâhib, we might, no doubt, greatly multiply this
+employment to the advantage of those who got the places, but we
+should have to multiply at the same time the taxes, to the great
+disadvantage of those who did not get them.'
+
+'True, very true, sir,' said my old friend.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. Farîdpur is a mistake for Farîdâbâd, a small town sixteen miles
+from Delhi, founded in 1607 by Shaikh Farîd, treasurer of Jahângîr,
+to protect the high road between Agra and Delhi.
+
+3. The beds are dry in the cold season, but the streams, which flow
+from the hills to the south of Delhi, are torrents in the rainy
+season.
+
+4. But the education in such schools is of very little value, being
+commonly confined to the committing of the Korân to memory by boys
+ignorant of Arabic.
+
+5. In modern India the British buildings are far more varied, and
+many aspire to some architectural merit.
+
+6. Muhammad is said to have received these communications in all
+situations; sometimes when riding along the road on his camel, he
+became suddenly red in the face, and greatly agitated; he made his
+camel sit down immediately, and called for some one to write. His
+rhapsodies were all written at the time on leaves and thrown into a
+box. Gabriel is believed to have made him repeat over the whole once
+every year during the month of Ramazân. In the year he died Muhammad
+told his followers that the angel had made him repeat them over twice
+that year, and that he was sure he would not live to receive another
+visit. [W. H. S.]
+
+7. The Muhammadan year consists of twelve lunar months of 30 and 29
+days alternately. The common year, therefore, consists of only 354
+days. But, when intercalary days in certain years are allowed for,
+the mean year consists of 354 11/30 days. Inasmuch as a solar year
+consists of about 365 1/4 days, the difference amounts to nearly 11
+days, and any given month in the Muhammadan year consequently goes
+the round of the seasons in course of time.
+
+8. The Muharram celebration takes its name from the first month of
+the Muhammadan year, during which it takes place. Alî, the cousin of
+Muhammad, was married to the prophet's daughter Fatima, and,
+according to the Shîa sect, must be regarded as the lawful successor
+of Muhammad, who died in June, A.D. 632. But, as a matter of fact,
+Omar, Abû Bakr, and Othmân (Usmân) in turn succeeded to the
+Khalîfate, and Alî did not take possession of the office till A.D.
+655. After five and a half years' reign he was assassinated in
+January, A.D. 661, and his son Hasan, who for a few months had held
+the vacant office, was poisoned in A.D. 670. Husain, the younger son
+of Alî, strove to assert his rights by force of arms, but was slain
+on the tenth day of the month Muharram (10th October, A.D. 680) in a
+great battle fought at Karbalâ near the Euphrates. These events are
+commemorated yearly by noisy funeral processions. Properly, the
+proceedings ought to be altogether mournful, and confined to the Shîa
+sect, but in practice, Sunnî Muhammadans, and even Hindoos, take part
+in the ceremonies, which are regarded by many of the populace as no
+more solemn than a Lord Mayor's show.
+
+9. The disgusting festival of the Holî, celebrated with drunkenness
+and obscenity, takes place in March, and is supposed to be the
+festival of the vernal equinox (see _ante_, chapter 27 note 16). The
+magistrates in India have no duty which requires more tact,
+discretion, and firmness than the regulation of conflicting religions
+processions. The general disarmament of the people has rendered
+collisions less dangerous and sanguinary than they used to be, but,
+in spite of all precautions, they still occur occasionally. The total
+prohibition of processions likely to cause collisions is, of course,
+impracticable.
+
+10. Ante chapter 15 text at [9].
+
+11. Muslim daughters also succeed, each taking half the share of a
+son.
+
+12. _Tempora mutantur_. The land revenue, in the author's time, fully
+preserved its character of rent, and obviously was not a tax. Later
+legislation has obscured its real nature, and made it look like a
+tax. When the author wrote, the only taxes levied were indirect ones,
+as that on salt, which was paid unconsciously. The modern income-tax,
+local rates, municipal taxation, and gun licences were all unknown.
+
+13. The window tax was levied at varying rates from 1697 to 1851.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 67
+
+
+The Old City of Delhi.
+
+On the 21st we went on eight miles to the Kutb Mînâr, across the
+range of sandstone hills, which rise to the height of about two
+hundred feet, and run north and south. The rocks are for the most
+part naked, but here and there the soil between them is covered with
+_famished_ grass, and a few stunted shrubs; anything more
+unprepossessing can hardly be conceived than the aspect of these
+hills, which seem to serve no other purpose than to store up heat for
+the people of the great city of Delhi. We passed through a cut in
+this range of hills, made apparently by the stream of the river Jumna
+at some remote period, and about one hundred yards wide at the
+entrance. This cut is crossed by an enormous stone wall running north
+and south, and intended to shut in the waters, and form a lake in the
+opening beyond it. Along the brow of the precipice, overlooking the
+northern end of the wall, is the stupendous fort of Tughlakâbâd,
+built by the Emperor Tughlak the First[1] of the sandstones of the
+range of hills on which it stands, cut into enormous square
+blocks.[2]
+
+On the brow of the opposite side of the precipice, overlooking the
+southern end of the wall, stands the fort of Muhammadâbâd, built by
+this Emperor's son and successor, Muhammad, and resembling in all
+things that built by his father.[3] These fortresses overlooked the
+lake, with the old city of Delhi spread out on the opposite side of
+it to the west. There is a third fortress upon an isolated hill, east
+of the great barrier wall, said to have been built in honour of his
+master by the Emperor Tughlak's _barber_.[4] The Emperor's tomb
+stands upon an isolated rock in the middle of the once lake, now
+plain, about a mile to the west of the barrier wall. The rock is
+connected with the western extremity of the northern fortress by a
+causeway of twenty-five arches, and about one hundred and fifty yards
+long. This is a fine tomb, and contains in a square centre room the
+remains of the Emperor Tughlak, his wife, and his son. The tomb is
+built of red sandstone, and surmounted by a dome of white marble. The
+three graves inside are built of brick covered with stucco work. The
+outer sides of the tomb slope slightly inwards from the base, in the
+form of a pyramid; but the inner walls are, of course,
+perpendicular.[5]
+
+The impression left on the mind after going over these stupendous
+fortifications is that the arts which contribute to the comforts and
+elegancies of life must have been in a very rude state when they were
+raised. Domestic architecture must have been wretched in the extreme.
+The buildings are all of stone, and almost all without cement, and
+seem to have been raised by giants, and for giants, whose arms were
+against everybody, and everybody's arm against them. This was indeed
+the state of the Pathân sovereigns in India--they were the creatures
+of their armies; and their armies were also employed against the
+people, who feared and detested them all.[6]
+
+The Emperor Tughlak, on his return at the head of the army, which he
+had led into Bengal to chastise some rebellious subjects, was met at
+Afghânpur by his eldest son, Jûnâ, whom he had left in the government
+of the capital. The prince had in three days raised here a palace of
+wood for a grand entertainment to do honour to his father's return;
+and when the Emperor signified his wish to retire, all the courtiers
+rushed out before him to be in attendance, and among the rest, Jûnâ
+himself. Five attendants only remained when the Emperor rose from his
+seat, and at that moment the building fell in and crushed them and
+their master. Jûnâ had been sent at the head of an army into the
+Deccan, where he collected immense wealth from the plunder of the
+palaces of princes and the temples of their priests, the only places
+in which much wealth was to be found in those days. This wealth he
+tried to conceal from his father, whose death he probably thus
+contrived, that he might the sooner have the free enjoyment of it
+with unlimited power.[7]
+
+Only thirty years before, Alâ-ud-dîn, returning in the same manner at
+the head of an army from the Deccan loaded with wealth, murdered the
+Emperor Fîrôz the Second, the father of his wife, and ascended the
+throne.[8] Jûnâ ascended the throne under the name of Muhammad the
+Third;[9] and, after the remains of his father had been deposited in
+the tomb I have described, he passed in great pomp and splendour from
+the fortress of Tughlakâbâd, which his father had just then
+completed, to the city in which the Mînâr stands, with elephants
+before and behind loaded with gold and silver coins, which were
+scattered among the crowd, who everywhere hailed him with shouts of
+joy. The roads were covered with flowers, the houses adorned with the
+richest stuffs, and the streets resounded with music.
+
+He was a man of great learning, and a great patron of learned men; he
+was a great founder of churches, had prayers read in them at the
+prescribed times, and always went to prayers five times a day
+himself.[10] He was rigidly temperate himself in his habits, and
+discouraged all intemperance in others. These things secured him
+panegyrists throughout the empire during the twenty-seven years that
+he reigned over it, though perhaps he was the most detestable tyrant
+that ever filled a throne. He would take his armies out over the most
+populous and peaceful districts, and hunt down the innocent and
+unoffending people like wild beasts, and bring home their heads by
+thousands to hang them on the city gates for his mere amusement. He
+twice made the whole people of the city of Delhi emigrate with him to
+Daulatâbâd in Southern India, which he wished to make the capital,
+from some foolish fancy; and during the whole of his reign gave
+evident signs of being in an unsound state of mind.[11] There was at
+the time of his father's death a saint at Delhi named Nizâmuddîn
+Aulia, or the Saint, who was supposed by supernatural means to have
+driven from Delhi one night in a panic a large army of Moghals under
+Tarmasharîn, who invaded India from Transoxiana in 1303, and laid
+close siege to the city of Delhi, in which the Emperor Alâ-ud-dîn was
+shut up without troops to defend himself, his armies being engaged in
+Southern India.[12] It is very likely that he did strike this army
+with a panic by getting some of their leaders assassinated in one
+night. He was supposed to have the 'dast ul ghaib', or supernatural
+purse' [literally, 'invisible hand'], as his private expenditure is
+said to have been more lavish even than that of the Emperor himself,
+while he had no ostensible source of income whatever. The Emperor was
+either jealous of his influence and display, or suspected him of dark
+crimes, and threatened to humble him when he returned to Delhi. As he
+approached the city, the friends of the saint, knowing the resolute
+spirit of the Emperor, urged him to quit the capital, as he had been
+often heard to say, 'Let me but reach Delhi, and this proud priest
+shall be humbled'.
+
+The only reply that the saint would ever deign to give from the time
+the imperial army left Bengal, till it was within one stage of the
+capital, was '_Dihlî dûr ast_'; 'Delhi is still far off'. This is now
+become a proverb over the East equivalent to our 'There is many a
+slip between the cup and the lip'. It is probable that the saint had
+some understanding with the son in his plans for the murder of his
+father; it is possible that his numerous wandering disciples may in
+reality have been murderers and robbers, and that he could at any
+time have procured through them the assassination of the Emperor. The
+Muhammadan Thugs, or assassins of India, certainly looked upon him as
+one of the great founders of their system, and used to make
+pilgrimages to his tomb as such; and, as he came originally from
+Persia, and is considered by his greatest admirers to have been in
+his youth a robber, it is not impossible that he may have been
+originally one of the 'assassins', or disciples of the 'old man of
+the mountains', and that he may have set up the system of Thuggee in
+India and derived a great portion of his income from it.[13] Emperors
+now prostrate themselves, and aspire to have their bones placed near
+it [_scil._ the tomb]. While wandering about the ruins, I remarked to
+one of the learned men of the place who attended us that it was
+singular Tughlak's buildings should be so rude compared with those of
+Iltutmish, who had reigned more than eighty years before him.[14]
+'Not at all singular,' said he, 'was he not under the curse of the
+holy saint Nizâm-ud-dîn?' 'And what had the Emperor done to merit the
+holy man's curse?' 'He had taken by force to employ upon his palaces
+several of the masons whom the holy man was employing upon a church,'
+said he.
+
+The Kutb Mînâr was, I think, more beyond my expectations than the
+Tâj; first, because I had heard less of it; and secondly, because it
+stands as it were alone in India--there is absolutely no other tower
+in this Indian empire of ours.[15]
+
+Large pillars have been cut out of single stones, and raised in
+different parts of India to commemorate the conquests of Hindoo
+princes, whose names no one was able to discover for several
+centuries, till an unpretending English gentleman of surprising
+talents and industry, Mr. James Prinsep, lately brought them to light
+by mastering the obsolete characters in which they and their deeds
+had been inscribed upon them.[16] These pillars would, however, be
+utterly insignificant were they composed of many stones. The
+knowledge that they are cut out of single stones, brought from a
+distant mountain, and raised by the united efforts of multitudes when
+the mechanical arts were in a rude state, makes us still view them
+with admiration.[17] But the single majesty of this Mînâr of Kutb-ud-
+dîn, so grandly conceived, so beautifully proportioned, so chastely
+embellished, and so exquisitely finished, fills the mind of the
+spectator with emotions of wonder and delight; without any such aid,
+he feels that it is among the towers of the earth what the Tâj is
+among the tombs--something unique of its kind that must ever stand
+alone in his recollections.[18]
+
+It is said to have taken forty-four years in building, and formed the
+left of two 'mînârs' of a mosque. The other 'mînâr' was never
+raised, but this has been preserved and repaired by the liberality of
+the British Government.[19] It is only 242 feet high, and 106 feet in
+circumference at the base. It is circular, and fluted vertically into
+twenty-seven semicircular and angular divisions. There are four
+balconies, supported upon large stone brackets, and surrounded with
+battlements of richly cut stone, to enable people to walk round the
+tower with safety. The first is ninety feet from the base, the second
+fifty feet further up, the third forty further; and the fourth
+twenty-four feet above the third. Up to the third balcony, the tower
+is built of fine, but somewhat ferruginous sandstone, whose surface
+has become red from exposure to the oxygen of the atmosphere. Up to
+the first balcony, the flutings are alternately semicircular and
+angular; in the second story they are all semicircular, and in the
+third all angular. From the third balcony to the top, the building is
+composed chiefly of white marble; and the surface is without the deep
+flutings. Around the first story there are five horizontal belts of
+passages from the Korân, engraved in bold relief, and in the Kufic
+character. In the second story there are four, and in the third
+three. The ascent is by a spiral staircase within, of three hundred
+and eighty steps; and there are passages from this staircase to the
+balconies, with others here and there for the admission of light and
+air.[20]
+
+A foolish notion has prevailed among some people, over-fond of
+paradox, that this tower is in reality a Hindoo building, and not, as
+commonly supposed, a Muhammadan one. Never was paradox supported upon
+more frail, I might say absurd, foundations. They are these: 1st,
+that there is only one Mînâr, whereas there ought to have been two--
+had the unfinished one been intended as the second, it would not have
+been, as it really is, larger than the first; 2nd, that other
+Mînârs seen in the present day either do not slope inward from the
+base up at all, or do not slope so much as this. I tried to trace the
+origin of this paradox, and I think I found it in a silly old
+'munshî' (clerk) in the service of the Emperor. He told me that he
+believed it was built by a former Hindoo prince for his daughter, who
+wished to worship the rising sun, and view the waters of the Jumna
+from the top of it every morning.[21]
+
+There is no other Hindoo building like, or of the same kind as
+this;[22] the ribbons or belts of passages from the Korân are all in
+relief; and had they not been originally inserted as they are, the
+whole surface of the building must have been cut down to throw them
+out in bold relief. The slope is the peculiar characteristic of all
+the architecture of the Pathâns, by whom the church to which this
+tower belongs was built.[23] Nearly all the arches of the church are
+still standing in a more or less perfect state, and all correspond in
+design, proportion, and execution to the tower. The ruins of the old
+Hindoo temples about the place, and about every other place in India,
+are totally different in all three; here they are all exceedingly
+paltry and insignificant, compared with the church and its tower, and
+it is evident that it was the intention of the founder to make them
+appear so to future generations of the faithful, for he has taken
+care to make his own great work support rather than destroy them,
+that they might for ever tend to enhance its grandeur.[24] It is
+sufficiently clear that the unfinished mînâr was commenced upon too
+large a scale, and with too small a diminution of the circumference
+from the base upwards. It is two-fifths larger than the finished
+tower in circumference, and much more perpendicular. Finding these
+errors when they had got some thirty feet from the foundation, the
+founder, Shams-ud-dîn (Îltutmish), began to work anew, and had he
+lived a little longer, there is no doubt that he would have raised
+the second tower in its proper place, upon the same scale as the one
+completed. His death was followed by several successive revolutions;
+five sovereigns succeeded each other on the throne of Delhi in ten
+years.[25] As usual on such occasions, works of peace were suspended,
+and succeeding sovereigns sought renown in military enterprise rather
+than in building churches. This church was entire, with the exception
+of the second mînâr, when Tamerlane invaded India.[26] He took back a
+model of it with him to Samarkand, together with all the masons he
+could find at Delhi, and is said to have built a church upon the same
+plan at that place, before he set out for the invasion of Syria.
+
+The west face of the quadrangle, in which the tower stands, formed
+the church, which consisted of eleven large arched alcoves, the
+centre and largest of which contained the pulpit. In size and beauty
+they seem to have corresponded with the Mînâr, but they are now all
+in ruins.[27] In the front of the centre of these alcoves stands the
+metal pillar of the old Hindoo sovereign of Delhi, Prithî Râj, across
+whose temple all the great mosque, of which this tower forms a part,
+was thrown in triumph. The ruins of these temples he scattered all
+round the place, and consist of colonnades of stone pillars and
+pedestals, richly enough carved with human figures, in attitudes
+rudely and obscenely conceived. The small pillar is of bronze, or a
+metal which resembles bronze, and is softer than brass, and of the
+same form precisely as that of the stone pillar at Eran, on the Bînâ
+river in Mâlwâ, upon which stands the figure of Krishna, with the
+glory around his head.[28]
+
+It is said that this metal pillar was put down through the earth, so
+as to rest upon the very head of the snake that supports the world;
+and that the sovereign who made it, and fixed it upon so firm a
+basis, was told by his spiritual advisers that his dynasty should
+last as long as the pillar remained where it was. Anxious to see that
+the pillar was really where the priests supposed it to be, that his
+posterity might be quite sure of their position, Prithî Râj had it
+taken up, and he found the blood and some of the flesh of the snake's
+head adhering to the bottom. By this means the charm was broken, and
+the priests told him that he had destroyed all the hopes of his house
+by his want of faith in their assurances. I have never met a Hindoo
+that doubted either that the pillar was really upon this snake's
+head, or that the king lost his crown by his want of faith in the
+assurance of his priests. They all believe that the pillar is still
+stuck into the head of the great snake, and that no human efforts of
+the present day could remove it. On my way back to my tents, I asked
+the old Hindoo officer of my guard, who had gone with me to see the
+metal pillar, what he thought of the story of the pillar?
+
+'What the people relate about the "kîlî" (pillar) having been stuck
+into the head of the snake that supports the world, sir, is nothing
+more than a simple _historical_ fact known to everybody. Is it not
+so, my brothers?' turning to the Hindoo sipâhîs and followers around
+us, who all declared that no fact could ever be better established.
+
+'When the Râjâ,' continued the old soldier, 'had got the pillar fast
+into the head of the snake, he was told by his chief priest that his
+dynasty must now reign over Hindustan for ever. "But," said the Râjâ,
+"as all seems to depend upon the pillar being on the head of the
+snake, we had better see that it is so with our own eyes." He ordered
+it to be taken up; the clergy tried to dissuade him, but all in vain.
+Up it was taken--the flesh and blood of the snake were found upon it-
+-the pillar was replaced; but a voice was heard saying: "Thy want of
+faith hath destroyed thee--thy reign must soon end, and with it that
+of thy race."'
+
+I asked the old soldier from whence the voice came.
+
+He said this was a point that had not, he believed, been quite
+settled. Some thought it was from the serpent himself below the
+earth, others that it came from the high priest or some of his
+clergy. 'Wherever it came from,' said the old man, 'there is no doubt
+that God decreed the Râjâ's fall for his want of faith; and fall he
+did soon after.' All our followers concurred in this opinion, and the
+old man seemed quite delighted to think that he had had an
+opportunity of delivering his sentiments upon so great a question
+before so respectable an audience.
+
+The Emperor Shams-ud-dîn Îltutmish is said to have designed this
+great Muhammadan church at the suggestion of Khwâja Kutb-ud-dîn, a
+Muhammadan saint from Ûsh in Persia, who was his religious guide and
+apostle, and died some sixteen years before him.[29] His tomb is
+among the ruins of this old city. Pilgrims visit it from all parts of
+India, and go away persuaded that they shall have all they have
+asked, provided they have given or promised liberally in a pure
+spirit of faith in his influence with the Deity. The tomb of the
+saint is covered with gold brocade, and protected by an awning--those
+of the Emperors around it he naked and exposed. Emperors and princes
+lie all around him; and their tombs are entirely disregarded by the
+hundreds that daily prostrate themselves before his, and have been
+doing so for the last six hundred years.[30] Among the rest I saw
+here the tomb of Mu'azzam, alias Bahâdur Shâh, the son and successor
+of Aurangzêb, and that of the blind old Emperor Shâh Alam, from whom
+the Honourable Company got their Dîwanî grant.[31] The grass grows
+upon the slab that covers the remains of Mu'azzam, the most learned,
+most pious, and most amiable, l believe, of the crowned descendants
+of the great Akbar. These kings and princes all try to get a place as
+near as they can to the remains of such old saints, believing that
+the ground is more holy than any other, and that they may give them a
+lift on the day of resurrection. The heir apparent to the throne of
+Delhi visited the tomb the same day that I did. He was between sixty
+and seventy years of age.[32]
+
+I asked some of the attendants of the tomb, on my way back, what he
+had come to pray for; and was told that no one knew, but every one
+supposed it was for the death of the Emperor, his father, who was
+only fifteen years older, and was busily engaged in promoting an
+intrigue at the instigation of one of his wives, to oust him, and get
+one of her sons, Mirza Salîm, acknowledged as his successor by the
+British Government. It was the Hindoo festival of the Basant,[33] and
+all the avenues to the tomb of this old saint were crowded when I
+visited it. Why the Muhammadans crowded to the tomb on a Hindoo
+holiday I could not ascertain.
+
+The Emperor Îltutmish, who died A.D. 1235, is buried close behind one
+end of the arched alcove, in a beautiful tomb without its cupola. He
+built the tomb himself, and left orders that there should be no
+'parda' (screen) between him and heaven; and no dome was thrown over
+the building in consequence. Other great men have done the same, and
+their tombs look as if their domes had fallen in; they think the way
+should be left clear for a start on the day of resurrection.[34] The
+church is stated to have been added to it by the Emperor Balban, and
+the Mînâr finished.[35] About the end of the seventeenth century, it
+was so shaken by an earthquake that the two upper stories fell down.
+Our Government, when the country came into our possession, undertook
+to repair these two stories, and entrusted the work to Captain Smith,
+who built up one of stone, and the other of wood, and completed the
+repairs in three years. The one was struck by lightning eight or nine
+years after, and came down. If it was anything like the one that is
+left, the lightning did well to remove it.[36]
+
+ About five years ago, while the Emperor was on a visit to the tomb
+of Kutb-ud-dîn, a madman got into his private apartments. The
+servants were ordered to turn him out. On passing the Mînâr he ran
+in, ascended to the top, stood a few minutes on the verge, laughing
+at those who were running after him, and made a spring that enabled
+him to reach the bottom, without touching the sides. An eye-witness
+told me that he kept his erect position till about half-way down,
+when he turned over, and continued to turn till he got to the bottom,
+when his fall made a report like a gun. He was of course dashed to
+pieces. About five months ago another fell over by accident, and was
+dashed to pieces against the sides. A new road has been here cut
+through the tomb of the Emperor Alâ-ud-dîn, who murdered his father-
+in-law-the first Muhammadan conqueror of Southern India, and his
+remains have been scattered to the winds.[37]
+
+A very pretty marble tomb, to the west of the alcoves, covers the
+remains of Imâm Mashhadî, the religious guide of the Emperor Akbar;
+and a magnificent tomb of freestone covers those of his four foster-
+brothers. This was long occupied as a dwelling-house by the late Mr.
+Blake, of the Bengal Civil Service, who was lately barbarously
+murdered at Jaipur. To make room for his dining-tables he removed the
+marble slab, which covered the remains of the dead, from the centre
+of the building, against the urgent remonstrance of the people, and
+threw it carelessly on one side against the wall, where it now lies.
+The people appealed in vain, it is said, to Mr. Fraser, the Governor-
+General's representative, who was soon after assassinated; and a good
+many attribute the death of both to this outrage upon the remains of
+the dead foster-brother of Akbar. Those of Alâ-ud-dîn were, no doubt,
+older and less sensitive. Tombs equally magnificent cover the remains
+of the other three foster-brothers of Akbar, but I did not enter
+them.[38]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The Sultan, called by the author 'the Emperor Tughlak the First',
+as being the first of the Tughlak dynasty, was by birth a Karaunîah
+Turk, named Ghâzî Bêg Tughlak. He assumed the style of Ghiyâs-ud-dîn
+Tughlak Shâh when he seized the throne in A.D. 1320, and he reigned
+till A.D. 1325.
+
+2. This gigantic fortress is close to the village of Badarpur, about
+four miles due east of the Kutb Mînâr, and ten or twelve miles south
+of the modern city. The building of it occupied more than three
+years, but the whole undertaking 'proved eminently futile, as his son
+removed his Court to the old city within forty days after his
+accession.' (Thomas, _Chronicles of the Pathân Kings of Delhi_, 1871,
+p. 192.) The fort is described by Cunningham in _A.S.R._, vol. i, p.
+212, whose description is copied in the guide-books. See also
+Fanshawe, _Delhi Past and Present_ (John Murray, 1902), p. 288 and
+plate. That work is cited as 'Fanshawe'.
+
+3. Also called Adilâbâd. It is described in _A.S.R._, vol. i, p. 21;
+Carr Stephen, _The Archaeology and Monumental Remains of Delhi_,
+Ludhiana, 1876, p. 98; and Fanshawe, p. 291.
+
+4. '_The Barber's House_. This lies to the right of the road from
+Tughlâkâbad to Badarpur, and is close to the ruined city. It is said
+to have been built for Tughlak Shâh's barber about A.D. 1323. It is
+now a mere ruin.' (Harcourt, _The New Guide to Delhi_, Allahabad,
+1866, p. 88.)
+
+5. This fine tomb was built by Muhammad bin Tughlak (A.D. 1325-51).
+It is described by Cunningham in _A.S.R._, vol. i, p. 213. See also
+_Ann. Rep. A. S., India_, 1904-5, p. 19, fig. 11; _H.F.A._, p. 397,
+fig. 234; and Fanshawe, p. 290, with plate. Thomas (_Chronicles_, p.
+192) and Cunningham both say that the causeway, or viaduct, has
+twenty-seven, not only twenty-five, arches, as stated in the text.
+The causeway is 600 feet in length. The sloping walls are
+characteristic of the period.
+
+6. The blunder of calling the Sultâns of Delhi by the name Pathân,
+due to the translators of Firishta's History, has been perpetuated by
+Thomas's well-known work, _The Chronicles of the Pathân Kings of
+Delhi_, and in countless other books. The name is quite wrong. The
+only Pathân Sultâns were those of the Lodî dynasty, which immediately
+preceded Bâbur, and those of the Sûr dynasty, the rivals of Bâbur's
+son. 'He (_scil._ Ghiyâs-ud-dîn Balban) was a _Turk_ of the Ilbarî
+tribe, but compilers of Indian Histories and Gazetteers, and
+archaeological experts, turn him, like many Turks, Tâjzîks, Jâts, and
+Sayyids, into _Pathâns_, which is synonymous with Afghan, it being
+the vitiated Hindî equivalent of Pushtûn, the name by which the
+people generally known as Afghans call themselves, in their own
+language. . . . It is quite time to give up Dow and Briggs'
+Ferishta.' (Raverty, in _J.A.S.B._, vol. lxi (1892), Part I, p. 164,
+note.)
+
+7. The murder of Ghiyâs-ud-dîn Tughlak by his son Fakhr-ud-dîn Jûnâ,
+also called Ulugh Khân, occurred in the year A.H. 725, which began on
+18th December, 1324 (o.s.). The testimony of the contemporary
+traveller Ibn Batûtâ establishes the fact that the fall of the
+pavilion was premeditated. (Thomas, _Chronicles_, pp. 187, 189.) The
+murderer, on his accession to the throne (1325), assumed the style of
+Muhammad bin Tughlak Shâh.
+
+8. Jalâl-ud-dîn Fîrôz Shâh Khiljî was murdered by his son-in-law and
+nephew Alâ-ud-dîn at Karrâ on the Ganges in July, A.D. 1296. The
+murderer reigned until A.D. 1315 under the title of Alâ-ud-dîn
+Muhammad Shâh, Sikandar Sânî.
+
+9. As already noted, his proper style is Muhammad bin Tughlak Shâh.
+The word _bin_ means 'son of'. The Sultan is never called 'Muhammad
+the Third'.
+
+10. A Muhammadan must, if he can, say his prayers with the prescribed
+forms five times in the twenty-four hours; and on Friday, which is
+their sabbath, he must, if he can, say three prayers in the church
+_masjid_. On other days he may say them where he pleases. Every
+prayer must begin with the first chapter of the Korân--this is the
+grace to every prayer. This said, the person may put in what other
+prayers of the Korân he pleases, and ask for that which he most
+wants, as long as it does not injure other Musalmâns. This is the
+first chapter of the Korân: 'Praise be to God the Lord of all
+creatures--the most merciful--the King of the day of judgement. Thee
+do we worship, and of Thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in the
+right way--in the way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious; not
+of those against whom Thou art incensed; nor of those who go astray.'
+[W. H. S.] The quotation is from Sale's version. The last clause may
+also be rendered, 'The way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious,
+against whom Thou art not incensed, and who have not erred,' as Sale
+points out in his note.
+
+11. This mad tyrant, among other horrible deeds, flayed his nephew
+alive. He attempted to invade China through the Himâlayas, and for
+three years issued a forced currency of brass and copper, which he
+vainly tried to make people take as equal in value to silver. Strange
+to say, he was allowed to reign for nearly twenty-seven years, and to
+die peacefully in his bed. The hunts of the 'innocent and unoffending
+people' were organized rather to gain the benefit of 'sending
+infidels to hell' than for 'mere amusement'. Daulatâbâd was the name
+given by Muhammad bin Tughlak to the ancient fortress of Deogîr
+(Deogiri, Deoghur), situated about ten miles from Aurangâbâd, in what
+is now the Hyderabad State.
+
+12. In the original edition the Moghal leader's name is printed as
+'Turmachurn', the Tarmasharîn (with variations in spelling) of
+Muhammadan authors (see E. and D., iii. 42, 450, 507; v. 485; vi.
+222). The name Turghi is given by Thomas, who says he invested Delhi
+in A.H. 703, corresponding to A.D. 1303-4; and refers to an article
+in _J.A.S.B._, vol. xxxv (1866), Part I, pp. 199-218, entitled 'Notes
+on the History and Topography of the Ancient Cities of Delhi', by O.
+Campbell. (_Chronicles_, p. 175, note.) Campbell writes the leader's
+name as Turghai Khân. Apparently Tarmasharîn was identical with
+Turghi or Turghai Khân, but I am not sure that he was. The Moghals
+made several raids during the reign of Alâ-ud-dîn Muhammad Shâh.
+
+13. The tomb of Nizâm-ud-dîn is further noticed in the next chapter
+of this work. It is situated in an enclosure which contains other
+notable tombs. The following extract from the author's _Ramaseeana_
+(p. 121) gives additional particulars concerning this saint of
+questionable sanctity: '_Nizâm-ud-dîn Aulia_.--A saint of the Sunnî
+sect of Muhammadans, said to have been a Thug of great note at some
+period of his life, and his tomb near Delhi is to this day visited as
+a place of pilgrimage by Thugs, who make votive offerings to it. He
+is said to have been of the Barsot class, born in the month of Safar
+[633], Hijrî, March A.D. 1236; died Rabî-ul-awwal, 725, October A.D.
+1325. [The months as stated do not correspond.--_Ed_.] His tomb is
+visited by Muhammadan pilgrims from all parts as a place of great
+sanctity from containing the remains of so holy a man; but the Thugs,
+both Hindoo and Muhammadan, visit it as containing the remains of the
+most celebrated Thug of his day. He was of the Sunnî sect, and those
+of the Shîa sect find no difficulty in believing that he was a Thug;
+but those of his own sect will never credit it. There are perhaps no
+sufficient grounds to pronounce him one of the fraternity; but there
+are some to suspect that he was so at some period of his life. The
+Thugs say he gave it up early in life, but kept others employed in it
+till late, and derived an income from it; and the 'dast-ul-ghaib', or
+supernatural purse, with which he was supposed to be endowed, gives a
+colour to this. His lavish expenditure, so much beyond his ostensible
+means, gave rise to the belief that he was supplied from above with
+money.'
+
+The 'old man of the mountains' with whom the author compares Nizâm-
+ud-dîn (or at least the original 'old man of the mountains', Shaikh-
+ul Jabal), was Hasan-ibn-Sabbâh (or, us-Sabbâh), who founded the sect
+of so-called Assassins in the mountains on the shores of the Caspian,
+and flourished from about A.D. 1089 to 1124. Hulâkû the Mongol broke
+the power of the sect in A.D. 1256 (Thatcher, in _Encycl. Brit._,
+11th ed., 1910, s. v. 'Assassin').
+
+14. Shams-ud-dîn Îltutmish, who had been a slave, reigned from A.D.
+1210 to 1235. His Turkish name is variously written as Yulteemush,
+Altamsh, Alitmish, &c. The form Îltutmish is correct (_Z.D.M.G._,
+1907, p. 192). His tomb is discussed _post_.
+
+15. This is not quite accurate. A similar _mînâr_, or mosque tower,
+built in the middle of the thirteenth century, formerly existed at
+Koil in the Alîgarh district (_A.S.R._, i. 191), and two mosques at
+Bayâna in the Bharatpur State, have each only one _mînâr_, placed
+outside the courtyard (ibid., vol. iv, p. ix). Chitor in Rajputânâ
+possesses two noble Hindoo towers, one about 80 feet high, erected in
+connexion with Jain shrines, and the other, about 120 feet high,
+erected by Kumbha Rânâ as a tower or pillar of victory. (Fergusson,
+_Hist. of Indian and Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, vol. ii, pp.
+57-61.)
+
+16. The short life of James Prinsep extended only from August 20,
+1799, to April 22, 1840, and practically terminated in 1838, when his
+brain began to fail from the undue strain caused by incessant and
+varied activity. His memorable discoveries in archaeology and
+numismatics are recorded in the seven volumes of the _J.A.S.B._ for
+the years 1832-8. His contributions to those volumes were edited by
+B. Thomas, and republished in 1868 under the title of _Essays on
+Indian Antiquities_. Sir Alexander Cunningham, who was one of
+Prinsep's fellow workers, gives interesting details of the process by
+which the discoveries were made, in the Introduction to the first
+volume of the Reports of the Archaeological Survey. No adequate
+account of James Prinsep's remarkable career has been published. He
+was singularly modest and unassuming. A good summary of his life is
+given in Higginbotham's _Men whom India has Known_, 2nd ed., Madras,
+1874. See also the editor's paper, 'James Prinsep', in East and West,
+Bombay, July, 1906.
+
+17. The monolith pillars alluded to in the text are chiefly those of
+the great Emperor Piyadasi, Beloved of the Gods, also known by the
+name of Asoka. So far from being memorials of a time when 'the
+mechanical arts were in a rude state', the Asoka columns exhibit the
+arts of the stone-cutter and sculptor in perfection. They were
+erected about 242 to 230 B.C., and the inscriptions on them contain a
+code of moral and religions precepts. They do not commemorate
+conquests, although the Asoka pillar at Allahabad has been utilized
+by later sovereigns for the recording of magniloquent inscriptions in
+praise of their grandeur. The best-known of the Asoka pillars are the
+two at Delhi, and the one at Allahabad. Many scholars have devoted
+themselves to the study of the inscriptions of Asoka, which may be
+said to form the foundation of authentic Indian history. The reader
+interested in the subject should consult Senart, _Les Inscriptions de
+Piyadasi_, t. I and II, Paris, 1881, 1886; V. A. Smith, _Asoka, the
+Buddhist Emperor of India_, 2nd ed.. Oxford, 1909; and 'The
+Monolithic Pillars or Columns of Asoka' (_Z.D.M.G._, 1911, pp. 221-
+10). See also _E.H.I._, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1914), chap. 6, 7, with
+Bibliography. Certain of the Gupta emperors in the fifth century A.C.
+also erected monolith pillars. Some of the pillars of the Gupta
+period commemorate victories; others are merely religious monuments.
+
+18. Fergusson thought the Kutb Mînâr superior to Giotto's campanile
+at Florence in 'poetry of design and exquisite finish of detail'. He
+also held it to excel its taller Egyptian rival, the minaret of the
+mosque of Hasan at Cairo, in its nobler appearance, as well as in
+design and finish. To sum up, he held the Delhi monument to surpass
+any building of its class in the whole world. (_Hist. of Indian and
+Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 206.)
+
+19. Fergusson (ibid.) was mistaken in supposing that the Kutb Mînâr
+was intended for anything else than a _mâzina_, or tower from which
+the call to prayers should be proclaimed. It is that and nothing
+else. Several examples of early mosques with only one _mînâr_ each
+are known, at Koil and Bayâna, in India, as well as at Ghaznî and
+Cairo. The unfinished _mînâr_ of Alâuddîn near the Kutb Mînâr was
+intended for a distinct building, namely, his addition to the
+original Kutb mosque. There was no 'other _mînâr_' connected with the
+Kutb Mînâr.(Cunningham, _A.S.R._ iv (1874), p. ix.)
+
+The current name of the Kutb Mînâr refers to the saint Khwâja Kutb-
+ud-dîn of Ûsh, who lies near the tower, and not to Sultan Kutb-ud-dîn
+Aibak or Îbak. The _mînâr_ was erected, about A.D. 1232, by Sultan
+Shams-ud-dîn Îltutmish (V. A. Smith, 'Who Built the Kutb Mînâr?'
+_East and West_, Bombay, Dec. 1907, pp. 1200-5; B. N. Munshi, _The
+Kutb Mînâr, Delhi_, Bombay, 1911).
+
+ All the important monuments at or near Delhi are now carefully
+conserved, Lord Curzon having organized effective arrangements for
+the purpose.
+
+20. The original edition gives a coloured plate of the Kutb Mînâr.
+The total height stated in the text, 242 feet, is said by Fergusson
+(p. 205, note) to be that ascertained in 1794; the present height of
+the _mînâr_, since the modern pavilion on the top has been removed,
+is 238 feet 1 inch, according to Cunningham. (_A.S.R._, vol. i, p.
+196.) Originally the building was ten, or perhaps twenty, feet
+higher. The deep flutings appear to have been suggested by the
+_mînârs_ of Mahmûd at Ghaznî, 'which are star polygons in plan, with
+deeply indented angles'. The Kutb Mînâr was built by Sultan Îltutmish
+alone about A.D. 1232. The statement in most books, including
+Fanshawe (pp. 265-8, with plates), that it was _begun_ by Sultan
+Kutb-ud-dîn, is erroneous.
+
+21. The notion of the Hindoo origin of the Kutb Mînâr, which the
+author justly stigmatizes as 'foolish', was taken up by Sir Sayyid
+Ahmad Khân, the author of an Urdû work on the antiquities of Delhi,
+and by Sir A. Cunningham's assistant, Mr. Beglar, who wasted a great
+part of volume iv of the _Archaeological Survey Reports_ in trying to
+prove the paradox. His speculations on the subject were conclusively
+refuted by his chief in the Preface (pp. v-x) of the same volume. The
+mînâr was built by Hindoo masons, and, in consequence, some of the
+details, notably its overlapping or corbelled arches, are Hindoo.
+
+22. This is correct. The Hindoo 'towers of victory' are in a totally
+different style.
+
+23. On the misnomer 'Pathâns', see _ante_, previous note 6.
+
+24. The Kutb mosque was constructed from the materials of twenty-
+seven Hindoo temples. The colonnades retain much of their Hindoo
+character. (Fanshawe, p. 259 and plate.)
+
+25. The author's description of the unfinished tower is far from
+accurate. The tower was begun, not by Shams-ud-dîn Îltutmish, but by
+Alâ-ud-dîn Muhammad Shâh, in the year A.H. 711 (A.D. 1311). It is
+about 82 feet in diameter, and when cased with marble, as was
+intended, would have been at least 85 feet in diameter, or nearly
+double that of the Kutb Mînâr, which is 48 feet 4 inches. The total
+height of the column as it now stands is about 75 feet above the
+plinth, or 87 feet above the ground level. (_A.S.R._, vol. i, p. 205;
+vol. iv, p. 62, pl. vii; Thomas, _Chronicles_, p. 173, citing
+original authorities.) Carr Stephen (p. 67) gives the circumference
+as 254 feet, and the height as about 80 feet.
+
+26. Alâ-ud-dîn's additions were never completed. The sack of Delhi by
+Tîmûr Lang (Tamerlane) took place in December 1398. The Delhi sacked
+by him was the city known as Fîrôzâbâd.
+
+27. The glory of the mosque is . . . the great range of arches on the
+western side, extending north and south for about 385 feet, and
+consisting of three greater and eight smaller arches; the central one
+22 feet wide, and 53 feet high; the larger side-arches, 24 feet 4
+inches, and about the same height as the central arch; the smaller
+arches, which are unfortunately much ruined, are about half these
+dimensions.' The great arch 'has since been carefully restored by
+Government under efficient superintendence, and is now as sound and
+complete as when first erected. The two great side arches either were
+never completed, or have fallen down in consequence of the false mode
+of construction.' (Fergusson, _Hist. of I. and E. Archit._, ed. 1910,
+vol. ii, pp. 203, 204). The centre arch bears an inscription dated in
+A.H. 594, or A.D. 1198 (Thomas, _Chronicles_, p. 24).
+
+28. Most of the description of the Iron Pillar in the text is
+erroneous. The pillar has nothing to do with Prithî Râj, who was
+slain by the Muhammadans in A.D. 1192 (A.H. 588). The earliest
+inscription on it records the victories of a Râjâ Chandra, probably
+Chandra-varman, chief of Pokharan in Râjputâna in the fourth century
+A.C. (_E.H.I._, 3rd ed., 1914, p. 290, note). The pillar is by no
+means 'small' when its material is considered; on the contrary, it is
+very large. That material is not 'bronze, or a metal which resembles
+bronze', but is pure malleable iron, as proved by analysis. It has
+been suggested that this pillar must have been formed by gradually
+welding pieces together; if so, it has been done very skilfully,
+since no marks of such welding are to be seen. . . . The famous iron
+pillar at the Kutb, near Delhi, indicates an amount of skill in the
+manipulation of a large mass of wrought iron which has been the
+marvel of all who have endeavoured to account for it. It is not many
+years since the production of such a pillar would have been an
+impossibility in the largest foundries of the world, and even now
+there are comparatively few where a similar mass of metal could be
+tumed out. . . . The total weight must exceed six tons.' (V. Ball,
+_Economic Geology of India_, pp. 338, 339.) The metal is uninjured by
+rust, and the inscription is perfect. An exact facsimile is set up in
+the Indian Section of the Victoria and Albert Museum at South
+Kensington, The pillar is shown, with the smaller arches of the
+mosque, in _H.F.A._ fig. 232. See also Fanshawe, pp. 260, 264, and
+plates. The inscription was edited by Fleet (_Gupta Inscriptions_,
+1888, No. 32). The dimensions of the pillar are as follows: Height
+above ground (total), 22 ft,; height below ground, 1 ft. 8 in.;
+diameter at base, 16.4 in.; diameter at the capital, 12.05 in.;
+height of capital, 3 1/2 ft. At a distance of a few inches below the
+surface it expands in a bulbous form to a diameter of 2 ft. 4 in.,
+and rests on a gridiron of iron bars, which are fastened with lead
+into the stone pavement. (_A.S.R._, vol. iv, p. 28, pl. v.)
+
+This last prosaic fact, established by actual excavation, destroys
+the basis of all the current local legends and spurious traditions.
+
+29. This name is printed Ouse in the author's text. The saint
+referred to is the celebrated Kutb-ud-dîn Bakhtyâr Kâkî, commonly
+called Kutb Shâh, who died on the 27th of November, A.D. 1235.
+Îltutmish died in April, A.D. 1236 (Beale).
+
+30. The royal tombs are in the village of Mihraulî, close to the
+Kutb. See Carr Stephen, op. cit., pp. 180-4, and Fanshawe, pp. 280-4.
+
+31. That is to say, the revenue administration of Bengal, Bihâr, and
+Orissa in 1765.
+
+32. He is now Emperor, having succeeded his father, Akbar Shâh, in
+1837. [W. H. S.] He is known as Bahâdur Shâh II. In consequence of
+his having joined the rebels in 1857, he was deposed and banished. He
+died at Rangoon in 1862, and with him ended the line of Emperors of
+Delhi. He was born on the 24th of October, 1775, and so was in his
+sixty-first year when the author met him. His father was about
+seventy-eight (eighty lunar) years of age at his death.
+
+33. 'Basant' means the spring. The full name of this festival of the
+spring time is the Basant Panchamî.
+
+34. According to Harcourt (_The New Guide to Delhi_, 1866), the tomb
+of Îltutmish was erected by his children, the Sultânas Rukn-ud-dîn
+and Razîa, who reigned in succession after him for short periods,
+that is to say, Rukn-ud-dîn Fîrôz Shâh for six months and twenty-
+eight days, and the Empress Razîa for about three years, from A.D.
+1236 to 1239. (See Carr Stephen, p. 73.) Îltutmish died in April,
+A.D. 1236, not in 1235. Fergusson observes that this tomb is of
+special interest as being the oldest Muhammadan tomb known to exist
+in India. He also remarks (p. 509) that the effect at present is
+injured by the want of a roof, which, 'judging from appearance, was
+never completed, if ever commenced'. Harcourt (p. 120) states that
+'Fîrôz Shâh, who reigned from A.D. 1351 to A.D. 1385 [_sic_, 1388],
+is said to have placed a roof to the building, but it is doubtful if
+there ever was one, as there are no traces of the same. Cunningham
+and Carr Stephen (p. 74) both find sufficient evidence remaining to
+satisfy them that a dome once existed. Fanshawe (p. 269) says 'that
+the chamber was intended to be roofed is clear from the remains of
+the lowest course of a dome on the top of the south wall; but, if it
+was built for her father by Sultan Raziya, as seems probable, it is
+quite possible that the dome was never completed'. The interior, a
+square of 29 1/2 feet, is beautifully and elaborately decorated, and
+in wonderful preservation considering its age and the exposure to
+which it has been subjected. The walls are over seven feet thick, the
+principal entrance being to the east. The tomb is built of red
+sandstone and marble; the sarcophagus is in the centre, and is of
+pale marble.
+
+35. Sultan Ghiyâs-ud-dîn Balban reigned from February, A.D. 1266 to
+1286. I cannot discover any authority for the statement that he
+finished the Kutb Mînâr, and 'added the church'. It is not clear
+which 'church', or mosque, the author refers to. For a notice of
+Balban's tomb and buildings, see Carr Stephen, pp. 79-81, He
+certainly did not finish the Kutb Mînâr.
+
+36. See _A.S.R._, vol. i, p. 199. '_Top of the Kutb Mînâr_.--This
+octagonal stone pavilion was put up in A.D. 1826 over the Mînâr by
+Major Smith, of the Engineers, who had the superintendence of the
+repairs of the Kutb, but it was taken down by the order of
+Government' (Harcourt, _The New Guide to Delhi_, p. 123). This
+'grotesque ornament' was removed in 1848 by order of Lord Hardinge,
+and bereft of its wooden pavilion, which had carried a flag-staff
+(Carr Stephen, p. 64; Fanshawe, p. 266). It has now been moved
+farther and more out of sight.
+
+37. This alleged outrage does not appear to have really occurred. The
+author seems to have been misinformed about the position of Alâ-ud-
+dîn's tomb, which still exits in the central room of a building, the
+eastern wall of which is in part identical with the western wall of
+the extension of the Kutb Mosque, built by Îltutmish (Carr Stephen,
+op. cit., p. 88). Fanshawe agrees (p. 272).
+
+38. The tomb desecrated by Mr. Blake is on the right of the road
+leading from the Kutb Mînâr to the village of Mihraulî, and is either
+that of Adham Khân, whom Akbar put to death in A.D. 1562 for the
+murder of Shams-ud-dîn Muhammad Atgah Khân, one of the Emperor's
+foster fathers, or the neighbouring 'family grave enclosure' of his
+brothers, known as the _Chaunsath Khambhâ_, or Hall of Sixty-four
+Pillars. Adham Khân's tomb is still, or was until recently, used as a
+rest-house (Fanshawe, pp. 14, 228, 242, 256, 278; Carr Stephen, pp.
+31, 200, pl. ii). The best-known of the 'kokahs', or foster-brothers,
+of Akbar is Azîz, the son of Shams-ud-dîn above mentioned. Azîz
+received the title of Khân-i-Azam (Von Noer, _The Emperor Akbar_,
+transl. by Beveridge, vol. i, pp. 78, 95; and Blochmann, _Âîn-t-
+Akbarî_, vol. i, pp. 321, 323, &c.). The young chief of Jaipur died
+in 1834, and in the course of disturbances which followed, the
+Political Agent was wounded, and Mr. Blake, his assistant, was killed
+(D. Boulger, _Lord William Bentinck_, 'Rulers of India' series, p.
+143). I cannot find mention in any authority of Imâm Mashhadî. Mr.
+Fraser's murder has been fully described _ante_ chapter 64.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 68
+
+
+New Delhi, or Shâhjahânâbâd.
+
+On the 22nd of January, 1836, we went on twelve miles to the new city
+of Delhi, built by the Emperor Shâhjahân, and called after him
+Shâhjahânâbâd; and took up our quarters in the palace of the Bêgam
+Samrû, a fine building, agreeably situated in a garden opening into
+the great street, with a branch of the great canal running through
+it, and as quiet as if it had been in a wilderness.[1] We had
+obtained from the Bêgam permission to occupy this palace during our
+stay. It was elegantly furnished, the servants were all exceedingly
+attentive, and we were very happy.
+
+The Kutb Mînâr stands upon the back of the sandstone range of low
+hills, and the road descends over the north-eastern face of this
+range for half a mile, and then passes over a level plain all the way
+to the new city, which lies on the right bank of the river Jumna. The
+whole plain is literally covered with the remains of splendid
+Muhammadan mosques and mausoleums. These Muhammadans seem as if they
+had always in their thoughts the saying of Christ which Akbar has
+inscribed on the gateway at Fathpur Sîkrî: 'Life is a bridge which
+you are to pass over, and not to build your dwellings upon.'[2] The
+buildings which they have left behind them have almost all a
+reference to a future state--they laid out their means in a church,
+in which the Deity might be propitiated; in a tomb where leaned and
+pious men might chant their Korân over their remains, and youth be
+instructed in their duties; in a serai, a bridge, a canal built
+gratuitously for the public good, that those who enjoyed these
+advantages from generation to generation might pray for the repose of
+their souls. How could it be otherwise where the land was the
+property of Government, where capital was never concentrated or safe,
+when the only aristocracy was that of office, while the Emperor was
+the sole recognized heir of all his public officers?
+
+The only thing that he could not inherit were his tombs, his temples,
+his bridges, his canals, his caravanserais. I was acquainted with the
+history of most of the great men whose tombs and temples I visited
+along the road; but I asked in vain for a sight of the palaces they
+occupied in their day of pride and power. They all had, no doubt,
+good houses agreeably situated, like that of the Bêgam Samrû, in the
+midst of well-watered gardens and shrubberies, delightful in their
+season; but they cared less about them--they knew that the Emperor
+was heir to every member of the great body to which they belonged,
+the _aristocracy of office_; and might transfer all their wealth to
+his treasury, and all their palaces to their successors, the moment
+the breath should be out of their bodies.[3] If their sons got
+office, it would neither be in the same grades nor in the same places
+as those of their fathers.
+
+How different it is in Europe, where our aristocracy is formed upon a
+different basis; no one knows where to find the tombs in which the
+remains of great men who have passed away repose; or the churches and
+colleges they have founded; or the serâis, the bridges, the canals
+they formed gratuitously for the public good; but everybody knows
+where to find their 'proud palaces'; life is not to them 'a bridge
+over which they are to pass, and not build their dwellings upon'. The
+eldest sons enjoy all the patrimonial estates, and employ them as
+best they may to get their younger brothers into situations in the
+church, the army, the navy, and other public establishments, in which
+they may be honourably and liberally provided for out of the public
+purse.
+
+About half-way between the great tower and the new city, on the left-
+hand side of the road, stands the tomb of Mansûr Alî Khân, the great-
+grandfather of the present King of Oudh. Of all the tombs to be seen
+in this immense extent of splendid ruins, this is perhaps the only
+one raised over a subject, the family of whose inmates are now in a
+condition even to keep it in repair. It is a very beautiful
+mausoleum, built after the model of the Tâj at Agra; with this
+difference, that the external wall around the quadrangle of the Tâj
+is here, as it were, thrown back, and closed in upon the tomb. The
+beautiful gateway at the entrance of the gardens of the Tâj forms
+each of the four sides of the tomb of Mansûr Alî Khân, with all its
+chaste beauty of design, proportion, and ornament.[4] The quadrangle
+in which this mausoleum stands is about three hundred and fifty yards
+square, surrounded by a stone wall, with handsome gateways, and
+filled in the same manner as that of the Tâj at Agra, with cisterns
+and fruit-trees. Three kinds of stones are used--white marble, red
+sandstone, and the fine white and flesh-coloured sandstone of Rupbâs.
+The dome is of white marble, and exactly of the same form as that of
+the Tâj; but it stands on a neck or base of sandstone with twelve
+sides, and the marble is of a quality very inferior to that of the
+Tâj. It is of coarse dolomite, and has become a good deal discoloured
+by time, so as to give it the appearance, which Bishop Heber noticed,
+of _potted meat_. The neck is not quite so long as that of the Tâj,
+and is better covered by the marble cupolas that stand above each
+face of the building. The four noble minarets are, however, wanting.
+The apartments are all in number and form exactly like those of the
+Tâj, but they are somewhat less in size. In the centre of the first
+floor lies the beautiful marble slab that bears the date of this
+small pillar of a _tottering state_, A.H. 1167;[5] and in a vault
+underneath repose his remains by the side of those of one of his
+grand-daughters. The graves that cover these remains are of plain
+earth strewed with fresh flowers, and covered with plain cloth. About
+two miles from this tomb to the east stands that of the father of
+Akbar, Humâyûn, a large and magnificent building. As I rode towards
+this building to see the slab that covers the head of poor Dârâ
+Shikoh, I frequently cast a lingering look behind to view, as often
+as I could, this very pretty imitation of the most beautiful of all
+the tombs of the earth.[6]
+
+On my way I turned in to see the tomb of the celebrated saint, Nizâm-
+ud-dîn Auliâ, the defeater of the Transoxianian army under Tarmah
+Shîrîn in 1303, to which pilgrimages are still made from all parts of
+India.[7] It is a small building, surmounted by a white marble dome,
+and kept very clean and neat.[8] By its side is that of the poet
+Khusrû, his contemporary and friend, who moved about where he pleased
+through the palace of the Emperor Tughlak Shâh the First, five
+hundred years ago, and sang extempore to his lyre while the greatest
+and the fairest watched his lips to catch the expressions as they
+came warm from his soul. His popular songs are still the most
+popular; and he is one of the favoured few who live through ages in
+the every-day thoughts and feelings of many millions, while the
+crowned heads that patronized them in their brief day of pomp and
+power are forgotten, or remembered merely as they happened to be
+connected with them. His tomb has also a dome, and the grave is
+covered with rich brocade,[9] and attended with as much reverence and
+devotion as that of the great saint himself, while those of the
+emperors, kings, and princes that have been crowded around them are
+entirely disregarded. A number of people are employed to read the
+Korân over the grave of the old saint (_scil._ Nizâm-ud-dîn), who
+died A.H. 725 [A.D. 1324-5], and are paid by contributions from the
+present Emperor, and the members of his family, who occasionally come
+in their hour of need to entreat his intercession with the Deity in
+their favour, and by the humble pilgrims who flock from all parts for
+the same purpose. A great many boys are here educated by those
+readers of their sacred volume. All my attendants bowed their heads
+to the dust before the shrine of the saint, but they seemed
+especially indifferent to those of the royal family, which are all
+open to the sky. Respect shown or neglect towards them could bring
+neither good nor evil, while any slight to the tomb of the _crusty
+old saint_ might be of serious consequence.
+
+In an enclosure formed by marble screens beautifully carved is the
+tomb of the favourite son of the present Emperor,[10] Mirzâ Jahângîr,
+whom I knew intimately at Allahabad in 1816,[11] when he was killing
+himself as fast as he could with Hoffman's cherry brandy. 'This ', he
+would say to me, 'is really the only liquor that you Englishmen have
+worth drinking, and its only fault is that it makes one drunk too
+soon.' To prolong his pleasure, he used to limit himself to one large
+glass every hour, till he got dead drunk. Two or three sets of
+dancing women and musicians used to relieve each other in amusing him
+during this interval. He died, of course, soon, and the poor old
+Emperor was persuaded by his mother, the favourite sultana, that he
+had fallen a victim to sighing and grief at the treatment of the
+English, who would not permit him to remain at Delhi, where he was
+continually employed in attempts to assassinate his eldest brother,
+the heir apparent, and to stir up insurrections among the people. He
+was not in confinement at Allahabad, but merely prohibited from
+returning to Delhi. He had a splendid dwelling, a good income, and
+all the honours due to his rank.[12]
+
+In another enclosure of the same kind are the Emperor Muhammad
+Shâh,[13]--who reigned when Nâdir Shâh invaded Delhi--his mother,
+wife, and daughter; and in another close by is the tomb which
+interested me most, that of Jahânârâ Bêgam, the favourite sister of
+poor Dârâ Shikoh, and daughter of Shâh Jahân.[14] It stands in the
+same enclosure, with the brother of the present Emperor on one side,
+and his daughter on the other. Her remains are covered with a marble
+slab hollow at the top, and exposed to the sky--the hollow is filled
+with earth covered with green grass. Upon her tomb is the following
+inscription, the three first lines of which are said to have been
+written by herself:-
+
+ Let no rich canopy cover my grave.
+ This grass is the best covering for the tombs
+ of the poor in spirit.
+ The humble, the transitory Jahânârâ,
+ The disciple of the holy men of Chisht,
+ The daughter of the Emperor Shâh Jahân.'
+
+I went over the magnificent tomb of Humâyûn, which was raised over
+his remains by the Emperor Akbar. It stands in the centre of a
+quadrangle of about four hundred yards square, with a cloistered wall
+all round; but I must not describe any more tombs.[15] Here, under a
+marble slab, lies the head of poor Dârâ Shikoh, who, but for a little
+infirmity of temper, had perhaps changed the destinies of India, by
+changing the character of education among the aristocracy of the
+countries under his rule, and preventing the birth of the Marâthâ
+powers by leaving untouched the independent kingdoms of the Deccan,
+upon whose ruins, under his bigoted brother, the former rose. Secular
+and religions education were always inseparably combined among the
+Muhammadans, and invited to India from Persia by the public offices,
+civil and military, which men of education and courtly manners could
+alone obtain. These offices had long been exclusively filled by such
+men, who flocked in crowds to India from Khorâsân and Persia. Every
+man qualified by secular instruction to make his way at court and
+fill such offices was disposed by his religions instruction to assert
+the supremacy of his creed, and to exclude the followers of every
+other from the employments over which he had any control. The
+aristocracy of office was the ocean to which this stream of
+Muhammadan education flowed from the west, and spread all over India;
+and had Dârâ subdued his brothers and ascended the throne, he would
+probably have arrested the flood by closing the public offices
+against these Persian adventurers, and filling them with Christians
+and Hindoos. This would have changed the character of the aristocracy
+and the education of the people.[16]
+
+While looking upon the slab under which his head reposes, I thought
+of the slight 'accidents by flood and field', the still slighter
+thought of the brain and feeling of the heart, on which the destinies
+of nations and of empires often depend--on the discovery of the great
+diamond in the mines of Golconda--on the accident which gave it into
+the hands of an ambitions Persian adventurer--on the thought which
+suggested the advantage of presenting it to Shâh Jahân--on the
+feeling which made Dârâ get off, and Aurangzêb sit on his elephant at
+the battle of Samûgarh, on which depended the fate of India, and
+perhaps the advancement of the Christian religion and European
+literature and science over India.[17] But for the accident which
+gave Charles Martel the victory over the Saracens at Tours,[18]
+Arabic and Persian had perhaps been the classical languages, and
+Islamism the religion of Europe; and where we have cathedrals and
+colleges we might have had mosques and mausoleums; and America and
+the Cape, the compass and the press, the steam-engine, the telescope,
+and the Copernican System, might have remained still undiscovered;
+and but for the accident which turned Hannibal's face from Rome after
+the battle of Cannae, or that which intercepted his brother
+Asdrubal's letter, we might now all be speaking the languages of Tyre
+and Sidon, and roasting our own children in offerings to Siva or
+Saturn, instead of saving those of the Hindoos. Poor Dârâ! but for
+thy little jealousy of thy father and thy son, thy desire to do all
+thy work without their aid, and those occasional ebullitions of
+passion which alienated from thee the most powerful of all the Hindoo
+princes, whom it was so much thy wish and thy interest to cherish,
+thy generous heart and enlightened mind had reigned over this vast
+empire, and made it, perchance, the garden it deserves to be made.
+
+
+I visited the celebrated mosque known by the name of Jâmi (Jumma)
+Masjid, a fine building raised by Shâh Jahân, and finished in six
+years, A.H. 1060, at a cost of ten lâkhs of rupees or one hundred
+thousand pounds. Money compared to man's labour and subsistence is
+still four times more valuable in India than in England; and a
+similar building in England would cost at least four hundred thousand
+pounds. It is, like all the buildings raised by this Emperor, in the
+best taste and style.[19] I was attended by three well-dressed and
+modest Hindoos, and a Muhammadan servant of the Emperor. My attention
+was so much taken up with the edifice that I did not perceive, till I
+was about to return, that the doorkeepers had stopped my three
+Hindoos. I found that they had offered to leave their shoes behind,
+and submit to anything to be permitted to follow me; but the porters
+had, they said, strict orders to admit no worshippers of idols; for
+their master was a man of the book, and had, therefore, got a little
+of the truth in him, though unhappily not much, since his heart had
+not been opened to that of the Korân. Nathû could have told him that
+he also had a book, which he and some fourscore millions more thought
+as good as his or better; but he was afraid to descant upon the
+merits of his 'shâstras', and the miracles of Kishan Jî [Krishna],
+among such fierce, cut-throat-looking people; he looked, however, as
+if he could have eaten the porter, Korân and all, when I came to
+their rescue. The only volumes which Muhammadans designate by the
+name of the book are the Old and New Testaments, and the Korân.
+
+I visited also the palace, which was built by the same Emperor. It
+stands on the right bank of the Jumna, and occupies a quadrangle
+surrounded by a high wall built of red sandstone, about one mile in
+circumference; one side looks down into the clear stream of the
+Jumna, while the others are surrounded by the streets of the
+city.[20] The entrance is by a noble gateway to the west;[21] and
+facing this gateway on the inside, a hundred and twenty yards
+distant, is the Dîwân-î-Amm, or the common hall of audience. This is
+a large hall, the roof of which is supported upon four colonnades of
+pillars of red sandstone, now white-washed, but once covered with
+stucco work and gilded. On one of these pillars is shown the mark of
+the dagger of a Hindoo prince of Chitôr, who, in the presence of the
+Emperor, stabbed to the heart one of the Muhammadan ministers who
+made use of some disrespectful language towards him. On being asked
+how he presumed to do this in the presence of his sovereign he
+answered in the very words almost of Roderic Dhu,
+
+ I right my wrongs where they are given,
+ Though it were in the court of Heaven.[22]
+
+The throne projects into the hall from the back in front of the large
+central arch; it is raised ten feet above the floor, and is about ten
+feet wide, and covered by a marble canopy, all beautifully inlaid
+with mosaic work exquisitely finished, but now much dilapidated. The
+room or recess in which the throne stands is open to the front, and
+about fifteen feet wide and six deep. There is a door at the back by
+which the Emperor entered from his private apartments, and one on his
+left, from which his prime minister or chief officer of state
+approached the throne by a flight of steps leading into the hall. In
+front of the throne, and raised some three feet above the floor, is a
+fine large slab of white marble, on which one of the secretaries
+stood during the hours of audience to hand up to the throne any
+petitions that were presented, and to receive and convey commands. As
+the people approached over the intervening one hundred and twenty
+yards between the gateway and the hall of audience they were made to
+bow down lower and lower to the figure of the Emperor, as he sat upon
+his throne, without deigning to show by any motion of limb or muscle
+that he was really made of flesh and blood, and not cut out of the
+marble he sat upon.
+
+The marble walls on three sides of this recess are inlaid with
+precious stones representing some of the most beautiful birds and
+flowers of India, according to the boundaries of the country when
+Shâh Jahân built this palace, which included Kâbul and Kâshmîr,
+afterwards severed from it on the invasion of Nadir Shâh.[23]
+
+On the upper part of the back wall is represented, in the same
+precious stones, and in a graceful attitude, a European in a kind of
+Spanish costume, playing upon his guitar, and in the character of
+Orpheus charming the birds and beasts which he first taught the
+people of India so well to represent in this manner. This I have no
+doubt was intended by Austin de Bordeaux for himself. The man from
+Shîrâz, Amânat Khân, who designed all the noble Tughra characters in
+which the passages from the Korân are inscribed upon different parts
+of the Tâj at Agra, was permitted to place his own name in the same
+bold characters on the right-hand side as we enter the tomb of the
+Emperor and his queen. It is inscribed after the date, thus, A.H.
+1048 [A.D. 1638-9], 'The humble fakîr Amânat Khân of Shirâz.' Austin
+was a still greater favourite than Amânat Khân; and the Emperor Shâh
+Jahân, no doubt, readily acceded to his wishes to have himself
+represented in what appeared to him and his courtiers so beautiful a
+picture.[24]
+
+The Dîwân-i-Khâs, or hall of private audience, is a much more
+splendid building than the other from its richer materials, being all
+built of white marble beautifully ornamented. The roof is supported
+upon colonnades of marble pillars. The throne stands in the centre of
+this hall, and is ascended by steps, and covered by a canopy, with
+four artificial peacocks on the four corners.[25] Here, thought I, as
+I entered this apartment, sat Aurangzêb when he ordered the
+assassination of his brothers Dârâ and Murâd, and the imprisonment
+and destruction by slow poison of his son Muhammad, who had so often
+fought bravely by his side in battle. Here also, but a few months
+before, sat the great Shâh Jahân to receive the insolent commands of
+this same grandson Muhammad when flushed with victory, and to offer
+him the throne, merely to disappoint the hopes of the youth's father,
+Aurangzêb. Here stood in chains the graceful Sulaimân, to receive his
+sentence of death by slow poison with his poor young brother Sipihr
+Shikoh, who had shared all his father's toils and dangers, and
+witnessed his brutal murder.[26] Here sat Muhammad Shâh, bandying
+compliments with his ferocious conqueror, Nâdir Shâh, who had
+destroyed his armies, plundered his treasury, stripped his throne,
+and ordered the murder of a hundred thousand of the helpless
+inhabitants of his capital, men, women, and children, in a general
+massacre. The bodies of these people lay in the streets tainting the
+air, while the two sovereigns sat here sipping their coffee, and
+swearing to the most deliberate lies in the name of their God,
+Prophet, and Korân;--all are now dust; that of the oppressor
+undistinguishable from that of the oppressed.[27]
+
+Within this apartment and over the side arches at one end is
+inscribed in black letters the celebrated couplet, 'If there be a
+paradise on the face of the earth, it is this--it is this--it is
+this.[28] Anything more unlike paradise than this place now is can
+hardly be conceived. Here are crowded together twelve hundred _kings_
+and _queens_ (for all the descendants of the Emperors assume the
+title of Salâtîn, the plural of Sultan) literally eating each other
+up.[29]
+
+Government, from motives of benevolence, has here attempted to
+apportion out the pension they assign to the Emperor, to the
+different members of his great family circle who are to be subsisted
+upon it, instead of leaving it to his own discretion. This has
+perhaps tended to prevent the family from throwing off its useless
+members to mix with the common herd, and to make the population press
+against the means of subsistence within these walls. Kings and queens
+of the house of Tîmûr are to be found lying about in scores, like
+broods of vermin, without food to eat or clothes to cover their
+nakedness. It has been proposed by some to establish colleges for
+them in the palace to fit them by education for high offices under
+our Government. Were this done, this pensioned family, which never
+can possibly feel well affected towards our Government or any
+Government but their own, would alone send out men enough to fill all
+the civil offices open to the natives of the country, to the
+exclusion of the members of the humbler but better affected families
+of Muhammadans and Hindoos. If they obtained the offices they would
+be educated for, the evil to Government and to society would be very
+great; and if they did not get them, the evil would be great to
+themselves, since they would be encouraged to entertain hopes that
+could not be realized. Better let them shift for themselves and
+quietly sink among the crowd. They would only become rallying points
+for the dissatisfaction and multiplied sources of disaffection;
+everywhere doing mischief, and nowhere doing good. Let loose upon
+society, they everywhere disgust people by their insolence and
+knavery, against which we are every day required to protect the
+people by our interference; the prestige of their name will by
+degrees diminish, and they will sink by and by into utter
+insignificance. During his stay at Jubbulpore, Kâmbaksh, the nephew
+of the Emperor, whom I have already mentioned as the most sensible
+member of the family,[30] did an infinite deal of good by cheating
+almost all the tradesmen of the town. Till he came down among them
+with all his ragamuffins from Delhi, men thought the Padshâhs and
+their progeny must be something superhuman, something not to be
+spoken of, much less approached, without reverence. During the latter
+part of his stay my court was crowded with complaints; and no one has
+ever since heard a scion of the house of Tîmûr spoken of but as a
+thing to be avoided--a person more prone than others to take in his
+neighbours. One of these _kings_, who has not more than ten shillings
+a month to subsist himself and family upon, will, in writing to the
+representative of the British Government, address him as 'Fidwî
+Khâs', 'Your particular slave'; and be addressed in reply with 'Your
+majesty's commands have been received by your slave.'[31]
+
+I visited the college which is in the mausoleum of Ghâzî-ud-dîn, a
+fine building, with its usual accompaniment of a mosque and a
+college. The slab that covers the grave, and the marble screens that
+surround the ground that contains it, are amongst the most richly cut
+things that I have seen. The learned and pious Muhammadans in the
+institution told me in my morning visit that there should always be a
+small hollow in the top of marble slabs, like that on Jahânârâ's,
+whenever any of them were placed over graves, in order to admit
+water, earth, and grass; but that, strictly speaking, no slab should
+be allowed to cover the grave, as it could not fail to be in the way
+of the dead when summoned to get up by the trumpet of Azraîl on the
+day of the resurrection.'[32] 'Earthly pride,' said they, 'has
+violated this rule; and now everybody that can afford it gets a
+marble slab put over his grave. But it is not only in this that men
+have been falling off from the letter and spirit of the law; for we
+now hear drums beating and trumpets sounding even among the tombs of
+the saints, a thing that our forefathers would not have considered
+possible. In former days it was only a prophet like Moses, Jesus, or
+Muhammad, that was suffered to have a stone placed over his head.' I
+asked them how it was that the people crowded to the tombs of their
+saints, as I saw them at that of Kutb Shâh in old Delhi, on the
+Basant, a Hindoo festival. 'It only shows,' said they 'that the end
+of the world is approaching. Are we not divided into seventy-two
+sects among ourselves, all falling off into Hinduism, and every day
+committing greater and greater follies? These are the manifest signs
+long ago pointed out by wise and holy men as indicating the approach
+of the _last day_.'[33]
+
+A man might make a curious book out of the indications of the end of
+the world according to the notions of different people or different
+individuals. The Hindoos have had many different worlds or ages; and
+the change from the good to the bad, or the golden to the iron age,
+is considered to have been indicated by a thousand curious
+incidents.[34] I one day asked an old Hindoo priest, a very worthy
+man, what made the five heroes of the Mahâbhârata, the demigod
+brothers of Indian story, leave the plains and bury themselves no one
+knew where, in the eternal snows of the Himâlaya mountains. 'Why,
+sir,' said he, 'there is no question about that. Yudhisthira, the
+eldest, who reigned quietly at Delhi after the long war, one day sat
+down to dinner with his four brothers and their single wife,
+Draupadî; for you know, sir, they had only one among them all. The
+king said grace and the covers were removed, when, to their utter
+consternation, a full-grown fly was seen seated upon the dish of rice
+that stood before his majesty. Yudhisthira rose in consternation.
+'When flies begin to blow upon men's dinners,' said his majesty, 'you
+may be sure, my brothers, that the end of the world is near--the
+golden age is gone--the iron one has commenced, and we must all be
+off; the plains of India are no longer a fit abode for gentlemen.'
+Without taking one morsel of food,' added the priest, 'they set out,
+and were never after seen or heard of. They were, however, traced by
+manifest supernatural signs up through the valley of the Ganges to
+the snow tops of the Himâlaya, in which they no doubt left their
+mortal coils.' They seem to feel a singular attachment for the
+birthplace of their great progenitrix, for no place in the world is,
+I suppose, more infested by them than Delhi, at present; and there a
+dish of rice without a fly would, in the iron, be as rare a thing as
+a dish with one in the golden, age.
+
+Muhammadans in India sigh for the restoration of the old Muhammadan
+regime, not from any particular attachment to the descendants of
+Tîmûr, but with precisely the same feelings that Whigs and Tories
+sigh for the return to power of their respective parties in England;
+it would give them all the offices in a country where office is
+everything. Among them, as among ourselves, every man is disposed to
+rate his own abilities highly, and to have a good deal of confidence
+in his own good luck; and all think that if the field were once
+opened to them by such a change, they should very soon be able to
+find good places for themselves and their children in it. Perhaps
+there are few communities in the world among whom education is more
+generally diffused than among Muhammadans in India. He who holds an
+office worth twenty rupees a month commonly gives his sons an
+education equal to that of a prime minister. They learn, through the
+medium of the Arabic and Persian languages, what young men in our
+colleges learn through those of the Greek and Latin--that is,
+grammar, rhetoric, and logic. After his seven years of study, the
+young Muhammadan binds his turban upon a head almost as well filled
+with the things which appertain to these branches of knowledge as the
+young man raw from Oxford--he will talk as fluently about Socrates
+and Aristotle, Plato, and Hippocrates, Galen and Avicenna: (_alias_
+Sokrât, Aristotalis, Aflâtûn, Bokrât, Jâlînus, and Bû Alî Sena); and,
+what is much to his advantage in India, the languages in which he has
+learnt what he knows are those which he most requires through
+life.[35] He therefore thinks himself as well fitted to fill the high
+offices which are now filled exclusively by Europeans, and naturally
+enough wishes the establishments of that power would open them to
+him. On the faculties and operations of the human mind, on man's
+passions and affections, and his duties in all relations of life, the
+works of Imâm Muhammad Ghazâlî[36] and Nâsir-ud-dîn Tûsî[37] hardly
+yield to those of Plato and Aristotle, or to those of any other
+authors who have written on the same subjects in any country. These
+works, the _Ihya-ul-ulûm_, epitomized into the _Kîmiâ-i-Saâdat_, and
+the _Akhlâk-i-Nâsirî_, with the didactic poems of Sâdî,[38] are the
+great 'Pierian spring' of moral instruction from which the Muhammadan
+delights to 'drink deep' from infancy to old age; and a better spring
+it would be difficult to find in the works of any other three men.
+
+It is not only the desire for office that makes the educated
+Muhammadans cherish the recollection of the old regime in Hîndustan:
+they say, 'We pray every night for the Emperor and his family,
+because our forefathers ate the salt of his forefathers'; that is,
+our ancestors were in the service of his ancestors; and,
+consequently, were the _aristocracy_ of the country. Whether they
+really were so matters not; they persuade themselves or their
+children that they were. This is a very common and a very innocent
+sort of vanity. We often find Englishmen in India, and I suppose in
+all the rest of our foreign settlements, sporting high Tory opinions
+and feelings, merely with a view to have it supposed that their
+families are, or at some time were, among the aristocracy of the
+land. To express a wish for Conservative predominance is the same
+thing with them as to express a wish for the promotion in the Army,
+Navy, or Church of some of their near relations; and thus to indicate
+that they are among the privileged class whose wishes the Tories
+would be obliged to consult were they in power.[39]
+
+Man is indeed 'fearfully and wonderfully made'; to be fitted himself
+for action in the world, or for directing ably the actions of others,
+it is indispensably necessary that he should mix freely from his
+youth up with his fellow men. I have elsewhere mentioned that the
+state of imbecility to which a man of naturally average powers of
+intellect may be reduced when brought up with his mother in the
+seraglio is inconceivable to those who have not had opportunities of
+observing it.[40] The poor old Emperor of Delhi, to whom so many
+millions look up, is an instance. A more venerable-looking man it is
+difficult to conceive, and had he been educated and brought up with
+his fellow men, he would no doubt have had a mind worthy of his
+person.[41] As it is, he has never been anything but a baby. Râjâ
+Jîvan Râm, an excellent portrait painter, and a very honest and
+agreeable person, was lately employed to take the Emperor's portrait.
+After the first few sittings, the portrait was taken into the
+seraglio to the ladies. The next time he came, the Emperor requested
+him to remove the great _blotch from under the nose_. 'May it please
+your majesty, it is impossible to draw any person without _a shadow_;
+and I hope many millions will long continue to repose under that of
+your majesty.' 'True, Râjâ,' said his majesty, 'men must have
+shadows; but there is surely no necessity for placing them
+immediately under their noses. The ladies will not allow mine to be
+put there; they say it looks as if I had been taking snuff all my
+life, and it certainly has a most filthy appearance; besides, it is
+all awry, as I told you when you began upon it.' The Râjâ was obliged
+to remove from under the imperial, and certainly very noble, nose,
+the shadow which he had thought worth all the rest of the picture.
+Queen Elizabeth is said, by an edict, to have commanded all artists
+who should paint her likeness, 'to place her in a garden with a full
+light upon her, and the painter to put _any shadow_ in her face at
+his peril'. The next time the Râjâ came, the Emperor took the
+opportunity of consulting him upon a subject that had given him a
+good deal of anxiety for many months, the dismissal of one of his
+personal servants who had become negligent and disrespectful. He
+first took care that no one should be within hearing, and then
+whispered in the artist's ear that he wished to dismiss this man. The
+Râjâ said carelessly, as he looked from the imperial head to the
+canvas, 'Why does your majesty not discharge the man if he displeases
+you?'
+
+'Why do I not discharge him? I wish to do so, of course, and have
+wished to do so for many months, but _kuchh tadbîr châhiye_, some
+plan of operations must be devised.' 'If your majesty dislikes the
+man, you have only to order him outside the gates of the palace, and
+you are relieved from his presence at once.' 'True, man, I am
+relieved from his presence, but his enchantments may still reach me;
+it is them that I most dread--he keeps me in a continual state of
+alarm; and I would give anything to get him away in a good humour.'
+
+When the Râjâ return to Meerut, he received a visit from one of the
+Emperor's sons or nephews, who wanted to see the place. His tents
+were pitched upon the plain not far from the theatre; he arrived in
+the evening, and there happened to be a play that night. Several
+times during the night he got a message from the prince to say that
+the ground near his tents was haunted by all manner of devils. The
+Râjâ sent to assure him that this could not possibly be the case. At
+last a man came about midnight to say that the prince could stand it
+no longer, and had given orders to prepare for his immediate return
+to Delhi; for the devils were increasing so rapidly that they must
+all be inevitably devoured before daybreak if they remained. The Râjâ
+now went to the prince's camp, here he found him and his followers in
+a state of utter consternation, looking towards the theatre. The last
+carriages were leaving the theatre, and going across the plain; and
+these silly people had taken them all for devils.[42]
+
+The present pensioned imperial family f Delhi are commonly considered
+to be of the house of Tîmûr lang (the Lame), because Bâbur, the real
+founder of the dynasty, was descended from him in the seventh
+stage.[43] Tîmûr merely made a predatory inroad into India, to kill a
+few million of unbelievers,[44] plunder the country of all the
+movable valuables he and his soldiers could collect, and take back
+into slavery all the best artificers of all kinds that they could lay
+their hands upon. He left no one to represent him in India, he
+claimed no sovereignty, and founded no dynasty there. There is no
+doubt much in the prestige of a name; and though six generations had
+passed away, the people of Northern India still trembled at that of
+the lame monster. Bâbur wished to impress upon the minds of the
+people the notion that he had at his back the same army of demons
+that Tîmûr had commanded; and be boasted his descent from him for the
+same motive that Alexander boasted his from the horned and cloven-
+footed god of the Egyptian desert, as something to sanctify all
+enterprises, justify the use of all means, and carry before him the
+belief in his invincibility.
+
+Bâbur was an admirable chief--a fit founder of a great dynasty--a
+very proper object for the imagination of future generations to dwell
+upon, though not quite so good as his grandson, the great Akbar.
+Tîmûr was a ferocious monster, who knew how to organize and command
+the set of demons who composed his army, and how best to direct them
+for the destruction of the civilized portion of mankind and their
+works; but who knew nothing else.[45] In his invasion of India he
+caused the people of the towns and villages through which he passed
+to be all massacred without regard to religion, age, or sex. If the
+soldiers in the town resisted, the people were all murdered because
+they did so; if they did not, the people were considered to have
+forfeited their lives to the conquerors for being conquered; and told
+to purchase them by the surrender of all their property, the value of
+which was estimated by commissaries appointed for the purpose. The
+price was always more than they could pay; and after torturing a
+certain number to death in the attempt to screw the sum out of them,
+the troops were let in to murder the rest; so that no city, town, or
+village escaped; and the very grain collected for the army, over and
+above what they could consume at any stage, was burned, lest it might
+relieve some hungry infidel of the country who had escaped from the
+general carnage.
+
+All the soldiers, high and low, were murdered when taken prisoners,
+as a matter of course; but the officers and soldiers of Tîmûr's army,
+after taking all the valuable movables, thought they might be able to
+find a market for the artificers by whom they were made, and for
+their families; and they collected together an immense number of men,
+women, and children. All who asked for mercy pretended to be able to
+make something that these Tartars had taken a liking to. On coming
+before Delhi, Tîmûr's army encamped on the opposite or left bank of
+the river Jumna; and here he learned that his soldiers had collected
+together above one hundred thousand of these artificers, besides
+their women and children. There were no soldiers among them; but
+Tîmûr thought it might be troublesome either to keep them or to turn
+them away without their women and children; and still more so to make
+his soldiers send away these women and children immediately. He asked
+whether the prisoners were not for the most part unbelievers in his
+prophet Muhammad; and being told that the majority were Hindoos, he
+gave orders that every man should be put to death; and that any
+officer or soldier who refused to kill or have killed all such men,
+should suffer death. 'As soon as this order was made known,' says
+Tîmûr's historian and great eulogist, 'the officers and soldiers
+began to put it in execution; and, in less than one hour, one hundred
+thousand prisoners, according to the smallest computation, were put
+to death and their bodies thrown into the river Jumna. Among the
+rest, Mulânâ Nasîr-ud-dîn Amr, one of the most venerable doctors of
+the court, who would never consent so much as to kill a single sheep,
+was constrained to order fifteen slaves, whom he had in his tents, to
+be slain. Tîmûr then gave orders that one-tenth of his soldiers
+should keep watch over the Indian women, children, and camels taken
+in the pillage.'[46]
+
+The city was soon after taken, and the people commanded, as usual, to
+purchase their lives by the surrender of their property--troops were
+sent in to take it--numbers were tortured to death--and then the
+usual pillage and massacre of the whole people followed without
+regard to religion, age, or sex; and about a hundred thousand more of
+innocent and unoffending people were murdered. The troops next
+massacred the inhabitants of the old city, which had become crowded
+with fugitives from the new;[47] the last remnant took refuge in a
+mosque, where two of Tîmûr's most distinguished generals rushed in
+upon them at the head of five hundred soldiers; and, as the amiable
+historian tells us, 'sent to the abyss of hell the souls of these
+infidels, of whose heads they erected towers, and gave their bodies
+for food to birds and beasts of prey'. Being at last tired of
+slaughter, the soldiers made slaves of the survivors, and drove them
+out in chains; and, as they passed, the officers were allowed to
+select any they liked except the masons, whom Tîmûr required to build
+for him at Samarkand a church similar to that of Îltutmish in old
+Delhi.
+
+He now set out to take Meerut, which was at that time a fortified
+town of much note. The people determined to defend themselves, and
+happened to say that Tarmah Shirîn, who invaded India at the head of
+a similar body of Tartars a century before,[48] had been unable to
+take the place. This so incensed Tîmûr that he brought all his forces
+to bear on Meerut, took the place, and having had all the Hindoo men
+found in it _skinned alive_, he distributed their wives and children
+among his soldiers as slaves. He now sent out a division of his army
+to murder unbelievers, and collect plunder, over the cultivated
+plains between the Ganges and Jumna, while he led the main body on
+the same _pious duty_ along the hills from Hardwâr[49] on the Ganges
+to the west. Having massacred a few thousands of the hill people,
+Tîmûr read the noon prayer, and returned thanks to God for the
+victories he had gained, and the numbers he had murdered through his
+goodness; and told his admiring army that a religions war like this
+produced two great advantages: it secured eternal happiness in
+heaven, and a good store of valuable spoils on earth--that his design
+in all the fatigues and labours which he had undertaken was solely to
+render himself _pleasing to God_, treasure up _good works_ for his
+eternal happiness, and get riches to bestow upon his soldiers and the
+poor. The historian makes a grave remark upon this invasion: The
+Korân declares that the highest glory man can attain in this world is
+unquestionably waging a successful war in person against the enemies
+of his religion (no matter whether those against whom it is waged
+happen ever to have heard of this religion or not). Muhammad
+inculcated the same doctrine in his discourses with his friends; and,
+in consequence, the great Tîmûr always strove to exterminate all the
+unbelievers, with a view to acquire that glory, and to spread the
+renown of his conquests. 'My name', said he, 'has spread terror
+through the universe, and the least motion I make is capable of
+shaking the whole earth.'
+
+Tîmûr returned to his capital of Samarkand in Transoxiana in May,
+1399. His army, besides other things which they brought from India,
+had an immense number of men, women, and children, whom they had
+reduced to slavery, and driven along like flocks of sheep to forage
+for their subsistence in the countries through which they passed, or
+perish. After the murder on the banks of the Jumna of part of the
+multitude they had collected before taking the capital, amounting to
+one hundred thousand men, Tîmûr was obliged to assign one-tenth of
+his army to guard what were left, the women and children. 'After the
+murder in the capital of Delhi,' says the historian, an eye-witness,
+'there were some soldiers who had a hundred and fifty slaves, men,
+women, and children, whom they drove out of the city before them; and
+some soldiers' boys had twenty slaves to their own share.' On
+reaching Samarkand, they employed these slaves as best they could;
+and Tîmûr employed his, the masons, in raising his great church from
+the quarries of the neighbouring hills.[50]
+
+In October following, Tîmûr led this army of demons over the rich and
+polished countries of Syria, Anatolia, and Georgia, levelling all the
+cities, towns, and villages, and massacring the inhabitants without
+any regard to age or sex, with the same _amiable view_ of correcting
+the notions of people regarding his creed, propitiating the Deity,
+and rewarding his soldiers. He sent to the Christian inhabitants of
+Smyrna, then one of the first commercial cities in the world, to
+request that they would at once embrace Muhammadanism, in the
+_beauties_ of which the general and his soldiers had orders
+generously and diligently to instruct them. They refused, and Tîmûr
+repaired immediately to the spot, that he might 'share in the merit
+of sending their souls to the abyss of hell'. Bajazet, the Turkish
+emperor of Anatolia, had recently terminated an unavailing siege of
+seven years. Tîmûr took the city in fourteen days, December,
+1402;[51] had every man, woman, and child that he found in it
+murdered; and caused some of the heads of the Christians to be thrown
+by his balistas or catapultas into the ships that had come from
+different European nations to their succour. All other Christian
+communities found within the wide range of this dreadful tempest were
+swept off in the same manner, nor did Muhammadan communities fare
+better. After the taking of Baghdad, every Tartar soldier was ordered
+to cut off and bring away the head of one or more prisoners, because
+some of the Tartar soldiers had been killed in the attack; 'and they
+spared', says the historian, 'neither old men of fourscore, nor young
+children of eight years of age; no quarter was given either to rich
+or poor, and the number of dead was so great that they could not be
+counted; towers were made of their heads to serve as an example to
+posterity.' Ninety thousand were murdered in cold blood, and one
+hundred and twenty pyramids were made of the heads for trophies.
+Damascus, Nice, Aleppo, Sebastê,[52] and all the other rich and
+populous cities of Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, and Georgia, then
+the most civilized region of the world, shared in the same fate; all
+were reduced to ruins, and their people, without regard to religion,
+age, or sex, barbarously and brutally murdered.
+
+In the beginning of 1405, this man recollected that, among the many
+millions of unbelieving Christians and Hindoos 'whose souls he had
+sent to the abyss of hell', there were many Muhammadans, who had no
+doubt whatever in the divine origin or co-eternal existence of the
+Korân; and, as their death might, perhaps, not have been altogether
+pleasing to his God and his prophet, he determined to appease them
+both by undertaking the murder of some two hundred millions of
+industrious and unoffending Chinese; among whom there was little
+chance of finding one man who had ever even _heard of the Korân_--
+much less believed in its divinity and co-eternity--or of its
+interpreter, Muhammad. At the head of between two and three hundred
+thousand well-mounted Tartars and their followers, he departed from
+his capital of Samarkand on the 8th of January, 1405, and crossed the
+Jaxartes[53] on the ice. In the words of his _judicious_ historian,
+'he thus _generously_ undertook the conquest of China, which was
+inhabited only by unbelievers that by so good a work he might atone
+for what had been done amiss in other wars, in which the blood of so
+many of the faithful had been shed'.
+
+'As all my vast conquests', said Tîmûr himself,[54] 'have caused the
+destruction of a good many of the faithful, I am resolved to perform
+some good action, to atone for the crimes of my past life; and to
+make war upon the infidels, and exterminate the idolaters of China,
+which cannot be done without very great strength and power. It is
+therefore fitting, my dear companions in arms, that those very
+soldiers, who were the instruments whereby those my faults were
+committed, should be the means by which I work out my repentance, and
+that they should march into China, to acquire for themselves and
+their Emperor the merit of that holy war, in demolishing the temples
+of those unbelievers and erecting good Muhammadan mosques in their
+places. By this means we shall obtain pardon for all our sins, for
+the holy Korân assures us that good works efface the sins of this
+world.' At the close of the Emperor's speech, the princes of the
+blood and other officers of rank besought God to bless his generous
+undertaking, unanimously applauding his sentiments, and loading him
+with praises. 'Let the Emperor but display his standard, and we will
+follow him to the end of the world.' Tîmûr died soon after crossing
+the Jaxartes, on the 1st of April, 1406, and China was saved from
+this dreadful scourge. But, as the _philosophical_ historian, Sharaf-
+ud-dîn,[55] _profoundly_ observes, 'The Korân remarks that if any one
+in his pilgrimage to Mecca should be surprised by death, the merit of
+the good work is still written in heaven in his name, as surely as if
+he had had the good fortune to accomplish it. It is the same with
+regard to the "ghaza" (holy war), where an eternal merit is acquired
+by troubles, fatigues, and dangers; and he who dies during the
+enterprise, at whatever stage, is deemed to have completed his
+design.' Thus Tîmûr the Lame had the merit, beyond all question of
+doubt, of sending to the abyss of hell two hundred millions of men,
+women, and children, for not believing in a certain book of which
+they had never heard or read; for the Tartars had not become
+Muhammadans when they conquered China in the beginning of the
+thirteenth century. Indeed, the _amiable_ and _profound_ historian is
+of opinion, after the most mature deliberation, that 'God himself
+must have arranged all this in favour of so great and good a prince;
+and knowing that his end was nigh, inspired him with the idea of
+undertaking this enterprise, that he might have the merit of having
+completed it; otherwise, how should he have thought of leading out
+his army in the dead of winter to cross countries covered with ice
+and snow?'
+
+The heir to the throne, the Prince Pîr Muhammad, was absent when
+Tîmûr died; but his wives, who had accompanied him, were all anxious
+to share in the merit of the holy undertaking; and in a council of
+the chiefs held after his death, the opinions of these amiable
+princesses prevailed that the two hundred millions of Chinese ought
+still to be sent to 'the abyss of hell', since it had been the
+earnest wish of their deceased husband, and must undoubtedly have
+been the will of God, to send them thither without delay. Fortunately
+quarrels soon arose among his sons and grandsons about the
+succession, and the army recrossed the Jaxartes, still over the ice,
+in the beginning of April, and China was saved from this scourge.
+Such was Timûr the Lame, the man whose greatness and goodness are to
+live in the hearts of the people of India, nine-tenths of whom are
+Hindoos, and to fill them with overflowing love and gratitude towards
+his descendants.
+
+In this brief sketch will perhaps be found the true history of the
+origin of the gipsies, the tide of whose immigration began to flow
+over all parts of Europe immediately after the return of Tîmûr from
+India. The hundreds of thousands of slaves which his army brought
+from India in men, women, and children, were cast away when they got
+as many as they liked from the more beautiful and polished
+inhabitants of the cities of Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, and
+Georgia, which were all, one after the other, treated in the same
+manner as Delhi had been. The Tartar soldiers had no time to settle
+down and employ them as they intended for their convenience; they
+were marched off to ravage Western Asia in October, 1399, about three
+months after their return from India. Tîmûr reached Samarkand in the
+middle of May, but he had gone on in advance of his army, which did
+not arrive for some time after. Being cast off, the slaves from India
+spread over those countries which were most likely to afford them the
+means of subsistence as beggars; for they knew nothing of the
+manners, the arts, or the language of those among whom they were
+thrown; and as Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Anatolia, Georgia,
+Circassia, and Russia, had been, or were being, desolated by the army
+of this Tartar chief, they passed into Egypt and Bulgaria, whence
+they spread over all other countries. Scattered over the face of
+these countries, they found small parties of vagrants who were from
+the same regions as themselves, who spoke the same language, and who
+had in all probability been drawn away by the same means of armies
+returning from the invasion of India. Chingîz Khân invaded India two
+centuries before; his descendant, Tarmah Shirîn, invaded India in
+1303, and must have taken back with him multitudes of captives. The
+unhappy prisoners of Tîmûr the Lame gathered round these nuclei as
+the only people who could understand or sympathize with them. From
+his sixth expedition into India Mahmûd is said to have carried back
+with him to Ghaznî two hundred thousand Hindoo captives in a state of
+slavery, A.D. 1011. From his seventh expedition in 1017, his army of
+one hundred and forty thousand fighting men returned 'laden with
+Hindoo captives, who became so cheap, that a Hindoo slave was valued
+at less than two rupees'. Mahmûd made several expeditions to the west
+immediately after his return from India, in the same manner as Tîmûr
+did after him, and he may in the same manner have scattered his
+Indian captives. They adopted the habits of their new friends, which
+are indeed those of all the vagrant tribes of India, and they have
+continued to preserve them to the present day. I have compared their
+vocabularies with those of India, and find so many of the words the
+same that I think a native of India would, even in the present day,
+be able without much difficulty to make himself understood by a gang
+of gipsies in any part of Europe.[56]
+
+A good Christian may not be able exactly to understand the nature of
+the merit which Tamerlane expected to acquire from sending so many
+unoffending Chinese to the abyss of hell. According to the Muhammadan
+creed, God has vowed 'to fill hell chock full of men and genii'.
+Hence his reasons for hardening their hearts against that faith in
+the Korân which might send them to heaven, and which would, they
+think, necessarily follow an impartial examination of the evidence of
+its divinity and certainty. Tîmûr thought, no doubt, that it would be
+very meritorious on his part to assist God in this his labour of
+filling the great abyss by throwing into it all the existing
+population of China: while he spread over their land in pastoral
+tribes the goodly seed of Muhammadanism, which would give him a rich
+supply of recruits for paradise.
+
+The following dialogue took place one day between me and the 'muftî',
+or head Muhammadan law officer, of one of our regulation courts.[57]
+
+'Does it not seem to you strange, Muftî Sâhib, that your prophet,
+who, according to your notions, must have been so well acquainted
+with the universe and the laws that govern it, should not have
+revealed to his followers some great truths hitherto unknown
+regarding these laws, which might have commanded their belief, and
+that of all future generations, in his divine mission?'
+
+'Not at all,' said the Muftî; 'they would probably not have
+understood him; and if they had, those who did not believe in what he
+did actually reveal to them, would not have believed in him had he
+revealed all the laws that govern the universe.'
+
+'And why should they not have believed in him?'
+
+'Because what he revealed was sufficient to convince all men whose
+hearts had not been hardened in unbelief. God said, "As for the
+unbelievers, it is the same with them whether you admonish them or do
+not admonish them; they will not believe. God hath sealed up their
+hearts, their ears, and their eyes; and a grievous punishment awaits
+them."'[58]
+
+'And why were the hearts of any men thus hardened to unbelief, when
+by unbelief they were to incur such dreadful penalties?'
+
+'Because they were otherwise wicked men.'
+
+'But you think, of course, that there was really much of good in the
+revelations of your prophet?'
+
+'Of course we do.'
+
+'And that those who believed in it were likely to become better men
+for their faith?'
+
+'Assuredly.'
+
+'Then why harden the hearts of even bad men against a faith that
+might make them good?'
+
+'Has not God said, "If we had pleased, we had certainly given unto
+every soul its direction; but the word which hath proceeded from me
+must necessarily be fulfilled when I said, _Verily, I will fill hell
+with men and genii altogether_ ".[59] And again, "Had it pleased the
+Lord, he would have made all men of one religion; but they shall not
+cease to differ among them, unless those on whom the Lord shall have
+mercy; and unto this hath he created them; for the word of thy Lord
+shall be fulfilled when he said, _Verily, I will fill hell altogether
+with genii and men_".'[60]
+
+'You all believe that the devil, like all the angels, was made of
+fire?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'And that he was doomed to hell because he would not fall down and
+worship Adam, who was made of clay?'
+
+'Yes, God commanded him to bow down to Adam; and when he did not do
+as he was bid, God said, "Why, Iblîs, what hindered thee from bowing
+down to Adam as the other angels did?" He replied, "It is not fit
+that I should worship man, whom thou hast formed of dried clay, or
+black mud". God said, "Get thee, therefore, hence, for thou shalt be
+pelted with stones; and a curse shall be upon thee till the day of
+judgement". The devil said, "O Lord, give me respite unto the day of
+resurrection". God said, "Verily, thou shalt be respited until the
+appointed time ".'[61]
+
+'And does it not appear to you, Mufti Sâhib, that in respiting the
+devil Iblîs till the day of resurrection, some injustice was done to
+the children of Adam?'
+
+'How?'
+
+'Because he replies, "O Lord, because thou hast seduced me, I will
+surely tempt men to disobedience in the earth".'
+
+'No, sir, because he could only tempt those who were _predestined_ to
+go astray, for he adds, "I will seduce all, except such of them as
+shall be _thy chosen servants_". God said, "This is the right way
+with me. Verily, as to my servants, thou shalt have no power over
+them; but over those only who shall be seduced, and who shall follow
+thee; and hell is surely denounced to them all ".'[62]
+
+'Then you think, Mufti Sâhib, that the devil could seduce only such
+as were predestined to go astray, and who would have gone astray
+whether he, the devil, had been respited or not?'
+
+'Certainly I do.'
+
+'Does it not then appear to you that it is as unjust to predestine
+men to do that for which they are to be sent to hell, as it would be
+to leave them all unguided to the temptations of the devil?'
+
+'These are difficult questions,' replied the Muftî, 'which we cannot
+venture to ask even ourselves. All that we can do is to endeavour to
+understand what is written in the holy book, and act according to it.
+God made us all, and he has the right to do what he pleases with what
+he has made; the potter makes two vessels, he dashes the one on the
+ground, but the other he sells to stand in the palaces of princes.'
+
+'But a pot has no soul, Muftî Sâhib, to be roasted to all eternity in
+hell!'
+
+'True, sir; these are questions beyond the reach of human
+understanding.'
+
+'How often do you read over the Korân?'
+
+'I read the whole over about three times a month,' replied the
+Muftî.[63]
+
+I mentioned this conversation one day to the Nawâb Alî-ud-dîn,[64] a
+most estimable old gentleman of seventy years of age, who resides at
+Murâdâbâd, and asked him whether he did not think it a singular
+omission on the part of Muhammad, after his journey to heaven, not to
+tell mankind some of the truths that have since been discovered
+regarding the nature of the bodies that fill these heavens, and the
+laws that govern their motions. Mankind could not, either from the
+Korân, or from the traditions, perceive that he was at all aware of
+the errors of the System of astronomy that prevailed in his day, and
+among his people.'
+
+'Not at all', replied the Nawâb; 'the prophets had, no doubt,
+abundant opportunities of becoming acquainted with the heavenly
+bodies, and the laws which govern them, particularly those who, like
+Muhammad, had been up through the seven heavens; but their thoughts
+were so entirely taken up with the Deity that they probably never
+noticed the objects by which he was surrounded; and if they had
+noticed them, they would not, perhaps, have thought it necessary to
+say anything about them. Their object was to direct men's thoughts
+towards God and his commandments, and to instruct them in their
+duties towards him and towards each other.
+
+'Suppose', continued the Nawâb, 'you were to be invited to see and
+converse with even your earthly sovereign, would not your thoughts be
+too much taken up with him to admit of your giving, on your return,
+an account of the things you saw about him? I have been several times
+to see you, and I declare that I have been so much taken up with the
+conversations which have passed, that I have never noticed the many
+articles I now see around me, nor could I have told any one on my
+return home what I had seen in your room--the wall-shades, the
+pictures, the sofas, the tables, the book-cases,' continued he,
+casting his eyes round the room,' all escaped my notice, and might
+have escaped it had my eyes been younger and stronger than they are.
+What then must have been the state of mind of those great prophets,
+who were admitted to see and converse with the great Creator of the
+universe, and were sent by him to instruct mankind?
+
+'I told my old friend that I thought his answer the best that could
+be given; but still, that we could not help thinking that if Muhammad
+had really been acquainted with the nature of the heavenly bodies,
+and the laws which govern them, he would have taken advantage of his
+knowledge to secure more firmly their faith in his mission, and have
+explained to them the real state of the case, instead of talking
+about the stars as merely made to be thrown at devils, to give light
+to men upon this little globe of ours, and to guide them in their
+wanderings upon it by sea and land.
+
+'But what', said the Nawâb, 'are the great truths that you would have
+had our holy prophet to teach mankind?'
+
+'Why, Nawâb Sahib, I would have had him tell us, amongst other
+things, of that law which makes this our globe and the other planets
+revolve round the sun, and their moons around them. I would have had
+him teach us something of the nature of the things we call comets, or
+stars with large tails, and of that of the fixed stars, which we
+suppose to be suns, like our sun, with planets revolving round them
+like ours, since it is clear that they do not borrow their light from
+our sun, nor from anything that we can discover in the heavens. I
+would also have had him tell us the nature of that white belt which
+crosses the sky, which you call the ovarious belt, "Khatt-i-abyâz",
+and we the milky-way, and which we consider to be a collection of
+self-lighted stars, while many orthodox but unlettered Musalmâns
+think it the marks made in the sky by "Borak", the rough-shod donkey,
+on which your prophet rode from Jerusalem to heaven. And you think,
+Nawâb Sâhib, that there was quite evidence enough to satisfy any
+person whose heart had not been hardened to unbelief? and that no
+description of the heavenly bodies, or of the laws which govern their
+motion, could have had any influence on the minds of such people?
+'[65]
+
+'Assuredly I do, sir! Has not God said, "If we should open a gate in
+the heavens above them, and they should ascend thereto all the day
+long, they would surely say, our eyes are only dazzled, or rather we
+are a people deluded by enchantments."[66] Do you think, sir, that
+anything which his majesty Moses could have said about the planets,
+and the comets, and the milky way, would have tended so much to
+persuade the children of Israel of his divine mission as did the
+single stroke of his rod, which brought a river of delicious water
+gushing from a dry rock when they were all dying from thirst? When
+our holy prophet', continued the Nawâb (placing the points of the
+four fingers of his right hand on the table), 'placed his blessed
+hand thus on the ground, and caused four streams to gush out from the
+dug plain, and supply with fresh water the whole army which was
+perishing from thirst; and when out of only _five small dates_ he
+afterwards feasted this immense army till they could eat no more, he
+surely did more to convince his followers of his divine mission than
+he could have done by any discourse about the planets, and the milky
+way (Khatt-i-abyâz).'
+
+'No doubt, Nawâb Sâhib, these were very powerful arguments for those
+who saw them, or believed them to have been seen; and those who doubt
+the divinity of your prophets mission are those who doubt their ever
+having been seen.'
+
+'The whole army saw and attested them, sir, and that is evidence
+enough for us; and those who saw them, and were not satisfied, must
+have had their hearts hardened to unbelief.'
+
+'And you think, Nawâb Sâhib, that a man is not master of his own
+belief or disbelief in religions matters; though he is rewarded by an
+eternity of bliss in paradise for the one, and punished by an
+eternity of scorching in hell for the other?
+
+'I do, sir, faith is a matter of feeling; and over our feelings we
+have no control. All that we can do is to prevent their influencing
+our actions, when these actions would be mischievous. I have a desire
+to stretch out this arm, and crush that fly on the table, I can
+control the act, and do so; but the desire is not under my control.'
+
+'True, Nawâb Sâhib; and in this life we punish men not for their
+feelings, which are beyond their control, but for their acts, over
+which they have no control; and we are apt to think that the Deity
+will do the same.'
+
+'There are, sir,' continued the Nawâb, 'three kinds of certainty--the
+moral certainty, the mathematical, and the religious certainty, which
+we hold to be the greatest of all--the one in which the mind feels
+entire repose. This repose I feel in everything that is written in
+the Korân, in the Bible, and, with the few known exceptions, in the
+New Testament.[67] We do not believe that Christ was the son of God,
+though we believe him to have been a great prophet sent down to
+enlighten mankind; nor do we believe that he was crucified. We
+believe that the wicked Jews got hold of a thief, and crucified him
+in the belief that he was the Christ; but the real Christ was, we
+think, taken up into heaven, and not suffered to be crucified.'
+
+'But, Nawâb Sâhib, the Sikhs have their book, in which they have the
+same faith.'
+
+'True, sir, but the Sikhs are unlettered, ignorant brutes; and you do
+not, I hope, call their "Granth" a book--a thing written only the
+other day, and full of nonsense. No "book" has appeared since the
+Korân came down from heaven; nor will any other come till the day of
+judgement. And how', said the Nawâb, 'have people in modern days made
+all the discoveries you speak of in astronomy?'
+
+'Chiefly, Nawâb Sâhib, by means of the telescope, which is an
+instrument of modern invention.'
+
+'And do you suppose, sir, that I would put the evidence of your
+"dûrbîns" (telescopes) in opposition to that of the holy prophet? No,
+sir, depend upon it that there is much fallacy in a telescope--it is
+not to be relied upon. I have conversed with many excellent European
+gentlemen, and their great fault appears to me to be in the implicit
+faith they put in these _telescopes_--they hold their evidence above
+that of the prophets, Moses, Abraham, and Elijah. It is dreadful to
+think how much mischief these telescopes may do. No, sir, let us hold
+fast by the prophets; what they tell us is the truth, and the only
+truth that we can entirely rely upon in this life. I would not hold
+the evidence of all the telescopes in the world as anything against
+one word uttered by the humblest of the prophets named in the Old or
+New Testament, or the holy Korân. The prophets, sir, keep to the
+prophets, and throw aside your telescopes--there is no truth in them;
+some of them turn people upside down, and make them walk upon their
+heads; and yet you put their evidence against that of the
+prophets.'[68]
+
+Nothing that I could say would, after this, convince the Nawâb that
+there was any virtue in telescopes; his religions feeling had been
+greatly excited against them; and had Galileo, Tycho Brahe, Kepler,
+Newton, Laplace, and the Herschels, all been present to defend them,
+they would not have altered his opinion of their demerits. The old
+man has, I believe, a shrewd suspicion that they are inventions of
+the devil to lead men from the right way; and were he told all that
+these great men have discovered through their means, he would be very
+much disposed to believe that they were incarnations of his satanic
+majesty playing over again with 'dûrbîns' (telescopes) the same game
+which the serpent played with the apple in the garden of Eden.
+
+ Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid;
+ Leave them to God above: him serve and fear;
+ Of other creatures, as him pleases best,
+ Wherever placed, let him dispose: joy thou
+ In what he gives to thee, this Paradise
+ And thy fair Eve: heaven is for thee too high
+ To know what passes there: be lowly wise:
+ Think only what concerns thee, and thy being:
+ Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there
+ Live, in what state, condition, or degree:
+ Contented that thus far hath been revealed,
+ Not of earth only, but of highest heaven.'[69]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Chapter 75 _post_ is devoted to the history of the Bêgam Samrû
+(Sumroo). The 'great street' is the celebrated Chândnî Chauk, a very
+wide thoroughfare. The branch of the canal which runs down the middle
+of it is now covered over. The Bêgam's house is now occupied by the
+Delhi Bank (Fanshawe, p, 49).
+
+2. _Ante_, chapter 54, note 14.
+
+3. The Emperors were not in the least ashamed of this practice, and
+robbed the families of rich merchants as well as those of officials.
+In fact they levied in a rough way the high 'death duties' so much
+admired by Radicals with small expectations. Some remarkable cases
+are related in detail by Bernier (Bernier, _Travels_, ed. Constable,
+and V. A. Smith (1914), pp. 163-7). When Aurangzêb heard of the death
+of the Governor of Kâbul, he gave orders to seize the belongings of
+the deceased, so that 'not even a piece of straw be left' (Bilimoria,
+_Letters of Aurungzebe_, No. xcix).
+
+4. The meaning of this sentence is obscure.
+
+5. Corresponding to A.D. 1753-4. In the original edition the date is
+misprinted A.D. 1167.
+
+6. The tomb of Mansûr Alî Khân is better known as that of Safdar
+Jang, which was the honorary title of the noble over whom the edifice
+was raised. He was the wazîr, or chief minister, of the Emperor Ahmad
+Shâh from 1748 to 1752, and was practically King of Oudh, where he
+had succeeded to the power of his father-in-law, the well-known
+Saâdat Khân: Safdar Jang died in A.D. 1754 and was succeeded in Oudh
+by his son Shujâ-ud-daula.
+
+The author's praise of the beauty of Safdar Jang's tomb will seem
+extravagant to most critics. In the editor's judgement the building
+is a very poor attempt to imitate the inimitable Tâj. Fergusson (ed.
+1910, vol. ii, p. 324, pl. xxxiv) gives it the qualified praise that
+'it looks grand and imposing at a distance, but it will not bear
+close inspection'. See Fanshawe, p. 246 and plate. In the original
+edition a coloured plate of this mausoleum is given.
+
+7. Nizâm-ud-dîn was the disciple of Farîd-ud-dîn Ganj Shakar, so
+called from his look being sufficient to convert _cods of earth into
+lumps of sugar_. Farîd was the disciple of Kutb-ud-dîn of Old Delhi,
+who was the disciple of Mûin-ud-dîn of Ajmêr, the greatest of all
+their saints. [W. H. S.] Mûin-ud-dîn died A.D. 1236. For further
+particulars of the three saints see Beale, _Oriental Biographical
+Dictionary_, ed. Keene, 1894. Dr. Horn (_Ep. Ind._ ii, 145 n., 426
+n.) gives information about the Persian biographies of Nizâm-ud-dîn
+and other Chishtî saints.
+
+8. For the personal history of Nizâm-ud-dîn see the last preceding
+chapter, [13]. His tomb is situated in a kind of cemetery, which also
+contains the tombs of the poet Khusrû, the Princess Jahânârâ, and the
+Emperor Muhammad Shâh, which will be noticed presently. Fanshawe (p.
+236) gives a plan of the enclosure. Nizâm-ud-dîn's tomb 'has a very
+graceful appearance, and is surrounded by a verandah of white marble,
+while a cut screen encloses the sarcophagus, which is always covered
+with a cloth. Round the gravestone runs a carved wooden guard, and
+from the four corners rise stone pillars draped with cloth, which
+support an angular wooden frame-work, and which has something the
+appearance of a canopy to a bed. Below this wooden canopy there is
+stretched a cloth of green and red, much the worse for wear. The
+interior of the tomb is covered with painted figures in Arabic, and
+at the head of the grave is a stand with a Korân. The marble screen
+is very richly cut, and the roof of the arcade-like verandah is
+finely painted in a flower pattern. Altogether there is a quaint look
+about the building which cannot fail to strike any one. A good deal
+of money has at various times been spent on this tomb; the dome was
+added to the roof in Akbar's time by Muhammad Imâm-ud-dîn Hasan, and
+in the reign of Shâh Jahân (A.D. 1628 [_sic., leg._ 1627]-58) the
+whole building was put into thorough repair. . . . The tomb is in the
+village of Ghyâspur, and is reached after passing through the
+'Chaunsath Khambhâ'. (Harcourt, _The New Guide to Delhi_ (1866), p.
+107.)
+
+In the original edition a small coloured illustration of this tomb,
+from a miniature, is given on Plate 24. Carr Stephen (pp. 102-7)
+gives a good and full account of Nizâm-ud-dîn and his tomb.
+
+9. According to Harcourt (p. 108), the tomb of Khusrû was erected
+about A.D. 1350, but this is a misprint for 1530. The poet, whose
+proper name was Abûl Hasan, is often called Amîr Khusrû, and was of
+Turkish origin. He was born A.D. 1253, and died in September, 1325.
+His works are numerous. (Beale.) The grave, and wooden railing round
+it, were built in A.H. 937 (A.D. 1530-1). . . . The present tomb was
+built in A.H. 1014 (A.D. 1605-6) by Imâd-ud-dîn Hasan, in the reign
+of Jahângîr, and this date occurs in an inscription under the dome
+and over the red sandstone screens. (Carr Stephen, p. 115.) In the
+original edition a small coloured illustration of this tomb, from a
+miniature, is given on Plate 24. See Fanshawe, p. 241.
+
+10. Akbar II, who died in 1837.
+
+11. When the author was with his regiment, after the close of the
+Nepalese war.
+
+12. Harcourt (p. 109) truly observes that this tomb 'is a most
+exquisite piece of workmanship. The tomb itself, raised some few feet
+from the ground, is entered by steps, and is enclosed in a beautiful
+cut marble screen, the sarcophagus being covered with a very artistic
+representation of leaves and flowers carved in marble. Mirzâ Jahângîr
+was the son of Akbar II, and the tomb was built in A.D. 1832 '.
+
+'He was, in consequence of having fired a pistol at Mr. Seton, the
+Resident at Delhi, sent as a State prisoner to Allahabad, where he
+resided in the garden of Sultân Khusro for several years, and died
+there in A.D. 1821 (A.H. 1236), aged thirty-one years; a salute of
+thirty-one guns was fired from the ramparts of the fort of Allahabad
+at the time of his burial. He was at first interred in the same
+garden, and subsequently his remains were transferred to Delhi, and
+buried in the courtyard of the mausoleum of Nizâm-ud-dîn Auliâ.'
+(Beale, _Dictionary_.) The young man's 'overt act of rebellion'
+occurred in 1808, and his body was removed to Delhi in 1832. The form
+of the monument is that ordinarily used for a woman, 'but it was put
+over the remains of the Prince on a dispensation being granted for
+the purpose by Muhammadan lawyers'. (Carr Stephen, p. 111.)
+
+13. Muhammad Shâh reigned feebly from September, 1719, to April,
+1748. 'He is the last of the Mughals who enjoyed even the semblance
+of power, and has been called "the seal of the house of Bâbar", for
+"after his demise everything went to wreck".' (Lane-Poole, p.
+xxxviii.) Nadir Shâh occupied Delhi in 1738, and is said to have
+massacred 120,000 people. The tomb is described by Carr Stephen, p.
+110.
+
+14. Jahânârâ Bêgam, or the Bêgam Sâhib, was the elder daughter of
+Shâhjahân, a very able intriguer, the partisan of Dârâ Shikoh and the
+opponent of Aurangzêb during the struggle for the throne. She was
+closely confined in Agra till her father's death in 1666. After that
+event she was removed to Delhi, where she died in 1682. (Tavernier,
+_Travels_, transl. Ball, vol. i, p. 345.) She built the Bêgam Sarâi
+at Delhi. Her amours, real or supposed, furnished Bernier with some
+scandalous and sensational stories. (Bernier, _Travels_, transl.
+Constable, and V. A. Smith (1914), pp. 11-14.) Some writers credit
+her with all the virtues, e.g., Beale in his _Oriental Biographical
+Dictionary_. The author has omitted the last line of the inscription-
+'May God illuminate his intentions. In the year 1093 ', corresponding
+to A.D. 1682. The first line is, 'Let nothing but the green [grass]
+conceal my grave.' (Carr Stephen, p. 109.)
+
+15. The tomb of Humâyûn was erected by the Emperor's widow, Hâjî
+Bêgam, or Bêgâ Bêgam, not by Akbar. She was the senior widow of
+Humâyûn, entitled Hâjî or 'pilgrim ', because she performed the
+pilgrimage to Mecca. Carr Stephen and other writers confound her with
+Hamîda Bânû Bêgam, the mother of Akbar. For her true history see
+Beveridge, _The History of Humâyûn by Gulbadan Begam_ (R.A.S., 1902).
+Carr Stephen (p. 203) says that the mausoleum was completed in A.D.
+1565, or, according to some, in A.D. 1569, at a coat of fifteen lâkhs
+of rupees. The true date is A.D. 1570, late in A.H. 977 (Badûouî, tr.
+Lowe, ii. 135). It is of special interest as being one of the
+earliest specimens of the architecture of the Moghal dynasty, The
+massive dome of white marble is a landmark for many miles round. The
+body of the building is of red sandstone with marble decorations. It
+stands on two noble terraces. Humâyûn rests in the central hall under
+an elaborately carved marble sarcophagus. The head of Dârâ Shikoh and
+the bodies of many members of the royal family are interred in the
+side rooms. After the fall of Delhi in September, 1857, the rebel
+princes took refuge in this mausoleum. The story of their execution
+by Hodson on the road to Delhi is well known, and has been the
+occasion of much controversy.
+
+In the original edition a small coloured illustration of this tomb,
+from a miniature, is given on Plate 24. See Fergusson, ed. 1910, pl.
+xxxiii; _H.F.A._, fig. 240; Fanshawe, p. 230 and plate.
+
+16. The tragic history of Dârâ Shikoh, the elder brother, and
+unsuccessful rival, of Aurangzêb, is fully given by Bernier. The
+notes in Constable's edition of that traveller's work and those to
+Irvine's _Storia do Mogor_ (John Murray, 1907, 1908) give many
+additional particulars. Dârâ Shikoh was executed by Aurangzêb in
+1659, and it is alleged that with a horrid refinement of cruelty, the
+emperor, acting on the advice of his sister, Roshanârâ Bêgam, caused
+the head to be embalmed and sent packed in a box as a present to the
+old ex-emperor, Shâh Jahân, the father of the three, in his prison at
+Agra. The prince died invoking the aid of Jesus, and was favourably
+disposed towards Christianity. He was also attracted by the doctrines
+of Sûfism, or heretical Muhammadan mysticism, and by those of the
+Hindoo Upanishads. In fact, his religions attitude seems to have much
+resembled that of his great-grandfather Akbar. The 'Broad Church'
+principles and practice of Akbar failed to leave any permanent mark
+on Muhammadan institutions or the education of the people, and if
+Dârâ Shikoh had been victorious in the contest for the throne, it is
+not probable that he would have been able to effect lasting reforms
+which were beyond the power of his illustrious ancestor. The name of
+the unfortunate prince was Dârâ Shikoh ('in splendour like Darius'),
+not merely Dârâ (Darius), as Bernier has it.
+
+17. The 'great diamond' alluded to is the Kohinûr, presented by the
+'Persian adventurer', Amîr Jumla, to Shâh Jahân, who was advised to
+attack and conquer the country which produced such gems, (_Ante_,
+Chapter 48.) The decisive battle between Dârâ Shikoh, on the one
+aide, and Aurangzêb, supported by his brother and dupe, Murâd Baksh,
+on the other, was fought on the 28th May, 1658 [O. S.], at the small
+village of Samûgarh (Samogar), four miles from Agra. Dârâ Shikoh was
+winning the battle, when a traitor persuaded him to come down from
+his conspicuous seat on an elephant and mount a horse. The report
+quickly spread that the prince had been killed. 'In a few minutes',
+says Bernier, 'the army seemed disbanded, and (strange and sudden
+reverse!) the conqueror became the vanquished. Aurangzêb remained
+during a quarter of an hour steadily on his elephant, and was
+rewarded with the crown of Hindustan; Dârâ left his own elephant a
+few minutes too soon, and was hurled from the pinnacle of glory, to
+be numbered among the most miserable of Princes; so short-sighted is
+man, and so mighty are the consequences which sometimes flow from the
+most trivial incident.'
+
+According to another account the prince's change from the elephant to
+the horse was due to want of personal courage, and not to treacherous
+advice. (Bernier, _Travels_, ed. Constable, and V. A. Smith (1914),
+p. 54.)
+
+18. Battle fought between Tours and Poitiers, A.D. 732.
+
+19. The principal mosque of every town is known as the Jâmi Masjid,
+and is filled by large congregations on Fridays. The great mosque of
+Delhi stands on a natural rocky eminence, completely covered by the
+building, and approached on three sides by magnificent flights of
+steps, which give it peculiar dignity. It is, perhaps, the finest
+mosque in the world, and certainly has few rivals. It differs from
+most mosques in that its exterior is more magnificent than its
+interior. The two minarets are each about 130 feet high. The year
+A.H. 1060 corresponds to A.D. 1650. The mosque was begun in that
+year, and finished six years later. It is close to the palace, and
+seems to have been designed to serve as the mosque for the palace, as
+well as the city, for which reason no place of worship was included
+in his residence by Shâh Jahân. The pretty little Motî Masjid in the
+private apartments was added by Aurangzêb. Fergusson (ed. 1910, vol.
+ii, p. 319) gives a view of the mosque. Carr Stephen (pp. 260-6)
+gives approximate measurements, translations of the inscriptions, and
+many details. See Fanshawe, pp. 44-8 and plates.
+
+20. Since the Mutiny multitudes of houses between the palace and the
+mosque have been cleared away.
+
+21. 'Entering within its deeply recessed portal, you find yourself
+beneath the vaulted hall, the sides of which are in two stories, and
+with an octagonal break in the centre. This hall, which is 375 feet
+in length over all, has very much the effect of the nave of a
+gigantic Gothic cathedral, and forms the noblest entrance known to
+belong to any existing palace' (Fergusson, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p.
+309). This is the Lahore Gate.
+
+22. What recked the Chieftain if he stood
+ On Highland heath, or Holy-rood?
+ He rights such wrong where it is given,
+ If it were in the court of heaven.'
+ --(Scott, _Lady of the Lake_, Canto V, stanza 6).
+
+23. The foundation-stone of the palace was laid on the 12th of May,
+1639 (N.S.--9 Muharrum, A.H. 1049). (E. & D., vii, p. 86), and the
+work continued for nine years, three months, and some days. Nadir
+Shâh's invasion took place in 1738. Kâshmîr was annexed by Akbar in
+1587. Kâbul had been more or less closely united with the empire
+since Bâbur's time.
+
+24. 'In front, at the entrance, was the Naubat Khâna, or music hall,
+beneath which the visitor entered the second or great court of the
+palace, measuring 550 feet north and south, by 385 feet east and
+west. In the centre of this stood the Dîwân-i-Amm, or great audience
+hall of the palace, very similar in design to that at Agra, but more
+magnificent. Its dimensions are about 200 feet by 100 feet over all.
+In its centre is a highly ornamental niche, in which on a platform of
+marble richly inlaid with previous stones, and directly facing the
+entrance, once stood the celebrated peacock throne, the most gorgeous
+example of its class that perhaps even the East could ever boast of.
+Behind this again was a garden-court; on its eastern side was the
+Rang Mahall, or painted hall, containing a bath and other apartments'
+(Fergusson, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 310).
+
+The inlaid pictures were carried off, sold by the spoiler to
+Government, set as table-tops, and deposited in the Indian Section of
+the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington (_Hist. of Ind.
+and E. Archit._, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 311, note); but in November,
+1902, the Orpheus mosaic, along with several other inlaid panels, was
+returned to Delhi, where the panels were reset in due course. The
+representation of Orpheus is 'a bad copy from Raphael's picture of
+Orpheus charming the beasts'. Austin de Bordeaux has been already
+noticed. Many of the mosaics in the panels which had not been
+disturbed were renewed by Signor Menegatti of Florence during the
+years 1906-9.
+
+The peacock throne and the six other thrones in the palace are fully
+described by Tavernier. (Transl. and ed. by V. Ball, vol. i, pp. 381-
+7.) Further details will be found in Carr Stephen, _Archaeology of
+Delhi_, pp. 220-7.
+
+25. The throne here referred to was a makeshift arrangement used by
+the later emperors. Nâdir Shâh in 1738 cleared the palace of the
+peacock throne and almost everything portable of value. The little
+that was left the Marâthâs took. Their chief prize was the silver
+filagree ceiling of the Dîwân-i-Khâs. This hall was, 'if not the most
+beautiful, certainly the most highly ornamented of all Shâh Jahân's
+buildings. It is larger certainly, and far richer in ornament than
+that of Agra, though hardly so elegant in design; but nothing can
+exceed the beauty of the inlay of precious stones with which it is
+adored, or the general poetry of the design, It is round the roof of
+this hall that the famous inscription runs: "If there is a heaven on
+earth, it is this, it is this ", which may safely be rendered into
+the sober English assertion that no palace now existing in the world
+possesses an apartment of such singular elegance as this' (Fergusson,
+ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 311).
+
+26. All the events alluded to are related in detail by Bernier and
+Manucci. Sulaimân and Sipihr Shikoh were the sons of Dârâ Shikoh. The
+author makes a slip in saying that Shâh Jahân sat in the palace at
+Delhi to negotiate with his grandson. During that negotiation Shâh
+Jahân was at Agra.
+
+27. It is related that the coffee was delivered to the two sovereigns
+in this room upon a gold salver by the most polished gentleman of the
+court. His motions, as he entered the gorgeous apartment, amidst the
+splendid train of the two Emperors, were watched with great anxiety;
+if he presented the coffee first to his own master, the furious
+conqueror, before whom the sovereign of India and all his courtiers
+trembled, might order him to instant execution; if he presented it to
+Nâdir first, he would insult his own sovereign out of fear of the
+stranger. To the astonishment of all, he walked up with a steady step
+direct to his own master. 'I cannot', said he, 'aspire to the honour
+of presenting the cup to the king of kings, your majesty's honoured
+guest, nor would your majesty wish that any hand but your own should
+do so.' The Emperor took the cup from the golden salver, and
+presented it to Nâdir Shâh, who said with a smile as he took it, 'Had
+all your officers known and done their duty like this man, you had
+never, my good cousin, seen me and my Kizil Bâshis at Delhi; take
+care of him for your own sake, and get round you as many like him as
+you can.' [W. H. S.]
+
+28. The famous inscription of Saâd-Ullah Khân, supposed to be in the
+handwriting of Rashîd, the greatest caligraphist of his time; _Agar
+Firdaus bar rûe zamîn ast--hamîn ast, to hamîn ast, to hamîn ast_'
+(Carr Stephen, p. 229; Fanshawe, p. 35 and plate).
+
+29. All these people were cleared out by the events of 1867, and the
+few beautiful fragments of the palace which have retained anything of
+their original magnificence are now clean and in good order. The
+elaborate decorations of the Dîwân-i-Khâs have been partially
+restored, and the interior of this building is still extremely rich
+and elegant.
+
+'Of the public parts of the palace all that now remains is the
+entrance hall, the Naubat Khâna, Dîwân-i-Amm and Khâs, and the Rang
+Mahall--now used as a mess-room, and one or two small pavilions. They
+are the gems of the palace it is true, but without the courts and
+corridors connecting them they lose all their meaning and more than
+half their beauty. Being now situated in the middle of a British
+barrack-yard, they look like precious stones torn from their settings
+in some exquisite piece of Oriental jeweller's work and set at random
+in a bed of the commonest plaster' (Fergusson, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p.
+312). Since Fergusson wrote an immense amount of work has been done
+in restoration and conservation, but it is difficult to obtain a
+general view of the result.
+
+ The books about Delhi are even more tantalising and unsatisfactory
+than those which deal with Agra. Mr. Beglar's contribution to Vol. IV
+of the _Archaeological Survey Reports_ is a little, but very little,
+better than Mr. Carlleyle's disquisition on Agra in that volume. Sir
+A. Cunningham's observations in the first and twentieth volumes of
+the same series are of greater value, but are fragmentary and
+imperfect, and scarcely notice at all the city of Shâhjahân.
+Fergusson's criticisms, so far as they go, are of permanent
+importance, though the scheme of his work did not allow him to treat
+in detail of any particular section. Guide-books by Beresford Cooper,
+Harcourt, and Keene, of which Keene's is the latest, and,
+consequently, in some respects the best, are all extremely
+unsatisfactory. Mr. H. C. Fanshawe's _Delhi Past and Present_ (John
+Murray, 1902), a large, handsome work something between a guide-book
+and a learned treatise, is not quite satisfying. The late Mr. Carr
+Stephen, a resident of Delhi, wrote a valuable book on the
+Archaeology of the city, but it has no illustrations, except a few
+plans on a small scale. (8vo, Ludhiana, 1876.) A good critical,
+comprehensive, well illustrated description of the remains of the
+cities, said to number thirteen, all grouped together by European
+writers under the name of Delhi, does not exist, and it seems
+unlikely that the Panjâb Government will cause the blank to be
+filled. No Government in India has such opportunities, or has done so
+little, to elucidate the history of the country, as the Government of
+the Panjâb. But it has shown greater interest in the matter of late.
+The reorganized Archaeological Survey of India, under the capable
+guidance of Sir J. H. Marshall, C.I.E., has not yet had time to do
+much at Delhi beyond the work of conservation. A fourteenth Delhi is
+now being built (1914).
+
+30. _Ante_, chapter 53, [19].
+
+31. These epistolary formulas mean no more than the similar official
+phrases in English, 'Your most obedient humble servant', and the
+like. The 'fortunate occurrence' of the Mutiny--for such it was, in
+spite of all the blood and suffering--cut out many plague-spots from
+the body politic of India. Among these the reeking palace swarm of
+Delhi was not the least malignant.
+
+32. Azraîl is the angel of death, whose duty it is to separate the
+souls from the bodies of men. Isrâfîl is entrusted with the task of
+blowing the last trump.
+
+33. The resurrection, and the signs foretelling it, are described in
+the _Mishkat-ul-Masâbih_, book xxiii, chapters 3 to 11. (Matthews,
+vol. ii, pp. 556-620.)
+
+34. The Hindoo 'ages' are (1) Krita, or Satya, (2) Treta, (3)
+Dwâpara, (4) Kali, the present evil age. The long periods assigned to
+these are merely the result of the calculations of astronomers, who
+preferred integral to fractional numbers.
+
+35. This kind of education does not now pay, and is, consequently,
+going out of fashion. The Muhammadans are slowly, and rather
+unwillingly, yielding to the pressure of necessity and beginning to
+accept English education.
+
+36. Imam Muhammad Ghazzâlî, who is also entitled Hujjat-ul-Islâm, is
+the surname of Abu Hâmid Muhammad Zain-ud-dîn Tûsî, one of the
+greatest and most celebrated Musalmân doctors, who was born A.D.
+1058, and died A.D. 1111. (Beale, s.v. 'Ghazzâlî'.) The length of
+these Muhammadan names is terrible. They are much mangled in the
+original edition. See _ante_, chapter 53, note 10, and Blochmann
+(Aîn) pp. 103, 182.
+
+37. Khwâja Nâsir-ud-dîn Tûsî, the famous philosopher and astronomer,
+the most universal scholar that Persia ever produced. Born A.D. 1201,
+died A.D. 1274. (Beale.) See _ante_, loc. cit.
+
+38. Especially the _Bûstân_ and _Gulistân_. Beale gives a list of
+Sâdî's works. See _ante_, chapter 12, note 6.
+
+39. This is a very cynical and inadequate explanation of the
+prevalence of Conservative opinions among Englishmen in the East.
+
+40. Ante, chapter 30, [6].
+
+41. In the original edition the portrait of Akbar II is twice given,
+namely, in the frontispiece of Volume I as a full-page plate, and
+again as a miniature, dated 1836, in the frontispiece of Volume II.
+
+42. The most secluded native prince of the present day could not be
+guilty of this absurdity.
+
+43. Bâbur was sixth in descent from Tîmûr, not seventh. Bâbur's
+grandfather, Abu Sayyid, was great-grandson of Tîmûr. Bâbur, not
+Bâbar, is the correct spelling.
+
+44. This may be an exaggeration. The undoubted facts are sufficiently
+horrible.
+
+45. Tîmûr was a man of surpassing ability, and knew much 'else'. See
+Malcolm, _History of Persia_, ed. 1859, chapter 11.
+
+46. Tîmûr's 'historian and great eulogist' was Sharaf-ud-dîn (died
+1446), whose _Zafarnâma_, or 'Book of Victories', was translated into
+French by Petis de la Croix in 1722. That version was used by Gibbon
+and rendered into English in 1723, Copious extracts from an
+independent rendering are given in E. & D., iii, pp. 478-522. The
+details do not always agree exactly with Sleeman's account.
+
+47. The 'old city' was that of Kutb-ud-dîn and Îltutmish; the 'new
+city' was that of Fîrôz Shâh, which partly coincided with the
+existing city, and partly lay to the south, outside the Delhi gate.
+
+48. In A.D. 1303.
+
+49. Now in the Sahâranpur district.
+
+50. This is a repetition of the statement made above. According to
+_Encycl. Brit._, ed. 1910, Tîmûr returned to his capital in April not
+May.
+
+51. Bajazet, or more accurately Bayazîd I, was defeated by Tîmûr at
+the battle of Angora in 1402, and died the following year. The story
+of his confinement in an iron cage is discredited by modern critics,
+though Gibbon (chapter 65) shows that it is supported by much good
+evidence. Anatolia is a synonym for Asia Minor. It is a vague term,
+the Greek equivalent of 'the Levant'.
+
+52. Sebastê, also called Elaeusa or Ayash, was in Cilicia.
+
+53. Otherwise called Sihôn, or Syr Daryâ.
+
+54. Two autobiographical works, the _Malfûzât_ and the Tuzukât, are
+attributed to Tîmûr and probably were composed under his direction.
+The latter was translated by Major Davey (Oxford, 1783), and the
+former, in part, by Major Stewart (Or. Transl. Fund, 1830). An
+independent version of the portion of the _Malfûzât_ relating to
+India will be found in E. & D., iii, pp. 389-477.
+
+55. Alî Yazdî, commonly called Sharaf-ud-dîn, author of the
+_Zafarnâma_ in Persian (see _ante_, chapter 68, note 46), Ibn
+Arabshâh, in an Arabic work, describes Tîmûr from a hostile point of
+view. (Encycl. Brit., 11th ed., s. v. 'Timûr').
+
+56. It is impossible within the limits of a note to discuss the
+problem of the origin of the gipsies. Much has been written about it,
+though nothing quite satisfactory. The gipsy, or Romany, language
+(_Romani chiv_, or 'tongue') certainly is closely related to, though
+not derived from, the existing languages of Northern India. Some of
+the forms are very archaic. A valuable English-Gipsy vocabulary
+compiled by Mr. (Sir George) and Mrs. Grierson was published in _Ind.
+Ant._, vols. xv, xvi (1886,1887). The author's theory does not tally
+with the facts. Gipsies existed in Persia and Europe long before
+Tîmûr's time. It is practically certain that they did not come
+through Egypt. The article 'Gypsies' by F. H. Groome in Chambers's
+_Encycl._ (1904) is good, and seems to the editor to be preferable to
+Dr. Gaster's article 'Gipsies' in _Encycl. Brit._, 11th ed., 1910.
+
+57. Before the Codes were passed (1859-1861) the criminal law
+administered in India was, in the main, that of the Muhammadans, and
+each judge's court had a Muhammadan law officer attached, who
+pronounced a 'fatwa', or decision, intimating the law applicable to
+the case, and the penalty which might be inflicted. Several examples
+of these 'fatwas' will be found among the papers bound up with the
+author's 'Ramaseeana'.
+
+58. See Korân, chapter 2. [W. H. S.] The passage is the second
+sentence in chapter 2. The wording, as quoted, differs slightly from
+Sale's version.
+
+59. See Korân, chapter 32. [W. H. S.]
+
+60. Ibid., chapter 11. [W. H. S.] Sale's version, with trifling
+verbal differences. The 'muftî's' reasoning has been heard in Europe.
+
+61. See Korân, chapter 15. [W. H. S.] Sale's version, with
+modifications.
+
+62. 'This is a revelation of the most mighty, the merciful God; that
+thou mayest warn a people whose fathers were not warned, and who live
+in negligence. Our sentence hath justly been pronounced against the
+greater part of them, wherefore they shall not believe. It shall be
+equal unto them whether thou preach unto them, or do not preach unto
+them; they shall not believe.' Korân, chapter 36. [W. H. S.] From
+beginning of the chapter. Sale's version; a sentence being omitted
+between 'believe' and 'It shall'.
+
+63. I have never met another man so thoroughly master of the Korân as
+the Muftî, and yet he had the reputation of being a very corrupt man
+in his office. [W. H. S.]
+
+64. Aleeoodeen; an unusual name; probably a misprint for Alâ-ud-dîn.
+
+65. The 17th chapter of the Korân opens with the words, 'Praise be
+unto him who transported his servant by night from the sacred temple
+of Mecca to the farther temple of Jerusalem', 'from whence', as Sale
+observes, 'he was carried through the seven heavens to the presence
+of God, and brought back again to Mecca the same night'. The
+commentators dispute whether the journey to heaven was corporeally
+performed, or merely in a vision. 'But the received opinion is that
+it was no vision, but that he was actually transported in the body to
+his journey's end; and if any impossibility be objected, they think
+it a sufficient answer to say that it might easily be effected by an
+omnipotent agent.'
+
+66. See Korân, chapter 15. [W. H. S.]
+
+67. The Muhammadans believe that the Christians have tampered with
+the Scriptures.
+
+68. It would be difficult to give more vivid expression to the
+eternal conflict between the theological and the scientific spirit.
+Compare the remarks _ante_, chapter 26, note 11, on the attitude of
+Hindoos towards modern science.
+
+69. _Paradise Lost_, Book VIII. [W. H. S.] Line 167; from Raphael's
+address to Adam.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 69
+
+
+Indian Police--Its Defects--and their Cause and Remedy.
+
+On the 26th[1] we crossed the river Jumna, over a bridge of boats,
+kept up by the King of Oudh for the use of the public, though his
+majesty is now connected with Delhi only by the tomb of his
+ancestor;[2] and his territories are separated from the imperial city
+by the two great rivers, Ganges and Jumna.
+
+We proceeded to Farrukhnagar, about twelve miles over an execrable
+road running over a flat but rugged surface of unproductive soil.[3]
+India is, perhaps, the only civilized country in the world where a
+great city could be approached by such a road from the largest
+military Station in the empire,[4] not more than three stages
+distant. After breakfast the head native police officer of the
+division came to pay his respects. He talked of the dreadful murders
+which used to be perpetrated in this neighbourhood by miscreants, who
+found shelter in the territories of the Bêgam Samrû,[5] whither his
+followers dared not hunt for them; and mentioned a case of nine
+persons who had been murdered just within the boundary of our
+territories about seven years before, and thrown into a dry well. He
+was present at the inquest held on their bodies, and described their
+appearance; and I found that they were the bodies of a news writer
+from Lahore, who, with his eight companions, had been murdered by
+Thugs on his way back to Rohilkhand. I had long before been made
+acquainted with the circumstances of this murder and the perpetrators
+had all been secured, but we wanted this link in the chain of
+evidence. It had been described to me as having taken place within
+the boundary of the Bêgam's territory, and I applied to her for a
+report on the inquest. She declared that no bodies had been
+discovered about the time mentioned; and I concluded that the
+ignorance of the people of the neighbourhood was pretended, as usual
+in such cases, with a view to avoid a summons to give evidence in our
+courts. I referred forthwith to the magistrate of the district, and
+found the report that I wanted, and thereby completed the chain of
+evidence upon a very important case. The Thânadâr seemed much
+surprised to find that I was so well acquainted with the
+circumstances of this murder, but still more that the perpetrators
+were not the poor old Bêgam's subjects, but our own.
+
+The police officers employed on our borders find it very convenient
+to trace the perpetrators of all murders and gang robberies into the
+territories of native chiefs, whose subjects they accuse often when
+they know that the crimes have been committed by our own. They are,
+on the one hand, afraid to seize or accuse the real offenders, lest
+they should avenge themselves by some personal violence, or by thefts
+or robberies, which they often commit with a view to get them tumed
+out of office as inefficient; and, on the other, they are tempted to
+conceal the real offenders by a liberal share of the spoil, and a
+promise of not offending again within their beat. Their tenure of
+office is far too insecure, and their salaries are far too small.
+They are often dismissed summarily by the magistrate if they send him
+in no prisoners; and also if they send in to him prisoners who are
+not ultimately convicted, because a magistrate's merits are too often
+estimated by the proportion that his convictions bear to his
+acquittals among the prisoners committed for trial to the sessions.
+Men are often ultimately acquitted for want of judicial proof, when
+there is abundance of that moral proof on which a police officer or
+magistrate has to act in the discharge of his duties; and in a
+country where gangs of professional and hereditary robbers and
+murderers extend their depredations into very remote parts, and
+seldom commit them in the districts in which they reside, the most
+vigilant police officer must often fail to discover the perpetrators
+of heavy crimes that take place within his range.[6]
+
+When they cannot find them, the native officers either seize innocent
+persons, and frighten them into confession, or else they try to
+conceal the crime, and in this they are seconded by the sufferers in
+the robbery, who will always avoid, if they can, a prosecution in our
+courts, and by their neighbours, who dread being summoned to give
+evidence as a serious calamity. The man who has been robbed, instead
+of being an object of compassion among his neighbours, often incurs
+their resentment for subjecting them to this calamity; and they not
+only pay largely themselves, but make him pay largely, to have his
+losses concealed from the magistrate. Formerly, when a district was
+visited by a judge of circuit to hold his sessions only once or twice
+a year, and men were constantly bound over to prosecute and appear as
+evidence from sessions to sessions, till they were wearied and
+worried to death, this evil was much greater than at present, when
+every district is provided with its judge of sessions, who is, or
+ought to be, always ready to take up the cases committed for trial by
+the magistrate.[7] This was one of the best measures of Lord W.
+Bentinck's admirable, though much abused, administration of the
+government of India.[8] Still, however, the inconvenience and delay
+of prosecution in our courts are so great, and the chance of the
+ultimate conviction of great offenders is so small, that strong
+temptations are held out to the police to conceal or misrepresent the
+character of crimes; and they must have a great feeling of security
+in their tenure of office, and more adequate salaries, better chances
+of rising, and better supervision over them, before they will resist
+such temptation. These Thânadârs, and all the public officers under
+them, are all so very inadequately paid that corruption among them
+excites no feeling of odium or indignation in the minds of those
+among whom they live and serve. Such feelings are rather directed
+against the government that places them in such situations of so much
+labour and responsibility with salaries so inadequate; and thereby
+confers upon them virtually a licence to pay themselves by preying
+upon those whom they are employed ostensibly to protect. They know
+that with such salaries they can never have the reputation of being
+honest, however faithfully they may discharge their duties; and it is
+too hard to expect that men will long submit to the necessity of
+being thought corrupt, without reaping some of the advantages of
+corruption. Let the Thânadârs have everywhere such salaries as will
+enable them to maintain their families in comfort, and keep up that
+appearance of respectability which their station in society demands;
+and over every three or four Thânadârs' jurisdiction let there be an
+officer appointed upon a higher scale of salary, to supervise and
+control their proceedings, and armed with powers to decide minor
+offences. To these higher stations the Thânadârs will be able to look
+forward as their reward for a faithful and zealous discharge of their
+duties.[9]
+
+He who can suppose that men so inadequately paid, who have no
+promotion to look forward to, and feel no security in their tenure of
+office, and consequently no hope of a provision for old age,[10] will
+be zealous and honest in the discharge of their duties, must be very
+imperfectly acquainted with human nature, and with the motives by
+which men are influenced in all quarters of the world; but we are
+none of us so ignorant, for we all know that the same motives actuate
+public servants in India as elsewhere. We have acted successfully
+upon this knowledge in the scale of salaries and gradation of rank
+assigned to European civil functionaries, and to all native
+functionaries employed in the judicial and revenue branches of the
+public service; and why not act upon it in that of the salaries
+assigned to the native officers employed in the police? The
+magistrate of a district gets a salary of from two thousand to two
+thousand five hundred rupees a month.[11] The native officer next
+under him is the Thânadâr, or head native police officer of a
+subdivision of his district, containing many towns and villages, with
+a population of a hundred thousand souls. This officer gets a salary
+of twenty-five rupees a month. He cannot possibly do his duty unless
+he keeps one or two horses; indeed, he is told by the magistrate that
+he cannot; and that he must have one or two horses, or resign his
+post. The people, seeing how much we expect from the Thânadâr, and
+how little we give him, submit to his demands for contributions
+without murmuring, and consider almost any demand trivial from a man
+so employed and so paid. They are confounded at our inconsistency,
+and say, 'We see you giving high salaries and high prospects of
+advancement to men who have nothing to do but collect your rents, and
+decide our disputes about pounds, shillings, and pence, which we used
+to decide much better ourselves, when we had no other court but that
+of our elders--while those who are to protect life and property, to
+keep peace over the land, and enable the industrious to work in
+security, maintain their families, and pay the government revenue,
+are left with hardly any pay at all.'
+
+There is really nothing in our rule in India which strikes the people
+so much as this inconsistency, the evil effects of which are so great
+and manifest; the only way to remedy the evil is to give a greater
+feeling of security in the tenure of office, a higher rate of salary,
+the hope of a provision for old age, and, above all, the gradation of
+rank, by interposing the officers I speak of between the Thânadârs
+and the magistrate.[12] This has all been done in the establishments
+for the collection of the revenue, and administration of civil
+justice.
+
+Hobbes, in his _Leviathan_, says, 'And seeing that the end of
+punishment is not revenge and discharge of choler, but correction,
+either of the offender, or of others by his example, the severest
+punishments are to be inflicted for those crimes that are of most
+danger to the public; such as are those which proceed from malice to
+the government established; those that spring from contempt of
+justice; those that provoke indignation in the multitude; and those
+which, unpunished, seem authorized, as when they are committed by
+sons, servants, or favourites of men in authority.[13] For
+indignation carrieth men, not only against the actors and authors of
+injustice, but against all power that is likely to protect them; as
+in the case of Tarquin, when, for the insolent act of one of his
+sons, he was driven out of Rome, and the monarchy itself dissolved.'
+(Para. 2, chapter 30.) Almost every one of our Thânadârs is, in his
+way, a little Tarquin, exciting the indignation of the people against
+his rulers; and no time should be lost in converting him into
+something better.
+
+By the obstacles which are still everywhere opposed to the conviction
+of offenders, in the distance of our courts, the forms of procedure,
+and other causes of 'the law's delay', we render the duties of our
+police establishment everywhere 'more honoured in the breach than the
+observance', by the mass of the people among whom they are placed. We
+must, as I have before said, remove some of these obstacles to the
+successful prosecution of offenders in our criminal courts, which
+tend so much to deprive the government of all popular aid and support
+in the administration of justice; and to convert all our police
+establishments into instruments of oppression, instead of what they
+should be, the efficient means of protection to the persons,
+property, and character of the innocent. Crimes multiply from the
+assurance the guilty are everywhere apt to feel of impunity to crime;
+and the more crimes multiply, the greater is the aversion the people
+everywhere feel to aid the government in the arrest and conviction of
+criminals, because they see more and more the innocent punished by
+attendance upon distant courts at great cost and inconvenience, to
+give evidence upon points which seem to them unimportant, while the
+guilty escape owing to technical difficulties which they can never
+understand.[14]
+
+The best way to remove these obstacles is to interpose officers
+between the Thânadâr and the magistrate, and arm them with judicial
+powers to try minor cases, leaving an appeal open to the magistrate,
+and to extend the final jurisdiction of the magistrate to a greater
+range of crimes, though it should involve the necessity of reducing
+the measure of punishment annexed to them.[15] Beccaria has justly
+observed that 'Crimes are more effectually prevented by the certainty
+than by the severity of punishment. The certainty of a small
+punishment will make a stronger impression than the fear of one more
+severe, if attended with the hope of escaping; for it is the nature
+of mankind to be terrified at the approach of the smallest inevitable
+evil; whilst hope, the best gift of Heaven, has the power of
+dispelling the apprehensions of a greater, especially if supported by
+examples of impunity, which weakness or avarice too frequently
+affords.'
+
+I ought to have mentioned that the police of a district, in our
+Bengal territories, consists of a magistrate and his assistant, who
+are European gentlemen of the Civil Service; and a certain number of
+Thânadârs, from twelve to sixteen, who preside over the different
+sub-divisions of the district in which they reside with their
+establishments. These Thânadârs get twenty-five rupees a month, have
+under them four or five Jemadârs upon eight rupees, and thirty or
+forty Barkandâzes upon four rupees a month. The Jemadârs are, most of
+them, placed in charge of 'nâkas', or sub-divisions of the Thânadâr's
+jurisdiction, the rest are kept at their headquarters, ready to move
+to any point where their services may be required. These are all paid
+by government; but there is in each village one watchman, and in
+larger villages more than one, who are appointed by the heads of
+villages, and paid by the communities, and required daily or
+periodically to report all the police matters of their villages to
+the Thânadârs.[16]
+
+The distance between the magistrates and Thânadârs is at present
+immeasurable; and an infinite deal of mischief is done by the latter
+and those under them, of which the magistrates know nothing whatever.
+In the first place, they levy a fee of one rupee from every village
+at the festival of the Holî in February, and another at that of the
+Dasehra in October, and in each Thânadâr's jurisdiction there are
+from one to two hundred villages. These and numerous other
+unauthorized exactions they share with those under them, and with the
+native officers about the person of the magistrate, who, if not
+conciliated, can always manage to make them appear unfit for their
+places.[17]
+
+A robbery affords a rich harvest. Some article of stolen property is
+found in one man's house, and by a little legerdemain it is conveyed
+to that of another, both of whom are made to pay liberally; the man
+robbed also pays, and all the members of the village community are
+made to do the same. They are all called to the court of the Thânadâr
+to give evidence as to what they have seen or heard regarding either
+the fact or the persons in the remotest degree connected with it--as
+to the arrests of the supposed offenders--the search of their house--
+the character of their grandmothers and grandfathers--and they are
+told that they are to be sent to the magistrate a hundred miles
+distant, and then made to stand at the door among a hundred and fifty
+pairs of shoes, till _his excellency_ the Nâzir, the under-sheriff of
+the court, may be pleased to announce them to his highness the
+magistrate, which, of course, he will not do without a
+_consideration_. To escape all these threatened evils, they pay
+handsomely and depart in peace. The Thânadâr reports that an attempt
+to rob a house by persons unknown had been defeated by his exertions,
+and the _good fortune_ of the magistrate; and sends a liberal share
+of spoil to those who are to read his report to that functionary.[18]
+This goes on more or less in every district, but more especially in
+those where the magistrate happens to be a man of violent temper, who
+is always surrounded by knaves, because men who have any regard for
+their character will not approach him--or a weak, good-natured man,
+easily made to believe anything, and managed by favourites--or one
+too fond of field-sports, or of music, painting, European languages,
+literature, and sciences, or lastly, of his own ease.[19] Some
+magistrates think they can put down crime by dismissing the Thânadâr;
+but this tends only to prevent crimes being reported to him; for in
+such cases the feelings of the people are in exact accordance with
+the interests of the Thânadârs; and crimes augment by the assurance
+of impunity thereby given to criminals. The only remedy for all this
+evil is to fill up the great gulf between the magistrate and Thânadâr
+by officers who shall be to him what I have described the patrol
+officers to be to the collectors of customs, at once the _tapis_ of
+Prince Husain, and the _telescope_ of Prince Ali--a medium that will
+enable him to be everywhere, and see everything.[20] And why is this
+remedy not applied? Simply and solely because such appointments would
+be given to the uncovenanted, and might tend indirectly to diminish
+the appointments open to the covenanted servants of the company.
+Young gentlemen of the Civil Service are supposed to be doing the
+duties which would be assigned to such officers, while they are at
+school as assistants to magistrates and collectors; and were this
+great gulf filled up by efficient covenanted officers, they would
+have no school to go to. There is no doubt some truth in this; but
+the welfare of a whole people should not be sacrificed to keep this
+school or play-ground open exclusively for them; let them act for a
+time as they would unwillingly do with the uncovenanted, and they
+will learn much more than if they occupied the ground exclusively and
+acted alone--they will be always with people ready and willing to
+tell them the real state of things; whereas, at present, they are
+always with those who studiously conceal it from them.[21]
+
+It is a common practice with Thânadârs all over the country to
+connive at the residence within their jurisdiction of gangs of
+robbers, on the condition that they shall not rob within those
+limits, and shall give them a share of what they bring back from
+their distant expeditions.
+
+They [_scil._ the gangs] go out ostensibly in search of service, on
+the termination of the rains of one season in October, and return
+before the commencement of the next in June; but their vocation is
+always well known to the police, and to all the people of their
+neighbourhood, and very often to the magistrates themselves, who
+could, if they would, secure them on their return with their booty;
+but this would not secure their conviction unless the proprietors
+could be discovered, which they scarcely ever could. Were the police
+officers to seize them, they would be all finally acquitted and
+released by the judges--the magistrate would get into disrepute with
+his superiors, by the number of acquittals compared with convictions
+exhibited in his monthly tables; and he would vent his spleen upon
+the poor Thânadâr, who would at the same time have incurred the
+resentment of the robbers; and between both, he would have no
+possible chance of escape. He therefore consults his own interest and
+his own case by leaving them to carry on their trade of robbery or
+murder unmolested; and his master, the magistrate, is well pleased
+not to be pestered with charges against men whom he has no chance of
+getting ultimately convicted. It was in this way that so many hundred
+families of assassins by profession were able for so many generations
+to reside in the most cultivated and populous parts of our
+territories, and extend their depredations into the remotest parts of
+India, before our System of operations was brought to bear upon them
+in 1830. Their profession was perfectly well known to the people of
+the districts in which they resided, and to the greater part of the
+police; they murdered not within their own district, and the police
+of that district cared nothing about what they might do beyond
+it.[22]
+
+The most respectable native gentleman in the city and district told
+me one day an amusing instance of the proceedings of a native officer
+of that district, which occurred about five years ago. 'In a village
+which he had purchased and let in farms, a shopkeeper was one day
+superintending the cutting of some sugar-cane which he had purchased
+from a cultivator as it stood. His name was Girdhârî, I think, and
+the boy who was cutting it for him was the son of a poor man called
+Madârî. Girdhârî wanted to have the cane cut down as near as he could
+to the ground, while the boy, to save himself the trouble of
+stooping, would persist in cutting it a good deal too high up. After
+admonishing him several times, the shopkeeper gave him a smart clout
+on the head. The boy, to prevent a repetition, called out, "Murder!
+Girdhârî has killed me--Girdhârî has killed me!" His old father, who
+was at work carrying away the cane at a little distance out of sight,
+ran off to the village watchman, and, in his anger, told him that
+Girdhârî had murdered his son. The watchman went as fast as he could
+to the Thânadâr, or head police officer of the division, who resided
+some miles distant. The Thânadâr ordered off his subordinate officer,
+the Jemadâr, with half a dozen policemen, to arrange everything for
+an inquest on the body, by the time he should reach the place, with
+all due pomp. The Jemadâr went to the house of the murderer, and
+dismounting, ordered all the shopkeepers of the village, who were
+many and respectable, to be forthwith seized, and bound hand and
+feet. "So", said the Jemadâr, "you have all been aiding and abetting
+your friend in the murder of poor Madârî's only son." "May it please
+your excellency, we have never heard of any murder." "Impudent
+scoundrels," roared the Jemadâr, "does not the poor boy lie dead in
+the sugar-cane field, and is not his highness the Thânadâr coming to
+hold an inquest upon it? and do you take us for fools enough to
+believe that any scoundrel among you would venture to commit a
+deliberate murder without being aided and abetted by all the rest?"
+The village watchman began to feel some apprehension that he had been
+too precipitate; and entreated the Jemadâr to go first and see the
+body of the boy. "What do you take us for," said the Jemadâr, "a
+thing without a stomach? Do you suppose that government servants can
+live and labour on air? Are we to go and examine bodies upon empty
+stomachs? Let his father take care of the body, and let these
+murdering shopkeepers provide us something to eat." Nine rupees'
+worth of sweetmeats, and materials for a feast were forthwith
+collected at the expense of the shopkeepers, who stood bound, and
+waiting the arrival of his highness the Thânadâr, who was soon after
+seen approaching majestically upon a richly caparisoned horse.
+"What," said the Jemadâr, "is there nobody to go and receive his
+highness in due form?" One of the shopkeepers was untied, and
+presented with fifteen rupees by his family, and those of the other
+shopkeepers. These he took up and presented to his highness, who
+deigned to receive them through one of his train, and then dismounted
+and partook of the feast that had been provided. "Now", said his
+highness, "we will go and hold an inquest on the body of the poor
+boy"; and off moved all the great functionaries of government to the
+sugar-cane field, with the village watchman leading the way. The
+father of the boy met them as they entered, and was pointed out by
+the village watchman. "Where", said the Thânadâr, "is your poor boy?"
+"There," said Madârî, "cutting the canes." "How, cutting the canes?
+Was he not murdered by the shopkeepers?" "No," said Madârî, "he was
+beaten by Girdhârî, and richly deserved it! I find." Girdhârî and the
+boy were called up, and the little urchin said that he called out
+murder merely to prevent Girdhârî from giving him another clout on
+the side of the head. His father was then fined nine rupees for
+giving a false alarm, and Girdhârî fifteen for so unmercifully
+beating the boy; and they were made to pay on the instant, under the
+penalty of all being sent off forty miles to the magistrate. Having
+thus settled this very important affair, his highness the Thânadâr
+walked back to the shop, ordered all the shopkeepers to be set at
+liberty, smoked his pipe, mounted his horse, and rode home, followed
+by all his police officers, and well pleased with his day's work.'
+
+The farmer of the village soon after made his way to the city, and
+communicated the circumstances to my old friend, who happened to be
+on intimate terms with the magistrate.[23] He wrote a polite note to
+the Thânadâr to say that he should never get any rents from his
+estate if the occupants were liable to such fines as these, and that
+he should take the earliest opportunity of mentioning them to his
+friend the magistrate. The Thânadâr ascertained that he was really in
+the habit of visiting the magistrate, and communicating with him
+freely; and hushed up the matter by causing all, save the expenses of
+the feast, to be paid back. These are things of daily occurrence in
+all parts of our dominions, and the Thânadârs are not afraid to play
+such 'fantastic tricks' because all those under and all those above
+them share more or less in the spoil, and are bound in honour to
+conceal them from the European magistrate, whom it is the interest of
+all to keep in the dark. They know that the people will hardly ever
+complain, from the great dislike they all have to appear in our
+courts, particularly when it is against any of the officers of those
+courts, or their friends and creatures in the district police.[24]
+
+When our operations commenced, in 1830, these assassins [_scil._ the
+Thugs] revelled over every road in India in gangs of hundreds,
+without the fear of punishment from divine or human laws; but there
+is not now, I believe, a road in India infested by them. That our
+government has still defects, and great ones, must be obvious to
+every one who has travelled much over India with the requisite
+qualifications and disposition to observe; but I believe that in
+spite of all the defects I have noticed above in our police System,
+the life, property, and character of the innocent are now more
+secure, and all their advantages more freely enjoyed, than they ever
+were under any former government with whose history we are
+acquainted, or than they now are under any native government in
+India.[25]
+
+Those who think they are not so almost always refer to the reign of
+Shâh Jahân, when men like Tavernier travelled so securely all over
+India with their bags of diamonds; but I would ask them whether they
+think that the life, property, and character of the innocent could be
+anywhere very secure, or their advantages very freely enjoyed, in a
+country where a man could do openly with impunity what the traveller
+describes to have been done by the Persian physician of the Governor
+of Allahabad? This governor, being sickly, had in attendance upon him
+_eleven physicians_, one of whom was a European gentleman of
+education, Claudius Maille, of Bourges.[26] The chief favourite of
+the eleven was, however, a Persian, 'who one day threw his wife from
+the top of a battlement to the ground in a fit of jealousy. He
+thought the fall would kill her, but she had only a few ribs broken;
+whereupon the kindred of the woman came and demanded justice at the
+feet of the governor. The governor, sending for the physician,
+commanded him to be gone, resolving to retain him no longer in his
+service. The physician obeyed; and putting his poor maimed wife in a
+palankeen, he set forward upon the road with all his family. But he
+had not gone above three or four days' journey from the city, when
+the governor, finding himself worse than he was wont to be, sent to
+recall him; which the physician perceiving, stabbed his wife, his
+four children, and thirteen female slaves, and returned again to the
+Governor, who said not a word to him, but entertained him again in
+his service.' This occurred within Tavernier's own knowledge and
+about the time he visited Allahabad; and is related as by no means a
+very extraordinary circumstance.[27]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. The tomb of Safdar Jang, or Mansûr Alî Khân, described _ante_,
+chapter 68 [4]. The bridges over the Jumna are now, of course,
+maintained by Government and the railway companies.
+
+3. The main highways approaching Delhi are now excellent metalled
+roads.
+
+4. By the term 'the largest military station in the empire', the
+author means Meerut. At present the largest military station in
+Northern India is, I believe, Râwal Pindi, and the combined
+cantonments of Secunderâbâd and Bolarum in the Nizam's dominions
+constitute the largest military station in the empire.
+
+5. Comprising parts of the Meerut and Muzaffarnagar districts of the
+North-Western Provinces, now the Agra Province in the United
+Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The Bêgam's history will be discussed in
+chapter 75, _post_.
+
+6. The members of the reformed police force, constituted under Act V
+of 1861, generally on the model of the Royal Irish Constabulary, have
+no reason to complain of insecurity of tenure. It is now very
+difficult to obtain sanction to the dismissal of a corrupt or
+inefficient officer, unless he has been judicially convicted of a
+statutory offence.
+
+7. Ordinarily there is for each district, or administrative unit, a
+separate Sessions and District Judge, who tries both civil and
+criminal cases of the more serious kind. Occasionally two or three
+districts have only one judge between them, who is then usually in
+arrear with his work. Sessions for the trial of grave criminal cases
+are held monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly, according to
+circumstances. In some districts, and for some classes of cases, the
+jury system has been introduced, but, as a rule, in Northern India
+the responsibility rests with the judge alone, who receives some
+slight aid from assessors. Capital sentences passed by a Sessions
+Judge must be confirmed by two Judges of a High Court, or equivalent
+tribunal.
+
+8. The historian Thornton (chapter 27) went so far as to declare that
+Lord William Bentinck has 'done less for the interest of India, and
+for his own reputation, than any who had occupied his place since the
+commencement of the nineteenth century, with the single exception of
+Sir George Barlow'. The abolition of widow-burning is the only act of
+the Bentinck administration which this writer could praise. Such a
+criticism is manifestly unjust, the outcome of contemporary anger and
+prejudice. The inscription written by Macaulay, the friend and
+coadjutor of Lord William, and placed on the statue of the reforming
+Governor-General in Calcutta, does not give undeserved praise to the
+much abused statesman. Sir William Sleeman so much admired Lord
+William Bentinck, and formed such a favourable estimate of the merits
+of his government, that it may be well to support his opinion by that
+of Macaulay. The text of the inscription is:
+
+ TO
+
+ WILLIAM CAVENDISH BENTINCK,
+
+ who during seven years ruled India with eminent prudence,
+ integrity, and benevolence;
+ who, placed at the head of a great Empire, never laid aside
+ the simplicity and moderation of a private citizen;
+ who infused into Oriental despotism the spirit
+ of British freedom;
+ who never forgot that the end of Government is the happiness
+ of the governed;
+ who abolished cruel rites;
+ who effaced humiliating distinctions;
+ who gave liberty to the expression of public opinion;
+ whose constant study it was to elevate the intellectual and
+ moral character of the nation committed to his charge,
+
+ THIS MONUMENT
+
+ was erected by men
+ who, differing in race, in manners, in language and in religion,
+ cherish with equal veneration and gratitude
+ the memory of his wise, reforming, and paternal administration.
+
+
+ (_Lord William Bentinck_, by D. Boulger, p. 203; 'Rulers of India'
+series.)
+
+9. A European District Superintendent of Police, under the general
+supervision of the Magistrate of the District, now commands the
+police of each district, and sometimes has one or two European
+Assistants. He is also aided by well-paid Inspectors, who are for the
+most part natives of India. Measures have recently been taken,
+especially in the United Provinces, to improve the pay, training, and
+position of the police force, European and Indian.
+
+10. Police officers and men now obtain pensions, like public servants
+in other departments.
+
+11. In some provinces the highest salaries of magistrates are much
+lower than the rates stated by the author, which are the highest paid
+to the most senior officers in certain provinces; and, in all
+provinces, officiating incumbents, who form a large proportion of the
+officers employed, draw only a part of the full salary. The fall in
+exchange has enormously reduced the real value of all Indian
+salaries.
+
+12. Another popular view of this subject, and, I think, the one more
+commonly taken, is expressed in the anecdote told _ante_, chapter 58
+following [10]. Well-paid Inspectors of Police, drawing salaries of
+150 to 200 rupees a month, are often extremely corrupt, and retire
+with large fortunes, I knew many cases, but could never obtain
+judicial proof of one.
+
+13. When 'sons, servants, or favourites of men in authority', in
+India, no longer oppress their fellows, the millennium will have
+arrived.
+
+14. It is some slight satisfaction to a zealous magistrate of the
+present day, when he sees a great and influential criminal escape his
+just doom, to think that even the best magistrates many years ago had
+to submit to similar painful experiences. India cannot truly be
+described as an uncivilized or barbarous country, but, side by side
+with elements of the highest civilization, it contains many elements
+of primitive and savage barbarism. The savagery of India cannot be
+dealt with by barristers or moral text-books.
+
+15. The number of subordinate magistrates, paid and unpaid, has of
+late years been enormously increased, and courts are, consequently,
+much more numerous than they used to be. The vast increase in
+facility of communication has also diminished the inconveniences
+which the author deplores. In Oudh, and certain other provinces,
+which used to be called Non-Regulation, the chief Magistrate of the
+District has power to try and adequately punish all offences, except
+capital ones. The power is useful, when the district officer has time
+to exercise it, which is not always the case.
+
+16. There is a Superintendent of Police for the Province of Bengal;
+but in the North-Western Provinces his duties are divided among the
+Commissioners of Revenue. [W. H. S.] By 'Superintendent of Police'
+the author means the high officer now called the Inspector-General of
+Police, under the present System each Local Government or
+Administration has one of these officers, who is aided by one or more
+staff officers as Assistant-Inspectors-General. The Commissioners in
+the United Provinces have been relieved of police duties. The
+organization of police stations has been much modified since the
+author's time. 'Our Bengal territories', as understood by the author,
+included, in addition to Bengal, the 'North-Western Provinces', now
+the Province, of Agra, the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories, now in
+the Central Provinces, and the Delhi Territories. Oudh, of course,
+was then independent; and the Panjâb was under the rule of Ranjit
+Singh.
+
+17. All these practices are still carried on; and experienced
+magistrates are well aware of their existence, though powerless to
+stop them. People will often give private information of
+malpractices, but will hardly ever come into court, and speak out
+openly. A magistrate cannot take action on statements which the
+makers will not submit to cross-examination.
+
+18. This is still a favourite trick. Every year Inspectors-General of
+Police and Secretaries to Government make the same sarcastic remarks
+about the wonderful number of 'attempts at burglary', and the
+apparent contentment of the criminal classes with the small results
+of their labours. But the Thânadâr is too much for even Inspectors-
+General and Secretaries to Government. No amount of reorganization
+changes him.
+
+19. Mr. R., when appointed magistrate of the district of Fathpur on
+the Ganges, had a wish to translate the 'Henriade', and, in order to
+secure leisure, he issued a proclamation to all the Thânadârs of his
+district to put down crime, declaring that he would hold them
+responsible for what might be committed, and dismiss from his
+situation every one who should suffer any to be committed within his
+charge. This district, lying on the borders of Oudh, had been noted
+for the number and atrocious character of its crimes. From that day
+all the periodical returns went up to the superior court blank--not a
+crime was reported. Astonished at this sudden result of the change of
+magistrates, the superior court of Calcutta (the Sadr Nizâmat Adâlat)
+requested one of the judges, who was about to pass through the
+district on his way down, to inquire into the nature of the System
+which seemed to work so well, with a view to its adoption in other
+districts. He found crimes were more abundant than ever; and the
+Thânadârs showed him the proclamation, which had been understood, as
+all such proclamations are, not as enjoining vigilance in the
+prosecution of crime, but as prohibiting all report of them, so as to
+_save the magistrate trouble_, and get him a good name with his
+superiors. [W. H. S.]
+
+Great caution should always be used by local officers in making
+comments on statistics. The subordinate cares nothing for the facts.
+When a superior objects that the birth-rate is too low and the death-
+rate too high in any police circle, the practical conclusion drawn by
+the police is that the figures of the next return must be made more
+palatable, and they are cooked accordingly. So, if burglaries are too
+numerous, they cease to be reported, and so forth.
+
+The old Superior Court was known as the Sadr Nizâmat Adâlat, on the
+criminal, and as the Sadr Dîwânî Adâlat, on the civil side. These
+courts have now been replaced by the High Courts, and equivalent
+tribunals. In the author's time the High Court for the Agra Province
+had not yet been established. Its seat is now at Allahabad, but was
+formerly at Agra.
+
+20. The gap has been filled up by numbers of Deputy Magistrates,
+Tahsîldâr, &c., invested with magisterial powers, Honorary
+Magistrates, District Superintendents, and Inspectors, and yet all
+the old games still go on merrily. The reason is that the character
+of the people has not changed. The police must have the power to
+arrest, and that power, when wielded by unscrupulous hands, must
+always be formidable.
+
+21. A magistrate who can find in his district even one man, official
+or unofficial, who will tell him 'the real state of things', and not
+merely repeat scandal and malignant gossip, is unusually fortunate.
+
+22. The Thugs were suppressed because a special organization was
+devised and directed for the purpose, the English rules as to the
+admissibility of evidence being judiciously relaxed. The ordinary law
+and methods of procedure are of little effect against the secret
+societies known as 'criminal tribes'. These criminal tribes number
+hundreds of thousands of persona, and present a problem almost
+unknown to European experience. The gipsies, who are largely of
+Indian origin, are, perhaps, the only European example of an
+hereditary criminal tribe. But they are not sheltered and abetted by
+the landowners as their brethren in India are.
+
+23. The magistrate, of course, was the author.
+
+24. These motives all retain their full force, and are unaffected by
+Police Commissions and reorganization schemes. Some people think that
+the character of the police will be raised by the employment as
+officers of young Indians of good family. I am sorry to say that I
+found these young men to be the worst offenders. They are more daring
+in their misdeeds than the ordinary policeman, and no better in their
+morals.
+
+25. This is quite true; and it is also true that our police
+administration is the weakest part of our System. But the fault is
+not entirely that of the police. In some provinces, especially in
+Bengal, the action of the High Courts has almost paralysed the arm of
+the Executive.
+
+26. 'M. Claude Maille, of Bourges. As we shall see in Book I, chapter
+18, a man of this name, who had escaped from the Dutch service, was,
+in the year 1652, a not very successful amateur gun-founder for Mîr
+Jumla; he had, after his escape, set up as a surgeon to the Nawâb,
+with an equipment consisting of a case of instruments and a box of
+ointments which he had stolen from M. Cheteur, the Dutch Ambassador
+to Golconda. Tavernier throws no light upon his identity with this
+physician.' (Tavernier, _Travels_, ed. Ball, vol. i, p. 116, note).
+M. Maille befriended Manucci, who mentions him several times (Irvine,
+_Storia do Mogor_, i, 92, &c.)
+
+27. Ball's version of this horrible story (vol. i, p. 117) does not
+differ materially from that quoted in the text. Tavernier does not
+mention the name of the governor, though he observes that he was 'one
+of the greatest nobles in India'. Tavernier visited Allahabad in
+December, 1665, and then heard the story, the governor concerned
+being at the time in the fort. I have no doubt that in the reign of
+Shâh Jahân ordinary offences committed by ordinary criminals were
+ruthlessly punished, and to some extent suppressed. But, under the
+best Asiatic Governments, great men and their dependants have usually
+been able to do pretty much what they pleased. The English Government
+has the merit of refusing to give formal recognition to difference of
+rank in criminals, and of often trying to punish influential
+offenders, though seldom succeeding in the attempt. From time to time
+a conspicuous example, like that of the Nawâb Shams-ud-dîn, is made,
+and a few such examples, combined with the greater vigilance and more
+complete organization of the English executive, prevent the
+occurrence of atrocities so great as that described, without a word
+of comment, by the French traveller. I have not the slightest doubt,
+nor has any magistrate of long experience any doubt, that women are
+frequently made away with quietly in the recesses of the 'zanâna'. I
+have known several such cases, which were notorious, though incapable
+of judicial proof. The amount of serious secret crime which occurs in
+India, and never comes to light, is very considerable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 70
+
+
+Rent-free Tenures--Right of Government to Resume such Grants.
+
+ ON the 27th[1] we went on fifteen miles to Bêgamâbâd, over a sandy
+and level country. All the peasantry along the roads were busy
+watering their fields; and the singing of the man who stood at the
+well to tell the other who guides the bullocks when to pull, after
+the leather bucket had been filled at the bottom, and when to stop as
+it reached the top, was extremely pleasing.[2] It is said that Tânsên
+of Delhi, the most celebrated singer they have ever had in India,
+used to spend a great part of his time in these fields, listening to
+the simple melodies of these water-drawers, which he learned to
+imitate and apply to his more finished vocal music. Popular belief
+ascribes to Tânsên the power of stopping the river Jumna in its
+course. His contemporary and rival, Birjû Baulâ, who, according to
+popular belief, could split a rock with a single note, is said to
+have learned his bass from the noise of the stone mills which the
+women use in grinding the corn for their families.[3] Tânsên was a
+Brahman from Patna, who entered the service of the Emperor Akbar,
+became a Musalmân, and after the service of twenty-seven years,
+during which he was much beloved by the Emperor and all his court, he
+died at Gwâlior in the thirty-fourth year of the Emperor's reign. His
+tomb is still to be seen at Gwâlior. All his descendants are said to
+have a talent for music, and they have all Sên added to their
+names.[4]
+
+While Mâdhojî Sindhia, the Gwâlior chief, was prime minister, he made
+the emperor assign to his daughter the Bâlâ Bâî in jâgîr, or rent-
+free tenure, ninety-five villages, rated in the imperial 'sanads'
+[deeds of grant] at three lâkhs of rupees a year. When the Emperor
+had been released from the 'durance vile' in which he was kept by
+Daulat Râo Sindhia, the adopted son of this chief,[5] by Lord Lake in
+1803, and the countries, in which these villages were situated, taken
+possession of, she was permitted to retain them on condition that
+they were to escheat to us on her death. She died in 1834, and we
+took possession of the villages, which now yield, it is said, four
+lâkhs of rupees a year. Bêgamâbâd was one of them. It paid to the
+Bâlâ Bâi only six hundred rupees a year, but it pays now to us six
+hundred and twenty rupees; but the farmers and cultivators do not pay
+a farthing more--the difference was taken by the favourite to whom
+she assigned the duties of collection, and who always took as much as
+he could get from them, and paid as little as he could to her.[6] The
+tomb of the old collector stood near my tents, and his son, who came
+to visit it, told me that he had heard from Gwâlior that a new
+Governor-General was about to arrive,[7] who would probably order the
+villages to be given back, when he should be made collector of the
+village, as his father had been.
+
+Had our Government acted by all the rent-free lands in our
+territories on the same principle, they would have saved themselves a
+vast deal of expense, trouble, and odium. The justice of declaring
+all lands liable to resumption on the death of the present incumbents
+when not given by competent authority for, and actually applied to,
+the maintenance of religious, charitable, educational, or other
+establishments of manifest public utility, would never have been for
+a moment questioned by the people of India, because they would have
+all known that it was in accordance with the customs of the country.
+If, at the same time that we declared all land liable to resumption,
+when not assigned by such authority for such purposes and actually
+applied to them, we had declared that all grants by competent
+authority registered in due form before the death of the present
+incumbents should be liable on their death to the payment to
+Government of only a quarter or half the rent arising from them, it
+would have been universally hailed as an act of great liberality,
+highly calculated to make our reign popular. As it is, we have
+admitted the right of former rulers of all descriptions to alienate
+in perpetuity the land, the principal source of the revenue of the
+state, in favour of their relatives, friends, and favourites, leaving
+upon the holders the burthen of proving, at a ruinous cost in fees
+and bribes, through court after court, that these alienations had
+been made by the authorities we declare competent, before the time
+prescribed; and we have thus given rise to an infinite deal of fraud,
+perjury, and forgery, and to the opinion, I fear, very generally
+prevalent, that we are anxious to take advantage of unavoidable flaws
+in the proof required, to trick them out of their lands by tedious
+judicial proceedings, while we profess to be desirous that they
+should retain them. In this we have done ourselves great
+injustice.[8]
+
+Though these lands were often held for many generations under former
+Governments, and for the exclusive benefit of the holders, it was
+almost always, when they were of any value, in collusion with the
+local authorities, who concealed the circumstances from their
+sovereign for a certain stipulated sum or share of the rents while
+they held office. This of course the holders were always willing to
+pay, knowing that no sovereign would hesitate much to resume their
+lands, should the circumstance of their holding them for their
+private use alone be ever brought to his notice. The local
+authorities were, no doubt, always willing to take a moderate share
+of the rent, knowing that they would get nothing should the lands be
+resumed by the sovereign. Sometimes the lands granted were either at
+the time the grant was made, or became soon after, waste and
+depopulated, in consequence of invasion or internal disorders; and
+remaining in this state for many generations, the intervening
+sovereigns either knew nothing or cared nothing about the grants.
+Under our rule they became by degrees again cultivated and peopled,
+and in consequence valuable, not by the exertions of the rent-free
+holders, for they were seldom known to do anything but collect the
+rents, but by those of the farmers and cultivators who pay them.
+
+When Saâdat Alî Khan, the sovereign of Oudh, ceded Rohilkhand and
+other districts to the Honourable Company in lieu of tribute in 1801,
+he resumed every inch of land held in rent-free tenure within the
+territories that remained with him, without condescending to assign
+any other reason than state necessity. The measure created a good
+deal of distress, particularly among the educated classes; but not so
+much as a similar measure would have created within our territories,
+because all his revenues are expended in the maintenance of
+establishments formed exclusively out of the members of Oudh
+families, and retained within the country, while ours are sent to pay
+establishments formed and maintained at a distance; and those whose
+lands are resumed always find it exceedingly difficult to get
+employment suitable to their condition.
+
+The face of the country between Delhi and Meerut is sadly denuded of
+its groves; not a grove or an avenue is to be seen anywhere, and but
+few fine solitary trees.[9] I asked the people of the cause, and was
+told by the old men of the village that they remembered well when the
+Sikh chiefs who now bask under the sunshine of our protection used to
+come over at the head of 'dalas' (bodies) of ten or twelve horse
+each, and plunder and lay waste with fire and sword, at every
+returning harvest, the fine country which I now saw covered with rich
+sheets of cultivation, and which they had rendered a desolate waste,
+'without a man to make, or a man to grant, a petition', when Lord
+Lake came among them.[10] They were, they say, looking on at a
+distance when he fought the battle of Delhi, and drove the Marâthâs,
+who were almost as bad as the Sikhs, into the Jumna river, where ten
+thousand of them were drowned. The people of all classes in Upper
+India feel the same reverence as our native soldiery for the name of
+this admirable soldier and most worthy man, who did so much to
+promote our interests and sustain our reputation in this country.[11]
+
+The most beautiful trees in India are the 'bar' (banyan), the
+'pîpal', and the tamarind.[12] The two first are of the fig tribe,
+and their greatest enemies are the elephants and camels of our public
+establishments and public servants, who prey upon them wherever they
+can find them when under the protection of their masters or keepers,
+who, when appealed to, generally evince a very philosophical
+disregard to the feeling of either property or piety involved in the
+trespass. It is consequently in the driest and hottest parts of the
+country, where the shade of these trees is most wanted, that it is
+least to be found; because it is there that camels thrive best, and
+are most kept, and it is most difficult to save such trees from their
+depredations.
+
+In the evening a trooper passed our tents on his way in great haste
+from Meerut to Delhi, to announce the death of the poor old Bêgam
+Samrû, which had taken place the day before at her little capital of
+Sardhana. For five-and-twenty years had I been looking forward to the
+opportunity of seeing this very extraordinary woman, whose history
+had interested me more than that of any other character in India
+during my time; and I was sadly disappointed to hear of her death
+when within two or three stages of her capital.[13]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. Mr. Fox Strangways gives specimens of songs sung at wells in his
+learned and original book, _The Music of Hindostan_ (Oxford, 1914,
+pp. 20, 21).
+
+3. Brij Bowla in the original edition. The name is correctly written
+Birjû Baulâ or Baurâ. A legend of the rivalry between him and Tânsên
+is given in _Linguistic Survey of India_, vi, 47. His name is not
+included in Abûl Fazl's list of eminent musicians, or in Blochmann's
+notes to it (Âîn trans. i, 612), and I have not succeeded in
+obtaining any trustworthy information about him. Marvellous legends
+of the rival singers will be found in _N.I.N. & Qu._ vol. v, para.
+207.
+
+4. Abûl Fazl describes Tânsên as being of Gwâlior, adding that 'a
+singer like him has not been in India for the last thousand years'.
+Nos. 2-5 and several others in Abûl Fazl's list of eminent musicians
+in Akbar's reign are all noted as belonging to Gwâlior, which
+evidently was the most musical of cities (Blochmann, transl. Âîn, i,
+612). Sleeman appears to have been mistaken in connecting Tânsên with
+Patna. But the musician must really have become a Musalmân, because
+his tomb stands close to the south-western corner of the sepulchre at
+Gwâlior of Muhammad Ghaus, an eminent Muslim saint. No Hindu could
+have been buried in such a spot (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 370).
+According to one account Tânsên died in Lahore, his body being
+removed to Gwâlior by order of Akbar (Forbes, _Oriental Memoirs_,
+London, 1813, vol. iii, p. 32). The leaves of the tamarind-tree
+overshadowing the tomb are believed to improve the voice marvellously
+when chewed.
+
+Mr. Fox Strangways notes that Hindu critics hold Tânsên 'principally
+responsible for the deterioration of Hindu music. He is said to have
+falsified the râgs, and two, Hindol and Megh, of the original six
+have disappeared since his time' (op. cit., p. 84).
+
+Akbar, in the seventh year of his reign (1562-3), compelled the Râjâ
+of Rîwâ (Bhath) to give up Tânsên, who was in the Râjâ's service. The
+emperor gave the musician Rs. 200,000. 'Most of his compositions are
+written in Akbar's name, and his melodies are even nowadays
+everywhere repeated by the people of Hindustân' (Blochmann, op. cit.,
+p. 406). Tânsên died in A.D. 1588 (Beale).
+
+5. Shâh Alam is the sovereign alluded to. Mâhâdajî (Mâdhojî or
+Mâdhava Râo) Sindhia died in February, 1794. His successor, Daulat
+Râo, was then a boy of fourteen or fifteen (Grant Duff, _History of
+the Mahrattas_, ed. 1826, vol. iii, p. 86). The formal adoption of
+Daulat Râo had not been completed (ibid., p. 91).
+
+6. This observation is a good illustration of the tendency of
+administrators in a country so poor as India to take note of the
+infinitely little. In Europe no one would take the trouble to notice
+the difference between £60 and £62 rental.
+
+7. Lord Auckland, in March, 1836, relieved Sir Charles Metcalfe, who,
+as temporary Governor-General, had succeeded Lord William Bentinck.
+
+8. The resumption, that is to say, assessment, of revenue-free lands
+was a burning question in the anthor's day. It has long since got
+settled. The author was quite right in his opinion. All native
+Governments freely exercised the right of resumption, and did not
+care in the least what phrases were used in the deed of grant. The
+old Hindoo deeds commonly directed that the grant should last 'as
+long as the sun and moon shall endure', and invoked awful curses on
+the head of the resumer. But this was only formal legal phraseology,
+meaning nothing. No ruler was bound by his predecessor's acts.
+
+9. This is not now the case.
+
+10. 'It is difficult to realize that the dignified, sober, and
+orderly men who now fill our regiments are of the same stock as the
+savage freebooters whose name, a hundred years ago, was the terror of
+Northern India. But the change has been wrought by strong and kindly
+government and by strict military discipline under sympathetic
+officers whom the troops love and respect.' (Sir Lepel Griffin,
+_Ranjît Singh_, p. 37.)
+
+11. Gerard Lake was born on the 27th July, 1744, and entered the army
+before he was fourteen. He served in the Seven Years' War in Germany,
+in the American War, in the French campaign of 1793, and against the
+Irish rebels in 1798. In the year 1801 he became Commander-in-Chief
+in India, and proceeded to Cawnpore, then our frontier station. Two
+years later the second Marâthâ War began, and gave General Lake the
+opportunity of winning a series of brilliant victories. In rapid
+succession he defeated the enemy at Kôil, Alîgarh, Delhi (the battle
+alluded to in the text), Agra, and Laswârî. Next year, 1804, the
+glorious record was marred by the disaster to Colonel Monson's force,
+but this was quickly avenged by the decisive victories of Dîg and
+Farrukhâbâd, which shattered Holkâr's power. The year 1805 saw
+General Lake's one personal failure, the unsuccessful siege of
+Bharatpur. The Commander-in-Chief then resumed the pursuit of Holkâr,
+and forced him to surrender. He sailed for England in February, 1807,
+and on his arrival at home was created a Viscount. On the 21st
+February, 1808, he died. (Pearse, _Memoir of the Life and Military
+Services of Viscount Lake_. London, Blackwood, 1908.) The village of
+Patparganj, nearly due east from Humâyûn's Tomb, marks the site of
+the battle. Fanshawe (p. 70) gives a plan.
+
+12. The banyan is the _Ficus indica_, or _Urostigma bengalense_; the
+'pîpal' is _Ficus religiosa_, or _Urostigma religiosum_; and the
+tamarind is the _Tamarindus indica_, or _occidentalis_, or
+_officinalis_.
+
+13. The history of the Bêgam is given in Chapter 76, _post_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 71
+
+
+The Station of Meerut--'Atâlîs' who Dance and Sing gratuitously for
+the Benefit of the Poor.
+
+On the 30th,[1] we went on twelve miles to Meerut, and encamped close
+to the Sûraj Kund, so called after Sûraj-mal, the Jât chief of Dîg,
+whose tomb I have described at Govardhan.[2] He built here a very
+large tank, at the recommendation of the spirit of a Hindoo saint,
+Manohar Nâth, whose remains had been burned here more than two
+hundred years before, and whose spirit appeared to the Jât chief in a
+dream, as he was encamped here with his army during one of his
+_kingdom-taking_ expeditions. This is a noble work, with a fine sheet
+of water, and flights of steps of 'pakkâ' masonry from the top to its
+edge all round. The whole is kept in repair by our Government.[3]
+About half a mile to the north-west of the tank stands the tomb of
+Shâh Pîr, a Muhammadan saint, who is said to have descended from the
+mountains with the Hindoo, and to have been his bosom friend up to
+the day of his death. Both are said to have worked many wonderful
+miracles among the people of the surrounding country, who used to see
+them, according to popular belief, quietly taking their morning ride
+together upon the backs of two enormous tigers who came every morning
+at the appointed hour from the distant jungle. The Hindoo is said to
+have been very fond of music; and though he has been now dead some
+three centuries, a crowd of amateurs (atâlîs) assemble every Sunday
+afternoon at his shrine, on the bank of the tank, and sing gratis,
+and in a very pleasing style, to an immense concourse of people, who
+assemble to hear them, and to solicit the spirit of the old saint,
+softened by their melodies. At the tomb of the Muhammadan saint a
+number of professional dancers and singers assemble every Thursday
+afternoon, and dance, sing, and play gratis to a large concourse of
+people, who make offerings of food to the poor, and implore the
+intercession of the old man with the Deity in return.
+
+The Muhammadan's tomb is large and handsome, and built of red
+sandstone, inlaid with marble, but without any cupola, that there may
+be no _curtain_ between him and heaven when he gets out of his 'last
+long sleep' at the resurrection.[4] Not far from his tomb is another,
+over the bones of a pilgrim they call Ganj-i-fann, or the granary of
+science. Professional singers and dancers attend it every Friday
+afternoon, and display their talents gratis to a large concourse, who
+bestow what they can in charity to the poor, who assemble on all
+these occasions to take what they can get. Another much frequented
+tomb lies over a Muhammadan saint, who has not been dead more than
+three years, named Gohar Sâh. He owes his canonization to a few
+circumstances of recent occurrence, which are, however, universally
+believed. Mr. Smith, an enterprising merchant of Meerut, who had
+raised a large windmill for grinding corn in the Sadr Bâzâr, is said
+to have abused the old man as he was one day passing by, and looked
+with some contempt on his method of grinding, which was to take the
+bread from the mouths of so many old widows. 'My child,' said the old
+saint, 'amuse thyself with this toy of thine, for it has but a few
+days to run.' In four days from that time the machine stopped. Poor
+Mr. Smith could not afford to set it going again, and it went to
+ruin. The whole native population of Meerut considered this a miracle
+of Gohar Sâh. Just before his death the country round Meerut was
+under water, and a great many houses fell from incessant rain. The
+old man took up his residence during this time in a large sarâi in
+the town, but finding his end approach, he desired those who had
+taken shelter with him to have him taken to the jungle where he now
+reposes. They did so, and the instant they left the building it fell
+to the ground. Many who saw it told me they had no doubt that the
+virtues of the old man had sustained it while he was there, and
+prevented its crushing all who were in it. The tomb was built over
+his remains by a Hindoo officer of the court, who had been long out
+of employment and in great affliction. He had no sooner completed the
+tomb, and implored the aid of the old man, than he got into excellent
+service, and has been ever since a happy man. He makes regular
+offerings to his shrine, as a grateful return for the saint's
+kindness to him in his hour of need. Professional singers and dancers
+display their talents here gratis, as at the other tombs, every
+Wednesday afternoon.
+
+ The ground all round these tombs is becoming crowded with the graves
+of people, who in their last moments request to be buried (zêr-sâya)
+under the shadow of these saints, who in their lifetime are all said
+to have despised the pomps and vanities of this life, and to have
+taken nothing from their disciples and worshippers but what was
+indispensably necessary to support existence--food being the only
+thing offered and accepted, and that taken only when they happened to
+be very hungry. Happy indeed was the man whose dish was put forward
+when the saint's appetite happened to be sharp. The death of the poor
+old Bêgam has, it is said, just canonized another saint, Shâkir Shâh,
+who lies buried at Sardhana, but is claimed by the people of Meerut,
+among whom he lived till about five years ago, when he desired to be
+taken to Sardhana, where he found the old lady very dangerously ill
+and not expected to live. He was himself very old and ill when he set
+out from Meerut; and the journey is said to have shaken him so much
+that he found his end approaching, and sent a messenger to the
+princess in these words: 'Ayâ torê, chale ham'; that is, 'Death came
+for thee, but I go in thy place'; and he told those around him that
+she had precisely five years more to live. She is said to have caused
+a tomb to be built over him, and is believed by the people to have
+died that day five years.
+
+All these things I learned as I wandered among the tombs of the old
+saints the first few evenings after my arrival at Meerut. I was
+interested in their history from the circumstance that amateur
+singers and professional dancers and musicians should display their
+talents at their shrines gratis, for the sake of getting alms for the
+poor of the place, given in their name--a thing I had never before
+heard of--though the custom prevails no doubt in other places; and
+that Musalmâns and Hindoos should join promiscuously in their
+devotions and charities at all these shrines. Manohar Nâth's shrine,
+though he was a Hindoo, is attended by as many Musalmân as Hindoo
+pilgrims. He is said to have 'taken the _samâdh_', that is, to have
+buried himself alive in this place as an offering to the Deity. Men
+who are afflicted with leprosy or any other incurable disease in
+India often take the samâdh, that is, bury or drown themselves with
+due ceremonies, by which they are considered as acceptable sacrifices
+to the Deity. I once knew a Hindoo gentleman of great wealth and
+respectability, and of high rank under the Government of Nâgpur, who
+came to the river Nerbudda, two hundred miles, attended by a large
+retinue, to _take the samâdh_ in due form, from a painful disease
+which the doctors pronounced incurable. After taking an affectionate
+leave of all his family and friends, he embarked on board the boat,
+which took him into the deepest part of the river. He then loaded
+himself with sand, as a sportsman who is required to carry weights in
+a race loads himself with shot, and stepping into the water
+disappeared. The funeral ceremonies were then performed, and his
+family, friends, and followers returned to Nâgpur, conscious that
+they had all done what they had been taught to consider their duty.
+Many poor men do the same every year when afflicted by any painful
+disease that they consider incurable.[5] The only way to prevent this
+is to carry out the plan now in progress of giving to India in an
+accessible shape the medical science of Europe--a plan first adopted
+under Lord W. Bentinck, prosecuted by Lord Auckland, and
+superintended by two able and excellent men, Doctors Goodeve and
+O'Shaughnessy. It will be one of the greatest blessings that India
+has ever received from England.[6]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836. The date is misprinted 20th in the original
+edition.
+
+2. _Ante_, chapter 56 [13].
+
+3. 'Amongst the remains of former times in and around Meerut may be
+noticed the Sûraj kund, commonly called by Europeans 'the monkey
+tank'. It was constructed by Jawâhir Mal, a wealthy merchant of
+Lâwâr, in 1714. It was intended to keep it full of water from the Abû
+Nâla but at present the tank is nearly dry in May and June. There are
+numerous small temples, 'dharmsâlâs' [i.e. rest-houses], and 'satî'
+pillars on its banks, but none of any note. The largest of the
+temples is dedicated to Manohar Nâth, and is said to have been built
+in the reign of Shâh Jahân. Lâwâr, a large village . . . is distant
+twelve miles north of the civil station. . . . There is a fine house
+here called Mahal Sarâi, built about A.D. 1700 by Jawâhir Singh,
+Mahâjan, who constructed the Sûraj kund near Meerut' (_N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. iii, pp. 406,400). This information,
+supplied by the local officials, is more to be depended on than the
+author's statement.
+
+4. 'The "dargâh" [i.e. shrine] of Shâh Pîr is a fine structure of red
+sandstone, erected about A.D. 1620 by Nûr Jahân, the wife of the
+Emperor Jahângîr, in memory of a pious fakîr named Shâh Pîr. An
+"urs", or religions assembly, is held here every year in the month of
+Ramazân. The "dargâh" is supported from the proceeds of the revenue-
+free village of Bhagwânpur' (ibid., vol. iii, p. 406). The text of
+the original edition gives the pilgrim's name as 'Gungishun', which
+has no meaning.
+
+5. An interesting collection of modern cases of a similar kind is
+given in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., s.v. 'Samadhi'.
+
+6. See _ante_, chapter 15, note l4. Dr. W. B. O'Shaughnessy
+contributed many scientific papers to the _J.A.S.B._ (vols. viii, ix,
+x, xii, and xvi).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 72
+
+
+Subdivisions of Lands--Want of Gradations of Rank--Taxes.
+
+The country between Delhi and Meerut is well cultivated and rich in
+the latent power of its soil; but there is here, as everywhere else
+in the Upper Provinces, a lamentable want of gradations in society,
+from the eternal subdivision of property in land, and the want of
+that concentration of capital in commerce and manufactures which
+characterizes European--or I may take a wider range, and say
+Christian societies.[1] Where, as in India, the landlords' share of
+the annual returns from the soil has been always taken by the
+Government as the most legitimate fund for the payment of its public
+establishments; and the estates of the farmers, and the holdings of
+the immediate cultivators of the soil, are liable to be subdivided in
+equal shares among the sons in every succeeding generation, the land
+can never aid much in giving to society that without which no society
+can possibly be well organized--a gradation of rank. Were the
+Government to alter the System, to give up all the rent of the lands,
+and thereby convert all the farmers into proprietors of their
+estates, the case would not be much altered, while the Hindoo and
+Muhammadan law of inheritance remained the same; for the eternal
+subdivision would still go on, and reduce all connected with the soil
+to one common level; and the people would be harassed with a
+multiplicity of taxes, from which they are now free, that would have
+to be imposed to supply the place of the rent given up. The
+agricultural capitalists who derived their incomes from the interest
+of money advanced to the farmers and cultivators for subsistence and
+the purchase of stock were commonly men of rank and influence in
+society; but they were never a numerous class.[2] The mass of the
+people in India are really not at present sensible that they pay any
+taxes at all. The only necessary of life, whose price is at all
+increased by taxes, is salt, and the consumer is hardly aware of this
+increase. The natives never eat salted meat; and though they require
+a great deal of salt, living, as they do, so much on vegetable food,
+still they purchase it in such small quantities from day to day as
+they require it, that they really never think of the tax that may
+have been paid upon it in its progress.[3]
+
+To understand the nature of taxation in India, an Englishman should
+suppose that all the non-farming landholders of his native country
+had, a century or two ago, consented to resign their property into
+the hands of their sovereign, for the maintenance of his civil
+functionaries, army, navy, church, and public creditors, and then
+suddenly disappeared from the community, leaving to till the lands
+merely the farmers and cultivators; and that their forty millions of
+rent were just the sum that the Government now required to pay all
+these four great establishments.[4]
+
+To understand the nature of the public debt of England a man has only
+to suppose one great national establishment, twice as large as those
+of the civil functionaries, the Army, Navy, and the Church together,
+and composed of members with fixed salaries, who purchased their
+commissions from _the wisdom of our ancestors_, with liberty to sell
+them to whom they please--who have no duty to perform for the
+public,[5] and have, like Adam and Eve, the privilege of going to
+'seek their place of rest' in what part of the world they please--a
+privilege of which they will, of course, be found more and more
+anxious to avail themselves as taxation presses on the one side, and
+prohibition to the import of the necessaries of life diminishes the
+means of paying them on the other.
+
+The repeal of the Corn Laws may give a new lift to England; it may
+greatly increase the foreign demand for the produce of its
+manufacturing industry; it may invite back a large portion of those
+who now spend their incomes in foreign countries, and prevent from
+going abroad to reside a vast number who would otherwise go. These
+laws must soon be repealed, or England must reduce one or other of
+its great establishments--the National Debt, the Church, the Army, or
+the Navy. The Corn Laws press upon England just in the same manner as
+the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope
+pressed upon Venice and the other states whose welfare depended upon
+the transit of the produce of India by land. But the navigation of
+the Cape benefited all other European nations at the same time that
+it pressed upon these particular states, by giving them all the
+produce of India at cheaper rates than they would otherwise have got
+it, and by opening the markets of India to the produce of all other
+European nations. The Corn Laws benefit only one small section of the
+people of England, while they weigh, like an incubus, upon the vital
+energies of all the rest; and at the same time injure all other
+nations by preventing their getting the produce of manufacturing
+industry so cheap as they would otherwise get it. They have not,
+therefore, the merit of benefiting other nations, at the same time
+that they crush their own.[6]
+
+For some twenty or thirty years of our rule, too many of the
+collectors of our land revenue in what we call the Western
+Provinces,[7] sought the 'bubble reputation' in an increase of
+assessment upon the lands of their district every five years when the
+settlement was renewed. The more the assessment was increased, the
+greater was the praise bestowed upon the collector by the revenue
+boards, or the revenue secretary to Government, in the name of the
+Governor-General of India.[8] These collectors found an easy mode of
+acquiring this reputation--they left the settlements to their native
+officers, and shut their ears to all complaints of grievances, till
+they had reduced all the landholders of their districts to one common
+level of beggary, without stock, character, or credit; and
+transferred a great portion of their estates to the native officers
+of their own courts through the medium of the auction sales that took
+place for the arrears, or pretended arrears, of revenue. A better
+feeling has for some years past prevailed, and collectors have sought
+their reputation in a real knowledge of their duties, and real good
+feeling towards the farmers and cultivators of their districts. For
+this better tone of feeling the Western Provinces are, I believe,
+chiefly indebted to Mr. R. M. Bird, of the Revenue Board, one of the
+most able public officers now in India. A settlement for twenty years
+is now in progress that will leave the farmers at least 35 per cent.
+upon the gross collections from the immediate cultivators of the
+soil; that is, the amount of the revenue demandable by Government
+from the estate will be that less than what the farmer will, and
+would, under any circumstances, levy from the cultivators in his
+detailed settlement.[9]
+
+The farmer lets all the land of his estate out to cultivators, and
+takes in money this rate of profit for his expense, trouble, and
+risk; or he lets out to the cultivators enough to pay the Government
+demand, and tills the rest with his own stock, rent-free. When a
+division takes place between his sons, they either divide the estate,
+and become each responsible for his particular share, or they divide
+the profits, and remain collectively responsible to Government for
+the whole, leaving one member of the family registered as the lessee
+and responsible head.[10]
+
+In the Ryotwâr System of Southern India, Government officers,
+removable at the pleasure of the Government collector, are
+substituted for these farmers, or more properly proprietors, of
+estates; and a System more prejudicial to the best interests of
+society could not well be devised by the ingenuity of man.[11] It has
+been supposed by some theorists, who are practically unacquainted
+with agriculture in this or any other country, that all who have any
+interest in land above the rank of cultivator or ploughman are mere
+_drones_, or useless consumers of that rent which, under judicious
+management, might be added to the revenues of Government--that all
+which they get might, and ought to be, either left with the
+cultivators or taken by the Government. At the head of these is the
+justly celebrated historian, Mr. Mill. But men who understand the
+subject practically know that the intermediate agency of a farmer,
+who has a permanent interest in the estate, or an interest for a long
+period, is a thousand times better both for the Government and the
+people than that of a Government officer of any description, much
+less that of one removable at the pleasure of the collector.
+Government can always get more revenue from a village under the
+management of the farmer; the character of the cultivators and
+village community generally is much better; the tillage is much
+better; and the produce, from more careful weeding and attention of
+all kinds, sells much better in the market. The better character of
+the cultivators enables them to get the loans they require to
+purchase stock, and to pay the Government demand on more moderate
+terms from the capitalists, who rely upon the farmer to aid in the
+recovery of their outlays, without reference to civil courts, which
+are ruinous media, as well in India as in other places. The farmer or
+landlord finds in the same manner that he can get much more from
+lands let out on lease to the cultivators or yeomen, who depend upon
+their own character, credit, and stock, than he can from similar
+lands cultivated with his own stock; and hired labourers can never be
+got to labour either so long or so well. The labour of the Indian
+cultivating lessee is always applied in the proper quantity, and at
+the proper time and place--that of the hired field-labourer hardly
+ever is. The skilful coachmaker always puts on the precise quantity
+of iron required to make his coach strong, because he knows where it
+is required; his coach is, at the same time, as light as it can be
+with safety. The unskilful workman either puts on too much, and makes
+his coach heavy; or he puts it in the wrong place, and leaves it
+weak.
+
+If government extends the twenty years' settlement now in progress to
+fifty years or more, they will confer a great blessing upon the
+people[12] and they might, perhaps, do it on the condition that the
+incumbent consented to allow the lease to descend undivided to his
+heirs by the laws of primogeniture. To this condition all classes
+would readily agree, for I have heard Hindoo and Muhammadan
+landholders all equally lament the evil effects of the laws by which
+families are so quickly and inevitably broken up; and say that 'it is
+the duty of government to take advantage of their power as the great
+proprietor and leaser of all the lands to prevent the evil by
+declaring leases indivisible. 'There would then', they say, 'be
+always one head to assist in maintaining the widows and orphans of
+deceased members, in educating his brothers and nephews; and by his
+influence and respectability procuring employment for them.' In such
+men, with feelings of permanent interest in their estates, and in the
+stability of the government that secured them possession on such
+favourable terms, and with the means of educating their children, we
+should by and by find our best support, and society its best element.
+The law of primogeniture at present prevails only where it is most
+mischievous under our rule, among the feudal chiefs, whose ancestors
+rose to distinction and acquired their possessions by rapine in times
+of invasion and civil wars. This law among them tends to perpetuate
+the desire to maintain those military establishments by which the
+founders of their families arose, in the hope that the times of
+invasion and civil wars may return and open for them a similar field
+for exertion. It fosters a class of powerful men, essentially and
+irredeemably opposed in feeling, not only to our rule, but to settled
+government under any rule; and the sooner the Hindoo law of
+inheritance is allowed by the paramount power to take its course
+among these feudal chiefs, the better for society. There is always a
+strong tendency to it in the desire of the younger brothers to share
+in the loaves and fishes; and this tendency is checked only by the
+injudicious interposition of our authority.[13]
+
+To give India the advantage of free institutions, or all the
+blessings of which she is capable under an enlightened paternal
+government, nothing is more essential than the supersession of this
+feudal aristocracy by one founded upon other bases, and, above all,
+upon that of the concentration of capital in commerce and
+manufactures. Nothing tends so much to prevent the accumulation and
+concentration of capital over India as this feudal aristocracy which
+tends everywhere to destroy that feeling of security without which
+men will nowhere accumulate and concentrate it. They do so, not only
+by the intrigues and combinations against the paramount power, which
+keep alive the dread of internal wars and foreign invasion, but by
+those gangs of robbers and murderers which they foster and locate
+upon their estates to prey upon the more favoured or better governed
+territories around them. From those gangs of freebooters who are to
+be found upon the estate of almost every native chief, no
+accumulation of movable property of any value is ever for a moment
+considered safe, and those who happen to have any such are always in
+dread of losing, not only their property, but their lives along with
+it, for these gangs, secure in the protection of such chief, are
+reckless in their attack, and kill all who happen to come in their
+way.[14]
+
+Notes:
+
+1. This phrase is meant to include America.
+
+2. Money-lenders naturally have flourished daring the long period of
+internal peace since the Mutiny. They vary in wealth and position
+from the humblest 'gombeen man' to the millionaire banker. Many of
+these money-lenders are now among the largest owners of land in the
+country. Under native rule interests in land were generally too
+precarious to be saleable. The author did not foresee that the growth
+of private property in land would carry with it the right and desire
+of one party to sell and of another to buy, and would thus favour the
+growth of large estates, and, to a considerable extent, counteract
+the evils of subdivision. Of course, like everything else, the large
+estates have their evils too. Much nonsense is written about sales of
+land in India, as well as in Ireland. The two countries have more
+than the initial letter in common.
+
+3. Theorists declare that it is right that the tax-payers should know
+what is taken from them, and that, therefore, direct taxes are best;
+but practical men who have to govern ignorant and suspicious races,
+resentful of direct taxation, know that indirect taxation is, for
+such people, the best.
+
+4. This illustration would give a very false idea of modern Indian
+finance.
+
+5. They have no duty to perform as creditors; but as citizens of an
+enlightened nation they no doubt perform many of them, very important
+ones. [W. H. S.] The author's whimsical comparison between
+stockholders and Adam and Eve, and his notion that the creditors of
+the nation may be regarded as officials without duties, only obscure
+a simple matter. The emigration of owners of Consols never assumed
+very alarming dimensions.
+
+6. The Corn Laws were repealed in 1846, and the shilling duty which
+was then left was abolished in 1869. Considering that the author
+belonged to a land-owning family, his clear perception of the evils
+caused by the Corn Laws is remarkable.
+
+7. By the 'Western Provinces' the author means the region called
+later the North-Western Provinces, and now known as the Agra Province
+in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, with the Delhi Territories,
+which latter are now partly under the Government of the Panjâb, and
+partly in the new small Province, or Chief Commissionership of Delhi.
+
+8. At the time referred to, the provincial Government had not been
+constituted.
+
+9. Fifty per cent. may be considered as the average rate left to the
+lessees or proprietors of estates under this new settlement; and, if
+they take on an average one-third of the gross produce, Government
+takes two-ninths. But we may rate the Government share of the produce
+actually taken at one-fifth as the maximum, and one-tenth as the
+minimum. [W. H. S.]
+
+It is unfortunately true that in the short-term settlements made
+previous to 1833 many abuses of the kinds referred to in the text
+occurred. The traditions of the people and the old records attest
+numerous instances. The first serious attempt to reform the system of
+revenue settlements was made by Regulation VII of 1822, but, owing to
+an excessive elaboration of procedure, the attempt produced no
+appreciable results. Regulation IX of 1833 established a workable
+system, and provided for the appointment of Indian Deputy Collectors
+with adequate powers. The settlements of the North-Western Provinces
+made under this Regulation were, for the most part, reasonably fair,
+and were generally confirmed for a period of thirty years. Mr. Robert
+Mertins Bird, who entered the service in 1805, and died in 1853, took
+a leading part in this great reform. When the next settlements were
+made, between 1860 and 1880, the share of the profit rental claimed
+by the State was reduced from two-thirds to one-half. Full details
+will be found in the editor's _Settlement Officer's Manual for the N.
+W. P._ (Allahabad, 1882), or in Baden Powell's big book, _Land
+Systems of British India_ (Clarendon Press, 1892).
+
+10. Since 1833 the people whom the author calls 'farmers' have
+gradually become fall proprietors, subject to the Government lien on
+the land and its produce for the land revenue. For many years past
+the ancient custom of joint ownership and collective responsibility
+has been losing ground. Partitions are now continually demanded, and
+every year collective responsibility is becoming more unpopular and
+more difficult to enforce.
+
+11. This judgement, I need hardly say, would not be accepted in
+Madras or Bombay. The issue raised is too large for discussion in
+footnotes.
+
+12. The advantages of very long terms of settlements are obvious; the
+disadvantages, though equally real, are less obvious. Fluctuations in
+prices, and above all, in the price of silver, are among the many
+conditions which complicate the question. Except the Bengal
+landowners, most people now admit that the Permanent Settlement of
+Bengal in 1793 was a grievous mistake. It is also admitted that the
+mistake is irrevocable.
+
+13. These two suggestions of the author that the law of primogeniture
+should be established to regulate the succession to ordinary estates,
+and that it should be abolished in the case of chieftainships, where
+it already prevails, are obviously open to criticism. It seems
+sufficient to say that both recommendations are, for many reasons,
+altogether impracticable. In passing, I may note that the term
+'feudal' does not express with any approach to correctness the
+relation of the Native States to the Government of India.
+
+14. The evils described in this paragraph, though diminished, have
+not disappeared. Nevertheless, no one would now seriously propose the
+deliberate supersession of the existing aristocracy by rich merchants
+and manufacturers. The proposal is too fanciful for discussion.
+During the long period of peace merchants and manufacturers have
+naturally risen to a position much more prominent than they occupied
+in the author's time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 73
+
+
+Meerut--Anglo-Indian Society.
+
+Meerut is a large station for military and civil establishments; it
+is the residence of a civil commissioner, a judge, a magistrate, a
+collector of land revenue, and all their assistants and
+establishments. There are the Major-General commanding the division;
+the Brigadier commanding the station; four troops of horse and a
+company of foot artillery; one regiment of European cavalry, one of
+European infantry, one of native cavalry, and three of native
+infantry.[1] It is justly considered the healthiest station in India,
+for both Europeans and natives,[2] and I visited it in the latter end
+of the cold, which is the healthiest, season of the year; yet the
+European ladies were looking as if they had all come out of their
+graves, and talking of the necessity of going off to the mountains to
+renovate, as soon as the hot weather should set in. They had
+literally been fagging themselves to death with gaiety, at this the
+gayest and most delightful of all Indian stations, during the cold
+months when they ought to have been laying in a store of strength to
+carry them through the trying seasons of the hot winds and rains. Up
+every night and all night at balls and suppers, they could never go
+out to breathe the fresh air of the morning; and were looking
+wretchedly ill, while the European soldiers from the barracks seemed
+as fresh as if they had never left their native land. There is no
+doubt that sitting up late at night is extremely prejudicial to the
+health of Europeans in India.[3] I have never seen the European, male
+or female, that could stand it long, however temperate in habits; and
+an old friend of mine once told me that if he went to bed a little
+exhilarated every night at ten o'clock, and took his ride in the
+morning, he found himself much better than if he sat up till twelve
+or one o'clock without drinking, and lay abed in the mornings. Almost
+all the gay pleasures of India are enjoyed at night, and as ladies
+here, as everywhere else in Christian societies, are the life and
+soul of all good parties, as of all good novels, they often to oblige
+others sit up late, much against their own inclinations, and even
+their judgements, aware as they are that they are gradually sinking
+under the undue exertions.
+
+When I first came to India there were a few ladies of the old school
+still much looked up to in Calcutta, and among the rest the
+grandmother of the Earl of Liverpool, the old Bêgam Johnstone, then
+between seventy and eighty years of age.[4] All these old ladies
+prided themselves upon keeping up old usages. They use to dine in the
+afternoon at four or five o'clock--take their airing after dinner in
+their carriages; and from the time they returned till ten at night
+their houses were lit up in their best style and thrown open for the
+reception of visitors. All who were on visiting terms came at this
+time, with any strangers whom they wished to introduce, and enjoyed
+each other's society; there were music and dancing for the young, and
+cards for the old, when the party assembled happened to be large
+enough; and a few who had been previously invited stayed supper. I
+often visited the old Bêgam Johnstone at this hour, and met at her
+house the first people in the country, for all people, including the
+Governor-General himself, delighted to honour this old lady, the
+widow of a Governor-General of India, and the mother-in-law of a
+Prime Minister of England.[5] She was at Murshîdâbâd when Sirâj-ud-
+daula marched from that place at the head of the army that took and
+plundered Calcutta, and caused so many Europeans to perish in the
+Black Hole; and she was herself saved from becoming a member of his
+seraglio, or perishing with the lest, by the circumstance of her
+being far gone in her pregnancy, which caused her to be made over to
+a Dutch factory.[6]
+
+She had been a very beautiful woman, and had been several times
+married; the pictures of all her husbands being hung round her noble
+drawing-room in Calcutta, covered during the day with crimson cloth
+to save them from the dust, and uncovered at night only on particular
+occasions. One evening Mrs. Crommelin, a friend of mine, pointing to
+one of them, asked the old lady his name. 'Really, I cannot at this
+moment tell you, my dear; my memory is very bad,' (striking her
+forehead with her right hand, as she leaned with her left arm in Mrs.
+Crommelin's,) 'but I shall recollect in a few minutes.' The old
+lady's last husband was a clergyman, Mr. Johnstone, whom she found
+too gay, and persuaded to go home upon an annuity of eight hundred a
+year, which she settled upon him for life. The bulk of her fortune
+went to Lord Liverpool; the rest to her grandchildren, the Ricketts,
+Watts, and others.
+
+Since those days the modes of intercourse in India have much altered.
+Society at all the stations beyond the three capitals of Calcutta,
+Madras, and Bombay, is confined almost exclusively to the members of
+the civil and military services, who seldom remain long at the same
+station--the military officers hardly ever more than three years, and
+the civil hardly ever so long. At disagreeable stations the civil
+servants seldom remain so many months. Every newcomer calls in the
+forenoon upon all that are at the station when he arrives, and they
+return his call at the same hour soon after. If he is a married man,
+the married men upon whom he has called take their wives to call upon
+his; and he takes his to return the call of theirs. These calls are
+all indispensable; and being made in the forenoon, become very
+disagreeable in the hot season; all complain of them, yet no one
+forgoes his claim upon them; and till the claim is fulfilled, people
+will not recognize each other as acquaintances.[7] Unmarried officers
+generally dine in the evening, because it is a more convenient hour
+for the mess; and married civil functionaries do the same, because it
+is more convenient for their office work. If you invite those who
+dine at that hour to spend the evening with you, you must invite them
+to dinner, even in the hot weather; and if they invite you, it is to
+dinner. This makes intercourse somewhat heavy at all times, but more
+especially so in the hot season, when a table covered with animal
+food is sickening to any person without a keen appetite, and
+stupefying to those who have it. No one thinks of inviting people to
+a dinner and ball--it would be vandalism; and when you invite them,
+as is always the case, to come after dinner, the ball never begins
+till late at night, and seldom ends till late in the morning. With
+all its disadvantages, however, I think dining in the evening much
+better for those who are in health, than dining in the afternoon,
+provided people can avoid the intermediate meal of tiffin. No person
+in India should eat animal food more than once a day; and people who
+dine in the evening generally eat less than they would if they dined
+in the afternoon. A light breakfast at nine; biscuit, or a slice of
+toast with a glass of water, or soda-water, at two o'clock, and
+dinner after the evening exercise, is the plan which I should
+recommend every European to adopt as the most agreeable.[8] When
+their digestive powers get out of order, people must do as the
+doctors tell them.
+
+There is, I believe, no society in which there is more real urbanity
+of manners than in that of India--a more general disposition on the
+part of its different members to sacrifice their own comforts and
+conveniences to those of others, and to make those around them happy,
+without letting them see that it costs them an effort to do so.[9]
+There is assuredly no society where the members are more generally
+free from those corroding cares and anxieties which 'weigh upon the
+hearts' of men whose incomes are precarious, and position in the
+world uncertain. They receive their salaries on a certain day every
+month, whatever may be the state of the seasons or of trade; they pay
+no taxes; they rise in the several services by rotation;[10]
+religious feelings and opinions are by common consent left as a
+question between man and his Maker; no one ever thinks of questioning
+another about them, nor would he be tolerated if he did so. Most
+people take it for granted that those which they got from their
+parents were the right ones; and as such they cherish them. They
+remember with feelings of filial piety the prayers which they in
+their infancy offered to their Maker, while kneeling by the side of
+their mothers; and they continue to offer them up through life, with
+the same feelings and the same hopes.[11]
+
+Differences of political opinion, which agitate society so much in
+England and other countries where every man believes that his own
+personal interests must always be more or less affected by the
+predominance of one party over another, are no doubt a source of much
+interest to people in India, but they scarcely ever excite any angry
+passions among them. The tempests by which the political atmosphere
+of the world is cleared and purged of all its morbid influences burst
+not upon us--we see them at a distance--we know that they are working
+for all mankind; and we feel for those who boldly expose themselves
+to their 'pitiless peltings' as men feel for the sailors whom they
+suppose to be exposed on the ocean to the storm, while they listen to
+it from their beds or winter firesides.[12] We discuss all political
+opinions, and all the great questions which they affect, with the
+calmness of philosophers; not without emotion certainly, but without
+passion; we have no share in returning members to parliament--we feel
+no dread of those injuries, indignities, and calumnies to which those
+who have are too often exposed; and we are free from the bitterness
+of feelings which always attend them.[13]
+
+How exalted, how glorious, has been the destiny of England, to spread
+over so vast a portion of the globe her literature, her language, and
+her free institutions! How ought the sense of this high destiny to
+animate her sons in their efforts to perfect their institutions which
+they have formed by slow degrees from feudal barbarism; to make them
+in reality as perfect as they would have them appear to the world to
+be in theory, that rising nations may love and honour the source
+whence they derive theirs, and continue to look to it for
+improvement.
+
+We return to the society of our wives and children after the labours
+of the day are over, with tempers unruffled by collision with
+political and religious antagonists, by unfavourable changes in the
+season and the markets, and the other circumstances which affect so
+much the incomes and prospects of our friends at home. We must look
+to them for the chief pleasures of our lives, and know that they must
+look to us for theirs; and if anything has crossed us we try to
+conceal it from them. There is in India a strong feeling of mutual
+dependence which prevents little domestic misunderstandings between
+man and wife from growing into quarrels so often as in other
+countries, where this is less prevalent. Men have not here their
+clubs, nor their wives their little coteries to fly to when disposed
+to make serious matters out of trifles, and both are in consequence
+much inclined to bear and forbear. There are, of course, on the other
+hand, evils in India that people have not to contend with at home;
+but, on the whole, those who are disposed to look on the fair, as
+well as on the dark side of all around them, can enjoy life in India
+very much, as long as they and those dear to them are free from
+physical pain.[14] We everywhere find too many disposed to look upon
+the dark side of all that is present, and the bright side of all that
+is distant in time and place--always miserable themselves, be they
+where they will, and making all around them miserable; this commonly
+arises from indigestion, and the habit of eating and drinking in a
+hot, as in a cold, climate; and giving their stomachs too much to do,
+as if they were the only parts of the human frame whose energies were
+unrelaxed by the temperature of tropical climates.
+
+There is, however, one great defect in Anglo-Indian society; it is
+composed too exclusively of the servants of government, civil,
+military, and ecclesiastic, and wants much of the freshness, variety,
+and intelligence of cultivated societies otherwise constituted. In
+societies where capital is concentrated for employment in large
+agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing establishments, those who
+possess and employ it form a large portion of the middle and higher
+classes. They require the application of the higher branches of
+science to the efficient employment of their capital in almost every
+purpose to which it can be applied; and they require, at the same
+time, to show that they are not deficient in that conventional
+learning of the schools and drawing-rooms to which the circles they
+live and move in attach importance. In such societies we are,
+therefore, always coming in contact with men whose scientific
+knowledge is necessarily very precise, and at the same time very
+extensive, while their manners and conversation are of the highest
+polish. There is, perhaps, nothing which strikes a gentleman from
+India so much on his entering a society differently constituted, as
+the superior precision of men's information upon scientific subjects;
+and more especially upon that of the sciences more immediately
+applicable to the arts by which the physical enjoyments of men are
+produced, prepared, and distributed all over the world. Almost all
+men in India feel that too much of their time before they left
+England was devoted to the acquisition of the dead languages; and too
+little to the study of the elements of science. The time lost can
+never be regained--at least they think so, which is much the same
+thing. Had they been well grounded in the elements of physics,
+physiology, and chemistry before they left their native land, they
+would have gladly devoted their leisure to the improvement of their
+knowledge; but to go back to elements, where elements can be learnt
+only from books, is, unhappily, what so few can bring themselves to,
+that no man feels ashamed of acknowledging that he has never studied
+them at all till he returns to England, or enters a society
+differently constituted, and finds that he has lost the support of
+the great majority that always surrounded him in India.[15] It will,
+perhaps, be said that the members of the official aristocracy of all
+countries have more or less of the same defects, for certain it is
+that they everywhere attach paramount or undue importance to the
+conventional learning of the grammar-school and the drawing-room, and
+the ignorant and the indolent have everywhere the support of a great
+majority. Johnson has, however, observed:
+
+ 'But the truth is that the knowledge of external nature and the
+sciences, which that knowledge requires or includes, are not the
+great or the frequent business of the human mind. Whether we provide
+for action or conversation, whether we wish to be useful or pleasing,
+the first requisite is the religious and moral knowledge of right and
+wrong; the next is an acquaintance with the history of mankind, and
+with those examples which may be said to embody truth, and prove by
+events the reasonableness of opinions.[16] Prudence and justice are
+virtues and excellences of all times, and of all places--we are
+perpetually moralists; but we are geometricians only by chance. Our
+intercourse with intellectual nature is necessary; our speculations
+upon matter are voluntary and at leisure. Physiological learning is
+of such rare emergence, that one may know another half his life,
+without being able to estimate his skill in hydrostatics or
+astromony; but his moral and prudential character immediately
+appears. Those authors, therefore, are to be read at schools that
+supply most axioms of prudence, most principles of moral truth, and
+most materials for conversation; and these purposes are best served
+by poets, orators, and historians' (_Life of Milton_).
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. In India officers have much better opportunities in time of peace
+to learn how to handle troops than in England, from having them more
+concentrated in large stations, with fine open plains to exercise
+upon. During the whole of the cold season, from the beginning of
+November to the end of February, the troops are at large stations
+exercised in brigades, and the artillery, cavalry, and infantry
+together. [W. H. S.] The normal garrison of Meerut in recent years
+has consisted of one British cavalry regiment, one battalion of
+British infantry, one native cavalry regiment, and one battalion of
+native infantry, with two batteries of horse and two of field
+artillery. The cantonment was established in 1806, from which date
+the town grew rapidly in size and population. The civil staff has
+been largely increased since Sleeman's time by the addition of
+numerous officers belonging to irrigation and other departmental
+services which did not exist in his day. The offices of District
+Magistrate and Collector have been united as a single person for many
+years.
+
+2. The cantonments suffered severely from typhoid fever for several
+years in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
+
+3. Few Anglo-Indians will dispute the truth of this dictum.
+
+4. The late Earl of Liverpool, then Mr. Jenkinson, married this old
+lady's daughter. He was always very attentive to her, and she used
+with feelings of great pride and pleasure to display the contents of
+the boxes of millinery which he used every year to send out to her.
+[W. H. 8.] The author came out to India in 1809. Mr. Charles
+Jenkinson was created Baron Hawkesbury in 1786, and Earl of Liverpool
+in 1796. His first wife, who died in 1770, was Amelia, daughter of
+Mr. William Watts, Governor of Fort William, and of the lady
+described by the author. Their only son succeeded to the earldom in
+1808, and died in 1828. The peerage became extinct on the death of
+the third earl in 1851. (Burke's _Peerage_.) It was revived in 1905.
+
+5. Lord Liverpool, the second earl, became Prime Minister in 1812,
+after the murder of Perceval. Mrs. Johnson (not Johnstone) was not
+'the widow of a Governor-General of India'. Her history is told in
+detail on her tombstone in St. John's churchyard, Calcutta, and is
+summarized in Buckland, _Dictionary of Indian Biography_ (1906). She
+was born in 1725, and died in 1812. She had four husbands, namely (l)
+Parry Purple Temple, whom she married when she was only thirteen
+years of age; (2) James Altham, who died of smallpox a few days after
+his marriage; (3) William Watts, Senior Member of Council, and for a
+short time Governor or President of Fort William in 1758; (4) in 1774
+Rev. William Johnson, who became principal chaplain of Fort William
+in 1784, and left India in 1788. She was known as 'the old Begum ',
+and her epitaph asserts that she was when she died 'the oldest
+British resident in Bengal, universally beloved, respected, and
+revered'. Mr. A. L. Paul kindly communicated the full text of the
+inscription on her tomb, with some additional notes. The author met
+her in 1810, when she was about eighty-five years of age.
+
+6. The tragedy of the Black Hole occurred in June, 1756.
+
+7. Of late years the rigour of the custom exacting midday calls has
+been relaxed in some places.
+
+8. Moat people would require some training before they could find
+this very abstemious regimen 'the most agreeable'.
+
+9. It will, I hope, be admitted that this observation still holds
+good.
+
+10. When the author wrote the rupee was worth more than two
+shillings, the members of the Indian services were few in number, and
+mostly well paid, while living was cheap. Now all is changed. The
+rupee has an artificial value of 1_s_. 4_d_., the members of the
+services are numerous and often ill paid, while living is dear. The
+sharp fall in the value of silver, and consequently in the gold
+equivalent of the rupee, began in 1874. 'Corroding cares and
+anxieties' are now the lot of most people who serve in India. They
+now have the privilege of paying taxes.
+
+11. This perfect religious freedom, still generally characteristic of
+Anglo-Indian society, is one of its greatest charms; and the charms
+of the country do not increase.
+
+12. The author probably had in his mind the famous lines of
+Lucretius:-
+
+ Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis,
+ E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem;
+ Non quia vexari quemquam 'st jucunda voluptas,
+ Sed, quibus ipse malis careas, quia cernere suave 'st.
+ (Book II, line 1.)
+
+13. This delightful philosophic calm is no longer an Anglo-Indian
+possession; nor can the modern Indian official congratulate himself
+on his immunity from 'injuries, indignities, and calumnies'.
+
+14. There are now clubs everywhere, and coteries are said to be not
+unknown. Few Anglo-Indians of the present day are able to share the
+author's cheery optimism.
+
+15. In this matter also time has wrought great changes. The
+scientific branches of the Indian services, the medical, engineering,
+forestry, geological survey, and others, have greatly developed, and
+many officials, in India, whether of European or Indian race, now
+occupy high places in the world of science.
+
+16. Compare Bolingbroke's observation, already quoted, that 'history
+is philosophy teaching by example'.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 74
+
+
+Pilgrims of India.
+
+There is nothing which strikes a European more in travelling over the
+great roads in India than the vast number of pilgrims of all kinds
+which he falls in with, particularly between the end of November
+[_sic_], when all the autumn harvest has been gathered, and the seed
+of the spring crops has been in the ground. They consist for the most
+part of persons, male and female, carrying Ganges water from the
+point at Hardwâr, where the sacred stream emerges from the hills, to
+the different temples in all parts of India, dedicated to the gods
+Vishnu and Siva. There the water is thrown upon the stones which
+represent the gods, and when it falls upon these stones it is called
+'Chandamirt', or holy water, and is frequently collected and reserved
+to be drunk as a remedy 'for a mind diseased'[1]
+
+This water is carried in small bottles, bearing the seals of the
+presiding priest at the holy place whence it was brought. The bottles
+are contained in covered baskets, fixed to the ends of a pole, which
+is carried across the shoulder. The people who carry it are of three
+kinds--those who carry it for themselves as a votive offering to some
+shrine; those who are hired for the purpose by others as salaried
+servants; and, thirdly, those who carry it for sale. In the interval
+between the sowing and reaping of the spring crops, that is, between
+November and March, a very large portion of the Hindoo landholders
+and cultivators of India devote their leisure to this pious duty.
+They take their baskets and poles with them from home, or purchase
+them on the road; and having poured their libations on the head of
+the god, and made him acquainted with their wants and wishes, return
+home. From November to March three-fourths of the number of these
+people one meets consist of this class. At other seasons more than
+three-fourths consist of the other two classes--of persons hired for
+the purpose as servants, and those who carry the water for sale.
+
+One morning the old Jemadâr, the marriage of whose mango-grove with
+the jasmine I have already described,[2] brought his two sons and a
+nephew to pay their respects to me on their return to Jubbulpore from
+a pilgrimage to Jagannâth.[3] The sickness of the youngest, a nice
+boy of about six years of age, had caused this pilgrimage. The eldest
+son was about twenty years of age, and the nephew about eighteen.
+
+After the usual compliments, I addressed the eldest son: 'And so your
+brother was really very ill when you set out?'
+
+'Very ill, sir; hardly able to stand without assistance.'
+
+'What was the matter with him?'
+
+'It was what we call a drying-up, or withering of the System.'
+
+'What were the symptoms?'
+
+'Dysentery.'
+
+'Good; and what cured him, as he now seems quite well?'
+
+'Our mother and father vowed five pair of baskets of Ganges water to
+Gajâdhar, an incarnation of the god Siva, at the temple of Baijnâth,
+and a visit to the temple of Jagannâth.'
+
+'And having fulfilled these vows, your brother recovered?'
+
+'He had quite recovered, sir, before we had set out on our return
+from Jagannâth.'
+
+'And who carried the baskets?'
+
+'My mother, wife, cousin, myself, and little brother, all carried one
+pair each.'
+
+'This little boy could not surely carry a pair of baskets all the
+way?'
+
+'No, sir, we had a pair of small baskets made especially for him; and
+when within about three miles of the temple he got down from his
+little pony, took up his baskets, and carried them to the god. Up to
+within three miles of the temple the baskets were carried by a
+Brahman servant, whom we had taken with us to cook our food. We had
+with us another Brahman, to whom we had to pay only a trifle, as his
+principal wages were made up of fees from families in the town of
+Jubbulpore, who had made similar vows, and gave him so much a bottle
+for the water he carried in their several names to the god.'
+
+'Did you give all your water to the Baijnâth temple, or carry some
+with you to Jagannâth?'
+
+'No water is ever offered to Jagannâth, sir; he is an incarnation of
+Vishnu.'[4]
+
+'And does Vishnu never drink?'
+
+'He drinks, sir, no doubt; but he gets nothing but offerings of food
+and money.'
+
+'From this to Bindâchal on the Ganges, two hundred and thirty miles;
+thence to Baijnâth, a hundred and fifty miles; and thence to
+Jagannâth, some four or five hundred miles more.'[5]
+
+'And your mother and wife walked all the way with their baskets?'
+
+'All the way, sir, except when either of them got sick, when she
+mounted the pony with my little brother till she felt well again.'
+
+Here were four members of a respectable family walking a pilgrimage
+of between twelve and fourteen hundred miles, going and coming, and
+carrying burthens on their shoulders for the recovery of the poor
+sick boy; and millions of families are every year doing the same from
+all parts of India. The change of air, and exercise, cured the boy,
+and no doubt did them all a great deal of good; but no physician in
+the world but a religions one could have persuaded them to undertake
+such a journey for the same purpose.
+
+The rest of the pilgrims we meet are for the most part of the two
+monastic orders of Gosâins, or the followers of Siva, and Bairâgîs,
+or followers of Vishnu, and Muhammadan Fakîrs. A Hindoo of any caste
+may become a member of these monastic orders. They are all disciples
+of the high priests of the temples of their respective gods; and in
+their name they wander all over India, visiting the celebrated
+temples which are dedicated to them. A part of the revenues of these
+temples is devoted to subsisting these disciples as they pass; and
+every one of them claims the right of a day's food and lodging, or
+more, according to the rules of the temple. They make collections
+along the roads; and when they return, commonly bring back some
+surplus as an offering to their apostle, the high priest who has
+adopted them. Almost every high priest has a good many such
+disciples, as they are not costly; and from their returning
+occasionally, and from the disciples of others passing, these high
+priests learn everything of importance that is going on over India,
+and are well acquainted with the state of feeling and opinion.
+
+What these disciples get from secular people is given not only from
+feelings of charity and compassion, but as a religions or
+propitiatory offering: for they are all considered to be armed by
+their apostle with a vicarious power of blessing or cursing; and as
+being in themselves men of God whom it might be dangerous to
+displease. They never condescend to feign disease or misery in order
+to excite feelings of compassion, but demand what they want with a
+bold front, as holy men who have a right to share liberally in the
+superfluities which God has given to the rest of the Hindoo
+community. They are in general exceedingly intelligent men of the
+world, and very communicative. Among them will be found members of
+all classes of Hindoo society, and of the most wealthy and
+respectable families.[6] While I had charge of the Narsinghpur
+district in 1822 a Bairâgî, or follower of Vishnu, came and settled
+himself down on the border of a village near my residence. His mild
+and paternal deportment pleased all the little community so much that
+they carried him every day more food than he required. At last, the
+proprietor of the village, a very respectable old gentleman, to whom
+I was much attached, went out with all his family to ask a blessing
+of the holy man. As they sat down before him, the tears were seen
+stealing down his cheeks as he looked upon the old man's younger sons
+and daughters. At last, the old man's wife burst into tears, ran up,
+and fell upon the holy man's neck, exclaiming, 'My lost son, my lost
+son!' He was indeed her eldest son. He had disappeared suddenly
+twelve years before, became a disciple of the high priest of a
+distant temple, and visited almost every celebrated temple in India,
+from Kedârnâth in the eternal snows to Sîtâ Baldî Râmesar, opposite
+the island of Ceylon.[7] He remained with the family for nearly a
+year, delighting them and all the country around with his narratives.
+At last, he seemed to lose his spirits, his usual rest and appetite;
+and one night he again disappeared. He had been absent for some years
+when I last saw the family, and I know not whether he ever returned.
+
+The real members of these monastic orders are not generally bad men;
+but there are a great many men of all kinds who put on their
+disguises, and under their cloak commit all kinds of atrocities.[8]
+The security and convenience which the real pilgrims enjoy upon our
+roads, and the entire freedom from all taxation, both upon these
+roads and at the different temples they visit, tend greatly to attach
+them to our rule, and through that attachment, a tone of good feeling
+towards it is generally disseminated over all India. They come from
+the native states, and become acquainted with the superior advantages
+the people under us enjoy, in the greater security of property, the
+greater freedom with which it is enjoyed and displayed; the greater
+exemption from taxation, and the odious right of search which it
+involves, the greater facilities for travelling in good roads and
+bridges; the greater respectability and integrity of public servants,
+arising from the greater security in their tenure of office and more
+adequate rate of avowed salaries; the entire freedom of the
+navigation of our great rivers, on which thousands and tens of
+thousands of laden vessels now pass from one end to the other without
+any one to question whence they come or whither they go. These are
+tangible proofs of good government, which all can appreciate; and as
+the European gentleman, in his rambles along the great roads, passes
+the lines of pilgrims with which the roads are crowded during the
+cold season, he is sure to hear himself hailed with grateful shouts,
+as one of those who secured for them and the people generally all the
+blessings they now enjoy.[9]
+
+One day my sporting friend, the Râjâ of Maihar, told me that he had
+been purchasing some water from the Ganges at its source, to wash the
+image of Vishnu which stood in one of his temples.[10] I asked him
+whether he ever drank the water after the image had been washed in
+it. 'Yes,' said he, 'we all occasionally drink the "chandamirt".'
+'And do you in the same manner drink the water in which the god Siva
+has been washed?' 'Never,' said the Râjâ. 'And why not?' 'Because his
+wife, Devî, one day in a domestic quarrel cursed him and said, "The
+water which falls from thy head shall no man henceforward drink."
+From that day', said the Râjâ, 'no man has ever drunk of the water
+that washes his image, lest Devî should punish him.' 'And how is it,
+then, Râjâ Sahib, that mankind continue to drink the water of the
+Ganges, which is supposed to flow from her husband Siva's top-knot?'
+'Because', replied the Râjâ, 'this sacred river first flows from the
+right foot of the god Vishnu, and thence passes over the head of
+Siva. The three gods', continued the Râjâ, 'govern the world turn and
+turn about, twenty years at a time. While Vishnu reigns, all goes on
+well; rain descends in good season, the harvests are abundant, and
+the cattle thrive. When Brahma reigns, there is little falling off in
+these matters; but during the twenty years that Siva reigns, nothing
+goes on well--we are all at cross purposes, our crops fail, our
+cattle get the murrain, and mankind suffer from epidemic diseases.'
+The Râjâ was a follower of Vishnu, as may be guessed.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Tavernier notes that Ganges water is often given at weddings,
+'each guest receiving a cup or two, according to the liberality of
+the host'. 'There is sometimes', he says, '2,000 or 3,000 rupees'
+worth of it consumed at a wedding.' (Tavernier, _Travels_, ed. Ball,
+vol. ii, pp. 231, 254.)
+
+2. _Ante_, Chapter 5, [3].
+
+3. Jagannâth (corruptly Juggernaut, &c.), or Purî, on the coast of
+Orissa, probably is the most venerated shrine in India. The principal
+deity there worshipped is a form of Vishnu.
+
+4. Water may not be offered to Jagannâth, but the facts stated in
+this chapter show that it is offered in other temples of Vishnu.
+
+5. Bindâchal is in the Mirzâpur district of the United Provinces.
+Baijnâth is in the Santâl Parganas District of the Bhâgalpur Division
+in the province of Bihâr and Orissa. The group of temples at Deogarh
+dedicated to Siva is visited by pilgrims from all parts of India. The
+principal temple is called Baijnâth or Baidyanâth. Deogarh is a small
+town in the Santâl Parganas (_I.G._, 1908, s.v. Deogarh; _A.S.R._,
+vol. viii (1878), pp. 137-45, Pl. ix, x; vol. xix (1885), pp. 29-35
+(crude notes), Pl. x, xi).
+
+6. Pandit Sâligrâm, who was Postmaster-General of the North-Western
+Provinces some years ago, became one of these wandering friars, and
+other similar cases are recorded.
+
+7. Seet Buldee Ramesur in original edition. The temple alluded to is
+that called Râmesvaram (Ramisseram) in the small island of Pâmban at
+the entrance of Palk's Passage in the Straits of Manaar, which is
+distinguished by its magnificent colonnade and corridors. (Fergusson,
+_Hist. Ind. and Eastern Arch._, vol. i, pp. 380-3, ed. 1910.) The
+island forms part of the so-called Adam's Bridge, a reef of
+comparatively recent formation, which almost joins Ceylon with the
+mainland. A railway now runs along the 'bridge', and the pilgrims
+have an easy task.
+
+The Kedârnâth temple is in the Himalayan District of Garhwâl (United
+Provinces), at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet.
+
+8. The author's other works show that the Thugs frequently assumed
+the guise of ascetics, and much of the secret crime of India is known
+to be committed by men who adopt the garb of holiness. A man
+disguised as a fakîr is often sent on by dacoits (gang-robbers) as a
+spy and decoy. 'Three-fourths of these religions mendicants, whether
+Hindoos or Muhammadans, rob and steal, and a very great portion of
+them murder their victims before they rob them; but they have not any
+of them as a class been found to follow the trade of murder so
+exclusively as to be brought properly within the scope of our
+operations. . . . There is hardly any species of crime that is not
+throughout India perpetrated by men in the disguise of these
+religious mendicants; and almost all such mendicants are really men
+in disguise; for Hindoos of any caste can become Bairâgîs and
+Gosâins; and Muhammadans of any grade can become Fakîrs.' (_A Report
+on the System of Megpunnaism_, 1839, p. 11.) In the same little work
+the author advises the compulsory registration of 'every disciple
+belonging to every high priest, whether Hindoo or Muhammadan', and a
+stringent Vagrant Act. His suggestions have not been acted on.
+
+9. This incident still happens occasionally.
+
+10. For the Râjâ, see _ante_, chapter 20, [6].
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 75
+
+
+The Bêgam Sumroo.
+
+On the 7th of February [1836] I went out to Sardhana and visited the
+church built and endowed by the late Bêgam Sombre, whose remains are
+now deposited in it.[1] It was designed by an Italian gentleman, M.
+Reglioni, and is a fine but not a striking building.[2] I met the
+bishop, Julius Caesar, an Italian from Milan, whom I had known a
+quarter of a century before, a happy and handsome young man--he is
+still handsome, though old; but very miserable because the Bêgam did
+not leave him so large a legacy as he expected. In the revenues of
+her church he had, she thought, quite enough to live upon; and she
+said that priests without wives or children to care about ought to be
+satisfied with this; and left him only a few thousand rupees. She
+made him the medium of conveying a donation to the See of Rome of one
+hundred and fifty thousand rupees,[3] and thereby procured for him
+the bishopric of Amartanta in the island of Cyprus; and got her
+grandson, Dyce Sombre, made a chevalier of the Order of Christ, and
+presented with a splint from the real cross, as a relic.
+
+The Bêgam Sombre was by birth a Saiyadanî, or lineal descendant from
+Muhammad, the founder of the Musalmân faith; and she was united to
+Walter Reinhard, when very young, by all the forms considered
+necessary by persons of her persuasion when married to men of
+another.[4] Reinhard had been married to another woman of the
+Musalmân faith, who still lives at Sardhana,[5] but she had become
+insane, and has ever since remained so. By this first wife he had a
+son, who got from the Emperor the title of Zafar Yâb Khân, at the
+request of the Bêgam, his stepmother; but he was a man of weak
+intellect, and so little thought of that he was not recognized even
+as the nominal chief on the death of his father.
