Pads
wt
°
7 ¢ - ®
a
if J
Ld ’ ail
‘ ~* 2p .
‘ a :
: PE ton?
av? i -
A Aaa
Scie
wa Pn
Aas \
* Te pak ed
ary) ie
= , i“
an =i fi
j
Bae
O ite Sipe
¥
iy _
a A ee en
‘ oy
Ie * r
Pind .
'
.
4 = Y 5 he ia J
|
< =¥_ *
20f -
?
eof od es oc
® o
ne | xe v
a i
- : 7
~ e i
>
¥
4 .
; <—s
- ® -
1 S
¥ to ,
ia ‘
MR yea, Peis: |.
: =
-
Mirela. as
a has
oe a q fe«
° A + v4 Pa a:
Re tee ae
> ee Pa
ys ’
4
A
«
-
7
Py
> +h
ge
icone :
hat
stut
& Le
: ae
HINDOO TEMPLE.—BENARES.
Tue pagoda that forms the subject of this plate, stands
about the centre of the river face of the City of Benares ;
but the writer of these notes must acknowledge his total
inability to give any account of. this singularly situated
Temple. He neglected to learn even the name of it, when
he was himself at Benares; and he cannot find any direct
mention of it made, in any account of this City, to which he
has an opportunity of referring. He is likewise unable to
state, on any ground of authority, how this building came
into its present condition, immersed in deep water. Whether
the river has gradually encroached upon its banks on this
side, and the Temple, from the solidity of the building, has
hitherto withstood the pressure of the stream; or whether
the ground on which it stood, may not have slipped down at
once with its burden into the Ganges. However this may
be, at this time large boats row in and out amongst these
isolated domes, even in the dry season, when the river is at
the lowest : and they have probably borne the weight of the
water for centuries: The foundation at one part seems to
have given way to a certain extent, and then to have fixed
again, leaving two of the towers of the Temple in the remark-
able position in which they appear in the drawing.
The original sketch, from which this engraving is pro-
duced, was taken by Col. T. W. Taylor, (now commanding the
riding establishment at St. John’s Wood,) in the year 1808
or 1809. It is valuable, not only on account of its repre-
senting a building purely Hindoo; but also as it forms a
very interesting plate, and presents as accurate a delinea-
tion of the scene it portrays, as any one that has hitherto
appeared in this work.
1
INDIA.
Although some description of the novel and beautiful
scene, which the banks of the Ganges present at this place,
has already been given in a former number ; it may not be
considered too glaring an instance of repetition, to insert
Lord Valentia’s animated account of the same subject.
“The river forms here a very fine sweep of about four
miles in length. On the external side of the curve, which is
constantly the most elevated, is situated the holy City of
Benares. It is covered with buildings to the water’s edge,
and the opposite shore being extremely level, the whole may
be seen at once. From passing through the streets of the
City, or even viewing it from the minarets of Aurungzebe’s
Mosque, I could have formed no conception of its beauty.
Innumerable pagodas, of every size and shape, occupy the
bank, and even encroach upon the river; uniformly built of
stone, and of the most solid workmanship, they are able to
resist the torrent that in the rainy season beats against them.
Several are painted, others gilded, and some remain the
colour of the stone. They generally have domes, often
finished with the trident of Maha-deva. Ghauts (flights of
steps) are very numerous, for the convenience of ablu-
tion ; and wherever the houses approach the river, they are
necessarily built thirty feet high, of large stones, before
they reach the level of the street above. The contrast
between the elevated masses of masonry, and the light domes
of the pagodas, is singular and pleasing. Trees occa-
sionally overhang the walls; and thousands of people, either
bathing, or washing linen in the water, add not a little to this
most extraordinary scene. None of the drawings that I have
seen, give me the least idea of it.”
Again an opportunity occurs of extracting from the
Journal of Bishop Heber, who gives so accurate and interest-
ing an account of this city. ‘‘ This morning I again went
into the city, which I found peopled, as before, with bulls
and beggars ; but what surprised me still more than yester-
HINDOO TEMPLE—BENARES.
day, as I penetrated further into it, were the large, lofty, and
handsome dwelling-houses, the beauty and apparent rich-
ness of the goods exposed for sale in the bazars, and the
evident hum of business which was going on in the midst of
all this wretchedness and fanaticism. Benares is in fact
a very industrious and wealthy, as well as a very holy city.
It is the great mart where the shawls of the north, the dia-
monds of the south, and the muslins of Dacca and the
eastern provinces, centre; and it has very considerable silk,
cotton, and woollen manufactories of its own ; while English
hardware, swords, spears, and shields from Lucknow and
Monghyr, and those European luxuries and elegances
which are daily becoming more popular in India, circulate
from hence through Bundelcund, Gorruckpoor, Nepaul, and
other tracts which are removed from the main artery of the
Ganges. The population, according to a census made in
1803, amounted. to above 582,000, (stated now to be upwards
of 600,000;) an enormous amount, and which one would
think must have been exaggerated; but it is the nearest
means we have of judging, and it certainly becomes less
improbable from the really great size of the town, and the
excessively crowded manner in which it is built. It is
well drained, and stands on a high rocky bank, sloping to
the river, to which circumstance, as well as to the frequent
ablutions and great temperance of the people, must be
ascribed its freedom from infectious diseases. Accordingly,
notwithstanding its crowded population, it is not an
unhealthy city; yet the only square, or open part of it, is
the new market-place, constructed by the present govern-
ment, and about as large as the Peckwater Quadrangle in
Oxford.
“Our first visit was to a celebrated temple, named the
Vishvayesa, consisting of a very small but beautiful spe-
cimen of carved stone-work, and the place is one of the most
holy in Hindoostan, though it only approximates to a yet
3
INDIA.
more sacred, spot adjoining, which Aurungzebe defiled,
and built a mosque upon, so as to render it inaccessible to
the worshippers of Brahma. The temple court, small as it
is, is crowded like a farm-yard with very fat and tame bulls,
which thrust their noses into every body’s hand and pocket
for grain and sweetmeats, which their fellow-votaries give
them in great quantities. The cloisters are no less full of
naked devotees. and the continued hum of “ram! ram!”
is enough to make a stranger giddy. Near this temple is:a
well with a small tower over it, and asteep flight of steps
for descending to the water, which is brought by a subter-
raneous channel from the Ganges, and, for some reason or
other, is accounted more holy than the Ganges itself. All
pilgrims to Benares are enjoined to wash and drink here.”
