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 INDIA 
 
 PAST AND PRESENT 
 
 BY 
 
 C. H. FORBES-LINDSAY 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 In Two Volumes 
 
 VOL. I 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 HENR Y 1 . I ES & CO. 
 
 1903 
 
Copyright, 1003, by 
 HENRY T. COATES lV CO. 
 
■■■■■MHHHH ■§■ 
 
 DEDICATED 
 TO 
 
 THE MOST APPRECIATIVE OF READERS 
 
 AND 
 
 THE MOST LENIENT OF CRITICS, 
 
 MY MOTHER. 
 
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 PREFACE. 
 
 In one way or another I have maintained a con- 
 tinuous connection with India since my birth, which 
 occurred at Calcutta in the days when the " voyage 
 home " was made " round the Cape." During my 
 school-days in England, India was the residence of 
 my parents, and of the parents of many of my com- 
 rades. It was the land whence came bronzed and 
 bearded men, who gave us sovereigns and cricket-bats, 
 and brought messages from the fathers and mothers 
 who in too many instances had become mere memories 
 of the vaguest kind. 
 
 Chance, or more likely the mysterious attraction 
 India has for the sons of fathers who have served 
 her, drew me back to that country in early manhood. 
 During a sojourn of several years I traveled from 
 point to point, as duty dictated or pleasure prompted, 
 and in that way a great deal of the vast area of India 
 was covered, and most of its principal cities were 
 visited. 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Thus it happens that in the composition of the 
 greater part of these volumes I have had the advan- 
 tage of knowledge derived from personal observation. 
 For the rest I have availed myself of the experiences 
 of others, as narrated in person, or through the me- 
 dium of the most recent books, from which desirable 
 material has been freely drawn. 
 
 In the belief that the reader whose chief aim is 
 entertainment dislikes the distraction of frequent foot- 
 notes, they have been avoided as much as possible. 
 In many cases where quotations appear, no reference 
 is made to their sources ; but whenever an extract 
 contains a statement of importance, the name of the 
 author has been connected with it. Indian words are 
 defined when such explanation is necessary to an 
 understanding of the context; otherwise such defini- 
 tions have been relegated to the Glossary, which, it is 
 hoped, will be found sufficiently complete to meet the 
 needs of the studious, as well as of the casual, reader. 
 
 Considered from any point of view, India is a 
 vast subject. Its history, its people, its architecture, 
 its physical features — any one of these might be 
 treated to the extent of two such volumes as the 
 present. Far from experiencing any difficulty on the 
 score of lack of material, I have been mainly con- 
 cerned as to what to omit. While endeavoring to 
 make my scope as wide as possible, I have restricted 
 my effort to the production of a sketch which shall 
 give a general impression of the country in all its 
 
£$$88® mm UMHHHHHni 
 
 ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■Hi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 vn 
 
 aspects, without any pretence to the fullness of detail 
 one would look for in a technical work. 
 
 India is a land of strange contrasts, not the least 
 striking of these being the immutability of its social 
 institutions as compared with the constant changes 
 in its political conditions. Caste, religion, and the 
 customs growing out of them, are to-day, in their 
 essential features, what they were in the remote past. 
 In these respects a century in the Orient is but as a 
 decade of Western civilization. The progress of the 
 past hundred years iu India has equaled that of all 
 previous time. 
 
 On the other hand, the history of India is a record 
 of unceasing turmoil. Wave upon wave, the sea of 
 hostile invasion has inundated the land. Its capitals 
 have been shaken by revolution time and again ; 
 new rulers have risen in sudden strength and old 
 dynasties have disappeared as dew before the sun. 
 But through all the shiftings of the political kaleido- 
 scope the masses have slumbrously pursued their way, 
 ignorant perhaps, or at any rate reckless, of the for- 
 tunes of their over-lords. Not in the people, then, do 
 we trace the course of past events, but in the build- 
 ings which form connecting links between distant 
 centuries. Hardly a temple or palace in the country 
 but is rich in historical associations. 
 
 By supplementing description with history and 
 tradition, I have endeavored to tell the story of India 
 in outline ; not completely as to detail, but as a con- 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 sistent wliole. Each locality has been treated in the 
 light of the past, as well as of the present, and, indeed, 
 in such close touch are Past and Present in India 
 that no other view is possible. With slight change, 
 the background of scenery is the same to-day as when 
 Babar's host overran the valley of the Ganges, or 
 when Sivaji devastated the Deccan. 
 
 If the book affords pleasant entertainment, and 
 leaves the reader with a fairly clear and comprehensive 
 picture of India and its people, the object with which 
 it was written will have been attained. 
 
 0. H. F-L. 
 
 Philadelphia, October 1st, 1903. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 India in Outline, 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Legendary India, is 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 India under Hindu Rule, 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 India under Muiiammadan Rule, 42 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 India under British Rule, 60 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 India under British Rule, 80 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 India at the Present Day, 97 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The People, 108 
 
x CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 ROMBAY, ELEPHANT*, KANHARI, IvARLI, 127 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Deccan, Poona, Singurh, Raigurh, Pertabgueii, 
 
 BlJAPUR, 144 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The Deccan, Haidarabad, Golconda, Secunderabad, 
 Elloea, Ralza, 171 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Madras, Trivalur, Mahabalipur, Conjeveram, Tricho- 
 nopoli, arcot, 193 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Calcutta, 210 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Sati and Tiiagi, 238 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The Himalayas, Darji'ling Kanchanjanga, Senchal, . 257 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Himalayas, Sikkim, Nepal, 277 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 The Himalayas, Hardwar, Deiira Dun, Simla, . . . 295 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Kashmir, 307 
 
■ ■ mm 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 Vol. I. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 The Temple, Tanjore, Frontispiece 
 
 Tree Ferns, Neilgiierry Hills, 8 
 
 Bath-Khana, DELirr, 38 
 
 A Temple Elephant, 62 
 
 Massacre Ghat, Cawnpur, 94 
 
 Potters at Work, 104 
 
 Hill Men of Ladak, 112 
 
 High Caste Child 118 
 
 Hindu Mother and Child, 128 
 
 University and Clock Tower, Bombay, 130 
 
 Caves op Elepiianta, 13G 
 
 Tomb of Jahanara Begam, 152 
 
 Colonnade of Palace, Tadpatri 160 
 
 Cave Temples, Eli.ora, 190 
 
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Rock of Trichinopoli, 204 
 
 Entrance to the Palace, Madura, 200 
 
 Detail of the Temple, Madura, 208 
 
 A Gapura of the Temple, Madura, 210 
 
 Sacred Bull, Tanjore, 212 
 
 General Post Office, Calcutta, 220 
 
 Railroad over Ghats, Khandalla, 258 
 
 Panorama of Darjiling, 2G8 
 
 Snake Charmers, 29C 
 
 Girls of Kashmir, 310 
 
 Panorama of Kashmir, 31 fi 
 
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 BBBBP 
 
 #3 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INDIA IN OUTLINE. 
 
 Jutting out from the middle continent of Asia 
 directly towards the equator is the land of India, 
 whose outline forms an inverted triangle, with the 
 everlastingly snow-clad peaks of the Himalaya Moun- 
 tains for its base and Cape Comorin at its apex. Its 
 eastern limits are defined by the Valley of the Brah- 
 maputra and the Bay of Bengal. On the southeast 
 the Gulf of Manaar separates it from Ceylon ; on the 
 south and west the Indian Ocean laps its shores, and 
 the Hala and Sulaiman Mountains divide it from the 
 lands of the Baluchi and the Afghan on the north- 
 west. It extends from Attock, in latitude 34° north, 
 to Cape Comorin, in latitude 8° north, and from the 
 eastern limits of Assam, in longitude 90° east, to a 
 point in the Sulaiman range 67° 30' east. Its extreme! 
 length is about nineteen hundred miles, and its greatest 
 breadth is nearly the same distance. 
 
 XOL. 1.— 1 
 
INDIA. 
 
 The country was known to the Arabs in early ages 
 by the appellation Al-Hind. The word India is not 
 synonymous with the Persian name Hindustan. The 
 former is derived from Indus, the Blue River ; the 
 latter from hind, dark, and stdn, country, referring to 
 the color of the inhabitants, whose skin, although in 
 general of a lighter hue than that of the negro, was 
 black in comparison with that of the Persian invaders. 
 In early times the natives of the country spoke of it 
 as Bharat-Kand, or the dominion of Bharat. Modern 
 Hindus give it a variety of names, more or less hyper- 
 bolical, such as Panyabhuini, the " Land of Virtue," 
 and Medhyana, the " Centre," or, as we might say, 
 the " Hub of the Universe." 
 
 No country on earth offers such a wealth of 
 material to the historian, the antiquarian, the ethnolo- 
 gist, the naturalist, the linguist, the romancist, the 
 political economist, or the traveler in search of pleas- 
 urable and improving experiences, as India. 
 
 This glorious region, which has aroused the 
 cupidity of nations and excited the admiration of 
 poets from time immemorial, is truly a land of superla- 
 tives. Its chief features and characteristics are upon 
 a scale which, for magnitude, beauty, or interest, is in 
 few instances rivaled, and in fewer still surpassed. It 
 has the highest mountains, the most inspiring rivers, 
 the greatest variety of nationality and language, the 
 most diversified climate and scenery, the grandest 
 mausoleums and temples, the most perfect forest con- 
 
^^M 
 
 
 - 
 
 INDIA IN OUTLINE. 3 
 
 servancy, the most wonderful bridge, the most elabor- 
 ate irrigation .system, and the most magnificent rail- 
 road station. These are but few of many features in 
 which India stands second to none of the countries of 
 the world. 
 
 If the triangle, to which we have likened the shape 
 of India, be bisected laterally by a line drawn from 
 Calcutta to Baroda, the parts of it will represent the 
 two great geographical divisions of the Indian con- 
 tinent. To the north the Himalayas and the Gangetic 
 Plain, and to the south the great table-land of the 
 Deccan, inclosed by the Vindhya Mountain range and 
 the Eastern and Western Ghats. The latter territory 
 was an island at the dawn of the world, and still main- 
 tains something of an isolation, not only in its physi- 
 cal features, but also in its racial and philological 
 characteristics. 
 
 The general structural aspect of the Himalayas is 
 that of two parallel lines of peaks, now converging 
 and anon running apart, inclosing table-land and 
 valley, with here and there a cluster of hills, and, upon 
 the southern side, gradually declining ranges descend- 
 ing at rio-ht angles to the level. In its extent of 
 nearly fifteen hundred miles the range includes one 
 hundred and twenty peaks exceeding twenty thou- 
 sand feet above sea level, fifty-seven over twenty-three 
 thousand, and the highest mountain on the globe, 
 Mount Everest, which reaches an elevation of twenty- 
 nine thousand feet, a height only one thousand feet in 
 
■B 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 excess of its twin, Kanchanjanga. At its western 
 end the main range takes a southern trend, forming 
 the spur styled the Hindu-Kiish. This has been 
 aptly called the " Gateway of India," for it was 
 through its defiles that the early invaders poured into 
 the valley of the Indus, and mere mention of the 
 Khyber Pass, Chitral and Gilgit will remind the 
 reader of the strategic importance of this corner of 
 the Indian Empire at the present day. The Hindu- 
 Kush is not, however, the only natural barrier to 
 ingress in this direction, for immediately on entering 
 the plains an army would find itself confronted by 
 the " five rivers," which give its name to the Punjab, 
 and the passage of which would be extremely difficult 
 in the face of an opposing force. 
 
 The scenery of the Himalayas is unique in its 
 grandeur, but upon a scale so vast that the eye is only 
 capable of comparatively small eifects. The point 
 of view is usually at a considerable elevation, and so 
 thickly clustered are the innumerable ridges that the 
 main peaks are dwarfed. Of the two giants, Mount 
 Everest presents but a small proportion of its height 
 to the vulgar gaze, but viewed from a point on the 
 border of Sikkim, Kdnchanjangd offers almost its 
 entire bulk to the admiring spectator. The foreground 
 of the picture is filled with the richest and brightest 
 vegetation, gradually fading into dark and massy 
 foliage, topped by the eternal snows. If the enforced 
 elevation from which most Himalayan scenes must be 
 

 INDIA IN OUTLINE. 5 
 
 viewed robs the mountains of something of their 
 grandeur, it has its compensating advantage in afford- 
 ing wonderful composite pictures of hill and plain, 
 which have not their counterpart anywhere. 
 
 One of the most striking of these may be enjoyed 
 from the invalid station of Kasauli, at six thousand 
 feet above the sea. The ascent is so sheer that the 
 path is cut zigzag, like the teeth of a saw, and from 
 the crown of the hill one may drop a stone into the 
 village of Kalka below. Northward one looks toward 
 the neighboring station of Sabathu, with the snow 
 line for a background. Turning about, the eyes rest 
 upon a vast expanse of sandy level, merging like an 
 ocean into the horizon, with the river Sutlej, like some 
 sea monster, basking upon its bosom. 
 
 The Nangap&rbat section of the Himalayan range 
 affords the most magnificent snow scene in existence. 
 It is thus described by a witness : " Below the ob- 
 server is a precipice falling sheer sixteen thousand 
 feet. Before him lie the Nangaparbat Mountains — a 
 mass of glaciers, snow-fields, ice-cliffs and jagged 
 needles for its whole twenty- four thousand feet of 
 vertical measurement." 
 
 The flora of the Himalayas is in general of semi- 
 tropical species, the tree-fern, magnolia and rhodo- 
 dendron — which here attain an enormous size — 
 being particularly conspicuous. The montanic forests 
 consist of an abundant aggregation of trees of various 
 kinds, interspersed with graceful grasses and flowery 
 
Ml 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 vegetation in a variety of beautiful forms. Many of 
 the trees, sueh as the oak, cedar, pine, deodar and 
 box, would have a commercial value if, as is for- 
 tunately not the ease, Nature had provided any outlet 
 for them. As it is, they afford shelter and shade to 
 the wild goat and sheep, the bison and the musk-ox, 
 the leopard and the bear. However, the sal, one of 
 the most valuable of Indian timber trees, grows plen- 
 tifully among the foothills of the Himalayan system. 
 
 The valley of the Ganges is extremely low, and 
 comprises large areas which are only a few feet above 
 sea level. The river is constantly changing its course, 
 with a southward trend, leaving extensive stretches 
 of unproductive marsh or sand upon the sites of its 
 former beds. The Punjab, as far as any physical 
 demarcation is concerned, is an extension of the plain 
 of the Ganges, although it attains a considerably 
 greater elevation by easy and imperceptible gradients. 
 
 Though it has none of the grandeur of the hill dis- 
 tricts, this region is not lacking in beauty. It abounds 
 in color pictures, made up of " clumps of waving and 
 delicate bamboo, tamarinds, huge banyans and slender 
 palms; cottages, half hidden by the large-leafed 
 gourds and overshadowed by the gigantic leaves of 
 the plantain, all alive with vast nocks of the most 
 brilliant birds." It is a fertile region, bountifully 
 watered by the sacred river and its tributaries. 
 Pulses, millets, sugar-cane, indigo and opium are the 
 principal vegetable products of the Ganges Valley and 
 

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 INDIA IN OUTLINE. 
 
 the Punjab, while tea and tobacco grow under the 
 protecting shelter of the hills. The country is densely 
 populated. It is intersected by railway lines, and 
 splendid macadamized roads make facile couuection 
 between its towns and villages. 
 
 The elevations in the interior are for the most part 
 plateaus, unlike the ridges of the great boundary 
 ranges. The Vindhyas have been aptly described as 
 "a confused jumble of forest, ridges, peaks, cultivated 
 valleys and broad, high plains." The Eastern and 
 Western Ghats skirt the coast of the peninsula 
 proper on either side. Forest, precipice and defile go 
 to make up scenes that many opine to be the most 
 picturesque in all India. 
 
 The entire extent of India is singularly devoid of 
 lakes ; but two of the principal, Kolair and Chilka, 
 are to be found near the coast of Madras. 
 
 The rivers of southern India are insignificant on 
 all counts, as compared with those of the north. The 
 Godavari and Kistna empty into the Bay of Bengal, 
 whilst the Nerbudda and Tapti run to the Gulf of 
 Cambay, in the opposite direction. 
 
 There are no mountains of importance in the 
 peninsular section of the country ; but the Neilghcrry 
 hills are interesting on account of being the retreat 
 of some aboriginal tribes, whose villages are accessible 
 to the traveler. The vegetable productions of this 
 region, with the exception of opium, include those of 
 the northern division ; in addition, oil seeds are largely 
 
8 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 cultivated, and cinchona and coffee are produced at the 
 end of the peninsula. 
 
 On the whole, the sphere included in our imaginary 
 sub-triangle is much less attractive and interesting 
 than the upper portion of India. 
 
 The climate of Hindustan is not, under favorable 
 conditions of living, inimical to the health of Euro- 
 peans. It is true that the heat upon the plains fre- 
 quently registers one hundred and ten degrees in the 
 shade, but effective precautions against harm, and 
 even discomfort, from it are practicable. The " hot 
 weather " lasts from the beginning of April to about 
 the middle of June, when the rains set in ; the latter 
 season is even more intolerable than the summer, on 
 account of the intense humidity, coupled with a high 
 temperature. November ushers in the "cold weather," 
 a season of four months, during which the climate 
 somewhat resembles the English autumn, and is 
 extremely enjoyable. 
 
 British India is said to harbor over five hundred 
 different kinds of mammals, about seventeen hundred 
 varieties of birds, and upwards of five hundred 
 reptiles. The first include the lion, tiger, leopard, 
 bear, elephant, buffalo, nilghai, boar, rhinoceros, 
 wild ass. wolf, hyena, jackal, antelope, deer, and 
 other animals too numerous to mention. Monkeys 
 are as much in evidence everywhere as sparrows in 
 America. 
 
 The most notable of the birds are the vulture, the 
 
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Tree Ferns, Neither ry Hills 
 
 
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 INDIA IN OUTLINE. 9 
 
 adjutant and the peacock, and of the reptiles the 
 crocodile and the python. 
 
 The flora of India is exceedingly extensive, and in- 
 cludes almost all the plants to be found in the tropical 
 and semi-tropical regions. The sacred pipul, or fig 
 tree, and the banyan deserve especial mention. The 
 latter attains immense dimensions, and its extension is 
 apparently limitless. One of these monsters of vege- 
 table growth is said to have sheltered an army of 
 seven thousand men long ago, and year by year it 
 adds to its size by a process peculiarly its own. Its 
 branches drop aerial roots, which, reaching the ground, 
 take hold and stiffen, gradually assuming the propor- 
 tions and functions of auxiliary trunks ; these, in 
 their turn, produce branches upon the outer side, 
 which eject similar embryo stems, and so on ad 
 infinitum. 
 
 In an area exceeding 1,500,000 square miles (in- 
 clusive of Burma and Ceylon, which are portions of 
 British India) is a population of 288,000,000, of 
 which 150,000 are natives of Great Britain, and no 
 more than half that number soldiers. Of this vast 
 aggregation nearly 208,000,000 profess the Brah manic 
 faith ; upwards of 57,000,000 are Muhammadans ; 
 9,000,000 are Animists, who believe that animals pos- 
 sess souls, and that the functions of the vegetable king- 
 dom are due to spiritual forces and not to chemical 
 action ; the Buddhists account for 7,000,000, and the 
 kindred sect, the Jains, for 1 500,000 ; the Sikhs 
 
10 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 number 2,000,000, and the Christians something 
 more, while there are about 100,000 followers of 
 Zoroaster. 
 
 Thus one-sixth of the human species, comprising 
 many races, speaking twenty languages, varying in 
 physique, in customs and in religion, are controlled by 
 a people dwelling thirteen thousand miles distant. 
 That this allegiance is not maintained by the mailed 
 hand must be patent to him who knows aught of the 
 Rajput or Maratha, the Sikh or Gurkha. The 
 loyalty of the natives is emphasized by the constant 
 presence of hostile tribes upon the mountain borders, 
 by the fact that they have eagerly fought Britain's 
 battles abroad, and have time and again suppressed 
 political disaffection in their midst. Nor is this a 
 condition posterior to the great uprising of 1857, as 
 many suppose. The Sepoy Rebellion, in the light of 
 sober investigation, loses much of its sinister signifi- 
 cance. There is an element of childishness in the 
 Hindu, and a touch of the tiger in the Muhammadan. 
 The imagination of one, and the fanaticism of the 
 other, had been aroused by long and subtle process* is, 
 and fed unchecked — unheeded, indeed — by their 
 rulers, until the flames of mutiny burst forth. The 
 natives call those the years of " the great madness " — 
 aye, so did they who took part in the revolt. It was 
 followed by childlike repentance on the part of the 
 Hindu, and on that of the Muhammadan by the re- 
 spectful loyalty of the brave man, while they who, 
 
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 D^V 
 
 INDIA IN OUTLINE. 
 
 11 
 
 like the Sikh, honored their salt were bound by 
 double ties to the dominant race. 
 
 The great deterrent to the progress of the country, 
 the cause of many of its calamities, but also the source 
 of some of its advantages, is caste. This curious, and 
 to the Western mind never wholly understandable, 
 institution Avas probably in existence when the Ish- 
 maelites traded between India and Egypt. The most 
 ancient portion of the Vedas alludes to four great 
 classes or Varnas of the Hindu people ; these were 
 the Brahmans or priests, the Kshattriyas or soldiers, 
 the Vaisyas or tillers of the soil, and the Siidras or 
 traders and menials, in the order of their importance. 
 
 While this broad classification exists to-day, inva- 
 sion, intermarriage and extension of industries has led 
 to the creation of a large number of subdivisions, and 
 indeed, as early as the fourteenth century before 
 Christ, the laws of Manu recognized several offshoots 
 from the original castes. 
 
 The faith of these numerous septs centres in a 
 triune godhead, but the Hindu Pantheon includes a 
 host of inferior deities. The great triad consists of 
 Brahma, the creator and the supreme;' Vishnu, the 
 preserver; and Siva, the destroyer. These two last 
 have been time and again Avatar, or incarnate, and 
 hence the imagination of their worshipers has given 
 to them a variety of tangible forms to symbolize 
 powers and qualities auxiliary to their prime functions. 
 Although the Brahmanical religion has a decidedly 
 
12 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 spiritual side, the devotions of the majority of Hindus 
 are restricted to its external phases and ceremonial 
 observances. 
 
 The Buddhist doctrine, which inculcates a philos- 
 ophy rather than a religion, had at oue time a very 
 large following, and in the reign of King Asoka, who 
 was converted to the sect in the year 244 B.C., it hid 
 fair to supplant Brahmanism in India. The older 
 faith prevailed, however, and the disciples of Gau- 
 tama have long since lost their hold upon the conti- 
 nent, although they are still numerous in Ceylon, 
 where some of the best specimens of their sacred 
 architecture may be found. The small sect of Jains 
 is virtually all that remains of Buddhism in India 
 proper. This is, perhaps, to be regretted ; for the 
 code of Gautama afforded a good, and in many respects 
 Christian-like, theory for the conduct of life, and 
 " substituted a religion of emotion and sympathy for 
 one of ceremonial and dogma." In this regard the 
 two great religions of ancient India were not dis- 
 similar from the conflicting doctrines which rent Jeru- 
 salem at the inception of our era. 
 
 The comparatively modern sect of Sikhs was 
 founded among the Hindus of the Punjab by Nanak 
 Shall toward the close of the fifteenth century. The 
 Sikh religion is a politico-military system. The most 
 divine object recognized by its adherents is the Granth, 
 or holy book. The Sikh denounces idolatry, but is tole- 
 rant of other creeds, and takes no cognizance of caste. 
 
 
INDIA IN OUTLINE. 
 
 13 
 
 India is essentially an agricultural country, about 
 sixty per cent, of the population deriving their liveli- 
 hood directly from the tillage of the soil. Under 
 such circumstances drought, with its fearful resultant, 
 famine, must necessarily affect a large proportion of 
 the people. The efforts of the British Government to 
 eradicate or ameliorate these constantly recurring 
 evils have been stupendous. The irrigation system 
 has been wrought under tremendous difficulties, and 
 is continually being extended. The great Ganges 
 Canal, with its ramifications, comprises over three 
 thousand miles of distributary lines, and waters eight 
 hundred thousand acres. At one point in its course 
 it is carried across a river three hundred yards broad, 
 and thence for three miles along an embankment 
 thirty feet high. This is the finest work of its kind 
 extant, although the Sirhind Canal is even more exten- 
 sive. In addition to these should be mentioned the 
 irrigation works at the deltas of the Godavari, the 
 Kistna, the Mahanadi and the Cauvery, with which 
 there is nothing to compare. Further protection 
 against famine is secured by artificial lakes, tanks and 
 wells, and, as auxiliary to all these, road construction 
 is in perpetual progress. 
 
 Indian art in its various forms is famous the world 
 over. We shall have occasion to notice this, as well 
 as the architecture of the country, in detail, when 
 treating of particular localities. It may, however, be 
 stated here that the excellence of handicraft attained 
 
14 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 by the Hindu workman is largely due to heredity, 
 and the same cause, no doubt, accounts for a certain 
 lack of individual originality. Since occupation and 
 caste are coincident, the son has no choice but to 
 adopt the following of his father, to which he is 
 indeed born. Hence the workman of to-day may be 
 said to exhibit the accumulated skill and deftness of 
 many generations. These qualities are especially dis- 
 played in the production of pottery and jewelry, in 
 carving wood and chasing metals, in dyeing, weaving 
 and embroidering:. The Government has established 
 several museums and schools of art, with the intent 
 to encourage these industries ; but the result is not of 
 an entirely satisfactory character. Acquaintance with 
 Western specimens and designs has in many instances 
 prompted the native to neglect his own classical models 
 for the sake of copying inferior modern productions. 
 
 The principal political divisions of India are the 
 three Presidencies, Bengal, Bombay and Madras ; the 
 Northwest Provinces and Oudh ; the Central Prov- 
 inces ; the Punjab ; Upper and Lower Burma ; 
 Assam and Berar. In addition, there arc six quasi- 
 independent States, governed by their hereditary 
 rulers, assisted by British Residents, who are in some 
 instances practically curators. These " native States," 
 as they are called, comprise one-third of the entire 
 country. Their heads are permitted to maintain 
 armed forces, but may not employ them in any man- 
 ner other than display. While it is the policy of 
 

 INDIA IN OUTLINE. 
 
 15 
 
 the British Government to allow these chiefs all the 
 semblance of independence possible, in reality their 
 powers and responsibility are considerably restricted, 
 and they are not permitted to enter into any political 
 relations with other States. The heads of the divisions 
 directly under British Government are amenable to 
 the direction and control of the Viceroy-in-Council. 
 Previous to the date of the Mutiny the Governor- 
 General of India had practically unlimited power, 
 and was answerable only to the Directors of the East 
 India Company in England. With the annulment of 
 the Company's charter, in 1858, a new system of gov- 
 ernment was inaugurated, and, with slight modifica- 
 tions, obtains at the present time. The Viceroy is 
 appointed by the Crown for a term of five years. He 
 is assisted by the Executive Council, a sort of Cabinet, 
 whose members divide among them the responsibility 
 for the management of the different departments of 
 the State ; the Legislative Council, which includes the 
 former body and, besides, certain officials chosen by 
 the Viceroy, and nominated representatives, native as 
 well as British. The Presidencies of Bombay and 
 Madras have similar administrative systems, with a 
 Governor-General at the head of each. The loss im- 
 portant provinces arc ruled by a lieutenant-governor 
 or high-commissioner in a somewhat similar manner. 
 While the culminating point in the government of 
 each of these political divisions is the Viceroy-in- 
 Council, the basis and administrative unit is the col- 
 
I 
 
 
 fPWEWPW 
 
 16 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 lector, magistrate, or deputy-commissioner in charge 
 of one of the many districts of which each is made up. 
 
 The system of land tenure varies to suit the pecu- 
 liar requirements of different parts of the country. It 
 would be difficult, even though space permitted, to 
 explain the several methods in force, to the satisfaction 
 of the reader unconversant with the history and 
 present conditions of India. Suffice to say, that under 
 the British rule, while all classes are treated equitably, 
 the rayat, or peasant, is especially safeguarded in his 
 rights, and secured in the profit of his toil. Whereas 
 in former years, under the native rule, the zamindar 
 might tax the small land-holder to whatever extent 
 he pleased — and, as a matter of fact, seldom left him 
 more than a bare subsistence — to-day the heaviest 
 assessment made by the Government seldom exceeds 
 one dollar per acre. 
 
 The many nationalities of the country admit of 
 broad classification into Hindus, Moslems and abo- 
 rigines. 
 
 Tradition tells of two ancient empires, which em- 
 braced the provinces of Lahore, Agra, Oudh and 
 Allahabad, and were ruled over by two families, styled 
 the children of the Sun and of the Moon, whose 
 respective capitals were Ayodhya and Pratishthana, 
 the modern Oudh and Vitora. It is probable that 
 the nether country was a mass of forest and jungle, 
 sparsely peopled by tribes in a primitive state, who 
 had been driven from the north by the inroad of 
 

 INDIA IN OUTLINE. 
 
 17 
 
 the hordes from Central Asia, who, settling in the 
 Gangetic belt, formed the nucleus of the Hindu 
 nation, and gave incipiency to its civilization. The 
 first invasion, to which no date can be assigned, has 
 been followed by the incursions of Scythians, Greeks, 
 Persians, Arabs, Mughals, Afghans and Europeans, so 
 that this fair land has been from prehistoric times 
 the theatre of bloodshed, rapine and tyranny — this 
 especially in its northern portion. 
 
 In these early conflicts the Hindus generally appear 
 to have been incapable of effective resistance to the 
 onslaught of tribes from less enervating climes, and 
 the successive waves of fierce invasion swept over 
 them with little check. 
 
 It is a story of thrilling interest, replete with 
 romance, telling of noble deeds and dastard treachery; 
 of lion-hearted men and lovely women ; of kingdoms 
 lost in a day, and dynasties upsprung like mushrooms 
 in a night. Withal a setting of gorgeous scenery, 
 under a vertical sun, and for accessories jewels beyond 
 count and trappings beyond compare, rich stuffs and 
 rare dyes, the caparisoned elephant and the stately 
 stallion. 
 
 Vol. 1.— 2 
 

 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LEGENDARY INDIA. 
 
 In the remote past the upper portion of the 
 country now known as India was peopled by an 
 Aryan race, which had immigrated from the table- 
 land of Central Asia. This tract north of the 
 Yindhya Mountains constitutes Hindustan proper. 
 It was divided into a number of small kingdoms 
 under the rule of independent rajas or maharajas, the 
 latter term signifying " great rajas," having reference 
 to the exceptional extent of their territory. Of these, 
 the most powerful was the Maharaja of Hastinapur, 
 whose capital was situated about sixty-five miles to 
 the northeast of modern Delhi, upon a site which may 
 be identified at this day. 
 
 The chief occupation of the petty princes of that 
 time, and indeed for centuries afterwards, was fighting. 
 In addition to conflicts with the aborigines, they car- 
 ried on perpetual skirmishes among themselves — in 
 fact, these encounters partook of the character of 
 pastime, and established custom frequently afforded a 
 casus belli, when no ill feeling existed between the 
 parties to the strife. For instance, the raja, who 
 
 18 
 
■ $$k ■ : 
 
 LEGENDARY INDIA. 
 
 19 
 
 would marry the daughter of another, must needs 
 fight and conquer the father, or be branded as a 
 coward. Again, when a short period of peace began 
 to pall upon a chieftain, he might loose a branded 
 horse from his stud to wander where it pleased un- 
 checked. It was the business of the owner to follow 
 the beast, and to give battle to any raja into whose 
 dominion it had roamed. These occasions were not 
 wars of acquisition, but merely competitive military 
 exercises, which, however, were conducted with all 
 the vigor and effect of more serious campaigns. 
 
 At a date approximate to 1500 B.C. Hastinapur 
 was governed by Maharaja Santanu, a direct descend- 
 ant of the national hero Bharata, who was said to 
 have ruled over all India at an earlier period. In 
 his old age Santanu became enamored of the daughter 
 of a neighboring potentate, and expressed a desire to 
 marry her. To this proposition the father of the girl 
 agreed only upon the condition that Bhishma, the sole 
 son of the King of Hastinapur, should renounce all 
 claim to succession and vow never to marry. This 
 the young prince not only readily agreed to, for the 
 sake of his father, but in later years became tlie faith- 
 ful guardian of the Maharaja's second son and of the 
 children of the latter. The ancient Hindu chronicles 
 recount other similar instances of remarkable filial 
 sacrifice, which are in striking contrast with the con- 
 duct of many princes under the Muhammadan and 
 Mughal dynasties. 
 

 Hi 
 
 20 INDIA. 
 
 Of the two grandsons of Santanu, Dhritarashtra, 
 the elder, was set aside on account of his being blind, 
 and his brother Piindu elevated to the throne. After 
 a brief reign Pandu died, leaving three sons by Kunti 
 and two sons by Madri, whereupon a contest arose be- 
 tween the widows as to who should have the honor of 
 committing sati. The story is repeated by Didorus 
 Siculus, the Greek historian, and is the first mention 
 of the ceremony extant. Dhritarashtra, despite his 
 affliction, was now accepted by the people of Hastina- 
 pur as their ruler. Meanwhile his nephews were ap- 
 proaching a vigorous manhood. The blind Maharaja 
 had several sons, of whom only two, however, seem 
 to have figured in history. These were Duryodhana 
 and Duhsasana. The cousins grew up together at the 
 royal residence under the guardianship of the ever- 
 faithful Blush ma, who had by this time reached a 
 venerable old age. 
 
 The sons of the reigning monarch were styled 
 the Kauravas, and the sons of Pandu were dis- 
 tinguished by the name Pandavas. The question of 
 succession created early jealousy between the young 
 princes, which found vent in murderous acts during 
 the lifetime of the Maharaja. The Pandavas, and 
 particularly Bhfma and Arjuna, appear to have been 
 courageous, strong and skilled in the use of the 
 weapons of war — qualities which the Kauravas either 
 Lacked or possessed in an inferior degree. The 
 strength of the Kauravas lay in their superior intel- 
 
. 
 
 LEGENDARY INDIA. 
 
 21 
 
 lects, which, coupled with unscrupulous cunning, made 
 them formidable opponents. 
 
 At length the advanced age and physical decline of 
 the Maharaja made it necessary, according to custom, 
 to appoint a yuva-raja, or regent, who was also the 
 acknowledged successor to the raj. The first ap- 
 pointment of the blind king was one of his nephews, 
 but such a violent storm of protest arose from the 
 Kanravas and their adherents that, in order to avoid 
 a civil war, the Maharaja rescinded his decision, and 
 banished the Pandavas to Varanavata, a city on the 
 frontier of the Aryan settlements, and upon whose 
 site the modern Allahabad stands. 
 
 Duryodhana was installed in the office of yuva-raja 
 upon the departure of the Piindavas, who, although 
 they might have offered effectual resistance to the 
 harsh mandate of the Maharaja, refrained even from 
 remonstrance. This, one of many instances mentioned 
 in the early story of the Hindus of extreme venera- 
 tion for the head of the family and strict compliance 
 with his wishes, reminds us of the similar attitude of 
 the Israelites towards their patriarchs. 
 
 The adventures of the five sons of Pandu during 
 their exile, as recited in the semi-mythical legends 
 of their descendants, arc both wonderful and interest- 
 ing. It must suffice, however, to mention the only 
 incident which had a direct bearing upon history. 
 
 The Swayamvara was a betrothal festival. It was 
 the occasion of contests of strength and skill between 
 
I 
 
 22 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 the young Rajputs, the prize being the hand of a raja's 
 daughter. The approaching event was widely heralded 
 among the various rajadoms, and attracted champions 
 from every direction. Thus the resident princes of 
 Hastinapur and the Pandavas met, after the lapse of 
 years, at the Svvayamvara of Dranpadi, the daughter 
 of the Raja of Pahchala, who was deemed the loveliest 
 damsel in the world. The hand of this maiden was 
 not to be lightly won. The man who would aspire to 
 it was required to perform a feat of extreme difficulty. 
 A golden fish was set up, with a constantly revolving 
 quoit between it and the contestant, who was required 
 to string an enormous bow and shoot an arrow through 
 the quoit into the eye of the fish. One after another 
 the ambitions rajas tried, and failed to accomplish 
 the task, few indeed succeeding in bending the bow. 
 At last Arjuna, the son of Pandn, stepped forward, 
 and, handling the weapon with ease, sent the shaft 
 true to the mark on the first essay. Dranpadi imme- 
 diately threw a garland about his neck as a token of 
 consent, and was led away the bride of a Pandava. 
 This alliance with the powerful Raja of Panchala at 
 once made the Pandavas men to be seriously reck- 
 oned with, and caused grave apprehension at Hastina- 
 pur. Fearing an invasion of the territory by his 
 nephews, the old Maharaja voluntarily proposed to 
 divide the kingdom between the two families. This 
 was done, but not in an equitable manner; for, while 
 the capital and environments were assigned to the 
 
m$> 
 
 LEGENDARY INDIA. 
 
 23 
 
 Kauravas, the Pandavas were given a portion of the 
 kingdom covered with jungle and occupied by a hos- 
 tile Scythic tribe known as the Nagas, or snake 
 worshipers. Having driven the Nagas from the 
 newly-acquired domain, the Pandavas cleared large 
 tracts, and erected a fort, the remains of which the 
 Hindus point out in the neighborhood of Delhi to-day. 
 With an influx of Siidras, who tilled the land, the 
 raj of Khandava-prastha rapidly grew into a consider- 
 able State. "When the Pandavas had become suffi- 
 ciently established in their dominion to be recognized 
 as a power, they celebrated the Rajasuya. This was 
 a festival which had for its purpose the assertion of 
 the independence of the rajil by whom it was 
 held. All his fellow-chiefs were bidden to the 
 feast, and the presence of each was accepted as 
 a token of his acknowledgment of the rightful- 
 ness of the claim set up by the host. We are 
 told that all the rajas, including the sons of 
 Dhritarashtra, answered the summons to the Raja- 
 suya of the Pandavas. 
 
 The wily Kauravas, however, this evidence of 
 goodwill notwithstanding, had relaxed not one iota in 
 their hatred of their cousins, and came to the celebra- 
 tion prepared to carry into execution a treacherous 
 plot for their undoing. Most of the Rajputs or 
 Ksliattriyas — that is, the soldier caste — were addicted 
 to gambling, and the Pandavas were by no means 
 free of the prevailing vice. It had been arranged 
 
t 
 
 24 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 
 that when the games of chance, which were and are 
 at this clay a never-failing feature of a Rajput festival, 
 took place, Duryodhana should pit himself against 
 Yudhishthira, the eldest of the Pandavas ; but the 
 dice were to be thrown by Sakuni, an uncle of the 
 former, who was an adept in the use of loaded dice. 
 The Pandava readily fell into the trap. First he 
 staked money and all that represented wealth in the 
 raj. These were lost, and then the kingdom itself. 
 Next he risked the liberty of his brothers, commenc- 
 ing with the youngest, and each was lost. At last he 
 staked himself, with the same result, and flung the 
 dice from him, with the thought that nothing more 
 remained ; but the Kaurava reminded him that he 
 still had a valuable stake in Draupadi. The miser- 
 able man accepted the suggestion, and upon a last 
 throw lost his wife, with all beside, to the cold-blooded 
 scoundrel, Duryodhana. 1 
 
 The ensuing scene is dramatic beyond description. 
 The chieftains stand aghast as it is borne upon their 
 minds that the Pandavas and the fair daughter of the 
 house of Panch.ila are the slaves of Duryodhana. 
 Disgust mingles with dismay, but none will interfere, 
 for the code of the Rajputs requires the strictest ful- 
 fillment of a debt of honor, and the fraud which has 
 been perpetrated is not suspected. The unhappy 
 princess is dragged by her long black hair to the feet 
 
 1 The story conveys the impression that Draupadi was the com- 
 mon wife of all the brothers. 
 
 I 
 
 I I 
 
 ■■ 
 

 LEGENDAKY INDIA. 
 
 25 
 
 of her future master, and ordered to perform a menial 
 service. The fearful vow of Bhima to slay the 
 Kauravas and drink their blood, and the counter vow 
 of Draupadl to leave her hair unkempt until the 
 pledge has been fulfilled, almost precipitate a massacre, 
 when the blind and tottering Maharaja is led upon 
 the scene. Pie decides that the possessions of the 
 Pandavas are rightfully forfeit — that they shall not 
 be slaves, but must endure another exile for a term of 
 twelve years. 
 
 The period passes in strange and often impossible 
 adventure, and then we find the Pandavas occupying 
 positions of importance at the court of a powerful 
 raja, by whom they arc held in high esteem. At 
 length the Pandavas were strong enough to declare 
 war upon the Kauravas. The story of the conflict 
 is ghastly in its details. The opposing forces con- 
 fronted one the other upon a plain, and, as a prelimi- 
 nary to action, reviled their opponents in terms 
 expressible only in an Oriental language. Then in 
 furious anger they rushed upon each other. The 
 battle raged by day, and at night men fought with 
 torch in one hand and sword in the other; and so for 
 eighteen days. Warrior met warrior in single com- 
 bat, and thus Bhima slew Duhsasana — he who had 
 dragged the Princess Draupadl from her apartments 
 into the gambling hall — and, mortally wounding Dur- 
 yodhana, left him to die in the solitude of the jungle. 
 So was the vow of Bhima fulfilled, and, with his 
 
26 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 fingers dripping the blood of her insulters, he tied up 
 the hair of the princess. 
 
 The Kauravas and their followers having been 
 completely annihilated in this bloody engagement, the 
 Pandavas were enabled to take possession of the raj 
 of Hastinapur without opposition. There they 
 founded a great dynasty, and ultimately became the 
 rulers of the whole of India. All these things and 
 many more are set forth in the great Sanskrit epic, 
 the Mahabharata. How much of the story is fiction, 
 how much fact, or how much an admixture of both, it 
 is impossible to determine, and difficult even to con- 
 jecture. 
 
 The Riimayana, a later heroic poem in the Sans- 
 krit tongue, tells the story of the evolution of the 
 Hindu nation at another stage. Its scenes are laid in 
 localities other than those mentioned in the Mahabha- 
 rata, and its actors are carried through the peninsula 
 and into Lanka, the ancient name for Ceylon. 
 
 The plot of the Ramayana turns upon the jealousies 
 of two of the wives of the Maharaja of Ayodhya (the 
 modern Oudh) and the rivalry of their sons, Rama 
 and Bharata. We have a Swayamvara, at which 
 Rama is victorious and secures the prize, in the per- 
 son of the lovely Sita, daughter of a neighboring 
 raja. Then the appointment of a yuva-raja creates 
 the usual trouble, and results in the exile of Rama, 
 who goes into the wilderness with his wife. The re- 
 course to banishment as a preventive of fratricidal 
 
LEGENDARY INDIA. 
 
 27 
 
 conflicts, and as a punitive measure, which is several 
 times mentioned in these two Hindu epics, became an 
 established custom, and in modern times was attended 
 by funereal ceremonies. The Rajput under sentence 
 of exile was clothed in black and mounted upon a 
 black horse with sable trappings. He was then con- 
 ducted to the frontier of the raj, and commanded to 
 absent himself for a certain period, or never to return. 
 Rama betook himself to Prayaga, at the junction of 
 the Ganges and Jumna, on the spot where stands the 
 present city of Allahabad, the place in fact to which 
 the Piindavas were deported. Shortly afterwards the 
 Maharaja died, and Bharata, with incredible gener- 
 osity, set out to find his elder brother, and to invite 
 him to assume the chieftainship of the raj. This 
 Rama refused to do before the completion of the four- 
 teen years of exile to which his dead father had 
 sentenced him. 
 
 Then follow a series of the most marvelous 
 adventures, which, notwithstanding their mythical 
 aspect, are of some value to the historian as afford- 
 ing clues to actual events. From Prayaga to the 
 extremity of the peninsula the country was wilder- 
 ness and desert. Through this extensive tract Rama 
 journeyed, fighting with cannibals, giants and un- 
 imaginable creatures. His wife is abducted by one 
 of these monsters, and carried to his stronghold in 
 Lankd. With the aid of Hanuman (the same who 
 finds a place in the Hindu Pantheon in the form of an 
 
28 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 ape) and his army of monkeys, Rama invades the 
 island, and a war ensues which for marvelous inci- 
 dents rivals the " great war of the Bh&rata." Sita is 
 recovered, and, the term of exile having in the mean- 
 time expired, Kama returns with his wife to Ayodhya, 
 and enters upon a lung reign of splendid conquest. 
 
 &tifflMffi&& 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 INDIA UNDER HINDU RULE. 
 
 The early history of India, like that of most 
 nations, is little more than a recital of its wars. A 
 state of perfect peace was unknown to the country 
 until after the domination of the English had been 
 established. The traditions of the people abound in 
 stories of intestine struggles, and their earliest authen- 
 tic records commence with the expedition of Alex- 
 ander the Great. Thenceforward to modern times 
 we have, with scarce an interval, a long succession 
 of invasions, wars and rebellions, which kept the land 
 in a state of constant turmoil, and retarded the 
 progress of civilization. 
 
 There is good ground for believing that the 
 Scythians made numerous invasions of the country, 
 and more than one writer credits them with having 
 penetrated to the Deccan ; but the information we 
 have upon the subject is very vague, and useless for 
 the purposes of historical review. It is, however, 
 interesting to note that the Scythic tribe of Takshaks, 
 who were snake-worshipers, have left traces of their 
 occupation in the word ndgd, a serpent, which, or its 
 
 29 
 
■ 
 
 30 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 abbreviation ntig, is of frequent occurrence in the 
 annals of Central India. Wilford assigns a date as 
 early as 2000 B.C. to one of these invasions of the 
 Scythians. 
 
 Oghuz Khan, an ancestor of the renowned Changiz, 
 is supposed to have conquered all the northern 
 portion of India at some time between 1750 and 
 1600 B.C. This would be before the Kuru-Pandava 
 war, of which the Mahabharata treats. 
 
 No date can be assigned to the early invasion of 
 the Persians, and indeed the authenticity of the event 
 rests upon very slender evidence. The Persian his- 
 torians give details of extensive conquests achieved 
 by Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes in Hindustan, and 
 Herodotus states that in the time of Darius India 
 paid a heavy annual tribute to Persia. The inhabit- 
 ants of the former country, however, frequently 
 asserted to the followers of Alexander, who came by 
 way of Persia, that they had never before been 
 invaded from that direction. It is probable that the 
 incursions of the Persians did not extend far into the 
 interior, and were of a character which left little 
 impression upon the country. 
 
 The sixth century before Christ witnessed an event 
 of great importance to the country, the effects of 
 which, however, did not reach full fruition until 
 several centuries afterwards. 
 
 Sakya Muni, Gautama Bhudda, or Siddhartha, 
 was the son of the Itaja of Kapila, a district 
 
INDIA UNDER HINDU KULE. 
 
 31 
 
 lying between Nepal and Sikkim. His early years 
 were passed in ease and luxury. He had a wife and 
 child, and was the heir to the domain of his father. 
 These things and all else he abandoned for a life of 
 austere seclusion and contemplation, in the hope of 
 finding some means of ameliorating the condition of 
 humanity, and avoiding the " ills that flesh is heir 
 to." The doctrine of Gautama Bhudda involved the 
 old dogma of metempsychosis, but it was a great 
 improvement upon the existent religion, which relied 
 upon the excitation of fear for its effect. In substance 
 the Bhudda's teaching was that every one should 
 endeavor to secure for himself a happier existence in 
 his next reincarnation by living upon the highest 
 possible plane in his present life. Pie also maintained 
 that it was possible to escape, or to curtail, the cycle 
 of transmigrations of the soul by adopting the life 
 of a religious recluse, and rooting out every emotion, 
 and sundering every worldly tie. The goal to be 
 ultimately attained was Nirvana, a condition of 
 annihilation. 
 
 Buddhism is "the embodiment of the eternal verity 
 that as a man sows he will reap, associated with the 
 personal duties of mastery over self and kindness to 
 all men." 
 
 Gautama commenced the promulgation of his doc- 
 trine, which formed the basis of the Bhuddist faith, 
 at a period of internecine conflicts and family quarrels 
 — a most unpromising time for the dissemination of a 
 
32 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 humanitarian theory of conduct. That the reformer's 
 efforts were not without great and beneficial after-effect 
 history proves to us. Centuries later the people of 
 Hindustan had good reason to bless the name of 
 Bhudda, when one of their most bloodthirsty kings, 
 a fratricide and the wantoo slayer of thousands of his 
 subjects, embraced Bhuddism, and became as mild 
 and peaceful a monarch as he had formerly been 
 cruel and reckless. 
 
 Somewhat more than a century after the death of 
 Sakya Muni, Alexander the Great, having completed 
 the conquest of Persia, entered Hindustan with an 
 army of one hundred thousand soldiers, about forty 
 thousand of whom were veteran Greeks. There is 
 every reason to believe that, but for the dissensions 
 among the native rulers, the Macedonian might have 
 been repulsed, and his expedition rendered abortive at 
 the outset. As it was, he found immediate allies in 
 some of the princes, who hoped by his assistance to 
 consummate vendettas and private feuds, without 
 regard to patriotic considerations. 
 
 The first check received by Alexander was at the 
 passage of the Jehlam, where he was confronted by 
 Porus the elder. Porus, who displayed a tine courage 
 in the affair, had the advantage of position; but his 
 army numbered no more than forty thousand men 
 and two hundred elephants. When Alexander by 
 superior tactics had succeeded in effecting the passage 
 of the river, the odds were tremendously in his favor, 
 
 
' 
 
 INDIA UNDER HINDU RULE. 
 
 33 
 
 for although he only brought eleven thousand of his 
 Macedonians into action, the Hindus were taken 
 entirely by surprise and, indeed, were not under arms 
 when the attack commenced. The first to respond to 
 the onslaught was the son of Porus, at the head of 
 two thousand men, who, together with their leader, 
 were annihilated. They had, however, effected the 
 purpose of giving the main body time to form, and 
 Porus himself, coming to the front with his cavalry, 
 broke the Macedonian centre time and again. The 
 native foot and horse fought with a degree of valor 
 and skill which surprised Alexander, and filled him 
 with admiration. Victory seemed to be with the 
 Hindus, when there occurred one of those apparently 
 casual incidents which frequently turn the tide of 
 battle and shape the course of history. The elephants 
 of Porus, in which he placed his greatest dependence, 
 probably rendered restive by the preceding thunder- 
 storm, under cover of which Alexander had crossed 
 the Jehlam, broke from the control of their mahouts, 
 and, rushing madly through the ranks, trampled down 
 the infantry in every direction, and precipitated a 
 rout. Porus surrendered to the victor, and, with the 
 childlike impetuosity which was one of his char- 
 acteristics, Alexander the Great gave the defeated 
 king his liberty and restored his kingdom, with the 
 addition of several minor States which had fallen to 
 the Macedonian in his forward march. The only 
 concession demanded by Alexander of his former foe 
 You I.— 3 
 
■ 
 
 34 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 was the privilege of erecting two cities in, the latter' s 
 domain. One of these was built in memory of a 
 favorite dog, Peritas, and the other was named after 
 the celebrated charger Bucephalus, which died of 
 fatigue and wounds in this campaign. 
 
 Pursuing his course toward the interior, Alexander 
 reached the Ravi, one of the " five rivers," to find 
 the consolidated forces of three powerful tribes con- 
 fronting him upon its further bank. The entire army 
 of Alexander was brought to bear against this opposi- 
 tion, with the result that the Hindus were defeated 
 and scattered ; the city of Sangala was taken, and 
 seventeen thousand of its inhabitants were put to the 
 sword, while seventy thousand were taken captive. 
 The further progress of the conqueror towards the 
 Ganges was marked by the most cruel barbarities. 
 His army appears to have been permitted to pillage 
 and massacre without restraint, and neither age nor 
 sex were respected. 
 
 On the banks of the Sutlcj Alexander was finally 
 brought to a halt by the refusal of his troops to 
 proceed. Commands and appeals were unavailing. 
 Wearied with years of constant campaigning, and 
 anxious to enjoy their spoils, the troops persisted in 
 the determination to return, and the commander was 
 forced to forego his dream of the conquest of all 
 India and the foundation of a new empire. 
 
 The invasion of Alexander was little more than a 
 marauding expedition, and left no permanent impres- 
 
 
INDIA UNDER HINDU RULE. 
 
 35 
 
 sion upon the country. The most important results 
 of this expedition consist in the accounts of the 
 country, its people and customs, which have come 
 down to us through the Greeks, and particularly the 
 descriptions of Megastheues, the ambassador to the 
 court of Sandrokottos, or Chundra-Gupta, the Emperor 
 of Hindustan. From these accounts we learn that 
 the country traversed by the army of Alexander, 
 which to-day we term the Punjab, was Avell settled ; 
 that towns and villages of considerable size were 
 numerous ; that the soil was bountiful, and that the 
 people generally were in a prosperous condition. 
 These observers note the existence of the rite of sati, 
 and appear to have been much impressed with the 
 condition of women in the country. In some tribes 
 the girls were put up as prizes in athletic contests, 
 which was probably a survival of the Swayamvara ; 
 in others they were sold in the bazaars, like ordinary 
 commodities. The Kathaei elected for their king 
 the most handsome man among them, and, like 
 the Spartans, reared none but healthy and robust 
 children. 
 
 The Brahmans, whom the Greeks called Gymno- 
 sophists, or "naked philosophers," on account of the 
 fact that they wore no clothing whatever, were held 
 in the greatest honor and esteem. They acted as 
 counselors to the rulers, as teachers and as seers ; 
 others devoted their lives to ascetic practices, some, 
 like the Stylites, exposing their bodies to the weather 
 
36 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 and the attacks of venomous insects, while maintaining 
 a rigid attitude for days at a time. 
 