+
+Walter Reinhard was a native of Salzburg. He enlisted as a private
+soldier in the French service, and came to India, where he entered
+the service of the East India Company, and rose to the rank of
+sergeant.[6] Reinhard got the sobriquet of Sombre from his comrades
+while in the French service from the sombre cast of his countenance
+and temper.[7] An Armenian, by name Gregory, of a Calcutta family,
+the virtual minister of Kâsim Alî Khân,[8] under the title of Gorgîn
+Khân,[9] took him into his service when the war was about to commence
+between his master and the English. Kâsim Alî was a native of
+Kâshmîr, and not naturally a bad man; but he was goaded to madness by
+the injuries and insults heaped upon him by the servants of the East
+India Company, who were not then paid, as at present, in adequate
+salaries, but in profits upon all kinds of monopolies; and they would
+not suffer the recognized sovereign of the country in which they
+traded to grant to his subjects the same exemption that they claimed
+for themselves exclusively; and a war was the consequence.[10]
+
+Mr. Ellis, one of these civil servants and chief of the factory at
+Patna, whose opinions had more weight with the council in Calcutta
+than all the wisdom of such men as Vansittart and Warren Hastings,
+because they happened to be more consonant with the personal
+interests of the majority, precipitately brought on the war, and
+assumed the direction of all military operations, of which he knew
+nothing, and for which he seems to have been totally unfitted by the
+violence of his temper. All his enterprises failed--the city and
+factory were captured by the enemy, and the European inhabitants
+taken prisoners. The Nawâb, smarting under the reiterated wrongs he
+had received, and which he attributed mainly to the counsels of Mr.
+Ellis, no sooner found the chief within his grasp, than he determined
+to have him and all who were taken with him, save a Doctor Fullarton,
+to whom he owed some personal obligations, put to death. His own
+native officers were shocked at the proposal, and tried to dissuade
+him from the purpose, but he was resolved, and not finding among them
+any willing to carry it into execution he applied to Sumroo, who
+readily undertook and, with some of his myrmidons, performed the
+horrible duty in 1763.[11] At the suggestion of Gregory and Sombre,
+Kâsim Alî now attempted to take the small principality of Nepâl, as a
+kind of basis for his operations against the English. He had four
+hundred excellent rifles with flint locks and screwed barrels made at
+Monghyr (Mungêr) on the Ganges, so as to fit into small boxes. These
+boxes were sent up on the backs of four hundred brave volunteers for
+this forlorn hope. Gregory had got a passport for the boxes as rare
+merchandise for the palace of the prince at Kathmandû, in whose
+presence alone they were to be opened. On reaching the palace at
+night, these volunteers were to open their boxes, screw up the
+barrels, destroy all the inmates, and possess themselves of the
+palace, where it is supposed Kâsim Ali had already secured many
+friends. Twelve thousand soldiers had advanced to the foot of the
+hills near Betiyâ, to support the attack, and the volunteers were in
+the fort of Makwânpur, the only strong fort between the plain and the
+capital. They had been treated with great consideration by the
+garrison, and were to set out at daylight the next morning; but one
+of the attendants, who had been let into the secret, got drunk, and
+in a quarrel with one of the garrison, told him that he should see in
+a few days who would be master of that garrison. This led to
+suspicion; the boxes were broken open, the arms discovered, and the
+whole of the party, except three or four, were instantly put to
+death; the three or four who escaped gave intelligence to the army at
+Betiyâ, and the whole retreated upon Monghyr. But for this drunken
+man, Nepâl had perhaps been Kâsim Alî's.[12]
+
+Kâsim Alî Khân was beaten in several actions by our gallant little
+band of troops under their able leader, Colonel Adams; and at last
+driven to seek shelter with the Nawâb Wazîr of Oudh, into whose
+service Sumroo afterwards entered. This chief being in his turn
+beaten, Sumroo went off and entered the service of the celebrated
+chief of Rohilkhand, Hâfiz Rahmat Khân. This he soon quitted from
+fear of the English. He raised two battalions in 1772, which he soon
+afterwards increased to four; and let out always to the highest
+bidder--first, to the Jât chiefs of Dîg, then to the chief of Jaipur,
+then to Najaf Khân, the prime minister, and then to the Marâthâs. His
+battalions were officered by Europeans, but Europeans of
+respectability were unwilling to take service under a man so
+precariously situated, however great their necessities; and he was
+obliged to content himself for the most part with the very dross of
+society--men who could neither read nor write, nor keep themselves
+sober. The consequence was that the battalions were often in a state
+of mutiny, committing every kind of outrage upon the persons of their
+officers, and at all times in a state of insubordination bordering on
+mutiny. These battalions seldom obtained their pay till they put
+their commandant into confinement, and made him dig up his hidden
+stores, if he had any, or borrow from bankers, if he had none. If the
+troops felt pressed for time, and their commander was of the
+necessary character, they put him astride upon a hot gun without his
+trousers. When our battalion had got its pay out of him in this
+manner, he was often handed over to another for the same purpose. The
+poor old Bêgam had been often subjected to the starving stage of this
+proceeding before she came under our protection; but had never, I
+believe, been grilled upon a gun. It was a rule, it was said, with
+Sombre, to enter the field of battle at the safest point, form line
+facing the enemy, fire a few rounds in the direction where they
+stood, without regard to the distance or effect, form square, and
+await the course of events. If victory declared for the enemy, he
+sold his unbroken force to him to great advantage; if for his
+friends, he assisted them in collecting the plunder, and securing all
+the advantages of the victory. To this prudent plan of action his
+corps afterwards steadily adhered; and they never took or lost a gun
+till they came in contact with our forces at Ajantâ and Assaye.[13]
+
+Sombre died at Agra on the 4th of May, 1778, and his remains were at
+first buried in his garden. They were afterwards removed to the
+consecrated ground in the Agra churchyard by his widow the Bêgam,[14]
+who was baptized, at the age of forty,[15] by a Roman Catholic
+priest, under the name of Joanna,[16] on the 7th of May, 1781.
+
+On the death of her husband she was requested to take command of the
+force by all the Europeans and natives that composed it, as the only
+possible mode of keeping them together, since the son was known to be
+altogether unfit. She consented, and was regularly installed in the
+charge by the Emperor Shâh Alam. Her chief officer was a Mr. Paoli, a
+German, who soon after took an active part in providing the poor
+imbecile old Emperor with a prime minister, and got himself
+assassinated on the restoration, a few weeks after, of his rival.[17]
+The troops continued in the same state of insubordination, and the
+Bêgam was anxious for an opportunity to show that she was determined
+to be obeyed.
+
+While she was encamped with the army of the prime minister of the
+time at Mathurâ,[18] news was one day brought to her that two slave
+girls had set fire to her houses at Agra, in order that they might
+make off with their paramours, two soldiers of the guard she had left
+in charge. These houses had thatched roofs, and contained all her
+valuables, and the widows, wives, and children of her principal
+officers. The fire had been put out with much difficulty and great
+loss of property; and the two slave girls were soon after discovered
+in the bazaar at Agra, and brought out to the Bêgam's camp. She had
+the affair investigated in the usual summary form; and their guilt
+being proved to the satisfaction of all present, she had them flogged
+till they were senseless, and then thrown into a pit dug in front of
+her tent for the purpose, and buried alive. I had heard the story
+related in different ways, and I now took pains to ascertain the
+truth; and this short narrative may, I believe, be relied upon.[19]
+
+An old Persian merchant, called the Agâ, still resided at Sardhana,
+to whom I knew that one of the slave girls belonged. I visited him,
+and he told me that his father had been on intimate terms with
+Sombre, and when he died his mother went to live with his widow, the
+Bêgam--that his slave girl was one of the two-that his mother at
+first protested against her being taken off to the camp, but became
+on inquiry satisfied of her guilt--and that the Bêgam's object was to
+make a strong impression upon the turbulent spirit of her troops by a
+severe example. 'In this object', said the old Agâ, 'she entirely
+succeeded; and for some years after her orders were implicitly
+obeyed; had she faltered on that occasion she must have lost the
+command--she would have lost that respect, without which it would
+have been impossible for her to retain it a month. I was then a boy;
+but I remember well that there were, besides my mother and sisters,
+many respectable females that would have rather perished in the
+flames than come out to expose themselves to the crowd that assembled
+to see the fires; and had the fires not been put out, a great many
+lives must have been lost; besides, there were many old people and
+young children who could not have escaped.' The old Agâ was going off
+to take up his quarters at Delhi when this conversation took place;
+and I am sure that he told me what he thought to be true. This
+narrative corresponded exactly with that of several other old men
+from whom I had heard the story. It should be recollected that among
+natives there is no particular mode of execution prescribed for those
+who are condemned to die; nor, in a camp like this, any court of
+justice save that of the commander in which they could be tried, and,
+supposing the guilt to have been established, as it is said to have
+been to the satisfaction of the Bêgam and the principal officers, who
+were all Europeans and Christians, perhaps the punishment was not
+much greater than the crime deserved and the occasion demanded. But
+it is possible that the slave girls may not have set fire to the
+buildings, but merely availed themselves of the occasion of the fire
+to run off; indeed, slave girls are under so little restraint in
+India, that it would be hardly worth while for them to burn down a
+house to get out. I am satisfied that the Bêgam believed them guilty,
+and that the punishment, horrible as it was, was merited. It
+certainly had the desired effect. My object has been to ascertain the
+truth in this case, and to state it, and not to eulogize or defend
+the old Bêgam.
+
+After Paoli's death, the command of the troops under the Bêgam
+devolved successively upon Baours, Evans, Dudrenec, who, after a
+short time, all gave it up in disgust at the beastly habits of the
+European subalterns, and the overbearing insolence to which they and
+the want of regular pay gave rise among the soldiers. At last the
+command devolved upon Monsieur Le Vaisseau, a French gentleman of
+birth, education, gentlemanly deportment, and honourable
+feelings.[20] The battalions had been increased to six, with their
+due proportion of guns and cavalry; part resided at Sardhana, her
+capital, and part at Delhi, in attendance upon the Emperor. A very
+extraordinary man entered her service about the same time with Le
+Vaisseau, George Thomas, who, from a quartermaster on board a ship,
+raised himself to a principality in Northern India.[21] Thomas on one
+occasion raised his mistress in the esteem of the Emperor and the
+people by breaking through the old rule of central squares: gallantly
+leading on his troops, and rescuing his majesty from a perilous
+situation in one of his battles with a rebellious subject, Najaf Kulî
+Khân, where the Bêgam was present in her palankeen, and reaped all
+the laurels, being from that day called 'the most beloved daughter of
+the Emperor'.[22] As his best chance of securing his ascendancy
+against such a rival, Le Vaisseau proposed marriage to the Bêgam, and
+was accepted. She was married to Le Vaisseau by Father Gregoris, a
+Carmelite monk, in 1793, before Saleur and Bernier, two French
+officers of great merit. George Thomas left her service, in
+consequence, in 1793, and set up for himself; and was afterwards
+crushed by the united armies of the Sikhs and Marâthâs, commanded by
+European officers, after he had been recognized as a general officer
+by the Governor-General of India. George Thomas had latterly twelve
+small disciplined battalions officered by Europeans. He had good
+artillery, cast his own guns, and was the first person that applied
+iron calibres to brass cannon. He was unquestionably a man of very
+extraordinary military genius, and his ferocity and recklessness as
+to the means he used were quite in keeping with the times. His
+revenues were derived from the Sikh states which he had rendered
+tributary; and he would probably have been sovereign of them all in
+the room of Ranjit Singh, had not the jealousy of Perron and other
+French officers in the Marâthâ army interposed.[23]
+
+The Bêgam tried in vain to persuade her husband to receive all the
+European officers of the corps at his table as gentlemen, urging that
+not only their domestic peace, but their safety among such a
+turbulent set, required that the character of these officers should
+be raised if possible, and their feelings conciliated. Nothing, he
+declared, should ever induce him to sit at table with men of such
+habits; and they at last determined that no man should command them
+who would not condescend to do so. Their insolence and that of the
+soldiers generally became at last unbearable, and the Bêgam
+determined to go off with her husband, and seek an asylum in the
+Honourable Company's territory with the little property she could
+command, of one hundred thousand rupees in money, and her jewels,
+amounting perhaps in value to one hundred thousand more. Le Vaisseau
+did not understand English; but with the aid of a grammar and a
+dictionary he was able to communicate her wishes to Colonel McGowan,
+who commanded at that time (1795) an advanced post of our army at
+Anûpshahr on the Ganges.[24] He proposed that the Colonel should
+receive them in his cantonments, and assist them in their journey
+thence to Farrukhâbâd, where they wished in future to reside, free
+from the cares and anxieties of such a charge. The Colonel had some
+scruples, under the impression that he might be censured for aiding
+in the flight of a public officer of the Emperor. He now addressed
+the Governor-General of India, Sir John Shore himself, April
+1795,[25] who requested Major Palmer, our accredited agent with
+Sindhia, who was then encamped near Delhi, and holding the seals of
+prime minister of the empire, to interpose his good offices in favour
+of the Bêgam and her husband. Sindhia demanded twelve lâkhs of rupees
+as the price of the privilege she solicited to retire; and the Bêgam,
+in her turn, demanded over and above the privilege of resigning the
+command into his hands, the sum of four lâkhs of rupees as the price
+of the arms and accoutrements which had been provided at her own cost
+and that of her late husband. It was at last settled that she should
+resign the command, and set out secretly with her husband; and that
+Sindhia should confer the command of her troops upon one of his own
+officers, who would pay the son of Sombre two thousand rupees a month
+for life. Le Vaisseau was to be received into our territories,
+treated as a prisoner of war upon parole, and permitted to reside
+with his wife at the French settlement of Chandernagore. His last
+letter to Sir John Shore is dated the 30th April, 1795. His last
+letters describing this final arrangement are addressed to Mr. Even,
+a French merchant at Mirzapore, and a Mr. Bernier, both personal
+friends of his, and are dated 18th of May, 1795.[26]
+
+The battalions on duty at Delhi got intimation of this
+correspondence, made the son of Sombre declare himself their
+legitimate chief, and march at their head to seize the Bêgam and her
+husband. Le Vaisseau heard of their approach, and urged the Bêgam to
+set out with him at midnight for Anûpshahr, declaring that he would
+rather destroy himself than submit to the personal indignities which
+he knew would be heaped upon him by the infuriated ruffians who were
+coming to seize them. The Bêgam consented, declaring that she would
+put an end to her life with her own hand should she be taken. She got
+into her palankeen with a dagger in her hand, and as he had seen her
+determined resolution and proud spirit before exerted on many trying
+occasions, he doubted not that she would do what she declared she
+would. He mounted his horse and rode by the side of her palankeen,
+with a pair of pistols in his holsters, and a good sword by his side.
+They had got as far as Kabrî, about three miles from Sardhana,[27] on
+the road to Meerut, when they found the battalions from Sardhana, who
+had got intimation of the flight, gaining fast upon the palankeen. Le
+Vaisseau asked the Bêgam whether she remained firm in her resolve to
+die rather than submit to the indignities that threatened them.
+'Yes,' replied she, showing him the dagger firmly grasped in her
+right hand. He drew a pistol from his holster without saying
+anything, but urged on the bearers. He could have easily galloped
+off, and saved himself, but he would not quit his wife's side. At
+last the soldiers came up close behind them. The female attendants of
+the Bêgam began to scream; and looking in, Le Vaisseau saw the white
+cloth that covered the Bêgam's breast stained with blood. She had
+stabbed herself, but the dagger had struck against one of the bones
+of her chest, and she had not courage to repeat the blow. Her husband
+put his pistol to his temple and fired. The bail passed through his
+head, and he fell dead on the ground. One of the soldiers who saw him
+told me that he sprang at least a foot off the saddle into the air as
+the shot struck him. His body was treated with every kind of insult
+by the European officers and their men;[28] and the Bêgam was taken
+back into Sardhana, kept under a gun for seven days, deprived of all
+kinds of food, save what she got by stealth from her female servants,
+and subjected to all manner of insolent language.
+
+At last the officers were advised by George Thomas, who had
+instigated them to this violence out of pique against the Bêgam for
+her preference of the Frenchman,[29] to set aside their puppet and
+reseat the Bêgam in the command, as the only chance of keeping the
+territory of Sardhana.[30] 'If', said he, 'the Bêgam should die under
+the torture of mind and body to which you are subjecting her, the
+minister will very soon resume the lands assigned for your payment,
+and disband a force so disorderly, and so little likely to be of any
+use to him or the Emperor.' A council of war was held--the Bêgam was
+taken out from under the gun, and reseated on the 'masnad'. A paper
+was drawn up by about thirty European officers, of whom only one,
+Monsieur Saleur, could sign his own name, swearing in the name of God
+and Jesus Christ,[31] that they would henceforward obey her with all
+their hearts and souls, and recognize no other person whomsoever as
+commander. They all affixed their seals to this _covenant_; but some
+of them, to show their superior learning, put their initials, or what
+they used as such, for some of these _learned Thebans_ knew only two
+or three letters of the alphabet, which they put down, though they
+happened not to be their real initials. An officer on the part of
+Sindhia, who was to have commanded these troops, was present at this
+reinstallation of the Bêgam, and glad to take, as a compensation for
+his disappointment, the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand rupees,
+which the Bêgam contrived to borrow for him.
+
+The body of poor Le Vaisseau was brought back to camp, and there lay
+several days unburied, and exposed to all kinds of indignities. The
+supposition that this was the result of a plan formed by the Bêgam to
+get rid of Le Vaisseau is, I believe, unfounded.[32] The Bêgam
+herself gave some colour of truth to the report by retaining the name
+of her first husband, Sombre, to the last, and never publicly or
+formally declaring her marriage with Le Vaisseau after his death. The
+troops in this mutiny pretended nothing more than a desire to
+vindicate the honour of their old commander Sombre, which had, they
+said, been compromised by the illicit intercourse between Le Vaisseau
+and his widow. She had not dared to declare the marriage to them lest
+they should mutiny on that ground, and deprive her of the command;
+and for the same reason she retained the name of Sombre after her
+restoration, and remained silent on the subject of her second
+marriage. The marriage was known only to a few European officers. Sir
+John Shore, Major Palmer, and the other gentlemen with whom Le
+Vaisseau corresponded. Some grave old native gentlemen who were long
+in her service have told me that they believed 'there really was too
+much of truth in the story which excited the troops to mutiny on that
+occasion--her too great intimacy with the gallant young Frenchman.
+God forgive them for saying so of a lady whose salt they had eaten
+for so many years'. Le Vaisseau made no mention of the marriage to
+Colonel McGowan; and from the manner in which he mentions it to Sir
+John Shore it is clear that he, or she, or both, were anxious to
+conceal it from the troops and from Sindhia before their departure.
+She stipulated in her will that her heir, Mr. Dyce, should take the
+name of Sombre, as if she wished to have the little episode of her
+second marriage forgotten.
+
+After the death of Le Vaisseau, the command devolved on Monsieur
+Saleur, a Frenchman, the only respectable officer who signed the
+covenant; he had taken no active part in the mutiny; on the contrary,
+he had done all he could to prevent it; and he was at last, with
+George Thomas, the chief means of bringing his brother officers back
+to a sense of their duty. Another battalion was added to the four in
+1787, and another raised in 1798 and 1802; five of the six marched
+under Colonel Saleur to the Deccan with Sindhia. They were in a state
+of mutiny the whole way, and utterly useless as auxiliaries, as
+Saleur himself declared in many of his letters written in French to
+his mistress the Bêgam. At the battle of Assaye, four of these
+battalions were left in charge of the Marâthâ camps. One was present
+in the action and lost its four guns. Soon after the return of these
+battalions, the Bêgam entered into an alliance with the British
+Government; the force then consisted of these six battalions, a party
+of artillery served chiefly by Europeans, and two hundred horse. She
+had a good arsenal well stored, a foundry for cannon, both within the
+walls of a small fortress, built near her dwelling at Sardhana. The
+whole cost her about four lâkhs of rupees a year; her civil
+establishments eighty thousand, and her household establishments and
+expenses about the same; total six lâkhs of rupees a year. The
+revenues of Sardhana, and the other lands assigned at different times
+for the payment of the force had been at no time more than sufficient
+to cover these expenses; but under the protection of our Government
+they improved with the extension of tillage, and the improvements of
+the surrounding markets for produce, and she was enabled to give
+largely to the support of charitable institutions, and to provide
+handsomely for the support of her family and pensioners after her
+death.'[33]
+
+Sombre's son, Zafaryâb Khân, had a daughter who was married to
+Colonel Dyce, who had for some time the management of the Bêgam's
+affairs; but he lost her favour long before her death by his violent
+temper and overbearing manners, and was obliged to resign the
+management to his son, who, on the Bêgam's death, came in for the
+bulk of her fortune, or about sixty lâkhs of rupees. He has two
+sisters who were brought up by the Bêgam, one married to Captain
+Troup, an Englishman, and the other to Mr. Salaroli, an Italian, both
+very worthy men. Their wives have been handsomely provided for by the
+Bêgam, and by their brother, who trebled the fortunes left to them by
+the Bêgam.[34] She built an excellent church at Sardhana, and
+assigned the sum of 100,000 rupees as a fund to provide for its
+service and repairs; 50,000 rupees as another [fund] for the poor of
+the place; and 100,000 as a third, for a college in which Roman
+Catholic priests might be educated for the benefit of India
+generally. She sent to Rome 150,000 rupees to be employed as a
+charity fund at the discretion of the Pope; and to the Archbishop of
+Canterbury she sent 50,000 for the same purpose. She gave to the
+Bishop of Calcutta 100,000 rupees to provide teachers for the poor of
+the Protestant church in Calcutta. She sent to Calcutta for
+distribution to the poor, and for the liberation of deserving
+debtors, 50,000. To the Catholic missions at Calcutta, Bombay, and
+Madras she gave 100,000; and to that of Agra 50,000. She built a
+handsome chapel for the Roman Catholics at Meerut; and presented the
+fund for its support with a donation of 12,000; and she built a
+chapel for the Church Missionary at Meerut, the Reverend Mr.
+Richards, at a cost of 10,000, to meet the wants of the native
+Protestants.[35]
+
+
+Among all who had opportunities of knowing her she bore the character
+of a kind-hearted, benevolent, and good woman; and I have conversed
+with men capable of judging, who had known her for more than fifty
+years. She had uncommon sagacity and a masculine resolution; and the
+Europeans and natives who were most intimate with her have told me
+that though a woman and of small stature, her 'ru'b' (dignity, or
+power of commanding personal respect) was greater than that of almost
+any person they had ever seen.[36] From the time she put herself
+under the protection of the British Government, in 1808, she by
+degrees adopted the European modes of social intercourse, appearing
+in public on an elephant, in a carriage, and occasionally on
+horseback with her hat and veil, and dining at table with gentlemen.
+She often entertained Governors-General and Commanders-in-Chief, with
+all their retinues, and sat with them and their staff at table, and
+for some years past kept an open house for the society of Meerut; but
+in no situation did she lose sight of her dignity. She retained to
+the last the grateful affections of the thousands who were supported
+by her bounty, while she never ceased to inspire the most profound
+respect in the minds of those who every day approached her, and were
+on the most unreserved terms of intimacy.[37]
+
+Lord William Bentinck was an excellent judge of character; and the
+following letter will show how deeply his visit to that part of the
+country had impressed him with a sense of her extensive usefulness:
+
+'To Her Highness the Begum Sumroo.
+
+'My esteemed Friend,--I cannot leave India without expressing the
+sincere esteem I entertain for your highness's character. The
+benevolence of disposition and extensive charity which have endeared
+you to thousands, have excited in my mind sentiments of the warmest
+admiration; and I trust that you may yet be preserved for many years,
+the solace of the orphan and widow, and the sure resource of your
+numerous dependants. To-morrow morning I embark for England; and my
+prayers and best wishes attend you, and all others who, like you,
+exert themselves for the benefit of the people of India.
+
+ 'I remain,
+ 'With much consideration,
+ 'Your sincere friend,
+ (Signed) 'M. W. BENTINCK.[38]
+
+'Calcutta, March 17th, 1835.'
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The reader will observe that the lady's name is spelt Sumroo in
+the heading and Sombre in the text. The form Samrû, or Shamrû,
+transliterates the Hindustâni spelling.
+
+2. The author means General Regholini who was in the Bêgam's service
+at the time of her death. (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. iii, p.
+295.) The church, or cathedral, was consecrated in 1822, and coat
+400,000 rupees. A portrait of the General, from Sardhana, is now in
+the Indian Institute, Oxford, which also possesses a portrait of the
+Bishop.
+
+The best account of Begum Sumroo is to be found in _A Tour through
+the Upper Provinces of Hindustan_, 1804-14, by A. D. = Ann Deane
+(1823). Walter Scott introduces more than one of the stories about
+the Begum into _The Surgeon's Daughter_ (1827), e.g.: "But not to be
+interred alive under your seat, like the Circassian of whom you were
+jealous," said Middlemas, shuddering (vol. 48, Black's ed. of the
+novels, p. 382).
+
+3. The Bêgam's benefactions are detailed _post_.
+
+4. 'This remarkable woman was the daughter, by a concubine, of Asad
+Khân, a Musalmân of Arab decent settled in the town of Kutâna in the
+Meerut district. She was born about the year A.D. 1753 [see _post_.]
+On the death of her father, she and her mother became subject to ill-
+treatment from her half-brother, the legitimate heir, and they
+consequently removed to Delhi about 1760. There she entered the
+service of Sumru, and accompanied him through all his campaigns.
+Sumru, on retiring to Sardhana, found himself relieved of all the
+cares and troubles of war, and gave himself entirely up to a life of
+ease and pleasure, and so completely fell into the hands of the Bêgam
+that she had no difficulty in inducing him to exchange the title of
+mistress for that of wife.' (E. T. Atkinson in _N.W.P. Gazetteer_,
+1st ed., vol. ii, p. 95. The authorities for the history of Bêgum
+Samrû are very conflicting. Atkinson has examined them critically,
+and his account probably is the best in existence.) An anonymous
+pamphlet published apparently at Sardhana and sent to the editor
+anonymously long ago, gives the name of the Bêgam's father as 'Lutf
+Ali Khan, a decayed nobleman of Arabian descent' living at Kotana.
+Some writers state that the Bêgam was a dancing girl, and was bought
+by Sumroo. Her name was Zêb-un-nissa.
+
+5. This first wife died at Sardhana during the rainy season of 1838.
+She must have been above one hundred years of age; and a good many of
+the Europeans that he buried in the Sardhana cemetery had lived above
+a hundred years. [W. H. S.] She was a concubine, named Bahâ Bêgam.
+(_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. iii, p. 96.)
+
+6. His name is spelt Reinhard on his tombstone, as in the text. It is
+also spelt Renard. According to some authorities, his birthplace was
+Trèves, not Salzburg. He is said to have been a butcher by trade, and
+certainly deserted from both the French and the English services.
+
+7. A more probable explanation is that the name is a corruption of an
+alias, Summers, assumed by the deserter.
+
+8. Kâsim Alî Khân is generally referred to in the histories under the
+name of Mîr Kâsim (Meer Cossim). Mîr Jâfir was deposed in 1760, and
+his son-in-law Mîr Kâsim was placed on the throne of Bengal in his
+stead by the English. The history of Mîr Kâsim is told in detail by
+Thornton in his sixth chapter, and also by Mill.
+
+9. Probably 'Gorgîn' is a corruption of 'Gregory'. This name may be a
+corruption of 'Georgian'.
+
+10. Mill observes upon these transactions: 'The conduct of the
+Company's servants upon this occasion furnishes one of the most
+remarkable instances upon record of the power of self-interest to
+extinguish all sense of justice and even of shame. They had hitherto
+insisted, contrary to all right and all precedent, that the
+government of the country should exempt all their goods from duty;
+they now insisted that it should impose duties upon all other
+traders, and accused it as guilty of a breach of the peace towards
+the English nation, because it proposed to remit them.' [W. H. S.]
+The quotation is from Book iv, chapter 5 (5th ed., 1858, vol. iii, p.
+237).
+
+11. The 3rd of October was the day of slaughter at Patna. The
+Europeans at other places in Mîr Kâsim's power were also massacred;
+and the total number slain, men, women, and children, amounted to
+about two hundred. Sumroo personally butchered about one hundred and
+fifty at Patna.
+
+12. Our troops, under Sir David Ochterlony, took the fort of
+Makwânpur in 1815, and might in five days have been before the
+defenceless capital; but they were here arrested by the romantic
+chivalry of the Marquis of Hastings. The country had been virtually
+conquered; the prince, by his base treachery towards us and outrages
+upon others, had justly forfeited his throne; but the Governor-
+General, by perhaps a misplaced lenity, left it to him without any
+other guarantee for his future good behaviour than the recollection
+that he had been soundly beaten. Unfortunately he left him at the
+same time a sufficient quantity of fertile land below the hills to
+maintain the same army with which he had fought us, with better
+knowledge how to employ them, to keep us out on a future occasion.
+Between the attempt of Kâsim Alî and our attack upon Nepâl, the
+Gôrkhâ masters of the country had, by a long series of successful
+aggressions upon their neighbours, rendered themselves in their own
+opinion and in that of their neighbours the beat soldiers of India.
+They have, of course, a very natural feeling of hatred against our
+government, which put a stop to the wild career of conquest, and
+wrested from their grasp all the property and all the pretty women
+from Kathmandû to Kashmîr. To these beautify regions they were what
+the invading Huns were in former days to Europe, absolute fiends. Had
+we even exacted a good road into their country with fortifications at
+the proper places, it might have checked the hopes of one day
+resuming the career of conquest that now keeps up the army and
+military spirit, to threaten us with a renewal of war whenever we are
+embarrassed on the plains. [W. H. S.]
+
+The author's uneasiness concerning the attitude of Nepal was
+justified. During the Afghan troubles of 1838-43 the Nepalese
+Government was in constant communication with the enemies of the
+Indian Government. The late Maharâja Sir Jang Bahâdur obtained power
+in 1846, and, after his visit to England in 1850, decided to abide by
+the English alliance. He did valuable service in 1857 and 1858, and
+the two governments have ever since maintained an unbroken, though
+reserved, friendship. The Gôrkhâ regiments in the English service are
+recruited in Nepâl.
+
+13. Aasaye (Assye, Asâi) is in the Nizâm's dominions. Here, on the
+23rd of September, 1803, Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of
+Wellington, with less than 5,000 men, defeated the Marâthâ host of at
+least 32,000 men, including more than 10,000 under European leaders.
+Ajantâ, or Ajantâ Ghât, is in the same region. (Owen, _Sel. from
+Wellington Despatches_ (1880), pp. 301-9.)
+
+14. His tombstone bears a Portuguese inscription:
+ 'Aqui iaz Walter Reinhard, morreo aos 4 de Mayo no anno de 1778.'
+(_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. ii, p. 96.)
+
+15. According to this statement she must have been born in or about
+1741, not in 1753, as stated by Atkinson. If the earlier date were
+correct, she would have been ninety-five when she died in 1836.
+Higginbotham, referring to Bacon's work, says she died at the age of
+eighty-nine, which places her birth in 1747. According to Beale, she
+was aged eighty-eight lunar years when she died, on the 27th January,
+1836, equivalent to about eighty-five solar years. This computation
+places her birth in A.D. 1751, which may be taken as the correct
+date. The date of her baptism is correctly stated in the text.
+
+16. She added the name Nobilis, when she married Le Vaisseau.
+(_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. ii, p. 106, note.)
+
+17. The author spells the German's name Pauly; I have followed
+Atkinson's spelling. The man was assassinated in 1783.
+
+18. This circumstance indicates that the execution of the slave girls
+took place in 1782. (See _N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. ii, p. 91.)
+
+19. The darker aide of the Bêgam's character is shown by the story of
+the slave girl's murder. By some it is said that the girl's crime
+consisted in her having attracted the favourable notice of one of the
+Bêgam's husbands. Whatever may have been the offence, her barbarous
+mistress visited it by causing the girl to be buried alive. The time
+chosen for the execution was the evening, the place the tent of the
+Bêgam; who caused her bed to be arranged immediately over the grave,
+and occupied it until the morning, to prevent any attempt to rescue
+the miserable girl beneath. By acts like this the Bêgam inspired such
+terror that she was never afterwards troubled with domestic
+dissensions.' (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. ii, p. 110.) It will
+be observed that this version mentions only one girl. According to
+Higginbotham (_Men whom India has Known_, 2nd ed., s.v. 'Sumroo'),
+this execution took place on the evening of the day on which Le
+Vaisseau perished in 1795. (See _post._) He adds that 'it is said
+that this act preyed upon her conscience in after life'. This account
+professes to be based on Bacon's _First Impressions and Studies from
+Nature in Hindustan_, which is said to be 'the most reliable, as the
+author saw the Bêgam, attended and conversed with her at one of her
+levées, and gained all his information at her Court'. But Bacon's
+account of the Bêgam's history, as quoted by Higginbotham, is full of
+gross errors; and Sir William Sleeman may be relied on as giving the
+most accurate obtainable version of the horrid story. He had the beat
+possible opportunities, as well as a desire, to ascertain the truth.
+
+20. Atkinson (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. ii, p. 106) uses the spelling
+Le Vaisseau, which probably is correct, and observes that the name is
+also written Le Vassont. The author writes Le Vassoult; and Francklin
+(_Military Memoirs of Mr. George Thomas_, London, 8vo reprint
+(Stockdale), p. 55) spells the name phonetically as Levasso. 'On
+every occasion he was the declared and inveterate enemy of Mr.
+Thomas.'
+
+21. Thomas was an Irishman, born in the county of Tipperary. 'From
+the best information we could procure, it appears that Mr. George
+Thomas first came to India in a British ship of war, in 1781-2. His
+situation in the fleet was humble, having served as a quarter-master,
+or, as is affirmed by some, in the capacity of a common sailor. . . .
+His first service was among the Polygars to the southward, where he
+resided a few years. But at length setting out overland, he
+spiritedly traversed the central part of the peninsula, and about the
+year 1787 arrived at Delhi. Here he received a commission in the
+service of the Bêgam Sumroo. . . . Soon after his arrival at Delhi,
+the Bêgam, with her usual judgement and discrimination of character,
+advanced him to a command in her army. From this period his military
+career in the north-west of India may be said to have commenced.'
+Owing to the rivalry of Le Vaisseau, Thomas 'quitted the Bêgam
+Sumroo, and about 1792 betook himself to the frontier station of the
+British army at the post of Anopshire (Anûpshâhr). . . . Here he
+waited several months. . . . In the beginning of the year 1793, Mr.
+Thomas, being at Anopshire, received letters from Appakandarow
+(Apakanda Râo), a Mahratta chief, conveying offers of service, and
+promises of a comfortable provision.' (Francklin, op. cit., p. 20.)
+The author states that Thomas left the Bêgam's service in 1793, after
+her marriage with Le Vaisseau in that year. Francklin (see also p.
+55) was clearly under the impression that the marriage did not take
+place till after Thomas had thrown up his command under the Bêgam. He
+made peace with her in 1795. The capital of the principality which he
+carved out for himself in 1798 was at Hânsî, eighty-nine miles north-
+west of Delhi. He was driven out at the close of 1801, entered
+British territory in January 1802, and died on the 22nd of August in
+that year at Barhâmpur, being about forty-six years of age. A son of
+his was an officer in the Bêgam's service at the time of her death in
+1836. A great-granddaughter of George Thomas was, in 1867, the wife
+of a writer on a humble salary in one of the Government offices at
+Agra. (Beale.)
+
+22. This incident happened in 1788. (See _N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. ii,
+p. 99; _I.G._, 1908, vol. xii, p. 106.)
+
+23. 'A more competent estimate may perhaps be formed of his abilities
+if we reflect on the nature and extent of one of his plans, which he
+detailed to the compiler of these memoirs during his residence at
+Benares. When fixed in his residence at Hânsî, he first conceived,
+and would, if unforeseen and untoward circumstances had not occurred,
+have executed the bold design of extending his conquests to the
+mouths of the Indus. This was to have been effected by a fleet of
+boats, constructed from timber procured in the forests near the city
+of Fîrôzpur, on the banks of the Satlaj river, proceeding down that
+river with his army, and settling the countries he might subdue on
+his route; a daring enterprise, and conceived in the true spirit of
+an ancient Roman. On the conclusion of this design it was his
+intention to turn his arms against the Panjâb, which he expected to
+reduce in a couple of years; and which, considering the wealth he
+would then have acquired, and the amazing resources he would have
+possessed, these successes combined would doubtless have contributed
+to establish his authority on a firm and solid basis.' He offered to
+conquer the Panjâb on behalf of the Government of India, for the
+welfare of his king and country. (Francklin, pp. 334-6.)
+
+24. A small town in the Bulandshahr district of the North-Western
+Provinces, seventy-three miles south-east of Delhi. Its fort used to
+be considered strong and of strategical importance.
+
+25. Afterwards Lord Teignmouth.
+
+26. Major Bernier was killed at the storm of Hânsî in 1801. His
+tombstone at Barsi village was found ninety years later (_Pioneer_,
+Dec. 14, 1894). For epitaph of Joseph Even Bahâdur see _N.I.N. &
+Qu._, vol. i, note 265.
+
+27. Francklin says that the troops overtook the fugitives 'at the
+village of Kerwah, in the begum's jaghire, four miles distant from
+her capital', (p. 58.)
+
+28. 'For three days it lay exposed to the insults of the rabble, and
+was at length thrown into a ditch.' (Francklin, p. 60.)
+
+29. According to George Thomas (whose version of the story is given
+by his biographer), the Bêgam, when the mutiny broke out, was
+actually preparing to attack Thomas. A German officer, known only as
+the Liègeois, strenuously dissuaded the Bêgam from the proposed
+hostilities, and was, in consequence, degraded by Le Vaisseau. The
+troop then mutinied, and swore allegiance to Zafar Yâb Khân.
+(Francklin, p. 37.)
+
+30. Thomas says that the overtures came from the Bêgam. 'In a manner
+the most abject and desponding, she addressed Mr. Thomas . . .
+implored him to come to her assistance, and, finally, offered to pay
+any sum of money the Marâthâs should require, on condition they would
+reinstate her in the Jâgîr. On receipt of these letters, Mr. Thomas,
+by an offer of 120,000 rupees, prevailed on Bâpû Sindhia to make a
+movement towards Sardhana.' After negotiation, Thomas marched to
+Khataulî, and 'publicly gave out that unless the Bêgam was reinstated
+in her authority, those who resisted must expect no mercy; and to
+give additional weight to this declaration, he apprised them that he
+was acting under the orders of the Marâthâ chiefs.' After some
+difficulty, 'she was finally reinstated in the full authority of her
+Jâgîr'. This version of the affair, it will be noticed, does not
+quite agree with that given more briefly by the author.
+
+31. The paper was written by a Muhammadan, and he would not write
+Christ _the Son of God_. It is written 'In the name of God, and his
+Majesty Christ'. The Muhammadans look upon Christ as the greatest of
+prophets before Muhammad; but the most binding article of their faith
+is this from the Korân, which they repeat every day: 'I believe in
+God, who was never begot, nor has ever begotten, nor will ever have
+an equal,'--alluding to the Christians' belief in the Trinity. [W. H.
+S.] For Mohammed's opinion of Jesus Christ see especially chapters 4
+and 5 of the Korân.
+
+32. To my mind the circumstances all tend to throw suspicion on the
+Bêgam. The author evidently was disposed to form the beat possible
+opinion of her character and acts.
+
+33. After the Bêgam's death the revenue settlement of the estate was
+made by Mr. Plowden, who writes in his report, as quoted in _N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. iii, p. 432, 'The rule seems to have been
+fully recognized and acted up to by the Bêgam which declared that,
+according to Muhammadan law, "there shall be left for every man who
+cultivates his lands as much as he requires for his own support, till
+the next crop be reaped, and that of his family, and for seed. This
+much shall be left to him; what remains is land-tax, and shall go to
+the public treasury." For, considering her territory as a private
+estate and her subjects as serfs, she appropriated the whole produce
+of their labour, with the exception of what sufficed to keep body and
+soul together. It was by these means . . . that a factitious state of
+prosperity was induced and maintained, which, though it might, and I
+believe did, deceive the Bêgam's neighbours into an impression that
+her country was highly prosperous, could not delude the population
+into content and happiness. Above the surface and to the eye all was
+smiling and prosperous, but within was rottenness and misery. Under
+these circumstances the smallness of the above arrear is no proof of
+the fairness of the revenue. It rather shows that the collections
+were as much as the Bêgam's ingenuity could extract, and this balance
+being unrealizable, the demand was, by so much at least, too high.'
+The statistics alluded to are:
+
+Average demand of the portions of the Bêgam's Rs.
+Territory in the Meerut district . . . . 5.86.650
+Average collections . . . . . . 5.67.211
+Balances . . . . . . . . 19.439
+
+'Ruin was impending, when the Bêgam's death in January, 1836, and the
+consequent lapse of the estate to the British, induced the
+cultivators to return to their homes.'
+
+Details of the Bêgam's military forces are given in _N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_, vol. iii, p. 295. For the last thirty years of her life
+the Bêgam had no need for the large force (3,371 officers and men,
+with 44 guns) which she maintained. In her excessive expenditure on a
+superfluous army, in her niggardly provision for civil
+administration, and in her merciless rack-renting, she followed the
+evil example of the ordinary native prince, and was superior only in
+the unusual ability with which she worked an unsound and oppressive
+System. She left £700,000. The population of Sardhana town has risen
+from 3,313 in 1881 to 9,242 in 1911.
+
+34 Zafaryâb Khân died in 1802 or 1803. His son-in-law, Colonel Dyce,
+was employed in the Bêgam's service. 'The issue of this marriage was:
+(l) David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, who married Mary Anne, daughter of
+Viscount St. Vincent, by whom he had no issue. He died in Paris in
+July, 1851. In August, 1867, his body was conveyed to Sardhana and
+buried in the cathedral. (2) A daughter, who married Captain Rose
+Troup. (3) A daughter, who married Paul Salaroli, now Marquis of
+Briona. The present owner of Sardhana is the Honourable Mary Anne
+Forester, the widow of David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, and the
+successful claimant in the suit against Government which has recently
+been decided in her favour.' (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. iii (1875), p.
+296.) This lady, in 1862, married George Cecil-Weld, third Baron
+Forester, who died without issue in 1886. (Burke's _Peerage_.) Lady
+Forester died on March 7, 1893.
+
+35. In the original edition these statistics are given in words.
+Figures have been used in this edition as being more readily grasped.
+The amounts stated by the author are approximate round sums. More
+accurate details are given in _N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. iii (1875), p.
+295. The Bêgam also subscribed liberally to Hindoo and Muhammadan
+institutions. Her contemporary, Colonel Skinner, was equally
+impartial, and is said to have built a mosque and a temple, as well
+as the church at Delhi.
+
+The Cathedral at Sardhana was built in 1822. St. John's College is
+intended to train Indians as priests, There are, or were recently,
+about 250 native Christians at Sardhana, partly the descendants of
+the converts who followed their mistress in change of faith. 'The
+Roman Catholic priests work hard for their little colony, and are
+greatly revered and respected. At St. John's College some of the boys
+are instructed for the priesthood, and others taught to read and
+write the Nâgarî and Urdû characters. The instruction for the
+priesthood is peculiar. There are some twelve little native boys who
+can quote whole chapters of the Latin Bible, and nearly all the
+prayers of the Missal. Those who cannot sympathize with the system
+mast admire the patience and devotion of the Italian priests who have
+put themselves to the trouble of imparting such instruction. The
+majority of the Christian population here are cultivators and
+weavers, while many are the pensioned descendants of the European
+servants of Bêgam Sumru, and still bear the appellation of Sâhib and
+Mem Sâhib.' (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. iii (1875), pp. 273, 430.)
+
+The Bêgam's palace, built in 1834, was chiefly remarkable for a
+collection of about twenty-five portraits of considerable interest.
+They comprised likenesses of Sir David Ochterlony, Dyce Sombre, Lord
+Combermere, and other notable personages. (_Calcutta Review_, vol.
+lxx, p. 460; quoted in _North Indian N. & Q._, vol. ii, p. 179.) The
+mansion and park were sold by auction in 1895. Some of the portraits
+are now in the Indian Institute, Oxford, some in the Indian Museum,
+Calcutta, and some in Government House, Allahabad. A long article by
+H. N. on Sardhana and its owners appeared in the _Pioneer_
+(Allahabad) on December 12,1894.
+
+36. A miniature portrait of the Bêgam is given on the frontispiece to
+volume ii of the original edition. Francklin, describing the events
+of 1796, in his memoirs of George Thomas, first published in 1803,
+describes her personal appearance as follows: 'Begum Sumroo is about
+forty-five years of age, small in stature, but inclined to be plump.
+Her complexion is very fair, her eyes black, large and animated; her
+dress perfectly Hindustany, and of the most costly materials. She
+speaks the Persian and Hindustany languages with fluency, and in her
+conversation is engaging, sensible, and spirited.' (London ed., p.
+92, note.) The liberal benefaction of her later years have secured
+her ecclesiastical approval, and I should not be surprised to hear of
+her beatification or canonization. Her earlier life certainly was not
+that of a saint.
+
+37. In her younger days she strictly maintained Hindustani etiquette.
+'It has been the constant and invariable usage of this lady to exact
+from her subjects and servants the most rigid attention to the
+customs of Hindoostan. She is never seen out of doors or in her
+public durbar unveiled.
+
+'Her officers and others, who have business with her, present
+themselves opposite the place where she sits. The front of her
+apartment is furnished with _chicques_ or Indian screens, these being
+let down from the roof. In this manner she gives audience and
+transacts business of all kinds. She frequently admits to her table
+the higher ranks of her European officers, but never admits the
+natives to come within the enclosure,' (Francklin, p, 92.)
+
+38. The Governor-General's name was William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck,
+I do not understand the signature M. W. Bentinck, which may be a
+misprint. The eulogium seems odd to a reader who remembers that the
+recipient had been for fifteen years the mistress and wife of the
+Butcher of Patna. But when it was written, the memory of the massacre
+had been dimmed by the lapse of seventy-two years, and His Excellency
+may not have been well versed in the lady's history.
+
+Perhaps the author was mistaken, and the letter was sent by Lady
+Bentinck, whose name was Mary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 76
+
+
+ON THE SPIRIT OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE IN THE NATIVE ARMY OF INDIA
+
+Abolition of Corporal Punishment--Increase of Pay with Length of
+Service--Promotion by Seniority.
+
+The following observations on a very important and interesting
+subject were not intended to form a portion of the present work.[1]
+They serve to illustrate, however, many passages in the foregoing
+chapters touching the character of the natives of India; and the
+Afghan war having occurred since they were written, I cannot deny
+myself the gratification of presenting them to the public, since the
+courage and fidelity, which it was my object to show the British
+Government had a right to expect from its native troops and might
+always rely upon in the hour of need, have been so nobly displayed.
+
+I had one morning (November 14th, 1838) a visit from the senior
+native officer of my regiment, Shaikh Mahûb Alî, a very fine old
+gentleman, who had recently attained the rank of 'Sardâr Bahâdur',
+and been invested with the new Order of British India.[2] He entered
+the service at the age of fifteen, and had served fifty-three years
+with great credit to himself, and fought in many an honourable field.
+He had come over to Jubbulpore as president of a native general
+court-martial, and paid me several visits in company with another old
+officer of my regiment who was a member of the same court. The
+following is one of the many conversations I had with him, taken down
+as soon as he left me.
+
+'What do you think, Sardâr Bahâdur, of the order prohibiting corporal
+punishment in the army; has it had a bad or a good effect?'
+
+'It has had a very good effect.'
+
+'What good has it produced?'
+
+'It has reduced the number of courts martial to one-quarter of what
+they were before, and thereby lightened the duties of the officers;
+it has made the good men more careful, and the bad men more orderly
+than they used to be.'
+
+'How has it produced this effect?'
+
+'A bad man formerly went on recklessly from small offences to great
+ones in the hope of impunity; he knew that no regimental, cantonment,
+or brigade court martial could sentence him to be dismissed the
+service; and that they would not sentence him to be flogged, except
+for great crimes, because it involved at the same time dismissal from
+the service. If they sentenced him to be flogged, he still hoped that
+the punishment would be remitted. The general or officer confirming
+the sentence was generally unwilling to order it to be carried into
+effect, because the man must, after being flogged, be tumed out of
+the service, and the marks of the lash upon his back would prevent
+his getting service anywhere else. Now he knows that these courts can
+sentence him to be dismissed from the service--that he is liable to
+lose his bread for ordinary transgressions, and be sentenced to work
+on the roads for graver ones.[3] He is in consequence much more under
+restraint than he used to be.'
+
+'And how has it tended to make the well-disposed more careful?'
+
+'They were formerly liable to be led into errors by the example of
+the bad men, under the same hope of impunity; but they are now more
+on their guard. They have all relations among the native officers,
+who are continually impressing upon them the necessity of being on
+their guard, lest they be sent back upon their families--their
+mothers and fathers, wives and children, as beggars. To be dismissed
+from a service like that of the Company is a very great punishment;
+it subjects a man to the odium and indignation of all his family.
+When in the Company's service, his friends know that a soldier gets
+his pay regularly, and can afford to send home a very large portion
+of it. They expect that he will do so; he feels that they will listen
+to no excuse, and he contracts habits of sobriety and prudence. If a
+man gets into the service of a native chief, his friends know that
+his pay is precarious, and they continue to maintain his family for
+many years without receiving a remittance from him, in the hope that
+his circumstances may one day improve. He contracts bad habits, and
+is not ashamed to make his appearance among them, knowing that his
+excuses will be received as valid. If one of the Company's sepoys[4]
+were not to send home remittances for six months, some members of the
+family would be sent to know the reason why. If he could not explain,
+they would appeal to the native officers of the regiment, who would
+expostulate with him; and, if all failed, his wife and children would
+be tumed out of his father's house, unless they knew that he was gone
+to the wars; and he would be ashamed ever to show his face among them
+again.'
+
+'And the gradual increase of pay with length of service has tended to
+increase the value of the service, has it not?'
+
+'It has very much; there are in our regiment, out of eight hundred
+men, more than one hundred and fifty sepoys who get the increase of
+two rupees a month, and the same number that get the increase of one.
+This they feel as an immense addition to the former seven rupees a
+month.[5] A prudent sepoy lives upon two, or at the utmost three,
+rupees a month in seasons of moderate plenty, and sends all the rest
+to his family. A great number of the sepoys of our regiment live upon
+the increase of two rupees, and send all their former seven to their
+families. The dismissal of a man from such a service as this
+distresses, not only him, but all his relations in the higher grades,
+who know how much of the comfort and happiness of his family depend
+upon his remaining and advancing in it; and they all try to make
+their young friends behave as they ought to do.'
+
+'Do you think that a great portion of the native officers of the army
+have the same feelings and opinions on the subject as you have?'
+
+'They have all the same; there is not, I believe, one in a hundred
+that does not think as I do upon the subject. Flogging was an odious
+thing. A man was disgraced, not only before his regiment, but before
+the crowd that assembled to witness the punishment. Had he been
+suffered to remain in the regiment he could never have hoped to rise
+after having been flogged, or sentenced to be flogged; his hopes were
+all destroyed, and his spirit broken, and the order directing him to
+be dismissed was good; but, as I have said, he lost all hope of
+getting into any other service, and dared not show his face among his
+family at home.'
+
+'You know who ordered the abolition of flogging?'
+
+'Lord Bentinck.'[6]
+
+'And you know that it was at his recommendation the Honourable
+Company gave the increase of pay with length of service?'
+
+'We have heard so; and we feel towards him as we felt towards Lord
+Wellesley, Lord Hastings, and Lord Lake.'
+
+'Do you think the army would serve again now with the same spirit as
+they served under Lord Lake?'
+
+'The army would go to any part of the world to serve such masters--no
+army had ever masters that cared for them like ours. We never asked
+to have flogging abolished; nor did we ever ask to have an increase
+of pay with length of service; and yet both have been done for us by
+the Company Bahâdur.'
+
+The old Sardâr Bahâdur came again to visit me on the 1st of December,
+with all the native officers who had come over from Sâgar to attend
+the court, seven in number. There were three very smart, sensible men
+among them; one of whom had been a volunteer at the capture of
+Java,[7] and the other[s] at that of the Isle of France.[8] They all
+told me that they considered the abolition of corporal punishment a
+great blessing to the native army. 'Some bad men who had already lost
+their character, and consequently all hope of promotion, might be in
+less dread than before; but they were very few, and their regiments
+would soon get rid of them under the new law that gave the power of
+dismissal to regimental courts martial.'
+
+'But I find the European officers are almost all of opinion that the
+abolition of flogging has been, or will be, attended with bad
+consequences.'
+
+'They, sir, apprehend that there will not be sufficient restraint
+upon the loose characters of the regiment; but now that the sepoys
+have got an increase of pay in proportion to length of service there
+will be no danger of that. Where can they ever hope to get such
+another service if they forfeit that of the Company? If the dread of
+losing such a service is not sufficient to keep the bad in order,
+that of being put to work upon the roads in irons will. The good can
+always be kept in order by lighter punishments, when they have so
+much at stake as the loss of such a service by frequent offences.
+Some gentlemen think that a soldier does not feel disgraced by being
+flogged, unless the offence for which he has been flogged is in
+itself disgraceful. There is no soldier, sir, that does not feel
+disgraced by being tied up to the halberts and flogged in the face of
+all his comrades and the crowd that may choose to come and look at
+him; the sepoys are all of the same respectable families as
+ourselves, and they all enter the service in the hope of rising in
+time to the same stations as ourselves, if they conduct themselves
+well; their families look forward with the same hope. A man who has
+been tied up and flogged knows the disgrace that it will bring upon
+his family, and will sometimes rather die than return to it; indeed,
+as head of a family he could not be received at home.[9] But men do
+not feel disgraced in being flogged with a rattan at drill. While at
+the drill they consider themselves, and are considered by us all, as
+in the relation of scholars to their schoolmasters. Doing away with
+the rattan at drill had a very bad effect. Young men were formerly,
+with the judicious use of the rattan, made fit to join the regiment
+at furthest in six months; but since the abolition of the rattan it
+takes twelve months to make them fit to be seen in the ranks. There
+was much virtue in the rattan, and it should never have been given
+up. We have all been flogged with the rattan at the drill, and never
+felt ourselves disgraced by it-we were _shâgirds_ (scholars), and the
+drill-sergeant, who had the rattan, was our _ustâd_ (schoolmaster);
+but when we left the drill, and took our station in the ranks as
+sepoys, the case was altered, and we should have felt disgraced by a
+flogging, whatever might have been the nature of the offence we
+committed. The drill will never get on so well as it used to do,
+unless the rattan be called into use again; but we apprehend no evil
+from the abolition of corporal punishment afterwards. People are apt
+to attribute to this abolition offences that have nothing to do with
+it; and for which ample punishments are still provided. If a man
+fires at his officer, people are apt to say it is because flogging
+has been done away with; but a man who deliberately fires at his
+officer is prepared to undergo worse punishment than flogging.[10]
+
+'Do you not think that the increase of pay with length of service to
+the sepoys will have a good effect in tending to give to regiments
+more active and intelligent native officers? Old sepoys who are not
+so will now have less cause to complain if passed over, will they
+not?'
+
+'If the sepoys thought that the increase of pay was given with this
+view, they would rather not have it at all. To pass over men merely
+because they happen to have grown old, we consider very cruel and
+unjust. They all enter the service young, and go on doing their duty
+till they become old, in the hope that they shall get promotion when
+it comes to their turn. If they are disappointed, and young men, or
+greater favourites with their European officers, are put over their
+heads, they become heart-broken. We all feel for them, and are always
+sorry to see an old soldier passed over, unless he has been guilty of
+any manifest crime, or neglect of duty. He has always some relations
+among the native officers who know his family, for we all try to get
+our relations into the same regiment with ourselves when they are
+eligible. They know what that family will suffer when they learn that
+he has no longer any hopes of rising in the service, and has become
+miserable. Supersessions create distress and bad feelings throughout
+a regiment, even when the best men are promoted, which cannot always
+be the case; for the greatest favourites are not always the best men.
+Many of our old European officers, like yourself, are absent on staff
+or civil employments; and the command of companies often devolves
+upon very young subalterns, who know little or nothing of the
+character of their men. They recommend those whom they have found
+most active and intelligent, and believe to be the best; but their
+opportunities of learning the characters of the men have been few.
+They have seen and observed the young, active, and forward; but they
+often know nothing of the steady, unobtrusive old soldier, who has
+done his duty ably in all situations, without placing himself
+prominently forward in any. The commanding officers seldom remain
+long with the same regiment, and, consequently, seldom know enough of
+the men to be able to judge of the justice of the selections for
+promotion. Where a man has been guilty of a crime, or neglected his
+duty, we feel no sympathy for him, and are not ashamed to tell him
+so, and put him down[11] when he complains.'
+
+Here the old Sûbadâr, who had been at the taking of the Isle of
+France, mentioned that when he was senior Jemadâr of his regiment,
+and a vacancy had occurred to bring him in as Sûbadâr, he was sent
+for by his commanding officer, and told that, by orders from
+headquarters, he was to be passed over, on account of his advanced
+age, and supposed infirmity. 'I felt,' said the old man, 'as if I had
+been struck by lightning, and _fell down dead_. The colonel was a
+good man, and had seen much service. He had me taken into the open
+air; and when I recovered, he told me that he would write to the
+Commander-in-Chief, and represent my case. He did so, and I was
+promoted; and I have since done my duty as Sûbadâr for ten
+years.'[12]
+
+The Sardâr Bahâdur told me that only two men in our regiment had been
+that year superseded, one for insolence, and the other for neglect of
+duty; and that officers and sepoys were all happy in consequence--the
+young, because they felt more secure of being promoted if they did
+their duty; and the old, because, they felt an interest in their
+young relations. 'In those regiments,' said he, 'where supersessions
+have been more numerous, old and young are dispirited and unhappy.
+They all feel that the _good old rule of right_ (_hakk_), as long as
+a man does his duty well, can no longer be relied upon.'
+
+When two companies of my regiment passed through Jubbulpore a few
+days after this conversation on their way from Sâgar to Seoni, I rode
+out a mile or two to meet them. They had not seen me for sixteen
+years, but almost all the native commissioned and non-commissioned
+officers were personally known to me. They were all very glad to see
+me, and I rode along with them to their place of encampment, where I
+had ready a feast of sweetmeats. They liked me as a young man, and
+are, I believe, proud of me as an old one. Old and young spoke with
+evident delight of the rigid adherence on the part of the present
+commanding officer, Colonel Presgrave, to the good old rule of 'hakk'
+(right) in the recent promotions to the vacancies occasioned by the
+annual transfer to the invalid establishment. We might, no doubt,
+have in every regiment a few smarter native officers by disregarding
+this rule than by adhering to it; but we should, in the diminution of
+the good feeling towards the European officers and the Government,
+lose a thousand times more than we gained. They now go on from youth
+to old age, from the drill to the retired pension, happy and
+satisfied that there is no service on earth so good for them.[13]
+With admirable _moral_, but little or no _literary_ education, the
+native officers of our regiments never dream of aspiring to anything
+more than is now held out to them, and the mass of the soldiers are
+inspired with devotion to the service, and every feeling with which
+we could wish to have them inspired, by the hope of becoming officers
+in time, if they discharge their duties faithfully and zealously.
+Deprive the mass of this hope, give the commissions to an _exclusive
+class_ of natives, or to a favoured few, chosen often, if not
+commonly, without reference to the feelings or qualifications we most
+want in our native officers, and our native army will soon cease to
+have the same feelings of devotion towards the Government, and of
+attachment and respect towards their European officers that they now
+have. The young, ambitions, and aspiring native officers will soon
+try to teach the great mass that their interest and that of the
+European officers and European Government are by no means one and the
+same, as they have been hitherto led to suppose; and it is upon the
+good feeling of this great mass that we have to depend for support.
+To secure this good feeling, we can well afford to sacrifice a little
+efficiency at the drill. It was unwise in one of the commanders-in-
+chief to direct that no soldier in our Bengal native regiments should
+be promoted unless he could read and write-it was to prohibit the
+promotion of the best, and direct the promotion of the worst,
+soldiers in the ranks. In India a military officer is rated as a
+gentleman by his birth, that is _caste_, and by his deportment in all
+his relations of life, not by his _knowledge of books_.
+
+The Râjpût, the Brahman, and the proud Pathân who attains a
+commission, and deports himself like an officer, never thinks
+himself, or is thought by others, deficient in anything that
+constitutes the gentleman, because he happens not to be at the same
+time a clerk. He has from his childhood been taught to consider the
+quill and the sword as two distinct professions, both useful and
+honourable when honourably pursued; and having chosen the sword, he
+thinks he does quite enough in learning how to use and support it
+through all grades, and ought not to be expected to encroach on the
+profession of the penman. This is a tone of feeling which it is
+clearly the interest of Government rather to foster than discourage,
+and the order which militated so much against it has happily been
+either rescinded or disregarded.
+
+Three-fourths of the recruits of our Bengal native infantry are drawn
+from the Râjpût peasantry of the kingdom of Oudh, on the left bank of
+the Ganges, where their affections have been linked to the soil for a
+long series of generations.[14] The good feelings of the families
+from which they are drawn continue through the whole period of their
+service to exercise a salutary influence over their conduct as men
+and as soldiers. Though they never take their families with them,
+they visit them on furlough every two or three years, and always
+return to them when the surgeon considers a change of air necessary
+to their recovery from sickness. Their family circles are always
+present to their imaginations; and the recollections of their last
+visit, the hopes of the next, and the assurance that their conduct as
+men and as soldiers in the interval will be reported to those circles
+by their many comrades, who are annually returning on furlough to the
+same parts of the country, tend to produce a general and uniform
+propriety of conduct, that is hardly to be found among the soldiers
+of any other army in the world, and which seems incomprehensible to
+those unacquainted with its source--veneration for parents cherished
+through life, and a never-impaired love of home, and of all the dear
+objects by which it is constituted.
+
+Our Indian native army is perhaps the only entirely voluntary
+standing army that has been ever known, and it is, to all intents and
+purposes, entirely voluntary, and as such must be treated.[15] We can
+have no other native army in India, and without such an army we could
+not maintain our dominion a day. Our best officers have always
+understood this quite well; and they have never tried to flog and
+harass men out of all that we find good in them for our purposes. Any
+regiment in our service might lay down their arms and disperse to-
+morrow, without our having a chance of apprehending one deserter
+among them all.[16]
+
+When Frederick the Great of Prussia reviewed his army of sixty
+thousand men in Pomerania, previous to his invasion of Silesia, he
+asked the Prince d'Anhalt, who accompanied him, what he most admired
+in the scene before him.
+
+'Sire,' replied the prince, 'I admire at once the fine appearance of
+the men, and the regularity and perfection of their movements and
+evolutions.'
+
+'For my part,' said Frederick, 'this is not what excites my
+astonishment, since with the advantage of money, time, and care,
+these are easily attained. It is that you and I, my dear cousin,
+should be in the midst of such an army as this in perfect safety.
+Here are sixty thousand men who are all _irreconcilable enemies to
+both you and myself_', not one among them that is not a man of more
+strength and better armed than either, yet they all tremble at our
+presence, while it would be folly on our part to tremble at theirs--
+such is the wonderful effect of order, vigilance, and subordination.'
+
+But a reasonable man might ask, what were the circumstances which
+enabled Frederick to keep in a state of order and subordination an
+army composed of soldiers who were 'irreconcilable enemies' of their
+Prince and of their officers? He could have told the Prince d'Anhalt,
+had he chose to do so; for Frederick was a man who thought deeply.
+The chief circumstance favourable to his ambition was the imbecility
+of the old French Government, then in its dotage, and unable to see
+that an army of involuntary soldiers was no longer compatible with
+the state of the nation. This Government had reduced its soldiers to
+a condition worse than that of the common labourers upon the roads,
+while it deprived them of all hope of rising, and all feeling of
+pride in the profession.[17] Desertion became easy from the extension
+of the French dominion and from the circumstance of so many
+belligerent powers around requiring good soldiers; and no odium
+attended desertion, where everything was done to degrade, and nothing
+to exalt the soldier in his own esteem and that of society.
+
+Instead of following the course of events and rendering the condition
+of the soldier less odious by increasing his pay and hope of
+promotion, and diminishing the labour and disgrace to which he was
+liable, and thereby filling her regiments with voluntary soldiers
+when involuntary ones could no longer be obtained, the Government of
+France reduced the soldier's pay to one-half the rate of wages which
+a common labourer got on the roads, and put them under restraints and
+restrictions that made them feel every day, and every hour, that they
+were slaves. To prevent desertions by severe examples under this
+high-pressure System, they had recourse first to slitting the noses
+and cutting off the ears of deserters, and, lastly, to shooting them
+as fast as they could catch them.[18] But all was in vain; and
+Frederick of Prussia alone got fifty thousand of the finest soldiers
+in the world from the French regiments, who composed one-third of his
+army, and enabled him to keep all the rest in that state of
+discipline that improved so much its efficiency, in the same manner
+as the deserters from the Roman legions, which took place under
+similar circumstances, became the flower of the army of
+Mithridates.[19]
+
+Frederick was in position and disposition a despot. His territories
+were small, while his ambition was boundless. He was unable to pay a
+large army the rate of wages necessary to secure the services of
+voluntary soldiers; and he availed himself of the happy imbecility of
+the French Government to form an army of involuntary ones. He got
+French soldiers at a cheap rate, because they dared not return to
+their native country, whence they were hunted down and shot like
+dogs, and these soldiers enabled him to retain his own subjects in
+his ranks upon the same terms. Had the French Government retraced its
+steps, improved the condition of its soldiers, and mitigated the
+punishment for desertion during the long war, Frederick's army would
+have fallen to pieces 'like the baseless fabric of a vision'.
+
+'_Parmi nous,' says Montesquieu, 'les désertions sont fréquentes
+parce que les soldats sont la plus vile partie de chaque nation, et
+qu'il n'y en a aucun qui aie, ou qui croie avoir un certain avantage
+sur les autres. Chez les Romains elles étaient plus rares--des
+soldats tirés du sein d'un peuple si fier, si orgueilleux, si sûr de
+commander aux autres, ne pouvaient guère penser â s' aviler jusqu'à
+cesser d'être Romains_.'[20] But was it the poor soldiers who were to
+blame if they were 'vile', and had 'no advantage over others', or the
+Government that took them from the vilest classes, or made their
+condition when they got them worse than that of the lowest class in
+society? The Romans deserted under the same circumstances, and, as I
+have stated, formed the _elite_ of the army of Mithridates and the
+other enemies of Rome; but they respected their military oath of
+allegiance long after perjury among senators had ceased to excite any
+odium, since as a fashionable or political vice it had become common.
+
+Did not our day of retribution come, though in a milder shape, to
+teach us a great political and moral lesson, when so many of our
+brave sailors deserted our ships for those of America, in which they
+fought against us?[21] They deserted from our ships of war because
+they were there treated like dogs, or from our merchant ships because
+they were every hour liable to be seized like felons and put on board
+the former. When 'England expected every man to do his duty' at
+Trafalgar, had England done its duty to every man who was that day to
+fight for her? Is not the intellectual stock which the sailor
+acquires in scenes of peril 'upon the high and giddy mast' as much
+his property as that which others acquire in scenes of peace at
+schools and colleges? And have not our senators, morally and
+religiously, as much right to authorize their sovereign to seize
+clergymen, lawyers, and professors, for employment in his service,
+upon the wages of ordinary uninstructed labour, as they have to
+authorize him to seize able sailors to be so employed in her navy? A
+feeling more base than that which authorized the able seaman to be
+hunted down upon such conditions, torn from his wife and children,
+and put like Uriah in front of those battles upon which our welfare
+and honour depended, never disgraced any civilized nation with whose
+history we are acquainted.[22]
+
+Sir Matthew Decker, in a passage quoted by Mr. McCulloch, says, 'The
+custom of impressment put a freeborn British sailor on the same
+footing as a Turkish slave. The Grand Seignior cannot do a more
+absolute act than to order a man to be dragged away from his family,
+and against his will run his head against the mouth of a cannon; and
+if such acts should be frequent in Turkey upon any one set of useful
+men, would it not drive them away to other countries, and thin their
+numbers yearly? And would not the remaining few double or triple
+their wages, which is the case with our sailors in time of war, to
+the great detriment of our commerce?' The Americans wisely
+relinquished the barbarous and unwise practice of their parent land,
+and, as McCulloch observes, 'While the wages of all labourers and
+artisans are uniformly higher in the United States than in England,
+those of sailors are generally lower,' as the natural consequence of
+manning their navy by means of voluntary enlistment alone. At the
+close of the last war, sixteen thousand British sailors were serving
+on board of American ships; and the wages of our seamen rose from
+forty or[23] fifty to a hundred or one hundred and twenty shillings a
+month, as the natural consequence of our continuing to resort to
+impressment after the Americans had given it up.[24]
+
+Frederick's army consisted of about one hundred and fifty thousand
+men. Fifty thousand of these were French deserters, and a
+considerable portion of the remaining hundred thousand were deserters
+from the Austrian army, in which desertion was punished in the same
+manner with death. The dread of this punishment if they quitted his
+ranks, enabled him to keep up that state of discipline that improved
+so much the efficacy of his regiments, at the same time that it made
+every individual soldier his 'irreconcilable enemy'. Not relying
+entirely upon this dread on the part of deserters to quit his ranks
+under his high-pressure system of discipline, and afraid that the
+soldiers of his own soil might make off in spite of all their
+vigilance, he kept his regiments in garrison towns till called on
+actual service; and that they might not desert on their way from one
+garrison to another during relief, he never had them relieved at all.
+A trooper was flogged for falling from his horse, though he had
+broken a limb in his fall; it was difficult, he said, to distinguish
+an involuntary fault from one that originated in negligence, and to
+prevent a man hoping that his negligence would be forgiven, all
+blunders were punished, from whatever cause arising. No soldier was
+suffered to quit his garrison till led out to fight; and when a
+desertion took place, cannons were fired to announce it to the
+surrounding country. Great rewards were given for apprehending, and
+severe punishments inflicted for harbouring, the criminal; and he was
+soon hunted down, and brought back. A soldier was, therefore, always
+a prisoner and a slave.
+
+Still, all this rigour of Prussian discipline, like that of our navy,
+was insufficient to extinguish that ambition which is inherent in our
+nature to obtain the esteem and applause of the circle in which we
+move; and the soldier discharged his duty in the hour of danger, in
+the hope of rendering his life more happy in the esteem of his
+officers and comrades. 'Every tolerably good soldier feels ', says
+Adam Smith, 'that he would become the scorn of his companions if he
+should be supposed capable of shrinking from danger, or of hesitating
+either to expose or to throw away his life, when the good of the
+service required it.' So thought the philosopher-King of Prussia,
+when he let his regiments out of garrison to go and face the enemy.
+The officers were always treated with as much lenity in the Prussian
+as any other service, because the king knew that the hope of
+promotion would always be sufficient to bind them to their duties;
+but the poor soldiers had no hope of this kind to animate them in
+their toils and their dangers.
+
+We took our System of drill from Frederick of Prussia; and there is
+still many a martinet who would carry his high-pressure system of
+discipline into every other service over which he had any control,
+unable to appreciate the difference of circumstances under which they
+may happen to be raised and maintained.[25]
+
+The sepoys of the Bengal army, the only part of our native army with
+which I am much acquainted, are educated as soldiers from their
+infancy--they are brought up in that feeling of entire deference for
+constituted authority which we require in soldiers, and which they
+never lose through life. They are taken from the agricultural classes
+of Indian society--almost all the sons of yeomen--cultivating
+proprietors of the soil, whose families have increased beyond their
+means of subsistence. One son is sent one after another to seek
+service in our regiments as necessity presses at home, from whatever
+cause--the increase of taxation, or the too great increase of numbers
+in families.[26] No men can have a higher sense of the duty they owe
+to the state that employs them, or whose 'salt they eat'; nor can any
+men set less value on life when the service of that state requires
+that it shall be risked or sacrificed. No persons are brought up with
+more deference for parents. In no family from which we drew our
+recruits is a son through infancy, boyhood, or youth, heard to utter
+a disrespectful word to his parents--such a word from a son to his
+parents would shock the feelings of the whole community in which the
+family resides, and the offending member would be visited with their
+highest indignation. When the father dies the eldest son takes his
+place, and receives the same marks of respect, the same entire
+confidence and deference as the father. If he be a soldier in a
+distant land, and can afford to do so, he resigns the service, and
+returns home to take his post as the head of the family. If he cannot
+afford to resign, if the family still want the aid of his regular
+monthly pay, he remains with his regiment, and denies himself many of
+the personal comforts he has hitherto enjoyed, that he may increase
+his contribution to the general stock.
+
+The wives and children of his brothers, who are absent on service,
+are confided to his care with the same confidence as to that of the
+father. It is a rule to which I have through life found but few
+exceptions that those who are most disposed to resist constituted
+authority are those most disposed to abuse such authority when they
+get it. The members of these families, disposed, as they always are,
+to pay deference to such authority, are scarcely ever found to abuse
+it when it devolves upon them; and the elder son, when he succeeds to
+the place of his father, loses none of the affectionate attachment of
+his younger brothers.
+
+ They never take their wives or children with them to their
+regiments, or to the places where their regiments are stationed.[27]
+They leave them with their fathers or elder brothers, and enjoy their
+society only when they return on furlough. Three-fourths of their
+incomes are sent home to provide for their comfort and subsistence,
+and to embellish that home in which they hope to spend the winter of
+their days. The knowledge that any neglect of the duty they owe their
+distant families will be immediately visited by the odium of their
+native officers and brother soldiers, and ultimately communicated to
+the heads of their families, acts as a salutary check on their
+conduct; and I believe that there is hardly a native regiment in the
+Bengal army in which the twenty drummers who are Christians, and have
+their families with the regiment, do not cause more trouble to the
+officers than the whole eight hundred sepoys.
+
+To secure the fidelity of such men all that is necessary is to make
+them feel secure of three things--their regular pay, at the handsome
+rate at which it has now been fixed; their retiring pensions upon the
+scale hitherto enjoyed; and promotion by seniority, like their
+European officers, unless they shall forfeit all claims to it by
+misconduct or neglect of duty.[28] People talk about a demoralized
+army, and discontented army! No army in the world was certainly ever
+more moral or more contented than our native army; or more satisfied
+that their masters merit all their devotion and attachment; and I
+believe none was ever more devoted or attached to them.[29] I do not
+speak of the European officers of the native army. They very
+generally believe that they have had just cause of complaint, and
+sufficient care has not always been taken to remove that impression.
+In all the junior grades the Honourable Company's officers have
+advantages over the Queen's in India. In the higher grades the
+Queen's officers have advantages over those of the Honourable
+Company. The reasons it does not behove me here to consider.[30]
+
+In all armies composed of involuntary soldiers, that is, of soldiers
+who are anxious to quit the ranks and return to peaceful occupations,
+but cannot do so, much of the drill to which they are subjected is
+adopted merely with a view to keep them from pondering too much upon
+the miseries of their present condition, and from indulging in those
+licentious habits to which a strong sense of these miseries, and the
+recollection of the enjoyments of peaceful life which they have
+sacrificed, are too apt to drive them. No portion of this is
+necessary for the soldiers of our native army, who have no miseries
+to ponder over, or superior enjoyments in peaceful life to look back
+upon; and a very small quantity of drill is sufficient to make a
+regiment go through its evolutions well, because they have all a
+pride and pleasure in their duties, as long as they have a commanding
+officer who understands them. Clarke, in his _Travels_, speaking of
+the three thousand native infantry from India whom he saw paraded in
+Egypt under their gallant leader, Sir David Baird, says, 'Troops in
+such a state of military perfection, or better suited for active
+service, were never seen--not even on the famous parade of the chosen
+ten thousand belonging to Bonaparte's legions, which he was so vain
+of displaying before the present war in the front of the Tuileries at
+Paris. Not an unhealthy soldier was to be seen. The English, inured
+to the climate of India, considered that of Egypt as temperate in its
+effects, and the sipâhees seemed as fond of the Nile as the
+Ganges.'[31]
+
+It would be much better to devise more innocent amusements to lighten
+the miseries of European soldiers in India than to be worrying them
+every hour, night and day, with duties which are in themselves
+considered to be of no importance whatever, and imposed merely with a
+view to prevent their having time to ponder on these miseries.[32]
+But all extra and useless duties to a soldier become odious, because
+they are always associated in his mind with the ideas of the odious
+and degrading punishment inflicted for the neglect of them. It is
+lamentable to think how much of misery is often wantonly inflicted
+upon the brave soldiers of our European regiments of India on the
+pretence of a desire to preserve order and discipline.[33]
+
+Sportsmen know that if they train their horses beyond a certain point
+they 'train off'; that is, they lose the spirit and with it the
+condition they require to support them in their hour of trial. It is
+the same with soldiers; if drilled beyond a certain point, they
+'drill off', and lose the spirit which they require to sustain them
+in active service, and before the enemy. An over-drilled regiment
+will seldom go through its evolutions well, even in ordinary review
+before its own general. If it has all the mechanism, it wants all the
+real spirit of military discipline--it becomes dogged, and is, in
+fact, a body with but a soul. The martinet, who is seldom a man of
+much intellect, is satisfied as long as the bodies of his men are
+drilled to his liking; his narrow mind comprehends only one of the
+principles which influence mankind--fear; and upon this he acts with
+all the pertinacity of a slave-driver. If he does not disgrace
+himself when he comes before the enemy, as he commonly does, by his
+own incapacity, his men will perhaps try to disgrace him, even at the
+sacrifice of what they hold dearer than their lives--their
+reputation. The real soldier, who is generally a man of more
+intellect, cares more about the feelings than the bodies of his men;
+he wants to command their affections as well as their limbs, and he
+inspires them with a feeling of enthusiasm that renders them
+insensible to all danger--such men were Lord Lake, and Generals
+Ochterlony, Malcolm, and Adams, and such are many others well known
+in India.
+
+Under the martinet the soldiers will never do more than what a due
+regard for their own reputation demands from them before the enemy,
+and will sometimes do less. Under the real soldier, they will always
+do more than this; his reputation is dearer to them even than their
+own, and they will do more to sustain it. The army of the consul,
+Appius Claudius, exposed themselves to almost inevitable destruction
+before the enemy to disgrace him in the eyes of his country, and the
+few survivors were decimated on their return; he cared nothing for
+the spirit of his men. The army of his colleague, Quintius, on the
+contrary, though from the same people, and levied and led out at the
+same time, covered him with glory because they loved him.[34] We had
+an instance of this in the war with Nepâl in-1813, in which a king's
+regiment played the part of the army of Appius.[35] There were other
+martinets, king's and Company's, commanding divisions in that war,
+and they all signally failed; not, however, except in the above one
+instance, from backwardness on the part of their troops, but from
+utter incapacity when the hour of trial came. Those who succeeded
+were men always noted for caring something more about the hearts than
+the whiskers and buttons of their men. That the officer who delights
+in harassing his regiment in times of peace will fail with it in
+times of war and scenes of peril seems to me to be a rule almost as
+well established as that he, who in the junior ranks of the army
+delights most to kick against authority, is always found the most
+disposed to abuse it when he gets to the higher. In long intervals of
+peace, the only prominent military characters are commonly such
+martinets; and hence the failures so generally experienced in the
+beginning of a war after such an interval. Whitelocks are chosen for
+command, till Wolfes and Wellingtons find Chathams and Wellesleys to
+climb up by.
+
+To govern those whose mental and physical energies we require for our
+subsistence and support by the lash alone is so easy, so simple a
+mode of bending them to our will, and making them act strictly and
+instantly in conformity to it, that it is not at all surprising to
+find so many of those who have been accustomed to it, and are not
+themselves liable to have the lash inflicted upon them, advocating
+its free use. In China the Emperor has his generals flogged, and
+finds the lash so efficacious in bending them to his will that
+nothing would persuade him that it could ever be safely dispensed
+with. In some parts of Germany they had the officers flogged, and
+princes and generals found this so very efficacious in making those
+act in conformity to their will that they found it difficult to
+believe that any army could be well managed without it. In other
+Christian armies the officers are exempted from the lash, but they
+use it freely upon all under them; and it would be exceedingly
+difficult to convince the greater part of these officers that the
+free use of the lash is not indispensably necessary, nay, that the
+men do not themselves like to be flogged, as eels like to be skinned,
+when they once get used to it. Ask the slave-holders of the southern
+states of America whether any society can be well constituted unless
+the greater part of those upon the sweat of whose brow the community
+depends for their subsistence are made by law liable to be bought,
+sold, and driven to their daily labour with the lash; they will one
+and all say No; and yet there are doubtless many very excellent and
+amiable persons among these slave-holders. If our army, as at present
+constituted, cannot do without the free use of the lash, let its
+constitution be altered; for no nation with free institutions should
+suffer its soldiers to be flogged. '_Laudabiliores tamen duces sunt,
+quorum exercitum ad modestiam labor et usus instituit, quam illi,
+quorum milites ad obedientiam suppliciorum formido compellit.'[36]
+
+Though I reprobate that wanton severity of discipline in which the
+substance is sacrificed to the form, in which unavoidable and trivial
+offences are punished as deliberate and serious crimes, and the
+spirit of the soldier is entirely disregarded, while the motion of
+his limbs, cut of his whiskers, and the buttons of his coat are
+scanned with microscopic eye, I must not be thought to advocate
+idleness. If we find the sepoys of a native regiment, as we sometimes
+do at a healthy and cheap station, become a little unruly like
+schoolboys, and ask an old native officer the reason, he will
+probably answer others as he has me by another question, '_Ghora ârâ
+kyûn? Pânî sarâ kyûn?' 'Why does the horse become vicious? Why does
+the water become putrid?'-For want of exercise. Without proper
+attention to this exercise no regiment is ever kept in order; nor has
+any commanding officer ever the respect or the affection of his men
+unless they see that he understands well all the duties which his
+Government entrusts to him, and is resolved to have them performed in
+all situations and under all circumstances. There are always some bad
+characters in a regiment, to take advantage of any laxity of
+discipline, and lead astray the younger soldiers, whose spirits have
+been rendered exuberant by good health and good feeding; and there is
+hardly any crime to which they will not try to excite these young
+men, under an officer careless about the discipline of his regiment,
+or disinclined, from a mistaken _esprit de corps_, or any other
+cause, to have those crimes traced home to them and punished.[37]
+
+There can be no question that a good tone of feeling between the
+European officers and their men is essential to the well-being of our
+native army; and I think I have found this tone somewhat impaired
+whenever our native regiments are concentrated at large stations. In
+such places the European society is commonly large and gay; and the
+officers of our native regiments become too much occupied in its
+pleasures and ceremonies to attend to their native officers or
+sepoys. In Europe there are separate classes of people who subsist by
+catering for the amusements of the higher classes of society, in
+theatres, operas, concerts, balls, &c., &c.; but in India this duty
+devolves entirely upon the young civil and military officers of the
+Government, and at large stations it really is a very laborious one,
+which often takes up the whole of a young man's time. The ladies must
+have amusement; and the officers must find it for them, because there
+are no other persons to undertake the arduous duty. The consequence
+is that they often become entirely alienated from their men, and
+betray signs of the greatest impatience while they listen to the
+necessary reports of their native officers, as they come on or go off
+duty.[38]
+
+It is different when regiments are concentrated for active service.
+Nothing tends so much to improve the tone of feeling between the
+European officers and their men, and between European soldiers and
+sepoys, as the concentration of forces on actual service, where the
+same hopes animate, and the same dangers unite them in common bonds
+of sympathy and confidence. '_Utrique alteris freti, finitimos armis
+aut metu sub imperium cogere, nomen gloriamque sibi addidere_.' After
+the campaigns under Lord Lake, a native regiment passing Dinapore,
+where the gallant King's 76th, with whom they had fought side by
+side, was cantoned, invited the soldiers to a grand entertainment
+provided for them by the sepoys. They consented to go on one
+condition--that the sepoys should see them all back safe before
+morning. Confiding in their sable friends, they all got gloriously
+drunk, but found themselves lying every man upon his proper cot in
+his own barracks in the morning. The sepoys had carried them all home
+upon their shoulders. Another native regiment, passing within a few
+miles of a hill on which they had buried one of their European
+officers after that war, solicited permission to go and make their
+'salâm' to the tomb, and all went who were off duty.[39] The system
+which now keeps the greater part of our native infantry at small
+stations of single regiments in times of peace tends to preserve this
+good tone of feeling between officers and men, at the same time that
+it promotes the general welfare of the country by giving confidence
+everywhere to the peaceful and industrious classes.
+
+I will not close this chapter without mentioning one thing which I
+have no doubt every Company's officer in India will concur with me in
+thinking desirable to improve the good feeling of the native
+soldiery--that is, an increase in the pay of the Jemadârs. They are
+commissioned officers, and seldom attain the rank in less than from
+twenty-five to thirty years;[40] and they have to provide themselves
+with clothes of the same costly description as those of the Sûbadâr;
+to be as well mounted, and in all respects to keep the same
+respectability of appearance, while their pay is only twenty-four
+rupees and a half a month; that is, ten rupees a month only more than
+they had been receiving in the grade of Havildârs, which is not
+sufficient to meet the additional expenses to which they become
+liable as commissioned officers. Their means of remittance to their
+families are rather diminished than increased by promotion, and but
+few of them can hope ever to reach the next grade of Sûbadâr. Our
+Government, which has of late been so liberal to its native civil
+officers, will, I hope, soon take into consideration the claims of
+this class, who are universally admitted to be the worst paid class
+of native public officers in India. Ten rupees a month addition to
+their pay would be of great importance; it would enable them to
+impart some of the advantages of promotion to their families, and
+improve the good feeling of the circles around them towards the
+Government they serve.[41]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. This chapter and the following one were printed as a separate
+tract at Calcutta in 1841 (see Bibliography). That small volume
+included an Introduction and two statistical tables which the author
+did not reprint. He has utilized extracts from the Introduction in
+various parts of the _Rambles and Recollections_. I am not sure that
+the tract was ever published, though it was printed; for the author
+says in his Introduction: 'They (_scil._ these two essays) may never
+be published; but I cannot deny myself the gratification of printing
+them.'
+
+2. This order is confined to the Indian Army.
+
+3. The punishment of working on the roads is long obsolete.
+
+4. The author spells this word 'sipahee'. I have thought it better to
+use throughout the now familiar corruption.
+
+5. The ordinary infantry pay was raised from seven to nine rupees in
+1895.
+
+6. General Orders by the Commander-in-Chief of the 5th of January,
+1797, declare that no sepoy or trooper of our native army shall be
+dismissed from the service by the sentence of any but a general court
+martial. General Orders by the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Combermere,
+of the 19th of March, 1827, declare that his Excellency is of opinion
+that the quiet and orderly habits of the native soldiers are such
+that it can very seldom be necessary to have recourse to the
+punishment of flogging, which might be almost entirely abolished with
+great advantage to their character and feelings; and directs that no
+native soldier shall in future be sentenced to corporal punishment
+unless for the crime of _stealing, marauding, or gross
+insubordination_, where the individuals are deemed unworthy to
+continue in the ranks of the army. No such sentence by a regimental,
+detachment, or brigade court martial was to be carried into effect
+till confirmed by the general officer commanding the division. When
+flogged the soldier was invariably to be discharged from the service.
+
+A circular letter from the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Combermere, on
+the 16th of June, 1827, directs that sentence to corporal punishment
+is not to be restricted to the three crimes of _theft, marauding, or
+gross insubordination_; but that it is not to be awarded except for
+very serious offences against discipline, or actions of a disgraceful
+or infamous nature, which show those who committed them to be unfit
+for the service; that the officer who assembles the court may remit
+the sentence of corporal punishment, and the dismissal involved in
+it; but cannot carry it into effect till confirmed by the officer
+commanding the division, except when an immediate example is
+indispensably necessary, as in the case of plundering and violence on
+the part of soldiers in the line of march. In all cases the soldier
+who has been flogged must be dismissed.
+
+A circular letter by the Commander-in-Chief, Sir E. Barnes, 2nd of
+November, 1832, dispenses with the duty of submitting the sentence of
+regimental, detachment, and brigade courts martial for confirmation
+to the general officer commanding the division; and authorizes the
+officer who assembles the court to carry the sentence into effect
+without reference to higher authority; and to mitigate the punishment
+awarded, or remit it altogether; and to order the dismissal of the
+soldier who has been sentenced to corporal punishment, though he
+should remit the flogging, 'for it may happen that a soldier may be
+found guilty of an offence which renders it improper that he should
+remain any longer in the service, although the general conduct of the
+man has been such that an example is unnecessary; or he may have
+relations in the regiment of excellent character, upon whom some part
+of the disgrace would fall if he were flogged.' Still no court
+martial but a general one could sentence a soldier to be simply
+dismissed. To secure his dismissal they must first sentence him to be
+flogged.
+
+On the 24th of February, 1835, the Governor-General of India in
+Council, Lord William Bentinck, directed that the practice of
+punishing soldiers of the native army by the cat-o'-nine-tails, or
+rattan, be discontinued at all the presidencies; and that henceforth
+it shall be competent to any regimental, detachment, or brigade court
+martial to sentence a soldier of the native army to dismissal from
+the service for any offence for which such soldier might now be
+punished by flogging, provided such sentence of dismissal shall not
+be carried into effect unless confirmed by the general or other
+officer commanding the division.'
+
+For crimes involving higher penalties, soldiers were, as heretofore,
+committed for trial before general courts martial.
+
+By Act 23 of 1839, passed by the Legislative Council of India on the
+23rd of September, it is made competent for courts martial to
+sentence soldiers of the native army in the service of the East India
+Company to the punishment of dismissal, and to be imprisoned, with or
+without hard labour, for any period not exceeding two years, if the
+sentence be pronounced by a general court martial; and not exceeding
+one year, if by a garrison or line court martial; and not exceeding
+six months, if by a regimental or district court martial.
+Imprisonment for any period with hard labour, or for a term exceeding
+six months without hard labour, to involve dismissal. Act 2 of 1840
+provides for such sentences of imprisonment being carried into
+execution by magistrates or other officers in charge of the gaols.
+[W. H. S.]
+
+This last paragraph has been brought up from the end of the volume
+where it is printed in the original edition.
+
+The army has been completely reorganized since the author's time, and
+the regulations have been much modified.
+
+In October, 1833, Lord William Bentinck had assumed the command of
+the army, on the retirement of Sir Edward Barnes, and thus combined
+the offices of Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, as the
+Marquis Cornwallis and the Marquis of Hastings had done before him.
+
+7. Batavia was occupied by Sir Samuel Auchmuty in August, and the
+whole island was taken possession of in September, 1811. But at the
+general peace which followed the great war the island of Java, with
+its dependencies, was restored to the Dutch.
+
+8. The Isle of France, otherwise called the Mauritius, which is still
+British territory, was gallantly taken at the end of November, 1810,
+by Commodore Rowley and Major-General Abercrombie. Full details of
+the Java and Mauritius expeditions are given in Thornton's twenty-
+second chapter. The brilliant operations in both localities deserve
+more attention than they usually receive from students of Indian
+history.
+
+9. The funeral obsequies which are everywhere offered up to the manes
+of parents by the surviving head of the family during the last
+fifteen days of the month Kuâr (September) were never considered as
+acceptable from the hands of a soldier in our service who had been
+tied up and flogged, whatever might have been the nature of the
+offence for which he was punished; any head of a family so flogged
+lost by that punishment the most important of his civil rights--that,
+indeed, upon which all others hinged, for it is by presiding at the
+funeral ceremonies that the head of the family secures and maintains
+his recognition. [W. H. S.] I have invariably found that natives of
+India, enjoying a good social position, who happen to be interested
+in an offender, care nothing for the disgraceful nature of the
+offender's crime, while they dread the disgrace of the punishment,
+however just it may be.
+
+10. The worst feature of this abolition measure is unquestionably the
+odious distinction which it leaves in the punishments to which our
+European and our native soldiers are liable, since the British
+legislation does not consider that it can be safely abolished in the
+British army. This odious distinction might be easily removed by an
+enactment declaring that European soldiers in India should be liable
+to corporal punishment for only two offences: first, mutiny, or gross
+insubordination; second, plunder or violence while the regiment or
+force to which the prisoner belongs is in the field or marching. The
+same enactment might declare the soldiers of our native army liable
+to the same punishments for the same offences. Such an enactment
+would excite no discontent among our native soldiery; on the
+contrary, it would be applauded as just and proper. [W. H. S.]
+Subsequently, corporal punishment in the Indian or native army was
+again legalized. The present law is thus stated by Sir Edwin Collen:
+'A "summary court martial"... may pass any sentence allowed by the
+articles of war, except . . . and may carry it out at once. Corporal
+punishment not exceeding fifty lashes may be given for certain
+offences, but is rarely awarded, and the amount of military crime is,
+on the whole, very small in the native army. The native officers have
+power to inflict minor punishments' [_I.G. (1908), vol. iv, p. 370].
+
+Flogging in the British army in time of peace was prohibited in
+April, 1868, by an amendment to the Mutiny Bill, and was completely
+abolished by the Army Discipline Act of 1881.
+
+11. The author also gives the Hindustani word as 'kaelkur-hin', which
+seems to be intended for _qâil kareñ_, or in rustic form _karahiñ_,
+meaning 'confute'.
+
+12. No wonder that the native army, pampered in this sentimental
+fashion, gradually became more and more inefficient, till it needed
+the fires of the Mutiny to purge away its humours. No army could be
+efficient when its subordinate officers on the active list were men
+of sixty or seventy years of age.
+
+13. The sepoys were quite right; no other service in the world was
+managed on such principles. The illusion of the old Company's
+officers about the gratitude and affection of the men generally was
+rudely dispelled nineteen years after the conversations recorded in
+the text. But, even in 1857. a noble minority remained faithful and
+did devoted service.
+
+14. The best troops now are the Sikhs, Gôrkhâs, and frontier
+Muhammadans. Oudh men still enlist in large numbers, but do not enjoy
+their old prestige. The army known to the author comprised no Sikhs,
+Gôrkhâs, or frontier Muhammadans. The recruitment of Gôrkhâs only
+began in 1838, and the other two classes of troops were obtained by
+the annexation of the Panjâb in 1849.
+
+15. Enlistment in the native army is absolutely voluntary, and does
+not even require to be stimulated by a bounty. A subsequent passage
+shows that the author refuses to describe the British army as an
+'entirety voluntary' one, because a soldier when once enlisted is
+bound to serve for a definite term; whereas the sepoy could resign
+when he chose.
+
+16. Desertions are frequent among the regiments recruited on the
+Afghan frontier. These regiments did not exist in the author's day.
+
+17. An ordinance issued in France so late as 1778 required that a man
+should produce proof of four quarterings of nobility before he could
+get a commission in the army. [W. H. S.]
+
+18. '_Est et alia causa, cur attenuatae sint legiones_,' says
+Vegetius. 'Magnus in illis labor est militandi, graviora arma, sera
+munera, severior disciplila. Quod vitantes plerique, in auxiliis
+festinant militiae sacramenta percipere, ubi et minor sudor, et
+maturiora sunt premia.' Lib._ II. _cap._ 3. [W. H. S.] Vegetius,
+according to Gibbon and his most recent editor (_recensuit Carolus
+Lang. Editio altera. Lipsiae, Teubner_, 1885), flourished during the
+reign of Valentinian III (A.D. 425-55). His 'Soldier's Pocket-book'
+is entitled 'Flavi Vegeti Renati Epitoma Rei Militaris'.
+
+'Montesquieu thought that 'the Government had better have stuck to
+the old practice of slitting noses and cutting off ears, since the
+French soldiers, like the Roman dandies under Pompey, must
+necessarily have a greater dread of a disfigured face than of death.
+It did not occur to him that France could retain her soldiers by
+other and better motives. See _Spirit of Laws_, book vi, chap. 12.
+See _Necker on the Finances_, vol. ii, chap. 5; vol. iii, chap. 34. A
+day-labourer on the roads got fifteen sous a day; and a French
+soldier only six, at the very time that the mortality of an army of
+forty thousand men sent to the colonies was annually 13,333, or about
+one in three. In our native army the sepoy gets about double the
+wages of an ordinary day-labourer; and his duties, when well done,
+involve just enough of exercise to keep him in health. The casualties
+are perhaps about one in a hundred. [W. H. S.]
+
+20. Just precisely what the French soldiers were after the revolution
+had purged France of all 'the perilous stuff that weighed upon the
+heart' of its people. Gibbon, in considering the chance of the
+civilized nations of Europe ever being again overrun by the
+barbarians from the North, as in the time of the Romans, says: 'If a
+savage conqueror should issue from the deserts of Tartary, he must
+repeatedly vanquish the robust peasantry of Russia, the numerous
+armies of Germany, the gallant nobles of France, and the intrepid
+free men of Britain.' Never was a more just, yet more unintended
+satire upon the state of a country. Russia was to depend upon her
+'robust peasantry'; Germany upon her 'numerous armies'; England upon
+her 'intrepid free men'; and poor France upon her 'gallant nobles'
+alone; because, unhappily, no other part of her vast population was
+then ever thought of. When the hour of trial came, those pampered
+nobles who had no feeling in common with the people were shaken off'
+like dew-drops from the lion's mane'; and the hitherto spurned
+peasantry of France, under the guidance and auspices of men who
+understood and appreciated them, astonished the world with their
+powers. [W. H. S.]
+
+21. The allusion is to the now half-forgotten war with the United
+States in the years 1812-14, during the course of which the English
+captured the city of Washington, and the Americans gained some
+unexpected naval victories.
+
+22. The author has already denounced the practice of impressment,
+_ante_, chapter 26, note 27.
+
+23. 'to' in the original edition.
+
+24. See McCulloch, _Pol. Econ._, p. 235, 1st ed., Edinburgh, 1825.
+[W. H. S.]
+
+25. Many German princes adopted the discipline of Frederick in their
+little petty states, without exactly knowing why or wherefore. The
+Prince of Darmstadt conceived a great passion for the military art;
+and when the weather would not permit him to worry his little army of
+five thousand men in the open air, he had them worried for his
+amusement under sheds. But he was soon obliged to build a wall round
+the town in which he drilled his soldiers for the sole purpose of
+preventing their running away--round this wall he had a regular chain
+of sentries to fire at the deserters. Mr. Moore thought that the
+discontent in this little band was greater than in the Prussian army,
+inasmuch as the soldiers saw no object but the prince's amusement. A
+fight, or the prospect of a fight, would have been a feast to them.
+[W. H. S.] It is hardly necessary to observe that the modern system
+of drill is widely different.
+
+26. Speaking of the question whether recruits drawn from the country
+or the towns are best, Vegetius says: '_De qua parte numquam credo
+potuisse dubitari, aptiorem armis rusticam plebem, quae sub divo et
+in labore nutritur; solis patiens; umbrae negligens; balnearum
+nescia; delictarurum ignara; simplicis animi; parvo contenta; duratis
+ad omnem laborem membris; cui gestara ferrum, fossam ducere, onus
+ferre, consuetudo de rare est.' (De Re Militari_, Lib. i, cap. 3.)
+[W. H. S.] The passage quoted is disfigured by many misprints in the
+original edition.
+
+27. As the Madras sepoys do.
+
+28. The writing of the bulk of this work was completed in 1839. These
+concluding supplementary chapters on the Bengal army seem to have
+been written a little later, perhaps in 1841, the year in which they
+were first printed. The publication of the complete work took place
+in 1844. The Mutiny broke out in 1857, and proved that the fidelity
+of the sepoys could not be so easily assured as the author supposed.
+
+29. I believe the native army to be better now than it ever was--
+better in its disposition and in its organization. The men have now a
+better feeling of assurance than they formerly had that all their
+rights will be secured to them by their European officers that all
+those officers are men of honour, though they have not all of them
+the same fellow feeling that their officers had with them in former
+days. This is because they have not the same opportunity of seeing
+their courage and fidelity tried in the same scenes of common danger.
+Go to Afghanistan and China, and you will find the feeling between
+officers and men as fine as ever it was in days of yore, whatever it
+may be at our large and gay stations, where they see so little of
+each other. [W. H. S.] The author's reputation for sagacity and
+discernment could not be made to rest upon the above remarks. His
+judgement was led astray by his lifelong association with and
+affection for the native troops. Lord William Bentinck took a far
+juster view of the situation, and understood far better the real
+nature of the ties which bind the native army to its masters. His
+admirable minute dated 13th March, 1835, published for the first time
+in Mr. D. Boulger's well-written little book (_Lord William
+Bentinck_, 'Rulers of India', pp. 177-201), is still worthy of study.
+As a corrective to the author's too effusive sentiment, some brief
+passages from the Governor-General's minute may be quoted. 'In
+considering the question of internal danger,' he observes, 'those
+officers most conversant with Indian affairs who were examined before
+the Parliamentary Committee apprehend no danger to our dominion as
+long as we are assured of the fidelity of our native troops. To this
+opinion I entirely subscribe. But others again view in the native
+army itself the source of our greatest peril. In all ages the
+military body has been often the prime cause, but generally the
+instrument, of all revolutions; and proverbial almost as is the
+fidelity of the native soldier to the chief whom he serves, more
+especially when he is justly and kindly treated, still we cannot be
+blind to the fact that many of those ties which bind other armies to
+their allegiance are totally wanting in this. Here is no patriotism,
+no community of feeling as to religion or birthplace, no influencing
+attachment from high considerations, or great honours and rewards.
+Our native army also is extremely ignorant, capable of the strongest
+religions excitement, and very sensitive to disrespect to their
+persona or infringement of their customs. . . . In the native army
+alone rests our internal danger, and this danger may involve our
+complete subversion. . . .
+
+'All these facts and opinions seem to me to establish
+incontrovertibly that a large proportion of European troops is
+necessary for our security under all circumstances of peace and war.
+. . .
+
+'I believe the sepoys have never been so good as they were in the
+earliest part of our career; none superior to those under De Boigne.
+. . I fearlessly pronounce the Indian army to be the least efficient
+and most expensive in the world.'
+
+The events of 1857-9 proved the truth of Lord William Bentinck's wise
+words. The native army is no longer inefficient as a whole, though
+certain sections of it may still be so, but the less that is said
+about the supposed affection of mercenary troops for a foreign
+government, the better.
+
+30. Of course, all the military forces, British and Indian, are now
+alike the King's. Each service has its own rules and regulations.
+
+31. 'General Baird had started from Bombay in the end of December
+1800, but only arrived at Kossir, on the coast of Upper Egypt, on the
+8th of June. In nine days, with a force of 6,400 British and native
+troops, he traversed 140 miles of desert to the Nile, and reached
+Cairo on 10th August with hardly any loss. The united force then
+marched down on Alexandria, and on 31st August Menou capitulated, and
+the whole French army evacuated Egypt.' (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd
+ed., s.v. 'Egypt.') The Indian native army again did brilliant
+service in the Egyptian campaign of 1882.
+
+32. Great progress has been made in the task of lightening the
+miseries of European soldiers in India by the provision of innocent
+amusements. Lord Roberts, during his long tenure of the office of
+Commander-in-Chief, pre-eminently showed himself to be the soldier's
+friend.
+
+33. Their commanding officers say, as Pharaoh said to the Israelites,
+'Let there be more work laid upon them, that they may labour therein,
+and not enter into vain discourses.' Life to such men becomes
+intolerable; and they either destroy themselves, or commit murder,
+that they may be taken to a distant court for trial. [W. H. S.] The
+quotation is from Exodus v. 9. The Authorized Version is, 'Let there
+be more work laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let
+them not regard vain words.'
+
+34. See Livy, lib. ii, cap. 59. The infantry under Fabius had refused
+to conquer, that their general, whom they hated, might not triumph;
+but the whole army under Claudius, whom they had more cause to
+detest, not only refused to conquer, but determined to be conquered,
+that he might be involved in their disgrace. All the abilities of
+Lucullus, one of the ablest generals Rome ever had, were rendered
+almost useless by his disregard to the feelings of his soldiers. He
+could not perceive that the civil wars under Marius and Sylla had
+rendered a different treatment of Roman soldiers necessary to success
+in war. Pompey, his successor, a man of inferior military genius,
+succeeded much better because he had the sagacity to see that he now
+required not only the confidence but the affections of his soldiers.
+Caesar to abilities even greater than those of Lucullus united the
+conciliatory spirit of Pompey [W. H. S.]
+
+35. This curious incident, which is not mentioned by Thornton in the
+detailed account of the Nepalese War given in his twenty-fourth
+chapter, may be the failure of the 53rd Regiment to support General
+Gllespie in the attack on Kalanga, in 1814, not 1815 (Mill, Bk. II,
+chap. 1; vol. viii, p. 19, ed. 1858). The war was notable for the
+number of blunders and failures which marked its earlier stages.
+
+36. Vegetius, _De Re Militari_, Lib. iii, cap. 4, If corporal
+punishment be retained at all, it should be limited to the two
+offences I have already mentioned; [W. H. S.] namely, (l) mutiny or
+gross insubordination, (2) plunder or violence in the field or on the
+march. (_Ante_, chapter 76, note 6.)
+
+37. Polybius says that 'as the human body is apt to get out of order
+under good feeding and little exercise, so are states and armies.'
+(Bk. II, chap. 6.)--Wherever food is cheap, and the air good, native
+regiments should be well exercised without being worried.
+
+I must here take the liberty to give an extract from a letter from
+one of the best and most estimable officers now in the Bengal army:
+'As connected with the discipline of the native army, I may here
+remark that I have for some years past observed on the part of many
+otherwise excellent commanding officers a great want of attention to
+the instruction of the young European officers on first joining their
+regiments. I have had ample opportunities of seeing the great value
+of a regular course of instruction drill for at least six months.
+When I joined my first regiment, which was about forty years ago, I
+had the good fortune to be under a commandant and adjutant who,
+happily for me and many others, attached great importance to this
+very necessary course of instruction, I then acquired a thorough
+knowledge of my duties, which led to my being appointed an adjutant
+very early in life. When I attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel I
+had, however, opportunities of observing how very much this essential
+duty had been neglected in certain regiments, and made it a rule in
+all that I commanded to keep all young officers on first joining at
+the instruction drill till thoroughly grounded in their duties. Since
+I ceased to command a regiment, I have taken advantage of every
+opportunity to express to those commanding officers with whom I have
+been in correspondence my conviction of the great advantages of this
+system to the rising generation. In going from one regiment to
+another I found many curious instances of ignorance on the part of
+young officers who had been many years with their corps. It was by no
+means an easy task to convince them that they really knew nothing, or
+at least had a great deal to learn; but when they were made sensible
+of it, they many of them turned out excellent officers, and now, I
+believe, bless the day they were first put under me.'
+
+The advantages of the System here mentioned cannot be questioned; and
+it is much to be regretted that it is not strictly enforced in every
+regiment in the service. Young officers may find it irksome at first;
+but they soon become sensible of the advantages, and learn to applaud
+the commandant who has had the firmness to consult their permanent
+interests more than their present inclinations. [W. H. S.]
+
+38. Among the many changes produced in India by the development of
+the railway system and by other causes one of the most striking is
+the abolition of small military stations. Almost all these have
+disappeared, and the troops are now massed in large cantonments,
+where they can be handled much more effectively than in out-stations.
+The discipline of small detached bodies of troops is generally liable
+to deterioration.
+
+39. Many instances of semi-religious honour paid by natives to the
+tombs of Europeans have been noticed.
+
+40. There are, I believe, many Jemadârs who still wear medals on
+their breasts for their service in the taking of Java and the Isle of
+France more than thirty years ago. Indeed, I suspect that some will
+be found who accompanied Sir David Baird to Egypt. [W. H. S.] Such
+old men must have been perfectly useless as officers. Sir David
+Baird' s operations took place in 1801.
+
+41. The rate of pay of Jemadârs in the Bengal Native Infantry now is
+either forty or fifty rupees monthly. Half of the officers of this
+rank in each regiment receive the higher rate. The grievance
+complained of by the author has, therefore, been remedied. The pay of
+a Havîldâr is still, or was recently, fourteen rupees a month.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 77
+
+
+Invalid Establishment.
+
+I have said nothing in the foregoing chapter of the invalid
+establishment, which is probably the greatest of all bonds between
+the Government and its native army, and consequently the greatest
+element in the 'spirit of discipline'. Bonaparte, who was, perhaps,
+with all his faults, 'the greatest man that ever floated on the tide
+of time', said at Elba, 'There is not even a village that has not
+brought forth a general, a colonel, a captain, or a prefect, who has
+raised himself by his especial merit, and illustrated at once his
+family and his country.' Now we know that the families and the
+village communities in which our invalid pensioners reside never read
+newspapers,[1] and feel but little interest in the victories in which
+these pensioners may have shared. They feel that they have no share
+in the _éclat_ or glory which attend them; but they everywhere admire
+and respect the government which cherishes its faithful old servants,
+and enables them to spend the 'winter of their days' in the bosoms of
+their families; and they spurn the man who has failed in his duty
+towards that government in the hour of need.
+
+No sepoy taken from the Râjpût communities of Oudh or any other part
+of the country can hope to conceal from his family circle or village
+community any act of cowardice, or anything else which is considered
+disgraceful to a soldier, or to escape the odium which it merits in
+that circle and community.
+
+In the year 1819 I was encamped near a village in marching through
+Oudh, when the landlord, a very cheerful old man, came up to me with
+his youngest son, a lad of eighteen years of age, and requested me to
+allow him (the son) to show me the best shooting grounds in the
+neighbourhood. I took my 'Joe Manton' and went out. The youth showed
+me some very good ground, and I found him an agreeable companion, and
+an excellent shot with his matchlock. On our return we found the old
+man waiting for us. He told me that he had four sons, all by God's
+blessing tall enough for the Company's service, in which one had
+attained the rank of 'havîldâr' (sergeant), and two were still
+sepoys. Their wives and children lived with him; and they sent home
+every month two-thirds of their pay, which enabled him to pay all the
+rent of the estate and appropriate the whole of the annual returns to
+the subsistence and comfort of the numerous family. He was, he said,
+now growing old, and wished his eldest son, the sergeant, to resign
+the service and come home to take upon him the management of the
+estate; that as soon as he could be prevailed upon to do so, his old
+wife would permit my sporting companion, her youngest son, to enlist,
+but not before.
+
+I was on my way to visit Fyzabad, the old metropolis of Oudh,[2] and
+on returning a month afterwards in the latter end of January, I found
+that the wheat, which was all then in ear, had been destroyed by a
+severe frost. The old man wept bitterly, and he and his old wife
+yielded to the wishes of their youngest son to accompany me and
+enlist in my regiment, which was then stationed at Partâbgarh.[3]
+
+We set out, but were overtaken at the third stage by the poor old
+man, who told me that his wife had not eaten or slept since the boy
+left her, and that he must go back and wait for the return of his
+eldest brother, or she certainly would not live. The lad obeyed the
+call of his parents, and I never saw or heard of the family again.
+
+There is hardly a village in the kingdom of Oudh without families
+like this depending upon the good conduct and liberal pay of sepoys
+in our infantry regiments, and revering the name of the government
+they serve, or have served. Similar villages are to be found
+scattered over the provinces of Bihâr and Benares, the districts
+between the Ganges and Jumna, and other parts where Râjpûts and the
+other classes from which we draw our recruits have been long
+established as proprietors and cultivators of the soil.
+
+These are the feelings on which the spirit of discipline in our
+native army chiefly depends, and which we shall, I hope, continue to
+cultivate, as we have always hitherto done, with care; and a
+commander must take a great deal of pains to make his men miserable,
+before he can render them, like the soldiers of Frederick, 'the
+irreconcilable enemies of their officers and their government'.
+
+In the year 1817 I was encamped in a grove on the right bank of the
+Ganges below Monghyr,[4] when the Marquis of Hastings was proceeding
+up the river in his fleet, to put himself at the head of the grand
+division of the army then about to take the field against the
+Pindhârîs and their patrons, the Marâthâ, chiefs. Here I found an old
+native pensioner, above a hundred years of age. He had fought under
+Lord Clive at the battle of Plassey, A.D. 1757, and was still a very
+cheerful, talkative old gentleman, though he had long lost the use of
+his eyes. One of his sons, a grey-headed old man, and a Sûbadâr
+(captain) in a regiment of native infantry, had been at the taking of
+Java,[5] and was now come home on leave to visit his father. Other
+sons had risen to the rank of commissioned officers, and their
+families formed the aristocracy of the neighbourhood. In the evening,
+as the fleet approached, the old gentleman, dressed in his full
+uniform of former days as a commissioned officer, had himself taken
+out close to the bank of the river, that he might be once more during
+his life within sight of a British Commander-in-Chief, though he
+could no longer see one. There the old patriarch sat listening with
+intense delight to the remarks of the host of his descendants around
+him, as the Governor-General's magnificent fleet passed along,[6]
+every one fancying that he had caught a glimpse of the great man, and
+trying to describe him to the old gentleman, who in return told them
+(no doubt for the thousandth time) what sort of a person the great
+Lord Clive was. His son, the old Sûbadâr, now and then, with modest
+deference, venturing to imagine a resemblance between one or the
+other, and his _beau idéal_ of a great man, Lord Lake. Few things in
+India have interested me more than scenes like these.
+
+I have no means of ascertaining the number of military pensioners in
+England or in any other European nation, and cannot, therefore, state
+the proportion which they bear to the actual number of forces kept
+up. The military pensioners in our Bengal establishment on the 1st of
+May, 1841, were 22,381; and the family pensioners, or heirs of
+soldiers killed in action, 1,730; total 24,111, out of an army of
+82,027 men. I question whether the number of retired soldiers
+maintained at the expense of government bears so large a proportion
+to the number actually serving in any other nation on earth.[7] Not
+one of the twenty-four thousand has been brought on, or retained
+upon, the list from political interest or court favour; every one
+receives his pension for long and faithful services, after he has
+been pronounced by a board of European surgeons as no longer fit for
+the active duties of his profession; or gets it for the death of a
+father, husband, or son, who has been killed in the service of
+government.
+
+All are allowed to live with their families, and European officers
+are stationed at central points in the different parts of the country
+where they are most numerous to pay them their stipends every six
+months. These officers are at-- 1st, Barrackpore; 2nd, Dinapore; 3rd,
+Allahabad; 4th, Lucknow; 5th, Meerut. From these central points they
+move twice a year to the several other points within their respective
+circles of payment where the pensioners can most conveniently attend
+to receive their money on certain days, so that none of them have to
+go far, or to employ any expensive means to get it--it is, in fact,
+brought home as near as possible to their doors by a considerate and
+liberal government.[8]
+
+Every soldier is entitled to a pension when pronounced by a board of
+surgeons as no longer fit for the active duties of his profession,
+after fifteen years' active service; but to be entitled to the
+pension of his rank in the army, he must have served in such rank for
+three years. Till he has done so he is entitled only to the pension
+of that immediately below it. A sepoy gets four rupees a month, that
+is, about one-fourth more than the ordinary wages of common
+uninstructed labour throughout the country.[9] But it will be better
+to give the rate of pay of the native officers and men of our native
+infantry and that of their retired pensions in one table.
+
+TABLE OF THE RATE OF PAY AND RETIRED PENSIONS OF THE NATIVE OFFICERS
+AND SOLDIERS OF OUR NATIVE INFANTRY.
+
+
+
+
+
+ _Rank_ _Rate of Pay_ _Rate of_
+ _per_ _Pension per_
+ _Mensem._ _Mensem._
+
+ _Rupees._ _Rupees._
+
+A Sepoy, or private soldier. (Note.--
+ After sixteen years' service eight
+ rupees a month, after twenty years
+ he gets nine rupees a month) . . 7.0 4.0
+A Nâik, or corporal . . . . 12.0 7.0
+A Havîldâr, or sergeant . . . . 14.0 7.0
+A Jemadâr, subaltern commissioned officer 24.8 13.0
+Sûbadâr, or Captain . . . . 67.0 25.0
+Sûbadâr Major . . . . . 92.0 0.0[a]
+A Sûbadâr, after forty years service . 0.0 50.0
+A Sûbadâr Bahâdur of the Order of British
+ India, First Class, two rupees a day
+ extra; Second Class, one Rupee a day
+ extra. This extra allowance they
+ enjoy after they retire from the
+ service during life.[b]
+
+a. I presume this means that no special rate of pension was fixed for
+the rank of Sûbadâr Major.
+
+b. The monthly rates of pay and pension now in force for native
+officers and men of the Bengal army are as follows:
+
+
+
+ _Rank_ _Pay._ _Pension._
+
+ _Ordinary._ _Superior._ _Ordinary._ _Superior._
+ _Rs._ _Rs._ _Rs._ _Rs._
+
+Sûbadâr 80 100[c] 30 50
+Jemadâr 40 50[c] 15 25
+Havîldâr 14 -- 7 12
+Naick (nâik) 12 -- 7 12
+Drummer or Bugler 7 -- 4 7
+Sepoy 7 -- 4 7
+
+c. Half of this rank in each regiment receive the higher rate of pay.
+
+
+
+The circumstances which, in the estimation of the people, distinguish
+the British from all other rulers in India, and make it grow more and
+more upon their affections, are these: The security which public
+servants enjoy in the tenure of their office; the prospect they have
+of advancement by the gradation of rank; the regularity and liberal
+scale of their pay; and the provision for old age, when they have
+discharged the duties entrusted to them ably and faithfully.[l0] In a
+native state almost every public officer knows that he has no chance
+of retaining his office beyond the reign of the present minister or
+favourite; and that no present minister or favourite can calculate
+upon retaining his ascendancy over the mind of his chief for more
+than a few months or years. Under us they see secretaries to
+government, members of council, and Governors-General themselves
+going out and coming into office without causing any change in the
+position of their subordinates, or even the apprehension of any
+change, as long as they discharge their duties ably and faithfully.
+
+In a native state the new minister or favourite brings with him a
+whole host of expectants who must be provided for as soon as he takes
+the helm; and if all the favourites of his predecessor do not
+voluntarily vacate their offices for them, he either turns them out
+without ceremony, or his favourites very soon concoct charges against
+them, which causes them to be tumed out in due form, and perhaps put
+into jail till they have 'paid the uttermost farthing'. Under us the
+Governors-General, members of council, the secretaries of state,[11]
+the members of the judicial and revenue boards, all come into office
+and take their seats unattended by a single expectant. No native
+officer of the revenue or judicial department, who is conscious of
+having done his duty ably and honestly, feels the slightest
+uneasiness at the change. The consequence is a degree of integrity in
+public officers never before known in India, and rarely to be found
+in any other country. In the province where I now write,[12] which
+consists of six districts, there are twenty-two native judicial
+officers, Munsifs, Sadr Amîns, and Principal Sadr Amîns;[13] and in
+the whole province I have never heard a suspicion breathed against
+one of them; nor do I believe that the integrity of one of them is at
+this time suspected. The only one suspected within the two and a half
+years that I have been in the province was, I grieve to say, a
+Christian; and he has been removed from office, to the great
+satisfaction of the people, and is never to be employed again.[14]
+The only department in which our native public servants do not enjoy
+the same advantages of security in the tenure of their office,
+prospect of rise in the gradation of rank, liberal scale of pay, and
+provision for old age, is the police; and it is admitted on all hands
+that there they are everywhere exceedingly corrupt. Not one of them,
+indeed, ever thinks it possible that he can be supposed honest; and
+those who really are so are looked upon as a kind of martyrs or
+penitents, who are determined by long suffering to atone for past
+crimes; and who, if they could not get into the police, would
+probably go long pilgrimages on all fours, or with unboiled peas in
+their shoes.[15]
+
+He who can suppose that men so inadequately paid, who have no
+promotion to look forward to, and feel no security in their tenure of
+office, and consequently no hope of a provision for old age, will be
+zealous and honest in the discharge of their duties, must be very
+imperfectly acquainted with human nature--with the motives by which
+men are influenced all over the world. Indeed, no man does in reality
+suppose so; on the contrary, every man knows that the same motives
+actuate public servants in India as elsewhere. We have acted
+successfully upon this knowledge in all other branches of the public
+service, and shall, I trust, at no distant period act upon the same
+in that of the police; and then, and not till then, can it prove to
+the people what we must all wish it to be, a blessing.
+
+The European magistrate of a district has, perhaps, a million of
+people to look after.[16] The native officers next under him are the
+Thânadârs of the different subdivisions of the district, containing
+each many towns and villages, with a population of perhaps one
+hundred thousand people. These officers have no grade to look forward
+to, and get a salary of _twenty-five rupees a month each_.[17]
+
+They cannot possibly do their duties unless they keep each a couple
+of horses or ponies, with servants to attend to them; indeed, they
+are told so by every magistrate who cares about the peace of his
+district. The people, seeing how much we expect from the Thânadâr,
+and how little we give him, submit to his demands for contribution
+without a murmur, and consider almost any demand venial from a man so
+employed and paid. They are confounded at our inconsistency, and say,
+where they dare to speak their minds, 'We see you giving high
+salaries and high prospects of advancement to men who have nothing on
+earth to do but to collect your revenues and to decide our disputes
+about pounds, shillings, and pence, which we used to decide much
+better among ourselves when we had no other court but that of our
+elders to appeal to; while those who are to protect life and
+property, to keep peace over the land, and enable the industrious to
+work in security, maintain their families and pay the government
+revenue, are left without any prospect of rising, and almost without
+any pay at all.'
+
+There is really nothing in our rule in India which strikes the people
+so much as this glaring inconsistency, the evil effects of which are
+so great and so manifest. The only way to remedy the evil is to give
+the police what the other branches of the public service already
+enjoy--a feeling of security in the tenure of office, a higher rate
+of salary, and, above all, a gradation of rank which shall afford a
+prospect of rising to those who discharge their duties ably and
+honestly. For this purpose all that is required is the interposition
+of an officer between the Thânadâr and the magistrate, in the same
+way as the Sadr Amîn is now interposed between the Munsif and the
+Judge.[18] On an average there are, perhaps, twelve Thânas, or police
+subdivisions, in each district, and one such officer to every four
+Thânas would be sufficient for all purposes. The Governor-General who
+shall confer this boon on the people of India will assuredly be
+hailed as one of their greatest benefactors.[19] I should, I believe,
+speak within bounds when I say that the Thânadârs throughout the
+country give at present more than all the money which they receive in
+avowed salaries from government as a share of indirect perquisites to
+the native officers of the magistrate's court, who have to send their
+reports to them, and communicate their orders, and prepare the cases
+of the prisoners they may send in for commitment to the Sessions
+courts.[20] The intermediate officers here proposed would obviate all
+this; they would be to the magistrate at once the _tapis_ of Prince
+Husain and the telescope of Prince Ali--media that would enable them
+to be everywhere and see everything.
+
+I may here seem to be 'travelling beyond the record', but it is not
+so. In treating on the spirit of military discipline in our native
+army I advocate, as much as in me lies, the great general principle
+upon which rests, I think, not only our _power_ in India, but what is
+more, the _justification of that power_. It is our wish, as it is our
+interest, to give to the Hindoos and Muhammadans a liberal share in
+all the duties of administration, in all offices, civil and military,
+and to show the people in general the incalculable advantages of a
+strong and settled government, which can secure life, property, and
+character, and the free enjoyment of all their blessings throughout
+the land; and give to those who perform duties as public servants
+ably and honestly a sure prospect of rising by gradation, a feeling
+of security in their tenure of office, a liberal salary while they
+serve, and a respectable provision for old age.
+
+It is by a steady adherence to these principles that the Indian Civil
+Service has been raised to its present high character for integrity
+and ability; and the native army made what it really is, faithful and
+devoted to its rulers, and ready to serve them in any quarter of the
+world.[21] I deprecate any innovation upon these principles in the
+branches of the public service to which they have already been
+applied with such eminent success; and I advocate their extension to
+all other branches as the surest means of making them what they ought
+and what we must all most fervently wish them to be.
+
+The native officers of our judicial and revenue establishments, or of
+our native army, are everywhere a bond of union between the governing
+and the governed.[22] Discharging everywhere honestly and ably their
+duties to their employers, they tend everywhere to secure to them the
+respect and affection of the people. His Highness Muhammad S'aîd
+Khân, the reigning Nawâb of Râmpur, still talks with pride of the
+days when he was one of our Deputy Collectors in the adjoining
+district of Badâon, and of the useful knowledge he acquired in that
+office.[23] He has still one brother a Sadr Amîn in the district of
+Mainpurî, and another a Deputy Collector in the Hamîrpur District;
+and neither would resign his situation under the Honourable Company
+to take office in Râmpur at three times the rate of salary, when
+invited to do so on the accession of the eldest brother to the
+'masnad'. What they now enjoy they owe to their own industry and
+integrity; and they are proud to serve a government which supplies
+them with so many motives for honest exertion, and leaves them
+nothing to fear, as long as they exert themselves honestly. To be in
+a situation which it is generally understood that none but honest and
+able men can fill[24] is of itself a source of pride, and the sons of
+native princes and men of rank, both Hindoo and Muhammadan,
+everywhere prefer taking office in our judicial and revenue
+establishments to serving under native rulers, where everything
+depends entirely upon the favour or frown of men in power, and
+ability, industry, and integrity can secure nothing.[25]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. This can no longer be safely assumed as true. Newspapers now
+penetrate to almost every village.
+
+2. Fyzâbâd (Faizâbâd) was the capital for a short time of the Nawâb
+Wazîrs of Oudh. In 1775 Âsaf-ud-daula moved his court to Lucknow. The
+city of Ajodhya adjoining Fyzâbâd is of immense antiquity.
+
+3. In. the south of Oudh. It is not now a military station.
+
+4. Monghyr (Mungêr) is the chief town of the district of the same
+name, which lies to the east of Patna.
+
+5. August, 1811.
+
+6. Such a spectacle is no longer to be seen in India. Four or five
+inconspicuous railway carriages or motor-cars now take the place of
+the 'magnificent fleet'.
+
+7. The percentage is 29 1/2.
+
+8. All these arrangements have been changed. Military pensioners are
+now paid through the civil authorities of each district.
+
+9. Wages are now generally higher.
+
+10. This sentence might misled readers unacquainted with the details
+of Indian administration. Every official who satisfies the formal
+rules of the Accounts department gets his pension, as a matter of
+course, in accordance with those rules, whether his service has been
+able and faithful or not. The pension list is often the last refuge
+of incompetent and dishonest officials, to which they are gladly
+consigned by code-bound superiors, who cannot otherwise get rid of
+them. Nor am I certain that British rule 'grows more and more upon
+the affections' of those subject to it.
+
+11. The author means secretaries to the Government of India or
+provincial governments.
+
+12. The Sâgar and Nerbudda (Narbadâ) Territories, now included in the
+Central Provinces.
+
+13. The designations Sadr Amîn and Principal Sadr Amîn have been
+superseded by the title of Subordinate Judge. The officers referred
+to have only civil jurisdiction, which does not include revenue and
+rent causes in the United Provinces.
+
+14. Most experienced officers will, I think, agree with me that the
+author was exceptionally fortunate in his experience. So far as I can
+make out, the standard of integrity among the higher Indian officials
+has risen considerably during the last century, but is still a long
+way from the perfection indicated by the author's remarks.
+
+15. These observations on the police are merely a repetition of the
+remarks in Chapter 69, which have been discussed in the notes to that
+chapter.
+
+16. The districts in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh are
+usually much smaller than those in Bengal or Madras, but even in
+Northern India a district with only a million of inhabitants is
+considered to be rather a small one. Some districts have a population
+of more than three millions each.
+
+17. All has been changed. Many comparatively well paid officials of
+Indian birth now intervene between the District Magistrate and the
+small people on twenty-five rupees a month. Sometimes the District
+Magistrate himself is an Indian.
+
+18. The anthor's note to this passage repeats the quotation from
+Hobbes's _Leviathan_, Part II, sect. 30, which has been already cited
+in the text, chapter 69, following [12], and need not be repeated
+here. The note continues: 'Almost every Thânadâr in our dominions is
+a little Tarquin in his way, exciting the indignation of the people
+against his master. When we give him the proper incentives to good,
+we shall be able with better conscience to punish him severely for
+bad conduct. The interposition of the officers I propose between him
+and the magistrate will give him the required incentive to good
+conduct, at the same time that it will deprive him of all hope of
+concealing his "evil ways", should he continue in them.' [W. H. S.]
+He still manages to continue in his evil ways, and generally to
+conceal them.
+
+19. This statement seems almost like sarcasm to a reader who knows
+what manner of men well-paid Inspectors of Police commonly are, and
+how they are regarded by the non-official population. They are not
+usually reverenced as 'protectors of the poor'.
+
+20. The reader who is not practically acquainted with the work of
+administration in India will probably think that the magistrate who
+allows such intrigues to go on must be very careless and inefficient.
+But that thought, though very natural, would be unjust. The author
+was one of the best possible district magistrates, and yet was unable
+to suppress the evils which he describes, nor have the remedies which
+he advocated, and which have been adopted, proved effectual. The
+Thânadâr now has generally to pay the Inspector and the people in the
+District Superintendent's office, in addition to 'the native officers
+of the magistrate's court'.
+
+21. We have already seen how mistaken the author was concerning the
+army.
+
+22. This statement requires to be guarded by many qualifications. The
+author's following remarks only illustrate the well-known fact that
+in India official rank is ardently desired by the classes eligible
+for it, and carries with it great social advantages.
+
+23. Râmpur is the small Rohilla state within the borders of the
+Bareilly District, United Provinces.
+
+24. This description of the class of officials alluded to is somewhat
+idealized, though it applies to a considerable proportion of the
+class.
+
+25. These propositions were, doubtless, literally correct in the
+author's time, but they are not at all fully applicable to the
+existing state of affairs.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+THUGGEE, AND THE PART TAKEN IN ITS SUPPRESSION BY GENERAL SIR W. H.
+SLEEMAN, K.C.B.
+
+NOTE BY CAPTAIN J. L. SLEEMAN, ROYAL SUSSEX REGIMENT
+
+The religion of murder known as 'Thuggee' was established in India
+some centuries before the British Government first became aware of
+its existence, It is remarkable that, after an intercourse with India
+of nearly two centuries, and the exercise of sovereignty over a large
+part of the country for no inconsiderable period, the English should
+have been so ignorant of the existence and habits of a body so
+dangerous to the public peace. The name 'Thug' signifies a
+'Deceiver', and it will be generally admitted that this term was well
+earned.[1] There is reason to believe that between 1799 and 1808 the
+practice of 'Thuggee' (Thagî) reached its height and that thousands
+of persons were annually destroyed by its disciples. It is
+interesting to note the legendary origin of this strange and horrible
+religion: In remote ages a demon infested the earth and devoured
+mankind as soon as created. The world was thus left unpeopled, until
+the goddess of the Thugs (Dêvî or Kâlî) came to the rescue. She
+attacked the demon, and cut him down; but from every drop of his
+blood another demon arose; and though the goddess continued to cut
+down these rising demons, fresh broods of demons sprang from their
+blood, as from that of their progenitors; and the diabolical race
+consequently multiplied with fearful rapidity. At length, fatigued
+and disheartened, the goddess found it necessary to change her
+tactics. Accordingly, relinquishing all personal efforts for their
+suppression, she formed two men from perspiration brushed from her
+arms. To each of these men she gave a handkerchief, and with these
+the two assistants of the goddess were commanded to put all the
+demons to death without shedding a drop of blood. Her commands were
+immediately obeyed; and the demons were all strangled. Having
+strangled all the demons, the two men offered to return the
+handkerchiefs; but the goddess desired that they should retain them,
+not merely as memorials of their heroism, but as the implements of a
+lucrative trade in which their descendants were to labour and thrive.
+They were in fact commanded to strangle men as they had strangled
+demons.
+
+Several generations passed before Thuggee became practised as a
+profession--probably for the same reason that a sportsman allows game
+to accumulate--but in due time it was abundantly exercised. Thus,
+according to the creed of the Thug, did their order arise, and thus
+originated their mode of operation.
+
+The profession of a Thug, like almost everything in India, became
+hereditary, the fraternity, however, receiving occasional
+reinforcements from strangers, but these were admitted with great
+caution, and seldom after they had attained mature age. The Thugs
+were usually men seemingly occupied in most respectable and often in
+most responsible positions. Annually these outwardly respectable
+citizens and tradesmen would take the road, and sacrifice a multitude
+of victims for the sake of their religion and pecuniary gain. The
+Thug bands would assemble at fixed places of rendezvous, and before
+commencing their expeditions much strange ceremony had to be gone
+through. A sacred pickaxe was the emblem of their faith: its
+fashioning was wrought with quaint rites and its custody was a matter
+of great moment. Its point was supposed to indicate the line of route
+propitious to the disciples of the goddess, and it was credited with
+other powers equally marvellous. The brute creation afforded a vast
+fund of instruction upon every proceeding. The ass, jackal, wolf,
+deer, hare, dog, cat, owl, kite, crow, partridge, jay, and lizard,
+all served to furnish good or bad omens to a Thug on the war-path.
+For the first week of the expedition fasting and general discomfort
+were insisted on, unless the first murder took place within that
+period. Women were never murdered unless their slaughter was
+unavoidable (i.e. when they were thought to suspect the cause of the
+disappearance of their men-folk). Children of the murdered were often
+adopted by the Thugs, and the boys were initiated in due course in
+the horrid rites of Thuggee. Men skilled in the practice of digging
+and concealing graves were always attached to each Thug gang. These
+were able to prepare graves in anticipation of a murder, and to
+effectually conceal all trace of the crime after they were occupied.
+To assist the grave-diggers in this duty all roads used by Thugs had
+selected places upon them at which murders were always carried out if
+possible. The Thugs would speak of such places with the same
+affection and enthusiasm as other men would of the most delightful
+scenes of their early life.
+ It was these people, versed in deceit and surrounded by a thousand
+obstacles to conviction, that General Sir W. H. Sleeman so nobly set
+out to exterminate. Within seven years of his first commencing the
+suppression of Thuggee it had practically ceased to exist as a
+religion; and he had the privilege of seeing it entirely suppressed
+as such before giving up this work for the Residentship at Lucknow.
+
+He was described when taking over the latter appointment as follows:
+'He had served in India nearly forty years. His work had been of the
+best. He had done more than any one to suppress 'Thuggee' finally,
+and had a knowledge of the Indian character and language possessed by
+very few. He was personally popular with all classes of Indians, and
+respected, feared, and trusted by all.'
+
+
+
+SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES BY THE EDITOR
+
+
+Captain J. L. Sleeman, who had intended to contribute an account in
+some detail of his grandfather's operations for the suppression of
+Thuggee, has been ordered on active service, and consequently has
+been unable to write more than the short note printed above.
+
+The editor thinks it desirable to supplement Captain Sleeman's
+observations by certain additional remarks.
+
+The earliest historical notice of Thuggee appears to be the statement
+in the History of Fîrôz Shâh Tughlak (1351-88) by a contemporary
+author that at some time or other in the reign of that sovereign
+about one thousand Thugs were arrested in Delhi, on the denunciation
+of an informer. The Sultan, with misplaced clemency, refused to
+sanction the execution of any of the prisoners, whom he shipped off
+to Lakhnauti or Gaur in Bengal, where they were let loose. (Elliot
+and Dowson, _Hist. of India_, iii. 141.) That absurd proceeding may
+well have been the origin of the system of river Thuggee in Bengal,
+which possibly may be still practised.
+
+The next mention of Thugs refers to the reign of Akbar (1556-1605).
+Both Meadows Taylor and Balfour affirm that many Thugs were then
+executed, and according to Balfour, they numbered five hundred and
+belonged to the Etawah District, I have not succeeded in finding any
+mention of the fact in the histories of Akbar--the memory of the
+event may be preserved only by oral tradition. Etawah, between the
+Ganges and Jumna, in the province of Agra, has always been notorious
+for Thuggee and cognate crime.
+
+In the year 1666, towards the close of Shahjahân's reign, the
+traveller de Thevenot noted that the road between Delhi and Agra was
+infested by Thugs. His words are:
+
+'The cunningest Robbers in the World are in that Countrey. They use a
+certain slip with a running-noose, which they can cast with so much
+slight about a Man's Neck, when they are within reach of him, that
+they never fail; so that they strangle him in a trice.' (English
+transl., 1686, Part III, p. 41.)
+
+After the capture of Seringapatam in 1799 the attention of the
+Company's government was drawn to the prevalence of Thuggee. In 1810
+the bodies of thirty victims were found in wells between the Ganges
+and Jumna, and in 1816 Dr. Sherwood published a paper entitled 'On
+the Murderers called Phânsigars', _sc._ 'stranglers', in the _Madras
+Journal of Literature and Science_, which was reprinted in _Asiatic
+Researches_, vol. xiii (1820). Various officers then made
+unsystematic efforts to suppress the stranglers, but effectual
+operations were deferred until 1829. During the years 1881 and 1832
+the existence of the Thug organization became generally known, and
+intense excitement was aroused throughout India. The Konkan, or
+narrow strip of lowlands between the Western Ghâts and the sea, was
+the only region in the empire not infested by the Thugs. (See H. H.
+Wilson in supplement to Mill, _Hist. of British India_, ed. 1858,
+vol. ix, p. 213; Balfour, _Cyclopaedia of India_, 3rd ed., 1885,
+_s.v._ Thug; and Crooke, _Things Indian_, Murray, 1906, _s.v._
+Thuggee.)
+
+The records summarized above prove that the Thug organization existed
+continuously on a large scale from the early part of the fourteenth
+century until Sir William Sleeman's time, that is to say, for more
+than five centuries. In all probability its origin was much more
+ancient, but records are lacking. It is said that a sculpture
+representing a Thug strangulation exists among the sculptures at
+Ellora executed in the eighth century. No such sculpture, however, is
+mentioned in the detailed account of the Ellora caves by Dr. Burgess.
+
+The magnitude of the organization with which Sleeman grappled is
+indicated by the following figures.
+
+During the years 1831-7 3,266 Thugs were disposed of one way or
+another, of whom 412 were hanged, and 483 were admitted as approvers.
+Amîr Alî, whose confessions are recorded in Meadows Taylor's
+fascinating book, _The Confessions of a Thug_, written in 1837 and
+first published in 1839, proudly admitted having taken part in the
+murders of 719 persons, and regretted that an interruption of his
+career by twelve years' imprisonment in Oudh had prevented him from
+completing a full thousand of victims. He regarded his profession as
+affording sport of the most exciting kind possible.
+ V. A. S.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Pronounced 'T'ug', a hard cerebral _t_, with some aspiration.
+
+
+
+
+ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: These have been incorporated into the e-text.
+The note numbers below correspond to the original text, not to the
+renumbered notes of the e-text.]
+
+When the printing of the book was almost completed, the following
+additions and corrections were kindly communicated by Mr. J. S.
+Cotton, editor of _I. G._, 1907, 1908.
+
+Page 14, text, line 13. For 'leader', read 'barber'.
+Page 57, note 4, line 2. After 'Baitûl', insert 'Mandlâ'.
+Page 115, text, line 27. 'G----' appears to have been Robert Gregory,
+C.B.
+Page 115, note 2. Add, 'In 1911, Michael Filose of Gwâlior was
+appointed K.C.I.E.'
+Page 124, note 3. After '1860', insert 'and constitutes the District
+called Pânch Mâhals in the Northern Division of the Bombay
+Presidency. The vernacular word _pânch_, like the Persian _panj_,
+means 'five'.
+
+Page 124, note 3. Add at end, 'and is still used by Marâthâ nobles.'
+Page 146, note 3. For 'may be' read 'is'. _Dele_. 'The name is
+common.'
+Page 241, note 1, line 2. _Dele_ 'in the Nizam's territories '.
+Page 262, note 2. The author may possibly have referred to Agra and
+Gwâlior, rather than to Lucknow and Udaipur.
+Page 338, note 2. For the clause 'From 1765 . . . English',
+substitute, 'From 1765 to 1771 he was the dependant of the English at
+Allahabad. From 1771 to 1803 he was usually under the control of
+Marâthâ chiefs, and from the time of Lord Lake's entry into Delhi, in
+1803, he became simply a pensioner of the British Government. His
+successors occupied the same position.'
+Page 452, line 17. 'Southern' is in original edition, but 'Western'
+would be more accurate.
+Page 453, line 18. For 'its' read 'his own'.
+Page 459. 'The story of the murder of Fraser is told very differently
+in Bosworth-Smith's _Life of Lord Lawrence_, where all the detective
+credit is given to Lord L., apparently on his own authority. See also
+an article in the _Quarterly Review_ for April 1883, by Sir H. Yule,
+and another in _Blackwoods Magazine_ for January 1878.'
+Page 555, note, line 1. For 'Supreme' read Superior'.
+Page 581, note, line 18. For 'James Watts', read 'William Watts'.
+Page 584, note 2. For 'vexare' read 'vexari'.
+Page 595, note 2. 'The best account of Begum Sumroo is to be found in
+_A Tour through the Upper Provinces of Hindustan_, 1804-14, by A. D.
+= Ann Deane (1823). Walter Scott introduces more than one of the
+stories about the Begum into _The Surgeon's Daughter_ (1827), e.g.:
+"But not to be interred alive under your seat, like the Circassian of
+whom you were jealous," said Middlemas, shuddering' (vol. 48, Black's
+ed. of the novels, p. 382).
+Page 596, note 4. Probably 'Gorgîn' is a corruption of 'Gregory'.
+Page 615, note l. Perhaps the author was mistaken, and the letter was
+sent by Lady Bentinck, whose name was Mary.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+[Transcriber's note. Many of the spellings in this index differ from
+the spelling used in the text and notes, especially in the use of the
+diacritical mark.]
+
+Abû-Alîsena, or Avicenna, 339, 524.
+Abû Bakr, Khalîf, 199.
+Abûl Fazl, 111 n., 355 n.; on music, 562 n.
+Abûl Hasan = Amîr Khusrû, poet, 508 n.
+_Acacia suma_, worshipped, 174 n.
+Adam's Bridge, 692 n.
+Adham Khân, tomb of, 503 n.
+_Âdi Granth_, Sikh scripture, 477 n.
+Adilâbâd, in Old Delhi, 487 n.
+Adoption, 211 n.
+Adultery, 198-201.
+Afghan War, first, 291 n., 417; history, 288-91.
+Ages, Hindu, 522 n.
+Agra, Christians at. II, 335; buildings at, 312-24; date of fort at,
+357 n.; books about, 358 n.
+Ahmadnagar, kingdom, 458 n.
+Ahmad Shâh, Durrânî, 289.
+Ajmêr, 350.
+Ajodhya, kingdom, 374; city, 457 n., 641.
+Akbar (I), the Great, taxed marriages, 40 n.; had Abûl Fazl as
+minister, 111 n.; officials of, 283 n.; tomb and bones of, 323, 325,
+354 n.; character of, 356 n.; Maryam-uz-Zamânî, queen of, 348 n.;
+sons of, 350; conquests of, 458; punished Thugs, 652. (II), titular
+emperor, 309 n., 337, 501 n., 509 n., 525 n.
+Âl dye, 228 n.
+Alâ-ud-dîn Muhammad Shâh, 489, 490 n., 497 n., 503.
+Alîgarh District, 435 n., 441 n.; battle of, 566 n.
+Altamsh, _see_ Îltutmish. Sultan.
+Amânat Khân, calligraphist, 316 n., 516.
+Amarkantak, 14.
+America, war with, 628.
+Amîr Alî, Thug, 653.
+Amîr Jumla, 513 n., 360 n.
+Amîr Khân, Nawâb, 66 n., 130.
+Ammonites, 121.
+Angels, Muhammadan beliefs about, 40.
+Angora, battle of, 531 n.
+Anûpshahr, 605.
+Anurshîrvân (Naushîrvân), 135 n.
+_Apis dorsata_, bee, 4 n.
+Arboriculture, 451 n.
+Archaeological Survey, 520 n.
+Architecture in India, 456.
+Aristotle, 341,524.
+Arjumand Bânô Bêgam, 315 n., 325.
+Armenian tombs, 335 n.
+Arms, license to carry, 246 n.
+Army, value of native Indian, 632.
+Arrian quoted, 285.
+Arsenic, poisoning by, 86 n.
+Art in India, 379.
+Âsaf Khân (1), Akbar's general, 191 n.; (2) brother of Nûr Jahân,
+328, 329, 332, 334.
+Âsaf-ud-daula, of Oudh, 641.
+Ascetics, 592 n.
+Asîrgarh, 163 n.
+Asoka, monolith pillars of, 493 n.
+Assaye, battle of, 600.
+Assassins, sect of, 491 n.
+Attar of roses, 216.
+Auchmuty, Sir Samuel, 619 n.
+Auckland, Lord, 291 n., 347 n., 563 n., 571.
+Aurangzêb, emperor, 273-6, 314, 335, 513.
+Austin de Bordeaux, 319, 516.
+_Avatâr_, 10, 45.
+Avicenna, 339, 524.
+Ayesha, story of, 198.
+Azam, Prince, 274 n.
+Azîm-ash-Shân, Prince, 275 n.
+Azîz Koka, 504 n.
+
+Bâbur, 527.
+Babylon, history of, 452.
+Badarpur, in Old Delhi, 486 n., 487 n.
+Bagree dacoits, xxxiii.
+Bahâdur Shâh (I), 275 n.; (II), 309 n., 501 n.
+Bâhmani dynasty, 458 n.
+_Baid_, defined, 107 n.
+Baijnâth shrine, 590.
+Bairâgîs, 300, 370, 591, 592 n.
+Baird, Sir David, 634, 640 n.
+Baitantî river, 209.
+Baiza Bâî, 303,466.
+Bajazet (Bâyazîd), Greek emperor, 531.
+Bâjî Râo, I and II, Peshwâs, 381 n.
+Bâjpai family, xxxii.
+Bajranggarh, Râjâ of, 293.
+_Bakshî_, or paymaster, 211.
+Bâlâ Bâi, 563.
+Balban, Sultan, 420 n., 488 n., 502.
+Baldêo (Bâladeva), (1) brother of Krishna, 379; (2) Singh, defender
+of Bharatpur, 360.
+Bali Râjâ, a demon, 2, 33.
+Ballabhgarh, 475.
+Ballot Act, 399 n.
+Bamboos, 311.
+Bamhauri, in Orchhâ State, 124, 172.
+_Bâna-linga_, 122 n., 141 n.
+Bânda, town, 78.
+_Baniyâ_, defined, 295 n.
+Banjâra tribe, 100.
+Bankers, Indian private, 409 n.
+Banks, Presidency, 424 n.
+Banyan tree, 385, 566 n.
+_Bâolî_, defined, 442, 446.
+Barber, as match-maker, 16.
+Barlow, Sir George, 271 n.
+Barnes, Sir B., C.-in-C-., 618 n., 619 n.
+Baroda, Gaikwâr of, 286.
+Barrackpore, mutiny at, 2.
+Barwâ Sâgar, 207.
+Basalt, 96-8, 113, 261, 268.
+_Basant_ festival, 501.
+Basrah (Bussorah), 199.
+Batavia, capture of, 691 n.
+Bathing, religions merit of, l.
+Bâwarias of Muzaffarnagar, 235 n.
+Beef, eating of, 194, 203.
+Bees, at Marble Rocks, 4.
+Bêgam Sarâi at Delhi, 510 n.
+Belemnites, fossil, 121.
+Benares, city, 25, 103 n.; province, 434 n.
+Bengal, permanent settlement of, 64 n.; Islam in, 424 n.;
+territories, defined, 553 n.; river thuggee in, 652.
+Bentinck, Lord William, 109, 321 n., 341 n., 445, 547, 548, 571, 614,
+618, 619 n., 632 n.
+Berâr, kingdom, 156 n., 458 n.
+Bernier, (1) François, on suttee, 26 n., 47 n.; historical work of,
+273 n.; (2) Major, 606.
+Betel leaf, 216 n.
+Betiyâ (Bettia), Christian colony at. 11, 13 n.
+_Bhâgavata Purâna_, 10 n.
+_Bhagvân_ = Vishnu = God, 2.
+Bharat, brother of Râma, 374, 382.
+Bharatpur (Bhurtpore), sieges of, 116, 355, 359-62, 377, 562 n.
+Bherâghât (-garh), 1, 6, 18, 54.
+Bhîl tribes, 295.
+Bhîlsâ, town, 264.
+Bhôjpur, 146.
+Bhonslâs of Nâgpur, 103 n., 286, 292, 381.
+Bhopâl, 238.
+_Bhrigu-pâtâ_ sacrifice, 103 n.
+_Bhûmiâwat_, 245-52.
+_Bhûmkâ_, 60 n.
+Bhurtpore, see Bharatpur.
+Biâs river, (1) = Hyphasis, in Panjâb, 3 n., 165 n.; (2) in Central
+Provinces, 204, 290.
+Bîdar kingdom, 458 n.
+_Bîghâ_, defined, 453 n.
+Bihârî Mall, Râjâ, 348 n.
+Bîjâpur, great gun at, 241 n.; fall of, 286 n.; kingdom, 458 n.
+Bindâchal, 590.
+Bindrâban (Brindâban), 120.
+Bird, Robert Merttins, 575 n.
+Birjû Bâulâ, singer, 562.
+Bîrsingh Dêo, Râjâ, 134, 164 n., 232, 237.
+Black buck, 236 n.; Hole, 582.
+Blake, Mr., murder of, 503, 504 n.
+Blights, 193-8.
+Boigne, General de, 271.
+Bombay land System, 576.
+Borak, Muhammad's donkey, 541.
+Bow, use of, 80.
+Brahmâ, god, 7, 9, 45 n., 376 n., 594.
+Brahmans forbid marriage of widows, 26; sacrificed, 46.
+Bruce, Captain, (1) brother of (2), 270; (2) James, traveller, 270 n.
+Budha Gupta, king, 55 n.
+Budhuk dacoits, xxxv.
+Buffaloes, sacrificed, 46 n.
+Bulâkî, Prince, 334.
+_Buland Darwâza_, 352 n.
+Bullocks, price of, 437.
+Bundêla Râjpûts, 144 n., 185.
+Bundêlkhand, 94 n., 111, 112, 149, 185, 207, 209 n., 227.
+Bundêlkhandî dialects, 188 n.
+Burial, alive, 570; customs, 218 n.
+Burn, Lieut.-Col., 421 n.
+Bussorah, see Basrah.
+Buxar, battle of, 338 n.
+
+Cairo, mosques at, 494 n.
+Calcutta, commercial crisis of 1883 at, 422.
+Canals, 158 n.
+Cannibalism, 152.
+Capital, foreign, 422.
+Carpets made at Jhânsî, 217, 241.
+Caste, 45-51.
+Cattle-poisoning, 86 n.
+Cawnpore, rise of, 445 n.
+Ceded provinces, 434 n.
+Census, 194 n.
+Central India, 178.
+Central Provinces, 57 n., 94 n.
+Chambal river, 301, 303.
+_Chambêlî_, or jasmine, 33.
+Champat Râî, Bundêla, 190 n.
+_Chandamirt_ (_chandan mirt_), 141, 588, 593.
+Chand Bardâi, poet, 190 n.
+Chandêl Râjpûts, 144 n., 178 n., 185, 189.
+Chandêrî State, 193, 251, 293.
+_Chândnî Chauk_, Delhi, 604 n.
+Chandra, Râjâ, 498 n.
+_Chaprâsî_, or orderly, 74 n.
+_Cheonkal_ (_chhonkar_) tree, 174.
+Cherry, Mr., murder of, 473.
+Chhatarpur State, 192.
+Chhatarsâl, Râjâ, 94, 193.
+Chick-pea, or gram, 414 n.
+Chiefs' colleges, 256 n.
+China, land tenure in, 423; Tîmûr's designs on, 533.
+Chingîz Khan, 535.
+_Chîtal_, spotted deer, 244 n.
+Chitôr, towers at, 493 n.
+Chitragupta, secretary to Yamarâja, 9.
+Chitrakôt, 95.
+Cholera, beliefs about, 163, 232.
+Christians, 11-13, 335, 424.
+Chuhârî, Christian colony at, 13 n.
+_Cicer arietinum_, gram, 150 n.
+Cis-Sutlaj States, 476 n.
+Cities, growth of, 455.
+Civil Service of India, 426 n., 649.
+Clerk, Sir George, 90 n.
+Coal, 230, 231 n.
+Codes, 65 n., 66 n.
+Coins, of Nûrjahân, 333 n.; of Sikhs, 477 n.; largesse, 479 n.
+Colebrooke, Sir B., 461.
+Combermere, Lord, 355 n., 359, 618.
+Concan, _see_ Konkan.
+Conquered Provinces, 434 n.
+Corn laws, 574.
+Cornwallis, Lord, second administration of, 460 n.
+Corporal punishment, _see_ Flogging.
+Corruption, official, 403.
+Cotton, soil, black, 94 n., 149 n., 258 n.; -tree, 385.
+'Covenanted' service, 426 n.
+Cow, veneration of, 163, 202.
+Criminal tribes, 234 n., 557 n.; law, 305 n.
+Crooke, Mr. William, xix; on veneration of the cow, 163 n.
+Cubbon, Sir Mark, 90 n.
+Customs, inland, 347 n.; hedge, 426 n.
+
+Dacoits, Sleeman's books on, xxxiii, xxxv, 89.
+_Daityas_, bad spirits, 10.
+Dalhousie, Lord, xxv; annexation policy of, 187 n.
+Damoh, town, 76.
+Dâniyâl, Prince, 334.
+Dârâ Shikoh, Prince, 272-4, 511-13 n.
+Darbhanga, 51.
+_Dargâh_, defined, 568 n.
+Dasahara ceremonies, 175 n., 241 n., 293, 296.
+Dasân river, 108.
+Dasaratha, Râjâ, 382.
+Datiyâ, Râjâ of, 193, 221, 226.
+_Datûra_, poisoning, 82-6.
+Daulatâbâd, 490.
+Daulat Râo Sindhia, 563.
+Davis, Mr., gallant defence by, 474 n.
+Dâwar Baksh, Prince, 334.
+De Boigne, _see_ Boigne, General de.
+Deccan, geology of, 97 n., 114 n,; kingdoms of, 285; early history
+of, 457.
+Deeg, _see_ Dîg.
+Delhi, territories, 420 n., 448, 459 n.; province, 459 n.; defended
+by Burn, 421; old city of, 486-503; Sultans of, 488 n.; new city of,
+504-30; Jâmi Masjid at, 514; Motî Masjid at, 514 n.; palace at, 515-
+19; peacock throne at, 517; books about, 519 n.; taken by Tîmûr, 529.
+Denudation, sub-aerial, 138 n.
+Deorî, town, 124, 129.
+De Thevenot, _see_ Thevenot, de.
+_Devas_, good spirits, 10.
+Devî, goddess, 7, 593.
+Devil, Muhammadan myth of, 537.
+Devils, 223 n.
+Dhamonî, 110.
+Dhandêla Râjpûts, 187.
+_Dhanuk_ jag festival, 173.
+_Dharmsâlâ_, defined, 568 n.
+_Dhaû_ (_Lythrum fructuosum_) tree, 237.
+Dhîmar caste, 76.
+Dhôlpur State, 272, 302-10.
+Diamonds, great, 290.
+Dîg (Deeg), garden at, 364; battle at, 421, 566 n.
+_Dînâî_, slow poison, 142.
+Dinapore, 341.
+Discipline, military, xxxiii, 615-40.
+Diseases, Hindoo notions about, 168.
+Districts, civil, size of, 646 n.
+_Dîwân-i-Âmm_, at Delhi, 515.
+_Dîwân-i-Khâs_, at Delhi, 517.
+_Dîwanî_, grant of, 500.
+_Doâb_ defined, 233 n.
+Dost Muhammad, 291.
+Drowning, suicide by, 219.
+Dubois, _Hindu Manners_, xix.
+Dudrenec, Monsieur, 603.
+Durgâvatî, queen, 190.
+Dutch factory at Agra, 335.
+Dyce, Colonel, 611.
+Dyce-Sombre, Mr., 595, 610.
+
+Education, of young nobles, 256 n.; Muhammadan and English, 523, 524
+n.
+Egypt, expedition to, 634, 640 n.
+Electricity, 311.
+Elephant-drivers, 50.
+Elichpur (Îlichpur), 156.
+Ellis, Mr., at Patna, 597.
+Ellora, 8 n.; 653.
+Epidemics, 161-72.
+Epilepsy, 221.
+Eran, pillar at, 55.
+_Erythrina arborescens_, or coral-tree, 74 n.
+Etâwah, Thuggee in, 652.
+Evil eye, 168.
+Exogamy, 144 n.
+Exorcisers, 168.
+
+Fairs, 1.
+Fakîrs, 370, 591, 592 n.
+Famine, of 1833, 148; policy, 150; in Mâlwâ, 441 n.
+Fanshawe, H. C., on Delhi, 520 n.
+Farhad, poet, 136.
+Farîdâbâd (Farîdpur), 479, 480 n.
+Farîd-ud-dîn Ganj Shakar, saint, 507 n.
+Faringia (Feringheea), Thug, 78.
+Farrukhsîyar, emperor, 275 n.
+Fathpur-Sîkrî, 351-8.
+_Fatwa_, defined, 200 n., 536.
+Fergusson, on Indian architecture, 359 n.
+Fertility, diminution of, 413 n.,415.
+Feudal System, 145, 578 n.
+_Ficus religiosa_, pîpal tree, 205 n.
+Filose, Jean Baptiste, 115 n., 293, 296.
+Finch, traveller, quoted, 324 n.
+Fîrôzâbâd at Delhi, 497 n.
+Fîrôzpur, 420, 459.
+Fîrôz Shâh Tughlak, deported Thugs, 652.
+Fish, Persian order of, 135, 137; eating, 307.
+Flattery, 243.
+Flax plant, 195.
+Flogging in army, 616-22, 637.
+Fontenne, de, maiden name of Lady Sleeman, xxiii.
+Forest department, 451 n.
+Forester, Lady, 612 n.
+Fortresses, insalubrity of, 111.
+Fossils, 98, 121.
+_Francolinus vulgaris_, black partridge, 44 n.
+Fraser, Mr. C., xxiii, 89 n.; Mr. Hugh, xxiv; Major-General, 89 n.;
+Mr. W., murder of, 420, 458-75.
+Frederick the Great, 625, 629.
+Fullerton, Dr., 597.
+Funeral obsequies, 620 n.
+Furse, Mrs., sister of author, xxv n., xxx.
+Futtehpore Seekree, see Fathpur-Sîkrî.
+Fyzâbâd, 457 n., 641.
+
+Gabriel, angel, 37.
+Gaîkwâr of Baroda, 286.
+Galen, 339, 524.
+Gandak river, 121 n.
+Ganges river, 6, 17; water, 141 n., 588, 594.
+Gardiner (Gardner), Colonel, 346.
+Garhâ, Rânî of, 56, 73.
+Garhâ Kota, 293.
+Garhâ Mandla, xxxii, 190.
+_Gârpagrî_, hail-charmer, 60 n,.
+Gaur, 330 n.
+Gaurî Sankar, 6, 54.
+Geronimo Veroneo, 320 n.
+Ghaznî, 454 n.
+Ghiyâs-ud-dîn, Khwâja, 328.
+Ghorapachhâr rivers, 298.
+Ghosts, 221-6.
+Ghulâm Kâdir, 338 n.
+Gipsies, 535, 557 n.
+God, ninety-nine names of, 323 n.
+Gohad, Rânâ of, 270-2, 302.
+Golconda, fall of, 286 n.; kingdom of, 458 n.
+Gonds, xxxii, 68, 102, 128, 221, 384.
+Gondwâna rocks, 231 n.
+Gosâîns, 218, 370, 591, 592 n.
+Govardhan, 337,371-83.
+Gram, 197, 198 n., 227, 414 n.
+Grasses, 124.
+Groves, 260, 433-41, 444, 565.
+Guinea-worm, 77.
+Gûjar caste, 192, 469 n.
+Gujarât, 149, 441.
+_Gulistan_, quoted, 401.
+Guns made in India, 241.
+Gûrkhas (Gôrkhâs), 350, 625 n.
+Guru Govind, 477 n.
+Gwâlior State, 258-70, 292, 294, 299; city, 262; fortress, 266-71.
+
+Hâfiz Rahmat Khân, 599.
+Hâjî Bêgam, 511 n.
+_Hakîm_ defined, 107 n.
+Hamîda Bâno Bêgam, 511 n.
+Hânsî, 604 n., 605 n.
+Hanumân, monkey-god, 27, 300, 371, 374.
+Hardaul, Lâlâ, legend of, 162-5, 232.
+Hardinge, Lord (Viscount), letter to, xxix n.
+Hasan, 483 n.
+Hastings, Lord (Marquis of), 229, 292, 321, 381 n.
+Haunted villages, 221-6.
+Hawking, 237.
+Hay in Bundêlkhand, 124.
+Herbert, Sir Thomas, quoted, 332 n.
+Hervey, _Some Records of Crime_, xxvi.
+High Courts, 555 n.
+Hiliyâ (Haliyâ) Pass, 444 n.
+Himâlaya, v, xxiv.
+Hinduism, 176.
+Hippocrates, 339, 524.
+Hirtius, nom de plume of author, xxxi.
+Holî, festival, 204, 483 n.
+Holkar dynasty, 286, 381.
+Horal (Hodal), town, 426.
+Hornets, 56.
+Human sacrifice, 46 n., 101.
+Humâyûn, emperor, tomb of, 511.
+Husain. 483 n.
+Hyderâbâd Contingent, 156 n.
+Hyphasis (Biâs) river, 3, 165.
+
+Iblîs, the devil, 538.
+Ibn Batuta, traveller, 488 n.
+Ibrâhîm Lodi, Sultan, 269.
+_Id-ul-Bakr_ festival, 163 n.
+Îltutmish, Sultan, 269; buildings of, 492, 494 n., 495 n., 497, 500;
+tomb of, 501.
+Imam Mashhadî, tomb of, 503.
+Imâm-ud-dîn Ghazzâlî, 341 n., 524. Imperial Service Troops, 280 n.
+Impressment, 184, 628.
+India, people of, vi; population of, 38 n.
+Indore State, 286, 292.
+Indra, god, 2, 10, 33.
+Industries, 159 n.
+Infanticide, 28.
+Inheritance, law of, 578.
+Invalid establishment, 640.
+Iron mines, 93, 230; pillar of Delhi, 498.
+Islam in Lower Bengal, 424 n.
+Isle of France (Mauritius), 311, 620 n., 622.
+Itimâd-ud-daula, 326-9.
+
+Jabalpur, _see_ Jubbulpore.
+Jack-tree, 225.
+Jagannâth, shrine of, 589.
+_Jâgîrdârs_, 181.
+Jahânârâ Bêgam, tomb of, 510.
+Jahângîr, (1) emperor, 111 n., 333, 452, 568 n., mother of, 348 n.;
+birth of, 351, 355; (2) Mirzâ, tomb of, 509.
+Jain statues at Gwâlior, 267 n.
+Jaipur State, xxxii, 503.
+Jaitpur, Râj of, 193 n.
+Jalâl-ud-dîn, Fîrôz Shâh Khiljî, 489.
+Jâlaun State, 185, 193.
+Jamâldehî Thugs, 82.
+Jang Bahâdur, Sir, 598 n.
+Jasmine, 33.
+Jâts (Jats), 307, 380 n.; outrages of, 354 n.; and Râjpûts, 476 n.
+Java, conquest of, 619, 640 n.
+Jaxartes, river, 532.
+Jesuit missionaries, 337 n.
+Jesus, inscription quoting, 354, 504.
+Jeswant Râo Holkar, 165, 421, 474 n.
+Jhajjar, Nawâb of, 474.
+Jhânsî State, 185, 193 n., 209-19.
+_Jhirni_, Thug signal, 81.
+Jodh Bâî, tomb of, 348.
+Johilâ river, 14, 16.
+Johnson (Johnstone), Bêgam, 580.
+Jubbulpore (Jabalpur), xxiii, 1, 29, 58, 71.
+Julius Caesar, Bishop, 594.
+
+Kâbul, mission of Burnes to, 417 n.
+Kailâs temple, 8 n.
+_Kalas_ custom, 179.
+_Kali_ age, 522 n.
+Kâlî, goddess, 141 n.
+_Kalpa Briksha_ tree, 74.
+Kâm Baksh, Prince, 274 n.
+Kanauj, ancient city, 454.
+Kandêlî, Thug village, xxii.
+Karaulî State, 293.
+Karbalâ, battle of, 483 n.
+Kârtikeya, god, 259 n.
+Kâsim, Mîr (Kâsim Alî Khân), 596-9.
+Katrâ Pass, 127, 445 n.
+_Kaukabas_, 136.
+Kedârnâth temple, 592 n.
+Kerahi (Kerâi) Pass, 445 n.
+Khajurâho, temples at, 193 n.
+Khalîfate, the, 483 n.
+Khân Azam, 333.
+_Kharîtâ_ defined, 134 n.
+_Kharwâ_ cloth, 228 n.
+Khusrû, (1) Parvîz, King of Persia, 135; (2) Prince, son of Jahângîr,
+333; (3) poet, tomb of, 507.
+Khwâja Ghiâs-ud-dîn, 326.
+Kohinûr diamond, 288-91, 513 n.
+Kôil, battle of, 566 n.
+Konkan (Concan), 225.
+Korân, origin of, 481.
+Kosî, 424.
+_Kotwâl_ defined, 154 n.
+Krishna, legends of. 11, 371-5.
+Kumâra, god, 259 n.
+Kunbî caste, 381 n.
+Kurmî caste, 130.
+Kutb Mînâr, 492-7, 504; mosque, 497.
+Kutb-ud-dîn, (1) Khan, 330; (2) Sultan, 494n.; (3) Khwâja, saint of
+Ûsh, 494 n., 500 n.
+
+Lachhman, brother of Râma, 382.
+Lachhmî Bâî, Rânî of Jhansî, 193 n., 220 n.
+Lahar fort, 270 n.
+Lake, Lord, 359, 377, 380, 421, 561, 643.
+Lakes, artificial, 63, 178.
+Land-revenue, 61 n., 63 n., 68 n.
+Laswârî, battle of, 116, 566 n.
+Laterite, 92.
+_Lathyrus_, poisonous species of, 104.
+Leprosy, 215 n.
+Le Vaisseau, Monsieur, 603-10.
+Linseed, 195.
+Liverpool, Earl of, 580.
+Lodhî caste, 130 n.
+Looting shops, custom of, 294.
+Lotus, 109 n.
+Lowis, Captain, xxxiii.
+Lucknow, author Resident at, xxv; an ancient city, 457 n.
+Lûdiâna, 3, 290.
+
+Macaulay, 341 n., 547 n.
+Madras system of land settlement, 576.
+_Mahâbhârata_, 5, 10, 103 n., 522.
+Mâhâdajî (Mâdhojî) Sindhia, 271, 563.
+Mahâdêo (Siva), god, 7, 8, 9, 45 n., 103 n., 141 n.; oracle of, 484;
+sandstones, 102.
+_Mahî Marâtib_, 135, 137 n.
+Mahârâjpur, battle of, xxv, 271 n.
+Mahmûd of Ghaznî, 454.
+Mahoba, town, 189, 193 n.
+Maihar, Râjâ of, 127, 593.
+Maille, Claudius, 560.
+Makwânpur, fort, 598.
+Malcolm, Sir John, 229.
+_Mâlguzârî_ tenure, 144.
+Mâlwâ, province, 149, 238, 239 n., 451.
+Mandêsar, Thug burying-place, xxii.
+_Mansabdârs_, 283 n.
+Mân Singh, (1) Râjâ of Gwâlior, 276 n.; (2) Râjâ of Jaipur (Ambêr),
+333.
+Mansûr Alî Khân, tomb of, 506, 544 n.
+Manucci, on Akbar, 325 n., 354 n.
+Manuscript works of author, xxxvii.
+Marâthâs, 294; defeated, 421 n., 566 n.
+Marble Rocks, 1; quarries, 318.
+Marriage, of trees, 32, 122, 143; of Hindoos, 37-40.
+Maryam-uz-Zamânî, queen of Akbar, 348 n.
+Mashhad (Meshed), 288.
+Material progress of India. 414 n.
+Mathurâ (Muttra), 383.
+Mau (Mhow), town, 247.
+Mauritius, 311 n., 620 n.
+_Mauza_ defined, 60 n.
+Medicine, systems of, 107, 571.
+Meerut, military and civil station, xxiv, 80, 544 n., 567-70, 579;
+sacked by Tîmûr, 529.
+Megpunnaism (Megpunnia Thugs), xxxii, 91, 593 n.
+Metcalfe, Sir Charles, 347, 461, 563 n.
+Meteors, 34-7.
+Mewâtîs, 420.
+Mihrauli, tombs at, 500 n.
+Mihr-un-nisâ, 328 n.; _see_ Nûr Jahân.
+Military discipline, xxxiii, 615-40.
+_Mînârs_, 492 n.
+Mîr Jumla, _see_ Amîr Jumla.
+Miracles, 337.
+Mirzâpur, 250, 445.
+_Mishkât-ul-Masâbih_, 35.
+Missionaries, Jesuit, 337 n.
+Mogul (Moghal, Mughal), defined, 80 n.; raids, 490.
+Molony, Report on Narsinghpur, xxxvii.
+Monastic orders, 592.
+Monghyr (Mungêr), 642.
+Monkeys, 383.
+Monson's retreat, 474, 566 n.
+Months, Hindoo, l.
+_Motî Masjid_ (mosque), 322.
+Muazzam, Prince, 274 n.
+Muhammad, Ghorî, Sultan, 269 n.; Shâh, 291 n., 518; tomb of, 510; son
+of Îsâ, architect, 319 n.; bin Tughlak, Sultan, 457 n., 487 n.
+Muhammadabad, in old Delhi, 487.
+Muhammadan schools, 480; year, 482; prayers, 489.
+Muharram celebrations, 482.
+Mumtâz-i-Mahall, 315, 325.
+_Music of Hindostan_, by Strangways, 561 n.
+
+Nâbhâ, chief of, 476.
+Nâdir, Shâh, 288, 510, 516.
+Nâgaudh (Nâgod), 33 n.
+Nâgpur (Nagpore), Bhonslâs of, 286, 292.
+Nâhan, Râjâ of, 209 n.
+Najaf Khân, 599.
+Nânâ Sâhib, 381 n.
+Narsinghpur, xxii, xxxvii, 167.
+Nasîr-ud-din of Tûs, 341, 524.
+Nepâl, war with, xxi, 122, 598, 636.
+Nerbudda (Narbadâ) river, 2, 5, 14, 17, 18, 203.
+Newspapers, 640.
+News-writers, 249 n., 388 n.
+_Nîlgâi_, a kind of antelope, 244.
+Nineveh, history of, 452.
+_nisâr_ coins, 479 n.
+Nizâmuddîn Auliyâ, saint, 490-2, 507.
+Noer, Count von, on Akbar, 324 n.
+Norman-French formula, 475.
+North-Western Provinces, 434 n.
+Nûr Jahân, 325 n., 329, 332, 568 n.
+Nûr Mahall, 325 n., 329, 332.
+
+Oaths, 391.
+Obsequies, funeral, 620 n.
+Ochterlony, Sir David, 598 n., 635.
+_Ocymum sanctum_, basil or _tulasî_ plant, 121 n.
+Og (Ûj), King, legend of, 374.
+O'Halloran, Major-General Sir Joseph, 344 n.
+Omar ('Umar), Khalif, 199 n.
+Omens, taken by Thugs and robbers, 297, 651.
+Opium department, 324 n.
+Oracle of Mahâdêo, 484.
+Orchhâ, State and Râjâ of, 132, 139, 193 n., 251 n.
+Orpheus, mosaic of, 516.
+O'Shaughnessy, Dr. W. B., scientific publications of, 571 n.
+Osman (Othman), Khalîf, a Sunnî, 48 n., 483 n.
+Otaheite sugar-cane, 208.
+Oudh (Oude), Sleeman's work in, xxiv-xxvii; _A Journey through_,
+xxxvi; MS. history of reigning family of, xxxvii; infanticide in, 28
+n.; Jamâldehî Thugs in, 82; recruits from, 146, 624; annexation of,
+187 n.; disorder in, 248,252; Chief Commissioner of, 347 n.; Nawâb
+Wazîrs of, 473 n.; magisterial powers in, 552 n.; capitals of, 641;
+Thuggee in, 653.
+
+Paintings, Indian, 379.
+_Pakkâ_ defined, 435 n.
+Palace at Delhi, 515.
+Palwal, town, 452.
+_Pân_, 216, 454.
+Pândavas, 5.
+Pânîpat, third battle of, 298 n.
+Panjâb (Punjab), annexation of, 478 n., 625 n.
+Panj (Pânch) Mahâl tract, 124 n. Panna State and Râjâ, 95 n., 250 n.
+Panther, 115.
+Paoli, Mr., 600.
+Paralysis, caused by eating _Lathyrus sativus_, 104.
+Parents, murder of indigent, xxxii; reverence for, 254.
+Pariahs, 120.
+Parihâr, Râjpûts, 143.
+Parmâl, Chandêl Râjâ, 189 n.
+Partâbgarh in Oudh, xxii, 248.
+Partition, 278 n.
+Partridge, black, 44, 118.
+Pârvatî, goddess, 9, 141 n.
+_Patêl_ defined, 221.
+'Pathân', as a misnomer, 488 n.
+Patharia, town, 91.
+Patiâlâ, chief of, 476.
+Patna, massacre of, 597.
+Pawâr Râjpûts, 187, 189.
+Pay of Indian army, 617, 622, 640.
+Peacock throne, 517.
+Peacocks, 259, 411.
+Pensions of Indian army, 632, 640-4.
+Perjury, 407, 412.
+Permanent settlement, 64 n., 577 n.
+Persian, order of the Fish, 135; wheel, 147.
+Peshwâs, the, 192, 236, 381 n.
+_Phânsîgars_ = Tugs, xxxi.
+_Phoceus baya_, weaver bird, 117 n.
+Pilgrims, 588-94.
+Pillars, monolithic, 493.
+Pindhârîs, 130 n., 292-4, 297.
+_Pîpal_ tree, 205, 385, 442, 447, 566 n_.
+Piper betel_, 216 n.
+Pîr Muhammad, heir of Tîmûr, 534.
+Plassey, battle of, 338 n.
+Plato, 341, 524.
+Poisoners, 82-6.
+Police, Indian, 544-61, 647.
+Political economy, 157, 160.
+Popham, Major, 270.
+Population of India, 38 n.
+_Portax pictus, nîlgâi_ antelope, 244 n.
+Portuguese at Agra, 336 n.
+_Prâyaschit_ defined, 215.
+Predestination, 511.
+Press-gang, 184 n.
+Primogeniture, 180, 277, 578.
+Prinsep, James, discoveries of, 493.
+Prithî Râj, 498-500.
+Processions, 168.
+Property in land, 449 n.
+Proprietors of land, 576.
+Public spirit of Hindoos, xxxiii, 442-51.
+_Purânas_, the, 10, 338 n.
+Puri town, 589 n.
+_Purôhit_ defined, 140 n.
+Purveyance system, 41-4.
+
+Queen, river Nerbudda as a, 14.
+Quinine, 107 n.
+
+Raghugarh, Râjâ of, 293.
+Rainbow myth, 35.
+Râipur town, 72.
+Râjpûts, 144.
+Râma and Sîtâ, 10, 74, 174, 371, 376.
+_Ramaseeana_, xxxi.
+Râmâyana, 484.
+Râmesvaram (Ramisseram), 592 n.
+_Râmlîlâ_, 104.
+Râmnagar, 25.
+Râmpur, Nawâb of, 87, 649.
+Ranjit Singh, (1) Maharaja of the Panjâb, 291, 297; (2) Râjâ of
+Bharatpur (Bhurtpore), 377, 380.
+Râvan, 377.
+Râwalpindi, military station, 545 n.
+Raziâ, Sultan ('empress'), 501 n.
+Reglioni (properly Regholini), General (Monsieur), 594.
+Regulations, VII of 1822 and IX of 1833, 575 n.
+Reinhard, Walter (Sombre), 596.
+Rent Acts, 62 n.
+'Resumption' of revenue-free lands, 564,
+River thuggee, xxxiii, 652.
+Rîwâ (Rewah) State, 24,
+Roads, 301.
+Roe, Sir Thomas, ambassador, 351, 452.
+Rupee, value of, 77 n., 342 n., 583 n.
+Ryotwâr System, 576.
+
+Saâdat Alî Khân of Oudh, 473 n., 565.
+Sacrifice, human, 46 n., 101.
+Sâdî (Sa'dî), Shaikh, poet, 75, 401, 410, 524.
+Sadr Amîn, Subordinate Judge, 646 n.
+Safdar Jang, tomb of, 507 n., 544 n.
+Sâgar (Saugor), 41, 92, 100, 161; and Nerbudda Territories, 57 n., 94
+n., 110 n., 112 n.
+_Sâlagrâms_, ammonites, 121.
+Saleur, Monsieur, 610.
+Salîm, Prince, 350; Shaikh, 350, 362 n., 354.
+Salt manufacture, 260, 347 n., 428 n.
+_Samadh_ defined, 570.
+Samarkand, 530.
+Samrû (Sumroo), Bêgam, 504, 545; death of, 567; history of, 594-615;
+character of, 613.
+Samthar, Râjâ of, 191.
+Sânsias, criminal tribe, 234 n.
+Sarasvatî, consort of Brahmâ, 7 n.
+Sardhana, 594-615.
+Sassanians of Persia, 137.
+Sâtârâ, Râjâ of, 286, 381.
+Satî, _see_ Suttee.
+Sâtpura, mountains, 52.
+Scape-goat, 162-6.
+Schools, Muhammadan, 480.
+Science in India, 587.
+Sebastê, city, 532.
+Sects, Muhammadan, 49 n.
+Secunderabad, military station, 545 n.
+Seniority, promotion by, 622, 632.
+'Settlements' of land revenue, 434 n., 575.
+Shâh Âlam, 137 n., 338, 563 n.
+Shahgarh, Râjâ of, 72, 114.
+Shâh Jahân, emperor, 314, 316, 320, 504, 510, 513, 560, 561 n.; Thugs
+in reign of, 652; sons of, 273.
+Shâhjahânâbâd, or New Delhi, 504.
+Shahryâr, Prince, 334.
+Shams-ud-dîn, Nawâb, 420, 458-75.
+Sharaf-ud-dîn, historian, 533.
+Shêr Afgan, 329-31.
+Shêr Khan (Shâh), 270.
+Sherwood, Dr., early writer on Thuggee, 653.
+Shîa sect, 48 n., 483 n.
+Shihâb-ud-dîn, Sultan, 269 n.
+Shîrîn, queen, 136.
+Shore, F. J., 44 n., 90; Sir John, 473 n., 605, 609.
+Sikandar Lodi, Sultan, 357 n.
+Sikandara (Secundra), Akbar's tomb at, 323, 354 n., 358 n.
+Sikh government, 381.
+Sikhs, history of, 477 n.
+Sîkrî, 351; _see_ Fathpur-Sîkrî.
+Simla, trip to Gungoolee from, xxxvii.
+Sindh river, 258.
+Sindhia family, 271 n., 286, 294, 381.
+Sindhia's territory, 258; _see_ Gwâlior State.
+_Singhâra_, or water-nut, 76.
+Sirâj-ud-daula, 581.
+Sîtâ Baldî Râmesar, 592.
+Siva, god, 6, 7 n., 9, 45 n., 103 n., 141 n., 376 n., 588, 591.
+Sivâjî, 381.
+Skanda, god, 259 n.
+Skinner, Colonel, 463, 612 n.
+Slavery in India, 282.
+Sleeman, Captain J. L., xx, xxx, 652; Captain Philip, xxi; Lady
+xxiii, xxxvi; Sir W. H., memoir of, xx-xxx; works of, xxxi-xxxvii, 89
+n.; James, xxx; Henry Arthur, xxx; William Henry, xxx.
+Small-pox, 169-72.
+Smith, F. G., 90; B. W., on Akbar's tomb, 323 n.; on Fathpur Sîkrî,
+351 n.
+Society in India, 582.
+Sombre, _see_ Samrû.
+Sôn river, 14, 16.
+Spotted deer, 244.
+Spry, Dr., works of, 99 n.
+Statistics, falsified, 554 n.
+Stephen, Carr, on Delhi, 520 n.
+Subdivision of property, 432.
+Succession to crown, 239.
+Sugar-mills, 207-9.
+Suicide, vow of, 103.
+Sulaimân Shikoh, Prince, 272.
+Sultans of Delhi, 488 n.
+Sumroo, _see_ Samrû.
+Sunnî sect, 48 n.
+Supreme (Superior) Court, 555 n.
+Sûraj Mall, Râjâ, 364 n., 378, 567.
+Survey myths, 201.
+Suttee, 18-31, 47, 109.
+Swallows, 353.
+Sweepers, 45, 49.
+
+Taboos, 134 n.
+Tâj, the, 312-21.
+Tamarind tree, 566.
+Tamerlane, _see_ Tîmûr.
+Tânda, town, 330.
+Tânsên, singer, 561, 562 n.
+Tarmasharîn, Moghal, 490, 507, 529, 535.
+_Tasmabâz_ Thugs, 91.
+Tavernier, traveller, 316, 320 n.
+Taylor, Col. Meadows, _Confessions of a Thug_, 89 n., 653.
+Taxation, indirect, 427; in England and India, 485.
+Tehrî, town, 132, 143.
+Teignmouth, Lord, 473 n.
+Telescope, 543.
+_Thagî_, _see_ Thuggee and Thugs.
+_Thânadârs_, 547.
+Thessalonica, massacre of, 402.
+Thevenot, de, quoted, 335; described Thuggee, 652.
+Thomas, George, adventurer, 603-8.
+Thuggee, 77-91,650-3.
+Thugs, venerate Nizâmuddîn, 491 n.; on the Bêgam's boundary, 545;
+method of suppressing, 556 n.; disguised as ascetics, 592 n.
+Tieffenthaler, Father, 336 n.
+Tiger myths, 124-9.
+Tîmûr, sack of Delhi by, 497 n.; history of, 527-34.
+Tonk, Nawâb of, 66 n.
+Tours, battle of, 513.
+Trade, free, 160; Indian, 409 n.
+Trap, Deccan, 97 n., 269 n.
+Trees, marriage of, 32, 122, 143; sacred, 386 n.
+Tughlak Shâh, 486.
+Tughlakâbâd, 486, 489.
+Tulasî Dâs, poet, 123 n.
+_Tulsî_ (_tulasî_) plant, 121.
+Tûs, or Mashhad, _q.v._, 341 n.
+
+Uchahara State, 33, 148 n.
+Ûj (Og), legend of, 374.
+Ujjain (Ujain), 146 n.
+Ulwar (Alwar) State, xxxii.
+'Uncovenanted' service, 426.
+United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, 434 n.
+United States, war with, 628 n.
+Universities, Indian, 256 n.
+_Urs_, defined, 568 n.
+Ûsh in Persia, 494 n., 500 n.
+Usmân, _see_ Osman.
+
+Vaccination, 171 n.
+Vagrancy laws, 370.
+Vaikuntha, heaven of Vishnu, 8.
+Vegetius quoted, 626 n., &c. Venî-dânam, offering of hair, 56 n.
+Veracity, 383-411.
+Village communities, 394.
+Villages, 60.
+Vindhya mountains, 62.
+Vindhyan sandstones, 62 n.
+Vishnu, god, 2, 7 n., 9, 141 n., 376 n., 588, 591.
+
+Warôrâ coalfield, 231 n.
+Washermen, 45.
+Water offerings, 141, 693.
+Water-nut, or -chestnut, 76.
+Watts, Governor, 581 n.
+Wazîr Alî of Oudh, 473.
+Weaver-bird, 173 n.
+Wellesley, Marquis, 473 n.
+Wells, 363, 435-41; songs sung at, 561 n.
+Western Provinces, defined, 574 n.
+Wheat, blight on, 195.
+Widow-burning, _see_ Suttee.
+Widows, sold by auction, xxii; remarriage of, 26.
+Wife, a duty of, 132 n.
+Wilkinson, (1) Mr. L., and (2) Major, 89 n.
+Wilton, Mr. John, 341 n.
+Window-tax, 485.
+Witchcraft, 68-73.
+Wolf-children, xxxv.
+Women, dress of, 18; offering of hair by, 56 n.; form of tomb of
+Muhammadan, 510 n.; secret murders of, 561 n.
+
+Yamarâja (Jamrâj), 9.
+Yudhisthira, 11, 522.
+
+Zafaryâb Khân, son of Sombre, 611.
+Zâlim Singh, freebooter, 129.
+Zamân Shâh, 289.
+Zamîndârî tenure, 144.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles and Recollections of an Indian
+Official, by William Sleeman
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles and Recollections of an Indian
+Official, by William Sleeman
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official
+
+Author: William Sleeman
+
+Release Date: March 27, 2005 [EBook #15483]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECOLLECTIONS INDIAN OFFICIAL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Philip H Hitchcock
+
+
+
+
+
+GENERAL SIR W. H SLEEMAN. K.C.B.
+
+RAMBLES
+AND
+RECOLLECTIONS
+OF AN
+INDIAN OFFICIAL
+
+BY
+
+MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.
+
+REVISED ANNOTATED EDITION
+BY
+VINCENT A. SMITH
+M.A. (DUBL. ET OXON.), M.R.A.S., F.R.N.S., LATE OF THE
+INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE,
+AUTHOR OF 'THE EARLY HISTORY OF INDIA'
+'A HISTORY OF FINE ART IN INDIA AND CEYLON'. ETC.
+
+HUMPHREY MILFORD
+OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
+LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW
+NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE BOMBAY
+1915
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+In producing this e-text the numerous notes have been moved to the
+end of their respective chapters and renumbered. The printed
+'Additions and Corrections' have been included in the relevant text.
+
+In the printed edition the spelling of certain words is not always
+consistent. This is especially true of the use of diacritical marks
+on certain words, even within a single page. This e-text attempts to
+reproduce the spellings exactly as used in the printed edition.
+
+The use of italics is shown as _italics_.
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S DEDICATION
+
+MY DEAR SISTER,
+
+Were any one to ask your countrymen in India what has been their
+greatest source of pleasure while there, perhaps nine in ten would
+say, the letters which they receive from their sisters at home.
+These, of all things, perhaps, tend most to link our affections with
+home by filling the landscapes, so dear to our recollections, with
+ever varying groups of the family circles, among whom our infancy and
+our boyhood have been passed; and among whom we still hope to spend
+the winter of our days.
+
+They have a very happy facility in making us familiar with the new
+additions made from time to time to the _dramatis personae_ of these
+scenes after we quit them, in the character of husbands, wives,
+children, or friends; and, while thus contributing so much to our
+happiness, they no doubt tend to make us better citizens of the
+world, and servants of government, than we should otherwise be, for,
+in our 'struggles through life in India', we have all, more or less,
+an eye to the approbation of those circles which our kind sisters
+represent--who may, therefore, be considered in the exalted light of
+a valuable species of _unpaid magistracy_ to the Government of India.
+
+No brother has ever had a kinder or better correspondent than I have
+had in you, my dear sister; and it was the consciousness of having
+left many of your valued letters unanswered, in the press of official
+duties, that made me first think of devoting a part of my leisure to
+you in these _Rambles and Recollections_, while on my way from the
+banks of the Nerbudda river to the Himalaya mountains, in search of
+health, in the end of 1835 and beginning of 1836. To what I wrote
+during that journey I have now added a few notes, observations, and
+conversations with natives, on the subjects which my narrative seemed
+to embrace; and the whole will, I hope, interest and amuse you and
+the other members of our family; and appear, perchance, not
+altogether uninteresting or uninstructive to those who are strangers
+to us both.
+
+Of one thing I must beg you to be assured, that I have nowhere
+indulged in fiction, either in the narrative, the recollections, or
+the conversations. What I relate on the testimony of others I believe
+to be true; and what I relate upon my own you may rely upon as being
+so. Had I chosen to write a work of fiction, I might possibly have
+made it a good deal more interesting; but I question whether it would
+have been so much valued by you, or so useful to others; and these
+are the objects I have had in view. The work may, perhaps, tend to
+make the people of India better understood by those of my own
+countrymen whose destinies are cast among them, and inspire more
+kindly feelings towards them. Those parts which, to the general
+reader, will seem dry and tedious, may be considered, by the Indian
+statesman, as the most useful and important.
+
+The opportunities of observation, which varied employment has given
+me, have been such as fall to the lot of few; but, although I have
+endeavoured to make the most of them, the time of public servants is
+not their own; and that of few men has been more exclusively devoted
+to the service of their masters than mine. It may be, however, that
+the world, or that part of it which ventures to read these pages,
+will think that it had been better had I not been left even the
+little leisure that has been devoted to them.
+
+Your ever affectionate brother,
+
+ W. H. SLEEMAN.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+AUTHOR'S DEDICATION
+
+EDITOR'S PREFACES
+
+MEMOIR
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+CHAPTER 1
+Annual Fairs held on the Banks of Sacred Streams in India
+
+CHAPTER 2
+Hindoo System of Religion
+
+CHAPTER 3
+Legend of the Nerbudda River
+
+CHAPTER 4
+A Suttee on the Nerbudda
+
+CHAPTER 5
+Marriages of Trees--The Tank and the Plantain--Meteors--Rainbows
+
+CHAPTER 6
+Hindoo Marriages
+
+CHAPTER 7
+The Purveyance System
+
+CHAPTER 8
+Religious Sects--Self-government of the Castes--Chimneysweepers--
+Washerwomen [1]--Elephant Drivers
+
+CHAPTER 9
+The Great Iconoclast--Troops routed by Hornets--The Rani of
+Garha--Hornets' Nests in India
+
+CHAPTER 10
+The Peasantry and the Land Settlement
+
+CHAPTER 11
+Witchcraft
+
+CHAPTER 12
+The Silver Tree, or 'Kalpa Briksha'--The 'Singhara', or _Trapa
+bispinosa_, and the Guinea-Worm
+
+CHAPTER 13
+Thugs and Poisoners
+
+CHAPTER 14
+Basaltic Cappings of the Sandstone Hills of Central India--Suspension
+Bridge--Prospects of the Nerbudda Valley--Deification of a Mortal
+
+CHAPTER 15
+Legend of the Sagar Lake--Paralysis from eating the Grain of the
+_Lathyrus sativus_
+
+CHAPTER 16
+Suttee Tombs--Insalubrity of deserted Fortresses
+
+CHAPTER 17
+Basaltic Cappings--Interview with a Native Chief--A Singular
+Character
+
+CHAPTER 18
+Birds' Nests--Sports of Boyhood
+
+CHAPTER 19
+Feeding Pilgrims--Marriage of a Stone with a Shrub
+
+CHAPTER 20
+The Men-Tigers
+
+CHAPTER 21
+Burning of Deori by a Freebooter--A Suttee
+
+CHAPTER 22
+Interview with the Raja who marries the Stone to the Shrub--Order of
+the Moon and the Fish
+
+CHAPTER 23
+The Raja of Orchha--Murder of his many Ministers
+
+CHAPTER 24
+Corn Dealers--Scarcities--Famines in India
+
+CHAPTER 25
+Epidemic Diseases--Scape-goat
+
+CHAPTER 26
+Artificial Lakes in Bundelkhand-Hindoo, Greek, and Roman Faith
+
+CHAPTER 27
+Blights
+
+CHAPTER 28
+Pestle-and-Mortar Sugar-Mills--Washing away of the Soil
+
+CHAPTER 29
+Interview with the Chiefs of Jhansi--Disputed Succession
+
+CHAPTER 30
+Haunted Villages
+
+CHAPTER 31
+Interview with the Raja of Datiya--Fiscal Errors of Statesmen--
+Thieves and Robbers by Profession
+
+CHAPTER 32
+Sporting at Datiya--Fidelity of Followers to their Chiefs in India--
+Law of Primogeniture wanting among Muhammadans
+
+CHAPTER 33
+'Bhumiawat'
+
+CHAPTER 34
+The Suicide-Relations between Parents and Children in India
+
+CHAPTER 35
+Gwalior Plain once the Bed of a Lake--Tameness of Peacocks
+
+CHAPTER 36
+Gwalior and its Government
+
+CHAPTER 37 [2]
+Contest for Empire between the Sons of Shah Jahan
+
+CHAPTER 38 [2]
+Aurangzeb and Murad Defeat their Father's Army near Ujain
+
+CHAPTER 39 [2]
+Dara Marches in Person against his Brothers, and is Defeated
+
+CHAPTER 40 [2]
+Dara Retreats towards Lahore--Is robbed by the Jats--Their Character
+
+CHAPTER 41 [2]
+Shah Jahan Imprisoned by his Two Sons, Aurangzeb and Murad
+
+CHAPTER 42 [2]
+Aurangzeb Throws off the Mask, Imprisons his Brother Murad, and
+Assumes the Government of the Empire
+
+CHAPTER 43 [2] Aurangzeb Meets Shuja in Bengal, and Defeats him,
+after Pursuing Dara to the Hyphasis
+
+CHAPTER 44 [2]
+Aurangzeb Imprisons his Eldest Son--Shuja and all his Family are
+Destroyed
+
+CHAPTER 45 [2]
+Second Defeat and Death of Dara, and Imprisonment of his Two Sons
+
+CHAPTER 46 [2]
+Death and Character of Amir Jumla
+
+CHAPTER 47
+Reflections on the Preceding History
+
+CHAPTER 48
+The Great Diamond of Kohinur
+
+CHAPTER 49
+Pindhari System--Character of the Maratha Administration--Cause of
+their Dislike to the Paramount Power
+
+CHAPTER 50
+Dholpur, Capital of the Jat Chiefs of Gohad--Consequence of Obstacles
+to the Prosecution of Robbers
+
+CHAPTER 51
+Influence of Electricity on Vegetation--Agra and its Buildings
+
+CHAPTER 52
+Nur Jahan, the Aunt of the Empress Nur Mahal,[3] over whose Remains
+the Taj is built
+
+CHAPTER 53
+Father Gregory's Notion of the Impediments to Conversion in India--
+Inability of Europeans to speak Eastern Languages
+
+CHAPTER 54
+Fathpur-Sikri--The Emperor Akbar's Pilgrimage--Birth of Jahangir
+
+CHAPTER 55
+Bharatpur--Dig--Want of Employment for the Military and the Educated
+Classes under the Company's Rule
+
+CHAPTER 56
+Govardhan, the Scene of Kriahna's Dalliance with the Milkmaids
+
+CHAPTER 57
+Veracity
+
+CHAPTER 58
+Declining Fertility of the Soil--Popular Notion of the Cause
+
+CHAPTER 59
+Concentration of Capital and its Effects
+
+CHAPTER 60
+Transit Duties in India--Mode of Collecting them
+
+CHAPTER 61
+Peasantry of India attached to no existing Government--Want of Trees
+in Upper India--Cause and Consequence--Wells and Groves
+
+CHAPTER 62
+Public Spirit of the Hindoos--Tree Cultivation and Suggestions for
+extending it
+
+CHAPTER 63
+Cities and Towns, formed by Public Establishments, disappear as
+Sovereigns and Governors change their Abodes
+
+CHAPTER 64
+Murder of Mr. Fraser, and Execution of the Nawab Shams-ud-din
+
+
+CHAPTER 65
+Marriage of a Jat Chief
+
+CHAPTER 66
+Collegiate Endowment of Muhammadan Tombs and Mosques
+
+CHAPTER 67
+The Old City of Delhi
+
+CHAPTER 68
+New Delhi, or Shahjahanabad
+
+CHAPTER 69
+Indian Police--Its Defects--and their Cause and Remedy
+
+CHAPTER 70
+Rent-free Tenures--Right of Government to Resume such Grants
+
+CHAPTER 71
+The Station of Meerut--'Atalis' who Dance and Sing gratuitously for
+the Benefit of the Poor
+
+CHAPTER 72
+Subdivisions of Lands--Want of Gradations of Rank--Taxes
+
+CHAPTER 73
+Meerut-Anglo-Indian Society
+
+CHAPTER 74
+Pilgrims of India
+
+CHAPTER 75
+The Begam Sumroo
+
+CHAPTER 76
+ON THE SPIRIT OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE IN THE NATIVE ARMY OF INDIA
+Abolition of Corporal Punishment--Increase of Pay with Length of
+Service--Promotion by Seniority
+
+CHAPTER 77
+Invalid Establishment
+
+Appendix:
+Thuggee and the part taken in its Suppression by General Sir W. H.
+Sleeman, K.C.B., by Captain J. L. Sleeman
+Supplementary Note by the Editor
+Additions and Corrections
+
+INDEX
+
+Notes:
+
+1. A blunder for 'Sweepers' and 'Washermen'
+
+2. Chapters 37 to 46, inclusive, are not reprinted in this edition.
+
+3. A mistake. See _post_, Chapter 52, note 1.
+
+
+
+
+
+EDITOR'S PREFACE (1893)[1]
+
+
+The _Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official_, always a
+costly book, has been scarce and difficult to procure for many years
+past. Among the crowd of books descriptive of Indian scenery,
+manners, and customs, the sterling merits of Sir William Sleeman's
+work have secured it pre-eminence, and kept it in constant demand,
+notwithstanding the lapse of nearly fifty years since its
+publication. The high reputation of this work does not rest upon its
+strictly literary qualities. The author was a busy man, immersed all
+his life in the practical affairs of administration, and too full of
+his subject to be careful of strict correctness of style or minute
+accuracy of expression. Yet, so great is the intrinsic value of his
+observations, and so attractive are the sincerity and sympathy with
+which he discusses a vast range of topics, that the reader refuses to
+be offended by slight formal defects in expression or arrangement,
+and willingly yields to the charm of the author's genial and
+unstudied conversation.
+
+It would be difficult to name any other book so full of instruction
+for the young Anglo-Indian administrator. When this work was
+published in 1844 the author had had thirty-five years' varied
+experience of Indian life, and had accumulated and assimilated an
+immense store of knowledge concerning the history, manners, and modes
+of thought of the complex population of India. He thoroughly
+understood the peculiarities of the various native races, and the
+characteristics which distinguish them from the nations of Europe;
+while his sympathetic insight into Indian life had not orientalized
+him, nor had it ever for one moment caused him to forget his position
+and heritage as an Englishman. This attitude of sane and
+discriminating sympathy is the right attitude for the Englishman in
+India.
+
+To enumerate the topics on which wise and profitable observations
+will be found in this book would be superfluous. The wine is good,
+and needs no bush. So much may be said that the book is one to
+interest that nondescript person, the general reader in Europe or
+America, as well as the Anglo-Indian official. Besides good advice
+and sound teaching on matters of policy and administration, it
+contains many charming, though inartificial, descriptions of scenery
+and customs, many ingenious speculations, and some capital stories.
+The ethnologist, the antiquary, the geologist, the soldier, and the
+missionary will all find in it something to suit their several
+tastes.
+
+In this edition the numerous misprints of the original edition have
+been all, and, for the most part, silently corrected. The extremely
+erratic punctuation has been freely modified, and the spelling of
+Indian words and names has been systematized. Two paragraphs,
+misplaced in the original edition at the end of Chapter 48 of Volume
+I, have been removed, and inserted in their proper place at the end
+of Chapter 47; and the supplementary notes printed at the end of the
+second volume of the original edition have been brought up to the
+positions which they were intended to occupy. Chapters 37 to 46 of
+the first volume, describing the contest for empire between the sons
+of Shah Jahan, are in substance only a free version of Bernier's work
+entitled, _The Late Revolution of the Empire of the Great Mogol_.
+These chapters have not been reprinted because the history of that
+revolution can now be read much more satisfactorily in Mr.
+Constable's edition of Bernier's Travels. Except as above stated, the
+text of the present edition of the Rambles and Recollections is a
+faithful reprint of the Author's text.
+
+In the spelling of names and other words of Oriental languages the
+Editor has 'endeavoured to strike a mean between popular usage and
+academic precision, preferring to incur the charge of looseness to
+that of pedantry'. Diacritical marks intended to distinguish between
+the various sibilants, dentals, nasals, and so forth, of the Arabic
+and Sanskrit alphabets, have been purposely omitted. Long vowels are
+marked by the sign ^. Except in a few familiar words, such as
+Nerbudda and Hindoo, which are spelled in the traditional manner,
+vowels are to be pronounced as in Italian, or as in the following
+English examples, namely: a, as in 'call'; e, or e, as the medial
+vowel in 'cake'; i, as in 'kill'; i, as the medial vowels in 'keel';
+u, as in 'full'; u, as the medial vowels in 'fool'; o, or o, as in
+'bone'; ai, or ai, as 'eye' or 'aye', respectively; and au, as the
+medial sound in 'fowl'. Short a, with stress, is pronounced like the
+u in 'but'; and if without stress, as an indistinct vowel, like the A
+in 'America'.
+
+The Editor's notes, being designed merely to explain and illustrate
+the text, so as to render the book fully intelligible and helpful to
+readers of the present day, have been compressed into the narrowest
+possible limits. Even India changes, and observations and criticisms
+which were perfectly true when recorded can no longer be safely
+applied without explanation to the India of to-day. The Author's few
+notes are distinguished by his initials.
+
+A copious analytical index has been compiled. The bibliography is as
+complete as careful inquiry could make it, but it is possible that
+some anonymous papers by the Author, published in periodicals, may
+have escaped notice.
+
+The memoir of Sir William Sleeman is based on the slight sketch
+prefixed to the _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, supplemented
+by much additional matter derived from his published works and
+correspondence, as well as from his unpublished letters and other
+papers generously communicated by his only son, Captain Henry
+Sleeman. Ample materials exist for a full account of Sir William
+Sleeman's noble and interesting life, which well deserves to be
+recorded in detail; but the necessary limitations of these volumes
+preclude the Editor from making free use of the biographical matter
+at his command.
+
+The reproduction of the twenty-four coloured plates of varying merit
+which enrich the original edition has not been considered desirable.
+The map shows clearly the route taken by the Author in the journey
+the description of which is the leading theme of the book.
+
+
+
+
+EDITOR'S PREFACE (1915)
+
+My edition published by Archibald Constable and Company in 1893 being
+out of print but still in demand, Mr. Humphrey Milford, the present
+owner of the copyright, has requested me to revise the book and bring
+it up to date.
+
+This new edition is issued uniform with Mr. Beauchamp's third edition
+of _Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies_ by the Abbe J. A. Dubois
+(Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1906), a work bearing a strong
+resemblance in substance to the _Rambles and Recollections_, and,
+also like Sleeman's book in that it 'is as valuable to-day as ever it
+was--even more valuable in some respects'.
+
+The labour of revision has proved to be far more onerous than was
+expected. In the course of twenty-one years the numerous changes
+which have occurred in India, not only in administrative
+arrangements, but of various other kinds, necessitate the emendation
+of notes which, although accurate when written, no longer agree with
+existing facts. The appearance of many new books and improved
+editions involves changes in a multitude of references. Such
+alterations are most considerable in the annotations dealing with the
+buildings at Agra, Sikandara, Fathpur-Sikri, and Delhi, and the
+connected political history, concerning which much new information is
+now available. Certain small misstatements of fact in my old notes
+have been put right. Some of those errors which escaped the notice of
+critics have been detected by me, and some have been rectified by the
+aid of criticisms received from Sir George Grierson, C.I.E., Mr.
+William Crooke, sometime President of the Folklore Society, and other
+kind correspondents, to all of whom I am grateful. Naturally, the
+opportunity has been taken to revise the wording throughout and to
+eliminate misprints and typographical defects. The Index has been
+recast so as to suit the changed paging and to include the new
+matter.
+
+Captain James Lewis Sleeman of the Royal Sussex Regiment has been
+good enough to permit the reproduction of his grandfather's portrait,
+and has communicated papers which have enabled me to make corrections
+in and additions to the Memoir, largely enhancing the interest and
+value of that section of the book.
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Certain small changes have been made.
+
+
+MEMOIR
+OF
+MAJ.-GEN. SIR WILLIAM HENRY SLEEMAN, K.C.B.
+
+The Sleemans, an ancient Cornish family, for several generations
+owned the estate of Pool Park in the parish of Saint Judy, in the
+county of Cornwall. Captain Philip Sleeman, who married Mary Spry, a
+member of a distinguished family in the same county, was stationed at
+Stratton, in Cornwall, on August 8, 1788, when his son William Henry
+was born.
+
+In 1809, at the age of twenty-one, William Henry Sleeman was
+nominated, through the good offices of Lord De Dunstanville, to an
+Infantry Cadetship in the Bengal army. On the 24th of March, in the
+same year, he sailed from Gravesend in the ship Devonshire, and,
+having touched at Madeira and the Cape, reached India towards the
+close of the year. He arrived at the cantonment of Dinapore, near
+Patna, on the 20th December, and on Christmas Day began his military
+career as a cadet. He at once applied himself with exemplary
+diligence to the study of the Arabic and Persian languages, and of
+the religions and customs of India. Passing in due course through the
+ordinary early stages of military life, he was promoted to the rank
+of ensign on the 23rd September, 1810, and to that of lieutenant on
+the 16th December, 1814.
+
+Lieutenant Sleeman served in the war with Nepal, which began in 1814
+and terminated in 1816. During the campaign he narrowly escaped death
+from a violent epidemic fever, which nearly destroyed his regiment.
+'Three hundred of my own regiment,' he observes, 'consisting of about
+seven hundred, were obliged to be sent to their homes on sick leave.
+The greater number of those who remained continued to suffer, and a
+great many died. Of about ten European officers present with my
+regiment, seven had the fever and five died of it, almost all in a
+state of delirium. I was myself one of the two who survived, and I
+was for many days delirious.[1]
+
+The services of Lieutenant Sleeman during the war attracted
+attention, and accordingly, in 1816, he was selected to report on
+certain claims to prize-money. The report submitted by him in
+February, 1817, was accepted as 'able, impartial, and satisfactory'.
+After the termination of the war he served with his regiment at
+Allahabad, and in the neighbouring district of Partabgarh, where he
+laid the foundation of the intimate knowledge of Oudh affairs
+displayed in his later writings.
+
+In 1820 he was selected for civil employ, and was appointed Junior
+Assistant to the Agent of the Governor-General, administering the
+Sagar and Nerbudda territories. Those territories, which had been
+annexed from the Marathas two years previously, are now included in
+the jurisdiction of the Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces.
+In such a recently-conquered country, where the sale of all widows by
+auction for the benefit of the Treasury, and other strange customs
+still prevailed, the abilities of an able and zealous young officer
+had ample scope. Sleeman, after a brief apprenticeship, received, in
+1822, the independent civil charge of the District of Narsinghpur, in
+the Nerbudda valley, and there, for more than two years, 'by far the
+most laborious of his life', his whole attention was engrossed in
+preventing and remedying the disorders of his District.
+
+Sleeman, during the time that he was in charge of the Narsinghpur
+District, had no suspicion that it was a favourite resort of Thugs. A
+few years later, in or about 1830, he was astounded to learn that a
+gang of Thugs resided in the village of Kandeli, not four hundred
+yards from his court-house, and that the extensive groves of Mandesar
+on the Sagar road, only one stage distant from his head-quarters,
+concealed one of the greatest _bhils_, or places of murder, in all
+India. The arrest of Feringheea, one of the most influential Thug
+leaders, having given the key to the secret, his disclosures were
+followed up by Sleeman with consummate skill and untiring assiduity.
+In the years 1831 and 1832 the reports submitted by him and other
+officers at last opened the eyes of the superior authorities and
+forced them to recognize the fact that the murderous organization
+extended over every part of India. Adequate measures were then taken
+for the systematic suppression of the evil. 'Thuggee Sleeman' made it
+the main business of his life to hunt down the criminals and to
+extirpate their secret society. He recorded his experiences in the
+series of valuable publications described in the Bibliography. In
+this brief memoir it is impossible to narrate in detail the thrilling
+story of the suppression of Thuggee, and I must be content to pass on
+and give in bare outline the main facts of Sleeman's honourable
+career.[2]
+
+While at Narsinghpur, Sleeman received on the 24th April, 1824,
+brevet rank as Captain. In 1825, he was transferred, and on the 23rd
+September of the following year, was gazetted Captain. In 1826,
+failure of health compelled him to take leave on medical certificate.
+In March, 1828, Captain Sleeman assumed civil and executive charge of
+the Jabalpur (Jubbulpore) District, from which he was transferred to
+Sagar in January, 1831. While stationed at Jabalpur, he married, on
+the 21st June, 1829, Amelie Josephine, the daughter of Count Blondin
+de Fontenne, a French nobleman, who, at the sacrifice of a
+considerable property, had managed to escape from the Revolution. A
+lady informs the editor that she remembers Sleeman's fine house at
+Jabalpur. It stood in a large walled park, stocked with spotted deer.
+Both house and park were destroyed when the railway was carried
+through the site.
+
+Mr. C. Eraser, on return from leave in January, 1832, resumed charge
+of the revenue and civil duties of the Sagar district, leaving the
+magisterial duties to Captain Sleeman, who continued to discharge
+them till January, 1835. By the Resolution of Government dated 10th
+January, 1835, Captain Sleeman was directed to fix his head-quarters
+at Jabalpur, and was appointed General Superintendent of the
+operations for the Suppression of Thuggee, being relieved from every
+other charge. In 1835 his health again broke down, and he was obliged
+to take leave on medical certificate. Accompanied by his wife and
+little son, he went into camp in November, 1835, and marched through
+the Jabalpur, Damoh, and Sagar districts of the Agency, and then
+through the Native States of Orchha, Datiya, and Gwalior, arriving at
+Agra on the 1st January, 1836. After a brief halt at Agra, he
+proceeded through the Bharatpur State to Delhi and Meerut, and thence
+on leave to Simla. During his march from Jabalpur to Meerut he amused
+himself by keeping the journal which forms the basis of the _Rambles
+and Recollections of an Indian Official_. The manuscript of this work
+(except the two supplementary chapters) was completed in 1839, though
+not given to the world till 1844. On the 1st of February, 1837, in
+the twenty-eighth year of his service, Sleeman was gazetted Major.
+During the same year he made a tour in the interior of the Himalayas,
+which he described at length in an unpublished journal. Later in the
+year he went down to Calcutta to see his boy started on the voyage
+home.
+
+In February, 1839, he assumed charge of the office of Commissioner
+for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoity. Up to that date the
+office of Commissioner for the Suppression of Dacoity had been
+separate from that of General Superintendent of the measures for the
+Suppression of Thuggee, and had been filled by another officer, Mr.
+Hugh Eraser, of the Civil Service. During the next two years Sleeman
+passed much of his time in the North-Western Provinces, now the Agra
+Province in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, making Muradabad
+his head-quarters, and thoroughly investigating the secret criminal
+organizations of Upper India.
+
+In 1841 he was offered the coveted and lucrative post of Resident at
+Lucknow, vacant by the resignation of Colonel Low; but that officer,
+immediately after his resignation, lost all his savings through the
+failure of his bankers, and Sleeman, moved by a generous impulse,
+wrote to Colonel Low, begging him to retain the appointment.
+
+Sleeman was then deputed on special duty to Bundelkhand to
+investigate the grave disorders in that province. While at Jhansi in
+December, 1842, he narrowly escaped assassination by a dismissed
+Afghan sepoy, who poured the contents of a blunderbuss into a native
+officer in attendance.[3]
+
+During the troubles with Sindhia which culminated in the battle of
+Maharajpur, fought on the 29th December, 1843, Sleeman, who had
+become a Lieut.-Colonel, was Resident at Gwalior, and was actually in
+Sindhia's camp when the battle unexpectedly began. In 1848 the
+Residency at Lucknow again fell vacant, and Lord Dalhousie, by a
+letter dated 16th September, offered Sleeman the appointment in the
+following terms:
+
+ The high reputation you have earned, your experience of civil
+administration, your knowledge of the people, and the qualifications
+you possess as a public man, have led me to submit your name to the
+Council of India as an officer to whom I could commit this important
+charge with entire confidence that its duties would be well
+performed. I do myself, therefore, the honour of proposing to you to
+accept the office of Resident at Lucknow, with especial reference to
+the great changes which, in all probability, will take place.
+Retaining your superintendency of Thuggee affairs, it will be
+manifestly necessary that you should be relieved from the duty of the
+trials of Thugs usually condemned at Lucknow.
+ In the hope that you will not withhold from the Government your
+services in the capacity I have named, and in the further hope of
+finding an opportunity of personally making your acquaintance,
+ I have the honour to be,
+ Dear Colonel Sleeman,
+ Very faithfully yours,
+ DALHOUSIE.[4]
+
+The remainder of Sleeman's official life, from January, 1849, was
+spent in Oudh, and was chiefly devoted to ceaseless and hopeless
+endeavours to reform the King's administration and relieve the
+sufferings of his grievously oppressed subjects. On the 1st of
+December, 1849, the Resident began his memorable three months' tour
+through Oudh, so vividly described in the special work devoted to the
+purpose. The awful revelations of the _Journey through the Kingdom of
+Oude_ largely influenced the Court of Directors and the Imperial
+Government in forming their decision to annex the kingdom, although
+that decision was directly opposed to the advice of Sleeman, who
+consistently advocated reform of the administration, while
+deprecating annexation. His views are stated with absolute precision
+in a letter written in 1854 or 1855, and published in _The Times_ in
+November, 1857:
+
+ We have no right to annex or confiscate Oude; but we have a right,
+under the treaty of 1837, to take the management of it, but not to
+appropriate its revenues to ourselves. We can do this with honour to
+our Government and benefit to the people. To confiscate would be
+dishonest and dishonourable. To annex would be to give the people a
+government almost as bad as their own, if we put our screw upon them
+(_Journey_, ed. 1858, vol. i, Intro., p. xxi).
+
+The earnest efforts of the Resident to suppress crime and improve the
+administration of Oudh aroused the bitter resentment of a corrupt
+court and exposed his life to constant danger. Three deliberate
+attempts to assassinate him at Lucknow are recorded.
+
+The first, in December, 1851, is described in detail in a letter of
+Sleeman's dated the 16th of that month, and less fully by General
+Hervey, in _Some Records of Crime_, vol. ii, p. 479. The Resident's
+life was saved by a gallant orderly named Tikaram, who was badly
+wounded. Inquiry proved that the crime was instigated by the King's
+moonshee.
+
+The second attempt, on October 9, 1853, is fully narrated in an
+official letter to the Government of India (Bibliography, No. 15).
+Its failure may be reasonably ascribed to a special interposition of
+Providence. The Resident during all the years he had lived at Lucknow
+had been in the habit of sleeping in an upper chamber approached by a
+separate private staircase guarded by two sentries. On the night
+mentioned the sentries were drugged and two men stole up the stairs.
+They slashed at the bed with their swords, but found it empty,
+because on that one occasion General Sleeman had slept in another
+room.
+
+The third attempt was not carried as far, and the exact date is not
+ascertainable, but the incident is well remembered by the family and
+occurred between 1853 and 1856. One day the Resident was crossing his
+study when, for some reason or another, he looked behind a curtain
+screening a recess. He then saw a man standing there with a large
+knife in his hand. General Sleeman, who was unarmed, challenged the
+man as being a Thug. He at once admitted that he was such, and under
+the spell of a master-spirit allowed himself to be disarmed without
+resistance. He had been employed at the Residency for some time,
+unsuspected.
+
+Such personal risks produced no effect on the stout heart of Sleeman,
+who continued, unshaken and undismayed, his unselfish labours.
+
+In 1854 the long strain of forty-five years' service broke down
+Sleeman's strong constitution. He tried to regain health by a visit
+to the hills, but this expedient proved ineffectual, and he was
+ordered home. On the 10th of February, 1856, while on his way home on
+board the Monarch, he died off Ceylon, at the age of sixty-seven, and
+was buried at sea, just six days after he had been granted the
+dignity of K.C.B.
+
+Lord Dalhousie's desire to meet his trusted officer was never
+gratified. The following correspondence between the Governor-General
+and Sleeman, now published for the first time, is equally creditable
+to both parties:
+
+ BARRACKPORE PARK,
+ January 9th, 1856.
+ MY DEAR GENERAL SLEEMAN,
+ I have heard to-day of your arrival in Calcutta, and have heard at
+the same time with sincere concern that you are still suffering in
+health. A desire to disturb you as little as possible induces me to
+have recourse to my pen, in order to convey to you a communication
+which I had hoped to be able to make in person.
+ Some time since, when adjusting the details connected with my
+retirement from the Government of India, I solicited permission to
+recommend to Her Majesty's gracious consideration the names of some
+who seemed to me to be worthy of Her Majesty's favour. My request was
+moderate. I asked only to be allowed to submit the name of one
+officer from each Presidency. The name which is selected from the
+Bengal army was your own, and I ventured to express my hope that Her
+Majesty would be pleased to mark her sense of the long course of
+able, and honourable, and distinguished service through which you had
+passed, by conferring upon you the civil cross of a Knight Commander
+of the Bath.
+ As yet no reply has been received to my letter. But as you have now
+arrived at the Presidency, I lose no time in making known to you what
+has been done; in the hope that you will receive it as a proof of the
+high estimation in which your services and character arc held, as
+well by myself as by the entire community of India.
+ I beg to remain,
+ My dear General,
+ Very truly yours,
+ DALHOUSIE.
+
+Major-General Sleeman.
+
+Reply to above. Dated 11th January, 1856.
+
+MY LORD,
+ I was yesterday evening favoured with your Lordship's most kind and
+flattering letter of the 9th instant from Barrackpore.
+ I cannot adequately express how highly honoured I feel by the
+mention that you have been pleased to make of my services to Her
+Majesty the Queen, and how much gratified I am by this crowning act
+of kindness from your Lordship in addition to the many favours I have
+received at your hands during the last eight years; and whether it
+may, or may not, be my fate to live long enough to see the honourable
+rank actually conferred upon me, which you have been so considerate
+and generous as to ask for me, the letter now received from your
+Lordship will of itself be deemed by my family as a substantial
+honour, and it will so preserved, I trust, by my son, with feelings
+of honest pride, at the thought that his father had merited such a
+mark of distinction from so eminent a statesman as the Marquis of
+Dalhousie.
+ My right hand is so crippled by rheumatism that I am obliged to make
+use of an amanuensis to write this letter, and my bodily strength is
+so much reduced, that I cannot hope before embarking for England to
+pay my personal respects to your Lordship.
+ Under these unfortunate circumstances, I now beg to take my leave of
+your Lordship; to offer my unfeigned and anxious wishes for your
+Lordship's health and happiness, and with every sentiment of respect
+and gratitude, to subscribe myself,
+
+ Your Lordship's most faithful and
+ Obedient servant,
+ W. H. SLEEMAN,
+ Major-General.
+
+ To the Most Noble
+ The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.,
+ Governor-General, &c., &c.,
+ Calcutta.
+
+Sir William Sleeman was an accomplished Oriental linguist, well
+versed in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, and also in possession of a good
+working knowledge of Latin, Greek, and French. His writings afford
+many proofs of his keen interest in the sciences of geology,
+agricultural chemistry, and political economy, and of his intelligent
+appreciation of the lessons taught by history. Nor was he insensible
+to the charms of art, especially those of poetry. His favourite
+authors among the poets seem to have been Shakespeare, Milton, Scott,
+Wordsworth, and Cowper. His knowledge of the customs and modes of
+thought of the natives of India, rarely equalled and never surpassed,
+was more than half the secret of his notable success as an
+administrator. The greatest achievement of his busy and unselfish
+life was the suppression of the system of organized murder known as
+Thuggee, and in the execution of that prolonged and onerous task he
+displayed the most delicate tact, the keenest sagacity, and the
+highest power of organization.
+
+His own words are his best epitaph: 'I have gone on quietly,' he
+writes, '"through evil and through good report", doing, to the best
+of my ability, the duties which it has pleased the Government of
+India, from time to time, to confide to me in the manner which
+appeared to me most conformable to its wishes and its honour,
+satisfied and grateful for the trust and confidence which enabled me
+to do so much good for the people, and to secure so much of their
+attachment and gratitude to their rulers.' [5]
+
+His grandson. Captain J. L. Sleeman, who, when stationed in India
+from 1903 to 1908, visited the scenes of his grandfather's labours,
+states that everywhere he found the memory of his respected ancestor
+revered, and was given the assurance that no Englishman had ever
+understood the native of India so well, or removed so many oppressive
+evils as General Sir W. H. Sleeman, and that his memory would endure
+for ever in the Empire to which he devoted his life's work.
+
+This necessarily meagre account of a life which deserves more ample
+commemoration may be fitly closed by a few words concerning the
+relatives and descendants of Sir William Sleeman.
+
+His sister and regular correspondent, to whom he dedicated the
+_Rambles and Recollections_, was married to Captain Furse, R.N.
+
+ His brother's son James came out to India in 1827, joined the 73rd
+Regiment of the Bengal Army, was selected for employment in the
+Political Department, and was thus enabled to give valuable aid in
+the campaign against Thuggee. In due course he was appointed to the
+office of General Superintendent of the Operations against Thuggee,
+which had been held by his uncle. He rose to the rank of Colonel, and
+after a long period of excellent service, lived to enjoy nearly
+thirty years of honourable retirement. He died at his residence near
+Ross in 1899 at the age of eighty-one.
+
+In 1831 Sir William's only son, Henry Arthur, was gazetted to the
+16th (Queen's) Lancers, and having retired early from the army, with
+the rank of Captain, died in 1905.
+
+His elder son William Henry died while serving with the Mounted
+Infantry during the South African War. His younger son, James Lewis,
+a Captain in the Royal Sussex Regiment, who also saw active service
+during the war, and was mentioned in dispatches, has a distinguished
+African and Indian record, and recently received the honorary degree
+of M.A. from the Belfast University for good work done in
+establishing the first Officers' Training Corps in Ireland. The
+family of Captain James Lewis Sleeman consists of two sons and a
+daughter, namely, John Cuthbert, Richard Brian, and Ursula Mary.
+Captain Sleeman, as the head of his family, possesses the MSS. &c. of
+his distinguished grandfather. The two daughters of Sir William who
+survived their father married respectively Colonel Dunbar and Colonel
+Brooke.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, vol. ii, p. 105.
+
+2. The general reader may consult with advantage Meadows Taylor, _The
+Confessions of a Thug_, the first edition of which appeared in 1839;
+and the vivid account by Mark Twain in _More Tramps Abroad_, chapters
+49,50.
+
+3. The incident is described in detail in a letter dated December 18,
+1842, from Sleeman to his sister Mrs. Furse. Captain J. L. Sleeman
+has kindly furnished me with a copy of the letter, which is too long
+for reproduction in this place.
+
+4. This letter is printed in full in the _Journey through the Kingdom
+of Oude_, pp. xvii-xix.
+
+5. Letter to Lord Hardinge, dated Jhansee, 4th March, 1848, printed
+in _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, vol. i, p. xxvii.
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+OF THE
+WRITINGS OF
+MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.
+
+_I.--PRINTED_
+
+(1.) 1819 Pamphlet.
+Letter addressed to Dr. Tytler, of Allahabad, by Lieut. W. H.
+Sleeman, August 20th, 1819.
+Copied from the _Asiatic Mirror_ of September the 1st, 1819.
+[This letter describes a great pestilence at Lucknow in 1818, and
+discusses the theory that cholera may be caused by 'eating a certain
+kind of rice'.]
+
+
+(2.) Calcutta, 1836, 1 vol. 8vo.
+_Ramaseeana_, or a Vocabulary of the Peculiar Language used by the
+Thugs, with an Introduction and Appendix descriptive of the Calcutta
+system pursued by that fraternity, and of the measures which have
+been adopted by the Supreme Government of India for its suppression.
+
+Calcutta, G. H. Huttmann, Military Orphan Press, 1836.
+[No author's name on title-page, but most of the articles are signed
+by W. H. Sleeman.]
+Appendices A to Z, and A.2, contain correspondence and copious
+details of particular crimes, pp. 1-515. Total pages (v,+270+515)
+790.
+A very roughly compiled and coarsely printed collection of valuable
+documents. [A copy in the Bodleian Library and two copies in the
+British Museum. One copy in India Office Library.]
+
+
+(2a.) Philadelphia 1839, 1 vol. 8vo.
+The work described as follows in the printed Catalogue of Printed
+Books in the British Museum appears to be a pirated edition of
+_Ramaseeana_:
+
+_The Thugs or Phansigars of India: comprising a history of the rise
+and progress of that extraordinary fraternity of assassins; and a
+description of the system which it pursues, &c._
+Carey and Hart. Philadelphia, 1839. 8vo.
+
+ A Hindustani MS. in the India Office Library seems to be the
+original of the vocabulary and is valuable as a guide to the spelling
+of the words.
+
+
+(3.) (?)1836 or 1837, Pamphlet.
+On the Admission of Documentary Evidence.
+_Extract._
+[This reprint is an extract from _Ramaseeana_. The rules relating to
+the admission of evidence in criminal trials are discussed. 24
+pages.]
+
+
+(4.) 1837, Pamphlet.
+Copy of a Letter
+which appeared in the _Calcutta Courier_ of the 29th March, 1837,
+under the signature of 'Hirtius', relative to the Intrigues of Jotha
+Ram.
+[This letter deals with the intrigues and disturbances in the Jaipur
+(Jyepoor) State in 1835, and the murder of Mr. Blake, the Assistant
+to the Resident. (See post, chap, 67, end.) The reprint is a pamphlet
+of sixteen pages. At the beginning reference is made to a previous
+letter by the author on the same subject, which had been inserted in
+the _Calcutta Courier_ in November, 1836.]
+
+
+(5.) Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. vi. (1837), p. 621.
+_History of the Gurha Mundala Rajas, by Captain W. H. Sleeman._
+[An elaborate history of the Gond dynasty of Garha Mandla, 'which is
+believed to be founded principally on the chronicles of the Bajpai
+family, who were the hereditary prime ministers of the Gond princes.'
+(_Central Provinces Gazetteer,_ 1870, p. 282, note.) The history is,
+therefore, subject to the doubts which necessarily attach to all
+Indian family traditions.]
+
+
+(6.) W. H. Sleeman. _Analysis and Review of the Peculiar Doctrines of
+the Ricardo or New School of Political Economy._
+8vo, Serampore, 1837.
+[A copy is entered in the printed catalogue of the library of the
+Asiatic Society of Bengal.]
+
+
+(7.) Calcutta (Serampore), 1839, 8vo.
+A REPORT on THE SYSTEM OF MEGPUNNAISM,
+or
+The Murder of Indigent Parents for their Young Children (who are sold
+as Slaves) as it prevails in the Delhi Territories, and the Native
+States of Rajpootana, Ulwar, and Bhurtpore.
+By Major W. H. Sleeman.
+----
+From the Serampore Press.
+1839.
+[Thin 8vo, pp. iv and 121.
+A very curious and valuable account of a little-known variety of
+Thuggee, which possibly may still be practised. Copies exist in the
+British Museum and India Office Libraries, but the Bodleian has not a
+copy.]
+
+
+(8.) Calcutta, 1840, 8vo.
+REPORT ON THE DEPREDATIONS COMMITTED BY THE THUG GANGS of UPPER AND
+CENTRAL INDIA,
+From the Cold Season of 1836-7, down to their Gradual Suppression,
+under the operation of the measures adopted against them by the
+Supreme Government in the year 1839.
+
+By Major Sleeman
+_Commissioner for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoitee._
+
+Calcutta:
+G. H. Huttmann, Bengal Military Orphan Press.
+1840.
+[Thick 8vo, pp. lviii, 549 and xxvi.
+The information recorded is similar to that given in the earlier
+_Ramaseeana_ volume. Pages xxv-lviii, by Captain N. Lowis, describe
+River Thuggee. Copies in the British Museum and India Office, but
+none in the Bodleian. This is the only work by Sleeman which has an
+alphabetical index.]
+
+(9.) Calcutta 1841, 8vo.
+On the SPIRIT OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE
+in our
+NATIVE INDIAN ARMY.
+
+By Major N.[_sic_] H. Sleeman, Bengal Native Infantry.
+'Europaeque saccubuit Asia.'
+'The misfortune of all history is, that while the motives of a few
+princes and leaders in their various projects of ambition are
+detailed with accuracy, the motives which crowd their standards with
+military followers are totally overlooked.'--_Malthus._
+ Calcutta:
+Bishop's College Press.
+M.DCCC.XLI.
+[Thin 8vo. Introduction, pp. i-xiii; On the Spirit of Military
+Discipline in the Native Army of India, pp. 1-59; page 60 blank;
+Invalid Establishment, pp. 61-84. The text of these two essays is
+reprinted as chapters 28 and 29 of vol. ii of _Rambles and
+Recollections_ in the original edition, corresponding to Chapters 21
+and 22 of the edition of 1893 and Chapters 76, 77 of this (1915)
+edition. Most of the observations in the Introduction are utilized in
+various places in that work. The author's remark in the Introduction
+to these essays--'They may never be published, but I cannot deny
+myself the gratification of printing them'--indicates that, though
+printed, they were never published in their separate form. The copy
+of the separately printed tract which I have seen is that in the
+India Office Library. Another is in the British Museum. The pamphlet
+is not in the Bodleian.]
+
+
+(10.) 1841 Pamphlet.
+MAJOR SLEEMAN
+on the
+PUBLIC SPIRIT of THE HINDOOS.
+_From the Transactions of the Agricultural and Horticultural
+Society,_ vol. 8.
+Art. XXII, _Public Spirit among the Hindoo Race as indicated in
+the flourishing condition of the Jubbulpore District in former times,
+with a sketch of its present state: also on the great importance of
+attending to Tree Cultivation and suggestions for extending it. By
+Major Sleeman, late in charge of the Jubbulpore District._
+
+[Read at the Meeting of the Society on the 8th September, 1841.]
+
+[This reprint is a pamphlet of eight pages. The text was again
+reprinted verbatim as Chapter 14 of vol. 2 of the _Rambles and
+Recollections_ in the original edition, corresponding to Chapter 7 of
+the edition of 1893, and Chapter 62 of this (1915) edition. No
+contributions by the author of later date than the above to any
+periodical have been traced. In a letter dated Lucknow, 12th January,
+1853 (_Journey,_ vol. 2, p. 390) the author says-'I was asked by Dr.
+Duff, the editor of the _Calcutta Review,_ before he went home, to
+write some articles for that journal to expose the fallacies, and to
+counteract the influences of this [_scil_. annexationist] school; but
+I have for many years ceased to contribute to the periodical papers,
+and have felt bound by my position not to write for them.']
+
+
+(11.) London, 1844, 2 vols. large 8vo.
+RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN OFFICIAL
+by
+Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Sleeman, of the Bengal Army.
+'The proper study of mankind is man.'--POPE.
+In Two Volumes.
+London:
+J. Hatchard and Son, 187, Piccadilly.
+1844.
+[Vol. I, pp. v and 478. Frontispiece, in colours, a portrait of 'The
+late Emperor of Delhi', namely, Akbar II. At end of volume, six full-
+page coloured plates, numbered 25-30, viz. No. 25, 'Plant'; No. 26,
+'Plant'; No. 27, 'Plant'; No. 28, 'Ornament'; No. 29, 'Ornament'; No.
+30, 'Ornaments'.
+
+Vol. 2, pp. vii and 459. Frontispiece, in colours, comprising five
+miniatures; and Plates numbered 1-24, irregularly inserted, and with
+several misprints in the titles.
+
+The three notes printed at the close of the second volume were
+brought up to their proper places in the edition of 1893, and are
+there retained in this (1915) edition. The following paragraph is
+prefixed to these notes in the original edition: 'In consequence of
+this work not having had the advantage of the author's
+superintendence while passing through the press, and of the
+manuscript having reached England in insulated portions, some errors
+and omissions have unavoidably taken place, a few of which the
+following notes are intended to rectify or supply.' The edition of
+1844 has been scarce for many years,]
+
+
+(11a.) Lahore 1888, 2 vols. in one 8vo.
+RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS, &o.
+(Title as in edition of 1844.)
+Republished by A. C, Majumdar.
+Lahore:
+Printed at the Mufid-i-am Press.
+1888.
+[Vol. 1, pp. xi and 351. Vol. 2, pp. v and 339. A very roughly
+executed reprint, containing many misprints. No illustrations. This
+reprint is seldom met with.]
+
+
+(11b.) Westminster, 1893, 2 vols. in 8vo.
+RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS, &c.
+A New Edition, edited by Vincent Arthur Smith, I.C.S.; being vol. 5
+of Constable's Oriental Miscellany. The book is now scarce.
+
+
+(12.) Calcutta, 1849.
+REPORT
+On
+BUDHUK
+Alias
+BAGREE DECOITS
+and other
+GANG ROBBERS BY HEREDITARY PROFESSION,
+and on
+The Measures adopted by the Government of India
+for their Suppression.
+By Lieut.-Col. W. H. Sleeman, Bengal Army.
+Calcutta:
+J. C. Sherriff, Bengal Military Orphan Press.
+1849.
+[Folio, pp. iv and 433. Map. Printed on blue paper. A valuable work.
+In their Dispatch No. 27, dated 18th September, 1850, the Honourable
+Court of Directors observe that 'This Report is as important and
+interesting as that of the same able officer on the Thugs'. Copies
+exist in the British Museum and India Office Libraries, but there is
+none in the Bodleian. The work was first prepared for press in 1842
+(Journey, vol. 1, p, xxvi).]
+
+
+(13.) 1852, Plymouth, Pamphlet.
+AN ACCOUNT of WOLVES NURTURING CHILDREN IN THEIR DENS.
+By an Indian Official.
+Plymouth:
+Jenkin Thomas, Printer,
+9, Cornwall Street.
+1852.
+[Octavo pamphlet. 15 pages. The cases cited are also described in the
+_Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, and are discussed in V. Ball,
+_Jungle Life in India_ (De la Rue, 1880), pp. 454-66. The only copy
+known to me is that in possession of the author's grandson.]
+
+
+(14.)Lucknow, 1852.
+Sir William Sleeman printed his _Diary of a Journey through Oude_
+privately at a press in the Residency. He had purchased a small
+press and type for the purpose of printing it at his own house, so
+that no one but himself and the compositor might see it. He intended,
+if he could find time, to give the history of the reigning family in
+a third volume, which was written, but has never been published. The
+title is: Diary of a Tour through Oude in December, 1849, and January
+and February, 1850.
+
+By The Resident
+Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Sleeman.
+Printed at Lucknow in a Parlour Press.
+1852.
+
+Two vols. large 8vo. with wide margins. Printed well on good paper.
+Vol. 1 has map of Oude, 305 pp. text, and at end a printed slip of
+errata. Vol. 2 has 302 pp. text, with a similar slip of errata. The
+brief Preface contains the following statements:
+ 'I have had the Diary printed at my own expense in a small parlour
+press which I purchased, with type, for the purpose. . . . The Diary
+must for the present be considered as an official document, which may
+be perused, but cannot be published wholly or in part without the
+sanction of Government previously obtained.' [1]
+ Eighteen copies of the Diary were so printed and were coarsely bound
+by a local binder. Of these copies twelve were distributed as
+follows, one to each person or authority: Government, Calcutta; Court
+of Directors; Governor-General; Chairman of Court of Directors;
+Deputy Chairman; brother of author; five children of author, one each
+(5); Col. Sykes, Director E.I.C.
+ A Memorandum of Errata was put up along with some of the copies
+distributed. (_Private Correspondence,_ Journey, _vol._ 2, _pp._ 357,
+393, _under dates 4 April, 1852, and 12 Jan., 1853._) The Bodleian
+copy, purchased in June, 1891, was that belonging to Mrs, (Lady)
+Sleeman, and bears her signature 'A. J. Sleeman' on the fly-leaf of
+each volume. The book was handsomely bound in morocco or russia, with
+gilt edges, by Martin of Calcutta. The British Museum Catalogue does
+not include a copy of this issue. The India Office Library has a copy
+of vol. 1 only. Captain J. L. Sleeman has both volumes.
+
+ (15.) 1853, Pamphlet.
+Reprint of letter No. 34 of 1853 from the author to J, P. Grant,
+Esq., Officiating Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign
+Department, Fort William. Dated Lucknow Residency, 12th October,
+1853.
+[Six pages. Describes another attempt to assassinate the author on
+the 9th October, 1853. See ante, p. xxvi.]
+
+(16.) London 1858, 2 vols. 8vo.
+_A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, in 1849-50, by direction of
+the Right Hon. the Earl of Dalhousie, Governor-General._
+With Private Correspondence relative to the Annexation of Oude to
+British India, &c.
+By Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman, K.C.B., Resident at the Court of
+Lucknow.
+
+In two Volumes.
+London:
+Richard Bentley, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1858.
+[Small 8vo. Frontispiece of vol. 1 is a Map of the Kingdom of Oude.
+The contents of vol. 1 are: Title, preface, and contents, pp. i-x;
+Biographical Sketch of Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman, K.C.B., pp.
+xi-xvi; Introduction, pp. xvii-xxii; Private Correspondence preceding
+the Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, pp. xxiii-lxxx; Diary of a
+Tour through Oude, chapters i-vi, pp. 1-337. The contents of vol. 2
+are: Title and contents, pp. i-vi; Diary of a Tour through Oude, pp.
+1-331; Private Correspondence relating to the Annexation of the
+Kingdom of Oude to British India, pp. 332-424. The letters printed in
+this volume were written between 5th Dec., 1849, and 11th Sept.,
+1854, during and after the Tour. The dates of the letters in the
+first volume extend from 20th Feb., 1848, to 11th Oct., 1849. The
+Tour began on 1st Dec., 1849, The book, though rather scarce, is to
+be found in most of the principal libraries, and may be obtained from
+time to time.]
+
+
+
+_II.--UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS_
+
+(1.) 1809.
+Two books describing author's voyage to India round the Cape.
+
+
+(2.) 1837.
+Journal of a Trip from Simla to Gurgoohee.
+[Referred to in unpublished letters dated 5th and 30th August, 1837.]
+
+
+(3.) _Circa_1824.
+Preliminary Observations and Notes on Mr. Molony's Report on
+Narsinghpur.
+[Referred to in _Central Provinces Gazetteer_, Nagpur, 2nd ed., 1870,
+pp. xcix, cii, &c. The papers seem to be preserved in the record room
+at Narsinghpur.]
+
+
+(4.) 1841.
+History of Byza Bae (Baiza Bai).
+[Not to be published till after author's death. See unpublished
+_letter dated Jhansi,_ Oct. 22nd, 1841.]
+
+
+(5.)
+History of the Reigning Family of Oude.
+[Intended to form a third volume of the _Journey._ See Author's
+_Letter to Sir James Weir Hogg, Deputy Chairman, India House,_ dated
+Lucknow, 4th April, 1852; printed in _Journey,_ vol. 2, p. 358.]
+
+
+The manuscripts Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5, and the printed papers Nos. 1,
+3, 4, 10, 13, and 15, are in the possession of Captain J, L. Sleeman,
+Royal Sussex Regiment, grandson of the author. The India Office
+Library possesses copies of the printed works Nos. 2, 7, 8, 9, 11a,
+12, 14 (vol. 1 only) and 16.
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The book was written in 1851, and the Directors' permission to
+publish was given in December, 1852. (_Journey,_ ii, pp. 358, 393,
+ed. 1858. The Preface to that ed. wrongly indicates December, 1851,
+as the date of that permission.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+COMPARATIVE TABLE OF CHAPTERS
+
+ _Edition_ 1844. _Edition_ 1893. _Edition_
+1915.
+Vol. 1, chap. 1-36 Vol. 1, chap. 1-36 Chap. 1-36
+ " " 37-46 " " 37-46 titles only " 37-46
+titles only
+ " " 47,48 " " 47,48 " 47,48
+Vol. 2, " 1 " " 49 " 49
+ " " 2 " " 50 " 50
+ " " 3 " " 51 " 51
+ " " 4 " " 52 " 52
+ " " 5 " " 53 " 53
+ " " 6 " " 54 " 54
+ " " 7 " " 55 " 55
+ " " 8 Vol. 2 " 1 " 56
+ " " 9 " " 2 " 57
+ " " 10 " " 3 " 58
+ " " 11 " " 4 " 59
+ " " 12 " " 5 " 60
+ " " 13 " " 6 " 61
+ " " 14 " " 7 " 62
+ " " 15 " " 8 " 63
+ " " 16 " " 9 " 64
+ " " 17 " " 10 " 65
+ " " 18 " " 11 " 66
+ " " 19 " " 12 " 67
+ " " 20 " " 13 " 68
+ " " 21 " " 14 " 69
+ " " 22 " " 15 " 70
+ " " 23 " " 16 " 71
+ " " 24 " " 17 " 72
+ " " 25 " " 18 " 73
+ " " 26 " " 19 " 74
+ " " 27 " " 20 " 75
+ " " 28 " " 21 " 76
+ " " 29 " " 22 " 77
+
+
+
+
+ ABBREVIATIONS
+
+A.C. After Christ.
+
+_Ann. Rep. Annual Report._
+
+A.S. Archaeological Survey.
+
+_A.S.R. Archaeological Survey Reports,_ by Sir Alexander Cunningham
+and his assistants; 23 vols. 8vo, Simla and Calcutta, 1871-87, with
+General Index (vol. xxiv, 1887) by V. A. Smith.
+
+_A.S.W.I. Archaeological Survey Reports, Western India._
+
+Beale. T. W. Beale, _Oriental Biographical Dictionary,_ ed. Keene,
+1894.
+
+C.P. Central Provinces.
+
+E.& D. Sir H. M. Elliot and Professor J. Dowson, _The History of
+India as told by its own Historians, Muhammadan Period;_ 8 vols. 8vo,
+London, 1867-77.
+
+_E.H.I._ V. A. Smith, _Early History of India,_ 3rd ed., Oxford,
+1914.
+
+_Ep. Ind. Epigraphia Indica,_ Calcutta.
+
+Fanshawe. H. C. Fanshawe, _Delhi Past and Present,_ Murray, London,
+1902.
+
+_H.F.A._ V. A. Smith, _A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon,_
+4to, Oxford, 1911.
+
+_I.G. Imperial Gazetteer of India_, Oxford, 1907, 1908.
+
+_Ind. Ant. Indian Antiquary,_ Bombay.
+
+_J.A.S.B. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,_ Calcutta.
+
+_J.R.A.S. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,_ London.
+
+_N.I.N.& Qu. North-Indian Notes and Queries,_ Allahabad, 1891-6
+
+N.W.P. North-Western Provinces.
+
+_Z.D.M.G. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft,_
+Leipzig.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 1
+
+
+Annual Fairs held upon the Banks of Sacred Streams in India.
+
+Before setting out on our journey towards the Himalaya we formed once
+more an agreeable party to visit the Marble Rocks of the Nerbudda at
+Bheraghat.[1] It was the end of Kartik,[2] when the Hindoos hold
+fairs on all their sacred streams at places consecrated by poetry or
+tradition as the scene of some divine work or manifestation. These
+fairs are at once festive and holy; every person who comes enjoying
+himself as much as he can, and at the same time seeking purification
+from all past transgressions by bathing and praying in the holy
+stream, and making laudable resolutions to be better for the future.
+The ceremonies last five days, and take place at the same time upon
+all the sacred rivers throughout India; and the greater part of the
+whole Hindoo population, from the summits of the Himalaya mountains
+to Cape Comorin, will, I believe, during these five days, be found
+congregated at these fairs. In sailing down the Ganges one may pass
+in the course of a day half a dozen such fairs, each with a multitude
+equal to the population of a large city, and rendered beautifully
+picturesque by the magnificence and variety of the tent equipages of
+the great and wealthy. The preserver of the universe (_Bhagvan_)
+Vishnu is supposed, on the 26th of Asarh, to descend to the world
+below (_Patal_) to defend Raja Bali from the attacks of Indra, to
+stay with him four months, and to come up again on the 26th
+Kartik.[3] During his absence almost all kinds of worship and
+festivities are suspended; and they recommence at these fairs, where
+people assemble to hail his resurrection.
+
+Our tents were pitched upon a green sward on one bank of a small
+stream running into the Nerbudda close by, while the multitude
+occupied the other bank. At night all the tents and booths are
+illuminated, and the scene is hardly less animated by night than by
+day; but what strikes a European most is the entire absence of all
+tumult and disorder at such places. He not only sees no disturbance,
+but feels assured that there will be none; and leaves his wife and
+children in the midst of a crowd of a hundred thousand persons all
+strangers to them, and all speaking a language and following a
+religion different from theirs, while he goes off the whole day,
+hunting and shooting in the distant jungles, without the slightest
+feeling of apprehension for their safety or comfort. It is a singular
+fact, which I know to be true, that during the great mutiny of our
+native troops at Barrackpore in 1824, the chief leaders bound
+themselves by a solemn oath not to suffer any European lady or child
+to be injured or molested, happen what might to them in the collision
+with their officers and the Government. My friend Captain Reid, one
+of the general staff, used to allow his children, five in number, to
+go into the lines and play with the soldiers of the mutinous
+regiments up to the very day when the artillery opened upon them;
+and, of above thirty European ladies then at the station, not one
+thought of leaving the place till they heard the guns.[4] Mrs.