_ The christian schools established in the midst of this
strong-hold of Braminical idolatry, must have been by far
the sight of greatest interest to Bishop Heber. He was told,
that there was every reason to think that all the larger boys,
and many of the lesser ones; brought up at these schools,
learned to despise idolatry, and the Hindoo faith, less by
any direct precept, than from the disputations of the Mus-
sulman and Hindoo boys among themselves, from the com-
parison which they soon learn to make between the system
of worship, which they themselves follow, and ours; and,
above all, from the enlargement of mind which general
knowledge, and the pure morality of the gospel, have a ten-
dency to produce.
fs
aA ie Po a Vine
i : Cis Vv. te Yt Stace ° d
x \ : iy ogy ss Ls.) rl ality , Git Ore ye : '
222° Soe” ran ey ni 4 ee ets, :
¥ ‘i ; ‘ 4 \ ci) hi i . , : ry), » Tt 5 : p az
SA ; K ° i ray
ne 4 mT | q " Y i ih aa 4% vi ae : : -)
7 Fipmial sod) aa sora aa iW ye
ory
ie ‘ P¢ }
Aaa iis pant ig i.) Pe : hae an at .
hy, hare ie Rae Mk ph nbbrctn Hee 42 i
ar é ‘ ees |
ences 9 4 a 2 ;
: ws pl gs) ed LIBRARY .. pis) or
4
—
TDD)
J
t
ty INI
)
DB)
SON
SHER
PI
7 - * ?
#8 : r :
® ae | 7 ale re
ore uy . fea - “ .
ne Ce:
‘ a} if ; .
. - om hot * ‘
ih 7 | ey
. f iP :
oy inn.
.
>.
in oe :
- ry ae Th krinyt a
| aii ‘ine hi OMe
“ ee ai a uae a
eret a, pre os. BAe if y #4
? 4 “i Seti’ , 2 y a. say Tats Wer vo
san saath, ane Si ¢
dou, Fale eae wl coarse
. ‘a oa “Bing ' 2 a ee ch |
ar i 4 iy ti int c Ve id Pi zy
és } Laci i a i Lids , rue a y
4 on Pan wed :
1 - “e? ts Wipes t > a fe 7 a
~~ 4 ‘ ae oe. 23° 7 : i 4 + i - ve" ay
a = i ae % Niet ey wy .
“ty a o, O°
eo mn?
*
THE TAJ MAHAL, AT AGRA.
Tuts splendid Edifice, which is justly celebrated as the finest
piece of Oriental architecture that remains to exhibit the
power and magnificence of the Mahomedan rulers, and to
display the skill and industry of the people of Hindoostan,
was erected by the Emperor Shah Jehan, for the cemetery
of Muntaza Zemani, a favourite sultana, who died in the
year of our Lord 1631.
To the raising of this structure a slight reference is
made in Ferishta’s History of the Reign of Shah Jehan.
In Dow’s translation of this history from the Persian, it
is said, “ that on the death of the sultana,. the emperor,
to express his respect for her memory, raised at Agra
a tomb to her name, which cost in building the amazing
sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds.” Again it is
observed, “that on the return of Shah Jehan to Agra from
Lahore, in the year 1642,” eleven years after the death
of the princess, “ the tomb of Muntaza Zemadni was
finished at a great expense, and that the emperor endowed
with lands a monastery of Fakirs, whose business it was to
take care of the tomb, and to keep up the perpetual lamps
over her shrine.”
Muntaza Zemani, or “‘ The most exalted of the Age,” was
the daughter of Asiph Jah, the minister of Jehangire, Shah
Jehan’s father, and the niece of the celebrated Noor Jehan,
the wife of Jehangire, and Empress of the East. The
historian relates, that Muntéza had been twenty years
married to Shah Jehan, and had borne him a child almost
every year, and died at last in travail. It is also stated, “that
though she seldom interfered in public affairs, Shah Jehan
owed the empire to her influence with her father. Nor was he
1
INDIA.
ungrateful: he loved her living, and lamented her when dead.
Calm, engaging, and mild in her disposition, she engrossed
his whole affection: and though he maintained a number of
women for state, they were only the slaves of her pleasure.
She was such an enthusiast in Deism, that she could scarcely
forbear persecuting the Portuguese for their supposed idola-
try; and it was only on what concerned that nation, she
suffered her temper, which was naturally placid, to be
ruffled.”
It would be very difficult to give a description of the Taj
Mahal, that would convey an adequate idea of its beauty
and splendour. The body of the building itself, together
with its great gateway, side mosques, and detached minarets,
form the most admirable group of Mahomedan architecture
that continues at this day to adorn the fabric-covered plains
of Hindoostan. An Italian artist, visiting the Taj some
years since, is said to have lamented that it had not a glass-
case over it. This story is often repeated, in order to convey
an idea of the richness and beauty of the ornamental parts of
the building; but the remark by no means does justice to
the principal merit of the structure. The design of the Taj
is full of vigour, as well as elegance; and, if it had not the
slightest portion of inlaying or ornament about it, which,
though extremely elaborate, is in good taste and keeping,
it would still present, in its style alone, perhaps the most
beautiful edifice, that was ever projected by the genius, and
raised by the hand, of man.
The form of the building is a square, with the four corners
taken off. From the centre rises a high conically-formed
dome of very large dimensions, and apparently of admirable
proportions. On the roof also, at the corners, are cupola
temples, and a number of small minars. The whole is of
white marble, and, to use the word that would best express
the nature of the ornament, it might be said to be veneered
with black and red marble. At each comer of the high and
2
THE TAJ MAHAL, AT AGRA.
extensive marble platform, on which the building stands, is
raised a lofty minaret, the peculiar elegance of which, it
would be difficult to imagine any thing could surpass. A
mosque of red stone, crowned with three marble domes,
stands on each side facing the Taj, upon the immense
red-stone platform that forms the foundation of the whole
structure. The face of this foundation, skilfully ornamented,
extends along the banks of the Jumna for several hundred
feet, and the foot of the wall is washed by the waters of the
river during the rains. The interior of the Taj is one large
apartment, in the centre of which are placed two plain but
handsome tombstones, contained within a marble skreen of
exquisite workmanship. The gateway into the Taj garden,
corresponds in richness and grandeur with the body of the
building. Large, massive, and appropriate, it is constructed
of red stone and white marble, and surmounted with a row
of marble cupolas. A high flight of steps from this entrance
descends into the garden, and an avenue of cypress trees
leads up to the building, the dazzling whiteness of which is
admirably contrasted with the dark foliage of the trees.