 One of the Hindu princes who sought the aid of 
 Alexander in a personal quarrel was he whom the 
 Greeks styled Sandrokottos, and the natives Chuudra- 
 Gupta. The negotiations were brought to an abrupt 
 close by an insult which the conqueror conceived 
 himself to have been subjected to by the Hindu, who 
 only saved his life by a precipitate flight. After the 
 departure of Alexander from India, Chundra-Gupta 
 secured the throne of Maghada. He then drove the 
 Greeks out of the country, and established an empire 
 over the whole extent of Hindustan. Sandrokottos 
 thus became so powerful a sovereign that Seleukos, 
 the Greek King of Persia, courted an alliance with 
 him, and to that end sent the ambassador Megasthenes 
 to the court at Pali-bothra, or Pali-piitra, the modern 
 Patini. The embassy resulted in the marriage of the 
 Hindu emperor to the Greek princess, the daughter 
 of Seleukos. 
 
 From the memoirs of Megasthenes we learn more 
 than from any other source of the condition of ancient 
 Hindustan. He tells us that the city of Pali-bothra 
 extended for ten miles along the river bank, and was 
 surrounded by a high wooden wall, loopholed for 
 archers. The palace was an imposing edifice even to 
 the Greek, who may be supposed to have been 
 familiar with the stately structures of his native land. 
 I four hundred thousand men, who 
 
 army 
 
 uuiin 
 
INDIA UNDER HINDU RULE. 
 
 37 
 
 were armed with bows, swords and spears. Ele- 
 phants, horses and chariots were included in the 
 military establishment. The ambassador mentions 
 festal processions, in which strange animals and birds, 
 vessels of gold and silver, jewels and costly apparel, 
 figured. 
 
 The Maharaja sometimes dispensed justice publicly, 
 and at others officiated at the sacrificial ceremonies. 
 
 The magistracy seems to have been efficient and 
 well designed. Officials were appointed to superin- 
 tend the manufactures ; to oversee sales and ex- 
 changes ; to register births and deaths ; to collect 
 taxes, and to exercise a friendly surveillance over 
 foreigners. Occupation was hereditary, as it is now 
 to a great extent, and was regulated by law. The 
 husbandmen were considered to be servants of the 
 State, the price of their labor being exemption from 
 military service. The product of the soil was dis- 
 tributed from the royal granaries to the officials, 
 soldiers, priests and artisans, the latter alone being 
 required to pay for what they received. A tax of 
 ten per cent, was levied upon all manufactures. 
 
 Asoka, the grandson of Chundra-Gupta, left his 
 mark upon the history of Hindustan, and made a 
 lasting impression upon the people. At the time of 
 his father's death he was an exile. He happened to 
 return at the critical moment, and, murdering all his 
 brothers, made his way to the throne. He engaged in 
 several successful wars, and extended his kingdom by 
 
38 INDIA. 
 
 conquering; Afghanistan. Asoka seems to have had 
 an unnatural taste for blood. He is credited with 
 several unprovoked massacres and the wanton destruc- 
 tion of an enormous quantity of animal life. After 
 his conversion to Buddhism he underwent a surprising 
 but apparently genuine and permanent change of 
 character. His subsequent edicts, which, sculptured 
 on rock and stone, may be found all over the northern 
 part of India at this day, inculcated filial duty, utili- 
 tarian conduct, temperance in all things and gentleness 
 toward all living creatures. The slaughter of animals, 
 whether for food or sacrifice, was forbidden, and 
 provision was made for the care of old, crippled and 
 sick brutes. Teachers were appointed to acquaint the 
 people with the doctrine of Dharma, and, while the 
 Brahman religion was tolerated and its priests and 
 devotees strictly protected, Buddhism became the 
 main profession of the country. 
 
 Subsequent to the reign of Asoka India suffered 
 several invasions by the Graeko-Bactrians, whose 
 occupation of the northern portion of the country is 
 attested to-day by the presence of Greek sculptures 
 and ruins, and Greek images and superscriptions upon 
 old coins. In the last century before the Christian 
 era these latest comers were ousted by the Imlo- 
 Scythians, who founded a dynasty about which little 
 is known. Toward the close of the first century, the 
 Hindu rajas rose against the Indo-Scvthian rulers. 
 In this revolt the natives were aided by a people 
 

^M 
 
 ■■^■■i^H 
 
 Bath-Khana, Delhi 
 
■ 
 
mm 
 
INDIA UNDER HINDU EULE. 
 
 39 
 
 known as the Guptas, who some believe to have been 
 descendants of the Graeko-Bactrians. A great battle 
 was fought at Kahror, resulting in the utter defeat of 
 the Indo-Scythians, who thereafter disappear from 
 history. The Guptas then assumed control of the 
 country, and exercised dominion until they were 
 superseded by the Valabhi rajas early in the fourth 
 century. 
 
 As a result of the efforts of Asoka to propagate 
 Buddhism, that religion had taken root in China, and 
 about this time Buddhist monks from that country 
 began to appear in India on pilgrimages to the sacred 
 places associated with the memory of Gautama. One 
 of these enthusiasts, Fah Hian by name, spent three 
 years at Pali-piitra, and has left an account of his 
 observations. Somewhat more than two hundred 
 years later, or about G40 A.D., another member of the 
 Chinese monastic order, named Hiouen-Thsang, visited 
 the country. His description of Buddhist India is 
 the best we have, and gives us a vivid picture of the 
 condition of the times. 
 
 He describes the people as truthful, honest and 
 amiable ; the administration as mild and equitable. 
 Capital punishment was never inflicted, but certain 
 crimes (particularly those of disobedience to parents 
 and lying) were punishable by exile or mutilation. 
 The majority of the penalties, however, took the form 
 of fines. 
 
 Kanauj was at that time the capital of an empire 
 
40 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 which embraced the whole of Hindustan, and was 
 made up of a number of tributary rajs. The 
 Emperor was named Siiladitya, and bore the title of 
 Maharaja Adhiraj, or " lord paramount." Siiladitya 
 was a Buddhist, but he tolerated Brahmauism and all 
 other religions. 
 
 Each fifth year was the occasion of an extraordinary 
 ceremony, which Hiouen-Thsang witnessed and has 
 described. All the rajas, and as many of the 
 commoners as could be present, assembled at the holy 
 city of Prayaga, the modern Allahabad. There the 
 entire treasure of the empire was distributed to the 
 needy, without regard to race or religion. Finally the 
 Emperor stripped himself of his robes and jewels, and 
 appeared before the people in the garb of a beggar, as 
 an intimation that he had disposed of everything that 
 was within his power of gift. Those were halcyon 
 days indeed compared with what were to follow under 
 the Moslem and Mughal rulers. 
 
 Hiouen-Thsang made a lengthy sojourn at the 
 monastery of Nalanda, the ruins of which, covering an 
 area sixteen hundred by four hundred feet, may still be 
 seen at Baragaon, near Gaya. The place was, in fact, a 
 huge university, which harbored ten thousand monks 
 and students, whose wants were supplied at the 
 expense of the State. The buildings were palatial 
 in size and appearance. In addition to six long four- 
 storied blocks, there were one hundred lecture-rooms, 
 the whole situated in the most picturesque and attrac- 
 
INDIA UNDER HINDU RULE. 
 
 41 
 
 tive surroundings. The studies of the inmates 
 embraced all religions and all sciences. 
 
 For purposes of historical reference it is convenient 
 to divide the country into two portions. Hindustan 
 proper is the country lying to the north of the 
 Vindhya Mountains ; the lower section is termed the 
 Peninsula. The Hindu rule did not extend over the 
 peninsula, nor did the earlier invaders effect any set- 
 tlement in it. The country was occupied, however, by 
 aboriginal tribes, and the Dravidians had found an 
 asylum at the southernmost end of the peninsula, 
 where they had attained a high state of civilization 
 long before the establishment of the Aryan race in the 
 country. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INDIA UNDER MUHAMMADAN RULE. 
 
 The earliest conqueror of Hindustan of any 
 considerable renown was the Turki, Mahmud of 
 Ghazni. This warrior, who eventually subdued all 
 Persia and a large portion of India, was the son of 
 Subuktigin, a soldier of fortune, who elevated himself 
 from the saddle of a trooper to the throne of Ghazni, 
 and extended his realm to the Indus. Mahmud of 
 Ghazni made not less than twelve invasions of 
 Hindustan, commencing in the year 1000 A.D., with 
 the avowed purpose of extirpating idolatry from the 
 country. It is needless to recount the story of each 
 of the several expeditions, in which Mahmiid appears 
 to have been almost invariably victorious, with the 
 never-failing sequence of enormous slaughter and 
 fabulous plunder. The expedition against Somnath 
 in 102(>. which some historians reckon as the sixteenth 
 invasion of Mahmud, is typical of the man and the 
 times. 
 
 The temple of Somniith in Gujarat was the seat of 
 a god much esteemed and liberally patronized by the 
 
 42 
 
INDIA UNDER MUHAMMADAN RULE. 
 
 43 
 
 Hindus. The edifice was placed upon a lofty rock, 
 situated at the extremity of a narrow peninsula, and 
 almost surrounded by the sea. The priests of 
 Somnath believed the position to be impregnable to 
 man, and a sense of security, begotten of peaceful 
 experience in the past, led them to utter a boastful 
 declaration to the effect that if Mali mild ventured to 
 attack them, their god would scatter his army like 
 chaff. This challenge, reaching the ears of the 
 Muhammadan monarch, determined him to put the 
 matter to a test. Starting with a force of thirty 
 thousand horsemen, which swelled as he advanced 
 through previously conquered territory, Mahmild 
 progressed toward his destination, leaving a trail of 
 fire and desolation behind him, as usual. The chief- 
 tain Goga Chohan, who, with forty-five sons and sixty 
 nephews, opposed him, was defeated and the entire 
 family slain. 
 
 Sommlth was obstinately defended, and the assaults 
 of the attackers repeatedly repulsed; but finally the 
 rock was carried by storm and the defenders put to 
 the sword. In the temple was found a lingam fifteen 
 feet in height, which the priests offered to ransom at 
 an enormous cost. The fanaticism of Mahmild seems 
 to have exceeded his cupidity, for he rejected the 
 proffered bribe with the exclamation, " I came to 
 destroy idols, not to traffic in them !" He ordered 
 his men to demolish the image, which being done 
 revealed a hidden recess in its interior containing a 
 
44 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 large quantity of precious stones and pearls. 1 The 
 gates of the temple were carried by the conqueror to 
 Ghazni, where they remained until recovered, at the 
 instigation of Lord Ellenborough, and restored to 
 their former place. 2 
 
 Mahmud of Ghazni died in 1030, and for the 
 ensuing century and a half Hindustan appears to 
 have enjoyed immunity from invasion, although the 
 intestine quarrels of its native princes abated nothing. 
 Meanwhile the Afghans had overthrown the Turk! 
 dynasty. Muhammad of Ghor, the Pathan ruler 
 of the territory which had been held by Subuk- 
 tigin and his successors, conceived a design for the 
 subjugation of Hindustan, and at the close of the 
 twelfth century marched a large army against the 
 Raja of Delhi. This expedition, like many of those 
 preceding it, owed its success to the internal feuds 
 which distracted the country. Muhammad of Ghor 
 secured the active co-operation of the Maharaja of 
 Kanauj, who was the father-in-law of the ruler of 
 Delhi. The latter having been slain and his raj 
 annexed, Muhammad turned his arms upon his recent 
 ally, whose fitting reward for treachery was the loss 
 of his life and kingdom. 
 
 1 This legend, repeated by many writers, seems to rest upon the 
 declaration of Firishta, the Persian historian. Some modern stu- 
 dents of Indian history deny the story of the hidden treasure in toto. 
 
 2 The sandalwood gates, brought from Ghazni in 1842, are now 
 generally believed to be at best but a copy of those carried away 
 from Somnath eight hundred years before. 
 
 
INDIA UNDER MUIIAMMADAN RULE. 
 
 45 
 
 About ten years later Muhammad was assassinated, 
 after having extended his conquests in India consider- 
 ably beyond the limits attained by Mahmud of 
 Ghazni. 
 
 Muhammad of Ghor left no worthy successor, and 
 his death was immediately followed by a partition of 
 the Afghan dominions. In Hindustan one Kutab- 
 ud-din, who had been Viceroy under Muhammad, 
 proclaimed himself Sultan, and instituted a series of 
 wars of acquisition, which left him master of the 
 country as far as the Brahmaputra. His triumphal 
 tower, known as the Kutab Miuar, is a familiar land- 
 mark in the vicinity of Delhi. Kutab-ud-din rose 
 to the imperial seat from the station of a slave, and 
 was the first of a dynasty which is described as that 
 of the " slave kings." His immediate successors are 
 hardly worthy of mention. 
 
 Ala-ud-din, whose uncle mounted the throne of 
 Delhi after the assassination of the last of the slave 
 kings, made important accessions to the empire by the 
 invasion of the Deccan and the subjugation of the 
 Mara tints, and by the conquest of Rajputana, whither 
 the Rajputs from the northern provinces had repaired 
 after their defeats by earlier assailants. The siege of 
 Chitor, an incident of the latter campaign, is notice- 
 able as affording an illustration of the fierce spirit of 
 the ancient Hindu caste of Kshattriyas, or warriors. 
 It being evident, after a protracted defence, that the 
 city must fall, the garrison determined to perform 
 
46 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 johur, a rite which had for its purpose the salvation 
 of the Rajput honor and the preservation of the 
 chastity of his women. A number of pyres were 
 erected throughout the city. Upon these the females 
 cast themselves, and were committed to the names. 
 The men then rushed upon the enemy, and perished 
 sword in hand. 
 
 The entire region of the Deccau was divided into 
 petty kingdoms, in much the same manner as Hindu- 
 stan. None of these, separately nor in coalition, were 
 able to cope with the forces sent against them by Ala- 
 nd-din, and the Muhammadans had no difficulty in 
 effecting a permanent footing. In the year 1:550 the 
 army of the Deccan revolted, and set up an independ- 
 ent kingdom, with a line of rulers who were called 
 the Bahmani Sultans. These became involved in a 
 long series of wars with the Maharajas of Vijay- 
 anagar, a kingdom occupying the whole of the penin- 
 sula south of the Kistna. In these conflicts the 
 Muhammadans maintained the upper hand until, in 
 1500, the Bahmani Empire was dismembered, and its 
 territory divided among five different Sultans. For 
 awhile the Maharaj was able to withstand the Sultans, 
 and even to wage aggressive war against them 
 individually. In 1565 four of the Sultans of the 
 Deccan formed an alliance against Ram Rai, the ruler 
 of Yijayanagar, whose army was utterly routed and 
 himself slain at the battle of Talikot. The country 
 was given over to sword and fire, and its capital 
 
INDIA UNDER MUIIAMMADAN RULE. 
 
 47 
 
 reduced to ruins ; but the Sultans were unable to 
 annex or completely subdue it. owing probably to 
 jealousy and distrust of each other. The Empire of 
 Vijayanagar had however received its death-blow, and 
 its glory was thenceforth a thing of the past. 
 
 Meanwhile the Tartar hordes, which under the 
 famous Changiz Khan overran Asia and the eastern 
 portion of Europe, began to turn their attention to 
 India. 
 
 Upon the death of Ala-ud-dm, in 1316, a Hindu 
 revolt occurred. The leader of the uprising was a 
 native, who had been converted to Islam. On 
 securing the throne, his first act was to slay every 
 male of the royal family. His followers set up idols 
 in the mosques and otherwise desecrated the holy 
 plaees of the Muhammadans. At the end of six 
 mouths of anarchy and disorder, Delhi was retaken 
 by the Turkiman governor of the Punjab, who 
 founded the Tughlak dynasty of Sultans. The second 
 of this line of rulers, Muhammad Tughlak, was a 
 man of courage and energy, but lacking in intellectual 
 qualities. While prosecuting wars in the south, he 
 exhausted his treasury in bribing the Mughals to cease 
 their depredations. His efforts to replenish the impe- 
 rial exchequer entailed such heavy exactions upon rich 
 and poor alike that the people rose in rebellion. This 
 afforded a pretext for allowing the army to plunder 
 the disaffected districts, and thus to compensate them- 
 selves for arrears of pay. A severe famine added to 
 
48 INDIA. 
 
 the tribulation of the masses. To relieve the pressing 
 difficulties of his situation, the Sultan resorted to a 
 measure which contributed largely to the downfall of 
 his empire. A large number of copper tokens were 
 struck off, which he decreed should pass current as 
 gold coins. With this base money he raised a large 
 army for the invasion of China, whence it never 
 returned, "being decisively defeated, with great slaugh- 
 ter, by the Tibetans. The remnant which turned 
 back was cut up by wild tribes in the mountain 
 passes or succumbed to the rigors of the unaccustomed 
 climate. Muhammad Tughlak's novel system of 
 finance was not acceptable to foreigners, and outside 
 trade naturally stopped, with the result that thousands 
 who depended upon it were ruined. Soon the copper 
 counters began to flow into the capital for redemption, 
 but there was neither gold nor silver to exchange for 
 them. Before his death, Muhammad Tughlak saw 
 the disintegration of his kingdom set in. Bengal 
 declared its independence, the Deccan set up a ruler 
 of its own, and the southern provinces ceased to pay 
 tribute and foreswore their allegiance. 
 
 Once again the country was disrupted, helpless and 
 at the mercy of any invader. The opportunity was 
 eagerly seized by the Tartars, who under Timur over- 
 ran Hindustan, committing every conceivable atrocity. 
 One hundred thousand prisoners were slaughtered in 
 the course of a single day. Delhi was sacked, and an 
 indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants, lasting for 
 
INDIA UNDER MUHAMMADAN RULE. 
 
 49 
 
 five days, was ordered. Timur retired from India 
 laden with booty, and for a space of one hundred and 
 twenty-five years the Tartars seem to have been too 
 busy elsewhere to pay any but cursory attention to 
 India. In 1524 Babar, a direct descendant of Timur, 
 invaded Hindustan, at the invitation of some of the 
 disaffected princes. At the time the imperial throne 
 at Delhi was occupied by a Pathiin or Afghan 
 monarch. Him Biibar defeated in a decisive battle, 
 and, assuming the crown, became the first of the 
 Mughal dynasty of kings. 
 
 A few years earlier the Portuguese had effected a 
 settlement upon the Malabar coast at Goa, and thus 
 initiated the European occupation of the country. 
 
 The reigns of the immediate successors of Babar 
 were eventful, but not important from a historical 
 point of view. They were constantly engaged in 
 conflicts with the Pathans and with their Hindu 
 subjects. 
 
 The period of Akbar's sovereignty is one of the 
 most brilliant in the history of India. This poten- 
 tate, who appears to have been a man of singular 
 genius and enlightenment, succeeded his father in 
 1556, when only fourteen years of age. He was, 
 however, fortunate in the fact that his guardian was 
 a man of integrity and no common ability. At a 
 very early age Akbar displayed the qualities which 
 distinguished him throughout his reign of fifty years. 
 At fourteen he had served his apprenticeship in arms. 
 Xol. I.— 4 
 
50 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 At eighteen he resolutely set aside his guardian, to 
 whom he generously offered any post he might choose 
 in the kingdom. lie then set about the task of 
 restoring order where anarchy and dissension had 
 existed for two hundred years. This task entailed 
 years of war against Afghans, independent Sultans 
 and Hindus. In all these campaigns Akbar displayed 
 skill, energy and stern resolve, unsullied by cruelty or 
 vindictiveness. This extraordinary man, who, unlike 
 his ancestors, was devoid of education or culture, was 
 no less accomplished as a statesman than as a soldier. 
 He was the actual founder of the Mughal Empire, 
 which he established and consolidated by a policy of 
 consummate wisdom. By proclaiming religious equality 
 he deprived the dominant race of its chief excuse for 
 plundering and down-treading the weaker portion of 
 the population. By intermarrying with the Rajput 
 princes he not only secured the peacefulness of the 
 most turbulent and warlike class of Hindus, but also 
 secured their active alliance, which proved a powerful 
 aid in holding in check his Muhammadan subjects. 
 A Rajput was appointed Viceroy of the Punjab, 
 and another of Bengal, whilst a third commanded the 
 army employed against the Afghans, who are the 
 hereditary foes of the Hindus. Thus by maintaining 
 Hindu and Muhammadan armies in his pay, each 
 under commanders of the same race and faith as the 
 rank and file, he was enabled to secure a counter- 
 balance which made for peace in his kingdom. 
 
 
INDIA UNDER MUIIAMMADAN RULE. 
 
 51 
 
 Akbar was genuinely solicitous for the welfare of 
 his subjects, and introduced several measures of 
 reform. A system of land tenure was established 
 markedly superior to anything of the kind which had 
 previously existed. In deference to the religious 
 scruples of the Hindus, the slaughter of cows was 
 prohibited. The use of wine was tolerated, but 
 drunkenness was severely punished. Sati was sup- 
 pressed as far as possible, and the widows of Hindus 
 were allowed to re-marry. Akbar made an effort to 
 abolish polygamy among the Muhammadans, in which, 
 however, he met with little success. A restriction was 
 placed upon the marriages of boys and girls under the 
 ages of sixteen and fourteen respectively. 
 
 During the last years of his reign, Akbar subjugated 
 Kashmir and Kabul, and conquered the hither half 
 of the Deccan. He died in 1605, poisoned, it is said, 
 by his son Jahangir. 
 
 Jahangir had none of his father's good qualities. 
 He was cruel, cowardly, sottish and vindictive. His 
 eldest son, Khusrii, had been a favorite of Akbar, and 
 on that account the father seems to have conceived a 
 hatred for him. Immediately after his accession to 
 the throne, Jahangir caused Khusru to be placed in 
 confinement, which was continued with much harsh- 
 ness for many years. 
 
 During his entire reign Jahangir was under the 
 complete influence of the famous Nur Mahal, or 
 " Li^ht of the Palace," whose husband he had caused 
 
MBP 
 
 52 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 to be murdered, in order that he might marry her. 
 The intrigues of this woman caused all manner of 
 dissensions, and led to the rebellions of the Emperor's 
 sons. 
 
 The reign of Jahangir is chiefly remarkable for the 
 fact that during its early years the English made 
 their first efforts to secure a footing in the country. 
 An ambassador — Sir Thomas Roe — was sent to the 
 court of the Great Mughal by James I. Roe gives an 
 interesting account of his three-years' sojourn in India. 
 He found the Emperor a pusillanimous drunkard, 
 weak of will and lacking in intellect. The country 
 had seriously deteriorated since the death of Akbar, 
 and disturbances of various kinds were constantly 
 occurring. 
 
 The plottings of the woman Niir Mahal were 
 destined to have a marked effect upon the course of 
 history. By pitting first one and then another of the 
 Emperor's sons against the rest, she hoped to further 
 her own ambitious aims. The immediate result was 
 the murder of Khusril by Shah Jahan, his brother. 
 The latter then succeeded in making his father a 
 prisoner, and so holding him for some time. In 1627 
 Jahangir died suddenly, not without strong suspicion 
 of having been poisoned at the instigation of his son, 
 Shah Jahan. In order to preclude the possibility of 
 a rival claimant to the throne which he usurped, Shah 
 Jahan ordered the slaughter of all the princes of the 
 royal house. 
 
INDIA UNDER MUHAMMADAN RULE. 
 
 53 
 
 Shah Julian is remembered only as the builder of 
 the world-famed Taj Mahal, the founder of the 
 present city of Delhi, and the constructor of the 
 barbaric Peacock Throne. He had four sons, who 
 engaged in rebellion against him and in a fratricidal 
 war for the succession. In 1658 Aurangzeb, by a 
 series of crafty and unscrupulous acts, had succeeded 
 in disposing of his brothers and in imprisoning his 
 father, whom there is every reason to believe he 
 murdered a few years later. 
 
 Aurangzeb was barely seated upon the throne 
 before his serious attention was claimed to the con- 
 dition of affairs in the Deccan, the northern portion 
 of which had been annexed by Akbar and held by 
 the Mughals thereafter. For some long time the 
 mountains of the northern portion of the Western 
 Ghats, in the district of Konkan, had been the home 
 of a tribe of freebooters, who, in the latter years of 
 the reign of Shah Jahan, had made serious inroads to 
 the territory of that monarch. This tribe was des- 
 tined to develop into the nation of Marathas, and to 
 become a formidable foe to the Mughals. Apart from 
 their natural Ishmaelitish proclivities, the Marathas 
 entertained the racial hatred of the Hindus for their 
 Muhammadan conquerors — a hatred which the politic 
 measures of Akbar only succeeded in counteracting 
 without suppressing. 
 
 At this time the chieftainship of the Marathas 
 was held by a very remarkable man, the story of 
 
54 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 whose career is full of romautic incidents and events 
 of important bearing upon the history of that and 
 later times. Sivaji, in addition to the craft, resource 
 and daring which characterized his mountain ancestors, 
 was endowed with the qualities which go to make 
 natural rulers of men. He had the faculty of 
 fashioning a disciplined army out of raw material, and 
 the art of utilizing the force thus raised to the best 
 advantage. Although but a rude barbarian, he 
 transformed a loose and turbulent tribe into a 
 powerful nation, and founded a kingdom with a 
 political organization superior in some respects to that 
 of the Mughals. The Maratha chief claimed Rajput 
 descent, and displayed the Rajput traits of chivalry 
 and fearlessness. 
 
 Sivaji was soon at the head of an army of sixty 
 thousand foot and horse, admirably adapted to the 
 border tactics and guerilla warfare in which it was 
 successfully employed throughout the reign of 
 Aurangzeb. With growing strength and experience, 
 the Mariithas went from depredatory expeditions to 
 wars of acquisition, and all the efforts of the Mughal 
 Emperor to crush the young power in the Deccan 
 were futile. In 1674 Sivaji was installed as Maharaja 
 of Bijapur, and a few years later he had established 
 a new kingdom in the lower Karnatik, which was 
 represented in later times by the raj of Tanjore. 
 Sivaji died in 1G80, and was succeeded by his son 
 Sambaji. Aurangzeb paid the following tribute to 
 
INDIA UNDER MUHAMMAD AN RULE. 
 
 00 
 
 the memory of his old enemy : " He was indeed a 
 great general, and the only one who had the magna- 
 nimity to found a new kingdom, while I have been 
 endeavoring to destroy the ancient sovereignties of 
 India." 
 
 Sambaji was betrayed into the hands of the Great 
 Mughal, who put him to a barbarous death and held 
 his son and heir captive; but the conquest of the 
 Marathas was as difficult of consummation as ever. 
 The subsequent consolidation of the Maratha power 
 was effected under the Brahman dynasty of Peshwas, 
 or prime ministers, in whom the actual, though not 
 the nominal, authority became vested as an hereditary 
 right. 
 
 The reign of Aurangzeb was full of distraction, 
 occasioned by his harsh persecution of the Hindus, 
 by an outbreak in his Afghan dominion, and by the 
 rebellion of his son Akbar. At the time of his death 
 in 1707, Aurangzeb had, by the pursuance of a policy 
 entirely at variance with the measures so successfully 
 adopted by his great-grandfather, disrupted the 
 elements of his empire, and so weakened it that the 
 dceline of the Mughal power may be marked from this 
 time. 
 
 The demise of Aurangzeb was followed by the 
 usual fratricidal war which distinguished every 
 Mughal succession from the time of Akbar. Bahadur 
 Shah secured the throne after slaying his brothers and 
 nephews. His reign has no important bearing upon 
 
56 INDIA. 
 
 history, but is noticeable for the fact that the 
 Sikhs, who had given trouble during the reign of 
 Aurangzcb, displayed growing power in the time of 
 Bahadur Shah, and compelled him to carry on a 
 series of wars against them, which however failed in 
 the purpose of subduing the sect, which ultimately 
 grew into a nation of importance. 
 
 The Sikhs were originally a religious brotherhood, 
 formed in the latter end of the fifteenth century by 
 one Nanak Shah. Their faith was based on a com- 
 bination of the tenets of the most liberal Shiahs and 
 Hindus. It recognized a Supreme Spirit or universal 
 deity. Implicit obedience to the Guru or " teacher," 
 and his successors, was a distinguishing characteristic 
 of the sect. The mandates of the Guru were believed 
 to be divine emanations, and never failed to awaken a 
 high pitch of fanatical enthusiasm. For years after 
 the death of Bahadur Shah the Sikhs continued to be 
 a thorn in the sides of the Mughals, by whom they 
 were remorselessly persecuted. 
 
 Jahandur Shah and Farrukh Siyar enjoyed brief 
 periods of sovereignty after Bahadur Shah, and were 
 followed by three infant monarchs, the first two of 
 whom survived their elevation only by a few months, 
 while the third was destined to occupy the tottering 
 throne of the Mughals, as Muhammad Shah, for a 
 period of thirty years. 
 
 By this time the power and extent of the Mughal 
 Empire had become so much curtailed that the 
 
■ 
 
 INDIA UNDER MUIIAMMADAN RULE, 
 
 57 
 
 authority of its rulers beyond the capital and its 
 immediate vicinity was little more than nominal. 
 Under the Peshwas the Maratha power waxed 
 strong during the reign of Muhammad Shah. That 
 monarch exercised little control over his subordinates, 
 who gradually built up semi-independent kingdoms 
 out of the provinces of which they had charge. Thus 
 Saadut All Khan, a Persian and Shiah, who was Vice- 
 roy of Oudh, paved the way for his descendants, who 
 later became the kings of that territory ; thus Chin 
 Kilieh Khan, a Tnrkfman and a Suuni, laid the 
 foundation of the modern kingdom of Ilaidarabad. 
 At the same time the dominions of Baroda, of Sindhia 
 and Holkar began to take form out of the expanding 
 territory of the Maratluis. Meanwhile events were 
 transpiring in Persia which were destined to have the 
 most important effect upon the history of India. 
 
 Nadir Kuli, a man of extraordinary character, had 
 raised himself from the grade of a slave to that of 
 commander-in-chief of the army and virtual ruler of 
 the Persian Empire. He was a consummate politician 
 and a general without a peer in Asia. He subjugated 
 the Afghans, carried on a successful war with the 
 Turks, and compelled Russia to restore certain terri- 
 tory which had been seized by Peter the Great. Upon 
 the death of the infant sovereign of Persia, Nadir 
 usurped the throne without any difficulty, the army 
 being devoted to him and the people proud of his 
 achievements. 
 
58 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 In 1737 Niiciir Shah sent an embassy to the Mughal 
 Court. With incredible imbecility Muhammad Shah 
 treated the overtures of the Persian with scorn and 
 imprisoned the ambassadors. The result was a dis- 
 aster to the Mughal Empire which shook it to its base, 
 and destroyed forever the remaining power left to the 
 dynasty of Babar. Nadir lost no time in invading 
 the country. His progress was practically unimpeded 
 until he reached Kurnal, about sixty-five miles to the 
 north of Delhi. Here the forces of the Mughal made 
 a weak attempt to withstand the invader, but were 
 ignominiously defeated, and fled, leaving the capital 
 at the mercy of the enraged Persian. 
 
 The sack of Delhi and the massacre of the inhabit- 
 ants is an event without parallel in all history. 
 Neither age nor sex stayed the hand of the infuriated 
 soldiery, and it is said by some native historians that 
 from one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand 
 perished during that fearful day of carnage. In jus- 
 tice to Nadir it should be stated that, although he was 
 unrelenting in his vengeance, there is every reason to 
 believe that the lives of the inhabitants were in no 
 jeopardy until they commenced an attack upon the 
 Persians. Nadir remained in Delhi for fifty eight 
 days, during which the city was leisurely but thor- 
 oughly plundered. The treasury was depleted and 
 the palace laid bare, the celebrated Peacock Throne 
 being part of the plunder secured from it ; the wealth 
 and all the portable possessions of the nobles were 
 
INDIA. UNDER MUIIAMMADAN RULE. 
 
 59 
 
 seized, and the heaviest possible contributions were 
 exacted from the common people. The total value of 
 the spoil carried away by the Persian monarch has 
 been estimated in fabulous figures. 1 That it was 
 enormous may be inferred from the fact that he 
 allowed three months' bonus pay to every soldier in 
 his army, and remitted a year's taxation throughout 
 his empire. 
 
 The Persian invasion gave the coup de grace to the 
 dying Mughal Empire, and opened the way for the 
 extension of British dominion in India. 
 
 1 In Mill's History of British India, the amount of booty secured 
 by the Persians is estimated at thirty-two millions of pounds 
 sterling. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 A century after the death of Tamerlane the 
 Portuguese effected a footing in India, and were soon 
 followed by the Dutch, French and English. The 
 two first named never established an extensive settle- 
 ment, but the British and their old-time Gallic 
 enemies were for many years engaged in a keen 
 struggle for supremacy. 
 
 In 1700 the former had important trading stations 
 at Madras, at Calcutta, which was soon after made 
 the chief seat of government, and at Bombay, the site 
 of which city had been part of the dowry of the 
 Infanta Catherine upon her marriage to Charles II., 
 by whom it was sold to the East India Company in 
 perpetuity. 
 
 By this time the Mughal Empire had been reduced 
 to little more than a name by a process of attrition 
 and disintegration, which had been in progress from 
 the time of Aurangzeb. The Punjab, Oudh, Miilwa, 
 Sind, Miiltan, Kashmir and Kabul were each gov- 
 erned by an independent chief. Bengal and Orissa 
 acknowledged the sway of All Vardi Khan. Ilohil- 
 
 60 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 61 
 
 khand had thrown off the Mughal yoke. The six 
 provinces of the Deccan were under the control of 
 the Nizam. The Marathas had ever maintained 
 their independence, and continued to do so until 
 subdued by the English. 
 
 The declaration of war by France in 1744 marked 
 the beginning of a contest iu India which extended 
 over a period of sixty years. In the battles which 
 followed, few Europeans were engaged, the policy of 
 the Company and of the French Association alike 
 having been of a distinctly commercial character, with 
 no view to the acquisition of territory. Moreover, 
 neither country — and less than France, England, who 
 was engaged in a world-wide strife — was in a position 
 to afford any very considerable reinforcements to the 
 colonies in India. 
 
 When Madras capitulated to the fleet under La 
 Bourdonnais in 174G the garrison consisted of a force 
 of fewer than two hundred. Among the prisoners 
 was Robert Clive, a writer in the employ of the 
 Company, who a few years after laid aside the pen for 
 the sword, and entered upon the brilliant career 
 which was the principal factor in the foundation of 
 the British Empire in the East. 
 
 Ten years later Siraj-ud-Daula, in a fit of drunken 
 insanity, perpetrated the foul crime associated with 
 the " Black Hole of Calcutta." Colonel Clive was 
 dispatched from Madras to avenge the outrage. 
 The enterprise, which culminated in the battle of 
 
62 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Plassey, involved the English in a great many unfore- 
 seen difficulties, and entailed a long series of wars, 
 which continued, with hardly a pacific interval, until 
 every portion of the country had fallen under British 
 control by treaty or annexation. The Marathas, 
 who had been accustomed to collect chout in the 
 territory now ruled over by Mir Jafar, made a demand 
 for the resumption of the payment. For the time 
 being they were restrained by a fear of Clive, whose 
 prestige had spread far and wide ; but it was clear 
 that they only bided a favorable opportunity to 
 enforce their claim. The Great Mughal next made an 
 effort, in which he was assisted by the French, to 
 overthrow the ruler whom the English had set up in 
 Bengal. An army was raised under the Shahzada, 
 and marched to Patna, where Clive dispersed it with- 
 out any difficulty. In truth, the Mughal was no 
 longer a foe worth reckoning with. His throne, 
 shaken to the base by the invasion of Nadir Shah, 
 had but recently been accelerated to its fall by a blow 
 from the Afghans, who were shortly to become once 
 more the dominant power in Hindustan. Meanwhile 
 the French had been very successful in their opera- 
 tions in the south. Several of the English trading- 
 posts had been captured by them, and, but for the 
 timely intervention of Clive, Madras would doubtless 
 have fallen. Colonel Fordo, in the Deccan, and 
 Colonel Coote, in the Peninsula, retrieved these losses, 
 and the latter, by defeating Lally at Wandewash, and 
 
m 
 
■ 
 
 A Temple Elephant 
 
m< 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 63 
 
 by the reduction of Pondicherri, utterly destroyed 
 the power of the French in the Karnatik. Count 
 Lally, who was the ablest and most patriotic of the 
 French commanders in the East, expired under 
 the guillotine — a sacrifice to the clamor of a nation 
 frenzied by the loss of its Indian possessions. 
 
 At this time the Afghans were again in possession 
 of the throne of the Mughal s. They were soon 
 opposed by the Marathas, who had long had an eye 
 on the prize. A series of engagements were fought, 
 ending with the battle of Panipat, than which per- 
 haps there is no harder fought or more bloody contest 
 in the history of the world. The Marathas were 
 defeated, with a loss, it is said, of two hundred 
 thousand lives. But for this timely reverse, it is 
 probable that the Marathas would have made the 
 course of English conquest even more difficult than it 
 actually was. 
 
 In 17G0 Clive resigned the position of Governor of 
 Bengal and returned to England. Immediately after- 
 ward the newly-appointed Xawab of Oudh, Shuja-ud- 
 Daula, began aggressive movements against the 
 English. For three years his actions caused the 
 government at Calcutta the most serious trouble and 
 apprehension, until, in 17G4, he was decisively beaten 
 by Colonel Hector Munro at the important battle of 
 Buxar. 
 
 The immediate result of this victory was to make 
 the British the most dominant power in India. It 
 
64 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 placed in their possession the territory of Oudh, and 
 brought the Mughal kingdom under their control. 
 During the absence of Clive a condition of gross mis- 
 rule and extortion prevailed in the Company's territory, 
 with the result that the natives were reduced to the 
 utmost misery. To remedy this state of affairs Lord 
 Clive was induced to return. Setting about the task 
 with a stern will and an impartial mind, he quickly 
 righted the situation, and effected measures looking 
 to the prevention of a recurrence of the evils ; indeed, 
 this extraordinary man proved himself as able an 
 administrator as he was a soldier. Returning finally 
 to his native land, Clive experienced the ingratitude 
 of a nation for whom he had accomplished more than 
 any man then living. He sank into a state of 
 despondency, and terminated his life by suicide, in 
 his forty-ninth year. 
 
 During the stirring and dramatic scenes of English 
 conquest one great man follows another in rapid suc- 
 cession upon the gorgeous stage of India. Warren 
 Hastings, although of a character differing greatly 
 from that of Clive, was no less a genius than bis 
 predecessor, and, like him, began his career as a clerk. 
 Cold and calculating, but not mean and selfish, as 
 Burke would have had his contemporaries believe, 
 and only grasping for his country's sake, the character 
 and career of Hastings find many parallels in those 
 of the late Cecil Rhodes. 
 
 Under the governorship of Warren Hastings the 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 65 
 
 British dominions in India were conserved and 
 largely extended. The most formidable opponent 
 with whom he had to contend in this process was 
 Haidar All, a Muhammadan adventurer, without birth 
 or education, but of exceptional military ability, who 
 had seized the kingdom of Mysore. The usurper was 
 a man of barbarous instincts and of a cruel disposi- 
 tion. In 1780, with an army of thirty thousand men, 
 he overran the Karnatik, wantonly destroying towns 
 and villages, laying waste the land in his progress, 
 and slaughtering the inhabitants without regard to 
 age or sex. Two small bodies of European troops, 
 separated and entirely unequal to the task of success- 
 fully opposing him, were the sole dependence of the 
 British against Haidar's advance upon Madras. At 
 this critical juncture Hastings committed one of the 
 unlawful acts for which he was afterwards condemned 
 — an act which, like others of a similar character, 
 was prompted by the exigency of the occasion and 
 justified by the outcome. He superseded the timid 
 and incapable Council of Madras, and took upon 
 himself the direction of affairs. The veteran Sir Eyre 
 Coote was promptly dispatched to the scene, with a 
 small force ; but what was lacking in numbers was made 
 up for in the capacity and prestige of the commander. 
 Cheek after check was given to Haidar All, culminat- 
 ing, after a brilliant tactical campaign, in the battle of 
 Cuddalore, where the forces of the Muhammadan chief- 
 tain were driven from the field in disorderly rout. 
 Vol. I.— 5 
 
66 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Ilaidar Ali died in 1782, and was succeeded by his 
 son Tipu Sultan. The latter soon engaged in an 
 aggressive war against the English. The enterprise 
 proved costly, for in 1786 he was glad to secure peace at 
 the cost of half his kingdom and three and a half mil- 
 lions pounds sterling. After negotiations and agree- 
 ments looking toward peace, and some minor hostilities, 
 the aggressions of the Marathas left the English with no 
 alternative but a serious declaration of war. What is 
 known as the First Maratha War lasted from 1779 
 to 1782. By this time the Marathas had recovered 
 from the disaster of lYinipat, and their subjugation 
 presented a formidable task to the English. Colonel 
 Goddard entered Gujarat and gained possession of a 
 considerable territory belonging to the Peshwa. The 
 British force, however, was too small for the work 
 assigned to it, and, becoming surrounded by the 
 armies of Holkar and Sindhia, was in imminent danger 
 of annihilation, when Hastings, by one of the daring 
 strokes of strategy which displayed his genius, saved 
 the situation. A body of sepoys, numbering less than 
 twenty-five hundred, with a few guns, under the com- 
 mand of Captain Popham, was hurried through 
 Hindustan toward Malwa. This able officer excited 
 universal admiration by the energy with which his 
 operations were undertaken and the success which 
 attended them. The capture of Gwalior, one of the 
 strongest fortresses in Hindustan, was as brilliant an 
 achievement as any in the annals of India. Sindhia, 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 67 
 
 threatened with the loss of his dominion, returned to 
 Malwa in haste, and thus Groddard was relieved from 
 his perilous position. The Mahadaji Sindhia entered 
 into a treaty with the English, and this incident had 
 an important bearing upon later events. Subsequently 
 the Manithas joined Haidar All in his conflict with 
 the English, but upon the death of the latter a treaty 
 was concluded with the Peshwii, by the terms of 
 which each party was bound to withhold aid from the 
 enemies of the other. The ratification of this treaty 
 by the various Maratha chiefs was mainly due to 
 the influence of Sindhia. 
 
 In 1778 the conflict between France and England 
 had been renewed in the Peninsula. The former were 
 by this time much too weak to withstand the growing 
 power of the latter, and Pondicherri and Mah.6 once 
 again changed hands. 
 
 In 1785 the government of Hastings was brought 
 to a close by his resignation of a position rendered 
 untenable by the dissensions in the Council and the 
 severe strictures of the Directors upon his conduct. 
 Despite the indisputable faults of his administration, 
 the services of Hastings were such as to have met 
 with approbation and reward at the hands of his 
 masters, but the East India Company had been sub- 
 jected to severely adverse criticism in Parliament and 
 in the public press, and Hastings became a convenient 
 fender for the popular censure. The story of his life 
 and ruin are graphically recounted by Macaulay. 
 
68 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 At this time the four principal powers in India 
 were the British, the Marat has, Tipu and the 
 Niz&ni. United, the Martithas would have proved 
 more formidable than any foe the English had 
 encountered in the East ; but the nation was com- 
 posed of a number of practically independent princi- 
 palities, the chiefs of which could seldom be brought 
 to adopt any concerted action. Of the states which 
 acknowledged the suzerainty of the Peshwa,Gwalior was 
 the most powerful and its prince the most ambitious. 
 
 Taking advantage of the chaotic condition of 
 affairs in the Mughal kingdom, the Mahajadi had 
 contrived to establish himself at Delhi as the "deputy 
 of the Peshwd," although in reality he was the 
 supreme authority and the Great Mughal but a puppet 
 in his hands. This usurpation of power on the part 
 of Sindhia was only possible with the consent of the 
 English, who, having been well served by the Mar- 
 atha in the past, and hoping to find in him a useful 
 ally in the future, interposed no barrier to the 
 consummation of his deep-laid plans, which contem- 
 plated the creation of a new empire out of the decayed 
 remains of the Mughal power. 
 
 In 1798 the Earl of Mornington came out to India 
 as Governor-General. He was a man of remarkable 
 talents, which have, however, been thrown into the 
 shade by the great achievements of his younger 
 brother, who afterwards became the famous Duke of 
 Wellington. 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 GU 
 
 The situation of the English in India at this time 
 forced them to appreciate the observation of a French 
 writer that, " in the light of precaution, all conquest 
 must be ineffectual unless it can be universal, since 
 the increasing circle of occupation must be involved 
 in a larger sphere of hostility." The instructions 
 of the Company to its representatives in India con- 
 tain repeated and unequivocal declarations of its 
 disinclination to acquire territory other than mere 
 trading-posts, and its objection to the expense of 
 maintaining a large military force. In 1716 the 
 chief executives at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras are 
 officially informed that, "as our business is trade, it 
 is not politic for us to be encumbered with much 
 territory." A few years later the Governor of Bom- 
 bay is urged to " Remember that we are not fond of 
 much territory." The Directors protested vigorously 
 against Clive's acquisitions and his interference in 
 native quarrels, which promised to lead to further 
 conquests. "Your boundary," they wrote to him, 
 " is the Carumnassa ! Do not go beyond the Carum- 
 nassa ! Leave the Marathas to fight the Afghans 
 and the Nizam to fight the Marathas, and devote all 
 your attention to revenue and trade." But the 
 retention of the British possessions precluded the 
 possibility of following these injunctions, and the 
 difficulties which Clive saw in a passive policy were 
 greatly enhanced in the times of his successors. 
 
 The first act of the Earl of Mornington's adminis- 
 
70 INDIA. 
 
 tration was a declaration of war against Tipti 
 Sultan, who had entered into an aggressive alliance 
 with the French. Colonel Arthur Wellesley was 
 sent into Mysore at the head of a force which was 
 reinforced by a contingent of the Nizam's troops. 
 Tipii was completely defeated, and his famous 
 stronghold at Seringa patam carried by storm. The 
 son of Haidar Aii was found among the slain. 
 
 A part of the conquered territory was formed into 
 a Hindu kingdom, and the balance partitioned 
 among the English, the Nizam and the Peshwa. 
 
 The peace of southern India demanded repressive 
 measures, and the Governor-General, who had been 
 created Marquis of Wellesley on account of the 
 Mysore campaign, adopted the somewhat autocratic 
 remedy of establishing British control over Tanjore 
 and the Karnatik. It was agreed that the reigning 
 dynasties should not be disturbed in their possessions, 
 but the administration of their affairs was transferred 
 to the Company. 
 
 Finding that his efforts to preserve peace by the 
 establishment of a balance of power among the native 
 states were futile, Lord Wellesley conceived a sweep- 
 ing measure of political reform, which contemplated 
 the control by the British of the international polity 
 of each independent kingdom or principality. The 
 chiefs of these were to maintain forces officered by 
 appointees of the Company, and to guarantee the 
 expenses of these military establishments by the 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 71 
 
 cession of certain territories ; the lesser were to pay 
 tribute to the suzerain power. Cue and all were to 
 bind themselves not to enter into any war, nor 
 negotiations with any other state, unless with the 
 consent of the paramount authority. On its part, the 
 Government of the Company was pledged to protect 
 each state against foreign aggression of every sort, 
 and to secure its internal peace. 
 
 The Nizam of Haidarabad embraced the proposal 
 with alacrity, and was followed by many of the minor 
 independencies ; but the Peshwa and the Maratha 
 chiefs held out against all persuasion. The former, 
 however, became shortly afterwards involved in 
 trouble with Holkar, who marched an army to 
 Poona, and defeated the combined forces of the 
 Peshwa and Sindhia. In this extremity the chief of 
 the Maratha Empire was glad to save his throne at 
 the cost of acknowledging the British suzerainty. 
 His action, however, had no influence upon the pow- 
 erful chiefs, Sindhia, Holkar and Bhonsla, and it 
 was evident that the treaty, instead of tending to 
 peace, must inevitably result in war. Indeed at this 
 time the Marathas were the only obstacle between 
 the English and universal dominion over India, and 
 the Government realized the necessity of settling the 
 question of supremacy once for all. General Lake, 
 in Bengal, and Colonel Wellesley, in the Deccan, 
 made preparations for the impending struggle. The 
 second Maratha war broke out in 1803. In the 
 
72 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 south the youthful Colonel Wellesley conducted a 
 brilliant campaign. The battle of Assay e was fought 
 with four thousand men against the combined forces 
 of Sindhia and Bhonsla, numbering fifty thousand. 
 Tlie victory fell to the handful of Europeans, and was 
 earned by a series of magnificent charges, which left 
 one-third of the force upon the field. 
 
 Tennyson, in his "Ode on the Death of the Duke 
 <if Wellington/' refers to it thus : 
 
 " This is he that far away 
 Against the myriads of Assaye 
 Clash'd with a fiery few and won. 
 
 This decisive action was followed by minor repulses 
 in rapid succession, until at the end of the year Sindhia 
 and his ally were glad to sue for peace. 
 
 In the meanwhile Lake, in the north, had been no 
 less successful. His chief opponents were the French 
 troops in the pay of the Marathas. These were 
 defeated at the capture of the fortress of Alighar, and 
 again in the defence of Delhi, where the blind and 
 aged Shah Alam, a pitiable representative of the 
 dynasty which included Akbar and Aurangzeb, was 
 glad to place himself under the protection of the 
 British, by whom he was installed in the palace and 
 secured in a liberal pension. 
 
 Continuing his operations in Hindustan, General 
 Lake captured Agra, and defeated a French army at 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 73 
 
 Lasw&ri. This engagement dealt the final blow to 
 the French influence in India. 
 
 It only remained to reduce Elolkar to submission, in 
 order to complete Lord Wellesley's political scheme 
 for the government of the country. This difficulty 
 was upon the point of removal, and universal peace, 
 for a time at least, appeared to be in sight, when the 
 course of events was diverted by the home authorities. 
 Lord Cornwallis superseded the Marquis of Wellesley, 
 with instructions to adopt an entirely different policy 
 from that of his predecessor. 
 
 The high order of statesmanship displayed by the 
 Marquis of Wellesley entitles him to rank with Clive 
 and Hastings as one of a pre-eminent trio among the 
 illustrious names connected with the foundation and 
 growth of the Indian Empire. His policy, which 
 looked beyond the narrow scope of a trading corpora- 
 tion to the prestige and welfare of the British nation, 
 was doubtless in advance of the time, and could not 
 have been expected to excite the approval of his com- 
 mercial masters. To him is due the credit for the 
 inception of the Indian Civil Service as it exists 
 to-day. He established a training college in Calcutta, 
 which became the parent of Haileybury. His recruits, 
 unlike the book-keepers and traders of preceding 
 generations, were schooled in political economy, the 
 history and languages of India, as well as civil, mili- 
 tary and international law. Thus he formed a corps 
 of political officers whose aspirations and energies 
 
74 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 were directed towards the advancement of British 
 interests upon a broader plane than that contemplated 
 by any of his predecessors or immediate successors. 
 
 By this time the Directors of the East India Com- 
 pany had become thoroughly alarmed at the rapid 
 growth and extension of their dominions, and the 
 corresponding reduction in the profits of the corpora- 
 tion. They could not be brought to understand that, 
 for the greater part, the native powers were but 
 mushroom principalities, which had sprung out of the 
 anarchy and chaos of the preceding fifty years ; that 
 their rulers needed the same checks and training as 
 did the old feudal kings and barons of Europe, and 
 that only by reducing them to the condition of feuda- 
 tories could peace be assured to India. Lord Corn- 
 wallis accordingly set about reversing the acts of his 
 predecessor, and there is no doubt but that the country 
 would soon have been in a state of turmoil and law- 
 lessness had not death prevented the consummation 
 of the Governor-General's plans. 
 
 Under Sir George Barlow and Lord Minto the 
 policy of non-intervention in native affairs, which had 
 been initiated by Lord Cornwallis, was continued, but 
 with a sufficient degree of caution to prevent immedi- 
 ate disastrous results. 
 
 Iu 1813 the Marquis of Hastings became the 
 Governor-General of India. Although he came out 
 imbued with a strong aversion to the policy of 
 acquisition and control, he was very soon converted to 
 
IiNDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 75 
 
 the views of Lord Wellesley, and, despite his instruc- 
 tions to the contrary, steered his course in the direction 
 followed by that statesman. 
 
 Lord Hastings soon engaged in a war in the north 
 which had for its result the reduction of the Gurkhas, 
 who, like the Sikhs, afterward became the most 
 reliable and valuable allies of the English. In the 
 south a successful war was waged against the Pind- 
 aris, who, by their atrocities, had excited the indig- 
 nation of the civilized world. 
 
 The intrigues of the Mardth& chiefs, and the succor 
 which they had for some time past surreptitiously 
 afforded to the enemies of the British, culminated in 
 1817 in open rupture. The war was precipitated by 
 the attack upon the British post at Kirki. A few 
 days later the battle of Sitdbuldi was fought. This 
 engagement is notable in the annals of India as the 
 first of consequence in which the troops of the English 
 were composed entirely of sepoys, and it opened the 
 eyes of the Government to the possible effectiveness 
 of native soldiers when led by English officers. At 
 Sitdbuldi no more than fourteen hundred sepoys, three 
 troops of Bengal cavalry and four six-pounders, were 
 opposed to the Marathd force of eighteen thousand, 
 including some of the best soldiers in the Deccan, 
 and thirty guns. The struggle was hotly sustained 
 from daylight of one day until noon of the next. 
 More than once the defenders were upon the verge 
 of destruction, but the tide of victory was finally 
 
76 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 turned in their favor by a brilliant charge of the 
 cavalry under Captain Fitzgerald, which, like Sir 
 Colin Campbell at Inkerman, he undertook upon his 
 own responsibility, and despite the protests of his 
 commander. 
 
 Holkar next attacked the English, and met with a 
 decisive defeat, which brought the active opposition 
 of the Marathds to a close. Lord Hastings wisely 
 determined that the abolition of the Peshwa, the 
 hereditary head of the Marathd confederation, would 
 be conducive to peace by reducing the chances of 
 future coalitions. Baji Rao was accordingly deposed, 
 but, with the accustomed generosity of the Govern- 
 ment in similar affairs, was allowed a pension of 
 eighty thousand pounds a year for life. Ilolkar's 
 kingdom was restored to him, on his giving pledges 
 for future good behavior, and treaties were made with 
 the other Mardtha chieftains. 
 
 The administration of Lord Hastings, supplement- 
 ing and completing as it did the policy of Lord 
 Wellesley, was successful in the highest degree, and 
 the wisdom of it was frequently illustrated in the 
 current of after history. Contrary to the opinion, 
 entertained up to this time, that the safety of the 
 English was dependent upon the ignorance of the 
 natives, Lord Hastings believed that the ultimate 
 welfare of both would be subserved by tin; education 
 of the latter, and, what is of more importance, he had 
 the courage, in the face of general disapproval, to put 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 77 
 
 his ideas into practice by the establishment of schools 
 and journals for the enlightenment of the native 
 population. In this, as in other measures, Lord 
 Hastings was in advance of his generation, and like 
 his prototype, Lord Wellesley, failed of appreciation 
 in his own time. 
 