+Colonel Faithful, with her daughter and another young lady, who had
+both just arrived from England, went lately all the way from Calcutta
+to Ludiana on the banks of the Hyphasis, a distance of more than
+twelve hundred miles, in their palankeens with relays of bearers, and
+without even a servant to attend them.[5] They were travelling night
+and day for fourteen days without the slightest apprehension of
+injury or of insult. Cases of ladies travelling in the same manner by
+_dak_ (stages) immediately after their arrival from England to all
+parts of the country occur every day, and I know of no instance of
+injury or insult sustained by them.[6] Does not this speak volumes
+for the character of our rule in India? Would men trust their wives
+and daughters in this manner unprotected among a people that disliked
+them and their rule? We have not a garrison, or walled cantonments,
+or fortified position of any kind for our residence from one end of
+our Eastern empire to the other, save at the three capitals of
+Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.[7] We know and feel that the people
+everywhere look up to and respect us, in spite of all our faults, and
+we like to let them know and feel that we have confidence in them.
+
+Sir Thomas Munro has justly observed, 'I do not exactly know what is
+meant by civilizing the people of India. In the theory and practice
+of good government they may be deficient; but, if a good system of
+agriculture, if unrivalled manufactures, if the establishment of
+schools for reading and writing, if the general practice of kindness
+and hospitality, and, above all, if a scrupulous respect and delicacy
+towards the female sex are amongst the points that denote a civilized
+people; then the Hindoos are not inferior in civilization to the
+people of Europe'.[8]
+
+Bishop Heber writes in the same favourable terms of the Hindoos in
+the narrative of his journey through India; and where shall we find a
+mind more capable of judging of the merits and demerits of a people
+than his?[9]
+
+The concourse of people at this fair was, as usual, immense; but a
+great many who could not afford to provide tents for the
+accommodation of their families were driven away before their time by
+some heavy showers of, to them, unseasonable rains. On this and
+similar occasions the people bathe in the Nerbudda without the aid of
+priests, but a number of poor Brahmans attend at these festivals to
+receive charity, though not to assist at the ceremonies. Those who
+could afford it gave a trifle to these men as they came out of the
+sacred stream, but in no case was it demanded, or even solicited with
+any appearance of importunity, as it commonly is at fairs and holy
+places on the Ganges. The first day, the people bathe below the rapid
+over which the river falls after it emerges from its peaceful abode
+among the marble rocks; on the second day, just above this rapid; and
+on the third day, two miles further up at the cascade, when the whole
+body of the limpid stream of the Nerbudda, confined to a narrow
+channel of only a few yards wide, falls tumultuously down in a
+beautiful cascade into a deep chasm of marble rocks. This fall of
+their sacred stream the people call the 'Dhuandhar', or 'the smoky
+fall', from the thick vapour which is always seen rising from it in
+the morning. From below, the river glides quietly and imperceptibly
+for a mile and a half along a deep, and, according to popular belief,
+a fathomless channel of from ten to fifty yards wide, with snow-white
+marble rocks rising perpendicularly on either side from a hundred to
+a hundred and fifty feet high, and in some parts fearfully
+overhanging. Suspended in recesses of these white rocks are numerous
+large black nests of hornets ready to descend upon any unlucky wight
+who may venture to disturb their repose;[10] and, as the boats of the
+curious European visitors pass up and down to the sound of music,
+clouds of wild pigeons rise from each side, and seem sometimes to
+fill the air above them. Here, according to native legends, repose
+the Pandavas, the heroes of their great Homeric poem, the
+Mahabharata, whose names they have transferred to the valley of the
+Nerbudda. Every fantastic appearance of the rocks, caused by those
+great convulsions of nature which have so much disturbed the crust of
+the globe, or by the slow and silent working of the, waters, is
+attributed to the god-like power of those great heroes of Indian
+romance, and is associated with the recollection of scenes in which
+they are supposed to have figured.[11]
+
+The strata of the Kaimur range of sandstone hills, which runs
+diagonally across the valley of the Nerbudda, are thrown up almost
+perpendicularly, in some places many hundred feet above the level of
+the plain, while in others for many miles together their tops are
+only visible above the surface. These are so many strings of the oxen
+which the arrows of Arjun, one of the five brothers, converted into
+stone; and many a stream which now waters the valley first sprang
+from the surface of the earth at the touch of his lance, as his
+troops wanted water. The image of the gods of a former day, which now
+lie scattered among the ruins of old cities, buried in the depth of
+the forest, are nothing less than the bodies of the kings of the
+earth turned into stone for their temerity in contending with these
+demigods in battle. Ponds among the rocks of the Nerbudda, where all
+the great fairs are held, still bear the names of the five brothers,
+who are the heroes of this great poem;[12] and they are every year
+visited by hundreds of thousands who implicitly believe that their
+waters once received upon their bosoms the wearied limbs of those
+whose names they bear. What is life without the charms of fiction,
+and without the leisure and recreations which these sacred imaginings
+tend to give to the great mass of those who have nothing but the
+labour of their hands to depend upon for their subsistence! Let no
+such fictions be believed, and the holidays and pastimes of the lower
+orders in every country would soon cease, for they have almost
+everywhere owed their origin and support to some religious dream
+which has commanded the faith and influenced the conduct of great
+masses of mankind, and prevented one man from presuming to work on
+the day that another wished to rest from his labours. The people were
+of opinion, they told me, that the Ganges, as a sacred stream, could
+last only sixty years more, when the Nerbudda would take its place.
+The waters of the Nerbudda are, they say already so much more sacred
+than those of the Ganges that to see them is sufficient to cleanse
+men from their sins, whereas the Ganges must be touched before it can
+have that effect.[13]
+
+At the temple built on the top of a conical hill at Bheraghat,
+overlooking the river, is a statue of a bull carrying Siva, the god
+of destruction, and his wife Parvati seated behind him; they have
+both snakes in their hands, and Siva has a large one round his loins
+as a waistband. There are several demons in human shape lying
+prostrate under the belly of the bull, and the whole are well cut out
+of one large slab of hard basalt from a dyke in the marble rock
+beneath. They call the whole group 'Gauri Sankar', and I found in the
+fair, exposed for sale, a brass model of a similar one from Jeypore
+(Jaipur), but not so well shaped and proportioned. On noticing this
+we were told that 'such difference was to be expected, since the
+brass must have been made by man, whereas the "Gauri Sankar" of the
+temple above was a real Pakhan, or a conversion of living beings into
+stone by the gods;[14] they were therefore the exact resemblance of
+living beings, while the others could only be rude imitations'.
+'Gauri', or the Fair, is the name of Parvati, or Devi, when she
+appears with her husband Siva. On such occasions she is always fair
+and beautiful. Sankar is another name of Siva, or Mahadeo, or Rudra.
+On looking into the temple at the statue, a lady expressed her
+surprise at the entireness as well as the excellence of the figures,
+while all round had been so much mutilated by the Muhammadans. 'They
+are quite a different thing from the others', said a respectable old
+landholder; 'they are a conversion of real flesh and blood into
+stone, and no human hands can either imitate or hurt them.' She
+smiled incredulously, while he looked very grave, and appealed to the
+whole crowd of spectators assembled, who all testified to the truth
+of what he had said; and added that 'at no distant day the figures
+would be all restored to life again, the deities would all come back
+without doubt and reanimate their old bodies again'.
+
+All the people who come to bathe at the fair bring chaplets of yellow
+jasmine, and hang them as offerings round the necks of the god and
+his consort; and at the same time they make some small offerings of
+rice to each of the many images that stand within the same apartment,
+and also to those which, under a stone roof supported upon stone
+pillars, line the inside of the wall that surrounds the circular
+area, in the centre of which the temple stands. The images inside the
+temple are those of the three great gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva,
+with their primaeval consorts;[15] but those that occupy the piazza
+outside are the representations of the consorts of the different
+incarnations of these three gods, and these consorts are themselves
+the incarnations of the primaeval wives, who followed their husbands
+in all their earthly ramblings. They have all the female form, and
+are about the size of ordinary women, and extremely well cut out of
+fine white and green sandstone; but their heads are those of the
+animals in which their respective husbands became incarnate, such as
+the lion, the elephant, &c., or those of the '_vahans_', or animals
+on which they rode, such as the bull, the swan, the eagle, &c. But
+these, I presume, are mere _capricios_ of the founder of the temple.
+The figures are sixty-four in number, all mounted upon their
+respective '_vahans_', but have been sadly mutilated by the pious
+Muhammadans.[16]
+
+The old 'Mahant', or high priest, told us that Mahadeo and his wife
+were in reality our Adam and Eve; 'they came here together', said he,
+'on a visit to the mountain Kailas,[17] and being earnestly solicited
+to leave some memorial of their visit, got themselves turned into
+stone'. The popular belief is that some very holy man, who had been
+occupied on the top of this little conical hill, where the temple now
+stands, in austere devotions for some few thousand years, was at last
+honoured with a visit from Siva and his consort, who asked him what
+they could do for him. He begged them to wait till he should bring
+some flowers from the woods to make them a suitable offering. They
+promised to do so, and he ran down, plunged into the Nerbudda and
+drowned himself, in order that these august persons might for ever
+remain and do honour to his residence and his name. They, however,
+left only their 'mortal coil', but will one day return and resume it.
+I know not whether I am singular in the notion or not, but I think
+Mahadeo and his consort are really our Adam and Eve, and that the
+people have converted them into the god and goddess of destruction,
+from some vague idea of their original sin, which involved all their
+race in destruction. The snakes, which form the only dress of
+Mahadeo, would seem to confirm this notion.[18]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The Nerbudda (Narbada, or Narmada) river is the boundary between
+Hindustan, or Northern India, and the Deccan (Dakhin), or Southern
+India. The beautiful gorge of the Marble Rocks, near Jubbulpore
+(Jabalpur), is familiar to modern tourists (see _I.G._, 1908, s.v.
+'Marble Rocks'). The remarkable antiquities at Bheraghat are
+described and illustrated in _A.S.R._, vol. ix, pp. 60-76, pl. xii-
+xvi. Additions and corrections to Cunningham's account will be found
+in _A.S.W.I Progr. Rep._, 1893-4, p. 5; and _A.S. Ann. Rep., E.
+Circle_, 1907-8, pp. 14-18.
+
+2. The eighth month of the Hindoo luni-solar year, corresponding to
+part of October and part of November. In Northern India the year
+begins with the month Chait, in March. The most commonly used names
+of the months are: (1) Chait; (2) Baisakh; (3) Jeth; (4) Asarh; (5)
+Sawan; (6) Bhadon; (7) Kuar; (8) Kartik; (9) Aghan; (10) Pus; (II)
+Magh; and (12) Phalgun.
+
+3. _Bhagvan_ is often used as equivalent for the word God in its most
+general sense, but is specially applicable to the Deity as manifested
+in Vishnu the Preserver. _Asarh_ corresponds to June-July, _Patal_ is
+the Hindoo Hades. Raja Bali is a demon, and Indra is the lord of the
+heavens. The fairs take place at the time of full moon.
+
+4. Barrackpore, fifteen miles north of Calcutta, is still a
+cantonment. The Governor General has a country house there. The
+mutiny of the native troops stationed there occurred on Nov. 1, 1824,
+and was due to the discontent caused by orders moving the 47th Native
+Infantry to Rangoon to take part in the Burmese War. The outbreak was
+promptly suppressed. Captain Pogson published a _Memoir of the Mutiny
+at Barrackpore_ (8vo, Serampore, 1833).
+
+5. Ludiana, the capital of the district of the same name, now under
+the Punjab Government. Hyphasis is the Greek name of the Bias river,
+one of the five rivers of the Punjab.
+
+6. Railways have rendered almost obsolete the mode of travelling
+described in the text. In Northern India palankeens (palkis) are now
+seldom used, even by Indians, except for purposes of ceremony.
+
+7. This statement is no longer quite accurate, though fortified
+positions are still very few.
+
+8. The editor cannot find the exact passage quoted, but remarks to
+the same effect will be found in _The Life of Sir Thomas Munro,_ by
+the Rev. G. R. Gleig, in two volumes, a new edition (London, 1831),
+vol. ii, p. 175.
+
+9. _Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, from
+Calcutta to Bombay, 1834-5, and a Journey to the Southern Provinces
+in 1826_ (2nd edition, 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1828.)
+
+10. The bees at the Marble Rocks are the _Apis dorsata_. An
+Englishman named Biddington, when trying to escape from them, was
+drowned, and they stung to death one of Captain Forsyth's baggage
+ponies (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia of India,_ 3rd ed., 1885, s.v. Bee').
+
+11. The vast epic poem, or collection of poems known as the
+Mahabharata, consists of over 100,000 Sanskrit verses. The main
+subject is the war between the five Pandavas, or sons of Pandu, and
+their cousins the Kauravas, sons of Dhritarashtra. Many poems of
+various origins and dates are interwoven with the main work. The best
+known of the episodes is that of _Nala and Damayanti,_ which was well
+translated by Dean Milman, See Macdonell, _A History of Sanskrit
+Literature_ (Heinemann, 1900).
+
+12. The five Pandava brothers were Yudhishthira, Bhimia, Arjuna,
+Nakula, and Sahadeva, the children of Pandu, by his wives Kunti, or
+Pritha, and Madri.
+
+13. 'The Narbada has its special admirers, who exalt it oven above
+the Ganges, . . . The sanctity of the Ganges will, they say, cease in
+1895, whereas that of the Narbada will continue for ever' (Monier
+Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India,_ London, 1883, p.
+348), See _post,_ Chapter 27.
+
+14. Sleeman wrote 'Py-Khan', a corrupt spelling of pakhan, the
+Sanskrit pashana or pasana, 'a stone'. The compound pashana-murti is
+commonly used in the sense of 'stone image'. The sibilant _sh_ or _s_
+usually is pronounced as _kh_ in Northern India (Grierson,
+_J.R.A.S.,_ 1903, p. 363).
+
+15. Sarasvati, consort of Brahma; Devi (Parvati, Durga, &c.), consort
+of Siva; and Lakshmi, consort of Vishnu. All Hindoo deities have many
+names.
+
+16. The author's explanation is partly erroneous. The temple, which
+is a very remarkable one, is dedicated to the sixty-four Joginis.
+Only five temples in India are known to be dedicated to these demons.
+For details see Cunningham, _A.S.R.,_ vol. ix, pp. 61-74, pl. xii-
+xvi; vol. ii, p. 416; and vol. xxi, p. 57. The word _vahana_ means
+'vehicle'. Each deity has his peculiar vehicle.
+
+17. The heaven of Siva, as distinguished from Vaikuntha, the heaven
+of Vishnu. It is supposed to be somewhere in the Himalaya mountains.
+The wonderful excavated rock temple at Ellora is believed to be a
+model of Kailas.
+
+18. This 'notion' of the author's is not likely to find acceptance at
+the present day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 2
+
+
+Hindoo System of Religion.
+
+The Hindoo system is this. A great divine spirit or essence,
+'Brahma', pervades the whole universe; and the soul of every human
+being is a drop from this great ocean, to which, when it becomes
+perfectly purified, it is reunited. The reunion is the eternal
+beatitude to which all look forward with hope; and the soul of the
+Brahman is nearest to it. If he has been a good man, his soul becomes
+absorbed in the 'Brahma'; and, if a bad man, it goes to 'Narak',
+hell; and after the expiration of its period there of _limited
+imprisonment_, it returns to earth, and occupies the body of some
+other animal. It again advances by degrees to the body of the
+Brahman; and thence, when fitted for it, into the great 'Brahma'.[1]
+
+From this great eternal essence emanate Brahma, the Creator, whose
+consort is Sarasvati;[2] Vishnu, the Preserver, whose consort is
+Lakshmi; and Siva, _alias_ Mahadeo, the Destroyer, whose consort is
+Parvati. According to popular belief Jamraj (Yamaraja) is the
+judicial deity who has been appointed by the greater powers to pass
+the final judgement on the tenor of men's lives, according to
+proceedings drawn up by his secretary Chitragupta. If men's actions
+have been good, their souls are, as the next stage, advanced a step
+towards the great essence, Brahma; and, if bad, they are thrown back,
+and obliged to occupy the bodies of brutes or of people of inferior
+caste, as the balance against them may be great or small. There is an
+intermediate stage, a 'Narak', or hell, for bad men, and a
+'Baikunth', or paradise, for the good, in which they find their
+felicity in serving that god of the three to which they have
+specially devoted themselves while on earth. But from this stage,
+after the period of their sentence is expired, men go back to their
+pilgrimage on earth again.
+
+There are numerous Deos (Devas), or good spirits, of whom Indra is
+the chief; [3] and Daityas, or bad spirits; and there have also been
+a great number of incarnations from the three great gods, and their
+consorts, who have made their appearance upon the earth when required
+for particular purposes. All these incarnations are called 'Avatars',
+or descents. Vishnu has been eleven times on the globe in different
+shapes, and Siva seven times.[4] The avatars of Vishnu are celebrated
+in many popular poems, such as the Ramayana, or history of the Rape
+of Sita, the wife of Rama, the seventh incarnation;[5] the
+Mahabharata, and the Bhagavata [Purana], which describe the wars and
+amours of this god in his last human shape.[6] All these books are
+believed to have been written either by the hand or by the
+inspiration of the god himself thousands of years before the events
+they describe actually took place. 'It was', they say, 'as easy for
+the deity to write or dictate a battle, an amour, or any other
+important event ten thousand years before as the day after it took
+place'; and I believe nine-tenths, perhaps ninety-nine in a hundred,
+of the Hindoo population believe implicitly that these accounts were
+also written. It is now pretty clear that all these works are of
+comparatively recent date, that the great poem of the Mahabharata
+could not have been written before the year 786 of the Christian era,
+and was probably written so late as A.D. 1157; that Krishna, _if born
+at all_, must have been born on the 7th of August, A.D. 600, but was
+most likely a mere creation of the imagination to serve the purpose
+of the Brahmans of Ujain, in whom the fiction originated; that the
+other incarnations were invented about the same time, and for the
+same object, though the other persons described as incarnations were
+real princes, Parasu Rama, before Christ 1176, and Rama, born before
+Christ 961. In the Mahabharata Krishna is described as fighting in
+the same army with Yudhishthira and his four brothers. Yudhishthira
+was a real person, who ascended the throne at Delhi 575 B.C., or 1175
+years before the birth of Krishna.[7] Bentley supposes that the
+incarnations, particularly that of Krishna, were invented by the
+Brahmans of Ujain with a view to check the progress of Christianity
+in that part of the world (see his historical view of the Hindoo
+astronomy). That we find in no history any account of the alarming
+progress of Christianity about the time these fables were written is
+no proof that Bentley was wrong.[8]
+
+When Monsieur Thevenot was at Agra [in] 1666, the Christian
+population was roughly estimated at twenty-five thousand families.
+They had all passed away before it became one of our civil and
+military stations in the beginning of the present century, and we
+might search history in vain for any mention of them (see his
+_Travels in India_, Part III). One single prince, well disposed to
+give Christians encouragement and employment, might, in a few years,
+get the same number around his capital; and it is probable that the
+early Christians in India occasionally found such princes, and gave
+just cause of alarm to the Brahman priests, who were then in the
+infancy of their despotic power.[9]
+
+During the war with Nepal, in 1814 and 1815,[10] the division with
+which I served came upon an extremely interesting colony of about two
+thousand Christian families at Betiya in the Tirhut District, on the
+borders of the Tarai forest. This colony had been created by one man,
+the Bishop, a Venetian by birth, under the protection of a small
+Hindoo prince, the Raja, of Betiya.[11] This holy man had been some
+fifty years among these people, with little or no support from Europe
+or from any other quarter. The only aid he got from the Raja was a
+pledge that no member of his Church should be subject to the
+_Purveyance system_, under which the people everywhere suffered so
+much,[12] and this pledge the Raja, though a Hindoo, had never
+suffered to be violated. There were men of all trades among them, and
+they formed one very large street remarkable for the superior style
+of its buildings and the sober industry of its inhabitants. The
+masons, carpenters, and blacksmiths of this little colony were
+working in our camp every day, while we remained in the vicinity, and
+better workmen I have never seen in India; but they would all insist
+upon going to divine service at the prescribed hours. They had built
+a splendid _pucka_[13] dwelling-house for their bishop, and a still
+more splendid church, and formed for him the finest garden I have
+seen in India, surrounded with a good wall, and provided with
+admirable pucka wells. The native Christian servants who attended at
+the old bishop's table, taught by himself, spoke Latin to him; but he
+was become very feeble, and spoke himself a mixture of Latin,
+Italian, his native tongue, and Hindustani. We used to have him at
+our messes, and take as much care of him as of an infant, for he was
+become almost as frail as one. The joy and the excitement of being
+once more among Europeans, and treated by them with so much reverence
+in the midst of his flock, were perhaps too much for him, for he
+sickened and died soon after.
+
+The Raja died soon after him, and in all probability the flock has
+disappeared. No Europeans except a few indigo planters of the
+neighbourhood had ever before known or heard of this colony; and they
+seemed to consider them only as a set of great scoundrels, who had
+better carts and bullocks than anybody else in the country, which
+they refused to let out at the same rate as the others, and which
+they (the indigo lords) were not permitted to seize and employ at
+discretion. Roman Catholics have a greater facility in making
+converts in India than Protestants, from having so much more in their
+form of worship to win the affections through the medium of the
+imagination.[14]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Men are occasionally exempted from the necessity of becoming a
+Brahman first. Men of low caste, if they die at particular places,
+where it is the interest of the Brahmans to invite rich men to die,
+are promised absorption into the great 'Brahma' at once. Immense
+numbers of wealthy men go every year from the most distant parts of
+India to die at Benares, where they spend large sums of money among
+the Brahmans. It is by their means that this, the second city in
+India, is supported. [W. H. S.] Bombay is now the second city in
+India, so far as population is concerned.
+
+2. Brahma, with the short vowel, is the eternal Essence or Spirit;
+Brahma, with the long vowel, is 'the primaeval male god, the first
+personal product of the purely spiritual Brahma, when overspread by
+Maya, or illusory creative force', according to the Vedanta system
+(Monier Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 44).
+
+3. Indra was originally, in the Vedas, the Rain-god. The statement in
+the text refers to modern Hinduism.
+
+4. The incarnations of Vishnu are ordinarily reckoned as ten, namely,
+(1) Fish, (2) Tortoise, (3) Boar, (4) Man-lion, (5) Dwarf, (6) Rama
+with the axe, (7) Rama Chandra, (8) Krishna, (9) Buddha, (10) Kalki,
+or Kalkin, who is yet to come. I do not know any authority for eleven
+incarnations of Vishnu. The number is stated in some Puranas as
+twenty-two, twenty-four, or even twenty-eight. Seven incarnations of
+Siva are not generally recognized (see Monier Williams, _Religious
+Thought and Life in India_, pp. 78-86, and 107-16). For the theory
+and mystical meaning of _avatars_, see Grierson, _J.R.A.S._, 1909,
+pp. 621-44. The word avatar means 'descent', _scil_. of the Deity to
+earth, and covers more than the term 'incarnation'.
+
+5. Sita was an incarnation of Lakshmi. She became incarnate again,
+many centuries afterwards, as the wife of Krishna, another
+incarnation of Vishnu [W. H. S.]. Reckoning by centuries is, of
+course, inapplicable to pure myth. The author believed in Bentley's
+baseless chronology.
+
+6. For the Mahabharata, see _ante_, note 11, Chapter 1. The Bhagavata
+Purana is the most popular of the Puranas, The Hindi version of the
+tenth book (_skandha_) is known as the 'Prem Sagar'. The date of the
+composition of the Puranas is uncertain.
+
+7. The dates given in this passage are purely imaginary. Parts of the
+Mahabharata are very ancient. Yudhishthira is no more an historical
+personage than Achilles or Romulus. It is improbable that a 'throne
+of Delhi' existed in 575 B.C., and hardly anything is known about the
+state of India at that date.
+
+8. It is hardly necessary to observe that this grotesque theory is
+utterly at variance with the facts, as now known.
+
+9. The existing settlements of native Christians at Agra are mostly
+of modern origin. Very ancient Christian communities exist near
+Madras, and on the Malabar coast. The travels of Jean de Thevenot
+were published in 1684, under the title of _Voyage, contenant la
+Relation de l'Indostan_. The English version, by A. Lovell (London,
+1687), is entitled _The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the
+Levant, in three Parts_. Part III deals with the East Indies, The
+passage referred to is: 'Some affirm that there are twenty-five
+thousand Christian Families in Agra, but all do not agree in that'
+(Part III, p. 35). Thevonot's statement about the Christians of Agra
+is further discussed post in Chapter 52.
+
+10. The war with Nepal began in October, 1814, and was not concluded
+till 1816. During its progress the British arms suffered several
+reverses.
+
+11. The Betiya (Bettiah of _I. G_., 1908) Raj is a great estate with
+an area of 1,824 square miles in the northern part of the Champaran
+District of Bihar, in the Province of Bihar and Orissa. A great
+portion of the estate is held (1908) on permanent leases by European
+indigo-planters.
+
+12. For discussion of this system see post, Chapter 7.
+
+13. 'Pucka' (_pakka_) here means 'masonry', as opposed to 'Kutcha'
+(_kachcha_), meaning 'earthen'.
+
+14. Native Christians, according to the census of 1872, number 1,214
+persons, who are principally found in Bettia thana [police-circle].
+There are two Missions, one at Bettia, and the other at the village
+of Chuhari, both supported by the Roman Catholic Church. The former
+was founded in 1746 by a certain Father Joseph, from Garingano in
+Italy, who went to Bettia on the invitation of the Maharaja. The
+present number of converts is about 1,000 persons. Being principally
+descendants of Brahmans, they hold a fair social position; but some
+of them are extremely poor. About one-fourth are carpenters, one-
+tenth blacksmiths, one-tenth servants, the remainder carters. The
+Chuhari Mission was founded in 1770 by three Catholic priests, who
+had been expelled from Nepal [after the Gorkha conquest in 1768].
+There are now 283 converts, mostly descendants of Nepalis. They are
+all agriculturists, and very poor (Article 'Champaran District' in
+_Statistical Account of Bengal_, 1877).
+
+ The statement in _I.G._ 1908, s.v. Bettiah, differs slightly, as
+follows:
+
+ 'A Roman Catholic Mission was established about 1740 by Father
+Joseph Mary, an Italian missionary of the Capuchin Order, who was
+passing near Bettiah on his way to Nepal, when he was summoned by
+Raja Dhruva Shah to attend his daughter, who was dangerously ill. He
+succeeded in curing her, and the grateful Raja invited him to stay at
+Bettiah and gave him a house and ninety acres of land.' The Bettiah
+Mission still exists and maintains the Catholic Mission Press, where
+publications illustrating the history of the Capuchin Missions have
+been printed. Father Felix, O.C., is at work on the subject.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 3
+
+
+Legend of the Nerbudda River.
+
+The legend is that the Nerbudda, which flows west into the Gulf of
+Cambay, was wooed and won in the usual way by the Son river, which
+rises from the same tableland of Amarkantak, and flows east into the
+Ganges and Bay of Bengal.[1] All the previous ceremonies having been
+performed, the Son [2] came with 'due pomp and circumstance' to fetch
+his bride in the procession called the 'Barat', up to which time the
+bride and bridegroom are supposed never to have seen each other,
+unless perchance they have met in infancy. Her Majesty the Nerbudda
+became exceedingly impatient to know what sort of a personage her
+destinies were to be linked to, while his Majesty the Son advanced at
+a slow and stately pace. At last the Queen sent Johila, the daughter
+of the barber, to take a close view of him, and to return and make a
+faithful and particular report of his person. His Majesty was
+captivated with the little Johila, the barber's daughter, at first
+sight; and she, 'nothing loath', yielded to his caresses. Some say
+that she actually pretended to be Queen herself; and that his Majesty
+was no further in fault than in mistaking the humble handmaid for her
+noble mistress; but, be that as it may, her Majesty no sooner heard
+of the good understanding between them, than she rushed forward, and
+with one foot sent the Son rolling back to the east whence he came,
+and with the other kicked little Johila sprawling after him; for,
+said the high priest, who told us the story, 'You see what a towering
+passion she was likely to have been in under such indignities from
+the furious manner in which she cuts her way through the marble rocks
+beneath us, and casts huge masses right and left as she goes along,
+as if they were really so many coco-nuts'. 'And was she', asked I,
+'to have flown eastward with him, or was he to have flown westward
+with her?' 'She was to have accompanied him eastward', said the high
+priest, 'but her Majesty, after this indignity, declared that she
+would not go a single pace in the same direction with such wretches,
+and would flow west, though all the other rivers in India might flow
+east; and west she flows accordingly, a virgin queen.' I asked some
+of the Hindoos about us why they called her 'Mother Nerbudda', if she
+was really never married. 'Her Majesty', said they with great
+respect, 'would really never consent to be married after the
+indignity she suffered from her affianced bridegroom the Son; and we
+call her Mother because she blesses us all, and we are anxious to
+accost her by the name which we consider to be at once the most
+respectful and endearing.'
+
+Any Englishman can easily conceive a poet in his highest 'calenture
+of the brain' addressing the ocean as 'a steed that knows his rider',
+and patting the crested billow as his flowing mane; but he must come
+to India to understand how every individual of a whole community of
+many millions can address a fine river as a living being, a sovereign
+princess, who hears and understands all they say, and exercises a
+kind of local superintendence over their affairs, without a single
+temple in which her image is worshipped, or a single priest to profit
+by the delusion. As in the case of the Ganges, it is the river itself
+to whom they address themselves, and not to any deity residing in it,
+or presiding over it: the stream itself is the deity which fills
+their imaginations, and receives their homage.
+
+Among the Romans and ancient Persians rivers were propitiated by
+sacrifices. When Vitellius crossed the Euphrates with the Roman
+legions to put Tiridates on the throne of Armenia, they propitiated
+the river according to the rites of their country by the
+_suovetaurilia_, the sacrifice of the hog, the ram, and the bull.
+Tiridates did the same by the sacrifice of a horse. Tacitus does not
+mention the river _god_, but the river _itself_, as propitiated (see
+[_Annals_,] book vi, chap. 37).[3] Plato makes Socrates condemn Homer
+for making Achilles behave disrespectfully towards the river Xanthus,
+though acknowledged to be a divinity, in offering to fight him,[4]
+and towards the river Sperchius, another acknowledged god, in
+presenting to the dead body of Patroclus the locks of his hair which
+he had promised to that river.[5]
+
+The Son river, which rises near the source of the Nerbudda on the
+tableland of Amarkantak, takes a westerly course for some miles, and
+then turns off suddenly to the east, and is joined by the little
+stream of the Johila before it descends the great cascade; and hence
+the poets have created this fiction, which the mass of the population
+receive as divine revelation. The statue of little Johila, the
+barber's daughter, in stone, stands in the temple of the goddess
+Nerbudda at Amarkantak, bound in chains.[6] It may here be remarked
+that the first overtures in India must always be made through the
+medium of the barber, whether they be from the prince or the
+peasant.[7] If a sovereign prince sends proposals to a sovereign
+princess, they must be conveyed through the medium of the barber, or
+they will never be considered as done in due form, as likely to prove
+propitious. The prince will, of course, send some relation or high
+functionary with him; but in all the credentials the barber must be
+named as the principal functionary. Hence it was that Her Majesty was
+supposed to have sent a barber's daughter to meet her husband.
+
+The 'Mahatam' (greatness or holiness) of the Ganges is said, as I
+have already stated, to be on the wane, and not likely to endure
+sixty years longer; while that of the Nerbudda is on the increase,
+and in sixty years is entirely to supersede the sanctity of her
+sister. If the valley of the Nerbudda should continue for sixty years
+longer under such a government as it has enjoyed since we took
+possession of it in 1817,[8] it may become infinitely more rich, more
+populous, and more beautiful than that of the Nile ever was; and, if
+the Hindoos there continue, as I hope they will, to acquire wealth
+and honour under a rule to which they are so much attached, the
+prophecy may be realized in as far as the increase of honour paid to
+the Nerbudda is concerned. But I know no ground to expect that the
+reverence[9] paid to the Ganges will diminish, unless education and
+the concentration of capital in manufactures should work an important
+change in the religious feelings and opinions of the people along the
+course of that river; although this, it must be admitted, is a
+consummation which may be looked for more speedily on the banks of
+the Ganges than on those of a stream like the Nerbudda, which is
+neither navigable at present nor, in my opinion, capable of being
+rendered so. Commerce and manufactures, and the concentration of
+capital in the maintenance of the new communities employed in them,
+will, I think, be the great media through which this change will be
+chiefly effected; and they are always more likely to follow the
+course of rivers that are navigable than that of rivers which are
+not.[10]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Amarkantak, formerly in the Sohagpur pargana of the Bilaspur
+District of the Central Provinces, is situated on a high tableland,
+and is a famous place of pilgrimage. The temples are described by
+Beglar in _A.S.R._, vol. vii, pp. 227-34, pl. xx, xxi. The hill has
+been transferred to the Riwa State (_Central Provinces Gazetteer_
+(1870), and _I.G._ (1908), s.v. Amarkantak).
+
+2. The name is misspelled Sohan in the author's text. The Son rises
+at Son Munda, about twenty miles from Amarkantak (_A.S.R._, vol. vii,
+236).
+
+3. 'Sacrificantibus, cum hic more Romano suovetaurilia daret, ille
+equum placando amni adornasset.'
+
+4. [Greek text]--_Iliad_ xx, 73.
+
+5. _Iliad_ xxiii. 140-153.
+
+6. Mr. Crooke observes that the binding was intended to prevent the
+object of worship from deserting her shrine or possibly doing
+mischief elsewhere, and refers to his article, 'The Binding of a God,
+a Study of the Basis of Idolatry', in _Folklore_, vol. viii (1897),
+p.134. The name is spelt Johilla in _I.G._ (1908), s.v. Son River.
+
+7. Monier Williams denies the barber's monopoly of match-making. 'In
+some parts of Northern India the match-maker for some castes is the
+family barber; but for the higher castes he is more generally a
+Brahman, who goes about from one house to another till he discovers a
+baby-girl of suitable rank' (_Religious Thought and Life in India_,
+p. 377). So far as the editor knows, the barber is ordinarily
+employed in Northern India.
+
+8. During the operations against the Pindhari freebooters. Many
+treaties were negotiated with the Peshwa and other native powers in
+the years 1817 and 1818.
+
+9. The word in the text is 'revenue'.
+
+10. Concerning the prophecy that the sanctity of the Ganges will
+cease in 1895, see note to Chapter 1, _ante_, [13]. The prophecy was
+much talked of some years ago, but the reverence for the Ganges
+continues undiminished, while the development of commerce and
+manufactures has not affected, the religious feelings and opinions of
+the people. Railways, in fact, facilitate pilgrimages and increase
+their popularity. The course of commerce now follows the line of
+rail, not the navigable rivers. The author, when writing this book,
+evidently never contemplated the possibility of railway construction
+in India. Later in life, in 1852, he fully appreciated the value of
+the new means of communication (_Journey_, ii, 370, &c.).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 4
+
+
+A Suttee[1] on the Nerbudda.
+
+We took a ride one evening to Gopalpur, a small village situated on
+the same bank of the Nerbudda, about three miles up from Bheraghat.
+On our way we met a party of women and girls coming to the fair.
+Their legs were uncovered half-way up the thigh; but, as we passed,
+they all carefully covered up their faces. 'Good God!' exclaimed one
+of the ladies, 'how can these people be so very indecent?' They
+thought it, no doubt, equally extraordinary that she should have her
+face uncovered, while she so carefully concealed her legs; for they
+were really all modest peasantry, going from the village to bathe in
+the holy stream.[2]
+
+Here there are some very pretty temples, built for the most part to
+the memory of widows who have burned themselves with the remains of
+their husbands, and upon the very spot where they committed
+themselves to the flames. There was one which had been recently
+raised over the ashes of one of the most extraordinary old ladies
+that I have ever seen, who burned herself in my presence in 1829. I
+prohibited the building of any temple upon the spot, but my successor
+in the civil charge of the district, Major Low, was never, I believe,
+made acquainted with the prohibition nor with the progress of the
+work; which therefore went on to completion in my absence. As suttees
+are now prohibited in our dominions[3] and cannot be often seen or
+described by Europeans, I shall here relate the circumstances of this
+as they were recorded by me at the time, and the reader may rely upon
+the truth of the whole tale.
+
+On the 29th November, 1829, this old woman, then about sixty-five
+years of age, here mixed her ashes with those of her husband, who had
+been burned alone four days before. On receiving civil charge of the
+district (Jubbulpore) in March, 1828, I issued a proclamation
+prohibiting any one from aiding or assisting in suttee, and
+distinctly stating that to bring one ounce of wood for the purpose
+would be considered as so doing. If the woman burned herself with the
+body of her husband, any one who brought wood for the purpose of
+burning him would become liable to punishment; consequently, the body
+of the husband must be first consumed, and the widow must bring a
+fresh supply for herself. On Tuesday, 24th November, 1829, I had an
+application from the heads of the most respectable and most extensive
+family of Brahmans in the district to suffer this old woman to burn
+herself with the remains of her husband, Ummed Singh Upadhya, who had
+that morning died upon the banks of the Nerbudda.[4] I threatened to
+enforce my order, and punish severely any man who assisted; and
+placed a police guard for the purpose of seeing that no one did so.
+She remained sitting by the edge of the water without eating or
+drinking. The next day the body of her husband was burned to ashes in
+a small pit of about eight feet square, and three or four feet deep,
+before several thousand spectators who had assembled to see the
+suttee. All strangers dispersed before evening, as there seemed to be
+no prospect of my yielding to the urgent solicitations of her family,
+who dared not touch food till she had burned herself, or declared
+herself willing to return to them. Her sons, grandsons, and some
+other relations remained with her, while the rest surrounded my
+house, the one urging me to allow her to burn, and the other urging
+her to desist. She remained sitting on a bare rock in the bed of the
+Nerbudda, refusing every kind of sustenance, and exposed to the
+intense heat of the sun by day, and the severe cold of the night,
+with only a thin sheet thrown over her shoulders. On Thursday, to cut
+off all hope of her being moved from her purpose, she put on the
+dhaja, or coarse red turban, and broke her bracelets in pieces, by
+which she became dead in law, and for ever excluded from caste.
+Should she choose to live after this, she could never return to her
+family. Her children and grandchildren were still with her, but all
+their entreaties were unavailing; and I became satisfied that she
+would starve herself to death, if not allowed to burn, by which the
+family would be disgraced, her miseries prolonged, and I myself
+rendered liable to be charged with a wanton abuse of authority, for
+no prohibition of the kind I had issued had as yet received the
+formal sanction of the Government.
+
+On Saturday, the 28th, in the morning, I rode out ten miles to the
+spot, and found the poor old widow sitting with the dhaja round her
+head, a brass plate before her with undressed rice and flowers, and a
+coco-nut in each hand. She talked very collectedly, telling me that
+'she had determined to mix her ashes with those of her departed
+husband, and should patiently wait my permission to do so, assured
+that God would enable her to sustain life till that was given, though
+she dared not eat or drink'. Looking at the sun, then rising before
+her over a long and beautiful reach of the Nerbudda river, she said
+calmly, 'My soul has been for five days with my husband's near that
+sun, nothing but my earthly frame is left; and this, I know, you will
+in time suffer to be mixed with the ashes of his in yonder pit,
+because it is not in your nature or usage wantonly to prolong the
+miseries of a poor old woman'.
+
+'Indeed, it is not,--my object and duty is to save and preserve them
+[_sic_]; and I am come to dissuade you from this idle purpose, to
+urge you to live, and to keep your family from the disgrace of being
+thought your murderers.'
+
+'I am not afraid of their ever being so thought: they have all, like
+good children, done everything in their power to induce me to live
+among them; and, if I had done so, I know they would have loved and
+honoured me; but my duties to them have now ended. I commit them all
+to your care, and I go to attend my husband, _Ummed Singh Upadhya_,
+with whose ashes on the funeral pile mine have been already three
+times mixed.'[5]
+
+This was the first time in her long life that she had ever pronounced
+the name of her husband, for in India no woman, high or low, ever
+pronounces the name of her husband,--she would consider it
+disrespectful towards him to do so; and it is often amusing to see
+their embarrassment when asked the question by any European
+gentleman. They look right and left for some one to relieve them from
+the dilemma of appearing disrespectful either to the querist or to
+their absent husbands--they perceive that he is unacquainted with
+their duties on this point, and are afraid he will attribute their
+silence to disrespect. They know that few European gentlemen are
+acquainted with them; and when women go into our courts of justice,
+or other places where they are liable to be asked the names of their
+husbands, they commonly take one of their children or some other
+relation with them to pronounce the words in their stead. When the
+old lady named her husband, as she did with strong emphasis, and in a
+very deliberate manner, every one present was satisfied that she had
+resolved to die. 'I have', she continued, 'tasted largely of the
+bounty of Government, having been maintained by it with all my large
+family in ease and comfort upon our rent-free lands; and I feel
+assured that my children will not be suffered to want; but with them
+I have nothing more to do, our intercourse and communion here end. My
+soul (_pran_) is with _Ummed Singh Upadhya_: and my ashes must here
+mix with his.'
+
+
+Again looking to the sun--'I see them together', said she, with a
+tone and countenance that affected me a good deal, 'under the bridal
+canopy!'--alluding to the ceremonies of marriage; and I am satisfied
+that she at that moment really believed that she saw her own spirit
+and that of her husband under the bridal canopy in paradise.
+
+I tried to work upon her pride and her fears. I told her that it was
+probable that the rent-free lands by which her family had been so
+long supported might be resumed by the Government, as a mark of its
+displeasure against the children for not dissuading her from the
+sacrifice; that the temples over her ancestors upon the bank might be
+levelled with the ground, in order to prevent their operating to
+induce others to make similar sacrifices; and lastly, that not one
+single brick or stone should ever mark the place where she died if
+she persisted in her resolution. But, if she consented to live, a
+splendid habitation should be built for her among these temples, a
+handsome provision assigned for her support out of these rent-free
+lands, her children should come daily to visit her, and I should
+frequently do the same. She smiled, but held out her arm and said,
+'My pulse has long ceased to beat, my spirit has departed, and I have
+nothing left but a little _earth_, that I wish to mix with the ashes
+of my husband. I shall suffer nothing in burning; and, if you wish
+proof, order some fire, and you shall see this arm consumed without
+giving me any pain'. I did not attempt to feel her pulse, but some of
+my people did, and declared that it had ceased to be perceptible. At
+this time every native present believed that she was incapable of
+suffering pain; and her end confirmed them in their opinion.
+
+Satisfied myself that it would be unavailing to attempt to save her
+life, I sent for all the principal members of the family, and
+consented that she should be suffered to burn herself if they would
+enter into engagements that no other member of their family should
+ever do the same. This they all agreed to, and the papers having been
+drawn out in due form about midday, I sent down notice to the old
+lady, who seemed extremely pleased and thankful. The ceremonies of
+bathing were gone through before three [o'clock], while the wood and
+other combustible materials for a strong fire were collected and put
+into the pit. After bathing, she called for a 'pan' (betel leaf) and
+ate it, then rose up, and with one arm on the shoulder of her eldest
+son, and the other on that of her nephew, approached the fire. I had
+sentries placed all round, and no other person was allowed to
+approach within five paces. As she rose up fire was set to the pile,
+and it was instantly in a blaze. The distance was about 150 yards.
+She came on with a calm and cheerful countenance, stopped once, and,
+casting her eyes upward, said, 'Why have they kept me five days from
+thee, my husband?' On coming to the sentries her supporters stopped;
+she walked once round the pit, paused a moment, and, while muttering
+a prayer, threw some flowers into the fire. She then walked up
+deliberately and steadily to the brink, stepped into the centre of
+the flame, sat down, and leaning back in the midst as if reposing
+upon a couch, was consumed without uttering a shriek or betraying one
+sign of agony.
+
+A few instruments of music had been provided, and they played, as
+usual, as she approached the fire, not, as is commonly supposed, in
+order to drown screams, but to prevent the last words of the victim
+from being heard, as these are supposed to be prophetic, and might
+become sources of pain or strife to the living.[6] It was not
+expected that I should yield, and but few people had assembled to
+witness the sacrifice, so that there was little or nothing in the
+circumstances immediately around to stimulate her to any
+extraordinary exertions; and I am persuaded that it was the desire of
+again being united to her husband in the next world, and the entire
+confidence that she would be so if she now burned herself, that alone
+sustained her. From the morning he died (Tuesday) till Wednesday
+evening she ate 'pans' or betel leaves, but nothing else; and from
+Wednesday evening she ceased eating them. She drank no water from
+Tuesday. She went into the fire with the same cloth about her that
+she had worn in the bed of the river; but it was made wet from a
+persuasion that even the shadow of any impure thing falling upon her
+from going to the pile contaminates the woman unless counteracted by
+the sheet moistened in the holy stream.
+
+I must do the family the justice to say that they all exerted
+themselves to dissuade the widow from her purpose, and had she lived
+she would assuredly have been cherished and honoured as the first
+female member of the whole house. There is no people in the world
+among whom parents are more loved, honoured, and obeyed than among
+the Hindoos; and the grandmother is always more honoured than the
+mother. No queen upon her throne could ever have been approached with
+more reverence by her subjects than was this old lady by all the
+members of her family as she sat upon a naked rock in the bed of the
+river, with only a red rag upon her head and a single-white sheet
+over her shoulders.
+
+Soon after the battle of Trafalgar I heard a young lady exclaim, 'I
+could really wish to have had a brother killed in that action'. There
+is no doubt that a family in which a suttee takes place feels a good
+deal exalted in its own esteem and that of the community by the
+sacrifice. The sister of the Raja of Riwa was one of four or five
+wives who burned themselves with the remains of the Raja of Udaipur;
+and nothing in the course of his life will ever be recollected by her
+brother with so much of pride and pleasure, since the Udaipur Raja is
+the head of the Rajput tribes.[7]
+
+I asked the old lady when she had first resolved upon becoming a
+suttee, and she told me that about thirteen years before, while
+bathing in the river Nerbudda, near the spot where she then sat, with
+many other females of the family, the resolution had fixed itself in
+her mind as she looked at the splendid temples on the bank of the
+river erected by the different branches of the family over the ashes
+of her female relations who had at different times become suttees.
+Two, I think, were over her aunts, and one over the mother of her
+husband. They were very beautiful buildings, and had been erected at
+great cost and kept in good repair. She told me that she had never
+mentioned this her resolution to any one from that time, nor breathed
+a syllable on the subject till she called out 'Sat, sat, sat',[8]
+when her husband breathed his last with his head in her lap on the
+bank of the Nerbudda, to which he had been taken when no hopes
+remained of his surviving the fever of which he died.
+
+Charles Harding, of the Bengal Civil Service, as magistrate of
+Benares, in 1806 prevented the widow of a Brahman from being burned.
+Twelve months after her husband's death she had been goaded by her
+family into the expression of a wish to burn with some relic of her
+husband, preserved for the purpose. The pile was raised to her at
+Ramnagar,[9] some two miles above Benares, on the opposite side of
+the river Ganges. She was not well secured upon the pile, and as soon
+as she felt the fire she jumped off and plunged into the river. The
+people all ran after her along the bank, but the current drove her
+towards Benares, whence a police boat put off and took her in.
+
+She was almost dead with the fright and the water, in which she had
+been kept afloat by her clothes. She was taken to Harding; but the
+whole city of Benares was in an uproar, at the rescue of a Brahman's
+widow from the funeral pile, for such it had been considered, though
+the man had been a year dead. Thousands surrounded his house, and his
+court was filled with the principal men of the city, imploring him to
+surrender the woman; and among the rest was the poor woman's father,
+who declared that he could not support his daughter; and that she
+had, therefore, better be burned, as her husband's family would no
+longer receive her. The uproar was quite alarming to a young man, who
+felt all the responsibility upon himself in such a city as[10]
+Benares, with a population of three hundred thousand people,[11] so
+prone to popular insurrections, or risings _en masse_ very like them.
+He long argued the point of the time that had elapsed, and the
+unwillingness of the woman, but in vain; until at last the thought
+struck him suddenly, and he said that 'The sacrifice was manifestly
+unacceptable to their God--that the sacred river, as such, had
+rejected her; she had, without being able to swim, floated down two
+miles upon its bosom, in the face of an immense multitude; and it was
+clear that she had been rejected. Had she been an acceptable
+sacrifice, after the fire had touched her, the river would have
+received her'. This satisfied the whole crowd. The father said that,
+after this unanswerable argument, he would receive his daughter; and
+the whole crowd dispersed satisfied.[12]
+
+The following conversation took place one morning between me and a
+native gentleman at Jubbulpore soon after suttees had been prohibited
+by Government:--
+
+'What are the castes among whom women are not permitted to remarry
+after the death of their husbands?'
+
+'They are, sir, Brahmans, Rajputs, Baniyas (shopkeepers), Kayaths
+(writers).'
+
+'Why not permit them to marry, now that they are no longer permitted
+to burn themselves with the dead bodies of their husbands?'
+
+'The knowledge that they cannot unite themselves to a second husband
+without degradation from caste, tends strongly to secure their
+fidelity to the first, sir. Besides, if all widows were permitted to
+marry again, what distinction would remain between us and people of
+lower caste? We should all soon sink to a level with the lowest.'
+
+'And so you are content to keep up your caste at the expense of the
+poor widows?'
+
+'No; they are themselves as proud of the distinction as their
+husbands are.'
+
+'And would they, do you think, like to hear the good old custom of
+burning themselves restored?'
+
+'Some of them would, no doubt.'
+
+'Why?'
+
+'Because they become reunited to their husbands in paradise, and are
+there happy, free from all the troubles of this life.'
+
+'But you should not let them have any troubles as widows.'
+
+'If they behave well, they are the most honoured members of their
+deceased husbands' families; nothing in such families is ever done
+without consulting them, because all are proud to have the memory of
+their lost fathers, sons, and brothers so honoured by their
+widows.[13] But women feel that they are frail, and would often
+rather burn themselves than be exposed all their lives to temptation
+and suspicion.'
+
+'And why do not the men burn themselves to avoid the troubles of
+life?'
+
+'Because they are not called to it from Heaven, as the women are.'
+
+'And you think that the women were really called to be burned by the
+Deity?'
+
+'No doubt; we all believe that they were called and supported by the
+Deity; and that no tender beings like women could otherwise
+voluntarily undergo such tortures--they become inspired with
+supernatural powers of courage and fortitude. When Duli Sukul, the
+Sihora[14] banker's father, died, the wife of a Lodhi cultivator of
+the town declared, all at once, that she had been a suttee with him
+six times before; and that she would now go into paradise with him a
+seventh time. Nothing could persuade her from burning herself. She
+was between fifty and sixty years of age, and had grandchildren, and
+all her family tried to persuade her that it must be a mistake, but
+all in vain. She became a suttee, and was burnt the day after the
+body of the banker.'
+
+'Did not Duli Sukul's family, who were Brahmans, try to dissuade her
+from it, she being a Lodhi, a very low caste?'
+
+'They did; but they said all things were possible with God; and it
+was generally believed that this was a call from Heaven.'
+
+'And what became of the banker's widow?'
+
+'She said that she felt no divine call to the flames. This was thirty
+years ago; and the banker was about thirty years of age when he
+died.'
+
+'Then he will have rather an old wife in paradise?'
+
+'No, sir; after they pass through the flames upon earth, both become
+young in paradise.'
+
+'Sometimes women used to burn themselves with any relic of a husband,
+who had died far from home, did they not?'
+
+'Yes, sir, I remember a fisherman, about twenty years ago, who went
+on some business to Benares from Jubbulpore, and who was to have been
+back in two months. Six months passed away without any news of him;
+and at last the wife dreamed that he had died on the road, and began
+forthwith, in the middle of the night, to call out "Sat, sat, sat!"
+Nothing could dissuade her from burning; and in the morning a pile
+was raised for her, on the north bank of the large tank of
+Hanuman,[15] where you have planted an avenue of trees. There I saw
+her burned with her husband's turban in her arms, and in ten days
+after her husband came back.'
+
+'Now the burning has been prohibited, a man cannot get rid of a bad
+wife so easily?'
+
+'But she was a good wife, sir, and bad ones do not often become
+suttees.'
+
+'Who made the pile for her?'
+
+'Some of her family, but I forget who. They thought it must have been
+a call from Heaven, when, in reality, it was only a dream.'
+
+'You are a Rajput?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Do Rajputs in this part of India now destroy their female infants?'
+
+'Never; that practice has ceased everywhere in these parts; and is
+growing into disuse in Bundelkhand, where the Rajas, at the request
+of the British Government, have prohibited it among their subjects.
+This was a measure of real good. You see girls now at play in
+villages, where the face of one was never seen before, nor the voice
+of one heard.'
+
+'But still those who have them grumble, and say that the Government
+which caused them to be preserved should undertake to provide for
+their marriage. Is it not so?'
+
+'At first they grumbled a little, sir; but as the infants grew on
+their affections, they thought no more about it.'[16]
+
+
+ Gurcharan Baboo, the Principal of the little Jubbulpore College,[17]
+called upon me one forenoon, soon after this conversation. He was
+educated in the Calcutta College; speaks and writes English
+exceedingly well; is tolerably well read in English literature, and
+is decidedly a _thinking man_. After talking over the matter which
+caused his visit, I told him of the Lodhi woman's burning herself
+with the Brahman banker at Sihora, and asked him what he thought of
+it. He said that 'In all probability this woman had really been the
+wife of the Brahman in some former birth--of which transposition a
+singular case had occurred in his own family.
+
+
+'His great-grandfather had three wives, who all burnt themselves with
+his body. While they were burning, a large serpent came up, and,
+ascending the pile, was burnt with them. Soon after another came up,
+and did the same. They were seen by the whole multitude, who were
+satisfied that they had been the wives of his great-grandfather in a
+former birth, and would become so again after this sacrifice. When
+the "sraddh", or funeral obsequies, were performed after the
+prescribed intervals,[18] the offerings and prayers were regularly
+made for _six souls_ instead of four; and, to this day, every member
+of his family, and every Hindoo who had heard the story, believed
+that these two serpents had a just right to be considered among his
+ancestors, and to be prayed for accordingly in all "sraddh".'
+
+A few days after this conversation with the Principal of the
+Jubbulpore College, I had a visit from Bholi Sukul, the present head
+of the Sihora banker's family, and youngest brother of the Brahman
+with whose ashes the Lodhi woman burned herself. I requested him to
+tell me all that he recollected about this singular suttee, and he
+did so as follows:
+
+'When my eldest brother, the father of the late Duli Sukul, who was
+so long a native collector under you in this district, died about
+twenty years ago at Sihora, a Lodhi woman, who resided two miles
+distant in the village of Khitoli, which has been held by our family
+for several generations, declared that she would burn herself with
+him on the funeral pile; that she had been his wife in three
+different births, had already burnt herself with him three times, and
+had to burn with him four times more. She was then sixty years of
+age, and had a husband living [of] about the same age. We were all
+astounded when she came forward with this story, and told her that it
+must be a mistake, as we were Brahmans, while she was a Lodhi. She
+said that there was no mistake in the matter; that she, in the last
+birth, resided with my brother in the sacred city of Benares, and one
+day gave a holy man who came to ask charity salt, by mistake, instead
+of sugar, with his food. That, in consequence, he told her she
+should, in the next birth, be separated from her husband, and be of
+inferior caste; but that, if she did her duty well in that state, she
+should be reunited to him in the following birth. We told her that
+all this must be a dream, and the widow of my brother insisted that,
+if she were not allowed to burn herself, the other should not be
+allowed to take her place. We prevented the widow from ascending the
+pile, and she died at a good old age only two years ago at Sihora. My
+brother's body was burned at Sihora, and the poor Lodhi woman came
+and stole one handful of the ashes, which she placed in her bosom,
+and took back with her to Khitoli. There she prevailed upon her
+husband and her brother to assist her in her return to her former
+husband and caste as a Brahman. No soul else would assist them, as we
+got the then native chief to prohibit it; and these three persons
+brought on their own heads the pile, on which she seated herself,
+with the ashes in her bosom. The husband and his brother set fire to
+the pile, and she was burned.'[19]
+
+'And what is now your opinion, after a lapse of twenty years?'
+
+'Why, that she had really been the wife of my brother; for at the
+pile she prophesied that my nephew Duli should be, what his
+grandfather had been, high in the service of the Government, and, as
+you know, he soon after became so.'
+
+'And what did your father think?'
+
+'He was so satisfied that she had been the wife of his eldest son in
+a former birth, that he defrayed all the expenses of her funeral
+ceremonies, and had them all observed with as much magnificence as
+those of any member of the family. Her tomb is still to be seen at
+Khitoli, and that of my brother at Sihora.'
+
+I went to look at these tombs with Bholi Sukul himself some short
+time after this conversation, and found that all the people of the
+town of Sihora and village of Khitoli really believed that the old
+Lodhi woman had been his brother's wife in a former birth, and had
+now burned herself as his widow for the fourth time. Her tomb is at
+Khitoli, and his at Sihora.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. _Sati_, a virtuous woman, especially one who burns herself with
+her husband. The word, in common usage, is transferred to the
+sacrifice of the woman.
+
+2. The women of Bundelkhand wear the same costume, a full loin-cloth,
+as those of the Jubbulpore district. North of the Jumna an ordinary
+petticoat is generally worn.
+
+3. Suttee was prohibited during the administration of Lord William
+Bentinck by the Bengal Regulation xvii, dated 4th December, 1829,
+extended in 1830 to Madras and Bombay. The advocates of the practice
+unsuccessfully appealed to the Privy Council. Several European
+officers defended the custom. A well-written account of the suttee
+legislation is given in Mr. D. Boulger's work on Lord William
+Bentinck in the 'Rulers of India' series.
+
+4. Whenever it is practicable, Hindoos are placed on the banks of
+sacred rivers to die, especially in Bengal.
+
+5. For explanation of this phrase, see the following story of the
+Lodhi woman, following note [14], in this chapter. The name is
+abnormal. _Upadhya_ is a Brahman title meaning 'spiritual preceptor'.
+Brahmans serving in the army sometimes take the title Singh, which is
+more properly assumed by Rajputs or Sikhs.
+
+6. An instance of such a prophecy, of a favourable kind, will be
+found at the end of this chapter; and another, disastrously
+fulfilled, in Chapter 21, _post_.
+
+7. Riwa (Rewah) is a considerable principality lying south of
+Allahabad and Mirzapore and north of Sagar. The chiefs are Baghel
+Rajputs. The proper title of the Udaipur, or Mewar, chief is Rana,
+not Raja. See 'Annals of Mewar', chapters 1-18, pp. 173-401, in the
+Popular Edition of Tod's _Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan_
+(Routledge, 1914), an excellent and cheap reprint. The original
+quarto edition is almost unobtainable.
+
+8. The masculine form of the word sati (suttee).
+
+9. Well known to tourists as the seat of the Maharaja of Benares.
+
+10. 'of' in text.
+
+11. In the author's time no regular census had been taken. His rough
+estimate was excessive. The census figures, including the
+cantonments, are: 1872, 175,188; 1901, 209,331; 1911, 203,804.
+
+12. This Benares story, accidentally omitted from the author's text,
+was printed as a note at the end of the second volume. It has now
+been inserted in the place which seems most suitable. Interesting and
+well-told narratives of several suttees will be found in Bernier,
+_Travels in the Mogul Empire_, pp. 306-14, ed. Constable. See also
+Dubois, _Hindu Manners_, &c., 3rd ed. (1906), chapter 19.
+
+13. Widows are not always so well treated. Their life in Lower
+Bengal, especially, is not a pleasant one,
+
+14. Sihora, on the road from Jubbulpore to Mirzapur, twenty-seven
+miles from the former, is a town with a population of more than
+5,000. A smaller town with the same name exists in the Bhandara
+district of the Central Provinces.
+
+15. The monkey-god. His shrines are very numerous in the Central
+Provinces and Bundelkhand.
+
+16. Within the last hundred years more than one officer has believed
+that infanticide had been suppressed by his efforts, and yet the
+practice is by no means extinct. In the Agra Province the severely
+inquisitorial measures adopted in 1870, and rigorously enforced, have
+no doubt done much to break the custom, but, in the neighbouring
+province of Oudh, the practice continued to be common for many years
+later. A clear case in the Rai Bareli District came before me in
+1889, though no one was punished, for lack of judicial proof against
+any individual. The author discusses infanticide as practised in Oudh
+in many passages of his _Journey through the Kingdom of Oudh_
+(Bentley, 1858), It is possible that female infanticide may be still
+prevalent in many Native States. Mr. Willoughby in the years
+preceding A.D. 1849 made great progress in stamping it out among the
+Jharejas of the Kathiawar States in the Bombay Presidency. There is
+reason to hope that the crime will gradually disappear from all parts
+of India, but it is difficult to say how far it still prevails,
+though the general opinion is that it is now comparatively rare
+(_Census Report, India_, 1911, p. 217).
+
+17. A college of more pretensions now exists at Jabalpur
+(Jubbulpore), and is affiliated in Arts and Law to the University of
+Allahabad established in 1887. The small college alluded to in the
+text was abolished in 1850.
+
+18. For description of the tedious and complicated 'sraddh'
+ceremonies see chapter 11 of Monier Williams's _Religious Thought and
+Life in India_.
+
+19. This version of the story differs in some minute particulars from
+the version given _ante_, [14].
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 5
+
+
+Marriages of Trees--The Tank and the Plantain--Meteors--Rainbows.
+
+Before quitting Jubbulpore, to which place I thought it very unlikely
+that I should ever return, I went to visit the groves in the
+vicinity, which, at the time I held the civil charge of the district
+in 1828, had been planted by different native gentlemen upon lands
+assigned to them rent-free for the purpose, on condition that the
+holder should bind himself to plant trees at the rate of twenty-five
+to the acre, and keep them up at that rate; and that for each grove,
+however small, he should build and keep in repair a well, lined with
+masonry, for watering the trees, and for the benefit of
+travellers.[1]
+
+
+Some of these groves had already begun to yield fruit, and all had
+been _married_. Among the Hindoos, neither the man who plants a
+grove, nor his wife, can taste of the fruit till he has _married_ one
+of the mango-trees to some other tree (commonly the tamarind-tree)
+that grows near it in the same grove. The proprietor of one of these
+groves that stands between the cantonment and the town, old Barjor
+Singh, had spent so much in planting and watering the grove, and
+building walls and wells of _pucka_[2] masonry, that he could not
+afford to defray the expense of the marriage ceremonies till one of
+the trees, which was older than the rest when planted, began to bear
+fruit in 1833, and poor old Barjor Singh and his wife were in great
+distress that they dared not taste of the fruit whose flavour was so
+much prized by their children. They began to think that they had
+neglected a serious duty, and might, in consequence, be taken off
+before another season could come round. They therefore sold all their
+silver and gold ornaments, and borrowed all they could; and before
+the next season the grove was married with all due pomp and ceremony,
+to the great delight of the old pair, who tasted of the fruit in June
+1834.
+
+The larger the number of the Brahmans that are fed on the occasion of
+the marriage, the greater the glory of the proprietor of the grove;
+and when I asked old Barjor Singh, during my visit to his grove, how
+many he had feasted, he said, with a heavy sigh, that he had been
+able to feast only one hundred and fifty. He showed me the mango-tree
+which had acted the part of the bridegroom on the occasion, but the
+bride had disappeared from his side. 'And where is the bride, the
+tamarind?' 'The only tamarind I had in the grove died', said the old
+man, 'before we could bring about the wedding; and I was obliged to
+get a jasmine for a wife for my mango. I planted it here, so that we
+might, as required, cover both bride and bridegroom under one canopy
+during the ceremonies; but, after the marriage was over, the gardener
+neglected her, and she pined away and died.'
+
+'And what made you prefer the jasmine to all other trees after the
+tamarind?'
+
+'Because it is the most celebrated of all trees, save the rose.'
+
+'And why not have chosen the rose for a wife?'
+
+'Because no one ever heard of marriage between the rose and the
+mango; while they [_sic_] take place every day between the mango and
+the _chambeli_ (jasmine).'[3]
+
+After returning from the groves, I had a visit after breakfast from a
+learned Muhammadan, now guardian to the young Raja of Uchahara,[4]
+who resides part of his time at Jubbulpore. I mentioned my visit to
+the groves and the curious notion of the Hindoos regarding the
+necessity of marrying them; and he told me that, among Hindoos, the
+man who went to the expense of making a tank dared not drink of its
+waters till he had married his tank to some banana-tree, planted on
+the bank for the purpose.[5]
+
+'But what', said he with a smile, 'could you expect from men who
+believe that Indra is the god who rules the heavens immediately over
+the earth, that he sleeps during eight months in the year, and during
+the other four his time is divided between his duties of sending down
+rain upon the earth, and repelling with his arrows Raja Bali, who by
+his austere devotions (_tapasya_) has received from the higher gods a
+promise of the reversion of his dominions? The lightning which we
+see', said the learned Maulavi, 'they believe to be nothing more than
+the glittering of these arrows, as they are shot from the bow of
+Indra upon his foe Raja Bali '.[6]
+
+'But, my good friend Maulavi Sahib, there are many good Muhammadans
+who believe that the meteors, which we call shooting stars, are in
+reality stars which the guardian angels of men snatch from the
+spheres, and throw at the devil as they see him passing through the
+air, or hiding himself under one or other of the constellations. Is
+it not so?'
+
+'Yes, it is; but we have the authority of the holy prophet for this,
+as delivered down to us by his companions in the sacred traditions,
+and we are bound to believe it. When our holy prophet came upon the
+earth, he found it to be infested with a host of magicians, who, by
+their abominable rites and incantations, get into their interest
+certain devils, or demons, whom they used to send up to heaven to
+listen to the orders which the angels received from God regarding men
+and the world below. On hearing these orders, they came off and
+reported them to the magicians, who were thereby enabled to foretell
+the events which the angels were ordered to bring about. In this
+manner they often overheard the orders which the angel Gabriel
+received from God, and communicated them to the magicians as soon as
+he could deliver them to our holy prophet. Exulting in the knowledge
+obtained in this diabolical manner, these wretches tried to turn his
+prophecies into ridicule; and, seeing the evil effects of such
+practices among men, he prayed God to put a stop to them. From that
+time guardian angels have been stationed in different parts of the
+heavens, to keep off the devils; and as soon as one of them sees a
+devil sneaking too near the heaven of heavens, he snatches the
+nearest star, and flings it at him.'[7] This, he added, was what all
+true Muhammadans believed regarding the shooting of stars. He had
+read nothing about them in the works of Plato, Aristotle,
+Hippocrates, or Galen, all of which he had carefully studied, and
+should be glad to learn from me what modern philosophers in Europe
+thought about them.
+
+I explained to him the supposed distance and bulk of the fixed stars
+visible to the naked eye; their being radiant with unborrowed light,
+and probably every one of them, like our own sun, the great centre of
+a solar system of its own; embracing the vast orbits of numerous
+planets, revolving around it with their attendant satellites; the
+stars visible to the naked eye being but a very small portion of the
+whole which the telescope had now made distinctly visible to us; and
+those distinctly visible being one cluster among many thousand with
+which the genius of Galileo, Newton, the Herschells, and many other
+modern philosophers had discovered the heavens to be studded. I
+remarked that the notion that these mighty suns, the centres of
+planetary systems, should be made merely to be thrown at devils and
+demons, appeared to us just as unaccountable as those of the Hindoos
+regarding Indra's arrows.
+
+'But', said he, 'these foolish Hindoos believe still greater
+absurdities. They believe that the rainbow is nothing but the fume of
+a large snake, concealed under the ground; that he vomits forth this
+fume from a hole in the surface of the earth, without being himself
+seen; and, when you ask them why, in that case, the rainbow should be
+in the west while the sun is in the east, and in the east while the
+sun is in the west, they know not what to say.'[8]
+
+'The truth is, my friend Maulavi Sahib, the Hindoos, like a very
+great part of every other nation, are very much disposed to attribute
+to supernatural influences effects that the wiser portion of our
+species know to rise from natural causes.'
+
+The Maulavi was right. In the _Mishkat-ul-Masabih_,[9] the authentic
+traditions of their prophet,[10] it is stated that Ayesha, the widow
+of Muhammad, said, 'I heard His Majesty say, "The angels come down to
+the region next the world, and mention the works that have been pre-
+ordained in heaven; and the devils, who descend to the lowest region,
+listen to what the angels say, and hear the orders predestined in
+heaven, and carry them to fortune-tellers; therefore, they tell a
+hundred lies with it from themselves "'[11]
+
+'Ibn Abbas said, "A man of His Majesty's friends informed me, that
+whilst His Majesty's friends were sitting with him one night, a very
+bright star shot; and His Highness said, "What did you say in the
+days of ignorance when a star shot like this?" They said, "God and
+His messenger know best; we used to say, a great man was born to-
+night, and a great man died."[12] Then His Majesty said, "You
+mistook, because the shootings of these stars are neither for the
+life nor death of any person; but when our cherisher orders a work,
+the bearers of the imperial throne sing hallelujahs; and the
+inhabitants of the regions who are near the bearers repeat it, till
+it reaches the lowest regions. After the angels which are near the
+bearers of the imperial throne say, "What did your cherisher order?"
+Then they are informed; and so it is handed from one region to
+another, till the information reaches the people of the lowest
+region. Then the devils steal it, and carry it to their friends,
+(that is) magicians; and these stars are thrown at these devils; not
+for the birth or death of any person. Then the things which the
+magicians tell, having heard from the devils, are true, but these
+magicians tell lies, and exaggerate in what they hear".'
+
+Kutadah said, 'God has created stars for three uses; one of them, as
+a cause of ornament of the regions; the second, to stone the devil
+with; the third, to direct people going through forests and on the
+sea. Therefore, whoever shall explain them otherwise, does wrong, and
+loses his time, and speaks from his own invention and
+embellishes'.[13]
+
+Ibn Abbas. ['The prophet said,] "Whoever attains to the knowledge of
+astrology for any other explanation than the three aforementioned,
+then verily he has attained to a branch of magic. An astrologer is a
+magician, and a magician is a necromancer, and a necromancer is an
+infidel."'[14]
+
+This work contains the precepts and sayings of Muhammad, as declared
+by his companions, who themselves heard them, or by those who heard
+them immediately from those companions; and they are considered to be
+binding upon the faith and conduct of Musalmans, though not all
+delivered from inspiration.
+
+Everything that is written in the Koran itself is supposed to have
+been brought direct from God by the angel Gabriel.[15]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. In planting mango groves, it is a rule that they shall be as far
+from each other as not to admit of their branches ever meeting.
+'Plant trees, but let them not touch' ('_Am lagao, nis lagen nahin_')
+is the maxim. [W. H. S.]
+
+2. _Pakka_; the word here means 'cemented with lime mortar', and not
+only with mud (_kachcha_).
+
+3. The _chambeli_ is known in science as the _Jasminum grandiflorum_,
+and the mango-tree as _Mangifera Indica_.
+
+4. A small principality west of Riwa, and 110 miles north-west of
+Jubbulpore. It is also known as Nagaudh, or Nagod.
+
+5. Compare the account of the marriage of the _tulasi_ shrub (_Ocymum
+sanctum_) with the salagram stone, or fossil ammonite, in Chapter 19,
+_post_.
+
+6. There is a sublime passage in the Psalms of David, where the
+lightning is said to be the arrows of God. Psalm lxxvii:
+ 17, 'The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine
+arrows also went abroad.
+ 18. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven; the lightnings
+lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.' [W. H. S.]
+ The passage is quoted from the Authorized Bible version; the Prayer
+Book version is finer.
+
+7. 'We guard them from every devil driven away with stones; except
+him who listeneth by stealth, at whom a visible flame is darted.'
+Koran, chapter 15, Sale's translation. See _post_, end of this
+chapter.
+
+8. Nine Hindoos out of ten, or perhaps ninety-nine in a hundred,
+throughout India, believe the rainbow to arise from the breath of the
+snake, thrown up from the surface of the earth, as water is thrown up
+by whales from the surface of the ocean. [W. H. S,]
+
+9. '_Mishkat_ is a hole in a wall in which a lamp is placed, and
+_Masabih_ the plural of "a lamp", because traditions are compared to
+lamps, and this book is like that which containeth a lamp. Another
+reason is, that _Masabih_ is the name of a book, and this book
+comprehends its contents' (Matthews's translation, vol. i, p. v,
+note).
+
+10. The full title is _Mishkat-ul-Masabih, or a Collection of the
+most Authentic Traditions regarding the Actions and Sayings of
+Muhammed; exhibiting the Origin of the Manners and Customs; the
+Civil, Religious, and Military Policy of the Muslemans_. Translated
+from the original Arabic by Captain A. N. Matthews, Bengal Artillery.
+Two vols. 4to; Calcutta, 1809-10, This valuable work, published by
+subscription, is now very scarce. A fine copy is in the India Office
+Library.
+
+11. Book xxi, chapter 3, part i; vol. ii, p. 384. The quotations as
+given by the author are inexact. The editor has substituted correct
+extracts from Matthews's text. Matthews spells the name of the
+prophet's widow as Aayeshah.
+
+12. In Sparta, the Ephoroi, once every nine years, watched the sky
+during a whole cloudless, moonless night, in profound silence; and,
+if they saw a shooting star, it was understood to indicate that the
+kings of Sparta had disobeyed the gods, and their authority was, in
+consequence, suspended till they had been purified by an oracle from
+Delphi or Olympia. [W. H. S.] This statement rests on the authority
+of Plutarch, _Agis_, 11.
+
+13. _Mishkat_. Part iii of same chapter; vol. ii, p. 386.
+
+14. Ibid. p. 386.
+
+15. But the prying character of these devils is described in the
+Koran itself. According to Muhammadans, they had access to all the
+seven heavens till the time of Moses, who got them excluded from
+three. Christ got them excluded from three more; and Muhammad managed
+to get them excluded from the seventh and last. 'We have placed the
+twelve signs in the heavens, and have set them out in various figures
+for the observation of spectators, and we guard them from every devil
+driven away with stones; except him who listeneth by stealth, at whom
+a visible flame is darted' (Chapter 15).
+
+'We have adorned the lower heaven with the ornament of stars, and we
+have placed therein a guard against every rebellious devil, that they
+may not listen to the discourse of exalted princes, for they are
+darted at from every side, to repel them, and a lasting torment is
+prepared for them; except him who catcheth a word by stealth, and is
+pursued by a shining flame' (Chapter 37). [W. H. 8.] Passages of this
+kind should he remembered by persons who expect orthodox Muhammadans
+to accept the results of modern science.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 6
+
+
+Hindoo Marriages.
+
+Certain it is that no Hindoo will have a marriage in his family
+during the four months of the rainy season; for among eighty millions
+of souls[1] not one doubts that the Great Preserver of the universe
+is, during these four months, down on a visit to Raja Bali, and,
+consequently, unable to bless the contract with his presence.[2]
+
+Marriage is a sacred duty among Hindoos, a duty which every parent
+must perform for his children, otherwise they owe him no reverence. A
+family with a daughter unmarried after the age of puberty is
+considered to labour under the displeasure of the gods; and no member
+of the other sex considers himself _respectable_ after the age of
+puberty till he is married. It is the duty of his parent or elder
+brothers to have him suitably married; and, if they do not do so, he
+reproaches them with his _degraded condition_. The same feeling, in a
+degree, pervades all the Muhammadan community; and nothing appears so
+strange to them as the apparent indifference of old bachelors among
+us to their _sad condition_.
+
+Marriage, with all its ceremonies, its rights, and its duties, fills
+their imagination from infancy to age; and I do not believe there is
+a country upon earth in which a larger portion of the wealth of the
+community is spent in the ceremonies, or where the rights are better
+secured, or the duties better enforced, notwithstanding all the
+disadvantages of the laws of polygamy. Not one man in ten can afford
+to maintain more than one wife, and not one in ten of those who can
+afford it will venture upon 'a sea of troubles' in taking a second,
+if he has a child by the first. One of the evils which press most
+upon Indian society is the necessity which long usage has established
+of squandering large sums in marriage ceremonies. Instead of giving
+what they can to their children to establish them, and enable them to
+provide for their families and rise in the world, parents everywhere
+feel bound to squander all they can borrow in the festivities of
+their marriage. Men in India could never feel secure of being
+permitted freely to enjoy their property under despotic and unsettled
+governments, the only kind of governments they knew or hoped for; and
+much of the means that would otherwise have been laid out in forming
+substantial works, with a view to a return in income of some sort or
+another, for the remainder of their own lives and of those of their
+children, were expended in tombs, temples, sarais, tanks, groves, and
+other works--useful and ornamental, no doubt, but from which neither
+they nor their children could ever hope to derive income of any kind.
+The same feeling of insecurity gave birth, no doubt, to this
+preposterous usage, which tends so much to keep down the great mass
+of the people of India to that grade in which they were born, and in
+which they have nothing but their manual labour to depend upon for
+their subsistence. Every man feels himself bound to waste all his
+stock and capital, and exhaust all his credit, in feeding idlers
+during the ceremonies which attend the marriage of his children,
+because his ancestors squandered similar sums, and he would sink in
+the estimation of society if he were to allow his children to be
+married with less.
+
+But it could not have been solely because men could not invest their
+means in profitable works, with any chance of being long permitted to
+enjoy the profits under such despotic and unsettled governments, that
+they squandered them in feeding idle people in marriage ceremonies;
+since temples, tanks, and groves secured esteem in this life, and
+promised some advantage in the next, and an outlay in such works
+might therefore have been preferred. But under such governments a
+man's title even to the exclusive possession of his wife might not be
+considered as altogether secure under the mere sanction of religion;
+and the outlay in feeding the family, tribe, and neighbourhood during
+the marriage ceremony seems to have been considered as a kind of
+value in exchange given for her to society. There is nothing that she
+and her husband recollect through life with so much pride and
+pleasure as the cost of their marriage, if it happen to be large for
+their condition of life; it is their _amoka_, their title of
+nobility;[3] and their parents consider it their duty to make it as
+large as they can. A man would hardly feel secure of the sympathy of
+his family, tribe, circle of society, or rulers, for the loss of 'his
+ox, or his ass, or anything that is his', if it should happen to have
+cost him nothing; and, till he could feel secure of their sympathy
+for the loss, he would not feel very secure in the possession. He,
+therefore, or those who are interested in his welfare, strengthen his
+security by an outlay which invests his wife with a tangible value in
+cost, well understood by his circle and rulers. His family, tribe,
+and circle have received the purchase money, and feel bound to secure
+to him the commodity purchased; and, as they are in all such matters
+commonly much stronger than the rulers themselves, the money spent
+among them is more efficacious in securing the exclusive enjoyment of
+the wife than if it had been paid in taxes or fees to them for a
+marriage licence.[4] The pride of families and tribes, and the desire
+of the multitude to participate in the enjoyment of such ceremonies,
+tend to keep up this usage after the cause in which it originated may
+have ceased to operate; but it will, it is to be hoped, gradually
+decline with the increased feeling of security to person, property,
+and character under our rule. Nothing is now more common than to see
+an individual in the humblest rank spending all that he has, or can
+borrow, in the marriage of one of many daughters, and trusting to
+Providence for the means of marrying the others; nor in the higher,
+to find a young man, whose estates have, during a long minority,
+under the careful management of Government officers, been freed from
+very heavy debts, with which an improvident father had left them
+encumbered, the moment he attains his majority and enters upon the
+management, borrowing three times their annual rent, at an exorbitant
+interest, to marry a couple of sisters, at the same rate of outlay in
+feasts and fireworks that his grandmother was married with.[5]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The author's figure of 'eighty millions' was a mere guess, and
+probably, even in his time, was much below the mark. The figures of
+the census of 1911 are:
+ Total population of India, excluding
+ Burma . . . . 301,432,623
+ Hindus . . . . 217,197,213
+The proportions in different provinces vary enormously.
+
+2. See _ante_. Chapter 1, note 3.
+
+3. The word _amoka_ is corrupt, and even Sir George Grierson cannot
+suggest a plausible explanation. Can it be a misprint for _anka_, in
+the sense of 'stamp'?
+
+4. Akbar levied a tax on marriages, ranging from a single copper coin
+(_dam_ = 1/40th of rupee) for poor people to 10 gold mohurs, or about
+150 rupees, for high officials. Abul Fazl declares that 'the payment
+of this tax is looked upon as auspicious', a statement open to doubt
+(Blochmann, transl. _Ain_, vol. i, p. 278). In 1772 Warren Hastings
+abolished the marriage fees levied up to that time in Bengal by the
+Muhammadan law-officers. But I am disposed to think that a modern
+finance minister might reconsider the propriety of imposing a
+moderate tax, carefully graduated.
+
+5. Extravagance in marriage expenses is still one of the principal
+curses of Indian society. Considerable efforts to secure reform have
+been made by various castes during recent years, but, as yet, small
+results only have been attained. The editor has seen numerous painful
+examples of the wreck of fine estates by young proprietors assuming
+the management after a long term of the careful stewardship of the
+Court of Wards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 7
+
+
+The Purveyance System,
+
+We left Jubbulpore on the morning of the 20th November, 1835, and
+came on ten miles to Baghauri. Several of our friends of the 29th
+Native Infantry accompanied us this first stage, where they had a
+good day's shooting. In 1830 I established here some venders in wood
+to save the people from the miseries of the purveyance system; but I
+now found that a native collector, soon after I had resigned the
+civil charge of the district, and gone to Sagar,[1] in order to
+ingratiate himself with the officers and get from them favourable
+testimonials, gave two regiments, as they marched over this road,
+free permission to help themselves gratis out of the store-rooms of
+these poor men, whom I had set up with a loan from the public
+treasury, declaring that it must be the wish and intention of
+Government to supply their public officers free of cost; and
+consequently that no excuses could be attended to. From that time
+shops and shopkeepers have disappeared. Wood for all public officers
+and establishments passing this road has ever since, as in former
+times, been collected from the surrounding villages gratis, under the
+purveyance system, in which all native public officers delight, and
+which, I am afraid, is encouraged by European officers, either from
+their ignorance or their indolence. They do not like the trouble of
+seeing the men paid either for their wood or their labour; and their
+head servants of the kitchen or the wardrobe weary and worry them out
+of their best resolutions on the subject. They make the poor men sit
+aloof by telling them that their master is a tiger before breakfast,
+and will eat them if they approach; and they tell their masters that
+there is no hope of getting the poor men to come for their money till
+they have bathed or taken their breakfast. The latter wait in hopes
+that the gentleman will come out or send for them as soon as he has
+been tamed by his breakfast; but this meal has put him in good humour
+with all the world, and he is now no longer unwilling to trust the
+payment of the poor men to his butler, or his _valet de chambre_.
+They keep the poor wretches waiting, declaring that they have as yet
+received no orders to pay them, till, hungry and weary, in the
+afternoon they all walk back to their homes in utter despair of
+getting anything.
+
+If, in the meantime, the gentleman comes out, and finds the men, his
+servants pacify him by declaring either that they have not yet had
+time to carry his orders into effect, that they could not get copper
+change for silver rupees, or that they were anxious to collect all
+the people together before they paid any, lest they might pay some of
+them twice over. It is seldom, however, that he comes among them at
+all; he takes it for granted that the people have all been paid; and
+passes the charge in the account of his servants, who all get what
+these porters ought to have received. Or, perhaps the gentleman may
+persuade himself that, if he pays his valet or butler, these
+functionaries will never pay the poor men, and think that he had
+better sit quiet and keep the money in his own pocket. The native
+police or revenue officer is directed by his superior to have wood
+collected for the camp of a regiment or great civil officers, and he
+sends out his myrmidons to employ the people around in felling trees,
+and cutting up wood enough to supply not only the camp, but his own
+cook-rooms and those of his friends for the next six months. The men
+so employed commonly get nothing; but the native officer receives
+credit for all manner of superlatively good qualities, which are
+enumerated in a certificate. Many a fine tree, dear to the affections
+of families and village communities, has been cut down in spite, or
+redeemed from the axe by a handsome present to this officer or his
+myrmidons. Lambs, kids, fowls, milk, vegetables, all come flowing in
+for the great man's table from poor people, who are too hopeless to
+seek for payment, or who are represented as too proud and wealthy to
+receive it. Such always have been and such always will be some of the
+evils of the purveyance system. If a police officer receives an order
+from the magistrate to provide a regiment, detachment, or individual
+with boats, carts, bullocks, or porters, he has all that can be found
+within his jurisdiction forthwith seized--releases all those whose
+proprietors are able and willing to pay what he demands, and
+furnishes the rest, which are generally the worst, to the persons who
+require them. Police officers derive so much profit from these
+applications that they are always anxious they should be made; and
+will privately defeat all attempts of private individuals to provide
+themselves by dissuading or intimidating the proprietors of vehicles
+from voluntarily furnishing them. The gentleman's servant who is sent
+to procure them returns and tells his master that there are plenty of
+vehicles, but that their proprietors dare not send them without
+orders from the police; and that the police tell him they dare not
+give such orders without the special sanction of the magistrate. The
+magistrate is written to, but declares that his police have been
+prohibited from interfering in such matters without special orders,
+since the proprietors ought to be permitted to send their vehicles to
+whom they choose, except on occasions of great public emergency; and,
+as the present cannot be considered as one of these occasions, he
+does not feel authorized to issue such orders. On the Ganges, many
+men have made large fortunes by pretending a general authority to
+seize boats for the use of the commissariat, or for other Government
+purposes, on the ground of having been once or twice employed on that
+duty; and what they get is but a small portion of that which the
+public lose. One of these self-constituted functionaries has a boat
+seized on its way down or up the river; and the crew, who are merely
+hired for the occasion, and have a month's wages in advance, seeing
+no prospect of getting soon out of the hands of this pretended
+Government servant, desert, and leave the boat on the sands; while
+the owner, if he ever learns the real state of the case, thinks it
+better to put up with his loss than to seek redress through expensive
+courts, and distant local authorities. If the boat happens to be
+loaded and to have a supercargo, who will not or cannot bribe high
+enough, he is abandoned on the sands by his crew; in his search for
+aid from the neighbourhood, his helplessness becomes known--he is
+perhaps murdered, or runs away in the apprehension of being so--the
+boat is plundered and made a wreck. Still the dread of the delays and
+costs of our courts, and the utter hopelessness of ever recovering
+the lost property, prevent the proprietors from seeking redress, and
+our Government authorities know nothing of the circumstances.
+
+We remained at Baghauri the 21st to enable our people to prepare for
+the long march they had before them, and to see a little more of our
+Jubbulpore friends, who were to have another day's shooting, as black
+partridges[2] and quail had been found abundant in the neighbourhood
+of our camp.[3]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Or Saugor, the head-quarters of the district of that name in the
+Central Provinces. The town is 109 miles north-west of Jabalpur. The
+author took charge of the Sagar district in January 1831.
+
+2. _Francolinus vulgaris_.
+
+3. The purveyance system (Persian _rasad rasani_) above described is
+one of the necessary evils of Oriental life. It will be observed that
+the author, though so keenly sensitive to the abuses attending the
+system, proposes no substitute for it, and confesses that the small
+attempt he made to check abuse was a failure. From time immemorial it
+has been the custom for Government officials in India to be supplied
+with necessaries by the people of the country through which their
+camps pass. Under native Governments no officials ever dream of
+paying for anything. In British territory requisitions are limited,
+and in well ordered civil camps nothing is taken without payment
+except wood, coarse earthen vessels, and grass. The hereditary
+village potter supplies the pots, and this duty is fully recognized
+as one attaching to his office. The landholders supply the wood and
+grass. None of these things are ordinarily procurable by private
+purchase in sufficient quantity, and in most cases could not be
+bought at all. Officers commanding troops send in advance
+requisitions specifying the quantities of each article needed, and
+the indent is met by the civil authorities. Everything so indented
+for, including wood and grass, is supposed to be paid for, but in
+practice it is often impossible, with the agency available, to ensure
+actual payment to the persons entitled. Troops and the people in
+civil camps must live, and all that can be done is to check abuse, so
+far as possible, by vigilant administration. The obligation of
+landholders to supply necessaries for troops and officials on the
+march is so well established that it forms one of the conditions of
+the contract with Government under which proprietors in the
+permanently settled province of Benares hold their lands. The extreme
+abuses of which the system is capable under a lax and corrupt native
+Government are abundantly illustrated in the author's _Journey
+through the Kingdom of Oudh_. 'The System of Purveyance and Forced
+Labour' is the subject of article xxv in the Hon. F, J, Shore's
+curious book, _Notes on Indian Affairs_ (London, 1837, 2 vols. 8vo).
+Many of the abuses denounced by Mr. Shore have been suppressed, but
+some, unhappily, still exist, and are likely to continue for many
+years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 8
+
+
+Religious Sects--Self-government of the Castes--Chimney-sweepers--
+Washerwomen[1]--Elephant Drivers.
+
+Mir Salamat Ali, the head native collector of the district, a
+venerable old Musalman and most valuable public servant, who has been
+labouring in the same vineyard with me for the last fifteen years
+with great zeal, ability, and integrity, came to visit me after
+breakfast with two very pretty and interesting young sons. While we
+were sitting together my wife's under-woman[2] said to some one who
+was talking with her outside the tent-door, 'If that were really the
+case, should I not be degraded?' 'You see, Mir Sahib',[3] said I,
+'that the very lowest members of society among these Hindoos still
+feel the pride of caste, and dread exclusion from their own, however
+low.'[4]
+
+'Yes', said the Mir, 'they are a very strange kind of people, and I
+question whether they ever had a real prophet among them.'
+
+'I question, Mir Sahib, whether they really ever had such a person.
+They of course think the incarnations of their three great divinities
+were beings infinitely superior to prophets, being in all their
+attributes and prerogatives equal to the divinities themselves.[5]
+But we are disposed to think that these incarnations were nothing
+more than great men whom their flatterers and poets have exalted into
+gods--this was the way in which men made their gods in ancient Greece
+and Egypt. These great men were generally conquerors whose glory
+consisted in the destruction of their fellow creatures; and this is
+the glory which their flatterers are most prone to extol. All that
+the poets have sung of the actions of men is now received as
+revelation from heaven; though nothing can be more monstrous than the
+actions attributed to the best incarnation, Krishna, of the best of
+their gods, Vishnu.[6]
+
+'No doubt', said Salamat Ali; 'and had they ever had a real prophet
+among them he would have revealed better things to them. Strange
+people! when their women go on pilgrimages to Gaya, they have their
+heads shaved before the image of their god; and the offering of the
+hair is equivalent to the offer of their heads;[7] for heads, thank
+God, they dare no longer offer within the Company's territories.'
+
+'Do you. Mir Sahib, think that they continue to offer up human
+sacrifices anywhere?'
+
+'Certainly I do. There is a Raja at Ratanpur, or somewhere between
+Mandla and Sambalpur, who has a man offered up to Devi every year,
+and that man must be a Brahman. If he can get a Brahman traveller,
+well and good; if not, he and his priests offer one of his own
+subjects. Every Brahman that has to pass through this territory goes
+in disguise.[8] With what energy did our emperor Aurangzeb apply
+himself to put down iniquities like this in the Rajputana states, but
+all in vain. If a Raja died, all his numerous wives burnt themselves
+with his body--even their servants, male and female, were obliged to
+do the same; for, said his friends, what is he to do in the next
+world without attendants? The pile was enormous. On the top sat the
+queen with the body of the prince; the servants, male and female,
+according to their degree, below; and a large army stood all round to
+drive into the fire again or kill all who should attempt to
+escape.'[9]
+
+'This is all very true, Mir Sahib, but you must admit that, though
+there is a great deal of absurdity in their customs and opinions,
+there is, on the other hand, much that we might all take an example
+from. The Hindoo believes that Christians and Musalmans may be as
+good men in all relations of life as himself, and in as fair a way to
+heaven as he is; for he believes that my Bible and your Koran are as
+much revelations framed by the Deity for our guidance, as the
+Shastras are for his. He doubts not that our Christ was the Son of
+God, nor that Muhammad was the prophet of God; and all that he asks
+from us is to allow him freely to believe in his own gods, and to
+worship in his own way. Nor does one caste or sect of Hindoos ever
+believe itself to be alone in the right way, or detest any other for
+not following in the same path, as they have as much of toleration
+for each other as they have for us.[10]
+
+'True,' exclaimed Salamat Ali, 'too true! we have ruined each other;
+we have cut each other's throats; we have lost the empire, and we
+deserve to lose it. You won it, and you preserved it by your _union_-
+-ten men with one heart are equal to a hundred men with different
+hearts. A Hindoo may feel himself authorized to take in a Musalman,
+and might even think it _meritorious_ to do so; but he would never
+think it meritorious to take in one of his own religion. There are no
+less than seventy-two sects of Muhammadans; and every one of these
+sects would not only take in the followers of every other religion on
+earth, but every member of every one of the other seventy-one sects;
+and the nearer that sect is to its own, the greater the merit in
+taking in its members.'[11]
+
+'Something has happened of late to annoy you, I fear, Mir Sahib?'
+
+'Something happens to annoy us every day, sir, where we are more than
+one sect of us together; and wherever you find Musalmans you will
+find them divided into sects.'
+
+It is not, perhaps, known to many of my countrymen in India that in
+every city and town in the country the right of sweeping the houses
+and streets is one of the most intolerable of monopolies, supported
+entirely by the pride of caste among the scavengers, who are all of
+the lowest class. The right of sweeping within a certain range is
+recognized by the caste to belong to a certain member; and, if any
+other member presumes to sweep within that range, he is
+excommunicated--no other member will smoke out of his pipe, or drink
+out of his jug; and he can get restored to caste only by a feast to
+the whole body of sweepers. If any housekeeper within a particular
+circle happens to offend the sweeper of that range, none of his filth
+will be removed till he pacifies him, because no other sweeper will
+dare to touch it; and the people of a town are often more tyrannized
+over by these people than by any other.[12]
+
+It is worthy of remark that in India the spirit of combination is
+always in the inverse ratio to the rank of the class; weakest in the
+highest, and strongest in the lowest class. All infringements upon
+the rules of the class are punished by fines. Every fine furnishes a
+feast at which every member sits and enjoys himself. Payment is
+enforced by excommunication--no one of the caste will eat, drink, or
+smoke with the convicted till the fine is paid; and, as every one
+shares in the fine, every one does his best to enforce payment. The
+fines are imposed by the elders, who know the circumstances of the
+culprit, and fix the amount accordingly. Washermen will often at a
+large station combine to prevent the washermen of one gentleman from
+washing the clothes of the servants of any other gentleman, or the
+servants of one gentleman from getting their clothes washed by any
+other person than their own master's washerman. This enables them
+sometimes to raise the rate of washing to double the fair or ordinary
+rate; and at such places the washermen are always drunk with one
+continued routine of feasts from the fines levied.[13] The cost of
+these fees falls ultimately upon the poor servants or their masters.
+This combination, however, is not always for bad or selfish purposes.
+I was once on the staff of an officer commanding a brigade on
+service, whose elephant driver exercised an influence over him that
+was often mischievous and sometimes dangerous;[14] for in marching
+and choosing his ground, this man was more often consulted than the
+quarter-master-general. His bearing was most insolent, and became
+intolerable, as well to the European gentlemen as to the people of
+his caste.[15] He at last committed himself by saying that he would
+spit in the face of another gentleman's elephant driver with whom he
+was disputing. All the elephant drivers in our large camp were
+immediately assembled, and it was determined in council to refer the
+matter to the decision of the Raja of Darbhanga's driver, who was
+acknowledged the head of the class. We were all breakfasting with the
+brigadier after muster when the reply came-the distance to Darbhanga
+from Nathpur on the Kusi river, where we then were, must have been a
+hundred and fifty miles.[16] We saw men running in all directions
+through the camp, without knowing why, till at last one came and
+summoned the brigadier's driver. With a face of terror he came and
+implored the protection of the brigadier; who got angry, and fumed a
+good deal, but seeing no expression of sympathy on the faces of his
+officers, he told the man to go and hear his sentence. He was
+escorted to a circle formed by all the drivers in camp, who were
+seated on the grass. The offender was taken into the middle of the
+circle and commanded to stand on one leg[17] while the Raja's
+driver's letter was read. He did so, and the letter directed him to
+apologize to the offended party, pay a heavy fine for a feast, and
+pledge himself to the offended drivers never to offend again. All the
+officers in camp were delighted, and some, who went to hear the
+sentence explained, declared that in no court in the world could the
+thing have been done with more solemnity and effect. The man's
+character was quite altered by it, and he became the most docile of
+drivers. On the same principle here stated of enlisting the community
+in the punishment of offenders, the New Zealanders, and other savage
+tribes who have been fond of human flesh, have generally been found
+to confine the feast to the body of those who were put to death for
+offences against the state or the individual. I and all the officers
+of my regiment were at one time in the habit of making every servant
+who required punishment or admonition to bring immediately, and give
+to the first religious mendicant we could pick up, the fine we
+thought just. All the religionists in the neighbourhood declared that
+justice had never been so well administered in any other regiment; no
+servant got any sympathy from them--they were all told that their
+masters were far too lenient.
+
+We crossed the Hiran river[18] about ten miles from our last ground
+on the 22nd,[19] and came on two miles to our tents in a mango grove
+close to the town of Katangi,[20] and under the Vindhya range of
+sandstone hills, which rise almost perpendicular to the height of
+some eight hundred feet over the town. This range from Katangi skirts
+the Nerbudda valley to the north, as the Satpura range skirts it to
+the south; and both are of the same sandstone formation capped with
+basalt upon which here and there are found masses of laterite, or
+iron clay. Nothing has ever yet been found reposing upon this iron
+clay.[21] The strata of this range have a gentle and almost
+imperceptible dip to the north, at right angles to its face which
+overlooks the valley, and this face has everywhere the appearance of
+a range of gigantic round bastions projecting into what was perhaps a
+lake, and is now a well-peopled, well-cultivated, and very happy
+valley, about twenty miles wide. The river crosses and recrosses it
+diagonally. Near Jubbulpore it flows along for some distance close
+under the Satpura range to the south; and crossing over the valley
+from Bheraghat, it reaches the Vindhya range to the north, at the
+point where it reaches the Hiran river, forty miles below.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. This is a slip, probably due to the printer's reader. There are no
+chimney-sweepers in India. The word should be 'sweepers'. The members
+of this caste and a few other degraded communities, such as the Doms,
+do all the sweeping, scavenging, and conservancy work in India.
+'Washerwomen' is another slip: read 'Washermen'.
+
+2. The 'under-woman', or 'second ayah', was a member of the sweeper
+caste.
+
+3. The title Mir Sahib implies that Salamat Ali was a Sayyid,
+claiming descent from Ali, the cousin, son-in-law, and pupil of
+Muhammad, who became Khalif in A.D. 656.
+
+4. The sweeper castes stand outside the Hindoo pale, and often
+incline to Muhammadan practices. They worship a special form of the
+Deity, under the names of Lal Beg, Lal Guru, &c.
+
+5. No _avatar_ or incarnation of Brahma is known to most Hindoos, and
+incarnations of Siva are rarely mentioned. The only _avatars_
+ordinarily recognized are those of Vishnu, as enumerated ante.
+Chapter 2, note 4.
+
+6. This theory is a very inadequate explanation of the doctrine of
+_avatars_.
+
+7. 'Women . . . are most careful to preserve their hair intact. They
+pride themselves on its length and weight. For a woman to have to
+part with her hair is one of the greatest of degradations, and the
+most terrible of all trials. It is the mark of widowhood. Yet in some
+sacred places, especially at the confluence of rivers, the cutting
+off and offering of a few locks of hair (_Veni-danam_) by a virtuous
+wife is considered a highly meritorious act' (Monier Williams,
+_Religious Thought and Life in India_, p, 375). Gaya in Bihar, fifty-
+five miles south of Patna, is much frequented by pilgrims devoted to
+Vishnu.
+
+8. All the places named are in the Central Provinces. Ratanpur, in
+the Bilaspur District, is a place of much antiquarian interest, full
+of ruins; Mandla, in the Mandla District, was the capital of the
+later Gond chiefs of Garha Mandla; and Sambalpur is the capital of
+the Sambalpur District. If the story is true, the selection of a
+Brahman for sacrifice is remarkable, though not without precedent.
+Human sacrifice has prevailed largely in India, and is not yet quite
+extinct. In 1891 some Jats in the Muzaffarnagar District of the
+United Provinces sacrificed a boy in a very painful manner for some
+unascertained magical purpose. It was supposed that the object was to
+induce the gods to grant offspring to a childless woman. Other
+similar cases have occurred in recent years. One occurred close to
+Calcutta in 1892. In the hill tracts of Orissa bordering on the
+Central Provinces the rite of human sacrifice was practised by the
+Khonds on an awful scale, and with horrid cruelty, It was suppressed
+by the special efforts of Macpherson, Campbell, MacViccar, and other
+officers, between the years 1837 and 1854. Daring that period the
+British officers rescued 1,506 victims intended for sacrifice
+(_Narrative of Major-General John Campbell, C.B., of his Operations
+in the Hill Tracts of Orissa for the Suppression of Human Sacrifices
+and Female Infanticide_. Printed for private circulation. London:
+Hurst and Blackett, 1861). The rite, when practised by Hindoos, may
+have been borrowed from some of the aboriginal races. The practice,
+however, has been so general throughout the world that few peoples
+can claim the honour of freedom from the stain of adopting it at one
+time or another, Much curious information on the subject, and many
+modern instances of human sacrifices in India, are collected in the
+article 'Sacrifice' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia of India_, 3rd edition,
+1885. Major S. C. Macpherson, _Memorials of Service in India_ (1865),
+and Frazer, _Golden Bough_, 3rd edition, Part V, vol. i (1912), pp.
+236 seq., may also be consulted.
+
+9. Bernier vividly describes an 'infernal tragedy' of this kind which
+he witnessed, in or about the year 1659, during Aurangzeb's reign, in
+Rajputana. On that occasion five female slaves burnt themselves with
+their mistress (_Travels_, ed. Constable and V. A. Smith (1914), p.
+309).
+
+10. Hinduism is a social system, not a creed, A Hindoo may believe,
+or disbelieve, what speculative doctrine he chooses, but he must not
+eat, drink, or marry, save in accordance with the custom of his
+caste. Compare Asoka on toleration; 'The sects of other people all
+deserve reverence for one reason or another' (Rock Edict xii; V. A.
+Smith, _Asoka_, 2nd edition (1909), p. 170).
+
+11. Mir Salamat Ali is a stanch Sunni, the sect of Osman; and they
+are always at daggers drawn with the Shias, or the sect of Ali. He
+alludes to the Shias when he says that one of the seventy-two sects
+is always ready to take in the whole of the other seventy-one.
+Muhammad, according to the traditions, was one day heard to say, 'The
+time will come when my followers will he divided into seventy-three
+sects; all of them will assuredly go to hell save one.' Every one of
+the seventy-three sects believes itself to be the one happily
+excepted by their prophet, and predestined to paradise. I am
+sometimes disposed to think Muhammad was self-deluded, however
+difficult it might be to account for so much 'method in his madness'.
+It is difficult to conceive a man placed in such circumstances with
+more amiable dispositions or with juster views of the rights and
+duties of men in all their relations with each other, than are
+exhibited by him on almost all occasions, save where the question of
+_faith_ in his divine mission was concerned.
+
+A very interesting and useful book might be made out of the history
+of those men, more or less mad, by whom multitudes of mankind have
+been led and perhaps governed; and a philosophical analysis of the
+points on which they were really mad and really sane, would show many
+of them to have been fit subjects for a madhouse during the whole
+career of their glory. [W. H. S.]
+
+For an account of Muhammadan sects, see section viii of the
+Preliminary Dissertation in Sale's Koran, entitled, 'Of the Principal
+Sects among the Muhammadans; and of those who have pretended to
+Prophecy among the Arabs, in or since the Time of Muhammad'; and T.
+P. Hughes, _Dictionary of Islam_ (1885). The chief sects of the
+Sunnis, or Traditionists, are four in number. 'The principal sects of
+the Shias are five, which are subdivided into an almost innumerable
+number.' The court of the kings of Oudh was Shia. In most parts of
+India the Sunni faith prevails.
+
+The relation between genius and insanity is well expressed by Dryden
+(_Absalom and Achitopfel_):
+
+ Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
+ And thin partitions do their bounds divide.
+
+The treatise of Professor Cesare Lombroso, entitled _The Man of
+Genius_ (London edition, 1891), is devoted to proof and illustration
+of the proposition that genius is 'a special morbid condition'. He
+deals briefly with the case of Muhammad at pages 31, 39, and 325,
+maintaining that the prophet, like Saint Paul, Julius Caesar, and
+many other men of genius, was subject to epileptic fits. The
+Professor's book seems to be exactly what Sir W. H. Sleeman desired
+to see.
+
+12. In the author's time, when municipal conservancy and sanitation
+were almost unknown in India, the tyranny of the sweepers' guild was
+chiefly felt as a private inconvenience. It is now one of the
+principal of the many difficulties, little understood in Europe,
+which bar the progress of Indian sanitary reform. The sweepers cannot
+be readily coerced because no Hindoo or Musalman would do their work
+to save his life, nor will he pollute himself even by beating the
+refractory scavenger. A strike of sweepers on the occasion of a great
+fair, or of a cholera epidemic, is a most dangerous calamity. The
+vested rights described in the text are so fully recognized in
+practice that they are frequently the subject of sale or mortgage.
+
+13. The low-caste Hindoos are generally fond of drink, when they can
+get it, but seldom commit crime under its influence.
+
+14. An elephant driver, by reason of his position on the animal, has
+opportunities for private conversation with his master.
+
+
+15. Elephant drivers (_mahouts_) are Muhammadans, who should have no
+caste, but Indian Musalmans have become Hinduized, and fallen under
+the dominion of caste.
+
+16. Darbhanga is in Tirhut, seventy miles NE. of Dinapore. The Kusi
+(Kosi or Koosee) river rises in the mountains of Nepal, and falls
+into the Ganges after a course of about 325 miles. Nathpur, in the
+Puraniya (Purneah) District, is a mart for the trade with Nepal.
+
+17. The customary attitude of a suppliant.
+
+18. A small river which falls into the Nerbudda on the right-hand
+side, at Sankal. Its general course is south-west.
+
+19. November, 1835.
+
+20. Described in the _Gazetteer_ (1870) as 'a large but decaying
+village in the Jabalpur district, situated at the foot of the Bhanrer
+hills, twenty-two miles to the north-west of Jabalpur, on the north
+side of the Hiran, and on the road to Sagar'.
+
+21. The convenient restriction of the name Vindhya to the hills
+north, and of Satpura to the hills south of the Nerbudda is of modern
+origin (_Manual of the Geology of India_, 1st ed., Part I, p. iv).
+The Satpura range, thus defined, separates the valley of the Nerbudda
+from the valleys of the Tapti flowing west, and the Mahanadi flowing
+east. The Vindhyan sandstones certainly are a formation of immense
+antiquity, perhaps pre-Silurian. They are azoic, or devoid of
+fossils; and it is consequently impossible to determine exactly their
+geological age, or 'horizon' (ibid. p. xxiii). The cappings of
+basalt, in some cases with laterite superimposed, suggest many
+difficult problems, which will be briefly discussed in the notes to
+Chapters 14 and 17.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 9
+
+
+The Great Iconoclast--Troops routed by Hornets--The Rani of Garha--
+Hornets' Nests in India.
+
+On the 23rd,[1] we came on nine miles to Sangrampur, and, on the
+24th, nine more to the valley of Jabera,[2] situated on the western
+extremity of the bed of a large lake, which is now covered by twenty-
+four villages. The waters were kept in by a large wall that united
+two hills about four miles south of Jabera. This wall was built of
+great cut freestone blocks from the two hills of the Vindhiya range,
+which it united. It was about half a mile long, one hundred feet
+broad at the base, and about one hundred feet high. The stones,
+though cut, were never, apparently, cemented; and the wall has long
+given way in the centre, through which now falls a small stream that
+passes from east to west of what was once the bottom of the lake, and
+now is the site of so many industrious and happy little village
+communities.[3] The proprietor of the village of Jabera, in whose
+mango grove our tents were pitched, conducted me to the ruins of the
+wall; and told me that it had been broken down by the order of the
+Emperor Aurangzeb.[4] History to these people is all a fairy tale;
+and this emperor is the great destroyer of everything that the
+Muhammadans in their fanaticism have demolished of the Hindoo
+sculpture or architecture; and yet, singular as it may appear, they
+never mention his name with any feelings of indignation or hatred.
+With every scene of his supposed outrage against their gods or their
+temples, there is always associated the recollection of some instance
+of his piety, and the Hindoos' glory--of some idol, for instance, or
+column, preserved from his fury by a miracle, whose divine origin he
+is supposed at once to have recognized with all due reverence.
+
+ At Bheragarh,[5] the high priest of the temple told us that
+Aurangzeb and his soldiers knocked off the heads, arms, and noses of
+all the idols, saying that 'if they had really any of the godhead in
+them, they would assuredly now show it, and save themselves'. But
+when they came to the door of Gauri Sankar's apartments, they were
+attacked by a nest of hornets, that put the whole of the emperor's
+army to the rout; and his imperial majesty called out: 'Here we have
+really something like a god, and we shall not suffer him to be
+molested; if all your gods could give us proof like this of their
+divinity, not a nose of them would ever be touched'.
+
+The popular belief, however, is that after Aurangzeb's army had
+struck off all the prominent features of the other gods, one of the
+soldiers entered the temple, and struck off the ear of one of the
+prostrate images underneath their vehicle, the Bull. 'My dear', said
+Gauri, 'do you see what these saucy men are about?' Her consort
+turned round his head;[6] and, seeing the soldiers around him,
+brought all the hornets up from the marble rocks below, where there
+are still so many nests of them, and the whole army fled before them
+to Teori, five miles.[7] It is very likely that some body of troops
+by whom the rest of the images had been mutilated, may have been
+driven off by a nest of hornets from within the temple where this
+statue stands. I have seen six companies of infantry, with a train of
+artillery and a squadron of horse, all put to the rout by a single
+nest of hornets, and driven off some miles with all their horses and
+bullocks. The officers generally save themselves by keeping within
+their tents, and creeping under their bed-clothes, or their carpets;
+and servants often escape by covering themselves up in their
+blankets, and lying perfectly still. Horses are often stung to a
+state of madness, in which they throw themselves over precipices and
+break their limbs, or kill themselves. The grooms, in trying to save
+their horses, are generally the people who suffer most in a camp
+attacked by such an enemy. I have seen some so stung as to recover
+with difficulty; and I believe there have been instances of people
+not recovering at all. In such a frightful scene I have seen a
+bullock sitting and chewing the cud as calmly as if the whole thing
+had been got up for his amusement. The hornets seldom touch any
+animal that remains perfectly still.
+
+On the bank of the Bina river at Eran, in the Sagar district, is a
+beautiful pillar of a single freestone, more than fifty feet high,
+surmounted by a figure of Krishna, with the glory round his head.[8]
+Some few of the rays of this glory have been struck off by lightning;
+but the people declare that this was done by a shot fired at it from
+a cannon by order of Aurangzeb, as his army was marching by on its
+way to the Deccan. Before the scattered fragments, however, could
+reach the ground, the air was filled, they say, by a swarm of
+hornets, that put
+the whole army to flight; and the emperor ordered his gunners to
+desist, declaring that he was 'satisfied of the presence of the god'.
+There is hardly any part of India in which, according to popular
+belief, similar miracles were not worked to convince the emperor of
+the peculiar merits or sanctity of particular idols or temples,
+according to the traditions of the people, derived, of course, from
+the inventions of priests. I should mention that these hornets
+suspend their nests to the branches of the highest trees, under
+rocks, or in old deserted temples. Native travellers, soldiers, and
+camp followers, cook and eat their food under such trees; but they
+always avoid one in which there is a nest of hornets, particularly on
+a still day. Sometimes they do not discover the nest till it is too
+late. The unlucky wight goes on feeding his fire, and delighting in
+the prospect of the feast before him, as the smoke ascends in curling
+eddies to the nest of the hornets. The moment it touches them they
+sally forth and descend, and sting like mad creatures every living
+thing they find in motion. Three companies of my regiment were
+escorting treasure in boats from Allahabad to Cawnpore for the army
+under the Marquis of Hastings, in 1817.[9] The soldiers all took
+their dinners on shore every day; and one still afternoon a sipahi
+(sepoy), by cooking his dinner under one of those nests without
+seeing it, sent the infuriated swarm among the whole of his comrades,
+who were cooking in the same grove, and undressed, as they always are
+on such occasions. Treasure, food, and all were immediately deserted,
+and the whole of the party, save the European officers, were up to
+their noses in the river Ganges. The hornets hovered over them; and
+it was amusing to see them bobbing their heads under as the insects
+tried to pounce upon them. The officers covered themselves up in the
+carpets of their boats; and, as the day was a hot one, their
+situation was still more uncomfortable than that of the men. Darkness
+alone put an end to the conflict.
+
+I should mention that the poor old Rani, or Queen of Garha, Lachhmi
+Kuar, came out as far as Katangi with us to take leave of my wife, to
+whom she has always been attached. She had been in the habit of
+spending a day with her at my house once a week; and being the only
+European lady from whom she had ever received any attention, or
+indeed ever been on terms of any intimacy with, she feels the more
+sensible of the little offices of kindness and courtesy she has
+received from her.[10] Her husband, Narhar Sa, was the last of the
+long line of sixty-two sovereigns who reigned over these territories
+from the year A.D. 358 to the Sagar conquest, A.D. 1781.[11] He died
+a prisoner in the fortress of Kurai, in the Sagar district, in A. D.
+1789, leaving two widows.[12] One burnt herself upon the funeral
+pile, and the other was prevented from doing so, merely because she
+was thought too young, as she was not then fifteen years of age. She
+received a small pension from the Sagar Government, which was still
+further reduced under the Nagpur Government which succeeded it in the
+Jubbulpore district in which the pension had been assigned; and it
+was not thought necessary to increase the amount of this pension when
+the territory came under our dominion,[13] so that she has had barely
+enough to subsist upon, about one hundred rupees a month. She is now
+about sixty years of age, and still a very good-looking woman. In her
+youth she must have been beautiful. She does not object to appear
+unveiled before gentlemen on any particular occasion; and, when Lord
+W. Bentinck was at Jubbulpore in 1833, I introduced, the old queen to
+him. He seemed much interested, and ordered the old lady a pair of
+shawls. None but very coarse ones were found in the store-rooms of
+the Governor-General's representative, and his lordship said these
+were not such as a Governor-General could present, or a queen,
+however poor, receive; and as his own 'toshakhana' (wardrobe) had
+gone on,[l4] he desired that a pair of the finest kind should be
+purchased and presented to her in his name. The orders were given in
+her presence and mine. I was obliged to return to Sagar before they
+could be carried into effect; and, when I returned in 1835,[15] I
+found that the _rejected_ shawls had been presented to her, and were
+such coarse things that she was ashamed to wear them, as much, I
+really believe, on account of the exalted person who had given them,
+as her own. She never mentioned the subject till I asked her to let
+me see the shawls, which she did reluctantly, and she was too proud
+to complain. How the good intentions of the Governor-General had been
+frustrated in this case I have never learned. The native officer in
+charge of the store was dead, and the Governor-General's
+representative had left the place. Better could not, I suppose, be
+got at this time, and he did not like to defer giving them.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. November, 1835.
+
+2. Sangrampur is in the Jabalpur District, thirty miles north-west of
+Jabalpur, or the road to Sagar, The village of Jabera is thirty-nine
+miles from Jabalpur.
+
+3. Similar lakes, formed by means of huge dams thrown across valleys,
+are numerous in the Central Provinces and Bundelkhand. The
+embankments of some of these lakes are maintained by the Indian
+Government, and the water is distributed for irrigation. Many of the
+lakes are extremely beautiful, and the ruins of grand temples and
+palaces are often found on their banks. Several of the embankments
+are known to have been built by the Chandel princes between A.D. 800
+and 1200, and some are believed to be the work of an earlier Parihar
+dynasty.
+
+4. A.D. 1658--1707. Aurangzeb, though possibly credited with more
+destruction than he accomplished, did really destroy many hundreds of
+Hindoo temples. A historian mentions the demolition of 262 at three
+places in Rajputana in a single year (A.D. 1679-80) (E. and D. vii,
+188).
+
+5. This name is used as a synonym for Bheraghat, _ante_, Chapter 1,
+paragraph 1. It is written Beragur in the author's text. The author,
+in _Ramaseeana_, Introduction, p. 77, note, describes the Gauri-
+Sankar sculpture as being 'at Beragur on the Nerbudda river'.
+
+6. Gauri is one of the many names of Parvati, or Devi, the consort of
+the god Siva, Sankar, or Mahadeo, who rides upon the bull Nandi.
+
+7. This village seems to be the same as Tewar, the ancient Tripura,
+'six miles to the west of Jabalpur; and on the south side of the
+Bombay road' (_A. S. R_., vol. ix, p. 57). The adjacent ruins are
+known by the name of Karanbel.
+
+8. The pillar bears an inscription showing that it was erected during
+the reign of Budha Gupta, in the year 165 of the Gupta era,
+corresponding to A.D. 484-5. This, and the other important remains of
+antiquity at Eran, are fully described in _A. S. R_., vol. vii, p.
+88; vol. x, pp. 76-90, pl. xxiii-xxx; and vol. xiv, p. 149, pl. xxxi;
+also in Fleet, _Gupta Inscriptions_ (Calcutta, 1888). The material of
+the pillar is red sandstone. According to Cunningham the total height
+is 43 feet. The peculiar double-faced, two-armed image on the summit
+does not seem to be intended for Krishna, but I cannot say what the
+meaning is (H. F. A., p. 174, fig. 121).
+
+9. During the wars with the Marathas and Pindharis, which ended in
+1819.
+
+10. After we left Jubbulpore, the old Rani used to receive much kind
+and considerate attention from the Hon. Mrs. Shore, a very amiable
+woman, the wife of the Governor-General's representative, the Hon.
+Mr. Shore, a very worthy and able member of the Bengal Civil Service.
+[W. H. S.] For notice of Mr. Shore, see note at end of Chapter 13.
+
+11. See the author's paper entitled '_History of the Gurha Mundala
+Rajas_', in _J. A. S. B_., vol. vi (1837), p. 621, and the article
+'Mandla' in _C. P. Gazetteer_ (1870).
+
+12. Kurai is on the route from Sagar to Nasirabad, thirty-one miles
+WNW. of the former.
+
+13. The 'Sagar and Nerbudda Territories', comprising the Sagar,
+Jabalpur, Hoshangabad, Seoni, Damoh, Narsinghpur, and Baitul Mandla
+Districts, are now under the Local Administration of the Chief
+Commissioner of the Central Provinces, established in 1861 by Lord
+Canning, who appointed Sir Richard Temple Chief Commissioner. These
+territories were at first administered by a semi-political agency,
+but were afterwards, in 1852, placed under the Lieutenant-Governor of
+the North-Western Provinces (now the Agra Province in the United
+Provinces of Agra and Oudh), to whom they remained subject until
+1861. They had been ceded by the Marathas to the British in 1818, and
+the cession was confirmed by the treaty of 1826.
+
+14. All official presents given by native chiefs to the Governor-
+General are credited to the 'toshakhana', from which also are taken
+the official gifts bestowed in return.
+
+15. By resolution of Government, dated January 10, 1836, the author
+was appointed General Superintendent of the Operations against
+Thuggee, with his head-quarters at Jubbulpore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 10
+
+
+The Peasantry and the Land Settlement.
+
+The officers of the 29th had found game so plentiful, and the weather
+so fine, that they came on with us as far as Jabera, where we had the
+pleasure of their society on the evening of the 24th, and left them
+on the morning of the 25th.[1] A great many of my native friends,
+from among the native landholders and merchants of the country,
+flocked to our camp at every stage to pay their respects, and bid me
+farewell, for they never expected to see me back among them again.
+They generally came out a mile or two to meet and escort us to our
+tents; and much do I fear that my poor boy will never again, in any
+part of the world, have the blessings of Heaven so fervently invoked
+upon him by so many worthy and respectable men as met us at every
+stage on our way from Jubbulpore. I am much attached to the
+agricultural classes of India generally, and I have found among them
+some of the best men I have ever known. The peasantry in India have
+generally very good manners, and are exceedingly intelligent, from
+having so much more leisure and unreserved and easy intercourse with
+those above them. The constant habit of meeting and discussing
+subjects connected with their own interests, in their own fields, and
+'under their own fig-trees', with their landlords and Government
+functionaries of all kinds and degrees, prevents their ever feeling
+or appearing impudent or obtrusive; though it certainly tends to give
+them stentorian voices, that often startle us when they come into our
+houses to discuss the same points with us.
+
+Nine-tenths of the immediate cultivators of the soil in India are
+little farmers, who hold a lease for one or more years, as the case
+may be, of their lands, which they cultivate with their own stock.
+One of these cultivators, with a good plough and bullocks, and a good
+character, can always get good land on moderate terms from holders of
+villages.[2] Those cultivators are, I think, the best, who learn to
+depend upon their stock and character for favourable terms, hold
+themselves free to change their holdings when their leases expire,
+and pretend not to any hereditary right in the soil. The lands are, I
+think, best cultivated, and the society best constituted in India,
+where the holders of estates of villages have a feeling of permanent
+interest in them, an assurance of an hereditary right of property
+which is liable only to the payment of a moderate Government demand,
+descends undivided by the law of primogeniture, and is unaffected by
+the common law, which prescribes the equal subdivision among children
+of landed as well as other private property, among the Hindoos and
+Muhammadans; and where the immediate cultivators hold the lands they
+till by no other law than that of common specific contract.
+
+When I speak of holders of villages, I mean the holders of lands that
+belong to villages. The whole face of India is parcelled out into
+estates of villages.[3] The village communities are composed of those
+who hold and cultivate the land, the established village servants,
+priest, blacksmith, carpenter, accountant, washerman, basket-maker
+(whose wife is ex officio the midwife of the little village
+community), potter, watchman, barber, shoemaker, &c., &c.[4] To these
+may be added the little banker, or agricultural capitalist, the
+shopkeeper, the brazier, the confectioner, the ironmonger, the
+weaver, the dyer, the astronomer or astrologer, who points out to the
+people the lucky day for every earthly undertaking, and the
+prescribed times for all religious ceremonies and observances. In
+some villages the whole of the lands are parcelled out among
+cultivating proprietors, and are liable to eternal subdivisions by
+the law of inheritance, which gives to each son the same share. In
+others, the whole of the lands are parcelled out among cultivators,
+who hold them on a specific lease for limited periods from a
+proprietor who holds the whole collectively under Government, at a
+rate of rent fixed either permanently or for limited periods. These
+are the two extremes. There are but few villages in which all the
+cultivators are considered as proprietors--at least but few in our
+Nerbudda territories; and these will almost invariably be found of a
+caste of Brahmans or a caste of Rajputs, descended from a common
+ancestor, to whom the estate was originally given in rent-free
+tenure, or at a quit-rent, by the existing Government for his prayers
+as a priest, or his services as a soldier. Subsequent Governments,
+which resumed unceremoniously the estates of others, were deterred
+from resuming these by a dread of the curses of the one and the
+swords of the other.[5] Such communities of cultivating proprietors
+are of two kinds: those among whom the lands are parcelled out, each
+member holding his share as a distinct estate, and being individually
+responsible for the payment of the share of the Government demand
+assessed upon it; and those among whom the lands are not parcelled
+out, but the profits divided as among copartners of an estate held
+jointly. They, in either case, nominate one of their members to
+collect and pay the Government demand; or Government appoints a man
+for this duty, either as a salaried servant or a lessee, with
+authority to levy from the cultivating proprietors a certain sum over
+and above what is demandable from him.
+
+The communities in which the cultivators are considered merely as
+leaseholders are far more numerous; indeed, the greater part of the
+village communities in this part of India are of this description;
+and, where the communities are of a mixed character, the cultivating
+proprietors are considered to have merely a right of occupancy, and
+are liable to have their lands assessed at the same rate as those
+held on a mere lease tenure. In all parts of India the cultivating
+proprietors in such mixed communities are similarly situated; they
+are liable to be assessed at the same rate as others holding the same
+sort of lands, and often pay a higher rate, with which others are not
+encumbered. But this is not general; it is as much the interest of
+the proprietor to have good cultivating tenants as it is that of the
+tenants to have good proprietors; and it is felt to be the interest
+of both to adjust their terms amicably among themselves, without a
+reference to a third and superior party, which is always costly and
+commonly ruinous.[6]
+
+It is a question of very great importance, no less morally and
+politically than fiscally, which of these systems deserves most
+encouragement--that in which the Government considers the immediate
+cultivators to be the hereditary proprietors, and, through its own
+public officers, parcels out the lands among them, and adjusts the
+rates of rent demandable from every minute partition, as the lands
+become more and more subdivided by the Hindoo and Muhammadan law of
+inheritance; or that in which the Government considers him who holds
+the area of a whole village or estate collectively as the hereditary
+proprietor, and the immediate cultivators as his lease-tenants--
+leaving the rates of rent to be adjusted among the parties without
+the aid of public officers, or interposing only to enforce the
+fulfilment of their mutual contracts. In the latter of these two
+systems the land will supply more and better members to the middle
+and higher classes of the society, and create and preserve a better
+feeling between them and the peasantry, or immediate cultivators of
+the soil; and it will occasion the re-investment upon the soil, in
+works of ornament and utility, of a greater portion of the annual
+returns of rent and profit, and a less expenditure in the costs of
+litigation in our civil courts, and bribery to our public officers.
+
+Those who advocate the other system, which makes the immediate
+cultivators the proprietors, will, for the most part, be found to
+reason upon false premisses--upon the assumption that the rates of
+rent demandable from the immediate cultivators of the soil _were
+everywhere limited and established by immemorial usage, in a certain
+sum of money per acre, or a certain share of the crop produced from
+it_; and that 'these rates were not only so limited and fixed, but
+everywhere _well known to the people_', and might, consequently, have
+become well known to the Government, and recorded in public
+registers. Now every practical man in India, who has had
+opportunities of becoming well acquainted with the matter, knows that
+_the reverse is the case_; that the rate of rent demandable from
+these cultivators _never was the same upon any two estates at the
+same time: nor even the same upon any one estate at different limes,
+or for any consecutive number of years_.[7] The rates vary every year
+on every estate, according to the varying circumstances that
+influence them--such as greater or less exhaustion of the soil,
+greater or less facilities of irrigation, manure, transit to market,
+drainage--or from fortuitous advantages on one hand, or calamities of
+season on the other; or many other circumstances which affect the
+value of the land, and the abilities of the cultivators to pay. It is
+not so much the proprietors of the estate or the Government as the
+cultivators themselves who demand every year a readjustment of the
+rate demandable upon their different holdings. This readjustment must
+take place; and, if there is no landlord to effect it, Government
+must effect it through its own officers. Every holding becomes
+subdivided when the cultivating proprietor dies and leaves more than
+one child; and, as the whole face of the country is open and without
+hedges, the division is easily and speedily made. Thus the field-map
+which represents an estate one year will never represent it fairly
+five years after; in fact, we might almost as well attempt to map the
+waves of the ocean as field-map the face of any considerable area in
+any part of India.[8]
+
+If there be any truth in my conclusions, our Government has acted
+unwisely in going, as it has generally done, into [one or other of]
+the two extremes, in its settlement of the land revenue.
+
+In the Zamindari settlement of Bengal, it conferred the hereditary
+right of property over areas larger than English counties on
+individuals, and left the immediate cultivators mere tenants-at-
+will.[9] These individuals felt no interest in promoting the comfort
+and welfare of the village communities, or conciliating the
+affections of the cultivators, whom they never saw or wished to see;
+and they let out the village, or other subdivision of their estates,
+to second parties quite as little interested, who again let them out
+to others, so that the system of rack-renting went on over the whole
+area of the immense possession. This was a system 'more honoured in
+the breach than in the observance'; for, as the great landholders
+became involved in the ruin of their cultivators, their estates were
+sold for arrears of revenue due to Government, and thus the
+proprietary right of one individual has become divided among many,
+who will have the feelings which the larger holders wanted, and so
+remedy the evil. In the other extreme, Government has constituted the
+immediate cultivators the proprietors; thereby preventing any one who
+is supported upon the rent of land, or the profits of agricultural
+stock, from rising above the grade of a peasant, and so depriving
+society of one of its best and most essential elements. The remedy of
+both is in village settlements, in which the estate shall be of
+moderate size, and the hereditary property of the holder, descending
+on the principle of a principality, by the right of primogeniture,
+unaffected by the common law. This is the system which has been
+adopted in the Nerbudda territory, and which, I trust, will be always
+adhered to.
+
+When we enter upon the government of any new territorial acquisition
+in India, we do not require or pretend to change the civil laws of
+the people; because their civil laws and their religion are in
+reality one and the same, and are contained in one and the same code,
+as certainly among the Hindoos, the Muhammadans, and the Parsees, as
+they were among the Israelites. By these codes, and the established
+usages everywhere well understood by the people, are their rights and
+duties in marriage, inheritance, succession, caste, contract, and all
+the other civil relations of life, ascertained; and when we displace
+another Government we do not pretend to alter such rights and duties
+in relation to each other, we merely change the machinery and mode of
+procedure by which these rights are secured and these duties
+enforced.[10]
+
+Of criminal law no system was ever either regularly established or
+administered in any state in India, by any Government to which we
+have succeeded; and the people always consider the existing
+Government free to adopt that which may seem best calculated to
+effect the one great object, which criminal law has everywhere in
+view--_the security of life, property, and character, and the
+enjoyment of all their advantages_. The actions by which these are
+affected and endangered, the evidence by which such actions require
+to be proved, and the penalties with which they require to be
+visited, in order to prevent their recurrence, are, or ought to be,
+so much the same in every society, that the people never think us
+bound to search for what Muhammad and his companions thought in the
+wilds of Arabia, or the Sanskrit poets sang about them in courts and
+cloisters. They would be just as well pleased everywhere to find us
+searching for these things in the writings of Confucius and
+Zoroaster, as in those of Muhammad and Manu: and much more so, to see
+us consulting our own common-sense, and forming a penal code of our
+own, suitable to the wants of such a mixed community.[11]
+
+The fiscal laws which define the rights and duties of the landed
+interests and the agricultural classes in relation to each other and
+to the ruling powers were also everywhere exceedingly simple and well
+understood by the people. What in England is now a mere fiction of
+law is still in India an essential principle. All lands are held
+directly or indirectly of the sovereign: to this rule there is no
+exception.[12] The reigning sovereign is essentially the proprietor
+of the whole of the lands in every part of India, where he has not
+voluntarily alienated them; and he holds these lands for the payment
+of those public establishments which are maintained for the public
+good, and are supported by the rents of the lands either directly
+under assignment, or indirectly through the sovereign proprietor.
+When a Muhammadan or Hindoo sovereign assigned lands rent-free in
+_perpetuity_, it was always understood, both by the donor and
+receiver, to be with the _small reservation_ of a right in his
+successor to resume them for the public good, if he should think
+fit.[13] Hindoo sovereigns, or their priests for them, often tried to
+bar this right by _invoking curses_ on the head of that successor who
+should exercise it.[14] It is a proverb among the people of these
+territories, and, I believe, among the people of India generally,
+that the lands which pay no rent to Government have no 'barkat',
+blessing from above--that the man who holds them is not blessed in
+their returns like the man who pays rent to Government and thereby
+contributes his aid to the protection of the community. The fact is
+that every family that holds rent-free lands must, in a few
+generations, become miserable from the minute subdivision of the
+property, and the litigation in our civil courts which it entails
+upon the holders.[15] It is certainly the general opinion of the
+people of India that no land should be held without paying rent to
+Government, or providing for people employed in the service of
+Government, for the benefit of the people in its defensive,
+religious, judicial, educational, and other establishments. Nine-
+tenths of the land in these Nerbudda territories are held in lease
+immediately under Government by the heads of villages, whose leases
+have been renewable every five years; but they are now to have a
+settlement for twenty.[l6] The other tenth is held by these heads of
+villages intermediately under some chief, who holds several portions
+of land immediately under Government at a quit-rent, or for service
+performed, or to be performed, for Government, and lets them out to
+farmers. These are, for the most part, situated in the more hilly and
+less cultivated parts.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. November, 1835.
+
+2. This observation does not hold good in densely populated tracts,
+which are now numerous.
+
+3. These 'estates of villages' are known by the Persian name of
+'mauza'. The topographical division of the country into 'mauzas',
+which may be also translated by the terms 'townlands' or 'townships',
+has developed spontaneously. Some 'mauzas' are uninhabited, and are
+cultivated by the residents of neighbouring villages.
+
+4. In some parts of Central and Southern India, the 'Garpagri', who
+charms away hail-storms from the crops, and 'Bhumka', who charms away
+tigers from the people and their cattle, are added to the number of
+village servants, [W. H .S.] 'In many parts of Berar and Malwa every
+village has its "bhumka", whose office it is to charm the tigers; and
+its "garpagri", whose duty it is to keep off the hail-storms. They
+are part of the village servants, and paid by the village community,
+After a severe hail-storm took place in the district of Narsinghpur,
+of which I had the civil charge in 1823, the office of "garpagri" was
+restored to several villages in which it had ceased for several
+generations. They are all Brahmans, and take advantage of such
+calamities to impress the people with an opinion of their usefulness.
+The "bhumkas" are all Gonds, or people of the woods, who worship
+their own Lares and Penates' (_Ramaseeana_, Introduction, p. 13.
+note).
+
+5. Very often the Government of the country know nothing of these
+tenures; the local authorities allowed them to continue as a
+perquisite of their own. The holders were willing to pay them a good
+share of the rent, assured that they would be resumed if reported by
+the local authorities to the Government. These authorities consented
+to take a moderate share of the rent, assured that they should get
+little or nothing if the lands were resumed. [W. H. S.] 'Rent' here
+means 'land-revenue'. Of course, under modern British administration
+the particulars of all tenures are known and recorded in great
+detail,
+
+6. Since the author wrote these remarks the legal position of
+cultivating proprietors and tenants has been largely modified by the
+pressure of population and a long course of legislation. The Rent
+Acts, which began with Act x of 1859, are now numerous, and have been
+accompanied by a series of Land Revenue Acts, and many collateral
+enactments. All the problems of the Irish land question are familiar
+topics to the Anglo-Indian courts and legislatures.
+
+7. This proposition no doubt was true for the 'Sagar and Nerbudda
+Territories' in 1835, but it cannot be predicated of the thickly
+populated and settled districts in the Gangetic valley without
+considerable qualification. Examples of long-established, unchanged,
+well-known rent-rates are not uncommon.
+
+8. In recent years this task of 'mapping the waves of the ocean' has
+been attempted. Every periodical settlement of the land revenue in
+Northern India since 1833 has been accompanied by the preparation of
+detailed village maps, showing each field, even the tiniest, a few
+yards square, with a separate number. In many cases these maps were
+roughly constructed under non-professional supervision, but in many
+districts they have been prepared by the cadastral branch of the
+Survey Department. The difficulty mentioned by the author has been
+severely felt, and it constantly happens that beautiful maps become
+useless in four or five years. Efforts are made to insert annual
+corrections in copies of the maps through the agency of the village
+accountants, and the 'kanungos', or officers who supervise them, but
+the task is an enormous one, and only partial success is attained. In
+addition to the maps, records of great bulk are annually prepared
+which give the most minute details about every holding and each
+field.
+
+9. The Permanent Settlement of Bengal, effected under the orders of
+Lord Cornwallis in 1793, was soon afterwards extended to the province
+of Benares, now included in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.
+Illusory provisions were made to protect the rights of tenants, but
+nothing at all effectual was done till the passing of Act x of 1859,
+which has been largely modified by later legislation.
+
+10. The general principle here stated of respect for personal
+substantive law in civil matters is still the guide of the Indian
+Legislature, but the accumulation of Privy Council and High Court
+rulings, combined with the action of codes, has effected considerable
+gradual change. Direct legislation has anglicized the law of
+contract, and has modified, though not so largely, the law of
+marriage, inheritance, and succession.
+
+11. In the author's time the courts of the East India Company still
+followed the Muhammadan criminal law, as modified by the Regulations.
+The Indian Penal Code of 1869 placed the substantive criminal law on
+a thoroughly scientific basis. This code was framed with such
+masterly skill that to this day it has needed little material
+amendment. The first Criminal Procedure Code, passed in 1861, has
+been twice recast. The law of evidence was codified by Sir James
+FitzJames Stephen in the Indian Evidence Act of 1870.
+
+12. This proposition, in the editor's opinion, truly states the
+theory of land tenures in India, and it was a generally accurate
+statement of actual fact in the author's time. Since then the long
+continuance of settled government, by fostering the growth of private
+rights, has tended to obscure the idea of state ownership. The modern
+revenue codes, instead of postulating the ownership of the state,
+enact that the claims of the state--that is to say, the land-revenue-
+-are the first charge on the land and its produce. The Malabar coast
+offers an exception to the general Hindu role of state ownership of
+land. The Nairs, Coorgs, and Tulus enjoyed full proprietary rights
+(Dubois, _Hindu Manners, &c_., 3rd edition (1906), p. 57).
+
+13. Amir Khan, the Nawab of Tonk, assigned to his physician, who had
+cured him of an intermittent fever, lands yielding one thousand
+rupees a year, in rent-free tenure, and gave him a deed signed by
+himself and his heir-apparent, declaring expressly that it should
+descend to him and his heir for ever. He died lately, and his son and
+successor, who had signed the deed, resumed the estate without
+ceremony. On being remonstrated with, he said that 'his father, while
+living, was, of course, master, and could make him sign what he
+pleased, and give land rent-free to whom he pleased; but his
+successor must now be considered the best judge whether they could be
+spared or not; that if lands were to be alienated in perpetuity by
+every reigning Nawab for every dose of medicine or dose of prayers
+that he or the members of his family required, none would soon be
+left for the payment of the soldiers, or other necessary public
+servants of any description'. This was told me by the son of the old
+physician, who was the person to whom the speech was made, his father
+having died before Amir Khan. [W. H. S.] Amir Khan was the famous
+Pindhari leader. H. T. Prinsep translated his Memoirs from the
+Persian of Busawun Lal (Calcutta, 1832).
+
+14. The ancient deeds of grant, engraved on copper, of which so many
+have been published within the last hundred years, almost invariably
+conclude with fearful curses on the head of any rash mortal who may
+dare to revoke the grant. Usually the pious hope is expressed that,
+if he should be guilty of such wickedness, he may rot in filth, and
+be reborn a worm.
+
+15. Revenue officers commonly observe that revenue-free grants, which
+the author calls rent-free, are often ill cultivated. The simple
+reason is that the stimulus of the collector's demand is wanting to
+make the owner exert himself.
+
+16. These leases now carry with them a right of ownership, involving
+the power of alienation, subject to the lien of the land revenue as a
+first charge. Conversely, the modern codes lay down the principle
+that the revenue settlement must be made with the proprietor. The
+author's rule of agricultural succession by primogeniture in the
+Nerbudda territories has survived only in certain districts (see
+_post_, Chapter 47). The land-revenue law and the law concerning the
+relations between landlords and tenants have now been more or less
+successfully codified in each province. Mr. B. H. Baden-Powell's
+encyclopaedic work _The Land Systems of British India_ (3 volumes:
+Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1892) gives very full information concerning
+Indian tenures as now existing, and the law applicable to them at the
+date of publication.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 11
+
+
+Witchcraft.
+
+On leaving Jabera,[1] I saw an old acquaintance from the eastern part
+of the Jubbulpore district, Kehri Singh.
+
+'I understand, Kehri Singh', said I, 'that certain men among the
+Gonds of the jungle, towards the source of the Nerbudda, eat human
+flesh. Is it so?'
+
+'No, sir; the men never eat people, but the Gond women do.'
+
+'Where?'
+
+'Everywhere, sir; there is not a parish, nay, a village, among the
+Gonds, in which you will not find one or more such women.'
+
+'And how do they eat people?'
+
+'They eat their livers, sir.'
+
+'Oh, I understand; you mean witches?'
+
+'Of course! Who ever heard of other people eating human beings?'
+
+'And you really still think, in spite of all that we have done and
+said, that there are such things as witches?'
+
+'Of course we do--do not we find instances of it every day? European
+gentlemen are too apt to believe that things like this are not to be
+found here, because they are not to be found in their own country.
+Major Wardlow, when in charge of the Seoni district, denied the
+existence of witchcraft for a long time, but he was at last
+convinced.'
+
+'How?'
+
+'One of his troopers, one morning after a long march, took some milk
+for his master's breakfast from an old woman without paying for it.
+Before the major had got over his breakfast the poor trooper was down
+upon his back, screaming from the agony of internal pains. We all
+knew immediately that he had been bewitched, and recommended the
+major to send for some one learned in these matters to find out the
+witch. He did so, and, after hearing from the trooper the story about
+the milk, this person at once declared that the woman from whom he
+got it was the criminal. She was searched for, found, and brought to
+the trooper, and commanded to cure him. She flatly denied that she
+had herself conjured him; but admitted that her household gods might,
+unknown to her, have punished him for his wickedness. This, however,
+would not do. She was commanded to cure the man, and she set about
+collecting materials for the "puja" (worship); and before she could
+get quite through the ceremonies, all his pains had left him. Had we
+not been resolute with her, the man must have died before evening, so
+violent were his torments.'
+
+'Did not a similar case occur to Mr. Fraser at Jubbulpore?'
+
+'A "chaprasi"[2] of his, while he had charge of the Jubbulpore
+district, was sent out to Mandla[3] with a message of some kind or
+other. He took a cock from an old Gond woman without paying for it,
+and, being hungry after a long journey, ate the whole of it in a
+curry. He heard the woman mutter something, but being a raw,
+unsuspecting young man, he thought nothing of it, ate his cock, and
+went to sleep. He had not been asleep three hours before he was
+seized with internal pains, and the old cock was actually heard
+crowing in his belly. He made the best of his way back to Jubbulpore,
+several stages, and all the most skilful men were employed to charm
+away the effect of the old woman's spell, but in vain. He died, and
+the cock never ceased crowing at intervals up to the hour of his
+death.'
+
+'And was Mr. Fraser convinced?'
+
+'I never heard, but suppose he must have been.'
+
+'Who ate the livers of the victims? The witches themselves, or the
+evil spirits with whom they had dealings?'
+
+'The evil spirits ate the livers; but they are set on to do so by the
+witches, who get them into their power by such accursed sacrifices
+and offerings. They will often dig up young children from their
+graves, bring them to life, and allow these devils to feed upon their
+livers, as falconers allow their hawks to feed on the breasts of
+pigeons. You "sahib log" (European gentlemen) will not believe all
+this, but it is, nevertheless, all very true.'[4]
+
+The belief in sorcery among these people owes its origin, in a great
+measure, to the diseases of the liver and spleen to which the
+natives, and particularly the children, are much subject in the
+jungly parts of Central India. From these affections children pine
+away and die, without showing any external marks of disease. Their
+death is attributed to witchcraft, and any querulous old woman, who
+has been in the habit of murmuring at slights and ill treatment in
+the neighbourhood, is immediately set down as the cause. Men who
+practise medicine among them are very commonly supposed to be at the
+same time wizards. Seeking to inspire confidence in their
+prescriptions by repeating prayers and incantations over the patient,
+or over the medicine they give him, they make him believe that they
+derive aid from supernatural power; and the patient concludes that
+those who can command these powers to cure can, if they will, command
+them to destroy. He and his friends believe that the man who can
+command these powers to cure one individual can command them to cure
+any other; and, if he does not do so, they believe that it arises
+from a desire to destroy the patient. I have, in these territories,
+known a great many instances of medical practitioners having been put
+to death for not curing young people for whom they were required to
+prescribe. Several cases have come before me as a magistrate in which
+the father has stood over the doctor with a drawn sword by the side
+of the bed of his child, and cut him down and killed him the moment
+the child died, as he had sworn to do when he found the patient
+sinking under his prescriptions.[5]
+
+The town of Jubbulpore contains a population of twenty thousand
+souls,[6] and they all believed in this story of the cock. I one day
+asked a most respectable merchant in the town, Nadu Chaudhri, how the
+people could believe in such things, when he replied that he had no
+doubt witches were to be found in every part of India, though they
+abounded most, no doubt, in the central parts of it, and that we
+ought to consider ourselves very fortunate in having no such things
+in England. 'But', added he, 'of all countries that between Mandla
+and Katak (Cuttack)[7] is the worst for witches. I had once occasion
+to go to the city of Ratanpur[8] on business, and was one day, about
+noon, walking in the market-place and eating a very fine piece of
+sugar-cane. In the crowd I happened, by accident, to jostle an old
+woman as she passed me. I looked back, intending to apologize for the
+accident, and heard her muttering indistinctly as she passed on.
+Knowing the propensities of these old ladies, I became somewhat
+uneasy, and on turning round to my cane I found, to my great terror,
+that the juice had been all _turned to blood_. Not a minute had
+elapsed, such were the fearful powers of this old woman. I collected
+my followers, and, leaving my agents there to settle my accounts, was
+beyond the boundaries of the old wretch's influence before dark; had
+I remained, nothing could have saved me. I should certainly have been
+a dead man before morning. It is well known', said the old gentleman,
+'that their spells and curses can only reach a certain distance, ten
+or twelve miles; and, if you offend one of them, the sooner you place
+that distance between you the better.'
+
+Jangbar Khan, the representative of the Shahgarh Raja,[9] as grave
+and reverend an old gentleman as ever sat in the senate of Venice,
+told me one day that he was himself an eye-witness of the powers of
+the women of Khilauti. He was with a great concourse of people at a
+fair held at the town of Raipur,[10] and, while sauntering with many
+other strangers in the fair, one of them began bargaining with two
+women of middle age for some very fine sugar-canes. They asked double
+the fair price for their canes. The man got angry, and took up one of
+them, when the women seized the other end, and a struggle ensued. The
+purchaser offered a fair price, seller demanded double. The crowd
+looked on, and a good deal of abuse of the female relations on both
+sides took place. At last a sepoy of the governor came up, armed to
+the teeth, and called out to the man, in a very imperious tone, to
+let go his hold of the cane. He refused, saying that 'when people
+came to the fair to sell, they should be made to sell at reasonable
+prices, or be turned out'. 'I', said Jangbar Khan, 'thought the man
+right, and told the sepoy that, if he took the part of this woman, we
+should take that of the other, and see fair play. Without further
+ceremony the functionary drew his sword, and cut the cane in two in
+the middle; and, pointing to both pieces, 'There', said he, 'you see
+the cause of my interference'. We looked down, and actually saw blood
+running from both pieces, and forming a little pool on the ground.
+The fact was that the woman was a sorceress of the very worst kind,
+and was actually drawing the blood from the man through the cane, to
+feed the abominable devil from whom she derived her detestable
+powers. But for the timely interference of the sepoy he would have
+been dead in another minute; for he no sooner saw the real state of
+the case than he fainted. He had hardly any blood left in him, and I
+was afterwards told that he was not able to walk for ten days. We all
+went to the governor to demand justice, declaring that, unless the
+women were made an example of at once, the fair would be deserted,
+for no stranger's life would be safe. He consented, and they were
+both sewn up in sacks and thrown into the river; but they had
+conjured the water and would not sink. They ought to have been put to
+death, but the governor was himself afraid of this kind of people,
+and let them off. There is not', continued Jangbar, 'a village, or a
+single family, without its witch in that part of the country; indeed,
+no man will give his daughter in marriage to a family without one,
+saying, "If my daughter has children, what will become of them
+without a witch to protect them from the witches of other families in
+the neighbourhood?" It is a fearful country, though the cheapest and
+most fertile in India.'
+
+We can easily understand how a man, impressed with the idea that his
+blood had all been drawn from him by a sorceress, should become
+faint, and remain many days in a languid state; but how the people
+around should believe that they saw the blood flowing from both parts
+of the cane at the place cut through, it is not so easy to conceive.
+
+I am satisfied that old Jangbar believed the whole story to be true,
+and that at the time he thought the juice of the cane red; but the
+little pool of blood grew, no doubt, by degrees, as years rolled on
+and he related this tale of the fearful powers of the Khilauti
+witches.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. _Ante_, Chapter 9.
+
+2. An orderly, or official messenger, who wears a 'chapras', or badge
+of office.
+
+3. On the Nerbudda, fifty miles south-east of Jubbulpore.
+
+4. Of the supposed powers and dispositions of witches among the
+Romans we have horrible pictures in the 5th Ode of the 6th Book of
+Horace, and in the 6th Book of Lucan's _Pharsalia_. [W. H. S.] The
+reference to Horace should be to the 5th Epode. The passage in the
+_Pharsalia_, Book VI, lines 420-830, describes the proceedings of
+Thessalian witches.
+
+5. Such awkward incidents of medical practice are not heard of
+nowadays.
+
+6. The population of Jabalpur (including cantonments) has increased
+steadily, and in 1911 was 100,651, as compared with 84,556 in 1891,
+and 76,023 in 1881.
+
+7. Katak, or Cuttack, a district, with town of same name, in Orissa.
+
+8. In the Bilaspur district of the Central Provinces. The distance in
+a direct line between Mandla and Katak is about 400 miles.
+
+9. Shahgarh was formerly a petty native state, with town of same
+name. The chief joined the rebels in 1857, with the result that his
+dominions were confiscated, and distributed between the districts of
+Sagar and Damoh in the Central Provinces, and Jhansi (formerly
+Lalitpur) in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The town of
+Shahgarh is in the Sagar district.
+
+10. Raipur is the chief town of the district of the same name in the
+Central Provinces, which was not finally annexed to the British
+dominions until 1854, when the Nagpur State lapsed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 12
+
+
+The Silver Tree, or 'Kalpa Briksha'--The Singhara or _Trapa
+bispinosa_, and the Guinea-Worm.
+
+Poor old Salamat Ali wept bitterly at the last meeting in my tent,
+and his two nice boys, without exactly knowing why, began to do the
+same; and my little son Henry[1] caught the infection, and wept
+louder than any of them. I was obliged to hurry over the interview
+lest I should feel disposed to do the same. The poor old Rani,[2]
+too, suffered a good deal in parting from my wife, whom, she says,
+she can never hope to see again. Her fine large eyes shed many a tear
+as she was getting into her palankeen to return.
+
+Between Jabera and Hardua, the next stage, we find a great many of
+those large forest trees called 'kalap', or 'Kalpa Briksha' (the same
+which in the paradise of Indra grants what is desired), with a soft,
+silvery bark, and scarcely any leaves. We are told that the name of
+the god Ram (Rama) and his consort Sita will be found written by the
+hand of God upon all.[3]
+
+I had the curiosity to examine a good many in the forest on both
+sides of the road, and found the name of this incarnation of Vishnu
+written on everyone in Sanskrit characters, apparently by some
+supernatural hand; that is, there was a softness in the impression,
+as if the finger of some supernatural being had traced the
+characters. Nathu, one of our belted attendants[4] told me that we
+might search as deeply as we would in the forest, but we should
+certainly find the name of God upon every one; 'for', said he, 'it is
+God himself who writes it'. I tried to argue him out of this notion;
+but, unfortunately, could find no tree without these characters--some
+high up, and some lower down in the trunk--some large and others
+small--but still to be found on every tree. I was almost in despair
+when we came to a part of the wood where we found one of these trees
+down in a hollow, under the road, and another upon the precipice
+above. I was ready to stake my credit upon the probability that no
+traveller would take the trouble to go up to the tree above, or down
+to the tree below, merely to write the name of the god upon them; and
+at once pledged myself to Nathu that he should find neither the god's
+name nor that of his wife. I sent one man up, and another man down,
+and they found no letters on the trees; but this did not alter their
+opinion on the point. 'God', said one, 'had no doubt put his name on
+these trees, but they had somehow or other got rubbed off. He would
+in good time renew them, that men's eyes might be blessed with the
+sight of His holy name, even in the deepest forest, and on the most
+leafless tree.'[5] 'But', said Nathu, 'he might not have thought it
+worth while to write his name upon those trees which no travellers go
+to see.' 'Cannot you see', said I, 'that these letters have been
+engraved by man? Are they not all to be found on the trunk within
+reach of a man's hand?' 'Of course they are', replied he, 'because
+people would not be able conveniently to distinguish them if God were
+to write them higher up.'
+
+Shaikh Sadi has a very pretty couplet, 'Every leaf of the foliage of
+a green tree is, in the eye of a wise man, a library to teach him the
+wisdom of his Creator.'[6] I may remark that, where an Englishman
+would write his own name, a Hindoo would write that of his god, his
+parent, or his benefactor. This difference is traceable, of course,
+to the difference in their governments and institutions. If a Hindoo
+built a town, he called it after his local governor; if a local
+governor built it, he called it after the favourite son of the
+Emperor. In well regulated Hindoo families, one cannot ask a younger
+brother after his children in presence of the elder brother who
+happens to be the head of the family; it would be disrespectful for
+him even to speak of his children as his own in such presence--the
+elder brother relieves his embarrassment by answering for him.
+
+On the 27th[7] we reached Damoh,[8] where our friends, the Browns,
+were to leave us on their return to Jubbulpore. Damoh is a pretty
+place. The town contains some five or six thousand people, and has
+some very handsome Hindoo temples. On a hill immediately above it is
+the shrine of a Muhammadan saint, which has a very picturesque
+appearance.
+
+
+There are no manufactures at Damoh, except such as supply the wants
+of the immediate neighbourhood; and the town is supported by the
+residence of a few merchants, a few landholders, and agricultural
+capitalists, and the establishment of a native collector. The people
+here suffer much from the guinea-worm, and consider it to arise from
+drinking the water of the old tank, which is now very dirty and full
+of weeds. I have no doubt that it is occasioned either by drinking
+the water of this tank, or by wading in it: for I have known European
+gentlemen get the worm in their legs from wading in similar lakes or
+swamps after snipes, and the servants who followed them with their
+ammunition experience the same effect.[9] Here, as in most other
+parts of India, the tanks get spoiled by the water-chestnut,
+'singhara' (_Trapa bispinosa_), which is everywhere as regularly
+planted and cultivated _in fields_ under a large surface of water, as
+wheat or barley is on the dry plains. It is cultivated by a class of
+men called Dhimars, who are everywhere fishermen and palankeen
+bearers; and they keep boats for the planting, weeding, and gathering
+the 'singhara'.[10] The holdings or tenements of each cultivator are
+marked out carefully on the surface of the water by long bamboos
+stuck up in it; and they pay so much the acre for the portion they
+till. The long straws of the plants reach up to the surface of the
+waters, upon which float their green leaves; and their pure white
+flowers expand beautifully among them in the latter part of the
+afternoon. The nut grows under the water after the flowers decay, and
+is of a triangular shape, and covered with a tough brown integument
+adhering strongly to the kernel, which is white, esculent, and of a
+fine cartilaginous texture. The people are very fond of these nuts,
+and they are carried often upon bullocks' backs two or three hundred
+miles to market. They ripen in the latter end of the rains, or in
+September, and are eatable till the end of November. The rent paid
+for an ordinary tank by the cultivator is about one hundred rupees a
+year. I have known two hundred rupees to be paid for a very large
+one, and even three hundred, or thirty pounds a year.[11] But the mud
+increases so rapidly from this cultivation that it soon destroys all
+reservoirs in which it is permitted; and, where it is thought
+desirable to keep up the tank for the sake of the water, it should be
+carefully prohibited. This is done by stipulating with the renter of
+the village, at the renewal of the lease, that no 'singhara' shall be
+planted in the tank; otherwise, he will never forgo the advantage to
+himself of the rent for the sake of the convenience, and that only
+prospective, of the village community in general.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Afterwards Captain H. A. Sleeman, He died in 1905.
+
+2. Of Garha, see _ante_, Chapter 9, prior to note 10.
+
+3. The real 'kalpa', which now stands in the garden of the god Indra
+in the first heaven, was one of the fourteen varieties found at the
+churning of the ocean by the gods and demons. It fell to the share of
+Indra. [W. H. S.] The tree referred to in the text perhaps may be the
+_Erythrina arborescens_, or coral-tree, which sheds its leaves after
+the hot weather.
+
+4. That is to say, orderlies, or 'chaprasis'.
+
+5. Every Hindoo is thoroughly convinced that the names of Ram and his
+consort Sita are written on this tree by the hand of God, and nine-
+tenths of the Musalmans believe the same.
+
+ Happy the man who sees a God employed
+ In all the good and ill that chequer life,
+ Resolving all events, with their effects
+ And manifold results, into the will
+ And arbitration wise of the Supreme.
+
+ COWPER. [W. H. S.]
+
+The quotation is from _The Task_, Book II, line 161.
+
+6. Sadi (Sa'di) is the poetic name, or _nom de plume_, of the
+celebrated Persian poet, whose proper name is said to have been
+Shaikh Maslah-ud-din, or, according to other authorities, Sharf-ud-
+din Mislah. He was born about A.D. 1194, and is supposed to have
+lived for more than a hundred years. Some writers say that he died in
+A.D. 1292. His best known works are the _Gulistan_ and _Bustan_. The
+editor has failed to trace in either of these works the couplet
+quoted. Sadi says in the _Gulistan_, ii. 26, 'That heart which has an
+ear is full of the divine mystery. It is not the nightingale that
+alone serenades his rose; for every thorn on the rose-bush is a
+tongue in his or God's praise' (Ross's translation).
+
+7. November, 1835.
+
+8. Spelled Dhamow in the author's text. The town, the head-quarters
+of the district of the same name, is forty-five miles east of Sagar,
+and fifty-five miles north-west of Jabalpur. The _C. P. Gazetteer_
+(1870) states the population to be 8,563. In 1901 it had grown to
+13,335; and the town is still increasing in importance (_I. G._,
+1908). Inscriptions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries at
+Damoh are noticed in _A. S. R._, vol. xxi, p. 168.
+
+9. The guinea-worm (_Filaria medinensis_) is a very troublesome
+parasite, which sometimes grows to a length of three feet. It occurs
+in Africa, Arabia, Persia, and Turkistan, as well as in India.
+
+10. The Dhimars (Sanskrit _dhivara_, 'fisherman') are the same caste
+as the Kahars, or 'bearers'. The boats used by them are commonly
+'dugout' canoes, exactly like those used in prehistoric Europe, and
+now treasured in museums.
+
+11. In the author's time the rupee was worth two shillings, or more,
+that is to say, the ninth or tenth part of a sovereign. After 1873
+the gold value of the rupee fell, so that at times it was worth
+little more than a shilling. Since 1899 special legislation has
+succeeded in keeping the rupee practically steady at 1s. 4d. In other
+words, fifteen rupees are the legal equivalent of a sovereign, and a
+hundred rupees are worth 6 pounds 13s. 4d.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 13
+
+
+Thugs and Poisoners.
+
+Lieutenant Brown had come on to Damoh chiefly with a view to
+investigate a case of murder, which had taken place at the village of
+Sujaina, about ten miles from Damoh, on the road to Hatta.[1] A gang
+of two hundred Thugs were encamped in the grove at Hindoria in the
+cold season of 1814, when, early in the morning, seven men well armed
+with swords and matchlocks passed them, bearing treasure from the
+bank of Moti Kochia at Jubbulpore to their correspondents at
+Banda,[2] to the value of four thousand five hundred rupees.[3] The
+value of their burden was immediately perceived by these _keen-eyed_
+sportsmen, and Kosari, Drigpal, and Faringia, three of the leaders,
+with forty of their fleetest and stoutest followers, were immediately
+selected for the pursuit. They followed seven miles unperceived; and,
+coming up with the treasure-bearers in a watercourse half a mile from
+the village of Sujaina, they rushed in upon them and put them all to
+death with their swords.[4] While they were doing so a tanner from
+Sujaina approached with his buffalo, and to prevent him giving the
+alarm they put him to death also, and made off with the treasure,
+leaving the bodies unburied. A heavy shower of rain fell, and none of
+the village people came to the place till the next morning early;
+when some females, passing it on their way to Hatta, saw the bodies,
+and returning to Sujaina, reported the circumstance to their friends.
+The whole village thereupon flocked to the spot, and the body of the
+tanner was burned by his relations with the usual ceremonies, while
+all the rest were left to be eaten by jackals, dogs and vultures, who
+make short work of such things in India.[5]
+
+We had occasion to examine a very respectable old gentleman at Damoh
+upon the case, Gobind Das, a revenue officer under the former
+Government,[6] and now about seventy years of age. He told us that he
+had no knowledge whatever of the murder of the eight men at Sujaina;
+but he well remembered another which took place seven years before
+the time we mentioned at Abhana, a stage or two back, on the road to
+Jubbulpore. Seventeen treasure-bearers lodged in the grove near that
+town on their way from Jubbulpore to Sagar. At night they were set
+upon by a large gang of Thugs, and sixteen of them strangled; but the
+seventeenth laid hold of the noose before it could be brought to bear
+upon his throat, pulled down the villain who held it, and made his
+way good to the town. The Raja, Dharak Singh, went to the spot with
+all the followers he could collect; but he found there nothing but
+the sixteen naked bodies lying in the grove, with their eyes
+apparently starting out of their sockets. The Thugs had all gone off
+with the treasure and their clothes, and the Raja searched for them
+in vain.
+
+A native commissioned officer of a regiment of native infantry one
+day told me that, while he was on duty over some Thugs at Lucknow,
+one of them related with great seeming pleasure the following case,
+which seemed to him one of the most remarkable that he had heard them
+speak of during the time they were under his charge.
+
+'A stout Mogul[7] officer of noble bearing and singularly handsome
+countenance, on his way from the Punjab to Oudh, crossed the Ganges
+at Garhmuktesar Ghat, near Meerut, to pass through Muradabad and
+Bareilly.[8] He was mounted on a fine Turki horse, and attended by
+his "khidmatgar" (butler) and groom. Soon after crossing the river,
+he fell in with a small party of well-dressed and modest-looking men
+going the same road. They accosted him in a respectful manner, and
+attempted to enter into conversation with him. He had heard of Thugs,
+and told them to be off. They smiled at his idle suspicions, and
+tried to remove them, but in vain. The Mogul was determined; they saw
+his nostrils swelling with indignation, took their leave, and
+followed slowly. The next morning he overtook the same number of men,
+but of a different appearance, all Musalmans. They accosted him in
+the same respectful manner; talked of the danger of the road, and the
+necessity of their keeping together, and taking advantage of the
+protection of any mounted gentleman that happened to be going the
+same way. The Mogul officer said not a word in reply, resolved to
+have no companions on the road. They persisted--his nostrils began
+again to swell, and putting his hand to his sword, he bid them all be
+off, or he would have their heads from their shoulders. He had a bow
+and quiver full of arrows over his shoulders,[9] a brace of loaded
+pistols in his waist-belt, and a sword by his side, and was
+altogether a very formidable-looking cavalier. In the evening another
+party that lodged in the same "sarai"[10] became very intimate with
+the butler and groom. They were going the same road; and, as the
+Mogul overtook them in the morning, they made their bows
+respectfully, and began to enter into conversation with their two
+friends, the groom and butler, who were coming up behind. The Mogul's
+nostrils began again to swell, and he bid the strangers be off. The
+groom and butler interceded, for their master was a grave, sedate
+man, and they wanted companions. All would not do, and the strangers
+fell in the rear. The next day, when they had got to the middle of an
+extensive and uninhabited plain, the Mogul in advance, and his two
+servants a few hundred yards behind, he came up to a party of six
+poor Musalmans, sitting weeping by the side of a dead companion. They
+were soldiers from Lahore,[11] on their way to Lucknow, worn down by
+fatigue in their anxiety to see their wives and children once more,
+after a long and painful service. Their companion, the hope and prop
+of his family, had sunk under the fatigue, and they had made a grave
+for him; but they were poor unlettered men, and unable to repeat the
+funeral service from the holy Koran-would his Highness but perform
+this last office for them, he would, no doubt, find his reward in
+this world and the next. The Mogul dismounted--the body had been
+placed in its proper position, with its head towards Mecca. A carpet
+was spread--the Mogul took off his bow and quiver, then his pistols
+and sword, and placed them on the ground near the body--called for
+water, and washed his feet, hands, and face, that he might not
+pronounce the holy words in an unclean state. He then knelt down and
+began to repeat the funeral service, in a clear, loud voice. Two of
+the poor soldiers knelt by him, one on each side in silence. The
+other four went off a few paces to beg that the butler and groom
+would not come so near as to interrupt the good Samaritan at his
+devotions.
+
+'All being ready, one of the four, in a low undertone, gave the
+"jhirni" (signal),[12] the handkerchiefs were thrown over their
+necks, and in a few minutes all three--the Mogul and his servants--
+were dead, and lying in the grave in the usual manner, the head of
+one at the feet of the one below him. All the parties they had met on
+the road belonged to a gang of Jamaldehi Thugs, of the kingdom of
+Oudh.[13] In despair of being able to win the Mogul's confidence in
+the usual way, and determined to have the money and jewels, which
+they knew he carried with him, they had adopted this plan of
+disarming him; dug the grave by the side of the road, in the open
+plain, and made a handsome young Musalman of the party the dead
+soldier. The Mogul, being a very stout man, died almost without a
+struggle, as is usually the case with such; and his two servants made
+no resistance.'
+
+People of great sensibility, with hearts overcharged with sorrow,
+often appear cold and callous to those who seem to them to feel no
+interest in their afflictions. An instance of this kind I will here
+mention; it is one of thousands that I have met with in my Indian
+rambles. It was mentioned to me one day that an old 'fakir',[14] who
+lived in a small hut close by a little shrine on the side of the road
+near the town of Moradabad, had lately lost his son, poisoned by a
+party of 'daturias', or professional poisoners,[15] that now infest
+every road throughout India. I sent for him, and requested him to
+tell me his story, as I might perhaps be able to trace the murderers.
+He did so, and a Persian writer took it down while I listened with
+all the coldness of a magistrate who wanted merely to learn facts and
+have nothing whatever to do with feelings. This is his story
+literally:
+
+'I reside in my hut by the side of the road a mile and [a] half from
+the town, and live upon the bounty of travellers, and the people of
+the surrounding villages. About six weeks ago, I was sitting by the
+side of my shrine after saying prayers, with my only son, about ten
+years of age, when a man came up with his wife, his son, and his
+daughter, the one a little older, and the other a little younger than
+my boy. They baked and ate their bread near my shrine, and gave me
+flour enough to make two cakes. This I prepared and baked. My boy was
+hungry, and ate one cake and a half. I ate only half a one, for I was
+not hungry. I had a few days before purchased a new blanket for my
+boy, and it was hanging in a branch of the tree that shaded the
+shrine, when these people came. My son and I soon became stupefied. I
+saw him fall asleep, and I soon followed. I awoke again in the
+evening, and found myself in a pool of water. I had sense enough to
+crawl towards my boy. I found him still breathing, and I sat by him
+with his head in my lap, where he soon died. It was now evening, and
+I got up, and wandered about all night picking straws--I know not
+why. I was not yet quite sensible. During the night the wolves ate my
+poor boy. I heard this from travellers, and went and gathered up his
+bones and buried them in the shrine. I did not quite recover till the
+third day, when I found that some washerwomen had put me into the
+pool, and left me there with my head out, in hopes that this would
+revive me; but they had no hope of my son. I was then taken to the
+police of the town; but the landholders had begged me to say nothing
+about the poisoners, lest it might get them and their village
+community into trouble. The man was tall and fair, and about thirty-
+five; the woman short, stout, and fair, and about thirty; two of her
+teeth projected a good deal; the boy's eyelids were much diseased.'
+
+All this he told me without the slightest appearance of emotion, for
+he had not seen any appearance of it in me, or my Persian writer; and
+a casual European observer would perhaps have exclaimed, 'What brutes
+these natives are! This fellow feels no more for the loss of his only
+son than he would for that of a goat'. But I knew the feeling was
+there. The Persian writer put up his paper, and closed his inkstand,
+and the following dialogue, word for word, took place between me and
+the old man:
+
+_Question_.--What made you conceal the real cause of your boy's
+death, and tell the police that he had been killed, as well as eaten,
+by wolves?
+
+_Answer_.--The landholders told me that they could never bring back
+my boy to life, and the whole village would be worried to death by
+them if I made any mention of the poison.
+
+_Question_.--And if they were to be punished for this they would
+annoy you?
+
+_Answer_.--Certainly. But I believed they advised me for my own good
+as well as their own.
+
+_Question_.--And if they should turn you away from that place, could
+you not make another?
+
+_Answer_.-Are not the bones of my poor boy there, and the trees that
+he and I planted and watched together for ten years?
+
+_Question_.-Have you no other relations? What became of your boy's
+mother?
+
+_Answer_.-She died at that place when my boy was only three months
+old. I have brought him up myself from that age; he was my only
+child, and he has been poisoned for the sake of the blanket! (Here
+the poor old man sobbed as if his heartstrings would break; and I was
+obliged to make him sit down on the floor while I walked up and down
+the room.)
+
+_Question_.--Had you any children before?
+
+_Answer_.--Yes, sir, we had several, but they all died before their
+mother. We had been reduced to beggary by misfortunes, and I had
+become too weak and ill to work. I buried my poor wife's bones by the
+side of the road where she died; raised the little shrine over them,
+planted the trees, and there have I sat ever since by her side, with
+our poor boy in my bosom. It is a sad place for wolves, and we used
+often to hear them howling outside; but my poor boy was never afraid
+of them when he knew I was near him. God preserved him to me, till
+the sight of the new blanket, for I had nothing else in the world,
+made these people poison us. I bought it for him only a few days
+before, when the rains were coming on, out of my savings-it was all I
+had. (The poor old man sobbed again, and sat down while I paced the
+room, lest I should sob also; my heart was becoming a little too
+large for its apartment.) 'I will never', continued he, 'quit the
+bones of my wife and child, and the tree that he and I watered for so
+many years. I have not many years to live; there I will spend them,
+whatever the landholders may do--they advised me for my own good, and
+will never turn me out.'
+
+I found all the poor man stated to be true; the man and his wife had
+mixed poison with the flour to destroy the poor old man and his son
+for the sake of the new blanket which they saw hanging in the branch
+of the tree, and carried away with them. The poison used on such
+occasions is commonly the datura, and it is sometimes given in the
+hookah to be smoked, and at others in food. When they require to
+poison children as well as grown-up people, or women who do not
+smoke, they mix up the poison in food. The intention is almost always
+to destroy life, as 'dead men tell no tales'; but the poisoned people
+sometimes recover, as in the present case, and lead to the detection
+of the poisoners. The cases in which they recover are, however, rare,
+and of those who recover few are ever able to trace the poisoners;
+and, of those who recover and trace them, very few will ever
+undertake to prosecute them through the several courts of the
+magistrate, the sessions, and that of last instance in a distant
+district, to which the proceedings must be sent for final orders.
+
+The impunity with which this crime is everywhere perpetrated, and its
+consequent increase in every part of India, are among the greatest
+evils with which the country is at this time affected. These
+poisoners are spread all over India, and are as numerous over the
+Bombay and Madras Presidencies as over that of Bengal. There is no
+road free from them, and throughout India there must be many hundreds
+who gain their subsistence by this trade alone. They put on all
+manner of disguises to suit their purpose; and, as they prey chiefly
+upon the poorer sort of travellers, they require to destroy the
+greater number of lives to make up their incomes. A party of two or
+three poisoners have very often succeeded in destroying another of
+eight or ten travellers with whom they have journeyed for some days,
+by pretending to give them a feast on the celebration of the
+anniversary of some family event. Sometimes an old woman or man will
+manage the thing alone, by gaining the confidence of travellers, and
+getting near the cooking-pots while they go aside; or when employed
+to bring the flour for the meal from the bazaar. The poison is put
+into the flour or the pot, as opportunity offers.
+
+People of all castes and callings take to this trade, some casually,
+others for life, and others derive it from their parents or teachers.
+They assume all manner of disguises to suit their purposes; and the
+habits of cooking, eating, and sleeping on the side of the road, and
+smoking with strangers of seemingly the same caste, greatly
+facilitate their designs upon travellers. The small parties are
+unconnected with each other, and two parties never unite in the same
+cruise. The members of one party may be sometimes convicted and
+punished, but their conviction is accidental, for the system which
+has enabled us to put down the Thug associations cannot be applied,
+with any fair prospect of success, to the suppression of these pests
+to society.[16]
+
+The Thugs went on their adventures in large gangs, and two or more
+were commonly united in the course of an expedition in the
+perpetration of many murders. Every man shared in the booty according
+to the rank he held in the gang, or the part he took in the murders;
+and the rank of every man and the part he took generally, or in any
+particular murder, were generally well known to all. From among these
+gangs, when arrested, we found the evidence we required for their
+conviction--or the means of tracing it--among the families and
+friends of their victims, or with persons to whom the property taken
+had been disposed of, and in the graves to which the victims had been
+consigned.
+
+To give an idea of the system by which the Government of India has
+been enabled to effect so great a good for the people as the
+suppression of these associations, I will suppose that two sporting
+gentlemen, A at Delhi, and B in Calcutta, had both described the
+killing of a tiger in an island in the Ganges, near Hardwar[17] and
+mentioned the names of the persons engaged with them. Among the
+persons thus named were C, who had since returned to America, D, who
+had retired to New South Wales, E to England, and F to Scotland.
+There were four other persons named who were still in India, but they
+are deeply interested in A and B's story not being believed. A says
+that B got the skin of the tiger, and B states that he gave it to C,
+who cut out two of the claws. Application is made to C, D, E, and F,
+and without the possibility of any collusion, or even communication
+between them, their statements correspond precisely with those of A
+and B, as to the time, place, circumstances, and persons engaged.
+Their statements are sworn to before magistrates in presence of
+witnesses, and duly attested. C states that he got the skin from B,
+and gave it to the Nawab of Rampur[18] for a hookah carpet, but that
+he took from the left forefoot two of the claws, and gave them to the
+minister of the King of Oudh for a charm for his sick child.
+
+ The Nawab of Rampur, being applied to, states that he received the
+skin from C, at the time and place mentioned, and that he still
+smokes his hookah upon it; and that it had lost the two claws upon
+the left forefoot. The minister of the King of Oudh states that he
+received the two claws nicely set in gold; that they had cured his
+boy, who still wore them round his neck to guard him from the evil
+eye. The goldsmith states that he set the two claws in gold for C,
+who paid him handsomely for his work. The peasantry, whose cattle
+graze on the island, declare that certain gentlemen did kill a tiger
+there about the time mentioned, and that they saw the body after the
+skin had been taken off, and the vultures had begun to descend upon
+it.
+
+To prove that what A and B had stated could not possibly be true, the
+other party appeal to some of their townsmen, who are said to be well
+acquainted with their characters. They state that they really know
+nothing about the matter in dispute; that their friends, who are
+opposed to A and B, are much liked by their townspeople and
+neighbours, as they have plenty of money, which they spend freely,
+but that they are certainly very much addicted to field-sports, and
+generally absent in pursuit of wild beasts for three or four months
+every year; but whether they were or were not present at the killing
+of the great Garhmuktesar tiger, they could not say.
+
+Most persons would, after examining this evidence, be tolerably well
+satisfied that the said tiger had really been killed at the time and
+place, and by the persons mentioned by A and B; but, to establish the
+fact judicially, it would be necessary to bring A, B, C, D, E, and F,
+the Nawab of Rampur, the minister of the King of Oudh, and the
+goldsmith to the criminal court at Meerut, to be confronted with the
+person whose interest it was that A and B should not be believed.
+They would all, perhaps, come to the said court from the different
+quarters of the world in which they had thought themselves snugly
+settled; but the thing would annoy them so much, and be so much
+talked of, that sporting gentlemen, nawabs, ministers, and goldsmiths
+would in future take good care to have 'forgotten' everything
+connected with the matter in dispute, should another similar
+reference be made to them, and so A and B would never again have any
+chance.
+
+Thug approvers, whose evidence we required, were employed in all
+parts of India, under the officers appointed to put down these
+associations; and it was difficult to bring all whose evidence was
+necessary at the trials to the court of the district in which the
+particular murder was perpetrated. The victims were, for the most
+part, money-carriers, whose masters and families resided hundreds of
+miles from the place where they were murdered, or people on their way
+to their distant homes from foreign service. There was no chance of
+recovering any of the property taken from the victims, as Thugs were
+known to spend what they got freely, and never to have money by them;
+and the friends of the victims, and the bankers whose money they
+carried, were everywhere found exceedingly averse to take share in
+the prosecution.
+
+To obviate all these difficulties separate courts were formed, with
+permission to receive whatever evidence they might think likely to
+prove valuable, attaching to each portion, whether documentary or
+oral, whatever weight it might seem to deserve. Such courts were
+formed at Hyderabad, Mysore, Indore, Lucknow, Gwalior, and were
+presided over by our highest diplomatic functionaries, in concurrence
+with the princes at whose courts they were accredited; and who at
+Jubbulpore, were under the direction of the representative of the
+Governor-General of India.[l9] By this means we had a most valuable
+species of unpaid agency; and I believe there is no part of their
+public life on which these high functionaries look back with more
+pride than that spent in presiding over such courts, and assisting
+the supreme Government in relieving the people of India from this
+fearful evil.[20]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. A town on the Allahabad and Sagar road, sixty-one miles north-east
+of Sagar. It was the head-quarters of the Damoh district from 1818 to
+1835.
+
+2. The chief town of the district of the same name in Bundelkhand,
+situated on the Ken river, ninety-five miles south-west from
+Allahabad.
+
+3. Worth at that time 450 pounds sterling, or a little more.
+
+4. An unusual mode of procedure for professed Thugs to adopt, who
+usually strangled their victims with a cloth. Faringia (Feringheea)
+Brahman was one of the most noted Thug leaders. He is frequently
+mentioned in the author's _Report on the Depredations committed by
+the Thug Gangs_ (1840), and the story of the Sujaina crime is fully
+told in the Introduction to that volume. Faringia became a valuable
+approver.
+
+5. Lieutenant Brown was suddenly called back to Jubbulpore, and could
+not himself go to Sujaina. He sent, however, an intelligent native
+officer to the place, but no man could be induced to acknowledge that
+he had ever seen the bodies or heard of the affair, though Faringia
+pointed out to them exactly where they all lay. They said it must be
+quite a mistake--that such a thing could not have taken place and
+they know nothing of it. Lieutenant Brown was aware that all this
+affected ignorance arose entirely from the dread these people have of
+being summoned to give evidence to any of our district courts of
+justice; and wrote to the officer in the civil charge of the district
+to request that he would assure them that their presence would not be
+required. Mr. Doolan, the assistant magistrate, happened to be going
+through Sujaina from Sagar on deputation at the time; and, sending
+for all the respectable old men of the place, he requested that they
+would be under no apprehension, but tell him the real truth, as he
+would pledge himself that not one of them should ever be summoned to
+any district court to give evidence. They then took him to the spot
+and pointed out to him where the bodies had been found, and mentioned
+that the body of the tanner had been burned by his friends. The
+banker, whose treasure they had been carrying, had an equal dislike
+to be summoned to court to give evidence, now that he could no longer
+hope to recover any portion of his lost money; and it was not till
+after Lieutenant Brown had given him a similar assurance, that he
+would consent to have his books examined. The loss of the four
+thousand five hundred rupees was then found entered, with the names
+of the men who had been killed at Sujaina in carrying it. These are
+specimens of some of the minor difficulties we had to contend with in
+our efforts to put down the most dreadful of all crimes. All the
+prisoners accused of these murders had just been tried for others, or
+Lieutenant Brown would not have been able to give the pledge he did.
+[W. H. S.] Difficulties of the same kind beset the administration of
+criminal justice in India to this day.
+
+6. Of the Marathas. The district was ceded in 1818.
+
+7. More correctly written Mughal. The term is properly applied to
+Muhammadans of Turk (Mongol) descent. Such persons commonly affix the
+title Beg to their names, and often prefix the Persian title Mirza.
+
+8. Meerut, the well-known cantonment, in the district of the same
+name. The name is written Meeruth by the author, and may be also
+written Mirath. Ghat (ghaut) means a ferry, or crossing-place.
+Muradabad and Bareilly (Bareli) are in Rohilkhand. The latter has a
+considerable garrison. Both places are large cities, and the head-
+quarter of districts.
+
+9. The bow and quiver are now rarely seen, except, possibly, in
+remote parts of Rajputana. A body of archers helped to hold the Shah
+Najaf building at Lucknow against Sir Colin Campbell in 1858. Even in
+1903-4 some of the Tibetans who resisted the British advance were
+armed with bows and arrows.
+
+10. An inn of the Oriental pattern, often called caravanserai in
+books of travel.
+
+11. Then the capital of Ranjit Singh, the great Sikh chief.
+
+12. 'This is commonly given either by the leader of the gang or the
+_belha_, who has chosen the place for the murder.' It was usually
+some commonplace order, such as 'Bring the tobacco' (_Ramaseeana_,
+p.99, &c.). See also Meadows Taylor, _Confessions of a Thug_.
+
+13. The Jamaldehi Thugs resided 'in Oude and some other parts east of
+the Ganges. They are considered very clever and expert, and more
+stanch to their oath of secrecy than most other classes' (ibid. p.
+97). At the time referred to Oudh was a separate kingdom, which
+lasted as such until 1856. A map included in the printed Thuggee
+papers reveals the appalling fact that the Thugs had 274 fixed
+burying-places for their victims in the area of the small kingdom,
+about half the size of Ireland.
+
+14. Fakir (fakeer), a religious mendicant. The word properly applies
+to Muhammadans only, but is often laxly used to include Hindoo
+ascetics.
+
+15. So called because the poison they use is made of the seeds of the
+'datura' plant (_Datura alba_), and other species of the same genus.
+It is a powerful narcotic.
+
+16. The crime of poisoning travellers is still prevalent, and its
+detection is still attended by the difficulties described in the
+text. In some cases the criminals have been proved to belong to
+families of Thug stranglers. The poisoning of cattle by arsenic, for
+the sake of their hides, was very prevalent forty years ago,
+especially in the districts near Benares, but is now believed to be
+less practised. It was checked under the ordinary law by numerous
+convictions and severe sentences.
+
+17. In the Saharanpur district, where the Ganges issues from the
+hills.
+
+18. A small principality in Rohilkhand, between Muradabad and
+Bareilly (Bareli).
+
+19. The special laws on the subject, namely: Acts xxx of 1836, xviii
+of 1837, xix of 1837, xviii of 1839, xviii of 1843, xxiv of 1843, xiv
+of 1844, v of 1847, x of 1847, iii of 1848, and xi of 1848, are
+printed in pp. 353-7 of the author's _Report on Budhuk alias Bagree
+Decoits, &c._ (1849). See Bibliography, _ante._ No. 12.
+
+20. I may here mention the names of a few diplomatic officers of
+distinction who have aided in the good cause. _Of the Civil Service_-
+-Mr. F. C. Smith, Mr. Martin, Mr. George Stockwell, Mr. Charles
+Fraser, the Hon. Mr. Wellesley, the Hon. Mr. Shore, the Hon. Mr.
+Cavendish, Mr. George Clerk, Mr. L. Wilkinson, Mr, Bax; _Majors-
+General_--Cubbon and Fraser; _Colonels_--Low, Stewart, Alves, Spiers,
+Caulfield, Sutherland, and Wade; Major Wilkinson; and, among the
+foremost, Major Borthwick and Captain Paton. [W. H. S.]
+
+The author's characteristic modesty has prevented him from dwelling
+upon his own services, which were greater than those of any other
+officer. Some idea of them may be gathered from the collection of
+papers entitled _Ramaseeana_, the contents of which are enumerated in
+the Bibliography, _ante._ No. 2. Colonel Meadows Taylor has given a
+more popular account of the measures taken for the suppression of
+Thuggee (thagi) in his _Confessions of a Thug_, written in 1837 (1st
+ed. 1839). The Thug organization dated from ancient times, but
+attracted little notice from the East India Company's Government
+until the author, then Captain Sleeman, submitted his reports on the
+subject while employed in the Sagar and Nerbudda Territories, where
+he had been posted in 1820. He proved that the Thug crimes were
+committed by a numerous and highly organized fraternity operating in
+all parts of India. In consequence of his reports, Mr. F. C. Smith,
+Agent to the Governor-General in the Sagar and Nerbudda Territories,
+was invested, in the year 1829, with special powers, and the author,
+then Major Sleeman, was employed, in addition to his district duties,
+as Mr, Smith's coadjutor and assistant. In 1835 the author was
+relieved from district work, and appointed General Superintendent of
+the operations for the suppression of the Thug gangs. He went on
+leave to the hills in 1836, and on resuming duty in February, 1839,
+was appointed Commissioner for the suppression of Thuggee and
+Dacoity, which office he continued to hold in addition to his other
+appointments.
+
+Between 1826 and 1835, 1,562 prisoners were tried for the crime of
+Thuggee, of whom 1,404 were either hanged or transported for life.
+Some individuals are said to have confessed to over 200 murders, and
+one confessed to 719. The Thug approvers, whose lives were spared,
+were detained in a special prison at Jubbulpore, where the remnant of
+them, with their families, were kept under surveillance. They were
+employed in a tent and carpet factory, known as the School of
+Industry, founded in 1838 by the author and Captain Charles Brown. If
+released, they would certainly have resumed their hereditary
+occupation, which exercised an awful fascination over its votaries.
+Most of the Thug gangs had been broken up by 1860, but cases of
+Thuggee have occurred occasionally since that date. A gang of Kahars
+(palanquin bearers) committed a series of Thug murders in, I think,
+1877, at Etawa, in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The office
+of Superintendent of Thuggee and Dacoity was kept up until 1904, but
+the officer in charge was more concerned with Dacoity (that is to
+say, organized gang-robbery with violence) in the Native States than
+with the secret crime of Thuggee. Secret crime is now watched by the
+Central Criminal Intelligence Department under the direct control of
+the Government of India, and has to deal with novel forms of evil-
+doing. In India it is never safe to assume that any ancient practice
+has been suppressed, and I have little doubt that, if administrative
+pressure were relaxed, the old form of Thuggee would again be heard
+of. The occasional discovery of murdered beggars, who could not have
+been killed for the sake of their property, leads me to suppose that
+the Megpunnia variety of Thuggee, that is to say, murder of poor
+persons in order to kidnap and sell their children, is still
+sometimes practised.
+
+Among the officers named by the author the best known is Sir Mark
+Cubbon, who came to India in 1800, and died at Suez in 1861. During
+the interval he had never quitted India. He ruled over Mysore for
+nearly thirty years with almost despotic power, and reorganized the
+administration of that country with conspicuous success (Buckland,
+_Dict. of Indian Biography_, Sonnenschein, 1906).
+
+The Hon. Frederick John Shore, of the Bengal Civil Service,
+officiated in 1836 as Civil Commissioner and Political Agent of the
+Sagar and Nerbudda Territories. In 1837 he published his _Notes on
+Indian Affairs_ (London, 2 vols. 8vo), a series of articles dealing
+in the most outspoken way with the abuses and weaknesses of Anglo-
+Indian administration at that time.
+
+Mr. F. C. Smith was Agent to the Governor-General at Jubbulpore in
+1830 and subsequent years. The author was then immediately
+subordinate to him. Messrs. Martin and Wellesley were Residents at
+Holkar's court at Indore. Mr. Stockwell tried some of the Thug
+prisoners at Cawnpore and Allahabad as Special Commissioner, in
+addition to his ordinary duties: correspondence between him and the
+author is printed in _Ramaseeana_. Mr. Charles Fraser preceded the
+author in charge of the Sagar district, and in January, 1832, resumed
+charge of the revenue and civil duties of that district, leaving the
+criminal work to the author. The Hon. Mr. Cavendish was Resident at
+Sindhia's court at Gwalior. Mr. George Clerk became Sir George Clerk
+and Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, Governor of
+Bombay, and Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India; he died at
+a great age in 1889. Mr. Lancelot Wilkinson, Political Agent in
+Bhopal, was considered by the author to be 'one of the most able and
+estimable members of the India Civil Service' (_Journey_, ii. 403).
+Mr. Bax was Resident at Indore; Colonel (afterwards Sir John) Low,
+was Resident at Lucknow, and had served at Jubbulpore; Colonel
+Stewart and Major-General Fraser were Residents at Hyderabad; Major
+(Colonel) Alves was Political Agent in Bhopal and Agent in Rajputana;
+Colonel Spiers was Agent at Nimach, and officiated as Agent in
+Rajputana; Colonel Caulfield had been Political Agent at Harauti;
+Colonel Sutherland was Resident at Gwalior, and afterwards Agent in
+Rajputana; Colonel (Sir C. M.) Wade had been Political Agent at
+Ludiana; Major Borthwick was employed at Indore; Captain Paton was
+Assistant Resident at Lucknow (see _Journey through Kingdom of Oudh_,
+vol. ii, pp. 152-69).
+
+Besides the officers above named, others are specified in
+_Ramaseeana_ as having done good service.
+
+_Note._--Mr. Crooke suggests, and, I think, correctly, that the words
+_Megpunnia_ and _Megpunnaism_ (_ante_, note 20, and Bibliography No.
+7) are corruptions of the Hindi _Mekh-phandiya_, from _mekh_, 'a
+peg', and _phanda_, 'a noose', equivalent to the Persian _tasmabaz_,
+meaning 'playing tricks with a strap'. Creagh, a private in a British
+regiment at Cawnpore about 1803, is said to have initiated three men
+into the peg and strap trick, as practised by English rogues. These
+men became the leaders of three Tasmabaz Thug gangs, whose
+proceedings are described by Mr. R. Montgomery in _Selections of the
+Records of Government_, N.W.P., vol. i, p. 312. A strap is doubled
+and folded up in different shapes. The art consists in putting in a
+stick or peg in such a way that the strap when unfolded shall come
+out double. The Tasmabaz Thugs seem to be identical with the
+'Megpunnia' (_N.I.N.& Qu._, vol. i, p. 108, note 721, September
+1891).
+
+ General Hervey records seven modern instances of strangulation by
+Megpunnia Thugs in Rajputana (_Some Records of Crime_ (1867), vol. i,
+pp. 126-31).
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 14
+
+
+Basaltic Cappings of the Sandstone Hills of Central India--Suspension
+Bridge--Prospects of the Nerbudda Valley--Deification of a Mortal.
+
+On the 29th[1] we came on to Patharia, a considerable little town
+thirty miles from Sagar, supported almost entirely by a few farmers,
+small agricultural capitalists, and the establishment of a native
+collector,[2] On leaving Patharia, we ascend gradually along the side
+of the basaltic hills on our left to the south for three miles to a
+point whence we see before us this plane of basaltic cappings
+extending as far as the eye can reach to the west, south, and north,
+with frequent breaks, but still preserving one uniform level. On the
+top of these tables are here and there little conical elevations of
+laterite, or indurated iron clay.[3] The cappings everywhere repose
+immediately upon the sandstone of the Vindhya range; but they have
+occasional beds of limestone, formed apparently by springs rising
+from their sides, and strongly impregnated with carbonic acid gas.
+For the most part this is mere travertine, but in some places they
+get good lime from the beds for building.
+
+On the 1st of December we came to the pretty village of Sanoda, near
+the suspension bridge built over the river Bias by Colonel Presgrave,
+while he was assay master of the Sagar mint.[4] I was present at
+laying the foundation-stone of this bridge in December 1827. Mr.
+Maddock was the Governor-General's representative in these
+territories, and the work was undertaken more with a view to show
+what could be done out of their own resources, under minds capable of
+developing them, than to supply any pressing or urgent want.
+
+The work was completed in June, 1830; and I have several times seen
+upon the bridge as many as it could hold of a regiment of infantry
+while it moved over; and, at other times, as many of a corps of
+cavalry, and often several elephants at once. The bridge is between
+the points of suspension two hundred feet, and the clear portion of
+the platform measures one hundred and ninety feet by eleven and a
+half. The whole cost of the work amounted to about fifty thousand
+rupees; and, under a less able and careful person than Colonel
+Presgrave, would have cost, perhaps, double the amount. This work has
+been declared by a very competent judge to be equal to any structure
+of the same kind in Europe, and is eminently calculated to show what
+genius and perseverance can produce out of the resources of a country
+even in the rudest state of industry and the arts.
+
+The river Nerbudda neither is nor ever can, I fear, be made
+navigable, and the produce of its valley would require to find its
+way to distant markets over the Vindhya range of hills to the north,
+or the Satpura to the south. If the produce of the soil, mines, and
+industry of the valley cannot be transported to distant markets, the
+Government cannot possibly find in it any available net surplus
+revenue in money; for it has no mines of the precious metals, and the
+precious metals can flow in only in exchange for the produce of the
+land, and the industry of the valley that flows out. If the
+Government wishes to draw a net surplus revenue from the valley or
+from the districts that border upon it, that is, a revenue beyond its
+expenditure in support of the local public establishments, it must
+either draw it in produce, or for what can be got for that produce in
+distant markets.[5] Hitherto little beyond the rude produce of the
+soil has been able to find its way into distant markets from the
+valley of the Nerbudda; yet this valley abounds in iron mines,[6] and
+its soil, where unexhausted by cropping, is of the richest
+quality.[7] It is not then too much to hope that in time the iron of
+the mines will be worked with machinery for manufactures; and that
+multitudes, aided by this machinery, and subsisted on the rude
+agricultural produce, which now flows out, will invest the value of
+their labour in manufactured commodities adapted to the demand of
+foreign markets and better able from their superior value, compared
+with their bulk, to pay the cost of transport by land. Then, and not
+till then, can we expect to see these territories pay a considerable
+net surplus revenue to Government, and abound in a middle class of
+merchants, manufacturers, and agricultural capitalists.[8]
+
+At Sanoda there is a very beautiful little fortress or castle now
+unoccupied, though still entire. It was built by an officer of the
+Raja Chhatar Sal of Bundelkhand, about one hundred and twenty years
+ago.[9] He had a grant, on the tenure of military service, of twelve
+villages situated round this place; and a man who could build such a
+castle to defend the surrounding country from the inroads of
+freebooters, and to secure himself and his troops from any sudden
+impulse of the people's resentment, was as likely to acquire an
+increase of territorial possession in these parts as he would have
+been in Europe during the Middle Ages. The son of this chief, by name
+Rai Singh, was, soon after the castle had been completed, killed in
+an attack upon a town near Chitrakot;[10] and having, in the
+estimation of the people, _become a god_, he had a temple and a tomb
+raised to him close to our encampment. I asked the people how he had
+become a _god_; and was told that some one who had been long
+suffering from a quartan ague went to the tomb one night, and
+promised Rai Singh, whose ashes lay under it, that if he could
+contrive to cure his ague for him, he would, during the rest of his
+life, make offerings to his shrine. After that he had never another
+attack, and was very punctual in his offerings. Others followed his
+example, and with like success, till Rai Singh was recognized among
+them universally as a god, and a temple raised to his name. This is
+the way that gods were made all over the world at one time, and are
+still made all over India. Happy had it been for mankind if those
+only who were supposed to do good had been deified.[11]
+
+On the 2nd we came on to the village of Khojanpur (leaving the town
+and cantonments of Sagar to our left), a distance of some fourteen
+miles. The road for a great part of the way was over the bare back of
+the sandstone strata, the covering of basalt having been washed off.
+The hills, however, are, at this distance from the city and
+cantonments of Sagar, nicely wooded; and, being constantly
+intersected by pretty little valleys, the country we came over was
+picturesque and beautiful. The soil of all these valleys is rich from
+the detritus of the basalt that forms or caps the hills; but it is
+now in a bad state of cultivation, partly from several successive
+seasons of great calamity, under which the people have been
+suffering, and partly from over-assessment; and this posture of
+affairs is continued by that loss of energy, industry, and character,
+among the farmers and cultivators, which must everywhere result from
+these two evils. In India, where the people have learnt so well to
+govern themselves, from the want of settled government, good or bad
+government really depends almost altogether upon _good or bad
+settlements of the land revenue_. Where the Government demand is
+imposed with moderation, and enforced with justice, there will the
+people be generally found happy and contented, and disposed to
+perform their duties to each other and to the state; except when they
+have the misfortune to suffer from drought, blight, and other
+calamities of season.[l2]
+
+I have mentioned that the basalt in the Sagar district reposes for
+the most part immediately upon the sandstone of the Vindhya range;
+and it must have been deposited on the sand, while the latter was yet
+at the bottom of the ocean, though this range is now, I believe,
+nowhere less than from fifteen hundred to two thousand feet above the
+level of the sea. The marks of the ripple of the sea may be observed
+in some places where the basalt has been recently washed off,
+beautifully defined, as if formed only yesterday, and there is no
+other substance to be seen between the two rocks.
+
+The texture of the sandstone at the surface, where it comes in
+contact with the basalt, has in some places been altered by it, but
+in others it seems to have been as little changed as the habitations
+of the people who were suffocated by the ashes of Vesuvius in the
+city of Pompeii. I am satisfied, from long and careful examination,
+that the greater part of this basalt, which covers the tableland of
+Central and Southern India, must have been held for some time in
+suspension in the ocean or lake into which it was first thrown in the
+shape of ashes, and then gradually deposited. This alone can account
+for its frequent appearance of stratification, for the gentle
+blending of its particles with those of the sand near the surface of
+the latter; and, above all, for those level steps, or tables, lying
+one above another horizontally in parallel bars on one range,
+corresponding exactly with the same parallel lines one above another
+on a range twenty or thirty miles across the valley. Mr. Scrope's
+theory is, I believe, that these are all mere flowing _coulees_ of
+lava, which, in their liquid state, filled hollows, but afterwards
+became of a harder texture, as they dried and crystallized, than the
+higher rocks around them; the consequence of which is that the latter
+has been decomposed and washed away, while the basalt has been left
+to form the highest elevations. My opinion is that these steps, or
+stairs, at one time formed the beds of the ocean, or of great lakes,
+and that the substance of which they are composed was, for the most
+part, projected into the water, and there held in suspension till
+gradually deposited. There are, however, amidst these steps, and
+beneath them, masses of more compact and crystalline basalt, that
+bear evident signs of having been flows of lava.[l3]
+
+Reasoning from analogy at Jubbulpore, where some of the basaltic
+cappings of the hills had evidently been thrown out of craters long
+after this surface had been raised above the waters, and become the
+habitation both of vegetable and animal life, I made the first
+discovery of fossil remains in the Nerbudda valley. I went first to a
+hill within sight of my house in 1828,[14] and searched exactly
+between the plateau of basalt that covered it and the stratum
+immediately below, and there I found several small trees with roots,
+trunks, and branches, all entire, and beautifully petrified. They had
+been only recently uncovered by the washing away of a part of the
+basaltic plateau. I soon after found some fossil bones of
+animals.[15] Going over to Sagar, in the end of 1830, and reasoning
+there upon the same analogy, I searched for fossil remains along the
+line of contact between the basalt and the surface upon which it had
+been deposited, and I found a grove of silicified palm-trees within a
+mile of the cantonments. These palm-trees had grown upon a calcareous
+deposit formed from springs rising out of the basaltic range of hills
+to the south. The commissariat officer had cut a road through this
+grove, and all the European officers of a large military station had
+been every day riding through it without observing the geological
+treasure; and it was some time before I could convince them that the
+stones which they had every day seen were really petrified palm-
+trees. The roots and trunks were beautifully perfect.[l6]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. November, 1835.
+
+2. In the Damoh District, twenty-four miles west of Damoh. The name
+appears to be derived from the 'great quantity of hewn stone (Hind.
+_patthar_ or _pathar_) lying about in all directions'. The _C. P.
+Gazetteer_ (1870) calls the place 'a considerable village'.
+
+3. A peculiar formation, of 'widespread occurrence in the tropical
+and subtropical regions of the world'. It is ordinarily of a reddish
+ferruginous or brick-dust colour, sometimes deepened into dark red.
+Apparently the special character which distinguishes laterite from
+other forms of red-coloured weathering is the presence of hydrous
+oxide of alumina in varying proportions. . . . 'Though there is still
+a great deal of uncertainty about the way in which laterite was
+formed, the facts which are known of its distribution seem to show
+that it is a distinct form of weathering, which is confined to low
+latitudes and humid climates; its formation seems to have been a slow
+process, only possible on flat or nearly flat surfaces, where surface
+rain-wash could not act' (Oldham, in _The Oxford Survey of the
+British Empire_, vol. ii, Asia, p. 10: Oxford, 1914). It hardens and
+darkens by exposure to air, and is occasionally used as a building
+stone.
+
+4. The Sagar mint was erected in 1820 by Captain Presgrave, the assay
+master, and used to employ four hundred men, but, after about ten or
+twelve years, the business was transferred to Calcutta, and the
+buildings converted to other uses (_C. P. Gazetteer_, 1870). Mints
+are now kept up at Calcutta and Bombay only. The Bias is a small
+stream flowing into the Sunar river, and belonging to the Jumna river
+system. The name is printed Beeose in the original edition.
+
+5. Since the author's time the conditions have been completely
+changed by the introduction of railways. The East Indian, Great
+Indian Peninsular, and other railways now enter the Nerbudda Valley,
+so that the produce of most districts can be readily transported to
+distant markets. A large enhancement of the land revenue has been
+obtained by revisions of the settlement.
+
+6. Details will be found in the _Central Provinces Gazetteer_ (1870).
+The references are collected under the head 'Iron' in the index to
+that work. Chapter VIII of _Ball's Economic Geology of India_ gives
+full information concerning the iron mines of the Central Provinces
+and all parts of India. That work forms Part III of the _Manual of
+the Geology of India_.
+
+7. The soil of the valley of the Nerbudda, and that of the Nerbudda
+and Sagar territories generally, is formed for the most part of the
+detritus of trap-rocks that everywhere covered the sandstone of the
+Vindhya and Satpura ranges which run through these territories. This
+basaltic detritus forms what is called the black cotton soil by the
+English, for what reason I know not. [W. H. S.] The reason is that
+cotton is very largely grown in the Nerbudda Valley, both on the
+black soil and other soils. In Bundelkhand the black, friable soil,
+often with a high proportion of organic matter, is called 'mar', and
+is chiefly devoted to raising crops of wheat, gram, or chick-pea
+(_Cicer arietinum_), linseed, and joar (_Holcus sorghum_). Cotton is
+also sown in it, but not very generally. This black soil requires
+little rain, and is fertile without manure. It absorbs water too
+freely to be suitable for irrigation, and in most seasons does not
+need it. The 'black cotton soil' is often known as _regur_, a
+corruption of a Tamil word. 'The origin of _regur_ is a doubtful
+question. . . . The dark coloration was attributed by earlier writers
+to vegetable matter, and taken to indicate a large amount of humus in
+the soil; more recent investigations make this doubtful, and in all
+probability the colour is due to mineral constitution rather than to
+the very scanty organic constituents of the soil,' It may possibly be
+formed of 'wind-borne dust', like the loess plains of China (Oldham,
+in _The Oxford Survey of the British Empire_, vol. ii, Asia, p. 9:
+Oxford, 1914).
+
+8. The land revenue has been largely increased, and the resources and
+communications of the country have been greatly developed during the
+last half-century. The formation of the Central Provinces as a
+separate administration in 1861 secured for the Sagar and Nerbudda
+territories the attention which they failed to obtain from the
+distant Government of the North-Western Provinces. Sir Richard
+Temple, the first Chief Commissioner, administered the Central
+Provinces with extraordinary energy and success.
+
+9. Raja Chhatarsal Bundela was Raja of Panna. The history of
+Chhatarsal is related in _I.G._ (1908), vol. xix, p. 400, s.v. Panna
+State. In 1729 he called in the Marathas to help him against Muhammad
+Khan Bangash, and when he died in 1731 rewarded them by bequeathing
+one-third of his dominions to the Peshwa. The correct date of his
+death is Pus Badi 3, Samvat 1788 (_Hamirpur Settlement Report_
+(1880), note at end of chapter 2). The date is often given
+inaccurately.
+
+10. Chitrakot, in the Banda district of Bundelkhand, under the
+government of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, and seventy-one
+miles distant from Allahabad, is a famous place of pilgrimage, much
+frequented by the votaries of Rama. Large fairs are held there.
+
+11. The performance of miraculous cures at the tomb is not necessary
+for the deification of a person who has been specially feared in his
+lifetime, or has died a violent death. Either of these conditions is
+enough to render his ghost formidable, and worthy of propitiation.
+Shrines to such persons are very numerous both in Bundelkhand and
+other parts of India, Miracles, of course, occur at nearly every
+shrine, and are too common and well attested to attract much
+attention.
+
+12. These observations are as true to-day as they were in the
+author's time. Disastrous cases of over-assessment were common in the
+early years of British rule, and the mischief so wrought has been
+sometimes traceable for generations afterwards. Since 1833 the error,
+though less common, has not been unknown.
+
+13. Since writing the above, I have seen Colonel Sykes's notes on the
+formations of Southern India in the _Indian Review_. The facts there
+described seem all to support my conclusion, and his map would answer
+just as well for Central as for Southern India; for the banks of the
+Nerbudda and Chambal, Son, and Mahanadi, as well as for those of the
+Bam and the Bima. Colonel Sykes does not, I believe, attempt to
+account for the stratification of the basalt; he merely describes it.
+[W. H. S.]
+
+The author's theory of the subaqueous origin of the greater part of
+the basalt of Central and Southern India, otherwise known as the
+'Deccan Trap Series', had been supported by numerous excellent
+geologists, but W. T. Blanford proved the theory to be untenable,
+there being 'clear and unmistakable evidence that the traps were in
+great part of sub-aerial formation', The intercalation of sedimentary
+beds with fresh-water fossils is conclusive proof that the lava-flows
+associated with such beds cannot be submarine. The hypothesis that
+the lower beds of traps were poured out in a vast, but shallow,
+freshwater lake extending throughout the area over which the inter-
+trappean limestone formation extends appears to be extremely
+improbable. The lava seems to have been poured, during a long
+succession of ages, over a land surface, uneven and broken in parts,
+'with intervals of rest sufficient for lakes, stocked with fresh-
+water mollusca, to form on the cold surfaces of several of the lava-
+flows' (Holland, in _I.G._ (1907), i. 88). A great tract of the
+volcanic region appears to have remained almost undisturbed to the
+present day, affected by sub-aerial erosion alone. The geological
+horizon of the Deccan trap cannot be precisely defined, but is now
+vaguely stated as 'the close of the cretaceous period'. The 'steps',
+or conspicuous terraces, traceable on the hill-sides for great
+distances, are explained as being 'due to the outcrop of the harder
+basaltic strata, or of those beds which resist best the
+disintegrating influences of exposure'.
+
+The general horizontality of the Deccan trap over an area of not less
+than 200,000 square miles, and the absence of volcanic hills of the
+usual conical form, are difficulties which have caused much
+discussion. Some of the 'old volcanic vents' appear to have existed
+near Poona and Mahableshwar. The entire area has been subjected to
+sub-aerial denudation on a gigantic scale, which explains the
+occurrence of the basalt as the caps of isolated hills. Much further
+investigation is required to clear up details (_Manual of the Geology
+of India_, ed. 1, Part I, chap. 13)
+
+14. The author took charge of the Jubbulpore District in March 1828.
+
+15. The fossiliferous beds near Jubbulpore, described in the text,
+seem to belong to the group now classed as the Lameta beds. The bones
+of a large dinosaurian reptile (_Titanosaurus indicus_) have been
+identified (_I.G._, 1907, vol. i, p. 88).
+
+16. 'Many years ago Dr. Spry (_Note on the Fossil Palms and Shells
+lately discovered on the Table-Land of Sagar in Central India_, in
+_J.A.S.B._ for 1833, vol. ii, p. 639) and, subsequently to him,
+Captain Nicholls (_Journal of Asiatic Soc. of Bombay_, vol. v, p.
+614), studied and described certain trunks of palm-trees, whose
+silicified remains are found imbedded in the soft intertrappean mud-
+beds near Sagar. . . . The trees are imbedded in a layer of
+calcareous black earth, which formed the surface soil in which they
+grew; this soil rests on, and was made up of the disintegration of, a
+layer of basalt. It is covered over by another and similar layer of
+the same rock near where the trees occur. . . . The palm-trees, now
+found fossilized, grew in the soil, which, in the condition of a
+black calcareous earthy bed, we now find lying round their prostrate
+stems. They fell (from whatever cause), and lay until their
+silicification was complete. A slight depression of the surface, or
+some local or accidental check of some drainage-course, or any other
+similar and trivial cause, may have laid them under water. The
+process of silicification proceeded gradually but steadily, and after
+they had there, in lapse of ages, become lapidified, the next
+outburst of volcanic matter overwhelmed them, broke them, partially
+enveloped, and bruised them, until long subsequent denudation once
+more brought them to light' (J. G. Medlicott, in _Memoirs of the
+Geological Survey of India_, vol. ii. Part II, pp. 200, 203, 204,
+205, 216, as quoted in _C. P. Gazetteer_ (1870), p. 435). The
+intertrappean fossils are all those of organisms which would occur in
+shallow fresh-water lakes or marshy ground.
+
+Besides the author's friend and relative, Dr. H. H. Spry, Dr.
+Spilsbury contributed papers on the Nerbudda fossils to vols. iii,
+vi, viii, ix, x, and xiii of the _J.A.S.B._ Other writers also have
+treated of the subject, but it appears to be by no means fully worked
+out. James Prinsep, to whom no topic came amiss, discussed the
+Jubbulpore fossil bones in the volume in which Dr. Spry's paper
+appeared. Dr. Spry was the author of a work entitled _Modern India:
+with Illustrations of the Resources and Capabilities of Hindustan_ (2
+vols. 8vo, 1838). He became F.R.S.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 15
+
+
+Legend of the Sagar Lake--Paralysis from eating the Grain of the
+_Lathyrus sativus_.
+
+The cantonments of Sagar are about two miles from the city and
+occupied by three regiments of native infantry, one of local horse,
+and a company of European artillery.[1] The city occupies two sides
+of one of the most beautiful lakes of India, formed by a wall which
+unites two sandstone hills on the north side. The fort and part of
+the town stands upon this wall, which, according to tradition, was
+built by a wealthy merchant of the Banjara caste.[2] After he had
+finished it, the bed of the lake still remained dry; and he was told
+in a dream, or by a priest, that it would continue so till he should
+consent to sacrifice his own daughter, then a girl, and the young lad
+to whom she was affianced, to the tutelary god of the place. He
+accordingly built a little shrine in the centre of the valley, which
+was to become the bed of the lake, put the two children in, and built
+up the doorway. He had no sooner done so than the whole of the valley
+became filled with water, and the old merchant, the priest, the
+masons, and spectators, made their escape with much difficulty. From
+that time the lake has been inexhaustible; but no living soul of the
+Banjara caste has ever since been known to drink of its waters.
+Certainly all of that caste at present religiously avoid drinking the
+water of the lake; and the old people of the city say that they have
+always done so since they can remember, and that they used to hear
+from their parents that they had always done so. In nothing does the
+Founder of the Christian religion appear more amiable than in His
+injunction, 'Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them
+not'. In nothing do the Hindoo deities appear more horrible than in
+the delight they are supposed to take in their sacrifice--it is
+everywhere the helpless, the female, and the infant that they seek to
+devour--and so it was among the Phoenicians and their Carthaginian
+colonies. Human sacrifices were certainly offered in the cities of
+Sagar during the whole of the Maratha government up to the year 1800,
+when they were put a stop to by the local governor, Asa Sahib, a very
+humane man; and I once heard a very learned Brahman priest say that
+he thought the decline of his family and government arose from this
+_innovation_. 'There is', said he, 'no sin in _not_ offering human
+sacrifices to the gods where none have been offered; but, where the
+gods have been accustomed to them, they are naturally annoyed when
+the rite is abolished, and visit the place and people with all kinds
+of calamities.' He did not seem to think that there was anything
+singular in this mode of reasoning, and perhaps three Brahman priests
+out of four would have reasoned in the same manner.[3]
+
+On descending into the valley of the Nerbudda over the Vindhya range
+of hills from Bhopal, one may see by the side of the road, upon a
+spur of the hill, a singular pillar of sandstone rising in two
+spires, one turning above and rising over the other, to the height of
+from twenty to thirty feet. On a spur of a hill half a mile distant
+is another sandstone pillar not quite so high. The tradition is that
+the smaller pillar was the affianced bride of the taller one, who was
+a youth of a family of great eminence in these parts. Coming with his
+uncle to pay his first visit to his bride in the procession they call
+the 'barat', he grew more and more impatient as he approached nearer
+and nearer, and she shared the feeling. At last, unable to restrain
+himself, he jumped upon his uncle's shoulder, and looked with all his
+might towards the spot where his bride was said to be seated.
+Unhappily she felt no less impatient than he did, and raised 'the
+fringed curtains of her eye', as he raised his, [and] they saw each
+other at the same moment. In that moment the bride, bridegroom, and
+uncle were all converted into stone pillars; and there they stand to
+this day a monument, in the estimation of the people, to warn men and
+womankind against too strong an inclination to indulge curiosity. It
+is a singular fact that in one of the most extensive tribes of the
+Gond population of Central India, to which this couple is said to
+have belonged, the bride always goes to the bridegroom in the
+procession of the 'barat', to prevent a recurrence of this calamity.
+It is the bridegroom who goes to the bride among every other class of
+the people of India, as well Muhammadans as Hindoos. Whether the
+usage grew out of the tradition, or the tradition out of the usage,
+is a question that will admit of much being said on both sides. I can
+only vouch for the existence of both. I have seen the pillars, heard
+the tradition from the people, and ascertained the usage; as in the
+case of that of the Sagar lake.
+
+The Mahadeo sandstone hills, which in the Satpura range overlook the
+Nerbudda to the south, rise to between four and five thousand feet
+above the level of the sea;[4] and in one of the highest parts a fair
+was formerly, and is, perhaps, still held[5] for the enjoyment of
+those who assemble to witness the self devotion of a few young men,
+who offer themselves as a sacrifice to fulfil the vows of their
+mothers. When a woman is without children she makes votive offerings
+to all the gods, who can, she thinks, assist her, and promises of
+still greater in case they should grant what she wants. Smaller
+promises being found of no avail, she at last promises her first-
+born, if a male, to the god of destruction, Mahadeo. If she gets a
+son, she conceals from him her vows till he has attained the age of
+puberty; she then communicates it [_sic_] to him, and enjoins him to
+fulfil it. He believes it to be his paramount duty to obey his
+mother's call; and from that moment he considers himself as devoted
+to the god. Without breathing to any living soul a syllable of what
+she has told him, he puts on the habit of a pilgrim or religious
+mendicant, visits all the celebrated temples dedicated to this god in
+different parts of India;[6] and, at the annual fair on the Mahadeo
+hills, throws himself from a perpendicular height of four or five
+hundred feet, and is dashed to pieces upon the rocks below.[7] If the
+youth does not feel himself quite prepared for the sacrifice on the
+first visit, he spends another year in pilgrimages, and returns to
+fulfil his mother's vow at the next fair. Some have, I believe, been
+known to postpone the sacrifice to a third fair; but the interval is
+always spent in painful pilgrimages to the celebrated temples of the
+god. When Sir R. Jenkins was the Governor-General's representative at
+the court of Nagpur,[8] great efforts were made by him and all the
+European officers under him to put a stop to these horrors by doing
+away with the fair; and their efforts were assisted by the _cholera
+morbus_, which broke out among the multitude one season while they
+were so employed, and carried off the greater part of them. This
+seasonable visitation was, I believe, considered as an intimation on
+the part of the god that the people ought to have been more attentive
+to the wishes of the white men, for it so happens that Mahadeo is the
+only one of the Hindoo gods who is represented with a white face.[9]
+He figures among the _dramatis personae_ of the great pantomime of
+the Ramlila[10] or fight for the recovery of Sita from the demon king
+of Ceylon; and is the only one with a white face. I know not whether
+the fair has ever been revived, but [I] think not.
+
+In 1829 the wheat and other spring crops in this and the surrounding
+villages were destroyed by a severe hail-storm; in 1830 they were
+deficient from the want of seasonable rains; and in 1831 they were
+destroyed by blight. During these three years the 'teori', or what in
+other parts of India is called 'kesari' (the _Lathyrus sativus_ of
+botanists), a kind of wild vetch, which, though not sown itself, is
+left carelessly to grow among the wheat and other grain, and given in
+the green and dry state to cattle, remained uninjured, and thrived
+with great luxuriance.[11] In 1831 they reaped a rich crop of it from
+the blighted wheat-fields, and subsisted upon its grain during that
+and the following years, giving the stalks and leaves only to their
+cattle. In 1833 the sad effects of this food began to manifest
+themselves. The younger part of the population of this and the
+surrounding villages, from the age of thirty downwards, began to be
+deprived of the use of their limbs below the waist by paralytic
+strokes, in all cases sudden, but in some cases more severe than in
+others. About half the youth of this village of both sexes became
+affected during the years 1833 and 1834, and many of them have lost
+the use of their lower limbs entirely, and are unable to move. The
+youth of the surrounding villages, in which the 'teori' from the same
+causes formed the chief article of food during the years 1831 and
+1832, have suffered to an equal degree. Since the year 1834 no new
+case has occurred; but no person once attacked had been found to
+recover the use of the limbs affected; and my tent was surrounded by
+great numbers of the youth in different stages of the disease,
+imploring my advice and assistance under this dreadful visitation.
+Some of them were very fine-looking young men of good caste and
+respectable families; and all stated that their pains and infirmities
+were confined entirely to the parts below the waist. They described
+the attack as coming on suddenly, often while the person was asleep,
+and without any warning symptoms whatever; and stated that a greater
+portion of the young men were attacked than of the young women. It is
+the prevailing opinion of the natives throughout the country that
+both horses and bullocks, which have been much fed upon 'teori', are
+liable to lose the use of their limbs; but, if the poisonous
+qualities abound more in the grain than in the stalk or leaves, man,
+who eats nothing but the grain, must be more liable to suffer from
+the use of this food than beasts, which eat it merely as they eat
+grass or hay.
+
+I sent the son of the head man of the village and another, who were
+among the young people least affected, into Sagar with a letter to my
+friend Dr. Foley, with a request that he would try what he could do
+for them; and if he had any fair prospect of being able to restore
+these people to the use of their limbs, that measures might be
+adopted through the civil authorities to provide them with
+accommodation and the means of subsistence, either by private
+subscription, or by application to Government. The civil authorities,
+however, could find neither accommodation nor funds to maintain these
+people while under Dr. Foley's care; and several seasons of calamity
+had deprived them of the means of maintaining themselves at a
+distance from their families. Nor is a medical man in India provided
+with the means found most effectual in removing such affections, such
+as baths, galvanic batteries, &c. It is lamentable to think how very
+little we have as yet done for the country in the healing art, that
+art which, above all others, a benevolent and enlightened Government
+should encourage among the people of India.
+
+All we have as yet done has been to provide medical attendants for
+our European officers; regiments, and jails. It must not, however, be
+supposed that the people of India are without medical advice, for
+there is not a town or considerable village in India without its
+practitioners, the Hindoos following the Egyptian (Misrani), and the
+Musalmans the Grecian (Yunani) practice. The first prescribe little
+physic and much fasting; and the second follow the good old rules of
+Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicenna, with which they are all tolerably
+well acquainted. As far as the office of physician goes, the natives
+of India of all classes, high and low, have much more confidence in
+their own practitioners than in ours, whom they consider too reckless
+and better adapted to treat diseases in a cold than a hot climate.
+They cannot afford to give the only fees which European physicians
+would accept; and they see them, in their hospital practice, trust
+much to their native assistants, who are very few of them able to
+read any book, much less to study the profound doctrines of the great
+masters of the science of medicine.[12] No native ventures to offer
+an opinion upon this abstruse subject in any circle where he is not
+known to be profoundly read in either Arabic or Sanskrit lore; nor
+would he venture to give a prescription without first consulting,
+'spectacles on nose', a book as large as a church Bible. The educated
+class, as indeed all classes, say that they do not want our
+physicians, but stand much in need of our surgeons. Here they feel
+that they are helpless, and we are strong; and they seek our aid
+whenever they see any chance of obtaining it, as in the present
+case.[13] Considering that every European gentleman they meet is more
+or less a surgeon, or hoping to find him so, people who are
+afflicted, or have children afflicted, with any kind of malformation,
+or malorganization, flock round them [_sic_] wherever they go, and
+implore their aid; but implore in vain, for, when they do happen to
+fall in with a surgeon, he is a mere passer-by, without the means or
+the time to afford relief. In travelling over India there is nothing
+which distresses a benevolent man so much as the necessity he is
+daily under of telling poor parents, who, with aching hearts and
+tearful eyes, approach him with their suffering children in their
+arms, that to relieve them requires time and means which are not at a
+traveller's command, or a species of knowledge which he does not
+possess; it is bitter thus to dash to the ground the cup of hope
+which our approach has raised to the lip of mother, father, and
+child; but he consoles himself with the prospect, that at no distant
+period a benevolent and enlightened Government will distribute over
+the land those from whom the afflicted will not seek relief in
+vain.[14]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The garrison is stated in the _Gazetteer_ (1870) to consist of a
+European regiment of infantry, two batteries of European artillery,
+one native cavalry and one native infantry regiment. In 1893 it
+consisted of one battery of Royal Artillery, a detachment of British
+Infantry, a regiment of Bengal Cavalry, and a detachment of Bengal
+Infantry. According to the census of 1911, the population of Sagar
+was 45,908.
+
+2. The Banjaras, or Brinjaras, are a wandering tribe, principally
+employed as carriers of grain and salt on bullocks and cows. They
+used to form the transport service of the Moghal armies, and of the
+Company's forces at least as late as 1819. Their organization and
+customs are in many ways peculiar. The development of roads and
+railways has much diminished the importance of the tribe. A good
+account of it will be found in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia of India_, 3rd
+ed., 1885, s. v. 'Banjara'. Dubois (_Hindu Manners, &c._, 3rd ed.
+(1906), p. 70) states that 'of all the castes of the Hindus, this
+particular one is acknowledged to be the most brutal'.
+
+3. See note on human sacrifice, _ante_, Chapter 8, note 8.
+
+4. In the Hoshangabad district of the Central Provinces. The
+sandstone formation here attains its highest development, and is
+known to geologists as the 'Mahadeo sandstones'. The new sanitarium
+of Pachmarhi is situated in these hills.
+
+5. It has been long since suppressed.
+
+6. Benares is the principal seat of the worship of Mahadeo (Siva),
+but his shrines are found everywhere throughout India. One hundred
+and eight of these are reckoned as important. In Southern India the
+most notable, perhaps, is the great temple at Tanjore (see chap. 17
+of Monier Williams's _Religious Thought and Life in India_).
+
+7. 'This mode of suicide is called Bhrigu-pata, "throwing one's self
+from a precipice". It was once equally common at the rock of Girnar
+[in Kathiawar], and has only recently been prohibited' (ibid. p.
+349).
+
+8. Nagpore (Nagpur) was governed by Maratha rulers, with the title of
+Bhonsla, also known as the Rajas of Berar. The last Raja, Raghoji,
+died without heirs in 1853. His dominions were then annexed as lapsed
+territory by Lord Dalhousie. Sir Richard Jenkins was Resident at
+Nagpur from 1810 to 1827. Nagpur is now the head-quarters of the
+Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces.
+
+9. 'There is a legend that Siva appeared in the Kali age, for the
+good of the Brahmans, as "Sveta", "the white one", and that he had
+four disciples, to all of whom the epithet "Sveta" is applied'
+(Monier Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 80, note
+2). Various explanations of the legend have been offered. Professor
+A. Weber is inclined to think that the various references to white
+teachers in Indian legends allude to Christian missionaries. The
+Mahabharata mentions the travels of Narada and others across the sea
+to 'Sveta-dwipa', the 'Island of the White Men', in order to learn
+the doctrine of the unity of God. This tradition appears to be
+intelligible only if understood to commemorate the journeys of pious
+Indians to Alexandria, and their study of Christianity there (_Die
+Griechen in Indien_, 1890, p. 34).
+
+10. The Ramlila, a performance corresponding to the mediaeval
+European 'miracle-play', is celebrated in Northern India in the month
+of Kuar (or Asvin, September-October), at the same time as the Durga
+Puja is solemnized in Bengal. Rama and his brother Lachhman are
+impersonated by boys, who are seated on thrones in state. The
+performance concludes by the burning of a wicker image of Ravana, the
+demon king of Lanka (Ceylon), who had carried off Rama's queen, Sita.
+The story is the leading subject of the great epic called the
+Ramayana.
+
+11. The _Lathyrus sativus_ is cultivated in the Punjab and in Tibet.
+Its poisonous qualities are attributed to its excessive proportion of
+nitrogenous matter, which requires dilution. Another species of the
+genus, _L. cicer_, grown in Spain, has similar properties. The
+distressing effects described in the text have been witnessed by
+other observers (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., 1885, s.v.
+'Lathyrus').
+
+12. One of the tent-pitchers one morning, after pitching our tent,
+asked the loan of a small extra one for the use of his wife, who was
+about to be confined. The basket-maker's wife of the village near
+which we were encamped was called; and the poor woman, before we had
+finished our breakfast, gave birth to a daughter. The charge is half
+a rupee, or one shilling for a boy, and a quarter, or sixpence, for a
+girl. The tent-pitcher gave her ninepence, which the poor midwife
+thought very handsome, The mother had come fourteen miles upon a
+loaded cart over rough roads the night before; and went the same
+distance with her child the night after, upon the same cart. The
+first midwife in Europe could not have done her duty better than this
+poor basket-maker's wife did hers. [W. H. S.]
+
+13. The 'present case' was of a medical, not a surgical, nature.
+
+14. The Hindoo practitioners are called 'baid' (Sanskrit 'vaidya',
+followers of the Veda, that is to say, the Ayur Veda). The Musalman
+practitioners are generally called 'hakim'. The Egyptian school
+(Misrani, Misri, or Suryani, that is, Syrian) never practise
+bleeding, and are partial to the use of metallic oxides. The Yunani
+physicians approve of bleeding, and prefer vegetable drugs. The older
+writers on India fancied that the Hindoo system of medicine was of
+enormous antiquity, and that the principles of Galenical medical
+science were ultimately derived from India. Modern investigation has
+proved that Hindoo medicine, like Hindoo astronomy, is largely of
+Greek origin. This conclusion has been expressed in an exaggerated
+form by some writers, but its general truth appears to be
+established. The Hindoo books treating of medicine are certainly
+older than Wilson supposed, for the Bower manuscript, written in the
+second half of the fourth century of our era, contains three Sanskrit
+medical treatises. The writers had, however, plenty of time to borrow
+from Galen, who lived in the second century. The Indian aversion to
+European medicine, as distinguished from surgery, still exists,
+though in a degree somewhat less than in the author's time. Many
+municipal boards have insisted on employing 'baids' and 'hakims' in
+addition to the practitioners trained in European methods. Well-to-do
+patients often delay resort to the English physician until they have
+exhausted all resources of the 'hakim' and have been nearly killed by
+his drastic treatment. One medical innovation, the use of quinine as
+a febrifuge, has secured universal approbation. I never heard of an
+Indian who disbelieved in quinine. Chlorodyne also is fully
+appreciated, but most of the European medicines are regarded with
+little faith.
+
+Since the author wrote, great progress has been made in providing
+hospital and dispensary accommodation. Each 'district', or unit of
+civil administration, has a fairly well equipped combined hospital
+and dispensary at head-quarters, and branch dispensaries exist in
+almost every district. An Inspector-General of Dispensaries
+supervises the medical administration of each province, and medical
+schools have been organized at Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Lahore, and
+Agra. During Lord Dufferin's Viceroyalty and afterwards, energetic
+steps were taken to improve the system of medical relief for females.
+Pandit Madhusadan Gupta, on January 10, 1836, was the first Hindoo
+who ventured to dissect a human body and teach anatomy. India can now
+boast of a considerable number of Hindoo and Musalman practitioners,
+trained in European methods, and skilful in their profession. Much
+has been done, infinitely more remains to be done. Details will be
+found in _I.G._ (1907), vol. iv, chap. 14, 'Medical Administration',
+The article 'Medicine' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., 1885, on
+which I have drawn for some of the facts above stated, gives a good
+summary of the earlier history of medicine in India, but greatly
+exaggerates the antiquity of the Hindoo books. On this question
+Weber's paper, 'Die Griechen in Indien' (Berlin, 1890, p. 28), and
+Dr. Hoernle's remarks on the Bower manuscript (in _J.A.S.B._, vol. lx
+(1891), Part I, p. 145) may be consulted. Dr. Hoernle's annotated
+edition and translation of the Bower MS. were completed in 1912. Part
+of the work is reprinted with additions in the _Ind. Ant._ for 1913
+and 1914.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 16
+
+
+Suttee Tombs--Insalubrity of deserted Fortresses.
+
+On the 3rd we came to Bahrol,[1] where I had encamped with Lord
+William Bentinck on the last day of December, 1832, when the
+quicksilver in the thermometer at sunrise, outside our tents, was
+down to twenty-six degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The village
+stands upon a gentle swelling hill of decomposed basalt, and is
+surrounded by hills of the same formation. The Dasan river flows
+close under the village, and has two beautiful reaches, one above,
+the other below, separated by the dyke of basalt, over which lies the
+ford of the river.[2]
+
+There are beautiful reaches of the kind in all the rivers in this
+part of India, and they are almost everywhere formed in the same
+manner. At Bahrol there is a very unusual number of tombs built over
+the ashes of women who have burnt themselves with the remains of
+their husbands. Upon each tomb stands erect a tablet of freestone,
+with the sun, the new moon, and a rose engraved upon it in bas-relief
+in one field;[3] and the man and woman, hand in hand, in the other.
+On one stone of this kind I saw a third field below these two, with
+the figure of a horse in bas-relief, and I asked one of the gentlemen
+farmers, who was riding with me, what it meant. He told me that he
+thought it indicated that the woman rode on horseback to bathe before
+she ascended the pile.[4] I asked him whether he thought the measure
+prohibiting the practice of burning good or bad.
+
+'It is', said he, 'in some respects good, and in others bad. Widows
+cannot marry among us, and those who had no prospect of a comfortable
+provision among their husband's relations, or who dreaded the
+possibility of going astray, and thereby sinking into contempt and
+misery, were enabled in this way to relieve their minds, and follow
+their husbands, under the full assurance of being happily united to
+them in the next world.'
+
+When I passed this place on horseback with Lord William Bentinck, he
+asked me what these tombs were, for he had never seen any of the kind
+before. When I told him what they were, he said not a word; but he
+must have felt a proud consciousness of the debt of gratitude which
+India owes to the statesman who had the courage to put a stop to this
+great evil, in spite of all the fearful obstacles which bigotry and
+prejudice opposed to the measure. The seven European functionaries in
+charge of the seven districts of the newly-acquired territories were
+requested, during the administration of Lord Amherst in 1826, to
+state whether the burning of widows could or should be prohibited;
+and I believe every one of them declared that it should not. And yet,
+when it was put a stop to only a few years after by Lord William, not
+a complaint or murmur was heard. The replies to the Governor-
+General's inquiries were, I believe, throughout India, for the most
+part, opposed to the measure.[5]
+
+ On the 4th we came to Dhamoni, ten miles. The only thing remarkable
+here is the magnificent fortress, which is built upon a small
+projection of the Vindhya range, looking down on each side into two
+enormously deep glens, through which the two branches of the Dasan
+river descend over the tableland into the plains of Bundelkhand.[6]
+The rays of the sun seldom penetrate to the bottom of these glens,
+and things are, in consequence, grown there that could not be grown
+in parts more exposed.
+
+Every inch of the level ground in the bed of the streams below seems
+to be cultivated with care. This fortress is said to have cost more
+than a million of money, and to have been only one of fifty-two great
+works, of which a former Raja of Bundelkhand, Birsingh Deo, laid the
+foundation in the same _happy hour_ which had been pointed out to him
+by his astrologers.[7] The works form an acute triangle, with the
+base towards the tableland, and the two sides hanging perpendicularly
+over the glens, while the apex points to the course of the streams as
+they again unite, and pass out through a deep chasm into the plains
+of Bundelkhand.
+
+The fortress is now entirely deserted, and the town, which the
+garrison supported, is occupied by only a small police-guard,
+stationed here to see that robbers do not take up their abode among
+the ruins. There is no fear of this. All old deserted fortresses in
+India become filled by a dense stream of carbonic acid gas, which is
+found so inimical to animal life that those who attempt to occupy
+them become ill, and, sooner or later, almost all die of the
+consequences. This gas, being specifically much heavier than common
+air, descends into the bottom of such unoccupied fortresses, and
+remains stagnant like water in old reservoirs. The current of pure
+air continually passes over, without being able to carry off the mass
+of stagnant air below; and the only way to render such places
+habitable is to make large openings in the walls on all sides, from
+the top to the bottom, so that the foul air may be driven out by the
+current of pure atmospheric air, which will then be continually
+rushing in. When these fortresses are thickly peopled, the continual
+motion within tends, I think, to mix up this gas with the air above;
+while the numerous fires lighted within, by rarefying that below,
+tend to draw down a regular supply of the atmospheric air from above
+for the benefit of the inhabitants. When natives enter upon the
+occupation of an old fortress of this kind, that has remained long
+unoccupied, they always make a solemn religions ceremony of it; and,
+having fed the priests, the troops, and a crowd of followers, all
+rush in at once with beat of drums, and as much noise as they can
+make. By this rush, and the fires that follow, the bad air is,
+perhaps, driven off, and never suffered to collect again while the
+fortress remains fully occupied. Whatever may be the cause, the fact
+is certain that these fortresses become deadly places of abode for
+small detachments of troops, or small parties of any kind. They all
+get ill, and few recover from the diseases they contract in them.
+
+From the year 1817, when we first took possession of the Sagar and
+Nerbudda Territories, almost all the detachments of troops we
+required to keep at a distance from the headquarters of their
+regiments were posted in these old deserted fortifications. Our
+collections of revenue were deposited in them; and, in some cases,
+they were converted into jails for the accommodation of our
+prisoners. Of the soldiers so lodged, I do not believe that one in
+four ever came out well; and, of those who came out ill, I do not
+believe that one in four survived five years. They were all abandoned
+one after the other; but it is painful to think how many hundreds, I
+may say thousands, of our brave soldiers were sacrificed before this
+resolution was taken. I have known the whole of the survivors of
+strong detachments that went in, in robust health, three months
+before, brought away mere skeletons, and in a hopeless and dying
+state. All were sent to their homes on medical certificate, but they
+almost all died there, or in the course of their journey.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835. The name of the village is spelled Behrole by the
+author.
+
+2. The Dasan river rises in the Bhopal State, flows through the Sagar
+district of the Central Provinces, and along the southern boundary of
+the Lalitpur subdivision of the Jhansi District, United Provinces of
+Agra and Oudh. It also forms the boundary between the Jhansi and
+Hamirpur Districts, and falls into the Betwa after a course of about
+220 miles. The name is often, but erroneously, written Dhasan. It is
+the Sanskrit Dasarna.
+
+3. This emblem is a lotus, not a rose flower. The latter is never
+used in Hindoo symbolism. The lotus is a solar emblem, and intimately
+associated with the worship of Vishnu.
+
+4. It rather indicates that the husband was on horseback when killed.
+The sculptures on sati pillars often commemorate the mode of death of
+the husband. Sometimes these pillars are inscribed. They usually face
+the east. An open hand is often carved in the upper compartment as
+well as the sun and moon. A drawing of such a pillar will be found in
+_J.A.S.B._, vol. xlvi. Part I, 1877, pl. xiv. _A.S.R._, vol. iii, p.
+10; vol. vii, p. 137; vol. x, p. 75; and vol. xxi, p. 101, may be
+consulted.
+
+5. The 'newly-acquired territories' referred to are the Sagar and
+Nerbudda Territories, comprising the seven districts, Sagar,
+Jubbulpore, Hoshangabad, Seoni, Damoh, Narsinghpur, and Baitul, ceded
+in 1818, and now included in the Central Provinces. The tenor of the
+replies given to Lord Amherst's queries shows how far the process of
+Hindooizing had advanced among the European officials of the Company.
+Lord Amherst left India in March, 1828. See _ante._ Chapter 4 and
+Chapter 8, for cases of sati (suttees). For a good account of the
+suttee discussions and legislation, see D. Boulger, _Lord William
+Bentinck_ (1897), chap. v, in 'Rulers of India' Series. No other
+biography of Lord William Bentinck exists.
+
+6. Dhamoni is in the Sagar district of the Central Provinces, about
+twenty-nine miles north of Sagar. The fort was taken by General
+Marshall in 1818. It had been rebuilt by Raja Birsingh Deo of Orchha
+on an enormous scale about the end of the sixteenth century. In the
+original edition, the author's march is said to have taken place 'on
+the 24th'. This must be a mistake for 'on the 4th'; as the last date,
+that of the march to Bahrol, was the 3rd December. The author reached
+Agra on January 1, 1836,
+
+7. The number fifty-two is one of the Hindoo favourite numbers, like
+seven, twelve, and eighty-four, held sacred for astronomical or
+astrological reasons. Birsingh Deo was the younger brother of
+Ramchand, head of the Bundela clan. To oblige Prince Salim,
+afterwards the Emperor Jahangir, he murdered Abul Fazl, the
+celebrated minister and historian of Akbar, on August 12, 1602,
+Jahangir, after his accession, rewarded the murderer by allowing him
+to supersede his brother in the headship of his clan, and by
+appointing him to the rank of 'commander of three thousand'. The
+capital of Birsingh was Orchha. His successors are often spoken of as
+Rajas of Tehri. The murder is fully described in _The Emperor Akbar_
+by Count von Noer, translated by A. S. Beveridge, Calcutta, 1890,
+vol. ii, pp. 384-404. Orchha is described _post_, Chapters 22,23.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 17
+
+
+Basaltic Cappings--Interview with a Native Chief--A Singular
+Character.
+
+On the 5th[1] we came to the village of Seori. Soon after leaving
+Dhamoni, we descended the northern face of the Vindhya range into the
+plains of Bundelkhand. The face of this range overlooking the valley
+of the Nerbudda to the south is, as I have before stated, a series of
+mural precipices, like so many rounded bastions, the slight dip of
+the strata being to the north. The northern face towards Bundelkhand,
+on the contrary, here descends gradually, as the strata dip slightly
+towards the north, and we pass down gently over their back. The
+strata have, however, been a good deal broken, and the road was so
+rugged that two of our carts broke down in descending. From the
+descent over the northern face of the tableland into Bundelkhand to
+the descent over the southern face into the valley of the Nerbudda
+must be a distance of one hundred miles directly north and south.
+
+The descent over the northern face is not everywhere so gradual; on
+the contrary, there are but few places where it is at all feasible;
+and some of the rivers of the tableland between Jubbulpore and
+Mirzapore have a perpendicular fall of more than four hundred feet
+over these mural precipices of the northern face of the Vindhya
+range.[2] A man, if he have good nerve, may hang over the summits,
+and suspend in his hand a plummet that shall reach the bottom.
+
+I should mention that this tableland is not only intersected by
+ranges, but everywhere studded with isolated hills rising suddenly
+out of basins or valleys. These ranges and isolated hills are all of
+the same sandstone formation, and capped with basalt, more or less
+amygdaloidal. The valleys and cappings have often a substratum of
+very compact basalt, which must evidently have flowed into them after
+these islands were formed. The question is, how were these valleys
+and basins scooped out? 'Time, time, time!' says Mr. Scrope; 'grant
+me only time, and I can account for everything.' I think, however,
+that I am right in considering the basaltic cappings of these ranges
+and isolated hills to have once formed part of continued flat beds of
+great lakes. The flat parallel planes of these cappings,
+corresponding with each other, however distantly separated the hills
+they cover may be, would seem to indicate that they could not all
+have been subject to the convulsions of nature by which the whole
+substrata were upheaved above the ocean. I am disposed to think that
+such islands and ranges of the sandstone were formed before the
+deposit of the basalt, and that the form of the surface is now
+returning to what it then was, by the gradual decomposition and
+wearing away of the latter rock. Much, however, may be said on both
+sides of this, as of every other question. After descending from the
+sandstone of the Vindhya[3] range into Bundelkhand, we pass over
+basalt and basaltic soil, reposing immediately on syenitic granite,
+with here and there beds and veins of pure feldspar, hornblende, and
+quartz.
+
+Takht Singh, the younger brother of Arjun Singh, the Raja of
+Shahgarh,[4] came out several miles to meet me on his elephant.
+Finding me on horseback, he got off from his elephant, and mounted
+his horse, and we rode on till we met the Raja himself, about a mile
+from our tents. He was on horseback, with a large and splendidly
+dressed train of followers, all mounted on fine sleek horses, bred in
+the Raja's own stables. He was mounted on a snow-white steed of his
+own breeding (and I have rarely seen a finer animal), and dressed in
+a light suit of silver brocade made to represent the scales of steel
+armour, surmounted by a gold turban. Takht Singh was more plainly
+dressed, but is a much finer and more intelligent-looking man. Having
+escorted us to our tents, they took their leave, and returned to
+their own, which were pitched on a rising ground on the other side of
+a small stream, half a mile distant. Takht Singh resides here in a
+very pretty fortified castle on an eminence. It is a square building,
+with a round bastion at each corner, and one on each face, rising
+into towers above the walls.
+
+A little after midday the Raja and his brother came to pay us a
+visit; and about four o'clock I went to return it, accompanied by
+Lieutenant Thomas. As usual, he had a nautch (dance) upon carpets,
+spread upon the sward under awnings in front of the pavilion in which
+we were received. While the women were dancing and singing, a very
+fine panther was brought in to be shown to us. He had been caught,
+full-grown, two years before, and, in the hands of a skilful man, was
+fit for the chase in six months. It was a very beautiful animal, but,
+for the sake of the sport, kept wretchedly thin.[5] He seemed
+especially indifferent to the crowd and the music, but could not bear
+to see the woman whirling about in the dance with her red mantle
+floating in the breeze; and, whenever his head was turned towards
+her, he cropped his ears. She at last, in play, swept close by him,
+and with open mouth he attempted to spring upon her, but was pulled
+back by the keeper. She gave a shriek, and nearly fell upon her back
+in fright.
+
+The Raja is a man of no parts or character, and, his expenditure
+being beyond his income, he is killing his goose for the sake of her
+eggs--that is, he is ruining all the farmers and cultivators of his
+large estate by exactions, and thereby throwing immense tracts of
+fine land out of tillage. He was the heir to the fortress and
+territory of Garha Kota, near Sagar, which was taken by Sindhia's
+army, under the command of Jean Baptiste Filose,[6] just before our
+conquest in 1817. I was then with my regiment, which was commanded by
+Colonel, afterwards Major-General, G------,[7] a very singular
+character. When our surgeon. Dr. E------, received the newspaper
+announcing the capture of Garha Kota in Central India by _Jean-
+Baptiste_, an officer of the corps was with him, who called on the
+colonel on his way home, and mentioned this as a bit of news. As soon
+as this officer had left him, the colonel wrote off a note to the
+doctor: 'My dear Doctor,--I understand that that fellow, _John the
+Baptist_, has got into Sindhia's service, and now commands an army--
+do send me the newspapers.' These were certainly the words of his
+note, and, at the only time I heard him speak on the subject of
+religion he discomfited his adversary in an argument at the mess by
+'Why, sir, you do not suppose that I believe in those fellows,
+Luther, Calvin, and John the Baptist, do you?'
+
+Nothing could stand this argument. All the party burst into a laugh,
+which the old gentleman took for an unequivocal recognition of his
+victory, and his adversary was silenced. He was an old man when I
+first became acquainted with him. I put into his hands, when in camp,
+Miss Edgeworth's novels, in the hope of being able to induce him to
+read by degrees; and I have frequently seen the tears stealing down
+over his furrowed cheeks, as he sat pondering over her pages in the
+corner of his tent. A braver soldier never lived than old G------;
+and he distinguished himself greatly in the command of his regiment,
+under Lord Lake, at the battle of Laswari[8] and siege of
+Bharatpur.[9] It was impossible ever to persuade him that the
+characters and incidents of these novels were the mere creations of
+fancy--he felt them to be true--he wished them to be true, and he
+would have them to be true. We were not very anxious to undeceive
+him, as the illusion gave him pleasure and did him good. Bolingbroke
+says, after an ancient author, 'History is philosophy teaching by
+example.'[10] With equal truth may we say that fiction, like that of
+Maria Edgeworth, is philosophy teaching by emotion. It certainly
+taught old G------ to be a better man, to leave much of the little
+evil he had been in the habit of doing, and to do much of the good he
+had been accustomed to leave undone.
