THE HIGH-ROAD 
 OF EMPIRE 
 
 WATER-COLOUR AND PEN-AND-INK 
 SKETCHES IN INDIA 
 
 r 
 BY A. H. HALLAM MURRAY 
 
 LONDON 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 
 
 1905
 
 Printed by BALLANTYM-; & Co. LIMITED 
 Tavistock Street, London
 
 TO H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES, 
 WHOSE GRACEFUL TASK OF UNITING 
 THE BRITISH EMPIRE BY THE TIE 
 OF PERSONAL AFFECTION TO THE 
 THRONE HAS NOW EXTENDED TO 
 INDIA, THIS VOLUME OF SKETCHES 
 IS HUMBLY DEDICATED
 
 PREFACE 
 
 IN arranging this volume of sketches, made along 
 the highways of a fascinating land, one aim 
 which I set before myself was to recall pleasant 
 memories to those who have already fallen under 
 the spell of its potent charm ; another was to 
 awaken, if possible, in the minds of others the 
 determination to become better acquainted with 
 the great Empire in the East, the guardianship 
 and protection of which is at once our pride and 
 our duty. The appeal which India makes is as 
 many-sided as it is universal and irresistible, with 
 its glorious architecture, its unique landscapes, 
 its rich historic associations, and above all its 
 strangely interesting people, whose customs and 
 character have come down unaltered through the 
 centuries, and are now submitted to the impact 
 of new ideas and new conditions, to them doubt- 
 less in great part incomprehensible. The effect 
 of this collision of new and old, of East and 
 West, is partially hidden from us by the appa- 
 rent indifference of a calm demeanour, which 
 at once conceals the tremendous capacity for
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 passion that glows beneath an impassive surface, 
 and heightens the mystery that surrounds a 
 fascinating people. 
 
 I have, I hope, given typical views of typical 
 places, but though not neglecting the more strik- 
 ing scenes and buildings which form the goal 
 of every pilgrim's quest, I have tried to fix the 
 attention of lovers of the beautiful on the 
 essentially picturesque side, on the little pictures 
 that unfold themselves at every turn of the wheel 
 of life in India and might well be overlooked by 
 the casual wayfarer. 
 
 No attempt has been made to go far afield, or 
 to give an elaborate account of the country, and its 
 engrossing social, political and religious problems. 
 Our experiences were those of the ordinary 
 Englishman who spends a few months on the 
 threshold of an ancient and mysterious land and 
 life, and we had no exceptional opportunities or 
 capacities for penetrating behind the veil ; but by 
 the exercise of a little sympathetic imagination, 
 and with the help of books on special sides of 
 Indian life such as are within reach of all, 
 we tried to understand such phases of the life 
 as fell under our notice. If we have not quite 
 misinterpreted that life, it is owing to the kind 
 friends who, both in India and at home, tried so 
 generously to set our feet in the right way. 
 Amongst them I am specially glad of this oppor- 
 tunity to thank Colonel D. D. Cunningham, 
 Colonel John Biddulph, and Mr. Rowland E. 
 Prothero. Where we have gone astray we must
 
 PREFACE 
 
 IX 
 
 ask the indulgence of those beneath whose eyes 
 these pages may fall. 
 
 I should like to think that these efforts might, 
 in their small way, help to pave the highway of 
 sympathetic understanding which must unite 
 East and West, if as all who realise the vast 
 responsibilities of our Indian Empire must desire 
 the unselfish devotion and unstinting self- 
 sacrifice of those who have toiled for its welfare 
 are to be crowned with success, and we are 
 ever, in Lord Curzon's words, to rule India by 
 the heart. 
 
 THK BABA ATAL TOWER, AMRITSAK
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. BOMBAY : AN EPITOME OF THE EAST The 
 high-road to India An undying impression of Oriental 
 tropics A wonderful panorama Bombay emerges 
 A native servant Yacht Club Brilliant colouring 
 Elephanta Malabar Point Temple of Shiva Parsis 
 Native quarter Plague ...... i 
 
 II. POONA: THE MAHRATTA CAPITAL Anglo- 
 Indian household Caste Parbati Hill Hindu Pan- 
 theon Modern Brahman views Cowley- Wantage Mis- 
 sion Street scenes . . . . . . 41 
 
 III. BIJAPUR : A CITY OF TOMBS Turkish origin 
 The Adil Shahi dynasty Fine buildings and tombs 
 The Gol Gumbaz The Mehtar Mahal A Mahratta 
 Princess The great gun Shahpur gateway . . 65 
 
 IV. ALLAHABAD : THE MEETING OF THE WATERS 
 Colder climate An ancient place of pilgrimage The 
 Maidan Prince Khusru The Fort The Mela 
 Pilgrims and Yogis Old and new . . . .87 
 
 V. CALCUTTA, THE SEAT OF EMPIRE Disap- 
 pointing appearance Early days The Bastis Absence 
 of colour India Museum Sakya Muni The Govern- 
 ment Gardens Old settlements Lady Canning 
 The Hooghly Village communities . . . .103 
 
 VI. BENARES : THE HEART OF HINDUSTAN Mar- 
 vellously picturesque situation Temple of Shiva as the 
 Poison God Crowded alleys Mai Kali Thugs Dur- 
 gapuja Bathing Ghats Orthodox ritual A Hindu's 
 end Benares ekka . . . . . . .129
 
 xii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 VII. LUCKNOW AND CAWNPORE : THE MUTINY - 
 
 Fantastic buildings The Residency Sir Henry Law- 
 rence Fog Cawnpore The entrenchment The Bibi 
 Garh Fundamental difference of Hindu and Christian 
 ideals The Brotherhood Mission . . . .147 
 
 VIII. AGRA : THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGUL 
 
 Huge red sandstone fort Akbar Shah Jehan's buildings 
 The palace in the fort The Taj A primitive 
 clock Pearl mosque Father Benson C.M.S. Orphan- 
 age at Sikandra Mutiny episode Plan of Moslem 
 tombs Native life in the old town Unexpected 
 gymnastics Mohammedan views on figure-painting . 160 
 
 IX. FATEHPUR SIKRI, THE WINDSOR OF THE 
 GREAT MOGUL A long avenue Bird life Akbar's 
 red sandstone city The mosque The Diwan-i-Khas 
 The Panch Mahal Vanishing beauty Vandalism Pil- 
 fering collectors The Archaeological Survey . . 185 
 
 X. GWALIOR: SINDHIA'S CAPITAL Rock-dwelling 
 anchorites Ten centuries of Rajput rule Hindu love 
 of hoarding Dawn A political saint A steep ascent 
 Man Sing Palace The solemn sacrifice, Johar The 
 oilman's temple Urwahi ravine Jain Tirthankers 
 Lashkar Native Court Flying foxes . . .199 
 
 XI. DELHI, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL From Shah 
 Jehan to the Mutiny Jumma Musjid Impressive scene 
 Mohammedan belief about God The Fort The last 
 Moguls Bishop Heber Aurangzeb's Court Akbar's 
 lofty aims The collapse The only justification for 
 Imperial rule . . . . . . . .218 
 
 XII. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI Kala 
 Musjid The first Aryan settlement The debris of 
 twenty centuries The Kutub Minar Pathan invaders 
 The Mosque Hindu arches Tughlakabad Nobility 
 of office The Cambridge Mission to Delhi Hum- 
 ayun's Tomb Nizamuddin, a Chisti saint . . . 243
 
 CONTENTS xiii 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 XIII. AMBALLA: A CANTONMENT Distant views of 
 snowy Himalayas House of the Divisional Judge 
 Camel-sowar Milk Polo and tent-pegging Brilliantly 
 coloured crowds An Indian railway-station Native 
 traffic . . . . . . . . .267 
 
 XIV. LAHORE: THE NORTHERN GATE An'ang 
 Pal The Sikhs Guru Govind The Kohinoor The 
 Fort Jehangir The Badshahi mosque Strange river 
 scenes Shahdera A network of narrow streets 
 Windows like bees' nests Vizir Khan's mosque Bud- 
 dhist sculptures Pigeons and parrots Kim . .281 
 
 XV. AMRITZAR: THE WATER OF LIFE Ceremo- 
 nial bathing The golden temple The Granth Baba 
 Atai Tower Ghosts of departed priests Northern 
 traders ......... 305 
 
 XVI. THANESAR : THE CRADLE OF THE HINDU 
 RACE In an ekka along the Great Trunk Road 
 The Jacs The Plague in the Punjab Animal life 
 The Mahabarata The battlefield of India The town 
 The sacred tank Pilgrimages Ruined temple Water- 
 fowl Aboriginal races Process of transformation 
 Hindu pani The rules of caste Two sides of native 
 life . 3 1 3 
 
 XVII. ALWAR A native state Rajputs A night under 
 canvas A walled town The shrine at the crossways 
 The city palace and its picturesque tank Thunder- 
 storm ... 33,, 
 
 XVIII. AJMERE Sunrise over the Ana Sagar Early history 
 of Ajmere Mahrattas and Pindaris A Rajput Iphi- 
 genia The great mosque A Chisti saint's tomb 
 Akbar's pilgrimage Sketching under difficulties . .343 
 
 XIX. JODHPUR Through the desert One of the most 
 noble families in the world Citadel of Jodhpur 
 " Scarlet prints of a woman's hands " Rigid marriage 
 laws of the pure-blooded clans The city Pig-sticking 
 Archaic bullock cart " See that ye fall not out by the 
 way" The tombs at Mandor Ahmedabad . . 363
 
 xiv CONTENTS 
 
 # 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 XX. CEYLON. Colombo New vegetation Ascent to 
 Kandy Peradeniya Lady Horton's drive The 
 Temple of the Tooth Buddhism in Ceylon A coffee 
 plantation Sketching in the Jungle The Pavilion 
 , Galangolla Dagobas Gadaladenya Three attitudes of 
 Buddha The little Monsoon Judge Lawrie Mr. 
 Hardinge Cameron Queen's House . . . -385 
 
 XXI. CEYLON Christmas at Kandy Alu Vihara 
 Dambool Prisoners' fare Sigiri Nuwera Eliya 
 Hakgalla A collapse Bishop Copleston . . .417 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF SOME OF THE PRIN- 
 CIPAL EVENTS MENTIONED . . . .441 
 
 INDEX . 443
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 COLOURED SKETCHES 
 
 Reproduced by the Three Colour Process 
 
 To/ace 
 
 i THE BATHING GHATS, BENARES. " The river bank 
 is a marvellous sight. The Ghats, in flight after flight of 
 irregular steps, descend a hundred feet to the water's 
 edge. Here and there the steps widen out into terraces, 
 and on them are temples and shrines of all sorts and 
 sizes. The cliff is crowned by high houses and palaces, 
 which culminate in domes and slender minarets. Here 
 and there a palace or temple breaks away from the main 
 line, and, projecting forward, descends with solid breast- 
 works of masonry to the water's edge, where every variety 
 of native craft lies moored " . . . ntie-pa^e 
 
 2 GIBRALTAR FROM THE WEST . . . . x 
 
 3 THE CITADEL, CAIRO, IN A SAND-STORM. It is 
 interesting for those who know Cairo to refresh their 
 memory of Mohammedan architecture there, in order to 
 compare the style with that of similar buildings in India " i 
 
 4 THE WAKE OF A P. & 4 
 
 5 THE WALKESHWAR TEMPLE, BOMBAY. "The 
 temple and tank of the mystical Shiva in the village at 
 Malabar Point is a mere combination of white-wash, 
 water and flights of steps with smaller temples and shrines 
 dotted around them and a few gnarled old bo-trees. They 
 do not possess any antiquity, but like everything purely 
 native are thoroughly picturesque " . . . .24
 
 XVI 
 
 To/ace 
 page 
 
 6 A DOORWAY, POONA. There are some picturesque 
 nooks and corners in the city. I found time to make a 
 drawing of a quaint doorway, wreathed with a garland of 
 marigold, and of a lazy boy, whose time appeared to be of 
 little value, sitting on a projecting ledge swinging his 
 legs " 62 
 
 7 THE GOL GUMBAZ, BIJAPUR. " This building attracted 
 me not on account of any special beauty of detail for it 
 is singularly wanting in ornament, and within is perfectly 
 plain but because of its vastness and dignity ; and of the 
 unique character of its dome. It stands four square upon 
 its platform, with octagonal towers at the angles seven 
 storeys high. In the centre rises the great dome, which 
 constitutes its most striking feature and covers a larger 
 area than any other in the world " . . . .66 
 
 8 THE SHAHPUR GATE, BIJAPUR. An old gate a 
 vista of minarets in the opening with grim battlements, 
 and long spikes projecting outwards from the gates them- 
 selves, to prevent the elephants of an enemy from butting 
 up against them and battering them down with their 
 heads" 82 
 
 9 SUNSET BEHIND THE IBRAHIM ROZA, BIJAPUR. 
 " The great mausoleum of Ibrahim II., where Aurangzeb 
 lived during the final siege of Bijapur, forms with its ac- 
 companying mosque a domed group of great beauty rising 
 on a platform about 19 ft. high ; from the centre of what 
 was once a lovely garden. The whole effect of the domes, 
 and the forest of minarets and pinnacles rising out of a 
 shady grove of dark trees against a brilliant evening sky, 
 was very striking ........ 84 
 
 TO A NAMELESS TOMB, BIJAPUR .... 86 
 
 ii RETURNING FROM THE MELA, ALLAHABAD. 
 " The Maidan is crossed by flat roads, here and there 
 passing through scattered groups of trees. In one of 
 these where the ground was dotted over with dilapidated 
 shrines I found a suitable subject. It was evening, and dark- 
 ness was approaching ; the air was full of the red glow of
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS xvii 
 
 To face 
 page 
 
 RETURNING FROM THE MELA. continued 
 
 the setting sun, which penetrated the smoke, rising behind a 
 neighbouring wall, and the evening mist with a hot and 
 murky glow. Past me poured a constant stream of 
 rattling, many-coloured ekkas returning to the town with 
 noisy devotees from the Mela " . . . .92 
 
 12 A CORNER SHRINE IN A BENARES ALLEY. "The 
 streets reminded me of Genoa, but are far more picturesque, 
 with their rich colouring (chiefly a deep red), overhanging 
 storeys, and an occasional bridge thrown over from one 
 side of the street to the other. Every empty space is 
 occupied by a fantastic representation of Hindu mythology, 
 and, besides the regular temples and shrines with which 
 the town bristles, an uncouth image, or a squarely-hewn 
 sacred stone, is set up at every vacant corner " . .134 
 
 13 THE GHATS BELOW AURANGZEB'S MOSQUE, 
 BENARES. " Bathers and devotees, in a continuous 
 stream, ascend and descend these steps : issuing from the 
 dark archways and lanes above, they collect below on the 
 brink of the water, under huge straw umbrellas ; and pro- 
 ceed by one operation to wash away their sins, to wash 
 their bodies, and their simple and scanty clothing as well. 
 They then gird themselves in clean attire ; and afterwards 
 return to one of the terraces to have their caste-marks 
 replaced upon their foreheads by an official of the temple ; 
 he is provided with a number of little saucers filled with 
 coloured powders for the purpose. This done, they sit 
 on a plank over the water to meditate and bask in the 
 sunshine ......... 140 
 
 14 A BENARES EKKA. "A picturesque conveyance with 
 double shafts on either side, drawn together on the top of 
 the pony's back and fastened to a saddle. The trappings 
 of some of these ekkas are very gay, and some have a 
 canopy like a bird-cage on the top. This 'machine' 
 holds, besides the driver, two persons, who sit sideways, 
 and hang their legs over the wheels " . . . .146 
 
 15 AGRA FORT OUTSIDE THE DELHI GATE. The 
 Emperor Akbar, perhaps one of the greatest and most
 
 xviii ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 To/ace 
 page 
 
 AGRA FORT continued 
 
 liberal-minded rulers commemorated by history, lived here 
 during the early years of his life. It is to him that we owe 
 the double line of noble red sandstone walls, 70 feet high, 
 with a circumference of over a mile ; they enclose within 
 their precincts a remarkable group of palaces, mosques, 
 halls of state, baths, kiosques, balconies and terraces over- 
 hanging the river, all nobly designed and exquisitely 
 decorated by Akbar and his successors, Jehangir and Shah 
 Jehan" . . . . . . . . .160 
 
 16 AGRA FORT INSIDE THE DELHI GATE. "The 
 gateways of this grand citadel, especially the Delhi 
 Gate, are very imposing. Within the Delhi Gate is a 
 second gate, flanked by two octagonal towers, and sur- 
 mounted by cupolas " . . . . . . .164 
 
 17 THE TAJ FROM THE FORT, AGRA The Fort 
 extends about half a mile along the right bank of the 
 Jumna, which, passing through a waste of land, flat, but 
 broken, here takes a sharp bend to the east. Across its 
 shimmering waters and sandy bed may be seen the pearly 
 dome and the minarets of the Taj Mahal rising out of 
 their setting of gardens and trees, which descend to the 
 water's edge . . . . . . . .170 
 
 1 8 THE BAZAAR, AGRA. " The road is lined with low one- 
 storeyed buildings shops, for the most part, open to the 
 street, supported by low carved pillars and sheltered by 
 awnings of straw. Swarthy people squat among their 
 wares, smoking their hookahs. The roadway is thronged 
 with people many of the women, carrying brass pitchers 
 and other heavy loads upon their heads, are clad in bright 
 colours, with rows of bangles round their wrists and ankles ; 
 the men, in less brilliant but more motley clothes. In the 
 distance rises the great gateway of the Fort " . . .180 
 
 19 THE JUMMA MUSJID, AGRA. "A grand building of 
 red sandstone and marble : though built by Shah Jehan in 
 1644, it approaches more nearly to the earlier vigorous 
 style of his predecessors " . . 184
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS xix 
 
 To fact 
 
 20 THE MOSQUE AND GATE OF VICTORY, 
 FATEHPUR SIKRI. '< The Buland Darwaza, or Gate 
 of Victory, which forms the southern entrance to Akbar's 
 mosque, is the loftiest building in Fatehpur Sikri, and is 
 approached by a stately flight of steps. At the entrance is 
 the following inscription in Arabic, ' Said Jesus, on whom 
 be peace ! the world is a bridge, pass over it but build no 
 house there " . . . . . . . .190 
 
 2 . -GWALIOR FORT BEFORE SUNRISE. The great rock 
 of Gwalior, rising from the plain like the hulk of a gigantic 
 battleship, looked very fine when I saw it from my win- 
 dow, a quarter of an hour before sunrise ; its crowning 
 walls, palaces, and the irregularities of its precipitous sides 
 were just being touched by the dawn. It was overspread 
 with a deep red flush from the glowing Eastern sky, and 
 though the base beneath was still in shadow, the broad 
 features of the landscape, the bare ground, the trees, and 
 the partly ruined tombs were distinctly visible in the clear 
 still air. In the foreground a square tomb with a Pathan 
 dome, gave distance to the background, and between me 
 and it, occasional figures noiselessly passed ". . . 202 
 
 22 THE MAN SING PALACE, GWALIOR. "An excep- 
 tional building, growing out of the top of the rock and 
 dominating the approach to the Fort. Semicircular bastions 
 crowned by cupolas flank, at intervals, the palace walls, 
 and along them run horizontal bands of blue and yellow 
 faience, and sculptured arches. It is palace and rampart in 
 one, and is certainly the most originally decorated house I 
 ever saw. There is a broad ribbon of blue along the fagade, 
 with a bright yellow row of Brahma's geese upon it, and 
 below is another band of blue, about five or six feet high, 
 with conventional vivid green mango trees growing in panels. 
 Through the gateway came a stately elephant, and beyond 
 I could just get a glimpse of the plain far below " . .208 
 
 23 -THE JUMMA MUSJID, DELHI AT SUNSET. This 
 grand yet simple building of Shah Jehan is the master- 
 piece of religious architecture in India. From the lofty 
 basement, built round an outcrop of the sandstone rock,
 
 xx ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 To/ace 
 
 THE JUMMA MUSJID continued 
 
 a finely composed group of domes and minarets, cupolas 
 and gateways rises over a wide-spreading open space, 
 dotted with stunted trees sheltering some temporary 
 native booths : from them the smoke of the evening fires 
 pervades the atmosphere. The sun, setting in the brilliant 
 cloudless sky, causes the marble domes silhouetted against 
 it to appear quite dark, and the sharply alternating forms 
 of rounded dome and upjutting minaret look like an 
 Arabic inscription along the horizon " 
 
 The sun goes down as in a sphere of gold 
 
 Behind the arm of the city, which between, 
 
 With all that length of domes and minarets, 
 
 Athwart the splendour, black and crooked runs 
 
 Like a Turk verse along a scimitar. 224 
 
 24 A STREET IN DELHI LOOKING TOWARDS THE 
 JUMMA MUSJID. "Wherever the fantastic outline 
 of this stately group of domes and minarets appears, the 
 effect is pleasing, and their solemn dignity is enhanced 
 where the foreground is occupied by the unimportant but 
 picturesque buildings of the native city " . . .226 
 
 2 5 THE TOMB OF TUGHLAK SHAH. " This tomb forms 
 the nucleus of a miniature fortress in the centre of a small 
 lake, and is approached by a low causeway raised on arches. 
 Here repose the bones of two of the warrior kings of the 
 Tughlak line. The walls which enclose them are of mas- 
 sive marble and red sandstone masonry and are surmounted 
 by a white marble dome " . . . . . .256 
 
 26 A CAMEL-SOWAR OF THE IOTH BENGAL LANCERS. 
 " The men of the loth Bengal Lancers are mostly Sikhs; 
 they have blue and red lance-pennons, blue kurta or long 
 coat, white breeches, red cummerbund, and blue cone- 
 shaped turban. An obliging Moonshee glorified my 
 sketch by writing Shams ud-din Khan's name and status in 
 splendid picturesque characters below it " . . .272 
 
 27 A GATEWAY IN THE BAZAAR, LAHORE. "A 
 massive archway intensely dark in its cavernous recesses 
 spanned the street, and under it a jostling crowd passed 
 and repassed, looking brilliant as they stepped into the
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS xxi 
 
 Toface 
 
 A GATEWAY IN THE BAZAAR continued 
 
 sunlight from beneath the shade. Through the archway I 
 could see one of the many coloured minarets of Vizir Khan's 
 mosque soaring up into the blue sky ; and a superb figure 
 with the bearing of a prince came striding towards me 
 and gave a central completing touch to the scene " . -300 
 
 28 THE GOLDEN TEMPLE, AMRITZAR. The pilgrim 
 enters through a magnificent gateway, to find him- 
 self confronted by a dazzling vision, for the temple is 
 covered from the tops of its domes to within a short distance 
 of the ground with plates of gilded copper. All this shim- 
 mering glory ' shines in the sun like a blazing altar,' and is 
 reflected in the dancing grey-green water of the pool in 
 the centre of which it is set. A marble causeway leads 
 across the pool to the island platform of the little temple 
 with a marble balustrade on either hand ; and tall columns, 
 with gilt lamps surmounting them, rise above the crowd 
 of flower-laden pilgrims continually streaming across " .310 
 
 2g _A TEMPLE IN THE TANK AT THANESAE. "This 
 famous sacred lake has been from the earliest times the 
 rendezvous of thousands of devout Hindus, seeking puri- 
 fication by bathing and prayer. The temples which once sur- 
 rounded it have now fallen into decay, and are overshadowed 
 by great trees. Long flights of steps lead down to the 
 water's edge, and on the north side a causeway stretches 
 out into the lake, where, on a little island, stands the most 
 perfect temple that now remains " . . . . -324 
 
 30 THE MAIN STREET OF ALWAR. " The Main Street 
 of Alwar, running straight towards the mountains, is closed 
 at the end by a conical and rocky spur, crowned by the 
 fort which dominates the town. The street itself is one 
 long bazaar, thronged by a busy bright crowd " . -336 
 
 31 THE ANA SAGAR, AJMERE. " Shah Jehan built four 
 marble pavilions on the great bund or embankment 
 which dams up the water in the valley of the river Luni, 
 and forms the lake called the Ana Sagar. One of these 
 was used as the Commissioner's house at the time of my 
 visit. When I opened the window at daylight and walked
 
 xxii ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 To /act 
 
 paife 
 
 THE ANA SAGAR continued 
 
 out on the white marble balcony, an exquisitely beautiful 
 and peaceful scene lay before me. I found myself over- 
 hanging the shining levels of a lovely lake, surrounded by 
 most picturesque hills, and with a glorious flood of light 
 from the rising sun shining on the rugged rosy granite 
 peaks to the south-west "...... 344 
 
 32 THE CAULDRON AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE 
 DARGAH, AJMERE. "The chief entrance to the 
 Dargah, from the crowded street, is beneath a whitewashed 
 archway of great height, on either side of which, sur- 
 rounded by a medley of arches, miniature cupolas, pillars 
 and trees, are two huge iron cauldrons some ten or fifteen 
 feet across. On certain festal occasions, and when rich 
 pilgrims give an alms of ^200 to 300 for the purpose, 
 these are filled with rice, raisins, sugar, spices and ghee, 
 which, when cooked by enormous fires lighted beneath the 
 cauldrons, is doled out to the poor pilgrims. When they 
 are satisfied the members of certain privileged families, 
 swathed in rags and wadding, are then allowed to jump 
 into the still hot cauldron and scramble for the 
 remains " . . . . . . . . -358 
 
 33 THE TOMB OF KHWAJAH MUIN-UD-DIN CHISTI, 
 IN THE DARGAH, AJMERE. " The glistening white 
 marble tomb of the saint is very picturesque ; surrounded 
 by fine lattice screens. It is all dark and mysterious 
 within, and rich-coloured draperies and awnings shroud 
 the holy place, and shelter the doorways. The grey misty 
 mountain peaks made a beautiful and quiet background to 
 this vivid scene, which was partially veiled by the green 
 branches of one of the gnarled and twisted trees shading 
 the enclosure. The tree had dropped out of the perpen- 
 dicular, and was supported by a finely carved yellow 
 sandstone pillar " ....... 360 
 
 34 THE TANK AT THE BACK OF THE DARGAH, 
 AJMERE. " Deep in the rocky mountain-side at the 
 back of the Dargah is a long, narrow, natural cleft, the sides 
 of which are faced with irregular flights of steep steps
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii 
 
 To/ace 
 fafe 
 
 THE TANK continued 
 
 descending to a deep tank below, and ascending to tortu- 
 ous and irregular terraces and platforms which follow the 
 trend of the rock. Above them rise the enclosing walls 
 of the Dargah and neighbouring buildings. A constant 
 stream of women in dark red and blue saris ascended and 
 descended, with their waterpots on their heads " . .362 
 
 35JODHPUR GENERAL VIEW OF THE FORT. The 
 great rock of the Fort rises 400 feet abruptly out of the 
 plain, like Stirling Castle on a large scale. At its feet lies 
 the old walled town, but from the spot from which this 
 sketch is taken it is hidden by a dark belt of trees 
 especially noticeable from the contrast of its foliage with 
 the barren rock on one side and the desert on the 
 other "......... 366 
 
 3 6 THE ASCENT TO THE PALACE, JODHPUR. The 
 road ascends by zigzags beneath seven gates. Above rises 
 the palace, which generations of Rahtore princes have reared 
 upon bastions on the edge of a perpendicular cliff. Before 
 me was a lofty whitewashed gateway, through which was 
 passing an ever moving crowd of strangely dressed natives 
 from the Bikaneer desert, laden camels with their drivers, 
 groups of women with water-pots on their heads, and an 
 occasional elephant bearing a richly dressed visitor to the 
 palace" ......... 368 
 
 37 A BULLOCK CART, JODHPUR 380 
 
 38 A FEEDING-PLACE FOR BIRDS, AHMEDABAD. 
 " These picturesque objects, somewhat like pigeon cotes, 
 are characteristic of this city of the Jains "... 382 
 
 39 THE TEMPLE OF THE TOOTH, KANDY 
 EXTERIOR. " The temple, though not grand or im- 
 posing, is a picturesque building. It stands with its back 
 against a wooded hill ; at its feet lies a long moat or tank, 
 alive with tortoises, and crossed by a small bridge flanked 
 by two elephants in stone. Above, an enclosing battle- 
 mented wall looks out on a flat expanse of the greenest 
 
 grass " 392 
 
 d
 
 xxiv ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 To face 
 
 40 THE TEMPLE OF THE TOOTH, KANDY IN- 
 TERIOR. " Several flights of steps lead to a sculptured 
 doorway, and within, an antechapel or vestibule opens on to 
 a small courtyard ; in its centre is the Holy of Holies, con- 
 taining seven shrines of diminishing size, and within the 
 innermost is the Tooth. The mysterious veiled doorway 
 of this sanctuary, which no ordinary mortal may pass, 
 formed the centre of my sketch. The projecting roof is 
 supported by massive wooden pillars, and the walls, corbels 
 and ceilings are profusely painted with brightly coloured 
 monsters and floral designs " ..... 394 
 
 4 i A STREET SCENE IN KANDY. " Kandy possesses no 
 fine buildings or architectural features worthy of note ; but 
 the irregularity of its low buildings, the bright awnings, 
 the deep shadows in the frontless shops, the fruit and other 
 wares, the overhanging palms, the stray yellow and crimson 
 Croton bushes, and above all the people, form an ever 
 changing melange of colour, and a study in movement 
 which are in the highest degree fascinating " . . . 396 
 
 42 -THE MOUNTAINS FROM PALLEKELLY. Sketching 
 in the tropics I found no easy matter on account of 
 vegetation, which clothes the whole face of the world in the 
 richest greens. Nothing is more beautiful to the eye than 
 this verdure, but it is hard to paint, and moreover it was all 
 new to me. I attempted a sketch, but with indifferent 
 success, of the jungle-clothed mountains around Pallekelly, 
 culminating in a dark peak, about which the clouds were 
 beginning to gather." ....... 398 
 
 43 "A TROPICAL SHOWER. It was very beautiful, 
 especially from a height, to watch the great rain-clouds 
 blowing up from the sea every afternoon and culminating 
 in a deluge of rain. The clear blue sky of the morning 
 gradually becomes flecked with white woolly clouds, and 
 shadows travel rapidly over the sunny green landscape. 
 On they come thicker and thicker, the white turns to grey, 
 the blue sky rapidly disappears, and the grey gives place to 
 black, casting the whole landscape into a deep blue gloom : 
 then a nebulous mass, more dense than its predecessors,
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS xxv 
 
 To/ace 
 
 A TROPICAL SHOWER continued 
 
 charged with electricity, sweeps over the high mountains ; 
 there is a vivid flash of forked fire and an almost simul- 
 taneous roar of thunder, and a deluge of water falls in a 
 great grey veil over hill and vale, and swirling onwards 
 warns us that no time must be lost in seeking shelter if we 
 wish to preserve a dry thread to our backs " . . . 408 
 
 44 MORNING MISTS IN THE VALLEY OF THE 
 MAHAWELLI GANGHA. "A terrace road winds 
 through the forest-covered hill at the back of the Pavilion, 
 and from it exquisite views open on to the valley below 
 and away to the distant blue mountains. The colouring 
 of the landscape in Ceylon seemed to me far more intense 
 than that in any other country I had seen " . . .412 
 
 45 THE MARKET, COLOMBO. " The subtle litheness of 
 the figures, the profusion and gorgeous colours of the 
 fruit and vegetables, the deep shadows and flickering 
 lights combine to make the market a most attractive place 
 for an artist " . . . . . . . .414 
 
 46 THE QUEEN'S HOUSE, COLOMBO. " In the shady 
 garden of Government House are many fine trees, the 
 most conspicuous being a giant Banyan. Surrounding it 
 are beautiful green lawns dotted over with flowering shrubs 
 and bright yellow and red Croton bushes. Two tame 
 pelicans and a crane patrol the green sward, Tnd, in their 
 odd ways, are a constant source of amusement " . .416 
 
 47 THE MARTALE HILLS . . . . .420
 
 xxvi ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 
 
 I'AGE 
 
 THE BABA ATAL TOWER, AMRITSAR .... IX 
 
 TOMB OF TUGHLAK SHAH .... . XXIX 
 
 GIBRALTAR FROM THE EAST ....... I 
 
 NEEDLE-LIKE PINNACLES ADEN ...... 3 
 
 THE MALABAR COAST ........ 5 
 
 OUR FIRST VIEW OF BOMBAY ..... 7 
 
 A NATIVE DHOW ......... 9 
 
 BACK BAY .......... 13 
 
 A BOMBAY BULLOCK CARRIAGE .... I 5 
 
 TOMBS BY THE ROAD-SIDE . 1 6 
 
 ON THE WAY TO ELEPHANTA . . . . .17 
 
 BOMBAY FROM MALABAR POINT .... .20 
 
 ONE OF THE TOWERS OF SILENCE . . . . . .24 
 
 SKETCH-PLAN OF TOWER OF SILENCE ... .25 
 
 A HOUSE IN THE NATIVE QUARTER ..... 30 
 
 UNDER MALABAR HILL ..... . 39 
 
 IN THE FUNERAL PROCESSION . .40 
 
 JAGGED PINNACLES OF THE GHATS . -43 
 
 SECTARIAL MARKS ..... 5 1 
 
 THE HINDU PANTHEON .... -55 
 
 A DOORWAY IN THE TEMPLE OF PARBATI . 59 
 
 WAITING FOR THE TRAIN ... -67 
 
 A SMALL MOSQUE IN BIJAPUR . 7 1 
 
 BY THE ROAD-SIDE ... -73 
 
 PLAN OF THE GOL GUMBAZ . 7 6 
 
 THE DOME OF THE JUMMA MUSJID, BIJAPUR . -79 
 
 A WAYSIDE TOMB .... . 8l 
 
 A CHILLY MORNING ... .84 
 
 AN AVENUE IN ALLAHABAD . 9 1
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS xxvii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 AT THE MELA . . . . . . . . -97 
 
 BOOTHS AT THE MELA . . . . . . . .99 
 
 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, CALCUTTA . . . . . .105 
 
 A TRIBUTARY OF THE HOOGHLY . . . . . .107 
 
 THE HOOGHLY AT CHINSURAH . . . . . .121 
 
 BARRACKPUR . . . . - . . . .123 
 
 THE HOOGHLY ABOVE CALCUTTA . . . . . .125 
 
 BOATS ON THE HOOGHLY . . . . . . .127 
 
 IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE TOWN . . . . -135 
 
 THE GHATS, BENARES . . . . . . . .140 
 
 COMME QA . . . . . . . . . .141 
 
 BATHING GHATS . . . . . . . . .146 
 
 THE JUMMA MUSJID, AGRA . . . . . . l6l 
 
 ON THE WALL OF THE FORT . . . . . .163 
 
 THE TAJ FROM THE ROAD TO AGRA . . . . .165 
 
 A PRIMITIVE CLOCK . . . . . . . .167 
 
 THE JUMMA MUSJID, AGRA . . . . . . .171 
 
 SIKANDRA . . . . . . . . . J 75 
 
 A STREET IN AGRA . . . . . . . .177 
 
 A STREET IN AGRA . . . . . . . l8l 
 
 ONE OF AKBAR'S MILESTONES . . . . . .187 
 
 THE ELEPHANT GATE, FATEHPUR SIKRI . . . . .189 
 
 THE PRIME MINISTER'S HOUSE . . . . . .193 
 
 ON THE ROAD TO FATEHPUR SIKRI . . . . .198 
 
 ONE OF THE MAHARAJA'S ELEPHANTS, GWALIOR . . .204 
 
 THE URWAHI VALLEY . . . . . . . . 2IO 
 
 MAP OF DELHI . . . . . . . . 2l6 
 
 LAHORE GATE, DELHI . . . . . . .229 
 
 PLAN OF THE PALACE OF DELHI ..... Joeing 2 32 
 
 KALAN MUSJID, DELHI .... ... 245 
 
 KUTUB MINAR, DELHI .... . . 249 
 
 SKETCH-PLAN OF HUMAYUN's TOM I! . . . . .262 
 
 OUTSIDE THE CANTONMENT, AMBALLA . . . . .269 
 
 FROM THE MAIDAN 27O
 
 xxviii ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A PERSIAN WELL . . . . . . . . .271 
 
 THE HOUSE OF THE DIVISIONAL JUDGE . . . . -273 
 
 BANYAN TREE . ....... 274 
 
 THE CROWD . . . . . . . . .276 
 
 A COMPETITOR . . . . . . . . .277 
 
 ONE OF THE CROWD . . . . . . . .278 
 
 SWEET-SELLERS . . . . . . . . .280 
 
 THE FORT AND JUMMA MUSJID, LAHORE . . .293 
 
 THE BRIDGE OF BOATS ON THE RAVI . 295 
 
 WINDOWS LIKE BEES' NESTS .... .299 
 
 A STREET WINDOW ..... . 300 
 
 A CURIOUS COLUMN .... . 301 
 
 AN OLD SIKH ..... 331 
 
 THE MAIN STREET, ALWAR ... 337 
 
 LOOKING DOWN ON THE ANA SAGAR . . -345 
 
 THE COMMISSIONER'S HOUSE . . 352 
 
 A PICTURESQUE CORNER . . 360 
 
 A MARWARI TRADER ... . -383 
 
 A COOLIE NATIVE DRESS ... .386 
 
 RESTING ...... . 388 
 
 A FICUS ELASTICA, PERADENIYA . 39 1 
 
 THE LAKE, KANDY .... .392 
 
 A STREET BARBER .... . . 396 
 
 BY THE ROAD-SIDE . . . -397 
 
 A GOVERNMENT-HOUSE PEON ... . 400 
 
 ONE OF THE CROWD ..... . 403 
 
 A DAGOBA AT KANDY . . . . . . 45 
 
 A SINHALESE TEMPLE, GADALADENYA ... 47 
 THE THREE USUAL ASPECTS OF THE SEATED BUDDHA . . 408 
 
 A SHOP IN KANDY ..... .410 
 
 IN COLOMBO HARBOUR . . . . . .416 
 
 A YOUNG ELEPHANT AT KANDY . . .417 
 
 READY TO START ... . . 419 
 
 THE TEMPLE AT DAMBOOL . .422
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 XXIX 
 
 FACE 
 
 THE BALCONY IN FRONT OF THE TEMPLE .... 424 
 
 SIGIRI RISING OUT OF THE JUNGLE . . . . .427 
 
 SIGIRI . . . . . . . . . . .429 
 
 DEGALDURUWA . . . . . . . . .430 
 
 DOORWAY IN THE TEMPLE OF DEGALDURUWA. . . -432 
 
 ON THE WAY TO NUWERA ELIYA ...... 434 
 
 LOOKING AT THE TRAIN ....... 435 
 
 THE BISHOP'S GARDEN, COLOMBO . . . . . .439 
 
 MAP OF INDIA, ILLUSTRATING THE HIGH-ROAD OF EMPIRE . 440 
 
 TOMB OV TUGHLAK SIIAI1
 
 GIBRALTAR FROM THE EAST 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 BOMBAY 
 
 IT was a change from a sick-room to the cabin of 
 a P. and O., but I had been ill, and "change" 
 was recommended. At the mouth of the Channel 
 and in the Bay I realised that I was still a sick 
 man ; but the Equinox was upon us, and now 
 the cause was exterior to myself this also was a 
 change. 
 
 A short respite from storm and tempest revealed 
 Gibraltar in brilliant sunshine, and as we danced 
 over the waves I sketched the great Rock for the 
 first time, and passing it, for it was too rough to 
 land, looked back upon it black and frowning 
 against a lurid evening sky, a grim barrier to the 
 inland sea. As night fell the sea rose, and the 
 great ship seemed to tremble and quiver at the 
 impact of the waves ; but better times were com- 
 ing, and at Malta I enjoyed a respite from the
 
 2 BOMBAY 
 
 crowded ship, and spent a pleasant day there with 
 friends. 
 
 A kind friend had borne me company so far, but at 
 Brindisi we parted, and there I was joined by the 
 companion of my journey. We sailed on a summer 
 sea through the Ionian Islands, passed Crete in the 
 early morning, pink with the rising sun, and 
 in due course were off the coast of Egypt. It is in- 
 teresting for those who know Cairo to refresh their 
 memories of Mohammedan architecture there, in 
 order to compare them with the buildings of India 
 which they are about to see. The Canal affords 
 the unique experience of a sail through the desert 
 varied by the transit of the Bitter Lakes and en- 
 livened by the sight of strings of camels and flights 
 of pink and white flamingoes. On entering the 
 dark blue waters of the Red Sea the aspect of 
 everything changes. On the right beyond Suez 
 extends against an evening sky a deep purple 
 range of mountains, commencing with the grim 
 serrated GebelAttakah. The shore wherever visible 
 is sterile to a degree, and not a vestige of vegeta- 
 tion is to be seen. Throughout our course of 
 thirteen hundred miles to the Straits of Bab-el- 
 Mandeb, coral reefs run along the coast in broken 
 lines parallel to the shore, leaving a channel from 
 two to three miles wide, which, in the absence of 
 lighthouses and the prevalence of treacherous cross 
 currents, must require some skill to navigate. The 
 masts of six vessels which we saw appearing above 
 the water at Perim suggest the fact that that skill 
 is sometimes wanting. But I am anticipating. In
 
 ADEN 3 
 
 due course we came within sight of the distant 
 range of Mount Sinai, then the weather began to 
 get hotter, punkahs were put up, and passengers 
 turned out in all their thinnest clothes. We pass 
 the Straits, and soon come in sight of the strange 
 
 NEEDLE-LIKE PINNACLES 
 
 mountains with needle-like pinnacles, which are 
 passed just before Aden is reached. There a short 
 halt amongst a swarm of naked gesticulating 
 natives in canoes, shouting " habadive," " haba- 
 dive," which, being translated, means " throw a 
 shining coin into the water and I will dive for it." 
 Then the Indian Ocean, flying fishes, thunder- 
 clouds, and the land of Inde. 
 
 It is contrast, and the presence of the unexpected
 
 4 BOMBAY 
 
 that constitute the picturesque, and that charm 
 the aesthetic eye and mind. Of all contrasts few 
 can be greater or more striking than that of West 
 and East, and few transitions can be productive 
 of greater surprises than that made in stepping 
 from the monotony of a steamship into the midst 
 of the tropics. 
 
 The novelty of life at sea, so romantic in theory 
 (especially in the old days of sails), soon wears off, 
 and as the days roll up into weeks, it gives place 
 to ennui ; life becomes tedious and irksome, and 
 the least thin line of distant coast at once arouses 
 a longing to be again on shore, no matter where. 
 Within, are the clock-work routine, the ceaseless 
 motion, the cramped space, the close proximity to 
 one's fellow-passengers, the constant tramp of 
 feet the passing and repassing, and again re- 
 passing of walkers on the deck the faint oily 
 smell which even the best kept steamers are not 
 without, and which seems to infect the uninterest- 
 ing food, so that it all tastes of the ship ; without, 
 are only the limitless horizon and the sameness of 
 the ever-changing sea. In these conditions and 
 surroundings, the monotonous days pass, and we 
 sleep to the accompaniment of the rocking waves 
 and the measured thud of the engine. 
 
 One morning early in April we became gradually 
 conscious of the fact that we were no longer rock- 
 ing, that the engine was at rest ; then a terrific 
 noise overhead announced the dropping of the 
 anchor, and we realised that we were once more in 
 port. We had reached Colombo.
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 5 
 
 How much can be revealed in the vignette seen 
 through a port-hole ? Looking out, we had our 
 first glimpse of a new world ! It was unmistakable ! 
 Behind a horizontal bar of cocoa-nut palms, to the 
 East, the sun was rising in true oriental splendour, 
 reflected on a calm sheet of glowing water. Dusky 
 figures, in many coloured garments, were dis- 
 tinguishable along the shore and in amongst the 
 trees, and as the light began to penetrate the 
 foliage, the low roofs of native huts appeared, and 
 a thin wreath of blue smoke betokening the prepa- 
 
 THE MALABAR COAST 
 
 ration of the morning meal. Here and there a 
 tower or spire broke the outline of the waving 
 palms. Close by, on the water, a noisy, grey-necked 
 crow alighted to dispute with his fellow the pos- 
 session of some floating treasure, for he too must 
 have his breakfast. 
 
 There was something in the simple scene, in the 
 very air, and above all in the smell that strange 
 and all-pervading smell of everything aromatic 
 which seized on the imagination and indelibly 
 stamped itself upon the mind. This was the East, 
 the glorious, mysterious East. How different from 
 anything expected, and how far more enthralling.
 
 6 BOMBAY 
 
 And yet what was it that we have seen ? A belt of 
 trees, a sheet of still water, some distant figures 
 and a pair of crows. It was nothing in itself, but 
 it was enough : it had created an undying and 
 fascinating impression of the Oriental tropics. 
 
 Having come so far, I cannot any longer con- 
 ceal the fact that we were not then on our way to 
 India at all, but were in an Australian Liner, and 
 bound for the south. It is not, however, my inten- 
 tion to recount our experiences at the Antipodes, 
 nor, since chronology is of little importance, in 
 this connection, will I loiter in Ceylon ; but leav- 
 ing that island for description later on, I will 
 begin my story with the end of the return voyage, 
 and skirting the Malabar coast, proceed to 
 Bombay. 
 
 Our first sight of India was a wonderful pano- 
 rama of the Western Ghats, with their fine rugged 
 outline, broken by isolated, precipitous and almost 
 inaccessible peaks, silhouetted against the sunrise 
 glow. That great barrier-range runs south for 
 nearly 800 miles, following the line of the sea 
 coast. It rises sometimes in splendid precipices, 
 sheer out of the water, sometimes abruptly in 
 terraces, beyond a strip of flat green and fertile 
 low-lying land, to an extreme height of nearly 
 7000 feet. 
 
 The weather was glorious, and the sea quite 
 calm. A peaceful day ended in a grand sunset ; 
 about 9 P.M. I saw a curious meteor, which looked 
 so strangely near that at first I thought it was a 
 mast-head light not half a mile away. Very
 
 BOMBAY EMERGES 7 
 
 gradually it moved downward, and then van- 
 ished. 
 
 The coastline became gradually clearer, and two 
 days afterwards numbers of small brown lateen 
 sails appeared and clumps of fishermen's stakes, 
 like Venetian /#//, standing up out of the sea. At 
 last Bombay emerged mistily above the horizon 
 about 2.30 P.M. on January n, and by 4.30 we 
 were steaming slowly into harbour. 
 
 The beautiful Bay, studded with green islands 
 
 
 OUR FIRST VIEW OF BOMBAY 
 
 and jutting precipices, unfolded itself before us, 
 with its background of strange, quaintly-shaped 
 hills, amongst which the Bawa-Malang catches 
 the eye with its peculiar cylindrical and bottle- 
 shaped peak crowned with a ruined fort. 
 
 The town of Bombay stands at the southern 
 end of one of the greenest of these low narrow 
 islands, which lie as a much-indented, protecting 
 barrier across the estuary of a river imprisoning 
 an arm of the sea, from five to seven miles wide, 
 along the mainland, and so forming one of the 
 finest harbours in the world. On the sea side of 
 the island is Back Bay, a shallow basin two miles 
 broad, with Colaba Point between it and the 
 harbour, and a ridge ending in Malabar Point on
 
 8 BOMBAY 
 
 the sea side. The Fort is the nucleus of the city, 
 and stands on the slightly-raised strip of land 
 between Back Bay and the harbour, the entrance 
 to which it commands. 
 
 Bombay Island was occupied by the Portuguese 
 as early as 1532, and, coming to Charles II. as 
 part of the dower of Catherine of Braganza, was 
 leased to the East India Company for^io a year. 
 The Portuguese, however, still remained near 
 neighbours andrivals on the Island of Salsette,and 
 blocked the " open-door " to trade with the Empire 
 of the East. In spite of this, Bombay soon became 
 the most important of the Company's possessions. 
 The first Mahratta War led to the permanent occu- 
 pation by the English of all the Islands in the 
 Bay of Bombay, where the commerce and industry 
 of a large district had taken refuge from Mahratta 
 oppression. Before 1830 Bombay had become the 
 link between the East and the West. The natural 
 barrier that separates the coast from the tableland 
 of the Deccan was first broken down in 1838 by 
 a road over the Bhor Ghat. Some thirty years 
 later the railway was taken the same way on to 
 the Deccan plateau by a brilliant feat of engi- 
 neering skill. The Suez Canal of course completed 
 the connection with the West. 
 
 When the American War cut off the supply of 
 cotton to Lancashire, the importance of Bombay 
 increased immensely, and, after various ups and 
 downs of prosperity, it now rivals Calcutta as the 
 commercial capital of India. The natural aptitude 
 of the Natives for textile work, and their reputa-
 
 BOMBAY HARBOUR 9 
 
 tion for turning out unglazed, genuine fabrics 
 seem to be driving out the lower class of English 
 cotton goods. The growth of these factories in- 
 creased the already swarming population of this 
 densely crowded Eastern city, but the plague has 
 considerably diminished the export trade of late 
 
 A NATIVE DHOW 
 
 years, and has greatly reduced the population of 
 Bombay. 
 
 It is useless to try to describe the magnificent 
 scene, which now lay before us, as we came to 
 anchor amongst the crowds of various kinds of 
 craft, from both the East and West, which formed 
 a most animated foreground. Some of the native 
 boats, with high poops like sixteenth-century 
 galleys, masts raking the wrong way, and three- 
 cornered sails, were very quaintly picturesque. 
 There were also troop-ships and men-of-war of
 
 io BOMBAY 
 
 H.M. East India Squadron, a Russian war-ship, 
 mail-steamers and merchantmen discharging and 
 receiving cargo, countless small boats, ships- 
 dinghies, native bunder-boats and Karachis plying 
 busily to and fro with their burden of brilliantly 
 clad passengers. 
 
 We were soon boarded by a swarming crowd 
 of jabbering, shouting, gesticulating natives, and 
 a peon from King and Co. brought us letters from 
 many kind and hospitable Indian friends, with 
 proposals for the mapping-out of our Indian tour. 
 A native servant is indispensable for travelling in 
 India, so I had written beforehand to King and Co., 
 to look out for one for me. I had visions of a red 
 turban and spotless white clothes, so my feelings 
 may be imagined when a villanous-looking figure 
 to all appearance a veritable cut-throat in shabby 
 clothes and an ancient round hat boarded the 
 steamer and told me he was my servant. He 
 was a Portuguese from Goa and said to be honest, 
 which was consoling, and as I was told he had white 
 jackets and trousers in the background, that would 
 appear when wegot to GovernmentHouse,Itookhim 
 for a time: He seemed to know his way about,but I 
 felt rather doubtful about engaging him as a body 
 slave for three months. The matter settled itself 
 before long by his hearing of a permanent place as 
 butler at Karachi, to which I lethimgo ; and I took on 
 John Lobo, a nice-looking young fellow, also a "Goa 
 Boy," as I was told it was difficult to get an Indian, 
 speaking English. He was active and intelligent, 
 though not very methodical, and served me well.
 
 LANDING ii 
 
 The disembarkation arrangements are not alto- 
 gether a credit to the P. and O. Co., and it was not 
 until six o'clock that, in a very badly managed 
 launch,we finally succeeded in landing ourselves at 
 the Apollo Bunder Quay below the Yacht Club, 
 through a perfect pandemonium of vociferous 
 coolies. 
 
 The sun was setting in a deep red glow, and its 
 level rays lighted up motley groups of brilliantly 
 dressed natives who blocked the quay, as they 
 squatted at their ease, watching the busy scene 
 and the brightly painted bullock carts with gaily- 
 clad occupants drawn by mouse-coloured oxen 
 with shining satin skins, and little humps which 
 threaded their way amongst the traffic. 
 
 We put up for a few days before going to 
 Government House, Malabar Point at a queer 
 hotel, where the rats were very noisy at nights, the 
 cockroaches numerous and of abnormal propor- 
 tions, and the food so bad that we were glad of 
 the possibility of getting meals at the Yacht 
 Club, a delightful, cheery place, with a lovely view 
 over a neat terraced garden, full of brilliant flower- 
 beds, to the harbour and hills beyond. It is built 
 for shade and to catch every breeze. I never 
 appreciated a draught thoroughly before ; not 
 that I found the heat intolerable I never felt a 
 pleasanterormoreexquisiteatmosphere. Itwas just 
 right, with cool mornings and evenings and very 
 warm sun mid-day. The heat is neither so intense 
 nor so damp as in Colombo, and the balmy breezes 
 prevented our feeling overpowered by the hot sun.
 
 12 BOMBAY 
 
 I lost no time in getting near the Native quarter 
 of the town, and made my way soon after daybreak 
 next day, past the Victoria Railway Station, a 
 wonderfully proportioned building in the Byzan- 
 tine style, of dark grey and brown stone, to the 
 Crawford Market. There I made a futile attempt at 
 sketching in a dense and motley crowd. The 
 weather was brilliant and cloudless and the market 
 was dazzling and thronged with all kinds of people 
 in every variety of dress and undress ; all buying 
 and selling, with a deafening hubbub, as the 
 traders squatted in the centre of their stalls 
 amongst their wares. 
 
 I was not prepared for the brilliancy of the 
 colouring scarlet and purple, crimson, green and 
 white, all set offand harmonised delightfully by the 
 variously shaded bronze and dusky limbs, the 
 brown faces and great black eyes of the many dif- 
 ferent races thronging the busy scene. The strange 
 fruits and vegetables too were nearly all new to us. 
 We saw quantities of red bananas ; gourds of many 
 shapes and shades, yellow and green and golden ; 
 heaped-up grapes, white and black, from Aurunga- 
 bad ; oranges from Nagpur, and the pummelo, a 
 shaddock, like a huge orange. The mango of 
 Mazagon, famous for its delicate flavour, was not 
 yet in season, but there was a strange vegetable, the 
 fruit of the egg-plant,* of the marrow type, with a 
 shiny black surface, like the material of the Parsi 
 hat, called " baingan." There were also piles of 
 "pan" or betel leaves, which, spread with lime 
 (chuna) and wrapped round slices of the fruit of the 
 
 * Solanum melongena.
 
 CRAWFORD MARKET 13 
 
 areca palm, are responsible for the red lips and 
 black teeth one sees so perpetually. The flower- 
 stalls were very quaint, for the jasmine, roses and 
 other flowers were all ruthlessly picked to pieces, 
 and threaded, flower by flower, into ropes and 
 chains, strung with silver thread and tinsel into the 
 strangest sweet-smelling garlands and festoons. 
 
 These were sold by weight, to be worn round neck 
 or head, or offered in the temples. 
 
 Outside the fruit and vegetable market is a 
 garden shaded by large-leaved, dusky trees, over- 
 hung with wreaths of the flaming crimson 
 bougainvillea, of "a colour that seems full of light, 
 that no paint or dye could imitate." Here is the 
 bird-market alive with screeching flame-coloured 
 and blue macaws and parrots of every description. 
 The whole scene was as alluringly picturesque as 
 anything one could wish to see. 
 
 We drove, in the afternoon, round Back Bay 
 to Malabar Point. The Queen's Road by the shore 
 was thronged with brightly clothed natives and with 
 carriages, mostly occupied by Parsis. Looking 
 back we had charming views of the fine public
 
 14 BOMBAY 
 
 buildings and towers of the modern town. The 
 ground upon which the European town stands 
 has been reclaimed this was mainly, I believe, 
 the work of Sir Bartle Frere and, for imposing 
 buildings, it quite beat any of the Australian towns 
 I had lately left. All this stately line of reddish- 
 brown stone buildings, some of them built by 
 munificent Parsis, has been erected within the 
 last fifty years, and they stand isolated in green 
 squares and gardens, with flowering shrubs of 
 vivid hue between fine broad streets glowing with 
 rich and harmonious colour. The clock tower of 
 the University and Hall and the Library were 
 designed by Street. The Municipal Buildings are, 
 I believe, the work of F. W. Stevens, the man of 
 the G.I. P., who built the fine Victoria Station. 
 The whole has quite the dignified appearance of a 
 university town, though one can hardly connect 
 an academic atmosphere with surroundings of 
 such riotous colour. 
 
 After passing many villas and crossing the rail- 
 way, we reached a road, close to the sea, which 
 reminded us of the Riviera : the rocky heights 
 were terraced to the top with bungalow and villa 
 gardens, rich in tropical vegetation ; tall, slender 
 and graceful palms raise their feathery heads above 
 round-topped trees, and aloes and datura hide the 
 great rocky boulders. From here there is one of 
 the finest views in the world ; and all is bathed in 
 an atmosphere of light and fanned by refreshing 
 and balmy breezes. 
 
 We passed the sumptuous villa of a rich Parsi,
 
 MALABAR HILL 15 
 
 who appeared to be entertaining his friends, for 
 outside his gate were many carriages and smart 
 brightly-painted bullock-chariots, with panels 
 adorned with painted garlands of roses and other 
 ornaments. Then we went on to Malabar Point to 
 write our name in the book at Government House, 
 which is quite at the Point and within sound of the 
 
 A BOMBAY BULLOCK-CARRIAGE 
 
 waves. I stopped five minutes outside the gate to 
 make a sketch of three quaint little whitewashed 
 tombs under the trees by the road side, which 
 rather pleased me. At Malabar Hill we called on 
 the Bishop, and also on the wife of Col. Burn- 
 Murdoch, R.E., who had kindly written to ask us 
 to go to Elephanta with her. 
 
 All my life, since I first heard my old friend Mr. 
 Fergusson talk about the caves at Elephanta, I
 
 i6 
 
 BOMBAY 
 
 have had a great desire to see them, but, having 
 lately heard them much depreciated, we very nearly 
 gave up the expedition ; I am glad we did not, as 
 they were delightfully interesting. Owing to a 
 stupid blunder, however, the Sappers' launch did 
 not turn up till long after the appointed time ; 
 then the tide being against us, and low into the 
 
 TOMBS BY THE ROAD SIDE 
 
 bargain, we had to tranship to a small boat. How- 
 ever, we had a delightful hour and a half's sail 
 eastwards across the Bay, through a crowd of 
 picturesque shipping, and then, in the isle-sprinkled 
 lagoon, we had the waters all to ourselves. At 5.30 
 we reached the landing-place, a slippery pier of 
 isolated larva-blocks leading to the foot of a long 
 flight of stonesteps that mount the hill to thecaves, 
 amongst palm-trees and creepers above. Alas, by 
 the time we reached the top the sun was already 
 beginning to set. As we had to dine at eight at Go- 
 vernment House a four-mile drive beyond Bom- 
 bay, in the opposite direction it maybe imagined
 
 ELEPHANTA 17 
 
 we had not much time to give to the temple, and I 
 did not even get a slight sketch of it. 
 
 The rock-cut temple at Dambool,* in Ceylon, 
 which we had seen lately, is more interesting, for 
 it is still in use, whereas this has been given over 
 for three centuries to bats and owls and sight- 
 seers. But these temples stretch farther into the 
 side of the mountain, and show much more art in 
 construction and ornamentation. It is supposed 
 that they date from the eighth or ninth century, 
 
 ON THE WAY TO ELEPHANTA 
 
 when the Brahmanic revival began which finally 
 triumphed over Buddhism, and succeeded in 
 driving that once supreme and purer faith almost 
 entirely out of the Peninsula. 
 
 The entrance of the caves is divided into three, 
 by two carved and somewhat mutilated pillars, cut 
 out of the rock. These pillars are repeated inwards, 
 forming a large hall of three aisles, and at the 
 further end is a colossal figure, about 15 ft. high, 
 with three great calm faces representing the triad 
 of gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva: one of the 
 hands holds Vishnu's lotus-flower, and round 
 one arm is twisted a cobra. The Portuguese spared 
 
 * See chapter xxi.
 
 i8 BOMBAY 
 
 this figure when their cannon battered down so 
 much of the temple. 
 
 There are openings on either side of this cave on 
 the right into a smaller temple, and left to an open 
 space, facing a third temple, guarded on either side 
 by two conventional lions : before this is a circular 
 platform where stood, doubtless, in old days the 
 stone Nandi or sacred bull, so often kneeling at the 
 entrance of a temple of Shiva. Most of the gods of 
 the Hindu Pantheon seem to be represented here, 
 Brahmawith four faces, Vishnu and his lotus, Shiva 
 with his bull and lingam, and the cup from which 
 flow the three sacred life-giving streams, Ganges, 
 Jumna, and Saraswati, believed to unite at Alla- 
 habad. Parvati, Shiva's bride, his son Ganesh,the 
 elephant-headed god of good luck, Chandra the 
 moon-god, Indra on his elephant, and Bhairava 
 an inferior form of Shiva with rosary of skulls. 
 The entrances are kept by gigantic dwarpals or 
 doorkeepers. The stone is of dark weather-beaten 
 grey, but bears traces of having been painted. 
 
 The whole place, amongst the volcanic rocks, 
 covered with vegetation, is wonderfully pictur- 
 esque, and I longed for an opportunity to sketch it. 
 As we steamed back across the lagoon we had a 
 most delightful distant view of the city with the 
 deep vermilion glow of evening behind it, and the 
 graceful palms and steep hill-sides standing up in 
 the foreground against the sky. 
 
 We had despatched a messenger to the A.D.C. 
 at Government House to warn him that we had 
 been detained and might be late. A capital little
 
 MALABAR POINT 19 
 
 pair of ponies, in a light carriage, got us to Malabar 
 Point in twenty minutes time, and we found a very 
 pleasant party at dinner, including Col. F. Rhodes, 
 Capt. St. Leger Jervois, Sir John Gladstone, Sir R. 
 Beauchamp and a Prince and Princess Sherbatov, 
 who were leaving next day for Kandy. It was 
 arranged that we should shift our quarters next 
 day to Government House till we left for Poona. 
 
 The real Government House is seven miles off at 
 Parell, in a lovely garden, but though a fine house 
 it is rather avoided, as it has a bad reputation from 
 a sanitary point of view, and Sir Jas. Fergusson's 
 second wife died there of fever. 
 
 We spent five very pleasant days at Malabar 
 Point, the assemblage of bungalows, which forms 
 Government House. They stand sheltered by palms 
 on the black basalt rocks, and all face the sea, 
 which is quite close on three sides. Verandahs con- 
 nect them with the great central bungalow, an 
 immense long room, partitioned with lattice-like 
 carved wooden doors into a drawing-room, dining- 
 roomand hall, with a delightful deep verandah all 
 round. Next to it come offices and then our bunga- 
 low, standing on a knoll sloping down about fifty 
 feet into the sea. Opposite the main entrance is 
 H. E.'s bungalow, and close by others for guests, 
 doctor and A.D.C.s. There are tents scattered 
 about for servants and guards, then comes the 
 stable, and the native village is beyond it is quite 
 a little colony in fact. My set of rooms, like the rest, 
 included a large room some twenty-seven feet 
 square, with a dressing-room, a bath-room and a
 
 20 
 
 BOMBAY 
 
 writing-room. The rooms are all arranged for cool- 
 ness and shade, and court the breeze, with doors 
 made like Venetian blinds ; they are high and airy 
 and open into charming, seductive, deep verandahs. 
 The wonderful silence of nature seemed to have 
 subdued voices and movements to a uniformly low 
 and gentle key ; the only sound to be heard was the 
 ripple of the waves breaking gently on the beach 
 below us, occasionally broken by the harsh voice of 
 
 BOMBAY FROM MALABAR POINT 
 
 oneof themany crows who, with consummate impu- 
 dence, will even enter the dining-room to carry off a 
 bone or other dainty from a plate. Across the blue 
 bay and the little white-sailed boats dancing over 
 the waves, we saw the towers and spires of Bom- 
 bay, on the further horn, about one-and-a-half 
 miles distant as the crow flies or one might say 
 the "vulture flies," for we have many here "but 
 that is another story." 
 
 All the arrangements in a large oriental manage, 
 such as this, are a quaint mixture of splendour and 
 simplicity. The whole place swarms with wonder-
 
 SPLENDOUR AND SIMPLICITY 21 
 
 ful khidmatgars in flaming scarlet and gold livery, 
 and the body-guard is beautiful in an old-fashioned 
 uniform and blue and gold turban, with lance and 
 pennon. At dinner the band played, and we were 
 surrounded by twelve or fourteen men, who each 
 fanned us with a gigantic painted palm-leaf, and we 
 drove out with four horses and postilions, with 
 other marks of state. But on the other hand to get 
 to our own rooms from the dining-room we had to 
 pass through an end of the verandah, screened off 
 to serve as a pantry, and down a covered walk, off 
 which were little rooms serving as kitchens, scul- 
 lery, and so on. Glimpses might be had, through 
 the open doors, of quaint domestic scenes. I used to 
 watch with some amusement groups of dusky 
 figures seated on the floor, each slowly and deli- 
 berately wiping a cup or plate. This ceremony 
 appeared to occupy the greater part of the interval 
 between meals ; then the crockery was packed away 
 in a big basket, to be produced for the next meal. 
 
 We were lucky in coming in for a great party 
 on the evening of January 15, which was a very 
 brilliant and interesting sight. There were as 
 many natives, Parsis and Hindus, as Europeans; 
 all soldiers and sailors, including the Russians 
 from the men-of-war in the harbour, were in 
 uniform. Numbers of the most important natives 
 were invited to dinner beforehand, I believe rather 
 to the disgust of the English. This went so far 
 that the lady seated at dinner next one of the best 
 known and most public-spirited of the Parsis had 
 the bad taste to refuse to speak to him, and kept
 
 22 BOMBAY 
 
 her back toward him all the time ! No wonder, 
 foreigners who have had opportunities of ascertain- 
 ing the mind of the natives tell us that, whilst 
 acknowledging that we rule with kindness and 
 justice and have given India peace, the natives 
 have no affection for us, and think we lack the 
 "true sympathy, without which weakness can 
 never pardon superior strength." 
 
 The dresses of the Hindus on this occasion 
 were most beautiful. The men were in vermilion 
 and gold turbans, and soft white clothes with a 
 touch of gold embroidery, and, on the top of the 
 ears perhaps, an ear-ring with a bunch of emeralds 
 and pearls. The Parsi women were lovely ; 
 gracefully clad in all manner of beautiful silks 
 and soft brocades, pale pink, mauve, orange, 
 or lemon-yellow, with a touch of gold or silver 
 along the outer edge. They drape a long strip of 
 soft silk around them as a petticoat, the end is then 
 passed over their heads, above the white veil which 
 confines their hair. They are often very pretty, and 
 some of them wore such fine jewels as quite to 
 eclipse those of all the English women. The rows 
 of emeralds, pearls, and diamonds were especially 
 splendid. Some of the native ladies had orna- 
 ments in the left side of the nose, a custom which 
 is as unbecoming as it must be inconvenient, 
 especially when the jewel falls down to or over the 
 mouth. 
 
 One morning, before breakfast, I took a walk in 
 the neighbourhood, down the oppressively hot 
 avenue and then round to the further (west) side of
 
 A TEMPLE OF SHIVA 23 
 
 the hill. Here, in the native village, I came upon a 
 delightfully picturesque tank, about one hundred 
 yards long, with steps, descending to the water on 
 all sides, and above, all manner of quaint build- 
 ings. This is " Walkeshivar," a temple of the 
 mystical Shiva, the giver of newlife through death, 
 and is regarded as one of the most sacred places in 
 this partof India. Here, the lingam,Shiva'semblem, 
 is reverenced with lustrations of holy water from 
 the Ganges and offerings of betel leaves. The wor- 
 shippers approaching the shrine, ring the bells, 
 which are placed in three long rows above it. 
 Though I do not suppose the temple and tank 
 possess any antiquity, still, like everything else 
 purely native, they are thoroughly picturesque, 
 though it is mere whitewash, water, and flights of 
 steps which combine to give this result. 
 
 Towers, small temples, and shrines all most 
 attractive in shape and colour were grouped in 
 charming complexity, with here and there amongst 
 the buildings a gnarled old bo-tree. There were 
 several of the usual tall octagonal pillars or towers 
 for lights which the uninitiated might take for 
 attenuated pigeon-houses perforated, on all sides 
 and all the way up, with small apertures to hold the 
 little " battis " or earthenware jars of cocoanut oil 
 which illuminate the sacred spot. From the top of 
 the temple flew a bright red flag. On one side of 
 the tank the buildings descend to the sea, on the 
 other they mount to the top of the ridge. Here 
 for the first time I saw Yogis, by their brick 
 shrines under the trees, at the waterside, who from
 
 24 BOMBAY 
 
 their revolting appearance, I imagine, must con- 
 sider themselves very religious : such shocks of 
 matted hair had they, and bodies streaked and 
 smeared with chalk and paint. They sat, quite 
 unconscious of their surroundings, telling the 
 rosary of beads which, with their hands, was 
 hidden from sight, and repeating Shiva's one thou- 
 sand and eight names over and over again. Not so 
 
 ONE OF THE TOWERS OF SILENCE 
 
 many years ago there was, I am told, a Yogi here, 
 who lived for twenty years in a stone box, in which 
 he could neither sit nor stand nor lie full length. 
 The throngs of Hindus, coming away, all seemed 
 to have their foreheads marked with quaint signs, 
 which I discovered indicated their caste. The 
 brown wrinkled forehead of the old priest was also 
 barred with three bold white lines. 
 
 Another day I drove to the Parsi Towers of 
 Silence on the top of the hill the most beautiful 
 site in the neighbourhood. A funeral procession
 
 A. for Men 
 
 B. ., Women 
 
 C. ., Children 
 0. Well 
 
 E. Filter 
 
 THE TOWERS OF SILENCE 25 
 
 was coming down the steps from the tower gardens 
 as I arrived ; so I had to wait a few minutes until 
 some hundred Parsis had passed, walking in a 
 string, in prosaic white trousers, long white coats, 
 with American cloth cow-hoof-shaped hats. 
 
 It was rather a gruesome sight to see the vul- 
 tures hovering above one's head and flapping their 
 huge wings. There are 
 three or four Towers of 
 Silenceof various sizes, 
 I shouldguess from ten 
 to seventy yards across ; 
 they are cylindrical and 
 of masonry, like white- 
 washed gasometers, and 
 the planof them is this: 
 inside they are open to 
 the air and divided into 
 numerous wedge-shaped compartments in three 
 tiers (A) the outside tier for the men's, (B) the 
 centre for the women's, (C) the inner one for 
 children's corpses. Before the bodies are placed in 
 these cells they are laid out on a stone and a dog is 
 brought up to them. If he licks the face of the 
 corpse it is supposed to show that the soul has the 
 entrdeto Paradise, if otherwise that it iscondemned. 
 Rows of vultures, with here and there a crow, some- 
 times perched on a vulture's back, stands stolidly 
 along the rims of the towers, waiting. After about 
 five hours their work is done, and nothing remains 
 but bones, which are placed in a great central pit, 
 where they turn to dust, and when the monsoon 
 
 SKETCH-PLAN OF TOWER OF SILENCE 
 
 D
 
 26 BOMBAY 
 
 comes the rain washes into this well, and the water, 
 after being filtered, finds its way to the sea. They 
 say the most up-to-date of the Parsis are rather 
 ashamed of this custom of theirs, and would like it 
 abolished, but it was their wonderful veneration for 
 the sanctity of the elements that led to their devis- 
 ing this elaborate scheme by which they avoid the 
 contamination of earth, fire, or water, for that 
 would expose them to the attack of the Evil Spirit, 
 to whose machinations they attribute all disease 
 and evil. 
 
 The Parsis, on whose industry, level-headed 
 commercial enterprise and public spirit the flourish- 
 ing condition of Bombay is based, have only been 
 in the island since the days of British rule, and owe 
 their prosperity entirely to our protection. The 
 Mohammedans in India always persecuted them 
 bitterly, treated them as pariahs, and confined them 
 to the country districts. They had fled from Persia 
 in consequence of the persecution of KhaliphOmar, 
 642 A.D., and were allowed, by a Hindu prince, to 
 settle in a district of Western India, on condition 
 that they abstained from cow-killing and adopted 
 a modification of Hindu dress. Their curious head- 
 dress seems to have originated in the tall Persian 
 cap, cut down and bent : to this they cling tena- 
 ciously, but in many other respects they have 
 adopted European dress and customs, though no 
 people or caste has supplied so few converts to 
 Christianity. They are not idolaters, though a cer- 
 tain amount of Hindu superstition has corrupted 
 the purity of their worship, and to remove this an
 
 PARSIS 27 
 
 effort after reform, and return to the original mono- 
 theistic faith was made in 1852. 
 
 The Zoroastrian faith teaches them belief in a 
 Supreme God, who is Infinite Perfection, the 
 Creator and Ruler of the Universe, and further 
 that to have the assistance of this Good Spirit they 
 must cultivate good thoughts, good words, and 
 good deeds, and extreme purity, physical and 
 mental ; otherwise they offend the six Guardian 
 Spirits charged with the care of the three sacred 
 elements (fire, water, earth), metals, animals and 
 birds, trees and plants, and put themselves into the 
 power of the Evil Spirit, who, warring against the 
 well-being and happiness of mankind, perpetually 
 sows disease, sin, and death. 
 
 In the Zend Avesta (the Zoroastrian sacred 
 writings), purity and immunity from sin and 
 disease are continually described as proceeding 
 from Good thoughts, Good words, and Good deeds. 
 Through them, too, lies the way to Heaven, they 
 give the soul the right to enter, and seem also to 
 constitute its sole reward. A beautiful passage, 
 from the Zend Avesta, descriptive of the passing 
 of the soul of the good man upwards after death 
 has been immortalised by G. F. Watts in his pic- 
 ture of the " Dying Warrior." * 
 
 " When the third night turns towards the light, 
 then the soul of the pure man goes forward, and a 
 light wind meets him from the south. In that wind 
 
 * My authority for this statement is the late Mrs. Arthur 
 Hanson, to whom Watts quoted this passage when she asked him 
 the meaning of his picture.
 
 28 BOMBAY 
 
 comes to meet him the figure of a maiden, beautiful 
 and shining, with brilliant face. Then to her speaks 
 the soul of the pure man : 'What maiden art thou, 
 whom I here see ? who art fairer than maidens of 
 earth?' And she replies to him, 'I am, O youth, 
 thine own good thoughts and words and works, 
 appearing to thee in greatness and goodness and 
 beauty." 
 
 That the Parsis do obey the beautiful, ethical 
 precepts of their religion is apparent from their 
 lives, which are active, laborious, patient, generous, 
 and very free from self-seeking. In their corporate 
 life they are very closely united, and it is said that 
 extreme poverty and crime are equally unknown 
 amongst them. I understand that they suffered 
 very little from the plague. But last census showed 
 that this most intelligent and progressive com- 
 munity is diminishing in numbers. They had 
 decreased considerably, and had fewer children 
 under five years, in proportion, than any other class. 
 There is a growing tendency in the younger genera- 
 tion to marry out of the community, and the re- 
 actionary party have lately resolved to exclude all 
 such from their templesand charitable trusts. Some 
 of the more progressive able men are determined 
 to test the legality of this action, which they con- 
 sider threatens the advance of the educated Parsis 
 socially and intellectually. 
 
 The gardens round the Towers of Silence were 
 delightful, they were bright with bushes of jasmine 
 and scarlet poinsettia and oleander, and have a 
 lovely view over the sea. They look down on
 
 THE NATIVE QUARTER 29 
 
 groves of palms and acacia-like tamarind trees, 
 white flowering mango, and tall peepul trees with 
 vivid green foliage, all of a tremble in the breeze, 
 and old cypress trees wreathed with flaming orange 
 bignonia. 
 
 But the great attraction of Bombay to my mind 
 lies between Byculla, Crawford Market and the 
 Docks, in the extraordinary strangeness and beauty 
 of the streets in the native town. It is, in a queer 
 gaudy way, the most wonderfully picturesque place 
 it is possible to imagine, and, I believe, one of the 
 best bits of oriental town to be seen in India. I was 
 quite enchanted with the people and their quaint 
 haunts, and was never tired of driving in, in the 
 dogcart, or taking the tram, and wandering on foot 
 through the crowded streets, under tall, brightly 
 painted houses with deeply overhanging balconies 
 and beautifully ornamented corbels and pillars. 
 
 It would be well worth coming to India simply 
 to see this part of Bombay. Indeed, it is in colour, 
 sounds and smell that 'characteristic and unmis- 
 takable Eastern smell of ghee, spices and wood- 
 smoke an epitome of Indian life. The architecture 
 is a bizarre mixture of Portuguese- Renaissance and 
 Hindu, and some of the tall houses with their 
 elaborately carved facades and projecting upper 
 storeys are remarkably good as works of art. 
 
 In the marvellous, small, low shops beneath, 
 squat amongst their wares the native tradesmen on 
 their heels, nursing their knees. They sell different 
 sorts of grain, or hammered brass and copper pots ; 
 gold and silver Cutch repoussd work of Dutch
 
 30 BOMBAY 
 
 origin, or gold damascened Gujrat work ; tor- 
 toise-shell carvings ; the famous "Bombay boxes" 
 
 A HOUSE IN THE NATIVE QUARTER 
 
 of inlaid sandal-wood ; carved ebony or black- 
 wood furniture, also copied from the Dutch ; 
 carpets from Sind, of beautiful conventional de-
 
 DELIGHTFUL COMBINATIONS 31 
 
 signs and colouring ; gold, and silver-thread and 
 embroideries ; and the confectioners' shops were 
 filled with strange, oily-looking sweetmeats and 
 queer balls of flour and honey. There are also many 
 thousand jewellers, from different parts of India, 
 who here display their dazzling wares : bracelets, 
 armlets, anklets, nose-rings, necklets, made of 
 strings of pearl and turquoise threaded on a gold 
 wire ; or of bands of gold enamelled with blue, 
 green and red, or set with many-coloured gems 
 sapphires, emeralds, or rubies which are often 
 quite valueless except for the artistic effect pro- 
 duced by the points and sparkles of their gorgeous 
 brilliant colour ; chains of pearl with pierced 
 amethysts dangling by a hook from between every 
 two or three beads ; native gold ornaments of many 
 kinds, either magnificently solid from Gujrat, or 
 covered with intricate designs from the Mahratti 
 districts. 
 
 The whole place is one great bazaar, which runs 
 through deep buildings where quaint archways 
 give access to unexpected mosques or Hindu 
 temples, painted like the houses in boldly brilliant 
 and vivid reds and greens. All things conspire to 
 make delightful combinations for sketching the 
 deep overhanging archways and balconies; the 
 lace-like carving on the corbels; the frequent vistas 
 of Hindu towers, domes, or stone carvings, and 
 here and there a minaret; the tanks with steps 
 down to the water and surrounded with a cluster 
 of little temples, each with its upright stone spire. 
 
 All this is bathed in bright sunlight, and ani-
 
 32 BOMBAY 
 
 mated by the continual stream of marvellous 
 figures, surging and shouting in the narrow street. 
 It is for all the world like a gigantic ant-heap that 
 has been disturbed or, perhaps, rather like some 
 gigantic tulip-garden : for the vivid variety of 
 riotous colours is endless and inconceivable ; yet all 
 these hues of red and yellow, vermilion, crimson, 
 cherry-colour, rose and peach, orange, saffron, 
 lemon, or canary-colour, and of purple, blue, or 
 green of metallic or tender shade, are blent and har- 
 monised deliciously in the glorious atmosphere of 
 light, saturated and subdued by the softening in- 
 fluence of the sea air. 
 
 Equally inexhaustible seem the resources of cos- 
 tume, for in hardly any place in the world is there 
 a busier city life than in Bombay, or a more varied 
 assemblage of national types. There are of course 
 more Hindus, Mohammedans, Parsis and Mahrat- 
 tas than representatives of any other race, but speci- 
 mens of almost every characteristic oriental dress 
 may be met jostling each other in the swarming 
 Bhendi bazaar. There are the Hindu coolies and 
 artisans, with hardly a rag to cover their bronze 
 limbs ; elderly Parsis, with cerise silk trousers 
 and cowhoof-shaped brown or black brimless hats; 
 shimmeringgreen and gold turbaned Mohammedan 
 Moulvies or Khojahs ; deep copper-coloured Mah- 
 rattas and rich Gujrathi and Marwari baniyas, with 
 vermilion or crimson or white head-dresses, some 
 arranged with high pointed peaks; faircomplexioned 
 Parsi women, with beautiful eyes and dark hair and 
 fine jewellery, clothed in the delicate-hued soft silk
 
 THE CROWD 33 
 
 draperies from Surat, which flow in artistic folds 
 of every conceivable colour ; Hinduwomen in white 
 saris, carrying on their heads graceful brass lotas, 
 are jostled by Arab horse-dealers from Muscat 
 with long burnooses, and heads swathed in kefiahs 
 bound with camel's-hair cords ; dignified Persians, 
 in Astrakan caps ; Turks ; wild-looking Afghans 
 from the north, smocked and turbaned in blue ; 
 supple - limbed Malays, black - skinned Somali 
 negroes; Lascars from the P. and O. and other liners 
 in the port ; fishermen from the neighbouring 
 suburb of Mazagon : in fact, it is a veritable 
 kaleidoscope of all Eastern tribes and races, far 
 and near. 
 