 Lord Amherst succeeded to the Governor-General- 
 ship of India in 1823. His administration is chiefly 
 notable for the conflict with Burma. Difficulties with 
 the Burmese had commenced before the term of Lord 
 Wellesley in India, but it was not until their con- 
 quests in Assam and Munipur, and their threatened 
 invasion of Bengal, that the British were forced to 
 take active measures for their repression. In 1824 
 an expedition was sent into Burma. Two years later 
 a treaty was concluded, by the terms of which the 
 territories of Assam, Arakan and Tenasserim were 
 ceded to the conquerors and a money indemnity paid. 
 
 The administration of Lord William Bentinck, 
 which extended over the period from 1828 to 1835, 
 was a comparatively peaceful one. In fact, India 
 had emerged from the long centuries of war and mis- 
 rule which had retarded her progress and had sunk 
 her people in misery, and was entering upon an era 
 of peace, prosperity and enlightenment. 
 
 Lord Bentinck accomplished many political and 
 social reforms of the greatest importance. He re- 
 modeled the judicial system, and effected improve- 
 ments in the methods of land tenure. He checked 
 
78 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 extravagance in the civil and military offices, and 
 employed natives extensively in the public service. 
 He caused an abatement of thagi and abolished 
 sati. His administration was chiefly notable for the 
 measures which were taken for the betterment of the 
 masse.-. 
 
 In 1838 Dost Muhammad Khan, the Amir of 
 Afghanistan, furnished the British with a casus belli 
 by receiving a Russian mission at KYibul, in violation 
 of treaty. Lord Auckland declared war in 1838. 
 The events which followed constitute one of the most 
 thrilling chapters in the story of the Indian Empire, 
 and must be familiar to all students of Oriental 
 history. The deposition of Dost Muhammad and the 
 elevation of Shah Shuja. ; the heroic defence of Jalald- 
 b&d by Sir Robert Sale ; the treacherous murder of 
 Macnaghten ; the retreat from Kabul, and the annihi- 
 lation of a force of four thousand troops and twelve 
 thousand camp-followers, of whom but one solitary 
 individual survived to tell the tale of horror — these 
 were the most prominent features of the first Afghan 
 expedition. 
 
 The task of relieving Sale's garrison, peut up in 
 Jalalabad, and of avenging the murder of the British 
 envoy, and punishing the treachery of the Pathdns, 
 called for the immediate attention of Lord Ellen- 
 borough upon his arrival, as Governor-General, at 
 Calcutta in 1842. 
 
 The conduct of the campaign was entrusted to 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 79 
 
 General Pollock, and he brought it to a successful 
 close in the course of the year. It was a bloody con- 
 flict, signalized by the commission of barbarities upon 
 both sides ; but in extenuation of the British excesses 
 it should be remembered that their foes had perpe- 
 trated some of the foulest deeds of treachery the world 
 has ever witnessed. 
 
 Meanwhile the Sikhs, whose independence had been 
 respected by the British Government, had grown to be 
 a formidable power — much more formidable, indeed, 
 than the authorities at Calcutta had any idea of, until 
 they came into conflict with it. The Sikh army 
 numbered at least one hundred thousand, and was 
 made up of fighting men of a stamp who had no 
 equal, save for the Gurkhas, among the natives of 
 India. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 The prosperity of the Sikhs was coincident with 
 the growth of a spirit of aggression. Under Iianjit 
 Singh the nation had been carefully steered clear of a 
 collision with the English ; but after the death of that 
 astute chief, in 1839, the administration of the Punjab 
 fell into less capable hands. 
 
 Towards the end of the year 1815, the Sikh army 
 of the Khalsd crossed the Sutlej and invaded British 
 territory. This act of fatuous recklessness was with- 
 out warrant or provocation. The British were unpre- 
 pared for the hostile movement, and the Sikhs might 
 have met with considerable success but for dissensions 
 and treachery among their leaders. As it was, a 
 number of stubbornly contested engagements took 
 place, leading up to the memorable battle of Sabraon, 
 the hardest fought in the history of the British con- 
 quest of India. The Sikhs lost eight thousand men, 
 and the British not less than one-fourth of that 
 number. The victory by the English terminated the 
 first Sikh war, and enabled Lord Hardinge to annex 
 the Jalandhar Do&b, and to extend the British frontier 
 
 80 
 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 81 
 
 from the Sutloj to the Ravi. The peace thus brought 
 about was of short duration. In 1848 Lord Dal- 
 housie, then Governor-General, was forced by the 
 treachery of the Sikhs, and the wanton murder of 
 some British officers, to declare war. The spirit with 
 which he entered upon this enterprise may be gauged 
 by a characteristic statement uttered by him in a 
 public speech : "Unwarned by precedent, uninfluenced 
 by example, the Sikh nation has called for war, and 
 on my word, sirs, they shall have it with a vengeance." 
 
 In the early operations the British met with 
 reverses. Major George Lawrence, one of the three 
 brothers whose services to their country in India will 
 never be forgotten, was obliged to give up Peshawar 
 to the Afghans, who had thrown their strength into 
 the struggle on the side of the Sikhs. In a similar 
 manner Captain Herbert, at Attock, was forced to 
 capitulate. 
 
 In November, 1848, Lord Gough fought an inde- 
 cisive action with Slier Singh, the Sikh leader, at 
 Rctmnagar, and two months later met him again 
 upon the field of Chilianwala. This was the most 
 bloody encounter in the history of British India. 
 Each side claimed the victory, which at best was a 
 drawn battle. The English lost twenty-four hundred 
 men, ami the Sikhs took up a position in the neighbor- 
 hood of the field. 
 
 The course of affairs was so nearly disastrous as to 
 cause consternation and alarm in India and England. 
 Vol. I.-G 
 
82 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Sir Charles Napier was hastily dispatched to super- 
 sede Lord Gough as commander-in-chief, but before 
 he could reach the scene of action the latter had 
 retrieved his prestige by the great victory over the 
 Sikhs at Gujarat. This battle scaled the fate of the 
 Punjab and terminated the aspirations of the Sikhs 
 forever. The entire country was annexed and im- 
 mediately placed under an admirable administration. 
 The young Maharaja Dhulip Singh received a life 
 annuity of fifty thousand pounds a year. He made 
 his home in England, where his son holds a com- 
 mission in the army. 
 
 Under Lord Dalhousie the moral and material 
 progress of the country was accelerated. In the 
 Punjab, which had never before been under British 
 control, he had a free hand and a maiden field for the 
 exercise of his talents. He reduced the taxes on 
 land to less than one-fourth the amount which had 
 been exacted by the native rulers. Transit duties 
 on merchandise and personal property, which had 
 been heavy, he abolished entirely. Vigorous measures 
 were adopted for the suppression of thagi, dacoity, 
 slavery and infanticide. Roads, canals and systems 
 of irrigation were constructed, and, in a word, 
 " within seven years of the battle of Gujarat the 
 Punjab presented more traces of British civilization 
 and dominion than any other province in British 
 India." 
 
 The policy pf improvement which proved so bene- 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 83 
 
 ficial to the Punjab was applied by Lord Dalhousie, 
 though less extensively, for laek of means, to the 
 British territory in Burma. 
 
 Lord Dalhousie's last administrative act was the 
 much-criticised annexation of Oudh. Whatever may 
 be the strictly legal aspect of the affair, there can be 
 no question about the fact that the people of the 
 country benefited immensely by the change from 
 chronic anarchy to a condition of law and order. 
 
 The country had been conquered by the English in 
 1764, but was restored to the Nawab by Clive. 
 From that time Oudh was a source of anxiety and 
 concern to each successive Governor-General ; not on 
 account of any fear of aggression from that quarter, 
 for in that respect it was less troublesome than any 
 other province, but because of the knowledge that in 
 no State in India was the administration so corrupt 
 and tyrannical, and the state of the masses so utterly 
 abject and miserable. In 1851 the British Resident 
 reported the people downtrodden, plundered and 
 maltreated by the soldiery and the tahukdars, without 
 any semblance of protection or redress. The former, 
 who composed the standing army of seventy thousand, 
 were permitted to recoup themselves for constant 
 arrears of pay by levying unlawful contributions 
 upon the inhabitants. The latter, between whom the 
 land was parceled out in holdings of various extent, 
 lived in fortresses and maintained bands of brigands 
 in their pay, while they preyed upon the surrounding 
 
84 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 country at will or carried on armed conflicts among 
 themselves. The system of government., if such it 
 could be called, was corrupt to the core. Every 
 office was bought, and each office-holder was allowed 
 to compensate himself, as best he might, for lack of 
 salary, with the result that the positions which offered 
 the greatest opportunities for oppression and extortion 
 were the most sought, and brought the highest prices. 
 Meanwhile the king, who lived a life of profligate 
 ease and indifference, was secured in the peaceful 
 possession of his estate by the British Government, 
 which was bound by agreement to protect him from 
 foreign aggression or interference. 
 
 Lord Dalhousic, while fully persuaded that the 
 condition of things in Oudh demanded drastic reme- 
 dial measures, was inclined, in view of the past 
 consistent loyalty of the royal family, to deal with 
 the king as leniently as possible. Pie proposed to 
 leave him in possession of his throne, but to transfer 
 the administration of his dominions to the British on 
 a plan similar to that which had been adopted with 
 some of the other native States. In this project he 
 was, however, thwarted by the Directors, who, con- 
 trary to their previous policy, insisted upon the 
 annexation of the kingdom. In 1856 the transfer 
 was effected. The king was granted an enormous 
 pension and removed to Calcutta, where he occupied 
 a palace in the suburbs and maintained a small armed 
 force for display. A system of government similar to 
 
 WB 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 85 
 
 that which had worked with success in the Punjab 
 was introduced, and Sir Henry Lawrence as Com- 
 missioner assumed the head of affairs. 
 
 At this time the British dominions in India rested 
 in perfect tranquillity. When Lord Canning took his 
 sent as the executive chief, in succession to Lord Dal- 
 housie, there was nothing in the political or social 
 condition of the country to portend, or even raise a 
 suspicion of, the fierce whirlwind which M'as so soon 
 to sweep over Hindustan. 
 
 The causes which led to the Indian Mutiny have 
 never been thoroughly understood, if indeed they 
 have been entirely known. They were too many, 
 and too complex in character, to be clearly defined or 
 estimated as to their relative importance. 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1857 the native 
 portion of the British army, in Bengal alone, num- 
 bered one hundred and fifty thousand men, distributed 
 between seventy-four regiments of infantry, eleven of 
 cavalry, four troops of horse artillery and two bat- 
 talions of field artillery. This large armament was 
 further augmented by irregulars to the extent of 
 twenty-three regiments of cavalry, seven battalions 
 of Sikh infantry and some twenty other corps of 
 various arms. The European force consisted of fifteen 
 Queen's regiments, two of which were cavalry, three 
 brigades of horse, and two battalions of foot, artillery. 
 This force was distributed over an expanse of terri- 
 tory extending from Assam to Afghanistan, and from 
 
 B 
 
86 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 the Himalayas to the Vindhyas. The native troops 
 had been disciplined and well trained in the use of 
 arms, and had often proved themselves courageous 
 and loyal under trying circumstances, but they were 
 " the most credulous and excitable soldiery in the 
 world." 
 
 There was a story current in Hindustan of an old- 
 time prophecy to the effect that the rule of the Com- 
 pany would cease one hundred years from the battle 
 of Plassey, which indeed it did in the year following. 
 About this time there were evidences of a widespread 
 conspiracy of some sort, which had its manifestation 
 in the mysterious distribution of chupaties or cakes 
 throughout the towns and villages of northern India. 
 It was an ancient method of secret communication 
 which always portended an event of great importance; 
 but, although some of the most experienced of the 
 Company's servants saw a sinister significance in this 
 swiftly-constructed chain of signals, the Government 
 treated their warnings with indifference. At the same 
 time a number of holy men of the Muhammadan and 
 of the Hindu faiths were rapidly traveling from point 
 to point, preaching with unusual zeal, and exciting 
 the fanaticism of their hearers to the highest pitch. 
 This circumstance also escaped the notice of the 
 authorities, or was unheeded by them. Early in 1857 
 the Enfield rifle was issued to the native troops, and 
 with it a new cartridge, which afforded the disaffected 
 spirits an opportunity for playing upon the religious 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 87 
 
 feelings of the sepoys. It was rumored that the 
 lubricant of the new cartridges was prepared from the 
 fat of cows and pigs, the one being abhorrent to the 
 Hindus and the other to the Muhammadans. The 
 story spread with the mysterious rapidity of news in 
 the East, and, taken in conjunction with the preceding 
 events, was sufficient to convince the troops of the 
 Bengal army that the British were engaged in a 
 deliberate attempt to violate their religion and Chris- 
 tianize the country. When we consider that forcible 
 conversion had not been uncommon in the times of 
 former rulers, it is less difficult to understand the 
 credulity of the native soldiers upon this occasion. 
 Mutinies broke out in the regiments stationed at 
 Barrackpur, Berhampur and Lueknow, but were 
 promptly suppressed, while at other points incendiary 
 fires, mutterings of discontent and indications of 
 arising panic presaged the impending storm. At 
 length it burst in a quarter so distant from the 
 scene of the first disaffection as to indicate too plainly 
 the extent of the spirit of mutiny. 
 
 On Sunday, May 10th, 1857, the native troops at 
 Meerut broke out in open revolt. Meerut, the largest 
 military station in India at the time, is situated about 
 forty miles from Delhi. The cantonments contained 
 two regiments of sepoy infantry and one of sowars, 
 and a European force consisting of a battalion of 
 infantry, a regiment of cavalry, two troops of horse 
 artillery and a field battery. The British corps were 
 
88 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 sufficient to have subdued the mutineers with ease, 
 but the general in command of the post was aged, 
 and unfit to cope with the situation. There was an 
 absence of intelligent direction in the movement of 
 the European troops, and so great delay in bringing 
 them into action, that the mutinous regiments were 
 allowed to effect a jail delivery, to set fire to the 
 cantonments in several places, murder a number of 
 officers and civilians, and depart on the road to Delhi 
 without encountering any resistance. Even then it 
 would have been no difficult task for General Hewitt, 
 with the force at his command, to have overtaken and 
 annihilated the fugitives. Prompt and decisive action 
 would have checked, if it had not prevented, the 
 spread of the mutiny, to the danger of which the 
 Government was now fully alive. But there was no 
 pursuit, no action of any kind, save a warning over 
 the wires to Delhi that the mutineers were on their 
 way to the imperial city, bent upon proclaiming the 
 decrepit descendant of the Mughals Emperor of 
 Hindustan. 
 
 Delhi was garrisoned by three regiments of sepoys 
 and a battery of native artillery. Save for the 
 officers of these corps there were no European 
 soldiers in the place. Brigadier Graves, ably sup- 
 ported by his subordinates, did all that was possible 
 to protect the city, but the companies on guard at 
 the gates, after shooting their officers, went over to 
 the insurgents, whose entrance was further facilitated 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 89 
 
 by the king opening a passage through the palace. 
 Europeans were murdered in every direction, and by 
 nightfall the city was lost and the surviving English 
 in disorderly flight. However, that disastrous Mon- 
 day witnessed one of those deeds of splendid heroism 
 which light the dark pages of the history of the Sepoy 
 Rebellion. The magazine, situated in the centre of the 
 city, was held by Lieutenant Willoughby, two other 
 officers and six conductors. These devoted few held 
 out through the long day, confidently expecting, as 
 did every one else with good reason, the arrival of 
 succor from Meerut. Assault after assault was re- 
 pulsed with grape and shrapnel. As hour followed 
 hour in disappointing succession, and the ammunition 
 began to run low, it became evident to the little garri- 
 son that they could look for no help from without. 
 Then their commander determined to secure victory 
 even at the expense of death. He ordered a train to 
 be laid to the magazine, and Conductor Scully stood 
 by to fire it. The guns were served to the last with 
 cool precision and effect, until the ammunition was 
 exhausted. The explosion was calmly timed to the 
 fraction of a minute. The rebels were allowed to 
 swarm into the inclosure from every side. Then 
 Willoughby gave the signal ; the powder was touched 
 off, and with a tremendous roar and upheaval the 
 magazine went into the air, hurling upward the 
 faithful band of Europeans, but with them fifteen 
 hundred of the mutinous soldiery. Strange to say, 
 
90 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 AVilloughby and three others survived the explosion, 
 which destroyed over a thousand souls. Maimed aud 
 scorched, they made their escape, but the gallant 
 officer died from the effects of his injuries a few 
 weeks afterwards. 
 
 The gravity of the uprising was now glaringly 
 patent, and Lord Canning took extensive, if some- 
 what tardy, measures to withstand it. European 
 troops were telegraphed for from every available 
 point, and the entire machinery of the Government 
 was directed toward the one end of suppressing an 
 upheaval which seriously threatened the British 
 dominion in India. 
 
 The coup which the mutineers effected at Delhi 
 acted like a lighted brand in the midst of inflammable 
 material. From every direction rebel sepoys poured 
 into the city. Generally they were in possession of 
 their arms and sometimes brought big guns with them. 
 In most cases the revolting regiments murdered their 
 officers, burnt the cantonments and plundered the 
 treasury before repairing to the standard, which 
 Bahadur Shah, not without misgivings, had raised at 
 the instigation of his favorite wife. 
 
 At Lucknow Sir Henry Lawrence had been engaged 
 in active preparations for an outbreak since the 3d 
 of May, on which date the conduct of a regiment of 
 Oudh irregulars necessitated their disbandment. The 
 Residency was an extensive walled inclosure, which, in 
 addition to the Executive Mansion, contained a number 
 

 INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 91 
 
 of smaller buildings. On one side was the city, 
 occupied by a hostile population ; on the other the 
 river Giimti, and beyond it the sepoy cantonments. 
 The native force at Lucknow numbered thirty-five 
 hundred, a few — a very few — of whom remained true 
 to their colors, while the sole European regiment was 
 no more than five hundred and seventy strong. On 
 the 30th of May the sepoys attempted to rush the 
 bridges which connected the cantonments with the 
 city, but met with such a warm reception from the 
 force under the Commissioner that they dispersed and 
 fled to Delhi. 
 
 Cawnpur was in even a more defenceless state than 
 Lucknow. While its native contingent was as 
 numerous as that at the latter point, the European 
 soldiers consisted of only sixty artillerymen and two 
 small detachments, which had been sent from Luck- 
 now and Benares. At Cawnpur the command was 
 held by the veteran Sir Hugh Wheeler, who, although 
 almost seventy years of age, displayed a remarkable 
 degree of energy and prudence throughout the 
 defence. Some old disused barracks appeared to offer 
 the most promising refuge. In addition to the fami- 
 lies of the officers, the defence was embarrassed by 
 the presence of a number of other non-combatants. 
 
 At this time there was living in a semi-royal state 
 at Bithilr, a few miles from Cawnpur, one Dhundu 
 Punt, better known as Nanil Sahib. This man, the 
 son of a poor Konkani Brahman, had been adopted 
 
92 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 by Baji Rao, the ex-Peshwsi, after his deposition from 
 the head of the Marathas. Upon the death of his 
 patron, the IN ami made a claim for the continuance to 
 himself of the pension of eighty thousand pounds 
 which the former had received from the British 
 Government — a claim which was not allowed. The 
 IS' ana, who had inherited the estate of Bithur, to- 
 gether with half a million pounds sterling from Baji 
 Rao, appeared to accept the unfavorable decision of 
 the Company with equanimity, and thereafter con- 
 tinued to profess the most hearty friendship for the 
 Europeans, whom he entertained frequently and in 
 sumptuous fashion at Bithur. Subsequent events 
 would indicate that this show of amiability covered a 
 feeling of resentful hatred, for the long catalogue of 
 atrocities perpetrated during the Mutiny contains no 
 fouler deeds than those attributable to this Maratha 
 princeling. 
 
 When the outbreak occurred at Cawnpur the Nana 
 assumed the command of the mutineers. For nine- 
 teen days and nights the doomed garrison held out 
 against an almost incessant fire and frequent assaults, 
 despite the intense heat of the Indian midsummer, 
 despite sickness and insufficient food. At length, 
 sheer starvation, and the presence of a number of 
 helpless women and children, forced the defenders to 
 accept the terms of capitulation offered by the Nana. 
 It was agreed that the English should abandon the 
 entrenchment, with the guns and treasure ; that they 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 93 
 
 should have safe conduct to the river, and that boats 
 should be provided to take them down to Allahabad. 
 On the 27th of June four hundred and fifty persons, 
 the greater part of whom were non-combatants, women 
 and children, sick and wounded, marched to the river 
 bank, and were crowded on board of forty budgerows. 
 No sooner was the embarkation completed, than the 
 native rowers abandoned the boats, in some cases first 
 setting them on fire. Then from both banks broke 
 forth volleys of musketry. Several of the men jumped 
 into the river, preferring the chance of death in the 
 maws of the crocodile to the certainty of it at the 
 hands of the merciless wretches ashore. Of the whole 
 number of Europeans, but four escaped to tell the 
 story of villainous treachery. The fate of those who 
 survived the ambuscade was even more horrible than 
 that of the unfortunates who perished in the attack 
 upon the boats. When the musketry fire ceased, about 
 half the fugitives were found to be alive, and 
 were dragged ashore. The men were separated from 
 their companions and immediately shot, while the 
 women and children were confined, to await the 
 pleasure of Nana Sahib. On the 15th of July, after 
 a defeat of his troops by ITaveloek, the Nana ordered 
 the slaughter of the two hundred and five women and 
 children. The helpless victims were remorselessly 
 butchered, and their bodies thrown, while yet many 
 of them lived, into a neighboring well. 
 
 The following day Havelock entered Cawnpur, 
 
94 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 but the rebels had fled. The small force under 
 General Havelock had been so greatly reduced by 
 fighting and sickness that it was utterly inadequate to 
 the task of opening the way to Lucknow, and the 
 prosecution of that project was necessarily postponed. 
 
 Meanwhile, although the condition of affairs at 
 Lucknow, Cawnpur and other stations, excited the 
 keenest apprehension, interest and endeavor were 
 mainly centred upon the seat of rebellion. The tardi- 
 ness of transport in the absence of railroads, the 
 necessity of contesting the road, and the difficulty of 
 assembling a sufficient force, left Delhi in the hands 
 of the rebels for well nigh four months. On the 14th 
 of September, after a protracted siege, which was 
 marked by a number of fierce engagements without 
 the walls, the British effected an entrance to the city. 
 Six days of desperate street fighting ensued, when the 
 ancient capital of the Mughals again fell into the 
 hands of the English. The infatuated king was tried 
 and condemned to death, but this sentence was com- 
 muted to transportation. Five years later he died in 
 Rangoon. 
 
 On the 20th of September, while the British troops 
 were storming the palace at Delhi, Havelock crossed 
 the Ganges, at the head of twenty-five hundred men, 
 and commenced the memorable movement which 
 resulted in the relief of Lucknow. On the 21st he 
 defeated a large body of the enemy, and captured 
 their guns ; on the 23d he fought the engagement of 
 

Massacre Ghat, Cawnpur 
 
■ 
 
i 
 
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 
 
 95 
 
 the Alumbagh ; on the 25th he cut his way through 
 the streets of Lucknow, and entered the British 
 entrenchments in the evening of the same day. What 
 is known as the " Relief of Lucknow" was in reality 
 no more than a reinforcement; for, although Have- 
 lock's action insured the safety of the post, the com- 
 bined force was not sufficient to raise the siege, which 
 was maintained during a further period of sixty days. 
 For four long months the little garrison at the Resi- 
 dency had been completely shut off from the outer 
 world. No news reached them save bazaar rumors, 
 which took the form of extravagant tales of British 
 disaster. The history of the world contains no story 
 of more heroic defence than this. On the 4th of 
 July Sir Henry Lawrence had been killed by the 
 bursting of a shell in the room where he lay already 
 wounded. At the beginning of the siege he had said, 
 " We will never surrender ;" and with his dying 
 breath he repeated, " Never surrender !" 
 
 Meanwhile reinforcements were arriving from 
 England, which enabled the British to turn the tide, 
 and before the close of the year 1858, after the bril- 
 liant campaigns of Sir Colin Campbell and Sir Hugh 
 Rose, the Sepoy Rebellion was finally suppressed. 
 
 This dark episode in the history of British India 
 is relieved by the remembrance of the loyalty of many 
 of the native princes and people, notably the Sikhs 
 and Gurkhas. The Punjab, with the experience of 
 good government and a lively recollection of former 
 
96 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 oppression, stood staunch, and was the mainstay of 
 the British in the hour of their most critical need. 
 
 On the first day of November, 1858, the govern- 
 ment of India was transferred from the East India 
 Company to the Crown, in a proclamation which 
 assured the people that the British Government 
 contemplated no interference with their caste or 
 religion, and which granted an amnesty to all rebels, 
 with the exception of those who had been directly 
 implicated in the murders of Europeans. 
 
 Under the imperial rule India has been free from 
 any serious internal disturbances, although more than 
 one border war has occurred in recent years. On 
 these occasions, as well as in campaigns abroad, the 
 native troops have performed valuable services, and 
 their loyalty has never been in question since " the 
 year of the great madness." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 INDIA AT THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 Some idea of the extent and complexity of the 
 machinery by means of which British India is 
 governed, will be suggested by a consideration of the 
 diverse character of its component parts, the im- 
 mensity of its population, composed of many races, 
 with different languages and varying customs. It is 
 the largest political organization in the world, and 
 one which in many particulars is unique. It is per- 
 haps as well adapted to its purposes as human 
 ingenuity could make it, and it is difficult to conceive 
 of any system which Mould better conduce to the 
 general welfare of the people and the prosperity of 
 the country. 
 
 The constitution of the Indian Government is 
 determined by the British Parliament. The imperial 
 policy is controlled by the Secretary of State for 
 India in the British Cabinet, while local administra- 
 tion is decentralized as much ;is possible. 
 
 The general conduct of affairs is in the hands of 
 the Viceroy, who is aided by the advice of his 
 Council, which, however, he may disregard, although, 
 Vol.. I.— 7 l J7 
 
98 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 as a matter of fact, he seldom, if over, assumes so 
 grave a responsibility. From the Viceroy orders 
 issue to the heads of the various provincial govern- 
 ments — to wit : the governors of the Presidencies of 
 Bombay and Madras ; the lieutenant-governors of the 
 Presidency of Bengal and the provinces of the Punjab 
 and the Northwest, and the chief-commissioners of 
 the Central Provinces, and of Assam and Burma, 
 Each of these divisions is subdivided into a number 
 of commissionerships, for the local administration of 
 which district officers are responsible. There is a 
 chain of judicial authorities, ranging from the judges 
 of the High Court to the local magistrates. While 
 the judiciary are appointed by the Government, the 
 courts are entirely independent of the Executive 
 authority. The Supreme Legislative Council, of 
 which the Viceroy is president, makes laws affecting 
 the Empire as a whole, while the provinces have also 
 similar bodies, by whom laws of local application are 
 framed. These councils each contain an elective 
 element composed chiefly of natives, the remainder of 
 the members being made up of nominees of the 
 Executive. The system involves an admirable ar- 
 rangement of check and counter check. It would be 
 impossible for the Viceroy to effect the passage of a 
 law which was opposed to public opinion as voiced by a 
 majority of the Legislative Council. On the other hand, 
 as he and the Secretary of State have each a power of 
 veto, no law can go into effect without their approval. 
 
INDIA AT THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 99 
 
 The financial administration is centred in the 
 Minister of Finance, who is a member of the Execu- 
 tive Council, and is represented in each of the 
 provinces by an accountant-general. The strictly 
 local finance, however, is administered independently 
 bv each provincial government. 
 
 The Post Office Department has ramifications, in- 
 cluding the smallest villages, and the telegraphic 
 system is almost as extensive. The Department of 
 Forestry has no superior anywhere. There are 
 Departments of Education, Public Works and Rail- 
 ways, and a medical establishment which is served 
 mainly by educated natives. 
 
 This vast mechanism extends from the seat of 
 government in Calcutta to the remotest village in the 
 Empire — from the Viceroy to the humblest coolie. 
 
 The Indian Civil Service is without equal in the 
 world. The members of it are selected by competi- 
 tive examination of the severest kind, and the morale 
 and qualifications of the corps are of the highest 
 order. It is from this body that all the most import- 
 ant positions are filled, while the vast number of 
 subordinate offices are held by natives. 
 
 The Indian army numbers about two hundred and 
 twenty thousand, one-third of which is British troops. 
 In addition to the regular establishment, there are 
 about sixty thousand reserves and volunteers, trained 
 by English officers. The British battalions are drawn 
 from England for temporary service, and are kept up 
 
100 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 to full strength by drafts from their home depots. 
 The native army is kept up entirely by voluntary 
 enlistments. British troops hold all the important 
 strategic positions, and the artillery arm of the service 
 is furnished exclusively by them. 
 
 If no more could be said than that the present 
 government of India was better than any which had 
 preceded it, little credit would accrue to its rulers on 
 that account ; but it is probable that, considering the 
 nature of the task and the difficulties encountered in 
 its accomplishment, the administration of the British 
 in recent times has been as effective for good as was 
 possible. 
 
 It has established order, and has secured all 
 classes in the peaceful possession of personal property, 
 and in the positive enjoyment of personal rights. The 
 peasant no longer fears oppression by the zaurindar, 
 and the rayat is no longer burdened with excessive 
 taxation. The byways of the mqfussil are as safe as 
 the streets of the city. Thagi has been stamped 
 out and dacoity suppressed. The permanent value 
 thus created in land is enhanced by a perfect system 
 of registration, which affords a reliable test of the 
 validity of titles. Every holding has been surveyed 
 and its boundaries clearly denned, so that disputes 
 arc of rare occurrence and easy of decision, and a 
 basis is aiforded for an equitable distribution of 
 taxes. 
 
 In the matter of religion the Government has main-. 
 
INDIA AT THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 101 
 
 taincd a strict neutrality, while protecting each sect 
 against any outrage or annoyance at the hands of 
 another. In the treatment of Christian missions it 
 has not deviated from its policy of scrupulous 
 impartiality ; they enjoy the same freedom which is 
 assured to other religions, but no more than that. 
 
 Without exercising any interference in the manage- 
 ment of religious institutions, the Government has 
 continued to them all endowments made by former 
 native rulers, and has respected their titles to property 
 emanating from the same sources. 
 
 While countenancing local customs, in so far as 
 they arc consistent with Christian civilization, it has 
 prohibited infanticide, self-immolation by widows and 
 human sacrifices. 
 
 The splendid code of laws by which India is 
 governed has been framed with a constant regard 
 for the rights, the needs and the happiness of the 
 native population. It has established perfect civil 
 authority, and has materially raised the status of the 
 masses. Previous to British rule the Pariah classes 
 had no recognized rights worth considering, even under 
 rulers of their own race. To-day the low-caste 
 menial may, and frequently does, bring suit against 
 the Brahman, against his European master, or even 
 against the Government. In the construction of the 
 statutory law the pre-existing codes and customs have 
 been disturbed as little as possible. 
 
 Perhaps the blessing which most directly affects the 
 
102 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 lower classes is the groat reform in the administration 
 of petty offices. It is the subordinate order of officials, 
 now as formerly composed of natives, which comes 
 most closely in touch with the peasantry. Prior to 
 the British occupation, and especially under the 
 Muhammadan regimes, these deputies of cruel and 
 rapacious masters had practically unlimited authority, 
 and almost invariably adopted corrupt and oppressive 
 methods in their dealings with the helpless rayats. 
 Under the existent system the native official, measured 
 by Western standards, is a man of integrity and some 
 degree of education and enlightenment, lie is under 
 close supervision, is well paid, and, as a further induce- 
 ment to good behavior and effective discharge of his 
 duties, is offered the prospect of promotion and pension. 
 The system of education maintained by the state 
 embraces the whole range of scholastic institutions, 
 from the university to the primary school of the 
 village. These facilities are open to all creeds and 
 races alike, and to all classes without distinction. 
 They have been taken advantage of to a great extent 
 by the upper and middle classes, and there is an in- 
 creasing tendency on the part of the lower classes to 
 avail themselves of the opportunities for education 
 thus afforded. The scope of instruction offered in- 
 cludes, besides a liberal education in the common 
 meaning of the phrase, the study of the many lan- 
 guages of India and the history and literature of the 
 country. 
 

 INDIA AT THE PRESENT DAY, 
 
 103 
 
 The principles of sanitation have been applied to 
 the cities and towns with a success which is attested 
 by the decrease in mortality and the disappearance of 
 diseases from many localities where they had been 
 endemic lor ages. The interior of the country lias 
 been covered with free medical dispensaries and hos- 
 pitals, evidencing to the humblest and most remote sub- 
 ject the care of the state for his health and well-being. 
 
 The efforts of the British Government to eradicate 
 famine, or to minimize the effects of it, have been 
 stupendous. " It has, with an outlay of capital vast 
 even from an English point of view, set up a system 
 of irrigation the grandest in engineering concept ion, 
 the noblest in scientific skill, that has ever been seen 
 in any age or country," The outcome has been to 
 blot out extensive famine districts from the map, and 
 to greatly lessen the results of drought in others. 
 
 Inter-communication between all points has been 
 rendered comparatively easy by the maintenance of 
 the trunk roads which were laid out under the native 
 rulers and the extension of the system by a network 
 of district roads. All the principal towns and cities 
 of the Empire arc now connected by railroad and tele- 
 graph. There are in operation nearly 24,000 miles of 
 railway, over which was carried in the year 1899-1900 
 a number of passengers in excess of 163,000,000, and 
 freight to the amount of 40,o98,o20 tons. 
 
 Increase in population is one of the most reliable 
 criterions of national prosperity. This test may be 
 
104 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 applied to India with the most satisfactory results. 
 The census of 1901 showed a population of upwards 
 of 294,000,000 in British India. These figures show 
 an increase in excess of 100,000,000 since the acces- 
 sion of Queen Victoria to the throne, and of ever 
 150,000.000 since the establishment of the British 
 dominion, about a century ago. In other words, the 
 population of India has more than doubled in the 
 last hundred years. The increase is due to the com- 
 paratively peaceful condition of the country during 
 this period, to the construction of extensive irrigation 
 works and to the improvement in sanitary conditions. 
 The present average of two hundred inhabitants to 
 the square mile leaves room for much greater expan- 
 sion without danger of overcrowding. 
 
 About ninety per cent, of the rural population live 
 more or less directly by the tillage of the soil. The 
 condition of small land-holders has been infinitely 
 improved, and the wages of agricultural laborers have 
 increased about forty per cent. 
 
 The artisan classes of the cities live under condi- 
 tions incalculably superior to those of any previous 
 time, and their remuneration is at least double what 
 it was two generations ago. 
 
 The industries have thriven greatly, although they 
 have undergone considerable change in response to 
 new demands and changed conditions. Some indus- 
 tries, of importance from the artistic rather than the 
 economic point of view, have died out, but others of 
 
Hi 
 
 39 
 
 ■ 
 
■ 
 
 Potters at Work 
 
 
: t ■■ 
 
INDIA AT THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 105 
 
 a similar character survive. Among the latter may- 
 be mentioned inlaying in wood and horn, metal carv- 
 ing, enameling and silk embroidery. European 
 capital and machinery, in combination with native 
 material and labor, have been employed under 
 European supervision in the prosecution of new 
 enterprises. These embrace mills for the manufacture 
 of cotton, jute and other textiles ; soap, sugar, oil, 
 lac, ice and other factories ; tile works and potteries ; 
 iron and brass foundries ; tanneries and other works. 
 Among the new products of India, tea and coifee, 
 which are extensively cultivated, are especially note- 
 worthy. The mining of coal and iron has been 
 successfully carried on, and there is reason to believe 
 that in the future the mineral resources of the country 
 will be much more extensively developed. 
 
 Trade, internal and foreign, has developed im- 
 mensely. During the reign of Queen Victoria the 
 ocean-borne trade increased from Rx2,000,000 to 
 nearly 11x200,000,000/ while in the same period the 
 external ship-borne commerce increased fourteen- 
 fold. Notwithstanding the great reduction in the 
 taxation of the masses, the revenues of the Govern- 
 
 1 The official method of expressing large sums in tens of rupees, 
 which is generally followed by modern works of reference, has 
 been adopted in these volumes. The sign Rx is merely an 
 abbreviation of " rupees ten." The face value of the rupee is two 
 shillings, and the signs Rx and £ would be interchangeable, but 
 for the fact that the depreciation in silver has reduced the exchange 
 value of the rupee to about one shilling and sixpence. 
 
106 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 mcnt have increased fourfold since the British occu- 
 pation, and at the present time exceed Rxl 00,000,000 
 annually. 
 
 While the British dominion in India is under 
 existing conditions unquestionably stable, it cannot 
 be denied that the population contains discordant 
 elements, which might be awakened to active antag- 
 onism in the event of a serious blow" to British 
 prestige or power. These elements are to be found 
 in uncompromising religions leaders among both 
 Muhammadans and Brahmaus, in discontented de- 
 scendants of grandees and hereditary office-holders, 
 and in some of the more remote tribes, who, fail- 
 ing even yet to realize the power of Great Britain, 
 might be tempted to rise in rebellion upon the 
 occurrence of an event in India or elsewhere tend- 
 ing to shake that power. Probably a more than 
 sufficient offset against these adverse possibilities is to 
 be found in the unquestionable loyalty of the native 
 princes, Avho govern more than sixty millions of the 
 people, and would exert a considerable influence out- 
 side of their own domains ; in the natural aversion of 
 property interests to revolution, which would throw 
 the land-owners and capitalists upon the side of the 
 Government ; and in the spirit of genuine loyalty 
 which pervades the native army and is constantly 
 growing in strength. 
 
 The agricultural classes, which, together with the 
 laborers and artisans of the cities, make up by far the 
 
INDIA AT THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 107 
 
 greater portion of the population, should, if guided 
 by self-interest, be counted upon to support the 
 Government against the danger of subversion ; but 
 history proves that the mass is an uncertain factor in 
 political crises. An impartial view of the conditions 
 leads to the conclusion that Great Britain will never 
 lose her Indian Empire, except as a result of reverses 
 elsewhere. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PEOPLE. 
 
 It has been customary on the part of writers upon 
 India to describe the population as consisting of 
 Hindus, Muhammadans and Aborigines. A more 
 comprehensive classification takes cognizance of the 
 fact that the first are not in reality one race. Among 
 them the two chief castes of Brahman and Rajput arc 
 of pure Aryan descent, while the bulk of so-called 
 Hindus either belong to non-Aryan stock or are of 
 mixed ancestry. 
 
 What traces remain of the earliest inhabitants of 
 the country somewhat resemble those left by the 
 primitive tribes of Europe. In the valley of the 
 Nerbudda have been found weapons which were used 
 by a race antedating that which produced the stone 
 axes and utensils discovered in other parts. The 
 Stone Age was followed by a period during which the 
 people turned iron, copper and gold to purposes of 
 ornament and utility. The remains of these people 
 have been disinterred from the mounds they con- 
 structed over their dead, but they left no records 
 
 108 
 
THE PEOPLE. 
 
 109 
 
 whatever; indeed, the simplest hieroglyphics must 
 have been unknown to them. 
 
 The aboriginal or non-Aryan races are constantly 
 mentioned in portions of the Veda, written at least a 
 thousand years before the present era, as " black 
 skins," in contemptuous comparison with the fair 
 complexions of the invaders. Thus in remote times 
 was drawn in the far East a " color line " more rigid 
 than anything we know of in America. At the time 
 of their influx to India caste was not an institution of 
 the Aryans, but when it afterwards became so they 
 designated it by their Sanskrit word " varna" signify- 
 ing color. 
 
 The Aryans, literally " nobles," had their earliest 
 home on the central Asian plateau, whence they 
 migrated at different times and in various directions. 
 One branch founded the Persian nation, and others 
 peopled Europe, giving to the world the great empires 
 of Greece and Rome ; while yet another offshoot 
 established itself in England. Thus the American of 
 to-day may claim the same ancient origin as the 
 Brahman and Rajput, who thousands of years ago 
 availed themselves of the northwest gateway of India 
 to enter and overrun the country. One has only to 
 consult the dictionary to find that the mother tongue 
 of both was the same. The earliest words of every 
 language — those of domestic application — are in many 
 instances in the English language derived from 
 ancient Sanskrit roots. Thus we have daughter, 
 
no 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 from duhi-t&r, one who milks, denoting the occupation 
 of the younger female members of a nomadic race ; 
 mother, from ma-tar, one who measures, in reference 
 probably to the office of distributor of food to the 
 family ; widow, from vl, without, and dhava, husband; 
 and so pa-tar, one who protects; go, cow, and scores 
 of other equally unquestionable derivations. 
 
 The relationship is exhibited to this day in physical 
 traits. The high-caste Hindu has a facial mould 
 similar to our own ; his eyes are frequently blue or 
 gray, and his complexion as light as that of the 
 people of Southern Europe. 
 
 The ancient religions of Europe and India have a 
 common origin. The Vedic Pantheon and the Greek 
 mythology arc derived from the same source, and in 
 the Christian churches of to-day the Deity is invoked 
 under names which are legacies from our Aryan fore- 
 fathers. 
 
 The Vedas recount, with a great deal of circum- 
 stantial detail, the journeyings of these early people 
 toward the south. The earliest hymns find them on 
 the farther side of the Himalayas, and their progress 
 is depicted in word pictures as they travel, slowly but 
 persistently, toward their goal. AVe see them, now 
 fighting against the aborigines, and anon at war 
 among themselves. The patriarchal system existed in 
 effect, although they elected a king or head patriarch. 
 The marriage institution was strictly respected, and 
 woman held an honorable place with them. She, 
 
THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 jointly with her husband, controlled the household 
 and took part in public worship by his side. The 
 immolation of widows was quite unknown. There is, 
 in fact, nothing in the sacred books or laws of the 
 Hindus enjoining or even recommending the practice. 
 In later years the Brahmans established it, on the 
 basis of a pure fiction, for their own purposes, which 
 they were easily able to do, since they happened to be 
 the only class that had access to the original books 
 and could read them. 
 
 The Vedas show us the Aryan tribes settled in 
 villages, and even towns of considerable magnitude, 
 possessing herds and flocks and tilling the soil. They 
 had metal workers and other artisans, and used cattle 
 as the standard of exchange. They fought in chariots 
 and upon horseback, but as yet the elephant was 
 employed solely as a beast of burden. Like the 
 Israelites of old, they wandered about in clans, 
 attracted by good pasturage, a fertile soil, or an 
 abundance of water. 
 
 These vigorous natives of a northern clime gradu- 
 ally rolled back the aborigines before them, and as 
 the tide of Aryan invasion continued to flow through 
 the Himalayan gateway, the earlier invaders were 
 themselves forced forward and southward, the process 
 of advance on the one side and retreat on the other 
 being continued until the non-Aryan tribes were com- 
 pelled to take refuge in the less accessible and more 
 remote parts of the country. The remnants of these 
 
112 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 dispossessed tribes we find scattered over India to-day, 
 for the most part ensconced in wild and hilly regions. 
 
 Many of the aboriginal refugees found shelter in 
 the high jungle country at the south of the peninsula. 
 Through all the strange changes of the intervening 
 centuries they have lived on in their primitive fashion, 
 and the present century finds them little more 
 advanced toward civilization than when they were in 
 undisturbed possession of the Deccan. 
 
 The Mundavers, for instance, are a migratory tribe, 
 who never construct a permanent dwelling, but wander 
 about their hills and vales, driving their cattle before 
 them, and seeking shelter in caves, or huts of boughs, 
 according to the season of the year. 
 
 The Puliars are even nearer to a state of barbarism. 
 They produce nothing, subsist upon wild fruits and 
 vegetables, and small animals and reptiles. They 
 maintain the old demon-worship, and are probably 
 addicted to worse practices than we are aware of. 
 
 The little Kaders of these parts have some just 
 claim to their title of "Lords of the Hills," for their 
 descent is from an ancestry of a higher type than that 
 of the wild tribes about them, by whom their superi- 
 ority is acknowledged. 
 
 The Central Provinces contain laree numbers of 
 
 lit 
 
 as in tne south, are many 
 
 the aborigines 
 tribes that persistently shun the approach of civiliza- 
 tion, and hide themselves in the deepest recesses of 
 the forest. The bow and flint-tipped arrow is still in 
 
Hill Men of Ladak 
 
•ijj'y 
 
f 
 
THE PEOPLE. 
 
 113 
 
 use among them, and some are so wild that the sight 
 of a stranger is the signal for a general abandonment 
 of the village. 
 
 In Orissa is a numerous tribe of Patuas, or " leaf- 
 wearers/' who were only recently persuaded by the 
 English to discard their vegetable garments for loin 
 cloths. 
 
 Naturally the Himalayas afforded havens of refuge 
 to a great many of the non-Aryan inhabitants of 
 Hindustan, and their descendants are numerous and 
 various there to-day. 
 
 Not all of the aboriginal tribes, however, have 
 remained in so low a state. Apart from the vast 
 numbers that were absorbed by the dominating races, 
 many clans are to be found in different parts of India 
 exhibiting various advanced degrees of civilization, 
 although still following a simple mode of life, apart 
 from the rest of the world. 
 
 The Santals inhabit the hills of lower Bengal, 
 where they maintain village communities, and hold 
 little or no communication with the neighboring 
 plainsmen. They number at least a million, and, 
 unlike most of these isolated tribes, exhibit a tendency 
 toward survival and development. They are a peace- 
 ful people, successful as husbandmen, and self-govern- 
 ing, under a simple but effective system. The 
 prosperity of this community veal's ago excited the 
 cupidity of that bane of the country, the usurious 
 Hindu money-lender, and in a short while these 
 Vol. I.— S 
 
114 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 insidious leeches owned the unsophisticated Santals, 
 body and soul. Death afforded no relief to the 
 family; for, according to the simple ethics of these 
 people, the debts of the father were assumed by the 
 son. At length the condition became unbearable. 
 Then (in 1855) was seen the pathetic sight of thirty 
 thousand men leaving the hills which their forefathers 
 had occupied for centuries, to lay their grievances 
 before the mystical demi-god who held his court at 
 Calcutta. Carrying their customary bows and arrows, 
 and expecting to subsist by the chase, they com- 
 menced their march. But soon they were in a country 
 unlike their own ; every rood of land was private 
 property, and game was scarce. With many days of 
 weary walking still before them, the unfortunate 
 Santals were assailed by hunger, and naturally enough 
 helped themselves to the nearest supplies of food, 
 without inquiring too particularly into the question 
 of ownership. Thus they were brought into conflict 
 with the authorities, and driven back to their homes, 
 not without bloodshed. However, the movement had 
 a happy finale, for the Government investigated their 
 condition and righted their difficulties; so that to-day 
 they are a prosperous and contented people. 
 
 The village communities of the Santals are 
 governed by hereditary headmen, Expulsion from 
 the tribe is the most severe punishment inflicted. 
 They are demon-worshipers, and burn their dead. 
 Marriages are not contracted until both parties have 
 
THE PEOPLE. 
 
 115 
 
 readied the ago of puberty, and but one wife is 
 allowed, unless she proves to be barren. 
 
 The Khands number about one hundred thousand 
 souls, who have their homes in the hills of Orissa. 
 Each family forms a community, which holds property 
 in common and is ruled by a hereditary chief. Trial by 
 ordeal is one of their peculiar institutions. A Khand 
 secures his bride by capture, and he may take a 
 second wife only with the consent of the first. 
 Living among the Khands is a lower race, which has 
 been held in a state of slavery, though treated with 
 kindness. These people live on the outskirts of the 
 villages, and are not allowed to have any social inter- 
 course with the Khands, but arc required to perform 
 menial labor. Among their duties was that of pro- 
 viding victims for the biennial human sacrifice, which 
 the Khands practiced until the institution was sup- 
 pressed by the British about sixty years ago. 
 
 The non-Aryans have no records from which any- 
 thing of their early history or origin can be learned, but 
 their languages lead to the inference that they are the 
 outcome of Tibeto-Burman, Kolarian and Dravidian 
 immigrations. The first two seem to have been 
 effected through the northeastern passages, and the 
 last by way of the northwest. 
 
 It was not until some time after their invasion of 
 Hindustan that social distinctions began to be ob- 
 served among the Aryan settlers. In the nature of 
 things, however, certain of their number became 
 
no 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 distinguished for their military prowess, while cer- 
 tain others displayed an aptness for sacerdotal duties, 
 whereas the mass of the people; exhibited no talents 
 of a higher order than such as qualified them for the 
 vocation of husbandmen. Thus gradually arose the 
 Four Castes — priests, or Brahmans; warriors, or 
 Rajputs; agriculturists, or Vaisyas; and serfs, or 
 Siidras. The last were non-Aryans, who, being but 
 " once born," could never rise to the grade of their 
 " twice born " Aryan masters. 
 
 A long struggle for supremacy between the Brah- 
 mans and Kshattriyas or Rajputs resulted in favor of 
 the former, who have ever since maintained their 
 position as the highest class of the Indian people. 
 The life of the Brahman was strictly regulated, even 
 to the minutest details of daily observance. It was 
 mapped out in four distinct stages : First, Brahma- 
 chari, or Studentship ; second, Grihastha, or Mar- 
 riage ; third, Vanaprastha, or the Hermit Stage ; 
 fourth, Sannvasi, or the Condition of the Devotee. 
 The religious life began with the investiture of the 
 sacred thread, significant of the second birth, after 
 which his youth and the early years of his manhood 
 were to be devoted to the study of the holy books. 
 During the second stage he reared a family and lived 
 in the world, although his life was still subject to a 
 rigid code of conduct ; he exercised a constant curb 
 upon his passions, and refrained from all kinds of 
 excesses. In the next stage he retired to the forest, 
 
THE PEOPLE. 
 
 117 
 
 giving himself up to the life of a recluse, and spend- 
 ing the years in contemplation and religious observ- 
 ances. In the last and fourth stage he went forth as 
 a purified ascetic, immune to the temptations of the 
 world, and heedless of physical discomforts or desires. 
 He depended for his subsistence upon voluntary gifts, 
 which were never lacking, and engaged himself 
 solely in the effort to achieve absorption in the primal 
 entity. 
 
 " The Brahmans, therefore, were a body of men 
 who, in an early stage of this world's history, bound 
 themselves by a rule of life, the essential precepts of 
 which were self-culture and self-restraint. The 
 Brahmans of the present day are the result of three 
 thousand years of hereditary education and temper- 
 ance, and they have evolved a type of mankind quite 
 distinct from the surrounding population. Even the 
 passing stranger in India marks them out alike from 
 the bronzed -checked, large -limbed, leisure- loving 
 Rajput, or warrior, of Aryan descent, and from the 
 dark-skinned, flat-nosed, thick-lipped low castes of 
 non-Aryan origin, with their short bodies and bullet 
 heads. The Brahman stands apart from both, tall and 
 slim, with finely-modeled lips and nose, fair com- 
 plexion, high forehead and slightly cocoanut shape 
 skull — the man of self-centred refinement. Ife is an 
 example of a class becoming the ruling power in a 
 country, not by force of arms, but by the vigor of 
 hereditary culture aud temperance." 
 
118 INDIA. 
 
 The high-caste Briihman looks upon the European 
 with something of a sense of superiority, if not con- 
 tempt; for is not the swarthy Oriental a member of 
 the oldest aristocracy in the world? — an aristocracy 
 which had a literature and a system of science when 
 the Briton was an unlettered, skin-clad savage ; an 
 aristocracy which has attained a greater ascendency 
 over the masses, and has maintained its influence 
 longer than any other. For example, you may see some 
 sleek, self-satisfied baniya, whose money-bags would 
 fill a good-sized vault, and whose jewels would pay a 
 king's ransom — see him prostrate himself before the 
 homeless, penniless Brahman, rich only — but vastly 
 rich — in the sacred thread across his breast and the 
 significant daub of ash upon his forehead. 
 
 Pitiful picture of deterioration as he is, nothing 
 can deprive him of his rightful pride of ancestry. 
 When in the olden days the purest blood and the 
 richest intellect of the people detached itself from the 
 ruck, and isolated itself by the hedge of caste, and 
 bound itself to a life of refinement and culture, there 
 was laid the foundation of a magnificent race of men, 
 whose downfall is due to abuse of power. The influ- 
 ence of the Brahman is fast slipping away from him 
 with the spread of education and the increase of 
 enlightenment. The people are beginning- to under- 
 stand that he is no longer the embodiment of virtue 
 and morality. They are beginning to learn something 
 of the fraud and deceit by which this class has 
 

 High Caste Child 
 
THE PEOPLE. 
 
 119 
 
 imposed its yoke upon the masses. In many cases 
 the Brahman himself has helped to break down the 
 barrier by availing himself of the Western education, 
 and accepting employment under the British Govern- 
 ment. Many of the more intellectual members of the 
 Brahmanie Order have recognized the futility of their 
 position, and while cherishing the pure and truthful 
 in the customs and religion of their fathers, are 
 making a courageous effort to weed out the immorali- 
 ties and superstitions which have become grafted upon 
 them. Whether such institutions as the Brahmo- 
 Somaj are destined to live, or whether they will 
 prove but stepping-stones to something more perma- 
 nent, time alone can tell. In theory an eclectic 
 system of theology may be sound ; in practice a creed 
 based on compromise ever lacks the stamina necessary 
 to stand the stress and strain of religious conflict. 
 
 One thing is certain : modern conditions make it 
 impossible for any but a recluse to adhere strictly to 
 the Brahmanie code for the conduct of life. It would 
 be less difficult for a Pharisee to maintain the " hedge 
 of the law " in the present century than for a Brah- 
 man to observe the regulations of Manu relating to 
 his daily life. One sees a common illustration of the 
 difficulty on the railroad, where the proud Brahman 
 effaces the marks of his hereditary superiority and 
 huddles in a carriage with the vulgar herd of Siidras 
 and Pariahs. 
 