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December 5, 1835, The date is misprinted '3rd' in the original
+edition. See note 2 to last preceding chapter, p. 110.
+
+2. A good view of the precipices of the Kaimur range, the eastern
+continuation of the Vindhyan chain, is given facing page 41 of vol. i
+of Hooker's _Himalayan Journals_ (ed. 1855).
+
+3. The author's theory is untenable. He failed, to realize the vast
+effects of sub-aerial denudation. All the evidence shows that the
+successive lava outflows which make up the Deccan trap series
+ultimately converted the surface of the land over which they welled
+out into an enormous, nearly uniform, plain of basalt, resting on the
+Vindhyan sandstone and other rocks. This great sheet of lava,
+extending, east and west, from Nagpur to Bombay, a distance of about
+five hundred miles, was then, in succeeding millenniums, subjected to
+the denuding forces of air and water, until gradually huge tracts of
+it were worn away, forming beds of conglomerate, gravel, and clay.
+The flat-topped hills have been carved out of the basaltic surface by
+the agencies which wore away the massive sheet of lava. The basaltic
+cappings of the hills certainly cannot have 'formed part of continued
+flat beds of great lakes'. See the notes to Chapter 14, _ante_. Mr.
+Scrope was quite right. Vast periods of time must be allowed for
+geological history, and millions of years must have elapsed since the
+flow of the Deccan lava.
+
+4. In the Sagar district. The last Raja joined the rebels in 1857,
+and so forfeited his rank and territory.
+
+5. The name panther is usually applied only to the large, fulvous
+variety of _Felis pardus (Linn.) (F. leopardus, Leopardus varius)_.
+The animal described in the text evidently was a specimen of the
+hunting leopard, _Felis jubata (F. guttata, F. venatica)_.
+
+6. This officer was one of the many '_condottieri_' of various
+nationality who served the native powers during the eighteenth
+century, and the early years of the nineteenth. He commanded five
+infantry regiments at Gwalior. His 'kingdom-taking' raid in 1815 or
+1816 is described _post_ in Chapter 49. The history of the family is
+given by Compton in _European Military Adventures of Hindustan from
+1784 to 1803_ (Unwin, 1892), App. pp, 352-6. In 1911 Michael Filose
+of Gwalior was appointed K.C.I.E.
+
+7.'G------' appears to have been Robert Gregory C.B.
+
+8. The fiercely contested battle of Laswari was fought on November 1,
+1803, between the British force under Lord Lake and the flower of
+Sindhia's army, known as the 'Deccan Invincibles'. Sindhia's troops
+lost about seven thousand killed and two thousand prisoners. The
+British loss in killed and wounded amounted to more than eight
+hundred. A medal to commemorate the victory was struck in London in
+1851, and presented to the survivors. Laswari is a village in the
+Alwar State, 128 miles south of Delhi.
+
+9. Bharatpur (Bhurtpore), in the Jat State of the same name, is
+thirty-four miles west of Agra. In January and February, 1805, Lord
+Lake four times attempted to take it by assault, and each time was
+repulsed with heavy loss. On January 18, 1826, Lord Combermere
+stormed the fortress. The fortifications were then dismantled. A
+large portion of the walls is now standing, and presents an imposing
+appearance. They seem to have been repaired. See _post_, Chapter 62.
+
+10. 'I will answer you by quoting what I have read somewhere or
+other--in _Dionysius Halicarn_., I think--that history is philosophy
+teaching by example' (Bolingbroke, _Letters on the Study and Use of
+History_, Letter II, p. 14 of vol. viii of edition printed by T.
+Cadell, London, 1770). The Greek words are. . . . . . . .
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 18
+
+
+Birds' Nests--Sports of Boyhood.
+
+On the 6th[1] we came to Sayyidpur, ten miles, over an undulating
+country, with a fine soil of decomposed basalt, reposing upon
+syenite, with veins of feldspar and quartz. Cultivation partial, and
+very bad; and population extremely scanty. We passed close to a
+village, in which the children were all at play; while upon the
+bushes over their heads were suspended an immense number of the
+beautiful nests of the sagacious 'baya' bird, or Indian yellow-
+hammer,[2] all within reach of a grown-up boy, and one so near the
+road that a grown-up man might actually look into it as he passed
+along, and could hardly help shaking it. It cannot fail to strike a
+European as singular to see so many birds' nests, situated close to a
+village, remain unmolested within reach of so many boisterous
+children, with their little proprietors and families fluttering and
+chirping among them with as great a feeling of security and gaiety of
+heart as the children themselves enjoy.
+
+In any part of Europe not a nest of such a colony could have lived an
+hour within reach of such a population; for the baya bird has no
+peculiar respect paid to it by the people here, like the wren and
+robin-redbreast in England. No boy in India has the slightest wish to
+molest birds in their nests; it enters not into their pastimes, and
+they have no feeling of pride or pleasure in it. With us it is
+different--to discover birds' nests is one of the first modes in
+which a boy exercises his powers, and displays his love of art. Upon
+his skill in finding them he is willing to rest his first claim to
+superior sagacity and enterprise. His trophies are his string of
+eggs; and the eggs most prized among them are those of the nests that
+are discovered with most difficulty, and attained with most danger.
+The same feeling of desire to display their skill and enterprise in
+search after birds' nests in early life renders the youth of England
+the enemy almost of the whole animal creation throughout their after
+career. The boy prides himself on his dexterity in throwing a stone
+or a stick; and he practises on almost every animal that comes in his
+way, till he never sees one without the desire to knock it down, or
+at least to hit it; and, if it is lawful to do so, he feels it to be
+a most serious misfortune not to have a stone within his reach at the
+time. As he grows up, he prides himself upon his dexterity in
+shooting, and he never sees a member of the feathered tribe within
+shot, without a desire to shoot it, or without regretting that he has
+not a gun in his hand to shoot it. That he is not entirely destitute
+of sympathy, however, with the animals he maims for his amusement is
+sufficiently manifest from his anxiety to put them out of pain the
+moment he gets them.
+
+A friend of mine, now no more, Captain Medwin, was once looking with
+me at a beautiful landscape painting through a glass. At last he put
+aside the glass, saying: 'You may say what you like, S--, but the
+best landscape I know is a fine black partridge[3] falling before my
+Joe Manton.'
+
+The following lines of Walter Scott, in his _Rokeby_, have always
+struck me as very beautiful:-
+
+ As yet the conscious pride of art
+ Had steel'd him in his treacherous part;
+ A powerful spring of force unguessed
+ That hath each gentler mood suppressed,
+ And reigned in many a human breast;
+ From his that plans the rude campaign,
+ To his that wastes the woodland reign, &c.[4]
+
+Among the people of India it is very different. Children do not learn
+to exercise their powers either in discovering and robbing the nests
+of birds, or in knocking them down with stones and staves; and, as
+they grow up, they hardly ever think of hunting or shooting for mere
+amusement. It is with them a matter of business; the animal they
+cannot eat they seldom think of molesting.
+
+Some officers were one day pursuing a jackal, with a pack of dogs,
+through my grounds. The animal passed close to one of my guard, who
+cut him in two with his sword, and held up the reeking blade in
+triumph to the indignant cavalcade; who, when they came up, were
+ready to eat him alive. 'What have I done', said the poor man, 'to
+offend you?' 'Have you not killed the jackal?' shouted the whipper-
+in, in a fury.
+
+'Of course I have; but were you not all trying to kill him?' replied
+the poor man. He thought their only object had been to kill the
+jackal, as they would have killed a serpent, merely because he was a
+mischievous and noisy beast.
+
+The European traveller in India is often in doubt whether the
+peacocks, partridges, and ducks, which he finds round populous
+villages, are tame or wild, till he asks some of the villagers
+themselves, so assured of safety do these creatures become, and so
+willing to take advantage of it for the food they find in the
+suburbs. They very soon find the difference, however, between the
+white-faced visitor and the dark-faced inhabitants. There is a fine
+date-tree overhanging a kind of school at the end of one of the
+streets in the town of Jubbulpore, quite covered with the nests of
+the baya birds; and they are seen, every day and all day, fluttering
+and chirping about there in scores, while the noisy children at their
+play fill the street below, almost within arm's length of them. I
+have often thought that such a tree so peopled at the door of a
+school in England might work a great revolution in the early habits
+and propensities of the youth educated in it. The European traveller
+is often amused to see the pariah dog[5] squatted close in front of
+the traveller during the whole time he is occupied in cooking and
+eating his dinner, under a tree by the roadside, assured that he
+shall have at least a part of the last cake thrown to him by the
+stranger, instead of a stick or a stone. The stranger regards him
+with complacency, as one that reposes a quiet confidence in his
+charitable disposition, and flings towards him the whole or part of
+his last cake, as if his meal had put him in the best possible humour
+with him and all the world.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835. The name of the village is given in the author's
+text as Seindpore. It seems to be the place which is called Siedpore
+in the next chapter.
+
+2. The common weaver bird, _Phoceus baya, Blyth. 'Ploceinae_, the
+weaver birds. . . . They build nests like a crucible, with the
+opening downwards, and usually attach them to the tender branches of
+a tree hanging over a well or tank. _P. baya_ is found throughout
+India; its nest is made of grasses and strips of the plantain or
+date-palm stripped while green. It is easily tamed and taught some
+tricks, such as to load and fire a toy cannon, to pick up a ring,
+&c,' (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., 1885, s.v. 'Ploceinae').
+
+3. _Francolinus vulgaris_; a capital game bird.
+
+4. Canto V, stanza 22, line 3.
+
+5. The author spells the word Pareear. The editor has used the form
+now customary. The word is the Tamil appellation of a large body of
+the population of Southern India, which stands outside the orthodox
+Hindoo castes, but has a caste organization of its own. Europeans
+apply the term to the low-caste mongrel dogs which infest villages
+and towns throughout India. See Yule and Burnell, _Glossary of Anglo-
+Indian Words (Hobson-Jobson)_, in either edition, s.v.; and Dubois,
+_Hindu Manners, &c._, 3rd ed. (1906, index, s.v.).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 19
+
+
+Feeding Pilgrims--Marriage of a Stone with a Shrub.
+
+At Sayyidpur[1] we encamped in a pretty little mango grove, and here
+I had a visit from my old friend Janki Sewak, the high priest of the
+great temple that projects into the Sagar lake, and is called
+Bindraban.[2] He has two villages rent free, worth a thousand rupees
+a year; collects something more through his numerous disciples, who
+wander over the country; and spends the whole in feeding all the
+members of his fraternity (Bairagis), devotees of Vishnu, as they
+pass his temple in their pilgrimages. Every one who comes is
+considered entitled to a good meal and a night's lodging; and he has
+to feed and lodge about a hundred a day. He is a man of very pleasing
+manners and gentle disposition, and everybody likes him. He was on
+his return from the town of Ludhaura,[3] where he had been, at the
+invitation of the Raja of Orchha, to assist at the celebration of the
+marriage of Salagram with the Tulasi,[4] which there takes place
+every year under the auspices and at the expense of the Raja, who
+must be present. 'Salagrams'[5] are rounded pebbles which contain the
+impressions of ammonites, and are washed down into the plains of
+India by the rivers from the limestone rocks in which these shells
+are imbedded in the mountains of the Himalaya.[6] The Spiti valley[7]
+contains an immense deposit of fossil ammonites and belemnites[8] in
+limestone rocks, now elevated above sixteen thousand feet above the
+level of the sea; and from such beds as these are brought down the
+fragments, which, when rounded in their course, the poor Hindoo takes
+for representatives of Vishnu, the preserving god of the Hindoo
+triad. The Salagram is the only stone idol among the Hindoos that is
+_essentially sacred_, and entitled to divine honours without the
+ceremonies of consecration.[9] It is everywhere held most sacred.
+During the war against Nepal,[10] Captain B------, who commanded a
+reconnoitring party from the division in which I served, one day
+brought back to camp some four or five Salagrams, which he had found
+at the hut of some priest within the enemy's frontier. He called for
+a large stone and hammer, and proceeded to examine them. The Hindoos
+were all in a dreadful state of consternation, and expected to see
+the earth open and swallow up the whole camp, while he sat calmly
+cracking _their gods_ with his hammer, as he would have cracked so
+many walnuts. The Tulasi is a small sacred shrub (_Ocymum sanctum_),
+which is a metamorphosis of Sita, the wife of Rama, the seventh
+incarnation of Vishnu.
+
+This little _pebble_ is every year married to this little _shrub_;
+and the high priest told me that on the present occasion the
+procession consisted of eight elephants, twelve hundred camels, four
+thousand horses, all mounted and elegantly caparisoned. On the
+leading elephant of this _cortege_, and the most sumptuously
+decorated, was carried the _pebble god_, who was taken to pay his
+bridal visit (barat) to the little _shrub goddess_. All the
+ceremonies of a regular marriage are gone through; and, when
+completed, the bride and bridegroom are left to repose together in
+the temple of Ludhaura[11] till the next season. 'Above a hundred
+thousand people', the priest said, 'were present at the ceremony this
+year at the Raja's invitation, and feasted upon his bounty.'[12]
+
+The old man and I got into a conversation upon the characters of
+different governments, and their effects upon the people; and he said
+that bad governments would sooner or later be always put down by the
+deity; and quoted this verse, which I took down with my pencil:
+
+ Tulasi, gharib na satae,
+ Buri gharib ki hai;
+ Mari khal ke phunk se
+ Loha bhasm ho jae.
+
+'Oh, Raja Tulasi! oppress not the poor; for the groans of the
+wretched bring retribution from heaven. The contemptible skin (in the
+smith's bellows) in time melts away the hardest iron.'[13]
+
+On leaving our tents in the morning, we found the ground all round
+white with hoar frost, as we had found it for several mornings
+before;[14] and a little canary bird, one of the two which travelled
+in my wife's palankeen, having, by the carelessness of the servants
+been put upon the top without any covering to the cage, was killed by
+the cold, to her great affliction. All attempts to restore it to life
+by the warmth of her bosom were fruitless.
+
+On the 7th[15] we came nine miles to Bamhauri over a soil still
+basaltic, though less rich, reposing upon syenite, which frequently
+rises and protrudes its head above the surface, which is partially
+and badly cultivated, and scantily peopled. The silent signs of bad
+government could not be more manifest. All the extensive plains,
+covered with fine long grass, which is rotting in the ground from
+want of domestic cattle or distant markets. Here, as in every other
+part of Central India, the people have a great variety of good
+spontaneous, but few cultivated, grasses. They understand the
+character and qualities of these grasses extremely well. They find
+some thrive best in dry, and some in wet seasons; and that of
+inferior quality is often prized most because it thrives best when
+other kinds cannot thrive at all, from an excess or a deficiency of
+rain. When cut green they all make good hay, and have the common
+denomination of 'sahia'. The finest of these grasses are two which
+are generally found growing spontaneously together, and are often
+cultivated together-'kel' and 'musel'; the third 'parwana'; fourth
+'bhawar', or 'guniar'; fifth 'saina'.[16]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Spelled Siedpore in the author's text.
+
+2. More correctly Brindaban (Vrindavana). The name originally belongs
+to one of the most sacred spots in India, situated near Mathura
+(Muttra) on the Jumna, and the reputed scene of the dalliance between
+Krishna and the milkmaids (Gopis); also associated with the legend
+Rama.
+
+3. Twenty-seven miles north-west of Tehri in the Orchha State.
+
+4. The Tulasi plant, or basil, _Ocymum sanctum_, is 'not merely
+sacred to Vishnu or to his wife Lakshmi; it is pervaded by the
+essence of these deities, and itself worshipped as a deity and prayed
+to accordingly. . . . The Tulasi is the object of more adoration than
+any other plant at present worshipped in India. . . .It is to be
+found in almost every respectable household throughout India. It is a
+small shrub, not too big to be cultivated in a good-sized flower-pot,
+and often placed in rooms. Generally, however, it is planted in the
+courtyard of a well-to-do man's house, with a space round it for
+reverential circumambulation. In real fact the Tulasi is _par
+excellence_ a domestic divinity, or rather, perhaps, a woman's
+divinity' (M. Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p.
+333).
+
+5. The fossil ammonites found in India include at least fifteen
+species. They occur between Trichinopoly and Pondicherry as well as
+in the Himalayan rocks. They are particularly abundant in the river
+Gandak, which rises near Dhaulagiri in Nepal, and falls into the
+Ganges near Patna. The upper course of this river is consequently
+called Salagrami. Various forms of the fossils are supposed to
+represent various _avatars_ of Vishnu (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd
+ed., s.v. 'Ammonite', 'Gandak', 'Salagrama'; M. Williams, _Religious
+Thought and Life in India_, pp. 69, 349). A good account of the
+reverence paid to both _salagrams_ and the _tulasi_ plant will be
+found in Dubois, _Hindu Manners_, &c., 3rd ed. (1906), pp. 648-51.
+
+6. The author writes 'Himmalah'. The current spelling Himalaya is
+correct, but the word should be pronounced Himalaya. It means 'abode
+of snow'.
+
+7. The north-eastern corner of the Punjab, an elevated valley along
+the course of the Spiti or the Li river, a tributary of the Satlaj.
+
+8. Fossils of the genus Belemnites and related genera are common,
+like the ammonites, near Trichinopoly, as well as in the Himalaya.
+
+9. This statement is not quite correct. The pebbles representing the
+Linga of Siva, called Bana-linga, or Vana-linga, and apparently of
+white quartz, which are found in the Nerbudda river, enjoy the same
+distinction. 'Both are held to be of their own nature pervaded by the
+special presence of the deity, and need no consecration. Offerings
+made to these pebbles--such, for instance, as Bilwa leaves laid on
+the white stone of Vishnu--are believed to confer extraordinary
+merit' (M. Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 69).
+
+10. In 1814-16.
+
+11. 'Sadora' in author's text, which seems to be a misprint for
+Ludora or Ludhaura.
+
+12. The Tulasi shrub is sometimes married to an image of Krishna,
+instead of to the salagrama, in Western India (M. Williams,
+_Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 334). Compare the account
+of the marriage between the mango-tree and the jasmine, _ante_,
+Chapter 5, Note [3].
+
+13. These Hindi verses are incorrectly printed, and loosely rendered
+by the author. The translation of the text, after necessary
+emendation, is: 'Tulasi, oppress not the poor; evil is the lot of the
+poor. From the blast of the dead hide iron becomes ashes.' Mr. W.
+Crooke informs me that the verses are found in the Kabirki Sakhi, and
+are attributable to Kabir Das, rather than to Tulasi Das. But the
+authorship of such verses is very uncertain. Mr. Crooke further
+observes that the lines as given in the text do not scan, and that
+the better version is:
+
+ Durbal ko na sataiye,
+ Jaki mati hai;
+ Mue khal ke sans se
+ Sar bhasm ho jae.
+
+_Sar_ means iron. The author was, of course, mistaken in supposing
+the poet Tulasi Das to be a Raja. As usual in Hindi verse, the poet
+addresses himself by name.
+
+14. Such slight frosts are common in Bundelkhand, especially near the
+rivers, in January, but only last for a few mornings. They often
+cause great damage to the more delicate crops. The weather becomes
+hot in February.
+
+15. December, 1835.
+
+16. 'Musel' is a very sweet-scented grass, highly esteemed as fodder.
+It belongs to the genus _Anthistiria_; the species is either
+_cimicina_ or _prostrata_. 'Bhawar' is probably the 'bhaunr' of
+Edgeworth's list, _Anthistiria scandens_. I cannot identify the other
+grasses named in the text. The haycocks in Bundelkhand are a pleasant
+sight to English eyes. Edgeworth's list of plants found in the Banda
+district, as revised by Messrs. Waterfield and Atkinson, is given in
+_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. i, pp. 78-86.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 20
+
+
+The Men-Tigers.
+
+ Ram Chand Rao, commonly called the Sarimant, chief of Deori,[1] here
+overtook me. He came out from Sagar to visit me at Dhamoni[2] and,
+not reaching that place in time, came on after me. He held Deori
+under the Peshwa, as the Sagar chief held Sagar, for the payment of
+the public establishments kept up by the local administration. It
+yielded him about ten thousand a year, and, when we took possession
+of the country, he got an estate in the Sagar district, in rent-free
+tenure, estimated at fifteen hundred a year. This is equal to about
+six thousand pounds a year in England. The tastes of native gentlemen
+lead them always to expend the greater part of their incomes in the
+wages of trains of followers of all descriptions, and in horses,
+elephants, &c.; and labour and the subsistence of labour are about
+four times cheaper in India than in England. By the breaking up of
+public establishments, and consequent diminution of the local demand
+for agricultural produce, the value of land throughout all Central
+India, after the termination of the Mahratha War in 1817, fell by
+degrees thirty per cent.; and, among the rest, that of my poor friend
+the Sarimant. While I had the civil charge of the Sagar district in
+1831 I represented this case of hardship; and Government, in the
+spirit of liberality which has generally characterized their measures
+in this part of India, made up to him the difference between what he
+actually received and what they had intended to give him; and he has
+ever since felt grateful to me.[3] He is a very small man, not more
+than five feet high, but he has the handsomest face I have almost
+ever seen, and his manners are those of the most perfect native
+gentleman. He came to call upon me after breakfast, and the
+conversation turned upon the number of people that had of late been
+killed by tigers between Sagar and Deori, his ancient capital, which
+lies about midway between Sagar and the Nerbudda river.
+
+One of his followers, who stood beside his chair, said[4] that 'when
+a tiger had killed one man he was safe, for the spirit of the man
+rode upon his head, and guided him from all danger. The spirit knew
+very well that the tiger would be watched for many days at the place
+where he had committed the homicide, and always guided him off to
+some other more secure place, when he killed other men without any
+risk to himself. He did not exactly know why the spirit of the man
+should thus befriend the beast that had killed him; but', added he,
+'there is a mischief inherent in spirits; and the better the man the
+more mischievous is his ghost, if means are not taken to put him to
+rest.' This is the popular and general belief throughout India; and
+it is supposed that the only sure mode of destroying a tiger who has
+killed many people is to begin by making offerings to the spirits of
+his victims, and thereby depriving him of their valuable services.[5]
+The belief that men are turned into tigers by eating of a root is no
+less general throughout India.
+
+The Sarimant, on being asked by me what he thought of the matter,
+observed 'there was no doubt much truth in what the man said: but he
+was himself of opinion that the tigers which now infest the wood from
+Sagar to Deori were of a different kind--in fact, that they were
+neither more nor less than men turned into tigers--a thing which took
+place in the woods of Central India much more often than people were
+aware of. The only visible difference between the two', added the
+Sarimant, 'is that the metamorphosed tiger has _no tail_, while the
+_bora_, or ordinary tiger, has a very long one. In the jungle about
+Deori', continued he, 'there is a root, which, if a man eat of, he is
+converted into a tiger on the spot; and if, in this state, he can eat
+of another, he becomes a man again--a melancholy instance of the
+former of which', said he, 'occurred, I am told, in my own father's
+family when I was an infant. His washerman, Raghu, was, like all
+washermen, a great drunkard; and, being seized with a violent desire
+to ascertain what a man felt in the state of a tiger, he went one day
+to the jungle and brought home two of these roots, and desired his
+wife to stand by with one of them, and the instant she saw him assume
+the tiger shape, to thrust it into his mouth. She consented, the
+washerman ate his root, and became instantly a tiger; but his wife
+was so terrified at the sight of her husband in this shape that she
+ran off with the antidote in her hand. Poor old Raghu took to the
+woods, and there ate a good many of his old friends from neighbouring
+villages; but he was at last shot, and recognized from the
+circumstance of his _having no tail_. You may be quite sure,'
+concluded Sarimant, 'when you hear of a tiger without a tail, that it
+is some unfortunate man who has eaten of that root, and of all the
+tigers he will be found the most mischievous.'
+
+How my friend had satisfied himself of the truth of this story I know
+not, but he religiously believes it, and so do all his attendants and
+mine; and, out of a population of thirty thousand people in the town
+of Sagar, not one would doubt the story of the washerman if he heard
+it.
+
+I was one day talking with my friend the Raja of Maihar.[6] on the
+road between Jubbulpore and Mirzapore, on the subject of the number
+of men who had been lately killed by tigers at the Katra Pass on that
+road,[7] and the best means of removing the danger. 'Nothing', said
+the Raja, 'could be more easy or more cheap than the destruction of
+these tigers, if they were of the ordinary sort; but the tigers that
+kill men by wholesale, as these do, are, you may be sure, men
+themselves converted into tigers by the force of their science, and
+such animals are of all the most unmanageable.'
+
+'And how is it. Raja Sahib, that these men convert themselves into
+tigers?'
+
+'Nothing', said he, 'is more easy than this to persons who have once
+acquired the science; but how they learn it, or what it is, we
+unlettered men know not.'
+
+'There was once a high priest of a large temple, in this very valley
+of Maihar, who was in the habit of getting himself converted into a
+tiger by the force of this science, which he had thoroughly acquired.
+He had a necklace, which one of his disciples used to throw over his
+neck the moment the tiger's form became fully developed. He had,
+however, long given up the practice, and all his old disciples had
+gone off on their pilgrimages to distant shrines, when he was one day
+seized with a violent desire to take his old form of the tiger. He
+expressed the wish to one of his new disciples, and demanded whether
+he thought he might rely on his courage to stand by and put on the
+necklace. 'Assuredly you may', said the disciple; 'such is my faith
+in you, and in the God we serve, that I fear nothing.' The high
+priest upon this put the necklace into his hand with the requisite
+instructions, and forthwith began to change his form. The disciple
+stood trembling in every limb, till he heard him give a roar that
+shook the whole edifice, when he fell flat upon his face, and dropped
+the necklace on the floor. The tiger bounded over him, and out of the
+door, and infested all the roads leading to the temple for many years
+afterwards.'
+
+'Do you think, Raja Sahib, that the old high priest is one of the
+tigers at the Katra Pass?'
+
+'No, I do not; but I think they may be all men who have become imbued
+with a little too much of the high priest's _science_--when men once
+acquire this science they can't help exercising it, though it be to
+their own ruin, and that of others.'
+
+'But, supposing them to be ordinary tigers, what is the simple plan
+you propose to put a stop to their depredations, Raja Sahib?'
+
+'I propose', said he, 'to have the spirits that guide them
+propitiated by proper prayers and offerings; for the spirit of every
+man or woman who has been killed by a tiger rides upon his head, or
+runs before him, and tells him where to go to get prey, and to avoid
+danger. Get some of the Gonds, or wild people from the jungles, who
+are well skilled in these matters--give them ten or twenty rupees,
+and bid them go and raise a small shrine, and there sacrifice to
+these spirits. The Gonds will tell them that they shall on this
+shrine have regular worship, and good sacrifices of fowls, goats, and
+pigs, every year at least, if they will but relinquish their offices
+with the tigers and be quiet. If this is done, I pledge myself', said
+the Raja, 'that the tigers will soon get killed themselves, or cease
+from killing men. If they do not, you may be quite sure that they are
+not ordinary tigers, but men turned into tigers, or that the Gonds
+have appropriated all you gave them to their own use, instead of
+applying it to conciliate the spirits of the unfortunate people.'[8]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Deori, in the Sagar district, about forty miles south-east of
+Sagar. In 1767, the town and attached tract called the Panj Mahal
+were bestowed by the Peshwa, rent-free, on Dhondo Dattatraya, a
+Maratha pundit, ancestor of the author's friend. The Panj Mahal was
+finally made part of British territory by the treaty with Sindhia in
+1860, and constitutes the District called Panch Mahals in the
+Northern Division of the Bombay Presidency. The vernacular word
+_panch_ like the Persian _panj_, means 'five'. The title Sarimant
+appears to be a popular pronunciation of the Sanskrit _srimant_ or
+_sriman_, 'fortunate', and is still used by Maratha nobles.
+
+2. _Ante_, Chapter 16, note 6. The name is here erroneously printed
+'Dhamoree' in the author's text.
+
+3. He had good reason for his gratitude, inasmuch as the depression
+in rents was merely temporary.
+
+4. An Indian chief is generally accompanied into the room by a
+confidential follower, who frequently relieves his master of the
+trouble of talking, and answers on his behalf all questions.
+
+5. When Agrippina, in her rage with her son Nero, threatens to take
+her stepson, Britannicus, to the camp of the Legion, and there assert
+his right to the throne, she invokes the spirit of his father, whom
+she had poisoned, and the manes of the Silani, whom she had murdered.
+'Simul attendere manus, aggerere probra; consecratum Claudium,
+infernos Silanorum manes invocare, et tot invita fari nova.'-
+(Tacitus, lib, xviii, sec. 14.) [W. H. S.] The quotation is from the
+_Annals_. Another reading of the concluding words is 'et tot irrita
+facinora', which gives much better sense. In the author's text
+'aggerere' is printed 'aggere'.
+
+6. A small principality, detached from the Panna State. Its chief
+town is about one hundred miles north-east of Jubbulpore, on the
+route from Allahabad to Jubbulpore. The state is now traversed by the
+East Indian Railway. It is under the superintendence of the Political
+Agent of Baghelkhand, resident at Riwa.
+
+7. This pass is sixty-three miles south-east of Allahabad, on the
+road from that city to Riwa.
+
+8. These myths are based on the well-known facts that man-eating
+tigers are few, and exceptionally wary and cunning. The conditions
+which predispose a tiger to man-eating have been much discussed. It
+seems to be established that the animals which seek human prey are
+generally, though not invariably, those which, owing to old wounds or
+other physical defects, are unable to attack with confidence the
+stronger animals. The conversations given in the text are excellent
+illustrations of the mode of formation of modern myths, and of the
+kind of reasoning which satisfies the mind of the unconscious myth-
+maker.
+
+The text may be compared with the following passage from the _Journey
+through the Kingdom of Oudh_ (vol. i, p. 124): 'I asked him (the Raja
+of Balrampur), whether the people in the Tarai forest were still
+afraid to point out tigers to sportsmen. "I was lately out with a
+party after a tiger", he said, "which had killed a cowherd, but his
+companions refused to point out any trace of him, saying that their
+relative's spirit must be now riding upon his head, to guide him from
+all danger, and we should have no chance of shooting him. We did
+shoot him, however", said the Raja exultingly, "and they were all
+afterwards very glad of it. The tigers in the Tarai do not often kill
+men, sir, for they find plenty of deer and cattle to eat,"'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 21
+
+
+Burning of Deori by a Freebooter--A Suttee.
+
+Sarimant had been one of the few who escaped from the flames which
+consumed his capital of Deori in the month of April 1813, and were
+supposed to have destroyed thirty thousand souls. I asked him to tell
+me how this happened, and he referred me to his attendant, a learned
+old pundit, Ram Chand, who stood by his side, as he was himself, he
+said, then only five years of age, and could recollect nothing of it.
+
+'Mardan Singh,' said the pundit, 'the father of Raja Arpan Singh,
+whom you saw at Seori, was then our neighbour, reigning over Garha
+Kota;[1] and he had a worthless nephew, Zalim Singh, who had
+collected together an army of five thousand men, in the hope of
+getting a little principality for himself in the general scramble for
+dominion incident on the rise of the Pindharis and Amir Khan,[2] and
+the destruction of all balance of power among the great sovereigns of
+Central India. He came to attack our capital, which was an emporium
+of considerable trade and the seat of many useful manufactures, in
+the expectation of being able to squeeze out of us a good sum to aid
+him in his enterprise. While his troops blocked up every gate, fire
+was, by accident, set to the fence of some man's garden within. There
+had been no rain for six months; and everything was so much dried up
+that the flames spread rapidly; and, though there was no wind when
+they began, it soon blew a gale. The Sarimant was then a little boy
+with his mother in the fortress, where she lived with his father[3]
+and nine other relations. The flames soon extended to the fortress,
+and the powder-magazine blew up. The house in which they lived was
+burned down, and every soul, except the lieutenant [_sic_] himself,
+perished in it. His mother tried to bear him off in her arms, but
+fell down in her struggle to get out with him and died. His nurse,
+Tulsi Kurmin,[4] snatched him up, and ran with him outside of the
+fortress to the bank of the river, where she made him over unhurt to
+Hariram, the Marwari merchant.[5] He was mounted on a good horse,
+and, making off across the river, he carried him safely to his
+friends at Gaurjhamar; but poor Tulsi the Kurmin fell down exhausted
+when she saw her charge safe, and died.
+
+'The wind appeared to blow in upon the poor devoted city from every
+side; and the troops of Zalim Singh, who at first prevented the
+people from rushing out at the gates, made off in a panic at the
+horrors before them. All our establishments had been driven into the
+city at the approach of Zalim Singh's troops; and scores of
+elephants, hundreds of camels, and thousands of horses and ponies
+perished in the flames, besides twenty-five thousand souls. Only
+about five thousand persons escaped out of thirty thousand, and these
+were reduced to beggary and wretchedness by the loss of their dearest
+relations and their property. At the time the flames first began to
+spread, an immense crowd of people had assembled under the fortress
+on the bank of the Sonar river to see the widow of a soldier burn
+herself. Her husband had been shot by one of Zalim Singh's soldiers
+in the morning; and before midday she was by the side of his body on
+the funeral pile. People, as usual, begged her to tell them what
+would happen, and she replied, "The city will know in less than four
+hours"; in less than four hours the whole city had been reduced to
+ashes; and we all concluded that, since the event was so clearly
+foretold, it must have been decreed by God.'[6]
+
+'No doubt it was,' said Sarimant; 'how could it otherwise happen? Do
+not all events depend upon His will? Had it not been His will to save
+me, how could poor Tulsi the Kurmin have carried me upon her
+shoulders through such a scene as this, when every other member of
+our family perished?'
+
+'No doubt', said Ram Chand, 'all these things are brought about by
+the will of God, and it is not for us to ask why.'[7]
+
+I have heard this event described by many other people, and I believe
+the account of the old pundit to be a very fair one.
+
+One day, in October 1833, the horse of the district surgeon, Doctor
+Spry, as he was mounting him, reared, fell back with his head upon a
+stone, and died upon the spot. The doctor was not much hurt, and the
+little Sarimant called a few days after, and offered his
+congratulations upon his narrow escape. The cause of so quiet a horse
+rearing at this time, when he had never been known to do so before,
+was discussed; and he said that there could be no doubt that the
+horse, or the doctor himself, must have seen some unlucky face before
+he mounted that morning--that he had been in many places in his life,
+but in none where a man was liable to see so many ugly or unfortunate
+faces; and, for his part, he never left his house till an hour after
+sunrise, lest he should encounter them.[8]
+
+Many natives were present, and every one seemed to consider the
+Sarimant's explanation of the cause quite satisfactory and
+philosophical. Some days after, Spry was going down to sleep in the
+bungalow where the accident happened. His native assistant and all
+his servants came and prayed that he would not attempt to sleep in
+the bungalow, as they were sure the horse must have been frightened
+by a ghost, and quoted several instances of ghosts appearing to
+people there. He, however, slept in the bungalow, and, to their great
+astonishment, saw no ghost and suffered no evil.[9]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. A fortress, twenty-five miles cast of Sagar, captured by a
+British force under General Watson in October 1818, For Seori and
+Raja Arjun Singh see _ante_, Chapter 17, text by notes 1 and 4.
+
+2. Amir Khan, a leader of predatory horse, has been justly described
+as 'one of the most atrocious villains that India ever produced'. He
+first came into notice in 1804, as an officer in Holkar's service,
+and in the following year opposed Lord Lake at Bharatpur. A treaty
+made with him in 1817 put an end to his activity. The Pindharis were
+organized bands of mounted robbers, who desolated Northern and
+Central India during the period of anarchy which followed the
+dissolution of the Moghal empire. They were associated with the
+Marathas in the war which terminated with the capture of Asirgarh in
+April 1819. In the same year the Pindhari forces ceased to exist as a
+distinct and recognized, body.
+
+ My father was an Afghan, and came from Kandahar:
+ He rode with Nawab Amir Khan in the old Maratha war:
+ From the Dekhan to the Himalay, five hundred of one clan,
+ They asked no leave of prince or chief as they swept thro'
+Hindusthan.
+
+(Sir A. Lyall, 'The Old Pindaree'; in _Verses written in India_,
+London, 1889).
+
+3. Named Govind Rao. The proper name of the Sarimant was Ramchand Rao
+(_C.P. Gazetteer_, 1870).
+
+4. Kurmin is the feminine of Kurmi, the name of a widely spread and
+most industrious agricultural caste, closely connected, at least in
+Bundelkhand, with the similar Lodhi caste.
+
+5. Marwar, or Jodhpur, is one of the leading states in Rajputana. It
+supplies the rest of India with many of the keenest merchants and
+bankers.
+
+6. See _ante_, Chapter 4, note 6, for remarks on the supposed
+prophetic gifts of sati women.
+
+7. Such feelings of resignation to the Divine will, or fate, are
+common alike to Hindoos and Musalmans.
+
+8. 'One of a wife's duties should be to keep all bad omens out of her
+husband's way, or manage to make him look at something lucky in the
+early morning. . . . Different lists of inauspicious objects are
+given, which, if looked upon in the early morning, might cause
+disaster' (M. Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p.
+397).
+
+9. Dr. Spry died in 1842, and his estate was administered by the
+author. The doctor's works are described _ante_, Chapter 14, note 16.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 22
+
+
+Interview with the Raja who marries the Stone to the Shrub--Order of
+the Moon and the Fish.
+
+On the 8th,[1] after a march of twelve miles, we readied Tehri, the
+present capital of the Raja of Orchha.[2] Our road lay over an
+undulating surface of soil composed of the detritus of the syenitic
+rock, and poor, both from its quality and want of depth. About three
+miles from our last territory we entered the boundary of the Orchha
+Raja's territory, at the village of Aslon, which has a very pretty
+little fortified castle, built upon ground slightly elevated in the
+midst of an open grass plain.
+
+This, and all the villages we have lately passed, are built upon the
+bare back of the syenitic rock, which seems to rise to the surface in
+large but gentle swells, like the broad waves of the ocean in a calm
+after a storm. A great difference appeared to me to be observable
+between the minds and manners of the people among whom we were now
+travelling, and those of the people of the Sagar and Nerbudda
+territories. They seemed here to want the urbanity and intelligence
+we find among our subjects in the latter quarters.
+
+The apparent stupidity of the people when questioned upon points the
+most interesting to them, regarding their history, their agriculture,
+their tanks, and temples, was most provoking; and their manners
+seemed to me more rude and clownish than those of people in any other
+part of India I had travelled over. I asked my little friend the
+Sarimant, who rode with me, what he thought of this.
+
+'I think', said he, 'that it arises from the harsh character of the
+government under which they live; it makes every man wish to appear a
+fool, in order that he may be thought a beggar and not worth the
+plundering.'
+
+'It strikes me, my friend Sarimant, that their government has made
+them in reality the beggars and the fools that they appear to be.'
+
+'God only knows', said Sarimant; 'certain it is that they are neither
+in mind nor in manners what the people of our districts are.'
+
+The Raja had no notice of our approach till intimation of it reached
+him at Ludhaura, the day before we came in. He was there resting, and
+dismissing the people after the ceremonies of the marriage between
+the Salagram and the Tulasi. Ludhaura is twenty-seven miles north-
+west of Tehri, on the opposite side from that on which I was
+approaching. He sent off two men on camels with a 'kharita'
+(letter),[3] requesting that I would let him know my movements, and
+arrange a meeting in a manner that might prevent his appearing
+wanting in respect and hospitality; that is, in plain terms, which he
+was too polite to use, that I would consent to remain one stage from
+his capital, till he could return and meet me half-way, with all due
+pomp and ceremony. These men reached me at Bamhauri,[4] a distance of
+thirty-nine miles, in the evening, and I sent back a kharita, which
+reached him by relays of camels before midnight. He set out for his
+capital to receive me, and, as I would not wait to be met half-way in
+due form, he reached his palace, and we reached our tents at the same
+time, under a salute from his two brass field-pieces.
+
+We halted at Tehri on the 9th, and about eleven o'clock the Raja came
+to pay his visit of congratulation, with a magnificent _cortege_ of
+elephants, camels, and horses, all mounted and splendidly
+caparisoned, and the noise of his band was deafening. I had had both
+my tents pitched, and one of them handsomely fitted up, as it always
+is, for occasions of ceremony like the present. He came to within
+twenty paces of the door on his elephant, and from its back, as it
+sat down, he entered his splendid litter, without alighting on the
+ground.[5] In this vehicle he was brought to my tent door, where I
+received him, and, after the usual embraces, conducted him up through
+two rows of chairs, placed for his followers of distinction and my
+own, who are always anxious to assist in ceremonies like these.
+
+ At the head of this lane we sat upon chairs placed across, and
+facing down the middle of the two rows; and we conversed upon all the
+subjects usually introduced on such occasions, but more especially
+upon the august ceremonies of the marriage of the Salagram with the
+Tulasi, in which his highness had been so _piously_ engaged at
+Ludhaura.[6] After he had sat with me an hour and a half he took his
+leave, and I conducted him to the door, whence he was carried to his
+elephant in his litter, from which he mounted without touching the
+ground.
+
+This litter is called a 'nalki'. It is one of the three great
+insignia which the Mogul Emperors of Delhi conferred upon independent
+princes of the first class, and could never be used by any person
+upon whom, or upon whose ancestors, they had not been so conferred.
+These were the nalki, the order of the Fish, and the fan of the
+peacock's feathers. These insignia could be used only by the prince
+who inherited the sovereignty of the one on whom they had been
+originally conferred. The order of the Fish, or Mahi Maratib, was
+first instituted by Khusru Parviz, King of Persia, and grandson of
+the celebrated Naushirvan the Just. Having been deposed by his
+general, Bahram, Khusru fled for protection to the Greek emperor,
+Maurice, whose daughter, Shirin, he married, and he was sent back to
+Persia, with an army under the command of Narses, who placed him on
+the throne of his ancestors in the year A.D. 591.[7] He ascertained
+from his astrologer, Araz Khushasp, that when he ascended the throne
+the moon was in the constellation of the Fish, and he gave orders to
+have two balls made of polished steel, which were to be called
+Kaukabas (planets),[8] and mounted on long poles. These two planets,
+with large fish made of gold, upon a third pole in the centre, were
+ordered to be carried in all regal processions immediately after the
+king, and before the prime minister, whose _cortege_ always followed
+immediately after that of the king. The two kaukabas are now
+generally made of copper, and plated, and in the shape of a jar,
+instead of quite round as at first; but the fish is still made of
+gold. Two planets are always considered necessary to one fish, and
+they are still carried in all processions between the prince and his
+prime minister.
+
+The court of this prince Khusru Parviz was celebrated throughout the
+East for its splendour and magnificence; and the chaste love of the
+poet Farhad for his beautiful queen Shirin is the theme of almost as
+many poems in the East as that of Petrarch's for Laura is in the
+West. Nuh Samani, who ascended the throne of Persia after the
+Sassanians,[9] ascertained that the moon was in the sign Leo at the
+time of his accession, and ordered that the gold head of a lion
+should thenceforward accompany the fishes, and the two balls, in all
+royal processions. The Persian order of knighthood is, therefore,
+that of the Fish, the Moon, and the Lion, and not the Lion and Sun,
+as generally supposed. The emperors of the house of Taimur in
+Hindustan assumed the right of conferring the order upon all whom
+they pleased, and they conferred it upon the great territorial
+sovereigns of the country without distinction as to religion. He only
+who inherits the sovereignty can wear the order, and I believe no
+prince would venture to wear or carry the order who was not generally
+reputed to have received the investiture from one of the emperors of
+Delhi.[10]
+
+As I could not wait another day, it was determined that I should
+return his visit in the afternoon; and about four o'clock we set out
+upon our elephant--Lieutenant Thomas, Sarimant, and myself, attended
+by all my troopers and those of Sarimant. We had our silver-stick men
+with us; but still all made a sorry figure compared with the splendid
+_cortege_ of the Raja. We dismounted at the foot of the stairs
+leading to the Raja's hall of audience, and were there met by his two
+chief officers of state, who conducted us to the entrance of the
+hall, when we were received by the Raja himself, who led us up
+through two rows of chairs laid out exactly as mine had been in the
+morning. In front were assembled a party of native comedians, who
+exhibited a few scenes of the insolence of office in the attendants
+of great men, and the obtrusive importunity of place-seekers, in a
+manner that pleased us much more than a dance would have done.
+Conversation was kept up very well, and the visit passed off without
+any feeling of ennui, or anything whatever to recollect with regret.
+The ladies looked at us from their apartments through gratings, and
+without our being able to see them very distinctly. We were anxious
+to see the tombs of the late Raja, the elder brother of the present,
+who lately died, and that of his son, which are in progress in a very
+fine garden outside the city walls, and, in consequence, we did not
+sit above half an hour. The Raja conducted us to the head of the
+stairs, and the same two officers attended us to the bottom, and
+mounted their horses, and attended us to the tombs.
+
+After the dust of the town raised by the immense crowd that attended
+us, and the ceremonies of the day, a walk in this beautiful garden
+was very agreeable, and I prolonged it till dark. The Raja had given
+orders to have all the cisterns filled during our stay, under the
+impression that we should wish to see the garden; and, as soon as we
+entered, the _jets d'eau_ poured into the air their little floods
+from a hundred mouths. Our old cicerone told us that, if we would
+take the old capital of Orchha in our way, we might there see the
+thing in perfection, and amidst the deluges of the rains of Sawan and
+Bhadon (July and August) see the lightning and hear the thunder. The
+Rajas of this, the oldest principality in Bundelkhand, were all
+formerly buried or burned at the old capital of Orchha, even after
+they had changed their residence to Tehri. These tombs over the ashes
+of the Raja, his wife, and son, are the first that have been built at
+Tehri, where their posterity are all to repose in future.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. The State of Orchha, also known as Tehri or Tikamgarh, situated to
+the south of the Jhansi district, is the oldest and the highest in
+rank of the Bundela principalities. The town of Tehri is seventy-two
+miles north-west of Sagar. The town of Orchha, founded in A.D. 1531,
+is 131 miles north of Sagar, and about forty miles from Tehri.
+Tikamgarh is the fort of Tehri.
+
+3. A _kharita_ is a letter enclosed in a bag of rich brocade,
+contained in another of fine muslin. The mouth is tied with a string
+of silk, to which hangs suspended the great seal, which is a flat
+round mass of sealing-wax, with the seal impressed on each side of
+it. This is the kind of letter which passes between natives of great
+rank in India, and between them and the public functionaries of
+Government. [W. H. S.]
+
+4. _Ante_, Chapter 19, after note [15].
+
+5. The Raja's unwillingness to touch the ground is an example of a
+very widespread and primitive belief. 'Two of those rules or taboos
+by which . . . the life of divine kings or priests is regulated. The
+first is . . . that the divine personage may not touch the ground
+with his foot.' This prohibition applies to the Mikado of Japan and
+many other sacred personages. 'The second rule is that the sun may
+not shine upon the sacred person.' This second rule explains the use
+of the umbrella as a royal appendage in India and Burma. (Frazer,
+_The Golden Bough_, 1st ed., vol. ii, pp. 224, 225.)
+
+6 _Ante_, Chapter 19, note 3.
+
+7. During the time he remained the guest of the emperor he resided at
+Hierapolis, and did not visit Constantinople. The Greeks do not admit
+that Shirin was the daughter of Maurice, though a Roman by birth and
+a Christian by religion. The Persians and Turks speak of her as the
+emperor's daughter. [W. H. S.] Khusru Parviz (Eberwiz), or Khusru II,
+reigned as King of Persia from A.D. 591 to 628. In the course of his
+wars he took Jerusalem, and reduced Egypt, and a large part of
+northern Africa, extending for a time the bounds of the Persian
+empire to the Aegean and the Nile. Khusru I, surnamed Naushirvan, or
+(more correctly) Anushirvan, reigned from A.D. 531 to 579. His
+successful wars with the Romans and his vigorous internal
+administration captivated the Oriental imagination, and he is
+generally spoken of as Adil, or The Just. His name has become
+proverbial, and to describe a superior as rivalling Naushirvan in
+justice is a commonplace of flattery. The prophet Muhammad was born
+during his reign, and was proud of the fact. The alleged expedition
+of Naushirvan into India is discredited by the best modern writers.
+Gibbon tells the story of the wars between the two Khusrus and the
+Romans in his forty-sixth chapter, and a critical history of the
+reigns of both Khusru (Khosrau) I and Khusru II will be found in
+Professor Rawlinson's _Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy_ (London,
+1876). European authors have, until recently, generally written the
+name Khusru in its Greek form as Chosroes. The name of Shirin is also
+written Sira.
+
+'With the name of Shirin and the rock of Bahistun the Persians have
+associated one of those poetic romances so dear to the national
+genius. Ferhad, the most famous sculptor of his time, who was very
+likely employed by Chosroes II to execute these bas-reliefs, is said
+in the legend to have fallen madly in love with Shirin, and to have
+received a promise of her from the king, if he would cut through the
+rock of Behistun, and divert a stream to the Kermanshah plain. The
+lover set to work, and had all but completed his gigantic enterprise
+(of which the remains, however interpreted, are still to be seen),
+when he was falsely informed by an emissary from the king of his
+lady's death. In despair he leaped from the rock, and was dashed to
+pieces. The legend of the unhappy lover is familiar throughout the
+East, and is used to explain many traces of rock-cutting or
+excavation as far east as Beluchistan' (_Persia and the Persian
+Question_, by the Hon. George N. Curzon, M.P. (London, 1892), vol. i,
+p. 562, note. See also Malcolm, _History of Persia_, vol. i, p. 129).
+
+8. _Kaukab_ in Arabic means 'a star'. Steingass (_Persian
+Dictionary_) defines _Kaukaba_ as 'a polished steel ball suspended to
+a long pole, and carried as an ensign before the king; a star of
+gold, silver, or tinsel, worn as ornament or sign of rank; a
+concourse of people; a royal train, retinue, cavalcade; splendour'.
+
+9. Yezdegird III (Isdigerd), the last of the Sassanians, was defeated
+in A.D. 641 at the battle of Nahavend by the Arab Noman, general of
+the Khalif Omar, and driven from his throne. The supremacy of the
+Khalifs over Persia lasted till A.D. 1258. The subordinate Samani
+dynasty ruled over Khurasan, Seistan, Balkh, and the countries of
+Trans-Oxiana in the tenth century. Two of the princes of this line
+were named Nuh, or Noah. The author probably refers to the better
+known of the two, Amir Nuh II (Malcolm, _History of Persia_, ed.
+1829, vol. i, pp. 158-66).
+
+10. The poor old blind emperor. Shah Alam, when delivered from the
+Marathas in 1803 by Lord Lake, did all he could to show his gratitude
+by conferring on his deliverer honours and titles, and among them the
+'Mahi Maratib'. The editor has been unable to discover the source of
+the author's story of the origin of the Persian order of knighthood.
+Malcolm, an excellent authority, gives the following very different
+account: 'Their sovereigns have, for many centuries, preserved as the
+peculiar arms of the country,[e] the sign or figure of Sol in the
+constellation of Leo; and this device, a lion couchant and the sun
+rising at his back, has not only been sculptured upon their
+palaces[f] and embroidered upon their banners.[g] but has been
+converted into an Order,[h] which in the form of gold and silver
+medals, has been given to such as have distinguished themselves
+against the enemies of their country.[i]
+
+_Note e_. The causes which led to the sign of Sol in Leo becoming the
+arms of Persia cannot be distinctly traced, but there is reason to
+believe that the use of this symbol is not of very great antiquity.
+We meet with it upon the coins of one of the Seljukian princes of
+Iconium; and, when this family had been destroyed by Hulaku [A.D.
+1258], the grandson of Chengiz, that prince, or his successors,
+perhaps adopted this emblem as a trophy of their conquest, whence it
+has remained ever since among the most remarkable of the royal
+insignia. A learned friend, who has a valuable collection of Oriental
+coins, and whose information and opinion have enabled me to make this
+conjecture, believes that the emblematical representation of Sol in
+Leo was first adopted by Ghias-ud-din Kai Khusru bin Kaikobad, who
+began to reign A.H. 634, A.D. 1236, and died A.H. 642, A.D. 1244; and
+this emblem, he adds, is supposed to have reference either to his own
+horoscope or to that of his queen, who was a princess of Georgia.
+
+_Note f_. Hanway states, vol. i, p. 199, that over the gate which
+forms the entrance of the palace built by Shah Abbas the Great [A.D.
+1586 to 1628] at Ashraf, in Mazenderan, are 'the arms of Persia,
+being a lion, and the sun rising behind it'.
+
+_Note g_. The emblem of the Lion and Sun is upon all the banners
+given to the regular corps of infantry lately formed. They are
+presented to the regiments with great ceremony. A mulla, or priest,
+attends, and implores the divine blessing on them.
+
+_Note h_. This order, with additional decorations, has been lately
+conferred upon several ministers and representatives of European
+Governments in alliance with Persia.
+
+_Note i_. The medals which have been struck with this symbol upon
+them have been chiefly given to the Persian officers and men of the
+regular corps who have distinguished themselves in the war with the
+Russians. An English officer, who served with these troops, informs
+me that those on whom these medals have been conferred are very proud
+of this distinction, and that all are extremely anxious to obtain
+them (_History of Persia_, ed. 1829, vol. ii, p. 406).
+
+In Curzon's figure the lion is standing, not 'couchant', as stated by
+Malcolm, and grasps a scimitar in his off forepaw.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 23
+
+
+The Raja of Orchha--Murder of his many Ministers.
+
+The present Raja, Mathura Das, succeeded his brother Bikramajit, who
+died in 1834. He had made over the government to his only son, Raja
+Bahadur, whom he almost adored; but, the young man dying some years
+before him, the father resumed the reins of government, and held them
+till his death. He was a man of considerable capacity, but of a harsh
+and unscrupulous character. His son resembled him; but the present
+Raja is a man of mild temper and disposition, though of weak
+intellect. The fate of the last three prime ministers will show the
+character of the Raja and his son, and the nature of their rule.
+
+The minister at the time the old man made over the reins of
+government to his son was Khanju Purohit.[1] Wishing to get rid of
+him a few years after, this son, Raja Bahadur, employed Muhram Singh,
+one of his feudal Rajput barons, to assassinate him. As a reward for
+this service he received the seals of office; and the Raja
+confiscated all the property of the deceased, amounting to four lakhs
+of rupees[2] and resumed the whole of the estates held by the family.
+
+The young Raja died soon after; and his father, when he resumed the
+reins of government, wishing to remove the new minister, got him
+assassinated by Gambhir Singh, another feudal Rajput baron, who, as
+his reward, received in his turn the seals of office. This man was a
+most atrocious villain, and employed the public establishments of his
+chief to plunder travellers on the high road. In 1833 his followers
+robbed four men, who were carrying treasure to the amount of ten
+thousand rupees from Sagar to Jhansi through Tehri, and intended to
+murder them; but, by the sagacity of one of the party, and a lucky
+accident, they escaped, made their way back to Sagar, and complained
+to the magistrate.[3] The[4] minister discovered the nature of their
+burdens as they lodged at Tehri on their way, and sent after them a
+party of soldiers, with orders to put them in the bed of a rivulet
+that separated the territory of Orchha from that of the Jhansi Raja.
+One of the treasure party discovered their object; and, on reaching
+the bank of the rivulet in a deep grass jungle, he threw down his
+bundle, dashed unperceived through the grass, and reached a party of
+travellers whom he saw ascending a hill about half a mile in advance.
+The myrmidons of the minister, when they found that one had escaped,
+were afraid to murder the others, but took their treasure. In spite
+of great obstacles, and with much danger to the families of three of
+those men, who resided in the capital of Tehri, the magistrate of
+Sagar brought the crime home to the minister, and the Raja, anxious
+to avail himself of the occasion to fill his coffers, got him
+assassinated. The Raja was then about eighty years of age, and his
+minister was a strong, athletic, and brave man. One morning while he
+was sitting with him in private conversation, the former pretended a
+wish to drink some of the water in which his household god had been
+washed (the 'chandan mirt'),[5] and begged the minister to go and
+fetch it from the place where it stood by the side of the idol in the
+court of the palace. As a man cannot take his sword before the idol,
+the minister put it down, as the Raja knew he would, and going to the
+idol, prostrated himself before it preparatory to taking away the
+water. In that state he was cut down by Bihari,[6] another feudal
+Rajput baron, who aspired to the seals, and some of his friends, who
+had been placed there on purpose by the Raja. He obtained the seals
+by his service, and, as he was allowed to place one brother in
+command of the forces, and to make another chamberlain, he hoped to
+retain them longer than any of his predecessors had done. Gambhir
+Singh's brother, Jhujhar Singh, and the husband of his sister,
+hearing of his murder, made off, but were soon pursued and put to
+death. The widows were all three put into prison, and all the
+property and estates were confiscated. The movable property amounted
+to three lakhs of rupees.[7] The Raja boasted to the Governor-
+General's representative in Bundelkhand of this act of retributive
+justice, and pretended that it was executed merely as a punishment
+for the robbery; but it was with infinite difficulty the merchants
+could recover from him any share of the plundered property out of
+that confiscated. The Raja alleged that, according to our _rules_,
+the chief within whose boundary the robbery might have been
+committed, was obliged to make good the property. On inspection, it
+was found that the robbery was perpetrated upon the very boundary
+line, and 'in spite of pride, in erring reason's spite', the Jhansi
+Raja was made to pay one-half of the plundered treasure.
+
+The old Raja, Bikramajit, died in June, 1834; and, though his death
+had been some time expected, he no sooner breathed his last than
+charges of 'dinai', slow poison, were got up, as usual, in the zenana
+(seraglio).
+
+Here the widow of Raja Bahadur, a violent and sanguinary woman, was
+supreme; and she persuaded the present Raja, a weak old man, to take
+advantage of the funeral ceremonies to avenge the death of his
+brother. He did so; and Bihari, and his three brothers, with above
+fifty of his relations, were murdered. The widows of the four
+brothers were the only members of all the families left alive. One of
+them had a son four months old; another one of two years; the four
+brothers had no other children. Immediately after the death of their
+husbands, the two children were snatched from their mothers' breasts,
+and threatened with instant death unless their mothers pointed out
+all their ornaments and other property. They did so; and the spoilers
+having got from them property to the amount of one hundred and fifty
+thousand rupees, and been assured that there was no more, threw the
+children over the high wall, by which they were dashed to pieces. The
+poor widows were tendered as wives to four sweepers, the lowest of
+all low castes; but the tribe of sweepers would not suffer any of its
+members to take the widows of men of such high caste and station as
+wives, notwithstanding the tempting offer of five hundred rupees as a
+present, and a village in rent-free tenure.[8] I secured a promise
+while at Tehri that these poor widows should be provided for, as they
+had, up to that time, been preserved by the good feeling of a little
+community of the lowest of castes, on whom they had been bestowed as
+a punishment worse than death, inasmuch as it would disgrace the
+whole class to which they belonged, the Parihar Rajputs.[9]
+
+Tehri is a wretched town, without one respectable dwelling-house
+tenanted beyond the palace, or one merchant, or even shopkeeper of
+capital and credit. There are some tolerable houses unoccupied and in
+ruins; and there are a few neat temples built as tombs, or cenotaphs,
+in or around the city, if city it can be called. The stables and
+accommodations for all public establishments seem to be all in the
+same ruinous state as the dwelling-houses. The revenues of the state
+are spent in feeding Brahmans and religious mendicants of all kinds;
+and in such idle ceremonies as those at which the Raja and all his
+court have just been assisting--ceremonies which concentrate for a
+few days the most useless of the people of India, the devotee
+followers (Bairagis) of the god Vishnu, and tend to no purpose,
+either useful or ornamental, to the state or to the people.
+
+This marriage of a stone to a shrub, which takes place every year, is
+supposed to cost the Raja, at the most moderate estimate, three lakhs
+of rupees a year, or one-fourth of his annual revenue.[10] The
+highest officers of which his government is composed receive small
+beggarly salaries, hardly more than sufficient for their subsistence;
+and the money they make by indirect means they dare not spend like
+gentlemen, lest the Raja might be tempted to take their lives in
+order to get hold of it. All his feudal barons are of the same tribe
+as himself, that is, Rajputs; but they are divided into three clans--
+Bundelas, Pawars, and Chandels. A Bundela cannot marry a woman of his
+own clan, he must take a wife from the Pawars or Chandels; and so of
+the other two clans--no member of one can take a wife from his own
+clan, but must go to one of the other two for her. They are very much
+disposed to fight with each other, but not less are they disposed to
+unite against any third party, not of the same tribe. Braver men do
+not, I believe, exist than the Rajputs of Bundelkhand, who all carry
+their swords from their infancy.[11]
+
+It may be said of the Rajputs of Malwa and Central India generally,
+that the Mogul Emperors of Delhi made the same use of them that the
+Emperors of Germany and the Popes made of the military chiefs and
+classes of Europe during the Middle Ages. Industry and the peaceful
+arts being reduced to agriculture alone under bad government or no
+government at all, the land remained the only thing worth
+appropriating; and it accordingly became appropriated by those alone
+who had the power to do so--by the Hindoo military classes collected
+around the heads of their clans, and powerful in their union. These
+held it under the paramount power on the feudal tenure of military
+service, as militia; or it was appropriated by the paramount power
+itself, who let it out on allodial tenure to peaceful peasantry. The
+one was the Zamindari, and the other the Malguzari tenure of
+India.[12]
+
+The military chiefs, essentially either soldiers or robbers, were
+continually fighting, either against each other, or against the
+peasantry, or public officers of the paramount power, like the barons
+of Europe; and that paramount power, or its delegates, often found
+that the easiest way to crush one of these refractory vassals was to
+put him, as such men had been put in Germany, to _the ban of the
+empire_, and offer his lands, his castles, and his wealth to the
+victor. This victor brought his own clansmen to occupy the lands and
+castles of the vanquished; and, as these were the only things thought
+worth living for, the change commonly involved the utter destruction
+of the former occupants. The new possessors gave the name of their
+leader, their clan, or their former place of abode, to their new
+possession, and the tract of country over which they spread. Thus
+were founded the Bundelas, Pawars, and Chandels [_sic_] upon the ruin
+of the Chandels of Bundelkhand, the Baghelas in Baghelkhand, or Riwa,
+the Kachhwahas, the Sakarwars, and others along the Chambal river,
+and throughout all parts of India.[13]
+
+These classes have never learnt anything, or considered anything
+worth learning, but the use of the sword; and a Rajput chief, next to
+leading a gang of his own on great enterprises, delights in nothing
+so much as having a gang or two under his patronage for little ones.
+
+There is hardly a single chief of the Hindoo military class in the
+Bundelkhand or Gwalior territories, who does not keep a gang of
+robbers of some kind or other, and consider it as a very valuable and
+legitimate source of revenue; or who would not embrace with
+cordiality the leader of a gang of assassins by profession who should
+bring him home from every expedition a good horse, a good sword, or a
+valuable pair of shawls, taken from their victims. It is much the
+same in the kingdom of Oudh, where the lands are for the most part
+held by the same Hindoo military classes, who are in a continual
+state of war with each other, or with the Government authorities.
+Three-fourths of the recruits for native infantry regiments are from
+this class of military agriculturists of Oudh, who have been trained
+up in this school of contest; and many of the lads, when they enter
+our ranks, are found to have marks of the cold steel upon their
+persons. A braver set of men is hardly anywhere to be found; or one
+trained up with finer feelings of devotion towards the power whose
+salt they eat.[14] A good many of the other fourth of the recruits
+for our native infantry are drawn from among the Ujaini Rajputs, or
+Rajputs from Ujain,[15] who were established many generations ago in
+the same manner at Bhojpur on the bank of the Ganges.[16]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. A purohit is a Brahman family priest.
+
+2. Four hundred thousand rupees, worth at that time more than forty
+thousand pounds sterling.
+
+3. The magistrate was the author.
+
+4. 'That' in author's text.
+
+5. The water of the Ganges, with which the image of the god Vishnu
+has been washed, is considered a very holy draught, fit for princes.
+That with which the image of the god Siva, alias Mahadeo, is washed
+must not be drunk. The popular belief is that in a dispute between
+him and his wife, Parvati, alias Kali, she cursed the person that
+should thenceforward dare to drink of the water that flowed over his
+images on earth. The river Ganges is supposed to flow from the top-
+knot of Siva's head, and no one would drink of it after this curse,
+were it not that the sacred stream is supposed to come first from the
+_heel_ of Vishnu, the Preserver. All the little images of Siva, that
+are made out of stones taken from the bed of the Nerbudda river, are
+supposed to be absolved from this curse, and water thrown upon _them_
+can be drunk with impunity. [W. H. S.] The natural emblems of Siva,
+the Bana-linga quartz pebbles found in the Nerbudda, have already
+been referred to in the note to Chapter 19, _ante_, note 9. In the
+Maratha country the 'household gods' generally comprise five sacred
+symbols, namely, the _salagrama_ stone of Vishnu, the _bana-linga_ of
+Siva, a metallic stone representing the female principle in nature
+(Sakti), a crystal representing the sun, and a red stone representing
+Ganesh, the remover of obstacles. The details of the tiresome ritual
+observed in the worship of these objects occupy pp. 412 to 416 of
+Monier Williams's _Religious Thought and Life in India_.
+
+6. 'Beearee' in author's text.
+
+7. Then worth more than thirty thousand pounds sterling.
+
+8. On the customs of the sweeper caste, see _ante_, Chapter 8,
+following note [11].
+
+9. The Parihars were the rulers of Bundelkhand before the Chandels.
+The chief of Uchhahara belongs to this clan.
+
+10. Wealthy Hindoos, throughout India, spend money in the same
+ceremonies of marrying the stone to the shrub. [W. H. S.] Three lakhs
+of rupees were then worth thirty thousand pounds sterling or more.
+
+11. The numerous clans, more or less devoted to war, grouped together
+under the name of Rajputs (literally 'king's sons'), are in reality
+of multifarious origin, and include representatives of many races.
+They are the Kshatriyas of the law-books, and are still often called
+Chhattri (_E.H.I._, 3rd ed., pp. 407-15). In some parts of the
+country the word Thakur is more familiar as their general title.
+Thirty-six clans are considered as specially pure-blooded and are
+called, at any rate in books, the 'royal races'. All the clans follow
+the custom of exogamy. The Chandels (Chandella) ruled Bundelkhand
+from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries. Their capital was Mahoba,
+now a station on the Midland Railway. The Bundelas became prominent
+at a later date, and attained their greatest power under Chhatarsal
+(_circa_ A.D. 1671-1731). Their territory is now known as
+Bundelkhand. The country so designated is not an administrative
+division. It is partly in the United Provinces, partly in the Central
+Provinces, and partly in Native States. It is bounded on the north by
+the Jumna; on the north and west by the Chambal river; on the south
+by the Central Provinces, and on the south and east by Riwa and the
+Kaimur hills. The traditions of both the Bundelas and Chandellas show
+that there is a strain of the blood of the earlier, so--called
+aboriginal, races in both clans. The Pawar (Pramara) clan ranks high,
+but is now of little political importance (See _N.W.P. Gazetteer_,
+1st ed., vol. vii, p. 68).
+
+12. The paramount power often assigned a portion of its reserved
+lands in 'Jagir' to public officers for the establishments they
+required for the performance of the duties, military or civil, which
+were expected from them. Other portions were assigned in rent-free
+tenure for services already performed, or to favourites; but, in both
+cases, the rights of the village or land owner, or allodial
+proprietors, were supposed to be unaffected, as the Government was
+presumed to assign only its own claim to a certain portion as
+revenue. [W. H. S.] The term 'ryotwar' (raiyatwar) is commonly used
+to designate the system under which the cultivators hold their lands
+direct from the State. The subject of tenures is further discussed by
+the author in Chapters 70, 71.
+
+13. For elaborate comparisons between the Rajput policy and the
+feudal system of Europe, Tod's _Rajasthan_ may be consulted. The
+parallel is not really so close as it appears to be at first sight.
+In some respects the organization of the Highland clans is more
+similar to that of the Rajputs than the feudal system is. The Chambal
+river rises in Malwa, and, after a course of some five hundred and
+seventy miles, falls into the Jumna forty miles below Etawa. The
+statement in the text concerning the succession of clans is confused.
+The ruling family of Riwa still belongs to the Baghel clan. The
+Maharaja of Jaipur (Jeypore) is a Kachhwaha.
+
+14. The barbarous habit of alliance and connivance with robber gangs
+is by no means confined to Rajput nobles and landholders. Men of all
+creeds and castes yield to the temptation and magistrates are
+sometimes startled to find that Honorary Magistrates, Members of
+District Boards, and others of apparently the highest respectability,
+are the abettors and secret organizers of robber bands. A modern
+example of this fact was discovered in the Meerut and Muzaffarnagar
+Districts of the United Provinces in 1890 and 1891. In this case the
+wealthy supporters of the banditti were Jats and Muhammadans.
+
+The unfortunate condition of Oudh previous to the annexation in 1856
+is vividly described in the author's _Journey through the Kingdom of
+Oude_, published in 1858. The tour took place in 1849-50. Some
+districts of the kingdom, especially Hardoi, are still tainted by the
+old lawlessness.
+
+The remarks on the fine feelings of devotion shown by the sepoys must
+now be read in the light of the events of the Mutiny. Since that time
+the army has been reorganized, and depends on Oudh for its recruits
+much less than it did in the author's day.
+
+15. Ujain (Ujjain, Oojeyn) is a very ancient city, on the river
+Sipra, in Malwa, in the dominions of Sindhia, the chief of Gwalior.
+
+16. Bhajpore in the author's text. The town referred to is Bhojpur in
+the Shahabad district of South Bihar.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 24
+
+
+Corn Dealers--Scarcities--Famines in India.
+
+Near Tehri we saw the people irrigating a field of wheat from a tank
+by means of a canoe, in a mode quite new to me. The surface of the
+water was about three feet below that of the field to be watered. The
+inner end of the canoe was open, and placed to the mouth of a gutter
+leading into the wheat-field. The outer end was closed, and suspended
+by a rope to the outer end of a pole, which was again suspended to
+cross-bars. On the inner end of this pole was fixed a weight of
+stones sufficient to raise the canoe when filled with water; and at
+the outer end stood five men, who pulled down and sank the canoe into
+the water as often as it was raised by the stones, and emptied into
+the gutter. The canoe was more curved at the outer end than ordinary
+canoes are, and seemed to have been made for the purpose. The lands
+round the town generally were watered by the Persian wheel; but,
+where it [_scil._ the water] is near the surface, this [_scil._ the
+canoe arrangement] I should think a better method.[1]
+
+On the 10th[2] we came on to the village of Bilgai, twelve miles over
+a bad soil, badly cultivated; the hard syenitic rock rising either
+above or near to the surface all the way--in some places abruptly, in
+small hills, decomposing into large rounded boulders--in others
+slightly and gently, like the backs of whales in the ocean-in others,
+the whole surface of the country resembled very much the face of the
+sea, not after, but really in, a storm, full of waves of all sizes,
+contending with each other 'in most admired disorder'. After the dust
+of Tehri, and the fatiguing ceremonies of its court, the quiet
+morning I spent in this secluded spot under the shade of some
+beautiful trees, with the surviving canary singing, my boy playing,
+and my wife sleeping off the fatigues of her journey, was to me most
+delightful. Henry was extremely ill when we left Jubbulpore; but the
+change of air, and all the other changes incident to a march, have
+restored him to health.
+
+During the scarcity of 1833 two hundred people died of starvation in
+this village alone;[3] and were all thrown into one large well, which
+has, of course, ever since remained closed. Autumn crops chiefly are
+cultivated; and they depend entirely on the sky for water, while the
+poor people of the village depend upon the returns of a single season
+for subsistence during the whole year. They lingered on in the hope
+of aid from above till the greater part had become too weak from want
+of food to emigrate. The Raja gave half a crown to every family;[4]
+but this served merely to kindle their hopes of more, and to prolong
+their misery. Till the people have a better government they can never
+be secure from frequent returns of similar calamities. Such security
+must depend upon a greater variety of crops, and better means of
+irrigation; better roads to bring supplies over from distant parts
+which have not suffered from the same calamities; and greater means
+in reserve of paying for such supplies when brought--things that can
+never be hoped for under a government like this, which allows no man
+the free enjoyment of property.
+
+Close to the village a large wall has been made to unite two small
+hills, and form a small lake; but the wall is formed of the rounded
+boulders of the syenitic rock without cement, and does not retain the
+water. The land which was to have formed the bed of the lake is all
+in tillage; and I had some conversation with the man who cultivated
+it. He told me that the wall had been built with the money of _sin_,
+and not the money of _piety_ (_pap ke paisa se, na pun ke paisa se
+bana_), that the man who built it must have laid out his money with a
+_worldly_, and not a _religious_ mind (_niyat_); that on such
+occasions men generally assembled Brahmans and other deserving
+people, and fed and clothed them, and thereby _consecrated_ a great
+work, and made it acceptable to God, and he had heard from his
+ancestors that the man who had built this wall had failed to do this;
+that the construction could never, of course, answer the purpose for
+which it was intended--and that the builder's name had actually been
+forgotten, and the work did him no good either in this world or the
+next. This village, which a year or two ago was large and populous,
+is now reduced to two wretched huts inhabited by two very miserable
+families.
+
+Bundelkhand suffers more often and more severely from the want of
+seasonable showers of rain than any other part of India; while the
+province of Malwa, which adjoins it on the west and south, hardly
+ever suffers at all.[5] There is a couplet, which, like all other
+good couplets on rural subjects, is attributed to Sahdeo [Sahadeva],
+one of the five demigod brothers of the Mahabharata, to this effect:
+'If you hear not the thunder on such a night, you, father, go to
+Malwa, I to Gujarat;'--that is, there will be no rain, and we must
+seek subsistence where rains never fail, and the harvests are secure.
+
+The province of Malwa is well studded with hills and groves of fine
+trees, which intercept the clouds as they are wafted by the
+prevailing westerly winds, from the Gulf of Cambay to the valley of
+the Ganges, and make them drop their contents upon a soil of great
+natural powers, formed chiefly from the detritus of the decomposing
+basaltic rocks, which cap and intersect these hills.[6]
+
+During the famine of 1833, as on all similar occasions, grain of
+every kind, attracted by high prices, flowed up in large streams from
+this favoured province towards Bundelkhand; and the population of
+Bundelkhand, as usual in such times of dearth and scarcity, flowed
+off towards Malwa against the stream of supply, under the assurance
+that the nearer they got to the source, the greater would be their
+chance of employment and subsistence. Every village had its numbers
+of the dead and the dying; and the roads were all strewed with them;
+but they were mostly concentrated upon the great towns and civil and
+military stations, where subscriptions were open[ed] for their
+support, by both the European and native communities. The funds
+arising from these subscriptions lasted till the rains had set fairly
+in, when all able-bodied persons could easily find employment in
+tillage among the agricultural communities of villages around. After
+the rains have fairly set in, the _sick_ and _helpless_ only should
+be kept concentrated upon large towns and stations, where little or
+no employment is to be found; for the oldest and youngest of those
+who are able to work can then easily find employment in weeding the
+cotton, rice, sugar-cane, and other fields under autumn crops, and in
+preparing the lands for the reception of the wheat, gram,[7] and
+other spring seeds; and get advances from the farmers, agricultural
+capitalists[8] and other members of the village communities, who are
+all glad to share their superfluities with the distressed, and to pay
+liberally for the little service they are able to give in return.
+
+It is very unwise to give from such funds what may be considered a
+full rate of subsistence to able-bodied persons, as it tends to keep
+concentrated upon such points vast numbers who would otherwise be
+scattered over the surface of the country among the village
+communities, who would be glad to advance them stock and the means of
+subsistence upon the pledge of their future services when the season
+of tillage commences. The rate of subsistence should always be
+something less than what the able-bodied person usually consumes, and
+can get for his labour in the field. For the sick and feeble this
+rate will be enough, and the healthy and able-bodied, with unimpaired
+appetites, will seek a greater rate by the offer of their services
+among the farmers and cultivators of the surrounding country. By this
+precaution, the mass of suffering will be gradually diffused over the
+country, so as best to receive what the country can afford to give
+for its relief. As soon as the rains set in, all the able-bodied men,
+women, and children should be sent off with each a good blanket, and
+a rupee or two, as the funds can afford, to last them till they can
+engage themselves with the farmers. Not a farthing after that day
+should be given out, except to the feeble and sick, who may be
+considered as hospital patients.[9]
+
+At large places, where the greater numbers are concentrated, the
+scene becomes exceedingly distressing, for, in spite of the best
+dispositions and greatest efforts on the part of Government and its
+officers, and the European and native communities, thousands commonly
+die of starvation. At Sagar, mothers, as they lay in the streets
+unable to walk, were seen holding up their infants, and imploring the
+passing stranger to take them in slavery, that they might at least
+live--hundreds were seen creeping into gardens, courtyards, and old
+ruins, concealing themselves under shrubs, grass, mats, or straw,
+where they might die quietly, without having their bodies torn by
+birds and beasts before the breath had left them. Respectable
+families, who left home in search of the favoured land of Malwa,
+while yet a little property remained, finding all exhausted, took
+opium rather than beg, and husband, wife, and children died in each
+other's arms. Still more of such families lingered on in hope till
+all had been expended; then shut their doors, took poison and died
+all together, rather than expose their misery, and submit to the
+degradation of begging. All these things I have myself known and
+seen; and, in the midst of these and a hundred other harrowing scenes
+which present themselves on such occasions, the European cannot fail
+to remark the patient resignation with which the poor people submit
+to their fate; and the absence of almost all those revolting acts
+which have characterized the famines of which he has read in other
+countries--such as the living feeding on the dead, and mothers
+devouring their own children. No such things are witnessed in Indian
+famines;[10] here all who suffer attribute the disaster to its real
+cause, the want of rain in due season; and indulge in no feelings of
+hatred against their rulers, superiors, or more fortunate equals in
+society who happen to live beyond the range of such calamities. They
+gratefully receive the superfluities which the more favoured are
+always found ready to share with the afflicted in India; and, though
+their sufferings often subdue the strongest of all pride, the pride
+of caste, they rarely ever drive the people to acts of violence. The
+stream of emigration, guided as it always is by that of the
+agricultural produce flowing in from the more favoured countries,
+must necessarily concentrate upon the communities along the line it
+takes a greater number of people than they have the means of
+relieving, however benevolent their dispositions; and I must say that
+I have never either seen or read of a nobler spirit than seems to
+animate all classes of these communities in India on such distressing
+occasions.
+
+In such seasons of distress, we often, in India, hear of very
+injudicious interference with grain dealers on the part of civil and
+military authorities, who contrive to persuade themselves that the
+interest of these corn-dealers, instead of being in accordance with
+the interests of the people, are entirely opposed to them; and
+conclude that, whenever grain becomes dear, they have a right to make
+them open their granaries, and sell their grain at such price as
+they, in their wisdom, may deem reasonable. If they cannot make them
+do this by persuasion, fine, or imprisonment, they cause their pits
+to be opened by their own soldiers or native officers, and the grain
+to be sold at an arbitrary price. If, in a hundred pits thus opened,
+they find one in which the corn happens to be damaged by damp, they
+come to the sage conclusion that the proprietors must be what they
+have all along supposed them to be, and treated as such--_the common
+enemies of mankind_--who, blind alike to their own interests and
+those of the people, purchase up the superabundance of seasons of
+plenty, not to sell it again in seasons of scarcity, but _to destroy
+it_; and that the whole of the grain in the other ninety-nine pits,
+but for their _timely interference_, must have inevitably shared the
+same fate.[11]
+
+During the season here mentioned, grain had become very dear at
+Sagar, from the unusual demand in Bundelkhand and other districts to
+the north. As usual, supplies of land produce flowed up from the
+Nerbudda districts along the great roads to the east and west of the
+city; but the military authorities in the cantonments would not be
+persuaded out of their dread of a famine. There were three regiments
+of infantry, a corps of cavalry, and two companies of artillery
+cantoned at that time at Sagar. They were a mile from the city, and
+the grain for their supply was exempted from town duties to which
+that for the city was liable. The people in cantonments got their
+supply, in consequence, a good deal cheaper than the people in the
+city got theirs; and none but persons belonging bona fide to the
+cantonments were ever allowed to purchase grain within them. When the
+dread of famine began, the commissariat officer, Major Gregory,
+apprehended that he might not be permitted to have recourse to the
+markets of the city in times of scarcity, since the people of the
+city had not been suffered to have recourse to those of the
+cantonments in times of plenty; but he was told by the magistrate to
+purchase as much as he liked, since he considered every man as free
+to sell his grain as his cloth, or pots and pans, to whom he
+chose.[12] He added that he did not share in the fears of the
+military authorities--that he had no apprehension whatever of a
+famine, or when prices rose high enough they would be sure to divert
+away into the city, from the streams then flowing up from the valley
+of the Nerbudda and the districts of Malwa towards Bundelkhand, a
+supply of grain sufficient for all.
+
+This new demand upon the city increased rapidly the price of grain,
+and augmented the alarm of the people, who began to urge the
+magistrate to listen to their prayers, and coerce the sordid corn-
+dealers, who had, no doubt, numerous pits yet unopened. The alarm
+became still greater in the cantonments, where the commanding officer
+attributed all the evil to the inefficiency of the commissariat and
+the villany of the corn-dealers; and Major Gregory was in dread of
+being torn to pieces by the soldiery. Only one day's supply was left
+in the cantonment bazaars--the troops had become clamorous almost to
+a state of mutiny--the people of the town began to rush in upon every
+supply that was offered for sale; and those who had grain to dispose
+of could no longer venture to expose it. The magistrate was hard
+pressed on all sides to have recourse to the old salutary method of
+searching for and forcibly opening the grain pits, and selling the
+contents at such price as might appear reasonable. The kotwal[13] of
+the town declared that the lives of his police would be no longer
+safe unless this great and never-failing remedy, which had now
+unhappily been too long deferred, were immediately adopted.
+
+The magistrate, who had already taken every other means of declaring
+his resolution never to suffer any man's granary to be forcibly
+opened, now issued a formal proclamation, pledging himself to see
+that such granaries should be as much respected as any other property
+in the city--that every man might keep his grain and expose it for
+sale, wherever and whenever he pleased; and expressing a hope that,
+as the people knew him too well not to feel assured that his word
+thus solemnly pledged would never be broken, he trusted they would
+sell what stores they had, and apply themselves without apprehension
+to the collecting of more.
+
+This proclamation he showed to Major Gregory, assuring him that no
+degree of distress or clamour among the people of the city or the
+cantonments should ever make him violate the pledge therein given to
+the corn-dealers; and that he was prepared to risk his situation and
+reputation as a public officer upon the result. After issuing this
+proclamation about noon, he had his police establishments augmented,
+and so placed and employed as to give to the people entire confidence
+in the assurances conveyed in it. The grain-dealers, no longer
+apprehensive of danger, opened their pits of grain, and sent off all
+their available means to bring in more. In the morning the bazaars
+were all supplied, and every man who had money could buy as much as
+he pleased. The troops got as much as they required from the city.
+Major Gregory was astonished and delighted. The colonel, a fine old
+soldier from the banks of the Indus, who had commanded a corps of
+horse under the former government, came to the magistrate in
+amazement; every shop had become full of grain as if by supernatural
+agency.
+
+_'Kale admi ki akl kahan talak chalegi_?' said he. 'How little could
+a black man's wisdom serve him in such an emergency?'
+
+There was little wisdom in all this; but there was a firm reliance
+upon the truth of the general principle which should guide all public
+officers on such occasions. The magistrate judged that there were a
+great many pits of grain in the town known only to their own
+proprietors, who were afraid to open them, or get more grain, while
+there was a chance of the civil authorities yielding to the clamours
+of the people and the anxiety of the officers commanding the troops;
+and that he had only to remove these fears, by offering a solemn
+pledge, and manifesting the means and the will to abide by it, in
+order to induce the proprietors, not only to sell what they had, but
+to apply all their means to the collecting of more. But it is a
+singular fact that almost all the officers of the cantonments thought
+the conduct of the magistrate in refusing to have the grain pits
+opened under such pressing circumstances extremely reprehensible.
+
+Had he done so, he might have given the people of the city and the
+cantonments the supply at hand; but the injury done to the corn-
+dealers by so very unwise a measure would have recoiled upon the
+public, since every one would have been discouraged from exerting
+himself to renew the supply, and from laying up stores to meet
+similar necessities in future. By acting as he did, he not only
+secured for the public the best exertions of all the existing corn-
+dealers of the place, but actually converted for the time a great
+many to that trade from other employments, or from idleness. A great
+many families, who had never traded before, employed their means in
+bringing a supply of grain, and converted their dwellings into corn
+shops, induced by the high profits and assurance of protection.
+During the time when he was most pressed the magistrate received a
+letter from Captain Robinson, who was in charge of the bazaars at
+Elichpur in the Hyderabad territory,[14] where the dearth had become
+even more felt than at Sagar, requesting to know what measures had
+been adopted to regulate the price, and secure the supply of grain
+for the city and cantonments at Sagar, since no good seemed to result
+from those hitherto pursued at Elichpur. He told him in reply that
+these things had hitherto been regulated at Sagar as he thought 'they
+ought to be regulated everywhere else, by being left entirely to the
+discretion of the corn-dealers themselves, whose self-interest will
+always prompt them to have a sufficient supply, as long as they may
+feel secure of being permitted to do what they please with what they
+collect. The commanding officer, in his anxiety to secure food for
+the people, had hitherto been continually interfering to coerce sales
+and regulate prices, and continually aggravating the evils of the
+dearth by so doing'. On the receipt of the Sagar magistrate's letter
+a different course was adopted; the same assurances were given to the
+corn-dealers, the same ability and inclination to enforce them
+manifested, and the same result followed. The people and the troops
+were steadily supplied; and all were astonished that so very simple a
+remedy had not before been thought of.
+
+The ignorance of the first principles of political economy among
+European gentlemen of otherwise first-rate education and abilities in
+India is quite lamentable, for there are really few public officers,
+even in the army, who are not occasionally liable to be placed in the
+situations where they may, by false measures, arising out of such
+ignorance, aggravate the evils of dearth among great bodies of their
+fellow men. A soldier may, however, find some excuse for such
+ignorance, because a knowledge of these principles is not generally
+considered to form any indispensable part of a soldier's education;
+but no excuse can be admitted for a civil functionary who is so
+ignorant, since a thorough acquaintance with the principles of
+political economy must be, and, indeed, always is considered as an
+essential branch of that knowledge which is to fit him for public
+employment in India.[15]
+
+In India unfavourable seasons produce much more disastrous
+consequences than in Europe. In England not more than one-fourth of
+the population derive their incomes from the cultivation of the lands
+around them. Three-fourths of the people have incomes independent of
+the annual returns from those lands; and with these incomes they can
+purchase agricultural produce from other lands when the crops upon
+them fail. The farmers, who form so large a portion of the fourth
+class, have stock equal in value to _four times the amount of the
+annual rent of their lands_. They have also a great variety of crops;
+and it is very rare that more than one or two of them fail, or are
+considerably affected, the same season. If they fail in one district
+or province, the deficiency is very easily supplied to a people who
+have equivalents to give for the produce of another. The sea,
+navigable rivers, fine roads, all are open and ready at all times for
+the transport of the superabundance of one quarter to supply the
+deficiencies of another. In India, the reverse of all this is
+unhappily to be found; more than three-fourths of the whole
+population are engaged in the cultivation of the land, and depend
+upon its annual returns for subsistence.[16] The farmers and
+cultivators have none of their stock equal in value to more than
+_half the amount of the annual rent of their lands_.[17] They have a
+great variety of crops; but all are exposed to the same accidents,
+and commonly fail at the same time. The autumn crops are sown in June
+and July, and ripen in October and November; and, if seasonable
+showers do not fall during July, August, and September, all fail. The
+spring crops are sown in October and November, and ripen in March;
+and, if seasonable showers do not happen to fall during December or
+January, all, save what are artificially irrigated, fail.[18] If they
+fail in one district or province, the people have few equivalents to
+offer for a supply of land produce from any other. Their roads are
+scarcely anywhere passable for wheeled carriages at _any season_, and
+nowhere _at all seasons_--they have nowhere a navigable canal, and
+only in one line a navigable river.
+
+Their land produce is conveyed upon the backs of bullocks, that move
+at the rate of six or eight miles a day, and add one hundred per
+cent. to the cost of every hundred miles they carry it in the best
+seasons, and more than two hundred in the worst.[19] What in Europe
+is felt merely as a _dearth_, becomes in India, under all these
+disadvantages, a scarcity, and what is there a _scarcity_ becomes
+here a _famine_. Tens of thousands die here of starvation, under
+calamities of season, which in Europe would involve little of
+suffering to any class. Here man does everything, and he must have
+his daily food or starve. In England machinery does more than three-
+fourths of the collective work of society in the production,
+preparation, and distribution of man's physical enjoyments, and it
+stands in no need of this daily food to sustain its powers; they are
+independent of the seasons; the water, fire, air, and other elemental
+powers which they require to render them subservient to our use are
+always available in abundance.
+
+This machinery is the great assistant of the present generation,
+provided for us by the wisdom and industry of the past; wanting no
+food itself, it can always provide its proprietors with the means of
+purchasing what they require from other countries, when the harvests
+of their own fail. When calamities of season deprive men of
+employment for a time in tillage, they can, in England, commonly find
+it in other branches of industry, because agricultural industry forms
+so small a portion of the collective industry of the nation; and
+because every man can, without prejudice to his status in society,
+take to what branch of industry he pleases. But, when these
+calamities of season throw men out of employment in tillage for a
+time in India, they cannot find it in any other branch, because
+agricultural industry forms so very large a portion of the collective
+industry of every part of the country; and because men are often
+prevented by the prejudices of caste from taking to that which they
+can find.[20]
+
+In societies constituted like that of India the trade of the corn-
+dealer is more essentially necessary for the welfare of the community
+than in any other, for it is among them that the superabundance of
+seasons of plenty requires most to be stored up for seasons of
+scarcity; and if public functionaries will take upon themselves to
+seize such stores, and sell them at their own arbitrary prices,
+whenever prices happen to rise beyond the rate which they in their
+short-sighted wisdom think just, no corn-dealer will ever collect
+such stores. Hitherto, whenever grain has become dear at any military
+or civil station, we have seen the civil functionaries urged to
+prohibit its egress--to search for the hidden stores, and to coerce
+the proprietors to the sale in all manner of ways; and, if they do
+not yield to the ignorant clamour, they are set down as indifferent
+to the sufferings of their fellow creatures around them, and as
+blindly supporting the worst enemies of mankind in the worst species
+of iniquity.
+
+If those who urge them to such measures are asked whether
+silversmiths or linendrapers, who should be treated in the same
+manner as they wish the corn-dealers to be treated, would ever
+collect and keep stores of plate and cloth for their use, they
+readily answer--No; they see at once the evil effects of interfering
+with the free disposal of the property of the one, but are totally
+blind to that which must as surely follow any interference with that
+of the other, whose entire freedom is of so much more vital
+importance to the public. There was a time, and that not very remote,
+when grave historians, like Smollett, could, even in England, fan the
+flame of this vulgar prejudice against one of the most useful classes
+of society. That day is, thank God, past; and no man can now venture
+to write such trash in his history, or even utter it in any well-
+informed circle of English society; and, if any man were to broach
+such a subject in an English House of Commons, he would be considered
+as a fit subject for a madhouse.
+
+ But some, who retain their prejudices against corn-dealers, and are
+yet ashamed to acknowledge their ignorance of the first principles of
+political economy, try to persuade themselves and their friends that,
+however applicable these may be to the state of society in European
+or Christian countries, they are not so to countries occupied by
+Hindoos and Muhammadans. This is a sad delusion, and may be a very
+mischievous one, when indulged by public officers in India.[21]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+
+1. Irrigation by means of a 'dug-out' canoe used as a lever is
+commonly practised in many parts of the country. The author gives a
+rough sketch, not worth reproduction. The Persian wheel is suitable
+for use in wide-mouthed wells. It may be described as a mill-wheel
+with buckets on the circumference, which are filled and emptied as
+the wheel revolves. It is worked by bullock-power acting on a rude
+cog-wheel.
+
+2. December, 1835.
+
+3. A.D. 1833 corresponds to the year 1890 of the _Vikrama Samvat_, or
+era, current in Bundelkhand. About 1880 the editor found this great
+famine still remembered as that of the year '90.
+
+4. Half a crown seems to be used in this passage as a synonym for the
+rupee, now (1914) worth a shilling and four pence.
+
+5. Bundelkhand seems to be the meeting-place of the east and west
+monsoons, and the moist current is, in consequence, often feeble and
+variable. The country suffered again from famine in 1861 and 1877,
+although not so severely as in 1833. In northern Bundelkhand a canal
+from the Betwa river has been constructed, but is of only very
+limited use. The peculiarities of the soil and climate forbid the
+wide extension of irrigation. For the prevention of acute famine in
+this region the chief reliance must be on improved communications.
+The country has been opened up by the Indian Midland and other
+railways. In 1899-1900, notwithstanding improved communications,
+Malwa suffered severely from famine. Aurangzeb considered Gujarat to
+be 'the ornament and jewel of India' (Bilimoria, _Letters of
+Aurungzebie_, 1908, no. lxiv).
+
+6. The influence of trees on climate is undoubted, but the author in
+this passage probably ascribes too much power to the groves of Malwa.
+On the formation of the black soil see note 7 to Chapter 14, _ante_.
+
+7. The word in the author's text is 'grain', a misprint for 'gram'
+(_Cicer arietinum_), a pulse, also known as chick-pea, and very
+largely grown in Bundelkhand. 'Gram' is a corruption of the
+Portuguese word for grain, and, like many other Portuguese words, has
+passed into the speech of Anglo-Indians. See Yule and Burnell,
+_Glossary of Anglo-Indian Words_, s.v.
+
+8. 'Agricultural capitalist' is a rather large phrase for the humble
+village money-lender, whose transactions are usually on a very small
+scale.
+
+9. The author's advice on the subject of famine relief is weighty and
+perfectly sound. It is in accordance with the policy formulated by
+the Government of India in the Famine Relief Code, based on the
+Report of the Famine Commission which followed the terrible Madras
+famine of 1877.
+
+10. This statement is too general. Examples of the horror alluded to
+are recorded in several Indian famines. Cases of cannibalism occurred
+during the Madras famine of 1877. But it is true that horrors of the
+kind are rare in India, and the author's praise of the patient
+resignation of the people is fully justified. An admirable summary of
+the history of Indian famines will be found in the articles 'Famines'
+and 'Food' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed. (1885). For further and
+more recent information see _I.G._ (1907), vol. iii, chap. 10.
+
+11. No European officer, military or civil, could now venture to
+adopt such arbitrary measures. In a Native State they might very
+probably be enforced.
+
+12. 'The magistrate' was the author himself.
+
+13. The chief police officer of a town. In the modern reorganized
+system he always holds the rank of either Inspector or Sub-Inspector.
+Under native governments he was a more important official.
+
+14. Elichpur (Ilichpur) is in Berar, otherwise known as the Assigned
+Districts, a territory made over in Lord Dalhousie's time to British
+administration in order to defray the cost of the armed force called
+the Hyderabad Contingent. Since 1903 Berar has ceased to be a
+separate province. It is now merely a Division attached to the
+Central Provinces. From the same date the Hyderabad Contingent lost
+its separate existence, being redistributed and merged in the Indian
+Army.
+
+15. Political Economy was for many years a compulsory subject for the
+selected candidates for the Civil Service of India; but since 1892
+its study has been optional.
+
+16. The census of 1911 shows that about 71 per cent. of the
+301,000,000 inhabiting India, excluding Burma, are supported by the
+cultivation of the soil and the care of cattle. The proportion varies
+widely in different provinces.
+
+17. This proposition does not apply fully to Northern India at the
+present day. The amount of capital invested is small, although not
+quite so small as is stated in the text.
+
+18. The times of harvest vary slightly with the latitude, being later
+towards the north. The cold-weather rains of December and January are
+variable and uncertain, and rarely last more than a few days. The
+spring crops depend largely on the heavy dews which occur daring the
+cold season.
+
+19. Daring the years which have elapsed since the famine of 1833,
+great changes have taken place in India, and many of the author's
+remarks are only partially applicable to the present time. The great
+canals, above all, the wonderful Ganges Canal, have protected immense
+areas of Northern India from the possibility of absolute famine, and
+Southern India has also been to a considerable, though less, extent,
+protected by similar works. A few new staples, of which potatoes are
+the most important, have been introduced. The whole system of
+distribution has been revolutionized by the development of railways,
+metalled roads, wheeled vehicles, motors, telegraphs, and navigable
+canals. Carriage on the backs of animals, whether bullocks, camels,
+or donkeys, now plays a very subordinate part in the distribution of
+agricultural produce. Prices are, in great measure, dependent on the
+rates prevailing in Liverpool, Odessa, and Chicago. Food grains now
+stand ordinarily at prices which, in the author's time, would have
+been reckoned famine rates. The changes which have taken place in
+England are too familiar to need comment.
+
+20. Since the author's time certain industries, the most important
+being cotton-pressing, cotton-spinning, and jute-spinning, have
+sprung up and assumed in Bombay, Calcutta, Cawnpore, and a few other
+places, proportions which, absolutely, are large. But India is so
+vast that these local developments of manufactures, large though they
+are, seem to be as nothing when regarded in comparison with the
+country as a whole. India is still, and, to all appearance, always
+must be, essentially an agricultural country.
+
+21. The author's teaching concerning freedom of trade in times of
+famine and the function of dealers in corn is as sound as his
+doctrine of famine relief. The 'vulgar prejudice', which he
+denounces, still flourishes, and the 'sad delusion', which he
+deplores, still obscures the truth. As each period of scarcity or
+famine comes round, the old cries are again heard, and the executive
+authorities are implored and adjured to forbid export, to fix fair
+prices, and to clip the profits of the corn merchant. During the
+Bengal famine of 1873-4, the demand for the prohibition of the export
+of rice was urged by men who should have known better, and Lord
+Northbrook is entitled to no small credit for having firmly withstood
+the clamour. The more recent experiences of the Russian Government
+should be remembered when the clamour is again raised, as it will be.
+The principles on which the author acted in the crisis at Sagar in
+1833 should guide every magistrate who finds himself in a similar
+position, and should be applied with unhesitating firmness and
+decision.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 25
+
+
+Epidemic Diseases--Scape-goat.
+
+In the evening, after my conversation with the cultivator upon the
+wall that united the two hills,[1] I received a visit from my little
+friend the Sarimant. His fine rose-coloured turban is always put on
+very gracefully; every hair of his jet-black eyebrows and mustachios
+seems to be kept always most religiously in the same place; and he
+has always the same charming smile upon his little face, which was
+never, I believe, distorted into an absolute laugh or frown. No man
+was ever more perfectly master of what the natives call 'the art of
+rising or sitting' (_nishisht wa barkhast_), namely, good manners. I
+should as soon expect to see him set the Nerbudda on fire as commit
+any infringement of the _convenances_ on this head established in
+good Indian society, or be guilty of anything vulgar in speech,
+sentiment, or manners. I asked him by what means it was that the old
+queen of Sagar[2] drove out the influenza that afflicted the people
+so much in 1832, while he was there on a visit to me. He told me that
+he took no part in the ceremonies, nor was he aware of them till
+awoke one night by 'the noise, when his attendants informed him that
+the queen and the greater part of the city were making offerings to
+the new god, Hardaul Lala. He found next morning that a goat had been
+offered up with as much noise as possible, and with good effect, for
+the disease was found to give way from that moment. About six years
+before, when great numbers were dying in his own little capital of
+Pithoria[3] from a similar epidemic, he had, he said, tried the same
+thing with still greater effect; but, on that occasion, he had the
+aid of a man very learned in such matters. This man caused a small
+carriage to be made up after a plan of his own, for _a pair of scape-
+goats_, which were harnessed to it, and driven during the ceremonies
+to a wood some distance from the town, where they were let loose.
+From that hour the disease entirely ceased in the town. The goats
+never returned. 'Had they come back,' said Sarimant, 'the disease
+must have come back with them; so he took them a long way into the
+wood--indeed (he believed), the man, to make sure of them, had
+afterwards caused them to be offered up as a sacrifice to the shrine
+of Hardaul Lala, in that very wood. He had himself never seen a
+_puja_ (religious ceremony) so entirely and immediately efficacious
+as this, and much of its success was, no doubt, attributable to the
+_science_ of the man who planned the carriage, and himself drove the
+pair of goats to the wood. No one had ever before heard of the plan
+of a pair of _scape-goats_ being driven in a carriage; but it was
+likely (he thought) to be extensively adopted in future.'[4]
+
+Sarimant's man of affairs mentioned that when Lord Hastings took the
+field against the Pindharis, in 1817,[5] and the division of the
+grand army under his command was encamped near the grove in
+Bundelkhand, where repose the ashes of Hardaul Lala, under a small
+shrine, a cow was taken into this grove to be converted into beef for
+the use of the Europeans. The priest in attendance remonstrated, but
+in vain--the cow was killed and eaten. The priest complained, and
+from that day the cholera morbus broke out in the camp; and from this
+central point it was, he said, generally understood to have spread
+all over India.[6] The story of the cow travelled at the same time,
+and the spirit of Hardaul Lala was everywhere supposed to be riding
+in the whirlwind, and _directing the storm_. Temples were everywhere
+erected, and offerings made to appease him; and in six years after,
+he had himself seen them as far as Lahore, and in almost every
+village throughout the whole course of his journey to that distant
+capital and back. He is one of the most sensible and freely spoken
+men that I have met with. 'Up to within the last few years', added
+he, 'the spirit of Hardaul Lala had been propitiated only in cases of
+cholera morbus; but now he is supposed to preside over all kinds of
+epidemic diseases, and offerings have everywhere been made to his
+shrine during late influenzas.'[7]
+
+'This of course arises', I observed, 'from the industry of his
+priests, who are now spread all over the country; and you know that
+there is hardly a village or hamlet in which there are not some of
+them to be found subsisting upon the fears of the people.'
+
+'I have no doubt', replied he, 'that the cures which the people
+attribute to the spirit of Hardaul Lala often arise merely from the
+firmness of their faith (_itikad_) in the efficacy of their
+offerings; and that any other ceremonies, that should give to their
+minds the same assurance of recovery, would be of great advantage in
+cases of epidemic diseases. I remember a singular instance of this,'
+said he. 'When Jeswant Rao Holkar was flying before Lord Lake to the
+banks of the Hyphasis,[8] a poor trooper of one of his lordship's
+irregular corps, when he tied the grain-bag to his horse's mouth,
+said 'Take this in the name of Jeswant Rao Holkar, for to him you and
+I owe all that we have.' The poor man had been suffering from an
+attack of ague and fever; but from that moment he felt himself
+relieved, and the fever never returned. At that time this fever
+prevailed more generally among the people of Hindustan than any I
+have ever known, though I am now an old man. The speech of the
+trooper and the supposed result soon spread; and others tried the
+experiment with similar success, and it acted everywhere like a
+charm. I had the fever myself, and, though by no means a
+superstitious man, and certainly no lover of Jeswant Rao Holkar, I
+tried the experiment, and the fever left me from that day. From that
+time, till the epidemic disappeared, no man, from the Nerbudda to the
+Indus, fed his horse without invoking the spirit of Jeswant Rao,
+though the chief was then alive and well. Some one had said he found
+great relief from plunging into the stream during the paroxysms of
+the fever; others followed the example, and some remained for half an
+hour at a time, and the sufferers generally found relief. The streams
+and tanks throughout the districts between the Ganges and Jumna
+became crowded, till the propitiatory offering to the spirit of the
+living Jeswant Rao Holkar were [sic] found equally good, and far less
+troublesome to those who had horses that must have got their grain,
+whether in Holkar's name or not.'
+
+There is no doubt that the great mass of those who had nothing but
+their horses and their _good blades_ to depend upon for their
+subsistence did most fervently pray throughout India for the safety
+of this Maratha chief, when he fled before Lord Lake's army; for they
+considered that, with his fall, the Company's dominion would become
+everywhere securely established, and that good soldiers would be at a
+discount. '_Company ke amal men kuchh rozgar nahin hai_,'--'There is
+no employment in the Company's dominion,' is a common maxim, not only
+among the men of the sword and the spear, but among those merchants
+who lived by supporting native civil and military establishments with
+the luxuries and elegancies which, under the new order of things,
+they have no longer the means to enjoy.
+
+The noisy _puja_ (worship), about which our conversation began, took
+place at Sagar in April, 1832, while I was at that station. More than
+four-fifths of the people of the city and cantonments had been
+affected by a violent influenza, which commenced with a distressing
+cough, was followed by fever, and, in some cases, terminated in
+death. I had an application from the old Queen Dowager of Sagar, who
+received a pension of ten thousand pounds a year from the British
+Government,[9] and resided in the city, to allow of a _noisy_
+religious procession to implore deliverance from this great calamity.
+Men, women, and children in this procession were to do their utmost
+to add to the noise by 'raising their voices in _psalmody_', beating
+upon their brass pots and pans with all their might, and discharging
+fire-arms where they could get them; and before the noisy crowd was
+to be driven a buffalo, which had been purchased by a general
+subscription, in order that every family might participate in the
+merit. They were to follow it out for eight miles, where it was to be
+turned loose for any man who would take it. If the animal returned,
+the disease, it was said, must return with it, and the ceremony be
+performed over again. I was requested to intimate the circumstance to
+the officer commanding the troops in cantonments, in order that the
+hideous noise they intended to make might not excite any alarm, and
+bring down upon them the visit of the soldiery. It was, however,
+subsequently determined that the animal should be a goat, and he was
+driven before the crowd accordingly. I have on several occasions been
+requested to allow of such noisy _pujas_ in cases of epidemics; and
+the confidence they feel in their efficiency has, no doubt, a good
+effect.
+
+While in civil charge of the district of Narsinghpur, in the valley
+of the Nerbudda, in April 1823, the cholera morbus raged in almost
+every house of Narsinghpur and Kandeli, situated near each other,[l0]
+and one of them close to my dwelling-house and court. The European
+physicians lost all confidence in their prescriptions, and the people
+declared that the hand of God was upon them, and by appeasing Him
+could they alone hope to be saved.[11] A religious procession was
+determined upon; but the population of both towns was divided upon
+the point whether a silent or a noisy one would be most acceptable to
+God. Hundreds were dying around me when I was applied to to settle
+this knotty point between the parties. I found that both in point of
+numbers and respectability the majority was in favour of the silent
+procession, and I recommended that this should be adopted. The
+procession took place about nine the same night, with all due
+ceremony; but the advocates for noise would none of them assist in
+it. Strange as it may appear, the disease abated from that moment;
+and the great majority of the population of both towns believed that
+their prayers had been heard; and I went to bed with a mind somewhat
+relieved by the hope that this feeling of confidence might be useful.
+About one o'clock I was awoke from a sound sleep by the most hideous
+noise that I had ever heard; and, not at that moment recollecting the
+proposal for the noisy procession, ran out of my house, in
+expectation of seeing both towns in flames. I found that the
+advocates for noise, resolving to have their procession, had
+assembled together about midnight; and, apprehensive that they might
+be borne down by the advocates for silence and my police
+establishment, had determined to make the most of their time, and put
+in requisition all the pots, pans, shells, trumpets, pistols, and
+muskets that they could muster. All opened at once about one o'clock;
+and, had there been any virtue in discord, the cholera must soon have
+deserted the place, for such another hideous compound of noises I
+never heard. The disease, which seemed to have subsided with the
+silent procession before I went to bed, now returned with double
+violence, as I was assured by numbers who flocked to my house in
+terror; and the whole population became exasperated with the leaders
+of the noisy faction, who had, they believed, been the means of
+bringing back among them all the horrors of this dreadful scourge.
+
+I asked the Hindoo Sadar Amin, or head native judicial officer at
+Sagar, a very profound Sanskrit scholar, what he thought of the
+efficacy of these processions in checking epidemic diseases. He said
+that 'there could be nothing more clear than the total inefficiency
+of medicine in such cases; and, when medicine failed, a man's only
+resource was in prayers; that the diseases of mankind were to be
+classed under three general heads: first, those suffered for sins
+committed in some former births; second, those suffered for sins
+committed in the present birth; third, those merely accidental. Now,'
+said the old gentleman, 'it must be clear to every unprejudiced mind
+that the third only can be cured or checked by the physician.'
+Epidemics, he thought, must all be classed under the second head, and
+as inflicted by the Deity for some very general sin; consequently, to
+be removed only by prayers; and, whether silent or noisy, was, he
+thought, matter of little importance, provided they were offered in
+the same spirit. I believe that, among the great mass of the people
+of India, three-fourths of the diseases of individuals are attributed
+to evil spirits and evil eyes; and for every physician among them
+there are certainly ten _exorcisers_. The faith in them is very great
+and very general; and, as the gift is supposed to be supernatural, it
+is commonly exercised without fee or reward. The gifted person
+subsists upon some other employment, and _exorcises_ gratis.
+
+A child of one of our servants was one day in convulsions from its
+sufferings in cutting its teeth. The Civil Surgeon happened to call
+that morning, and he offered to lance the child's gums. The poor
+mother thanked him, but stated that there could be no possible doubt
+as to the source of her child's sufferings--that the devil had got
+into it during the night, and would certainly not be frightened out
+by his little lancet; but she expected every moment my old tent-
+pitcher, whose exorcisms no devil of this description had ever yet
+been able to withstand.
+
+The small-pox had been raging in the town of Jubbulpore for some time
+during one hot season that I was there, and a great many children had
+died from it. The severity of the disease was considered to have been
+a good deal augmented by a very untoward circumstance that had taken
+place in the family of the principal banker of the town, Khushhal
+Chand. Sewa Ram Seth, the old man, had lately died, leaving two sons.
+Ram Kishan, the eldest, and Khushhal Chand, the second. The eldest
+gave up all the management of the sublunary concerns of the family,
+and devoted his mind entirely to religious duties. They had a very
+fine family temple of their own, in which they placed an image of
+their god Vishnu, cut out of the choicest stone of the Nerbudda, and
+consecrated after the most approved form, and with very expensive
+ceremonies. This idol Ram Kishan used every day to wash with his own
+hands with rosewater, and anoint with precious ointments. One day,
+while he had the image in his arms, and was busily employed in
+anointing it, it fell to the ground upon the stone pavement, and one
+of the arms was broken. To live after such an untoward accident was
+quite out of the question, and poor Ram Kishan proceeded at once
+quietly to hang himself. He got a rope from the stable, and having
+tied it over the beam in the room where he had let the god fall upon
+the stone pavement, he was putting his head calmly into the noose,
+when his brother came in, laid hold of him, called for assistance,
+and put him under restraint. A conclave of the priests of that sect
+was immediately held in the town, and Ram Kishan was told that
+hanging himself was not absolutely necessary; that it might do if he
+would take the stone image, broken arm and all, upon his own back,
+and carry it two hundred and sixty miles to Benares, where resided
+the high priest of the sect, who would, no doubt, be able to suggest
+the proper measures for pacifying the god.
+
+At this time, the only son of his brother, Khushhal Chand, an
+interesting little boy of about four years of age, was extremely ill
+of the small-pox; and it is a rule with Hindoos never to undertake
+any journey, even one of pilgrimage to a holy shrine, while any
+member of the family is afflicted with this disease; they must all
+sit at home clothed in sackcloth and ashes. He was told that he had
+better defer his journey to Benares till the child should recover;
+but he could neither sleep nor eat, so great was his terror, lest
+some dreadful calamity should befall the whole family before he could
+expiate his crime, or take the advice of his high priest as to the
+best means of doing it: and he resolved to leave the decision of the
+question to God Himself. He took two pieces of paper, and having
+caused Benares to be written upon one, and Jubbulpore upon the other,
+he put them both into a brass vessel. After shaking the vessel well,
+he drew forth that on which Benares had been written. 'It is the will
+of God,' said Ram Kishan. All the family, who were interested in the
+preservation of the poor boy, implored him not to set out, lest Devi,
+who presides over small-pox, should become angry. It was all in vain.
+He would set out with his household god; and, unable to carry it
+himself, he put it into a small litter upon a pole, and hired a
+bearer to carry it at one end, while he supported it at the other.
+His brother, Khushhal Chand, sent his second wife at the same time
+with offerings for Devi, to ward off the effects of his brother's
+rashness from his child. By the time the brother had got with his god
+to Adhartal, three miles from Jubbulpore, on the road to Benares, he
+heard of the death of his nephew; but he seemed not to feel this
+slight blow in his terror of the dreadful but undefined calamity
+which he felt to be impending over him and the whole family, and he
+trotted on his road. Soon after, an infant son of their uncle died of
+the same disease; and the whole town became at once divided into two
+parties--those who held that the children had been killed by Devi as
+a punishment for Ram Kishan's presuming to leave Jubbulpore before
+they recovered; and those who held that they were killed by the god
+Vishnu himself, for having been so rudely deprived of one of his
+arms. Khushhal Chand's wife sickened on the road, and died on
+reaching Mirzapore, of fever; and, as Devi was supposed to have
+nothing to do with fevers, this event greatly augmented the advocates
+of Vishnu. It is a rule with the Hindoos to bury, and not to burn,
+the bodies of those who die of the small-pox; 'for', say they, 'the
+small-pox is not only caused by the goddess Devi, but is, in fact,
+_Devi herself_', and to burn the body of the person affected with
+this disease is, in reality, neither more nor less than _to burn the
+goddess_'.
+
+Khushhal Chand was strongly urged to bury, and not burn, his child,
+particularly as it was usual with Hindoos to bury infants and
+children of that age, of whatever disease they might die; but he
+insisted upon having his boy burned with all due pomp and ceremony,
+and burned he was accordingly. From that moment, it is said, the
+disease began to rage with increased violence throughout the town of
+Jubbulpore. At least one-half of the children affected had before
+survived; but, from that hour, at least three out of four died; and,
+instead of the condolence which he expected from his fellow citizens,
+poor Khushhal Chand, a very amiable and worthy man, received nothing
+but their execrations for bringing down so many calamities upon their
+heads; first, by maltreating his own god, and then by setting fire to
+theirs.
+
+I had, a few days after, a visit from Gangadhar Rao, the Sadar Amin,
+or head native judicial officer of this district, whose father had
+been for a short time the ruler of the district, under the former
+government; and I asked him whether the small-pox had diminished in
+the town since the rains had now set in. He told me that he thought
+it had, but that a great many children had been taken off by the
+disease.[12]
+
+'I understand, Rao Sahib, that Khushhal Chand, the banker, is
+supposed to have augmented the virulence of the disease by burning
+his boy; was it so?'
+
+'Certainly,' said my friend, with a grave, long face; 'the disease
+was much increased by this man's folly.' I looked very grave in my
+turn, and he continued:- 'Not a child escaped after he had burned his
+boy. Such incredible folly! To set fire to the _goddess_ in the midst
+of a population of twenty thousand souls; it might have brought
+destruction on us all!'
+
+'What makes you think that the disease is itself the goddess?'
+
+'Because we always say, when any member of a family becomes attacked
+by the small-pox, "_Devi nikali_", that is, Devi has shown herself in
+that family, or in that individual. And the person affected can wear
+nothing but plain white clothing, not a silken or coloured garment,
+nor an ornament of any kind; nor can he or any of his family
+undertake a journey, or participate in any kind of rejoicings, lest
+he give offence to her. They broke the arm of their god, and he drove
+them all mad.[l3] The elder brother set out on a journey with it, and
+his nephew, cousin, and sister-in-law fell victims to his temerity;
+and then Khushhal Chand brings down the goddess upon the whole
+community by burning his boy![14] No doubt he was very fond of his
+child--so we all are--and wished to do him all honour; but some
+regard is surely due to the people around us, and I told him so when
+he was making preparations for the funeral; but he would not listen
+to reason.'
+
+A complicated religious code, like that of the Hindoos, is to the
+priest what a complicated civil code, like that of the English, is to
+the lawyers. A Hindoo can do nothing without consulting his priest,
+and an Englishman can do nothing without consulting his lawyer.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. _Ante_, Chapter 24, following note [4].
+
+2. Sagar was ceded by the Peshwa in 1818, and a yearly sum of two and
+a half lakhs of rupees was allotted by Government for pensions to
+Rukma Bai, Vinayak Rao, and the other officers of the Maratha
+Government. A descendant of Rukma Bai continued for many years to
+enjoy a pension of R.10,000 per annum (_C.P. Gazetteer_ (1870), p,
+442). The lady referred to in the text seems to be Rukma Bai.
+
+3. A village about twenty miles north-west of Sagar. The estate
+consists of twenty-six revenue-free villages.
+
+4. The Jewish ceremonial is described in Leviticus xvi. 20-26. After
+completing the atonement for the impurities of the holy place, the
+tabernacle, and the altar, Aaron was directed to lay 'his hands upon
+the head of the live goat', so putting all the sins of the people
+upon the animal, and then to 'send him away by the hand of a fit man
+into the wilderness; and the goat shall bear upon him all their
+iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in
+the wilderness'. The subject of scape-goats is discussed at length
+and copiously illustrated by Mr. Frazer in _The Golden Bough_, 1st
+ed., vol. ii, section 15, pp. 182-217; 3rd ed. (1913) Part VI. The
+author's stories in the text are quoted by Mr. Frazer.
+
+5. During the season of 1816-17 the ravages of the Pindharis were
+exceptionally daring and extensive. The Governor-General, the Marquis
+of Hastings, organized an army in several divisions to crush the
+marauders, and himself joined the central division in October 1817.
+The operations were ended by the capture of Asirgarh in March 1819.
+
+6. The people in the Sagar territories used to show several decayed
+mango-trees in groves where European troops had encamped during the
+campaigns of 1816 and 1817, and declared that they had been seen to
+wither from the day that beef for the use of these troops had been
+tied to their branches. The only coincidence was in the decay of the
+trees, and the encamping of the troops in the groves; that the
+withering trees were those to which the beef had been tied was of
+course taken for granted. [W. H. S.] The Hindoo veneration for the
+cow amounts to a passion, and its intensity is very inadequately
+explained by the current utilitarian explanations. The best analysis
+of the motives underlying the passionate Hindoo feeling on the
+subject is to be found in Mr. William Crooke's article 'The
+Veneration of the Cow in India' (_Folklore_, Sept. 1912, pp. 275-
+306). In modern times an active, though absolutely hopeless,
+agitation has been kept up, directed against the reasonable liberty
+of those communities in India who are not members of the Hindoo
+system. This agitation for the prohibition of cow-killing has caused
+some riots, and has evoked much ill-feeling. The editor had to deal
+with it in the Muzaffarnagar district in 1890, and had much trouble
+to keep the peace. The local leaders of the movement went so far as
+to send telegrams direct to the Government of India. Many other
+magistrates have had similar experiences. The authorities take every
+precaution to protect Hindoo susceptibilities from needless wounds,
+but they are equally bound to defend the lawful liberty of subjects
+who are not Hindoos. The Government of the United Provinces on one
+occasion yielded to the Hindoo demands so far as to prohibit cow-
+killing in at least one town where the practice was not fully
+established, but the legality and expediency of such an order are
+both open to criticism. The administrative difficulty is much
+enhanced by the fact that the Indian Muhammadans profess to be under
+a religious obligation to sacrifice cows at the Idul Bakr festival.
+Cholera has been known to exist in India at least since the
+seventeenth century (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia of India_, 3rd ed. (1885),
+s.v.).
+
+7. The cultus of Hardaul is further discussed _post_ in Chapter 31.
+In 1875, the editor, who was then employed in the Hamirpur district
+of Bundelkhand, published some popular Hindi songs in praise of the
+hero, with the following abstract of the _Legend of Hardaul_:
+'Hardaul, a son of the famous Bir Singh Deo Bundela of Orchha, was
+born at Datiya. His brother, Jhajhar Singh, suspected him of undue
+intimacy with his wife, and at a feast poisoned him with all his
+followers. After this tragedy, it happened that the daughter of
+Kunjavati, the sister of Jhajhar and Hardaul, was about to be
+married. Kunjavati accordingly sent an invitation to Jhajhar Singh,
+requesting him to attend the wedding. He refused, and mockingly
+replied that she had better invite her favourite brother Hardaul.
+Thereupon she went in despair to his tomb and lamented aloud. Hardaul
+from below answered her cries, and said that he would come to the
+wedding and make all arrangements. The ghost kept his promise, and
+arranged the nuptials as befitted the honour of his house.
+Subsequently, he visited at night the bedside of Akbar, and besought
+the emperor to command _chabutras_ to be erected and honour paid to
+him in every village throughout the empire, promising that, if he
+were duly honoured, a wedding should never be marred by storm or
+rain, and that no one who first presented a share of his meal to
+Hardaul should ever want for food. Akbar complied with these
+requests, and since that time Hardaul's ghost has been worshipped in
+every village. He is chiefly honoured at weddings and in Baisakh
+(April-May), during which month the women, especially those of the
+lower castes, visit his _chabutra_ and eat there. His chabutra is
+always built outside the village. On the day but one before the
+arrival of a wedding procession, the women of the family worship the
+gods and Hardaul, and invite them to the wedding. If any signs of a
+storm appears, Hardaul is propitiated with songs '(_J.A.S.B._, vol.
+xliv (1875), Part I, p. 389). The belief that Hardaul worship and
+cholera had been introduced at the same time prevailed in Hamirpur,
+as elsewhere. The _chabutra_ referred to in the above extract is a
+small platform built of mud or masonry.
+
+8. The Hyphasis is the Greek name for the river Bias in the Panjab.
+Holkar's flight into the Panjab occurred in 1805, and in the same
+year the long war with him was terminated by a treaty, much too
+favourable to the marauding chief. He became insane a few years
+later, and died in 1811.
+
+9. See note 2,_ante_.
+
+10. Narsinghpur and Kandeli are practically one town. The Government
+offices and houses of the European residents are in Kandeli, which is
+a mile east of Narsinghpur. The original name of Narsinghpur was
+Gadaria Khera. The modern name is due to the erection of a large
+temple to Narsingha, one of the forms of Vishnu. The district of
+Narsinghpur lies in the Nerbudda valley, west and south-west of
+Jubbulpore.
+
+11. All classes of Indians still frequently refuse to employ any
+medicines in cases of either cholera or small-pox, supposing that the
+attempt to use ordinary human means is an insult to, and a defiance
+of, the Deity.
+
+12. Vaccination was not practised in India in those days. The
+practice of it, although still unpopular in most places, has extended
+sufficiently to check greatly the ravages of small-pox. In many
+municipal towns vaccination is compulsory.
+
+13._Quem deus vult perdere, prius dementat_.
+
+14. The judge cleverly combines the opinions of the adherents of both
+sects.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 26
+
+
+Artificial Lakes in Bundelkhand--Hindoo, Greek, and Roman Faith.
+
+On the 11th[1] we came on twelve miles to the town of Bamhauri,
+whence extends to the south-west a ridge of high and bare quartz
+hills, towering above all others, curling and foaming at the top,
+like a wave ready to burst, when suddenly arrested by the hand of
+Omnipotence, and turned into white stone. The soil all the way is
+wretchedly poor in quality, being formed of the detritus of syenitic
+and quartz rocks, and very thin. Bamhauri is a nice little town,[2]
+beautifully situated on the bank of a fine lake, the waters of which
+preserved during the late famine the population of this and six other
+small towns, which are situated near its borders, and have their
+lands irrigated from it. Besides water for their fields, this lake
+yielded the people abundance of water-chestnuts[3] and fish. In the
+driest season the water has been found sufficient to supply the wants
+of all the people of those towns and villages, and those of all the
+country around, as far as the people can avail themselves of it.
+
+This large lake is formed by an artificial bank or wall at the south-
+east end, which rests one arm upon the high range of quartz rocks,
+which run along its south-west side for several miles, looking down
+into the clear deep water, and forming a beautiful landscape.
+
+From this pretty town, Ludhaura, where the great marriage had lately
+taken place, was in sight, and only four miles distant.[4] It was, I
+learnt, the residence of the present Raja of Orchha, before the death
+of his brother called him to the throne. Many people were returning
+from the ceremonies of the marriage of 'salagram' with 'Tulasi'; who
+told me that the concourse had been immense--at least one hundred and
+fifty thousand; and that the Raja had feasted them all for four days
+during the progress of the ceremonies, but that they were obliged to
+defray their expenses going and coming, except when they came by
+special invitation to do honour to the occasion, as in the case of my
+little friend the Sagar high priest, Janki Sewak. They told me that
+they called this festival the 'Dhanuk jag';[5] and that Janakraj, the
+father of Sita, had in his possession the 'dhanuk', or immortal bow
+of Parasram, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, with which he
+exterminated all the Kshatriyas, or original military class of India,
+and which required no less than four thousand men to raise it on one
+end.[6] The prince offered his daughter in marriage to any man who
+should bend this bow. Hundreds of heroes and demigods aspired to the
+hand of the fair Sita, and essayed to bend the bow; but all in vain,
+till young Ram, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu,[7] then a lad of
+only ten years of age, came; and at the touch of his great toe the
+bow flew into a thousand pieces, which are supposed to have been all
+taken up into heaven. Sita became the wife of Ram; and the popular
+poem of the Ramayana describes the abduction of the heroine by the
+monster king of Ceylon, Ravana, and her recovery by means of the
+monkey general Hanuman. Every word of this poem, the people assured
+me, was written, if not by the hand of the Deity himself, at least by
+his inspiration, which was the same thing, and it must, consequently,
+be true.[8] Ninety-nine out of a hundred among the Hindoos implicitly
+believe, not only every word of this poem, but every word of every
+poem that has ever been written in Sanskrit. If you ask a man whether
+he really believes any very egregious absurdity quoted from these
+books, he replies with the greatest _naivete_ in the world, 'Is it
+not written in the book; and how should it be there written if not
+true?' The Hindoo religion reposes upon an entire prostration of
+mind, that continual and habitual surrender of the reasoning
+faculties, which we are accustomed to make occasionally. While
+engaged at the theatre, or in the perusal of works of fiction, we
+allow the scenes, characters, and incidents to pass before 'our
+mind's eye', and move our feelings, without asking, or stopping a
+moment to ask, whether they are real or true. There is only this
+difference that, with people of education among us, even in such
+short intervals of illusion or abandon, any extravagance in acting,
+or flagrant improbability in the fiction, destroys the charm, breaks
+the spell by which we have been so mysteriously bound, stops the
+smooth current of sympathetic emotion, and restores us to reason and
+to the realities of ordinary life. With the Hindoos, on the contrary,
+the greater the improbability, the more monstrous and preposterous
+the fiction, the greater is the charm it has over their minds;[9] and
+the greater their learning in the Sanskrit the more are they under
+the influence of this charm. Believing all to be written by the
+Deity, or by his inspiration, and the men and things of former days
+to have been very different from the men and things of the present
+day, and the heroes of these fables to have been demigods, or people
+endowed with powers far superior to those of the ordinary men of
+their own day, the analogies of nature are never for a moment
+considered; nor do questions of probability, or possibility,
+according to those analogies, ever obtrude to dispel the charm with
+which they are so pleasingly bound. They go on through life reading
+and talking of these monstrous fictions, which shock the taste and
+understanding of other nations, without once questioning the truth of
+one single incident, or hearing it questioned. There was a time, and
+that not very distant, when it was the same in England, and in every
+other European nation; and there are, I am afraid, some parts of
+Europe where it is so still. But the Hindoo faith, so far as
+religious questions are concerned, is not more capacious or absurd
+than that of the Greeks and Romans in the days of Socrates and
+Cicero--the only difference is, that among the Hindoos a greater
+number of the questions which interest mankind are brought under the
+head of religion.
+
+There is nothing in the Hindoos more absurd than the _piety_ of
+Tiberius in offering up sacrifices in the temple, and before the
+image of Augustus; while he was solicited by all the great cities of
+the empire to suffer temples to be built and sacrifices to be made to
+himself while still living; or than Alexander's attempt to make a
+goddess of his mother while yet alive, that he might feel the more
+secure of being made a god himself after his death.[10] In all
+religions there are points at which the professors declare that
+reason must stop, and cease to be a guide to faith. The pious man
+thinks that all which he cannot comprehend or reconcile to reason in
+his own religion must be above it. The superstitions of the people of
+India will diminish before the spread of science, art, and
+literature; and good works of history and fiction would, I think,
+make far greater havoc among these superstitions even than good works
+in any of the sciences, save the physical, such as astronomy,
+chemistry, &c.[11]
+
+In the evening we went out with the intention of making an excursion
+of the lake, in boats that had been prepared for our reception by
+tying three or four fishing canoes together;[12] but, on reaching the
+ridge of quartz hills which runs along the south-east side, we
+preferred moving along its summit to entering the boats. The prospect
+on either side of this ridge was truly beautiful. A noble sheet of
+clear water, about four miles long by two broad, on our right; and on
+our left a no less noble sheet of rich wheat cultivation, irrigated
+from the lake by drains passing between small breaks in the ridges of
+the hills. The Persian wheel is used to raise the water.[13] This
+sheet of rich cultivation is beautifully studded with mango groves
+and fields of sugar-cane. The lake is almost double the size of that
+of Sagar, and the idea of its great utility for purposes of
+irrigation made it appear to me far more beautiful; but my little
+friend the Sarimant, who accompanied us in our walk, said that 'it
+could not be so handsome, since it had not a fine city and castle on
+two sides, and a fine Government house on the third'.
+
+'But', said I, 'no man's field is watered from that lake.'
+
+'No', replied he, 'but for every man that drinks of the waters of
+this, fifty drink of the waters of that; from that lake thirty
+thousand people get _aram_ (comfort) every day.'
+
+This lake is called Kewlas after Kewal Varmma, the Chandel prince by
+whom it was formed.[14] His palace, now in ruins, stood on the top of
+the ridge of rocks in a very beautiful situation. From the summit,
+about eight miles to the west, we could see a still larger lake,
+called the Nandanvara Lake, extending under a similar range of quartz
+hills running parallel with that on which we stood.[15] That lake, we
+were told, answered upon a much larger scale the same admirable
+purpose of supplying water for the fields, and securing the people
+from the dreadful effects of droughts. The extensive level plains
+through which the rivers of Central India[16] generally cut their way
+have, for the most part, been the beds of immense natural lakes;[17]
+and there rivers sink so deep into their beds, and leave such ghastly
+chasms and ravines on either side, that their waters are hardly ever
+available in due season for irrigation. It is this characteristic of
+the rivers of Central India that makes such lakes so valuable to the
+people, particularly in seasons of drought.[l8] The river Nerbudda
+has been known to rise seventy feet in the course of a couple of days
+in the rains; and, during the season when its waters are wanted for
+irrigation, they can nowhere be found within that [distance] of the
+surface; while a level piece of ground fit for irrigation is rarely
+to be met with within a mile of the stream.[19]
+
+The people appeared to improve as we advanced farther into
+Bundelkhand in appearance, manners, and intelligence. There is a bold
+bearing about the Bundelas, which at first one is apt to take for
+rudeness or impudence, but which in time he finds not to be so.
+
+The employes of the Raja were everywhere attentive, frank, and
+polite; and the peasantry seemed no longer inferior to those of our
+Sagar and Nerbudda territories. The females of almost all the
+villages through which we passed came out with their _Kalas_ in
+procession to meet us--one of the most affecting marks of respect
+from the peasantry for their superiors that I know. One woman carries
+on her head a brass jug, brightly polished, full of water; while all
+the other families of the village crowd around her, and sing in
+chorus some rural song, that lasts from the time the respected
+visitor comes in sight till he disappears. He usually puts into the
+Kalas a rupee to purchase 'gur' (coarse sugar), of which all the
+females partake, as a sacred offering to the sex. No member of the
+other sex presumes to partake of it, and during the chorus all the
+men stand aloof in respectful silence. This custom prevails all over
+India, or over all parts of it that I have seen; and yet I have
+witnessed a Governor-General of India, with all his suite, passing by
+this interesting group, without knowing or asking what it was. I
+lingered behind, and quietly put my silver into the jug, as if from
+the Governor-General.[20]
+
+The man who administers the government over these seven villages in
+all its branches, civil, criminal, and fiscal, receives a salary of
+only two hundred rupees a year. He collects the revenues on the part
+of Government; and, with the assistance of the heads and the elders
+of the villages, adjusts all petty matters of dispute among the
+people, both civil and criminal. Disputes of a more serious character
+are sent to be adjusted at the capital by the Raja and his ministers.
+The person who reigns over the seven villages of the lake is about
+thirty years of age, of the Rajput caste, and, I think, one of the
+finest young men I have ever seen. His ancestors have served the
+Orchha State in the same station for seven generations; and he tells
+me that he hopes his posterity will serve them [_sic_] for as many
+more, provided they do not forfeit their claims to do so by their
+infidelity or incapacity. This young man seemed to have the respect
+and affection of every member of the little communities of the
+villages through which we passed, and it was evident that he deserved
+their attachment. I have rarely seen any similar signs of attachment
+to one of our own native officers. This arises chiefly from the
+circumstance of their being less frequently placed in authority among
+those upon whose good feelings and opinions their welfare and
+comfort, as those of their children, are likely permanently to
+depend. In India, under native rule, office became hereditary,
+because officers expended the whole of their incomes in religious
+ceremonies, or works of ornament and utility, and left their families
+in hopeless dependence upon the chief in whose service they had
+laboured all their lives, while they had been educating their sons
+exclusively with the view of serving that chief in the same capacity
+that their fathers had served him before them. It is in this case,
+and this alone, that the law of primogeniture is in force in
+India.[21] Among Muhammadans, as well as Hindoos, all property, real
+and personal, is divided equally among the children;[22] but the
+duties of an office will not admit of the same subdivision; and this,
+therefore, when hereditary, as it often is, descends to the eldest
+son with the obligation of providing for the rest of the family. The
+family consists of all the members who remain united to the parent
+stock, including the widows and orphans of the sons or brothers who
+were so up to the time of their death.[23]
+
+The old 'chobdar', or silver-stick bearer, who came with us from the
+Raja, gets fifteen rupees a month, and his ancestors have served the
+Raja for several generations. The Diwan, who has charge of the
+treasury, receives only one thousand rupees a year, and the Bakshi,
+or paymaster of the army, who seems at present to rule the state as
+the prime favourite, the same. These latter are at present the only
+two great officers of state; and, though they are, no doubt,
+realizing handsome incomes by indirect means, they dare not make any
+display, lest signs of wealth might induce the Raja or his successors
+to treat them as their predecessors in office were treated for some
+time past.[24] The Jagirdars, or feudal chiefs, as I have before
+stated, are almost all of the same family or class as the Raja, and
+they spend all the revenues of their estates in the maintenance of
+military retainers, upon whose courage and fidelity they can
+generally rely. These Jagirdars are bound to attend the prince on all
+great occasions, and at certain intervals; and are made to contribute
+something to his exchequer in tribute. Almost all live beyond their
+legitimate means, and make up the deficiency by maintaining upon
+their estates gangs of thieves, robbers, and murderers, who extend
+their depredations into the country around, and share the prey with
+these chiefs, and their officers and under-tenants. They keep them as
+_poachers_ keep their _dogs_; and the paramount power, whose subjects
+they plunder, might as well ask them for the best horse in the stable
+as for the best thief that lives under their protection.[25]
+
+I should mention an incident that occurred during the Raja's visit to
+me at Tehri. Lieutenant Thomas was sitting next to the little
+Sarimant, and during the interview he asked him to allow him to look
+at his beautiful little gold-hilted sword. The Sarimant held it fast,
+and told him that he should do himself the honour of waiting upon him
+in his tent in the course of the day, when he would show him the
+sword and tell him its history. After the Raja, left me, Thomas
+mentioned this, and said he felt very much hurt at the incivility of
+my little friend; but I told him that he was in everything he did and
+said so perfectly the gentleman, that I felt quite sure he would
+explain all to his satisfaction when he called upon him. During his
+visit to Thomas he apologized for not having given over his sword to
+him, and said, 'You European gentlemen have such perfect confidence
+in each other, that you can, at all times, and in all situations,
+venture to gratify your curiosity in these matters, and draw your
+swords in a crowd just as well as when alone; but, had you drawn mine
+from the scabbard in such a situation, with the tent full of the
+Raja's personal attendants, and surrounded by a devoted and not very
+orderly soldiery, it might have been attended by very serious
+consequences. Any man outside might have seen the blade gloaming,
+and, not observing distinctly why it had been drawn, might have
+suspected treachery, and called out "_To the rescue_", when we should
+all have been cut down--the lady, child, and all.' Thomas was not
+only satisfied with the Sarimant's apology, but was so much delighted
+with him, that he has ever since been longing to get his portrait;
+for he says it was really his intention to draw the sword had the
+Sarimant given it to him. As I have said, his face is extremely
+beautiful, quite a model for a painter or a statuary, and his figure,
+though small, is handsome. He dresses with great elegance, mostly in
+azure-coloured satin, surmounted by a rose-coloured turban and a
+waistband of the same colour. All his motions are graceful, and his
+manners have an exquisite polish. A greater master of all the
+_convenances_ I have never seen, though he is of slender capacity,
+and, as I have said, in stature less than five feet high.
+
+
+A poor, half-naked man, reduced to beggary by the late famine, ran
+along by my horse to show me the road, and, to the great amusement of
+my attendants, exclaimed that he felt exactly as if he were always
+falling down a well, meaning as if he were immersed in cold water. He
+said that the cold season was suited only to gentlemen who could
+afford to be well clothed; but, to a poor man like himself, and the
+great mass of people, in Bundelkhand at least, the hot season was
+much better. He told me that 'the late Raja, though a harsh, was
+thought to be a just man;[26] and that his good sense, and, above
+all, his _good fortune_ (ikbal) had preserved the principality
+entire; but that God only, and the forbearance of the Honourable
+Company, could now serve it under such an imbecile as the present
+chief'. He seemed quite melancholy at the thought of living to see
+this principality, the oldest in Bundelkhand, lose its independence.
+Even this poor, unclothed, and starving wretch had a feeling of
+patriotism, a pride of country, though that country had been so
+wretchedly governed, and was now desolated by a famine.
+
+Just such a feeling had the impressed seamen who fought our battles
+in the great struggle. No nation has ever had a more disgraceful
+institution than that of the press-gang of England. This institution,
+if so it can be called, must be an eternal stain upon her glory--
+posterity will never be able to read the history of her naval
+victories without a blush--without reproaching her lawgivers who
+could allow them to be purchased with the blood of such men as those
+who fought for us the battles of the Nile and Trafalgar. '_England
+expected every man to do his duty_' on that day, but had England done
+her duty to every man who was on that day to fight for her? Was not
+every English gentleman of the Lords and Commons a David sending his
+Uriah to battle?[27]
+
+The intellectual stock which we require in good seamen for our navy,
+and which is acquired in scenes of peril 'upon the high and giddy
+mast', is as much their property as that which other men acquire in
+schools and colleges; and we had no more right to seize and employ
+these seamen in our battles upon the wages of common, uninstructed
+labour, than we should have had to seize and employ as many
+clergymen, barristers, and physicians. When I have stood on the
+quarter-deck of a ship in a storm, and seen the seamen covering the
+yards in taking in sail, with the thunder rolling, and the lightning
+flashing fearfully around them--the sea covered with foam, and each
+succeeding billow, as it rushed by, seeming ready to sweep them all
+from their frail footing into the fathomless abyss below--I have
+asked myself, 'Are men like these to be seized like common felons,
+torn from their wives and children as soon as they reach their native
+land, subject every day to the lash, and put in front of those
+battles on which the wealth, the honour, and the independence of the
+nation depend, merely because British legislators know that when
+there, a regard for their own personal character among their
+companions in danger will make them fight like Englishmen?'
+
+This feeling of nationality which exists in the little states of
+Bundelkhand, arises from the circumstance that the mass of the
+landholders are of the same class as the chief Bundelas; and that the
+public establishments of the state are recruited almost exclusively
+from that mass. The states of Jhansi[28] and Jalaun[29] are the only
+exceptions. There the rulers are Brahmans and not Rajputs, and they
+recruit their public establishments from all classes and all
+countries. The landed aristocracy, however, there, as elsewhere, are
+Rajputs-either Pawars, Chandels, or Bundelas.
+
+The Rajput landholders of Bundelkhand are linked to the soil in all
+their grades, from the prince to the peasant, as the Highlanders of
+Scotland were not long ago; and the holder of a hundred acres is as
+proud as the holder of a million.[30] He boasts the same descent, and
+the same exclusive possession of arms and agriculture, to which
+unhappily the industry of their little territories is almost
+exclusively confined, for no other branch can grow up among so
+turbulent a set, whose quarrels with their chiefs, or among each
+other, are constantly involving them in civil wars, which render life
+and property exceedingly insecure. Besides, as I have stated, their
+propensity to keep bands of thieves, robbers, and murderers in their
+baronial castles, as poachers keep their dogs, has scared away the
+wealthy and respectable capitalist and peaceful and industrious
+manufacturer.
+
+All the landholders are uneducated, and unfit to serve in any of our
+civil establishments, or in those of any very civilized Governments;
+and they are just as unfitted to serve in our military
+establishments, where strict discipline is required. The lands they
+occupy are cultivated because they depend almost entirely upon the
+rents they get from them for subsistence; and because every petty
+chief and his family hold their lands rent-free, or at a trifling
+quit-rent, on the tenure of military service, and their residue forms
+all the market for land produce which the cultivators require. They
+dread the transfer of the rule to our Government, because they now
+form almost exclusively all the establishments of their domestic
+chief, civil as well as military; and know that, were our rule to be
+substituted, they would be almost entirely excluded from these, at
+least for a generation or two. In our regiments, horse or foot, there
+is hardly a man from Bundelkhand, for the reasons above stated; nor
+are there any in the Gwalior regiments and contingents which are
+stationed in the neighbourhood; though the land among them is become
+minutely subdivided, and they are obliged to seek service or starve.
+They are all too proud for manual labour, even at the plough. No
+Bundelkhand Rajput will, I believe, condescend to put his hand to
+one.
+
+Among the Maratha states, Sikhs, and Muhammadans, there is no bond of
+union of this kind. The establishments, military as well as civil,
+are everywhere among them composed for the most part of foreigners;
+and the landed interests under such Governments would dread nothing
+from the prospect of a transfer to our rule; on the contrary, they
+and the mass of the people would almost everywhere hail it as a
+blessing.
+
+There are two reasons why we should leave these small native states
+under their own chiefs, even when the claim to the succession is
+feeble or defective; first, because it tends to relieve the minds of
+other native chiefs from the apprehension, already too prevalent
+among them, that we desire by degrees to absorb them all, because we
+think our government would do better for the people; and secondly,
+because, by leaving them as a contrast, we afford to the people of
+India the opportunity of observing the superior advantages of our
+rule.
+
+'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,' in governments as well
+as in landscapes; and if the people of India, instead of the living
+proofs of what perilous things native governments, whether Hindoo or
+Muhammadan, are in reality, were acquainted with nothing but such
+pictures of them as are to be found in their histories and in the
+imaginations of their priests and learned men (who lose much of their
+influence and importance under our rule), they would certainly, with
+proneness like theirs to delight in the marvellous, be far from
+satisfied, as they now are, that they never had a government so good
+as ours, and that they never could hope for another so good, were
+ours removed.[31]
+
+ For the advantages which we derive from leaving them independent, we
+are, no doubt, obliged to pay a heavy penalty in the plunder of our
+wealthy native subjects by the gangs of robbers of all descriptions
+whom they foster; but this evil may be greatly diminished by a
+judicious interposition of our authority to put down such bands.[32]
+
+In Bundelkhand, at present, the government and the lands of the
+native chiefs are in the hands of three of the Hindoo military
+classes, Bundelas, Dhandelas, and Pawars. The principal chiefs are of
+the first, and their feudatories are chiefly of the other two. A
+Bundela cannot marry the daughter of a Bundela; he must take his wife
+from one or other of the other two tribes; nor can a member of either
+of the other two take his wife from his own tribe; he must take her
+from the Bundelas, or the other tribe. The wives of the greatest
+chiefs are commonly from the poorest families of their vassals; nor
+does the proud family from which she has been taken feel itself
+exalted by the alliance; neither does the poorest vassal among the
+Pawars and Dhandels feel that the daughter of his prince has
+condescended in becoming his wife. All they expect is a service for a
+few more yeomen of the family among the retainers of the sovereign.
+
+The people are in this manner, from the prince to the peasant,
+indissolubly linked to each other, and to the soil they occupy; for,
+where industry is confined almost exclusively to agriculture, the
+proprietors of the soil and the officers of Government, who are
+maintained out of its rents, constitute nearly the whole of the
+middle and higher classes. About one-half of the lands of every state
+are held on service tenure by vassals of the same family or clan as
+the chief; and there is hardly one of them who is not connected with
+that chief by marriage. The revenue derived from the other half is
+spent in the maintenance of establishments formed almost exclusively
+of the members of these families.
+
+They are none of them educated for civil offices under any other
+rule, nor could they, for a generation or two, be induced to submit
+to wear military uniform, or learn the drill of regular soldiers.
+They are mere militia, brave as men can be, but unsusceptible of
+discipline. They have, therefore, a natural horror at the thought of
+their states coming under any other than a domestic rule, for they
+could have no chance of employment in the civil or military
+establishments of a foreign power; and their lands would, they fear,
+be resumed, since the service for which they had been given would be
+no longer available to the rulers. It is said that, in the long
+interval from the commencement of the reign of Alexander the third to
+the end of that of David the second,[33] not a single baron could be
+found in Scotland able to sign his own name. The Bundelkhand barons
+have never, I believe, been quite so bad as this, though they have
+never yet learned enough to fit them for civil offices under us. Many
+of them can write and read their own language, which is that common
+to the other countries around them.[34]
+
+Bundelkhand was formerly possessed by another tribe of Rajputs, the
+proud Chandels, who have now disappeared altogether from this
+province. If one of that tribe can still be found, it is in the
+humblest rank of the peasant or the soldier; but its former strength
+is indicated by the magnificent artificial lakes and ruined castles
+which are traced to them; and by the reverence which is still felt by
+the present dominant classes of [_sic_] their old capital of Mahoba.
+Within a certain distance around that ruined city no one now dares to
+beat the 'nakkara', or great drum used in festivals or processions,
+lest the spirits of the old Chandel chiefs who there repose should be
+roused to vengeance;[35] and a kingdom could not tempt one of the
+Bundelas, Pawars, or Chandels to accept the government of the parish
+['mauza'] in which it is situated. They will take subordinate offices
+there under others with fear and trembling, but nothing could induce
+one of them to meet the governor. When the deadly struggle between
+these two tribes took place cannot now be discovered.[36]
+
+In the time of Akbar, the Chandels were powerful in Mahoba, as the
+celebrated Durgavati, the queen of Garha Mandla, whose reign extended
+over the Sagar and Nerbudda territories and the greater part of
+Berar, was a daughter of the reigning Chandel prince of Mahoba. He
+condescended to give his daughter only on condition that the Gond
+prince who demanded her should, to save his character, come with an
+army of fifty thousand men to take her. He did so, and 'nothing
+loth', Durgavati departed to reign over a country where her name is
+now more revered than that of any other sovereign it has ever had.
+She was killed above two hundred and fifty years ago, about twelve
+miles from Jubbulpore, while gallantly leading on her troops in their
+third and last attempt to stem the torrent of Muhammadan invasion.
+Her tomb is still to be seen where she fell, in a narrow defile
+between two hills; and a pair of large rounded stones which stand
+near are, according to popular belief, her royal drums turned into
+stone, which, in the dead of night, are still heard resounding
+through the woods, and calling the spirits of her warriors from their
+thousand graves around her. The travellers who pass this solitary
+spot respectfully place upon the tomb the prettiest specimen they can
+find of the crystals which abound in the neighbourhood; and, with so
+much of kindly feeling had the history of Durgavati inspired me, that
+I could not resist the temptation of adding one to the number when I
+visited her tomb some sixteen years ago.[37]
+
+I should mention that the Raja of Samthar in Bundelkhand.[38] is by
+caste a Gujar;[39] and he has not yet any landed aristocracy like
+that of the Bundelas about him. One of his ancestors, not long ago,
+seized upon a fine open plain, and built a fort upon it, and the
+family has ever since, by means of this fort, kept possession of the
+country around, and drawn part of their revenues from depredations
+upon their neighbours and travellers. The Jhansi and Jalaun chiefs
+are Brahmans of the same family as the Peshwa.
+
+In the states governed by chiefs of the military classes, nearly the
+whole produce of the land goes to maintain soldiers, or military
+retainers, who are always ready to fight or rob for their chief. In
+those governed by the Brahmanical class, nearly the whole produce
+goes to maintain priests; and the other chiefs would soon devour
+them, as the black ants devour the white, were not the paramount
+power to interpose and save them. While the Peshwa lived, he
+interposed; but all his dominions were _running into priesthood_,
+like those in Sagar and Bundelkhand, and must soon have been
+swallowed up by the military chiefs around him, had we not taken his
+place. Jalaun and Jhansi are preserved only by us, for, with all
+their religious, it is impossible for them to maintain efficient
+military establishments; and the Bundela chiefs have always a strong
+desire to eat them up, since these states were all sliced out of
+their principalities when the Peshwa was all-powerful in Hindustan.
+
+The Chhatarpur Raja is a Pawar. His father had been in the service of
+the Bundela Raja; but, when we entered upon our duties as the
+paramount power in Bundelkhand, the son had succeeded to the little
+principality seized upon by his father; and, on the principle of
+respecting actual possession, he was recognized by us as the
+sovereign.[40] The Bundela Rajas, east of the Dasan river, are
+descended from Raja Chhatarsal, and are looked down upon by the
+Bundela Rajas of Orchha, Chanderi, and Datiya, west of the Dasan, as
+Chhatarsal was in the service of one of their ancestors, from whom he
+wrested the estates which his descendants now enjoy. Chhatarsal, in
+his will, gave one-third of the dominion he had thus acquired to the
+strongest power then in India, the Peshwa, in order to secure the
+other two-thirds to his two sons Hardi Sa and Jagatraj, in the same
+manner as princes of the Roman empire used to bequeath a portion of
+theirs to the emperor.[41] Of the Peshwa's share we have now got all,
+except Jalaun. Jhansi was subsequently acquired by the Peshwa, or
+rather by his subordinates, with his sanction and assistance.[42]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. In the Orchha State. This seems to be the same town which the
+author had already visited on his way to Tehri on the 7th December.
+_Ante_, Chapter 19 note [15].
+
+3. _Ante_, Chapter 12 following note [9].
+
+4. Sodora in the author's text; see _ante_, Chapter 19, note 11.
+
+5. 'Bow-sacrifice.'
+
+6. The tradition is that a prince of this military class was sporting
+in a river with his thousand wives, when Renuka, the wife of
+Jamadagni, went to bring water. He offended her, and her husband
+cursed the prince, but was put to death by him. His son Parasram was
+no less a person than the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, who had
+assumed the human shape merely to destroy these tyrants. He vowed,
+now that his mother had been insulted, and his father killed, not to
+leave one on the face of the earth. He destroyed them all twenty-one
+times, the women with child producing a new race each time. [W. H.
+S.] The legend is not narrated quite correctly.
+
+7. Rama Chandra, son of Dasaratha.
+
+8. When Ram set out with his army for Ceylon, he is supposed to have
+worshipped the little tree called 'cheonkul', which stood near his
+capital of Ajodhya. It is a wretched little thing, between a shrub
+and a tree; but I have seen a procession of more than seventy
+thousand persons attend their prince to the worship of it on the
+festival of the Dasahara, which is held in celebration of this
+expedition to Ceylon. [W. H. S.] 'As Arjuna and his brothers
+worshipped the shumee-tree, the _Acacia suma_, and hung up their arms
+upon it, so the Hindus go forth to worship that tree on the festival
+of the Dasahara. They address the tree under the name of Aparajita,
+the invincible goddess, sprinkle it with five ambrosial liquids, the
+'panchamrit', a mixture of milk, curds, sugar, clarified butter, and
+honey, wash it with water, and hang garments upon it. They light
+lamps and burn incense before the symbol of Aparajita, make
+'chandlos' upon the tree, sprinkle it with rose-coloured water, and
+set offerings of food before it' (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed.,
+s.v. 'Dasahara'). The 'cheonkul' is the _chhonkar_ or _chhaunkar
+(Prosopis spicigera_, Linn.), described by Growse as follows:--
+
+'Very common throughout the district; occasionally grows to quite a
+large tree, as in the Dohani Kund at Chaksauli. It is used for
+religious worship at the festival of the Dasahara, and considered
+sacred to Siva. The pods (called _sangri_) are much used for fodder.
+Probably _chhonkar_ and _sangri_, which latter is in some parts of
+India the name of the tree as well as of the pod, are both
+dialectical corruptions of the Sanskrit _sankara_, a name of Siva;
+for the palatal and sibilant are frequently interchangeable' ('List
+of Indigenous Trees' in _Mathura, A. District Memoir_, 3rd ed.,
+Allahabad, 1883, p. 422). Sundry leguminous trees are used in
+Dasahara ceremonies in the different parts of India, under varying
+local names.
+
+9. _Credo quia impossibile_.
+
+10. This comparison is not a happy one. The elements in some of the
+Hindoo myths specially repulsive to European taste are their
+monstrosity, their inartistic and hideous exaggeration, their
+accumulation of sanguinary horrors, and their childish triviality.
+Few of the classical myths exhibit these characteristics. The vanity
+or policy of Tiberius and Alexander in believing themselves to be, or
+wishing to be believed, divine, has nothing in common with the
+grotesque imagination of Puranic Hinduism.
+
+11. The roots of Hinduism are so deeply fixed in a thick soil of
+custom and inherited sentiment, the growth of thousands of years,
+that English education has less effect than might be expected in
+loosening the bonds of beliefs which seem to every one but a Hindoo
+the merest superstition. Hindoos who can read English with fluency,
+and write it with accuracy, are often extremely devout, and Hindoo
+devoutness must ever appear to an outsider, even to a European as
+sympathetic as the author, to be no better than superstition. A
+Hindoo able to read English with ease has at his command all the rich
+stores of the knowledge of the West, but very often does not care to
+taste them. Enmeshed in a web of ritual and belief inseparable from
+himself, he remains as much as ever a Hindoo, and uses his skill in
+English merely as an article of professional equipment. 'Good works
+of history and fiction' do not interest him, and he usually fails to
+digest and assimilate the physical or biological science administered
+to him at school or college. In fact, he does not believe it. The
+monstrous legends of the Puranas continue to be for his mind the
+realities; while the truths of science are to him phantoms, shadowy
+and unsubstantial, the outlandish notions of alien and casteless
+unbelievers. These observations, of course, are not universally true,
+and a few Hindoos, growing in number, are able to heartily accept and
+thoroughly assimilate the facts of history and the results of
+inductive science. But such Hindoos are few, and it may well be
+doubted if it is possible for a man really to believe the amount of
+history and science known to an ordinary English schoolboy, and still
+be a devout Hindoo. The old bottles cannot contain the new wine. The
+Hindoo scriptures do not treat of history and science in a merely
+incidental way; they teach, after their fashion, both history and
+science formally and systematically; grammar, logic, medicine,
+astronomy, the history of gods and men, are all taught in books which
+form part of the sacred canon. Inductive science and matter-of-fact
+history are absolutely destructive of, and irreconcilable with,
+veneration for the Hindoo scriptures as authoritative and infallible
+guides. It is impossible, within the narrow limits of a note, to
+discuss the problems suggested by the author's remarks. Enough,
+perhaps, has been said to show that the many-rooted banyan tree of
+Hinduism is in little danger of overthrow from the attacks either of
+history or of science, not to speak of 'good works of fiction'.
+
+12. A 'dug-out' canoe is rather a shaky craft. When two or three are
+lashed together, and a native cot (_charpai_) is stretched across,
+the passenger can make himself very comfortable. The boats are poled
+by men standing in the stern.
+
+13. _Ante_, Chapter 24, note 1.
+
+14. This prince is not included in the authentic dynastic lists given
+in the Chandel inscriptions. He was probably a younger son, who never
+reigned. The principal authorities for the history of the Chandel
+dynasty are _A.S.R._, vol. ii, pp. 439-51; vol. xxi, pp. 77-90, and
+V. A. Smith, 'Contributions to the History of Bundelkhand', in
+_J.A.S.B._ vol. 1 (1881), Part I, p. 1; and 'The History and Coinage
+of the Chandel (Chandella) Dynasty' in _Ind. Ant._, 1908, pp. 114-48.
+A brief summary will be found in _Early History of India_, 3rd ed.
+(1914), pp. 390-4. Most of the great works of the dynasty date from
+the period A.D. 950-1200.
+
+15. The long ridges of quartz traversing the gneiss are marked
+features in the scenery of Bundelkhand.
+
+16. The author always uses the phrase Central India as a vague
+geographical expression. The phrase is now generally used to mean an
+administrative division, namely, the group of Native States under the
+Central India Agency at Indore, which deals with about 148 chiefs and
+rulers of various rank. Central India in this official sense must not
+be confounded with the Central Provinces, of which the capital is
+Nagpur.
+
+17. On this lake theory, see _ante_, Chapter 14, note 13.
+
+18. During a residence of six years in Bundelkhand the editor came to
+the conclusion that most of the ancient artificial lakes were not
+constructed for purposes of irrigation. The embankments seem
+generally to have been built as adjuncts to palaces or temples. Many
+of the lakes command no considerable area of irrigable ground, and
+there are no traces of ancient irrigation channels. In modern times
+small canals have been drawn from some of the lakes.
+
+19. The desolation of the ravines of the rivers of Central India and
+Bundelkhand offers a very striking spectacle, presenting to the
+geologist a signal example of the effects of sub-aerial denudation.
+
+20. This pretty custom is also described, in Tod's _Rajasthan_; and
+is still common in Alwar, and perhaps in other parts of Rajputana
+(_N.I. Notes and Queries_, vol. ii (Dec. 1892), p. 152), It does not
+seem to be now known in the Gangetic valley.
+
+21. Principalities, and the estates of the talukdars of Oudh also
+descend to the eldest son. The author states (_ante_, Chapter 10, see
+text before note [10].) that the same rule applied in his time to the
+small agricultural holdings in the Sagar and Nerbudda territories.
+
+22. This statement is inexact; Hindoo daughters, as a rule, inherit
+nothing from their fathers; a Muhammadan daughter takes half the
+share of a son.
+
+23. But it is only the smaller local ministerial officers who are
+secure in their tenure of office under native Governments; those on
+whose efficiency the well-being of village communities depends. The
+greatest evil of Governments of the kind is the feeling of insecurity
+which pervades all the higher officers of Government, and the
+instability of all engagements made by the Government with them, and
+by them with the people. [W. H. S.]
+
+24. _Ante_, Chapter 23, text at note [8].
+
+25. In the Gwalior territory, the Maratha 'amils' or governors of
+districts, do the same, and keep gangs of robbers on purpose to
+plunder their neighbours; and, if you ask them for their thieves,
+they will actually tell you that to part with them would be ruin, as
+they are their only defence against the thieves of their neighbours.
+[W. H. S.] These notions and habits are by no means extinct. In
+October, 1892, a force of about two hundred men, cavalry and
+infantry, was sent into Bundelkhand to suppress robber gangs. Such
+gangs are constantly breaking out in that region, in most native
+states, and in many British districts. See _ante_, chapter 23, text
+following note [13].
+
+26. My poor guide had as little sympathy with the prime ministers,
+whom the Tehri Raja put to death, as the peasantry of England had
+with the great men and women whom Harry the Eighth sacrificed. [W. H.
+S.] _Ante_, Chapter 23, beginning to note [9].
+
+27. The cruel practice of impressment for the royal navy is
+authorized by a series of statutes extending from the reign of Philip
+and Mary to that of George III. Seamen of the merchant navy, and,
+with few exceptions, all seafaring men between the ages of eighteen
+and thirty-five, are liable, under the provisions of these harsh
+statutes, to be forcibly seized by the press-gang, and compelled to
+serve on board a man-of-war. The acts legalizing impressment were
+freely made use of during the Napoleonic wars, but since then have
+been little acted on, and no Government at the present day could
+venture to use them, though they have never been repealed. The fleet
+sent against the Russians in 1855 was the first English fleet ever
+manned without recourse to forcible impressment: see the article
+'Impressment' by David Hannay, in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th
+ed., 1910. The work by J. B. Hutchinson entitled _The Press-gang
+Afloat and Ashore_ (London: Nash, 1913) gives copious details of the
+infamous proceedings.
+
+28. The Brahman chief of Jhansi was originally a governor under the
+Peshwa. The treaty of November 18, 1817, recognized the then chief
+Ramchand Rao, his heirs and successors, as hereditary rulers of
+Jhansi. Ramchand Rao was granted the title of Raja by the British
+Government in 1832, and died without issue on August 20, 1835
+(_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. i, p. 296). See _post_, Chapter
+29.
+
+29. The chiefs of Jalaun also were officers under the Maratha
+Government of the Peshwa up to 1817. In consequence of gross
+misgovernment, an English superintendent was appointed in 1838, and
+the state lapsed to the British Government, owing to failure of
+heirs, in 1840 (ibid. p. 229).
+
+30. _Ante_ Chapter 23, note 13.
+
+31. Lapse of years has increased the distance and the enchantment, so
+that modern agitators and sentimentalists discover marvellous
+excellences in the native Governments of the now remote past. The
+methods of government in the existing native states have been so
+profoundly modified by the influence of the Imperial Government that
+these states are no longer as instructive in the way of contrast as
+they were in the author's day.
+
+32. The author consistently held the views above enunciated, and
+defended the policy of maintaining the native states. He was of
+opinion that the system of annexation favoured by Lord Dalhousie and
+his Council 'had a downward tendency, and tended to crush all the
+higher and middle classes connected with the land'. He considered
+that the Government of India should have undertaken the management of
+Oudh, but that it had no right to annex the province, and appropriate
+its revenues (_Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, p. 22, &c.).
+Since 1858 the policy of annexation has been repudiated. See Sir W.
+Lee-Warner, _The Protected Princes of India_ (Macmillan, 1894), and
+_The Native States of India_ (1910).
+
+33. A.D. 1249 to A.D. 1371.
+
+34. The Hindi spoken in different parts of Bundelkhand comprises
+several distinct dialects: see Kellogg, _A Grammar of the Hindi
+Language_, 2nd ed., 1893; and Grierson, _Linguistic Survey_, vol. vi
+(1904), pp. 18-23, where the dialects of Eastern Bundelkhand are
+discussed. Bundeli, the speech of Bundelkhand proper, will be treated
+as a dialect of Western Hindi in a volume of the _Survey_ not yet
+published. Sir G. Grierson has favoured me with perusal of the
+proofs, and has used materials collected by me in the Hamirpur
+District nearly forty years ago. Bundeli has a considerable
+literature.
+
+35. The editor was told of a case in which two chiefs suffered for
+beating their drums in Mahoba.
+
+36. See _ante_, Chapter 23 note 11, and Chapter 26 note 14, and the
+authorities there cited. The Chandel history occupies an important
+place in the mediaeval annals of India. Several important
+inscriptions of the dynasty have been correctly edited in the
+_Epigraphia Indica_. Mahoba is not now a 'ruined city'; it is a
+moderately prosperous country town, with a tolerable bazaar, and
+about eleven thousand inhabitants. It is the head-quarters of a
+'tahsildar', or sub-collector, and a station on the Midland Railway.
+The ruined temples and places in and near the town are of much
+interest. For many miles round the country is full of remarkable
+remains, some of which are in fairly good preservation. The published
+descriptions of these works are far from being exhaustive. The author
+was mistaken in supposing that the power of the Chandels was broken
+by the Bundelas. The last Chandel king, who ruled over an extensive
+dominion, was Paramardi Deva, or Parmal. This prince was defeated in
+a pitched battle, or rather a series of battles, near the Betwa
+river, by Prithiraj Chauhan, king of Kanauj, in the year 1182. A few
+years later, the victor was himself vanquished and slain by the
+advancing Muhammadans. Mahoba and the surrounding territories then
+passed through many vicissitudes, imperfectly recorded in the pages
+of history, and were ruled from time to time by Musalmans, Bhars,
+Khangars, and others. The Bundelas, an offshoot of the Gaharwar clan,
+did not come into notice before the middle of the fourteenth century,
+and first became a power in India under the leadership of Champat
+Rai, the contemporary of Jahangir and Shah Jahan, in the first half
+of the seventeenth century. The line of Chandel kings was continued
+in the persons of obscure local chiefs, whose very names are, for the
+most part, forgotten. The story of Durgavati, briefly told in the
+text, casts a momentary flash of light on their obscurity. The
+principal nobleman of the Chandel race now occupying a dignified
+position is the Raja of Gidhaur in the Mungir (Monghyr) district of
+Bengal, whose ancestor emigrated from Mahoba.
+
+The war between the Chandels and Chauhans is the subject of a long
+section or canto of the Hindi epic, the _Chand-Raisa_, written by
+Chand Bardai, the court poet of Prithiraj, of which the original MS.
+in 5,000 verses still exists. It was subsequently expanded to 125,000
+verses (_E.H.I._, 3rd ed., 1914, p. 387 note). The war is also the
+theme of the songs of many popular rhapsodists. The story is, of
+course, encrusted with a thick deposit of miraculous legend, and none
+of the details can be relied on. But the fact and the date of the war
+are fully proved by incontestable evidence.
+
+37. The marriage of Durgavati is no proof that her father, the
+Chandel Raja, was powerful in Mahoba in the time of Akbar. It is
+rather an indication that he was poor and weak. If he had been rich
+and strong, he would probably have refused his daughter to a Gond,
+even though complaisant bards might invent a Rajput genealogy for the
+bridegroom. The story about the army of fifty thousand men cannot be
+readily accepted as sober fact. It looks like a courtly invention to
+explain a mesalliance. The inducement really offered to the proud but
+poor Chandel was, in all likelihood, a large sum of money, according
+to the usual practice in such cases. Several indications exist of
+close relations between the Gonds and Chandels in earlier times.
+
+Early in Akbar's reign, in the year 1564, Asaf Khan, the imperial
+viceroy of Karra Manikpur, obtained permission to invade the Gond
+territory. The young Raja of Garha Mandla, Bir Narayan, was then a
+minor, and the defence of the kingdom devolved on Durgavati, the
+dowager queen. She first took up her position at the great fortress
+of Singaurgarh, north-west of Jabalpur, and, being there defeated,
+retired through Garha, to the south-east, towards Mandla. After an
+obstinately contested fight the invaders were again successful, and
+broke the queen's stout resistance. 'Mounted on an elephant, she
+refused to retire, though she was severely wounded, until her troops
+had time to recover the shock of the first discharge of artillery,
+and, notwithstanding that she had received an arrow-wound in her eye,
+bravely defended the pass in person. But, by an extraordinary
+coincidence, the river in the rear of her position, which had been
+nearly dry a few hours before the action commenced, began suddenly to
+rise, and soon became unfordable. Finding her plan of retreat thus
+frustrated, and seeing her troops give way, she snatched a dagger
+from her elephant-driver, and plunged it into her bosom. . . . Of all
+the sovereigns of this dynasty she lives most in the recollection of
+the people; she carried out many highly useful works in different
+parts of her kingdom, and one of the large reservoirs near Jabalpur
+is still called the Rani Talao in memory of her. During the fifteen
+years of her regency she did much for the country, and won the hearts
+of the people, while her end was as noble and devoted as her life had
+been useful' (_C.P. Gazetteer_ (1870), p. 283; with references to
+Sleeman's article on the Rajas of Garha Mandla, and 'Briggs'
+Farishta', ed. 1829, vol. ii, pp. 217, 218). A memoir of Asaf Khan
+Abdul Majid, the general who overcame Durgavati, will be found in
+Blochmann's translation of the _Ain-i-Akbari_, vol. i, p. 366.
+
+38. Samthar is a small state, lying between the Betwa and Pahuj
+rivers, to the south-west of the Jalaun district. It was separated
+from the Datiya State only one generation previous to the British
+occupation of Bundelkhand. A treaty was concluded with the Raja in
+1812 (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_ (1st ed.), vol. i, p. 578).
+
+39. Gujars occupy more than a hundred villages in the Jalaun
+district, chiefly among the ravines of the Pahuj river. The Gujar
+caste is most numerous in the Panjab and the upper districts of the
+United Provinces. It is not very highly esteemed, being of about
+equal rank with the Ahir caste and rather below the Jat. Gujar
+colonies are settled in the Hoshangabad and Nimar districts of the
+Central Provinces. The Gujars are inveterate cattle-lifters, and
+always ready to take advantage of any relaxation of the bonds of
+order to prey upon their neighbours. Many sections of the caste have
+adopted the Muhammadan faith.
+
+40. The small state of Chhatarpur lies to the south of the Hamirpur
+district, between the Dasan and Ken rivers. The town of Chhatarpur,
+on the military road from Banda to Sagar, is remarkable for the
+mausoleum and ruined palace of Raja Chhatarsal, after whom the town
+is named. Khajuraho, the ancient religious capital of the Chandel
+monarchy, with its magnificent group of mediaeval Hindoo and Jain
+temples, is within the limits of the state, about eighteen miles
+south-east of Chhatarpur, and thirty-four miles south of Mahoba. The
+Pawar adventurer, who succeeded in separating Chhatarpur from the
+Panna state, was originally a common soldier.
+
+41. Concerning Chhatarsal (A.D. 1671 to 1731), see notes _ante_,
+Chapter 14 note 9, and chapter 23 note 11. He was one of the sons of
+Champat Rai. The correct date of the death of Chhatarsal is Pus Badi
+3, Sanwat, 1788 = A.D. 1731. Hardi (Hirdai) Sa succeeded to the Raj,
+or kingdom, of Panna, and Jagatraj to that of Jaitpur. These kingdoms
+quickly broke up, and the fragments are now in part native states and
+in part British territory. The Orchha State was formed about the
+beginning of the sixteenth century, and the Chanderi and Datiya
+States are offshoots from it, which separated during the seventeenth
+century.
+
+42. As already observed (_ante_, Chapter 26, note 29), the Jalaun
+State became British territory in 1840, four years after the tour
+described in the text, and four years before the, publication of the
+book. The Jhansi State similarly lapsed on the death of Raja
+Gangadhar Rao in November, 1853. The Rani Lachhmi Bai joined the
+mutineers, and was killed in battle in June, 1858.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 27
+
+
+Blights.
+
+I had a visit from my little friend the Sarimant, and the
+conversation turned upon the causes and effects of the dreadful
+blight to which the wheat crops in the Nerbudda districts had of late
+years been subject. He said that 'the people at first attributed this
+great calamity to an increase in the crime of adultery which had
+followed the introduction of our rule, and which', he said, 'was
+understood to follow it everywhere; that afterwards it was by most
+people attributed to our frequent measurement of the land, and
+inspection of fields, with a view to estimate their capabilities to
+pay; which the people considered a kind of _incest_, and which he
+himself, the Deity, can never tolerate. The land is', said he,
+'considered as the _mother_ of the prince or chief who holds it--the
+great parent from whom he derives all that maintains him--his family
+and his establishments. If well treated, she yields this in abundance
+to her son; but, if he presumes to look upon her with the eye of
+desire, she ceases to be fruitful; or the Deity sends down hail or
+blight to destroy all that she yields. The measuring the surface of
+the fields, and the frequent inspecting the crops by the chief
+himself, or by his immediate agents were considered by the people in
+this light; and, in consequence, he never ventured upon these things.
+They were', he thought, 'fully satisfied that we did it more with a
+view to distribute the burthen of taxation equally upon the people
+than to increase it collectively; still', he thought that, 'either we
+should not do it at all, or delegate the duty to inferior agents,
+whose close inspection of the great _parent_ could not be so
+displeasing to the Deity.'[1]
+
+Ram Chand Pundit said that 'there was no doubt much truth in what
+Sarimant Sahib had stated; that the crops of late had unquestionably
+suffered from the constant measuring going on upon the lands; but
+that the people (as he knew) had now become unanimous in attributing
+the calamities of season, under which these districts had been
+suffering so much, to the _eating of beef_-this was', he thought,
+'the great source of all their sufferings.'
+
+Sarimant declared that he thought 'his Pundit was right, and that it
+would, no doubt, be of great advantage to them and to their rulers if
+Government could be prevailed upon to prohibit the eating of beef;
+that so great and general were the sufferings of the people from
+these calamities of seasons, and so firm, and now so general, the
+opinion that they arose chiefly from the practice of killing and
+eating cows that, in spite of all the other superior blessings of our
+rule, the people were almost beginning to wish their old Maratha
+rulers in power again.'
+
+I reminded him of the still greater calamities the people of
+Bundelkhand had been suffering under.
+
+'True,' said he, 'but among them there are crimes enough of everyday
+occurrence to account for these things; but, under your rule, the
+Deity has only one or other of these three things to be offended
+with; and, of these three, it must be admitted that the eating of
+beef so near the sacred stream of the Nerbudda is the worst.'
+
+The blight of which we were speaking had, for several seasons from
+the year 1829, destroyed the greater part of the wheat crops over
+extensive districts along the line of the Nerbudda, and through Malwa
+generally; and old people stated that they recollected two returns of
+this calamity at intervals from twenty to twenty-four years. The
+pores, with which the stalks are abundantly supplied to admit of
+their readily taking up the aqueous particles that float in the air,
+seem to be more open in an easterly wind than in any other; and, when
+this wind prevails at the same time that the air is filled with the
+farina of the small parasitic fungus, whose depredations on the corn
+constitute what they call the rust, mildew, or blight, the particles
+penetrate into these pores, speedily sprout and spread their small
+roots into the cellular texture, where they intercept, and feed on,
+the sap in its ascent; and the grain in the ear, deprived of its
+nourishment, becomes shrivelled, and the whole crop is often not
+worth the reaping.[2] It is at first of a light, beautiful orange-
+colour, and found chiefly upon the 'alsi' (linseed)[3] which it does
+not seem much to injure; but, about the end of February, the fungi
+ripen, and shed their seeds rapidly, and they are taken up by the
+wind, and carried over the corn-fields. I have sometimes seen the air
+tinted of an orange colour for many days by the quantity of these
+seeds which it has contained; and that without the wheat crops
+suffering at all, when any but an easterly wind has prevailed; but,
+when the air is so charged with this farina, let but an easterly wind
+blow for twenty-four hours, and all the wheat crops under its
+influence are destroyed--nothing can save them. The stalks and leaves
+become first of an orange colour from the light colour of the farina
+which adheres to them, but this changes to deep brown. All that part
+of the stalk that is exposed seems as if it had been pricked with
+needles, and had exuded blood from every puncture; and the grain in
+the ear withers in proportion to the number of fungi that intercept
+and feed upon its sap; but the parts of the stalks that are covered
+by the leaves remain entirely uninjured; and, when the leaves are
+drawn off from them, they form a beautiful contrast to the others,
+which have been exposed to the depredations of these parasitic
+plants.
+
+Every pore, it is said, may contain from twenty to forty of these
+plants, and each plant may shed a hundred seeds,[4] so that a single
+shrub, infected with the disease, may disseminate it over the face of
+a whole district; for, in the warm month of March, when the wheat is
+attaining maturity, these plants ripen and shed their seeds in a
+week, and consequently increase with enormous rapidity, when they
+find plants with their pores open ready to receive and nourish them.
+I went over a rich sheet of wheat cultivation in the district of
+Jubbulpore in January, 1836, which appeared to me devoted to
+inevitable destruction. It was intersected by slips and fields of
+'alsi', which the cultivators often sow along the borders of their
+wheat-fields, which are exposed to the road, to prevent trespass.[5]
+All this 'alsi' had become of a beautiful light orange colour from
+these fungi; and the cultivators, who had had every field destroyed
+the year before by the same plant, surrounded my tent in despair,
+imploring me to tell them of some remedy. I knew of none; but, as the
+'alsi' is not a very valuable plant, I recommended them, as their
+only chance, to pull it all up by the roots, and fling it into large
+tanks that were everywhere to be found. They did so, and no 'alsi'
+was _intentionally_ left in the district, for, like drowning men
+catching at a straw, they caught everywhere at the little gleam of
+hope that my suggestion seemed to offer. Not a field of wheat was
+that season injured in the district of Jubbulpore; but I was soon
+satisfied that my suggestion had had nothing whatever to do with
+their escape, for not a single stalk of the wheat was, I believe,
+affected; while _some_ stalks of the affected 'alsi' must have been
+left by accident. Besides, in several of the adjoining districts,
+where the 'alsi' remained in the ground, the wheat escaped. I found
+that, about the time when the blight usually attacks the wheat,
+westerly winds prevailed, and that it never blew from the east for
+many hours together. The common belief among the natives was that the
+prevalence of an east wind was necessary to give full effect to the
+attack of this disease, though they none of them pretended to know
+anything of its _modus operandi_--indeed they considered the blight
+to be a demon, which was to be driven off only by prayers and
+sacrifices.
+
+It is worthy of remark that hardly anything suffered from the attacks
+of these fungi but the wheat. The 'alsi', upon which it always first
+made its appearance, suffered something certainly, but not much,
+though the stems and leaves were covered with them. The gram (_Cicer
+arietinum_) suffered still less--indeed the grain in this plant often
+remained uninjured, while the stems and leaves were covered with the
+fungi, in the midst of fields of wheat that were entirely destroyed
+by ravages of the same kind. None of the other pulses were injured,
+though situated in the same manner in the midst of the fields of
+wheat that were destroyed. I have seen rich fields of uninterrupted
+wheat cultivation for twenty miles by ten, in the valley of the
+Nerbudda, so entirely destroyed by this disease that the people would
+not go to the trouble of gathering one field in four, for the stalks
+and the leaves were so much injured that they were considered as
+unfit or unsafe for fodder; and during the same season its ravages
+were equally felt in the districts along the tablelands of the
+Vindhya range, north of the valley and, I believe, those upon the
+Satpura range, south. The last time I saw this blight was in March,
+1832, in the Sagar district, where its ravages were very great, but
+partial; and I kept bundles of the blighted wheat hanging up in my
+house, for the inspection of the curious, till the beginning of
+1835.[6]
+
+When I assumed charge of the district of Sagar in 1831 the opinion
+among the farmers and landholders generally was that the calamities
+of season under which we had been suffering were attributable to the
+increase of _adultery_, arising, as they thought, from our
+indifference, as we seemed to treat it as a matter of little
+importance; whereas it had always been considered under former
+Governments as a case of _life and death_. The husband or his friends
+waited till they caught the offending parties together in criminal
+correspondence, and then put them both to death; and the death of one
+pair generally acted, they thought, as a sedative upon the evil
+passions of a whole district for a year or two. Nothing can be more
+unsatisfactory than our laws for the punishment of adultery in India,
+where the Muhammadan criminal code has been followed, though the
+people subjected to it are not one-tenth Muhammadans. This law was
+enacted by Muhammad on the occasion of his favourite wife Ayesha
+being found under very suspicious circumstances with another man. A
+special direction from heaven required that four witnesses should
+swear positively to the _fact_.
+
+Ayesha and her paramour were, of course, acquitted, and the
+witnesses, being less than four, received the same punishment which
+would have been inflicted upon the criminals had the fact been proved
+by the direct testimony of the prescribed number--that is, eighty
+stripes of the 'kora', almost equal to a sentence of death. (See
+Koran, chap. 24, and chap. 4.)[7] This became the law among all
+Muhammadans. Ayesha's father succeeded Muhammad, and Omar succeeded
+Abu Bakr.[8] Soon after his accession to the throne, Omar had to sit
+in judgement upon Mughira, a companion of the prophet, the governor
+of Basrah,[9] who had been accidentally seen in an awkward position
+with a lady of rank by four men while they sat in an adjoining
+apartment. The door or window which concealed the criminal parties
+was flung open by the wind, at the time when they wished it most to
+remain closed. Three of the four men swore directly to the point.
+Mughira was Omar's favourite, and had been appointed to the
+government by him, Zaid, the brother of one of the three who had
+sworn to the fact, hesitated to swear to the entire fact.
+
+'I think', said Omar, 'that I see before me a man whom God would not
+make the means of disgracing one of the companions of the holy
+prophet.'
+
+Zaid then described circumstantially the most unequivocal position
+that was, perhaps, ever described in a public court of justice; but,
+still hesitating to swear to the entire completion of the crime, the
+criminals were acquitted, and his brother and the two others received
+the punishment described. This decision of the _Brutus of his age_
+and country settled the law of evidence in these matters; and no
+Muhammadan judge would now give a verdict against any person charged
+with adultery, without the four witnesses to the _entire fact_. No
+man hopes for a conviction for this crime in our courts; and, as he
+would have to drag his wife or paramour through no less than three--
+that of the police officer, the magistrate, and the judge--to seek
+it, he has recourse to poison, either secretly or with his wife's
+consent. She will commonly rather die than be turned out into the
+streets a degraded outcast. The seducer escapes with impunity, while
+his victim suffers all that human nature is capable of enduring.
+Where husbands are in the habit of poisoning their guilty wives from
+the want of _legal_ means of redress, they will sometimes poison
+those who are suspected upon insufficient grounds. No magistrate ever
+hopes to get a conviction in the judge's court, if he commits a
+criminal for trial on this charge (under Regulation 17 of 1817), and,
+therefore, he never does commit. Regulation 7 of 1819 authorizes a
+magistrate to punish any person convicted of enticing away a wife or
+unmarried daughter for another's use; and an indignant functionary
+may sometimes feel disposed to stretch a point that the guilty man
+may not altogether escape.[10]
+
+Redress for these wrongs is never sought in our courts, because they
+can never hope to get it. But it is a great mistake to suppose that
+the people of India want a heavier punishment for the crime than we
+are disposed to inflict--all they want is a fair chance of conviction
+upon such reasonable proof as cases of this nature admit of, and such
+a measure of punishment as shall make it appear that their rulers
+think the crime a serious one, and that they are disposed to protect
+them from it. Sometimes the poorest man would refuse pecuniary
+compensation; but generally husbands of the poorer classes would be
+glad to get what the heads of their caste or circle of society might
+consider the expenses of a second marriage. They do not dare to live
+in adultery, they would be outcasts if they did; they must be married
+according to the forms of their caste, and it is reasonable that the
+seducer of the wife should be obliged to defray the coats of the
+injured husband's second marriage. The rich will, of course, always
+refuse such a compensation, but a law declaring the man convicted of
+this crime liable to imprisonment in irons at hard labour for two
+years, but entitled to his discharge within that time on an
+application from the injured husband or father, would be extremely
+popular throughout India. The poor man would make the application
+when assured of the sum which the elders of his caste consider
+sufficient; and they would take into consideration the means of the
+offender to pay. The woman is sufficiently punished by her degraded
+condition. The _fatwa_ of a Muhammadan law officer should be
+dispensed with in such cases.[11]
+
+In 1832 the people began to search for other causes [_scilicet_, of
+bad seasons]. The frequent measurements of the land, with a view to
+equalize the assessments, were thought of; even the operations of the
+Trigonometrical Survey,[12] which were then making a great noise in
+Central India, where their fires were seen every night burning upon
+the peaks of the highest ranges, were supposed to have had some share
+in exasperating the Deity; and the services of the most holy Brahmans
+were put in requisition to exorcise the peaks from which the
+engineers had taken their angles, the moment their instruments were
+removed. In many places, to the great annoyance and consternation of
+the engineers, the landmarks which they had left to enable them to
+correct their work as they advanced, were found to have been removed
+during their short intervals of absence, and they were obliged to do
+their work over again. The priests encouraged the disposition on the
+part of the peasantry to believe that men who required to do their
+work by the aid of fires lighted in the dead of the night upon _high
+places_, and work which no one but themselves seemed able to
+comprehend, must hold communion with supernatural beings, a communion
+which they thought might be displeasing to the Deity.
+
+At last, in the year 1833, a very holy Brahman, who lived in his
+cloister near the iron suspension bridge over the Bias river, ten
+miles from Sagar, sat down with a determination to _wrestle with the
+Deity_ till he should be compelled to reveal to him the real cause of
+all these calamities of season under which the people were
+groaning.[l3] After three days and nights of fasting and prayer, he
+saw a vision which stood before him in a white mantle, and told him
+that all these calamities arose from the slaughter of cows; and that
+under former Governments this practice had been strictly prohibited,
+and the returns of the harvest had, in consequence, been always
+abundant, and subsistence cheap, in spite of invasion from without,
+insurrection within, and a good deal of misrule and oppression on the
+part of the local government. The holy man was enjoined by the vision
+to make this revelation known to the constituted authorities, and to
+persuade the people generally throughout the district to join in the
+petition for the prohibition of _beef-eating_ throughout our Nerbudda
+territories. He got a good many of the most respectable of the
+landholders around him, and explained the wishes of the vision of the
+preceding night. A petition was soon drawn up and signed by many
+hundreds of the most respectable people in the district, and
+presented to the Governor-General's representative in these parts,
+Mr. F. C. Smith. Others were presented to the civil authorities of
+the district, and all stating in the most respectful terms how
+sensible the people were of the inestimable benefits of our rule, and
+how grateful they all felt for the protection to life and property,
+and to the free employment of all their advantages, which they had
+under it; and for the frequent and large reduction in the
+assessments, and remission in the demand, on account of calamities of
+seasons. These, they stated, were all that Government could do to
+relieve a suffering people, but they had all proved unavailing; and
+yet, under this truly paternal rule, the people were suffering more
+than under any former Government in its worst period of misrule--the
+hand of an _incensed God_ was upon them; and, as they had now, at
+last after many fruitless attempts, discovered the real cause of this
+anger of the Deity, they trusted that we would listen to their
+prayers, and restore plenty and all its blessings to the country by
+prohibiting the _eating of beef_. All these dreadful evils had, they
+said, unquestionably originated in the (Sadr Bazar) great market of
+the cantonments, where, for the first time, within one hundred miles
+of the sacred stream of the Nerbudda, men had purchased and eaten
+cows' flesh.
+
+These people were all much attached to us and to our rule, and were
+many of them on the most intimate terms of social intercourse with
+us; and, at the time they signed this petition, were entirely
+satisfied that they had discovered the real cause of all their
+sufferings, and impressed with the idea that we should be convinced,
+and grant their prayers.[l4] The day is past. Beef continued to be
+eaten with undiminished appetite, the blight, nevertheless,
+disappeared, and every other sign of vengeance from above; and the
+people are now, I believe, satisfied that they were mistaken. They
+still think that the lands do not yield so many returns of the seed
+under us as under former rulers; that they have lost some of the
+_barkat_ (blessings) which they enjoyed under them--they know not
+why. The fact is that under us the lands do not enjoy the salutary
+fallows which frequent invasions and civil wars used to cause under
+former Governments. Those who survived such civil wars and invasions
+got better returns for their seed.
+
+During the discussion of the question with the people, I had one day
+a conversation with the Sadr Amin, or head native judicial officer,
+whom I have already mentioned. He told me that 'there could be no
+doubt of the truth of the conclusion to which the people had at
+length come. 'There are', he said, 'some countries in which
+punishments follow crimes after long intervals, and, indeed, do not
+take place till some future birth; in others, they follow crimes
+immediately; and such is the country bordering the stream of _Mother
+Nerbudda_. This', said he, 'is a stream more holy than that of the
+great Ganges herself, since no man is supposed to derive any benefit
+from that stream unless he either bathe in it or drink from it; but
+the sight of the Nerbudda from a distant hill could bless him, and
+purify him. In other countries, the slaughter of cows and bullocks
+might not be punished for ages; and the harvest, in such countries,
+might continue good through many successive generations under such
+enormities; indeed, he was not quite sure that there might not be
+countries in which no punishment at all would inevitably follow; but,
+so near the Nerbudda, this could not be the case.[l5] Providence
+could never suffer beef to be eaten so near her sacred majesty
+without visiting the crops with blight, hail, or some other calamity,
+and the people with cholera morbus, small-pox, and other great
+pestilences. As for himself, he should never be persuaded that all
+these afflictions did not arise wholly and solely from this dreadful
+habit of eating beef. I declare', concluded he, 'that if the
+Government would but consent to prohibit the eating of beef, it might
+levy from the lands three times the revenue that they now pay.'
+
+The great festival of the Holi, the Saturnalia of India, terminates
+on the last day of Phalgun, or 16th of March.[16] On that day the
+Holi is burned; and on that day the ravages of the monster (for
+monster they will have it to be) are supposed to cease. Any field
+that has remained untouched up to that time is considered to be quite
+secure from the moment the Holi has been committed to the flames.
+What gave rise to the notion I have never been able to discover, but
+such is the general belief. I suppose the siliceous epidermis must
+then have become too hard, and the pores in the stem too much closed
+up to admit of the further depredation of the fungi.
+
+In the latter end of 1831, while I was at Sagar, a cowherd in driving
+his cattle to water at a reach of the Bias river, called the
+Nardhardhar, near the little village of Jasrathi, was reported to
+have seen a vision that told him the waters of that reach, taken up
+and conveyed to the fields in pitchers, would effectually keep off
+the blight from the wheat, provided the pitchers were not suffered to
+touch the ground on the way. On reaching the field, a small hole was
+to be made in the bottom of the pitcher, so as to keep up a small but
+steady stream, as the bearer carried it round the borders of the
+field, that the water might fall in a complete ring, except at a
+small opening--which was to be kept dry, in order that the _monster_
+or _demon blight_ might make his escape through it, not being able to
+cross over any part watered by the holy stream. The waters Of the
+Bias river generally are not supposed to have any peculiar virtues.
+The report of this vision spread rapidly over the country; and the
+people who had been suffering under so many seasons of great calamity
+were anxious to try anything that promised the slightest chance of
+relief. Every cultivator of the district prepared pots for the
+conveyance of the water, with tripods to support them while they
+rested on the road, that they might not touch the ground. The spot
+pointed out for taking the water was immediately under a fine large
+pipal-tree[l7] which had fallen into the river, and on each bank was
+seated a Bairagi, or priest of Vishnu. The blight began to manifest
+itself in the alsi (linseed) in January, 1832, but the wheat is never
+considered to be in danger till late in February, when it is nearly
+ripe; and during that month and the following the banks of the river
+were crowded with people in search of the water. Some of the people
+came more than one hundred miles to fetch it, and all seemed quite
+sure that the holy water would save them. Each person gave the
+Bairagi priest of his own side of the river two half-pence (copper
+pice), two pice weight of ghi (clarified butter), and two pounds of
+flour, before he filled his pitcher, to secure his blessings from it.
+These priests were strangers, and the offerings were entirely
+voluntary. The roads from this reach of the Bias river, up to the
+capital of the Orchha Raja, more than a hundred miles, were literally
+lined with these water-carriers; and I estimated the number of
+persons who passed with the water every day for six weeks at ten
+thousand a day.[18] After they had ceased to take the water, the
+banks were long crowded with people who flocked to see the place
+where priests and waters had worked such miracles, and to try and
+discover the source whence the water derived its virtues. It was
+remarked by some that the pipal-tree, which had fallen from the bank
+above many years before, had still continued to throw out the richest
+foliage from the branches above the surface of the water. Others
+declared that they saw a _monkey_ on the bank near the spot, which no
+sooner perceived it was observed than it plunged into the stream and
+disappeared. Others again saw some flights of steps under the water,
+indicating that it had in days of yore been the site of a temple,
+whose god, no doubt, gave to the waters the wonderful virtues it had
+been found to possess. The priests would say nothing but that 'it was
+the work of God, and, like all his works, beyond the reach of man's
+understanding.' They made their fortunes, and got up the vision and
+miracle, no doubt, for that especial purpose.[l9] As to the effect, I
+was told by hundreds of farmers who had tried the waters that, though
+it had not anywhere kept the blight entirely off from the wheat, it
+was found that the fields which had not the advantages of water were
+entirely destroyed; and, where the pot had been taken all round the
+field without leaving any dry opening for the demon to escape
+through, it was almost as bad; but, when a small opening had been
+left, and the water carefully dropped around the field elsewhere, the
+crops had been very little injured; which showed clearly the efficacy
+of the water, when all the ceremonies and observances prescribed by
+the vision had been attended to.
+
+I could never find the cowherd who was said to have seen this vision,
+and, in speaking to my old friend, the Sadr Amin, learned in the
+shastras,[20] on the subject, I told him that we had a short saying
+that would explain all this: 'A drowning man catches at a straw.'
+
+'Yes,' said he, without any hesitation, 'and we have another just as
+good for the occasion: "Sheep will follow each other, though it
+should be into a well".'
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. We are told in 2 Samuel, chap. xxiv, that the Deity was displeased
+at a census of the people, taken by Joab by the order of David, and
+destroyed of the people of Israel seventy thousand, besides women and
+children. [W. H. S.] The editor, in the course of seven years'
+experience in the Settlement department, six of which were agent in
+Bundelkhand, never heard of the doctrine as to the incestuous
+character of surveys. Probably it had died out. Even a census no
+longer gives rise to alarm in most parts of the country. The wild
+rumours and theories common in 1872 and 1881 did not prevail when the
+census of 1891 was taken, or during subsequent operations.
+
+2. This theory is, of course, erroneous.
+
+3. The flax plant (_Linum usitatissimum_) is grown in India solely
+for the sake of the linseed. Linen is never made, and the stalk of
+the plant, as ordinarily grown, is too short for the manufacture of
+fibre. The attempts to introduce flax manufacture into India, though
+not ultimately successful, have proved that good flax can be made in
+the country, from Riga seed. Indian linseed is very largely exported.
+(Article 'Flax' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed.)
+
+4. Spores is the more accurate word.
+
+5. That is to say, cattle-trespass. Cattle do not care to eat the
+green flax plant. The fields are not fenced.
+
+6. The rust, or blight, described in the text probably was a species
+of _Unedo_. The gram, or chick-pea, and various kinds of pea and
+vetch are grown intermixed with the wheat. They ripen earlier, and
+are plucked up by the roots before the wheat is cut.
+
+7. Chap. 4 of the Koran is entitled 'Women', and chap. 24 is entitled
+'Light'. The story of Ayesha's misadventure is given in Sale's notes
+to chap. 24.
+
+8. Muhammad died A.D. 632. Abu Bakr succeeded him, and after a
+khalifate of only two years, was succeeded by Omar, who was
+assassinated in the twelfth year of his reign.
+
+9. Basrah (Bassorah, Bussorah) in the province of Baghdad, on the
+Shatt-ul-Arab, or combined stream of the Tigris and Euphrates, was
+founded by the Khalif Omar.
+
+10. In the author's time the Muhammadan criminal law was applied to
+the whole population by Anglo-Indian judges, assisted by Muhammadan
+legal assessors, who gave rulings called _fatwas_ on legal points.
+The Penal Code enacted in 1859 swept away the whole jungle of
+Regulations and _fatwas_, and established a scientific System of
+criminal jurisprudence, which bas remained substantially unchanged to
+this day. Adultery is punishable under the Code by the Court of
+Session, but prosecutions for this offence are very rare. Enticing
+away a married woman is also defined as an offence, and is punishable
+by a magistrate. Complaints under this head are extremely numerous,
+and mostly false. Secret and unpunished murders of women undoubtedly
+are common, and often reported as deaths from snake-bite or cholera.
+An aggrieved husband frequently tries to save his honour, and at the
+same time satisfy his vengeance, by tromping up a false charge of
+burglary against the suspected paramour, who generally replies by an
+equally false _alibi_.
+
+11. A prosecution under the Penal Code for adultery can be instituted
+only by the husband, or the guardian representing him, and the woman
+is not punishable. Although the Muhammadan law of evidence has been
+got rid of, the Anglo-Indian courts are still unsuitable for the
+prosecution of adultery cases, especially where Indians are
+concerned. The English courts, though they do not require any
+specified number of witnesses, demand strict proof given in open
+court, and no Indian, whose honour has really been touched, cares to
+expose his domestic troubles to be wrangled over by lawyers. Many
+officers, including the editor, would be glad to see the section
+which renders adultery penal struck out of the Code. The matrimonial
+delinquencies of Indians are better dealt with by the caste
+organizations, and those of Europeans by civil action.
+
+12. The Trigonometrical Survey, originated by Colonel Lambton, was
+begun at Cape Comorin in 1800. It is now almost, if not quite,
+complete, except in Burma. See Markham, _A Memoir of the Indian
+Surveys_ (2nd ed., 1878). The stations are marked by masonry pillars,
+for the partial repair of which a small sum is annually allotted.
+
+13. Hindoos believe that holy men, by means of great austerities, can
+attain power to compel the gods to do their bidding.
+
+14. For some account of the modern agitation against cow-killing. See
+note _ante_, Chapter 26, note 6.
+
+15. On the sacredness of the Nerbudda see note _ante_, Chapter 1,
+note 13.
+
+16. The Holi festival marks approximately the time of the vernal
+equinox, ten days before the full moon of the Hindoo month Phalgun.
+The day of the bonfire does not always fall on the 16th of March. It
+is not considered lucky to begin harvest till the Holi has been
+burnt. Mr. Crooke holds that 'on the whole, there seems to be some
+reason to believe that the intention to promote the fertility of men,
+animals, and crops, supplies the basis of the rites' ('The Holi, a
+Vernal Festival of the Hindus', _Folklore_, vol. xxv (1914), p. 83).
+I agree.
+
+17. The pipal-tree (_Ficus religiosa_, Linn.; _Urostigma religiosum_,
+Gasp.) is sacred to Vishnu, and universally venerated throughout
+India.
+
+18. About four hundred thousand persons.
+
+19. Two pice x 400,000 = 800,000 pice, = 200,000 annas, = 12,500
+rupees. Even if the author's estimate of the numbers be much too
+large, the pecuniary result must have been handsome, not to mention
+the butter and flour.
+
+20. Hindoo sacred books.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 28
+
+
+Pestle-and-Mortar Sugar-Mills--Washing away of the Soil.
+
+On the 13th [December, 1885] we came to Barwa Sagar,[1] over a road
+winding among small ridges and conical hills, none of them much
+elevated or very steep; the whole being a bed of brown syenite,
+generally exposed to the surface in a decomposing state, intersected
+by veins and beds of quartz rocks, and here and there a narrow and
+shallow bed of dark basalt. One of these beds of basalt was converted
+into grey syenite by a large granular mixture of white quartz and
+feldspar with the black hornblende. From this rock the people form
+their sugar-mills, which are made like a pestle and mortar, the
+mortar being cut out of the hornblende rock, and the pestle out of
+wood.[2]
+
+We saw a great many of these mortars during the march that could not
+have been in use for the last half-dozen centuries, but they are
+precisely the same as those still used all over India. The driver
+sits upon the end of the horizontal beam to which the bullocks are
+yoked; and in cold mornings it is very common to see him with a pair
+of good hot embers at his buttocks, resting upon a little projection
+made behind him to the beam for the purpose of sustaining it [_sic_].
+I am disposed to think that the most productive parts of the surface
+of Bundelkhand, like that of some of the districts of the Nerbudda
+territories which repose upon the back of the sandstone of the
+Vindhya chain, is [_sic_] fast flowing off to the sea through the
+great rivers, which seem by degrees to extend the channels of their
+tributary streams into every man's field, to drain away its substance
+by degrees, for the benefit of those who may in some future age
+occupy the islands of their delta. I have often seen a valuable
+estate reduced in value to almost nothing in a few years by some new
+_antennae_, if I may so call them, thrown out from the tributary
+streams of great rivers into their richest and deepest soils.
+Declivities are formed, the soil gets nothing from the cultivator but
+the mechanical aid of the plough, and the more its surface is
+ploughed and cross-ploughed, the more of its substance is washed away
+towards the Bay of Bengal in the Ganges, or the Gulf of Cambay in the
+Nerbudda. In the districts of the Nerbudda, we often see these black
+hornblende mortars, in which sugar-canes were once pressed by a happy
+peasantry, now standing upon a bare and barren surface of sandstone
+rock, twenty feet above the present surface of the culturable lands
+of the country. There are evident signs of the surface on which they
+now stand having been that on which they were last worked. The people
+get more juice from their small straw-coloured canes in these pestle-
+and-mortar mills than they can from those with cylindrical rollers in
+the present rude state of the mechanical arts all over India; and the
+straw-coloured cane is the only kind that yields good sugar. The
+large purple canes yield a watery and very inferior juice; and are
+generally and almost universally sold in the markets as a fruit. The
+straw-coloured canes, from being crowded under a very slovenly
+System, with little manure and less weeding, degenerate into a mere
+reed. The Otaheite cane, which was introduced into India by me in
+1827, has spread over the Nerbudda, and many other territories; but
+that that will degenerate in the same manner under the same slovenly
+system of tillage, is too probable.[3]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The lake known as Barwa Sagar was formed by a Bundela chief, who
+constructed an embankment nearly three-quarters of a mile long to
+retain the waters of the Barwa stream, a tributary of the Betwa. The
+work was begun in 1705 and completed in 1737. The town is situated at
+the north-west corner of the lake, on the road from Jhansi to the
+cantonment of Nowgong (properly Naugaon, or Nayagaon), at a distance
+of twelve miles from Jhansi (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. i, pp.
+243 and 387).
+
+2. The rude sketch given here in the author's text is not worth
+reproduction.
+
+3. The 'pestle-and-mortar' pattern of mill above described is the
+indigenous model formerly in universal use in India, but, in most
+parts of the country, where stone is not available, the 'mortar'
+portion was made of wood. The stone mills are expensive. In the Banda
+and Hamirpur districts of Bundelkhand sugar-cane is now grown only in
+the small areas where good loam soil is found. The method of
+cultivation differs in several respects from that practised in the
+Gangetic plains, but the editor never observed the slovenliness of
+which the author complains. He always found the cultivation in sugar-
+cane villages to be extremely careful and laborious. Ancient stone
+mills are sometimes found in black soil country, and it is difficult
+to understand how sugarcane can ever have been grown there. The
+author was mistaken in supposing that the indigenous pattern of mill
+is superior to a good roller mill. The indigenous mill has been
+completely superseded in most parts of the Panjab, United Provinces,
+and Bihar, by the roller mill patented by Messrs. Mylne and Thompson
+of Bihia in 1869, and largely improved by subsequent modifications.
+The original patent having expired, thousands of roller mills are
+annually made by native artisans, with little regard to the rights of
+the Bihia firm. The iron rollers, cast in Delhi and other places, are
+completed on costly lathes in many country towns. The mills are
+generally hired out for the season, and kept in repair by the
+speculator. The Raja of Nahan or Sirmur in the Panjab, who has a
+foundry employing six hundred men, does a large business of this
+kind, and finds it profitable. Since the first patent was taken out,
+many improvements in the design have been effected, and the best
+mills squeeze the cane absolutely dry. Messrs. Mylne and Thompson
+have been successful in introducing other improved machinery for the
+manufacture of sugar in villages. The Rosa factory near Shahjahanpur
+in the United Provinces makes sugar on a large scale by European
+methods.
+
+When the author says that the large canes are sold 'as a fruit' he
+means that the canes are used for eating, or rather sucking like a
+sugar-stick. The varieties of sugar-cane are numerous, and the names
+vary much in different districts. According to Balfour, the Otaheite
+(Tahiti) cane is 'probably _Saccharum violaceum_'. The ordinary
+Indian kinds belong to the species _Saccharum officinarum_. The
+Otaheite cane was introduced into the West Indies about 1794, and
+came to India from the Mauritius. It is more suitable for the roller
+mill than for the indigenous mill, the stems being hard (_Cyclopaedia
+of India_, 3rd ed., 1885, s.v. 'Saccharum'). In a letter dated
+December 15, 1844, the author refers to his introduction of the
+Otaheite cane, and mentions that the Indian Agricultural Society
+awarded him a gold medal for this service. The cane was first planted
+in the Government Botanical Garden at Calcutta.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 29
+
+
+Interview with the Chiefs of Jhansi--Disputed Succession.
+
+On the 14th[1] we came on fourteen miles to Jhansi.[2] About five
+miles from our last ground we crossed the Baitanti river over a bed
+of syenite. At this river we mounted our elephant to cross, as the
+water was waist-deep at the ford. My wife returned to her palankeen
+as soon as we had crossed, but our little boy came on with me on the
+elephant, to meet the grand procession which I knew was approaching
+to greet us from the city. The Raja of Jhansi, Ram Chandar Rao, died
+a few months ago, leaving a young widow and a mother, but no
+child.[3]
+
+He was a young man of about twenty-eight years of age, timid, but of
+good capacity, and most amiable disposition. My duties brought us
+much into communication; and, though we never met, we had conceived a
+mutual esteem for each other. He had been long suffering from an
+affection of the liver, and had latterly persuaded himself that his
+mother was practising upon his life, with a view to secure the
+government to the eldest son of her daughter, which would, she
+thought, ensure the real power to her for life. That she wished him
+dead with this view, I had no doubt; for she had ruled the state for
+several years up to 1831, during what she was pleased to consider his
+minority; and she surrendered the power into his hands with great
+reluctance, since it enabled her to employ her _paramour_ as
+minister, and enjoy his society as much as she pleased, under the
+pretence of holding _privy councils_ upon affairs of great public
+interest.[4] He used to communicate his fears to me; and I was not
+without apprehension that his mother might some day attempt to hasten
+his death by poison. About a month before his death he wrote to me to
+say that spears had been found stuck in the ground, under the water
+where he was accustomed to swim, with their sharp points upwards;
+and, had he not, contrary to his usual practice, walked into the
+water, and struck his foot against one of them, he must have been
+killed. This was, no doubt, a thing got up by some designing person
+who wanted to ingratiate himself with the young man; for the mother
+was too shrewd a woman ever to attempt her son's life by such awkward
+means. About four months before I reached the capital, this amiable
+young prince died, leaving two paternal uncles, a mother, a widow,
+and one sister, the wife of one of our Sagar pensioners, Morisar Rao.
+The mother claimed the inheritance for her grandson by this daughter,
+a very handsome young lad, then at Jhansi, on the pretence that her
+son had adopted him on his death-bed. She had his head shaved, and
+made him go through all the other ceremonies of mourning, as for the
+death of his real father. The eldest of his uncles, Raghunath Rao,
+claimed the inheritance as the next heir; and all his party turned
+the young lad out of caste as a Brahman, for daring to go into
+mourning for a father who was yet alive; one of the greatest of
+crimes, according to Hindoo law, for they would not admit that he had
+been adopted by the deceased prince.[5]
+
+The question of inheritance had been referred for decision to the
+Supreme Government through the prescribed channel when I arrived, and
+the decision was every day expected. The mother, with her daughter
+and grandson, and the widow, occupied the castle, situated on a high
+hill overlooking the city; while the two uncles of the deceased
+occupied their private dwellings in the city below. Raghunath Rao,
+the eldest, headed the procession that came out to meet me about
+three miles, mounted upon a fine female elephant, with his younger
+brother by his side. The minister, Naru Gopal, followed, mounted upon
+another, on the part of the mother and widow. Some of the Raja's
+relations were upon two of the finest male elephants I have ever
+seen; and some of their friends, with the 'Bakshi', or paymaster
+(always an important personage), upon two others. Raghunath Rao's
+elephant drew up on the right of mine, and that of the minister on
+the left; and, after the usual compliments had passed between us, all
+the others fell back, and formed a line in our rear. They had about
+fifty troopers mounted upon very fine horses in excellent condition,
+which curvetted before and on both sides of us; together with a good
+many men on camels, and some four or five hundred foot attendants,
+all well dressed, but in various costumes. The elephants were so
+close to each other that the conversation, which we managed to keep
+up tolerably well, was general almost all the way to our tents; every
+man taking a part as he found the opportunity of a pause to introduce
+his little compliment to the Honourable Company or to myself, which I
+did my best to answer or divert. I was glad to see the affectionate
+respect with which the old man was everywhere received, for I had in
+my own mind no doubt whatever that the decision of the Supreme
+Government would be in his favour. The whole _cortege_ escorted me
+through the town to my tent, which was pitched on the other side; and
+then they took their leave, still seated on their elephants, while I
+sat on mine, with my boy on my knee, till all had made their bow and
+departed. The elephants, camels, and horses were all magnificently
+caparisoned, and the housings of the whole were extremely rich. A
+good many of the troopers were dressed in chain-armour, which, worn
+outside their light-coloured quilted vests, looked very like black
+gauze scarfs.
+
+My little friend the Sarimant's own elephant had lately died; and,
+being unable to go to the cost of another with all its appendages, he
+had come thus far on horseback. A native gentleman can never
+condescend to ride an elephant without a train of at least a dozen
+attendants on horseback--he would almost as soon ride a horse
+_without a tail_.[6] Having been considered at one time as the equal
+of all these Rajas, I knew that he would feel a little mortified at
+finding himself buried in the crowd and dust; and invited him, as we
+approached the city, to take a seat by my side. This gained him
+consideration, and evidently gave him great pleasure. It was late
+before we reached our tents, as we were obliged to move slowly
+through the streets of the city, as well for our own convenience as
+for the safety of the crowd on foot before and around us. My wife,
+who had gone on before to avoid the crowd and dust, reached the tents
+halt an hour before us.
+
+In the afternoon, when my second large tent had been pitched, the
+minister came to pay me a visit with a large train of followers, but
+with little display; and I found him a very sensible, mild, and
+gentlemanly man, just as I expected from the high character he bears
+with both parties, and with the people of the country generally. Any
+unreserved conversation here in such a crowd was, of course, out of
+the question, and I told the minister that it was my intention early
+next morning to visit the tomb of his late master; where I should be
+very glad to meet him, if he could make it convenient to come without
+any ceremony. He seemed much pleased with the proposal, and next
+morning we met a little before sunrise within the railing that
+encloses the tomb or cenotaph; and there had a good deal of quiet
+and, I believe, unreserved talk about the affairs of the Jhansi
+state, and the family of the late prince. He told me that, a few
+hours before the Raja's death, his mother had placed in his arms for
+adoption the son of his sister, a very handsome lad of ten years of
+age--but whether the Raja was or was not sensible at the time he
+could not say, for he never after heard him speak; that the mother of
+the deceased considered the adoption as complete, and made her
+grandson go through the funeral ceremonies as at the death of his
+father, which for nine days were performed unmolested; but, when it
+came to the tenth and last--which, had it passed quietly, would have
+been considered as completing the title of adoption--Raghunath Rao
+and his friends interposed, and prevented further proceedings,
+declaring that, while there were so many male heirs, no son could be
+adopted for the deceased prince according to the usages of the
+family.
+
+The widow of the Raja, a timid, amiable young woman, of twenty-five
+years of age, was by no means anxious for this adoption, having
+shared the suspicions of her husband regarding the practices of his
+mother; and found his sister, who now resided with them in the
+castle, a most violent and overbearing woman, who would be likely to
+exclude her from all share in the administration, and make her life
+very miserable, were her son to be declared the Raja. Her wish was to
+be allowed to adopt, in the name of her deceased husband, a young
+cousin of his, Sadasheo, the son of Nana Bhao. Gangadhar, the younger
+brother of Raghunath Rao, was exceedingly anxious to have his elder
+brother declared Raja, because he had no sons, and from the
+debilitated state of his frame, must soon die, and leave the
+principality to him. Every one of the three parties had sent agents
+to the Governor-General's representative in Bundelkhand to urge their
+claim; and, till the final decision, the widow of the late chief was
+to be considered the sovereign. The minister told me that there was
+one unanswerable argument against Raghunath Rao's succeeding, which,
+out of regard to his feelings, he had not yet urged, and about which
+he wished to consult me as a friend of the late prince and his widow;
+this was, that he was a leper, and that the signs of the disease were
+becoming every day more and more manifest.
+
+I told him that I had observed them in his face, but was not aware
+that any one else had noticed them. I urged him, however, not to
+advance this as a ground of exclusion, since they all knew him to be
+a very worthy man, while his younger brother was said to be the
+reverse; and more especially I thought it would be very cruel and
+unwise to distress and exasperate him by so doing, as I had no doubt
+that, before this ground could be brought to their notice, Government
+would declare in his favour, right being so clearly on his side.
+
+After an agreeable conversation with this sensible and excellent man,
+I returned to my tents to prepare for the reception of Raghunath Rao
+and his party. They came about nine o'clock with a much greater
+display of elephants and followers than the minister had brought with
+him. He and his friends kept me in close conversation till eleven
+o'clock, in spite of my wife's many considerate messages to say
+breakfast was waiting. He told me that the mother of the late Raja,
+his nephew, was a very violent woman, who had involved the state in
+much trouble during the period of her regency, which she managed to
+prolong till her son was twenty-five years of age, and resigned with
+infinite reluctance only three years ago; that her minister during
+her regency, Gangadhar Muli, was at the same time her _paramour_, and
+would be surely restored to power and to her embraces, were her
+grandson's claim to the succession recognized; that it was with great
+difficulty he had been able to keep this atrocious character under
+surveillance pending the consideration of their claims by the Supreme
+Government; that, by having the head of her grandson shaved, and
+making him go through all the other funeral ceremonies with the other
+members of the family, she had involved him and his young _innocent
+wife_ (who had unhappily continued to drink out of the same cup with
+her husband) _in the dreadful crime of mourning for a father whom
+they knew to be yet alive_, a crime that must be expiated by the
+'prayaschit,'[7] which-would be exacted from the young couple on
+their return to Sagar before they could be restored to caste, from
+which they were now considered as excommunicated. As for the young
+widow, she was everything they could wish; but she was so timid that
+she would be governed by the old lady, if she should have any
+ostensible part assigned her in the administration.[8]
+
+I told the old gentleman that I believed it would be my duty to pay
+the first visit to the widow and mother of the late prince, as one of
+pure condolence, and that I hoped my doing so would not be considered
+any mark of disrespect towards him, who must now be looked up to as
+the head of the family. He remonstrated against this most earnestly;
+and, at last, tears came into his eyes as he told me that, if I paid
+the first visit to the castle, he should never again be able to show
+his face outside his door, so great would be the indignity he would
+be considered to have suffered; but, rather than I should do this, he
+would come to my tents, and escort me himself to the castle. Much was
+to be said on both sides of the weighty question; but, at last, I
+thought that the arguments were in his favour--that, if I went to the
+castle first, he might possibly resent it upon the poor woman and the
+prime minister when he came into power, as I had no doubt he soon
+would--and that I might be consulting their interest as much as his
+feelings by going to his house first. In the evening I received a
+message from the old lady, urging the necessity of my paying the
+first visit of condolence for the death of my young friend to the
+widow and mother. 'The rights of mothers', said she, 'are respected
+in all countries; and, in India, the first visit of condolence for
+the death of a man is always due to the mother, if alive.' I told the
+messenger that my resolution was unaltered, and would, I trusted, be
+found the best for all parties under present circumstances. I told
+him that I dreaded the resentment towards them of Raghunath Rao, if
+he came into power.
+
+'Never mind that,' said he: 'my mistress is of too proud a spirit to
+dread resentment from any one--pay her the compliment of the first
+visit, and let her enemies do their worst.' I told him that I could
+leave Jhansi without visiting either of them, but could not go first
+to the castle; and he said that my departing thus would please the
+old lady better than the _second visit_. The minister would not have
+said this--the old lady would not have ventured to send such a
+message by him--the man was an understrapper; and I left him to mount
+my elephant and pay my two visits.[9]
+
+With the best _cortege_ I could muster, I went to Raghunath Rao's,
+where I was received with a salute from some large guns in his
+courtyard, and entertained with a party of dancing girls and
+musicians in the usual manner. Attar of roses and 'pan'[10] were
+given, and valuable shawls put before me, and refused in the politest
+terms I could think of; such as, 'Pray do me the favour to keep these
+things for me till I have the happiness of visiting Jhansi again, as
+I am going through Gwalior, where nothing valuable is a moment safe
+from thieves'. After sitting an hour, I mounted my elephant, and
+proceeded up to the castle, where I was received with another salute
+from the bastions. I sat for half an hour in the hall of audience
+with the minister and all the principal men of the court, as
+Raghunath Rao was to be considered as a private gentleman till the
+decision of the Supreme Government should be made known; and the
+handsome lad, Krishan Rao, whom the old woman wished to adopt, and
+whom I had often seen at Sagar, was at my request brought in and
+seated by my side. By him I sent my message of condolence to the
+widow and mother of his deceased uncle, couched in the usual terms--
+that the happy effects of good government in the prosperity of this
+city, and the comfort and happiness of the people, had extended the
+fame of the family all over India; and that I trusted the reigning
+member of that family, whoever he might be, would be sensible that it
+was his duty to sustain that reputation by imitating the example of
+those who had gone before him. After attar of roses and pan had been
+handed round in the usual manner, I went to the summit of the highest
+tower in the castle, which commands an extensive view of the country
+around.
+
+The castle stands upon the summit of a small hill of syenitic rock.
+The elevation of the outer wall is about one hundred feet above the
+level of the plain, and the top of the tower on which I stood about
+one hundred feet more, as the buildings rise gradually from the sides
+to the summit of the hill. The city extends out into the plain to the
+east from the foot of the hill on which the castle stands. Around the
+city there is a good deal of land, irrigated from four or five tanks
+in the neighbourhood, and now under rich wheat crops; and the gardens
+are very numerous, and abound in all the fruit and vegetables that
+the people most like. Oranges are very abundant and very fine, and
+our tents have been actually buried in them and all the other fruits
+and vegetables which the kind people of Jhansi have poured in upon
+us. The city of Jhansi contains about sixty thousand inhabitants, and
+is celebrated for its manufacture of carpets.[11] There are some very
+beautiful temples in the city, all built by Gosains, one [_sic_] of
+the priests of Siva who here engage in trade, and accumulate much
+wealth.[12] The family of the chief do not build tombs; and that now
+raised over the place where the late prince was buried is dedicated
+as a temple to Siva, and was made merely with a view to secure the
+place from all danger of profanation.[13]
+
+The face of the country beyond the influence of the tanks is neither
+rich nor interesting. The cultivation seemed scanty and the
+population thin, owing to the irremediable sterility of soil, from
+the poverty of the primitive rock from whose detritus it is chiefly
+formed. Raghunath Rao told me that the wish of the people in the
+castle to adopt a child as the successor to his nephew arose from the
+desire to escape the scrutiny into the past accounts of disbursements
+which he might be likely to order. I told him that I had myself no
+doubt that he would be declared the Raja, and urged him to turn all
+his thoughts to the future, and to allow no inquiries to be made into
+the past, with a view to gratify either his own resentment, or that
+of others; that the Rajas of Jhansi had hitherto been served by the
+most respectable, able, and honourable men in the country, while the
+other chiefs of Bundelkhand could get no man of this class to do
+their work for them--that this was the only court in Bundelkhand in
+which such men could be seen, simply because it was the only one in
+which they could feel themselves secure--while other chiefs
+confiscated the property of ministers who had served them with
+fidelity, on the pretence of embezzlement; the wealth thus acquired,
+however, soon disappearing, and its possessors being obliged either
+to conceal it or go out of the country to enjoy it. Such rulers thus
+found their courts and capitals deprived of all those men of wealth
+and respectability who adorned the courts of princes in other
+countries, and embellished, not merely their capitals, but the face
+of their dominions in general with their chateaus and other works of
+ornament and utility. Much more of this sort passed between us, and
+seemed to make an impression upon him; for he promised to do all that
+I had recommended to him. Poor man! he can have but a short and
+miserable existence, for that dreadful disease, the leprosy, is
+making sad inroads in his System already.[14] His uncle, Raghunath
+Rao, was afflicted with it; and, having understood from the priests
+that by _drowning_ himself in the Ganges (taking the 'samadh'), he
+should remove all traces of it from his family, he went to Benares,
+and there drowned himself, some twenty years ago. He had no children,
+and is said to have been the first of his family in whom the disease
+showed itself.[15]
+
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. Now the head-quarters of the British district of the same name,
+and also of the Indian Midland Railway. Since the opening of this
+railway and the restoration of the Gwalior fort to Sindhia in 1886,
+the importance of Jhansi, both civil and military, has much
+increased. The native town was given up by Sindhia in exchange for
+the Gwalior stronghold.
+
+3. This chief is called Raja Rao Ramchand in the _N.W.P. Gazetteer_,
+1st ed. He died on August 20, 1835. His administration had been weak,
+and his finances were left in great disorder. Under his successor the
+disorder of the administration became still greater.
+
+4. Dowagers in Indian princely families are frequently involved in
+such intrigues and plots. The editor could specify instances in his
+personal experience. Compare Chapter 34, _post_.
+
+5. An adopted son passes completely out of the family of his natural,
+into that of his adoptive, father, all his rights and duties as a son
+being at the same time transferred. In this case, the adoption had
+not really taken place, and the lad's duty to his living natural
+father remained unaffected.
+
+6. This statement will not apply to those districts in the United
+Provinces where elephants are numerous and often kept by gentry of no
+great rank or wealth, A Raja, of course, always likes to have a few
+mounted men clattering behind him, if possible.
+
+7. The 'prayaschit' is an expiating atonement by which the person
+humbles himself in public. It is often imposed for crimes committed
+in a _former birth_, as indicated by inflictions suffered in this.
+[W. H. S.] The practical working of Hindoo caste rules is often
+frightfully cruel. The victims of these rules in the case described
+by the author were a boy ten years old, and his child-wife of still
+more tender years. Yet all the penalties, including rigorous fasts,
+would be mercilessly exacted from these innocent children. Leprosy
+and childlessness are among the afflictions supposed to prove the
+sinfulness of the sufferer in some former birth, perhaps thousands of
+years ago.
+
+8. The poor young widow died of grief some months after my visit; her
+spirits never rallied after the death of her husband, and she never
+ceased to regret that she had not burned herself with his remains.
+The people of Jhansi generally believe that the prince's mother
+brought about his death by (_dinai_) slow poison, and I am afraid
+that that was the impression on the mind of the poor widow. The
+minister, who was entirely on her side, and a most worthy and able
+man, was quite satisfied that this suspicion was without any
+foundation whatever in truth. [W. H. S.]
+
+9. Considering the fact that, 'till the final decision, the widow of
+the late chief was to be considered the sovereign', it would be
+difficult to justify the anthor's decision. The reigning sovereign
+was clearly entitled to the first visit. Questions of precedence,
+salutes, and etiquette are as the very breath of their nostrils to
+the Indian nobility.
+
+10. The leaf of _Piper betel_, handed to guests at ceremonial
+entertainments, along with the nut of _Areca catechu_, made up in a
+packet of gold or silver leaf.
+
+11. This estimate of the population was probably excessive. The
+population in 1891, including the cantonments, was 53,779, and in
+1911, 70,208. The fort of Gwalior and the cantonment of Morar were
+surrendered by the Government of India to Sindhia in exchange for the
+fort and town of Jhansi on March 10, 1886. Sindhia also relinquished
+fifty-eight villages in exchange for thirty given up by the
+Government of India, the difference in value being adjusted by cash
+payments. The arrangements were finally sanctioned by Lord Dufferin
+on June 13, 1888.
+
+12. These buildings are both tombs and temples. The Gosains of Jhansi
+do not burn, but bury their dead; and over the grave those who can
+afford to do so raise a handsome temple, and dedicate it to Siva. [W.
+H. S.] The custom of burial is not peculiar to the Saiva Gosains of
+Jhansi. It is the ordinary practice of Gosains throughout India. Many
+of the Gosains are devoted to the worship of Vishnu. Burial of the
+dead is practised by a considerable number of the Hindoo castes of
+the artisan grade, and by some divisions of the sweeper caste. See
+Crooke, 'Primitive Rites of Disposal of the Dead' (_J. Anthrop.
+Institute_, vol. xxix, N.S., vol. ii (1900), pp. 271-92).
+
+13. This tact lends some support to W. Simpson's theory that the
+Hindoo temple is derived from a sepulchral structure.
+
+14. This chief died of leprosy in May, 1838. [W. H. S.]
+
+15. Raghunath Rao was the first of his family invested by the Peshwa
+with the government of the Jhansi territory, which he had acquired
+from the Bundelkhand chiefs. He went to Benares in 1795 to drown
+himself, leaving his government to his third brother, Sheoram Bhao,
+as his next brother, Lachchhman Rao, was dead, and his sons were
+considered incapable. Sheoram Bhao died in 1815, and his eldest son,
+Krishan Rao, had died four years before him, in 1811, leaving one
+son, the late Raja, and two daughters. This was a noble sacrifice to
+what he had been taught by his spiritual teachers to consider as a
+duty towards his family; and we must admire the man while we condemn
+the religion and the priests. There is no country in the world where
+parents are more reverenced than in India, or where they more readily
+make sacrifices of all sorts for their children, or for those they
+consider as such. We succeeded in [June] 1817 to all the rights of
+the Peshwa in Bundelkhand, and, with great generosity, converted the
+viceroys of Jhansi and Jalaun into independent sovereigns of
+hereditary principalities, yielding each ten lakhs of rupees. [W. H.
+S.] The statement in the note that Raghunath Rao I 'went to Benares
+in 1795 to drown himself' is inconsistent with the statement in the
+text that this event happened 'some twenty years ago'. The word
+'twenty' is evidently a mistake for 'forty'. The _N. W. P.
+Gazetteer_, 1st ed., names several persons who governed Jhansi on
+behalf of the Peshwa between 1742 and 1770, in which latter year
+Raghunath Rao I received charge. According to the same authority,
+Sheo (Shio) Ram Bhao is called 'Sheo Bhao Hari, better known as Sheo
+Rao Bhao', and is said to have succeeded Raghunath Rao I in 1794, and
+to have died in 1814, not 1816. A few words may here be added to
+complete the history. The leper Raghunath Rao II, whose claim the
+author strangely favoured, was declared Raja, and died, as already
+noted, in May, 1838, 'his brief period of rule being rendered unquiet
+by the opposition made to him, professedly on the ground of his being
+a leper'. His revenues fell from twelve lakhs (L120,000) to three
+lakhs of rupees (L30,000) a year. On his death in 1838, the
+succession was again contested by four claimants. Pending inquiry
+into the merits of their claims, the Governor-General's Agent assumed
+the administration. Ultimately, Gangadhar Rao, younger brother of the
+leper, was appointed Raja. The disorder in the state rendered
+administration by British officers necessary as a temporary measure,
+and Gangadhar Rao did not obtain power until 1842. His rule was, on
+the whole, good. He died childless in November, 1853, and Lord
+Dalhousie, applying the doctrine of lapse, annexed the estate in
+1854, granting a pension of five thousand rupees, or about five
+hundred pounds, monthly to Lacchhmi Bai, Gangadhar Rao's widow, who
+also succeeded to personal property worth about one hundred thousand
+pounds. She resented the refusal of permission to adopt a son, and
+the consequent annexation of the state, and was further deeply
+offended by several acts of the English Administration, above all by
+the permission of cow-slaughter. Accordingly, when the Mutiny broke
+out, she quickly joined the rebels. On the 7th and 8th June, 1857,
+all the Europeans in Jhansi, men, women, and children, to the number
+of about seventy persons, were cruelly murdered by her orders, or
+with her sanction. On the 9th June her authority was proclaimed. In
+the prolonged fighting which ensued, she placed herself at the head
+of her troops, whom she led with great gallantry. In June, 1858,
+after a year's bloodstained reign, she was killed in battle. By
+November, 1858, the country was pacified.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 30
+
+
+Haunted Villages.
+
+On the 16th[1] we came on nine miles to Amabai, the frontier village
+of the Jhansi territory, bordering upon Datiya,[2] where I had to
+receive the farewell visits of many members of the Jhansi parties,
+who came on to have a quiet opportunity to assure me that, whatever
+may be the final order of the Supreme Government, they will do their
+best for the good of the people and the state; for I have always
+considered Jhansi among the native states of Bundelkhand as a kind of
+oasis in the desert, the only one in which a man can accumulate
+property with the confidence of being permitted by its rulers freely
+to display and enjoy it. I had also to receive the visit of
+messengers from the Raja of Datiya, at whose capital we were to
+encamp the next day, and, finally, to take leave of my amiable little
+friend the Sarimant, who here left me on his return to Sagar, with a
+heavy heart I really believe.
+
+We talked of the common belief among the agricultural classes of
+villages being haunted by the spirits of ancient proprietors whom it
+was thought necessary to propitiate. 'He knew', he said, 'many
+instances where these spirits were so very _froward_ that the present
+heads of villages which they haunted, and the members of their little
+communities, found it almost impossible to keep them in good humour;
+and their cattle and children were, in consequence, always liable to
+serious accidents of one kind or another. Sometimes they were bitten
+by snakes, sometimes became possessed by devils, and, at others, were
+thrown down and beaten most unmercifully. Any person who falls down
+in an epileptic fit is supposed to be thrown down by a ghost, or
+possessed by a devil.[3] They feel little of our mysterious dread of
+ghosts; a sound _drubbing_ is what they dread from them, and he who
+hurts himself in one of the fits is considered to have got it. 'As
+for himself, whenever he found any one of the villages upon his
+estate haunted by the spirit of an old "patel" (village proprietor),
+he always made a point of giving him a _neat little shrine_, and
+having it well endowed and attended, to keep him in good humour; this
+he thought was a duty that every landlord owed to his tenants.'
+Ramchand, the pundit, said that 'villages which had been held by old
+Gond (mountaineer) proprietors were more liable than any other to
+those kinds of visitations; that it was easy to say what village was
+and was not haunted, but often exceedingly difficult to discover to
+whom the ghost belonged. This once discovered, his nearest surviving
+relation was, of course, expected to take steps to put him to rest;
+but', said he, 'it is wrong to suppose that the ghost of an old
+proprietor must be always doing mischief--he is often the best friend
+of the cultivators, and of the present proprietor too, if he treats
+him with proper respect; for he will not allow the people of any
+other village to encroach upon their boundaries with impunity, and
+they will be saved all the expense and annoyance of a reference to
+the "adalat" (judicial tribunals) for the settlement of boundary
+disputes. It will not cost much to conciliate these spirits, and the
+money is generally well laid out.'
+
+Several anecdotes were told me in illustration; and all that I could
+urge against the probability or possibility of such Visitation
+appeared to them very inconclusive and unsatisfactory. They mentioned
+the case of the family of village proprietors in the Sagar district,
+who had for several generations, at every new settlement, insisted
+upon having the name of the spirit of the old proprietor inserted in
+the lease instead of their own, and thereby secured his good graces
+on all occasions. Mr. Fraser had before mentioned this case to me. In
+August, 1834, while engaged in the settlement of the land revenue of
+the Sagar district for twenty years, he was about to deliver the
+lease of the estate made out in due form to the head of the family, a
+very honest and respectable old gentleman, when he asked him
+respectfully in whose name it had been made out. 'In yours, to be
+sure; have you not renewed your lease for twenty years?' The old man,
+in a state of great alarm, begged him to have it altered immediately,
+or he and his family would all be destroyed--that the spirit of the
+ancient proprietor presided over the village community and its
+interests, and that all affairs of importance were transacted is his
+name. 'He is', said the old man, 'a very jealous spirit, and will not
+admit of any living man being considered for a moment as a proprietor
+or joint proprietor of the estate. It has been held by me and my
+ancestors immediately under Government for many generations; but the
+lease deeds have always been made out in his name, and ours have been
+inserted merely as his managers or bailiffs--were this good old rule,
+under which we have so long prospered, to be now infringed, we should
+all perish under his anger.' Mr. Fraser found, upon inquiring, that
+this had really been the case; and, to relieve the old man and his
+family from their fears, he had the papers made out afresh, and the
+_ghost_ inserted as the proprietor. The modes of flattering and
+propitiating these beings, natural and supernatural, who are supposed
+to have the power to do mischief, are endless.[4]
+
+While I was in charge of the district of Narsinghpur, in the valley
+of the Nerbudda, in 1823, a cultivator of the village of Bedu, about
+twelve miles distant from my court, was one day engaged in the
+cultivation of his field on the border of the village of Barkhara,
+which was supposed to be haunted by the spirit of an old proprietor,
+whose temper was so froward and violent that the lands could hardly
+be let for anything, for hardly any man would venture to cultivate
+them lest he might unintentionally incur his ghostship's displeasure.
+The poor cultivator, after begging his pardon in secret, ventured to
+drive his plough a few yards beyond the proper line of his boundary,
+and thus add half an acre of Barkhara to his own little tenement,
+which was situated in Bedu. That very night his only son was bitten
+by a snake, and his two bullocks were seized with the murrain. In
+terror he went of to the village temple, confessed his sin, and
+vowed, not only to restore the half-acre of land to the village of
+Barkhara, but to build a very handsome shrine upon the spot as a
+perpetual sign of his repentance. The boy and the bullocks all three
+recovered, and the shrine was built; and is, I believe, still to be
+seen as the boundary mark.
+
+
+The fact was that the village stood upon an elevated piece of ground
+rising out of a moist plain, and a colony of snakes had taken up
+their abode in it. The bites of these snakes had on many occasions
+proved fatal, and such accidents were all attributed to the anger of
+a spirit which was supposed to haunt the village. At one time, under
+the former government, no one would take a lease of the village on
+any terms, and it had become almost entirely deserted, though the
+soil was the finest in the whole district. With a view to remove the
+whole prejudices of the people, the governor, Goroba Pundit, took the
+lease himself at the rent of one thousand rupees a year; and, in the
+month of June, went from his residence, twelve miles, with ten of his
+own ploughs to superintend the commencement of so _perilous_ an
+undertaking.
+
+On reaching the middle of the village, situated on the top of the
+little hill, he alighted from his horse, sat down upon a carpet that
+had been spread for him under a large and beautiful banyan-tree, and
+began to refresh himself with a pipe before going to work in the
+fields. As he quaffed his hookah, and railed at the follies of the
+men, 'whose absurd superstitions had made them desert so beautiful a
+village with so noble a tree in its centre', his eyes fell upon an
+enormous black snake, which had coiled round one of its branches
+immediately over his head, and seemed as if resolved at once to
+pounce down and punish him for his blasphemy. He gave his pipe to his
+attendant, mounted his horse, from which the saddle had not yet been
+taken, and never pulled rein till he got home. Nothing could ever
+induce him to visit this village again, though he was afterwards
+employed under me as a native collector; and he has often told me
+that he verily believed this was the spirit of the old landlord that
+he had unhappily neglected to propitiate before taking possession.
+
+My predecessor in the civil charge of that district, the late Mr.
+Lindsay of the Bengal Civil Service, again tried to remove the
+prejudices of the people against the occupation and cultivation of
+this fine village. It had never been measured, and all the revenue
+officers, backed by all the farmers and cultivators of the
+neighbourhood, declared that the spirit of the old proprietor would
+never allow it to be so. Mr. Lindsay was a good geometrician, and had
+long been in the habit of superintending his revenue surveys himself,
+and on this occasion be thought himself particularly called upon to
+do so. A new measuring cord was made for the occasion, and, with fear
+and trembling, all his officers attended him to the first field; but
+in measuring it the rope, by some accident, broke. Poor Lindsay was
+that morning taken ill and obliged to return to Narsinghpur, where he
+died soon after from fever. No man was ever more beloved by all
+classes of the people of his district than he was; and I believe
+there was not one person among them who did not believe him to have
+fallen a victim to the resentment of the spirit of the old
+proprietor. When I went to the village some years afterwards, the
+people in the neighbourhood all declared to me that they saw the cord
+with which he was measuring fly into a thousand pieces the moment the
+men attempted to straighten it over the first field.[5]
+
+A very respectable old gentleman from the Concan, or Malabar
+coast,[6] told me one day that every man there protects his field of
+corn and his fruit-tree by dedicating it to one or other of the
+spirits which there abound, or confiding it to his guardianship. He
+sticks up something in the field, or ties on something to the tree,
+in the name of the said spirit, who from that moment feels himself
+responsible for its safe keeping. If any one, without permission from
+the proprietor, presumes to take either an ear of corn from the
+field, or fruit from the tree, he is sure to be killed outright, or
+made extremely ill. 'No other protection is required', said the old
+gentleman, 'for our fields and fruit-trees in that direction, though
+whole armies should have to march through them.' I once saw a man
+come to the proprietor of a jack-tree,[7] embrace his feet, and in
+the most piteous manner implore his protection. He asked what was the
+matter. 'I took', said the man, 'a jack from your tree yonder three
+days ago, as I passed at night; and I have been suffering dreadful
+agony in my stomach ever since. The spirit of the tree is upon me,
+and you only can pacify him.' The proprietor took up a bit of cow-
+dung, moistened it, and made a mark with it upon the man's forehead,
+_in the name of the spirit_, and put some of it into the knot of hair
+on the top of his head. He had no sooner done this than the man's
+pains all left him, and he went off, vowing never again to give
+similar cause of offence to one of these guardian spirits. 'Men',
+said my old friend, 'do not die there in the same regulated spirit,
+with their thoughts directed exclusively towards God, as in other
+parts; and whether a man's spirit is to haunt the world or not after
+his death all depends on that.'
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. Datiya (Datia, Dutteeah) is a small state, with an area of about
+911 square miles, and a cash revenue of about four lakhs of rupees.
+On the east it touches the Jhansi district, but in all other
+directions it is enclosed by the territories of Sindhia, the Maharaja
+of Gwalior. The principality was separated from Orchha by a family
+partition in the seventeenth century. The first treaty between the
+Raja and the British Government was concluded on the 15th March,
+1804.
+
+3. The belief that epileptic patients are possessed by devils is, of
+course, in no wise peculiar to India. It is almost universal.
+Professor Lombroso discusses the belief in diabolical possession in
+chap. 4 of _The Man of Genius_ (London ed., 1891).
+
+4. 'The educated European of the nineteenth century cannot realize
+the dread in which the Hindoo stands of devils. They haunt his paths
+from the cradle to the grave. The Tamil proverb in fact says, "The
+devil who seizes yon in the cradle, goes with you to the funeral
+pile".' The fear and worship of ghosts, demons, and devils are
+universal throughout India, and the rites practised are often
+comical. The ghost of a bibulous European official with a hot temper,
+who died at Muzaffarnagar, in the United Provinces, many years ago,
+was propitiated by offerings of beer and whisky at 'his tomb. Much
+information on the subject is collected in the articles 'Demon',
+'Devils', 'Dehwar', and 'Deified Warriors' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia
+of India_ (3rd ed.). Almost every number of Mr. Crooke's periodical
+_North Indian Notes and Queries_ (Allahabad: Pioneer Press; London:
+A. Constable & Co., 5 vols., from 1891-2 to 1895-6) gave fresh
+instances of the oddities of demon-worship.
+
+5. The officials of the native Governments were content to use either
+a rope or a bamboo for field measurements, and these primitive
+instruments continued to satisfy the early British officers. For many
+years past a proper chain has been always employed for revenue
+surveys.
+
+6. 'The author uses the term 'Concan' (Konkan) in a wide sense, so as
+to cover all the territory between the Western Ghats and the sea,
+including Malabar in the south. The term is often used in a more
+restricted sense to mean Bombay and certain other districts, to the
+north of Malabar.
+
+7. _Artocarpus integrifolius_. The jack fruit attains an enormous
+size, and sometimes weighs fifty or sixty pounds. Indians delight in
+it, but to most Europeans it is extremely offensive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 31
+
+Interview with the Raja of Datiya--Fiscal Errors of Statesmen--
+Thieves and Robbers by Profession.
+
+On the 17th[1] we came to Datiya, nine miles over a dry and poor
+soil, thinly, and only partially, covering a bed of brown and grey
+syenite, with veins of quartz and feldspar, and here and there dykes
+of basalt, and a few boulders scattered over the surface. The old
+Raja, Parichhit,[2] on one elephant, and his cousin, Dalip Singh,
+upon a second, and several of their relations upon others, all
+splendidly caparisoned, came out two miles to meet us, with a very
+large and splendid _cortege_. My wife, as usual, had gone on in her
+palankeen very early, to avoid the crowd and dust of this 'istikbal',
+or meeting; and my little boy, Henry, went on at the same time in the
+palankeen, having got a slight fever from too much exposure to the
+sun in our slow and stately entrance into Jhansi. There were more men
+in steel chain armour in this _cortege_ than in that of Jhansi; and,
+though the elephants were not quite so fine, they were just as
+numerous, while the crowd of foot attendants was still greater. They
+were in fancy dresses, individually handsome, and collectively
+picturesque; though, being all soldiers, not quite pleasing to the
+eye of a soldier. I remarked to the Raja, as we rode side by side on
+our elephants, that we attached much importance to having our
+soldiers all in uniform dresses, according to their corps, while he
+seemed to care little about these matters. 'Yes,' said the old man,
+with a smile, 'with me every man pleases himself in his dress, and I
+care not what he wears, provided it is neat and clean.' They
+certainly formed a body more picturesque from being allowed
+individually to consult their own fancies in their dresses, for the
+native taste in dress is generally very good. Our three elephants
+came on abreast, and the Raja and I conversed as freely as men in
+such situations can converse. He is a stout, cheerful old gentleman,
+as careless apparently about his own dress as about that of his
+soldiers, and a much more sensible and agreeable person than I
+expected; and I was sorry to learn from him that he had for twelve
+years been suffering from an attack of sciatica on one side, which
+had deprived him of the use of one of his legs. I was obliged to
+consent to halt the next day that I might hunt in his preserve
+(_ramna_) in the morning, and return his visit in the evening. In the
+Raja's cortege there were several men mounted on excellent horses,
+who carried guitars, and played upon them, and sang in a very
+agreeable style, I had never before seen or heard of such a band, and
+was both surprised and pleased.
+
+The great part of the wheat, gram,[3] and other exportable land
+produce which the people consume, as far as we have yet come, is
+drawn from our Nerbudda districts, and those of Malwa which border
+upon them; and, _par consequent_, the price has been rapidly
+increasing as we recede from them in our advance northward. Were the
+soil of those Nerbudda districts, situated as they are at such a
+distance from any great market for their agricultural products, as
+bad as it is in the parts of Bundelkhand that I came over, no net
+surplus revenue could possibly be drawn from them in the present
+state of arts and industry. The high prices paid here for land
+produce, arising from the necessity of drawing a great part of what
+is consumed from such distant lands, enables the Rajas of these
+Bundelkhand states to draw the large revenue they do. These chiefs
+expend the whole of their revenue in the maintenance of public
+establishments of one kind or other; and, as the essential articles
+of subsistence, wheat and gram, &c., which are produced in their own
+districts, or those immediately around them, are not sufficient for
+the supply of these establishments, they must draw them from distant
+territories. All this produce is brought on the backs of bullocks,
+because there is no road from the districts whence they obtain it,
+over which a wheeled carriage can be drawn with safety; and, as this
+mode of transit is very expensive, the price of the produce, when it
+reaches the capitals, around which these local establishments are
+concentrated, becomes very high. They must pay a price equal to the
+collective cost of purchasing and bringing this substance from the
+most distant districts, to which they are at any time obliged to have
+recourse for a supply, or they will not be supplied; and, as there
+cannot be two prices for the same thing in the same market, the wheat
+and gram produced in the neighbourhood of one of these Bundelkhand
+capitals fetch as high a price there as that brought from the most
+remote districts on the banks of the Nerbudda river; while it costs
+comparatively nothing to bring it from the former lands to the
+markets. Such lands, in consequence, yield a rate of rent much
+greater compared with their natural powers of fertility than those of
+the remotest districts whence produce is drawn for these markets or
+capitals; and, as all the lands are the property of the Rajas, they
+drew all those rents as revenue.[4]
+
+Were we to take this revenue, which the Rajas now enjoy, in tribute
+for the maintenance of public establishments concentrated at distant
+seats, all these local establishments would, of course, be at once
+disbanded; and all the effectual demand which they afford for the raw
+agricultural produce of distant districts would cease. The price of
+this produce would diminish in proportion, and with it the value of
+the lands of the districts around such capitals. Hence the folly of
+conquerors and paramount powers, from the days of the Greeks and
+Romans down to those of Lord Hastings[5] and Sir John Malcolm,[6] who
+were all bad political economists, supposing that conquered and ceded
+territories could always be made to yield to a foreign state the same
+amount of gross revenue as they had paid to their domestic
+government, whatever their situation with reference to the markets
+for their produce--whatever the state of their arts and their
+industry--and whatever the character and extent of the local
+establishments maintained out of it. The settlements of the land
+revenue in all the territories acquired in Central India during the
+Maratha war, which ended in 1817, were made upon the supposition that
+the lands would continue to pay the same rate of rent under the new
+as they had paid under the old government, uninfluenced by the
+diminution of all local establishments, civil and military, to one-
+tenth of what they had been; that, under the new order of things, all
+the waste lands must be brought into tillage, and be able to pay as
+high a rate of rent as before tillage, and, consequently, that the
+aggregate available net revenue must greatly and rapidly increase.