 One morning, after "choti hazri " and before 
 nineo'clock breakfast, I wentintotheOldTown and 
 made a slight sketch of one of the houses near the 
 bazaar which has a good deal of ornamentation 
 about it. The ground floor is raised about six 
 steps above the street and recedes, leaving space 
 for a deep stone verandah, in front of which orna- 
 mented pillars rise to support quaintly sculptured 
 corbels upon which the upper part of the house 
 rests. The woodwork of this upper part was also 
 richly carved, and the windows were furnished 
 with innumerable shutters. Afterwards I wandered 
 into the noisy but delightful brass bazaar, and 
 thence to some of the temples : in one was a large 
 tank and the two queer little towers in seven tiers 
 at its side were intended to hold, on solemn occa- 
 sions, tiny earthenware jars filled with cocoa-nut 
 oil, in which floating wicks give as much light as
 
 34 BOMBAY 
 
 wax candles. These native illuminations, out- 
 lining all the architectural features with lines of 
 fire, are the prettiest sight of the sort imaginable. 
 When I saw these quaint towers, they were covered 
 with pigeons, perching in the niches and fluttering 
 and hovering around. 
 
 Another bright day, with the thermometer at 
 80, I was out sketching in Hornby Row at seven 
 o'clock, and after breakfast Mrs. Burn-Murdoch 
 kindly took us to see the Bombay Pottery Works. 
 They were under the management of Mr. George 
 Terry, an old man with a bent back, who told me 
 that the origin of this revival of the old industry 
 is due to a conversation he had with Sir Bartle 
 Frere. It is a rude kind of ware which is made 
 here, something like the Valerie pottery but not 
 with such transparent glaze, though some of the 
 colours are very good. 
 
 Some of the best native potter's ware in all 
 India comes from Sind, and the industry is 
 believed to have been introduced by the Moguls. 
 They covered their mosques and tombs with 
 beautifully coloured specimens of this art, in tur- 
 quoise-blue, copper-green, dark purple, or golden 
 brown, under an exquisitely transparent glaze. 
 The Indian artisan is remarkable for his patience, 
 his thoroughness, and accuracy of detail, and his 
 artistic feeling for colour and form. The metal 
 work and carving shows his true sense of conven- 
 tional ornament. The composition and colour in 
 carpets or enamels and the form of his pottery have 
 seldom been surpassed. But much of the skill of
 
 NATIVE ART 35 
 
 the Indian craftsman is due to the hereditary 
 nature of his art. The potter, the weaver, the smith, 
 each belong to a separate caste ; and a son inevit- 
 ably follows the trade of his father and reproduces 
 his work. 
 
 Unfortunately, the competition and prestige of 
 Europe have created a tendency to imitate Euro- 
 pean designs ; other causes also have combined to 
 bring about a deterioration in the native work. 
 One of the conditions most necessary to elicit good 
 and artistic work from a native craftsman is abso- 
 lute leisure. It is essential to have infinite patience 
 with him, and to avoid pressing him in any way ; 
 for only when he is allowed perfect liberty to turn 
 from one piece of work to another, as the spirit 
 moves him, can he produce his best. The best 
 work used to be done to the order of wealthy 
 princes and nobles of the native courts, many of 
 which have now ceased to exist, or lost their in- 
 fluence and wealth ; and large orders, to be turned 
 out at a fixed date, have tended, as much as any- 
 thing, in the direction of decadence in Indian art. 
 
 The School of Art in Bombay has done much 
 to revive the various technical industries of the 
 people, which were dying out ; but whether the in- 
 fluence of the different Government Schools of Art 
 has been altogether beneficial is a much-disputed 
 point, as there is always much risk that a school 
 containing principally casts from the antique, and 
 details of Italian and Gothic ornament, will destroy 
 the old indigenous ideals ; and as the native 
 craftsmen have not much creative power, the
 
 36 BOMBAY 
 
 result may be that their work will lose all distinc- 
 tive character. 
 
 The little brown native children in the streets 
 are a delightful, and often a curious, sight. The 
 little Hindu girls all wear nose-rings on the left 
 side, even though they may have no other attire, 
 and they have often a profusion of jewels ; chains, 
 and bangles without end. Indeed they are some- 
 times made away with for the sake of the jewels 
 with which the native parent delights to load her 
 child. One day we went to inspect a Parsi girls' 
 school, and were delighted with all we saw. The 
 head-mistress was a Parsi, with three English 
 mistresses under her, and there w r ere two hundred 
 better-class girls, from five to eighteen years 
 of age, all able to pay for their education. The elder 
 girls sang some of Scott Gatty's songs, and the 
 little children their " Duty to God, their Parents 
 and their Teachers," in Mahratta, clapping their 
 hands three times at the beginning of each line ; 
 the music, like all Oriental music, had a curiously 
 weird effect. Up to fifteen, the girls were dressed 
 like little boys, in short satin trousers reaching 
 below the knee, a sort of muslin vest and straight 
 tight jackets of coloured satin. Their hair hung 
 down in a pigtail beneath little round tinsel caps 
 embroidered in gold or pearls. The elder children 
 were dressed, like the women, in the ordinary silk 
 sari, of beautiful delicate shades, edged with gold 
 or silver embroidery. They looked happy and well, 
 a contrast to the European children, poor little 
 things, who were the colour of paper : long residence
 
 OVERCROWDING 37 
 
 in this climate seemed to make every one look pale 
 and boiled to rags, yet it does not exhaust them 
 entirely. The popular and energetic Governor him- 
 self looked tired, and no wonder, with so much 
 anxious work on his hands ; but he was in good 
 spirits ; and our genial and indefatigable hostess 
 had energy enough to leave Government House 
 once a week at 4 A.M., drive a mile and a half to 
 the station, then after a short railway journey have 
 a good run with the hounds the quarry being a 
 jackal : she used to be back again in Bombay for 
 nine o'clock breakfast. 
 
 Occasionally the thermometer dropped to the 
 sixties and then it was chilly ; one night, driving 
 back from dinner with the Bishop at Malabar 
 Court, there was a strong wind, and we felt it quite 
 cold. But in spite of the cool nights and mornings, 
 the sun was wonderfully strong and I found it 
 almost too hot, and in the old town humanity was 
 too closely packed for sketching there to be agree- 
 able. 
 
 This mass of human beings, with hardly a stitch 
 of clothes on their bodies, are terribly overcrowded, 
 especially in the poorer quarters. The over- 
 crowding is most dense in the gigantic lodging- 
 houses, or "chawls," in which so large a part of 
 the native population lives. A single chawl, five 
 to seven stories high with its steep narrow stairs 
 leading to nests of small rooms, each inhabited 
 by a family and opening on to a long, narrow, 
 and dark passage may contain from five hundred 
 to a thousand inhabitants.
 
 38 BOMBAY 
 
 Every known rule of sanitation is disregarded 
 in these houses, which have the largest population 
 to a square mile of any city in the world ; and 
 here, in September 1896, a terrible visitation of 
 the plague made its first appearance since the 
 time of Aurangzeb, and devastated Bombay, pre- 
 viously regarded as one of the healthiest of Oriental 
 cities. It is not considered likely that it originated 
 on the spot, though its origin cannot be ascertained 
 with any degree of certainty; there are believed to 
 be only two possible sources of infection, either the 
 country to the extreme north of India, or China, 
 for in both of these places plague constantly pre- 
 vails. The probability seems to be that it came from 
 China and was carried by rats, who certainly suffer 
 and die from the disease, and transmit it to human 
 beings by contact, or perhaps by means of fleas, 
 which abound on the bodies of rats and desert 
 them after death. In spite of the most strenuous 
 efforts, it was found impossible to carry out all 
 the desirable regulations, on account of the violent 
 opposition and excited feeling of the people, who 
 concealed their sick, opposed all disinfection, and 
 even attacked the hospitals ; consequently, the 
 plague spread from Bombay City into the Presi- 
 dency, along the sea-coast and inland in every 
 direction. It then established its hold on the Pun- 
 jab and North-West, and has since then returned 
 every year, and in some districts in North India it 
 raged in 1904-5 with a violence unparalleled since 
 the "Black Death" in the fourteenth century. 
 The Commission sent out by the Home Govern-
 
 THE PLAGUE 
 
 39 
 
 ment to report on the matter came to the dis- 
 heartening conclusion that " there are no means of 
 stamping out the present epidemic of plague in 
 India ; that even with the best measures most 
 rigidly applied, a certain amount of danger sub- 
 sists, and all that can be done is to lessen the 
 danger as much as possible." The fear lest the 
 Indian epidemic should spread to Europe does not 
 appear to be without foundation. 
 
 The terrible mortality in the Punjab in 1904-5 
 sheds a lurid light on these serious words. 
 
 UNDER MALABAR HILL
 
 IN THE FUNERAL PROCESSION
 
 CHAPTER II 
 POONA 
 
 WE left Malabar Point to give place to the 
 new Governor of Madras, who was to land here on 
 the way to take up his appointment. It was rather 
 nasty weather, so that he and his party arrived 
 twenty-four hours late, and the A.D.C.s and 
 bodyguard, who were at the Apollo Bunder 
 at 7 A.M. to receive them, had to wait hours 
 before they were able to land. We left with regret, 
 and with a promise to return to Malabar Point on 
 our way home, when we had completed our 
 Indian tour. 
 
 Our journey to Poona was our first experience 
 of an Indian train, with its screens of boarding 
 hanging over the windows to keep off the dust, 
 its double roof, and smoked-coloured glass win- 
 dows. We had a very agreeable fellow-traveller 
 in an old Etonian friend, Captain Clewes. 
 
 The line runs to the foot of the hills, over a flat 
 plain which, after the rains, is one great swamp, 
 but was then dried up and baked. Then we began 
 to mount the Ghats, which we had so often seen 
 from Bombay, looking, as their name implies, like 
 gigantic landing stairs from the seaboard to the
 
 42 POONA 
 
 Deccan plateau. The scenery was very fine as we 
 ascended bya mountain pass; andwhen the country 
 is less burned up, it must be beautiful. As it was, 
 we had some grand views looking back upon the 
 hazy plains below. 
 
 The chief characteristic of the Western Ghats is 
 that they are all flat-topped, and that the upper 
 layer, a stratum of basalt or trap, usually has pre- 
 cipitous sides, broken through by prodigious vol- 
 canic outbursts which have formed the most un- 
 expected jagged pinnacles and craggy peaks. These 
 rise abruptly out of the forests, on the terraced 
 sides. Near the top the line makes a zig-zag to 
 reach the heights above the Deccan plateau 
 which extends in one monotonous plain right away 
 to Madras. Here we were at the watershed. From 
 this point the welcome rain, brought to the West- 
 ern Ghats by the Bombay sea-breeze and the un- 
 failing monsoon fromthe Arabian Ocean, has to find 
 an outlet to the eastward, right across India, in the 
 Bay of Bengal. Clewes pointed out several spots 
 in the jungle where he said panthers and bears 
 were to be found, but the jungle struck us as a 
 very scrubby affair compared with that of Ceylon. 
 
 The Mahrattas, who had their capital at Poona, 
 were, from the time of Aurangzeb till 1818, 
 supreme in the Maharashtra, " the great Province," 
 which extends from the Arabian Sea to the Satara 
 mountains in the north, and includes a great part 
 of Western and Central India. The name was 
 that of the people of all races, living in this region, 
 but is applied to Hindus only. The Mahrattas,
 
 MAHRATTAS 
 
 43 
 
 who probablydescended into Indiafrom the North- 
 West at an early period, still regard themselves 
 as a separate people, though nowadays they almost 
 
 \u .H*cP- "*'< \J "i*"- ~\ /*" \J\' *, "*-5> 
 
 rWSr , ^ ... ^ , ^ %}jte& 
 
 \ 
 
 ( -<:*& Y i V 
 
 JAGGED PINNACLES OF THE GHATS 
 
 all belong to British India or to the Nizam's 
 dominions : their language is a copious, flexible 
 and sonorous tongue. They are of two castes only, 
 Brahmans and Sudras. The Brahmans have small 
 square heads, dark skins, and the regular features,
 
 44 POONA 
 
 spare upright figure and calm commanding ap- 
 pearance of a high-bred race, and are among the 
 most ambitious and able men in India. The low- 
 caste Mahrattas are uncouth, small wiry men, 
 showing much activity and power of endurance. 
 Bred and born among the hills they have the 
 qualities of mountaineers, and in defence of their 
 homes they have always shown great bravery, 
 though they have " rather the courage of the freer 
 booter than the genuine soldierly instinct." There 
 are now six Mahratta regiments in the Indian 
 army, but the race as a whole has settled down to 
 agriculture. 
 
 During the first centuries of the Christian era 
 the Mahrattas enjoyed considerable prosperity 
 under a number of petty chiefs. They submitted, 
 with but little resistance, to the first Mohamme- 
 dan invasion, but in 1657 Shivaji, the famous hero 
 of Mahratta story, rebelled against the Mohamme- 
 dan Kings of Bijapur. He and his soldiers were 
 of humble caste, though his ministers were 
 Mahratta Brahmans. He inspired his country- 
 men with his own enthusiasm, and his followers 
 were conspicuous for their dashing qualities. 
 It was long since the Moguls had met with 
 any serious resistance ; but Shivaji, having con- 
 quered Bijapur, defied the Emperor, and before 
 he died had gone far towards shaking off their 
 yoke. The new Mahratta State which he founded 
 was ultimately recognised by Aurangzeb. Shivaji's 
 grandson, brought up at the Delhi court, turned 
 out feeble and degenerate, and was a puppet
 
 MAHRATTA RAIDS 45 
 
 in the hands of his Brahman minister, the 
 Peshwa, who threatened Delhi and succeeded 
 in establishing the right of "chauth" the 
 famous Mahratta claim of one-fourth of the State 
 revenue over the whole Deccan. The office of 
 Peshwa became hereditary, and grew in import- 
 ance with the growth of the Mahratta kingdom, 
 the kings sinking into obscurity. Before 1760 the 
 Mahrattas had overrun Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, 
 and various Mahratta chiefs had seized different 
 parts of the Mogul Empire : Sindhia ruled over a 
 large stretch of country south of Agra and Delhi, 
 the Gaekwars held the Rajput plains of Gujrat, 
 and the north of Bombay, and Holkar the uplands 
 of Malwa. All these States acknowledged the 
 Peshwa at Poona, as the head of the Mahratta 
 confederation, which finally absorbed nearly the 
 whole of India and became the largest empire 
 ever formed by a Hindu race. The renowned 
 Mahratta cavalry numbered 100,000 men, and 
 boasted of having watered their horses in every 
 Indian river from the Kistna to the Indus. 
 Their method was to ride long distances into 
 a hostile country, strike some terrific blow and 
 then retire beyond reach of pursuit. But the 
 confederation lacked the elements of permanency ; 
 it depended on plundering expeditions, and, with 
 the exception of the Peshwas, its chiefs were rude 
 freebooting warriors. The first check came when 
 the Afghan, Ahmed Shah Abdali, invaded India 
 in 1761, and completely crushed the Mahrattas at 
 Panipat. Their empire was not broken up however
 
 46 POONA 
 
 until the British came into contact with them : 
 and till 1803 the titular Emperor of Delhi remained 
 under the control of Sindhia. Then took place the 
 great Mahratta war, in which both the Wellesleys 
 distinguished themselves. After hard fighting at 
 Assaye, Argaum, Delhi and Dig, the Mahratta 
 confederacy was destroyed. One more struggle 
 took place between 1816-1818, when the Peshwa 
 joined with the freebooting Pindaris of Rajpootana 
 in an attempt to defy British supremacy ; but 
 Mountstuart Elphinstone formed a scheme by 
 which Holkar was utterly defeated at Mahidpur 
 and the Peshwa at Kirkee. The Peshwa sur- 
 rendered to Sir John Malcolm, who sent him as 
 a prisoner to Bithna near Cawnpore. Here he died 
 in 1851, leaving his undying hatred of his con- 
 querors as a legacy to his adopted son, the infamous 
 Nana Sahib, who showed the true Mahratta tem- 
 per in the Cawnpore Massacres of June 1857. 
 
 At the top of the Ghats we found a deliciously 
 cool breeze, and enjoyed a brilliant sunset, and at 
 Poona Station were greeted by our host, Major 
 Spratt. A drive often minutes amongst bungalows 
 and compounds overshadowed by acacias brought 
 us to his house, where he and his wife were com- 
 fortably installed, and we spent some very pleasant 
 days with them, and made acquaintance for the 
 first time with a normal Anglo-Indian household. 
 
 I had never realised before what a retinue 
 the exigencies of caste require the unfortunate 
 Englishman to keep going. First there is the 
 Khansama or head-man, who is responsible for
 
 AN ANGLO-INDIAN HOUSEHOLD 47 
 
 all the other servants, and buys all the provi- 
 sions in the market ; he has to have a coolie to 
 bring home the food and hand it over to the cook, 
 who is, of course, provided with a washer-up. A 
 Khidmatjar, usually a Mahommedan, has charge 
 of the pantry, and waits at table. Then each member 
 of the family has his own Bearer, who is appa- 
 rently responsible for his master and all his 
 belongings, and dusts and keeps them in order. 
 The Sweeper does all the rougher work, and the 
 obliging Bheesti, with his goatskin water-bag, 
 provides the water for the big bath-tub, which, 
 standing on the Chuma floor of the bath- 
 room, surrounded with earthenware chatties, is 
 always kept full of water, and is one of the 
 pleasantest of Indian luxuries. Part of the floor is 
 set about with a four-inch high wall, and provided 
 with water channels leading to a hole in the wall, 
 where the water runs out, and by which the snakes, 
 who like cool damp retreats, occasionally come in. 
 Then there is the Dhobi, who washes your clothes 
 in the river by the effectively destructive process 
 peculiar to India. He stands in the water, close 
 to a stone or rock, and when he has rinsed the 
 garment in the stream he lifts it in a bundle above 
 his, head, and with all his force dashes it repeatedly 
 against the rock till it is clean. Needless to say, 
 it returns to you rather the worse for the wear and 
 tear ; and I was not so much amazed to hear that 
 there are men who send their shirts to England 
 to be washed, as I should have been without my 
 acquaintance with the methods of the dhobi.
 
 48 POONA 
 
 Then, there is the Durwan or doorkeeper, the 
 Mali or gardener, a Chaprasim "badge-bearer" to 
 take notes and do outside commissions, a Punkah 
 wala, a Durzi, or tailor, who sits in the verandah 
 and sews, an A yak for each lady in the house, 
 and, for each horse, a Syce who sleeps at the foot 
 of his stall, besides the Coachman who drives you. 
 So that the simplest ordinary Anglo-Indian house- 
 hold consists of at least nineteen or twenty ser- 
 vants. Fortunately,they all have their separate huts, 
 with their wives, behind reed enclosures in the 
 compound, and cater for themselves. 
 
 It is only after hearing something of the caste 
 system, and its indissolubly close connection with 
 religion in India, that it becomes apparent why 
 the Englishman has allowed himself to be saddled 
 with this, at first sight, ridiculously large staff. 
 The Hindu believes that the Supreme God created 
 separate orders of men, with fixed employments, 
 as He created varieties of plants and animals, and 
 that whatever a man is born that he must remain 
 for the whole course of this life. Consequently, 
 should any member of even the lowest caste over- 
 step the strict limits of his divinely ordained duty, 
 he would commit an offence, to deal with which a 
 caste meeting would have to be called ; and shquld 
 the transgression be proved, the culprit would be 
 condemned to a form of persecution, of which, 
 says Sir Monier Williams, boycotting is a feeble 
 imitation. No one of his own or any caste would 
 be allowed to associate or have any trade deal- 
 ings with him. He would be a ruined, homeless,
 
 CASTES 49 
 
 friendless outcast, and his only course would be to 
 flee the country ; unless, by a money payment and 
 submitting to degrading ceremonial purification, 
 he were able to secure re-admission to the ranks 
 of his fellows. Originally there were but four castes 
 Brahmans, the first human emanation of the 
 Supreme God ; Kshatriyas or soldiers ; Vaisyas or 
 agriculturists (these are the so-called " twice born " 
 castes) ; and Sudras or servants. They were all 
 believed to be born and obliged to remain " as dis- 
 tinct from each otheras elephants, lions, oxen, dogs, 
 wheat, barley, rice or beans." 
 
 But as society became more complicated, and a 
 greater variety of occupations became a necessity, 
 the four castes were split up, and developed into 
 an endless number of trade-castes, often of mixed 
 origin. The census has revealed innumerable pro- 
 fessions of most strangely amusing simplicity, 
 such as " hereditary givers of evidence," heredi- 
 tary beggars, hereditary tom-tom men, " hereditary 
 makers of speeches," hereditary " planters of cut- 
 tings," hereditary professionals whose business in 
 life it is " to make sport of the enemies of the rich 
 and praise their friends." There still remain some 
 of the original pure castes, chiefly amongst Brah- 
 mans, but the Rajpoots claim to be pure-blooded 
 Kshatriyas, and the baniyas or traders to be pure 
 Vaisyas. Members of these four original castes 
 are superior to those of any trade-caste of mixed 
 origin. But nowadays a Brahman need not neces- 
 sarily be a priest; his parents may choose for 
 him a secular profession, and he may be a cook
 
 50 POONA 
 
 or a soldier, or indeed belong to any trade-caste 
 which is not degrading. But to whatever caste 
 a man belongs, he must conform implicitly to 
 its rules, which are supposed to be divinely 
 ordained : they regulate the food to be eaten, 
 the common meal which may be shared, mar- 
 riage, and the employment a man may engage in. 
 The food allowed varies in the different castes, 
 but must never be cooked by a person of lower 
 origin. No food cooked with water may be shared 
 by different castes together, and strict rules deter- 
 mine from whom the higher castes may receive water. 
 Fruit, however, or dry food requiring no prepara- 
 tion, may be shared indiscriminately. No inter- 
 marriage is allowed between persons of different 
 castes, and caste-rule enforces child marriage, and 
 sternly forbids the re-marriage of a widow. The 
 different castes, and theworshippers of the different 
 gods, are distinguished from one another byspecial 
 signs with which the forehead is marked after 
 bathing. Some kind of perpendicular bar denotes 
 a follower of Vishnu ; and some mark denoting his 
 third eye, a follower of Shiva. 
 
 In spite of the tyranny and terrorism which 
 may result from the caste system it is not all bad ; 
 and though it has created various complexities in 
 the Englishman's household, yet probably the 
 endless divisions and animosities of caste and 
 trade leagues, which make political combinations 
 impossible, have helped us to govern India. 
 
 Poona, which stands on a rather rocky, bare and 
 treeless plain on the bank of the River Mutto, is
 
 PARBATI HILL 51 
 
 the centre of the government of Bombay during 
 the rainy season and the headquarters of the Bom- 
 bay army. Our host, Major Spratt,* and Captain 
 Clewes spent the greater part of the day, whilst we 
 were in Poona, in camp some six miles distant ; 
 where manoeuvring and gun-practice were going 
 on. The camp was pitched on an exposed plain 
 
 II I! 
 
 1 2 
 
 o g 
 
 5 678 
 
 1, 2, and 3 ' Folloivers of Vishnu. 
 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, Follmcers of Shiva. 
 
 SECTARIAL MARKS 
 
 to the east of the town, with plenty of space all 
 round. 
 
 The day after our arrival in Poona we drove 
 out to Parbati Hill, which is an isolated conical 
 peak, crowned by an old palace and a Hindu 
 temple. Parbati is about three miles south in 
 the direction of the hills, which terminate in the 
 bold square rock of Singhgarh, a place famous in 
 Mahratta history. 
 
 We reached the foot of the Parbati Hill just 
 about the hottest part of the morning, and toiled 
 up the steps to the summit. There are about 
 
 * Now Colonel Spratt Bowring, R.A.
 
 52 POONA 
 
 two hundred great wide steps and ramps on the 
 way up, with their numbers marked on them in 
 Marathi : we took it easily and did it pretty com- 
 fortably, but it was a hot walk, and we were very 
 glad to fall in with the suggestion of an old 
 woman, going up with offerings ; and we sat be- 
 side her on a step, under the shade of a cactus 
 hedge. Half way up we found a blind man who, 
 having received a copper, shouted out tidings of our 
 approach to the temple above. The view on the way 
 up appeared to us rather fine, when once we had 
 become reconciled to the dried-up aspect of the 
 country. The parched plain of Poona, dotted with 
 little groups of trees and ending in the line of ghats 
 and the hills of Satara, was spread out at our feet 
 like a great tawny yellow carpet flecked with black, 
 under the pale blue canopy of sunlight. When we 
 got quite to the top we found a deep picturesque 
 window opening in the wall, and there we stayed 
 some time to rest, looking down over Poona and 
 the river on one side, and to a wooded tract of 
 country away across the famous battle-field of 
 Kirkee. The last Peshwa is said to have watched 
 the final annihilation of his troops from this 
 identical window. To the south, on our left, lay 
 the hills, amongst which is Mahabaleshwa where 
 our host's children then were the hill station to 
 which before the rains all Bombay takes flight 
 from the heat. A canal leads towards these hills, 
 and ends, about seven miles off, in the great arti- 
 ficial lake of Khadakwazla, over fourteen miles 
 long, from which the Poona water-supply comes.
 
 HINDU PANTHEON 53 
 
 When we reached the top of the Parbati Hill 
 the hereditary chief priest was having his midday 
 meal, and did not make his appearance until later ; 
 but his son, an intelligent young Brahman educated 
 in a school in Poona and speaking English re- 
 markably well, met us and took us round. 
 
 In an outhouse of the temple we were interested 
 to see two women grinding at the mill in the true 
 Biblical fashion, with two stones and a handle in 
 the side of the top one. 
 
 Besides the principal temple to Parbati, or 
 Durga, the wife of Shiva, there are within the 
 enclosure here, two other temples, one to Vishnu 
 and one to Ganesh, the elephant-headed god of 
 good luck, and in the corner of the first court-yard 
 are four shrines. These are dedicated to Surya, god 
 of the sun, driving a chariot ; Kartikkeya, Shiva's 
 six-headed son, the god of war, riding a peacock ; 
 Vishnu, and Durga. 
 
 The young Brahman priest explained that there 
 are not so many deities worshipped in India as is 
 sometimes supposed. Vishnu and Shiva, under 
 their various forms, their wives, Shiva's two sons 
 and the monkey-god Hanuman, complete the list 
 of those who have temples dedicated to them. 
 
 The three chief gods, all manifestations of 
 Brahm the supreme spirit, are Brahma, Vishnu, 
 and Shiva, and there are only two places in India 
 Poshkara or Pokhar near Aj mere, and at Idar, near 
 Ahmedabad where Brahma is worshipped. He 
 must not be confounded with the Supreme God 
 Brahmwho is, as it were, the eternallyevolving life,
 
 54 POONA 
 
 for ever taking fresh shape, and then forever drawing 
 back into formlessness. He is an impersonal, 
 spiritual Being, pervading everything, but he can 
 never be worshipped except by turningthe thoughts 
 inwards, and has no temple in India. His first 
 manifestation was in the triple personality of 
 Brahma, the Creator; Vishnu, the Preserver; 
 Shiva, the Destroyer and Re-creator. They are 
 typified as the Supreme God by the letters A.U.M. 
 composing the mystic syllable Om with which all 
 acts of worship begin. 
 
 These three are all equal, and their functions 
 apparently interchangeable : each may in turn 
 become Paramesvara, Parbrahm or Supreme Lord. 
 One of the Hindu poets expresses it thus : 
 
 In those three Persons the one god was shown 
 Each first in place, each last not one alone ; 
 Of Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, each may be 
 First, second, third, among the blessed Three. 
 
 These three, like all subsequently emerging 
 forms of life, will eventually be reabsorbed into the 
 divine formlessness of Brahma. The Hindus be- 
 lieve it to be impossible to draw any line of separa- 
 tion between different forms of life : inanimate 
 objects, stocks and stones, plants or animals and 
 men, demigods, gods they are all liable to pass 
 into each other, from a blade of grass to Brahm, 
 and all will return to Brahm and shapeless, un- 
 conscious impersonality in the end. 
 
 Of the triad of gods, Brahma is represented, as 
 we saw him at Elephanta, with four heads and 
 arms, holding a spoon and vase for lustral cere-
 
 ' Vishnu 
 
 Siva. 
 
 Bret* 
 
 Lakshmi 
 
 Parvati 
 
 Sat- as vat I 
 
 Durga or Kali 
 
 
 
 Ganesh 
 
 Hanur, 
 
 Rama
 
 56 POONA 
 
 monies, a rosary, and a roll of the Vedas. His wife, 
 Saraswati, rides a peacock and holds a musical 
 instrument. Vishnu, whose worship was at one 
 time far more popular than at present, is said to 
 have become incarnate nine times, the last time in 
 the form of Buddha. He holds in his four hands a 
 shell, a club, a quoit, and a lotus flower, and his 
 wife, Lakshmi, sometimes represented on a snake, 
 is said to have sprung from the foam of the ocean : 
 she is rather a favourite with the shopkeeper caste. 
 Devotion to Rama and Krishna, two of Vishnu's 
 incarnations, are very popular all over India. Sir 
 Monier Williams says that it is a form of the 
 worship of Vishnu, as Rama or Krishna, which 
 alone of all native faiths possesses the elements of 
 a genuine religion, and "has most common ground 
 with Christianity, as it attempts to satisfy the 
 yearnings of the human heart for faith, love, and 
 prayer, rather than knowledge and works." Never- 
 theless, Shiva is " Mahadeo" the great god and, 
 in spite of the coldness and severity of his system 
 and his stern asceticism, Shiva is perhaps the most 
 generally venerated of the triad. Still, neither 
 Vishnu nor Shiva have ever been paramount in 
 India, though their votaries have fought many 
 bitter battles at Hardwar and other sacred spots, as 
 to which of the two should have the supremacy. 
 Shiva's wife, the Devi, the goddess, is worshipped 
 not only as Parbati, the goddess of beauty and love, 
 but also as Durga, and Kali the terrible. The 
 image of Ganesh or Gan-pati, the elephant-headed 
 god of good luck, is to be seen everywhere, smeared
 
 AN EDUCATED BRAHMAN 57 
 
 with red paint ; he is the giver of practical wisdom 
 and worldly success, and therein lies the secretof his 
 great popularity. His image is met with all over 
 the country, and worshipped by every sect. He is 
 essentially the homely village god, and controls the 
 hosts of evil spirits, who, the terror-haunted vil- 
 lager believes, are ever plotting evil and on the 
 watch to harass and torment him, and to impede all 
 undertakings. Consequently, although Ganesh has 
 few temples dedicated solely to him, in all cere- 
 monies except funerals and at the beginning of 
 all new enterprises, his name is first invoked. 
 
 The palace adjoining these temples was that of 
 the Peshwa. It is in ruins, having been struck by 
 lightning just before the battle of Kirkee. Our 
 guide told us a legend to account for the numbers 
 of mango-trees planted beneath in the plain. The 
 last Peshwa had no son, but a wise priest told him 
 the gods would give him one, if he planted a 
 number of fruit-trees round the town ; he planted a 
 lakh of mangoes, but it had no effect, and he never 
 had a son. The priest's comment was nai've ; he 
 said, "You know they were very ignorant in those 
 days and very superstitious. They believed the 
 gods could give them a son ; but we are nowcivilised 
 and well educated, and, like the English, know 
 better than to believe that the gods give us sons." 
 
 One wonders indeed by what mental process an 
 educated Brahman, who has been trained to think 
 accurately, ever can, without becoming utterly de- 
 moralised and entirely losing all faith in anything 
 higher than himself, bring himself to acquiesce 
 
 H
 
 58 POONA 
 
 in the extravagances of the Hindu Pantheon and 
 play a part in a system which encourages so many 
 strange and monstrous superstitions and such 
 hideous idolatry. There has, however, always been 
 a chasm between the superstitions of the masses 
 and the philosophy of the cultivated classes in India, 
 for ttindmsmispar excellence an all -comprehensive 
 fold, so that the intelligent and cultivated Brahman 
 has probably always had some method of mental 
 engineering by which to explain away the idols, as 
 simplyaids to devotion, and as enabling the masses 
 to form someidea of the countless manifestations of 
 the Supreme God. In its infinite adaptability to the 
 infinite vanity of the human mind is said to lie the 
 strength of Hinduism : " It appeals to all, philo- 
 sopher, man of the world, the poet, the lover of 
 seclusion; and yet it allows every variety of idolatry, 
 and sanctions the most degrading superstition." It 
 is this which renders it essential that missionaries 
 in India, if their influence is to be constructive as 
 well as destructive, should be not merely fervent 
 Christians, but men of the highest culture and 
 widest sympathy. 
 
 When the young priest had shown us over the 
 temples or rather round, for we were not allowed 
 to go in he brought to us his old father. He was 
 clothed simply in an ancient yellow rag, and I think 
 he must haveentered on the fourth stageof adevout 
 Brahman's life, when he abandons all worldly con- 
 cerns ; but he conversed most intelligently about 
 Sir Bartle Frere, whom he remembered seeing in 
 when the Prince of Wales came to India. I
 
 RUSSIAN VISITORS 
 
 59 
 
 wondered whether his one and only garment had 
 been washed since then. He expressed a hope that 
 Sir Bartle's son was in the Civil Service, not 
 the army : as " military officers do not get such 
 good pay as Civil Service gentlemen." 
 
 Two Russians from the Czarewitch's suite had 
 been up to Parbati with Major Spratt ; and the old 
 
 A DOORWAY IN THE TEMPLE OF PARBATI 
 
 Brahman was much intrigue* about the Russians, 
 and most anxious to know what they were doing 
 here, and whether it was really likely they would 
 invade India. He had heard that the Russians, hav- 
 ing an unsatisfactory country at home, wereanxious 
 to add India to their possessions. This, he appeared 
 to consider, would not be advantageous to the 
 natives ; adding that he believed " they were a very 
 hard people, and if they came they would compel us
 
 60 POONA 
 
 all to be Christians, and there would be no justice 
 as under the ' Inglis Sahibs.' " I was glad to hear 
 him say this, as the Poona Brahmans have a bad 
 reputation as the most disaffected in India. It is 
 supposed that the Mahratta Brahmans find it 
 difficult to forget thecentury of rule which ended, as 
 suddenly as it had begun, in the loss of Delhi and of 
 Poona, and they have the reputation. of continually 
 nursing a smouldering grievance. The house-to- 
 house visitation at the time of the plague gave rise 
 to a good deal of seditious writing. I hope, how- 
 ever, it is true, as some who should know assure us, 
 that the belief gains ground with the most thought- 
 ful amongst the natives of India, princes and 
 people, that, with all its imperfections, the English 
 domination affords the best government India has 
 ever had or is likely to have, far preferable to that of 
 any other nation, and that prosperity and progress 
 are bound up with its continuance. 
 
 To get to Parbati we had driven through the 
 crooked streets of the native town, and the " Ralie" 
 (or tin and copper) bazaar, which of course was as 
 attractive as such places always are. We had heard 
 nothing about the native town, so it came upon us 
 as a surprise. In the Mahratta days the town was 
 divided into seven Peits, or wards, named after the 
 days of the week, with an eighth called the Baital 
 Peit, or the devil's quarter. This is now known as 
 "Panch Howds" the five tanks and is where the 
 son of our old friend Mr. Elwin* was, for so long, 
 head of the Cowley- Wantage Mission. The mis- 
 
 * At one time Editor of the Quarterly Review.
 
 THE PLAGUE 61 
 
 sion has existed here about thirty years ; they have 
 founded schools, an industrial home for boys, 
 and a hospital and dispensary, and have received 
 into the Orphanage many friendless and homeless 
 children, who had joined the crowds of beggars 
 who haunt all Indian cities. In India begging is 
 one of the few professions out of which it is always 
 possible to make a living. It is considered most 
 unlucky ever to refuse to give to a mendicant ; and 
 a feast to the swarms of beggars, religious and 
 otherwise, who perambulate the streets in troops, 
 is believed to be a sure way to acquire merit. 
 
 The missionaries had some terrible experiences 
 in Poona at the time of the plague in 1899, as tnev 
 remained at their posts in a most self-devoted man- 
 ner. The pestilence carried off 20,000 people, and 
 travelled steadily and rapidly from house to house, 
 hardly sparing a family in the doomed city. Thou- 
 sands fled from the town and crowded into the 
 neighbouring villages, or camped out in the open, 
 carrying the plague into country districts which 
 might have escaped. 
 
 One of the Homes had to be moved to the segre- 
 gation camp, where all persons who had had any 
 contact with plague were detained for ten days' 
 quarantine. One of the Wantage Sisters very 
 pluckily accompanied the boys to the rough 
 quarters of this great heathen camp. About thirty 
 cases from the mission were taken to the plague 
 hospital, where long huts wooden-frame build- 
 ings covered with matting, and roofed in with 
 grass erected in a waste bit of land, served the
 
 62 POONA 
 
 purpose of wards. The influx of patients was so 
 overwhelming that the staff were quite unable to 
 cope with it adequately : at one time as many as 
 ninety per cent, died, the supply of coffins ran short, 
 and the bodies lay in heaps awaiting burial. Only 
 half the mission plague-cases died, but Sister 
 Gertrude, who had cheerfully and courageously 
 borne the brunt of the exposure and anxiety, never 
 recovered the strain, and died soon afterwards. 
 
 The progress of Christianity in India has been 
 so extremely slow as hardly to merit the term. 
 It is pathetic to read in Bishop Heber's Journal 
 the glowing anticipations he formed in 1825 of 
 the changes likely to be the result of the work 
 then being undertaken ; but though progress has 
 so far been very slow, yet I believe the last Indian 
 census has caused some astonishment to statesmen 
 in India, by bringing out prominently the extra- 
 ordinary relative advance of Christianity during 
 the last ten years, compared with that of any other 
 religion in India. 
 
 There are no striking or important buildings in 
 Poona city. The Peshwa's castle was burnt down 
 in 1827, and only the massive walls remain, close 
 to the lane where, under the Mahratta regime, 
 political offenders were trampled to death by an 
 elephant. The last Peshwa watched from a window 
 in the palace the ghastly death in this manner of 
 a Maharaja Holkar, in the lane below. 
 
 There are, however, many quaint nooks and 
 corners in the city, and we passed some good 
 doorways, and quaint Hindu temples and shrines,
 
 CHARACTERISTIC SCENES 63 
 
 which, though perhaps they cannot be admired in 
 themselves, always look well, standing out with 
 their overhanging trees from amongst the lath 
 and mud of the native houses, and the brightly 
 painted shops with deep shadows within. I found 
 time to make a drawing of a fantastically shaped 
 doorway, wreathed with a garland of marigold, 
 and of a lazy boy, whose time appeared to be of 
 little value, sitting on a projecting ledge swinging 
 his legs. We were amused by all kinds of enter- 
 taining little incidents in the native bazaars girls 
 washing the family linen in copper pots in the 
 street, or a goat lying on the family bedstead, with 
 another looking on from the upstairs balcony ; and 
 once a big cow came bouncing down the front 
 stairs, and upset a dignified old gentleman who 
 sat, smoking his hookah, in the gutter below. 
 
 We had several pleasant excursions towards the 
 close of the day in the delightful Indian evening, 
 when silence descends and the lines of pungent- 
 smelling smoke become quickly visible in hazy, 
 low-lying lines. Once we went to the Boat Club, 
 whence we got a very pretty view of a bend in the 
 river, with Parbati in the middle distance and the 
 hills beyond against the saffron-coloured sky. 
 Another evening our host sent on horses and 
 carriages half-way "laid a dak," as it is called 
 and we drove to the Kadakwazla Lake for tea, and 
 then sat and watched the sunset and the moon rise 
 over the water in the soft, smoky silence of the 
 Eastern evening. 
 
 It was really chilly as we drove back to dinner.
 
 6 4 
 
 POONA 
 
 Later on that evening Major Spratt accompanied 
 me to the station, where my " boy " made up my 
 bed in the waiting-room, and there I slept or 
 tried to sleep until the 3 A.M. train for Bijapur 
 came in.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 BIJAPUR 
 
 I WAS in a compartment of the night train from 
 Poona, and was awakened by a strange and noisy 
 patter of many feet above my head. We had just 
 come to a halt at Sholapur station. I quickly rose, 
 and, stretching out of the carriage window, dis- 
 covered a party of light-hearted monkeys dropping 
 from an overhanging tree and chasing one another, 
 with many an antic, along the carnage roofs. 
 
 At Hotgi Junction we got an excellent breakfast, 
 and saw the last of the Governor of Madras, 
 who had arrived at Government House, Bombay, 
 just before we left, on his way to take up office 
 at Madras. Here I changed on to the narrow gauge 
 and began a very tedious progress toward Bijapur, 
 stopping long at every station, and at one as much 
 as an hour. The trains were crowded with natives, 
 and how they jabber ! 
 
 The country is monotonous and very flat ; in 
 places it reminded me somewhat of the surround- 
 ings of Biskra, dry and burned up ; dotted over 
 the plain were mud villages, and small groups of 
 stunted trees like thorns in the distance ; the 
 occasional patches of grain crops, now ripe, were 
 
 i
 
 66 BIJAPUR 
 
 mostly burnt a dull brown. The human element 
 in the prospect consisted of very black people, with 
 very few and ragged clothes, who here and there, 
 all along the line, were tending goats and buffaloes 
 and lived in most elementary grass and straw 
 huts. 
 
 Some hours later whilst crossing a wide and 
 treeless but fertile plain, interspersed with rare 
 flocks of small antelopes grazing quietly, regardless 
 of the train I caught the first sight of Bijapur, 
 with the vast dome of the Gol Gumbaz bright in 
 the sunshine. 
 
 We reached Bijapur late in the afternoon, and 
 I drove at once to the dak bungalow to deposit 
 my baggage ; then started off in a tonga, with a 
 pair of capital ponies harnessed to a yoke, to see 
 as much as daylight would permit of this once 
 magnificent Mohammedan city, now a city of the 
 dead. The place I stopped in, the "dak bungalow/' 
 was originally a mosque attached to the great Gol 
 Gumbaz, which I had seen across the plain, and of 
 which more hereafter. 
 
 Major Spratt had kindly telegraphed from 
 Poona to the police officer here to ask him to take 
 me round. Unfortunately he was away, so my 
 only resource was to get a native guide, who could 
 not speak a word of English, and to let my servant 
 interpret for me, but his English is of the vilest, 
 and his translations were almost entirely incom- 
 prehensible. I should have been quite at sea 
 without Cousen's most useful book. Bijapur of 
 to-day consists of the partly ruined and very
 
 ITS TURKISH ORIGIN 67 
 
 much deserted remains of the once glorious 
 city. Its palmy days, when it was equal in splen- 
 dour to Agra and Delhi, were from 1501, when 
 Yusaf Khan declared himself its King until 1686, 
 when it was taken by Aurangzeb. Since then it 
 has suffered violence and fallen into decay, but it 
 still contains a number of splendid buildings. 
 Unlike the other Mohammedan states in India, 
 
 WAITING FOR THE TRAIN 
 
 which all owe their origin to invasion from the 
 North-West, Bijapur claims to have been founded 
 by an adventurer-prince who came direct from 
 Turkey; and there is certainly much in the cha- 
 racter of the architecture and ornament to support 
 the theory of Turkish origin. 
 
 There still existed in Turkey in the fifteenth 
 century, on the decease of the Sultan, the ancient 
 custom of putting to death all his sons, with the 
 exception of the heir. It may have been a simple 
 way of avoiding undesirable disputes, but it
 
 68 BIJAPUR 
 
 tended to create uneasiness in the minds of 
 those wives whose sons were not likely to succeed 
 to the throne, when the health of their lord and 
 master began to fail. 
 
 Such was the state of mind of the mother of 
 Yusaf on the death of his father, Sultan Murad, 
 in 1451. Then she heard that Yusaf was to be 
 strangled, and acting on an inspiration she 
 hastened with her boy to a merchant from Persia 
 named Khojah Imad-ud-din Gargastani, and ex- 
 changed her son for a slave who bore a striking 
 resemblance to him. The next morning the re- 
 port was spread throughout Constantinople that 
 young Yusaf had died in the night, and the body 
 of the little slave was given a royal burial. 
 
 In the meanwhile the merchant, finding that it 
 was to his interest to act discreetly, quietly with- 
 drew to his native place Saver, taking the real 
 Yusaf with him. There, and subsequently at 
 Kassim, Yusaf remained under the faithful guar- 
 dianship of Khojah Imad-ud-din Gargastani, 
 until one day appeared to him in a vision a mys- 
 terious person, who bade him proceed to Hindu- 
 stan, where his ambitions would be realised, and 
 where after experiencing hardships and difficulties 
 he would gain a kingdom for himself. " Your 
 bread," said the mysterious messenger, "is al- 
 ready baked for you in the Deccan." 
 
 Fired with a desire to obey the call, Yusaf 
 readily persuading the merchant to accom- 
 pany him started in the year 1459 on his journey 
 eastwards. At Dabul they tarried, but a second
 
 SULTAN YUSAF 69 
 
 appearance of the vision spurred the young prince 
 on, and they eventually reached Bidar in the 
 Deccan and the Court of Sultan Muhammad 
 Bahmani. It so happened that Imad-ud-din was 
 known to the Sultan, and through his influence 
 Yusaf was taken into court employ. He soon 
 became a favourite, as he excelled in all athletic 
 and manly exercises, and quickly was raised, by 
 his royal master, to an important position in the 
 state. 
 
 His rapid promotion and the favour which he 
 enjoyed aroused the envy of the less fortunate, and 
 whilst he was absent in the Carnatic where he had 
 been sent, in command of a large force, to quell a 
 disturbance his enemies were busy in intrigue 
 and did their best to poison the mind of the Sultan 
 against him. 
 
 His success, however, in that as in other expe- 
 ditions, notably in that against the State of 
 Bijapur, only served to increase the confidence 
 which his master placed in him, and he was 
 eventually appointed Governor of Bijapur with the 
 title of Adil Khan. 
 
 On the death of Muhammad the State of Bidar 
 fell on evil times. His successor did not possess 
 the confidence of his people, and Yusaf, having a 
 strong force at his disposal, rebelled against his 
 new master, openly declaring his independence. 
 He made himself master of Bijapur, and extended 
 his dominions to the sea-coast, even wresting Goa 
 from the Portuguese. He founded in 1489 the Adil 
 Shahi dynasty, which, after a brilliant career of
 
 70 BIJAPUR 
 
 nearly two hundred years, was eventually over- 
 thrown by Aurangzeb in 1686. A hundred years 
 later it passed to the Peshwa, then to the Rajah of 
 Satara, and eventually with the rest of his pos- 
 sessions into the hands of the British. 
 
 The history of Bijapur is a history of great 
 warriors and great builders. 
 
 Surrounded as was the territory of Bijapur by 
 warlike chiefs on all sides, it was hardly to be 
 expected that it would remain long at peace. 
 With or without pretext, the kings of Bijapur 
 were constantly either making inroads on their 
 neighbours' country or in turn defending them- 
 selves from attack, or for mutual greed and 
 aggrandisement coming to terms with some chiefs 
 with whom they had but recently been in bloody 
 conflict, in order to make a combined attack upon 
 a third, and carry fire and sword up to the gates 
 of his fortress. Few histories afford a better 
 lesson in the art of intrigue or more tales of wild 
 romance than that of the Court of Bijapur, es- 
 pecially during the intervals when the throne was 
 occupied by a minor and the government was in 
 the hands of a regent. 
 
 The buildings of Bijapur are unique. Though 
 they have been sadly mutilated first by depreda- 
 tions of the Mahrattas in the eighteenth century 
 and secondly by long neglect there still remains 
 much to be seen of this once rich and splendid city. 
 For this we have to thank the efforts of successive 
 Residents at Satara, from Mountstuart Elphin- 
 stone to Sir Bartle Frere, who obtained a large
 
 72 BIJAPUR 
 
 grant from the Bombay Government for the pre- 
 servation of the buildings. 
 
 Mosques, palaces and tombs innumerable show 
 the taste and greatness of its Mussalman rulers. 
 
 The walls, six miles in circumference, still in 
 great part remain. In places they are almost levelled 
 to the ground, butin other parts they are, with their 
 fortified gateways, fairly intact. The area which 
 these walls enclose, however, only forms the centre 
 of a once much larger city, indicated by small 
 scattered domes that are seen beyond. The citadel 
 forms the nucleus of the whole, and in and near it 
 the chief buildings stand. All are carved in rich 
 brown volcanic rock, overgrown and partly hidden 
 by the jungle of prickly pear, interspersed with 
 tamarind trees, which has displaced the once care- 
 fully tended and beautiful gardens. 
 
 Grouped about under the venerable walls of the 
 larger buildings are clustered the mean mud huts 
 of the present native inhabitants of Bijapur. Since 
 1883, when the town was made the headquarters of 
 the district, the Europeans have lived in the 
 palaces, tombs and mosques, which they converted 
 into very comfortable quarters ; the change in 
 most cases was sadly to the detriment of the 
 buildings. 
 
 The tomb of Khan Muhammad (one of the two 
 close together, known as the Two Sisters) was at 
 the time of my visit occupied by the district 
 engineer. It was growing dark when first I ap- 
 proached this tomb, and when I entered the gate- 
 way to get a near view of it, I was fortunate
 
 SPLENDID REMAINS 73 
 
 enough to encounter him. I told him my errand 
 and found him very pleasant and ready to 
 overlook my intrusion. He introduced me to his 
 wife and some friends, and eventually asked me 
 
 BY THE ROAD-SIDE 
 
 to come to breakfast the following morning, at 
 10.30, an invitation I was not slow in accepting. 
 He actually had his dwelling in the tombs, and 
 had converted the great vaulted hall under the 
 dome (sixteen sided and fifty feet in diameter) into 
 a drawing-room for his wife, and a charming 
 room it makes. The vault below, where are the 
 
 K
 
 74 BIJAPUR 
 
 tombs, is his office, and his bedroom is a small 
 mosque, with the mihrab converted into a cup- 
 board for hanging clothes. What a desecration ! 
 
 The post office occupies a mosque, as does also 
 the dak bungalow, where I took up my quarters. 
 This mosque has a very considerable dome and 
 two tall red brick minarets. It consists of three 
 aisles of five bays and is open on the east side. 
 Each bay (of three aisles deep) forms a suite of 
 rooms for a traveller. The east or outer aisle is 
 the verandah, the middle aisle forms a sitting- 
 room, and the inner a bedroom, whilst the dividing 
 arches, to a height of about ten feet, are closed by 
 a curtain wall. A bedstead is provided, but the 
 traveller brings his own bedding, and his servant 
 brings in the food. Though this mosque in itself is 
 a building of considerable beauty of design, it is 
 quite eclipsed by the size of the great Gol Gumbaz, 
 which stands on the same platform with it six 
 hundred feet square and to which it is attached. 
 
 The Gol Gumbaz (or Round Dome), the mauso- 
 leum of Muhammad Adil Shah (died 1656) is 
 an imposing edifice, approached by a stately gate- 
 way. It is one of the most remarkable buildings 
 in Bijapur, both on account of its size and of its 
 constructive boldness. 
 
 The kings of Bijapur, during the later part of 
 the dynasty, vied with one another in the magni- 
 ficence of the tombs which they erected for them- 
 selves. Ibrahim II. built a tomb (the Ibrahim 
 Roza) of surpassing beauty, lavishly enriched 
 with ornament. Muhammad's tomb exceeded that
 
 DWELLING IN THE TOMBS 75 
 
 of his predecessor in grandeur of dimensions and 
 constructive skill ; whilst AH Adil Shah com- 
 menced a mausoleum for himself which if his 
 death had not put a stop to its progress would 
 have surpassed every other building in India, both 
 in magnificence and size. 
 
 For some reason or another it was the Gol 
 Gumbaz which attracted me more than any other 
 building at Bijapur : not on account of any special 
 beauty of detail for it is singularly wanting in 
 ornament, and within is perfectly plain but be- 
 cause of its vastness and dignity ; of the unique 
 character of its dome ; and, partly perhaps, also 
 because of my greater familiarity with it, lodged 
 as I was at its feet, and gazing up into its face, 
 from my chamber in the mosque. I got up to 
 see it by sunrise, and it was the last thing I saw, 
 with the moonlight playing on its surface, as I lay 
 down at night. 
 
 The Gol Gumbaz stands four square upon its 
 platform, with octagonal towers at the angles 
 seven storeys high. In the centre rises the great 
 dome, which constitutes its most striking fea- 
 ture and covers a larger area than any other in 
 the world. Fergusson writing of this building 
 says : 
 
 "As will be seen from the plan, it is internally 
 a square apartment, 135 ft. each way : its area 
 consequently is 18,225 sq. ft., while that of the 
 Pantheon at Rome is within the walls only 15,833 
 sq. ft. ... At the height of 57 ft. from the floor 
 line the hall begins to contract by a series of
 
 76 BIJAPUR 
 
 pendentives, as ingenious as they are beautiful, to 
 a circular opening 97 ft. in diameter. On the 
 platform of these pendentives the dome is erected 
 124 ft. in diameter, thus leaving a gallery more 
 than 12 ft. wide all round the interior. Internally 
 the dome is 178 ft. high, externally 198 ft. high : 
 its thickness being about 10 ft. 
 
 PLAN OF THE GOL GUMBAZ 
 
 " The most ingenious and novel part of the 
 construction of this dome is the way its lateral or 
 outward thrust is counteracted. This was ac- 
 complished by forming the pendentives so that 
 they not only cut off the angles, but that, as shown 
 on the plan, their arches intersect one another, 
 and form a very considerable mass of masonry 
 perfectly stable in itself, and by its weight, acting 
 inwards, counteracting any thrust that can pos- 
 sibly be brought upon it by the pressure of the 
 dome, If the whole edifice thus balanced has any
 
 THE GOL GUMBAZ 77 
 
 tendency to move it is to fall inwards, which from 
 its circular form is impossible ; while the action 
 of the weight of the pendentives, being in the 
 opposite direction to that of the dome, it acts 
 like a tie, and keeps the whole in equilibrium 
 without interfering at all with the outline of the 
 dome." 
 
 One of the first buildings I visited, about half 
 a mile from the Gol Gumbaz, was the Jumma 
 Musjid a splendid domed building begun byAli 
 Adil Shah I. (1557-1579) and continued by his 
 successors, but never finished. Its stately mass 
 is conspicuous from a distance rising above the 
 trees. It is entered on the north side by a 
 fine gateway; the chief entrance, which would 
 have been on the east side, was never built. 
 The interior of the mosque proper, divided 
 into five aisles of nine bays by massive square 
 piers, is striking from its exquisite simplicity of 
 design and prevailing whiteness of tone. All the 
 colour in this impressively solemn building is 
 concentrated in the Mihrab; it is gorgeouslygilded 
 and enamelled with delicate arabesques, and 
 designs of the most varied character, interwoven 
 with inscriptions intended to recall the name of 
 the builder, and to remind one of the transitory 
 nature of life and beauty. The grandly propor- 
 tioned dome is rather flatter than most Eastern 
 domes, and, like that of the Gol Gumbaz, is raised 
 on pendentives. There is a wealth of beautiful 
 detail in the windows. Even in its incomplete 
 state it is one of the finest and most graceful
 
 7 8 BIJAPUR 
 
 mosques in India, and as large as an English 
 cathedral. The great cloistered courtyard was in- 
 tended to hold 8000 worshipers, and was, in its 
 palmy days, strewn with beautiful velvet carpets, 
 all, alas ! carried off by Aurangzeb. 
 
 Near here is a very delightful little bit of 
 architecture, the Mehtar Mahal the gateway to a 
 small mosque which comes as a surprise as one 
 goes along the road. It is a small but most 
 charmingly original building, in form a square 
 tower three storeys high, with minarets at two 
 corners ; and, about its balconied and projecting 
 windows, it is richly ornamented with intricate 
 stone carving in a mixed Hindu and Mohammedan 
 style. Its main feature is a beautiful oriel window 
 which projects from the second floor, supported 
 by exquisite corbels with rows of hanging drops. 
 The facade of this fascinating window extends on 
 either side, and forms the front of a balcony before two 
 smaller windows. And the whole is shaded by a wide 
 projecting canopy of stone, which rests on most 
 delicately sculptured brackets, a marvel of stone 
 carving, enriched with a perforated design. It is 
 wonderful that this lace-work of ornament should 
 have stood for two centuries without snapping. 
 
 Thence I went to the Citadel, a fortress sur- 
 rounded by a moat, containing most of the public 
 buildings, and many courts and gardens and 
 palaces, of which the ruined Sat Manzil (the Palace 
 of Seven Storeys) was one of the most remark- 
 able. 
 
 Into the walls of the Citadel are built many
 
 A MAHRATTA PRINCESS 
 
 79 
 
 ancient pillars and sculptured stones, probably 
 taken from the Jain temples which stood here when 
 the Mohammedans stormed the Citadel. Many wild 
 tales of adventure are connected with this spot, but 
 none more striking than that of Yusaf s widowed 
 Queen Bubujee Khanum, a Mahratta princess by 
 
 THE DOME OK THE JUMMA MUSJIU 
 
 birth. During the minority of her son, she de- 
 fended the Citadel and his life against a traitorous 
 regent. Clad in armour, she fought amongst the 
 soldiers, until a band of faithful Moguls, rallying 
 to her support, reached the brave defenders by 
 means of ropes let down from the ramparts. One 
 of the principal assailants, Saftar Khan, was killed 
 by a great stone rolled down n him, by the young
 
 8o BIJAPUR 
 
 king, from the parapet of the Citadel, after which 
 the assault collapsed. 
 
 One of the big guns used in the final siege of 
 Aurangzeb, the celebrated Malik-i-Maidan (King 
 of the Plain), for which Bijapur is famous, lies 
 still on a bastion south of the Shahpur Gate. 
 Fortunately the proposal to place it in the 
 British Museum came to nothing. The gun is 
 5 ft. in diameter, and a full-grown man can sit 
 upright in its mouth ; it weighs forty-two tons, 
 and of its powers marvellous tales are told. It was 
 cast at Ahmednagar, two hundred miles away, and 
 was carried off by one of the Bijapur kings, who 
 brought it here through a roadless country. It is 
 of fine bronze, with a considerable admixture of 
 silver, and has a beautifully finished surface. A 
 monster, represented at its mouth swallowing an 
 elephant, reminded me of one of Orcagna's pictures 
 of the mouth of Hell. I was not surprised to hear 
 that the Hindus used, till quite recently, to worship 
 it, burning a light perpetually before the muzzle. 
 
 In a very ruinous condition outside the moat of 
 the inner citadel is the Asra-i-Sharif, or Palace of 
 the " The Hair of the Noble one." This is a large, 
 heavy-looking building, designed for a Court of 
 Justice in 1646, and it consists of a spacious hall, 
 entirely open on the east side, facing a great tank 
 and supported by teak pillars about 60 ft. high. The 
 west side is divided into two storeys, and here, in a 
 frescoed chamber, is the shrine where the "relic" 
 two hairs of the prophet's beard is supposed to be 
 kept ; but as no one* has ventured to examine the
 
 A WAYS mi-: TOMB
 
 82 BIJAPUR 
 
 reliquary since a midnight raid of thieves many 
 years ago, the annual pilgrimages to the relics are 
 made purely on a foundation of faith. In this part 
 *of the building are several fine old carpets of good 
 workmanship; some of the doors, inlaid with ivory, 
 must at one time have been fine works of art, and 
 have produced a very striking effect in conjunction 
 with the gilded walls and ceiling.* 1 The windows, 
 at the back of these upper chambers, look down 
 upon the piers of a bridge across the moat which 
 used to connect this palace with the Citadel. 
 
 The main gateway into the Citadel, close by, has 
 been converted into the Station Church and a 
 beautiful little church it makes. One end of the 
 gateway has been filled up by a window, and the 
 other is occupied by the door. The vaulted roof 
 is supported by two columns, and the whole is 
 richly decorated with Saracenic incised plaster 
 work ; like that at the Alhambra. Close by is the 
 Anand Mahal (Palace of Delight), where lived the 
 ladies of the harem. It was built by Ibrahim II. 
 in 1589, though the facade was never finished ; 
 in these utilitarian days it is turned to account 
 as the official residence for the Assistant Com- 
 missioner and Judge. To the west of it is the 
 Gagan Mahal (Ali Adil Shah's Hall of Audience), 
 with a remarkable and magnificent arch of very 
 wide span, flanked by two smaller ones, opening 
 
 t The valuable library of Arabic and other manuscripts was 
 rescued from the neglect which threatened its destruction by Sir 
 Bartle Frere, and may be seen, by those interested, in the India 
 Office Library at Westminster.
 
 THE SHAHPUR GATEWAY 83 
 
 to the north. On the roof was a gallery, where 
 the ladies of the harem sat to see the pageants 
 in the open space below, and whence they may 
 have witnessed the submission of the king and 
 nobles of Bijapur in silver chains to Aurangzeb. 
 Also appropriated to the use of the ladies of the 
 palace, was the MakkaMusj id a miniature mosque 
 of great simplicity of design near the old mosque 
 of Malik Karim-ud-din. It is quite in good pre- 
 servation, and its proportions are, as far as I could 
 judge, perfect. The arches of the mosque proper 
 cannot be more than eight or ten feet high. The 
 rude minarets at the corners of the small courtyard 
 are of earlier date. 
 
 From here I drove to the Shahpur Gateway ; a 
 motley throng of passers-by was streaming through 
 in the evening light. An archway is always a 
 picturesque object, but this old gate a vista of 
 minarets in the opening was especially attractive 
 with its grim battlements and the long spikes, 
 projecting outwards from the gates themselves, 
 to prevent the elephants of an enemy from butting 
 up against them and battering them down with 
 their heads. About sunset I made my way 
 out through the Makka Gate to the Ibrahim 
 Roza, the great mausoleum of Ibrahim II. 
 where Aurangzeb lived during the final siege 
 of Bijapur. It and its accompanying mosque 
 form a domed group of great beauty rising on a 
 platform about 19 ft. high from the centre of what 
 was once a lovely garden. The whole effect of the 
 domes, and the forest of minarets and pinnacles
 
 84 BIJAPUR 
 
 rising out of a shady grove of dark trees, against 
 a brilliant evening sky, was very striking. The 
 tomb is surrounded on all sides by a double 
 arcade of seven arches, the ceiling of which is 
 exquisitely carved with verses of the Koran and 
 wreaths of flowers, gold on a brilliant azure 
 
 A CHILL MORNING 
 
 ground. The windows are filled with a lattice- 
 work of Arabic sentences cut out of stone slabs, 
 the space between each letter admitting the light. 
 This work is admirably executed, and is not sur- 
 passed in all India. The vaulted stone-slabbed 
 ceiling of the principal chamber is of mysterious 
 construction, being perfectly flat in the centre and 
 supported apparently only by a cove projecting
 
 AN ARTIST'S PARADISE 85 
 
 from the walls. It is probably kept in place 
 by the remarkably adhesive properties of the 
 cement, which rivals that of the Romans in this 
 respect. 
 
 I was greeted on waking next morning by a 
 glorious sunrise, and spent the greater part of the 
 day in sketching in this wildly romantic place, and 
 I agree with Meadows Taylor that the picturesque 
 beauty, arising from the combination of fine old 
 tamarind and peepul trees, hoary ruins, and distant 
 views of the more perfect buildings, forms a varied 
 and very impressive series of landscapes. The 
 groups of palaces, arches, tombs, cisterns, gate- 
 ways, minarets, all carved from the rich brown 
 basalt rock, garlanded by creepers, and broken and 
 disjointed by trees, are each in turn a gem of 
 art, and the whole is a unique treasury for the 
 sketcher or artist.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ALLAHABAD: THE MEETING OF THE 
 WATERS 
 
 I LEFT Bijapur by a midday train, having in my 
 carriage two men from Madras : one, I think, was 
 a judge, but I did not discover his name. They 
 were very pleasant travelling companions, and I 
 was sorry when they left me at Sholapur, where 
 they were received on the platform by a little 
 crowd of natives. As I was in theircompany, I came 
 in for part of the ceremony of welcome. A wreath 
 of very strongly scented flowers was put round 
 my neck, a bouquet pressed into my hands, the back 
 of my hand smeared with attar of roses, and the 
 palm sprinkled with lavender water. Then a few 
 betel leaves, containing areca, chuna, or lime, &c., 
 and wrapped in gold paper, were presented to me, 
 and I felt some little embarrasment as to how I 
 was to dispose of all these things ; fortunately the 
 train was on the move, I jumped in, and was thus 
 relieved from the difficulties of the situation, and 
 saw my friends no more. 
 
 On arriving at 7 A.M. next morning at the 
 Victoria Station, Bombay, I found awaiting me 
 my companion, who had come down from Poona
 
 88 ALLAHABAD 
 
 by the previous train, escorted by Major Spratt's 
 peon. We went to church at 8 o'clock, and then 
 to Watson's Hotel for breakfast ; after lunch with 
 the Burn-Murdochs, who were as kind as ever, we 
 drove back by Breach Kandyand the native town, 
 intending to stop the night in Bombay. At dinner, 
 it was suddenly suggested that it would be wiser 
 not to delay our start, for next day was mail day, 
 when we should have less chance of getting a 
 compartment to ourselves. We hurriedly left our 
 dinner, and, with superhuman efforts, just suc- 
 ceeded in catching the express for Allahabad, in 
 which we fortunately secured two communicating 
 compartments to ourselves. 
 
 The country through which we passed next 
 day was uninteresting and dried up, and, until we 
 reached Itarsi Junction, we ran chiefly through 
 dusty, scrubby jungle ; then things improved, and 
 the landscape became greener. It was colder, but 
 we were rising up to the great central plains of 
 India, and were prepared for cold nights at this 
 time of year. Frost greeted us the next morning, 
 and we realised that we had left warm weather 
 behind us, and when by 9 A.M. we reached Allaha- 
 bad we were glad to don thick winter clothes. 
 
 After a rather tiring journey of a day and a 
 night from Bijapur to Bombay, and then a day 
 and two nights on to Allahabad, we thought well 
 to stop three nights to rest. This is more than the 
 interest of the town warrants, but we had many 
 letters to write and difficult arrangements of plans 
 to make, and the place is not wholly without
 
 PAST HISTORY 89 
 
 interest. Sir Auckland Colvin, unfortunately, was 
 in camp, but Mr. Benett, the permanent secretary, 
 and his sister very kindly took us in charge; he was 
 most agreeable and interesting to talk to, and we 
 spent some very pleasant hours in their company. 
 
 Allahabad is situated on a sandy plain at the 
 extreme point of the Doab,* which lies between 
 the Jumna and the magnificent Ganges. This river, 
 the object of the veneration and affection of mil- 
 lions of Hindus, we were now to see for the first 
 time. We had crossed the Jumna, in the train, five 
 minutes before entering the station. The Ganges 
 lies about two miles on the further side of the town, 
 which extends almost to the meeting-place of the 
 rivers, about four miles off, and ends on the higher 
 ground, where the walls of the fort rise steeply 
 above the river bank. 
 
 The fort was built by Akbar, about 1575, and he 
 gave the town its present name. The Mohamme- 
 dans had had possession of it from the twelfth cen- 
 tury, when Shahab-ud-din, descending from the 
 north, seized the wholeof North- West India. They 
 continued paramount until the period of anarchyfol- 
 lowing the rise of the Mahrattas. Towards-the end 
 of the eighteenth century the English quelled the 
 Mahrattas, and restored Allahabad to the shadowy 
 Mogul empire. For a short time the phantom em- 
 peror, Alum Shah, made it the seat of imperial rule, 
 but it, apparently, did not suit his views to be so 
 close to his English friends, and, throwing himself 
 into the arms of the Mahrattas, he withdrew to 
 
 * A generic term for a tract of country between two rivers. 
 
 M
 
 90 ALLAHABAD 
 
 Delhi, the walls of which before long encircled all 
 that remained of the once splendid Mogul Empire. 
 
 When Alum Shah left Allahabad the East India 
 Company sold the district to the Nawab of Oude, 
 from whom it came back into our hands ten years 
 later. 
 
 Centuries before Akbar's day, however, a strong- 
 hold, called Prayag, or the place of sacrifice, existed 
 at the meeting of the Ganges and the Jumna, which, 
 since the earliest days, had been a most popular 
 place of pilgrimage with the Hindu race. The first 
 authentic historical information about it is on the 
 tapering shaft of the Lath of the Buddhist king 
 Asoka, in the garden at the entrance of the fort ; it 
 dates from about B.C. 258, and its 49 feet of height 
 is covered with inscriptions ; it is, no doubt, very 
 curious, but is one of the things about which I find 
 it difficult to screw up much enthusiasm. 
 
 Modern Allahabad or Canning Town as the 
 European quarter is called has no streets. Their 
 place is taken by a wide network of long, broad, 
 well-watered avenues, bordered with compounds 
 in which stand bungalows, surrounded by fine trees 
 with twisted, gnarled boles. Even the shops and 
 post-office are in bungalows, with a drive up to the 
 door and a garden in front. Things looked greener 
 than in Bombay, owing to a recent thunderstorm, 
 and some of the gardens were very bright, with 
 splendid roses, bougainvillea and bignonia the 
 two last are seen in masses everywhere but there 
 is no grass, and the dusty soil was too much in evi- 
 dence for English eyes.
 
 THE MAIDAN 91 
 
 This is not entirely calculated to arouse enthu- 
 siam in the mind of a sketcher, but, nevertheless, 
 there are attractions for him, if he looks in the right 
 direction. The Maidan is crossed by flat roads, 
 leading away in various directions: on them may 
 be seen the usual picturesque figures of an Indian 
 highway. Bheesties with their brown, distended, 
 dripping goatskin bags, fruitsellers, women bearing 
 hods, little naked children, half-clad groups sitting 
 
 AN AVENUE IN ALLAHABAD 
 
 by the wayside, or the bullock cart drawn to one 
 side whilst the driver lies underneath in the dust, 
 taking the rest which seems a sine qud non after 
 the midday bath and food. Here and there, these 
 roads pass through scattered groups of trees, and 
 underoneof these clumpsof trees, where the ground 
 was dotted over with small dilapidated shrines of 
 varied form, I found a suitable subject. It was 
 evening and dusk was approaching ; the air was full 
 of the red glow of the setting sun, which pene- 
 trated the smoke rising from behind a neighbour- 
 ing wall and the evening mist, with a hot and
 
 92 ALLAHABAD 
 
 murky glow. Past me poured a constant stream of 
 rattling, many-coloured ekkas, returning to the 
 town with noisy devotees from the mela; the dust 
 from their wheels added mystery to the already 
 hazy atmosphere. 
 
 In the native town, with its low brown houses, 
 there were of course picturesque corners, but what 
 struck our eyes chiefly as we drove, through it, to 
 the tomb of Khusru was the absence of colour, 
 after the vivid blues and reds and yellows of Bom- 
 bay, and the number of clothes worn. In Bombay 
 the dusky limbs of the natives had often hardly a 
 stitch of clothing on them ; here, at this season, 
 quilted coverings were not unknown, and many of 
 the men swathed themselves in voluminous petti- 
 coats looped up between their legs, orworewrinkled 
 tights covering their legs, to the ankles, with skimpy 
 folds of rucked white cotton. 
 
 We drove, under a tall archway, overgrown with 
 creepers, into the Khusru Bagh, one of the most 
 beautiful and shady gardens in India, and there, 
 under a fine spreading tamarind-tree, we saw the 
 last resting-place of Akbar's ill-fated grandson, 
 Prince Khusru, the rebellious and popular heir of 
 Jehangir. Akbar had a great affection for Khusru, 
 whom Jehangir treated with a jealous animosity 
 that caused the Rajput Princess Khusru's mother 
 to commit suicide. In his brilliant youth he was 
 mad enough to seize Lahore from his father ; but 
 he was soon overpowered, and spent the re- 
 mainder of his life a prisoner. Sir Thomas Roe, 
 James I.'s Ambassador, came across him travel-
 
 THE FORT 93 
 
 ling, in custody, in the wake of the army of his 
 brother Shah Jehan, and an interview, which 
 Khusru accorded him, increased the already great 
 interest he felt in his fate. As the price of his sup- 
 port to Jehangir, in a Deccan campaign, Shah 
 Jehan had obtained the custody of his brother, and 
 soon afterwards, when Jehangir was ill and his 
 life despaired of, Khusru died so suddenly that 
 Shah Jehan was strongly uspected of having 
 poisoned him, in order to secure the succession. 
 It is curious that the tomb of this unlucky 
 prince should be almost the only monument of 
 Mogul days unmutilated in Allahabad. The Fort, 
 which passed to the English in 1801, must have 
 been originally a splendid and intensely interest- 
 ing place, and it still forms a striking object rising 
 above the sandy spit at the meeting of the rivers. 
 But perhaps military exigencies obliged us to 
 obliterate and destroy every vestige of originality 
 in it : it has been ruthlessly shorn of any trace 
 of architectural beauty or archaeological interest. 
 The high towers are laid low, the ramparts topped 
 with turf and fronted with a stone glacis, and 
 modern stucco covers the ancient walls. All the 
 excrescences have been shaved off, and doorways 
 and windows recklessly made, or filled up ; floors 
 are inserted where no floors should be, and the 
 whole is thickly daubed with whitewash. It was, 
 I suppose, inevitable. Here and there scraps 
 remain of the original fortress ; the entrance is 
 under a domed and lofty gateway with a fine wide 
 vault beneath, and we also saw a beautiful deep
 
 94 ALLAHABAD 
 
 octagonal well, flanked by two vaulted octagonal 
 chambers, probably intended as cool retreats from 
 the summer heat. And, if we were disappointed at 
 not seeing Akbar's Audience Hall " supported by 
 eight rows of eight columns, and surrounded by a 
 deep verandah of double columns, with groups of 
 four at the corners " we remembered that the 
 Arsenal, which it now contains, was probably a 
 very essential part of the Indian Empire, and that 
 the Director-General of Ordnance had, no doubt, 
 good reasons for disfiguring the palace by a modern 
 brick and mortar facade. 
 
 The military authorities have been more respect- 
 ful to the Hindu remains and have not interfered 
 with the well-known Akshai Bar, or ever-living 
 banyan tree a forked stump, with the bark on 
 which, though the tree appears to be replaced every 
 few months, yet stands in the midst of what is, 
 probably, the identical Hindu temple of Shiva, de- 
 scribed by the Chinese pilgrims in the seventh 
 century. It is now in a pillared crypt, reached by 
 an underground passage beneath the walls of 
 Akbar's Fort ; this seems to show that Akbar's 
 well-known religious liberality led him to allow 
 the priests and pilgrims free access to the ancient 
 Hindu shrine, though he was obliged to incorpo- 
 rate it in his building. 
 
 In the passage leading to the ancient temple are 
 some curious idols, and, in the centre, a stone 
 rudely tapered to a cone, which the devout vener- 
 ate and reverence with lustrations. Beyond is a 
 square aperture probably leading to the river,
 
 THE EVER-LIVING TREE 95 
 
 though the Hindus say it leads straight to Benares ; 
 whilst the natural moisture, exuding from the 
 walls, is supposed to prove the truth of the legend 
 that the sacred river Saraswati, which disappears 
 in the Bikaneer desert, many miles away north, 
 finds its way to this holy spot. The tree was prob- 
 ably worshipped here by the rude aboriginal 
 tribes before the Aryan invasion brought the 
 religion of the Vedas to India, and Hinduism, 
 with its ostrich-like capacity for assimilating alien 
 religious practices, has sanctioned its continued 
 worship. Hiouen Thsang gives a description of 
 the wide-spreading tree in front of the principal 
 shrine of the temple, which recalls the descriptions 
 of the blood-stained grove at Kumasi. The tree 
 was supposed to be the abode of a man-eating 
 demon, and was surrounded by -the bones of the 
 human sacrifices, with which from the "old unhappy 
 far-off days" of earliest tradition it had been pro- 
 pitiated. 
 
 From the ramparts of the Fort, we looked down 
 over the river, with its many strange craft, and the 
 little temples on the brink, and saw immediately 
 at our feet a very interesting and characteristic 
 scene. The great mela, or religious festival, to 
 which Allahabad probably owes its origin, and 
 which takes place every year at this time, was just 
 beginning. The cold blue waters of the Jumna 
 wash the Fort walls, and after flowing for about half 
 a mile, beside a sandy spit of land, fall into the 
 muddy Ganges ; this tongue of land, between the 
 two sacred rivers, was covered with grass and palm
 
 96 ALLAHABAD 
 
 huts and booths of manifold shape and height, the 
 encampment of the pilgrims who come from the 
 ends of India Srinagar or Ceylon, Kabul or 
 Calcutta for cleansing and purification. 
 
 From time immemorial, many points on the 
 ever-swelling stream of the mighty Ganges have 
 been held sacred; the source Gangotri, and the 
 issue into the plains Hardwar, Deo Prayag, Benares, 
 and Sagar, where it enters the sea, have always been 
 the scene of crowded religious festivals, to which 
 multitudes throng. But the placeof pilgrimage, par 
 excellence to which literally hundreds of thousands 
 repair, to wash away the stains and defilements con- 
 tracted in the turmoil of life and its illusions is 
 where the waters of the clear and rapid Jumna meet 
 the slow and stately stream of the beneficent bene- 
 factress, Mother Ganges, and, as they believe, thestill 
 more sacred waters of the Saraswati. Not many are 
 devout or adventurous enough to undertake the six 
 years' pilgrimage to all the holy spots from source 
 to sea, though the passion, which glows beneath 
 the calm impassive exterior of a Hindu, moves 
 some intense and fervent souls to accomplish the 
 endless penance of measuring their length the 
 whole weary way. But every year hundreds of 
 thousands flock here to bathe and pray, and there 
 are many whose fervour leads them to devote a 
 full month in all solemnity and earnestness, to 
 fasting and religious exercise. Then the strings of 
 priest-led pilgrims, with banners floating from long 
 bamboos, return home, bearing pots of holy water 
 from the sacred stream with reverent care. Water
 
 THE MELA 
 
 97 
 
 from the Ganges is prescribed by the ritual for use 
 in many domestic rites. 
 
 Everyone who bathes is also shaved, and widows 
 travel hundreds of miles to have their hair cut 
 off here, as an offering to the sacred stream. The 
 barbers have each to pay a tax of four rupees for a 
 licence to practice at the mela ; the revenue netted 
 at Allahabad in this way has amounted to 16,000 
 rupees in the season this gives one some idea of 
 the size of the gathering at its height. 
 
 AT THE MELA 
 
 They had not yet come in very great numbers ; 
 nothing like the whole concourse of eager, patient, 
 saffron-robed pilgrims, seeking redemption, had 
 yet arrived, but, nevertheless, there was already a 
 regular city by the river side, and the swarms of 
 people were quite sufficient to give us a very good 
 ideaof the scene later on, when theauthorities would 
 have someanxious hours, supervising the thousands 
 who encamp on the bank of the stream, to wash 
 away their sins in the sacred waters of healing. 
 Of course, a religious festival involves a fair, and 
 to the strain and stress of religious emotion, and all 
 
 N
 
 98 ALLAHABAD 
 
 the danger involved by it, where so many differing 
 faiths are concerned, are added the rowdiness and 
 excitement which accompany such gatherings all 
 the world over. The Government has a delicate 
 task in keeping all this seething cauldron from ex- 
 ceeding the bounds of decency and order. A 
 quainter contrast than that between the primitive 
 passions and traditions of the unchanging East 
 here revealed, and the elaborate painstaking or- 
 ganisation, so carefully administered by the con- 
 scientious West, it would be difficult to conceive. 
 