 Waiving humanitarian considerations for an instant, 
 
120 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 it is easy to conceive that the extinction of caste might 
 create political problems of an exceedingly embarrass- 
 ing nature for the British. The complications arising 
 from the emancipation of the negroes in America give 
 but a faint idea of the possible results of the estab- 
 lishment of social equality in India. The probable 
 consequences of the freedom of the Russian serfs 
 would be as nothing compared to it. However, so 
 deeply-rooted is caste, so all-pervading in its scope, 
 that its dissolution under any circumstances must be 
 the work of centuries. 
 
 While Sanskrit was the language of the people, the 
 "perfected language" w r as only employed by the 
 learned, the common people using a debased form of 
 it, called Prakrit, from which the modern dialects of 
 India are derived. While encouraging the decadence 
 of Sanskrit among the masses, the Brahmans con- 
 tinued its use, and invariably employed it in writing. 
 Thus they became in the course of time the only per- 
 sons who could read the sacred books — the sole 
 educated class in the country. This condition the 
 Brahman took advantage of in various ways. He 
 professed to find in the Vcdas divine authority for 
 his assumption of social superiority ; he distorted the 
 text, or falsified it, to advance the ends of his order, 
 and, in short, took full advantage of the ignorant 
 condition in which he contrived to keep the masses. 
 It is undoubtedly true that the advancement of the 
 country has been greatly retarded by caste; but at 
 
THE PEOPLE. 
 
 121 
 
 the same time it must be admitted that the Brahmans 
 have been benefactors to India and to the world :it 
 large of a no mean order. 
 
 The Brahman theology, as evolved from the ante- 
 cedent chaotic religion of their ancestors, was an 
 intelligent system, comparing favorably with the 
 other great beliefs of the world. As they understood 
 it, however, it was not and is not taught to the lower 
 orders. In the matter of language they were in 
 advance of all other nations. The Sanskrit grammar, 
 which is at present the foundation of philological 
 study, was compiled three or four hundred years 
 before the Christian era. 
 
 In astronomy the Brahmans made important dis- 
 coveries, and gave much to the Western world. 
 More than three thousand years ago the Vedas 
 divided the year into three hundred and sixty days, 
 with an extra month every five years to make up the 
 deficiencies. 
 
 The degree of knowledge to which they attained in 
 the science of medicine and surgery was remarkable. 
 The system of medicine practiced by the Arabs — 
 the basis of all European knowledge in that direction 
 until about three hundred years ago — was derived 
 from the Brahmans. 
 
 So in law, literature, poetry and music their 
 achievements were extensive and important. 
 
 The era of Buddhism in India had a great and 
 beneficial effect upon the national life and character. 
 
122 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 During upwards of one thousand years a severe 
 rivalry existed between the two great religions in 
 India, and when at last Brahmanism prevailed, and 
 the followers of Gautama sank into an insignificant 
 minority, Buddhism had made an everlasting impress 
 upon the country "in the religion of the people; in 
 the principle of the brotherhood of man, with the 
 assertion of which each new revival of Hinduism 
 starts ; in the asylum which the great Hindu sect of 
 Vaishnavs affords to women who have fallen victims 
 to caste rules, to the widow and the outcast ; in that 
 gentleness and charity to all men which take the place 
 of a poor law in India, and give a high significance 
 to the half-satirical epithet of the ' mild ' Hindu." 
 
 During several centuries before Christ there had 
 been going on a process of emigration to India from 
 the eastern portion of the Central Asian plateau. 
 About a century before the Christian era this move- 
 ment became a serious invasion, and resulted in the 
 foundation of a powerful empire in northwestern 
 Hindustan. The people who thus added another 
 element to the composition of the already complex 
 population of India have been somewhat inexactly 
 called Scythians. They were of Mughal origin, 
 herdsmen by habit and warriors by instinct. It is 
 not impossible that these " Scythian " invaders or 
 founders of an Indian dynasty were related to the 
 " men of an iguoble race who came up from the east " 
 and established the rule of the Hyksos in Egypt ; at 
 
THE PEOPLE. 
 
 123 
 
 any rate, there are sufficient points of resemblance to 
 give some color to the conjecture. The Scythians 
 accepted the Buddhist faith, and, their kingdom being 
 overthrown, they became merged and lost in the great 
 muss of the people. They entered the country in 
 great numbers at different times, and their descend- 
 ants make up a large proportion of the population of 
 the frontier provinces at this day. 
 
 The Hindu nation then is a conglomeration of the 
 aboriginal inhabitants of India, and the Scythic or 
 Tartar invaders, with the early Aryan settlers. 
 
 We have mentioned the four great divisions or 
 castes of the early Hindu nation. These were soon 
 multiplied, and as occupation and geographical posi- 
 tion, as well as racial differences, constituted the bases 
 of caste distinctions, the number of these divisions 
 continued to increase until at present there are at 
 least three thousand castes recognized in India. Mem- 
 bers of different castes may not intermarry, nor may 
 they enter into close social relations with each other. 
 One may not touch food prepared by another of a 
 lower caste, nor may those of different castes eat 
 together. Under such conditions it is easy to under- 
 stand that being cast out of a tribe or sept is the 
 most severe penalty that can be inflicted. The man 
 without a caste becomes a paraiyan, or pariah — the 
 lowest of the low. He shares the name and almost 
 the condition of the ownerless and homeless village 
 dog. His own family are strangers to him. He 
 
124 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 is "a man without a country" in the land of his 
 birth. 
 
 The present religion of the Hindus is an adaptation 
 of the old Vedic theology, the Buddhist philosophy, 
 and the non-Aryan ritual. 
 
 The two principal forms of the Brahmanism of to- 
 day are Siva and Vishnu worship. Siva in his more 
 refined conceptions is the god of the B rah mans, and 
 in his grosser aspects that of the lowest castes. He 
 is worshiped in many forms, under different names, 
 and his images are generally symbolical of his dual 
 character — Destroyer and Reproducer. The linga is 
 his universal symbol, and the bull is consecrated to 
 him. According to the Brahmanical conception, he is 
 an ascetic ; the low caste non-Aryan depicts him as a 
 bloodthirsty creature of terrible aspect. Until re- 
 cently the latter was in the habit of appeasing him 
 with human sacrifices, and at the present time 
 sacrifices birds and animals to the dread deity. 
 
 Vishnu is the friend of man, the most human of 
 the gods, having passed hundreds of years upon the 
 earth in his various incarnations. His appearances 
 as Rama and as Krishna are recounted in the two 
 great Hindu epics. He is pleased by gifts of flowers, 
 but the shedding of blood is an offence against him. 
 He is the god of the middle classes, the bankers, the 
 merchants, the traders. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the educated Hindu is, with few 
 exceptions, a theist. While extending homage to some 
 
THE PEOPLE. 
 
 125 
 
 form of Siva or Vishnu, lie considers it but a medium 
 for the adoration of the Supreme Being, Parameswara. 
 Ili.-^ act is the manifestation of the desire to evoke a 
 personal interest, and is somewhat analogous to the 
 custom in mediaeval Europe of invoking the protection 
 of particular saints. The same feeling induces the 
 village community to set up a local deity, whose 
 symbol may be a mis-shapen stone or the stump of a 
 tree. 
 
 The Muhammadan population is made up of an 
 even greater variety of nationalities, and includes 
 Persians, Turkimiu, Afghans, Mughals, and several 
 other races. The barriers of caste and religion, as 
 well as marked physical dissimilarities, have prevented 
 these people from amalgamating with the Hindus to 
 any considerable extent. Although each has adopted 
 some of the customs and dress of the other, some 
 distinctive characteristic is always maintained by 
 Hindu and Muhammadan j they may be similarly 
 attired, but the former will fasten his tunic upon the 
 right side, and the latter upon the left. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Mussulmin of India have been 
 greatly influenced by their contact with the Hindus, 
 and the difference, which is often great, between the 
 Muhammadan of Hindustan and his co-religionist of 
 Arabia, or Central Asia, is in the main due to that 
 influence. 
 
 The Muhammadan population has become impreg- 
 nated with the spirit of caste, which has taken root 
 
126 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 the more readily owing to the numerous sects into 
 which the followers of the Prophet are divided. To 
 the simple rules for the conduct of daily life enjoined 
 by the Kuran have been added a number of Hindu- 
 like observances, based for the most part upon sense- 
 less superstition. These control minute details of 
 dress, food and daily routine. The early marriage of 
 the Hindus has been adopted, and the Muhammadan 
 ceremony has been made to embrace many of the 
 Hindu features ; so with the ceremonies attendant 
 upon child-birth, naming of infants, and, indeed, most 
 of the important occasions of life. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BOMBAY, ELEPHAXTA, KANHARI, KARLI. 
 
 When the Portuguese, sailing up the Malabar 
 coast, entered the little archipelago near its northern 
 extremity, they fitly named their anchorage "Born 
 Bahia," or "Good Bay," for few better harbors exist. 
 Later, when they deeded the island to the English 
 monarch as part of the dower of their princess, little 
 did they dream that its paltry area of twenty-two 
 square miles would eventually hold the finest city in 
 the East, with a population of over eight hundred 
 thousand souls. 
 
 Bombay, the commercial capital, is in every respect 
 save one justified in the proud title of " Urbs prima 
 in Indis," the only flaw in her claim to that dis- 
 tinction being the fact that Calcutta is the seat of the 
 Imperial Government. In magnificent public build- 
 ings and handsome residences she outvies her rival 
 upon whom the appellation of "City of Palaces" was 
 bestowed in days of less achievement. 
 
 An Indian street scene is always bright and diver- 
 sified, but nowhere are these characteristics more pro- 
 nounced than in Bombay. The picture presented to 
 
 127 
 
Hindu Mother and Child 
 
I 
 
BOMBAY. 
 
 129 
 
 merchants with their multiplicity of goods ; the fan- 
 tastic fakir and the loathsome mendicant ; the barber 
 shaving the head of a patron upon the footpath, 
 while both squat upon their haunches to facilitate the 
 operation ; chupprassies in neat uniform and sepoys 
 in regimentals ; bheesties with water-skins slung from 
 the shoulder; bhanghy wallahs balancing bamboos 
 with large pots suspended from each end; these are 
 but some of the interesting features of a scene which 
 is enlivened by the audacious coloring of the houses, 
 the brilliant tints of chadahs, the sonorous sound of 
 the ox bell, the monotone of the itinerant preacher, 
 the shrill cry of the street vendor, or the twang of a 
 sitar from a neighboring veranda. 
 
 The European quarter is at the southern end of the 
 island. Just north of the promontory of Colaba, 
 upon which is situated the barracks of the English 
 troops, is the Apollo Bunder, where rank and fashion 
 gather in the cool of the evening to listen to the 
 music of a military band. From this point the 
 Esplanade Road runs north past the Public Offices, 
 an imposing rank of buildings facing Back Bay. 
 
 It is noteworthy that while European models have 
 furnished the main scheme, the architect has in many 
 instances made some concessions to the local atmos- 
 phere, with the result of a happy blending of the 
 styles of West and East. 
 
 The Presidential Secretariat has a length of nearly 
 four hundred and fifty feet, with two wings, each 
 Vol. I.— 9 
 
I 
 
 130 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 eighty-one foot long. It is built in the Venetian- 
 Gothic stylo, and the carvings and interior decorations 
 are the work of native artists. 
 
 The University Library, Clock Tower and Hall 
 form a magnificent group of buildings. The Tower, 
 and in some part the Library, owe their existence to 
 the generosity of a native, who built the one and 
 endowed the other at an expense of Rx40,000. 
 From the top of the former, which is two hundred 
 and sixty feet in height, a fine view of the city and 
 environments may be had. 
 
 The Courts of Justice have their home in a splendid 
 pile, extending five hundred and sixty-two feet in 
 length and reaching an elevation, by means of the 
 tower, of one hundred and seventy-live feet. The 
 main entrance is composed of a grand archway, flanked 
 by octagon towers one hundred and twenty feet high, 
 surmounted by statues of Mercy and Justice. 
 
 The succession of public buildings is continued 
 northward by the Post Office and the Telegraph 
 Office. Just beyond the last named, at the intersec- 
 tion of the Mayo and Esplanade Roads, is the beautiful 
 marble statue of Queen Victoria by Noble. It was 
 erected at a cost of over Rxl8,()0(), by far the 
 greater portion of which amount was defrayed by 
 the late Gaekwar of Baroda. Continuing along the 
 Mayo Road a few hundred yards, one reaches the 
 Municipal Buildings and the Victoria Station of the 
 Great Indian Peninsular Railroad. This, probably 
 
S&S 
 
University and Clock Tower, Bombay 
 
 B^H 
 
«£ 
 
m 
 
BOMBAY. 
 
 131 
 
 the finest structure of its kind in the world, was com- 
 pleted in 1888 at an outlay of 11x300,000. In the 
 immediate vicinity is a group of educational institu- 
 tions and churches. Near by is the Crawford Market, 
 which perhaps has no equal in any country for size, 
 convenience and variety of food display. The build- 
 ing, which cost Rxl 10,000, consists of a central hall, 
 with a clock tower one hundred and twenty-eight feet 
 high, and two wings, one three hundred and fifty feet 
 by one hundred feet, and the other one hundred and 
 fifty feet by one hundred feet. In the Fruit Market 
 one may get grapes from Aurangabad, oranges from 
 Nagpur and mangoes from Mazagon or Goa ; bananas 
 of several varieties, pummelos, bread fruit, custard 
 apples and other luscious products of the East. In 
 the Poultry Market are offered ducks, partridges, 
 quail, snipe, teal, florican, plover, curlew and the 
 commoner kinds of fowls. The Fish Market con- 
 tains many delicious specimens of the finny tribe with 
 which the Western palate is unfamiliar. The surma 
 and the sargutali arc flat fish ; the palla is a species 
 of salmon ; the bhui machchi when dried and salted 
 becomes the celebrated " Bombay duck." 
 
 Bombay is particularly rich in eleemosynary institu- 
 tions maintained for the benefit of the natives; these 
 include a number and variety of schools and hospitals. 
 The liberality of the Parsis is conspicuously in evi- 
 dence. Almost every municipal work in recent years 
 has been facilitated by handsome contributions from 
 
132 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 one or other of the many wealthy men of that sect. 
 Private enterprises of an educational and even of a 
 religions character are frequently their beneficiaries, 
 while their gifts to the people in the form of foun- 
 tains, statues, gardens and the like arc numerous. 
 
 Centuries ago some of the followers of Zoroaster 
 fled from Persia to escape the persecutions of the 
 Mnhammadans, and settled in western India. Their 
 descendants have maintained the purity of their race 
 and of their religion, the latter end having doubtless 
 been served, equally with the former, by their invari- 
 able practice of marrying only among themselves. 
 These people, who number about fifty thousand in 
 Bombay, are the most influential of its native citizens. 
 They are distinguished for their integrity, enterprise, 
 philanthropy and wealth. They are, almost without 
 exception, highly educated and exemplary in their 
 private lives. Several of them have been knighted 
 and decorated by the British Government, which has 
 no more loyal subjects. 
 
 The Parsis resent the appellation of" fire worship- 
 ers," and with justice. They are Deists, and rever- 
 ence the sun and fire as symbols of the one God ; in 
 the same spirit they reverence the elements of earth 
 and water. Hence their peculiar disposition of the 
 dead. They will not pollute the soil by interring a 
 corpse, which is deemed unclean; for like reasons they 
 refrain from burning one or consigning it to the sea. 
 
 The native quarter, which lies to the north of the 
 
BOMBAY. 
 
 133 
 
 European town, contains many points of interest. 
 Its streets are crooked and narrow, but extremely 
 picturesque. The houses, in some instances very 
 handsome and luxurious, are often embellished with 
 tine carvings, corbels and gargoyles. In the bazaars 
 arc offered for sale a variety of specimens of the 
 famous Bombay black wood and tortoise shell 
 carving; inlaid sandalwood boxes; brass ware and 
 pottery ; gold and silver lace, and embroidery in 
 many forms. The equestrian may find a feast for his 
 eyes in the Arab horse-mart of the Bhendi Bazaar, to 
 which the traders bring their finest animals. 
 
 Temples and mosques are numerous in the native 
 town, but few of them are interesting from the point 
 of view of the archaeologist. 
 
 The Temple of Walkeshwar, on Malabar Hill, is 
 perhaps the oldest and certainly the most frequented 
 by Hindu devotes. A peculiarly Eastern institution, 
 probably of Buddhist origin in its conception, is the 
 Pinjrapal. This is a refuge for sick, aged and crip- 
 pled beasts. Within the inclosure, which embraces 
 several acres, are buffaloes, cattle, asses, sheep, goats 
 and dogs, in every stage of decrepitude and disease. 
 
 Starting from the southern end of Rotten Row, one 
 may enjoy a splendid drive of about three miles 
 beside the bay. This route will take one past the 
 Public Offices, the University, the Queen's Statue, 
 the Marine Lines, the Money Institute, the burning 
 ghat of the Hindus, the burial ground of the Muham- 
 
134 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 madans and the cemetery of the Europeans, in close 
 proximity to each other, and so to Malabar Hill. 
 This is the fashionable suburb of Bombay, and it is 
 upon its elevation that the principal Europeans and 
 wealthy Parsis have their villas. Here, stretched in 
 a long wicker chair upon his veranda, the merchant 
 or tire Government official enjoys the refreshing sea 
 breeze, while his gaze wanders over a panoramic view 
 of surpassing beauty. 
 
 The summit of the hill is occupied by the Towers 
 of Silence and the gardens in which they stand. 
 There are five of these towers upon Malabar Hill. 
 They are open cylinders of gray stone. The largest 
 is twenty-five feet high and ninety-two feet in 
 diameter. The interior arrangement consists of three 
 circular Avails, the innermost inclosing a well. In the 
 outer compartment thus formed are laid the bodies of 
 men ; in the next those of women, and in the third 
 those of children. Other than this there is no dis- 
 tinetion. It is a tenet of the Parsi faith that all must 
 meet on a common footing after death, and, in accord- 
 ance with this belief, rich and poor are consigned to 
 the same receptacle on equal terms. Within an hour 
 of the time the naked corpses arc deposited in the 
 tower the bones are picked clean by the vultures, 
 which form a living coning to the walls. When the 
 bones have thoroughly dried they are thrown into 
 the well, where they crumble to dust. The Nasr 
 Salars, or bearers of the dead, are always gloved when 
 
BOMBAY. 
 
 135 
 
 performing the burial rites, and use tongs in handling 
 the bones. They purify themselves by washing, and 
 discard their clothing after every visit to a tower. 
 Yet their vocation is considered degrading, and they 
 are not admitted to social intercourse with other 
 Parsis. 
 
 But for the presence of the loathsome vultures, 
 which infest the neighboring woods, the surroundings 
 of the towers are attractive in the extreme, The 
 gardens are full of flowers and blossoming shrubs. 
 Tapering cypresses, Nature's indices pointing the way 
 of the departed souls, throw their long shadows over 
 the green sward. Birds of brilliant plumage flit from 
 tree to tree, or fill the air with their melodious piping. 
 
 Before leaving the subject of the Parsis it may be 
 of interest to recount a piece of family history which 
 is distinctly characteristic of this extraordinary people. 
 In 1735 the East India Company opened a ship- 
 building yard at Bombay. A Parsi named Lawji 
 Naushirwanji was made foreman of the establishment, 
 and ever since that time the superintendence of the 
 dockyard has remained in the family. In 1771 Lawji 
 died, and was succeeded by his grandsons, and they 
 in turn by their sons; so that "the history of the 
 dockyard is that of the rise of a respectable, honest 
 and hard-working Parsi family." 
 
 In addition to a great number of merchantmen, 
 several ships for the British Royal Navy have been 
 built at Bombay. Teak was the material invariably 
 
13G 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 used in the construction of these vessels. This hard 
 wood, which is plentiful in certain parts of India, has 
 extraordinary lasting qualities. It appears to defy 
 even the ravages of the white ant, which will go 
 through almost anything short of metal, The Lawji 
 Castle, a merchantman launched from the Bombay 
 yards, and named after the sturdy progenitor of this 
 Parsi line of hereditary shipbuilders, was in service 
 continuously for over seventy years. 
 
 Elephanta, one of the twelve islands that compose 
 the group of which Bombay is the principal, lies six 
 miles to the east of the latter. To the natives it is 
 known as Garapur, or "the town of excavations," the 
 appellation having reference to the famous cave 
 temples. By the English it was named Elephanta 
 on account of a large image of an elephant, hewn from 
 rock, which stood upon the hill at the southern end 
 of the island until it was removed about forty years 
 ago to Bombay. The island is covered with thick 
 vegetation, and is practically uninhabited. A stone 
 pier and a flight of steps lead to the entrance of 
 the cave, which is marked by two massive columns 
 supporting a projecting table of rock. The main 
 temple is about one hundred and thirty feet square, 
 and its roof is supported by twenty pillars and 
 sixteen pilasters, about sixteen feet in height. Two 
 minor excavations stand back, and on each side, of 
 the temple. The entire rock is covered with bas- 
 reliefs referring to the Hindu mythology, but chiefly 
 
' 
 
Caves of Elephanta 
 
ELEPIIAXTA. 
 
 137 
 
 to Siva. The most striking of these is the Triniurti, a 
 colossal three-headed figure representing the god in 
 his triple capacity of Creator, Destroyer and Sus- 
 tainer. Another striking carving is the Ard-dhana- 
 rishwar, which depicts the deity in the dual aspect 
 of man and woman, one half of the figure displaying 
 the male and the other the female form. The incon- 
 gruity of the combination is lost sight of in the 
 majestic proportions of the figure and the beauty of the 
 execution. Other sculptures portray the marriage of 
 Siva and Parvati; the birth of Ganeeh ; the elephant- 
 headed god of Wisdom ; the decapitation of Daksh 
 by Siva; Ravana attempting to remove Ivailas; the 
 mountain abode of Siva ; Siva in the guise of a yogi ; 
 and Siva engaged in a frantic dance, attended by a 
 retinue of demons. The age of this temple is uncer- 
 tain, but it is probably not less than one thousand 
 years old. A process of disintegration has been going 
 on rapidly during the past half century. 
 
 There are in the Bombay Presidency about forty 
 groups of these rock temples, the majority of them 
 of Buddhist origin. The most accessible, after Ele- 
 phant;!, are the caves of Kanhari, or Kennery, situated 
 in the middle of the island of Salsette, and reached 
 by the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, via Thanna, 
 from which point the final six miles arc covered in a 
 bullock ghari. Thanna itself is a place of no small 
 interest. Marco Polo described it in 1298, as "a 
 great kingdom," having much trade, and the resort 
 
138 
 
 IXDIA. 
 
 of many merchants and sea traders. It became one 
 of the early settlements of the Portuguese, but was 
 later captured by the Marathas, by whom it was 
 ceded to the English in 1775. It is, however, in 
 connection with the romantic episode of the escape of 
 Trimbukji Dainglia that Thanna is best remembered. 
 This Maratha chieftain, who had murdered Gunj- 
 adhur Shastri, the Minister of the Gaokwar of Baroda, 
 was in 1815 confined by the British in the fortress of 
 Thanna. A band of fifty-four Maratha horsemen 
 devoted themselves to the purpose of effecting the 
 escape of Trimbukji, and accomplished their object 
 in a characteristic manner. A Maratha horse-boy in 
 the service of one of the English officers was accus- 
 tomed to exercise his master's charger every day under 
 the prisoner's window. While passing to and fro he 
 nonchalantly sang a Mardtha ballad, which, while it 
 was not understood by the guard, had the utmost 
 significance for the chieftain. The horse-boy's song 
 has thus been rendered by Bishop Ileber : 
 
 " Behind the bush the horsemen hide, 
 The horse beneath the tree ; 
 Where shall I find the knight will ride 
 The jungle paths with me ? 
 
 "There are five-aud- fifty coursers there, 
 And four-and-fifty men; 
 When the fifty-fifth shall mount his steed 
 The Deccan thrives again." 
 
 Seizing a favorable opportunity Trimbukji scaled 
 
KANHARI- KARLI. 
 
 139 
 
 the wall of the fort, leaped upon the officer's horse, 
 and dashed off to the rendezvous, whence he and his 
 followers made their way safely to the jungly hills 
 of Kandeish. 
 
 The caves of Kanhari, which number upwards of a 
 hundred, are scattered over a hill lying in the midst 
 of dense forest. In the vihara of the principal temple 
 are two figures of Buddha, twenty-three feet in height. 
 At the threshold of the Great Chaitya Cave are three 
 dagobas, solid cupola-like masses of rock. One of 
 the caves of Kanhari contained, in ancient times, a 
 tooth of Buddha, which is supposed to have been 
 transported to Ceylon, where it is cherished as per- 
 haps the chief Buddhist relic in existence. Flights 
 of steps and narrow, winding pathways connect the 
 various caves and lead to the top of the hill, an almost 
 bare knob of rock, from which a splendid view may 
 be obtained. The caves of Kanhari date from the 
 second to about the middle of the ninth century of 
 our era. Fergusson is of the opinion that these exca- 
 vations are the work of a colony of Buddhists, " who 
 may have taken refuge here after being expelled from 
 the continent, and who tried to reproduce the lost 
 Karli in their insular retreat." 
 
 Although there are resemblances of design and 
 arrangement, the caves of Kanhari are not by any 
 means as fine as those of Karli, nor in as good a state 
 of preservation. 
 
 The village of Karli is upon the Great Indian 
 
140 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Peninsular Railway, about eighty miles from Bombay. 
 Before reaching this point the train begins the ascent 
 of the Bohr Ghat, at a gradient of one in forty-two. 
 The scencrv is indescribably lovely. After the rains, 
 the valleys and the mountain sides are covered with a 
 mass of variegated foliage, interspersed with rivulets 
 and waterfalls. At Kampoli one looks down upon 
 the Temple of Mahadeo, with its tank and banyan 
 tree, from an elevation of a thousand feet. Here the 
 track runs along the edge of a perpendicular precipice, 
 and seems to bridge the scene below. Before the 
 spectator stretches the valley of the Konkan, the 
 scene of the earliest depredations of the Burgees, 
 those dashing freebooters whom the genius of Sivaji 
 formed into the powerful Maratha nation. These 
 ni'oed mountains formed the cradle of that romantic 
 race. The rocky defdes and inaccessible passes of 
 the ghats, among which they built their eyrie-like 
 fortresses, afforded them a sure retreat in the face of 
 overwhelming numbers. At Lonauli this extraordinary 
 section of railway, which affords one of the most 
 interesting journeys in all Indian travel, reaches an 
 elevation of over two thousand feet. The passage of 
 the Bhor Ghat involved some of the most difficult 
 and unique feats in the history of engineering, 
 and entailed the expenditure of a sum approxi- 
 mating Rx600,000, or more than Rx40,000 a mile. 
 The caves of Karli are about six miles from the 
 village of that name, and an equal distance from 
 
KARLT. 
 
 141 
 
 Lonauli, which is on sonic accounts the better starting 
 point. 
 
 Fergusson describes the great Karli rock temple as 
 "without exception the largest and finest chaitya cave 
 in India. . . . The building resembles an early Chris- 
 tian church in its arrangements, while all the dimen- 
 sions are similar to those of the choir of Norwich 
 Cathedral. The nave is separated from the side aisles 
 by fifteen columns, with octagonal shafts on each side. 
 . . . On the abacus, which crowns the capital of each 
 of these, are two kneeling elephants, and on each 
 elephant are two seated figures. . . . Behind the altar 
 arc seven plain octagonal piers, without sculpture, 
 making thus thirty-seven pillars altogether, exclusive 
 of the Lion-pillar in front (of the cave), which is 
 sixteen-sided, and is crowned with four lions, with 
 their hinder parts joined. . . . There are no traces of 
 painting in this cave, though the inner wall has been 
 plastered, and may have been painted; but the cave 
 is inhabited, and the continued smoke of cooking-fires 
 has so blackened its walls that it is impossible to 
 decide the question. Its inhabitants arc Sivites, and 
 the cave is considered a temple dedicated to Siva, the 
 dagoba performing the part of a gigantic lingam, 
 which it resembles a good deal. The outer porch is 
 fifty-two feet wide and fifteen feet deep. Here origin- 
 ally the fronts of three elephants in each end wall 
 supported a frieze, ornamented, with the rail; but at 
 both ends this second rail has been cut away to intro- 
 
142 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 : 
 
 (luce figures. Above was a quadrantal moulding, and 
 then a rail, with small facades of temples and pairs 
 of figures." 
 
 Fergusson is of the opinion, based on sound deduc- 
 tions, that the carved woodwork, in which teak has 
 been employed, is that originally put up ; in which 
 case it must be two thousand years old, for reliable 
 authorities are united in placing the date of the Karli 
 chaitya at the first or second century before Christ. 
 
 In the " Rock-cut Temples of India" the same 
 writer gives a general description of these chaitya 
 caves. The disposition of the component parts of the 
 interior is exactly like those of the choir of a Gothic 
 polygonal apse cathedral. The front is invariably 
 traversed by a screen, surmounted by a gallery corre- 
 sponding to the rood loft. The screen has three 
 apertures letting upon the nave and side aisles. That 
 portion of the front of the cave which is above the 
 screen is open to the air, forming a window of horse- 
 shoe shape, through which the only light admitted to 
 the interior streams upon the dagoba with striking 
 effect. That structure occupies the place which 
 would be filled by the altar in a Christian edifice. 
 The space beyond is obscured or hid in gloom, and 
 if Fergusson's surmise that the worshiper was never 
 admitted beyond the colonnade at the further end is 
 correct, the effect upon him must have been extremely 
 impressive, because he could, in that case, neither see 
 nor know whence the light came. 
 
KARLI. 
 
 143 
 
 There are a number of small viharas, or monasteries, 
 at Karli, which are not, however, as good specimens of 
 that class of ancient architecture as may be seen else- 
 where. In the neighborhood of Karli are the Maratha 
 hill fortresses of Lohogurh and Yisapur, which arc 
 associated with several interesting events in Indian 
 history. 
 
 Following the line of rail which emerges upon the 
 Deccan, or great plateau of Central India, you are 
 brought, after a journey of thirty-five miles from 
 Lonauli, to the ancient capital of the Mara thus. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE DECCAN, POONA, SINGURH, RAIGURII, PERTAB- 
 GURH, BIJAPUR. 
 
 At the opening of the seventeenth century the 
 Mughal power in the Deccan had already begun to 
 find the Marathas troublesome subjects. The most 
 unruly of all the clans was that of Bhonsla. Failing 
 to secure their good behavior by the argument of the 
 sword, the Sultan of Bijapur sought to pacify them 
 by making over certain pergunnahs and forts in 
 jagheer, which was a service tenure somewhat similar 
 to that under which the feudal barons of England 
 held their lands. Thus Malloji Bhonsla, the grand- 
 father of Sivaji, came into possession of Poona. The 
 present capital of the Deccan, at that time little more 
 than a village, was a place of some importance to the 
 Hindus, on account of the sacred hill of Parvati, 
 which stood within its limits. Jn 1637 Shahjf 
 Bhonsla built a palace at Poona for his wife and 
 young son, and it was there that Sivaji passed his 
 early life. Twenty-live years later, when Sivaji, the 
 "mountain rat," as Aurangzeb called him, was at the 
 height of his romantic career, the Mughal Emperor 
 
 144 
 
THE DECCAN. 
 
 145 
 
 sent a punitive force against him under Shaistek 
 Khan. Upon the approach of the Mughal general, 
 Sivaji, who was too clever a tactician to waste his 
 strength in the defence of an unfortified town, leis- 
 urely withdrew to the fortress of Singurh, a few miles 
 distant. The imperial army occupied Poona, and 
 Shaisteh Khan established his quarters in the palace 
 of Sivaji, the same which had been built for his 
 mother during his boyhood. The general made an 
 unsuccessful attempt to oust the Maratha from his 
 retreat at Singurh, and Sivaji determined to return 
 the visit. With twenty-five picked Ma waifs he con- 
 trived to enter the town, and, benefiting by his famil- 
 iarity with the palace and the precincts, passed the 
 guards and .fell upon the household before an alarm 
 could be given. In the affair that ensued, Shaisteh 
 Khan was fortunate to escape with the loss of a 
 finger. His son was slain, as well as a number of his 
 personal retainers. Sivaji and his men regained the 
 fort in safety. 
 
 Aurangzeb spent the last years of his life in 
 the Deccan, and contrived by his presence with a 
 large army to hold in check the Ma rat has, who 
 no longer enjoyed the leadership of the Bhonsla 
 chieftain. The young nation was merely scotched, 
 however, and immediately after the death, in 1707, 
 of Aurangzeb, they again revolted against the Mughal 
 rule. In 1748 Balaji Rao, the third of the Brahman 
 Peshwds, made Poona the capital of the Maratha 
 Vol. 1.— 10 
 
14G 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 confederacy. By this time Poona had come to be a 
 city of considerable size and military strength, and 
 the Maratha nation was near the zenith of its power. 
 The house of* Bhonsla was on the wane, while the 
 Peshwas, the nominal hereditary ministers of the 
 successors of Sivaji, were becoming independent and 
 supreme. At the same time the founders of the 
 great houses of Sindhia and Holkar — the one a coin- 
 mon trooper and the other a shepherd — were forging 
 their ways into prominence by their military prowess. 
 The next half century saw continuous conflicts be- 
 tween these rival Maratha powers, from one to 
 another of whom the capital passed with the fluctua- 
 tions of war. Although Delhi no longer exercised 
 any control over Marashtra, that country was not 
 by any means free of the old enemy, for on its borders 
 lay the Muhammadan kingdom of the Nizam, with 
 whom the Martithas were incessantly engaged in 
 warfare. 
 
 Those were stirring times in Marashtra. Sindhia, 
 Holkar, Tattia and Ghatgai plied the sword with un- 
 tiring visor, while the astute Nana Farnavis and 
 the wily Bajf Rao played the game with the more 
 effective weapons of finesse. 
 
 " It is impossible in a mere historical sketch of 
 Poona as this is to dwell in detail on the stirring 
 events, the multitudinous intrigues and counter-in- 
 trigues, the incessant treacheries, by which each party 
 — Brahman and Maratha, Peshwa and Prime Min- 
 
POOXA. 
 
 147 
 
 ister, Sindhia and Holkar — pursued their ends be- 
 tween 1797 and 1817, when the power of each and 
 all was destined to be shattered by the steadfast good 
 faith and indomitable resolution of the British. It 
 is as if one were gazing into a kaleidoscope : Anon 
 the terra cotta hue of the Brahman suffuses the vision ; 
 anon it is blurred out by the saffron shade of the 
 true Mara tint; that again is obliterated by the rose- 
 pink of Central India while Holkar dominates; this 
 deepens into the lurid red of Sindhia's times, which is 
 again washed out in rose-color; that gives place again 
 to the Brahman brick-dust shade, clouded over and 
 over again by dark shadows of deceit and treachery ; 
 the while, as the hand turns, in each picture appears 
 fragments of the Mughal green, until at last all 
 tints blend in bewildering confusion, and the ' red, 
 white and blue' of the English nation effacing them 
 all, remains permanently reflected by the prismatic 
 glasses." 
 
 The city of the Peshwas was the fitting scene of the 
 closing acts of the absorbing drama. 
 
 The morning of the 25th of October, 1802, saw 
 the two great armies of Holkar and Sindhia confront- 
 ing each other in battle array upon the plain outside 
 of Poona. Off their flanks stood the neutral British 
 troops, inactive spectators of the fight. The miserable 
 coward, Baji Rao, lay within his walls in the rear of 
 Sindhia, like a jackal slinking in the wake of a lion, 
 waiting to join in the slaughter and plunder when his 
 
148 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 ally had defeated Holkar, as he confidently expected 
 that lie would. 
 
 Holkar's force consisted of about twenty thousand 
 infantry, twenty-five thousand cavalry and one hun- 
 dred guns. Sindhia was stronger than his opponent 
 in each arm. He had four veteran battalions of 
 Do Boigne, officered by Frenchmen, and the Peshwd's 
 levies formed a reserve in the city. On both sides 
 English officers held important commands. 
 
 The battle opened with an artillery duel of two 
 hours' duration. Then Holkar sent his Pathan 
 cavalry across the field in a furious charge against the 
 brigade of the Vinchur chief, which was scattered 
 like chaff. Immediately afterwards his Maratha 
 horse met with a severe repulse on the other flank. 
 Sindhia's commander followed up his success with a 
 counter attack so vigorous and successful that Holkar's 
 troops gave way all along the line, and his defeat 
 seemed assured. At this critical juncture Holkar 
 spurred his horse to the front of his wavering 
 followers, crying, " Now or never follow Jaswant 
 Rao !" Back turned the tide, and on went Holkar, 
 driving the broken line of Sindhia's horsemen before 
 him. Then wheeling suddenly, he falls upon the 
 flank of the enemy's picked infantry — the old battal- 
 ions of De Boigne — and, killing or capturing 
 their European officers, he utterly routs them. 
 These dashing movements decided the day. Sind- 
 hia's army broke in disorderly flight, and all its 
 
POONA. 
 
 149 
 
 guns and impedimenta fell into the hands of the 
 victor. 
 
 Meanwhile the Peshwa had fled at the first intima- 
 tion of the unlooked-for turn of events. He took 
 refuge in the fort of Singurh, whence, after his usual 
 pusillanimous practice, he sent a whining appeal for 
 protection to the British authorities. 
 
 Closely pursued by Holkar's troops, he fled like a 
 frightened fox from point to point, until at length he 
 gained the seaboard and took ship to Bassein. 
 
 A few months later the possessions of Baji Rao 
 were restored to him by the Treaty of Bassein, the 
 terms of which this most despicable figure in Hindu 
 history began to secretly violate before the signatures 
 to the document were dry. He endeavored to unite 
 Sindhia, Holkar and Bhonsla in a conspiracy against 
 the British, who had befriended him when he was 
 helpless and hopeless ; but Baji had ere this estab- 
 lished a wide reputation for breaking faith with friend 
 and foe alike, and none could trust him, though he 
 took an oath upon the tail of a cow, than which no form 
 of adjuration could be more binding upon a Brahman. 
 He covertly abetted Tipu" Sahib in his war with 
 the English, to whom at the same time he proclaimed 
 his friendship and gratitude in the most abject terms. 
 These sinister machinations came, after awhile, to the 
 knowledge of the British authorities, and matters 
 were brought to a crisis by the affair of Trimbukji 
 Dainglia, who, while in open revolt against the 
 
150 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 British, remained in the pay of his old master, Baji ; by 
 the attempt of the latter to corrupt the British troops 
 at Poona ; and by his plot to murder the Resident. 
 
 Towards the close of 1817 Baji Rao, who had by 
 this time violated every article of the Treaty of 
 Bassein, had grown recklessly open in his preparations 
 for hostilities against the British, and Mr. Mountstnart 
 Elphinstone, the Resident, on the 1st of November 
 removed the troops from the cantonment to the more 
 favorable position at the village of Kirki, about three 
 miles distant from the city. Kirki is now the head- 
 quarters of the Bombay artillery, and contains 
 large ammunition and powder factories, but in 
 1817 it was merely a collection of huts. Here, 
 upon the site of the memorable conflict between 
 Holkar and Sindhia, was fought the battle which 
 decided the fate of the last and worst of the 
 Peshwas. 
 
 On the 5th of November Baji prepared to attack 
 the British position, but even on the verge of unmis- 
 takable hostilities he could not refrain from useless 
 lying. A message was sent to Mr. Elphinstone, beg- 
 ging him not to be alarmed by the movement of troops, 
 which were leaving the city for no other purpose than 
 to form a guard of honor for the Peshwa, who was 
 about to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Parvati, 
 on the neighboring hill. There was this much truth 
 in the statement — that the chicken-hearted Peshwa 
 repaired to the summit before the engagement com- 
 
POONA. 
 
 151 
 
 menced, in order that lie might be assured of a fair 
 start in the ease of defeat and pursuit. 
 
 The British force of twenty-eight hundred, of which 
 no more than eight hundred were Europeans, were 
 assailed by twenty-three thousand horse and ten thou- 
 sand foot, supported by fourteen guns. 
 
 Gokla, who commanded the Maratha army, com- 
 menced the attack by a cavalry movement upon each 
 flank, supported by guns and a strong camel rocket- 
 corps. The little body of British troops was soon 
 almost surrounded by horsemen, and when a picked 
 body, with the Maratha standard to the front, 
 charged down upon them, it looked as though they 
 must be overwhelmed. Unknown to the Marathas, 
 or to the defenders for that matter, a deep morass lay 
 along the front of the advancing cavalry, into which 
 they rode at full speed. The British infantry had 
 reserved their fire, and in the confusion that ensued 
 in the Maratha ranks they poured forth volley after 
 volley with deadly effect. This setback to the flower 
 of their army completely disconcerted the enemy, and 
 while they were still aghast at the catastrophe, the 
 British commander, seizing the psychological moment 
 which occurs in every battle, ordered a general 
 advance of the troops, which the Peshwa had that 
 morning assured his soldiers would fly before them 
 like scuttling hares. Declining to face the attack, 
 the Maratha army retreated from the field, upon 
 which lay five hundred of their number. That they 
 
152 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 wore able to carry off their guns was due to the 
 paucity of cavalry on the side of the British. 
 
 With a considerable army at his back, Baji Rao 
 was once more a fugitive, dodging the three or four 
 bodies of British troops out in pursuit of him. On 
 the first day of 1818 he fell in with a small force of 
 five hundred infantry and three hundred irregular 
 cavalry, with two guns, under command of Captain 
 Staunton, of the Bombay army. The latter took 
 post in the slightly fortified village of Korygaum, 
 where they were attacked by the Peshwa's army of 
 thirty thousand, horse and foot, commanded by the 
 cruel but intrepid Trimbukji Dainglia. Without 
 food and but scantily supplied with water, the handful 
 of defenders held their own against incessant attacks, 
 which lasted through all that day and the following 
 night. Time and again the enemy penetrated to their 
 very midst, and were driven off, after desperate hand- 
 to-hand struggles. On the morning of the 2d 
 Baji Rao, having no further stomach for the fight, in 
 which he had lost five hundred men, withdrew. Cap- 
 tain Staunton's casualties embraced more than one- 
 third of his entire force and two-thirds of his English 
 officers. 
 
 Run to earth at last, the wily Peshwa adopted his 
 old, cringing tactics, betrayed Trimbukji and others, 
 who had stood by him to the last, and professed the 
 most sincere repentance. The old rascal's marvelous 
 good luck never deserted him. Not only was his 
 
Tomb of Tahanara Begam 
 
POONA. 
 
 153 
 
 worthless life spared, but the British Government, 
 with criminal generosity, allowed him to pass the 
 remainder of it in pompous case on a pension of 
 800,000 rupees a year. 
 
 Crawford thus sums up the character of the last 
 Peshwa : "Baji Rao had not one redeeming point in 
 his character; he had no natural instincts of family 
 affection ; he had no bowels of mercy ; he had no 
 religious feeling, though he was intensely super- 
 stitious. He never had a friend or ally but at some 
 time or other he betrayed or sacrificed him ; he did 
 not know what gratitude meant. He never made a 
 promise or swore an oath that he did not break it; he 
 never entered into a treaty or an agreement that he 
 did not, while he signed, think how he might evade it. 
 He was conceited as a peacock, but feeble at a crisis 
 as a worm ; he roared like a lion, but he ran away 
 like a hare. He never told the truth, even by acci- 
 dent, or to himself; he trusted no one, and, in the 
 worst sense, never let his left hand know what his 
 right hand was doing. Rapacious and miserly as 
 Ilarpagon, he was yet lavish and reckless in his licen- 
 tiousness, and even more depraved than Casanova. 
 All the worst attributes of Ahab, Jezebel, Ananias 
 and Judas Iscariot were combined in him. In very 
 truth, he was an incarnation of evil such as is difficult 
 to be found in the history of mankind." 
 
 (Who shall say how much of the tigerish cruelty 
 of the infamous Nana Sahib was innate, and how much 
 
154 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 acquired by contact with his brutal father by adop- 
 tion ?) 
 
 The city of Poona lies upon the right bank of the 
 Mutha, just below the point of its junction with the 
 Mula. It is surrounded by typical Deccan country, 
 flat, but relieved here and there by slight elevations, 
 bare, but readily yielding crops to irrigation. The 
 population of over one hundred and sixty thousand 
 consists mainly of Hindus, with an unusually large 
 proportion of B rah mans, who keep alive and foster the 
 old spirit of the place. During four hundred years 
 Poona has been a centre of intrigue and disaffection, 
 and so it is to-day. The high-caste Hindus, who 
 engage in futile aud senseless conspiracies against the 
 ruling power, are more often than not Brahmans who 
 have been educated at the expense of the British, and 
 not infrequently hold lucrative positions under the 
 Government. During the Mutiny, Poona became a 
 veritable hotbed of sedition. However, there is 
 nothing to be feared from this element, which is 
 made up of soft material, unlike the Maratha men 
 of action, who were the most troublesome subjects of 
 the Mughals, and the most formidable foes of the 
 British. Just as Sivaji was a type of the latter, so 
 was Baji Rao of the former. They have reached 
 their limit of capacity when they incite a riot or 
 instigate arson or murder. 
 
 It has been suggested, among other hypotheses, that 
 Nana Sahib, after he became a proscribed outlaw, took 
 
POONA. 
 
 155 
 
 refuge in Poona, where doubtless some of liis adoptive 
 father's adherents would have been able and willing 
 to afford him an asylum. 
 
 The native press, which is in general loyal and 
 creditable from the literary point of view, is repre- 
 sented here by two or three seditious blackmailing 
 journals, which might be suppressed with advantage 
 to the community and the country at large. 
 
 The city proper is divided into seven quarters, 
 named after the seven days of the week. It is the 
 headquarters of the Bombay army, and the residence 
 of the Governor of the Presidency during a portion 
 of the year. 
 
 Poona, like all but a few of the largest cities in 
 India, is a native town ; few Europeans reside within 
 its limits, the majority of them being attached to the 
 military establishments in the cantonments. The 
 wealthy Parsis and Jews generally have their resi- 
 dences in the suburbs, but the well-to-do Hindu 
 prefers to live in the midst of his own people, and not 
 infrequently inhabits a fine house surrounded by the 
 humblest dwellings. 
 
 Poona is rather dirtier and less attractive than the 
 ordinary run of native cities, but it is interesting on 
 account of the numerous types of Western natives to 
 be seen upon its streets. The Chitpawan will attract 
 attention anywhere by the exceeding fairness of his 
 skin, his blue eyes and clean-cut features, by the 
 dignity of his bearing, and by his look of intellect and 
 
156 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 breeding: He is a Brahman, and comes of a caste 
 which has produced more men of note than any other. 
 Bap Riio and his adopted son, Nana Sahib, were 
 Konkani Chitpawans. 
 
 Another striking figure is the Mussulman of the 
 Konkan. He is one of the tallest forms in the crowd. 
 His handsome aquiline features and grave demeanor 
 betoken a dignity of character which is seldom lack- 
 ing. A peculiarity of this type is that, in conjunction 
 with the Muhammadan costume, he wears a Brahman 
 turban and shawl. In marked contrast to the last is 
 the rather undersized, but well-built and very power- 
 ful, Ma wall, the "navvy " of the Deccan. 
 
 Now and again one sees a Madras! merchant, mild 
 of aspect and slow of tread. The Parsis are not 
 numerous, but here, as elsewhere, they arc the most 
 prominent and praiseworthy citizens. The Portuguese 
 half-caste is a familiar character, dressed in slovenly 
 European habiliments. He is lazy, musical and 
 addicted to drink. Anon the despised Mhar slinks 
 along. Once he owned this country ; now he is 
 permitted to wrest a scanty living from the worst 
 land in the village, or to keep body and soul 
 together by scavenging in the city. These, with a 
 hundred other castes, following a hundred different 
 occupations, make up the population of the capital of 
 the Deccan. 
 
 In the Shanwar, or Saturday, section stand the 
 massive walls of the Junawada, covering an area of 
 
POONA. 
 
 157 
 
 about one hundred and eighty square yards. The 
 palace was built by the grandfather of Baji Rao. It 
 was here that Damaji Gaekwar was held a prisoner 
 by the arch-plotter Balaji, and here also that Balaji's 
 son was later incarcerated by his uncle. It was from 
 a balcony of the palace that Baji looked on with 
 devilish glee while the brother of Holkar, tied to the 
 foot of an elephant, was dragged shrieking through 
 the streets, to die a death of lingering agony. It was 
 within these walls that Baji sat in sensual ease while 
 Sindhia, at his invitation, collected a debt of two 
 millions of rupees by plundering the city. Here one 
 young Peshwa, after a brief but stormy life, com- 
 mitted suicide, and here another — a mere boy — was 
 murdered. 
 
 Near by is the spot where condemned criminals 
 were trampled to death by elephants, a mode of 
 execution which has been practiced in other parts of 
 India. 
 
 Old Maratha palaces are to be found elsewhere in 
 the city. The house which is pointed out as the resi- 
 dence of the famous Nana Farnavis is particularly 
 interesting. One can imagine its gloomy and intricate 
 interior to have been the scene of dark and tortuous 
 plots; but for that matter intrigue is rife in every 
 Hindu habitation, from the palace of the raja to the 
 hut of the grass-cutter. It is just possible that if this 
 house were torn down it might reveal the secret of the 
 never-discovered hoards of the " Maratha Machiavel." 
 
158 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 A pretty little nook of land is the Sangam, occupy- 
 ing the angle formed by the confluence of the two 
 rivers. The presence of a number of temples adds 
 picturesqueness to the spot. 
 
 The cantonments lie cast of the city, and cover 
 three or four times as much ground. They extend 
 from the northern side of the Mutha-Mula River to 
 a point as far south as the Hill of Parvati. Both 
 European and native regiments are stationed at 
 Poona, and the force includes troops of every arm 
 of the service. 
 
 Viewed from the tank at its northern base Parvati 
 presents the appearance of a squat hill, sparsely 
 covered with vegetation and crowned by the renowned 
 temple of the goddess. The broad, shallow steps 
 leading to the summit may be seen winding over 
 the face of the elevation in such an easy gradient 
 as to be virtually a pathway practicable for 
 elephants. 
 
 At each corner of an outer court are shrines dedi- 
 cated to different Hindu deities, and in the centre the 
 temple built by Balaji Rao to Parvati, the "Mountain 
 Goddess," daughter of Himalaya and wife of Siva. 
 The edifice cost Rxl 00,000. The temple contains a 
 silver image of Siva, with his consort on one knee and 
 their son Ganesh upon the other, the two last wrought 
 in gold. 
 
 During the Diwali, or " Feast of Lamps," held 
 at the new moon of November, the temple, which 
 
SINGURH. 
 
 J59 
 
 is capable of beautiful illumination, presents an 
 entrancing sight. 
 
 From the top of the wall of the outer court an 
 extensive view may be had. Poona lies to the north, 
 hardly a mile distant, with Kirki beyond. Here Baji 
 Rao is said to have stood and watched the defeat of 
 his Maratha army in the battle which sealed the fate 
 of the Peshw&s. Close at hand is the Hira Bagh, 
 the beautiful " Diamond Garden," with its lake and 
 temples, and the villa of the Peshw&s. The J lira 
 Bagh lies upon the road to Singurh, the scene of a 
 daring exploit by Tanaji, a Mawali chieftain, and one 
 of Sivaji's lieutenants. 
 
 Grant Duff thus describes the place: "Singurh 
 is situated on the east side of the great Sahyadri 
 range, near the point at which the Purandar Hills 
 branch off into the Deecan. With these hills it com- 
 municates only on the east and west by very high, 
 narrow ridges, while on the south and north it has 
 the appearance of a rugged, isolated mountain with an 
 ascent of half a mile, in many parts nearly perpen- 
 dicular. After arriving at this height, there is an im- 
 mense craggy precipice of black rock, upwards of 
 forty feet high, and surmounting the whole is a strong 
 stone wall, with towers. The fort is of an irregular 
 shape; the exterior presents on all sides the stupendous 
 barrier already mentioned, so that, except by the gates, 
 entrance seems impossible. From the summit, when 
 the atmosphere is clear, is seen to the east the narrow 
 
1G0 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 and beautiful valley of the Nira ; to the north a great 
 plain, in the forepart of which Poona, where Sivaji 
 passed his youth, is a conspicuous object. To the 
 south and west appear boundless masses of mountains, 
 lost in the blue clouds or mingled by distance with 
 the sky. In that quarter lies Raigurh, from which 
 place, directed by Tanaji Malusre, the thousand 
 Mawalis prepared for the attempt on Singurh." 
 Dispersing into small parties, they stealthily ap- 
 proached the citadel by paths practicable only to 
 mountaineers. One by one, with the aid of a rope 
 ladder, they gained the interior of the fort to the 
 number of three hundred, when they were discovered 
 by the garrison. A desperate struggle ensued. The 
 Mawalis, although greatly outnumbered, held their 
 own until Tanaji fell mortally wounded. Disheart- 
 ened by the loss of their leader, the attacking party 
 wavered and was upon the point of breaking into 
 flight when reinforcements arrived under Suryajf, the 
 brother of the fallen chief, who had contrived to 
 effect an entrance through a gateway. Thus encour- 
 aged, the Mawalis, shouting their battle-cry, " Har 1 
 liar ! Maho Deo !" renewed the onslaught with such 
 fury that those of the Rajputs who were not killed 
 made a desperate attempt to escape over the precipice, 
 where many of them were dashed to death on the 
 rocks. In this terrific conflict between about one 
 thousand men on either side the attackers lost upwards 
 of three hundred and the defenders not less than five 
 
J 
 
 --^'-^.o- -- iif rtffiitatiiT : iii 
 
Colonnade of Falace — Taupatri 
 
 ■■■■■i 
 
 _ 
 
■ 
 
PERTABGUKII. 
 
 161 
 
 hundred, while the commanders of both parties were 
 slain. 
 