Shah Jehan was himself interred in this splendid mansion
of the dead, having died in the fort at Agra, where he had
been confined by his son Aurungzebe, for nearly eight years.
The four sons of Shah Jehan strove for the empire, like “ the
four winds of heaven upon the great sea,” before their father
was either aged or imbecile. The cause that gave rise to
the disputes among the sons of Shah Jehan, is thus power-
fully rendered by the historian Ferishta. ‘“ Shah Jehan,
after a reign of thirty years of prosperity, found himself sud-
denly involved in trouble and misfortune. The storm had
long been gathering: it was foreseen, but nothing could pre-
vent it from falling. The emperor, with abilities for business,
was addicted to pleasure ; and though he was decisive in the
present moment, he was improvident of the future. His
affection for his sons was the source of the calamities which
" 3
INDIA. .
shook his empire. Pleased with their promising parts when
young, he furnished them with opportunities for exercising
their talents in the cabinet as well as in the field ; and when
they became, by their own merit, objects of public attention,
it was dangerous, if not impracticable, to reduce them into
private stations. The unsettled system of succession to the
crown had roused their ambition, and awakened their fears.
They were to each other objects of terror, as well as of envy.
They all looked forward with anxiety to the death of their
father; and each saw in that gloomy point, either a throne
or a grave. Their hopes and fears increased with their grow-
ing age. They had provided themselves against the impor-
tant event of his demise; and when he was seized with what
was deemed a mortal disease, they broke forth at once from
that silent respect which their reverence for the person and
authority of a parent had hitherto imposed on their minds.”
After a long and violent stuggle, which darkened the fertile
provinces of Hindoostan with all the horrors of civil war, the
craft and policy of Aurungzebe, the third son of the emperor,
prevailed over his brothers, and he took possession of the
empire, with the title of Allumgire, or “ the Conqueror of the
World.”
The Taj is kept in order by the government of India at
a considerable expense, and visitors entering the garden are
desired to leave their sticks behind them, as though they
were going into the picture gallery in Pall Mall. Some
years ago, a very perfect model in ivory, of this costly edifice,
was exhibited in London; but it excited little attention, so
that it by no means answered the expectations of those, who
were at the pains and expense of sending it to England.
tt
wy a ty
(Fuas & a oi ya
7 Pa q* ie A ene oy! ad
1 =i) se Pee
% Oats i I
mos wy)
Ui
i)
Mi
d
f op yi
Cay Gee
JAHARA BAUG—AGRA.
THE Jahara Baug (or Garden) is situated on the bank of the
Jumna, opposite to the upper part of the city of Agra. The
eastern side of the river, at this place, seems to have been
occupied by the houses and gardens of the rich men of the
day, when the city flourished ; and the towers, that are repre-
sented in the plate, stand at the corners of some of these
grounds, as summer-houses might do in England, in gardens
or pleasure-grounds, that extend down to the side of a river.
The great part of the city of Agra stands on the western
bank of the Jumna, but there are some beautiful remains of
buildings on the eastern side also, both in mosques, tombs,
and dwelling-houses. Amongst these are the buildings that
belong to the Ram Baug, and Jahara Baug; also the mosque
called the China Carosa, a large handsome edifice, once
porcelained over, (like some Chinese pagodas,) a part of
which ornamental coating still remains. The extremely
beautiful tomb of Etemad-ud-Dowlah, the minister of Jehan-
gire, and father to the celebrated, beautiful, but restless
Empress Noor-Jehan, stands also to grace this side of the
river. This tomb is built of white marble, like the Taj Mahal,
with a dome and four minarets. The whole building is
covered with marble lattice-work, and inlaying of party-
coloured mosaics of the most elaborate and delicate kind;
and though inferior in size to many, it equals, in style of
architecture, and execution of ornament, any other edifice of
the same description in India. From the minarets nearest the
river, of this tomb of Etemad-ud-Dowlah, there is a grand
panoramic view of the city, that lies in the form of a half-
moon on the other side, and of the surrounding country.
Innumerable domes and minarets are visible in almost every
INDIA.
direction ; the windings of the Jumna up towards Secundra
are to be traced, and the great tomb of Akbar is distinctly to
be seen. The Taj Mahal, and the Fort appear to great
advantage, and all the glittering towers of Agra, displaying
a brightness of colour, that, if faithfully painted, would
scarcely be believed to exist, by those who have only wit-
nessed the commonly cold effect of European landscape.
Views may be found, and delineated, that might, from local
circumstances, create a deeper interest in the public mind;
but probably not one in the whole world, that would furnish
a more rich, beautiful, or brilliant scene for panoramic repre-
sentation, than the prospect of Agra, and its neighbourhood,
from the spot that is here described. The tomb of Etemad-
ud-Dowlah a few years ago was utterly neglected, and it may
be so still; some cows had the undisturbed possession of it.
It is grievous that such works as this should be suffered to
fall into decay, for want of a little care. Many of-the build-
ings are very durable in their materials, and the style of the
architecture is well calculated to stand the ravages of time,
yet the peepul tree is permitted to insinuate itself into the
crevices of the buildings, and tear them to pieces, although a
very small portion of expense and trouble might preserve
them. Some few of the tombs and mosques are taken care
of ; for instance, the Taj Mahal, and Akbar’s tomb at Secun-
dra, which lately underwent a thorough repair, by order of
the Marquis of Hastings; but these are rather uncommon
cases : cave temples, pagodas, mosques, tombs, and palaces
are mouldering into ruin in all directions ; a wide and melan-
choly scene of desolation is spread upon the plains of Hin-
doostan, and there is nothing apparently rising to occupy the
place of former grandeur.
The Mahomedans, when they possessed the empire of
India, made it their own country, and founded there as
splendid a monarchy as the world has almost ever seen.