+Those who had the making of the settlements and the governing of
+these new territories did not consider that the diminution of every
+_establishment_ was the removal of a _market_, of an effectual demand
+for land produce; and that, when all the waste lands should be
+brought into tillage, the whole would deteriorate in fertility, from
+the want of fallows, Under the prevailing system of agriculture,
+which afforded the lands no other means of renovation from over-
+cropping. The settlements of land which were made throughout our new
+land acquisitions upon these fallacious assumptions of course failed.
+During a series of quinquennial settlements the assessment has been
+everywhere gradually reduced to about two-thirds of what it was when
+our rule began, to less than one-half of what Sir John Malcolm, and
+all the other local authorities, and even the worthy Marquis of
+Hastings himself, under the influence of their opinions, expected it
+would be. The land revenues of the native princes of Central India,
+who reduced their public establishments, which the new order of
+things seemed to render useless, and thereby diminished the only
+markets for the raw produce of their lands, have been everywhere
+falling off in the same proportion; and scarcely one of them now
+draws two-thirds of the income he drew from the same lands in 1817.
+
+There are in the valley of the Nerbudda districts that yield a great
+deal more produce every year than either Orchha, Jhansi, or Datiya;
+and yet, from the want of the same domestic markets, they do not
+yield one-fourth of the amount of land revenue. The lands are,
+however, rated equally high to the assessment, in proportion to their
+value to the farmers and cultivators. To enable them to yield a
+larger revenue to Government, they require to have larger
+establishments as markets for land produce. These establishments may
+be either public, and paid by Government; or they may be private, as
+manufactories, by which the land produce of these districts would be
+consumed by people employed in investing the value of their labour in
+commodities suited to the demand of distant markets, and more
+valuable than land produce in proportion to their weight and bulk.[7]
+These are the establishments which Government should exert itself to
+introduce and foster; since the valley of the Nerbudda, in addition
+to a soil exceedingly fertile, has in its whole line, from its source
+to its embouchure, rich beds of coal reposing for the use of future
+generations, under the sandstone of the Satpura and Vindhya ranges,
+and beds no less rich of very fine iron. These advantages have not
+yet been justly appreciated; but they will be so by and by.[8]
+
+About half-past four in the afternoon of the day we reached Datiya, I
+had a visit from the Raja, who came in his palankeen, with a very
+respectable, but not very numerous or noisy, train, and he sat with
+me about an hour. My large tents were both pitched parallel to each
+other, about twenty paces distant, and united to each other at both
+ends by separate 'kanats', or cloth curtains. My little boy was
+present, and behaved extremely well in steadily refusing, without
+even a look from me, a handful of gold mohurs, which the Raja pressed
+several times upon his acceptance. I received him at the door of my
+tent, and supported him upon my arm to his chair, as he cannot walk
+without some slight assistance, from the affection already mentioned
+in his leg. A salute from the guns at his castle announced his
+departure and return to it. After the audience, Lieutenant Thomas and
+I ascended to the summit of a palace of the former Rajas of this
+state, which stands upon a high rock close inside the eastern gate of
+the city, whence we could see to the west of the city a still larger
+and handsomer palace standing, I asked our conductors, the Raja's
+servants, why it was unoccupied. 'No prince these degenerate days',
+said they, 'could muster a family and court worthy of such a palace--
+the family and court of the largest of them would, within the walls
+of such a building, feel as if they were in a desert. Such palaces
+were made for princes of the older times, who were quite different
+beings from those of the present day.'
+
+From the deserted palace we went to the new garden which is preparing
+for the young Raja, an adopted son of about ten years of age. It is
+close to the southern wall of the city, and is very extensive and
+well managed. The orange-trees are all grafted, and sinking under the
+weight of as fine fruit as any in India. Attempting to ascend the
+steps of an empty bungalow upon a raised terrace at the southern
+extremity of the garden, the attendants told us respectfully that
+they hoped we would take off our shoes if we wished to enter, as the
+ancestor of the Raja by whom it was built, Ram Chand, had lately
+_become a god_, and was there worshipped. The roof is of stone,
+supported on carved stone pillars. On the centre pillar, upon a
+ground of whitewash, is a hand or trident. This is the only sign of a
+sacred character the building has yet assumed; and I found that it
+owed this character of sanctity to the circumstance of some one
+having vowed an offering to the manes of the builder, if he obtained
+what his soul most desired; and, having obtained it, all the people
+believe that those who do the same at the same place in a pure spirit
+of faith will obtain what they pray for.
+
+I made some inquiries about Hardaul Lala, the son of Birsingh Deo,
+who built the fort of Dhamoni, one of the ancestors of the Datiya
+Raja, and found that he was as much worshipped here at his birthplace
+as upon the banks of the Nerbudda as the supposed great _originator_
+of the cholera morbus. There is at Datiya a temple dedicated to him
+and much frequented; and one of the priests brought me a flower in
+his name, and chanted something indicating that Hardaul Lala was now
+worshipped even so far as the British _capital of Calcutta_, I asked
+the old prince what he thought of the origin of the worship of this
+his ancestor; and he told me that when the cholera broke out first in
+the camp of Lord Hastings, then pitched about three stages from his
+capital, on the bank of the Sindh at Chandpur Sunari, several people
+recovered from the disease immediately after making votive offerings
+in his name; and that he really thought the spirit of his great-
+grandfather had worked some wonderful cures upon people afflicted
+with this dreadful malady.[9]
+
+The town of Datiya contains a population of between forty and fifty
+thousand souls. The streets are narrow, for, in buildings, as in
+dress, the Raja allows every man to consult his own inclinations.
+There are, however, a great many excellent houses in Datiya, and the
+appearance of the place is altogether very good. Many of his
+feudatory chiefs reside occasionally in the city, and have all their
+establishments with them, a practice which does not, I believe,
+prevail anywhere else among these Bundelkhand chiefs, and this makes
+the capital much larger, handsomer, and more populous than that of
+Tehri. This indicates more of mutual confidence between the chief and
+his vassals, and accords well with the character they bear in the
+surrounding countries. Some of the houses occupied by these barons
+are very pretty. They spend the revenue of their distant estates in
+adorning them, and embellishing the capital, which they certainly
+could not have ventured to do under the late Rajas of Tehri, and may
+not possibly be able to do under the future Rajas of Datiya. The
+present minister of Datiya, Ganesh, is a very great knave, and
+encourages the residence upon his master's estate of all kinds of
+thieves and robbers, who bring back from distant districts every
+season vast quantities of booty, which they share with him. The chief
+himself is a mild old gentleman, who would not suffer violence to be
+offered to any of his nobles, though he would not, perhaps, quarrel
+with his minister for getting him a little addition to his revenue
+from without, by affording a sanctuary to such kind of people. As in
+Tehri, so here, the pickpockets constitute the entire population of
+several villages, and carry their depredations northward to the banks
+of the Indus, and southward to Bombay and Madras.[10] But colonies of
+thieves and robbers like these abound no less in our own territories
+than in those of native states. There are more than a thousand
+families of them in the districts of Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, and
+Meerut in the Upper Doab,[11] all well enough known to the local
+authorities, who can do nothing with them.
+
+They extend their depredations into remote districts, and the booty
+they bring home with them they share liberally with the native police
+and landholders under whose protection they live. Many landholders
+and police officers make large fortunes from the share they get of
+this booty. Magistrates do not molest them, because they would
+despair of ever finding the proprietors of the property that might be
+found upon them; and, if they could trace them, they would never be
+able to persuade them to come and 'enter upon a worse sea of
+troubles' in prosecuting them. These thieves and robbers of the
+professional classes, who have the sagacity to avoid plundering near
+home, are always just as secure in our best regulated districts as
+they are in the worst native states, from the only three things which
+such depredators care about--the penal laws, the odium of the society
+in which they move, and the vengeance of the god they worship; and
+they are always well received in the society around them, as long as
+they can avoid having their neighbours annoyed by summons to give
+evidence for or against them in our courts. They feel quite sure of
+the goodwill of the god they worship, provided they give a fair share
+of their booty to his priests; and no less secure of immunity from
+penal laws, except on very rare occasions when they happen to be
+taken in the tact, in a country where such laws happen to be in
+force.[12]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. Raja Parichhit died in 1839.
+
+3. The word gram (_Cicer arietinum_) is misprinted 'grain' in the
+author's text, in this place and in many others.
+
+4. Bundelkhand exports to the Ganges a great quantity of cotton,
+which enables it to pay for the wheat, gram, and other land produce
+which it draws from distant districts, [W. H. S.] Other considerable
+exports from Bundelkhand used to be the root of the _Morinda
+citrifolia_, yielding a dark red dye, and the coarse _kharwa_ cloth,
+a kind of canvas, dyed with this dye, which is known by the name of
+'_ al_'. But modern chemistry has nearly killed the trade in
+vegetable dyes. The construction of railways and roads has
+revolutionized the System of trade, and equalized prices.
+
+5. Governor-General from October 4, 1813, till January 1, 1823. He
+was Earl of Moira when he assumed office.
+
+6. Sir John Malcolm was Agent to the Governor-General in Central
+India from 1817 to 1822, and was appointed Governor of Bombay in
+1827.
+
+7. The construction of railways and the development of trade with
+Europe have completely altered the conditions. The Nerbudda valley
+can now yield a considerable revenue.
+
+8. The iron ore no doubt is good, but the difficulties in the way of
+working it profitably are so great that the author's sanguine
+expectations seem unlikely to be fully realized. V. Ball, in his day
+the best authority on the subject, observes, 'As will be abundantly
+shown in the course of the following pages, the manufacture of iron
+has, in many parts of India, been wholly crushed out of existence by
+competition with English iron, while in others it is steadily
+decreasing, and it seems destined to become extinct' (_Economic
+Geology_ (1881), being part of the _Manual of the Geology of India_,
+p. 338). Ball thought that, if improved methods of reduction should
+be employed, the Chanda ore might be worked profitably. As regards
+the rest of India, with the doubtful exception of Upper Assam, he had
+little hope of success. Full details of the working of the mines in
+the Jabalpur, Narsinghpur, and Chanda districts of the Central
+Provinces are given in pp. 384 to 392 of the same work. See also _I.
+G._ (1908), vol. x, p. 51; and _The Oxford Survey of the British
+Empire_ (Oxford, 1914), vol. ii, Asia, pp. 143, 160. A powerful
+company formed at Bombay in 1907, operating at a spot on the borders
+of the Central Provinces and Orissa, hopes to turn out 7,000 tons of
+'steel shapes' per month.
+
+Coal is not found below the very ancient sandstone rocks, classed by
+geologists under the name of the Vindhyan Series. The principal beds
+of coal are found in the great series of rocks, known collectively as
+the Gondwana System, which is supposed to range in age from the
+Permian to the Upper Jurassic periods of European geologists
+(_Manual_, vol. i, p. 102). This Gondwana System includes sandstones.
+A coalfield at Mohpani, ninety-five miles west-south-west from
+Jabalpur by rail, was worked from 1862 to 1904 by the Nerbudda Coal
+and Iron Company; and is now worked by the G. I. P. Railway Company.
+The principal coal-field of the Central Provinces for some years was
+that near Warora in the Chanda district, but the amount which can be
+extracted profitably is approaching exhaustion; in fact the colliery
+was closed in 1906. Thick seams are known to exist to the south of
+Chanda near the Wardha river. See _I. G._, 1907, vol. iii, chap. iii,
+p. 135; vol. x. p. 51.
+
+9. See note to Chapter 25, _ante_, note 7.
+
+10. 'Pickpockets' is not a suitable term.
+
+11. The Persian word 'doab' means the tract of land between two
+rivers, which ultimately meet. The upper doab referred to in the text
+lies between the Ganges and the Jumna.
+
+12. These 'colonies of thieves and robbers' are still the despair of
+the Indian administrator. They are known to Anglo-Indian law as
+'criminal tribes', and a special Act has been passed for their
+regulation. The principle of that Act is police supervision,
+exercised by means of visits of inspection, and the issue of
+passports. The Act has been applied from time to time to various
+tribes, but has in every case failed. In 1891, Sir Auckland Colvin,
+then Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, adopted the
+strong measure of suddenly capturing many hundreds of Sansias, a
+troublesome criminal tribe, in the Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, and Aligarh
+Districts. Some of the prisoners were sent to a special jail, or
+reformatory, called a 'settlement', at Sultanpur in Oudh, and the
+others were drafted off to various landlords' estates. These latter
+were supposed to devote themselves to agriculture. The editor, as
+Magistrate of Muzaffarnagar, effected the capture of more than seven
+hundred Sansias in that district, and dispatched them in accordance
+with orders. As most people expected, the agricultural pupils
+promptly absconded. Multitudes of Sansias in the Panjab and elsewhere
+remained unaffected by the raid, which could not have any permanent
+effect. The milder expedient of settling and nursing a large colony,
+organized in villages, of another criminal tribe, the Bawarias
+(Boureahs), was also tried many years ago in the same district of
+Muzaffarnagar. The people settled readily enough, and reclaimed a
+considerable area of waste land, but were not in the least degree
+reformed. At the beginning of the cold season, in October or
+November, most of the able-bodied men annually leave the villages,
+and remain absent on distant forays till March or April, when they
+return with their booty, enjoying almost complete immunity, for the
+reasons stated in the text. On one occasion some of these Bawarias of
+Muzaffarnagar stole a lakh and a half of rupees (about L12,000 at
+that time), in currency notes at Tuticorin, in the south of the
+peninsula, 1,400 miles distant from their home. The number of such
+criminal tribes, or castes, is very great, and the larger of these
+communities, such as the Sansias, each comprise many thousands of
+members, diffused over an enormous area in several provinces. It is,
+therefore, impossible to put them down, except by the use of drastic
+measures such as no civilized European Government could propose or
+sanction. The criminal tribes, or castes, are, to a large extent,
+races; but, in many of these castes, fresh blood is constantly
+introduced by the admission of outsiders, who are willing to eat with
+the members of the tribe, and so become for ever incorporated in the
+brotherhood. The gipsies of Europe are closely related to certain of
+these Indian tribes. The official literature on the subject is of
+considerable bulk. Mr. W. Crooke's small book, _An Ethnographic
+Glossary_, published in 1891 (Government Press, Allahabad), is a
+convenient summary of most of the facts on record concerning the
+criminal and other castes of Northern India, and gives abundant
+references to other publications. See also his larger work, _Castes
+and Tribes of the N. W. P. and Oudh_, 4 vols. Calcutta, 1906. The
+author's folio book, _Report on the Budhuk alias Bagree Decoits and
+other Gang Robbers by Hereditary Profession, and on the Measures
+adopted by the Government of India for their Suppression_ (Calcutta,
+1849), _ante_, Bibliography No. 12, probably is the most valuable of
+the original authorities on the subject, but it is rare and seldom
+consulted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 32
+
+
+Sporting at Datiya--Fidelity of Followers to their Chiefs in India--
+Law of Primogeniture wanting among Muhammadans.
+
+The morning after we reached Datiya, I went out with Lieutenant
+Thomas to shoot and hunt in the Raja's large preserve, and with the
+_humane_ and determined resolution of killing no more game than our
+camp would be likely to eat; for we were told that the deer and wild
+hogs were so very numerous that we might shoot just as many as we
+pleased.[l] We were posted upon two terraces, one near the gateway,
+and the other in the centre of the preserve; and, after waiting here
+an hour, we got each a shot at a hog. Hares we saw, and might have
+shot, but we had loaded all our barrels with ball for other game. We
+left the 'ramna', which is a quadrangle of about one hundred acres of
+thick grass, shrubs, and brushwood, enclosed by a high stone wall.
+There is one gate on the west side, and this is kept open during the
+night, to let the game out and in. It is shut and guarded during the
+day, when the animals are left to repose in the shade, except on such
+occasions as the present, when the Raja wants to give his guests a
+morning's sport. On the plains and woods outside we saw a good many
+large deer, but could not manage to get near them in our own way, and
+had not patience to try that of the natives, so that we came back
+without killing anything, or having had any occasion to exercise our
+_forbearance_. The Raja's people, as soon as we left them, went about
+their sport after their own fashion, and brought us a fine buck
+antelope after breakfast. They have a bullock trained to go about the
+fields with them, led at a quick pace by a halter, with which the
+sportsman guides him, as he walks along with him by the side opposite
+to that facing the deer he is in pursuit of. He goes round the deer
+as he grazes in the field, shortening the distance at every circle
+till he comes within shot. At the signal given the bullock stands
+still, and the sportsman rests his gun upon his back and fires. They
+seldom miss. Others go with a fine buck and doe antelope, tame, and
+trained to browse upon the fresh bushes, which are woven for the
+occasion into a kind of hand-hurdle, behind which a man creeps along
+over the fields towards the herd of wild ones, or sits still with his
+matchlock ready, and pointed out through the leaves. The herd seeing
+the male and female strangers so very busily and agreeably employed
+upon their apparently inviting repast, advance to accost them, and
+are shot when they get within a secure distance.[2] The hurdle was
+filled with branches from the 'dhau' (_Lythrum fructuosum_) tree, of
+which the jungle is for the most part composed, plucked as we went
+along; and the tame antelopes, having been kept long fasting for the
+purpose, fed eagerly upon them. We had also two pairs of falcons; but
+a knowledge of the brutal manner in which these birds are fed and
+taught is enough to prevent any but a _brute_ from taking much
+delight in the sport they afford.[3]
+
+The officer who conducted us was evidently much disappointed, for he
+was really very anxious, as he knew his master the Raja was, that we
+should have a good day's sport. On our way back I made him ride by my
+side, and talk to me about Datiya, since he had been unable to show
+me any sport. I got his thoughts into a train that I knew would
+animate him, if he had any soul at all for poetry or poetical
+recollections, as I thought he had. 'The noble works in palaces and
+temples,' said he, 'which you see around you, Sir, mouldering in
+ruins, were built by princes who had beaten emperors in battle, and
+whose spirits still hover over and protect the place. Several times,
+under the late disorders which preceded your paramount rule in
+Hindustan, when hostile forces assembled around us, and threatened
+our capital with destruction, lights and elephants innumerable were
+seen from the tops of those battlements, passing and repassing under
+the walls, ready to defend them had the enemy attempted an assault.
+Whenever our soldiers endeavoured to approach near them, they
+disappeared; and everybody knew that they were spirits of men like
+Birsingh Deo and Hardaul Lala that had come to our aid, and we never
+lost confidence.' It is easy to understand the devotion of men to
+their chiefs when they believe their progenitors to have been
+demigods, and to have been faithfully served by their ancestors for
+several generations. We neither have, nor ever can have, servants so
+personally devoted to us as these men are to their chiefs, though we
+have soldiers who will fight under our banners with as much courage
+and fidelity. They know that their grandfathers served the
+grandfathers of these chiefs, and they hope their grandchildren will
+serve their grandsons. The one feels as much pride and pleasure in so
+serving, as the other in being so served; and both hope that the link
+which binds them may never be severed. Our servants, on the contrary,
+private and public, are always in dread that some accident, some
+trivial fault, or some slight offence, not to be avoided, will sever
+for ever the link that binds them to their master.
+
+The fidelity of the military classes of the people of India to their
+immediate chief, or leader, whose _salt they eat_, has been always
+very remarkable, and commonly bears little relation to his _moral
+virtues_, or conduct to _his_ superiors. They feel that it is their
+duty to serve him who feeds and protects them and their families in
+all situations, and under all circumstances; and the chief feels
+that, while he has a right to their services, it is his imperative
+duty so to feed and protect them and their families. He may change
+sides as often as he pleases, but the relations between him and his
+followers remain unchanged. About the side he chooses to take in a
+contest for dominion, they ask no questions, and feel no
+responsibility. God has placed their destinies in dependence upon
+his; and to him they cling to the last. In Malwa, Bhopal, and other
+parts of Central India, the Muhammadan rule could be established over
+that of the Rajput chief only by the annihilation of the entire race
+of their followers.[4] In no part of the world has the devotion of
+soldiers to their immediate chief been more remarkable than in India
+among the Rajputs; and in no part of the world bas the fidelity of
+these chiefs to the paramount power been more unsteady, or their
+devotion less to be relied upon. The laws of Muhammad, which
+prescribe that the property in land be divided equally among the
+sons,[5] leaves no rule for succession to territorial or political
+dominion. It has been justly observed by Hume: 'The right of
+primogeniture was introduced with the feudal law; an institution
+which is hurtful by producing and maintaining an unequal division of
+property; but it is advantageous in another respect by accustoming
+the people to a preference for the eldest son, and thereby preventing
+a partition or disputed succession in the monarchy.'
+
+Among the Muhammadan princes there was no law that bound the whole
+members of a family to obey the eldest son of a deceased prince.
+Every son of the Emperor of Hindustan considered that he had a right
+to set up his claim to the throne, vacated by the death of his
+father; and, in anticipation of that death, to strengthen his claim
+by negotiations and intrigues with all the territorial chiefs and
+influential nobles of the empire. However _prejudicial to the
+interests_ of his elder brother such measures might be, they were
+never considered to be an _invasion of his rights_, because such
+rights had never been established by the laws of their prophet. As
+all the sons considered that they had an equal right to solicit the
+support of the chiefs and nobles, so all the chiefs and nobles
+considered that they could adopt the cause of whichever _son_ they
+chose, without incurring the reproach of either _treason_ or
+dishonour. The one who succeeded thought himself justified by the law
+of self-preservation to put, not only his brothers, but all their
+sons, to death; so that there was, after every new succession, an
+entire _clearance_ of all the male members of the imperial family.
+Aurangzeb said to his pedantic tutor, who wished to be raised to high
+station on his accession to the imperial throne, 'Should not you,
+instead of your flattery, have taught me something of that point so
+important to a king, which is, what are the reciprocal duties of a
+sovereign to his subjects, and those of the subjects to their
+sovereign? And ought not you to have considered that one day I should
+be obliged, with the sword, to dispute my life and the crown with my
+brothers? Is not that the destiny, almost of all the sons of
+Hindustan?'[6] Now that they have become pensioners of the British
+Government, the members increase like white ants; and, as Malthus has
+it, 'press so hard against their means of subsistence' that a great
+many of them are absolutely starving, in spite of the enormous
+pension the head of the family receives for their maintenance.[7]
+
+The city of Datiya is surrounded by a stone wall about thirty feet
+high, with its foundation on a solid rock; but it has no ditch or
+glacis, and is capable of little or no defence against cannon. In the
+afternoon I went, accompanied by Lieutenant Thomas, and followed by
+the best _cortege_ we could muster, to return the Raja's visit. He
+resides within the walls of the city in a large square garden,
+enclosed with a high wall, and filled with fine orange-trees, at this
+time bending under the weight of the most delicious fruit. The old
+chief received us at the bottom of a fine flight of steps leading up
+to a handsome pavilion, built upon the wall of one of the faces of
+this garden. It was enclosed at the back, and in front looked into
+the garden through open arcades. The floors were spread with handsome
+carpets of the Jhansi manufacture. In front of the pavilion was a
+wide terrace of polished stone, extending to the top of the flight of
+the steps; and, in the centre of this terrace, and directly opposite
+to us as we looked into the garden, was a fine _jet d'eau_ in a large
+basin of water in full play, and, with its shower of diamonds,
+showing off the rich green and red of the orange-trees to the best
+advantage.
+
+The large quadrangle thus occupied is called the 'kila', or fort, and
+the wall that surrounds it is thirty feet high, with a round
+embattled tower at each corner. On the east face is a fine large
+gateway for the entrance, with a curtain as high as the wall itself.
+Inside the gate is a piece of ordnance painted red, with the largest
+calibre I ever saw.[8] This is fired once a year, at the festival of
+the Dasahra.[9]
+
+Our arrival at the wall was announced by a salute from some fine
+brass guns upon the bastions near the gateway. As we advanced from
+the gateway up through the garden to the pavilion, we were again
+serenaded by our friends with their guitars and excellent voices.
+They were now on foot, and arranged along both sides of the walk that
+we had to pass through. The open garden space within the walls
+appeared to me to be about ten acres. It is crossed and recrossed at
+right angles by numerous walks, having rows of plantain and other
+fruit trees on each side; and orange, pomegranate, and other small
+fruit trees to fill the space between; and anything more rich and
+luxuriant one can hardly conceive. In the centre of the north and
+west sides are pavilions with apartments for the family above,
+behind, and on each side of the great reception room, exactly similar
+to that in which we were received on the south face. The whole
+formed, I think, the most delightful residence that I have seen for a
+hot climate. There is, however, no doubt that the most healthy
+stations in this, and every other hot climate, are those situated
+upon dry, open, sandy plains, with neither shrubberies nor
+basins.[10]
+
+We were introduced to the young Raja, the old man's adopted son, a
+lad of about ten years of age, who is to be married in February next.
+He is plain in person, but has a pleasing expression of countenance;
+and, if he be moulded after the old man, and not after his minister,
+the country may perhaps have in him the 'lucky accident' of a good
+governor.[11] I have rarely seen a finer or more prepossessing man
+than the Raja, and all his subjects speak well of him. We had an
+elephant, a horse, abundance of shawls, and other fine clothes placed
+before us as presents; but I prayed the old gentleman to keep them
+all for me till I returned, as I was a mere voyageur without the
+means of carrying such valuable things in safety; but he would not be
+satisfied till I had taken two plain hilts of swords and spears, the
+manufacture of Datiya, and of little value, which Lieutenant Thomas
+and I promised to keep for his sake. The rest of the presents were
+all taken back to their places. After an hour's talk with the old man
+and his ministers, attar of roses and pan were distributed, and we
+took our leave to go and visit the old palace, which as yet we had
+seen only from a distance. There were only two men besides the Raja,
+his son, and ourselves, seated upon chairs. All the other principal
+persons of the court sat around cross-legged on the carpet; but they
+joined freely in the conversation, I was told by these courtiers how
+often the young chief had, during the day, asked when he could have
+the happiness of seeing me; and the old chief was told, in my
+hearing, how many _good things_ I had said since I came into his
+territories, all tending to his honour and my credit. This is a
+species of barefaced flattery to which we are all doomed to submit in
+our intercourse with these native chiefs; but still, to a man of
+sense, it never ceases to be distressing and offensive; for he can
+hardly ever help feeling that they must think him a mere child before
+they could venture to treat him with it. This is, however, to put too
+harsh a construction upon what in reality, the people mean only as
+civility; and they, who can so easily consider the grandfathers of
+their chiefs as gods, and worship them as such, may be suffered to
+treat _us_ as heroes and sayers of good things without offence.[12]
+
+We ascended to the summit of the old palace, and were well repaid for
+the trouble by the view of an extremely rich sheet of wheat, gram,
+and other spring crops, extending to the north and east, as far as
+the eye could reach, from the dark belt of forest, three miles deep,
+with which the Raja has surrounded his capital on every side as
+hunting grounds. The lands comprised in this forest are, for the most
+part, exceedingly poor, and water for irrigation is unattainable
+within them, so that little is lost by this taste of the chief for
+the sports of the field, in which, however, he cannot himself now
+indulge.
+
+On the 19th[13] we left Datiya, and, after emerging from the
+surrounding forest, came over a fine plain covered with rich spring
+crops for ten miles, till we entered among the ravines of the river
+Sindh, whose banks are, like those of all rivers in this part of
+India, bordered to a great distance by these deep and ugly
+inequalities. Here they are almost without grass or shrubs to clothe
+their hideous nakedness, and have been formed by the torrents, which,
+in the season of the rains, rush from the extensive plain, as from a
+wide ocean, down to the deep channel of the river in narrow streams.
+These streams cut their way easily through the soft alluvial soil,
+which must once have formed the bed of a vast lake.[14] On coming
+through the forest, before sunrise we discovered our error of the day
+before, for we found excellent deer-shooting in the long grass and
+brushwood, which grow luxuriantly at some distance from the city. Had
+we come out a couple of miles the day before, we might have had noble
+sport, and really required the _forbearance and humanity_ to which we
+had so magnanimously resolved to sacrifice our 'pride of art' as
+sportsmen; for we saw many herds of the nilgai, antelope, and spotted
+deer,[15] browsing within a few paces of us, within the long grass
+and brushwood on both sides of the road. We could not stay, however,
+to indulge in much sport, having a long march before us.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Some readers may be shocked at the notion of the author shooting
+pig, but, in Bundelkhand, where pig-sticking, or hog-hunting, as the
+older writers call it, is not practised, hog-shooting is quite
+legitimate.
+
+2. The common antelope, or black buck (_Antilope bezoartica_, or
+_cervicapra_) feed in herds, sometimes numbering many hundreds, in
+the open plains, especially those of black soil. Men armed with
+matchlocks can scarcely get a shot except by adopting artifices
+similar to those described in the text.
+
+3. Sixteen species of hawks, belonging to several genera, are trained
+in India. They are often fed by being allowed to suck the blood from
+the breasts of live pigeons, and their eyes are darkened by means of
+a silken thread passed through holes in the eyelids. 'Hawking is a
+very dull and very cruel sport. A person must become insensible to
+the sufferings of the most beautiful and most inoffensive of the
+brute creation before he can feel any enjoyment in it. The cruelty
+lies chiefly in the mode of feeding the hawks' (_Journey through the
+Kingdom of Oude_, vol. i, p, 109). Asoka forbade the practice by the
+words: 'The living must not be fed with the living' (Pillar Edict V,
+_c._ 243 B.C., in V. A. Smith, _Asoka_, 2nd ed. (1909), p. 188).
+
+4. The wording of this sentence is unfortunate, and it is not easy to
+understand why the author mentioned Bhopal. The principality of
+Bhopal was formed by Dost Mohammed Khan, an Afghan officer of
+Aurangzeb, who became independent a few years after that sovereign's
+death in 1707. Since that time the dynasty has always continued to be
+Muhammadan. The services of Sikandar Begam in the Mutiny are well
+known. Malwa is the country lying between Bundelkhand, on the east,
+and Rajputana, on the west, and includes Bhopal. Most of the states
+in this region are now ruled by Hindoos, but the local dynasty which
+ruled the kingdom of Malwa and Mandu from A.D. 1401 to 1531 was
+Musalman. (See Thomas, _Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Dehli_, pp.
+346-53.)
+
+5. All near relatives succeed to a Muhammadan's estate, which is
+divided, under complicated rules, into the necessary number of
+shares. A son's share is double that of a daughter. As between
+themselves all sons share equally.
+
+6. Bernier's _Revolutions of the Mogul Empire_. [W. H. S.] The author
+seems to have used either the London edition of 1671, entitled _The
+History of the Late Revolution of the Empire of the Great Mogul_, or
+one of the reprints of that edition. The anecdote referred to is
+called by Bernier 'an uncommonly good story'. Aurangzeb made a long
+speech, ending by dismissing the unlucky pedagogue with the words:
+'Go! withdraw to thy native village. Henceforth let no man know
+either who thou art, or what is become of thee.' (Bernier, _Travels
+in the Mogul Empire_, pp. 154-161, ed. Constable and V. A, Smith,
+1914.) Manucci repeats the story with slight variations (_Storie da
+Mogor_, vol. ii, pp. 29-33).
+
+7. Compare the forcible description of the state of the Delhi royal
+family in Chapter 76, _post_. The old emperor's pension was one
+hundred thousand rupees a month. The events of the Mutiny effected a
+considerable clearance, though the number of persons claiming
+relationship with the royal house is still large. A few of these have
+taken service under the British Government, but have not
+distinguished themselves.
+
+8. The author, unfortunately, does not give the dimensions of this
+piece. Rumi Khan's gun at Bijapur, which was cast in the sixteenth
+century at Ahmadnagar, is generally considered the largest ancient
+cannon in India. It is fifteen feet long, and weighs about forty-one
+tons, the calibre being two feet four inches. Like the gun at Datiya,
+it is painted with red lead, and is worshipped by Hindoos, who are
+always ready to worship every manifestation of power. Another big gun
+at Bijapur is thirty feet in length, built up of bars bound together.
+Other very large pieces exist at Gawilgarh in Berar, and Bidar in the
+Nizam's dominions. (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., s.v. Gun,
+Bijapur, Gawilgarh Hill Range, and Beder.)
+
+9. The Dasahra festival, celebrated at the beginning of October,
+marks the close of the rains and the commencement of the cold season.
+It is observed by all classes of Hindus, but especially by Rajas and
+the military classes, for whom this festival has peculiar importance.
+In the old days no prince or commander, whether his command consisted
+of soldiers or robbers, ever undertook regular operations until the
+Dasahra had been duly observed. All Rajas still receive valuable
+offerings on this occasion, which form an important element in their
+revenue. In some places buffaloes are sacrificed by the Raja in
+person. The soldiers worship the weapons which they hope to use
+during the coming season. Among the Marathas the ordnance received
+especial attention and worship. The ceremony of worshipping certain
+leguminous trees at this festival has been noticed _ante_, Chapter 26
+note 8.
+
+10. Few Europeans nowadays could join in the author's enthusiastic
+admiration of the Datiya garden. The arrangements seem to have been
+those usual in large formal native gardens in Northern India.
+
+11. This lad has since succeeded his adoptive father as the chief of
+the Datiya principality. The old chief found him one day lying in the
+grass, as he was shooting through one of his preserves. His elephant
+was very near treading upon the infant before he saw it. He brought
+home the boy, adopted him as his son, and declared him his successor,
+from having no son of his own. The British Government, finding that
+the people generally seemed to acquiesce in the old man's wishes,
+sanctioned the measure, as the paramount power. [W. H. S.] The old
+Raja died in 1839, and the succession of the boy, Bijai Bahadur, thus
+strangely favoured by fortune, was unsuccessfully opposed by one of
+the nobles of the state. Bijai Bahadur governed the state with
+sufficient success until his death in 1857. The succession was then
+again disputed, and disturbances took place which were suppressed by
+an armed British force. The state is still governed by its hereditary
+ruler, who has been granted the privilege of adoption (_N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. i, p. 410, s.v. Datiya).
+
+12. The fact is that all Oriental rulers thoroughly enjoy the most
+outrageous flattery, and would feel defrauded if they did not get it
+in abundance. Even Akbar, the greatest of them, could enjoy it, and
+allow the courtly poet to say 'See Akbar, and you see God'. Indians
+find it difficult to believe that European officials really dislike
+attentions which are exacted by rulers of their own races.
+
+13. December, 1835.
+
+14. This theory is probably incorrect. See _ante_, Chapter 14, note
+7, on formation of black soil.
+
+15. Nilgai, or 'blue-bull', a huge, heavy antelope of bovine form,
+common in India, scientifically named _Portax pictus_. By 'antelope'
+the author means the common antelope, or black buck, the _Antilope
+bezoartica_, or _cervicapra_ of naturalists. The spotted deer, or
+'chital', a very handsome creature, is the _Axis maculata_ of Gray,
+the _Cervus axis_ of other zoologists.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 33
+
+
+'Bhumiawat.'
+
+Though no doubt very familiar to our ancestors during the Middle
+Ages, this is a thing happily but little understood in Europe at the
+present day. 'Bhumiawat', in Bundelkhand, signifies a war or fight
+for landed inheritance, from 'bhum', the land, earth, &c.; 'bhumia',
+a landed proprietor.
+
+When a member of the landed aristocracy, no matter how small, has a
+dispute with his ruler, he collects his followers, and levies
+indiscriminate war upon his territories, plundering and burning his
+towns and villages, and murdering their inhabitants till he is
+invited back upon his own terms. During this war it is a point of
+honour not to allow a single acre of land to be tilled upon the
+estate which he has deserted, or from which he has been driven; and
+he will murder any man who attempts to drive a plough in it, together
+with all his family, if he can. The smallest member of this landed
+aristocracy of the Hindoo military class will often cause a terrible
+devastation during the interval that he is engaged in his bhumiawat;
+for there are always vast numbers of loose characters floating upon
+the surface of Indian society, ready to 'gird up their loins' and use
+their sharp swords in the service of marauders of this kind, when
+they cannot get employment in that of the constituted authorities of
+government.
+
+Such a marauder has generally the sympathy of nearly all the members
+of his own class and clan, who are apt to think that his case may one
+day be their own. He is thus looked upon as contending for the
+interests of all; and, if his chief happens to be on bad terms with
+other chiefs in the neighbourhood, the latter will clandestinely
+support the outlaw and his cause, by giving him and his followers
+shelter in the hills and jungles, and concealing their families and
+stolen property in their castles. It is a maxim in India, and, in the
+less settled parts of it, a very true one, that 'one Pindhara or
+robber makes a hundred'; that is, where one robber, by a series of
+atrocious murders and robberies, frightens the people into non-
+resistance, a hundred loose characters from among the peasantry of
+the country will take advantage of the occasion, and adopt his name,
+in order to plunder with the smallest possible degree of personal
+risk to themselves.
+
+Some magistrates and local rulers, under such circumstances, have
+very unwisely adopted the measure of prohibiting the people from
+carrying or having arms in their houses, the very thing which, above
+all others, such robbers most wish; for they know, though such
+magistrates and rulers do not, that it is the innocent only, and the
+friends to order, who will obey the command. The robber will always
+be able to conceal his arms, or keep with them out of reach of the
+magistrate; and he is now relieved altogether from the salutary dread
+of a shot from a door or window. He may rob at his leisure, or sit
+down like a gentleman and have all that the people of the surrounding
+towns and villages possess brought to him, for no man can any longer
+attempt to defend himself or his family.[1] Weak governments are
+obliged soon to invite back the robber on his own terms, for the
+people can pay them no revenue, being prevented from cultivating
+their lands, and obliged to give all they have to the robbers, or
+submit to be plundered of it. Jhansi and Jalaun are exceedingly weak
+governments, from having their territories studded with estates held
+rent-free, or at a quit-rent, by Pawar, Bundela, and Dhandel barons,
+who have always the sympathy of the numerous chiefs and their barons
+of the same class around.
+
+In the year 1832, the Pawar barons of the estates of Noner, Jigni,
+Udgaon, and Bilhari in Jhansi had some cause of dissatisfaction with
+their chief; and this they presented to Lord William Bentinck as he
+passed through the province in December. His lordship told them that
+these were questions of internal administration which they must
+settle among themselves, as the Supreme Government would not
+interfere. They had, therefore, only one way of settling such
+disputes, and that was to raise the standard of bhumiawat, and cry,
+'To your tents, O Israel!' This they did; and, though the Jhansi
+chief had a military force of twelve thousand men, they burnt down
+every town and village in the territory that did not come into their
+terms; and the chief had possession of only two, Jhansi, the capital,
+and the large commercial town of Mau,[2] when the Bundela Rajas of
+Orchha and Datiya, who had hitherto clandestinely supported the
+insurgents, consented to become the arbitrators. A suspension of arms
+followed, the barons got all they demanded, and the bhumiawat ceased.
+But the Jhansi chief, who had hitherto lent large sums to the other
+chiefs in the province, was reduced to the necessity of borrowing
+from them all, and from Gwalior, and mortgaging to them a good
+portion of his lands.[3]
+
+Gwalior is itself weak in the same way. A great portion of its lands
+are held by barons of the Hindoo military classes, equally addicted
+to bhumiawat, and one or more of them is always engaged in this kind
+of indiscriminate warfare; and it must be confessed that, unless they
+are always considered to be ready to engage in it, they have very
+little chance of retaining their possessions on moderate terms, for
+these weak governments are generally the most rapacious when they
+have it in their power.
+
+A good deal of the lands of the Muhammadan sovereign of Oudh are, in
+the same manner, held by barons of the Rajput tribe; and some of them
+are almost always in the field engaged in the same kind of warfare
+against their sovereign. The baron who pursues it with vigour is
+almost sure to be invited back upon his own terms very soon. If his
+lands are worth a hundred thousand a year, he will get them for ten;
+and have this remitted for the next five years, until he is ready for
+another bhumiawat, on the ground of the injuries sustained during the
+last, from which his estate has to recover. The baron who is
+peaceable and obedient soon gets rack-rented out of his estate, and
+reduced to beggary.[4]
+
+In 1818, some companies of my regiment were for several months
+employed in Oudh, after a young 'bhumiawati' of this kind, Sheo Ratan
+Singh. He was the nephew and heir of the Raja of Partabgarh,[5] who
+wished to exclude him from his inheritance by the adoption of a
+brother of his young bride. Sheo Ratan had a small village for his
+maintenance, and said nothing to his old uncle till the governor of
+the province, Ghulam Husani[6], accepted an invitation to be present
+at the ceremony of adoption. He knew that, if he acquiesced any
+longer, he would lose his inheritance, and cried, 'To your tents, 0
+Israel!' He got a small band of three hundred Rajputs, with nothing
+but their swords, shields, and spears, to follow him, all of the same
+clan and true men. They were bivouacked in a jungle not more than
+seven miles from our cantonments at Partabgarh, when Ghulam Husain
+marched to attack them with three regiments of infantry, one of
+cavalry, and two nine-pounders. He thought he should surprise them,
+and contrived so that he should come upon them about daybreak. Sheo
+Ratan knew all his plans. He placed one hundred and fifty of his men
+in ambuscade at the entrance to the jungle, and kept the other
+hundred and fifty by him in the centre. When they had got well in,
+the party in ambush rushed upon the rear, while he attacked them in
+front. After a short resistance, Ghulam Husain's force took to
+flight, leaving five hundred men dead on the field, and their guns
+behind them. Ghulam Husain was so ashamed of the drubbing he got that
+he bribed all the news-writers[7] within twenty miles of the place to
+say nothing about it in their reports to court, and he never made any
+report of it himself. A detachment of my regiment passed over the
+dead bodies in the course of the day, on their return to cantonments
+from detached command, or we should have known nothing about it. It
+is true, we heard the firing, but that we heard every day; and I have
+seen from my bungalow half a dozen villages in flames, at the same
+time, from this species of contest between the Rajput landholders and
+the government authorities. Our cantonments were generally full of
+the women and children who had been burnt out of house and home.
+
+In Oudh such contests generally begin with the harvests. During the
+season of tillage all is quiet; but, when the crops begin to ripen,
+the governor begins to rise in his demands for revenue, and the
+Rajput landholders and cultivators to sharpen their swords and
+burnish their spears. One hundred of them always consider themselves
+a match for one thousand of the king's troops in a fair field,
+because they have all one heart and soul, while the king's troops
+have many.[8]
+
+While the Pawars were ravaging the Jhansi state with their bhumiawat,
+a merchant of Sagar had a large convoy of valuable cloths, to the
+amount, I think, of forty thousand rupees,[9] intercepted by them on
+its way from Mirzapur[10] to Rajputana. I was then at Sagar, and
+wrote off to the insurgents to say that they had mistaken one of our
+subjects for one of the Jhansi chiefs, and must release the convoy.
+They did so, and not a piece of the cloth was lost. This bhumiawat is
+supposed to have cost the Jhansi chief above twenty lakhs of
+rupees,[11] and his subjects double that sum.
+
+Gopal Singh, a Bundela, who had been in the service of the chief of
+Panna,[12] took to bhumiawat in 1809, and kept a large British force
+employed in pursuit through Bundelkhand and the Sagar territories for
+three years, till he was invited back by our Government in the year
+1812, by the gift of a fine estate on the banks of the Dasan river,
+yielding twenty thousand rupees[13] a year, which his son now enjoys,
+and which is to descend to his posterity, many of whom will, no
+doubt, animated by their fortunate ancestor's example, take to the
+same trade. He had been a man of no note till he took to this trade,
+but by his predatory exploits he soon became celebrated throughout
+India; and, when I came to the country, no other man's chivalry was
+so much talked of.
+
+A Bundela, or other landholder of the Hindoo military class, does not
+think himself, nor is he indeed thought by others, in the slightest
+degree less respectable for having waged this indiscriminate war upon
+the innocent and unoffending, provided he has any cause of
+dissatisfaction with his liege lord; that is, provided he cannot get
+his land or his appointment in his service upon his own terms,
+because all others of the same class and clan feel more or less
+interested in his success.
+
+They feel that their tenure of land, or of office, is improved by the
+mischief he does; because every peasant he murders, and every field
+he throws out of tillage, affects their liege lord in his most tender
+point, his treasury; and indisposes him to interfere with their
+salaries, their privileges, or their rents. He who wages this war
+goes on marrying his sisters or his daughters to the other barons or
+landholders of the same clan, and receiving theirs in marriage during
+the whole of his bhumiawat,[14] as if nothing at all extraordinary
+had happened, and thereby strengthening his hand at the game he is
+playing.
+
+Umrao Singh of Jaklon in Chanderi, a district of Gwalior bordering
+upon Sagar,[15] has been at this game for more than fifteen years out
+of twenty, but his alliances among the baronial families around have
+not been in the slightest degree affected by it. His sons and his
+grandsons have, perhaps, made better matches than they might, had the
+old man been at peace with all the world, during the time that he has
+been desolating one district by his atrocities, and demoralizing all
+those around it by his example, and by inviting the youth to join him
+occasionally in his murderous enterprises. Neither age nor sex is
+respected in their attacks upon towns or villages; and no Muhammadan
+can take more pride and pleasure in defacing idols--the most
+monstrous idol--than a 'bhumiawati' takes in maiming an innocent
+peasant, who presumes to drive his plough in lands that he chooses to
+put under the _ban_.
+
+In the kingdom of Oudh, this bhumiawat is a kind of nursery for our
+native army; for the sons of Rajput yeomen who have been trained in
+it are all exceedingly anxious to enlist in our native infantry
+regiments, having no dislike to their drill or their uniform. The
+same class of men in Bundelkhand and the Gwalior State have a great
+horror of the drill and uniform of our regular infantry, and nothing
+can induce them to enlist in our ranks. Both are equally brave, and
+equally faithful to their salt--that is, to the person who employs
+them; but the Oudh Rajput is a much more tameable animal than the
+Bundela. In Oudh this class of people have all inherited from their
+fathers a respect for our rule and a love for our service. In
+Bundelkhand they have not yet become reconciled to our service, and
+they still look upon our rule as interfering a good deal too much
+with their sporting propensities.[16]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Since the author's time conditions have much changed. Then, and
+for long afterwards, up to the Mutiny, every village throughout the
+country was fall of arms, and almost every man was armed.
+Consequently, in those tracts where the Mutiny of the native army was
+accompanied by popular insurrection, the flame of rebellion burned
+fiercely, and was subdued with difficulty. The painful experience of
+1857 and 1858 proved the necessity of general disarmament, and nearly
+the whole of British India has been disarmed under the provisions of
+a series of Acts. Licences to have and carry ordinary arms and
+ammunition are granted by the magistrates of districts. Licences to
+possess artillery are granted only by the Governor-General in
+Council. The improved organization of the police and of the executive
+power generally renders possible the strict enforcement of the law.
+Some arms are concealed, but very few of these are serviceable. With
+rare exceptions, arms are now carried only for display, and knowledge
+of the use of weapons has died out in most classes of the population.
+The village forts have been everywhere dismantled. Robbery by armed
+gangs still occurs in certain districts (_see ante_, Chapter 23, note
+14), but is much less frequent than it used to be in the author's
+days.
+
+2. Many towns and villages bear the name of Mau (_auglice_, Mhow),
+which may be, as Mr. Growse suggests, a form of the Sanskrit _mahi_,
+'land' or 'ground'. The town referred to in the text is the principal
+town of the Jhansi district, distinguished from its homonyms as Mau-
+Ranipur, situated about east-south-east from Jhansi, at a distance of
+forty miles from that city. Its special export used to be the
+'kharwa' cloth, dyed with 'ai' (_see ante_., Chapter 31, note 4).
+
+3. This insurrection continued into the year 1833. 'The inhabitants
+were reduced to the greatest distress, and have, even to the present
+day, scarcely recovered the losses they then sustained' (_N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_, vol. i (1870), p. 296).
+
+4. See the author's _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, passim_.
+
+5. Partabgarh is now a separate district in the Fyzabad Division of
+Oudh. The chief town, also called Partabgarh, is thirty-two miles
+north of Allahabad, and still possesses a Raja, who, at present
+(1914), is a most respectable gentleman, with no thoughts of
+violence. Further details about the Partabgarh family are given in
+the _Journey_, vol. i, p. 231.
+
+6. Transcriber's note:- The author then uses the spelling 'Husain'
+consistently.
+
+7. 'The news department is under a Superintendent-General, who has
+sometimes contracted for it, as for the revenues of a district, but
+more commonly holds it in _amani_, as a manager. . . . He nominates
+his subordinates, and appoints them to their several offices, taking
+from each a present gratuity and a pledge for such monthly payments
+as he thinks the post will enable him to make. They receive from four
+to fifteen rupees a month each, and have each to pay to their
+President, for distribution among his patrons or patronesses at
+Court, from one hundred to five hundred rupees a month in ordinary
+times. Those to whom they are accredited have to pay them, under
+ordinary circumstances, certain sums monthly, to prevent their
+inventing or exaggerating cases of abuse of power or neglect of duty
+on their part; but, when they happen to be really guilty of great
+acts of atrocity, or great neglect of duty, they are required to pay
+extraordinary sums, not only to the news-writers, who are especially
+accredited to them, but to all others who happen to be in the
+neighbourhood at the time. There are six hundred and sixty news-
+writers of this kind employed by the king, and paid monthly three
+thousand one hundred and ninety-four rupees, or, on an average,
+between four and five rupees each; and the sums paid by them to their
+President for distribution among influential officers and Court
+favourites averages [sic] above one hundred and fifty thousand rupees
+a year. . . . Such are the reporters of the circumstances in all the
+cases on which the sovereign and his ministers have to pass orders
+every day in Oudh. . . . the European magistrate of one of our
+neighbouring districts one day, before the Oudh Frontier Police was
+raised, entered the Oudh territory at the head of his police in
+pursuit of some robbers, who had found an asylum in one of the King's
+villages. In the attempt to secure them some lives were lost: and,
+apprehensive of the consequences, he sent for the official news-
+writer, and _gratified_ him in the usual way. No report of the
+circumstances was made to the Oudh Darbar; and neither the King, the
+President, nor the British Government ever heard anything about it'
+(_Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, vol. i, pp. 67-69). Such a
+System of official news-writers was usually maintained by Asiatic
+despots from the most ancient times.
+
+8. full details of the rotten state of the king's army are given in
+the _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_.
+
+9. Then worth L4,000, or more.
+
+10. Mirzapur (Mirzapore) on the Ganges, twenty-seven miles from
+Benares, was, in the author's time, the principal depot for the
+cotton and cloth trade of Northern India. Although the East Indian
+Railway passes through the city, the construction of the railway has
+diverted the bulk of the trade from Mirzapur, which is now a
+declining place. The population, which wag 70,621 in 1881, fell to
+32,332 in 1911. The carpets made there are well known.
+
+11. Then equal to L200,000, or more.
+
+12. The Panna State lies between the British districts of Banda, in
+the United Provinces, on the north, and Damoh and Jabalpur, in the
+Central Provinces, on the south. The chief is a descendant of
+Chhatarsal. For description and engraving of the diamond mines see
+_Economic Geology_ (1881), p. 39.
+
+13. Then equivalent to L2,000, or more.
+
+14. The words 'of the same clan' are inexact. The author has shown
+(_ante_, Chapter 23 following [10], and Chapter 26 following [32])
+that Rajputs never marry into their own clan.
+
+15. 'The Raja of Chanderi belonged to the same family as the Orchha
+chief. Sindhia annexed a great part of the Chanderi State in 1811.
+Chanderi was for a time British territory, but is now again in
+Sindhia's dominions. Its vicissitudes are related in _N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_ (1870), vol. i, pp. 351-8.
+
+16. In Oudh the misgovernment, anarchy, and cruel rapine, briefly
+alluded to in the text, and vividly described in detail by the author
+in his _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, lasted until the
+annexation of the kingdom by Lord Dalhousie in 1856, and, after a
+brief lull, were renewed during the insurrection of 1857 and 1858.
+The events of those years are a curious commentary on the author's
+belief that the people of Oudh entertained 'a respect for our rule
+and a love for our service'. The service of the British Government is
+sought because it pays, but a foreign Government must not expect
+love. Respect for the British rule depends upon the strength of that
+rule. Oudh still sends many recruits to the native army, though the
+young men no longer enjoy the advantage of a training in 'bhumiawat'.
+An occasional gang-robbery or bludgeon fight is the meagre modern
+substitute. The Rajputs or Thakurs of Bundelkhand and Gwalior still
+retain their old character for turbulence, but, of course, have less
+scope for what the author calls their 'sporting propensities' than
+they had in his time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 34
+
+
+The Suicide--Relations between Parents and Children in India.
+
+The day before we left Datiya our cook had a violent dispute with his
+mother, a thing of almost daily occurrence; for though a very fat and
+handsome old lady, she was a very violent one. He was a quiet man,
+but, unable to bear any longer the abuse she was heaping upon him, he
+first took up a pitcher of water and flung it at her head. It missed
+her, and he then snatched up a stick, and, for the first time in his
+life, struck her. He was her only son. She quietly took up all her
+things, and, walking off towards a temple, said she would leave him
+for ever; and he, having passed the Rubicon, declared that he was
+resolved no longer to submit to the parental tyranny which she had
+hitherto exercised over him. My water carrier, however, prevailed
+upon her with much difficulty to return, and take up her quarters
+with him and his wife and five children in a small tent we had given
+them. Maddened at the thought of a blow from her son, the old lady
+about sunset swallowed a large quantity of opium; and before the
+circumstance was discovered, it was too late to apply a remedy. We
+were told of it about eight o'clock at night, and found her lying in
+her son's arms--tried every remedy at hand, but without success, and
+about midnight she died. She loved her son, and he respected her; and
+yet not a day passed without their having some desperate quarrel,
+generally about the orphan daughter of her brother, who lived with
+them, and was to be married, as soon as the cook could save out of
+his pay enough money to defray the expenses of the ceremonies. The
+old woman was always reproaching him for not saving money fast
+enough. This little cousin had now stolen some of the cook's tobacco
+for his young assistant; and the old lady thought it right to
+admonish her. The cook likewise thought it right to add his
+admonitions to those of his mother; but the old lady would have her
+niece abused by nobody but herself, and she flew into a violent
+passion at his presuming to interfere. This led to the son's outrage,
+and the mother's suicide. The son is a mild, good-tempered young man,
+who bears an excellent character among his equals, and is a very good
+servant. Had he been less mild it had perhaps been better; for his
+mother would by degrees have given up that despotic sway over her
+child, which in infancy is necessary, in youth useful, but in manhood
+becomes intolerable. 'God defend us from the anger of the mild in
+spirit', said an excellent judge of human nature, Muhammad, the
+founder of this cook's religion;[1] and certainly the mildest tempers
+are those which become the most ungovernable when roused beyond a
+certain degree; and the proud spirit of the old woman could not brook
+the outrage which her son, so roused, had been guilty of. From the
+time that she was discovered to have taken poison till she breathed
+her last she lay in the arms of the poor man, who besought her to
+live, that her only son might atone for his crime, and not be a
+parricide.
+
+There is no part of the world, I believe, where parents are so much
+reverenced by their sons as they are in India, in all classes of
+society. This is sufficiently evinced in the desire that parents feel
+to have sons. The duty of daughters is from the day of their marriage
+transferred entirely to their husbands and their husbands' parents,
+on whom alone devolves the duty of protecting and supporting them
+through the wedded and the widowed state. The links that united them
+to their parents are broken. All the reciprocity of rights and duties
+which have bound together the parent and child from infancy is
+considered to end with the consummation of her marriage; nor does the
+stain of any subsequent female backsliding ever affect the family of
+her parents; it can affect that only of her husband, who is held
+alone responsible for her conduct. If a widow inherits the property
+of her husband, on her death the property would go to her husband's
+brother, supposing neither had any children by their husbands, in
+preference to her own brother; but between the son and his parents
+this reciprocity of rights and duties follows them to the grave.[2]
+One is delighted to see in sons this habitual reverence for the
+mother; but, as in the present case, it is too apt to occasion a
+domineering spirit, which produces much mischief even in private
+families, but still more in sovereign ones. A prince, when he attains
+the age of manhood, and ought to take upon himself the duties of the
+government, is often obliged to witness a great deal of oppression
+and misrule, from his inability to persuade his widowed mother to
+resign the power willingly into his hands. He often tamely submits to
+see his country ruined, and his family dishonoured, as at Jhansi,
+before he can bring himself, by some act of desperate resolution, to
+wrest it from her grasp.[3] In order to prevent his doing so, or to
+recover the reins he has thus obtained, the mother has often been
+known to poison her own son; and many a princess in India, like
+Isabella of England, has, I believe, destroyed her husband, to enjoy
+more freely the society of her paramour, and hold these reins during
+the minority of her son.[4]
+
+In the exercise of dominion from behind the curtain (for it is those
+who live behind the curtain that seem most anxious to hold it), women
+select ministers who, to secure duration to their influence, become
+their paramours, or, at least, make the world believe that they are
+so, to serve their own selfish purposes. The sons are tyrannized over
+through youth by their mothers, who endeavour to subdue their spirit
+to the yoke, which they wish to bind heavy upon their necks for life;
+and they remain through manhood timid, ignorant, and altogether
+unfitted for the conduct of public affairs, and for the government of
+men under a despotic rule, whose essential principle is a _salutary
+fear_ of the prince in all his public officers. Every unlettered
+native of India is as sensible of this principle [as] Montesquieu
+was; and will tell us that, in countries like India, a chief, to
+govern well, must have a _smack of the devil_ ('shaitan') in him;
+for, if he has not, his public servants will prey upon his innocent
+and industrious subjects.[5] In India there are no universities or
+public schools, in which young men might escape, as they do in
+Europe, from the enervating and stultifying influence of the
+zanana.[6] The state of mental imbecility to which a youth of
+naturally average powers of mind, born to territorial dominion, is in
+India often reduced by a haughty and ambitious mother, would be
+absolutely incredible to a man bred up in such schools. They are
+often utterly unable to act, think, or speak for themselves. If they
+happen, as they sometimes do, to get well informed in reading and
+conversation, they remain, Hamlet-like, nervous and diffident; and,
+however speculatively or _ruminatively_ wise, quite unfit for action,
+or for performing their part in the great drama of life.
+
+In my evening ramble on the bank of the river, which was flowing
+against the wind and rising into waves, my mind wandered back to the
+hours of infancy and boyhood when I sat with my brothers watching our
+little vessels as they scudded over the ponds and streams of my
+native land; and then of my poor brothers John and Louis, whose bones
+now he beneath the ocean. As we advance in age the dearest scenes of
+early days must necessarily become more and more associated in our
+recollection with painful feelings; for they who enjoyed such scenes
+with us must by degrees pass away, and be remembered with sorrow even
+by those who are conscious of having fulfilled all their duties in
+life towards them--but with how much more by those who can never
+remember them without thinking of occasions of kindness and
+assistance neglected or disregarded. Many of them have perhaps left
+behind them widows and children struggling with adversity, and
+soliciting from us aid which we strive in vain to give.
+
+During my visit to the Raja, a person in the disguise of one of my
+sipahis[7] went to a shop and purchased for me five-and-twenty
+rupees' worth of fine Europe chintz, for which he paid in good
+rupees, which were forthwith assayed by a neighbouring goldsmith. The
+sipahi put these rupees into his own purse, and laid it down, saying
+that he should go and ascertain from me whether I wished to keep the
+whole of the chintz or not; and, if not, he should require back the
+same money--that I was to halt to-morrow, when he would return to the
+shop again. Just as he was going away, however, he recollected that
+he wanted a turban for himself, and requested the shopkeeper to bring
+him one. They were sitting in the verandah, and the shopkeeper had to
+go into his shop to bring out the turban. When he came out with it,
+the sipahi said it would not suit his purpose, and went off, leaving
+the purse where it lay, cautioning the shopkeeper against changing
+any of the rupees, as he should require his own identical money back
+if his master rejected any of the chintz. The shopkeeper waited till
+four o'clock in the afternoon of the next day without looking into
+the purse.
+
+Hearing then that I had left Datiya, and seeing no signs of the
+sipahi, he opened the purse, and found that the rupees were all
+copper, with a thin coating of silver. The man had changed them while
+he went into the shop for a turban, and substituted a purse exactly
+the same in appearance. After ascertaining that the story was true,
+and that the ingenious thief was not one of my followers, I insisted
+upon the man's taking the money from me, in spite of a great deal of
+remonstrance on the part of the Raja's agent, who had come on with
+us.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The editor has failed to trace this quotation, which may possibly
+be from the _Mishkat-ul-Masabih_ (_ante_, Chapter 5, note 10).
+Compare '"There is nothing more horrible than the rebellion of a
+sheep", said de Marsay' (Balzac, _Lost by a Laugh_).
+
+2. The English doggerel expresses the opposite sentiment,
+ 'My son's my son till he gets him a wife;
+ My daughter's my daughter all her life.'
+
+3. _Ante_, chap. 29, text at [4], and before [7].
+
+4. Edward II, A.D. 1327.
+
+5. The principle, so bluntly enunciated by the author, is true,
+though the truth may be unpalatable to people who think they know
+better, and it applies with as much force to European officials as it
+does to Indian princes. The 'shaitan' is more familiar in his English
+dress as Satan. The editor has failed to find any such phrase in the
+works of Montesquieu. In chapter 9 of Book III of _L'Esprit des Lois_
+that author lays down the principle that 'il faut de la crainte dans
+un gouvernement despotique; pour la vertu, elle n'y est point
+necessaire,'
+
+6. It can no longer be said that universities do not exist, at least
+in name, in India. Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Lahore, and Allahabad
+are the seats of universities, and new foundations at Dacca and Patna
+are promised (1914). The Indian universities, when first established,
+were mere examining bodies, on the model of the University of London.
+But changes, initiated by Lord Curzon, are in progress, and the
+University of London is being remodelled (1914). The Indian
+institutions are not frequented by young princes and nobles, and have
+little influence on their education. Attempts have been made, with
+partial success, to provide special boarding schools, or 'Chiefs'
+Colleges', for the sons of ruling princes and native nobles. The most
+notable of such institution are the colleges at Ajmer, Rajkot in
+Kathiawar, and Indore. The influence of the zanana is invariably
+directed against every proposal to remove a young nobleman from home
+for the purpose of education, and obstacles of many kinds render the
+task of rightly educating such a youth extraordinarily difficult and
+unsatisfactory. In some cases a considerable degree of success has
+been attained.
+
+7. Armed follower. The word is more familiar in the corrupt form
+'sepoy'.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 35
+
+
+Gwalior Plain once the Bed of a Lake--Tameness of Peacocks.
+
+On the 19th, 20th, and 21st[1] we came on forty miles to the village
+of Antri in the Gwalior territory, over a fine plain of rich alluvial
+soil under spring crops. This plain bears manifest signs of having
+been at no very remote period, like the kingdom of Bohemia, the bed
+of a vast lake bounded by the ranges of sandstone hills which now
+seem to skirt the horizon all round; and studded with innumerable
+islands of all shapes and sizes, which now rise abruptly in all
+directions out of the cultivated plain.[2] The plain is still like
+the unruffled surface of a vast lake; and the rich green of the
+spring crops, which cover the surface in one wide sheet unintersected
+by hedges, tends to keep up the illusion, which the rivers have
+little tendency to dispel; for, though they have cut their way down
+immense depths to their present beds through this soft alluvial
+deposit, the traveller no sooner emerges from the hideous ravines,
+which disfigure their banks, than he loses all trace of them. Their
+course is unmarked by trees, large shrubs, or any of the signs which
+mark the course of rivers in other quarters.
+
+The soil over the vast plain is everywhere of good quality, and
+everywhere cultivated, or rather worked, for we can hardly consider a
+soil cultivated which is never either irrigated or manured, or
+voluntarily relieved by fallows or an alternation of crops, till it
+has descended to the last stage of exhaustion. The prince rack-rents
+the farmer, the farmer rack-rents the cultivator, and the cultivator
+rack-rents the soil. Soon after crossing the Sindh river we enter
+upon the territories of the Gwalior chief, Sindhia.
+
+The villages are everywhere few, and their communities very small.
+The greater part of the produce goes for sale to the capital of
+Gwalior, when the money it brings is paid into the treasury in rent,
+or revenue, to the chief, who distributes it in salaries among his
+establishments, who again pay it for land produce to the cultivators,
+farmers, and agricultural capitalists, who again pay it back into the
+treasury in land revenue. No more people reside in the villages than
+are absolutely necessary to the cultivation of the land, because the
+chief takes all the produce beyond what is necessary for their bare
+subsistence; and, out of what he takes, maintains establishments that
+reside elsewhere. There is nowhere any jungle to be seen, and very
+few of the villages that are scattered over the plains have any fruit
+or ornamental trees left; and, when the spring crops, to which the
+tillage is chiefly confined, are taken off the ground, the face of
+the country must have a very naked and dreary appearance.[3] Near one
+village on the road I saw some men threshing corn in a field, and
+among them a peacock (which, of course, I took to be domesticated)
+breakfasting very comfortably upon the grain as it flew around him. A
+little farther on I saw another quietly working his way into a stack
+of corn, as if he understood it to have been made for his use alone.
+It was so close to me as I passed that I put out my stick to push it
+off in play, and, to my surprise, it flew off in a fright at my white
+face and strange dress, and was followed by the others. I found that
+they were all wild, if that term can be applied to birds that live on
+such excellent terms with mankind. On reaching our tents we found
+several feeding in the corn-fields close around them, undisturbed by
+our host of camp-followers; and were told by the villagers, who had
+assembled to greet us, that they were all wild. 'Why', said they,
+'should we think of _keeping_ birds that live among us on such easy
+terms without being _kept_?' I asked whether they ever shot them, and
+was told that they never killed or molested them, but that any one
+who wished to shoot them might do so, since they had here no
+religions regard for them.[4] Like the pariah dogs the peacocks seem
+to disarm the people by confiding in them--their tameness is at once
+the cause and the effect of their security. The members of the little
+communities among whom they live on such friendly terms would not
+have the heart to shoot them; and travellers either take them to be
+domesticated, or are at once disarmed by their tameness.
+
+At Antri a sufficient quantity of salt is manufactured for the
+consumption of the people of the town. The earth that contains most
+salt is dug up at some distance from the town, and brought to small
+reservoirs made close outside the walls. Water is here poured over
+it, as over tea and coffee. Passing through the earth, it flows out
+below into a small conduit, which takes it to small pits some yards'
+distance, whence it is removed in buckets to small enclosed
+platforms, where it is exposed to the Sun's rays, till the water
+evaporates, and leaves the salt dry.[5] The want of trees over this
+vast plain of fine soil from the Sindh river is quite lamentable. The
+people of Antri pointed out the place close to my tents where a
+beautiful grove of mango-trees had been lately taken off to Gwalior
+for _gun-carriages_ and firewood, in spite of all the proprietor
+could urge of the detriment to his own interest in this world, and to
+those of his ancestors in that to which they had gone. Wherever the
+army of this chief moved they invariably swept off the groves of
+fruit-trees in the same reckless manner. Parts of the country, which
+they merely passed through, have recovered their trees, because the
+desire to propitiate the Deity, and to perpetuate their name by such
+a work, will always operate among Hindoos as a sufficient incentive
+to secure groves, wherever man has be made to feel that their rights
+of property in the trees will be respected.[6] The lands around the
+village, which had a well for irrigation, paid four times as much as
+those of the same quality which had none, and were made to yield two
+crops in the year. As everywhere else, so here, those lands into
+which water flows from the town and can be made to stand for a time,
+are esteemed the best, as this water brings down with it manures of
+all kinds.[7] I had a good deal of talk with the cultivators as I
+walked through the fields in the evenings; and they seemed to dwell
+much upon the good faith which is observed by the farmers and
+cultivators in the Honourable Company's territories, and the total
+absence of it in those of Sindhia's, where no work, requiring an
+outlay of capital from the land, is, in consequence, ever thought of-
+-both farmers and cultivators engaging from year to year, and no
+farmer ever feeling secure of his lease for more than one.
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. The anthor's favourite theory. See _ante_, Chapter 14 note 7,
+Chapter 24 note 6, on the formation of black cotton soil. The Gwalior
+plain is covered with this soil.
+
+3. It has a very desolate appearance. The Indian Midland Railway now
+passes through Gwalior.
+
+4. In many parts of India, especially in Mathura (Mattra) on the
+Jumna, and the neighbouring districts, the peacock is held strictly
+sacred, and shooting one would be likely to cause a riot. Tavernier
+relates a story of a rich Persian merchant being beaten to death by
+the Hindoos of Gujarat for shooting a peacock. (Tavernier, _Travels_,
+transl. Ball, vol. i, p. 70.) the bird is regarded as the vehicle of
+the Hindoo god of war, variously called Kumara, Skanda, or Kartikeya.
+the editor, like the author, has observed that in Bundelkhand no
+objection is raised to the shooting of peacocks by any one who cares
+for such poor sport.
+
+5. In British India the manufacture of salt can be practised only by
+persons duly licensed.
+
+6. The Revenue Settlement Regulations now in force in British India
+provide liberally for the encouragement of groves, and hundred of
+miles of road are annually planted with trees.
+
+7. Sanitation did not trouble native states in those days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 36
+
+Gwalior and its Government.
+
+On the 22nd,[1] we came on fourteen miles to Gwalior, over some
+ranges of sandstone hills, which are seemingly continuations of the
+Vindhyan range. Hills of indurated brown and red iron clay repose
+upon and intervene between these ranges, with strata generally
+horizontal, but occasionally bearing signs of having been shaken by
+internal convulsions. These convulsions are also indicated by some
+dykes of compact basalt which cross the road.[2]
+
+Nothing can be more unprepossessing than the approach to Gwalior; the
+hills being naked, black, and ugly, with rounded tops devoid of grass
+or shrubs, and the soil of the valleys a poor red dust without any
+appearance of verdure or vegetation, since the few autumn crops that
+lately stood upon them have been removed.[3] From Antri to Gwalior
+there is no sign of any human habitation, save that of a miserable
+police guard of four or five, who occupy a wretched hut on the side
+of the road midway, and seem by their presence to render the scene
+around more dreary.[4] the road is a mere footpath unimproved and
+unadorned by any single work of art; and, except in this footpath,
+and the small police guard, there is absolutely no single sign in all
+this long march to indicate the dominion, or even the presence, of
+man; and yet it is between two contiguous [_sic_] capitals, one
+occupied by one of the most ancient, and the other by one of the
+greatest native sovereigns of Hindustan.[5] One cannot but feel that
+he approaches the capital of a dynasty of barbarian princes, who,
+like Attila, would choose their places of residence, as devils choose
+their pandemonia, for their ugliness, and rather reside in the dreary
+wastes of Tartary than on the shores of the Bosphorus. There are
+within the dominions of Sindhia seats for a capital that would not
+yield to any in India in convenience, beauty, and salubrity; but, in
+all these dominions, there is not, perhaps, another place so
+hideously ugly as Gwalior, or so hot and unhealthy. It has not one
+redeeming quality that should recommend it to the choice of a
+rational prince, particularly to one who still considers his capital
+as his camp, and makes every officer of his army feel that he has as
+little of permanent interest in his house as he would have in his
+tent.[6]
+
+Phul Bagh, or the _flower-garden_, was suggested to me as the best
+place for my tents, where Sindhia had built a splendid summer-house.
+As I came over this most gloomy and uninteresting march, in which the
+heart of a rational man sickens, as he recollects that all the
+revenues of such an enormous extent of dominion over the richest soil
+and the most peaceable people in the world should have been so long
+concentrated upon this point, and squandered without leaving one sign
+of human art or industry, I looked forward with pleasure to a quiet
+residence in the _flower-garden_, with good foliage above, and a fine
+sward below, and an atmosphere free from dust, such as we find in and
+around all the residences of Muhammadan princes. On reaching my tents
+I found them pitched close outside the _flower-garden_, in a small
+dusty plain, without a blade of grass or a shrub to hide its
+deformity--just such a place as the pig-keepers occupy in the suburbs
+of other towns. On one side of this little plain, and looking into
+it, was the _summer-house_ of the prince, without one inch of green
+sward or one small shrub before it.
+
+Around the wretched little _flower-garden_ was a low, naked, and
+shattered mud wall, such as we generally see in the suburbs thrown up
+to keep out and in the pigs that usually swarm in such places--'and
+the swine they crawled out, and the swine they crawled in'.[7] When I
+cantered up to my tent-door, a sipahi of my guard came up, and
+reported that as the day began to dawn a gang of thieves had stolen
+one of my best carpets, all the brass brackets of my tent-poles, and
+the brass bell with which the sentries on duty sounded the hour; all
+Lieutenant Thomas's cooking utensils, and many other things, several
+of which they had found lying between the tents and the prince's
+_pleasure-house_, particularly the contents of a large heavy box of
+geological specimens. They had, in consequence, concluded the gang to
+be lodged in the prince's pleasure-house. The guard on duty at this
+place would make no answer to their inquiries, and I really believe
+that they were themselves the thieves. The tents of the Raja of
+Raghugarh, who had come to pay his respects to the Sindhia, his liege
+lord, were pitched near mine. He had the day before had five horses
+stolen from him, with all the plate, jewels, and valuable clothes he
+possessed; and I was told that I must move forthwith from the
+_flower-garden_, or cut off the tail of every horse in my camp.
+Without tails they might not be stolen, with them they certainly
+would. Having had sufficient proof of their dexterity, we moved our
+tents to a grove near the residency, four miles from the flower-
+garden and the court.[8]
+
+As a citizen of the world I could not help thinking that it would be
+an immense blessing upon a large portion of our species if an
+earthquake were to swallow up this court of Gwalior, and the army
+that surrounds it. Nothing worse could possibly succeed, and
+something better might. It is lamentable to think how much of evil
+this court and camp inflict upon the people who are subject to them.
+In January, 1828, I was passing with a party of gentlemen through the
+town of Bhilsa, which belongs to this chief, and lies between Sagar
+and Bhopal,[9] when we found, lying and bleeding in one of the
+streets, twelve men belonging to a merchant at Mirzapore, who had the
+day before been wounded and plundered by a gang of robbers close
+outside the walls of the town. Those who were able ran in to the
+Amil, or chief of the district, who resides in the town; and begged
+him to send some horsemen after the banditti, and intercept them as
+they passed over the great plains. 'Send your own people', said he,
+'or hire men to send. Am I here to look after the private affairs of
+merchants and travellers, or to collect the revenues of the prince?'
+Neither he, nor the prince himself, nor any other officer of the
+public establishments ever dreamed that it was their duty to protect
+the life, property, or character of travellers, or indeed of any
+other human beings, save the members of their own families. In this
+pithy question the Amil of Bhilsa described the nature and character
+of the government. All the revenues of his immense dominions are
+spent entirely in the maintenance of the court and camps of the
+prince; and every officer employed beyond the boundary of the court
+and camp considers his duties to be limited to the collection of the
+revenue. Protected from all external enemies by our military forces,
+which surround him on every side, his whole army is left to him for
+purposes of parade and display; and having, according to his notions,
+no use for them elsewhere, he concentrates them around his capital,
+where he lives among them in the perpetual dread of mutiny and
+assassination. He has nowhere any police, nor any establishment
+whatever, for the protection of the life and property of his
+subjects; nor has he, any more than his predecessors, ever, I
+believe, for one moment thought that those from whose industry and
+frugality he draws his revenues have any right whatever to expect
+from him the use of such establishments in return. They have never
+formed any legitimate part of the Maratha government, and, I fear,
+never will.[10]
+
+The misrule of such states, situated in the midst of our dominions,
+is not without its use. There is, as Gibbon justly observes, 'a
+strong propensity in human nature to depreciate the advantages, and
+to magnify the evils, of the present times'; and, if the people had
+not before their eyes such specimens of native rule to contrast with
+ours, they would think more highly than they do of that of their past
+Muhammadan and Hindoo sovereigns; and be much less disposed than they
+are to estimate fairly the advantages of being under ours. The native
+governments of the present day are fair specimens of what they have
+always been--grinding military despotisms--their whole history is
+that of 'Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of
+thousands'; as if rulers were made merely to slay, and the ruled to
+be slain. In politics, as in landscape, ''Tis distance lends
+enchantment to the view', and the past might be all _couleur de rose_
+in the imaginations of the people were it not represented in these
+ill-governed states, where the 'lucky accident' of a good governor is
+not to be expected in a century, and where the secret of the
+responsibility of ministers to the people is yet undiscovered.[11]
+
+The fortress of Gwalior stands upon a tableland, a mile and a half
+long by a quarter of a mile wide, at the north-east end of a small
+insulated sandstone hill, running north-east and south-west, and
+rising at both ends about three hundred and forty feet above the
+level of the plain below. At the base is a kind of glacis, which runs
+up at an angle of forty-five from the plain to within fifty, and, in
+some places, within twenty feet of the foot of the wall.
+
+The interval is the perpendicular face of the horizontal strata of
+the sandstone rock. The glacis is formed of a bed of basalt in all
+stages of decomposition, with which this, like the other sandstone
+hills of Central India, was once covered, and of the debris and
+chippings of the rocks above. The walls are raised a certain uniform
+height all round upon the verge of the precipice, and being thus made
+to correspond with the edge of the rock, the line is extremely
+irregular. They are rudely built of the fine sandstone of the rock on
+which they stand, and have some square and some semicircular bastions
+of different sizes, few of these raised above the level of the wall
+itself.[12] On the eastern face of the rock, between the glacis and
+foot of the wall, are cut out, in bold relief, the colossal figures
+of men sitting bareheaded under canopies, on each side of a throne or
+temple; and, in another place, the colossal figure of a man standing
+naked, and facing outward, which I took to be that of Buddha.[l3]
+
+The town of Gwalior extends along the foot of the hill on one side,
+and consists of a single street above a mile long. There is a very
+beautiful mosque, with one end built by a Muhammad Khan, A.D. 1665,
+of the white sandstone of the rock above it. It looks as fresh as if
+it had not been finished a month; and struck, as I passed it, with so
+noble a work, apparently new, and under such a government, I alighted
+from my horse, went in, and read the inscription, which told me the
+date of the building and the name of the founder. There is no stucco-
+work over any part of it, nor is any required on such beautiful
+materials; and the stones are all so nicely cut that cement seems to
+have been considered useless. It has the usual two minarets or
+towers, and over the arches and alcoves are carved, as customary,
+passages from the Koran, in the beautiful Kufic characters.[14] The
+court and camp of the chief extends out from the southern end of the
+hill for several miles.
+
+The whole of the hill on which the fort of Gwalior stands had
+evidently, at no very distant period, been covered by a mass of
+basalt, surmounted by a crust of indurated brown and red iron clay,
+with lithomarge, which often assumes the appearance of common
+laterite. The boulders of basalt, which still cap some part of the
+hill, and form the greater part of the glacis at the bottom, are for
+the most part in a state of rapid decomposition; but some of them are
+still so hard and fresh that the hammer rings upon them as upon a
+bell, and their fracture is brilliantly crystalline. The basalt is
+the same as that which caps the sandstone hills of the Vindhya range
+throughout Malwa. The sandstone hills around Gwalior all rise in the
+same abrupt manner from the plain as those through Malwa generally;
+and they have almost all of them the same basaltic glacis at their
+base, with boulders of that rock scattered over the top, all
+indicating that they were at one time buried, in the same manner
+under one great mass of volcanic matter, thrown out from their
+submarine craters in streams of lava, or diffused through the ocean
+or lakes in ashes, and deposited in strata. The geological character
+of the country about Gwalior is very similar to that of the country
+about Sagar; and I may say the same of the Vindhya range generally,
+as far as I have seen it, from Mirzapore on the Ganges to Bhopal in
+Malwa--hills of sandstone rising suddenly from alluvial plain, and
+capped, or bearing signs of having been capped, by basalt reposing
+immediately upon it, and partly covered in its turn by beds of
+indurated iron clay.[15]
+
+The fortress of Gwalior was celebrated for its strength under the
+Hindoo sovereigns of India; but was taken by the Muhammadans after a
+long siege, A.D. 1197.[16] the Hindoos regained possession, but were
+again expelled by the Emperor Iltutmish, A. D. 1235.[17] the Hindoos
+again got possession, and after holding it one hundred years, again
+surrendered it to the forces of the Emperor Ibrahim, A.D. 1519.[18]
+In 1543 it was surrendered up by the troops of the Emperor
+Humayun[19] to Sher Khan, his successful competitor for the
+empire.[20] It afterwards fell into the hands of a Jat chief, the
+Rana of Gohad,[21] from whom it was taken by the Marathas. While in
+their possession, it was invested by our troops under the command of
+Major Popham; and, on the 3rd of August, 1780, taken by escalade.[22]
+The party that scaled the wall was gallantly led by a very
+distinguished and most promising officer, Captain Bruce, brother of
+the celebrated traveller.[23]
+
+It was made over to us by the Rana of Gohad, who had been our ally in
+the war. Failing in his engagement to us, he was afterwards abandoned
+to the resentment of Madhoji Sindhia, chief of the Marathas.[24] In
+1783, Gwalior was invested by Madhoji Sindhia's troops, under the
+command of one of the most extraordinary men that have ever figured
+in Indian history, the justly celebrated General De Boigne.[25] After
+many unsuccessful attempts to take it by escalade, he bought over
+part of the garrison, and made himself master of the place. Gohad
+itself was taken soon after in 1784; but the Rana, Chhatarpat, made
+his escape. He was closely pursued, made prisoner at Karauli, and
+confined in the fortress of Gwalior, where he died in the year
+1785.[26] He left no son, and his claims upon Gohad devolved upon his
+nephew, Kirat Singh, who, at the close of our war with the Marathas,
+got from Lord Lake, in lieu of these claims, the estate of Dholpur,
+situated on the left banks of the river Chambal, which is estimated
+at the annual value of three hundred thousand, or three lakhs, of
+rupees. He died this year, 1835, and has been succeeded by his son,
+Bhagwant Singh, a lad of seventeen years of age.[27]
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. Throughout the northern edge of the trap country in Rajputana,
+Gwalior, and Bundelkhand, dykes are rare or wanting.' (W. T.
+Blandford, in _Manual of the Geology of India_, 1st ed., Part 1, p.
+328.) The dykes mentioned in the text may not have been visited by
+the officers of the Geological Surrey.
+
+3. 'Basalt generally disintegrates into a reddish soil, quite
+different from _regar_ in character. This reddish soil may be seen
+passing into _regar_, but, as a rule, the black soil is confined to
+the flatter ground at the bottom of the valleys, or on flat hill-
+tops, the brown or red soils occupying the slopes' (ibid. p. 433).
+
+4. Johnson, in his _Journey to the Western Islands_, observes: 'Now
+and then we espied a little corn-field, which served to impress more
+strongly the general barrenness.' [W. H. S.] The remark referred to
+the shores of Loch Ness (p. 237 of volume viii of Johnson's Works,
+London, 1820).
+
+5. By this awkward phrase the author seems to mean Lucknow, on the
+east, the capital of the kingdom of Oudh, and Udaipur, to the west,
+the capital of the long-descended chieftain of Mewar. Alternatively,
+the author may possibly have referred to Agra and Gwalior, rather
+than Lucknow and Udaipur.
+
+6. 'The new city at Gwalior below the fortress is, like the city of
+Jhansi, known as the 'Lashkar', or camp. The old city of Gwalior
+encircles the north end of the fortress. The new city, or Lashkar,
+lies to the south, more than a mile distant. In January, 1859, the
+population of the two cities together amounted to 142,044 persons
+(_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 331).
+
+7. Only those readers who have lived in India can fully understand
+the reasons why the pigs should frequent such a place, and how great
+would be the horrors of encamping in it.
+
+8. In the description of the author's encampment at Gwalior, he fell
+into a mistake, which he discovered too late for correction in his
+journal. His tents were not pitched within the Phul Bagh, as he
+supposed, but without; and seeing nothing of this place, he imagined
+that the dirty and naked ground outside was actually the flower-
+garden. The Phul Bagh, however, is a very pleasing and well-ordered
+garden, although so completely secluded from observation by lofty
+walls that many other travellers must have encamped on the same spot
+without being aware of its existence. (_Publishers' note at end of
+volume ii of original edition_. )
+
+9. Bhilsa is the principal town of the Isagarh subdivision in the
+Gwalior State. The famous Buddhist antiquities near it are described
+at length in Cunningham, _The Bhilsa Topes, or Buddhist Monuments of
+Central India_ (1854), and in Maisey, _Sanchi and its Remains. A full
+Description of the Ancient Buildings, Sculptures, and Inscriptions at
+Sanchi, near Bhilsa, in Central India_. With an Introductory Note by
+Major-General Sir Alexander Cunningham, K.C.I.E. (1892). It is
+surprising that so keen an observer as the author appears not to have
+noticed any of the great Buddhist buildings of Central India.
+
+10. The government of Gwalior has improved since the author wrote.
+Many reforms have been begun and more or less fully executed. In May,
+1887, the vast hoard of rupees buried in pits in the fort, valued at
+five millions sterling, was exhumed, and lent to the Government of
+India to be usefully employed. The passive opposition of a court like
+that of Gwalior to the effectual execution of reforms is continuous
+and difficult to overcome.
+
+11. The author's description of the ordinary Asiatic government at
+almost all times and in all places as 'a grinding military despotism'
+is correct. Sentimental persons in both India and England are apt to
+forget this weighty truth. The golden age of India, excepting,
+perhaps, the Gupta period between A.D. 330 and 455, is as mythical as
+that of Ireland. What Persia now is, that would India be, if she had
+been left to her own devices.
+
+12. Sir A. Cunningham was stationed at Gwalior for five years, and
+had thus an exceptionally accurate knowledge of the fortress. His
+account, which corrects the text in some particulars, is as follows:-
+'the great fortress of Gwalior is situated on a precipitous, flat-
+topped, and isolated hill of sandstone, which rises 300 feet above
+the town at the north end, but only 274 feet at the upper gate of the
+principal entrance. The hill is long and narrow; its extreme length
+from north to south being one mile and three-quarters, while its
+breadth varies from 600 feet opposite the main entrance to 2,800 feet
+in the middle opposite the great temple. The walls are from 30 to 35
+feet in height, and the rock immediately below them is steeply, but
+irregularly, scarped all round the hill. The long line of battlements
+which crowns the steep scarp on the east is broken only by the lofty
+towers and fretted domes of the noble palace of Raja Man Singh. On
+the opposite side, the line of battlements is relieved by the deep
+recess of the Urwahi valley, and by the zigzag and serrated parapets
+and loopholed bastions which flank the numerous gates of the two
+western entrances. At the northern end, where the rock has been
+quarried for ages, the jagged masses of the overhanging cliff seem
+ready to fall upon the city beneath them. To the south the hill is
+less lofty, but the rock has been steeply scarped, and is generally
+quite inaccessible. Midway over all towers the giant form of a
+massive Hindu temple, grey with the moss of ages. Altogether, the
+fort of Gwalior forms one of the most picturesque views in Northern
+India' (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 330).
+
+13. The nakedness of the image in itself proves that Buddha could not
+be the person represented. His statues are never nude. The Gwalior
+figures are images of some of the twenty-four great saints
+(Tirthankaras or Jinas) of the Digambara sect of the Jain religion.
+Jain statues are frequently of colossal size. The largest of those at
+Gwalior is fifty-seven feet high. The Gwalior sculptures are of late
+date--the middle of the fifteenth century. The antiquities of
+Gwalior, including these sculptures, are well described in _A.S.R._,
+vol. ii, pp. 330-95, plates lxxxvi to xci.
+
+14. This mosque is the Jami', or cathedral, mosque 'situated at the
+eastern foot of the fortress, near the Alamgiri Darwaza (gate). It is
+a neat and favourable specimen of the later Moghal architecture. Its
+beauty, however, is partly due to the fine light-coloured sandstone
+of which it is built. This at once attracted the notice of Sir Wm.
+Sleeman, who, &c.' (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 370). This mosque is in the
+old city, described as 'a crowded mass of small flat-roofed stone
+houses' (ibid. p. 330).
+
+15. The Geological Survey recognizes a special group of 'transition'
+rocks between the metamorphic and the Vindhyan series under the name
+of the Gwalior area. 'The Gwalior area is . . . only fifty miles long
+from east to west, and about fifteen miles wide. It takes its name
+from the city of Gwalior, which stands upon it, surrounding the
+famous fort built upon a scarped outlier of Vindhyan sandstone, which
+rests upon a base of massive bedded trap belonging to the transition
+period' (_Manual of Geology of India_, 1st ed., Part l, p. 56). The
+writers of the manual do not notice the basaltic cap of the fort hill
+described by the author, and at p. 300 use language which implies
+that the hill is outside the limits of the Deccan trap. But the
+author's observations seem sufficiently precise to warrant the
+conclusion that he was right in believing the basaltic cap of the
+Gwalior hill to be an outlying fragment of the vast Deccan trap
+sheet. The relation between laterite and lithomarge is discussed in
+p. 353 of the _Manual_, and the occurrence of laterite caps on the
+highest ground of the country, at two places-near Gwalior, 'outside
+of the trap area', is noticed (ibid. p. 356). These two places are at
+Raipur hill, and on the Kaimur sandstone, about two miles to the
+north-west. No doubt these two hills are outliers of the Central
+India spread of laterite, which has been traced as far as Sipri,
+about sixty miles south of the Raipur hill (Hacket, _Geology of
+Gwalior and Vicinity_, in _Records of Geol. Survey of India_, vol.
+iii, p. 41). The geology of Gwalior is also discussed in Mallet's
+paper entitled 'Sketch of the Geology of Scindia's Territories'
+(_Records_, vol. viii, p. 55). Neither writer refers to the basaltic
+cap of Gwalior fort hill. For the refutation of the author's theory
+of the subaqueous origin of the Deccan trap see notes Chapters 14,
+note 13, and Chapter 17, note 3 _ante_.
+
+16. In the reign of Muizz-ud-din, Muhammad bin Sam, also known by the
+names of Shibab-ud-din, and Muhammad Ghori. He struck billon coins at
+the Gwalior mint. the correct date is A.D. 1196. The Hijri year 592
+began on the 6th Dec., A.D. 1195.
+
+17. Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, 'the greatest of the Slave Kings',
+reigned from A.D. 1210 to 1235 (A.H. 607-633). He besieged Gwalior in
+A.H. 629 and after eleven months' resistance captured the place in
+the month Safar, A.H. 630, equivalent to Nov.-Dec. A.D. 1232. The
+date given in the text is wrong. The correct name of this king is
+Iltutmish (_Z.D.M.G._, vol. lxi (1907), pp. 192, 193). It is written
+Altumash by the author, and Altamsh by Thomas and Cunningham. A
+summary of the events of his reign, based on coins and other original
+documents, is given on page 45 of Thomas, _Chronicles of the Pathan
+Kings of Delhi_. Iltutmish recorded an inscription dated A.H. 630 at
+Gwalior (ibid. p. 80). This inscription was seen by Babur, but has
+since disappeared.
+
+18. Ibrahim Lodi, A.D. 1517-26. He was defeated and killed by Babur
+at the first battle of Panipat, A.D. 1526. the correct date of his
+capture of Gwalior, according to Cunningham (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p.
+340), is 1518.
+
+19. Humayun was son of Babur, and father of Akbar the Great. His
+first reign lasted from A.D. 1530 to 1540; his second brief reign of
+less than six months was terminated by an accident in January A.D.
+1556. The correct date of the surrender of Gwalior to Sher Shah was
+A.D. 1542, corresponding to A.H. 949 (_A. S .R._, vol. ii, p. 393),
+which year began 17th April, 1542.
+
+20. Sher Khan is generally known as Sher (or Shir) Shah. A good
+summary of his career from A.D. 1528 to his death in A.D. 1545 (A.H.
+934 to 952) is given by Thomas (op. cit. p. 393). He struck coins at
+Gwalior in A.H. 950, 951, 952 (ibid. p. 403).
+
+21. Gohad lies between Etawah (Itawa) and Gwalior, twenty-eight miles
+north-east of the latter. The chief, originally an obscure Jat
+landholder, rose to power during the confusion of the eighteenth
+century, and allied himself with the British in 1789 (Thornton,
+_Gazetteer_, s.v. 'Gohad').
+
+22. This memorable exploit was performed during Warren Hastings's war
+with the Marathas, Sir Eyre Coote being Commander-in-Chief. Captain
+Popham first stormed the fort of Lahar, a stronghold west of Kalpi
+(Calpee), and then, by a cleverly arranged escalade, captured 'with
+little trouble and small loss' the Gwalior fortress, which was
+garrisoned by a thousand men, and commonly supposed to be
+impregnable. 'Captain Popham was rewarded for his gallant services by
+being promoted to the rank of Major' (Thornton, _The History of the
+British Empire in India_, 2nd ed., 1859, p. 149). 'It is said that
+the spot (for escalade) was pointed out to Popham by a cowherd, and
+that the whole of the attacking party were supplied with grass shoes
+to prevent them from slipping on the ledges of rock. There is a story
+also that the cost of these grass shoes was deducted from Popham's
+pay when he was about to leave India as a Major-General, nearly a
+quarter of a century afterwards' (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 340).
+
+23. James Bruce, 'the celebrated traveller', was Consul at Algiers.
+He explored Tripoli, Tunis, Syria, and Egypt, and travelled in
+Abyssinia from November 1769 to December 1771. He returned to Egypt
+by the Nile, arriving at Cairo in January 1773. His travels were
+published in 1790. He died in 1794.
+
+24. The Sindhia family of Gwalior was founded by Ranoji Sindhia, a
+man of humble origin, in the service of the Peshwa. Ranoji died about
+A.D. 1750, and was succeeded by one of his natural sons, Mahadaji
+(corruptly Mahdaju, &c.) Sindhia, whose turbulent and chequered
+career lasted till 1794, when he was succeeded by his grand-nephew,
+Daulat Rao. The Maratha power under Daulat Rao was broken in 1803, by
+Sir Arthur Wellesley at Assaye and Argaum, and by Lord Lake at
+Laswari. Mahadaji's career is treated fully by Grant Duff, _A History
+of the Mahrattas_ (1826 and reprint). Mr. H. G. Keene in his little
+book (_Rulers of India_, Oxford, 1892) erroneously gives the chiefs
+name as 'Madhava Rao'. The anthor's 'Madhoji' also is wrong.
+
+25. It is impossible within the limits of a note to give an account
+of the extraordinary career of General De Boigne. His Indian
+adventures began in 1778, and terminated in September 1796, when he
+retired from Sindhia's service, and sold his private regiment of
+Persian cavalry, six hundred strong, to Lord Cornwallis, on behalf of
+the East India Company, for three lakhs of rupees (about L30,000). He
+settled in his native town, Chamberi in Savoy, and lived, in the
+enjoyment of his great wealth, and of high honours conferred by the
+sovereigns of France and Italy, until 21st June, 1830. He was created
+a Count, and was succeeded in the title by his son. See G. M.
+Raymond, _Memoire sur la Carriere Militaire et Politique de M. le
+General Comte de Boigne, 2ieme_ ed., Chambery, 1830. Nine chapters of
+Mr. Herbert Compton's book, _A Particular Account of European
+Military Adventurers of Hindustan_ (London, 1892), are devoted to De
+Boigne.
+
+26. The cession of Gohad to Sindhia, sanctioned in the year 1805,
+during the brief and inglorious second term of office of Lord
+Cornwallis, was effected by Sir George Barlow. The transaction is
+severely censured by Thornton (_History_, p. 343) as a breach of
+faith. Gwalior was given up to Sindhia along with Gohad. In January
+1844, shortly after the battle of Maharajpur, Gwalior was again
+occupied by the forces of the Company, and the fortress (save for the
+Mutiny period) continued in British occupation until the 2nd December
+1885, when Lord Dufferin restored it to Sindhia in exchange for
+Jhansi. In June 1857 the Gwalior soldiery mutinied and massacred the
+Europeans, but the Maharaja remained throughout loyal to the English
+Government.
+
+Sir Hugh Rose recaptured the place by assault on the 28th June 1858.
+In the changed circumstances of the country, and with regard to the
+modern developments of the art of war, the Gwalior fortress is now of
+slight military value.
+
+27. The territory of the Dholpur chief is about fifty-four miles long
+by twenty-three broad. The town of Dholpur is nearly midway between
+Agra and Gwalior. The revenue is estimated by Thornton (1858) as
+seven lakhs, not only three lakhs as stated by the author. It was
+about eight lakhs in 1904 (_I.G._, 1908).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 37
+
+
+ Content for Empire between the Sons of Shah Jahan.
+
+Under the Emperors of Delhi the fortress of Gwalior was always
+considered as an imperial State prison, in which they confined those
+rivals and competitors for dominion whom they did not like to put to
+a violent death. They kept a large menagerie, and other things, for
+their amusement. Among the best of the princes who ended their days
+in this great prison was Sulaiman Shikoh, the eldest son of the
+unhappy Dara.[1] A narrative of the contest for empire between the
+four sons of Shah Jahan may, perhaps, prove both interesting and
+instructive; and, as I shall have occasion, in the course of my
+rambles, to refer to the characters who figured in it, I shall
+venture to give it a place. . . .[2]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. 'The prisons of Gwalior are situated in a small outwork on the
+western side of the fortress, immediately above the Dhondha gateway.
+They are called "nau chauki", or "the nine cells", and are both well
+lighted and well ventilated. But in spite of their height, from
+fifteen to twenty-six feet, they must be insufferably close in the
+hot season. These were the State prisons in which Akbar confined his
+rebellious cousins, and Aurangzeb the troublesome sons of Dara and
+Murad, as well as his own more dangerous son Muhammad. During these
+times the fort was strictly guarded, and no one was allowed to enter
+without a pass' (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 369), Sulaiman Shikoh, whom
+Manucci credits with 'all the gifts of nature', was poisoned at
+Gwalior early in the reign of Aurangzeb, by order of that monarch,
+paternal uncle of the victim (Irvine, _Storia do Mogor_, i. 380). The
+author, following Bernier, always calls Shahjahan's eldest son simply
+Dara. His name really was Dara Shikoh (or Shukoh), meaning 'in
+splendour like Darius'.
+
+2. The following twelve chapters contain an historical piece, to the
+personages and events of which the author will have frequent occasion
+to refer; and it is introduced in this place from its connexion with
+Gwalior, the State prison in which some of its actors ended their
+days. [W. H. S.]
+
+The 'historical piece' which occupies chapters 37 to 46, inclusive of
+the author's text is little more than a paraphrase of _The History of
+the Late Rebellion in the States of the Great Mogol_ by Bernier, as
+the disquisition is called in Brock's translation. Mr. A. Constable's
+revised and annotated translation of Bernier's work (Constable and
+Co., 1891; reprinted with corrections. Oxford University Press, 1914)
+renders superfluous the reprinting of Sleeman's paraphrase, which
+would require much correction and comment before it could be
+presented to readers of the present day. The main facts of the
+narrative are, moreover, now easily accessible in the histories of
+Elphinstone and innumerable other writers. Such explanations as may
+be required to elucidate allusions to the excised portion in the
+later chapters of the anthor's work will be found in the notes. The
+titles of the chapters which have not been reprinted follow here for
+facility of reference.
+
+
+CHAPTER 38
+
+Aurangzeb and Murad Defeat their Father's Army near Ujain.
+
+
+CHAPTER 39
+
+Dara Marches in Person against his Brothers, and is Defeated.
+
+
+CHAPTER 40
+
+Dara Retreats towards Lahore--Is robbed by the Jats--Their Character.
+
+
+CHAPTER 41
+
+Shah Jahan Imprisoned by his Two Sons, Aurangzeb and Murad.
+
+
+CHAPTER 42
+
+Aurangzeb Throws off the Mask, Imprisons his Brother Murad, and
+Assumes the Government of the Empire.
+
+
+CHAPTER 43
+
+Aurangzeb Meets Shuja in Bengal and Defeats him, after Pursuing Dara
+to the Hyphasis.
+
+
+CHAPTER 44
+
+Aurangzeb Imprisons his Eldest Son--Shuja and all his Family are
+Destroyed.
+
+
+CHAPTER 45
+
+Second Defeat and Death of Dara, and Imprisonment of his Two Sons.
+
+
+CHAPTER 46
+
+Death and Character of Amir Jumla,
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 47
+
+
+Reflections on the Preceding History.
+
+The contest for the empire of India here described is very like that
+which preceded it, between the sons of Jahangir, in which Shah Jahan
+succeeded in destroying all his brothers and nephews; and that which
+succeeded it, forty years after,[1] in which Mu'azzam, the second of
+the four sons of Aurangzeb, did the same;[2] and it may, like the
+rest of Indian history, teach us a few useful lessons. First, we
+perceive the advantages of the law of primogeniture, which accustoms
+people to consider the right of the eldest son as sacred, and the
+conduct of any man who attempts to violate it as criminal. Among
+Muhammadans, property, as well real as personal, is divided equally
+among the sons;[3] and their Koran, which is their only civil and
+criminal, as well as religions, code, makes no provision for the
+successions to sovereignty. The death of every sovereign is, in
+consequence, followed by a contest between his sons, unless they are
+overawed by some paramount power; and he who succeeds in this contest
+finds it necessary, for his own security, to put all his brothers and
+nephews to death, lest they should be rescued by factions, and made
+the cause of future civil wars. But sons, who exercise the powers of
+viceroys and command armies, cannot, where the succession is
+unsettled, wait patiently for the natural death of their father--
+delay may be dangerous. Circumstances, which now seem more favourable
+to their views than to those of their brothers, may alter; the
+military aristocracy depend upon the success of the chief they choose
+in the enterprise, and the army more upon plunder than regular pay;
+both may desert the cause of the more wary for that of the more
+daring; each is flattered into an overweening confidence in his own
+ability and good fortune; and all rush on to seize upon the throne
+yet filled by their wretched parent, who, in the history of his own
+crimes, now reads those of his children. Gibbon has justly observed
+(chap. 7): 'the superior prerogative of birth, when it has obtained
+the sanction of time and popular opinion, is the plainest and least
+invidious of all distinctions among mankind. The acknowledged right
+extinguishes the hopes of faction; and the conscious security disarms
+the cruelty of the monarch. To the firm establishment of this idea we
+owe the peaceful succession and mild administration of European
+monarchies. To the defect of it we must attribute the frequent civil
+wars through which an Asiatic despot is obliged to cut his way to the
+throne of his fathers. Yet, even in the East, the sphere of
+contention is usually limited to the princes of the reigning house;
+and, as soon as the fortunate competitor has removed his brethren by
+the sword and the bowstring, he no longer entertains any jealousy of
+his meaner subjects.'
+
+Among Hindoos, both real and personal property is divided in the same
+manner equally among the sons;[4] but a principality is, among them,
+considered as an exception to this rule; and every large estate,
+within which the proprietor holds criminal jurisdiction, and
+maintains a military establishment, is considered a principality. In
+such cases the law of primogeniture is rigorously enforced; and the
+death of the prince scarcely ever involves a contest for power and
+dominion between his sons. The feelings of the people, who are
+accustomed to consider the right of the eldest son to the succession
+as religiously sacred, would be greatly shocked at the attempt of any
+of his brothers to invade it. The younger brothers, never for a
+moment supposing they could be supported in such a sacrilegious
+attempt, feel for their eldest brother a reverence inferior only to
+that which they feel for their father; and the eldest brother, never
+supposing such attempts on their part as possible, feels towards them
+as towards his own children. All the members of such a family
+commonly live in the greatest harmony.[5] In the laws, usages, and
+feelings of the people upon this subject we had the means of
+preventing that eternal subdivision of landed property, which ever
+has been, and ever will be, the bane of everything that is great and
+good in India; but, unhappily, our rulers have never had the wisdom
+to avail themselves of them. In a great part of India the property,
+or the lease of a _village_ held in farm under Government, was
+considered as a _principality_, and subject strictly to the same laws
+of primogeniture--it was a _fief_, held under Government on condition
+of either direct service, rendered to the State in war, in education,
+or charitable or religions duties, or of furnishing the means, in
+money or in kind, to provide for such service. In every part of the
+Sagar and Nerbudda Territories the law of primogeniture in such
+leases was in force when we took possession, and has been ever since
+preserved.[6] The eldest of the sons that remain united with the
+father, at his death, succeeds to the estate, and to the obligation
+of maintaining all the widows and orphan children of those of his
+brothers who remained united to their parent stock up to their death,
+all his unmarried sisters, and, above all, his mother. All the
+younger brothers aid him in the management, and are maintained by him
+till they wish to separate, when a division of the stock takes place,
+and is adjusted by the elders of the village. The member, who thus
+separates from the parent stock, from that time forfeits for ever all
+claims to support from the possessor of the ancestral estate, either
+for himself, his widow, or his orphan children.[7]
+
+Next, it is obvious that no existing Government in India could, in
+case of invasion or civil war, count upon the fidelity of their
+aristocracy either of land or of office. It is observed by Hume, in
+treating of the reign of King John in England, that 'men easily
+change sides in a civil war, especially where the power is founded
+upon an hereditary and independent authority, and is not derived from
+the opinion and favour of the people'--that is, upon the people
+collectively or the nation; for the hereditary and independent
+authority of the English baron in the time of King John was founded
+upon the opinion and fidelity of only that portion of the people over
+which he ruled, in the same manner as that of the Hindoo chiefs of
+India in the time of Shah Jahan; but it was without reference either
+to the honesty of the cause he espoused, or to the opinion and
+feeling of the nation or empire generally regarding it. The Hindoo
+territorial chiefs, like the feudal barons of the Middle Ages in
+Europe, employed all the revenues of their estates in the maintenance
+of military followers, upon whose fidelity they could entirely rely,
+whatever side they might themselves take in a civil war; and the more
+of these resources that were left at their disposal, the more
+impatient they became of the restraints which settled governments
+imposed upon them. Under such settled governments they felt that they
+had an _arm_ which they could not use; and the stronger that arm, the
+stronger was their desire to use it in the subjugation of their
+neighbours. The reigning emperors tried to secure their fidelity by
+assigning to them posts of honour about their court that required
+their personal attendance in all their pomp of pride; and by taking
+from each a daughter in marriage. If any one rebelled or neglected
+his duties, he was either crushed by the imperial forces, or put to
+the _ban of the empire_', and his territories were assigned to any
+one who would undertake to conquer them.[8] Their attendance at our
+viceroyal court would be a sad encumbrance;[9] and our Governor-
+General could not well conciliate them by matrimonial alliances,
+unless we were to alter a good deal in their favour our law against
+polygamy; nor would it be desirable to 'let slip the dogs of war'
+once more throughout the land by adopting the plan of putting the
+refractory chiefs to the ban of the empire. Their troops would be of
+no use to us in the way they are organized and disciplined, even if
+we could rely upon their fidelity in time of need; and this I do not
+think we ever can.[10]
+
+If it be the duty of all such territorial chiefs to contribute to the
+support of the public establishments of the paramount power by which
+they are secured in the possession of their estates, and defended
+from all external danger, as it most assuredly is, it is the duty of
+that power to take such contribution in money, or the means of
+maintaining establishments more suited to its purpose than their rude
+militia can ever be; and thereby to impair the _powers_ of that arm
+which they are so impatient to wield for their own aggrandizement,
+and to the prejudice of their neighbours; and to strengthen that of
+the paramount power by which the whole are kept in peace, harmony,
+and security. We give to India what India never had before our rule,
+and never could have without it, the assurance that there will always
+be at the head of the Government a sensible ruler trained up to
+office in the best school in the world; and that the security of the
+rights, and the enforcement of the duties, presented or defined by
+law, will not depend upon the will or caprice of individuals in
+power. These assurances the people in India now everywhere thoroughly
+understand and appreciate. They see in the native states around them
+that the lucky accident of an able governor is too rare ever to be
+calculated upon; while all that the people have of property, office,
+or character, depends not only upon their governor, but upon every
+change that he may make in his ministers.
+
+The government of the Muhammadans was always essentially military,
+and the aristocracy was always one of military office. There was
+nothing else upon which an aristocracy could be formed. All high
+civil offices were combined with the military commands. The emperor
+was the great proprietor of all the lands, and collected and
+distributed their rents through his own servants. Every Musalman with
+his Koran in his hand was his own priest and his own lawyer; and the
+people were nowhere represented in any municipal or legislative
+assembly--there was no bar, bench, senate, corporation, art, science,
+or literature by which men could rise to eminence and power. Capital
+had nowhere been concentrated upon great commercial or manufacturing
+establishments. There were, in short, no great men but the military
+servants of Government; and all the servants of Government held their
+posts at the will and pleasure of their sovereign.[11]
+
+If a man was appointed by the emperor to the command of five
+thousand, the whole of this five thousand depended entirely on his
+favour for their employment, and upon their employment for their
+subsistence, whether paid from the imperial treasury, or by an
+assignment of land in some distant province.[12] In our armies there
+is a regular gradation of rank; and every officer feels that he holds
+his commission by a tenure as high in origin, as secure in
+possession, and as independent in its exercise, as that of the
+general who commands; and the soldiers all know and feel that the
+places of those officers, who are killed or disabled in action, will
+be immediately filled by those next in rank, who are equally trained
+to command, and whose authority none will dispute. In the Muhammadan
+armies there was no such gradation of rank. Every man held his office
+at the will of the chief whom he followed, and he was every moment
+made to feel that all his hopes of advancement must depend upon his
+pleasure. The relation between them was that of patron and client;
+the client felt bound to yield implicit obedience to the commands of
+his patron, whatever they might be; and the patron, in like manner,
+felt bound to protect and promote the interests of his client, as
+long as he continued to do so. As often as the patron changed sides
+in a civil war, his clients all blindly followed him; and when he was
+killed, they instantly dispersed to serve under any other leader whom
+they might find willing to take their services on the same terms.
+
+The Hindoo chiefs of the military class had hereditary territorial
+possessions; and the greater part of these possessions were commonly
+distributed on conditions of military service among their followers,
+who were all of the same clan. But the highest Muhammadan officers of
+the empire had not an acre more of land than they required for their
+dwelling-houses, gardens, and cemeteries. They had nothing but their
+office to depend upon, and were always naturally anxious to hold it
+under the strongest side in any competition for dominion. When the
+star of the competitor under whom they served seemed to be on the
+wane, they soon found some plausible excuse to make their peace with
+his rival, and serve under his banners. Each competitor fought for
+his own life, and those of his children; the imperial throne could be
+filled by only one man; and that man dared not leave one single
+brother alive. His father had taken good care to dispose of all his
+own brothers and nephews in the last contest. The subsistence of the
+highest, as well as that of the lowest, officer in the army depended
+upon their employment in the public service, and all such employments
+would be given to those who served the victor in the struggle. Under
+such circumstances one is rather surprised that the history of civil
+wars in India exhibits so many instances of fidelity and devotion.
+
+The mass of the people stood aloof in such contests without any
+feeling of interest, save the dread that their homes might become the
+seat of the war, or the tracks of armies which were alike destructive
+to the people in their course whatever side they might follow. The
+result could have no effect upon their laws and institutions, and
+little upon their industry and property. As ships are from necessity
+formed to weather the storms to which they are constantly liable at
+sea, so were the Indian village communities framed to weather those
+of invasion and civil war, to which they were so much accustomed by
+land; and, in the course of a year or two, no traces were found of
+ravages that one might have supposed it would have taken ages to
+recover from. The lands remained the same, and their fertility was
+improved by the fallow; every man carried away with him the
+implements of his trade, and brought them back with him when he
+returned; and the industry of every village supplied every necessary
+article that the community required for their food, clothing,
+furniture, and accommodation. Each of these little communities, when
+left unmolested, was in itself sufficient to secure the rights and
+enforce the duties of all the different members; and all they wanted
+from their government was moderation in the land taxes, and
+protection from external violence. Arrian says: 'If any intestine war
+happens to break forth among the Indians, it is deemed a heinous
+crime either to seize the husbandmen or spoil their harvest. All the
+rest wage war against each other, and kill and slay as they think
+convenient, while they live quietly and peaceably among them, and
+employ themselves at their rural affairs either in their fields or
+vineyards.'[13] I am afraid armies were not much more disposed to
+forbearance in the days of Alexander than at present, and that his
+followers must have supposed they remained untouched, merely because
+they heard of their sudden rise again from their ruins by that spirit
+of moral and political vitality with which necessity seems to have
+endowed them.[14]
+
+During the early part of his life and reign, Aurangzeb was employed
+in conquering and destroying the two independent kingdoms of Golconda
+and Bijapur in the Deccan, which he formed into two provinces
+governed by viceroys. Each had had an army of above a hundred
+thousand men while independent. The officers and soldiers of these
+armies had nothing but their courage and their swords to depend upon
+for their subsistence. Finding no longer any employment under settled
+and legitimate authority in defending the life, property, and
+independence of the people, they were obliged to seek it around the
+standards of lawless freebooters; and upon the ruins of these
+independent kingdoms and their disbanded armies rose the Maratha
+power, the hydra-headed monster which Aurangzeb thus created by his
+ambition, and spent the last twenty years of his life in vain
+attempts to crush.[15] The monster has been since crushed by being
+deprived of its Peshwa, the head which alone could infuse into all
+the members of the confederacy a feeling of nationality, and direct
+all their efforts, when required, to one common object. Sindhia, the
+chief of Gwalior, is one of the surviving members of this great
+confederacy--the rest are the Holkars of Indore, the Bhonslas of
+Nagpur, and the Gaikwars of Baroda,[16] the grandchildren of the
+commandants of predatory armies, who formed capital cities out of
+their standing camps in the countries they invaded and conquered in
+the name of their head, the Satara Raja,[17] and afterwards in that
+of his mayor of the palace, the Peshwa. There is not now the
+slightest feeling of nationality left among the Maratha States,
+either collectively or individually.[18] There is not the slightest
+feeling of sympathy between the mass of the people and the chief who
+rules over them, and his public establishments. To maintain these
+public establishments he everywhere plunders the people, who most
+heartily detest him and them. These public establishments are
+composed of men of all religions and sects, gathered from all
+quarters of India, and bound together by no common feeling, save the
+hope of plunder and promotion. Not one in ten is from, or has his
+family in, the country where he serves, nor is one in ten of the same
+clan with his chief. Not one of them has any hope of a provision
+either for himself, when disabled from wounds or old age from serving
+his chief any longer, or for his family, should he lose his life in
+his service.
+
+In India[19] there are a great many native chiefs who were enabled,
+during the disorders which attended the decline and fall of the
+Muhammadan power and the rise and progress of the Marathas and
+English, to raise and maintain armies by the plunder of their
+neighbours. The paramount power of the British being now securely
+established throughout the country, they are prevented from indulging
+any longer in such sporting propensities; and might employ their vast
+revenues in securing the blessing of good civil government for the
+territories in the possession of which they are secured by our
+military establishment. But these chiefs are not much disposed to
+convert their swords into ploughshares; they continue to spend their
+revenues on useless military establishments for purposes of parade
+and show. A native prince would, they say, be as insignificant
+without an army as a native gentleman upon an elephant without a
+cavalcade, or upon a horse without a tail. But the said army have
+learnt from their forefathers that they were to look to aggressions
+upon their neighbours--to pillage, plunder, and conquest, for wealth
+and promotion; and they continue to prevent their prince from
+indulging in any disposition to turn his attention to the duties of
+civil government. They all live in the hope of some disaster to the
+paramount power which secures the increasing wealth of the
+surrounding countries from their grasp; and threatened innovations
+from the north-west raise their spirits and hopes in proportion as
+they depress those of the classes engaged in all branches of peaceful
+industry.
+
+There are, in all parts of India, thousands and tens of thousands who
+have lived by the sword, or who wish to live by the sword, but cannot
+find employment suited to their tastes. These would all flock to the
+standard of the first lawless chief who could offer them a fair
+prospect of plunder; and to them all wars and rumours of war are
+delightful. The moment they hear of a threatened invasion from the
+north-west, they whet their swords, and look fiercely around upon
+those from whose breasts they are 'to cut their pound of flesh'.[20]
+
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. 'Fifty years after' would be more nearly correct. Aurangzeb wa
+crowned 23rd July, 1658, according to the author. See end of next
+note.
+
+2. On the death of Aurangzeb, which took place in the Deccan, on the
+3rd of March, 1707 (N.S.), his son 'Azam marched at the head of the
+troops which he commanded in the Deccan, to meet Mu'azzam, who was
+viceroy in Kabul. They met and fought near Agra. 'Azam was defeated
+and killed. The victor marched to meet his other brother, Kam Baksh,
+whom he killed near Hyderabad in the Deccan, and secured to himself
+the empire. On his death, which took place in 1713, his four sons
+contended in the same way for the throne at the head of the armies of
+their respective viceroyalties. Mu'izz-ud-din, the most crafty,
+persuaded his two brothers, Rafi-ash-Shan and Jahan Shah, to unite
+their forces with his own against their ambitions brother, Azim-ash-
+Shan, whom they defeated and killed, Mu'izz-ud-din then destroyed his
+two allies. [W. H. S.]
+
+The above note is not altogether accurate. 'Azam, the third son of
+Aurangzeb, was killed in battle near Agra, in June 1707. During the
+interval between Aurangzeb's death and his own, he had struck coins.
+Mu'azzam, the second, and eldest then surviving son, after the defeat
+of his rival, ascended the throne under the title of Shah Alam
+Bahadur Shah, and is generally known as Bahadur Shah. He was then
+sixty-four years of age, his father having been eighty-seven years
+old when he died. The events following the death of Bahadur Shah are
+narrated as follows by Mr. Lane-Poole; 'The Deccan was the weakest
+point in the empire from the beginning of the reign. Hardly had
+Bahadur appointed his youngest brother, Kam Baksh ('Wish-fulfiller'),
+viceroy of Bijapur and Haidarabad, when that infatuated prince
+rebelled and committed such atrocities that the Emperor was compelled
+to attack him. Zu-l-Fikar engaged and defeated the rebel king (who
+was striking coins in full assumption of sovereignty) near
+Haidarabad, and Kam Baksh died of his wounds (1708, A.H. 1120).
+
+
+'In the midst of this confusion, and surrounded by portents of coming
+disruption, Bahadur died, 1712 (1124). He left four sons, who
+immediately entered with the zest of their race upon the struggle for
+the crown. The eldest, 'Azim-ash-Shan ("Strong of Heart"), first
+assumed the sceptre, but Zu-l-Fikar, the prime minister, opposed and
+routed him, and the prince was drowned in his flight. The successful
+general next defeated and slew two other brothers, Khujistah Akhtar
+Jahan-Shah and Rafi-ash-Shan, and placed the surviving of the four
+sons of Bahadur [i.e. Mu'izz-ud-din] on the throne with the title of
+Jahandar ("World-owner"). The new Emperor was an irredeemable
+poltroon and an abandoned debauchee.' (_The History of the Moghul
+Emperors of Hindustan illustrated by their Coins_, Constable, 1892,
+and in Introd. to _B. M. Catal. of Moghul Emperors_, same date.)
+
+He was killed in 1713, and was succeeded by Farrukh-siyar, the son of
+Azim-ush-Shan. The chronology is as follows:-
+
+ No. Sovereign. A.H. A.D.
+ VI. Aurangzeb Alamgir, Muhayi-ud-din . 1068 1658
+ ['Azam Shah . . . . . 1118 1707
+ Kam Baksh . . . . . 1119-20 1708]
+ VII. Bahadur Shah-'Alam, Kutb-ud-din . . 1119 1707
+ VIII. Jahandar Shah, Mu'izz-ud-din . . 1124 1713
+ IX. Farrukhsiyar . . . . . 1124 1713
+
+The question concerning the exact date from which the beginning of
+Aurangzeb's reign should be reckoned is obscured by the conflict of
+authorities and has given rise to much discussion. The results may be
+stated briefly as follow:--
+
+Aurangzeb formally took possession of the throne in a garden outside
+Delhi on the 1st Zu'l Q'adah, A.H. 1068, July 31, A.D. 1658, but
+subsequently orders were passed to antedate the beginning of the
+reign to 1st Ramazan in the same year, equivalent to June 2, 1658.
+After the destruction of Shah Shuja, Aurangzeb returned to Delhi in
+May, A.D. 1659, and was again enthroned with full ceremonial on June
+15, 1659 (= A.H. 1069). Some authors consequently assume the
+accession to have taken place in 1659. But the reign certainly began
+in A.D. 1658, and should be reckoned as running from the official
+date, June 2 of that year. The dates given above are in New Style
+(N.S.). If recorded in Old Style (O.S.) they would be ten days
+earlier. (See Irvine and Hoernle in _J.A.S.B._, Part I, vol. lxii
+(1893), pp. 256-67; and Irvine, in _Ind. Ant._, vol. xl (1911), pp.
+74, 75.)
+
+3. The author invariably ignores the fact that daughters and other
+female relatives inherit under Muhammadan law.
+
+4. Hindoo law does not ordinarily recognize any right of succession
+for daughters, and so differs essentially from the law of Islam. The
+exceptions to this general rule are unimportant.
+
+5. The experience of most officials does not confirm this statement.
+
+6. The statement now requires modification. After the Central
+Provinces were constituted in 1861, the principle of succession by
+primogeniture was maintained only in the Hoshangabad, Chhindwara,
+Chanda, and Chhattisgarh Districts. But even there the legal effect
+of the restrictions on alienation and partition is 'not quite free
+from doubt' (_I.G._ 1908, x. 73). The tendency of the law courts is
+to apply everywhere uniform rules taken from the Hindoo law books.
+
+7. 'See _ante_, Chapter 10, notes 10, 16. The gradual conversion of
+tenure by leases from Government into proprietary right in land has
+brought the land under the operation of the ordinary Hindoo law, and
+each member of a joint family can now enforce partition of the land
+as well as of the stock upon it. The evils resulting from incessant
+partition are obvious, but no remedy can be devised. The people
+insist on partition, and will effect it privately, if the law imposes
+obstacles to a formal public division.
+
+8. These remarks attribute too much System to the disorderly working
+of an Asiatic despotism. No institution resembling the formal 'ban of
+the empire' ever really existed in India.
+
+9. The Rajas at Simla might now be considered by some people as an
+encumbrance.
+
+10. The author could not foresee the gallant service to be rendered
+by the Chiefs of the Panjab and other territories in the Mutiny, nor
+the institution of the Imperial Service Troops. Those troops, first
+organized in 1888, in response to the voluntary offers made by many
+princes as a reply to the Russian aggression on Panjdeh, are select
+bodies, picked from the soldiery of certain native states, and
+equipped and drilled in the European manner. Cashmere (Kashmir) and
+many States in the Panjab and elsewhere furnish troops of this kind,
+officered by local gentlemen, under the guidance of English
+inspecting officers. The Kashmir Imperial Service Troops did
+excellent service during the campaign of 1892 in Hunza and Nagar. the
+System so happily introduced is likely to be much further developed.
+In 1907 the authorized strength was a little over 18,000 (_I.G._, iv
+(1907), pp. 87, 373).
+
+11. 'In Rome, as in Egypt and India, many of the great works which,
+in modern nations, form the basis of gradations of rank in society,
+were executed by Government out of public revenue, or by individuals
+gratuitously for the benefit of the public; for instance, roads,
+canals, aqueducts, bridges, &c., from which no one derived an income,
+though all derived benefit. There was no capital invested, with a
+view to profit, in machinery, railroads, canals, steam-engines, and
+other great works which, in the preparation and distribution of man's
+enjoyments, save the labour of so many millions to the nations of
+modern Europe and America, and supply the incomes of many of the most
+useful and most enlightened members of their middle and higher
+classes of society. During the republic, and under the first
+emperors, the laws were simple, and few derived any considerable
+income from explaining them. Still fewer derived their incomes from
+expounding the religion of the people till the establishment of
+Christianity.
+
+Man was the principal machine in which property was invested with a
+view to profit, and the concentration of capital in hordes of slaves,
+and the farm of the public revenues of conquered provinces and
+tributary states, were, with the land, the great basis of the
+aristocracies of Rome, and the Roman world generally. The senatorial
+and equestrian orders were supported chiefly by lending out their
+slaves as gladiators and artificers, and by farming the revenues, and
+lending money to the oppressed subjects of the provinces, and to
+vanquished princes, at an exorbitant interest, to enable them to pay
+what the state or its public officers demanded. The slaves throughout
+the Roman empire were about equal in number to the free population,
+and they were for the most part concentrated in the hands of the
+members of the upper and middle classes, who derived their incomes
+from lending and employing them. They were to those classes in the
+old world what canals, railroads, steam-engines, &c., are to those of
+modern days. Some Roman citizens had as many as five thousand slaves
+educated to the one occupation of gladiators for the public shows of
+Rome. Julius Caesar had this number in Italy waiting his return from
+Gaul; and Gordianus used commonly to give five hundred pair for a
+public festival, and never less than one hundred and fifty.
+
+In India slavery is happily but little known;[a] the church had no
+hierarchy either among the Hindoos or Muhammadans; nor had the law
+any high interpreters. In all its civil branches of marriage,
+inheritance, succession, and contract, it was to the people of the
+two religions as simple as the laws of the twelve tables; and
+contributed just as little to the support of the aristocracy as they
+did. In all these respects, China is much the same; the land belongs
+to the sovereign, and is minutely subdivided among those who farm and
+cultivate it--the great works in canals, aqueducts, bridges, roads,
+&c., are made by Government, and yield no private income. Capital is
+nowhere concentrated in expensive machinery; their church is without
+a hierarchy, their law without barristers-their higher classes are
+therefore composed almost exclusively of the public servants of the
+Government. The rule which prescribes that princes of the blood shall
+not be employed in the government of provinces and the command of
+armies, and that the reigning sovereign shall have the nomination of
+his successor, has saved China from a frequent return of the scenes
+which I have described. None of the princes are put to death, because
+it is known that all will acquiesce in the nomination when made
+known, supported as it always is by the popular sentiment throughout
+the empire. [W. H. S.]
+
+a. the anthor's statement that in the year 1836 slavery was 'but
+little known in India' is a truly astonishing one. Slavery of various
+kinds--racial, predial, domestic--the slavery of captives, and of
+debtors, had existed in India from time immemorial, and still
+flourished in 1836. Slavery, so far as the law can abolish it, was
+abolished by the Indian Act v of 1843, but the final blow was not
+dealt until January l, 1862, when sections 370, &c., of the Indian
+Penal Code came into force. In practice, domestic servitude exists to
+this day in great Muhammadan households, and multitudes of
+agricultural labourers have a very dim consciousness of personal
+freedom. The Criminal Law Commissioners, who reported previous to the
+passage of Act v of 1843, estimated that in British India, as then
+constituted, the proportion of the slave to the free population
+varied from one-sixth to two-fifths. Sir Bartle Frere estimated the
+slave population of the territories included in British India in the
+year 1841 as being between eight and nine millions. Slaves were
+heritable and transferable property, and could be mortgaged or let
+out on hire. The article 'Slave' in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_ (3rd ed.),
+from which most of the above particulars are taken, is copious, and
+gives references to various authorities. The following works may also
+be consulted: _The Law and Custom of Slavery in British India_, by
+William Adam, 8vo, 1840; _An Account of Slave Population in the
+Western Peninsula of India_, 1822, with an Appendix on Slavery in
+Malabar; _India's Cries to British Humanity_, by J. Peggs, 8vo, 1830;
+and _E.H.I._, 3rd ed. (1914), pp. 100, 178, 180, 441.
+
+12. In Akbar's time there were thirty-three grades of official rank,
+and the officers were known as 'commanders of ten thousand',
+'commanders of five thousand', and so on. Only princes of the blood
+royal were granted the commands of seven thousand and of ten
+thousand. The number of troopers actually provided by each officer
+did not correspond with the number indicated by his title. The graded
+officials were called _mansabdars_, no clear distinction between
+civil and military duties being drawn (_The Emperor Akbar_, by Count
+Von Noer; translated by Annette S. Beveridge, Calcutta, 1890, vol. i,
+p. 267).
+
+13. Diodorus Siculus has the same observation. 'No enemy ever does
+any prejudice to the husbandmen; but, out of a due regard to the
+common good, forbear to injure them in the least degree; and,
+therefore, the land being never spoiled or wasted, yields its fruit
+in great abundance, and furnishes the inhabitants with plenty of
+victual and all other provisions.' Book II, chap. 3. [W. H. S.] These
+allegations certainly cannot be accepted as accurate statements of
+fact, however they may be explained. See _E.H.I._, 3rd ed. (1914), p.
+442.
+
+14. The rapid recovery of Indian villages and villagers from the
+effects of war does not need for its explanation the evocation of 'a
+spirit of moral and political vitality'. The real explanation is to
+be found in the simplicity of the village life and needs, as
+expounded by the author in the preceding passage. Human societies
+with a low standard of comfort and a simple scheme of life are, like
+individual organisms of lowly structure and few functions, hard to
+kill. Human labour, and a few cattle, with a little grain and some
+sticks, are the only essential requisites for the foundation or
+reconstruction of a village.
+
+15. Golconda was taken by Aurangzeb, after a protracted siege, in
+1677. Bijapur surrendered to him on the 15th October, 1686. The vast
+ruins of this splendid city, which was deserted after the conquest,
+occupy a space thirty miles in circumference. The town has partially
+recovered, and is now the head-quarters of a Bombay District, with
+about 24,000 inhabitants. Sivaji, the founder of the Maratha power,
+died in 1680.
+
+16. The Indore and Baroda States still survive, and the reigning
+chiefs of both have frequently visited England, and paid their
+respects to their Sovereign. Bhonsla was the family name of the
+chiefs of Berar, also known as the Rajas of Nagpur. The last Raja,
+Raghoji III, died in December 1853, leaving no child begotten or
+adopted. Lord Dalhousie annexed the State as lapsed, and his action
+was confirmed in 1864 by the Court of Directors and the Crown.
+
+17. The State of Satara, like that of Nagpur, lapsed owing to failure
+of heirs, and was annexed in 1854. It is now a district in the Bombay
+Presidency.
+
+18. During the early years of the twentieth century a spirit of
+Maratha nationalism has been sedulously cultivated, with inconvenient
+results.
+
+19. This paragraph, and that next following, are, in the original
+edition, printed as part of Chapter 48, 'The Great Diamond of
+Kohinur', with which they have nothing to do. They seem to belong
+properly to Chapter 47, and are therefore inserted here. The
+observations in both paragraphs are merely repetitions of remarks
+already recorded.
+
+20. It need hardly be said that these fire-eaters no longer exist.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 48
+
+
+The Great Diamond of Kohinur.
+
+The foregoing historical episode occupies too large a space in what
+might otherwise be termed a personal narrative; but still I am
+tempted to append to it a sketch of the fortunes of that famous
+diamond, called with Oriental extravagance the Mountain of Light,
+which, by exciting the cupidity of Shah Jahan, played so important a
+part in the drama.
+
+After slumbering for the greater part of a century in the imperial
+treasury, it was afterwards taken by Nadir Shah, the king of Persia,
+who invaded India under the reign of Muhammad Shah, in the year
+1738.[1] Nadir Shah, in one of his mad fits, had put out the eyes of
+his son, Raza Kuli Mirza, and, when he was assassinated, the
+conspirators gave the throne and the diamond to this son's son,
+Shahrukh Mirza, who fixed his residence at Meshed.[2] Ahmad Shah, the
+Abdali, commanded the Afghan cavalry in the service of Nadir Shah,
+and had the charge of the military chest at the time he was put to
+death. With this chest, he and his cavalry left the camp during the
+disorders that followed the murder of the king, and returned with all
+haste to Kandahar, where they met Tariki Khan, on his way to Nadir
+Shah's camp with the tribute of the five provinces which he had
+retained of his Indian conquests, Kandahar, Kabul, Tatta, Bakkar,
+Multan, and Peshawar. They gave him the first news of the death of
+the king, seized upon his treasure, and, with the aid of this and the
+military chest, Ahmad Shah took possession of these five provinces,
+and formed them into the little independent kingdom of Afghanistan,
+over which he long reigned, and from which he occasionally invaded
+India and Khurasan.[3]
+
+Shahrukh Mirza had his eyes put out some time after by a faction.
+Ahmad Shah marched to his relief, put the rebels to death, and united
+his eldest son, Taimur Shah, in marriage to the daughter of the
+unfortunate prince, from whom he took the diamond, since it could be
+of no use to a man who could no longer see its beauties. He
+established Taimur as his viceroy at Herat, and his youngest son at
+Kandahar; and fixed his own residence at Kabul, where he died.[4] He
+was succeeded by Taimur Shah, who was succeeded by his eldest son,
+Zaman Shah, who, after a reign of a few years, was driven from his
+throne by his younger brother, Mahmud. He sought an asylum with his
+friend Ashik, who commanded a distant fortress, and who betrayed him
+to the usurper, and put him into confinement. He concealed the great
+diamond in a crevice in the wall of the room in which he was
+confined; and the rest of his jewels in a hole made in the ground
+with his dagger. As soon as Mahmud received intimation of the arrest
+from Ashik, he sent for his brother, had his eyes put out, and
+demanded the jewels, but Zaman Shah pretended that he had thrown them
+into the river as he passed over. Two years after this, the third
+brother, the Sultan Shuja, deposed Mahmud, ascended the throne by the
+consent of his elder brother, and, as a fair specimen of his notions
+of retributive justice, he blew away from the mouths of cannon, not
+only Ashik himself, but his wife and all his innocent and unoffending
+children.
+
+He intended to put out the eyes of his deposed brother, Mahmud, but
+was dissuaded from it by his mother and Zaman Shah, who now pointed
+out to him the place where he had concealed the great diamond. Mahmud
+made his escape from prison, raised a party, drove out his brothers,
+and once more ascended the throne. The two brothers sought an asylum
+in the Honourable Company's territories; and have from that time
+resided at an out frontier station of Ludiana, upon the banks of the
+Hyphasis,[5] upon a liberal pension assigned for their maintenance by
+our Government. On their way through the territories of the Sikh
+chief, Ranjit Singh, Shuja was discovered to have this great diamond,
+the Mountain of Light, about his person; and he was, by a little
+torture skilfully applied to the mind and body, made to surrender it
+to his generous host.[6] Mahmud was succeeded in the government of
+the fortress and province of Herat by his son Kamran; but the throne
+of Kabul was seized by the mayor of the palace, who bequeathed it to
+his son Dost Muhammad, a man, in all the qualities requisite in a
+sovereign, immeasurably superior to any member of the house of Ahmad
+Shah Abdali. Ranjit Singh had wrested from him the province of
+Peshawar in times of difficulty, and, as we would not assist him in
+recovering it from our old ally, he thought himself justified in
+seeking the aid of those who would, the Russians and Persians, who
+were eager to avail themselves of so fair an occasion to establish a
+footing in India. Such a footing would have been manifestly
+incompatible with the peace and security of our dominions in India,
+and we were obliged, in self-defence, to give to Shuja the aid which
+he had so often before in vain solicited, to enable him to recover
+the throne of his very limited number of legal ancestors.[7]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Nadir Shah was crowned king of Persia in 1736, entered the Panjab,
+at the close of 1738, and occupied Delhi in March 1739. Having
+perpetrated an awful massacre of the inhabitants, he retired after a
+stay of fifty-eight days, He was assassinated in May 1747.
+
+2. Meshed, properly Mashhad ('the place of martyrdom'), is the chief
+city of Khurasan. Nadir Shah was killed while encamped there.
+
+3. Ahmad Shah defeated the Marathas in the third great battle of
+Panipat, A.D. 1761. He had conquered the Panjab in 1748. He invaded
+India five times.
+
+4. In 1773.
+
+5. Ludiana (misspelt 'Ludhiana' in _I.G._, 1908) is named from the
+Lodi Afghans, who founded it in 1481. The town is now the
+headquarters of the district of the same name under the Panjab
+Government. Part of the district lapsed to the British Government in
+1836, other parts lapsed during the years 1846 and 1847, and the rest
+came from territory already British by rearrangement of jurisdiction.
+Hyphasis is the Greek name for the Bias river.
+
+6. The above history of the Kohinur may, I believe, be relied upon. I
+received a narrative of it from Shah Zaman, the blind old king
+himself, through General Smith, who commanded the troops at Ludiana;
+forming a detail of the several revolutions too long and too full of
+new names for insertion here. [W. H. S.] The above note is, in the
+original edition, misplaced, and appended to two paragraphs of the
+text, which have no connexion with the story of the diamond, and
+really belong to Chapter 47, to which they have been removed in this
+edition.
+
+The author assumes the identity of the Kohinur with the great diamond
+found in one of the Golconda mines, and presented by Amir Jumla to
+Shah Jahan. The much-disputed history of the Kohinur has been
+exhaustively discussed by Valentine Ball (Tavernier's _Travels in
+India_: Appendix I (1), 'The Great Mogul's Diamond and the true
+History of the Koh-i-nur; and (2) 'Summary History of the Koh-i-
+nur'). He has proved that the Kohinur is almost certainly the diamond
+given by Amir (Mir) Jumla to Shah Jahan, though now much reduced in
+weight by mutilation and repeated cutting. Assuming the identity of
+the Kohinur with Amir Jumla's gift, the leading incidents in the
+history of this famous jewel are as follows;--
+
+ Event. Approximate
+ Date.
+ Found at mine of Kollur on the Kistna (Krishna)
+ river . . . . . . . . .Not known
+ Presented to Shah Jahan by Mir Jumla, being
+ uncut, and weighing about 756 English carats 1656 or 1657
+ Ground by Hortensio Borgio, and greatly reduced
+ in weight . . . . . . . about 1657
+ Seen and weighed by Tavernier in Aurangzeb's
+ treasury, its weight being 268 19/50 English
+ carats . . . . . . . . . 1665
+ Taken by Nadir Shah of Persia from Muhammad
+ Shah of Delhi, and named Kohinur . . . 1739
+ Inherited by Shah Rukh, grandson of Nadir Shah. . 1747
+ Given up by Shah Rukh to Ahmad Shah Abdali . . 1751
+ Inherited by Timur, son of Ahmad Shah . . . 1772
+ Inherited by Shah Zaman, son of Timur . . . 1793
+ Taken by Shah Shuja, brother of Shah Zaman . . 1795
+ Taken by Ranjit Singh, of Lahore, from Shah Shuja . 1813
+ Inherited by Dilip (Dhuleep) Singh,
+ reputed son of Ranjit Singh. . . . . 1839
+ Annexed, with the Panjab, and passed, through
+ John Lawrence's waistcoat pocket
+ (see his _Life_), into the possession
+ of H.M. the Queen, its weight then being
+ 186 1/16 English carats . . . . . 1849
+ Exhibited at Great Exhibition in London . . . 1851
+ Recut under supervision of Messrs. Garrards, and
+ reduced in weight to 106 1/16 English carats . 1852
+
+The difference in weight between 268 19/50 carats in 1665 and 186
+1/16 carats in 1849 seems to be due to mutilation of the stone during
+its stay in Persia and Afghanistan.
+
+7. The policy of the first Afghan War has been, it is hardly
+necessary to observe, much disputed, and the author's confident
+defence of Lord Auckland's action cannot be accepted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 49
+
+
+Pindhari System--Character of the Maratha Administration--Cause of
+their Dislike to the Paramount Power.
+
+The attempt of the Marquis of Hastings to rescue India from that
+dreadful scourge, the Pindhari system, involved him in a war with all
+the great Maratha states, except Gwalior; that is, with the Peshwa at
+Puna, Holkar at Indore, and the Bhonsla at Nagpur; and Gwalior was
+prevented from joining the other states in their unholy league
+against us only by the presence of the grand division of the army,
+under the personal command of the Marquis, in the immediate vicinity
+of his capital. It was not that these chiefs liked the Pindharis, or
+felt any interest in their welfare, but because they were always
+anxious to crush that rising paramount authority which had the power,
+and had always manifested the will, to interpose and prevent the free
+indulgence of their predatory habits--the free exercise of that
+weapon, a standing army, which the disorders incident upon the
+decline and fall of the Muhammadan army had put into their hands, and
+which a continued series of successful aggressions upon their
+neighbours could alone enable them to pay or keep under control. They
+seized with avidity any occasion of quarrel with the paramount power
+which seemed likely to unite them all in one great effort to shake it
+off; and they are still prepared to do the same, because they feel
+that they could easily extend their depredations if that power were
+withdrawn; and they know no other road to wealth and glory but such
+successful depredations. Their ancestors rose by them, their states
+were formed by them, and their armies have been maintained by them.
+They look back upon them for all that seems to them honourable in the
+history of their families. Their bards sing of them in all their
+marriage and funeral processions; and, as their imaginations kindle
+at the recollection, they detest the arm that is extended to defend
+the wealth and the industry of the surrounding territories from their
+grasp. As the industrious classes acquire and display their wealth in
+the countries around during a long peace, under a strong and settled
+government, these native chiefs, with their little disorderly armies,
+feel precisely as an English country gentleman would feel with a pack
+of foxhounds, in a country swarming with foxes, and without the
+privilege of hunting them.[1]
+
+Their armies always took the auspices and set out _kingdom taking_
+(mulk giri) after the Dasahra,[2] in November, as regularly as
+English gentlemen go partridge-shooting on the 1st of September; and
+I may here give, as a specimen, the excursion of Jean Baptiste
+Filose,[3] who sallied forth on such an expedition, at the head of a
+division of Sindhia's army, just before this Pindhari war commenced.
+From Gwalior he proceeded to Karauli,[4] and took from that chief the
+district of Sabalgarh, yielding four lakhs of rupees yearly.[5] He
+then took the territory of the Raja of Chanderi,[6] Mor Pahlad, one
+of the oldest of the Bundelkhand chiefs, which then yielded about
+seven lakhs of rupees,[7] but now yields only four. The Raja got an
+allowance of forty thousand rupees a year. He then took the
+territories of the Rajas of Raghugarh and Bajranggarh,[8] yielding
+three lakhs a year; and Bahadurgarh, yielding two lakhs a year;[9]
+and the three princes got fifty thousand rupees a year for
+subsistence among them. He then took Lopar, yielding two lakhs and a
+half, and assigned the Raja twenty-five thousand. He then took Garha
+Kota,[10] whose chief gets subsistence from our Government. Baptiste
+had just completed his kingdom taking expedition, when our armies
+took the field against the Pindharis; and, on the termination of that
+war in 1817, all these acquisitions were confirmed and guaranteed to
+his master Sindhia by our Government. It cannot be supposed that
+either he or his army can ever feel any great attachment towards a
+paramount authority that has the power and the will to interpose, and
+prevent their indulging in such sporting excursions as these, or any
+great disinclination to take advantage of any occasion that may seem
+likely to unite all the native chiefs in a common effort to crush it.
+The Nepalese have the same feeling as the Marathas in a still
+stronger degree, since their kingdom-taking excursions had been still
+greater and more successful; and, being all soldiers from the same
+soil, they were easily persuaded, by a long series of successful
+aggressions, that their courage was superior to that of all other
+men.[11]
+
+In the year 1833, the Gwalior territory yielded a net revenue to the
+treasury of ninety-two lakhs of rupees, after discharging all the
+local costs of the civil and fiscal administration of the different
+districts, in officers, establishments, charitable institutions,
+religions endowments, military fiefs, &c.[12] In the remote
+districts, which are much infested by the predatory tribes of
+Bhils,[13] and in consequence badly peopled and cultivated, the net
+revenue is estimated to be about one-third of the gross collections;
+but, in the districts near the capital, which are tolerably well
+cultivated, the net revenue brought to the treasury is about five-
+sixths of the gross collections; and these collections are equal to
+the whole annual rent of the land; for every man by whom the land is
+held or cultivated is a mere tenant at will, liable every season to
+be turned out, to give place to any other man that may offer more for
+the holding.
+
+There is nowhere to be seen upon the land any useful or ornamental
+work, calculated to attach the people to the soil or to their
+villages; and, as hardly any of the recruits for the regiments are
+drawn from the peasantry of the country, the agricultural classes
+have nowhere any feeling of interest in the welfare or existence of
+the government. I am persuaded that there is not a single village in
+all the Gwalior dominions in which nine-tenths of the people would
+not be glad to see that government destroyed, under the persuasion
+that they could not possibly have a worse, and would be very likely
+to find a better.
+
+The present force at Gwalior consists of three regiments of infantry,
+under Colonel Alexander; six under the command of Apaji, the adopted
+son of the late Bala Bai;[14] eleven under Colonel Jacobs and his
+son; five under Colonel Jean Baptiste Filose; two under the command
+of the Mamu Sahib, the maternal uncle of the Maharaja; three in what
+is called Babu Baoli's camp; in all thirty regiments, consisting,
+when complete, of six hundred men each, with four field-pieces. The
+'Jinsi', or artillery, consists of two hundred guns of different
+calibre. There are but few corps of cavalry, and these are not
+considered very efficient, I believe.[15]
+
+Robbers and murderers of all descriptions have always been in the
+habit of taking the field in India immediately after the festival of
+the Dasahra,[16] at the end of October, from the sovereign of a state
+at the head of his armies, down to the leader of a little band of
+pickpockets from the corner of some obscure village. All invoke the
+Deity, and take the auspices to ascertain his will, nearly in the
+same way; and all expect that he will guide them successfully through
+their enterprises, as long as they find the omens favourable. No one
+among them ever dreams that his undertaking can be less acceptable to
+the Deity than that of another, provided he gives him the same due
+share of what he acquires in his thefts, his robberies, or his
+conquests, in sacrifices and offerings upon his shrines, and in
+donations to his priests.[17] Nor does the robber often dream that he
+shall be considered a less respectable citizen by the circle in which
+he moves than the soldier, provided he spends his income as
+liberally, and discharges all his duties in his relations with them
+as well; and this he generally does to secure their goodwill,
+whatever may be the character of his depredations upon distant
+circles of society and communities. The man who returned to Oudh, or
+Rohilkhand, after a campaign under a Pindhari chief, was as well
+received as one who returned after serving one under Sindhia, Holkar,
+or Ranjit Singh. A friend of mine one day asked a leader of a band of
+'dacoits', or banditti, whether they did not often commit murder.
+'God forbid', said he, 'that we should ever commit murder; but, if
+people choose to oppose us, we, of course, _strike and kill_; but you
+do the same. I hear that there is now a large assemblage of troops in
+the upper provinces going to take foreign countries; if they are
+opposed, they will kill people. We only do the same.'[18] The history
+of the rise of every nation in the world unhappily bears out the
+notion that princes are only robbers upon a large scale, till their
+ambition is curbed by a balance of power among nations.
+
+On the 25th[19] we came on to Dhamela, fourteen miles, over a plain,
+with the range of sandstone hills on the left, receding from us to
+the west; and that on the right receding still more to the east. Here
+and there were some insulated hills of the same formation rising
+abruptly from the plain to our right. All the villages we saw were
+built upon masses of this sandstone rock, rising abruptly at
+intervals from the surface of the plain, in horizontal strata. These
+hillocks afford the people stone for building, and great facilities
+for defending themselves against the inroads of freebooters. There is
+not, I suppose, in the world a finer stone for building than these
+sandstone hills afford; and we passed a great many carts carrying
+them off to distant places in slabs or flags from ten to sixteen feet
+long, two to three feet wide, and six inches thick. They are white,
+with very minute pink spots, and of a texture so very fine that they
+would be taken for indurated clay on a slight inspection. The houses
+of the poorest peasants are here built of this beautiful freestone,
+which, after two hundred years, looks as if it had been quarried only
+yesterday.
+
+About three miles from our tents we crossed over the little river
+Ghorapachhar,[20] flowing over a bed of this sandstone. The soil all
+the way very light, and the cultivation scanty and bad. Except within
+the enclosures of men's houses, scarcely a tree to be anywhere seen
+to give shelter and shade to the weary traveller; and we could find
+no ground for our camp with a shrub to shelter man or beast. All are
+swept away to form gun-carriages for the Gwalior artillery, with a
+philosophical disregard to the comforts of the living, the repose of
+the dead who planted them with a view to a comfortable berth in the
+next world, and to the will of the gods to whom they are dedicated.
+There is nothing left upon the land of animal or vegetable life to
+enrich it; nothing of stock but what is necessary to draw from the
+soil an annual crop, and which looks to one harvest for its entire
+return. The sovereign proprietor of the soil lets it out by the year,
+in farms or villages, to men who depend entirely upon the year's
+return for the means of payment. He, in his turn, lets the lands in
+detail to those who till them, and who depend for their subsistence,
+and for the means of paying their rents, upon the returns of the
+single harvest. There is no manufacture anywhere to be seen, save of
+brass pots and rude cooking utensils; no trade or commerce, save in
+the transport of the rude produce of the land to the great camp at
+Gwalior, upon the backs of bullocks, for want of roads fit for
+wheeled carriages. No one resides in the villages, save those whose
+labour is indispensably necessary to the rudest tillage, and those
+who collect the dues of government, and are paid upon the lowest
+possible scale. Such is the state of the Gwalior territories in every
+part of India where I have seen them.[21] The miseries and misrule of
+the Oudh, Hyderabad, and other Muhammadan governments, are heard of
+everywhere, because there are, under these governments, a middle and
+higher class upon the land to suffer and proclaim them; but those of
+the Gwalior state are never heard of, because no such classes are
+ever allowed to grow up upon the land. Had Russia governed Poland,
+and Turkey Greece, in the way that Gwalior has governed her conquered
+territories, we should never have heard of the wrongs of the one or
+the other.
+
+In my morning's ride the day before I left Gwalior, I saw a fine
+leopard standing by the side of the most frequented road, and staring
+at every one who passed. It was held by two men, who sat by and
+talked to it as if it had been a human being. I thought it was an
+animal for show, and I was about to give them something, when they
+told me that they were servants of the Maharaja, and were training
+the leopard to bear the sight and society of man. 'It had', they
+said, 'been caught about three months ago in the jungles, where it
+could never bear the sight and society of man, or of any animal that
+it could not prey upon; and must be kept upon the most frequented
+road till quite tamed. Leopards taken when very young would', they
+said, 'do very well as pets, but never answered for hunting; a good
+leopard for hunting must, before taken, be allowed to be a season or
+two providing for himself, and living upon the deer he takes in the
+jungles and plains.'
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. For the characteristics of the Marathas and Pindharis, see _ante_,
+Chapter 21, note 2.
+
+2. _Ante_, Chapter 26, note 8, and Chapter 32, note 9.
+
+3. _Ante_, Chapter 17, note 6.
+
+4. A small principality, about seventy miles equidistant from Agra,
+Gwalior, Mathura, Alwar, Jaipur, and Tonk. The attack on Karauli
+occurred in 1813. Full details are given in the author's _Report on
+Budhuk alias Bagree Decoits_, pp. 99-104.
+
+5. Four hundred thousand rupees.
+
+6. _Ante_, Chapter 33, note 15.
+
+7. Seven hundred thousand rupees.
+
+8. Raghugarh is now a mediatized chiefship in the Central India
+Agency, controlled by the Resident at Gwalior. Bajranggarh, a
+stronghold eleven miles south of Guna (Goonah), and about 140 miles
+distant from Gwalior, is in the Raghugarh territory.
+
+9. Three hundred thousand and two hundred thousand rupees,
+respectively. Bahadurgarh is now included in the Isagarh district of
+the Gwalior State.
+
+10. I cannot find any mention of Lopar, if the name is correctly
+printed. Garha Kota seems to be a slip of the pen for Garha. Garha
+Kota is in British territory, in the Sagar District, C. P. But Garha
+is a petty state, formerly included in the Raghugarh State. The town
+of Garha is on the eastern slope of the Malwa plateau in 25 deg. 2' N.
+and 78 deg. 3' E. (_I.G._, 1908, s.v.).
+
+11. On the coronation or installation of every new prince of the
+house of Sindhia, orders are given to plunder a few shops in the town
+as a part of the ceremony, and this they call or consider 'taking the
+auspices'. Compensation is _supposed_ to be made to the proprietors,
+but rarely is made. I believe the same auspices are taken at the
+installation of a new prince of every other Maratha house. The Moghal
+invaders of India were, in the same manner, obliged to allow their
+armies to _take the auspices_ in the sack of a few towns, though they
+had surrendered without resistance. They were given up to pillage as
+a _religions duty_. Even the accomplished Babar was obliged to
+concede this privilege to his army. [W. H. S.]
+
+In reply to the editor's inquiries, Colonel Biddulph, officiating
+Resident at Gwalior, has kindly communicated the following
+information on the subject of the above note, in a letter dated 30th
+December, 1892. 'The custom of looting some "Banias'" shops on the
+installation of a new Maharaja in Gwalior is still observed. It was
+observed when the present Madho Rao Sindhia was installed on the
+_gadi_ on 3rd July, 1886, and the looting was stopped by the police
+on the owners of the shops calling out "Dohai Madho Maharajki!" five
+shops were looted on the occasion, and compensation to the amount of
+Rs. 427, 4, 3 was paid to the owners. My informant tells me that the
+custom has apparently no connexion with religion, but is believed to
+refer to the days when the period between the decease of one ruler
+and the accession of his successor was one of disorder and plunder.
+The maintenance of the custom is supposed to notify to the people
+that they must now look to the new ruler for protection.
+
+'According to another informant, some "banias" are called by the
+palace officers and directed to open their shops in the palace
+precincts, and money is given them to stock their shops. The poor
+people are then allowed to loot them. No shops are allowed to be
+looted in the bazaar.
+
+'I cannot learn that any particular name is given to the ceremony,
+and there appears to be some doubt as to its meaning; but the best
+information seems to show that the reason assigned above is the
+correct one.
+
+'I cannot give any information as to the existence of the custom in
+other Mahratta states.'
+
+The custom was observed late in the sixth century at the birth of
+King Harsha-vardhana (_Harsa-Carita_, transl, Cowell and Thomas, p.
+111). Anthropologists classify such practices as rites de passage,
+marking a transition from the old to the new.
+
+'Bania', or 'baniya', means shopkeeper, especially a grain dealer;
+'gadi', or 'gaddi', is the cushioned seat, also known as 'masnad',
+which serves a Hindoo prince as a throne; and 'dohai' is the ordinary
+form of a cry for redress.
+
+12. Ninety-two lakhs of rupees were then worth more than L920,000.
+The _I.G._ (1908) states the normal revenue as 150 lakhs of rupees,
+equivalent (at the rate of exchange of 1_s._ 4_d._ to the rupee, or R
+15 = L1) to one million pounds sterling. The fall in exchange has
+greatly lowered the sterling equivalent.
+
+13. The Bhil tribes are included in the large group of tribes which
+have been driven back by the more cultivated races into the hills and
+jungles. They are found among the woods along the banks of the
+Nerbudda, Tapti, and Mahi, and in many parts of Central India and
+Rajputana. Of late years they have generally kept quiet; in the
+earlier part of the nineteenth century they gave much trouble in
+Khandesh. In Rajputana two irregular corps of Bhils have been
+organized.
+
+14. Daughter of Mahadaji Sindhia. She died in 1834. See _post_,
+Chapter 70.
+
+15. 'In 1886 the fort of Gwalior and the cantonment of Morar were
+surrendered by the Government of India to Sindhia in exchange for the
+fort and town of Jhansi. Both forts were mutually surrendered and
+occupied on 10th March, 1886. As the occupation of the fort of
+Gwalior necessitated an increase of Sindhia's army, the Maharaja was
+allowed to add 3,000 men to his infantry' (_Letter of Officiating
+Resident, dated 30th Dec._, 1892). In 1908 the Gwalior army,
+comprising all arms, including three regiments of Imperial Service
+Cavalry, numbered more than 12,000 men, described as troops of 'very
+fair quality' (_I.G._, 1908).
+
+16. _Ante_, Chapter 26, note 8; Chapter 32, note 9; Chapter 49, note
+2.
+
+17. In _Ramaseeana_ the author has fully described the practices of
+the Thugs in taking omens, and the feelings with which they regarded
+their profession. Similar information concerning other criminal
+classes is copiously given in the _Report on Budhuk alias Bagree
+Decoits_. See also Meadows Taylor, _Confessions of a Thug_, in any
+edition.
+
+18. These notions are still prevalent.
+
+19. December, 1835, Christmas Day.
+
+20. 'Overthrower of horses'; the same epithet is applied to the
+Utangan river, south of the Agra district, owing to the difficulty
+with which it is crossed when in flood (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed.,
+vol. vii, p. 423).
+
+21. Sindhia's territories, measuring 25,041 square miles, are in
+parts intermixed with those of other princes, and so extend over a
+wide space. Gwalior and its government have been discussed already in
+Chapter 36.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 50
+
+
+Dholpur, Capital of the Jat Chiefs of Gohad--Consequence of Obstacles
+to the Prosecution of Robbers.
+
+On the morning of the 26th,[1] we sent on one tent, with the
+intention of following it in the afternoon; but about three o'clock a
+thunder-storm came on so heavily that I was afraid that which we
+occupied would come down upon us; and, putting my wife and child in a
+palankeen, I took them to the dwelling of an old Bairagi, about two
+hundred yards from us. He received us very kindly, and paid us many
+compliments about the honour we had conferred upon him. He was a kind
+and, I think, a good old man, and had six disciples who seemed to
+reverence him very much. A large stone image of Hanuman, the monkey-
+god, painted red, and a good store of buffaloes, very comfortably
+sheltered from the pitiless storm, were in an inner court. The
+peacocks in dozens sought shelter under the walls and in the tree
+that stood in the courtyard; and I believe that they would have come
+into the old man's apartment had they not seen our white faces there.
+I had a great deal of talk with him, but did not take any notes of
+it. These old Bairagis, who spend the early and middle parts of life
+as disciples in pilgrimages to the celebrated temples of their god
+Vishnu in all parts of India, and the latter part of it as high
+priests or apostles in listening to the reports of the numerous
+disciples employed in similar wanderings are, perhaps, the most
+intelligent men in the country. They are from all the castes and
+classes of society. The lowest Hindoo may become a Bairagi, and the
+very highest are often tempted to become so; the service of the god
+to which they devote themselves levelling all distinctions. Few of
+them can write or read, but they are shrewd observers of men and
+things, and often exceedingly agreeable and instructive companions to
+those who understand them, and can make them enter into unreserved
+conversation. Our tent stood out the storm pretty well, but we were
+obliged to defer our march till the next day. On the afternoon of the
+27th we went on twelve miles, over a plain of deep alluvion, through
+which two rivers have cut their way to the Chambal; and, as usual,
+the ravines along their banks are deep, long, and dreary.
+
+About half-way we were overtaken by one of the heaviest showers of
+rain I ever saw; it threatened us from neither side, but began to
+descend from an apparently small bed of clouds directly over our
+heads, which seemed to spread out on every side as the rain fell, and
+fill the whole vault of heaven with one dark and dense mass. The wind
+changed frequently; and in less than half an hour the whole surface
+of the country over which we were travelling was under water. This
+dense mass of clouds passed off in about two hours to the east; but
+twice, when the sun opened and beamed divinely upon us in a cloudless
+sky to the west, the wind changed suddenly round, and rushed back
+angrily from the east, to fill up the space which had been quickly
+rarefied by the genial heat of its rays, till we were again enveloped
+in darkness, and began to despair of reaching any human habitation
+before night. Some hail fell among the rain, but not large enough to
+hurt any one. The thunder was loud and often startling to the
+strongest nerves, and the lightning vivid, and almost incessant. We
+managed to keep the road because it was merely a beaten pathway below
+the common level of the country, and we could trace it by the greater
+depth of the water, and the absence of all shrubs and grass. All
+roads in India soon become watercourses--they are nowhere metalled;
+and, being left for four or five months every year without rain,
+their soil is reduced to powder by friction, and carried off by the
+winds over the surrounding country.[2] I was on horseback, but my
+wife and child were secure in a good palankeen that sheltered them
+from the rain. The bearers were obliged to move with great caution
+and slowly, and I sent on every person I could spare that they might
+keep moving, for the cold blast blowing over their thin and wet
+clothes seemed intolerable to those who were idle. My child's
+playmate, Gulab, a lad of about ten years of age, resolutely kept by
+the side of the palankeen, trotting through the water with his teeth
+chattering as if he had been in an ague. The rain at last ceased, and
+the sky in the west cleared up beautifully about half an hour before
+sunset. Little Gulab threw off his stuffed and quilted vest, and got
+a good dry English blanket to wrap round him from the palankeen. We
+soon after reached a small village, in which I treated all who had
+remained with us to as much coarse sugar (_gur_) as they could eat;
+and, as people of all castes can eat of sweetmeats from the hands of
+confectioners without prejudice to their caste, and this sugar is
+considered to be the best of all good things for guarding against
+colds in man or beast, they all ate very heartily, and went on in
+high spirits. As the sun sank below us on the left, a bright moon
+shone out upon us from the right, and about an hour after dark we
+reached our tents on the north bank of the Kuari river, where we
+found an excellent dinner for ourselves, and good fires, and good
+shelter for our servants. Little rain had fallen near the tents, and
+the river Kuari, over which we had to cross, had not, fortunately,
+much swelled; nor did much fall on the ground we had left; and, as
+the tents there had been struck and laden before it came on, they
+came up the next morning early, and went on to our next ground.
+
+On the 28th, we went on to Dholpur, the capital of the Jat chiefs of
+Gohad,[3] on the left bank of the Chambal, over a plain with a
+variety of crops, but not one that requires two seasons to reach
+maturity. The soil excellent in quality and deep, but not a tree
+anywhere to be seen, nor any such thing as a work of ornament or
+general utility of any kind. We saw the fort of Dholpur at a distance
+of six miles, rising apparently from the surface of the level plain,
+but in reality situated on the summit of the opposite and high bank
+of a large river, its foundation at least one hundred feet above the
+level of the water. The immense pandemonia of ravines that separated
+us from this fort were not visible till we began to descend into them
+some two or three miles from the bed of the river. Like all the
+ravines that border the rivers in these parts, they are naked,
+gloomy, and ghastly, and the knowledge that no solitary traveller is
+ever safe in them does not tend to improve the impression they make
+upon us. The river is a beautiful clear stream, here flowing over a
+bed of fine sand with a motion so gentle, that one can hardly
+conceive it is she who has played such fantastic tricks along the
+borders, and made such 'frightful gashes' in them. As we passed over
+this noble reach of the river Chambal in a ferry-boat, the boatman
+told us of the magnificent bridge formed here by the Baiza Bai for
+Lord William Bentinck in 1832, from boats brought down from Agra for
+the purpose. 'Little', said they, 'did it avail her with the
+Governor-General in her hour of need.[4]
+
+The town of Dholpur lies some short way in from the north bank of the
+Chambal, at the extremity of a range of sandstone hills which runs
+diagonally across that of Gwalior. This range was once capped with
+basalt, and some boulders are still found upon it in a state of rapid
+decomposition. It was quite refreshing to see the beautiful mango
+groves on the Dholpur side of the river, after passing through a
+large tract of country in which no tree of any kind was to be seen.
+On returning from a long ride over the range of sandstone hills the
+morning after we reached Dholpur, I passed through an encampment of
+camels taking rude iron from some mines in the hills to the south
+towards Agra. They waited here within the frontier of a native state
+for a pass from the Agra custom house,[5] lest any one should, after
+they enter our frontier, pretend that they were going to smuggle it,
+and thus get them into trouble. 'Are you not', said I, 'afraid to
+remain here so near the ravines of the Chambal, when thieves are said
+to be so numerous?' 'Not at all,' replied they. 'I suppose thieves do
+not think it worth while to steal rude iron?' 'Thieves, sir, think it
+worth while to steal anything they can get, but we do not fear them
+much here.' 'Where, then, do you fear them much?' 'We fear them when
+we get into the Company's territories.' 'And how is this, when we
+have good police establishments, and the Dholpur people none?' 'When
+the Dholpur people get hold of a thief, they make him disgorge all
+that he has got of our property for us, and they confiscate all the
+rest that he has for themselves, and cut off his nose or his hands,
+and turn him adrift to deter others. You, on the contrary, when you
+get hold of a thief, worry us to death in the prosecution of your
+courts; and, when we have proved the robbery to your satisfaction,
+you leave all this ill-gotten wealth to his family,[6] and provide
+him with good food and clothing for himself, while he works for you a
+couple of years on the roads.[7] The consequence is, that here
+fellows are afraid to rob a traveller, if they find him at all on his
+guard, as we generally are, while in your districts they rob us where
+and when they like.'
+
+'But, my friends, you are sure to recover what we do get of your
+property from the thieves.' 'Not quite sure of that neither,' said
+they, 'or the greater part is generally absorbed on its way back to
+us through the officers of your court; and we would always rather put
+up with the first loss than run the risk of a greater by prosecution,
+if we happen to get robbed within the Company's territories.'
+
+The loss and annoyances to which prosecutors and witnesses are
+subject in our courts are a source of very great evil to the country.
+They enable police-officers everywhere to grow rich upon the
+concealment of crimes. The man who has been robbed will bribe them to
+conceal the robbery, that he may escape the further loss of the
+prosecution in our courts, generally very distant; and the witnesses
+will bribe them to avoid attending to give evidence; the whole
+village communities bribe them, because every man feels that they
+have the power of getting him summoned to the court in some capacity
+or other, if they like; and that they will certainly like to do so,
+if not bribed.
+
+The obstacles which our system opposes to the successful prosecution
+of robbers of all denominations and descriptions deprive our
+Government of all popular support in the administration of criminal
+justice; and this is considered everywhere to be the worst, and,
+indeed, the only radically bad feature of our government. No
+magistrate hopes to get a conviction against one in four of the most
+atrocious gang of robbers and murderers of his district, and his only
+resource is in the security laws, which enable him to keep them in
+jail under a requisition of security for short periods. To this an
+idle or apathetic magistrate will not have recourse, and under him
+these robbers have a free licence.
+
+In England, a judicial acquittal does not send back the culprit to
+follow the same trade in the same field, as in India; for the
+published proceedings of the court bring down upon him the
+indignation of society--the moral and religions feelings of his
+fellow men are arrayed against him, and from these salutary checks no
+flaw in the indictment can save him. Not so in India. There no moral
+or religions feelings interpose to assist or to supply the
+deficiencies of the penal law. Provided he eats, drinks, smokes,
+marries, and makes his offerings to his priest according to the rules
+of his caste, the robber and the murderer incurs no odium in the
+circle in which he moves, either religious or moral, and this is the
+only circle for whose feelings he has any regard.[8]
+
+The man who passed off his bad coin at Datiya, passed off more at
+Dholpur while my advanced people were coming in, pretending that he
+wanted things for me, and was in a great hurry to be ready with them
+at my tents by the time I came up. The bad rupees were brought to a
+native officer of my guard, who went with the shopkeepers in search
+of the knave, but he could nowhere be found. The gates of the town
+were shut up all night at my suggestion, and in the morning every
+lodging-house in the town was searched for him in vain--he had gone
+on. I had left some sharp men behind me, expecting that he would
+endeavour to pass off his bad money immediately after my departure;
+but in expectation of this he was now evidently keeping a little in
+advance of me. I sent on some men with the shopkeepers whom he had
+cheated to our next stage, in the hope of overtaking him; but he had
+left the place before they arrived without passing any of his bad
+coin, and gone on to Agra. The shopkeepers could not be persuaded to
+go any further after him, for, if they caught him, they should, they
+said, have infinite trouble in prosecuting him in our courts, without
+any chance of recovering from him what they had lost.
+
+On the 29th, we remained at Dholpur to receive and return the visits
+of the young Raja, or, as he is called, the young Rana, a lad of
+about fifteen years of age, very plain, and very dull. He came about
+ten in the forenoon with a very respectable and well-dressed retinue,
+and a tolerable show of elephants and horses. The uniforms of his
+guards were made after those of our own soldiers, and did not please
+me half so much as those of the Datiya guards, who were permitted to
+consult their own tastes; and the music of the drums and fifes seemed
+to me infinitely inferior to that of the mounted minstrels of my old
+friend Parichhit.[9] The lad had with him about a dozen old public
+servants entitled to chairs, some of whom had served his father above
+thirty years; while the ancestors of others had served his
+grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and I could not help telling the
+lad in their presence that 'these were the greatest ornament of a
+prince's throne and the best signs and pledges of a good government'.
+They were all evidently much pleased at the compliment, and I thought
+they deserved to be pleased, from the good character they bore among
+the peasantry of the country. I mentioned that I had understood the
+boatmen of the Chambal at Dholpur never caught or ate fish. The lad
+seemed embarrassed, and the minister took upon himself to reply that
+'there was no market for it, since the Hindoos of Dholpur never ate
+fish, and the Muhammadans had all disappeared'. I asked the lad
+whether he was fond of hunting. He seemed again confounded, and the
+minister said that 'his highness never either hunted or fished, as
+people of his caste were prohibited from destroying life'. 'And yet',
+said I, 'they have often showed themselves good soldiers in battle.'
+They were all pleased again, and said that they were not prohibited
+from killing tigers; but that there was no jungle of any kind near
+Dholpur, and, consequently, no tigers to be found. The Jats are
+descendants of the Getae, and were people of very low caste, or
+rather of no caste at all, among the Hindoos, and they are now trying
+to raise themselves by abstaining from killing and eating
+animals.[10] Among Hindoos this is everything; a man of low caste is
+'_sab kuchh khata_', sticks at nothing in the way of eating; and a
+man of high caste is a man who abstains from eating anything but
+vegetable or farinaceous food; if, at the same time, he abstains from
+using in his cook-room all woods but one, and has that one washed
+before he uses it, he is canonized.[11] Having attained to military
+renown and territorial dominion in the usual way by robbery, the Jats
+naturally enough seek the distinction of high caste to enable them
+the better to enjoy their position in society.
+
+It had been stipulated that I should walk to the bottom of the steps
+to receive the Rana, as is the usage on such occasions, and carpets
+were accordingly spread thus far. Here he got out of his chair, and I
+led him into the large room of the bungalow, which we occupied during
+our stay, followed by all his and my attendants. The bungalow had
+been built by the former Resident at Gwalior, the Honourable R.
+Cavendish, for his residence during the latter part of the rains,
+when Gwalior is considered to be unhealthy. At his departure the Rana
+purchased this bungalow for the use of European gentlemen and ladies
+passing through his capital.
+
+In the afternoon, about four o'clock, I went to return his visit in a
+small palace not yet finished, a pretty piece of miniature
+fortification, surrounded by what they call their 'chhaoni', or
+cantonments. The streets are good, and the buildings neat and
+substantial; but there is nothing to strike or particularly interest
+the stranger. The interview passed off without anything remarkable;
+and I was more than ever pleased with the people by whom this young
+chief is surrounded. Indeed, I had much reason to be pleased with the
+manners of all the people on this side of the Chambal. They are those
+of a people well pleased to see English gentlemen among them, and
+anxious to make themselves useful and agreeable to us. They know that
+their chief is indebted to the British Government for all the country
+he has, and that he would be swallowed up by Sindhia's greedy army,
+were not the sevenfold shield of the Honourable Company spread over
+him. His establishments, civil and military, like those of the
+Bundelkhand chiefs, are raised from the peasantry and yeomanry or the
+country; who all, in consequence, feel an interest in the prosperity
+and independent respectability of their chief. On the Gwalior side,
+the members of all the public establishments know and feel that it is
+we who interpose and prevent their master from swallowing up all his
+neighbours, and thereby having increased means of promoting their
+interest and that of their friends; and they detest us all most
+cordially in consequence. The peasantry of the Gwalior territory seem
+to consider their own government as a kind of minotaur, which they
+would be glad to see destroyed, no matter how or by whom; since it
+gives no lucrative or honourable employment to any of their members,
+so as to interest either their pride or their affections; nor throws
+back among them for purposes of local advantage any of the produce of
+their land and labour which it exacts. It is worthy of remark that,
+though the Dholpur chief is peculiarly the creature of the British
+Government, and indebted to it for all he has or ever will have, and
+though he has never had anything, and never can have, or can hope to
+have, anything from the poor pageant of the house of Timur, who now
+sits upon the throne of Delhi;[12] yet, on his seal of office he
+declares himself to be the slave and creature of that imperial
+'warrior for the faith of Islam'. As he abstains from eating the good
+fish of the river Chambal to enhance his claim to caste among
+Hindoos, so he abstains from acknowledging his deep debt of gratitude
+to the Honourable Company, or the British Government, with a view to
+give the rust of age to his rank and title. To acknowledge himself a
+creature of the British Government were to acknowledge that he was a
+man of yesterday; to acknowledge himself the slave of the Emperor is
+to claim for his poor veins 'the blood of a line of kings'. The petty
+chiefs of Bundelkhand, who are in the same manner especially
+dependent on the British Government, do the same thing.
+
+At Dholpur, there are some noble old mosques and mausoleums built
+three hundred years ago, in the reign of the Emperor Humayun, by some
+great officers of his government, whose remains still rest
+undisturbed among them, though the names of their families have been
+for many ages forgotten, and no men of their creed now live near to
+demand for them the respect of the living. These tombs are all
+elaborately built and worked out of the fine freestone of the country
+and the trellis-work upon some of their stone screens is still as
+beautiful as when first made. There are Persian and Arabic
+inscriptions upon all of them, and I found from them that one of the
+mosques had been built by the Emperor Shah Jahan in A.D. 1634,[13]
+when he little dreamed that his three sons would here meet to fight
+the great fight for the throne while he yet sat upon it.[14]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. The author's remark that in India the roads are 'nowhere metalled'
+must seem hardly credible to a modern traveller, who sees the country
+intersected by thousands of miles of metalled road. The Grand Trunk
+Road from Calcutta to Lahore, constructed in Lord Dalhousie's time,
+alone measures about 1,200 miles. The development of roads since 1850
+ha been enormous, and yet the mileage of good roads would have to be
+increased tenfold to put India on an equality with the more advanced
+countries of Europe.
+
+3. _Ante_, Chanter 36, notes 26 & 27.
+
+
+4. The Baiza Bai was the widow of Daulat Rao Sindhia. He had died on
+March 21, 1827. With the consent of the Government of India, she
+adopted a boy as his successor, but, being an ambitions and
+intriguing woman, she tried to keep all power in her own hands. The
+young Maharaja fled from her, and took refuge in the Residency in
+October, 1832. In December of the same year Lord William Bentinck
+visited Gwalior, and assumed an attitude of absolute neutrality. The
+result was that trouble continued, and seven months later the
+Maharaja again fled to the Residency. The troops then revolted
+against the Baiza Bai, and compelled her to retire to Dholpur. This
+event put an end to her political activity. Ultimately she was
+allowed to return to Gwalior, and died there in 1862 (Malleson, _The
+Native States of India_, pp. 160-4). The author wrote an unpublished
+history of Baiza Bai (_ante_, Bibliography).
+
+5. Long since abolished.
+
+6. The law now permits the person injured to be compensated out of
+any fine realized.
+
+7. The system of employing gangs of prisoners on the roads was open
+to great abuses, and has been long given up. The prisoners are now,
+as a rule, employed only on the jail promises, and cannot be utilized
+for outside work, except under special circumstances by special
+sanction.
+
+8. The notes to this edition have recorded many changes in India, but
+no change has taken place in the difficulties which beset the
+administration of criminal law. They are still those which the author
+describes, and Police Commissions cannot remove them. The power to
+exact security for good behaviour from known bad characters still
+exists, and, when discreetly used, is of great value. The conviction
+of atrocious robbers and murderers is, perhaps, less rare than it was
+in the author's time, though many still escape even the minor penalty
+of arrest. The want of a sound moral public opinion is the
+fundamental difficulty in Indian police administration--a truth fully
+Understood by the author, but rarely realized by members of
+Parliament.
+
+9. The title of the Dholpur chief is now Maharaja Rana. In 1905 his
+reduced army numbered 1,216 of all ranks (_I. G._, 1908). The force
+is not of serious military value.
+
+10. The identification of the Jats, or Jats, with the Getae is not
+even probable. The anchor exaggerates the lowness of the social rank
+of the Jats, who cannot properly be described as people of 'very low
+caste'. They are, and have long been, numerous and powerful in the
+Panjab and the neighbouring countries. It is true that they hate
+Brahmans, care little for Brahman notions of propriety, either as
+regards food or marriage, and to a certain extent stand outside the
+orthodox Hindoo system; but they are heterodox rather than low-caste.
+The Rajas of Bharatpur, Dholpur, Nabha, Patiala, and Jind are all
+Jats. The Jats are a fine and interesting people, who seem to suffer
+little deterioration from the notorious laxity of their matrimonial
+arrangements. They are skilled and industrious cultivators. A saying
+has been current in Upper India that, if the British power is ever
+broken, the succession will pass to the Jats.
+
+11. This is the Brahman and Baniya theory. A high-spirited Rajput of
+Rajputana, full of pride in his long ancestry, and yet fond of wild
+boar's flesh, would indeed be wroth if denounced as a low-caste man.
+It is, however, unfortunately, quite true that all races which become
+entangled in the meshes of Hinduism tend to gradually surrender their
+freedom, and to become proud of submission to the senseless
+formalities and restrictions which the Brahman loves.
+
+12. Akbar II. He was titular emperor from A.D. 1806 to 1837, and was
+succeeded by Bahadur Shah II, the last of his line. The portrait of
+Akbar II is the frontispiece to volume i of the original edition of
+this work, and a miniature portrait of him is given in the
+frontispiece of volume ii.
+
+13. One of these tombs, namely, that of Bibi Zarina, dated A.H. 942 =
+A.D. 1535-6, is described by Cunningham (_A.S.R._, xx, p. 113, pl.
+xxxvii), who notes that according to an obviously false local popular
+story, the lady was a daughter of Shah Jahan, who lived a century
+later. This story seems to have misled the author. No inscription of
+the reign of Shah Jahan at Dholpur is recorded.
+
+14. The three sons were Dara Shikoh, Aurangzeb, and Murad Baksh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 51
+
+
+Influence of Electricity on Vegetation--Agra and its Buildings.
+
+On the 30th and 31st,[1] we went twenty-four miles over a dry plain,
+with a sandy soil covered with excellent crops where irrigated, and a
+very poor one where not. We met several long strings of camels
+carrying grain from Agra to Gwalior. A single man takes charge of
+twenty or thirty, holding the bridle of the first, and walking on
+before its nose. The bridles of all the rest are tied one after the
+other to the saddles of those immediately preceding them, and all
+move along after the leader in single file. Water must tend to
+attract and to impart to vegetables a good deal of electricity and
+other vivifying powers that would otherwise he dormant in the earth
+at a distance. The mere circumstance of moistening the earth from
+within reach of the roots would not be sufficient to account for the
+vast difference between the crops of fields that are irrigated, and
+those that are not. One day, in the middle of the season of the
+rains, I asked my gardener, while walking with him over my grounds,
+how it was that some of the fine clusters of bamboos had not yet
+begun to throw out their shoots. 'We have not yet had a thunderstorm,
+sir,' replied the gardener. 'What in the name of God has the
+thunderstorm to do with the shooting of the bamboos?' asked I in
+amazement. 'I don't know, sir,' said he, 'but certain it is that no
+bamboos begin to throw out their shoots well till we get a good deal
+of thunder and lightning.' The thunder and lightning came, and the
+bamboo shoots soon followed in abundance. It might have been a mere
+coincidence; or the tall bamboo may bring down from the passing
+clouds, and convey to the roots, the electric fluid they require for
+nourishment, or for conductors of nourishment.[2]
+
+In the Isle of France,[3] people have a notion that the mushrooms
+always come up best after a thunderstorm. Electricity has certainly
+much more to do in the business of the world than we are yet aware
+of, in the animal, mineral, and vegetable developments.[4]
+
+At our ground this day, I met a very respectable and intelligent
+native revenue officer who had been employed to settle some boundary
+disputes between the yeomen of our territory and those of the
+adjoining territory of Dholpur.
+
+'The Honourable Company's rights and those of its yeomen must', said
+he, 'be inevitably sacrificed in all such cases; for the Dholpur
+chief, or his minister, says to all their witnesses, "You are, of
+course, expected to speak the truth regarding the land in dispute;
+but, by the sacred stream of the Ganges, if you speak so as to lose
+this estate one inch of it, you lose both your ears"--and most
+assuredly would they lose them,' continued he, 'if they were not to
+swear most resolutely that all the land in question belonged to
+Dholpur. Had I the same power to cut off the ears of witnesses on our
+side, we should meet on equal terms. Were I to threaten to cut them
+off, they would laugh in my face.' There was much truth in what the
+poor man said, for the Dholpur witnesses always make it appear that
+the claims of their yeomen are just and moderate, and a salutary
+dread of losing their ears operates, no doubt, very strongly. The
+threatened punishment of the prince is quick, while that of the gods,
+however just, is certainly very slow--
+
+ Ut sit magna, tamen certe lenta ira deorum est.
+
+On the 1st of January, 1836, we went on sixteen miles to Agra, and,
+when within about six miles of the city, the dome and minarets of the
+Taj opened upon us from behind a small grove of fruit-trees, close by
+us on the side of the road. The morning was not clear, but it was a
+good one for a first sight of this building, which appeared larger
+through the dusty haze than it would have done through a clear sky.
+For five-and-twenty years of my life had I been looking forward to
+the sight now before me. Of no building on earth had I heard so much
+as of this, which contains the remains of the Emperor Shah Jahan and
+his wife, the father and mother of the children whose struggles for
+dominion have been already described. We had ordered our tents to be
+pitched in the gardens of this splendid mausoleum, that we might have
+our fill of the enjoyment which everybody seemed to derive from it;
+and we reached them about eight o'clock. I went over the whole
+building before I entered my tent, and, from the first sight of the
+dome and minarets on the distant horizon to the last glance back from
+my tent-ropes to the magnificent gateway that forms the entrance from
+our camp to the quadrangle in which they stand, I can truly say that
+everything surpassed my expectations. I at first thought the dome
+formed too large a portion of the whole building; that its neck was
+too long and too much exposed; and that the minarets were too plain
+in their design; but, after going repeatedly over every part, and
+examining the _tout ensemble_ from all possible positions, and in all
+possible lights, from that of the full moon at midnight in a
+cloudless sky to that of the noonday sun, the mind seemed to repose
+in the calm persuasion that there was an entire harmony of parts, a
+faultless congregation of architectural beauties, on which it could
+dwell for ever without fatigue.
+
+After my quarter of a century of anticipated pleasure, I went on from
+part to part in the expectation that I must by and by come to
+something that would disappoint me; but no, the emotion which one
+feels at first is never impaired; on the contrary, it goes on
+improving from the first _coup d'oeil_ of the dome in the distance to
+the minute inspection of the last flower upon the screen round the
+tomb. One returns and returns to it with undiminished pleasure; and
+though at every return one's attention to the smaller parts becomes
+less and less, the pleasure which he derives from the contemplation
+of the greater, and of the whole collectively, seems to increase; and
+he leaves with a feeling of regret that he could not have it all his
+life within his reach, and of assurance that the image of what he has
+seen can never be obliterated from his mind 'while memory holds her
+seat'. I felt that it was to me in architecture what Kemble and his
+sister, Mrs. Siddons, had been to me a quarter of a century before in
+acting--something that must stand alone--something that I should
+never cease to see clearly in my mind's eye, and yet never be able
+clearly to describe to others.[5]
+
+The Emperor and his Queen he buried side by side in a vault beneath
+the building, to which we descend by a flight of steps. Their remains
+are covered by two slabs of marble; and directly over these slabs,
+upon the floor above, in the great centre room under the dome, stand
+two other slabs, or cenotaphs, of the same marble exquisitely worked
+in mosaic. Upon that of the Queen, amid wreaths of flowers, are
+worked in black letters passages from the Koran, one of which, at the
+end facing the entrance, terminates with 'And defend us from the
+tribe of unbelievers'; that very tribe which is now gathered from all
+quarters of the civilized world to admire the splendour of the tomb
+which was raised to perpetuate her name.[6] On the slab over her
+husband there are no passages from the Koran--merely mosaic work of
+flowers with his name and the date of his death.[7] I asked some of
+the learned Muhammadan attendants the cause of this difference, and
+was told that Shah Jahan had himself designed the slab over his wife,
+and saw no harm in inscribing the words of God upon it; but that the
+slab over himself was designed by his more pious son, Aurangzeb, who
+did not think it right to place these holy words upon a stone which
+the foot of man might some day touch, though that stone covered the
+remains of his own father. Such was this 'man of prayers', this
+'Namazi' (as Dara called him), to the last. He knew mankind well,
+and, above all, that part of them which he was called upon to govern,
+and which he governed for forty years with so much ability.[8]
+
+The slab over the Queen occupies the centre of the apartments above
+and in the vault below, and that over her husband lies on the left as
+we enter. At one end of the slab in the vault her name is inwrought,
+'Mumtaz-i-mahal Banu Begam', the ornament of the palace, Banu Begam,
+and the date of her death, 1631. That of her husband and the date of
+his death, 1666, are inwrought upon the other.[9]
+
+She died in giving birth to a daughter, who is said to have been
+heard crying in the womb by herself and her other daughters. She sent
+for the Emperor, and told him that she believed no mother had ever
+been known to survive the birth of a child so heard, and that she
+felt her end was near. She had, she said, only two requests to make;
+first, that he would not marry again after her death, and get
+children to contend with hers for his favour and dominions; and,
+secondly, that he would build for her the tomb with which he had
+promised to perpetuate her name. She died in giving birth to the
+child, as might have been expected when the Emperor, in his anxiety,
+called all the midwives of the city, and all his secretaries of state
+and privy counsellors to prescribe for her. Both her dying requests
+were granted. Her tomb was commenced upon immediately. No woman ever
+pretended to supply her place in the palace; nor had Shah Jahan, that
+we know of, children by any other.[10] Tavernier saw this building
+completed and finished; and tells us that it occupied twenty thousand
+men for twenty-two years.[11] The mausoleum itself and all the
+buildings that appertain to it cost 3,17,48,026--three _karor_,
+seventeen lakhs, forty-eight thousand and twenty-six rupees, or
+3,174,802 pounds sterling;--three million one hundred and seventy-
+four thousand eight hundred and two![12] I asked my wife, when she
+had gone over it, what she thought of the building. 'I cannot', said
+she, 'tell you what I think, for I know not how to criticize such a
+building, but I can tell you what I feel. I would die to-morrow to
+have such another over me.' This is what many a lady has felt, no
+doubt.
+
+The building stands upon the north side of a large quadrangle,
+looking down into the clear blue stream of the river Jumna, while the
+other three sides are enclosed with a high wall of red sandstone.[13]
+The entrance to this quadrangle is through a magnificent gateway in
+the south side opposite the tomb; and on the other two sides are very
+beautiful mosques facing inwards, and corresponding exactly with each
+other in size, design, and execution. That on the left, or west, side
+is the only one that can be used as a mosque or church; because the
+faces of the audience, and those of all men at their prayers, must be
+turned towards the tomb of their prophet to the west. The pulpit is
+always against the dead wall at the back, and the audience face
+towards it, standing with their backs to the open front of the
+building. The church on the east side is used for the accommodation
+of visitors, or for any secular purpose, and was built merely as a
+'jawab' (answer) to the real one.[14] The whole area is laid out in
+square parterres, planted with flowers and shrubs in the centre, and
+with fine trees, chiefly the cypress, all round the borders, forming
+an avenue to every road. These roads are all paved with slabs of
+freestone, and have, running along the centre, a basin, with a row of
+_jets d'eau_ in the middle from one extremity to the other. These are
+made to play almost every evening, when the gardens are much
+frequented by the European gentlemen and ladies of the station, and
+by natives of all religions and sects. The quadrangle is from east to
+west nine hundred and sixty-four feet, and from north to south three
+hundred and twenty-nine.[l5]
+
+The mausoleum itself, the terrace upon which it stands, and the
+minarets, are all formed of the finest white marble, inlaid with
+precious stones. The wall around the quadrangle, including the river
+face of the terrace, is made of red sandstone, with cupolas and
+pillars of the same white marble. The insides of the churches and
+apartments in and upon the walls are all lined with marble or with
+stucco work that looks like marble; but, on the outside, the red
+sandstone resembles uncovered bricks. The dazzling white marble of
+the mausoleum itself rising over the red wall is apt, at first sight,
+to make a disagreeable impression, from the idea of a whitewashed
+head to an unfinished building; but this impression is very soon
+removed, and tends, perhaps, to improve that which is afterwards
+received from a nearer inspection. The marble was all brought from
+the Jeypore territories upon wheeled carriages, a distance, I
+believe, of two or three hundred miles; and the sandstone from the
+neighbourhood of Dholpur and Fathpur Sikri.[16] Shah Jahan is said to
+have inherited his partiality for this colour from his grandfather,
+Akbar, who constructed almost all his buildings from the same stone,
+though he might have had the beautiful white freestone at the same
+cost. What was figuratively said of Augustus may be most literally
+said of Shah Jahan; he found the cities (Agra and Delhi) all brick,
+and left them all marble; for all the marble buildings, and additions
+to buildings, were formed by him.[17]
+
+This magnificent building and the palaces at Agra and Delhi were, I
+believe, designed by Austin de Bordeaux, a Frenchman of great talent
+and merit, in whose ability and integrity the Emperor placed much
+reliance. He was called by the natives 'Ustan [_sic_] Isa, Nadir-ul-
+asr', 'the wonderful of the age'; and, for his office of 'naksha
+navis', or plan-drawer, he received a regular salary of one thousand
+rupees a month, with occasional presents, that made his income very
+large. He had finished the palace at Delhi, and the mausoleum and
+palace of Agra; and was engaged in designing a silver ceiling for one
+of the galleries in the latter, when he was sent by the Emperor to
+settle some affairs of great importance at Goa. He died at Cochin on
+his way back, and is supposed to have been poisoned by the
+Portuguese, who were extremely jealous of his influence at court. He
+left a son by a native, called Muhammad Sharif, who was employed as
+an architect on a salary of five hundred rupees a month, and who
+became, as I conclude from his name, a Musalman. Shah Jahan had
+commenced his own tomb on the opposite side of the Jumna; and both
+were to have been united by a bridge.[18] The death of Austin de
+Bordeaux, and the wars between his [_scil._ Shah Jahan's] sons that
+followed prevented the completion of these magnificent works.[19]
+
+We were encamped upon a fine green sward outside the entrance to the
+south, in a kind of large court, enclosed by a high cloistered wall,
+in which all our attendants and followers found shelter. Colonel and
+Mrs. King, and some other gentlemen, were encamped in the same place,
+and for the same purpose; and we had a very agreeable party. The band
+of our friend Major Godby's regiment played sometimes in the evening
+upon the terrace of the Taj; but, of all the complicated music ever
+heard upon earth, that of a flute blown gently in the vault below,
+where the remains of the Emperor and his consort repose, as the sound
+rises to the dome amidst a hundred arched alcoves around, and
+descends in heavenly reverberations upon those who sit or recline
+upon the cenotaphs above the vault, is, perhaps, the finest to an
+inartificial car. We feel as if it were from heaven, and breathed by
+angels; it is to the ear what the building itself is to the eye; but,
+unhappily, it cannot, like the building, live in our recollections.
+All that we can, in after life, remember is that it was heavenly, and
+produced heavenly emotions.
+
+ We went all over the palace in the fort, a very magnificent building
+constructed by Shah Jahan within fortifications raised by his
+grandfather Akbar.[20]
+
+The fretwork and mosaic upon the marble pillars and panels are equal
+to those of the Taj; or, if possible, superior; nor is the design or
+execution in any respect inferior, and yet a European feels that he
+could get a house much more commodious, and more to his taste, for a
+much less sum than must have been expended upon it. The Marquis of
+Hastings, when Governor-General of India, broke up one of the most
+beautiful marble baths of this palace to send home to George IV of
+England, then Prince Regent, and the rest of the marble of the suite
+of apartments from which it had been taken, with all its exquisite
+fretwork and mosaic, was afterwards sold by auction, on account of
+our Government, by order of the then Governor-General, Lord W.
+Bentinck. Had these things fetched the price expected, it is probable
+that the whole of the palace, and even the Taj itself, would have
+been pulled down, and sold in the same manner.[21]
+
+We visited the Moti Masjid or Pearl Mosque. It was built by Shah
+Jahan, entirely of white marble; and completed, as we learn from an
+inscription on the portico, in the year A.D. 1656.[22] There is no
+mosaic upon any of the pillars or panels of this mosque; but the
+design and execution of the flowers in bas-relief are exceedingly
+beautiful. It is a chaste, simple, and majestic building;[23] and is
+by some people admired even more than the Taj, because they have
+heard less of it; and their pleasure is heightened by surprise. We
+feel that it is to all other mosques what the Taj is to all other
+mausoleums, a _facile princeps_.
+
+Few, however, go to see the 'mosque of pearls' more than once, stay
+as long as they will at Agra; and when they go, the building appears
+less and less to deserve their admiration; while they go to the Taj
+as often as they can, and find new beauties in it, or new feelings of
+pleasure from it, every time[24]
+
+I went out to visit this tomb of the Emperor Akbar at Sikandara, a
+magnificent building, raised over him by his son, the Emperor
+Jahangir. His remains he deposited in a deep vault under the centre,
+and are covered by a plain slab of marble, without fretwork or
+mosaic. On the top of the building, which is three or four stories
+high, is another marble slab, corresponding with the one in the vault
+below.[25] This is beautifully carved, with the 'nau nauwe nam'-the
+ninety-nine names, or attributes of the Deity, from the Koran.[26] It
+is covered by an awning, not to protect the tomb, but to defend the
+'words of God' from the rain, as my cicerone assured me.[27] He told
+me that the attendants upon this tomb used to have the hay of the
+large quadrangle of forty acres in which it stands,[28] in addition
+to their small salaries, and that it yielded them some fifty rupees a
+year; but the chief native officer of the Taj establishment demanded
+half of the sum, and when they refused to give him so much, he
+persuaded his master, the European engineer, _with much difficulty_,
+to take all this hay for the public cattle. 'And why could you not
+adjust such a matter between you, without pestering the engineer?'
+'Is not this the way', said he, with emotion, 'that Hindustan has cut
+its own throat, and brought in the stranger at all times? Have they
+ever had, or can they ever have, confidence in each other, or let
+each other alone to enjoy the little they have in peace?' Considering
+all the circumstances of time and place, Akbar has always appeared to
+me among sovereigns what Shakespeare was among poets; and, feeling as
+a citizen of the world, I reverenced the marble slab that covers his
+bones more, perhaps, than I should that over any other sovereign with
+whose history I am acquainted.[29]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. December, 1835.
+
+2. It is not, perhaps, generally known, though it deserves to be so,
+that the bamboo seeds only once, and dies immediately after seeding.
+All bamboos from the same seed die at the same time, whenever they
+may have been planted. The life of the common large bamboo is about
+fifty years. [W. H. S.] The period is said to vary between thirty and
+sixty years. Bamboo seed is eaten as rice when obtainable. The
+author's theories about electricity are more ingenious than
+satisfactory.
+
+3. Better known as the Mauritius.
+
+4. This proposition may be accepted with confidence. Electricity is a
+great mystery, which becomes more mysterious the more it is studied.
+
+5. A letter of the author's, dated 13th March, 1809, is extant, in
+which he gives a full description of the performance of _Macbeth_ at
+the Haymarket by Kemble and Mrs. Siddons on Saturday, 11th March. The
+author sailed in the _Devonshire_ on the 24th March.
+
+6. No European had ever before, I believe, noted this, [W. H. S.]
+Moin-ud-din (p. 49) says that this phrase, 'Thou art our patron, help
+as therefore against the unbelieving nations,' is from the long
+chapter 2 ('The Cow') of the Koran, but I have not succeeded in
+finding the exact words in Sale's version of that chapter. I suspect
+that the words have been misread. Moin-ud-din gives as the words at
+the north side of the tomb, _script characters_ 'the unbelieving
+nations', whereas Muh. Latif (_Agra_, p. 111) says that the words 'on
+the head of the sarcophagus' are _script characters_ 'He is the
+everlasting. He is sufficient.' It will be observed that the
+characters in the two readings are almost identical.
+
+7. The Empress had been a good deal exasperated against the
+Portuguese and Dutch by the treatment her husband received from them
+when a fugitive, after an unsuccessful rebellion against his father;
+and her hatred to them extended, in some degree, to all Christians,
+whom she considered to be included in the term 'Kafir', or
+unbeliever. [W. H. S.] Prince Shah Jahan (Khurram) rebelled against
+his father, Jahangir, in A.D. 1623, and submitted in A.D. 1625. The
+terrible punishment inflicted by Shah Jahan when Emperor on the
+Portuguese of Hugli (Hooghly) is related by Bernier (Constable's ed.,
+pp. 177, 287). The Emperor had previously destroyed the Jesuits'
+church at Lahore completely, and the greater part of the church at
+Agra.
+
+8. The cleverness, astuteness, energy, and business capacity of
+Aurangzeb are undoubted, and yet his long reign was a disastrous
+failure. The author reflects the praises of Muhammadans who cherish
+the memory of the 'namazi'. The Emperor himself knew better when, in
+his old ago, he wrote to his son Azam the pathetic words, 'I have not
+done well by the country or its people. My years have gone by
+profitless' (Lane-Poole's version in _Aurangzib_ (Rulers of India),
+p. 203. Letter No. 72 in Bilimoria, _Letters of Aurungzbe_, Bombay,
+1908. Another version in E. and D. vii, 562.) His reign lasted for
+almost forty-nine years, from June 1658 to February 1707, and not for
+only forty years.
+
+9. The real tombs are in the vault below. Beautiful cenotaphs stand
+under the dome. The inscription on the tomb of the Empress is exactly
+repeated on her cenotaph, and runs thus:-
+ 'The splendid sepulchre of Arjumand Bano Begam, entitled Mumtaz
+Mahall, deceased in the year 1040 Hijri.'
+
+The epitaph on Shah Jahan's tomb is as follows:-
+ 'The sacred sepulchre of His Moat Exalted Majesty, nesting in
+Paradise, the Second Lord of the Conjunction, Shah Jahan, the
+Emperor. May his mausoleum ever flourish. Year 1076 Hijri.'
+
+The inscription on Shah Jahan's cenotaph adds more titles and gives
+the exact date of death as 'the night of Rajab 28, A.H. 1076'. 1040
+Hijri corresponds with the period from July 31, A.D. 1630 to July 19,
+1631; and 1076 Hijri with the period July 4, A. D. 1665 to June 23,
+1666, Old Style. The dates in New Style would be ten days later.
+
+The epithet 'nesting in Paradise' (_firdaus ashiyani_) was the
+official posthumous title of Shah Jahan, frequently used by
+historians instead of his name.
+
+The title 'Second Lord of the Conjunction' means that Shah Jahan was
+held to have been born under the fortunate conjunction of Venus and
+Jupiter, as his ancestor Timur had been.
+
+10. The details in the text are inaccurate. Arjumand Bano Begam,
+daughter of Asaf Khan, brother of Nur Jahan, the queen of Jahangir,
+was born in A.D. 1592, married in 1612, and died July 7, 1631 (o.s.),
+at Burhanpur in the Deccan. After a delay of six months her remains
+were removed to Agra, and there rested six months longer at a spot in
+the Taj gardens still remembered, until her tomb was sufficiently
+advanced for the final interment. Her titles were Mumtaz-i-Mahall,
+'Exalted in the Palace'; Qudsia Begam, and Nawab Aliya Begam. She
+bore her husband eight sons and six daughters, fourteen children in
+all, of whom seven were alive at the time of her death. The child
+whose birth cost the mother's life was Gauharara Begam, who survived
+for many years (Irvine, _Storia do Mogor_, iv. 425). Beale wrongly
+gives her name as Dahar Ara.
+
+Shah Jahan, two years before his union with Arjumand Bano Begam, had
+been married to a Persian princess, by whom he had a daughter who
+died young. Five and a half years after his marriage to Arjumand Bano
+Begam, he espoused a third wife, daughter of Shah Nawaz Khan, by whom
+he had a son, who died in infancy. This third marriage was dictated
+by motives of policy, and did not impair the Emperor's devotion to
+his favourite consort (Muh. Latif, _Agra_, p. 101).
+
+11. The testimony of Tavernier is doubtless correct if understood as
+referring to the whole complex of buildings connected with the
+mausoleum. He visited Agra several times. He left India in January,
+1654, returning to the country in 1659. Work on the Taj began in
+1632, and so appears to have been completed about the close of, 1653
+(Tavernier, _Travels_, transl. Ball, vol. i, pp. xxi, xxii, 25, 110,
+142, 149). The latest dated inscription, that of the calligraphist
+Amanat Khan at the entrance to the domed mausoleum, was recorded in
+the twelfth year of the reign, A.H. 1048, equivalent to A.D. 1638-9.
+That year may be taken as the date of the completion of the mausoleum
+itself, as distinguished from the great mass of supplementary
+structures.
+
+12. Various records of the cost differ enormously, apparently because
+they refer to different things. If all the buildings and the vast
+value of the materials be included, the highest estimate, namely,
+four and a half millions of pounds sterling, in round numbers, is not
+excessive (_H.F.A._, 1911, p. 415) The figures are recorded with
+minute accuracy as 411 lakhs, 48,826 rupees, 7 annas, and 6 pies. A
+_karor_ (crore) is 100 lakhs, or 10 millions.
+
+13. The enclosure occupies a space of more than forty-two acres.
+
+14. This statement, though commonly made, is erroneous. The building
+is named the 'assembly house' (jama'at khana), or 'guest-house'
+(mihman khana) and was intended as the place for the congregation to
+assemble before prayers, or on the anniversaries of the deaths of the
+Emperor Shah Jahan or his consort. Taj Mahal (Muh. Latif, _Agra_, p.
+113). Of course, it also serves as an architectural balance for the
+mosque.
+
+15. The gardens of the Taj have been much improved since the author's
+time, and are now under the care of a skilled European
+superintendent, and full of beautiful shrubs and trees. The author's
+measurements of the quadrangle seem to be wrong. Different figures
+are given by Moin-ud-din (_Hist. of the Taj_, p. 29) and Fergusson
+(ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 313). No official survey is available.
+
+16. The white marble that forms the substance of the building came,
+Mr. Keene thinks, from Makrana near Jaipur, but according to Mr.
+Hacket (_Records of the Geographical Survey of India_, x. 84), from
+Raiwala in Jaipur, near the Alwar border [note]. The account of these
+marbles given in the _Rajputana Gazetteer_, 1st ed. (ii. 127) favours
+Mr. Keene's view' (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. vii, p. 707).
+The ornamental stones used for the inlay work in the Taj are lapis
+lazuli, jasper, heliotrope, Chalcedon agate, chalcedony, cornelian,
+sarde, plasma (or quartz and chlorite), yellow and striped marble,
+clay slate, and nephrite, or jade (_Dr. Voysey, in Asiatic
+Researches_, vol. xv, p. 429, quoted by V. Bail in _Records of the
+Geological Survey of India_, vii. 109). Moin-ud-din (pp. 27-9) gives
+a longer list, from the custodians' Persian account.
+
+17. There is some exaggeration in this statement. Shah Jahan's
+concern was with his wife's tomb, and his fortified palaces, more
+than with 'the cities'.
+
+18. Sleeman's talk about Austin de Bordeaux is wholly based on his
+misreading of _Ustan_ for _Ustad_, meaning 'Master', in the Persian
+account, which names Muhammed-i-Isa Afandi (Effendi) as the chief
+designer. He had the title of Ustad, and some versions represent
+Muhammad Sharif, the second draughtsman, as his son. Muhammad, the
+son of Isa ('Jesus'), apparently was a Turk. He had the Turkish title
+of 'Effendi', and the Persian MS. used by Moin-ud-din asserts that he
+came from Turkey. The same authority states that Muhammad Sharif was
+a native of Samarkand.
+
+Austin de Bordeaux was wholly distinct from Muhammad-i-Isa, Ustad
+Afandi, and there is no reason to suppose that he had anything to do
+with the Taj. Sleeman's story about his work at Agra and his death
+comes from Tavernier (i. 108, transl. Ball: see next note). Austin
+was in the service of Jahangir as early as 1621, and probably came
+out to India from Persia in 1614. He is described as an engineer
+(_ingenieur_), and is recorded to have made a golden throne for
+Jahangir (_J.R.A.S._, 1910, pp. 494, 1343-5). Sleeman's misreading of
+_ustad_ as _ustan_, and his consequent blunders, have misled
+innumerable writers. In cursive Persian the misreading is easy and
+natural. He took Ustan as intended for 'Austin'. Certain marks in the
+garden on the other side of the river indicate the spot where Shah
+Jahan had begun work on his own tomb. Aurangzeb, as Tavernier
+observes, was 'not disposed to complete it' (see _A.S.R._, iv. 180).
+
+For a summary of the controversy concerning the alleged share of
+Geronimo Veroneo in the design of the Taj, see _H.F.A._, 1911, pp.
+416-18. Personally, I am of opinion, as I was more than twenty years
+ago, that 'the incomparable Taj is the product of a combination of
+European and Asiatic genius'. That opinion makes some people very
+angry.
+
+19. I would not be thought very positive upon this point, I think I
+am right, but feel that I may be wrong. Tavernier says that Shah
+Jahan was obliged to give up his intention of completing a silver
+ceiling to the great hall in the palace, because Austin de Bordeaux
+had been killed, and no other person could venture to attempt it.
+Ustan [_sic_] Isa, in all the Persian accounts, stands first among
+the salaried architects. [W. H. S.] Tavernier's words are, 'Shah
+Jahan had intended to cover the arch of a great gallery which is on
+the right hand with silver, and a Frenchman, named Augustin de
+Bordeaux, was to have done the work. But the Great Mogul, seeing
+there was no one in his kingdom who was more capable to send to Goa
+to negotiate an affair with the Portuguese, the work was not done,
+for, as the ability of Augustin was feared, he was poisoned on his
+return from Cochin.' (_Tavernier_, transl. Ball, vol. i, p. 108. )
+The statement that Austin had 'finished the palace at Delhi, and the
+mausoleum and palace of Agra' is not warranted by any evidence known
+to the editor.
+
+20. Akbar erected his works on the site of an older fort, named
+Badalgarh, presumably of Hindu origin, 'which was of brick, and had
+become ruinous.' No existing building within the precincts can be
+referred with certainty to an earlier date than that of Akbar. The
+erection began in A.H. 972, corresponding to A.D. 1564-5, and the
+work continued for eight (or, according to another authority, four)
+years, costing 3,500,000 rupees, or about L350,000 sterling. The
+walls are of rubble, faced with red sandstone. The best account is
+the article by Nur Baksh, entitled 'The Agra Fort and its Buildings',
+in _A.S. Ann. Rep._, 1903-4, pp. 164-93.
+
+21. It is difficult to understand how men like the Marquis of
+Hastings and Lord William Bentinck could have been guilty of such
+barbarous stupidity. But the fact is beyond doubt, and numberless
+officials of less exalted rank must share the disgrace of the ruin
+and spoliation, which, both at Agra and Delhi, have destroyed two
+noble palaces, and left but a few disconnected fragments. Fergusson's
+indignant protests (_History of Indian and Eastern Architecture_, ed.
+1910, vol. ii, p. 312, &c.) are none too strong. Sir John Strachey,
+who was Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces in 1876,
+is entitled to the credit of having done all that lay in his power to
+remedy the effects of the parsimony and neglect of his predecessors.
+The buildings which remain at both Agra and Delhi are now well cared
+for, and large sums are spent yearly on their reparation and
+conservation. The credit for the modern policy of reverence for the
+ancient monuments is due to Lord Curzon more than to any one else.
+
+22. This date is erroneous. The inscription is dated A.H. 1063, in
+the 26th year of Shah Jahan, equivalent practically to A.D. 1653. It
+is given in full, with both text and translation, in _A.S. Ann. Rep._
+for 1903-4, p. 183. It states that the building was erected in the
+course of seven years at a cost of 300,000 rupees, which = L33,750,
+at the rate of 2_s_. 3_d_. to the rupee current at the time. Errors
+on the subject disfigure most of the guide-books and other works
+commonly read.
+
+23. The beauty of the Moti Masjid, like that of most mosques, is all
+internal. The exterior is ugly. The interior deserves all praise.
+Fergusson describes this mosque as 'one of the purest and most
+elegant buildings of its class to be found anywhere', and truly
+observes that 'the moment you enter by the eastern gateway the effect
+of its courtyard is surpassingly beautiful'. 'I hardly know
+anywhere', he adds, 'of a building so perfectly pure and elegant.'
+(_Ind. and E. Arch._, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 317. See also _H.F.A._,
+p. 412, fig. 242.)
+
+24. I would, however, here enter my humble protest against the
+quadrille and tiffin [_scil._ lunch] parties, which are sometimes
+given to the European ladies and gentlemen of the station at this
+imperial tomb; drinking and dancing are, no doubt, very good things
+in their season, even in a hot climate, but they are sadly out of
+place in a sepulchre, and never fail to shock the good feelings of
+sober-minded people when given there. Good church music gives us
+great pleasure, without exciting us to dancing or drinking; the Taj
+does the same, at least to the sober-minded. [W. H. S.] The
+regulations now in force prevent any unseemly proceedings. The
+gardens at the Taj, of Itimad-ud-daula's tomb, of Akbar's mausoleum
+at Sikandara, and the Ram Bagh, are kept up by means of income
+derived from crown lands, aided by liberal grants from Government.
+
+25. The anthor's curiously meagre description of the magnificent
+mausoleum of Akbar is, in the original edition, supplemented by
+coloured plates, prepared apparently from drawings by Indian artists.
+The structure is absolutely unique, being a square pyramid of five
+stories, the uppermost of which is built of pure white marble, while
+the four lower ones are of red sandstone. All earlier descriptions of
+the building have been superseded by the posthumous work of E. W.
+Smith, a splendidly illustrated quarto, entitled, _Akbar's Tomb,
+Sikandarah, Agra_, Allahabad Government Press, 1909, being vol. xxxv
+of A. S. India. Work had been begun in the lifetime of Akbar. The
+lower part of the enclosing wall of the park dates from his reign.
+The whole of the mausoleum itself probably is to be assigned to the
+reign of Jahangir, who in 1608 disapproved of the structure which had
+been three or four years in course of erection, and caused the design
+to be altered to please himself. The work was finished in 1613 at a
+cost of five millions of rupees (50 lakhs, more than half a million
+of pounds sterling). The exquisitely carved cenotaph on the top story
+is inadequately described by Sleeman as 'another marble slab'. It is
+a single block of marble 3 1/4 feet high. The tomb in the vault 'is
+perfectly plain with the exception of a few mouldings'.
+
+26. The ninety-nine names of God do not occur in the Koran. They are
+enumerated in chapter 1 of Book X of the 'Mishkat-ul-Masabih' (see
+note 10, Chapter 5 _ante_): 'Abu Hurairah said, "Verily there are
+ninety-nine names for God; and whoever counts them shall enter into
+paradise. He is Allaho, than which there is no other; Al-Rahman-ul-
+Rahimo, the compassionate and merciful," &c., &c.' (Matthews, vol. i,
+p. 542.) The list is reproduced in the introduction to Palmer's
+translation of the Koran, and in Bosworth-Smith, _Muhammad and
+Muhammadanism_.
+
+27. The court, 70 feet square, of the topmost story, is open to the
+sky, but the original intention was to provide a light dome,
+presumably similar to that built a little later to crown the
+mausoleum of Itimad-ud-daula. Finch, the traveller, who was at Agra
+about 1611, was informed that the cenotaph was 'to be inarched over
+with the most curious white and speckled marble, and to be seeled all
+within with pure sheet gold, richly inwrought.' The reason for
+omitting the dome is not recorded.
+
+28. The area is much larger than 40 acres, being really about 150
+acres. Each side is approximately 3 1/2 furlongs.
+
+29. This remarkable eulogium is quoted with approval by another
+enthusiastic admirer of Akbar, Count von Noer (Prince Frederick
+Augustus of Schleswig-Holstein), who observes that 'as Akbar was
+unique amongst his contemporaries, so was his place of burial among
+Indian tombs--indeed, one may say with confidence, among the
+sepulchres of Asia.' (_The Emperor Akbar, a Contribution towards the
+History of India in the 16th Century_, by Frederick Augustus, Count
+of Noer; edited from the Author's papers by Dr. Gustav von Buchwald;
+translated from the German by Annette S. Beveridge. Calcutta, 1890.)
+This work of Count von Noer, unsatisfactory though it is in many
+respects, is still the best exiting modern account of Akbar's reign.
+The competent scholar who will undertake the exhaustive treatment of
+the life and reign of Akbar will be in possession of perhaps the
+finest great historical subject as yet unappropriated. The editor
+long cherished the idea of writing such an exhaustive work, but if he
+should now attempt to deal with the fascinating theme, he must be
+content with a less ambitions performance. Colonel Malleson's little
+book in the 'Rulers of India' series, although serviceable as a
+sketch, adds nothing to the world's knowledge. Akbar's reign (1556-
+1605) was almost exactly coincident with that of Queen Elizabeth
+(1558-1603). The character and deeds of the Indian monarch will bear
+criticism as well as those of his great English contemporary. 'In
+dealing', observes Mr. Lane-Poole, 'with the difficulties arising in
+the Government of a peculiarly heterogeneous empire, he stands
+absently supreme among Oriental sovereigns, and may even challenge
+comparison with the greatest of European rulers.'
+
+Unhappily, there is reason to believe that the marble slab no longer
+covers the bones of Akbar. Manucci states positively that 'During the
+time that Aurangzeb was actively at war with Shiva Ji [_scil._ the
+Marathas], the villagers of whom I spoke before broke into the
+mausoleum in the year 1691 [in words], and after stealing all the
+stones and all the gold work to be found, extracted the king's bones
+and had the temerity to throw them on a fire and burn them' (_Storia
+do Mogor_, i. 142). The statement is repeated with some additional
+particulars in a later passage, which concludes with the words:
+'Dragging out the bones of Akbar, they threw them angrily into the
+fire and burnt them' (ibid. ii. 320). Irvine notes that the
+plundering of the tomb by the Jats is mentioned in detail by only one
+other writer, Ishar Das Nagar, author of the _Fatuhat-I-Alamgiri_, a
+manuscript in the British Museum. Manucci seems to be the sole
+authority for the alleged burning of Akbar's bones. I should be glad
+to disbelieve him, but cannot find any reason for doing so.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 52
+
+
+Nur Jahan, the Aunt of the Empress Nur Mahal, over whose Remains the
+Taj is built.[1]
+
+I crossed over the river Jumna one morning to look at the tomb of
+Itimad-ud-daula, the most remarkable mausoleum in the neighbourhood
+after those of Akbar and the Taj. On my way back, I asked one of the
+boatmen who was rowing me who had built what appeared to me a new
+dome within the fort. 'One of the Emperors, of course,' said he.
+'What makes you think so?'
+
+'Because such things are made only by Emperors,' replied the man
+quietly, without relaxing his pull at the oar.
+
+'True, very true,' said an old Musalman trooper, with large white
+whiskers and moustachios, who had dismounted to follow me across the
+river, with a melancholy shake of the head, 'very true; who but
+Emperors could do such things as these?'
+
+Encouraged by the trooper, the boatman continued:--'The Jats and the
+Marathas did nothing but pull down and destroy while they held their
+_accursed dominion_ here; and the European gentlemen who now govern
+seem to have no pleasure in building anything but _factories, courts
+of justice, and jails_.'
+
+Feeling as an Englishman, as we all must sometimes do, be where we
+will, I could hardly help wishing that the beautiful panels and
+pillars of the bath-room had fetched a better price, and that palace,
+Taj, and all at Agra, had gone to the hammer--so sadly do they exalt
+the past at the expense of the present in the imaginations of the
+people.
+
+ The tomb contains in the centre the remains of Khwaja Ghias,[2] one
+of the most prominent characters of the reign of Jahangir, and those
+of his wife. The remains of the other members of his family repose in
+rooms all round them; and are covered with slabs of marble richly
+cut. It is an exceedingly beautiful building, but a great part of the
+most valuable stones of the mosaic work have been picked out and
+stolen, and the whole is about to be sold by auction, by a decree of
+the civil court, to pay the debt of the present proprietor, who is
+entirely unconnected with the family whose members repose under it,
+and especially indifferent as to what becomes of their bones. The
+building and garden in which it stands were, some sixty years ago,
+given away, I believe, by Najif Khan, the prime minister, to one of
+his nephews, to whose family it still belongs.[3] Khwaja Ghias, a
+native of Western Tartary, left that country for India, where he had
+some relations at the imperial court, who seemed likely to be able to
+secure his advancement. He was a man of handsome person, and of good
+education and address. He set out with his wife, a bullock, and a
+small sum of money, which he realized by the sale of all his other
+property. The wife, who was pregnant, rode upon the bullock, while he
+walked by her side. Their stock of money had become exhausted, and
+they had been three days without food in the great desert, when she
+was taken in labour, and gave birth to a daughter. The mother could
+hardly keep her seat on the bullock, and the father had become too
+exhausted to afford her any support; and in their distress they
+agreed to abandon the infant. They covered it over with leaves, and
+towards evening pursued their journey. When they had gone on about a
+mile, and had lost sight of the solitary shrub under which they had
+left their child, the mother, in an agony of grief, threw herself
+from the bullock upon the ground, exclaiming, 'My child, my child!'
+Ghias could not resist this appeal. He went back to the spot, took up
+his child, and brought it to its mother's breast. Some travellers
+soon after came up, and relieved their distress, and they reached
+Lahore, where the Emperor Akbar then held his court.[4]
+
+Asaf Khan, a distant relation of Ghias, held a high place at court,
+and was much in the confidence of the Emperor. He made his kinsman
+his private secretary. Much pleased with his diligence and ability,
+Asaf soon brought his merits to the special notice of Akbar, who
+raised him to the command of a thousand horse, and soon after
+appointed him master of the household. From this he was promoted
+afterwards to that of Itimad-ud-daula, or high treasurer, one of the
+first ministers.[5]
+
+The daughter who had been born in the desert became celebrated for
+her great beauty, parts, and accomplishments, and won the affections
+of the eldest son of the Emperor, the Prince Salim, who saw her
+unveiled, by accident, at a party given by her father. She had been
+betrothed before this to Sher Afgan, a Turkoman gentleman of rank at
+court, and of great repute for his high spirit, strength, and
+courage.[6] Salim in vain entreated his father to interpose his
+authority to make him resign his claim in his favour; and she became
+the wife of Sher Afgan. Salim dare not, during his father's life,
+make any open attempt to revenge himself; but he, and those courtiers
+who thought it their interest to worship the rising sun, soon made
+his [Afgan's] residence at the capital disagreeable, and he retired
+with his wife to Bengal, where he obtained from the governor the
+superintendency of the district of Bardwan.
+
+Salim succeeded his father on the throne;[7] and, no longer
+restrained by his (_scil._ Akbar's) rigid sense of justice, he
+recalled Sher Afgan to court at Delhi. He was promoted to high
+offices, and concluded that time had removed from the Emperor's mind
+all feelings of love for his wife, and of resentment against his
+successful rival--but he was mistaken; Salim had never forgiven him,
+nor had the desire to possess his wife at all diminished. A
+Muhammadan of such high feeling and station would, the Emperor knew,
+never survive the dishonour, or suspected dishonour, of his wife; and
+to possess her he must make away with the husband. He dared not do
+this openly, because he dreaded the universal odium in which he knew
+it would involve him; and he made several unsuccessful attempts to
+get him removed by means that might not appear to have been contrived
+or executed by his orders. At one time he designedly, in his own
+presence, placed him in a situation where the pride of the chief made
+him contend, single-handed, with a large tiger, which he killed; and,
+at another, with a mad elephant, whose proboscis he cut off with his
+sword; but the Emperor's motives in all these attempts to put him
+foremost in situations of danger became so manifest that Sher Afgan
+solicited, and obtained, permission to retire with his wife to
+Bengal.
+
+The governor of this province, Kutb,[8] having been made acquainted
+with the Emperor's desire to have the chief made away with, hired
+forty ruffians, who stole into his house one night. There happened to
+be nobody else in the house; but one of the party, touched by remorse
+on seeing so fine a man about to be murdered in his sleep, called out
+to him to defend himself. He seized his sword, placed himself in one
+corner of the room, and defended himself so well that nearly one-half
+of the party are said to have been killed or wounded. The rest all
+made off, persuaded that he was endowed with supernatural force.
+After this escape he retired from Tanda, the capital of Bengal,[9] to
+his old residence of Bardwan. Soon after, Kutb came to the city with
+a splendid retinue, on pretence of making a tour of inspection
+through the provinces under his charge, but in reality for the sole
+purpose of making away with Sher Afgan, who as soon as he heard of
+his approach, came out some miles to meet him on horseback, attended
+by only two followers. He was received with marks of great
+consideration, and he and the governor rode on for some time side by
+side, talking of their mutual friends, and the happy days they had
+spent together at the capital. At last, as they were about to enter
+the city, the governor suddenly called for his elephant of state, and
+mounted, saying it would be necessary for him to pass through the
+city on the first visit in some state. Sher sat on horseback while he
+mounted, but one of the governor's pikemen struck his horse, and
+began to drive him before them. Sher drew his sword, and, seeing all
+the governor's followers with theirs ready drawn to attack him, he
+concluded at once that the affront had been put upon him by the
+orders of Kutb, and with the design to provoke him to an unequal
+fight. Determined to have his life first, he spurred his horse upon
+the elephant, and killed Kutb with his spear. He now attacked the
+principal of officers, and five noblemen of the first rank fell by
+his sword. All the crowd now rolled back, and formed a circle round
+Sher and his two companions, and galled them with arrows and musket
+balls from a distance. His horse fell under him and expired; and,
+having received six balls and several arrows in his body, Sher
+himself at last fell exhausted to the ground; and the crowd, seeing
+the sword drop from his grasp, rushed in and cut him to pieces.[l0]
+
+His widow was sent, 'nothing loth', to court, with her only child, a
+daughter. She was graciously received by the Emperor's mother, and
+had apartments assigned her in the palace; but the Emperor himself is
+said not to have seen her for four years, during which time the fame
+of her beauty, talents, and accomplishments filled the palace and
+city. After the expiration of this time the feelings, whatever they
+were, which prevented his seeing her, subsided; and when he at last
+surprised her with a visit, he found her to exceed all that his
+imagination had painted since their last separation. In a few days
+their marriage was celebrated with great magnificence;[11] and from
+that hour the Emperor resigned the reins of government almost
+entirely into her hands; and, till his death, under the name first of
+Nur Mahall, 'Light of the Palace', and afterwards of Nur Jahan,
+'Light of the World ', she ruled the destinies of this great empire.
+Her father was now raised from the station of high treasurer to that
+of prime minister. Her two brothers obtained the titles of Asaf Jah
+and Itikad Khan; and the relations of the family poured in from
+Tartary in search of employment, as soon as they heard of their
+success.[12] Nur Jahan had by Sher Afgan, as I have stated, one
+daughter; but she had never any child by the Emperor Jahangir.[13]
+
+Asaf Jah became prime minister on the death of his father; and, in
+spite of his sister, he managed to secure the crown to Shah Jahan,
+the third son of Jahangir, who had married his daughter, the lady
+over whose remains the Taj was afterwards built. Jahangir's eldest
+son, Khusru, had his eyes put out by his father's orders for repeated
+rebellions, to which he had been instigated by a desire to revenge
+his mother's murder, and by the ambition of her brother, the Hindoo
+prince, Man Singh,[14] who wished to see his own nephew on the
+throne, and by his wife's father, the prime minister of Akbar, Khan
+Azam.[15] Nur Jahan had invited the mother of Khusru, the sister of
+Raja Man Singh, to look with her down a well in the courtyard of her
+apartments by moonlight, and as she did so she threw her in. As soon
+as she saw that she had ceased to struggle she gave the alarm, and
+pretended that she had fallen in by accident.[16]
+
+By the murder of the mother of the heir-apparent she expected to
+secure the throne to a creature of her own. Khusru was treated with
+great kindness by his father, after he had been barbarously deprived
+of sight;[17] but when his brother, Shah Jahan, was appointed to the
+government of Southern India, he pretended great solicitude about the
+comforts of his _poor blind brother_, which he thought would not be
+attended to at court, and took him with him to his government in the
+Deccan, where he got him assassinated, as the only sure mode of
+securing the throne to himself.[18] Parwiz, the second son, died a
+natural death;[19] so also did his only son; and so also Daniyal, the
+fourth son of the Emperor.[20] Nur Jahan's daughter by Sher Afgan had
+married Shahryar, a young son of the Emperor by a concubine; and,
+just before his death he (the Emperor), at the instigation of Nur
+Jahan, named this son as his successor in his will. He was placed
+upon the throne, and put in possession of the treasury, and at the
+head of a respectable army;[21] but the Empress's brother, Asaf,
+designed the throne for his own son-in-law, Shah Jahan; and, as soon
+as the Emperor died, he put up a puppet to amuse the people till he
+could come up with his army from the Deccan--Bulaki, the eldest son
+of the deceased Khusru. Shahryar's troops were defeated; he was taken
+prisoner, and had his eyes put out forthwith, and the Empress was put
+into close confinement. As Shah Jahan approached Lahore with his
+army, Asaf put his puppet, Bulaki, and his younger brother, with the
+two young sons of Daniyal, into prison, where they were strangled by
+a messenger sent on for the purpose by Shah Jahan, with the sanction
+of Asaf.[22] This measure left no male heir alive of the house of
+Timur (Tamerlane) in Hindustan, save Shah Jahan himself and his four
+sons. Dara was then thirteen years of age, Shuja twelve, Aurangzeb
+ten, and Murad four;[23] and all were present to learn from their
+father this sad lesson--that such of them who might be alive on his
+death, save one, must, with their sons, be hunted down and destroyed
+like mad dogs, lest they might get into the hands of the disaffected,
+and be made the tools of faction.
+
+Monsieur de Thevenot, who visited Agra, as I have before stated, in
+1666, says, 'Some affirm that there are twenty-five thousand
+Christian families in Agra; but all do not agree in that. The Dutch
+have a factory in the town, but the English have now none, because it
+did not turn to account.' The number must have been great, or so
+sober a man as Monsieur Thevenot would not have thought such an
+estimate worthy to be quoted without contradiction.[24] They were
+all, except those connected with the single Dutch factory, maintained
+from the salaries of office; and they gradually disappeared as their
+offices became filled with Muhammadans and Hindoos. The duties of the
+artillery, its arsenals, and foundries, were the chief foundation
+upon which the superstructure of Christianity then stood in India.
+These duties were everywhere entrusted exclusively to Europeans, and
+all Europeans were Christians, and, under Shah Jahan, permitted
+freely to follow their own modes of worship. They were, too. Roman
+Catholic, and spent the greater part of their incomes in the
+maintenance of priests. But they could never forget that they were
+strangers in the land, and held their offices upon a precarious
+tenure; and, consequently, they never felt disposed to expend the
+little wealth they had in raising durable tombs, churches, and other
+public buildings, to tell posterity who or what they were. Present
+physical enjoyment, and the prayers of their priests for a good berth
+in the next world, were the only objects of their ambition.
+Muhammadans and Hindoos soon learned to perform duties which they saw
+bring to the Christians so much of honour and emolument; and, as they
+did so, they necessarily sapped the walls of the fabric. Christianity
+never became independent of office in India, and, I am afraid, never
+will; even under our rule, it still mainly rests upon that
+foundation.[25]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The names and titles of the empress 'over whose remains the Taj is
+built' were Nawab Aliya Begam, Arjumand Banu, Mumtaz-i-Mahall. The
+title Nur Mahall, as applied to her, is without authority: it
+properly belongs to her aunt. 'It is usual in this country', Bernier
+observes, 'to give similar names to the members of the reigning
+family. Thus the wife of _Chah-Jehan_--so renowned for her beauty,
+and whose splendid mausoleum is more worthy of a place among the
+wonders of the world than the unshapen masses and heaps of stones in
+Egypt--was named _Tage Mehalle_ [Mumtaz-i-Mahall], or the Crown of
+the Seraglio; and the wife of Jehan-Guyre, who so long wielded the
+sceptre, while her husband abandoned himself to drunkenness and
+dissipation, was known first by the name of _Nour Mehalle_, the Light
+of the Seraglio, and afterwards by that of _Nour-Jehan-Begum_, the
+Light of the World.' (Bernier, _Travels_, ed. Constable, and V. A.
+Smith, 1914, p. 5.)
+
+2. Properly, Ghias-ud-din, meaning 'succourer of religion'. The word
+Ghias cannot stand as a name by itself.
+
+3. The author's slight description of Itimad-ud-daula's exquisite
+sepulchre is, in the original edition, illustrated by two coloured
+plates, one of the exterior, and the other of the interior
+(restored). The lack of grandeur in this building is amply atoned for
+by its elegance and marvellous beauty of detail. An inscription,
+dated A.H. 1027 = A.D. 1618, alleged to exist in connexion with the
+building, has not, apparently, been published. (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_,
+1st ed., vol. vii, p. 687.)
+
+Fergusson's description and just criticism deserve quotation. 'The
+tomb known as that of Itimad-ud-daula, at Agra, . . . cannot be
+passed over, not only from its own beauty of design, but also because
+it marks an epoch in the style to which it belongs. It was erected by
+Nur-Jahan in memory of her father, who died in 1621, and [it] was
+completed in 1628. It is situated on the left bank of the river, in
+the midst of a garden surrounded by a wall measuring 540 feet on each
+side. In the centre of this, on a raised platform, stands the tomb
+itself, a square measuring 69 feet on each side. It is two stories in
+height, and at each angle is an octagonal tower, surmounted by an
+open pavilion. The towers, however, are rather squat in proportion,
+and the general design of the building very far from being so
+pleasing as that of many less pretentious tombs in the neighbourhood.
+Had it, indeed, been built in red sandstone, or even with an inlay of
+white marble like that of Humayun, it would not have attracted much
+attention, its real merit consists in being wholly in white marble,
+and being covered throughout with a mosaic in 'pietra dura'--the
+first, apparently, and certainly one of the most splendid, examples
+of that class of ornamentation in India....
+
+'As one of the first, the tomb of Itimad-ud-daula was certainly one
+of the least successful specimens of its class. The patterns do not
+quite fit the places where they are put, and the spaces are not
+always those best suited for this style of decoration. [Altogether I
+cannot help fancying that the Italians had more to do with the design
+of this building than was at all desirable, and they are to blame for
+its want of grace.[a]] But, on the other hand, the beautiful tracery
+of the pierced marble slabs of its Windows, which resemble those of
+Salim Chishti's tomb at Fatehpur Sikri, the beauty of its white
+marble walls, and the rich colour of its decorations, make up so
+beautiful a whole, that it is only on comparing it with the works of
+Shah Jahan that we are justified in finding fault.' (_Indian and
+Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, pp. 305-7.) Further details will be
+found in Syad Muhammad Latif, _Agra_ (Calcutta, 1896); _A.S.R._ iv,
+pp. 137-41 (Calcutta, 1874); and more satisfactorily, in E. W. Smith,
+_Moghul Colour Decoration of Agra_ (Allahabad, 1901), pp. 18-20, pl.
+lxv-lxxvii. Mr. E. W. Smith, if he had lived, would have produced a
+separate volume descriptive of this unique building.
+
+The building is now carefully guarded and kept in repair. The
+restoration of the inlay of precious stones is so enormously
+expensive that much progress in that branch of the work is
+impracticable. The mausoleum contains seven tombs.
+
+a. This sentence has been deleted by Dr. Burgess in his edition,
+1910.
+
+4. This tale is mythical. The alleged circumstances could not be
+known to any person besides the father and mother, neither of whom
+would be likely to make them public. Blochmann (transl. _Ain_, i.
+508) gives a full account of Itimad-ud-daula and his family. The
+historians state that Nur Jahan was born at Kandahar, on the way to
+India. Her father was the son of a high Persian official, but for
+some reason or other was obliged to quit Persia with his family. He
+was a native of Teheran, not of 'Western Tartary'. The personal name
+of Nur Jahan was Mihr-un-nisa.
+
+5. This story is erroneous, and inconsistent with the correct
+statement in the heading of the chapter that Nur Jahan, daughter of
+Ghias-ud-din, was aunt of the Lady of the Taj. The author makes out
+Ghias-ud-din (whom he corruptly calls Aeeas) to be a distant relation
+of Asaf Khan. In reality, Asaf Khan (whose original name was Mirza
+Abul Hasan) was the second son of Ghias-ud-din, and was elder brother
+of Nur Jahan, The genealogy, so far as relevant, is best shown in a
+tabular form, thus:--
+
+
+ Mirza Ghias-ud-din Beg
+ (alias Itimad-ud-daula).
+ |
+ |
+ |----------------|-------------------------|
+ | | |
+ Muhammad Asaf Khan *Nur Mahall*
+ Sharif. (_alias_ Mirza (_alias_ *Nurjaahan*),
+ Abul Hasan). *Empress of Jahangir*
+ | (and widow of
+ | Sher Afgan).
+ |
+ *Mumtaz-i-Mahall*
+ (_alias_ Arjumand Banu Begam,
+ _alias_ Nawab Aliya Begam),
+ *Empress of Shah Jahan*.
+
+
+
+6. Ali Quli Beg, from Persia entered Akbar's service, and in the war
+with the Rana of Chitor, served under Prince Salim (Jahangir), who
+gave him the title of Sher Afgan, 'tiger-thrower', with reverence to
+his deeds of prowess. The spelling _afgan_ is correct. The word is
+the radical of the Persian verb _afgandan_, 'to throw down'.
+
+7. In October, 1605.
+
+8. Properly Kutb-ud-din Khan. He was foster-brother of Prince Salim
+(Jahangir), and his appointment as viceroy alarmed Sher Afgan, and
+caused the latter to throw up his appointment in Bengal. The word
+Kutb (Qutb) cannot stand alone as a name. Kutb (Qutb)-ud-din means
+'pole-star of religion'.
+
+9. Tandan, or Tanra. Ancient town, now a petty village, in Malda
+District, Bengal, the capital of Bengal after the decadence of Gaur.
+Its history is obscure, and the very site of the city has not been
+accurately determined. It is certain that it was in the immediate
+neighbourhood of Gaur, and south-west of that town beyond the
+Bhagirathi. Old Tandan has been utterly swept away by the changes in
+the course of the Pagla. It was occupied by the Afghan king of Bengal
+in A.D. 1564, and is not mentioned after 1660. (_I.G._, 1908.)
+
+10. This narrative, notwithstanding all the minute details with which
+it is garnished, cannot be accepted as sober history; and I do not
+know from what source the author obtained it. 'This lady, whose
+maiden name was Muhr-un-Nisa, or "Seal of Womankind", had attracted
+the admiration of Jahangir when he was crown prince, but Akbar
+married her to a young Turkoman and settled them in Bengal. After
+Jahangir's accession the husband was killed in a quarrel with the
+governor of the province, and the wife was placed under the care of
+one of Akbar's widows, with whom she remained four years, and then
+married Jahangir (1610). There is nothing to justify a suspicion of
+the Emperor's connivance in the husband's death; nor do Indian
+historians corroborate the invidious criticisms of "Normal" by
+European travellers; on the contrary, they portray Nur-Mahall as a
+pattern of all the virtues, and worthy to wield the supreme influence
+which she obtained over the Emperor.' (Lane-Poole, _The History of
+the Moghul Emperors of Hindustan illustrated by their Coins_, p.
+xix.) The authorities on which this statement is founded are given in
+_E. & D._, vol. vi, pp. 397 and 402-5. See also Blochmann, _Ain_,
+vol. i, pp. 496, 524. Details of such stories in the various
+chronicles always differ. Jahangir openly rejoiced in the death of
+Sher Afgan, and it is by no means clear that he was not responsible
+for the event. He was not troubled by nice scruples. The first
+element in the lady's personal name seems to be _Mihr_, 'sun', not
+_Muhr_, 'seal'. The words are identical in ordinary Persian writing.
+
+11. The long interval which elapsed between Sher Afgan's death and
+the marriage with the Emperor is a fact opposed to the assumptions
+which the author adopts that Nur Mahall was 'nothing loth', and that
+the death of her first husband was contrived by Jahangir.
+
+12. Quaint Sir Thomas Herbert thus expresses himself: 'Meher Metzia
+[Mihr-un-nisa] is forthwith espoused with all solemnity to the King,
+and her name changed to Nourshabegem [Nur Shah Begam], or Nor-mahal,
+i.e., Light or Glory of the Court; her Father upon this affinity
+advanced upon all the other Umbraes ['umara', or nobles]; her
+brother, Assaph-Chan [Asaf Khan], and most of her kindred, smiled
+upon, with the addition of Honours, Wealth, and Command. And in this
+Sun-shine of content Jangheer [Jahangir] spends some years with his
+lovely Queen, without regarding ought save Cupid's Currantoes'
+(_Travels_, ed. 1677, p. 74). Authority exists for the title Asaf
+Jah, as well as for the variant Asaf Khan.
+
+Coins were struck in the joint names of Jahangir and his consort,
+bearing a rhyming Persian couplet to the effect that
+
+'By command of Jahangir the King, from the name of Nur Jahan his
+Queen, gold gained a hundred beauties.'
+
+The Queen's administration is censured by some of the European
+travellers who visited India during Jahangir's reign as being venal
+and inefficient, and she is accused of cruelty and perfidy. She died
+on the 18th December (N.S.), 1645, and was buried by the aide of
+Jahangir in his mausoleum at Lahore. At her death she was in her 72nd
+year, according to the Muhammadan lunar reckoning, and would thus
+have been thirty-four solar years of age when the Emperor married her
+in 1610 (Beale: Blochmann).
+
+13. According to Sir Thomas Herbert (_Travels_, ed. 1677, p. 99),
+'Queen Normahal and her three daughters' were confined by order of
+Shah Jahan in A.D. 1628.
+
+14. Son of Bhagwan Das, of Amber or Jaipur, in Rajputana, and one of
+the greatest of Akbar's officers.
+
+15. Also known as Aziz Kokah, a foster-brother of Akbar.
+
+16. This story may or may not be true; but a charge of this kind is
+absolutely incapable of proof, and would be readily generated in the
+palace atmosphere.
+
+17. According to a contemporary authority, the blinding was only
+partial, and the prince recovered the sight of one eye (_E. & D._ vi.
+448). With regard to such details the discrepancies in the histories
+are innumerable.
+
+18. A.H. 1031 = A.D. 1621-2. The charge seems to be true.
+
+19. A.H. 1036 = A.D. 1626-7.
+
+20. This is a blunder. Jahangir's fourth son was named Jahandar, and
+died in or about A.H. 1035 = A.D. 1625-6. Daniyal was third son of
+Akbar, and younger brother of Jahangir. He died from _delirium
+tremens_ in A.D. 1605, a few months before the death of Akbar,
+
+21. Jahangir died, when returning from Kashmir, on the 8th November,
+A.D. 1627 (N.S.), and was buried near Lahore. The fight with Shahryar
+took place at Lahore.
+
+22. Bulaki assumed the title of Dawar Baksh during his short reign,
+and struck coins at Lahore. He 'vanished--probably to Persia--after
+his three months' pretence of royalty; and on 25th January, 1628 (18
+Jumada I, 1037), Shah-Jahan ascended at Agra the throne which he was
+to occupy for thirty years'. Shahryar was known by the nickname of
+_Na-shudani_, or 'Good-for-nothing' (Lane-Poole, _The History of the
+Moghul Emperors of Hindustan, illustrated by their Coins_, p. xxiii).
+The two nephews of Jahangir, the sons of Daniyal, slaughtered at this
+time, had been, according to Herbert, baptized as Christians
+(_Travels_, ed. 1677, pp. 74, 98). There are great discrepancies in
+the accounts given by various authorities concerning the fate of
+Bulaki and the other victims of Shah Jahan. A dissuasion of the
+evidence would take too much apace, and must be inconclusive, the
+fact being that the proceedings were secret, and pains were taken to
+conceal the truth.
+
+23. The dates of birth are, in Old Style:-Dara Shikoh, March 20,
+1615; Sultan Shuja, May 12, 1616; Aurangzeb, October 10, 1619; and
+Murad Baksh, not stated (Beale).
+
+24. _Ante_, Chapter 2, text following [8]. The quotation is from Part
+III, chap. 19, p. 35 of _The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot, now
+made English. London, Printed in the year MDCLXXXVII_. The author, in
+his quotation, omits between 'that' and 'The Dutch' the clause 'This
+indeed is certain that there are few Heathens and Parsis in respect
+of Mahometans there, and these surpass all the other sects in power
+as they do in number.'
+
+25. During the reign of Akbar, many Christians, Portuguese, English,
+and others, visited Agra, and a considerable number settled there. A
+Roman Catholic church was built, the steeple of which was pulled down
+by Shah Jahan. The oldest inscriptions in the cemetery adjoining the
+Roman Catholic cathedral are in the Armenian character. Three
+Catholic cemeteries exist at or near Agra, namely
+
+(l) the old Catholic graveyard at the village of Lashkarpur, dating
+from the time of Akbar, who made a grant of the site about A.D. 1600.
+This cemetery includes the Martyrs' Chapel, also known as the Chapel
+of Father Santus (Santucci), which was erected in memory of Khoja
+Mortenepus, an Armenian merchant, whose epitaph is dated 1611. The
+next oldest tombstone, that of Father Emmanuel d' Anhaya, who died in
+prison, bears the date August, 1633. Father Joseph de Castro, who
+died at Lahore, on December 15, 1646, lies in the same building.
+
+(2) A cemetery in Padritola, the native Christian ward of the city
+behind the old cathedral. Father Tieffenthaler is buried there.
+
+(3) A cemetery in an unnamed village, granted by Jahangir, and
+situated a mile north of Lashkarpur. An unpublished letter in the
+British Museum shows that Jahangir closed the churches in his
+dominions in 1615. Notwithstanding, the College at Agra was founded
+about 1617 by an Armenian who is known by his title Mirza Zul-
+Qarnain. The acute persecution by Shah Jahan occurred in 1631.
+
+The artillery men in the Mogul service were not all European
+Christians. Turks from the Ottoman Empire were freely employed. (See
+_Ep. Ind._, ii, 132 note.)
+
+The facts concerning the early history of Christianity in Northern
+India have been imperfectly studied. In this note I have used chiefly
+a pamphlet by Father H. Hosten, S. J., entitled _Jesuit Missionaries
+in Northern India, &c._ (Catholic Orphan Press, Calcutta, 1907), and
+the confused little book by Fanthome, _Reminiscences of Agra_ (2nd
+ed., Thacker, Spink & Co., Calcutta, 1895). The Jesuit and Capuchin
+Fathers are working at the subject and hope to elucidate it. From the
+_A.S. Progress Rep. N. Circle, Muhammadan Monuments_, for 1911-12, p.
+21, it appears that arrangements for the proper maintenance of the
+Old Catholic cemetery are in hand.
+
+The author's observations concerning the official relations of
+Christianity in India do not apply at all to the very ancient
+churches of the South (See _E.H.I._, 3rd ed., 1914, App. M, pp. 245-
+7). Even in the north, the modern missionary operations may claim to
+be 'independent of office'.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 53
+
+
+Father Gregory's Notion of the Impediments to Conversion in India--
+Inability of Europeans to speak Eastern Languages.
+
+Father Gregory, the Roman Catholic priest, dined with us one evening,
+and Major Godby took occasion to ask him at table, 'What progress our
+religion was making among the people?'
+
+'Progress!' said he; 'why, what progress can we ever hope to make
+among a people who, the moment we begin to talk to them about the
+miracles performed by Christ, begin to tell us of those infinitely
+more wonderful performed by Krishna, who lifted a mountain upon his
+little finger, as an umbrella, to defend his shepherdesses at
+Govardhan from a shower of rain.[1] The Hindoos never doubt any part
+of the miracles and prophecies of our scripture--they believe every
+word of them; and the only thing that surprises them is that they
+should be so much less wonderful than those of their own scriptures,
+in which also they implicitly believe. Men who believe that the
+histories of the wars and amours of Ram and Krishna, two of the
+incarnations of Vishnu, were written some fifty thousand years before
+these wars and amours actually took place upon the earth, would of
+course easily believe in the fulfilment of any prophecy that might be
+related to them out of any other book;[2] and, as to miracles, there
+is absolutely nothing too extraordinary for their belief. If a
+Christian of respectability were to tell a Hindoo that, to satisfy
+some scruples of the Corinthians, St. Paul had brought the sun and
+moon down upon the earth, and made them rebound off again into their
+places, like tennis balls, without the slightest injury to any of the
+three planets [_sic_], I do not think he would feel the slightest
+doubt of the truth of it; but he would immediately be put in mind of
+something still more extraordinary that Krishna did to amuse the
+milkmaids, or to satisfy some sceptics of his day, and relate it with
+all the _naivete_ imaginable.