 R&igurh is now little more than a memory, but 
 time was and oft in the history of Marashtra when 
 all men's eyes turned toward the rock-bound fortress. 
 Upon its battlements one may sec the stone slab niton 
 which the great Sivaji was cremated. The flames of 
 his funereal pyre must have been seen for miles 
 around, from the valley below and the hills beyond. 
 One may see the base of the Durbar Hall — the build- 
 ing has been destroyed to furnish material for the 
 Brahman town of Mahr at the foot of the rock. 
 Here annually the Maratha chief distributed the 
 spoils of sack and foray to his followers. Here 
 Soyera Bye, the last survivor of Sivajfs wives, 
 called down the curse of Bhowanf upon her 
 poltroon step-son, and from here she was led away 
 to execution. 
 
 Looking over toward the east one sees Pertabgurh. 
 The fort-crowned rock, bare and forbidding, stands 
 out abruptly against the sky. On the farther slope 
 lies a simple Moslem tomb, which marks the site of 
 one of Sivaji's daring exploits. In 1659 the Sultan 
 of Bijapur, anxious to punish the Maratha for some 
 unusually vexatious depredations, dispatched a strong 
 force against him under the command of Al'zul 
 Khan. Feigning extreme trepidation, Sivaji sent 
 messengers to the Khan requesting a meeting with 
 him at the foot of Pertabgurh rock. To this the 
 Vol. I.— 11 
 
102 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Mughal consented, it being agreed that each leader 
 was to be attended by btit one follower. 
 
 Leaving tlie bulk of his army beyond Mahabalesh- 
 war, Afziil Khan came on towards Pertabgurh with 
 but fifteen hundred soldiers, who were halted a quarter 
 of a mile from the rendezvous. As the chieftains 
 advanced to meet each other, they presented a striking 
 contrast. The Mughal general — a veritable giant, 
 fierce of aspect, with an enormous sword hung at his 
 side — stood haughtily erect to await the adversary 
 whom he heartily despised. The Maratha, small in 
 stature, but lithe-limbed and long-armed, with a 
 frank and engaging countenance, apparently unarmed, 
 stopped frequently in his advance as though overcome 
 by fear. At length they meet, and their arms go out 
 in the conventional embrace of the time; but the left 
 hand of the Maratha opens, disclosing a set of steel 
 claws, which he plunges into the neck of the Khan, 
 quickly following up the attack with a thrust in the 
 heart from a dagger which has been concealed in his 
 right sleeve. At the same instant a band of Ma wall's, 
 who have been posted in the neighboring jungle, rush 
 upon the Bijapur troops, who are surrounded and cut 
 to pieces. 
 
 It may not have been fair play, judged by our 
 standard of ethics, but it was part of the recognized 
 finesse of the game in those days, and there is evidence 
 that Afziil Khan intended to seize or kill Sivaji at 
 this meeting, but he underrated his opponent. 
 
BIJAPUE. 
 
 163 
 
 Southward to Bijapur, over fifty leagues of road, 
 his saddened soldiery carried the headless trunk of 
 Afziil Khan, passing through a flat and arid country, 
 with here and there a group of palms or a clump of 
 acacias. 
 
 The Bahmani Sultans ruled over this territory until 
 1489, when the city of Bijapur was founded, and an 
 independent kingdom established by Yusaf Khan. 
 A son of Amurath of Anatolia, born in Constanti- 
 nople, a refugee with his mother when yet a child, 
 sold as a slave, and drafted into the body-guard of 
 Bidiir, he raised himself by native talent, so that on 
 the dismemberment of the Bahmani Empire he was 
 strong enough to seize for himself the Sultanate of 
 Bijapur and Golconda, and to found the Adil Shahi 
 dynasty of monarchs. 
 
 Old Bijapur lay within a thirty mile circumference 
 of solid wall. The modern town, whose six mile 
 length of wall assumes the shape of a skull, with the 
 citadel for an eye socket, was then the fortress. It is 
 a squalid, uninviting place, but interesting for its 
 buildings and historical associations, and important 
 as being the headquarters of a district with a popula- 
 tion of over six hundred thousand, a number con- 
 siderably smaller, however, than the population of the 
 city in its palmy days. 
 
 Over at the eastern boundary of the city, near the 
 Padshahpur Gate, stands the Goli Gumaj, the tomb of 
 Muhammad the " praiseworthy," the finest dome in 
 
1G4 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 the world, and the pride of Bij&pur. For simple 
 grandeur, this mausoleum could hardly be surpassed. 
 It lacks the delicacy and richness of so much of the 
 Mughal architecture, but compensates for that de- 
 ficiency in rugged strength and stern simplicity. 
 Approached by a magnificent gateway, the tomb 
 raises its massive bulk, from a platform six hundred 
 feet square, along equilateral lengths of one hundred 
 and ninety-six feet to a similar height. At each corner 
 is a tower, with seven seven-windowed stories, sur- 
 mounted by a cupola. These cupolas are reached by 
 stairways cut in the interior of the main walls. Each 
 of these towers has an entrance to the broad gallery 
 which encircles the interior of the dome. The latter 
 is constructed so as to give an extraordinary echo, 
 which Cousens characterizes by saving that " one pair 
 of feet is enough to awaken the echoes of the tread of 
 a regiment." Each facade of the main building is 
 divided into three huge arched panels, the outer ones 
 being blank, and the larger and central being filled by 
 oblong windows and a doorway. Three inscriptions 
 surmount the entrance. These state that the end of 
 Muhammad Sultan was commendable, that he is an 
 inhabitant of Paradise, and that he has become a 
 member of the House of Salvation. The date 1659, 
 if it refers to the year in which the building was 
 commenced or completed, would indicate that Mu- 
 hammad's successor, Sultan All the Second was the 
 builder. 
 
BIJAPUR. 
 
 1G5 
 
 On the top of this cubiform block is the huge dome, 
 oue hundred and twenty-four feet in diameter, over- 
 hanging the great hall, one hundred and thirty-five 
 feet square, which is one of the largest domed enclo- 
 sures in the world. Referring to what he qualifies as 
 "a wonder of constructive skill," Fergusson says: 
 "The most ingenious and novel part of the construc- 
 tion [of the dome] is the mode in which its lateral and 
 outward thrust is counteracted. This was accomplished 
 by forming the pendentives so that they not only cut 
 off the angles, but their arches intersect one another 
 and form a very considerable mass of masonry, per- 
 fectly stable in itself, and by its weight, acting up- 
 wards, counteracting any thrust that can possibly be 
 brought to bear upon it by the pressure of the dome." 
 
 In the centre of the arched space below is the 
 cenotaph of the Sultan. On one side of him his 
 youngest wife and his son and heir, All Shah ; on the 
 other his eldest wife, his daughter and his favorite 
 dancing-girl, Rhamba. 
 
 The Goli Gumaj commands an extensive view in 
 every direction. Looking toward the west, the 
 modem town lies in the immediate foreground, with 
 the minarets of the Ibrahim Roza just beyond, and 
 out in the open country the scattered ruins of what 
 was once a great city. To the north a confused 
 jumble of mOsques and tombs, pillars, arches and 
 falling walls is all that remains of the old-time aristo- 
 cratic suburb of Shahpur. Three miles to the south 
 
1G6 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 glimmers the Begum Lake, from which the city drew 
 its water supply by a system of subterranean ducts, 
 which must have been the result of infinite labor 
 expended in their construction. To the cast more 
 ruins, a conical hill, crowned by the tomb of a cele- 
 brated Muhammadan saint, and far away in the hazy 
 distance the Hat-top, low-lying hills, which mark the 
 boundary of the Nizam's territory, and approach, at 
 their southernmost end, the rich valley of the Dhon — 
 the cornucopia of ancient Bijapur. In every direction 
 ruins, fast succumbing to the obliterating onslaught 
 of the prickly pear and jungly overgrowth. 
 
 Some of the best preserved buildings are now 
 lending their convenient walls to Government offices. 
 Thus the "Palace of Joy," which in days gone by 
 sheltered the beauties of Ibrahim's seraglio, is now 
 occupied by an unromantic revenue official, and in the 
 Bukhara Masjid mail-bags lie where the faithful Mere 
 wont to spread their musallahs. Close to the Post 
 Office is the ruin of what was a fine, though never 
 completed, mausoleum. The original plan contem- 
 plated an edifice grander even than the tomb of 
 Muhammad Shah. The builder, Adil Shah, Sivajfs 
 old antagonist, also commenced and also failed to 
 complete the Jama Masjid, which lies about half a 
 mile to the southward of the Goli Gumaj. Sikander 
 continued the work, and it proceeded under successive 
 rulers, but for some unexplainable reason was never 
 carried to a termination. Fergusson characterizes it 
 
BIJAPUR. 
 
 1G7 
 
 as "one of the finest mosques in India as it is" ; but 
 had the project as designed been consummated, this 
 would have been a magnificent structure, covering 
 about sixty thousand square feet. 
 
 Aurangzeb looted the mosque, as he did all other 
 buildings which promised to repay the trouble. 
 Amongst his plunder was carried oil' a number of 
 manuscripts from the palace, which stands just with- 
 out the eastern ramparts of the Citadel. The place is 
 chiefly interesting now for the fact that it contains 
 some half a dozen hairs from the beard of the Prophet. 
 These are exhibited to the faithful once a year on the 
 occasion of a religious festival. Meanwhile they are 
 carefully guarded in a closed room. While the ex- 
 terior of this building has nothing in form or material 
 to recommend it to the lover of the beautiful, its 
 chambers exhibit damaged paintings and evidences of 
 inlay work which indicate that before the Avork of 
 destruction commenced it must have been an excep- 
 tionally lovely place. 
 
 The Citadel contains a dozen buildings whose; ruins 
 are attractive on account of their beauty or historical 
 interest, perhaps both. The old Durbar Hall, with 
 its magnificent arches, cannot fail to arrest the eye. 
 Here Aurangzeb sat in state, like a triumphant 
 Caesar, and had the king and courtiers of fallen 
 Bijapur brought before him in fetters. 
 
 Lying about at different points along the walls one 
 comes across disused specimens of Bijapur's ancient 
 
168 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 artillery — interesting, but innocuous. On the top of a 
 peculiar oval tower, which bears date 1583, is the 
 Lamcharri — the "Long Tom" of those days — a piece 
 thirty feet in length. In a bastion, ornamented by 
 a pair of lions' heads carved in the stone, lies the 
 Malik-i-Maiddn, the "Monarch of the Plain." It is 
 one of the most cumbersome and ornate pieces of 
 ordnance in existence. Its length and circumference 
 are each about fourteen feet, and its bore two feet four 
 inches. At the muzzle are two inscriptions, as follows : 
 
 " The disciple of the family of the Prophet of God, Ahul-1-Ghazi 
 Nizam Shah, 956 A.M." 
 
 " In the thirtieth year of his exalted reign, 1097 A.H. 
 Shah Alamghir, Conqueror of infidels, King, Defender of the Faith. 
 
 Vanquished Bijapur, and in commemoration of his triumph 
 lie fulfilled the requirements of Justice, and annexed the territory 
 of the Shahs. 
 Victory proclaimed itself, and he took the Malik-i-Maidan." 
 
 Near the touch-hole, where a modern manufacturer 
 might place his trade-mark, the maker of this patri- 
 arch among guns has left a record of his identity in 
 the words : 
 
 "The work of Muhammad Bin Ilusain Rumi." 
 
 During the siege of Bijapur the balls from some of 
 the city's cannon lit in the Ibrahim Roza, and did not 
 a little damage, which has since been repaired, as far 
 as possible, by the British Government. The desire 
 
BIJArUR. 
 
 169 
 
 to bowl over the Mughal Emperor, who had taken up 
 his quarters in the enclosure, would hardly justify the 
 defenders in destroying their most beautiful building, 
 and perhaps it is more reasonable to attribute the 
 incident to bad marksmanship. 
 
 It is said that, impressed by the constant sight of 
 the unfinished tomb of his predecessor, Ibrahim 
 determined to commence his own in good time, and 
 to confine its dimensions within readily attainable 
 limits. What it lacked in extent was more than 
 compensated for in ornamentation. The building is 
 rich in graceful arches and delieate carving. The 
 most remarkable of the latter is to be seen in the 
 windows, which are latticed with Arabic characters, 
 cut out of the stone slabs. Under the corniees of the 
 front facade are some fine specimens of stone chains, 
 such as are to be found in different parts of Southern 
 India. (At Chillambaram, for instance, two pillars, 
 twenty-seven feet apart, are connected by a heavy 
 chain of individual links, cut out of a solid stone.) 
 Fergusson says : " How the roof is supported is a 
 mystery which can only be understood by those who 
 are familiar with the use the Indians make of masses 
 of concrete, which, with good mortar, seems capable 
 of infinite applications unknown in Europe." The 
 dome is surrounded by a number of minarets of various 
 sizes. The hand of the Persian architect is visible in 
 the general design, and in some of the particular 
 effects. The entire edifice is surrounded by a portico 
 
170 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 fifteen feet broad, admitting to the cenotaph chamber 
 through seven arches on each side. The ceiling of 
 this colonnade is beautified by the most chaste carving, 
 consisting of texts of the Kuran, inclosed in floral 
 borders, no two borders being of the same design. 
 There are several inscriptions on the building. One 
 upon the south side states that u Taj-i-Sultan issued 
 orders for the construction of the Roza, at the beauty 
 of which Paradise stood amazed. He expended one 
 and a half lakhs of huns ($350,000) in the work— and 
 nine hundred more." 
 
 They deserved a better fate — the Adil Shahi 
 descendants of the Turki trooper. It was a mar- 
 velous city that they built up in the two hundred 
 years of their rule, and they left some magnificent 
 monuments to perpetuate their memory. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE DECCAN, HAIDARABAD, GOLCONDA, SECUNDER- 
 ABAD ; ELLORA, RAUZA. 
 
 Still the Deccan country — much the same every- 
 where. Here and there a walled-in cluster of mud- 
 huts, roofed with palm-leaf thatoh, and all around fields 
 of grain, tobacco, castor or cotton — a fertile land, but 
 a thirsty. To satisfy its demands every well and 
 stream is taxed to the utmost, the contributions being 
 extracted by means which differ but little if at all 
 from those employed a thousand years ago. Oxen, 
 goaded by almost naked peasants, drag primitive 
 wooden ploughs through the slushy fields. Water is 
 drawn from a well by means of a seesaw-like arrange- 
 ment, consisting of a long pole, with a large skin 
 vessel at one end and a boy or perhaps two at the 
 other. When the vessel comes up, a man tilts its 
 contents into the runlets which traverse the field. 
 When water fails, a few miles of desert break the 
 monotonous repetition of cultivated fields. In places 
 the expanse of plain is broken by a range of low, 
 bare hills, besprinkled with ruined fortifications. 
 Along the road pass women in almost transparent 
 
 171 
 
172 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 sarees, with yellow flowers stuck in their knotted 
 hair, and men armed to the teeth. Not but that the 
 country is as safe and peaceable as Central Park, but 
 the Haidarabadi has a penchant for carrying weapons 
 which he never uses. All classes are addicted to the 
 practice, though not to the extent that they Mere 
 twenty years ago. Still the subject of the Nizam, 
 though he be a sweetmeat seller in the bazaar, who 
 d<>es not at ieast carry a dagger in his waistband is a 
 rara avis. 
 
 As the capital is approached the country becomes 
 broken, rocky and crag strewn — the evidence of 
 volcanic action, no doubt. Huge boulders lie about 
 in every direction, giving the appearance, from a 
 short distance, of the ruins of some city of giants. 
 The natives will tell you that this Mas the workshop 
 of the Creator at the beginning of the world, and that 
 this is the debris which remained when the work was 
 completed. 
 
 This volcanic region has yielded gold, minerals and 
 precious stones in great quantities. To the east of 
 the city stands the craggy elevation of the Golconda 
 of the Arabian Nights and of early European adven- 
 turers. Here is the " Valley of Jewels," where 
 precious stones lav as thick as grain on the threshing- 
 floor. And here to-day loose diamonds are picked up 
 in water-beds after the rains. So did a goatherd pick 
 ii]) the " Nizam," which, after he had clumsily broken 
 big pieces from it, remained one of the largest dia- 
 
HAIDARABAD. 
 
 173 
 
 monds in the world, valued at throe million dollars. 
 These rocks gave up the -world-renowned Koh-i-Nur, 
 which passed, through many adventures, from the 
 turban of the Great Mughal to the crown of the 
 British monarch. Originally nine hundred carats in 
 weight — truly a "Mountain of Light" — it has been 
 reduced by ruthless paring to one hundred and eight 
 carats. 
 
 Tavernier tells us that when he visited Golconda 
 sixty thousand men were engaged in the search for 
 the precious stones. Marco Polo, too, who came 
 here at the end of the thirteenth century, relates 
 that the inhabitants found " plenty of diamonds" in 
 the hills and rocky beds of the torrents. At the pres- 
 ent time this field is not systematically worked, but 
 there is reason to believe that it would yield great 
 results under scientific treatment. Doubtless the 
 Nizam is wise to allow his buried treasures to lie un- 
 disturbed. 
 
 The ancient capital, for such it was previous 
 to the founding of Haidarabad, is the summer resi- 
 dence of the Court, and it holds the tombs of former 
 rulers. All but one of the Kutb Shahi dynasty were 
 laid to rest outside the fortress. The last of the line 
 died an exile at Dalautabad, having fallen captive to 
 Aurangzeb, when the Mughal Emperor, after a pro- 
 traded siege, gained through treachery what he had 
 failed to secure by force of arms. 
 
 An embrasured and moated wall interspersed with 
 
174 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 
 granite bastions encircles the fortifications. Many of 
 the old guns remain in various stages of decay, sonic 
 of them split, choked, or with breeches blown out, just 
 as they were left by the Mughal conqueror. 
 
 The Fort contains numerous ruins of palaces and 
 mosques. A high wall surrounds the Nau Mahal, or 
 " Nine Palaces/' which stand in a well-kept garden. 
 Surmounting all is the Bala Hisar, or Citadel, where 
 the old treasury and palace lie in ruins. From the 
 latter a subterranean passage, which is doubtless full 
 of snakes and scorpions, leads, it is said, to the Gosha 
 Mahal, three miles distant. 
 
 The citadel of Golconda dominates the surrounding 
 country and commands the modern capital, which 
 from its summit might be shelled to ruins. Five 
 miles over to the east, from a setting of cool green 
 pleasances, rise the spires and domes of the city 
 which Muhammad Kuli founded in 1589, and 
 named Bhanagar after his favorite mistress, the lovely 
 Bhagmati, whose memory is still perpetuated by a 
 mosque upon an eminence about a mile away, on 
 the same side and to the northward. Beyond all, to 
 the north, stretches the vast cantonment of Secunder- 
 abad. Everywhere the level expanse of plain is 
 broken by squat hills and syenite rocks. Immediately 
 below and around the Citadel, within and beyond the 
 outer walls of the fortification, arc scattered the ruins of 
 the ancient city. To the eastward and northward, in 
 what was a suburb of old Golconda, stand the noble 
 
HAIDAHADAD. 
 
 175 
 
 tombs of the Kutb Slmhi kings. Aurangzeb's soldiery 
 quartered themselves in these buildings, and the damage 
 which they effected has been augmented in the succeed- 
 ing centuries. In comparatively recent times the edifices 
 have been robbed of much of their lighter ornamenta- 
 tion by European visitors. The late talented Minister 
 of the Nizam, Sir Salar Jang, whose able and cul- 
 tured son at present fills the office, carried out extensive 
 repairs among such of the tombs as were not beyond 
 treatment, and replanted the gardens which formerly 
 surrounded them. This aggregation of almost a seore 
 of royal tombs includes those of some of the women 
 of the family, and notably that of Haiyat Baksh 
 Begum, who was the daughter of one of the monarchs 
 buried here, the w r ife of another, and the mother of a 
 third. The most stately of these mausoleums is that 
 of the Sultan Muhammad, the founder of Haidarabad, 
 and the constructor of many splendid buildings. A 
 heap of ruins upon the outer edge of this burial- 
 ground indicates the spot where, before the fall of his 
 line, Abu'l Hassan had commenced to erect for him- 
 self a house of death, in close proximity to the remains 
 of his ancestors. 
 
 Haidarabad is a comparatively modern city, and 
 its present ruling family is of no ancient descent 
 The founder of the house was a Turk named Chin 
 Kulich Khan, who, in the early years of the eight- 
 eenth century, held the post of Governor of the 
 Decean, with the title of Nizam-ul-Mulk, or " Regu- 
 
176 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 lator of the State." He was also styled Asof Jah, 
 which name Muhamniadau tradition assigns to the 
 Minister of Solomon. During the reign of Jaluindar 
 Shall he must have been a power in the state, for he 
 had one of the profligate Peshwa's favorite dancing 
 girls whipped in the streets of Delhi for having made 
 an insulting remark to him. When the Persian in- 
 vader had defeated the army of Muhammad Shah it 
 was Nizara-ul-Mulk to whom the negotiations for the 
 terms of surrender wore entrusted, and it was he who, 
 though without success, when all were afraid to ap- 
 proach the enraged Nadir, pleaded with the conqueror 
 to stay his soldiers during the fearful sack which 
 ensued. By the time of his death, in 1718, the 
 Nizam-ul-Mulk was to all intents and purposes the 
 independent ruler of the Deccan. exercising a suze- 
 rainty over the Karnatik. He left three sons and a 
 grandson, wdio contested the succession with one 
 another. During the ensuing twelve years each held 
 the throne for a brief space. Two of them were 
 murdered and one killed in battle, leaving the famous 
 Haidar All in possession of the city and territory 
 which bear his name. 
 
 The Nizam is the premier prince of India. His 
 rule extends over one hundred thousand square miles 
 and a population of fourteen millions. 
 
 Ilaidar&b&d is essentially a Muhammadan town. 
 Its walls harbor few but Muslim; the Hindus who 
 have business here live without the gates, in the 
 
HAIDAKAP, AD. 
 
 177 
 
 suburb, which lies on the other side of the Musah and 
 is reached by three bridges — ueedlcss in the hot season, 
 when the river dwindles to the dimensions of a creek. 
 The long, dusty streets of the capital, with white- 
 washed shop-fronts formed by Saracenic arches; the 
 mosques occurring at frequent intervals; the tall, 
 sculptured minarets seen constantly rising above the 
 city roofs ; the sign-boards bearing Persian, Arabic or 
 Hindu inscriptions; the names of the shopkeepers 
 and the multiplicity of the beggars on the mosque 
 steps and at the gateways give the general impression 
 of a sort of Indian Damascus or Cairo. This is in- 
 tensified by the busy throng threading the main streets 
 with a perpetual tide of life ; for here one sees on 
 every side the snow-white turban of the " true be- 
 liever" mingling with the red tarbosh of the Muham- 
 madan negro and the green caftan worn by the Sayid 
 or the Hadji who has made his pilgrimage to Mecca. 
 
 From the architectural point of view Haidarabad has 
 little to boast of. Still it is an extremely interesting 
 city, and one which in some respects has no counter- 
 part in India. Here are more beggars, more soldiers 
 — or at least more armed men, for it is sometimes 
 difficult to make a distinction — more elephants and 
 more veiled women than one will meet anywhere else 
 in the country. 
 
 A straight, broad avenue traverses the city from 
 one end to the other. At the central point it is 
 intersected by another, the four thoroughfares con- 
 
 VOL. I. -12 
 
178 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 verging at the Char Minar, whose four arches, 
 fifty feet in height, set true to the cardinal points of 
 the compass, are designed to face them. On the 
 " four towers," two hundred feet above the busy- 
 crowd, floats the standard of Ilaidarabad, a simple 
 wheaten cake upon a yellow field. When the first 
 Nizam, so the story goes, was about to embark upon 
 a perilous enterprise, a holy man gave him a chupatti 
 for a talisman. Chin Kilich carefully kept the 
 prize, and being sufficiently superstitious to attribute 
 the success of his venture largely to his possession of 
 the chupatti, adopted it as the insignia of his house. 
 It is depicted by a solid circle of gray or silver, 
 which is quite generally supposed to represent the 
 moon. 
 
 Westward toward the Delhi Gate the street passes 
 the palace of the late Sir Salar Jang. It is a fine 
 building, occupying a prominent position, and, like all 
 the residences of wealthy Musalmans, it consists of a 
 melange of courtyards and quadrangles, pillared 
 porticoes and arched halls, fountains and flowering 
 plants. 
 
 One of the most striking features of these delight- 
 ful places is the perfect quiet and seclusion they afford 
 in the midst of a noisy city, a condition quite un- 
 known to the denizen of a Western metropolis. You 
 step out of the glare and bustle of a main thorough- 
 fare; the gate closes upon you, and in five minutes 
 vou are reclining iu a dim veranda or gallery look- 
 

 HA I PAR A BAD. 
 
 
 179 
 
 ing into a court paved with marble 
 
 open to the 
 
 g ky, 
 
 and filled with blossoming shrubs. 
 
 The air is 
 
 cool, 
 
 and laden 
 
 with sweet perfumes ; 
 
 a subdued 
 
 light 
 
 soothes the 
 
 senses; the place is sunk in silence, 
 
 save 
 
 for the soft 
 
 splash of the fountain, 
 
 and the occasional 
 
 gurgle of the hookah. It is hard to realize that 
 
 you 
 
 are within a few yards of a hot, dusty, clamoring con- 
 course of humanity. 
 
 Within the precincts of the royal palace are to be 
 found six or seven thousand people when the Nizam 
 is in the city. The enclosure embraces three large 
 quadrangles, which are filled with soldiers, servants, 
 horses and elephants. There is a conglomeration of 
 white buildings, more or less artistic, and serving 
 various purposes. The receptions and entertainments 
 given here, which are usually attended by some prom- 
 inent personages, have their quota of European guests, 
 and are said to be exceptionally brilliant. 
 
 Over against the west wall, upon an elevated site, 
 stands a larger and older palace, which was a few 
 years ago occupied by the brother-in-law of the 
 Nizam. It contains a number of objects of interest, 
 not the least of which being a troop of saddle ostriches. 
 This strange species of cavalry is eclipsed, however, by 
 the regiment of Amazon infantry maintained by this 
 prince. The Amir has a large collection of the Swiss 
 and German mechanical toys and devices which find 
 so ready a sale among the Indian princes; and of 
 course there is the armory, a never-failing feature of 
 
180 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 a Haidarabad palace, with its great variety of lethal 
 weapons. 
 
 Another treasure house of curiosities is the palace 
 lying in a suburb beyond the southern wall of the 
 city, and reached by a causeway running through the 
 swampy paddy fields. 
 
 Within pistol-shot of the banidari, at the back 
 of the silk merchants' bazaar, in a small native house, 
 there lived some years ago, and perhaps does still, one 
 of India's submerged Europeans. As these unfor- 
 tunates do not figure in the census, their number is 
 purely conjectural, but it is quite likely that there are 
 two thousand or more of them scattered over the 
 country, sometimes drifting about like loafers among 
 an alien population, sometimes grafted to one of the 
 lower strata of the native population of a city. Now 
 and again they are men of birth and education, who 
 have for one reason or another become outcast from 
 their own people, but more often the ranks of Indian 
 loaferdom are recruited by deserters from the British 
 army, time-expired soldiers who have married native 
 women, locomotive drivers, railroad foremen, and the 
 like, victims of strong drink, or natural vagabonds. 
 
 The Englishman who used to live down the little 
 lane in Haidarabad had been an officer under the 
 John Company, and had served in the Mutiny, lie 
 could not be induced to talk of that portion of his 
 life, but that much his neighbors hsld learned from the 
 wives, who were proud of the fact naturally, and never 
 
HAIDARABAD. 
 
 181 
 
 missed an opportunity of displaying a medal which 
 had been earned by hard service. Ten years ago he 
 was a handsome, well-knit man, about sixty-five years 
 of age, bearded and bronzed. He had adopted the 
 dress and religion of the Muhammadans, and followed 
 their mode of living. He was married to two women 
 — sisters or half-sisters — of Persian descent, who 
 were in possession of some small means upon which 
 he lived, for he earned nothing, and indeed did noth- 
 ing, holding little intercourse with any outside of his 
 own household, although in manner, appearance and 
 speech he might have passed for a native anywhere. 
 He shunned Europeans, but craved their society. 
 The only being of his own race with whom he main- 
 tained any relations was a priest of the Roman 
 Catholic Church, to see Avhom, at rare intervals, he 
 trudged over seven miles of road and back. He was 
 engaged in some mysterious literary work which, 
 when completed, would be a monument of Oriental 
 lore, but that was probably an illusion of a diseased 
 mind. He was an orthodox Muhammadan, more 
 devout and punctilious than the majority of the 
 co-religionists about him. What besetting sin or 
 cardinal vice had brought about that man's downfall 
 it would be impossible to surmise. 
 
 The Ilaidarabadi is a swaggering, independent 
 sort of fellow, not given to over-much salaaming or 
 sahibing; nevertheless, or perhaps the more on that 
 account, the Anglo-Saxon is likely to feel more 
 
182 
 
 INDIA, 
 
 drawn toward the native here than in any other city. 
 The Muhammadan gets closer to the European than 
 the Hindu ever does or can. In the case of the latter 
 there is the barrier of caste, of course; but apart from 
 that, the Moslem exhibits more of the qualities we 
 admire and respect in a man. He is almost invaria- 
 bly brave, dignified and frank, and as Kipling says, 
 in comparing the races : 
 
 "A Hindu is an excellent person, but — but there is no knowing 
 what is in his heart, and he is hedged about by so many strange 
 observances. . . . But a man who will eat with you, and take your 
 tobacco, sinking the fiction that it has been doctored with infidel 
 wines, cannot be very bad." 
 
 It might be better for the people and the future 
 government of India if the Musalman of good birth 
 Mould avail himself more frequently of the existing 
 educational facilities. As it is, the other race, which 
 is the less disingenuous, to say the least, fills the col- 
 leges, and occupies a great majority of the Govern- 
 ment positions. It must not be inferred that the 
 Hindus do not produce good men. Each Presidency 
 can bear witness to the contrary ; but in each you will 
 find commissioners who, having to deal with unre- 
 ceptive, uncommunicative, inscrutable Brahman subor- 
 dinates, sigh for a few more Muhammadan gentlemen 
 in the positions of assistants. 
 
 Haidarabad is the chief of the native states, and 
 in the event of a serious war with an outside power 
 — Russia, for instance — would prove a powerful ally 
 
ILUDARABAD. 
 
 183 
 
 to the British. The Nizam maintains a well-disci- 
 plined army of thirty thousand, trained by English 
 officers, and this force might easily be increased four- 
 fold in case of need ; for the Haidarabadi is, by in- 
 clination and heredity, a natural soldier. Indeed, 
 this applies to the Muhammadaus in general, and to 
 a considerable portion of the Hindu population. If 
 the occasion should ever arise, the world will be 
 amazed at the military resources of India. It is not 
 too much to assert that within twelve months the 
 country could furnish a splendid army of a million 
 horse and foot, including the finest irregular cavalry 
 the world has ever seen. With the advantages of 
 acclimatization and familiarity with the peculiarly 
 strategetical topography, such a force might be 
 depended upon to repel any invader. 
 
 On the occasion of the annual Langar review, which 
 takes place during the festival of Muharram, the 
 Nizam's army affords a magnificent spectacle in the 
 march past the palace — the troopers, splendidly 
 mounted and sitting their chargers like the born 
 horsemen that they are. 
 
 The Nizam is a keen sportsman and maintains a fine 
 polo ground and two or three preserves in the vicinity 
 of the city. The latter, which are similar to those 
 of native princes elsewhere, are tracts of rough 
 country, inclosed by high stone walls. Within these 
 bounds, deer, bear and other large game are kept. 
 When a drive is decided upon, the gunners take post 
 
184 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 in favorable positions, entirely out of clanger, by the 
 way, and the game is sent down to them by the 
 beaters. The Nizam's shooting-grounds are strictly 
 preserved, and the animals arc so seldom disturbed 
 that they are much less wild than when in their 
 natural habitats. A European visitor is likely to be 
 invited to take part in a battu, and he will accept 
 the invitation for the sake of the amenities, or in a 
 spirit of curiosity, although the method of slaughter 
 may not be quite consistent with his ideas of sport. 
 
 The cheetah, or "hunting leopard," of which the 
 Nizam has several very fine specimens, is frequently 
 employed in the chase in Southern India, where its 
 favorite prey, the black buck, abounds. In the cool 
 of the morning and evening these beautiful beasts 
 are to be found in large numbers among the young 
 crops in the flat lands. 
 
 The chase with the cheetah has many points of 
 resemblance to falconry. The approach and attack 
 of the quadruped is not unlike the flight and final 
 swoop of the hawk. The sport is a very old one, 
 and was in vogue among the Hindus long before the 
 Muhammadan occupation of the country. 
 
 The cheetah, hooded and leashed like a coursing 
 hound, is taken to the field of action on a flat car or 
 in a wooden cage. A herd of buck being sighted, 
 the •''hunting leopard" is unhooded and slipped. 
 With a swift, sinuous and graceful movement, he 
 glides towards the quarry. Crouching until his belly 
 
IIAIPAIIABAD. 
 
 185 
 
 brushes the earth, with outstretched tail, he swings his 
 seven or eight feet of supple length to right or left, as 
 cover offers, and so, keeping to windward, arrives 
 within striking distance of the unsuspecting victim. 
 Selecting his mark, with a mighty hound, lie flies 
 through the air towards it with such force as to bring 
 it to the ground. Despite its proverbial agility, the 
 deer cannot regain its feet before the cheetah, which 
 is quicker still, has clenched his teeth in the throat of 
 the doomed animal. 
 
 To perform this feat of agility — for he has no great 
 strength — which is a daily incident of his natural life, 
 the cheetah requires no training. His tuition consists 
 merely in teaching him to surrender his prey without 
 tearing it to pieces, and as soon as he learns that the 
 internal organs of the creature are the invariable 
 reward for a kill, he satisfies himself by sucking the 
 blood from the wound in the throat, until the hunters 
 come up and drive him off. 
 
 Upon an elevated terrace, overlooking the wooded 
 and rocky stretch of hunting ground, stands a gray 
 stone obelisk. It is quite plain, save for the initials 
 J. R., carved upon each of its four faces. There is no 
 date ; there are no words to tell the story of the re- 
 markable Frenchman who lies buried beneath this 
 simple monument. 
 
 During his life the ITaidarabadis fairly worshiped 
 this "son of Moses," as they called him, and to this 
 day each anniversary of the death of Jean Raymond 
 
J 86 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 is the occasion of a grand demonstration by the 
 troops and citizens of HaidaraMd. The natives 
 hereabouts will tell you marvelous stories of the 
 prowess of the general and his countrymen who 
 served under him; of dashing deeds performed under 
 the eye of the great Haidar; and how Raymond's 
 French battalions held the field at Kurdla when All's 
 cavalry was in full flight. 
 
 The road which runs past the great Sangar tank to 
 Secunderabad, five miles from the capital, is resplen- 
 dent in the cool of the evening with bright uniforms 
 of out-riders and escorts, gay costumes and magnifi- 
 cent equipages. It is the favorite drive of the 
 Europeans from the cantonments, and the grandees 
 from the city. Along its length are strung handsome 
 villas, occupied by the Nizam's nobles, British officials 
 and wealthy merchants. Upon the route stands the 
 Church of St. George, and in its graveyard rests an 
 Eurasian whose family was strangely and intimately 
 connected with Ifaidarabad. 
 
 Toward the end of the eighteenth century General 
 Palmer, an officer in the East India Company's 
 service, whose portrait may be seen in one of the 
 neighboring houses, married a Begum of Oudh, a 
 Musalman lady of rank and wealth. William 
 Palmer, who was interred in St. George's churchyard, 
 was the result of thai union. With his mother's 
 money he started a banking house ou the same prin- 
 ciples as those of the usurious native concerns, which 
 
SECUNDERABAD. 
 
 1<S7 
 
 from time immemorial have flourished in all parts of 
 the country at the expense of the needy. In the time 
 of the notorious Brahman minister Chandu Lai, 
 " King Palmer," as he came to be called on account 
 of his extraordinary influence, financed the Nizam's 
 government at the comfortable rate of twenty-four 
 per cent, interest. The lucrative business was ulti- 
 mately suppressed by the British authorities, who 
 discovered that Palmer and Chandu Lai, taking 
 advantage of the Nizam's excessive devotion to 
 pleasure and neglect of business, had in collusion 
 been systematically robbing the state. This was one 
 of the affairs for which Warren Hastings was held 
 partially responsible. The finale entailed the loss of 
 vast sums upon the half-caste " King ; " but, like his 
 father, he had turned matrimony to good account, so 
 that his later years were made comfortable by the 
 fortune received from his third wife, who is fittingly 
 mentioned in terms of eulogistic gratitude upon his 
 tombstone. 
 
 The cantonment of Secundenibad, covering about 
 twenty square miles, is almost the largest in India. 
 
 Within an hour's march to the northeast is an 
 entrenched and fortified refuge position, to which the 
 British troops could retire with safety in case of need, 
 and where they could withstand an indefinite siege; 
 for the place is well protected by heavy artillery, and 
 has an ample water supply. Not the least important 
 feature of the camp is an absolute bomb-proof shelter 
 
I! 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 for non-combatants. The Mutiny taught much to the 
 British, which they will never need to learn again. 
 
 In the northwest corner of the state of Haidanibad 
 are the world-famous caves of Ellora. 
 
 A few miles distant is the busy little town of 
 Aurangabad, which, like many another old Indian 
 city, has seen better days. Malik Ambar, the Abyss- 
 inian Sultan, made his capital here when "Good 
 Queen Bess " was occupying the throne of England. 
 About a mile distant is the old-time burial ground, 
 where Aurangzeb erected a splendid mausoleum to 
 the memory of his daughter Rabia Durrani. With 
 commendable generosity, and an appreciation of 
 ancient art not always displayed by native potentates, 
 the Nizam caused this building to be restored at 
 great expense to himself. It is extremely beautiful, and 
 contains some excpiisitc specimens of carved marble 
 lattice work. The grave, according to orthodox Mu- 
 hammadan custom, which was more frequently than 
 not violated by those in high places, is uncovered. 
 
 Near by are the caves of Aurangabad, which may 
 be reached by traversing very rough ground and 
 clambering up some three hundred feet of difficult 
 rock; but, with Ellora in prospect, one is satisfied to 
 forego the feat, unless seriously in need of violent 
 exercise. 
 
 At Ellora there is a village of a few hundred 
 inhabitants, who rejoice in the possession of a 
 wonder-working shrine, whose curative properties 
 
ELLORA. 
 
 181) 
 
 attract diseased and crippled pilgrims from all parts 
 of the Deccan. The villagers are a sound and 
 healthy lot, for the reason that they will not allow a 
 man of impaired physique to stay among them, lest 
 his presence should discredit the efficacy of their 
 health-dealing fane. 
 
 The celebrated rock temples are distributed over 
 the sloping face of a crescent-shaped plateau for 
 the space of a mile and a half. 
 
 These caves are the most extensive, and the 
 temples the finest in India; indeed, they are the 
 most stupendous architectural works ever executed 
 by man. The oldest date from 200 B.C. at latest, 
 and for many centuries have been the objective point 
 of pilgrims from every part of the country; for they 
 are threefold in character, and attracted Buddhists, 
 Brahmans and Jains alike. In these recesses the 
 little Hindu princess Dewal Devi took refuge from 
 the Great Mughal, who had slain her Rajput father, 
 and taken her mother into his seraglio. Far as was 
 her hiding-place from the old home in Gujarat, the 
 Emperor's emissaries found the little woman and 
 carried her off to Delhi, where she eventually was 
 married to one of Ala-ud-din's sons. 
 
 The rock temples of Ellora number about 
 thirty-live, the majority being of Brahman origin. 
 The slope of the hill is fairly honeycombed ; 
 there cannot be fewer than forty excavations of 
 various descriptions ; chaitya caves, and Brahman 
 
100 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 temples; viharas and halls. Here a courtyard, 
 with carved obelisk or pillared arch, affording an 
 imposing entrance; there a wall of natural rock 
 concealing the temple behind. In this hall Buddha 
 sits in solemn solitude beneath a domed roof; in 
 that, all the gods of the Puranic Pantheon appear 
 to be holding high revel amid the most fantastic 
 surroundings. 
 
 At thought of the inexhaustible labor that wrought 
 these wonders in the solid rock, the work of the 
 Pyramids fades into the background of commonplace. 
 But the crowning glory of Ellora is Kailas, the 
 marvelous Temple of Siva. Here the superabundant 
 energy of the workmen, or the insatiable ambition 
 of the master mind, would not be satisfied with a 
 mere excavation, but must needs hew within the rocky 
 mass a temple as complete as though it stood under 
 the sky upon the hill-top. Roof and walls have 
 been cut away and treated externally in paint and 
 relief. This monster monolith, reaching a height of 
 over one hundred feet, stands in a court about three 
 hundred feet long and half as broad. A rock wall 
 one hundred feet high, embellished with gods of titanic 
 proportions in high relief, masks the front of the 
 temple. Passing through an (ait ranee in this screen, 
 which is thick enough to contain chambers, one is 
 confronted by a fine sculpture of Lakshmi — the God- 
 dess of Luck. Two enormous elephants guard the 
 entrance. The galleried hall is covered with figures 
 
. :;L:ti&i£X&t^ia&£li£fffll 
 
 m 
 
Cave Temples — Eiiora 
 
fe'.' 
 
RAUZA. 
 
 191 
 
 in high relief, and in the uncertain light the grotesque 
 and contorted forms of strange deities, with eyes of 
 jade or chunam, seem instinct with repulsive Life. 
 
 From the summit of the plateau one's gaze is 
 turned instinctively toward the pleasant little village 
 of Rauza, reposing within its ancient walls two thou- 
 sand feet above the sea. A confused group of white 
 buildings dominated by a dome marks the resting- 
 place of an illustrious company. Chief of these in 
 life, though least conspicuous in his place of last 
 abode, the Emperor Aurangzeb lies under the spread- 
 ing branches of a sweet bukiili, overshadowed by a 
 mosque. His uncovered grave beneath the vault 
 of heaven fills a modest plot in the angle of a wall. 
 It is such a grave as might have been purchased with 
 the proceeds of the caps which the Great Mughal 
 himself made and sold for the purpose of defraying 
 the expenses of his burial. Azim, the son who was 
 with him in his last moments, is laid away near by. 
 More pretentious than these is the tomb of Asof Jab, 
 the founder of the royal house of Ilaidarabad ; and 
 here also the last of the Shahi kings of Golconda 
 found a final resting-place after thirteen years of 
 dreary imprisonment on the dark, fort-crowned cone 
 of Daulatabad, which breaks the sky line of the 
 distant horizon. 
 
 It is not, however, as the burial-place of kings 
 that Rauza is held sacred by the devoted Muham- 
 madan, but because of the shrines of the Sayids, its 
 
102 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 sacred relics and its legends of miracles ; for here 
 is treasured the imperishable robe of the Prophet, 
 which on a certain day of each year is submitted to 
 the gaze of awe-struck pilgrims; and here are some 
 hairs from Muhammad's beard, which grow and 
 multiply with time, and will, so long as hair is to be 
 found in the Deccan. More wonderful than these 
 was the shrub which shot up from the grave of Say id 
 Hazrah Burhana-din and bore a daily crop of solid 
 silver buds until the shrine received a suitable endow- 
 ment. Lest you should doubt, the guardians of the 
 place show you particles of silver upon the pavement 
 at this day. 
 
 It is no wonder that what Karbcla is to the Shiahs 
 of Asiatic Turkey, Rauza is to their co-religionists of 
 the Deccan. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MADRAS, TRIVAEUR, MAHABAL1PUR, CONJEVERAM, 
 TRICHONOPOLI, ARCOT. 
 
 There are no more inhospitable shores in the 
 world than those of the Coromandel coast. Its 
 entire length does not present a single inviting 
 harbor. Money and ingenuity have been expended 
 without stint to produce a safe anchorage at Madias, 
 and, after all, ships lying there must needs put out to 
 sea upon the approach of a cyclone, or risk the fate 
 of the many which have gone down within sight of 
 the city. Such was the fate which overtook the 
 French fleet in October, 1740, scarce a month after 
 Fort St. George had capitulated to it. Early in the 
 nineteenth century a terrific hurricane occurred, in 
 which two men-of-war and nearly a hundred smaller 
 vessels were lost. In 1881 another cyclone shattered 
 about one-third of the breakwater, then almost com- 
 pleted after six years' work. Considering the nature 
 of its coast — a straight line of sand extending for 
 miles under the sea, with very gradual descent — 
 Madras has now a good roadstead, but it is almost 
 a misnomer to call it a harbor. 
 Xol. 1.— 13 193 
 
I 
 
 194 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 The city was for many years a bone of contention 
 between the French and English, though the wonder 
 is, first that a town was ever built here, and next that 
 it has survived and flourished under such generally 
 unfavorable conditions. When the British, in 16^9, 
 bought from the Chandragiri raja the six-mile strip 
 of barren sand upon which their first Indian settle- 
 ment was made, it must have been with grim satisfac- 
 tion that he pocketed the purchase-money, for a less 
 advantageous site could hardly be conceived. It had 
 no inland water communication, and, as has been said, 
 the approach by sea is both difficult and dangerous. 
 Even in fair weather a surf breaks upon the shore, 
 which is only passable by the flat-bottomed, nailless 
 musalah boat and the non-capsizable catamaran. 
 
 Despite these drawbacks, British pluck and enter- 
 prise has built up a city of half a million inhabitants, 
 with inland and ocean trade only exceeded by Bombay 
 and Calcutta. 
 
 Madras is a straggling town ; its houses set far 
 apart, with little attempt at order, giving the im- 
 pression that the amount of ground occupied is a 
 matter of no consequence, and, indeed, such is the 
 case. Private individuals, and more particularly the 
 Government, have done much towards improving the 
 appearance of the city and suburbs, and enhancing 
 the comfort of their inhabitants, by planting trees and 
 laying out gardens, so that the bald patch of sand on 
 which the early trading-post was established has un- 
 
MADRAS. 
 
 195 
 
 dcrgone a complete change of aspect. One may 
 drive along the Marina, or one of the several fine 
 macadamized roads running into the suburbs, between 
 continuous lines of trees, whose branches often meet 
 overhead, forming green and shady archways that 
 remind one somewhat of an English country lane. 
 
 Black Town abuts on the harbor, and is occupied 
 mainly by Hindus, the Muhammadan quarter being 
 south of the Fort, and beyond this again, in the same 
 direction, the suburb of St. Thome, the scene of the 
 martyrdom of the Apostle Thomas. 
 
 The Arsenal within Fort St. George has a museum 
 containing many interesting relics. There are colors 
 captured from Dutch and French, and a gun taken 
 from Jaswant Rao ; there are the keys of Pondicherri, 
 and a cage in which a British officer was confined by 
 the Chinese for many months. The place is rich in 
 curious old weapons and projectiles. 
 
 Government House contains a fine collection of 
 historical portraits, one at least by Lawrence. That 
 of Clivc, who began his career here as a writer in the 
 employ of the East India Company, is said to be the 
 best likeness of him in existence. There is the same 
 touch of the mystic and the fatalist which one sees in 
 the face of ''Chinese" Gordon, a something which 
 seems to explain the great achievements and the self- 
 destruction. 
 
 From the old lighthouse, whose office has been 
 usurped by a tower, with more modern appliances, 
 
190 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 upon one of the public buildings, one has an extensive 
 view of the city and the surrounding suburbs and 
 villages which lie within its boundaries, embracing 
 twenty-seven square miles. 
 
 From this elevation the city presents a green and 
 cheerful aspect, the houses of the Europeans in 
 particular standing in well-ordered grounds, stocked 
 with shade trees. The polished chunam covering 
 upon the yellow walls of the buildings gives the 
 appearance of marble. The hundred and more acres 
 of the People's Park, with its tanks, zoological garden 
 and tennis courts, is a noticeable feature of the land- 
 scape, which is intersected by the several canals that 
 terminate at the city. The Marina, the resort of 
 fashion in the evening, skirts the shore, running 
 southward from the Fort past many of the principal 
 buildings. The spires of many churches rise from 
 the comparatively open spaces in front, while from 
 the crowded Hindu town on the one hand, and the 
 Moslem quarters on the other, pinnacles of temples 
 and mosques protrude from the shapeless mass of 
 buildings. A five-mile drive along the fine Mount 
 Road, skirting the great tank towards the end of the 
 journey, will bring you to Little Mount. The 
 mounts — there are three of them — are all connected 
 with legends of St. Thomas. If Christians were 
 imbued with the religious enthusiasm of the Muham- 
 madan, this place would attract pilgrims from every 
 part of India. 
 
MADRAS. 
 
 197 
 
 On the summit of Little Mount is a very old 
 church, how old no one knows, but one portion of it 
 consists of a cell which the apostle occupied. On 
 the rocks outside they will show you spots worn by 
 his knees, and near by a little spring which, like 
 Moses of old, lie caused to jut from the dry rock. In 
 the church is a portrait of the saint, with an old 
 inscription in Portuguese. 
 
 The scene of his martyrdom was Mihilapur, where 
 stands the modern village of St. Thome, two or three 
 miles to the eastward, beyond the Theosophist settle- 
 ment of Adyar, famous as the headquarters of the 
 Blavatslu-Alcott coterie. 
 
 With regard to the martyrdom, Bishop Ileber sees 
 " no good reason for doubting that it is really the 
 place." The ministry of St. Thomas in India is 
 thoroughly authenticated. It is mentioned in the 
 Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, by St. Jerome, Bishop 
 Dorotheus and other ancient writers. 
 
 At Cochin and some neighlx)ring points are to 
 be found the Christian sect of Nazarani, the earliest 
 members of which were converted by St. Thomas. 
 At diiferent times during the first ten centuries after 
 Christ, their numbers were augmented by refugees 
 from Jerusalem, Bagdad, Nineveh and Syria. They 
 prospered and became numerous, and for a period 
 were governed by a king of their own. But the 
 advent of the foreigners, while a source of numerical 
 strength, destroyed the unity of the church by giving 
 
198 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 rise to numerous schisms and differences. In 1653 
 the Syrian faction sent to Antioch for a bishop, in 
 opposition to the native incumbent of the See, and 
 from that time there have been two prelates in this 
 interesting religious community. At present there 
 are several divisions amongst the million or more of 
 their numbers — Nestorians, Syrian Jacobites, Roman 
 Catholics, and other denominations. 
 
 Cochin was one of the places in which St. Francis 
 Xavier preached with marked success. In 1577 
 the first book printed in India was produced at 
 Cochin. 
 
 One might suppose that of all nationalities and 
 religions, Jews would be the least likely to find 
 representation among the natives of Southern India ; 
 but Cochin has a Jewish colony composed of both 
 black and white races, who live in the same quarter, 
 though in separate parts of it. The native Jews were 
 a recognized political community as early as 390 a.d., 
 when the Raja of Malabar granted to them Cranga- 
 nore, with the right of working the copper mines. 
 There are numerous tribes of Hindu Jews to be 
 found at various jxunts of the interior, and as far 
 north as Foona, where they are engaged in the pro- 
 duction of oil. 
 
 To regress to the Coromandel coast : Trivalur, about 
 twenty-five miles from Madras, has a remarkable 
 Dravidian temple. Its nucleus was a pretty village 
 shrine, which by some happy chance, or perhaps on 
 
TRIVALUR. 
 
 199 
 
 account of extraordinary holy associations, came to 
 be a place of unusual sacred importance. The 
 origiual temple dedicated to Siva and Kali occupies 
 the centre, surrounded by a cloistered court measuring 
 one hundred and ninety-two feet by one hundred and 
 fifty-six feet, its front wall broken by a gopura, a 
 conical structure of stone rising in sculptured and 
 columned tiers above the entrance. At a later period 
 the first court was enclosed by another, four hundred 
 and seventy feet square, with gopuras, larger than 
 the former one, at back and front. This enclosure 
 contains a number of small shrines scattered about in 
 disorderly profusion. Finally the whole was sur- 
 rounded in another court formed by a wall nine hun- 
 dred and forty feet by seven hundred and one feet, 
 with five additional gopuras let into it at irregular 
 intervals. The outermost court contains several 
 shrines of a more imposing character and greater 
 elaboration of design than any in the interior partition. 
 The process of addition and improvement was sud- 
 denly arrested, though why it is impossible to say, 
 some time within the past century, after work had been 
 carried about half-way upon one of the great halls 
 which are the usual complement of such temples. 
 These halls arc generally supported by one thousand 
 columns. At Trivalur less than three-fourths of 
 that number have been erected, and about one-half 
 stands roofless. 
 
 While the detail in this temple is fine and laboriously 
 
200 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 extensive, the design is extremely bad and the general 
 view disappointing. 
 
 A favorite excursion with the Europeans of Madras 
 is to Mahabalipur, the city of the Great Bali. It is 
 a twelve hours' journey by boat through the Bucking- 
 ham Canal. The raths and excavations are of Bud- 
 dhistic origin, dating from the seventh century — the 
 beginning of the decadent period of Indian Bud- 
 dhism. Like most similar remains, they have been 
 adopted by the Bnihmans, but without material 
 changes in their architectural features. 
 
 The five raths or monolithic temples form a cluster 
 upon the sandy beach to the south of the village. 
 The Bhima Hatha, which is the largest, measures 
 forty-eight feet in length, twenty-four in breadth, and 
 is twenty-seven feet high. The upper portion is fin- 
 ished in little recesses, made to resemble the entrances 
 to cells, in imitation of the vihara. Next to the 
 Bhima rath is another, square as to the base, and 
 rising in four pyramidal stories, which culminate in 
 the usual Dravidian dome. 
 
 For a space of about two miles in either direction 
 from the shore, the ground is covered with temples, 
 sculptured rocks and colossal monolithic figures ; 
 chiseled representations of men and monkeys, gods 
 and elephants; the boar temple and the tiger cave. 
 Here a cliaiiya in a suite of fur preservation; there 
 a huge rock carved to represent the forms of men 
 and animals in various fantastic attitudes. Near by 
 
MAIIAIULIPUR. 
 
 201 
 
 an excavation, forty feet in depth, with a facade, pil- 
 lared at regular intervals along a greater length, the 
 interior covered with carvings in high relief. 
 
 Placed like an eyrie upon the point of a difficult 
 rock is a little shrine from the doorway of which you 
 look down upon the Temple of Durga immediately 
 beneath. The large Temple of Vishnu is shut against 
 visitors, to insure the privacy of the worshipers from 
 the neighboring Brahman village. 
 