 We went down and walked along the lines of 
 booths and huts, all surmounted by long bamboos 
 with bright fluttering flags at the top ; the whole 
 scene, with the busy crowds of people, formed a 
 very piquant prospect. In one part of the mela 
 were men, seated on the ground, preparing the 
 colours with which they sign the caste-mark on 
 the foreheads of those who have worshipped and 
 bathed ; further oawere groups selling the garlands 
 of white flowers which, strung flower by flower, 
 with threads of tinsel, and worn as necklets and 
 fillets for the head, recall the Greek custom of 
 coming to sacrifice crowned with flowers. The 
 scene, with its millions of little twinkling lights, 
 is most striking at night, but the early morning 
 is naturally the moment when the throng is at its 
 busiest and noisiest, and then the air is full of 
 discordant cries and deafening shouts, all the 
 yogis, Brahmans and worshippers clamouring 
 loudly " Jai Ram," or " Jai Vishnu," as they per- 
 form their devotions, their dark foreheads barred
 
 YOGIS 
 
 99 
 
 with white, or smeared with bold patches of ochre, 
 in the shape of Shiva's eye, or Vishnu's trident. 
 
 The weird and horrible forms of the fanatical 
 yogis repelled and fascinated our attention at the 
 same time ; with bodies smeared with ashes, and 
 barred with paint yellow, red, or white with dusty 
 matted hair : many of them were most loathsome 
 objects, as they sat counting their beads before 
 
 BOOTHS AT THE MELA 
 
 their huts, or the grass umbrellas which served the 
 same purpose. Before each ascetic was a cloth, 
 spread on the ground, and on this the passers-by, as 
 a tribute to his supposed sanctity, threw offerings, 
 often simply cowrie shells, which pass as current 
 coin, of such infinitesimal value, that sixty-two 
 make only a farthing ; those, who appeared to have 
 gone through a long course of austerity and 
 penance had the richest harvest, as they are pre- 
 sumably those gifted with the highest occult power. 
 I called down the wrath of a holy man by putting my
 
 ioo ALLAHABAD 
 
 foot on the boards in front of his booth, which I 
 imagined to be a kind of shop ; but when he swore 
 vehemently and horribly, and sprinkled the place 
 with water, I discovered that it was considered a 
 holy spot. I believe the chief yogis, or gurus, 
 occupy a throne or seat, called gadi ; it is placed 
 under a pavilion, and sometimes even roped round, 
 to ensure respect for the sanctity which attaches 
 to it from its occupant, whether present or absent. 
 Those, whose position and power are less univer- 
 sally acknowledged, have to content themselves 
 with an umbrella and small mat, tiger-skin, or a 
 boarded space, marked off as a sacred precinct. 
 
 Any pretensions the yogis might have to spiri- 
 tuality were, in the greater number of cases, clearly 
 unfounded. Their evil faces were boldly streaked 
 with pigment under matted locks, coiled in ropes 
 on their heads, or crowned with fantastic head- 
 dresses ; and the wild and swollen, bloodshot eyes, 
 which add to their repulsive aspect, are the result 
 of the different preparations of opium or hemp 
 with which they intoxicate themselves, hoping thus 
 to deaden their nerves to the self-inflicted tortures, 
 which they believe will give them supernatural 
 powder over gods and men. 
 
 There are about five and a half millions of these 
 men in India, who have given up all earthly 
 employment, and live apart as ascetics ; they spend 
 their time chiefly in roaming the country and 
 begging. Some belong to more or less well- 
 organised communities, called akharas, of which 
 at least ten varieties were represented at the Alia-
 
 STRANGE ASCETICISM 101 
 
 habad mela ; and some are free-lances. But all 
 yogis, sadhus, sunyasis, or devotees, whether 
 Sikh-Akhalis, Mohammedans or Hindus, whether 
 they are Kanphattis with great glass rings in 
 their ears, or Alakias with coils of black rope 
 round their bodies and jingling bells, or wild 
 Bairagis with long matted ropes of hair, crutch 
 and leopard-skin men who are so dangerously 
 undisciplined and immoral that they are confined 
 by the officials in a separate camp all have a 
 guru or superior, whose peculiar austerity they 
 copy, and to whose reputation for sanctity and 
 power they hope to succeed. Some remain with 
 their limbs so long in one position that they be- 
 come atrophied and immovable, or lie with their 
 heads buried in the earth ; others hang for hours 
 head downwards from their knees ; still another 
 has a couch of thorns, and another a bed of nails, 
 on which he lies, in remembrance of the " arrowy 
 bed " of Bhisma, the San Sebastian of the Maha- 
 barata. The free-lances are usually the wildest, and 
 their straining after spectacular effect, and the 
 theatrical nature of their degrading performances, 
 are most repulsive ; with their trappings of paint, 
 beads, tongs and tiger-skins they are not unlike 
 the medicine men of savage tribes. Some, however, 
 of the organised communities, such as the Nir- 
 malas appear to belong to bodies of learned gentle- 
 men, clothed and very much in their right minds, 
 well disciplined and organised, and behaving in all 
 situations with discretion, true dignity, and real 
 religious earnestness. But, of whatever standing,
 
 102 ALLAHABAD 
 
 all these akharas from their numbers, their ubi- 
 quitous habits and the influence they exert on the 
 people, cannot but be of immense importance in all 
 religious and political movements. 
 
 The evening, after we visited the mela we dined 
 with the chaplain of All Saints' Church, where 
 Father Benson, of Cowley, had been holding a 
 Quiet Day, and had given some addresses which, 
 I was told, were very interesting. "In India may 
 be found, at the same moment, all the various 
 stages of civilisation through which man has 
 passed from prehistoric ages until now."
 
 CHAPTER V 
 CALCUTTA, THE SEAT OF EMPIRE 
 
 IT was 6 A.M., on a chilly February morning, when 
 we arrived in Calcutta, and I was not at all pre- 
 pared for its appearance; instead of a city of magni- 
 ficent palaces and wide avenues, on the banks of a 
 majestic river, and beneath a brilliantly clear sky, 
 we found overselves in a dank, chilly mist, crossing 
 a wide muddy stream, with its banks lined with 
 grey warehouses and tall chimneys, that reminded 
 me strangely of Vauxhall on a November morning. 
 Only the dark faces of the white-clad people re- 
 called an Oriental town. 
 
 Professor Forrest had kindly asked us to stay 
 with him, and sent a peon to meet us, and his 
 carriage to take us to his flat, in a large white- 
 washed house in Hungerford Street. 
 
 We crossed the river, by a bridge of boats, and 
 drove through many irregular, but uninteresting 
 and European-looking streets, with houses, for the 
 most part, of damp-stained stucco, then over the 
 Maidan, a wide, open, grass-covered space like 
 Regent's Park dotted with trees with here and 
 there an equestrian statue and through the mist
 
 104 CALCUTTA 
 
 faint indications of Fort William appeared in the 
 distance. 
 
 The public buildings have very little that is 
 grand or characteristic about them, and might quite 
 well be in Liverpool or Manchester. To the north 
 and east of the Maidan is the town, to the west the 
 river and the Fort, to the south and east are streets 
 of villas, or stucco palaces, surrounded by high 
 mildewed walls, and scraggy trees palms, teak, 
 tamarind, &c. &c., and at the south-east corner of 
 the Maidan is the Cathedral. Our host's house or 
 flat is on the east side, about a quarter of a mile 
 from the Maidan, which, as we crossed it together, 
 on foot, later in the day, reminded me forcibly in 
 places of Wimbledon Common. It was shortly 
 after sunset ; we were enveloped in mist with 
 nothing to distinguish it from a November mist on 
 the common, except that it was hot. We were 
 walking over dry grass, towards a road, lit with gas 
 lamps, which might quite well have been those 
 along Sir Henry Peek's wall : when we joined 
 it,we were amongst trees exactly like those opposite 
 the Pound, and I had an irresistible feeling .that I 
 was only half a mile from the golf links. Then a 
 Hindu, clothed in but one rag, brushed against 
 me, and the illusion was destroyed. 
 
 It is not surprising that there should be so little 
 that is Indian and Oriental about Calcutta, for it is 
 a purelyEnglish creation. The East India Company 
 had first a factory at Hooghly, the original Portu- 
 gueseport in Lower Bengal, but in i686,under their 
 president Job Charnock,they founded a settlement,
 
 EARLY DAYS 
 
 105 
 
 on the old pilgrim road to Kalighat, a shrine 
 venerated from the dim days of the earliest Hindu 
 tradition. Fifteen years later they acquired from 
 Aurangzeb's son the freehold of two or three miser- 
 able river-side villages in an almost perfect level 
 of alluvial marsh, a great part of which lies rather 
 
 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL 
 
 below the river banks and there built the old Fort 
 to protect their possessions. The attraction of the 
 spot lay in the excellent anchorage afforded to their 
 ships by the Hooghly and the shallow lagoons on 
 the edge of the Sunderbans, and in the protection 
 interposed, by the broad stream, between their go- 
 downs and the marauding Mahrattas, who at times 
 harried the further shore.
 
 io6 CALCUTTA 
 
 The city was originally almost Venetian in its 
 amphibiousness ; the present Maidan was a lake 
 for the greater part of the year ; the quarters 
 where the Europeans lived were so close to the 
 paddy, or rice fields, and the marsh, that drain- 
 age was a difficulty, and ill-health a certainty to 
 the unfortunate servants of John Company. They 
 indeed were not able to flee to the hills for the hot 
 season, as the Government does at present. The 
 mortality in the early days amongst the exiles in 
 the swamp was appalling, and the enervating 
 effect of these surroundings perhaps, in part, 
 accounts for the want of moral tone of the Anglo- 
 Indian society of that day ; the standard sank to 
 an incredibly low level. To this combination of 
 unhealthy influences, climatic and social, may 
 be traced the acute attacks of misery and despon- 
 dency which assailed such men as the Lawrences, 
 and Metcalfe, and no doubt many other unknown 
 young officials during the early days of their 
 Indian career. 
 
 For a short time after the incident connected 
 with the " Black Hole," the Mohammedans had 
 possession of the place again, but Clive at Plassy 
 (1757) restored the authority of the Company; a 
 new and a more prosperous Calcutta sprang up 
 from the ashes of the original settlement, and 
 soon the whole of Bengal, which in manufacture 
 and agriculture was the richest part of India, was 
 in the hands of the English. The native town was 
 a collection of squatter's settlements of mud huts, 
 roofed with bamboo each with the water-hole,
 
 THE NATIVE TOWN 
 
 107 
 
 whence it was dug, beside it enclosed within reed 
 palisades, and shaded with bamboo, peepul or 
 palm-trees ; they were regularly three or four feet 
 under water for some part of the year. With its 
 swarming multitudes of dark-limbed dock coolies, 
 or mill-hands from the cotton and jute factories, 
 
 A TRIBUTARY OF THE HOOGHLY 
 
 its bastis still form an insanitary congeries of 
 mud and bamboo shelters, threaded by tortuous 
 lanes, where a broken-down bullock-waggon 
 laden with jute will completely block the narrow 
 way for half an hour, in spite of vociferated 
 cries of " Jaldi, jaldi." Two great thoroughfares 
 have been driven right through the heart of this 
 quarter, and the drainage, water-supply and local 
 government generally are now in the hands of a 
 reformed municipality, under whose auspices the
 
 io8 CALCUTTA 
 
 dawn of a better day is looked for. There are 
 great schemes afoot now to relieve the terrible 
 overcrowding. 
 
 I must confess I did not like Calcutta ; it is, 
 to my mind, a dull and stupid place, with nothing 
 beautiful to look upon, though my companion 
 maintained that it had charms which revealed 
 themselves on closer acquaintance. 
 
 One undeniable drawback to Calcutta is that 
 the Bengali is, in many of his characteristics, as 
 much a creation of our own as the town, and 
 there is an utter absence of colour in the crowds. 
 
 Coming across from Bombay to Allahabad we 
 constantly passed groups of women in brilliant 
 saris and men draped in gorgeous Cashmere 
 shawls with variously coloured long tights and per- 
 haps a fine satin or brocaded waistcoat in a con- 
 trasting colour. And beyond Jubbalporewe saw a 
 lot of splendid men, armed to the teeth, and gor- 
 geously arrayed, coming in to pay their respects to 
 a new Deputy Commissioner. All this colour we 
 missed terribly in Bengal. 
 
 The slim natives of Calcutta are even less pic- 
 turesque than those in Allahabad; the women wear 
 white cotton chuddahs, and the men have flapping 
 draperies of dingy white cotton or muslin, looped 
 into loose drawers, without even a bright turban 
 to relieve the monotony. The long scarlet coats 
 worn, above their brown legs, by the chaprassies 
 or government messengers, attached to every 
 public office or official and the scarlet and gold 
 uniforms of the Viceroy's bodyguard, are almost
 
 NEW AND OLD 109 
 
 the only spots of bright colour seen in the streets. 
 And the sleek and smooth-faced young Calcutta 
 baboo even wears a black alpaca coat and trousers, 
 in place of the dignified and comfortable clouds of 
 flowing white muslin of the older generation. The 
 Bengali turban, too, of State occasions, is a formal 
 artificiality, and, unlike any other with which I have 
 made acquaintance, it is broad and flat like a plate, 
 with a white crown, and the brim is ornamented 
 with stiff rolls of muslin, arranged in an unnatural 
 and elaborate criss-cross pattern. 
 
 We went to the India Museum looking for 
 Ancient India, untouched by the West, and were 
 not prepared to find that the most interesting 
 things early Buddhist sculptures, B.C. 250 were 
 quite Greek in grace and feeling. They have a 
 much greater degree of refinement, action, power 
 of telling a story, vigour and humour, than are 
 usually characteristic of Eastern work. These, 
 the earliest examples we have of Hindu sculp- 
 tures, are the best that are known ; the carved 
 rails from Buddh Gaya, of the date of Asoka, only 
 a century after Alexander's day, are among the 
 most interesting sculptures in India. They have 
 excellent representations of animals and trees, and 
 express the idea they embody with a distinction, 
 purpose and grace which is admirable. By the first 
 century A.D. decadence had set in, and the early 
 precision of touch was lost. 
 
 The stone rail was the feature on which the early 
 Buddhist craftsman lavished all his art. These rails 
 usually surrounded the Stupas, the many-storeyed
 
 no CALCUTTA 
 
 towers that mark some sacred spot, or the Dagobas, 
 buildings containing relics of Buddha, but they 
 sometimes enclose sacred trees, and those from 
 Buddha Gaya encircled the sacred Bo-tree (Ficus 
 religiosa) where Sakya Muni sat for five years in 
 meditation, and received enlightenment on the 
 problems that perplexed him. Legend, history 
 and art combine to set before us his benign and 
 beautiful figure, first in the luxurious court of his 
 father, on the borders of Oude, where, in the days 
 of Nebuchadnezzar, the burden of the mystery of 
 all this unintelligible world of pain and sorrow laid 
 such hold on his pitiful and gentle nature, that he 
 fled from his wife and child and all human inter- 
 course, into the calm of the ascetic's silent life. For 
 six years he dwelt in the desert, hoping, by medi- 
 tation and the endurance of bodily privation, to 
 attain a mental conquest, and, by this great 
 renunciation, to penetrate the obscurity which 
 envelops the riddle of life, and force it to yield 
 up its secrets. The Asiatic believes that by 
 attenuating the bond between soul and body, the 
 soul can liberate itself and attain to knowledge 
 which will prove a pass-key to unlock all secrets. 
 After the supreme moment, under the Bo-tree, 
 Sakya Muni devoted the remainder of his forty 
 years of wandering in the lands watered by the 
 Ganges, to publishing to his fellows the knowledge 
 which he believed he had wrung from heaven 
 of the eight-fold path that leads by purity, pity, truth 
 and gentleness to perfect peace, and emancipation 
 from that craving for individual existence which
 
 SAKYA MUNI in 
 
 he believed to be the root of all evil. Sakya Muni 
 possessed the passionate devotion of a martyr, and 
 the supreme intellect of a sage, but he was a pure 
 agnostic. He can tell us no more of the origin and 
 meaning of life than " I came like Water and like 
 Wind I go." His personality is one of the most 
 flawless in purity and tenderness that ever abode 
 in the "battered caravanserai" of life, or struggled 
 for deliverance from the prison of the senses. His 
 spiritual influence is that which most nearly 
 approaches Christ's ; but the philosophy and the 
 dogmatic teaching of Buddha are sundered as 
 the poles from that of Christ ; thought was ever 
 to him more than action, knowledge than love, and 
 his highest aspiration never went beyond the hope 
 of ceasing to suffer, nor attained to the conception 
 of an active joy in " the glory of going on and 
 still to be." 
 
 The rails we saw were those Asoka placed around 
 Sakya Muni's tree, which he reverenced so much 
 that when he sent his daughter to convert Ceylon, 
 he sent with her an offshoot of the sacred tree, 
 planted in a golden vase. Other rails we saw, from 
 Bharhut, with beautiful flowing scrolls and clean- 
 cut medallions, illustrating legends from a worship 
 earlier than Buddhism as we know it ; they are 
 of a period probably but little later than Asoka. 
 But the great figure of Buddha from Muttra, six 
 feet high, with a floral halo round his head, is of a 
 time nearer the Christian era, for in the early days 
 Buddha's life was an inspiration, but he himself 
 was not presented as an object of worship, and
 
 ii2 CALCUTTA 
 
 groups of dancing boys, or scenes representing in- 
 cidents of love or war, are those that, with honey- 
 suckle and lotus ornament, predominate in the 
 finest early carvings. 
 
 In its social aspect, Calcutta, at the moment of 
 our visit, was very gay, and our kind host and other 
 friends took care that we should have every oppor- 
 tunity of seeing this side of Anglo-Indian life. We 
 had a very pleasant dinner at the Viceroy's at 
 Government House, which was built by Lord Wel- 
 lesley in 1800, and stands on the outskirts of the 
 business part of the city. It is an important look- 
 ing house of yellow painted stucco with deep 
 verandahs and colonnades, like a house in Regent's 
 Park, but for the screaming green parrots and 
 feathery palms surrounding it. I believe it is as 
 inconveniently planned as it well could be but 
 the six acres of green garden, with lovely roses, 
 great bushes of Cape jasmine, oleanders and scarlet 
 hibiscus, and real grass lawns must be some com- 
 pensation for the drawbacks indoors. 
 
 The dinner, as was quite fitting, was better done 
 than anything we had come across in any other 
 Indian or Colonial Government House. Just at the 
 right distance a band played, whilst fifteen magni- 
 ficent khidmatgars, in long red cloth tunics, white 
 trousers and bare feet, with scarlet cummerbunds 
 round their waists, gold embroidered breast- 
 plates and white turbans, handed silver plates and 
 champagne to twenty-four persons. The Vice- 
 roy's splendid blue and gold turbaned Rohilla 
 bodyguard, with their scarlet kurta, or long
 
 SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 113 
 
 coat, with blue and gold points, blue breeches and 
 Napoleonic boots and gauntlets, formed a fine 
 background to the scene. I found a brother amateur 
 in water-colour in Colonel Ardagh, and two old 
 Eton acquaintances in other members of the staff. 
 Among the other guests were the then Comman- 
 der- in-Chief, Lord Roberts and his A.D.C., Captain 
 Furse, the son of our old friend the Archdeacon of 
 Westminster, who was one of the last people we 
 had seen before leaving home. We met also 
 General Gordon, Military Secretary to the Em- 
 bassy at Teheran ; Lord William Beresford, Sir 
 Andrew Scobell, legal Member of Council. The 
 Viceroy and Sir Andrewrecommended me strongly 
 to make a push for Peshawar and the Khyber 
 Pass, which, however, I unfortunately never suc- 
 ceeded in reaching. 
 
 The government of India is probably one of the 
 most stupendous tasks ever undertaken by a civi- 
 lised State ; and it is certainly incomparably the 
 greatest burden in the moral sense which Great 
 Britain has taken on her shoulders. In so far as 
 human welfare depends upon the efficiency and the 
 justice of government,GreatBritain has the respon- 
 sibility for the welfare of a larger portion of the 
 human race than any other nation. Very few of us 
 have a clear idea of the size of India. The area and 
 the population is equal to the combined population 
 and area of the whole of Europe with the exception 
 of Russia. Less than 1000 Englishmen are em- 
 ployed in the superior civil government of this 
 enormous continent, and a single Englishman is 
 
 p
 
 n 4 CALCUTTA 
 
 usually responsible for the life and property of 
 about 300,000 human beings, and entrusted with 
 jurisdiction over about 1200 square miles. 
 
 Our host, Professor Forrest, is a living encyclo- 
 paedia of things Indian, and no one is so capable of 
 enlightening the appalling ignorance of the British 
 mind on the mysteries of the growth of the present 
 system of Indian government, out of that of the 
 Company's board of directors in the day of Clive 
 and Hastings. 
 
 It is a common error to suppose that the East 
 India Company were a trading company exercising 
 sovereign rights over vast provinces in India, until 
 in 1 858 an Act of Parliament transferred these lands 
 and their government to the Crown. The claim of 
 the Crown to the Indian territories was asserted 
 as soon as Clive, in 1765, laid the foundation of 
 sovereignty, by acquiring the right to receive the 
 revenues of Bengal, Behar and Orissa. 
 
 It was by the regulating Act of 1773 that the 
 British nation first assumed actual responsibility 
 for the government of the East India Company's 
 possessions, on the principle that no subjects could 
 acquire the sovereignty of any territory for them- 
 selves, but only for the nation to which they be- 
 longed. 
 
 Soon after, Burke laid down, as the sound prin- 
 ciple on which the good government of India must 
 always depend, that the governing body was 
 accountable " to Parliament, from whom the trust 
 was derived." In 1784 Pitt brought in a " Bill for 
 the better regulation of our Indian concerns," the
 
 DEVELOPMENT 115 
 
 object of which was in reality to place the whole 
 government of India under the control of the 
 Crown ; but the powers of the Court of Directors 
 were continued, subject to the revision of a Board 
 for Indian Affairs appointed by the Crown. By 
 1793 this Board had become an India Office, and its 
 president was always a member of the Cabinet and 
 practically Minister for India. But, by this time, the 
 importance of the Governor-General in Council 
 had been much increased by a great constitutional 
 privilege, which conferred the power of legislation 
 over the whole Indian Empire, with due regard 
 to the royal prerogative, and the privilege of 
 Parliament. 
 
 In 1855 Lord Dalhousie, one of the ablest and 
 most sagacious and far-seeing of Indian statesmen, 
 opened the doors of Council to the public and 
 allowed the debates to be published. Professor 
 Forrest believes * that Lord Dalhousie perceived 
 that the Government of India would some day be 
 directly vested in a Secretary of State, only answer- 
 able to Parliament. In order, therefore, to provide 
 adequate protection for the people of India against 
 the ignorance of Parliament he desired to create 
 an independent legislative body. Strong as he was, 
 he may have felt that no Governor-General could 
 withstand the undue interference of the Minister 
 for India, and of Parliament, unless freedom and 
 publicity were granted to the Indian legislation. 
 
 When the news of the Mutiny became known in 
 England, the responsibility for the wild fanatical 
 
 Blackwood's Magazine, August 1905.
 
 u6 CALCUTTA 
 
 outbreak was laid at the door of the East India 
 Company, which was universally condemned. A 
 Bill for the better Government of India was 
 introduced by Lord Palmerston ; and a Council 
 was established, styled " The President and 
 Council for the Affairs of India," with the im- 
 petuous and imperious Lord Ellenborough as 
 president. He excited general indignation by the 
 publication of a secret despatch censuring Lord 
 Canning for his action in regard to the punish- 
 ment of the authors of the outbreak. He resigned, 
 and was succeeded by Lord Stanley, who intro- 
 duced another East India Bill. 
 
 On November i, 1858, a royal proclamation, 
 issued throughout all India, declared the direct 
 sovereignty of Queen Victoria over all territories, 
 whether administered directly, or through native 
 princes. 
 
 So ended the rule of the " Company of Merchant 
 Adventurers trading to the East Indies " " mer- 
 chants with the sentiments and abilities of great 
 statesmen, whose servants founded an Empire 
 which they governed with firmness and equity." 
 
 By this Act one of her Majesty's Principal 
 Secretaries of State exercises all powers and 
 duties which were exercised by the Company or 
 the Board of Control. A Council was established, 
 called the Council of India, but all the decisive 
 power passed into the hands of the member of the 
 British Cabinet who is Secretary of State for 
 India, the Council in practice being consultative 
 only. In India the superintendence, direction and
 
 AN OVERWHELMING TASK 117 
 
 control of the civil government has always been 
 vested not in the Governor-General, but in the 
 Governor- General in Council ; and that of the 
 military government not in the Governor-General, 
 nor in the Commander-in-Chief, but in the 
 Governor-General in Council. 
 
 Fifty years ago Bengal was transferred from 
 the personal charge of the Governor-General into 
 the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor, who has, 
 till lately, grappled with the overwhelming task 
 of ruling the foremost province of India, rich in 
 coalfields, and sugar, tea and jute, with a popula- 
 tion twice as great as that of France ; a task which 
 in time of famine proved well-nigh impossible, and 
 from part of which he has now been relieved. 
 
 Whilst we were in Calcutta our friend, Chief 
 Justice Way,* appeared one Sunday morning. It 
 was most refreshing to see him, full of spirits and 
 animation, and delighted with all his experiences. 
 With him was Dr. Pennefather, whose knowledge 
 of NewZealand ways and people had been so kindly 
 placed at our disposal the previous year. I drove 
 with him to call on the wife of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Bengal at Belvedere, a fine house 
 outside Calcutta, in a beautiful English-looking 
 garden with huge beds of enormous roses, an 
 artificial river, and some of the largest lawns in 
 India. Having tea there one day later, and stroll- 
 ing round the garden, I was rather startled to come 
 across a cheeky jackal prowling about. The Zoo- 
 logical Gardens are close to Belvedere, but I think 
 
 * Now Sir Samuel Way, Bart.
 
 n8 CALCUTTA 
 
 the jackal was a gentleman at large. I had walked 
 to the Zoological Gardens in the afternoon ; they 
 are nicely laid out, and there are some fine tigers 
 the successors of those that starved themselves 
 to death from homesickness also a lion, which 
 was born in the London Zoo. The Australian 
 birds and beasts are well represented, and I made 
 great friends with a white cockatoo, who confid- 
 ingly turned all parts of his body towards me to 
 be scratched. The parrots' cages, lined with hay, 
 looked very comfortable and much better for the 
 birds, I should imagine, than the usual wire net- 
 work over dirty sand. 
 
 We were taken by the Lieutenant-Governor in a 
 steam-launch to Garden Reach, with its rather 
 cockneyfied villas, and then to tea in the celebrated 
 Botanical Gardens opposite ; they are well worth 
 seeing, and we walked about the gardens after 
 tea, and met the Commander-in-Chief here again. 
 The gigantic banyan (Ficns bengalensis) here rivals 
 the high over-arched and pillared shade of the 
 one the Viceroy uses as a dining-room at Barrack- 
 pur. It was Dr. Wallich, a Dane in the Govern- 
 ment service, who made this one of the most useful 
 and beautiful tropical gardens in the world. His 
 experiments here laid the foundation of tea culti- 
 vation at the foot of the Himalayas and in Assam ; 
 he collected specimens of all the finest trees and 
 plants in India, as well as exotics fromPenang, Ne- 
 paul, Java, and Sumatra, and palms and creepers 
 from South America and the South Seas. There 
 is a tree with scarlet flowers flaming like a fresco
 
 CALCUTTA GARDENS 119 
 
 of souls in Purgatory ; another, a creeper, covered 
 the bamboo hedges with great clusters of enormous 
 white bells ; the Amherstia nobilis was in great 
 beauty,coming into flower. I thought, however, that 
 the ordinary gardens of Calcutta were all the un- 
 learned needs for pleasure and content. We were 
 never tired of admiring the avenues of bamboos, 
 the masses of blue convolvulus covering low walls ; 
 the ubiquitous orange and wine-coloured creepers, 
 the great beds of roses and heliotrope, the bushes 
 of Cape jasmine and double scarlet hibiscus ; or the 
 jungly dark-red lanes, full of ferns and lovely trees, 
 with their stems a tangle of vivid green creepers, 
 or cotton-trees with red magnolia-like flowers ; 
 the ditches a mass of beautiful caladium leaves, 
 blotched and streaked crimson, purple, brown and 
 white, and the tanks filled with pink water-lilies 
 as big as peonies. 
 
 On the Maidan people play golf, and drive in 
 the afternoon, and the Viceregal turn-out may be 
 seen in great state, with four horses and postil- 
 lions, footmen, outriders and escort, all in scarlet 
 and gold, driving under the shadowy forms of 
 preceding Viceroys' statues. One of the plea- 
 santest legacies left by any departed Viceroy is 
 the Eden Garden, planned by Lord Auckland's 
 sisters by the river side ; it is prettily laid out with 
 trees, winding paths and ponds of water ; beside 
 one of these is a picturesque pagoda temple brought 
 from Burmah. One of the most attractive aspects 
 of Calcutta is revealed by an evening stroll there, 
 beyond the fort, along the river and past the forests
 
 120 CALCUTTA 
 
 of shipping ; great four-masted schooners lie close 
 to the quay, amongst the native craft, some with 
 high poops, great rudders and low projecting bows. 
 
 The English were not, by any means, the only, 
 or indeed the first, adventurous spirits to establish 
 trading settlements on the Hooghly in the seven- 
 teenth century. The Portuguese, French, Dutch 
 and Danes all founded "factories" or depdts for 
 their merchandise on the river. The Portuguese, 
 before Shah Jehan's time, built a fort at Hooghly ; 
 the French settled at Chandernagore in 1673, and 
 still have a colony there under an Administrator 
 subordinate to the Governor-General at Pondi- 
 cherry ; the Dutch held Chinsurah from about 
 1640 to 1828, when they ceded it to the British in 
 exchange for the Island of Sumatra ; and the 
 Danes sold Serampore to the East India Company 
 in 1845. 
 
 We were very glad that a picnic, to which our 
 host took us, gave us the opportunity of seeing all 
 four of these early settlements. Two launches 
 awaited our party on the river, and it was arranged 
 to steam up to the Dutch settlement, Chinsurah, 
 there to lunch in the old Dutch GovernmentHouse, 
 which is now the property of the Maharajah of 
 Burdwan. The wind was very chilly going up 
 stream, and we w r ere quite glad of thick coats and 
 rugs. Unfortunately, owing to the tide and wind 
 being against us, it took us five hours to reach 
 Chinsurah. We managed better on our return, and 
 did the distance in three hours, but our stay at 
 Chinsurah was cut very short, and we had no time
 
 122 CALCUTTA 
 
 to do proper justice to the elaborate lunch provided 
 by the Rajah, whose father was on board our 
 launch and entertained us sumptuously in his son's 
 house ; we had to leave before the poor rrian's 
 sweets and ices made their appearance. 
 
 On our way up stream we passed many jute, 
 cotton and paper mills, alternating on the flat 
 banks with groves of cocoa-nuts and mangoes, and 
 small whitewashed modern temples ; some of these 
 last were in a marvellous semi-classic or pseudo- 
 gothic style. They stand usually in green com- 
 pounds, enclosed within high walls, and with broad 
 terraces of steps, on the river side, leading down 
 to the water's edge. But the river struck us as 
 being, like Sydney Harbour, too broad in propor- 
 tion for theflat shores, and the buildings andgroves, 
 which might have been picturesque, were dwarfed 
 by the vast expanse of the stream. 
 
 On our right we skirted the English-looking 
 Park of Barrackpur, with the Government bunga- 
 low, its long facade, like a villa at Twickenham, 
 discernible amongst the trees. In old days, before 
 Simla was the headquarters of government, from 
 March to December, the Viceregal party spent the 
 hot weather here. Nowit is only used for short week- 
 end visits. Lady Canning had a great affection for 
 the garden, and delighted to be here, where she had 
 not " a quarter of a mile to walk and three sentries 
 to pass," to get from her own room to the drawing- 
 room. 
 
 Here in the garden she had made so beautiful 
 Lord Canning buried her at sunrise one morning
 
 LADY CANNING 123 
 
 in 1 86 1. Lady Canning went through all the 
 horrors of the Mutiny time, and felt acutely all 
 the anxieties of the position of the Viceroy, on 
 whom lay the responsibility of steering India 
 through the crisis, and then, in the face of severe 
 criticism, meting out adequate penalties to the 
 misdoers, without overstepping the line where just 
 punishment becomes unchristian retribution. The 
 strain proved too much for her, and she succumbed 
 
 BARRACKPUR 
 
 at once to an attack of fever caught in the terai. 
 On the way from Darjeeling she had halted at the 
 foot of the Himalayas to make a sketch of the 
 beautiful jungle scenery, and arriving in Calcutta 
 unwell and overtired, she died in a few days. Her 
 grave is in a little glade of green turf, shaded by 
 trees, and opening on a beautiful reach of the river 
 (which here is twice the width of the Thames at 
 London Bridge), which she so much admired. For 
 a long while a light was kept always burning on 
 her grave at night. 
 
 On the other side of the river we passed the 
 French settlement of Chandernagore, where, 
 though the whole place is only 3 miles round, the 
 French Administrator has under him a perfect re- 
 production in miniature of his home government.
 
 124 CALCUTTA 
 
 Then came the Danish settlement of Serampore, 
 where Dr. George Smith used to live ; the scene of 
 the labours of the Baptist missionaries, Marshman 
 and James Carey. Carey was a great botanist and 
 planted profusely ; his magnificent park with fine 
 teak, mahogany and tamarind trees has been de- 
 vastated by the cyclones to which Calcutta is always 
 liable late in the hot weather and after the rains. 
 He showed a very human side of his character as 
 he lay dying. "Dear brother Marshman," he said 
 rather pathetically, " I am afraid, when I am dead 
 and gone that you will let the cows get into my 
 garden." The whole site seems now to have been 
 swallowed up in a jute factory. 
 
 The craft on the river is very picturesque, and in 
 the sunset coming back, the temples on the bank 
 and strangely shaped boats, looked much more 
 effective between the brilliant sunset sky and its 
 reflection in the river. 
 
 Some of the boats were covered with reed thatch, 
 others had great square, much-tattered sails, and 
 with the wind dead aft, were making good way 
 down the centre of the stream ; most of them had 
 great rudders with high sterns and platforms raised 
 above them from which the tiller was worked. Here 
 and there a wreath of smoke from a small steamer 
 added interest to the scene. 
 
 When the moment came to leave Calcutta we 
 were quite refreshed at the prospect before us of 
 " dirty " Benares, but we were glad to have been in 
 Bengal, if only because we saw quite a different 
 sort of country. It is a great deal flatter than the
 
 CROPS 125 
 
 palm of one's hand, and very fertile, with a beauti- 
 ful richness of vegetation and variety in the foliage 
 of the groups of trees. The brown huts are 
 huddled together on a little mound round or near 
 a tank of dirty water, under the familiar cocoa-nut 
 palm, for which we had quite an affection, and which 
 we had hardly seen since we were in Ceylon. They 
 exist in Bombay where they are all government 
 property, and each with its number attached but 
 
 THE HOOGHLY ABOVE CALCUTTA 
 
 not to anything like the same extent as in lower 
 Bengal. It struck us as curious that in the country 
 northoftheHooghly, which wecrossed above Banke- 
 pore, there should be not one, although they come 
 almost to the water's edge on the south side ! The 
 country is very highly cultivated in small patches 
 of different crops, separated only by a very narrow 
 raised footpath and perhaps a row of palms. We 
 heard the names of many crops, some of which we 
 could not at the time identify turmeric, arhar 
 (pulse), jute, linseed, indigo, joari (millet), paddy 
 and rabi, which I found to be the term used for all 
 crops sown in October or November, We noticed 
 chiefly various sorts of grains, bright green now, 
 and the tall castor-oil plant, a shrub like a kind of 
 broom, and very effective masses of white-flowered 
 opium poppy.
 
 126 CALCUTTA 
 
 Fences or walls seemed unknown, except in the 
 case of an occasional "walled garden." The mat- 
 huts are often covered with creepers and thatched, 
 and overshadowed by plantains with pale sea- 
 green foliage or feathery bamboos and dark man- 
 goes. They consist of a front room with a door, 
 and a hole two feet square, as window, and a 
 smaller back room, which gets its light and 
 air only through the first. Some of them are tiled 
 and those of the better class usually have a 
 verandah supported on pillars. A goat or two is 
 tethered outside, and perhaps in the immediate 
 neighbourhood a woman may be seen in a white 
 chuddah, with bracelets on her ankles and wrists 
 and hair drawn back tight into a knob. No woman, 
 however humble her station, but would lose her 
 self-respect if she appeared, before her family, 
 without a nose ring and bangles. The people all 
 congregate into the villages, and there is no one 
 in the fields, unless it be a watchman or chokeedar, 
 crouching under his little straw shelter. 
 
 These self-contained Indian village communities 
 have preserved their constitution, customs and 
 character unaltered for centuries, through all the 
 vicissitudes which have befallen the land, under the 
 rule of their native princes, and that of their 
 Moslem conquerors, through the cruel raids of 
 Mahrattas and the, to them, incomprehensible 
 methods of the British. For thirty or forty 
 centuries they have had the same officials. The 
 Headman who presides at the meetings of the 
 panchayat or local board, which assembles under
 
 VILLAGE COMMUNITIES 
 
 127 
 
 a large tree to discuss and settle affairs of 
 public interest; the village Notary or accountant 
 who keeps record of the business and of the land 
 assessment, produce and rents ; the Priest or 
 spiritual head, a Brahman, who is almost wor- 
 shipped, and presents to whom bringdown almost 
 incalculable benefits. He sometimes combines with 
 his office that of the village Astrologer, a most 
 important function, for a native's life is passed in 
 
 BOATS ON THE HOOGHLY 
 
 constant dread of evil influences from the stars or 
 from some unlucky omen, and the astrologer knows 
 the charm by which all such malign influences may 
 be averted. The villageSchoolmaster whoteaches 
 the children to read from a hornbook of palm- 
 leaves and to write on the sand, and who enforces 
 discipline by strangely original methods is some- 
 times also a priest. If so, he takes no payment for 
 his instruction, as in India no religious teacher 
 ever teaches for money, though no doubt his 
 scholars bring him gifts of produce or food. The 
 Barber shaves, cuts nails, cracks joints, and is an 
 expert at massage. There will be also a village 
 carpenter, blacksmith, cowman, weaver and a shoe-
 
 128 CALCUTTA 
 
 maker, dyer, dhobie, oilman, water-carrier, watch- 
 man and sweeper. The hereditary Potter must not 
 be forgotten, as, though a Hindu usually prefers to 
 eat his food off a platter of leaves, the consump- 
 tion of earthenware is considerable, for no article 
 of the sort should, strictly, be used a second time. 
 All these hereditary craftsmen pursue their trades 
 as a sacred calling, and not for money. The Hindu 
 regards the work to which he is born as a holy 
 duty, to execute which God created him. And 
 whether he come into the world as a priest, a 
 sweeper, or as a member of a criminal caste whose 
 fixed business is plunder or murder, he is bound 
 by all the obligations of religion to continue in the 
 profession of his father for this life. The next time 
 he appears in human shape he will have another 
 caste, and a different calling, until he has run 
 through the whole gamut of human existence, 
 and can cease to be. So the " long-limbed, whole- 
 hearted, and dull-headed" villagers have always 
 believed from the dim days long before history 
 concerned itself with them, and so now they con- 
 tinue to go dutifully about their business, follow- 
 ing the traditions of their elders, " confused be- 
 tween facts and fancies, tied and bound by the 
 allegorical practices of a faith the inner meaning 
 of which has long been forgotten." So they are 
 content to toil with an apparently indifferent calm, 
 beneath which lies a great and ardent capacity for 
 passion ; and as they live so they die, as their 
 forefathers did before them, calmly smiling.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 BENARES: THE HEART OF HINDUSTAN 
 
 IT was cold in the train in the early morning : we 
 had been travelling all night, and had exchanged 
 the coast-climate of Calcutta for the colder plains. 
 We were an hour late when we reached Mogul 
 Serai station, and had barely time to catch the 
 Benares train. By 2 P.M. we were in Clark's Hotel, 
 Benares, a clean, comfortable bungalow in the Can- 
 tonment, but unfortunately three miles from the old 
 city. As soon aswe had time to turn roundwe made 
 ourwaytothecentre of the native quarters, and were 
 enchanted with the novelty and vivid interest of 
 the scene. There is no doubt about it, Benares is 
 wonderful ; it is marvellously picturesque, and as for 
 sketching,a lifetimewould notexhaust the subjects. 
 It is a long narrow town, extending in a crescent 
 along the leftbankof theGanges fortwo miles, over- 
 looking, on the opposite side of the river, a flat and 
 monotonous expanse of cultivated plain ; the bank 
 is steep, and about TOO feet high, and is clothed, as 
 it were, with staircases coming down to the water's 
 edge in wide irregular flights, quite unconnected 
 with one another. Above these flights of steps, or 
 ghats, are huge houses and palaces, temples and 
 
 R
 
 130 BENARES 
 
 the great mosque of Aurangzeb, packed close, with 
 narrow alleys between them. All this, in spite of 
 its attraction, is comparatively modern, and except 
 a few buildings, there is nothing earlier than the 
 time of Akbar (sixteenth century) ; for like many 
 Eastern towns Benares has shifted its site from 
 time to time, and has left traces of its "dead self" 
 for miles along the Ganges. 
 
 Unfortunately, I did not see the remains of the 
 earliest city, Sarnath, a marvellous place, I believe, 
 with gigantic Buddhist Topes, and ruins of other 
 colossal buildings, still in situ close by. 
 
 No one knows the story of its beginning, at the 
 time of the very earliest Aryan settlement in India, 
 but Benares was the religious centre of India as far 
 back as the sixth century B.C., when itwas chosen by 
 Sakya Muni as the first place in which to preach 
 his doctrine of Nirvana. It then became a strong- 
 hold of Buddhism for many centuries ; but in the 
 fourth century A.D. reverted to the Hindu faith. 
 In the twelfth century came the Mohammedans, 
 who conquered it, and converted its temples into 
 mosques, and the story goes that Alu-ud-din 
 boasted of having, here alone, destroyed i ooo Hindu 
 shrines. 
 
 After 600 years of Moslem predominance 
 Benares returned to its old faith, and has since 
 continued the sacred city par excellence of the 
 Hindu. 
 
 In Calcutta and Bombay though one cannot fail 
 to notice the enormous predominance of natives 
 over Europeans yet, owing to the modern aspect
 
 THE GOLDEN TEMPLE 131 
 
 of the greater part of these cities, with their wide 
 streets and broad spaces, and their law-abiding in- 
 habitants, the Indian population does not impress 
 one by its vast numbers. To all this the appearance 
 of crowded Benares forms a striking contrast. Here 
 is the very heart of India. Here, in this fountain of 
 Hindu fanaticism, beats the quick pulse of the 
 people. To this sacred spot, from the utmost 
 corners of the land, stream in endless pilgrimage 
 thousands upon thousands of devout Hindus, who, 
 through the narrow alleys and dark passages of 
 the city, constantly course along, jostling one 
 another in a seething flow, towards the temples, or 
 the sacred river, to drink or in bathing to wash 
 away their sins, or to die, if need be, in the arms of 
 old Ganges, the mother of life. 
 
 Here then, above all other places, in this swarm- 
 ing mass of humanity, is one forced to realise the 
 depth and strength of the national life of India. 
 This was specially impressed upon us in the first 
 place we visited ; the Golden Temple dedicated to 
 Bisheshwar, or Shiva, as the Poison God, the 
 spiritual ruler of Benares. In this form Shiva 
 appears with a blue throat, the result of his having 
 magnanimously swallowed the poison evolved 
 in one of the processes of creation. But this 
 deity is worshipped probably by more than 
 half the Hindus as the reproductive power of 
 nature, in the form of a symbol, the lingam. Is 
 there, perhaps, some remote connection between 
 this cult and the calf and pillar worship of the 
 Israelites? Shiva's temple, this holiest of holy
 
 132 BENARES 
 
 places in the sacred city, is in the heart of 
 the town, surrounded by a network of narrow 
 alleys thronged with people, and crowded between 
 other buildings. The roofed quadrangle where it 
 stands is itself crowded with worshippers, jostling 
 one another, sprinkling holy water and carrying 
 votive offerings of flowers to hang upon the 
 upright black stone, tapering to a cone shape, 
 the symbol of Shiva. Cows are admitted on equal 
 terms, and roaming lazily along have to be passed 
 and to pass ; every now and then a palanquin comes 
 along and one has to flatten oneself against the 
 walls of the narrow passages to let it go by. 
 
 Shrines, figures of cows, shapeless masses re- 
 presenting Ganesh, Shiva's son, the god of good 
 luck, with elephant's trunk painted red (in one in- 
 stance with three hideous silver eyes, and silver 
 hands) met our gaze on all sides, and at every 
 turn in a bewildering confusion. 
 
 One very curious object of worship specially 
 caught my eye. It was a silver disk with a red 
 apron hanging below it, and represents the planet 
 Saturn, an important object in this city of astro- 
 logers. 
 
 The gates or doors of the Golden Temple are of 
 beautifully wrought brass, but it takes its name 
 from the fact that one of its conical flame-like 
 towers, and a dome, are covered with plates of 
 gilded copper ; we mounted a narrow stair in a 
 side building, in which are kept the great tom- 
 toms, and where temple flowers were being sold, 
 and looked at these towers, and the red conical
 
 ANNOYING CROWDS 133 
 
 tower of Mahadeo's temple from the first floor. 
 The so-called priest, with a view to backsheesh, 
 told me he would pray the gods to give me a son. 
 When I told him I had one already, he kindly 
 offered to pray that I might have five. 
 
 Round the court of an adjoining temple are a 
 number of sacred cows in close quarters ; this they 
 call the Cow Temple, and a little further on, round 
 the corner of a narrow alley, is the Temple of 
 Annapurna, goddess of daily bread. All along 
 these lanes are small shops for the sale of 
 images and rosaries, and of the celebrated brass- 
 work of Benares, especially of " lotas," which are 
 as essential to the existence of a Hindu as a cigar- 
 ette is to a Spaniard. A ' ' lota " is a spherical wide- 
 mouthed vessel of brass for a Hindu, of copper for 
 a Mohammedan from which the owner never 
 seems to be separated, and to which he clings with 
 tenacity when he has given up all other worldly 
 possessions. Out of it he drinks ; with the aid of 
 it, and a bit of soft stick, and much ritual obser- 
 vance, he washes his teeth a favourite occupation 
 and pastime, especially out of the railway carriage 
 window when travelling and with the help of it 
 he cooks. 
 
 The eager, excited crowds, which thronged and 
 pressed us, were rather annoying, and as we got 
 into the carriage we were beset by dancing girls. 
 The beggars are most persistent, and have recourse 
 to all kinds of expedients to excite sympathy and 
 extract backsheesh. As we went along, a woman 
 ran up to the carriage with something wrapped up
 
 134 BENARES 
 
 in her hands, and disclosed just enough to show 
 a newly born infant, which could not have been 
 more than an hour or two old. 
 
 Before dusk we had time to explore some high, 
 narrow streets in the thick of the town ; they 
 reminded me of Genoa, but are far more pic- 
 turesque. The rich colouring (chiefly a deep red), 
 the overhanging storeys, and an occasional bridge 
 thrown over from one side of the street to the 
 other, combine all the elements which an artist 
 could desire. Every empty space on the brightly- 
 painted facades is occupied by a fantastic repre- 
 sentation of Hindu mythology, with all its 
 many-handed, many-headed, many-weaponed 
 gods and goddesses in endless variety ; and, 
 besides the regular temples and shrines with 
 which the town bristles, an uncouth image, or a 
 squarely-hewn sacred stone, is set up at every 
 vacant corner. 
 
 Whilst we were driving near the cantonment, we 
 encountered, issuing from a dark grove of trees 
 amongst which were scattered a few shrines and 
 native dwellings a most picturesque crowd sing- 
 ing and playing music, and in the centre a bamboo 
 bier covered with red cloth and tinsel, and strewn 
 with yellow flowers. It was a funeral procession, 
 and the body was on its way to one of the Ghats 
 to be cremated. 
 
 Early on the morning of February 6, we started 
 to drive to the Temple of Durga, sometimes called 
 the " Monkey Temple," at the far west extremity of 
 the town. Durga, or Kali the Terrible, is one form
 
 IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE TOWN
 
 136 BENARES 
 
 of Shiva's wife, and worshipped over the greater 
 part of the peninsula. The Thugs and Dacoits, 
 now happily practically suppressed, were devotees 
 of Kali, in her most horrible aspect. They wor- 
 shipped her under the form of an axe ; and the 
 Jemadar, or leader of the band, was usually con- 
 sidered to be an incarnation of the power and 
 an inspired instrument of Mai Kali, when he 
 murdered the innocent victims, whom chance, or 
 the design of the goddess, as he believed, threw 
 across his path. An unfortunate traveller, once 
 marked down by them, would be followed or ac- 
 companied on his journey in the most friendly man- 
 ner for days or even weeks, before the fitting occa- 
 sion for the climax offered ; but the Thug never lost 
 his quarry, and the fatal noose ended the victim's 
 life at last. 
 
 It is, perhaps, not surprising that the Government 
 of India still has to publish a report from the 
 Thugee and Dacoity Department, when one con- 
 siders that in 1830 there were few districts in India 
 without a resident band of Thugs, with their beyls, 
 or chosen murder and burying grounds, thickly 
 dotted along every high road in India ; and that 
 there were in all 10,000 of these professors of mur- 
 der as a fine art, roaming unmolested over the 
 peninsula and earning their living at the rate of 
 three murders a head during the year. The more 
 successful leaders commanded well-disciplined and 
 perfectly organised gangs of over a hundred fol- 
 lowers, who were all trained men, specialists in some 
 one branch of their profession, conversant with a
 
 THE THUGS 137 
 
 secret language and an elaborate code of practical 
 and shrewd rules, and thoroughly and genuinely 
 impressed with the divine origin of their hereditary 
 cult. Some of them were really good men, excel- 
 lent fathers and husbands, men of position, mer- 
 chants, tax-collectors, or officials, but the ancient 
 hereditary faith exercised too strong a fascination 
 over them. "The Thug was simply a practical, de- 
 vout man ; hewould set out on hisbusinesswith the 
 quiet earnestness of one merely doing his duty, and 
 bringing up his son to a good professional connec- 
 tion ; he would brutally murder twenty or thirty 
 victims, not only with an easy conscience, but with 
 the calm self-approval of a successful practitioner; 
 and, if he fell into the meddling grasp of the law, 
 he would go to his death with the cheerful smile of 
 a religious man who had lived well and entertained 
 no doubts of being munificently rewarded here- 
 after. . . The innocent villagers submitted to 
 death by strangling at the hands of the Thug then, 
 as they now die of cholera or the plague, in a silent, 
 hopeless belief that it is wrong to struggle against 
 the visitation of the gods." Consequently the mur- 
 ders were never traced; and it required the splendid 
 self-devotion of Sir William Sleeman exposing 
 himself voluntarily for many years to the hatred 
 of thousands of secret murderers to crush this 
 ancient and powerful religion of crime. Kali still 
 requires to be propitiated ; human sacrifices are not 
 now attainable though instances have been dis- 
 covered as recently as 1891 and 1892 and usually 
 only goats,buffaloes, and sheep are slain before her.
 
 138 BENARES 
 
 No religious festival is so popular in Hindu 
 homes, especially in Bengal, as the milder Durga- 
 puja in October. A small plantain tree covered 
 with straw and clay is painted with vermilion, 
 draped in a silk saree adorned with tinsel orna- 
 ments, and, being consecrated, is believed to be 
 the habitation of the goddess. After a solemn pro- 
 cession to the river, it is brought to the house of the 
 devotee who had it made, and is, for a month, 
 venerated and worshipped, with fasts by day and 
 feasting at night. Finally, Mai Durga is said to be 
 "going to the house of her father-in-law" like 
 Persephone : the image is again carried on a 
 bamboo stage to the river side, and amidst shouts 
 and dancing is thrown into the stream. The cere- 
 monies usuallyterminatewith drunken bacchanalia 
 and disgraceful scenes. 
 
 There is nothing particularly remarkable about 
 this temple of Durga, though its architecture is 
 simple and graceful, and it has some fairly elabo- 
 rate carving round the inner colonnade. It is 
 painted red and stands beside a tank, overshadowed 
 by some fine peepul trees, which, as usual in India, 
 are held sacred. There are groves of trees in India 
 held so sacred that, though timber and firewood 
 are in great request, no stick is ever cut, nor is 
 even the dead wood picked up. The sacred cha- 
 racter of this site probably dates back to a dim 
 period, when these trees, or their predecessors, were 
 venerated, in connection with the tree worship of 
 the aboriginal tribes, as sheltering the spirits whose 
 good will had to be secured, by sacrifices and obla-
 
 THE BATHING GHATS 139 
 
 tions, to ensure a good harvest. In these trees the 
 tribe of sacred monkeys swarms and breeds, and 
 chatters incessantly, descending at intervals to 
 take their share of the offering. 
 
 In the temple also are numbers of monkeys, 
 climbing and leaping about everywhere ; and as 
 many beggars and other creatures, worry you 
 to look at this, or that, or press you to buy food 
 to feed the monkeys. Though the monkeys are no 
 respecters of persons the boldest of them actually 
 jumped upon us yet I greatly preferred the mon- 
 keys to their masters. 
 
 After a sketch at the Golden Temple, we made 
 our way to the Man Mandir Ghat, close by Raja 
 Jai Singh's lofty seventeenth-century observatory. * 
 Here we embarked in a barge with a house upon 
 it, on the roof of which we sat, and were slowly 
 rowed up the Ganges as far as the Ashi Ghat, and 
 then down again to the Mosque. 
 
 The river bank is a marvellous sight. The Ghats, 
 in flight after flight of irregular steps, descend the 
 broken precipitous cliff a hundred feet to the water's 
 edge, amongst temples and shrines of all sorts and 
 sizes. Here and there the steps widen out into ter- 
 races, and on them, at irregular intervals, are 
 shrines with the everlasting old cow or sacred 
 bull looking in at the front door. The cliff is 
 crowned by high houses and palaces, pierced with 
 
 * Old travellers tell us that the Brahmans whose business it was 
 to calculate the eclipses of sun and moon (then as always the 
 occasion for religious services and devotion) were trained in 
 astronomy and astrology in Benares.
 
 140 
 
 BENARES 
 
 deep archways, which give access to the narrow 
 streets of the town, and culminate in domes 
 and slender minarets. The effect is enhanced by 
 the sweep of the river, which bends in a crescent 
 
 THE GHATS 
 
 shape facing the rising sun. Here and there a 
 palace or temple breaks away from the main line 
 and, projecting forward, descends with solid breast- 
 works of masonry to the water's edge, where every 
 variety of native craft lies moored.
 
 THE BATHERS 141 
 
 A stream of bathers and devotees, in the most 
 brilliantly coloured garments, continually ascends 
 and descends the steps : issuing from the dark 
 archways and lanes above, they collect below on 
 the brink of the water, under huge straw umbrellas; 
 and behind tall screens, which protect them from 
 the heat of the sun, they proceed by one operation 
 to wash away their sins, to wash their bodies, and 
 their simple and scanty clothing as well. They 
 
 COMME 9A 
 
 then gird themselves in clean attire; and afterwards 
 return to one of the terraces to have their caste- 
 marks replaced upon their foreheads, by an official 
 of the temple ; he is provided with a number of little 
 saucers filled with coloured powders for the purpose. 
 This done, they sit on a plankover the water to medi- 
 tate and bask in the sunshine. The pose is a 
 squat, and the devout appear to hold their noses, 
 comme $a. 
 
 I was charmed by one scene in particular which
 
 i 4 2 BENARES 
 
 we watched. Two graceful women in bright-coloured 
 silk saris came down the steps, each carrying on 
 her arm a folded sari of a different hue. Leaving 
 this on the brink, they stepped down as they were 
 into the sacred water and drank and dipped. Com- 
 ing back to the step in the wet garments, they 
 wound them off, and simultaneously, by the same 
 mysterious movement, clothed themselves in the 
 fresh silk drapery with which they had come 
 provided. The process of transformation was as 
 elusive and complete, as that by which a snow- 
 capped mountain is changed at the after-glow. 
 Then taking the strip of wet drapery, and deftly 
 gathering it in narrow folds crosswise in either 
 hand, they went back to their daily occupations. 
 
 The worshippers, standing waist-deep in the 
 river, pour libations into the water, murmuring 
 as they do so the words from the Vedas prescribed 
 by the sacred ritual, and also cast in wreaths of 
 jasmine flowers. This beautiful scene, however, 
 has another side to it, and it is a very disagreeable 
 part of the business that they drink the water too. 
 Dirty stuff it looks and must be, and, when one 
 knows that dead bodies are constantly floating 
 down stream, one wishes that the devotees might 
 be absolved from drinking the water of the sacred 
 river. The natives are not content with putting 
 their fellow-creatures into the river. I came across 
 a horse to-day, and have no doubt the sacred cows 
 end their existence there too. Fortunately the 
 Calcutta waterworks are provided with an excel- 
 lent system of filtration.
 
 CEREMONIAL 143 
 
 We spent some hours on the river sketching 
 and reading, and brought our tiffin-basket with 
 us. It was quite dark before we got back to the 
 hotel. 
 
 A second day arrayed in fur coats, for the 
 mornings are bitterly cold we embarked once 
 more in our houseboat about 8.30 and rowed 
 down to the end of the Ghats. There were 
 thousands of bathers at that hour of the morning : 
 dressed in every colour of the rainbow, they 
 descended and ascended the footworn steps a 
 very gay sight. I spent the day sketching until 
 4.30, when we walked through some of the 
 picturesque streets. Here and there, at some con- 
 spicuous corner, we came across a yogi, squatting 
 or standing with arm upraised, appealing to high 
 heaven in some strained attitude, and livid with 
 the ashes smeared over his uncouth body : loath- 
 some sight. Or we noticed a string of low-caste 
 women, miserable oppressed hewers of wood and 
 drawers of water, carrying prodigious loads upon 
 their heads up the steep ascent to the town. Poor 
 creatures, theirs indeed must be a hard lot. 
 
 From the beginning of life to its end, every 
 detail of the existence of these 230 millions of 
 Hindus is gripped by the dead hand of ceremonial 
 ritual. A man may be an atheist or a murderer, 
 his religious status is unimpaired ; but let him 
 unconsciously drink water touched by a man 
 of lower caste and his doom is sealed. The 
 conscience is perverted, and the true sense of 
 distinction between right and wrong lost. A
 
 144 BENARES 
 
 pious Hindu dying in his bed at home, would 
 be considered as very slack in obeying the precepts 
 of his religion ; they decree that he shall breathe 
 his last on the banks of the Ganges ; or, if that is 
 out of reach, on the brink of some neighbouring 
 stream or tank. The dying man is carried on his 
 string bed or charpoy, at a jog trot, for miles per- 
 haps, to the sacred stream, by relays of friends 
 grunting and shouting as they go " Hari, haribol ; " 
 and there he may linger for days, if he is suffi- 
 ciently tenacious of life to survive the repeated 
 immersions to which his attentive guardians sub- 
 ject him. Old people have sometimes returned 
 home after nine or ten dippings, but more often 
 means are taken to prevent this disgrace, and the 
 patient expires correctly. The body, swathed in 
 red or white, is then placed on a funeral pyre of 
 faggots with sandal wood and ghee ; the outcast 
 Brahman, who alone has the monopoly of sup- 
 plying the cremation fire, reads the prescribed 
 formula, and the nearest relation sets the pile 
 alight. All that is left unconsumed of the body is 
 then cast into the river, in defiance of municipal 
 regulations, and the fire extinguished with some 
 jars of holy water.* 
 
 At the Burning Ghat beyond the Observatory, 
 we passed several such funeral pyres, with bodies 
 upon them more or less consumed by the fire. A 
 man standing by with a long pole raked or poked 
 
 * Though the expenses of this ceremony are under strict police 
 regulation, yet at times many lakhs of rupees are spent in the 
 funeral feasts which take place a month later.
 
 A BENARES EKKA 145 
 
 together the unburned portions of the poor crea- 
 tures' bodies, a truly ghastly sight, but not so 
 gruesome as another sight we saw a little later. 
 When we first commenced our voyage on the river 
 we were enchanted by this never-to-be-forgotten 
 scene, and my companion suggested that we should 
 stop a fortnight, and devote the time to sketching. 
 Not long afterwards, sitting not far from the 
 water's edge, a turn of the head revealed a floating 
 corpse, which must have been some weeks in the 
 water. The rower merely raised his oar to let the 
 ghastly object pass ; but my companion's enthusi- 
 astic plans were suddenly modified. 
 
 Next day, Sunday, after church and lunch, I 
 made a sketch of a Benares ekka a very pictur- 
 esque conveyance with double shafts on either 
 side, drawn together on the top of the pony's back 
 and fastened to a saddle. The trappings of some 
 of these ekkas are very bright and gay, and some 
 have a canopy like a bird-cage on the top. This 
 " machine" holds, besides the driver, two persons, 
 who sit sideways, and hang their legs over the 
 wheels. Alas ! in spite of the endless subjects, I 
 only managed to get time for three sketches in 
 this fascinating place. That afternoon we left 
 Benares for Lucknow and Cawnpore, where we 
 were to realise what, in 1857, was the outcome of 
 the Hindu fanaticism of which Benares is the 
 centre.
 
 BATHING GHATS
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 LUCKNOW AND CAWNPORE : THE 
 MUTINY 
 
 LUCKNOW, the largest town in India after the three 
 capitals, has a comparatively modern aspect, and the 
 fantastic buildings, erected during the last hundred 
 and fifty years by the vicious and incompetent 
 kings of Oude, are in keeping with their builders' 
 character. The Nawabs and Kings of Oude ruined 
 their people with a crushing taxation, and laid deso- 
 late a most fertile country, studded with villages 
 and finely wooded, in order to spend many lakhs of 
 rupees on works which ministered solely to the 
 gratification of the King and his pleasure-seeking 
 Court. These buildings consist, to a great extent, 
 of tasteless palaces and tombs, in a most debased 
 style of architecture, not seldom imitated from the 
 worst European examplesof the eighteenth century; 
 and, being frequently of no more durable material 
 than stucco, they are often in a condition of ex- 
 treme dilapidation. 
 
 From a distance Lucknow presents a most de- 
 ceptive appearance of splendour: domes, minarets 
 and quaintly bizarre pinnacles lead one to expect 
 a gorgeous city of more than ordinary oriental
 
 148 LUCKNOW AND CAWNPORE 
 
 magnificence; but a nearer approach produces a 
 disillusionment, and I felt no desire to sketch, 
 or to stay here longer than was necessary to go 
 over the places made memorable by the Mutiny. 
 So, after breakfast at Hill's Hotel, we drove 
 to the Cantonments, some one and a half miles 
 off: we called first on Colonel May, who made 
 an appointment for four o'clock to take us over 
 the Residency, and then on the General in com- 
 mand of the District, General Sir ^neas Perkins, 
 and his wife, who asked us to lunch. The General 
 came in late, in the middle of a hard day's inspec- 
 tion. He is a great friend of Lord Roberts, and 
 was with him, commanding the Engineers, on his 
 memorable march in Afghanistan in 1878 and 1880. 
 
 From his house we drove in a body all except 
 Sir y<neas and his A.D.C. to meet Colonel May. 
 
 Before the Mutiny, Colonel May was a civilian 
 engaged in surveying the town ; he went through 
 the siege, and got his commission after it. He 
 knows every inch of the ground, and is an excel- 
 lent cicerone. He first of all showed us, on the 
 cardboard and plaster model in the Museum, the 
 relative positions of the Residency and surround- 
 ing buildings, explaining, and putting into a nut- 
 shell, as it were, a concise account of events and of 
 their connection with the various buildings ; and 
 with that useful preface, we went on to the spot 
 itself, and were much better able to understand it 
 from our preliminary examination of the model. 
 
 Colonel May told us many thrilling incidents 
 of the siege, which brought the scene more vividly
 
 SIR HENRY LAWRENCE 149 
 
 before one, and helped to illustrate the excellent 
 accounts given in Holmes' " History," which, on 
 Purse's recommendation, we had just been reading. 
 He pointed out a wall, against which, he told me, 
 he was sitting one day, when suddenly a round 
 shot struck the wall between his legs. This, how- 
 ever, is not to be compared with the escape of a 
 trooper in the relief force, who had his saddle 
 destroyed under him, by a blind shell which passed 
 between his thigh and the horse's back, he him- 
 self, and his horse, remaining uninjured ! 
 
 We were much impressed with the great dis- 
 advantages under which the mere handful of heroic 
 defenders held the Residency, from May 7 to 
 November 17, 1857, with the enemy close to them 
 all round, and under cover, in houses commanding 
 the position. One stretch of the road which led 
 through the enclosure, was swept by the rifles 
 which the mutineers had fixed in rests in a house 
 opposite; and for any one to show himself in that 
 road was certaindeath. Fortunately the citypeople, 
 and the entire Hindu population, held aloof from the 
 outbreak, owingto Sir Henry Lawrence's knowledge 
 of the native character, and to his tact, firmness, and 
 decision. It can never be too often repeated, that 
 none of the heroism displayed during the siege 
 would have availed aught, but for his foresight and 
 ability, which made the defence possible. Very early 
 in the day he almost the only Englishman in 
 India foresaw that the outbreak was inevitable, 
 and prepared for it. Whilst doing all that his expe- 
 rience and insight suggested to keep the natives
 
 i5o LUCKNOW AND CAWNPORE 
 
 loyal, he had no fear of showing a want of con- 
 fidence in them. He fortified the Residency, 
 provided an adequate water-supply, and stored 
 ammunition and food, ample for the needs of the 
 defenders (even when on September 25 their 
 numbers were augmented by the 3000 men under 
 General Havelock), thus enabling the garrison 
 to hold out till November 17, when Sir Colin 
 Campbell relieved Lucknow. 
 
 The buildings in which the enemy found shelter 
 are now cleared away : the Residency itself is 
 merely a beautiful ruin, and the whole place is very 
 much overgrown with creepers bougainvillea, 
 bignonia, and others against which Colonel May 
 vowed vengeance. We thought that these, and the 
 trees which have grown up very thickly on all 
 sides since 1857, much enhanced the beauty of 
 the spot. We made time next day, before leaving, to 
 drive again to the Residency, to see Henry Law- 
 rence's simple grave and moving epitaph. The gar- 
 dens and cemetery are all beautifully kept, and one 
 is grateful that this scene of peace and order should 
 form a foreground for one's thoughts of the tw r o 
 thousand brave men and women (amongst whom 
 the native troops were conspicuous for heroism 
 and loyalty) who, led by Sir Henry Lawrence, the 
 best of the brave, "tried to do their duty" and 
 laid down their lives in defence of the Banner 
 of England. In Henry Lawrence's words, " May 
 the Lord have mercy on their souls." 
 
 We dined in the Cantonments, and spent a 
 pleasant evening, but I never expected that at
 
 UNFRUITFUL EFFORTS 151 
 
 Lucknow we should be going out to dinner 
 wrapped in fur coats and rugs through a thick 
 mist like a London fog. 
 
 Next day, Tuesday, I took a short walk about 
 eight, and looked in at the Church, where I came 
 in for the tail end of Matins. After breakfast we 
 drove to the copper and brass bazaar, a very narrow 
 street lined with small low shops, supported on 
 most dainty wooden pillars, all decorated with re- 
 fined carving. 
 
 Since the city has been under British rule, much 
 has been done to widen the streets and bazaars, 
 and to provide for the health and sanitation of 
 what was one of the most wretched and dirty towns 
 in the whole of India; but, although Lucknow 
 ranks as the centre of the Hindu schools of music, 
 of learning, theology, and literature, and though 
 trade and manufacture have revived, and the native 
 nobility of the province have established themselves 
 in the city again, yet the population has apparently 
 decreased. Famine and disease appear to have 
 defeated all our well-intentioned efforts fort he res- 
 toration of prosperity to this sorely tried city. 
 
 We had to get to the station by 1.30 to catch our 
 train for Cawnpore, which we reached about five, 
 and leaving Lobo and the luggage at the station, we 
 went straight to an hotel, had tea and got the pro- 
 prietor to take us round and show us the scenes of 
 the horrors of the massacre. He is an old soldier, 
 and came to the relief of the place under Havelock 
 (July 15, 1857), arriving just too late to save the poor 
 women and children. He was an extremely voluble
 
 152 LUCKNOW AND CAWNPORE 
 
 old fellow, and is now a monomaniac on the subject 
 of the massacre and the part he took. He blew his 
 own trumpet very loudly on the same note, and 
 his way of expressing himself was much involved ; 
 the story was mixed and exaggerated, and the 
 sprinkling of superlatives so thick that it was not 
 easy to make head or tail of what he said. How- 
 ever, fortunately the invaluable Holmes was at 
 our command, and supplied .the facts for his topo- 
 graphical illustrations. 
 
 We saw the scene of the entrenchment, a 
 miserably weak place with its well in a most ex- 
 posed position ; and we marvelled at the decision 
 which led the veteran Sir Hugh Wheeler in the 
 face of Lawrence's advice, to abandon the walled 
 enclosure on the river, and giving over the maga- 
 zine and ammunition into the keeping of Nana 
 Sahib and the native troops to entrench himself, 
 withonly three hundred English soldiers and seven 
 or eight hundred non-combatants, behind four- 
 foot earthworks in the centre of an open plain. 
 " Surely " as Lord Roberts says of this incident 
 " Surely those whom God has a mind to destroy 
 He first deprives of their senses." 
 
 For intensity of suffering during the Mutiny 
 Cawnpore stands first, but there is nothing fine 
 or striking to the imagination in the tale of mis- 
 placed trust, nervous fright and confusion, and 
 bad management, which Cawnpore reveals. For 
 twenty-one days, without proper supplies, and 
 under the intense heat of the June sun, Sir H. 
 Wheeler and his company were exposed to the fire
 
 THE MASSACRE GHAT 153 
 
 of three thousand mutineers, whose guns were in 
 incredibly close proximity ; then, trusting still 
 to Nana's loyalty, they surrendered on June 26, on 
 the condition that they were given boats and sup- 
 plies and allowed to retire with honour down the 
 Ganges. 
 
 The many instances of heroic valour shown 
 during this time are overshadowed, and seem 
 merely pathetic beside the ghastly instances of 
 misplaced confidence which led to the massacre 
 at the Sati Chaura Ghat, and to the horrors of the 
 Bibi Garh and Well, where "the dying and the 
 dead," and even some unhurt children, were con- 
 signed indiscriminately on July 15, when Have- 
 lock's rescuing force was at the door. It was 
 almost dark when we reached the fatal Well, with 
 its memorial screen, and white Angel designed 
 by Colonel Yule. They are far more beauti- 
 ful in reality than in the photographs generally 
 seen. 
 
 Fortunately, perhaps, the thought of the tragedy 
 was relieved for us by interludes of comedy : the 
 guidewho drove us intermixed his Mutiny talk with 
 conversation on his private affairs, and expressed 
 the opinion that there are many scenes in family 
 life m'ore terrible than the battle-field. Pointing to 
 the cemetery, he said, " I buried a wife and a babe 
 in arms there ; both died of cholera in one day. 
 I have got another now, who plays six instru- 
 ments and sings in the choir of the Memorial 
 Church. I've had seven children and three wives, 
 not to mention being wounded three times on the 
 
 u
 
 154 LUCKNOW AND CAWNPORE 
 
 field of battle. But the field of battle ain't no wuss 
 than scenes in the life of a private party. It's all 
 down in that book of mine on Cawnpore. Why, 
 it's the most interesting place in the world is 
 Cawnpore, the most interesting place since God 
 created this earth talk about Delhi and Agra, 
 why there's nothing but buildings there, whereas 
 here was the massacre, saw it with my own eyes 
 man, woman and child at the breast slaughtered 
 the most interesting place in the world you 
 ought to stop a week here," &c. 
 
 A wild-looking fanatical Yogi was haranguing an 
 attentive crowd of natives near theTempleof Shiva, 
 on the bank of the river at the Massacre Ghat, and 
 we were told that he was recounting the story 
 of the wretched defenders, decoyed on that fatal 
 June 27 into open boats, under a safe conduct, and 
 then shot down defenceless from the banks. We 
 could not feel then thatMarochetti's beautiful angel 
 over the Well represented the presiding genius of 
 Cawnpore, but rather that the fiendish spirit which 
 had animated Nana Sahib was only smouldering, 
 and that fifty years of Western secular education, 
 as assimilated by the Hindu, would not protect us 
 from another outbreak of treacherous fanaticism. 
 
 The aspect of God and man, of life and its 
 ideals, which we present to the Hindu, those, who 
 have studied their character, tell us, does not im- 
 press them as it should, because it does not fit into 
 their ways of thought. Part of this difference in 
 our mental and spiritual furniture is the product of 
 climate and national idiosyncrasy, and part arises
 
 HINDU IDEALS 155 
 
 from the contrasting character and practices of the 
 Hindu and Christian religions. But, what a nation 
 believes about fundamental things is indissolubly 
 connected with the form of civilisation it exhibits. 
 You cannot separate institutions from ideas. 
 And behind the idolatry, the slavery of the caste 
 system, the immoral Hindu pantheon, and the 
 dwarfing and degrading Hindu ceremonial the 
 Hindu has ideals, attractinghim, and controllinghis 
 life, which are not ours ; and no mere contact with 
 European civilisation or liberating enlightenment 
 will ever really remove him from their sway. Deep 
 down in the heart of things, in the soul of India, 
 in the region of first principles and foundations, 
 there are differences and contrasts, which are abso- 
 lute : and this difference prevents the native from 
 appreciating the liberty accorded by our adminis- 
 tration, the justice of our law courts, or the self- 
 denying, single-minded devotion to duty and the 
 common good, shown by our civil servants and 
 statesmen. The Hindu must have brought home 
 to him the supreme excellence of the fundamental 
 ideas concerning God, man, and life, which Chris- 
 tianity embodies, before our efforts to benefit him 
 and to raise his status can bear fruit. 
 
 In the Hindu's view of the Supreme God 
 (Brahma), the idea of absolute Intelligence and 
 Wisdom is paramount ; in that of the Christian, 
 infinite Goodness and perfect Will are specially 
 accentuated. The Hindu, therefore, in his aspira- 
 tions towards likeness to his Divine Ideal, is con- 
 stantly striving after perfect knowledge, but the
 
 156 LUCKNOW AND CAWNPORE 
 
 Christian, though aspiring, as he does, to " know 
 as he is known," and accepting with his Lord 
 that "eternal life" which is "to know God," 
 yet lays the emphasis, above all, on the attainment 
 of the good life and on character. This is specially 
 apparent in the .aspects of Incarnation which are 
 proper to the two religions. To the Christian the 
 spotless character of the Incarnate Lord, and His 
 cross, and death are essential ; but Krishna the in- 
 carnation of Vishnu has no concern with ethics, and 
 comes not to suffer and give life but to destroy. 
 Again, self-renunciation and ascetic practices play 
 a part in both the religions, but to the Hindu his 
 austerities when not intended to be a means of 
 acquiring power over gods and men are an end in 
 themselves. He renounces equally the mean, vile 
 things of earth and the noblest aspirations of his 
 heart. Even a good deed is a fetter binding him 
 to the " wheel of circumstance," and to this human 
 existence, which he would be quit of as soon as 
 possible. To the Christian, self-renunciation is a 
 means to an end. The lower is forsaken that he 
 may attain to a higher, and the "cross of self- 
 effacement is the path of the crown of true self- 
 realisation." Then, again, to the Christian, the ideal 
 future means life, " the glory of going on, and still 
 to be " ; to the Hindu, it is a calm blank, with every 
 emotion of joy and act of service swept away. 
 This attitude of the Hindus has been explained 
 by the fact that they have had a hard lot between 
 a bad climate and a worse government ; and 
 taking the future life to represent only another
 
 THE BROTHERHOOD MISSION 157 
 
 existence where they will " repeat in large what 
 they practised in small " they feel no desire to 
 embark on it, and so crave absorption or extinction. 
 Practically of course the average Englishman 
 might often be taken for a materialist, and the 
 Hindu shows far more insight than he does into 
 spiritual things, and strenuousness in pursuit of 
 them. Nevertheless there is clearly a gulf fixed 
 between the kind of thought and civilisation and 
 religion which affirms the value of individuality 
 and effort which affirms the personality of man 
 and of God and that civilisation and religion 
 which regards the persistent striving of humanity 
 to live and to realise itself as an illusion, a mis- 
 take, a source of evil. The two ideals clash in 
 matters fundamental and crucial. 
 
 Happily the Indian Government now recognises 
 that "education in the true sense means something 
 higher than the mere passing of examinations, 
 that it aims at the progressive and orderly de- 
 velopment of all the faculties of the mind, that 
 it should form character and teach right conduct, 
 that it is, in fact, a preparation for the business of 
 life." And much has been done in Cawnpore, to set 
 forth the foundation truths at the root of our 
 ideals, since the days when Harry Martyn first 
 preached there a century ago, and since an S.P.G. 
 missionary was amongst those murdered in the 
 Bibi Garh. Two brothers, sons of Bishop West- 
 cott, started, in 1889, the Brotherhood Mission, 
 where now seven English and two native clergymen 
 run industrial schools, boarding-houses, a college,
 
 158 LUCKNOW AND CAWNPORE 
 
 and hostels for native and Christian students ; and 
 besides this, there are an S.P.G. women's hospital, 
 a dispensary, and orphanages. On the one hand, 
 encouragement is to be found in Sir Alfred 
 Lyall's assurance, that the Hindu, being profoundly 
 spiritual, and feeling the burden of the mystery of 
 life and death, needs in the object of his worship 
 something akin to human sympathy, and in the 
 fact that the story of the life of Jesus of Nazareth 
 is beginning to form an ideal of life among some 
 classes ; but, on the other hand, we are assured that 
 educated converts are now rare, for India now 
 clings passionately to her old faiths with nervous 
 apprehension, and never before have the educated 
 men stood up with more determination for their old 
 ideals. How far we Westerns, with our lack of 
 sympathy, which perhaps originates in want of 
 imagination, are responsible for this, it is hard to 
 say ; but the Western and the Eastern minds 
 move on different planes still, and while this is 
 so we shall continue to hold India by the sword.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 AGRA : THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGUL 
 
 WE rumbled over the iron bridge which spans 
 the Jumna immediately north of the Fort, and 
 entered Agra station at 4 o'clock in the morning ; 
 but it was not till six hours afterwards that we 
 felt in a mood to be interested in our surroundings; 
 then, as it was Ash Wednesday, we sallied out and 
 made inquiries about church services. We found 
 that they were already over, so went to leave our 
 cards on General Pretyman, who had just taken 
 over the command of the district, and proceeded 
 to the Fort. The beauty of this place quite exceeded 
 my expectation, and I wished we could have de- 
 voted more time to it than we had at our disposal. 
 It is grand as a whole a huge pile of red sand- 
 stone and the details and designs of the palaces, 
 mosques, and halls which it contains are exquisite 
 to a degree, and wonderfully refined, with many 
 traces of Italian workmanship. 
 
 Agra Fort, from about the time of our Henry 
 VIII.'s accession till shortly after the date of 
 Charles I.'s death, was the centre of the Mogul 
 Empire ; the buildings here are the glory of that 
 period, when Mohammedan architecture in India
 
 160 AGRA 
 
 reached its climax. The Emperor Akbar, perhaps 
 one of the greatest and most liberal-minded rulers 
 commemorated by history, lived here during the 
 early years of his life. It is to him that we owe 
 the double line of noble red sandstone walls, 70 feet 
 high, with a circumference of over a mile; they en- 
 close within their precincts a remarkable group of 
 palaces, mosques, halls of state, baths, kiosques, 
 balconies and terraces overhanging the river, all 
 nobly designed and exquisitely decorated by Akbar 
 and his successors, Jehangir and Shah Jehan. 
 After a period of thirty years, passed either in war 
 or at the Royal City of Fatehpur Sikri the crea- 
 tion of his unique genius Akbar eventually re- 
 turned to die here in his red palace overlooking the 
 river. Hisson Jehangir leftfewtraces in Agra, except 
 perhaps in the JasminTower,for he travelled much 
 and lived chiefly at Lahore, or Ajmere, where he 
 received SirThomas Roe, James I. 's ambassador; 
 but several European travellers have left glowing 
 accounts of this capricious and peculiar sove- 
 reign's court at Agra, and of the beauty and in- 
 fluence of his Afghan wife, Noor Jehan. 
 