But the Europeans, though possessing absolute power, estab-
2
JAHARA BAUG.
lishing peace, encouraging agriculture, and promoting social
order, are in themselves at the best but strangers and pilgrims
in the land, living a life that many consider little better than
banishment, and seeking to enrich themselves, that they may
spend the fruits of their labour in their own country. It can
hardly, therefore, be expected, under all the circumstances in
which they are connected with India, that any great works,
public or private, should be undertaken by the present rulers
of Hindoostan.
Bishop Heber is disinclined to allow great antiquity to
any of the ruins of Hindoostan. The date of the earliest
Mahomedan buildings might be ascertained, as they could
not have existed previous to the Mahomedan conquest of
India; but some of the Hindoo remains may be much more
ancient than the Bishop seems willing to admit.
In a letter addressed to Wilmot Horton, Esq., and pub-
lished in Bishop Heber’s Journal, he says, ‘‘ During my long
journey through the northern half of this vast country, I have
paid all the attention I could spare to a topic on which
Schlegel bitterly reproves the English for their inattention to,
the architectural antiquities of Hindoostan. I had myself
heard much of these before I set out, and had met with many
persons, both in Europe and in Calcutta, (where nothing of
the kind exists,) who spoke of the present natives of India
as a degenerate race, whose inability to rear such splendid
piles was a proof that these last belong to a remote antiquity.
I have seen, however, enough to convince me, that both the
Indian masons and architects of the present day, only want
patrons sufficiently wealthy, or sufficiently zealous, to do all
which their ancestors have done; and that there are very few
structures here, which can, on any satisfactory grounds, be
referred to a date so early as the greater part of our own
cathedrals.
‘Often in Upper Hindoostan, and still more frequently in
Rajpootana and Malwa, I have met with new and unfinished
3
INDIA.
shrines, cisterns, and ghauts, as beautifully carved, and as
well proportioned, as the best of those of an earlier date.
And though there are many buildings and ruins which
exhibit a most venerable appearance, there are several causes,
in this country, which produce this appearance prematurely,
We ourselves have a complex impression made on us by the
sight of edifices so distant from our own country, and so-
unlike whatever we have seen there. We multiply, as it
were, the geographical and moral distance into the chrono-
logical, and can hardly persuade ourselves that we are con-
temporaries with an object so far removed in every other
respect. Besides this, the finest masonry in this climate is
sorely tried by the alternate influence of a pulverizing sun,
and a continued three months’ rain. The wild fig-tree, (pee-
pul, ficus religiosa,) which no Hindoo can root out or lop
without a deadly sin, fixes its roots in the joints of the arch-
ing, and, being of rapid growth at the same time, in a very
few years increases its picturesque and antique appearance,
and secures its eventual destruction. Lastly, no man, in this
country, repairs or completes what his father has begun ;
preferring to begin something else, by which his own name
may be remembered.”
4
"VUOV-“IVEAVA LVL THL LOOMY SNIAW
TAJ MAHAL.—AGRA.
A View of the T4j Mahal, as it is seen from the banks of the
Jumna, about half a mile below the building, was given in
the first number of this work; and the scene that this plate
contains, represents the land-side of the Tomb, and some of
the ruins that surround it. The arched gate-way that appears
in the drawing, is the way into an enclosed, though large
space of ground, that lies before the great entrance and front
wall of the Taj Garden. The top of this kind of triumphal
arch gate-way, with its row of small cupolas, may be distin-
guished in the engraving. The high conical-shaped dome in
the distance stands on the centre of the building itself; the
minarets and the side mosques of the T4j are likewise seen.
Some description of this magnificent and most beautiful
Tomb has appeared in the first part of this work; also the
name and station of its royal builder, and the cause and
purpose of its erection, with a short account of those whose
ashes it contains. No one that ever lived lies enshrined in
such splendour as Shah Jehan and his wife Muntaza
Zemani, whose remains are deposited in this gorgeous
sepulchre. The Taj Mahal is very justly celebrated as the
finest, and by far the most beautiful, of all the monuments of
Hindostan; its design is at once elegant and grand; its
dimensions are great, and its proportions admirable; the
materials of which it is constructed are costly in their kind,
and superior in their quality; its exterior and interior orna-
ments and embellishments are elaborate and rich; and
whether it is viewed as a complete and exquisitely finished
work of a graceful and noble style of architecture, or taken
and examined separately in all its various and minutely-
1
INDIA.
wrought parts, it exhibits a structure that surpasses, we
might safely assert, any thing of the kind that continues on
the face of the earth, at this day, to arrest the attention, and
demand the admiration, of those who travel into distant lands.
‘The modern district of Agra joins the Delhi division a
short distance north of Kosee, and extends along the banks
of the Jumna to its junction with the Chumbul. On the
west it is bounded by the pergunnahs of Deeg, the Bhurtpore
territories, and the pergunnahs of Dholpore, Barree, and
Rajakera. That portion situated between the Chumbul and
the Jumna is a table-land, elevated above the beds of both
rivers about sixty feet, and composed of a light soil. In-
many parts, during the dry season, the tanks, streams, and
rivulets are without water, which, for agriculture and domestic
purposes, is procured from wells. Cultivation, in this pro-
vince, when compared with its condition in the Company’s
old provinces, has made but little progress. The waste lands
are very extensive, and a portion of them might, without
injustice, be set aside for the maintenance of watchmen, or
for any other public measure.”
Of the native inhabitants of the province of Agra, the
following account has been given in the Indian Gazetteer :—
“The natives are in general a handsome robust race of men,
and consist in a mixture of the Hindoos and Mahomedans,
few of the Seiks having come so far south. A considerable
number of the cultivators to the west of the Jumna are Jauts,
and the country of the Macherry Rajah contains many
Mewatties, long noted for their thievish propensities. The
Hindoo religion is still predominant, although the country
has been (until recently) permanently subject to Mahomedan
princes since the thirteenth century. Pagodas are numer-
ous, and mosques rare, while the Rajpoot and Braminical
races prevail among the peasantry. The woods and jungles
are full of peacocks; another symptom of Hindooism; and
most of the names are followed by the affix of Singh, which
Sy)
ial
TAJ MAHAL.—AGRA.
ought to be peculiar to the Rajpoots of noble descent;
but the Jauts assume it without ceremony, and so do the
Seiks likewise, who, being apostates from the Brami-
nical faith, have still less claim to such a distinction.—
The language of common intercourse is the Hindostanee;
but the Persian is used for public and official documents,
and is also spoken in conversation by the higher classes of
Mahomedans. The Bruj dialect is spoken around the city
of Agra, and extends to the Vindhya mountains. In the
words of the Lord’s prayer, in this language, twenty-eight
correspond with those occurring in the Bengalese and Hin-
dostanee specimens, besides two or three Sanscrit words of
frequent recurrence in the Bengalese. The ancient language
of Kanoje, the capital of Upper Hindostan, at the period of
the first Mahomedan invasion, is thought by Mr. Colebrooke
to form the basis of the modern Hindostanee.”