 But perhaps the most interesting spot in this aggre- 
 gation of architectural religious remains is the Temple 
 of Siva, whose base and pillars are lapped by the 
 commingling waters of the Sea of Bengal and the 
 Indian Ocean. No doubt it once stood inland ; in- 
 deed, the natives, pointing to an unusually heavy line 
 of breakers a mile or more out, will tell you that 
 other temples lie a few fathoms beneath the surface 
 at the spot, and that you might sec them plainly if 
 the waters would be still. 
 
 A granite wall once enclosed the building, but all 
 that remains of it arc heaps of shattered stone and 
 the heavy gate-posts. Within the walls are sculp- 
 tured in alto-relievo presentments of Bali, Siva, Par- 
 vati and Vishnu. The eastern entrance abuts upon 
 the water, and its threshold is but a few feet above 
 it Immediately in front, upon a rock in the sea 
 about seventy-five feet distant, is a " lamp pillar" 
 which formerly bore a light, perhaps to warn the 
 fisher folk of the adjacent villages from reefs which 
 
202 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 lie off the shore at this point. The pillar has been 
 broken by the force of the waxes, and its present 
 height of eighteen feet is about half of its original 
 altitude. Southey refers to this spot in his "Curse 
 of Kehama," when he writes of 
 
 "The sepulchres 
 Of ancient Icings, which Kali in his power 
 Made in primeval times, and built above them 
 A city like the cities of the gods- 
 Being like a god himself. For many an age 
 Hath Ocean warred against h>s ;>alaces, 
 Till overwhelmed beneath the waves — 
 Not overthrown — so well the awful chief 
 Had laid their deep foundations. 
 * * * * * * * 
 
 Their summits in the noonday light 
 
 Shone o'er the dark green deep that rolled between; 
 
 Her domes and pinnacles and spires were seen 
 Peering above the sea, a mournful sight, 
 
 And on the sandy shore, beside the verge 
 Of ocean, here and there a rock-cut fane 
 
 Resisted, in its strength, the surf and surge 
 That on their deep foundations beat in vain." 
 
 The temples of Southern India are much superior 
 to those of the north, at least in the matter of magni- 
 tude. The Karnatik is particularly rich in these 
 remains of the ancient art of the Dravidians, those 
 people who, like the Aryans, immigrated from Central 
 Asia, and pushed their way t<> the southern end of 
 the peninsula, where their descendants to-day speak 
 Tamil, Telugu and Kanarese. 
 
CONJEVERAM. 
 
 203 
 
 Conjeveram, the Benares of the south, is one of 
 the seven holy cities of India. There are two groups 
 of temples, with fine gopuras from one hundred and 
 fifty to two hundred feet high. The Hall of a Thou- 
 sand Pillars in the great Ekambdrah Swanir temple 
 contains a number of carved and colored wooden 
 images, which are carried in procession during the 
 May festival. 
 
 The Temple of Vishnu is the pride of Conjeveram. 
 It is entered through a seven-storied gopura. The 
 establishment includes a great many nautch girls, who 
 are ready and anxious to perform for the amusement 
 of the visitor, but not without an eye to their own 
 profit. The same idea, mingled with the pride of 
 proprietorship, induces the priests to produce the 
 jewels, which, if they be genuine, are of no incon- 
 siderable value. There are head-pieces of gold, with 
 settings of precious stones ; gold chains by the bushel ; 
 necklaces of various kinds ; fillets and frontlets and 
 foot casings, all of gold and all enriched with gems. 
 One of these ornaments the guardians claim to have 
 been given to the temple by Lord Clive. On one of 
 the walls is a innocent-looking mark, which, however, 
 has an important significance. It is the initial letter 
 of the word Vishnu, which has been the subject of 
 grave and even fierce controversy among two sects 
 for more than a hundred years. One party repro- 
 duces this mark upon the forehead with white paint, 
 in a plain stroke, and they have the approval of the 
 
204 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 priests of Conjeveram ; the other adds a little curve 
 which extends part way down the nose. The wor- 
 shiper of Siva is distinguished by three horizontal 
 white lines upon the forehead. 
 
 Sir Hector Munro cast his guns and impedimenta 
 into the temple tank in his memorable retreat to 
 Chingalpat, after the crushing defeat by Haidar Ali. 
 
 From miles distant in any direction one sees the 
 famous battlemented rock of Trichonopoli, rising 
 sheer two hundred and fifty feet out of the plain, with 
 the town huddled about its base. Upon the south side; 
 a covered way leads by steep steps to the temple upon 
 the summit, with its huge silver Nandi Bull. 
 
 This elevation commands a magnificent view of the 
 surrounding country for many miles. To the north, 
 the shallow Cauvery encircles the island of Seringham, 
 whose thickly wooded shores encompass the enormous 
 Temple of Vishnu, seven miles in circumference. Its 
 towering gopuras top the intervening trees, but other- 
 wise the temple buildings are not discernible. On 
 the cast, north and west the dead level of plain ter- 
 minates in hills reaching in some places an altitude 
 of four thousand feet. 
 
 In the town they will point out to you the house in 
 which Clive lived, and show you a tablet marking the 
 spot where Bishop Heber died while using the bath 
 of the Judges' Court. 
 
 The hills which curtail the western horizon form a 
 spur of the Neilgherris, among whose higher elevations 
 
■■■■■■ 
 
Rock of Trichinopoli 
 
ARCOT. 
 
 205 
 
 lie the sanatariums of Krinur, Wellington and Utaka- 
 mand, the last one of the "death traps," so culled 
 by ignorant agitators, in which Boer prisoners were 
 recently encamped. 
 
 Of the aboriginal tribes of the Neilgherria the 
 TMdas, who number but a few hundred, are interesting 
 on many accounts. They are tall, handsome men of 
 splendid physique, with large round eyes, regular 
 features and Roman noses. Their uncovered heads 
 are thickly laid with long ringlets. They are a 
 brave, honest community of herdsmen, whose religion 
 is theistic and non-idolatrous. They practice poly- 
 andry, and are fast becoming extinct. 
 
 Historic Arcot, the "six forests" of the six holy 
 hermits, is hardly a factor in the modern economy of 
 the Indian Empire, but it occupies a prominent posi- 
 tion in the annals of the country. Its blasted walls 
 and shattered gateways are eloquent witnesses of the 
 stress of war. Hindu and Mughal, Frenchman and 
 Briton have struggled for possession of it. Adondai, 
 Zrilfakar, Haidar and Lally are names intimately 
 connected with it, but, so long as deeds of daring stir 
 men's pulses, Arcot will be best remembered for 
 dive's gallant capture and defence of it. Within 
 defective fortifications, easily approachable from 
 several points, the meagre garrison of two hundred 
 sepoys and one hundred and twenty British troops 
 withstood a native army exceeding five thousand, 
 and supported by one hundred and fifty French- 
 
206 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 men. Macaulay recites the story in impressive lan- 
 guage : 
 
 " During fifty days the siege went on. During fifty 
 days the young captain maintained the defence with 
 a firmness, vigilance and ability which would have 
 done honor to the oldest marshal in Europe. The 
 breach, however, increased day by day. The garrison 
 began to feel the pressure of hunger. Under such 
 circumstances any troops, so scantily provided with 
 officers, might have been expected to show signs of 
 insubordination ; and the danger was peculiarly great 
 in a force composed of men differing widely from 
 each other in extraction, color, language, manners and 
 religion. But the devotion of the little band to its 
 chief surpassed anything that is related of the Tenth 
 Legion of Cajsar, or the Old Guard of Napoleon. 
 The sepoys came to Clive, not to complain of their 
 scanty fare, but to propose that all the grain should 
 be given to the Europeans, who required more nour- 
 ishment than the natives of Asia. The thin gruel, 
 they said, which was strained away from the rice, 
 would suffice for themselves. History contains no 
 more touching instance of military fidelity, or of the 
 influence of a commanding mind." 
 
 At last, on the great day of the Muharram, the 
 besiegers made an attack in full force, and the fam- 
 ished and well nigh exhausted defenders made a 
 supreme call upon their fainting energies to meet the 
 onslaught. An hour of terrific fighting ensued. 
 

Entrance to the Palace — Mad««ra 
 
 
 ■■ 
 
■HH 
 
 MADURA. 
 
 207 
 
 Each successive advance was repelled in hand-to- 
 hand encounter. At length superior numbers gave 
 way before indomitable determination. The attackers 
 broke into disorderly retreat, abandoning their camp 
 and guns to the garrison. 
 
 Centuries before the Muhammadans invaded India 
 Madura was the capital of a large and powerful king- 
 dom, and the centre of the learning and religion of 
 the southern peninsula. Of the princes who have 
 ruled here in the past none has left a name so famous 
 as that of Tirumala Naj&k, whose brilliant reign of 
 thirty-six years occurred in the first half of the sev- 
 enteenth century. Pie was the Shah Jahan of the 
 Ivarnatik — the master-builder of Southern India. The 
 magnificent structures which originated with him are 
 everywhere in evidence. 
 
 His palace has been " restored/' and now has some- 
 thing of a modern aspect, due to the application of 
 white and yellow plaster to its native granite. What 
 has been lost in artistic effect is made up for in fitness, 
 for the building has been given up to official pursuits. 
 Its splendid apartments are now occupied by the 
 offices of magistrates and collectors, and even the 
 Tamkam near by, tin; scene of many a stirring gladia- 
 torial conquest in days gone by, has been converted 
 into a residence. 
 
 The palace is entered through a fine granite portico, 
 built in honor of Lord Napier, to whom the place 
 owes its salvation from decay. A stone stairway 
 
208 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 
 leads through a broad pillared and arched corridor, 
 Moorish in its outlines, to a court under a great dome. 
 This was the audience hall or throne room. It is 
 seventy feet high and sixty feet in diameter. It has 
 the ever-present gallery, from which the women of the 
 zenana, themselves concealed, could sit and watch the 
 scene below. A smaller but similar chamber, adjoin- 
 ing, is now used by the collector as a treasury. 
 
 A fanciful legend is connected with Tirumala's bed- 
 room, an apartment over fifty feet high. The ceiling 
 has four holes in it at regular distances apart, and 
 there is a large ragged open hole in the roof. They 
 say that the king's bed was suspended from hooks in 
 the first, and that a thief entered by the large aper- 
 ture and succeeded in getting away with the crown 
 jewels. Tirumala offered to grant an hereditary 
 estate to the unknown robber if he would return the 
 jewels. The promised reward had the desired effect, 
 and, upon receiving his property again, Tirumala con- 
 ferred the land upon the thief; but, lest there should 
 be any mistake about the hereditary character of the 
 gift, ordered him to be immediately decapitated. 
 
 At least the finest portions of the great Temple of 
 Madura were erected by Tirumala. The enclosure is 
 in excess of eight hundred feet one way and seven 
 hundred the other. It has nine gopuras, one of them 
 rising to a height of one hundred and fifty i'cvt In 
 Lakshmi's Hall, the roof of which is supported by 
 eight statues of the genial goddess, stall-keepers dis- 
 
*££ 
 
 Detail of the Temple — Madura 
 
■ 
 
MAUUliA. 
 
 209 
 
 play their wares, and vendors of flowers find cus- 
 tomers among the many pilgrims and worshipers. 
 Everywhere are statues and carvings in various relief. 
 Here Siva is dancing, and there he is engaged in 
 spearing a dragon. His son, Karttikeva, the Mars 
 of Hindu mythology, divides attention with Ganesha, 
 the god of wisdom. Elephants, peacocks, lions 
 and other animals, in faithful or distorted forms, 
 abound. The Tank of the Golden Lilies is associated 
 with Queen Mangammal, who built a tasteful little 
 alcove here. This unfortunate women incurred the 
 ill will of her subjects by her infatuation for a l>rah- 
 man priest. The man was probably placed beyond 
 their reach by his caste and occupation, but they 
 vented their rage upon his paramour by putting her 
 to a horrible death of slow starvation in constant 
 sight of food. A statue of the Brahman stands be- 
 side the tank, and upon the ceiling of the arcade 
 which surrounds it are portraits of both the lovers. 
 A very striking effect is produced by twelve pillars, 
 in the forms of grotesque animals, the intervening 
 spaces being occupied by statues of the five Pandava 
 brothers. Yudishthira, the unlucky gambler, is upon 
 the right, and opposite to him Arjuna, with the mighty 
 bow which won Draupadi in the Swayam vara. Bluma 
 is depicted with the famous club that crushed the skull 
 of Duhsasana and broke the knee of Duryodhana. 
 
 The Temple of the Rishis, or holy men, contains a 
 numerous aggregation of statues of Hindu saints and 
 Vox.. I —11 
 
1 
 
 210 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 deities. It is also the repository of the jewels and 
 vahanas of Minakshi, the "fish-eyed goddess,' 7 and 
 Sundareshwar (under which name Siva is here wor- 
 shiped), who are the co-dedicatees of the pagoda of 
 Madura. 
 
 The magnificent choultrie, which has been so often 
 described, was built by Tirumala in honor of the 
 tutelary deity, who is said to have paid him a visit of 
 ten days' duration each year. This gallery has rows 
 of sculptured columns, whose capitals (starting at 
 about two-thirds of the elevation) and cornices follow 
 arch-like converging lines until they meet the narrow, 
 ilat roof, giving the effect of a long archway with 
 depressed apex. On either side of the central corri- 
 dor arc five pillar-statues, representing different 
 members of the Naj&k dynasty. Tirumala is distin- 
 guished by the addition of a canopy and the presence 
 of two attendants at his back. On his left hand 
 stands his consort, the Tanjore princess. 
 
 The Temple of Madura is one of the finest and 
 oldest specimens of Dravidian architecture in exist- 
 ence. It is a type of the general plan which was 
 followed by these people in all their pagoda temples. 
 They vary in arrangement, but usually consist of the 
 following parts : 
 
 1. The Yimana, or Adytum. This is the central 
 point of the whole, and the "holy of holies." It is 
 square, and surmounted by a pyramidal roof, overlaid 
 with gold. In a dark, cell-like chamber the altar 
 
A Gapura of the Temple — Madura 
 
 ^h^^^bbhI 
 
MADURA. 
 
 211 
 
 and idol are placed, and a lamp kept constantly 
 burning. 
 
 2. On each side of the Vimana, usually in direc- 
 tions corresponding with the cardinal points of the 
 compass, are the Mantapas, huge stone porches, pro- 
 fusely ornamented with sculpture. 
 
 3. The Gopuras, or gateway buildings. They arc 
 pyramidal in form, and rise in diminishing tiers, of 
 from seven to fourteen stories, to a height frequently 
 exceeding two hundred feet. They invariably termi- 
 nate in a flattish, oblong dome. The exterior is a 
 conglomerate mass of grotesque figures upon a succes- 
 sion of pillared platforms. 
 
 4. The Choultries, or colonnades. The conventional 
 number of pillars is one thousand, but frequently they 
 fall short of the full count. The columns are elabor- 
 ately carved from base to capital, and take diverse 
 forms, supporting a flat roof at an elevation of from 
 twelve to twenty feet. 
 
 5. The Sacred Tanks, surrounded by artistic arcades, 
 and having steps leading down to the water. 
 
 6. The Enclosing Wall, which has no gates nor 
 entrances save through the gopuras. 
 
 In addition to these regular features, the confines 
 of a large pagoda will include temples, shrines, 
 isolated sculptures of different kinds, stables for 
 elephants, stalls for sacred bulls, domiciles for priests 
 and attendants, and various other buildings. In fact, 
 when the gates of one of these scattering temples is 
 
212 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 closed on the world at night, its walls retain a teeming 
 village of active human beings and animals. 
 
 Tanjore is situated on the inland side of the delta 
 of the Cauverv, an expanse of country unsurpassed 
 in Southern India for fertility. It is an ancient city, 
 and has been a place of importance from the earliest 
 times. It was captured by a brother of Sivaji, who 
 made it the capital of an independent Maratha king- 
 dom and established a dynasty which survived to the 
 beginning of the nineteenth century. 
 
 Conspicuous from every point of the city are the 
 domes of the Great Pagoda, whose vimana reaches 
 an altitude of two hundred feet. The temple enclosure 
 contains the famous Great Bull of Tanjore. The 
 animal is cut from a single block of black granite. In 
 its recumbent position the figure measures nearly thir- 
 teen feet in height. 
 
 The palace within the Fort has in its library a 
 unique collection of Sanskrit manuscripts, eighteen 
 thousand in number, about one-half being inscriptions 
 upon palm leaves. 
 
 This district was the scene of the earliest labors of 
 Protestant missionaries in India. The first of these 1 , 
 Ziegenbalg, made his way into Tanjore disguised as a 
 native. lie encountered serious opposition at first, 
 but eventually secured the consent of the raja" to his 
 mission. After effecting many conversions and trans- 
 lating the New Testament into the Tamil language, 
 Ziegenbalg died, in 1710, and was followed by able 
 
■ 
 
^K 
 
 Sacred Bull — Tanjore 
 
CHIDAMBARAM. 
 
 213 
 
 successors. The best remembered of these is the 
 soldier priest Schwartz, who in the time of Clive was 
 the chief adviser of the raja, and alter his decease 
 the guardian of his son. Schwartz spent forty-eight 
 years among the people here, and died in 171)8, 
 mourned by the whole kingdom. His church by the 
 Sivaganga Tank contains a fine marble group by 
 Flaxman, depicting the aged missionary upon his 
 death-bed ; on one side his ward and pupil, Raja 
 Sharfoji; on the other his colleague, Kohlner. The 
 English Church, in the adjacent People's Park, 
 contains a handsome memorial tablet to Schwartz, 
 and the churchyard holds the grave of Lord 
 Hastings. 
 
 Chidambaram can boast the oldest pagodas in the 
 south of India. The Temple of Siva owes its origin. 
 or at least considerable embellishment, to the leprous 
 Emperor Swetha-varna, the "white colored," who 
 came here from the north on a pilgrimage, and was 
 miraculously cured of his affliction by bathing in the 
 tank, upon the southern side of which the temple 
 stands. The tank, which is one hundred yards long, 
 is the central point of a walled enclosure, measuring 
 eighteen hundred feet by fifteen hundred. It contains 
 the usual "Hall of a Thousand Pillars," which in this 
 instance falls short of that number by six. 
 
 The granite Temple of Parvati, with its central 
 aisle twenty-three feet in breadth, has a beautiful 
 porch, with elegantly carved pillars. 
 
214 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 The shrine in the Temple of Siva, dedicated to 
 Verma, the god of dancing, is decorated with many 
 exquisite carvings. Fergusson considers this shrine 
 to be the oldest thing now existing in the place. 
 
 Some five or six widely scattered little spots upon 
 the map of India indicate the French possessions at 
 the present day. Their total extent is one hundred 
 and seventy-eight square miles, occupied by a popula- 
 tion of less than three hundred thousand. Pondicherri 
 is the centre of government, and the seat of the High 
 Court. 
 
 Near the pier is a statue of Dupleix, upon a 
 rough and ungainly pedestal, formed of fragments of 
 temples brought from Gingi. This is the promenade 
 ■where Pondicherri's rank and fashion gather towards 
 sunset, in rolling-chairs, to listen to martial music and 
 take the breeze. The city has some handsome build- 
 ings — notably Government House and the High 
 Court — several churches, and a good native school. 
 
 The Roman Catholic missionaries have been very 
 successful with the Hindu population, probably 
 because they meet them half-way in the matter of 
 ceremonial and caste. The priests, with practical 
 foresight, have assumed the character of a superior 
 caste of Brahmans from the Western hemisphere, and, 
 after all, the assumption is not without some basis of 
 fact. In former times they adopted the orange gown 
 of the most holy ascetic, and carried the sacred spot 
 upon the forehead. 
 
rONDICTIEPvRT. 
 
 215 
 
 Pondicherri has frequently changed hands between 
 French and English. In one of the many sieges, 
 when Eyre Coote beset the town and the ill-fated 
 Lally defended it, a strange incident occurred. The 
 garrison, becoming short of provisions, expelled the 
 native inhabitants to the number of fourteen hundred. 
 They were driven back by the English, but refused 
 re-entrance by the French. So, for eight days, these 
 poor wretches wandered back and forth between the 
 walls of the city and the lines of the besiegers, shelter- 
 less, and subsisting upon roots and grass. At length 
 the British, finding their enemies inexorable in their 
 determination to exclude the unfortunate natives, gave 
 them asylum. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CALCUTTA. 
 
 THERE aro few, if any, rivers more difficult to 
 navigate than the tributary of the Ganges upon which 
 Calcutta stands, about ninety miles from the sea. The 
 Hugli is subject to a variety of natural phenomena 
 which make it the dread of ship-owners and masters. 
 When it is swept by one of the terrific cyclones which 
 visit this coast, loss of life and destruction of 
 property almost invariably result. Another menace 
 to shipping is the Hugli bore, a tidal wave of from 
 eight to thirty feet in height, which rushes up the 
 river in a solid wall of water at the rate of eighteen or 
 twenty miles an hour, carrying the smaller craft with 
 it like straws before the wind, and sometimes tearing 
 large vessels from their anchorage. The writer 
 remembers an ocean-going ship to have been thus 
 lifted out of the channel and left high and dry, and 
 by a strange chance upon an even keel, in the Eden 
 Gardens. It was necessary to dig a canal in order to 
 launch it again. But these are only occasional perils, 
 not to be compared in gravity with the constant diffi- 
 culties and dangers of the ever-shifting shoals and 
 
 21G 
 
CALCUTTA. 
 
 217 
 
 quicksands which abound in the bed of the Htigli. 
 No degree of familiarity with the river, short of daily 
 experience, will suffice for safe navigation. A faithful 
 chart of to-day's bottom will not be a guide for to- 
 morrow's venture. 
 
 The banks are lined with signal stations which 
 repeat the latest soundings, and each pilot reports his 
 findings in detail alter taking a vessel to or from 
 Calcutta. The " Royal James and Mary," forerunner 
 of a long line of similarly unfortunate merchantmen, 
 gave her name to the most dangerous spot in this most 
 dangerous waterway, where she went down in 1694. 
 Since that time the "James and Alary" has never 
 been devoid of warning masts, marking the sites of 
 submerged wrecks. Through these treacherous waters, 
 with their never resting bottom, the safety of the 
 traveler is in the hands of the Htigli pilot — a gentle- 
 man of no small importance and of considerable attain- 
 ments ; better paid than any other of his class in the 
 world, and occupying a higher social position, A 
 dinghi brings him on board at Calcutta, or at the 
 sand-heads, as smart as a P. and (). captain, his man- 
 servant and portmanteau in his wake. lie comes 
 over the side in white kid gloves and patent leather 
 pumps, and from the moment his foot touches the 
 deck he is treated with the utmost deference by all on 
 board. A great man indeed is the Htigli pilot until 
 he makes a serious mistake, and then — well, he may 
 have saved money, and have sufficient sense to turn it 
 
218 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 to good account, but if not, the final chapters of his 
 story are painful reading. 
 
 In the early 80's one Scott was the dandiest, the 
 most deboniKtir, but the craftiest of the profession. 
 lie knew every least feature of the landscape along 
 the route, every mango tope and every riverside tem- 
 ple, as he knew the Chandni Chauk or Chowringhi 
 and keeping a keen eye to either side, as the ship 
 steamed slowly up the stream, he learnt by these land- 
 marks and his soundings the stealthy shillings of the 
 quicksands, and carried to Calcutta the story which 
 ■would guide the man who took the next boat down 
 to the sea. 
 
 As the vessel approaches Calcutta, Garden Reach, 
 with the King of Oudh's palace, is passed on the right 
 hand at about six miles distance, and the famous 
 Botanical Gardens, covering two hundred and seventy 
 acres, upon the left. Fort William, on the bank of the 
 river, and the city are now within plain view. The 
 former is surrounded by open ground for a distance 
 of a mile at least, except where it faces upon the 
 river. After the trouble with Siraj-ud-Dauhi, the 
 old fort, which occupied a position now marked by 
 the Post Office, was abandoned and the present one 
 erected. In 1G82 the English had but four or five 
 trading posts in Bengal, llrigli was the most import- 
 ant, and the residence of the Governor, William 
 Hedges, who was furnished with " a corporal of 
 approved fidelity and twenty soldiers to be a 
 
CALCUTTA. 
 
 219 
 
 guard to the agent's person, and to act against inter- 
 lopers." 
 
 The " interloper " of those days was the bete noir 
 of the East India Company and its servants. He 
 was looked upon as a buccaneer, and when caught 
 treated with almost equal severity. The most drastic 
 Acts of Parliament were passed with a view to his 
 suppression, but neither plenary statutes nor corporals 
 "of approved fidelity" had the effect of checking the 
 illicit trade, which was generally carried on by British 
 subjects provided with foreign passports, and through 
 ships flying foreign flags. A few years later Gabriel 
 Boughton, one of the Company's surgeons, who had 
 earned the gratitude of the Emperor Shah Jahan by 
 saving the life of a favorite daughter, waiving per- 
 sonal reward, secured as a return for his services the 
 privilege to his countrymen of establishing a factory 
 near Kalfghat, an insignificant village on the bank of 
 the Hugh', which the genius of Clive and of Hastings 
 soon transformed into the seat of government of an 
 enormous territory, and which later became the capital 
 of the Indian Empire. If space permitted, it might 
 be interesting to review the strange series of political 
 events, and the concurrent course of commercial 
 development, which reversed the original order of 
 importance of the Presidencies. Calcutta was founded 
 in 1690. At that time Madias was the senior Presi- 
 dency; Bombay followed it, and the Bengal Presidency 
 did not oome into existence until several years later. 
 
220 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 There was a time, probably, when the appearance 
 of Calcutta justified the appellation of " City of Pal- 
 aces," in comparison with the other European settle- 
 ments in India. At the present day the stucco walls 
 and commonplace houses of the English population, 
 and the very ordinary aspect of the native town, would 
 hardly suggest any extravagant encomium. There are 
 several undoubtedly fine buildings in the city, but on the 
 whole Bombay is superior to the capital in this respect. 
 Government House is a handsome structure, stand- 
 ing in an enclosure of about five acres. The rooms 
 are full of historical portraits and busts. Some of 
 the ornaments, notably the chandeliers of the ball- 
 room, had been designed by Louis XY. as presents 
 to Tipu Sahib at the time the " Tiger " was carrying 
 on a clandestine correspondence with the Aurangzeb 
 of France, but the vessel, which carried these and 
 other testimonials of the good will of the French 
 monarch toward the hereditary enemy of the British, 
 fell into their hands. It is rather a curious coinci- 
 dence that the Viceregal Mansion was erected a 
 century ago upon the lines of Kcdleston Hall, Derby- 
 shire, the ancestral home of the Curzons, to which 
 family the present Viceroy belongs. 
 
 Classic patterns have been followed in the public 
 buildings, sometimes very closely, as in the case of the 
 Mint, which is a reduced model of the Temple of 
 Minerva at Athens. Perhaps this has somewhat to 
 do with the sense of incongruity which the stranger 
 
/iSea 
 
General Post Office, Calcutta 
 
HUH 
 
 

 
CALCUTTA. 
 
 221 
 
 experiences at first sight of Calcutta. The contrast 
 between the old and the new, the East and the West, 
 seems greater here than in Bombay or Madras, where 
 the modern architectural features more often display a 
 blending of Oriental art. Here, too, the handsome 
 residence and the humble hovel are more frequently 
 found in juxtaposition, and the Europeanized native 
 is more in evidence. The babti on a bicycle, and the 
 baniyii in a brougham, are sights to which one does not 
 readily grow accustomed. The unceasing din, and the 
 incessant dust, are characteristics of Calcutta, with which 
 one can only become reconciled on continued residence 
 The American tourist who writes his or her book 
 never fails to expatiate upon the discomforts of the 
 hotels of the large cities of India. The criticisms are 
 quite just from the point of view of the tourist, who 
 cannot easily understand changed conditions when 
 they conflict with his comfort. The fact is that a 
 hotel of the standard of London or New York could 
 not be maintained in Calcutta or Bombay, except 
 upon a philanthropic basis. There is no demand, if 
 we except the insistent tourist in question, for such an 
 institution. The Anglo-Indian official, army officer, 
 merchant or planter seldom puts up at a hotel, and the 
 British tourist rarely. They are either housed by 
 friends or stay at a club. Indian hospitality is pro- 
 verbial, and the foreigner who arrives in the country 
 with introductions will not need to experience the 
 horrors of a hotel. 
 
222 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Chowringhi, the fine, broad avenue extending along 
 the entire east side of the Maidan, with its long array 
 of yellowish-white, flat-roofed and balconied houses, 
 each in its own compound, is the chief residence 
 section of Europeans. 
 
 The life of the Anglo-Indian civilian in Calcutta is 
 more or less typical of his manner of living else- 
 where in the country. As salaries are much higher 
 in India than at home, he cau afford to maintain a 
 style and a degree of luxury which would be incom- 
 patible with a similar position in England. From a 
 comparatively insignificant clerical position in the 
 London offices of an East India house, the young 
 man is transplanted to its Calcutta branch, with a 
 complete change in his condition. From one hundred 
 pounds a year his salary may be increased to five 
 hundred rupees a month. He is employed in a 
 responsible capacity, and entrusted with important 
 affairs of the firm, while all the clerical details are 
 performed by natives. He will provide himself with 
 a dog-cart and saddle-hack, and the necessary staff of 
 servants. He must engage a bearer, or body-servant, 
 who performs all the duties of a valet ; a khitmat- 
 ghar, who wears his livery and waits upon him at 
 table, whether it be at home or at the house of a 
 friend; a sais, or groom, who sits at the back of his 
 carriage, or runs behind his horse; two punkah- 
 wallahs, a horse-boy, and, if he has an establishment 
 of his own, a dozen or more of other menials. As 
 
CALCUTTA. 
 
 2-2:) 
 
 the wages of servants in India arc low, compared 
 with European standards, the maintenance of a largo 
 (orps of domestics is not so expensive a matter as 
 might be supposed. Unless married, however, the 
 civilian will probably live in a " chummery," when 
 the wages of house servants become a joint expense. 
 
 The chummery is an institution peculiar to Indian 
 cities, but one which might with advantage be trans- 
 planted to the Western hemisphere. A number of 
 the homeless civilians with whom Calcutta abounds — 
 for bachelors are largely in a majority among the 
 white population — join in setting up an establishment. 
 A married woman of good social standing is secured 
 to preside over the house. She, acting as though the 
 head of a family, attends to all the details of the 
 menage, the expenses of which are shared by the 
 members. The presence of a woman, under such 
 conditions, has a healthy restraint upon the bachelors, 
 and enables them to entertain the other sex with pro- 
 priety. 
 
 As usual in all hot climates, the day is commenced 
 at an early hour. The preliminary toilet is a very 
 simple matter, and consists merely of a suit of white 
 duck, with jacket buttoning to the throat, over light 
 underwear. Chota hazri— literally, little; breakfast — 
 composed of toast and eggs, with tea or coffee, breaks 
 the fast. The following hour or so is passed in a ride 
 along the Ballygange Road, or over the Maidan. By 
 seven o'clock, in the hot weather, the sun is too strong 
 
224 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 ior comfort. Returning home, the civilian will take 
 a cold bath, and dress in the duck trousers and light 
 silk coat which constitute the usual garb during office 
 hours. Breakfast — like all other meals of the Antrlo- 
 Indian — is heavier and more extensive than seems 
 consistent with health in the tropics; but it is to be 
 supposed that the Englishman in India finds that four 
 meals of meat, reinforced by liberal draughts of Bass 
 or Alsopp, agree with him. 
 
 Nine o'clock finds him in his darkened and punkah- 
 swept room at the office, where until four in the even- 
 ing he remains, bargaining with native merchants, 
 who sit cross-legged upon a platform, which serves to 
 bring themselves and their samples upon a more con- 
 venient level. The entire day is probably spent thus, 
 without the necessity of exposure to the heat ; for 
 tiffin, or lunch, is served in all the offices. The return 
 home is followed by a change of clothing, and a drive 
 along the Esplanade beside 1 the river, where hun- 
 dreds of carriages pass up and down between the 
 hours of five and seven. One of the military bands 
 plays meanwhile in the Eden Gardens, and the lawn- 
 like promenade is thronged with pedestrians. 
 
 At seven o'clock barouches, victorias and dog-carts 
 are carrying their owners home for the eight o'clock 
 dinner. It is a meal at which guests are almost 
 invariably present, The men have made another 
 change of clothing, and appear at the table in the 
 exquisitely neat and cool Indian dinner dress. The 
 
CALCUTTA. 
 
 225 
 
 Eton jacket and trousers arc of starched white duck ; 
 a silk kummerbund, wound three or four times round 
 the waist in broad folds, takes the place of a waist- 
 coat. The ordinary dress shirt and tie, patent leather 
 pumps and black silk hose, complete the costume. 
 The women are attired in evening dresses, made of 
 the light silks and muslins of Indian manufacture. 
 On formal occasions, and especially in the cold 
 weather, London and Paris gowns, and imported hats, 
 are commonly seen. 
 
 Dances, picnics, garden parties, races, gymkhanas, 
 cricket and lawn-tennis matches, and river excursions 
 are of daily occurrence. The Viceroy's Cup, Gov- 
 ernment House Ball, or some similar special occasion, 
 gives additional zest to the perpetual round of festivi- 
 ties. In the hot weather the Governor-General and 
 the leading officials go to Simla, which becomes the 
 seat of government, and the social life of Calcutta 
 subsides. 
 
 Every European, who is fortunate enough to be able 
 to compass the change, goes to "the hills," and failing 
 that, sends his wife and little ones away from the debil- 
 itating heat of the plains. Those, and they constitute 
 a majority, who are forced to remain make the best of 
 the conditions, and even in the hottest season life in 
 Calcutta is not unpleasant by any means. 
 
 The worsi feature of Anglo-Indian life is the en- 
 forced separation of parents and children. It is neces- 
 sary, for the sake of their health as well as for their 
 Vol. I. — 15 
 
226 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 proper education, that children born in India .should 
 be sent "home" at four or five years of age. The 
 mother takes the little boy or girl to England, where 
 the virtual orphan is placed in a boarding school, 
 and the mother, torn by conflicting affections, is 
 obliged to return to her husband. The separation is 
 hardship to the parents, of course, but that is as nothing 
 in comparison with the loss to the unfortunate infants, 
 bereft of the care and guidance of their natural guar- 
 dians at the period of life when such protection and 
 direction are of the greatest importance. Those who 
 have read Kipling's "Baa, baa, black sheep," know 
 the story of thousands of Anglo-Indian children, and 
 they have it again in the early adventures of Dick 
 and Maisie. 
 
 A few miles south of Calcutta, beyond the native 
 cantonment of Alipur, and Belvedere, the residence of 
 the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal and the place where 
 the famous duel was fought between Warren Hastings 
 and Philip Francis, the reputed author of the "Junius 
 Letters," is Kalfghat, the village which gave its name 
 to the capital. It is the site of an old temple dedicated 
 to Kali, which has enjoyed a reputation for extreme 
 sanctity during the past three hundred years. From 
 the first, the priestly control of the place has been a 
 matter of hereditary succession, and the family which 
 enjoys the incumbency is said to have grown exceed- 
 ingly wealthy from the offerings to the goddess. The 
 temple is supposed to stand upon the spot where fell 
 

 CALCUTTA. 
 
 227 
 
 one of the fingers of the bloody spouse of Siva, when 
 by order of the gods she was cut into small pieces. 
 Immense crowds resort to the shrine upon the occasion 
 of festivals, and particularly on the second day of the 
 Durgd Puja, the great Bengali festival held in honor 
 of Kali at the autumnal equinox. At this time the 
 streets of the village are thronged with pilgrims, 
 hawkers of idols and amulets, vendors of fowls, kids, 
 goats and buffaloes, fakirs and mendicants, the 
 maim and the fanatic. Great numbers of animals are 
 sacrificed before the horrid image of the deity, with 
 its necklace of skulls, its protruding tongue and fangs, 
 and hideous features. The neck of the victim is held 
 in a sort of wooden collar, and its hind legs lifted 
 in order to tilt the head forward. In the presence of 
 an excited crowd of howling worshipers, the sacrificer 
 proceeds to decapitate the animal. If the head is 
 severed from the trunk at the first stroke of the sword, 
 the offering is deemed acceptable to the goddess, and 
 the priest carries some of the blood in the palms of 
 his hands to the shrine, and pours it over the huge 
 out-lapping tongue of the idol. 
 
 The worship of Kali is of non-Aryan origin and is 
 restricted to the low caste Hindus. Durga, the Brah- 
 man conception of the goddess, is a fair and beautiful, 
 though stern, woman, and the ritual associated with 
 her worship has nothing in common with the revolting 
 practices indulged in by the devotees of Kali. For- 
 merly human beings were sacrificed to that deity, and 
 
228 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 in comparatively recent times the common people, in 
 periods of distress, have attempted to appease the 
 dread divinity in the same manner. During the 
 famine of 1866 a human head Mas found in the 
 Temple of Kali, at Hiigli, and at another shrine, 
 within a hundred miles of the capital, the body of a 
 boy, with his throat cut, was discovered before the 
 idol. 
 
 Before the days of the railroad the Ganges was the 
 channel for almost all traffic between Upper India and 
 the seaboard, and the greater part of the products of 
 the Central Provinces were transported upon its waters. 
 At the present time a very large river trade is carried 
 on by country boats and steamers, amounting to up- 
 wards of four hundred millions of rupees. The masts 
 of many nations, at all times massed along the river 
 front of Calcutta, attest to the enormous ocean trade 
 carried on with that city. The exact figures for recent 
 years are not available, but they would certainly 
 represent annual exports and imports approaching two 
 thousand millions of rupees in value. 
 
 Freight transportation on the Htigli is of two 
 descriptions. There is the light draught steamer, 
 which can tug flats as far as the Jumna, and there 
 are sailboats of various descriptions. 
 
 Low-power motor launches are employed in 
 pleasure excursions, and an occasional traveler or 
 party will make a short journey in the old-time 
 budge row. If the saving of time is not a considera- 
 
CALCUTTA. 
 
 229 
 
 tion, this is the most comfortable and pleasurable 
 mode of reaching up-river points. The budgerow 
 may be of sixty tons burden or more. The stern 
 half of the vessel is decked, furnished with three or 
 four spacious rooms, and a poop covered by an 
 awning. The forepart of the boat is occupied by the 
 crew of eight or ten men, who, when the wind fails, 
 make what progress they may by rowing or towing. 
 The budgerow is accompanied by a panshwa, or small 
 boat, used for cooking. In the old days, voyages of 
 a thousand miles inland, occupying three or four 
 months, Mere commonly made in these river boats. 
 
 The scenery of the Hiigli for many miles above 
 Calcutta is extremely beautiful. The high, wooded 
 banks are here and there broken by higher promon- 
 tories, crowned by mosque or temple. The bamboo 
 throws its long streamers to the air, like the antennee 
 of some monster insect ; the majestic palm in all its 
 varieties towers above the surrounding vegetation ; 
 the sweet-scented golden balls of the babul mingle 
 with the brilliant tints of the nim, the magnolia and 
 a dozen species of the acacia family, toned down by the 
 feathery foliage of more sombre plants. At short inter- 
 vals one passes bathing ghats, with their broad, brick 
 steps, chunamed and balustradcd, and overlooked by 
 mosque or pagoda, or perhaps by a group of mhuts, 
 resembling nothing so much as an aggregation of 
 monster bee-hives. 
 
 Now and again the attention is attracted by a 
 
230 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 group at the water's edge. The central figure, 
 stretched upon a charpoy or laid in his dhoti upon 
 the sand, is a dying man, brought down to the banks 
 of Mother Ganga to breathe his last. Under the 
 change from the close and fetid atmosphere of a hovel 
 to the fresh, open air he may revive, but he must not 
 return, and will slowly sink for lack of food, or the 
 impatient watchers may expedite his departure. 
 Under such conditions, the writer has seen a man 
 choked with handfuls of sacred mud. The body is 
 carried to a burning ghat, where the final arrange- 
 ments are in the hands of pariahs. The corpse is 
 placed upon a pile of logs, and the pyre is lighted 
 by a son of the deceased. This last detail is of the 
 greatest importance, because a father whose son shall 
 have the honor of lighting the funeral pyre, and of 
 performing the annual Shrads and Mantras — the essen- 
 tial prayers and offerings to the manes — will be doubly 
 blessed in Kylas. A Brahman who is unfortunately 
 sonless must adopt a sou, or, if he be sufficiently 
 wealthy, several, by which means alone he may enter 
 Kylas, and avoid the transmigrations which he would 
 surely be doomed to undergo if his Shrads and Man- 
 tr.is should not be performed. This feature of Hindu 
 theology was at the bottom of the adoption of Nana 
 Sahib by Baji Rao, and of many other similar adop- 
 tions, which caused the British interminable trouble 
 in the settlement of estates. 
 
 The practice of cremation has been encouraged by 
 
BARRACKPUR. 
 
 231 
 
 the authorities from sanitary considerations, although 
 it is not unconnected with sights and smells of a 
 repulsive character. Certain classes adopt much more 
 objectionable methods of disposing of their dead. 
 In some cases the body is buried in the sand of the 
 river-bed, when the jackals dig it up at night and 
 tear it to pieces ; others throw the cadaver into the 
 river, where it floats back and forth with the tide, 
 bloated and ghastly. In the neighborhood of the 
 large cities, however, the authorities have been able 
 to suppress or regulate these practices. 
 
 As night fades the aspect of the river changes. 
 Under the rays of a tropical moon, which at its zenith 
 is strong enough to allow of one's reading small print 
 by its light, the scene is inexpressibly lovely. The 
 muddy water of the swiftly, softly flowing stream is 
 changed to a scintillant steel blue, in happy contrast 
 with the warm gold tint of the banks; false perspec- 
 tives create fantastic fancies ; myriads of fireflies flit 
 about the branches of the trees, which seem to emit 
 from their shadows a pale-green, lambent atmosphere. 
 
 At about twelve miles distant from Calcutta stands 
 the picturesque station of Barrackpur. The natives 
 call the place Ohanuk, in memory of the first 
 Governor-General of Bengal, who once lived here. 
 Job Charnock was a " character." Many curious 
 stories are still extant among the Europeans and 
 natives of his eccentricities. He once came upon a 
 funeral party just as a widow was about to commit 
 
232 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 sati. He forcibly prevented her from making the 
 sacrifice, and subsequently married her. Instead of 
 converting the lady to Christianity, as might have 
 been expected, he himself lapsed into Brahinanism. 
 Charnock survived his Hindu wife by several years, 
 and on each anniversary of her death he sacrificed a 
 cock upon her tomb to the goddess Durga. 
 
 Barrackpur has been the country residence of the 
 Viceroys since the time of Lord Minto, who com- 
 menced the construction of the Vice-regal Lodge. 
 The Viceroy, when in Calcutta, usually takes his 
 Sabbath rest here. 
 
 Serampur, on the opposite bank of the river, has 
 the distinction of being as neat and clean and 
 orderly a town as one will find in Hindustan. Along 
 the river front, range a number of handsome houses, 
 surrounded by spacious courtyards, containing fine 
 old shade trees and extensive lawns. These are the 
 residences of Europeans with business in Calcutta, 
 who prefer the more healthy and quieter evenings 
 spent in the environments of this delightful suburb, to 
 the somewhat strenuous manner of employing leisure 
 in the city. There is a subdued religious atmosphere 
 about the place which, they say, is indigenous, and 
 existed even in the days when Serampur had a thriv- 
 ing trade and " twenty-two vessels cleared from the 
 small port in three months." It was called Freder- 
 icksnagar by the Danes, who were the first Europeans 
 upon the spot. They immediately erected a church, 
 
SERAMrUR. 
 
 233 
 
 did a little missionary work in an unaggressive way, 
 and formed an industrious, quiet and peaceable com- 
 munity — so quiet and peaceable, in fact, that they 
 were quite overlooked in the wars and turmoils that 
 went on all around them. They never added a rood 
 to the original territory ; but then they were never 
 disturbed in the possession of it, and eventually, when 
 commercial competition with the British became too 
 severe for continuance, sold it to them, in the middle 
 of the nineteenth century. At the present time the 
 Courts of Justice and the various administrative 
 offices of the district occupy the fine old mansion of 
 the Danish Governor, and the church, erected a cen- 
 tury ago, is now upon the Anglican establishment. 
 
 Serampur was the scene of the labors of Carey and 
 Marshman and Ward, who found refuge here when 
 the authorities at Calcutta would have shipped them 
 home. Before the dawn of the last century there 
 was little inclination on the part of those in power 
 under the British Government to encourage Dissenters. 
 From the press set up by these Baptist pioneers at 
 Serampur were issued forty translations of the Bible, 
 the first editions of which are treasured in the College 
 library. Among a number of valuable relics, the 
 Baptist College is in possession of a history of the 
 apostles, written by a nephew of Xavier, at the 
 request of the eclectic philosopher Akbar. The Prin- 
 cipal of the College lives in the house which Carey 
 occupied, and iu which he died. The large house 
 
234 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 near by, which was the headquarters of the Serampur 
 Baptist .settlement, together with Carey's famous 
 botanical garden, is now the property of a jute 
 manufacturing company. This industry sprang up 
 very suddenly when the Crimean Avar shut off from 
 England the Russian supply of fibre and gunnies. 
 It has flourished exceedingly, and more than holds its 
 own with all competitors. 
 
 The cultivation of jute is almost entirely confined 
 to the northern and eastern sections of Bengal, and 
 has been the most important factor in the prosperity 
 of the inhabitants of those parts. It is chiefly raised 
 in small patches by individual peasant proprietors. 
 The plant is extremely hardy, and will grow in 
 almost any kind of soil, but thrives best in the 
 alluvial sand-banks formed by the large rivers. After 
 attaining a growth of three or four feet, which is 
 about one-third of its ultimate height, the plant will 
 survive the heaviest floods. The seed is sown in 
 April, and the crop is ready for the sickle in August. 
 The stalks are cut, bundled, and soaked in water until 
 rotted to a degree which will permit of the outer skin 
 being easily stripped off. The fibre is then broken 
 out and thoroughly washed, after which it will pre- 
 sent a soft and silky appearance. It only remains to 
 pack it into bales for shipment. The whole process 
 is simple, requiring no machinery whatever, and con- 
 sequently makes an industry admirably adapted to 
 the condition of the moneyless rayat. The bales are 
 
CIIANDAENAGAR. 
 
 235 
 
 carried in bullock-carts to the nearest river depot, 
 where they are purchased by beparis, or traveling 
 hucksters, who carry them in boats to Sirajganj, or 
 one other of the large centres of the trade. Here the 
 accumulations from numerous points are transferred 
 to a few native wholesale dealers, by whom the 
 material is shipped to Howrah, or some other manu- 
 facturing point in the vicinity of Calcutta, where 
 the final process is performed by steam power. 
 Europeans control the jute mills; otherwise the 
 industry is in the hands of natives exclusively. In 
 1890-'91 the exports of raw jute and gunny-bags 
 aggregated a value of 11x10,083,972. There were 
 twenty-four mills in operation in Bengal, affording 
 employment to upwards of sixty thousand persons. 
 
 Why the French retain Chandarnagar it would be 
 difficult for any one to imagine, unless, since it has 
 been in their possession for close on three and a 
 half centuries, they are actuated by motives of senti- 
 ment. It has long since ceased to have any political 
 or commercial value. There are evidences of the 
 "stone dwellings to the number of two thousand," 
 which in the time of Dupleix betokened the import- 
 ance of the place; but where "twelve or fifteen 
 vessels a day were coming and going," a few listless 
 natives hang about the deserted landing-place. The 
 once "impregnable" fort, which was not proof 
 against Watson's vigorous assault, lies in ruins, and 
 the erstwhile martial strength of the place is rep re- 
 
236 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 sen ted by a standing army of twenty- four sepoys, 
 under the command of a sous-lieutenant. The force 
 
 is small, but quite adequate to its simple duties, 
 which consist of firing the signal gun at the rising 
 and setting of the sun, raising and lowering the tri- 
 color at the same times, and furnishing a guard of 
 two sentries for the Governor's palace. 
 
 But if Chandarnagar can lay no claim to distinction 
 as a business centre, it is fully justified in its boast of 
 being second to none in the matter of beauty and 
 cleanliness. It enjoys a lovely situation, the natural 
 advantages of which have been enhanced by artificial 
 improvements, as in the case of the elevated terrace 
 overlooking the river. Its low, handsome houses are 
 classic in design, fronted or surrounded by colonnades, 
 and situated in beautiful gardens of tropic trees and 
 plants. There are signs of decay about the place, 
 and an air of lassitude about its people that must 
 offend the eye of the trader, but the peaceful quiet 
 and the dolce far niente of old Chandarnagar cannot 
 fail to appeal to the intellectual loafer. 
 
 Historic Hugli, the site of siege and sack and mas- 
 sacre, lies about twenty-five miles above Calcutta. 
 The Portuguese first settled here in lo47. The re- 
 mains of their first fort may be seen six miles distant in 
 a former bed of the river, which has shifted its course, 
 after the manner of Indian stream-;. A thriving, 
 bustling city soon sprang up on the spot. Large quan- 
 tities of merchandise found their way from the interior 
 
HUGLI. 
 
 237 
 
 to Europe through the port of Hiigli, and incoming 
 ships brought immigrants until the white population 
 exceeded five thousand. But the prosperity of the 
 settlement, by arousing jealousy at the Court of Shah 
 Jahan, brought about the undoing of the Portuguese. 
 The bigoted Milmtaj Mahal, the dedicatee of the Taj, 
 sent a peremptory order to the Nawab of Bengal to 
 "root out the Kafirs" at Hiigli. The place was be- 
 sieged and fell after four mouths resistance. Upwards 
 of a thousand Portuguese fell by the sword, and four 
 thousand Mere led away into captivity, the men to be 
 sold as slaves, and the women and children to be 
 drafted into the harems of the Mughal nobility. Of 
 three hundred Portuguese vessels in port at the time, 
 only three escaped to carry the harrowing tale to 
 Europe. 
 
 At the present day Hiigli has a considerable trade, 
 and maintains a population of over thirty thousand, 
 inclusive of the suburb of Chinsurah, which the Dutch 
 made over to the English in exchange for the island 
 of Sumatra. It is a quaint little place, and was once 
 the headquarters of the Dutch in Bengal. The old 
 Protestant church, one of the earliest in India, con- 
 tains a number of tablets bearing the escutcheons of 
 Dutch governors and officials, whose neglected tombs 
 are in the neighboring cemetery. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SATI AND THAGf. 
 
 To Lord William Bentinck is clue the honor of 
 having suppressed those ancient, but abominable 
 institutions — Sati and Thagi. The origin of Sati is 
 obscure, but it must have been practiced in India 
 from early times, since Diodorus Siculus mentions it 
 as an established custom. The Brahmans have always 
 asserted that the Vedas exacted from the widow the 
 sacrifice of her life as a mark of her devotion to her 
 husband. So long as the ability to read the sacred 
 books was limited to the priestly caste, this base 
 fiction went unchallenged; but the investigations of 
 modern Sanskrit scholars have proved conclusively 
 that, far from any such obligation being imposed by 
 the Rig- Veda, the Grihyu-Sutras, or the Code of 
 Mann, there is nowhere to be found even the sugges- 
 tion of Sati, with the single exception of a passage 
 which has been corrupted by the substitution of an n 
 for an r, making the word agreh (house) read agneh 
 (fire). On the other hand, the ancient books abound 
 in references to the life of the widow after the death 
 of her husband. How many millions of women have 
 
 238 
 
8ATI. 
 
 239 
 
 been victims to this vile deception, in the more than 
 two thousand years of* its activity, it would be 
 impossible to surmise. 
 
 The comparatively modern Puranas, a strange 
 mixture of beautiful doctrine and ignoble dogma, 
 commend Sati in the following terms : " The wife 
 who commits herself to the flames with her husband's 
 corpse shall equal Arandhuti (the exalted wife of 
 Vashista), and dwell in Swarga (heavenly bliss). As 
 many hairs as are on the human body, multiplied by 
 threescore and fifty lakhs 1 of years, so many years 
 shall she live with him in Swarga. As the snake- 
 catcher forcibly draws the serpent from his hole in 
 the earth, so, bearing her husband from hell, she 
 shall with him enjoy happiness. Dying with her 
 husband, she purifies three generations — her father's 
 and mother's side and her husband's side. Such a 
 wife, adoring her husband, enters into celestial 
 felicity with him — greatest and most admired ; lauded 
 by the choirs of heaven, with him she shall enjoy the 
 delights of heaven while fourteen Indras reign." 
 
 It will be noticed how artfully this doctrine is 
 designed to influence the widow from motives of duty, 
 love and self-interest. "While the pile is preparing, 
 tell the faithful wife of the greatest duty of woman. 
 She is alone loyal and pure who burns herself with 
 her husband's corpse." 
 
 J)ut in case these considerations fail to exercise 
 1 A lakh is 100,000. 
 
240 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 sufficient weight, and the pleadings and threats of 
 relatives, and the delirium induced by drugs, are 
 unavailing, then it is decreed that the widow who 
 w r ill not immolate herself shall be doomed to a life of 
 degradation and hardship, hardly better than death. 
 
 If the B rah mans had been actuated by considera- 
 tions of social economy or State policy in the institu- 
 tion of Sati, their crime would not have utterly lacked 
 extenuating features, but it appears to have had no 
 other motive than pure avarice. At no other cere- 
 mony were the fees and donations received by the 
 priests so great as at this, for no other act involved 
 such wide-spread blessings — upon the deceased, upon 
 the victim, and upon the parents of both. 
 
 Doctor Butler, whose opportunities for getting 
 information of this dreadful rite were unusual, thus 
 describes it : 
 
 " The husband is dead. In India the body must 
 be disposed of in twelve hours. In the tumult of her 
 grief, the Br&hmans and friends wait upon the dis- 
 tracted widow to learn her intentions. There is no 
 time for reflection or second thought. Within an 
 hour it is usually settled. She agrees to mingle her 
 ashes with her lord's. Opium or strong drink is 
 given to sustain her courage. Before the word is 
 spoken, the decision is with herself; but, once 
 consenting to die she may not recall her words. 
 Millions, of course, have expressed a trembling 
 preference for life, even with all its future gloom to 
 
SATI. 
 