 To Shah Jehan is due all that is most refined 
 and most delicately beautiful in the architecture of 
 Agra. Fergusson draws attention to the immense 
 contrast between the manly vigour and exuberant 
 originality of the style of Akbar, with its rich 
 sculpture and squarely Hindu construction, and the 
 extreme but " almost effeminate elegance " of that 
 of Shah Jehan, and condemns the latter as feebly 
 pretty; his work, however, interested me personally
 
 AGRA FORT 
 
 161 
 
 more than that of his predecessor, and seemed to 
 me more picturesque. The transition, which cer- 
 tainly is great, may perhaps be traced to the in- 
 fluence of the Italian, French, and Portuguese 
 
 THE JUMMA MUSJID 
 
 artists who were employed by Jehangir and Shah 
 Jehan ; they certainly introduced the system of in- 
 laying coloured marbles and precious stones, which 
 the Moguls made their own, with such high taste 
 and skill during this period.* Like that other great 
 
 * Bernier, a French physician, in the service of the Court at 
 Agra, in 1760, mentions the ability shown by the native craftsmen 
 in the exercise of this and other European arts. 
 
 X
 
 162 AGRA 
 
 patron of art, Ludovico il Moro, Shah Jehan, after 
 a life of the greatest splendour, died a prisoner. 
 Aurangzeb, his son, confined him, in Imperial 
 state, in the Harem here ; his devoted daughter, 
 "the humble, transitory Jehanira, the servant 
 of the holy men of Chist," as she described herself 
 in her epitaph, tended him there for seven years. 
 In his last days of weakness, he begged to 
 be laid in an upper chamber whence he could see 
 the Taj Mahal, the " dream in marble " he had 
 raised in memory of his much loved Persian wife, 
 Arjmand Banu, or Muntazi Mahal, who died at 
 Jehanira's birth: so, in 1665, ended the passionate 
 life of Shah Jehan, " emperor and lover, devotee 
 and artist." 
 
 After Jehan's death the centre of Empire was 
 moved to Delhi, and Aurangzeb, intent on con- 
 quests in distant parts of India, did not return to 
 Agra ; a century of anarchy followed, and termi- 
 nated in 1803, when Lord Lake took possession 
 of the district for the East India Company. 
 
 I do not think any buildings I have ever seen 
 can approach the Agra Fort and Taj Mahal for 
 beauty and dignity. The Fort extends about half 
 a mile along the right bank of the Jumna, which, 
 passing through a waste of land, flat but broken, 
 here takes a sharp bend to the east: across its dark 
 green waters and sandy bed, one gets a glorious 
 view of the beautiful Taj Mahal, rising, in its gar- 
 land of green garden, out of the colourless sand, 
 like a fairy palace raised by some genii in an 
 Arabian nights' tale.
 
 NAGINA MUSJID 
 
 163 
 
 It is impossible to enter into details on so large 
 a subject, but one of the places which interested 
 me greatly in the Fort was the Nagina Musjid, 
 or Toy Mosque, where the ladies of Shah Jehan's 
 palace said their prayers, and close to which 
 he was imprisoned by his son. The blackened 
 ceiling of a part 
 of the cloisters, 
 said to have been 
 used by him as 
 baths, is still 
 shown as a trace 
 of his long cap- 
 t i v i t y. The 
 Mosque is of __, 
 pure white mar- 
 ble, on a tiny 
 scale, on the first 
 floor of the pal- 
 ace, and over- 
 looks the Mina Bazaar, where jewellers used to 
 assemble to show their trinkets to the ladies, who 
 looked down into the courtyard through a stone 
 screen outside the mosque. Through the same 
 screen the Imperial prisoner used to watch the 
 wild beast fights held below. 
 
 Then, on a great bastion, there is the Saman 
 Burj, or Jasmin Tower, where the chief Sultana 
 lived, an exquisite octagonal two-storeyed turret 
 an ethereal building of white marble with a cupola 
 overlaid with gold which commands a glorious 
 view over the Jumna, or rather down it, to the Taj. 
 
 ON THE WALL OF THE FORT
 
 164 AGRA 
 
 The Pietra Dura work here is said to be the 
 handiwork of Austin of Bordeaux, a French 
 craftsman who found asylum with the Moguls 
 from the hand of justice in his own land, and 
 is reported to have been subsequently poisoned 
 by some native professional rival. This delicate 
 marble inlay work, and the low reliefs in white 
 marble, are marvellously beautiful ; they are espe- 
 cially noticeable in the Diwan-i-Khas, or Private 
 Hall of Audience, where the Great Mogul used 
 to settle his domestic affairs. He sat under 
 arches of white marble of exquisite proportions, 
 with slender twelve-sided columns all inlaid with 
 elaborate floral designs, in jasper, agate, jade, cor- 
 nelian, lapis lazuli and bloodstone, hardly less 
 bright than the roses and pansies which still 
 bloom, within their white marble bordering, 
 amongst the vines and the cypresses in the palace 
 garden below. 
 
 These marble galleries, pavilions and terraces, 
 in bewildering complexity, crown the summit of 
 the vast red wall overhanging the river, between 
 the two great circular bastions ; they are raised 
 upon a vast series of subterranean galleries, stairs 
 and passages, partly explored in the search for 
 hidden treasure, and secret entrances, when the 
 English population was concentrated here during 
 the Mutiny. Some of these suites of rooms had 
 been walled up since the days of Shah Jehan. 
 
 The gateways of this grand citadel, especially 
 the Delhi Gate, are very imposing. Within the Delhi 
 Gate is a second gate, flanked by two octagonal
 
 THE TAJ 165 
 
 towers, and surmounted by cupolas. Here I was 
 sketchingin the afternoon, when who should appear 
 driving past, but our kind host when in Adelaide, 
 Chief Justice Way, and Dr. Pennefather. I halloed 
 to them to stop, and we arranged to meet at the Taj, 
 and accordingly drove there towards sundown. 
 
 The entrance gateway to the precincts of the 
 Taj is in itself a splendid building of sandstone 
 
 THE TAJ FROM THE ROAD TO AGRA 
 
 from Fatehpur Sikri, and marble from Jeypur ; 
 anywhere else it would claim attention, but it is 
 disregarded and forgotten after the first glimpse 
 through the archway which frames in the object of 
 tDur pilgrimage. Before us is a rectangular garden, 
 flanked by massive red walls, which are overtopped 
 by dark trees, festooned with bougainvillea ; it is 
 planted with cypresses and roses, between straight, 
 marble-lined watercourses and crossing paths 
 and is a very paradise of birds. There upon 
 a raised marble platform, isolated from all its
 
 166 AGRA 
 
 immediate surroundings, except the four sentinel 
 minarets, and with no background but the sky, 
 shines the glorious face of the Taj itself. 
 
 Before entering we must just glance at three 
 small and insignificant objects, arranged upon a 
 projecting ledge of the base of the gateway. A disk 
 of battered copper hangs by a leather thong from 
 a horizontal bar of wood fastened to two upright 
 posts of stone : from the same posts is suspended 
 a row of twelve large beads by a string, attached, 
 at each end, to the knobs on the tops of the posts, 
 and a rude mallet lies beneath. What is the mean- 
 ing of these queer objects ? This is an old-world 
 clock, worked by a human agent, who sits and 
 watches below. When a fresh hour arrives he gets 
 up, passes a bead from one side to the other, strikes 
 the copper disk, or gong, with strokes correspond- 
 ing to the hour of the day, and squats down to 
 await the arrival of the next hour. How he dis- 
 covers what the time actually is, whether he 
 guesses it, or whether he keeps a Waterbury in 
 the folds of his loin-cloth, I did not ascertain. 
 
 The sun had set some minutes as we looked 
 for the first time through the gateway to the great 
 Mausoleum : the garden was all in shade, while a 
 soft pearly light was hovering about the domes of 
 the Taj intensified by the warm colour of the 
 sandstone arch through which we gazed. Its size, 
 its completeness, its solemn and dignified sur- 
 roundings, and its pearly, opalesque colour in the 
 evening light, combined to give this most re- 
 markable building so ethereal an aspect that we
 
 A PRIMITIVE CLOCK 
 
 167 
 
 approached it almost with awe, which seemed to 
 demand that here we should take the shoes from 
 off our feet and uncover our heads. 
 
 A PRIMITIVE CLOCK 
 
 I know my experience is commonplace and my 
 enthusiasm meux jeu; it would be more up to 
 date to take up a flippant attitude ; but I have 
 no patience with the people who criticise the 
 architecture, proportions and designs of the 
 Taj Mahal. No doubt the Taj stands at the high-
 
 i68 AGRA 
 
 water mark of Mogul art, and its immediate 
 descendants totter on the verge of decadence ; but 
 it is certainly a wonderful creation, and as Mr. Way 
 said, the words, " A house not made with hands," 
 involuntarily occur to one: I felt that one ought 
 not to speak above a whisper when approaching 
 it. One remarkable feature of the group is its 
 wonderful symmetry. Every part has some other 
 part which exactly balances it; ajawab, or "answer," 
 has even been built on the east side facing the 
 west, as an exact pendant to the mosque on the 
 west side. If there is a kiosque on one side of 
 the garden there is a similar one on the other. 
 If there is a turret at this angle of the garden there 
 is another to correspond at that. These buildings, 
 all red sandstone, white marble and mosaic, are in 
 themselves grand, but here they have to find their 
 level in a subordinate position. The most attractive 
 views are where the great white building appears 
 amongst the cypress trees, and where the four 
 corner minarets are somewhat hidden ; for, if there 
 is room for hypercriticism about anything, it would 
 be in respect to these minarets. They irresistibly 
 suggest lighthouses, and the bands across do not 
 tend to carry the eye upwards to the dome, as 
 flutings such as there are on the Delhi minarets 
 would do. 
 
 We visited the Taj several times, and saw the 
 interior by the light of lamps, and by moonlight; 
 but the subdued twilight, which is all that pene- 
 trates through the double set of marble lattice- 
 screens in the daytime, is no doubt the best by
 
 THE TAJ-MAHAL 169 
 
 which to appreciate its mysterious depths, and 
 the jewelled sprays and garlands and touches of 
 coloured marble, with which the unerring judg- 
 ment of the artist has given value to the balance 
 of the scheme. There is considerable pathos in the 
 prayer on the tomb of Arjmand, to be " defended 
 from unbelievers." 
 
 We took special notice of the delicate Pietra 
 Dura work on the tomb of Shah Jehan. It seems 
 more beautiful even than that upon the tomb of 
 his wife beside it, and it is difficult to imagine 
 how the fine stalks and veins of the flowers could 
 have been cut out of marble and fitted into their 
 places with such precision as is here displayed.* I 
 wished I had time to copy some of the designs. 
 But time was always the great difficulty : there 
 were so many things that I felt I must do while 
 I had the opportunity. First of all, I had to try 
 and verify all the Handbook statements, and do 
 what I could to put the descriptions straight. 
 Then I had the things described to see ; though 
 that perhaps should come first ! Thirdly, I had 
 my diary, which I did not like to give up, 
 having gone so far with it, even though it is a very 
 prosy chronicle of events. Then I wanted to sketch 
 as much as my time would permit, for certainly 
 such an opportunity will never recur. And finally, 
 and in conclusion, I must get some exercise and 
 eat and sleep, as I was still human, though I had 
 seen the Taj. 
 
 * Tavernier, the French traveller and jeweller in Agra at the 
 time, says that 20,000 men were employed on the Taj for 22 years. 
 
 Y
 
 170 AGRA 
 
 This evening we lingered for some time, and it 
 was dark before we left the precincts of the Taj. I 
 walked back a good part of the way with the Chief 
 Justice Way ; then we got into his carriage, which 
 was slowly following, and drove back to the world 
 of prose, and all dined together. 
 
 Next morning early, Mr. Way and his party 
 started for Delhi. I went to the Fort and spent 
 four hours hard at work, putting straight the ac- 
 count in the Handbook. I came across an intelli- 
 gent private of the Leinster Regiment who has 
 been three years in this Fort, and he gave me a 
 good deal of help. 
 
 I was charmed with the Moti Musjid the Pearl 
 Mosque in the Fort ; it is quite perfect in its way. 
 It stands on a raised platform, and is approached 
 by a double flight of stairs. The exterior, of rough 
 red sandstone, makes no pretensions to effect ; 
 within is a glorious vision of warm white marble, 
 delightfully veined in different tones of white, 
 grey, and pale azure, and with mellow touches of 
 yellow. No colour invades the precinct with its 
 central water basin, only, above the seven beautiful 
 arches of the mosque proper which faces one with 
 its nine light cupolas and three domes runs a 
 broad Persian inscription in black marble. Even 
 the critical Fergusson allows, that the moment the 
 eastern gateway is entered the effect of its court- 
 yard and graceful arches is surpassingly beautiful, 
 and hardly approached anywhere for purity and 
 simplicity : it is a superb house of God, calling all 
 who enter it to prayer. From the terrace on the top
 
 THE JUMMA MUSJID 171 
 
 of the cloisters hard by when my work was done 
 I got a sketch, across the Fort and down the 
 river to the Taj with its fair white domes and mina- 
 rets reflected in the water. 
 
 After breakfast on February 13, I walked to 
 the Great Mosque, the Jumma Musjid, close to 
 
 THE JUMMA MUSJID 
 
 the Fort. The road there is rather a typical one. 
 There is much dust in fact, a general tone of 
 dust pervades everything; the scanty grass by the 
 roadside, which has not already been browsed down 
 by half-starved donkeys and cattle, is brown and 
 dead ; but there is not much of it. The road is 
 lined with low one-storied buildings shops, for 
 the most part, open to the street, supported by low 
 carved pillars and sheltered by awnings of straw. 
 Swarthy people squat among their wares, smoking 
 their hookahs (often without mouthpieces), and
 
 172 AGRA 
 
 drawing the smoke straight from the bowl. The 
 roadway itself is thronged with people many of 
 the women, carrying brass pitchers and other heavy 
 loads upon their heads, are clad in bright colours, 
 with rows of bangles round their wrists and ankles ; 
 the men, in less brilliant but more motley clothes, 
 trouble themselves less with heavy loads than the 
 gentler sex. Here and there a well-laden camel, 
 with supercilious expression, comes striding 
 through the crowd, making the garis and ekkas 
 look small beside him. 
 
 The Jumma Musjid is a grand building of red 
 sandstone and marble in herring-bone courses; 
 though built by Shah Jehan in 1644, it approaches 
 more nearly to the earlier vigorous style of his prede- 
 cessors. He built it in the name of his noble 
 and devoted daughter Jehanira, who subsequently 
 shared his captivity here, and whose unassuming 
 tomb with its touching epitaph we visited near 
 Delhi. This mosque has lost its great gateway, 
 which was pulled down by the English, as they 
 thought it threatened the Fort, and might be made 
 use of to strengthen an enemy's position. 
 
 Whilst sitting in the hotel verandah, watching 
 the constant stream of comers and goers, European 
 and native, we recognised, in the depths of the bird- 
 cage canopy of a native ekka, the well-known face 
 of the venerable Father Benson of Cowley . I say we 
 recognised his face, but his face was the last part 
 of his person to meet our gaze; it was his feet that 
 first caught our eye down the road, projecting be- 
 yond the side of the native conveyance. An ekka
 
 AN EKKA 173 
 
 is a very inconvenient vehicle for Europeans, and 
 one in which they are seldom seen. Its floor con- 
 sists of a tightly stretched canvas, on a square 
 frame a most suitable resting-place for the flexible 
 body of a squatting native but to a European, who 
 cannot double himself up like the Hindu, it pre- 
 sents this problem, difficult of solution what is 
 he to do with his legs? In front they are in the way 
 of the driver ; the build of the ekka often makes it 
 impossible to project them behind ; and so he is 
 compelled to stick them out at the side, over the 
 wheel, contact with which he has constantly to be 
 careful to avoid. The good old gentleman's posture 
 was distinctly quaint, and unlike that usually 
 affected by people of his wise and reverend char- 
 acter ; I could not resist making a sketch, of the 
 manner of his appearance on the scene, which I 
 slipped into a letter to a friend at home, and next 
 heard of, to my consternation, on the walls of the 
 common-room at Cowley ! Father Benson was 
 then making a visitation tour of the Mission- 
 stations of his society in various parts of the world ; 
 and he left for Lucknow that afternoon. 
 
 We dined with the Pretymans and spent a very 
 pleasant evening. The heat here seems to be ex- 
 tremely trying in the summer ; the thermometer 
 frequently stands as high as 115 all night, and this 
 is one of the stations where to make sleep possible, 
 the bheestie is sometimes requisitioned several 
 times in the night to pour water over the beds, a 
 most effective method of inducing rheumatism. 
 
 After church on Sunday morning at St. George's,
 
 174 AGRA 
 
 where the General read the lessons, in uniform, 
 we drove six miles to see Akbar's magnificent 
 tomb at Sikandra. It stands in the centre of a 
 large walled garden, with a gateway in the middle 
 of each of the four walls. The one by which we 
 entered is a splendid building of red sandstone, 
 inlaid with marble, and surmounted by four white 
 marble minarets, the tops of which have been de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 The tomb is most original, and not like any 
 other tomb in India. It is a four-storeyed pyra- 
 midal building of red sandstone, rising in a step 
 fashion to the uppermost tier of white marble. 
 This consists of a beautiful courtyard, surrounded 
 by a cloister of nine bays on each side, and fur- 
 nished with windows of open lattice-work of 
 exquisite designs. In the centre, floating as it 
 were between earth and sky, is the cenotaph, and 
 close beside it a pedestal, which once held the 
 Koh-i-nor. The dome, which a traveller of the 
 sixteenth century tells us was designed to cover 
 the central space, was never added. The building 
 bristles with small kiosques and pavilions of white 
 marble and red sandstone : and the vestibule of 
 the tomb is richly decorated with frescoes. 
 
 Here we had our picnic lunch, and, whilst 
 admiring the view from the top, we heard the 
 sound of church bells, and turning saw buried 
 amongst the trees the little church of the C.M.S. 
 Orphanage. We descended and went to it. It con- 
 tained a large congregation of natives, consisting 
 chiefly of the orphans; boys in European dress on
 
 SIKANDRA 175 
 
 one side, and girls in a mongrel costume on the 
 other. The service was of course in the ver- 
 nacular ; and as we entered we found them reading 
 the evening Psalms. When the lessons were read 
 
 they squatted on mats on the floor. They were 
 all attentive, but we were struck by a certain 
 lack of reverence. No one seemed to kneel during 
 prayers, but sat or squatted very much at their 
 ease. 
 
 In 1660 there was a really large population of 
 Christians at Delhi. Akbar protected the Jesuit 
 Mission, and they built a church ; but Shah Jehan
 
 176 AGRA 
 
 pulled the spire down, because the continual ringing 
 of bells annoyed him. Except in the cemetery this 
 early community left no trace. 
 
 We drove back by the Muttra Road the 
 Appian Way of Agra it is lined the whole way 
 with tombs. Along this avenue, on a wet, dark night 
 in the early days of the Mutiny, Mark Thornhill, 
 the Muttra magistrate, escaped for his life, with 
 the very uncertain prospect of reaching and gaining 
 admittance to the Fort at Agra. It w r as fortunate 
 for him that he possessed true and loyal friends in 
 the Seths, the native bankers at Muttra, and by 
 their influence he evaded the clutches of the muti- 
 neers at Muttra. With one Englishman and Dil- 
 war Khan, a staunch native officer, and a handful 
 of half-hearted native followers, he rode away 
 from the Seths' house at nightfall, disguised in 
 native dress. The night was dark, for, although 
 there was a moon, it was constantly shrouded by 
 heavy rain-clouds, and the fitful gleams of light 
 only served to intensify the shadows of the dark 
 avenue beneath which their journey lay. 
 
 After proceeding some distance they became con- 
 scious of a mysterious sound which seemed to pro- 
 ceed from the side avenue on their right, and which 
 resembled the dull clanking of a chain. The dark- 
 ness was so great they could distinguish nothing, 
 not even the trees ; the sound shortly ceased, 
 and they proceeded with caution on their way. 
 Soon afterwards they encountered two men, 
 mounted on a camel, who turned out to be the 
 Seths' messengers, returning to Muttra with the
 
 MUTINEERS 
 
 177 
 
 news of a battle outside Agra ; they reported that 
 afterwards the English had fallen back on Agra 
 
 A STREET IN AGRA 
 
 Fort before the mutineers, who had established 
 themselves in the town and cantonments. A short 
 interval passed, and the mysterious sound they
 
 178 AGRA 
 
 had already heard caught their ear again ; this 
 time there was no mistaking a clear low clank- 
 ing of chains, coming from the side of the road. 
 The trees were here thinner, and a faint glimmer 
 of light showed a row of dark figures, proceeding, 
 like dim phantoms, in single file, closely follow- 
 ing each other. The ground being soft, the foot- 
 steps were not discernible, but with every move- 
 ment came the clanking of a chain. They now 
 noticed a dull glare along the horizon, which 
 became more distinct as they advanced. It was 
 evident that Agra was in flames, and the truth 
 dawned upon them that this line of dim forms 
 was a body of prisoners, escaped from the Agra 
 gaol, making their way to Muttra. So close did 
 the dismal procession pass, that at one time they 
 almost touched Mark Thornhill's party ; but they 
 appeared, however, to be unconscious of his pre- 
 sence and made no attempt to molest him. For 
 many miles the same scene, like some incident in 
 Dante's "Inferno," recurred continually ; the groups 
 of prisoners passed at ever closer intervals, until 
 they came across a wayside hut with a body of men 
 drinking. Catching sight of English saddles on the 
 horses tethered outside, they realised that they 
 were inside the lines of the mutineers, and galloped 
 for their lives. Long before this their mounted 
 escort had melted away, and the party was reduced 
 to three men and a boy. As they rode along 
 a side avenue, they passed a body of mounted 
 troopers, one of whom confronted them and bade 
 them halt: putting their jaded horses once more
 
 A MOGUL TOMB 179 
 
 to a gallop, Dilwar Khan shouted that they were 
 bearing despatches from the Emperor of Delhi to 
 Agra, and they dashed forward. They were not pur- 
 sued, but pressed on, past the smouldering frame- 
 work of the burning bungalows. By daybreak their 
 eventful ride came to an end, and they were re- 
 ceived into Agra Fort. 
 
 Along this same road we made our way to the 
 Jumna, and crossed by a bridge of boats to the tomb 
 of Itmad ud Daulah the Prime Minister of 
 Jehangir, and father of his ambitious and masterful 
 wife Noor Jehan, or Normall as Roe calls her. 
 
 It isacharmingbuilding there is nothing grand 
 about it but it is in every part pretty; surrounded 
 by a good garden, and built upon the banks of the 
 river, it must always be a delightful spot. The 
 tomb of a great Pathan or Mogul personage was 
 usually erected during his own lifetime, on a 
 square terrace in an enclosed garden ; it was used 
 as a place for feasting and recreation in the cool of 
 the evening, by himself and his friends, until 
 the day when his body was laid in the crypt below 
 the central chamber under the dome. Then it was 
 handed over to the care of priests, who made what 
 they could out of the garden, and its produce, and 
 the alms of those who visited the tomb. Often, in 
 the more magnificent tombs, the family and rela- 
 tions are buried under the smaller rooms which 
 cluster round the central domed space. 
 
 The tomb of this great man is of this kind, it is 
 built of yellow marble, and stands in the centre of 
 a small square building of white marble, one storey
 
 i8o AGRA 
 
 high, whilst smaller chambers, round the central 
 one, contain minor tombs. At each of the four 
 angles is a round tower, about twice the height of 
 the building, surmounted by a cupola, and in the 
 centre, forming a small second storey, is a pavilion 
 containing the cenotaph. 
 
 The whole of the building outside is covered 
 with elaborate Pietra Dura work, of which it 
 is the earliest example in India, and a great part 
 of the interior is similarly decorated. The re- 
 mainder is adorned with frescoes of flowers 
 trees, &c., the windows filled with marvellously 
 delicate marble lattice-work, and in the return of 
 the doorways overhead is some remarkably fine 
 low-relief sculpture. 
 
 We drove back through the native town, which 
 abounds in " subjects." On our way we passed a 
 marriage procession, the betrothed bridegroom, 
 poorlittlefellow about four years of age was fast 
 asleep, being held on his saddle by a man who rode 
 behind him on the same horse fast asleep in spite 
 of the deafening sound of tomtoms and pipes. The 
 day's work had been too much of a good thing for 
 him at any rate. 
 
 The old town is an amusing place. " Of course 
 he has got into the old town," my friends will say ; 
 so I have, but these Eastern towns are out and 
 out more interesting, and far less dirty than those 
 of Europe. I think that even the most inartistic 
 person would be fascinated by them. Imagine a tor- 
 tuous street of irregular flat-topped houses, with the 
 domes and minarets of a mosque towering above
 
 A STREET SCENE 
 
 181 
 
 them. The street, is thronged with people, all in the 
 brightest coloured or white garments, and no two 
 
 A STREET IN AGRA 
 
 of them dressed alike. A large proportion of the 
 women, and the white-clothed men, are carrying 
 hugeweightsupon their heads, the biggest of which
 
 i8 2 AGRA 
 
 is a basket containing ten spherical earthenware 
 pots, each one i8in. in diameter. Amongst them 
 come bustling along parties of three or four per- 
 sons in an ekka, all engaged in shouting to the 
 crowd to clear out of the road; then towering above 
 all and everybody comes a string of camels with 
 huge burdens on their backs. The street is lined 
 with small shops, into which the buyer does not 
 enter, for the shop has no inside to speak of, it is 
 more like a booth or stall, and all the goods are 
 displayed in the street front. The merchant or 
 workman squats, or sits cross-legged amongst his 
 wares, at the height of one's elbow above the street. 
 They are full of bright colours, these shops, and with 
 awnings above them and sunshine glinting through 
 and intensifying the shadows of the deep recesses 
 behind ; they form most picturesque subjects. 
 
 Besides selling en evidence, they make all their 
 wares before the eyes of the public. In one 
 part the people always men are all engaged in 
 making gold lace in another, slippers. Here they 
 are polishing bits of glass ; next door they are 
 making the tinsel to set them in, for tawdry orna- 
 ments. There a colony is wholly given over to 
 making stems for hookahs, and close by they are 
 making the bowls. When it comes to hard work, 
 then the men, lazy dogs, make the women work ; 
 as I passed along I counted twenty-five women 
 grinding corn in their hand-mills, all together in 
 one place, whilst the easy work of winnowing, 
 &c., was being done by the men. Poor women, 
 they are terrible drudges in this country !
 
 AN INTELLIGENT AUDIENCE 183 
 
 I spent a good part of the next days sketching. 
 After breakfast one day, with a boy to carry my 
 sketching-bag, I sallied forth to explore a part of 
 the old town which I had not seen before. There 
 was little of interest the houses mostly of mud, 
 but here and there some good doorways. The boy 
 wanted to prevent my going, and when I came to 
 a stream about 10 ft. wide, I knew the reason why. 
 The natives, like himself, having of course no shoes 
 or stockings to think of, had no difficulty in cross- 
 ing. It was different with me, and they were in- 
 clined to laugh ; but I took off my hat and put 
 down my umbrella, and having screwed up my 
 stiff old limbs and set my teeth, I ran at it and 
 cleared it, much more easily than I had expected, 
 unused as I am to such gymnastics. I sketched a 
 beautiful doorway with a father and two sons 
 sitting in it. I had an intelligent audience, and 
 amongst them a young man who told me he had left 
 his Arabic lesson to watch me. He said the old man 
 in the doorway had been the Kazi of Agra, that 
 he had once been very rich, but now he was poor. 
 I asked, "Why?" and was met with the compre- 
 hensive reply, "Because he drink rum." They were 
 all Mohammedans, but apparently it was not only 
 in the matter of rum the precepts of their religion 
 sat on them lightly, for they did not mind being 
 sketched as the Arabs do. I once tried to sketch 
 some Arabs in Algiers: they constantly evaded me, 
 and at last an old Moor with whom we were on 
 the friendly terms produced by constant bargaining 
 for embroidered "rags" spoke to me on the
 
 184 AGRA 
 
 matter like a father, for my good. "It is not," he 
 said, "that any harm will ensue to those whose 
 picture you make; it is you yourself will suffer 
 inconvenience in the next world. Allah will say 
 to you : ' Following your own will and pleasure, 
 you have made those figures. I now command you : 
 give them souls.' And where, my friend, will you 
 be then ? "
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 FATEHPUR SIKRI, THE WINDSOR OF 
 THE GREAT MOGUL 
 
 THE name of Akbar's Royal city is not very 
 familiar to English ears, although distinctly better 
 known now than it was twenty or even ten years 
 ago. 
 
 The history of Fatehpur Sikri is short, for the 
 good reason that the great potentate and warrior 
 had not long settled in the city, which his genius 
 created, when the impure water and the unhealthi- 
 ness of the neighbourhood compelled him to leave 
 his palaces and to remove his Court. 
 
 But there, almost intact, it has remained for 
 three centuries a dead monumental city, no 
 longer instinct with the life and splendour of an 
 Emperor's Court, but given over to the bats and 
 the wild beasts and to the tender mercies of a few 
 poor country folk. 
 
 The climate of an Indian winter in the plains 
 is delightful and exhilarating. Cool nights and 
 cloudless days, with hot sun at noon, follow 7 one 
 another in regular succession, and it was in such 
 weather as this that we found ourselves on our 
 way from Agra to Fatehpur Sikri, twenty miles 
 distant across the plain. The road by which we 
 
 2 A
 
 1 86 THE WINDSOR OF THE GREAT MOGUL 
 
 quitted Agra was thronged with a motley coloured 
 crowd, which gradually grew thinner as we emerged 
 from the town and entered a long straight avenue, 
 which, passing between fairly green fields and 
 through scattered mud villages, extends all the 
 way to Fatehpur Sikri. The drive is a pleasant 
 one, with plenty of life, human and otherwise, 
 along a road, the distances on which are marked 
 by milestones fifteen feet in height, erected by the 
 Great Mogul. 
 
 We pass here and there a camel-caravan resting 
 by the roadside, with huge packs of cotton waiting 
 to be loaded up, bright-painted ekkas crowded with 
 country folk, bullock-waggons with picturesque 
 parties of women and children chanting strange 
 wild songs, and oxen in pairs drawing water from 
 many wells to irrigate the neighbouring fields. 
 
 In the less populous parts of our route we be- 
 come quite intimate with the many kind's of birds 
 which abound in this country, from the kite and 
 the white vulture to the wagtail. Doves fly about 
 us or run across the road before the horses' feet 
 like ducks in a country lane. Countless green 
 parrots, with bright red beaks always in a hurry 
 fly swiftly past us, or chase one another 
 screaming among the branches of the tamarind 
 trees, which form a leafy arch above our heads. 
 Here we put up a partridge and there a jungle 
 crow, or start a blue jay, whose wings glisten in 
 the sunlight as he flies away to a little distance 
 and perches on a Persian wheel to see us pass. 
 Then there are hoopoes and hooded crows, minah
 
 AKBAR'S MILESTONE 
 
 187 
 
 birds, and others too numerous to name. As for 
 the tiny palm squirrels, they are as plentiful as 
 flies, and so tame that they seem to think it hardly 
 necessary to get out of our way. 
 
 I*;***' 
 
 ONE OF AKBAR'S MILESTONES 
 
 Fatehpur Sikri is built on a low ridge command- 
 ing extensive views over the surrounding plain. 
 We climb the jungle-covered ascent, drive past 
 tenantless palaces and through empty squares, and 
 draw up before the Record Office, now converted 
 into the dak bungalow, or rest-house, for travellers. 
 Here we are received by the salaaming attendant
 
 i88 THE WINDSOR OF THE GREAT MOGUL 
 
 in charge of the house, and enter to take up our 
 quarters. 
 
 During the greater part of the time between the 
 year 1569 and 1605 the Emperor Akbar was making 
 conquests in India far andwide, but in the intervals 
 of fighting he found time to plan and build this 
 remarkable city, with all the elaborate arrange- 
 ments necessary for the administration of a great 
 state, the life of a distinguished Court, and the 
 support of an extensive armed retinue. In former 
 days the west side of this red city for it is built 
 entirely of red sandstone was bounded by a vast 
 lake, which has now disappeared. Its other sides 
 were surrounded by embattled walls, of which the 
 greater part still remains, enclosing an area of some 
 two or three square miles. These walls are pierced 
 by seven gateways, flanked by grim semi-circular 
 bastions, and one of these gateways is supported 
 by two gigantic stone elephants, now much muti- 
 lated, which raised and united their trunks over 
 the archway, giving the name of Hathi Pol, or 
 Elephant Gate, to this approach to the city. 
 
 We had the good fortune to bear an introduction 
 to Mr. E. W. Smith,* who, as archaeologist and 
 architect, was then at work for the Government, 
 measuring, mapping, and drawing the city and 
 its palaces. He has since, under the auspices 
 of the India Office, brought out a most important 
 book on the subject in four volumes. I cannot do 
 better than quote some of his introductory words 
 about the chief buildings : 
 
 * Mr. Smith, I regret to learn, has since died.
 
 190 THE WINDSOR OF THE GREAT MOGUL 
 
 " Several of the buildings have enormous front- 
 ages, extending to 35oft. and 4Ooft., while others 
 are so heavily laden with detail that hardly a square 
 inch remains uncarved. Fergusson, in speaking of 
 them, says: 'It is impossible to conceive anything 
 so picturesque in outline, or any building carved 
 to such an extent, without the smallest approach 
 to being overdone or in bad taste.' . . . The build- 
 ings consist of two classes, religious and domestic, 
 and for beauty and richness of design rank among 
 the finest in India." After enumerating many of 
 the buildings, Mr. Smith continues : " There are 
 many other important structures full of interest 
 to the student of Indian architecture, the artist, 
 and the antiquarian, and ranking among the fore- 
 most are the Turkish baths. They are built of 
 rubble masonry, and the interior walls are coated 
 in stucco, panelled, and profusely decorated with 
 incised geometrical patterns, the dados being 
 polished and painted. No two buildings are alike 
 in design. The great Masjid, a copy of one at 
 Makha, and extensively inlaid with marble and 
 enamel, is second to none in the country." 
 
 The Buland Darwaza, or Gate of Victory, which 
 forms the southern entrance to this mosque, is 
 the loftiest building in Fatehpur Sikri, and is 
 approached by a stately flight of steps. On the 
 right side of the entrance is the following inscrip- 
 tion in Arabic, " Said Jesus, on whom be peace ! 
 the world is a bridge, pass over it but build no 
 house there." Within is the last resting-place of 
 vShaik Salim Chisti, a fakir who lived an ascetic
 
 BEAUTIFUL DETAILS 191 
 
 life in a cave hard by and exercised an extraordi- 
 nary influence over Akbar. This little tomb, beau- 
 tifully designed and intricately sculptured, is one 
 of the most perfect specimens of Mogul architec- 
 ture, and lies like a jewel of white marble in its 
 red sandstone surroundings it is, indeed, the only 
 building in the whole city which is not of the 
 coarser material. There are several other note- 
 worthy tombs in the courtyard of the mosque, and 
 just inside is that of Salim Chisti's infant son, 
 a diminutive but nevertheless much-venerated 
 shrine, where a light is always kept burning. 
 
 As we left the sacred spot the sun was on the 
 horizon, and from a high minaret we heard the 
 summons of the faithful to prayer, a call to which 
 there were but few to respond. One of the most re- 
 markablebuildings in the cityis the Diwan-i-Khas, 
 or private hall of audience ; it consists of a single 
 square chamber with an entrance in the middle 
 of each of its four sides. From the centre of the 
 floor a large octagonal pillar rises to the height of 
 the sills of the upper windows, where it is sur- 
 mounted by a huge circular capital. This capital 
 carries no weight, but is connected with the four 
 corners of the building by four stone causeways, 
 or galleries, radiating from it, and approached 
 from the ground on the north-west and south-east 
 corners by narrow staircases in the thickness of the 
 wall. The definite purpose of this arrangement is 
 not absolutely known, but tradition asserts that 
 Akbar's throne occupied the centre of the platform 
 upon the capital of the pillar, and that a corner
 
 192 THE WINDSOR OF THE GREAT MOGUL 
 
 of the building was assigned to each of his four 
 Ministers, who approached him along these cause- 
 ways. 
 
 Another very striking building is the Panch 
 Mahal, which rises in an irregular pyramidal form 
 to a very considerable height, in five tiers, each 
 storey being smaller than the one below it. The 
 lower tier supports the one above with eighty-four 
 columns, while the uppermost consists merely of 
 a kiosque supported on four slender shafts. The 
 purpose of this building is also somewhat obscure, 
 but it is supposed to have been a pleasure resort 
 for the ladies of the palace, where they could enjoy 
 the air without being seen, for the building, though 
 open to the winds on all sides, has carved stone 
 screens on each storey; these are sufficient to pro- 
 tect the inmates from the rude gaze of passers-by, 
 while at the same time allowing them to watch 
 what was going forward in the world around. One 
 of the peculiarities of this Panch Mahal is that 
 hardly any two of the many pillars in its con- 
 struction are of the same design or ornamented 
 alike. Close by is Akbar's own private sleeping 
 apartment, called the Khwabghar, or " House of 
 Dreams," a small, but elaborately frescoed build- 
 ing, with convenient access to all other parts of 
 the palace. 
 
 To describe the other important buildings in 
 the city would be wearisome, even if space per- 
 mitted it. I can merely attempt to refer to a few 
 of them. 
 
 One of Akbar's most trusted dependents was
 
 THE PRIME MINISTER'S HOUSE 
 
 2 B
 
 i 9 4 THE WINDSOR OF THE GREAT MOGUL 
 
 Bir Bal, originally a Hindoo minstrel, who ingra- 
 tiated himself with the great Mogul, occupied a 
 position similar to that of a poet laureate at his 
 Court, and eventually became his Prime Minister. 
 For this man his patron built a magnificent house, 
 which, together with the Turkish Sultana's small 
 dwelling, Fergusson calls " the richest and most 
 beautiful, as well as the most characteristic, of all 
 Akbar's buildings." They are minutely carved from 
 top to bottom within and without. Then there is 
 the house of Miriam, the mother of the Emperor 
 Jehangir, a building with curious frescoes, in which 
 an angel is depicted in style and treatment so much 
 like those with which we are familiar in Fra 
 Angelico's pictures of the Annunciation that it 
 has given rise to the erroneous belief that this 
 Miriam, wife of Akbar, was a Portuguese Christian. 
 
 Mohammedans are usually fond of birds, and it 
 is interesting to observe that in many of the chief 
 buildings the upper parts are pierced with small 
 arched recesses for the accommodation of pigeons. 
 Besides all this there is an elaborate system for 
 raising water and dispersing it to all parts of the 
 palace ; mysterious viaducts, aqueducts, and pas- 
 sages abound in all directions, as well as stables 
 for horses and camels, with the stone rings by 
 which the animals were fastened still attached to 
 their mangers. 
 
 In one of the stately courts of the palace the 
 pavement is marked out somewhat in the fashion 
 of a gigantic chess-board; this is the Pachisi Court, 
 where the Emperor used to play the game which
 
 PANCH MAHAL 195 
 
 gives the court its name. The game presents much 
 resemblance to chess, and, in this case, was played 
 with living pieces, men and women dressed in 
 character. Of the gardens, which must have been 
 very large, scanty traces remain. 
 
 The sub-structures of the palace buildings are 
 massive and extensive, and are infested with bats 
 and porcupines, while panthers find covert among 
 the dense, scrubby jungle which surrounds the city. 
 Not long before our arrival Mr. Smith's children 
 had a narrow escape from a panther which sprang 
 out of the bushes close to them. Fortunately it 
 was a stray goat, and not the children, which had 
 attracted the brute, and with the aid of the dogs 
 they were able to make good their escape. 
 
 Although to the ordinary observer Fatehpur 
 Sikri appears fairly intact, a close inspection will 
 show that much of the fabric is tottering to a fall, 
 and, indeed, some of the buildings have actually 
 crumbled into ruins. This is unfortunately the case 
 with many of the architectural monuments through- 
 out the Empire, and it is distressing to see build- 
 ings notable for their historic interest, as well as 
 for their artistic beauty, vanishing before our eyes. 
 The monuments of India have, in fact, passed 
 through many vicissitudes, and have suffered much 
 from diverse causes, from the fanatical religionist, 
 the ruthless conqueror, from the well-intentioned 
 but ignorant restorer, and from the less ignorant 
 but too practical engineer ; from the natives, 
 who use them as quarries for their own mean 
 buildings ; from the jungle growth, which in the
 
 196 THE WINDSOR OF THE GREAT MOGUL 
 
 course of a few years may, by insinuating roots 
 and tendrils, upheave massive masonry and tear 
 down well-built walls; from the monsoon rains; 
 and last, but not least, from the archaeological thief, 
 who has been permitted to carry off with impunity 
 countless treasures to enrich his own or his nation's 
 collection. 
 
 Buddhist temples were destroyed by Hindus, 
 and Hindu buildings received the roughest hand- 
 ling at the hand of the Mohammedan. In our own 
 time, treasures of art have disappeared on the excuse 
 of modern improvement, or, perhaps, to make room 
 for a railway station ; temples and palaces have 
 been con verted to utilitarian purposes, and amongst 
 other acts of widespread vandalism was the smash- 
 ing up of numberless Pathan tombs, including the 
 priceless encaustic tiles with which they were 
 adorned, to form ballast for 200 miles of railway 
 line. 
 
 Collectors have been permitted to pilfer and carry 
 away sculpture and other works of art. Notorious 
 instances in point are the abduction of Shah Jehan's 
 bath at Agra, and of the celebrated Orpheus panel 
 from the Delhi Palace, and within recent years there 
 have appeared in celebrated European museums a 
 series of Indian frescoes and a most valuable frieze 
 of encaustic tiles stolen from buildings in the 
 peninsula. For these dishonourable but enterpris- 
 ing acts the perpetrators have been decorated by 
 their sovereign. In the meanwhile, many praise- 
 worthy attempts have been made by individual 
 Englishmen to arouse public feeling and to stimu-
 
 A FORTUNATE ESCAPE 197 
 
 late an interest in the historical monuments of 
 India. Few have done more to this end than James 
 Fergusson, whose history of Indian architecture 
 the chief authority on the subject has earned for 
 him the gratitude of all lovers of history and art. 
 To General Cunningham is due the preservation 
 and protection of many buildings of interest, and by 
 him, under Lord Canning, was inaugurated the 
 first archaeological survey of Northern India. Dr. 
 James Burgess, his able successor, has spent a 
 long and useful life in prosecuting the study of 
 architecture in India as an art or record of history, 
 and his monumental works on the Buddhist period 
 have done much to stimulate interest in and en- 
 courage the study of the subject. 
 
 In 1891 a memorial was addressed to the Secre- 
 tary of State for India, signed by representatives 
 of all the leading artistic and antiquarian societies 
 in England, andby a largenumberof influential and 
 artistic persons, praying him to take steps for the 
 systematic record and preservation of all buildings 
 of interest in the country for up till that time the 
 measures taken were at the best intermittent and 
 partial and in 1898 Lord Elgin once more took 
 up the reorganisation of the Department of Archae- 
 ology. Thanks to Lord Curzon, this department 
 has now been set upon a sound basis ; a trained 
 archaeologist has been appointed to supervise the 
 operations, to initiate plans of repair or restoration, 
 and to prepare a record of existing monuments ; 
 and it is to be hoped that these relics of a bygone 
 civilisation forming as they do one of the chief
 
 198 THE WINDSOR OF THE GREAT MOGUL 
 
 glories of the land will be preserved for the joy 
 of many generations to come. 
 
 This being the case, the country is to be con- 
 gratulated ; it was high time that England should 
 awake to the responsibilities of her trust in respect 
 to the monuments of which the nation should be 
 proud, and which as yet it has taken no adequate 
 steps to preserve. 
 
 .v^K-.-OV ^ 
 
 ^&& 
 
 A, ^-V^^^-^H <" " '^- 
 
 CTi .>r*- -r^ix 2J&t0j*i 7 //j, .. ,*//i^ 
 
 ON THE ROAD TO FATEHPUR
 
 CHAPTER X 
 GWALIOR: SINDHIA'S CAPITAL 
 
 WE had heard so much about Gwalior Fort, the 
 centre of a rich native State, that we determined to 
 make a ddtoitr from Agra to see it for ourselves ; 
 and when one day, early in February, we arrived in 
 the moonlight, we found it was indeed a wonderful 
 place. 
 
 A huge rock of sandstone, capped with basalt, 
 one-and-a-half miles long,rises sternly and majesti- 
 cally, like a wall, out of the plain, and is crowned 
 with a fantastic line of palaces and temples. 
 
 The authentic history of the Fort goes back to 
 the second century A.D., when it was in the posses- 
 sion of Toramana, who ruled over the country be- 
 tween the Jumna and the Nerbudda; but tradition 
 places the founding of the city many centuries 
 before Christ. No doubt, the rock-dwelling anchor- 
 ites and yogis who have always abounded in Hindu 
 lands as they do in Tibet now, had their dwellings 
 in the caves here from the very earliest days, be- 
 fore Elijah fled to the wilderness to serve God in 
 solitude or Jacob reared his lath at Bethel. 
 
 The Kachawa dynasty of eighty-four Rajput 
 princes held the fortress till 967, and a second
 
 200 GWALIOR 
 
 line of nine Hindu princes then reigned here for 
 200 years, until Kutub-ud-din, of Delhi fame, 
 wrested it from them for his Mohammedan 
 masters, and for another 200 years the Kings of 
 Delhi used Gwalior as a state prison. So also did 
 the Mogul Emperors, confining here possible 
 aspirants to the throne, whom they compelled to 
 drink an infusion of opium, which acted as a slow 
 poison. In the early middle ages, another Hindu 
 dynasty, the Touar Rajpoots, were again in posses- 
 sion of Gwalior, and they are the princes who have 
 left the deepest mark on the rock-fortress in the 
 beautiful palaces of Man Sing, and the very re- 
 markable series of Jain rock-carvings, on the west 
 and south-east faces of the cliffs. At the time of 
 Henry the Eighth the Moguls came back, and, on 
 the dismemberment of their empire, Gwalior was 
 seized first by the Jat Rana of Gohad and then by 
 the great Mahratta chiefs of the house of Sindhia, 
 who are descended from an official of the Peshwa's 
 court at Poona. With the exception of several 
 intervals during which it was in our hands, they 
 have been in possession of it ever since. 
 
 During the Mutiny, although Sindhia and his 
 minister, Sir Dinkar Rao, remained loyal with 
 10,000 men, a contingent mutinied, and defeated 
 Sindhia' s troops near Morar. He took refuge in 
 Agra, and it was left to Sir Hugh Rose and 
 Lord Napier of Magdala to regain the fortress. 
 This they did after five days' desperate fighting 
 against that interesting Amazon, the Rani of 
 Jhansi, who, in counsel and on the field was
 
 LASHKAR 201 
 
 the soul of the mutineers, and perished in action, 
 fighting gallantly in male attire at the head of her 
 troops. The Maharaja Sindhia was then re- 
 established in his fortress-palace, and granted an 
 increase of territory and permission to enlarge his 
 army. 
 
 A friend told me a curious story about this 
 Sindhia, illustrating the peculiar love of the Hindu 
 for hoarding money. When he regained his posses- 
 sions there was a vast population in a half starving 
 condition, in the State of Gvvalior ; and the British 
 Government gave the Maharaja to understand 
 that he must institute public works to give them 
 employment. This he readily consented to do if 
 the British Government advanced the funds with 
 which to pay them. Accordingly ^500,000 was 
 sent him for the purpose. The public works were 
 begun and carried through, the Maharaja mean- 
 while punctually paying interest on the loan. 
 When he died, and the pits in the Fort where he 
 kept his treasure were examined, there was the 
 ^500,000 still in the same original bags in which 
 it had been sent up to him never touched. He 
 had incurred the cost of the works, with the interest, 
 for the pleasure of knowing that he had half a 
 million of English gold in his cellars. 
 
 The modern town or Lashkar,* where the Court 
 lives, stands on the site of the Mahratta camp ; but 
 the railway station and the old cityof Gwalior are on 
 the north-east, between the foot of the rock and the 
 river. Near this quarter, the present Maharaja, Sir 
 Madho Rao Sindhia, has a rest house, or Musafir 
 
 * See note p. 215. 2 C
 
 202 GWALIOR 
 
 Khana, in which the Resident at Gwalior kindly 
 arranged that we should put up. 
 
 It was an interesting experience to find, on arriv- 
 ing,ahuge elephant waiting in themoonlightoutside 
 the Station, amongst the ekkas and ticcag harries. 
 He was kindly placed at our disposal by the Maha- 
 raja, and was a splendid fellow, about ten to twelve 
 feet high in his stockings, and wearingsilverbangles 
 round his tusks. Ten minutes took us to the Musa- 
 fir Khana, a large and new stone building ; it was 
 very comfortable, with good furniture and a cook 
 of varied accomplishments, who played to us, after 
 dinner, on a sitar, resembling a very large mando- 
 line. He played with a piece of wire bent into a 
 triangular shape, an endless, featureless tune, 
 called The Snakecharmer's Song ; after enduring 
 it for nearly half an hour we fled to bed. It might 
 have sounded well out of doors in the moonlight 
 at a little distance, but at such close quarters it 
 nearly drove us wild. 
 
 When I looked out of my window, a quarter of an 
 hour before sunrise next morning, the great rock of 
 Gwalior, rising from the plain like the hulk of a 
 gigantic battle-ship, looked very fine, as it was just 
 being touched by the rosy finger of dawn, its crown- 
 ing walls, palaces, and the irregularities of its preci- 
 pitous sides articulated by the rays of the rising 
 sun. It was overspread with a deep red flush from 
 the glowing Eastern sky, and though the base be- 
 neath was still in a gloomy obscurity of shadow, the 
 broad features of the landscape, the bare ground, 
 the trees, and the partly ruined tombs were distinctly
 
 A POLITICAL SAINT 203 
 
 visible in the clear still air. In the foreground was 
 a square tomb with a Pathan dome, which gave 
 distance to the background, and between me and 
 it occasional figures noiselessly passed. I lost no 
 time in getting out my sketch-book and attempting 
 to make a record of the scene, which to me pos- 
 sessed an unusual charm, and filled me with an 
 impatient desire to see more of this historic place, 
 and to become more closely acquainted with the 
 glittering and fantastic buildings which marked 
 the sky-line. 
 
 At a quarter to nine we set off to explore the 
 Fort and its palaces and temples, stopping on 
 our way to see the splendid tomb of Muhamad 
 Ghaus, a holy man, but wily, " saint and poisoner 
 fed with bribes, deep versed in every trait'rous 
 plan," who was the author of the stratagem by 
 which Akbar got possession of Gwalior. This is 
 one of the best specimens of early Mohammedan 
 architecture of the time, and consists of a square 
 building with a large Pathan dome and angle 
 towers, standing on a square platform with a 
 pavilion in the centre of each side. The centre of 
 the building is occupied by the cenotaph : it is 
 surrounded by a lofty verandah, enclosed with 
 screens of the most delicate tracery, very much like 
 those at Fatehpur Sikri, but, like the rest of the 
 neglected building, terribly choked with white- 
 wash. 
 
 The main road, which ascends from the old town 
 at the north-east of the rock to the top of the Fort 
 300 feet above, is very steep. Arrangements had
 
 204 GWALIOR 
 
 been made beforehand, and we found the Mahara- 
 ja's elephant, brightly arrayed in a red and yellow 
 howdah cloth, waiting outside the lowest gate, 
 ready to take us up and convey us about the Fort. 
 On our arrival the great beast knelt down, and up 
 
 ONE OF THE MAHARAJA'S ELEPHANTS 
 
 we got ; then, after passing through the decaying 
 old town with its crowded mass of small flat-roofed 
 stone houses, he proceeded to shuffle up the hill 
 with a kind of two forward and one back motion. 
 Among trees on our right gleamed the blue tiles 
 of the stately Gujari Palace which Man Sing 
 built for his queen close under the rock. It is an 
 immensely steep, hot climb up to the top of the
 
 MAN SING PALACE 205 
 
 rock on which stands the Fort and palaces ; but the 
 elephant took us up leisurely, under the guidance 
 of a good-looking Sikh of the Maharaja's troops, 
 and a policeman and two mahouts ; and we had 
 time to admire the little Jain and Buddhist carv- 
 ings on the rock, and the view, constantly widening 
 out across the plain, as we went along, under six 
 grand gateways and past many small temples. 
 There was one temple, about fourteen feet high, 
 pinnacles and all, carved out of one stone most 
 elaborately, about the year 800, in the days when 
 our forefathers were more concerned with feeding 
 their pigs on acorns than architecture. Further 
 on, near the third or fourth gate, was a large tank 
 with a Hindu temple. 
 
 Little paths led off up the face of the rock per- 
 petually to groups of Jain statues, carvings of 
 Mahadeo and Parbati, or Vishnu in the Boar in- 
 carnation ; but we could not, of course, do more 
 than give them a glance, as our elephant carried us 
 up the narrow road, and then under the walls of 
 the five great palaces, of which the two lower 
 storeys are carved in the rock that overhangs the 
 road. 
 
 We were nearly at the top when we came under 
 the splendid Man Sing Palace, which, like the 
 others, faces outwards towards the plain (E.). On 
 this side it is buttressed by six round towers, 
 with many balconies and pilasters. They are 
 crowned with copper-gilt domes and ornamented 
 in bands as is the whole building with sculp- 
 ture, and blue and yellow glazed tiles in bold
 
 206 GWALIOR 
 
 conventional patterns, which have a very peculiar 
 and original effect. It is palace and rampart in one, 
 and as it overhangs the side of the cliff is certainly 
 the most originally decorated house I ever saw. 
 There is a broad ribbon of blue along the facade 
 with a bright yellow row of Brahma's geese upon 
 it, and below is another dado of blue, about five or 
 six feet high, with conventional vivid green mango 
 trees growing in panels. Quite above, against the 
 sky, the walls are pierced by latticed screens 
 with great elephants set into them, picked out 
 with blue. It was almost impossible to dis- 
 tinguish between the sky, showing through the 
 pierced work, and the bits of blue pottery set into 
 the stone elephant. Some of the other tiles repre- 
 sent candelabras, elephants, or peacocks in blue, 
 rose colour, green and gold ; and when the corner 
 under the elephant gate is turned, the great win- 
 dowless wall overhanging the narrow street is found 
 to be almost completely hidden under this blaze of 
 brilliant but delicate colour. Even the columns 
 encircling the lower storeys had a blue ribbon of 
 tile work twined round them. 
 
 This last gateway, the Hathiya Paur, had 
 brought us to the summit of the cliff and the 
 entrance to the Fort, where a soldier of the Maha- 
 raja's army in the old red tunic of a cast-off British 
 uniform, a red turban and slippers, was on sentry 
 duty. The elephant here went down on his knees, 
 and we got off to see the interior of the palace and 
 make a sketch. 
 
 It was usually the Mohammedan buildings in
 
 JOHAR SACRIFICE 207 
 
 India which took my fancy for sketching purposes. 
 The buildings of an earlier period, and the Hindu 
 architecture especially, seemed too grotesque and 
 clumsy, and in many cases too profuse in orna- 
 ment, for the purpose ; but the Rajput Man 
 Sing Palace is an exceptional building, and, partly 
 from its position growing out of the top of the rock 
 and dominating the approach to the Fort, struck 
 me as being well suited to artistic treatment. I 
 made a sketch, not of the main facade looking 
 down upon the plain, but of this shorter face 
 which turns inwards at the angle where one of the 
 many gateways spans the ascending road. Semi- 
 circular bastions, crowned by cupolas, flank, at in- 
 tervals, the palace walls, and along them run the 
 horizontal bands of blue and yellow, and the 
 sculptured arches. Through the gateway came a 
 stately elephant, and beyond I could just get a 
 glimpse of the plain far below. 
 
 Gwalior Palace is connected with many tragic 
 stories. When the Moslems first stormed Gwalior 
 the Rajpoots, besieged without hope of relief, in 
 the last effort of despair put all their womenkind 
 to death, rather than allow them to fall into the 
 enemy's hands, and then, drunk with blood and 
 opium, the warriors, clad in saffron robes, rushed 
 forth to inevitable destruction in a last desperate 
 encounter. This wholesale annihilation was known 
 as the solemn sacrifice, " Johar." 
 
 The palace of the Kings of Gwalior covers a 
 great part of the east side of the plateau, and was 
 the work of more than one of the different
 
 208 GWALIOR 
 
 dynasties which ruled here. Each dynasty added 
 to it, and the Moguls enlarged it considerably. The 
 different storeys, with their rows of square pillars, 
 overlook large paved courtyards of the eleventh 
 century. The carving looks better in this nice 
 yellow sandstone than in Akbar's red, and I fancy 
 too this is rather higher taste, not so finicking, and 
 with a better sense of proportion. 
 
 The first of these halls, we were told by our 
 guide, had been a temple. Its walls are covered 
 with a diaper pattern in low relief, and here and 
 there small square holes open from it into a 
 narrow passage which surrounds it on three sides. 
 The side facing the court is open, broken by 
 sculptured pillars, above which are elaborate corbels 
 supporting stone eaves. The corbels over the 
 second hall represent peacocks with their tails 
 twisted upwards. Most of the rooms were low and 
 with slabbed ceilings. Fergusson says of this 
 palace that it is the most remarkable and interest- 
 ing example of an early Hindu palace in India. 
 We went into two other palaces the Vikram 
 Palace, where little remains besides a square hall 
 massively built, with flat-groined roof, and the 
 Karam Palace, which does not contain much of 
 interest. The small rooms are lined with stucco, 
 with vestiges of fresco decoration, as is also the 
 Hammam beneath, where in the domes remain 
 some delicate designs in plaster work. 
 
 Then we mounted our elephant again, and the 
 big beast flopped leisurely along the ridge to the 
 south. Unfortunately, when the British occupied
 
 TEMPLES 209 
 
 the Fort after the Mutiny, we built a great block 
 of barracks and " cleared away a lot of antiquarian 
 rubbish to make a parade ground." M. Rousselet, 
 the French traveller, who was here in 1864 an d 1867, 
 mentions temples and palaces which were being 
 pulled down and blown up by us at his first visit, 
 and had completely disappeared when he came 
 again. Baber and the Mohammedans mutilated 
 the sculptures from religious motives, but it was 
 left to us to sweep completely away buildings of 
 unique interest. Parts of the great and small 
 Sas Bahu temples, however, remain ; they are 
 massive square buildings, of about 1090 A.D., with 
 an entrance on each side, and are raised on plat- 
 forms and profusely covered with ornament. They 
 formed probably the porches to temple enclosures. 
 Round the base of many of the pillars there are 
 sculptured groups of elephants and other animals 
 and dancing figures. It does not seem easy to 
 determine whether these temples, probably of Jain 
 origin, were originally dedicated to one of the Jain 
 Tirthankers or to some Hindu god. Some of the 
 bas-reliefs have subjects clearly connected with 
 Vishnu or Shiva worship. 
 
 But one of the oldest and the strangest buildings 
 is the Teli Ka Mandir, or Oilman's Temple ; it is 
 more massive than either of the others and very 
 much more lofty, rising to a height of about eighty 
 feet, where it culminates in a solid waggon roof. 
 The doorway, which projects on the east side, was 
 probably crowned at a slightly lower level by a 
 similar roof. The whole building is covered with 
 
 2 D
 
 210 GWALIOR 
 
 sculpture in deep relief. The interior consists of 
 one comparatively small chamber, out of all pro- 
 portion to the building. It dates from the tenth 
 century, and is supposed to have been dedicated 
 originally to Vishnu, but afterwards adapted to 
 
 THE URWAHI VALLEY 
 
 Shiva worship. There is a collection of fragments, 
 made by Major Keith, set up round the base. 
 
 From the Teli Ka Mandir we made our way, by a 
 road on the west side of the ridge, down into the 
 rocky Urwahi valley, to see a marvellous series of 
 Jain sculptures; gigantic figures cut out of the side 
 of the rock, which is almost perpendicular. We felt 
 as though suddenly transported to Egypt and 
 amongst the Sphinxes. A deep and narrow gorge
 
 JAIN TIRTHANKERS 211 
 
 here splits the steep rock in two for some distance. 
 When M. Rousselet first visited Gwalior in 1864, 
 he approached them from below, and was much 
 impressed by the grand mysterious aspect of the 
 dark ravine, where these colossal figures, ranged the 
 whole length of the chasm, were dimly discernible 
 amongst the tangled creepers. But in 1867 he found 
 the British blasting a new road from the fortress, 
 down the ravine. This road, down which we came, 
 has considerably lessened the impressiveness of the 
 scene, and has also destroyed and hidden some of 
 the sculptures. 
 
 For a distance of eight or ten miles, the whole 
 face of the precipitous rock of the Fort is honey- 
 combed with caves, temples, cells and niches, con- 
 taining figures of the twenty-four Tirthankers, the 
 Jain holy men, pontiffs or deified saints : the 
 group in this ravine known as the Urwahi 
 group appears to be the most remarkable. The 
 caves were, no doubt, the abode of anchorites, 
 and the figures have been carved by the devout of 
 probably many generations ; for though the greater 
 number appear to have been carved during a period 
 in the latter middle ages, when the Rajpoot chiefs 
 had again for a time possession of Gwalior 
 (1225-54), yet some have been found with dates of 
 the second century. 
 
 The Jain religion flourished in India before 
 Buddhism ; and Mahavira, the last of the line of 
 Tirthankers, is believed to have been Sakya Muni's 
 guru or teacher. Early Buddhist art contains many 
 of the same symbols and emblems that are met
 
 212 GWALIOR 
 
 with in Jain art the serpent, the sacred tree, the 
 svastika and the familiar cross-legged repre- 
 sentation of Buddha is almost indistinguishable 
 from that of some of the Tirthankers. 
 
 After Buddhism in India perished in the face of 
 the Brahmanic revival in the seventh and eighth 
 centuries A.D., the Jains recovered their ancientposi- 
 tion to a great extent and became the great temple 
 builders of India. They seem, more than any other 
 sect, to have been imbued with the idea that to 
 build a temple, or carve a sacred figure, was an act of 
 religious value in itself, quite irrespective of any 
 idea of worship being offered in the temple. To 
 build or restore the temple was to them an act of 
 prayer, which would enable the builder to acquire 
 merit and would bring down on him present and 
 future rewards. They seem often to have aimed at 
 simply repeating the figures of their twenty-four 
 Tirthankers, usually within a cell or temple, but 
 here there is more variety in the size and attitude 
 than in some of their sacred places. These statues 
 are of all sizes, from minute foot-high cross-legged 
 figures tocolossal upright monoliths of nearly sixty 
 feet. They represent most of the line of pontiffs 
 from Adinath, the legendary founder of their faith, 
 to the twenty-fourth and last Mahavira, and also 
 scenes representing his birth and parents. Each 
 Tirthanker has a distinguishing emblem near the 
 foot of the statue. The statue of Parasnath is 
 the largest. The figures either stand stiffly, with 
 their arms hanging by their side or are seated in 
 the familiar Buddha attitude. They are totally
 
 LASHKAR 213 
 
 wanting in movement and rather out of proportion, 
 with naked bodies, and have enormous ears of 
 which the lobes rest on their shoulders. The Em- 
 peror Baber thought them the only blot onGwalior, 
 that " extremely pleasant place," and he records in 
 his diary that he ordered them to be destroyed. 
 They were, however, merely mutilated, and have to 
 some extent been restored by later Jain devotees. 
 Most of them have mitres, surmounted with ser- 
 pents or a threefold branch of the sacred tree, but 
 others have merely the tightly curling hair so often 
 seen on figures of Buddha. I believe they are 
 unique in Northern India, and much regretted that 
 we had not more time to spend on examining them. 
 
 We went down later, into the Lashkar, where 
 as usual there was constant pleasure to be got out 
 of watching the people, and their ways, in the 
 bazaars ; we spent some time, in the afternoon, 
 bargaining for bits of old brass work in the copper 
 bazaar of the new town which has sprung up round 
 the Maharaja Sindhia's Palace. But we regretted 
 we could not speak the language a little ; for though 
 the Portuguese " boy " was very good at interpret- 
 ing, he always seemed to rub the people up the 
 wrong way, and that put an end to the smiling pro- 
 testations and amusing humbug that forms more 
 than half the pleasure of such transactions, and, 
 though I daresay we got the things cheaper, we did 
 not get to know the people so well. 
 
 The Maharaja was quite young, but he man- 
 aged to keep a good deal of stir alive in the town 
 round his palace. He had been married the month
 
 214 GWALIOR 
 
 before, and all the officials of the North-West were 
 invited to the festas given to celebrate the event. 
 His wife, I am told, was very fair and pretty and 
 very bright, in spite of her secluded harim life : she 
 is however allowed more liberty than many purdah 
 ladies. She is said to wear her sari in a peculiar 
 way, tight round the legs with a long tail hanging 
 out at the back. Parts of the town were still gay 
 with wedding decorations gaudy triumphal 
 arches of looking-glass and coloured paper. There 
 were elephants and palanquins about everywhere, 
 and I met a cavalcade of Sindhia's guests dashing 
 down to catch the train. First, a litter covered with 
 bright stuffs containing, I imagine, the ladies of the 
 party,then a barouche with fine horses, and, stolidly 
 sitting in the middle, one stout gentleman in violet, 
 gold-embroidered satin, wearing the red turban of 
 the peculiar three-cornered Mahratta shape ; an 
 escort of horsemen armed with swords, and a train 
 of syces followed, running after the carriage. I 
 met several gorgeously attired gentlemen driving 
 themselves, or being carried in palanquins, with 
 running footmen armed with coloured staves or 
 spears, clearing the way before them. 
 
 The native court appears to bring prosperity, for 
 there seemed to be a great many more well-to-do, 
 well-dressed people here than in the British towns, 
 and we were continually seeing ekkas, with long 
 red or yellow curtains, bearing veiled women in 
 really beautiful silk saris : and the people seemed 
 to be covered with more than the usual amount of 
 silver and gold ornaments. But the police arrange-
 
 FLYING FOXES 215 
 
 ments appear to leave something to be desired, for 
 the authorities thought it necessary to provide me 
 with an armed escort when I went out to sketch ; 
 and the night of our arrival a wealthy Hindu, with 
 an escort of two sepoys, coming from the train, 
 was set upon by eight men armed with sticks, just 
 outsideourrest-house. The sepoys at lastbeat them 
 off, whilst the Hindu hid his head in the ditch. 
 
 I went out for a short walk about dusk, and en- 
 countered a giant elephant, bowling along from the 
 station with two very smart Hindus on his back ; 
 attached to either side of his bright howdah-cloth 
 were bells of considerable size. They swing side- 
 ways as the beast walks, and ringing in succession 
 sound rather well. 
 
 Just then a flight of some hundreds of great bats 
 or flying foxes four feet across the wing at least 
 like a flight of rooks, came flying heavily over my 
 head ; they were coming from the neighbouring 
 trees, where they hang during the day, on the way 
 to their hunting-ground in the fruit gardens. It 
 was a curious sight. Next morning we got up by 
 candlelight and left for the station at five o'clock. 
 Luckily it had grown much warmer the last three 
 or four days, so it was not as trying as it might 
 have been. 
 
 NOTE. See p. 201. Lashkar is the term originally applied to 
 an army, and then, in abbreviation of Lashkar-gah, to a camp or 
 place occupied by an army. It then came to be applied to towns, 
 such as Agra and especially Delhi, which in Mogul times were to 
 a great extent mere camps occupied by the followers of the Sultan. 
 In the case of Gwalior the term has been retained, although the 
 camp has become stereotyped into a permanent city.
 
 Map of the 
 COUNTRY ROUND 
 
 DELHI 
 
 Miles
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 DELHI, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL 
 
 MY first impressions of Delhi did not come up to 
 the picture I had formed in my mind of the great 
 capital of ancient India. I was certainly disap- 
 pointed. I suppose this may to a great extent 
 be accounted for by our having seen Agra before- 
 hand, as Agra is on short acquaintance decidedly 
 the more interesting of the two, although small in 
 comparison with the invertebrate Delhi. 
 
 Delhi lies on the direct road, from the passes of 
 the Hindu Kush, to the very heart of India, and 
 there is hardly a conqueror or a great man in 
 Indian history who has not had some connection 
 with it ; consequently, as Indian rulers have an 
 inveterate habit of building to themselves fresh 
 abodes, city after city has arisen, flourished and 
 been swept away on this plain. There are here the 
 remains of nine successive cities, and the Delhi of 
 the ancients spread away eleven miles to the 
 southward, and covered about forty-five square 
 miles. It is not possible, therefore, to focus the 
 whole in one general survey. Every one is, more- 
 over, unconsciously much influenced by the con- 
 ditions under which he first comes into contact 
 
 2 E
 
 2i8 DELHI 
 
 with a new place or idea ; and certainly the cir- 
 cumstances in which we found ourselves on 
 arriving at Delhi were not conducive to the most 
 favourable impressions. The day we arrived 
 (February 20) was cloudy ; the first dull day we 
 had had since arriving in India a high wind was 
 blowing, and the dust, which Bernier found intol- 
 erable in 1670, was whirling about in all direc- 
 tions, transforming everything to its own colour, 
 and making everything abominably gritty. The 
 bheestie or water-carrier sluicing the dry streets, 
 with water from his goatskin bag, made no im- 
 pression on the dust : it entered our windows and 
 covered the tables and chairs, even in the unusually 
 high first storey over the station where we had 
 taken up our quarters. These rooms, furnished by 
 Kellner (the Spiers and Pond of India) for 
 travellers, were very fairly comfortable, though we 
 had to dine below in the station restaurant, and I 
 believe that with all drawbacks and shortcomings 
 it was a much better place than any Delhi hotel. 
 Certainly, we were better off than Baron Hubner, 
 who stayed in Delhi in 1884 and was obliged to put 
 up with a dungeon-like room in a native hotel, ill 
 lighted, damp, and feverish. We were perhaps also 
 fortunate, had we realised it, in being bothered by 
 wind and dust rather than by flies : at times I be- 
 lieve they are a perfect pest in Delhi, and go far 
 to make life a burden. 
 
 The modern city more correctly called Shah 
 Jehanabad was founded by that notable and 
 magnificent builder, Shah Jehan, in 1638, when he
 
 THE SIEGE 219 
 
 left Agra, it was said, in search of a more temperate 
 climate. He built this new capital with materials 
 taken, to a great extent, from the partly deserted 
 cities of Feroz Shah Tuglak and Sher Shah. It 
 stands on a low rocky sandstone range, by the right 
 bank of the Jumna, and is surrounded by a solid 
 stonewall of considerable height, on all sides except 
 that abutting on the river. From the time the snow 
 begins to melt on the higher hills till after the 
 rainy season is at an end, the Jumna washes the 
 walls and its stream is unfordable. This wall, after 
 Lord Lake took possession of the town in 1803, 
 was modernised and considerably strengthened by 
 the English more than once,* to their own hurt, as 
 was proved by the siege of 1857. The native 
 troops here, mutinied May 1 1, immediately after 
 the outbreak at Meerut. The English authority 
 collapsed with amazing rapidity, and though troops 
 were sent from Amballa to restore order, the 
 mutineers held the town against Sir Harry Bar- 
 nard and General Archdale Wilson from June 8 
 till September 21, in spite of a perseverance, 
 splendid stolid endurance, pluck and high courage 
 on the part of our troops, which Lord Roberts 
 says were quite beyond praise. We lost more men 
 before Delhi than in all the rest of the Mutiny 
 combined. 
 
 On the evening of our arrival we tried to get some 
 general idea of the lie of the country, near at hand, 
 
 * In 1805 after the attack by Holkar, again in 1823, and finally 
 ^y the future Lord Napier of Magdala), a few years before the 
 Mutiny.
 
 220 DELHI 
 
 by a drive: we went first to the house of the Deputy- 
 Commissioner, Mr. R. Clarke, who lived close to 
 the historic " Ridge " the lines which we held at 
 the time of the siege about a mile and a half 
 north of Delhi. Here are the cantonments where 
 the English live, but there are not many residents 
 in Delhi far fewer than I had expected and the 
 garrison is extremely small, as the fort is not con- 
 sidered healthy. Mr. Clarke showed us a good map 
 of our position on the red rocks of the Ridge, of 
 which General Barnard was able to take possession 
 after his victory at Badli-ki-sarai on June 8 ; it 
 rises sixty feet above the city, at a distance in- 
 creasing from a thousand yards to two and a half 
 miles, and, with the city wall and the river, en- 
 closes a triangle of low-lying woodland. 
 
 We drove past the Memorial Monument a 
 Gothic spire to Hindu Rao's house, on the highest 
 point of the Ridge, to the Mosque, the Flagstaff, 
 and the old Observatory ; these were the four 
 points where General Barnard established pickets 
 supported by guns. But little of the city is to be 
 seen from here now, as trees intervene. It was a 
 wonderful ready-made position both for attack and 
 defence. On the left it was defended by the river, 
 and though on the right there was cover for the 
 enemy on the broken ground covered with brush- 
 wood and in the deep sunk roads and ditches, 
 clumps of trees and low rocks, yet the enclosed 
 nature of the ground prevented any attack in force 
 on our flank or rear, and it covered the line of 
 communication to Amballa and the Punjab, which
 
 THE KASHMERE GATE 221 
 
 it was vital to our existence to keep open. From 
 Sir John Lawrence in the Punjab came the means 
 of retaking Delhi and so saving India. Taking 
 advantage of their hereditary hatred of Delhi and 
 of the Mohammedans, he separated the Sikhs from 
 the other Sepoys in the Oude and Bengal regi- 
 ments, and, with the addition of fresh levies from 
 the north, sent large reinforcements to the relief 
 of Delhi ; finally he parted even with his last 
 reserve under Nicholson. 
 
 Returning from the Ridge we drove past Lud- 
 low Castle a cockneyfied and very uninspiring 
 bungalow; we saw the remains of the magazine 
 fired May 1 1 to prevent the valuable store of 
 ammunition falling into the enemy's hands, after a 
 gallant defence by Lieut. Willoughby and eight 
 others ; amongst them was the father of my friend 
 Professor Forrest. We had driven under the 
 Kashmere Gate, where the traces of the thrilling 
 attack on September 14, under Lieuts. Home and 
 Salkeld, still remain. The breaches are still visible 
 in the red face of the city walls, where our men 
 climbing to almost certain destruction enabled the 
 three columns under John Nicholson to obtain 
 possession of part of the walls. A week's hard 
 fighting within the city was still to come, and John 
 Nicholson's life, and the lives of other brave men, 
 were sacrificed, before the entire city, with the 
 Palace, was again in our hands. 
 
 This was all interesting, but in no way beautiful, 
 and it was refreshing to continue our drive to the 
 eastern corner of the city, on to the Maidan and
 
 222 DELHI 
 
 past Shah Jehan's Fort. The Fort, though not so 
 picturesque, bears a great resemblance to that at 
 Agra, with its imposing and extensive line of rosy 
 red battlements; the light and graceful cupolas 
 and kiosks, raised on slender pillars, are in strong 
 contrast to the solid masonry of the walls. It 
 also stands above the Jumna in a position some- 
 what similar to that of the Agra Fort. The Jumna, 
 like many Eastern rivers, overflows its banks con- 
 siderably at the time of the melting snow and the 
 rains, but unfortunately the receding waters do not 
 always like the Ganges leave behind them any 
 fertilising influence, but frequently destroy rather 
 than promote vegetation. The whole space between 
 the high banks and the stream is, at this time of 
 year, a barren waste of shifting sand ; over this the 
 Fort looks on two sides. Here, in the days of the 
 Mogul emperors, took place the elephant combats 
 and reviews, in sight of Shah Jehan's Palace win- 
 dows. The south and west sides of the Fort were 
 protected by a moat, now dry. 
 
 At the south-western corner of the Fort is the 
 Delhi Gate, whence we looked across the Maidan 
 to the great Mosque, the Jumma Musjid, the grand 
 and simplebuildingwithwhichShahJehan ennobled 
 his creation, modern Delhi. Curiously enough, no 
 place of prayer was provided by Shah Jehan in the 
 Palace here as at Agra and at Fatehpur Sikri. 
 
 It was towards sunset when we first saw this 
 glorious Mosque, the masterpiece of religious 
 architecture in India, and most sacred to all 
 Mohammedans here and in Central Asia. It is
 
 THE JUMMA MUSJID 223 
 
 raised on a high platform, and approached on 
 three sides by grand flights of steps. It is one 
 of the few mosques where it is distinctly evident 
 that the architect has aimed at producing a pleasing 
 effect to the eye from without. The lofty basement 
 is built round an outcrop of the sandstone rock, in 
 the same way that the Mosque of Omar, at Jeru- 
 salem, covers and crowns the rock of Abraham. 
 From this platform rises a finely composed group 
 of domes and minarets, cupolas and gate-ways, 
 chiefly of the usual fine-coloured red sandstone ; 
 the domes, however, are of white marble, and the 
 tall minarets which are a striking feature of the 
 building, and the most graceful I have so far seen 
 
 are striped in alternate vertical lines of red sand- 
 stone and white marble. 
 
 The setting of the Mosque is now very different 
 from that which surrounded it before 1857 : then it 
 looked down on the flat roofs of a densely popu- 
 lated network of houses covering the space between 
 it and the Fort. Here, many of the big-wigs, rich 
 merchants, and native noblemen had their palaces 
 
 though the greater number of the latter lived 
 outside the town, near the water and here was 
 one of the bazaars which Bishop Heber describes as 
 being like the Rows at Chester. All this quarter 
 was destroyed after the Mutiny, and to-day the 
 Mosque rises over a wide-spreading open space, 
 carpeted with coarse turf, which is dotted here and 
 there with stunted trees sheltering some tempo- 
 rary native booths and shanties ; from them the 
 smoke of the eveningfires pervades theatmosphere,
 
 224 DELHI 
 
 carrying with it the peculiar, pungent smell so cha- 
 racteristic of the land and hour. The sun, setting 
 in the brilliant cloudless sky, made the white marble 
 domes, silhouetted against it, appear quite dark, 
 and the sharply alternating forms of rounded dome 
 and upjutting minaret looked like an Arabic in- 
 scription along the horizon. 
 
 The sun goes down as in a sphere of gold 
 Behind the arm of the city, which between, 
 With all that length of domes and minarets, 
 Athwart the splendour, black and crooked runs 
 Like a Turk verse along a scimitar. 
 
 It was Friday when we visited it and the hour, that 
 of the weekly evening prayer ; so, the Mosque was 
 crowded with a large concourse of faithful saying 
 their prayers a most impressive sight. It can 
 hardly have been surpassed in impressiveness in the 
 old days when Aurangzeb attended prayers in 
 state. He came from the Fort, every Friday, under 
 a gilded canopy, borne aloft on the back of an ele- 
 phant, which was bedizened with red paint and 
 richly decorated with gorgeous jewelled trappings, 
 and silver bells and chains, and with white Tibetan 
 cow-tails hanging from its ears like immense 
 whiskers ; or else he was carried by eight men, on 
 an azure-and-gold throne, with a bodyguard of 
 officials with silver maces, and attendants with 
 peacock feather fans, and followed by a train of 
 rajahs on horseback or in palanquins. 
 