Short notices of the town of Agra, both ancient and
modern, have already been given in the third Number, in
describing the Jumma Musjid, and in the seventh Part, in
illustrating some ruins on the banks of the Jumna, opposite
to the upper part of the city. This capital does not appear
to have struck Bishop Heber as possessing superiority in
architectural remains over other places in India, by any
means so much as it did the writer of these notes; and the
difference was more apparent on revisiting Agra, after seeing
Delhi and other places. There is a peculiar brilliancy about
Agra, that no one unacquainted with Eastern scenery can
well conceive; and which no one, who has seen it, can easily
forget. Yet there are animated descriptions of what he saw
at Agra, to be found in Bishop Heber’s Journal, as the
following account of some of the buildings and halls, in the
interior of the fort, will amply shew. ‘The fort is very
large and ancient, surrounded with high walls and towers, of
red stone, which command some noble views of the city, its
neighbourhood, and the windings of the Jumna. The prin-
3
: INDIA.
cipal sights, however, which it contains, are the Mootee
Musjid, (Pearl Mosque,) a beautiful building, of white marble,
carved with exquisite simplicity and elegance.” So beautifully
laid are the stones in this mosque, that it looks as if it had
been cut out of a solid block of marble. “ The palace built by
Akbar, in a great degree of the same material, and contain-
ing some noble rooms, is now sadly disfigured and destroyed
by neglect, and by being used as warehouses, armories,
offices, and lodging-rooms for the garrison. The hall, now
used as the “ Dewanny Aum,” or public court of justice, is a
splendid edifice, supported by pillars and arches of white
marble, as large, and more nobly simple, than that of Delhi.
The ornaments, carving, and mosaic of the smaller apart-
ments, in which was formerly the Zennana, are equal or
superior to any thing which is described as found in the
Alhambra. The view from these rooms is very fine; at the
same time, there are some adapted for the hot winds, from
which light is carefully excluded. This suite is lined with
small mirrors, in fantastic frames; a cascade of water, also
surrounded with mirrors, has been made to gush from a
recess at the upper end, and marble channels, beautifully
inlaid with cornelians, agates, and jasper, convey the stream
to every side of the apartment.” This is a fine description
of a rich and magnificent palace.
UI Nill |
iil
i
Hi
MN
a
FTE
bd oy ee
7 ." it) ae aes ei’
a ¢ . “ .
; . ‘ ° NS i
1% ; ey os” ad fie
’ ty Ne { ad or f
~
2 atte Hi ahh)
: an Ae |
' i& a
‘
¢
we
Me ey
- -
| ia
P- t 1 4, | Py
“5
Shei Baga
“
oe
| ei
’ Let ty
2 4 i ’ 4 ane
* 4 Fad Po | Ln
Ss p< i a :
ea A reyes, ee
. ?
s “ “3 ee ra
. j Sirs oe Bae a. o%:
sty ait rs AS! 5 - Me %
4 » . ra $y?
hy ‘ ‘ *:
gis i” 4 eae Is
ty: a4 aes
a ' A 4) lr ae
> st P - = ND v,
q . Meu, ’ - ran Rae | “
5 ? a) i - * net oe] ’
: eth. Ti 2 ba “arr
| Pe ae ,
. ‘zo Pf
‘ bea EAL eg prety
; , i we oe 2 oe
ee a 7
" ‘ s -%
i ‘ e 2-79 is Ae Ae
, "
; ‘ Y oan
Wide tet ; ie 4 so vice
< ps
¢ ir’
‘ ; ee eee | Pe coms yy iy 250M,
, : ve" :
7 4 b or" a
oy sot “ee yee
‘ ats. 7 .
: i ‘5 " ‘
* t 4
a * wal eel = a!
‘ : . : ete d
ee i. ne IF
=, , ees a > P, Mey = ’
“ ‘/ Pe Ne 4 ‘ hy >a a ? »* ~% Liar
es a eel
: ' Coty oi by J Menem 2
‘ si %) ’ ive e- a
. oh lithe . ar ps = es fae ‘iiea ie zu hae ae
eine oe iy naa
¥
“a?
“~
>
om
_
~
<
ek.
‘
~
a
AKBAR’S TOMB—SECUNDRA.
Tue village of Secundra is about seven miles from the city
of Agra, situated on the road to Muttra and Delhi; and
though it is now a small and ruinous village, there are the
remains of what might have been a large and handsome town.
The ruins, from the north gate of Agra to Secundra, are almost
continuous, and favour the opinion expressed in the Indian
Gazetteer, that Secundra, in former times, was probably a
suburb of the city of Agra. “It is now an uninhabited
collection of ruins. Of these, several noble gateways, part of
the walls of a palace, a coss minar, (a pillar erected at the
end of each coss, a distance of two English miles,) and
various other architectural fragments, are still in a tolerable
condition. The only remaining entire structure is the cele-
brated Mausoleum of the Emperor Akbar, a vast pyramidical
pile of arched galleries, tier over tier, with small cupola
pavilions at intervals. It is certainly, in point of magni-
ficence, the most remarkable of all the Mogul monuments,
and scarcely yields to any in the elaborate details of its
marble trellises and relievos ; but is fantastical in its design,
and in the contrasted colours of its materials.”
Bishop Heber says of this remarkable building —* It
stands in a square area of about forty English acres, enclosed
by an embattled wall, with octagonal towers at the angles,
surmounted with open pavilions. This enclosure has four
very noble gateways of red granite, the principal of whichis
inlaid with white marble, and has four high marble minarets.