 241 
 
 them ; but multitudes have consented at once to burn, 
 and even in advance of being asked, they have, in the 
 first spasm of their bereavement, uttered the fatal 
 and irrevocable cry, ' Sath ! sath !' Orders are at 
 once issued for the erection of the fatal pile, and the 
 accustomed ceremonies ; the widow, too, lias to be 
 prepared. Friends sometimes, with more or less 
 sincerity, try to dissuade her from her purpose ; but 
 all her religious convictions and priestly advisers urge 
 on the poor, infatuated — perhaps intoxicated — woman 
 to her doom. 
 
 " On the banks of the sacred river, while she 
 bathes in the Ganges, a Brahman is coolly reading 
 the usual forms. She is now arrayed in bridal 
 costume, but her face is unveiled, and her hair un- 
 bound and saturated with oil, and her whole body is 
 perfumed. Her jewels are now added, and she is 
 adorned with garlands of flowers. Thus prepared, 
 she is conducted to the pile, which is an oblong 
 square, formed of four stout bamboos or branches 
 fixed in the earth at each corner. Within those sup- 
 ports the dry logs are laid from three to four feet 
 high, with cotton, rope and other combustibles inter- 
 laced. Chips of odoriferous wood, butter and oil are 
 plentifully added to give force and fragrance to the 
 flames. 
 
 "The ends above are interwoven to form a bower, 
 and this is sometimes decked with flowers. The 
 husband's body has already been laid upon it. In 
 Vol.. I.— 16 
 
212 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 the south of India the fire is first applied, and the 
 widow throws herself into the burning mass ; but 
 the more general way is not to apply the fire until 
 she has taken her position. The size of the pile is 
 regulated by the number of widows who arc to be 
 burned with the body. Cases are well known, like 
 the one at Sukachura, near Calcutta, where the pile 
 Mas nearly twelve yards long, and on it eighteen 
 wives, leaving in all over forty children, burned 
 themselves with the body of their husband. When 
 the widow reaches the pile, she walks round it, sup- 
 ported, if necessary, by a Brahman. She then dis- 
 tributes her gifts, including her jewels, to the 
 Brahman and her friends, but retains her garlands. 
 She now approaches the steps by which she is to 
 mount the pile, and there repeats the Sancalpa, thus : 
 'On this month, so named that I may enjoy with 
 my husband the felicity of heaven and sanctify my 
 paternal and maternal progenitors, and the ancestry 
 of my husband's father — that expiation may be made 
 for my husband's offences — thus I ascend my hus- 
 band's pile. I call on you, ye guardians of the eight 
 regions of the world, sun and moon, air, fire, ether, 
 earth ami water, my own soul, Yama (god of the 
 dead), day, night and twilight ! And you, conscience, 
 bear witness, 1 follow my husband's corpse on the: 
 funeral pile!' 
 
 " She then moves round the pile three times more, 
 while the Brahmans repeat the Mantras — the texts 
 
SATI. 
 
 243 
 
 on burning and others — and then ascends to the 
 corpse, and either lies down by its side or takes its 
 head in her lap. In some places ropes are thrown 
 over to bind the living to the dead, or long bam- 
 boos are bent down upon them both, and the ends 
 fastened by Brahmans. Sometimes she is left untied 
 and loose. All is now ready ; her eldest son, if she 
 have one — if not, the nearest male relative — stands 
 ready to discharge the cruel office of executioner by 
 igniting the pile at the four corners quickly. The 
 whole structure instantly blazes up, and the poor 
 woman is at once enveloped in a sheet of flame. 
 Musical instruments strike up, the Brahmans vocif- 
 erously chant, the crowd shout ' Hari-bal ! Hari- 
 bal !' (' Call on Hari ! ') so that her moans or 
 shrieks are drowned in the infernal din raised around 
 her. 
 
 "Just at this period of the proceedings is the dread- 
 ful moment when woman's courage has so often failed 
 her, and nature has proved too strong for fanaticism. 
 If not at once overwhelmed or suffocated, even 
 though she knows that her attempt to escape will be 
 resisted as a duty by her own friends, who would 
 regard her as an outcast, the victim not infrequently, 
 when left unbound, springs off the burning mass 
 among the spectators and piteously pleads for life. 
 Alas! it is too late; there is no mercy for her now. 
 She is at once struck down by a sword or a billet of 
 wood, and flung back again on the pile, her own son 
 
244 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 having been known to be one of the most forward to 
 tie her hands and feet for this purpose." 
 
 The Sati which followed the death of Ranift Singh, 
 in 1839, was the most gorgeous of recent times. It 
 was witnessed by all Lahore. A procession went from 
 the palace to the place of burning. First came the 
 body of the dead Maharaja, bedecked in jewels and 
 wrapped in the most costly Kashmir shawls. The 
 four Ranis, or Queens, followed in open palanquins, 
 and behind them the seven other wives on foot, some 
 of them less than fifteen years of age. After these 
 the members of the Court, State officials and soldiery. 
 The preliminary ceremonies having been performed, 
 the four Ranis mounted the pile, in the order of their 
 rank, and seated themselves at the head of the corpse, 
 the seven inferior wives forming a group round its 
 feet. All appeared to be perfectly calm and resigned. 
 The chief widow called her son, Dhulip Singh, and 
 the Minister to her, and placing the hand of the dead 
 Maharaja first in the hand of the heir, and then in 
 that of the Minister, required them to swear to mutual 
 faithfulness. A strong mat of reeds was then placed 
 over the women, and oil plentifully poured over it. 
 The light was applied, and in fifteen minutes the 
 twelve bodies were one heap of ashes and charred 
 bones. The remains were placed in urns and con- 
 vexed to the city, amid the greatest pomp and display. 
 The ceremony cost several millions of rupees, the 
 bulk of which fell to the Brahmans. 
 
TIIAGI. 
 
 245 
 
 So strong a hold upon the people had the institution 
 of Sati that the edicts of Akbar and Aurangzeb effected 
 little, if any, restraint upon the practice. The laws 
 put into force by the British Viceroys provided for the 
 severe punishment of any person aiding or abetting a 
 Sati. These measures, together with the strictest police 
 surveillance, entirely suppressed the public ceremony, 
 but the rite was carried on secretly, though with steady 
 diminution, for many years after Lord Bentinck's 
 regime. Indeed, it is said that within recent years 
 Sati has occurred in remote parts of the country. 
 
 India is probably the only land in which has existed 
 an hereditary class of murderers. Here the Thags 
 have been an organized body, devoted to the dreadful 
 vocation of strangling human beings, since time imme- 
 morial. The Thags themselves claim that their order 
 existed when the gods peopled the earth. They pre- 
 tend to adduce proof of divine approval for their 
 practices from the sculptures in the caves of Ellora. 
 There they assert that all the processes of the Thags, 
 or "deceivers," are depicted in the carvings; the 
 inveigler sitting on the same mat with the traveler and 
 striving to gain his confidence; stranglers and their 
 victims; the body being dragged to cover; and the 
 grave being dug for its reception. It is needless to 
 say that these are perfectly fanciful interpretations 
 of the sculptures in question. The south of India 
 was the stronghold of this tribe of miscreants, but 
 their organization extended over the whole country. 
 
246 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Originally Hindus of a peculiar caste, they gradually 
 admitted other castes to the order, and in the past two 
 centuries recruited largely among the Muhammadans. 
 While the name Thag, or Thug, is best known to 
 Europeans, the natives generally use the more signifi- 
 cant term, " Phunsigar," denoting a strangler. 
 
 Thagi is an hereditary calling and a secret order, 
 so secret in fact that not until 1800 did the British 
 suspect the existence of such an institution. When, 
 however, their eyes were once opened to the reality, 
 they set about the suppression of Thagi with vigor. 
 It was a difficult task, and slow of execution ; but, 
 although many ThagS are still alive, several years have 
 elapsed since the last act of Thagi was committed. 
 
 Some slight idea of the extent of the operations of 
 these professional murderers maybe gathered from the 
 results of the prosecutions instituted by the authorities 
 in the first half of the nineteenth century. Between 
 the years 182G and 1835, upwards of fifteen hundred 
 prisoners were tried for the crime of Thagi, and four- 
 teen hundred were convicted. These men had been 
 actively engaged in taking life for an average period 
 of fifteen years, and during that period each had dis- 
 posed of an average of thirty-five persons. However, 
 the number of ThagS actually discovered was a very 
 small proportion of the whole. 
 
 The particular patroness of the Thag.s is the goddess 
 Kali, who is supposed to be especially gratified by the 
 sacrifice of human life. Whilst the prospect of plun- 
 
THACJI. 
 
 247 
 
 der afforded a strong incentive for the practice of 
 Thagf, it Mas in very few cases the initiatory motive 
 In the groat majority of instances the Thag was 
 trained to the calling as a child, and followed it be- 
 cause his father had demo so, and because lie was 
 taught to regard murder as a religious duty. Some 
 justification for this idea was found in the Pur&nas, 
 which say with reference to Kali, "The blood of a lion 
 or a man will delight her appetite for a thousand years, 
 while by the blood of three men, slain in sacrifice, site 
 is pleased a hundred thousand years." 
 
 It was in the service of this amiable divinity that 
 for ages the Thag strangled his unsuspecting victim, 
 and the Hindu mother immolated her infant daughter. 
 
 The Thag child was initiated into the order by a 
 progressive course of tuition. At first he would be 
 taken with the gang upon a pony, as though the excur- 
 sion were for pleasure or trade, and carefully kept out 
 of the way when the tragic deed was done. After a 
 while he would be allowed to know that the party was 
 engaged in robbery, and would be permitted to share 
 in the proceeds. By slow degrees the awful nature of 
 the expeditious would be divulged to him, and by de- 
 grees he would pass through the various grades of 
 scout, sexton and inveigler, to the high and sacred 
 office of strangler. His admission to the last grade 
 was the occasion for a solemn feast and formal ceremo- 
 nies, when giir — sugar prepared in some peculiar and 
 secret manner — was given to the candidate. The 
 
248 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 effect of this giir is said to have been extraordinary. 
 Reproached with a more than usually atrocious mur- 
 der, a Thag replied, " We all feel pity sometimes, hut 
 the gtir changes our nature; it would change the 
 nature of a horse. Let any man taste of that gtir, 
 and he will be a Thag, though he know all the trades 
 and have all the wealth in the world. 1 never wanted 
 aught; my mother's family was opulent — her relations 
 high in office. I have been high in office myself, and 
 was sure of promotion; yet I was always miserable 
 when absent from my gang, and was obliged to return 
 to Thagi. My father made me taste of that fatal gtir 
 when I was yet a mere boy, and if I were to live a 
 thousand years I never should be able to follow any 
 other calling." 
 
 The Thag usually had some ordinary vocation, which 
 acted as a cloak to his principal pursuit. A Thag 
 expedition was always conducted upon the most 
 orderly system, and with the utmost precautions 
 against discovery. On these occasions a gang Mould 
 generally consist of from fifty to two hundred men — 
 and sometimes women — subdivided into parties of 
 ten or twenty. These parties would travel upon the 
 same road at intervals, or upon parallel routes, some- 
 times several miles apart. They were connected by 
 scouts, and always prepared to act in concert. They 
 
 readily assumed any disguise, from that 
 
 \t +! 
 
 t!k 
 
 wealthy merchant, traveling with an escort, to that 
 of a band of poor pilgrims. In those days travelers 
 
THAGI. 
 
 249 
 
 were almost always glad to augment the number of 
 their company as protection against the dangers of the 
 road. Thus a caravan, not over-confident in the 
 strength of its guard, would welcome the addition of 
 a band of strong-armed men, who happened to be 
 journeying in the same direction, as the body-guard 
 of an opulent zammdar. A band of Thags would 
 straggle into a village, singly or in small parties, and 
 pretend not to recognize oik; another. One of them 
 would worm his way into the confidence of some 
 traveler, and, feigning to be bound in the same direc- 
 tion, propose that they should seek others whose 
 route coincided with theirs, and arrange to journey 
 together for the sake of mutual protection. 
 
 A common artifice of the Thags is described by 
 Thevcnot in his account of a journey from Delhi to 
 Agra, in the middle of the seventeenth century : 
 "One may meet with tigers, panthers and lions; and 
 one had best also have a care of robbers, and, above 
 all, Thags, nor to suffer anybody to come near one 
 upon the road. The cunningest robbers in the world 
 are in that country. They use a certain slip, with a 
 running noose, which they can cast with so much 
 sleight about a man's neck, when they are within 
 reach of him, that they never fail; so that they 
 strangle him in a trice. They have another cunning 
 trick also to catch travelers with. They send out a 
 handsome woman upon the road, who, with her hair 
 disheveled, seems to be all in tears, sighing and com- 
 
250 
 
 INDfA. 
 
 plaining of some misfortune which she pretends has 
 befallen her. Now, as she takes the same way that 
 the traveler goes, he easily falls into conversation 
 with her, and finding her beautiful, oilers her his 
 assistance, which she accepts ; but he hath no sooner 
 taken her up behind him on horseback but she throws 
 the snare about his neck and strangles him, or at 
 least stuns him until the robbers, who lie hid, come 
 running to her assistance, and complete what she hath 
 begun." 
 
 When about to commit the act of strangulation, the 
 Thags contrived to range themselves one on each side 
 of the victim, and when there were several, the attack 
 was made on all simultaneously. The sash, or rumal, 
 was adroitly thrown over the head of the victim, and 
 one end passed to the confederate on the other side 
 and quickly drawn tight, when " in a trice" the confid- 
 ing traveler was in the convulsions of death. During 
 the enactment of this scene scouts were posted in 
 every direction to guard against surprise, and to 
 prevent the escape of any that might perchance 
 avoid the noose. The bodies were buried in deep 
 graves or thrown into wells. The latter practice led 
 to the discovery of several bands of Thags in the early 
 years of the nineteenth century. 
 
 In addition to the Thags who pursued their calling 
 upon the road, was a numerous class which made the 
 rivers the fields of their operations. They assumed 
 the guise of boatmen, and had the most inviting pas- 
 
TIIAGI. 
 
 251 
 
 sengcr boats at the ghats of various towns. Con- 
 federates, pretending to be respectable travelers, took 
 to the roads in the vicinity, and endeavored to draw 
 customers to their partners' crafts by tactics similar to 
 those employed by the invciglcrs upon the road. 
 Arrived at a favorable place on the river, the Thags 
 would set upon the genuine passengers, strangle them, 
 and having broken their spines as a precaution against 
 resuscitation, throw them overboard. The boat would 
 theu proceed to the next ghat, as though nothing 
 unusual had happened, first landing their inveiglers to 
 procure fresh victims. 
 
 Certain classes and castes were exempt from the 
 attacks of these miscreants. For instance, it was 
 deemed unlucky to kill washermen and poets, oil- 
 vendors and musicians, blacksmiths and carpenters, 
 Ganges water-carriers and maimed men. As a rule, 
 a Thag would not take the life of a woman, but where 
 the prospect of excessive booty neutralized their 
 repugnance to the act, Musalnnms were required to 
 perform the deed from which the Hindu Thag shrank. 
 The sacred cow brought immunity to its possessor, but 
 if he could be persuaded to part with it, which might 
 generally be accomplished by a liberal offer, he was 
 no longer considered a privileged person. 
 
 When an entire caravan, or party, of merchants 
 was murdered, the booty secured would often be 
 very large ; but usually the value of the property 
 obtained was comparatively small, and no apparent 
 
252 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 degree of poverty was n protection. In his confes- 
 sion, a Thag stated that the fact of having absolutely 
 nothing would exempt a man from attack, but the 
 possession of two pice — less than a cent — was sufficient 
 incentive to murder him. In dividing the proceeds 
 of a robbery, a portion was set apart for the raja 
 under whose protection the gang lived ; a portion was 
 assigned to religious purposes, and the remainder 
 divided among the members of the gang, according to 
 an established scale. 
 
 Doctor Spry thus describes the execution of a party 
 of Thags which he witnessed : 
 
 " The gibbets were temporary erections, marking 
 three sides of a square. The upright posts which 
 supported the cross-beams were firmly fixed in stone 
 masonry five feet in height. From either side of 
 these walls, foot-boards were placed, on which the un- 
 happy criminals were to land on reaching the top of 
 the ladder. The cross-beams were each provided 
 with ten running halters. As each hackery-load of 
 malefactors arrived, it was taken to the foot of the 
 respective ladders, and as one by one got out, he 
 mounted to the platform or foot-board. Their leg- 
 irons were not removed. 
 
 "All this time the air was pierced with the hoarse 
 and hollow shoutings of these wretched men. Each 
 man, as he readied the top of the ladder., stepped out 
 on the platform, and walked at once to a halter. 
 Without loss of time, he tried its strength by weighing 
 
THAGI. 
 
 253 
 
 Ilis whole body on it. Every one having by this 
 means proved the strength of his rope with his own 
 hands (for none of them was handcuffed), lie introduced 
 
 his head into the noose, drew the knot firmly home 
 behind the right ear, and, amid terrific cheers, jumped 
 off the board and launched himself into eternity. 
 
 " Thus, in the moment of death, we see a scrupu- 
 lous attention paid to the preservation of caste. To 
 wait to be hanged by the hand of a chumar was a 
 thought too revolting- for endurance. The name 
 would be disgraced forever, and therefore, rather 
 than submit to this degradation, every man hanged 
 himself." 
 
 Doctor Spry furnished certain British phrenologists 
 with some skulls of Thags. The result of the exami- 
 nations, which was published in the " Phrenological 
 Journal," is interesting, and coincides closely with the 
 deductions arrived at by those who had the oppor- 
 tunity to observe the characters of this peculiar 
 class. 
 
 "One peculiarity is, that destructiveness is not a 
 predominant organ in any of them ; and yet they an; 
 murderers. This fact, although it might appear to a 
 superficial observer in opposition to their character, is 
 in reality perfectly consistent with it. When destruc- 
 tiveness is the predominant organ in the head of an 
 individual, he delights in taking away life from 
 ' ruffian thirst for blood ' ; but the Thags murdered 
 obviously for the sake of robbing, and under the 
 
254 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 influence of other motives immediately to bo ex- 
 plained ; and, also, because they had been trained to 
 this mode of life from infancy. The skulls show that 
 combination of large organs of the animal propensi- 
 ties, with comparatively moderate organs of the moral 
 sentiments, which predisposes individuals to any mode 
 of self-gratification, without restraining them by 
 regard to the rights and welfare of others. The 
 Thags belong to the class of characters in which 
 would be placed the captains and crews of slave ships, 
 and also the more desperate among soldiers ; that is 
 to say, men who individually are not quite so prone 
 to cruelty that they would of themselves have em- 
 barked in a murderous enterprise unsolicited, but 
 who, when temptation is presented to them, feel little 
 or no compunction in yielding to it. Circumstances 
 more suitable for the cultivation of the lower feelings 
 and unfavorable for the strengthening of benevolence 
 and conscientiousness than those of the Thags it is 
 impossible to conceive ; even veneration and love of 
 approbation, which, when rightly directed, serve to 
 regulate the selfish feelings, are here rendered the 
 prompters of destructiveness and acquisitiveness.'' 
 Doctor Spry states that many boys go on the road as 
 Thags because their fathers did, and not from any 
 inherent ferocity of disposition. The influence of the 
 priests is very great in leading to the enormities 
 detailed by Doctor Spry. "Nor is it at all surprising 
 that the authority of men looked up to with awe for 
 
THAGI. 
 
 255 
 
 their promises of eternal felicity should be very 
 influential in giving life and vigor to the animal 
 propensities." 
 
 The love of approbation is a powerful stimulant to 
 the atrocities of the Thags. In a published letter. 
 Captain Sleeman, to whom was first entrusted the task 
 of suppressing Thagf, says, "After a man has passed 
 through the different grades, and shown that he has 
 acquired sufficient dexterity — or what we may call 
 nerve or resolution, and which they call ' hard-breasted - 
 ness ' — to strangle a victim himself, the priest on a 
 certain day, before all the gang assembled, before 
 they set out on their criminal expeditions, presents 
 him with the angocha or rumal (the handkerchief with 
 which the strangling is performed), tells him how to 
 use it, how much his friends expect from his courage 
 and conduct, and implores the goddess to vouchsafe 
 her support to his laudable ambition and endeavors 
 to distinguish himself in her service. The investiture 
 of the rumal is knighthood to these monsters; it is 
 the highest object of their ambition, not only because 
 the man who strangles has so much a head over and 
 above the share which falls to him in the division 
 of the spoils, but because it implies the recognition 
 by his comrades of the qualities of courage, strength 
 and dexterity, which all are anxious to be faint d 
 for." 
 
 If we inquire why the priests should have fostered 
 so abominable an institution as Thagi, we find the 
 
256 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 motive to be the same as in the case of Sati — unscru- 
 pulous avarice. In both cases the priests profited 
 directly and invariably by the crime. So they led the 
 widow to the pyre, or sent the Thag upon the road 
 with a benediction, and pocketed the price of blood 
 without compunction. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE HIMALAYAS, DARjfLING, KANCHANJANGA, 
 SENCHAL. 
 
 The railroad has brought the "hills," as the Anglo- 
 Indian styles the Himalayas, within twenty-four hours 
 of Calcutta, and the civilian from the capital can "run 
 up to Darjiling" with almost as much ease as the New 
 Yorker takes a trip to the Adirondacks. 
 
 Darjiling is due north of Calcutta about two hun- 
 dred and fifty miles. Half-way, a break is made at 
 the passage of the Ganges, a distance of thirteen 
 miles, by a steam ferry, or, in the dry season, over 
 temporary rails laid upon the sandy bed of the 
 river. Each bank is the terminus of a distinct rail- 
 way line, but so great are the fluvial changes that 
 it has been impracticable to establish permanent ter- 
 minal stations; indeed, the frequent variations in the 
 course of the river have necessitated corresponding 
 changes in the positions of the stations and reconstruc- 
 tion of tracks at great expense and inconvenience. At 
 Siligriri another distinct stage in the journey is reached. 
 This is a dividing line between opposite conditions, 
 things and people. Behind, the hot, Hat plains, and 
 Vol. 1.— 17 2o7 
 
258 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 the effete, impassible Bengali; before, the cool ridges 
 of the lower elevations of the Himalayan system and 
 the energetic, sensitive hillmen. From this point the 
 purple peaks of the highest elevations loom up above 
 the clouds, rising tier upon tier, in jagged light and 
 shadow, to the snow line. 
 
 The final fifty miles arc accomplished on the Hima- 
 layan Railway. A little train of lour or five open 
 cars, drawn by a diminutive engine, upon a two-foot 
 gauge, reminding one forcibly of a child's toy, makes 
 the arduous ascent to Darjiling in eight hours. 
 
 Before reaching the foot-hills the rail traverses the 
 Terai, that belt of fever-infested forest that defies the 
 attempts of man, be he native or European, to make 
 a settlement in it. Occasional clearings, with de- 
 serted tea plantations and collapsing bungalows, attest 
 to the futile efforts which have been made to gain a 
 footing here. The few sparse aboriginal tribes, which 
 share the deepest recesses of these forests with the 
 wild beasts, appear, however, to be immune to the 
 deadly Terai malaria. Time was when right royal 
 sport could be had in the Terai, especially over 
 towards the Nepal frontier. Before the advent of the 
 British shikari, the tiger's life in the forest districts 
 was one long round of almost uninterrupted festivity. 
 He levied contributions upon the villages without 
 check, and so easy and plentiful was the supply that 
 his predations ceased to be regulated by his needs, 
 and he learned to kill in pure wantonness. When at 
 
Railroad over Ghats — Khandalla 
 
THE HIMALAYAS. 
 
 259 
 
 length he became too old and fat and lazy to prey 
 upon the herds and flocks, he found easier victims 
 among the less subtle and active villagers themselves. 
 A single man-eater is known to have killed on an 
 average eighty persons a year (hiring a considerable 
 period. Another caused the inhabitants of thirteen 
 villages to abandon them, and to allow two hundred 
 and fifty square miles of cultivated land to relapse 
 into jungle. A third killed one hundred and twenty- 
 seven coolies employed in the construction of a public 
 road, and put a stop to the work until a distant 
 English magistrate found time to come out and deal 
 with him officially. 
 
 In the time of Sir Roger Martin, a famous man- 
 eater terrorized a large area of the Nepal Terai. He 
 once entered the hut of a Tarn, who dealt him such a 
 heavy blow on the forehead with an axe that the sear, 
 which he displayed ever afterwards, rendered his 
 identification an easy matter. The depredations of 
 this beast became so serious that Sir Roger deter- 
 mined to hunt him down. He shot forty-eight tigers 
 before he encountered " Le Balafre " himself, who 
 justified his reputation for ferocity by fighting to the 
 last breath. 
 
 The ascent is almost cliff-like in its abruptness. 
 From three hundred feet above sea-level the railway 
 climbs in the next thirty miles or so to an altitude of 
 seven thousand feet. In the course of a few hours 
 the climate passes through various gradations from 
 
2G0 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 tropical to almost frigid, with corresponding changes 
 in the vegetation and animal life. The train pro- 
 ceeds along the winding cart-road at the convenient 
 rate of eight or ten miles an hour. The tall, straight 
 sal, entwined about by bright-blossomed creepers, 
 stand thick upon the slopes, which are covered with a 
 dense foliage of ferns and vines. Parties of hill 
 people, small of stature and with Mongolian features, 
 pass, singing or chatting in animated fashion ; the 
 women in bright skirts and shawls, with, perhaps, an 
 infant suspended at the back in a basket, the weight 
 l)cing sustained by a strap which is passed across the 
 forehead. The men carry their burdens in a similar 
 manner. The plainsman's method of balancing his 
 load upon his head would be impracticable in these 
 rough mountain paths. Eagles and hawks circle 
 overhead, and now and again a startled monkey 
 or deer springs to fresh cover. Beautiful birds and 
 brilliant butterflies flit through the air. Wild flowers, 
 which here include orchids, begonias, cannas and 
 other species that in America are cultivated with 
 care, abound in these hills, and are lavishly used by 
 the peasantry for personal adornment. 
 
 Anon the (rain enters the temperate zone of the 
 mountain range. Oak, chestnut, maple, cherry, 
 willow and other familiar trees become prominent 
 features of the landscape. The extravagant under- 
 growth of the lower slopes gives place to grass and less 
 luxuriant vegctatiou. The strawberry and the rasp- 
 
DARJILING. 
 
 261 
 
 berry, the bramble and the brier, appear in company 
 with the homely weed. At Kurseong, five thousand 
 feet above sea-level, the tea belt i.s entered. The 
 clearings, with their symmetrical rows of shrubs, have 
 a strangely incongruous appearance in the midst of 
 nature so wild and unrestrained. 
 
 D&rjiling stands at an elevation of seven thousand 
 feet upon the summit of a ridge which projects into 
 an enormous valley of stupendous depth, along whose 
 bottom runs the Ranjit River, overshadowed by the 
 colossal ranks of the Himalayan peaks. It is essen- 
 tially a hill town; more so than Simla, because there the 
 infusion of natives from the plains is greater, and the 
 European is only a temporarily transplanted city man ; 
 but here the Englishman, by constant residence, imbibes 
 something of the air and manner of the mountaineer, 
 and the native inhabitants are true sons of the hills — 
 brawny and buoyant, bright-eyed and quick of speech. 
 It is a very complete little town, too, with its churches 
 and convents, missions and schools, hospitals and 
 sanitariums, public buildings and theatre, markets 
 and bazaars, cricket ground and lawn tennis courts. 
 
 The cantonment and depot for convalescent soldiers 
 are at Jalapahar, in the southern section, adjoining the 
 territory of the Raja of Bard wan. Twenty-five 
 years ago the raja was a thoroughly Anglicised 
 young fellow, fresh from Oxford, who created a sensa- 
 tion in Calcutta by importing the first coaching turn- 
 out that had been seen in the city. 
 
2G2 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 The great Bazaar in the middle of the town pre- 
 sents an attractive picture, full of life and color on 
 Sunday, which is a kind of gala day with the natives 
 hereabouts. Its streets are well nigh choked with 
 the mass of mixed humanity that fills them. Here 
 are almost as many different types of the human 
 race as one will find in the busy marts of the plain 
 cities, and representatives of races that are seldom 
 seen away from their native hills. 
 
 They come from the neighboring- hamlets in thou- 
 sands, tricked out in all the finery of gorgeous cloth- 
 ing and massive jewelry. These people turn all their 
 money into gold and silver ornaments, and hang them 
 upon their women. When rupees are not used to 
 purchase ornaments, they are strung together and 
 converted into a necklace; so that one will sometimes 
 see a Nepali woman with forty or fifty rupees 
 around her neck. Her husband is a bright, sturdy, 
 gesticulating, talkative little fellow who works well, 
 and earns good wages on a tea plantation. In strik- 
 ing contrast to the last is the subdued and mclancholy- 
 looking Lepcha, whose lean form, timid bearing 
 and long, plaited hair convey an impression of 
 effeminacy which is not altogether foreign to the 
 truth. Perhaps he is saddened by the latter-day 
 invasion of his native country, bringing with it a life 
 tr.o strenuous and too artificial for Ins indolent, nature- 
 loving disposition. He has brought to market some 
 butterflies and orchids, or, it may be, honey, and he 
 
DARJILING. 
 
 2G3 
 
 will return to his jungle haunts with a supply of the 
 salt which is his greatest necessity. A very different 
 type is the swash-buckling Bhotiya, muscular and 
 
 intractable, whose women are almost as big-boned 
 and ill-featured as himself. The Tibetan is very 
 much in evidence, with his pigtail, Chinese hat and 
 tunic, the sleeves always turned back to show the 
 contrasting lining. Numbers of them dash about on 
 their brawny little ponies, which somewhat resemble 
 the shaggy Shetland. Here and there one sees a 
 lama, in cherry-colored gown and conical cap, with 
 rosary in one hand and prayer-wheel in the other, 
 mumbling his interminable Ave, which takes the form 
 of "Hail to the jewel in the lotus!" These are 
 what may be called the indigenous types, but there 
 is a sprinkling of foreign elements: Pars! shopkeepers, 
 Kabul! and Kashmiri traders, Madras! and Bengali 
 servants, and Marwari baniyas. An infinite variety 
 of goods are exposed for sale in the shops and stalls, 
 and upon the ground along every approach to the 
 Bazaar. It is curious to see "Oriental" designs in 
 Manchester muslins and Birmingham bangles selling 
 in the land of their origin. The sight conveys an 
 obvious moral. 
 
 In the cemetery near by is a tomb erected by the 
 Asiatic Society of Bengal over the remains of the 
 heroic Hungarian Csoma, who devoted his brief life 
 to the effort of discovering the original home of his 
 race in Central Asia. A penniless youth, he made 
 
2G4 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 his way on foot through Asia Minor to Tibet, suffer- 
 ing extraordinary hardships meanwhile. lie passed 
 several years in the seclusion of a Tibetan monastery, 
 engaged in the compilation of his great Dictionary 
 and Grammar of the Tibetan language, a masterly 
 work which will perpetuate his name. 
 
 The chief, indeed almost the sole industry of 
 Darjiling, is the cultivation of tea. The plant is not 
 indigenous to India, although early travelers mistook 
 a somewhat similar shrub for it. The tea plant, 
 which belongs to the species Cainelia, grows wild in 
 Assam, where it sometimes attains the dimensions of 
 a large tree, and whence it is believed to have found 
 its way into China at a remote date. After the 
 annexation of Assam, the scientific culture of the 
 plant was commenced in that country under Govern- 
 ment supervision, and in 1839 the Assam Tea Com- 
 pany, which is at present the largest in British India, 
 was formed. In 1855 tea culture was introduced to 
 Darjiling, where there are now two hundred planta- 
 tions, covering fifty thousand acres of ground, and 
 producing over eight millions of pounds of the 
 finished leaf annually. The success of this experi- 
 ment led to the introduction of the plant to other 
 parts of India; but it is not believed that all the 
 localities suitable to its growth have yet been tried. 
 A ready market at profitable figures is found for all 
 the tea that the Indian gardens can produce, and 
 large areas are now in cultivation in widely scattered 
 
DARJILING. 
 
 260 
 
 territories — "at the head of the Bay of Bengal ; in 
 Chittagong District; side by side with coffee on the 
 Neilgberri Hills; on the forest-clad slopes of Chutia 
 Nagpurj amid the low-lying jungle of the Bhutan 
 Dw&rg, and even in Arakan." The comparatively 
 recent failure of the coffee crops in Ceylon led the 
 planters to turn their attention to tea, the production 
 of which is now a thriving industry of the island. 
 In 1 890— '91 the exports of tea by sea from India 
 amounted to 110,194,819 pounds, valued at Rx5,504,- 
 293, which figures take no account of the large 
 quantity consumed in the country, and the consider- 
 able amount carried over caravan routes. 
 
 Three distinct varieties of the tea plant are culti- 
 vated in India. Assam produces a high-priced 
 leaf, yielding a strong liquor ; but which is 
 difficult to raise. China, originally imported from 
 that country, is a low, bushy shrub, very dis- 
 similar in appearance to the tree-like plant of 
 Assamese origin. Its leaf compares unfavorably 
 with that of the latter in the matter of strength and 
 out-turn per acre. The third variety is a hybrid 
 produced by crossing the two other species. It 
 combines the properties and characteristics of both 
 in modified degrees, and being susceptible of the best 
 results commercially, is in greatest favor with the 
 planter. 
 
 The best soil for the growth of the plant is virgin 
 forest land, rich in the decomposed vegetable waste of 
 
2GG 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 ages, so lying that the tropical torrents will neither 
 wash away the fertile deposit, nor stand upon it. 
 
 The Darj fling plantations have an elevation com- 
 manding a temperate climate, and a situation sheltered 
 by the Himalayan ranges from the cold blasts of the 
 north. On the summit of the slope is the neat 
 bungalow of the planter, consisting of one story, 
 surrounded by a veranda, and thatched and white- 
 washed. Below are the quarters of the coolies, and 
 the garden, with its shrubs arranged in Hues of 
 mathematical precision. 
 
 When new land is brought under cultivation, the 
 jungle is cut down in December, and burned on the 
 spot two months later. The ground is then harrowed, 
 and staked out for the seedlings at a distance of four 
 feet apart. The plant is invariably raised from a 
 seed, which in bulk and general appearance resembles 
 a hazel-nut. The seed is sown in carefully prepared 
 soil during the months of December and January, 
 and the young plants are reared under shade. From 
 April until July the process of transplanting is carried 
 on. During the first two years the chief labor on 
 the plantation is directed toward killing the weeds, 
 which vigorously contest possession of the soil with 
 the young plant. As the shrubs grow older, it 
 becomes necessary to prune them liberally each 
 autumn. The cuttings are deposited round the roots 
 to serve as manure. The plants begin to yield in 
 their third year, and increase year by year in pro- 
 
DA KJ I LING. 
 
 267 
 
 duction until their tenth season. The different 
 varieties of leaf are not, as is commonly believed, 
 the growth of different varieties of the shrub, but 
 are pickings from the same plant at different times, 
 and under different conditions. These pickings, called 
 " Hushes," consist of successive buds, flowers and 
 leaves, which make their first appearance with the 
 advent of the rainy term. 
 
 The productive season, which extends from March 
 to November, is counted upon for six or seven full 
 flushes of leaf. The bushes are picked by women 
 and children, and the leaves carried to the factory, 
 where the process of manufacture is immediately 
 commenced. The leaves are spread loosely upon 
 trays, or mats, to " wither." This preliminary process 
 may be completed in twelve or fourteen hours within 
 the building, but sometimes it becomes necessary to 
 expose the leaf to the sun or to artificial heat. The 
 next operation consists of twisting, or compressing, 
 the leaves into a spherical form, which is effected 
 generally by machinery, but sometimes by manual 
 labor. The fermentation, which has been set up 
 during the process of "rolling," is now arrested by 
 diving, usually performed through the medium of 
 machinery. Under ordinary conditions less than 
 five hours will have elapsed from the time that the 
 leaves were withered until they are ready for the 
 hand sieves. In this, the final stage of actual manu- 
 facture, the output is sorted into the various grades, 
 
2G8 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 ranging in order of value from Flowery Pekoe to 
 Broken Congou, after which it only remains to pack 
 the tea in chests for shipment. 
 
 The tea planters have to contend with a blight, 
 which sometimes shrivels up the leaf upon the shrub. 
 This is due to parasitical insects, which suck the sap 
 from the young plants. More than once an invasion 
 of locusts has swept over the district, leaving the 
 plants bare. They swarm in myriads, obscuring the 
 sun, and covering the ground in places two or three 
 inches deep. The ' !X epulis deem the insect a great 
 luxury, and eat it raw. 
 
 In 1889 a plague of locusts occurred. The insects 
 overspread the whole of India, doing immense damage 
 to the crops. Every possible means was employed 
 to check their devastations, and rewards were offered 
 for their extermination. At one station alone twenty- 
 two tons of them were killed in a single day. 
 
 Darjiling is on the border of Sikkim, where the 
 Himalayas present their grandest aspects, and where 
 the most favorable view-points are available. Mount 
 Everest is about one hundred and fifty miles distant; 
 but nowhere can a good view of that, the highest 
 mountain in the world, be obtained, on account of 
 the cluster of lofty peaks which closely beset it. 
 Kanchanjanga lies forty miles due north of Darjiling, 
 and its height, is not diminished, nor its individuality 
 impaired, in the same manner. If one considers the 
 difficulty in viewing a modern office building from a 
 
HH 
 
 Panorama of Darjiling 
 

 
 |^H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -SI 
 
 £^VaFal ^^BoSfff'-^A N \^n&/i^H 
 
KANCIIANJANGA. 
 
 269 
 
 point within two or three blocks of its base, it will 
 readily be understood that forty miles is a favorable 
 distance from which to survey a five-mile elevation. 
 Senchal, which is fifteen hundred feet higher than 
 Darjiling, is the most convenient station for the 
 spectator. The panorama embraces a score, or more, 
 of peaks exceeding twenty thousand feet in height, 
 with Mount Everest away over at the western point 
 of the spur, which runs at right angles to the range 
 containing Kanchanjanga. 
 
 Major Waddell gives a fine description of this hoary 
 giant as he appeared at the dawn of a clear day : 
 
 "Far away in the yet dusky sky, and at an amazing 
 height, a rosy peak flashed forth for an instant, and 
 vanished into the darkness. This was the summit 
 of Kanchen-junga. It reappeared almost immedi- 
 ately, and brighter than before, in the rising glow of 
 dawn, which, reflected from peak to peak, streamed 
 down the lower pinnacles, bathing them in a soft, 
 rosy light that faded quickly away into cold, bluish 
 gray, and left the snowy ranges a sea of dull sapphire 
 peaks. Then, as the sun shot up with its first long, 
 low beams glinting on the highest, and then in quick 
 succession on the lower, peaks, these dim blue crests 
 and crags leaped forward, tipped with ruddy gold 
 and splashed with fire, which, as the sun rose higher 
 and higher, melted away in the distance into amber 
 and frosted silver against a turquoise sky. In the 
 full flood of sunlight these snows lost most of their 
 
270 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 broad details of light and shade, and presented an 
 almost uniform chalky whiteness through the pearly 
 haze. Not a cloud obscured the view. Snowy 
 mountains stretched round almost half the horizon, 
 culminating in the mighty mass of Kanchen-junga, 
 with its thirteen thousand feet of everlasting snow, 
 and Everest in the background. 
 
 " From this latter peak, rising on our left over 
 the dark shoulder of Sandookphu, the crowning 
 range of snowy pyramids extends almost continuously 
 eastward to Janoo and Kabroo (25,000 and 24,015 
 feet respectively) on the flanks of Kanchen-junga 
 (28,150 feet), and thence far away to the silvery cone 
 of the Tibetan Choomo-ilha-ri (23,940 feet), and sinks 
 in the eastern snows of Bhotan on the extreme right. 
 It was sublime !" 
 
 " Northwards soared 
 The stainless ramps of huge Himala's wall, 
 Ranged in white ranks against the blue — untrod, 
 Infinite, wonderful — whose uplands vast, 
 And lifted universe of crest and crag, 
 Shoulder and shelf, green slope and icy horn, 
 Riven ravine and splintered precipice, 
 Led climbing thought higher and higher, until 
 It seemed to stand in heaven and speak with God. 
 Beneath the snows, dark forests spread, sharp laced 
 With leaping cataracts and veiled with clouds; 
 Lower grew rose, oaks and the great fir groves, 
 Where echoed pheasants' call and panthers' cry, 
 Clatter of wild sheep on the stones, and scream 
 Of circling eagles. Under these, the plain 
 Gleamed like a prayer-carpet at the foot 
 Of these divinest altars." 
 
KANCIIANJANGA. 
 
 271 
 
 " The vastness of this view — vast beyond that of 
 any other spot of earth, perhaps — is almost oppres- 
 sive. In every direction the eye, as it sweeps the 
 horizon, traverses some hundreds of miles of the earth's 
 surface ; and from the deep gulf of the silvery Ranjit 
 River, flowing seven thousand feet beneath our feet, 
 great masses of dark, forest-clad mountains rise tier 
 over tier, carrying the eye up to the majestic snows, 
 with the graceful Kanehen-junga, towering up twenty- 
 seven thousand feet above the river, in the foreground. 
 Thus, at one glance, we see an elevation of the earth's 
 surface of considerably over five miles in vertical height. 
 As if we were to imagine Mont Blanc rearing its lull 
 height abruptly from the seashore, bearing upon its 
 summit Ben Nevis — the highest mountain in Great 
 Britain — and, above all that, two Snowdons, one on 
 the top of the other, and were able with one glance 
 to take in all these four superposed mountains. 
 
 " The surpassing height of these Himalayas may 
 be realized by comparison with the peaks of the Alps 
 of Europe. None of the latter peaks exceed 15,780 
 feet, and only six or seven are above 14,000 feet; 
 while the Himalayas have several peaks over 28,000 
 feet, and more than eleven hundred which have been 
 measured exceed 20,000 feet. 
 
 '• So enormous indeed is this great projecting mass 
 of the Himalayas that physicists have shown, not 
 only that it draws the plumb-line considerably 
 towards it, but that it so attracts the sea as to pull the 
 
272 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 latter several hundred feet up its sides. Yet this 
 fact is so little generally known that most sea captains 
 would stare were you to tell them that in coming 
 from Ceylon to Calcutta they had been actually 
 sailing up hill !" 
 
 The scene thus described at length does not at 
 first impress itself in all its fullness upon the beholder. 
 The eve and the mind must become to some extent 
 accustomed to the wonderful sight before its grandeur 
 and immensity are adequately appreciated. Then, 
 again, the varying atmospheric conditions distort 
 perspectives, veil certain features, or throw them into 
 high relief, and create constantly changing aspects. 
 
 The impression created by these stupendous peaks 
 from a distance is suggestive of peaceful stillness and 
 silence. This, however, is the reverse of their actual 
 condition. Mr. Hoffman, who ascended Kanchan- 
 janga to a height of 17,500 feet, mentions the danger 
 his party incurred from " the huge stones that were 
 continually falling from the glaciers." He states that 
 " the rumbling noise of the avalanches and the crash- 
 ing of falling rocks never cease." 
 
 Turning with the inevitable tendency of the West- 
 ern mind to look for signs of civilization and com- 
 merce, one sees on every hand along the lower ranges, 
 clearings devoted to cultivation, populous villages 
 and thriving marts of trade — all connected by roads 
 or mountain paths, constructed with great labor and 
 difficulty and subjected to the danger of landslides. 
 
KANCHANJANtiA. 
 
 273 
 
 Here, where a population exceeding a quarter of a 
 million finds profitable; employment, in an environ- 
 ment favorable to health and comfort, sixty years ago 
 Mas an uninterrupted expanse of wild forests unin- 
 habited by man. 
 
 At intervals an avalanche will occur of such tremen- 
 dous proportions as to change the configuration of a 
 large area of country. Major Waddell cites an in- 
 stance : " The whole side of a great mountain, that 
 towered above us about three miles to our left, had 
 broken away and come thundering down some six 
 years ago; and the rocky avalanche had covered the 
 valley for many miles with its debris, and buried sev- 
 eral miles of forest quite out of sight, leaving only a 
 fringe of splintered pines projecting from its borders. 
 The enormous mass of these fallen rocks had thrust 
 the river to the opposite side of the valley, over a mile 
 out of its course, and had dammed up its waters there, 
 forming a lake. This is a common way in which 
 lakes are formed in the Himalayas. Instances of it 
 are to be found in the ease of the lacustrine valley of 
 Nepal, and in the lake of Naini Tal, and in the tills 
 or lakes in its vicinity. And such lakes thus sud- 
 denly formed, and having at their outfall no rocky 
 barriers in situ, are subject to quite as sudden disap- 
 pearance. T myself witnessed how this occurred when 
 traveling in the Northwestern Himalayas in 1882. 
 On the night of the 23d of August of that year, the 
 sudden pressure of water from the flood of an excessive 
 Vol. I.— IS 
 
274 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 rainfall burst through the outfall dam of Blum Till, 
 whose waters rushed down the valley, sweeping away 
 stretches of the forest, and when I saw the lake early 
 next morning its level had fallen over twenty feet, 
 leaving the greater part of its bed a muddy plain." 
 
 The forest of Rang-iroon, on the northern slopes of 
 Senchal, is typical of the Himalayan forest where it is 
 undisturbed by the native cultivator or the European 
 planter. " It stretches for several hundreds of square 
 miles, more or less continuously, from the top of Sen- 
 chal down to the upper limits of cultivation, at about 
 six thousand feet. Its giant oaks, chestnuts and mag- 
 nolias are thickly draped with moss and wreaths of 
 aerial orchids, ferns and festooning climbers and para- 
 sitic plants, which hang in great tufts and pendants, 
 waving over the blue hydrangeas of the undergrowth. 
 Some of the branches of these trees are perfect gar- 
 dens in themselves. In the soft drapery of moist 
 moss that thickly clothes these branches, and in the 
 beds of fine mould from the decaying leaves that fill 
 their crevices, are to be found not only luxuriant clus- 
 ters of exquisite orchids and many kinds of other 
 epiphytic plants, but even large, woody shrubs and 
 evergreens, with a variety of flowers and foliage. A 
 gorgeous feature of the forest at this season is the 
 blaze of crimson blossoms of the Magnolia Campbelli, 
 a tree which has just flowered for the first time in 
 Europe. Here, in its home, it is a forest monarch, 
 over eighty feet high, and its huge flowers, like those 
 
KANG-IROON. 
 
 to 
 
 of the cotton tree below, appear curiously on its bare 
 branches before the leaves. White magnolias also 
 abound, scenting the air with their fragrance. Deli- 
 cately pink hydrangeas eighteen to twenty feet high 
 are common, and ferns are so numerous that over 
 sixty species may be found along this forest road 
 within a few miles. The number and variety of 
 orchids is remarkable. Two hundred and fifty differ- 
 ent kinds Mere found by Hooker in the Khasia Hills. 
 Another beautiful native of these mountains is the 
 rhododendron, whose flowers take on every hue, from 
 bright vermilion to milky white, and whose form 
 varies from the oak-like tree to the bushy shrub com- 
 monly found in American gardens." 
 
 At the elevation of thirteen thousand feet, which the 
 bamboo and kindred grasses do not reach, trees cease 
 to figure in the landscape, and grass becomes scarce; 
 but there are numbers of flowers, including the Edel- 
 weiss in abundance, and ample evidence that in the 
 summer the uplands must be covered with a profusion 
 of brilliant blossoms. The wild rhubarb grows at an 
 elevation of fifteen thousand five hundred feet. In this, 
 its natural habitat, it attains a height of four feetorover. 
 
 The line of perpetual snow is from fifteen thousand 
 to eighteen thousand feet above sea level. The snow 
 lies throughout the winter to about ten thousand feet, 
 but it seldom lasts for more than a few days at lower 
 ranges, although it falls amongst these mountains as 
 low down as six thousand feet. 
 
276 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Of course, snakes are plentiful in the forests. They 
 are of a great many varieties, some being quite harm- 
 Less. The most deadly are the cobra, the krait and 
 the little mountain viper. The hillmen add their 
 yearly quota to the total tally of the deaths from 
 snake-bites in India. The cobra di capello accounts 
 for the majority of these. This name was given to it 
 by the Portuguese on account of the hoodlike erection 
 it is able to produce by the expansion of the skin at 
 the back of the head. It is from three to four feet in 
 length and about four inches round the thickest part. 
 It has a small, flat head, covered on the forepart with 
 large, smooth scales. The upper portion of the cobra 
 is light brown, and its belly a bluish-white color, 
 tinged with light brown or yellow. The bite of a 
 mature cobra, if nothing intercepts the complete injec- 
 tion of the poison, is incurable. 
 
 It is believed that snakes kill over twenty thousand 
 people in India every year, despite the efforts of the 
 Government to mitigate the evil. Rewards have been 
 offered for the destruction of poisonous serpents, but 
 without very satisfactory results, although half a mil- 
 lion and more have been killed in a year. It is 
 found that a large proportion of Hindus hold the 
 cobra sacred, and decline to harm it, even when it 
 has been the cause of death to their cattle or children. 
 In eases where no religious scruples exist against destroy- 
 ing the reptiles, natives have been known to breed them, 
 in order to gain the reward with a minimum labor. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE HIMALAYAS, SIKKIM, NEPAL. 
 
 Darjilixg is the terminus of the routes of ordi- 
 nary travel toward the north. Few Europeans have 
 penetrated into the mountains of Sikkim. The diffi- 
 culties and dangers of this wild region are nearly as 
 great as they were when Hooker explored it, forty 
 years ago. Since then, however, the Tibetans have 
 learned a little more respect for the British, and there 
 is now no likelihood of the traveler being molested or 
 imprisoned, as were Hooker, Campbell and many 
 others, so long as he is careful not to cross the border. 
 The Tibetans are extremely suspicious of any incur- 
 sion to their territory, and guard the passes jealously. 
 A foreigner, black or white, who is discovered within 
 their boundaries will be fortunate if nothing worse 
 befalls him than rough and speedy deportation. There 
 are banditti in the hills of Sikkim, but past experience 
 has taught them that the white man, armed, is a host 
 in himself, and his pack coolies are generally protected 
 by a sufficient guard. 
 
 The people inhabiting the mountains and upland 
 valleys of Sikkim are of Tibetan origin. Even the 
 
 277 
 
278 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Lepchas, who are regarded as aborigines, came from 
 the same source. A degraded form of Bhuddism is 
 the universal religion. All are demon-worshipers, 
 and it is little to be wondered at when one considers 
 the awful aspects of Nature and the fearful phenomena 
 with which they are acquainted. There is not a town 
 in the whole State, the capital being no more than a 
 village of inconsiderable size. In a great part of the 
 country the climate forces the inhabitants to seek 
 different levels with their flocks as the seasons change, 
 and in this way they traverse long distances each 
 year. 
 
 Although it is beyond the beaten tracks of travel — 
 perhaps largely on that account — Sikkim is one of the 
 most interesting regions within the confines of British 
 India. Its scenery, its animal and vegetable life, and 
 its peoples, have no counterparts in the peninsula. No 
 doubt the chief deterrent to travel in this country is 
 the great expense and trouble involved by it. Almost 
 all the food to be consumed must be carried ; for 
 little, and even that is uncertain, can be obtained in 
 the interior. Indeed, it is necessary to establish com- 
 missariat depots in advance along the route. Tents, 
 bedding, cooking utensils and a number of other 
 necessary articles of equipment must be provided ; 
 and all this mass of baggage has to be carried upon 
 the backs of porters, for the roads are so few and so 
 bad, that no other method of transportation is prac- 
 ticable. In fact, the usual means of crossing a river 
 
SIKKIM. 
 
 270 
 
 is a cane suspension bridge, difficult for a man and 
 utterly impossible for a beast of burden. 
 
 Major Waddell, whose graphic description of his 
 journeyings "Among the Himalayas" has been 
 freely drawn upon, thus describes the passage of the 
 Tusta: "Spanning the yawning chasm, about three 
 hundred feet wide, in whose depths the mighty river 
 thundered along, sixty or eighty feet beneath us, in 
 leaping waves, dashing over great boulders of gneiss 
 the size of cottages, and scattering clouds of spray, 
 and hurling uprooted trees like matchwood, this frail, 
 rickety structure seemed by aspect and surroundings 
 to suggest the horrors ascribed by the ancients to the 
 knife-edge bridge over the Styx. And we had to 
 cross it somewhat after the manner of Blondin on the 
 slack rope. Here, however, we had the doubtful 
 advantage of a loosely knotted rope of strips of 
 rotten cane to clutch hold of; for the bridge is formed 
 of two suspended ropes of cane thrown across the 
 gorge, and their ends are lashed to rocks and trunks 
 of trees in the neighborhood ; and between these, two 
 parallel ropes, and tied from the one rope to the other, 
 at intervals of a yard or so, arc suspended bits of 
 cane, forming V-shaped slings ; aud in the narrow 
 angle of these V-slings is laid a line of bamboos, end 
 to end, on which you have to find your footing. It is 
 like walking on a rope ; for between the slings it is 
 all open on both sides, and as you cross you swing 
 in mid-air. ... I almost shudder even now to think 
 
280 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 of that awful passage. The instant you step on these 
 bridges they recoil from you, and swing and shake in 
 an alarming way, rolling from side to side, and pitch- 
 ing with every step you take, like a ship in a storm. 
 They swerve with a sudden jerk every time you lift 
 your foot, not only sideways and longways, but also 
 downwards and forwards, as your weight depresses 
 the bridge, until you pass the middle, when the oscil- 
 lating structure kicks up after you as you ascend. So, 
 seizing the two suspension cables, one in either hand, 
 for a railing, you have to work your way across this 
 jerky, swinging, shaking, writhing thing. On clear- 
 ing the bank, the instant you look down to see where 
 to place your feet, the rush of leaping water in the 
 deeply sunk torrent beneath you gives you the giddy 
 sensation that both you and the bridge are running 
 swiftly up stream. Yet, without looking down, how 
 is it possible to see the single bamboo overhanging 
 the abyss, and on which you must find your shaky 
 footing, and to miss which means certain death ? 
 