 No one who has ever watched a congregation of 
 Mohammedans at prayer can have failed to be im- 
 mensely struck by their intense concentration and
 
 MOHAMMEDAN WORSHIP 225 
 
 absorption in their religious exercises, and by the 
 rapt devotion which seems to exclude all conscious- 
 ness of the outside world. Even in India, where 
 Mohammedanism is by no means at its best and 
 purest, it is most affecting. The secret of the won- 
 derful hold the Moslem faith has, over a large part 
 of the human race, lies probably, says F. D. Maurice, 
 in the intensity and vividness with which it re- 
 cognises the existence of God, His Omnipotence 
 and Omnipresence. The God of the Mohammedan 
 is altogether outside and aloof from the world, but 
 He is intensely personal, and the keen perception 
 that the Mohammedan has of the presence of this 
 personal God, leads him to doubt, when he sees 
 Europeans at worship, whether they really believe 
 in God at all. The effect produced by their won- 
 derful self-abasement in the presence of the Eternal, 
 is heightened and intensified by the marvellous 
 rhythmical movement, as of the most finished mili- 
 tary drill, all swaying in perfect unison, when the 
 great crowd rises and falls, bows or kneels or 
 stands, simultaneously. The thrilling effect of 
 large numbers of men, all impelled by the same 
 emotion, makes a far stronger impression when the 
 common feeling is thus silently expressed in action 
 before our eyes, and it suggested inevitably to us 
 the strength of the undercurrent of faith which 
 controls the sixty million Mohammedans of India ; 
 and might, in any crisis, sweep them along, with 
 incalculable force, in the most unforeseen direction. 
 On our way back we made a considerable ddtoitr 
 through some of the narrow crowded and tortuous 
 
 2 F
 
 226 DELHI 
 
 alleys of Delhi. A glimpse up a side street from 
 the Chandni Chauk reveals another attractive view 
 of the Jumma Musjid, its domes and minarets 
 ranged in perspective, rising above the ragged, 
 many-coloured houses at their feet. The vista is 
 closed by a bit of the high encircling red wall, 
 pierced at this point by its northern gateway. 
 Through it, and up and down its many-stepped 
 approach, the silent-footed Moslem crowd for ever 
 come and go. 
 
 The Chandni Chauk and other main streets 
 are fine thoroughfares, shaded with trees, but on 
 the whole we did not think the Delhi lanes looked 
 either inviting or picturesque, but decidedly 
 dirty. Everything was covered thick with a 
 coating of drab-coloured dust. It brought before 
 us the squalid side of Indian life : mean, low, 
 flat-roofed houses, often out of the perpendicular, 
 and needing here a fresh coat of paint, there 
 a renewal of the stained and peeling stucco. In 
 old days, many of the houses were of bamboo 
 and roofed with cane or thatch, and at the season 
 when high winds prevail disastrous conflagra- 
 tions, sweeping away thousands of houses, were 
 not unusual, and were so rapid in their advance 
 that the horses in the stable and the women in the 
 zenanas frequently perished : and this in spite of 
 the water-courses which then flowed down all the 
 principal streets of the town, bringing pure water 
 from the Jumna at a spot one hundred miles 
 north of Delhi. These channels of water in the 
 town were however closed in after the Mutiny ;
 
 DELHI CITY 227 
 
 originally, after flowing through the town between 
 raised stone walks, they were led to the Emperor's 
 Palace, and there irrigated the oranges and roses 
 in the Sultana's garden.* 
 
 There was, at the time of our visit, a talk of the 
 advisability of pulling down the walls of the city, 
 so as to allow a freer circulation of air in the 
 crowded streets. The natives were strenuously 
 objecting, and the authorities felt therefore more 
 than ever convinced that there was wisdom in the 
 proposal. 
 
 We were not very favourably impressed with 
 the appearance of the people here, and their attitude 
 towards us did not seem very cordial : I could 
 quite appreciate Bishop French's feeling in 1883, 
 that to live in Delhi was like living on a volcano. 
 In spite of all one hears at times to the contrary, 
 I fear there is still amongst the Mohammedan 
 natives, a smouldering feeling of political animosity 
 towards us : many of the men are not yet dead 
 whose hands were dyed in our blood. A section 
 of the vernacular Press helps to foster this feeling, 
 and religious fanatics are doubtless busy, in many 
 quarters, stirring the embers. 
 
 A certain Nawab Shams-ud-din was executed 
 
 * There are still two canals the Eastern and Western Jumna 
 Canals, originally the work of the beneficent Feroz Shah Tuglak 
 which irrigate the district and now divert such a body of water from 
 the Jumna, before it reaches Delhi, that, except during the rains, 
 the river-bed may, in places, almost be crossed dryshod. The 
 district is not very fertile, and one of the great benefits British 
 rule has conferred on the population has been that of restoring 
 and adding to the old irrigation system.
 
 228 DELHI 
 
 in Delhi in 1835 for the cowardly murder of Mr. 
 William Eraser here, and for long years after- 
 wards his tomb was venerated as that of a martyr, 
 though he was an acknowledged mauvais sujet, 
 with nothing to recommend him but having shed 
 the blood of an unbeliever. This is not a solitary 
 instance, and we were assured that this attitude 
 has not really changed : in fact, during our stay, 
 an Englishman was attacked by a fanatic in the 
 street. 
 
 Fortunately for us, perhaps, there exists great 
 religious antagonism between Mohammedan and 
 Hindu; there is no possibility of permanent union 
 between the two. Mohammedanism, with its hard 
 conception of a God aloof from the world, but 
 personal with intense distinctness, is irreconcilable 
 with Hinduism, and its vague shifting ideas, its 
 enmity to all that is personal and individual, in 
 human or divine life. Delhi has been comparatively 
 lately the scene of bitter feuds between the 
 Mohammedans and Hindus ; the Government 
 officials usually succeed in calming the outbursts 
 of fanaticism, and have sometimes called in the 
 Cambridge Brotherhood to help in reconciling the 
 contending parties. We may hope that in process 
 of time, the patient self-sacrificing love and devo- 
 tion of the missionaries, combined with the justice 
 and zeal for duty of the civil administrators, may 
 awaken, in the minds of the natives, a sympathetic 
 response towards their white rulers, which will 
 sweep away political enmity, and bridge the gulf 
 between East and West.
 
 THE LAHORE GATE 
 
 229 
 
 The next day we devoted to seeing the Palace in 
 the Fort once the most magnificent Palace in the 
 East, perhaps in the world. I explored part of it 
 when I went out for an early walk before breakfast. 
 
 The Lahore Gate by which we entered is grand, 
 
 LAHORE GATE, DELHI 
 
 but to my mind not to be compared with the Delhi 
 Gate at Agra. Passing under the cavernous arch, 
 the road runs through a long quaint and lofty 
 vaulted hall, two storeys high. As everybody says, 
 it is like the nave of a cathedral, but it is lined with 
 small and low shops, where soldiers were lounging 
 about and marketing. Here in Shah Jehan's time, 
 the Emperor's bodyguard were lodged in small 
 low rooms, raised some feet above the road and 
 opening on to a causeway ; their horses were 
 tethered to rings on the edge of the causeway,
 
 2 3 o DELHI 
 
 where they took their feed, and where their masters 
 squatted and gossiped in the day-time and 
 mounted guard at night. Down the centre ran the 
 water-course which irrigated the city. This 
 covered street has an octagonal court midway, 
 where the sunlight streams in, and whence pas- 
 sages diverged to the zenana and courts of justice. 
 Bishop Heber, when he came, in 1823, to have an 
 audience of Akbar Shah the King of Delhi of the 
 day found himself, immediately on leaving this 
 magnificent entrance, in a ruinous and exceedingly 
 dirty courtyard. Here, to his considerable dis- 
 comfiture, he was made to dismount and pick his 
 way, in thin shoes, gown and cassock, through the 
 mud, to the Hall of Audience at the eastern side, 
 amongst pestering swarms of beggars, into the 
 royal presence of the King the "poor old man" (of 
 thirty-five) on whom he bestows much rather ill- 
 merited commiseration. When Lord Lake took 
 possession of Delhi in 1803 he found the Great 
 Mogul under the thumb of Sindhia and his vora- 
 cious French troops, living indeed in his Palace 
 with a semblance of royalty, but almost literally 
 starved ; a great deal of the beautiful inlaid work 
 and the flowers and leaves of green serpentine, 
 lapis lazuli, agate and porphyry, which adorned 
 the Palace walls, had been gouged out of their 
 white marble setting and sold to buy food for him 
 and his family. The Palace had already been 
 looted, more than once, since the memorable day 
 in 1739, when the Persian Nadir Shah swept back 
 to Teheran with booty worth many millions sterling,
 
 THE LAST MOGULS 231 
 
 including the Peacock Throne from the Dewan 
 i-Khas and the Koh-i-noor. Delhi was continually 
 at the mercy of Afghans and Mahrattas, who made 
 successive incursions, and the King was fortunate 
 indeed, in securing our protection, with an assured 
 income of fifteen lakhs of rupees and as much 
 panoply of state and ceremony as he cared to dis- 
 play in the Palace of his ancestors, whilst we ruled 
 and kept order in his name. The state and ceremony 
 with which he surrounded himself, and the splen- 
 did income at his disposal, did not apparently in- 
 volve any obligation to keep the marvellous build- 
 ing in decent order, for, when Bishop Heber 
 visited it, all was dirty, desolate and forlorn ;* the 
 doors and windows were in a state of dilapida- 
 tion ; the baths and fountains dry, the halls were 
 encumbered with piles of old discarded furniture, 
 the inlaid pavement was covered with gardeners' 
 sweepings, bats and birds had befouled what re- 
 mained of the beautiful pietradura work and, even 
 the Emperor's Throne ; and peepul trees were 
 springing from, and bursting asunder, the marble 
 walls. But an Eastern Sovereign with no king- 
 dom but a palace, and no duties and no scope for 
 action outside its walls, could not fail of being a 
 despicable object, a centre of evil practices which 
 varied from ill-treating wretched slave girls to em- 
 ploying the old Mogul Sultans' seals to forge title- 
 deeds of every kind. The outward decay was but 
 a symbol of the corruption and the wretchedness 
 that prevailed, where a weak, self-centred autocrat 
 
 * Bishop Heber's " Journal," p. 294.
 
 232 DELHI 
 
 indulged his every fancy without restraint, pro- 
 tected from the results of his actions by the 
 implied sanction of the East India Company. 
 That so corrupt a system should have been able 
 to exist unmolested, by the protection of the 
 British, seems, in some degree, an explanation of 
 the awful retribution which, in the end, fell on the 
 guilty and the innocent alike. 
 
 In the Fort there is not now much left of Shah 
 Jehan's once splendid Palace and its beautiful 
 gardens though the conscientious care of Eng- 
 land has lately, with commendable zeal, replaced 
 all that is recoverable of our pilferings, such as 
 the Orpheus Mosaic carried away by Sir John 
 Jones in 1857 but what there is, is decently 
 ordered and arranged, with, perhaps, rather dead- 
 alive and Museum-like precision. Those who are 
 interested can study it, as Ferguson says, to 
 understand what the arrangements of a complete 
 Palace were, when deliberately undertaken and 
 carried out on a uniform plan. There is the mas- 
 sive, plain, expanse of the Diwan-i-Am, or Hall of 
 Public Audience, a great square one-storeyd hall 
 supported by three rows of nine red sandstone 
 pillars and open on three sides ; it is very like that 
 at Agra: there is the beautiful Diwan-i-Khas, 
 standing on a platform looking east across the 
 curving river, now low and at some distance, but 
 in flood-time, washing the foot of the high bank 
 faced with stones and overhung by the pro- 
 jecting eaves of balconied pavilions and latticed 
 summer-houses which forms the eastern defence
 
 Plan of the 
 
 PALACE or DELHI 
 before 1857 
 
 Harr.m;im or EAtns 
 
 Moti Masjid 
 
 Oiwan i-Khas 
 
 Tasbih Kha-ia& Musamman BL 
 
 wltfi nver wicliet t steps to this belo 
 
 Rar^ Mahal 
 
 Mumtaz Mahal 
 
 Diwan -i-Am 
 
 Nakkar Khana 
 
 raoii Well 
 i Shadon Pavilion 
 
 Sawan Pavilion 
 ! Shah Burj Pavilion 
 (.Vaulted Entrance Arcade
 
 THE PALACE 233 
 
 of the Fortress Palace. The spot commands a 
 view of the low rocky hills, at the foot of which lies 
 Old Delhi,and across wide plains, fading away tothe 
 faint blue horizon, where lie Oude and Lucknow. 
 In this building once stood the celebrated Peacock 
 Throne, now at Teheran. To the south of this court 
 is the Zenana, and on the north the Hamman ; 
 both are separated from it by a white marble court- 
 yard, through which from north to south runs a 
 shallow watercourse, right beneath the Diwan-i- 
 Khas. This Private Hall of Audience is open on 
 all sides, and consists of a central hall surrounded 
 by a double colonnade : the Hall once had a silver 
 ceiling. The whole building is of beautiful white 
 marble, profusely decorated with gilding (restored) 
 and painted flowers and other designs above; below 
 is the pietra dura work of the pupils of Austen of 
 Bordeaux. 
 
 The white marble Baths have fine pietra dura 
 pavements, the first I had seen as well as decora- 
 tions of the same nature on the walls ; the beauti- 
 ful marble Palace of the ladies is also decorated 
 with inlaid work below and fresco above. It was 
 not pleasant to see signs that the jasper and other 
 stones had been quite recently picked or chiselled 
 out. 
 
 Close by is Aurangzeb's white and grey marble 
 Moti Musjid, of small proportions, which is entered 
 by a little bronze door of delicate workmanship, 
 covered with designs in low relief. The courtyard 
 is surrounded by a high wall of white marble, also 
 decorated with patterns and flowers in low relief. 
 
 2 G
 
 234 DELHI 
 
 The Mosque proper is ornamented in the same 
 manner, and its Saracenic arches show slight signs 
 of Hindu influence. 
 
 There is all this, and more: but Delhi Palace, I 
 must confess, did not appeal to me. Perhaps it 
 showed signs of having been in the past too com- 
 plete, or perhaps it is at present too much pervaded 
 with an atmosphere of pipeclay; for there is some- 
 thing to be said, from the artist's point of view, for 
 the fine regal contempt of the old regime for bour- 
 geois cleaning and mending, as all will agree who 
 have visited a French chateau after it has passed 
 through the hands of Viollet-le-Duc. Certainly the 
 beautiful old Delhi Palace left us cold and shall 
 I say it? slightly bored: and one turns for refresh- 
 ment, from the actual, present facts, to the graphic 
 pictures of the Mogul Emperors and their Court, 
 left us by the old French doctor and his com- 
 patriot, the jeweller, in 1670. 
 
 In their days, the great Maidan before the Palace 
 was filled with the encampments of those of the 
 great Rajput nobles whose week of "waiting" it 
 was. They and their followers pitched their tents 
 here, outside the walls ; it was in their terms of 
 service with the Emperor that they were never to 
 do duty or mount guard within the walls of a for- 
 tress. Inside the Palace, the Mogul's Afghan or 
 Persian Emirs, of the regular army, mounted guard 
 in rotation. The arcaded courts they occupied 
 were gay with gorgeous awnings of brocade, with 
 flowery gardens and sparkling watercourses and 
 fountains ; amongst them stood booths of reed,
 
 OLD DAYS 235 
 
 or sweet-scented grass, kept cool by constantly 
 spraying water. Here they took their repose, and 
 enjoyed the dishes served to them, with much 
 ceremony, from Aurangzeb's kitchen. 
 
 The whole Palace buzzed with life. There were 
 hosts of quaintly dressed and armed soldiers, 
 regular and irregular, of all varieties and from all 
 districts of Northern India; great and small officials 
 of the Courts of Justice and all the various depart- 
 ments of the highly organised civil administration.* 
 Vast halls also were filled with nimble-fingered 
 artisans, ready to supply the gold inlaid weapons 
 of the bodyguard, or fantastic armour and rich 
 trappings for horses and elephants, or the em- 
 broidered velvet awnings with which the Emirs, 
 " by command," adorned their arcades on great 
 festivals, and which, we are told, they subse- 
 quently forced the smaller folk to buy for vests ! 
 Painters and goldsmiths, jewellers and lacquer 
 workers, as well as representatives of the humbler 
 "lesser arts" of tailoring and shoemaking, all had 
 their quarters here: and fine muslins for turbans, or 
 for use in the zenana, were spun and woven in the 
 precincts ; these were beautifully embroidered, and 
 worth several gold pieces, but so delicately fine 
 that they would only stand a few hours' wear. The 
 life of the district was concentrated in the fortress 
 to such a degree that Bernier found, that if he 
 wished to have a good supply of wholesome food, 
 it was necessary to arrange a secret understanding 
 
 * The Land Revenue system still in force in British India is 
 based on that of Akbar.
 
 236 DELPHI 
 
 with the King's purveyors in the Palace, and to 
 buy, from them, the portions intended for their 
 master's household and guests. Then, indeed, he 
 secured a plentiful provision of delicacies, not to 
 be obtained in the bazaars of the town: fresh fish, 
 tender kids, and cages of partridge, duck, or hare, 
 sweetmeats of the best, and in winter black and 
 white grapes brought, in dainty cotton packing, 
 from Persia or Bokhara, or apples and pears, dried 
 raisins, apricots, and prunes from the same coun- 
 tries ; while his lemonade was cooled with ice, 
 artificially made in a manner which, with his usual 
 exactness, Bernier describes in accurate detail. 
 " Unquestionably," he says, " the great are in the 
 enjoyment of everything ; but, in Delhi, there is 
 no middle state a man must either be of the 
 highest rank or live miserably." 
 
 The Emirs and Rajahs in waiting were all sum- 
 moned under penalty to attend the Emperor's 
 audience-chamber twice a day, at eleven, and again 
 at six, by strangely weird music from the Naubat 
 Khana: there, twenty- four enormous instruments of 
 mysterious construction sounded at stated times of 
 day and night, with an almost insupportable roar, 
 which distance, however, appears to have mellowed 
 to a solemnly impressive and even melodious har- 
 mony. The wild notes proceeding from univalve 
 shells used as trumpets may be still heard resound- 
 ingfrom Hindu shrines at sundown; they emit what 
 heard at close quarters is an intolerable din, but 
 sounds from afar very impressive. At a balcony, or 
 large window in the seraglio wall overlooking the
 
 THE GREAT MOGUL 237 
 
 Diwan-i-Am, the Great Mogul appeared, robed in 
 white, for two hours at noon, surrounded by his 
 family and personal attendants waving large fans 
 and peacocks' tails. Below, on a square dais, within 
 a silver rail, hung with deep gold-fringed brocade, 
 are the courtiers and those who have the entrde, 
 splendidly apparelled, with white herons' tails 
 floating from their head-gear ; they stand in atti- 
 tudes of deep humility, and do not venture to raise 
 their eyes to the royal countenance, but echo every 
 word he utters with a chorus of "Wonderful, won- 
 derful! " ; like the courtiers in Andersen's tale of the 
 Emperor's new clothes, they act up to the precepts 
 of the Persian proverb : 
 
 If the King should chance to say " it's night," at noon, 
 You will cry, " I see the stars and moon." 
 
 Having received the homage of those classes of 
 his subjects whose day it was to come to court 
 and who, unless specially summoned, remained on 
 the further side of the watercourse, six inches wide, 
 which traversed the court, the King reviewed the 
 cavalry of one or two of the Emirs. The horses in 
 fantastic armour with plumes on their heads were all 
 ingeniously branded with mark and number, to 
 prevent the same mount doing duty on different 
 regimental review days. Then he inspected a selec- 
 tion of the royal stud, to assure himself they were 
 in good condition, and also a long procession of 
 animals kept for the chase or for wild beast com- 
 bats. Fighting elephants and antelopes, buffaloes 
 with immense horns which fought with lions and
 
 238 DELHI 
 
 tigers ; tame leopards and panthers trained for the 
 chase ; every variety of dog for sport, all in red em- 
 broidered coats ; hawks and birds of prey, with 
 hood and bells, employed to bringdown partridges, 
 cranes, hares and even antelopes, after they have 
 first bewildered them by repeated buffets of their 
 powerful wings and then blinded them with sharp 
 talons. On great festivals, the courts were com- 
 pletely covered in with a gold-embroidered, red 
 velvet awning, supported on great masts covered 
 with plates of gold or silver,and the possible mono- 
 tony of the pageant was varied by valuable offerings 
 of gold or jewels from the courtiers, carefully 
 graduated in value according to the rank of the 
 giver. The pearls, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds 
 used in the decoration of the Peacock Throne were 
 either presents sent by distant sovereigns, who 
 desired an alliance with the Great Mogul, or else 
 they were offerings from ambitious or guilty nobles. 
 The Koh-i-noor was an offering from Amir Jumla 
 to Shah Jehan. When the Prince of Wales visited 
 India in 1876 some difficulty was experienced in 
 deciding whether the great native princes should 
 be allowed to follow their traditional instincts and 
 present him, in the same way, with some treasured 
 and priceless jewel from amongst their heirlooms. 
 It is amusing to find, that the wives of the cour- 
 tiers had their revenge in a sort of fair held on 
 these occasions in the Palace seraglio : then these 
 great ladies sold to the King and the royal prin- 
 cesses, brocades and embroidered muslins and 
 other valuable fabrics, at sums proportionate to the
 
 DECADENCE 239 
 
 beauty and dexterity of the vendor. These fairs 
 were regarded as the opportunity to present a 
 lovely daughter and to bring her to the notice of 
 royalty. The chaff and badinage which Bernier de- 
 scribes as prevailing there sounds more like the 
 Court of Versailles than that of Delhi ; but, anxious 
 though he is to convey his experiences in terms 
 likely to be understood by his French correspon- 
 dent, yet his trained love of exactness does not 
 usually allow him to misrepresent the native life. 
 All his gossip helps us to realise the time when the 
 deserted courts of Delhi Palace were instinct with 
 a vivid and very human life of its own. It was never 
 probably life of the highest kind, nor reflecting any 
 very elevated ambition. Before Delhi Palace came 
 into being, the noble endeavours and lofty aspira- 
 tions of the great Akbar had quite passed away, 
 and with them his liberal-minded, strenuous desire 
 to benefit the people he had conquered, and so to 
 rule them that conqueror and conquered should 
 become one people : and the wonderfully wise and 
 humane system by which he hoped to accomplish 
 his aim had petrified into an elaborate and lifeless 
 shell, that contained the elements of its own decay, 
 as is the tendency of all institutions unless they be 
 constantly swept through by a renewing tide of the 
 idea to which they owe their existence. 
 
 The increase of the Mahratta power, which led 
 eventually to the disintegration of the Mogul 
 Empire, revealed, before Aurangzeb's death, the 
 weak spots where degeneration was already setting 
 in. His fanaticism had accentuated the line of
 
 24 o DELHI 
 
 cleavage between the Mohammedan government 
 and its Hindu subjects and inaugurated a fatal pro- 
 cess of separation. The nobles had lost the charac- 
 teristics of the early northern conquerors and sunk 
 far towards the effeminacy and sloth which later 
 distinguished them. Their equipment for the field 
 was an index of their inefficiency. The coats of 
 thick wadding, covered with chain or plate-armour, 
 the showy horses with huge saddles and velvet 
 housings fluttering with many coloured satin 
 streamers and white Tibetan yaktails, the plumed 
 harness weighted with bells and jewelled chains ; 
 these no doubt formed a cavalry " fitted to prance 
 in a procession," but not to endure much exertion, 
 nor to emulate the exploits of the hardy horse- 
 men of Timur, Babar or Akbar. To inefficiency 
 was added corruption and a total relaxation of all 
 discipline. In spite of Aurangzeb's vigilance the 
 grossest abuses had crept in. Aurangzeb was 
 courageous and wise, but he was suspicious, dis- 
 trustful and cold-hearted ; and as great a contrast 
 as can be imagined to the noble Akbar or to Babar 
 with his easy sociable temper, love of simple plea- 
 sures and kind affectionate heart. In spite of the 
 almost divine honours paid him by his entourage, 
 no king was ever so cheated or worse served. 
 Aurangzeb was a clever, energetic, astute ruler ; 
 in religious matters though not superstitious 
 he was of the strictest sect of the Pharisees, and, 
 in the middle of the luxury of his court, he lived 
 a life of self-denial and abstinence. But, in his old 
 age, he wrote this pathetic summing-up of his long
 
 AURANGZEB 241 
 
 reign, " The instant which passed in power has left 
 sorrow behind it. I have not been the guardian 
 and protector of the Empire." He realised that he 
 had missed the idea which is the salt of dominion 
 missed the sympathetic self-sacrifice and devotion 
 to the good of the community which form the 
 only justification for imperial rule. 
 
 2 II
 
 242 DELHI 
 
 LIST OF SOVEREIGNS WHO REIGNED AT DELHI 
 
 FROM 1193 TO 1837. 
 
 The Ghori (Tajik), Turki and Pathan Kings oj 
 Hindustan who reigned at Delhi. 
 
 A.H. A.D. 
 
 Muhammad bin Sam, Ghori 589 1193 
 
 Kutub-ud-din, ist Dynasty of Slave (.Turki) Kings . . 602 1206 
 
 Aram Shah 607 1210 
 
 Shams-ud-din Altamsh 607 1211 
 
 Rukn-ud-u-din Firoz 633 1236 
 
 Sultana Raziyah 634 1236 
 
 Balban 664 1266 
 
 Kaikubad 686 1289 
 
 Jelal-ud-din Firoz Shah Khilji, 2nd Dynasty, Pathan . 689 1290 
 
 Ala-ud-din Muhammad 695 1296 
 
 Shahab-ud-din 'Umar 715 1316 
 
 Kutab-ud-din Mubarak ... .... 716 1316 
 
 Nasir-ud-din Khusru 720 1321 
 
 Ghias-ud-din Tughlak, yrd Dynasty, Pathan . . . 720 1321 
 
 Muhammad bin Tughlak 725 1325 
 
 Firoz Shah Tughlak ........ 752 T 35i 
 
 Muhammad Shah 793 1391 
 
 Khizr Khan Saiyad, $th Dynasty, Saiyad .... 817 1414 
 
 Mubarak Shah II. ........ 824 1421 
 
 Muhammad Shah 837 1434 
 
 'Alam Shah 849 1445 
 
 Bahlol Lodi, ^th Dynasty, Pathan 855 1451 
 
 Sikandar Lodi 894 1489 
 
 Ibrahim Lodi ... 923 1517 
 
 The Mughal Emperors of Hindustan. 
 
 Babar 899 1494 
 
 Humayun* 937 1531 
 
 Akbar 963 1556 
 
 Jehangir . . . 1014 1605 
 
 Shah Jehan 1037 1628 
 
 Aurangzeb 1068 1658 
 
 Bahadur Shah 1118 1707 
 
 Jahandar Shah 1124 1713 
 
 Farrukhsiyar 1124 1713 
 
 Muhammad Shah 1131 1719 
 
 'Ahmad Shah 1162 1748 
 
 Alamgir II 1168 1754 
 
 Shah Alam .......... 1173 *759 
 
 Akbar II 1221 1806 
 
 Bahadur Shah 1252 |jg 37 ' 
 
 ^ This reign includes the Pathan Interregnum of Sher Shah (1540-45), 
 Salim Shah, and other Sur Kings up to 1555
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 AFTER leaving the Fortwedrovetothe KalaMusjid 
 (or Black Mosque) a building in the primitive, 
 massive style of the second Pathan dynasty, and 
 datingfrom the time of Firoz Shah Tughlak(i38o). 
 It stands deeply embedded in the heart of the 
 narrow, crowded alleys of the city. It is a solid, 
 simple and stern building, a great contrast to those 
 we had just left. The colour of the stone of which 
 it is composed, called by Carr Stephen quartz- 
 ose sandstone, certainly gives it a very dark and 
 sombre appearance ; its correct name however is 
 the Kalan or Great Mosque. The corner towers 
 and walls slope inwards in away characteristic of 
 some of the architecture of these early days, and 
 it stands on a high platform, beneath which are 
 rough-looking rooms for travellers, we were told. 
 A flight of twenty-eight steep steps leads to a 
 small courtyard, with a cloister on three sides. 
 The arches are all heavy and massive, recalling 
 our Norman ; and some of the windows are fitted 
 with rude red stone screens with cross-shaped 
 openings. The Mosque proper and the cloister and 
 angle towers there is no minaret are surmounted
 
 244 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 by flat domes, held together simply by the extreme 
 strength of the cement used : a special note of the 
 Mohammedan-Indian buildings of this date which 
 had impressed me at Bijapur. This was probably 
 the town Mosque of Firoz Shah Tughlak's city 
 Ferozabad. The site of the imperial city of that 
 most enlightened prince lies between the Ridge 
 and the river, stretching away beyond the south 
 gate of Shah Jehanabad, which now partly covers 
 it. The ruins of its citadel, or Kotila, maybe seen 
 on the river bank : all that now remains of Feroz 
 Shah's Palace, with its blue enamelled domes and 
 golden spire, is a curious ruined pyramidal struc- 
 ture, consisting of four square terraces, of dimin- 
 ishingsize, placed one above the other, and crowned 
 by the Lath of Asoka. They remind one of the 
 descriptions of Babylonian and Assyrian palaces 
 and hanging gardens. This Lath is a stone pillar 
 thirty-seven feet high originally erected by 
 Asoka near Meerut which Firoz Shah brought 
 here, triumphantly, with infinite care and pains, a 
 thousand years later, and, unconscious of its real 
 interest, covered with a golden sheath. It bears 
 four of the oldest inscriptions in India (third cen- 
 tury B.C.) : edicts in the Pali dialect referring to 
 the new religion a form of Buddhism which 
 Asoka wished to promulgate. A similar Lath of 
 Asoka which Firoz Shah transported from the 
 Amballa district, he erected at the other ex- 
 tremity of his town, on the Ridge; it was damaged 
 by an explosion in 1720. A third is to be found in 
 the Fort at Allahabad.
 
 KALAN MUSJID, DELHI
 
 246 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 In the afternoon we drove out of Delhi, south, 
 about two or three miles beyond the Kotilato 
 Indraput, over the hard uneven ground, formed of 
 the remains of Firozabad. Indraput is a ruined 
 fortified town, believed to occupy the site of the 
 first of the great cities which, ever since the days 
 of the earliest Aryan settlement in India, have in 
 turn marked the place where the last outlying 
 ridges of the central Rajputana Hills abut on the 
 alluvial plain of the Jumna valley. 
 
 In the Mahabharata we find, dimly outlined, 
 the half mythical traditions of the founding of 
 Indraprastha (fifteenth century B.C.) in a clearing 
 amid the jungles of the Jumna valley. The snake- 
 worshipping aborigines receded before the Panda- 
 vas,* the five brothers who led these Aryan 
 invaders, and the kingdom thus established lasted 
 some thousand years, covering the period of the 
 wars which form the main theme of this Hindu 
 classic. The succeeding dynasty was that of the 
 Gautamas ; namesakes of the great teacher Sakya 
 Muni, a Rajput prince whose father ruled at the 
 time of Nebuchadnezzar over a district further 
 south-east on the borders of Oude. From his 
 philosophical system and the attractive exam pie of 
 his beautiful life sprang the Buddhist faith which 
 Asoka, the contemporary of the Greek Antiochus, 
 was so largely instrumental in popularising in 
 India. The Gautamas were displaced about B.C. 57 
 by Raja Dilhu, and the name of Delhi first 
 appears then. Soon after, the history of Delhi 
 was merged in that of Upper India and with it 
 
 * See p. 318.
 
 THE FIRST SETTLEMENT 247 
 
 passed successivelyunder the dominion of Hindus, 
 Pathans, Moguls, and Mahrattas ; it was rebuilt a 
 century before the date of our Alfred, by Anang 
 Pal and again by Anang Pal II. at the time of 
 William the Conqueror. 
 
 Ruined fortresses and tombs cover the whole 
 barren and treeless district, which spreads eleven 
 miles southward, to the spot where the famous 
 Kutub Minar rises like Doulton's chimney 
 above the plain : these ruins mark the different 
 sites of the town during these centuries; and as but 
 little kindly vegetation covers their ruins, and no 
 grass grows on the arid, accumulated remains of 
 bricks, stone, and cement which form the soil the 
 plain is a picture of desolation. Any one of these 
 monuments would, no doubt, be thought worth a 
 pilgrimage if in a solitary position by itself, but 
 here, amongst so many rivals in interest, they are 
 submerged in the crowd, and the whole produced 
 in our minds a feeling of bewildered perplexity. 
 Fortunately, one does not often have to try 
 and grapple with the remains of twenty cen- 
 turies of civilisation, concentrated in a space 
 eleven miles long. This plain is truly the archaeo- 
 logical museum of India. 
 
 On the site of the prehistoric Indraput, the 
 usurper Sher Shah built a fort known as Din 
 Panah, or the Purana Kila : he with his successors 
 held Delhi, during the early years of Akbar's life 
 (1540 to 1555), whilst the rulers of Babar's line 
 were, for a time, again pushed back into Afghanis- 
 tan. Inside these picturesque walls we visited
 
 248 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 Sher Shah's very fine red sandstone Mosque 
 (1340) stern and severe, but big and bold, with 
 huge arches, and sharp, finely-cut mouldings and 
 returns to the masonry, which looks as fresh as if 
 it were only just built. The struts supporting the 
 side bays of the Mosque, which are oblong in plan 
 and not square, are curious. In the angle towers, 
 of much later date, are pavilions richly ornamented 
 with exquisite designs in sandstone, like those at 
 Fatehpur Sikri. It was quite dark before we got 
 home again, and the smoke, mingling with the even- 
 ing mist, was hung about like a cloud, softening the 
 sharp outlines, and filling the air with the strange, 
 pungent smell peculiar to an Indian evening. 
 
 February 23 was a perfect day, and we made an 
 early start for an expedition to Kutub, ten miles 
 distant. The road lies direct south from Delhi, 
 beneath an avenue of feathery acacias * now only 
 partly out in leaf. The throng of passengers along 
 the road is very picturesque. Men, women and chil- 
 dren, cows, camels and donkeys, all more or less 
 laden, drivingor being driven towards the city. No- 
 where, except in India, have I seen bullocks, buffa- 
 loes, &c., carrying such heavy weights upon their 
 backs. They seem to get along with them very well, 
 however, and have often their burden crowned, into 
 the bargain, by a human being at the top. Some- 
 times it is only a little child with a rope in his hand 
 attached to the nose of the beast; he tugs at it 
 violently to get the brute out of the way of a gharry, 
 which comes bowling along, the syce running in 
 front, crying " Hat-jao, Hat-jao! " at the top of his 
 
 * Acacia arabica. 

 
 -^ 
 
 KUTUB MINAR, DELHI 
 
 2 I
 
 2 5 o NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 voice, whisking a cloth which he holds in his hand, 
 and giving a shove on this side and anotheron that, 
 to some animal or man who is too tardy in making 
 way. Besides these, there are swift-going ekkas 
 hurrying past at the rate of ten miles an hour a 
 wonder when one sees the rats which draw them 
 and numerous ponderousandcreakingbullock-carts 
 meandering slowly along, from side to side of the 
 road, and steered, partly bythe cord attached to the 
 long-suffering animal's nose, partly by its still more 
 long-suffering tail. The true native bullock-cart is a 
 cumbrous machine, with two solid stone or wooden 
 wheels ; but the "hakkery," a simple frame, put 
 together without nails invented, I am told, fifty 
 years back by two British officers, meets the native 
 requirements, so exactly, that it has been universally 
 adopted. The pole is attached to the axle-tree ; at its 
 further end is the yoke, resting on the bullocks' 
 necks, and midway is a plank for the driver, from 
 which he, sitting astride, can manipulate the tail 
 and dig his toes into the animal's sides. In the art 
 of bullock-driving, one important item appears 
 to lie in knowing the precise degree to which it is 
 possible to twist the long thin tail, without its part- 
 ing company with the patient beast, and thus de- 
 priving it of its steering gear: another consists in 
 having at command a large vocabulary of strange 
 sounds, " pops like the opening of a soda-water 
 bottle, checks, chirrups, gurgles, and appalling 
 roars," * otherwise the stolid, imperturbable crea- 
 
 *See an article by Mr. Aitken on "The Byle," in the Monthly 
 Review, 1905.
 
 TIMUR 251 
 
 ture cannot be got under way, and kept going 
 at all. 
 
 We, fortunately, were not in a bullock-cart, and, 
 after a short four miles' drive we reached the Mau- 
 soleum of Safdar Jang an eighteenth-century 
 tomb of large proportions which is hardly worth 
 visiting, when there are so many better close by. It 
 resembles the Taj, but only very distantly, and has 
 stucco in place of marble. We did not stop five 
 minutes, but hurried onwards, crossing the plain 
 where Timur, or Tamerlane, the lame Mogul in- 
 vader from Samarcand, fought (1398) the historic 
 battle against Muhammad Tughlak, Feroz Shah's 
 successor, which delivered Delhi into his hands. 
 Timur gave the city over to five days of plunder 
 and massacre, and tranquilly awaited the conclu- 
 sion ; he then gave thanks for the victory, in Feroz 
 Shah's splendid Mosque on the Jumna, and turned 
 his mind to a thoroughly systematic and intelli- 
 gent inspection of the buildings of interest remain- 
 ing, recording them with scientific accuracy in his 
 Memoirs. He soon returned whence he came, 
 leaving anarchy, famine and pestilence behind him, 
 but carrying with him masons and sculptors, to 
 erect a Mosque in Samarcand, and an immense 
 horde of men, women and children as slaves. 
 
 Delhi was, subsequently, more or less deserted 
 for about one hundred and thirty years, during 
 which time the Lodi Sultans attempted to rule the 
 district from Agra. About the time, however, of our 
 Henry VIII. Babar sixth in descent from Timur 
 came again from the north with a small, well-
 
 252 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 disciplined force, and, gaining possession of Delhi 
 at the decisive battle of Panipat (1526), founded the 
 Mogul dynasty, which lasted in unsurpassed power 
 and splendour nearly two centuries. Babar was an 
 admirable ruler, and a man with a delightful deli- 
 cacy of taste, kindness of heart, and keen sensi- 
 bility to the simple pleasures of nature and life, 
 which make him one of the few sympathetic charac- 
 ters in Indian history. He lived chiefly at Agra, 
 but his son Humayun brought the seat of govern- 
 ment again, for a while, to Delhi, where it remained 
 under the Afghan usurper Sher Shah, until Babar's 
 grandson Akbar regained the throne in 1555. 
 
 It was not long before we caught sight again 
 through the tamarind trees, which clustered round 
 a village, of the great Kutub Minar, five miles 
 ahead in the distance. It is rather a libel to liken 
 it to Doulton's chimney, but, at first sight, it cer- 
 tainly suggests it. On closer acquaintance it grew 
 upon us, and it is, without doubt, a most original 
 building a tower two hundred and thirty-eight 
 feet high, in five diminishing storeys with many 
 points of beauty: my companion wished to knock 
 off the two top storeys, I think probably rightly, as 
 it turns out that the original designers had nothing 
 to do with them, and they were the work of Feroz 
 Shah Tughlak, the great restorer, in 1368. The 
 Kutub stands on a gentle slope, in a beautifully 
 shady oasis of thick groves of fine trees, contrast- 
 ing most gratefully with the prevalent dark red hue 
 of the plain which they overlook. We were very 
 glad to reach this cool and peaceful spot, and or-
 
 THE IRON PILLAR OF RAJA DHAVA 253 
 
 dered our lunch, at the Dak bungalow, before turn- 
 ing to examine the groups of remarkable buildings, 
 which rise from amidst pomegranate and jasmine 
 bushes, round the base of the great tower. 
 
 We are here in the midst of the memorials of the 
 so-called Pathan conquerors, who first brought 
 Mohammedanism to India, and here was the seat 
 of empire from 1191, when Shahab-ud-din, or 
 Mahmud of Ghor, and his viceroy, Kutab-ud-din, 
 possessed themselves of the capital of the cele- 
 brated Prithvi Raja (the Rajput ruler of Ajmere 
 and Delhi, and the last champion of Hindu inde- 
 pendence in Upper India). It remained the capital 
 until the time of Ala-ud-din Khilji, the parricide, 
 who died (1315), leaving his great minaret un- 
 finished. But, in the midst of these traces of the 
 first Mohammedan rulers of India, stands the won- 
 derful iron pillar of Raja Dhava second or third 
 century A.D. which no European foundry would 
 have been able to produce till about fifty years ago. 
 It supported, probably, an emblem of Vishnu, and 
 its deeply-cut Sanscrit inscription gives the earliest 
 authentic information about primitive Delhi. 
 
 The Ghazni dynasty, to whose empire in 
 Khorasan Mahmud of Ghor had succeeded, not 
 infrequently raised minars or towers of victory on 
 the sites of their battlefields : they are found in 
 Ghazni, and as far west as the roots of the 
 Caucasus and to this class of tower the Kutub 
 Minar evidently belongs. It interested me very 
 much: to begin with, no European monument rises 
 sheer, to its full height, in such isolated grandeur;
 
 254 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 it differs in shape, design, and detail from any other 
 tower I had ever seen, and its surface is most curi- 
 ously covered with perpendicular, angular, and 
 semi-circular flutings in the red sandstone of 
 which it is built. The origin of these Angular flut- 
 inQ-s seems unknown, but whether it is to be found 
 
 o 
 
 in the peculiar form of the Ghazni Minars in 
 Khorasan, or to be traced to the starlike shape 
 of some Jain monuments, they certainly produce 
 a very beautiful effect. Each storey, covered alter- 
 nately with these round and angular flutings, is 
 surrounded by a broad band of Arabic inscription, 
 supporting a massive balcony, which stands out in 
 strong relief from the tower.* 
 
 Close to, in fact surrounding, the Kutub is a 
 very interesting Mosque of the fourteenth century, 
 but it consists, almost entirely, of earlier Hindu 
 workmanship, and is greatly made up of the pre- 
 existing Jain temple, which the builders of the 
 Mosque used as a quarry, just as the church builders 
 at Avalon availed themselves of the columns and 
 ornaments of the old Roman buildings, in their 
 neighbourhood. It consists of two enclosures. The 
 larger and outer one built after the inner con- 
 tains the Kutub, and is entered by a splendid gate- 
 way, built by Ala-ud-din, of red sandstone relieved 
 with bands and stripes of white marble, and covered 
 with the most delicate designs arabesques and 
 diaper patterns carved and inlaid, much like those 
 
 * The lowest storey dates from 1 190, the two next bear the 
 name of Altamsh (1211-36), and the upper part is of the time of 
 Firoz Shah Tughlak (1351-91).
 
 HINDU ARCHES 255 
 
 at Fatehpur Sikri, though considerably earlier 
 in date. The inner enclosure forms the court in 
 front of the Mosque proper, and is surrounded by 
 a cloister with portals and facades of incomparable 
 richness, supported by rows of Hindu columns, 
 profusely and wonderfully sculptured with flowers, 
 vases, and mythological scenes; they are placed in 
 pairs, one above the other, to give the requisite 
 height. The Mosque proper is built of the same 
 richly carved materials, once covered with stucco 
 and whitewash for fear of offence to the eyes of 
 the faithful ; it is low and insignificant in compari- 
 son with the enormous screen of pointed arches 
 which stands in front of it, but seems to have fol- 
 lowed the fashion of the buildings of the date of 
 the Kalan Musjid, and had no minaret. These 
 arches, though designed by the Mohammedans, 
 show by internal evidence, on closer inspection, 
 that they were of Hindu workmanship : they are 
 not true arches at all, and were probably built on 
 the same plan as the Hindu domes, by native 
 workmen who did not understand the construction 
 of the arch. They are carried up in horizontal 
 courses as far as possible, and then closed by long 
 slabs meeting above. The arches, in fact, could 
 never bear any weight upon them ; but this they 
 were evidently not intended to do, for they pro- 
 ject high above the Mosque proper, showing day- 
 light between its top and the top of the arch. At 
 the north-west corner, outside the Mosque, is the 
 beautiful tomb of Altamsh (1235), the earliest 
 Mohammedan tomb in India.
 
 256 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 We lunched near the little dak bungalow, where 
 those may stop who get permission from the 
 Superintendent of Police in Delhi : not far off is a 
 deep well, with a drop of sixty feet and a depth of 
 twenty feet of water. Into this, with the prospect 
 of gain, the natives delight to jump : four of them 
 were stripped and all ready for us on our arrival, 
 so we allowed them to go through their perform- 
 ance, and then we were let in for eight annas 
 apiece, which they demanded strengthening their 
 claim irrefutably by declaring that " the Guide book 
 says so ! " The well is narrow, and too vigorous a 
 leap forward would throw the creature against the 
 opposite wall, where he would probably be dashed 
 to pieces. But they never fail to get down feet 
 foremost, and walk up again by a staircase from 
 the surface of the water shivering, however 
 hot the day, to intensify one's feelings of com- 
 passion. 
 
 Early in the afternoon, we left the cool oasis and 
 started on our way back by Tughlakabad, a grand 
 old fortress, which Tughlak Shah built in 1321, 
 when the restlessness, so usual to Indian rulers, 
 drove him from the Kutub at the foot of the hills, 
 to build a capital of his own, four miles to the 
 east nearer the Jumna. It stands high, on a chain 
 of rocks, and looked over an artificial lake, formed 
 by a great stone wall built across a ravine in the 
 hills ; this is now dry, except in the rainy sea- 
 son. Huge and imposing round towers, of a very 
 hard, bluish crystalline rock, rise from the base of 
 the hill, to support the cyclopean walls, and give
 
 TUGHLAKABAD 257 
 
 a look of severe grandeur to the long line of 
 fortifications. We were reminded of some great 
 solid Etruscan, or Egyptian building. Although 
 it was deserted forty days after Tughlak Shah 
 died, no vegetation blurs the outline of the sloping 
 turrets, thick walls and narrow doorways, and 
 enoueh remains of its four-mile circumference and 
 
 o 
 
 fifty-two gates to show what a formidable strong- 
 hold it formed ; it was indeed, as Mr. William 
 Finch said of it in 1610 " a thing of surpassing 
 glory and stateliness." 
 
 A stone causeway, raised on low arches, stretches 
 out into the lake, and at the end of it is a curious 
 enclosure surrounded by very massive walls, in 
 the form of an irregular pentagon, sloping inwards 
 from the base, in the peculiar style of the Tughlak 
 Sultans. In the centre of this small fortress, which 
 is in a far better state of preservation than the 
 castle, stands the fit and appropriate tomb of two 
 of the warrior kings of the Tughlak line. This 
 building, of white marble and red sandstone, sur- 
 mounted by a white marble dome, is the tomb 
 where the generous benefactor and restorer Firoz 
 Shah Tughlak, who endeavoured so nobly to 
 repair the ravages of time and the results of past 
 tyranny, placed the signed deeds of full pardon 
 which, with infinite pains, he had obtained from 
 all those whom his brilliantly clever, but probably 
 slightly deranged, predecessor had injured. There 
 is something distinctive in the character of this 
 short line of Tughlak Sultans (1321-1390), and 
 their refined, severe taste and pitiless sternness 
 
 2 K
 
 258 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 appear to have stamped themselves on the titanic 
 monuments of their time. 
 
 Here we joined, and drove back by, the Muttra 
 road. In this district, amongst the tombs and the 
 ruins of bygone cities, there are little communities 
 of low caste Christians, singing their curious songs 
 as they lead their flocks and herds to graze, on the 
 scant herbage. 
 
 The Cambridge Mission to Delhi though 
 chiefly devoted to work among the educated 
 classes in the city, where they have a complete 
 ladder of education is responsible for this work 
 too, and they perambulate the villageswithin a circle 
 of twenty miles, preaching, teaching, catechising 
 and conversing. 
 
 The Delhi Brotherhood was founded, in conse- 
 quence of a strong appeal made by Sir Bartle Frere 
 to the University, to send men to carry on the work 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Winter in Delhi. Sir Bartle Frere 
 had visited Delhi, with the Prince of Wales in 
 1876, and wrote of these devoted people that they 
 were both much overtaxed. Mr. Winter was a man 
 of great powers of organisation, energy, and enthu- 
 siasm, who had laboured here for eleven years 
 without rest, and he could not be persuaded to 
 leave till it was possible to supply his place. Sir 
 Bartle Frere wrote, " I am much mistaken if you 
 have not a larger Tinnevelly at Delhi in the course 
 of a few years, but they require more money and 
 more men. Delhi seems quite one of the most 
 hopeful openings I have seen." Mr. Bickersteth 
 (afterwards Bishop of Japan) responded to this 

 
 THE DELHI BROTHERHOOD 259 
 
 appeal, and founded the Delhi Brotherhood in 1878 
 with the support of the saintly and learned Bishop 
 French of Lahore, who for his knowledge of native 
 dialects was known as the " Padre with seven 
 tongues." Since then, the work has expanded under 
 the inspiring leadership of Mr. Lefroy and Mr. 
 Allnutt,and has numbered several learned Oriental 
 scholars amongst its members, men able to meet 
 Brahman and Moolvi on their own ground and to 
 showthemselves better acquainted, even than they, 
 with the Vedas and Koran. One of the great desires 
 of Bishop French was to avoid anglicising the 
 native convert, and encouraging him to depend too 
 much on his Western teacher ; he therefore en- 
 couraged peripatetic methods of evangelisation. 
 He combined this method with colleges, in which 
 he hoped native boys might be trained to be- 
 come Christian teachers; and he looked forward 
 to the day when colleges, such as those of the 
 Missions at Delhi, Agra and Lahore, by mastering 
 methods of grappling with Oriental subtleties of 
 thought, would build up a truly native Church in 
 India, and rival the ancient Christian schools of 
 Alexandria and Edessa. 
 
 The Cambridge Brotherhood hold, that the pro- 
 gress of Christianity in India has been terribly hin- 
 dered by the strongly marked and rather self- 
 assertive individuality of the English character, 
 which finds solidarity of life and work a diffi- 
 culty ; and that, whereas the old faiths of India have 
 pre-eminently asserted the principle of brotherhood, 
 the Christian religion had been, for a long period,
 
 260 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 presented to the natives of India as concerning the 
 individual relation of the separate soul to God 
 almost exclusively, whilst the complement to this 
 essential foundation, the unity of the whole as one 
 body in Christ, had hardly been brought home to 
 them at all. They believe that the marvellous soli- 
 darity of native life, which is one of its most 
 marked characteristics, is not all evil, and that it 
 behoves the missionary to show, in deed as well as 
 word, that that principle is, in the highest degree, 
 congenial to the faith of Christ. They hold, 
 therefore, that the object-lesson of a corporate life, 
 based on pure religious principle, such as a 
 Brotherhood presents, is of the utmost value, in 
 the task of commending to the Hindu mind a truly 
 catholic and not exclusively English, oreven Euro- 
 pean type of Christianity. The characteristic and 
 impressive note of the Delhi Mission seems to be 
 its complete organisation of active work. It dis- 
 covers various practical advantages arisingfrom the 
 Brotherhood life such as economy; the absenceof 
 isolation, which is one of the greatest trials of the 
 ordinary missionary ; and the continuity of work, 
 resulting from the fact that,themethods of the older 
 and more experienced men can be learned, by those 
 working with them, before they are called away. 
 
 Both this, and the road we went out by, are lined 
 in places with tombs of all descriptions, some 
 covered by delicate bright coloured tiles. The 
 number of fine tombs which we met with in India 
 rather perplexed us, but, to any one with a know- 
 ledge of the history of Mogul courts, the explana-
 
 NOBILITY OF OFFICE 261 
 
 tion is not far to seek. Amongst the Moguls there 
 were no noble families: the King was the proprietor 
 of all land and the source of all honour. The saying 
 of the Emperor Paul of Russia, "the only man 
 noble in my dominions is the man to whom I speak, 
 for the time that I speak to him," expresses pre- 
 cisely the attitude of a Mogul Emperor to his own 
 courtiers and high officers ; and they succeeded in 
 breaking up, in India, all the ancient aristocracy ex- 
 cept that of the Rajpoots. Yhe courtiers and emirs 
 were usually adventurers from outside, or slaves, 
 and they formed simply a nobility of office which 
 never succeeded in founding a family, and never 
 built a spacious palace. They lived in temporary 
 habitations, and spent much of their time in the 
 Emperor's palace : he was their heir, and had no 
 scruple in bestowing their possessions on their suc- 
 cessor in office, as soon as they died, and transferring 
 their wealth to his own coffers. Theirfamilies were, 
 at once, turned out to shift for themselves, and their 
 sons had to begin de novo. Consequently, they left 
 nothing to commemorate their name, unless it were 
 a bridge or a canal built for the public good, or a 
 college, except the tombs which meet our view on 
 every side. 
 
 We stopped en route at the Tomb of Akbar's 
 father, Humayun, the first great Mogul building 
 in India and probably the finest. It is certainly the 
 most beautiful tomb near Delhi, and it looked par- 
 ticularly solemn and grand as we saw it, just after 
 thesun had set. There can be no doubt that thecon- 
 tour of the dome is finer than that of the Taj where
 
 262 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 bulbousness has already become rather marked. The 
 design of the building is peculiar. A white marble 
 dome rises above the central chamber, which is 
 an irregular octagon, with four irregular octagons 
 at alternate sides, surrounding it, and between 
 them small square or oblong chambers with deep 
 portals in each. The body of the building is of 
 red sandstone and white marble, and stands, in 
 the centre of a garden, on the top of a square 
 platform, looking dow r n on the surrounding trees, 
 
 and, away north, to the rugged 
 walls of Indraput. The garden 
 is surrounded by walls, entered 
 by stately gateways. It was to 
 
 y"^f f} this building that Hodson, of 
 - 1 H^o> " Hodson's Horse," came, in 
 SKETCH PLAN OF nuMAYUN's search of the last King of 
 Delhi, and with a small band 
 of horse brought him away, in the teeth of hundreds 
 of the enemy. He still further distinguished him- 
 self by returning for the two sons of the King, and 
 having led them out of their hiding-place, shot 
 them with his own hand. His action was much 
 criticised, but acts of boldness such as this seem 
 to have staggered and paralysed the natives. 
 
 On leaving Humayun'stomb it was growing so 
 dark we were, obliged to give up going to see that 
 of Nizam-ud-din. And next day we left Delhi. 
 
 It had been very interesting to trace the growth 
 of the tomb idea, which culminates in the Agra 
 Taj, but one can have too much of everything, and 
 I think we had of sightseeing at Delhi. Neverthe-
 
 THE DARGAH OF NIZAM-UD-DIN 263 
 
 less, our consciences brought us back again, for a 
 night, from Amballa, to see the Dargah of Nizam- 
 ud-din. Wehadto leave again bya train (southward 
 bound) at eleven, so we made an early start, and were 
 on the road at about a quarter to eight. The same 
 picturesque throng that we had seen on the former 
 occasion, when we drove out early from Delhi or, 
 at any rate, a very similar one met us as we left 
 the outer gates, butwith the additionof amysterious 
 mist, betokening heat, and a string of camel-carts, 
 like huge cages, full of natives, which we passed 
 just beyond the walls. 
 
 Our carriage drew up, amongst ruins, before a 
 small archway, and the path, which we followed, 
 led us round a sacred baoli or tank, overshadowed 
 by high walls. On the west side seventy feet above 
 the water, was a dome, from which naked natives 
 wanted us to see them jump. We did not give 
 them any encouragement, but passed on, through 
 a winding passage, into a beautiful little courtyard ; 
 this is the first of two, forming the bury ing-ground 
 of many great and holy people, grouped around 
 the Dargah of Sheik Nizam-ud-din, which, like the 
 shrines of the other three great Chishti saints, is 
 reverenced by Mohammedans all over India. He 
 was the last of the line, and appears to have settled 
 in Delhi about 1265, and to have been a great and 
 powerful personage, playing an important part in 
 the political history of his time. He was a great 
 ally of Ala-ud-din Khilji, the parricide Sultan, and 
 has, the perhaps undeserved, reputation of having 
 been closely connected with the Thugs, who have
 
 264 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 always honoured him, as one of the lights of the 
 profession. With Tughlak Shah, he seems to have 
 been at cross purposes, and the tradition goes that 
 they interfered with each other's building opera- 
 tions and showered on them mutual recriminations 
 and curses. 
 
 Nizam-ud-din died at the age of ninety-two, 
 the year before his opponent, who was murdered 
 in 1325. His devoted friend and follower, Khusru, 
 the renowned poet of Tughlak's Court, whose 
 songs have not been forgotten by the people through 
 the five hundred years which have passed by, 
 refused to survive him, and died soon after; he 
 lies buried within the same enclosure. This pecu- 
 liarly Oriental habit of dying at will with no ap- 
 parent physical cause except that of refusing to 
 take food has often been a real difficulty to the 
 English Government. Instances are well known in 
 which individuals, or, in some cases, groups of 
 people, have allowed themselves to die, simply as a 
 protest against something they objected to: it is 
 usually as an act of impotent revenge and in order 
 to heap obloquy on the man who drove them to it. 
 Political prisoners, in Russian prisons, Leo Deutsch 
 says, will revenge themselves on the officials in 
 much thesamemanner. "Sitting dharna,"or taking 
 up a position at a man's gateway, and refusing to 
 take food, in order to enforce compliance with 
 some demand, is now a criminal offence in India. 
 Babar appears to have ended his days in some- 
 thing of the same manner as Khusru : he devoted 
 his life to save that of his sick son, the son re- 
 covered, and Babar died.
 
 THE TOMB OF JEHANIRA 265 
 
 Here also lies Jehanira, the devoted companion 
 of Shah Jehan's captivity in Agra Fort. She sur- 
 vived her father for sixteen years, and was said to 
 be a great benefactress of the poor and religious 
 men, and to have died with the reputation of a 
 saint, which, though the part of the devil's advo- 
 cate was not left out, and there are two versions 
 of her story, Bishop Heber seems inclined to 
 allow her. Her tombstone consists of a white 
 marble slab, carved with flowers, and hollowed 
 out, so as to contain earth, on which grows fresh 
 green grass, in obedience to her wish that only 
 things frail and evanescent should mark her last 
 resting-place : the epitaph inscribed on the head- 
 stone is said to have been composed by herself: 
 " Let green grass only conceal my grave, grass 
 is the best covering for the grave of the meek, the 
 humble, transitory Jehanira, the disciple of the 
 holy men of Chisht." 
 
 On the right, on entering the first courtyard 
 there is a Mosque, with a very fine domed ceiling 
 rising, before the dome is commenced, from a 
 square to an octagon and from that to a sixteen- 
 sided figure. To the east is an assembly hall of 
 white marble, with fine lattice screens (restored). 
 Two of the tombs have beautiful white marble 
 doors, elaborately ornamented in low relief. 
 
 The great tombs of Nizam-ud-din and of Khusr u 
 form two separate buildings, of white marble 
 encased in lattice screens of the most exquisite 
 carved work. The shrines themselves are covered 
 with bright silk palls with canopies over them and 
 
 2 L
 
 266 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DELHI 
 
 ostrich eggs and gewgaws hang from the canopies. 
 All important Moslem tombs have, besides the 
 Mosque, an endowed college of Moolahs attached : 
 they say prayers at stated times, read the Koran 
 over the grave twice a day, and spend the intervals 
 in teaching the youth of the neighbourhood to 
 read the Koran and hate the unbeliever. The result 
 is, no doubt, not very conducive to living peaceably 
 with your neighbour, but the process pleases the 
 eye. Picturesque groups of figures sit about on 
 the marble pavement. Here is a very small boy 
 being taught to read out of a great tome ; there a 
 venerable patriarch is instructing a lad out of the 
 Koran ; and in another part a young man is care- 
 fully copying a manuscript, with his " style " the 
 floor forming his desk, and he laboriously leaning 
 over and slowly drawing out the letters. 
 
 Besides the large tomb, there are innumerable 
 small ones, many of which would be well worth 
 studying anywhere else. Some of these are over- 
 hung by great shady trees, and in the shady or 
 sheltered nooks sit many old men, in various 
 stages of decrepitude. They, and the cats, which 
 seemed to haunt the place, reminded me of the 
 Algerian marabouts, where the old people, who 
 have come to end their days in the holy precincts, 
 sit hugging cats to keep them warm. The whole 
 group is wonderfully beautiful, and the place is 
 certainly one of the most attractive near Delhi ; 
 the quiet life about it adds an indescribable charm 
 not easily forgotten.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 AMBALLA: A CANTONMENT 
 
 ON a bright, but sharply fresh, early morning at 
 the end of February, we reached Amballa after a 
 night journey from Delhi to pay a visit to Mr. 
 Leslie Smith, the Divisional Judge of the district. 
 He met us at the station and drove us up to his 
 house, two miles off, at the further side of the can- 
 tonment. It was a pleasant drive under avenues 
 of fine peepul trees, and along straight level roads 
 flanked on either side by large shady compounds 
 enclosing within low, whitewashed walls and rose 
 hedges trim deep-roofed bungalows, festooned 
 with masses of crimson bougainvillea and of big- 
 nonia bright with orange-coloured flowers. In the 
 distance the view, northwards across the plain, 
 was bounded by blue mountains topped by faint 
 indications of glorious snowy Himalayas. Some of 
 these giant peaks, fading into the delicate blue sky, 
 beyond Simla, must be fully two hundred miles 
 away. 
 
 Amballa is one of the proverbially happy places 
 without a history ; a town has only existed here 
 since the comparatively late date of 1400, and 
 nothing of any importance is recorded of it till the
 
 268 AMBALLA 
 
 district came into the hands of the British in 1823. 
 Then, it was chosen as the station for the political 
 agent of the province, and in 1843 a cantonment 
 was established a few miles south of the now well- 
 nigh vanished unwalled old town. It is the head- 
 quarters of a district lying between the Sutlej and 
 the Jumna the Himalayas and the native state of 
 Patiala which is the sacred land of the misty days 
 of Hindu epic romance and the last home of the 
 five demi-god brothers, the Pandavas, before they 
 left the plains to bury themselves in some unknown 
 spot amongst the eternal snows of the Himalayas. 
 There is, however, little trace of mystery or poetry 
 in the crisp, brisk military atmosphere of the busy 
 little town: it lies on the Grand Trunk road, that 
 most fascinating of highways the "broad smiling 
 river of life" with new people and new sights at 
 every stride, endeared to us all by the days spent 
 on it by Kim, the " little friend of all the world " 
 and his Lama. Its double avenue runs fifteen hun- 
 dred miles across India, and Amballa is close to 
 the place where the road to Simla and the Hill 
 stations turns off, and has long been a centre of 
 supply for the Europeans up there. It is in a capi- 
 tally healthy situation, and though no doubt very 
 trying in the hot weather, it was fresh enough then. 
 The temperature was cooler than anything we had 
 hitherto enjoyed in India : experience warned us 
 that it would be considered rather tactless to con- 
 gratulate any of our friends in India on the climate 
 of the place they lived in, but it was undeniable 
 that a good deal of rain had fallen here, whereas
 
 AN ATTRACTIVE STATION 269 
 
 we had met with none elsewhere, and that there 
 really were refreshing indications of green grass. 
 The neighbourhood of the hills, with their snow 
 and roaring torrents, gives to the atmosphere a 
 dampness that lends beauty to the landscape ; and 
 
 OUTSIDK TIIK CANTONMKXT 
 
 the surrounding district is well wooded with fine 
 dark green groves of mango, with sissoos, mul- 
 berry, banyan, and the ubiquitous peepul tree. 
 
 The attraction of this station is that it is soclos^ 
 to the hills that wives and children can easily 
 escape, for the hot weather, to Kasauli, six thousand 
 feet above the plains, and overlooking the Kalka 
 valley, where, when the railway then projected was 
 opened, a run of three hours would enable the men
 
 270 AMBALLA 
 
 to join them for the week end. At Kalka the Simla 
 people used, in old days, having passed the ford 
 over the Ghaggur river half-way, to leave their dak 
 gharry from Amballa and take to the tonga. In 
 flood-time that ford often involved considerable 
 delay for passengers, and the mails were carried 
 over by an elephant. All these romantic incidents 
 have faded into the past now, and by a light rail- 
 
 FROM THE MAIDAN 
 
 way to Simla one is very prosaically "wheeled to 
 reach the eagles' haunt " in no time. 
 
 Amballa is said to be a very good specimen of 
 an English cantonment : at the time of our visit 
 there were five thousand troops there, including the 
 yth Dragoon Guards, 2nd Battalion Queen's West 
 Surrey, I4th West Yorks, King's Own Scottish 
 Borderers, 2nd Battery Royal Horse Artillery, 
 2nd Mounted Battery (partly native), loth Bengal 
 Lancers, and the 23rd Pioneers. It stretches out on 
 a vast flat plain about seventy miles south of the 
 first slopes of the Himalayas and is planned upon 
 rectangular roads. The central part is occupied by 
 the bungalows of the officers, the shops, the club, 
 and the church, all surrounded by large com- 
 pounds. To the West are rows of barrack buildings 
 separated from the centre by small maidans flat
 
 272 AMBALLA 
 
 open commons, green in favourable circumstances 
 and dotted with trees and beyond are much larger 
 open spaces stretching for miles around the can- 
 tonment. These form parade-grounds, grounds for 
 military manoeuvres, and are available for polo and 
 cricket. To the North is a golf links, and there, 
 quite at the extremity of the cantonment near the 
 gymkana or recreation-ground, is Paget Park, 
 where was our host's house. It is attached to the 
 post which he holds, and is said to be one of the 
 best in Amballa and the only civilian's house in 
 the military lines, the civil lines being away to the 
 West. I understand it was rather a Naboth's vine- 
 yard and regarded* with covetous eyes by the 
 general commanding the district. It stands in a 
 good garden with the usual little water-channels 
 surrounding theflower beds ; they are filled from the 
 droning Persian wheel, where a drowsy boy, curled 
 up behind the patient oxen, sends them circling 
 round the well, and turning runnels of clear water to 
 freshen the lemon and rose bushes ; the garden in 
 their season abounds in roses, but the time of roses 
 is not yet. Close by is a tank with a picturesque 
 temple, where I sketched ; this is one of the few 
 remaining fragments of old Amballa, and I had to 
 make the most of it, and of some wonderfully big 
 banyan trees, and another tank, surrounded by 
 ruined temples. I was also fortunate enough to 
 secure, for the morning, a splendid camel sowar of 
 the loth Bengal Lancers, who came and sat to me 
 on his camel, in its scarlet Marie Stuart cap and 
 saddle-cloth, outside the verandah of my bedroom.
 
 THE TOUT 
 
 273 
 
 Unfortunately our conversation was limited, but an 
 obliging Moonshee glorified my sketch by writing 
 Shams ud-din Khan's name and status in splendid 
 picturesque characters below it. 
 
 It was a rest to be free from that most imperti- 
 nent, persistent individual, the Delhi tout, who 
 had been boring us to death for the last few days, 
 His name is legion, he lay in wait at every corner, 
 and with his confreres crowded round us in the 
 
 THE HOUSE OF THE DIVISIONAL JUDGE 
 
 street, and climbed, uninvited, on to the carriage, 
 thrusting his employer's cards into his victim's 
 face. We were besieged by him at the hotel door 
 and even stormed in our bedrooms. It is very 
 difficult to maintain an air of indifference to all 
 this persecution, and at last I got so exasperated 
 that I threatened violence with sticks and umbrellas 
 nothing short of this will keep the tout at bay. 
 It was good also to be in a comfortable house 
 with decent food, after the very indifferent fare at 
 Indian hotels and to get milk which one knew was 
 not contaminated with typhoid germs. It is not 
 
 2 M
 
 274 
 
 AMBALLA 
 
 safetodrink milk in India unless one has a tolerably 
 intimate acquaintance with the individual cow and 
 its ways. The real white brahmini cow with its 
 black points, wide muzzle, and long drooping ears 
 who supplies the milk for English, or native 
 domestic use, is ^Purdah lady, secluded for life, and 
 
 BANYAN TREE 
 
 she never strays beyond the stable or the courtyard, 
 separated from the neighbouring domain by a 
 low mud wall ; she is fed by her own attendant, 
 who in times of scarcity will wander far afield, 
 seeking fodder for his charge. The other cows, 
 who supply the milk of commerce, are those one 
 sees at large, picking up a doubtful living in the 
 streets and bazaars : the ordinary milk is therefore 
 a fruitful source of infection.
 
 THE CANTONMENT 275 
 
 One of our first thoughts on arriving was to in- 
 quire for Furse, whom \ve had last encountered 
 in the train coming here to be nursed through 
 typhoid fever ; he seemed to be very well looked 
 after in the hospital and with countless kind friends 
 watching his recovery. 
 
 The cantonment had been rather in mourning 
 lately, for the general died the week before, and a 
 poor man, who had dined with our host the day 
 before, w r as killed on the polo ground. Another 
 man, General - , had also just died, poisoned 
 by his servants, in whose favour he had very 
 foolishly made a will. It was said that no traces 
 of the poison could be found, but the doctors 
 appear to have no doubt of it, and I am told 
 the natives know of poisons which leave no trace 
 at all. 
 
 People say that Amballa is a deadly dull place^ 
 but we came in for census holidays and a polo 
 tournament and there appeared to be no end of 
 amusement for the next week or so. Tent-pegging, 
 polo, and races were the order of the day, dinner- 
 parties and theatricals of the night, and we had a 
 delightful time and met some very pleasant people, 
 including Mrs. Nairn, wife of the Inspector-General 
 of Artillery, whose daughter was just about to 
 marry Capt. Mercer, one of Lord Roberts' A.D.C.s, 
 and some other agreeable R.H.A. people, Captain 
 Eardley Wilmot ; Lord Teignmouth's brother, 
 Major Shore ; and Mrs Knox and her sister, Miss 
 Dundas of Arniston ; Colonel and Mrs. Elliot 
 Lockhart, relations of the Davisons of Muirhouse,
 
 276 
 
 AMBALLA 
 
 commanding the R.H.A. here ; and Sir John 
 Jervis White Jervis and his wife. 
 
 We went to see one of the polo tournament 
 matches they were playing off the finals ist 
 West Yorkshire (quartered here) against Bareilly 
 and Jallunder Rifle Brigade teams. As the Rifle 
 Brigade teams had each six or eight good ponies 
 against the West York two apiece, it seemed a great 
 
 THE CROWD 
 
 triumph of good play when they won the final. On 
 the ground I met Major Noyes, who commands 
 the i st West Yorks here : he was very keen about 
 the game, and the enthusiasm of the Tommies was 
 immense. Major Noyes had come out with us as 
 far as Aden and was expecting his Colonelcy daily. 
 The tent-pegging amongst native officers of 
 Bengal Cavalry Regiments was one of the prettiest 
 sights I had seen in India. It was a lovely day and 
 almost the first we had had any sun since we arrived. 
 After breakfast we Avent to the maidan close by to
 
 TENT PEGGING 
 
 277 
 
 the N.W., and the wide plain formed a very pretty 
 picture, with the tents and shifting kaleidoscope of 
 gay-coloured crowds, in which every figure was a 
 study in colour, against a background of blue Hima- 
 
 ui'tyW 
 jflj* 
 
 A COMPETITOR 
 
 layas, capped with snow. The brightly dressed 
 native audience, onlookers and competitors 
 some of them wild looking Pathans and frontier 
 tribesmen in gorgeous clothes were ranged in two 
 long rows, on either side of the course, eagerly 
 watching each rideras, with body bent low and poised 
 spear, he comes galloping down, shouting wildly
 
 278 
 
 AMBALLA 
 
 till he either misses the peg or hits it, and swings 
 it, on the point of his lance, round his high-coned 
 blue turban with the flashing steel quoit then a 
 murmer of excited approval passed through the 
 crowd. All this in brilliant sunshine, with a back- 
 ground of trees and grey-blue 
 mountains and far off snow-peaks, 
 was a scene never to be forgotten. 
 It was a grand opportunity for 
 studying variety in the dress of 
 the people ; some were gloriously 
 apparelled in their own native cos- 
 tume, and others were in bright 
 uniforms. The uniforms of the 
 loth Bengal Lancers, many of 
 Avhom are Sikhs, with their 
 blue and red lance-pennons, blue 
 kurta or long coat, white breeches, 
 red cummerbund, and the blue 
 cone-shaped lungi, or turban, particularly pleased 
 my eye. I was introduced to several distinguished 
 personages, and specially remember a gentleman 
 in dark green silk, who was said to trace his 
 descent to the time of Abraham or rather that it 
 had been done for him. I was immensely glad we 
 had not missed it all, though it involved our fore- 
 going a visit to Peshawur. 
 
 The night of March 3 found me at Amballa sta- 
 tion, starting, with my " boy " Lobo, on an expedi- 
 tion to the North- West. My companion was not 
 well and preferred a few quiet days at Amballa; 
 but, besides my desire to see Lahore and Amritzar, 
 
 ONE OF THE CROWD
 
 NATIVE PASSENGERS 279 
 
 I was driven to Lahore by a very prosaic search 
 for a dentist, who, it appeared, was not to be found 
 elsewhere in the North- West. At Delhi such a per- 
 son is unknown, andthe inhabitants have to depend 
 on a travelling dentist who goes from place to place. 
 
 An Indian railway station is always rather an 
 entertaining place : the amount of native traffic is 
 astounding, and the stations are always filled with 
 a jabbering crowd. I believe that, if a native is to 
 leave by a morning train, he comes to the station 
 overnight, and takes his ticket, and, not troubling 
 about time-tables, sleeps there, so as to be sure of 
 catching it. You find them on the platform, outside 
 the ticket office, lying asleep, with heads covered, 
 rolled in their cotton quilts, huddled up on each 
 other in indistinguishable heaps, like bodies on a 
 battlefield. The third-class waiting-room is a 
 large hall with iron gratings for doors, rather like a 
 cage in a menagerie: you look through the gratings 
 and see all kinds of strangely garbed people sitting 
 and lying about. They are not allowed on the plat- 
 form, till nearly time for their train : when the train 
 comes in the cage is opened and they spring to life, 
 and with cries and shouts in which the water- 
 sellers and sellers of sweets join they all bustle 
 down the long platform, gathering up their bundles 
 and, with most un-Oriental lack of dignity, push 
 and run to the train ; there they may be seen pre- 
 sently cooped up in the crate-like carriages, lying 
 on the floor and standing on the seats, in great con- 
 fusion, but apparent content. 
 
 My host came to see me off and he introduced me
 
 280 AMBALLA 
 
 to a fellow traveller, whom he chanced to know ; he 
 shared my compartment all the -way to Lahore, 
 where he lived. Perhaps he was a cynic who, having 
 seen much of the seamy side of men and institu- 
 tions, took a gloomy view of life and its amenities; 
 at any rate, he spent the night most uncomfortably, 
 
 SWEET-SELLERS 
 
 and, before leaving, told me he was busy and could 
 do nothing for me. I had experienced a good deal 
 of the kind and sociable ways of Englishmen in 
 India, and no doubt I had had more than I de- 
 served, of generous hospitality in other places. 
 
 Soon after achilly sunrise I found myself driving, 
 along a winding road lined with casuarinas, to 
 Nedou's hotel; Sir James Lyall, with whom we 
 were to have stayed, had been obliged to go into 
 camp, just at the time of my visit to Lahore.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 LAHORE THE NORTHERN GATE 
 
 IN old days, he who held Lahore held India, for 
 it stands at the sluice-gates through which, from 
 the north-west since the time of Alexander the 
 flood of many successive generations of India's 
 conquerors has swept. Into Lahore poured the 
 first Mohammedan invaders at the end of the 
 seventh century, and looted the great Brahminical 
 city of which, years before, the Chinese Buddhist 
 pilgrims, Fo-Hian and Hiuen-Tsiang, had de- 
 scribed the splendour. Again, three centuries 
 later, the ten thousand picked horsemen of Mah- 
 moud of Ghazni burst, "like a foaming torrent," 
 through the barriers and overwhelmed Jai Pal, the 
 Rajput king of Lahore, at Peshawur. He was 
 carried off, with rich spoils, into captivity, but re- 
 leased on promising a tribute : the disgrace, how- 
 ever, broke his heart, and mounting a pyre, he had 
 had constructed, he applied the torch with his own 
 hands, and perished in the flames. The burden of 
 the tribute passed to his son, An'ang Pal, who was 
 true to his inherited engagements, though other 
 subjugated Rajahs' were less loyal, and the northern 
 Sultan returned in wrath and defeatingthe largest 
 
 2 N
 
 282 LAHORE 
 
 army India had ever mustered gained a firm foot- 
 ing in Hindustan. He occupied Lahore, which 
 remained the capital of the Musalman Empire 
 until 1194, when Mohammad Ghori, or Shahab- 
 ud-din, whose dominions extended from Tibet to 
 the Caspian, transferred the metropolis to Delhi. 
 In the last years of the fourteenth century La- 
 hore fell before the invasion of the lame Timur, and 
 when another 140 years had elapsed, it was once 
 again sacked and plundered by the great Babar in 
 1526, who pushed his invasion further, and, after 
 the victory of Paniput, founded the Empire of the 
 Moguls. From that time Lahore ranked as one of 
 the great capitals of the East, and Milton, no doubt 
 basing his estimate on Mr. William Finch's remark, 
 " This is without doubt one of the greatest cities of 
 the East," coupled it with Agra in the well- 
 known lines 
 
 Samarckand by Oxus, Timur's throne, 
 To Pekin, of Simoean kings, and then 
 To Agra and Lahor of Great Mogul 
 
 Down to the golden Chersonese. 
 
 The Mogul Emperors lived here at intervals, 
 and the four great builders of the dynasty are 
 all represented in Lahore : Akbar by the mixed 
 Saracenic and Hindu architecture in the Fort and 
 walls, Jehangir and Shah Jehan by their splendid 
 palaces, and the fanatical Aurangzeb by the great 
 Mosque. Subsequently the city became the scene 
 of perpetual pillage and loot until the establish- 
 ment of the Sikh kingdom under Ranjit Sing, a 
 magnificent figure, who welded the Sikhs, under
 
 THE SIKHS 283 
 
 European officers, into the strongest native power 
 in India ; he was always a faithful ally of the 
 British, and it was not till after his death, that two 
 great wars led to the annexation of his kingdom. 
 The original cradle of the Sikhs with their war- 
 like habits and traditions and theocratic enthu- 
 siasm lies in an upland district between the 
 Sutlej and the Ravi. They are not a distinct race, 
 though chiefly Jats; but a well-disciplined religious 
 and military democratic brotherhood of re- 
 formed Hindus, and Sir Monier Williams appears 
 to think them most akin to the worshippers of 
 Vishnu. They owe their origin to Nanak, who 
 was born, of a farmer's family, on the banks of 
 the River Ravi fourteen years before the birth 
 of Martin Luther (1469). He spoke as a divinely 
 inspired teacher, and the character of his message 
 and its influence, in the early days when the 
 Granth their sacred book was written, before 
 corruption and degeneracy crept in, was such 
 that Bishop French of Lahore says, that to those of 
 his Sikh hearers, who were well up in their own 
 sacred writings, quotations from the Gospels, or 
 Early Fathers, seemed to express spiritual truths 
 with which they were familiar. Sikh signifies 
 literally " a disciple, " and at first they were little else 
 than a body of seekers after the divine way of truth 
 and peace of mind. Since Nanak's day, however, 
 the system has been consolidated, and much modi- 
 fied, by successive Gurus, or teachers. Under the 
 fifth Guru Arjun (1581-1606) they became a poli- 
 tical community : he came into collision with the
 
 284 LAHORE 
 
 Mohammedans and died a prisoner in Lahore under 
 Jehangir. It was Arjun who compiled the Granth 
 or Holy Book an object of immense venera- 
 tion amongst the Sikhs: the sayings and doctrines 
 of Nanak are comprised in one divisionof the book, 
 called the " Japji," which the true Sikh is directed 
 to read every morning, as containing the key to the 
 teaching of all the Gurus. It is said to be " noble 
 in spirit, poetical in form, and worthy to be classed 
 with some of the noblest of the Hebrew Psalms," 
 and to express a mysticism comparable to that of 
 Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey full of 
 
 a sense sublime 
 
 Of something far more deeply interfused, 
 Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns 
 . . . and in the mind of man. 
 
 Nanak dwells specially on the character of God, 
 as a self-conscious Being, who loves and cares for 
 His creatures, who hears their prayers and enters 
 into personal relations with them. He taught that 
 the royal road to the knowledge of God and to 
 intercourse with Him, was neither by intellectual 
 knowledge nor ritual "good deeds," but through 
 "remembrance of the Name" or meditation on 
 the character of God conformity to His Will, and 
 right conduct ; also that the Immanent Spirit 
 reveals Himself amidst the businessof life aswell 
 as in the solitary places if the heart be intent on 
 hearing His voice and doing His Will. The 
 moral standard of the first Sikhs was a high one ; 
 gambling and immorality were punishable offences; 
 falsehood, slander, and fornication were branded
 
 GURU GOVIND 285 
 
 as deadly sins; truthfulness, honesty, and kindness 
 were inculcated. And by Nanak's doctrine, "There 
 is no Hindu and no Mussalman," all caste divisions 
 were swept away in the brotherhood. The later 
 Gurus, however, preached the duty of destroying 
 the enemies of the faith, and soon, the original aim 
 of the founder was frustrated and forgotten. 
 