The space within is planted with trees, and divided into
green alleys, leading to the central building, which is a sort
of solid pyramid surrounded externally with cloisters, gal-
1
INDIA.
leries, and domes, diminishing gradually on ascending, till it
ends in a square platform of white marble, surrounded with
the most elaborate lattice-work of the same material, in the
centre of which is a small altar tomb, also of white marble,
carved with a delicacy and beauty which do full justice to the
material, and to the graceful forms of Arabic characters which
form its chief ornament. At the bottom of the building, in a
small but very lofty vault, is the real tomb of this great
monarch, plain and unadorned, but also of white marble.
There are many other ruins in the vicinity, some of them
apparently handsome ; but Akbar’s tomb leaves a stranger
little time or inclination to look at any thing else. Govern-
ment has granted money for the repair of this tomb, and an
officer of engineers is employed on it. A sergeant of artillery
is kept in the place, who lives in one of the gateways; his
business is to superintend a plantation of sissoo-trees, made
by Dr. Wallich. He says the soil does not appear to suit
them; they grow, however, but by no means rapidly. For
fruit-trees, particularly the orange, the soil is very favourable;
and the tall tamarinds, and the neglected state of the garden,
afford more picturesque points of view than large buildings
are usually seen in.”
Akbar was a noble and a justly renowned monarch, who left
behind him the greatest name that was ever known in India,
in Mahomedan times. The celebrated Abul Fazil, the most
elegant writer of India, has given to the world the history of
this accomplished prince ; and from that biography Col. Dow,
in his translation of the History of Hindoostan, from the
Persian, has taken his abridgment of the Life of Akbar, the
son of Humaioon. The long reign of Akbar, of more than
fifty years, was almost a continued period of fierce wars with
the Indian princes, that seemed to require all the resolution
and skill of such a one as Akbar to maintain. The Maho-
medans had a long and arduous contention for the empire of
Hindoostan; and this enterprising prince appears to have
2
AKBAR’S TOMB.
been one of the principal instruments in establishing the
Mogul power. A king of less determination or ability,
humanly speaking, could never have withstood and sub-
dued the host of enemies that were continually rising up
against him on every side. There appears to be a great
similarity of character between Akbar and Richard the First
of England, as will be seen in the character that is ascribed
to him by his historian, Abul Fazil. ‘“‘ Mahomed Akbar
was a prince endued with many shining virtues. His gene-
rosity was great, and his clemency without bounds: this
latter virtue he often carried beyond the line of prudence, and
in many instances passed the limits of that justice which he
owed to the state; but his daring spirit made this noble error
seem to proceed from a generous disposition, and not from
any weakness of mind. His character, as a warrior, was
rather that of an intrepid partisan than of a great general ;
he exposed his person with unpardonable rashness, and often
attempted capital points, without using that power which at
the time he possessed. But fortune, and a daring soul, sup-
plied the place of conduct in Akbar: he brought about at
once, by desperate means, what calm caution would take
much time to accomplish.
“This circumstance spread the terror of the name of this
conqueror so wide, that Hindoostan, ever subject to the con-
vulsions of rebellion, became settled and calm in his presence.
He raised a wall of disciplined valour against the powers of
the North, and by his own activity inspired his omrahs with
enterprise.
‘“‘ He loved glory to excess, and thirsted after a reputation
for personal valour: he encouraged learning with the bounty
of kings, and delighted in history, which is in truth the school
of sovereigns. As his warm and active disposition prompted
him to perform actions worthy of the pen of the poet, so he
was particularly fond of heroic compositions in verse. In
short, the faults of Akbar were virtues carried to extremes ;
3
INDIA.
and if he sometimes did things beneath the dignity of a great
king, he never did any thing unworthy of a good man. His
name lives, the glory of the house of Timur, and an example
of renown to the kings of the world.”
When the Marquis of Hastings visited the upper pro-
vinces of India, this building appears peculiarly to have
attracted his attention; and he caused considerable repairs
to be made, and the ornaments to be restored as much as
possible. When this drawing of the building was made, in
the end of 1822, they were in the act of putting up the cupola,
that appears deficient at the top. When Sir George Nugent’s
army was at Agra, in the year 1808 or 1809, a regiment of
English cavalry was quartered, and their horses picketed, in
this tomb. How distant from the mind of him, over whose
ashes, and to whose memory, this great fabric was raised,
must have been the conception, that such a scene would ever
be witnessed at the monument of his power; or that ever a
strange people should come, from almost the ends of the
earth, to take possession of the empire that he had fought so
hard, and laboured so strenuously, to establish !
4
Arete ee ce
Wa He Sang ey : y Dy cae! ’
ele peas ait
a he ais Rte tae, RUN et. ;
Patil: | ti het i b oye ee
ai ie ey Te a aris iva ti) i. my, he Ji, TA,
De ' , ie 1! at va
i 7 nee : 4h a r no " y Nt T vs e . i ‘4 ‘a
At ; Paras ; if in ,
Ubi mie tO, < (ee dq ¥ ns at Neer ine eee C
mnt . ty ”
I :e Lig > or PAE! Catoe : i i Ty {3 fm
A) PP ihas if Bess Vetere , ;
Lis pr Wei uy an UIA A) CP as ly Ne Uy
¥ : : C sg” ; , f ii 7
A Doo? aD aa i
y v7 vis i y 4 \ we)
TG: " od F bs ay ach |
hi A ‘4 ip
. rol) ; s ! nf
‘a
i 7)
‘
. au he de neh. G a
ot ‘a ou j
i is |
acta: ae eye nk hit
' 4 4 {
she oni ice ew ay :
s rv
¥ " ae ‘A dd
h : ;
» a ; ' en ‘
a ‘i
Ari e } ' O ‘
- | ae |
7 ; q w/
re a The : . hana (er iJ i
AN * ; ‘ { : ane} '
of ba mini aN | . hi
va p
: : y is 4
oe | ht
{ ray
hi Ae
ne Pl a) | As
SS
SSS
ae
Ss
—
ay
SSS
a}
y
=
BSS
Moke?
es
at ad
raat hts, gi
anit ST Neg (ha
| eer euros roa
‘
geil » Lighten,
*%
tee Qdf2 OP Qe
~
ENTRANCE OF
A MOSQUE, AT FUTTYPOOR SICRI.