 " Hitherto the line of bamboos had been tied end 
 to end, but now, as I stepped on to the next one, it 
 tilted up, and I could see that most of those in front 
 were also lying loose and disjointed in their widely- 
 separated A"-slings, and some also of these slings were 
 loosened and others wanting. I had to take darting, 
 furtive peeps at the slippery, creaking bamboo, and 
 alter each step F had to half close my eyes for an 
 instant to counteract the giddy feeling of the upward 
 
SI K KIM. 
 
 281 
 
 rush of the bridge. Ah, it was a creepy, ghastly 
 feeling ! One false step meant instant death in the 
 raging gulf below. Still there was a fascination in it 
 all — suspended at that giddy height over the rushing, 
 swirling waters far beneath, the unceasing, deafening 
 roar, the bold, rocky banks and the rainbow tints of 
 the clouds of spray rising from the boiling abyss 
 below." 
 
 There are but a few weeks in the year when this 
 region is accessible to the traveler — from the middle 
 of September to the middle of November. Before 
 the latter date, snow begins to fall, and soon the 
 uplands and passes are inaccessible ; from May to 
 September heavy rain falls almost incessantly, forming 
 innumerable torrents and causing landslides. 
 
 The lower ranges, where Nature is bountiful and 
 the climate comparatively mild, are inhabited by the 
 Lepchas, whose great divergence in character from 
 their Tibetan ancestors is doubtless due to the softer 
 environment. The Lepeha is under the average 
 height, supple and muscular as a necessary conse- 
 quence of the life he leads, happy in his native hills, 
 among the rich abundance of animal and vegetable 
 life. He knows Nature like a book. Not a flower 
 nor plant, not a bird nor beast of the great varieties 
 to be found among his hills and dales, is strange to 
 him. He will imitate the call of a bird or the cry of 
 an animal so as to deceive its kind. In meeting the 
 difficulties and dangers of the forest, he displays 
 
282 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 wonderful courage and resource. His disposition is 
 gentle, indolent, affectionate, sensitive, subdued almost 
 to melancholy, and his temper serene and equable 
 under all conditions. He is a born naturalist, and an 
 excellent guide. Superstitious, romantic and fanciful, 
 his mind is full of strange legends and poetic tales 
 that relate to the mountains and rivers and birds and 
 beasts he loves so well. 
 
 A Lepcha dwelling consists of a rude hut elevated 
 on posts, and reached by way of a notched log of 
 wood. The entire structure is made of bamboos upon 
 a framework of logs. Although they raise small 
 crops of maize, barley and rice, they are not by any 
 means dependent upon these for their food. The 
 jungle yields wild fruits and edible plants in plenty, 
 and they look to it to supply all their wants, with 
 the single exception of salt. 
 
 The housewife spins the fibre of the nettle into a 
 durable fabric, and dyes it with the juice of the 
 madder. Her household utensils are derived from 
 the same source ; in fact, everything these people need 
 is ready at hand in Nature's storehouse. The Lepcha 
 wife is the head of the family. She is held in high 
 esteem, and her children trace their descent through 
 her, and not through their father. She has but one 
 husband, unlike her Sikkimese neighbor, who may 
 have half a dozen. Among the Sikkimese Tibetans 
 a peculiar species of fraternal polyandry is universal, 
 and its practice includes the royal family. The 
 
SIKKIM. 
 
 283 
 
 present Queen is married, not only to the King, but 
 at the same time to his brother. The wife of a Sik- 
 kimese is also the wife of his younger brothers, but 
 not of those older than himself. 
 
 Where, on the plains of India, one would find a 
 roadside idol, carved from a tree stump or rudely 
 moulded in clay, here one sees a stick or pole, with a 
 number of rags fluttering from the top of it. Each 
 passer-by tears a shred from his clothing, and adds 
 his contribution to the propitiatory offerings thus 
 made to the malignant demons who infest the forests 
 and the mountain recesses. Meanwhile hundreds of 
 prayer-wheels and barrels are manufacturing petitions 
 for the safety of these intensely superstitious moun- 
 taineers. The most effective of these devices for the 
 mechanical production of vicarious prayers is an enor- 
 mous wooden drum operating automatically by water 
 power, on the principle of the mill wheel, and per- 
 forming its pious service unceasingly day and night. 
 
 Monasteries and temples are scattered about in the 
 most out-of-the-way places. The ritual and the reli- 
 gion of the priests is a queer mixture of Buddhism 
 and demon-worship. Animals are frequently sacri- 
 ficed, and menaeing images set up. The services are 
 interrupted at intervals to allow the priests to partake 
 of refreshments in the presence of the congregation. 
 
 It is no uncommon thing to meet upon the road 
 one of the so-called lamas with a prayer-wheel in 
 one hand and a bamboo jug, filled with the murwar 
 
284 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 beer of the country, in the other. He will stroll 
 along, placidly muttering the monotonous "Om 
 nmnn/' etc., interrupting the utterance every few 
 minutes to take a sip of the liquid through a reed. 
 This beer is the national beverage, and to a great 
 extent the national food. It is drunk by men, women 
 and children, in all places and at all times. It is a 
 fermented brew from the millet seed, to which hot 
 water is added. It is mild, and has a pleasant, sweet- 
 ish acid taste. 
 
 The Sikkimese drink very little tea, and what they 
 do use is the brick-tea of China, which, after being 
 brought through the passes by yak caravans, and 
 carried to Darjilingon men's hacks — a journey occupy- 
 ing eight months — is sold at a price below that of the 
 lowest grades of the Indian leaf. The bricks, how- 
 ever, are composed of nothing more than stalks, 
 sweepings and compressed dust. 
 
 The dominant people of Sikkim are the Bhotiyas. 
 The King belongs to this race, and his wife, like the 
 consorts of most of his ancestors, is a woman of Tibet. 
 The twelve Kazis, or provincial rulers, are Bhotiyas, 
 as well as all the principal officers of the State. 
 
 The Bhotiya differs widely from the Lepcha in 
 physical and mental characteristics, although they have 
 a common ancestry. The former are tall, strong and 
 energetic. They retain the rough brutality of the 
 Tibetans, from whom they sprung. They are moun- 
 taineers by birth and instinct, and are seldom content 
 
SIKKIM. 
 
 285 
 
 to live upon the plains. They dress, like the Lepchas, 
 in the long, homespun plaid, descending to the knee; 
 but, whereas the Lepcha only wears a hat on festive 
 occasions, and then a high-crowned article made of 
 cane, the Bhotiya adheres to the felt Tibetan cap of 
 Chinese pattern. Both retain the Mongolian pig-tail, 
 and display the Mongolian characteristic of a beard- 
 less face. The Lepcha carries a bow and arrow, the 
 latter frequently poisoned ; the Bhotiya has a sword 
 and dagger, and occasionally a rifle. The Bhotiya 
 frequently wears a long woolen gown, falling to the 
 ankles, with loose, wide sleeves turned back at the 
 wrists. It is girdled at the waist, and the front of it 
 is, when necessary, doubled up to form a receptacle 
 for all sorts of portable goods ; the roomy pocket thus 
 formed often contains a wooden drinking-cup, food of 
 various kinds, pipe and tobacco, matches, rosary, 
 prayer-wheel, and a dozen other articles more or less 
 bulky. 
 
 Not the least of the hardships to which the traveler 
 in these regions is subjected are the attacks of pipsee 
 flies and land-leeches. The former resemble small 
 house-flies. At the instant of alighting they draw 
 blood, and deposit a poison in the wound, which often 
 develops into an ulcerated sore. The damp forest is 
 alive with leeches; they swarm upon the leaves and 
 branches of the trees, and the ground is so thick with 
 them that there is positively no escape from the blood- 
 thirsty pests. The cattle, ponies and goats suffer 
 
28 G 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 terribly. Their legs are always bleeding, more or 
 less, and these pests lodge in their nostrils and hang 
 from their eyelids and various parts of their body. 
 To dislodge them from the recesses of the nose, the 
 herdsmen, it is said, keep the poor beasts from water 
 for a day or so, and then, when the animal drinks, 
 the leeches show themselves, and may be removed. 
 
 In the Lachoong valley, at an elevation of about 
 sixty-five hundred feet, the traveler will get his first 
 sight of the yak. " They are shaggy beasts, in appear- 
 ance something between the American bison and the 
 cattle of the Scotch highlands ; and their curious, grunt- 
 ing call is aptly denoted in their scientific name of Bos 
 grunniens. They are noble-looking, massive animals, 
 especially the bull-yaks, in spite of their oddly round 
 and squat appearance, their broad, straight backs, short 
 legs, and long, silky hair. The thick coat of hair 
 which protects them from perishing in the arctic cold 
 of the snows is longest on their sides and under-sur- 
 faces, and in some of the older animals it almost 
 sweeps the ground. The tail ends in a great bushy 
 tuft, which serves the same purpose as the bushy tail 
 of the hybcrnating squirrel, curling over its owner's 
 feet and nose when asleep like a rug, and thus afford- 
 ing protection against the intense cold of the Hima- 
 layan nights. These bushy yak-tails arc much in 
 demand in India as fly whisks for Indian princes, and 
 as royal emblems for the idols in Indian temples. The 
 color of the wild yak is a dark brown, almost black ; 
 
SIKKIM. 
 
 287 
 
 but most of the domestic yaks acquire a good deal of 
 white, with the black predominating ; and those most 
 valued have their muzzles tipped with white, some 
 white on their necks, and their tails entirely white." 
 
 The yak is a most useful beast to the Tibetan. 
 From it he obtains milk ; he rides upon it, and uses 
 it as a pack-animal. Despite its cumbersome frame 
 and heavy build, the yak is goatlike in its activity. 
 It browses over the precipitous and craggy mountain 
 side, and at the call of the herdsman comes lumbering 
 down with awkward but sure-footed gait. 
 
 These herdsmen form a curious class of nomads, 
 with their headquarters at Lachoong, and in other 
 valleys. They move to the upper levels in the spring. 
 The entire length of the upper valley is marked off 
 into grazing stations by clusters of rude huts, which 
 the herdsmen occupy as they come to them. Thus 
 they make a gradual ascent, timing themselves to 
 reach the top of the pass, at an elevation of eighteen 
 thousand feet, some time in June, when the snow will 
 have melted sufficiently to admit of the passage. 
 Crossing the frontier, they move on, living now in 
 their black yak-hair tents, to one or other of the 
 Tibetan marts, where they barter their produce for 
 salt, tea, cloth, rugs, jewelry, etc. The return into 
 Sikkim is made toward the end of August, so that the 
 Lachoong Valley may be traversed before the arrival 
 of the heavy snows. Before the most severe weather 
 sets in they betake themselves and their cattle to 
 
288 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 still lower levels. Thus they present the remarkable 
 spectacle of a village community which is almost 
 constantly on the move. These people are not Sik- 
 kimese but full-blooded Tibetans, and hence the 
 impunity with which they cross and recross the 
 border. 
 
 The stranger in this country is presented by the 
 head-man of the village, or by the chief lama, with 
 a scarf of Chinese silk as a token of deference and 
 amity. This ceremony is accompanied by a saluta- 
 tion also of Tibetan origin. The left hand is placed 
 behind the ear, with the action common to deaf per- 
 sons, and the tongue is stuck out as far as possible, 
 and a low obeisance is made, with the head uncov- 
 ered. This salute is said to signify complete defer- 
 ence and surrender, as one would say, " Here are 
 my ear and tongue, which you may cut off if it will 
 afford you any pleasure to do so." To refuse the 
 scarf would be an indication of displeasure and 
 enmity ; its acceptance entails the obligation to make 
 a present in return, which, in the ease of a European, 
 is likely to be of much greater value than the almost 
 worthless strip of cheap silk. 
 
 At the greater heights men and beasts suffer from 
 mod de montagne. The rarefied air causes headaches, 
 nausea, palpitation and debility. Hooker describes 
 the sensation as one of " having a pound of lead on 
 each knee-cap, two pounds in the pit of the stomach, 
 and a hoop of iron around the head." 
 
NEPAL. 
 
 289 
 
 Referring to the view of Tibet from the summit of 
 one of the passes, Blandford says, " It is one of the 
 most remarkable landscapes in the world, and alone 
 worth the journey to see it. . . . Cholamo Lake is in 
 front, beneath the feet of the spectator ; beyond is a 
 desert, with rounded hills ; further away range after 
 range of mountains, some of them covered with snow, 
 extend to a distance the eye cannot appreciate. The 
 total change of color and form from the valleys of 
 Siklcim, the utter barrenness, the intense clearness of 
 the atmosphere, produce such an effect as if one were 
 gazing upon another world, in which the order of this 
 is no longer preserved, where a tropical desert is seen 
 among snow-capped peaks, beneath the unnaturally 
 clear atmosphere of the arctic regions." 
 
 Over to the west from Sikkini lies the kingdom of 
 Nepal, quasi-independent, but under the protection 
 of the Indian Government. Although upon the 
 most friendly terms with the British, the Nepalis 
 jealously exclude Europeans from their country, and 
 their frontier is as rigidly maintained against intru- 
 sion as that of Tibet. A British Resident, however, 
 is stationed at the capital to act as adviser to the 
 King, and to look after the interests of the Indian 
 Government. Long ago — no one knows just when — a 
 handful of Rajputs emigrated from India and settled 
 in the district of Gtirkha. Their martial spirit was in 
 no degree dimmed by their inter-marriage with the 
 Mongoloids who inhabited Nepal. They were entcr- 
 Vol. I.— 19 
 
290 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 prising after the fashion of the times, and their 
 talent for fighting, as well as the prospect of rich 
 spoils in their company, attracted to their ranks the 
 brawniest and bravest of the native tribes. Before 
 long the Gurkhas became the dominant tribe in 
 Nepal, and, having reduced the entire country to sub- 
 mission, began to turn their attention to further fields 
 of conquest. They invaded Tibet in 1792, and over- 
 ran the Himalayas east and west. 
 
 Early in the nineteenth century they began to move 
 upon the plains, and made serious encroachments 
 upon the British territory. The war which ensued, 
 while it resulted in the ultimate victory of the English, 
 reflected more credit upon the Gurkhas, who displayed 
 extraordinary bravery and a degree of hardy stamina 
 that succumbed only to superior numbers and over- 
 whelming artillery. The veterans of the Bengal 
 Army of 1815 declared that the intrepid Nepal is 
 were the most formidable foes the British had been 
 confronted with in India up to that time. The cam- 
 paign convinced the Government that the Gurkhas 
 would be more desirable as honorable allies than as 
 conquered enemies. Their independence was main- 
 tained and their friendship secured. They have been 
 admirably faithful in the observance of all treaty 
 obligations, and have furnished the Indian Army 
 with some of the best regiments on the establishment. 
 The famous Gurkha infantry has unfailingly covered 
 itself with glory whenever opportunity occurred. 
 
NEPAL. 
 
 291 
 
 The chief difficulty of their officers has always been 
 to hold the hot-headed little mountaineers in check, 
 while they, in the face of an enemy, are ever dialing 
 to get close enough to use the kukri, the handy 
 knife, which, despite modern training and discipline, 
 he prefers to rifle and bayonet. In many a hot 
 fight, he has proved the effectiveness of the short, 
 broad blade in the hand of a fearless man. At 
 Lucknow, during the Mutiny, Bahadur Gambar 
 Singh, armed only with the kukri, captured three 
 guns single-handed, and killed seven of the rebels. 
 He survived twenty -three wounds, received in the 
 performance of this desperate deed, to enjoy well- 
 merited promotion. 
 
 In all the wars of the Indian Government since 
 the friendly entente was established, the Gurkha 
 regiments have distinguished themselves. During 
 the Mutiny, not only did the Gurkha regiments 
 on the regular establishment remain loyal to a man, 
 but the Nepalfs Government voluntarily furnished the 
 British with ten thousand men, the flower of their 
 army, commanded by Jang Bahadur, the Prime 
 Minister and Commander-in-Chief; the sole condition 
 of service being that a British officer should be de- 
 tailed to lead each of the regiments composing the 
 force. 
 
 The Tartar strain is betrayed in the features of 
 the Xepalis. Their eyes are oblique, and their faces 
 beardless. They are undersized, but active as cats, 
 
292 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 and possessed of a vigor and energy that does not 
 desert them even in old age. They have something 
 of the good-natured, excitable and pugnacious disposi- 
 tion of the Irishman. They are capable of the 
 softest emotions and of the utmost ferocity. The 
 Nepdlis have adopted the externals of Hinduism, but 
 have no affinity for, nor sympathy with, their Bengali 
 neighbors. The lines of caste are very lax with 
 them, and they habitually perform acts that would 
 horrify the lowest caste Hindu. Their dress is simi- 
 lar to that of the Rajputs of northern Hindustan ; 
 it consists of tight cotton trousers and close-fitting 
 tunic, with a thick kummerbund, from which the 
 kukri is never absent. Unlike other Himalayan 
 tribes of Mongolian descent, they do not wear the 
 pig-tail, but crop their hair short, and cover the head 
 with a turban, or, in the case of the Gurkhas, with a 
 small skull cap, tilted over the right ear, after the 
 fashion of British cavalrymen. Large numbers of 
 Kepalis have been induced to settle in British terri- 
 tory. They are good husbandmen, good workmen, 
 and, as has already been said, excellent recruits for 
 the army. 
 
 While monogamy is the rule, the Nepalis may take 
 a second wife, if the first be barren. The women are 
 bright and attractive. They are picturesque in the 
 close-fitting bodice and kilt, bright sash and gay silk 
 kerchief thrown over the head. They generally carry 
 the entire fortune of the family upon their persons, in 
 
NEPAL. 
 
 293 
 
 the form of heavy gold and silver ornaments on neck, 
 nose, ears, wrists, hands and ankles. Whereas, on the 
 plains, marriages are almost invariably matters of 
 family convenience in which the principals have 
 no voice, in Nepal betrothal is generally the result 
 of an affaire de ca-ur, and the parties to it are 
 always of mature age. Like the Lepcha wives, 
 the Nepal is rule their husbands and govern the 
 household. Marital fidelity is characteristic of 
 them, and so heinous an oilenee is a breach of it, 
 that the injured husband is permitted by the com- 
 mon law of the land to avenge himself by killing the 
 offender. 
 
 In general, the physical features of Nepal are simi- 
 lar to those of Sikkim, but in the former country 
 much greater areas have been cleared and cultivated, 
 and roads have been more extensively opened. Many 
 cart-roads run from British territory to the numerous 
 border marts, where markets are held for the exchange 
 of produce and various articles of common use. The 
 principal trade route extends from Patna in Bengal, 
 through the Champaran District, to Khatmandu, the 
 capital of Nepal. From Khatmandu two roads 
 diverge over the central range of the Himalayas, and 
 ultimately come together again in the valley of the 
 Tsanpu, the great river of Tibet. The principal 
 items of import from Nepal are grain, oil-seeds, cattle, 
 timber and horns ; additional articles, which do not 
 represent large figures, are musk, borax, madder, 
 
294 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 cardamoms, yak-tails, ginger, fur, scented grass and 
 hawks. 
 
 While the trade of India with Nepal and Sikkim 
 is at present insignificant, its continuance is important, 
 because, in all probability, the British will eventually 
 secure through these States channels of communica- 
 tion with Tibet, with its enormous commercial possi- 
 bilities. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE HIMALAYAS, HARDWA.R. 
 
 At the point where the Ganges, breaking through 
 the Siwalik range, debouches upon the plains, stands 
 the ancient and sacred town of Hard war. The 
 present name is comparatively modern — not more 
 than six hundred years old probably. At least five 
 centuries before Christ the place was called Kapila, 
 after the sage who lived there, and who founded the 
 Sankhya system, one of the six darsanas of Brdh- 
 manical philosophy, which explains the material 
 world by gradual evolution through successive stages 
 from an ever-existent primordial matter. The town 
 received many other names before it came to be 
 known as "The Doorway of Hari." 
 
 Near by is a temple, which is sacred to the Hindus 
 as the spot where Daksha prepared his eventful 
 sacrifice. As the Puranas recount the story, Daksha 
 failed to invite his son-in-law Siva to the sacrificial 
 feast. Sati, piqued at the slight put upon her 
 husband, committed suicide in the Ganges, whereupon 
 Siva, enraged at the loss of his wife, caused Daksha's 
 head to be cut off and burned. Subsequently relent- 
 
 295 
 
29G 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 ing, Siva restored his defunct father-in-law to life, and 
 substituted a goat's head for the member which had 
 been consumed by fire. This tragical episode in the 
 life of the gods occurred at Gangadwara, "The Gate 
 of the Ganges/' about two miles below the famous 
 bathing ghat to which pilgrims resort in tens of thou- 
 sands every year. 
 
 The first day of the Hindu solar year, the birthday 
 of the Ganges, is the great occasion of the festival of 
 Baisakh. At a particular moment, astronomically 
 calculated by the priests, the multitude makes a dash 
 for the water, which is at that time supposed to be 
 more than ordinarily efficacious, and, as at the Pool of 
 Siloam, the first to enter the stream is believed to 
 derive greater benefit from it than the later comers. 
 The last hypothesis is the cause of such a mad 
 struggle that the Government has found it necessary 
 to employ a large force of police to restrain the 
 crowd. Before this precaution was taken, many lives 
 were lost each year. On one occasion upwards of 
 four hundred fanatics met their death in the frantic 
 rush, and hundreds more were seriously injured. 
 
 The ordinary pilgrimage amounts to one hundred 
 thousand, but every twelfth year the Kumbh-mela, 
 a feast of extraordinary sanctity, occurs, when the 
 attendance of pilgrims is trebled. In earlier days 
 the concourse which gathered at the Kumbh-mela 
 was very much larger than at present. Hardwicke 
 and Raper, both eye-witnesses of the festival about 
 
WM 
 
Snake Charmers 
 
■■ ■■■■■ 
 
HARDWAR. 
 
 297 
 
 one hundred years ago, estimated the number of 
 pilgrims present on one occasion at two and a half 
 millions, and at another time at upwards of two 
 millions. Those were days when time and distance 
 were of no account to the Hindu ; when a pilgrimage 
 occupying one, two or three years Mould be entered 
 upon with no concern, and without any preparation. 
 
 Even at this day it is no uncommon thing to see 
 upon the road a fanatic bent on such a journey and, 
 perhaps, bound by a vow to cover the entire distance 
 upon his belly. This tedious process of locomotion is 
 accomplished by lying at full length, and marking 
 the ground with a stick at the point reached by the 
 outstretched arms. The devote then rises and walks 
 to the mark, when the same act is repeated, and so on 
 over a thousand or more miles in many instances. 
 
 Formerly the Kumbh-mela was the invariable 
 occasion of bloody conflicts between opposing sects. 
 In 1765 such a fight took place, in which it is said 
 that eighteen thousand people lost their lives. 
 Thirty-five years later the Sikh contingent fell upon 
 the Gusains and slew five hundred of them. On his 
 return from the sack of Delhi, Tamerlane turned aside 
 to plunder and massacre the pilgrims assembled at 
 Hardwiir for the great festival. 
 
 In the neighborhood are several shrines of great 
 repute, and, among innumerable minor temples, three 
 or four of considerable size and antiquity. 
 
 Hiouen Thsang, the Buddhist pilgrim from China, 
 
 ■ 
 
 ■ 
 
298 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 tells of a city which he visited in this locality whose 
 population he describes as dense. The ruins of this 
 ancient city arc still to be seen at Mayapur. It* wall 
 must have measured close on to twenty thousand feet 
 in circumference. There are the remains of an old 
 fort and three temples, as well as many lofty mounds 
 covered with broken brick. The antiquity of the 
 place is attested by the numerous fragments of ancient 
 sculpture, and by the variety of old coins, which have 
 been found on the spot. The extensive foundations 
 of heavy brickwork support the belief that the city 
 which occupied this site in olden days must have been 
 a place of considerable importance. 
 
 Hard war is the starting-point of the great Ganges 
 Canal system, on which the Government has ex- 
 pended over sixty millions of rupees, and up to the 
 present time has realized seven per cent, on the 
 investment. 
 
 Hardwar has an annual horse fair, which attracts 
 buyers and sellers from afar, and at which the 
 Government agents get a great many remounts for 
 the cavalry. There is a large amount of general 
 trading done on the same occasion, which is an 
 important factor in the prosperity of the town of 
 thirty thousand inhabitants. 
 
 These Siwalik Hills and the surrounding country 
 were the abode of the gods in the days when they 
 walked the earth, and the chief importance of many 
 a modern town and military station lies, in the 
 
HARDWAR. 
 
 290 
 
 estimation of the Hindu, not in its material pros- 
 perity or strategic position, but in its association with 
 some important event in the marvelous career of the 
 Pur&nic deities or the heroes of the epics. Thus 
 Dehra Diin is connected by legend with Kama and 
 with the Pandu brothers. 
 
 It was in this valley that the sixty thousand Lilli- 
 putian Brahmans were arrested in their progress by 
 the hoof-hole of a cow fdled with water. Indra saw 
 the vain efforts of the pigmies to cross this formidable 
 lake, and laughed in scorn at them. Indignant at 
 this treatment, the little men set to work by penance 
 to create another god to take the place of the scoffer. 
 The sweat produced by their strenuous exertions 
 created the little river Suswa. 
 
 There is a legend of a great snake named Bamun, 
 who, in the remote past, ruled over the Dun, and 
 lived on the summit of the Nagsidh Hill. AYhile 
 there is little else to point to the conclusion, this 
 fact, and the surviving name of the hill, are reason- 
 able grounds for the assumption that the district was 
 at one time under Naga supremacy. 
 
 Another tradition attributes the earliest population 
 of the place to a caravan of Banjaras, 1 the hereditary 
 
 1 The Banjaras, Brinjarries, or Mauaris, are a caste of oxen- 
 drivers, who from early times monopolized the carrying trade of 
 India. They were nomads, living in tents, and moving about all 
 over the country from Kashmir to Cape Comorin. Tavernier de- 
 scribes their caravans as consisting sometimes of strings of pack- 
 oxen ; at others of bullock carts. They were divided into four sub- 
 
300 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 carriers of India, who, passing by, were so struck 
 with the beauty of the valley that they settled in it. 
 
 The authentic history of Dehra Dun commences in 
 the seventeenth century, when the Sikh Guru, Hani 
 llai, being exiled from the Punjab, took refuge here, 
 and attracted to himself a sufficient number of 
 disciples to form a considerable village, out of which 
 grew the present town of Dehra Dun. He is said to 
 have possessed the remarkable faculty of suspending 
 and resuming animation at will. On several occa- 
 sions he rendered himself apparently lifeless, and 
 resumed the natural functions at a stipulated time. 1 
 
 castes, each numbering about a hundred thousand men, women and 
 children. Each division was devoted to the carriage of one of the 
 four principal commodities of commerce — namely, riee, corn, millet 
 and salt — and the members of it would handle no other than their 
 own particular commodity, nor did the Banjaras ever engage in any 
 other occupation. A caravan consisted of several thousand pack- 
 animals, or of two or three hundred wagons drawn by ten or twelve 
 oxen, attended by a guard of soldiers. Each caravan had its chief, 
 who affected as much state as a prince, and its priests, who daily 
 conducted the serpent worship, which was the form of religion 
 followed by these peculiar people. The Banjaras exist to-day, but 
 of course their monopoly is a thing of the past, and their business 
 has been much modified by modern conditions of traffic. 
 
 1 This legend of the voluntary death and resurrection of the Guru 
 is, perhaps, not quite so fanciful as it would appear. The phenom- 
 enon of suspended animation is not an uncommon one in India. 
 Many yogis have claimed the power, and in more than one instance 
 the claim has borne the test of the most careful investigation l>v 
 Europeans. There are authentic instances of men having been 
 buried deep in the ground for days, with a guard placed over the 
 grave, when animation has been restored after the body was 
 exhumed. 
 
DEIIRA DUN. 
 
 301 
 
 "Whether his actual decease was accident or design 
 is not stated, but the charpoy upon which he died is 
 held in extreme veneration, and carefully preserved, 
 amid a surrounding of jewels and costly drapery, 
 in the temple. 
 
 A peculiar ceremony is observed in connection with 
 this spot. A flag-staff, formed of the tallest tree the 
 neighboring forest will afford, is set up in front of the 
 shrine, and decorated with red bunting, and topped 
 with a white yak-tail. The flag and pole are renewed 
 year by year, but left standing from one festival to 
 the next. 
 
 On the right bank of the Jumna, near Haripur, is 
 a huge boulder of quartz, standing upon a platform 
 of rock which overhangs the river. This is the 
 famous Kalsi stone, which Hunter believes to mark 
 the ancient boundary between India and the Chinese 
 Empire. It bears one of the many humanitarian 
 edicts of the Buddhist Emperor Asoka, which are to 
 be found in Upper India. 
 
 At the time of the Nepal war all this mountain 
 country, even beyond Simla, was in the hands of the 
 Gurkhas. In the Dehra Dun campaign Gillespie, 
 the hero of Vellore, fell, with several other English- 
 men, as a monument in the neighborhood testifies. 
 On the ground where they fought the Briton, not so 
 many years ago, Gurkha recruits may be ^ocn to-day, 
 in training to fight Britain's future battles in the 
 East. 
 
302 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Due north is the crescent hill of Masuri, thickly 
 dotted with bungalows, and backed by the snowy 
 range of the main Himalayas. A slice of rock, sheer 
 as a wall on cither .side, stands like a knife-blade, two 
 hundred yards lung and not much broader than a 
 carriage-way, between Mastiri and the military station 
 of Landaur. 
 
 The scenery of the Dun can hardly be surpassed 
 for picturesque beauty, even when compared with the 
 richest sections of the ever lovely Himalayan range. 
 The picture is one of exquisite variety. On the 
 north lofty and rugged mountains, intersected by 
 gorges and ravines, enlivened in the raius by water- 
 fall and torrent; on the south, hills less stern and 
 striking, but perhaps more beautiful in their wealth 
 of form and color. Everywhere sturdy forest, riotous 
 vegetation and forest grass, stimulated by the peren- 
 nial streams which wander through this district. 
 Deodar, oak and fir clothe the heights, save where 
 difficult cultivation is carried on by terraced cuttings 
 in the steep slopes. Within quite modern times the 
 wild elephant roamed at will among the jungly eleva- 
 tions of the Siwalik range, and tigers, leopards and 
 bears were numerous; but with the advent of the 
 white man the wilder animals have betaken them- 
 selves to more remote and safer regions. 
 
 The Dun is divided by a ridge which, running 
 north and south, connects the two mountain ranges, 
 and forms the water-shed of the Ganges and its chief 
 
KASAULI. 
 
 503 
 
 tributary, the Jumna. The former, passing between 
 the Dun and Gharwhal, pours rapidly over a boulder- 
 strewn bed, through a score of channels, encircling 
 jungle-clad islets, and debouches, a stream a mile in 
 breadth, upon the plain at Hardwar. The Jumna, 
 taking a sweeping course, forms the entire south- 
 western boundary of the district, and emerges upon 
 the level uplands near Badsh&h Mahal, an ancient 
 hunting-seat of the Delhi Emperors. 
 
 Umballa, the earliest settlement of the Aryan 
 invaders of India, is a typical plain station, hot, 
 low, sandy and barren; yet only thirty-five miles 
 farther north the railroad is brought to an abrupt 
 stop by the Himalayan ramparts. From Kalka a 
 bridle-path zigzags up the precipitous mountain-side 
 to Ivasauli, at an elevation of six thousand three 
 hundred feet above the sea. So steep is the ascent 
 that the pathway runs back and forth, like the teeth 
 of a saw, and from the top it is possible to drop a 
 stone into the village below. The journey up the 
 mountain may lie made in a jhampan, or upon the 
 back of a pony. The jhampan is a sort of sedan- 
 chair, borne on two cross-poles, and not on one pole 
 in the line of its length, as the palanquin. The 
 horseback ascent, for the first time, is apt to be a 
 little trying on the nerves. The path is extremely 
 narrow, and the hill ponies, from the habit of carry- 
 ing burdens extending far beyond their sides, have 
 become accustomed to walking as close to the edge of 
 
304 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 the precipice as possible, so that the rider, with one 
 leg hanging over the side, is apt to be unduly con- 
 cerned about his safety. As a matter of fact, the 
 little ponies are as sure-footed as goats, and having 
 spent their entire lives in journeying up and down 
 this bridle-path, arc perfectly familiar with every foot 
 of it. 
 
 The writer once had urgent occasion to descend 
 from Kasauli to Kalka at night. Although the jour- 
 ney by daylight had ceased to cause him the least 
 uneasiness, it was not without some trepidation that 
 he started upon it after dark, especially as a cavalry- 
 man and his mount had gone to destruction down the 
 side of the mountain only a few days before. How- 
 ever, by throwing the knotted bridle loose upon the 
 pony's neck, and leaving him to find his way 
 without interference, the descent was accomplished 
 in good time without the slightest danger or 
 mishap. 
 
 Kasauli is one of the several cantonments and 
 convalescent stations which surmount the lesser peaks 
 hereabouts. Sabathu, Dagshai, Jotagh and Simla 
 are all near by, and all connected by roads which dip 
 and rise among the hilly defiles. The heliograph is 
 an especially convenient and effective means of 
 communication at these great elevations. Messages 
 are sent and received with ease at distances of thirty 
 or forty miles, and the sun rarely fails the signaler. 
 
 The entire range of the Himalayas from Darjiling 
 
SIMLA. 
 
 305 
 
 to Peshawar is dotted with sanitariums, to which 
 invalid soldiers are sent from the plain stations. 
 Most of them are victims of enteric fever, which, 
 since the ravages of cholera and small-pox have been 
 so effectually checked, is the disease most prevalent 
 among the troops in India. 
 
 Lord Amherst was the first Governor-General to 
 spend a summer in Simla, but it was not until the 
 administration of Sir John Lawrence that the station 
 became the regular seat of the Imperial Government 
 during the summer. Now, when the hot weather sets 
 in, the entire executive force forsakes Calcutta for 
 Simla, which has all the necessary secretariats 
 and offices ; in several instances fine blocks of 
 buildings. 
 
 The six-mile crescent ridge, along which residential 
 Simla stretches, has Prospect Hill for its most 
 westerly point, and the beautiful wooded peak of 
 Jako at its easterly extremity. Jako is eight thou- 
 sand feet above sea level, and overlooks the station 
 from a superior elevation of one thousand feet. 
 From this hill a magnificent panorama is presented to 
 the spectator. Northward lies a confused mass of 
 mountain peaks, topping and overtopped, their slopes 
 clothed with deodars and rhododendrons as high as 
 the snow-line, above which their hoary summits stand 
 out in clear relief against the azure sky. On the 
 south the plain of Umballa, with the flat-top hills of 
 Sabathu and Kasauli in the foreground, and the mas- 
 Vol. I.— 20 
 
306 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 sive bulk of the Chor toward the east. Immediately 
 below the spectator's feet a series of huge ravines 
 lead down to the deep valleys which score the 
 mountain side in every direction, and which, in the 
 season of the rains, are filled with rushing, roaring 
 torrents. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 KASHMIR. 
 
 Tradition, which is supported by certain indica- 
 tions of a scientific character, affirms that the whole 
 valley of Kashmir was at one time a lake. The 
 drainage of the region is attributed to a certain saint, 
 who effected it by causing the Baramiila range to 
 part and let the Jhelam through. 
 
 At over five thousand feet above sea level, the Vale 
 of Kashmir lies within a complete circle of moun- 
 tains, the whole forming a basin eighty odd miles in 
 length and about twenty -five in breadth, with 
 flattened bottom. In the middle; lies an extensive 
 level alluvial tract, watered by numerous small 
 streams, which, running down from the surrounding 
 heights, ultimately join, to form the Jhelam and find 
 an exit through the Baramiila Pass to the plains of 
 the Punjab. From the encircling mountain wall jut 
 inwards a number of comparatively low plateaus, 
 with intervening ravines of from one to three 
 hundred feet in depth. These karewas, to use the 
 native name for them, have a loamy soil, which, 
 where it is subjected to irrigation, rivals the pro- 
 
 307 
 
308 INDIA. 
 
 ductivcncss of the lower land ; but, where cultivation 
 depends upon rain alone, the yield is precarious. 
 Upon the surface of the karewas are found fossil 
 remains of fresh-water fish and molluscs, indicating a 
 lacustrine or fluvial origin. 
 
 The lofty mountains which bound the valley arc: 
 snow-covered for nearly eight months in the year, 
 and in some places large glaciers exist between their 
 spurs. On the southern side, where the range 
 assumes a gentle slope, the scenery is softly beautiful 
 in character, but upon the north the country is 
 sublimely wild, the mountains rising in rugged 
 precipices of stupendous height, down whose bare 
 sides numerous streams rush and fall in cataract-like 
 course. The tops of the mountains which enclose 
 the northeastern side of the valley are covered with 
 peculiar downs, or margs, whose long, rich grass 
 affords splendid pasturage for large flocks and herds. 
 
 It is not without reason that Kashmir has received 
 the name of " Happy Valley." There is, perhaps, 
 no considerable section of India to which Nature has 
 been so bountiful. The scenery is beautiful, the 
 climate delightful, the soil fertile and the people well 
 fed and well governed. In the summer the valley is 
 one vast garden, in which flowers and fruit grow in 
 profusion, and almost spontaneously. The region is 
 famous the world over for its roses, and (lowers of 
 various descriptions bloom riotously everywhere. 
 The crocus is cultivated for its saffron, which is used 
 
■■■ 
 
 KASHMIR. 
 
 309 
 
 as a condiment and as a medicine. Oranges and 
 lemons will not survive the winter, but nearly all the 
 fruits and vegetables of temperate and semi-tropical 
 climes grow in abundance. So with the trees, which 
 include yew, elm, chestnut, poplar, willow, maple and 
 various flowering hawthorns. On the mountain 
 slopes the pine, fir and rhododendron flourish, and the 
 deodar, or Himalayan cedar, attains a height of two 
 hundred feet and a girth of forty feet. 
 
 Kashmir is a favorite hunting-ground of the 
 Anglo-Indian sportsman. Civilians, and officers on 
 short furlough, come here from all quarters of the 
 Empire for the sake of the shooting, which has the 
 advantage of plenty and variety, without the attendant 
 danger of fever so often associated with other hunting 
 districts. Bears of three or four kinds are to be 
 found in the hills, and leopards in the grazing- 
 grounds, where they prey upon the cattle. The stag, 
 the chamois and the ibex frequent the northern 
 elevations, where various species of wild goats may 
 also be met. Musk deer find a home in the birch 
 M r oods, and several varieties of the antelope seek their 
 food upon the lower crop lands. For game birds, 
 there are the pheasant, partridge, quail, woodcock and 
 jack-snipe. These come from their natural habitat 
 in Central Asia to avoid the extreme cold of mid- 
 winter, and return with the advent of spring. 
 Moor-hens, dab-chicks, grebes and other water fowl 
 are plentiful in autumn and winter about the lakes, 
 
310 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 upon the borders of which herons are numerous, and 
 in the neighboring marshes a gigantic crane is often 
 seen. 
 
 The cuckoo and the nightingale, or bulbul, are 
 natives of Kashmir, and the golden oriole, niaina 
 and hoopoe are numbered among the feathered deni- 
 zens of its gardens. The mountains harbor different 
 kinds of eagles, and the birds of prey include the 
 vulture, falcon and hawk. Venomous snakes are 
 extremely rare, but the cobra has been found in the 
 valley. 
 
 The inhabitants of Kashmir are, as might be sup- 
 posed from their environment, a fine and healthy race. 
 The men are tall, muscular and well-built, with com- 
 plexions usually olive, but sometimes fair, and even 
 ruddy, especially among the Hindus. Their features 
 are regular and attractive, and in the Muhammadans 
 display the Jewish cast so marked in the Pathan, to 
 whom they are related. The women from of old 
 have been celebrated for their beauty. Hamilton, 
 writing in 1828, gives a somewhat mixed description 
 of the natives of Kashmir, whom he describes as 
 " gay and lively, eager in the pursuit of wealth, 
 accounted much more acute and intriguing than the 
 natives of Hindustan, generally and proverbially 
 liars. They arc also much addicted to literature, 
 poetry and drinking." This is not entirely fair to the 
 Kashmiri. 
 
 The Muhammadans form the majority of the popu- 
 
I 
 
 
 
 Girls of Kashmir 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
KASHMIR. 
 
 311 
 
 lation, but they arc not very greatly in excess of the 
 Hindus. Caste sits lightly on the latter, even though 
 they be Brahmans. So great a difference exists 
 between the Brahmans of Kashmir and those of India 
 proper that when one of the former leaves his country 
 he is looked upon as cutting himself off from his 
 religious affiliations. It is not long since his emigra- 
 tion was considered equivalent to death, and the 
 service for the dead was performed over him. Those 
 were the days, however, when the way Avas beset with 
 numerous and various difficulties and dangers, and the 
 means of communication were scant. Moreover, the 
 wanderers in time took up the severe ritual and 
 imbibed the strict ideas of the Brahmans of the 
 plains, which naturally filled them with horror and 
 disgust of the loose practices of their own people in 
 the matters of food and drink, and intercourse with 
 low-castes and Muhammadans. 
 
 The Kashmiris, of all classes, have the tea-habit 
 to an excessive degree. The Indian leaf is used by 
 those who can afford it, and for the poorer people the 
 brick-tea of China is imported in large quantities 
 through Ladakh. The samovar, or tea urn, which 
 is to be found in every house, is a relic of the trade 
 which was carried on with the country, at the 
 beginning of the nineteenth century, by Russian mer- 
 chants, who came into the valley from the north, by 
 way of Yarkand. 
 
 The present Maharaja is a man of education and 
 
312 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 liberal ideas, a Rajput by descent, and a Commander 
 of the Star of India. He is entitled to a salute of 
 twenty-one guns, and pays an annual tribute to the 
 British Government of one horse, twelve goats and 
 three pairs of shawls. Like most of the present 
 princes of India, he occupies a position due largely to 
 accident, and cannot claim long nor illustrious descent. 
 
 In the game of chess which was played upon the 
 board of India during the past two centuries most 
 of the greater pieces were lost, and there were many 
 pawns " queened." Thus the exalted Sindhia is de- 
 scended from a patel, or slipper-bearer, and Holkar 
 from a goat-herd. The rise of the present ruler of 
 Baroda was even more sudden. Many will remember 
 the sensational trial of the Gaekwar, in 1874, for 
 attempting to poison the British Resident. He was 
 defended before a High Commission by the famous 
 Serjeant Ballantine, but found guilty and deposed. 
 In accordance with Hindu custom, the Government 
 permitted the queen dowager to adopt a successor to 
 the throne. Three village boys of good caste, but 
 of obscure families, were presented to her for the 
 purpose, and her choice fell upon him who, as the 
 Gaekwar of Baroda, is esteemed the most enlightened 
 native ruler in India to-day. 
 
 Ghiilab Singh began life as a common trooper, under 
 the great Ranjit Singh. The grandson of the former 
 rules over the kingdom of Kashmir, while the grandson 
 of the latter is a pensioned exile from his native land. 
 
KASHMIR. 
 
 313 
 
 Strange indeed have been the experiences and vicis- 
 situdes of the royal houses of India. The changes 
 brought about by the British have been many, but 
 accompanied by results less harsh than those wrought 
 by former rulers of the country, who frequently sub- 
 verted a throne, and destroyed the, ruling family root 
 and branch. In fact, the chief indictment that can 
 be sustained against the British in this connection 
 is that of having exercised a false generosity upon 
 utterly unworthy objects in many instances. 
 
 It might be supposed that these great fluctuations 
 in fortune would tend toward the creation of a spirit 
 of democracy in the princes of India ; but, far from 
 such being the case, the old spirit of caste superiority 
 is as lively as ever, and the political grades recog- 
 nized by the Government by no means represent the 
 feelings of the people in the matter. The nine-gun 
 princeling, whose presence at the Coronation festivi- 
 ties, or at the Delhi Durbar, was scarcely the subject 
 of attention, may deem himself degraded by contact 
 with the twenty-one-gun G. C. S. I. potentate, whose 
 doings excite the solicitude of governors and cabinet 
 ministers. 
 
 The fact that among the native rulers are to be 
 found Muhammadans, Brahmans, Rajputs, and even 
 Sudras, restricts social intercourse ; and since his old- 
 time occupations of warfare and intrigue are gone, the 
 raja of to-day generally finds life; somewhat flat and 
 wearisome. He v may, like Sindhia, whose income is 
 
314 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 fifteen millions of dollars a year, have immense 
 wealth, or, like the Nizam, a large army ; but his 
 pleasures are curtailed and his power shorn. His day 
 is passed in insipid occupation, if we compare it with 
 his old-time life, and that of his fathers. In the fore- 
 noon he performs his religious duties, according to his 
 faith, and transacts state business, frequently in a very 
 perfunctory manner. The heat of the day is avoided 
 in the zenana, and the cool of the evening finds him 
 abroad in his barouche, or on horseback, with gaudy 
 body-guard of lancers. Women may not be present 
 at his meals ; so dinner, even when he entertains 
 guests, is not a very exhilarating function. The 
 later hours may be whirled away with a game of 
 chess, or chaupur, and so early to bed. 
 
 Almost all the Indian princes arc lovers of horses, 
 and many have exceedingly fine studs. A few of 
 them are sportsmen, and some are genuinely concerned 
 in the problems of government. 
 
 The modern Indian palace is too often hideous with 
 a tasteless display of European furniture and orna- 
 ments of the gilt and gaudy type. 
 
 A new generation of rulers is, however, arising in 
 India — men who are receiving their educations in 
 England, or under English tutors, and who are ex- 
 hibiting the traits and manners which go to make the 
 gentleman, in the Anglo-Saxon sense of the term. With 
 their accession to power, a great change for the better 
 cannot fail to be worked throughout the Indian Empire. 
 
■■■ 
 
 KASHMIR. 
 
 315 
 
 A more delightful loafing-plaee than Kashmir 
 would be impossible to find. Such was the expressed 
 opinion of the early Mughal monarchs, who found 
 frequent occasions to spend soft leisure in the " Happy 
 Valley." Akbar was kindly disposed toward the 
 country, and displayed his good will by lightening 
 its burdens. Abul Fazal, a contemporary, tells us 
 that " His Majesty has now commanded that the crops 
 shall be equally divided between the husbandman and 
 the State." Xot a measure of extreme generosity, 
 judged by modern standards of equity, but, consid- 
 ered in the light of the conditions prevailing at the 
 time, a law calculated to evoke the blessings of the 
 rayat upon the head of the " Guardian of Mankind." 
 
 To the valley came Jahangir and Shah Jahau to 
 indulge their softer moods, as Moore — who, however, 
 gets his principal characters curiously mixed up — 
 relates in the " Light of the Harem." Jahangir 
 loved the Vale of Kashmir, where, with the fascinat- 
 ing Nilr Mahal, he had passed the happiest hours of 
 his life. There he sought to end his days, and so, 
 with the shadow of death upon him, bade his people 
 carry him to the " Happy Valley." But he got no 
 farther than Behramgul, in the heart of the moun- 
 tains, and there in a remote corner of his empire, 
 apart from the pomp and circumstance befitting the 
 Great Mughal, he breathed his last. 
 
 For the pleasure of those imperious beauties, Nilr 
 Mahal and Mumtaj, groves and arbors and esplan- 
 
316 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 adeswere laid out; the " Garden of Bliss''" and the " Re- 
 treat of Breezes" ; palaces were built, not the heavy, som- 
 bre structures of the royal cities, but light, romantic sum- 
 mer houses,overlooking lakes and overshadowed by hills. 
 
 So the roaming eesthete of to-day is the successor 
 of a long line of voluptuous faineants. Many 
 and pleasant are the ways in which he may 
 while away the summer months of Kashmir in 
 luxurious idleness. At Baramiila, on the Jhelam, he 
 will find a small colony of kindred spirits installed 
 in floating domiciles, the prototypes of the Henley 
 house-boat. These are of various grades, and go in 
 pairs, so as to allow of one being used for kitchen 
 and servants' quarters. The country boats are well 
 enough for one who is prepared to rough it a little, 
 and they may be hired at the rate of forty rupees a 
 month for two, including the services of eight ser- 
 vants. You can pay five times as much for the use 
 of a boat on the English pattern, but then it is likely 
 to be fitted with " all the modern appliances." 
 
 This water life, which lasts for two months, is 
 varied by leisurely excursions along the river and 
 into the lakes. In fact, so extensively intersected by 
 streams and canals is the valley that one may go all 
 over the central plain by water. The passage of the 
 YV nlar Lake is not unattended with danger ; for, like 
 all lakes surrounded by mountains, it is subject to 
 sudden and furious storms. This is the largest inland 
 body of water in India, and only twelve miles long at that. 
 
Panorama of Kashmir 
 
 I 
 
■ 
 
■^■H 
 
 SRINAGAR. 
 
 317 
 
 Srinagar, or the "City of the Sun," the capital of 
 the country, has a population of over a hundred thou- 
 sand. The city lies along the banks of the Jhelam, 
 which follows a tortuous course completely through it, 
 and goes with its tributaries and several canals to 
 form a system of intricate but useful waterways. 
 One wonders whether the gondola might not be a 
 desirable importation. 
 
 The river is spanned along its two-mile inter-urban 
 course by half a score of quaint wooden bridges, 
 somehow suggestive of Japan. The houses are for 
 the most part of wood — a material which is even used 
 in the construction of temples and pagodas — and bear 
 a look of decrepitude, which may, however, be merely 
 the effect of their peculiar construction. They are in 
 many instances four or five stories in height, and 
 have sloping roofs, covered with unworked clay, out 
 of which crops grass and weeds. They say that some 
 of these wooden dwellings have been standing for two 
 centuries, and not a few of them look as though they 
 might have been erected when Raja Paravasin laid out 
 the city, twelve hundred years ago. The Maharaja has 
 a palace here, an ugly brick-and-wood erection, embel- 
 lished with varnish and paint, red and green, and rein- 
 forced by a gaudy, gilt-topped pagoda in the compound. 
 
 At the southern end of the city, in the triangle 
 formed by the river and the mile-long avenue of pop- 
 lars, are conveniently grouped the Post and Telegraph 
 Ollices, the English church, the dak bungalow— an 
 
318 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 unusually good one — and the European shops. 
 Scarce a mile to the east stands the " Throne of 
 Soloinan," six thousand feet above sea level, and a 
 thousand feet above the city. From the summit a 
 fine view compensates for the labor of the ascent. In 
 every direction the horizon is curtailed by mountain 
 ranges with snow-tipped peaks, the intervening plain 
 presenting a picture of profuse vegetation, maintained 
 in perfect verdure by an intricate network of sinuous 
 streams. To the west, Srinagar lies scattered in pictur- 
 esque disorder, and a little to the north, on higher 
 ground, walled Hari Parbat, with the fort that Akbar 
 gave it. Lying at the foot of the " Throne," and stretch- 
 ing four miles to the northward in its oval bounds, is 
 the Dal Lake, dotted with woody islets. Along its 
 banks are planted gardens and groves, gorgeous with 
 summer blossoms, waving in the lake breeze beneath 
 the shady branches of the cypress and the magnolia. 
 The hand of Jahan Shah and that of his unhappy 
 father are seen in these spots of sensuous beauty. 
 
 Where the lake and the northeast quarter of the 
 city converge, the "floating gardens" form a curious 
 feature of the landscape. These aquatic vegetable 
 beds are peculiar to this locality. The reeds are cut 
 down to the surface of the water, and the tops laid 
 evenly over the area thus treated, and covered with a 
 thin layer of bottom mud. On the bed thus formed 
 are arrayed close to each other little conical heaps of 
 weeds, with a topping of rich soil. On each cone are 
 
SRINAGAR. 
 
 319 
 
 set three plants of cucumber, melon or tomato, and 
 there is nothing further to do but gather the produce, 
 which grows with astonishing vigor, and is invariably 
 fine and abundant. 
 
 The famous Kashmir shawls arc of two kinds — 
 those made by hand and those woven upon a loom. 
 The wool used is got from the under-parts of the 
 goats pastured upon the elevated regions, from the 
 mountain yak, and even from the herd dog, which 
 inhabits the same districts. The weavers are Muham- 
 madans, and the most miserable portion of the popu- 
 lation, physically and morally. They are poorly 
 paid, especially since the demand for their produce 
 has fallen off, and live crowded together in dirty, ill- 
 ventilated quarters, which for discomfort and unsani- 
 tary conditions surpass the worst sweat-shop quarters 
 of New York. The trade, which at one time was great 
 and lucrative, passed through France ; but, with the 
 breaking out of the Franco-Prussian war, it suddenly 
 collapsed, and has never revived. Fashion shelved the 
 Kashmir shawl, and thousands were thrown out of 
 employment. To a considerable extent, however, the 
 manufacture of carpets has replaced the old industry. 
 
 A great number of the population, particularly in 
 the villages during the winter months, are engaged in 
 making the long woolen garment of Tibetan fashion, 
 which is the universal dress of all classes. With the 
 poorest people it is the sole article of clothing worn. 
 When a man can afford to do so, he reinforces this 
 

 320 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 bathrobe-like gown with another, or perhaps two more, 
 exactly similar. There is absolutely no attempt at 
 variety, and no thought of underwear, although the 
 climate in the winter months is quite severe. 
 
 Before the introduction of the English product, 
 the paper of Kashmir was held in high esteem 
 throughout India, and there is still some demand tor 
 it. A considerable trade is done in a lacquered papier 
 machi, for which smooth wood is sometimes substi- 
 tuted, peculiar to Kashmir. The design, in bright 
 colors, generally green, blue and crimson, takes the 
 form of floral and conventional patterns, similar to 
 those with which we are familiar in the Kashmir shawls. 
 
 The stone-cutters of Srinagar are very expert; and 
 the silversmiths, though somewhat deficient in origin- 
 ality, display a remarkable aptitude for producing 
 faithful copies of Oriental and European designs. 
 
 At one time, and for centuries, Kashmir had a 
 highly profitable trade; in sword-blades and pistol-bar- 
 rels ; but, with more peaceful times, the demand has 
 fallen off, and the present output, a very limited one, is 
 in the shape of imitation antiquities, which go to tourists. 
 
 The principal export and import traffic is with the 
 Punjab and with Afghanistan, the routes being from 
 Srinagar, in the first case, to Aniritsar, by the Barihal 
 Pass; and, in the second, to Peshawar, by way of the 
 Baramtila Pass. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
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