+
+I saw at Agra Mirza Kam Baksh, the eldest son of Sulaiman Shikoh, the
+eldest son of the brother of the present Emperor. He had spent a
+season with us at Jubbulpore, while prosecuting his claim to an
+estate against the Raja of Riwa. The Emperor, Shah Alam, in his
+flight before our troops from Bengal (1762), struck off the high road
+to Delhi at Mirzapore, and came down to Riwa, where he found an
+asylum during the season of the rains with the Riwa Raja, who
+assigned for his residence the village of Makanpur.[3] His wife, the
+Empress, was here delivered of a son, the present Emperor, of
+Hindustan, Akbar Shah;[4] and the Raja assigned to him and his heirs
+for ever the fee simple of this village. As the members of this
+family increased in geometrical ratio, under the new system, which
+gave them plenty to eat with nothing to do, the Emperor had of late
+been obliged to hunt round for little additions to his income; and in
+his search he found that Makanpur gave name to a 'pargana', or little
+district, of which it was the capital, and that a good deal of
+merchandize passed through this district, and paid heavy dues to the
+Raja. Nothing, he thought, would be lost by trying to get the whole
+district instead of the village; and for this purpose he sent down
+Kam Baksh, the ablest man of the whole family, to urge and prosecute
+his claim; but the Raja was a close, shrewd man, and not to be done
+out of his revenue, and Kam Baksh was obliged to return minus some
+thousand rupees, which he had spent in attempting to keep up
+appearances.
+
+The best of us Europeans feel our deficiencies in conversation with
+Muhammadans of high rank and education, when we are called upon to
+talk upon subjects beyond the everyday occurrences of life. A
+Muhammadan gentleman of education is tolerably acquainted with
+astronomy, as it was taught by Ptolemy; with the logic and ethics of
+Aristotle and Plato; with the works of Hippocrates and Galen, through
+those of Avicenna, or, as they call him, Abu-Alisina;[5] and he is
+very capable of talking upon all subjects of philosophy, literature,
+science, and the arts, and very much inclined to do so; and of
+understanding the nature of the improvements that have been made in
+them in modern times. But, however capable we may feel of discussing
+these subjects, or explaining these improvements in our own language,
+we all feel ourselves very much at a loss when we attempt to do it in
+theirs. Perhaps few Europeans have mixed and conversed more freely
+with all classes than I have; and yet I feel myself sadly deficient
+when I enter, as I often do, into discussions with Muhammadan
+gentlemen of education upon the subject of the character of the
+governments and institutions of different countries--their effects
+upon the character and condition of the people; the arts and the
+sciences; the faculties and operations of the human mind; and the
+thousand other things which are subjects of everyday conversation
+among educated and thinking; men in our country. I feel that they
+could understand me quite well if I could find words for my ideas;
+but these I cannot find, though their languages abound in them, nor
+have I ever met the European gentleman who could. East Indians
+can;[6] but they commonly want the ideas as much as we want the
+language. The chief cause of this deficiency is the want of
+sufficient intercourse with men in whose presence we should be
+ashamed to appear ignorant--this is the great secret, and all should
+know and acknowledge it.
+
+We are not ashamed to convey our orders to our native servants in a
+barbarous language. Military officers seldom speak to their 'sipahis'
+(sepoys) and native officers, about anything but arms, accoutrements,
+and drill; or to other natives about anything but the sports of the
+field; and, as long as they are understood, they care not one straw
+in what language they express themselves. The conversation of the
+civil servants with their native officers takes sometimes a wider
+range; but they have the same philosophical indifference as to the
+language in which they attempt to convey their ideas; and I have
+heard some of our highest diplomatic characters talking,[7] without
+the slightest feeling of shame or embarrassment, to native princes on
+the most ordinary subjects of everyday interest in a language which
+no human being but themselves could understand. We shall remain the
+same till some change of system inspire us with stronger motives to
+please and conciliate the educated classes of the native community.
+They may be reconciled, but they can never be charmed out of their
+prejudices or the errors of their preconceived opinions by such
+language as the European gentlemen are now in the habit of speaking
+to them.[8] We must learn their language better, or we must teach
+them our own, before we can venture to introduce among them those
+free institutions which would oblige us to meet them on equal terms
+at the bar, on the bench, and in the senate.[9] Perhaps two of the
+best secular works that were ever written upon the facilities and
+operations of the human mind, and the duties of men in their
+relations with each other, are those of Imam-ud-din Ghazzali, and
+Nasir-ud-din of Tus.[10] Their idol was Plato, but their works are of
+a more practical character than his, and less dry than those of
+Aristotle.
+
+I may here mention the following, among many instances that occur to
+me, of the amusing mistakes into which Europeans are liable to fall
+in their conversation with natives.
+
+Mr. J. W------n, of the Bengal Civil Service, commonly known by the
+name of Beau W------n,[11] was the Honourable Company's opium agent
+at Patna, when I arrived at Dinapore to join my regiment in 1810.[12]
+He had a splendid house, and lived in excellent style; and was never
+so happy as when he had a dozen young men from the Dinapore
+cantonments living with him. He complained that year, as I was told,
+that he had not been able to save more than one hundred thousand
+rupees that season out of his salary and commission upon the opium,
+purchased by the Government from the cultivators.[13] The members of
+the civil service, in the other branches of public service, were all
+anxious to have it believed by their countrymen that they were well
+acquainted with their duties, and able and willing to perform them;
+but the Honourable Company's commercial agents were, on the contrary,
+generally anxious to make their countrymen believe that they neither
+knew nor cared anything about their duties, because they were ashamed
+of them. They were sinecure posts for the drones of the service, or
+for those who had great interest and no capacity.[14] Had any young
+man made it appear that he really thought W------n knew or cared
+anything about his duties, he would certainly never have been invited
+to his house again; and if any one knew, certainly no one seemed to
+know that he had any other duty than that of entertaining his guests.
+
+No one ever spoke the native language so badly, because no man had
+ever so little intercourse with the natives; and it was, I have been
+told, to his ignorance of the native languages that his bosom friend,
+Mr. P------st, owed his life on one occasion. W. sat by the sick-bed
+of his friend with unwearied attention, for some days and nights,
+after the doctors had declared his case entirely hopeless. He
+proposed at last to try change of air, and take him on the river
+Ganges. The doctors, thinking that he might as well die in his boat
+on the river as in his house at Calcutta, consented to his taking him
+on board. They got up as far as Hooghly, when P. said that he felt
+better and thought he could eat something. What should it be? A
+little roasted kid perhaps. The very thing that he was longing for!
+W. went out upon the deck to give orders for the kid, that his friend
+might not be disturbed by the gruff voice of the old 'khansama'
+(butler). P. heard the conversation, however.
+
+'Khansama', said the Beau W., 'you know that my friend Mr. P. is very
+ill?'
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'And that he has not eaten anything for a month?'
+
+'A long time for a man to fast, sir.'
+
+'Yes, Khansama, and his stomach is now become very delicate, and
+could not stand anything strong.'
+
+'Certainly not, sir.'
+
+'Well, Khansama, then he has taken a fancy to a roasted _mare_'
+('madiyan'), meaning a 'halwan', or kid.'[15]
+
+'A roasted mare, sir?'
+
+'Yes, Khansama, a roasted mare, which you must have nicely prepared.'
+
+'What, the whole, sir?'
+
+'Not the whole at one time; but have the whole ready as there is no
+knowing what part he may like best.'
+
+The old butter had heard of the Tartars eating their horses when in
+robust health, but the idea of a sick man, not able to move in his
+bed without assistance, taking a fancy to a roasted mare, quite
+staggered him.
+
+'But, sir, I may not be able to get such a thing as a mare at a
+moment's notice; and if I get her she will be very dear.'
+
+'Never mind, Khansama, get you the mare, cost what she will; if she
+costs a thousand rupees my friend shall have her. He has taken a
+fancy to the mare, and the mare he shall have, if she costs a
+thousand rupees.'
+
+The butter made his salaam, said he would do his best, and took his
+leave, requesting that the boats might be kept at the bank of the
+river till he came back.
+
+W. went into his sick friend, who, with great difficulty, managed to
+keep his countenance while he complained of the liberties old
+servants were in the habit of taking with their masters. 'They think
+themselves privileged', said W., 'to conjure up difficulties in the
+way of everything that one wants to have done.'
+
+'Yes', said P------st, 'we like to have old and faithful servants
+about us, particularly when we are sick; but they are apt to take
+liberties, which new ones will not.'
+
+In about two hours the butler's approach was announced from the deck,
+and W. walked out to scold him for his delay. The old gentleman was
+coming down over the bank, followed by about eight men bearing the
+four quarters of an old mare. The butler was very fat; and the proud
+consciousness of having done his duty, and met his master's wishes in
+a very difficult and important point, had made him a perfect
+Falstaff. He marshalled his men in front of the cooking-boat, and
+then came towards his master, who for some time stood amazed, and
+unable to speak. At last he roared out, 'And what the devil have you
+here?'
+
+'Why, the _mare_ that the sick gentleman took a fancy for; and dear
+enough she has cost me; not a farthing less than two hundred rupees
+would the fellow take for his mare.'
+
+P------st could contain himself no longer; he burst into an
+immoderate fit of laughter, during which the abscess in his liver
+burst into the intestines, and he felt himself relieved, as if by
+enchantment. The mistake was rectified--he got his kid; and in ten
+days he was taken back to Calcutta a sound man, to the great
+astonishment of all the doctors.
+
+During the first campaign against Nepal, in 1815, Colonel, now Major-
+General, O.H., who commanded the------Regiment, N. I.,[16] had to
+march with his regiment through the town of Darbhanga, the capital of
+the Raja, who came to pay his respects to him. He brought a number of
+presents, but the colonel, a high-minded, amiable man, never took
+anything himself, nor suffered any person in his camp to do so, in
+the districts they passed through without paying for it. He politely
+declined to take any of the presents; but said that he 'had heard
+that Darbhanga produced _crows_ ("kauwa"), and should be glad to get
+some of them if the Raja could spare them,'--meaning coffee, or
+'kahwa'.
+
+The Raja stared, and said that certainly they had abundance of crows
+in Darbhanga; but he thought they were equally abundant in all parts
+of India.
+
+'Quite the contrary, Raja Sahib, I assure you,' said the colonel;
+'there is not such a thing as a crow to be found in any part of the
+Company's dominions that I have seen, and I have been all over them.'
+
+'Very strange!' said the Raja, turning round to his followers.
+
+'Yes,' replied they,' it is very strange, Raja Sahib; but such is
+your 'ikbal' (good fortune), that everything thrives under it; and,
+if the colonel should wish to have a few crows, we could easily
+collect them for him.'
+
+'If', said the colonel, greatly delighted, 'you could provide us with
+a few of these crows, we should really feel very much obliged to you;
+for we have a long and cold campaign before us among the bleak hills
+of Nepal; and we are all fond of crows.'
+
+'Indeed,' returned the Raja, 'I shall be happy to send you as many as
+you wish.' ('Much' and 'many' are expressed by the same term.)
+
+'Then we should be glad to have two or three bags full, if it would
+not be robbing you.'
+
+'Not in the least,' said the Raja; 'I will go home and order them to
+be collected immediately.'
+
+In the evening, as the officers, with the colonel at their head, were
+sitting down to dinner, a man came up to announce the Raja's present.
+Three fine large bags were brought in, and the colonel requested that
+one might be opened immediately. It was opened accordingly, and the
+mess butler ('khansaman') drew out by the legs a fine old crow. The
+colonel immediately saw the mistake, and laughed as heartily as the
+rest at the result. A polite message was sent to the Raja, requesting
+that he would excuse his having made it--for he had had half a dozen
+men out shooting crows all day with their matchlocks. Few Europeans
+spoke the language better than General ------, and I do not believe
+that one European in a thousand, at this very moment, makes any
+difference, or knows any difference, in the sound of the two terms.
+
+Kam Baksh had one sister married to the King of Oudh, and another to
+Mirza Salim, the younger son of the Emperor. Mirza Salim and his wife
+could not agree, and a separation took place, and she went to reside
+with her sister, the Queen of Oudh. The King saw her frequently; and,
+finding her more beautiful than his wife, he demanded her also in
+marriage from her father, who resided at Lucknow, the capital of
+Oudh, on a pension of five thousand rupees a month from the King. He
+would not consent, and demanded his daughter; the King, finding her
+willing to share his bed and board with her sister, would not give
+her up.[17] The father got his old friend, Colonel Gardiner, who had
+married a Muhammadan woman of rank, to come down and plead his cause.
+The King gave up the young woman, but at the same time stopped the
+father's pension, and ordered him and all his family out of his
+dominions. He set out with Colonel Gardiner and his daughter, on his
+road to Delhi, through Kasganj, the residence of the colonel, who was
+one day recommending the prince to seek consolation for the loss of
+his pension in the proud recollection of having saved the honour of
+the _house of Tamerlane_, when news was brought to them that the
+daughter had run off from camp with his (Colonel Gardiner's) son
+James, who had accompanied him to Lucknow. The prince and the colonel
+mounted their horses, and rode after him; but they were so much
+heavier and older than the young ones, that they soon gave up the
+chase in despair. Sulaiman Shikoh insisted upon the colonel
+immediately fighting him, after the fashion of the English, with
+swords or pistols, but was soon persuaded that the honour of the
+house of Timur would be much better preserved by allowing the
+offending parties to marry ![18] The King of Oudh was delighted to
+find that the old man had been so punished; and the Queen no less so
+to find herself so suddenly and unexpectedly relieved from all dread
+of her sister's return. All parties wrote to my friend Kam Baksh, who
+was then at Jubbulpore;[19] and he came off with their letters to me
+to ask whether I thought the incident might not be turned to account
+in getting the pension for his father restored.[20]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Govardhan is a very sacred place of pilgrimage, full of temples,
+situated in the Mathura (Muttra) district, sixteen miles west of
+Mathura, Regulation V of 1826 annexed Govardhan to the Agra district.
+In 1832 Mathura was made the head-quarters of a new district,
+Govardhan and other territory being transferred from Agra.
+
+2. The Puranas, even when narrating history after a fashion, are cast
+in the form of prophecies. The Bhagavat Purana is especially devoted
+to the legends of Krishna. The Hindi version of the 10th Book
+(_skandha_) is known as the 'Prem Sagar', or 'Ocean of Love', and is,
+perhaps, the most wearisome book in the world.
+
+3. This flight occurred during the struggles following the battle of
+Plassy in 1757, which were terminated by the battle of Buxar in 1764,
+and the grant to the East India Company of the civil administration
+of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in the following year. Shah Alam bore, in
+weakness and misery, the burden of the imperial title from 1759 to
+1806. From 1765 to 1771 he was the dependent of the English at
+Allahabad. From 1771 to 1803 he was usually under the control of
+Maratha chiefs, and from the time of Lord Lake's entry into Delhi, in
+1803 he became simply a prisoner of the British Government. His
+successors occupied the same position. In 1788 he was barbarously
+blinded by the Rohilla chief, Ghulam Kadir.
+
+4. Akbar II. His position as Emperor was purely titular.
+
+5. The name is printed as Booalee Shina in the original edition. His
+full designation is Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdullah ibn Sina, which
+means 'that Sina was his grandfather. Avicenna is a corruption of
+either Abu Sina or Ibn Sina. He lived a strenuous, passionate life,
+but found time to compose about a hundred treatises on medicine and
+almost every subject known to Arabian science. He died in A.D. 1037.
+A good biography of him will be found in _Encyclo. Brit._, 11th ed.,
+1910.
+
+6. Otherwise called Eurasians, or, according to the latest official
+decree, Anglo-Indians.
+
+7. 'Diplomatic characters' would now be described as officers of the
+Political Department.
+
+8. These remarks of the author should help to dispel the common
+delusion that the English officials of the olden time spoke the
+Indian languages better than their more highly trained successors.
+
+9. The author wrote these words at the moment of the inauguration by
+Lord William Bentinck and Macaulay of the new policy which
+established English as the official language of India, and the
+vehicle for the higher instruction of its people, as enunciated in
+the resolution dated 7th March, 1835, and described by Boulger in
+_Lord William Bentinck_ (Rulers of India, 1897), chap. 8. The
+decision then formed and acted on alone rendered possible the
+employment of natives of India in the higher branches of the
+administration. Such employment has gradually year by year increased,
+and certainly will further increase, at least up to the extreme limit
+of safety. Indians now (1914) occupy seats in the Council of India in
+London, and in the Executive and Legislative Councils of the
+Governor-General, Provincial Governors, and Lieutenant-Governors.
+They hold most of the judicial appointments and fill many responsible
+executive offices.
+
+10. Khojah Nasir-ud-din of Tus in Persia was a great astronomer,
+philosopher, and mathematician in the thirteenth century. The
+author's Imam-ud-din Ghazzali is intended for Abu Hamid Imam al
+Ghazzali, one of the most famous of Musulman doctors. He was born at
+Tus, the modern Mashhad (Meshed) in Khurasan, and died in A.D. 1111.
+His works are numerous. One is entitled _The Ruin of Philosophies_,
+and another, the most celebrated, is _The Resuscitation of Religious
+Sciences_ (F. J. Arbuthnot, _A Manual of Arabian History and
+Literature_, London, 1890). These authors are again referred to in a
+subsequent chapter. I am not able to judge the propriety of Sleeman's
+enthusiastic praise.
+
+11. The gentleman referred to was Mr. John Wilton, who was appointed
+to the service in 1775.
+
+12. The cantonments at Dinapore (properly Danapur) are ten miles
+distant from the great city of Patna.
+
+13. The rupee was worth more than two shillings in 1810. The
+remuneration of high officials by commission has been long abolished.
+
+14. There used to be two opium agents, one at Patna, and the other at
+Ghazipur, who administered the Opium Department under the control of
+the Board of Revenue in Calcutta. In deference to the demands of the
+Chinese Government and of public opinion in England, the Agency at
+Ghazipur has been closed, and the Government of India is withdrawing
+gradually from the opium trade. Such lucrative sinecures as those
+described in the text have long ceased to exist.
+
+15. These Persian words would not now be used in orders to servants.
+
+16. This officer was Sir Joseph O'Halloran, K.C.B., attached to the
+18th Regiment, N.I. He became a Lieutenant-Colonel on June 4, 1814,
+and Major-General on January 10, 1837. He is mentioned in
+_Ramaseeana_ (p 59) as Brigadier-General commanding the Sagar
+Division.
+
+17. The King's demand was improper and illegal. The Muhammadan law,
+like the Jewish (Leviticus xviii, 18), prohibits a man from being
+married to two sisters at once. 'Ye are also forbidden to take to
+wife two sisters; except what is already past: for God is gracious
+and merciful' (_Koran_, chap. iv). Compare the ruling in 'Mishkat-ul-
+Masabih', Book XIII, chap. v, Part II (Matthews, vol. ii, p. 94).
+
+18. The colonel's son has succeeded to his father's estates, and he
+and his wife are, I believe, very happy together. [W. H. S.] Such an
+incident would, of course, be now inconceivable. The family name is
+also spelled Gardner. The romantic history of the Gardners is
+summarized in the appendix to _A Particular Account of the European
+Military Adventures of Hindustan, from 1784 to 1803_; compiled by
+Herbert Compton: London, 1892.
+
+19. _Ante_, Chapter 53 text between [2] and [3].
+
+20. Kasganj, the residence of Colonel Gardner, is in the Etah
+district of the United Provinces. In 1911 the population was 16,429.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 54
+
+Fathpur-Sikri--The Emperor Akbar's Pilgrimage--Birth of Jahangir.
+
+On the 6th January we left Agra, which soon after became the
+residence of the Governor of the North-Western Provinces, Sir Charles
+Metcalfe.[1] It was, when I was there, the residence of a civil
+commissioner, a judge, a magistrate, a collector of land revenue, a
+collector of customs, and all their assistants and establishments. A
+brigadier commands the station, which contained a park of artillery,
+one regiment of European and four regiments of native infantry.[2]
+
+Near the artillery practice-ground, we passed the tomb of Jodh Bai,
+the wife of the Emperor Akbar, and the mother of Jahangir. She was of
+Rajput caste, daughter of the Hindoo chief of Jodhpur, a very
+beautiful, and, it is said, a very amiable woman.[3] The Mogul
+Emperors, though Muhammadans, were then in the habit of taking their
+wives from among the Rajput princes of the country, with a view to
+secure their allegiance. The tomb itself is in ruins, having only
+part of the dome standing, and the walls and magnificent gateway that
+at one time surrounded it have been all taken away and sold by a
+thrifty Government, or appropriated to purposes of more practical
+utility.[4]
+
+
+
+
+I have heard many Muhammadans say that they could trace the decline
+of their empire in Hindustan to the loss of the Rajput blood in the
+veins of their princes.[5] 'Better blood' than that of the Rajputs of
+India certainly never flowed in the veins of any human beings; or,
+what is the same thing, no blood was ever believed to be finer by the
+people themselves and those they had to deal with. The difference is
+all in the imagination, and the imagination is all-powerful with
+nations as with individuals. The Britons thought their blood the
+finest in the world till they were conquered by the Romans, the
+Picts, the Scots, and the Saxons. The Saxons thought theirs the
+finest in the world till they were conquered by the Danes and the
+Normans. This is the history of the human race. The quality of the
+blood of a whole people has depended often upon the fate of a battle,
+which in the ancient world doomed the vanquished to the hammer; and
+the hammer changed the blood of those sold by it from generation to
+generation. How many Norman robbers got their blood ennobled, and how
+many Saxon nobles got theirs plebeianized by the Battle of Hastings;
+and how difficult it would be for any of us to say from which we
+descended--the Britons or the Saxons, the Danes or the Normans; or in
+what particular action our ancestors were the victors or the
+vanquished, and became ennobled or plebeianized by the thousand
+accidents which influence the fate of battles. A series of successful
+aggressions upon their neighbours will commonly give a nation a
+notion that they are superior in courage; and pride will make them
+attribute this superiority to blood--that is, to an old date. This
+was, perhaps, never more exemplified than in the case of the Gurkhas
+of Nepal, a small diminutive race of men not unlike the Huns, but
+certainly as brave as any men can possibly be. A Gurkha thought
+himself equal to any four other men of the hills, though they were
+all much stronger; just as a Dane thought himself equal to four
+Saxons at one time in Britain. The other men of the hills began to
+think that he really was so, and could not stand before him.[6]
+
+We passed many wells from which the people were watering their
+fields, and found those which yielded a brackish water were
+considered to be much more valuable for irrigation than those which
+yielded sweet water. It is the same in the valley of the Nerbudda,
+but brackish water does not suit some soils and some crops. On the
+8th we reached Fathpur Sikri, which lies about twenty-four miles from
+Agra, and stands upon the back of a narrow range of sandstone hills,
+rising abruptly from the alluvial plains to the highest, about one
+hundred feet, and extends three miles north-north-east and south-
+south-west. This place owes its celebrity to a Muhammadan saint, the
+Shaikh Salim of Chisht, a town in Persia, who owed his to the
+following circumstance:
+
+The Emperor Akbar's sons had all died in infancy, and he made a
+pilgrimage to the shrine of the celebrated Muin-ud-din of Chisht, at
+Ajmer. He and his family went all the way on foot at the rate of
+three 'kos', or four miles, a day, a distance of about three hundred
+and fifty miles. 'Kanats', or cloth walls, were raised on each side
+of the road, carpets spread over it, and high towers of burnt bricks
+erected at every stage, to mark the places where he rested. On
+reaching the shrine he made a supplication to the saint, who at night
+appeared to him in his sleep, and recommended him to go and entreat
+the intercession of a very holy old man, who lived a secluded life
+upon the top of the little range of hills at Sikri. He went
+accordingly, and was assured by the old man, then ninety-six years of
+age, that the Empress Jodh Bai, the daughter of a Hindoo prince,
+would be delivered of a son, who would live to a good old age. She
+was then pregnant, and remained in the vicinity of the old man's
+hermitage till her confinement, which took place 31st of August,
+1569. The infant was called after the hermit, Mirza Salim, and became
+in time Emperor of Hindostan, under the name of Jahangir.[7] It was
+to this Emperor Jahangir that Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador, was
+sent from the English Court.[8] Akbar, in order to secure to himself,
+his family, and his people, the advantage of the continued
+intercessions of so holy a man, took up his residence at Sikri, and
+covered the hill with magnificent buildings for himself, his
+courtiers, and his public establishments.[9]
+
+The quadrangle, which contains the mosque on the west side, and tomb
+of the old hermit in the centre, was completed in the year 1578, six
+years before his death; and is, perhaps, one of the finest in the
+world. It is five hundred and seventy-five feet square, and
+surrounded by a high wall, with a magnificent cloister all around
+within.[10] On the outside is a magnificent gateway, at the top of a
+noble flight of steps twenty-four feet high. The whole gateway is one
+hundred and twenty feet in height, and the same in breadth, and
+presents beyond the wall five sides of an octagon, of which the front
+face is eighty feet wide. The arch in the centre of this space is
+sixty feet high by forty wide.[11] This gateway is no doubt extremely
+grand and beautiful; but what strikes one most is the disproportion
+between the thing wanted and the thing provided--there seems to be
+something quite preposterous in forming so enormous an entrance for a
+poor diminutive man to walk through--and walk he must, unless carried
+through on men's shoulders; for neither elephant, horse, nor bullock
+could ascend over the flight of steps. In all these places the
+staircases, on the contrary, are as disproportionately small; they
+look as if they were made for rats to crawl through, while the
+gateways seem as if they were made for ships to sail under.[12] One
+of the most interesting sights was the immense swarms of swallows
+flying round the thick bed of nests that occupy the apex of this
+arch, and, to the spectators below, they look precisely like swarm of
+bees round a large honeycomb. I quoted a passage in the Koran in
+praise of the swallows, and asked the guardians of the place whether
+they did not think themselves happy in having such swarms of sacred
+birds over their heads all day long. 'Not at all,' said they; 'they
+oblige us to sweep the gateway ten times a day; but there is no
+getting at their nests, or we should soon get rid of them.' They then
+told me that the sacred bird of the Koran was the 'ababil', or large
+black swallow, and not the 'partadil', a little piebald thing of no
+religious merit whatever.[13] On the right side of the entrance is
+engraven on stone in large letters, standing out in bas-relief, the
+following passage in Arabic: 'Jesus, on whom be peace, has said, "The
+word is merely a bridge; you are to pass over it, and not to build
+your dwellings upon it".' Where this saying of Christ is to be found
+I know not, nor has any Muhammadan yet been able to tell me; but the
+quoting of such a passage, in such a place, is a proof of the absence
+of all bigotry on the part of Akbar.[14]
+
+The tomb of Shaikh Salim, the hermit, is a very beautiful little
+building, in the centre of the quadrangle.[15] The man who guards it
+told me that the Jats, while they reigned, robbed this tomb, as well
+as those at Agra, of some of the most beautiful and valuable portion
+of the mosaic work.[16] 'But,' said he, 'they were well plundered in
+their turn by your troops at Bharatpur; retribution always follows
+the wicked sooner or later.'[17] He showed us the little roof of
+stone tiles, close to the original little dingy mosque of the old
+hermit, where the Empress gave birth to Jahangir;[18] and told us
+that she was a very sensible woman, whose counsels had great weight
+with the Emperor.[19] 'His majesty's only fault was', he said, 'an
+inclination to learn the art of magic, which was taught him by an old
+Hindoo religious mendicant,' whose apartment near the palace he
+pointed out to us.
+
+'Fortunately,' said our cicerone, 'the fellow died before the Emperor
+had learnt enough to practise the art without his aid.'
+
+
+Shaikh Salim had, he declared, gone more than twenty times on
+pilgrimage to the tomb of the holy prophet; and was not much pleased
+to have his repose so much disturbed by the noise and bustle of the
+imperial court. At last, Akbar wanted to surround the hill with
+regular fortifications, and the Shaikh could stand it no longer.[20]
+'Either you or I must leave this hill,' said he to the Emperor; 'if
+the efficacy of my prayers is no longer to be relied upon, let me
+depart in peace.' 'If it be _your majesty's_ will,' replied the
+Emperor, 'that one should go, let it be your slave, I pray.' The old
+story: 'There is nothing like relying upon the efficacy of our
+prayers,' say the priests, 'Nothing like relying upon that of our
+sharp swords,' say the soldiers; and, as nations advance from
+barbarism, they generally contrive to divide between them the surplus
+produce of the land and labour of society.
+
+The old hermit consented to remain, and pointed out Agra as a place
+which he thought would answer the Emperor's purpose extremely well.
+Agra, then an unpeopled waste, soon became a city, and Fathpur-Sikri
+was deserted.[21] Cities which, like this, are maintained by the
+public establishments that attend and surround the courts of
+sovereign princes, must always, like this, become deserted when these
+sovereigns change their resting-places. To the history of the rise
+and progress, decline and fall, of how many cities is this the key?
+
+Close to the tomb of the saint is another containing the remains of a
+great number of his descendants, who continue to enjoy, under the
+successors of Akbar, large grants of rent-free lands for their own
+support, and for that of the mosque and mausoleum. These grants have,
+by degrees, been nearly all resumed;[22] and, as the repair of the
+buildings is now entrusted to the public officers of our government,
+the surviving members of the saint's family, who still reside among
+the ruins, are extremely poor. What strikes a European most in going
+over these palaces of the Moghal Emperors is the want of what a
+gentleman of fortune in his own country would consider elegantly
+comfortable accommodations. Five hundred pounds a year would at the
+present day secure him more of this in any civilized country of
+Europe or America than the greatest of those Emperors could command.
+He would, perhaps, have the same impression in going over the
+domestic architecture of the most civilized nations of the ancient
+world, Persia and Egypt, Greece and Rome.[23]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The Act of 1833 (3 & 4 William IV, c. 85), which reconstituted the
+government of India, provided that the upper Provinces should be
+formed into a separate Presidency under the name of Agra, and Sir
+Charles Metcalfe was nominated as the first Governor. On
+reconsideration, this arrangement was modified, and instead of the
+Presidency of Agra, the Lieutenant-Governorship of the North-Western
+Provinces was formed, with head-quarters at Agra. Sir C. Metcalfe
+became Lieutenant-Governor in 1836, but held the office for a short
+time only, until January, 1838, when Lord Auckland, the Governor-
+General, took over temporary charge. The seat of the Local Government
+was moved to Allahabad in 1868. From 1877 the Lieutenant-Governor of
+the North-Western Provinces was also Chief Commissioner of Oudh. The
+name North-Western Provinces, which had become unsuitable and
+misleading since the annexation of the Panjab in 1849, could not be
+retained after the formation of the North-West Frontier Province in
+1902. Accordingly, from that year the combined jurisdiction of the
+North-Western Provinces and Oudh received the new official name of
+the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The title of Chief
+Commissioner of Oudh was dropped at the same time, but the legal
+System and administration of the old kingdom of Oudh continued to be
+distinct in certain respects.
+
+2. The civil establishment and garrison are still nearly the same as
+in the author's time. The inland customs department is now concerned
+only with the restrictions on the manufacture of salt. The offices of
+district magistrate and collector of land revenue have long been
+combined in a single officer.
+
+3. Akbar married the daughter of Bihari Mal, chief of Jaipur, in A.D.
+1562. There is little doubt that she, _Mariam-uz-Zamani_, was the
+mother of Jahangir. See Blochmann, transl. _Ain_, vol. i, p. 619. Mr.
+Beveridge has given up the opinion which he formerly advocated in
+_J.A.S.B._, vol. lvi (1887), Part I, pp. 164-7.
+
+The Jodhpur princess was given the posthumous title of 'Mariam-uz-
+Zamani', or 'Mary of the age', which circumstance probably originated
+the belief that Akbar had one Christian queen. Her tomb at Sikandara
+is locally known simply as Rauza Maryam, 'the mausoleum of Mary', a
+designation which has had much to do with the persistence of the
+erroneous belief in the existence of a Christian consort of Akbar.
+Mr. Beveridge holds, and I think rightly, that Jodh Bai is not a
+proper name. It seems to mean merely 'princess of Jodhpur'. The only
+lady really known as Jodh Bai was the daughter of Udai Singh (Moth
+Raja) of Jaipur, who became a consort of Jahangir. Sleeman's notion
+that Jahangir's mother also was called Jodh Bai is mistaken
+(Blochmann, _ut supra_).
+
+4. It was blown up about 1832 by order of the Government, and the
+materials of the gates, walls, and outer towns were used for the
+building of barracks. But the mausoleum itself resisted the spoiler
+and remained 'a huge shapeless heap of massive fragments of masonry'.
+The building consisted of a square room raised on a platform with a
+vault below. The marble tomb or cenotaph of the queen still exists in
+the vault. A fine gateway formerly stood at the entrance to the
+enclosure, and there was a small mosque to the west of the tomb
+(_A.S.R._ vol. iv. (1874), p. 121: Muh. Latif, _Agra_, p. 192). It is
+painful to be obliged to record so many instances of vandalism
+committed by English officials. This tomb is the memorial of Jodh
+Bai, daughter of Udai Singh, _alias_ Moth Raja, who was married to
+Jahangir in A.D. 1585, and was the mother of Shah Jahan. Her personal
+names were Jagat Goshaini and Balmati. She died in A.D. 1619. Akbar's
+queen, Maryam-uz-Zamani, daughter of Raja Bihari Mall of Jaipur
+(Amber), who died in A.D. 1623, is buried at Sikandra. (See Beale,
+s.v. 'Jodh Bai' and 'Mariam Zamani'; Blochmann, transl. _Ain_, pp.
+429, 619.) The tomb of Maryam-uz-Zamani has been purchased by
+Government from the missionaries, who had used it as a school, and
+has been restored. (_Ann. Rep. A.S., India_, 1910-11, pp. 92-6.)
+
+5. Although it may be admitted that the Rajput strain of blood
+improved the constitution of the royal family of Delhi, the decline
+and fall of the Timuride dynasty cannot be truly ascribed to 'the
+loss of the Rajput blood in the veins' of the ruling princes. The
+empire was tottering to its fall long before the death of Aurangzeb,
+who 'had himself married two Hindoo wives; and he wedded his son
+Muazzam (afterwards the Emperor Bahadur) to a Hindoo princess, as his
+forefathers had done before him'. (Lane-Poole, _The History of the
+Moghul Emperors of Hindustan illustrated by their Coins_, p. xviii. )
+The wonder is, not that the empire of Delhi fell, but that it lasted
+so long.
+
+6. When the author wrote the above remarks, Englishmen knew the
+gallant Gurkhas as enemies only; they now know them as worthy and
+equal brethren in arms. The recruitment of Gurkhas for the British
+service began in 1838. The spelling 'Gorkha' is more accurate.
+
+7. The 'kos' varies much in value, but in most parts of the United
+Provinces it is reckoned as equal to two miles. According to the
+_N.W.P. Gazetteer_ (p. 568), the nearest approximate value for the
+Agra kos is 1 3/4 mile. Three kos would, therefore, be equal to about
+5 1/4 miles. Muin-ud-din died in A.D. 1236. Sleeman, on I know not
+what authority, represents Akbar as resorting to Salim Chishti,
+Shaikh of Fathpur-Sikri, on the advice given by a vision accorded at
+Ajmer. The _Tabaqat-i-Akbari_ simply records that Akbar had visited
+the Shaikh, the 'very holy old man' of Sleeman, several times, and
+had obtained the promise of a son. That promise was fulfilled by the
+birth of the princes Salim and Murad, who both saw the light at
+Fathpur-Sikri. The pilgrimage of Akbar on foot to Ajmer, which began
+on Friday, Shaban (8th month) 12, A.H. 977, took place _after_ the
+birth of Prince Salim, which occurred on the 18th of Rabi-ul-auwwal
+(3rd month) of the same Hijri year. Akbar travelled at the rate of 7
+or 8 _kos_ a day, and spent about 25 days on the journey (E. & D. v.
+333, 334). If he had moved at the rate stated by Sleeman he would
+have been nearly three months on the road. He reached Ajmer about the
+middle of February (N.S.). Shaikh Salim Chishti died in A.D. 1572 (A.
+H. 979) aged 96 lunar years.
+
+8. Sir Thomas Roe was sent out by James I, and arrived at Jahangir's
+court in January, 1616. He remained there till 1618, and secured for
+his countrymen the privilege of trading at Surat. The best edition of
+his book is that by Mr. William Foster (Hakluyt Soc., 1899).
+
+9. Fathpur-Sikri is fully described and illustrated in the late Mr.
+E. W. Smith's fine work in quarto entitled _The Moghul Architecture
+of Fathpur-Sikri_ (4 Parts, Allahabad Govt. Press, 1894-8), which
+supersedes all other writings on the subject. The double name of the
+town means 'Fathpur at Sikri' according to a familiar Indian
+practice. The name Fathpur ('City of Victory') was bestowed in A.D.
+1573 to commemorate the glorious campaign in Gujarat, but building on
+the site had been begun in 1569. The historians usually call the town
+simply Fathpur, which name also is found on the coinage, from
+probably A.H. 977 (A.D. 1569-70). The mint was not in regular working
+order until eight years later (A.H. 985). Coins continued to be
+struck regularly at Fathpur until A.H. 989 (A.D. 1581-2). Akbar
+abandoned his costly foundation a little later. The only coin from
+the Fathpur mint of subsequent date is one of the first year of
+Shahjahan (Wright, _Catalogue of Coins in Indian Museum, Mughal
+Emperors_, 1908, p. xlvii). But Rodgers believed in the genuineness
+of a zodiacal gold coin of Jahangir purporting to be struck at
+Fathpur (_J.A.S.B._, vol. lvii (1888), Part I, p. 26).
+
+10. Sleeman's dates and details require much correction. The mosque
+was completed at some time in the year A.H. 979 (May 26, 1571, to May
+13, 1572, o.s.), excepting the Buland Darwaza, which was erected in
+A.H. 983 (1575-6). The 'old hermit', Shaikh Salim, died on February
+13, 1572 (Ramazan 27, A.H. 979). E. W. Smith (_op. cit._, Part IV, p.
+1) gives the correct measurements as follow: 'Exclusive of the
+bastions upon the angles it measures 542' from east to west to the
+outside of the _liwan_ or sanctuary, or 515' 3" to the outside of the
+west main wall (which sets back from the outer wall of the liwan) and
+438' from north to south. The general plan adopted by Muhammadans for
+their masjids has been followed. In the centre is a vast courtyard
+open to the heavens, measuring 359' 10" by 438' 9", surrounded on the
+north, south, and east sides by spacious cloisters 38' 3" in depth,
+and on the west by the liwan itself, 288' 2" in length by 65' deep.
+It is said to be copied from one at Makka [Mecca], and was erected
+according to a chronogram over the main arch in A.D. 1571, or at the
+same time as Rajah Bir Bal's house.' The 'six years before his death'
+of Sleeman's text should be 'six months' (Latif, _Agra_, p. 149).
+
+11. The southern portal, known as the Buland Darwaza, or Lofty
+Gateway, does not match the other gateways. It was built in A.D.
+1575-6 (A.H. 983), and was adorned in A.D. 1601-2 (A.H. 1010) with an
+inscription recording Akbar's triumphant return from his campaign in
+the Deccan. The date is fixed by a chronogram, preserved in Beale's
+work entitled _Miftah-ul-tawarikh_ (_Ann. Progr. Rep. A. S. Northern
+Circle_, for 1905-6, p. 34, correcting E. W. Smith). Correct
+measurements are:
+
+ From roadway below to pavement . . . 42 feet
+ From pavement to top of finial . . . 134 "
+ Breadth across main front . . . . 130 "
+ Breadth across back facing the mosque . . 123 "
+ Depth . . . . . . . . 88 1/2 feet.
+
+Full details, with ample illustrations, are given by E. W. Smith, op.
+cit., Part IV, chap. ii. In the original edition of Sleeman a
+chromolithograph of the gateway is inserted. Photographs are
+reproduced in _H.F.A._, Pl. xcvi, and Fergusson, _History of Indian
+and E. Archit._ (ed. 1910), fig. 425.
+
+12. Fergusson (ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 297) successfully justifies the
+vast size of the gateway. 'The semi-dome is the modulus of the
+design, and its scale that by which the imagination measures its
+magnificence.'
+
+The cramped staircases criticized by Sleeman are those ascending from
+the pavement to the roof, one on the north-west, and the other on the
+north-east side of the gate. Each flight has 123 steep steps.
+
+13. See the 105th chapter of the Koran. 'Hast thou not seen how thy
+Lord dealt with the masters of the elephant? Did he not make their
+treacherous design an occasion of drawing them into error; and send
+against them flocks of _swallows_ which cast down upon them stones of
+baked clay, and rendered them like the leaves of corn eaten by
+cattle?' [W. H. S.] The quotation is from Sale's translation, but
+Sale uses the word 'birds', and not '_swallows_'. In his note, where
+he tells the whole story, he speaks of 'a large flock of birds like
+swallows'. The Arabic, Persian, and Hindustani dictionaries give no
+other word than 'ababil' for swallow. The word 'partadil' (purtadeel)
+occurs in none of them. According to Oates, _Fauna of British India_
+(London, 1890), the 'ababil' is the common swallow, _Hirundo
+rustica_; and the 'mosque-swallow' ('masjid-ababil'), otherwise
+called 'Sykes's striated swallow', is the _H. erythropygia, H.
+Daurica_ of Balfour, _Cyclop. of India_, 3rd ed., s.v. Hirundinidae.
+This latter species is the 'little piebald thing' mentioned by the
+author.
+
+14. Muh. Latif (Agra, pp. 146, 147) gives the text and English
+rendering of the inscription, which is in Persian, except the
+_logion_ ascribed to Jesus, which is in Arabic. His translation of
+the Jesus saying is as follows:
+
+'So said Jeans, on whom be peace! "The world is a bridge; pass over
+it, but build no house on it. He who reflected on the distresses of
+the Day of Judgement gained pleasure everlasting.
+
+'"Worldly pleasures are but momentary; spend, then, thy life in
+devotion and remember that what remains of it is valueless".'
+
+Like the author, I am unable to trace the source of the quotation.
+The inscription probably was recorded after Akbar's breach with
+Islam, which may be dated from 1579 or 1580. When he built the
+mosque, in 1571-5, he was still a devout Musalman, although
+entertaining liberal opinions. He died on October 25, 1605 (N.S.;
+October 15, O.S.)
+
+15. For a full account of the exquisite sepulchre of Shaikh Salim,
+see E. W. Smith, op. cit.. Part III, chap. ii. An inscription over
+the doorway is dated A.H. 979 = 1571-2, the year of the saint's
+death. The building, constructed regardless of expense, must be
+somewhat later. 'As originally built by Akbar, the tomb was of red
+sandstone, and the marble trellis-work, the chief ornament of the
+tomb, was erected subsequently by the Emperor Jahangir' (Latif,
+_Agra_, p. 144).
+
+16. The first plundering of Akbar's tomb at Sikandra by the Jats
+occurred in 1691 according to Manucci (_ante_, chapter 51, note 29.).
+The outrages at Fathpur-Sikri seem to have been later in date, and to
+have happened after the capture of Agra in 1761 by Suraj Mall, the
+famous Raja of Bhurtpore (Bharatpur). The Jats retained possession of
+Agra until 1774 (_I.G._, 1908, vol. viii, p. 76). That is the period
+while they reigned, to use the author's words. Tradition affirms that
+daring that time they shot away the tops of the minarets at the
+entrance to the Sikandra park; took the armour and books of Akbar
+from his tomb, and sent them to Bharatpur, and also melted down two
+silver doors at the Taj, which had cost Shah Jahan more than 125,000
+rupees (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. vii, p. 619)
+
+17. We besieged and took Bharatpur in order to rescue the young
+prince, our ally, from his uncle, who had forcibly assumed the office
+of prime minister to his nephew. As soon as we got possession, all
+the property we found, belonging either to the nephew or the uncle,
+was declared to be prize-money, and taken for the troops. The young
+prince was obliged to borrow an elephant from the prize agents to
+ride upon. He has ever since enjoyed the whole of the revenue of his
+large territory. [W. H. S.] The final siege and capture of Bharatpur
+by Lord Combermere took place in January, 1826. The plundering, as
+Metcalfe observed, 'has been very disgraceful, and has tarnished our
+well-earned honours'. All the state treasures and jewels, amounting
+to forty-eight lakhs of rupees, or say half a million of pounds
+sterling, which should have been made over to the rightful Raja, were
+treated as lawful prize, and at once distributed among the officers
+and men. Lord Combermere himself took six lakhs (Marshman, _History
+of India_, ed., 1869, vol. ii, p. 409).
+
+18. The 'little dingy mosque' was built over the cave in which the
+saint dwelt, and was presented to him by the local quarry-men. It is
+therefore called The Stone-cutters' Mosque. It is fully described by
+E. W. Smith, op. cit., Part IV. chap. iii. It is earlier in date than
+any of Akbar's buildings, having been built in A. H. 945 (A.D. 1538-
+9), a year after the saint had settled in the 'dangerous jungle'
+(_Progr. Rep. A. S. N. Circle_, 1905-6, p. 35).
+
+19. The people of India no doubt owed much of the good they enjoyed
+under the long reign of Akbar to this most excellent woman, who
+inspired not only her husband but the most able Muhammadan minister
+that India has ever had, with feelings of universal benevolence. It
+was from her that this great minister, Abul Fazl, derived the spirit
+that dictated the following passages in his admirable work, the Ain-
+i-Akbari; 'Every sect becomes infatuated with its particular
+doctrines; animosity and dissension prevail, and each man deeming the
+tenets of his sect to be the dictates of truth itself, aims at the
+destruction of all others, vilifies reputation, stains the earth with
+blood, and has the vanity to imagine that he is performing
+meritorious actions. Were the voice of reason attended to, mankind
+would be sensible of their error, and lament the weaknesses which led
+them to interfere in the religious concerns of each other.
+Persecution, after all, defeats its own end; it obliges men to
+conceal their opinions, but produces no change in them.
+
+'Summarily, the Hindoos are religious, affable, courteous to
+strangers, prone to inflict austerities on themselves, lovers of
+justice, given to retirement, able in business, grateful, admirers of
+truth, and of unbounded fidelity in all their dealings.
+
+'This character shines brightest in adversity. Their soldiers know
+not what it is to fly from the field of battle; when the success of
+the combat becomes doubtful, they dismount from their horses, and
+throw away their lives in payment of the debt of valour. They have
+great respect for their tutors; and make no account of their lives
+when they can devote them to the service of their God.
+
+'They consider the Supreme Being to be above all labour, and believe
+Brahma to be the creator of the world, Vishnu its preserver, and Siva
+its destroyer. But one sect believes that God, who hath no equal,
+appeared on earth under the three above-mentioned forms, without
+having been thereby polluted in the smallest degree, in the same
+manner as the Christians speak of the Messiah; others hold that all
+these were only human beings, who, on account of their sanctity and
+righteousness, were raised to these high dignities.' [W. H. S.] The
+passage quoted is from Gladwin's translation, vol. ii, p. 318 (4th
+ed., London, 1800). The wording varies in different editions of
+Gladwin's work. A better version will be found in Jarrett, transl.
+_Ain_ (Calcutta, 1894), vol. iii, p. 8.
+
+There is no substantial foundation for the author's statement that
+Abul Fazl learned his charity and toleration from the Hindoo mother
+of Jahangir. The influences which really moulded the opinions of both
+Abul Fazl and his royal master are well known. When Akbar and Abul
+Fazl are compared with Elizabeth and Burleigh, Philip II and Alva, or
+the other sovereigns and ministers of the age in Europe, it seems to
+be little less than a miracle that the Indian statesmen should have
+held and practised the noble philosophy expounded in the above
+quotation from the 'Institutes of Akbar'. No man has deserved better
+than Akbar the stately eulogy pronounced by Wordsworth on a hero now
+obscure:
+
+ A meteor wert thou in a darksome night;
+ Yet shall thy name, conspicuous and sublime,
+ Stand in the spacious firmament of time,
+ Fixed as a star: such glory is thy right.
+ (_Sonnets dedicated to Liberty_, Part Second, No. XVII.)
+
+
+20. The story is absurd, the saint having died early in 1572, when
+the Fathpur-Sikri buildings were in progress.
+
+'The city . . . is enclosed on three sides by high embattlemented
+stone walls pierced by. . . gateways protected by heavy and grim
+semi-circular bastions of rubble masonry. The fourth side was
+protected by a large lake.' There were nine gateways (E. W. Smith,
+op. cit., pp. 1, 59; pl. xci, xciii). The Sangin Burj, or Stone
+Tower, is a fine unfinished fortification (ibid., p. 34). The dam of
+the lake burst in the 27th year of the reign, A.D. 1582 (Latif,
+_Agra_, p. 159). The circumference of the town is variously stated as
+either six or seven miles.
+
+21. Akbar began the works at the fort of Agra in A.H. 972,
+corresponding to A.D. 1564-65, several years before he began those at
+Fathpur in A.D. 1569-70 (E. & D., vol. v, pp. 295, 332); and the
+buildings at Agra and Fathpur were carried on concurrently. He
+continued building at Fathpur nearly to the close of his reign. Agra
+was never 'an unpeopled waste' during Akbar's reign. Sikandar Lodi
+had made it his capital in A.D. 1501.
+
+22. That is to say, the grantees have now to pay land revenue, or
+rent, to the state.
+
+23. No good general description of the buildings at Agra, Sikandra,
+and Fathpur-Sikri exists. The following list indicates the beat
+treatises available.
+
+(1) Syad Muhammad Latif--_Agra, Historical and Descriptive., &c._;
+8vo, Calcutta, 1896, Useful, but crude and badly illustrated.
+
+(2) E. W. Smith--_The Moghul Architecture of Fathpur-Sikri_; 4 Parts,
+4to, Government Press, Allahabad, 1894-8.
+
+(3) Same author--_Moghul Colour Decoration of Agra_; 4to, Government
+Press, Allahabad, 1901.
+
+(4) Same author--_Akbar's Tomb, Sikandarah_; posthumous; 4to,
+Allahabad Government Press, 1909.
+
+The three works by Mr. E. W. Smith are magnificently illustrated and
+worthy of the subject.
+
+(5) Nur Baksh--'The Agra Fort and its Buildings', in _A.S. Annual
+Report_ for 1903-4, pp. 164-93.
+
+(6) Moin-ud-din--_The History of the Taj, &c._; thin 8vo, 116 pp.;
+Moon Press, Agra, 1905. Useful, as being the only book devoted to the
+Taj and connected buildings, but crude and inadequate.
+
+The Archaeological Survey of India, since its reorganization, has not
+had time to study the Taj buildings, except for conservation
+purposes. The report by Mr. Carlleyle on the minor remains at and
+near Agra in _A.S.R._, vol. iv, 1874, is almost worthless.
+
+In 1873 Major Cole prepared a handsome volume entitled _Illustrations
+of Buildings near Muttra and Agra, &c._
+
+Some information, to be used with caution, is to be found in
+gazetteers of different dates.
+
+The brief observations in Fergusson's _History of Indian and Eastern
+Architecture_ (ed. 1910) are of permanent value. The plan of the
+editor's work, _A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon_ (H. F.
+A.), Oxford, 1911, does not permit of detailed descriptions. The
+well-known little Handbook by Mr. H. G. Keene contains many errors
+and is unworthy of the author's reputation as an historian.
+
+A good guide-book, prepared with knowledge and accuracy, is badly
+wanted. It would be difficult to find an author possessed of the
+needful local knowledge and sufficiently well read to compile a
+satisfactory book. An adequate illustrated history of the Taj
+buildings on the lines of Mr. E. W. Smith's work on Fathpur-Sikri is
+much to be desired, but would be a formidable undertaking, and is not
+likely to be written for a long time to come. Perhaps some wealthy
+admirer of Akbar and his achievements may appear and provide the
+considerable funds required for the preparation of the desired
+treatise. The Christian antiquities of Agra also deserve systematic
+treatment. At present the information on record is in a chaotic
+state.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 55
+
+
+Bharatpur--Dig--Want of employment for the Military and the Educated
+Classes under the Company's Rule.
+
+Our old friends, Mr. Charles Fraser, the Commissioner of the Agra
+Division, then on his circuit, and Major Godby, had come on with us
+from Agra and made our party very agreeable. On the 9th, we went
+fourteen miles to Bharatpur, over a plain of alluvial, but seemingly
+poor, soil, intersected by one low range of sandstone hills running
+north-east and south-west. The thick belt of jungle, three miles
+wide, with which the chiefs of Bharatpur used to surround their
+fortress while they were freebooters, and always liable to be brought
+into collision with their neighbours, has been fast diminishing since
+the capture of the place by our troops in 1826; and will very soon
+disappear altogether, and give place to rich sheets of cultivation,
+and happy little village communities. Our tents had been pitched
+close outside the Mathura gate, near a small grove of fruit-trees,
+which formed the left flank of the last attack on this fortress by
+Lord Combermere.[1] Major Godby had been present during the whole
+siege; and, as we went round the place in the evening on our
+elephants, he pointed out all the points of attack, and told all the
+anecdotes of the day that were interesting enough to be remembered
+for ten years. We went through the town, out at the opposite gate,
+and passed along the line of Lord Lake's attack in 1805.[2] All the
+points of his attack were also pointed out to us by our cicerone, an
+old officer in the service of the Raja. It happened to be the
+anniversary of the first attempt to storm, which was made on the 9th
+of January, thirty-one years before. One old officer told us that he
+remembered Lord Lake sitting with three other gentlemen on chairs not
+more than half a mile from the ramparts of the fort.
+
+The old man thought that the men of those days were quite a different
+sort of thing to the men of the present day, as well those who
+defended, as those who attacked the fort; and, if the truth must be
+told, he thought that the European lords and gentlemen had fallen off
+in the same scale as the rest.
+
+'But', said the old man, 'all these things are matter of destiny and
+providence. Upon that very bastion (pointing to the right point of
+Lord Lake's attack) stood a large twenty-four pounder, which was
+loaded and discharged three times by supernatural agency during one
+of your attacks--not a living soul was near it.' We all smiled,
+incredulous; and the old man offered to bring a score of witnesses to
+the fact, men of unquestionable veracity. The left point of Lord
+Lake's attack was the Baldeo bastion, so called alter Baldeo Singh,
+the second son of the then reigning chief, Ranjit Singh. The feats
+which Hector performed in the defence of Troy sink into utter
+insignificance before those which Baldeo performed in the defence of
+Bharatpur, according to the best testimony of the survivors of that
+great day. 'But', said the old man, 'he was, of course, acting under
+supernatural influence; he condescended to measure swords only with
+Europeans'; and their bodies filled the whole bastion in which he
+stood, according to the belief of the people, though no European
+entered it, I believe, during the whole siege. They pointed out to us
+where the different corps were posted. There was one corps which had
+signalized itself a good deal, but of which I had never before heard,
+though all around me seemed extremely well acquainted with it--this
+was the _Anta Gurgurs_. At last Godby came to my side, and told me
+this was the name by which the Bombay troops were always known in
+Bengal, though no one seemed to know whence it came. I am disposed to
+think that they derive it from the peculiar form of the caps of their
+sepoys, which are in form like the common hookah, called a 'gurguri',
+with a small ball at the top, like an 'anta', or tennis, or billiard
+ball; hence 'Anta Gurgurs'. The Bombay sepoys were, I am told, always
+very angry when they heard that they were known by this term--they
+have always behaved like good soldiers, and need not be ashamed of
+this or any other name.[3]
+
+The water in the lake, about a mile to the west of Bharatpur, stands
+higher than the ground about the fortress; and a drain had been
+opened, through which the water rushed in and filled the ditch all
+round the fort and great part of the plain to the south and east,
+before Lord Lake undertook the siege in 1805.[4] This water might, I
+believe, have been taken off to the eastward into the Jumna, had the
+outlet been discovered by the engineers. An attempt was made to cut
+the same drain on the approach of Lord Combermere in 1826; but a
+party went on, and stopped the work before much water had passed, and
+the ditch was almost dry when the siege began.
+
+The walls being all of mud, and now dismantled, had a wretched
+appearance;[5] and the town which is contained within them is, though
+very populous, a mere collection of wretched hovels; the only
+respectable habitation within is the palace, which consists of three
+detached buildings--one for the chief, another for the females of his
+family, and the third for his court of justice, I could not find a
+single trace of the European officers who had been killed there,
+either at the first or second siege, though I had been told that a
+small tomb had been built in a neighbouring grove over the remains of
+Brigadier-General Edwards, who fell in the last storm. It is, I
+believe, the only one that has ever been raised. The scenes of
+battles fought by the Muhammadan conquerors of India were commonly
+crowded with magnificent tombs, built over the slain, and provided
+for a time with the means of maintaining holy men who read the Koran
+over their graves. Not that this duty was necessary for the repose of
+their souls, for every Muhammadan killed in fighting against men who
+believed not in his prophet went, as a matter of course, to paradise;
+and every unbeliever, killed in the same action, went as surely to
+hell. There are only a few hundred men, exclusive of the prophets,
+who, according to Muhammad, have the first place in paradise--those
+who shared in one or other of his first three battles, and believed
+in his holy mission before they had the evidence of a single victory
+over the unbelievers to support it. At the head of these are the men
+who accompanied him in his flight from Mecca to Medina, when he had
+no evidence either from _victories_ or _miracles_. In all such
+matters the less the evidence adduced in proof of a mission the
+greater the merit of those who believe in it, according to the person
+who pretends to it; and unhappily, the less the evidence a man has
+for his faith, the greater is his anger against other men for not
+joining in it with him. No man gets very angry with another for not
+joining with him in his faith in the demonstration of a problem in
+mathematics. Man likes to think that he is on the way to heaven upon
+such easy terms; but gets angry at the notion that others won't join
+him, because they may consider him an imbecile for thinking that he
+is so. The Muhammadan generals and historians are sometimes almost as
+concise as Caesar himself in describing very conscientiously a battle
+of this kind; instead of 'I came, I saw, I conquered', it is 'Ten
+thousand Musalmans on that day tasted of the blessed fruit of
+paradise, after sending fifty thousand unbelievers to the flames of
+hell'.
+
+On the 10th we came on twelve miles to Kumbhir, over a plain of poor
+soil, much impregnated with salt, and with some works in which salt
+is made, with solar evaporation. The earth is dug up, water is
+filtered through it, and drawn off into small square beds, where it
+is evaporated by exposure to the solar heat. The gate of this fort
+leading out to the road we came is called, modestly enough, after
+Kumbhir, a place only ten miles distant; that leading to Mathura,
+three or four stages distant, is called the Mathura gate. At Delhi,
+the gates of the city walls are called ostentatiously after distant
+places--the _Kashmir_, the _Kabul_, the _Constantinople_ gates.
+Outside the Kumbhir gate, I saw, for the first time in my life, the
+well peculiar to Upper India. It is built up in the form of a round
+tower or cylindrical shell of burnt bricks, well cemented with good
+mortar, and covered inside and out with good stucco work, and let
+down by degrees, as the earth is removed by men at work in digging
+under the light earthy or sandy foundation inside and out. This well
+is about twenty feet below and twenty feet above the surface, and had
+to be built higher as it was let into the ground.[6]
+
+On the 11th we came on twelve miles to Dig (Deeg), over a plain of
+poor and badly cultivated soil, which must be almost all under water
+in the rains. This was, and still is, the country seat of the Jats of
+Bharatpur, who rose, as I have already stated, to wealth and power by
+aggressions upon their immediate neighbours, and the plunder of
+tribute on its way to the imperial capital, and of the baggage of
+passing armies during the contests for dominion that followed the
+death of the Emperors, and during the decline and fall of the empire.
+The Jats found the morasses with which they were surrounded here a
+source of strength. They emigrated from the banks of the Indus about
+Multan, and took up their abode by degrees on the banks of the Jumna,
+and those of the Chambal, from their confluence upwards, where they
+became cultivators and robbers upon a small scale, till they had the
+means to build garrisons, when they entered the lists with princes,
+who were only robbers upon a large scale. The Jats, like the
+Marathas, rose, by a feeling of nationality, among a people who had
+none. Single landholders were every day rising to principalities by
+means of their gangs of robbers; but they could seldom be cemented
+under one common head by a bond of national feeling.
+
+They have a noble quadrangular garden at Dig, surrounded by a high
+wall. In the centre of each of the four faces is one of the most
+beautiful Hindoo buildings for accommodation that I have ever seen,
+formed of a very fine sandstone brought from the quarries of Rupbas,
+which he between thirty and forty miles to the south, and eight or
+ten miles west of Fathpur-Sikri. These stones are brought in in flags
+some sixteen feet long, from two to three feet wide, and one thick,
+with sides as flat as glass, the flags being of the natural thickness
+of the strata. The garden is four hundred and seventy-five feet long,
+by three hundred and fifty feet wide; and in the centre is an
+octagonal pond, with openings on the four sides leading up to the
+four buildings, each opening having, from the centre of the pond to
+the foot of the flight of steps leading into them, an avenue of _jets
+d'eau_.
+
+Dig as much surpassed, as Bharatpur fell short of, my expectations. I
+had seen nothing in India of architectural beauty to be compared with
+the buildings in this garden, except at Agra. The useful and the
+elegant are here everywhere happily blended; nothing seems
+disproportionate, or unsuitable to the purpose for which it was
+designed; and all that one regrets is that so beautiful a garden
+should be situated in so vile a swamp.[7] There was a general
+complaint among the people of the town of a want of 'rozgar'
+(employment), and its fruit, subsistence; the taking of Bharatpur
+had, they said, produced a sad change among them for the worse. Godby
+observed to some of the respectable men about us, who complained of
+this, that happily their chief had now no enemy to employ them
+against. 'But what', said they, 'is a prince without an army? and why
+do you keep up yours now that all your enemies have been subdued?'
+'We want them', replied Godby, 'to prevent our friends from cutting
+each other's throats, and to defend them all against a foreign
+enemy.' 'True,' said they, 'but what are we to do who have nothing
+but our swords to depend upon, now that our chief no longer wants us,
+and you won't take us?' 'And what,' said some shopkeepers, 'are we to
+do who provided these troops with clothes, food, and furniture, which
+they can no longer afford to pay for?' _Company ke amal men kuchh
+rozgar nahin_ ('Under the Company's dominion there is no
+employment'). This is too true; we do the soldiers' work with one-
+tenth of the soldiers that had before been employed in it over the
+territories we acquire, and turn the other nine-tenths adrift. They
+all sink into the lowest class of religions mendicants, or retainers;
+or live among their friends as drones upon the land; while the
+manufacturing, trading, and commercial industry that provided them
+with the comforts, conveniences, and elegancies of life while they
+were in a higher grade of service is in its turn thrown out of
+employment; and the whole frame of society becomes, for a time,
+deranged by the local diminution in the demand _for the services of
+men and the produce of their industry_.
+
+I say we do the soldiers' work with one-tenth of the numbers that
+were formerly required for it. I will mention an anecdote to
+illustrate this. In the year 1816 I was marching with my regiment
+from the Nepal frontier, after the war, to Allahabad. We encamped
+about four miles from a mud fort in the kingdom of Oudh, and heard
+the guns of the Amil, or chief of the district, playing all day upon
+this fort, from which his batteries were removed at least two miles.
+He had three regiments of infantry, a corps or two of cavalry, and a
+good park of artillery; while the garrison consisted of only about
+two hundred stout Rajput landholders and cultivators, or yeomen. In
+the evening, just as we had sat down to dinner, a messenger came to
+the commanding officer, Colonel Gregory, who was a member of the
+mess, from the said Amil, and begged permission to deliver his
+message in private. I, as the senior staff officer, was requested to
+hear what he had to say.
+
+'What do you require from the commanding officer?'
+
+'I require the loan of the regiment.'
+
+'I know the commanding officer will not let you have the regiment.'
+
+'If the Amil cannot get more, he will be glad to get two companies;
+and I have brought with me this bag of gold, containing some two or
+three hundred gold mohurs.'
+
+I delivered the message to Colonel Gregory, before all the officers,
+who desired me to say that he could not spare a single man, as he had
+no authority to assist the Amil, and was merely marching through the
+country to his destination, I did so. The man urged me to beg the
+commanding officer, if he could do no more, merely to halt the next
+day where he was, and lend the Amil the use of one of his drummers.
+
+'And what will you do with him?'
+
+'Why, just before daylight, we will take him down near one of the
+gates of the fort, and make him beat his drum as hard as he can; and
+the people within, thinking the whole regiment is upon them, will
+make out as fast as possible at the opposite gate.'
+
+'And the bag of gold--what is to become of that?'
+
+'You and the old gentleman can divide it between you, and I will
+double it for you, if you like.'
+
+I delivered the message before all the officers to their great
+amusement; and the poor man was obliged to carry back his bag of gold
+to the Amil. The Amil is the collector of revenues in Oudh, and he is
+armed with all the powers of government, and has generally several
+regiments and a train of artillery with him.
+
+The large landholders build these mud forts, which they defend by
+their Rajput cultivators, who are among the bravest men in the world.
+One hundred of them would never hesitate to attack a thousand of the
+king's regular troops, because they know the Amil would be ashamed to
+have any noise made about it at court; but they know also that, if
+they were to beat one hundred of the Company's troops, they would
+soon have a thousand upon them; and, if they were to beat one
+thousand, they would soon have ten. They provide for the maintenance
+of those who are wounded in their fight, and for the widows and
+orphans of those who are killed. Their prince provides for neither,
+and his soldiers are, consequently, somewhat chary of fighting. It is
+from this peasantry, the military cultivators of Oudh, that our
+Bengal native infantry draws three out of four of its recruits, and
+finer young men for soldiers can hardly anywhere be found.[8]
+
+The advantage which arises to society from doing the soldiers' duty
+with a smaller number has never been sufficiently appreciated in
+India; but it will become every day more manifest, as our dominion
+becomes more and more stable--for men who have lived by the sword do
+not in India like to live by anything else, or to see their children
+anything but soldiers. Under the former government men brought their
+own arms and horses to the service, and took them away with them
+again when discharged. The supply always greatly exceeded the demand
+for soldiers, both in the cavalry and the infantry, and a very great
+portion of the men armed and accoutred as soldiers were always
+without service, roaming over the country in search of it. To such
+men the profession next in rank after that of the soldier robbing in
+the service of the sovereign was that of the robber plundering on his
+own account. '_Materia munificentiae per bella et raptus. Nec arare
+terram, aut expectare annum, tam facile persuaseris, quam vocare
+hostes et vulnera mereri; pigrum quinimmo et iners videtur sudore
+acquirere, quod possis sanguine parare._' 'War and rapine supply the
+prince with the means of his munificence. You cannot persuade the
+German to cultivate the fields and wait patiently for the harvest so
+easily as you can to challenge the enemy, and expose himself to
+honourable wounds. They hold it to be base and dishonourable to earn
+by the sweat of their brow what they might acquire by their
+blood.'[9]
+
+The equestrian robber had his horse, and was called 'ghurasi', horse-
+robber, a term which he never thought disgraceful. The foot-robber
+under the native government stood in the same relation to the horse-
+robber as the foot-soldier to the horse-soldier, because the trooper
+furnished his own horses, arms, and accoutrements, and considered
+himself a man of rank and wealth compared with the foot-soldier;
+both, however, had the wherewithal to rob the traveller on the
+highway; and, in the intervals between wars, the high roads were
+covered with them. There was a time in England, it is said, when the
+supply of clergymen was so great compared with the demand for them,
+from the undue stimulus given to clerical education, that it was not
+thought disgraceful for them to take to robbing on the highway; and
+all the high roads were, in consequence, infested by them.[10] How
+much more likely is a soldier to consider himself justified in this
+pursuit, and to be held so by the feelings of society in general,
+when he seeks in vain for regular service under his sovereign and his
+viceroys.
+
+The individual soldiers not only armed, accoutred, and mounted
+themselves, but they generally ranged themselves under leaders, and
+formed well-organized bands for any purpose of war or plunder. They
+followed the fortunes of such leaders whether in service or out of
+it; and, when dismissed from that of their sovereign, they assisted
+them in robbing on the highway, or in pillaging the country till the
+sovereign was compelled to take them back, or give them estates in
+rent-free tenure for their maintenance and that of their followers.
+
+All this is reversed under our government. We do the soldiers' work
+much better than it was ever before done with one-tenth--nay, I may
+say, one-fiftieth--part of the numbers that were employed to do it by
+our predecessors; and the whole number of the soldiers employed by us
+is not equal to that of those who were under them actually in the
+transition state, or on their way from the place where they had lost
+service to the place where they hoped to find it; extorting the means
+of subsistence either by intimidation or by open violence. Those who
+are in this transition state under us are neither armed, accoutred,
+nor mounted; we do not disband en masse, we only dismiss individuals
+for offences, and they have no leaders to range themselves under.
+Those who come to seek our service are the sons of yeomen, bred up
+from their infancy with all those feelings of deference for superiors
+which we require in soldiers. They have neither arms, horses, nor
+accoutrements; and, when they leave us permanently or temporarily,
+they take none with them--they never rob or steal--they will often
+dispute with the shopkeepers on the road about the price of
+provisions, or get a man to carry their bundles gratis for a few
+miles, but this is the utmost of their transgressions, and for these
+things they are often severely handled by our police.
+
+It is extremely gratifying to an Englishman to hear the general
+testimony borne by all classes of people to the merits of our rule in
+this respect; they all say that no former government ever devoted so
+much attention to the formation of good roads and to the protection
+of those who travel on them; and much of the security arises from the
+change I have here remarked in the character and number of our
+military establishments. It is equally gratifying to reflect that the
+advantages must go on increasing, as those who have been thrown out
+of employment in the army find other occupations for themselves and
+their children; for find them they must or turn mendicants, if India
+should be blessed with a long interval of peace. All soldiers under
+us who have served the government faithfully for a certain number of
+years, are, when no longer fit for the active duties of their
+profession, sent back with the means of subsistence in honourable
+retirement for the rest of their lives among their families and
+friends, where they form, as it were, fountains of good feeling
+towards the government they have served. Under former governments, a
+trooper was discharged as soon as his horse got disabled, and a foot-
+soldier as soon as he got disabled himself--no matter how--whether in
+the service of the prince, or otherwise; no matter how long they had
+served, whether they were still fit for any other service or not.
+Like the old soldier in _Gil Blas_, they tumed robbers on the
+highway, where they could still present a spear or a matchlock at a
+traveller, though no longer deemed worthy to serve in the ranks of
+the army. Nothing tended so much to the civilization of Europe as the
+substitution of standing armies for militia; and nothing has tended
+so much to the improvement of India under our rule.
+
+The troops to which our standing armies in India succeeded were much
+the same in character as those licentious bodies to which the
+standing armies of the different nations of Europe succeeded; and the
+result has been, and will, I hope, continue to be the same, highly
+beneficial to the great mass of the people.
+
+By a statute of Elizabeth it was made a capital offence, felony
+without benefit of clergy, for soldiers or sailors to beg on the high
+roads without a pass; and I suppose this statute arose from their
+frequently robbing on the highways in the character of beggars.[11]
+There must at that time have been an immense number of soldiers in
+the transition state in England; men who disdained the labours of
+peaceful life, or had by long habit become unfitted for them.
+Religions mendicity has hitherto been the great safety valve through
+which the unquiet transition spirit has found vent under our strong
+and settled government. A Hindoo of any caste may become a religious
+mendicant of the two great monastic orders--of Gosains, who are
+disciples of Siva, and Bairagis, who are disciples of Vishnu; and any
+Muhammadan may become a Fakir; and Gosains, Bairagis, and Fakirs, can
+always secure, or extort, food from the communities they visit.[12]
+
+Still, however, there is enough of this unquiet transition spirit
+left to give anxiety to a settled government; for the moment
+insurrection breaks out at any point, from whatever cause, to that
+point thousands are found flocking from north, east, west, and south,
+with their arms and their horses, if they happen to have any, in the
+hope of finding service either under the local authorities or the
+insurgents themselves; as the troubled winds of heaven rush to the
+point where the pressure of the atmosphere has been diminished.[13]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. On the sieges of Bharatpur see _ante_, chapter 17, note 9.
+
+2. In the original edition the year is misprinted 1804, though the
+correct date is indicated by the phrase 'thirty-one years before'.
+The operations on January 9, 1805, are described in considerable
+detail in Thornton's history, and Pearse, _The Life and Military
+Services of Viscount Lake_ (Blackwood, 1908). Dig was taken on
+December 24, 1804, and Lord Lake's army moved from Mathura towards
+Bharatpur on January 1, 1805.
+
+3. The Bombay column joined Lord Lake on February 11, and took part
+in the third and fourth assaults on the fortress.
+
+4. As in the previous passage, this date is printed 1804 in the
+original edition.
+
+5. They have been repaired to some extent, and the town has improved
+much since the author's time.
+
+6. That is to say, the well-cylinder is gradually sunk by its own
+weight, aided, if necessary, by heavy additional weights piled upon
+it. The sinking often takes many months, and is continued till a
+suitable resting-place is found. The cylinder is built on a strong
+ring of timber. Indian bridge-piers commonly rest on wells of this
+kind. The ring is sometimes made of iron. Such a method of sinking is
+possible only in deep alluvium, free from rock, and consequently had
+not been seen in the Sagar and Nerbudda territories.
+
+7. In the original edition Dig is illustrated by four coloured
+plates. The buildings are all the work of Suraj Mal, the virtual
+founder of the Bharatpur dynasty, between A.D. 1725 and 1763. The
+palace wants, say Fergusson, 'the massive character of the fortified
+palaces of other Rajput states, but for grandeur of conception and
+beauty of detail it surpasses them all. . . . The greatest defect of
+the palace is that the style, when it was erected, was losing its
+true form of lithic propriety. The forms of its pillars and their
+ornaments are better suited for wood or metal than for stone
+architecture.' It is a 'fairy creation'. (_History of Indian and
+Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, vol. ii, pp. 178-81.)
+
+8. On these topics see the 'Journey through the Kingdom of Oude',
+_passim_. The composition of the Bengal army has been much changed.
+
+9. The quotation is from the end of chapter 14 of the _Germania_ of
+Tacitus.
+
+10. This picture of English roads infested by clergymen turned
+highwaymen is not to be found in the ordinary histories.
+
+11. The Act alluded to probably is 14 Elizabeth, c. 5. Other Acts of
+the same reign dealing with vagrancy and the first poor-law are 39
+Elizabeth, c. 3, and 43 Elizabeth, c. 2 (A.D. 1601). In 1595 vagrancy
+had assumed such alarming proportions in London that a provost-
+marshal was appointed to give the wanderers the short shrift of
+martial law. The course of legislation on the subject is summarized
+in the article 'Poor Laws' in Chambers's _Encyclopaedia_ (1904), and
+the articles 'Poor-Law and Vagrancy' in the _Encyclopaedia
+Britannica_, 11th ed., 1910. See also the chapter entitled 'The
+England of Elizabeth' in Green's History of the English People.
+
+12. As already observed, chapter 29, note 12, the term Gosain is by
+no means restricted to the special devotees of Siva; many Gosains--
+for example, those in Bengal and those at Gokul in the Mathura
+district--are followers of Vishnu. The term 'fakir' is vaguely used,
+and often applied to Hindoos.
+
+13. Even still, something of this unquiet spirit hovers about India,
+and the incompatibility between the ideas of twentieth-century
+Englishmen and those of Indian peoples whose mental attitude
+approaches that of Europeans of the twelfth century is a perennial
+source of unrest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 56
+
+
+Govardhan, the Scene of Krishna's Dalliance with the Milkmaids.
+
+On the 10th[1] we came on ten miles over a plain to Govardhan, a
+place celebrated in ancient history as the birthplace of Krishna, the
+seventh incarnation of the Hindoo god of preservation, Vishnu, and
+the scene of his dalliance with the milkmaids (_gopis_); and, in
+modern days, as the burial--or burning-place of the Jat chiefs of
+Bharatpur and Dig, by whose tombs, with their endowments, this once
+favourite abode of the god is prevented from being entirely
+deserted.[2] The town stands upon a narrow ridge of sandstone hills,
+about ten miles long, rising suddenly out of an alluvial plain and
+running north-east and south-west. The population is now very small,
+and composed chiefly of Brahmans, who are supported by the endowments
+of these tombs, and the contributions of a few pilgrims. All our
+Hindoo followers were much gratified as we happened to arrive on a
+day of peculiar sanctity; and they were enabled to bathe and perform
+their devotions to the different shrines with the prospect of great
+advantage. This range of hills is believed by Hindoos to be part of a
+fragment of the Himalaya mountains which Hanuman, the monkey general
+of Rama, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, was taking down to aid his
+master in the formation of his bridge from the continent to the
+island of Ceylon, when engaged in the war with the demon king of that
+island for the recovery of his wife Sita. He made a false step by
+some accident in passing Govardhan, and this small bit of his load
+fell off. The rocks begged either to be taken on to the god Rama, or
+back to their old place; but Hanuman was hard pressed for time, and
+told them not to be uneasy, as they would have a comfortable resting-
+place, and be worshipped by millions in future ages--thus, according
+to popular belief, foretelling that it would become the residence of
+a future incarnation, and the scene of Krishna's miracles. The range
+was then about twenty miles long, ten having since disappeared under
+the ground. It was of full length during Krishna's days; and, on one
+occasion, he took up the whole upon his little finger to defend his
+favourite town and its milkmaids from the wrath of Indra, who got
+angry with the people, and poured down upon them a shower of burning
+ashes.
+
+As I rode along this range, which rises gently from the plains at
+both ends and abruptly from the sides, with my groom by my side, I
+asked him what made Hanuman drop all his burthen here.
+
+'_All_ his burthen!' exclaimed he with a smile; 'had it been all,
+would it not have been an immense mountain, with all its towns and
+villages? while this is but an insignificant belt of rock. A mountain
+upon the back of men of former days, sir, was no more than a bundle
+of grass upon the back of one of your grass-cutters in the present
+day.'
+
+ Nathu, whose mind had been full of the wonders of this place from
+his infancy, happened to be with us, and he now chimed in.
+
+'It was night when Hanuman passed this place, and the lamps were seen
+burning in a hundred towns upon the mountain he had upon his back--
+the people were all at their usual occupations, quite undisturbed;
+this is a mere fragment of his great burthen.'
+
+'And how was it that the men of those towns should have been so much
+smaller than the men who carried them?' 'God only knew; but the fact
+of the men of the plains having been so large was undisputed--their
+beards were as many miles long as those of the present day are
+inches. Did not Bhim throw the forty-cubit stone pillar, that now
+stands at Eran,[3] a distance of thirty miles, after the man who was
+running away with his cattle?'
+
+ I thought of poor Father Gregory at Agra, and the heavy sigh he gave
+when asked by Godby what progress he was making among the people in
+the way of conversion.[4] The faith of these people is certainly
+larger than all the mustard-seeds in the world.
+
+I told a very opulent and respectable Hindoo banker one day that it
+seemed to us very strange that Vishnu should come upon the earth
+merely to sport with milkmaids, and to hold up an umbrella, however
+large, to defend them from a shower. 'The earth, sir,' said he, 'was
+at that time infested with innumerable demons and giants, who
+swallowed up men and women as bears swallow white ants; and his
+highness, Krishna, came down to destroy them. His own mother's
+brother, Kans, who then reigned at Mathura over Govardhan, was one of
+these horrible demons. Hearing that his sister would give birth to a
+son that was to destroy him, he put to death several of her progeny
+as soon as they were born.[5] When Krishna was seven days old, he
+sent a nurse, with poison on her nipple, to destroy him likewise; but
+his highness gave such a pull at it, that the nurse dropped down
+dead. In falling, she resumed her real shape of a she-demon, and her
+body covered no less than six square miles, and it took several
+thousand men to cut her up and burn her, to prevent the pestilence
+that must have followed. His uncle then sent a crane, which caught up
+his highness, who always looked very small for his age, and swallowed
+him as he would swallow a frog. But his highness kicked up such a
+rumpus in the bird's stomach that he was immediately thrown up again.
+When he was seven years old his uncle invited him to a feast, and got
+the largest and most ferocious elephant in India to tread him to
+death as he alighted at the door. His highness, though then not
+higher than my waist, took the enormous beast by one tusk, and, after
+whirling him round in the air with one hand half a dozen times, he
+dashed him on the ground and killed him.[6] Unable any longer to
+stand the wickedness of his uncle, he seized him by the beard,
+dragged him from his throne, and dashed him to the ground in the same
+manner.'
+
+I thought of poor old Father Gregory and the mustard-seeds again, and
+told my rich old friend that it all appeared to us indeed passing
+strange.
+
+The orthodox belief among the Muhammadans is that Moses was sixty
+yards high; that he carried a mace sixty yards long; and that he
+sprang sixty yards from the ground when he aimed the fatal blow at
+the giant Uj, the son of Anak, who came from the land of Canaan, with
+a mountain on his back, to crush the army of Israelites. Still, the
+head of his mace could reach only to the ankle-bone of the giant.
+This was broken with the blow. The giant fell, and was crushed under
+the weight of his own mountain. Now a person whose ankle-bone was one
+hundred and eighty yards high must have been almost as prodigious as
+he who carried the fragment of the Himalaya upon his back; and he who
+believes in the one cannot fairly find fault with his neighbour for
+believing in the other.[7] I was one day talking with a very sensible
+and respectable Hindoo gentleman of Bundelkhand about the accident
+which made Hanuman drop this fragment of his load at Govardhan. 'All
+doubts upon that point,' said the old gentleman, 'have been put at
+rest by holy writ. It is related in our scriptures.
+
+'Bharat, the brother of Rama, was left regent of the kingdom of
+Ajodhya,[8] during his absence at the conquest of Ceylon. He happened
+at night to see Hanuman passing with the mountain upon his back, and
+thinking he might be one of the king of Ceylon's demons about
+mischief, he let fly one of his blunt arrows at him. It hit him on
+the leg, and he fell, mountain and all, to the ground. As he fell, he
+called out in his agony, 'Ram, Ram', from which Bharat discovered his
+mistake. He went up, raised him in his arms, and with his kind
+attentions restored him to his senses. Learning from him the object
+of his journey, and fearing that his wounded brother Lachhman would
+die before he could get to Ceylon with the requisite remedy, he
+offered to send Hanuman on upon the barb of one of his arrows,
+mountain and all. To try him Hanuman took up his mountain and seated
+himself with it upon the barb of the arrow as desired. Bharat placed
+the arrow to the string of his bow, and drawing it till the barb
+touched the bow, asked Hanuman whether he was ready. 'Quite ready,'
+said Hanuman, 'but I am now satisfied that you really are the brother
+of our prince, and regent of his kingdom, which was all I desired.
+Pray let me descend; and be sure that I shall be at Ceylon in time to
+save your wounded brother.' He got off, knelt down, placed his
+forehead on Bharat's feet in submission, resumed his load, and was at
+Ceylon by the time the day broke next morning, leaving behind him the
+small and insignificant fragment, on which the town and temples of
+Govardhan now stand.
+
+'While little Krishna was frisking about among the milkmaids of
+Govardhan,' continued my old friend, 'stealing their milk, cream, and
+butter, Brahma, the creator of the universe, who had heard of his
+being an incarnation of Vishnu, the great preserver of the universe,
+visited the place, and had some misgivings, from his size and
+employment, as to his real character. To try him, he took off through
+the sky a herd of cattle, on which some of his favourite playmates
+were attending, old and young, boys and all. Krishna, knowing how
+much the parents of the boys and owners of the cattle would be
+distressed, created, in a moment, another herd and other attendants
+so exactly like those that Brahma had taken, that the owners of the
+one, and the parents of the other, remained ignorant of the change.
+Even the new creations themselves remained equally ignorant; and the
+cattle walked into their stalls, and the boys into their houses,
+where they recognized and were recognized by their parents, as if
+nothing had happened.
+
+'Brahma was now satisfied that Krishna was a true incarnation of
+Vishnu, and restored to him the real herd and attendants. The others
+were removed out of the way by Krishna, as soon as he saw the real
+ones coming back.'
+
+'But,' said I to the good old man, who told me this with a grave
+face, 'must they not have suffered in passing from the life given to
+death; and why create them merely to destroy them again?'
+
+'Was he not God the Creator himself?' said the old man; 'does he not
+send one generation into the world after another to fulfil their
+destiny, and then to return to the earth from which they came, just
+as he spreads over the land the grass and corn? All is gathered in
+its season, or withers as that passes away and dies.' The old
+gentleman might have quoted Wordsworth:
+
+ We die, my friend,
+ Nor we alone, but that which each man loved
+ And prized in his peculiar nook of earth
+ Dies with him, or is changed; and very soon,
+ Even of the good is no memorial left.[9]
+
+I was one day out shooting with my friend, the Raja of Maihar,[10]
+under the Vindhya range, which rises five or six hundred feet, almost
+perpendicularly. He was an excellent shot with an English double-
+barrel, and had with him six men just as good. I asked him whether we
+were likely to fall in with any hares, using the term 'khargosh', or
+'ass-eared'.
+
+'Certainly not,' said the Raja, 'if you begin by abusing them with
+such a name; call them "lambkanas", sir, "long-eared", and we shall
+get plenty.'
+
+He shot one, and attributed my bad luck to the opprobrious name I had
+used. While he was reloading, I took occasion to ask him how this
+range of hills had grown up where it was.
+
+'No one can say,' replied the Raja, 'but we believe that when Rama
+went to recover his wife Sita from the demon king of Ceylon, Ravan,
+he wanted to throw a bridge across from the continent to the island,
+and sent some of his followers up to the Himalaya mountains for
+stones. He had completed his bridge before they all returned, and a
+messenger was sent to tell those who had not yet come to throw down
+their burdens, and rejoin him in all haste. Two long lines of these
+people had got thus far on their return when the messenger met them.
+They threw down their loads here, and here they have remained ever
+since, one forming the Vindhya range to the north of this valley, and
+the other the Kaimur range to the south.'
+
+The Vindhya range extends from Mirzapore, on the Ganges, nearly to
+the Gulf of Cambay, some six or seven hundred miles, so that my
+sporting friend's faith was as capacious as any priest could well
+wish it; and those who have it are likely never to die, or suffer
+much, from an over stretch of the reasoning faculties in a hot
+climate.
+
+The town stands upon the belt of rocks, about two miles from its
+north-eastern extremity; and in the midst is the handsome tomb of
+Ranjit Singh, who defended Bharatpur so bravely against Lord Lake's
+army.[11] The tomb has on one side a tank filled with water, and, on
+the other, another much deeper than the first, but without any water
+at all. We were surprised at this, and asked what the cause could be.
+The people told us, with the air of men who had never known what it
+was to feel the uneasy sensation of doubt, that 'Krishna, one hot
+day, after skying with the milkmaids, had drunk it all dry; and that
+no water would ever stay in it, lest it might be quaffed by less
+noble lips'. No orthodox Hindoo would ever for a moment doubt that
+this was the real cause of the phenomenon. Happy people! How much do
+they escape of that pain which in hot climates wears us all down in
+our efforts to trace moral and physical phenomena to their real
+causes and sources! Mind! mind! mind! without any of it, those
+Europeans who eat and drink moderately might get on very well in this
+climate. Much of it weighs them down.
+
+ Oh, sir, the good die first, and those whose hearts (_brains_)
+ Are dry as summer dust burn to the socket.[12]
+
+One is apt sometimes to think that Muhammad, Manu, and Confucius
+would have been great benefactors in saving so many millions of their
+species from the pain of thinking too much in hot climates, if they
+had only written their books in languages less difficult of
+acquirement. Their works are at once 'the bane and antidote' of
+despotism--the source whence it comes, and the shield which defends
+the people from its consuming fire.
+
+The tomb of Suraj Mall, the great founder of the Jat power at
+Bharatpur, stands on the north-east extremity of this belt of rocks,
+about two miles from the town, and is an extremely handsome building,
+conceived in the very best taste, and executed in the very best
+style.[13] With its appendages of temples and smaller tombs, it
+occupies the whole of one side of a magnificent tank full of clear
+water; and on the other side it looks into a large and beautiful
+garden. All the buildings and pavements are formed of the fine white
+sandstone of Rupbas, scarcely inferior either in quality or
+appearance to white marble. The stone is carved in relief with
+flowers in good taste. In the centre of the tomb is the small marble
+slab covering the grave, with the two feet of Krishna carved in the
+centre, and around them the emblems of the god, the discus, the
+skull, the sword, the rosary. These emblems of the god are put on
+that people may have something godly to fix their thoughts upon. It
+is by degrees, and with fear and trembling, that the Hindoos imitate
+the Muhammadans in the magnificence of their tombs. The object is
+ostensibly to keep the ground on which the bodies have been burned
+from being defiled; and generally Hindoos have been content to raise
+small open terraces of brick and stucco work over the spot, with some
+image or emblem of the god upon it. The Jats here, like the princes
+and Gosains in Bundelkhand, have gone a stage beyond this, and raised
+tombs equal in costliness and beauty to those over Muhammadans of the
+highest rank; still they do not venture to leave it without a divine
+image or emblem, lest the gods might become jealous, and revenge
+themselves upon the souls of the deceased and the bodies of the
+living. On one side of Suraj Mall's tomb is that of his wife, or some
+other female member of his family; and upon the slab over her grave,
+that is, over the precise spot where she was burned, are the same
+emblems, except the sword, for which a necklace is substituted. At
+each end of this range of tombs stands a temple dedicated to Baldeo,
+the brother of Krishna; and in one of them I found his image, with
+large eyes, a jet black complexion, and an _African countenance_. Why
+is this that Baldeo should be always represented of this countenance
+and colour, and his brother Krishna, either white, or of an azure
+colour, and the _Caucasian countenance_?[14] The inside of the tomb
+is covered with beautiful snow-white stucco work that resembles the
+finest marble; but this is disfigured by wretched paintings,
+representing, on one side of the dome, Suraj Mall in 'darbar',
+smoking his hookah, and giving orders to his ministers; in another,
+he is at his devotions; on the third, at his sports, shooting hogs
+and deer; and on the fourth, at war, with some French officers of
+distinction figuring before him. He is distinguished by his portly
+person in all, and by his favourite light-brown dress in three
+places. At his devotions he is standing all in white before the
+tutelary god of his house, Hardeo.[15] In various parts, Krishna is
+represented at his sports with the milkmaids. The colours are gaudy,
+and apparently as fresh as when first put on eighty years ago; but
+the paintings are all in the worst possible taste and style.[16]
+Inside the dome of Ranjit Singh's tomb the siege of Bharatpur is
+represented in the same rude taste and style. Lord Lake is
+dismounted, and standing before his white horse giving orders to his
+soldiers. On the opposite side of the dome, Ranjit Singh, in a plain
+white dress, is standing erect before his idol at his devotions, with
+his ministers behind him. On the other two sides he is at his
+favourite field sports. What strikes one most in all this is the
+entire absence of priestcraft. He wanted all his revenue for his
+soldiers; and his tutelary god seems, in consequence, to have been
+well pleased to dispense with the mediatory services of priests.[17]
+There are few temples anywhere to be seen in the territories of these
+Jat chiefs; and, as few of their subjects have yet ventured to follow
+them in this innovation upon the old Hindoo usages of building
+tombs,[18] the countries under their dominion are less richly
+ornamented than those of their neighbours. Those who build tombs or
+temples generally surround them with groves of mango and other fine
+fruit-trees, with good wells to supply water for them, and, if they
+have the means, they add tanks, so that every religions edifice, or
+work of ornament, leads to one or more of utility. So it was in
+Europe; often the Northern hordes swept away all that had grown up
+under the institution of the Romans and the Saracens; for almost all
+the great works of ornament and utility, by which these countries
+became first adorned and enriched, had their origin in church
+establishments. That portion of India, where the greater part of the
+revenue goes to the priesthood, will generally be much more studded
+with works of ornament and utility than that in which the greater
+part goes to the soldiery. I once asked a Hindoo gentleman, who had
+travelled all over India, what part of it he thought most happy and
+beautiful. He mentioned some part of Southern India, about Tanjore, I
+think, where you could hardly go a mile without meeting some happy
+procession, or coming to a temple full of priests, or find an acre of
+land uncultivated.
+
+The countries under the Maratha Government improved much in
+appearance, and in happiness, I believe, after the mayors of the
+palace, who were Brahmans, assumed the Government, and put aside the
+Satara Rajas, the descendants of the great Sivaji.[19] Wherever they
+could, they conferred the Government of their distant territories
+upon Brahmans, who filled all the high offices under them with men of
+the same caste, who spent the greater part of their incomes in tombs,
+temples, groves, and tanks, that embellished and enriched the face of
+the country, and thereby diffused a taste for such works generally
+among the people they governed. The appearance of those parts of the
+Maratha dominion so governed is infinitely superior to that of the
+countries governed by the leaders of the military class, such as
+Sindhia, Holkar, and the Bhonsla, whose capitals are still mere
+standing camps--a collection of hovels, and whose countries are
+almost entirely devoid of all those works of ornament and utility
+that enrich and adorn those of their neighbours.[20] They destroyed
+all they found in those countries when they conquered them; and they
+have had neither the wisdom nor the taste to raise others to supply
+their places. The Sikh Government is of exactly the same character;
+and the countries they governed have, I believe, the same wretched
+appearance--they are swarms of human locusts, who prey upon all that
+is calculated to enrich and embellish the face of the land they
+infest, and all that can tend to improve men in their social
+relations, and to link their affection to their soil and their
+government.[21] A Hindoo prince is always running to the extreme; he
+can never take and keep a middle course. He is either ambitious, and
+therefore appropriates all his revenues to the maintenance of
+soldiers, to pour out in inroads upon his neighbours; or he is
+superstitions, and devotes all his revenue to his priesthood, who
+embellish his country at the same time that they weaken it, and
+invite invasion, as their prince becomes less and less able to repel
+it.
+
+The more popular belief regarding this range of sandstone hills at
+Govardhan is that Lachhman, the brother of Rama, having been wounded
+by Ravan, the demon king of Ceylon, his surgeon declared that his
+wound could be cured only by a decoction of the leaves of a certain
+tree, to be found in a certain hill in the Himalaya mountains.
+Hanuman volunteered to go for it, but on reaching the place he found
+that he had entirely forgotten the description of the tree required;
+and, to prevent mistake, he took up the whole mountain upon his back,
+and walked off with it to the plains. As he passed Govardhan, where
+Bharat and Charat, the third and fourth brothers of Rama, then
+reigned, he was seen by them.[22] It was night; and, thinking him a
+strange sort of fish, Bharat let fly one of his arrows at him. It hit
+him in the leg, and the sudden jerk caused this small fragment of his
+huge burden to fall off. He called out in his agony, 'Ram, Ram', from
+which they learned that he belonged to the army of their brother, and
+let him pass on; but he remained lame for life from the wound. This
+accounts very satisfactorily, according to popular belief, for the
+halting gait of all the monkeys of that species;[23] those who are
+descended lineally from the general inherit it, of course; and those
+who are not, adopt it out of respect for his memory, as all the
+soldiers of Alexander contrived to make one shoulder higher than the
+other, because one of his happened to be so. When he passed,
+thousands and tens of thousands of lamps were burning upon his
+mountain, as the people remained entirely unconscious of the change,
+and at their usual occupations. Hanuman reached Ceylon with his
+mountain, the tree was found upon it, and Lachhman's wound cured.[24]
+
+Govardhan is now within the boundary of our territory, and a native
+collector resides here from Agra.[25]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. See note on Govardhan, _ante_, chapter 53, note 1.
+
+3. _Ante_, chapter 9, note 8.
+
+4. _Ante_, beginning of chapter 53.
+
+5. This Hindoo version of the Massacre of the Innocents necessarily
+recalls to mind the story in St. Matthew's Gospel. Numerous incidents
+of the Gospel narrative, including the birth among the cattle, the
+stable, the manger, and the imperial census, are repeated in the
+Indian legends of Krishna. The exact channel of communication is not
+known, but the intercourse between Alexandria and India is, in
+general terms, the explanation of the coincidences (Weber, _Die
+Griechen in Indien_, 1890, and _Abh. ueber Krishna's Geburtfest_,
+1868).
+
+6. This story may be an adaptation of the similar Buddhist tale.
+
+7. Uj is the Og, King of Bashan, of the Hebrew version of the legend.
+The extravagant stories quoted in the text are not in the Koran, but
+are the inventions of the commentators. Sale gives references in his
+notes to chap. 5 of the Koran.
+
+8. The kingdom included the modern Oudh (Awadh). The capital was the
+ancient city, also named Ajodhya, adjoining Fyzabad, which is still a
+very sacred place of pilgrimage.
+
+9. It is, I think, absolutely impossible for the most sympathetic
+European to understand, or enter into, the mental position of the
+learned and devout Hindoo who implicitly believes the wild myth
+related in the text, and sees no incongruity in the congeries of
+inconsistent ideas which are involved in the story. We may dimly
+apprehend that Brahma is conceived as a [Greek text], or Architect of
+the Universe, working in subordination to an impersonal higher power,
+and not as the infinite, omniscient, omnipotent Creator whom the
+Hebrews reverenced, but we shall still be a long way from attaining
+the Hindoo point of view. The relations of Krishna, Vishnu, Brahma,
+Rama, Siva, and all the other deities, with one another and with
+mankind, seem to be conceived by the Hindoo in a manner so confused
+and contradictory that every attempt at elucidation or explanation
+must necessarily fail. A Hindoo is born, not made, and the
+'inwardness' of Hinduism is not to be penetrated, even by the most
+learned of 'barbarian' pundits.
+
+10. _Ante_, chapter 20, note 6.
+
+11. Raja of Bharatpur, not to be confounded with the Lion of the
+Panjab.
+
+12. Wordsworth, _Excursion_, Book I.
+
+13. The original edition gives a coloured plate of this tomb, which
+is not noticed by Fergusson. That author's remarks on the palace at
+Dig would apply to this tomb also; the style is good, but not quite
+the best. Suraj Mall was killed in a skirmish in 1763.
+
+14. Baldeo, or in Sanskrit Baladeva, Balabhadra, or Balarama, was the
+elder brother of Krishna. His myth in some respects resembles that of
+Herakles, as that of Krishna is related to the myths of Apollo. The
+editor is not able to solve the queries propounded by the author.
+
+15. i.e. Hari deva, a form of Vishnu. The temple of Hari deva at
+Govardhan was built about A.D. 1560. (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed.,
+vol. viii, p. 94.)
+
+16. Modern India shows little appreciation of good art, and the
+paintings ordinarily executed for decorative purposes are as crude as
+those described by the author. A school of clever artists in Bengal
+is doing something to raise the public taste. The high merit of the
+ancient Indian paintings at Ajanta and elsewhere is now fully
+recognized. A great revival of pictorial art took place about A.D.
+1570 in the reign of Akbar. From that date the Indo-Persian and
+Indian schools of painting maintained a high standard of excellence,
+especially in portraiture, for a century approximately. During the
+eighteenth century marked deterioration may be observed. See _A
+History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon_, Oxford, 1911.
+
+17. The Jats detest Brahmans. The members of a Jat deputation
+complained one day to the editor when in the Muzaffarnagar district
+that they suffered many evils by reason of the Brahmans.
+
+18. The author's meaning seems to be that building tombs is not an
+old Hindoo usage.
+
+
+19. Sivaji, the indomitable opponent of Aurangzeb in the Deccan,
+belonged to the agricultural Kunbi caste. He was born in May A.D.
+1627, and died in April 1680. The Brahman ministers of the Rajas of
+Satara were known by the title of Peshwa. Baji Rao I, who died in
+1740, the second Peshwa, was the first who superseded in actual power
+his nominal master. The last of the Peshwas was Baji Rao II, who
+abdicated in 1818, after the termination of the great Maratha war,
+and retired to Bithur near Cawnpore. His adopted son was the
+notorious Nana Sahib. The Marquis of Hastings, in 1818, drew the Raja
+of Satara from captivity, and re-established his dignity and power.
+In 1839 the Raja's treachery compelled the Government of India to
+depose him. His territory is now a district of the Bombay Presidency.
+See Mankar, _The Life and Exploits of Shivaji_, 2nd ed., Bombay,
+Nirnayasagar Press, 1886.
+
+20. The Raja of Berar, also known as the Raja of Nagpur, was called
+the Bhonsla. The misrule of Gwalior has been described _ante_, in
+chapters 36 and 49. The condition of Gwalior and Indore, the capitals
+of Sindhia and Holkar respectively, is now very different. The
+Bhonsla has vanished.
+
+21. Since the annexation of the Panjab in 1849, the Sikhs have justly
+earned so much praise as loyal and gallant soldiers, the flower of
+the Indian army, that their earlier less honourable reputation has
+been effaced, Captain Francklin, writing in 1803, and apparently
+expressing the opinion of George Thomas, declares that 'the Seiks are
+false, sanguinary, and faithless; they are addicted to plunder and
+the acquirement of wealth by any means, however nefarious'.
+(_Military Memoirs of Mr. George Thomas, London reprint_, p. 112.)
+The Sikh states of the Panjab are now sufficiently well governed.
+
+22. I know of no authority for the name Charat (Churut), which seems
+to be a blunder for Satrughna. The sons of Dasaratha were Rama, by
+the chief queen; Bharat, by a second; and Lachhman (Lakshmana), and
+Satrughna by a third consort.
+
+23. The species referred to is the long-tailed monkey called
+'Hanuman', and 'langur' in Hindi, the _Presbytis entellus_ of Jerdon
+(=_P. anchises_, Elliot; = _Semnopithecus_, Cuvier).
+
+24. The author seems to have forgotten that he has already told this
+story, _ante_, this chapter following [8] in the text.
+
+25. It is in the Mathura district. The town of Mathura (Muttra)
+became the head-quarters of a separate District in 1832. The official
+at Govardhan in 1836 must, therefore, have been subordinate to
+Mathura, not to Agra.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 57
+
+
+Veracity.
+
+The people of Britain are described by Diodorus Siculus (Book V,
+chap. 2) as in a very simple and rude state, subsisting almost
+entirely on the produce of the land, but as being 'a people of much
+integrity and sincerity, far from the craft and knavery of men among
+us, contented with plain and homely fare, and strangers to the
+luxuries and excesses of the rich'. In India we find strict veracity
+most prevalent among the wildest and half-savage tribes of the hills
+and jungles in Central India, or the chain of the Himalaya mountains;
+and among those where we find it prevail most, we find cattle-
+stealing most common; the men of one tribe not deeming it to be any
+disgrace to _lift_, or steal, the cattle of another. I have known the
+man among the Gonds of the woods of Central India, whom nothing could
+induce to tell a lie, join a party of robbers to lift a herd of
+cattle from the neighbouring plains for nothing more than as much
+spirits as he could enjoy at one bout. I asked a native gentleman of
+the plains, in the valley of the Nerbudda, one day, what made the
+people of the woods to the north and south more disposed to speak the
+truth than those more civilized of the valley itself. 'They have not
+yet learned the value of a lie,' said he, with the greatest
+simplicity and sincerity, for he was a very honest and plain-spoken
+man.
+
+Veracity is found to prevail most where there is least to tempt to
+falsehood, and most to be feared from it. In a very rude state of
+society, like that of which I have been speaking, the only shape in
+which property is accumulated is in cattle; things are bartered for
+each other without the use of a circulating medium, and one member of
+a community has no means of concealing from the other the articles of
+property he has. If they were to steal from each other, they would
+not be able to conceal what they stole--to steal, therefore, would be
+no advantage. In such societies every little community is left to
+govern itself; to secure the rights, and enforce the duties, of all
+its several members in their relations with each other; they are too
+poor to pay taxes to keep up expensive establishments, and their
+Governments seldom maintain among them any for the administration of
+justice, or the protection of life, property, or character. All the
+members of all such little communities will often unite in robbing
+the members of another community of their flocks and herds, the only
+kind of property they have, or in applauding those who most
+distinguish themselves in such enterprises; but the well-being of the
+community demands that each member should respect the property of the
+others, and be punished by the odium of all if he does not.[1]
+
+It is equally necessary to the well-being of the community that every
+member should be able to rely upon the veracity of the other upon the
+very few points where their rights, duties, and interests clash. In
+the very rudest state of society, among the woods and hills of India,
+the people have some deity whose power they dread, and whose name
+they invoke when much is supposed to depend upon the truth of what
+one man is about to declare. The 'pipal' tree (_Ficus religiosa_) is
+everywhere sacred to the gods, who are supposed to sit among its
+leaves and listen to the music of their rustling. The deponent takes
+one of these leaves in his hand, and invokes the god who sits above
+him to crush him, or those dear to him, as he crushes the leaf in his
+hand, if he speak anything but the truth; he then plucks and crushes
+the leaf, and states what he has to say.[2]
+
+The large cotton-tree is, among the wild tribes of India, the
+favourite seat of gods still more terrible,[3] because their
+superintendence is confined exclusively to the neighbourhood; and
+having their attention less occupied, they can venture to make a more
+minute scrutiny into the conduct of the people immediately around
+them. The 'pipal' is occupied by one or other of the Hindoo triad,
+the god of creation, preservation, or destruction, who have the
+affairs of the universe to look after;[4] but the cotton and other
+trees are occupied by some minor deities, who are vested with a local
+superintendence over the affairs of a district, or perhaps, of a
+single village.[5] These are always in the view of the people, and
+every man knows that he is every moment liable to be taken to their
+court, and to be made to invoke their vengeance upon himself, or
+those dear to him, if he has told a falsehood in what he has stated,
+or tells one in what he is about to state. Men so situated adhere
+habitually, and I may say religiously, to the truth; and I have had
+before me hundreds of cases in which a man's property, liberty, or
+life has depended upon his telling a lie, and he has refused to tell
+it to save either; as my friend told me, 'they had not learned the
+value of a lie', or rather, they had not learned with how much
+impunity a lie could be told in the tribunals of civilized society.
+In their own tribunals, under the pipal-tree or cotton-tree,
+imagination commonly did what the deities, who were supposed to
+preside, had the credit of doing; if the deponent told a lie, he
+believed that the deity who sat on the sylvan throne above him, and
+searched the heart of man, must know it; and from that moment he knew
+no rest--he was always in dread of his vengeance; if any accident
+happened to him, or to those dear to him, it was attributed to this
+offended deity; and if no accident happened, some evil was brought
+about by his own disordered imagination.[6]
+
+In the tribunals we introduce among them, such people soon find that
+the judges who preside can seldom search deeply into the hearts of
+men, or clearly distinguish truth from falsehood in the declarations
+of deponents; and when they can distinguish it, it is seldom that
+they can secure their conviction for perjury. They generally learn
+very soon that these judges, instead of being, like the judges of
+their own woods and wilds, the only beings who can search the hearts
+of men, and punish them for falsehood, are frequently the persons, of
+all others, most blind to the real state of the deponent's mind, and
+the degree of truth and falsehood in his narrative; that, however
+well-intentioned, they are often labouring in the 'darkness visible'
+created by the native officers around them. They not only learn this,
+but they learn what is still worse, that they may tell what lies they
+please in these tribunals; and that not one of them shall become
+known to the circle in which they move, and whose good opinion they
+value. If, by his lies told in such tribunals, a man has robbed
+another, or caused him to be robbed, of his property, his character,
+his liberty, or his life, he can easily persuade the circle in which
+he resides that it has arisen, not from any false statements of his,
+but from the blindness of the judge, or the wickedness of the native
+officers of his court, because all circles consider the blindness of
+the one, and the wickedness of the other, to be everywhere very
+great.
+
+Arrian, in speaking of the class of supervisors in India, says: 'They
+may not be guilty of falsehood; and indeed none of the Indians were
+ever accused of that crime.'[7] I believe that as little falsehood is
+spoken by the people of India, in their village communities, as in
+any part of the world with an equal area and population. It is in our
+courts of justice where falsehoods prevail most, and the longer they
+have been anywhere established, the greater the degree of falsehood
+that prevails in them. Those entrusted with the administration of a
+newly-acquired territory are surprised to find the disposition among
+both principals and witnesses in cases to tell the plain and simple
+truth. As magistrates, they find it very often difficult to make
+thieves and robbers tell lies, according to the English fashion, to
+avoid running a risk of criminating themselves. In England, this
+habit of making criminals tell lies arose from the severity of the
+penal code, which made the punishment so monstrously disproportionate
+to the crime, that the accused, however clear and notorious his
+crimes, became an object of general sympathy.[8] In India,
+punishments have nowhere been, under our rule, disproportionate to
+the crimes; on the contrary, they have generally been more mild than
+the people would wish them to be, or think they ought to be, in order
+to deter from similar crimes; and, in newly-acquired territories,
+they have generally been more mild than in our old possessions. The
+accused are, therefore, nowhere considered as objects of public
+sympathy; and in newly-acquired territories they are willing to tell
+the truth, and are allowed to do so, in order to save the people whom
+they have injured, and their neighbours generally, the great loss and
+annoyance unavoidably attending upon a summons to our courts. In the
+native courts, to which ours succeed, the truth was seen through
+immediately, the judges who presided could commonly distinguish truth
+from falsehood in the evidence before them, almost as well as the
+sylvan gods who sat in the pipal- or cotton-trees; though they were
+seldom supposed by the people to be quite so just in their decisions.
+When we take possession of such countries, they, for a time at least,
+give us credit for the same sagacity, with a little more integrity.
+The prisoner knows that his neighbours expect him to tell the truth
+to save them trouble, and will detest him if he does not; he supposes
+that we shall have the sense to find out the truth whether he tells
+it or not, and then humanity to visit his crime with the punishment
+it merits, and no more.
+
+The magistrate asks the prisoner what made him steal; and the
+prisoner enters at once into an explanation of the circumstances
+which reduced him to the necessity of doing so, and offers to bring
+witnesses to prove them; but never dreams of offering to bring
+witnesses to prove that he did not steal, if he really had done so;
+because the general feeling would be in favour of his doing the one,
+and against his doing the other. Tavernier gives an amusing sketch of
+Amir Jumla presiding in a court of justice, during a visit he paid
+him in the kingdom of Golconda, in the year 1648. (See Book I, Part
+II, chap. 11.)[9]
+
+I asked a native law officer, who called on me one day, what he
+thought would be the effect of an Act to dispense with oaths on the
+Koran and Ganges water, and substitute a solemn declaration made in
+the name of God, and under the same penal liabilities, as if the
+Koran or Ganges water had been in the deponent's hand. 'I have
+practised In the courts thirty years, sir,' said he, 'and during that
+time I have found only three kinds of witnesses--two of whom would,
+by such an Act, be left precisely where they were, while the third
+would be released by it from a very salutary check.' 'And, pray, what
+are the three classes into which you divide the witnesses in our
+courts?'
+
+'First, sir, are those who will always tell the truth, whether they
+are required to state what they know in the form of an oath or not.'
+'Do you think this a large class?'
+
+'Yes, I think it is; and I have found among them many whom nothing on
+earth could make to swerve from the truth; do what you please, you
+could never frighten or bribe them into a deliberate falsehood. The
+second are those who will not hesitate to tell a lie when they have a
+motive for it, and are not restrained by an oath. In taking an oath
+they are afraid of two things, the anger of God and the odium of men.
+Only three days ago, 'continued my friend,' I required a power of
+attorney from a lady of rank, to enable me to act for her in a case
+pending before the court in this town. It was given to me by her
+brother, and two witnesses came to declare that she had given it.
+"Now," said I, "this lady is known to live under the curtain; and you
+will be asked by the judge whether you saw her give this paper; what
+will you say?" They both replied: "If the judge asks us the question
+without an oath, we will say yes--it will save much trouble, and we
+know that she did give this paper, though we did not really see her
+give it; but if he puts the Koran into our hands we must say no, for
+we should otherwise be pointed at by all the town as perjured
+wretches--our enemies would soon tell everybody that we had taken a
+false oath." Now,' my friend went on, 'the form of an oath is a great
+check upon this sort of persons. The third class consists of men who
+will tell lies whenever they have sufficient motive, whether they
+have the Koran or Ganges water in their hands or not. Nothing will
+ever prevent their doing so; and the declaration which you propose
+would be just as well as any other for them.'
+
+'Which class do you consider the most numerous of the three?'
+
+'I consider the second the most numerous, and wish the oath to be
+retained for them.'
+
+'That is of all the men you see examined in our courts, you think the
+most come under the class of those who will, under the influence of
+strong motives, tell lies if they have not the Koran or Ganges water
+in their hands?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'But do not a great many of those, whom you consider to be included
+among the second class, come from the village communities--the
+peasantry of the country?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'And do you not think that the greatest part of those men who tell
+lies in the court, under the influence of strong motives, unless they
+bear the Koran or Ganges water in their hands, would refuse to tell
+lies, if questioned before the people of their villages among the
+circle in which they live?'
+
+'Of course I do; three-fourths of those who do not scruple to lie in
+our courts, would be ashamed to be before their neighbours, or the
+elders of their village.'
+
+'You think that the people of the village communities are more
+ashamed to tell lies before their neighbours than the people of
+towns?'
+
+'Much more[10] here is no comparison.'
+
+'And the people of towns and cities bear in India but a small
+proportion to the people of the village communities?'
+
+'I should think a very small proportion indeed.'
+
+'Then you think that in the mass of the population of India out of
+our courts, and in their own circles, the first class, or those who
+speak truth, whether they have the Koran or Ganges water in their
+hands or not, would be found more numerous than the other two?'
+
+'Certainly I do; if they were always to be questioned before their
+neighbours or elders, or so that they could feel that their
+neighbours and elders would know what they say.'
+
+This man is a very worthy and learned Muhammadan, who has read all
+the works on medicine to be found in Persian and Arabia; gives up his
+time from sunrise in the morning till nine, to the indigent sick of
+the town, whom he supplies gratuitously with his advice and
+medicines, that cost him thirty rupees a month, out of about one
+hundred and twenty that he can make by his labours all the rest of
+the day.
+
+There can be no doubt that, even in England, the fear of the odium of
+society, which is sure to follow the man who has perjured himself,
+acts more powerfully in making men tell the truth, when they have the
+Bible in their hands before a competent and public tribunal, and with
+a strong worldly motive to tell a lie, than the fear of punishment by
+the Deity in the next world for having 'taken his name in vain' in
+this. Christians, as well as other people, are too apt to think that
+there is yet abundance of time to appease the Deity by repentance and
+reformation; but they know that they cannot escape the odium of
+society, with a free press and high tone of moral and religions
+feeling, like those of England, if they deliberately perjure
+themselves in open court, whose proceedings are watched with so much
+jealousy. They learn to dread the name of 'perjured villain' or
+'perjured wretch', which would embitter the rest of their lives, and
+perhaps the lives of their children.[11]
+
+In a society much advanced in arts and the refinements of life,
+temptations to falsehood become very great, and require strong checks
+from law, religion, or moral feeling. Religion is seldom of itself
+found sufficient; for, though men cannot hope to conceal their
+transgressions from the Deity, they can, as I have stated, always
+hope in time to appease Him. Penal laws are not alone sufficient, for
+men can always hope to conceal their trespasses from those who are
+appointed to administer them, or at least to prevent their getting
+that measure of judicial proof required for their conviction; the
+dread of the indignation of their circle of society is everywhere the
+more efficient of the three checks; and this check will generally be
+found most to prevail where the community is left most to self-
+government--hence the proverb, 'There is honour among thieves'. A
+gang of robbers, who are outlaws, are, of course, left to govern
+themselves; and, unless these could rely on each other's veracity and
+honour in their relations with each other, they could do nothing. If
+Governments were to leave no degree of self-government to the
+communities of which the society is composed, this moral check would
+really cease--the law would undertake to secure every right, and
+enforce every duty; and men would cease to depend upon each other's
+good opinion and good feelings.[12]
+
+There is perhaps no part of the world where the communities of which
+the society is composed have been left so much to self-government as
+in India. There has seldom been any idea of a reciprocity of duties
+and rights between the governing and the governed; the sovereign who
+has possession feels that he has a right to levy certain taxes from
+the land for the maintenance of the public establishments, which he
+requires to keep down rebellion against his rule, and to defend his
+dominions against all who may wish to intrude and seize upon them;
+and to assist him in acquiring the dominions of other princes when
+favourable opportunities offer; but he has no idea of a reciprocal
+duty towards those from whom he draws his revenues. The peasantry
+from whom the prince draws his revenues feel that they are bound to
+pay that revenue; that, if they do not pay it, he will, with his
+strong arm, turn them out and give to others their possessions--but
+they have no idea of any right on their part to any return from him.
+The village communities were everywhere left almost entirely to self-
+government; and the virtues of truth and honesty, in all their
+relations with each other, were indispensably necessary to enable
+them to govern themselves.[13] A common interest often united a good
+many village communities in a bond of union, and established a kind
+of brotherhood over extensive tracts of richly cultivated land. Self-
+interest required that they should unite to defend themselves against
+attacks with which they were threatened at every returning harvest in
+a country where every prince was a robber upon a scale more or less
+large according to his means, and took the field to rob while the
+lands were covered with the ripe crops upon which his troops might
+subsist; and where every man who practised robbery with open violence
+followed what he called an '_imperial_ trade' (padshahi kam)--the
+only trade worthy the character of a gentleman. The same interest
+required that they should unite in deceiving their own prince, and
+all his officers, great and small, as to the real resources of their
+estates; because they all knew that the prince would admit of no
+other limits to his exactions than their abilities to pay at the
+harvest. Though, in their relations with each other, all these
+village communities spoke as much truth as those of any other
+communities in the world; still, in their relation with the
+Government, they told as many lies;--for falsehood, in the one set of
+relations, would have incurred the odium of the whole of their
+circles of society--truth, in the other, would often have involved
+the same penalty. If a man had told a lie to _cheat_ his neighbour,
+he would have become an object of hatred and contempt--if he told a
+lie to _save_ his neighbour's fields from an increase of rent or tax,
+he would have become an object of esteem and respect.[14] If the
+Government officers were asked whether there was any truth to be
+found among such communities, they would say, _No, that the truth was
+not in them_; because they would not cut each other's throats by
+telling them the real value of each other's fields.
+
+If the peasantry were asked, they would say there was plenty of truth
+to be found everywhere except among a few scoundrels, who, to curry
+favour with the Government officers, betrayed their trust, and told
+the value of their neighbours' fields. In their ideas, he might as
+well have gone off, and brought down the common enemy upon them in
+the shape of some princely robber of the neighbourhood.
+
+Locke says: 'Outlaws themselves keep faith and rules of justice one
+with another--they practise them as rules of convenience within their
+own communities; but it is impossible to conceive that they embrace
+justice as a practical principle who act fairly with their fellow
+highwaymen, and at the same time plunder or kill the next honest man
+they meet.' (Vol. i, p. 37.) In India, the difference between the
+army of a prince and the gang of a robber was, in the general
+estimation of the people, only in _degree_--they were both driving an
+_imperial trade_, a 'padshahi kam'. Both took the auspices, and set
+out on their expedition after the Dasahra, when the autumn crops were
+ripening; and both thought the Deity propitiated as soon as they
+found the omens favourable;[15] one attacked palaces and capitals,
+the other villages and merchants' storerooms. The members of the army
+of the prince thought as little of the justice or injustice of his
+cause as those of the gang of the robber; the people of his capital
+hailed the return of the victorious prince who had contributed so
+much to their wealth, to his booty, and to their self-love by his
+victory. The village community received back the robber and his gang
+with the same feelings: by their skill and daring they had come back
+loaded with wealth, which they were always disposed to spend
+liberally with their neighbours. There was no more of truth in the
+prince and his army in their relations with the princes and people of
+neighbouring principalities, than in the robber and his gang in their
+relations with the people robbed. The prince flatters the self-love
+of his army and his people; the robber flatters that of his gang and
+his village--the question is only in degree; the persons whose self-
+love is flattered are blind to the injustice and cruelty of the
+attack--the prince is the idol of a people, the robber the idol of a
+gang. Was ever robber more atrocious in his attacks upon a merchant
+or a village than Louis XIV of France in his attacks upon the
+Palatine and Palatinate of the Rhine? How many thousand similar
+instances might be quoted of princes idolized by their people for
+deeds equally atrocious in their relations with other people? What
+nation or sovereign ever found fault with their ambassadors for
+telling lies to the kings, courts, and people of other countries?[16]
+
+Rome, during the whole period of her history, was a mere den of
+execrable thieves, whose feelings were systematically brutalized by
+the most revolting spectacles, that they might have none of those
+sympathies with suffering humanity, none of those 'compunctious
+visitings of conscience', which might be found prejudicial to the
+interests of the gang, and beneficial to the rest of mankind. Take,
+for example, the conduct of this atrocious gang under Aemilius
+Paulus, against Epirus and Greece generally after the defeat of
+Perseus, all under the deliberate decrees of the senate: take that of
+this gang under his son Scipio the younger, against Carthage and
+Numantia; under Cato, at Cyprus--all in the same manner under the
+_deliberate decrees of the senate_. Take indeed the whole of her
+history as a republic, and we find it that of the most atrocious band
+of robbers that was ever associated against the rest of their
+species. In her relations with the rest of mankind Rome was
+collectively devoid of truth; and her citizens, who were sent to
+govern conquered countries, were no less devoid of truth
+individually--they cared nothing whatever for the feelings or the
+opinions of the people governed; in their dealings with them, truth
+and honour were entirely disregarded. The only people whose
+favourable opinion they had any desire to cultivate were the members
+of the great gang; and the most effectual mode of conciliating them
+was to plunder the people of conquered countries, and distribute the
+fruits among them in presents of one kind or another. Can any man
+read without shuddering that it was the practice among this atrocious
+gang to have all the multitude of unhappy prisoners of both sexes,
+and of all ranks and ages,--who annually graced the triumphs of their
+generals, taken off and murdered just at the moment when these
+generals reached the Capitol, amid the shouts of the multitude, that
+their joys might be augmented by the sight or consciousness of the
+sufferings of others? (See Hooke's _Roman History_, vol. iii, p. 488;
+vol. iv, p. 541.) 'It was the custom that, when the triumphant
+conqueror tumed his chariot towards the Capitol, he commanded the
+captives to be led to prison, and there put to death, that so the
+glory of the victor and the miseries of the vanquished might be in
+the same moment at the utmost.' How many millions of the most
+innocent and amiable of their species must have been offered up as
+human sacrifices to the triumphs of the leaders of this great gang!
+The women were almost as brutalized as the men; lovers met to talk
+'soft nonsense', at exhibitions of gladiators. Valeria, the daughter
+and sister of two of the first men in Rome, was beautiful, gay, and
+lively, and of unblemished reputation. Having been divorced from her
+husband, she and the monster Sylla made love to each other at one of
+these exhibitions of gladiators, and were soon after married. Gibbon,
+in speaking of the lies which Severus told his two competitors in the
+contest for empire, says, 'Falsehood and insincerity, unsuitable as
+they seem to the dignity of public transactions, offend us with a
+less degrading idea of meanness than when they are found in the
+intercourse of private life. In the latter, they discover a want of
+courage; in the other, only a defect of power; and, as it is
+impossible for the most able statesmen to subdue millions of
+followers and enemies by their own personal strength, the world,
+under the name of _policy_, seems to have granted them a very liberal
+indulgence of craft and dissimulation.'[17]
+
+But the weak in society are often obliged to defend themselves
+against the strong by the same weapons; and the world grants them the
+same liberal indulgence. Men advocate the use of the ballot in
+elections that the weak may defend themselves and the free
+institutions of the country, by dissimulation, against the strong who
+would oppress them.[18] The circumstances under which falsehood and
+insincerity are tolerated by the community in the best societies of
+modern days are very numerous; and the worst society of modern days
+in the civilized world, when slavery does not prevail, is
+immeasurably superior to the best in ancient days, or in the Middle
+Ages. Do we not every day hear men and women, in what are called the
+best societies, declaring to one individual or one set of
+acquaintances that the pity, the sympathy, the love, or the
+admiration they have been expressing for others is, in reality, all
+feigned to soothe or please? As long as the motive is not base, men
+do not spurn the falsehood as such. How much of untruth is tolerated
+in the best circles of the most civilized nations, in the relations
+between electors to corporate and legislative bodies and the
+candidates for election? between nominators to offices under
+Government and the candidates for nomination? between lawyers and
+clients, vendors and purchasers? (particularly of horses), between
+the recruiting sergeant and the young recruit, whom he has found a
+little angry with his widowed mother, whom he makes him kill by false
+pictures of what a soldier may hope for in the 'bellaque matribus
+detestata' to which he invites him?[19]
+
+There is, I believe, no class of men in India from whom it is more
+difficult to get the true statement of a case pending before a court
+than the sepoys of our native regiments; and yet there are, I
+believe, no people in the world from whom it is more easy to get it
+in their own village communities, where they state it before their
+relations, elders, and neighbours, whose esteem is necessary to their
+happiness, and can be obtained only by adherence to truth. Every case
+that comes before a regimental court involves, or is supposed to
+involve, the interest or feelings of some one or other of their
+companions; and the question which the deponent asks himself is-not
+what religion, public justice, the interests of discipline and order,
+or the wishes of his officers require, or what would appear manly and
+honourable before the elders of his own little village, but what will
+secure the esteem, and what will excite the hatred, of his comrades.
+This will often be downright, deliberate falsehood, sworn upon the
+Koran or the Ganges water before his officers.
+
+Many a brave sepoy have I seen faint away from the agitated state of
+his feelings, under the dread of the Deity if he told lies with the
+Ganges water in his hands, and of his companions if he told the
+truth, and caused them to be punished. Every question becomes a party
+question, and the 'point of honour' requires that every witness shall
+tell as many lies about it as possible.[20] When I go into a village,
+and talk with the people in any part of India, I know that I shall
+get the truth out of them on all subjects as long as I can satisfy
+them that I am not come on the part of the Government to inquire into
+the value of their fields with a view to new impositions, and this I
+can always do; but, when I go among the sepoys to ask about anything,
+I feel pretty sure that I have little chance of getting at the truth;
+they will take the alarm and try to deceive me, lest what I learn
+should be brought up at some future day against them or their
+comrades. The Duke of Wellington says, speaking of the English
+soldiers: 'It is most difficult to convict a prisoner before a
+regimental court-martial, for, I am sorry to say, that soldiers have
+little regard to the oath administered to them; and the officers who
+are sworn well and truly to try and determine _according to the
+evidence_, the matter before them, have too much regard to the strict
+_letter_ of that administered to them.' Again: 'The witnesses being
+in almost every instance common soldiers, whose conduct this tribunal
+was instituted to control, the consequence is that perjury is almost
+as common an offence as drunkenness and plunder, &c.'[21]
+
+In the ordinary civil tribunals of Europe and America a man commonly
+feels that, though he is removed far from the immediate presence of
+those whose esteem is necessary for him, their eyes are still upon
+him, because the statements he may give will find their way to them
+through the medium of the press. This he does not feel in the civil
+courts of India, nor in the military courts of Europe, or of any
+other part of the world, and the man who judges of the veracity of a
+whole people from the specimens he may witness in such courts, cannot
+judge soundly.
+
+Shaikh Sadi, in his _Gulistan_, has the following tale: 'I have heard
+that a prince commanded the execution of a captive who was brought
+before him; when the captive, having no hope of life, told the prince
+that he disgraced his throne. The prince, not understanding him,
+tumed to one of his ministers and asked him what he had said. "He
+says," replied the minister, quoting a passage from the Koran, "God
+loves those who subdue their passions, forgive injuries, and do good
+to his creatures." The prince pitied the poor captive, and
+countermanded the orders for the execution. Another minister, who
+owed a spite to the one who first spoke, said, "Nothing but truth
+should be spoken by such persons as we in the presence of the prince;
+the captive spoke abusively and insolently, and you have not
+interpreted his words truly". The prince frowned and said, "His false
+interpretation pleases me more than thy true one, because his was
+given for a good, and thine for a malignant, purpose; and wise men
+have said that 'a peace-making lie is better than a factious or anger
+exciting truth'."'[22]
+
+He who would too fastidiously condemn this doctrine should think of
+the massacre of Thessalonica, and how much better it would have been
+for the great Theodosius to have had by his side the peace-making
+Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, than the anger-exciting Rufinus, when
+he heard of the offence which that city had committed.[23]
+
+In despotic governments, where lives, characters, and liberties are
+every moment at the mercy, not only of the prince but of all his
+public officers from the highest to the lowest, the occasions in
+which men feel authorized and actually called upon by the common
+feelings of humanity to tell 'peacemaking lies' occur every day--nay,
+every hour, every petty officer of government, 'armed with his little
+brief authority', is a little tyrant surrounded by men whose all
+depends upon his will, and who dare not tell him the truth--the
+'point of honour' in this little circle demands that every one should
+be prepared to tell him 'peace-making lies'; and the man who does not
+do so when the occasion seems to call for it, incurs the odium of the
+whole circle, as one maliciously disposed to speak 'anger-exciting or
+factions truths'. Poor Cromwell and Anne Boleyn were obliged to talk
+of _love_ and _duty_ toward their brutal murderer, Henry VIII, and
+tell 'peace-making lies' on the scaffold to save their poor children
+from his resentment. European gentlemen in India often, by their
+violence surround themselves with circles of the same kind, in which
+the 'point of honour' demands that every member shall be prepared to
+tell 'peace-making lies', to save the others from the effects of
+their master's ungovernable passions--falsehood is their only
+safeguard; and, consequently, falsehood ceases to be odious.
+Countenanced in the circles of the violent, falsehood soon becomes
+countenanced in those of the mild and forbearing; their domestics
+pretend a dread of their anger which they really do not feel; and
+they gain credit for having the same good excuse among those who have
+no opportunity of becoming acquainted with the real character of the
+gentlemen in their domestic relations--all are thought to be more or
+less _tigerish_ in these relations, particularly _before breakfast_,
+because some are _known_ to be so.[24]
+
+I have known the native officers of a judge who was really a very
+mild and worthy man, but who lived a very secluded life, plead as
+their excuse for all manner of bribery and corruption, that their
+persons and character were never safe from his violence; and urge
+that men whose tenure of office was very insecure, and who were every
+hour in the day exposed to so much indignity, could not possibly be
+blamed for making the most of their position. The society around
+believed all this, and blamed, not the native officers, but the
+judge, or the Government, who placed them in such a situation. Other
+judges and magistrates have been known to do what this person was
+merely reported to do, otherwise society would neither have given
+credit to his officers nor have held them excused for their
+malpractices.[25] Those European gentlemen who allow their passions
+to get the better of their reason among their domestics do much to
+lower the character of their countrymen in the estimation of the
+people; but the high officials who forget what they owe to themselves
+and the native officers of their courts, when presiding on the bench
+of justice, do ten thousand times more; and I grieve to say that I
+have known a few officials of this class.
+
+We have in England known many occasions, particularly in the cases of
+prosecutions by the officers of Government for offences against the
+State, where little circles of society have made it a 'point of
+honour' for some individuals to speak untruths, and for others to
+give verdicts against their consciences; some occasions indeed where
+those who ventured to speak the truth, or give a verdict according to
+their conscience, were in danger from the violence of popular
+resentment. Have we not, unhappily, in England and among our
+countrymen in all parts of the world, experience of a wide difference
+between what is exacted from members of particular circles of society
+by the 'point of honour', and what is held to be strict religions
+truth by the rest of society? Do we not see gentlemen cheating their
+tradesmen, while they dare not leave a gambling debt unpaid? The
+'point of honour' in the circle to which they belong demands that the
+one should be paid, because the non-payment would involve a breach of
+faith in their relations with each other, as in the case of the
+members of a gang of robbers; but the non-payment of a tradesman's
+bill involves only a breach of faith in a gentleman's relations with
+a lower order. At least, some gentlemen do not feel any apprehension
+of incurring the odium of the circle in which they move by cheating
+of this kind. In the same manner the roue, or libertine of rank, may
+often be guilty of all manner of falsehoods and crimes to the females
+of the class below him, without any fear of incurring the odium of
+either males or females of his own circle; on the contrary, the more
+crimes he commits of this sort, the more sometimes he may expect to
+be caressed by males and females of his own order. The man who would
+not hesitate a moment to destroy the happiness of a family by the
+seduction of the wife or the daughter, would not dare to leave one
+shilling of a gambling debt unpaid--the one would bring down upon him
+the odium of his circle, but the other would not; and the odium of
+that circle is the only kind of odium he dreads. Appius Claudius
+apprehended no odium from his own order--the patrician--from the
+violation of the daughter of Virginius, of the plebeian order; nor
+did Sextus Tarquinius of the royal order, apprehend any from the
+violation of Lucretia, of the patrician order--neither would have
+been punished by their own order, but they were both punished by the
+injured orders below them.
+
+Our own penal code punished with death the poor man who stole a
+little food to save his children from starvation, while it left to
+exult in the caresses of his own order, the wealthy libertine who
+robbed a father and mother of their only daughter, and consigned her
+to a life of infamy and misery. The poor victim of man's brutal
+passions and base falsehood suffered inevitable and exquisite
+punishment, while the laws and usages of society left the man himself
+untouched. He had nothing to apprehend if the father of his victim
+happened to be of the lower order, or a minister of the Church of
+Christ; because his own order would justify his refusing to meet the
+one in single combat, and the other dared not invite him to it, and
+the law left no remedy.[26]
+
+Take the two parties in England into which society is politically
+divided. There is hardly any species of falsehood uttered by the
+members of the party out of power against the members of the party in
+power that is not tolerated and even applauded by one party; men
+state deliberately what they know to be utterly devoid of truth
+regarding the conduct of their opponent; they basely ascribe to them
+motives by which they know they were never actuated, merely to
+deceive the public, and to promote the interests of their party,
+without the slightest fear of incurring odium by so doing in the
+minds of any but their political opponents. If a foreigner were to
+judge of the people of England from the tone of their newspapers, he
+would say that there was assuredly neither honour, honesty, nor truth
+to be found among the classes which furnished the nation with its
+ministers and legislators; for a set of miscreants more atrocious
+than the Whig and Tory ministers and legislators of England were
+represented to be in these papers never disgraced the society of any
+nation upon earth.
+
+Happily, all foreigners who read these journals know that in what the
+members of one party say of those of the other, or are reported to
+say, there is often but little truth; and that there is still less of
+truth in what the editors and correspondents of the ultra journals of
+one party write about the characters, conduct, and sentiments of the
+members of the other.
+
+There is one species of untruth to which we English people are
+particularly prone in India, and, I am assured, everywhere else. It
+is this. Young 'miss in her teens', as soon as she finds her female
+attendants in the wrong, no matter in what way, exclaims, 'It is so
+like the natives'; and the idea of the same error, vice, or crime,
+becomes so habitually associated in her mind with every native she
+afterwards sees, that she can no more separate them than she can the
+idea of ghosts and hobgoblins from darkness and solitude. The young
+cadet or civilian, as soon as he finds his valet, butler, or groom in
+the wrong, exclaims, 'It is so like blacky--so like the niggers; they
+are all alike!' And what could you expect from him? He has been
+constantly accustomed to the same vicious association of ideas in his
+native land--if he has been brought up in a family of Tories, he has
+constantly heard those he most reverenced exclaim, when they have
+found, or fancied they found, a Whig in the wrong, 'It is so like the
+Whigs--they are all alike--there is no trusting any of them.' If a
+Protestant, 'It is so like the Catholics; there is no trusting them
+in any condition of life.' The members of Whig and Catholic families
+may say the same, perhaps, of Tories and Protestants. An untravelled
+Englishman will sometimes say the same of a Frenchman; and the idea
+of everything that is bad in man will be associated in his mind with
+the image of a Frenchman. If he hears of an act of dishonour by a
+person of that nation, 'It is so like a Frenchman--they are all
+alike; there is no honour in them.' A Tory goes to America,
+predisposed to find in all who live under republican governments
+every species of vice and crime; and no sooner sees a man or woman
+misbehave than he exclaims, 'It is so like the Americans--they are
+all alike; but what could you expect from republicans?' At home, when
+he considers himself in relation to the members of the parties
+opposed to him in religion or politics, they are associated in his
+mind with everything that is vicious; abroad, when he considers the
+people of other countries in relation to his own, if they happen to
+be Christians, he will find them associated in his mind with
+everything that is good, or everything that is bad, in proportion as
+their institutions happen to conform to those which his party
+advocates. A Tory will abuse America and Americans, and praise the
+Austrians. A Whig will, _perhaps_, abuse the Austrians and others who
+live under paternal or despotic governments, and praise the
+Americans, who live under institutions still more free than his own.
+ This has properly been considered by Locke as a species of madness
+to which all mankind are more or less subject, and from which hardly
+any individual can entirely free himself. 'There is', he says,
+'scarce a man so free from it, but that if he should always, on all
+occasions, argue or do as in some cases he constantly does, would not
+be thought fitter for Bedlam than civil conversation. I do not here
+mean when he is under the power of an unruly passion, but in the
+steady, calm course of his life. That which thus captivates their
+reason, and leads men of sincerity blindfold from common sense will,
+when examined, be found to be what we are speaking of. Some
+independent ideas, of no alliance to one another, are, by education,
+custom, and the constant din of their party, so coupled in their
+minds, that they always appear there together, and they can no more
+separate them in their thoughts than if they were but one idea, and
+they operate as if they really were so.' (Book II, Chap. 33.)
+
+Perjury had long since ceased to be considered disgraceful, or even
+discreditable, among the patrician order in Rome before the soldiers
+ventured to break their oaths of allegiance. Military service had,
+from the ignorance and selfishness of this order, been rendered
+extremely odious to free-born Romans; and they frequently mutinied
+and murdered their generals, though they would not desert, because
+they had sworn not to do so. To break his oath by deserting the
+standards of Rome was to incur the hatred and contempt of the great
+mass of the people--the soldier dared not hazard this. But patricians
+of senatorial and consular rank did not hesitate to violate their
+oaths whenever it promised any advantage to the patrician order
+collectively or individually, because it excited neither contempt nor
+indignation in that order. 'They have been false to their generals,'
+said Fabius, 'but they have never deceived the gods. I know they
+_can_ conquer, and they shall swear to do so.' They swore, and
+conquered.
+
+Instead of adopting measures to make the duties of a soldier less
+odious, the patricians tumed their hatred of these duties to account,
+and at a high price sold an absolution from their oath. While the
+members of the patrician order bought and sold oaths among themselves
+merely to deceive the lower orders, they were still respected among
+the plebeians; but when they began to sell dispensations to the
+members of this lower order, the latter also, by degrees, ceased to
+feel any veneration for the oath, and it was no longer deemed
+disgraceful to desert duties which the higher order made no effort to
+render less odious.
+
+'That they who draw the breath of life in a court, and pass all their
+days in an atmosphere of lies, should have any very sacred regard for
+truth, is hardly to be expected. They experience such falsehood in
+all who surround them, that deception, at least suppression of the
+truth, almost seems necessary for self-defence; and, accordingly, if
+their speech be not framed upon the theory of the French cardinal,
+that language was given to man for the better concealment of his
+thoughts, they at least seem to regard in what they say, not its
+resemblance to the tact in question, but rather its subserviency to
+the purpose in view.' (Brougham's _George IV._) 'Yet, let it never be
+forgotten, that princes are nurtured in falsehood by the atmosphere
+of lies which envelops their palace; steeled against natural
+sympathies by the selfish natures of all that surround them; hardened
+in cruelty, partly indeed by the fears incident to their position,
+but partly too by the unfeeling creatures, the factions, the
+unnatural productions of a court whom alone they deal with; trained
+for tyrants by the prostration which they find in all the minds which
+they come in contact with; encouraged to domineer by the unresisting
+medium through which all their steps to power and its abuse are
+made.' (Brougham's _Carnot_.)
+
+But Lord Brougham is too harsh. Johnson has observed truly enough,
+'Honesty is not necessarily greater where elegance is less'; nor does
+a sense of supreme or despotic power necessarily imply the exercise
+or abuse of it. Princes have, happily, the same yearning as the
+peasant after the respect and affection of the circle around them,
+and the people under them; and they must generally seek it by the
+same means.
+
+I have mentioned the village communities of India as that class of
+the population among whom truth prevails most; but I believe there is
+no class of men in the world more strictly honourable in their
+dealings than the mercantile classes of India. Under native
+governments a merchant's books were appealed to as 'holy writ', and
+the confidence in them has certainly not diminished under our rule.
+There have been instances of their being seized by the magistrate,
+and subjected to the inspection of the officers of his court. No
+officer of a native government ventured to seize them; the merchant
+was required to produce them as proof of particular entries, and,
+while the officers of government did no more, there was no danger of
+false accounts.
+
+An instance of deliberate fraud or falsehood among native merchants
+of respectable station in society is extremely rare. Among the many
+hundreds of bills I have had to take from them for private
+remittances, I have never had one dishonoured, or the payment upon
+one delayed beyond the day specified; nor do I recollect ever hearing
+of one who had. They are so careful not to speculate beyond their
+means, that an instance of failure is extremely rare among them. No
+one ever in India hears of families reduced to ruin or distress by
+the failure of merchants or bankers; though here, as in all other
+countries advanced in the arts, a vast number of families subsist
+upon the interest of money employed by them.[27]
+
+There is no class of men more interested in the stability of our rule
+in India than this of the respectable merchants; nor is there any
+upon whom the welfare of our Government and that of the people more
+depend. Frugal, first upon principle, that they may not in their
+expenditure encroach upon their capitals, they become so by habit;
+and when they advance in life they lay out their accumulated wealth
+in the formation of those works which shall secure for them, from
+generation to generation, the blessings of the people of the towns in
+which they have resided, and those of the country around. It would
+not be too much to say that one-half of the great works which
+embellish and enrich the face of India, in tanks, groves, wells,
+temples, &c., have been formed by this class of the people solely
+with the view of securing the blessings of mankind by contributing to
+their happiness in solid and permanent works.[28] 'The man who has
+left behind him great works in temples, bridges, reservoirs, and
+caravanserais for the public good, does not die,' says Shaikh
+Sadi,[29] the greatest of Eastern poets, whose works are more read
+and loved than those of any other uninspired man that has ever
+written, not excepting our own beloved Shakspeare.[30] He is as much
+loved and admired by Hindoos as by Muhammadans; and from boyhood to
+old age he continues the idol of the imaginations of both. The boy of
+ten, and the old man of seventy, alike delight to read and quote him
+for the music of his verses, and the beauty of his sentiments,
+precepts, and imagery.[31]
+
+It was to the class last mentioned, whose incomes are derived from
+the profits of stock invested in manufactures and commerce, that
+Europe chiefly owed its rise and progress after the downfall of the
+Roman Empire, and the long night of darkness and desolation which
+followed it. It was through the means of mercantile industry, and the
+municipal institutions to which it gave rise, that the enlightened
+sovereigns of Europe were enabled to curb the licence of the feudal
+aristocracy, and to give to life, property, and character that
+security without which society could not possibly advance; and it was
+through the same means that the people were afterwards enabled to put
+those limits to the authority of the sovereign, and to secure to
+themselves that share in the government without which society could
+not possibly be free or well constituted. Upon the same foundation
+may we hope to raise a superstructure of municipal corporations and
+institutions in India, such as will give security and dignity to the
+society; and the sooner we begin upon the work the better.[32]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Johnson says: 'Mountaineers are thievish because they are poor;
+and, having neither manufactures nor commerce, can grow rich only by
+robbery. They regularly plunder their neighbours, for their
+neighbours are commonly their enemies; and, having lost that
+reverence for property by which the order of civil life is preserved,
+soon consider all as enemies whom they do not reckon as friends, and
+think themselves licensed to invade whatever they are not obliged to
+protect.' [W. H. S.] The quotation is from _A Journey to the Western
+Islands of Scotland_.
+
+The observations in the text apply largely to the settled Hindoo
+villages, as well as to the forest tribes.
+
+2. _Ficus religiosa_ is the Linnaean name for the 'pipal'. Other
+botanists call it _Urostigma religiosum_. In the original edition the
+botanical name is erroneously given as _Ficus indicus_. The _Ficus
+indica_ (_F. Bengalensis_, or _Urostigma B._) is the banyan. A story
+is current that the traders of a certain town begged the magistrate
+to remove a pipal-tree which he had planted in the market-place,
+because, so long as it remained, business could not be conducted.
+They knew 'the value of a lie'.
+
+3. The red cotton, or silk-cotton, tree, when in spring covered with
+its huge magnolia-shaped scarlet blossoms, is one of the most
+magnificent objects in nature. Its botanical name is _Salmalia
+malabarica_ (_Bombax malabaricum; B. heptaphyllum_). This is the tree
+referred to in the text. The white silk-cotton tree (_Eriodendron
+anfractuosum; Bombax 'pentandrum; Ceiba pentandra; Gossampinus
+Rumphii_) has a more southern habitat. (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd
+ed., s.v. 'Salmalia' and 'Eriodendron'.)
+
+4. The pipal is usually regarded as sacred only to Vishnu, the
+Preserver. The _Ficus indica_, or banyan, is sacred to Siva, the
+Destroyer, and the _Butea frondosa_ (Hind. 'dhak', 'palas', or
+'chhyul ') to Brahma, the Creator, or [Greek text].
+
+5. The sacred trees and plants of India are numerous. 'Balfour
+(Cyclop., 3rd ed., s.v. 'Sacred') enumerates eighty, and the list is
+by no mean complete. The same author's article, 'Tree', may also be
+consulted. The minor 'deities' alluded to by the author are the real
+gods of popular rural Hinduism. The observations of Mr. William
+Crooke, probably the best authority on the subject of Indian popular
+religion, though made with reference to a particular locality, are
+generally applicable. 'Hinduism certainly shows no signs of weakness,
+and is practically untouched by Christian and Muhammadan proselytism.
+The gods of the Vedas are as dead as Jupiter, and the Krishna worship
+only succeeds from its marvellous adaptability to the sensuous and
+romantic side of the native mind. But it would be too much to say
+that the creed exercises any real effect on life or morals. With the
+majority of its devotees it is probably more sympathetic than
+practical, and ranks with the periodical ablutions in the Ganges and
+Jumna, and the traditional worship of the local gods and ghosts,
+which really impress the rustic. He is enclosed on all sides by a
+ring of precepts, which attribute luck or ill-luck to certain things
+or actions. These and the bonds of caste, with its obligations for
+the performance of marriage, death, and other ceremonies, make up the
+religions life of the peasant. Nearly every village and hamlet has
+its local ghost, usually the shrine of a childless man, or one whose
+funeral rites remained for some reason unperformed. In the expressive
+popular phrase, he is 'deprived of water' (_aud_). The pious make
+oblations to his cenotaph twice a year, and propitiate his ghost with
+offerings of water to allay his thirst in the lower world. The
+primaeval serpent-worship is perpetuated in the reverence paid to
+traditional village-snakes. Of the local ghosts some are beneficent.
+Sometimes they are only mischievous, like Robin Goodfellow, and will
+milk the cows, and sour the milk, or pull your hair, if you wander
+about at night in certain well-known uncanny places. A more dangerous
+demon is heard in the crackling of the dry leaves of the date-tree in
+the night wind; and some trees are haunted by a vampire, who will
+drag you up and devour you, if you venture near them in the
+darkness.' (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. vii. _Supplement_, p.
+4.) See also the same author's work _Popular Religion and Folklore of
+Northern India_, 2nd ed., 2 vols. Constable, 1896.
+
+6. Compare the story of Ramkishan in Chapter 25. Books on
+anthropology cite many instances of deaths caused by superstitious
+fears.
+
+7. Arrian, _Indica_, chap. 12: 'The sixth class consists of those
+called "superintendents". They spy out what goes on in country and
+town, and report everything to the king where the people have a king,
+and to the magistrates where the people are self-governed, and it is
+against use and wont for them to give a false report;--but indeed no
+Indian is accused of lying.' (McCrindle, _Ancient India, as described
+by Megasthenes and Arrian_, Truebner, 1877, p. 211). Arrian uses the
+word [Greek text 1]; in the Fragments of Megasthenes quoted by
+Diodorus and Strabo, the word is [Greek text 2]. The people referred
+to seem to be the well-known 'news-writers' employed by Oriental
+sovereigns (_ante_, chapter 33, note 7); a simple explanation missed
+by McCrindle (op. cit. p. 43, note). The remark about the
+truthfulness of the Indians appears to be Arrian's addition. It is
+not in the Fragment of Megasthenes from which Arrian copies, and the
+falsity of the remark is proved by the statement (ibid., p. 71) that
+'a person convicted of bearing false witness suffers mutilation of
+his extremities'. But in Fragment XXVII from Strabo (op. cit., p. 70)
+Megasthenes says, 'Truth and virtue they hold alike in esteem'; and
+in Fragment XXXIII (ibid., p. 85) he asserts that 'the ablest and
+moat trustworthy men' are appointed [Greek text 2].
+
+8. Up to the year 1827 'grand larceny', that is to say, stealing to a
+value exceeding twelve pence, was punishable with death. The Act 7
+George IV, cap. 28, abolished the distinction of grand and petty
+larceny. In 1837, the first year of Queen Victoria's reign, the
+punishment of death was abolished in the case of between thirty and
+forty offences. Other statutes have further mitigated the ferocity of
+the old law.
+
+9. The year was 1652, not 1648 (Tavernier, _Travels_, transl. Ball,
+vol. i, p. 260, note). The passages describing the criminal procedure
+of Amir Jumla are not very long, and deserve quotation, as giving an
+accurate account of the administration of penal justice by an able
+native ruler. 'On the 14th [September] we went to the tent of the
+Nawab to take leave of him, and to hear what he had to say regarding
+the goods which we had shown him. But we were told that he was
+engaged examining a number of criminals, who had been brought to him
+for immediate punishment. It is the custom in this country not to
+keep a man in prison; but immediately the accused is taken he is
+examined and sentence is pronounced on him, which is then executed
+without any delay. If the person whom they have seized is found
+innocent, he is released at once; and whatever the nature of the case
+may be, it is promptly concluded. . . . On the 15th, at seven o'clock
+in the morning, we went to the Nawab, and immediately we were
+announced he asked us to enter his tent, where he was seated with two
+of his secretaries by him. . . . The Nawab had the intervals between
+his toes full of letters, and he also had many between the fingers of
+his left hand. He drew them sometimes from his feet, sometimes from
+his hand, and sent his replies through his two secretaries, writing
+some also himself. . . . While we were with the Nawab he was informed
+that four prisoners, who were then at the door of the tent, had
+arrived. He remained more than half an hour without replying, writing
+continually and making his secretaries write, but at length he
+suddenly ordered the criminals to be brought in; and after having
+questioned them, and made them confess with their own mouths the
+crime of which they were accused, he remained nearly an hour without
+saying anything, continuing to write and to make his secretaries
+write, . . . Among these four prisoners who were brought into his
+presence there was one who had entered a house and slain a mother and
+her three infants. He was condemned forthwith to have his feet and
+hands cut off, and to be thrown into a field near the high road to
+end his days. Another had stolen on the high road, and the Nawab
+ordered him to have his stomach slit open and to be flung in a drain,
+I could not ascertain what the others had done, but both their heads
+were cut off. While all this passed the dinner was served, for the
+Nawab generally eats at ten o'clock, and he made us dine with him.'
+(Ibid., pp. 290-3.) Such swift procedure and sharp punishments would
+still be highly approved of by the great mass of Indian opinion in
+the villages.
+
+10. Misprinted 'much less' in original edition.
+
+11. The new Act, V of 1840, prescribes the following declaration: 'I
+solemnly affirm, in the presence of Almighty God, that what I shall
+state shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
+truth',--and declares that a false statement made on this shall be
+punished as perjury. [W. H. S.] The law now in force is to the same
+effect. This form of declaration is absolutely worthless as a check
+on perjury, and never hinders any witness from lying to his heart's
+content. The use of the Koran and Ganges water in the courts has been
+given up.
+
+12. The tendency of modern India is to rely too much on formal law
+and the exercise of the powers of the central government. The
+contemplation of the vast administrative machinery working with its
+irresistible force and unfailing regularity in obedience to the will
+of rulers, whose motives are not understood, undoubtedly has a
+paralysing influence on the life of the nations of India, which, if
+not counteracted, would work deep mischief. Something in the way of
+counteraction has been done, though not always with knowledge. The
+difficulties inherent in the problem of reconciling foreign rule with
+self-government in an Asiatic country are enormous.
+
+13. But panegyrics on the self-government of Indian villages must
+always be read with the qualification that the standard of such
+government was low, and that hundreds of acts and omissions were
+tolerated, which are intolerable to a modern European Government.
+Hence comes the difficulty of enforcing numerous reforms loudly
+called for by European opinion. The vast Indian population hates
+reform and innovation for many reasons, and, above all, because they
+involve expense, which to the Indian mind appears wholly
+unwarrantable.
+
+14. The same phenomenon is observable in rural Ireland, where, as in
+India, an unhappy history has generated profound distrust and dislike
+of official authority. The Irish peasant has always been ready to
+give his neighbour 'the loan of an oath', and a refusal to give it
+would be thought unneighbourly. An Irish Land Commission and an
+Indian Settlement Officer must alike expect to receive startling
+information about the value of land.
+
+15. _Ante_, chapter 49, text at [16].
+
+16. Hume, in speaking of Scotland in the fifteenth century, says,
+'Arms more than laws prevailed; and courage, preferably to equity and
+justice, was the virtue most valued and respected. The nobility, in
+whom the whole power resided, were so connected by hereditary
+alliances, or so divided by inveterate enmities, that it was
+impossible, without employing an armed force, either to punish the
+most flagrant guilt, or to give security to the most entire
+innocence. Rapine and violence, when employed against a hostile
+tribe, instead of making a person odious among his own clan, rather
+recommended him to their esteem and approbation; and, by rendering
+him useful to the chieftain, entitled him to the preference above his
+fellows.' [W. H. S.]
+
+17. Gibbon, chap. 5. The remark refers to Septimius Severus.
+
+18. The Ballot Act became law in 1872.
+
+19. All that the author says is true, and yet it does not alter the
+fact that Indian society is and always has been permeated and
+paralysed by almost universal distrust. Such universal distrust does
+not prevail in England. This difference between the two societies is
+fundamental, and its reality is fully recognized by natives of India.
+
+20. Compare the author's account of the fraudulent practices of the
+Company's sepoys when on leave in Oudh. (_Journey through the Kingdom
+of Oude_, vol. i, pp. 286-304.)
+
+21. The editor has failed to find these quotations in the Wellington
+Dispatches.
+
+22. This is the first story in the first chapter of the _Gulistan_.
+The _Mishkat-ul-Masabih_ (Matthews, vol. ii, p. 427) teaches the same
+doctrine as Sadi: 'That person is not a liar who makes peace between
+two people, and speaks good words to do away their quarrel although
+they should be lies; and that person who carries good words from one
+to another is not a tale-bearer.'
+
+23. Gibbon, chapter 27. In the year A.D. 390 Botheric, the general of
+Theodosius was murdered by a mob at Thessalonica. Acting on the
+advice of Rufinus, the emperor avenged his officer's death by an
+indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants, in which numbers
+variously estimated at from 7,000 to 15,000 perished. The emperor
+quickly felt remorse for the atrocity of which he had been guilty,
+and submitted to do public penance under the direction of Ambrose.
+
+24. The sum total of truth in India would not, I fear, be appreciably
+increased if every European had the temper of an angel.
+
+25. The editor has never known a reputation for corruption in any way
+lower the social position of an official of Indian birth.
+
+26. The argument in the anthor's mind seems to be that the unveracity
+practised and condoned by certain classes of the natives of India on
+certain occasions is, at least, not more reprehensible than the vices
+practised and condoned by certain classes of Europeans on certain
+occasions.
+
+27. Since the author wrote the above remarks, the conditions of
+Indian trade have been revolutionized by the development of roads,
+railways, motors, telegraph, postal facilities, and exports. The
+Indian merchant has been drawn into the vortex of European and
+American commerce. He is, in consequence, not quite so cautions as he
+used to be, and is more liable to severe loss or failure, though he
+is still, as a rule, far more inclined to caution than are his
+Western rivals. The Indian private banker undoubtedly is honest in
+ordinary banking transactions and anxious to maintain his commercial
+credit, but he will often stoop to the most discreditable devices in
+the purchase of a coveted estate, the foreclosure of a mortgage, and
+the like. His books, nowadays, are certainly not 'appealed to as holy
+writ', and many merchants keep a duplicate set for income-tax
+purposes. The happy people of 1836 had never heard of income tax.
+Private remittances are now made usually through the post office or
+the joint-stock banks, which did not exist in the author's days. In
+recent times failures of banks and merchants have been frequent.
+
+28. These observations, which are perfectly true, form a corrective
+to the fashionable abuse of the Indian capitalist, whose virtues and
+merits are seldom noticed.
+
+29. The editor has not succeeded in tracing this quotation, but
+several passages to a similar effect occur in the _Gulistan_.
+
+30. I ought to except Confucius, the great Chinese moralist. [W. H.
+S.]
+
+31. For a brief notice of Sadi (Sa'di) see _ante_, chapter 12, note
+6. The _Gulistan_ is everywhere used as a text-book in schools where
+Persian is taught. The author's extant correspondence shows that he
+was fascinated by the charms of Persian poetry, even during the first
+year of his residence in India.
+
+32. The work was 'begun upon' many years ago, and 'a superstructure
+of municipal corporations and institutions' now exists in every part
+of India. But 'the same foundation' does not exist. The stout
+burghers of the mediaeval English and German towns have no Indian
+equivalents. The superstructure of the municipal institutions is all
+that Acts of the Legislature can make it; the difficulty is to find
+or make a solid foundation. Still, it was right and necessary to
+establish municipal institutions in India, and, notwithstanding all
+weaknesses and defects, they are of considerable value, and are
+slowly developing.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 58
+
+Declining Fertility of the Soil--Popular Notion of the Cause.
+
+On the 18th[1] we came on ten miles to Sahar, over a plain of poor
+soil, carelessly cultivated, and without either manure or irrigation.
+Major Godby left us at Govardhan to return to Agra. He would have
+gone on with us to Delhi; but having the command of his regiment, and
+being a zealous officer, he did not like to leave it so long during
+the exercising season. We felt much the loss of his society. He is a
+man of great observation and practical good sense; has an infinite
+fund of good humour, and a cheerfulness of temperament that never
+seems to flag--a more agreeable companion I have never met. The
+villages in these parts are literally crowded with peafowl. I counted
+no less than forty-six feeding close by among the houses of one
+hamlet on the road, all wild, or rather _unappropriated_, for they
+seemed on the best possible terms with the inhabitants. At Sahar our
+water was drawn from wells eighty feet deep, and this is said to be
+the ordinary depth from which water is drawn; consequently irrigation
+is too expensive to be common. It is confined almost exclusively to
+small patches of garden cultivation in the vicinity of villages.
+
+On the 14th we came on sixteen miles to Kosi, for the most part over
+a poor soil badly cultivated, and almost exclusively devoted to
+autumn crops, of which cotton is the principal. I lost the road in
+the morning before daylight,[2] and the trooper, who usually rode
+with me, had not come up. I got an old landholder from one of the
+villages to walk on with me a mile, and put me in the right road. I
+asked him what had been the state of the country under the former
+government of the Jats and Marathas, and was told that the greater
+part was a wild jungle. 'I remember,' said the old man, 'when you
+could not have got out of the road hereabouts without a good deal of
+risk. I could not have ventured a hundred yards from the village
+without the chance of having my clothes stripped off my back. Now the
+whole face of the country is under cultivation, and the roads are
+safe; formerly the governments kept no faith with their landholders
+and cultivators, exacting ten rupees where they had bargained for
+five, whenever they found the crops good; but, in spite of all this
+"zulm"' (oppression), said the old man, 'there was then more "barkat"
+(blessings from above) than now. The lands yielded more returns to
+the cultivator, and he could maintain his little family better upon
+five acres than he can now upon ten.'
+
+'To what, my old friend, do you attribute this very unfavourable
+change in the productive powers of your soil?'
+
+'A man cannot, sir, venture to tell the truth at all times, and in
+all places,' said he.
+
+'You may tell it now with safety, my good old friend; I am a mere
+traveller ("musafir") going to the hills in search of health, from
+the valley of the Nerbudda, where the people have been suffering much
+from blight, and are much perplexed in their endeavour to find a
+cause.'
+
+'Here, sir, we all attribute these evils to the dreadful System of
+_perjury_, which the practices of your judicial courts have brought
+among the people. You are perpetually putting the Ganges water into
+the hands of the Hindoos, and the Koran into those of Muhammadans;
+and all kinds of lies are every day told upon them. God Almighty can
+stand this no longer; and the lands have ceased to be blessed with
+that fertility which they had before this sad practice began. This,
+sir, is almost the only fault we have, any of us, to find with your
+government; men, by this System of perjury, are able to cheat each
+other out of their rights, and bring down sterility upon the land, by
+which the innocent are made to suffer for the guilty.'
+
+On reaching our tents, I asked a respectable farmer, who came to pay
+his respects to the Commissioner of the division, Mr. Fraser, what he
+thought of the matter, telling him what I had heard from my old
+friend on the road. 'The diminished fertility is,' said he, 'owing no
+doubt to the want of those salutary fallows which the fields got
+under former governments, when invasions and civil wars were things
+of common occurrence, and kept at least two-thirds of the land waste;
+but there is, on the other hand, no doubt that you have encouraged
+perjury a good deal in your courts of justice; and this perjury must
+have some effect in depriving the land of the blessing of God.[3]
+Every man now, who has a cause in your civil courts, seems to think
+it necessary either to swear falsely himself, or to get others to do
+it for him. The European gentlemen, no doubt, do all they can to
+secure every man his right, but, surrounded as they are by perjured
+witnesses, and corrupt native officers, they commonly labour in the
+dark.'
+
+Much of truth is to be found among the village communities of India,
+where they have been carefully maintained, if people will go among
+them to seek it. Here, as almost everywhere else, truth is the result
+of self-government, whether arising from choice, under municipal
+institutions, or necessity, under despotism and anarchy; self-
+government produces self-esteem and pride of character.
+
+Close to our tents we found the people at work, irrigating their
+fields from several wells, whose waters were all brackish. The crops
+watered from these wells were admirable--likely to yield at least
+fifteen returns of the seed. Wherever we go, we find the signs of a
+great government passed away--signs that must tend to keep alive the
+recollections, and exalt the ideas of it in the minds of the people.
+Beyond the boundary of our military and civil stations we find as yet
+few indications of our reign or character, to link us with the
+affections of the people. There is hardly anything to indicate our
+existence as a people or a government in this country; and it is
+melancholy to think that in the wide extent of country over which I
+have travelled there should be so few signs of that superiority in
+science and arts which we boast of, and really do possess, and ought
+to make conducive to the welfare and happiness of the people in every
+part of our dominions. The people and the face of the country are
+just what they might have been had they been governed by police
+officers and tax-gatherers from the Sandwich Islands, capable of
+securing life, property, and character, and levying honestly the
+means of maintaining the establishments requisite for the purpose.[4]
+Some time after the journey here described, in the early part of
+November, after a heavy fall of rain, I was driving alone in my buggy
+from Garhmuktesar on the Ganges to Meerut. The roads were very bad,
+the stage a double one, and my horse became tired, and unable to go
+on.[5] I got out at a small village to give him a little rest and
+food; and sat down, under the shade of one old tree, upon the trunk
+of another that the storm had blown down, while my groom, the only
+servant I had with me, rubbed down and baited my horse. I called for
+some parched gram from the same shop which supplied my horse, and got
+a draught of good water, drawn from the well by an old woman in a
+brass jug lent to me for the purpose by the shopkeeper.[6]
+
+While I sat contentedly and happily stripping my parched gram of its
+shell, and eating it grain by grain, the farmer, or head landholder
+of the village, a sturdy old Rajput, came up and sat himself, without
+any ceremony, down by my side, to have a little conversation. To one
+of the dignitaries of the land, in whose presence the aristocracy are
+alone entitled to chairs, this easy familiarity on the part of a poor
+farmer seems at first somewhat strange and unaccountable; he is
+afraid that the man intends to offer him some indignity, or, what is
+still worse, mistakes him for something less than the dignitary. The
+following dialogue took place.
+
+'You are a Rajput, and a "zamindar"?' (landholder).
+
+'Yes; I am the head landholder of this village.'
+
+'Can you tell me how that village in the distance is elevated above
+the ground? Is it from the debris of old villages, or from a rock
+underneath?'
+
+'It is from the debris of old villages. That is the original seat of
+all the Rajputs around; we all trace our descent from the founders of
+that village who built and peopled it many centuries ago.'
+
+'And you have gone on subdividing your inheritances here, as
+elsewhere, no doubt, till you have hardly any of you anything to
+eat?'
+
+'True, we have hardy any of us enough to eat; but that is the fault
+of the Government, that does not leave us enough, that takes from us
+as much when the season is bad as when it is good.'[7]
+
+'But your assessment has not been increased, has it?' 'No, we have
+concluded a settlement for twenty years upon the same footing as
+formerly.'
+
+'And if the sky were to shower down upon you pearls and diamonds,
+instead of water, the Government would never demand more from you
+than the rate fixed upon?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'Then why should you expect remissions in the bad seasons?'
+
+'It cannot be disputed that the "barkat" (blessing from above) is
+less under you than it used to be formerly, and that the lands yield
+less to our labour.'
+
+'True, my old friend, but do you know the reason why?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'Then I will tell you. Forty or fifty years ago, in what you call the
+times of the "barkat" (blessing from above), the cavalry of Sikh
+freebooters from the Panjab used to sweep over this fine plain, in
+which stands the said village from which you are all descended; and
+to massacre the whole population of some villages, and a certain
+portion of that of every other village; and the lands of those killed
+used to be waste for want of cultivators. Is not this all true?'
+
+'Yes, quite true.'
+
+'And the fine groves which had been planted over the plain by your
+ancestors, as they separated from the great parent stock, and formed
+independent villages and hamlets for themselves, were all swept away
+and destroyed by the same hordes of freebooters, from whom your poor
+imbecile emperors, cooped up in yonder large city of Delhi, were
+utterly unable to defend you?'
+
+'Quite true,' said the old man with a sigh. 'I remember when all this
+fine plain was as thickly studded with fine groves of mango-trees as
+Rohilkhand, or any other part of India.'
+
+'You know that the land requires rest from labour, as well as men and
+bullocks, and that, if you go on sowing wheat and other exhausting
+crops, it will go on yielding less and less returns, and at last not
+be worth the tilling?'
+
+'Quite well.'
+
+'Then why do you not give the land rest by leaving it longer fallow,
+or by a more frequent alternation of crops relieve it?'
+
+'Because we have now increased so much that we should not get enough
+to eat were we to leave it to fallow; and unless we tilled it with
+exhausting crops we should not get the means of paying our rents to
+the Government.'
+
+'The Sikh hordes in former days prevented this; they killed off a
+certain portion of your families, and gave the land the rest which
+you now refuse it. When you had exhausted one part, you found another
+recovered by a long fallow, so that you had better returns; but now
+that we neither kill you, nor suffer you to be killed by others, you
+have brought all the cultivable lands into tillage; and under the old
+System of cropping to exhaustion, it is not surprising that they
+yield you less returns.'[8]
+
+By this time we had a crowd of people seated around us upon the
+ground, as I went on munching my parched gram, and talking to the old
+patriarch.
+
+They all laughed at the old man at the conclusion of my last speech,
+and he confessed I was right.
+
+'This is all true, sir, but still your Government is not considerate;
+it goes on taking kingdom after kingdom, and adding to its dominions
+without diminishing the burden upon us, its old subjects. Here you
+have had armies away taking Afghanistan, but we shall not have one
+rupee the less to pay.'[9]
+
+'True, my friend, nor would you demand a rupee less from those honest
+cultivators around us, if we were to leave you all your lands
+untaxed. You complain of the Government--they complain of you.' (Here
+the circle around us laughed at the old man again.) 'Nor would you
+subdivide the lands the less for having it rent-free; on the
+contrary, it would be every generation subdivided the more, inasmuch
+as there would be more of local ties, and a greater disinclination of
+families to separate and seek service abroad.'
+
+'True, sir, very true--that is, no doubt, a very great evil.'
+
+'And you know it is not an evil produced by us, but one arising out
+of your own laws of inheritance. You have heard, no doubt, that with
+us the eldest son gets the whole of the land, and the younger sons
+all go out in search of service, with such share as they can get of
+the other property of their father?'
+
+'Yes, sir; but when shall we get service?--you have none to give us.
+I would serve to-morrow if you would take me as a soldier,' said he,
+stroking his white whiskers.
+
+The crowd laughed heartily; and some wag observed that I should
+perhaps think him too old.
+
+'Well,' said the old man, smiling, 'the gentleman himself is not very
+young, and yet I dare say he is a good servant of his Government.'
+
+This was paying me off for making the people laugh at his expense.
+
+'True, my old friend,' said I, 'but I began to serve when I was
+young, and have been long learning.'
+
+'Very well,' said the old man, 'but I should be glad to serve the
+rest of my life upon a less salary than you got when you began to
+learn.'
+
+'Well, my friend, you complain of our Government; but you must
+acknowledge that we do all we can to protect you, though it is true
+that we are often acting in the dark.'
+
+'Often, sir? you are always acting in the dark; you, hardly any of
+you, know anything of what your revenue and police officers are
+doing; there is no justice or redress to be got without paying for
+it, and it is not often that those who pay can get it.'
+
+'True, my old friend, that is bad all over the world. You cannot
+presume to ask anything even from the Deity Himself, without paying
+the priest who officiates in His temples; and if you should, you
+would none of you hope to get from your Deity what you asked for.'
+
+Here the crowd laughed again, and one of them said that 'there was
+this certainly to be said for our Government, that the European
+gentlemen themselves never took bribes, whatever those under them
+might do'.
+
+'You must not be too sure of that, neither. Did not the Lal Bibi, the
+Red Lady, get a bribe for soliciting the judge, her husband, to let
+go Amir Singh, who had been confined in jail?'
+
+'How did this take place?'
+
+'About three years ago Amir Singh was sentenced to imprisonment, and
+his friends spent a great deal of money in bribes to the native
+officers of the court, but all in vain. At last they were recommended
+to give a handsome present to the Red Lady. They did so, and Amir
+Singh was released.'
+
+'But did they give the present into the lady's own hand?'
+
+'No, they gave it to one of her women.'
+
+'And how do you know that she ever gave it to her mistress, or that
+her mistress ever heard of the transaction?'
+
+'She might certainly have been acting without her mistress'
+knowledge; but the popular belief is that the Lal Bibi got the
+present.'
+
+I then told the story of the affair at Jubbulpore, when Mrs. Smith's
+name had been used for a similar purpose, and the people around us
+were all highly amused; and the old man's opinion of the transaction
+with the Red Lady evidently underwent a change.[10]
+
+We became good friends, and the old man begged me to have my tents,
+which he supposed were coming up, pitched among them, that he might
+have an opportunity of showing that he was not a bad subject, though
+he grumbled against the Government.
+
+The next day at Meerut I got a visit from the chief native judge,
+whose son, a talented youth, is in my office. Among other things, I
+asked him whether it might not be possible to improve the character
+of the police by increasing the salaries of the officers, and
+mentioned my conversation with the landholder.
+
+'Never, sir,' said the old gentleman; 'the man that now gets twenty-
+five rupees a month is contented with making perhaps fifty or
+seventy-five more; and the people subject to his authority pay him
+accordingly. Give him a hundred, sir, and he will put a shawl over
+his shoulders, and the poor people will be obliged to pay him at a
+rate that will make up his income to four hundred. You will only
+alter his style of living, and make him a greater burthen to the
+people. He will always take as long as he thinks he can with
+impunity.'
+
+'But do you not think that when people see a man adequately paid by
+the Government they will the more readily complain of any attempt at
+unauthorized exactions?'
+
+'Not a bit, sir, as long as they see the same difficulties in the way
+of prosecuting him to conviction. In the administration of civil
+justice' (the old gentleman is a civil judge), 'you may occasionally
+see your way, and understand what is doing; but in revenue and police
+you never have seen it in India, and never will, I think. The
+officers you employ will all add to their incomes by unauthorized
+means; and the lower these incomes, the less their pretensions, and
+the less the populace have to pay.'[11]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. The old Anglo-Indian rose much earlier than his successor of the
+present day commonly does.
+
+3. For other popular explanations of the alleged decrease in
+fertility of the soil, see _ante_, Chapter 27, where three
+explanations are offered, namely, the eating of beef, the prevalence
+of adultery, and the impiety of surveys.
+
+4. The inapplicability of these observations of the author to the
+present time is a good measure of the material progress of India
+since his day. The Ganges Canal, the bridges over the Indus, Ganges,
+and other great rivers, and numberless engineering works throughout
+the empire, are permanent witnesses to the scientific superiority of
+the ruling race. Buildings which can claim any high degree of
+architectural excellence are, unfortunately, still rare, but the
+public edifices of Bombay will not suffer by comparison with those of
+most capital cities, and for some years past, considerable attention
+has been paid to architecture as an art. A great architectural
+experiment is in progress at the new official capital of Delhi
+(1914).
+
+5. The road is now an excellent one.
+
+6. Parched gram, or chick-pea, is commonly used by Indian travellers
+as a convenient and readily portable form of food. The 'brass jug'
+lent to the author could be purified by fire after his use of it.
+
+7. Growls of this kind must not be interpreted too literally. Any
+village landholder, if encouraged, would grumble in the same strain.
+
+8. This is the permanent difficulty of Indian revenue administration,
+which no Government measures can seriously diminish.
+
+9. The mission to Kabul, under Captain Alexander Burnes, was not
+dispatched till September, 1837, and troops did not assemble before
+the conclusion of the treaty with the Sikhs in June, 1838. The army
+crossed the Indus in January, 1839. The conversation in the text is
+stated to have taken place 'some time after the journey herein
+described', and must, apparently, be dated in November, 1839. The
+author was in the North-Western Provinces in that year.
+
+10. Some of Mrs. Smith's suitors entered into a combination to
+defraud a suitor in his court of a large sum of money, which he was
+to pay to Mrs. Smith as she walked in the garden. A dancing girl from
+the town of Jubbulpore was made to represent Mrs. Smith, and a suit
+of Mrs. Smith's clothes was borrowed for her from the washerman. The
+butler took the suitor to the garden, and introduced him to the
+supposed Mrs. Smith, who received him very graciously, and
+condescended to accept his offer of five thousand rupees in gold
+mohurs. The plot was afterwards discovered, and the old butler,
+washerman, and all, were sentenced to work in a rope on the roads.
+[W. H. S.]
+
+Penal labour on the roads has been discontinued long since. Similar
+plots probably have often escaped detection. The whole conversation
+is a valuable illustration of Indian habits and modes of thought.
+
+11. The subject of the police administration is more fully discussed
+_post_, in Chapter 69.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 59
+
+
+Concentration of Capital and its Effects.
+
+Kosi[1] stands on the borders of Firozpur, the estate of the late
+Shams-ud-din, who was hanged at Delhi on the 3rd of October, 1835,
+for the murder of William Fraser, the representative of the Governor-
+General in the Delhi city and territories.[2] The Mewatis of Firozpur
+are notorious thieves and robbers. During the Nawab's time they dared
+not plunder within his territory, but had a free licence to plunder
+wherever they pleased beyond it.[3] They will now be able to plunder
+at home, since our tribunals have been introduced to worry
+prosecutors and their witnesses to death by the distance they have to
+go, and the tediousness of our process; and thereby to secure
+impunity to offenders, by making it the interest of those who have
+been robbed, not only to bear with the first loss without complaint,
+but largely to bribe police officers to conceal the crimes from their
+master, the magistrate, when they happen to come to their knowledge.
+Here it was that Jeswant Rao Holkar gave a grand ball on the 14th of
+October, 1804, while he was with his cavalry covering the siege of
+Delhi by his regular brigade. In the midst of the festivity he had a
+European soldier of the King's 76th Regiment, who had been taken
+prisoner, strangled behind the curtain, and his head stuck upon a
+spear and placed in the midst of the assembly, where the 'nach'
+(nautch) girls were made to dance round it. Lord Lake reached the
+place the next morning in pursuit of this monster; and the gallant
+regiment, who here heard the story, had soon an opportunity of
+revenging the foul murder of their comrade in the battle of Dig, one
+of the most gallant passages of arms we have ever had in India.[4]
+
+Near Kosi there is a factory in ruins belonging to the late firm of
+Mercer & Company. Here the cotton of the district used to be
+collected and screwed under the superintendence of European agents,
+preparatory to its embarkation for Calcutta on the river Jumna. On
+the failure of the firm, the establishment was broken up, and the
+work, which was then done by one great European merchant, is now done
+by a score or two of native merchants. There is, perhaps, nothing
+which India wants more than the concentration of capital; and the
+failure of a I [5] the great commercial houses in Calcutta, in the
+year 1833, was, unquestionably, a great calamity. They none of them
+brought a particle of capital into the country, nor does India want a
+particle from any country; but they _concentrated_ it; and had they
+employed the whole, as they certainly did a good deal of it, in
+judiciously improving and extending the industry of the natives, they
+might have been the source of incalculable good to India, its people,
+and government.[6]
+
+To this concentration of capital in great commercial and
+manufacturing establishments, which forms the grand characteristic of
+European in contradistinction to Asiatic societies in the present
+day, must we look for those changes which we consider desirable in
+the social and religions institutions of the people. Where land is
+liable to eternal subdivision by the law and the religion of both the
+Muhammadan and Hindoo population; where every great work that
+improves its productive powers, and facilitates the distribution of
+its produce among the people, in canals, roads, bridges, &c., is made
+by Government; where capital is nowhere concentrated in great
+commercial or manufacturing establishments, there can be no upper
+classes in society but those of office; and of all societies, perhaps
+that is the worst in which the higher classes are so exclusively
+composed. In India, public office has been, and must continue to be,
+the only road to distinction, until we have a _law of primogeniture_,
+and a _concentration of capital_. In India no man has ever thought
+himself respectable, or been thought so by others, unless he is armed
+with his little 'hukumat'; his 'little brief authority' under
+Government, that gives him the command of some public establishment
+paid out of the revenues of the State.[7] In Europe and America,
+where capital has been concentrated in great commercial and
+manufacturing establishments, and free institutions prevail almost as
+the natural consequence, industry is everything; and those who direct
+and command it are, happily, looked up to as the source of the
+wealth, the strength, the virtue, and the happiness of the nation.
+The concentration of capital in such establishments may, indeed, be
+considered, not only as the natural consequence, but as the
+prevailing cause of the free institutions by which the mass of the
+people in European countries are blessed.[8] The mass of the people
+were as much brutalized and oppressed by the landed aristocracy as
+they could have been by any official aristocracy before towns and
+higher classes were created by the concentration of capital.
+
+The same observations are applicable to China. There the land all
+belongs to the sovereign, as in India; and, as in India, it is liable
+to the same eternal subdivision among the sons of those who hold it
+under him. Capital is nowhere more concentrated in China than in
+India; and all the great works that add to the fertility of the soil,
+and facilitate the distribution of the land labour of the country are
+formed by the sovereign out of the public revenue. The revenue is, in
+consequence, one of office;[9] and no man considers himself
+respectable,[10] unless invested with some office under Government,
+that is, under the Emperor. Subdivision of labour, concentration of
+capital, and machinery render an Englishman everywhere dependent upon
+the co-operation of multitudes; while the Chinaman, who as yet knows
+little of either, is everywhere independent, and able to work his way
+among strangers. But this very dependence of the Englishman upon the
+concentration of capital is the greatest source of his strength and
+pledge of his security, since it supports those members of the higher
+orders who can best understand and assert the rights and interests of
+the whole.[11]
+
+If we had any great establishment of this sort in which Christians
+could find employment and the means of religious and secular
+instruction, thousands of converts would soon flock to them; and they
+would become vast sources of future improvement in industry, social
+comfort, municipal institutions, and religion. What chiefly prevents
+the spread of Christianity in India is the dread of exclusion from
+caste and all its privileges; and the utter hopelessness of their
+ever finding any respectable circle of society of the adopted
+religion, which converts, or would-be converts, to Christianity now
+everywhere feel. Form such circles for them, make the members of
+these circles happy in the exertion of honest and independent
+industry, let those who rise to eminence in them feel that they are
+considered as respectable and as important in the social system as
+the servants of Government, and converts will flock around you from
+all parts, and from all classes of the Hindoo community. I have,
+since I have been in India, had, I may say, at least a score of
+Hindoo grass-cutters turn Musalmans, merely because the grooms and
+the other grass-cutters of my establishment happened to be of that
+religion, and they could neither eat, drink, nor smoke with them.
+Thousands of Hindoos all over India become every year Musalmans from
+the same motive;[12] and we do not get the same number of converts to
+Christianity, merely because we cannot offer them the same
+advantages. I am persuaded that a dozen such establishments as that
+of Mr. Thomas Ashton of Hyde, as described by a physician at
+Manchester, and noticed in Mr. Baines's admirable work on the _Cotton
+Manufactures of Great Britain_ (page 447), would do more in the way
+of conversion among the people of India than has ever yet been done
+by all the religious establishments, or ever will be done by them,
+without such aid.[13]
+
+I have said that the great commercial houses of Calcutta, which in
+their ruin involved that of so many useful establishments scattered
+over India, like that of Kosi, brought no capital into the
+country.[14] They borrowed from one part of the civil and military
+servants of Government at a high interest that portion of their
+salary which they saved; and lent it at a higher interest to others
+of the same establishment, who for a time required or wished to spend
+more than they received; or they employed it at a higher rate of
+profit for great commercial and manufacturing establishments
+scattered over India, or spread over the ocean. Their great error was
+in mistaking nominal for real profits. Calculating their dividend on
+the nominal profits, and never supposing that there could be any such
+things as losses in commercial speculation, or bad debts from
+misfortunes and bad faith, they squandered them in lavish hospitality
+and ostentatious display, or allowed their retiring members to take
+them to England and to every other part of the world where their
+creditors might not find them, till they discovered that all the real
+capital left at their command was hardly sufficient to pay back with
+the stipulated interest one-tenth of what they had borrowed. The
+members of those houses who remained in India up to the time of the
+general wreck were of course reduced to ruin, and obliged to bear the
+burthen of the odium and indignation which the ruin of so many
+thousands of confiding constituents brought down upon them. Since
+that time the savings of civil and military servants have been
+invested either in Government securities at a small interest, or in
+banks, which make their profit in the ordinary way, by discounting
+bills of exchange, and circulating their own notes for the purpose,
+or by lending out their money at a high interest of 10 or 12 per
+cent. to other members of the same services.[15]
+
+On the 16th of January we went on to Horal, ten miles over a plain,
+with villages numerous and large, and in every one some fine large
+building of olden times--sarai, palace, temple, or tomb, but all
+going to decay.[16] The population much more dense than in any of the
+native states I have seen; villages larger and more numerous; trade
+in the transit of cotton, salt, sugar, and grain, much brisker. A
+great number of hares were here brought to us for sale at threepence
+apiece, a rate at which they sell at this season in almost all parts
+of Upper India, where they are very numerous, and very easily caught
+in nets.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Kosi is twenty-five miles north-west of Mathura.
+
+2. The story of the murder of Mr. Fraser is fully detailed _post_ in
+Chapter 64. After the execution of Shams-ud-din, the estate of the
+criminal was taken possession of by Government, and the town of
+Firozpur is now the head-quarters of a sub-collectorship of the
+Gurgaon district in the Panjab. The Delhi territories were placed
+under the government of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjab in
+1858.
+
+3. The Mewati depredations had gone on for centuries. The Sultan
+Balban (Ghias-ud-din, alias Ulugh Khan), who reigned from A.D. 1265-
+87, temporarily suppressed them by punishments of awful cruelty,
+flaying the criminals alive, and so forth. The Mewatis now supply men
+to a few robber gangs, but are incapable of mischief on a large
+scale.
+
+4. Delhi was most nobly defended against Holkar by a very small force
+under Lieutenant-Colonel Burn, who 'repelled an assault, and defended
+a city ten miles in circumference, and which had ever before been
+given up at the first appearance of an enemy at its gates'.
+
+The battle of Dig was fought on November 13, 1804, by the division
+under the command of General Fraser on the one side, and Holkar's
+infantry and artillery on the other. 'The 76th led the way, with its
+wonted alacrity and determination,' and forced its way into the
+village in advance of its supports. The fight resulted in the total
+defeat of the Marathas, who lost nearly two thousand men, and eighty-
+seven pieces of cannon. The English loss also was heavy, amounting to
+upwards of six hundred and forty killed and wounded, including the
+brave commander, who was mortally wounded, and survived the victory
+only a few days.
+
+On the night of November 17, General Lake in person routed Holkar and
+his cavalry, killing about three thousand men. The English loss on
+this occasion amounted to only two men killed, and about twenty
+wounded.
+
+The fort of Dig, with a hundred guns and a considerable quantity of
+ammunition and military stores, was captured on December 24 of the
+same year. (Thornton, _History of British India_, pp. 316-19, 2nd
+ed., 1859.)
+
+5. Transcription note. This clause is not intelligible to the
+transcriber. The character '1' or 'I' appears in the text. Some words
+appear to be missing.
+
+6. The author was grievously mistaken in supposing that India did not
+require 'a particle' of foreign capital. The railways, and the great
+tea, coffee, indigo, and other industries, built up and developed
+during the nineteenth century, and still growing, owe their existence
+to the hundreds of millions sterling of English capital poured into
+the country, and could not possibly have been financed from Indian
+resources. The author seems not to have expected the construction of
+railways in India, although when he wrote a beginning of the railway
+system in England had been made.
+
+7. This sentiment is still potent, and explains the eagerness often
+shown by wealthy landholders of high social rank to obtain official
+appointments, which to the European mind seem unworthy of their
+acceptance.
+
+8. Few readers are likely to accept this proposition.
+
+9. This clause is not intelligible to the editor. The word 'revenue'
+probably is a misprint for 'aristocracy'.
+
+10. The original edition prints, 'No man considers himself less
+respectable', which is nonsense.
+
+11. This sentiment reads oddly in these days of social democracy and
+continual conflict between capital and labour.
+
+12. The steady progress of Islam in Lower and Eastern Bengal, first
+made apparent by the census of 1872, has been confirmed by the
+enumerations of 1901 and 1911. The feeling that the religion of the
+Prophet gives its adherent a better position in both this world and
+the next than Hinduism can offer to a low-caste man is the most
+powerful motive for conversion. See Dr. James Wise's valuable
+treatise, 'The Muhammadans of Eastern Bengal' (_J.A.S.B._, Part III
+(1894), pp. 28-63), and the Census Reports from 1872 to 1911.
+
+13. The author's whimsical notion that a development of commercial
+and manufacturing organization in India would cause converts to flock
+from all parts, and from all classes of the Hindoo community, has not
+been verified by experience. Much capital is now concentrated in the
+great cities, and the number of cotton, jute, and other factories is
+considerable, but Christian converts are not among the goods
+produced.
+
+14. The modern commercial houses bring a large proportion of their
+capital from Europe.
+
+15. The three Presidency Banks, the Bank of Bengal, the Bank of
+Madras, and the Bank of Bombay, in which the Indian Government is
+interested, are the leading Indian banks. The Bank of Bengal was
+opened in 1806. No bank in India is allowed to issue notes. The paper
+money in use is issued by the Paper Currency Department of the
+Government of India, and the notes are known as 'currency notes'. The
+issue of these notes began in 1862-3. (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd
+ed., s.v. 'Bank and Paper Currency'). Much Indian capital is now
+invested in joint-stock companies of every kind.
+
+16. More correctly, Hodal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 60
+
+
+Transit Duties in India--Mode of Collecting them.
+
+At Horal[1] resides a Collector of Customs with two or three
+uncovenanted European assistants as patrol officers.[2] The rule now
+is to tax only the staple articles of produce from the west on their
+transit down into the valley of the Jumna and Ganges, and to have
+only one line on which these articles shall be liable to duties.[3]
+They are free to pass everywhere else without search or molestation.
+This has, no doubt, relieved the people of these provinces from an
+infinite deal of loss and annoyance inflicted upon them by the former
+System of levying the Customs duties, and that without much
+diminishing the net receipts of Government from this branch of its
+revenues. But the time may come when Government will be constrained
+to raise a greater proportion of its collective revenues than it has
+hitherto done from indirect taxation, and when this time comes, the
+rule which confines the impost to a single line must of course be
+abandoned.[4] Under the former system, one great man, with a very
+high salary, was put in to preside over a host of native agents with
+very small salaries, and without any responsible intermediate agent
+whatever to aid him, and to watch over them. The great man was
+selected without any reference to his knowledge of, or fitness for,
+the duties entrusted to him, merely because he happened to be of a
+certain standing in a certain exclusive service, which entitled him
+to a certain scale of salary, or because he had been found unfit for
+judicial or other duties requiring more intellect and energy of
+character. The consequence was that for every one rupee that went
+into the public treasury, ten were taken by these harpies from the
+merchants, or other people over whom they had, or could pretend to
+have, a right of search.[5]
+
+Some irresponsible native officer who happened to have the confidence
+of the great man (no matter in what capacity he served him) sold for
+his own profit, and for that of those whose goodwill he might think
+it worth while to conciliate, the offices of all the subordinate
+agents immediately employed in the collection of the duties. A man
+who was to receive an avowed salary of seven rupees a month would
+give him three or four thousand for his post, because it would give
+him charge of a detached post, in which he could soon repay himself
+with a handsome profit. A poor 'peon', who was to serve under others,
+and could never hope for an independent charge, would give five
+hundred rupees for an office which yielded him avowedly only four
+rupees a month. All arrogated the right of search, and the state of
+Indian society and the climate were admirably suited to their
+purpose. A person of any respectability would feel himself
+dishonoured were the females of his family to be _seen_, much less
+_touched_, while passing along the road in their palanquin or covered
+carnage; and to save himself from such dishonour he was everywhere
+obliged to pay these custom-house officers. Many articles that pass
+in transit through India would suffer much damage from being opened
+along the road at any season, and be liable to be spoiled altogether
+during that of the rains; and these harpies could always make the
+merchants open them, unless they paid liberally for their
+forbearance. Articles were rated to the duty according to their
+value; and articles of the same weight were often, of course, of very
+different values. These officers could always pretend that packages
+liable to injury from exposure contained within them, among the
+articles set forth in the invoice, others of greater value in
+proportion to their weight. Men who carried pearls, jewels, and other
+articles very valuable compared with their bulk, always depended for
+their security from robbers and thieves on their concealment; and
+there was nothing which they dreaded so much as the insolence and
+rapacity of these custom-house officers, who made them pay large
+bribes, or exposed their goods. Gangs of thieves had members in
+disguise at such stations, who were soon able to discover through the
+insolence of the officers, and the fears and entreaties of the
+merchants, whether they had anything worth taking or not.
+
+A party of thieves from Datiya, in 1882, followed Lord William
+Bentinck's camp to the bank of the river Jumna near Mathura, where
+they found a poor merchant humbly entreating an insolent custom-house
+officer not to insist upon his showing the contents of the little box
+he carried in his carriage, lest it might attract the attention of
+thieves, who were always to be found among the followers of such a
+camp, and offering to give him anything reasonable for his
+forbearance. Nothing he could be got to offer would satisfy the
+rapacity of the man; the box was taken out and opened. It contained
+jewels which the poor man hoped to sell to advantage among the
+European ladies and gentlemen of the Governor-General's suite. He
+replaced his box in his carriage; but in half an hour it was
+travelling post-haste to Datiya, by relays of thieves who had been
+posted along the road for such occasions. They quarrelled about the
+division; swords were drawn, and wounds inflicted. One of the gang
+ran off to the magistrate at Sagar, with whom he had before been
+acquainted;[6] and he sent him back with a small party, and a letter
+to the Datiya Raja requesting that he would get the box of jewels for
+the poor merchant. The party took the precaution of searching the
+house of the thieves before they delivered the letter to their friend
+the minister, and by this means recovered about half the jewels,
+which amounted in all to about seven thousand rupees. The merchant
+was agreeably surprised when he got back so much of his property
+through the magistrate of Mathura, and confirmed the statement of the
+thief regarding the dispute with the custom-house officer which
+enabled them to discover the value of the box.
+
+Should Government by and by extend the System that obtains in this
+single line to the Customs all over India they may greatly augment
+their revenue without any injury, and with but little necessary loss
+and inconvenience to merchants. The object of all just taxation is to
+make the subjects contribute to the public burthen in proportion to
+their means, and with as little loss and inconvenience to themselves
+as possible. The people who reside west of this line enjoy all their
+salt, cotton, and other articles which are taxed on crossing the line
+without the payment of any duties, while those to the east of it are
+obliged to pay. It is, therefore, not a just line. The advantages
+are, first, that it interposes a body of most efficient officers
+between the mass of harpies and the heads of the department, who now
+virtually superintend the whole System, whereas they used formerly to
+do so merely ostensibly. They are at once the _tapis_ of Prince
+Husain and the telescope of Prince Ali; they enable the heads of
+departments to be everywhere and see everything, whereas before they
+were nowhere and saw nothing.[7] Secondly, it makes the great staple
+articles of general consumption alone liable to the payment of
+duties, and thereby does away in a great measure with the odious
+right of search.
+
+At Kosi our friend, Charles Fraser, left us to proceed through
+Mathura to Agra. He is a very worthy man and excellent public
+officer, one of those whom one always meets again with pleasure, and
+of whose society one never tires. Mr. Wilmot, the Collector of
+Customs, and Mr. Wright, one of the patrol officers, came to dine
+with us. The wind blew so hard all day that the cook and khansaman
+(butler) were long in despair of being able to give us any dinner at
+all. At last we managed to get a tent, closed at every crevice to
+keep out the dust, for a cook-room; and they were thus able to
+preserve their master's credit, which, no doubt, according to their
+notions, depended altogether on the quality of his dinner.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The place is a small town in the Gurgaon District, Panjab.
+
+2. The term 'uncovenanted' may require explanation for readers not
+familiar with the details of Indian administration. The Civil Service
+of India, commonly called Indian Civil Service, which supplies most
+of the higher administrative and judicial officers, used to be known
+as the Covenanted service, because its members sign a covenant with
+the Secretary of State. All the other departmental services--Public
+Works, Postal and the rest--were grouped together as uncovenanted. In
+accordance with the Report of the Public Service Commission (1886-7)
+the terms 'covenanted' and 'uncovenanted' have been disused.
+
+3. The text refers to what was known as the 'customs hedge'. Before
+the establishment of the British supremacy each of the innumerable
+native jurisdictions levied transit duties on many kinds of goods at
+each of its frontiers, to the infinite vexation of traders. Such
+duties were gradually abolished in British territory, and few, if
+any, are now enforced by native states. Salt cannot be manufactured
+in British India without a licence, and the Salt (formerly called
+Inland Customs) Department is charged with the duty of preventing the
+manufacture or sale of illicit salt. In its later developments the
+Customs hedge was used for the collection of the salt duty only. Sir
+John Strachey took a leading part in its abolition. To secure the
+levy of the duty on salt, he writes, 'there grew up gradually a
+monstrous system, to which it would be almost impossible to find a
+parallel in any tolerably civilized country. A Customs line was
+established which stretched across the whole of India, which in 1869
+extended from the Indus to the Mahanadi in Madras, a distance of
+2,300 miles; and it was guarded by nearly 12,000 men and petty
+officers, at an annual cost of L162,000. It would have stretched from
+London to Constantinople. . . . It consisted principally of an
+immense impenetrable hedge of thorny trees and bushes . . . A similar
+line, 280 miles in length, was maintained in the north-eastern part
+of the Bombay Presidency from Dohud to the Runn of Cutch.' In 1878
+the salt duties were revised, and the necessary arrangements with the
+native states were made. With effect from the 1st April, 1879, the
+whole Customs line was abolished, with the exception of a small
+portion on the Indus. (Sir J. Strachey, _The Finances and Public
+Works of India_, 1869-81, London, 1882, pp. 219, 220, 225.) Great
+mines of rock salt are worked near the Indus.
+
+4. Most people who know India intimately are of opinion that indirect
+taxation is more suitable to the circumstances of the country than
+direct taxation. For municipal purposes, indirect taxation, under the
+name of octroi, is levied by most considerable towns, and
+notwithstanding its inconveniences, is far less unpopular and far
+more productive than any form of direct taxation. The people have
+been accustomed to indirect taxation of divers kinds from the most
+remote times, and hate income tax or any other direct impost, however
+reasonable it may be in theory. Since 1895 the general customs duty
+is 5 per cent. _ad valorem_ on commodities imported into British
+India by sea. (See _I.G._, 1907, vol. iv, chapter 8). The above
+remarks on the suitability of indirect taxation for India are not
+intended as a defence of the barbarous device of the 'Customs hedge',
+which was indefensible.
+
+5. That unsound System prevailed in all departments during the early
+years of the nineteenth century. 'In Bengal, the monopoly of salt in
+one form or other dates at least from the establishment of the Board
+of Trade there in 1765. The strict monopoly of salt commenced in
+1780, under a System of agencies. The System introduced in 1780
+continued in force with occasional modifications till 1862, when the
+several salt agencies were gradually abolished, leaving the Supply of
+salt, whether by importations or excise manufacture, to private
+enterprise. Since then, for Bengal Proper, the supply of the
+condiment has been obtained chiefly by importation, but in part by
+private manufacture under a System of excise.' (Balfour,
+_Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., s.v. Salt.) At present the Salt Department is
+controlled by a single Commissioner with the Government of India, The
+fee payable for a licence to manufacture salt is fifty rupees. It is
+inaccurate to describe the limitation imposed on the manufacture of
+salt as a monopoly. Any one can sell salt, but it can be made only
+under licence.
+
+6. The author.
+
+7. The same observations, _mutatis mutandis_, are applicable to the
+magistracy of the country; and the remedy for all the great existing
+evils must be sought in the same means, the interposition of a body
+of efficient officers between the magistrate and the 'thanadars', or
+present head police officers of small divisions. [W. H. S.] Much has
+been done to carry out this advice. The 'most efficient officers' of
+the inland Customs department alluded to in the text were the
+European or Eurasian 'uncovenanted' Collectors of Customs and their
+assistants. The allusion to Prince Husain and Prince Ali refers to
+the well-known tale in the _Arabian Nights_, 'The story of Prince
+Ahmad and the Fairy Peri-Banu'. It is omitted, I believe, from Lane's
+version.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 61
+
+
+Peasantry of India attached to no existing Government--Want of Trees
+in Upper India [1]--Cause and Consequence--Wells and Groves.
+
+What strikes one most after crossing the Chambal is, I think, the
+improved size and bearing of the men; they are much stouter, and more
+bold and manly, without being at all less respectful. They are
+certainly a noble peasantry, full of courage, spirit, and
+intelligence; and heartily do I wish that we could adopt any system
+that would give our Government a deep root in their affections, or
+link their interests inseparably with its prosperity; for, with all
+its defects, life, property, and character are certainly more secure,
+and all their advantages more freely enjoyed under our Government
+than under any other they have ever heard of, or that exists at
+present in any other part of the country. The eternal subdivision of
+the landed property reduces them too much to one common level, and
+prevents the formation of that middle class which is the basis of all
+that is great and good in European societies--the great vivifying
+spirit which animates all that is good above it in the community.[2]
+It is a singular fact that the peasantry, and, I may say, the landed
+interest of the country generally, have never been the friends of any
+existing government, have never considered their interests and that
+of their government the same; and, consequently, have never felt any
+desire for its success or its duration.[3]
+
+The towns and villages all stand upon high mounds formed of the
+debris of former towns and villages, that have been accumulating,
+most of them, for thousands of years. They are for the most part mere
+collections of wretched hovels built of frail materials, and destined
+only for a brief period.
+
+ Man wants but little here below,
+ Nor wants that little long.[4]
+
+And certainly there is no climate in the world where man wants less
+than in this of India generally, and Upper India particularly. The
+peasant lives in the open air; and a house to him is merely a thing
+to eat and sleep in, and to give him shelter in the storm, which
+comes upon him but seldom, and never in a pitiless shape. The society
+of his friends he enjoys in the open air, and he never furnishes his
+house for their reception or for display. The peasantry of India, in
+consequence of living and talking so much in the open air, have all
+stentorian voices, which they find it exceedingly difficult to
+modulate to our taste when they come into our rooms.
+
+Another thing in this part of India strikes a traveller from other
+parts--the want of groves of fruit-trees around the villages and
+along the roads. In every other part of India he can at every stage
+have his tents pitched in a grove of mango-trees, that defend his
+followers from the direct rays of the sun in the daytime, and from
+the cold dews at night; but in the district above Agra, he may go for
+ten marches without getting the shelter of a grove in one.[5] The
+Sikhs, the Marathas, the Jats, and the Pathans destroyed them all
+during the disorders attending the decline of the Muhammadan empire;
+and they have never been renewed, because no man could feel secure
+that they would be suffered to stand ten years. A Hindoo believes
+that his soul in the next world is benefited by the blessings and
+grateful feelings of those of his fellow creatures who unmolested eat
+the fruit and enjoy the shade of the trees he has planted during his
+sojourn in this world; and, unless he can feel assured that the
+traveller and the public in general will be permitted to do so, he
+can have no hope of any permanent benefit from his good work. It
+might as well be cut down as pass into the hands of another person
+who had no feeling of interest in the eternal repose of the soul of
+the planter. That person would himself have no advantage in the next
+world from giving the fruit and the shade of the trees to the public,
+since the prayers of those who enjoyed them would be offered for the
+soul of the planter, and not for his--he, therefore, takes all their
+advantage to himself in this world, and the planter and the public
+are defrauded. Our Government thought they had done enough to
+encourage the renewal of these groves, when by a regulation they gave
+to the present lessees of villages the privilege of planting them
+themselves, or permitting others to plant them; but where they held
+their leases for a term of only five years, of course they would be
+unwilling to plant them. They might lose their lease when the term
+expired, or forfeit it before; and the successor would have the land
+on which the trees stood, and would be able to exclude the public, if
+not the proprietor, from the enjoyment of any of their advantages.
+Our Government has, in effect, during the thirty-five years that it
+has held the dominion of the North-Western Provinces,[6] prohibited
+the planting of mango groves, while the old ones are every year
+disappearing. On the resumption of rent-free lands, even the ground
+on which the finest of these groves stand has been recklessly
+resumed, and the proprietors told me that they may keep the trees
+they have, but cannot be allowed to renew them, as the lands are
+become the property of Government. The lands of groves that have been
+the pride of families for a century and a half have been thus
+resumed. Government is not aware of the irreparable mischief they do
+the country they govern by such measures.[7]
+
+On my way back from Meerut, after the conversation already related
+with the farmer of a small village (_ante_, chapter 58, text at [7]),
+my tents were one day pitched, in the month of December, amidst some
+very fine garden cultivation in the district of Aligarh;[8] and in
+the evening I walked out as usual to have some talk with the
+peasantry. I came to a neighbouring well at which four pair of
+bullocks were employed watering the surrounding fields of wheat for
+the market, and vegetables for the families of the cultivators. Four
+men were employed at the well, and two more in guiding the water into
+the little embanked squares into which they divide their fields.
+
+I soon discovered that the most intelligent of the four was a Jat;
+and I had a good deal of conversation with him as he stood landing
+the leather buckets, as the two pair of bullocks on his side of the
+well drew them to the top, a distance of forty cubits from the
+surface of the water beneath.
+
+'Who built this well?' I began.
+
+'It was built by one of my ancestors, six generations ago.'
+
+'How much longer will it last?'
+
+'Ten generations more, I hope; for it is now just as good as when
+first made. It is of 'pakka' bricks without mortar cement.'[9]
+
+'How many waterings do you give?'
+
+'If there should be no rain, we shall require to give the land six
+waterings, as the water is sweet; had it been brackish four would do.
+Brackish water is better for wheat than sweet water; but it is not so
+good for vegetables or sugar-cane.'
+
+'How many "bighas" are watered from this well?'
+
+'We water twenty "bighas", or one hundred and five "jaribs", from
+this well.'[10]
+
+'And you pay the Government how much?'
+
+'One hundred rupees, at the rate of five rupees the bigha. But only
+the five immediately around the well are mine, the rest belong to
+others.'
+
+'But the well belongs to you; and I suppose you get from the
+proprietors of the other fifteen something for your water?'
+
+'Nothing. There is more water for my five bighas, and I give them
+what they require gratis; they acknowledge that it is a gift from me,
+and that is all I want.'
+
+'And what does the land beyond the range of your water of the same
+quality pay?'
+
+'It pays at the rate of two rupees the bigha, and it is with
+difficulty that they can be made to pay that. Water, sir, is a great
+thing, and with that and manure we get good crops from the land.'[11]
+
+'How many returns of the seed?'
+
+'From these twenty bighas with six waterings, and cross ploughing,
+and good manure, we contrive to get twenty returns; that is, if God
+is pleased with us and blesses our efforts.'
+
+'And you maintain your family comfortably out of the return from your
+five?'
+
+'If they were mine I could; but we had two or three bad seasons seven
+years ago, and I was obliged to borrow eighty rupees from our banker
+at 24 per cent., for the subsistence of my family. I have hardly been
+able to pay him the interest with all I can earn by my labour, and I
+now serve him upon two rupees a month.'
+
+'But that is not enough to maintain you and your family?'
+
+'No; but he only requires my services for half the day, and during
+the other half I work with others to get enough for them.'
+
+'And when do you expect to pay off your debt?'
+
+'God only knows; if I exert myself, and keep a good "niyat" (pure
+mind or intentions), he will enable me or my children to do so some
+day or other. In the meantime he has my five bighas of land in
+mortgage, and I serve him in the cultivation.'
+
+'But under those misfortunes, you could surely venture to demand
+something from the proprietors of the other fifteen bighas for the
+water of your well?'
+
+'Never, sir; it would be said all over the country that such an one
+sold God's water for his neighbours' fields, and I should be ashamed
+to show my face. Though poor, and obliged to work hard, and serve
+others, I have still too much pride for that.'
+
+'How many bullocks are required for the tillage of these twenty
+bighas watered from your well?'
+
+'These eight bullocks do all the work; they are dear now. This was
+purchased the other day on the death of the old one, for twenty-six
+rupees. They cost about fifty rupees a pair--the late famine has made
+them dear.'[12]
+
+'What did the well cost in making?'
+
+'I have heard that it cost about one hundred and twenty rupees; it
+would cost about that sum to make one of this kind in the present
+day, not more.'
+
+'How long have the families of your caste been settled in these
+parts?'
+
+'About six or seven generations; the country had before been occupied
+by a peasantry of the Kalar caste. Our ancestors came, built up mud
+fortifications, dug wells, and brought the country under cultivation;
+it had been reduced to a waste; for a long time we were obliged to
+follow the plough with our swords by our sides, and our friends
+around us with their matchlocks in their hand, and their matches
+lighted.'
+
+'Did the water in your well fail during the late seasons of drought?'
+
+'No, sir, the water of this well never fails.'
+
+'Then how did bad seasons affect you?'
+
+'My bullocks all died one after the other from want of fodder, and I
+had not the means to till my lands; subsistence became dear, and to
+maintain my family, I was obliged to contract the debt for which my
+lands are now mortgaged. I work hard to get them back, and, if I do
+not succeed, my children will, I hope, with the blessing of God.'[13]
+
+The next morning I went on to Kaka, fifteen miles; and finding tents,
+people, and cattle, without a tree to shelter them, I was much
+pleased to see in my neighbourhood a plantation of mango and other
+fruit-trees. It had, I was told, been planted only three years ago by
+Hiraman and Motiram, and I sent for them, knowing that they would be
+pleased to have their good work noticed by any European gentleman.
+The trees are now covered with cones of thatch to shelter them from
+the frost. The merchants came, evidently much pleased, and I had a
+good deal of talk with them.
+
+'Who planted this new grove?'
+
+'We planted it three years ago.'
+
+'What did your well cost you, and how many trees have you?'
+
+'We have about four hundred trees, and the well has cost us two
+hundred rupees, and will cost us two hundred more.'
+
+'How long will you require to water them?'
+
+'We shall require to water the mango and other large trees ten or
+twelve years; but the orange, pomegranate, and other small trees will
+always require watering.'
+
+'What quantity of ground do the trees occupy?'
+
+'They occupy twenty-two "bighas" of one hundred and five "jaribs". We
+place them all twelve yards from each other, that is, the large
+trees; and the small ones we plant between them.'
+
+'How did you get the land?'
+
+'We were many years trying in vain to get a grant from the Government
+through the collector; at last we got him to certify on paper that,
+if the landholder would give us land to plant our grove upon, the
+Government would have no objection. We induced the landholder, who is
+a constituent of ours, to grant us the land; and we made our well,
+and planted our trees.'
+
+'You have done a good thing; what reward do you expect?'
+
+'We hope that those who enjoy the shade, the water, and the fruit,
+will think kindly of us when they are gone. The names of the great
+men who built the castles, palaces, and tombs at Delhi and Agra have
+been almost all forgotten, because no one enjoys any advantage from
+them; but the names of those who planted the few mango groves we see
+are still remembered and blessed by all who eat of their fruit, sit
+in their shade, and drink of their water, from whatever part of the
+world they come. Even the European gentlemen remember their names
+with kindness; indeed, it was at the suggestion of a European
+gentleman, who was passing this place many years ago, and talking
+with us as you are now, that we commenced this grove. "Look over this
+plain," said he, "it has been all denuded of the fine groves with
+which it was, no doubt, once studded; though it is tolerably well
+cultivated, the traveller finds no shelter in it from the noonday
+sun--even the birds seem to have deserted you, because you refuse
+them the habitations they find in other parts of India." We told him
+that we would have the grove planted, and we have done so; and we
+hope God will bless our undertaking.'
+
+'The difficulty of getting land is, I suppose, the reason why more
+groves are not planted, now that property is secure?'
+
+'How could men plant without feeling secure of the land they planted
+upon, and when Government would not guarantee it? The landholder
+could guarantee it only during the five years of lease;[14] and, if
+at the end of that time Government should transfer the lease of the
+estate to another, the land of the grove would be transferred with
+it. We plant not for worldly or immediate profits, but for the
+benefit of our souls in the next world--for the prayers of those who
+may derive benefit from our works when we are gone. Our landholders
+are good men, and will never resume the lands they have given us; and
+if the lands be sold at auction by Government, or transferred to
+others, we hope the certificate of the collector will protect us from
+his grasp.'[15]
+
+'You like your present Government, do you not?'
+
+'We like it much. There has never been a Government that gave so much
+security to life and property; all we want is a little more of public
+service, and a little more of trade; but we have no cause to
+complain; it is our own fault if we are not happy.'
+
+'But I have been told that the people find the returns from the soil
+diminishing, and attribute it to the perjury that takes place in our
+courts occasionally.'
+
+'That, sir, is no doubt true; there has been a manifest falling off
+in the returns; and people everywhere think that you make too much
+use of the Koran and the Ganges water in your courts. God does not
+like to hear lies told upon one or other, and we are apt to think
+that we are all punished for the sins of those who tell them. May we
+ask, sir, what office you hold?'
+
+'It is my office to do the work which God assigns to me in this
+world.'
+
+'The work of God, sir, is the greatest of all works, and those are
+fortunate who are chosen to do it.'
+
+Their respect for me evidently increased when they took me for a
+clergyman. I was dressed in black.
+
+'In the first place, it is my duty to tell you that God does not
+punish the innocent for the guilty, and that the perjury in courts
+has nothing to do with the diminution of returns from the soil. Where
+you apply water and manure, and alternate your crops, you always get
+good returns, do you not?'
+
+'Very good returns; but we have had several bad seasons that have
+carried away the greater part of our population; but a small portion
+of our lands can be irrigated for want of wells, and we had no rain
+for two or three years, or hardly any in due season; and it was this
+deficiency of rain which the people thought a chastisement from
+heaven.'
+
+'But the wells were not dried up, were they?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'And the people whose fields they watered had good returns, and high
+prices for produce?'
+
+'Yes, they had; but their cattle died for want of food, for there was
+no grass any where to be found.'
+
+'Still they were better off than those who had no wells to draw water
+from for their fields; and the only way to provide against such evils
+in future is to have a well for every field. God has given you the
+fields, and he has given you the water; and when it does not come
+from the clouds, you must draw it from your wells.'[16]
+
+
+'True, sir, very true; but the people are very poor, and have not the
+means to form the wells they require.'
+
+'And if they borrow the money from you, you charge them with
+interest?'
+
+
+'From one to two per cent. a month according to their character and
+circumstances; but interest is very often merely nominal, and we are
+in most cases glad to get back the principal alone.'[17]
+
+'And what security have you for the land of your grove in case the
+landholder should change his mind, or die and leave sons not so well
+disposed.'
+
+'In the first place, we hold his bonds for a debt of nine thousand
+rupees which he owes us, and which we have no hopes of his ever
+paying. In the next, we have on stamped paper his deed of gift, in
+which he declares that he has given us the land, and that he and his
+heirs for ever shall be bound to make good the rents, should
+Government sell the estate for arrears of revenue. We wanted him to
+write this document in the regular form of a deed of sale; but he
+said that none of his ancestors had ever yet sold their lands, and
+that he would not be the first to disgrace his family, or record
+their disgrace on stamped paper--it should, he was resolved, be a
+deed of gift.'
+
+'But, of course, you prevailed upon him to take the price?'
+
+'Yes, we prevailed upon him to take two hundred rupees for the land,
+and got his receipt for the same; indeed, it is so mentioned in the
+deed of gift; but still the landlord, who is a near relation of the
+late chief of Hatras, would persist in having the paper made out as a
+deed, not of sale, but of gift. God knows whether, after all, our
+grove will be secure--we must run the risk now we have begun upon
+it.'
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. This phrase is misleading. There is no want of trees in Upper
+India generally; only certain limited areas are ill wooded. Most of
+the districts in the plains of the Ganges and Jumna are well wooded.
+
+2. This is a favourite doctrine of the author, often reiterated. The
+absence of a powerful middle class is a characteristic, not of India
+only, but of all Oriental despotisms, and the subdivision of landed
+property is only one of the causes of the non-existence of such a
+class.
+
+3. This is quite true. The rural population want two things, first a
+light assessment, secondly the minimum of official interference, They
+do not care a straw who the ruler is, and they like best that ruler,
+be his name or nationality what it may, who worries them least, and
+takes least money from them.
+
+4. Goldsmith, 'The Hermit' (in chapter 8 of _The Vicar of
+Wakefield_).
+
+5. Groves are still scarce in the Agra country, but much planting has
+been done on the roads.
+
+6. Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, and some other districts, forming half of the
+old province of Oudh, ceded by the ruler of Oudh in 1801, were long
+known as the Ceded Provinces. The western districts of the North-
+Western Provinces, known as the Conquered Provinces, were taken from
+the Marathas in 1803-5. The Province of Benares became British
+territory in 1775. The hill districts of the Kumaun Division were
+annexed in 1816, at the close of the war with Nepal. All the regions
+named are now included in the Agra Province of the United Provinces
+of Agra and Oudh, in which the editor served for twenty-nine years.
+
+7. The author's remarks are not readily intelligible to readers
+unversed in the technicalities of Indian revenue administration. The
+author writes on the assumption that Government was the proprietor of
+the soil. While he was writing, the settlements under Regulation IX
+of 1833 were in progress. Those settlements, or revenue contracts,
+were ordinarily sanctioned for periods of thirty years, and the
+landholders, whom the author calls 'lessees', have gradually changed
+into 'proprietors', with full power over their land, subject only to
+the State lien for the 'land revenue' (Crown rent, or State share of
+the produce), and to the laws of inheritance and succession. The
+'resumption of rent-free lands' simply means the subjection of those
+lands to the payment of 'land revenue'. It is inaccurate to say that
+the lands are become 'the property of Government' by reason of their
+being assessed. Even when land generally was regarded as the property
+of the State, and the landholders were considered to be only lessees,
+no objection would have been made to the planting of groves if
+payment of the 'land revenue' had been continued for the planted area
+as for cultivated land. Now that landholders have been recognized as
+proprietors, there is nothing to prevent them from planting as much
+land as they like with trees, although the State has not always been
+willing to exempt the whole planted area from assessment. No one ever
+objected to the renewal of trees except on the ground that the area
+under trees might be excluded from assessment. For many years past
+the Government of India has been most anxious to encourage tree-
+planting, and has sanctioned liberal rules respecting the exemption
+of grove land from assessment to 'land revenue', or 'rent', as the
+author calls it. The Government of the United Provinces certainly is
+not now liable to reproach for indifference to the value of groves.
+Enormous progress in the planting of road avenues has also been made.
+The deficiency of trees in the country about Agra is partly due to
+nature, much of the ground being cut up by ravines, and unfavourable
+for planting.
+
+8. The Aligarh district lies to the north and east of the Mathura
+district. The fort of Aligarh is fifty-five miles north of Agra, and
+eighty-four miles south-east of Delhi.
+
+9. 'pakka' here means 'burned in a kiln', as distinguished from 'sun-
+dried'.
+
+10. The 'bigha' is the unit of superficial land measure, varying, but
+often taken as five-eighths of an acre. The 'jarib' is a smaller
+measure.
+
+11. The rules now in force require assessing officers to make
+allowance for permanent improvements, such as the well described in
+the text, so as to give the fair benefit of the improvement to the
+maker. In the early settlements this important matter was commonly
+neglected.
+
+12. Tolerable bullocks, fit for use at the well and in the plough,
+would now cost much more. This conversation appears to have taken
+place in the year 1839, The famine alluded to is that of 1837-8.
+
+13. This conversation gives a very vivid and truthful picture of
+rural life in Northern India. Most revenue officers have held similar
+conversations with rustics, but the author is almost the only writer
+on Indian affairs who has perceived that exact notes of casual chats
+in the fields would be found interesting and valuable.
+
+14. The early settlements were made for short terms.
+
+15. The certificate would not be of much avail in a civil court.
+
+16. The Aligarh district is now irrigated by canals.
+
+17. This is the lender's view of his business; the borrowers might
+have a different story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 62
+
+
+Public Spirit of the Hindoos--Tree Cultivation and Suggestions for
+extending it.
+
+I may here be permitted to introduce as something germane to the
+matter of the foregoing chapter a recollection of Jubbulpore,
+although we are now far past that locality.
+
+My tents are pitched where they have often been before, on the verge
+of a very large and beautiful tank in a fine grove of mango-trees,
+and close to a handsome temple. There are more handsome temples and
+buildings for accommodation on the other side of the tank, but they
+are gone sadly out of repair. The bank all round this noble tank is
+beautifully ornamented by fine banyan and pipal trees, between which
+and the water's edge intervene numerous clusters of the graceful
+bamboo. These works were formed about eighty years ago by a
+respectable agricultural capitalist who resided at this place, and
+died about twenty years after they were completed. No relation of his
+can now be found in the district, and not one in a thousand of those
+who drink of the water or eat of the fruit knows to whom he is
+indebted. There are round the place some beautiful 'baolis', or large
+wells with flights of stone steps from the top to the water's edge,
+imbedded in clusters of beautiful trees. They were formed about the
+same time for the use of the public by men whose grandchildren have
+descended to the grade of cultivators of the soil, or belted
+attendants upon the present native collectors, without the means of
+repairing any of the injury which time is inflicting upon these
+magnificent works. Three or four young pipal-trees have begun to
+spread their delicate branches and pale green leaves rustling in the
+breeze from the dome of this fine temple; which these infant
+Herculeses hold in their deadly grasp and doom to inevitable
+destruction. Pigeons deposit the seeds of the pipal-tree, on which
+they chiefly feed, in the crevices of buildings.
+
+No Hindoo dares, and no Christian or Muhammadan will condescend, to
+lop off the heads of these young trees, and if they did, it would
+only put off the evil and inevitable day; for such are the vital
+powers of their roots, when they have once penetrated deeply into a
+building, that they will send out their branches again, cut them off
+as often as you may, and carry on their internal attack with
+undiminished vigour.[1] No wonder that superstition should have
+consecrated this tree, delicate and beautiful as it is, to the gods.
+The palace, the castle, the temple, and the tomb, all those works
+which man is most proud to raise to spread and to perpetuate his
+name, crumble to dust beneath her withering grasp. She rises
+triumphant over them all in her lofty beauty, bearing high in air
+amidst her light green foliage fragments of the wreck she has made,
+to show the nothingness of man's greatest efforts.
+
+While sitting at my tent-door looking out upon this beautiful sheet
+of water, and upon all the noble works around me, I thought of the
+charge, so often made against the people of this fine land, of the
+total want of _public spirit_ among them, by those who have spent
+their Indian days in the busy courts of law, and still more busy
+commercial establishments of our great metropolis.
+
+If by the term public spirit be meant a disposition on the part of
+individuals to sacrifice their own enjoyments, or their own means of
+enjoyment for the common good, there is perhaps no people in the
+world among whom it abounds so much as among the people of India. To
+live in the grateful recollections of their countrymen for benefits
+conferred upon them in great works of ornament and utility is the
+study of every Hindoo of rank and property.[2] Such works tend, in
+his opinion, not only to spread and perpetuate his name in this
+world, but, through the good wishes and prayers of those who are
+benefited by them, to secure the favour of the Deity in the next.
+
+According to their notions, every drop of rain-water or dew that
+falls to the ground from the green leaf of a fruit-tree, planted by
+them for the common good, proves a refreshing draught for their souls
+in the next [world]. When no descendant remains to pour the funeral
+libations in their name, the water from the trees they have planted
+for the public good is destined to supply its place. Everything
+judiciously laid out to promote the happiness of their fellow
+creatures will in the next world be repaid to them tenfold by the
+Deity.
+
+In marching over the country in the hot season, we every morning find
+our tents pitched on the green sward amid beautiful groves of fruit-
+trees, with wells of 'pakka' (brick or stone) masonry, built at great
+expense, and containing the most delicious water; but how few of us
+ever dream of asking at whose cost the trees that afford us and our
+followers such agreeable shade were planted, or the wells that afford
+us such copious streams of fine water in the midst of dry, arid
+plains were formed! We go on enjoying all the advantages which arise
+from the _noble public spirit_ that animates the people of India to
+benevolent exertions, without once calling in question the truth of
+the assertion of our metropolitan friends that 'the people of India
+have no public spirit'.
+
+Manmor, a respectable merchant of Mirzapore, who traded chiefly in
+bringing cotton from the valley of the Nerbudda and Southern India
+through Jubbulpore to Mirzapore, and in carrying back sugar and
+spices in return, learning how much travellers on this great road
+suffered from the want of water near the Hiliya pass, under the
+Vindhya range of hills, commenced a work to remedy the evil in 1822.
+Not a drop of wholesome water was to be found within ten miles of the
+bottom of the pass, where the laden bullocks were obliged to rest
+during the hot months, when the greatest thoroughfare always took
+place. Manmor commenced a large tank and garden, and had laid out
+about twenty thousand rupees in the work, when he died. His son, Lalu
+Manmor, completed the work soon after his father's death, at a cost
+of eighty thousand rupees more, that travellers might enjoy all the
+advantages that his good old father had benevolently intended for
+them. The tank is very large, always full of fine water even in the
+driest part of the dry season, with flights of steps of cut freestone
+from the water's edge to the top all round. A fine garden and
+shrubbery, with temples and buildings for accommodations, are
+attached, with an establishment of people to attend and keep them in
+order.[3]
+
+All the country around this magnificent work was a dreary solitude--
+there was not a human habitation within many miles on any side. Tens
+of thousands who passed this road every year were blessing the name
+of the man who had created it where it was so much wanted, when the
+new road from the Nerbudda to Mirzapore was made by the British
+Government to descend some ten miles to the north of it. As many
+miles were saved in the distance by the new cut, and the passage down
+made comparatively easy at great cost, travellers forsook the Hiliya
+road, and poor Manmor's work became comparatively useless. I brought
+the work to the notice of Lord William Bentinck, who, in passing
+Mirzapore some time after, sent for the son, and conferred upon him a
+rich dress of honour, of which he has ever since been extremely
+proud.[4]
+
+Hundreds of works like this are undertaken every year for the benefit
+of the public by benevolent and unostentatious individuals, who look
+for their reward, not in the applause of newspapers and public
+meetings, but in the grateful prayers and good wishes of those who
+are benefited by them; and in the favour of the Deity in the next
+world, for benefits conferred upon his creatures in this.[5]
+
+What the people of India want is not public spirit, for no men in the
+world have more of it than the Hindoos, but a disposition on the part
+of private individuals to combine their efforts and means in
+effecting great objects for the public good. With this disposition
+they will be, in time, inspired under our rule, when the enemies of
+all settled governments may permit us to divert a little of our
+intellect and our revenue from the duties of war to those of
+peace.[6]
+
+
+In the year 1829, while I held the civil charge of the district of
+Jubbulpore, in this valley of the Nerbudda, I caused an estimate to
+be made of the public works of utility and ornament it contained. The
+population of the district at that time amounted to 500,000 souls,
+distributed among 4,053 occupied towns, villages, and hamlets. There
+were 1,000 villages more which had formerly been occupied, but were
+then deserted. There were 2,288 tanks, 209 'baolis', or large wells
+with flights of steps extending from the top down to the water when
+in its lowest stage; 1,560 wells lined with brick and stone, cemented
+with lime, but without stairs; 860 Hindoo temples, and 22 Muhammadan
+mosques. The estimated cost of these works in grain at the present
+price, had the labour been paid in kind at the ordinary rate, was
+R86,66,043 (866,604 pounds sterling).[7]
+
+The labourer was estimated to be paid at the rate of about two-thirds
+the quantity of corn he would get in England if paid in kind, and
+corn sells here at about one-third the price it fetches in average
+seasons in England. In Europe, therefore, these works, supposing the
+labour equally efficient, would have cost at least four times the sum
+here estimated; and such works formed by private individuals for the
+public good, without any view whatever to return in profits, indicate
+a very high degree of _public spirit_.
+
+The whole annual rent of the lands of this district amounts to
+R650,000 (65,000 pounds sterling), that is, 500,000 demandable by the
+Government, and 150,000 by those who hold the lands at lease
+immediately under Government, over and above what may be considered
+as the profits of their stock as farmers. These works must,
+therefore, have cost about thirteen times the amount of the annual
+rent of the whole of the lands of the district, or the whole annual
+rent for above thirteen years.[8]
+
+But I have not included the groves of mango and tamarind, and other
+fine trees with which the district abounds. Two-thirds of the towns
+and villages are imbedded in fine groves of these trees, mixed with
+the banyan (_Ficus Indica_) and the pipal (_Ficus religiosa_). I am
+sorry they were not numbered; but I should estimate them at three
+thousand, and the outlay upon a mango grove is, on an average, about
+four hundred rupees.
+
+The groves of fruit-trees planted by individuals for the use of the
+public, without any view to a return in profit, would in this
+district, according to this estimate, have cost twelve lakhs
+[12,00,000] more, or about twice the amount of the annual rent of the
+whole of the lands. It should be remarked that the whole of these
+works had been formed under former governments. Ours was established
+in the year 1817.[9]
+
+The Upper Doab and the Delhi Territories were denuded of their trees
+in the wars that attended the decline and fall of the Muhammadan
+empire, and the rise and progress of the Sikhs, Jats, and Marathas in
+that quarter. These lawless freebooters soon swept all the groves
+from the face of every country they occupied with their troops, and
+they never attempted to renew them or encourage the renewal. We have
+not been much more sparing; and the finest groves of fruit-trees have
+everywhere been recklessly swept down by our barrack-masters to
+furnish fuel for their brick-kilns; and I am afraid little or no
+encouragement is given for planting others to supply their place in
+those parts of India where they are most wanted.
+
+We have a regulation authorizing the lessee of a village to plant a
+grove in his grounds, but where the settlements of the land-revenue
+have been for short periods, as in all Upper and Central India, this
+authority is by no means sufficient to induce them to invest their
+property in such works. It gives no sufficient guarantee that the
+lessee for the next settlement shall respect a grant made by his
+predecessors; and every grove of mango-trees requires outlay and care
+for at least ten years. Though a man destines the fruit, the shade,
+and the water for the use of the public, he requires to feel that it
+will be held for the public in his name, and by his children and
+descendants, and never be exclusively appropriated by any man in
+power for his own use.
+
+If the lands were still to belong to the lessee of the estate under
+Government, and the trees only to the planter and his heirs, he to
+whom the land belonged might very soon render the property in the
+trees of no value to the planter or his heirs.[10]
+
+If Government wishes the Upper Doab, the Delhi, Mathura, and Agra
+districts again enriched and embellished with mango groves, they will
+not delay to convey this feeling to the hundreds, nay, thousands, who
+would be willing to plant them upon a single guarantee that the lands
+upon which the trees stand shall be considered to belong to them and
+their heirs as long as these trees stand upon them.[11] That the
+land, the shade, the fruit, and the water will be left to the free
+enjoyment of the public we may take for granted, since the good which
+the planter's soul is to derive from such a work in the next world
+must depend upon their being so; and all that is required to be
+stipulated in such grants is that mango tamarind, pipal, or 'bar'
+(i.e. banyan) trees, at the rate of twenty-five the English acre,
+shall be planted and kept up in every piece of land granted for the
+purpose; and that a well of 'pakka' masonry shall be made for the
+purpose of watering them, in the smallest, as well as in the largest,
+piece of ground granted, and kept always in repair.
+
+If the grantee fulfil the conditions, he ought, in order to cover
+part of the expense, to be permitted to till the land under the trees
+till they grow to maturity and yield their fruit; if he fails, the
+lands, having been declared liable to resumption, should be resumed.
+The person soliciting such grants should be required to certify in
+his application that he had already obtained the sanction of the
+present lessee of the village in which he wishes to have his grove,
+and for this sanction he would, of course, have to pay the full value
+of the land for the period of his lease. When his lease expires, the
+land in which the grove is planted would be excluded from the
+assessment; and when it is considered that every good grove must cost
+the planter more than fifty times the annual rent of the land,
+Government may be satisfied that they secure the advantage to their
+people at a very cheap rate.[12]
+
+Over and above the advantage of fruit, water, and shade for the
+public, these groves tend much to secure the districts that are well
+studded with them from the dreadful calamities that in India always
+attend upon deficient falls of rain in due season. They attract the
+clouds, and make them deposit their stores in districts that would
+not otherwise be blessed with them; and hot and dry countries denuded
+of their trees, and by that means deprived of a great portion of that
+moisture to which they had been accustomed, and which they require to
+support vegetation, soon become dreary and arid wastes. The lighter
+particles, which formed the richest portion of their soil, blow off,
+and leave only the heavy arenaceous portion; and hence, perhaps,
+those sandy deserts in which are often to be found the signs of a
+population once very dense.
+
+In the Mauritius, the rivers were found to be diminishing under the
+rapid disappearance of the woods in the interior, when Government had
+recourse to the measure of preventing further depredations, and they
+soon recovered their size.
+
+The clouds brought up from the southern ocean by the south-east trade
+wind are attracted, as they pass over the island, by the forests in
+the interior, and made to drop their stores in daily refreshing
+showers. In many other parts of the world governments have now become
+aware of this mysterious provision of nature; and have adopted
+measures to take advantage of it for the benefit of the people; and
+the dreadful sufferings to which the people of those of our
+districts, which have been the most denuded of their trees, have been
+of late years exposed from the want of rain in due season, may,
+perhaps, induce our Indian Government to turn its thoughts to the
+subject.[13]
+
+The province of Malwa, which is bordered by the Nerbudda on the
+south, Gujarat on the west, Rajputana on the north, and Allahabad on
+the east, is said never to have been visited by a famine; and this
+exemption from so great a calamity must arise chiefly from its being
+so well studded with hills and groves. The natives have a couplet,
+which, like all good couplets on rural subjects, is attributed to
+Sahadeo, one of the five demigod brothers of the Mahabharata, to this
+effect: 'If it does not thunder on such a night, you, father, must go
+to Malwa, and I to Gujarat', meaning, 'The rains will fail us here,
+and we must go to those quarters where they never fail'[14]
+
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The Archaeological Survey is engaged in unceasing battle with the
+pipal seedlings.
+
+2. This proposition is too general.
+
+3. The Hiliya, or Haliya, Pass is near the town of the same name in
+the Mirzapur district, thirty-one miles south-west of Mirzapur. A
+bilingual inscription, in English and Hindi, on a large slab on the
+bank of the river, records the capture of the fort of Bhopari in 1811
+by the 21st Regiment Native Infantry. The tank described in the text
+is at Dibhor, twelve miles south of Haliya, and is 430 feet long by
+352 broad. The full name of the builder is Sriman Nayak Manmor, who
+was the head of the Banjara merchants of Mirzapur. The inscription on
+his temple is dated 23 February, 1825, A.D. 'I suppose', remarks
+Cunningham, 'that the vagrant instinct of the old Banjara preferred a
+jungle site. No doubt he got the ground cheap; and from this vantage
+point he was able to supply Mirzapur with both wood and charcoal.'
+(_A.S.R._, vol. xxi, pp. 121-5, pl. xxxi.)
+
+
+4. The new road passes through the Katra Pass. The pass via Dibhor
+and Haliya, which the author calls the Hiliya Pass, is properly
+called the Kerahi (Kerai) Pass. Both old and new roads are now little
+used. The construction of railways has altogether changed the course
+of trade, and Cawnpore has risen on the ruins of Mirzapur. Lalu,
+Nayak's 'grandson, died in comparative obscurity some years ago, and
+only a few female relatives remain to represent the family--a
+striking example, if one were needed, of the instability of Oriental
+fortunes.' (_A.S.R._, vol. xxi, p. 124, quoting _Gazetteer_.)
+
+
+5. Within a few miles of Gosalpur, at the village of Talwa, which
+stands upon the old high road leading to Mirzapore, is a still more
+magnificent tank with one of the most beautiful temples in India, all
+executed two or three generations ago at the expense of two or three
+lakhs of rupees for the benefit of the public, by a very worthy man,
+who became rich in the service of the former Government. His
+descendants, all save one, now follow the plough; and that one has a
+small rent-free village held on condition of appropriating the rents
+to the repair of the tank. [W. H. S.]
+
+The name Talwa is only the rustic way of pronouncing 'tal', meaning
+the tank. Gosalpur is nineteen miles north-east of Jabalpur. Two or
+three lakhs of rupees were then (in eighteenth century) worth about
+22,000 pounds to 33,000 pounds sterling.
+
+6. India, except on the frontiers, has been at peace since 1858, and
+much revenue has been spent on the duties of peace, but the power of
+combination for public objects has developed among the people to a
+less degree than the author seems to have expected, though some
+development undoubtedly has taken place.
+
+7. In the original edition these statistics are given in words.
+Figures have been used in this edition as being more readily grasped.
+The _Central Provinces Gazetteer_ (1870) gives the following figures:
+Area of district, 4,261 square miles; population, 620,201; villages,
+2,707; wells in use, 5,515. The _Gazetteer_ figures apparently
+include wells of all kinds, and do not reckon hamlets separately.
+Wells are, of course, an absolute necessity, and their construction
+could not be avoided in a country occupied by a fixed population. The
+number of temples and mosques was very small for so large a
+population. Many of the tanks, too, are indispensably necessary for
+watering the cattle employed in agriculture. The 'baolis' may fairly
+be reckoned as the fruit of the public spirit of individuals. This
+chapter is a reprint of a paper entitled 'On the Public Spirit of the
+Hindoos'. _See_ Bibliography, _ante_, No. 10.
+
+
+8. The _C.P. Gazetteer_ (1870) states that in 1868-9 the land-revenue
+was R5,70,434, as compared with R500,000 in the author's time. It has
+since been largely enhanced. The lessees (zamindars) have now become
+proprietors, and the land-revenue, according to the rule in force for
+many years past, should not exceed half the estimated profit rental.
+The early settlements were made in accordance with the theory of
+native Governments that the land is the property of the State, and
+that the lessees are entitled only to subsistence, with a small
+percentage as payment for the trouble of collection from the actual
+cultivators. The author's estimate gives the zamindars only 15/80ths,
+or 3/16ths of the profit rental.
+
+9. The people of the Jubbulpore district must have been very
+different from those of the rest of India if they planted their
+groves solely for the public benefit. The editor has never known the
+fruit, not to mention the timber and firewood, of a grove to be
+available for the use of the general public. Universal custom allows
+all comers to use the shade of any established grove, but the fruit
+is always jealousy guarded and gathered by the owners. Even one tree
+is often the property of many sharing, and disputes about the
+division of mangoes and other fruits are extremely frequent. The
+framing of a correct record of rights in trees is one of the most
+embarrassing tasks of a revenue officer.
+
+10. Under the modern System it often happens that the land belongs to
+one party, and the trees to another. Disputes, of course, occur, but,
+as a rule, the rights of the owner of the trees are not interfered
+with by the owner of the land. In thousands of such cases both
+parties exercise their rights without friction.
+
+11. This sentence shows clearly how remote from the author's mind was
+the idea of private property in land in India. Government has long
+since parted with the power of giving grants such as the author
+recommends. The upper Doab districts of Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, and
+Saharanpur now have plenty of groves.
+
+12. The cost of establishing a grove varies much according to
+circumstances, of which the distance of water from the surface is the
+most important. Where water is distant, the cost of constructing and
+working a well is very high. Where water is near, these items of
+expense are small, because the roots of the trees soon reach a moist
+stratum, and can dispense with irrigation.
+
+13. The author, in his appreciation of the value of arboriculture and
+forest conservancy, was far in advance of his Anglo-Indian
+contemporaries. A modern meteorologist might object to some of his
+phraseology, but the substance of his remarks is quite sound. His
+statement of the ways in which trees benefit climate is incomplete.
+One important function performed by the roots of trees is the raising
+of water from the depths below the surface, to be dispersed by the
+leaves in the form of vapour. Trees act beneficially in many other
+ways also, which it would be tedious to specify.
+
+The Indian Government long remained blind to the importance of the
+duty of saving the country from denudation. The first forest
+conservancy establishments were organized in 1852 for Madras and
+Burma, and, by Act vii of 1865, the Forest Department was established
+on a legal basis. Its operations have since been largely extended,
+and trained foresters are now sent out each year to India. The
+Department at the present time controls many thousand square miles of
+forest. The reader may consult the article 'Forests' in Balfour,
+_Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., and sundry official reports for further
+details.
+
+A yearly grant for arboriculture is now made to every district.
+Thousands of miles of roads have been lined with trees, and
+multitudes of groves have been established by both Government and
+private individuals. The author was himself a great tree-planter. In
+a letter dated 15th December, 1844, he describes the avenue which he
+had planted along the road from Maihar to Jubbulpore in 1829 and
+1830, and another, eighty-six miles long, from Jhansi Ghat on the
+Nerbudda to Chaka. The trees planted were banyan, pipal, mango,
+tamarind, and jaman (_Eugenia jambolana_). He remarks that these
+trees will last for centuries.
+
+14. 'In 1899-1900 Malwa suffered from a severe famine, such as had
+not visited this favoured spot for more than thirty years. The people
+were unused to, and quite unprepared for, this calamity, the distress
+being aggravated by the great influx of immigrants from Rajputana,
+who had hitherto always been sure of relief in this region, of which
+the fertility is proverbial. In 1903 a new calamity appeared in the
+shape of plague, which has seriously reduced the agricultural
+population in some districts' (_I.G._, 1908, xvii. 105).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 63
+
+
+Cities and Towns, formed by Public Establishments, disappear as
+Sovereigns and Governors change their Abodes.
+
+On the 17th and 18th,[1] we went on twenty miles to Palwal,[2] which
+stands upon an immense mound, in some places a hundred feet high,
+formed entirely of the debris of old buildings. There are an immense
+number of fine brick buildings in ruins, but not one of brick or
+stone at present inhabited. The place was once evidently under the
+former government the seat of some great public establishments,
+which, with their followers and dependants, constituted almost the
+entire population. The occasion which keeps such establishments at a
+place no sooner passes away than the place is deserted and goes to
+ruin as a matter of course. Such is the history of Nineveh,
+Babylon,[3] and all cities which have owed their origin and support
+entirely to the public establishments of the sovereign--any
+revolution that changed the seat of government depopulated a city.
+
+Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador of James the First of England to the
+court of Delhi during the reign of Jahangir, passing through some of
+the old capital cities of Western India, then deserted and in ruins,
+writes to the Archbishop of Canterbury: 'I know not by what policy
+the Emperors seek the ruin of all the ancient cities which were nobly
+built, but now be desolate and in rubbish. It must arise from a wish
+to destroy all the ancient cities in order that there might appear
+nothing great to have existed before their time.'[4] But these
+cities, like all which are supported in the same manner, by the
+residence of a court and its establishments, become deserted as the
+seat of dominion is changed. Nineveh, built by Ninus out of the
+spoils he brought back from the wide range of his conquests,
+continued to be the residence of the court and the principal seat of
+its military establishments for thirteen centuries to the reign of
+Sardanapalus. During the whole of this time it was the practice of
+the sovereigns to collect from all the provinces of the empire their
+respective quotas of troops, and to canton them within the city for
+one year, at the expiration of which they were relieved by fresh
+troops.' In the last years of Sardanapalus, four provinces of the
+empire, Media, Persia, Babylonia, and Arabia, are said to have
+furnished a quota of four hundred thousand; and, in the rebellion
+which closed his reign, these troops were often beaten by those from
+the other provinces of the empire, which could not have been much
+less in number. The successful rebel, Arbaces, transferred the court
+and his own appendages to its capital, and Nineveh became deserted,
+and for more than eighteen centuries lost to the civilized world.[5]
+
+Babylon in the same manner; and Susa, Ecbatana, Persepolis, and
+Seleucia, all, one after the other, became deserted as sovereigns
+changed their residence, and with it the seats of their public
+establishments, which alone supported them. Thus Thebes became
+deserted for Memphis, Memphis for Alexandria, and Alexandria for
+Cairo, as the sovereigns of Egypt changed theirs; and thus it has
+always been in India, where cities have been almost all founded on
+the same bases--the residence of princes, and their public
+establishments, civil, military, or ecclesiastical.
+
+The city of Kanauj, on the Ganges, when conquered by Mahmud of
+Ghazni,[6] is stated by the historians of the conqueror to have
+contained a standing army of five hundred thousand infantry, with a
+due proportion of cavalry and elephants, thirty thousand shops for
+the sale of 'pan' alone, and sixty thousand families of opera
+girls.[7] The 'pan' dealers and opera girls were part and parcel of
+the court and its public establishments, and as much dependent on the
+residence of the sovereign as the civil, military, and ecclesiastical
+officers who ate their 'pan', and enjoyed their dancing and music;
+and this great city no sooner ceased to be the residence of the
+sovereign, the great proprietor of all the lands in the country, than
+it became deserted.
+
+After the establishment of the Muhammadan dominion in India almost
+all the Hindoo cities, within the wide range of their conquest,
+became deserted as the necessary consequence, as the military
+establishments were all destroyed or disbanded, and the religions
+establishments scattered, their lands confiscated, their idols
+broken, and their temples either reduced to ruins in the first
+ebullition of fanatical zeal, or left deserted and neglected to decay
+from want of those revenues by which alone they had been, or could
+be, supported.[8] The towns and cities of the Roman empire which owed
+their origin to the same cause, the residence of governors and their
+legions or other public establishments, resisted similar shocks with
+more endurance, because they had most of them ceased to depend upon
+the causes in which they originated, and began to rest upon other
+bases. When destroyed by wave after wave of barbarian conquest, they
+were restored for the most part by the residence of church
+dignitaries and their establishments; and the military establishments
+of the new order of things, instead of remaining as standing armies
+about the courts of princes, dispersed after every campaign like
+militia, to enjoy the fruits of the lands assigned for their
+maintenance, when alone they could be enjoyed in the rude state to
+which society had been reduced--upon the lands themselves.
+
+For some time after the Muhammadan conquest of India, that part of it
+which was brought effectually under the new dominion can hardly be
+considered to have had more than one city with its dependent towns
+and villages;[9] because the emperor chose to concentrate the greater
+part of his military establishments around the seat of his residence,
+and this great city became deserted whenever he thought it necessary
+or convenient to change that seat.