 Under the later Moguls, the Sikhs endured bitter 
 persecution, but they gained in strength, and gradu- 
 ally developed from a religious order into a military 
 community known as the Kalsa, or elect. Though con- 
 stantly at war with their Mohammedan rulers, and 
 representing like the Mahrattas in the south the 
 Hindu reaction, and formingone of the main causes 
 of the internal disintegration of the Empire, yet 
 they constituted a protection against attack from 
 outside, and for many years kept back the tide of 
 further Afghan invasion. The last Guru who had 
 any pretensions to beingaspiritual leader was Guru 
 Govind (1721). He established the political inde- 
 pendence of his followers, and, after him, the rule 
 of the Guruship was abolished and only military 
 leaders were elected. The contrast between this 
 later history of the Sikhs when they lived only 
 for the holy war, with its tale of slaughter and 
 bloodshed and the precepts of Nanak, is absolute. 
 
 In the eighteenth century the military prowess 
 of the Sikhs reached its zenith, for, after a long 
 struggle with the Afghans, they finally won the 
 supremacy of the Punjab in a battle near Amritzar 
 in 1764. They then established themselves firmly 
 in Lahore, which became the military centre of their
 
 286 LAHORE 
 
 kingdom, but was constantly robbed to glorify the 
 religious centre, Amritzar. They ruled the north- 
 west for a century, and became a nation of free- 
 booters, sweeping down and over-running the ad- 
 jacent country like locusts. They destroyed the 
 crops and the fine groves of trees, the legacy of the 
 piety of past generations ; and they massacred the 
 populations. They were then said to be "false, san- 
 guinary, faithless, and addicted to plunder and the 
 acquirement of wealth by any means however nefa- 
 rious." After Ranjit Sing's death they invaded 
 British territory in 1845, an d began the first 
 Sikh War, which led ultimately to the annexation 
 in 1849. Then they were enlisted in small numbers 
 in the Sepoy regiments. On the outbreak of the 
 Mutiny Lord Lawrence enrolled many more, and 
 they behaved w r ith such conspicuous loyalty as to 
 have justly earned the reputation of the most 
 gallant and faithful soldiers of the Indian Empire. 
 
 The Sikhs differ from all the Hindu sects in that 
 they are " not born but made " ; they are not idol- 
 aters, and welcome all castes in the community. 
 Like the Nazarite of old, the initiated Sikh never 
 shaves or cuts his hair ; and tobacco is forbidden 
 him. His beard is divided in the middle, and pass- 
 ing behind his ears is twisted in a coil with his hair, 
 under the dark blue high-coned turban in which he 
 wears a miniature steel quoit. 
 
 When the kingdom of Ranjit Sing came into 
 possession of the British at the end of the second 
 Sikh War (1849) the district was taken by the 
 East India Company from Maharajah Dhuleep
 
 THE KOHINOOR 287 
 
 Sing, and with it came into their possession 
 the famous diamond, the Kohinoor. After the 
 murder of Nadir Shah in 1739 this historic stone 
 had passed through many vicissitudes, and came 
 at last, in a much mutilated condition as the 
 price of the liberty of Shah Soojah, its blind and 
 decrepit royal owner into the hands of Ranjit 
 Sing. He left on his death-bed instructions that it 
 was to be sent to Jagganath, but his son retained it, 
 amongst his treasures, until the day when it was 
 personally entrusted to Lord Lawrence for trans- 
 mission to the Queen. One of the quaintest of its 
 many adventures then followed. Lord Lawrence 
 placed the small box, in its cotton wrappings, that 
 contained it, in his waistcoat pocket, and promptly 
 forgot all about it until, six weeks later, he was 
 called upon to send it home. Then the circum- 
 stances flashed across his mind, and with much 
 anxiety he hastily summoned his bearer, and in- 
 quired whether he recollected the box being in his 
 pocket some time before. Theservant had found it, 
 and, with the care of a good native servant, 
 though he thought it contained only a worthless 
 piece of glass, had luckily put it carefully away in 
 a battered tin box, and, to Lord Lawrence's great 
 relief, was able to produce it at once. 
 
 Since Lahore came into our hands a second town 
 has grown up outside the old city : the moat has 
 been filled in and planted with a shady belt of 
 garden, forming a green girdle round Akbar's and 
 Ranjit Sing's walls, with their twelve gates. It 
 is a city of gardens where all sorts of trees and
 
 288 LAHORE 
 
 shrubs flourish : the roses, I believe, are something 
 to rave about, and mulberry, guava, orange, vine, 
 and peaches and plums bear splendid crops the 
 scarlet-flowered pomegranates in the gardens, and 
 the green meadows of the Champ de Mars, near the 
 town, form a delightful foreground to the distant 
 views. On very bright days, when the air is not too 
 much charged with dust, the snow-clad Himalayas 
 come into sight, far far away, stretching their mas- 
 sive, gigantic, and noble forms proudly, above the 
 clouds, into the blue heavens. The middle distance 
 is perfectly flat: it is fertile, but depends much on 
 irrigation, and when not irrigated by canal water, 
 tends to become a mere barren desert or steppe 
 dotted with stunted camel-broom and wormwood 
 and other shrubs; clusters of mud or reed huts 
 occur here and there, by the side of a muddy pond, 
 and are dignified by the name of village. 
 
 I found a great deal to attract me in the won- 
 derful walled city of Lahore ; though the buildings 
 all recall Delhi and Agra, and seemed on rather a 
 lower level of interest, yet there are certain things 
 which are unique and essentially characteristic of 
 the place, and these, in themselves alone, are well 
 worth coming here to see they help one to imagine 
 what the town was like in the old days of its splen- 
 dour, when the Persian poet used it as an instance 
 of transcendent attainment : 
 
 God has made by His own power, 
 
 One city great, one city small, 
 
 Not every town becomes a Delhi or Lahore. 
 
 My first care was to get the Handbook descrip-
 
 THE FORT 289 
 
 tions as correct as possible ; I found it no easy task, 
 and it occupied the whole livelong day, as there was 
 no one to help me, and the only book relating to 
 the place shirked all the difficulties and swallowed 
 all the old blunders. Immediately after breakfast, 
 I drove off to see the sights. The Fort is one 
 of the chief objects of interest ; but owing to 
 the absence of a reliable guide I was much put to 
 it to understand and unravel its intricacies. There 
 used to be an intelligent non-commissioned officer 
 there, who knew something about the place, but 
 he with the whole garrison had gone, only two 
 days before, and had been replaced by a new lot, 
 who were more ignorant of the place than I was 
 myself. 
 
 Lahore Fort in its palmy days must have been 
 a splendid place, perhaps equal, or approaching in 
 beauty to that at Delhi. But vandalism, British 
 and other, has robbed it of most of its splendour. 
 The outside of the Palace of Akbar, which faces 
 the deep ditch and overlooks the outer wall, is 
 profusely decorated with incaustic tiles and the 
 mosaics of tile work, called Kashi or Nak Kashi 
 work, i.e., pottery made of the same material as 
 tiles, but in all kinds of odd shapes and repre- 
 senting differentquaint subjects combats between 
 animals, tigers and bulls, elephants, dragons. In 
 the spandrils of some of the window-arches there 
 are splendid flying angels, with girdles and long 
 tassels, each bearing in its hand something which, 
 from below, looks like a lamb or possibly a bird. 
 
 This very unorthodox decoration according to 
 
 2 o
 
 2 9 o LAHORE 
 
 Mohammedan doctrine is attributable to the time 
 of Jehangir, who preferred to live here rather than 
 at Agra and contributed much to the splendour 
 and prosperity of Lahore ; even in the time of 
 Akbar its bazaars stretched far over the now deso- 
 late tract beyond the walls. Jehangir is said to 
 have given so much encouragement to the Portu- 
 guese Missionaries that he allowed a figure of the 
 Madonna to appear on one of his buildings and 
 used a rosary on which were figuresof Christ and the 
 Virgin. It is said that with his full approval several 
 members of his family were baptized : there is, 
 however, considerable doubt as to the real extent 
 of Christian influence at the Mogul Court. Cer- 
 tainly in Jehangir's case, the influence does not 
 appear to have affected in any way his life and moral 
 character. Sir Thomas Roe the Ambassador from 
 James I. bears witness to the drinking bouts to 
 which he was addicted in private, and to the brutal 
 ferocity of his treatment of those who incurred 
 his displeasure. Prince Khusru, his eldest son 
 whose tomb we saw at Allahabad for a short time 
 held Lahore against him, but, with his supporters, 
 fell into his father's hands : Jehangir caused seven 
 hundred of Khusru's followers to be impaled in a 
 line outside the gate of Lahore Fort, and he had 
 the unfortunate Khusru, loaded with chains, and 
 carried on an elephant, down the line, to witness 
 the terrible spectacle of their prolonged sufferings. 
 Khusru, who inherited something of Babar's tem- 
 perament, was much affected, and for years re- 
 mained a prey to the deepest melancholy : his
 
 PALACES 291 
 
 subsequent fate, as his father's prisoner, excited 
 much interest and he was for long the popular hero 
 of his day. 
 
 The palace in the Fort was built round three 
 sides of a large central courtyard, with a garden in 
 the middle, and a lovely pavilion, with a richly 
 sculptured verandah, overlooking the Ravi on the 
 fourth side. The curious red sandstone corbels of 
 part of the palace twisted into the likeness of pea- 
 cocks, monkeys, elephants, and griffons are quite 
 Hindu in character, and appear to date from 
 Akbar's time. It is not very easy to realise what 
 the palace was in old days, as it has suffered so 
 terribly from Sikh and European alterations, that 
 little of its original form remains. The beautiful 
 little white marble mosque, the Moti Musjid, with 
 its three domes was, I found, the strong room of 
 the Fort and secured with many padlocks and sen- 
 tries, who did not allow me even to approach it ; 
 whilst another beautiful white marble building of 
 Jehangir, the Diwan-i-Khas, which stands near his 
 red sandstone Kwabgah, or sleeping palace, was 
 used as a garrison church at the time of my visit. 
 It is of a beautiful simplicity of design and is sup- 
 ported on thirty-two delicate pillars. Both these 
 buildings have now been disencumbered of their 
 European tenants, but the Diwan-i-Am, a grand 
 hall near the centre of the Fort, is entirely spoilt 
 by alterations, modern walls and whitewash, and 
 converted into barracks ; and the Shish Mahal 
 or Palaceof Mirrors, adelicatelybeautifulbuilding 
 of rather later period and attributed to Shah Jehan
 
 292 LAHORE 
 
 and Aurangzeb though in more or less perfect 
 condition, has been encrusted by Ranjit Sing, 
 who used to hold his Durbars there, with a mosaic 
 of looking-glass, more in harmony with modern 
 oriental taste than with ours and quite out of key 
 with the feeling of the building. 
 
 From the windows of this hall northwards there 
 is a beautiful view over the Almond Gardens and 
 plain beyond to the Ravi, a mile or two away. 
 Before Aurangzeb's too successful attempt to pre- 
 vent inundations by diverting the course of the 
 stream, the river ran just below the Fort. Where 
 its broad bright blue stream now flows to join the 
 Indus, stands Jehangir's beautiful tomb, on the 
 Shahdera, which Ranjit Sing robbed to form the 
 Bara Darri, a rich and fanciful gem of a marble 
 pavilion standingin the tangledgarden the Hazuri 
 Bagh which separates the Fort from Aurang- 
 zeb's great cathedral mosque. 
 
 Near here are the sacred places of the Sikhs ; 
 amongst them the humble shrine of their fifth 
 Guru Arjun Mall, the compiler of the Granth, 
 who is believed to have perished as a martyr, in the 
 Ravi, on this spot and the Sanadh of Ranjit 
 Sing, a much more pretentious mausoleum, with 
 its round roof and projecting balconies. Above his 
 ashes, in the centre of a marble platform, is a large 
 lotus flower carved in marble and surrounded by 
 eleven smaller flowers: the central flower covers the 
 ashes of the great Maharaja and the others cover 
 those of his wives, who became sati and under- 
 went cremation with their husband.
 
 THE GREAT MOSQUE 293 
 
 Aurangzeb's mosque, the Badshahi Musjid, as 
 it is called, is a fine and stately example of that 
 not by any means the best period ; its general 
 effect is marred by the absence of the crowning 
 cupolas to the red sandstone minarets ; being 
 damaged in 1880 by an earthquake, the tops were 
 taken down, leaving the minarets looking, for all 
 the world, like factory chimneys, though they appear 
 massive and imposing as they rise above the large 
 
 THE KORT AND JUMMA MUSJID 
 
 and shady trees of the mosque courtyard. The 
 mosque was builtbyAurangzeb, withtheconfiscated 
 funds of his elder brother, Dara Shikoh, whom 
 having safely disposed of his father, Shah Jehan, in 
 Agra Fort he murdered in order to secure the suc- 
 cession to the throne. After a long pursuit Aurang- 
 zebhad captured Dara near Ahmedabad and bring- 
 ing him to Delhi paraded him through the streets, 
 amid circumstances of great indignity; he then sub- 
 mitted him to a mock trial, and, finally by the hand 
 of his personal enemy, sent and murdered him in 
 prison. His body was exposed to the populace on 
 an elephant, and the head was then brought on a
 
 294 LAHORE 
 
 silver dish to Aurangzeb. It is hardly surprising 
 that the mosque should never have been afavourite 
 place of prayer. 
 
 When the Sikhs had the upper hand in Lahore 
 they, in their turn, persecuted the Mohammedans, 
 and desecrating the mosque made a magazine of 
 it: it was not till 1850 that the Mohammedans ob- 
 tained permission from the British Government to 
 restore the mosque to its original use, and they 
 collected large sums of money which they spent on 
 its cleansing and restoration ; it has unfortunately 
 suffered terribly again from the earthquake of 1905. 
 In a chamber above the gateway are kept some 
 sacred relics of the Prophet and of Hasan and 
 Husein which used to be in the Fort. It took the 
 priest in charge five minutes to open the padlocks 
 to the various doors enclosing them, and then, 
 before showing them off, he made us wait whilst he 
 saidatedious and monotonous prayer. Thenwesaw 
 the pugaree and slippers of the prophet and a hair 
 of his beard, and various specimens of his hand- 
 writing. Dusty, fusty things they are, but the old 
 priest, who showed them to us, was very anxious 
 to impress upon us their beauty and unique value. 
 
 My second morning at Lahore, I started before the 
 sun was up for a drive of six miles to Shahdera. 
 It was bitterly cold and frost covered the grass, 
 until the first horizontal rays of the sun were felt, 
 and then the frost suddenly disappeared and by 
 8.30 it had become quite hot. Lahore is very hot 
 in summer, but in winter the frost is quite severe, 
 and the natives used, I am told, to collect ice to
 
 THE RIVER RAVI 
 
 295 
 
 store, in small flat pans, and presented a very busy 
 scene before sunrise men, women, and children 
 ice-picking. It was rather a pretty drive to the 
 river, under avenues of acacia, through the very 
 flat country all under cultivation, till on a bridge 
 of boats we crossed the broad and bright blue Ravi, 
 flowing down to join the Indus. The natives have 
 curious ways of fishing in these rivers, an earthen- 
 ware pot is floated down the stream, on which the 
 fisherman rests his stomach, lying flat and paddling 
 
 THE BRIDGE OF BOATS 
 
 with his hands and feet : at a propitious moment 
 he flings abroad a net, over the surface of the 
 stream ; he throws the fish thus caught into his 
 earthenware pot and paddles on again. Sometimes 
 these figures have a very droll look, only the head 
 and neck of the fisherman being seen above the 
 water, with a small part of the red earthenware pot 
 and the uplifted staff to which the net is fastened. 
 Now and then large numbers of them are carried 
 down stream on floats, with nothing appearing 
 above water but their turbaned heads ; these have 
 a very weird appearance, shouting and singing as 
 they bob up and down on their way down the river.
 
 296 LAHORE 
 
 A friend described to me another original method 
 of river navigation which they practise. Six or 
 eight chatties with large open mouths are lashed 
 together on the underside of a charpoy or wood 
 and string bedstead in such a manner that the 
 mouths of the chatties open downwards. This 
 contrivance is then carried to the water and care- 
 fully lowered, so that each chatty remains full of 
 air. This forms a raft of sufficient buoyancy to carry 
 a passenger, and it is manoeuvred by the fisherman 
 seated astride on a net-full of empty gourds : thus 
 he rides through the water, being above it from 
 the waist upwards, and controls and directs the 
 primitive craft. 
 
 Shahdera, which I reached at about eight o'clock, 
 is a low square building of red sandstone and 
 marble, raised on a platform with a big minaret at 
 each of the four corners, a wide marble terrace above 
 it forms the roof. The cenotaph, beautifully de- 
 corated with pietra-dura work, is in the centre of 
 the building, in a small octagonal chamber with 
 pierced marble screens on each side ; a large tang- 
 led garden, containing a few stray flowers, sur- 
 rounds it all. This was once the Dilkusha garden 
 or pie asaunce of Jehangir's beautiful and capable 
 wife, Noor Jehan, who with her father and brother, 
 Asaf Khan, completely dominated the cruel, but 
 pleasure-loving Jehangir and his empire towards 
 the end of his life. Noor Jehan was the daughter 
 of a needy Persian refugee, who with his son obtained 
 employment and rose to well deserved honour at 
 Akbar's court. Jehangir fell in love with the grace-
 
 SHAHDERA 297 
 
 ful and accomplished girl whom he saw in his 
 father's harem perhaps at one of the fairs Bernier 
 describes and though they married her to Sher 
 Afgan, a Persian, to whom Akbar gave the gover- 
 norship of Burdwan in Bengal, Jehangir did not 
 rest until he had had Sher Afgan murdered 
 and Noor Jehan brought back to Agra. It was 
 not, however, till he had been six years Emperor 
 that she consented to marry him ; then she ob- 
 tained an ascendency over him unparalleled in 
 the East. Her name appears with Jehangir's on 
 coins and her will was law in all affairs of state. 
 Her father became prime minister and her brother 
 received some other high appointment ; her niece 
 Muntaz Mahal she married to Shah Jehan. Fortu- 
 nately the family were wise and upright and their 
 swaybeneficial to the Empire. She survived Jehan- 
 gir's death of asthma for twenty years, but lived 
 in obscurity and, in sign of mourning, never wore 
 anything again but white. Her tomb, near Jehan- 
 gir's at Shahdera, was completely ruined to adorn 
 Amritzar: that of her brother Asaf Khan, the father 
 of Muntaz Mahal stands in the middle of another 
 garden to the west of the Serai, and was most 
 sadly treated by Ranjit Sing and robbed of all its 
 veneer of marble and stone ; there is still, however, 
 a good deal of beautiful Nak Kashi work sticking 
 to the portal ceilings. 
 
 Returning to the city to breakfast, I went to 
 sketch about ten having interviewed my dentist 
 again and hoped to have a field day of it, in the 
 unique native streets. 
 
 2 I'
 
 298 LAHORE 
 
 The old town is delightfully picturesque, and 
 quite a treasure-house for sketching. It consists of 
 a network of narrow, tortuous streets of high, brown 
 brick, flat-roofed houses with the usual hot and gay 
 bazaars below. Here bullock carts and the huge 
 mouse-coloured bulls shoulder their way through 
 the variegated crowd of many tribes and nations 
 which throng this northern frontier town, and by 
 their warlike bearing, and more sympathetic, warm- 
 hearted aspect, are a contrast to that of the natives 
 further south. Looking down upon the streets are 
 the most fascinating oriel windows, and beautifully 
 carved balconies, of all manner of unexpected 
 shapes ; they stick to the sides of the walls like 
 nests of swallows or bees, and make the narrow 
 Lahore lanes, often ending in culs de sac, some of 
 the most taking in the world. There is an infinite 
 variety in the endless crowded rows of picturesque 
 projections. All the windows are ornamented, and 
 shut in, with wooden screens of delicately beauti- 
 ful lattice work, and the overhanging wooded bal- 
 conies, on which they often open are not only carved 
 with elaborate designs, but painted with bold blue 
 and red devices, so that no space fails to make its 
 appeal to the eye. In the centre of the old town is 
 the mosque of Vizir Khan, a beautiful building, all 
 inlaid with mosaicsof incaustic tile\vork, and ablaze 
 with glorious colour glittering in the sun : in and 
 about it, in the ceaseless play of light and shade, 
 are throngs of natives of the most picturesque 
 description, including many Pathans, fellow 
 countrymen of Kim's ally Maboub Ali, who come
 
 NARROW STREETS 
 
 299 
 
 here for horse-dealing and other trade ; and a few 
 supercilious looking camels, who appear to regard 
 their surroundings with supreme indifference. 
 
 
 WINDOWS LIKE BEES' NESTS 
 
 Owing to the narrowness of the street, and to 
 the dense throng of passers-by, I was compelled 
 to charter a rickety ticcaghari and anchor it in the 
 position from which I wanted to make my sketch.
 
 ;oo 
 
 LAHORE 
 
 It was as good a subject as I could have wished to 
 have : before me was a massive archway spanning 
 the street intensely dark in its cavernous recesses 
 and under it, a jostling crowd was passing and re- 
 
 A STREET WINDOW 
 
 passing in garments of every vivid colour though 
 the blue, the Sikh colour, predominated looking 
 brilliant, by contrast, as they stepped into the sun- 
 light from beneath the shade. On either side were 
 shops and stalls, buyers and sellers : and the air 
 was full of many voices. Above the heads of the 
 crowd, through the archway, I could see one of
 
 THE MUSEUM 301 
 
 many coloured minarets of Vizir Khan's mosque 
 soaring up into the blue sky ; and, while I was at 
 work, a superb figure huge, and with the bearing 
 of a prince came striding towards me 
 and seemed to give a central and 
 completing touch to this gay scene. 
 
 Encompassed by these narrow 
 streets is a Sikh temple with a fine 
 well. To get at it I entered a court- 
 yard from a back lane ; there I en- 
 countered an old man who could not 
 make out why on earth I wanted to 
 see the well. The door to the staircase 
 was locked, and he put so many diffi- 
 culties in the way of getting the key, 
 and was so mysterious altogether, 
 that I was at last having no time to 
 lose obliged to give it up as a bad 
 job, and go on to the Museum, where 
 is the finest collection of Buddhist 
 sculptures in existence. Some of them are really 
 most artistic, and display curious traces of Greek 
 influence in the feeling and execution. They 
 come from the Buddhist sacred places in the 
 north, and the cro\vded friezes once covered the 
 brick stupas, with endless series of representa- 
 tions of the beautiful tale of Sakya Muni's life and 
 death and miracles the familiar scenes in which 
 he is represented with the begging bowl, or seated 
 under the bo-tree in meditation, or on a lotus as 
 the object of adoring veneration. One curious and 
 quaint object which attracted my attention was a 
 
 A CURIOUS COLUMN
 
 302 LAHORE 
 
 red sandstone Buddhist column about ten feet high, 
 which came from near Jhelum : it had a large and 
 solemn head carved upon it and projecting from it, 
 near the top, some five or six inches. 
 
 Unluckily, I had no time to visit the famous rose 
 gardens, five miles out at Shalimar : 
 
 Where Sultan after Sultan, with his pomp, 
 Abode his hour or two and went his way. 
 
 Irani, indeed, is gone with all its rose, 
 
 And Jamshy'd's sev'n-ring'd cup, where no one knows ; 
 
 But still a ruby kindles in the vine, 
 
 And many a garden by the water blows. 
 
 Great groves of mango and gigantic fig and orange 
 trees, over two hundred years old, still spread round 
 the old palace, and they and the beautiful marble- 
 bordered lakes swarm with birds and squirrels. 
 
 In Lahore, as in most other places in India, in the 
 town and country alike, are countless numbers of 
 birds which, never molested by the natives, are as 
 tame as possible. The blue rock pigeons come 
 down on theroofsand courtyards in clouds, making 
 the place where they alight, quite blue. In the old 
 buildings all the holes and corners are inhabited 
 by green parrots, with red bills, who poke out their 
 cheeky noses at every turn, and fly fussily about 
 over one's head chattering as vociferously as the 
 natives below. Along the country road the most 
 common birds are the minah and the turtle-dove : 
 then there are huge cranes, all tamer than barn- 
 door fowls at home. As to noxious beasts I met 
 none anywhere in India. The snakes were all 
 underground, except those in the possession of
 
 KIM 303 
 
 the charmers, and they are not in the habit of roam- 
 ing at large. I saw plenty of bees by the way, hang- 
 ing to rocks and palaces, but I did not molest 
 them, and they refrained from interfering with 
 me. Everywhere there were grey-hooded crows 
 (Coruus splendens\ and any number of kites, who 
 are fellow partners in the scavenger business. 
 Wherever there were trees there were swarms of 
 squirrels of a buff colour, with dark stripes, and as I 
 sat and sketched theycame and played aboutalmost 
 between my feet; they are quite as little shy as the 
 funny little girls nice bright-eyed little bejewelled 
 urchins in the blue Sikh colour, with flashing white 
 teeth who approach the stranger with curiosity. 
 
 Outside the old Museum building is the famous 
 green bronze gun called the Zamzamah, or the 
 lion's roar, possession of which, is said to carry 
 with it supremacy in the North-West, on which 
 Kim sat astride, and kicked with his hard little 
 heels when he first made the acquaintance of his 
 lama and laid the foundation of that quest for the 
 River of the Arrow, which was to cleanse from sin, 
 and has taken so many of us deeper into the heart 
 of India than would endless years of personal pil- 
 grimage on its highways.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 AMRITZAR: THE POOL OF IMMORTALITY 
 
 ON my way back to Amballa to pick up my com- 
 panion I stopped at Amritzar, and spent twelve 
 hours there. Twelve days would not have been too 
 much, for it is a paradise for sketching, but I did 
 hardly anything there, or at Lahore, on account of 
 the Handbook work. I found the days were all 
 twenty-four hours too short : what time I had to 
 sketch only resulted in failure, which was a sad 
 pity, for it is a quite unique place. In spite of its 
 being such an extremely modern city and a place 
 of to-day, rather than of yesterday its solid pros- 
 perity was all of a purely native and leisurely 
 character, with hardly a touch of the West about 
 it, and the town and the people alone are all most 
 picturesque in themselves. Nothing, however, that 
 I have ever seen can compare with the Golden 
 Temple, in its own particular way, and it is quite 
 as impossible to describe adequately its towers and 
 minarets and other sacred spots and things, in and 
 around its precincts, as it would be to describe a 
 beautiful dream. The whole thing is like a dream, 
 too strange and in some ways too beautiful to 
 describe. 
 
 2 O
 
 306 AMRITZAR 
 
 Amritzar is the religious headquarters of the 
 Sikhs ; and the centre of the town, towards which 
 sets the tide in the crowded streets, is the celebrated 
 Golden Temple, standing on an islet in the middle 
 of the great Sacred Tank ; this gives its name 
 Amritt-sar, or Pool of the Water of Life, to the 
 town. It takes some time for a Western Christian 
 into whose religious life water, with all its sym- 
 bolism, only enters in the very elementary sprink- 
 lingbestowed in the initial baptismal rite to grasp 
 fully the immense part water and bathing play in 
 the religion and worship of the Oriental, and more 
 especially in that of the Hindu. The sacred tank 
 is really as important as the Temple, and perhaps 
 more essential to their devotion. Prayers may be 
 said in the most rudimentary shrine in a dumpy 
 black temple under a banyan tree, or in a sacred 
 grove ; before a tree or a marigold-wreathed black 
 stone bedaubed with red paint, or chipped rudely 
 to a blunt point; in the open under the horizontal 
 rays of the rising sun : but all acts of ceremonial 
 worship and even the morning prayer from the 
 Veda, prescribed to all high-caste worshippers 
 demand a preceding ceremonial bathing in the 
 cleansing stream or tank. It matters little that the 
 water is anything but clean, strewn with floating 
 flowers and leaves from the worship of past days, 
 and, as at Benares, contaminated in many other 
 ways the idea is there. It is a curious fact, so 
 closely is washing bound up with their religion, 
 that Hindu converts, in leaving their old faith, 
 leave off the useful habit, and "want of cleanli-
 
 THE GOLDEN TEMPLE 307 
 
 ness " is mentioned by missionaries as one of the 
 defects of Hindu Christians. 
 
 The initiated Sikhs enter the brotherhood by 
 baptism, so it seems quite fitting that when their 
 apostle Ram Das, the fourth Guru, founded the 
 sacred city in 1570 on a site devoted to the pur- 
 pose by Akbar he should have set their temple, 
 their Mount Sion, not on a hill, but in the middle of 
 an ancient artificial tank; this he restored, leaving 
 it to his son Arjun Guru, the compiler of the 
 Granth, to complete the great temple, and see a 
 flourishing town spring up around this focus of the 
 aspirations of the brotherhood. 
 
 By this time the Sikhs had entered the troubled 
 paths of politics, and they paid the penalty when in 
 1761 the Mohammedans destroyed the town, blew 
 up the temple, and desecrated its foundations by 
 bathing them in bullocks' blood. The Sikhs, how- 
 ever, soon possessed themselves of it again, and 
 when in 1802 Ranjit Sing seized Amritzar, from a 
 rival faction of his brotherhood, he spared neither 
 pains nor the splendid palaces and tombs of his 
 predecessors in Lahore to enrich and glorify the 
 " Darbar Sahib," or Great Temple, of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 The Shrine is led up to, from the west, by a mag- 
 nificent gateway with silver doors. Through this 
 the pilgrim enters, to find himself confronted by a 
 literally dazzling vision, for the temple is covered 
 from the tops of its many domes to within a short 
 distance of the ground walls, roofs, cupolas, and 
 all with plates of gold on copper. All this
 
 3 o8 AMRITZAR 
 
 shimmering glory " shines in the sun like a blazing 
 altar," and is then reflected in the dancing grey- 
 green water of the oblong pool, in the centre of 
 which it is set, and is made more brilliant by the 
 beautiful white marble terrace inlaid with coloured 
 marble from Jaipur framing the sacred tank, 
 whence steps, every here and there, descend to the 
 water's edge. A marble causeway leads across the 
 pool to the island platform of the little temple, a 
 marble balustrade on either hand, and tall columns 
 with gilt lamps surmounting them, rise above the 
 crowd of flower-laden pilgrims that continually 
 streams across. Around the marble pavement, bor- 
 dering the pool, are the Bunggas or palaces and 
 chapels of Sikh chiefs Rajas and Maharajas 
 who come, from time to time, to pay their devoirs at 
 the shrine: and sitting on the wide footway of the 
 terrace which skirts the palaces below, under tem- 
 porary shelters, are sellers of flowers, charms, and 
 rosaries, and such like gauds. In old days, every 
 Sikh carried a formidable spear-head or quoit in 
 his head-dress; but now they content themselves, 
 as a rule, with miniature copies in their pugarees : 
 only fanatical Akalis go about crowned with full- 
 sized chakkas. The miniature weapons are also 
 for sale beside the marigold and jasmine flowers. 
 The Golden Temple is a small, square, rather ir- 
 regular building, that has been compared to St. 
 Mark's at Venice, and certainly there is a resem- 
 blance in the manner that the first sight of it, across 
 the wide square, bursts upon one, and in the way 
 it is enriched with the spoils of older generations
 
 THE HOLY OF HOLIES 309 
 
 and cities : six or eight feet from the ground, the 
 sheets of gold give way to an encrustation of 
 marbles, carved and inlaid with flowers and birds in 
 precious stones, that come from Jehangir's palace 
 and tomb and other Mohammedan buildings. 
 
 No shoe is allowed to enter the temple precincts. 
 My yellow-legged policeman-guide took my boots 
 off at the outer gate, and had my feet swathed in 
 voluminous coverings of red cloth, tied about my 
 ankles ; but even with these, one must not venture 
 to enter the temple, except by one particular door, 
 and then, must not penetrate beyond a few paces, 
 for fear of desecrating the holy place. This conces- 
 sion even would not be granted by the Sikhs to 
 any one but their conquerors. I found I must not 
 so much as rest my foot, on the edge of the door- 
 ways, in the other three sides : not even to stretch 
 inwards, and copy a pattern upon the silver doors. 
 It is a picturesque sight which greets one on enter- 
 ing the precincts by the permitted door. The in- 
 terior of the temple is a small square chamber, 
 surmounted by a dome and profusely decorated 
 with painting and gilding. Under a canopy, on the 
 east side sits, on the floor, the venerable high priest 
 in white robes, with a great cushion, or ottoman, in 
 front of him. Upon this he rests the Granth, or 
 Sacred Book when he has taken it out of various 
 embroidered wrappings and he reads aloud from 
 this from time to time, or else receives in silence 
 the offerings of the pilgrims : they come in a con- 
 stant stream, and, if they do not give directly to 
 him, cast their offerings of cowries, coins, or flowers
 
 3 io AMRITZAR 
 
 for the temple into a sheet spread out, to re- 
 ceive them, in the centre of the floor. Then, taking 
 their places amongst the crowd, they squat down 
 around the sheet in a ring and chant verses out of 
 the sacred book, to the sound of string music from 
 quaint citharas, played by four or five old musicians 
 seated in a corner at one side, whilst other priests 
 wave fans above the Sacred Book. Under the dome 
 above is a chamber where it is said the Guru, the 
 founder of the temple, and his successors, used to sit 
 and meditate: this little place, like the other sacred 
 spots, is swept out with a broom of peacock's 
 feathers, which was the only movable object in this 
 shrine on my visit. The marvellous treasures of 
 gold and silver poles and maces and jewelled cano- 
 pies, and pearl and diamond ornaments, used when 
 the Book is carried in procession, are kept above the 
 entrance gateway ; and the gilded sacred ark, con- 
 taining the vessels for the initiatory rite and the 
 sword of Guru Govind, are laid by in another shrine, 
 where the neophytes are baptized and initiated into 
 thebrotherhood,by a quaint symbolic ceremonial in 
 which water and steel, bread and honey, play a part. 
 I made a sketch of the temple from the causeway 
 leading to it, but I was somewhat handicapped in 
 my work by the fact that I was not allowed to sit 
 down except on the pavement. I had provided my- 
 self with a campstool, but, on attempting to make 
 use of it, several persons in authority at once rushed 
 to me and remonstrated. It was too great a liberty 
 to take, in so sacred a spot, and was considered an 
 act of desecration, so I had no course but to sub- 

 
 THE BABA ATAL TOWER 311 
 
 mit. This objection to the use of a chair is not 
 confined to the precincts of the Golden Temple ; I 
 met with it in other sacred places as well, and 
 amongst the Mohammedans: theuseofan umbrella 
 for shelter, from sun or rain, is, in such places, 
 equally objectionable to the native mind. 
 
 Beyond, onthe further sideof the tank, rise two tall 
 minarets and a quaintly picturesque tower of seven 
 or eight stories high; this is the Baba Atal Tower, 
 and it contains the tomb or ashes of Atal Rai the son 
 of Guru Govind. He is said to have miraculously 
 restored a child to life, and being reproved, by the 
 Guru, for using supernatural powers in this way, 
 instead of only for the attainment of purity and 
 holiness of life, he said, that as he had withdrawn 
 a life which the Deity required, he would yield up 
 his own instead, and so lay down and died. 
 
 Devotees, on entering his shrine, make offerings 
 of bread or flowers, and falling down, before the 
 step of the platform upon which the tomb rests, 
 shampoo the step, in an odd manner, with their 
 hands. I went up the staircase, and a wooden ladder, 
 some one hundred and thirty feet tothe summit, and 
 there I got a grand, though map-like, view of the 
 town with its temples, set about with green spaces 
 and avenues of trees, and across the plain to the 
 misty mountains. Amongst the woods a mile away 
 I sawSt. Paul'sChurch: a friend of mine, Miss Pol- 
 lock, worked here as a missionary, and I believe 
 Amritzar is a strong centre of work amongst the 
 zenanas. The great garden of thirty acres which lies 
 about the base of the tower, is full of orange, pome-
 
 312 AMRITZAR 
 
 granate, and other taller trees, and in them were 
 clusters of great bats, or flying foxes, hanging from 
 the branches. My guide told me that the people 
 believed these creatures were the ghosts of departed 
 priests, because they hang about all day and do 
 nothing. 
 
 Apart from the interest of the temple, I was glad 
 to see the Sikhs in their headquarters at home so 
 to speak ; but somehow I was a little disappointed 
 with their appearance : for they do not all show 
 evidence of the stately, manly character, which has 
 carried their name far and wide, as do the picked 
 specimens one sees elsewhere. Amongst them there 
 was a great sprinkling of Pathans, and rough, 
 hardy, picturesque-looking men from the moun- 
 tains, clad in coarse garments and furs. They were 
 usually traders from the north-Kashmiris, Afghans, 
 Bokhariots, Beluchis, Persians, Tibetans, Yark- 
 andis who bring down the raw materials of the 
 shawls and carpets for which Amritzar is famous, 
 and also fine specimens of their own national 
 manufactures and embroideries. I spent an hour 
 bargaining for some praying carpets and a bit of 
 crimson silk, embroidered with rows of blue and 
 orange peacocks, which took my fancy, before, late 
 at night, I tore myself away from Amritzar.
 
 THANESAR: THE CRADLE OF THE 
 HINDU RACE 
 
 LESLIE SMITH had given me such an interesting 
 account of Thanesar, where last year he spent some 
 time as Deputy Commissioner, that I determined 
 to stop there on the way from Amballa to Delhi. 
 It required a little arrangement to manage this, as, 
 though Thanesar was on a new direct railway line, 
 the trains did not run conveniently. Finally we 
 decided to go by road : my host drove me thirteen 
 miles in his turn-turn, or dogcart, and then, 
 following Father Benson's example, we took to 
 native ekkas. 
 
 It was very cold when we left Amballa at 
 6.30 A.M. by the grand trunk road which links 
 Calcutta to Peshawur. This road, for the greater 
 part of its one thousand five hundred miles, runs 
 under a double avenue of mango, sisso * or acacia 
 trees ; quaint old-world vehicles creak and groan 
 along it in a continual stream, and perpetually 
 changing groups of strange, interesting wayfarers 
 pass across the flickering light and shadow of its 
 dusty track. Along this great avenue we drove, in 
 the early morning light, in many places on an em- 
 
 * Dalbcrgia sisso Roxb. 
 
 '2 R
 
 3 i 4 THANESAR 
 
 bankment, a protection against the floods ; between 
 the bolls of the acacia or tamarind trees, we had 
 glimpses of the sky-encircled plain, with wide 
 stretches of waving green wheat, from which rose, 
 like dark islands, the little mud villages : they 
 stand on low mounds, inside high stone walls that 
 serve as a defence from outside attack and an en- 
 closure for thecattle. Beside thevillage liesthepond 
 or tank, excavated to form sun-dried mud walls : 
 here come the women, with children astride their 
 hip, for the day's supply of water, which they filter 
 through a corner of their veils into the brass water- 
 pots, before they set them on their stately heads. 
 
 John Lawrence once overcame one of these 
 walled village communites which had too long 
 obstinately refused to pay arrears of land tax, 
 by the peaceful expedient of posting on the tracks 
 leading to the pastures small knots of police, who 
 turned back into the village the lowing cattle, as 
 they issued from the gates at dawn. Before midday 
 the inhabitants capitulated, and, without his having 
 to bring the guns into action always with him the 
 last resource the long overdue taxes were paid. 
 
 It was in this district that John Lawrence laid 
 the foundations of his intimate acquaintance with 
 the needs and character of the agricultural native. 
 For two years he lived here, as Acting Collector- 
 Magistrate, almost continually in the saddle, and on 
 terms of great intimacy with these sturdy farmers 
 and native gentry : he adopted much of their habits 
 and costume and acquired an extraordinary degree 
 of intimacy with their language, which he used so
 
 THE JATS 315 
 
 habitually that at one time his English seemed 
 almost forgotten. 
 
 The Jats, who form the bulk of the population 
 here, are a handsome, tall, strong, manly race of 
 northern origin. They show an interesting dis- 
 content with Hinduism, and are mostly Sikhs 
 or Mohammedans. Strongly attached to their 
 village communities and land, they make splendid 
 soldiers, and cultivate their flat, green and fertile 
 country with careful industry. The whole country 
 is quite flat, no wooded hills rise above the wav- 
 ing sea of green young wheat or break the horizon, 
 which runs in a complete circle like that of the sea. 
 The moisture from not distant streams gives 
 freshness and beauty to the land : there is a 
 "drowsy buzz of small life in hot sunshine, a 
 cooing of doves, and a sleepy drone of well-wheels 
 across the fields " as the slow oxen circle round 
 the well, sending runnels of fresh water on to the 
 thirsty land. A few years back the Punjab seemed, 
 I am told, to be on the eve of a great advance in 
 material prosperity. Even desert wastes were 
 beginning to blossom in response to the magnifi- 
 cent irrigation schemes of the Government, and 
 in the virgin soil the wheat, it is said, grew higher 
 than a man's head ; but the plague, which, since 
 the days of the Moguls, had not been known here, 
 spread, in 1897, fr m Bombay to the Punjab, 
 and has since completely clouded this bright 
 prospect. Last year hardly a village was spared ; 
 in some districts agriculture was at a standstill 
 and the crops rotted on the ground, and in the
 
 3 i6 THANESAR 
 
 first six months of 1905 one in every seventy- five 
 of the population succumbed to the ravages of 
 this terrible scourge. I am assured by a high 
 authority that no such devastating epidemic has 
 occurred since the fourteenth century, and that 
 whereas during the first year of the outbreaks in 
 India, Sept. '96 to Sept. '97, the deaths amounted 
 to 30,000, the fatal cases in the first six months of 
 1905 often exceeded 40,000 a week. The total 
 mortality in India from plague in 1904 was 
 1,040,000, while in 1905 from Jan. i to Apr. 29 
 687,705 deaths from plague were registered. 
 
 At Shahabad we left the turn-turn, got a frugal 
 breakfast at the rest-house, and having stowed our 
 legs away in the two ekkas awaiting us, drove off 
 at a rattling pace. The ponies which draw these 
 ekkas are weedy, unpromising-looking brutes, with 
 no chests, but, with light loads and for short dis- 
 tances, they are very fast. The seat of an ekka is 
 of canvas, laced together near the front : it is ideal 
 for the cross-legged native, but not satisfactory to 
 the European ; for him, one would suppose, there 
 could be no more uncomfortable conveyance. How- 
 ever, my host introduced me to a capital dodge, 
 which consisted in getting part of the canvas un- 
 laced, and hanging one's legs down inside : the 
 result was eminently satisfactory. 
 
 We started briskly and seemed to fly past the 
 milestones, covering the whole sixteen miles at 
 the rate of ten miles an hour. The last part of the 
 way, when we left the trunk road and struck into 
 the old Mogul road to the west, is very rough,
 
 THE MAHABARATA 317 
 
 for, though Thanesar is one of the oldest, most 
 famous towns in India, and was once a centre, riot 
 only of religious interest but of trade with the 
 north, the main stream of modern Indian life leaves 
 it on one side. It was, however, very amusing to 
 watch the game in the jungle, on either side of the 
 road, and the number and the variety of the birds 
 we saw as we passed along was quite extraordinary. 
 Saras, great grey cranes, paddy-birds, parrots, 
 doves, king-crows, etc. these were innumerable 
 and all as tame as possible: even the jackals came 
 close up to the roadside, and sat down complacently 
 to watch us pass. 
 
 Thanesar lies in the centre of Kurakshetra, the 
 great plain between the two " divine rivers," the 
 Saraswati and the Ghaggar, where the battles 
 described in the Mahabarata took place. It is the 
 Holy Land of the Hindu faith, and it teems with 
 traditions of the great conflicts of the five Pandava 
 brothers and their cousins the Kauravas in the 
 fourteenth century B.C. 
 
 The Mahabarata is an immensely long epic 
 poem recording the exploits of those Hindu heroes 
 of antiquity, and, like the Iliad, it is the source to 
 which many tribes and chiefs endeavour to trace 
 their ancestors ; it has always exercised great in- 
 fluence over the masses of the Hindu people, and 
 is still often in their thoughts ; from its pages are 
 drawn many of their religious ideals. Its present 
 form is evidently not that in which it originally 
 took shape, as is indicated by the name l^yasa 
 " the arranger," given to the traditional author, and
 
 318 THANESAR 
 
 it has probably been worked over, more than once, 
 by Buddhists and Brahmans to make it square 
 with their own individual doctrines and customs, 
 for grotesquely wild episodes occur, side by side 
 with passages full of graceful pathos, and contrast 
 strangely with the romantic love for fine scenery, 
 and with the tender appreciation of love and devo- 
 tion, mercy and forgiveness, which characterise the 
 whole. 
 
 The heroes of the poem, the five Pandava 
 brothers, having been dispossessed of their grand- 
 father's dominions by their cousins the Kauravas, 
 established the kingdom of Delhi ; the King, 
 the eldest brother, subsequently lost the kingdom 
 over a game of dice ; and as a penalty he retired 
 for twelve years into the forests. His return to 
 public life was followed by a series of fierce battles, 
 ending in the annihilation of the Kauravas. The 
 Pandavas, however, found the game of life had not 
 been worth the candle ; and the king, with his four 
 brothers, accompanied, like Tobias, by a faithful 
 dog, set out on a pilgrimage to Mount Mesu, 
 Indra's Heaven, hoping that there, at any rate, he 
 would find full satisfaction. Before he reached the 
 gates, however, all had dropped back and given up 
 the quest except the faithful dog, and he was re- 
 fused admittance. The Pandava would not enter 
 without his faithful follower, or his brothers, who 
 were expiating their sins in the nether world. Ulti- 
 mately Indra relented, and they were all admitted 
 to eternal bliss in a Paradise among the hidden 
 recesses of the Himalayas.
 
 A BATTLEFIELD 319 
 
 Few shrines now exist dedicated to the Pan- 
 davas, but there are traces of their worship 
 scattered over the whole of India ; any marvels 
 or prodigies are attributed to them. 
 
 Five rough stones, smeared with red paint, 
 sometimes set up in the fields, represent them as 
 guardians of the crops. Their characters are as 
 well known and as much venerated as ever ; and 
 the scenes where the great drama of their lives 
 was played out interest all Hindus ; the ground 
 for miles round Thanesar is holy, and nearly four 
 hundred spots are consecrated to the memory of 
 incidents connected with the heroes. 
 
 Ever since those half mythical days the district 
 round Thanesar and Paniput has been the great 
 battlefield where the fate of India has been decided. 
 Here was made the most determined stand to the 
 successive invasions from the north. It was the 
 scene of victory when the young Akbar, the first 
 of the great Moguls, won back the empire his father 
 had lost : here the Persian invasion under Nadir 
 Shah shattered the forces of the Moguls, and 
 here took place the tragic and touching incidents 
 of the rout of the Mahrattas, when the Afghan, 
 Ahmed Shah, deprived them for all time of their 
 northern conquests. 
 
 The town of Thanesar was sacked more than 
 once by Mohammedans, and in 1194 Shahab-ud- 
 din defeated Prithvi Raja here, and subsequently 
 swept away the hundreds of Hindu temples which 
 the Chinese pilgrims, at the time of Alfred the 
 Great, describe as seen clustered round the ancient
 
 320 THANESAR 
 
 city, on its mound, and the far-famed Sacred 
 Tank. 
 
 There are now no Hindu monuments left. The 
 Mohammedan town and fort are in ruins, but once it 
 was clearly a place of considerable importance. The 
 most conspicuous and perfect building now is the 
 octagonal tomb of Shekh Chihli of cafe'-aM-lait 
 marble, with a white marble dome and latticed 
 windows. This stands upon a small octagonal plat- 
 form, with a low parapet, raised on a high square 
 terrace ; small domed pavilions, formerly covered 
 with Nakshi work stand, one at each corner and 
 two on each side ; on the west side, however, they 
 give place to another tomb, an oblong building of 
 drab sandstone, with deep eaves or drip-stones. 
 To the south of the raised terrace is a small brick 
 courtyard and mosque, and, within a stone's throw, 
 a beautiful little red sandstone building the Lai 
 Musjid. Here the eight carved columns, with flat 
 domes between and the south window are all 
 beautifully carved, and reminded me of the work at 
 Fatehpur Sikri. Some of the architraves of the 
 houses, in the rather squalid town, are beautifully 
 carved; otherwise there is nothing to see with the 
 exception, perhaps, of a large house, near the en- 
 trance to the town, covered with Hindu frescoes, 
 some in low relief and very rude and uncouth. 
 
 The raison d'etre of the whole place, however, is 
 the famous old Hindu sacred tank; this still exists, 
 and, on the occasion of an eclipse, continues to be 
 as it has been from the earliest times the ren- 
 dezvous of thousands of devout Hindus, seeking
 
 PILGRIMS 321 
 
 purification from past transgressions by bathing 
 and prayer. This shallow lake, measuring about 
 3500 by 1900 ft., is fed by the sacred waters of the 
 Saraswati river, the first sacred river venerated in 
 India. No crime was too black to be washed white 
 in its waters, Into this lake, so runs the legend, 
 flows at the time of the eclipse the water of all other 
 sacred pools and rivers in India. He, therefore, who 
 then bathes in its waters obtains the virtue and 
 merits which would be acquired by bathing in all. 
 At an eclipse not long ago, it was computed that as 
 manyas 2OO,ooopeople had visited these miraculous 
 waters of cleansing ; some of these trusting souls, 
 come from places at as great a distance and as 
 far apart as the Himalayas and Cape Comorin. 
 Thousands of families come in railway cattle 
 trucks, many in bullock waggons but the greater 
 number of these patient saffron-clad pilgrims, de- 
 sirous to save their souls alive, still trudge the 
 weary miles on foot, in priest-led processions, bear- 
 ing bamboos with fluttering flags, and chanting the 
 songs their fathers sang as they toiled along the 
 selfsame road to Thanesar. The twice-born Brah- 
 mans and yogis, of course, reap rich harvests, 
 as an offering is an essential part of the puri- 
 fication, and every pilgrim leaves something of 
 value behind ; the rich Raja may leave a wife, the 
 poor man an article of clothing, and the women 
 fling their jewelled bracelets far into the waters of 
 the sacred pool, where, no doubt, they do not long 
 remain ! 
 
 The authorities watch over the pilgrims with 
 
 2 S
 
 322 THANESAR 
 
 minute and detailed care ; special trains are run, 
 wells are dug, roads are made, even turfed over, I 
 believe, to save them from the dust, and lost and 
 straying children are herded and cried by a bellman. 
 As the time of the eclipse draws near, expectant 
 multitudes collect on the brink like the throngs 
 atthepoolofBethesda patiently but eagerly await- 
 ingthefateful, mysterious moment,to stepdown and 
 be cleansed. In the dangerous rush at the critical 
 time awkward accidents occur, and the old and 
 helpless sometimes go under, and have to be 
 rescued by some stalwart representative of the 
 paternal Government. 
 
 In spite of all precautions hospitals, isolation 
 camps and doctors these gatherings are always 
 rather anxious work. A great pilgrimage had 
 been expected there the previous June, just at the 
 end of the dry season, when the hot weather was at 
 its height; but those responsible for the safety and 
 well-being of the pious throngs knew that if they 
 assembled there, in that weather and at that time, 
 an outbreak of cholera or some other epidemic 
 would certainly ensue. There was hardly any water 
 in the tank and that little was of the most un- 
 desirable description and for some reason con- 
 siderable difficulty also lay in the way of supplying 
 the multitude with food ; fortunately, with the aid 
 of innumerabletelegrams flashed to station-masters 
 and others all over India, the assembly of pilgrims 
 was prevented. 
 
 It is said that the necessary sanitary precautions 
 insisted on by their Western rulers, with their
 
 WATER-FOWL 323 
 
 prying eyes and inquiring noses, have done more 
 to counteract the deeply ingrained native habit of 
 pilgrimage than the taxes on pilgrimages levied 
 by the Moguls, in spite of the increased facilities 
 for reaching the goal. 
 
 The temples which once surrounded the tank 
 have now for the most part fallen into decay, and 
 their ruins are overshadowed by great trees. Long 
 flights of steps lead down to the water's edge, and, 
 on the north side a causeway stretches out into the 
 middle of the sacred lake, where, on a little island, 
 stands the most perfect temple remaining. Close 
 to this causeway is another parallel to it, and they 
 both stretch out to other islands and other ruins 
 beyond, in the middle of the lake. 
 
 The whole neighbourhood of the water is alive 
 with water-fowl, from the pelican to the snipe. I 
 never saw so many and such variety all together. 
 We sat down, on one of the further islands, to 
 sketch and eat our lunch, and it was then that we 
 first spotted the snowy pelicans basking on the 
 bank, but we were not quite sure of them until 
 we sent a man round to the east, to put them 
 up : then there was no mistake ; they came sailing 
 along on their great wings quite close to where we 
 sat. Then there were storks and cranes with long 
 drooping plumes, and coot, dabchick and duck 
 swimming placidly about or standing, as it were, 
 on their heads, in the shallow water so that only 
 rows of pointed tails met our view, as they investi- 
 gated something interesting in the mud at the 
 bottom. I was interested in a curious bird called
 
 324 THANESAR 
 
 the snake-bird, which swims about with the water 
 over his back, so that there is nothing to be seen 
 above it but his head and long neck ; in the dis- 
 tance this looks for all the world like a snake 
 gliding in great loops over the face of the water. 
 
 At Thanesar station I joined the train in which 
 my companion came from Amballa. We passed 
 nothing of any consequence on our way to Delhi, 
 except the small walled town of Kurnool, on our 
 right, and further on, to our left, Paniput. Here, 
 crowds of well-dressed, unsophisticated natives, 
 some of them very picturesque, had congregated to 
 see the train, which was still a nine days' wonder. 
 
 This Holy Land of the Hindu faith was also the 
 first permanent home of the twice-born castes and 
 of their earliest princes and sages. It is the spot 
 where their religion and caste system took shape ; 
 the cradle, in fact, of the Hindu race. 
 
 The original races of India consisted of the non- 
 Aryan, aboriginal, casteless tribes, who inhabit the 
 jungles or hill districts : Bhils in the Vindhya 
 Mountains, Santals in Lower Bengal, Kohls in the 
 Central Provinces. The Aryans professing the 
 Brahmanic faith followed, and to them belong all 
 the higher or " twice-born " castes, who wear the 
 sacred thread. The religion of the aboriginal 
 tribes is described in the Indian census as "Ani- 
 mism," and includes a variety of primitive cults. 
 They believe in a supreme spirit, who is beneficent, 
 and may be relied on to act according to precedent 
 withoutanyspecial attention ontheir part ; butthere 
 are certain things stones, trees, animals, fetishes
 
 CASTELESS TRIBES 325 
 
 or tools, the spirits of the departed or menorwomen 
 considered specially holy or powerful all of which 
 they believe to be possessed of occult power, con- 
 trolling the course of nature and the human mind ; 
 these, as their probable intentions are uncertain, 
 require to be propitiated. Them therefore, they 
 worship with sacrifices and varied rites, and when 
 they do not succeed in obtaining their end by these 
 means, upbraid the delinquent in no measured 
 terms. 
 
 These non-Aryan races have, to a great extent, 
 been transformed into the lower Hindu castes ; and 
 under the stress of the antagonism and assimila- 
 tion of the two races, Hinduism has developed. It is 
 a religion of marvellous vitality and has withstood 
 the impact of more than one great faith. Zoroas- 
 triaAism, Buddhism andMohammedanism haveall 
 made converts, but have been powerless to destroy 
 it, for it alters, endures and assimilates perpetually, 
 and remains at the core untouched. It seems to be 
 now changing again, in consequence of its contact 
 with Christianity and Western thought. The pro- 
 cess of melting into Hinduism proceeded slowly in 
 the past, but has considerably quickened since 
 British rule introduced material civilisation and 
 prosperity ; for the first step upward in the ladder 
 of Indian social life consists in passing from the 
 ranks of the unclassified outcast to a definite posi- 
 tion in the Hindu caste system. It is now pro- 
 ceeding so rapidly there will soon be only a small 
 remnant clinging to the aboriginal rites and 
 customs.
 
 326 THANESAR 
 
 Dr. Ramsay points out that in the first days 
 Christianity took the firmest root in those parts of 
 Asia Minor which were just feeling the touch of 
 Graeco-Roman civilisation, where ' men's minds 
 were in a state of transition, awaking from stagna- 
 tion into an attitude of expectancy ; and some of 
 those who have studied the mind of the East 
 believe that the small remnant of the unsettled 
 non-Aryan races will prove the pioneers of the 
 Indian Church. 
 
 Entrance into the Hindu social system means 
 adopting to a great extent the Brahmanic religion ; 
 and whilst he keeps most of his old faiths and prac- 
 tices, the social aspirant adds to them all the essen- 
 tial doctrines and customs of Brahmanism. These, 
 according to Sir Alfred Lyall, comprise acceptance 
 of the Brahmanic scriptures and traditions as the 
 standard of orthodoxy ; adoration of the Brahmanic 
 gods and their incarnations ; veneration of the 
 sacred cow ; the recognition of the presence of the 
 Brahman as necessary to all essential religious rites: 
 as well as amalgamation in one of the lower castes. 
 This, of course, carries with it obedience to the rules 
 regulating the two great outward and visible signs 
 of caste fellowship intermarriage and sharing of 
 food which are the bonds uniting and isolating 
 the different groups or castes. 
 
 I had a practical illustration of the working of 
 the rules of caste, whilst waiting at the station for 
 the train which was to bring my companion and 
 the luggage. I thought I would clean off a spot of 
 paint from I think my paintbox, and seeing a
 
 HINDU PANI 327 
 
 large iron pot full of water, I put my finger into it 
 for this purpose, upon which there was no end of a 
 hullabulloo : " Hindu pani, Hindu pani," half a 
 dozen people shouted, and came up and pointed and 
 gesticulated around me. Without thought, I had 
 defiled their drinking water, which apparently had 
 come from far, and laid myself open to the fine 
 which is the penalty for defiling the food of even 
 the lowest caste. A few pice, however, soon satis- 
 fied the poor things and put matters right by 
 enabling them to send a Hindu pani-wala to fetch 
 more. The Bheesties, with brown goatskin bags, 
 are generally Mohammedans, and very rigid high- 
 caste Hindus are usually careful to fetch water for 
 themselves, or to have it fetched by their wives. 
 It is, of course, only under the exigencies of pro- 
 longed travel that there can be any difficulty in 
 doing so, and then the less rigid will take water 
 from any Bheestie,but the more scrupulous may be 
 heard, when a train halts at a station, calling 
 aloud for a " Hindu pani-wala." This trifling inci- 
 dent is significant of the difficulties which meet 
 the ignorant European in his first approaches to 
 intercourse with the Hindoo difficulties which 
 seem to increase with each endeavour to under- 
 stand the native point of view. It is perhaps 
 part of the fascination the East exercises over so 
 many, that the true methods and working of its 
 inner mind and life still have all the attraction of 
 a mystery. 
 
 Only by living, as John Lawrence did, really 
 amongst the people, can a proper estimate be formed
 
 328 THANESAR 
 
 of the best side of Indian character. In the inner 
 domestic life of a people its truest, deepest character 
 always betrays itself: and those who have the 
 deepest acquaintance with the heart of Indian life, 
 under its best aspects, tell us continually that the 
 family life the solidarity, mutual trust and affec- 
 tion in a family consisting, perhaps, of even more 
 than a hundred persons is most striking. The won- 
 derful tenderness of the Jat in ''Kim" to his sick 
 
 * j 
 
 child, is, we are assured, but a faithful transcript 
 from daily life in the Punjab: and the intense mutual 
 affection existing between a man and his mother is 
 equally touching. Of course, the relation between 
 husband and wife is absolutely one-sided, and con- 
 sequently from the higher point of view of 
 Christian civilisation false and distorted. Such 
 supreme devotion and utter self-abasement and 
 self-sacrifice as those of the Hindu wife to her hus- 
 band should be accorded only to a divine master, 
 and, diverted to a human object, they are liable to 
 the gravest abuse and distortion : yet they are evi- 
 dence of capacities which, if properly exercised, 
 would fall into line, and find a place in develop- 
 ments which we can but dimly foreshadow. 
 
 Within the caste and family the standard of 
 honesty and honour, in business dealings, appears 
 to approximate rather to the estimate of early tra- 
 vellers who noticed the marked truthfulness of 
 the natives than to that shown in official rela- 
 tions with their present rulers. Quite distant re- 
 lations pay family debts with scrupulous honour, 
 as though they were personal ; they will provide for
 
 CASTE REGULATIONS 329 
 
 the entire education of poorer relations : and ser- 
 vants left with the charge of young orphans and 
 their property will fulfil the trust for years with the 
 most scrupulous loyalty. In the life of the village 
 community, where all, in virtue of their race, have 
 a claim to a share in the harvest (perhaps consist- 
 ing only of so many handfuls of grain, bundles 
 of straw, leaves of tobacco or pods of chili), the 
 rights of no one however old, decrepit or useless 
 will ever be forgotten. Members of a caste 
 will take infinite trouble to help each other, and 
 will undertake and carry out duties and charities, 
 which would be quite impossible to execute with- 
 out absolute mutual trust, and a recognised sense 
 of responsibility on the part of the acting heads of 
 the community. 
 
 The Englishman usually comes across only the 
 ridiculous and vexatious side of caste regulations 
 he sees the newly purified priest flatten himself 
 against the wall to avoid contact with the unclean 
 European ; or the Brahmin, naked but for his 
 waistcloth, and the sacred thread of the twice-born 
 over his shoulders, preparing his meal in a small 
 square space, " isolated " by a two-inch mud-wall 
 between the world and his purity ; then he sees 
 the outline of a Western shadow cross the sacred 
 spot, and immediately the whole meal the cake 
 carefully baked on the ashes, the curds on the leaf 
 plate, the lotaful of milk is thrown away as un- 
 clean. He, not unnaturally, sums it all up as non- 
 sensical, unpractical, and degrading slavery to 
 senseless, pettifogging rules. He hears the stories 
 
 2 T
 
 330 THANESAR 
 
 told of perjury in the law courts, and is assured by 
 civil servants of great experience, who regard the 
 native with sympathetic interest, that not a single 
 native is to be trusted, that corruption and bribery 
 are ubiquitous amongst all classes, from the gaol- 
 warder to the county-court judge. All this is, alas, 
 too true, and cannot be stated too strongly. But it 
 is fair to remember that the Hindu has served an 
 apprenticeship, through centuries of tyranny, in the 
 use of the weapons of the oppressed, and that India 
 is not the only land where men, considering them- 
 selves respectable members of society, have stan- 
 dards for professional conduct which they would 
 not apply in private affairs. 
 
 There are two sides to native life; unfortunately 
 the inner side of the family and caste life in India 
 forming by far the greater part of the national 
 existence is that which the Englishman usually 
 sees least. John Lawrence had an intimate acquaint- 
 ance with two of the most typical classes of the 
 race : the agricultural people of the Punjab, and 
 the city population of the big towns. No one 
 could have fuller knowledge of the shady side of 
 India : his life is filled with tales of murders, 
 dacoity, and of the duplicity of recalcitrant village 
 communities, as well as of individuals ; but he also 
 knew the wonderful patience, sobriety and cheer- 
 fulness of the poor ; the deep religious instinct of 
 the nation ; and the extraordinary ease with which 
 a man of sympathetic instinct can maintain law 
 and order amongst these vast multitudes. It is 
 interesting to see that the underlying note struck 

 
 LAWRENCE'S ATTITUDE 331 
 
 in his advice to subordinates or newcomers was 
 always, " Do not be hard " " You must not be 
 high-handed," and that his reminiscences of his 
 own intercourse with natives were always sympa- 
 thetic, and often abounded in evidences of great 
 and tender affection. 
 
 AN OLD SIKH
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 ALWAR 
 
 WHEN we left Delhi on our way to stop with the 
 Commissioner at Ajmere, we did not know, owing 
 to conflicting telegrams, whether to go on there 
 direct, or to stop at Alwar ; however, we arranged 
 that if we foujid no telegram awaiting us at Alwar 
 Station we would remain there. 
 
 Alwar is one of the twenty native states of 
 Rajputana, which centre round the small British 
 territory of Ajmere Marwar. 
 
 Across Rajputana, in a diagonal line north-east 
 and south-west, run the Aravalis, a chain of 
 mountains interrupted by valleys. To the north- 
 west of them is a vast sandy desert, ridged 
 with long, low isolated sandhills in parallel lines. 
 To the east, where lies Alwar, hills and wooded 
 valleys alternate with richly cultivated table- 
 lands. Great herds of camels, horses, and sheep 
 feed on the uplands. 
 
 The Rajputs are the sole remaining represen- 
 tatives of the most ancient political communities 
 of India. Before the Moslem invasion they ruled 
 over all the chief cities of the North of India, and 
 the rich plains of the Ganges to the borders of
 
 334 ALWAR 
 
 Bengal. Subdued by the invaders, some submitted 
 to the conqueror's rule and remained on the fertile 
 plains, but the pure-blooded chiefs and their im- 
 mediate followers withdrew to the uplands ; and 
 there, in the difficult mountainous or sandy country 
 of central India, they subdued the aboriginal tribes 
 and built themselves hill-fortresses, where for 
 centuries they maintained their independence, and 
 in a career of perpetual forays and feuds retained 
 their character of dauntless warriors. There are 
 still a good many of the aboriginal casteless tribes 
 Bhils and Minas remaining amongst the agricul- 
 tural population, and the Rajputs, though the 
 ruling race, are by no means in the majority ; and 
 are never the cultivators of the soil, but only the 
 feudal lords. The original native dynasties of 
 Rajputana still preserve unaltered most of their 
 ancestral constitution and customs, which are 
 unlike anything else remaining in India. This 
 primitive civilisation owes its continued existence 
 probably to the English, for, having survived the 
 levelling influence of the Mogul Empire, Rajpu- 
 tana was, later on, like the rest of India, overrun 
 by the Mahrattas, and they dominated and devas- 
 tated the Province, and had nearly extinguished 
 the clans, when the British power intervened, and 
 rescued Rajistan, the land of princes, from its 
 impending fate. 
 
 As we approached Alwar we came amongst hills 
 of considerable height and fine trees, and in the 
 fields and alongside of the railway we passed 
 numbers of natives. The women were wearing the
 
 A NATIVE STATE 335 
 
 brightest of dresses some of the prettiest, or, at 
 any rate, the most effective I had seen chiefly 
 dark red with yellow embroidery. Many of the 
 men, who were not working in the fields, carried 
 long staves and still longer guns, a sure sign that 
 we had entered a native state. 
 
 On arriving at Alwar about 4 P.M. I made a 
 bolt for the telegraph office, but there was no mes- 
 sage for me, and the question then arose, could we 
 find accommodation before the train started again. 
 I inquired about the Rest-house and heard that the 
 Dak Bungalow close by was occupied, and no 
 room available there : the Maharaja's private 
 station was also full. This put us in a great 
 dilemma. While the train waited I fled to the Dak 
 Bungalow and found a number of natives, none of 
 whom could speak any language but his own. One 
 of them, however, went in and told his master, the 
 temporary occupant of the Dak Bungalow, " There 
 is a sahib here who cannot speak English." His 
 master promptly came out, and on my explaining 
 the difficulty, as shortly as I could, he said that it 
 was quite true there was no room. I was turning 
 to hurry back and re-embark bag and baggage in 
 the train, which was on the point of starting, when 
 he exclaimed : " Stay, there is the tent." I jumped 
 at the word. " Tent," I said, " what tent ? " and he 
 pointed to a very dusty affair in the corner of the 
 compound of the Dak Bungalow. I looked in and 
 saw it would do at a pinch and decided to stop. It 
 was terribly dusty, but we had it cleaned out, and 
 whilst we were settling ourselves my friend of the
 
 336 ALWAR 
 
 Bungalow Mr. Angus Macdonald and his wife 
 gave us tea. He was the Maharaja's engineer. 
 They and their household were occupying the Dak 
 Bungalow until a house was made ready for them. 
 
 We were saved from a doubtful picnic in our 
 dusty tent by their hospitality, and met at dinner 
 Captain Tait, who has command of the Maharaja's 
 forces, and Miss Abbot, the daughter of the resi- 
 dent, who was staying with them. 
 
 Meantime I wrote to the Maharaja's secre- 
 tary to ask for a carriage, and a victoria and pair 
 soon appeared. This is the usual and only mode of 
 procedure in these native states : the traveller is 
 entirely dependent on the Maharaja, who is always 
 graciously ready to supply the carriages, which 
 otherwise it would be impossible to get. 
 
 There had been a fair in the neighbourhood and 
 there were crowds of picturesque people about, 
 dressed in holiday attire, and very bright and ani- 
 mated they made the scene. 
 
 After driving about a mile along a shady road, 
 under fine trees, we reached one of the five gates 
 of the city, which is placed at the entrance to a 
 circle of hills and built in amphitheatre form on 
 the sunny slope of a hill, crowned with palaces 
 and with its sides covered with rich vegetation, 
 but rising above into fantastically jagged peaks of 
 glistening quartz. 
 
 The town is protected by a rampart and moat 
 all round except where the range of rocky hills 
 a marked feature of this state protects the city 
 from attack. Passing a great brass gun guarding
 
 SHRINE AT THE CROSSWAYS 337 
 
 the gateway and beneath the archway we found 
 ourselves in a whitewashed street of irregular 
 houses : at the far end rose the picturesque fort, 
 with its encircling walls on the conical hill some 
 900 feet high, which formed a grey and misty 
 
 THE MAIN STREET 
 
 background to the vista of sunny street filled with 
 gay figures. 
 
 At a place where four roads meet, a curious 
 gateway opens four ways over the crossing of the 
 streets, and supports the tomb of Firoz Shah's 
 brother ; beneath, in one of the corners, is a shrine. 
 It was interesting to watch the people going up 
 the steps to this little place, ringing a bell, going 
 
 2 u
 
 338 ALWAR 
 
 through certain formalities and acts of reverence, 
 and then coming down and going on their way. 
 
 We went up the narrow street lined with bright 
 shops, through more gateways to a temple of 
 Juggernaut, and then, close under the hill, we came 
 to the city Palace of the Maharaja, who, however, 
 does not live here but two or three miles out of the 
 town in a palace overlooking a pleasant piece of 
 water. 
 
 Until the last century Alwar state was divided 
 into a number of petty chieftainships owing alle- 
 giance to Jeypore and Bhartpur, and the founder 
 of the present house, having carved himself out 
 an independent State whilst the Moguls, Jats, and 
 Mahrattas were at war, had the prescience to ally 
 himself with the British, who rewarded his per- 
 spicacity with a large addition of territory. His 
 successors, however, had not such an eye for the 
 winning side, and before they settled down gave 
 some trouble to their allies. 
 
 The present Maharaja is celebrated for his 
 cavalry, devotes his superfluous energy to horse- 
 breeding, and has a fine stud of several thousand 
 horses. Hehasalsoshown himself philanthropically 
 inclined, and was one of the first native chiefs to 
 support Lady Dufferin's Fund. 
 
 We passed within high walls, by an imposing 
 gateway, into the city Palace, built, at the end of the 
 eighteenth century, on a terrace stretching the 
 whole length of the town ; then passing through 
 many courts we came to the State Apartments, the 
 Durbar Hall, the Armoury, Treasury, and Library,
 
 THE CITY PALACE 339 
 
 all reached by gently sloping corridors instead of 
 stairs. At the back of the Palace is a most 
 picturesque tank, with marble steps and pavilions 
 reflected in the water, and, raised high on a terrace 
 of pink sandstone on the South side, is an 
 elaborately ornamented building with a wide, low 
 dome culminating in a pinnacle, the marble ceno- 
 taph of Maharaja Bakhtawar Sing. On the East 
 side of the tank, at the head of a stately flight of 
 stairs, stands, in long array, the Palace and Zenana, 
 "with cool arcades for the ladies fair," where 
 
 All their womanhood has been, 
 Hen-cooped behind a marble screen, 
 And they count their pearls and doze. 
 
 It is of marble and profusely decorated ; but is so 
 cut up with oriel windows and turrets, deep arch- 
 ways and balconies, and has such a perplexing 
 confusion of domes and cupolas above, that it fails 
 to be a grand building, and the eye is distracted 
 in searching for a unity and repose which it does 
 not find. At the same time it undoubtedly 
 possesses picturesque features which are enhanced 
 by the effect of the stern, rocky heights rising 
 immediately behind it. 
 
 We looked across the deep tank at our feet, over 
 the town and wooded plain to the mountains 
 beyond. Myriads of Rock pigeons were flying 
 about making the ground blue wherethey alighted, 
 and there are countless peacocks the sacred bird 
 that is never molested, being sacred to Saraswati, 
 the goddess whopresidesover birthsand marriages. 
 These looked very beautiful, perched upon the old
 
 340 ALWAR 
 
 red sandstone walls or strutting about over the 
 marble pavements. Squirrels were to be seen 
 everywhere here as elsewhere. 
 
 During the night fell torrents of rain, the first 
 we had experienced since we landed in India. It is 
 curious it should have fallen the only night when 
 we were not sleeping in a house : our tent, how- 
 ever, luckily kept all the rain out. 
 
 I went into the town early, as it had cleared up 
 and was quite dry again, and my companion joined 
 me there. We had previously made an appoint- 
 ment at the Palace with the Maharaja's secretary 
 who was to show us the sights, but after waiting an 
 hour with no sign of the custodian we were on the 
 point of going away when, with a truly Oriental 
 appreciation of the value of time, the keeper of the 
 Armoury appeared. He turned out to be a great 
 enthusiast, and treated the sabres and other 
 weapons studded with jewels as though they 
 were his children. He seemed quite pleased with 
 our visit, and nearly kissed our feet when we said 
 good-bye. The Treasury is, I believe, well worth 
 seeing, but its custodian did not appear. We saw 
 the Library, however, and, amongst other very 
 valuable manuscripts, a fine copy of the " Gulis- 
 tan," beautifully illustrated with miniature paint- 
 ings. It is the joint work of three men : a German 
 engrossed the MS., a native of Delhi painted the 
 miniatures, and a Punjabi did the scrolls. I believe 
 it cost 500,000 rupees. 
 
 After breakfast with the Angus Macdonalds he 
 took me to see the tomb of Faith Jung (1547) close
 
 VIOLENT THUNDERSTORM 341 
 
 to the railway station, a large building with a very 
 ugly exterior, which is now converted into corn 
 stores for the Maharaja's horses. The interior, 
 however, is fine, the dome being raised on penden- 
 tives from a square to the sixteen-sided base upon 
 which it rests. There is a great deal of fine plaster 
 work in relief on the walls of the building, patterns 
 with flat surface and rectangular mouldings like 
 those of the Alhambra and Bijapur. The Angus 
 Macdonalds, who were continuously most kind, 
 came to see us off in the train at the close of our 
 pleasant twenty-four hours' stay in Alwar. 
 
 Soon after we started such a thunderstorm, 
 accompanied by torrents of rain, broke upon us 
 as I do not ever remember to have seen before. 
 The lightning was incessant, and when it became 
 dark it illuminated the country in a marvellous 
 way showing us that it was flooded with water. 
 We passed through a pretty district where there 
 are large trees with thick bright foliage, and rugged 
 hills of fantastic shapes in the background.
 
 AJMERE 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 AJMERE 
 
 AT Alwar we had heard that we were expected at 
 Ajmere by Colonel and Mrs. Biddulph, and conse- 
 quently, at 3 A.M. on March 12, we disembarked 
 from the train at Ajmere station, in a storm of rain 
 and wind. A chuprassie was waiting for us, and 
 before long we were comfortably installed iji 
 delightful rooms in Shah Jehan's palace on the 
 lake, where lived our friend the Commissioner. 
 Following our Alwar experiences this seemed to 
 us most luxurious, and we were glad to turn in for 
 a good rest, after some " hump " sandwiches. The 
 hump, by the way, is that of the native ox (zebu), 
 and quite one of the best things of its kind in 
 India. 
 When I opened the window at daylight and
 
 344 AJMERE 
 
 walked out on the white marble balcony, an exqui- 
 sitely beautiful and peaceful scene lay before me. I 
 found myself overhanging the shining levels of a 
 lovely lake, surrounded by most picturesque hills, 
 and with a glorious flood of light from the rising 
 sun shining on the high rugged rosy granite peaks 
 to the south-west. I lost no time in getting out my 
 sketching materials and setting to work. The 
 Commissioner's house, at the time of my visit, 
 stood upon the great bund or embankment 
 which dams up the water in the valley of the river 
 Luni, and forms the lake called the Ana Sagar or 
 Sea of Ana, after its maker, Ana Raja, a Chauhan 
 Rajput of the eleventh century. He was the great- 
 great-grandfather of the heroic Prithvi Raja, king 
 of Delhi and Ajmere, the last champion of Hindu 
 independence in the north of India, who was over- 
 come and cruelly put to death, in cold blood, at 
 Delhi in 1194 by the Mohammedans under 
 Shahab-ud-din. 
 
 On the western side of the lake, which is several 
 miles round, lies the walled town of Ajmere, with 
 its stately gateways, in a lovely valley or basin, 
 shady with fine trees and bright with gardens of 
 orange, rose and pomegranate. Above the town 
 rises a steep and majestic conical hill, an isolated 
 spur of the rocky Aravali range. The celebrated 
 fortress of Taraghur, which, at a height of three 
 thousand feet crowns the summit of this hill, is said 
 to be the work of the Chauhan Rajput, Aja Pal, the 
 shepherd king, who founded Ajmere A.D. 145 and 
 ended his life as a yogi, in a mountain gorge, a few
 
 AJMERE 345 
 
 miles from the town, which bears his name. The 
 bare, sharp, rocky peaks of the Aravali hills, which 
 form such a fascinating background to all views of 
 Ajmere, in its setting of green gardens, are full of 
 gorges and ravines, where quaint, spiky cactus- 
 
 LOOKING DOWN ON THE ANA SAGAR 
 
 plants form the only vegetation. This range, of 
 which we had seen the north-eastern end above the 
 Kutub at Delhi, is at its highest in the Ajmere dis- 
 trict and terminates south-west in the isolated 
 group of temple-covered peaks, Mount Abu, or 
 the "Saint's Pinnacle,'" which Tod in his fascina- 
 
 2 x
 
 346 AJMERE 
 
 ting "Annals of Rajputana" calls the Olympus of 
 the Rajputs. 
 