FuTryPoor Sicri is a ruined town, lying about twenty miles
to the westward of Agra, and is the second marching station
on the great western road, that leads to Jeypoor, Ajmeer, Kota,
&c. The Drawing represents the Gateway of the Mosque
attached to the palace of Akbar, the most celebrated of the
Mahommedan emperors of Hindostan. This entrance leads
into a fine arcaded quadrangle, of about 500 feet square, on
the left-hand side of which stands the Mosque itself, sur-
mounted by three domes of white marble; but by no means
corresponding, either in point of size or grandeur, with the
magnificence that distinguishes the Gateway. Fronting the
entrance there are two tombs of very elaborate workmanship :
the one on the right contains several monuments of the impe-
rial family of Akbar; the one on the left, a beautiful little
structure of white marble, is the shrine of Sheck Solimaun.
Bishop Heber, in his Journal, particularly remarks the
imposing appearance of this fine quadrangle, and says, ‘‘ The
impression which this whole view produced on me will be
appreciated, when I say, that there is no quadrangle, either
in Oxford or Cambridge, fit to be compared with it, either in
size, or majestic proportions, or beauty of architecture. It is
kept in substantial repair by the British government, and its
grave and solid style makes this an easier task, than the
intricate and elaborate inlaid work of the Tomb of Akbar at
Secundra, or the Taj Mahal at Agra. The interior of the
Mosque itself is fine, and in the same simple character of
grandeur; but the height of the portal tower, and the magni-
ficence of the quadrangle, had raised my expectations too
high, and I found that these were the greatest as well as the
most striking beauties of Futtypoor.
1
INDIA.
“A little to the right is the Palace, now all in ruins,
except a small part, which is inhabited by the Tusildar of
the district. We rambled for some time among its courts,
and through a range of stables worthy of an emperor, consist-
ing of a long and wide street, with a portico on each side
fifteen feet deep, supported with carved stone pillars in front,
and roofed with enormous slabs of stone, reaching from the
colonnade to the wall. ‘There are four buildings particularly
worthy of notice; one a small but richly ornamented house,
which is shown as the residence of Beerbul, the emperor’s
(Akbar’s) favourite minister. Another is a very beautiful
octagonal pavilion in the corner of the court, which appears
to have been the Zenana, and was variously stated to have
been the emperor’s private study, or the bed-chamber of one
of his wives, who was the daughter of the Sultan of Constan-
tinople. It has three large windows filled with an excellent
tracery of white marble, and all its remaining wall is carved
with trees, bunches of grapes, and the figures of different
kinds of birds and beasts, of considerable merit in their
execution; but the two last disfigured, by the bigotry of
Aurungzebe, who, it is well known, sought to make amends
for his own abominable cruelty and wickedness towards his
father and brothers, by a more than usual zeal for the tradi-
tions and observances of Islam. The third is a building,
which, if its traditional destination be correct, I wonder
Aurungzebe allowed to stand. It consists merely of a shrine
or canopy supported by four pillars, which the Mussulman
ciceroni of the place pretend was devoted by Akbar to the
performance of magical rites. Whatever its use may have
been, it is not without beauty. The fourth is a singular
pavilion, in the centre of which is a stone pulpit richly carved,
approached by four stone galleries from different sides of the
room, on which the emperor used to sit on certain occasions
of state, while his subjects were admitted below to present
their petitions. It is a mere capriccio, with no merit except
2
MOSQUE AT FUTTYPOOR SICRI.
its carving. It commands from its terraced roof a very
advantageous view of the greater part of the city, and a wide
extent of surrounding country. Of this last much appears
to have been laid out in an extensive lake, of which the dam
is still to be traced ; and the whole hill on which the palace
stands bears marks of terraces and gardens, to irrigate which
an elaborate succession of wells, cisterns, and wheels appears
to have been contrived, adjoining the great Mosque, and
forcing up the water nearly to the height of its roof. The
cisterns are still useful as receptacles for rain water, but the
machinery has long since gone to decay. On the whole, Fut-
typoor is one of the most interesting places which I have seen
in India; and it was to me the more so, because it happened
I had heard little about it, and was by no means prepared to
expect buildings of so much magnitude and splendour.”
Futtypoor Sicri was the favourite residence of the Emperor
Akbar, built by himself, in a situation that is said to have
depended on the following circumstance, as related in Dow’s
translation of Ferishta’s History. ‘ Akbar, after this con-
quest, (of the hill-fort of Rintimpoor,) made a pilgrimage to
the shrine of Chaja Moin to Ajmeer, and from thence returned
to Agra. From that city he went to visit the learned and
venerable Selim in the village of Sicri; and on questioning
him, was told that he would soon have issue, that would live
and prosper; all the children that were born to him before
that time, dying in their infancy. Soon after, the favourite
Sultana became pregnant; and upon the 19th of the first
Ribbi, in the year 977, (of the Prophet,) she was brought to
bed of a son, who was named Selim, after the saint, (and in
course of time became the Emperor Jehangire.) The emperor
had another son, whom he named Murad, born in the house
of the Sheck Selim, on which the king, esteeming the village
of Sicri fortunate to him, as two sons were born to him there,
ordered the foundations of a city to be laid there, which,
after the conquest of Guzerat, he called the City of Victory.”
3
INDIA.
Futtypoor Sicri was a town of considerable extent, sur-
rounded by a high stone wall, with battlements and round
towers. In some places this wall is still nearly perfect;
there are ruins of large houses and mosques scattered about
within, and the space is interspersed with fields cultivated
with rice and mustard. The large Mosque, and ruins of the
Palace, stand near the centre of the city, on high ground, and
have a very imposing appearance on approaching the town
from any quarter. The whole of this rising ground is covered
with the ruins of palaces, probably the residences of the
nobles of Akbar’s court, as Futtypoor Sicri appears to have
borne the same relation to Agra, that Versailles may have
done to Paris in the time of Louis XIV.