+
+But when the emperor began to govern his distant provinces by
+viceroys, he was obliged to confide to them a share of his military
+establishments, the only public establishments which a conqueror
+thought it worth while to maintain; and while they moved about in
+their respective provinces, the imperial camp became fixed. The great
+officers of state, enriched by the plunder of conquered provinces,
+began to spend their wealth in the construction of magnificent works
+for private pleasure or public convenience. In time, the viceroys
+began to govern their provinces by means of deputies, who moved about
+their respective districts, and enabled their masters, the viceroys
+of provinces, to convert their camps into cities, which in
+magnificence often rivalled that of the emperor their master. The
+deputies themselves in time found that they could govern their
+respective districts from a central point; and as their camps became
+fixed in the chosen spots, towns of considerable magnitude rose, and
+sometimes rivalled the capitals of the viceroys. The Muhammadans had
+always a greater taste for architectural magnificence, as well in
+their private as in their public edifices, than the Hindoos,[10] who
+sought the respect and good wishes of mankind through the medium of
+groves and reservoirs diffused over the country for their benefit.
+Whenever a Muhammadan camp was converted into a town or city almost
+all the means of individuals were spent in the gratification of this
+taste. Their wealth in money and movables would be, on their death,
+at the mercy of their prince--their offices would be conferred on
+strangers; tombs and temples, canals, bridges, and caravanserais,
+gratuitously for the public good, would tend to propitiate the Deity,
+and conciliate the goodwill of mankind, and might also tend to the
+advancement of their children in the service of their sovereign. The
+towns and cities which rose upon the sites of the standing camps of
+the governors of provinces and districts in India were many of them
+as much adorned by private and public edifices as those which rose
+upon the standing camps of the Muhammadan conquerors of Spain.[11]
+Standing camps converted into towns and cities, it became in time
+necessary to fortify with walls against any surprise under any sudden
+ebullition among the conquered people; and fortifications and strong
+garrisons often suggested to the bold and ambitions governors of
+distant provinces attempts to shake off the imperial yoke.[12] That
+portion of the annual revenue, which had hitherto flowed in copious
+streams of tribute to the imperial capital, was now arrested, and
+made to augment the local establishments, adorn the cities, and
+enrich the towns of the viceroys, now become the sovereigns of
+independent kingdoms. The lieutenant-governors of these new
+sovereigns, possessed of fortified towns, in their turn often shook
+off the yoke of their masters in the same manner, and became in their
+turn the independent sovereigns of their respective districts. The
+whole resources of the countries subject to their rule being employed
+to strengthen and improve their condition, they soon became rich and
+powerful kingdoms, adorned with splendid cities and populous towns,
+since the public establishments of the sovereigns, among whom all the
+revenues were expended, spent all they received in the purchase of
+the produce of the land and labour of the surrounding country, which
+required no other market.
+
+Thus the successful rebellion of one viceroy converted Southern India
+into an independent kingdom; and the successful rebellion, of his
+lieutenant-governors in time divided it into four independent
+kingdoms, each with a standing army of a hundred thousand men, and
+adorned with towns and cities of great strength and magnificence.[13]
+But they continued to depend upon the causes in which they
+originated--the public establishments of the sovereign; and when the
+Emperor Akbar and his successors, aided by their own [_sic_]
+intestine wars, had conquered these sovereigns, and again reduced
+their kingdoms to tributary provinces, almost all these cities and
+towns became depopulated as the necessary consequence. The public
+establishments were again moving about with the courts and camps of
+the emperor and his viceroys; and drawing in their train all those
+who found employment and subsistence in contributing to their
+efficiency and enjoyment. It was not, as our ambassador in the
+simplicity of his heart supposed, the disinclination of the emperors
+to see any other towns magnificent, save those in which they resided,
+which destroyed them, but their ambition to reduce all independent
+kingdoms to tributary provinces.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. A small town, thirty-six miles south of Delhi, situated in the
+Gurgaon district, now included in the Panjab, but in the author's
+time attached to the North-Western Provinces. The town is the chief
+place in the 'pargana' of the same name.
+
+3. Nineveh is not a well-chosen example, inasmuch as its decay was
+due to deliberate destruction, and not to mere desertion by a
+sovereign. It was deliberately burned and ruined by Nabopolassar,
+viceroy of Babylon, and his allies, about 606 B.C. The decay of
+Babylon was gradual. See note _post_, note 5.
+
+4. Extract from a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, dated from
+Ajmer, January 29, 1616. The words immediately following 'rubbish'
+are 'His own [i.e. the King's] houses are of stone, handsome and
+uniform. His great men build not, for want of inheritance; but, as
+far as I have yet seen, live in tents, or in houses worse than our
+cottages. Yet, when the King likes, as at Agra, because it is a city
+erected by him, the buildings, as is reported, are fair and of carved
+stone.' (Pinkerton's _Collection_, vol. viii, p. 45.) The passage is
+not reprinted in the Hakluyt Society edition (vol. i, p. 122), where
+only extracts from the letter are given.
+
+5. The site of Nineveh was forgotten for a period even longer than
+that stated by the author. Mr. Claudius Rich, the Resident at
+Baghdad, was the first European to make a tentative identification of
+Nineveh with the mounds opposite Mosal, in 1818. Real knowledge of
+the site and its history dates from the excavations of Botta begun in
+1843, and those of Layard begun two years later. (Bonomi, _Nineveh
+and its Palaces_, 2nd ed., 1853; Layard, _Nineveh and its Remains_, 2
+vols, 1849.) The author's account of the fall of Nineveh, based on
+that of Diodorus Siculus, is not in accordance with the conclusions
+of the best modern authorities. The destruction of the city in or
+about 606 B.C. was really effected some years after the death of
+Sardanapalus (Assur-banipal), in 625 B.C., by Nabopolassar (Nabupal-
+uzur), the rebel viceroy of Babylon, in alliance with Necho of Egypt,
+Cyaxares of Media, and the King of Armenia. The Assyrian monarch who
+perished in the assault was not Sardanapalus (Assur-banipal), but his
+son Assur-ebel-ili, or, according to Professor Sayce, a king called
+Saracus, After the destruction of Nineveh, Babylon became the capital
+of the Mesopotamian empire, and under Nebuchadrezzar
+(Nebuchadnezzar), son of Nabopolassar, who came to the throne in 604
+B.C., attained the height of glory and renown. It was occupied by
+Cyrus in 539 B.C., and decayed gradually, but was still a place of
+importance in the time of Alexander the Great. The eponymous hero,
+Ninus, is of course purely mythical. The results of modern research
+will be found in the _Encycl. Brit._, 11th ed., 1910, in the articles
+'Babylon' (Sayce), 'Babylonia and Assyria' (Sayce and Jastrow), and
+'Nineveh' (Johns). See also, ibid., 'Cyrus' (Meyer).
+
+6. Kanauj, now in the Farrukhabad district of the United Provinces,
+was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in January, A.D. 1019. The name of
+Mahmud's capital may be spelled Ghaznih, Ghazni, or Ghaznin.
+(Raverty, in _J.A.S.B._, Part I, vol. lxi (1892), p. 156, note.)
+
+7. 'Pan', the well-known Indian condiment (_ante_, chapter 29, note
+10). 'Opera girls' is a rather whimsical rendering of the more usual
+phrase 'nach (nautch) girls', or 'dancing girls'. The traditional
+numbers cited must not be accepted as historical facts. See V. A.
+Smith, 'The History of the City of Kanauj' (_J.R.A.S._, 1908, pp.
+767-93).
+
+8. This statement is too general. Benares, Allahabad (Prayag), and
+many other important Hindoo cities, were never deserted, and
+continued to be populous through all vicissitudes. It is true that in
+most places the principal temples were desecrated or destroyed, and
+were frequently converted into mosques.
+
+9. The statement is much exaggerated. The Hindoo Rajas who paid
+tribute to the Sultans of Delhi often maintained considerable courts
+in populous towns.
+
+10. This proposition, which is not true of Southern India at all,
+applies only to secular buildings in Northern India. The temples of
+Khajuraho, Mount Abu, and numberless other places, equal in
+magnificence the architecture of the Muhammadans, or, indeed, that of
+any people in the world.
+
+
+11. The anthor's remarks seem likely to convey wrong notions. Very
+few of the capitals of the Muhammadan viceroys and governors were new
+foundations. Nearly all of them were ancient Hindoo towns adopted as
+convenient official residences, and enlarged and beautified by the
+new rulers, much of the old beauties being at the same time
+destroyed. Fyzabad certainly was a new foundation of the Nawab Wazirs
+of Oudh, but it lies so close to the extremely ancient city of
+Ajodhya that it should rather be regarded as a Muhammadan extension
+of that city. Lucknow occupies the site of a Hindoo city of great
+antiquity.
+
+12. It would be difficult to point out an example of a _Muhammadan_
+standing camp which was first converted into an open, and then into a
+fortified town.
+
+13. This abstract of the history of the Deccan, or Southern India, is
+not quite accurate. The Emperor, or Sultan, Muhammad bin Tughlak,
+after A.D. 1325, reduced the Deccan to a certain extent to
+submission, but the country revolted in A.D. 1347, when Hasan Gango
+founded the Bahmani dynasty of Gulbarga, afterwards known as that of
+Bidar. At the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth
+century, the kingdom so founded broke up into five, not four,
+separate states, namely, Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda, Berar, and
+Bidar. The Berar state had a separate existence for about eighty-five
+years, and then became merged in the kingdom of Ahmadnagar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 64
+
+
+Murder of Mr. Fraser, and Execution of the Nawab Shams-ud-din.
+
+
+
+
+At Palwal Mr. Wilmot and Mr. Wright, who had come on business, and
+Mr. Gubbins, breakfasted and dined with us. They complained sadly of
+the solitude to which they were condemned, but admitted that they
+should not be able to get through half so much business were they
+placed at a large station, and exposed to all the temptations and
+distractions of a gay and extensive circle, nor feel the same
+interest in their duties, or sympathy with the people, as they do
+when thrown among them in this manner. To give young men good
+feelings towards the natives, the only good way is to throw them
+among them at those out-stations in the early part of their career,
+when all their feelings are fresh about them. This holds good as well
+with the military as the civil officer, but more especially with the
+latter. A young officer at an outpost with his corps, or part of it,
+for the first season or two, commonly lays in a store of good feeling
+towards his men that lasts him for life; and a young gentleman of the
+Civil Service lays in, in the same manner, a good store of sympathy
+and fellow feeling with the natives in general.[1]
+
+Mr. Gubbins is the Magistrate and Collector of one of the three
+districts into which the Delhi territories are divided, and he has
+charge of Firozpur, the resumed estate of the late Nawab Shams-ud-
+din, which yields a net revenue of about two hundred thousand rupees
+a year.[2] I have already stated that this Nawab took good care that
+his Mewati plunderers should not rob within his own estate; but he
+not only gave them free permission to rob over the surrounding
+districts of our territory, but encouraged them to do so, that he
+might share in their booty.[3] He was a handsome young man, and an
+extremely agreeable companion; but a most unprincipled and licentious
+character. No man who was reputed to have a handsome wife or daughter
+was for a moment safe within his territories. The following account
+of Mr. William Fraser's assassination by this Nawab may, I think, be
+relied upon.[4]
+
+The Firozpur Jagir was one of the principalities created under the
+principle of Lord Cornwallis's second administration, which was to
+make the security of the British dominions dependent upon the
+divisions among the independent native chiefs upon their frontiers.
+The person receiving the grant or confirmation of such principality
+from the British Government 'pledged himself to relinquish all claims
+to aid, and to maintain the peace in his own possessions.'[5]
+Firozpur was conferred by Lord Lake, in 1805, upon Ahmad Baksh, for
+his diplomatic services, out of the territories acquired by us west
+of the Jumna during the Maratha wars. He had been the agent on the
+part of the Hindoo chiefs of Alwar in attendance upon Lord Lake
+during the whole of that war. He was a great favourite, and his
+lordship's personal regard for him was thought by those chiefs to
+have been so favourable to their cause that they conferred upon him
+the 'pargana' of Loharu in hereditary rent-free tenure.
+
+
+In 1822, Ahmad Baksh declared Shams-ud-din, his eldest son, his heir,
+with the sanction of the British Government and the Rajas of Alwar.
+In February, 1825, Shams-ud-din, at the request of his father, by a
+formal deed assigned over the pargana of Loharu as a provision for
+his younger brothers by another mother, Amin-ud-din and Zia-ud-
+din;[6] and in October 1826 he was finally invested by his father
+with the management; and the circumstance was notified to the British
+Government, through the Resident at Delhi, Sir Charles Metcalfe.
+Ahmad Baksh died in October, 1827. Disputes soon after arose between
+the brothers, and they expressed a desire to submit their claims to
+the arbitration of Sir Edward Colebrooke,[7] who had succeeded Sir
+Charles Metcalfe in the Residency of Delhi.[8] He referred the matter
+to the Supreme Government; and by their instructions, under date 11th
+of April, 1828, he was authorized to adjust the matter. He decided
+that Shams-ud-din should make a complete and unencumbered cession to
+his younger brothers of the pargana of Loharu, without the
+reservation of any right of interference in the management, or of any
+condition of obedience to himself whatever; and that Amin-ud-din
+should, till his younger brother came of age, pay into the Delhi
+treasury for him the annual sum of five thousand two hundred and ten
+rupees, as his half share of the net proceeds, to be there held in
+deposit for him; and that the estate should, from the time he came of
+age, be divided between them in equal shares. This award was
+confirmed by Government; but Sir Edward was recommended to alter it
+for an annual money payment to the two younger brothers, if he could
+do so with the consent of the parties.
+
+The pargana was transferred, as the money payment could not be agreed
+upon; and in September Mr. Martin, who had succeeded Sir E.
+Colebrooke, proposed to Government that the pargana of Loharu should
+be restored to Shams-ud-din in lieu of a fixed sum of twenty-six
+thousand rupees a year to be paid by him annually to his two younger
+brothers. This proposal was made on the ground that Amin-ud-din could
+not collect the revenues from the refractory landholders (instigated,
+no doubt, by the emissaries of Shams-ud-din), and consequently could
+not pay his younger brother's revenue into the treasury. In
+calculating the annual net revenue of 10,420 rupees, 15,000 of the
+_gross_ revenue had been estimated as the annual expenses of the
+mutual [_sic_] establishments of the two brothers. To the arrangement
+proposed by Mr. Martin the younger brothers strongly objected; and
+proposed in preference to make over the pargana to the British
+Government, on condition of receiving the net revenue, whatever might
+be the amount. Mr. Martin was desired by the Governor-General to
+effect this arrangement, should Amin-ud-din appear still to wish it;
+but he preferred retaining the management of it in his own hands, in
+the hope that circumstances would improve.
+
+Shams-ud-din, however, pressed his claim to the restoration of the
+pargana so often that it was at last, in September, 1833, insisted
+upon by Government, on the ground that Amin-ud-din had failed to
+fulfil that article of the agreement which bound him to pay annually
+into the Delhi treasury 5,210 rupees for his younger brother, though
+that brother had never complained; on the contrary, lived with him on
+the best possible terms, and was as averse as himself to the
+retransfer of the pargana, on condition that they gave up their
+claims to a large share of the movable property of their late father,
+which had been already decided in their favour in the court of first
+instance. Mr. W. Fraser, who had succeeded to the office of Governor-
+General's representative in the Delhi Territories, remonstrated
+strongly against this measure; and wished to bring it again under the
+consideration of Government; on the grounds that Zia-ud-din had never
+made any complaint against his brother Amin-ud-din for want of
+punctuality in the payment of his share of the net revenue after the
+payment of their mutual establishments; that the two brothers would
+be deprived by this measure of an hereditary estate to the value of
+sixty thousand rupees a year in perpetuity, burthened with the
+condition that they relinquished a suit already gained in the court
+of first instance, and likely to be gained in appeal, involving a sum
+that would of itself yield them that annual sum at the moderate
+interest of 6 per cent. The grounds alleged by him were not
+considered valid, and the pargana was made over to Shams-ud-din. The
+pargana now yields 40,000 rupees a year, and under good management
+may yield 70,000.
+
+At Mr. Fraser's recommendation, Amin-ud-din went himself to Calcutta,
+and is said to have prevailed upon the Government to take his case
+again into their consideration. Shams-ud-din had become a debauched
+and licentious character; and having criminal jurisdiction within his
+own estate, no one's wife or daughter was considered safe; for, when
+other means failed him, he did not scruple to employ assassins to
+effect his hated purposes, by removing the husband or father.[9] Mr.
+Fraser became so disgusted with his conduct that he would not admit
+him into his house when he came to Delhi, though he had, it may be
+said, brought him up as a child of his own; indeed he had been as
+fond of him as he could be of a child of his own; and the boy used to
+spend the greater part of his time with him. One day after Mr. Fraser
+had refused to admit the Nawab to his house. Colonel Skinner, having
+some apprehensions that by such slights he might be driven to seek
+revenge by assassination, is said to have remonstrated with Mr.
+Fraser as his oldest and most valued friend.[10] Mr. Fraser told him
+that he considered the Nawab to be still but a boy, and the only way
+to improve him was to treat him as such. It was, however, more by
+these slights than by any supposed injuries that Shams-ud-din was
+exasperated; and from that day he determined to have Mr. Fraser
+assassinated.[11]
+
+Having prevailed upon a man, Karim Khan, who was at once his servant
+and boon companion, he sent him to Delhi with one of his carriages,
+which he was to have sold through Mr. McPherson, a European merchant
+of the city. He was ordered to stay there ostensibly for the purpose
+of learning the process of extracting copper from the fossil
+containing the ore, and purchasing dogs for the Nawab. He was to
+watch his opportunity and shoot Mr. Fraser whenever he might find him
+out at night, attended by only one or two orderlies; to be in no
+haste, but to wait till he found a favourable opportunity, though it
+should be for several months. He had with him a groom named Rupla,
+and a Mewati attendant named Ania, and they lodged in apartments of
+the Nawab's at Daryaoganj. He rode out morning and evening, attended
+by Ania on foot, for three months, during which he often met Mr.
+Fraser, but never under circumstances favourable to his purpose; and
+at last, in despair, returned to Firozpur. Ania, had importuned him
+for leave to go home to see his children, who had been ill, and Karim
+Khan did not like to remain without him. The Nawab was displeased
+with him for returning without leave, and ordered him to return to
+his post, and effect the object of his mission. Ania declined to
+return, and the Nawab recommended Karim to take somebody else, but he
+had, he said, explained all his designs to this man, and it would be
+dangerous to entrust the secret to another; and he could, moreover,
+rely entirely upon the courage of Ania on any trying occasion.
+
+Twenty rupees were due to the treasury by Ania on account of the rent
+of the little tenement he held under the Nawab; and the treasurer
+consented, at the request of Karim Khan, to receive this by small
+instalments, to be deducted out of the monthly wages he was to
+receive from him. He was, moreover, assured that he should have
+nothing to do but to cook and eat; and should share liberally with
+Karim in the one hundred rupees he was taking with him in money, and
+the letter of credit upon the Nawab's bankers at Delhi for one
+thousand rupees more. The Nawab himself came with them as far as the
+village of Nagina, where he used to hunt; and there Karim requested
+permission to change his groom, as he thought Rupla too shrewd a man
+for such a purpose. He wanted, he said, a stupid, sleepy man, who
+would neither ask nor understand anything; but the Nawab told him
+that Rupla was an old and quiet servant, upon whose fidelity he could
+entirely rely; and Karim consented to take him. Ania's little
+tenement, upon which his wife and children resided, was only two
+miles distant, and he went to give instructions about gathering in
+the harvest, and to take leave of them. He told his wife that he was
+going to the capital on a difficult and dangerous duty, but that his
+companion Karim would do it all, no doubt. Ania asked Karim before
+they left Nagina what was to be his reward; and he told him that the
+Nawab had promised them five villages in rent-free tenure. Ania
+wished to learn from the Nawab himself what he might expect; and
+being taken to him by Karim, was assured that he and his family
+should be provided for handsomely for the rest of their lives, if he
+did his duty well on this occasion.
+
+
+On reaching Delhi they took up their quarters near Colonel Skinner's
+house, in the Bulvemar's Ward,[12] where they resided for two months.
+The Nawab had told Karim to get a gun made for his purpose at Delhi,
+or purchase one, stating that his guns had all been purchased through
+Colonel Skinner, and would lead to suspicion if seen in his
+possession. On reaching Delhi, Karim purchased an old gun, and
+desired Ania to go to a certain man in the Chandni Chauk, and get it
+made in the form of a short blunderbuss, with a peculiar stock, that
+would admit of its being concealed under a cloak; and to say that he
+was going to Gwalior to seek service, if any one questioned him. The
+barrel was cut, and the instrument made exactly as Karim wished it to
+be by the man whom he pointed out. They met Mr. Fraser every day, but
+never at night; and Karim expressed regret that the Nawab should have
+so strictly enjoined him not to shoot him in the daytime, which he
+thought he might do without much risk. Ania got an attack of fever,
+and urged Karim to give up the attempt and return home, or at least
+permit him to do so. Karim himself became weary, and said he would do
+so very soon if he could not succeed; but that he should certainly
+shoot _some European gentleman_ before he set out, and tell his
+master that he had taken him for Mr. Fraser--to save appearances.
+Ania told him that this was a question between him and his master,
+and no concern of his.
+
+At the expiration of two months, a peon came to learn what they were
+doing. Karim wrote a letter by him to the Nawab, saying that '_the
+dog_ he wished was never to be seen without ten or twelve people
+about him; and that he saw no chance whatever of finding him, except
+in the midst of them; but that if he wished, he would purchase this
+_dog_ in the midst of the crowd'. The Nawab wrote a reply, which was
+sent by a trooper, with orders that it should be opened in presence
+of no one but Ania. The contents were: 'I command you not to purchase
+_the dog_ in presence of many persons, as its price will be greatly
+raised. You may purchase him before one person, or even two, but not
+before more; I am in no hurry, the longer the time you take the
+better; but do not return without purchasing _the dog_.'[13] That is,
+without killing Mr. Fraser.
+
+They went on every day to watch Mr. Fraser's movements. Leaving the
+horse with the groom, sometimes in one old ruin of the city, and
+sometimes in another, ready saddled for flight, with orders that he
+should not be exposed to the view of passers-by, Karim and Ania used
+to pace the streets, and on several occasions fell in with him, but
+always found him attended by too many followers of one kind or
+another for their purpose. At last, on Sunday, the 13th of March,
+1835, Karim heard that Mr. Fraser was to attend a 'nach' (dance),
+given by Hindoo Rao, the brother of the Baiza Bai,[14] who then
+resided at Delhi; and determining to try whether he could not shoot
+him from horseback, he sent away his groom as soon as he had
+ascertained that Mr. Fraser was actually at the dance. Ania went in
+and mixed among the assembly; and as soon as he saw Mr. Fraser rise
+to depart, he gave intimation to Karim, who ordered him to keep
+behind, and make off as fast as he could, as soon as he should hear
+the report of his gun.
+
+
+A little way from Hindoo Rao's house the road branches off; that to
+the left is straight, while that to the right is circuitous. Mr.
+Fraser was known always to take the straight road, and upon that
+Karim posted himself, as the road up to the place where it branched
+off was too public for his purpose. As it happened, Mr. Fraser, for
+the first time, took the circuitous road to the right, and reached
+his home without meeting Karim. Ania placed himself at the cross way,
+and waited there till Karim came up to him. On hearing that he had
+taken the right road, Karim said that 'a man in Mr. Fraser's
+situation must be a strange ('kafir') unbeliever not to have such a
+thing as a torch with him in a dark night. Had he had what he ought',
+he said, 'I should not have lost him this time'.
+
+They passed him on the road somewhere or other almost every afternoon
+after this for seven days, but could never fall in with him after
+dark. On the eighth day, Sunday, the 22nd of March, Karim went, as
+usual, in the forenoon to the great mosque to say his prayers; and on
+his way back in the afternoon he purchased some plums which he was
+eating when he came up to Ania, whom he found cooking his dinner. He
+ordered his horse to be saddled immediately, and told Ania to make
+haste and eat his dinner, as he had seen Mr. Fraser at a party given
+by the Raja of Kishangarh. '_When his time is come_,' said Karim, 'we
+shall no doubt find an opportunity to kill him, if we watch him
+carefully.' They left the groom at home that evening, and proceeded
+to the 'dargah' (church) near the canal. Seeing Ania with merely a
+Stick in his hand, Karim bid him go back and change it for a sword,
+while he went in and said his evening prayers.
+
+On being rejoined by Ania, they took the road to cantonments, which
+passed by Mr. Fraser's house; and Ania observed that the risk was
+hardly equal in this undertaking, he being on foot, while Karim was
+on horseback; that he should be sure to be taken, while the other
+might have a fair chance of escape. It was now quite dark, and Karim
+bid him stand by sword in hand; and if anybody attempted to seize his
+horse when he fired, cut him down, and be assured that while he had
+life he would never suffer him, Ania, to be taken. Karim continued to
+patrol up and down on the high-road, that nobody might notice him,
+while Ania stood by the road-side. At last, about eleven o'clock,
+they heard Mr. Fraser approach, attended by one trooper, and two
+'peons' on foot; and Karim walked his horse slowly, as if he had been
+going from the city to the cantonments, till Mr. Fraser came up
+within a few paces of him, near the gate leading into his house.
+Karim Khan, on leaving his house, had put one large ball into his
+short blunderbuss; and when confident that he should now have an
+opportunity of shooting Mr. Fraser, he put in two more small ones. As
+Mr. Fraser's horse was coming up on the left side, Karim Khan tumed
+round his, and, as he passed, presented his blunderbuss, fired, and
+all three balls passed into Mr. Fraser's breast. All three horses
+reared at the report and flash, and Mr. Fraser fell dead on the
+ground. Karim galloped off, followed at a short distance by the
+trooper, and the two peons went off and gave information to Major Pew
+and Cornet Robinson, who resided near the place. They came in all
+haste to the spot, and had the body taken to the deceased's own
+house; but no signs of life remained. They reported the murder to the
+magistrate, and the city gates were closed, as the assassin had been
+seen to enter the city by the trooper.
+
+Ania ran home through the Kabul gate of the city, unperceived, while
+Karim entered by the Ajmer gate, and passed first through the
+encampment of Hindoo Rao, to efface the traces of his horse's feet.
+When he reached their lodgings, he found Ania there before him; and
+Rupla, the groom, seeing his horse in a sweat, told him that he had
+had a narrow escape--that Mr. Fraser had been killed, and orders
+given for the arrest of any horseman that might be found in or near
+the city. He told him to hold his tongue, and take care of the horse;
+and calling for a light, he and Ania tore up every letter he had
+received from Firozpur, and dipped the fragments in water, to efface
+the ink from them. Ania asked him what he had done with the
+blunderbuss, and was told that it had been thrown into a well. Ania
+now concealed three flints that he kept about him in some sand in the
+upper story they occupied, and threw an iron ramrod and two spare
+bullets into a well near the mosque.
+
+The next morning, when he heard that the city gates had been all shut
+to prevent any one from going out till strict search should be made,
+Karim became a good deal alarmed, and went to seek counsel from
+Moghal Beg, the friend of his master; but when in the evening he
+heard that they had been again opened, he recovered his spirits; and
+the next day he wrote a letter to the Nawab, saying that he had
+purchased the dogs that he wanted, and would soon return with them.
+He then went to Mr. McPherson, and actually purchased from him for
+the Nawab some dogs and pictures, and the following day sent Rupla,
+the groom, with them to Firozpur, accompanied by two bearers. A
+pilgrim lodged in the same place with these men, and was present when
+Karim came home from the murder, and gave his horse to Rupla. In the
+evening, after the departure of Rupla with the dogs, four men of the
+Gujar caste came to the place, and Karim sat down and smoked a pipe
+with one of them,[15] who said that he had lost his bread by Mr.
+Fraser's death, and should be glad to see the murderer punished--that
+he was known to have worn a green vest, and he hoped he would soon be
+discovered. The pilgrim came up to Karim shortly after these four men
+went away, and said that he had heard from some one that he, Karim,
+was himself suspected of the murder. He went again to Moghal Beg, who
+told him not to be alarmed, that, happily, the Regulations were now
+in force in the Delhi Territory, and that he had only to stick
+steadily to one story to be safe.
+
+He now desired Ania to return to Firozpur with a letter to the Nawab,
+and to assure him that he would be stanch and stick to one story,
+though they should seize him and confine him in prison for twelve
+years. He had, he said, already sent off part of his clothes, and
+Ania should now take away the rest, so that nothing suspicious should
+be left near him.
+
+The next morning Ania set out on foot, accompanied by Islamullah, a
+servant of Moghal Beg's, who was also the bearer of a letter to the
+Nawab. They hired two ponies when they became tired, but both flagged
+before they reached Nagina, whence Ania proceeded to Firozpur, on a
+mare belonging to the native collector, leaving Islamullah behind. He
+gave his letter to the Nawab, who desired him to describe the affair
+of the murder. He did so. The Nawab seemed very much pleased, and
+asked him whether Karim appeared to be in any alarm. Ania told him
+that he did not, and had resolved to stick to one story, though he
+should be imprisoned for twelve years. 'Karim Khan,' said the Nawab,
+turning to the brother-in-law of the former, Wasil Khan, and Hasan
+Ali, who stood near him--'Karim Khan is a very brave man, whose
+courage may be always relied on.' He gave Ania eighteen rupees, and
+told him to change his name, and keep close to Wasil Khan. They
+retired together; but, while Wasil Khan went to his house, Ania stood
+on the road unperceived, but near enough to hear Hasan Ali urge the
+Nawab to have him put to death immediately, as the only chance of
+keeping the fatal secret. He went off immediately to Wasil Khan, and
+prevailed upon him to give him leave to go home for that night to see
+his family, promising to be back the next morning early.
+
+He set out forthwith, but had not been long at home when he learned
+that Hasan Ali, and another confidential servant of the Nawab, were
+come in search of him with some troopers. He concealed himself in the
+roof of his house, and heard them ask his wife and children where he
+was, saying they wanted his aid in getting out some hyaenas they had
+traced into their dens in the neighbourhood. They were told that he
+had gone back to Firozpur, and returned; but were sent back by the
+Nawab to make a more careful search for him. Before they came,
+however, he had gone off to his friends Kamruddin and Johari, two
+brothers who resided in the Rao Raja's territory. To this place he
+was followed by some Mewatis, whom the Nawab had induced, under the
+promise of a large reward, to undertake to kill him. One night he
+went to two acquaintances, Makram and Shahamat, in a neighbouring
+village, and begged them to send to some English gentleman in Delhi,
+and solicit for him a pardon, on condition of his disclosing all the
+circumstances of Mr. Fraser's murder. They promised to get everything
+done for him through a friend in the police at Delhi, and set out for
+that purpose, while Ania returned and concealed himself in the hills.
+In six days they came with a paper, purporting to be a promise of
+pardon from the court of Delhi, and desired Kamr-ud-din to introduce
+them to Ania. He told them to return to him in three days, and he
+would do so; but he went off to Ania in the hills, and told him that
+he did not think these men had really got the papers from the English
+gentlemen--that they appeared to him to be in the service of the
+Nawab himself. Ania was, however, introduced to them when they came
+back, and requested that the paper might be read to him. Seeing
+through their designs, he again made off to the hills, while they
+went out in search, they pretended, of a man to read it, but in
+reality to get some people who were waiting in the neighbourhood to
+assist in securing him, and taking him off to the Nawab.
+
+
+Finding on their return that Ania had escaped, they offered high
+rewards to the two brothers if they would assist in tracing him out;
+and Johari was taken to the Nawab, who offered him a very high reward
+if he would bring Ania to him, or, at least, take measures to prevent
+his going to the English gentlemen. This was communicated to Ania,
+who went through Bharatpur to Bareilly, and from Bareilly to
+Secunderabad, where he heard, in the beginning of July, that both
+Karim and the Nawab were to be tried for the murder, and that the
+judge, Mr. Colvin, had already arrived at Delhi to conduct the trial.
+He now determined to go to Delhi and give himself up. On his way he
+was met by Mr. Simon Fraser's man, who took him to Delhi, when he
+confessed his share in the crime, became king's evidence at the
+trial, and gave an interesting narrative of the whole affair.
+
+Two water-carriers, in attempting to draw up the brass jug of a
+carpenter, which had fallen into the well the morning after the
+murder, pulled up the blunderbuss which Karim Khan had thrown into
+the same well. This was afterwards recognized by Ania, and the man
+whom he pointed out as having made it for him. Two of the four
+Gujars, who were mentioned as having visited Karim immediately after
+the murder, went to Brigadier Fast, who commanded the troops at
+Delhi, fearing that the native officers of the European civil
+functionaries might be in the interest of the Nawab, and get them
+made away with. They told him that Karim Khan seemed to answer the
+description of the man named in the proclamation as the murderer of
+Mr. Fraser; and he sent them with a note to the Commissioner, Mr.
+Metcalfe, who sent them to the Magistrate, Mr. Fraser, who
+accompanied them to the place, and secured Karim, with some fragments
+of important papers. The two Mewatis, who had been sent to
+assassinate Ania, were found, and they confessed the fact: the
+brother of Ania, Rahmat, was found and he described the difficulty
+Ania had to escape from the Nawab's people sent to murder him. Rupla,
+the groom, deposed to all that he had seen during the time he was
+employed as Karim's groom at Delhi. Several men deposed to having met
+Karim, and heard him asking after Mr. Fraser a few days before the
+murder. The two peons, who were with Mr. Fraser when he was shot,
+deposed to the horse which he rode at the time, and which was found
+with him.
+
+
+Karim Khan and the Nawab were both convicted of the crime, sentenced
+to death, and executed at Delhi, I should mention that suspicion had
+immediately attached to Karim Khan; he was known for some time to
+have been lurking about Delhi, on the pretence of purchasing dogs;
+and it was said that, had the Nawab really wanted dogs, he would not
+have sent to purchase them by a man whom he admitted to his table,
+and treated on terms of equality. He was suspected of having been
+employed on such occasions before--known to be a good shot, and a
+good rider, who could fire and reload very quickly while his horse
+was in full gallop, and called in consequence the 'Bharmaru.'[16] His
+horse, which was found in the stable by the Gujar spies, who had
+before been in Mr. Fraser's service, answered the description given
+of the murderer's horse by Mr. Fraser's attendants; and the Nawab was
+known to cherish feelings of bitter hatred against Mr. Fraser.
+
+The Nawab was executed some time after Karim, on Thursday morning,
+the 3rd of October, 1835, close outside the north, or Kashmir Gate,
+leading to the cantonments. He prepared himself for the execution in
+an extremely rich and beautiful dress of light green, the colour
+which martyrs wear; but he was made to exchange this, and he then
+chose one of simple white, and was too conscious of his guilt to urge
+strongly his claim to wear what dress he liked on such an occasion.
+
+The following corps were drawn up around the gallows, forming three
+sides of a square: the 1st Regiment of Cavalry, the 20th, 39th, and
+69th Regiments of Native Infantry, Major Pew's Light Field Battery,
+and a strong party of police. On ascending the scaffold, the Nawab
+manifested symptoms of disgust at the approach to his person of the
+sweeper, who was to put the rope round his neck;[17] but he soon
+mastered his feelings, and submitted with a good grace to his fate.
+Just as he expired his body made a last turn, and left his face
+towards the _west_, or the _tomb of his Prophet_, which the
+Muhammadans of Delhi considered a miracle, indicating that he was a
+martyr--not as being innocent of the murder, but as being executed
+for the murder of an unbeliever. Pilgrimages were for some time made
+to the Nawab's tomb,[18] but I believe they have long since ceased
+with the short gleam of sympathy that his fate excited. The only
+people that still recollect him with feelings of kindness are the
+prostitutes and dancing women of the city of Delhi, among whom most
+of his revenues were squandered[19] In the same manner was Wazir Ali
+recollected for many years by the prostitutes and dancing women of
+Benares, after the massacre of Mr. Cherry and all the European
+gentlemen of that station, save one, Mr. Davis, who bravely defended
+himself, wife, and children against a host with a hog spear on the
+top of his house. No European could pass Benares for twenty years
+after Wazir Ali's arrest and confinement in the garrison of Fort
+William, without hearing from the Windows songs in his praise, and in
+praise of the massacre.[20]
+
+It is supposed that the Nawab Faiz Muhammad Khan of Jhajjar was
+deeply implicated in this murder, though no proof of it could be
+found. He died soon after the execution of Shams-ud-din, and was
+succeeded in his fief by his eldest son, Faiz Ali Khan.[21] This fief
+was bestowed on the father of the deceased, whose name was Najabat
+Ali Khan, by Lord Lake, on the termination of the war in 1805, for
+the aid he had given to the retreating army under Colonel Monson.[22]
+
+One circumstance attending the execution of the Nawab Shams-ud-din
+seems worthy of remark. The magistrate, Mr. Frascott, desired his
+crier to go through the city the evening before the execution, and
+proclaim to the people that those who might wish to be present at the
+execution were not to encroach upon the line of sentries that would
+be formed to keep clear an allotted space round the gallows, nor to
+carry with them any kind of arms; but the crier, seemingly retaining
+in his recollection only the words _arms_ and _sentries_, gave out
+after his 'Oyes, Oyes,'[23] that the sentries had orders to use their
+arms, and shoot any man, woman, or child that should presume to go
+outside the wall to look at the execution of the Nawab. No person, in
+consequence, ventured out till the execution was over, when they went
+to see the Nawab himself converted into smoke; as the general
+impression was that as life should leave it, the body was to be blown
+off into the air by a general discharge of musketry and artillery.
+Moghal Beg was acquitted for want of judicial proof of his guilty
+participation in the crime.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The author's remarks concerning military officers refer to
+officers serving with native regiments, now known as the Indian Army.
+Before the institution of the reformed police in 1861 the native
+troops used to be much scattered in detachments, guarding treasuries,
+and performing other duties since entrusted to the police.
+Detachments are now rarely sent out, except on frontier service.
+
+2. Firozpur, the Firozpur-Jhirka of the _I.G._, is now the head-
+quarters of a sub-collectorate in the Gurgaon district. The three
+Districts of the Delhi Territories in Sleeman's time seem to have
+been Delhi, Panipat (= Karnal), and Rohtak, which were under the
+jurisdiction of the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western
+Provinces. In 1858, after the Mutiny, they were transferred to the
+Panjab. Since then, many administrative changes have occurred. The
+latest took place on October 1, 1912, on the occasion of Delhi
+becoming the official capital of India, instead of Calcutta. The city
+of Delhi with a small surrounding area, 557 square miles in all, now
+forms a tiny distinct province, ruled by a Chief Commissioner under
+the direct orders of the Government of India. The Delhi Division has
+ceased to exist, and six Districts, namely, Hissar, Rohtak, Karnal,
+Ambala (Umballa), Gurgaon, and Simla, now constitute the
+Commissioner's Division of Ambala in the Panjab.
+
+3. _Ante_, chapter 31, text between [10] and [11]. Some great
+landholders of the present day pursue the same policy.
+
+4. The story of the murder of Fraser is told very differently in
+Bosworth-Smith's _Life of Lord Lawrence_, where all the detective
+credit is given to Lord L., apparently on his own authority. See also
+an article in the _Quarterly Review_ for April 1883, by Sir H. Yule,
+and another in _Blackwoods Magazine_ for January 1878.
+
+Miniature medallion portraits of Nawab Shams-ud-din and his servant
+Karim Khan are given on the frontispiece of Volume II in the original
+edition.
+
+5. The inglorious second administration of Lord Cornwallis lasted
+only from 30th of July, 1805, the date on which he relieved the
+Marquis Wellesley, to the 5th of October of the same year, the date
+of his death at Ghazipur. 'The Marquis Cornwallis arrived in India,
+prepared to abandon, as far as might be practicable, all the
+advantages gained for the British Government by the wisdom, energy,
+and perseverance of his predecessor; to relax the bands by which the
+Marquis Wellesley had connected the greater portion of the states of
+India with the British Government; and to reduce that Government from
+the position of arbiter of the destinies of India to the rank of one
+among many equals.' His policy was zealously carried out by Sir
+George Barlow, who succeeded him, and held office till July, 1807.
+That statesman was not ashamed to write that 'the British possessions
+in the Doab will derive additional security from the contests of the
+neighbouring states'. (Thornton, _The History of the British Empire
+in India_, chap. 21.) This fatuous policy produced twelve years of
+anarchy, which were terminated by the Marquis of Hastings's great war
+with the Marathas and Pindharis in 1817, so often referred to in this
+book. Lord Lake addressed the most earnest remonstrances to Sir
+George Barlow without avail.
+
+6. Amin-ud-din and Zia-ud-din's mother was the Bhao Begam, or wife;
+Shams-ud-din's the Bhao Khanum, or mistress. [W. H. S.]
+
+7. Sir James Edward, third baronet, who died November 5, 1838. He was
+paternal uncle of Henry Thomas Colebrooke, F.R.S., the greatest of
+Anglo-Indian Sanskritists. The fifth baronet, Edward Arthur, was
+created Baron Colebrooke in 1906.
+
+8. Sir Charles Metcalfe was for a time Assistant Resident at Delhi,
+and was first appointed to the Residency at the extraordinarily early
+age of twenty-six. He was then transferred to other posts. In 1824 he
+returned to the Delhi Residency, superseding Sir David Ochterlony,
+whose measures had been disapproved by the Government of India. He
+left the Residency in 1827.
+
+9. The editor once had occasion to deal with a similar case, which
+resulted in the loss by the offending Raja of his rank and title. The
+orders were passed by the Government of Lord Dufferin.
+
+10. Colonel Skinner, who raised the famous troops known as Skinner's
+Horse, died in 1841, and was buried in the church of St. James at
+Delhi which he had built. The church still exists. The Colonel
+erected opposite the church, as a memorial of his friend Fraser, a
+fine inlaid marble cross, which was destroyed in the Mutiny (General
+Hervey, _Some Records of Crime_, vol. i, p. 403).
+
+11. According to General Hervey, the provocation was that Mr. Fraser
+had inquired from the Nawab about his sister by name (op. cit., p.
+279).
+
+12. I print this word 'Bulvemar's' as it stands in the original
+edition, not knowing what it means.
+
+13. The habits of Europeans have now changed, and to most people
+escorts have become distasteful. High officials now constantly go
+about unattended, and could be assassinated with little difficulty.
+Happily crimes of the kind are rare, except on the Afghan frontier,
+where special precautions are taken.
+
+14. For the 'Baiza Bai' see _ante_, chapter 50 note 4. Hindoo Rao's
+house became famous in 1857 as the head-quarters of the British force
+on the Ridge, during the siege of Delhi.
+
+15. Many of the Gujar caste are Muhammadans.
+
+16. That is to say 'load and fire', or 'sharpshooter'.
+
+17. No one but a member of one of the 'outcaste castes', if the
+'bull' be allowable, will act as executioner.
+
+18. This sinister incident shows clearly the real feeling of the
+Muhammadan populace towards the ruling power. That feeling is
+unchanged, and is not altogether confined to the Muslim populace. See
+the following remark about the populace of Benares.
+
+19. This remark was evidently written some time after the author's
+first visit to Delhi, and probably was written in the year 1839.
+
+20. On the death of Asaf-ud-daula, Wazir Ali was, in spite of doubts
+as to his legitimacy, recognized by Sir John Shore (Lord Teignmouth)
+as the Nawab Wazir of Oudh, in 1797. On reconsideration, the
+Governor-General cancelled the recognition of Wazir Ali, and
+recognized his rival Saadat Ali. Wazir Ali was removed from Lucknow,
+but injudiciously allowed to reside at Benares. The Marquis
+Wellesley, then Earl of Mornington, took charge of the office of
+Governor-General in 1798, and soon resolved that it was expedient to
+remove Wazir Ali to a greater distance from Lucknow. Mr. Cherry, the
+Agent to the Governor-General, was accordingly instructed to remove
+him from Benares to Calcutta. The outbreak alluded to in the text
+occurred on January 14, 1799, and was the expression of Wazir Ali's
+resentment at these orders. It is described as follows by Thornton
+(_History_, chap. xvii): 'A visit which Wazir Ali made, accompanied
+by his suite, to the British Agent, afforded the means of
+accomplishing the meditated revenge. He had engaged himself to
+breakfast with Mr. Cherry, and the parties met in apparent amity. The
+usual compliments were exchanged. Wazir Ali then began to expatiate
+on his wrongs; and having pursued this subject for some time, he
+suddenly rose with his attendants, and put to death Mr. Cherry and
+Captain Conway, an English gentleman who happened to be present. The
+assassins then rushed out, and meeting another Englishman named
+Graham, they added him to the list of their victims. They thence
+proceeded to the house of Mr. Davis, judge and magistrate, who had
+just time to remove his family to an upper terrace, which could only
+be reached by a very narrow staircase. At the top of this staircase,
+Mr. Davis, armed with a spear, took his post, and so successfully did
+he defend it, that the assailants, after several attempts to dislodge
+him, were compelled to retire without effecting their object. The
+benefit derived from the resistance of this intrepid man extended
+beyond his own family: the delay thereby occasioned afforded to the
+rest of the English inhabitants opportunity of escaping to the place
+where the troops stationed for the protection of the city were
+encamped. General Erskine, on learning what had occurred, dispatched
+a party to the relief of Mr. Davis, and Wazir Ali thereupon retired
+to his own residence.' Wazir Ali escaped, but was ultimately given up
+by a chief with whom he had taken refuge, 'on condition that his life
+should be spared, and that his limbs should not be disgraced by
+chains'. Some of his accomplices were executed. 'He was confined at
+Port William, in a sort of iron cage, where he died in May, 1817,
+aged thirty-six, after an imprisonment of seventeen years and some
+odd months.' (_Men whom India has Known_, 2nd ed., 1874, art. 'Vizier
+Ali.') But Beale asserts that after many years' captivity in
+Calcutta, the prisoner was removed to Vellore, where he died (_Or.
+Biogr. Dict._, ed. Keene, 1894, p. 416). It will be observed that the
+author was mistaken in supposing that 'all the European gentlemen,
+except Mr. Davis and his family, were included in the massacre.'
+
+21. These names stand in the original edition as 'Tyz Mahomed Khan,
+of Ghujper,' and 'Tyz Alee Khan'. In 1857 the then Nawab of Jhajjar
+joined the rebels. He was accordingly hanged, and his estate was
+confiscated. It is now included in the Rohtak District. See
+Fanshawe's _Settlement Report_ of that District.
+
+
+22. The disastrous retreat of Colonel Monson before Jeswant Rao
+Holkar during the rainy season of 1804 is one of the few serious
+reverses which have interrupted the long series of British victories
+in India. A considerable force under the command of Colonel Monson,
+sent out by General Lake at the beginning of May in pursuit of
+Holkar, was withdrawn too far from its base, and was compelled to
+retreat through Rajputana, and fall back on Agra. During the retreat
+the rains broke, and, under pressure caused by the difficulties of
+the march and incessant attacks of the enemy, the Company's troops
+became disorganized, and lost their guns and baggage. The shattered
+remnants of the force straggled into Agra at the end of August. The
+disgrace of this retreat was speedily avenged by the great victory of
+Dig.
+
+
+23. This old Norman-French formula. Oyez, Oyez, meaning 'Hear!' is
+still, or recently was, used at the Assizes in the High Court,
+Calcutta. The formula would not now be heard at Delhi, or elsewhere
+beyond the precincts of the High Court.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 65
+
+
+Marriage of a Jat Chief.
+
+ON the 19th[1] we came on to Balamgarh,[2] fifteen miles over a
+plain, better cultivated and more studded with trees than that which
+we had been coming over for many days before. The water was near the
+surface, more of the field were irrigated, and those which were not
+so looked better--[a] range of sandstone hills, ten miles off to the
+west, running north and south. Balamgarh is held in rent-free tenure
+by a young Jat chief, now about ten years of age. He resides in a mud
+fort in a handsome palace built in the European fashion. In an
+extensive orange garden, close outside the fort, he is building a
+very handsome tomb over the spot where his father's elder brother was
+buried. The whole is formed of white and black marble, and the firm
+white sandstone of Rupbas, and so well conceived and executed as to
+make it evident that demand is the only thing wanted to cover India
+with works of art equal to any that were formed in the palmy days of
+the Muhammadan empire.[3] The Raja's young sister had just been
+married to the son of the Jat chief of Nabha, who was accompanied in
+his matrimonial visit (barat) by the chief of Ludhaura, and the son
+of the Sikh chief of Patiala,[4] with a _cortege_ of one hundred
+elephants, and above fifteen thousand people.[5]
+
+The young chief of Balamgarh mustered a _cortege_ of sixty elephants
+and about ten thousand men to attend him out in the 'istikbal', to
+meet and welcome his guests. The bridegroom's party had to expend
+about six hundred thousand rupees in this visit alone. They scattered
+copper money all along the road from their homes to within seven
+miles of Balamgarh. From this point to the gate of the fort they had
+to scatter silver, and from this gate to the door of the palace they
+scattered gold and jewels of all kinds. The son of the Patiala chief,
+a lad of about ten years of age, sat upon his elephant with a bag
+containing six hundred gold mohurs of two guineas each, mixed up with
+an infinite variety of gold earrings, pearls, and precious stones,
+which he scattered in handfuls among the crowd. The scattering of the
+copper and silver had been left to inferior hands. The costs of the
+family of the bride are always much greater than that of the
+bridegroom; they are obliged to entertain at their own expense all
+the bridegroom's guests as well as their own, as long as they remain;
+and over and above this, on the present occasion, the Raja gave a
+rupee to every person that came, invited or uninvited. An immense
+concourse of people had assembled to share in this donation, and to
+scramble for the money scattered along the road; and ready money
+enough was not found in the treasury. Before a further supply could
+be got, thirty thousand more had collected, and every one got his
+rupee. They have them all put into pens like sheep. When all are in,
+the doors are opened at a signal given, and every person is paid his
+rupee as he goes out. Some European gentlemen were standing upon the
+top of the Raja's palace, looking at the procession as it entered the
+fort, and passed underneath; and the young chief threw up some
+handfuls of pearls, gold, and jewels among them. Not one of them
+would of course condescend to stoop to take up any; but their
+servants showed none of the same dignified forbearance.[6]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. 'Balamgarh' is a mistake for Ballabgarh of _I. G._ (properly
+Ballabhgarh), which is about twenty-four miles from Delhi. In 1857
+the chief was hanged for rebellion. The estate was confiscated and
+included in the Delhi District, under the Panjab Government. From
+October 1, 1912, that District ceased to exist. Part of the
+Ballabhgarh sub-district has been included in the new Chief
+Commissioner's Province of Delhi, and part in the Gurgaon District.
+
+3. Few observers will accept this proposition without considerable
+reservation.
+
+4. Patiala is the principal of the Cis-Satlaj Sikh Protected States.
+Nabha belongs to the same group. Both states are very loyal, and
+supply Imperial Service troops. For a sketch of their history see
+chapters 2 and 9 of Sir Lepel Griffin's _Ranjit Singh_.
+
+5. The Sikh is a military nation formed out of the Jats (who were
+without a place among the castes of the Hindoos),[a] by that strong
+bond of union, the love of conquest and plunder. Their religions and
+civil codes are the Granths, books written by their reputed prophets,
+the last of whom was Guru Govind,[b] in whose name Ranjit Singh
+stamps his gold coins with this legend: 'The sword, the _pot_,
+victory, and conquest were quickly found in the grace of Guru Govind
+Singh,'[c] This prophet died insane in the end of the seventeenth
+century. He was the son of a priest Teg Bahadur, who was made a
+martyr of by the bigoted Muhammadans of Patna in 1675. The son became
+a Peter the Hermit, in the same manner as Hargovind before him, when
+his father, Arjun Mal, was made a martyr by the fanaticism of the
+same people. A few more such martyrdoms would have set the Sikhs up
+for ever. They admit converts freely, and while they have a fair
+prospect of conquest and plunder they will find them; but, when they
+cease, they will be swallowed up in the great ocean of Hinduism,
+since they have no chance of getting up an 'army of martyrs' while we
+have the supreme power.[d] They detest us for the same reason that
+the military followers of the other native chiefs detest us, because
+we say 'Thus far shall you go, and no farther' in your career of
+conquest and plunder.[e] As governors, they are even worse than the
+Marathas--utterly detestable. They have not the slightest idea of a
+duty towards the people from whose industry they are provided. Such a
+thing was never dreamed of by a Sikh. They continue to receive in
+marriage the daughters of Jats, as in this case; but they will not
+give their daughters to Jats. [W. H. S.]
+
+6. The Emperors of Delhi, from Jahangir onwards, used to strike
+special coins, generally of small size, bearing the word _nisar_,
+which means 'scattering', for the purpose of distribution among the
+crowd on the occasion of a wedding, or other great festivity.
+
+a. It has already been observed that the author was completely
+mistaken in his estimate of the social position of Jats. It is not
+correct to say that they 'were without a place among the castes of
+the Hindoos'. 'The Jat is in every respect the most important of the
+Panjab peoples. . . . The distinction between Jat and Rajput is
+social rather than ethnic. . . . Socially the Jat occupies a position
+which is shared by the Ror, the Gujar, and the Ahir; all four eating
+and smoking together. Among the races of purely Hindoo origin I think
+that the Jat stands next after the Brahman, the Rajput, and the
+Khatri. . . . There are Jats and Jats. . . . His is the highest of
+the castes practising widow marriage.' (Ibbetson, _Outlines of Panjab
+Ethnography_, Calcutta, 1883, pp. 220 sqq.) The Jats in the United
+Provinces occupy much the same relative position.
+
+b. The Sikhs are mostly, but not all, Jats. The organization is
+essentially a religions one, and a few Brahmans and many members of
+various other castes join it. Even sweepers are admitted with certain
+limitations. The word Sikh means 'disciple'. Nanak Shah, the founder,
+was born in A.D. 1469. The _Adi Granth_, the Sikh Bible, containing
+compositions by Nanak, his next four successors, and other persons,
+was completed in 1604. A second _Granth_ was compiled in 1734 by
+Govind Singh, the tenth Guru. The only authoritative version of the
+Sikh scriptures is the great work by Macauliffe, _The Sikh Religion_
+(Oxford, 1909, 6 vols.).
+
+The political power of the sect rested on the institutions of Guru
+Govind, as framed between 1690 and 1708. In 1764 the Sikhs occupied
+Lahore. Full details of their history will be found in Cunningham, _A
+History of the Sikhs_ (1st ed., 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1849, suppressed
+and scarce; 2nd ed. 1853); and more briefly in Sir Lepel Griffin's
+excellent little book, _Ranjit Singh_ (Oxford, 'Rulers of India'
+series, 1892).
+
+
+c. See R. 0. Temple, 'The Coins of the Modern Chiefs of the Panjab'
+(_Ind. Ant._, vol. xviii (1889), pp. 321-41); and C. J. Rodgers, 'On
+the Coins of the Sikhs' (_J.A.S.B._, vol. 1. Part I (1881), pp. 71-
+93). The couplet is in Persian, which may be transliterated thus:--
+
+ Deg, tegh, wa fath, wa nasrat be darang
+ Yaft az Nanak Guru Govind Singh.
+
+
+
+The word _deg_, meaning pot or cauldron, is used as a symbol of
+plenty. The correct rendering is:--
+
+ Plenty, the sword, victory, and help without delay,
+ Guru Govind Singh obtained from Nanak.
+
+d. This prophecy has not been fulfilled. The annexation of the Panjab
+in 1849 put an end to Sikh hopes of 'conquest and plunder', and yet
+the sect has not been 'swallowed up in the great ocean of Hinduism'.
+At the census of 1881 its numbers were returned as 1,853,426, or
+nearly two millions, for all India. The corresponding figure for 1891
+is 1,907,833. At the time of the first British census of 1855 the
+outside influences were depressing: the great Khalsa army had fallen,
+and Sikh fathers were slow to bring forward their sons for baptism
+(_pahul_). The Mutiny, in the suppression of which the Sikhs took so
+great a part, worked a change. The Sikhs recovered their spirits and
+self-respect, and found honourable careers open in the British army
+and constabulary. 'Thus the creed received a new impulse, and many
+sons of Sikhs, whose baptism had been deferred, received the _pahul_,
+while new candidates from among the Jats and lower caste Hindoos
+joined the faith.' Some reaction then, perhaps, took place, but, on
+the whole, the numbers of the sect have been maintained or increased.
+(Sir Lepel Griffin, _Ranjit Singh_, pp. 25-34.) For various reasons,
+which I have not space to explain, the statistics of Sikhism are
+untrustworthy. The returns for 1911 show an increase of 37 per cent.
+in the Panjab. We may, at least, be assured that the numbers are not
+diminishing.
+
+e. The Sikhs do not now detest us. They willingly furnish soldiers
+and military police of the best class, equal to the Gorkhas, and fit
+to fight in line with English soldiers. The Panjab chieftains have
+been among the foremost in offers of loyal assistance to the
+Government of India in times of danger, and in organizing the
+Imperial Service troops. The Sikh states are now sufficiently well
+governed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 66
+
+
+Collegiate Endowment of Muhammadan Tombs and Mosques.
+
+On the 20th[1] we came to Badarpur, twelve miles over a plain, with
+the range of hills on our left approaching nearer and nearer the
+road, and separating us from the old city of Delhi. We passed through
+Faridpur, once a large town, and called after its founder, Shaikh
+Farid, whose mosque is still in good order, though there is no person
+to read or hear prayers in it.[2] We passed also two fine bridges,
+one of three, and one of four arches, both over what were once
+streams, but are now dry beds of sand.[3] The whole road shows signs
+of having been once thickly peopled, and highly adorned with useful
+and ornamental works when Delhi was in its glory.
+
+Every handsome mausoleum among Muhammadans was provided with its
+mosque, and endowed by the founder with the means of maintaining men
+of learning to read their Koran over the grave of the deceased and in
+his chapel; and, as long as the endowment lasted, the tomb continued
+to be at the same time a college. They read the Koran morning and
+evening over the grave, and prayers in the chapel at the stated
+periods; and the rest of their time is commonly devoted to the
+instruction of the youths of their neighbourhood, either gratis or
+for a small consideration. Apartments in the tomb were usually set
+aside for the purpose, and these tombs did ten times more for
+education in Hindustan than all the colleges formed especially for
+the purpose.[4] We might suppose that rulers who formed and endowed
+such works all over the land must have had more of the respect and
+the affections of the great mass of the people than we, who, as my
+friend upon the Jumna has it, 'build nothing but private dwelling-
+houses, factories, courts of justice, and jails', can ever have; but
+this conclusion would not be altogether just.[5] Though every mosque
+and mausoleum was a seat of learning, that learning, instead of being
+a source of attraction and conciliation between the Muhammadans and
+Hindoos, was, on the contrary, a source of perpetual repulsion and
+enmity between them--it tended to keep alive in the breasts of the
+Musalmans a strong feeling of religions indignation against the
+worshippers of idols; and of dread and hatred in those of the
+Hindoos.
+
+The Koran was the Book of books, spoken by God to the angel Gabriel
+in parts as occasion required, and repeated by him to Muhammad; who,
+unable to write himself, dictated them to any one who happened to be
+present when he received the divine communications;[6] it contained
+all that it was worth man's while to study or know--it was from the
+Deity, but at the same time coeternal with Him--it was His divine
+eternal spirit, inseparable from Him from the beginning, and
+therefore, like Him, uncreated. This book, to read which was of
+itself declared to be the highest of all species of worship, taught
+war against the worshippers of idols to be of all merits the greatest
+in the eye of God; and no man could well rise from the perusal
+without the wish to serve God by some act of outrage against them.
+These buildings were, therefore, looked upon by the Hindoos, who
+composed the great mass of the people, as a kind of religions
+volcanoes, always ready to explode and pour out their lava of
+intolerance and outrage upon the innocent people of the surrounding
+country.
+
+If a Hindoo fancied himself injured or insulted by a Muhammadan he
+was apt to revenge himself upon the Muhammadans generally, and insult
+their religion by throwing swine's flesh, or swine's blood, into one
+of their tombs or churches; and the latter either flew to arms at
+once to revenge their God, or retaliated by throwing the flesh or the
+blood of the cow into the first Hindoo temple at hand, which made the
+Hindoos fly to arms. The guilty and the wicked commonly escaped,
+while numbers of the weak, the innocent and the unoffending were
+slaughtered. The magnificent buildings, therefore, instead of being
+at the time bonds of union, were commonly sources of the greatest
+discord among the whole community, and of the most painful
+humiliation to the Hindoo population. During the bigoted reign of
+Aurangzeb and his successors a Hindoo's presence was hardly tolerated
+within sight of these tombs or churches; and had he been discovered
+entering one of them, he would probably have been hunted down like a
+mad dog. The recollection of such outrages, and the humiliation to
+which they gave rise, associated as they always are in the minds of
+the Hindoos with the sight of these buildings, are perhaps the
+greatest source of our strength in India; because they at the same
+time feel that it is to us alone they owe the protection which they
+now enjoy from similar injuries. Many of my countrymen, full of
+virtuous indignation at the outrages which often occur during the
+processions of the Muharram, particularly when these happen to take
+place at the same time with some religious procession of the Hindoos,
+are very anxious that our Government should interpose its authority
+to put down both. But these processions and occasional outrages are
+really sources of great strength to us; they show at once the
+necessity for the interposition of an impartial tribunal, and a
+disposition on the part of the rulers to interpose impartially. The
+Muhammadan festivals are regulated by the lunar, and those of the
+Hindoos by the solar year, and they cross each other every thirty or
+forty years, and furnish fair occasions for the local authorities to
+interpose effectually.[7] People who receive or imagine insults or
+injuries commonly postpone their revenge till these religious
+festivals come round, when they hope to be able to settle their
+accounts with impunity among the excited crowd. The mournful
+procession of the Muharram, when the Muhammadans are inflamed to
+madness by the recollection of the really affecting incidents of the
+massacre of the grandchildren of their prophet, and by the images of
+their tombs, and their sombre music,[8] crosses that of the Holi[9]
+(in which the Hindoos are excited to tumultuous and licentious joy by
+their bacchanalian songs and dances) every thirty-six years; and they
+reign together for some four or five days, during which the scene in
+every large town is really terrific. The processions are liable to
+meet in the street, and the lees of the wine of the Hindoos, or the
+red powder which is substituted for them, is liable to fall upon the
+tombs of the others. Hindoos pass on, forgetting in their saturnalian
+joy all distinctions of age, sex, or religion, their clothes and
+persons besmeared with the red powder, which is moistened and thrown
+from all kinds of machines over friend and foe; while meeting these
+come the Muhammadans, clothed in their green mourning, with gloomy
+downcast looks, beating their breasts, ready to kill themselves, and
+too anxious for an excuse to kill anybody else. Let but one drop of
+the lees of joy fall upon the image of the tomb as it passes, and a
+hundred swords fly from their scabbards; many an innocent person
+falls; and woe be to the town in which the magistrate is not at hand
+with his police and military force. Proudly conscious of their power,
+the magistrates refuse to prohibit one class from laughing because
+the other happens to be weeping; and the Hindoos on such occasions
+laugh the more heartily to let the world see that they are free to do
+so.
+
+A very learned Hindoo once told me in Central India that the oracle
+of Mahadeo had been at the same time consulted at three of his
+greatest temples--one in the Deccan, one in Rajputana, and one, I
+think, in Bengal--as to the result of the government of India by
+Europeans, who seemed determined to fill all the high offices of
+administration with their own countrymen, to the exclusion of the
+people of the country. A day was appointed for the answer; and when
+the priest came to receive it they found Mahadeo (Siva) himself with
+a European complexion, and dressed in European clothes. He told them
+that their European Government was in reality nothing more than a
+multiplied incarnation of himself; and that he had come among them in
+this shape to prevent their cutting each other's throats as they had
+been doing for some centuries past; that these, his incarnations,
+appeared to have no religion themselves in order that they might be
+the more impartial arbitrators between the people of so many
+different creeds and sects who now inhabited the country; that they
+must be aware that they never had before been so impartially
+governed, and that they must continue to obey these their governors,
+without attempting to pry further into futurity or the will of the
+gods. Mahadeo performs a part in the great drama of the Ramayana, or
+the Rape of Sita, and he is the only figure there that is represented
+with a _white face_.[10]
+
+I was one day praising the law of primogeniture among ourselves to a
+Muhammadan gentleman of high rank, and defending it on the ground
+that it prevented that rivalry and bitterness of feeling among
+brothers which were always found among the Muhammadans, whose law
+prescribes an equal division of property, real and personal, among
+the sons, and the _choice of the wisest_ among them as successor to
+the government.[11] 'This', said he, 'is no doubt the source of our
+weakness, but why should you condemn a law which is to you a source
+of so much strength? I, one day', said he, 'asked Mr. Seaton, the
+Governor-General's representative at the court of Delhi, which of all
+things he had seen in India he liked best. "You have", replied he,
+smiling, "a small species of melon called 'phut' (disunion); this is
+the thing we like best in your land." There was', continued my
+Muhammadan friend, 'an infinite deal of sound political wisdom in
+this one sentence. Mr. Seaton was a very good and a very wise man.
+Our European governors of the present day are not at all the same
+kind of thing. I asked Mr. B., a judge, the same question many years
+afterwards, and he told me that he thought the rupees were the best
+things he had found in India. I asked Mr. T., the Commissioner, and
+he told me that he thought the tobacco which he smoked in his hookah
+was the best thing. And pray, sir, what do you think the best thing?'
+
+'Why, Nawab Sahib, I am always very well pleased when I am free from
+pain, and can get my nostrils full of cool air, and my mouth full of
+cold water in this hot land of yours; and I think most of my
+countrymen are the same. Next to these, the thing we all admire most
+in India, Nawab Sahib, is the entire exemption which you and I and
+every other gentleman, native or European, enjoy from the taxes which
+press so heavily upon them in other countries.[12] In Kashmir, no
+midwife is allowed to attend a woman in her confinement till a heavy
+tax has been paid to Ranjit Singh for the infant; and in England, a
+man cannot let the light of heaven into his house till he has paid a
+tax for the window.'[13]
+
+'Nor keep a dog, nor shoot a partridge in the jungle, I am told,'
+said the Nawab.
+
+'Quite true, Nawab Sahib.'
+
+'Hindustan, sir,' said he, 'is, after all, the best country in the
+world; the only thing wanted is a little more (_rozgar_) employment
+for the educated classes under Government.'
+
+'True, Nawab Sahib, we might, no doubt, greatly multiply this
+employment to the advantage of those who got the places, but we
+should have to multiply at the same time the taxes, to the great
+disadvantage of those who did not get them.'
+
+'True, very true, sir,' said my old friend.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. Faridpur is a mistake for Faridabad, a small town sixteen miles
+from Delhi, founded in 1607 by Shaikh Farid, treasurer of Jahangir,
+to protect the high road between Agra and Delhi.
+
+3. The beds are dry in the cold season, but the streams, which flow
+from the hills to the south of Delhi, are torrents in the rainy
+season.
+
+4. But the education in such schools is of very little value, being
+commonly confined to the committing of the Koran to memory by boys
+ignorant of Arabic.
+
+5. In modern India the British buildings are far more varied, and
+many aspire to some architectural merit.
+
+6. Muhammad is said to have received these communications in all
+situations; sometimes when riding along the road on his camel, he
+became suddenly red in the face, and greatly agitated; he made his
+camel sit down immediately, and called for some one to write. His
+rhapsodies were all written at the time on leaves and thrown into a
+box. Gabriel is believed to have made him repeat over the whole once
+every year during the month of Ramazan. In the year he died Muhammad
+told his followers that the angel had made him repeat them over twice
+that year, and that he was sure he would not live to receive another
+visit. [W. H. S.]
+
+7. The Muhammadan year consists of twelve lunar months of 30 and 29
+days alternately. The common year, therefore, consists of only 354
+days. But, when intercalary days in certain years are allowed for,
+the mean year consists of 354 11/30 days. Inasmuch as a solar year
+consists of about 365 1/4 days, the difference amounts to nearly 11
+days, and any given month in the Muhammadan year consequently goes
+the round of the seasons in course of time.
+
+8. The Muharram celebration takes its name from the first month of
+the Muhammadan year, during which it takes place. Ali, the cousin of
+Muhammad, was married to the prophet's daughter Fatima, and,
+according to the Shia sect, must be regarded as the lawful successor
+of Muhammad, who died in June, A.D. 632. But, as a matter of fact,
+Omar, Abu Bakr, and Othman (Usman) in turn succeeded to the
+Khalifate, and Ali did not take possession of the office till A.D.
+655. After five and a half years' reign he was assassinated in
+January, A.D. 661, and his son Hasan, who for a few months had held
+the vacant office, was poisoned in A.D. 670. Husain, the younger son
+of Ali, strove to assert his rights by force of arms, but was slain
+on the tenth day of the month Muharram (10th October, A.D. 680) in a
+great battle fought at Karbala near the Euphrates. These events are
+commemorated yearly by noisy funeral processions. Properly, the
+proceedings ought to be altogether mournful, and confined to the Shia
+sect, but in practice, Sunni Muhammadans, and even Hindoos, take part
+in the ceremonies, which are regarded by many of the populace as no
+more solemn than a Lord Mayor's show.
+
+9. The disgusting festival of the Holi, celebrated with drunkenness
+and obscenity, takes place in March, and is supposed to be the
+festival of the vernal equinox (see _ante_, chapter 27 note 16). The
+magistrates in India have no duty which requires more tact,
+discretion, and firmness than the regulation of conflicting religions
+processions. The general disarmament of the people has rendered
+collisions less dangerous and sanguinary than they used to be, but,
+in spite of all precautions, they still occur occasionally. The total
+prohibition of processions likely to cause collisions is, of course,
+impracticable.
+
+10. Ante chapter 15 text at [9].
+
+11. Muslim daughters also succeed, each taking half the share of a
+son.
+
+12. _Tempora mutantur_. The land revenue, in the author's time, fully
+preserved its character of rent, and obviously was not a tax. Later
+legislation has obscured its real nature, and made it look like a
+tax. When the author wrote, the only taxes levied were indirect ones,
+as that on salt, which was paid unconsciously. The modern income-tax,
+local rates, municipal taxation, and gun licences were all unknown.
+
+13. The window tax was levied at varying rates from 1697 to 1851.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 67
+
+
+The Old City of Delhi.
+
+On the 21st we went on eight miles to the Kutb Minar, across the
+range of sandstone hills, which rise to the height of about two
+hundred feet, and run north and south. The rocks are for the most
+part naked, but here and there the soil between them is covered with
+_famished_ grass, and a few stunted shrubs; anything more
+unprepossessing can hardly be conceived than the aspect of these
+hills, which seem to serve no other purpose than to store up heat for
+the people of the great city of Delhi. We passed through a cut in
+this range of hills, made apparently by the stream of the river Jumna
+at some remote period, and about one hundred yards wide at the
+entrance. This cut is crossed by an enormous stone wall running north
+and south, and intended to shut in the waters, and form a lake in the
+opening beyond it. Along the brow of the precipice, overlooking the
+northern end of the wall, is the stupendous fort of Tughlakabad,
+built by the Emperor Tughlak the First[1] of the sandstones of the
+range of hills on which it stands, cut into enormous square
+blocks.[2]
+
+On the brow of the opposite side of the precipice, overlooking the
+southern end of the wall, stands the fort of Muhammadabad, built by
+this Emperor's son and successor, Muhammad, and resembling in all
+things that built by his father.[3] These fortresses overlooked the
+lake, with the old city of Delhi spread out on the opposite side of
+it to the west. There is a third fortress upon an isolated hill, east
+of the great barrier wall, said to have been built in honour of his
+master by the Emperor Tughlak's _barber_.[4] The Emperor's tomb
+stands upon an isolated rock in the middle of the once lake, now
+plain, about a mile to the west of the barrier wall. The rock is
+connected with the western extremity of the northern fortress by a
+causeway of twenty-five arches, and about one hundred and fifty yards
+long. This is a fine tomb, and contains in a square centre room the
+remains of the Emperor Tughlak, his wife, and his son. The tomb is
+built of red sandstone, and surmounted by a dome of white marble. The
+three graves inside are built of brick covered with stucco work. The
+outer sides of the tomb slope slightly inwards from the base, in the
+form of a pyramid; but the inner walls are, of course,
+perpendicular.[5]
+
+The impression left on the mind after going over these stupendous
+fortifications is that the arts which contribute to the comforts and
+elegancies of life must have been in a very rude state when they were
+raised. Domestic architecture must have been wretched in the extreme.
+The buildings are all of stone, and almost all without cement, and
+seem to have been raised by giants, and for giants, whose arms were
+against everybody, and everybody's arm against them. This was indeed
+the state of the Pathan sovereigns in India--they were the creatures
+of their armies; and their armies were also employed against the
+people, who feared and detested them all.[6]
+
+The Emperor Tughlak, on his return at the head of the army, which he
+had led into Bengal to chastise some rebellious subjects, was met at
+Afghanpur by his eldest son, Juna, whom he had left in the government
+of the capital. The prince had in three days raised here a palace of
+wood for a grand entertainment to do honour to his father's return;
+and when the Emperor signified his wish to retire, all the courtiers
+rushed out before him to be in attendance, and among the rest, Juna
+himself. Five attendants only remained when the Emperor rose from his
+seat, and at that moment the building fell in and crushed them and
+their master. Juna had been sent at the head of an army into the
+Deccan, where he collected immense wealth from the plunder of the
+palaces of princes and the temples of their priests, the only places
+in which much wealth was to be found in those days. This wealth he
+tried to conceal from his father, whose death he probably thus
+contrived, that he might the sooner have the free enjoyment of it
+with unlimited power.[7]
+
+Only thirty years before, Ala-ud-din, returning in the same manner at
+the head of an army from the Deccan loaded with wealth, murdered the
+Emperor Firoz the Second, the father of his wife, and ascended the
+throne.[8] Juna ascended the throne under the name of Muhammad the
+Third;[9] and, after the remains of his father had been deposited in
+the tomb I have described, he passed in great pomp and splendour from
+the fortress of Tughlakabad, which his father had just then
+completed, to the city in which the Minar stands, with elephants
+before and behind loaded with gold and silver coins, which were
+scattered among the crowd, who everywhere hailed him with shouts of
+joy. The roads were covered with flowers, the houses adorned with the
+richest stuffs, and the streets resounded with music.
+
+He was a man of great learning, and a great patron of learned men; he
+was a great founder of churches, had prayers read in them at the
+prescribed times, and always went to prayers five times a day
+himself.[10] He was rigidly temperate himself in his habits, and
+discouraged all intemperance in others. These things secured him
+panegyrists throughout the empire during the twenty-seven years that
+he reigned over it, though perhaps he was the most detestable tyrant
+that ever filled a throne. He would take his armies out over the most
+populous and peaceful districts, and hunt down the innocent and
+unoffending people like wild beasts, and bring home their heads by
+thousands to hang them on the city gates for his mere amusement. He
+twice made the whole people of the city of Delhi emigrate with him to
+Daulatabad in Southern India, which he wished to make the capital,
+from some foolish fancy; and during the whole of his reign gave
+evident signs of being in an unsound state of mind.[11] There was at
+the time of his father's death a saint at Delhi named Nizamuddin
+Aulia, or the Saint, who was supposed by supernatural means to have
+driven from Delhi one night in a panic a large army of Moghals under
+Tarmasharin, who invaded India from Transoxiana in 1303, and laid
+close siege to the city of Delhi, in which the Emperor Ala-ud-din was
+shut up without troops to defend himself, his armies being engaged in
+Southern India.[12] It is very likely that he did strike this army
+with a panic by getting some of their leaders assassinated in one
+night. He was supposed to have the 'dast ul ghaib', or supernatural
+purse' [literally, 'invisible hand'], as his private expenditure is
+said to have been more lavish even than that of the Emperor himself,
+while he had no ostensible source of income whatever. The Emperor was
+either jealous of his influence and display, or suspected him of dark
+crimes, and threatened to humble him when he returned to Delhi. As he
+approached the city, the friends of the saint, knowing the resolute
+spirit of the Emperor, urged him to quit the capital, as he had been
+often heard to say, 'Let me but reach Delhi, and this proud priest
+shall be humbled'.
+
+The only reply that the saint would ever deign to give from the time
+the imperial army left Bengal, till it was within one stage of the
+capital, was '_Dihli dur ast_'; 'Delhi is still far off'. This is now
+become a proverb over the East equivalent to our 'There is many a
+slip between the cup and the lip'. It is probable that the saint had
+some understanding with the son in his plans for the murder of his
+father; it is possible that his numerous wandering disciples may in
+reality have been murderers and robbers, and that he could at any
+time have procured through them the assassination of the Emperor. The
+Muhammadan Thugs, or assassins of India, certainly looked upon him as
+one of the great founders of their system, and used to make
+pilgrimages to his tomb as such; and, as he came originally from
+Persia, and is considered by his greatest admirers to have been in
+his youth a robber, it is not impossible that he may have been
+originally one of the 'assassins', or disciples of the 'old man of
+the mountains', and that he may have set up the system of Thuggee in
+India and derived a great portion of his income from it.[13] Emperors
+now prostrate themselves, and aspire to have their bones placed near
+it [_scil._ the tomb]. While wandering about the ruins, I remarked to
+one of the learned men of the place who attended us that it was
+singular Tughlak's buildings should be so rude compared with those of
+Iltutmish, who had reigned more than eighty years before him.[14]
+'Not at all singular,' said he, 'was he not under the curse of the
+holy saint Nizam-ud-din?' 'And what had the Emperor done to merit the
+holy man's curse?' 'He had taken by force to employ upon his palaces
+several of the masons whom the holy man was employing upon a church,'
+said he.
+
+The Kutb Minar was, I think, more beyond my expectations than the
+Taj; first, because I had heard less of it; and secondly, because it
+stands as it were alone in India--there is absolutely no other tower
+in this Indian empire of ours.[15]
+
+Large pillars have been cut out of single stones, and raised in
+different parts of India to commemorate the conquests of Hindoo
+princes, whose names no one was able to discover for several
+centuries, till an unpretending English gentleman of surprising
+talents and industry, Mr. James Prinsep, lately brought them to light
+by mastering the obsolete characters in which they and their deeds
+had been inscribed upon them.[16] These pillars would, however, be
+utterly insignificant were they composed of many stones. The
+knowledge that they are cut out of single stones, brought from a
+distant mountain, and raised by the united efforts of multitudes when
+the mechanical arts were in a rude state, makes us still view them
+with admiration.[17] But the single majesty of this Minar of Kutb-ud-
+din, so grandly conceived, so beautifully proportioned, so chastely
+embellished, and so exquisitely finished, fills the mind of the
+spectator with emotions of wonder and delight; without any such aid,
+he feels that it is among the towers of the earth what the Taj is
+among the tombs--something unique of its kind that must ever stand
+alone in his recollections.[18]
+
+It is said to have taken forty-four years in building, and formed the
+left of two 'minars' of a mosque. The other 'minar' was never
+raised, but this has been preserved and repaired by the liberality of
+the British Government.[19] It is only 242 feet high, and 106 feet in
+circumference at the base. It is circular, and fluted vertically into
+twenty-seven semicircular and angular divisions. There are four
+balconies, supported upon large stone brackets, and surrounded with
+battlements of richly cut stone, to enable people to walk round the
+tower with safety. The first is ninety feet from the base, the second
+fifty feet further up, the third forty further; and the fourth
+twenty-four feet above the third. Up to the third balcony, the tower
+is built of fine, but somewhat ferruginous sandstone, whose surface
+has become red from exposure to the oxygen of the atmosphere. Up to
+the first balcony, the flutings are alternately semicircular and
+angular; in the second story they are all semicircular, and in the
+third all angular. From the third balcony to the top, the building is
+composed chiefly of white marble; and the surface is without the deep
+flutings. Around the first story there are five horizontal belts of
+passages from the Koran, engraved in bold relief, and in the Kufic
+character. In the second story there are four, and in the third
+three. The ascent is by a spiral staircase within, of three hundred
+and eighty steps; and there are passages from this staircase to the
+balconies, with others here and there for the admission of light and
+air.[20]
+
+A foolish notion has prevailed among some people, over-fond of
+paradox, that this tower is in reality a Hindoo building, and not, as
+commonly supposed, a Muhammadan one. Never was paradox supported upon
+more frail, I might say absurd, foundations. They are these: 1st,
+that there is only one Minar, whereas there ought to have been two--
+had the unfinished one been intended as the second, it would not have
+been, as it really is, larger than the first; 2nd, that other
+Minars seen in the present day either do not slope inward from the
+base up at all, or do not slope so much as this. I tried to trace the
+origin of this paradox, and I think I found it in a silly old
+'munshi' (clerk) in the service of the Emperor. He told me that he
+believed it was built by a former Hindoo prince for his daughter, who
+wished to worship the rising sun, and view the waters of the Jumna
+from the top of it every morning.[21]
+
+There is no other Hindoo building like, or of the same kind as
+this;[22] the ribbons or belts of passages from the Koran are all in
+relief; and had they not been originally inserted as they are, the
+whole surface of the building must have been cut down to throw them
+out in bold relief. The slope is the peculiar characteristic of all
+the architecture of the Pathans, by whom the church to which this
+tower belongs was built.[23] Nearly all the arches of the church are
+still standing in a more or less perfect state, and all correspond in
+design, proportion, and execution to the tower. The ruins of the old
+Hindoo temples about the place, and about every other place in India,
+are totally different in all three; here they are all exceedingly
+paltry and insignificant, compared with the church and its tower, and
+it is evident that it was the intention of the founder to make them
+appear so to future generations of the faithful, for he has taken
+care to make his own great work support rather than destroy them,
+that they might for ever tend to enhance its grandeur.[24] It is
+sufficiently clear that the unfinished minar was commenced upon too
+large a scale, and with too small a diminution of the circumference
+from the base upwards. It is two-fifths larger than the finished
+tower in circumference, and much more perpendicular. Finding these
+errors when they had got some thirty feet from the foundation, the
+founder, Shams-ud-din (Iltutmish), began to work anew, and had he
+lived a little longer, there is no doubt that he would have raised
+the second tower in its proper place, upon the same scale as the one
+completed. His death was followed by several successive revolutions;
+five sovereigns succeeded each other on the throne of Delhi in ten
+years.[25] As usual on such occasions, works of peace were suspended,
+and succeeding sovereigns sought renown in military enterprise rather
+than in building churches. This church was entire, with the exception
+of the second minar, when Tamerlane invaded India.[26] He took back a
+model of it with him to Samarkand, together with all the masons he
+could find at Delhi, and is said to have built a church upon the same
+plan at that place, before he set out for the invasion of Syria.
+
+The west face of the quadrangle, in which the tower stands, formed
+the church, which consisted of eleven large arched alcoves, the
+centre and largest of which contained the pulpit. In size and beauty
+they seem to have corresponded with the Minar, but they are now all
+in ruins.[27] In the front of the centre of these alcoves stands the
+metal pillar of the old Hindoo sovereign of Delhi, Prithi Raj, across
+whose temple all the great mosque, of which this tower forms a part,
+was thrown in triumph. The ruins of these temples he scattered all
+round the place, and consist of colonnades of stone pillars and
+pedestals, richly enough carved with human figures, in attitudes
+rudely and obscenely conceived. The small pillar is of bronze, or a
+metal which resembles bronze, and is softer than brass, and of the
+same form precisely as that of the stone pillar at Eran, on the Bina
+river in Malwa, upon which stands the figure of Krishna, with the
+glory around his head.[28]
+
+It is said that this metal pillar was put down through the earth, so
+as to rest upon the very head of the snake that supports the world;
+and that the sovereign who made it, and fixed it upon so firm a
+basis, was told by his spiritual advisers that his dynasty should
+last as long as the pillar remained where it was. Anxious to see that
+the pillar was really where the priests supposed it to be, that his
+posterity might be quite sure of their position, Prithi Raj had it
+taken up, and he found the blood and some of the flesh of the snake's
+head adhering to the bottom. By this means the charm was broken, and
+the priests told him that he had destroyed all the hopes of his house
+by his want of faith in their assurances. I have never met a Hindoo
+that doubted either that the pillar was really upon this snake's
+head, or that the king lost his crown by his want of faith in the
+assurance of his priests. They all believe that the pillar is still
+stuck into the head of the great snake, and that no human efforts of
+the present day could remove it. On my way back to my tents, I asked
+the old Hindoo officer of my guard, who had gone with me to see the
+metal pillar, what he thought of the story of the pillar?
+
+'What the people relate about the "kili" (pillar) having been stuck
+into the head of the snake that supports the world, sir, is nothing
+more than a simple _historical_ fact known to everybody. Is it not
+so, my brothers?' turning to the Hindoo sipahis and followers around
+us, who all declared that no fact could ever be better established.
+
+'When the Raja,' continued the old soldier, 'had got the pillar fast
+into the head of the snake, he was told by his chief priest that his
+dynasty must now reign over Hindustan for ever. "But," said the Raja,
+"as all seems to depend upon the pillar being on the head of the
+snake, we had better see that it is so with our own eyes." He ordered
+it to be taken up; the clergy tried to dissuade him, but all in vain.
+Up it was taken--the flesh and blood of the snake were found upon it-
+-the pillar was replaced; but a voice was heard saying: "Thy want of
+faith hath destroyed thee--thy reign must soon end, and with it that
+of thy race."'
+
+I asked the old soldier from whence the voice came.
+
+He said this was a point that had not, he believed, been quite
+settled. Some thought it was from the serpent himself below the
+earth, others that it came from the high priest or some of his
+clergy. 'Wherever it came from,' said the old man, 'there is no doubt
+that God decreed the Raja's fall for his want of faith; and fall he
+did soon after.' All our followers concurred in this opinion, and the
+old man seemed quite delighted to think that he had had an
+opportunity of delivering his sentiments upon so great a question
+before so respectable an audience.
+
+The Emperor Shams-ud-din Iltutmish is said to have designed this
+great Muhammadan church at the suggestion of Khwaja Kutb-ud-din, a
+Muhammadan saint from Ush in Persia, who was his religious guide and
+apostle, and died some sixteen years before him.[29] His tomb is
+among the ruins of this old city. Pilgrims visit it from all parts of
+India, and go away persuaded that they shall have all they have
+asked, provided they have given or promised liberally in a pure
+spirit of faith in his influence with the Deity. The tomb of the
+saint is covered with gold brocade, and protected by an awning--those
+of the Emperors around it he naked and exposed. Emperors and princes
+lie all around him; and their tombs are entirely disregarded by the
+hundreds that daily prostrate themselves before his, and have been
+doing so for the last six hundred years.[30] Among the rest I saw
+here the tomb of Mu'azzam, alias Bahadur Shah, the son and successor
+of Aurangzeb, and that of the blind old Emperor Shah Alam, from whom
+the Honourable Company got their Diwani grant.[31] The grass grows
+upon the slab that covers the remains of Mu'azzam, the most learned,
+most pious, and most amiable, l believe, of the crowned descendants
+of the great Akbar. These kings and princes all try to get a place as
+near as they can to the remains of such old saints, believing that
+the ground is more holy than any other, and that they may give them a
+lift on the day of resurrection. The heir apparent to the throne of
+Delhi visited the tomb the same day that I did. He was between sixty
+and seventy years of age.[32]
+
+I asked some of the attendants of the tomb, on my way back, what he
+had come to pray for; and was told that no one knew, but every one
+supposed it was for the death of the Emperor, his father, who was
+only fifteen years older, and was busily engaged in promoting an
+intrigue at the instigation of one of his wives, to oust him, and get
+one of her sons, Mirza Salim, acknowledged as his successor by the
+British Government. It was the Hindoo festival of the Basant,[33] and
+all the avenues to the tomb of this old saint were crowded when I
+visited it. Why the Muhammadans crowded to the tomb on a Hindoo
+holiday I could not ascertain.
+
+The Emperor Iltutmish, who died A.D. 1235, is buried close behind one
+end of the arched alcove, in a beautiful tomb without its cupola. He
+built the tomb himself, and left orders that there should be no
+'parda' (screen) between him and heaven; and no dome was thrown over
+the building in consequence. Other great men have done the same, and
+their tombs look as if their domes had fallen in; they think the way
+should be left clear for a start on the day of resurrection.[34] The
+church is stated to have been added to it by the Emperor Balban, and
+the Minar finished.[35] About the end of the seventeenth century, it
+was so shaken by an earthquake that the two upper stories fell down.
+Our Government, when the country came into our possession, undertook
+to repair these two stories, and entrusted the work to Captain Smith,
+who built up one of stone, and the other of wood, and completed the
+repairs in three years. The one was struck by lightning eight or nine
+years after, and came down. If it was anything like the one that is
+left, the lightning did well to remove it.[36]
+
+ About five years ago, while the Emperor was on a visit to the tomb
+of Kutb-ud-din, a madman got into his private apartments. The
+servants were ordered to turn him out. On passing the Minar he ran
+in, ascended to the top, stood a few minutes on the verge, laughing
+at those who were running after him, and made a spring that enabled
+him to reach the bottom, without touching the sides. An eye-witness
+told me that he kept his erect position till about half-way down,
+when he turned over, and continued to turn till he got to the bottom,
+when his fall made a report like a gun. He was of course dashed to
+pieces. About five months ago another fell over by accident, and was
+dashed to pieces against the sides. A new road has been here cut
+through the tomb of the Emperor Ala-ud-din, who murdered his father-
+in-law-the first Muhammadan conqueror of Southern India, and his
+remains have been scattered to the winds.[37]
+
+A very pretty marble tomb, to the west of the alcoves, covers the
+remains of Imam Mashhadi, the religious guide of the Emperor Akbar;
+and a magnificent tomb of freestone covers those of his four foster-
+brothers. This was long occupied as a dwelling-house by the late Mr.
+Blake, of the Bengal Civil Service, who was lately barbarously
+murdered at Jaipur. To make room for his dining-tables he removed the
+marble slab, which covered the remains of the dead, from the centre
+of the building, against the urgent remonstrance of the people, and
+threw it carelessly on one side against the wall, where it now lies.
+The people appealed in vain, it is said, to Mr. Fraser, the Governor-
+General's representative, who was soon after assassinated; and a good
+many attribute the death of both to this outrage upon the remains of
+the dead foster-brother of Akbar. Those of Ala-ud-din were, no doubt,
+older and less sensitive. Tombs equally magnificent cover the remains
+of the other three foster-brothers of Akbar, but I did not enter
+them.[38]
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The Sultan, called by the author 'the Emperor Tughlak the First',
+as being the first of the Tughlak dynasty, was by birth a Karauniah
+Turk, named Ghazi Beg Tughlak. He assumed the style of Ghiyas-ud-din
+Tughlak Shah when he seized the throne in A.D. 1320, and he reigned
+till A.D. 1325.
+
+2. This gigantic fortress is close to the village of Badarpur, about
+four miles due east of the Kutb Minar, and ten or twelve miles south
+of the modern city. The building of it occupied more than three
+years, but the whole undertaking 'proved eminently futile, as his son
+removed his Court to the old city within forty days after his
+accession.' (Thomas, _Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi_, 1871,
+p. 192.) The fort is described by Cunningham in _A.S.R._, vol. i, p.
+212, whose description is copied in the guide-books. See also
+Fanshawe, _Delhi Past and Present_ (John Murray, 1902), p. 288 and
+plate. That work is cited as 'Fanshawe'.
+
+3. Also called Adilabad. It is described in _A.S.R._, vol. i, p. 21;
+Carr Stephen, _The Archaeology and Monumental Remains of Delhi_,
+Ludhiana, 1876, p. 98; and Fanshawe, p. 291.
+
+4. '_The Barber's House_. This lies to the right of the road from
+Tughlakabad to Badarpur, and is close to the ruined city. It is said
+to have been built for Tughlak Shah's barber about A.D. 1323. It is
+now a mere ruin.' (Harcourt, _The New Guide to Delhi_, Allahabad,
+1866, p. 88.)
+
+5. This fine tomb was built by Muhammad bin Tughlak (A.D. 1325-51).
+It is described by Cunningham in _A.S.R._, vol. i, p. 213. See also
+_Ann. Rep. A. S., India_, 1904-5, p. 19, fig. 11; _H.F.A._, p. 397,
+fig. 234; and Fanshawe, p. 290, with plate. Thomas (_Chronicles_, p.
+192) and Cunningham both say that the causeway, or viaduct, has
+twenty-seven, not only twenty-five, arches, as stated in the text.
+The causeway is 600 feet in length. The sloping walls are
+characteristic of the period.
+
+6. The blunder of calling the Sultans of Delhi by the name Pathan,
+due to the translators of Firishta's History, has been perpetuated by
+Thomas's well-known work, _The Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of
+Delhi_, and in countless other books. The name is quite wrong. The
+only Pathan Sultans were those of the Lodi dynasty, which immediately
+preceded Babur, and those of the Sur dynasty, the rivals of Babur's
+son. 'He (_scil._ Ghiyas-ud-din Balban) was a _Turk_ of the Ilbari
+tribe, but compilers of Indian Histories and Gazetteers, and
+archaeological experts, turn him, like many Turks, Tajziks, Jats, and
+Sayyids, into _Pathans_, which is synonymous with Afghan, it being
+the vitiated Hindi equivalent of Pushtun, the name by which the
+people generally known as Afghans call themselves, in their own
+language. . . . It is quite time to give up Dow and Briggs'
+Ferishta.' (Raverty, in _J.A.S.B._, vol. lxi (1892), Part I, p. 164,
+note.)
+
+7. The murder of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlak by his son Fakhr-ud-din Juna,
+also called Ulugh Khan, occurred in the year A.H. 725, which began on
+18th December, 1324 (o.s.). The testimony of the contemporary
+traveller Ibn Batuta establishes the fact that the fall of the
+pavilion was premeditated. (Thomas, _Chronicles_, pp. 187, 189.) The
+murderer, on his accession to the throne (1325), assumed the style of
+Muhammad bin Tughlak Shah.
+
+8. Jalal-ud-din Firoz Shah Khilji was murdered by his son-in-law and
+nephew Ala-ud-din at Karra on the Ganges in July, A.D. 1296. The
+murderer reigned until A.D. 1315 under the title of Ala-ud-din
+Muhammad Shah, Sikandar Sani.
+
+9. As already noted, his proper style is Muhammad bin Tughlak Shah.
+The word _bin_ means 'son of'. The Sultan is never called 'Muhammad
+the Third'.
+
+10. A Muhammadan must, if he can, say his prayers with the prescribed
+forms five times in the twenty-four hours; and on Friday, which is
+their sabbath, he must, if he can, say three prayers in the church
+_masjid_. On other days he may say them where he pleases. Every
+prayer must begin with the first chapter of the Koran--this is the
+grace to every prayer. This said, the person may put in what other
+prayers of the Koran he pleases, and ask for that which he most
+wants, as long as it does not injure other Musalmans. This is the
+first chapter of the Koran: 'Praise be to God the Lord of all
+creatures--the most merciful--the King of the day of judgement. Thee
+do we worship, and of Thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in the
+right way--in the way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious; not
+of those against whom Thou art incensed; nor of those who go astray.'
+[W. H. S.] The quotation is from Sale's version. The last clause may
+also be rendered, 'The way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious,
+against whom Thou art not incensed, and who have not erred,' as Sale
+points out in his note.
+
+11. This mad tyrant, among other horrible deeds, flayed his nephew
+alive. He attempted to invade China through the Himalayas, and for
+three years issued a forced currency of brass and copper, which he
+vainly tried to make people take as equal in value to silver. Strange
+to say, he was allowed to reign for nearly twenty-seven years, and to
+die peacefully in his bed. The hunts of the 'innocent and unoffending
+people' were organized rather to gain the benefit of 'sending
+infidels to hell' than for 'mere amusement'. Daulatabad was the name
+given by Muhammad bin Tughlak to the ancient fortress of Deogir
+(Deogiri, Deoghur), situated about ten miles from Aurangabad, in what
+is now the Hyderabad State.
+
+12. In the original edition the Moghal leader's name is printed as
+'Turmachurn', the Tarmasharin (with variations in spelling) of
+Muhammadan authors (see E. and D., iii. 42, 450, 507; v. 485; vi.
+222). The name Turghi is given by Thomas, who says he invested Delhi
+in A.H. 703, corresponding to A.D. 1303-4; and refers to an article
+in _J.A.S.B._, vol. xxxv (1866), Part I, pp. 199-218, entitled 'Notes
+on the History and Topography of the Ancient Cities of Delhi', by O.
+Campbell. (_Chronicles_, p. 175, note.) Campbell writes the leader's
+name as Turghai Khan. Apparently Tarmasharin was identical with
+Turghi or Turghai Khan, but I am not sure that he was. The Moghals
+made several raids during the reign of Ala-ud-din Muhammad Shah.
+
+13. The tomb of Nizam-ud-din is further noticed in the next chapter
+of this work. It is situated in an enclosure which contains other
+notable tombs. The following extract from the author's _Ramaseeana_
+(p. 121) gives additional particulars concerning this saint of
+questionable sanctity: '_Nizam-ud-din Aulia_.--A saint of the Sunni
+sect of Muhammadans, said to have been a Thug of great note at some
+period of his life, and his tomb near Delhi is to this day visited as
+a place of pilgrimage by Thugs, who make votive offerings to it. He
+is said to have been of the Barsot class, born in the month of Safar
+[633], Hijri, March A.D. 1236; died Rabi-ul-awwal, 725, October A.D.
+1325. [The months as stated do not correspond.--_Ed_.] His tomb is
+visited by Muhammadan pilgrims from all parts as a place of great
+sanctity from containing the remains of so holy a man; but the Thugs,
+both Hindoo and Muhammadan, visit it as containing the remains of the
+most celebrated Thug of his day. He was of the Sunni sect, and those
+of the Shia sect find no difficulty in believing that he was a Thug;
+but those of his own sect will never credit it. There are perhaps no
+sufficient grounds to pronounce him one of the fraternity; but there
+are some to suspect that he was so at some period of his life. The
+Thugs say he gave it up early in life, but kept others employed in it
+till late, and derived an income from it; and the 'dast-ul-ghaib', or
+supernatural purse, with which he was supposed to be endowed, gives a
+colour to this. His lavish expenditure, so much beyond his ostensible
+means, gave rise to the belief that he was supplied from above with
+money.'
+
+The 'old man of the mountains' with whom the author compares Nizam-
+ud-din (or at least the original 'old man of the mountains', Shaikh-
+ul Jabal), was Hasan-ibn-Sabbah (or, us-Sabbah), who founded the sect
+of so-called Assassins in the mountains on the shores of the Caspian,
+and flourished from about A.D. 1089 to 1124. Hulaku the Mongol broke
+the power of the sect in A.D. 1256 (Thatcher, in _Encycl. Brit._,
+11th ed., 1910, s. v. 'Assassin').
+
+14. Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, who had been a slave, reigned from A.D.
+1210 to 1235. His Turkish name is variously written as Yulteemush,
+Altamsh, Alitmish, &c. The form Iltutmish is correct (_Z.D.M.G._,
+1907, p. 192). His tomb is discussed _post_.
+
+15. This is not quite accurate. A similar _minar_, or mosque tower,
+built in the middle of the thirteenth century, formerly existed at
+Koil in the Aligarh district (_A.S.R._, i. 191), and two mosques at
+Bayana in the Bharatpur State, have each only one _minar_, placed
+outside the courtyard (ibid., vol. iv, p. ix). Chitor in Rajputana
+possesses two noble Hindoo towers, one about 80 feet high, erected in
+connexion with Jain shrines, and the other, about 120 feet high,
+erected by Kumbha Rana as a tower or pillar of victory. (Fergusson,
+_Hist. of Indian and Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, vol. ii, pp.
+57-61.)
+
+16. The short life of James Prinsep extended only from August 20,
+1799, to April 22, 1840, and practically terminated in 1838, when his
+brain began to fail from the undue strain caused by incessant and
+varied activity. His memorable discoveries in archaeology and
+numismatics are recorded in the seven volumes of the _J.A.S.B._ for
+the years 1832-8. His contributions to those volumes were edited by
+B. Thomas, and republished in 1868 under the title of _Essays on
+Indian Antiquities_. Sir Alexander Cunningham, who was one of
+Prinsep's fellow workers, gives interesting details of the process by
+which the discoveries were made, in the Introduction to the first
+volume of the Reports of the Archaeological Survey. No adequate
+account of James Prinsep's remarkable career has been published. He
+was singularly modest and unassuming. A good summary of his life is
+given in Higginbotham's _Men whom India has Known_, 2nd ed., Madras,
+1874. See also the editor's paper, 'James Prinsep', in East and West,
+Bombay, July, 1906.
+
+17. The monolith pillars alluded to in the text are chiefly those of
+the great Emperor Piyadasi, Beloved of the Gods, also known by the
+name of Asoka. So far from being memorials of a time when 'the
+mechanical arts were in a rude state', the Asoka columns exhibit the
+arts of the stone-cutter and sculptor in perfection. They were
+erected about 242 to 230 B.C., and the inscriptions on them contain a
+code of moral and religions precepts. They do not commemorate
+conquests, although the Asoka pillar at Allahabad has been utilized
+by later sovereigns for the recording of magniloquent inscriptions in
+praise of their grandeur. The best-known of the Asoka pillars are the
+two at Delhi, and the one at Allahabad. Many scholars have devoted
+themselves to the study of the inscriptions of Asoka, which may be
+said to form the foundation of authentic Indian history. The reader
+interested in the subject should consult Senart, _Les Inscriptions de
+Piyadasi_, t. I and II, Paris, 1881, 1886; V. A. Smith, _Asoka, the
+Buddhist Emperor of India_, 2nd ed.. Oxford, 1909; and 'The
+Monolithic Pillars or Columns of Asoka' (_Z.D.M.G._, 1911, pp. 221-
+10). See also _E.H.I._, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1914), chap. 6, 7, with
+Bibliography. Certain of the Gupta emperors in the fifth century A.C.
+also erected monolith pillars. Some of the pillars of the Gupta
+period commemorate victories; others are merely religious monuments.
+
+18. Fergusson thought the Kutb Minar superior to Giotto's campanile
+at Florence in 'poetry of design and exquisite finish of detail'. He
+also held it to excel its taller Egyptian rival, the minaret of the
+mosque of Hasan at Cairo, in its nobler appearance, as well as in
+design and finish. To sum up, he held the Delhi monument to surpass
+any building of its class in the whole world. (_Hist. of Indian and
+Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 206.)
+
+19. Fergusson (ibid.) was mistaken in supposing that the Kutb Minar
+was intended for anything else than a _mazina_, or tower from which
+the call to prayers should be proclaimed. It is that and nothing
+else. Several examples of early mosques with only one _minar_ each
+are known, at Koil and Bayana, in India, as well as at Ghazni and
+Cairo. The unfinished _minar_ of Alauddin near the Kutb Minar was
+intended for a distinct building, namely, his addition to the
+original Kutb mosque. There was no 'other _minar_' connected with the
+Kutb Minar.(Cunningham, _A.S.R._ iv (1874), p. ix.)
+
+The current name of the Kutb Minar refers to the saint Khwaja Kutb-
+ud-din of Ush, who lies near the tower, and not to Sultan Kutb-ud-din
+Aibak or Ibak. The _minar_ was erected, about A.D. 1232, by Sultan
+Shams-ud-din Iltutmish (V. A. Smith, 'Who Built the Kutb Minar?'
+_East and West_, Bombay, Dec. 1907, pp. 1200-5; B. N. Munshi, _The
+Kutb Minar, Delhi_, Bombay, 1911).
+
+ All the important monuments at or near Delhi are now carefully
+conserved, Lord Curzon having organized effective arrangements for
+the purpose.
+
+20. The original edition gives a coloured plate of the Kutb Minar.
+The total height stated in the text, 242 feet, is said by Fergusson
+(p. 205, note) to be that ascertained in 1794; the present height of
+the _minar_, since the modern pavilion on the top has been removed,
+is 238 feet 1 inch, according to Cunningham. (_A.S.R._, vol. i, p.
+196.) Originally the building was ten, or perhaps twenty, feet
+higher. The deep flutings appear to have been suggested by the
+_minars_ of Mahmud at Ghazni, 'which are star polygons in plan, with
+deeply indented angles'. The Kutb Minar was built by Sultan Iltutmish
+alone about A.D. 1232. The statement in most books, including
+Fanshawe (pp. 265-8, with plates), that it was _begun_ by Sultan
+Kutb-ud-din, is erroneous.
+
+21. The notion of the Hindoo origin of the Kutb Minar, which the
+author justly stigmatizes as 'foolish', was taken up by Sir Sayyid
+Ahmad Khan, the author of an Urdu work on the antiquities of Delhi,
+and by Sir A. Cunningham's assistant, Mr. Beglar, who wasted a great
+part of volume iv of the _Archaeological Survey Reports_ in trying to
+prove the paradox. His speculations on the subject were conclusively
+refuted by his chief in the Preface (pp. v-x) of the same volume. The
+minar was built by Hindoo masons, and, in consequence, some of the
+details, notably its overlapping or corbelled arches, are Hindoo.
+
+22. This is correct. The Hindoo 'towers of victory' are in a totally
+different style.
+
+23. On the misnomer 'Pathans', see _ante_, previous note 6.
+
+24. The Kutb mosque was constructed from the materials of twenty-
+seven Hindoo temples. The colonnades retain much of their Hindoo
+character. (Fanshawe, p. 259 and plate.)
+
+25. The author's description of the unfinished tower is far from
+accurate. The tower was begun, not by Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, but by
+Ala-ud-din Muhammad Shah, in the year A.H. 711 (A.D. 1311). It is
+about 82 feet in diameter, and when cased with marble, as was
+intended, would have been at least 85 feet in diameter, or nearly
+double that of the Kutb Minar, which is 48 feet 4 inches. The total
+height of the column as it now stands is about 75 feet above the
+plinth, or 87 feet above the ground level. (_A.S.R._, vol. i, p. 205;
+vol. iv, p. 62, pl. vii; Thomas, _Chronicles_, p. 173, citing
+original authorities.) Carr Stephen (p. 67) gives the circumference
+as 254 feet, and the height as about 80 feet.
+
+26. Ala-ud-din's additions were never completed. The sack of Delhi by
+Timur Lang (Tamerlane) took place in December 1398. The Delhi sacked
+by him was the city known as Firozabad.
+
+27. The glory of the mosque is . . . the great range of arches on the
+western side, extending north and south for about 385 feet, and
+consisting of three greater and eight smaller arches; the central one
+22 feet wide, and 53 feet high; the larger side-arches, 24 feet 4
+inches, and about the same height as the central arch; the smaller
+arches, which are unfortunately much ruined, are about half these
+dimensions.' The great arch 'has since been carefully restored by
+Government under efficient superintendence, and is now as sound and
+complete as when first erected. The two great side arches either were
+never completed, or have fallen down in consequence of the false mode
+of construction.' (Fergusson, _Hist. of I. and E. Archit._, ed. 1910,
+vol. ii, pp. 203, 204). The centre arch bears an inscription dated in
+A.H. 594, or A.D. 1198 (Thomas, _Chronicles_, p. 24).
+
+28. Most of the description of the Iron Pillar in the text is
+erroneous. The pillar has nothing to do with Prithi Raj, who was
+slain by the Muhammadans in A.D. 1192 (A.H. 588). The earliest
+inscription on it records the victories of a Raja Chandra, probably
+Chandra-varman, chief of Pokharan in Rajputana in the fourth century
+A.C. (_E.H.I._, 3rd ed., 1914, p. 290, note). The pillar is by no
+means 'small' when its material is considered; on the contrary, it is
+very large. That material is not 'bronze, or a metal which resembles
+bronze', but is pure malleable iron, as proved by analysis. It has
+been suggested that this pillar must have been formed by gradually
+welding pieces together; if so, it has been done very skilfully,
+since no marks of such welding are to be seen. . . . The famous iron
+pillar at the Kutb, near Delhi, indicates an amount of skill in the
+manipulation of a large mass of wrought iron which has been the
+marvel of all who have endeavoured to account for it. It is not many
+years since the production of such a pillar would have been an
+impossibility in the largest foundries of the world, and even now
+there are comparatively few where a similar mass of metal could be
+tumed out. . . . The total weight must exceed six tons.' (V. Ball,
+_Economic Geology of India_, pp. 338, 339.) The metal is uninjured by
+rust, and the inscription is perfect. An exact facsimile is set up in
+the Indian Section of the Victoria and Albert Museum at South
+Kensington, The pillar is shown, with the smaller arches of the
+mosque, in _H.F.A._ fig. 232. See also Fanshawe, pp. 260, 264, and
+plates. The inscription was edited by Fleet (_Gupta Inscriptions_,
+1888, No. 32). The dimensions of the pillar are as follows: Height
+above ground (total), 22 ft,; height below ground, 1 ft. 8 in.;
+diameter at base, 16.4 in.; diameter at the capital, 12.05 in.;
+height of capital, 3 1/2 ft. At a distance of a few inches below the
+surface it expands in a bulbous form to a diameter of 2 ft. 4 in.,
+and rests on a gridiron of iron bars, which are fastened with lead
+into the stone pavement. (_A.S.R._, vol. iv, p. 28, pl. v.)
+
+This last prosaic fact, established by actual excavation, destroys
+the basis of all the current local legends and spurious traditions.
+
+29. This name is printed Ouse in the author's text. The saint
+referred to is the celebrated Kutb-ud-din Bakhtyar Kaki, commonly
+called Kutb Shah, who died on the 27th of November, A.D. 1235.
+Iltutmish died in April, A.D. 1236 (Beale).
+
+30. The royal tombs are in the village of Mihrauli, close to the
+Kutb. See Carr Stephen, op. cit., pp. 180-4, and Fanshawe, pp. 280-4.
+
+31. That is to say, the revenue administration of Bengal, Bihar, and
+Orissa in 1765.
+
+32. He is now Emperor, having succeeded his father, Akbar Shah, in
+1837. [W. H. S.] He is known as Bahadur Shah II. In consequence of
+his having joined the rebels in 1857, he was deposed and banished. He
+died at Rangoon in 1862, and with him ended the line of Emperors of
+Delhi. He was born on the 24th of October, 1775, and so was in his
+sixty-first year when the author met him. His father was about
+seventy-eight (eighty lunar) years of age at his death.
+
+33. 'Basant' means the spring. The full name of this festival of the
+spring time is the Basant Panchami.
+
+34. According to Harcourt (_The New Guide to Delhi_, 1866), the tomb
+of Iltutmish was erected by his children, the Sultanas Rukn-ud-din
+and Razia, who reigned in succession after him for short periods,
+that is to say, Rukn-ud-din Firoz Shah for six months and twenty-
+eight days, and the Empress Razia for about three years, from A.D.
+1236 to 1239. (See Carr Stephen, p. 73.) Iltutmish died in April,
+A.D. 1236, not in 1235. Fergusson observes that this tomb is of
+special interest as being the oldest Muhammadan tomb known to exist
+in India. He also remarks (p. 509) that the effect at present is
+injured by the want of a roof, which, 'judging from appearance, was
+never completed, if ever commenced'. Harcourt (p. 120) states that
+'Firoz Shah, who reigned from A.D. 1351 to A.D. 1385 [_sic_, 1388],
+is said to have placed a roof to the building, but it is doubtful if
+there ever was one, as there are no traces of the same. Cunningham
+and Carr Stephen (p. 74) both find sufficient evidence remaining to
+satisfy them that a dome once existed. Fanshawe (p. 269) says 'that
+the chamber was intended to be roofed is clear from the remains of
+the lowest course of a dome on the top of the south wall; but, if it
+was built for her father by Sultan Raziya, as seems probable, it is
+quite possible that the dome was never completed'. The interior, a
+square of 29 1/2 feet, is beautifully and elaborately decorated, and
+in wonderful preservation considering its age and the exposure to
+which it has been subjected. The walls are over seven feet thick, the
+principal entrance being to the east. The tomb is built of red
+sandstone and marble; the sarcophagus is in the centre, and is of
+pale marble.
+
+35. Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Balban reigned from February, A.D. 1266 to
+1286. I cannot discover any authority for the statement that he
+finished the Kutb Minar, and 'added the church'. It is not clear
+which 'church', or mosque, the author refers to. For a notice of
+Balban's tomb and buildings, see Carr Stephen, pp. 79-81, He
+certainly did not finish the Kutb Minar.
+
+36. See _A.S.R._, vol. i, p. 199. '_Top of the Kutb Minar_.--This
+octagonal stone pavilion was put up in A.D. 1826 over the Minar by
+Major Smith, of the Engineers, who had the superintendence of the
+repairs of the Kutb, but it was taken down by the order of
+Government' (Harcourt, _The New Guide to Delhi_, p. 123). This
+'grotesque ornament' was removed in 1848 by order of Lord Hardinge,
+and bereft of its wooden pavilion, which had carried a flag-staff
+(Carr Stephen, p. 64; Fanshawe, p. 266). It has now been moved
+farther and more out of sight.
+
+37. This alleged outrage does not appear to have really occurred. The
+author seems to have been misinformed about the position of Ala-ud-
+din's tomb, which still exits in the central room of a building, the
+eastern wall of which is in part identical with the western wall of
+the extension of the Kutb Mosque, built by Iltutmish (Carr Stephen,
+op. cit., p. 88). Fanshawe agrees (p. 272).
+
+38. The tomb desecrated by Mr. Blake is on the right of the road
+leading from the Kutb Minar to the village of Mihrauli, and is either
+that of Adham Khan, whom Akbar put to death in A.D. 1562 for the
+murder of Shams-ud-din Muhammad Atgah Khan, one of the Emperor's
+foster fathers, or the neighbouring 'family grave enclosure' of his
+brothers, known as the _Chaunsath Khambha_, or Hall of Sixty-four
+Pillars. Adham Khan's tomb is still, or was until recently, used as a
+rest-house (Fanshawe, pp. 14, 228, 242, 256, 278; Carr Stephen, pp.
+31, 200, pl. ii). The best-known of the 'kokahs', or foster-brothers,
+of Akbar is Aziz, the son of Shams-ud-din above mentioned. Aziz
+received the title of Khan-i-Azam (Von Noer, _The Emperor Akbar_,
+transl. by Beveridge, vol. i, pp. 78, 95; and Blochmann, _Ain-t-
+Akbari_, vol. i, pp. 321, 323, &c.). The young chief of Jaipur died
+in 1834, and in the course of disturbances which followed, the
+Political Agent was wounded, and Mr. Blake, his assistant, was killed
+(D. Boulger, _Lord William Bentinck_, 'Rulers of India' series, p.
+143). I cannot find mention in any authority of Imam Mashhadi. Mr.
+Fraser's murder has been fully described _ante_ chapter 64.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 68
+
+
+New Delhi, or Shahjahanabad.
+
+On the 22nd of January, 1836, we went on twelve miles to the new city
+of Delhi, built by the Emperor Shahjahan, and called after him
+Shahjahanabad; and took up our quarters in the palace of the Begam
+Samru, a fine building, agreeably situated in a garden opening into
+the great street, with a branch of the great canal running through
+it, and as quiet as if it had been in a wilderness.[1] We had
+obtained from the Begam permission to occupy this palace during our
+stay. It was elegantly furnished, the servants were all exceedingly
+attentive, and we were very happy.
+
+The Kutb Minar stands upon the back of the sandstone range of low
+hills, and the road descends over the north-eastern face of this
+range for half a mile, and then passes over a level plain all the way
+to the new city, which lies on the right bank of the river Jumna. The
+whole plain is literally covered with the remains of splendid
+Muhammadan mosques and mausoleums. These Muhammadans seem as if they
+had always in their thoughts the saying of Christ which Akbar has
+inscribed on the gateway at Fathpur Sikri: 'Life is a bridge which
+you are to pass over, and not to build your dwellings upon.'[2] The
+buildings which they have left behind them have almost all a
+reference to a future state--they laid out their means in a church,
+in which the Deity might be propitiated; in a tomb where leaned and
+pious men might chant their Koran over their remains, and youth be
+instructed in their duties; in a serai, a bridge, a canal built
+gratuitously for the public good, that those who enjoyed these
+advantages from generation to generation might pray for the repose of
+their souls. How could it be otherwise where the land was the
+property of Government, where capital was never concentrated or safe,
+when the only aristocracy was that of office, while the Emperor was
+the sole recognized heir of all his public officers?
+
+The only thing that he could not inherit were his tombs, his temples,
+his bridges, his canals, his caravanserais. I was acquainted with the
+history of most of the great men whose tombs and temples I visited
+along the road; but I asked in vain for a sight of the palaces they
+occupied in their day of pride and power. They all had, no doubt,
+good houses agreeably situated, like that of the Begam Samru, in the
+midst of well-watered gardens and shrubberies, delightful in their
+season; but they cared less about them--they knew that the Emperor
+was heir to every member of the great body to which they belonged,
+the _aristocracy of office_; and might transfer all their wealth to
+his treasury, and all their palaces to their successors, the moment
+the breath should be out of their bodies.[3] If their sons got
+office, it would neither be in the same grades nor in the same places
+as those of their fathers.
+
+How different it is in Europe, where our aristocracy is formed upon a
+different basis; no one knows where to find the tombs in which the
+remains of great men who have passed away repose; or the churches and
+colleges they have founded; or the serais, the bridges, the canals
+they formed gratuitously for the public good; but everybody knows
+where to find their 'proud palaces'; life is not to them 'a bridge
+over which they are to pass, and not build their dwellings upon'. The
+eldest sons enjoy all the patrimonial estates, and employ them as
+best they may to get their younger brothers into situations in the
+church, the army, the navy, and other public establishments, in which
+they may be honourably and liberally provided for out of the public
+purse.
+
+About half-way between the great tower and the new city, on the left-
+hand side of the road, stands the tomb of Mansur Ali Khan, the great-
+grandfather of the present King of Oudh. Of all the tombs to be seen
+in this immense extent of splendid ruins, this is perhaps the only
+one raised over a subject, the family of whose inmates are now in a
+condition even to keep it in repair. It is a very beautiful
+mausoleum, built after the model of the Taj at Agra; with this
+difference, that the external wall around the quadrangle of the Taj
+is here, as it were, thrown back, and closed in upon the tomb. The
+beautiful gateway at the entrance of the gardens of the Taj forms
+each of the four sides of the tomb of Mansur Ali Khan, with all its
+chaste beauty of design, proportion, and ornament.[4] The quadrangle
+in which this mausoleum stands is about three hundred and fifty yards
+square, surrounded by a stone wall, with handsome gateways, and
+filled in the same manner as that of the Taj at Agra, with cisterns
+and fruit-trees. Three kinds of stones are used--white marble, red
+sandstone, and the fine white and flesh-coloured sandstone of Rupbas.
+The dome is of white marble, and exactly of the same form as that of
+the Taj; but it stands on a neck or base of sandstone with twelve
+sides, and the marble is of a quality very inferior to that of the
+Taj. It is of coarse dolomite, and has become a good deal discoloured
+by time, so as to give it the appearance, which Bishop Heber noticed,
+of _potted meat_. The neck is not quite so long as that of the Taj,
+and is better covered by the marble cupolas that stand above each
+face of the building. The four noble minarets are, however, wanting.
+The apartments are all in number and form exactly like those of the
+Taj, but they are somewhat less in size. In the centre of the first
+floor lies the beautiful marble slab that bears the date of this
+small pillar of a _tottering state_, A.H. 1167;[5] and in a vault
+underneath repose his remains by the side of those of one of his
+grand-daughters. The graves that cover these remains are of plain
+earth strewed with fresh flowers, and covered with plain cloth. About
+two miles from this tomb to the east stands that of the father of
+Akbar, Humayun, a large and magnificent building. As I rode towards
+this building to see the slab that covers the head of poor Dara
+Shikoh, I frequently cast a lingering look behind to view, as often
+as I could, this very pretty imitation of the most beautiful of all
+the tombs of the earth.[6]
+
+On my way I turned in to see the tomb of the celebrated saint, Nizam-
+ud-din Aulia, the defeater of the Transoxianian army under Tarmah
+Shirin in 1303, to which pilgrimages are still made from all parts of
+India.[7] It is a small building, surmounted by a white marble dome,
+and kept very clean and neat.[8] By its side is that of the poet
+Khusru, his contemporary and friend, who moved about where he pleased
+through the palace of the Emperor Tughlak Shah the First, five
+hundred years ago, and sang extempore to his lyre while the greatest
+and the fairest watched his lips to catch the expressions as they
+came warm from his soul. His popular songs are still the most
+popular; and he is one of the favoured few who live through ages in
+the every-day thoughts and feelings of many millions, while the
+crowned heads that patronized them in their brief day of pomp and
+power are forgotten, or remembered merely as they happened to be
+connected with them. His tomb has also a dome, and the grave is
+covered with rich brocade,[9] and attended with as much reverence and
+devotion as that of the great saint himself, while those of the
+emperors, kings, and princes that have been crowded around them are
+entirely disregarded. A number of people are employed to read the
+Koran over the grave of the old saint (_scil._ Nizam-ud-din), who
+died A.H. 725 [A.D. 1324-5], and are paid by contributions from the
+present Emperor, and the members of his family, who occasionally come
+in their hour of need to entreat his intercession with the Deity in
+their favour, and by the humble pilgrims who flock from all parts for
+the same purpose. A great many boys are here educated by those
+readers of their sacred volume. All my attendants bowed their heads
+to the dust before the shrine of the saint, but they seemed
+especially indifferent to those of the royal family, which are all
+open to the sky. Respect shown or neglect towards them could bring
+neither good nor evil, while any slight to the tomb of the _crusty
+old saint_ might be of serious consequence.
+
+In an enclosure formed by marble screens beautifully carved is the
+tomb of the favourite son of the present Emperor,[10] Mirza Jahangir,
+whom I knew intimately at Allahabad in 1816,[11] when he was killing
+himself as fast as he could with Hoffman's cherry brandy. 'This ', he
+would say to me, 'is really the only liquor that you Englishmen have
+worth drinking, and its only fault is that it makes one drunk too
+soon.' To prolong his pleasure, he used to limit himself to one large
+glass every hour, till he got dead drunk. Two or three sets of
+dancing women and musicians used to relieve each other in amusing him
+during this interval. He died, of course, soon, and the poor old
+Emperor was persuaded by his mother, the favourite sultana, that he
+had fallen a victim to sighing and grief at the treatment of the
+English, who would not permit him to remain at Delhi, where he was
+continually employed in attempts to assassinate his eldest brother,
+the heir apparent, and to stir up insurrections among the people. He
+was not in confinement at Allahabad, but merely prohibited from
+returning to Delhi. He had a splendid dwelling, a good income, and
+all the honours due to his rank.[12]
+
+In another enclosure of the same kind are the Emperor Muhammad
+Shah,[13]--who reigned when Nadir Shah invaded Delhi--his mother,
+wife, and daughter; and in another close by is the tomb which
+interested me most, that of Jahanara Begam, the favourite sister of
+poor Dara Shikoh, and daughter of Shah Jahan.[14] It stands in the
+same enclosure, with the brother of the present Emperor on one side,
+and his daughter on the other. Her remains are covered with a marble
+slab hollow at the top, and exposed to the sky--the hollow is filled
+with earth covered with green grass. Upon her tomb is the following
+inscription, the three first lines of which are said to have been
+written by herself:-
+
+ Let no rich canopy cover my grave.
+ This grass is the best covering for the tombs
+ of the poor in spirit.
+ The humble, the transitory Jahanara,
+ The disciple of the holy men of Chisht,
+ The daughter of the Emperor Shah Jahan.'
+
+I went over the magnificent tomb of Humayun, which was raised over
+his remains by the Emperor Akbar. It stands in the centre of a
+quadrangle of about four hundred yards square, with a cloistered wall
+all round; but I must not describe any more tombs.[15] Here, under a
+marble slab, lies the head of poor Dara Shikoh, who, but for a little
+infirmity of temper, had perhaps changed the destinies of India, by
+changing the character of education among the aristocracy of the
+countries under his rule, and preventing the birth of the Maratha
+powers by leaving untouched the independent kingdoms of the Deccan,
+upon whose ruins, under his bigoted brother, the former rose. Secular
+and religions education were always inseparably combined among the
+Muhammadans, and invited to India from Persia by the public offices,
+civil and military, which men of education and courtly manners could
+alone obtain. These offices had long been exclusively filled by such
+men, who flocked in crowds to India from Khorasan and Persia. Every
+man qualified by secular instruction to make his way at court and
+fill such offices was disposed by his religions instruction to assert
+the supremacy of his creed, and to exclude the followers of every
+other from the employments over which he had any control. The
+aristocracy of office was the ocean to which this stream of
+Muhammadan education flowed from the west, and spread all over India;
+and had Dara subdued his brothers and ascended the throne, he would
+probably have arrested the flood by closing the public offices
+against these Persian adventurers, and filling them with Christians
+and Hindoos. This would have changed the character of the aristocracy
+and the education of the people.[16]
+
+While looking upon the slab under which his head reposes, I thought
+of the slight 'accidents by flood and field', the still slighter
+thought of the brain and feeling of the heart, on which the destinies
+of nations and of empires often depend--on the discovery of the great
+diamond in the mines of Golconda--on the accident which gave it into
+the hands of an ambitions Persian adventurer--on the thought which
+suggested the advantage of presenting it to Shah Jahan--on the
+feeling which made Dara get off, and Aurangzeb sit on his elephant at
+the battle of Samugarh, on which depended the fate of India, and
+perhaps the advancement of the Christian religion and European
+literature and science over India.[17] But for the accident which
+gave Charles Martel the victory over the Saracens at Tours,[18]
+Arabic and Persian had perhaps been the classical languages, and
+Islamism the religion of Europe; and where we have cathedrals and
+colleges we might have had mosques and mausoleums; and America and
+the Cape, the compass and the press, the steam-engine, the telescope,
+and the Copernican System, might have remained still undiscovered;
+and but for the accident which turned Hannibal's face from Rome after
+the battle of Cannae, or that which intercepted his brother
+Asdrubal's letter, we might now all be speaking the languages of Tyre
+and Sidon, and roasting our own children in offerings to Siva or
+Saturn, instead of saving those of the Hindoos. Poor Dara! but for
+thy little jealousy of thy father and thy son, thy desire to do all
+thy work without their aid, and those occasional ebullitions of
+passion which alienated from thee the most powerful of all the Hindoo
+princes, whom it was so much thy wish and thy interest to cherish,
+thy generous heart and enlightened mind had reigned over this vast
+empire, and made it, perchance, the garden it deserves to be made.
+
+
+I visited the celebrated mosque known by the name of Jami (Jumma)
+Masjid, a fine building raised by Shah Jahan, and finished in six
+years, A.H. 1060, at a cost of ten lakhs of rupees or one hundred
+thousand pounds. Money compared to man's labour and subsistence is
+still four times more valuable in India than in England; and a
+similar building in England would cost at least four hundred thousand
+pounds. It is, like all the buildings raised by this Emperor, in the
+best taste and style.[19] I was attended by three well-dressed and
+modest Hindoos, and a Muhammadan servant of the Emperor. My attention
+was so much taken up with the edifice that I did not perceive, till I
+was about to return, that the doorkeepers had stopped my three
+Hindoos. I found that they had offered to leave their shoes behind,
+and submit to anything to be permitted to follow me; but the porters
+had, they said, strict orders to admit no worshippers of idols; for
+their master was a man of the book, and had, therefore, got a little
+of the truth in him, though unhappily not much, since his heart had
+not been opened to that of the Koran. Nathu could have told him that
+he also had a book, which he and some fourscore millions more thought
+as good as his or better; but he was afraid to descant upon the
+merits of his 'shastras', and the miracles of Kishan Ji [Krishna],
+among such fierce, cut-throat-looking people; he looked, however, as
+if he could have eaten the porter, Koran and all, when I came to
+their rescue. The only volumes which Muhammadans designate by the
+name of the book are the Old and New Testaments, and the Koran.
+
+I visited also the palace, which was built by the same Emperor. It
+stands on the right bank of the Jumna, and occupies a quadrangle
+surrounded by a high wall built of red sandstone, about one mile in
+circumference; one side looks down into the clear stream of the
+Jumna, while the others are surrounded by the streets of the
+city.[20] The entrance is by a noble gateway to the west;[21] and
+facing this gateway on the inside, a hundred and twenty yards
+distant, is the Diwan-i-Amm, or the common hall of audience. This is
+a large hall, the roof of which is supported upon four colonnades of
+pillars of red sandstone, now white-washed, but once covered with
+stucco work and gilded. On one of these pillars is shown the mark of
+the dagger of a Hindoo prince of Chitor, who, in the presence of the
+Emperor, stabbed to the heart one of the Muhammadan ministers who
+made use of some disrespectful language towards him. On being asked
+how he presumed to do this in the presence of his sovereign he
+answered in the very words almost of Roderic Dhu,
+
+ I right my wrongs where they are given,
+ Though it were in the court of Heaven.[22]
+
+The throne projects into the hall from the back in front of the large
+central arch; it is raised ten feet above the floor, and is about ten
+feet wide, and covered by a marble canopy, all beautifully inlaid
+with mosaic work exquisitely finished, but now much dilapidated. The
+room or recess in which the throne stands is open to the front, and
+about fifteen feet wide and six deep. There is a door at the back by
+which the Emperor entered from his private apartments, and one on his
+left, from which his prime minister or chief officer of state
+approached the throne by a flight of steps leading into the hall. In
+front of the throne, and raised some three feet above the floor, is a
+fine large slab of white marble, on which one of the secretaries
+stood during the hours of audience to hand up to the throne any
+petitions that were presented, and to receive and convey commands. As
+the people approached over the intervening one hundred and twenty
+yards between the gateway and the hall of audience they were made to
+bow down lower and lower to the figure of the Emperor, as he sat upon
+his throne, without deigning to show by any motion of limb or muscle
+that he was really made of flesh and blood, and not cut out of the
+marble he sat upon.
+
+The marble walls on three sides of this recess are inlaid with
+precious stones representing some of the most beautiful birds and
+flowers of India, according to the boundaries of the country when
+Shah Jahan built this palace, which included Kabul and Kashmir,
+afterwards severed from it on the invasion of Nadir Shah.[23]
+
+On the upper part of the back wall is represented, in the same
+precious stones, and in a graceful attitude, a European in a kind of
+Spanish costume, playing upon his guitar, and in the character of
+Orpheus charming the birds and beasts which he first taught the
+people of India so well to represent in this manner. This I have no
+doubt was intended by Austin de Bordeaux for himself. The man from
+Shiraz, Amanat Khan, who designed all the noble Tughra characters in
+which the passages from the Koran are inscribed upon different parts
+of the Taj at Agra, was permitted to place his own name in the same
+bold characters on the right-hand side as we enter the tomb of the
+Emperor and his queen. It is inscribed after the date, thus, A.H.
+1048 [A.D. 1638-9], 'The humble fakir Amanat Khan of Shiraz.' Austin
+was a still greater favourite than Amanat Khan; and the Emperor Shah
+Jahan, no doubt, readily acceded to his wishes to have himself
+represented in what appeared to him and his courtiers so beautiful a
+picture.[24]
+
+The Diwan-i-Khas, or hall of private audience, is a much more
+splendid building than the other from its richer materials, being all
+built of white marble beautifully ornamented. The roof is supported
+upon colonnades of marble pillars. The throne stands in the centre of
+this hall, and is ascended by steps, and covered by a canopy, with
+four artificial peacocks on the four corners.[25] Here, thought I, as
+I entered this apartment, sat Aurangzeb when he ordered the
+assassination of his brothers Dara and Murad, and the imprisonment
+and destruction by slow poison of his son Muhammad, who had so often
+fought bravely by his side in battle. Here also, but a few months
+before, sat the great Shah Jahan to receive the insolent commands of
+this same grandson Muhammad when flushed with victory, and to offer
+him the throne, merely to disappoint the hopes of the youth's father,
+Aurangzeb. Here stood in chains the graceful Sulaiman, to receive his
+sentence of death by slow poison with his poor young brother Sipihr
+Shikoh, who had shared all his father's toils and dangers, and
+witnessed his brutal murder.[26] Here sat Muhammad Shah, bandying
+compliments with his ferocious conqueror, Nadir Shah, who had
+destroyed his armies, plundered his treasury, stripped his throne,
+and ordered the murder of a hundred thousand of the helpless
+inhabitants of his capital, men, women, and children, in a general
+massacre. The bodies of these people lay in the streets tainting the
+air, while the two sovereigns sat here sipping their coffee, and
+swearing to the most deliberate lies in the name of their God,
+Prophet, and Koran;--all are now dust; that of the oppressor
+undistinguishable from that of the oppressed.[27]
+
+Within this apartment and over the side arches at one end is
+inscribed in black letters the celebrated couplet, 'If there be a
+paradise on the face of the earth, it is this--it is this--it is
+this.[28] Anything more unlike paradise than this place now is can
+hardly be conceived. Here are crowded together twelve hundred _kings_
+and _queens_ (for all the descendants of the Emperors assume the
+title of Salatin, the plural of Sultan) literally eating each other
+up.[29]
+
+Government, from motives of benevolence, has here attempted to
+apportion out the pension they assign to the Emperor, to the
+different members of his great family circle who are to be subsisted
+upon it, instead of leaving it to his own discretion. This has
+perhaps tended to prevent the family from throwing off its useless
+members to mix with the common herd, and to make the population press
+against the means of subsistence within these walls. Kings and queens
+of the house of Timur are to be found lying about in scores, like
+broods of vermin, without food to eat or clothes to cover their
+nakedness. It has been proposed by some to establish colleges for
+them in the palace to fit them by education for high offices under
+our Government. Were this done, this pensioned family, which never
+can possibly feel well affected towards our Government or any
+Government but their own, would alone send out men enough to fill all
+the civil offices open to the natives of the country, to the
+exclusion of the members of the humbler but better affected families
+of Muhammadans and Hindoos. If they obtained the offices they would
+be educated for, the evil to Government and to society would be very
+great; and if they did not get them, the evil would be great to
+themselves, since they would be encouraged to entertain hopes that
+could not be realized. Better let them shift for themselves and
+quietly sink among the crowd. They would only become rallying points
+for the dissatisfaction and multiplied sources of disaffection;
+everywhere doing mischief, and nowhere doing good. Let loose upon
+society, they everywhere disgust people by their insolence and
+knavery, against which we are every day required to protect the
+people by our interference; the prestige of their name will by
+degrees diminish, and they will sink by and by into utter
+insignificance. During his stay at Jubbulpore, Kambaksh, the nephew
+of the Emperor, whom I have already mentioned as the most sensible
+member of the family,[30] did an infinite deal of good by cheating
+almost all the tradesmen of the town. Till he came down among them
+with all his ragamuffins from Delhi, men thought the Padshahs and
+their progeny must be something superhuman, something not to be
+spoken of, much less approached, without reverence. During the latter
+part of his stay my court was crowded with complaints; and no one has
+ever since heard a scion of the house of Timur spoken of but as a
+thing to be avoided--a person more prone than others to take in his
+neighbours. One of these _kings_, who has not more than ten shillings
+a month to subsist himself and family upon, will, in writing to the
+representative of the British Government, address him as 'Fidwi
+Khas', 'Your particular slave'; and be addressed in reply with 'Your
+majesty's commands have been received by your slave.'[31]
+
+I visited the college which is in the mausoleum of Ghazi-ud-din, a
+fine building, with its usual accompaniment of a mosque and a
+college. The slab that covers the grave, and the marble screens that
+surround the ground that contains it, are amongst the most richly cut
+things that I have seen. The learned and pious Muhammadans in the
+institution told me in my morning visit that there should always be a
+small hollow in the top of marble slabs, like that on Jahanara's,
+whenever any of them were placed over graves, in order to admit
+water, earth, and grass; but that, strictly speaking, no slab should
+be allowed to cover the grave, as it could not fail to be in the way
+of the dead when summoned to get up by the trumpet of Azrail on the
+day of the resurrection.'[32] 'Earthly pride,' said they, 'has
+violated this rule; and now everybody that can afford it gets a
+marble slab put over his grave. But it is not only in this that men
+have been falling off from the letter and spirit of the law; for we
+now hear drums beating and trumpets sounding even among the tombs of
+the saints, a thing that our forefathers would not have considered
+possible. In former days it was only a prophet like Moses, Jesus, or
+Muhammad, that was suffered to have a stone placed over his head.' I
+asked them how it was that the people crowded to the tombs of their
+saints, as I saw them at that of Kutb Shah in old Delhi, on the
+Basant, a Hindoo festival. 'It only shows,' said they 'that the end
+of the world is approaching. Are we not divided into seventy-two
+sects among ourselves, all falling off into Hinduism, and every day
+committing greater and greater follies? These are the manifest signs
+long ago pointed out by wise and holy men as indicating the approach
+of the _last day_.'[33]
+
+A man might make a curious book out of the indications of the end of
+the world according to the notions of different people or different
+individuals. The Hindoos have had many different worlds or ages; and
+the change from the good to the bad, or the golden to the iron age,
+is considered to have been indicated by a thousand curious
+incidents.[34] I one day asked an old Hindoo priest, a very worthy
+man, what made the five heroes of the Mahabharata, the demigod
+brothers of Indian story, leave the plains and bury themselves no one
+knew where, in the eternal snows of the Himalaya mountains. 'Why,
+sir,' said he, 'there is no question about that. Yudhisthira, the
+eldest, who reigned quietly at Delhi after the long war, one day sat
+down to dinner with his four brothers and their single wife,
+Draupadi; for you know, sir, they had only one among them all. The
+king said grace and the covers were removed, when, to their utter
+consternation, a full-grown fly was seen seated upon the dish of rice
+that stood before his majesty. Yudhisthira rose in consternation.
+'When flies begin to blow upon men's dinners,' said his majesty, 'you
+may be sure, my brothers, that the end of the world is near--the
+golden age is gone--the iron one has commenced, and we must all be
+off; the plains of India are no longer a fit abode for gentlemen.'
+Without taking one morsel of food,' added the priest, 'they set out,
+and were never after seen or heard of. They were, however, traced by
+manifest supernatural signs up through the valley of the Ganges to
+the snow tops of the Himalaya, in which they no doubt left their
+mortal coils.' They seem to feel a singular attachment for the
+birthplace of their great progenitrix, for no place in the world is,
+I suppose, more infested by them than Delhi, at present; and there a
+dish of rice without a fly would, in the iron, be as rare a thing as
+a dish with one in the golden, age.
+
+Muhammadans in India sigh for the restoration of the old Muhammadan
+regime, not from any particular attachment to the descendants of
+Timur, but with precisely the same feelings that Whigs and Tories
+sigh for the return to power of their respective parties in England;
+it would give them all the offices in a country where office is
+everything. Among them, as among ourselves, every man is disposed to
+rate his own abilities highly, and to have a good deal of confidence
+in his own good luck; and all think that if the field were once
+opened to them by such a change, they should very soon be able to
+find good places for themselves and their children in it. Perhaps
+there are few communities in the world among whom education is more
+generally diffused than among Muhammadans in India. He who holds an
+office worth twenty rupees a month commonly gives his sons an
+education equal to that of a prime minister. They learn, through the
+medium of the Arabic and Persian languages, what young men in our
+colleges learn through those of the Greek and Latin--that is,
+grammar, rhetoric, and logic. After his seven years of study, the
+young Muhammadan binds his turban upon a head almost as well filled
+with the things which appertain to these branches of knowledge as the
+young man raw from Oxford--he will talk as fluently about Socrates
+and Aristotle, Plato, and Hippocrates, Galen and Avicenna: (_alias_
+Sokrat, Aristotalis, Aflatun, Bokrat, Jalinus, and Bu Ali Sena); and,
+what is much to his advantage in India, the languages in which he has
+learnt what he knows are those which he most requires through
+life.[35] He therefore thinks himself as well fitted to fill the high
+offices which are now filled exclusively by Europeans, and naturally
+enough wishes the establishments of that power would open them to
+him. On the faculties and operations of the human mind, on man's
+passions and affections, and his duties in all relations of life, the
+works of Imam Muhammad Ghazali[36] and Nasir-ud-din Tusi[37] hardly
+yield to those of Plato and Aristotle, or to those of any other
+authors who have written on the same subjects in any country. These
+works, the _Ihya-ul-ulum_, epitomized into the _Kimia-i-Saadat_, and
+the _Akhlak-i-Nasiri_, with the didactic poems of Sadi,[38] are the
+great 'Pierian spring' of moral instruction from which the Muhammadan
+delights to 'drink deep' from infancy to old age; and a better spring
+it would be difficult to find in the works of any other three men.
+
+It is not only the desire for office that makes the educated
+Muhammadans cherish the recollection of the old regime in Hindustan:
+they say, 'We pray every night for the Emperor and his family,
+because our forefathers ate the salt of his forefathers'; that is,
+our ancestors were in the service of his ancestors; and,
+consequently, were the _aristocracy_ of the country. Whether they
+really were so matters not; they persuade themselves or their
+children that they were. This is a very common and a very innocent
+sort of vanity. We often find Englishmen in India, and I suppose in
+all the rest of our foreign settlements, sporting high Tory opinions
+and feelings, merely with a view to have it supposed that their
+families are, or at some time were, among the aristocracy of the
+land. To express a wish for Conservative predominance is the same
+thing with them as to express a wish for the promotion in the Army,
+Navy, or Church of some of their near relations; and thus to indicate
+that they are among the privileged class whose wishes the Tories
+would be obliged to consult were they in power.[39]
+
+Man is indeed 'fearfully and wonderfully made'; to be fitted himself
+for action in the world, or for directing ably the actions of others,
+it is indispensably necessary that he should mix freely from his
+youth up with his fellow men. I have elsewhere mentioned that the
+state of imbecility to which a man of naturally average powers of
+intellect may be reduced when brought up with his mother in the
+seraglio is inconceivable to those who have not had opportunities of
+observing it.[40] The poor old Emperor of Delhi, to whom so many
+millions look up, is an instance. A more venerable-looking man it is
+difficult to conceive, and had he been educated and brought up with
+his fellow men, he would no doubt have had a mind worthy of his
+person.[41] As it is, he has never been anything but a baby. Raja
+Jivan Ram, an excellent portrait painter, and a very honest and
+agreeable person, was lately employed to take the Emperor's portrait.
+After the first few sittings, the portrait was taken into the
+seraglio to the ladies. The next time he came, the Emperor requested
+him to remove the great _blotch from under the nose_. 'May it please
+your majesty, it is impossible to draw any person without _a shadow_;
+and I hope many millions will long continue to repose under that of
+your majesty.' 'True, Raja,' said his majesty, 'men must have
+shadows; but there is surely no necessity for placing them
+immediately under their noses. The ladies will not allow mine to be
+put there; they say it looks as if I had been taking snuff all my
+life, and it certainly has a most filthy appearance; besides, it is
+all awry, as I told you when you began upon it.' The Raja was obliged
+to remove from under the imperial, and certainly very noble, nose,
+the shadow which he had thought worth all the rest of the picture.
+Queen Elizabeth is said, by an edict, to have commanded all artists
+who should paint her likeness, 'to place her in a garden with a full
+light upon her, and the painter to put _any shadow_ in her face at
+his peril'. The next time the Raja came, the Emperor took the
+opportunity of consulting him upon a subject that had given him a
+good deal of anxiety for many months, the dismissal of one of his
+personal servants who had become negligent and disrespectful. He
+first took care that no one should be within hearing, and then
+whispered in the artist's ear that he wished to dismiss this man. The
+Raja said carelessly, as he looked from the imperial head to the
+canvas, 'Why does your majesty not discharge the man if he displeases
+you?'
+
+'Why do I not discharge him? I wish to do so, of course, and have
+wished to do so for many months, but _kuchh tadbir chahiye_, some
+plan of operations must be devised.' 'If your majesty dislikes the
+man, you have only to order him outside the gates of the palace, and
+you are relieved from his presence at once.' 'True, man, I am
+relieved from his presence, but his enchantments may still reach me;
+it is them that I most dread--he keeps me in a continual state of
+alarm; and I would give anything to get him away in a good humour.'
+
+When the Raja return to Meerut, he received a visit from one of the
+Emperor's sons or nephews, who wanted to see the place. His tents
+were pitched upon the plain not far from the theatre; he arrived in
+the evening, and there happened to be a play that night. Several
+times during the night he got a message from the prince to say that
+the ground near his tents was haunted by all manner of devils. The
+Raja sent to assure him that this could not possibly be the case. At
+last a man came about midnight to say that the prince could stand it
+no longer, and had given orders to prepare for his immediate return
+to Delhi; for the devils were increasing so rapidly that they must
+all be inevitably devoured before daybreak if they remained. The Raja
+now went to the prince's camp, here he found him and his followers in
+a state of utter consternation, looking towards the theatre. The last
+carriages were leaving the theatre, and going across the plain; and
+these silly people had taken them all for devils.[42]
+
+The present pensioned imperial family f Delhi are commonly considered
+to be of the house of Timur lang (the Lame), because Babur, the real
+founder of the dynasty, was descended from him in the seventh
+stage.[43] Timur merely made a predatory inroad into India, to kill a
+few million of unbelievers,[44] plunder the country of all the
+movable valuables he and his soldiers could collect, and take back
+into slavery all the best artificers of all kinds that they could lay
+their hands upon. He left no one to represent him in India, he
+claimed no sovereignty, and founded no dynasty there. There is no
+doubt much in the prestige of a name; and though six generations had
+passed away, the people of Northern India still trembled at that of
+the lame monster. Babur wished to impress upon the minds of the
+people the notion that he had at his back the same army of demons
+that Timur had commanded; and be boasted his descent from him for the
+same motive that Alexander boasted his from the horned and cloven-
+footed god of the Egyptian desert, as something to sanctify all
+enterprises, justify the use of all means, and carry before him the
+belief in his invincibility.
+
+Babur was an admirable chief--a fit founder of a great dynasty--a
+very proper object for the imagination of future generations to dwell
+upon, though not quite so good as his grandson, the great Akbar.
+Timur was a ferocious monster, who knew how to organize and command
+the set of demons who composed his army, and how best to direct them
+for the destruction of the civilized portion of mankind and their
+works; but who knew nothing else.[45] In his invasion of India he
+caused the people of the towns and villages through which he passed
+to be all massacred without regard to religion, age, or sex. If the
+soldiers in the town resisted, the people were all murdered because
+they did so; if they did not, the people were considered to have
+forfeited their lives to the conquerors for being conquered; and told
+to purchase them by the surrender of all their property, the value of
+which was estimated by commissaries appointed for the purpose. The
+price was always more than they could pay; and after torturing a
+certain number to death in the attempt to screw the sum out of them,
+the troops were let in to murder the rest; so that no city, town, or
+village escaped; and the very grain collected for the army, over and
+above what they could consume at any stage, was burned, lest it might
+relieve some hungry infidel of the country who had escaped from the
+general carnage.
+
+All the soldiers, high and low, were murdered when taken prisoners,
+as a matter of course; but the officers and soldiers of Timur's army,
+after taking all the valuable movables, thought they might be able to
+find a market for the artificers by whom they were made, and for
+their families; and they collected together an immense number of men,
+women, and children. All who asked for mercy pretended to be able to
+make something that these Tartars had taken a liking to. On coming
+before Delhi, Timur's army encamped on the opposite or left bank of
+the river Jumna; and here he learned that his soldiers had collected
+together above one hundred thousand of these artificers, besides
+their women and children. There were no soldiers among them; but
+Timur thought it might be troublesome either to keep them or to turn
+them away without their women and children; and still more so to make
+his soldiers send away these women and children immediately. He asked
+whether the prisoners were not for the most part unbelievers in his
+prophet Muhammad; and being told that the majority were Hindoos, he
+gave orders that every man should be put to death; and that any
+officer or soldier who refused to kill or have killed all such men,
+should suffer death. 'As soon as this order was made known,' says
+Timur's historian and great eulogist, 'the officers and soldiers
+began to put it in execution; and, in less than one hour, one hundred
+thousand prisoners, according to the smallest computation, were put
+to death and their bodies thrown into the river Jumna. Among the
+rest, Mulana Nasir-ud-din Amr, one of the most venerable doctors of
+the court, who would never consent so much as to kill a single sheep,
+was constrained to order fifteen slaves, whom he had in his tents, to
+be slain. Timur then gave orders that one-tenth of his soldiers
+should keep watch over the Indian women, children, and camels taken
+in the pillage.'[46]
+
+The city was soon after taken, and the people commanded, as usual, to
+purchase their lives by the surrender of their property--troops were
+sent in to take it--numbers were tortured to death--and then the
+usual pillage and massacre of the whole people followed without
+regard to religion, age, or sex; and about a hundred thousand more of
+innocent and unoffending people were murdered. The troops next
+massacred the inhabitants of the old city, which had become crowded
+with fugitives from the new;[47] the last remnant took refuge in a
+mosque, where two of Timur's most distinguished generals rushed in
+upon them at the head of five hundred soldiers; and, as the amiable
+historian tells us, 'sent to the abyss of hell the souls of these
+infidels, of whose heads they erected towers, and gave their bodies
+for food to birds and beasts of prey'. Being at last tired of
+slaughter, the soldiers made slaves of the survivors, and drove them
+out in chains; and, as they passed, the officers were allowed to
+select any they liked except the masons, whom Timur required to build
+for him at Samarkand a church similar to that of Iltutmish in old
+Delhi.
+
+He now set out to take Meerut, which was at that time a fortified
+town of much note. The people determined to defend themselves, and
+happened to say that Tarmah Shirin, who invaded India at the head of
+a similar body of Tartars a century before,[48] had been unable to
+take the place. This so incensed Timur that he brought all his forces
+to bear on Meerut, took the place, and having had all the Hindoo men
+found in it _skinned alive_, he distributed their wives and children
+among his soldiers as slaves. He now sent out a division of his army
+to murder unbelievers, and collect plunder, over the cultivated
+plains between the Ganges and Jumna, while he led the main body on
+the same _pious duty_ along the hills from Hardwar[49] on the Ganges
+to the west. Having massacred a few thousands of the hill people,
+Timur read the noon prayer, and returned thanks to God for the
+victories he had gained, and the numbers he had murdered through his
+goodness; and told his admiring army that a religions war like this
+produced two great advantages: it secured eternal happiness in
+heaven, and a good store of valuable spoils on earth--that his design
+in all the fatigues and labours which he had undertaken was solely to
+render himself _pleasing to God_, treasure up _good works_ for his
+eternal happiness, and get riches to bestow upon his soldiers and the
+poor. The historian makes a grave remark upon this invasion: The
+Koran declares that the highest glory man can attain in this world is
+unquestionably waging a successful war in person against the enemies
+of his religion (no matter whether those against whom it is waged
+happen ever to have heard of this religion or not). Muhammad
+inculcated the same doctrine in his discourses with his friends; and,
+in consequence, the great Timur always strove to exterminate all the
+unbelievers, with a view to acquire that glory, and to spread the
+renown of his conquests. 'My name', said he, 'has spread terror
+through the universe, and the least motion I make is capable of
+shaking the whole earth.'
+
+Timur returned to his capital of Samarkand in Transoxiana in May,
+1399. His army, besides other things which they brought from India,
+had an immense number of men, women, and children, whom they had
+reduced to slavery, and driven along like flocks of sheep to forage
+for their subsistence in the countries through which they passed, or
+perish. After the murder on the banks of the Jumna of part of the
+multitude they had collected before taking the capital, amounting to
+one hundred thousand men, Timur was obliged to assign one-tenth of
+his army to guard what were left, the women and children. 'After the
+murder in the capital of Delhi,' says the historian, an eye-witness,
+'there were some soldiers who had a hundred and fifty slaves, men,
+women, and children, whom they drove out of the city before them; and
+some soldiers' boys had twenty slaves to their own share.' On
+reaching Samarkand, they employed these slaves as best they could;
+and Timur employed his, the masons, in raising his great church from
+the quarries of the neighbouring hills.[50]
+
+In October following, Timur led this army of demons over the rich and
+polished countries of Syria, Anatolia, and Georgia, levelling all the
+cities, towns, and villages, and massacring the inhabitants without
+any regard to age or sex, with the same _amiable view_ of correcting
+the notions of people regarding his creed, propitiating the Deity,
+and rewarding his soldiers. He sent to the Christian inhabitants of
+Smyrna, then one of the first commercial cities in the world, to
+request that they would at once embrace Muhammadanism, in the
+_beauties_ of which the general and his soldiers had orders
+generously and diligently to instruct them. They refused, and Timur
+repaired immediately to the spot, that he might 'share in the merit
+of sending their souls to the abyss of hell'. Bajazet, the Turkish
+emperor of Anatolia, had recently terminated an unavailing siege of
+seven years. Timur took the city in fourteen days, December,
+1402;[51] had every man, woman, and child that he found in it
+murdered; and caused some of the heads of the Christians to be thrown
+by his balistas or catapultas into the ships that had come from
+different European nations to their succour. All other Christian
+communities found within the wide range of this dreadful tempest were
+swept off in the same manner, nor did Muhammadan communities fare
+better. After the taking of Baghdad, every Tartar soldier was ordered
+to cut off and bring away the head of one or more prisoners, because
+some of the Tartar soldiers had been killed in the attack; 'and they
+spared', says the historian, 'neither old men of fourscore, nor young
+children of eight years of age; no quarter was given either to rich
+or poor, and the number of dead was so great that they could not be
+counted; towers were made of their heads to serve as an example to
+posterity.' Ninety thousand were murdered in cold blood, and one
+hundred and twenty pyramids were made of the heads for trophies.
+Damascus, Nice, Aleppo, Sebaste,[52] and all the other rich and
+populous cities of Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, and Georgia, then
+the most civilized region of the world, shared in the same fate; all
+were reduced to ruins, and their people, without regard to religion,
+age, or sex, barbarously and brutally murdered.
+
+In the beginning of 1405, this man recollected that, among the many
+millions of unbelieving Christians and Hindoos 'whose souls he had
+sent to the abyss of hell', there were many Muhammadans, who had no
+doubt whatever in the divine origin or co-eternal existence of the
+Koran; and, as their death might, perhaps, not have been altogether
+pleasing to his God and his prophet, he determined to appease them
+both by undertaking the murder of some two hundred millions of
+industrious and unoffending Chinese; among whom there was little
+chance of finding one man who had ever even _heard of the Koran_--
+much less believed in its divinity and co-eternity--or of its
+interpreter, Muhammad. At the head of between two and three hundred
+thousand well-mounted Tartars and their followers, he departed from
+his capital of Samarkand on the 8th of January, 1405, and crossed the
+Jaxartes[53] on the ice. In the words of his _judicious_ historian,
+'he thus _generously_ undertook the conquest of China, which was
+inhabited only by unbelievers that by so good a work he might atone
+for what had been done amiss in other wars, in which the blood of so
+many of the faithful had been shed'.
+
+'As all my vast conquests', said Timur himself,[54] 'have caused the
+destruction of a good many of the faithful, I am resolved to perform
+some good action, to atone for the crimes of my past life; and to
+make war upon the infidels, and exterminate the idolaters of China,
+which cannot be done without very great strength and power. It is
+therefore fitting, my dear companions in arms, that those very
+soldiers, who were the instruments whereby those my faults were
+committed, should be the means by which I work out my repentance, and
+that they should march into China, to acquire for themselves and
+their Emperor the merit of that holy war, in demolishing the temples
+of those unbelievers and erecting good Muhammadan mosques in their
+places. By this means we shall obtain pardon for all our sins, for
+the holy Koran assures us that good works efface the sins of this
+world.' At the close of the Emperor's speech, the princes of the
+blood and other officers of rank besought God to bless his generous
+undertaking, unanimously applauding his sentiments, and loading him
+with praises. 'Let the Emperor but display his standard, and we will
+follow him to the end of the world.' Timur died soon after crossing
+the Jaxartes, on the 1st of April, 1406, and China was saved from
+this dreadful scourge. But, as the _philosophical_ historian, Sharaf-
+ud-din,[55] _profoundly_ observes, 'The Koran remarks that if any one
+in his pilgrimage to Mecca should be surprised by death, the merit of
+the good work is still written in heaven in his name, as surely as if
+he had had the good fortune to accomplish it. It is the same with
+regard to the "ghaza" (holy war), where an eternal merit is acquired
+by troubles, fatigues, and dangers; and he who dies during the
+enterprise, at whatever stage, is deemed to have completed his
+design.' Thus Timur the Lame had the merit, beyond all question of
+doubt, of sending to the abyss of hell two hundred millions of men,
+women, and children, for not believing in a certain book of which
+they had never heard or read; for the Tartars had not become
+Muhammadans when they conquered China in the beginning of the
+thirteenth century. Indeed, the _amiable_ and _profound_ historian is
+of opinion, after the most mature deliberation, that 'God himself
+must have arranged all this in favour of so great and good a prince;
+and knowing that his end was nigh, inspired him with the idea of
+undertaking this enterprise, that he might have the merit of having
+completed it; otherwise, how should he have thought of leading out
+his army in the dead of winter to cross countries covered with ice
+and snow?'
+
+The heir to the throne, the Prince Pir Muhammad, was absent when
+Timur died; but his wives, who had accompanied him, were all anxious
+to share in the merit of the holy undertaking; and in a council of
+the chiefs held after his death, the opinions of these amiable
+princesses prevailed that the two hundred millions of Chinese ought
+still to be sent to 'the abyss of hell', since it had been the
+earnest wish of their deceased husband, and must undoubtedly have
+been the will of God, to send them thither without delay. Fortunately
+quarrels soon arose among his sons and grandsons about the
+succession, and the army recrossed the Jaxartes, still over the ice,
+in the beginning of April, and China was saved from this scourge.
+Such was Timur the Lame, the man whose greatness and goodness are to
+live in the hearts of the people of India, nine-tenths of whom are
+Hindoos, and to fill them with overflowing love and gratitude towards
+his descendants.
+
+In this brief sketch will perhaps be found the true history of the
+origin of the gipsies, the tide of whose immigration began to flow
+over all parts of Europe immediately after the return of Timur from
+India. The hundreds of thousands of slaves which his army brought
+from India in men, women, and children, were cast away when they got
+as many as they liked from the more beautiful and polished
+inhabitants of the cities of Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, and
+Georgia, which were all, one after the other, treated in the same
+manner as Delhi had been. The Tartar soldiers had no time to settle
+down and employ them as they intended for their convenience; they
+were marched off to ravage Western Asia in October, 1399, about three
+months after their return from India. Timur reached Samarkand in the
+middle of May, but he had gone on in advance of his army, which did
+not arrive for some time after. Being cast off, the slaves from India
+spread over those countries which were most likely to afford them the
+means of subsistence as beggars; for they knew nothing of the
+manners, the arts, or the language of those among whom they were
+thrown; and as Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Anatolia, Georgia,
+Circassia, and Russia, had been, or were being, desolated by the army
+of this Tartar chief, they passed into Egypt and Bulgaria, whence
+they spread over all other countries. Scattered over the face of
+these countries, they found small parties of vagrants who were from
+the same regions as themselves, who spoke the same language, and who
+had in all probability been drawn away by the same means of armies
+returning from the invasion of India. Chingiz Khan invaded India two
+centuries before; his descendant, Tarmah Shirin, invaded India in
+1303, and must have taken back with him multitudes of captives. The
+unhappy prisoners of Timur the Lame gathered round these nuclei as
+the only people who could understand or sympathize with them. From
+his sixth expedition into India Mahmud is said to have carried back
+with him to Ghazni two hundred thousand Hindoo captives in a state of
+slavery, A.D. 1011. From his seventh expedition in 1017, his army of
+one hundred and forty thousand fighting men returned 'laden with
+Hindoo captives, who became so cheap, that a Hindoo slave was valued
+at less than two rupees'. Mahmud made several expeditions to the west
+immediately after his return from India, in the same manner as Timur
+did after him, and he may in the same manner have scattered his
+Indian captives. They adopted the habits of their new friends, which
+are indeed those of all the vagrant tribes of India, and they have
+continued to preserve them to the present day. I have compared their
+vocabularies with those of India, and find so many of the words the
+same that I think a native of India would, even in the present day,
+be able without much difficulty to make himself understood by a gang
+of gipsies in any part of Europe.[56]
+
+A good Christian may not be able exactly to understand the nature of
+the merit which Tamerlane expected to acquire from sending so many
+unoffending Chinese to the abyss of hell. According to the Muhammadan
+creed, God has vowed 'to fill hell chock full of men and genii'.
+Hence his reasons for hardening their hearts against that faith in
+the Koran which might send them to heaven, and which would, they
+think, necessarily follow an impartial examination of the evidence of
+its divinity and certainty. Timur thought, no doubt, that it would be
+very meritorious on his part to assist God in this his labour of
+filling the great abyss by throwing into it all the existing
+population of China: while he spread over their land in pastoral
+tribes the goodly seed of Muhammadanism, which would give him a rich
+supply of recruits for paradise.
+
+The following dialogue took place one day between me and the 'mufti',
+or head Muhammadan law officer, of one of our regulation courts.[57]
+
+'Does it not seem to you strange, Mufti Sahib, that your prophet,
+who, according to your notions, must have been so well acquainted
+with the universe and the laws that govern it, should not have
+revealed to his followers some great truths hitherto unknown
+regarding these laws, which might have commanded their belief, and
+that of all future generations, in his divine mission?'
+
+'Not at all,' said the Mufti; 'they would probably not have
+understood him; and if they had, those who did not believe in what he
+did actually reveal to them, would not have believed in him had he
+revealed all the laws that govern the universe.'
+
+'And why should they not have believed in him?'
+
+'Because what he revealed was sufficient to convince all men whose
+hearts had not been hardened in unbelief. God said, "As for the
+unbelievers, it is the same with them whether you admonish them or do
+not admonish them; they will not believe. God hath sealed up their
+hearts, their ears, and their eyes; and a grievous punishment awaits
+them."'[58]
+
+'And why were the hearts of any men thus hardened to unbelief, when
+by unbelief they were to incur such dreadful penalties?'
+
+'Because they were otherwise wicked men.'
+
+'But you think, of course, that there was really much of good in the
+revelations of your prophet?'
+
+'Of course we do.'
+
+'And that those who believed in it were likely to become better men
+for their faith?'
+
+'Assuredly.'
+
+'Then why harden the hearts of even bad men against a faith that
+might make them good?'
+
+'Has not God said, "If we had pleased, we had certainly given unto
+every soul its direction; but the word which hath proceeded from me
+must necessarily be fulfilled when I said, _Verily, I will fill hell
+with men and genii altogether_ ".[59] And again, "Had it pleased the
+Lord, he would have made all men of one religion; but they shall not
+cease to differ among them, unless those on whom the Lord shall have
+mercy; and unto this hath he created them; for the word of thy Lord
+shall be fulfilled when he said, _Verily, I will fill hell altogether
+with genii and men_".'[60]
+
+'You all believe that the devil, like all the angels, was made of
+fire?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'And that he was doomed to hell because he would not fall down and
+worship Adam, who was made of clay?'
+
+'Yes, God commanded him to bow down to Adam; and when he did not do
+as he was bid, God said, "Why, Iblis, what hindered thee from bowing
+down to Adam as the other angels did?" He replied, "It is not fit
+that I should worship man, whom thou hast formed of dried clay, or
+black mud". God said, "Get thee, therefore, hence, for thou shalt be
+pelted with stones; and a curse shall be upon thee till the day of
+judgement". The devil said, "O Lord, give me respite unto the day of
+resurrection". God said, "Verily, thou shalt be respited until the
+appointed time ".'[61]
+
+'And does it not appear to you, Mufti Sahib, that in respiting the
+devil Iblis till the day of resurrection, some injustice was done to
+the children of Adam?'
+
+'How?'
+
+'Because he replies, "O Lord, because thou hast seduced me, I will
+surely tempt men to disobedience in the earth".'
+
+'No, sir, because he could only tempt those who were _predestined_ to
+go astray, for he adds, "I will seduce all, except such of them as
+shall be _thy chosen servants_". God said, "This is the right way
+with me. Verily, as to my servants, thou shalt have no power over
+them; but over those only who shall be seduced, and who shall follow
+thee; and hell is surely denounced to them all ".'[62]
+
+'Then you think, Mufti Sahib, that the devil could seduce only such
+as were predestined to go astray, and who would have gone astray
+whether he, the devil, had been respited or not?'
+
+'Certainly I do.'
+
+'Does it not then appear to you that it is as unjust to predestine
+men to do that for which they are to be sent to hell, as it would be
+to leave them all unguided to the temptations of the devil?'
+
+'These are difficult questions,' replied the Mufti, 'which we cannot
+venture to ask even ourselves. All that we can do is to endeavour to
+understand what is written in the holy book, and act according to it.
+God made us all, and he has the right to do what he pleases with what
+he has made; the potter makes two vessels, he dashes the one on the
+ground, but the other he sells to stand in the palaces of princes.'
+
+'But a pot has no soul, Mufti Sahib, to be roasted to all eternity in
+hell!'
+
+'True, sir; these are questions beyond the reach of human
+understanding.'
+
+'How often do you read over the Koran?'
+
+'I read the whole over about three times a month,' replied the
+Mufti.[63]
+
+I mentioned this conversation one day to the Nawab Ali-ud-din,[64] a
+most estimable old gentleman of seventy years of age, who resides at
+Muradabad, and asked him whether he did not think it a singular
+omission on the part of Muhammad, after his journey to heaven, not to
+tell mankind some of the truths that have since been discovered
+regarding the nature of the bodies that fill these heavens, and the
+laws that govern their motions. Mankind could not, either from the
+Koran, or from the traditions, perceive that he was at all aware of
+the errors of the System of astronomy that prevailed in his day, and
+among his people.'
+
+'Not at all', replied the Nawab; 'the prophets had, no doubt,
+abundant opportunities of becoming acquainted with the heavenly
+bodies, and the laws which govern them, particularly those who, like
+Muhammad, had been up through the seven heavens; but their thoughts
+were so entirely taken up with the Deity that they probably never
+noticed the objects by which he was surrounded; and if they had
+noticed them, they would not, perhaps, have thought it necessary to
+say anything about them. Their object was to direct men's thoughts
+towards God and his commandments, and to instruct them in their
+duties towards him and towards each other.
+
+'Suppose', continued the Nawab, 'you were to be invited to see and
+converse with even your earthly sovereign, would not your thoughts be
+too much taken up with him to admit of your giving, on your return,
+an account of the things you saw about him? I have been several times
+to see you, and I declare that I have been so much taken up with the
+conversations which have passed, that I have never noticed the many
+articles I now see around me, nor could I have told any one on my
+return home what I had seen in your room--the wall-shades, the
+pictures, the sofas, the tables, the book-cases,' continued he,
+casting his eyes round the room,' all escaped my notice, and might
+have escaped it had my eyes been younger and stronger than they are.
+What then must have been the state of mind of those great prophets,
+who were admitted to see and converse with the great Creator of the
+universe, and were sent by him to instruct mankind?
+
+'I told my old friend that I thought his answer the best that could
+be given; but still, that we could not help thinking that if Muhammad
+had really been acquainted with the nature of the heavenly bodies,
+and the laws which govern them, he would have taken advantage of his
+knowledge to secure more firmly their faith in his mission, and have
+explained to them the real state of the case, instead of talking
+about the stars as merely made to be thrown at devils, to give light
+to men upon this little globe of ours, and to guide them in their
+wanderings upon it by sea and land.
+
+'But what', said the Nawab, 'are the great truths that you would have
+had our holy prophet to teach mankind?'
+
+'Why, Nawab Sahib, I would have had him tell us, amongst other
+things, of that law which makes this our globe and the other planets
+revolve round the sun, and their moons around them. I would have had
+him teach us something of the nature of the things we call comets, or
+stars with large tails, and of that of the fixed stars, which we
+suppose to be suns, like our sun, with planets revolving round them
+like ours, since it is clear that they do not borrow their light from
+our sun, nor from anything that we can discover in the heavens. I
+would also have had him tell us the nature of that white belt which
+crosses the sky, which you call the ovarious belt, "Khatt-i-abyaz",
+and we the milky-way, and which we consider to be a collection of
+self-lighted stars, while many orthodox but unlettered Musalmans
+think it the marks made in the sky by "Borak", the rough-shod donkey,
+on which your prophet rode from Jerusalem to heaven. And you think,
+Nawab Sahib, that there was quite evidence enough to satisfy any
+person whose heart had not been hardened to unbelief? and that no
+description of the heavenly bodies, or of the laws which govern their
+motion, could have had any influence on the minds of such people?
+'[65]
+
+'Assuredly I do, sir! Has not God said, "If we should open a gate in
+the heavens above them, and they should ascend thereto all the day
+long, they would surely say, our eyes are only dazzled, or rather we
+are a people deluded by enchantments."[66] Do you think, sir, that
+anything which his majesty Moses could have said about the planets,
+and the comets, and the milky way, would have tended so much to
+persuade the children of Israel of his divine mission as did the
+single stroke of his rod, which brought a river of delicious water
+gushing from a dry rock when they were all dying from thirst? When
+our holy prophet', continued the Nawab (placing the points of the
+four fingers of his right hand on the table), 'placed his blessed
+hand thus on the ground, and caused four streams to gush out from the
+dug plain, and supply with fresh water the whole army which was
+perishing from thirst; and when out of only _five small dates_ he
+afterwards feasted this immense army till they could eat no more, he
+surely did more to convince his followers of his divine mission than
+he could have done by any discourse about the planets, and the milky
+way (Khatt-i-abyaz).'
+
+'No doubt, Nawab Sahib, these were very powerful arguments for those
+who saw them, or believed them to have been seen; and those who doubt
+the divinity of your prophets mission are those who doubt their ever
+having been seen.'
+
+'The whole army saw and attested them, sir, and that is evidence
+enough for us; and those who saw them, and were not satisfied, must
+have had their hearts hardened to unbelief.'
+
+'And you think, Nawab Sahib, that a man is not master of his own
+belief or disbelief in religions matters; though he is rewarded by an
+eternity of bliss in paradise for the one, and punished by an
+eternity of scorching in hell for the other?
+
+'I do, sir, faith is a matter of feeling; and over our feelings we
+have no control. All that we can do is to prevent their influencing
+our actions, when these actions would be mischievous. I have a desire
+to stretch out this arm, and crush that fly on the table, I can
+control the act, and do so; but the desire is not under my control.'
+
+'True, Nawab Sahib; and in this life we punish men not for their
+feelings, which are beyond their control, but for their acts, over
+which they have no control; and we are apt to think that the Deity
+will do the same.'
+
+'There are, sir,' continued the Nawab, 'three kinds of certainty--the
+moral certainty, the mathematical, and the religious certainty, which
+we hold to be the greatest of all--the one in which the mind feels
+entire repose. This repose I feel in everything that is written in
+the Koran, in the Bible, and, with the few known exceptions, in the
+New Testament.[67] We do not believe that Christ was the son of God,
+though we believe him to have been a great prophet sent down to
+enlighten mankind; nor do we believe that he was crucified. We
+believe that the wicked Jews got hold of a thief, and crucified him
+in the belief that he was the Christ; but the real Christ was, we
+think, taken up into heaven, and not suffered to be crucified.'
+
+'But, Nawab Sahib, the Sikhs have their book, in which they have the
+same faith.'
+
+'True, sir, but the Sikhs are unlettered, ignorant brutes; and you do
+not, I hope, call their "Granth" a book--a thing written only the
+other day, and full of nonsense. No "book" has appeared since the
+Koran came down from heaven; nor will any other come till the day of
+judgement. And how', said the Nawab, 'have people in modern days made
+all the discoveries you speak of in astronomy?'
+
+'Chiefly, Nawab Sahib, by means of the telescope, which is an
+instrument of modern invention.'
+
+'And do you suppose, sir, that I would put the evidence of your
+"durbins" (telescopes) in opposition to that of the holy prophet? No,
+sir, depend upon it that there is much fallacy in a telescope--it is
+not to be relied upon. I have conversed with many excellent European
+gentlemen, and their great fault appears to me to be in the implicit
+faith they put in these _telescopes_--they hold their evidence above
+that of the prophets, Moses, Abraham, and Elijah. It is dreadful to
+think how much mischief these telescopes may do. No, sir, let us hold
+fast by the prophets; what they tell us is the truth, and the only
+truth that we can entirely rely upon in this life. I would not hold
+the evidence of all the telescopes in the world as anything against
+one word uttered by the humblest of the prophets named in the Old or
+New Testament, or the holy Koran. The prophets, sir, keep to the
+prophets, and throw aside your telescopes--there is no truth in them;
+some of them turn people upside down, and make them walk upon their
+heads; and yet you put their evidence against that of the
+prophets.'[68]
+
+Nothing that I could say would, after this, convince the Nawab that
+there was any virtue in telescopes; his religions feeling had been
+greatly excited against them; and had Galileo, Tycho Brahe, Kepler,
+Newton, Laplace, and the Herschels, all been present to defend them,
+they would not have altered his opinion of their demerits. The old
+man has, I believe, a shrewd suspicion that they are inventions of
+the devil to lead men from the right way; and were he told all that
+these great men have discovered through their means, he would be very
+much disposed to believe that they were incarnations of his satanic
+majesty playing over again with 'durbins' (telescopes) the same game
+which the serpent played with the apple in the garden of Eden.
+
+ Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid;
+ Leave them to God above: him serve and fear;
+ Of other creatures, as him pleases best,
+ Wherever placed, let him dispose: joy thou
+ In what he gives to thee, this Paradise
+ And thy fair Eve: heaven is for thee too high
+ To know what passes there: be lowly wise:
+ Think only what concerns thee, and thy being:
+ Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there
+ Live, in what state, condition, or degree:
+ Contented that thus far hath been revealed,
+ Not of earth only, but of highest heaven.'[69]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Chapter 75 _post_ is devoted to the history of the Begam Samru
+(Sumroo). The 'great street' is the celebrated Chandni Chauk, a very
+wide thoroughfare. The branch of the canal which runs down the middle
+of it is now covered over. The Begam's house is now occupied by the
+Delhi Bank (Fanshawe, p, 49).
+
+2. _Ante_, chapter 54, note 14.
+
+3. The Emperors were not in the least ashamed of this practice, and
+robbed the families of rich merchants as well as those of officials.
+In fact they levied in a rough way the high 'death duties' so much
+admired by Radicals with small expectations. Some remarkable cases
+are related in detail by Bernier (Bernier, _Travels_, ed. Constable,
+and V. A. Smith (1914), pp. 163-7). When Aurangzeb heard of the death
+of the Governor of Kabul, he gave orders to seize the belongings of
+the deceased, so that 'not even a piece of straw be left' (Bilimoria,
+_Letters of Aurungzebe_, No. xcix).
+
+4. The meaning of this sentence is obscure.
+
+5. Corresponding to A.D. 1753-4. In the original edition the date is
+misprinted A.D. 1167.
+
+6. The tomb of Mansur Ali Khan is better known as that of Safdar
+Jang, which was the honorary title of the noble over whom the edifice
+was raised. He was the wazir, or chief minister, of the Emperor Ahmad
+Shah from 1748 to 1752, and was practically King of Oudh, where he
+had succeeded to the power of his father-in-law, the well-known
+Saadat Khan: Safdar Jang died in A.D. 1754 and was succeeded in Oudh
+by his son Shuja-ud-daula.
+
+The author's praise of the beauty of Safdar Jang's tomb will seem
+extravagant to most critics. In the editor's judgement the building
+is a very poor attempt to imitate the inimitable Taj. Fergusson (ed.
+1910, vol. ii, p. 324, pl. xxxiv) gives it the qualified praise that
+'it looks grand and imposing at a distance, but it will not bear
+close inspection'. See Fanshawe, p. 246 and plate. In the original
+edition a coloured plate of this mausoleum is given.
+
+7. Nizam-ud-din was the disciple of Farid-ud-din Ganj Shakar, so
+called from his look being sufficient to convert _cods of earth into
+lumps of sugar_. Farid was the disciple of Kutb-ud-din of Old Delhi,
+who was the disciple of Muin-ud-din of Ajmer, the greatest of all
+their saints. [W. H. S.] Muin-ud-din died A.D. 1236. For further
+particulars of the three saints see Beale, _Oriental Biographical
+Dictionary_, ed. Keene, 1894. Dr. Horn (_Ep. Ind._ ii, 145 n., 426
+n.) gives information about the Persian biographies of Nizam-ud-din
+and other Chishti saints.
+
+8. For the personal history of Nizam-ud-din see the last preceding
+chapter, [13]. His tomb is situated in a kind of cemetery, which also
+contains the tombs of the poet Khusru, the Princess Jahanara, and the
+Emperor Muhammad Shah, which will be noticed presently. Fanshawe (p.
+236) gives a plan of the enclosure. Nizam-ud-din's tomb 'has a very
+graceful appearance, and is surrounded by a verandah of white marble,
+while a cut screen encloses the sarcophagus, which is always covered
+with a cloth. Round the gravestone runs a carved wooden guard, and
+from the four corners rise stone pillars draped with cloth, which
+support an angular wooden frame-work, and which has something the
+appearance of a canopy to a bed. Below this wooden canopy there is
+stretched a cloth of green and red, much the worse for wear. The
+interior of the tomb is covered with painted figures in Arabic, and
+at the head of the grave is a stand with a Koran. The marble screen
+is very richly cut, and the roof of the arcade-like verandah is
+finely painted in a flower pattern. Altogether there is a quaint look
+about the building which cannot fail to strike any one. A good deal
+of money has at various times been spent on this tomb; the dome was
+added to the roof in Akbar's time by Muhammad Imam-ud-din Hasan, and
+in the reign of Shah Jahan (A.D. 1628 [_sic., leg._ 1627]-58) the
+whole building was put into thorough repair. . . . The tomb is in the
+village of Ghyaspur, and is reached after passing through the
+'Chaunsath Khambha'. (Harcourt, _The New Guide to Delhi_ (1866), p.
+107.)
+
+In the original edition a small coloured illustration of this tomb,
+from a miniature, is given on Plate 24. Carr Stephen (pp. 102-7)
+gives a good and full account of Nizam-ud-din and his tomb.
+
+9. According to Harcourt (p. 108), the tomb of Khusru was erected
+about A.D. 1350, but this is a misprint for 1530. The poet, whose
+proper name was Abul Hasan, is often called Amir Khusru, and was of
+Turkish origin. He was born A.D. 1253, and died in September, 1325.
+His works are numerous. (Beale.) The grave, and wooden railing round
+it, were built in A.H. 937 (A.D. 1530-1). . . . The present tomb was
+built in A.H. 1014 (A.D. 1605-6) by Imad-ud-din Hasan, in the reign
+of Jahangir, and this date occurs in an inscription under the dome
+and over the red sandstone screens. (Carr Stephen, p. 115.) In the
+original edition a small coloured illustration of this tomb, from a
+miniature, is given on Plate 24. See Fanshawe, p. 241.
+
+10. Akbar II, who died in 1837.
+
+11. When the author was with his regiment, after the close of the
+Nepalese war.
+
+12. Harcourt (p. 109) truly observes that this tomb 'is a most
+exquisite piece of workmanship. The tomb itself, raised some few feet
+from the ground, is entered by steps, and is enclosed in a beautiful
+cut marble screen, the sarcophagus being covered with a very artistic
+representation of leaves and flowers carved in marble. Mirza Jahangir
+was the son of Akbar II, and the tomb was built in A.D. 1832 '.
+
+'He was, in consequence of having fired a pistol at Mr. Seton, the
+Resident at Delhi, sent as a State prisoner to Allahabad, where he
+resided in the garden of Sultan Khusro for several years, and died
+there in A.D. 1821 (A.H. 1236), aged thirty-one years; a salute of
+thirty-one guns was fired from the ramparts of the fort of Allahabad
+at the time of his burial. He was at first interred in the same
+garden, and subsequently his remains were transferred to Delhi, and
+buried in the courtyard of the mausoleum of Nizam-ud-din Aulia.'
+(Beale, _Dictionary_.) The young man's 'overt act of rebellion'
+occurred in 1808, and his body was removed to Delhi in 1832. The form
+of the monument is that ordinarily used for a woman, 'but it was put
+over the remains of the Prince on a dispensation being granted for
+the purpose by Muhammadan lawyers'. (Carr Stephen, p. 111.)
+
+13. Muhammad Shah reigned feebly from September, 1719, to April,
+1748. 'He is the last of the Mughals who enjoyed even the semblance
+of power, and has been called "the seal of the house of Babar", for
+"after his demise everything went to wreck".' (Lane-Poole, p.
+xxxviii.) Nadir Shah occupied Delhi in 1738, and is said to have
+massacred 120,000 people. The tomb is described by Carr Stephen, p.
+110.
+
+14. Jahanara Begam, or the Begam Sahib, was the elder daughter of
+Shahjahan, a very able intriguer, the partisan of Dara Shikoh and the
+opponent of Aurangzeb during the struggle for the throne. She was
+closely confined in Agra till her father's death in 1666. After that
+event she was removed to Delhi, where she died in 1682. (Tavernier,
+_Travels_, transl. Ball, vol. i, p. 345.) She built the Begam Sarai
+at Delhi. Her amours, real or supposed, furnished Bernier with some
+scandalous and sensational stories. (Bernier, _Travels_, transl.
+Constable, and V. A. Smith (1914), pp. 11-14.) Some writers credit
+her with all the virtues, e.g., Beale in his _Oriental Biographical
+Dictionary_. The author has omitted the last line of the inscription-
+'May God illuminate his intentions. In the year 1093 ', corresponding
+to A.D. 1682. The first line is, 'Let nothing but the green [grass]
+conceal my grave.' (Carr Stephen, p. 109.)
+
+15. The tomb of Humayun was erected by the Emperor's widow, Haji
+Begam, or Bega Begam, not by Akbar. She was the senior widow of
+Humayun, entitled Haji or 'pilgrim ', because she performed the
+pilgrimage to Mecca. Carr Stephen and other writers confound her with
+Hamida Banu Begam, the mother of Akbar. For her true history see
+Beveridge, _The History of Humayun by Gulbadan Begam_ (R.A.S., 1902).
+Carr Stephen (p. 203) says that the mausoleum was completed in A.D.
+1565, or, according to some, in A.D. 1569, at a coat of fifteen lakhs
+of rupees. The true date is A.D. 1570, late in A.H. 977 (Baduoui, tr.
+Lowe, ii. 135). It is of special interest as being one of the
+earliest specimens of the architecture of the Moghal dynasty, The
+massive dome of white marble is a landmark for many miles round. The
+body of the building is of red sandstone with marble decorations. It
+stands on two noble terraces. Humayun rests in the central hall under
+an elaborately carved marble sarcophagus. The head of Dara Shikoh and
+the bodies of many members of the royal family are interred in the
+side rooms. After the fall of Delhi in September, 1857, the rebel
+princes took refuge in this mausoleum. The story of their execution
+by Hodson on the road to Delhi is well known, and has been the
+occasion of much controversy.
+
+In the original edition a small coloured illustration of this tomb,
+from a miniature, is given on Plate 24. See Fergusson, ed. 1910, pl.
+xxxiii; _H.F.A._, fig. 240; Fanshawe, p. 230 and plate.
+
+16. The tragic history of Dara Shikoh, the elder brother, and
+unsuccessful rival, of Aurangzeb, is fully given by Bernier. The
+notes in Constable's edition of that traveller's work and those to
+Irvine's _Storia do Mogor_ (John Murray, 1907, 1908) give many
+additional particulars. Dara Shikoh was executed by Aurangzeb in
+1659, and it is alleged that with a horrid refinement of cruelty, the
+emperor, acting on the advice of his sister, Roshanara Begam, caused
+the head to be embalmed and sent packed in a box as a present to the
+old ex-emperor, Shah Jahan, the father of the three, in his prison at
+Agra. The prince died invoking the aid of Jesus, and was favourably
+disposed towards Christianity. He was also attracted by the doctrines
+of Sufism, or heretical Muhammadan mysticism, and by those of the
+Hindoo Upanishads. In fact, his religions attitude seems to have much
+resembled that of his great-grandfather Akbar. The 'Broad Church'
+principles and practice of Akbar failed to leave any permanent mark
+on Muhammadan institutions or the education of the people, and if
+Dara Shikoh had been victorious in the contest for the throne, it is
+not probable that he would have been able to effect lasting reforms
+which were beyond the power of his illustrious ancestor. The name of
+the unfortunate prince was Dara Shikoh ('in splendour like Darius'),
+not merely Dara (Darius), as Bernier has it.
+
+17. The 'great diamond' alluded to is the Kohinur, presented by the
+'Persian adventurer', Amir Jumla, to Shah Jahan, who was advised to
+attack and conquer the country which produced such gems, (_Ante_,
+Chapter 48.) The decisive battle between Dara Shikoh, on the one
+aide, and Aurangzeb, supported by his brother and dupe, Murad Baksh,
+on the other, was fought on the 28th May, 1658 [O. S.], at the small
+village of Samugarh (Samogar), four miles from Agra. Dara Shikoh was
+winning the battle, when a traitor persuaded him to come down from
+his conspicuous seat on an elephant and mount a horse. The report
+quickly spread that the prince had been killed. 'In a few minutes',
+says Bernier, 'the army seemed disbanded, and (strange and sudden
+reverse!) the conqueror became the vanquished. Aurangzeb remained
+during a quarter of an hour steadily on his elephant, and was
+rewarded with the crown of Hindustan; Dara left his own elephant a
+few minutes too soon, and was hurled from the pinnacle of glory, to
+be numbered among the most miserable of Princes; so short-sighted is
+man, and so mighty are the consequences which sometimes flow from the
+most trivial incident.'
+
+According to another account the prince's change from the elephant to
+the horse was due to want of personal courage, and not to treacherous
+advice. (Bernier, _Travels_, ed. Constable, and V. A. Smith (1914),
+p. 54.)
+
+18. Battle fought between Tours and Poitiers, A.D. 732.
+
+19. The principal mosque of every town is known as the Jami Masjid,
+and is filled by large congregations on Fridays. The great mosque of
+Delhi stands on a natural rocky eminence, completely covered by the
+building, and approached on three sides by magnificent flights of
+steps, which give it peculiar dignity. It is, perhaps, the finest
+mosque in the world, and certainly has few rivals. It differs from
+most mosques in that its exterior is more magnificent than its
+interior. The two minarets are each about 130 feet high. The year
+A.H. 1060 corresponds to A.D. 1650. The mosque was begun in that
+year, and finished six years later. It is close to the palace, and
+seems to have been designed to serve as the mosque for the palace, as
+well as the city, for which reason no place of worship was included
+in his residence by Shah Jahan. The pretty little Moti Masjid in the
+private apartments was added by Aurangzeb. Fergusson (ed. 1910, vol.
+ii, p. 319) gives a view of the mosque. Carr Stephen (pp. 260-6)
+gives approximate measurements, translations of the inscriptions, and
+many details. See Fanshawe, pp. 44-8 and plates.
+
+20. Since the Mutiny multitudes of houses between the palace and the
+mosque have been cleared away.
+
+21. 'Entering within its deeply recessed portal, you find yourself
+beneath the vaulted hall, the sides of which are in two stories, and
+with an octagonal break in the centre. This hall, which is 375 feet
+in length over all, has very much the effect of the nave of a
+gigantic Gothic cathedral, and forms the noblest entrance known to
+belong to any existing palace' (Fergusson, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p.
+309). This is the Lahore Gate.
+
+22. What recked the Chieftain if he stood
+ On Highland heath, or Holy-rood?
+ He rights such wrong where it is given,
+ If it were in the court of heaven.'
+ --(Scott, _Lady of the Lake_, Canto V, stanza 6).
+
+23. The foundation-stone of the palace was laid on the 12th of May,
+1639 (N.S.--9 Muharrum, A.H. 1049). (E. & D., vii, p. 86), and the
+work continued for nine years, three months, and some days. Nadir
+Shah's invasion took place in 1738. Kashmir was annexed by Akbar in
+1587. Kabul had been more or less closely united with the empire
+since Babur's time.
+
+24. 'In front, at the entrance, was the Naubat Khana, or music hall,
+beneath which the visitor entered the second or great court of the
+palace, measuring 550 feet north and south, by 385 feet east and
+west. In the centre of this stood the Diwan-i-Amm, or great audience
+hall of the palace, very similar in design to that at Agra, but more
+magnificent. Its dimensions are about 200 feet by 100 feet over all.
+In its centre is a highly ornamental niche, in which on a platform of
+marble richly inlaid with previous stones, and directly facing the
+entrance, once stood the celebrated peacock throne, the most gorgeous
+example of its class that perhaps even the East could ever boast of.
+Behind this again was a garden-court; on its eastern side was the
+Rang Mahall, or painted hall, containing a bath and other apartments'
+(Fergusson, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 310).
+
+The inlaid pictures were carried off, sold by the spoiler to
+Government, set as table-tops, and deposited in the Indian Section of
+the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington (_Hist. of Ind.
+and E. Archit._, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 311, note); but in November,
+1902, the Orpheus mosaic, along with several other inlaid panels, was
+returned to Delhi, where the panels were reset in due course. The
+representation of Orpheus is 'a bad copy from Raphael's picture of
+Orpheus charming the beasts'. Austin de Bordeaux has been already
+noticed. Many of the mosaics in the panels which had not been
+disturbed were renewed by Signor Menegatti of Florence during the
+years 1906-9.
+
+The peacock throne and the six other thrones in the palace are fully
+described by Tavernier. (Transl. and ed. by V. Ball, vol. i, pp. 381-
+7.) Further details will be found in Carr Stephen, _Archaeology of
+Delhi_, pp. 220-7.
+
+25. The throne here referred to was a makeshift arrangement used by
+the later emperors. Nadir Shah in 1738 cleared the palace of the
+peacock throne and almost everything portable of value. The little
+that was left the Marathas took. Their chief prize was the silver
+filagree ceiling of the Diwan-i-Khas. This hall was, 'if not the most
+beautiful, certainly the most highly ornamented of all Shah Jahan's
+buildings. It is larger certainly, and far richer in ornament than
+that of Agra, though hardly so elegant in design; but nothing can
+exceed the beauty of the inlay of precious stones with which it is
+adored, or the general poetry of the design, It is round the roof of
+this hall that the famous inscription runs: "If there is a heaven on
+earth, it is this, it is this ", which may safely be rendered into
+the sober English assertion that no palace now existing in the world
+possesses an apartment of such singular elegance as this' (Fergusson,
+ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 311).
+
+26. All the events alluded to are related in detail by Bernier and
+Manucci. Sulaiman and Sipihr Shikoh were the sons of Dara Shikoh. The
+author makes a slip in saying that Shah Jahan sat in the palace at
+Delhi to negotiate with his grandson. During that negotiation Shah
+Jahan was at Agra.
+
+27. It is related that the coffee was delivered to the two sovereigns
+in this room upon a gold salver by the most polished gentleman of the
+court. His motions, as he entered the gorgeous apartment, amidst the
+splendid train of the two Emperors, were watched with great anxiety;
+if he presented the coffee first to his own master, the furious
+conqueror, before whom the sovereign of India and all his courtiers
+trembled, might order him to instant execution; if he presented it to
+Nadir first, he would insult his own sovereign out of fear of the
+stranger. To the astonishment of all, he walked up with a steady step
+direct to his own master. 'I cannot', said he, 'aspire to the honour
+of presenting the cup to the king of kings, your majesty's honoured
+guest, nor would your majesty wish that any hand but your own should
+do so.' The Emperor took the cup from the golden salver, and
+presented it to Nadir Shah, who said with a smile as he took it, 'Had
+all your officers known and done their duty like this man, you had
+never, my good cousin, seen me and my Kizil Bashis at Delhi; take
+care of him for your own sake, and get round you as many like him as
+you can.' [W. H. S.]
+
+28. The famous inscription of Saad-Ullah Khan, supposed to be in the
+handwriting of Rashid, the greatest caligraphist of his time; _Agar
+Firdaus bar rue zamin ast--hamin ast, to hamin ast, to hamin ast_'
+(Carr Stephen, p. 229; Fanshawe, p. 35 and plate).
+
+29. All these people were cleared out by the events of 1867, and the
+few beautiful fragments of the palace which have retained anything of
+their original magnificence are now clean and in good order. The
+elaborate decorations of the Diwan-i-Khas have been partially
+restored, and the interior of this building is still extremely rich
+and elegant.
+
+'Of the public parts of the palace all that now remains is the
+entrance hall, the Naubat Khana, Diwan-i-Amm and Khas, and the Rang
+Mahall--now used as a mess-room, and one or two small pavilions. They
+are the gems of the palace it is true, but without the courts and
+corridors connecting them they lose all their meaning and more than
+half their beauty. Being now situated in the middle of a British
+barrack-yard, they look like precious stones torn from their settings
+in some exquisite piece of Oriental jeweller's work and set at random
+in a bed of the commonest plaster' (Fergusson, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p.
+312). Since Fergusson wrote an immense amount of work has been done
+in restoration and conservation, but it is difficult to obtain a
+general view of the result.
+
+ The books about Delhi are even more tantalising and unsatisfactory
+than those which deal with Agra. Mr. Beglar's contribution to Vol. IV
+of the _Archaeological Survey Reports_ is a little, but very little,
+better than Mr. Carlleyle's disquisition on Agra in that volume. Sir
+A. Cunningham's observations in the first and twentieth volumes of
+the same series are of greater value, but are fragmentary and
+imperfect, and scarcely notice at all the city of Shahjahan.
+Fergusson's criticisms, so far as they go, are of permanent
+importance, though the scheme of his work did not allow him to treat
+in detail of any particular section. Guide-books by Beresford Cooper,
+Harcourt, and Keene, of which Keene's is the latest, and,
+consequently, in some respects the best, are all extremely
+unsatisfactory. Mr. H. C. Fanshawe's _Delhi Past and Present_ (John
+Murray, 1902), a large, handsome work something between a guide-book
+and a learned treatise, is not quite satisfying. The late Mr. Carr
+Stephen, a resident of Delhi, wrote a valuable book on the
+Archaeology of the city, but it has no illustrations, except a few
+plans on a small scale. (8vo, Ludhiana, 1876.) A good critical,
+comprehensive, well illustrated description of the remains of the
+cities, said to number thirteen, all grouped together by European
+writers under the name of Delhi, does not exist, and it seems
+unlikely that the Panjab Government will cause the blank to be
+filled. No Government in India has such opportunities, or has done so
+little, to elucidate the history of the country, as the Government of
+the Panjab. But it has shown greater interest in the matter of late.
+The reorganized Archaeological Survey of India, under the capable
+guidance of Sir J. H. Marshall, C.I.E., has not yet had time to do
+much at Delhi beyond the work of conservation. A fourteenth Delhi is
+now being built (1914).
+
+30. _Ante_, chapter 53, [19].
+
+31. These epistolary formulas mean no more than the similar official
+phrases in English, 'Your most obedient humble servant', and the
+like. The 'fortunate occurrence' of the Mutiny--for such it was, in
+spite of all the blood and suffering--cut out many plague-spots from
+the body politic of India. Among these the reeking palace swarm of
+Delhi was not the least malignant.
+
+32. Azrail is the angel of death, whose duty it is to separate the
+souls from the bodies of men. Israfil is entrusted with the task of
+blowing the last trump.
+
+33. The resurrection, and the signs foretelling it, are described in
+the _Mishkat-ul-Masabih_, book xxiii, chapters 3 to 11. (Matthews,
+vol. ii, pp. 556-620.)
+
+34. The Hindoo 'ages' are (1) Krita, or Satya, (2) Treta, (3)
+Dwapara, (4) Kali, the present evil age. The long periods assigned to
+these are merely the result of the calculations of astronomers, who
+preferred integral to fractional numbers.
+
+35. This kind of education does not now pay, and is, consequently,
+going out of fashion. The Muhammadans are slowly, and rather
+unwillingly, yielding to the pressure of necessity and beginning to
+accept English education.
+
+36. Imam Muhammad Ghazzali, who is also entitled Hujjat-ul-Islam, is
+the surname of Abu Hamid Muhammad Zain-ud-din Tusi, one of the
+greatest and most celebrated Musalman doctors, who was born A.D.
+1058, and died A.D. 1111. (Beale, s.v. 'Ghazzali'.) The length of
+these Muhammadan names is terrible. They are much mangled in the
+original edition. See _ante_, chapter 53, note 10, and Blochmann
+(Ain) pp. 103, 182.
+
+37. Khwaja Nasir-ud-din Tusi, the famous philosopher and astronomer,
+the most universal scholar that Persia ever produced. Born A.D. 1201,
+died A.D. 1274. (Beale.) See _ante_, loc. cit.
+
+38. Especially the _Bustan_ and _Gulistan_. Beale gives a list of
+Sadi's works. See _ante_, chapter 12, note 6.
+
+39. This is a very cynical and inadequate explanation of the
+prevalence of Conservative opinions among Englishmen in the East.
+
+40. Ante, chapter 30, [6].
+
+41. In the original edition the portrait of Akbar II is twice given,
+namely, in the frontispiece of Volume I as a full-page plate, and
+again as a miniature, dated 1836, in the frontispiece of Volume II.
+
+42. The most secluded native prince of the present day could not be
+guilty of this absurdity.
+
+43. Babur was sixth in descent from Timur, not seventh. Babur's
+grandfather, Abu Sayyid, was great-grandson of Timur. Babur, not
+Babar, is the correct spelling.
+
+44. This may be an exaggeration. The undoubted facts are sufficiently
+horrible.
+
+45. Timur was a man of surpassing ability, and knew much 'else'. See
+Malcolm, _History of Persia_, ed. 1859, chapter 11.
+
+46. Timur's 'historian and great eulogist' was Sharaf-ud-din (died
+1446), whose _Zafarnama_, or 'Book of Victories', was translated into
+French by Petis de la Croix in 1722. That version was used by Gibbon
+and rendered into English in 1723, Copious extracts from an
+independent rendering are given in E. & D., iii, pp. 478-522. The
+details do not always agree exactly with Sleeman's account.
+
+47. The 'old city' was that of Kutb-ud-din and Iltutmish; the 'new
+city' was that of Firoz Shah, which partly coincided with the
+existing city, and partly lay to the south, outside the Delhi gate.
+
+48. In A.D. 1303.
+
+49. Now in the Saharanpur district.
+
+50. This is a repetition of the statement made above. According to
+_Encycl. Brit._, ed. 1910, Timur returned to his capital in April not
+May.
+
+51. Bajazet, or more accurately Bayazid I, was defeated by Timur at
+the battle of Angora in 1402, and died the following year. The story
+of his confinement in an iron cage is discredited by modern critics,
+though Gibbon (chapter 65) shows that it is supported by much good
+evidence. Anatolia is a synonym for Asia Minor. It is a vague term,
+the Greek equivalent of 'the Levant'.
+
+52. Sebaste, also called Elaeusa or Ayash, was in Cilicia.
+
+53. Otherwise called Sihon, or Syr Darya.
+
+54. Two autobiographical works, the _Malfuzat_ and the Tuzukat, are
+attributed to Timur and probably were composed under his direction.
+The latter was translated by Major Davey (Oxford, 1783), and the
+former, in part, by Major Stewart (Or. Transl. Fund, 1830). An
+independent version of the portion of the _Malfuzat_ relating to
+India will be found in E. & D., iii, pp. 389-477.
+
+55. Ali Yazdi, commonly called Sharaf-ud-din, author of the
+_Zafarnama_ in Persian (see _ante_, chapter 68, note 46), Ibn
+Arabshah, in an Arabic work, describes Timur from a hostile point of
+view. (Encycl. Brit., 11th ed., s. v. 'Timur').
+
+56. It is impossible within the limits of a note to discuss the
+problem of the origin of the gipsies. Much has been written about it,
+though nothing quite satisfactory. The gipsy, or Romany, language
+(_Romani chiv_, or 'tongue') certainly is closely related to, though
+not derived from, the existing languages of Northern India. Some of
+the forms are very archaic. A valuable English-Gipsy vocabulary
+compiled by Mr. (Sir George) and Mrs. Grierson was published in _Ind.
+Ant._, vols. xv, xvi (1886,1887). The author's theory does not tally
+with the facts. Gipsies existed in Persia and Europe long before
+Timur's time. It is practically certain that they did not come
+through Egypt. The article 'Gypsies' by F. H. Groome in Chambers's
+_Encycl._ (1904) is good, and seems to the editor to be preferable to
+Dr. Gaster's article 'Gipsies' in _Encycl. Brit._, 11th ed., 1910.
+
+57. Before the Codes were passed (1859-1861) the criminal law
+administered in India was, in the main, that of the Muhammadans, and
+each judge's court had a Muhammadan law officer attached, who
+pronounced a 'fatwa', or decision, intimating the law applicable to
+the case, and the penalty which might be inflicted. Several examples
+of these 'fatwas' will be found among the papers bound up with the
+author's 'Ramaseeana'.
+
+58. See Koran, chapter 2. [W. H. S.] The passage is the second
+sentence in chapter 2. The wording, as quoted, differs slightly from
+Sale's version.
+
+59. See Koran, chapter 32. [W. H. S.]
+
+60. Ibid., chapter 11. [W. H. S.] Sale's version, with trifling
+verbal differences. The 'mufti's' reasoning has been heard in Europe.
+
+61. See Koran, chapter 15. [W. H. S.] Sale's version, with
+modifications.
+
+62. 'This is a revelation of the most mighty, the merciful God; that
+thou mayest warn a people whose fathers were not warned, and who live
+in negligence. Our sentence hath justly been pronounced against the
+greater part of them, wherefore they shall not believe. It shall be
+equal unto them whether thou preach unto them, or do not preach unto
+them; they shall not believe.' Koran, chapter 36. [W. H. S.] From
+beginning of the chapter. Sale's version; a sentence being omitted
+between 'believe' and 'It shall'.
+
+63. I have never met another man so thoroughly master of the Koran as
+the Mufti, and yet he had the reputation of being a very corrupt man
+in his office. [W. H. S.]
+
+64. Aleeoodeen; an unusual name; probably a misprint for Ala-ud-din.
+
+65. The 17th chapter of the Koran opens with the words, 'Praise be
+unto him who transported his servant by night from the sacred temple
+of Mecca to the farther temple of Jerusalem', 'from whence', as Sale
+observes, 'he was carried through the seven heavens to the presence
+of God, and brought back again to Mecca the same night'. The
+commentators dispute whether the journey to heaven was corporeally
+performed, or merely in a vision. 'But the received opinion is that
+it was no vision, but that he was actually transported in the body to
+his journey's end; and if any impossibility be objected, they think
+it a sufficient answer to say that it might easily be effected by an
+omnipotent agent.'
+
+66. See Koran, chapter 15. [W. H. S.]
+
+67. The Muhammadans believe that the Christians have tampered with
+the Scriptures.
+
+68. It would be difficult to give more vivid expression to the
+eternal conflict between the theological and the scientific spirit.
+Compare the remarks _ante_, chapter 26, note 11, on the attitude of
+Hindoos towards modern science.
+
+69. _Paradise Lost_, Book VIII. [W. H. S.] Line 167; from Raphael's
+address to Adam.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 69
+
+
+Indian Police--Its Defects--and their Cause and Remedy.
+
+On the 26th[1] we crossed the river Jumna, over a bridge of boats,
+kept up by the King of Oudh for the use of the public, though his
+majesty is now connected with Delhi only by the tomb of his
+ancestor;[2] and his territories are separated from the imperial city
+by the two great rivers, Ganges and Jumna.
+
+We proceeded to Farrukhnagar, about twelve miles over an execrable
+road running over a flat but rugged surface of unproductive soil.[3]
+India is, perhaps, the only civilized country in the world where a
+great city could be approached by such a road from the largest
+military Station in the empire,[4] not more than three stages
+distant. After breakfast the head native police officer of the
+division came to pay his respects. He talked of the dreadful murders
+which used to be perpetrated in this neighbourhood by miscreants, who
+found shelter in the territories of the Begam Samru,[5] whither his
+followers dared not hunt for them; and mentioned a case of nine
+persons who had been murdered just within the boundary of our
+territories about seven years before, and thrown into a dry well. He
+was present at the inquest held on their bodies, and described their
+appearance; and I found that they were the bodies of a news writer
+from Lahore, who, with his eight companions, had been murdered by
+Thugs on his way back to Rohilkhand. I had long before been made
+acquainted with the circumstances of this murder and the perpetrators
+had all been secured, but we wanted this link in the chain of
+evidence. It had been described to me as having taken place within
+the boundary of the Begam's territory, and I applied to her for a
+report on the inquest. She declared that no bodies had been
+discovered about the time mentioned; and I concluded that the
+ignorance of the people of the neighbourhood was pretended, as usual
+in such cases, with a view to avoid a summons to give evidence in our
+courts. I referred forthwith to the magistrate of the district, and
+found the report that I wanted, and thereby completed the chain of
+evidence upon a very important case. The Thanadar seemed much
+surprised to find that I was so well acquainted with the
+circumstances of this murder, but still more that the perpetrators
+were not the poor old Begam's subjects, but our own.
+
+The police officers employed on our borders find it very convenient
+to trace the perpetrators of all murders and gang robberies into the
+territories of native chiefs, whose subjects they accuse often when
+they know that the crimes have been committed by our own. They are,
+on the one hand, afraid to seize or accuse the real offenders, lest
+they should avenge themselves by some personal violence, or by thefts
+or robberies, which they often commit with a view to get them tumed
+out of office as inefficient; and, on the other, they are tempted to
+conceal the real offenders by a liberal share of the spoil, and a
+promise of not offending again within their beat. Their tenure of
+office is far too insecure, and their salaries are far too small.
+They are often dismissed summarily by the magistrate if they send him
+in no prisoners; and also if they send in to him prisoners who are
+not ultimately convicted, because a magistrate's merits are too often
+estimated by the proportion that his convictions bear to his
+acquittals among the prisoners committed for trial to the sessions.
+Men are often ultimately acquitted for want of judicial proof, when
+there is abundance of that moral proof on which a police officer or
+magistrate has to act in the discharge of his duties; and in a
+country where gangs of professional and hereditary robbers and
+murderers extend their depredations into very remote parts, and
+seldom commit them in the districts in which they reside, the most
+vigilant police officer must often fail to discover the perpetrators
+of heavy crimes that take place within his range.[6]
+
+When they cannot find them, the native officers either seize innocent
+persons, and frighten them into confession, or else they try to
+conceal the crime, and in this they are seconded by the sufferers in
+the robbery, who will always avoid, if they can, a prosecution in our
+courts, and by their neighbours, who dread being summoned to give
+evidence as a serious calamity. The man who has been robbed, instead
+of being an object of compassion among his neighbours, often incurs
+their resentment for subjecting them to this calamity; and they not
+only pay largely themselves, but make him pay largely, to have his
+losses concealed from the magistrate. Formerly, when a district was
+visited by a judge of circuit to hold his sessions only once or twice
+a year, and men were constantly bound over to prosecute and appear as
+evidence from sessions to sessions, till they were wearied and
+worried to death, this evil was much greater than at present, when
+every district is provided with its judge of sessions, who is, or
+ought to be, always ready to take up the cases committed for trial by
+the magistrate.[7] This was one of the best measures of Lord W.
+Bentinck's admirable, though much abused, administration of the
+government of India.[8] Still, however, the inconvenience and delay
+of prosecution in our courts are so great, and the chance of the
+ultimate conviction of great offenders is so small, that strong
+temptations are held out to the police to conceal or misrepresent the
+character of crimes; and they must have a great feeling of security
+in their tenure of office, and more adequate salaries, better chances
+of rising, and better supervision over them, before they will resist
+such temptation. These Thanadars, and all the public officers under
+them, are all so very inadequately paid that corruption among them
+excites no feeling of odium or indignation in the minds of those
+among whom they live and serve. Such feelings are rather directed
+against the government that places them in such situations of so much
+labour and responsibility with salaries so inadequate; and thereby
+confers upon them virtually a licence to pay themselves by preying
+upon those whom they are employed ostensibly to protect. They know
+that with such salaries they can never have the reputation of being
+honest, however faithfully they may discharge their duties; and it is
+too hard to expect that men will long submit to the necessity of
+being thought corrupt, without reaping some of the advantages of
+corruption. Let the Thanadars have everywhere such salaries as will
+enable them to maintain their families in comfort, and keep up that
+appearance of respectability which their station in society demands;
+and over every three or four Thanadars' jurisdiction let there be an
+officer appointed upon a higher scale of salary, to supervise and
+control their proceedings, and armed with powers to decide minor
+offences. To these higher stations the Thanadars will be able to look
+forward as their reward for a faithful and zealous discharge of their
+duties.[9]
+
+He who can suppose that men so inadequately paid, who have no
+promotion to look forward to, and feel no security in their tenure of
+office, and consequently no hope of a provision for old age,[10] will
+be zealous and honest in the discharge of their duties, must be very
+imperfectly acquainted with human nature, and with the motives by
+which men are influenced in all quarters of the world; but we are
+none of us so ignorant, for we all know that the same motives actuate
+public servants in India as elsewhere. We have acted successfully
+upon this knowledge in the scale of salaries and gradation of rank
+assigned to European civil functionaries, and to all native
+functionaries employed in the judicial and revenue branches of the
+public service; and why not act upon it in that of the salaries
+assigned to the native officers employed in the police? The
+magistrate of a district gets a salary of from two thousand to two
+thousand five hundred rupees a month.[11] The native officer next
+under him is the Thanadar, or head native police officer of a
+subdivision of his district, containing many towns and villages, with
+a population of a hundred thousand souls. This officer gets a salary
+of twenty-five rupees a month. He cannot possibly do his duty unless
+he keeps one or two horses; indeed, he is told by the magistrate that
+he cannot; and that he must have one or two horses, or resign his
+post. The people, seeing how much we expect from the Thanadar, and
+how little we give him, submit to his demands for contributions
+without murmuring, and consider almost any demand trivial from a man
+so employed and so paid. They are confounded at our inconsistency,
+and say, 'We see you giving high salaries and high prospects of
+advancement to men who have nothing to do but collect your rents, and
+decide our disputes about pounds, shillings, and pence, which we used
+to decide much better ourselves, when we had no other court but that
+of our elders--while those who are to protect life and property, to
+keep peace over the land, and enable the industrious to work in
+security, maintain their families, and pay the government revenue,
+are left with hardly any pay at all.'
+
+There is really nothing in our rule in India which strikes the people
+so much as this inconsistency, the evil effects of which are so great
+and manifest; the only way to remedy the evil is to give a greater
+feeling of security in the tenure of office, a higher rate of salary,
+the hope of a provision for old age, and, above all, the gradation of
+rank, by interposing the officers I speak of between the Thanadars
+and the magistrate.[12] This has all been done in the establishments
+for the collection of the revenue, and administration of civil
+justice.
+
+Hobbes, in his _Leviathan_, says, 'And seeing that the end of
+punishment is not revenge and discharge of choler, but correction,
+either of the offender, or of others by his example, the severest
+punishments are to be inflicted for those crimes that are of most
+danger to the public; such as are those which proceed from malice to
+the government established; those that spring from contempt of
+justice; those that provoke indignation in the multitude; and those
+which, unpunished, seem authorized, as when they are committed by
+sons, servants, or favourites of men in authority.[13] For
+indignation carrieth men, not only against the actors and authors of
+injustice, but against all power that is likely to protect them; as
+in the case of Tarquin, when, for the insolent act of one of his
+sons, he was driven out of Rome, and the monarchy itself dissolved.'
+(Para. 2, chapter 30.) Almost every one of our Thanadars is, in his
+way, a little Tarquin, exciting the indignation of the people against
+his rulers; and no time should be lost in converting him into
+something better.
+
+By the obstacles which are still everywhere opposed to the conviction
+of offenders, in the distance of our courts, the forms of procedure,
+and other causes of 'the law's delay', we render the duties of our
+police establishment everywhere 'more honoured in the breach than the
+observance', by the mass of the people among whom they are placed. We
+must, as I have before said, remove some of these obstacles to the
+successful prosecution of offenders in our criminal courts, which
+tend so much to deprive the government of all popular aid and support
+in the administration of justice; and to convert all our police
+establishments into instruments of oppression, instead of what they
+should be, the efficient means of protection to the persons,
+property, and character of the innocent. Crimes multiply from the
+assurance the guilty are everywhere apt to feel of impunity to crime;
+and the more crimes multiply, the greater is the aversion the people
+everywhere feel to aid the government in the arrest and conviction of
+criminals, because they see more and more the innocent punished by
+attendance upon distant courts at great cost and inconvenience, to
+give evidence upon points which seem to them unimportant, while the
+guilty escape owing to technical difficulties which they can never
+understand.[14]
+
+The best way to remove these obstacles is to interpose officers
+between the Thanadar and the magistrate, and arm them with judicial
+powers to try minor cases, leaving an appeal open to the magistrate,
+and to extend the final jurisdiction of the magistrate to a greater
+range of crimes, though it should involve the necessity of reducing
+the measure of punishment annexed to them.[15] Beccaria has justly
+observed that 'Crimes are more effectually prevented by the certainty
+than by the severity of punishment. The certainty of a small
+punishment will make a stronger impression than the fear of one more
+severe, if attended with the hope of escaping; for it is the nature
+of mankind to be terrified at the approach of the smallest inevitable
+evil; whilst hope, the best gift of Heaven, has the power of
+dispelling the apprehensions of a greater, especially if supported by
+examples of impunity, which weakness or avarice too frequently
+affords.'
+
+I ought to have mentioned that the police of a district, in our
+Bengal territories, consists of a magistrate and his assistant, who
+are European gentlemen of the Civil Service; and a certain number of
+Thanadars, from twelve to sixteen, who preside over the different
+sub-divisions of the district in which they reside with their
+establishments. These Thanadars get twenty-five rupees a month, have
+under them four or five Jemadars upon eight rupees, and thirty or
+forty Barkandazes upon four rupees a month. The Jemadars are, most of
+them, placed in charge of 'nakas', or sub-divisions of the Thanadar's
+jurisdiction, the rest are kept at their headquarters, ready to move
+to any point where their services may be required. These are all paid
+by government; but there is in each village one watchman, and in
+larger villages more than one, who are appointed by the heads of
+villages, and paid by the communities, and required daily or
+periodically to report all the police matters of their villages to
+the Thanadars.[16]
+
+The distance between the magistrates and Thanadars is at present
+immeasurable; and an infinite deal of mischief is done by the latter
+and those under them, of which the magistrates know nothing whatever.
+In the first place, they levy a fee of one rupee from every village
+at the festival of the Holi in February, and another at that of the
+Dasehra in October, and in each Thanadar's jurisdiction there are
+from one to two hundred villages. These and numerous other
+unauthorized exactions they share with those under them, and with the
+native officers about the person of the magistrate, who, if not
+conciliated, can always manage to make them appear unfit for their
+places.[17]
+
+A robbery affords a rich harvest. Some article of stolen property is
+found in one man's house, and by a little legerdemain it is conveyed
+to that of another, both of whom are made to pay liberally; the man
+robbed also pays, and all the members of the village community are
+made to do the same. They are all called to the court of the Thanadar
+to give evidence as to what they have seen or heard regarding either
+the fact or the persons in the remotest degree connected with it--as
+to the arrests of the supposed offenders--the search of their house--
+the character of their grandmothers and grandfathers--and they are
+told that they are to be sent to the magistrate a hundred miles
+distant, and then made to stand at the door among a hundred and fifty
+pairs of shoes, till _his excellency_ the Nazir, the under-sheriff of
+the court, may be pleased to announce them to his highness the
+magistrate, which, of course, he will not do without a
+_consideration_. To escape all these threatened evils, they pay
+handsomely and depart in peace. The Thanadar reports that an attempt
+to rob a house by persons unknown had been defeated by his exertions,
+and the _good fortune_ of the magistrate; and sends a liberal share
+of spoil to those who are to read his report to that functionary.[18]
+This goes on more or less in every district, but more especially in
+those where the magistrate happens to be a man of violent temper, who
+is always surrounded by knaves, because men who have any regard for
+their character will not approach him--or a weak, good-natured man,
+easily made to believe anything, and managed by favourites--or one
+too fond of field-sports, or of music, painting, European languages,
+literature, and sciences, or lastly, of his own ease.[19] Some
+magistrates think they can put down crime by dismissing the Thanadar;
+but this tends only to prevent crimes being reported to him; for in
+such cases the feelings of the people are in exact accordance with
+the interests of the Thanadars; and crimes augment by the assurance
+of impunity thereby given to criminals. The only remedy for all this
+evil is to fill up the great gulf between the magistrate and Thanadar
+by officers who shall be to him what I have described the patrol
+officers to be to the collectors of customs, at once the _tapis_ of
+Prince Husain, and the _telescope_ of Prince Ali--a medium that will
+enable him to be everywhere, and see everything.[20] And why is this
+remedy not applied? Simply and solely because such appointments would
+be given to the uncovenanted, and might tend indirectly to diminish
+the appointments open to the covenanted servants of the company.
+Young gentlemen of the Civil Service are supposed to be doing the
+duties which would be assigned to such officers, while they are at
+school as assistants to magistrates and collectors; and were this
+great gulf filled up by efficient covenanted officers, they would
+have no school to go to. There is no doubt some truth in this; but
+the welfare of a whole people should not be sacrificed to keep this
+school or play-ground open exclusively for them; let them act for a
+time as they would unwillingly do with the uncovenanted, and they
+will learn much more than if they occupied the ground exclusively and
+acted alone--they will be always with people ready and willing to
+tell them the real state of things; whereas, at present, they are
+always with those who studiously conceal it from them.[21]
+
+It is a common practice with Thanadars all over the country to
+connive at the residence within their jurisdiction of gangs of
+robbers, on the condition that they shall not rob within those
+limits, and shall give them a share of what they bring back from
+their distant expeditions.
+
+They [_scil._ the gangs] go out ostensibly in search of service, on
+the termination of the rains of one season in October, and return
+before the commencement of the next in June; but their vocation is
+always well known to the police, and to all the people of their
+neighbourhood, and very often to the magistrates themselves, who
+could, if they would, secure them on their return with their booty;
+but this would not secure their conviction unless the proprietors
+could be discovered, which they scarcely ever could. Were the police
+officers to seize them, they would be all finally acquitted and
+released by the judges--the magistrate would get into disrepute with
+his superiors, by the number of acquittals compared with convictions
+exhibited in his monthly tables; and he would vent his spleen upon
+the poor Thanadar, who would at the same time have incurred the
+resentment of the robbers; and between both, he would have no
+possible chance of escape. He therefore consults his own interest and
+his own case by leaving them to carry on their trade of robbery or
+murder unmolested; and his master, the magistrate, is well pleased
+not to be pestered with charges against men whom he has no chance of
+getting ultimately convicted. It was in this way that so many hundred
+families of assassins by profession were able for so many generations
+to reside in the most cultivated and populous parts of our
+territories, and extend their depredations into the remotest parts of
+India, before our System of operations was brought to bear upon them
+in 1830. Their profession was perfectly well known to the people of
+the districts in which they resided, and to the greater part of the
+police; they murdered not within their own district, and the police
+of that district cared nothing about what they might do beyond
+it.[22]
+
+The most respectable native gentleman in the city and district told
+me one day an amusing instance of the proceedings of a native officer
+of that district, which occurred about five years ago. 'In a village
+which he had purchased and let in farms, a shopkeeper was one day
+superintending the cutting of some sugar-cane which he had purchased
+from a cultivator as it stood. His name was Girdhari, I think, and
+the boy who was cutting it for him was the son of a poor man called
+Madari. Girdhari wanted to have the cane cut down as near as he could
+to the ground, while the boy, to save himself the trouble of
+stooping, would persist in cutting it a good deal too high up. After
+admonishing him several times, the shopkeeper gave him a smart clout
+on the head. The boy, to prevent a repetition, called out, "Murder!
+Girdhari has killed me--Girdhari has killed me!" His old father, who
+was at work carrying away the cane at a little distance out of sight,
+ran off to the village watchman, and, in his anger, told him that
+Girdhari had murdered his son. The watchman went as fast as he could
+to the Thanadar, or head police officer of the division, who resided
+some miles distant. The Thanadar ordered off his subordinate officer,
+the Jemadar, with half a dozen policemen, to arrange everything for
+an inquest on the body, by the time he should reach the place, with
+all due pomp. The Jemadar went to the house of the murderer, and
+dismounting, ordered all the shopkeepers of the village, who were
+many and respectable, to be forthwith seized, and bound hand and
+feet. "So", said the Jemadar, "you have all been aiding and abetting
+your friend in the murder of poor Madari's only son." "May it please
+your excellency, we have never heard of any murder." "Impudent
+scoundrels," roared the Jemadar, "does not the poor boy lie dead in
+the sugar-cane field, and is not his highness the Thanadar coming to
+hold an inquest upon it? and do you take us for fools enough to
+believe that any scoundrel among you would venture to commit a
+deliberate murder without being aided and abetted by all the rest?"
+The village watchman began to feel some apprehension that he had been
+too precipitate; and entreated the Jemadar to go first and see the
+body of the boy. "What do you take us for," said the Jemadar, "a
+thing without a stomach? Do you suppose that government servants can
+live and labour on air? Are we to go and examine bodies upon empty
+stomachs? Let his father take care of the body, and let these
+murdering shopkeepers provide us something to eat." Nine rupees'
+worth of sweetmeats, and materials for a feast were forthwith
+collected at the expense of the shopkeepers, who stood bound, and
+waiting the arrival of his highness the Thanadar, who was soon after
+seen approaching majestically upon a richly caparisoned horse.
+"What," said the Jemadar, "is there nobody to go and receive his
+highness in due form?" One of the shopkeepers was untied, and
+presented with fifteen rupees by his family, and those of the other
+shopkeepers. These he took up and presented to his highness, who
+deigned to receive them through one of his train, and then dismounted
+and partook of the feast that had been provided. "Now", said his
+highness, "we will go and hold an inquest on the body of the poor
+boy"; and off moved all the great functionaries of government to the
+sugar-cane field, with the village watchman leading the way. The
+father of the boy met them as they entered, and was pointed out by
+the village watchman. "Where", said the Thanadar, "is your poor boy?"
+"There," said Madari, "cutting the canes." "How, cutting the canes?
+Was he not murdered by the shopkeepers?" "No," said Madari, "he was
+beaten by Girdhari, and richly deserved it! I find." Girdhari and the
+boy were called up, and the little urchin said that he called out
+murder merely to prevent Girdhari from giving him another clout on
+the side of the head. His father was then fined nine rupees for
+giving a false alarm, and Girdhari fifteen for so unmercifully
+beating the boy; and they were made to pay on the instant, under the
+penalty of all being sent off forty miles to the magistrate. Having
+thus settled this very important affair, his highness the Thanadar
+walked back to the shop, ordered all the shopkeepers to be set at
+liberty, smoked his pipe, mounted his horse, and rode home, followed
+by all his police officers, and well pleased with his day's work.'
+
+The farmer of the village soon after made his way to the city, and
+communicated the circumstances to my old friend, who happened to be
+on intimate terms with the magistrate.[23] He wrote a polite note to
+the Thanadar to say that he should never get any rents from his
+estate if the occupants were liable to such fines as these, and that
+he should take the earliest opportunity of mentioning them to his
+friend the magistrate. The Thanadar ascertained that he was really in
+the habit of visiting the magistrate, and communicating with him
+freely; and hushed up the matter by causing all, save the expenses of
+the feast, to be paid back. These are things of daily occurrence in
+all parts of our dominions, and the Thanadars are not afraid to play
+such 'fantastic tricks' because all those under and all those above
+them share more or less in the spoil, and are bound in honour to
+conceal them from the European magistrate, whom it is the interest of
+all to keep in the dark. They know that the people will hardly ever
+complain, from the great dislike they all have to appear in our
+courts, particularly when it is against any of the officers of those
+courts, or their friends and creatures in the district police.[24]
+
+When our operations commenced, in 1830, these assassins [_scil._ the
+Thugs] revelled over every road in India in gangs of hundreds,
+without the fear of punishment from divine or human laws; but there
+is not now, I believe, a road in India infested by them. That our
+government has still defects, and great ones, must be obvious to
+every one who has travelled much over India with the requisite
+qualifications and disposition to observe; but I believe that in
+spite of all the defects I have noticed above in our police System,
+the life, property, and character of the innocent are now more
+secure, and all their advantages more freely enjoyed, than they ever
+were under any former government with whose history we are
+acquainted, or than they now are under any native government in
+India.[25]
+
+Those who think they are not so almost always refer to the reign of
+Shah Jahan, when men like Tavernier travelled so securely all over
+India with their bags of diamonds; but I would ask them whether they
+think that the life, property, and character of the innocent could be
+anywhere very secure, or their advantages very freely enjoyed, in a
+country where a man could do openly with impunity what the traveller
+describes to have been done by the Persian physician of the Governor
+of Allahabad? This governor, being sickly, had in attendance upon him
+_eleven physicians_, one of whom was a European gentleman of
+education, Claudius Maille, of Bourges.[26] The chief favourite of
+the eleven was, however, a Persian, 'who one day threw his wife from
+the top of a battlement to the ground in a fit of jealousy. He
+thought the fall would kill her, but she had only a few ribs broken;
+whereupon the kindred of the woman came and demanded justice at the
+feet of the governor. The governor, sending for the physician,
+commanded him to be gone, resolving to retain him no longer in his
+service. The physician obeyed; and putting his poor maimed wife in a
+palankeen, he set forward upon the road with all his family. But he
+had not gone above three or four days' journey from the city, when
+the governor, finding himself worse than he was wont to be, sent to
+recall him; which the physician perceiving, stabbed his wife, his
+four children, and thirteen female slaves, and returned again to the
+Governor, who said not a word to him, but entertained him again in
+his service.' This occurred within Tavernier's own knowledge and
+about the time he visited Allahabad; and is related as by no means a
+very extraordinary circumstance.[27]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. The tomb of Safdar Jang, or Mansur Ali Khan, described _ante_,
+chapter 68 [4]. The bridges over the Jumna are now, of course,
+maintained by Government and the railway companies.
+
+3. The main highways approaching Delhi are now excellent metalled
+roads.
+
+4. By the term 'the largest military station in the empire', the
+author means Meerut. At present the largest military station in
+Northern India is, I believe, Rawal Pindi, and the combined
+cantonments of Secunderabad and Bolarum in the Nizam's dominions
+constitute the largest military station in the empire.
+
+5. Comprising parts of the Meerut and Muzaffarnagar districts of the
+North-Western Provinces, now the Agra Province in the United
+Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The Begam's history will be discussed in
+chapter 75, _post_.
+
+6. The members of the reformed police force, constituted under Act V
+of 1861, generally on the model of the Royal Irish Constabulary, have
+no reason to complain of insecurity of tenure. It is now very
+difficult to obtain sanction to the dismissal of a corrupt or
+inefficient officer, unless he has been judicially convicted of a
+statutory offence.
+
+7. Ordinarily there is for each district, or administrative unit, a
+separate Sessions and District Judge, who tries both civil and
+criminal cases of the more serious kind. Occasionally two or three
+districts have only one judge between them, who is then usually in
+arrear with his work. Sessions for the trial of grave criminal cases
+are held monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly, according to
+circumstances. In some districts, and for some classes of cases, the
+jury system has been introduced, but, as a rule, in Northern India
+the responsibility rests with the judge alone, who receives some
+slight aid from assessors. Capital sentences passed by a Sessions
+Judge must be confirmed by two Judges of a High Court, or equivalent
+tribunal.
+
+8. The historian Thornton (chapter 27) went so far as to declare that
+Lord William Bentinck has 'done less for the interest of India, and
+for his own reputation, than any who had occupied his place since the
+commencement of the nineteenth century, with the single exception of
+Sir George Barlow'. The abolition of widow-burning is the only act of
+the Bentinck administration which this writer could praise. Such a
+criticism is manifestly unjust, the outcome of contemporary anger and
+prejudice. The inscription written by Macaulay, the friend and
+coadjutor of Lord William, and placed on the statue of the reforming
+Governor-General in Calcutta, does not give undeserved praise to the
+much abused statesman. Sir William Sleeman so much admired Lord
+William Bentinck, and formed such a favourable estimate of the merits
+of his government, that it may be well to support his opinion by that
+of Macaulay. The text of the inscription is:
+
+ TO
+
+ WILLIAM CAVENDISH BENTINCK,
+
+ who during seven years ruled India with eminent prudence,
+ integrity, and benevolence;
+ who, placed at the head of a great Empire, never laid aside
+ the simplicity and moderation of a private citizen;
+ who infused into Oriental despotism the spirit
+ of British freedom;
+ who never forgot that the end of Government is the happiness
+ of the governed;
+ who abolished cruel rites;
+ who effaced humiliating distinctions;
+ who gave liberty to the expression of public opinion;
+ whose constant study it was to elevate the intellectual and
+ moral character of the nation committed to his charge,
+
+ THIS MONUMENT
+
+ was erected by men
+ who, differing in race, in manners, in language and in religion,
+ cherish with equal veneration and gratitude
+ the memory of his wise, reforming, and paternal administration.
+
+
+ (_Lord William Bentinck_, by D. Boulger, p. 203; 'Rulers of India'
+series.)
+
+9. A European District Superintendent of Police, under the general
+supervision of the Magistrate of the District, now commands the
+police of each district, and sometimes has one or two European
+Assistants. He is also aided by well-paid Inspectors, who are for the
+most part natives of India. Measures have recently been taken,
+especially in the United Provinces, to improve the pay, training, and
+position of the police force, European and Indian.
+
+10. Police officers and men now obtain pensions, like public servants
+in other departments.
+
+11. In some provinces the highest salaries of magistrates are much
+lower than the rates stated by the author, which are the highest paid
+to the most senior officers in certain provinces; and, in all
+provinces, officiating incumbents, who form a large proportion of the
+officers employed, draw only a part of the full salary. The fall in
+exchange has enormously reduced the real value of all Indian
+salaries.
+
+12. Another popular view of this subject, and, I think, the one more
+commonly taken, is expressed in the anecdote told _ante_, chapter 58
+following [10]. Well-paid Inspectors of Police, drawing salaries of
+150 to 200 rupees a month, are often extremely corrupt, and retire
+with large fortunes, I knew many cases, but could never obtain
+judicial proof of one.
+
+13. When 'sons, servants, or favourites of men in authority', in
+India, no longer oppress their fellows, the millennium will have
+arrived.
+
+14. It is some slight satisfaction to a zealous magistrate of the
+present day, when he sees a great and influential criminal escape his
+just doom, to think that even the best magistrates many years ago had
+to submit to similar painful experiences. India cannot truly be
+described as an uncivilized or barbarous country, but, side by side
+with elements of the highest civilization, it contains many elements
+of primitive and savage barbarism. The savagery of India cannot be
+dealt with by barristers or moral text-books.
+
+15. The number of subordinate magistrates, paid and unpaid, has of
+late years been enormously increased, and courts are, consequently,
+much more numerous than they used to be. The vast increase in
+facility of communication has also diminished the inconveniences
+which the author deplores. In Oudh, and certain other provinces,
+which used to be called Non-Regulation, the chief Magistrate of the
+District has power to try and adequately punish all offences, except
+capital ones. The power is useful, when the district officer has time
+to exercise it, which is not always the case.
+
+16. There is a Superintendent of Police for the Province of Bengal;
+but in the North-Western Provinces his duties are divided among the
+Commissioners of Revenue. [W. H. S.] By 'Superintendent of Police'
+the author means the high officer now called the Inspector-General of
+Police, under the present System each Local Government or
+Administration has one of these officers, who is aided by one or more
+staff officers as Assistant-Inspectors-General. The Commissioners in
+the United Provinces have been relieved of police duties. The
+organization of police stations has been much modified since the
+author's time. 'Our Bengal territories', as understood by the author,
+included, in addition to Bengal, the 'North-Western Provinces', now
+the Province, of Agra, the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories, now in
+the Central Provinces, and the Delhi Territories. Oudh, of course,
+was then independent; and the Panjab was under the rule of Ranjit
+Singh.
+
+17. All these practices are still carried on; and experienced
+magistrates are well aware of their existence, though powerless to
+stop them. People will often give private information of
+malpractices, but will hardly ever come into court, and speak out
+openly. A magistrate cannot take action on statements which the
+makers will not submit to cross-examination.
+
+18. This is still a favourite trick. Every year Inspectors-General of
+Police and Secretaries to Government make the same sarcastic remarks
+about the wonderful number of 'attempts at burglary', and the
+apparent contentment of the criminal classes with the small results
+of their labours. But the Thanadar is too much for even Inspectors-
+General and Secretaries to Government. No amount of reorganization
+changes him.
+
+19. Mr. R., when appointed magistrate of the district of Fathpur on
+the Ganges, had a wish to translate the 'Henriade', and, in order to
+secure leisure, he issued a proclamation to all the Thanadars of his
+district to put down crime, declaring that he would hold them
+responsible for what might be committed, and dismiss from his
+situation every one who should suffer any to be committed within his
+charge. This district, lying on the borders of Oudh, had been noted
+for the number and atrocious character of its crimes. From that day
+all the periodical returns went up to the superior court blank--not a
+crime was reported. Astonished at this sudden result of the change of
+magistrates, the superior court of Calcutta (the Sadr Nizamat Adalat)
+requested one of the judges, who was about to pass through the
+district on his way down, to inquire into the nature of the System
+which seemed to work so well, with a view to its adoption in other
+districts. He found crimes were more abundant than ever; and the
+Thanadars showed him the proclamation, which had been understood, as
+all such proclamations are, not as enjoining vigilance in the
+prosecution of crime, but as prohibiting all report of them, so as to
+_save the magistrate trouble_, and get him a good name with his
+superiors. [W. H. S.]
+
+Great caution should always be used by local officers in making
+comments on statistics. The subordinate cares nothing for the facts.
+When a superior objects that the birth-rate is too low and the death-
+rate too high in any police circle, the practical conclusion drawn by
+the police is that the figures of the next return must be made more
+palatable, and they are cooked accordingly. So, if burglaries are too
+numerous, they cease to be reported, and so forth.
+
+The old Superior Court was known as the Sadr Nizamat Adalat, on the
+criminal, and as the Sadr Diwani Adalat, on the civil side. These
+courts have now been replaced by the High Courts, and equivalent
+tribunals. In the author's time the High Court for the Agra Province
+had not yet been established. Its seat is now at Allahabad, but was
+formerly at Agra.
+
+20. The gap has been filled up by numbers of Deputy Magistrates,
+Tahsildar, &c., invested with magisterial powers, Honorary
+Magistrates, District Superintendents, and Inspectors, and yet all
+the old games still go on merrily. The reason is that the character
+of the people has not changed. The police must have the power to
+arrest, and that power, when wielded by unscrupulous hands, must
+always be formidable.
+
+21. A magistrate who can find in his district even one man, official
+or unofficial, who will tell him 'the real state of things', and not
+merely repeat scandal and malignant gossip, is unusually fortunate.
+
+22. The Thugs were suppressed because a special organization was
+devised and directed for the purpose, the English rules as to the
+admissibility of evidence being judiciously relaxed. The ordinary law
+and methods of procedure are of little effect against the secret
+societies known as 'criminal tribes'. These criminal tribes number
+hundreds of thousands of persona, and present a problem almost
+unknown to European experience. The gipsies, who are largely of
+Indian origin, are, perhaps, the only European example of an
+hereditary criminal tribe. But they are not sheltered and abetted by
+the landowners as their brethren in India are.
+
+23. The magistrate, of course, was the author.
+
+24. These motives all retain their full force, and are unaffected by
+Police Commissions and reorganization schemes. Some people think that
+the character of the police will be raised by the employment as
+officers of young Indians of good family. I am sorry to say that I
+found these young men to be the worst offenders. They are more daring
+in their misdeeds than the ordinary policeman, and no better in their
+morals.
+
+25. This is quite true; and it is also true that our police
+administration is the weakest part of our System. But the fault is
+not entirely that of the police. In some provinces, especially in
+Bengal, the action of the High Courts has almost paralysed the arm of
+the Executive.
+
+26. 'M. Claude Maille, of Bourges. As we shall see in Book I, chapter
+18, a man of this name, who had escaped from the Dutch service, was,
+in the year 1652, a not very successful amateur gun-founder for Mir
+Jumla; he had, after his escape, set up as a surgeon to the Nawab,
+with an equipment consisting of a case of instruments and a box of
+ointments which he had stolen from M. Cheteur, the Dutch Ambassador
+to Golconda. Tavernier throws no light upon his identity with this
+physician.' (Tavernier, _Travels_, ed. Ball, vol. i, p. 116, note).
+M. Maille befriended Manucci, who mentions him several times (Irvine,
+_Storia do Mogor_, i, 92, &c.)
+
+27. Ball's version of this horrible story (vol. i, p. 117) does not
+differ materially from that quoted in the text. Tavernier does not
+mention the name of the governor, though he observes that he was 'one
+of the greatest nobles in India'. Tavernier visited Allahabad in
+December, 1665, and then heard the story, the governor concerned
+being at the time in the fort. I have no doubt that in the reign of
+Shah Jahan ordinary offences committed by ordinary criminals were
+ruthlessly punished, and to some extent suppressed. But, under the
+best Asiatic Governments, great men and their dependants have usually
+been able to do pretty much what they pleased. The English Government
+has the merit of refusing to give formal recognition to difference of
+rank in criminals, and of often trying to punish influential
+offenders, though seldom succeeding in the attempt. From time to time
+a conspicuous example, like that of the Nawab Shams-ud-din, is made,
+and a few such examples, combined with the greater vigilance and more
+complete organization of the English executive, prevent the
+occurrence of atrocities so great as that described, without a word
+of comment, by the French traveller. I have not the slightest doubt,
+nor has any magistrate of long experience any doubt, that women are
+frequently made away with quietly in the recesses of the 'zanana'. I
+have known several such cases, which were notorious, though incapable
+of judicial proof. The amount of serious secret crime which occurs in
+India, and never comes to light, is very considerable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 70
+
+
+Rent-free Tenures--Right of Government to Resume such Grants.
+
+ ON the 27th[1] we went on fifteen miles to Begamabad, over a sandy
+and level country. All the peasantry along the roads were busy
+watering their fields; and the singing of the man who stood at the
+well to tell the other who guides the bullocks when to pull, after
+the leather bucket had been filled at the bottom, and when to stop as
+it reached the top, was extremely pleasing.[2] It is said that Tansen
+of Delhi, the most celebrated singer they have ever had in India,
+used to spend a great part of his time in these fields, listening to
+the simple melodies of these water-drawers, which he learned to
+imitate and apply to his more finished vocal music. Popular belief
+ascribes to Tansen the power of stopping the river Jumna in its
+course. His contemporary and rival, Birju Baula, who, according to
+popular belief, could split a rock with a single note, is said to
+have learned his bass from the noise of the stone mills which the
+women use in grinding the corn for their families.[3] Tansen was a
+Brahman from Patna, who entered the service of the Emperor Akbar,
+became a Musalman, and after the service of twenty-seven years,
+during which he was much beloved by the Emperor and all his court, he
+died at Gwalior in the thirty-fourth year of the Emperor's reign. His
+tomb is still to be seen at Gwalior. All his descendants are said to
+have a talent for music, and they have all Sen added to their
+names.[4]
+
+While Madhoji Sindhia, the Gwalior chief, was prime minister, he made
+the emperor assign to his daughter the Bala Bai in jagir, or rent-
+free tenure, ninety-five villages, rated in the imperial 'sanads'
+[deeds of grant] at three lakhs of rupees a year. When the Emperor
+had been released from the 'durance vile' in which he was kept by
+Daulat Rao Sindhia, the adopted son of this chief,[5] by Lord Lake in
+1803, and the countries, in which these villages were situated, taken
+possession of, she was permitted to retain them on condition that
+they were to escheat to us on her death. She died in 1834, and we
+took possession of the villages, which now yield, it is said, four
+lakhs of rupees a year. Begamabad was one of them. It paid to the
+Bala Bai only six hundred rupees a year, but it pays now to us six
+hundred and twenty rupees; but the farmers and cultivators do not pay
+a farthing more--the difference was taken by the favourite to whom
+she assigned the duties of collection, and who always took as much as
+he could get from them, and paid as little as he could to her.[6] The
+tomb of the old collector stood near my tents, and his son, who came
+to visit it, told me that he had heard from Gwalior that a new
+Governor-General was about to arrive,[7] who would probably order the
+villages to be given back, when he should be made collector of the
+village, as his father had been.
+
+Had our Government acted by all the rent-free lands in our
+territories on the same principle, they would have saved themselves a
+vast deal of expense, trouble, and odium. The justice of declaring
+all lands liable to resumption on the death of the present incumbents
+when not given by competent authority for, and actually applied to,
+the maintenance of religious, charitable, educational, or other
+establishments of manifest public utility, would never have been for
+a moment questioned by the people of India, because they would have
+all known that it was in accordance with the customs of the country.
+If, at the same time that we declared all land liable to resumption,
+when not assigned by such authority for such purposes and actually
+applied to them, we had declared that all grants by competent
+authority registered in due form before the death of the present
+incumbents should be liable on their death to the payment to
+Government of only a quarter or half the rent arising from them, it
+would have been universally hailed as an act of great liberality,
+highly calculated to make our reign popular. As it is, we have
+admitted the right of former rulers of all descriptions to alienate
+in perpetuity the land, the principal source of the revenue of the
+state, in favour of their relatives, friends, and favourites, leaving
+upon the holders the burthen of proving, at a ruinous cost in fees
+and bribes, through court after court, that these alienations had
+been made by the authorities we declare competent, before the time
+prescribed; and we have thus given rise to an infinite deal of fraud,
+perjury, and forgery, and to the opinion, I fear, very generally
+prevalent, that we are anxious to take advantage of unavoidable flaws
+in the proof required, to trick them out of their lands by tedious
+judicial proceedings, while we profess to be desirous that they
+should retain them. In this we have done ourselves great
+injustice.[8]
+
+Though these lands were often held for many generations under former
+Governments, and for the exclusive benefit of the holders, it was
+almost always, when they were of any value, in collusion with the
+local authorities, who concealed the circumstances from their
+sovereign for a certain stipulated sum or share of the rents while
+they held office. This of course the holders were always willing to
+pay, knowing that no sovereign would hesitate much to resume their
+lands, should the circumstance of their holding them for their
+private use alone be ever brought to his notice. The local
+authorities were, no doubt, always willing to take a moderate share
+of the rent, knowing that they would get nothing should the lands be
+resumed by the sovereign. Sometimes the lands granted were either at
+the time the grant was made, or became soon after, waste and
+depopulated, in consequence of invasion or internal disorders; and
+remaining in this state for many generations, the intervening
+sovereigns either knew nothing or cared nothing about the grants.
+Under our rule they became by degrees again cultivated and peopled,
+and in consequence valuable, not by the exertions of the rent-free
+holders, for they were seldom known to do anything but collect the
+rents, but by those of the farmers and cultivators who pay them.
+
+When Saadat Ali Khan, the sovereign of Oudh, ceded Rohilkhand and
+other districts to the Honourable Company in lieu of tribute in 1801,
+he resumed every inch of land held in rent-free tenure within the
+territories that remained with him, without condescending to assign
+any other reason than state necessity. The measure created a good
+deal of distress, particularly among the educated classes; but not so
+much as a similar measure would have created within our territories,
+because all his revenues are expended in the maintenance of
+establishments formed exclusively out of the members of Oudh
+families, and retained within the country, while ours are sent to pay
+establishments formed and maintained at a distance; and those whose
+lands are resumed always find it exceedingly difficult to get
+employment suitable to their condition.
+
+The face of the country between Delhi and Meerut is sadly denuded of
+its groves; not a grove or an avenue is to be seen anywhere, and but
+few fine solitary trees.[9] I asked the people of the cause, and was
+told by the old men of the village that they remembered well when the
+Sikh chiefs who now bask under the sunshine of our protection used to
+come over at the head of 'dalas' (bodies) of ten or twelve horse
+each, and plunder and lay waste with fire and sword, at every
+returning harvest, the fine country which I now saw covered with rich
+sheets of cultivation, and which they had rendered a desolate waste,
+'without a man to make, or a man to grant, a petition', when Lord
+Lake came among them.[10] They were, they say, looking on at a
+distance when he fought the battle of Delhi, and drove the Marathas,
+who were almost as bad as the Sikhs, into the Jumna river, where ten
+thousand of them were drowned. The people of all classes in Upper
+India feel the same reverence as our native soldiery for the name of
+this admirable soldier and most worthy man, who did so much to
+promote our interests and sustain our reputation in this country.[11]
+
+The most beautiful trees in India are the 'bar' (banyan), the
+'pipal', and the tamarind.[12] The two first are of the fig tribe,
+and their greatest enemies are the elephants and camels of our public
+establishments and public servants, who prey upon them wherever they
+can find them when under the protection of their masters or keepers,
+who, when appealed to, generally evince a very philosophical
+disregard to the feeling of either property or piety involved in the
+trespass. It is consequently in the driest and hottest parts of the
+country, where the shade of these trees is most wanted, that it is
+least to be found; because it is there that camels thrive best, and
+are most kept, and it is most difficult to save such trees from their
+depredations.