 The green oasis in the Ajmere valley is the result 
 of several of the banked-up pools of water charac- 
 teristic of this country. Besides the Ana Sagar 
 Lake, there are two others near the town : one, the 
 Visala Tal, has a picturesque shrine on an island in 
 the centre, and was the work of Visaldeo,the grand- 
 father of Ana Raja, who ruled here about the 
 time of the first early Mohammedan invasion, 
 when, about 1025, Mahmoud of Ghazni passed 
 like a devastating flame through Ajmere, on 
 his way to destroy Sommath and its celebrated 
 temples. He effectively destroyed Ajmere and 
 its temples, but the people took refuge in the 
 Taraghur Fort, and when, on his return, Mah- 
 moud was decoyed into the sandy deserts of 
 Marwar, the " land of death," where his people 
 perished in thousands from thirst, the Rajputs 
 descended from the heights and took their revenge. 
 After his army had returned to the north the Rajput 
 clans, Rahtores and Chauhans, Solaukhyas, Geh- 
 lots, Sesodias and Kachwahas returned to their 
 territories as before, and to the celebrated feuds 
 between Rahtores and Chauhans which fill the 
 annals of the twelfth century with episodes as 
 romantic and fantastic as the tales of chivalry of the 
 same period in mediaeval Europe, and, continuing 
 till Victorian days, have inspired more than one 
 English writer. After Shahab-ud-din's and Kutub- 
 ud-din's invasion a century later, though they 
 fought with desperate valour under Prithvi Raja,
 
 RAJPUT AMBITIONS 347 
 
 the Rajputs lost Delhi, Ajmere and most of the 
 open country, and were driven back to found new 
 fortress-homes in the rougher and less attractive 
 districts, from which they have never been dis- 
 turbed, where the pure-blooded Rajput clans have 
 maintained a semi-feudal independence and per- 
 petuated their primitive customs to this day. They 
 lost Malwa and Gujrat, and the independent 
 Mohammedan kingdoms, established there, main- 
 tained themselves until the time of Henry VIII., 
 when the famous and brilliant Rana Sanga of 
 Oodeypore, chief of the Sesodia clan, succeeded in 
 turning out the Mohammedans and in restoring 
 the Rajput ascendency there. Though in peace 
 no Rajput but those of his own name owed him 
 allegiance, yet his uncompromising hostility to the 
 Moslems, and his indomitable spirit, made him 
 the " war lord " amongst the clans, and he might 
 even have succeeded in consolidating an empire 
 of Central India but that at this moment the fresh 
 tide of invasion from the north-west swept down 
 over India under Babar, who was inspired by the 
 same aims, and the Mohammedan cavalry again 
 proved irresistible. Rana Sanga and all the 
 chilvalry of Rajistan were mown down at Fatehpur 
 Sikri in 1 527, and all their hopes shattered for ever. 
 The destruction of Rajput ambitions was com- 
 pleted by the genius of Akbar, who recovered Aj- 
 mere and spent a good deal of time in that town, 
 which, for six centuries, has been the key to politi- 
 cal predominance in this country of seething, tur- 
 bulent rival clans and factions. Akbar undermined
 
 348 AJMERE 
 
 the Rajput policy of splendid isolation by attach- 
 ing them to his person and house by marriage, and 
 to his empire by high commands as governors and 
 generals. In their own country he respected their 
 authority, but though they maintained a certain 
 amount of independence, and by no means occu- 
 pied the same position as the Afghan and Persian 
 Emirs of his regular army, yet they all, except the 
 indomitable Sesodia clan of Oodeypore, became in 
 reality feudatories of the Moguls. Akbar married 
 two Rajput princesses : Miriam, the daughter of 
 the Raja of Jeypore, who, from the character of the 
 frescoes in her palace at Fatehpur Sikri, has been 
 supposed to have been converted to Christianity ; 
 and Jodhbar, the sister of Udai Singh of Jodpur. 
 The two Mogul Emperors, Jehangir and Shah 
 Jehan, the unlucky Prince Khusru and Aurang- 
 zeb's son Shah Alam, all had Rajput mothers, and 
 relied on their connections here to support them in 
 their struggles for the throne. As long as an Em- 
 peror remained to claim their allegiance the chiefs 
 fulfilled their obligations. Later on they attempted 
 to regain their independence and shared in the 
 general disorganisation of India. The Mahrattas, 
 under Holkar and Sindhia, bled the country by 
 their claim to one-fourth of the State revenue, and 
 ravaged and destroyed, here as elsewhere, till, the 
 clans being utterly exhausted by thirty years inces- 
 sant war, and the Rajput chieftainships threatened 
 with extinction, the English, under Lake and 
 Wellesley, partially freed Rajputana from the 
 Mahratta oppression and withdrew, restoring to the
 
 KISHNA KOMARI 349 
 
 chiefs their independence, but leaving them to their 
 fate. The Rajput clans, however, areentirely lacking 
 in any instinct of federation, and the whole country 
 was overrun for ten years or more by freebooting 
 Pindaris, numbering some 30,000 in all, who 
 
 " 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," 
 
 plundering freely. The old intertribal feuds also 
 revived, and the famous contest between the rival 
 chiefs of Jeypore and Jodhpur for the hand of an 
 Oodeypore princess brought their clans to the verge 
 of destruction : Mahrattas and Pindaris joined in 
 the contest, which involved the whole country. 
 The romance of the story is unfortunately rather 
 tarnished when it appears that this chivalrous con- 
 test ended in a compromise, according to which 
 matters \vere simplified by poisoning the unfor- 
 tunate lady, the heroine of the tale. 
 
 The Princess Kishna Komari (" the virgin ") was 
 sixteen years of age, and being a Sesodia, "a 
 Child of the Sun," of the noblest blood in India. 
 She was exquisitely beautiful, and had been be- 
 trothed in her eighth year to Raja Bheem Sing, of 
 Jodhpur. He died in 1804, and two years later her 
 father, the weak and foolish Maharana of Oodeypore 
 returned afavourable answer to Juggut Sing of Jey- 
 pore, who had sent an embassy,with three thousand 
 men, to ask the hand of the beautiful and attractive 
 Kishna. Raja Maun Sing, of Jodhpur, then in- 
 tervened, supported, for pecuniary reasons, by
 
 350 AJMERE 
 
 Sindhia, with eight thousand men, and advanced 
 his pretensions on the ground that the Princess 
 had been affianced to the throne of Jodhpur, and 
 therefore he, as its present occupant, claimed her 
 as his right. The three kingdoms then became 
 involved in a bitter triangular duel. Jodhpur en- 
 dured an eight months' siege, the deserts were 
 strewn with the bones of the slain, and four years 
 incessant warfare reduced the kingdoms to the 
 lowest ebb, yet neither side would withdraw their 
 claim. Amir Khan had sometimes sided with one 
 party and sometimes with the other. He now 
 threatened the Maharana of Oodeypore with the 
 disgrace of seeing his palace stormed, and winning 
 over the Sesodia's minister Ajit, induced the 
 Maharana to agree to sacrifice his daughter. 
 Komari showed the spirit of her ancestors and 
 rose to the height of the situation, like Iphigenia 
 or Andromeda. As her life was made the price of 
 peace, she agreed, in spite of her mother's lamenta- 
 tions, to die, and save her father's family and 
 house from becoming a prey to the* Mahratta and 
 Pindari hordes. She could fall by no common 
 hand, so a blood relation was persuaded to under- 
 take the deed : confronted with the victim, his 
 courage failed. " She was then excused the steel, 
 and a cup was prepared. Three times the valiant 
 Princess, with a prayer for her father, accepted the 
 poison, and three times it failed to take effect ; 
 then they gave her opium, and she slept away." 
 Colonel Tod, who knew the actors in this 
 tragedy, says that her mother lost her reason and
 
 PAX BRITANNICA 351 
 
 died raving a few days later, and that when the 
 deed was known, a brave chieftain of the same 
 clan rushed into the Maharana's presence and 
 cursing him, with his minister, as a disgrace to 
 the race, laid on the throne of Oodeypore the ban 
 of never having a direct male heir. Of the Maha- 
 rana's ninety-five children only one survived him, 
 his queens refused to perform sati on his pyre, and 
 to none of his six immediate successors was an 
 heir born. Ajit's wife and two sons died within 
 a month, and he spent the remainder of his des- 
 picable existence wandering as a Yogi from shrine 
 to shrine in the vain endeavour to purify himself 
 from the innocent blood of Kishna. 
 
 Before long, the minor chiefs called in the 
 British, as the paramount power, to restore order. 
 Lord Hastings intervened, and in 1819 broke up 
 the Pindari camps, and excluding Holkar and 
 Sindhia from Rajputana, ended the general 
 scramble for territory by recognising and de- 
 fining the lawful possessions of each State ; treaties 
 were executed with the English Government, 
 which, as suzerain, was established in Ajmere. 
 The tribute payable to the Mahrattas was made 
 payable to us, and we receive it to this day. The 
 old days of banditti and plundering predatory 
 bands were at an end, and the Commissioner 
 established in Shah Jehan's palace on the Ana 
 Sagar Lake is a symbol of the Pax Britannica, 
 which ever since has reigned in this land of per- 
 petual strife. How soon, one wonders, would the 
 old scenes of disorder return, and Rajputana, now
 
 352 AJMERE 
 
 one of the most delightful parts of the peninsula, 
 relapse into the confusion from which we rescued 
 it, were the power which keeps India from des- 
 troying herself withdrawn ? 
 
 The palace of Shah Jehan, in which we were 
 staying, consisted originally, Colonel Biddulph 
 
 THE COMMISSIONER S HOUSE 
 
 told me, of four marble Baradaris or summer- 
 houses on the Bund, the precincts of which were 
 devoted to the use of the ladies of his court, who 
 were thus enabled to enjoy a considerable amount 
 of liberty without observation : Shah Jehan him- 
 self inhabited Akbar's palace in the town. His 
 buildings on the Bund have now been restored 
 according to the original design, but at the time 
 of my visit three of these summer-houses were
 
 CROCODILES ON THE MARCH 353 
 
 used as the public library, and as official resi- 
 dences for the Commissioner, the Civil Surgeon. 
 The walls of my room were of white marble, 
 and the columns and arches on one side, and 
 beautiful little niches in rows on the other, sug- 
 gested its past beauties. The balcony over the 
 lake was a continual delight. Though I could see 
 nothing of them, there was a colony of otters under 
 the house amongst the rocks. I believe there were 
 also a number of crocodiles in the lake, but they 
 were also " lying low." During a terrible drought, 
 from which the country suffered not long ago, the 
 Ana Sagar completely dried up, and Colonel Bid- 
 dulph told me that when the last of the water had 
 disappeared, thecrocodiles which inhabited the lake 
 organised themselves into a band and decamped, 
 marching off in a body to the sacred lake of Push- 
 kar, across the hills. What instinct or intelligence 
 led them to do this, and how they knew of the 
 existence of water elsewhere, it is difficult to under- 
 stand. 
 
 The weather was very cold on this lofty plateau, 
 and it soon began to rain again, and continued to 
 do so off and on all day. Of course we never went 
 anywhere in India without encountering ' ' unprece- 
 dented weather." Here, in a spot where, as a rule, 
 at this time of year, people sit and pant, with 
 the earth like hot copper and the sky like burn- 
 ished steel, we found ourselves with closed doors 
 and windows, in greatcoats, writing by candle- 
 light at midday, with the rain pouring down out- 
 side. However, between the showers we took a 
 
 2 Y
 
 354 AJMERE 
 
 walk by the side of the lake and through the 
 Daulat Bagh, Jehangir's "garden of splendour" 
 at the outlet of the waters : here he disported 
 himself under the avenues of trees, in the state- 
 coach sent him by James I. , when Sir Thomas Roe 
 was Ambassador to the Court of the Great Mogul 
 from 1616-18, and was entertained by the Em- 
 peror at a banquet on the Bund, where also he 
 witnessed the submission of Rana Umra Sing, 
 the last Rajput chief to bow his proud head to 
 the new order. 
 
 Outside the city to the east still stands the noble 
 gateway of the Palace of Akbar, characterised by 
 Sir Thomas Roe as a " house of pleasure of the 
 king's, a place of much melancholy, delight, and 
 security/' About the same date as Sir Thomas Roe, 
 another Englishman, Thomas Coryat, the first 
 globe-trotter, visited Ajmere in 1616, coming on 
 foot from Jerusalem, and quaintly pluming him- 
 self on having spent only 2 los. on the way. 
 
 The bad weather did not last long, and the 
 lovely, though chilly, days were all too short for 
 all we found to do and see. I usually' began to 
 sketch, in a fur coat, before breakfast, and one day 
 w r e were up early and drove to see the celebrated 
 Arhai din ka Johmpra Mosque, or " Hut of two 
 half-days," in a ravine at the back of the old native 
 town, a curious and interesting building much 
 resembling that at the Kutub : it owes its origin 
 to the same causes, and dates from about the same 
 time. Originally there was a fine Jain temple 
 here. Colonel Cunningham thinks it is of the
 
 A NOBLE MOSQUE 355 
 
 tenth century, though it has been assigned a much 
 earlier date. This was pulled about and con- 
 verted by Altamsh (1236) into a mosque, with a 
 fine yellow sandstone screen of high Hindu arches 
 in front of the west side. Probably the pillars now 
 standing are arranged in the same way as when 
 they formed part of the courtyard of the Jain 
 temple, but the western side, with its nine domes, 
 is all that now remains intact. The pillars are more 
 beautiful than those in the mosque at Delhi, being 
 taller and of greater purity of design. They show 
 great originality and a most fertile creative 
 imagination. But it is the grandeur of conception 
 of Altamsh's great screen of splendid arches, with 
 their wonderful decoration of Cufic and Togra in- 
 scriptions, which, executed with exquisite refine- 
 ment and beauty of detail by the patient Hindu 
 artists, makes this mosque one of the most inter- 
 esting monuments of India, and, perhaps as en- 
 thusiasts like Colonel Cunningham think, puts it 
 on a line with the noblest buildings in the world. 
 The sculpture and decoration is most intricate and 
 elaborate. In places there are graceful scrolls of 
 stiff conventional design deeply incised, with bands 
 of inscription running across them on a different 
 level, raised slightly above, or, rather, not cut so 
 deeply into the stone as the scrolls. 
 
 We went on to the Dargah close by, a strange 
 and attractive group of buildings clustering round 
 the burial-place of the famous saint, Khwajah 
 Sahib Mohin-ud-din, who died here in the I2th 
 century.
 
 356 AJMERE 
 
 He was the first of the famous family of Chisti 
 saints and politicians, and came from Ghor, in the 
 mountains to the East of Herat, and was at 
 Ajmere in 1143 at the time when Shahab-ud-din 
 put Prithvi Raja to death. Shrines of six or 
 seven members of the same family who lived 
 during the following 400 years exist in different 
 parts of India, and are much venerated. The 
 tomb of any one specially noted for asceticism, or 
 with a reputation for occult or supernatural powers, 
 usually does become a place of pilgrimage, where 
 a large concourse of people gathers to make offer- 
 ings of food to the poor, and to implore the inter- 
 cession of the departed, whose family usually find 
 the guardianship of the shrine or Dargah, around 
 which an annual religious assembly and fair grows 
 up, a most lucrative hereditary profession. Now 
 and then amongst the wilder people of the north, 
 a holy man has been strangled by the inhabitants 
 of a village for the sake of the benefits, moral and 
 material, which will accrue to those who possess 
 his sacred bones. 
 
 Akbar had a great veneration for this Chisti 
 saint, which led him to build a mosque in the 
 precincts of the tomb, an example which Shah 
 Jehan followed. Akbar was continually on the 
 road between Fatehpur Sikri and here, and in 
 January 1569, made the pilgrimage to the shrine, 
 on foot from Agra, with all his family, hoping to 
 obtain, by means of the saint's powerful protection, 
 a much-desired son. The Emperor's pilgrimage 
 lasted nearly a month : he and his company
 
 A SACRED SHRINE 357 
 
 travelled in procession at the rate of about fourteen 
 miles a day, along roads spread with carpets and 
 with Kanats, or walls of cloth, raised on either side. 
 The resting-places were marked by the small 
 menars or towers of brick, one of which I sketched 
 near Agra (p. 187). Until then all Akbar's sons 
 had died in infancy, and the story goes that the 
 Chisti pir, or holy man, appeared to him in a dream 
 at the Ajmere Dargah, and evidently wishing to 
 keep so good a client in the family, sent him back 
 to Agra to sit at the feet of another saint of the 
 same lineage Selim Chisti who lived to the age 
 of ninety-two, on the hill of Fatehpur Sikri, and 
 there the following August, in a little stone build- 
 ing close to the hermit's cave, a son was born to 
 Akbar, who lived and subsequently became the 
 Emperor Jehangir. 
 
 It is curious to find the shrine of the saint at 
 Ajmere still reverenced by Mohammedans and 
 Hindus alike, but Moslems and Hindus join 
 promiscuously in their devotions and charities at 
 many shrines, apparently irrespective of the 
 specific creed of the holy man commemorated. 
 Amongst other instances is that of the tomb, near 
 Meerut, of a Hindu Saint, Manohar Nath, who is 
 said to have taken the Samadhi* that is to say, 
 buried himself alive as a sacrifice to the gods, and 
 
 * Instances of this sacrifice as being made by men with whom 
 they were personally acquainted, are mentioned by Sir William 
 Sleeman and John Lawrence, both of whom did their utmost, in 
 vain, to dissuade the devotees. Very holy men amongst the 
 Hindus are not burned but buried, and they are believed to lie in 
 a state of trance in the tomb, which is known as a Samadh.
 
 358 AJMERE 
 
 this shrine is venerated by as many Mohammedan 
 as Hindu pilgrims, and there seems but little 
 difference in the manner of expressing their devo- 
 tion. Indeed, in many parts of India, Moham- 
 medans are said to be only distinguished from 
 Hindus by being worshippers of saints instead of 
 images. They 
 
 " Bow to graven sepulchres, and adore a martyr's stone, 
 Who pray to a dead hermit that should pray to God alone ; " 
 
 and do not by any means 
 
 " Shun the Hindu festivals, the tinkling of the bell, 
 The dancing, the idolatries," 
 
 for the two religious bodies often share the same 
 festivals and venerate Moolah or Brahman priest, 
 fakir or yogi indiscriminately. Akbar's spirit of 
 tolerance which benefited India so greatly was 
 certainly fatal to the spread of Islam, and there- 
 fore ruinous to its character, for Mohammedanism 
 withers and dies when it ceases to expand. 
 
 The chief entrance to the Dargah, from the 
 crowded street, is beneath a whitewashed archway 
 of great height, on either side of which, surrounded 
 by a medley of arches, miniature cupolas, pillars 
 and trees, are two huge iron cauldrons some ten or 
 fifteen feet across. On certain festal occasions, and 
 when rich pilgrims give an alms of 200 to 300 
 for the purpose, these are filled with rice, raisins, 
 sugar, spices and ghee, which, when cooked by 
 enormous fires lighted beneath the cauldrons, is 
 in part doled out to the poor pilgrims. The 
 members of certain privileged families, clothed in
 
 THE DARGAH 359 
 
 rags and enveloped in wadding, are then allowed 
 to jump into the still hot cauldron and scramble 
 for the remains. It must be a disgusting sight, 
 and on account of the heat of the cauldrons a 
 somewhat dangerous feat. 
 
 The glistening white marble tomb of the saint is 
 very picturesque : surrounded by fine marble lattice 
 screens, it is all dark and mysterious within, and 
 rich-coloured draperies and awnings shroud the 
 holy place, and shelter the doorways. The grey 
 misty mountain peaks made a beautiful and quiet 
 background to this vivid scene, which was partially 
 veiled by the green branches of one of the gnarled 
 and twisted trees shading the enclosure. The tree 
 had dropped out of the perpendicular, and was sup- 
 ported by a finely carved yellow sandstone pillar. 
 The brightly clad crowds of pilgrims about the 
 Dargah have the reputation of being very fanatical 
 and at times troublesome : we had had to envelop 
 our feet in list boots before being allowed to enter 
 the courtyard, and no infidel is permitted to 
 approach the tomb. When I wished to sketch, I 
 was, as at Amritzar, prevented from using my 
 camp-stool, or even putting up a white umbrella. 
 
 Deep in the rocky mountain-side at the back of 
 the Dargah is a long, narrow, natural cleft, the 
 sides of which are faced with irregular flights of 
 steep steps descending to a deep tank below, and 
 ascending to tortuous and irregular terraces and 
 platforms which follow the trend of the rock. 
 Above them rise the enclosing walls of the Dargah 
 and neighbouring buildings, and I found a shady
 
 360 AJMERE 
 
 and comparatively quiet spot, partly sheltered by 
 these walls, from which to sketch this curious and 
 
 ~ --fc 
 
 A PICTURESQUE CORNER 
 
 unique scene. It proved less quiet than I had ex- 
 pected, not only because at no little distance from 
 me a constant stream of women in dark red and
 
 SKETCHING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 3 6x 
 
 blue saris ascended and descended, with their 
 waterpots on their heads, but because, when my 
 work was only partly done, I discovered that I had 
 become an object of curiosity and perhaps of 
 fanatical jealousy to a party of young ruffians who 
 were watching me from a coign of vantage upon 
 the walls above. At first I took no notice of the 
 noise they made, but when brickbats began to fly 
 about my head I thought it time to move to a spot 
 where missiles could not reach me, and there I 
 finished my sketch in peace. Next time I sketched 
 at the Dargah I took a chuprassie, in a scarlet coat, 
 whose presence enabled me to work, free from the 
 pestering attentions of the boys who, in all 
 countries, delight to vex the soul of the harmless 
 artist. Everywhere else in Ajmere I dispensed with 
 his services, and Mrs. Biddulph's pony, " Dumps," 
 a jolly little cream-coloured country-bred beast, 
 took me to my "spot" and back, and I met with 
 no impediment except that the poor pony was 
 vastly terrified by an encounter with two parties 
 of men leading bears. 
 
 The days were all twenty-four hours too short 
 in this fascinating spot, which has all the charm 
 of ancient India without the evils which must 
 have so greatly marred the romantic days of 
 purely native rule. 
 
 2 z
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 JODHPUR 
 
 IT had been our intention to retrace our steps from 
 Ajmere to Jeypore, but Colonel Biddulph kindly 
 suggested that we should, instead, go with him 
 to Jodhpur, a wonderful fortress and old town in 
 the desert of Marwar. This enabled us to see an 
 older, less well known, and less sophisticated 
 native State under very delightful auspices. As our 
 train did not leave till three in the morning Colonel 
 Biddulph arranged to have a carriage, with two 
 compartments, put on a siding for us : in it we took 
 up our quarters before 1 1 P.M., were hooked on at 
 3 A.M., and woke at seven next morning to find 
 ourselves at Marwar, the junction for Jodhpur. It 
 was sixty miles on to Jodhpur, the train took six 
 hours, and in consequence of this remarkable speed 
 was familiarly known as the " Flying Hindu." 
 
 We were here to the west of the Aravali 
 Mountains and on the edge of a vast desert, ridged 
 with long, low, isolated sand-hills. Though the flat 
 arid plain appeared to me to be absolutely bare, I 
 believe wheat, barley, and millet crops are taken 
 off it, in places where the overflow of the River 
 Luni, which rises in the Ajmere Lake, fertilises the
 
 364 JODHPUR 
 
 soil by overflowing its banks, or where wells, sunk 
 in its bed, provide irrigation. There was, however, 
 literally hardly a tree or house all the sixty miles to 
 Jodhpur, and until the Maharaja connected his city 
 by a narrow-gauge railway with the main line 
 there was no road; the track left in the sand by the 
 last camel-caravan formed the only road to the 
 capital, isolated like a ship at sea in the midst of a 
 desert. A few prickly shrubs, and tufts of withered 
 grass nourished scattered flocks of skinny goats, 
 and the monotony of the prospect was only relieved 
 by occasional views of bold and picturesque conical 
 rocks and hills, seven hundred or eight hundred 
 feet high, which appeared on the horizon and, 
 as we proceeded, passed away out of sight. Once or 
 twice the train, running over its unfenced line, 
 scared away a wild pig or a wolf from the track; 
 after passing an oasis with a ruined temple over- 
 hung by trees and few huts, we encountered a 
 country Thakur or noble, riding a camel, with his 
 servant seated behind him holding his hookah ; 
 or a string of laden camels following in single file 
 one of the Marwari traders, who are found all over 
 India, and may be known by their peculiar turban. 
 Jodhpur or Marwar, the largest of the Rajputana 
 States, is about the size of Ireland, and has been 
 ruled for the last five hundred years by a Maha- 
 raja of the noble clan of Rahtore, probably one 
 of the purest blooded families in the world, for 
 though they cannot boast quite so long a pedigree 
 as the Sesodias of Oodeypore, yet they trace their 
 genealogy clear back, in lineal descent from male
 
 JODHA 365 
 
 to male, about 1360 years. They were Kings of 
 Canouj, one of the four great monarchies of the 
 ancient India, certainly as early as the fifth century, 
 and most probably even before Christ. 
 
 When the Mohammedans first invaded India 
 they found the Rajput princes of the Chohan line 
 ruling over the Delhi kingdom, and the great 
 kingdom of Canouj, extending from Nepal to 
 Ajmere, in the hands of the Rahtores, whom, in 
 his second invasion, Shahab-ud-din defeated .in a 
 great battle on the banks of the Jumna, 1 194, and 
 utterly destroyed their capital, its temples and 
 palaces. The king and the moredauntless of the clan 
 then retreated to Marwar, and established them- 
 selves at Mandor, then the capital of this " region 
 of death." In the early part of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, Rao Rimmull, the Raja, having treacherously 
 attempted to usurp the throne of the infant Seso- 
 dia Rana of Chitore, his grandson, was slain by the 
 child's nearest blood relation and Mandor taken. 
 One of his twenty-four sons, Jodha, finally re- 
 established his father's kingdom, and, at no great 
 distance, built the fortress city of Jodhpur, which 
 became the capital, and from his twenty-three 
 other sons the peers of the Rahtore Rajput race 
 trace their descent. 
 
 About six or eight miles before reaching Jodh- 
 pur the great rock of the Fort came in sight. It 
 was built by Jodha on a yellow-red sandstone rock, 
 an isolated spur of a small range of hills, in obedi- 
 ence to the behest of a yogi, who lived in a rocky 
 ravine in the neighbourhood. It is a stupendous
 
 366 JODHPUR 
 
 affair, and rising four hundred feet abruptly above 
 the plain reminded me of Stirling Castle on a large 
 scale. 
 
 A mile short of the station we passed the bun- 
 galow of Major Loch, with whom we were to stay. 
 His chuprassie ran out from the house at the 
 approach of the train and jogged along by its side, 
 then he put on a little pace, and arriving some time 
 before the Flying Hindu, was ready to receive us 
 when we drew up. On the platform crowded as 
 usual with natives we were greeted by Major 
 Loch, and before long we were comfortably estab- 
 lished under his hospitable roof within sight of the 
 great rock. At its feet lies the old walled city, un- 
 touched by the finger of the moderniser or im- 
 prover, but from the spot from which I made my 
 first sketch this is hidden by a dark belt of trees 
 stretching for some distance along the base of the 
 rock, and rendered especially noticeable by the 
 contrast of its foliage with the barren rock on the 
 one side, and the desert on the other. It was so 
 hot that not till late in the afternoon did we start 
 with our host for the Fort, past the modern 
 kutcheri or public offices, and a park laid out in 
 squares, where the camp for the Maharaja's 
 specially distinguished visitors is pitched. We 
 went round several very curious groups of rocks 
 which rise abruptly out of the plain insignificant 
 compared to the rock of the Fort, but in themselves 
 nevertheless rather imposing. One, like a ship in 
 shape, has been surmounted by a building a freak 
 of the Maharaja's exactly following its contour.
 
 THE RAHTORE PALACE 367 
 
 At last, by the newly engineered road, which 
 takes the place of the very steep step-like old ap- 
 proach, we wound our way up to the romantic 
 Citadel. The steeply ascending road passes be- 
 tween strong walls and under seven high massive 
 gateways. Above rises, stage upon stage, the 
 palace, which generations of Rahtore princes, like 
 genii in a fairy tale, have reared upon bastions 
 on the edge of a perpendicular cliff, at least one 
 hundred and twenty feet high, and whence they 
 have for centuries gazed across the desert to the 
 confines of their kingdom. Two great zigzags 
 brought us to the top of the rock, where solid 
 sandstone walls and towers, rising tier above tier, 
 many storeys high, are in strong contrast with 
 the delicately carved lattice-work windows which 
 break the rugged surface and blend it to one har- 
 monious whole. The most ancient portions are the 
 most beautiful. Some are of the hard grey marble 
 of the country ; others, of brownish-pink or warm 
 yellow sandstone, have the front completely covered 
 with an elaborate veined network of raised tracery 
 " finished with the finger-nail " and spreading like 
 a cobweb, as one may see some great vine climb,' 
 over wall and window alike. In other places, hooded 
 canopies of stone, carved and drooping on either 
 side, like an overhanging eyebrow, protect the win- 
 dow-casements and balconies from the glaring sun. 
 In still another place, the solid bastion rises sixty 
 feet, like Giotto's tower, without a break, and then 
 bursts into thickly clustered balconies and canopies. 
 
 In a scene such as this, at a turn of the road, I
 
 368 JODHPUR 
 
 found a suitable spot for a sketch. Before me was 
 a lofty whitewashed gateway, with the palace tower- 
 ing above, and past me went an ever-moving crowd, 
 of strangely dressed natives from the Bikanaer 
 desert, laden camels with their drivers, and groups 
 of women carrying waterpots and other weights 
 upon their heads, and an occasional elephant 
 bearing a richly robed visitor for the palace. 
 
 On the wall within the last entrance gate to the 
 Fort is a row of hands, carved on the stone and 
 painted red. These are the marks of the hands of 
 thirty-five widows of successive deceased ancestors 
 of the Maharaja, who have in their turn become 
 sati on the death of their husbands ; as they passed 
 out of the Fort on their way to the funeral pyre 
 at Mandor, the old capital, they had the impress of 
 their hands traced upon the wall, in token of their 
 vow to die with their lord and master. The impress 
 of a crimsoned hand is often to be seen on door or 
 wall in India : and it is usually the sign that some 
 one had " set to their seal " and ratified a vow 
 of consecration. In the old deeds .of Indian 
 mediaeval times maybe seen the impressed outline 
 of the hand of the signatory emperor or chief, 
 dipped in ink, and laid upon the chart or letter, 
 just as the mark of the Sultan's thumb still remains 
 the Turkish equivalent to our Broad Arrow. 
 
 The last little red hand traced on the gateway 
 of Jodhpur Fort is that of the widow of the 
 grandfather of the present Maharaja Jeswant 
 Sing. His son, the father of this man, was the 
 " Rajput chief of the old school," whose deathbed
 
 A RAJPUT CHIEF 369 
 
 meditation, in his garden palace at the foot of 
 Jodhpur cliff, is the theme of the well-known lines 
 in " Verses written in India " : 
 
 And why say ye that I must leave 
 This pleasure-garden, where the sun 
 Is baffled by the boughs that weave 
 Their shade o'er my pavilion ? 
 
 Why should I move ? I love the place ; 
 The dawn is fresh, the nights are still ; 
 Ah, yes ! I see it in your face, 
 My latest dawn and night are nigh, 
 And of my clan a chief must die 
 Within the ancestral rampart's fold, 
 Paced by the listening sentinel, 
 Where ancient cannon, and beldames old 
 As the gun:?, peer down from the citadel. 
 
 Once more, once only, they shall bear 
 My litter up the steep ascent 
 That pierces, mounting stair on stair, 
 The inmost ring of battlement. 
 Oft-times that frowning gate I've pass'd 
 (This time, but one, shall be the last), 
 Where the tribal daemon's image stands 
 Crowning the arch, and on the side 
 Are scarlet prints of woman's hands. 
 Farewell ! and forth must the lady ride, 
 Her face unveiled, in rich attire, 
 She strikes the stone with fingers red, 
 " Farewell ! the palace, to the pyre 
 We follow, widows of the dead ! " 
 
 Nowadays, the wives of dead chiefs, not being 
 allowed to commit sati, are sent to end their 
 days in the old palace. We were told that about 
 three hundred women were shut up there, wives 
 of late brothers or cousins of the royal house ; 
 and lately all the wives of the present man and 
 
 3A
 
 370 JODHPUR 
 
 his brother had been sent there too. Poor things, 
 it must be terribly dreary, and hot in summer ; 
 but as a Rajput lady is brought up to feel, that 
 from her birth her " life is a sacrifice," and 
 that it is only of her father's clemency she was 
 not sent to the shades by a dose of opium as 
 soon as she saw the light, perhaps the semblance 
 of life, which is her portion up here, appears 
 by contrast a precious gift. The perusal of 
 Colonel Tod's Annals of "the Land of Princes" 
 raises a marvellously fascinating picture of the 
 strangely poetical life and ideals of this tenacious 
 race, which has maintained its character unim- 
 paired, and clung to its customs and codes of 
 honour undismayed through so many revo- 
 lutions of the wheel of the centuries. The 
 grandeur of their conception of the immortality 
 of the race, and of the paramount importance, of 
 the ''good name," which far transcends the 
 momentary interests of the individual's present 
 existence of fleeting pleasure or pain, cannot 
 fail to inspire a great admiration for their stead- 
 fast grasp of a fine idea and their patient 
 untiring self-sacrificing devotion to the details of 
 duty as they see it. "All is unstable," their 
 poets cry ; " life is like the scintillation of a fire- 
 fly ; house and land depart, but a good name 
 endures for ever." We have been constrained 
 in the interests of true righteousness, as it has 
 shown itself to us, to forbid many of the certainly 
 indefensible customs and practices in which their 
 ideals took shape. Yet it cannot but be a cause
 
 COOL DARK HALLS 371 
 
 of anxiety to all who value a strong and manly 
 character, lest our attempt to preserve the race 
 in its characteristic civilisation should be stulti- 
 fied by this necessary curtailment of the natural 
 expression of their ideals : and the ennobling 
 conceptions be destroyed that have from time 
 immemorial been the preserving salt of the race. 
 
 We penetrated the cool dark passages of the 
 palace, and found most of the halls within the 
 thick walls, through which the sun never pene- 
 trated, were of the usual rather disappointing 
 kind. They showed a gradual decline in taste, 
 from the early decorations of the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth century, when the walls were covered 
 with blue and gold and crimson, like the illumina- 
 tion of a vellum page, to the tortured mirror- 
 mosaic of the halls of the last generation. The 
 pictures range from quaint native paintings of 
 Shah Jehan and the other Mogul emperors, to 
 old-fashioned prints of English hunting scenes, 
 and show how the Rahtores have marched with 
 the times and adapted their tastes to those of 
 their suzerains. But the treasury was charac- 
 teristically Eastern, with such a show of jewels 
 as dazzled Aladdin in the cave; some splendid 
 stones, pearls and emeralds as big as pigeon's 
 eggs, tiaras, necklaces and rings, many very 
 ugly things and many of great beauty ; jewelled 
 weapons and sheaths, and splendid silver and 
 silver-gilt trappings for horses and elephants, 
 silver horse-collars and silver ear-rings for the 
 elephants, at least half the size of my head.
 
 372 JODHPUR 
 
 From the balconies, overhanging like swallows' 
 nests, the sheer and dizzy precipice of wall and 
 rock, the vast view sweeps away, in endless 
 stretches of delicate desert tints, for miles, to a dis- 
 tance melting in lilac-grey haze into the amber sky : 
 lines of dust mark the track of the cattle stringing 
 home from pasture. Spread out like a map at our 
 feet lay the old city, at the foot of the rock, in its 
 girdle of green, with flat-roofed houses, the red 
 sandstone palaces of the Thakoors, and the 
 pyramidal points of its 400 temples peering above 
 the trees. Here, as in other places in this land, the 
 bulk of the population by no means belongs to the 
 noble ruling race of Rajputs, of which the poorest 
 member is kin to the King, and would not put his 
 hand to a plough or to any occupation which might 
 be deemed beneath the dignity of a warrior who 
 bows only to the sun, his horse and his sword. 
 
 There is, however, a large population of miscel- 
 laneous castes in the city : Brahmans and Charans 
 and others, from whose ranks come those who carry 
 on the work of civil administration, and those who 
 fill the frequently hereditary offices in the chiefs 
 court and cabinet, or keep the traditions and re- 
 cords of the past ages and the genealogies. The 
 trading classes are usually Jains, and they are 
 frequently descended from Rajputs, who have not 
 maintained in its purity the rigid marriage law of 
 the land, and have therefore lost the right to a 
 place in the " libro d'oro " of the pure-blooded clans, 
 with whom their ruler even is reckoned only 
 first amongst equals. A greater contrast to the
 
 RIGID MARRIAGE LAWS 373 
 
 servile attitude of the Mogul courtiers, towards 
 their lord, can hardly be conceived : no doubt 
 this partly accounts for the dignified and frank 
 and open bearing of the members of the clans. 
 Every member of a pure-blooded clan is a gentle- 
 man of high degree, and with his tall, erect carriage 
 and graceful, manly bearing, his strong black beard 
 parted in the middle and brushed back, like tiger's 
 whiskers, towards his ears and then knotted at the 
 top of his head, he looks every inch the son of 
 century-long lineage of warrior ancestors. His chi- 
 valrous high-minded sense of honour, the simple, 
 straightforward, easy courtesy of his manners 
 a combination of self-reliant independence and 
 perfect consideration for others are worthy of the 
 best traditions of the age of chivalry. 
 
 The peculiarly strict marriage laws must make 
 it no easy matter to arrange a suitable marriage for 
 a Rajput. For here, in the land where still exist 
 the best specimens of early institutions, the tribal 
 period has survived, and the primitive marriage 
 customs of the very earliest days are still preserved. 
 In those days, citizenship and country and ruler 
 counted for nothing, and religion and kinship were 
 of supreme importance in determining a man's life. 
 Here marriage is not only limited to the ranks 
 of those of the same religion, or caste, but abso- 
 lutely prohibited amongst blood relations, of even 
 the most remote degree, who in any way trace their 
 descent to a common ancestor, real or reputed The 
 difficulties which arise may be imagined when, as a 
 high authority tells us, " widespread and numerous
 
 374 JODHPUR 
 
 clans are nothing else but great circles of blood 
 relationships, including perhaps a hundred thou- 
 sand persons who cannot lawfully intermarry." A 
 clan of pure Rajputs may be scattered abroad 
 under half a dozen different rulers, but neverthe- 
 less they hold marriage between two members of 
 the clan as quite beyond the bounds of possibility. 
 And a Rajput clansman, whose family has left 
 the ancestral home, if he returned to take a wife, 
 or to marry a daughter, would have to submit his 
 genealogy to run the gauntlet of very strict and 
 careful inquiry, to satisfy the scruples of those with 
 whom he meditated an alliance, that there was 
 neither a common ancestor nor a mesalliance in 
 the family. No wonder that a Rajput is brought up 
 to be able to recite his own genealogy, and that there 
 is a special class, a hereditary College of Heralds, 
 whose duty it is to preserve the records and pedi- 
 grees of the clans. 
 
 Udai Sing, the son of the Jodhpur ruler whom 
 Akbar subdued, was sent as a hostage to the court 
 at Agra, and he only obtained the restoration of 
 the former possessions of his house by giving his 
 sister Jodhbai as wife to the Emperor : it was not 
 until considerably more than a century later that 
 the proud Sesodias of Oodeypore, who had main- 
 tained their independence, readmitted the Rahtores 
 to the privilege of intermarriage with their clan, 
 which had been forfeited by the mesalliance. And 
 even then the Sesodias only made the concession 
 on the condition that the son of the Oodeypore 
 princess should always succeed to the State.
 
 BRIDAL FEUDS 375 
 
 This difficulty in forming suitable alliances and 
 providing husbands for daughters, who yet must 
 not remain unmarried, to some extent accounts for 
 the two pernicious practices of female infanticide 
 and polygamy. It is no doubt the originating cause 
 of many of the romantic feuds and the raids and 
 contests for the hand of a Rajput princess which 
 fill the annals of this country. For the supply of 
 wives lay entirely in the hands of neighbouring and 
 perhaps rival clans, who might at any moment, on 
 some nice point of honour or jealous punctilio, 
 refuse to give their daughter. Rajput history 
 is thus filled with disputes over brides and be- 
 trothals. The peculiar laws of succession opened 
 the way also for interference of the wife's kinsfolk 
 and to bitter quarrels such as that which indirectly 
 led to the foundation of Jodhpur. 
 
 On our first visit to the Fort we retraced our 
 steps, down the steep way, crowded with people and 
 camels, by which we had come up, but next time I 
 sketched up there I passed down into the town soon 
 after sunset, by a steep road between high walls, 
 and under picturesque gateways, by a way I had 
 not been before. At every turn, a new picture 
 seemed to unfold and made me long to sketch, but 
 I had already made the mistake of trying to do too 
 much in the time at my disposal, and now it was 
 getting dark. At the lowest gateway, a carriage 
 was waiting for me, and we drove off at the most 
 reckless speed through the narrow streets. I could 
 not prevail on the coachman who, by the way, had 
 been educated at Agra College and spoke English
 
 376 JODHPUR 
 
 to go more slowly. I was sorry, as there is 
 much in the houses of this quaint old city 
 which is picturesque and architecturally beautiful. 
 The most ordinary houses are covered with ex- 
 quisite stone work, traceries and carved latticed 
 windows ; overhanging cornices, with drooping 
 pendants, catch the light at every turn, whilst the 
 projecting, hooded, crescent-shaped eaves, which 
 some one aptly compares to drooping gulls' wings, 
 cast deep shadows on the surface. But all this, and 
 the fountains within marble balustrades under the 
 shelter of fine trees ; the groups of women with 
 brass pots, draped in brick-red and old-gold em- 
 broidered saris ; the market with sacks of golden 
 corn, and traders squatting under plaited straw 
 umbrellas, all flashed past me in dazzling pictures, 
 as we dashed through the town, scattering the 
 people on both sides, and running the most im- 
 minent risk it seemed to me of cutting off toes 
 and even ending lives. 
 
 In Major Loch's house I met a high-caste 
 Brahman gentleman, Chatter Booj, in pink pug- 
 garee and orange-coloured robes, who acted under 
 my host in the business of superintending the Ma- 
 haraja's land revenue and department of Woods 
 and Forests. His brother, Hans Raj or the Royal 
 Goose kindly piloted me on another sketching 
 expedition to the old town. We started soon after 
 ten o'clock breakfast, but the sun was burning hot 
 hotter than anything I had experienced before 
 
 when we got out in the Dhan Mandi (wheat 
 market) to look round. It was full of local colour,
 
 AN ORIENTAL MENAGE 377 
 
 but really the heat was too great for me to feel able 
 to take much interest in anything, and we drove 
 on past the Gutab Sagar, a large tank surrounded 
 by temples, to the foot of the steep ascent to the 
 Castle where I made my first sketch. We went 
 into the Talati Mai, once a beautiful palace, now 
 sadly knocked about and disfigured with white- 
 wash, and used as the Durbar High School, with 
 an Englishwoman as head. As we entered the girls' 
 side, a little damsel rushed up to my companion 
 and hugged him ; this was his little niece, a 
 daughter of Chatter Booj. 
 
 The Maharaja's little daughter of thirteen had 
 an English governess, whom we met at dinner, and 
 thought must have rather a dull time in her very 
 Oriental manage. Her pupil was very strictly 
 purdah, and only allowed to put her nose out of 
 the house after dark. She and her governess and 
 women were locked into the upper part of the 
 house at night, by the guard who kept the key. 
 The skirt of her best frock, I heard, consisted of 
 an elaborate combination of wedge-shaped pieces 
 of different sizes, and measured fifty yards round 
 the hem. The Court dresses of the men of the 
 Sing family seem to be made on much the same 
 plan, and consist of pink muslin petticoats, con- 
 taining at least one hundred yards of muslin, but 
 tied in halfway down with scarves, so that the 
 lower part stands stiffly out. They sway about 
 when the wearer moves, and must be very difficult 
 to manage with dignity. The whole family are, as 
 one would expect from the family traditions, de-
 
 378 JODHPUR 
 
 voted to horses and hunting, and great sportsmen, 
 and said not to know what fear is. The story goes 
 that once when the Maharaja and his brother 
 Maharaj Purtab Sing were young, emulating the 
 achievements of their ancestors, they entered un- 
 attended a lion's cave with a lantern, and no 
 weapon but a club, and bearded and brained him 
 in his lair. 
 
 This country is celebrated all over India for 
 pig-sticking, and the pigs are strictly preserved. 
 Arrangements were kindly made by the Maha- 
 raja's brother, Maharaj Purtab Sing, for us to 
 have a day's sport ; and under his auspices we 
 started off in a four-in-hand at six o'clock one morn- 
 ing, before it was light, forthe rendezvous, about five 
 miles distant. Major Loch had unfortunately broken 
 his arm, and, of course, could not come with us, 
 so the party consisted of Purtab Sing, in a lovely 
 pale pink turban ; Colonel Paulet, the Resident, 
 Colonel Biddulph, and myself. As Ave galloped to 
 the scene of action Colonel Paulet, hearing that I 
 had not had any pig-sticking before, very kindly 
 gave me some useful hints, showing me how to 
 hold my spear, and warned me, above all things, 
 not to strike a pig, if his line of progress converged 
 with mine ; otherwise, he said, if I got the spear 
 home, and the pig got in front of my horse, he 
 would infallibly give me a fall. Curiously enough, 
 this very fate befell him, and he got a nasty 
 spill, which shook him a good deal. For a short 
 time we were afraid he was seriously hurt, for 
 he lay on his back, and we thought the pony
 
 A BULLOCK CART 379 
 
 had rolled over him. However, he was able to be 
 driven home, and we were relieved to find he was 
 not really injured, but the incident put an end to 
 pig-sticking for that day. We had a splendid gallop, 
 however, and I enjoyed it immensely. I was 
 mounted on a beautiful bay, about fifteen hands, 
 who carried me well, though he was not quite so 
 fast as others in the field. Colonel Biddulph got 
 the first spear, and by some lucky accident I got 
 the second. The second pig, evading both Purtab 
 Sing and the Colonel, turned to charge, and ran 
 right on to my spear, which he received full on the 
 side of the head, and was very soon despatched by 
 some one else. 
 
 I spent part of my spare time after breakfast one 
 morning with Mrs. Biddulph, drawing one of the 
 rough bullock carts of the country, which are 
 most delightfully archaic in construction, consist- 
 ing simply of very solid wheels and a sideless 
 platform. The carts reminded me of a story which 
 a friend, a Kentish squire, used to tell. He made 
 a journey in Palestine, and, being an admirable 
 draughtsman, brought home a number of ex- 
 cellent sketches. One winter evening, after his 
 return, the squire gave a lecture to his village, and 
 showed a number of his drawings. Amongst them 
 was a cart very similar to that which I drew at 
 Jodhpur, and the squire explained to his audience 
 that it was a type of the most primitive con- 
 veyance known, and that it had existed in precisely 
 this same form in Palestine from the earliest times, 
 and indeed that it was probably a cart or waggon
 
 380 JODHPUR 
 
 of this description that Joseph had sent down 
 from Egypt to bring his father and his household 
 goods from Canaan. Afterwards an old farmer 
 came up and expressed his great interest in all he 
 had heard, adding that there was one thing above 
 all others which had interested him, and that was 
 the cart. " For now," he said, " I understand why 
 Joseph said to his brethren, ' See that, ye fall not 
 out by the way.' ' 
 
 On the site of the original capital of Marwar, 
 between three and four miles from Jodhpur, there 
 is now only a heap of ruins, a few houses, and a cool 
 garden with shady trees. The water here is good, 
 and so for centuries the women of Jodhpur have 
 been in the habit of trudging out every morning 
 to draw water, as that in the town was brackish 
 and so scanty that in dry seasons citizens moved 
 elsewhere. The present Maharaja, Jeswant Sing, 
 constructed a canal to supply the town, and a great 
 reservoir or tank for storing it ; but I understand 
 the people still prefer to send their women to fetch 
 it from the old spot, and regard the water that comes 
 up to the top of the Fort in iron pipes as distinctly 
 uncanny. 
 
 In the shady garden stand tombs of the Kings. 
 When the Rajput warrior fell in battle he was 
 not burnt, but buried where he fell, under a cairn. 
 Usually, however, he was carried forth armed at all 
 points with shield and sword, 
 
 " High-seated, swathed in many a shawl, 
 By priests who scatter flowers, and mourn ; " 
 
 to the pyre which filled a deep trench and there,.
 
 A MEMORIAL SERVICE 381 
 
 his head laid on the knees of his queen, his body 
 was consumed amidst the eddying smoke of the 
 funeral pyre. With one Rajput king eighty-four 
 widows perished in the flames. The elaborate tombs 
 over their ashes here are of red sandstone, and 
 consist each of a circular or octagonal hall sup- 
 ported by columns, approached by steep steps and 
 crowned by a flat dome. At the side opposite the 
 entrance is a small square sanctuary, with a high 
 flame-shaped ribbed and fluted dome above it. 
 
 Most of the tombs are in the Jain style of architec- 
 ture, and all but the most recent are covered outside 
 and inside with a profusion of elaborate sculpures, 
 and innumerable bats hang in clusters from the 
 ceilings. Monkeys had made their home here too, 
 and I made acquaintance with a huge grey ape 
 whose tail was quite the longest I had seen, and 
 hung down like a bell-rope over the wall upon which 
 he sat. Until I had closely investigated the matter 
 I could not believe it was all his personal property. 
 However the monkeys and bats had not the place 
 quite to themselves, for in one tomb which we entered 
 a memorial service was going on. Before the altar 
 stood a man burning incense (loban), waving his 
 hands backwards and forwards. He then rang a 
 bell, and an old woman beat a gong with much 
 assiduity, until we came ; then her attention was 
 concentrated in an attempt to persuade Major Loch 
 to give her one hundred rupees, which she said 
 would provide for her for the rest of her days. 
 
 Much too soon came the moment when we had 
 to begin to prepare to leave India and all its charms
 
 382 JODHPUR 
 
 and wonders, and queer sounds and smells, and the 
 unaccustomed ways of its picturesque people. We 
 were very sorry when, after saying good-bye to our 
 kind host, the train drew up in front of his house to 
 take Colonel and Mrs. Biddulph on board. They 
 were bound for Ajmere, and we went together to 
 Mar war, where at seven o'clock we settled ourselves 
 in the train for the night. Next day, March 18, we 
 spent some hours in Ahmedabad in the greatest 
 heat we had experienced, which quite sapped our 
 energy. In the circumstances to plunge into sight- 
 seeing, with as much determination as the interest 
 of the place and the short time at our disposal really 
 demanded, was impossible. Still we managed to see 
 many of the interesting buildings for which the 
 place is justly celebrated. First, the Jumma Musjid, 
 with its two-hundred-and-sixty pillars and fifteen 
 domes a fifteenth-century building raised by 
 Sultan Ahmad I., beside which is his mausoleum, 
 and beyond the tombs of his Queens ; and the cele- 
 brated lattice windows carved in yellow sandstone, 
 in the Sidi Said's mosque said to be the finest 
 work of its kind that exists. 
 
 We went also to a Turcoman mosque, rather 
 severe in style, and to the tomb and mosque of Rani 
 Sipri (a daughter of Ahmad Shah). These are two 
 beautiful little buildings of yellow sandstone, rich 
 in carving and most delicate lattice work. This was 
 all we felt up to. I have a very vivid recollection of 
 feeling the force of the sun to such an extent that 
 I put up an umbrella between my solar topee and 
 the roof of the ticca-gharry. After lunch at the rail-
 
 AHMEDABAD 
 
 383 
 
 way station I spent the afternoon sketchingamongst 
 a dense crowd of Hindus, fanned all the while by 
 one of them, and feeling as though I were sitting 
 at the mouth of a blast furnace; the centre of attrac- 
 tion in my subject was a Jain feeding-place for birds 
 like a glorified pigeon-cote : a familiar object in 
 this city of the Jains. By 9.30 P.M. we were in the 
 train for Bombay. 
 
 The marvels of Ahmedabad did not obliterate 
 from our minds the vivid impression of Rajputana 
 and the Rajputs. 
 
 A MARWARI TRADER
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 CEYLON 
 
 OUR first impressions of Colombo were those of 
 enchantment. To be on shore once again, after the 
 voyage from Brindisi, was in itself a delight, but 
 over and above that was the novelty of the whole 
 scene. Wherever I had been before I had recognised 
 something familiar, but here everything was new. 
 People, dress, vegetation, houses, all were strange, 
 and all were more or less beautiful in their way. 
 The people were refreshingly unlike those we had 
 just left on board ship. The women with little 
 clothing, the men with less and less, and the 
 children with none. This state of things does 
 not appear odd, on account of the strange rich 
 colour of their glossy red or brown skins, and also 
 perhaps because of the beauty and suppleness of 
 their figures, and the absence of self-conscious- 
 ness in their stately bearing. Many of the men 
 wear little more than a duster round their loins 
 (these are for the most part of the coolie class), 
 others have what looks like a white tablecloth
 
 ;86 
 
 CEYLON 
 
 wound round their waist extending to their heels, 
 and a white jacket. Their hair is drawn back into 
 a tight knot at the back of the head, and kept in its 
 place with a tortoiseshell comb, making them look 
 from behind like women. The women wear a kind 
 of silk petticoat, and short jacket which barely 
 
 NATIVE DRESS 
 
 meets it, sometimes also a scarf over their bodies, 
 necklaces of beads round their necks, and orna- 
 ments in their noses. Very frequently the whole of 
 a child's costume consists of a string of beads 
 round its waist. Unfortunately, the effect of civili- 
 sation and fashion is beginning to show itself, and 
 here and there natives are seen in European dress, 
 or in British prints instead of the native cloths.
 
 COLOMBO 387 
 
 It was a pleasant change, from the crowded and 
 noisy saloon of the ship, to breakfast in the cool 
 spacious hall of the Grand Oriental Hotel, with 
 tables covered with gorgeous flowers and a pro- 
 fusion of mangoes and other fruit, and to be waited 
 on by noiseless, slipperless brown gnomes, instead 
 of by cockney stewards. After breakfast we drove 
 in rikshaws along deep red-coloured roads, nicely 
 watered by the rain of the night before,and through 
 the native town, embowered in unfamiliar trees, all 
 bright-green and fresh looking, some of them 
 beautifully covered with clusters of brilliant 
 flowers, high up to the top of their lofty boughs, and 
 some heavy with fruit ; among them were bread- 
 fruit and jack-fruit trees. The flamboyant tree 
 (Princiana agio) with its flat top was just then in 
 full bloom : it is of no great height, grows very 
 much like an acacia, and is covered with clusters of 
 brilliant orange-red flowers. It lines the wide roads, 
 hangs over the water's edge, and is seen in all the 
 gardens. Here andthere the bougainvilleas hung in 
 great festoons, whilst everywhere tall palms of 
 various kinds sheltered the houses or grew down 
 to the water's edge. Beneath the larger trees all 
 manner of flowering and leaf plants and shrubs, 
 such as scarlet hibiscus and crotons, were to be 
 seen in and around the small gardens in front 
 of the low native houses, of which the gently 
 sloping roofs tiled, or thatched with palm-leaves, 
 project outwards to form a deep verandah, where 
 the native delights to sit or squat, and transact his 
 business. Some of the shops are hung with plan-
 
 388 
 
 CEYLON 
 
 tains and bananas, delicious mangoes, pines, dark 
 green oranges, and tree-tomatoes, whilst others are 
 bright with native wares, stuffs, &c. It was very 
 curious and amusing to pass through this quietly 
 busy little town, in and out amongst the crowds of 
 
 people, the carts drawn by 
 tiny little buffaloes, and the 
 jinnrikshaws. 
 
 Later on in the day 
 when we went to call on 
 the Governor, Sir Arthur 
 Gordon/* whom we did not 
 find at home, the town was 
 alive with P. & O. passen- 
 gers spending their money 
 RESTING with true Australian liber- 
 
 ality, but by seven o'clock 
 
 comparative quiet reigned. The intense heat 
 warned us that it would be wise to start for Kandy 
 as soon as possible. Our preparations for leaving 
 at seven o'clock the next morning were superin- 
 tended, with much apparent interest, by a green 
 lizard, about two feet long, which came out from 
 among the rafters for his supper of flies, and gazed at 
 us intently. There are no words to describe the heat. 
 Fortunately it rained hard in the night, and the 
 air was comparatively cool when we left Colombo 
 next morning. Before starting I had written to Sir 
 Arthur Gordon to say that the heat was driving us 
 up to the mountains, and at the third station a long 
 telegraphic message was handed in, expressing his 
 
 * Now Lord Stanmore.
 
 THE ASCENT TO KANDY 389 
 
 regret at not having known sooner of our being in 
 Colombo, and kindly asking us to stay with him 
 in Kandy when he came up there. For about two 
 hours the train kept on the level through jungle, 
 marsh, and paddy-field, and we passed herds of 
 dusty brown buffaloes. Though luxuriantly green, 
 it is a terribly unhealthy district : indeed I was told 
 that, when making the railway, it was found neces- 
 sary to take the coolies back to Colombo every 
 evening, to avoid the deadly night air of this neigh- 
 bourhood. Having traversed this flat bitof country, 
 we took on a powerful engine, and began the beauti- 
 ful ascent to Kandy, climbing by many zigzags the 
 precipitous side of a rocky mountain into a cooler 
 climate. At every turn fresh and more beautiful 
 views opened out before us on the right, extending 
 over a sea of vivid green jungle which receded ever 
 further below us and melted away into deep blue. 
 Ridge upon ridge of dark mountain lay beyond, 
 culminating in the heights about Adam's Peak. 
 
 After reaching the summit of the pass at a height 
 of 1600 feet, the line descended a little to Perade- 
 niya, and before midday we reached Kandy. Before 
 the Government cut the new road from Colombo to 
 Kandy, this journey took seven days to accomplish ; 
 we had done it in four hours. 
 
 On the way to the Queen's Hotel we passed a 
 stately old gentleman who might have been taken 
 for a doctor of divinity had he worn other clothes 
 than a white duster round his middle. His costume 
 was completed by an umbrella, a tortoiseshell 
 comb, and a pair of gold spectacles.
 
 390 CEYLON 
 
 It was good to be in a comfortable room over- 
 looking the beautiful lake, facing the richly wooded 
 hills on the further side, with the pleasant sound 
 of the rustling leaves of the mango-tree coming in 
 through the open window. 
 
 In the late afternoon we drove to the celebrated 
 Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya, about three 
 miles off, on the banks of the great river of 
 Ceylon, the Mahawelli Ganga. The gardens 
 extend over one hundred and fifty acres, and, as 
 all kinds of plants have been imported here for 
 the sake of making experiments, they are full of 
 beautiful and interesting trees and plants, both 
 European and exotic. Near the entrance there is 
 a very fine avenue of india-rubber trees (Ficus 
 elastica), and inside the gardens there is an equally 
 good specimen of this same tree. It must be 
 eighty feet high, and is immensely wide-spreading, 
 with crowded projecting roots, like small mountain 
 ranges, running away from the great trunk. These 
 roots are as big as crocodiles, and remind one of 
 those animals both on account of their shape and of 
 the lines which they take. The branches throw 
 down suckers to the earth or to the roots, and these, 
 attaching themselves below, become independent 
 trunks. For all the tree is so big, it was not planted 
 more than fifty years ago. Here was \h&Amkerstia 
 nobilis, from Malacca, a forest tree covered with 
 beautiful rich red flowers hanging in festoons all 
 over it. We saw besides nutmeg- and clove-trees, 
 cabbage-palms, travellers' trees (belonging to the 
 same order as the banana) which grow in the
 
 PERADENIYA 
 
 shape of a fan, areca-nut palms, talipot, and the 
 wonderful coco de mer of the Seychelles, for one 
 specimen of which the Emperor Rudolph II. 
 offered four thousand florins, on account of the 
 medicinal qualities which it was supposed to 
 
 A FICUS ELASTICA, PEKADENIYA 
 
 possess. The Nicolaia hemisphcerica, the most 
 original plant that I have ever come across, was 
 there also. It flowers close to the ground, with a 
 red lily-like bloom on a thick succulent stalk, and 
 grows, bamboo-fashion, in a tall shrub. The giant 
 bamboos are said to grow at the rate of from eight 
 to twelve inches in twenty-four hours. 
 
 As usual in these parts, the twilight lasted but
 
 392 
 
 CEYLON 
 
 a very short time, and we had to drive home in 
 the dark. 
 
 I was up early the following morning, and at 
 7 A.M. started on a delightful two-mile walk. It was 
 hot, but not too hot, and everything was wringing 
 wet, after heavy rain in the night. I took my way 
 along LadyHorton's Drive, a road which runs right 
 round the lake, and winds about the base of the 
 
 hills. This lake, formed by building a dam across 
 the valley, was made by the last Raja of Kandy, 
 and is a delightful sheet of water ; its banks are 
 covered with luxuriantly growing trees, bright 
 flowers and flowering shrubs. 
 
 On the far side of the lake, upon a hill, and a 
 little above the road, stands a Buddhist temple, 
 very curious and picturesque, though not nearly as 
 important as the famous temple of the "Dalada " or 
 sacred tooth. As I approached the latter temple I
 
 THE TEMPLE OF THE TOOTH 393 
 
 fell in with a Mohammedan from Colombo, who 
 told me that he was a clerk in the Treasury, on sick 
 leave. He was a pleasant old fellow, and had his 
 little boy of five with him. The father wore a tall, 
 thimble-shaped, red and white straw hat, without 
 brim, on the top of his shaven head, and the usual 
 coloured cloth in the place of trousers. We visited 
 the temple together, and he told me many interesting 
 things about this celebrated shrine, which is one of 
 the most sacred spots of Buddhism, and was built 
 to receive the tooth of Buddha, brought to Ceylon 
 by a devout princess, about fifteen hundred years 
 ago, hidden for safety in her hair. Here the tooth 
 remained until, in 1560, when it was solemnly 
 burnt by the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa. A 
 new tooth appeared soon after, and is still in the 
 temple, but it measures about two inches in 
 length, and has the appearance of having belonged 
 to a crocodile. 
 
 The temple, though not grand or imposing, is 
 one of the most picturesque buildings in Ceylon, 
 and when crowded with dark figures, as it was a 
 few hours later, simply gorgeous. It stands with its 
 back against a wooded hill ; at its feet lies the long 
 moat or tank, alive with tortoises, and crossed by a 
 small bridge between two carved stone elephants. 
 Above, an enclosing battlemented wall looks out 
 upon a fiat expanse of the greenest grass, dotted 
 over with trees, and fed down by a few humped 
 cows. 
 
 Several flights of steps lead to an elaborately 
 sculptured doorway and within an ante-chapel, or
 
 394 CEYLON 
 
 vestibule, opening on the inner side to a court- 
 yard, I managed to get a sketch. In the centre 
 of the courtyard, and occupying the greater part 
 of it, is the sacred building, a kind of Holy of 
 Holies, containing seven shrines of diminishing 
 size, in which the relic is hidden. No ordinary 
 mortal may pass the veiled doorway of this sanc- 
 tuary. This mysterious entrance formed the centre 
 of my sketch. The projecting roof above is sup- 
 ported by massive wooden pillars, whilst the walls, 
 corbels and ceilings are profusely decorated in 
 bright colours with painted figures, grotesque 
 monsters and floral patterns. To one side of the 
 steps, guarding, as it were, the approach, stands 
 a grotesque figure of a demon-tiger, in high 
 relief. 
 
 At the foot of the steps is a circular carved 
 stone, like an inverted soup-plate let into the 
 pavement. This is one of the stones popularly 
 known in Ceylon as moon-stones, and quite 
 peculiar to the Island, nothing of the sort having 
 been found in India or elsewhere. They are usually 
 elaborately carved with processions of animals and 
 rich scroll work. Upon it an orange-robed priest 
 knelt at his devotions, whilst an everchanging 
 crowd of silent, shoeless worshippers came and 
 went in endless succession, all provided with 
 votive offerings of flowers. These, lying about in 
 shallow baskets, were being sold at every corner 
 of the temple, making patches of bright colour on 
 the floor, and filling the air with sweet perfume. 
 The worshippers were very interesting to watch ;
 
 BUDDHISM 395 
 
 they were devout in manner, and some of their 
 attitudes of worship were very beautiful. 
 
 Buddhism was first preached in Ceylon by 
 Mahinda, son of King Asoka, about B.C. 250. At 
 the Buddhist Council of Patna it was deter- 
 mined to send out missionaries to spread the 
 religion of Buddha, and the king's son was one 
 of the first to go, accompanied by his sister, a 
 Buddhist nun. The Buddhism of Ceylon is 
 amongst the purest and simplest now in existence, 
 but even there has been much corrupted and com- 
 plicated by additions, especially by the absorption 
 of demon-worship from the old original religion 
 of the Sinhalese. The Buddhists of Ceylon, like 
 those of Burma and Siam, follow the teachings 
 of the Lesser Vehicle, that is to say of the scrip- 
 tures known as the Hina-Yana, whereas the 
 Buddhists of the north adhere to the Greater 
 Vehicle or Maha-Yana, which contains, besides 
 the original scriptures, many books of Commen- 
 taries on them. The corruptions of the Maha- 
 Yana have nevertheless to some extent penetrated 
 to Ceylon, and the Buddhism found there is very 
 far removed from the original ascetic and severe 
 philosophy of Sakya Muni. No doubt that system 
 was too arid, and had too little of the true charac- 
 teristics of a religion about it to satisfy the wants 
 and aspirations of the heart of the ordinary com- 
 mon mortal. Out of the Buddha's agnostic philo- 
 sophy, therefore, has arisen a polytheistic religion, 
 with priests and temples, gods and demons, which 
 is that prevailing here.
 
 396 CEYLON 
 
 The little town of Kandy itself possesses no 
 fine buildings or architectural features worthy of 
 note; but the irregularity of its low buildings, the 
 bright awnings, the deep shadows in the frontless 
 shops, the fruit and other wares, the overhanging 
 palms, the stray yellow and crimson croton bushes, 
 and above all the people, with their many-tinted 
 skins, varying from Indian red to chocolate, and 
 
 A STREET BARBEK 
 
 their scanty, but many-coloured clothes, form an 
 ever changing melange of colour, and a study in 
 movement which are in the highest degree fasci- 
 nating and picturesque. I sat myself down in the 
 street, and, to the amusement of the little urchins 
 of the neighbourhood, naked and fat, endeavoured 
 to portray a representative bit of Kandy life, 
 though I was unfortunately unable to introduce 
 either crotons or palms on this occasion. 
 
 Knowing that a friend in England had a coffee 
 plantation in this neighbourhood, and finding that 
 Pallekelly, seven miles off, belonged to a person 
 of the same name, we started, at 7.30 the next
 
 PALLEKELLY 397 
 
 morning, to drive there. After two false starts, 
 due to difficulties with the horses, we finally left 
 with a pair which got over the ground well, but 
 we had wasted an hour, and it was now 8.30. We 
 had the honour and glory of a syce to run with 
 us ; but he sat at our feet most of the way. He 
 wore a red turban and a pair of very old 
 Gordon tartan trousers, cut short at the 
 knee. The drive, most of the way by the 
 river side, is very beautiful, passing 
 through every variety of wooded land- 
 scape, with here and there a hamlet of 
 native huts half buried amongst the palms 
 and jack-fruit-trees, beneath the shade of 
 w T hich were goats, and babies and chickens, 
 hobbled by a string to a piece of wood. 
 Beyond the orange-coloured river, end-" 
 less forests stretch away to ridges of beautiful 
 blue mountains. 
 
 After driving about six miles we came to a 
 ferry in which horses, trap and all, were punted 
 across, and almost immediately after entered the 
 plantation of Pallekelly. On arrival we found that 
 the estate was the property, not of our friend but of 
 his brother, who was absent, and we were in some 
 doubt as to our welcome, coming unexpectedly 
 and as strangers, but were quite put at our ease by 
 the very kind reception given us by Mr. Vollar, 
 the manager, whose wife was a daughter of Mr. 
 Tytler, to whom the estate originally belonged, 
 a celebrated planter, and the first cultivator of 
 cocoa. Mr. Vollar had just come in (ten o'clock)
 
 398 CEYLON 
 
 from his morning's work, but put on his hat to 
 take us out and show us some of the mysteries of 
 cocoa-growing. 
 
 On this estate coffee is almost a thing of the 
 past, and there is little tea grown ; it is almost 
 entirely given over to the cultivation of cocoa, 
 which seems to thrive well here. The chief crop 
 is gathered in the autumn, but a small crop is 
 also picked in the early summer, and this we saw 
 ripening whilst the tiny little flower for the 
 autumn fruit (it gro\vs straight from the stem of 
 the plant) was coming out. He showed us how 
 the young cocoa plants are protected from the sun 
 by branches from other trees, and what the seed 
 or cocoa-nibs are like inside the great pod ; also 
 how india-rubber is gathered, and how the fungus 
 in the coffee leaf shows itself. The heat drove us 
 in at about eleven o'clock, and then we were intro- 
 duced to Mrs. Vollar, and found that we had 
 many friends and interests in common. 
 
 Sketching in the tropics I found no easy matter 
 on account of vegetation which clothes the whole 
 face of the world in the richest greens. Nothing- 
 is more beautiful to the eye than this verdure, but 
 it is hard to paint, and moreover it was all new to 
 me. I attempted a sketch, but with indifferent 
 success, of the jungle-clothed mountains around 
 Pallekelly, culminating in a dark peak about 
 which the clouds were beginning to gather. One 
 feature of the scene which added interest, though 
 it enhanced my difficulties, was the extraordinary 
 variety of vegetation. Every tree seemed to have
 
 THE TEMPLE FLOWER 399 
 
 a neighbour of a different species, most of them 
 festooned with creepers and parasites; and above 
 them, at intervals, projected the feathery heads of 
 a dozen different kinds of palm, and beneath were 
 broad-leaved bananas and a dense undergrowth 
 with ferns and spiky grass appearing wherever the 
 tangle would permit. 
 
 On our return drive our syce picked us all kinds 
 of flowers scarlet and crimson hibiscus, the 
 temple flower, or champac (Michilia chainpacci), 
 which belongs to the Magnolia order, and is like 
 a magnified orange-blossom with a yellow centre. 
 It smells delicious, and is much used in the Bud- 
 dhist temples. Amongst other common plants 
 which grow in the hedgerows are the sensitive 
 plant, and a little orange and pink flower, like a 
 bramble, which smells like black currants. This is 
 the Lantarna, one of the greatest pests the planter 
 of Ceylon has to contend against. It was, I believe, 
 originally imported from America, and, like many 
 other things not indigenous, it grows with such 
 vigour and strength that, in places, it has prac- 
 tically taken possession of the land and is very 
 hard to exterminate. 
 
 We had rain and thunder daily, and every day 
 they came on at an hour earlier than the previous 
 clay. It was the time of the little monsoon, and 
 the weather might clear at any moment, then it 
 would be very fine for two or three weeks, until 
 the great south-west monsoon broke. 
 
 Two days later wewent to stay with the Governor 
 at the Pavilion, where we were a party of five, our
 
 400 
 
 CEYLON 
 
 kind host, Captain Christopher, the A. B.C., and 
 Mr. Liddell, Sir Arthur's secretary and ourselves. 
 The Pavilion is a large white classical building 
 with deep verandahs, long wide corridors and big 
 rooms with windows in every possible place. It is 
 merely a wing of the house originally planned, 
 and the hall is used as a dining-room, a great 
 room with twelve doorways into 
 verandahs and corridors, always 
 kept open to court the air. The 
 " peons " or government messen- 
 gers, and servants, whose livery 
 consists of white linen coats with 
 red, gold, and black lace, a linen 
 cloth round their waists and down 
 to the feet, which are bare, and 
 the usual tortoiseshell combs, 
 waited at dinner, as well as a 
 magnificent black man with a red 
 turban and a twisted ivory boar's 
 tusk hanging on his breast. He 
 was his Excellency's Fijian valet, 
 a tremendous hero among the 
 ladies' maids at home, and said 
 to be a great hand at traveller's tales. When he 
 was in Europe he went with his master to Den- 
 mark, and there, before an august assemblage 
 including many crowned heads, was called upon to 
 show how to " make fire " according to the Fijian 
 method. On returning to his native land he told 
 many tales too good to be true, but the only one 
 he could not get his compatriots to believe was 
 
 A GOVERNMENT-HOUSE 
 PEON
 
 THE PAVILION GARDEN 401 
 
 the veracious account of his making fire before the 
 Kings and Emperors of Europe. 
 
 We made acquaintance with some excellent fruit 
 which I had never seen before, including guavas 
 and the mangosteen. This is a dark purple fruit, 
 the size of an orange, with light green excres- 
 cences at the point where the fruit joins the stalk. 
 The part eaten is the centre, which is snow-white, 
 and in form like six or seven pips of an orange, 
 embedded in a soft rose-coloured substance about 
 a quarter of an inch thick, which intervenes between 
 the white centre and the rind. 
 
 The great charm of the Pavilion lies in the gar- 
 den, full of cinnamons and nutmegs, with gardenias 
 growing like roses, and choice and curious trees and 
 shrubs about delightful green lawns. It is difficult 
 to remember all their names, but amongst others 
 Sir Arthur pointed out the tallow-candle tree, which 
 has a little white lily-shaped flower springing 
 straight out of the stem, and fruit which bears a 
 most extraordinary resemblance to that homely 
 household necessary ; a fine specimen of the fan- 
 shaped traveller's palm, with its great flat leaves, 
 at the base of which the thirsty traveller may find a 
 reservoir of water ; and a huge cotton-tree, with its 
 straight wide-spreading branches ; it is a deciduous 
 tree, and was then without leaves, but had a sprink- 
 ling of large crimson flowers. Beneath it were 
 tethered two beautiful little deer and a fawn, which 
 Sir Arthur fed with plantains. They were quite 
 tame, and ate the fruit out of his hand. 
 
 The Secretaries lived in a bungalow in the gar- 
 
 3 E
 
 402 CEYLON 
 
 den, and they told us that when they walked home 
 at night they carried lanterns, in order to see and 
 avoid the snakes, of which there are many, includ- 
 ing two poisonous kinds, the cobra and the tic- 
 plonga,a name applied to several species ofviperine 
 snakes, one of them being of a brilliant emerald- 
 green colour. 
 
 One morning at 6.30, before the sun had quite 
 penetrated through the thick mists, we found our- 
 selves, a party of four, in the four-seated victoria, 
 bowling along the Peradeniya road. Theplan was to 
 drive about seven miles, there to meet riding 
 horses, visit three temples among the hills, meet 
 the carriage again in another valley, and drive 
 home. It was a delightful expedition, and gave us 
 an insight into the byways of Ceylon, which, but 
 for Sir Arthur, we should never have had. The 
 weather was brilliant and hot until we rejoined the 
 carriage at 2.30, and then a deluge of rain burst 
 upon us, and it was all that we could do to keep 
 dry. At the place where we took to the saddle we 
 came across two elephants, the first we had seen in 
 Ceylon, engaged in some agricultural work. 
 
 My companion was mounted on Sir Arthur's 
 favourite pony, Janet, which has won many races in 
 the island in her day, and was a pretty little beast. 
 I rode with Sir Arthur, followed by his two syces, 
 on foot, as their custom is. They wear white tunics 
 and short trousers to the knee, below is bare leg 
 and shoeless foot. The Governor being in mourn- 
 ing they wore black turbans and cummerbunds. 
 One of them carried a plume of horse-hair to whisk
 
 GALANGOLLA 
 
 403 
 
 away the importunate fly from his Excellency's 
 horse. We had a most varied ride up hill and down 
 dale, skirting paddy-fields with dun-coloured 
 buffaloes wallowing in the wet mud, through 
 dense jungle, a tangle of palms, bananas, jack-fruit 
 trees, bamboos, creepers, in shade and sunlight, 
 past hamlets and scattered cottages, with half-nude 
 people standing to stare at or to salaam to the 
 Governor. 
 
 Here and there we got fine views of abrupt and 
 peaked hills, blue in the distance, and densely 
 clothed with forest, except where tea-planters had 
 scarified and disfigured the hill sides ; 
 here and there the red rocky soil 
 showed through. 
 
 About three miles brought us to 
 the first Buddhist temple of Galan- 
 golla, a comparatively modern build- 
 ing, but in a very remarkable position, 
 under the shadow of a huge boulder 
 rock. As we approached, we were met 
 by an important native, the head of a 
 district, who showed us over the 
 temple. We had heard that he would 
 appear in native dress with a quaint ONE OF THE CROWD 
 hat like that of the great Panjandrum 
 covered with gold lace, but he apparently preferred 
 European costume, and, instead of being a thing of 
 beauty, he looked with the white cloth round his 
 legs and a black coat like a grocer's assistant. 
 
 The exterior of this temple is built in a mongrel 
 Italian style, and is whitewashed. We entered to
 
 404 CEYLON 
 
 find ourselves in a dark vaulted chamber, opening 
 into a long slip of a room, containing a colossal re- 
 cumbent figure of Buddha, very gaudily painted. 
 It must have been twenty-five feet in length. At the 
 head and the feet were large upright figures, and 
 all over the walls paintings of Buddhas and saints, 
 drawn in a very archaic style, and gaudy in colour. 
 In the first chamber, also frescoed, is kept a silver 
 tabernacle, in which is deposited the sacred relic. 
 On high days it is carried forth upon the back of an 
 elephant. The chief figure and shrine of Buddha 
 was, however, upstairs, amongst a crowd of yellow- 
 robed priests and natives. The bell-shaped dagoba 
 in the centre of the chamber is the permanent 
 abode of the relic, and is hung with jewelled offer- 
 ings, and surrounded by smaller gilt replicas of it- 
 self of all sizes. Around the room, like Egyptian 
 mummies, are arranged stiff painted figures of 
 saints, moulded in plaster, and larger than life. 
 Amongst them, but much smaller, is the figure of 
 the still living founder of the temple. We tried to 
 get some explanation from the priests as to the 
 meaning of certain frescoes illustrating the life of 
 Buddha, but they could not agree upon any consis- 
 tent account. I found on inquiry that Dagoba a 
 word the meaning of which mystified me consider- 
 ably is really synonymous with the Pagoda, 
 familiar from childish days as representing all the 
 magic of the East. Both words are corruptions of 
 the Pali word Dagaba. Originally a Dagoba was a 
 casket made to contain some relic of the Buddha or 
 some specially venerated follower. These caskets
 
 DAGOBAS 
 
 405 
 
 were placed inside a Chaitya or Stupa, a structure 
 of a conical shape tapering upwards, built either 
 inside an assembly hall or in the open. Eventually, 
 
 A DAGOBA AT KANDY 
 
 the Dagoba or Pagoda came to mean the whole 
 monument as well as the relic casket inside it, and 
 it was used as a temple or place of worship. There 
 are Dagobas of every size, two of the largest being
 
 406 CEYLON 
 
 the enormous Rangoon Pagoda, and the Dagoba at 
 Anuradhapura, in Ceylon. The original Dagobas 
 were generally bell- shaped, and the usual form in 
 Ceylon is of that shape still ; but as time passed 
 the shape sometimes became modified, and they 
 were made more and more elaborate : the later ones 
 are often raised upon a base of one or more tiers of 
 masonry, and are much decorated generally with 
 images of the Buddha and ending in tapering 
 finials of umbrella-shaped ornament. 
 
 Having seen the temple, the Governor took 
 some photographs, and I made a sketch. The rest of 
 the party seemed to get a great deal of satisfaction 
 out of the milk from some green cocoa-nuts, called 
 in this state corumbas. We then rode on to the 
 temple of Gadaladenya, passing on the way another 
 ruder temple, covered outside with rough life-sized 
 representations of elephants. 
 
 When riding through a clearing in the forest I 
 noticed a brilliant green bush with gorgeous 
 crimson flowers upon it ; and when I came quite 
 close I saw upon its branches a very beautiful 
 chameleon, blinking in the sun. It had a brilliant 
 green body and a crimson head, exactly matching 
 the bush. There appearto be quantitiesof leechesin 
 these parts, and several of our horses which had been 
 standing in swampy ground were bitten by them. 
 
 Gadaladenya, quite the most picturesque of the 
 three temples we saw, is built upon the smooth 
 surface of a rock overlooking a valley and backed 
 by jungle. A huge Dagoba of stone protected by a 
 tiled roof stands a little in front of it. The temple is
 
 GADALADENYA 
 
 407 
 
 partly of very picturesque red brick, and elephants 
 of the size of ponies project from the wall, cut in the 
 brick, and helped out with plaster. The pillars and 
 other details about the entrance to the temple are 
 also ornamented with sculpture, and within is a 
 colossal seated figure of Buddha, in the conven- 
 
 A SINHALESE TEMPLE, GADALADENYA 
 
 tional attitude of meditation, surrounded by offer- 
 ings. Buddha is usually represented in one of three 
 seated attitudes, either with his hands crossed in 
 front of himincontemplation,orwith his righthand 
 raised signifying teaching, or with the same hand 
 pointing downwards in the act of renouncing the 
 world : his right arm and shoulder are always bare, 
 and his robes are draped from his left shoulder over 
 his left side. It was getting very hot, so, after pho- 
 tographing and sketching, we hurried on through 
 the jungle to Lanka Telika,a temple finely situated 
 high above the valley, and approached through
 
 4 o8 CEYLON 
 
 groves of cocoa-nut palms by flights of rude steps 
 partly cut in the rock itself. More elaborate 
 refreshments were here provided for us by the 
 Rhatamahatmer, or head of the district, and as we 
 had had our early tea at six and it was now past 
 noon, we were very thankful for his milk, oranges, 
 and biscuits. We sat in a little shed in front of the 
 temple, with a grand view over forest and blue 
 
 ( Teaching) 
 
 (Contemplating) \ (Renouncing the Wor/c/J 
 
 THE THREE USUAL ASPECTS OF THE SEATED BUDDHA 
 
 hills ; but the clouds were already rolling up and 
 warned us to hasten on our way. 
 
 We had about five miles to ride to the carriage, 
 along a winding and picturesque road with ever- 
 changing views, but the quickly gathering clouds 
 overhead distracted our attention, and before long 
 the rain was upon us. 
 
 Though it was somewhat damping to our sight- 
 seeing ardour, it was very beautiful, especially from 
 a height, to watch the great rain-clouds blowing up 
 from the sea every afternoon and culminating in a 
 deluge of rain. The clear blue sky of the morning 
 gradually becomes flecked with white woolly 
 clouds, and shadows travel rapidly over the sunny
 
 THE LITTLE MONSOON 409 
 
 green landscape. On they come thicker and thicker, 
 the white turns to grey, the blue sky rapidly dis- 
 appears, and the grey gives place to black, casting 
 the whole landscape into a deep blue gloom, then 
 a nebulous mass, more dense than its predecessors, 
 charged with electricity, sweeps over the high 
 mountains, there is a vivid flash of forked fire and 
 an almost simultaneous roar of thunder, and a 
 deluge of water falls in a great grey veil over hill 
 and vale, and swirling onwards warns us that no 
 time must be lost in seeking shelter if we wish to 
 preserve a dry thread to our backs. 
 
 We reached the little hamlet where the carriage 
 was waiting, and were conducted by the head man 
 of the village to his house, where the luncheon 
 basket had already found its way. The verandah 
 was hung with white sheets, and all the chairs were 
 covered with white cloth of different kinds. This 
 is a great mark of honour to a distinguished 
 person. The old gentleman our host was a 
 quaint figure ; he had a good deal of grey hair 
 about him, and was clothed about the middle with 
 one garment. On his head he wore a small cap, 
 which from his constant and abject salaaming was 
 generally about the level of his waist. 
 
 I used to go out when at the Pavilion at 6 A.M., 
 and I have seldom done any sketching in more 
 pleasant circumstances. My friends at the Secre- 
 tary's bungalow would find me out at some temple 
 gateway or by the lake side, and send a dignified 
 peon with a kind message or some refreshment, 
 when they thought I should be weary, or a choice 
 
 3 F
 
 4io 
 
 CEYLON 
 
 cigar in an envelope with " On Her Majesty's 
 Service " stamped upon it. 
 
 Close to the Pavilion is the ancient Palace of 
 the Kings of Kandy, which the Governor took us 
 to see. Originally it was a massive building with 
 thick walls and ornamented with sculptured 
 figures of the sun, the moon and elephants ; but 
 
 A SHOP IN KANDY 
 
 what remains of the structure has been patched up, 
 and with the addition of a deep verandah covered 
 with creepers serves as the Government Agent's 
 house. Beyond it, we came to the Court House, a 
 building open on all sides to the air, of dark brown 
 wood with a deep tiled roof, supported by pillars 
 and beams, most beautifully and elaborately carved 
 with intricate patterns, the corbels terminating in 
 representations of the lotus. The pillars are cut in 
 sections, rectangular and octagonal sided. Here in
 
 THE MAHAWELLI GANGHA 411 
 
 this beautiful hall our friend Judge Lawrie held 
 his court, and there I found him, somewhat late in 
 the day, at work. We then paid a visit to the 
 Temple of the Tooth, and Sir Arthur took us into 
 the library attached to it, which contains many 
 native books with elaborate silver bindings, or with 
 lacquer covers. The books are written on palm- 
 leaves cut into strips, about 18 inches to 2 feet 
 long by 2^ inches broad, and the leaves are strung 
 together by a cord. From the balcony around the 
 library we looked down upon the tank and watched 
 the tortoises swimming about. 
 
 This afternoon for the first time it cleared up, and 
 at 4.30 we took a charming drive by the terraced 
 road which winds through the forest-covered hill 
 at the back of the Pavilion, and along Lady 
 Gordon's and Lady Horton'sdrives. The views over 
 the valley of the Mahawelli Gangha river eastwards 
 towards the blue mountains were exquisite, and 
 the colouring seemed to me far more intense than 
 that of any other landscape that I had ever seen. 
 
 Before leaving for Colombo we paid a visit to 
 Judge Lawrie at Peradeniya, our baggage going 
 before in a bullock cart. His house was an old- 
 fashioned one-storeyed bungalow, consisting of a 
 row of rooms with deep verandahs on either side, 
 and surrounded by a good garden and lawns dotted 
 over with the usual mango and jack-trees. It looks 
 eastward, over cocoa-nutgroves and tea plantations, 
 towards the steep wooded hills, which begin to rise 
 close by. To the south there is a pretty distant view. 
 
 After a very hot night, and a strenuous encounter
 
 4 i2 CEYLON 
 
 with mosquitoes, our host took us before breakfast 
 next morning, to inspect a neighbouring tea factory. 
 It is interesting to see both the plant itself growing 
 and the process by which it is prepared for the 
 market. The first three leaves of each shoot are 
 picked, then dried on trays of jute, where they partly 
 ferment, then rolled in a semi-hot condition by a 
 huge rotary roller; after this they are shaken about 
 and dried in a hot close machine, and finally passed 
 over a sieve containing holes of three sizes. The 
 small leaf at the top of the shoot, the second, and 
 the third and largest leaf, are by this process sorted 
 and separated. The small leaves form the finest, 
 and the large the coarsest tea. 
 
 Whilst I was at the bungalow I found that a 
 little swallow (Hirundo javanicd) with a red breast 
 had built a nest on the ceiling of my room, and he 
 came flying in and out through the ventilator above 
 the window. Some of the bees of Ceylon are black 
 and as large as stagbeetles, and there are no end 
 of Palm squirrels (Sciurus palmarum] in the trees, 
 tiny little mouse-coloured fellows with dark stripes 
 down their backs. There were dozens of them in 
 the trees by our window at the Pavilion, and they 
 used to chase one another up and down the 
 branches like boys let loose from school. 
 
 When we were shown some photographs, in 
 opening the frame of one of them, we discovered 
 within, between the doors and the glass, a little 
 wasp's nest made of hard red clay. On taking it off 
 we found the grub and six or seven spiders laid up 
 in store for its provision. It was in the act of con-
 
 MR. CAMERON 413 
 
 suming one when we discovered it. By the time the 
 larder is exhausted the wasp is fledged and ready to 
 make his appearance in the world. The nest was 
 about one and a half inch square. 
 
 We packed up our traps at noon on the following 
 day, and, with a coolie to each box, marched to the 
 Peradeniya Station, two hundred yards off, to catch 
 the train. 
 
 We had some very severe showers on our way 
 down to Colombo in the plain, passing once more 
 all the glorious views which the line affords the 
 dense jungle, the new green paddy-fields, the bright 
 croton-planted stations, and the red water-lilies in 
 the ponds. At the last station before reaching 
 Colombo we were met by Mr. Hardinge Cameron, 
 at that time Mayor of Colombo, the son of Mrs. 
 Cameron, whose beautiful photographs are so 
 well known. He kindly drove us into the town 
 through extensive cinnamon groves or plantations, 
 now left very much to look after themselves, and 
 out beyond the town boundary, through a bit of 
 jungle, past some native villages or hamlets. We 
 bowled along smooth red roads, between groves of 
 lovely trees, and avenues of palms. Flowering 
 shrubs and bright-leaved plants covered and sur- 
 rounded the bungalows, each snugly situated in its 
 own compound. 
 
 We spent a day or two at the hotel during Sir 
 Arthur's absence at Ratnapura, having unfortu- 
 nately been obliged to give up going there with 
 him. We had some lovely evening drives with Mr. 
 Cameron and his friend Mr. Williams, and dined
 
 414 CEYLON 
 
 with him in his charming bungalow close to one 
 of the many lakes. 
 
 One day he took me to see the market,which sur- 
 rounds the town-hall. It is rich in sketchable bits 
 for an artist, in spite of the fact that the chief build- 
 ings are made of cast iron. The subtle litheness of 
 the figures and the profusion and gorgeous colours 
 of the fruits are most attractive. There I set to 
 work to make a sketch, watched over by a mayoral 
 peon in white linen, with a green ribbon and silver 
 badge across his shoulder. In spite of torrents of 
 rain I had some golf on the links by the sea, but 
 found that the climate or the borrowed clubs did 
 not suit my play. 
 
 On Sir Arthur's return we migrated to the cool 
 lofty corridors and halls of Government House. It 
 is a large building, and to find our rooms we had 
 to walk what seemed an interminable distance from 
 the hall, along a verandah, with the rain pouring 
 down in torrents outside, to a distant wing of the 
 house. But the rooms, when we got to them, were 
 delightfully big and airy. 
 
 The Governor was, as always, most kind, and 
 told us all about his visit to Ratnapura. We 
 listened, not without many a regret, to his account 
 of the fine native dresses and other splendours of 
 the Durbar which we had missed. 
 
 When we went to smoke his Excellency gave 
 me a volume (1855-6) of his father's* corres- 
 pondence to look at. He was editing the letters, 
 and seemed engrossed in the subject. I found 
 
 * The fourth Earl of Aberdeen.
 
 QUEEN'S HOUSE 415 
 
 much that was most interesting in the book, espe- 
 cially about the time of Lord Aberdeen 's resigna- 
 tion. The letter he received from the Queen on that 
 occasion is quite touching. Many of the links be- 
 tween the letters are filled up by extracts from 
 Sir Arthur's own most interesting and beautifully 
 written journal. It containsan excellent description 
 of his journey with Gladstone to the Ionian Islands 
 and Greece when Gladstone distinguished him- 
 self by making an admirable speech in Italian. 
 
 Queen's House is aratherdull building, standing 
 in the middle of the town. Its redeeming feature is 
 the garden, and on our last day I made a sketch of 
 the giant banyan tree in it, and of the tame pelican 
 and the crane who patrol the bright lawn of the 
 Queen's House and are most amusing in their odd 
 ways, as are also the numerous crows with dark 
 grey necks (Cormis splei'idens) which swarm about 
 Colombo. They are daring thieves, and one flew 
 into the dining-room before we had left it, and 
 tried to fly away with something, while Bangle, 
 his Excellency's black dachshund, was being fed. 
 Bangle went everywhere with the Governor, 
 whether riding, driving, walking, or working. He 
 sits outside the chapel waiting for him, and plants 
 himself upon the desk, or walks about amongst 
 the papers on his writing table. 
 
 In the afternoon Sir Arthur drove us to the 
 reservoir. It is east of the town, upon rising 
 ground, and commands a splendid view to the 
 mountains eastwards, and westwards over the town 
 to the sea. The curious feature in this view is that
 
 416 
 
 CEYLON 
 
 although it overlooks a city of 120,000 inhabitants 
 there is not a house to be seen no sign of dwell- 
 ing or of human life except a church spire, a dome, 
 and two or three tall chimneys. Everything is 
 hidden awayamongst the umbrella-like palm-trees. 
 We dined early, and had to bustle off imme- 
 diately after to the harbour, carrying with us a 
 magnificent orchid (Dendrobium macarthii) which 
 Sir Arthur had cut on his journey from Ratna- 
 pura, in the jungle, on purpose for us. It is a 
 splendid mauve flower, growing in clusters on a 
 long stem. He had to cut off a piece of the branch 
 of the tree in order to get it. Captain Christopher 
 accompanied us on board our steamer in the 
 Government barge, rowed by eight swarthy natives. 
 We were not much too soon. We found Mr. 
 Cameron and Mr. Williams there, and we were 
 glad to have an opportunity to say good-bye and 
 thank them for their kindness. Then we had to 
 bid farewell to Christopher and to lovely Ceylon 
 with all its delights ; and so, pitching, we got out 
 of harbour. 
 
 IN COLOMBO HARBOBR
 
 A YOUNG ELEPHANT AT KANDY 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 CEYLON 
 
 EIGHT months later I awoke one December morn- 
 ing to find myself once more off the coast of Ceylon, 
 and going on deck saw the sun rise gloriously be- 
 hind Adam's Peak, which stood up amongst the 
 surrounding mountains clear against the Eastern 
 sky. 
 
 By 7 o'clock we were in Colombo harbour, and 
 Captain Pirie, Sir Arthur Havelock's A.D.C., had 
 come on board with a kind note of welcome from 
 Lady Havelock. We left the ship in the Governor's 
 familiar boat, with its eight swarthy rowers, and 
 made our way to the shore. 
 
 Our host and hostess had gone to the Pavilion 
 for Christmas, and in the course of the day we 
 started for Kandy to join them. 
 
 The heat,which had been oppressive in Colombo,
 
 4 i8 CEYLON 
 
 gave place to delicious coolness as we ascended to 
 the higher altitude. 
 
 The party at the Pavilion consisted, besides the 
 family and ourselves, of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert 
 Oakley; Captain Pirie, the A.D.C., and the Secre- 
 tary, Mr. Gerald Brown: with them, in a tempera- 
 ture of 80, we spent a very pleasant Christmas- 
 tide, taking part in all the time-honoured customs 
 that are associated at home with bare trees and 
 frostbound earth, under a canopy of blue and sur- 
 rounded by that wealth of vegetation which only the 
 tropics can give. Lady Havelock's mongoose 
 formed a not unimportant member of the party. 
 This funny little beast was a great pet, crying to be 
 let out of its cage, and then rushing about, playing 
 with the dogs, with whom it was quite able to hold 
 its own. Now and then it used to get on to the lun- 
 cheon table and steal a piece of meat or a bunch of 
 grapes off some one's plate, and was not the least 
 abashed by anything. 
 
 We spent many pleasant days at the Pavilion, 
 partly amongst the surroundings of Kandy with 
 which we were familiar, and partly in long rides 
 and expeditions further afield. On one of these, to 
 the neighbourhood of Hangerinkette, I was much 
 astonished to notice the marvellous way in which 
 our native attendants, on foot and heavily laden, 
 would, unobserved, pass us on the road, though 
 we were on horseback, and arrive at the destination 
 first. 
 
 On another occasion we went to Dambool to see 
 the famous rock temples.
 
 ALU VIHARA 419 
 
 We started, a large party, in the Governor's 
 saloon for a twenty miles' run to Matale. Part of 
 the way I rode on the engine with Captain Pirie, 
 and greatly enjoyed the beautiful country, dense 
 woods alternating with stretches of paddy-fields 
 in the valleys, with small villages of mud huts 
 amongst the cocoa-nut groves, and bold mountains 
 rising beyond. On arriving at Matale we found the 
 carriages and red liveries waiting for us, and drove 
 off through the gay and picturesque little town, 
 thronged with natives in bright clothes, and two 
 
 READY TO START 
 
 miles beyond, along a well-shaded and level road, 
 to the Monastery of Alu Vihara. This monastery 
 consists of a series of small temples, occupying 
 wedge-shaped cavities in a group of gigantic gneiss 
 rocks, which at some remote period must have 
 fallen from the overhanging mountains behind 
 them. They stand on a height above the road, and 
 are approached by a winding path, up steep flights 
 of steps and over slopes of rock : a few minutes' 
 walk brought us face to face with them. 
 
 It is said that in this temple or temples scribes 
 were employed by a Sinhalese king to reduce to 
 writing the doctrines of Buddha. It is certainly 
 probable that writing was unknown at the time of 
 Buddha, and many people think that the canon
 
 420 CEYLON 
 
 of Buddhist scriptures, till then handed down 
 orally, was first written down in Ceylon about 
 B.C. 85. 
 
 In one of the rock chambers is a huge recumbent 
 figure of Buddha, some 40 feet in length, cut out 
 of the solid rock. The interior of the temples, pro- 
 fusely decorated, was being thickly repainted with 
 oil paint of the brightest colours. A law, passed by 
 Sir Arthur Gordon, compels the priests to render 
 a periodical account of the expenditure of their 
 funds, which are considerable, consequently they 
 were everywhere actively wielding the paint-brush 
 so as to make as much show as possible, and 
 carving new r effigies of Buddha. At the top of one 
 of these great rocks there is an artificial indenta- 
 tion, representing a huge footprint some three feet 
 long. This is, of course, one of the many footprints 
 of the founder of the faith to be found in Buddhist 
 countries; the most celebrated being that upon 
 Adam's Peak. To reach the indentation it is 
 necessary to climb up the face of the rock by 
 roughly-hewn steps. 
 
 Soon we heard the horn of the coach, a wag- 
 gonette with two horses, which we had engaged 
 to take us to Dambool, and we had to hurry down 
 to catch it, whilst the rest of our party returned to 
 Kandy. 
 
 The road slopes almost imperceptibly down- 
 wards, in a northerly direction, towards the 
 plain, and passes for the most part through thick 
 impenetrable jungle. We changed horses about 
 four times, and at one of the stopping-places we
 
 THE JUNGLE 421 
 
 found a clean, airy resthouse, where we got a cup 
 of tea. 
 
 Some of our horses had odd tricks, and the 
 natives had recourse to odder expedients for 
 getting them harnessed and under way. On one 
 occasion the horse was hidden behind a bend in 
 the road and the coach had to be drawn 100 yards 
 along it, without horses, to join him. With the 
 aid of a leather loop twisted tight round his nose 
 by means of a stick (a " twich ") he was harnessed 
 in less than no time, and as soon as the pole was 
 brought along side of him, the coach was started, 
 and two or three men running beside him fastened 
 the traces and pole-chain while he was going ; after a 
 few plunges, he went all right for the rest of the way. 
 
 Scattered about the country on either side of 
 the road were curious dome-shaped hills and rocks 
 of gneiss like those at Alu Vihara and those which 
 we had yet to see at Dambool : the rock itself is of 
 a warm-brown colour, full of crystals, and where 
 the surface is exposed to the weather becomes 
 quite black. 
 
 We passed some fine big cotton trees on our way, 
 and their splendid crimson bell-shaped flowers, 
 which come out before the leaves, like cherry or 
 peach-blossom, we greatly admired. I believe the 
 jungle through which we passed contains trees of 
 many different kinds, including ebony, ironwood 
 and satinwood, but we saw no others of any size. 
 Of flowers there were not many out just then ; 
 the most conspicuous was the Gloriosa superba 
 or jungle-flower, a climbing lily with a hand-
 
 422 
 
 CEYLON 
 
 some red and orange blossom ; but we noticed a 
 great variety of birds, and amongst them a 
 brilliant bright green bee-eater (inerops viridis), 
 about the size of a large thrush, and a fly-catching 
 bird (probably Decrurus ccerulescens) of far more 
 modest appearance black with a white waistcoat 
 
 THE TEMPLE AT DAM BOOL 
 
 and a long black tail. There were also the crow- 
 pheasant, a kind of cuckoo, a large dark bird about 
 the size of a small pheasant, with bronze wings, and 
 a small pigeon or dove, which flew about in front 
 of the coach and seemed very tame. Jungle-fowl, 
 one of the finest birds in the islands, hornbills, 
 and many other birds are also to be found there. 
 
 The sun was rapidly sinking as we approached 
 Dambool. A path to the left, just short of the
 
 DAMBOOL 423 
 
 village, strikes upwards over the rounded surface 
 of one of the gneiss rocks, then winds amongst 
 fallen boulders and bushes and up steep steps 
 towards another stretch of rock like the first; after 
 eight or ten minutes' walk we found ourselves at 
 the temple gate. Here the resthouse-keeper from 
 Dambool overtook us with a lantern, for when the 
 sun sinks it soon gets dark, and the way is far 
 from easy to find. 
 
 This cave temple, from its antiquity, its size 
 and the richness of its decoration, is the most re- 
 nowned in Ceylon ; it is divided into five chambers 
 of unequal size, formed in a natural wedge-shaped 
 cavity of the rock, and in front of this long cave 
 is a platform looking over the plain and the hills 
 westward and down the wooded slopes imme- 
 diately below. In the large trees, including, of 
 course, a sacred Bo-tree (Ficiis religiosa\ growing 
 on and about the edge of this platform, there are 
 crowds of monkeys chattering and swinging them- 
 selves from bough to bough. A richly sculptured 
 doorway opens into the first temple, in the least 
 deep part of the cave, where there is a colossal 
 recumbent figure of Buddha, about 40 feet long, 
 carved out of the rock ; his elbow rests on his 
 pillow, which is in creases, indicating the weight 
 which draws it down. This is the attitude which 
 represents the Buddha as sinking into complete 
 Nirvana. 
 
 The other temples entered from a balcony or 
 gallery, partly of rock and partly masonry are 
 larger, and crowded with figures of Buddha,.
 
 424 
 
 CEYLON 
 
 mostly seated, and with gigantic figures of some 
 of the Kings of Kandy. The walls and roof are 
 covered with oil paintings of angels standing on 
 clouds, with nimbi round their heads, illustrating 
 the history of Buddhism, the Landing of Wejayo, 
 the Preaching of Mahinda and the contest between 
 
 THE BALCONY IN FRONT OF THE TEMPLE 
 
 Destigaimanu and Elate, in which the combatants 
 are mounted on elephants. The table in front of 
 the great Dagoba, where the worshippers lay their 
 offerings of flowers, was covered with a cloth, 
 much stained by the surrounding lamps and 
 candles. I was attracted by a mark upon it, and 
 looking closer discovered it to be a large cotton 
 handkerchief with a printed portrait of Lord 
 Dufferin upon it.
 
 SINHALESE POISONS 425 
 
 By the time we had seen these temples and 
 a dripping well of clear water, which falls from the 
 middle of the ceiling into a small tank below, the 
 sun had set in a glory of gold, and the effect was 
 very striking as we looked out from the darkness 
 of the temple, through the pointed arch of the 
 doorway, the reflected light streaming in on dim 
 figures of worshippers and yellow-robed priests 
 flitting about. 
 
 As it was so dark it was no good loitering any 
 longer in this interesting spot, so we turned our 
 steps towards the village. With the aid of the 
 lantern we had no difficulty in finding the way, 
 through the one-street village of native mud 
 houses, thatched with palm leaves and nestling 
 amongst trees, to the resthouse in the centre of its 
 little lawn-surrounded compound. There we found 
 the Chief of Police, just arrived by a long road 
 journey from Trinkomalee. We dined together, 
 and he had some odd stories to tell about Sinhalese 
 prisoners. The reduction of prisoners' food was 
 one of the questions of the day in Ceylon : the 
 prisoners were said to have been hitherto too 
 well fed, and the prisons consequently had become 
 fuller than ever before. The prison diet included 
 chillies and other luxuries, and the prison curries 
 were celebrated for their excellence. Under a 
 new system the authorities were, very wisely, 
 trying to make the prison food a little less 
 attractive, and the result was that the prisoners 
 had made complaints and were petitioning the 
 authorities for a return to better fare. They said 
 
 3H
 
 426 CEYLON 
 
 that they came to prison on the understanding 
 that they were to have chillies and good curries, 
 and accused the Government of breach of contract 
 in not giving them what they thought they had 
 the right to expect. The women appear to be less 
 attracted by the good fare than the men, for there 
 were in the Island then only 25 women prisoners 
 as against 3000 men. 
 
 A friend at Kandy had strongly recommended 
 me not to leave Dambool without seeing the rock 
 fortress at Sigiri, eleven miles distant, so I pro- 
 ceeded to make arrangements, and eventually 
 found a man with a bullock cart, the only form of 
 conveyance, who agreed to provide me with a pair 
 of trotting bullocks and a light cart on payment of 
 fifteen rupees : he explained that he could not do 
 it for less, as it was necessary to send on two 
 extra coolies, six miles ahead, with the relay of 
 bullocks, on account of the elephants which stray 
 across the road at night, and might interfere with 
 the cattle if they had not sufficient protection. I 
 was also told that there were plenty of cheeta and 
 elk about Sigiri and its neighbourhood. 
 
 We were up betimes the following morning, and 
 I got under way at seven, but the light waggon 
 proved to be very much the reverse and too heavy 
 for the tiny bullocks to trot with, and those sent 
 on were the ordinary heavy goers ; however, the 
 road was in part a mere track through the thick 
 jungle, and so rough and circuitous, on account of 
 tree trunks, that I doubt whether we could have 
 trotted much even if we had had other kine. We
 
 BULLOCK CARTS 427 
 
 took three hours to do the eleven miles, and a 
 pretty tedious drive it was. The road is almost 
 level all the way, and the forest is so thick and 
 interlaced overhead with branches that nothing 
 could be seen beyond a few yards distant. 
 
 The ordinary bullock cart of Ceylon is a spring- 
 less affair, a mere platform on two wheels, with a 
 palmleaf hood projecting beyond it fore and aft. 
 On it a driver with taste, sometimes hangs a 
 
 SIGIRI RISING OUT OF THE JUNGLE 
 
 flower-pot or can, and in it plants a gourd or some 
 such plant, which trails all over the hood. We 
 had nothing of that sort, however. The resthouse- 
 keeper supplied me with a mattress and a pillow, 
 and if I did not lie down I had to sit cross-legged 
 or dangle my legs out at the back. The " boy " 
 who accompanied me as guide and interpreter 
 was incapable of acting in either capacity, for he 
 had never been to Sigiri, and his English vocabu- 
 lary was of the most limited. He was like a very 
 unattractive old woman, with a red petticoat and 
 grey hair in a knot at the back. A group of three 
 or four huts are the only human habitations to be 
 seen along the route.
 
 428 CEYLON 
 
 Sigiri is an immense rock, 400 feet in height, 
 with almost perpendicular or, in fact, overhanging 
 sides rising abruptly out of the plain, very much 
 in the same way that the Bass Rock emerges above 
 and out of the sea. In this rock-fortress the parri- 
 cide King Karyapa found asylum in the fifth 
 century, after obtaining the throne of Ceylon by 
 the murder of his father, Dhatu Sena. It stands 
 in the heart of the great central forest, and the 
 only habitation near it is an empty bungalow, 
 which affords shelter to any one who may wish 
 to stop there, but contains nothing whatever in 
 the form of furniture. A path from it leads to 
 the steep slopes which form the base of the rock. 
 On them are the remains of what was once a royal 
 palace. An immense boulder has had its top sliced 
 off to form the floor of a hall, which is still 
 surrounded by a roughly-moulded and hewn stone 
 cornice. Here and there are putlog holes, which 
 seem to imply a continuation in woodwork, and on 
 one side is a higher rock furnished with incised 
 steps which lead to a flat place on its summit, 
 with a hewn tank, about 10 feet by 5 feet, for 
 the storage of water. Close by I noticed a large 
 forest tree swaying about as if blown by a strong 
 wind ; on looking a second time I saw that its 
 branches were crowded with apes jumping from 
 bough to bough, some frightened, as I imagined, 
 by our approach, some simply swaying the branches 
 for fun. 
 
 A scramble over loose stones and along a narrow 
 gutter-like path hewn out of the steep side of the
 
 SIGIRI 
 
 429 
 
 rock, then a climb upon a bamboo ladder, brought 
 us to a gallery along the side of the rock with 
 a high masonry balustrade or wall on the outside 
 and the rock above projecting over head. This 
 gallery used, I believe, in former days to w r ind in 
 spiral fashion up to the top of the rock ; but now, 
 unfortunately, it has been broken down, and we 
 
 
 W~'- - -^-^" 
 
 soon came to an abrupt halt, with a deep drop in 
 front of us, where the wall and footway were broken 
 away. I had to content myself with the extremely 
 beautiful view towards Matale across the dense sea 
 of jungle which surrounds the rock. 
 
 Above this gallery, but only to be reached by 
 rope ladders, of which we had none, is a curious 
 cavity or pocket in the rock, with its ceiling covered 
 with frescoes representing, I was told, remarkably
 
 430 
 
 CEYLON 
 
 well-drawn life-sized figures. A namesake of mine 
 had recently climbed up to this pocket and had 
 made tracings of the frescoes ; he said the place was 
 now the stronghold of swallows and hornets, which 
 
 If 
 
 5) ^n & C~ 
 
 DEGALDURUWA 
 
 resent the intrusion of strangers. At the foot of 
 the rock is a marshy tank, the haunt of crocodiles. 
 The drive back was tedious and uneventful, 
 except that in a small forest village through which 
 I passed I encountered an albino woman : her hair 
 was light and colourless, and her skin was much 
 freckled, the simplicity of her costume accentuated
 
 PILGRIMS 431 
 
 the strangeness of her appearance. For the last 
 mile we found the road thronged with pilgrims 
 returning from Anuradhapura. A highly pictu- 
 resque and motley crew, with brilliant garments 
 and bright red umbrellas ; all the old people were 
 in bullock carts and the younger ones on foot ; 
 amongst them were many priests in their orange- 
 coloured robes. 
 
 I reached Dambool at five, with only just time 
 enough before nightfall to rush up to the temple 
 again and make a few pencil sketches. It waS quite 
 dark when I left the dim lights of the temple and 
 began my return walk. I soon found that it was 
 hopeless to try and find my way down the steep 
 rock, except by a more rapid descent than I cared 
 for, and I returned to the temple, where I found a 
 native sufficiently intelligent to understand what 
 I wanted, and with him as my guide and lighted 
 by a screw of paper dipped in tallow, which 
 smoked and smelled atrociously, we made our way 
 through the darkness and found a man from the 
 resthouse, at the bottom, looking for me with the 
 lantern. 
 
 In the Trincomalee bullock cart next morning 
 at seven we started back to Matale. On the road we 
 passed an elephant engaged in some agricultural 
 affairs. The country was looking beautiful, and the 
 distant hills blue and ethereal. 
 
 We breakfasted at the resthouse at Matale, and 
 there Captain Pirie's servant found us out. He 
 was a beautiful person, with a pea-green jacket and 
 a cream-coloured turban, and had come to Matale
 
 432 CEYLON 
 
 to see his little child, who was ill with measles. 
 To be followed by such a magnificent person threw 
 quite a halo of importance around us. He saw us 
 off at the station on our way back to the Pavilion, 
 
 DOORWAY IN THE TEMPLE OF DEGALDURUWA 
 
 and brought us a packet of tomatoes which he had 
 gathered in his garden. 
 
 In the early morning of New Year's Day, we 
 joined a large party in a most delightful ride. We 
 crossed the river by the ferry, three horses at a 
 time, then rode up a narrow path beside paddy- 
 fields, amongst scattered mud cottages and beneath 
 cocoa-nut palms, to the temple of Degalduruwa 
 Vihara, built in a niche under a great rock, like 
 Dambool on a small scale. The ante-temple is
 
 THE BO-TREE 433 
 
 supported by picturesque octagonal pillars. The 
 whole place in fact is very picturesque, and I 
 wished I had had more time for a sketch. A jolly 
 thick-set priest (he calls himself the incumbent 
 priest), who spoke a little English, showed us 
 round, and then took us past his o\vn house to a 
 platform above the rock where is a good Dagoba 
 and a fine Bo-tree. 
 
 The Bo- or Bodhi-trees, everywhere found grow- 
 ing near Buddhist temples, monasteries, or Dago- 
 bas, are peepul trees (Ficus religiosd). They are 
 especially venerated because Guatama Sakya Muni 
 acquired Buddhahood when meditating beneath 
 one at Buddha-Gaya. At Anuradhapura there 
 is a Bo-tree of special sanctity. The legend says 
 that Sangmitta, the sister of Mahinda, came to 
 Ceylon with him about B.C. 250 when he preached 
 Buddhism to the Sinhalese and, in a golden vase, 
 brought with her a branch of the sacred tree of 
 Buddha-Gaya. This was planted at Anuradhapura, 
 and the Buddhists of Ceylon fully believe that the 
 identical tree still exists there. All the other Bo- 
 trees of Ceylon are said to have been grown from it. 
 
 A few days later I started for Nuwera Eliya, 
 in dull and rainy weather, leaving Kandy by the 
 seven o'clock train. 
 
 The line turns off at Peradeniya, and gradually 
 rising passes through most varied scenery, 
 amongst paddy-fields and palm-groves, through 
 dense jungle, out of one valley into another, over 
 small passes, round hills, backwards and for- 
 wards, in and out, until I was quite confused
 
 434 
 
 CEYLON 
 
 as to the direction of my destination. About 
 half way a very splendid view broke upon us. The 
 mountains are very fine and bold. The train had 
 climbed high up on the steep side of one of them, 
 and we looked down, to a great depth, upon dense 
 jungle, then, higher, through a wide gap in the 
 range, to a far off sea of low broken hills with the 
 
 ON 1 THE WAY TO NU\VERA ELIYA 
 
 misty plain beyond. If it had been clear, I might 
 have seen the sea itself still further off. From time 
 to time, I caught glimpses of Adam's Peak, 
 amongst the clouds towering above all its neigh- 
 bours. 
 
 On all sides jungle was giving place to planta- 
 tion, and soon the whole poetry of the scene will 
 be spoiled by tea, but it still retains some of its 
 interest. 
 
 I reached Nanu Oya station, 5291 feet above 
 Kandy,* between 12.20 and i o'clock, and taking 
 
 * Nuwera Eliya is about 6210 ft. above sea level.
 
 NUWERA ELIYA 
 
 435 
 
 my place in the coach and, in a drizzle, began the 
 ascent of four miles to Nuwera Eliya, by a well 
 engineered mountain road, through a densely 
 wooded valley, reminding me of the New Zealand 
 bush; then, emerging on an upland valley, I reached 
 my destination, and found comfortable quarters at 
 the Club. After lunch, though the drizzle had 
 turned to a downpour, I engaged a trap and started 
 
 LOOKING AT THE TRAIN 
 
 for Kandapola, seven miles off, to visit a plantation 
 belonging to Mr. Frederick Gubbins. 
 
 The scattered bungalows of Nuwera Eliya, with 
 their thatched and shingle roofs and whitewashed 
 walls and chimneys, surrounded by bright gardens, 
 the dark foliaged trees, the gorse, the low swampy 
 ground, the golf links, and the mist about the 
 hills reminded me very much of Scotland. The 
 road I took must be a beautiful one in fine 
 weather ; it passes through a short, but fine gorge, 
 with a considerable waterfall. 
 
 At the end of six miles I was brought to a stand- 
 still and told that I must follow a footpath through
 
 436 CEYLON 
 
 thick grass to get to Kandapola. It was raining in 
 torrents, and as I did not appreciate the prospect of 
 the drive back with wet legs, Hooded about for some 
 expedientforprotectingthem: fortunately there were 
 two lonely shops (potiques as they call them here) 
 close by, so I looked into them to see what I could 
 get for extemporised gaiters. Nothing met my eye 
 but chillies, rice, and other grains and nuts, until at 
 last I caught sight of a grass basket, stuffed into the 
 roof to keep the wet out. I pointed to it and then 
 to my legs, and presently a fairly clean basket was 
 produced and cut in two ; my legs were bound up 
 in it with the aid of a bit of coir rope, and I started 
 well protected on my way. A pretty path amongst 
 rhododendron bushes and through woods, mostly 
 of gum trees, brought me to Mr. Gubbins' bun- 
 galow. I found him in " the store," and after a long 
 and pleasant talk with him he showed me over the 
 tea factory where the tea was being picked. He 
 introduced me to his wife, who gave me tea, and 
 he eventually escorted me back to the high road 
 and my dripping trap. 
 
 The following day I was up at six, and as the 
 weather was* then fine, though overcast, I ordered 
 my trap, and before long was on my way to the 
 celebrated Botanic Gardens at Hakgalla. We soon 
 drove into the clouds, and though we got out of 
 them again from time to time, I cannot say that I 
 saw the country under the most'favourable auspices. 
 
 There are great quantities of rhododendrons 
 about Nuwera Eliya, all of a deep crimson colour, 
 which must be most beautiful when they are in full
 
 HAKGALLA GARDENS 437 
 
 bloom in May. I only saw a few stray blossoms 
 here and there. The plant grows to the size of a 
 considerable tree- here from twenty to thirty feet 
 high, with rough gnarled stems as thick as a man's 
 body, but for the most part it is only seen in the 
 familiar form of a big bush. In the hedgerows and 
 by the roadside grow myrtle and habrothamnus,the 
 fine trumpet-flower datura, cistus, purple, red, and 
 white, a handsome big reed or lily with a yellow 
 flower, andthe splendid bigLobelia exce/sis^spike- 
 shaped lavender flower growing eight to ten feet 
 high, as freely as a foxglove. They say the white 
 juice from it is a strong poison. In the gullies \vere 
 quantities of tree ferns. The road from Nuwera 
 Eliya passes down the valley, past the lake, and 
 through a steep well-wooded gorge, with a bright 
 clear mountain stream flowing through it. The 
 Hakgalla Gardens are at the mouth of this gorge, 
 and on the edge of the high country overlooking 
 the lower hills and the plains beyond on the east 
 side of the island. It is a glorious view, but I no 
 sooner had had a glimpse of it when rolling clouds 
 came up and blotted it all out. 
 
 The climate here is such that all manner of 
 flowers and plants of temperate climates flourish, 
 and, combined with much natural vegetation, form 
 the most beautiful garden imaginable, though of a 
 character absolutely distinct from that at Pera- 
 deniya, where the vegetation is entirely tropical. 
 There the majestic trees form one of its most 
 striking features. Here the trees are of no great 
 size, and the smaller plants form the main attrac-
 
 438 CEYLON 
 
 tion. Peradeniya, moreover, is much more extensive 
 than this garden. 
 
 I was shown round by the head gardener, who is 
 a Sinhalese, and noticed a great number of Austra- 
 lian trees and shrubs, including the Melanoxylon 
 (leafless acacia), the blue gum, and the bottle- 
 brush, also the black-birch, and the flax of New 
 Zealand, a Bocconia (John Crow bush), with very 
 fine foliage, and a good collection of tree ferns. 
 
 I returned in the rain to breakfast at the Club, 
 and then went out, across a corner of the golf links, 
 to see the Queen's Cottage (the summer residence 
 of the Governor), a rambling and picturesque place, 
 surrounded by a garden bright with flowers. 
 
 Two rickshaws were chartered to take me down 
 to the station, one for my baggage and the other for 
 myself; and off I started, in a drizzle, having chosen 
 the least shaky of the two conveyances for my own 
 person. I congratulated myself that I was not 
 inside the one which contained my effects, as I saw 
 it trundling along in front of me with one of the 
 wheels w r obbling portentously, and after turning 
 some very sharp corners down hill, with a precipice 
 on my right, was still more of the same way of 
 thinking, when suddenly I heard a crunching sound 
 on my left, and next moment I found myself spread 
 about on the road, my own left wheel having en- 
 tirely collapsed. I picked myself up, none the 
 worse, and was thankful I had only a mile to walk 
 to the station and sufficient time to catch the train. 
 If the smash had occurred a couple of miles higher 
 up the road I should have been done for. The poor
 
 THE BISHOP'S BUNGALOW 
 
 439 
 
 coolie looked somewhat disconsolate, but I paid 
 him his fare and was glad to think that the machine 
 was not his own property. 
 
 Five hours' journey brought me back to Kandy. 
 
 The next day was a sad one, for we had to leave 
 our kind friends and the delights of the Pavilion 
 for the sea and the unknown. As we descended 
 from Kandy we emerged from the clouds, and in 
 Colombo found ourselves once more in sunshine. 
 The last people we saw in Ceylon w r ere the Bishop 
 and Mrs. Coplestone, with whom we breakfasted 
 in their charming bungalow, prettily situated in 
 a garden at the far end of the lake near Victoria 
 Park. 
 
 THE 
 
 BISHOP'S GAKDFN, COLOMBO
 
 IIGHRQAD OF EMPIRE 
 
 Miles
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST 
 
 OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS MENTIONED 
 
 An additional Table of Dates relating to the History of Delhi 
 will be found on p. 242 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1400 Traditional date of the wars between the Pandavas and 
 Kauravas (recounted in the Mahabarata i;.c. 240), and of 
 the founding of Indraput near Delhi. 
 ? Jain faith flourishes in India. 
 
 638-543 Sakiya Muni preaches in the deer-park near Benares. 
 258 King Asoka spreads the Buddhist faith. 
 
 Earliest known Buddhist sculptures. 
 327 Alexander the Great invades India. 
 
 145 Aja Pal founds Ajmere. 
 
 275 Gwalior was founded by Kachwaha Rajputs. 
 
 399 Chinese Pilgrim Fo Hian visits India. 
 
 400 Benares reverts to Brahmanism. 
 
 629 Chinese Pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang visits India. 
 642 Parsis settle in India. 
 
 664 First incursion into India of Mohammedans. 
 t-.Soo Brahmanic revival Caves of Elephanta. 
 
 976 Jai Pal, Rajput King of Lahore, defeated at Peshawur. 
 1011-17 Mahmud of. Ghazni captures Thanesar and Canouj. 
 1090 Sas Bahu Temples at Gwalior built. 
 1 190 Kutub Minar commenced. 
 1194 Shahab-ud-din invades India, defeats Prithvi Raja at 
 
 Thanesar, and conquers Ajmere, Canouj, and Delhi, 
 i 225-54 Rajputs regain Gwalior Urwahi Sculptures. 
 1236 Arhai-din-ka-Johmpra Mosque, Ajmere.
 
 442 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1469 Nanuk, founder of Sikh religion, born near Lahore. 
 
 1501 Yusaf Khan founds Mohammedan kingdom of Bijapur. 
 
 1527 Babar defeats Rajputs at Fatepur Sikri. 
 
 1556 Akbar consolidates the Mogul Empire. * 
 
 1581 The Guru Arjun compiles the Granth. 
 
 1605 Jehangir. 
 
 1628 Shah Jehan. 
 
 1630-50 Taj Mahal built. 
 
 1657 Shivaji lays the foundation of the Mahratta power. 
 
 1686 Aurangzeb conquers Bijapur. 
 
 East India Company established on the Hooghly. 
 
 1 756 Black Hole of Calcutta. 
 
 1757 Battle of Plassy. 
 
 1761 Ahmed Shah defeats the Mahrattas at Paneput. 
 
 1764 The Sikhs gain the supremacy of the Punjab. 
 
 1765 Clive lays the foundation of the Indian Empire by claiming 
 
 the right to receive the Revenues of Bengal, Behar, and 
 Orissa. 
 
 1802 Ranjit Sing seizes Amritzar. 
 
 1803 Lord Lake takes Agra and Delhi. 
 
 1818 Battle of Kirkee, end of Mahratta rule. 
 
 1819 Lord Hastings extends British suzerainty to Rajputana. 
 1823 Bishop Heber at Delhi. 
 
 1 830 Sir William Sleeman commences operations against the Thugs. 
 
 1845 First Sikh War. 
 
 1849 Annexation of the Punjab. 
 
 1857 Mutiny. 
 
 1858 Queen Victoria proclaimed direct Sovereign over all Indian 
 
 territories. 
 
 1875 Prince of Wales visits India. 
 
 1 896 Plague in Bombay (first visitation).
 
 ABBOT, Miss, 336 
 
 Aberdeen, Lord, 415 
 
 Abu, Mount, or the "Saint's Pin- 
 nacle," 345 
 
 Adam's Peak, Ceylon, 417, 434 
 
 Aden, 3 
 
 Adil Shah, Muhammad, 74 
 
 Adil Shahi dynasty, founded by Yusaf 
 Khan, 69 
 
 Adinath, founder of the Jains, 212 
 
 Afghans, the, 231 
 
 Agra, 159-184 ; Fort, 160, 162, 163 
 
 Ahmad I., Sultan (Adil Shahi 
 dynasty), 382 
 
 Ahmed Shah Abdali, the Afghan, 45, 
 
 319 
 
 Ahmedabab, 382, 383 
 Aitken, his article on " The Byle " in 
 
 Monthly Review, 250 
 Aja Pal, the Chauhan Rajput, founder 
 
 of Ajmere, 344 
 
 A Ji*> 35: 35i 
 
 Ajmere, 343-361 ; Lake, 363 
 
 Akalis, the, 308 
 
 Akbar, Emperor, 89, 92, 158, 175, 
 185, 188, 191, 194, 203, 282, 297, 
 3 J 9. 347. 34 8 . 356 ; his Audience 
 Hall at Allahabad, 94 ; his Kwab- 
 ghar or "House of Dreams," at 
 Fatehpur Sikri, 192 ; King of 
 Delhi, 230, 235, 239, 252 ; his palace 
 at Lahore, 289 ; and at Ajmere, 354 
 
 Akharas, the, 100, 102 
 
 Akshai Bar, the ever-living Banyan 
 Tree (Allahabad), 94 
 
 Alakias, the, 101 
 
 Alam, Shah, 89, 348 
 
 Ala-ud-din Khilji, 130, 253, 254, 263 
 
 AH Adil Shahi., 75, 77 
 
 Allahabad, 87-102 
 
 Allnutt, Mr., of the Delhi Brother- 
 hood, 259 
 
 Almond Gardens, Lahore, 292 
 
 Altamsh, 254, 255, 355 
 
 Alu Vihara monastery, Ceylon, 419 
 
 Alwar, 333-341 
 
 Amballa, 219, 220, 267-280 
 
 Amir Jumla, 238 
 
 Amir Khan, 350 
 
 Amritzar : The Pool of Immortality 
 285, 286, 305-312 
 
 Ana Raja, 344 
 
 Ana Sagar Lake, Ajmere, 344, 353 
 
 Anand Mahal, " Palace of Delight," 
 Bijapur, 82 
 
 Anang Pal, 247, 281 
 
 Andersen, Hans, 237 
 
 Annapurna (goddess of daily bread), 
 temple of, Benares. 133 
 
 Anuradhapura, Ceylon, 406, 433 
 
 Apollo Bunder Quay, Bombay, 11,41 
 
 Arabs, difficulty of sketching, 183 
 
 Aravali Mountains, Ajmere. 344, 345, 
 
 363 
 
 Archaeology, Department of, 197 
 
 Ardagh, Colonel, 113 
 
 Arhai-din-ka-Johmpra mosque, Aj- 
 mere, 354 
 
 Arjmand Banu, or Muntazi Mahal, 
 Shahjehan's Persian wife, 162,297
 
 444 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Arjun Mall. 5th Sikh Guru. 283, 284, 
 292, 307 
 
 Aryans, the, 324 
 
 Asaf Khan, 296, 297 
 
 Ashi Ghat, Benares, 139 
 
 Asoka, the Buddhist king, 90, in, 
 246 ; Laths of, 244 
 
 Asra-i-Sharif, " Palace of the Hair of 
 the Noble One," Bijapur, So 
 
 Atal Rai, 311 
 
 Auckland, Lord. 119 
 
 Aurangzeb, 44, 67, 70, 80, 82, 162, 
 224, 239-241, 282, 292 ; his mosque, 
 Badshahi Musjid, at Lahore, 293 
 
 Austin, of Bordeaux, a French crafts- 
 man at Agra, 164 
 
 BABA ATAL TOWER, Golden Temple, 
 
 Amritzar, 311 
 
 Bab-el-Mandeb, Straits of, 2 
 Babar, Emperor, 209, 213, 247, 251, 
 
 252, 264, 282, 347 
 Back Bay, Bombay, 7 
 Badli-ki-Sarai, Delhi, 220 
 Badshahi Musjid, Aurangzeb's mosque 
 
 at Lahore, 293 
 
 Bahmani, Sultan Muhammad, 69 
 Bairagis, the, 101 
 Bakhtawar Singh's marble cenotaph 
 
 at Alwar, 339 
 Baniyas, or traders, claim to be true 
 
 Vaisyas, 49 
 Bankepore, 125 
 Bara Darri, the Lahore, 292 
 Barnard, General Sir Harry, 219,220 
 Barrackpur, 122 
 Bawa-Malang hill, 7 
 Beauchamp, Sir R. , 19 
 Benares, 129-145 
 Benett, Mr., Permanent Secretary, 
 
 Allahabad, 89 
 Bengal, 106, 117 
 
 Benson, Father, of Cowley, 102, 172, 173 
 Beresford, Lord William, 113 
 Bernier, M., a French physician at 
 
 Agra, 159, 218, 235,236, 239, 297 
 
 Bhairava, the god, 18 
 
 Bheem Singh. Raja of Jodhpur. 349 
 
 Bheesti, water-carrier, 47 
 
 Bhendi bazaar, Bombay, 32 
 
 Bhils, the, of the Vindhya Mountains, 
 
 3 2 4. 334 
 Bhisma, the San Sebastian of 'the 
 
 Mahabharata, 101 
 Bhor Ghat. 8 
 Bibi Garhand Well, Cawnpore, 153, 
 
 '57 
 
 Bickersteth, Dr., Bishop of Japan, 258 
 
 Bidar. State of, 69 
 
 Biddulph, Colonel John, 343, 352, 
 
 353. 363. 3?8, 379. 382 
 Biddulph, Mrs., 343, 361,379, 382 
 Bijapur, 65-85 
 Bir Bal, the Ak bar's Prime Minister, 
 
 194 
 Bisheshwar or Shiva, the poison god, 
 
 131 
 
 Biskra, 65 
 Bitter Lakes, 2 
 Bo- or Bodhi-tree, Ceylon, 433 
 Bombay, 7-39 
 
 Botanical Gardens, Calcutta, 118 
 Brahm, the supreme spirit, 53 
 Brahma, the god. the creator, 17, 18, 
 
 53, 54 
 
 Brahmans, 49 ; the Mahratta, 43, 44 ; 
 their religion, 57, 58 ; bad reputa- 
 tion of the Poona, 59 ; trained in 
 astrology at Benares, 139 
 
 Brindisi, 2 
 
 Brown, Gerald, Sir Arthur Have- 
 lock's Secretary, 418 
 
 Bubujee Khanum, Queen, her defence 
 of the Bijapur citadel, 79 
 
 Buddha, religion of, in ; Hindus 
 destroy temple of, 156; his three 
 seated attitudes, 407, 408 (sec a/sc 
 Sakya Muni) 
 
 Buddhists, in Ceylon, 395 ; the 
 sacred Bo-tree, 433 
 
 Buland Darwaza, " Gate of Victory." 
 Fatehpur Sikri, 190
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bullock-cart. 1 1, 15, 250 ; Jodhpur, 
 
 379 ; Ceylon, 426, 427 
 Burdwan, Maharaja of, 120 
 Burgess, Dr. James, 157 
 Burke, Edmund, 114 
 Burn-Murdoch, R.E., Colonel and 
 
 Mrs., 15, 34, 88 
 Burning Ghat, Benares, 144 
 Byculla, Bombay, 29 
 
 CAIRO, 2 
 
 Calcutta, 103-128 
 
 Cambridge .Brotherhood, the, in 
 
 Delhi, 228 ; 258-260 
 Cameron, Hardinge, Mayor of 
 
 Colombo, 413-416 
 Campbell. Sir Colin, 150 
 Canning, Lord and Lady, 116, 122, 
 
 123, 197 
 Canning Town, or Modern Allahabad, 
 
 90 
 
 Canouj, kingdom of, 365 
 Carey, James, Baptist Missionary at 
 
 Serampore, 124 
 Caste, rules and marks of, 50, 51, 
 
 325-329 
 
 Cawnpore, 151-158 
 Ceylon. 5, 6, 385-439 
 Chandernagore, French settlement of, 
 
 i 20, 123 
 
 Chandni Chauk, Delhi, 226 
 Chandra, the moon god, 18 
 C/iaprassi, badge-bearer, 48 
 Charles II. , 8 
 Charnock, Job, 104 
 Chatter Booj, 376 
 Chauhan Rajput clan, 346, 365 
 Chawl, or lodging-house, 37 
 Chihli, Sheikh , his tomb at Thanesar, 
 
 320 
 
 Chinsurah, 120 
 Christianity, its progress in India, 62 ; 
 
 contrasted with Hinduism, 155 
 Christopher, Captain, 400, 416 
 City Palace, Alwar, 338, 339 
 
 445 
 
 Clarke', R., Deputy Commissioner, 
 
 Delhi, 220 
 
 Clark's Hotel, Benares, 129 
 Clewes, Captain, 41, 42, 51 
 Clive, Lord, 106, 114 
 Colaba Point, Bombay, 7 
 Colombo, 4, 385-386 
 Colvin, Sir Auckland, 89 
 Coplestone, Dr. , Bishop of Colombo, 
 
 439 
 
 Coryat, Thomas, 354 
 Cousen's book on India, 66 
 Cow Temple, Benares, 133 
 Craftsmen, native Indian, 35 
 Crawford Market, Bombay, 12, 29 
 Crete, 2 
 
 Crocodiles at Ajmere, 353 
 Cunningham, Colonel D. D.. 354, 355 
 Cunningham, General, 197 
 Curzon, Lord, ix., 197 
 
 DACOITS, 136, 137 
 
 Dagoba, the, in Ceylon, 404-406 
 
 Dalada or Sacred Tooth Temple. 
 
 Ceylon, 392-394 
 Dalhousie. Lord, 115 
 Dambool rock-cut temples, Ceylon, 
 
 7, 423, 424 
 Danish settlement of Serampore, 120, 
 
 123 
 Dara Shikoh, Aurangzeb's brother, 
 
 293 
 Dargah, of Nizam-ud-din, Delhi. 263- 
 
 265 ; of Kwhajah Sahib Mohin-ud- 
 
 din, Ajmere, 355-361 
 Daulat Bagh, Ajmere, 354 
 Deccan plateau, 8, 42 
 Degalduruwa Vihara temple, Ceylon. 
 
 430-432 
 Delhi, 217-241 ; Palace, 229-236, 
 
 239 ; neighbourhood of, 243-266 
 Delhi Brotherhood, the, 228, 258-260 
 Delhi Gate, Agra, 164 
 Delwar Khan, 176, 179 
 Deo Prayag, 96
 
 446 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Deutsch, Leo, 264 
 
 Devi, Durga, Kali, or Parbati, 
 
 Shiva's wife, 53, 55, 56, 134, 136- 
 
 138 
 Dhan Mandi, wheat market, Jodhpur, 
 
 376 
 
 Dhava Raja, 253 
 Dhobi, washerman, 47 
 Dhuleep Singh, Maharaja, 286 
 Dilhu Raja, 246 
 Din Panah Fort, or Purana Kila, 
 
 Delhi, 247 
 Doab, the, 89 
 Docks, Bombay, 29 
 Dufferin, Lady, 338 
 Dufferin, Lord, 424 
 Dundas of Arniston, Miss, 275 
 Durga, Pali, or Parbati, Shiva's 
 
 wife, 53, 55, 56, 134. 136-138 
 Durga, Temple of, Benares, 134, 138 
 Durga-puja, Hindu religious festival, 
 
 138 
 
 DurwfM. doorkeeper, 48 
 Durzi, tailor, 48 
 Dutch, and Chinsurah, 120 
 
 EAST INDIA BILL, Pitt's. 114; Lord 
 
 Stanley's, 116 
 East India Company, 8, 90, 104, 106, 
 
 114-116, 120, 162, 232, 286 
 Eden Garden, Calcutta, 119 
 Edward VII., King (then Prince of 
 
 Wales), 238 
 Egypt, 2 
 
 Ekka, the, 145, 173, 316 
 Elephanta, caves of, 17 
 Elgin, Lord, 197 
 Ellenborough, Lord, 116 
 Elphinstone, Mountstuart, 46, 70 
 Elwin, The Rev. Whitwell, at one 
 
 time Editor of Quarterly Review, 60 
 
 FAKIRS, 99-101 
 
 Fat eh Jung's Tomb, Alwar, 340 
 
 Fatehpur Sikri : the Windsor of the 
 
 Great Mogul, 158, 185-198 
 Fergusson, James, History of Indian 
 
 and Eastern Architecture, 15, 75, 158, 
 
 170, 190, 194, 197, 208 
 Fergusson, Sir James, 19 
 Finch, William, 257,282 
 Firoz Shah Tughlak, 219, 227, 243, 
 
 244, 251, 252, 254, 256, 257, 264 
 Firozabad, 244 
 Fo-Hian, Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, 
 
 281 
 
 Forrest, Professor, 103, 114, 115, 221 
 Fraser, William, murdered at Delhi, 
 
 228 
 
 French, at Chandernagore, 120, 123 
 French, Bishop, of Lahore, 227, 259, 
 
 283 
 
 Frere, Sir Bartle, 14, 34, 58, 70, 258 
 Furse, R.H.A., D.S.O., Captain, 113, 
 149. 275 
 
 GADALADENYA, temple of, Ceylon, 
 406, 407 
 
 Gaekwars, the, 45 
 
 Gagan Mahal, "Hall of Audience," 
 Bijapur, 82 
 
 Galangolla, Buddhist temple of 
 Ceylon, 403 
 
 Ganesh, Shiva's son, elephant- 
 headed god of good luck, 18, 53, 
 
 55-57. 132 
 Ganges river, 18, 89. 96, 97, 129, 130, 
 
 139-145 
 Gangotri, 96 
 
 Garden Reach, Calcutta, 118 
 Garikdasias, the, 101 
 Gautamas, dynasty of the, 246 
 Gebel Attakah, 2 
 Gehlots, Rajput clan, 346 
 Ghaggar river, 270, 317 
 Ghats, the, 41 
 Ghaus, Muhammad, 203 
 Ghazni, dynasty, 253 ; Mahmud of, 
 
 346 
 
 Gibraltar, i
 
 INDEX 
 
 447 
 
 Gladstone, Sir John, 19 
 Gladstone, W. E., 415 
 Goa, Portuguese Archbishop of, 393 
 Gol Gumbaz, " Round Dome," Bija- 
 
 pur, 66. 74-77 
 Golden Temple, Benares, 131, 132, 
 
 139 ; Amritzar, 305-312 
 Gordon, General, Military Secretary 
 
 to Embassy at Teheran, 113 
 Gordon, Sir Arthur (Lord Stanmore), 
 
 Governor of Ceylon, 388, 401, 402, 
 
 411, 414-416, 420 
 Govind, Sikh Guru, 285, 310 
 Grand Oriental Hotel, Colombo, 387 
 Grand Trunk road, India, 268, 313 
 Granth, the Sikh sacred book, 283, 
 
 284, 309, 310 
 
 Gubbins, Frederick, 435, 436 
 Gujari Palace, Gvvalior, 204 
 Gurus, Sikh, 283-285 
 Gutab Sagar, Jodhpur, 377 
 Gwalior : Sindhia's Capital, 199-215 ; 
 
 Fort, 199, 203, 206 ; Palace, 207 
 
 HAKGALLA BOTANICAL GARDENS, 
 
 Ceylon, 436, 437 
 Hakkery, or bullock -cart, 250 
 Hangerinkette, Ceylon, 418 
 Hans Raj, 376 
 Hanson, Mrs. Arthur, 27 
 Hanuman, the monkey god, 53, 55 
 Hardwar, 56, 96 
 Hastings, Lord, 351 
 Hathi Pol, or Elephant Gate, Fateh- 
 
 pur Sikri, 188 ; Gwalior Fort, 206 
 Havelock, General, 150 
 Havelock, Lady, 417 
 Havelock, Sir Arthur, 418 
 Hazuri Bagh, Lahore, 292 
 Heber, Bishop, Journal, 62, 223, 230, 
 
 231, 265 
 
 Hill's Hotel, Lucknow, 148 
 Hina-Yana, the Lesser Vehicle of the 
 
 Buddhist Scriptures, 395 
 Hindu Kush, 217 
 
 " Hindu pani," 327 
 
 Hindus, their dress, 22 ; distinctive 
 marks, 24 ; their caste system, 48, 
 325-329 ; their belief, 54, 58 ; wor- 
 ship the Malik-i-Maidan, Bijapur, 
 80; their veneration for the Ganges, 
 89 ; Prayag, their popular place of 
 pilgrimage at Allahabad, 90 ; in 
 the grip of ceremonial ritual, 143 ; 
 contrasted with Christians, 154- 
 156 ; destroy Buddhist temples, 196: 
 their religion irreconcilable with 
 Mohammedanism, 228 ; Thanesar 
 the cradle of their race, 313-331 ; 
 their Sacred Tank at Thanesar, 
 320-322 
 
 Hiouen Thsang, Chinese Buddhist, 
 95. 281 
 
 Hodson's Horse, 262 
 
 Holkar, Maharaja, 45, 46, 62, 219, 
 
 348. 35i 
 
 Holmes, History of the Mutiny, 149, 152 
 Home, Lieutenant, 221 
 Hooghly river, 105, 107, 120, 125 
 Hotgi Junction, 65 
 Hubner, Baron, 218 
 Humayun, Baber's son, 252 ; his 
 
 tomb near Delhi, 261, 262 
 
 IBRAHIM II. (Adil Shahi dynasty), 74, 
 
 82.83 
 
 Ibrahim Roza, Bijapur, 74, 83 
 Idar, near Ahmedabad, 53 
 Imad-ud-din Gargastani, Khojah, a 
 
 Persian merchant, 68, 69 
 Indian Ocean, 3 
 Indra, the god, 18, 318 
 Indraput, 246, 247 
 Ionian Islands, 2, 415 
 Itarsi Junction, 88 
 Itimad-ud-Daulah's tomb, Agra, 179 
 
 JAGGANATH, 96 
 
 Jai Pal, Rajput king of Lahore, 281
 
 448 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Jai Singh's Observatory. Benares. 139 
 Jain rock-carvings, Gwalior, 200, 205 
 Jain Tirthankers, 209, 211,212 
 Jains, the, 211,213; the great temple- 
 builders of India, 212 
 James I., 92, 158, 290, 354 
 Jat Rana of Gohad, 200 
 Jats, the, 315 
 
 Jehan, Emperor, Shah, 93, 158-163, 
 169, 172, 175, 218, 229, 232, 238, 265, 
 282, 291, 293. 297, 348, 352, 356 ; his 
 fort at Delhi, 222 
 
 Jehangir, Emperor, 02, 93, 158, 179, 
 194, 282, 290-292, 296, 297, 348, 
 354, 357 
 Jehanira, Shah Jehan's daughter, 162, 
 
 172, 265 
 
 Jervis, Sir John Jervis White, 276 
 Jervois, Captain, The Hon. St. Leger, 
 
 19 
 
 Jesuits, 175 
 Jeswant Singh, Maraja of Jodhpur, 
 
 368, 380 
 
 Jhansi, the Rani of, 200 
 Jodha. 365 
 
 Jodhbai, Akbar's wife, 348 
 Jodhpur, or Marwar, 350, 363-383 ; 
 
 Fort. 367, 368 
 Johar Sacrifice, the, 207 
 Jones, Sir John, 232 
 Juggut Singh, of Jeypore, 343 
 Jumla, Amir, 238 
 Jumma Musjid, Bijapur, 77 ; Agra 
 
 161, 171, 172 ; Delhi, 222-224, 226; 
 
 Ahmedabad, 382 
 Jumna rivet, 18, 89, 95, 162, 199, 219, 
 
 222, 268 ; canals, 227 
 
 KACHAWA, Rajput clan, 199, 346 
 Kalan Musjid, " Black Mosque," 
 
 Delhi, 243-245 
 Kali, Durga, Devi, or Parbati, Shiva's 
 
 wife, 55, 56 
 Kalighat, 105 
 Kalka, 269, 270 
 
 Kandapola, Ceylon, 436 
 
 Kandy, 389, 396, ,39; kings of, 410, 424 
 
 A'auphattis, 101 
 
 Karam Palace, Gwalior, 208 
 
 Kartikkeya, god of war, Shiva's six- 
 
 headed son, 53, 55 
 Kasauli, 269 
 
 Kashmere Gate, Delhi, 221 
 Kauravas, the, 317, 318 
 Keith, Major, 210 
 Kellner, 218 
 
 Khadakwazla, artificial lake of, 52, 63 
 Khan, Amir, 350 
 
 Khan Muhammad's tomb, Bijapur, 72 
 Khansama, head-man, 46 
 Khidmatgar, man-servant, &c., 47 
 Khojah Imad-ud-din Gargastani, a 
 
 Persian merchant, 68, 69 
 Khusru, Prince, Akbar's grandson, 
 
 92,93, 264,265,290, 348 
 Khusru Bagh, Allahabad, 92 
 Khwabghar, or "House of Dreams," 
 
 Akbar's sleeping apartment at 
 
 Fatehpur Sikri, 192 ; Jehangir's at 
 
 Lahore, 291 
 King and Co., 10 
 Kirkee, battle of, 46, 52, 57 
 Kishna Komari, Princess, 349. 350 
 Knox, Mrs., 275 
 Koh-i-noor, 231, 238, 287 
 Kohls, in the Central Provinces, 324 
 Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu , 56 
 Kshatriyas, or soldiers-caste, 49 
 Kurakshetra plain, 317 
 Kurnool, 324 
 
 Kutub-ud-din, 200, 253, 346 
 Kutub Minar, Delhi, 247-249, 252-254 
 
 LAHORE, 281-303 ; Fort, 289 
 Lahore Gate, Delhi, 229 
 Lake, Lord, 162, 219, 230, 348 
 Lakshmi, Vishnu's wife, 55, 56 
 Lai Musjid, Thanesar, 320 
 Lanka Telika temple, Ceylon, 407 
 Lashkar, the, Gwalior, 201, 213. 215
 
 INDEX 
 
 449 
 
 Laths of Asoka, the, 244 
 
 Lawrence, Lord, 221, 286, 287, 314, 
 
 327, 330, 331 
 
 Lawrence, Sir Henry, 149, 150 
 
 Lawrie, Judge, 411 
 
 Lefroy, Mr., of the Delhi Brother- 
 hood, 259 
 
 Liddell, Mr., Sir Arthur Gordon's 
 Secretary, 400 
 
 Lobo, John, a "Goa Boy," author's 
 servant, 10, 63, 151, 213, 278 
 
 Loch, Major, 366, 376, 378 
 
 Lockhart, Colonel and Mrs. Elliot, 
 
 275 
 Lodi Sultans, the, 251 
 
 Lota, a spherical wide-mouthed vessel, 
 
 133 
 
 Lucknow, 148-151 
 Ludlow Castle, Delhi, 221 
 Luni river, 344, 363 
 Lyall, Sir Alfred, 158, 326 
 Lyall, Sir James, 280 
 
 MACDONALD, Angus, 336, 340, 341 
 Mahabaleshwa hill-station, 52 
 Mahabharata, the, 246 
 Mahadeo, a name of Shiva, 56, 133 
 Maharashtra, "the great Province," 
 
 42 
 Mahavira, the last of the Tirthankers, 
 
 211, 212 
 
 Mahawelli Gangha river, Ceylon, 390, 
 
 411 
 Maha-Yana, the Greater Vehicle, 
 
 Buddhist scriptures, 395 
 Mahidpur, battle of, 46 
 Mahinda, Asoka's son, 395, 433 
 Mahmud of Ghazni, 346 
 Mahmud of Ghor, or Shahab-ud-din, 
 
 89, 253, 282, 319, 344, 346, 365 
 Mahrattas, the, 8, 42-46, 89, 231,319, 
 
 348 ; their raids, 45 ; and war, 46 
 Maidan, the, Allahabad, 91 ; Calcutta, 
 
 103, 104, 118 
 Makka Musjid, Bijapur, 83 
 
 Malabar Coast, 4, 5 ; Court, 37 ; 
 
 Hill, 15, 39 ; Point, 7, 13, 15, 19 
 Malcolm, Sir John, 46 
 Mali, gardener, 48 
 Malik Karim-ud-din mosque, Bijapur, 
 
 83 
 Malik-i-Maidan (" King of the 
 
 Plain "), big gun, Bijapur, 80 
 Malta, i 
 
 Man Mandir Ghat, Benares, 139 
 Man Singh, palace of, Gwalior, 200, 
 
 205, 207 
 Mandor, 365 
 Manohar Nath, a Hindu Saint, tomb 
 
 of . 357 
 
 Marochetti, Baron, 154 
 Marshman, Baptist missionary at 
 
 Serampore, 124 
 Martyn, Harry, 157 
 Marwar, or Jodhpur, 350, 363-383 
 Massacre Ghat, Cawnpore, 153, 154 
 Matale, Ceylon, 419, 431 
 Maun Sing, Raja of Jodhpur, 349 
 Maurice, F. D., 225 
 May, Colonel, 148 
 Meerut, 219 
 
 Mehtar Mahal, Bijapur, 78 
 Mela, at Allahabad, 95-102 
 Mercer, Captain, 275 
 Mesu, Mount, 318 
 Milk in India, 274 
 Milton, John, 252 
 Mina Bazaar, Agra, 163 
 Minas, the, 334 
 Miriam, Jehangir's mother, Akbar' 
 
 wife, 194, 348 
 Missionaries, their experience in 
 
 Poona, 61 
 Mogul dynasty, founded by Baber, 
 
 252 
 
 Mogul Empire, Agra the centre of, 159 
 Mogul Serai Station, 129 
 Mohammedan religion, 225, 357, 358 ; 
 
 irreconcilable with Hinduism, 228 
 Mohin-ud-din, Kwajah Sahib, his 
 
 tomb at Ajmere, 355 
 
 ^ I.
 
 450 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Moti Musjid, " Pearl Mosque." Agra, 
 
 170 ; Delhi, 233 ; Lahore, 291 
 Muhammad Bahmani, Sultan, 69 
 Muhammad Tughlak, 251 
 Muntazi Mahal, or Arjmand Banu, 
 
 Shah Jehan's Persian wife, 162, 
 
 297 
 
 Murad, Sultan of Turkey, 68 
 Musafir Khana, at Gwalior, 202 
 Mutto river, 50 
 Muttra Road, the Appian Way of 
 
 Agra, 176 
 
 NADIR Shah, 230, 287, 319 
 
 Nagina Musjid, "Toy Mosque," 
 
 Agra, 162, 163 
 Nairn, Mrs., 275 
 Nak Kashi work, 289, 297, 320 
 Nana Sahib, 46, 152-154 
 Nanak, founder of Sikhs, 283-285 
 Nandi, or Sacred Bull, 18, 131 
 Nanu Oya station, Ceylon, 434 
 Napier of Magdala, Lord, 200, 219 
 Naubat Khana, Delhi, 236 
 Nawab of Oude, 90 
 Nedou's Hotel, Lahore, 288 
 Nerbudda river, 199 
 Nicholson, John, 221 
 Nirmalas, the, 101 
 Nirvana, no, in, 130 
 Nizam-ud-din's Dargah, Delhi, 263- 
 
 265 
 
 Noor Jehan, 158, 179, 296, 297 
 Noyes, Major, 276 
 Nuwera Eliya, Ceylon, 435-437 
 
 OAKLEY, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert, 418 
 Orcagna, his pictures of the mouth 
 
 of Hell, 80 
 Orpheus Mosaic, Delhi Palace, 196, 
 
 232 
 Oude, Nawabs and Kings of, 148 
 
 PACHISI Court, Fatehpur Sikn, 194 
 Paget Park, Amballa, 272 
 Pallekelly, Ceylon, 397 
 Palmerston, Lord, 116 
 Panch Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri, 192 
 Pandavas, the, 246, 268, 317-319 
 Paniput, battle of, 45, 252, 282, 319 
 Parasnath, statue of, Gwalior, 212 
 Parbati, Durga, Kali. &c., Shiva's 
 
 wife, 18, 53, 55 
 Parbati Lake and Hill, 51-53 
 Parell, 19 
 
 Parsis, their dress, 22, 26 ; their 
 Towers of Silence, 24-26 ; perse- 
 cuted by Mohammedans, 26 ; their 
 religion, 27, 28 
 
 Pathan tombs, 196 ; conquerors. 253 
 Paul, Emperor of Russia. 261 
 Paulet, Colonel, 378 
 Peacock Throne, Delhi, 231-233, 238 
 Pennefather, LL.D., F.W., 117, 165 
 Peradeniya, Ceylon, 389, 413, 433 ; 
 
 Botanical Gardens of, 390 
 Perim, 2 
 Perkins, Sir /Eneas, in command of 
 
 Lucknow district, 148 
 Peshwa of Poona, the, 57 
 Pindaris of Rajputana, 46, 349, 351 
 Pirie, Captain, 417-419, 431 
 Pitt's East India Bill, 114 
 Plague, at Bombay, 38, 39 ; in the 
 
 Punjab, 39,315 
 Pollock, Miss, 311 
 Poona, 41-63 
 
 Portuguese, 8,120; missionaries, 290 
 Poshkara, or Pokhar, near Ajmere, 53 
 Pottery, Bombay, 34 
 Prayag, place of Hindu pilgrimage a 
 
 Allahabad, 90 
 
 Pretyman, General, 159, 173 
 Prison diet, Sinhalese, 425 
 Prithvi Raja, the Rajput ruler, 253. 
 
 3 J 9. 344. 346, 356 
 
 Punjab, the, 220, 221 ; plague in the, 
 39- 315 ; conquered by the Sikhs, 
 285
 
 INDEX 
 
 Punkah-viola, 48 
 Purtab Singh, 378, 379 
 Pushkar Lake, 353 
 
 QUEEN'S Hotel, Kandy, 389 
 Queen's House, Colombo, 415 
 
 RAHTORES, Rajput clan, 346, 365, 
 
 367-369 
 
 Rajistan, 334, 347 
 
 Rajputana. 46, 246, 333, 334, 348, 551 
 Rajputs, 45, 49, 333, 334; their clans, 
 346-350 ; their strict marriage laws, 
 372-374 ; their bridal feuds, 375 
 Ram Das, 4th Sikh Guru, 307 
 Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, 
 
 55. 56 
 
 Ramsay, Dr., 326 
 
 Rana Sanga of Oodeypore, chief of 
 Sesodia clan, 347 
 
 Rana Umra Singh, the last Rajput 
 chief, 354 
 
 Ranjit Singh, 282, 286, 287, 292, 307 
 
 Rao, Sir Dinkar, 200 
 
 Rao Rimmull, Raja, 365 
 
 Ravi river, 273, 292, 295 
 
 Red Sea, 2 
 
 Rhatamahatma, head of Ceylon 
 district, 408 
 
 Rhodes, Colonel F. , 19 
 
 Ridge, the, Delhi, 220 
 
 Roberts, Lord, 113, 152, 219 
 
 Roe, Sir Thomas, James I. 's ambas- 
 sador, 92, 158, 179, 290, 354 
 
 Rose, Sir Hugh, 200 
 
 Rousselet, M., the French traveller, 
 209, 211 
 
 Rudolph II., Emperor, 391 
 
 SADHCS, the, 101 
 
 Safdar Jang's mausoleum, near Delhi, 
 
 25 r 
 Saftar Khan, 79 
 
 Sagar, 96 
 
 Sakya Muni, his doctrine of Nirvana. 
 
 no, in, 130, 246, 301, 395, 433 ; 
 
 his teacher Mahavira, 211 
 Salim Chisti, 190, 357 
 Salkeld, Lieutenant, 221 
 Salsette, Island of, 8 
 Saman Burj, " Jasmin Tower," Agra, 
 
 160, 163 
 
 Sanga, Rana, of Oodeypore, 347 
 Sangmitta, 433 
 
 Santals, in Lower Bengal, 324 
 Sarasvati, Brahma's wife, 55, 56 
 Saraswati river, 18, 95, 96, 317, 321 
 Sarnath, 130 
 
 Sas Bahu temples, Gwalior, 209 
 Sat Manjli, " Palaceof Seven Storeys, ' ' 
 
 Bijapur, 78 
 Satara hills, 52 
 
 Sati Chaura Gate, Cawnpore, 153 
 School of Art, Bombay, 35 
 Scobell, Sir Andrew, 113 
 Serampore, 120, 124 
 Sesodia, Rajput clan, 346-348, 364 
 Seths, the, native bankers at Muttra, 
 
 176 
 Shah Jehan, Emperor, 93, 158-163. 
 
 169, 172, 175, 218, 229, 232, 238, 
 
 265, 282, 291, 293, 297, 348, 352, 
 
 356 ; his fort at Delhi, 222 
 Shah Jehanabad, modern city of 
 
 Delhi, 214, 244 
 Shahabad, 316 
 Shahab-ud-din, or Mahmud of Ghor, 
 
 89, 253, 282, 319, 344, 346, 365 
 Shahdera, 292, 294, 296, 297 
 Shahpur Gate, Bijapur, 80, 83 
 Shalimar, 302 
 Shams-ud-din, Nawab, 227 
 Sher Afgan, 297 
 Sher Shah, 219, 247, 248, 252 
 Sherbatov, Prince and Princess, 19 
 Shish Mahal, "Palace of Mirrors." 
 
 Lahore, 291 
 Shiva, the Destroyer and Re-Creator 
 
 17, 18, 23, 50, 53, 131, 132
 
 452 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Shivaji, 44 
 Sholapur station, 65 
 Shore, Major, 275 
 
 Sidi Said's mosque, Ahmedabad, 383 
 Sigiri rock- fort, Ceylon, 426-429 
 Sikandra, 174, 175 
 
 Sikhs, 282-286; Amritzar the re- 
 ligious headquarters of, 306, 307 
 Sinai, Mount, 3 
 Sindhia, Maharaja, 45, 46, 200, 201, 
 
 213, 348. 35. 351 
 Sindhia, Maharaja Sir Madho Rao, 
 
 201 
 
 Singhgarh, rock of, 51 
 Sinhalese prison diet, 425 
 Sleeman, Sir William, 137, 357 
 Smith, E \V., archaeologist and 
 
 architect, 188-190, 195 
 Smith, LL.D., George, 124 
 Smith, Leslie, Divisional Judge of 
 
 Amballa District, 267, 313 
 S.P.G., at Cawnpore, 157 
 Solaukhya, Rajput clan, 346 
 Soojah, Shah, 287 
 Spratt, R.A., Major (now Colonel 
 
 Spratt Bowring), 46,51,59,64, 66, 68 
 Stephen, Carr, 243 
 Stevens, F. W., of the G.I. P., 14 
 Sudras, or servants-caste, 49 
 Suez Canal, 2 
 Sumatra, Island of, 120 
 Sunyasis, the, or devotees, 101 
 Surya, god of the sun, 53 
 Sutlej river, 268, 283 
 
 TAIT, Captain, 336 
 
 Taj Mahal, Agra, 162, 165-169 
 
 Talati Mai, Jodhpur, 377 
 
 Tank, Sacred, Thanesar, 320-322 
 
 Taraghur fort, Ajmere, 344, 346 
 
 Tavernier, French traveller and 
 
 jeweller at Agra, 169 
 Taylor, Meadows, on Bijapur, 85 
 Teli Ka Mandir, "Oilman's Temple," 
 
 Gwalior, 209 
 
 Terry, George, 84 
 
 Thanesar : Cradle of the Hindu Race, 
 
 313-331 
 
 Thornhill, Mark, 176-178 
 Thugs, 136, 137 
 Timur, or Tamerlane, 251, 282 
 Tirthankers, Jain, 209, 211, 212 
 Tod, Colonel, Annals of Rajputana, 
 
 345- 346. 350, 37 
 Tooth, Temple of the, or Dalada, 
 
 Ceylon, 392-394, 411 
 Toramana, 199 
 Touar Rajputs, 200 
 Towers of Silence, 24-26. 28 
 Trade-castes, 49 
 Tughlak Sultans, the, 257 
 Tughlakabad, 256, 257 
 Tytler, Mr, , 397 
 
 UDAI Singh, of Jodhpur, 348 
 
 Umra Singh, Rana, the last Rajput 
 
 chief, 354 
 Urwahi valley, 210 
 
 VAISYAS, agriculturists-caste, 49 
 
 Victoria Station, Bombay, 12 
 
 Vikram Palace, Gwalior, 208 
 
 Vindhya Mountains, 324 
 
 Visala Tal Lake, Ajmere, 346 
 
 Visaldeo, 346 
 
 Vishnu, the Preserver, 17, 18, 50, 53, 
 
 54, 59 ; incarnate in the form of 
 
 Buddha, 56 
 
 Vizir Khan's mosque, Lahore, 298 
 Vollar, Mr. and Mrs., 397, 398 
 
 WALKESHWAR. temple of Shiva at 
 
 Malabar Point, 23 
 Wallich, Dr., 118 
 Wantage Sisters, in Poona, 61 
 Watson's Hotel, Bombay, 88 
 Watts, G. F., his " Dying Warrior," 
 
 27
 
 INDEX 
 
 453 
 
 Way, Sir Samuel, Chief Justice of 
 
 South Australia, 117, 170 
 Wellesley, Lord, 112, 348 
 Westcott, Bishop, 157 
 Western Ghats, The, 6, 42 
 Wheeler, Sir Hugh, 152 
 Williams, Mr., 413, 416 
 Williams, Sir Monier, 48, 283 ; on 
 
 worship of Vishnu, 56 
 Willoughby, Lieutenant, 221 
 Wilmot, Captain Eardley. 275 
 Wilson, General Archdale, 219 
 
 Winter, Mr. and Mrs., 258 
 Wordsworth, W., 7 'intern Abbey, 284 
 
 YACHT Club, Bombay, n 
 
 Yogis, the, 23, 24, 99-101 
 
 Yule, Colonel, 153 
 
 Yusaf Khan, Sultan of Bijapur, 67-69 
 
 ZAMZAMAH, the green bronze gun, 
 
 Lahore, 303 
 Zend Avesta, the, 27 
 Zoological Gardens, Calcutta. 117, 118 
 
 FIJSTIS 
 
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