+
+In the evening a trooper passed our tents on his way in great haste
+from Meerut to Delhi, to announce the death of the poor old Begam
+Samru, which had taken place the day before at her little capital of
+Sardhana. For five-and-twenty years had I been looking forward to the
+opportunity of seeing this very extraordinary woman, whose history
+had interested me more than that of any other character in India
+during my time; and I was sadly disappointed to hear of her death
+when within two or three stages of her capital.[13]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836.
+
+2. Mr. Fox Strangways gives specimens of songs sung at wells in his
+learned and original book, _The Music of Hindostan_ (Oxford, 1914,
+pp. 20, 21).
+
+3. Brij Bowla in the original edition. The name is correctly written
+Birju Baula or Baura. A legend of the rivalry between him and Tansen
+is given in _Linguistic Survey of India_, vi, 47. His name is not
+included in Abul Fazl's list of eminent musicians, or in Blochmann's
+notes to it (Ain trans. i, 612), and I have not succeeded in
+obtaining any trustworthy information about him. Marvellous legends
+of the rival singers will be found in _N.I.N. & Qu._ vol. v, para.
+207.
+
+4. Abul Fazl describes Tansen as being of Gwalior, adding that 'a
+singer like him has not been in India for the last thousand years'.
+Nos. 2-5 and several others in Abul Fazl's list of eminent musicians
+in Akbar's reign are all noted as belonging to Gwalior, which
+evidently was the most musical of cities (Blochmann, transl. Ain, i,
+612). Sleeman appears to have been mistaken in connecting Tansen with
+Patna. But the musician must really have become a Musalman, because
+his tomb stands close to the south-western corner of the sepulchre at
+Gwalior of Muhammad Ghaus, an eminent Muslim saint. No Hindu could
+have been buried in such a spot (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 370).
+According to one account Tansen died in Lahore, his body being
+removed to Gwalior by order of Akbar (Forbes, _Oriental Memoirs_,
+London, 1813, vol. iii, p. 32). The leaves of the tamarind-tree
+overshadowing the tomb are believed to improve the voice marvellously
+when chewed.
+
+Mr. Fox Strangways notes that Hindu critics hold Tansen 'principally
+responsible for the deterioration of Hindu music. He is said to have
+falsified the rags, and two, Hindol and Megh, of the original six
+have disappeared since his time' (op. cit., p. 84).
+
+Akbar, in the seventh year of his reign (1562-3), compelled the Raja
+of Riwa (Bhath) to give up Tansen, who was in the Raja's service. The
+emperor gave the musician Rs. 200,000. 'Most of his compositions are
+written in Akbar's name, and his melodies are even nowadays
+everywhere repeated by the people of Hindustan' (Blochmann, op. cit.,
+p. 406). Tansen died in A.D. 1588 (Beale).
+
+5. Shah Alam is the sovereign alluded to. Mahadaji (Madhoji or
+Madhava Rao) Sindhia died in February, 1794. His successor, Daulat
+Rao, was then a boy of fourteen or fifteen (Grant Duff, _History of
+the Mahrattas_, ed. 1826, vol. iii, p. 86). The formal adoption of
+Daulat Rao had not been completed (ibid., p. 91).
+
+6. This observation is a good illustration of the tendency of
+administrators in a country so poor as India to take note of the
+infinitely little. In Europe no one would take the trouble to notice
+the difference between L60 and L62 rental.
+
+7. Lord Auckland, in March, 1836, relieved Sir Charles Metcalfe, who,
+as temporary Governor-General, had succeeded Lord William Bentinck.
+
+8. The resumption, that is to say, assessment, of revenue-free lands
+was a burning question in the anthor's day. It has long since got
+settled. The author was quite right in his opinion. All native
+Governments freely exercised the right of resumption, and did not
+care in the least what phrases were used in the deed of grant. The
+old Hindoo deeds commonly directed that the grant should last 'as
+long as the sun and moon shall endure', and invoked awful curses on
+the head of the resumer. But this was only formal legal phraseology,
+meaning nothing. No ruler was bound by his predecessor's acts.
+
+9. This is not now the case.
+
+10. 'It is difficult to realize that the dignified, sober, and
+orderly men who now fill our regiments are of the same stock as the
+savage freebooters whose name, a hundred years ago, was the terror of
+Northern India. But the change has been wrought by strong and kindly
+government and by strict military discipline under sympathetic
+officers whom the troops love and respect.' (Sir Lepel Griffin,
+_Ranjit Singh_, p. 37.)
+
+11. Gerard Lake was born on the 27th July, 1744, and entered the army
+before he was fourteen. He served in the Seven Years' War in Germany,
+in the American War, in the French campaign of 1793, and against the
+Irish rebels in 1798. In the year 1801 he became Commander-in-Chief
+in India, and proceeded to Cawnpore, then our frontier station. Two
+years later the second Maratha War began, and gave General Lake the
+opportunity of winning a series of brilliant victories. In rapid
+succession he defeated the enemy at Koil, Aligarh, Delhi (the battle
+alluded to in the text), Agra, and Laswari. Next year, 1804, the
+glorious record was marred by the disaster to Colonel Monson's force,
+but this was quickly avenged by the decisive victories of Dig and
+Farrukhabad, which shattered Holkar's power. The year 1805 saw
+General Lake's one personal failure, the unsuccessful siege of
+Bharatpur. The Commander-in-Chief then resumed the pursuit of Holkar,
+and forced him to surrender. He sailed for England in February, 1807,
+and on his arrival at home was created a Viscount. On the 21st
+February, 1808, he died. (Pearse, _Memoir of the Life and Military
+Services of Viscount Lake_. London, Blackwood, 1908.) The village of
+Patparganj, nearly due east from Humayun's Tomb, marks the site of
+the battle. Fanshawe (p. 70) gives a plan.
+
+12. The banyan is the _Ficus indica_, or _Urostigma bengalense_; the
+'pipal' is _Ficus religiosa_, or _Urostigma religiosum_; and the
+tamarind is the _Tamarindus indica_, or _occidentalis_, or
+_officinalis_.
+
+13. The history of the Begam is given in Chapter 76, _post_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 71
+
+
+The Station of Meerut--'Atalis' who Dance and Sing gratuitously for
+the Benefit of the Poor.
+
+On the 30th,[1] we went on twelve miles to Meerut, and encamped close
+to the Suraj Kund, so called after Suraj-mal, the Jat chief of Dig,
+whose tomb I have described at Govardhan.[2] He built here a very
+large tank, at the recommendation of the spirit of a Hindoo saint,
+Manohar Nath, whose remains had been burned here more than two
+hundred years before, and whose spirit appeared to the Jat chief in a
+dream, as he was encamped here with his army during one of his
+_kingdom-taking_ expeditions. This is a noble work, with a fine sheet
+of water, and flights of steps of 'pakka' masonry from the top to its
+edge all round. The whole is kept in repair by our Government.[3]
+About half a mile to the north-west of the tank stands the tomb of
+Shah Pir, a Muhammadan saint, who is said to have descended from the
+mountains with the Hindoo, and to have been his bosom friend up to
+the day of his death. Both are said to have worked many wonderful
+miracles among the people of the surrounding country, who used to see
+them, according to popular belief, quietly taking their morning ride
+together upon the backs of two enormous tigers who came every morning
+at the appointed hour from the distant jungle. The Hindoo is said to
+have been very fond of music; and though he has been now dead some
+three centuries, a crowd of amateurs (atalis) assemble every Sunday
+afternoon at his shrine, on the bank of the tank, and sing gratis,
+and in a very pleasing style, to an immense concourse of people, who
+assemble to hear them, and to solicit the spirit of the old saint,
+softened by their melodies. At the tomb of the Muhammadan saint a
+number of professional dancers and singers assemble every Thursday
+afternoon, and dance, sing, and play gratis to a large concourse of
+people, who make offerings of food to the poor, and implore the
+intercession of the old man with the Deity in return.
+
+The Muhammadan's tomb is large and handsome, and built of red
+sandstone, inlaid with marble, but without any cupola, that there may
+be no _curtain_ between him and heaven when he gets out of his 'last
+long sleep' at the resurrection.[4] Not far from his tomb is another,
+over the bones of a pilgrim they call Ganj-i-fann, or the granary of
+science. Professional singers and dancers attend it every Friday
+afternoon, and display their talents gratis to a large concourse, who
+bestow what they can in charity to the poor, who assemble on all
+these occasions to take what they can get. Another much frequented
+tomb lies over a Muhammadan saint, who has not been dead more than
+three years, named Gohar Sah. He owes his canonization to a few
+circumstances of recent occurrence, which are, however, universally
+believed. Mr. Smith, an enterprising merchant of Meerut, who had
+raised a large windmill for grinding corn in the Sadr Bazar, is said
+to have abused the old man as he was one day passing by, and looked
+with some contempt on his method of grinding, which was to take the
+bread from the mouths of so many old widows. 'My child,' said the old
+saint, 'amuse thyself with this toy of thine, for it has but a few
+days to run.' In four days from that time the machine stopped. Poor
+Mr. Smith could not afford to set it going again, and it went to
+ruin. The whole native population of Meerut considered this a miracle
+of Gohar Sah. Just before his death the country round Meerut was
+under water, and a great many houses fell from incessant rain. The
+old man took up his residence during this time in a large sarai in
+the town, but finding his end approach, he desired those who had
+taken shelter with him to have him taken to the jungle where he now
+reposes. They did so, and the instant they left the building it fell
+to the ground. Many who saw it told me they had no doubt that the
+virtues of the old man had sustained it while he was there, and
+prevented its crushing all who were in it. The tomb was built over
+his remains by a Hindoo officer of the court, who had been long out
+of employment and in great affliction. He had no sooner completed the
+tomb, and implored the aid of the old man, than he got into excellent
+service, and has been ever since a happy man. He makes regular
+offerings to his shrine, as a grateful return for the saint's
+kindness to him in his hour of need. Professional singers and dancers
+display their talents here gratis, as at the other tombs, every
+Wednesday afternoon.
+
+ The ground all round these tombs is becoming crowded with the graves
+of people, who in their last moments request to be buried (zer-saya)
+under the shadow of these saints, who in their lifetime are all said
+to have despised the pomps and vanities of this life, and to have
+taken nothing from their disciples and worshippers but what was
+indispensably necessary to support existence--food being the only
+thing offered and accepted, and that taken only when they happened to
+be very hungry. Happy indeed was the man whose dish was put forward
+when the saint's appetite happened to be sharp. The death of the poor
+old Begam has, it is said, just canonized another saint, Shakir Shah,
+who lies buried at Sardhana, but is claimed by the people of Meerut,
+among whom he lived till about five years ago, when he desired to be
+taken to Sardhana, where he found the old lady very dangerously ill
+and not expected to live. He was himself very old and ill when he set
+out from Meerut; and the journey is said to have shaken him so much
+that he found his end approaching, and sent a messenger to the
+princess in these words: 'Aya tore, chale ham'; that is, 'Death came
+for thee, but I go in thy place'; and he told those around him that
+she had precisely five years more to live. She is said to have caused
+a tomb to be built over him, and is believed by the people to have
+died that day five years.
+
+All these things I learned as I wandered among the tombs of the old
+saints the first few evenings after my arrival at Meerut. I was
+interested in their history from the circumstance that amateur
+singers and professional dancers and musicians should display their
+talents at their shrines gratis, for the sake of getting alms for the
+poor of the place, given in their name--a thing I had never before
+heard of--though the custom prevails no doubt in other places; and
+that Musalmans and Hindoos should join promiscuously in their
+devotions and charities at all these shrines. Manohar Nath's shrine,
+though he was a Hindoo, is attended by as many Musalman as Hindoo
+pilgrims. He is said to have 'taken the _samadh_', that is, to have
+buried himself alive in this place as an offering to the Deity. Men
+who are afflicted with leprosy or any other incurable disease in
+India often take the samadh, that is, bury or drown themselves with
+due ceremonies, by which they are considered as acceptable sacrifices
+to the Deity. I once knew a Hindoo gentleman of great wealth and
+respectability, and of high rank under the Government of Nagpur, who
+came to the river Nerbudda, two hundred miles, attended by a large
+retinue, to _take the samadh_ in due form, from a painful disease
+which the doctors pronounced incurable. After taking an affectionate
+leave of all his family and friends, he embarked on board the boat,
+which took him into the deepest part of the river. He then loaded
+himself with sand, as a sportsman who is required to carry weights in
+a race loads himself with shot, and stepping into the water
+disappeared. The funeral ceremonies were then performed, and his
+family, friends, and followers returned to Nagpur, conscious that
+they had all done what they had been taught to consider their duty.
+Many poor men do the same every year when afflicted by any painful
+disease that they consider incurable.[5] The only way to prevent this
+is to carry out the plan now in progress of giving to India in an
+accessible shape the medical science of Europe--a plan first adopted
+under Lord W. Bentinck, prosecuted by Lord Auckland, and
+superintended by two able and excellent men, Doctors Goodeve and
+O'Shaughnessy. It will be one of the greatest blessings that India
+has ever received from England.[6]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. January, 1836. The date is misprinted 20th in the original
+edition.
+
+2. _Ante_, chapter 56 [13].
+
+3. 'Amongst the remains of former times in and around Meerut may be
+noticed the Suraj kund, commonly called by Europeans 'the monkey
+tank'. It was constructed by Jawahir Mal, a wealthy merchant of
+Lawar, in 1714. It was intended to keep it full of water from the Abu
+Nala but at present the tank is nearly dry in May and June. There are
+numerous small temples, 'dharmsalas' [i.e. rest-houses], and 'sati'
+pillars on its banks, but none of any note. The largest of the
+temples is dedicated to Manohar Nath, and is said to have been built
+in the reign of Shah Jahan. Lawar, a large village . . . is distant
+twelve miles north of the civil station. . . . There is a fine house
+here called Mahal Sarai, built about A.D. 1700 by Jawahir Singh,
+Mahajan, who constructed the Suraj kund near Meerut' (_N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. iii, pp. 406,400). This information,
+supplied by the local officials, is more to be depended on than the
+author's statement.
+
+4. 'The "dargah" [i.e. shrine] of Shah Pir is a fine structure of red
+sandstone, erected about A.D. 1620 by Nur Jahan, the wife of the
+Emperor Jahangir, in memory of a pious fakir named Shah Pir. An
+"urs", or religions assembly, is held here every year in the month of
+Ramazan. The "dargah" is supported from the proceeds of the revenue-
+free village of Bhagwanpur' (ibid., vol. iii, p. 406). The text of
+the original edition gives the pilgrim's name as 'Gungishun', which
+has no meaning.
+
+5. An interesting collection of modern cases of a similar kind is
+given in Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed., s.v. 'Samadhi'.
+
+6. See _ante_, chapter 15, note l4. Dr. W. B. O'Shaughnessy
+contributed many scientific papers to the _J.A.S.B._ (vols. viii, ix,
+x, xii, and xvi).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 72
+
+
+Subdivisions of Lands--Want of Gradations of Rank--Taxes.
+
+The country between Delhi and Meerut is well cultivated and rich in
+the latent power of its soil; but there is here, as everywhere else
+in the Upper Provinces, a lamentable want of gradations in society,
+from the eternal subdivision of property in land, and the want of
+that concentration of capital in commerce and manufactures which
+characterizes European--or I may take a wider range, and say
+Christian societies.[1] Where, as in India, the landlords' share of
+the annual returns from the soil has been always taken by the
+Government as the most legitimate fund for the payment of its public
+establishments; and the estates of the farmers, and the holdings of
+the immediate cultivators of the soil, are liable to be subdivided in
+equal shares among the sons in every succeeding generation, the land
+can never aid much in giving to society that without which no society
+can possibly be well organized--a gradation of rank. Were the
+Government to alter the System, to give up all the rent of the lands,
+and thereby convert all the farmers into proprietors of their
+estates, the case would not be much altered, while the Hindoo and
+Muhammadan law of inheritance remained the same; for the eternal
+subdivision would still go on, and reduce all connected with the soil
+to one common level; and the people would be harassed with a
+multiplicity of taxes, from which they are now free, that would have
+to be imposed to supply the place of the rent given up. The
+agricultural capitalists who derived their incomes from the interest
+of money advanced to the farmers and cultivators for subsistence and
+the purchase of stock were commonly men of rank and influence in
+society; but they were never a numerous class.[2] The mass of the
+people in India are really not at present sensible that they pay any
+taxes at all. The only necessary of life, whose price is at all
+increased by taxes, is salt, and the consumer is hardly aware of this
+increase. The natives never eat salted meat; and though they require
+a great deal of salt, living, as they do, so much on vegetable food,
+still they purchase it in such small quantities from day to day as
+they require it, that they really never think of the tax that may
+have been paid upon it in its progress.[3]
+
+To understand the nature of taxation in India, an Englishman should
+suppose that all the non-farming landholders of his native country
+had, a century or two ago, consented to resign their property into
+the hands of their sovereign, for the maintenance of his civil
+functionaries, army, navy, church, and public creditors, and then
+suddenly disappeared from the community, leaving to till the lands
+merely the farmers and cultivators; and that their forty millions of
+rent were just the sum that the Government now required to pay all
+these four great establishments.[4]
+
+To understand the nature of the public debt of England a man has only
+to suppose one great national establishment, twice as large as those
+of the civil functionaries, the Army, Navy, and the Church together,
+and composed of members with fixed salaries, who purchased their
+commissions from _the wisdom of our ancestors_, with liberty to sell
+them to whom they please--who have no duty to perform for the
+public,[5] and have, like Adam and Eve, the privilege of going to
+'seek their place of rest' in what part of the world they please--a
+privilege of which they will, of course, be found more and more
+anxious to avail themselves as taxation presses on the one side, and
+prohibition to the import of the necessaries of life diminishes the
+means of paying them on the other.
+
+The repeal of the Corn Laws may give a new lift to England; it may
+greatly increase the foreign demand for the produce of its
+manufacturing industry; it may invite back a large portion of those
+who now spend their incomes in foreign countries, and prevent from
+going abroad to reside a vast number who would otherwise go. These
+laws must soon be repealed, or England must reduce one or other of
+its great establishments--the National Debt, the Church, the Army, or
+the Navy. The Corn Laws press upon England just in the same manner as
+the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope
+pressed upon Venice and the other states whose welfare depended upon
+the transit of the produce of India by land. But the navigation of
+the Cape benefited all other European nations at the same time that
+it pressed upon these particular states, by giving them all the
+produce of India at cheaper rates than they would otherwise have got
+it, and by opening the markets of India to the produce of all other
+European nations. The Corn Laws benefit only one small section of the
+people of England, while they weigh, like an incubus, upon the vital
+energies of all the rest; and at the same time injure all other
+nations by preventing their getting the produce of manufacturing
+industry so cheap as they would otherwise get it. They have not,
+therefore, the merit of benefiting other nations, at the same time
+that they crush their own.[6]
+
+For some twenty or thirty years of our rule, too many of the
+collectors of our land revenue in what we call the Western
+Provinces,[7] sought the 'bubble reputation' in an increase of
+assessment upon the lands of their district every five years when the
+settlement was renewed. The more the assessment was increased, the
+greater was the praise bestowed upon the collector by the revenue
+boards, or the revenue secretary to Government, in the name of the
+Governor-General of India.[8] These collectors found an easy mode of
+acquiring this reputation--they left the settlements to their native
+officers, and shut their ears to all complaints of grievances, till
+they had reduced all the landholders of their districts to one common
+level of beggary, without stock, character, or credit; and
+transferred a great portion of their estates to the native officers
+of their own courts through the medium of the auction sales that took
+place for the arrears, or pretended arrears, of revenue. A better
+feeling has for some years past prevailed, and collectors have sought
+their reputation in a real knowledge of their duties, and real good
+feeling towards the farmers and cultivators of their districts. For
+this better tone of feeling the Western Provinces are, I believe,
+chiefly indebted to Mr. R. M. Bird, of the Revenue Board, one of the
+most able public officers now in India. A settlement for twenty years
+is now in progress that will leave the farmers at least 35 per cent.
+upon the gross collections from the immediate cultivators of the
+soil; that is, the amount of the revenue demandable by Government
+from the estate will be that less than what the farmer will, and
+would, under any circumstances, levy from the cultivators in his
+detailed settlement.[9]
+
+The farmer lets all the land of his estate out to cultivators, and
+takes in money this rate of profit for his expense, trouble, and
+risk; or he lets out to the cultivators enough to pay the Government
+demand, and tills the rest with his own stock, rent-free. When a
+division takes place between his sons, they either divide the estate,
+and become each responsible for his particular share, or they divide
+the profits, and remain collectively responsible to Government for
+the whole, leaving one member of the family registered as the lessee
+and responsible head.[10]
+
+In the Ryotwar System of Southern India, Government officers,
+removable at the pleasure of the Government collector, are
+substituted for these farmers, or more properly proprietors, of
+estates; and a System more prejudicial to the best interests of
+society could not well be devised by the ingenuity of man.[11] It has
+been supposed by some theorists, who are practically unacquainted
+with agriculture in this or any other country, that all who have any
+interest in land above the rank of cultivator or ploughman are mere
+_drones_, or useless consumers of that rent which, under judicious
+management, might be added to the revenues of Government--that all
+which they get might, and ought to be, either left with the
+cultivators or taken by the Government. At the head of these is the
+justly celebrated historian, Mr. Mill. But men who understand the
+subject practically know that the intermediate agency of a farmer,
+who has a permanent interest in the estate, or an interest for a long
+period, is a thousand times better both for the Government and the
+people than that of a Government officer of any description, much
+less that of one removable at the pleasure of the collector.
+Government can always get more revenue from a village under the
+management of the farmer; the character of the cultivators and
+village community generally is much better; the tillage is much
+better; and the produce, from more careful weeding and attention of
+all kinds, sells much better in the market. The better character of
+the cultivators enables them to get the loans they require to
+purchase stock, and to pay the Government demand on more moderate
+terms from the capitalists, who rely upon the farmer to aid in the
+recovery of their outlays, without reference to civil courts, which
+are ruinous media, as well in India as in other places. The farmer or
+landlord finds in the same manner that he can get much more from
+lands let out on lease to the cultivators or yeomen, who depend upon
+their own character, credit, and stock, than he can from similar
+lands cultivated with his own stock; and hired labourers can never be
+got to labour either so long or so well. The labour of the Indian
+cultivating lessee is always applied in the proper quantity, and at
+the proper time and place--that of the hired field-labourer hardly
+ever is. The skilful coachmaker always puts on the precise quantity
+of iron required to make his coach strong, because he knows where it
+is required; his coach is, at the same time, as light as it can be
+with safety. The unskilful workman either puts on too much, and makes
+his coach heavy; or he puts it in the wrong place, and leaves it
+weak.
+
+If government extends the twenty years' settlement now in progress to
+fifty years or more, they will confer a great blessing upon the
+people[12] and they might, perhaps, do it on the condition that the
+incumbent consented to allow the lease to descend undivided to his
+heirs by the laws of primogeniture. To this condition all classes
+would readily agree, for I have heard Hindoo and Muhammadan
+landholders all equally lament the evil effects of the laws by which
+families are so quickly and inevitably broken up; and say that 'it is
+the duty of government to take advantage of their power as the great
+proprietor and leaser of all the lands to prevent the evil by
+declaring leases indivisible. 'There would then', they say, 'be
+always one head to assist in maintaining the widows and orphans of
+deceased members, in educating his brothers and nephews; and by his
+influence and respectability procuring employment for them.' In such
+men, with feelings of permanent interest in their estates, and in the
+stability of the government that secured them possession on such
+favourable terms, and with the means of educating their children, we
+should by and by find our best support, and society its best element.
+The law of primogeniture at present prevails only where it is most
+mischievous under our rule, among the feudal chiefs, whose ancestors
+rose to distinction and acquired their possessions by rapine in times
+of invasion and civil wars. This law among them tends to perpetuate
+the desire to maintain those military establishments by which the
+founders of their families arose, in the hope that the times of
+invasion and civil wars may return and open for them a similar field
+for exertion. It fosters a class of powerful men, essentially and
+irredeemably opposed in feeling, not only to our rule, but to settled
+government under any rule; and the sooner the Hindoo law of
+inheritance is allowed by the paramount power to take its course
+among these feudal chiefs, the better for society. There is always a
+strong tendency to it in the desire of the younger brothers to share
+in the loaves and fishes; and this tendency is checked only by the
+injudicious interposition of our authority.[13]
+
+To give India the advantage of free institutions, or all the
+blessings of which she is capable under an enlightened paternal
+government, nothing is more essential than the supersession of this
+feudal aristocracy by one founded upon other bases, and, above all,
+upon that of the concentration of capital in commerce and
+manufactures. Nothing tends so much to prevent the accumulation and
+concentration of capital over India as this feudal aristocracy which
+tends everywhere to destroy that feeling of security without which
+men will nowhere accumulate and concentrate it. They do so, not only
+by the intrigues and combinations against the paramount power, which
+keep alive the dread of internal wars and foreign invasion, but by
+those gangs of robbers and murderers which they foster and locate
+upon their estates to prey upon the more favoured or better governed
+territories around them. From those gangs of freebooters who are to
+be found upon the estate of almost every native chief, no
+accumulation of movable property of any value is ever for a moment
+considered safe, and those who happen to have any such are always in
+dread of losing, not only their property, but their lives along with
+it, for these gangs, secure in the protection of such chief, are
+reckless in their attack, and kill all who happen to come in their
+way.[14]
+
+Notes:
+
+1. This phrase is meant to include America.
+
+2. Money-lenders naturally have flourished daring the long period of
+internal peace since the Mutiny. They vary in wealth and position
+from the humblest 'gombeen man' to the millionaire banker. Many of
+these money-lenders are now among the largest owners of land in the
+country. Under native rule interests in land were generally too
+precarious to be saleable. The author did not foresee that the growth
+of private property in land would carry with it the right and desire
+of one party to sell and of another to buy, and would thus favour the
+growth of large estates, and, to a considerable extent, counteract
+the evils of subdivision. Of course, like everything else, the large
+estates have their evils too. Much nonsense is written about sales of
+land in India, as well as in Ireland. The two countries have more
+than the initial letter in common.
+
+3. Theorists declare that it is right that the tax-payers should know
+what is taken from them, and that, therefore, direct taxes are best;
+but practical men who have to govern ignorant and suspicious races,
+resentful of direct taxation, know that indirect taxation is, for
+such people, the best.
+
+4. This illustration would give a very false idea of modern Indian
+finance.
+
+5. They have no duty to perform as creditors; but as citizens of an
+enlightened nation they no doubt perform many of them, very important
+ones. [W. H. S.] The author's whimsical comparison between
+stockholders and Adam and Eve, and his notion that the creditors of
+the nation may be regarded as officials without duties, only obscure
+a simple matter. The emigration of owners of Consols never assumed
+very alarming dimensions.
+
+6. The Corn Laws were repealed in 1846, and the shilling duty which
+was then left was abolished in 1869. Considering that the author
+belonged to a land-owning family, his clear perception of the evils
+caused by the Corn Laws is remarkable.
+
+7. By the 'Western Provinces' the author means the region called
+later the North-Western Provinces, and now known as the Agra Province
+in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, with the Delhi Territories,
+which latter are now partly under the Government of the Panjab, and
+partly in the new small Province, or Chief Commissionership of Delhi.
+
+8. At the time referred to, the provincial Government had not been
+constituted.
+
+9. Fifty per cent. may be considered as the average rate left to the
+lessees or proprietors of estates under this new settlement; and, if
+they take on an average one-third of the gross produce, Government
+takes two-ninths. But we may rate the Government share of the produce
+actually taken at one-fifth as the maximum, and one-tenth as the
+minimum. [W. H. S.]
+
+It is unfortunately true that in the short-term settlements made
+previous to 1833 many abuses of the kinds referred to in the text
+occurred. The traditions of the people and the old records attest
+numerous instances. The first serious attempt to reform the system of
+revenue settlements was made by Regulation VII of 1822, but, owing to
+an excessive elaboration of procedure, the attempt produced no
+appreciable results. Regulation IX of 1833 established a workable
+system, and provided for the appointment of Indian Deputy Collectors
+with adequate powers. The settlements of the North-Western Provinces
+made under this Regulation were, for the most part, reasonably fair,
+and were generally confirmed for a period of thirty years. Mr. Robert
+Mertins Bird, who entered the service in 1805, and died in 1853, took
+a leading part in this great reform. When the next settlements were
+made, between 1860 and 1880, the share of the profit rental claimed
+by the State was reduced from two-thirds to one-half. Full details
+will be found in the editor's _Settlement Officer's Manual for the N.
+W. P._ (Allahabad, 1882), or in Baden Powell's big book, _Land
+Systems of British India_ (Clarendon Press, 1892).
+
+10. Since 1833 the people whom the author calls 'farmers' have
+gradually become fall proprietors, subject to the Government lien on
+the land and its produce for the land revenue. For many years past
+the ancient custom of joint ownership and collective responsibility
+has been losing ground. Partitions are now continually demanded, and
+every year collective responsibility is becoming more unpopular and
+more difficult to enforce.
+
+11. This judgement, I need hardly say, would not be accepted in
+Madras or Bombay. The issue raised is too large for discussion in
+footnotes.
+
+12. The advantages of very long terms of settlements are obvious; the
+disadvantages, though equally real, are less obvious. Fluctuations in
+prices, and above all, in the price of silver, are among the many
+conditions which complicate the question. Except the Bengal
+landowners, most people now admit that the Permanent Settlement of
+Bengal in 1793 was a grievous mistake. It is also admitted that the
+mistake is irrevocable.
+
+13. These two suggestions of the author that the law of primogeniture
+should be established to regulate the succession to ordinary estates,
+and that it should be abolished in the case of chieftainships, where
+it already prevails, are obviously open to criticism. It seems
+sufficient to say that both recommendations are, for many reasons,
+altogether impracticable. In passing, I may note that the term
+'feudal' does not express with any approach to correctness the
+relation of the Native States to the Government of India.
+
+14. The evils described in this paragraph, though diminished, have
+not disappeared. Nevertheless, no one would now seriously propose the
+deliberate supersession of the existing aristocracy by rich merchants
+and manufacturers. The proposal is too fanciful for discussion.
+During the long period of peace merchants and manufacturers have
+naturally risen to a position much more prominent than they occupied
+in the author's time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 73
+
+
+Meerut--Anglo-Indian Society.
+
+Meerut is a large station for military and civil establishments; it
+is the residence of a civil commissioner, a judge, a magistrate, a
+collector of land revenue, and all their assistants and
+establishments. There are the Major-General commanding the division;
+the Brigadier commanding the station; four troops of horse and a
+company of foot artillery; one regiment of European cavalry, one of
+European infantry, one of native cavalry, and three of native
+infantry.[1] It is justly considered the healthiest station in India,
+for both Europeans and natives,[2] and I visited it in the latter end
+of the cold, which is the healthiest, season of the year; yet the
+European ladies were looking as if they had all come out of their
+graves, and talking of the necessity of going off to the mountains to
+renovate, as soon as the hot weather should set in. They had
+literally been fagging themselves to death with gaiety, at this the
+gayest and most delightful of all Indian stations, during the cold
+months when they ought to have been laying in a store of strength to
+carry them through the trying seasons of the hot winds and rains. Up
+every night and all night at balls and suppers, they could never go
+out to breathe the fresh air of the morning; and were looking
+wretchedly ill, while the European soldiers from the barracks seemed
+as fresh as if they had never left their native land. There is no
+doubt that sitting up late at night is extremely prejudicial to the
+health of Europeans in India.[3] I have never seen the European, male
+or female, that could stand it long, however temperate in habits; and
+an old friend of mine once told me that if he went to bed a little
+exhilarated every night at ten o'clock, and took his ride in the
+morning, he found himself much better than if he sat up till twelve
+or one o'clock without drinking, and lay abed in the mornings. Almost
+all the gay pleasures of India are enjoyed at night, and as ladies
+here, as everywhere else in Christian societies, are the life and
+soul of all good parties, as of all good novels, they often to oblige
+others sit up late, much against their own inclinations, and even
+their judgements, aware as they are that they are gradually sinking
+under the undue exertions.
+
+When I first came to India there were a few ladies of the old school
+still much looked up to in Calcutta, and among the rest the
+grandmother of the Earl of Liverpool, the old Begam Johnstone, then
+between seventy and eighty years of age.[4] All these old ladies
+prided themselves upon keeping up old usages. They use to dine in the
+afternoon at four or five o'clock--take their airing after dinner in
+their carriages; and from the time they returned till ten at night
+their houses were lit up in their best style and thrown open for the
+reception of visitors. All who were on visiting terms came at this
+time, with any strangers whom they wished to introduce, and enjoyed
+each other's society; there were music and dancing for the young, and
+cards for the old, when the party assembled happened to be large
+enough; and a few who had been previously invited stayed supper. I
+often visited the old Begam Johnstone at this hour, and met at her
+house the first people in the country, for all people, including the
+Governor-General himself, delighted to honour this old lady, the
+widow of a Governor-General of India, and the mother-in-law of a
+Prime Minister of England.[5] She was at Murshidabad when Siraj-ud-
+daula marched from that place at the head of the army that took and
+plundered Calcutta, and caused so many Europeans to perish in the
+Black Hole; and she was herself saved from becoming a member of his
+seraglio, or perishing with the lest, by the circumstance of her
+being far gone in her pregnancy, which caused her to be made over to
+a Dutch factory.[6]
+
+She had been a very beautiful woman, and had been several times
+married; the pictures of all her husbands being hung round her noble
+drawing-room in Calcutta, covered during the day with crimson cloth
+to save them from the dust, and uncovered at night only on particular
+occasions. One evening Mrs. Crommelin, a friend of mine, pointing to
+one of them, asked the old lady his name. 'Really, I cannot at this
+moment tell you, my dear; my memory is very bad,' (striking her
+forehead with her right hand, as she leaned with her left arm in Mrs.
+Crommelin's,) 'but I shall recollect in a few minutes.' The old
+lady's last husband was a clergyman, Mr. Johnstone, whom she found
+too gay, and persuaded to go home upon an annuity of eight hundred a
+year, which she settled upon him for life. The bulk of her fortune
+went to Lord Liverpool; the rest to her grandchildren, the Ricketts,
+Watts, and others.
+
+Since those days the modes of intercourse in India have much altered.
+Society at all the stations beyond the three capitals of Calcutta,
+Madras, and Bombay, is confined almost exclusively to the members of
+the civil and military services, who seldom remain long at the same
+station--the military officers hardly ever more than three years, and
+the civil hardly ever so long. At disagreeable stations the civil
+servants seldom remain so many months. Every newcomer calls in the
+forenoon upon all that are at the station when he arrives, and they
+return his call at the same hour soon after. If he is a married man,
+the married men upon whom he has called take their wives to call upon
+his; and he takes his to return the call of theirs. These calls are
+all indispensable; and being made in the forenoon, become very
+disagreeable in the hot season; all complain of them, yet no one
+forgoes his claim upon them; and till the claim is fulfilled, people
+will not recognize each other as acquaintances.[7] Unmarried officers
+generally dine in the evening, because it is a more convenient hour
+for the mess; and married civil functionaries do the same, because it
+is more convenient for their office work. If you invite those who
+dine at that hour to spend the evening with you, you must invite them
+to dinner, even in the hot weather; and if they invite you, it is to
+dinner. This makes intercourse somewhat heavy at all times, but more
+especially so in the hot season, when a table covered with animal
+food is sickening to any person without a keen appetite, and
+stupefying to those who have it. No one thinks of inviting people to
+a dinner and ball--it would be vandalism; and when you invite them,
+as is always the case, to come after dinner, the ball never begins
+till late at night, and seldom ends till late in the morning. With
+all its disadvantages, however, I think dining in the evening much
+better for those who are in health, than dining in the afternoon,
+provided people can avoid the intermediate meal of tiffin. No person
+in India should eat animal food more than once a day; and people who
+dine in the evening generally eat less than they would if they dined
+in the afternoon. A light breakfast at nine; biscuit, or a slice of
+toast with a glass of water, or soda-water, at two o'clock, and
+dinner after the evening exercise, is the plan which I should
+recommend every European to adopt as the most agreeable.[8] When
+their digestive powers get out of order, people must do as the
+doctors tell them.
+
+There is, I believe, no society in which there is more real urbanity
+of manners than in that of India--a more general disposition on the
+part of its different members to sacrifice their own comforts and
+conveniences to those of others, and to make those around them happy,
+without letting them see that it costs them an effort to do so.[9]
+There is assuredly no society where the members are more generally
+free from those corroding cares and anxieties which 'weigh upon the
+hearts' of men whose incomes are precarious, and position in the
+world uncertain. They receive their salaries on a certain day every
+month, whatever may be the state of the seasons or of trade; they pay
+no taxes; they rise in the several services by rotation;[10]
+religious feelings and opinions are by common consent left as a
+question between man and his Maker; no one ever thinks of questioning
+another about them, nor would he be tolerated if he did so. Most
+people take it for granted that those which they got from their
+parents were the right ones; and as such they cherish them. They
+remember with feelings of filial piety the prayers which they in
+their infancy offered to their Maker, while kneeling by the side of
+their mothers; and they continue to offer them up through life, with
+the same feelings and the same hopes.[11]
+
+Differences of political opinion, which agitate society so much in
+England and other countries where every man believes that his own
+personal interests must always be more or less affected by the
+predominance of one party over another, are no doubt a source of much
+interest to people in India, but they scarcely ever excite any angry
+passions among them. The tempests by which the political atmosphere
+of the world is cleared and purged of all its morbid influences burst
+not upon us--we see them at a distance--we know that they are working
+for all mankind; and we feel for those who boldly expose themselves
+to their 'pitiless peltings' as men feel for the sailors whom they
+suppose to be exposed on the ocean to the storm, while they listen to
+it from their beds or winter firesides.[12] We discuss all political
+opinions, and all the great questions which they affect, with the
+calmness of philosophers; not without emotion certainly, but without
+passion; we have no share in returning members to parliament--we feel
+no dread of those injuries, indignities, and calumnies to which those
+who have are too often exposed; and we are free from the bitterness
+of feelings which always attend them.[13]
+
+How exalted, how glorious, has been the destiny of England, to spread
+over so vast a portion of the globe her literature, her language, and
+her free institutions! How ought the sense of this high destiny to
+animate her sons in their efforts to perfect their institutions which
+they have formed by slow degrees from feudal barbarism; to make them
+in reality as perfect as they would have them appear to the world to
+be in theory, that rising nations may love and honour the source
+whence they derive theirs, and continue to look to it for
+improvement.
+
+We return to the society of our wives and children after the labours
+of the day are over, with tempers unruffled by collision with
+political and religious antagonists, by unfavourable changes in the
+season and the markets, and the other circumstances which affect so
+much the incomes and prospects of our friends at home. We must look
+to them for the chief pleasures of our lives, and know that they must
+look to us for theirs; and if anything has crossed us we try to
+conceal it from them. There is in India a strong feeling of mutual
+dependence which prevents little domestic misunderstandings between
+man and wife from growing into quarrels so often as in other
+countries, where this is less prevalent. Men have not here their
+clubs, nor their wives their little coteries to fly to when disposed
+to make serious matters out of trifles, and both are in consequence
+much inclined to bear and forbear. There are, of course, on the other
+hand, evils in India that people have not to contend with at home;
+but, on the whole, those who are disposed to look on the fair, as
+well as on the dark side of all around them, can enjoy life in India
+very much, as long as they and those dear to them are free from
+physical pain.[14] We everywhere find too many disposed to look upon
+the dark side of all that is present, and the bright side of all that
+is distant in time and place--always miserable themselves, be they
+where they will, and making all around them miserable; this commonly
+arises from indigestion, and the habit of eating and drinking in a
+hot, as in a cold, climate; and giving their stomachs too much to do,
+as if they were the only parts of the human frame whose energies were
+unrelaxed by the temperature of tropical climates.
+
+There is, however, one great defect in Anglo-Indian society; it is
+composed too exclusively of the servants of government, civil,
+military, and ecclesiastic, and wants much of the freshness, variety,
+and intelligence of cultivated societies otherwise constituted. In
+societies where capital is concentrated for employment in large
+agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing establishments, those who
+possess and employ it form a large portion of the middle and higher
+classes. They require the application of the higher branches of
+science to the efficient employment of their capital in almost every
+purpose to which it can be applied; and they require, at the same
+time, to show that they are not deficient in that conventional
+learning of the schools and drawing-rooms to which the circles they
+live and move in attach importance. In such societies we are,
+therefore, always coming in contact with men whose scientific
+knowledge is necessarily very precise, and at the same time very
+extensive, while their manners and conversation are of the highest
+polish. There is, perhaps, nothing which strikes a gentleman from
+India so much on his entering a society differently constituted, as
+the superior precision of men's information upon scientific subjects;
+and more especially upon that of the sciences more immediately
+applicable to the arts by which the physical enjoyments of men are
+produced, prepared, and distributed all over the world. Almost all
+men in India feel that too much of their time before they left
+England was devoted to the acquisition of the dead languages; and too
+little to the study of the elements of science. The time lost can
+never be regained--at least they think so, which is much the same
+thing. Had they been well grounded in the elements of physics,
+physiology, and chemistry before they left their native land, they
+would have gladly devoted their leisure to the improvement of their
+knowledge; but to go back to elements, where elements can be learnt
+only from books, is, unhappily, what so few can bring themselves to,
+that no man feels ashamed of acknowledging that he has never studied
+them at all till he returns to England, or enters a society
+differently constituted, and finds that he has lost the support of
+the great majority that always surrounded him in India.[15] It will,
+perhaps, be said that the members of the official aristocracy of all
+countries have more or less of the same defects, for certain it is
+that they everywhere attach paramount or undue importance to the
+conventional learning of the grammar-school and the drawing-room, and
+the ignorant and the indolent have everywhere the support of a great
+majority. Johnson has, however, observed:
+
+ 'But the truth is that the knowledge of external nature and the
+sciences, which that knowledge requires or includes, are not the
+great or the frequent business of the human mind. Whether we provide
+for action or conversation, whether we wish to be useful or pleasing,
+the first requisite is the religious and moral knowledge of right and
+wrong; the next is an acquaintance with the history of mankind, and
+with those examples which may be said to embody truth, and prove by
+events the reasonableness of opinions.[16] Prudence and justice are
+virtues and excellences of all times, and of all places--we are
+perpetually moralists; but we are geometricians only by chance. Our
+intercourse with intellectual nature is necessary; our speculations
+upon matter are voluntary and at leisure. Physiological learning is
+of such rare emergence, that one may know another half his life,
+without being able to estimate his skill in hydrostatics or
+astromony; but his moral and prudential character immediately
+appears. Those authors, therefore, are to be read at schools that
+supply most axioms of prudence, most principles of moral truth, and
+most materials for conversation; and these purposes are best served
+by poets, orators, and historians' (_Life of Milton_).
+
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. In India officers have much better opportunities in time of peace
+to learn how to handle troops than in England, from having them more
+concentrated in large stations, with fine open plains to exercise
+upon. During the whole of the cold season, from the beginning of
+November to the end of February, the troops are at large stations
+exercised in brigades, and the artillery, cavalry, and infantry
+together. [W. H. S.] The normal garrison of Meerut in recent years
+has consisted of one British cavalry regiment, one battalion of
+British infantry, one native cavalry regiment, and one battalion of
+native infantry, with two batteries of horse and two of field
+artillery. The cantonment was established in 1806, from which date
+the town grew rapidly in size and population. The civil staff has
+been largely increased since Sleeman's time by the addition of
+numerous officers belonging to irrigation and other departmental
+services which did not exist in his day. The offices of District
+Magistrate and Collector have been united as a single person for many
+years.
+
+2. The cantonments suffered severely from typhoid fever for several
+years in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
+
+3. Few Anglo-Indians will dispute the truth of this dictum.
+
+4. The late Earl of Liverpool, then Mr. Jenkinson, married this old
+lady's daughter. He was always very attentive to her, and she used
+with feelings of great pride and pleasure to display the contents of
+the boxes of millinery which he used every year to send out to her.
+[W. H. 8.] The author came out to India in 1809. Mr. Charles
+Jenkinson was created Baron Hawkesbury in 1786, and Earl of Liverpool
+in 1796. His first wife, who died in 1770, was Amelia, daughter of
+Mr. William Watts, Governor of Fort William, and of the lady
+described by the author. Their only son succeeded to the earldom in
+1808, and died in 1828. The peerage became extinct on the death of
+the third earl in 1851. (Burke's _Peerage_.) It was revived in 1905.
+
+5. Lord Liverpool, the second earl, became Prime Minister in 1812,
+after the murder of Perceval. Mrs. Johnson (not Johnstone) was not
+'the widow of a Governor-General of India'. Her history is told in
+detail on her tombstone in St. John's churchyard, Calcutta, and is
+summarized in Buckland, _Dictionary of Indian Biography_ (1906). She
+was born in 1725, and died in 1812. She had four husbands, namely (l)
+Parry Purple Temple, whom she married when she was only thirteen
+years of age; (2) James Altham, who died of smallpox a few days after
+his marriage; (3) William Watts, Senior Member of Council, and for a
+short time Governor or President of Fort William in 1758; (4) in 1774
+Rev. William Johnson, who became principal chaplain of Fort William
+in 1784, and left India in 1788. She was known as 'the old Begum ',
+and her epitaph asserts that she was when she died 'the oldest
+British resident in Bengal, universally beloved, respected, and
+revered'. Mr. A. L. Paul kindly communicated the full text of the
+inscription on her tomb, with some additional notes. The author met
+her in 1810, when she was about eighty-five years of age.
+
+6. The tragedy of the Black Hole occurred in June, 1756.
+
+7. Of late years the rigour of the custom exacting midday calls has
+been relaxed in some places.
+
+8. Moat people would require some training before they could find
+this very abstemious regimen 'the most agreeable'.
+
+9. It will, I hope, be admitted that this observation still holds
+good.
+
+10. When the author wrote the rupee was worth more than two
+shillings, the members of the Indian services were few in number, and
+mostly well paid, while living was cheap. Now all is changed. The
+rupee has an artificial value of 1_s_. 4_d_., the members of the
+services are numerous and often ill paid, while living is dear. The
+sharp fall in the value of silver, and consequently in the gold
+equivalent of the rupee, began in 1874. 'Corroding cares and
+anxieties' are now the lot of most people who serve in India. They
+now have the privilege of paying taxes.
+
+11. This perfect religious freedom, still generally characteristic of
+Anglo-Indian society, is one of its greatest charms; and the charms
+of the country do not increase.
+
+12. The author probably had in his mind the famous lines of
+Lucretius:-
+
+ Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis,
+ E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem;
+ Non quia vexari quemquam 'st jucunda voluptas,
+ Sed, quibus ipse malis careas, quia cernere suave 'st.
+ (Book II, line 1.)
+
+13. This delightful philosophic calm is no longer an Anglo-Indian
+possession; nor can the modern Indian official congratulate himself
+on his immunity from 'injuries, indignities, and calumnies'.
+
+14. There are now clubs everywhere, and coteries are said to be not
+unknown. Few Anglo-Indians of the present day are able to share the
+author's cheery optimism.
+
+15. In this matter also time has wrought great changes. The
+scientific branches of the Indian services, the medical, engineering,
+forestry, geological survey, and others, have greatly developed, and
+many officials, in India, whether of European or Indian race, now
+occupy high places in the world of science.
+
+16. Compare Bolingbroke's observation, already quoted, that 'history
+is philosophy teaching by example'.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 74
+
+
+Pilgrims of India.
+
+There is nothing which strikes a European more in travelling over the
+great roads in India than the vast number of pilgrims of all kinds
+which he falls in with, particularly between the end of November
+[_sic_], when all the autumn harvest has been gathered, and the seed
+of the spring crops has been in the ground. They consist for the most
+part of persons, male and female, carrying Ganges water from the
+point at Hardwar, where the sacred stream emerges from the hills, to
+the different temples in all parts of India, dedicated to the gods
+Vishnu and Siva. There the water is thrown upon the stones which
+represent the gods, and when it falls upon these stones it is called
+'Chandamirt', or holy water, and is frequently collected and reserved
+to be drunk as a remedy 'for a mind diseased'[1]
+
+This water is carried in small bottles, bearing the seals of the
+presiding priest at the holy place whence it was brought. The bottles
+are contained in covered baskets, fixed to the ends of a pole, which
+is carried across the shoulder. The people who carry it are of three
+kinds--those who carry it for themselves as a votive offering to some
+shrine; those who are hired for the purpose by others as salaried
+servants; and, thirdly, those who carry it for sale. In the interval
+between the sowing and reaping of the spring crops, that is, between
+November and March, a very large portion of the Hindoo landholders
+and cultivators of India devote their leisure to this pious duty.
+They take their baskets and poles with them from home, or purchase
+them on the road; and having poured their libations on the head of
+the god, and made him acquainted with their wants and wishes, return
+home. From November to March three-fourths of the number of these
+people one meets consist of this class. At other seasons more than
+three-fourths consist of the other two classes--of persons hired for
+the purpose as servants, and those who carry the water for sale.
+
+One morning the old Jemadar, the marriage of whose mango-grove with
+the jasmine I have already described,[2] brought his two sons and a
+nephew to pay their respects to me on their return to Jubbulpore from
+a pilgrimage to Jagannath.[3] The sickness of the youngest, a nice
+boy of about six years of age, had caused this pilgrimage. The eldest
+son was about twenty years of age, and the nephew about eighteen.
+
+After the usual compliments, I addressed the eldest son: 'And so your
+brother was really very ill when you set out?'
+
+'Very ill, sir; hardly able to stand without assistance.'
+
+'What was the matter with him?'
+
+'It was what we call a drying-up, or withering of the System.'
+
+'What were the symptoms?'
+
+'Dysentery.'
+
+'Good; and what cured him, as he now seems quite well?'
+
+'Our mother and father vowed five pair of baskets of Ganges water to
+Gajadhar, an incarnation of the god Siva, at the temple of Baijnath,
+and a visit to the temple of Jagannath.'
+
+'And having fulfilled these vows, your brother recovered?'
+
+'He had quite recovered, sir, before we had set out on our return
+from Jagannath.'
+
+'And who carried the baskets?'
+
+'My mother, wife, cousin, myself, and little brother, all carried one
+pair each.'
+
+'This little boy could not surely carry a pair of baskets all the
+way?'
+
+'No, sir, we had a pair of small baskets made especially for him; and
+when within about three miles of the temple he got down from his
+little pony, took up his baskets, and carried them to the god. Up to
+within three miles of the temple the baskets were carried by a
+Brahman servant, whom we had taken with us to cook our food. We had
+with us another Brahman, to whom we had to pay only a trifle, as his
+principal wages were made up of fees from families in the town of
+Jubbulpore, who had made similar vows, and gave him so much a bottle
+for the water he carried in their several names to the god.'
+
+'Did you give all your water to the Baijnath temple, or carry some
+with you to Jagannath?'
+
+'No water is ever offered to Jagannath, sir; he is an incarnation of
+Vishnu.'[4]
+
+'And does Vishnu never drink?'
+
+'He drinks, sir, no doubt; but he gets nothing but offerings of food
+and money.'
+
+'From this to Bindachal on the Ganges, two hundred and thirty miles;
+thence to Baijnath, a hundred and fifty miles; and thence to
+Jagannath, some four or five hundred miles more.'[5]
+
+'And your mother and wife walked all the way with their baskets?'
+
+'All the way, sir, except when either of them got sick, when she
+mounted the pony with my little brother till she felt well again.'
+
+Here were four members of a respectable family walking a pilgrimage
+of between twelve and fourteen hundred miles, going and coming, and
+carrying burthens on their shoulders for the recovery of the poor
+sick boy; and millions of families are every year doing the same from
+all parts of India. The change of air, and exercise, cured the boy,
+and no doubt did them all a great deal of good; but no physician in
+the world but a religions one could have persuaded them to undertake
+such a journey for the same purpose.
+
+The rest of the pilgrims we meet are for the most part of the two
+monastic orders of Gosains, or the followers of Siva, and Bairagis,
+or followers of Vishnu, and Muhammadan Fakirs. A Hindoo of any caste
+may become a member of these monastic orders. They are all disciples
+of the high priests of the temples of their respective gods; and in
+their name they wander all over India, visiting the celebrated
+temples which are dedicated to them. A part of the revenues of these
+temples is devoted to subsisting these disciples as they pass; and
+every one of them claims the right of a day's food and lodging, or
+more, according to the rules of the temple. They make collections
+along the roads; and when they return, commonly bring back some
+surplus as an offering to their apostle, the high priest who has
+adopted them. Almost every high priest has a good many such
+disciples, as they are not costly; and from their returning
+occasionally, and from the disciples of others passing, these high
+priests learn everything of importance that is going on over India,
+and are well acquainted with the state of feeling and opinion.
+
+What these disciples get from secular people is given not only from
+feelings of charity and compassion, but as a religions or
+propitiatory offering: for they are all considered to be armed by
+their apostle with a vicarious power of blessing or cursing; and as
+being in themselves men of God whom it might be dangerous to
+displease. They never condescend to feign disease or misery in order
+to excite feelings of compassion, but demand what they want with a
+bold front, as holy men who have a right to share liberally in the
+superfluities which God has given to the rest of the Hindoo
+community. They are in general exceedingly intelligent men of the
+world, and very communicative. Among them will be found members of
+all classes of Hindoo society, and of the most wealthy and
+respectable families.[6] While I had charge of the Narsinghpur
+district in 1822 a Bairagi, or follower of Vishnu, came and settled
+himself down on the border of a village near my residence. His mild
+and paternal deportment pleased all the little community so much that
+they carried him every day more food than he required. At last, the
+proprietor of the village, a very respectable old gentleman, to whom
+I was much attached, went out with all his family to ask a blessing
+of the holy man. As they sat down before him, the tears were seen
+stealing down his cheeks as he looked upon the old man's younger sons
+and daughters. At last, the old man's wife burst into tears, ran up,
+and fell upon the holy man's neck, exclaiming, 'My lost son, my lost
+son!' He was indeed her eldest son. He had disappeared suddenly
+twelve years before, became a disciple of the high priest of a
+distant temple, and visited almost every celebrated temple in India,
+from Kedarnath in the eternal snows to Sita Baldi Ramesar, opposite
+the island of Ceylon.[7] He remained with the family for nearly a
+year, delighting them and all the country around with his narratives.
+At last, he seemed to lose his spirits, his usual rest and appetite;
+and one night he again disappeared. He had been absent for some years
+when I last saw the family, and I know not whether he ever returned.
+
+The real members of these monastic orders are not generally bad men;
+but there are a great many men of all kinds who put on their
+disguises, and under their cloak commit all kinds of atrocities.[8]
+The security and convenience which the real pilgrims enjoy upon our
+roads, and the entire freedom from all taxation, both upon these
+roads and at the different temples they visit, tend greatly to attach
+them to our rule, and through that attachment, a tone of good feeling
+towards it is generally disseminated over all India. They come from
+the native states, and become acquainted with the superior advantages
+the people under us enjoy, in the greater security of property, the
+greater freedom with which it is enjoyed and displayed; the greater
+exemption from taxation, and the odious right of search which it
+involves, the greater facilities for travelling in good roads and
+bridges; the greater respectability and integrity of public servants,
+arising from the greater security in their tenure of office and more
+adequate rate of avowed salaries; the entire freedom of the
+navigation of our great rivers, on which thousands and tens of
+thousands of laden vessels now pass from one end to the other without
+any one to question whence they come or whither they go. These are
+tangible proofs of good government, which all can appreciate; and as
+the European gentleman, in his rambles along the great roads, passes
+the lines of pilgrims with which the roads are crowded during the
+cold season, he is sure to hear himself hailed with grateful shouts,
+as one of those who secured for them and the people generally all the
+blessings they now enjoy.[9]
+
+One day my sporting friend, the Raja of Maihar, told me that he had
+been purchasing some water from the Ganges at its source, to wash the
+image of Vishnu which stood in one of his temples.[10] I asked him
+whether he ever drank the water after the image had been washed in
+it. 'Yes,' said he, 'we all occasionally drink the "chandamirt".'
+'And do you in the same manner drink the water in which the god Siva
+has been washed?' 'Never,' said the Raja. 'And why not?' 'Because his
+wife, Devi, one day in a domestic quarrel cursed him and said, "The
+water which falls from thy head shall no man henceforward drink."
+From that day', said the Raja, 'no man has ever drunk of the water
+that washes his image, lest Devi should punish him.' 'And how is it,
+then, Raja Sahib, that mankind continue to drink the water of the
+Ganges, which is supposed to flow from her husband Siva's top-knot?'
+'Because', replied the Raja, 'this sacred river first flows from the
+right foot of the god Vishnu, and thence passes over the head of
+Siva. The three gods', continued the Raja, 'govern the world turn and
+turn about, twenty years at a time. While Vishnu reigns, all goes on
+well; rain descends in good season, the harvests are abundant, and
+the cattle thrive. When Brahma reigns, there is little falling off in
+these matters; but during the twenty years that Siva reigns, nothing
+goes on well--we are all at cross purposes, our crops fail, our
+cattle get the murrain, and mankind suffer from epidemic diseases.'
+The Raja was a follower of Vishnu, as may be guessed.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Tavernier notes that Ganges water is often given at weddings,
+'each guest receiving a cup or two, according to the liberality of
+the host'. 'There is sometimes', he says, '2,000 or 3,000 rupees'
+worth of it consumed at a wedding.' (Tavernier, _Travels_, ed. Ball,
+vol. ii, pp. 231, 254.)
+
+2. _Ante_, Chapter 5, [3].
+
+3. Jagannath (corruptly Juggernaut, &c.), or Puri, on the coast of
+Orissa, probably is the most venerated shrine in India. The principal
+deity there worshipped is a form of Vishnu.
+
+4. Water may not be offered to Jagannath, but the facts stated in
+this chapter show that it is offered in other temples of Vishnu.
+
+5. Bindachal is in the Mirzapur district of the United Provinces.
+Baijnath is in the Santal Parganas District of the Bhagalpur Division
+in the province of Bihar and Orissa. The group of temples at Deogarh
+dedicated to Siva is visited by pilgrims from all parts of India. The
+principal temple is called Baijnath or Baidyanath. Deogarh is a small
+town in the Santal Parganas (_I.G._, 1908, s.v. Deogarh; _A.S.R._,
+vol. viii (1878), pp. 137-45, Pl. ix, x; vol. xix (1885), pp. 29-35
+(crude notes), Pl. x, xi).
+
+6. Pandit Saligram, who was Postmaster-General of the North-Western
+Provinces some years ago, became one of these wandering friars, and
+other similar cases are recorded.
+
+7. Seet Buldee Ramesur in original edition. The temple alluded to is
+that called Ramesvaram (Ramisseram) in the small island of Pamban at
+the entrance of Palk's Passage in the Straits of Manaar, which is
+distinguished by its magnificent colonnade and corridors. (Fergusson,
+_Hist. Ind. and Eastern Arch._, vol. i, pp. 380-3, ed. 1910.) The
+island forms part of the so-called Adam's Bridge, a reef of
+comparatively recent formation, which almost joins Ceylon with the
+mainland. A railway now runs along the 'bridge', and the pilgrims
+have an easy task.
+
+The Kedarnath temple is in the Himalayan District of Garhwal (United
+Provinces), at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet.
+
+8. The author's other works show that the Thugs frequently assumed
+the guise of ascetics, and much of the secret crime of India is known
+to be committed by men who adopt the garb of holiness. A man
+disguised as a fakir is often sent on by dacoits (gang-robbers) as a
+spy and decoy. 'Three-fourths of these religions mendicants, whether
+Hindoos or Muhammadans, rob and steal, and a very great portion of
+them murder their victims before they rob them; but they have not any
+of them as a class been found to follow the trade of murder so
+exclusively as to be brought properly within the scope of our
+operations. . . . There is hardly any species of crime that is not
+throughout India perpetrated by men in the disguise of these
+religious mendicants; and almost all such mendicants are really men
+in disguise; for Hindoos of any caste can become Bairagis and
+Gosains; and Muhammadans of any grade can become Fakirs.' (_A Report
+on the System of Megpunnaism_, 1839, p. 11.) In the same little work
+the author advises the compulsory registration of 'every disciple
+belonging to every high priest, whether Hindoo or Muhammadan', and a
+stringent Vagrant Act. His suggestions have not been acted on.
+
+9. This incident still happens occasionally.
+
+10. For the Raja, see _ante_, chapter 20, [6].
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 75
+
+
+The Begam Sumroo.
+
+On the 7th of February [1836] I went out to Sardhana and visited the
+church built and endowed by the late Begam Sombre, whose remains are
+now deposited in it.[1] It was designed by an Italian gentleman, M.
+Reglioni, and is a fine but not a striking building.[2] I met the
+bishop, Julius Caesar, an Italian from Milan, whom I had known a
+quarter of a century before, a happy and handsome young man--he is
+still handsome, though old; but very miserable because the Begam did
+not leave him so large a legacy as he expected. In the revenues of
+her church he had, she thought, quite enough to live upon; and she
+said that priests without wives or children to care about ought to be
+satisfied with this; and left him only a few thousand rupees. She
+made him the medium of conveying a donation to the See of Rome of one
+hundred and fifty thousand rupees,[3] and thereby procured for him
+the bishopric of Amartanta in the island of Cyprus; and got her
+grandson, Dyce Sombre, made a chevalier of the Order of Christ, and
+presented with a splint from the real cross, as a relic.
+
+The Begam Sombre was by birth a Saiyadani, or lineal descendant from
+Muhammad, the founder of the Musalman faith; and she was united to
+Walter Reinhard, when very young, by all the forms considered
+necessary by persons of her persuasion when married to men of
+another.[4] Reinhard had been married to another woman of the
+Musalman faith, who still lives at Sardhana,[5] but she had become
+insane, and has ever since remained so. By this first wife he had a
+son, who got from the Emperor the title of Zafar Yab Khan, at the
+request of the Begam, his stepmother; but he was a man of weak
+intellect, and so little thought of that he was not recognized even
+as the nominal chief on the death of his father.
+
+Walter Reinhard was a native of Salzburg. He enlisted as a private
+soldier in the French service, and came to India, where he entered
+the service of the East India Company, and rose to the rank of
+sergeant.[6] Reinhard got the sobriquet of Sombre from his comrades
+while in the French service from the sombre cast of his countenance
+and temper.[7] An Armenian, by name Gregory, of a Calcutta family,
+the virtual minister of Kasim Ali Khan,[8] under the title of Gorgin
+Khan,[9] took him into his service when the war was about to commence
+between his master and the English. Kasim Ali was a native of
+Kashmir, and not naturally a bad man; but he was goaded to madness by
+the injuries and insults heaped upon him by the servants of the East
+India Company, who were not then paid, as at present, in adequate
+salaries, but in profits upon all kinds of monopolies; and they would
+not suffer the recognized sovereign of the country in which they
+traded to grant to his subjects the same exemption that they claimed
+for themselves exclusively; and a war was the consequence.[10]
+
+Mr. Ellis, one of these civil servants and chief of the factory at
+Patna, whose opinions had more weight with the council in Calcutta
+than all the wisdom of such men as Vansittart and Warren Hastings,
+because they happened to be more consonant with the personal
+interests of the majority, precipitately brought on the war, and
+assumed the direction of all military operations, of which he knew
+nothing, and for which he seems to have been totally unfitted by the
+violence of his temper. All his enterprises failed--the city and
+factory were captured by the enemy, and the European inhabitants
+taken prisoners. The Nawab, smarting under the reiterated wrongs he
+had received, and which he attributed mainly to the counsels of Mr.
+Ellis, no sooner found the chief within his grasp, than he determined
+to have him and all who were taken with him, save a Doctor Fullarton,
+to whom he owed some personal obligations, put to death. His own
+native officers were shocked at the proposal, and tried to dissuade
+him from the purpose, but he was resolved, and not finding among them
+any willing to carry it into execution he applied to Sumroo, who
+readily undertook and, with some of his myrmidons, performed the
+horrible duty in 1763.[11] At the suggestion of Gregory and Sombre,
+Kasim Ali now attempted to take the small principality of Nepal, as a
+kind of basis for his operations against the English. He had four
+hundred excellent rifles with flint locks and screwed barrels made at
+Monghyr (Munger) on the Ganges, so as to fit into small boxes. These
+boxes were sent up on the backs of four hundred brave volunteers for
+this forlorn hope. Gregory had got a passport for the boxes as rare
+merchandise for the palace of the prince at Kathmandu, in whose
+presence alone they were to be opened. On reaching the palace at
+night, these volunteers were to open their boxes, screw up the
+barrels, destroy all the inmates, and possess themselves of the
+palace, where it is supposed Kasim Ali had already secured many
+friends. Twelve thousand soldiers had advanced to the foot of the
+hills near Betiya, to support the attack, and the volunteers were in
+the fort of Makwanpur, the only strong fort between the plain and the
+capital. They had been treated with great consideration by the
+garrison, and were to set out at daylight the next morning; but one
+of the attendants, who had been let into the secret, got drunk, and
+in a quarrel with one of the garrison, told him that he should see in
+a few days who would be master of that garrison. This led to
+suspicion; the boxes were broken open, the arms discovered, and the
+whole of the party, except three or four, were instantly put to
+death; the three or four who escaped gave intelligence to the army at
+Betiya, and the whole retreated upon Monghyr. But for this drunken
+man, Nepal had perhaps been Kasim Ali's.[12]
+
+Kasim Ali Khan was beaten in several actions by our gallant little
+band of troops under their able leader, Colonel Adams; and at last
+driven to seek shelter with the Nawab Wazir of Oudh, into whose
+service Sumroo afterwards entered. This chief being in his turn
+beaten, Sumroo went off and entered the service of the celebrated
+chief of Rohilkhand, Hafiz Rahmat Khan. This he soon quitted from
+fear of the English. He raised two battalions in 1772, which he soon
+afterwards increased to four; and let out always to the highest
+bidder--first, to the Jat chiefs of Dig, then to the chief of Jaipur,
+then to Najaf Khan, the prime minister, and then to the Marathas. His
+battalions were officered by Europeans, but Europeans of
+respectability were unwilling to take service under a man so
+precariously situated, however great their necessities; and he was
+obliged to content himself for the most part with the very dross of
+society--men who could neither read nor write, nor keep themselves
+sober. The consequence was that the battalions were often in a state
+of mutiny, committing every kind of outrage upon the persons of their
+officers, and at all times in a state of insubordination bordering on
+mutiny. These battalions seldom obtained their pay till they put
+their commandant into confinement, and made him dig up his hidden
+stores, if he had any, or borrow from bankers, if he had none. If the
+troops felt pressed for time, and their commander was of the
+necessary character, they put him astride upon a hot gun without his
+trousers. When our battalion had got its pay out of him in this
+manner, he was often handed over to another for the same purpose. The
+poor old Begam had been often subjected to the starving stage of this
+proceeding before she came under our protection; but had never, I
+believe, been grilled upon a gun. It was a rule, it was said, with
+Sombre, to enter the field of battle at the safest point, form line
+facing the enemy, fire a few rounds in the direction where they
+stood, without regard to the distance or effect, form square, and
+await the course of events. If victory declared for the enemy, he
+sold his unbroken force to him to great advantage; if for his
+friends, he assisted them in collecting the plunder, and securing all
+the advantages of the victory. To this prudent plan of action his
+corps afterwards steadily adhered; and they never took or lost a gun
+till they came in contact with our forces at Ajanta and Assaye.[13]
+
+Sombre died at Agra on the 4th of May, 1778, and his remains were at
+first buried in his garden. They were afterwards removed to the
+consecrated ground in the Agra churchyard by his widow the Begam,[14]
+who was baptized, at the age of forty,[15] by a Roman Catholic
+priest, under the name of Joanna,[16] on the 7th of May, 1781.
+
+On the death of her husband she was requested to take command of the
+force by all the Europeans and natives that composed it, as the only
+possible mode of keeping them together, since the son was known to be
+altogether unfit. She consented, and was regularly installed in the
+charge by the Emperor Shah Alam. Her chief officer was a Mr. Paoli, a
+German, who soon after took an active part in providing the poor
+imbecile old Emperor with a prime minister, and got himself
+assassinated on the restoration, a few weeks after, of his rival.[17]
+The troops continued in the same state of insubordination, and the
+Begam was anxious for an opportunity to show that she was determined
+to be obeyed.
+
+While she was encamped with the army of the prime minister of the
+time at Mathura,[18] news was one day brought to her that two slave
+girls had set fire to her houses at Agra, in order that they might
+make off with their paramours, two soldiers of the guard she had left
+in charge. These houses had thatched roofs, and contained all her
+valuables, and the widows, wives, and children of her principal
+officers. The fire had been put out with much difficulty and great
+loss of property; and the two slave girls were soon after discovered
+in the bazaar at Agra, and brought out to the Begam's camp. She had
+the affair investigated in the usual summary form; and their guilt
+being proved to the satisfaction of all present, she had them flogged
+till they were senseless, and then thrown into a pit dug in front of
+her tent for the purpose, and buried alive. I had heard the story
+related in different ways, and I now took pains to ascertain the
+truth; and this short narrative may, I believe, be relied upon.[19]
+
+An old Persian merchant, called the Aga, still resided at Sardhana,
+to whom I knew that one of the slave girls belonged. I visited him,
+and he told me that his father had been on intimate terms with
+Sombre, and when he died his mother went to live with his widow, the
+Begam--that his slave girl was one of the two-that his mother at
+first protested against her being taken off to the camp, but became
+on inquiry satisfied of her guilt--and that the Begam's object was to
+make a strong impression upon the turbulent spirit of her troops by a
+severe example. 'In this object', said the old Aga, 'she entirely
+succeeded; and for some years after her orders were implicitly
+obeyed; had she faltered on that occasion she must have lost the
+command--she would have lost that respect, without which it would
+have been impossible for her to retain it a month. I was then a boy;
+but I remember well that there were, besides my mother and sisters,
+many respectable females that would have rather perished in the
+flames than come out to expose themselves to the crowd that assembled
+to see the fires; and had the fires not been put out, a great many
+lives must have been lost; besides, there were many old people and
+young children who could not have escaped.' The old Aga was going off
+to take up his quarters at Delhi when this conversation took place;
+and I am sure that he told me what he thought to be true. This
+narrative corresponded exactly with that of several other old men
+from whom I had heard the story. It should be recollected that among
+natives there is no particular mode of execution prescribed for those
+who are condemned to die; nor, in a camp like this, any court of
+justice save that of the commander in which they could be tried, and,
+supposing the guilt to have been established, as it is said to have
+been to the satisfaction of the Begam and the principal officers, who
+were all Europeans and Christians, perhaps the punishment was not
+much greater than the crime deserved and the occasion demanded. But
+it is possible that the slave girls may not have set fire to the
+buildings, but merely availed themselves of the occasion of the fire
+to run off; indeed, slave girls are under so little restraint in
+India, that it would be hardly worth while for them to burn down a
+house to get out. I am satisfied that the Begam believed them guilty,
+and that the punishment, horrible as it was, was merited. It
+certainly had the desired effect. My object has been to ascertain the
+truth in this case, and to state it, and not to eulogize or defend
+the old Begam.
+
+After Paoli's death, the command of the troops under the Begam
+devolved successively upon Baours, Evans, Dudrenec, who, after a
+short time, all gave it up in disgust at the beastly habits of the
+European subalterns, and the overbearing insolence to which they and
+the want of regular pay gave rise among the soldiers. At last the
+command devolved upon Monsieur Le Vaisseau, a French gentleman of
+birth, education, gentlemanly deportment, and honourable
+feelings.[20] The battalions had been increased to six, with their
+due proportion of guns and cavalry; part resided at Sardhana, her
+capital, and part at Delhi, in attendance upon the Emperor. A very
+extraordinary man entered her service about the same time with Le
+Vaisseau, George Thomas, who, from a quartermaster on board a ship,
+raised himself to a principality in Northern India.[21] Thomas on one
+occasion raised his mistress in the esteem of the Emperor and the
+people by breaking through the old rule of central squares: gallantly
+leading on his troops, and rescuing his majesty from a perilous
+situation in one of his battles with a rebellious subject, Najaf Kuli
+Khan, where the Begam was present in her palankeen, and reaped all
+the laurels, being from that day called 'the most beloved daughter of
+the Emperor'.[22] As his best chance of securing his ascendancy
+against such a rival, Le Vaisseau proposed marriage to the Begam, and
+was accepted. She was married to Le Vaisseau by Father Gregoris, a
+Carmelite monk, in 1793, before Saleur and Bernier, two French
+officers of great merit. George Thomas left her service, in
+consequence, in 1793, and set up for himself; and was afterwards
+crushed by the united armies of the Sikhs and Marathas, commanded by
+European officers, after he had been recognized as a general officer
+by the Governor-General of India. George Thomas had latterly twelve
+small disciplined battalions officered by Europeans. He had good
+artillery, cast his own guns, and was the first person that applied
+iron calibres to brass cannon. He was unquestionably a man of very
+extraordinary military genius, and his ferocity and recklessness as
+to the means he used were quite in keeping with the times. His
+revenues were derived from the Sikh states which he had rendered
+tributary; and he would probably have been sovereign of them all in
+the room of Ranjit Singh, had not the jealousy of Perron and other
+French officers in the Maratha army interposed.[23]
+
+The Begam tried in vain to persuade her husband to receive all the
+European officers of the corps at his table as gentlemen, urging that
+not only their domestic peace, but their safety among such a
+turbulent set, required that the character of these officers should
+be raised if possible, and their feelings conciliated. Nothing, he
+declared, should ever induce him to sit at table with men of such
+habits; and they at last determined that no man should command them
+who would not condescend to do so. Their insolence and that of the
+soldiers generally became at last unbearable, and the Begam
+determined to go off with her husband, and seek an asylum in the
+Honourable Company's territory with the little property she could
+command, of one hundred thousand rupees in money, and her jewels,
+amounting perhaps in value to one hundred thousand more. Le Vaisseau
+did not understand English; but with the aid of a grammar and a
+dictionary he was able to communicate her wishes to Colonel McGowan,
+who commanded at that time (1795) an advanced post of our army at
+Anupshahr on the Ganges.[24] He proposed that the Colonel should
+receive them in his cantonments, and assist them in their journey
+thence to Farrukhabad, where they wished in future to reside, free
+from the cares and anxieties of such a charge. The Colonel had some
+scruples, under the impression that he might be censured for aiding
+in the flight of a public officer of the Emperor. He now addressed
+the Governor-General of India, Sir John Shore himself, April
+1795,[25] who requested Major Palmer, our accredited agent with
+Sindhia, who was then encamped near Delhi, and holding the seals of
+prime minister of the empire, to interpose his good offices in favour
+of the Begam and her husband. Sindhia demanded twelve lakhs of rupees
+as the price of the privilege she solicited to retire; and the Begam,
+in her turn, demanded over and above the privilege of resigning the
+command into his hands, the sum of four lakhs of rupees as the price
+of the arms and accoutrements which had been provided at her own cost
+and that of her late husband. It was at last settled that she should
+resign the command, and set out secretly with her husband; and that
+Sindhia should confer the command of her troops upon one of his own
+officers, who would pay the son of Sombre two thousand rupees a month
+for life. Le Vaisseau was to be received into our territories,
+treated as a prisoner of war upon parole, and permitted to reside
+with his wife at the French settlement of Chandernagore. His last
+letter to Sir John Shore is dated the 30th April, 1795. His last
+letters describing this final arrangement are addressed to Mr. Even,
+a French merchant at Mirzapore, and a Mr. Bernier, both personal
+friends of his, and are dated 18th of May, 1795.[26]
+
+The battalions on duty at Delhi got intimation of this
+correspondence, made the son of Sombre declare himself their
+legitimate chief, and march at their head to seize the Begam and her
+husband. Le Vaisseau heard of their approach, and urged the Begam to
+set out with him at midnight for Anupshahr, declaring that he would
+rather destroy himself than submit to the personal indignities which
+he knew would be heaped upon him by the infuriated ruffians who were
+coming to seize them. The Begam consented, declaring that she would
+put an end to her life with her own hand should she be taken. She got
+into her palankeen with a dagger in her hand, and as he had seen her
+determined resolution and proud spirit before exerted on many trying
+occasions, he doubted not that she would do what she declared she
+would. He mounted his horse and rode by the side of her palankeen,
+with a pair of pistols in his holsters, and a good sword by his side.
+They had got as far as Kabri, about three miles from Sardhana,[27] on
+the road to Meerut, when they found the battalions from Sardhana, who
+had got intimation of the flight, gaining fast upon the palankeen. Le
+Vaisseau asked the Begam whether she remained firm in her resolve to
+die rather than submit to the indignities that threatened them.
+'Yes,' replied she, showing him the dagger firmly grasped in her
+right hand. He drew a pistol from his holster without saying
+anything, but urged on the bearers. He could have easily galloped
+off, and saved himself, but he would not quit his wife's side. At
+last the soldiers came up close behind them. The female attendants of
+the Begam began to scream; and looking in, Le Vaisseau saw the white
+cloth that covered the Begam's breast stained with blood. She had
+stabbed herself, but the dagger had struck against one of the bones
+of her chest, and she had not courage to repeat the blow. Her husband
+put his pistol to his temple and fired. The bail passed through his
+head, and he fell dead on the ground. One of the soldiers who saw him
+told me that he sprang at least a foot off the saddle into the air as
+the shot struck him. His body was treated with every kind of insult
+by the European officers and their men;[28] and the Begam was taken
+back into Sardhana, kept under a gun for seven days, deprived of all
+kinds of food, save what she got by stealth from her female servants,
+and subjected to all manner of insolent language.
+
+At last the officers were advised by George Thomas, who had
+instigated them to this violence out of pique against the Begam for
+her preference of the Frenchman,[29] to set aside their puppet and
+reseat the Begam in the command, as the only chance of keeping the
+territory of Sardhana.[30] 'If', said he, 'the Begam should die under
+the torture of mind and body to which you are subjecting her, the
+minister will very soon resume the lands assigned for your payment,
+and disband a force so disorderly, and so little likely to be of any
+use to him or the Emperor.' A council of war was held--the Begam was
+taken out from under the gun, and reseated on the 'masnad'. A paper
+was drawn up by about thirty European officers, of whom only one,
+Monsieur Saleur, could sign his own name, swearing in the name of God
+and Jesus Christ,[31] that they would henceforward obey her with all
+their hearts and souls, and recognize no other person whomsoever as
+commander. They all affixed their seals to this _covenant_; but some
+of them, to show their superior learning, put their initials, or what
+they used as such, for some of these _learned Thebans_ knew only two
+or three letters of the alphabet, which they put down, though they
+happened not to be their real initials. An officer on the part of
+Sindhia, who was to have commanded these troops, was present at this
+reinstallation of the Begam, and glad to take, as a compensation for
+his disappointment, the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand rupees,
+which the Begam contrived to borrow for him.
+
+The body of poor Le Vaisseau was brought back to camp, and there lay
+several days unburied, and exposed to all kinds of indignities. The
+supposition that this was the result of a plan formed by the Begam to
+get rid of Le Vaisseau is, I believe, unfounded.[32] The Begam
+herself gave some colour of truth to the report by retaining the name
+of her first husband, Sombre, to the last, and never publicly or
+formally declaring her marriage with Le Vaisseau after his death. The
+troops in this mutiny pretended nothing more than a desire to
+vindicate the honour of their old commander Sombre, which had, they
+said, been compromised by the illicit intercourse between Le Vaisseau
+and his widow. She had not dared to declare the marriage to them lest
+they should mutiny on that ground, and deprive her of the command;
+and for the same reason she retained the name of Sombre after her
+restoration, and remained silent on the subject of her second
+marriage. The marriage was known only to a few European officers. Sir
+John Shore, Major Palmer, and the other gentlemen with whom Le
+Vaisseau corresponded. Some grave old native gentlemen who were long
+in her service have told me that they believed 'there really was too
+much of truth in the story which excited the troops to mutiny on that
+occasion--her too great intimacy with the gallant young Frenchman.
+God forgive them for saying so of a lady whose salt they had eaten
+for so many years'. Le Vaisseau made no mention of the marriage to
+Colonel McGowan; and from the manner in which he mentions it to Sir
+John Shore it is clear that he, or she, or both, were anxious to
+conceal it from the troops and from Sindhia before their departure.
+She stipulated in her will that her heir, Mr. Dyce, should take the
+name of Sombre, as if she wished to have the little episode of her
+second marriage forgotten.
+
+After the death of Le Vaisseau, the command devolved on Monsieur
+Saleur, a Frenchman, the only respectable officer who signed the
+covenant; he had taken no active part in the mutiny; on the contrary,
+he had done all he could to prevent it; and he was at last, with
+George Thomas, the chief means of bringing his brother officers back
+to a sense of their duty. Another battalion was added to the four in
+1787, and another raised in 1798 and 1802; five of the six marched
+under Colonel Saleur to the Deccan with Sindhia. They were in a state
+of mutiny the whole way, and utterly useless as auxiliaries, as
+Saleur himself declared in many of his letters written in French to
+his mistress the Begam. At the battle of Assaye, four of these
+battalions were left in charge of the Maratha camps. One was present
+in the action and lost its four guns. Soon after the return of these
+battalions, the Begam entered into an alliance with the British
+Government; the force then consisted of these six battalions, a party
+of artillery served chiefly by Europeans, and two hundred horse. She
+had a good arsenal well stored, a foundry for cannon, both within the
+walls of a small fortress, built near her dwelling at Sardhana. The
+whole cost her about four lakhs of rupees a year; her civil
+establishments eighty thousand, and her household establishments and
+expenses about the same; total six lakhs of rupees a year. The
+revenues of Sardhana, and the other lands assigned at different times
+for the payment of the force had been at no time more than sufficient
+to cover these expenses; but under the protection of our Government
+they improved with the extension of tillage, and the improvements of
+the surrounding markets for produce, and she was enabled to give
+largely to the support of charitable institutions, and to provide
+handsomely for the support of her family and pensioners after her
+death.'[33]
+
+Sombre's son, Zafaryab Khan, had a daughter who was married to
+Colonel Dyce, who had for some time the management of the Begam's
+affairs; but he lost her favour long before her death by his violent
+temper and overbearing manners, and was obliged to resign the
+management to his son, who, on the Begam's death, came in for the
+bulk of her fortune, or about sixty lakhs of rupees. He has two
+sisters who were brought up by the Begam, one married to Captain
+Troup, an Englishman, and the other to Mr. Salaroli, an Italian, both
+very worthy men. Their wives have been handsomely provided for by the
+Begam, and by their brother, who trebled the fortunes left to them by
+the Begam.[34] She built an excellent church at Sardhana, and
+assigned the sum of 100,000 rupees as a fund to provide for its
+service and repairs; 50,000 rupees as another [fund] for the poor of
+the place; and 100,000 as a third, for a college in which Roman
+Catholic priests might be educated for the benefit of India
+generally. She sent to Rome 150,000 rupees to be employed as a
+charity fund at the discretion of the Pope; and to the Archbishop of
+Canterbury she sent 50,000 for the same purpose. She gave to the
+Bishop of Calcutta 100,000 rupees to provide teachers for the poor of
+the Protestant church in Calcutta. She sent to Calcutta for
+distribution to the poor, and for the liberation of deserving
+debtors, 50,000. To the Catholic missions at Calcutta, Bombay, and
+Madras she gave 100,000; and to that of Agra 50,000. She built a
+handsome chapel for the Roman Catholics at Meerut; and presented the
+fund for its support with a donation of 12,000; and she built a
+chapel for the Church Missionary at Meerut, the Reverend Mr.
+Richards, at a cost of 10,000, to meet the wants of the native
+Protestants.[35]
+
+
+Among all who had opportunities of knowing her she bore the character
+of a kind-hearted, benevolent, and good woman; and I have conversed
+with men capable of judging, who had known her for more than fifty
+years. She had uncommon sagacity and a masculine resolution; and the
+Europeans and natives who were most intimate with her have told me
+that though a woman and of small stature, her 'ru'b' (dignity, or
+power of commanding personal respect) was greater than that of almost
+any person they had ever seen.[36] From the time she put herself
+under the protection of the British Government, in 1808, she by
+degrees adopted the European modes of social intercourse, appearing
+in public on an elephant, in a carriage, and occasionally on
+horseback with her hat and veil, and dining at table with gentlemen.
+She often entertained Governors-General and Commanders-in-Chief, with
+all their retinues, and sat with them and their staff at table, and
+for some years past kept an open house for the society of Meerut; but
+in no situation did she lose sight of her dignity. She retained to
+the last the grateful affections of the thousands who were supported
+by her bounty, while she never ceased to inspire the most profound
+respect in the minds of those who every day approached her, and were
+on the most unreserved terms of intimacy.[37]
+
+Lord William Bentinck was an excellent judge of character; and the
+following letter will show how deeply his visit to that part of the
+country had impressed him with a sense of her extensive usefulness:
+
+'To Her Highness the Begum Sumroo.
+
+'My esteemed Friend,--I cannot leave India without expressing the
+sincere esteem I entertain for your highness's character. The
+benevolence of disposition and extensive charity which have endeared
+you to thousands, have excited in my mind sentiments of the warmest
+admiration; and I trust that you may yet be preserved for many years,
+the solace of the orphan and widow, and the sure resource of your
+numerous dependants. To-morrow morning I embark for England; and my
+prayers and best wishes attend you, and all others who, like you,
+exert themselves for the benefit of the people of India.
+
+ 'I remain,
+ 'With much consideration,
+ 'Your sincere friend,
+ (Signed) 'M. W. BENTINCK.[38]
+
+'Calcutta, March 17th, 1835.'
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. The reader will observe that the lady's name is spelt Sumroo in
+the heading and Sombre in the text. The form Samru, or Shamru,
+transliterates the Hindustani spelling.
+
+2. The author means General Regholini who was in the Begam's service
+at the time of her death. (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. iii, p.
+295.) The church, or cathedral, was consecrated in 1822, and coat
+400,000 rupees. A portrait of the General, from Sardhana, is now in
+the Indian Institute, Oxford, which also possesses a portrait of the
+Bishop.
+
+The best account of Begum Sumroo is to be found in _A Tour through
+the Upper Provinces of Hindustan_, 1804-14, by A. D. = Ann Deane
+(1823). Walter Scott introduces more than one of the stories about
+the Begum into _The Surgeon's Daughter_ (1827), e.g.: "But not to be
+interred alive under your seat, like the Circassian of whom you were
+jealous," said Middlemas, shuddering (vol. 48, Black's ed. of the
+novels, p. 382).
+
+3. The Begam's benefactions are detailed _post_.
+
+4. 'This remarkable woman was the daughter, by a concubine, of Asad
+Khan, a Musalman of Arab decent settled in the town of Kutana in the
+Meerut district. She was born about the year A.D. 1753 [see _post_.]
+On the death of her father, she and her mother became subject to ill-
+treatment from her half-brother, the legitimate heir, and they
+consequently removed to Delhi about 1760. There she entered the
+service of Sumru, and accompanied him through all his campaigns.
+Sumru, on retiring to Sardhana, found himself relieved of all the
+cares and troubles of war, and gave himself entirely up to a life of
+ease and pleasure, and so completely fell into the hands of the Begam
+that she had no difficulty in inducing him to exchange the title of
+mistress for that of wife.' (E. T. Atkinson in _N.W.P. Gazetteer_,
+1st ed., vol. ii, p. 95. The authorities for the history of Begum
+Samru are very conflicting. Atkinson has examined them critically,
+and his account probably is the best in existence.) An anonymous
+pamphlet published apparently at Sardhana and sent to the editor
+anonymously long ago, gives the name of the Begam's father as 'Lutf
+Ali Khan, a decayed nobleman of Arabian descent' living at Kotana.
+Some writers state that the Begam was a dancing girl, and was bought
+by Sumroo. Her name was Zeb-un-nissa.
+
+5. This first wife died at Sardhana during the rainy season of 1838.
+She must have been above one hundred years of age; and a good many of
+the Europeans that he buried in the Sardhana cemetery had lived above
+a hundred years. [W. H. S.] She was a concubine, named Baha Begam.
+(_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. iii, p. 96.)
+
+6. His name is spelt Reinhard on his tombstone, as in the text. It is
+also spelt Renard. According to some authorities, his birthplace was
+Treves, not Salzburg. He is said to have been a butcher by trade, and
+certainly deserted from both the French and the English services.
+
+7. A more probable explanation is that the name is a corruption of an
+alias, Summers, assumed by the deserter.
+
+8. Kasim Ali Khan is generally referred to in the histories under the
+name of Mir Kasim (Meer Cossim). Mir Jafir was deposed in 1760, and
+his son-in-law Mir Kasim was placed on the throne of Bengal in his
+stead by the English. The history of Mir Kasim is told in detail by
+Thornton in his sixth chapter, and also by Mill.
+
+9. Probably 'Gorgin' is a corruption of 'Gregory'. This name may be a
+corruption of 'Georgian'.
+
+10. Mill observes upon these transactions: 'The conduct of the
+Company's servants upon this occasion furnishes one of the most
+remarkable instances upon record of the power of self-interest to
+extinguish all sense of justice and even of shame. They had hitherto
+insisted, contrary to all right and all precedent, that the
+government of the country should exempt all their goods from duty;
+they now insisted that it should impose duties upon all other
+traders, and accused it as guilty of a breach of the peace towards
+the English nation, because it proposed to remit them.' [W. H. S.]
+The quotation is from Book iv, chapter 5 (5th ed., 1858, vol. iii, p.
+237).
+
+11. The 3rd of October was the day of slaughter at Patna. The
+Europeans at other places in Mir Kasim's power were also massacred;
+and the total number slain, men, women, and children, amounted to
+about two hundred. Sumroo personally butchered about one hundred and
+fifty at Patna.
+
+12. Our troops, under Sir David Ochterlony, took the fort of
+Makwanpur in 1815, and might in five days have been before the
+defenceless capital; but they were here arrested by the romantic
+chivalry of the Marquis of Hastings. The country had been virtually
+conquered; the prince, by his base treachery towards us and outrages
+upon others, had justly forfeited his throne; but the Governor-
+General, by perhaps a misplaced lenity, left it to him without any
+other guarantee for his future good behaviour than the recollection
+that he had been soundly beaten. Unfortunately he left him at the
+same time a sufficient quantity of fertile land below the hills to
+maintain the same army with which he had fought us, with better
+knowledge how to employ them, to keep us out on a future occasion.
+Between the attempt of Kasim Ali and our attack upon Nepal, the
+Gorkha masters of the country had, by a long series of successful
+aggressions upon their neighbours, rendered themselves in their own
+opinion and in that of their neighbours the beat soldiers of India.
+They have, of course, a very natural feeling of hatred against our
+government, which put a stop to the wild career of conquest, and
+wrested from their grasp all the property and all the pretty women
+from Kathmandu to Kashmir. To these beautify regions they were what
+the invading Huns were in former days to Europe, absolute fiends. Had
+we even exacted a good road into their country with fortifications at
+the proper places, it might have checked the hopes of one day
+resuming the career of conquest that now keeps up the army and
+military spirit, to threaten us with a renewal of war whenever we are
+embarrassed on the plains. [W. H. S.]
+
+The author's uneasiness concerning the attitude of Nepal was
+justified. During the Afghan troubles of 1838-43 the Nepalese
+Government was in constant communication with the enemies of the
+Indian Government. The late Maharaja Sir Jang Bahadur obtained power
+in 1846, and, after his visit to England in 1850, decided to abide by
+the English alliance. He did valuable service in 1857 and 1858, and
+the two governments have ever since maintained an unbroken, though
+reserved, friendship. The Gorkha regiments in the English service are
+recruited in Nepal.
+
+13. Aasaye (Assye, Asai) is in the Nizam's dominions. Here, on the
+23rd of September, 1803, Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of
+Wellington, with less than 5,000 men, defeated the Maratha host of at
+least 32,000 men, including more than 10,000 under European leaders.
+Ajanta, or Ajanta Ghat, is in the same region. (Owen, _Sel. from
+Wellington Despatches_ (1880), pp. 301-9.)
+
+14. His tombstone bears a Portuguese inscription:
+ 'Aqui iaz Walter Reinhard, morreo aos 4 de Mayo no anno de 1778.'
+(_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. ii, p. 96.)
+
+15. According to this statement she must have been born in or about
+1741, not in 1753, as stated by Atkinson. If the earlier date were
+correct, she would have been ninety-five when she died in 1836.
+Higginbotham, referring to Bacon's work, says she died at the age of
+eighty-nine, which places her birth in 1747. According to Beale, she
+was aged eighty-eight lunar years when she died, on the 27th January,
+1836, equivalent to about eighty-five solar years. This computation
+places her birth in A.D. 1751, which may be taken as the correct
+date. The date of her baptism is correctly stated in the text.
+
+16. She added the name Nobilis, when she married Le Vaisseau.
+(_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. ii, p. 106, note.)
+
+17. The author spells the German's name Pauly; I have followed
+Atkinson's spelling. The man was assassinated in 1783.
+
+18. This circumstance indicates that the execution of the slave girls
+took place in 1782. (See _N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. ii, p. 91.)
+
+19. The darker aide of the Begam's character is shown by the story of
+the slave girl's murder. By some it is said that the girl's crime
+consisted in her having attracted the favourable notice of one of the
+Begam's husbands. Whatever may have been the offence, her barbarous
+mistress visited it by causing the girl to be buried alive. The time
+chosen for the execution was the evening, the place the tent of the
+Begam; who caused her bed to be arranged immediately over the grave,
+and occupied it until the morning, to prevent any attempt to rescue
+the miserable girl beneath. By acts like this the Begam inspired such
+terror that she was never afterwards troubled with domestic
+dissensions.' (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. ii, p. 110.) It will
+be observed that this version mentions only one girl. According to
+Higginbotham (_Men whom India has Known_, 2nd ed., s.v. 'Sumroo'),
+this execution took place on the evening of the day on which Le
+Vaisseau perished in 1795. (See _post._) He adds that 'it is said
+that this act preyed upon her conscience in after life'. This account
+professes to be based on Bacon's _First Impressions and Studies from
+Nature in Hindustan_, which is said to be 'the most reliable, as the
+author saw the Begam, attended and conversed with her at one of her
+levees, and gained all his information at her Court'. But Bacon's
+account of the Begam's history, as quoted by Higginbotham, is full of
+gross errors; and Sir William Sleeman may be relied on as giving the
+most accurate obtainable version of the horrid story. He had the beat
+possible opportunities, as well as a desire, to ascertain the truth.
+
+20. Atkinson (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. ii, p. 106) uses the spelling
+Le Vaisseau, which probably is correct, and observes that the name is
+also written Le Vassont. The author writes Le Vassoult; and Francklin
+(_Military Memoirs of Mr. George Thomas_, London, 8vo reprint
+(Stockdale), p. 55) spells the name phonetically as Levasso. 'On
+every occasion he was the declared and inveterate enemy of Mr.
+Thomas.'
+
+21. Thomas was an Irishman, born in the county of Tipperary. 'From
+the best information we could procure, it appears that Mr. George
+Thomas first came to India in a British ship of war, in 1781-2. His
+situation in the fleet was humble, having served as a quarter-master,
+or, as is affirmed by some, in the capacity of a common sailor. . . .
+His first service was among the Polygars to the southward, where he
+resided a few years. But at length setting out overland, he
+spiritedly traversed the central part of the peninsula, and about the
+year 1787 arrived at Delhi. Here he received a commission in the
+service of the Begam Sumroo. . . . Soon after his arrival at Delhi,
+the Begam, with her usual judgement and discrimination of character,
+advanced him to a command in her army. From this period his military
+career in the north-west of India may be said to have commenced.'
+Owing to the rivalry of Le Vaisseau, Thomas 'quitted the Begam
+Sumroo, and about 1792 betook himself to the frontier station of the
+British army at the post of Anopshire (Anupshahr). . . . Here he
+waited several months. . . . In the beginning of the year 1793, Mr.
+Thomas, being at Anopshire, received letters from Appakandarow
+(Apakanda Rao), a Mahratta chief, conveying offers of service, and
+promises of a comfortable provision.' (Francklin, op. cit., p. 20.)
+The author states that Thomas left the Begam's service in 1793, after
+her marriage with Le Vaisseau in that year. Francklin (see also p.
+55) was clearly under the impression that the marriage did not take
+place till after Thomas had thrown up his command under the Begam. He
+made peace with her in 1795. The capital of the principality which he
+carved out for himself in 1798 was at Hansi, eighty-nine miles north-
+west of Delhi. He was driven out at the close of 1801, entered
+British territory in January 1802, and died on the 22nd of August in
+that year at Barhampur, being about forty-six years of age. A son of
+his was an officer in the Begam's service at the time of her death in
+1836. A great-granddaughter of George Thomas was, in 1867, the wife
+of a writer on a humble salary in one of the Government offices at
+Agra. (Beale.)
+
+22. This incident happened in 1788. (See _N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. ii,
+p. 99; _I.G._, 1908, vol. xii, p. 106.)
+
+23. 'A more competent estimate may perhaps be formed of his abilities
+if we reflect on the nature and extent of one of his plans, which he
+detailed to the compiler of these memoirs during his residence at
+Benares. When fixed in his residence at Hansi, he first conceived,
+and would, if unforeseen and untoward circumstances had not occurred,
+have executed the bold design of extending his conquests to the
+mouths of the Indus. This was to have been effected by a fleet of
+boats, constructed from timber procured in the forests near the city
+of Firozpur, on the banks of the Satlaj river, proceeding down that
+river with his army, and settling the countries he might subdue on
+his route; a daring enterprise, and conceived in the true spirit of
+an ancient Roman. On the conclusion of this design it was his
+intention to turn his arms against the Panjab, which he expected to
+reduce in a couple of years; and which, considering the wealth he
+would then have acquired, and the amazing resources he would have
+possessed, these successes combined would doubtless have contributed
+to establish his authority on a firm and solid basis.' He offered to
+conquer the Panjab on behalf of the Government of India, for the
+welfare of his king and country. (Francklin, pp. 334-6.)
+
+24. A small town in the Bulandshahr district of the North-Western
+Provinces, seventy-three miles south-east of Delhi. Its fort used to
+be considered strong and of strategical importance.
+
+25. Afterwards Lord Teignmouth.
+
+26. Major Bernier was killed at the storm of Hansi in 1801. His
+tombstone at Barsi village was found ninety years later (_Pioneer_,
+Dec. 14, 1894). For epitaph of Joseph Even Bahadur see _N.I.N. &
+Qu._, vol. i, note 265.
+
+27. Francklin says that the troops overtook the fugitives 'at the
+village of Kerwah, in the begum's jaghire, four miles distant from
+her capital', (p. 58.)
+
+28. 'For three days it lay exposed to the insults of the rabble, and
+was at length thrown into a ditch.' (Francklin, p. 60.)
+
+29. According to George Thomas (whose version of the story is given
+by his biographer), the Begam, when the mutiny broke out, was
+actually preparing to attack Thomas. A German officer, known only as
+the Liegeois, strenuously dissuaded the Begam from the proposed
+hostilities, and was, in consequence, degraded by Le Vaisseau. The
+troop then mutinied, and swore allegiance to Zafar Yab Khan.
+(Francklin, p. 37.)
+
+30. Thomas says that the overtures came from the Begam. 'In a manner
+the most abject and desponding, she addressed Mr. Thomas . . .
+implored him to come to her assistance, and, finally, offered to pay
+any sum of money the Marathas should require, on condition they would
+reinstate her in the Jagir. On receipt of these letters, Mr. Thomas,
+by an offer of 120,000 rupees, prevailed on Bapu Sindhia to make a
+movement towards Sardhana.' After negotiation, Thomas marched to
+Khatauli, and 'publicly gave out that unless the Begam was reinstated
+in her authority, those who resisted must expect no mercy; and to
+give additional weight to this declaration, he apprised them that he
+was acting under the orders of the Maratha chiefs.' After some
+difficulty, 'she was finally reinstated in the full authority of her
+Jagir'. This version of the affair, it will be noticed, does not
+quite agree with that given more briefly by the author.
+
+31. The paper was written by a Muhammadan, and he would not write
+Christ _the Son of God_. It is written 'In the name of God, and his
+Majesty Christ'. The Muhammadans look upon Christ as the greatest of
+prophets before Muhammad; but the most binding article of their faith
+is this from the Koran, which they repeat every day: 'I believe in
+God, who was never begot, nor has ever begotten, nor will ever have
+an equal,'--alluding to the Christians' belief in the Trinity. [W. H.
+S.] For Mohammed's opinion of Jesus Christ see especially chapters 4
+and 5 of the Koran.
+
+32. To my mind the circumstances all tend to throw suspicion on the
+Begam. The author evidently was disposed to form the beat possible
+opinion of her character and acts.
+
+33. After the Begam's death the revenue settlement of the estate was
+made by Mr. Plowden, who writes in his report, as quoted in _N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_, 1st ed., vol. iii, p. 432, 'The rule seems to have been
+fully recognized and acted up to by the Begam which declared that,
+according to Muhammadan law, "there shall be left for every man who
+cultivates his lands as much as he requires for his own support, till
+the next crop be reaped, and that of his family, and for seed. This
+much shall be left to him; what remains is land-tax, and shall go to
+the public treasury." For, considering her territory as a private
+estate and her subjects as serfs, she appropriated the whole produce
+of their labour, with the exception of what sufficed to keep body and
+soul together. It was by these means . . . that a factitious state of
+prosperity was induced and maintained, which, though it might, and I
+believe did, deceive the Begam's neighbours into an impression that
+her country was highly prosperous, could not delude the population
+into content and happiness. Above the surface and to the eye all was
+smiling and prosperous, but within was rottenness and misery. Under
+these circumstances the smallness of the above arrear is no proof of
+the fairness of the revenue. It rather shows that the collections
+were as much as the Begam's ingenuity could extract, and this balance
+being unrealizable, the demand was, by so much at least, too high.'
+The statistics alluded to are:
+
+Average demand of the portions of the Begam's Rs.
+Territory in the Meerut district . . . . 5.86.650
+Average collections . . . . . . 5.67.211
+Balances . . . . . . . . 19.439
+
+'Ruin was impending, when the Begam's death in January, 1836, and the
+consequent lapse of the estate to the British, induced the
+cultivators to return to their homes.'
+
+Details of the Begam's military forces are given in _N.W.P.
+Gazetteer_, vol. iii, p. 295. For the last thirty years of her life
+the Begam had no need for the large force (3,371 officers and men,
+with 44 guns) which she maintained. In her excessive expenditure on a
+superfluous army, in her niggardly provision for civil
+administration, and in her merciless rack-renting, she followed the
+evil example of the ordinary native prince, and was superior only in
+the unusual ability with which she worked an unsound and oppressive
+System. She left L700,000. The population of Sardhana town has risen
+from 3,313 in 1881 to 9,242 in 1911.
+
+34 Zafaryab Khan died in 1802 or 1803. His son-in-law, Colonel Dyce,
+was employed in the Begam's service. 'The issue of this marriage was:
+(l) David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, who married Mary Anne, daughter of
+Viscount St. Vincent, by whom he had no issue. He died in Paris in
+July, 1851. In August, 1867, his body was conveyed to Sardhana and
+buried in the cathedral. (2) A daughter, who married Captain Rose
+Troup. (3) A daughter, who married Paul Salaroli, now Marquis of
+Briona. The present owner of Sardhana is the Honourable Mary Anne
+Forester, the widow of David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, and the
+successful claimant in the suit against Government which has recently
+been decided in her favour.' (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. iii (1875), p.
+296.) This lady, in 1862, married George Cecil-Weld, third Baron
+Forester, who died without issue in 1886. (Burke's _Peerage_.) Lady
+Forester died on March 7, 1893.
+
+35. In the original edition these statistics are given in words.
+Figures have been used in this edition as being more readily grasped.
+The amounts stated by the author are approximate round sums. More
+accurate details are given in _N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. iii (1875), p.
+295. The Begam also subscribed liberally to Hindoo and Muhammadan
+institutions. Her contemporary, Colonel Skinner, was equally
+impartial, and is said to have built a mosque and a temple, as well
+as the church at Delhi.
+
+The Cathedral at Sardhana was built in 1822. St. John's College is
+intended to train Indians as priests, There are, or were recently,
+about 250 native Christians at Sardhana, partly the descendants of
+the converts who followed their mistress in change of faith. 'The
+Roman Catholic priests work hard for their little colony, and are
+greatly revered and respected. At St. John's College some of the boys
+are instructed for the priesthood, and others taught to read and
+write the Nagari and Urdu characters. The instruction for the
+priesthood is peculiar. There are some twelve little native boys who
+can quote whole chapters of the Latin Bible, and nearly all the
+prayers of the Missal. Those who cannot sympathize with the system
+mast admire the patience and devotion of the Italian priests who have
+put themselves to the trouble of imparting such instruction. The
+majority of the Christian population here are cultivators and
+weavers, while many are the pensioned descendants of the European
+servants of Begam Sumru, and still bear the appellation of Sahib and
+Mem Sahib.' (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. iii (1875), pp. 273, 430.)
+
+The Begam's palace, built in 1834, was chiefly remarkable for a
+collection of about twenty-five portraits of considerable interest.
+They comprised likenesses of Sir David Ochterlony, Dyce Sombre, Lord
+Combermere, and other notable personages. (_Calcutta Review_, vol.
+lxx, p. 460; quoted in _North Indian N. & Q._, vol. ii, p. 179.) The
+mansion and park were sold by auction in 1895. Some of the portraits
+are now in the Indian Institute, Oxford, some in the Indian Museum,
+Calcutta, and some in Government House, Allahabad. A long article by
+H. N. on Sardhana and its owners appeared in the _Pioneer_
+(Allahabad) on December 12,1894.
+
+36. A miniature portrait of the Begam is given on the frontispiece to
+volume ii of the original edition. Francklin, describing the events
+of 1796, in his memoirs of George Thomas, first published in 1803,
+describes her personal appearance as follows: 'Begum Sumroo is about
+forty-five years of age, small in stature, but inclined to be plump.
+Her complexion is very fair, her eyes black, large and animated; her
+dress perfectly Hindustany, and of the most costly materials. She
+speaks the Persian and Hindustany languages with fluency, and in her
+conversation is engaging, sensible, and spirited.' (London ed., p.
+92, note.) The liberal benefaction of her later years have secured
+her ecclesiastical approval, and I should not be surprised to hear of
+her beatification or canonization. Her earlier life certainly was not
+that of a saint.
+
+37. In her younger days she strictly maintained Hindustani etiquette.
+'It has been the constant and invariable usage of this lady to exact
+from her subjects and servants the most rigid attention to the
+customs of Hindoostan. She is never seen out of doors or in her
+public durbar unveiled.
+
+'Her officers and others, who have business with her, present
+themselves opposite the place where she sits. The front of her
+apartment is furnished with _chicques_ or Indian screens, these being
+let down from the roof. In this manner she gives audience and
+transacts business of all kinds. She frequently admits to her table
+the higher ranks of her European officers, but never admits the
+natives to come within the enclosure,' (Francklin, p, 92.)
+
+38. The Governor-General's name was William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck,
+I do not understand the signature M. W. Bentinck, which may be a
+misprint. The eulogium seems odd to a reader who remembers that the
+recipient had been for fifteen years the mistress and wife of the
+Butcher of Patna. But when it was written, the memory of the massacre
+had been dimmed by the lapse of seventy-two years, and His Excellency
+may not have been well versed in the lady's history.
+
+Perhaps the author was mistaken, and the letter was sent by Lady
+Bentinck, whose name was Mary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 76
+
+
+ON THE SPIRIT OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE IN THE NATIVE ARMY OF INDIA
+
+Abolition of Corporal Punishment--Increase of Pay with Length of
+Service--Promotion by Seniority.
+
+The following observations on a very important and interesting
+subject were not intended to form a portion of the present work.[1]
+They serve to illustrate, however, many passages in the foregoing
+chapters touching the character of the natives of India; and the
+Afghan war having occurred since they were written, I cannot deny
+myself the gratification of presenting them to the public, since the
+courage and fidelity, which it was my object to show the British
+Government had a right to expect from its native troops and might
+always rely upon in the hour of need, have been so nobly displayed.
+
+I had one morning (November 14th, 1838) a visit from the senior
+native officer of my regiment, Shaikh Mahub Ali, a very fine old
+gentleman, who had recently attained the rank of 'Sardar Bahadur',
+and been invested with the new Order of British India.[2] He entered
+the service at the age of fifteen, and had served fifty-three years
+with great credit to himself, and fought in many an honourable field.
+He had come over to Jubbulpore as president of a native general
+court-martial, and paid me several visits in company with another old
+officer of my regiment who was a member of the same court. The
+following is one of the many conversations I had with him, taken down
+as soon as he left me.
+
+'What do you think, Sardar Bahadur, of the order prohibiting corporal
+punishment in the army; has it had a bad or a good effect?'
+
+'It has had a very good effect.'
+
+'What good has it produced?'
+
+'It has reduced the number of courts martial to one-quarter of what
+they were before, and thereby lightened the duties of the officers;
+it has made the good men more careful, and the bad men more orderly
+than they used to be.'
+
+'How has it produced this effect?'
+
+'A bad man formerly went on recklessly from small offences to great
+ones in the hope of impunity; he knew that no regimental, cantonment,
+or brigade court martial could sentence him to be dismissed the
+service; and that they would not sentence him to be flogged, except
+for great crimes, because it involved at the same time dismissal from
+the service. If they sentenced him to be flogged, he still hoped that
+the punishment would be remitted. The general or officer confirming
+the sentence was generally unwilling to order it to be carried into
+effect, because the man must, after being flogged, be tumed out of
+the service, and the marks of the lash upon his back would prevent
+his getting service anywhere else. Now he knows that these courts can
+sentence him to be dismissed from the service--that he is liable to
+lose his bread for ordinary transgressions, and be sentenced to work
+on the roads for graver ones.[3] He is in consequence much more under
+restraint than he used to be.'
+
+'And how has it tended to make the well-disposed more careful?'
+
+'They were formerly liable to be led into errors by the example of
+the bad men, under the same hope of impunity; but they are now more
+on their guard. They have all relations among the native officers,
+who are continually impressing upon them the necessity of being on
+their guard, lest they be sent back upon their families--their
+mothers and fathers, wives and children, as beggars. To be dismissed
+from a service like that of the Company is a very great punishment;
+it subjects a man to the odium and indignation of all his family.
+When in the Company's service, his friends know that a soldier gets
+his pay regularly, and can afford to send home a very large portion
+of it. They expect that he will do so; he feels that they will listen
+to no excuse, and he contracts habits of sobriety and prudence. If a
+man gets into the service of a native chief, his friends know that
+his pay is precarious, and they continue to maintain his family for
+many years without receiving a remittance from him, in the hope that
+his circumstances may one day improve. He contracts bad habits, and
+is not ashamed to make his appearance among them, knowing that his
+excuses will be received as valid. If one of the Company's sepoys[4]
+were not to send home remittances for six months, some members of the
+family would be sent to know the reason why. If he could not explain,
+they would appeal to the native officers of the regiment, who would
+expostulate with him; and, if all failed, his wife and children would
+be tumed out of his father's house, unless they knew that he was gone
+to the wars; and he would be ashamed ever to show his face among them
+again.'
+
+'And the gradual increase of pay with length of service has tended to
+increase the value of the service, has it not?'
+
+'It has very much; there are in our regiment, out of eight hundred
+men, more than one hundred and fifty sepoys who get the increase of
+two rupees a month, and the same number that get the increase of one.
+This they feel as an immense addition to the former seven rupees a
+month.[5] A prudent sepoy lives upon two, or at the utmost three,
+rupees a month in seasons of moderate plenty, and sends all the rest
+to his family. A great number of the sepoys of our regiment live upon
+the increase of two rupees, and send all their former seven to their
+families. The dismissal of a man from such a service as this
+distresses, not only him, but all his relations in the higher grades,
+who know how much of the comfort and happiness of his family depend
+upon his remaining and advancing in it; and they all try to make
+their young friends behave as they ought to do.'
+
+'Do you think that a great portion of the native officers of the army
+have the same feelings and opinions on the subject as you have?'
+
+'They have all the same; there is not, I believe, one in a hundred
+that does not think as I do upon the subject. Flogging was an odious
+thing. A man was disgraced, not only before his regiment, but before
+the crowd that assembled to witness the punishment. Had he been
+suffered to remain in the regiment he could never have hoped to rise
+after having been flogged, or sentenced to be flogged; his hopes were
+all destroyed, and his spirit broken, and the order directing him to
+be dismissed was good; but, as I have said, he lost all hope of
+getting into any other service, and dared not show his face among his
+family at home.'
+
+'You know who ordered the abolition of flogging?'
+
+'Lord Bentinck.'[6]
+
+'And you know that it was at his recommendation the Honourable
+Company gave the increase of pay with length of service?'
+
+'We have heard so; and we feel towards him as we felt towards Lord
+Wellesley, Lord Hastings, and Lord Lake.'
+
+'Do you think the army would serve again now with the same spirit as
+they served under Lord Lake?'
+
+'The army would go to any part of the world to serve such masters--no
+army had ever masters that cared for them like ours. We never asked
+to have flogging abolished; nor did we ever ask to have an increase
+of pay with length of service; and yet both have been done for us by
+the Company Bahadur.'
+
+The old Sardar Bahadur came again to visit me on the 1st of December,
+with all the native officers who had come over from Sagar to attend
+the court, seven in number. There were three very smart, sensible men
+among them; one of whom had been a volunteer at the capture of
+Java,[7] and the other[s] at that of the Isle of France.[8] They all
+told me that they considered the abolition of corporal punishment a
+great blessing to the native army. 'Some bad men who had already lost
+their character, and consequently all hope of promotion, might be in
+less dread than before; but they were very few, and their regiments
+would soon get rid of them under the new law that gave the power of
+dismissal to regimental courts martial.'
+
+'But I find the European officers are almost all of opinion that the
+abolition of flogging has been, or will be, attended with bad
+consequences.'
+
+'They, sir, apprehend that there will not be sufficient restraint
+upon the loose characters of the regiment; but now that the sepoys
+have got an increase of pay in proportion to length of service there
+will be no danger of that. Where can they ever hope to get such
+another service if they forfeit that of the Company? If the dread of
+losing such a service is not sufficient to keep the bad in order,
+that of being put to work upon the roads in irons will. The good can
+always be kept in order by lighter punishments, when they have so
+much at stake as the loss of such a service by frequent offences.
+Some gentlemen think that a soldier does not feel disgraced by being
+flogged, unless the offence for which he has been flogged is in
+itself disgraceful. There is no soldier, sir, that does not feel
+disgraced by being tied up to the halberts and flogged in the face of
+all his comrades and the crowd that may choose to come and look at
+him; the sepoys are all of the same respectable families as
+ourselves, and they all enter the service in the hope of rising in
+time to the same stations as ourselves, if they conduct themselves
+well; their families look forward with the same hope. A man who has
+been tied up and flogged knows the disgrace that it will bring upon
+his family, and will sometimes rather die than return to it; indeed,
+as head of a family he could not be received at home.[9] But men do
+not feel disgraced in being flogged with a rattan at drill. While at
+the drill they consider themselves, and are considered by us all, as
+in the relation of scholars to their schoolmasters. Doing away with
+the rattan at drill had a very bad effect. Young men were formerly,
+with the judicious use of the rattan, made fit to join the regiment
+at furthest in six months; but since the abolition of the rattan it
+takes twelve months to make them fit to be seen in the ranks. There
+was much virtue in the rattan, and it should never have been given
+up. We have all been flogged with the rattan at the drill, and never
+felt ourselves disgraced by it-we were _shagirds_ (scholars), and the
+drill-sergeant, who had the rattan, was our _ustad_ (schoolmaster);
+but when we left the drill, and took our station in the ranks as
+sepoys, the case was altered, and we should have felt disgraced by a
+flogging, whatever might have been the nature of the offence we
+committed. The drill will never get on so well as it used to do,
+unless the rattan be called into use again; but we apprehend no evil
+from the abolition of corporal punishment afterwards. People are apt
+to attribute to this abolition offences that have nothing to do with
+it; and for which ample punishments are still provided. If a man
+fires at his officer, people are apt to say it is because flogging
+has been done away with; but a man who deliberately fires at his
+officer is prepared to undergo worse punishment than flogging.[10]
+
+'Do you not think that the increase of pay with length of service to
+the sepoys will have a good effect in tending to give to regiments
+more active and intelligent native officers? Old sepoys who are not
+so will now have less cause to complain if passed over, will they
+not?'
+
+'If the sepoys thought that the increase of pay was given with this
+view, they would rather not have it at all. To pass over men merely
+because they happen to have grown old, we consider very cruel and
+unjust. They all enter the service young, and go on doing their duty
+till they become old, in the hope that they shall get promotion when
+it comes to their turn. If they are disappointed, and young men, or
+greater favourites with their European officers, are put over their
+heads, they become heart-broken. We all feel for them, and are always
+sorry to see an old soldier passed over, unless he has been guilty of
+any manifest crime, or neglect of duty. He has always some relations
+among the native officers who know his family, for we all try to get
+our relations into the same regiment with ourselves when they are
+eligible. They know what that family will suffer when they learn that
+he has no longer any hopes of rising in the service, and has become
+miserable. Supersessions create distress and bad feelings throughout
+a regiment, even when the best men are promoted, which cannot always
+be the case; for the greatest favourites are not always the best men.
+Many of our old European officers, like yourself, are absent on staff
+or civil employments; and the command of companies often devolves
+upon very young subalterns, who know little or nothing of the
+character of their men. They recommend those whom they have found
+most active and intelligent, and believe to be the best; but their
+opportunities of learning the characters of the men have been few.
+They have seen and observed the young, active, and forward; but they
+often know nothing of the steady, unobtrusive old soldier, who has
+done his duty ably in all situations, without placing himself
+prominently forward in any. The commanding officers seldom remain
+long with the same regiment, and, consequently, seldom know enough of
+the men to be able to judge of the justice of the selections for
+promotion. Where a man has been guilty of a crime, or neglected his
+duty, we feel no sympathy for him, and are not ashamed to tell him
+so, and put him down[11] when he complains.'
+
+Here the old Subadar, who had been at the taking of the Isle of
+France, mentioned that when he was senior Jemadar of his regiment,
+and a vacancy had occurred to bring him in as Subadar, he was sent
+for by his commanding officer, and told that, by orders from
+headquarters, he was to be passed over, on account of his advanced
+age, and supposed infirmity. 'I felt,' said the old man, 'as if I had
+been struck by lightning, and _fell down dead_. The colonel was a
+good man, and had seen much service. He had me taken into the open
+air; and when I recovered, he told me that he would write to the
+Commander-in-Chief, and represent my case. He did so, and I was
+promoted; and I have since done my duty as Subadar for ten
+years.'[12]
+
+The Sardar Bahadur told me that only two men in our regiment had been
+that year superseded, one for insolence, and the other for neglect of
+duty; and that officers and sepoys were all happy in consequence--the
+young, because they felt more secure of being promoted if they did
+their duty; and the old, because, they felt an interest in their
+young relations. 'In those regiments,' said he, 'where supersessions
+have been more numerous, old and young are dispirited and unhappy.
+They all feel that the _good old rule of right_ (_hakk_), as long as
+a man does his duty well, can no longer be relied upon.'
+
+When two companies of my regiment passed through Jubbulpore a few
+days after this conversation on their way from Sagar to Seoni, I rode
+out a mile or two to meet them. They had not seen me for sixteen
+years, but almost all the native commissioned and non-commissioned
+officers were personally known to me. They were all very glad to see
+me, and I rode along with them to their place of encampment, where I
+had ready a feast of sweetmeats. They liked me as a young man, and
+are, I believe, proud of me as an old one. Old and young spoke with
+evident delight of the rigid adherence on the part of the present
+commanding officer, Colonel Presgrave, to the good old rule of 'hakk'
+(right) in the recent promotions to the vacancies occasioned by the
+annual transfer to the invalid establishment. We might, no doubt,
+have in every regiment a few smarter native officers by disregarding
+this rule than by adhering to it; but we should, in the diminution of
+the good feeling towards the European officers and the Government,
+lose a thousand times more than we gained. They now go on from youth
+to old age, from the drill to the retired pension, happy and
+satisfied that there is no service on earth so good for them.[13]
+With admirable _moral_, but little or no _literary_ education, the
+native officers of our regiments never dream of aspiring to anything
+more than is now held out to them, and the mass of the soldiers are
+inspired with devotion to the service, and every feeling with which
+we could wish to have them inspired, by the hope of becoming officers
+in time, if they discharge their duties faithfully and zealously.
+Deprive the mass of this hope, give the commissions to an _exclusive
+class_ of natives, or to a favoured few, chosen often, if not
+commonly, without reference to the feelings or qualifications we most
+want in our native officers, and our native army will soon cease to
+have the same feelings of devotion towards the Government, and of
+attachment and respect towards their European officers that they now
+have. The young, ambitions, and aspiring native officers will soon
+try to teach the great mass that their interest and that of the
+European officers and European Government are by no means one and the
+same, as they have been hitherto led to suppose; and it is upon the
+good feeling of this great mass that we have to depend for support.
+To secure this good feeling, we can well afford to sacrifice a little
+efficiency at the drill. It was unwise in one of the commanders-in-
+chief to direct that no soldier in our Bengal native regiments should
+be promoted unless he could read and write-it was to prohibit the
+promotion of the best, and direct the promotion of the worst,
+soldiers in the ranks. In India a military officer is rated as a
+gentleman by his birth, that is _caste_, and by his deportment in all
+his relations of life, not by his _knowledge of books_.
+
+The Rajput, the Brahman, and the proud Pathan who attains a
+commission, and deports himself like an officer, never thinks
+himself, or is thought by others, deficient in anything that
+constitutes the gentleman, because he happens not to be at the same
+time a clerk. He has from his childhood been taught to consider the
+quill and the sword as two distinct professions, both useful and
+honourable when honourably pursued; and having chosen the sword, he
+thinks he does quite enough in learning how to use and support it
+through all grades, and ought not to be expected to encroach on the
+profession of the penman. This is a tone of feeling which it is
+clearly the interest of Government rather to foster than discourage,
+and the order which militated so much against it has happily been
+either rescinded or disregarded.
+
+Three-fourths of the recruits of our Bengal native infantry are drawn
+from the Rajput peasantry of the kingdom of Oudh, on the left bank of
+the Ganges, where their affections have been linked to the soil for a
+long series of generations.[14] The good feelings of the families
+from which they are drawn continue through the whole period of their
+service to exercise a salutary influence over their conduct as men
+and as soldiers. Though they never take their families with them,
+they visit them on furlough every two or three years, and always
+return to them when the surgeon considers a change of air necessary
+to their recovery from sickness. Their family circles are always
+present to their imaginations; and the recollections of their last
+visit, the hopes of the next, and the assurance that their conduct as
+men and as soldiers in the interval will be reported to those circles
+by their many comrades, who are annually returning on furlough to the
+same parts of the country, tend to produce a general and uniform
+propriety of conduct, that is hardly to be found among the soldiers
+of any other army in the world, and which seems incomprehensible to
+those unacquainted with its source--veneration for parents cherished
+through life, and a never-impaired love of home, and of all the dear
+objects by which it is constituted.
+
+Our Indian native army is perhaps the only entirely voluntary
+standing army that has been ever known, and it is, to all intents and
+purposes, entirely voluntary, and as such must be treated.[15] We can
+have no other native army in India, and without such an army we could
+not maintain our dominion a day. Our best officers have always
+understood this quite well; and they have never tried to flog and
+harass men out of all that we find good in them for our purposes. Any
+regiment in our service might lay down their arms and disperse to-
+morrow, without our having a chance of apprehending one deserter
+among them all.[16]
+
+When Frederick the Great of Prussia reviewed his army of sixty
+thousand men in Pomerania, previous to his invasion of Silesia, he
+asked the Prince d'Anhalt, who accompanied him, what he most admired
+in the scene before him.
+
+'Sire,' replied the prince, 'I admire at once the fine appearance of
+the men, and the regularity and perfection of their movements and
+evolutions.'
+
+'For my part,' said Frederick, 'this is not what excites my
+astonishment, since with the advantage of money, time, and care,
+these are easily attained. It is that you and I, my dear cousin,
+should be in the midst of such an army as this in perfect safety.
+Here are sixty thousand men who are all _irreconcilable enemies to
+both you and myself_', not one among them that is not a man of more
+strength and better armed than either, yet they all tremble at our
+presence, while it would be folly on our part to tremble at theirs--
+such is the wonderful effect of order, vigilance, and subordination.'
+
+But a reasonable man might ask, what were the circumstances which
+enabled Frederick to keep in a state of order and subordination an
+army composed of soldiers who were 'irreconcilable enemies' of their
+Prince and of their officers? He could have told the Prince d'Anhalt,
+had he chose to do so; for Frederick was a man who thought deeply.
+The chief circumstance favourable to his ambition was the imbecility
+of the old French Government, then in its dotage, and unable to see
+that an army of involuntary soldiers was no longer compatible with
+the state of the nation. This Government had reduced its soldiers to
+a condition worse than that of the common labourers upon the roads,
+while it deprived them of all hope of rising, and all feeling of
+pride in the profession.[17] Desertion became easy from the extension
+of the French dominion and from the circumstance of so many
+belligerent powers around requiring good soldiers; and no odium
+attended desertion, where everything was done to degrade, and nothing
+to exalt the soldier in his own esteem and that of society.
+
+Instead of following the course of events and rendering the condition
+of the soldier less odious by increasing his pay and hope of
+promotion, and diminishing the labour and disgrace to which he was
+liable, and thereby filling her regiments with voluntary soldiers
+when involuntary ones could no longer be obtained, the Government of
+France reduced the soldier's pay to one-half the rate of wages which
+a common labourer got on the roads, and put them under restraints and
+restrictions that made them feel every day, and every hour, that they
+were slaves. To prevent desertions by severe examples under this
+high-pressure System, they had recourse first to slitting the noses
+and cutting off the ears of deserters, and, lastly, to shooting them
+as fast as they could catch them.[18] But all was in vain; and
+Frederick of Prussia alone got fifty thousand of the finest soldiers
+in the world from the French regiments, who composed one-third of his
+army, and enabled him to keep all the rest in that state of
+discipline that improved so much its efficiency, in the same manner
+as the deserters from the Roman legions, which took place under
+similar circumstances, became the flower of the army of
+Mithridates.[19]
+
+Frederick was in position and disposition a despot. His territories
+were small, while his ambition was boundless. He was unable to pay a
+large army the rate of wages necessary to secure the services of
+voluntary soldiers; and he availed himself of the happy imbecility of
+the French Government to form an army of involuntary ones. He got
+French soldiers at a cheap rate, because they dared not return to
+their native country, whence they were hunted down and shot like
+dogs, and these soldiers enabled him to retain his own subjects in
+his ranks upon the same terms. Had the French Government retraced its
+steps, improved the condition of its soldiers, and mitigated the
+punishment for desertion during the long war, Frederick's army would
+have fallen to pieces 'like the baseless fabric of a vision'.
+
+'_Parmi nous,' says Montesquieu, 'les desertions sont frequentes
+parce que les soldats sont la plus vile partie de chaque nation, et
+qu'il n'y en a aucun qui aie, ou qui croie avoir un certain avantage
+sur les autres. Chez les Romains elles etaient plus rares--des
+soldats tires du sein d'un peuple si fier, si orgueilleux, si sur de
+commander aux autres, ne pouvaient guere penser a s' aviler jusqu'a
+cesser d'etre Romains_.'[20] But was it the poor soldiers who were to
+blame if they were 'vile', and had 'no advantage over others', or the
+Government that took them from the vilest classes, or made their
+condition when they got them worse than that of the lowest class in
+society? The Romans deserted under the same circumstances, and, as I
+have stated, formed the _elite_ of the army of Mithridates and the
+other enemies of Rome; but they respected their military oath of
+allegiance long after perjury among senators had ceased to excite any
+odium, since as a fashionable or political vice it had become common.
+
+Did not our day of retribution come, though in a milder shape, to
+teach us a great political and moral lesson, when so many of our
+brave sailors deserted our ships for those of America, in which they
+fought against us?[21] They deserted from our ships of war because
+they were there treated like dogs, or from our merchant ships because
+they were every hour liable to be seized like felons and put on board
+the former. When 'England expected every man to do his duty' at
+Trafalgar, had England done its duty to every man who was that day to
+fight for her? Is not the intellectual stock which the sailor
+acquires in scenes of peril 'upon the high and giddy mast' as much
+his property as that which others acquire in scenes of peace at
+schools and colleges? And have not our senators, morally and
+religiously, as much right to authorize their sovereign to seize
+clergymen, lawyers, and professors, for employment in his service,
+upon the wages of ordinary uninstructed labour, as they have to
+authorize him to seize able sailors to be so employed in her navy? A
+feeling more base than that which authorized the able seaman to be
+hunted down upon such conditions, torn from his wife and children,
+and put like Uriah in front of those battles upon which our welfare
+and honour depended, never disgraced any civilized nation with whose
+history we are acquainted.[22]
+
+Sir Matthew Decker, in a passage quoted by Mr. McCulloch, says, 'The
+custom of impressment put a freeborn British sailor on the same
+footing as a Turkish slave. The Grand Seignior cannot do a more
+absolute act than to order a man to be dragged away from his family,
+and against his will run his head against the mouth of a cannon; and
+if such acts should be frequent in Turkey upon any one set of useful
+men, would it not drive them away to other countries, and thin their
+numbers yearly? And would not the remaining few double or triple
+their wages, which is the case with our sailors in time of war, to
+the great detriment of our commerce?' The Americans wisely
+relinquished the barbarous and unwise practice of their parent land,
+and, as McCulloch observes, 'While the wages of all labourers and
+artisans are uniformly higher in the United States than in England,
+those of sailors are generally lower,' as the natural consequence of
+manning their navy by means of voluntary enlistment alone. At the
+close of the last war, sixteen thousand British sailors were serving
+on board of American ships; and the wages of our seamen rose from
+forty or[23] fifty to a hundred or one hundred and twenty shillings a
+month, as the natural consequence of our continuing to resort to
+impressment after the Americans had given it up.[24]
+
+Frederick's army consisted of about one hundred and fifty thousand
+men. Fifty thousand of these were French deserters, and a
+considerable portion of the remaining hundred thousand were deserters
+from the Austrian army, in which desertion was punished in the same
+manner with death. The dread of this punishment if they quitted his
+ranks, enabled him to keep up that state of discipline that improved
+so much the efficacy of his regiments, at the same time that it made
+every individual soldier his 'irreconcilable enemy'. Not relying
+entirely upon this dread on the part of deserters to quit his ranks
+under his high-pressure system of discipline, and afraid that the
+soldiers of his own soil might make off in spite of all their
+vigilance, he kept his regiments in garrison towns till called on
+actual service; and that they might not desert on their way from one
+garrison to another during relief, he never had them relieved at all.
+A trooper was flogged for falling from his horse, though he had
+broken a limb in his fall; it was difficult, he said, to distinguish
+an involuntary fault from one that originated in negligence, and to
+prevent a man hoping that his negligence would be forgiven, all
+blunders were punished, from whatever cause arising. No soldier was
+suffered to quit his garrison till led out to fight; and when a
+desertion took place, cannons were fired to announce it to the
+surrounding country. Great rewards were given for apprehending, and
+severe punishments inflicted for harbouring, the criminal; and he was
+soon hunted down, and brought back. A soldier was, therefore, always
+a prisoner and a slave.
+
+Still, all this rigour of Prussian discipline, like that of our navy,
+was insufficient to extinguish that ambition which is inherent in our
+nature to obtain the esteem and applause of the circle in which we
+move; and the soldier discharged his duty in the hour of danger, in
+the hope of rendering his life more happy in the esteem of his
+officers and comrades. 'Every tolerably good soldier feels ', says
+Adam Smith, 'that he would become the scorn of his companions if he
+should be supposed capable of shrinking from danger, or of hesitating
+either to expose or to throw away his life, when the good of the
+service required it.' So thought the philosopher-King of Prussia,
+when he let his regiments out of garrison to go and face the enemy.
+The officers were always treated with as much lenity in the Prussian
+as any other service, because the king knew that the hope of
+promotion would always be sufficient to bind them to their duties;
+but the poor soldiers had no hope of this kind to animate them in
+their toils and their dangers.
+
+We took our System of drill from Frederick of Prussia; and there is
+still many a martinet who would carry his high-pressure system of
+discipline into every other service over which he had any control,
+unable to appreciate the difference of circumstances under which they
+may happen to be raised and maintained.[25]
+
+The sepoys of the Bengal army, the only part of our native army with
+which I am much acquainted, are educated as soldiers from their
+infancy--they are brought up in that feeling of entire deference for
+constituted authority which we require in soldiers, and which they
+never lose through life. They are taken from the agricultural classes
+of Indian society--almost all the sons of yeomen--cultivating
+proprietors of the soil, whose families have increased beyond their
+means of subsistence. One son is sent one after another to seek
+service in our regiments as necessity presses at home, from whatever
+cause--the increase of taxation, or the too great increase of numbers
+in families.[26] No men can have a higher sense of the duty they owe
+to the state that employs them, or whose 'salt they eat'; nor can any
+men set less value on life when the service of that state requires
+that it shall be risked or sacrificed. No persons are brought up with
+more deference for parents. In no family from which we drew our
+recruits is a son through infancy, boyhood, or youth, heard to utter
+a disrespectful word to his parents--such a word from a son to his
+parents would shock the feelings of the whole community in which the
+family resides, and the offending member would be visited with their
+highest indignation. When the father dies the eldest son takes his
+place, and receives the same marks of respect, the same entire
+confidence and deference as the father. If he be a soldier in a
+distant land, and can afford to do so, he resigns the service, and
+returns home to take his post as the head of the family. If he cannot
+afford to resign, if the family still want the aid of his regular
+monthly pay, he remains with his regiment, and denies himself many of
+the personal comforts he has hitherto enjoyed, that he may increase
+his contribution to the general stock.
+
+The wives and children of his brothers, who are absent on service,
+are confided to his care with the same confidence as to that of the
+father. It is a rule to which I have through life found but few
+exceptions that those who are most disposed to resist constituted
+authority are those most disposed to abuse such authority when they
+get it. The members of these families, disposed, as they always are,
+to pay deference to such authority, are scarcely ever found to abuse
+it when it devolves upon them; and the elder son, when he succeeds to
+the place of his father, loses none of the affectionate attachment of
+his younger brothers.
+
+ They never take their wives or children with them to their
+regiments, or to the places where their regiments are stationed.[27]
+They leave them with their fathers or elder brothers, and enjoy their
+society only when they return on furlough. Three-fourths of their
+incomes are sent home to provide for their comfort and subsistence,
+and to embellish that home in which they hope to spend the winter of
+their days. The knowledge that any neglect of the duty they owe their
+distant families will be immediately visited by the odium of their
+native officers and brother soldiers, and ultimately communicated to
+the heads of their families, acts as a salutary check on their
+conduct; and I believe that there is hardly a native regiment in the
+Bengal army in which the twenty drummers who are Christians, and have
+their families with the regiment, do not cause more trouble to the
+officers than the whole eight hundred sepoys.
+
+To secure the fidelity of such men all that is necessary is to make
+them feel secure of three things--their regular pay, at the handsome
+rate at which it has now been fixed; their retiring pensions upon the
+scale hitherto enjoyed; and promotion by seniority, like their
+European officers, unless they shall forfeit all claims to it by
+misconduct or neglect of duty.[28] People talk about a demoralized
+army, and discontented army! No army in the world was certainly ever
+more moral or more contented than our native army; or more satisfied
+that their masters merit all their devotion and attachment; and I
+believe none was ever more devoted or attached to them.[29] I do not
+speak of the European officers of the native army. They very
+generally believe that they have had just cause of complaint, and
+sufficient care has not always been taken to remove that impression.
+In all the junior grades the Honourable Company's officers have
+advantages over the Queen's in India. In the higher grades the
+Queen's officers have advantages over those of the Honourable
+Company. The reasons it does not behove me here to consider.[30]
+
+In all armies composed of involuntary soldiers, that is, of soldiers
+who are anxious to quit the ranks and return to peaceful occupations,
+but cannot do so, much of the drill to which they are subjected is
+adopted merely with a view to keep them from pondering too much upon
+the miseries of their present condition, and from indulging in those
+licentious habits to which a strong sense of these miseries, and the
+recollection of the enjoyments of peaceful life which they have
+sacrificed, are too apt to drive them. No portion of this is
+necessary for the soldiers of our native army, who have no miseries
+to ponder over, or superior enjoyments in peaceful life to look back
+upon; and a very small quantity of drill is sufficient to make a
+regiment go through its evolutions well, because they have all a
+pride and pleasure in their duties, as long as they have a commanding
+officer who understands them. Clarke, in his _Travels_, speaking of
+the three thousand native infantry from India whom he saw paraded in
+Egypt under their gallant leader, Sir David Baird, says, 'Troops in
+such a state of military perfection, or better suited for active
+service, were never seen--not even on the famous parade of the chosen
+ten thousand belonging to Bonaparte's legions, which he was so vain
+of displaying before the present war in the front of the Tuileries at
+Paris. Not an unhealthy soldier was to be seen. The English, inured
+to the climate of India, considered that of Egypt as temperate in its
+effects, and the sipahees seemed as fond of the Nile as the
+Ganges.'[31]
+
+It would be much better to devise more innocent amusements to lighten
+the miseries of European soldiers in India than to be worrying them
+every hour, night and day, with duties which are in themselves
+considered to be of no importance whatever, and imposed merely with a
+view to prevent their having time to ponder on these miseries.[32]
+But all extra and useless duties to a soldier become odious, because
+they are always associated in his mind with the ideas of the odious
+and degrading punishment inflicted for the neglect of them. It is
+lamentable to think how much of misery is often wantonly inflicted
+upon the brave soldiers of our European regiments of India on the
+pretence of a desire to preserve order and discipline.[33]
+
+Sportsmen know that if they train their horses beyond a certain point
+they 'train off'; that is, they lose the spirit and with it the
+condition they require to support them in their hour of trial. It is
+the same with soldiers; if drilled beyond a certain point, they
+'drill off', and lose the spirit which they require to sustain them
+in active service, and before the enemy. An over-drilled regiment
+will seldom go through its evolutions well, even in ordinary review
+before its own general. If it has all the mechanism, it wants all the
+real spirit of military discipline--it becomes dogged, and is, in
+fact, a body with but a soul. The martinet, who is seldom a man of
+much intellect, is satisfied as long as the bodies of his men are
+drilled to his liking; his narrow mind comprehends only one of the
+principles which influence mankind--fear; and upon this he acts with
+all the pertinacity of a slave-driver. If he does not disgrace
+himself when he comes before the enemy, as he commonly does, by his
+own incapacity, his men will perhaps try to disgrace him, even at the
+sacrifice of what they hold dearer than their lives--their
+reputation. The real soldier, who is generally a man of more
+intellect, cares more about the feelings than the bodies of his men;
+he wants to command their affections as well as their limbs, and he
+inspires them with a feeling of enthusiasm that renders them
+insensible to all danger--such men were Lord Lake, and Generals
+Ochterlony, Malcolm, and Adams, and such are many others well known
+in India.
+
+Under the martinet the soldiers will never do more than what a due
+regard for their own reputation demands from them before the enemy,
+and will sometimes do less. Under the real soldier, they will always
+do more than this; his reputation is dearer to them even than their
+own, and they will do more to sustain it. The army of the consul,
+Appius Claudius, exposed themselves to almost inevitable destruction
+before the enemy to disgrace him in the eyes of his country, and the
+few survivors were decimated on their return; he cared nothing for
+the spirit of his men. The army of his colleague, Quintius, on the
+contrary, though from the same people, and levied and led out at the
+same time, covered him with glory because they loved him.[34] We had
+an instance of this in the war with Nepal in-1813, in which a king's
+regiment played the part of the army of Appius.[35] There were other
+martinets, king's and Company's, commanding divisions in that war,
+and they all signally failed; not, however, except in the above one
+instance, from backwardness on the part of their troops, but from
+utter incapacity when the hour of trial came. Those who succeeded
+were men always noted for caring something more about the hearts than
+the whiskers and buttons of their men. That the officer who delights
+in harassing his regiment in times of peace will fail with it in
+times of war and scenes of peril seems to me to be a rule almost as
+well established as that he, who in the junior ranks of the army
+delights most to kick against authority, is always found the most
+disposed to abuse it when he gets to the higher. In long intervals of
+peace, the only prominent military characters are commonly such
+martinets; and hence the failures so generally experienced in the
+beginning of a war after such an interval. Whitelocks are chosen for
+command, till Wolfes and Wellingtons find Chathams and Wellesleys to
+climb up by.
+
+To govern those whose mental and physical energies we require for our
+subsistence and support by the lash alone is so easy, so simple a
+mode of bending them to our will, and making them act strictly and
+instantly in conformity to it, that it is not at all surprising to
+find so many of those who have been accustomed to it, and are not
+themselves liable to have the lash inflicted upon them, advocating
+its free use. In China the Emperor has his generals flogged, and
+finds the lash so efficacious in bending them to his will that
+nothing would persuade him that it could ever be safely dispensed
+with. In some parts of Germany they had the officers flogged, and
+princes and generals found this so very efficacious in making those
+act in conformity to their will that they found it difficult to
+believe that any army could be well managed without it. In other
+Christian armies the officers are exempted from the lash, but they
+use it freely upon all under them; and it would be exceedingly
+difficult to convince the greater part of these officers that the
+free use of the lash is not indispensably necessary, nay, that the
+men do not themselves like to be flogged, as eels like to be skinned,
+when they once get used to it. Ask the slave-holders of the southern
+states of America whether any society can be well constituted unless
+the greater part of those upon the sweat of whose brow the community
+depends for their subsistence are made by law liable to be bought,
+sold, and driven to their daily labour with the lash; they will one
+and all say No; and yet there are doubtless many very excellent and
+amiable persons among these slave-holders. If our army, as at present
+constituted, cannot do without the free use of the lash, let its
+constitution be altered; for no nation with free institutions should
+suffer its soldiers to be flogged. '_Laudabiliores tamen duces sunt,
+quorum exercitum ad modestiam labor et usus instituit, quam illi,
+quorum milites ad obedientiam suppliciorum formido compellit.'[36]
+
+Though I reprobate that wanton severity of discipline in which the
+substance is sacrificed to the form, in which unavoidable and trivial
+offences are punished as deliberate and serious crimes, and the
+spirit of the soldier is entirely disregarded, while the motion of
+his limbs, cut of his whiskers, and the buttons of his coat are
+scanned with microscopic eye, I must not be thought to advocate
+idleness. If we find the sepoys of a native regiment, as we sometimes
+do at a healthy and cheap station, become a little unruly like
+schoolboys, and ask an old native officer the reason, he will
+probably answer others as he has me by another question, '_Ghora ara
+kyun? Pani sara kyun?' 'Why does the horse become vicious? Why does
+the water become putrid?'-For want of exercise. Without proper
+attention to this exercise no regiment is ever kept in order; nor has
+any commanding officer ever the respect or the affection of his men
+unless they see that he understands well all the duties which his
+Government entrusts to him, and is resolved to have them performed in
+all situations and under all circumstances. There are always some bad
+characters in a regiment, to take advantage of any laxity of
+discipline, and lead astray the younger soldiers, whose spirits have
+been rendered exuberant by good health and good feeding; and there is
+hardly any crime to which they will not try to excite these young
+men, under an officer careless about the discipline of his regiment,
+or disinclined, from a mistaken _esprit de corps_, or any other
+cause, to have those crimes traced home to them and punished.[37]
+
+There can be no question that a good tone of feeling between the
+European officers and their men is essential to the well-being of our
+native army; and I think I have found this tone somewhat impaired
+whenever our native regiments are concentrated at large stations. In
+such places the European society is commonly large and gay; and the
+officers of our native regiments become too much occupied in its
+pleasures and ceremonies to attend to their native officers or
+sepoys. In Europe there are separate classes of people who subsist by
+catering for the amusements of the higher classes of society, in
+theatres, operas, concerts, balls, &c., &c.; but in India this duty
+devolves entirely upon the young civil and military officers of the
+Government, and at large stations it really is a very laborious one,
+which often takes up the whole of a young man's time. The ladies must
+have amusement; and the officers must find it for them, because there
+are no other persons to undertake the arduous duty. The consequence
+is that they often become entirely alienated from their men, and
+betray signs of the greatest impatience while they listen to the
+necessary reports of their native officers, as they come on or go off
+duty.[38]
+
+It is different when regiments are concentrated for active service.
+Nothing tends so much to improve the tone of feeling between the
+European officers and their men, and between European soldiers and
+sepoys, as the concentration of forces on actual service, where the
+same hopes animate, and the same dangers unite them in common bonds
+of sympathy and confidence. '_Utrique alteris freti, finitimos armis
+aut metu sub imperium cogere, nomen gloriamque sibi addidere_.' After
+the campaigns under Lord Lake, a native regiment passing Dinapore,
+where the gallant King's 76th, with whom they had fought side by
+side, was cantoned, invited the soldiers to a grand entertainment
+provided for them by the sepoys. They consented to go on one
+condition--that the sepoys should see them all back safe before
+morning. Confiding in their sable friends, they all got gloriously
+drunk, but found themselves lying every man upon his proper cot in
+his own barracks in the morning. The sepoys had carried them all home
+upon their shoulders. Another native regiment, passing within a few
+miles of a hill on which they had buried one of their European
+officers after that war, solicited permission to go and make their
+'salam' to the tomb, and all went who were off duty.[39] The system
+which now keeps the greater part of our native infantry at small
+stations of single regiments in times of peace tends to preserve this
+good tone of feeling between officers and men, at the same time that
+it promotes the general welfare of the country by giving confidence
+everywhere to the peaceful and industrious classes.
+
+I will not close this chapter without mentioning one thing which I
+have no doubt every Company's officer in India will concur with me in
+thinking desirable to improve the good feeling of the native
+soldiery--that is, an increase in the pay of the Jemadars. They are
+commissioned officers, and seldom attain the rank in less than from
+twenty-five to thirty years;[40] and they have to provide themselves
+with clothes of the same costly description as those of the Subadar;
+to be as well mounted, and in all respects to keep the same
+respectability of appearance, while their pay is only twenty-four
+rupees and a half a month; that is, ten rupees a month only more than
+they had been receiving in the grade of Havildars, which is not
+sufficient to meet the additional expenses to which they become
+liable as commissioned officers. Their means of remittance to their
+families are rather diminished than increased by promotion, and but
+few of them can hope ever to reach the next grade of Subadar. Our
+Government, which has of late been so liberal to its native civil
+officers, will, I hope, soon take into consideration the claims of
+this class, who are universally admitted to be the worst paid class
+of native public officers in India. Ten rupees a month addition to
+their pay would be of great importance; it would enable them to
+impart some of the advantages of promotion to their families, and
+improve the good feeling of the circles around them towards the
+Government they serve.[41]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. This chapter and the following one were printed as a separate
+tract at Calcutta in 1841 (see Bibliography). That small volume
+included an Introduction and two statistical tables which the author
+did not reprint. He has utilized extracts from the Introduction in
+various parts of the _Rambles and Recollections_. I am not sure that
+the tract was ever published, though it was printed; for the author
+says in his Introduction: 'They (_scil._ these two essays) may never
+be published; but I cannot deny myself the gratification of printing
+them.'
+
+2. This order is confined to the Indian Army.
+
+3. The punishment of working on the roads is long obsolete.
+
+4. The author spells this word 'sipahee'. I have thought it better to
+use throughout the now familiar corruption.
+
+5. The ordinary infantry pay was raised from seven to nine rupees in
+1895.
+
+6. General Orders by the Commander-in-Chief of the 5th of January,
+1797, declare that no sepoy or trooper of our native army shall be
+dismissed from the service by the sentence of any but a general court
+martial. General Orders by the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Combermere,
+of the 19th of March, 1827, declare that his Excellency is of opinion
+that the quiet and orderly habits of the native soldiers are such
+that it can very seldom be necessary to have recourse to the
+punishment of flogging, which might be almost entirely abolished with
+great advantage to their character and feelings; and directs that no
+native soldier shall in future be sentenced to corporal punishment
+unless for the crime of _stealing, marauding, or gross
+insubordination_, where the individuals are deemed unworthy to
+continue in the ranks of the army. No such sentence by a regimental,
+detachment, or brigade court martial was to be carried into effect
+till confirmed by the general officer commanding the division. When
+flogged the soldier was invariably to be discharged from the service.
+
+A circular letter from the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Combermere, on
+the 16th of June, 1827, directs that sentence to corporal punishment
+is not to be restricted to the three crimes of _theft, marauding, or
+gross insubordination_; but that it is not to be awarded except for
+very serious offences against discipline, or actions of a disgraceful
+or infamous nature, which show those who committed them to be unfit
+for the service; that the officer who assembles the court may remit
+the sentence of corporal punishment, and the dismissal involved in
+it; but cannot carry it into effect till confirmed by the officer
+commanding the division, except when an immediate example is
+indispensably necessary, as in the case of plundering and violence on
+the part of soldiers in the line of march. In all cases the soldier
+who has been flogged must be dismissed.
+
+A circular letter by the Commander-in-Chief, Sir E. Barnes, 2nd of
+November, 1832, dispenses with the duty of submitting the sentence of
+regimental, detachment, and brigade courts martial for confirmation
+to the general officer commanding the division; and authorizes the
+officer who assembles the court to carry the sentence into effect
+without reference to higher authority; and to mitigate the punishment
+awarded, or remit it altogether; and to order the dismissal of the
+soldier who has been sentenced to corporal punishment, though he
+should remit the flogging, 'for it may happen that a soldier may be
+found guilty of an offence which renders it improper that he should
+remain any longer in the service, although the general conduct of the
+man has been such that an example is unnecessary; or he may have
+relations in the regiment of excellent character, upon whom some part
+of the disgrace would fall if he were flogged.' Still no court
+martial but a general one could sentence a soldier to be simply
+dismissed. To secure his dismissal they must first sentence him to be
+flogged.
+
+On the 24th of February, 1835, the Governor-General of India in
+Council, Lord William Bentinck, directed that the practice of
+punishing soldiers of the native army by the cat-o'-nine-tails, or
+rattan, be discontinued at all the presidencies; and that henceforth
+it shall be competent to any regimental, detachment, or brigade court
+martial to sentence a soldier of the native army to dismissal from
+the service for any offence for which such soldier might now be
+punished by flogging, provided such sentence of dismissal shall not
+be carried into effect unless confirmed by the general or other
+officer commanding the division.'
+
+For crimes involving higher penalties, soldiers were, as heretofore,
+committed for trial before general courts martial.
+
+By Act 23 of 1839, passed by the Legislative Council of India on the
+23rd of September, it is made competent for courts martial to
+sentence soldiers of the native army in the service of the East India
+Company to the punishment of dismissal, and to be imprisoned, with or
+without hard labour, for any period not exceeding two years, if the
+sentence be pronounced by a general court martial; and not exceeding
+one year, if by a garrison or line court martial; and not exceeding
+six months, if by a regimental or district court martial.
+Imprisonment for any period with hard labour, or for a term exceeding
+six months without hard labour, to involve dismissal. Act 2 of 1840
+provides for such sentences of imprisonment being carried into
+execution by magistrates or other officers in charge of the gaols.
+[W. H. S.]
+
+This last paragraph has been brought up from the end of the volume
+where it is printed in the original edition.
+
+The army has been completely reorganized since the author's time, and
+the regulations have been much modified.
+
+In October, 1833, Lord William Bentinck had assumed the command of
+the army, on the retirement of Sir Edward Barnes, and thus combined
+the offices of Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, as the
+Marquis Cornwallis and the Marquis of Hastings had done before him.
+
+7. Batavia was occupied by Sir Samuel Auchmuty in August, and the
+whole island was taken possession of in September, 1811. But at the
+general peace which followed the great war the island of Java, with
+its dependencies, was restored to the Dutch.
+
+8. The Isle of France, otherwise called the Mauritius, which is still
+British territory, was gallantly taken at the end of November, 1810,
+by Commodore Rowley and Major-General Abercrombie. Full details of
+the Java and Mauritius expeditions are given in Thornton's twenty-
+second chapter. The brilliant operations in both localities deserve
+more attention than they usually receive from students of Indian
+history.
+
+9. The funeral obsequies which are everywhere offered up to the manes
+of parents by the surviving head of the family during the last
+fifteen days of the month Kuar (September) were never considered as
+acceptable from the hands of a soldier in our service who had been
+tied up and flogged, whatever might have been the nature of the
+offence for which he was punished; any head of a family so flogged
+lost by that punishment the most important of his civil rights--that,
+indeed, upon which all others hinged, for it is by presiding at the
+funeral ceremonies that the head of the family secures and maintains
+his recognition. [W. H. S.] I have invariably found that natives of
+India, enjoying a good social position, who happen to be interested
+in an offender, care nothing for the disgraceful nature of the
+offender's crime, while they dread the disgrace of the punishment,
+however just it may be.
+
+10. The worst feature of this abolition measure is unquestionably the
+odious distinction which it leaves in the punishments to which our
+European and our native soldiers are liable, since the British
+legislation does not consider that it can be safely abolished in the
+British army. This odious distinction might be easily removed by an
+enactment declaring that European soldiers in India should be liable
+to corporal punishment for only two offences: first, mutiny, or gross
+insubordination; second, plunder or violence while the regiment or
+force to which the prisoner belongs is in the field or marching. The
+same enactment might declare the soldiers of our native army liable
+to the same punishments for the same offences. Such an enactment
+would excite no discontent among our native soldiery; on the
+contrary, it would be applauded as just and proper. [W. H. S.]
+Subsequently, corporal punishment in the Indian or native army was
+again legalized. The present law is thus stated by Sir Edwin Collen:
+'A "summary court martial"... may pass any sentence allowed by the
+articles of war, except . . . and may carry it out at once. Corporal
+punishment not exceeding fifty lashes may be given for certain
+offences, but is rarely awarded, and the amount of military crime is,
+on the whole, very small in the native army. The native officers have
+power to inflict minor punishments' [_I.G. (1908), vol. iv, p. 370].
+
+Flogging in the British army in time of peace was prohibited in
+April, 1868, by an amendment to the Mutiny Bill, and was completely
+abolished by the Army Discipline Act of 1881.
+
+11. The author also gives the Hindustani word as 'kaelkur-hin', which
+seems to be intended for _qail karen_, or in rustic form _karahin_,
+meaning 'confute'.
+
+12. No wonder that the native army, pampered in this sentimental
+fashion, gradually became more and more inefficient, till it needed
+the fires of the Mutiny to purge away its humours. No army could be
+efficient when its subordinate officers on the active list were men
+of sixty or seventy years of age.
+
+13. The sepoys were quite right; no other service in the world was
+managed on such principles. The illusion of the old Company's
+officers about the gratitude and affection of the men generally was
+rudely dispelled nineteen years after the conversations recorded in
+the text. But, even in 1857. a noble minority remained faithful and
+did devoted service.
+
+14. The best troops now are the Sikhs, Gorkhas, and frontier
+Muhammadans. Oudh men still enlist in large numbers, but do not enjoy
+their old prestige. The army known to the author comprised no Sikhs,
+Gorkhas, or frontier Muhammadans. The recruitment of Gorkhas only
+began in 1838, and the other two classes of troops were obtained by
+the annexation of the Panjab in 1849.
+
+15. Enlistment in the native army is absolutely voluntary, and does
+not even require to be stimulated by a bounty. A subsequent passage
+shows that the author refuses to describe the British army as an
+'entirety voluntary' one, because a soldier when once enlisted is
+bound to serve for a definite term; whereas the sepoy could resign
+when he chose.
+
+16. Desertions are frequent among the regiments recruited on the
+Afghan frontier. These regiments did not exist in the author's day.
+
+17. An ordinance issued in France so late as 1778 required that a man
+should produce proof of four quarterings of nobility before he could
+get a commission in the army. [W. H. S.]
+
+18. '_Est et alia causa, cur attenuatae sint legiones_,' says
+Vegetius. 'Magnus in illis labor est militandi, graviora arma, sera
+munera, severior disciplila. Quod vitantes plerique, in auxiliis
+festinant militiae sacramenta percipere, ubi et minor sudor, et
+maturiora sunt premia.' Lib._ II. _cap._ 3. [W. H. S.] Vegetius,
+according to Gibbon and his most recent editor (_recensuit Carolus
+Lang. Editio altera. Lipsiae, Teubner_, 1885), flourished during the
+reign of Valentinian III (A.D. 425-55). His 'Soldier's Pocket-book'
+is entitled 'Flavi Vegeti Renati Epitoma Rei Militaris'.
+
+'Montesquieu thought that 'the Government had better have stuck to
+the old practice of slitting noses and cutting off ears, since the
+French soldiers, like the Roman dandies under Pompey, must
+necessarily have a greater dread of a disfigured face than of death.
+It did not occur to him that France could retain her soldiers by
+other and better motives. See _Spirit of Laws_, book vi, chap. 12.
+See _Necker on the Finances_, vol. ii, chap. 5; vol. iii, chap. 34. A
+day-labourer on the roads got fifteen sous a day; and a French
+soldier only six, at the very time that the mortality of an army of
+forty thousand men sent to the colonies was annually 13,333, or about
+one in three. In our native army the sepoy gets about double the
+wages of an ordinary day-labourer; and his duties, when well done,
+involve just enough of exercise to keep him in health. The casualties
+are perhaps about one in a hundred. [W. H. S.]
+
+20. Just precisely what the French soldiers were after the revolution
+had purged France of all 'the perilous stuff that weighed upon the
+heart' of its people. Gibbon, in considering the chance of the
+civilized nations of Europe ever being again overrun by the
+barbarians from the North, as in the time of the Romans, says: 'If a
+savage conqueror should issue from the deserts of Tartary, he must
+repeatedly vanquish the robust peasantry of Russia, the numerous
+armies of Germany, the gallant nobles of France, and the intrepid
+free men of Britain.' Never was a more just, yet more unintended
+satire upon the state of a country. Russia was to depend upon her
+'robust peasantry'; Germany upon her 'numerous armies'; England upon
+her 'intrepid free men'; and poor France upon her 'gallant nobles'
+alone; because, unhappily, no other part of her vast population was
+then ever thought of. When the hour of trial came, those pampered
+nobles who had no feeling in common with the people were shaken off'
+like dew-drops from the lion's mane'; and the hitherto spurned
+peasantry of France, under the guidance and auspices of men who
+understood and appreciated them, astonished the world with their
+powers. [W. H. S.]
+
+21. The allusion is to the now half-forgotten war with the United
+States in the years 1812-14, during the course of which the English
+captured the city of Washington, and the Americans gained some
+unexpected naval victories.
+
+22. The author has already denounced the practice of impressment,
+_ante_, chapter 26, note 27.
+
+23. 'to' in the original edition.
+
+24. See McCulloch, _Pol. Econ._, p. 235, 1st ed., Edinburgh, 1825.
+[W. H. S.]
+
+25. Many German princes adopted the discipline of Frederick in their
+little petty states, without exactly knowing why or wherefore. The
+Prince of Darmstadt conceived a great passion for the military art;
+and when the weather would not permit him to worry his little army of
+five thousand men in the open air, he had them worried for his
+amusement under sheds. But he was soon obliged to build a wall round
+the town in which he drilled his soldiers for the sole purpose of
+preventing their running away--round this wall he had a regular chain
+of sentries to fire at the deserters. Mr. Moore thought that the
+discontent in this little band was greater than in the Prussian army,
+inasmuch as the soldiers saw no object but the prince's amusement. A
+fight, or the prospect of a fight, would have been a feast to them.
+[W. H. S.] It is hardly necessary to observe that the modern system
+of drill is widely different.
+
+26. Speaking of the question whether recruits drawn from the country
+or the towns are best, Vegetius says: '_De qua parte numquam credo
+potuisse dubitari, aptiorem armis rusticam plebem, quae sub divo et
+in labore nutritur; solis patiens; umbrae negligens; balnearum
+nescia; delictarurum ignara; simplicis animi; parvo contenta; duratis
+ad omnem laborem membris; cui gestara ferrum, fossam ducere, onus
+ferre, consuetudo de rare est.' (De Re Militari_, Lib. i, cap. 3.)
+[W. H. S.] The passage quoted is disfigured by many misprints in the
+original edition.
+
+27. As the Madras sepoys do.
+
+28. The writing of the bulk of this work was completed in 1839. These
+concluding supplementary chapters on the Bengal army seem to have
+been written a little later, perhaps in 1841, the year in which they
+were first printed. The publication of the complete work took place
+in 1844. The Mutiny broke out in 1857, and proved that the fidelity
+of the sepoys could not be so easily assured as the author supposed.
+
+29. I believe the native army to be better now than it ever was--
+better in its disposition and in its organization. The men have now a
+better feeling of assurance than they formerly had that all their
+rights will be secured to them by their European officers that all
+those officers are men of honour, though they have not all of them
+the same fellow feeling that their officers had with them in former
+days. This is because they have not the same opportunity of seeing
+their courage and fidelity tried in the same scenes of common danger.
+Go to Afghanistan and China, and you will find the feeling between
+officers and men as fine as ever it was in days of yore, whatever it
+may be at our large and gay stations, where they see so little of
+each other. [W. H. S.] The author's reputation for sagacity and
+discernment could not be made to rest upon the above remarks. His
+judgement was led astray by his lifelong association with and
+affection for the native troops. Lord William Bentinck took a far
+juster view of the situation, and understood far better the real
+nature of the ties which bind the native army to its masters. His
+admirable minute dated 13th March, 1835, published for the first time
+in Mr. D. Boulger's well-written little book (_Lord William
+Bentinck_, 'Rulers of India', pp. 177-201), is still worthy of study.
+As a corrective to the author's too effusive sentiment, some brief
+passages from the Governor-General's minute may be quoted. 'In
+considering the question of internal danger,' he observes, 'those
+officers most conversant with Indian affairs who were examined before
+the Parliamentary Committee apprehend no danger to our dominion as
+long as we are assured of the fidelity of our native troops. To this
+opinion I entirely subscribe. But others again view in the native
+army itself the source of our greatest peril. In all ages the
+military body has been often the prime cause, but generally the
+instrument, of all revolutions; and proverbial almost as is the
+fidelity of the native soldier to the chief whom he serves, more
+especially when he is justly and kindly treated, still we cannot be
+blind to the fact that many of those ties which bind other armies to
+their allegiance are totally wanting in this. Here is no patriotism,
+no community of feeling as to religion or birthplace, no influencing
+attachment from high considerations, or great honours and rewards.
+Our native army also is extremely ignorant, capable of the strongest
+religions excitement, and very sensitive to disrespect to their
+persona or infringement of their customs. . . . In the native army
+alone rests our internal danger, and this danger may involve our
+complete subversion. . . .
+
+'All these facts and opinions seem to me to establish
+incontrovertibly that a large proportion of European troops is
+necessary for our security under all circumstances of peace and war.
+. . .
+
+'I believe the sepoys have never been so good as they were in the
+earliest part of our career; none superior to those under De Boigne.
+. . I fearlessly pronounce the Indian army to be the least efficient
+and most expensive in the world.'
+
+The events of 1857-9 proved the truth of Lord William Bentinck's wise
+words. The native army is no longer inefficient as a whole, though
+certain sections of it may still be so, but the less that is said
+about the supposed affection of mercenary troops for a foreign
+government, the better.
+
+30. Of course, all the military forces, British and Indian, are now
+alike the King's. Each service has its own rules and regulations.
+
+31. 'General Baird had started from Bombay in the end of December
+1800, but only arrived at Kossir, on the coast of Upper Egypt, on the
+8th of June. In nine days, with a force of 6,400 British and native
+troops, he traversed 140 miles of desert to the Nile, and reached
+Cairo on 10th August with hardly any loss. The united force then
+marched down on Alexandria, and on 31st August Menou capitulated, and
+the whole French army evacuated Egypt.' (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd
+ed., s.v. 'Egypt.') The Indian native army again did brilliant
+service in the Egyptian campaign of 1882.
+
+32. Great progress has been made in the task of lightening the
+miseries of European soldiers in India by the provision of innocent
+amusements. Lord Roberts, during his long tenure of the office of
+Commander-in-Chief, pre-eminently showed himself to be the soldier's
+friend.
+
+33. Their commanding officers say, as Pharaoh said to the Israelites,
+'Let there be more work laid upon them, that they may labour therein,
+and not enter into vain discourses.' Life to such men becomes
+intolerable; and they either destroy themselves, or commit murder,
+that they may be taken to a distant court for trial. [W. H. S.] The
+quotation is from Exodus v. 9. The Authorized Version is, 'Let there
+be more work laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let
+them not regard vain words.'
+
+34. See Livy, lib. ii, cap. 59. The infantry under Fabius had refused
+to conquer, that their general, whom they hated, might not triumph;
+but the whole army under Claudius, whom they had more cause to
+detest, not only refused to conquer, but determined to be conquered,
+that he might be involved in their disgrace. All the abilities of
+Lucullus, one of the ablest generals Rome ever had, were rendered
+almost useless by his disregard to the feelings of his soldiers. He
+could not perceive that the civil wars under Marius and Sylla had
+rendered a different treatment of Roman soldiers necessary to success
+in war. Pompey, his successor, a man of inferior military genius,
+succeeded much better because he had the sagacity to see that he now
+required not only the confidence but the affections of his soldiers.
+Caesar to abilities even greater than those of Lucullus united the
+conciliatory spirit of Pompey [W. H. S.]
+
+35. This curious incident, which is not mentioned by Thornton in the
+detailed account of the Nepalese War given in his twenty-fourth
+chapter, may be the failure of the 53rd Regiment to support General
+Gllespie in the attack on Kalanga, in 1814, not 1815 (Mill, Bk. II,
+chap. 1; vol. viii, p. 19, ed. 1858). The war was notable for the
+number of blunders and failures which marked its earlier stages.
+
+36. Vegetius, _De Re Militari_, Lib. iii, cap. 4, If corporal
+punishment be retained at all, it should be limited to the two
+offences I have already mentioned; [W. H. S.] namely, (l) mutiny or
+gross insubordination, (2) plunder or violence in the field or on the
+march. (_Ante_, chapter 76, note 6.)
+
+37. Polybius says that 'as the human body is apt to get out of order
+under good feeding and little exercise, so are states and armies.'
+(Bk. II, chap. 6.)--Wherever food is cheap, and the air good, native
+regiments should be well exercised without being worried.
+
+I must here take the liberty to give an extract from a letter from
+one of the best and most estimable officers now in the Bengal army:
+'As connected with the discipline of the native army, I may here
+remark that I have for some years past observed on the part of many
+otherwise excellent commanding officers a great want of attention to
+the instruction of the young European officers on first joining their
+regiments. I have had ample opportunities of seeing the great value
+of a regular course of instruction drill for at least six months.
+When I joined my first regiment, which was about forty years ago, I
+had the good fortune to be under a commandant and adjutant who,
+happily for me and many others, attached great importance to this
+very necessary course of instruction, I then acquired a thorough
+knowledge of my duties, which led to my being appointed an adjutant
+very early in life. When I attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel I
+had, however, opportunities of observing how very much this essential
+duty had been neglected in certain regiments, and made it a rule in
+all that I commanded to keep all young officers on first joining at
+the instruction drill till thoroughly grounded in their duties. Since
+I ceased to command a regiment, I have taken advantage of every
+opportunity to express to those commanding officers with whom I have
+been in correspondence my conviction of the great advantages of this
+system to the rising generation. In going from one regiment to
+another I found many curious instances of ignorance on the part of
+young officers who had been many years with their corps. It was by no
+means an easy task to convince them that they really knew nothing, or
+at least had a great deal to learn; but when they were made sensible
+of it, they many of them turned out excellent officers, and now, I
+believe, bless the day they were first put under me.'
+
+The advantages of the System here mentioned cannot be questioned; and
+it is much to be regretted that it is not strictly enforced in every
+regiment in the service. Young officers may find it irksome at first;
+but they soon become sensible of the advantages, and learn to applaud
+the commandant who has had the firmness to consult their permanent
+interests more than their present inclinations. [W. H. S.]
+
+38. Among the many changes produced in India by the development of
+the railway system and by other causes one of the most striking is
+the abolition of small military stations. Almost all these have
+disappeared, and the troops are now massed in large cantonments,
+where they can be handled much more effectively than in out-stations.
+The discipline of small detached bodies of troops is generally liable
+to deterioration.
+
+39. Many instances of semi-religious honour paid by natives to the
+tombs of Europeans have been noticed.
+
+40. There are, I believe, many Jemadars who still wear medals on
+their breasts for their service in the taking of Java and the Isle of
+France more than thirty years ago. Indeed, I suspect that some will
+be found who accompanied Sir David Baird to Egypt. [W. H. S.] Such
+old men must have been perfectly useless as officers. Sir David
+Baird' s operations took place in 1801.
+
+41. The rate of pay of Jemadars in the Bengal Native Infantry now is
+either forty or fifty rupees monthly. Half of the officers of this
+rank in each regiment receive the higher rate. The grievance
+complained of by the author has, therefore, been remedied. The pay of
+a Havildar is still, or was recently, fourteen rupees a month.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 77
+
+
+Invalid Establishment.
+
+I have said nothing in the foregoing chapter of the invalid
+establishment, which is probably the greatest of all bonds between
+the Government and its native army, and consequently the greatest
+element in the 'spirit of discipline'. Bonaparte, who was, perhaps,
+with all his faults, 'the greatest man that ever floated on the tide
+of time', said at Elba, 'There is not even a village that has not
+brought forth a general, a colonel, a captain, or a prefect, who has
+raised himself by his especial merit, and illustrated at once his
+family and his country.' Now we know that the families and the
+village communities in which our invalid pensioners reside never read
+newspapers,[1] and feel but little interest in the victories in which
+these pensioners may have shared. They feel that they have no share
+in the _eclat_ or glory which attend them; but they everywhere admire
+and respect the government which cherishes its faithful old servants,
+and enables them to spend the 'winter of their days' in the bosoms of
+their families; and they spurn the man who has failed in his duty
+towards that government in the hour of need.
+
+No sepoy taken from the Rajput communities of Oudh or any other part
+of the country can hope to conceal from his family circle or village
+community any act of cowardice, or anything else which is considered
+disgraceful to a soldier, or to escape the odium which it merits in
+that circle and community.
+
+In the year 1819 I was encamped near a village in marching through
+Oudh, when the landlord, a very cheerful old man, came up to me with
+his youngest son, a lad of eighteen years of age, and requested me to
+allow him (the son) to show me the best shooting grounds in the
+neighbourhood. I took my 'Joe Manton' and went out. The youth showed
+me some very good ground, and I found him an agreeable companion, and
+an excellent shot with his matchlock. On our return we found the old
+man waiting for us. He told me that he had four sons, all by God's
+blessing tall enough for the Company's service, in which one had
+attained the rank of 'havildar' (sergeant), and two were still
+sepoys. Their wives and children lived with him; and they sent home
+every month two-thirds of their pay, which enabled him to pay all the
+rent of the estate and appropriate the whole of the annual returns to
+the subsistence and comfort of the numerous family. He was, he said,
+now growing old, and wished his eldest son, the sergeant, to resign
+the service and come home to take upon him the management of the
+estate; that as soon as he could be prevailed upon to do so, his old
+wife would permit my sporting companion, her youngest son, to enlist,
+but not before.
+
+I was on my way to visit Fyzabad, the old metropolis of Oudh,[2] and
+on returning a month afterwards in the latter end of January, I found
+that the wheat, which was all then in ear, had been destroyed by a
+severe frost. The old man wept bitterly, and he and his old wife
+yielded to the wishes of their youngest son to accompany me and
+enlist in my regiment, which was then stationed at Partabgarh.[3]
+
+We set out, but were overtaken at the third stage by the poor old
+man, who told me that his wife had not eaten or slept since the boy
+left her, and that he must go back and wait for the return of his
+eldest brother, or she certainly would not live. The lad obeyed the
+call of his parents, and I never saw or heard of the family again.
+
+There is hardly a village in the kingdom of Oudh without families
+like this depending upon the good conduct and liberal pay of sepoys
+in our infantry regiments, and revering the name of the government
+they serve, or have served. Similar villages are to be found
+scattered over the provinces of Bihar and Benares, the districts
+between the Ganges and Jumna, and other parts where Rajputs and the
+other classes from which we draw our recruits have been long
+established as proprietors and cultivators of the soil.
+
+These are the feelings on which the spirit of discipline in our
+native army chiefly depends, and which we shall, I hope, continue to
+cultivate, as we have always hitherto done, with care; and a
+commander must take a great deal of pains to make his men miserable,
+before he can render them, like the soldiers of Frederick, 'the
+irreconcilable enemies of their officers and their government'.
+
+In the year 1817 I was encamped in a grove on the right bank of the
+Ganges below Monghyr,[4] when the Marquis of Hastings was proceeding
+up the river in his fleet, to put himself at the head of the grand
+division of the army then about to take the field against the
+Pindharis and their patrons, the Maratha, chiefs. Here I found an old
+native pensioner, above a hundred years of age. He had fought under
+Lord Clive at the battle of Plassey, A.D. 1757, and was still a very
+cheerful, talkative old gentleman, though he had long lost the use of
+his eyes. One of his sons, a grey-headed old man, and a Subadar
+(captain) in a regiment of native infantry, had been at the taking of
+Java,[5] and was now come home on leave to visit his father. Other
+sons had risen to the rank of commissioned officers, and their
+families formed the aristocracy of the neighbourhood. In the evening,
+as the fleet approached, the old gentleman, dressed in his full
+uniform of former days as a commissioned officer, had himself taken
+out close to the bank of the river, that he might be once more during
+his life within sight of a British Commander-in-Chief, though he
+could no longer see one. There the old patriarch sat listening with
+intense delight to the remarks of the host of his descendants around
+him, as the Governor-General's magnificent fleet passed along,[6]
+every one fancying that he had caught a glimpse of the great man, and
+trying to describe him to the old gentleman, who in return told them
+(no doubt for the thousandth time) what sort of a person the great
+Lord Clive was. His son, the old Subadar, now and then, with modest
+deference, venturing to imagine a resemblance between one or the
+other, and his _beau ideal_ of a great man, Lord Lake. Few things in
+India have interested me more than scenes like these.
+
+I have no means of ascertaining the number of military pensioners in
+England or in any other European nation, and cannot, therefore, state
+the proportion which they bear to the actual number of forces kept
+up. The military pensioners in our Bengal establishment on the 1st of
+May, 1841, were 22,381; and the family pensioners, or heirs of
+soldiers killed in action, 1,730; total 24,111, out of an army of
+82,027 men. I question whether the number of retired soldiers
+maintained at the expense of government bears so large a proportion
+to the number actually serving in any other nation on earth.[7] Not
+one of the twenty-four thousand has been brought on, or retained
+upon, the list from political interest or court favour; every one
+receives his pension for long and faithful services, after he has
+been pronounced by a board of European surgeons as no longer fit for
+the active duties of his profession; or gets it for the death of a
+father, husband, or son, who has been killed in the service of
+government.
+
+All are allowed to live with their families, and European officers
+are stationed at central points in the different parts of the country
+where they are most numerous to pay them their stipends every six
+months. These officers are at-- 1st, Barrackpore; 2nd, Dinapore; 3rd,
+Allahabad; 4th, Lucknow; 5th, Meerut. From these central points they
+move twice a year to the several other points within their respective
+circles of payment where the pensioners can most conveniently attend
+to receive their money on certain days, so that none of them have to
+go far, or to employ any expensive means to get it--it is, in fact,
+brought home as near as possible to their doors by a considerate and
+liberal government.[8]
+
+Every soldier is entitled to a pension when pronounced by a board of
+surgeons as no longer fit for the active duties of his profession,
+after fifteen years' active service; but to be entitled to the
+pension of his rank in the army, he must have served in such rank for
+three years. Till he has done so he is entitled only to the pension
+of that immediately below it. A sepoy gets four rupees a month, that
+is, about one-fourth more than the ordinary wages of common
+uninstructed labour throughout the country.[9] But it will be better
+to give the rate of pay of the native officers and men of our native
+infantry and that of their retired pensions in one table.
+
+TABLE OF THE RATE OF PAY AND RETIRED PENSIONS OF THE NATIVE OFFICERS
+AND SOLDIERS OF OUR NATIVE INFANTRY.
+
+
+
+
+
+ _Rank_ _Rate of Pay_ _Rate of_
+ _per_ _Pension per_
+ _Mensem._ _Mensem._
+
+ _Rupees._ _Rupees._
+
+A Sepoy, or private soldier. (Note.--
+ After sixteen years' service eight
+ rupees a month, after twenty years
+ he gets nine rupees a month) . . 7.0 4.0
+A Naik, or corporal . . . . 12.0 7.0
+A Havildar, or sergeant . . . . 14.0 7.0
+A Jemadar, subaltern commissioned officer 24.8 13.0
+Subadar, or Captain . . . . 67.0 25.0
+Subadar Major . . . . . 92.0 0.0[a]
+A Subadar, after forty years service . 0.0 50.0
+A Subadar Bahadur of the Order of British
+ India, First Class, two rupees a day
+ extra; Second Class, one Rupee a day
+ extra. This extra allowance they
+ enjoy after they retire from the
+ service during life.[b]
+
+a. I presume this means that no special rate of pension was fixed for
+the rank of Subadar Major.
+
+b. The monthly rates of pay and pension now in force for native
+officers and men of the Bengal army are as follows:
+
+
+
+ _Rank_ _Pay._ _Pension._
+
+ _Ordinary._ _Superior._ _Ordinary._ _Superior._
+ _Rs._ _Rs._ _Rs._ _Rs._
+
+Subadar 80 100[c] 30 50
+Jemadar 40 50[c] 15 25
+Havildar 14 -- 7 12
+Naick (naik) 12 -- 7 12
+Drummer or Bugler 7 -- 4 7
+Sepoy 7 -- 4 7
+
+c. Half of this rank in each regiment receive the higher rate of pay.
+
+
+
+The circumstances which, in the estimation of the people, distinguish
+the British from all other rulers in India, and make it grow more and
+more upon their affections, are these: The security which public
+servants enjoy in the tenure of their office; the prospect they have
+of advancement by the gradation of rank; the regularity and liberal
+scale of their pay; and the provision for old age, when they have
+discharged the duties entrusted to them ably and faithfully.[l0] In a
+native state almost every public officer knows that he has no chance
+of retaining his office beyond the reign of the present minister or
+favourite; and that no present minister or favourite can calculate
+upon retaining his ascendancy over the mind of his chief for more
+than a few months or years. Under us they see secretaries to
+government, members of council, and Governors-General themselves
+going out and coming into office without causing any change in the
+position of their subordinates, or even the apprehension of any
+change, as long as they discharge their duties ably and faithfully.
+
+In a native state the new minister or favourite brings with him a
+whole host of expectants who must be provided for as soon as he takes
+the helm; and if all the favourites of his predecessor do not
+voluntarily vacate their offices for them, he either turns them out
+without ceremony, or his favourites very soon concoct charges against
+them, which causes them to be tumed out in due form, and perhaps put
+into jail till they have 'paid the uttermost farthing'. Under us the
+Governors-General, members of council, the secretaries of state,[11]
+the members of the judicial and revenue boards, all come into office
+and take their seats unattended by a single expectant. No native
+officer of the revenue or judicial department, who is conscious of
+having done his duty ably and honestly, feels the slightest
+uneasiness at the change. The consequence is a degree of integrity in
+public officers never before known in India, and rarely to be found
+in any other country. In the province where I now write,[12] which
+consists of six districts, there are twenty-two native judicial
+officers, Munsifs, Sadr Amins, and Principal Sadr Amins;[13] and in
+the whole province I have never heard a suspicion breathed against
+one of them; nor do I believe that the integrity of one of them is at
+this time suspected. The only one suspected within the two and a half
+years that I have been in the province was, I grieve to say, a
+Christian; and he has been removed from office, to the great
+satisfaction of the people, and is never to be employed again.[14]
+The only department in which our native public servants do not enjoy
+the same advantages of security in the tenure of their office,
+prospect of rise in the gradation of rank, liberal scale of pay, and
+provision for old age, is the police; and it is admitted on all hands
+that there they are everywhere exceedingly corrupt. Not one of them,
+indeed, ever thinks it possible that he can be supposed honest; and
+those who really are so are looked upon as a kind of martyrs or
+penitents, who are determined by long suffering to atone for past
+crimes; and who, if they could not get into the police, would
+probably go long pilgrimages on all fours, or with unboiled peas in
+their shoes.[15]
+
+He who can suppose that men so inadequately paid, who have no
+promotion to look forward to, and feel no security in their tenure of
+office, and consequently no hope of a provision for old age, will be
+zealous and honest in the discharge of their duties, must be very
+imperfectly acquainted with human nature--with the motives by which
+men are influenced all over the world. Indeed, no man does in reality
+suppose so; on the contrary, every man knows that the same motives
+actuate public servants in India as elsewhere. We have acted
+successfully upon this knowledge in all other branches of the public
+service, and shall, I trust, at no distant period act upon the same
+in that of the police; and then, and not till then, can it prove to
+the people what we must all wish it to be, a blessing.
+
+The European magistrate of a district has, perhaps, a million of
+people to look after.[16] The native officers next under him are the
+Thanadars of the different subdivisions of the district, containing
+each many towns and villages, with a population of perhaps one
+hundred thousand people. These officers have no grade to look forward
+to, and get a salary of _twenty-five rupees a month each_.[17]
+
+They cannot possibly do their duties unless they keep each a couple
+of horses or ponies, with servants to attend to them; indeed, they
+are told so by every magistrate who cares about the peace of his
+district. The people, seeing how much we expect from the Thanadar,
+and how little we give him, submit to his demands for contribution
+without a murmur, and consider almost any demand venial from a man so
+employed and paid. They are confounded at our inconsistency, and say,
+where they dare to speak their minds, 'We see you giving high
+salaries and high prospects of advancement to men who have nothing on
+earth to do but to collect your revenues and to decide our disputes
+about pounds, shillings, and pence, which we used to decide much
+better among ourselves when we had no other court but that of our
+elders to appeal to; while those who are to protect life and
+property, to keep peace over the land, and enable the industrious to
+work in security, maintain their families and pay the government
+revenue, are left without any prospect of rising, and almost without
+any pay at all.'
+
+There is really nothing in our rule in India which strikes the people
+so much as this glaring inconsistency, the evil effects of which are
+so great and so manifest. The only way to remedy the evil is to give
+the police what the other branches of the public service already
+enjoy--a feeling of security in the tenure of office, a higher rate
+of salary, and, above all, a gradation of rank which shall afford a
+prospect of rising to those who discharge their duties ably and
+honestly. For this purpose all that is required is the interposition
+of an officer between the Thanadar and the magistrate, in the same
+way as the Sadr Amin is now interposed between the Munsif and the
+Judge.[18] On an average there are, perhaps, twelve Thanas, or police
+subdivisions, in each district, and one such officer to every four
+Thanas would be sufficient for all purposes. The Governor-General who
+shall confer this boon on the people of India will assuredly be
+hailed as one of their greatest benefactors.[19] I should, I believe,
+speak within bounds when I say that the Thanadars throughout the
+country give at present more than all the money which they receive in
+avowed salaries from government as a share of indirect perquisites to
+the native officers of the magistrate's court, who have to send their
+reports to them, and communicate their orders, and prepare the cases
+of the prisoners they may send in for commitment to the Sessions
+courts.[20] The intermediate officers here proposed would obviate all
+this; they would be to the magistrate at once the _tapis_ of Prince
+Husain and the telescope of Prince Ali--media that would enable them
+to be everywhere and see everything.
+
+I may here seem to be 'travelling beyond the record', but it is not
+so. In treating on the spirit of military discipline in our native
+army I advocate, as much as in me lies, the great general principle
+upon which rests, I think, not only our _power_ in India, but what is
+more, the _justification of that power_. It is our wish, as it is our
+interest, to give to the Hindoos and Muhammadans a liberal share in
+all the duties of administration, in all offices, civil and military,
+and to show the people in general the incalculable advantages of a
+strong and settled government, which can secure life, property, and
+character, and the free enjoyment of all their blessings throughout
+the land; and give to those who perform duties as public servants
+ably and honestly a sure prospect of rising by gradation, a feeling
+of security in their tenure of office, a liberal salary while they
+serve, and a respectable provision for old age.
+
+It is by a steady adherence to these principles that the Indian Civil
+Service has been raised to its present high character for integrity
+and ability; and the native army made what it really is, faithful and
+devoted to its rulers, and ready to serve them in any quarter of the
+world.[21] I deprecate any innovation upon these principles in the
+branches of the public service to which they have already been
+applied with such eminent success; and I advocate their extension to
+all other branches as the surest means of making them what they ought
+and what we must all most fervently wish them to be.
+
+The native officers of our judicial and revenue establishments, or of
+our native army, are everywhere a bond of union between the governing
+and the governed.[22] Discharging everywhere honestly and ably their
+duties to their employers, they tend everywhere to secure to them the
+respect and affection of the people. His Highness Muhammad S'aid
+Khan, the reigning Nawab of Rampur, still talks with pride of the
+days when he was one of our Deputy Collectors in the adjoining
+district of Badaon, and of the useful knowledge he acquired in that
+office.[23] He has still one brother a Sadr Amin in the district of
+Mainpuri, and another a Deputy Collector in the Hamirpur District;
+and neither would resign his situation under the Honourable Company
+to take office in Rampur at three times the rate of salary, when
+invited to do so on the accession of the eldest brother to the
+'masnad'. What they now enjoy they owe to their own industry and
+integrity; and they are proud to serve a government which supplies
+them with so many motives for honest exertion, and leaves them
+nothing to fear, as long as they exert themselves honestly. To be in
+a situation which it is generally understood that none but honest and
+able men can fill[24] is of itself a source of pride, and the sons of
+native princes and men of rank, both Hindoo and Muhammadan,
+everywhere prefer taking office in our judicial and revenue
+establishments to serving under native rulers, where everything
+depends entirely upon the favour or frown of men in power, and
+ability, industry, and integrity can secure nothing.[25]
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. This can no longer be safely assumed as true. Newspapers now
+penetrate to almost every village.
+
+2. Fyzabad (Faizabad) was the capital for a short time of the Nawab
+Wazirs of Oudh. In 1775 Asaf-ud-daula moved his court to Lucknow. The
+city of Ajodhya adjoining Fyzabad is of immense antiquity.
+
+3. In. the south of Oudh. It is not now a military station.
+
+4. Monghyr (Munger) is the chief town of the district of the same
+name, which lies to the east of Patna.
+
+5. August, 1811.
+
+6. Such a spectacle is no longer to be seen in India. Four or five
+inconspicuous railway carriages or motor-cars now take the place of
+the 'magnificent fleet'.
+
+7. The percentage is 29 1/2.
+
+8. All these arrangements have been changed. Military pensioners are
+now paid through the civil authorities of each district.
+
+9. Wages are now generally higher.
+
+10. This sentence might misled readers unacquainted with the details
+of Indian administration. Every official who satisfies the formal
+rules of the Accounts department gets his pension, as a matter of
+course, in accordance with those rules, whether his service has been
+able and faithful or not. The pension list is often the last refuge
+of incompetent and dishonest officials, to which they are gladly
+consigned by code-bound superiors, who cannot otherwise get rid of
+them. Nor am I certain that British rule 'grows more and more upon
+the affections' of those subject to it.
+
+11. The author means secretaries to the Government of India or
+provincial governments.
+
+12. The Sagar and Nerbudda (Narbada) Territories, now included in the
+Central Provinces.
+
+13. The designations Sadr Amin and Principal Sadr Amin have been
+superseded by the title of Subordinate Judge. The officers referred
+to have only civil jurisdiction, which does not include revenue and
+rent causes in the United Provinces.
+
+14. Most experienced officers will, I think, agree with me that the
+author was exceptionally fortunate in his experience. So far as I can
+make out, the standard of integrity among the higher Indian officials
+has risen considerably during the last century, but is still a long
+way from the perfection indicated by the author's remarks.
+
+15. These observations on the police are merely a repetition of the
+remarks in Chapter 69, which have been discussed in the notes to that
+chapter.
+
+16. The districts in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh are
+usually much smaller than those in Bengal or Madras, but even in
+Northern India a district with only a million of inhabitants is
+considered to be rather a small one. Some districts have a population
+of more than three millions each.
+
+17. All has been changed. Many comparatively well paid officials of
+Indian birth now intervene between the District Magistrate and the
+small people on twenty-five rupees a month. Sometimes the District
+Magistrate himself is an Indian.
+
+18. The anthor's note to this passage repeats the quotation from
+Hobbes's _Leviathan_, Part II, sect. 30, which has been already cited
+in the text, chapter 69, following [12], and need not be repeated
+here. The note continues: 'Almost every Thanadar in our dominions is
+a little Tarquin in his way, exciting the indignation of the people
+against his master. When we give him the proper incentives to good,
+we shall be able with better conscience to punish him severely for
+bad conduct. The interposition of the officers I propose between him
+and the magistrate will give him the required incentive to good
+conduct, at the same time that it will deprive him of all hope of
+concealing his "evil ways", should he continue in them.' [W. H. S.]
+He still manages to continue in his evil ways, and generally to
+conceal them.
+
+19. This statement seems almost like sarcasm to a reader who knows
+what manner of men well-paid Inspectors of Police commonly are, and
+how they are regarded by the non-official population. They are not
+usually reverenced as 'protectors of the poor'.
+
+20. The reader who is not practically acquainted with the work of
+administration in India will probably think that the magistrate who
+allows such intrigues to go on must be very careless and inefficient.
+But that thought, though very natural, would be unjust. The author
+was one of the best possible district magistrates, and yet was unable
+to suppress the evils which he describes, nor have the remedies which
+he advocated, and which have been adopted, proved effectual. The
+Thanadar now has generally to pay the Inspector and the people in the
+District Superintendent's office, in addition to 'the native officers
+of the magistrate's court'.
+
+21. We have already seen how mistaken the author was concerning the
+army.
+
+22. This statement requires to be guarded by many qualifications. The
+author's following remarks only illustrate the well-known fact that
+in India official rank is ardently desired by the classes eligible
+for it, and carries with it great social advantages.
+
+23. Rampur is the small Rohilla state within the borders of the
+Bareilly District, United Provinces.
+
+24. This description of the class of officials alluded to is somewhat
+idealized, though it applies to a considerable proportion of the
+class.
+
+25. These propositions were, doubtless, literally correct in the
+author's time, but they are not at all fully applicable to the
+existing state of affairs.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+THUGGEE, AND THE PART TAKEN IN ITS SUPPRESSION BY GENERAL SIR W. H.
+SLEEMAN, K.C.B.
+
+NOTE BY CAPTAIN J. L. SLEEMAN, ROYAL SUSSEX REGIMENT
+
+The religion of murder known as 'Thuggee' was established in India
+some centuries before the British Government first became aware of
+its existence, It is remarkable that, after an intercourse with India
+of nearly two centuries, and the exercise of sovereignty over a large
+part of the country for no inconsiderable period, the English should
+have been so ignorant of the existence and habits of a body so
+dangerous to the public peace. The name 'Thug' signifies a
+'Deceiver', and it will be generally admitted that this term was well
+earned.[1] There is reason to believe that between 1799 and 1808 the
+practice of 'Thuggee' (Thagi) reached its height and that thousands
+of persons were annually destroyed by its disciples. It is
+interesting to note the legendary origin of this strange and horrible
+religion: In remote ages a demon infested the earth and devoured
+mankind as soon as created. The world was thus left unpeopled, until
+the goddess of the Thugs (Devi or Kali) came to the rescue. She
+attacked the demon, and cut him down; but from every drop of his
+blood another demon arose; and though the goddess continued to cut
+down these rising demons, fresh broods of demons sprang from their
+blood, as from that of their progenitors; and the diabolical race
+consequently multiplied with fearful rapidity. At length, fatigued
+and disheartened, the goddess found it necessary to change her
+tactics. Accordingly, relinquishing all personal efforts for their
+suppression, she formed two men from perspiration brushed from her
+arms. To each of these men she gave a handkerchief, and with these
+the two assistants of the goddess were commanded to put all the
+demons to death without shedding a drop of blood. Her commands were
+immediately obeyed; and the demons were all strangled. Having
+strangled all the demons, the two men offered to return the
+handkerchiefs; but the goddess desired that they should retain them,
+not merely as memorials of their heroism, but as the implements of a
+lucrative trade in which their descendants were to labour and thrive.
+They were in fact commanded to strangle men as they had strangled
+demons.
+
+Several generations passed before Thuggee became practised as a
+profession--probably for the same reason that a sportsman allows game
+to accumulate--but in due time it was abundantly exercised. Thus,
+according to the creed of the Thug, did their order arise, and thus
+originated their mode of operation.
+
+The profession of a Thug, like almost everything in India, became
+hereditary, the fraternity, however, receiving occasional
+reinforcements from strangers, but these were admitted with great
+caution, and seldom after they had attained mature age. The Thugs
+were usually men seemingly occupied in most respectable and often in
+most responsible positions. Annually these outwardly respectable
+citizens and tradesmen would take the road, and sacrifice a multitude
+of victims for the sake of their religion and pecuniary gain. The
+Thug bands would assemble at fixed places of rendezvous, and before
+commencing their expeditions much strange ceremony had to be gone
+through. A sacred pickaxe was the emblem of their faith: its
+fashioning was wrought with quaint rites and its custody was a matter
+of great moment. Its point was supposed to indicate the line of route
+propitious to the disciples of the goddess, and it was credited with
+other powers equally marvellous. The brute creation afforded a vast
+fund of instruction upon every proceeding. The ass, jackal, wolf,
+deer, hare, dog, cat, owl, kite, crow, partridge, jay, and lizard,
+all served to furnish good or bad omens to a Thug on the war-path.
+For the first week of the expedition fasting and general discomfort
+were insisted on, unless the first murder took place within that
+period. Women were never murdered unless their slaughter was
+unavoidable (i.e. when they were thought to suspect the cause of the
+disappearance of their men-folk). Children of the murdered were often
+adopted by the Thugs, and the boys were initiated in due course in
+the horrid rites of Thuggee. Men skilled in the practice of digging
+and concealing graves were always attached to each Thug gang. These
+were able to prepare graves in anticipation of a murder, and to
+effectually conceal all trace of the crime after they were occupied.
+To assist the grave-diggers in this duty all roads used by Thugs had
+selected places upon them at which murders were always carried out if
+possible. The Thugs would speak of such places with the same
+affection and enthusiasm as other men would of the most delightful
+scenes of their early life.
+ It was these people, versed in deceit and surrounded by a thousand
+obstacles to conviction, that General Sir W. H. Sleeman so nobly set
+out to exterminate. Within seven years of his first commencing the
+suppression of Thuggee it had practically ceased to exist as a
+religion; and he had the privilege of seeing it entirely suppressed
+as such before giving up this work for the Residentship at Lucknow.
+
+He was described when taking over the latter appointment as follows:
+'He had served in India nearly forty years. His work had been of the
+best. He had done more than any one to suppress 'Thuggee' finally,
+and had a knowledge of the Indian character and language possessed by
+very few. He was personally popular with all classes of Indians, and
+respected, feared, and trusted by all.'
+
+
+
+SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES BY THE EDITOR
+
+
+Captain J. L. Sleeman, who had intended to contribute an account in
+some detail of his grandfather's operations for the suppression of
+Thuggee, has been ordered on active service, and consequently has
+been unable to write more than the short note printed above.
+
+The editor thinks it desirable to supplement Captain Sleeman's
+observations by certain additional remarks.
+
+The earliest historical notice of Thuggee appears to be the statement
+in the History of Firoz Shah Tughlak (1351-88) by a contemporary
+author that at some time or other in the reign of that sovereign
+about one thousand Thugs were arrested in Delhi, on the denunciation
+of an informer. The Sultan, with misplaced clemency, refused to
+sanction the execution of any of the prisoners, whom he shipped off
+to Lakhnauti or Gaur in Bengal, where they were let loose. (Elliot
+and Dowson, _Hist. of India_, iii. 141.) That absurd proceeding may
+well have been the origin of the system of river Thuggee in Bengal,
+which possibly may be still practised.
+
+The next mention of Thugs refers to the reign of Akbar (1556-1605).
+Both Meadows Taylor and Balfour affirm that many Thugs were then
+executed, and according to Balfour, they numbered five hundred and
+belonged to the Etawah District, I have not succeeded in finding any
+mention of the fact in the histories of Akbar--the memory of the
+event may be preserved only by oral tradition. Etawah, between the
+Ganges and Jumna, in the province of Agra, has always been notorious
+for Thuggee and cognate crime.
+
+In the year 1666, towards the close of Shahjahan's reign, the
+traveller de Thevenot noted that the road between Delhi and Agra was
+infested by Thugs. His words are:
+
+'The cunningest Robbers in the World are in that Countrey. They use a
+certain slip with a running-noose, which they can cast with so much
+slight about a Man's Neck, when they are within reach of him, that
+they never fail; so that they strangle him in a trice.' (English
+transl., 1686, Part III, p. 41.)
+
+After the capture of Seringapatam in 1799 the attention of the
+Company's government was drawn to the prevalence of Thuggee. In 1810
+the bodies of thirty victims were found in wells between the Ganges
+and Jumna, and in 1816 Dr. Sherwood published a paper entitled 'On
+the Murderers called Phansigars', _sc._ 'stranglers', in the _Madras
+Journal of Literature and Science_, which was reprinted in _Asiatic
+Researches_, vol. xiii (1820). Various officers then made
+unsystematic efforts to suppress the stranglers, but effectual
+operations were deferred until 1829. During the years 1881 and 1832
+the existence of the Thug organization became generally known, and
+intense excitement was aroused throughout India. The Konkan, or
+narrow strip of lowlands between the Western Ghats and the sea, was
+the only region in the empire not infested by the Thugs. (See H. H.
+Wilson in supplement to Mill, _Hist. of British India_, ed. 1858,
+vol. ix, p. 213; Balfour, _Cyclopaedia of India_, 3rd ed., 1885,
+_s.v._ Thug; and Crooke, _Things Indian_, Murray, 1906, _s.v._
+Thuggee.)
+
+The records summarized above prove that the Thug organization existed
+continuously on a large scale from the early part of the fourteenth
+century until Sir William Sleeman's time, that is to say, for more
+than five centuries. In all probability its origin was much more
+ancient, but records are lacking. It is said that a sculpture
+representing a Thug strangulation exists among the sculptures at
+Ellora executed in the eighth century. No such sculpture, however, is
+mentioned in the detailed account of the Ellora caves by Dr. Burgess.
+
+The magnitude of the organization with which Sleeman grappled is
+indicated by the following figures.
+
+During the years 1831-7 3,266 Thugs were disposed of one way or
+another, of whom 412 were hanged, and 483 were admitted as approvers.
+Amir Ali, whose confessions are recorded in Meadows Taylor's
+fascinating book, _The Confessions of a Thug_, written in 1837 and
+first published in 1839, proudly admitted having taken part in the
+murders of 719 persons, and regretted that an interruption of his
+career by twelve years' imprisonment in Oudh had prevented him from
+completing a full thousand of victims. He regarded his profession as
+affording sport of the most exciting kind possible.
+ V. A. S.
+
+
+Notes:
+
+1. Pronounced 'T'ug', a hard cerebral _t_, with some aspiration.
+
+
+
+
+ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: These have been incorporated into the e-text.
+The note numbers below correspond to the original text, not to the
+renumbered notes of the e-text.]
+
+When the printing of the book was almost completed, the following
+additions and corrections were kindly communicated by Mr. J. S.
+Cotton, editor of _I. G._, 1907, 1908.
+
+Page 14, text, line 13. For 'leader', read 'barber'.
+Page 57, note 4, line 2. After 'Baitul', insert 'Mandla'.
+Page 115, text, line 27. 'G----' appears to have been Robert Gregory,
+C.B.
+Page 115, note 2. Add, 'In 1911, Michael Filose of Gwalior was
+appointed K.C.I.E.'
+Page 124, note 3. After '1860', insert 'and constitutes the District
+called Panch Mahals in the Northern Division of the Bombay
+Presidency. The vernacular word _panch_, like the Persian _panj_,
+means 'five'.
+
+Page 124, note 3. Add at end, 'and is still used by Maratha nobles.'
+Page 146, note 3. For 'may be' read 'is'. _Dele_. 'The name is
+common.'
+Page 241, note 1, line 2. _Dele_ 'in the Nizam's territories '.
+Page 262, note 2. The author may possibly have referred to Agra and
+Gwalior, rather than to Lucknow and Udaipur.
+Page 338, note 2. For the clause 'From 1765 . . . English',
+substitute, 'From 1765 to 1771 he was the dependant of the English at
+Allahabad. From 1771 to 1803 he was usually under the control of
+Maratha chiefs, and from the time of Lord Lake's entry into Delhi, in
+1803, he became simply a pensioner of the British Government. His
+successors occupied the same position.'
+Page 452, line 17. 'Southern' is in original edition, but 'Western'
+would be more accurate.
+Page 453, line 18. For 'its' read 'his own'.
+Page 459. 'The story of the murder of Fraser is told very differently
+in Bosworth-Smith's _Life of Lord Lawrence_, where all the detective
+credit is given to Lord L., apparently on his own authority. See also
+an article in the _Quarterly Review_ for April 1883, by Sir H. Yule,
+and another in _Blackwoods Magazine_ for January 1878.'
+Page 555, note, line 1. For 'Supreme' read Superior'.
+Page 581, note, line 18. For 'James Watts', read 'William Watts'.
+Page 584, note 2. For 'vexare' read 'vexari'.
+Page 595, note 2. 'The best account of Begum Sumroo is to be found in
+_A Tour through the Upper Provinces of Hindustan_, 1804-14, by A. D.
+= Ann Deane (1823). Walter Scott introduces more than one of the
+stories about the Begum into _The Surgeon's Daughter_ (1827), e.g.:
+"But not to be interred alive under your seat, like the Circassian of
+whom you were jealous," said Middlemas, shuddering' (vol. 48, Black's
+ed. of the novels, p. 382).
+Page 596, note 4. Probably 'Gorgin' is a corruption of 'Gregory'.
+Page 615, note l. Perhaps the author was mistaken, and the letter was
+sent by Lady Bentinck, whose name was Mary.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+[Transcriber's note. Many of the spellings in this index differ from
+the spelling used in the text and notes, especially in the use of the
+diacritical mark.]
+
+Abu-Alisena, or Avicenna, 339, 524.
+Abu Bakr, Khalif, 199.
+Abul Fazl, 111 n., 355 n.; on music, 562 n.
+Abul Hasan = Amir Khusru, poet, 508 n.
+_Acacia suma_, worshipped, 174 n.
+Adam's Bridge, 692 n.
+Adham Khan, tomb of, 503 n.
+_Adi Granth_, Sikh scripture, 477 n.
+Adilabad, in Old Delhi, 487 n.
+Adoption, 211 n.
+Adultery, 198-201.
+Afghan War, first, 291 n., 417; history, 288-91.
+Ages, Hindu, 522 n.
+Agra, Christians at. II, 335; buildings at, 312-24; date of fort at,
+357 n.; books about, 358 n.
+Ahmadnagar, kingdom, 458 n.
+Ahmad Shah, Durrani, 289.
+Ajmer, 350.
+Ajodhya, kingdom, 374; city, 457 n., 641.
+Akbar (I), the Great, taxed marriages, 40 n.; had Abul Fazl as
+minister, 111 n.; officials of, 283 n.; tomb and bones of, 323, 325,
+354 n.; character of, 356 n.; Maryam-uz-Zamani, queen of, 348 n.;
+sons of, 350; conquests of, 458; punished Thugs, 652. (II), titular
+emperor, 309 n., 337, 501 n., 509 n., 525 n.
+Al dye, 228 n.
+Ala-ud-din Muhammad Shah, 489, 490 n., 497 n., 503.
+Aligarh District, 435 n., 441 n.; battle of, 566 n.
+Altamsh, _see_ Iltutmish. Sultan.
+Amanat Khan, calligraphist, 316 n., 516.
+Amarkantak, 14.
+America, war with, 628.
+Amir Ali, Thug, 653.
+Amir Jumla, 513 n., 360 n.
+Amir Khan, Nawab, 66 n., 130.
+Ammonites, 121.
+Angels, Muhammadan beliefs about, 40.
+Angora, battle of, 531 n.
+Anupshahr, 605.
+Anurshirvan (Naushirvan), 135 n.
+_Apis dorsata_, bee, 4 n.
+Arboriculture, 451 n.
+Archaeological Survey, 520 n.
+Architecture in India, 456.
+Aristotle, 341,524.
+Arjumand Bano Begam, 315 n., 325.
+Armenian tombs, 335 n.
+Arms, license to carry, 246 n.
+Army, value of native Indian, 632.
+Arrian quoted, 285.
+Arsenic, poisoning by, 86 n.
+Art in India, 379.
+Asaf Khan (1), Akbar's general, 191 n.; (2) brother of Nur Jahan,
+328, 329, 332, 334.
+Asaf-ud-daula, of Oudh, 641.
+Ascetics, 592 n.
+Asirgarh, 163 n.
+Asoka, monolith pillars of, 493 n.
+Assaye, battle of, 600.
+Assassins, sect of, 491 n.
+Attar of roses, 216.
+Auchmuty, Sir Samuel, 619 n.
+Auckland, Lord, 291 n., 347 n., 563 n., 571.
+Aurangzeb, emperor, 273-6, 314, 335, 513.
+Austin de Bordeaux, 319, 516.
+_Avatar_, 10, 45.
+Avicenna, 339, 524.
+Ayesha, story of, 198.
+Azam, Prince, 274 n.
+Azim-ash-Shan, Prince, 275 n.
+Aziz Koka, 504 n.
+
+Babur, 527.
+Babylon, history of, 452.
+Badarpur, in Old Delhi, 486 n., 487 n.
+Bagree dacoits, xxxiii.
+Bahadur Shah (I), 275 n.; (II), 309 n., 501 n.
+Bahmani dynasty, 458 n.
+_Baid_, defined, 107 n.
+Baijnath shrine, 590.
+Bairagis, 300, 370, 591, 592 n.
+Baird, Sir David, 634, 640 n.
+Baitanti river, 209.
+Baiza Bai, 303,466.
+Bajazet (Bayazid), Greek emperor, 531.
+Baji Rao, I and II, Peshwas, 381 n.
+Bajpai family, xxxii.
+Bajranggarh, Raja of, 293.
+_Bakshi_, or paymaster, 211.
+Bala Bai, 563.
+Balban, Sultan, 420 n., 488 n., 502.
+Baldeo (Baladeva), (1) brother of Krishna, 379; (2) Singh, defender
+of Bharatpur, 360.
+Bali Raja, a demon, 2, 33.
+Ballabhgarh, 475.
+Ballot Act, 399 n.
+Bamboos, 311.
+Bamhauri, in Orchha State, 124, 172.
+_Bana-linga_, 122 n., 141 n.
+Banda, town, 78.
+_Baniya_, defined, 295 n.
+Banjara tribe, 100.
+Bankers, Indian private, 409 n.
+Banks, Presidency, 424 n.
+Banyan tree, 385, 566 n.
+_Baoli_, defined, 442, 446.
+Barber, as match-maker, 16.
+Barlow, Sir George, 271 n.
+Barnes, Sir B., C.-in-C-., 618 n., 619 n.
+Baroda, Gaikwar of, 286.
+Barrackpore, mutiny at, 2.
+Barwa Sagar, 207.
+Basalt, 96-8, 113, 261, 268.
+_Basant_ festival, 501.
+Basrah (Bussorah), 199.
+Batavia, capture of, 691 n.
+Bathing, religions merit of, l.
+Bawarias of Muzaffarnagar, 235 n.
+Beef, eating of, 194, 203.
+Bees, at Marble Rocks, 4.
+Begam Sarai at Delhi, 510 n.
+Belemnites, fossil, 121.
+Benares, city, 25, 103 n.; province, 434 n.
+Bengal, permanent settlement of, 64 n.; Islam in, 424 n.;
+territories, defined, 553 n.; river thuggee in, 652.
+Bentinck, Lord William, 109, 321 n., 341 n., 445, 547, 548, 571, 614,
+618, 619 n., 632 n.
+Berar, kingdom, 156 n., 458 n.
+Bernier, (1) Francois, on suttee, 26 n., 47 n.; historical work of,
+273 n.; (2) Major, 606.
+Betel leaf, 216 n.
+Betiya (Bettia), Christian colony at. 11, 13 n.
+_Bhagavata Purana_, 10 n.
+_Bhagvan_ = Vishnu = God, 2.
+Bharat, brother of Rama, 374, 382.
+Bharatpur (Bhurtpore), sieges of, 116, 355, 359-62, 377, 562 n.
+Bheraghat (-garh), 1, 6, 18, 54.
+Bhil tribes, 295.
+Bhilsa, town, 264.
+Bhojpur, 146.
+Bhonslas of Nagpur, 103 n., 286, 292, 381.
+Bhopal, 238.
+_Bhrigu-pata_ sacrifice, 103 n.
+_Bhumiawat_, 245-52.
+_Bhumka_, 60 n.
+Bhurtpore, see Bharatpur.
+Bias river, (1) = Hyphasis, in Panjab, 3 n., 165 n.; (2) in Central
+Provinces, 204, 290.
+Bidar kingdom, 458 n.
+_Bigha_, defined, 453 n.
+Bihari Mall, Raja, 348 n.
+Bijapur, great gun at, 241 n.; fall of, 286 n.; kingdom, 458 n.
+Bindachal, 590.
+Bindraban (Brindaban), 120.
+Bird, Robert Merttins, 575 n.
+Birju Baula, singer, 562.
+Birsingh Deo, Raja, 134, 164 n., 232, 237.
+Black buck, 236 n.; Hole, 582.
+Blake, Mr., murder of, 503, 504 n.
+Blights, 193-8.
+Boigne, General de, 271.
+Bombay land System, 576.
+Borak, Muhammad's donkey, 541.
+Bow, use of, 80.
+Brahma, god, 7, 9, 45 n., 376 n., 594.
+Brahmans forbid marriage of widows, 26; sacrificed, 46.
+Bruce, Captain, (1) brother of (2), 270; (2) James, traveller, 270 n.
+Budha Gupta, king, 55 n.
+Budhuk dacoits, xxxv.
+Buffaloes, sacrificed, 46 n.
+Bulaki, Prince, 334.
+_Buland Darwaza_, 352 n.
+Bullocks, price of, 437.
+Bundela Rajputs, 144 n., 185.
+Bundelkhand, 94 n., 111, 112, 149, 185, 207, 209 n., 227.
+Bundelkhandi dialects, 188 n.
+Burial, alive, 570; customs, 218 n.
+Burn, Lieut.-Col., 421 n.
+Bussorah, see Basrah.
+Buxar, battle of, 338 n.
+
+Cairo, mosques at, 494 n.
+Calcutta, commercial crisis of 1883 at, 422.
+Canals, 158 n.
+Cannibalism, 152.
+Capital, foreign, 422.
+Carpets made at Jhansi, 217, 241.
+Caste, 45-51.
+Cattle-poisoning, 86 n.
+Cawnpore, rise of, 445 n.
+Ceded provinces, 434 n.
+Census, 194 n.
+Central India, 178.
+Central Provinces, 57 n., 94 n.
+Chambal river, 301, 303.
+_Chambeli_, or jasmine, 33.
+Champat Rai, Bundela, 190 n.
+_Chandamirt_ (_chandan mirt_), 141, 588, 593.
+Chand Bardai, poet, 190 n.
+Chandel Rajputs, 144 n., 178 n., 185, 189.
+Chanderi State, 193, 251, 293.
+_Chandni Chauk_, Delhi, 604 n.
+Chandra, Raja, 498 n.
+_Chaprasi_, or orderly, 74 n.
+_Cheonkal_ (_chhonkar_) tree, 174.
+Cherry, Mr., murder of, 473.
+Chhatarpur State, 192.
+Chhatarsal, Raja, 94, 193.
+Chick-pea, or gram, 414 n.
+Chiefs' colleges, 256 n.
+China, land tenure in, 423; Timur's designs on, 533.
+Chingiz Khan, 535.
+_Chital_, spotted deer, 244 n.
+Chitor, towers at, 493 n.
+Chitragupta, secretary to Yamaraja, 9.
+Chitrakot, 95.
+Cholera, beliefs about, 163, 232.
+Christians, 11-13, 335, 424.
+Chuhari, Christian colony at, 13 n.
+_Cicer arietinum_, gram, 150 n.
+Cis-Sutlaj States, 476 n.
+Cities, growth of, 455.
+Civil Service of India, 426 n., 649.
+Clerk, Sir George, 90 n.
+Coal, 230, 231 n.
+Codes, 65 n., 66 n.
+Coins, of Nurjahan, 333 n.; of Sikhs, 477 n.; largesse, 479 n.
+Colebrooke, Sir B., 461.
+Combermere, Lord, 355 n., 359, 618.
+Concan, _see_ Konkan.
+Conquered Provinces, 434 n.
+Corn laws, 574.
+Cornwallis, Lord, second administration of, 460 n.
+Corporal punishment, _see_ Flogging.
+Corruption, official, 403.
+Cotton, soil, black, 94 n., 149 n., 258 n.; -tree, 385.
+'Covenanted' service, 426 n.
+Cow, veneration of, 163, 202.
+Criminal tribes, 234 n., 557 n.; law, 305 n.
+Crooke, Mr. William, xix; on veneration of the cow, 163 n.
+Cubbon, Sir Mark, 90 n.
+Customs, inland, 347 n.; hedge, 426 n.
+
+Dacoits, Sleeman's books on, xxxiii, xxxv, 89.
+_Daityas_, bad spirits, 10.
+Dalhousie, Lord, xxv; annexation policy of, 187 n.
+Damoh, town, 76.
+Daniyal, Prince, 334.
+Dara Shikoh, Prince, 272-4, 511-13 n.
+Darbhanga, 51.
+_Dargah_, defined, 568 n.
+Dasahara ceremonies, 175 n., 241 n., 293, 296.
+Dasan river, 108.
+Dasaratha, Raja, 382.
+Datiya, Raja of, 193, 221, 226.
+_Datura_, poisoning, 82-6.
+Daulatabad, 490.
+Daulat Rao Sindhia, 563.
+Davis, Mr., gallant defence by, 474 n.
+Dawar Baksh, Prince, 334.
+De Boigne, _see_ Boigne, General de.
+Deccan, geology of, 97 n., 114 n,; kingdoms of, 285; early history
+of, 457.
+Deeg, _see_ Dig.
+Delhi, territories, 420 n., 448, 459 n.; province, 459 n.; defended
+by Burn, 421; old city of, 486-503; Sultans of, 488 n.; new city of,
+504-30; Jami Masjid at, 514; Moti Masjid at, 514 n.; palace at, 515-
+19; peacock throne at, 517; books about, 519 n.; taken by Timur, 529.
+Denudation, sub-aerial, 138 n.
+Deori, town, 124, 129.
+De Thevenot, _see_ Thevenot, de.
+_Devas_, good spirits, 10.
+Devi, goddess, 7, 593.
+Devil, Muhammadan myth of, 537.
+Devils, 223 n.
+Dhamoni, 110.
+Dhandela Rajputs, 187.
+_Dhanuk_ jag festival, 173.
+_Dharmsala_, defined, 568 n.
+_Dhau_ (_Lythrum fructuosum_) tree, 237.
+Dhimar caste, 76.
+Dholpur State, 272, 302-10.
+Diamonds, great, 290.
+Dig (Deeg), garden at, 364; battle at, 421, 566 n.
+_Dinai_, slow poison, 142.
+Dinapore, 341.
+Discipline, military, xxxiii, 615-40.
+Diseases, Hindoo notions about, 168.
+Districts, civil, size of, 646 n.
+_Diwan-i-Amm_, at Delhi, 515.
+_Diwan-i-Khas_, at Delhi, 517.
+_Diwani_, grant of, 500.
+_Doab_ defined, 233 n.
+Dost Muhammad, 291.
+Drowning, suicide by, 219.
+Dubois, _Hindu Manners_, xix.
+Dudrenec, Monsieur, 603.
+Durgavati, queen, 190.
+Dutch factory at Agra, 335.
+Dyce, Colonel, 611.
+Dyce-Sombre, Mr., 595, 610.
+
+Education, of young nobles, 256 n.; Muhammadan and English, 523, 524
+n.
+Egypt, expedition to, 634, 640 n.
+Electricity, 311.
+Elephant-drivers, 50.
+Elichpur (Ilichpur), 156.
+Ellis, Mr., at Patna, 597.
+Ellora, 8 n.; 653.
+Epidemics, 161-72.
+Epilepsy, 221.
+Eran, pillar at, 55.
+_Erythrina arborescens_, or coral-tree, 74 n.
+Etawah, Thuggee in, 652.
+Evil eye, 168.
+Exogamy, 144 n.
+Exorcisers, 168.
+
+Fairs, 1.
+Fakirs, 370, 591, 592 n.
+Famine, of 1833, 148; policy, 150; in Malwa, 441 n.
+Fanshawe, H. C., on Delhi, 520 n.
+Farhad, poet, 136.
+Faridabad (Faridpur), 479, 480 n.
+Farid-ud-din Ganj Shakar, saint, 507 n.
+Faringia (Feringheea), Thug, 78.
+Farrukhsiyar, emperor, 275 n.
+Fathpur-Sikri, 351-8.
+_Fatwa_, defined, 200 n., 536.
+Fergusson, on Indian architecture, 359 n.
+Fertility, diminution of, 413 n.,415.
+Feudal System, 145, 578 n.
+_Ficus religiosa_, pipal tree, 205 n.
+Filose, Jean Baptiste, 115 n., 293, 296.
+Finch, traveller, quoted, 324 n.
+Firozabad at Delhi, 497 n.
+Firozpur, 420, 459.
+Firoz Shah Tughlak, deported Thugs, 652.
+Fish, Persian order of, 135, 137; eating, 307.
+Flattery, 243.
+Flax plant, 195.
+Flogging in army, 616-22, 637.
+Fontenne, de, maiden name of Lady Sleeman, xxiii.
+Forest department, 451 n.
+Forester, Lady, 612 n.
+Fortresses, insalubrity of, 111.
+Fossils, 98, 121.
+_Francolinus vulgaris_, black partridge, 44 n.
+Fraser, Mr. C., xxiii, 89 n.; Mr. Hugh, xxiv; Major-General, 89 n.;
+Mr. W., murder of, 420, 458-75.
+Frederick the Great, 625, 629.
+Fullerton, Dr., 597.
+Funeral obsequies, 620 n.
+Furse, Mrs., sister of author, xxv n., xxx.
+Futtehpore Seekree, see Fathpur-Sikri.
+Fyzabad, 457 n., 641.
+
+Gabriel, angel, 37.
+Gaikwar of Baroda, 286.
+Galen, 339, 524.
+Gandak river, 121 n.
+Ganges river, 6, 17; water, 141 n., 588, 594.
+Gardiner (Gardner), Colonel, 346.
+Garha, Rani of, 56, 73.
+Garha Kota, 293.
+Garha Mandla, xxxii, 190.
+_Garpagri_, hail-charmer, 60 n,.
+Gaur, 330 n.
+Gauri Sankar, 6, 54.
+Geronimo Veroneo, 320 n.
+Ghazni, 454 n.
+Ghiyas-ud-din, Khwaja, 328.
+Ghorapachhar rivers, 298.
+Ghosts, 221-6.
+Ghulam Kadir, 338 n.
+Gipsies, 535, 557 n.
+God, ninety-nine names of, 323 n.
+Gohad, Rana of, 270-2, 302.
+Golconda, fall of, 286 n.; kingdom of, 458 n.
+Gonds, xxxii, 68, 102, 128, 221, 384.
+Gondwana rocks, 231 n.
+Gosains, 218, 370, 591, 592 n.
+Govardhan, 337,371-83.
+Gram, 197, 198 n., 227, 414 n.
+Grasses, 124.
+Groves, 260, 433-41, 444, 565.
+Guinea-worm, 77.
+Gujar caste, 192, 469 n.
+Gujarat, 149, 441.
+_Gulistan_, quoted, 401.
+Guns made in India, 241.
+Gurkhas (Gorkhas), 350, 625 n.
+Guru Govind, 477 n.
+Gwalior State, 258-70, 292, 294, 299; city, 262; fortress, 266-71.
+
+Hafiz Rahmat Khan, 599.
+Haji Begam, 511 n.
+_Hakim_ defined, 107 n.
+Hamida Bano Begam, 511 n.
+Hansi, 604 n., 605 n.
+Hanuman, monkey-god, 27, 300, 371, 374.
+Hardaul, Lala, legend of, 162-5, 232.
+Hardinge, Lord (Viscount), letter to, xxix n.
+Hasan, 483 n.
+Hastings, Lord (Marquis of), 229, 292, 321, 381 n.
+Haunted villages, 221-6.
+Hawking, 237.
+Hay in Bundelkhand, 124.
+Herbert, Sir Thomas, quoted, 332 n.
+Hervey, _Some Records of Crime_, xxvi.
+High Courts, 555 n.
+Hiliya (Haliya) Pass, 444 n.
+Himalaya, v, xxiv.
+Hinduism, 176.
+Hippocrates, 339, 524.
+Hirtius, nom de plume of author, xxxi.
+Holi, festival, 204, 483 n.
+Holkar dynasty, 286, 381.
+Horal (Hodal), town, 426.
+Hornets, 56.
+Human sacrifice, 46 n., 101.
+Humayun, emperor, tomb of, 511.
+Husain. 483 n.
+Hyderabad Contingent, 156 n.
+Hyphasis (Bias) river, 3, 165.
+
+Iblis, the devil, 538.
+Ibn Batuta, traveller, 488 n.
+Ibrahim Lodi, Sultan, 269.
+_Id-ul-Bakr_ festival, 163 n.
+Iltutmish, Sultan, 269; buildings of, 492, 494 n., 495 n., 497, 500;
+tomb of, 501.
+Imam Mashhadi, tomb of, 503.
+Imam-ud-din Ghazzali, 341 n., 524. Imperial Service Troops, 280 n.
+Impressment, 184, 628.
+India, people of, vi; population of, 38 n.
+Indore State, 286, 292.
+Indra, god, 2, 10, 33.
+Industries, 159 n.
+Infanticide, 28.
+Inheritance, law of, 578.
+Invalid establishment, 640.
+Iron mines, 93, 230; pillar of Delhi, 498.
+Islam in Lower Bengal, 424 n.
+Isle of France (Mauritius), 311, 620 n., 622.
+Itimad-ud-daula, 326-9.
+
+Jabalpur, _see_ Jubbulpore.
+Jack-tree, 225.
+Jagannath, shrine of, 589.
+_Jagirdars_, 181.
+Jahanara Begam, tomb of, 510.
+Jahangir, (1) emperor, 111 n., 333, 452, 568 n., mother of, 348 n.;
+birth of, 351, 355; (2) Mirza, tomb of, 509.
+Jain statues at Gwalior, 267 n.
+Jaipur State, xxxii, 503.
+Jaitpur, Raj of, 193 n.
+Jalal-ud-din, Firoz Shah Khilji, 489.
+Jalaun State, 185, 193.
+Jamaldehi Thugs, 82.
+Jang Bahadur, Sir, 598 n.
+Jasmine, 33.
+Jats (Jats), 307, 380 n.; outrages of, 354 n.; and Rajputs, 476 n.
+Java, conquest of, 619, 640 n.
+Jaxartes, river, 532.
+Jesuit missionaries, 337 n.
+Jesus, inscription quoting, 354, 504.
+Jeswant Rao Holkar, 165, 421, 474 n.
+Jhajjar, Nawab of, 474.
+Jhansi State, 185, 193 n., 209-19.
+_Jhirni_, Thug signal, 81.
+Jodh Bai, tomb of, 348.
+Johila river, 14, 16.
+Johnson (Johnstone), Begam, 580.
+Jubbulpore (Jabalpur), xxiii, 1, 29, 58, 71.
+Julius Caesar, Bishop, 594.
+
+Kabul, mission of Burnes to, 417 n.
+Kailas temple, 8 n.
+_Kalas_ custom, 179.
+_Kali_ age, 522 n.
+Kali, goddess, 141 n.
+_Kalpa Briksha_ tree, 74.
+Kam Baksh, Prince, 274 n.
+Kanauj, ancient city, 454.
+Kandeli, Thug village, xxii.
+Karauli State, 293.
+Karbala, battle of, 483 n.
+Kartikeya, god, 259 n.
+Kasim, Mir (Kasim Ali Khan), 596-9.
+Katra Pass, 127, 445 n.
+_Kaukabas_, 136.
+Kedarnath temple, 592 n.
+Kerahi (Kerai) Pass, 445 n.
+Khajuraho, temples at, 193 n.
+Khalifate, the, 483 n.
+Khan Azam, 333.
+_Kharita_ defined, 134 n.
+_Kharwa_ cloth, 228 n.
+Khusru, (1) Parviz, King of Persia, 135; (2) Prince, son of Jahangir,
+333; (3) poet, tomb of, 507.
+Khwaja Ghias-ud-din, 326.
+Kohinur diamond, 288-91, 513 n.
+Koil, battle of, 566 n.
+Konkan (Concan), 225.
+Koran, origin of, 481.
+Kosi, 424.
+_Kotwal_ defined, 154 n.
+Krishna, legends of. 11, 371-5.
+Kumara, god, 259 n.
+Kunbi caste, 381 n.
+Kurmi caste, 130.
+Kutb Minar, 492-7, 504; mosque, 497.
+Kutb-ud-din, (1) Khan, 330; (2) Sultan, 494n.; (3) Khwaja, saint of
+Ush, 494 n., 500 n.
+
+Lachhman, brother of Rama, 382.
+Lachhmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi, 193 n., 220 n.
+Lahar fort, 270 n.
+Lake, Lord, 359, 377, 380, 421, 561, 643.
+Lakes, artificial, 63, 178.
+Land-revenue, 61 n., 63 n., 68 n.
+Laswari, battle of, 116, 566 n.
+Laterite, 92.
+_Lathyrus_, poisonous species of, 104.
+Leprosy, 215 n.
+Le Vaisseau, Monsieur, 603-10.
+Linseed, 195.
+Liverpool, Earl of, 580.
+Lodhi caste, 130 n.
+Looting shops, custom of, 294.
+Lotus, 109 n.
+Lowis, Captain, xxxiii.
+Lucknow, author Resident at, xxv; an ancient city, 457 n.
+Ludiana, 3, 290.
+
+Macaulay, 341 n., 547 n.
+Madras system of land settlement, 576.
+_Mahabharata_, 5, 10, 103 n., 522.
+Mahadaji (Madhoji) Sindhia, 271, 563.
+Mahadeo (Siva), god, 7, 8, 9, 45 n., 103 n., 141 n.; oracle of, 484;
+sandstones, 102.
+_Mahi Maratib_, 135, 137 n.
+Maharajpur, battle of, xxv, 271 n.
+Mahmud of Ghazni, 454.
+Mahoba, town, 189, 193 n.
+Maihar, Raja of, 127, 593.
+Maille, Claudius, 560.
+Makwanpur, fort, 598.
+Malcolm, Sir John, 229.
+_Malguzari_ tenure, 144.
+Malwa, province, 149, 238, 239 n., 451.
+Mandesar, Thug burying-place, xxii.
+_Mansabdars_, 283 n.
+Man Singh, (1) Raja of Gwalior, 276 n.; (2) Raja of Jaipur (Amber),
+333.
+Mansur Ali Khan, tomb of, 506, 544 n.
+Manucci, on Akbar, 325 n., 354 n.
+Manuscript works of author, xxxvii.
+Marathas, 294; defeated, 421 n., 566 n.
+Marble Rocks, 1; quarries, 318.
+Marriage, of trees, 32, 122, 143; of Hindoos, 37-40.
+Maryam-uz-Zamani, queen of Akbar, 348 n.
+Mashhad (Meshed), 288.
+Material progress of India. 414 n.
+Mathura (Muttra), 383.
+Mau (Mhow), town, 247.
+Mauritius, 311 n., 620 n.
+_Mauza_ defined, 60 n.
+Medicine, systems of, 107, 571.
+Meerut, military and civil station, xxiv, 80, 544 n., 567-70, 579;
+sacked by Timur, 529.
+Megpunnaism (Megpunnia Thugs), xxxii, 91, 593 n.
+Metcalfe, Sir Charles, 347, 461, 563 n.
+Meteors, 34-7.
+Mewatis, 420.
+Mihrauli, tombs at, 500 n.
+Mihr-un-nisa, 328 n.; _see_ Nur Jahan.
+Military discipline, xxxiii, 615-40.
+_Minars_, 492 n.
+Mir Jumla, _see_ Amir Jumla.
+Miracles, 337.
+Mirzapur, 250, 445.
+_Mishkat-ul-Masabih_, 35.
+Missionaries, Jesuit, 337 n.
+Mogul (Moghal, Mughal), defined, 80 n.; raids, 490.
+Molony, Report on Narsinghpur, xxxvii.
+Monastic orders, 592.
+Monghyr (Munger), 642.
+Monkeys, 383.
+Monson's retreat, 474, 566 n.
+Months, Hindoo, l.
+_Moti Masjid_ (mosque), 322.
+Muazzam, Prince, 274 n.
+Muhammad, Ghori, Sultan, 269 n.; Shah, 291 n., 518; tomb of, 510; son
+of Isa, architect, 319 n.; bin Tughlak, Sultan, 457 n., 487 n.
+Muhammadabad, in old Delhi, 487.
+Muhammadan schools, 480; year, 482; prayers, 489.
+Muharram celebrations, 482.
+Mumtaz-i-Mahall, 315, 325.
+_Music of Hindostan_, by Strangways, 561 n.
+
+Nabha, chief of, 476.
+Nadir, Shah, 288, 510, 516.
+Nagaudh (Nagod), 33 n.
+Nagpur (Nagpore), Bhonslas of, 286, 292.
+Nahan, Raja of, 209 n.
+Najaf Khan, 599.
+Nana Sahib, 381 n.
+Narsinghpur, xxii, xxxvii, 167.
+Nasir-ud-din of Tus, 341, 524.
+Nepal, war with, xxi, 122, 598, 636.
+Nerbudda (Narbada) river, 2, 5, 14, 17, 18, 203.
+Newspapers, 640.
+News-writers, 249 n., 388 n.
+_Nilgai_, a kind of antelope, 244.
+Nineveh, history of, 452.
+_nisar_ coins, 479 n.
+Nizamuddin Auliya, saint, 490-2, 507.
+Noer, Count von, on Akbar, 324 n.
+Norman-French formula, 475.
+North-Western Provinces, 434 n.
+Nur Jahan, 325 n., 329, 332, 568 n.
+Nur Mahall, 325 n., 329, 332.
+
+Oaths, 391.
+Obsequies, funeral, 620 n.
+Ochterlony, Sir David, 598 n., 635.
+_Ocymum sanctum_, basil or _tulasi_ plant, 121 n.
+Og (Uj), King, legend of, 374.
+O'Halloran, Major-General Sir Joseph, 344 n.
+Omar ('Umar), Khalif, 199 n.
+Omens, taken by Thugs and robbers, 297, 651.
+Opium department, 324 n.
+Oracle of Mahadeo, 484.
+Orchha, State and Raja of, 132, 139, 193 n., 251 n.
+Orpheus, mosaic of, 516.
+O'Shaughnessy, Dr. W. B., scientific publications of, 571 n.
+Osman (Othman), Khalif, a Sunni, 48 n., 483 n.
+Otaheite sugar-cane, 208.
+Oudh (Oude), Sleeman's work in, xxiv-xxvii; _A Journey through_,
+xxxvi; MS. history of reigning family of, xxxvii; infanticide in, 28
+n.; Jamaldehi Thugs in, 82; recruits from, 146, 624; annexation of,
+187 n.; disorder in, 248,252; Chief Commissioner of, 347 n.; Nawab
+Wazirs of, 473 n.; magisterial powers in, 552 n.; capitals of, 641;
+Thuggee in, 653.
+
+Paintings, Indian, 379.
+_Pakka_ defined, 435 n.
+Palace at Delhi, 515.
+Palwal, town, 452.
+_Pan_, 216, 454.
+Pandavas, 5.
+Panipat, third battle of, 298 n.
+Panjab (Punjab), annexation of, 478 n., 625 n.
+Panj (Panch) Mahal tract, 124 n. Panna State and Raja, 95 n., 250 n.
+Panther, 115.
+Paoli, Mr., 600.
+Paralysis, caused by eating _Lathyrus sativus_, 104.
+Parents, murder of indigent, xxxii; reverence for, 254.
+Pariahs, 120.
+Parihar, Rajputs, 143.
+Parmal, Chandel Raja, 189 n.
+Partabgarh in Oudh, xxii, 248.
+Partition, 278 n.
+Partridge, black, 44, 118.
+Parvati, goddess, 9, 141 n.
+_Patel_ defined, 221.
+'Pathan', as a misnomer, 488 n.
+Patharia, town, 91.
+Patiala, chief of, 476.
+Patna, massacre of, 597.
+Pawar Rajputs, 187, 189.
+Pay of Indian army, 617, 622, 640.
+Peacock throne, 517.
+Peacocks, 259, 411.
+Pensions of Indian army, 632, 640-4.
+Perjury, 407, 412.
+Permanent settlement, 64 n., 577 n.
+Persian, order of the Fish, 135; wheel, 147.
+Peshwas, the, 192, 236, 381 n.
+_Phansigars_ = Tugs, xxxi.
+_Phoceus baya_, weaver bird, 117 n.
+Pilgrims, 588-94.
+Pillars, monolithic, 493.
+Pindharis, 130 n., 292-4, 297.
+_Pipal_ tree, 205, 385, 442, 447, 566 n_.
+Piper betel_, 216 n.
+Pir Muhammad, heir of Timur, 534.
+Plassey, battle of, 338 n.
+Plato, 341, 524.
+Poisoners, 82-6.
+Police, Indian, 544-61, 647.
+Political economy, 157, 160.
+Popham, Major, 270.
+Population of India, 38 n.
+_Portax pictus, nilgai_ antelope, 244 n.
+Portuguese at Agra, 336 n.
+_Prayaschit_ defined, 215.
+Predestination, 511.
+Press-gang, 184 n.
+Primogeniture, 180, 277, 578.
+Prinsep, James, discoveries of, 493.
+Prithi Raj, 498-500.
+Processions, 168.
+Property in land, 449 n.
+Proprietors of land, 576.
+Public spirit of Hindoos, xxxiii, 442-51.
+_Puranas_, the, 10, 338 n.
+Puri town, 589 n.
+_Purohit_ defined, 140 n.
+Purveyance system, 41-4.
+
+Queen, river Nerbudda as a, 14.
+Quinine, 107 n.
+
+Raghugarh, Raja of, 293.
+Rainbow myth, 35.
+Raipur town, 72.
+Rajputs, 144.
+Rama and Sita, 10, 74, 174, 371, 376.
+_Ramaseeana_, xxxi.
+Ramayana, 484.
+Ramesvaram (Ramisseram), 592 n.
+_Ramlila_, 104.
+Ramnagar, 25.
+Rampur, Nawab of, 87, 649.
+Ranjit Singh, (1) Maharaja of the Panjab, 291, 297; (2) Raja of
+Bharatpur (Bhurtpore), 377, 380.
+Ravan, 377.
+Rawalpindi, military station, 545 n.
+Razia, Sultan ('empress'), 501 n.
+Reglioni (properly Regholini), General (Monsieur), 594.
+Regulations, VII of 1822 and IX of 1833, 575 n.
+Reinhard, Walter (Sombre), 596.
+Rent Acts, 62 n.
+'Resumption' of revenue-free lands, 564,
+River thuggee, xxxiii, 652.
+Riwa (Rewah) State, 24,
+Roads, 301.
+Roe, Sir Thomas, ambassador, 351, 452.
+Rupee, value of, 77 n., 342 n., 583 n.
+Ryotwar System, 576.
+
+Saadat Ali Khan of Oudh, 473 n., 565.
+Sacrifice, human, 46 n., 101.
+Sadi (Sa'di), Shaikh, poet, 75, 401, 410, 524.
+Sadr Amin, Subordinate Judge, 646 n.
+Safdar Jang, tomb of, 507 n., 544 n.
+Sagar (Saugor), 41, 92, 100, 161; and Nerbudda Territories, 57 n., 94
+n., 110 n., 112 n.
+_Salagrams_, ammonites, 121.
+Saleur, Monsieur, 610.
+Salim, Prince, 350; Shaikh, 350, 362 n., 354.
+Salt manufacture, 260, 347 n., 428 n.
+_Samadh_ defined, 570.
+Samarkand, 530.
+Samru (Sumroo), Begam, 504, 545; death of, 567; history of, 594-615;
+character of, 613.
+Samthar, Raja of, 191.
+Sansias, criminal tribe, 234 n.
+Sarasvati, consort of Brahma, 7 n.
+Sardhana, 594-615.
+Sassanians of Persia, 137.
+Satara, Raja of, 286, 381.
+Sati, _see_ Suttee.
+Satpura, mountains, 52.
+Scape-goat, 162-6.
+Schools, Muhammadan, 480.
+Science in India, 587.
+Sebaste, city, 532.
+Sects, Muhammadan, 49 n.
+Secunderabad, military station, 545 n.
+Seniority, promotion by, 622, 632.
+'Settlements' of land revenue, 434 n., 575.
+Shah Alam, 137 n., 338, 563 n.
+Shahgarh, Raja of, 72, 114.
+Shah Jahan, emperor, 314, 316, 320, 504, 510, 513, 560, 561 n.; Thugs
+in reign of, 652; sons of, 273.
+Shahjahanabad, or New Delhi, 504.
+Shahryar, Prince, 334.
+Shams-ud-din, Nawab, 420, 458-75.
+Sharaf-ud-din, historian, 533.
+Sher Afgan, 329-31.
+Sher Khan (Shah), 270.
+Sherwood, Dr., early writer on Thuggee, 653.
+Shia sect, 48 n., 483 n.
+Shihab-ud-din, Sultan, 269 n.
+Shirin, queen, 136.
+Shore, F. J., 44 n., 90; Sir John, 473 n., 605, 609.
+Sikandar Lodi, Sultan, 357 n.
+Sikandara (Secundra), Akbar's tomb at, 323, 354 n., 358 n.
+Sikh government, 381.
+Sikhs, history of, 477 n.
+Sikri, 351; _see_ Fathpur-Sikri.
+Simla, trip to Gungoolee from, xxxvii.
+Sindh river, 258.
+Sindhia family, 271 n., 286, 294, 381.
+Sindhia's territory, 258; _see_ Gwalior State.
+_Singhara_, or water-nut, 76.
+Siraj-ud-daula, 581.
+Sita Baldi Ramesar, 592.
+Siva, god, 6, 7 n., 9, 45 n., 103 n., 141 n., 376 n., 588, 591.
+Sivaji, 381.
+Skanda, god, 259 n.
+Skinner, Colonel, 463, 612 n.
+Slavery in India, 282.
+Sleeman, Captain J. L., xx, xxx, 652; Captain Philip, xxi; Lady
+xxiii, xxxvi; Sir W. H., memoir of, xx-xxx; works of, xxxi-xxxvii, 89
+n.; James, xxx; Henry Arthur, xxx; William Henry, xxx.
+Small-pox, 169-72.
+Smith, F. G., 90; B. W., on Akbar's tomb, 323 n.; on Fathpur Sikri,
+351 n.
+Society in India, 582.
+Sombre, _see_ Samru.
+Son river, 14, 16.
+Spotted deer, 244.
+Spry, Dr., works of, 99 n.
+Statistics, falsified, 554 n.
+Stephen, Carr, on Delhi, 520 n.
+Subdivision of property, 432.
+Succession to crown, 239.
+Sugar-mills, 207-9.
+Suicide, vow of, 103.
+Sulaiman Shikoh, Prince, 272.
+Sultans of Delhi, 488 n.
+Sumroo, _see_ Samru.
+Sunni sect, 48 n.
+Supreme (Superior) Court, 555 n.
+Suraj Mall, Raja, 364 n., 378, 567.
+Survey myths, 201.
+Suttee, 18-31, 47, 109.
+Swallows, 353.
+Sweepers, 45, 49.
+
+Taboos, 134 n.
+Taj, the, 312-21.
+Tamarind tree, 566.
+Tamerlane, _see_ Timur.
+Tanda, town, 330.
+Tansen, singer, 561, 562 n.
+Tarmasharin, Moghal, 490, 507, 529, 535.
+_Tasmabaz_ Thugs, 91.
+Tavernier, traveller, 316, 320 n.
+Taylor, Col. Meadows, _Confessions of a Thug_, 89 n., 653.
+Taxation, indirect, 427; in England and India, 485.
+Tehri, town, 132, 143.
+Teignmouth, Lord, 473 n.
+Telescope, 543.
+_Thagi_, _see_ Thuggee and Thugs.
+_Thanadars_, 547.
+Thessalonica, massacre of, 402.
+Thevenot, de, quoted, 335; described Thuggee, 652.
+Thomas, George, adventurer, 603-8.
+Thuggee, 77-91,650-3.
+Thugs, venerate Nizamuddin, 491 n.; on the Begam's boundary, 545;
+method of suppressing, 556 n.; disguised as ascetics, 592 n.
+Tieffenthaler, Father, 336 n.
+Tiger myths, 124-9.
+Timur, sack of Delhi by, 497 n.; history of, 527-34.
+Tonk, Nawab of, 66 n.
+Tours, battle of, 513.
+Trade, free, 160; Indian, 409 n.
+Trap, Deccan, 97 n., 269 n.
+Trees, marriage of, 32, 122, 143; sacred, 386 n.
+Tughlak Shah, 486.
+Tughlakabad, 486, 489.
+Tulasi Das, poet, 123 n.
+_Tulsi_ (_tulasi_) plant, 121.
+Tus, or Mashhad, _q.v._, 341 n.
+
+Uchahara State, 33, 148 n.
+Uj (Og), legend of, 374.
+Ujjain (Ujain), 146 n.
+Ulwar (Alwar) State, xxxii.
+'Uncovenanted' service, 426.
+United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, 434 n.
+United States, war with, 628 n.
+Universities, Indian, 256 n.
+_Urs_, defined, 568 n.
+Ush in Persia, 494 n., 500 n.
+Usman, _see_ Osman.
+
+Vaccination, 171 n.
+Vagrancy laws, 370.
+Vaikuntha, heaven of Vishnu, 8.
+Vegetius quoted, 626 n., &c. Veni-danam, offering of hair, 56 n.
+Veracity, 383-411.
+Village communities, 394.
+Villages, 60.
+Vindhya mountains, 62.
+Vindhyan sandstones, 62 n.
+Vishnu, god, 2, 7 n., 9, 141 n., 376 n., 588, 591.
+
+Warora coalfield, 231 n.
+Washermen, 45.
+Water offerings, 141, 693.
+Water-nut, or -chestnut, 76.
+Watts, Governor, 581 n.
+Wazir Ali of Oudh, 473.
+Weaver-bird, 173 n.
+Wellesley, Marquis, 473 n.
+Wells, 363, 435-41; songs sung at, 561 n.
+Western Provinces, defined, 574 n.
+Wheat, blight on, 195.
+Widow-burning, _see_ Suttee.
+Widows, sold by auction, xxii; remarriage of, 26.
+Wife, a duty of, 132 n.
+Wilkinson, (1) Mr. L., and (2) Major, 89 n.
+Wilton, Mr. John, 341 n.
+Window-tax, 485.
+Witchcraft, 68-73.
+Wolf-children, xxxv.
+Women, dress of, 18; offering of hair by, 56 n.; form of tomb of
+Muhammadan, 510 n.; secret murders of, 561 n.
+
+Yamaraja (Jamraj), 9.
+Yudhisthira, 11, 522.
+
+Zafaryab Khan, son of Sombre, 611.
+Zalim Singh, freebooter, 129.
+Zaman Shah, 289.
+Zamindari tenure, 144.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles and Recollections of an Indian
+Official, by William Sleeman
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