From the top of the gateway of the Mosque, the famous
fortress of Bhurtpoor may be seen, about fourteen miles dis-
tant, in a north-westerly direction. In the retreat of Colonel
Monson, in 1804, from the Mokundra pass to Agra, the troops
of Holkar appear to have followed his division as far as this
place, from whence to Agra it was.a complete rout: The
following is the account given, in Mill’s History of British
India, of this last part of the retreat. ‘‘ Having reached the
Biana pass (50 miles from Agra) about sun-set, on the 28th,
when the troops were almost exhausted with hunger and
fatigue, Monson halted with a view to pass the night at the
entrance. But the enemy’s guns approached, and began
a galling fire. He was therefore obliged to prosecute his
retreat. The night was dark, the camp followers and bag-
gage mixed with the line, the troops were thrown into confu-
sion, order could no more be restored, and the different corps
concluded their retreat in great disorder, the last of them
reaching Agra on the 31st of August. The enemy followed
in straggling parties as far as Futtypoor, but made no united
attack after the night of the 25th.”
All the huts and inhabitants of Futtypoor Sicri would, at
this time, scarcely form an inconsiderable village.
4
v aed bs
Ce ay
oF ti, ra?
HI
| ii)
AH
Purs
WwW
W
Drawn. by
FISHER
’
if ee
ingot
’ a . ; a r Daa
2a" ec as ae” ae one: ay me Lal
; dines ih wast SOOTY “ih, ge or a 7
ap pee ere ae a bP aftai nel:
+ te ta MN Re i oad a i a ee
; ,% ici tia ae, } er, ese a
’ . 4 :
ee ine ) ue Gaur 2M on 4 a,
ie * bs ae igh oh at ae wt no .
iat bi Ws: eee f- Pods ae o ‘nee
a ll Hi = f “gt 9 ae
Per a) ae
, ati be
“> *
es bey
Mes
a < ‘Pais
oes an } »:
ta
4 a Ns \-
— : . fi
7 (Anx:
ae
<> )
) 9
ps
»
AN OLD FORT, AT MUTTRA.
Mottra, (or Mathura,) is a large town, about six and thirty
miles from Agra, higher up the Jumna, lying in latitude
27° 31’ N. longitude 77° 33' E. | The plate represents a large
and high fort that stands on the side of the river, and the
sketch was made from a sand-bank in the middle of the
stream, that remains dry during the fair season of the year.
Bishop Heber visited Muttra in his travels, and the fol-
lowing account is taken from the journal of that estimable
man.
“« Muttra is a large and remarkable city, much reverenced
by the Hindoos for its antiquity and connection with many
of their legends, more particularly as the birth-place of their
fabulous Krishna, or Apollo. In consequence, it swarms
with paroquets, peacocks, brahminy bulls, and monkeys,
which last are seen sitting on the tops of the houses, and
running along the walls and roofs like cats. They are very
troublesome, and admitted to be so by the Hindoos themselves,
but so much respected, that, a few years since, two young
European officers who shot at one near Bindrabund, (a still
more sacred place, twelve miles above Muttra,) were driven
into the Jumna where they perished, by a mob of Brahmins
and devotees. In other respects, also, Muttra is a striking
town, and a good deal reminded me of Benares, the houses
being very high, with the same sort of ornaments as in that
1
INDIA.
city. There is a large ruinous castle on the shore of the
Jumna, (the subject of this engraving,) and a magnificent,
though dilapidated mosque, with four very tall minarets.
Nearly in the centre of the town, Colonel Penny took us
into the court of a beautiful temple, or dwelling-house, for it
seemed to be designed for both in one, not yet quite finished,
and built by Gokul Pattu Singh, Sindia’s treasurer, and who
has also a principal share in a great native banking-house,
one branch of which is fixed at Muttra. The building is
enclosed by a small but richly carved gateway, with a flight
of steps that leads from the street to a square court, cloistered
round, and containing in the centre a building also square,
supported by a triple row of pillars, all which, as well as the
ceiling, are richly carved, painted, and gilt. The effect,
internally, is much like that of the Egyptian tomb, of which
the model was exhibited in London by Belzoni; externally,
the carving is very beautiful. The cloisters round were
represented to us as the intended habitation of the Brahmins
attached to the fane; and in the front, towards the street,
were to be apartments for the founder, in his occasional visits
to Muttra.” The mosque, of which Bishop Heber speaks,
must have been at one time a peculiarly striking building, as
it appears to have been decorated, or rather covered entirely,
with enamelled tiles: part of this ornamental coating remains
at this time on the minarets, which are of a form and magni-
tude of the first order of Mahommedan mosques.
Previous to the Mahommedan invasion and final conquest
of Hindoostan, Muttra appears to have been a city of great
consequence and celebrity. Mahmood, of Ghizni, whose
principal object in invading India seemed to have been to
possess himself of the treasure that it contained, directed his
attention to this place, probably on account of its wealth,
during his eighth expedition into this country. It is said,
in the first volume of Dow’s translation of Ferishta’s history,
that Mahmood found in Muttra five great idols of pure gold,
2
AN OLD FORT, AT MUTTRA.
with eyes of rubies, each of which eyes was worth fifty
thousand dinars. Upon another idol he found a sapphire,
weighing four hundred miskal, and, the image being melted
down, produced upwards of ninety-eight thousand miskal of
pure gold. Besides these, there were above one hundred
idols of silver, which loaded one hundred camels with bullion.
After this expedition, in which he plundered the cities of
Kinnoge, Merut, Mavin, Muttra, Munge, &c., which are said
to have suffered cruelly from the hand of ravage and desola-
tion, Mahmood is said to have built a mosque at Ghizni, of
such exquisite beauty as to strike every beholder with plea-
sure and amazement ; and to add to the fame of this magnifi-
cent work (says the historian) it was dignified, and became
generally known, by the name of the “ Celestial Bride.”
“Towards the conclusion of the eighteenth century, Mut-
tra fell into the possession of the Sindia family, who con-
ferred it on their commander-in-chief, General Perron. This
officer made it his head-quarters, strengthened the defences,
and established here his principal cannon-foundry ; it was,
however, taken by the British without resistance, in 1803.
On this occasion, the British general (Lord Lake) not only
protected the persons, and respected the worship of the
inhabitants, but also ordered his own army, while encamped
within the precincts of the town, to abstain from slaughter-
ing the cattle, as their doing so would be deemed a sacrilege
by the Hindoos. Since that period, it has continued subject
to the British government, and has been the héad-quarters
of a brigade, whose cantonments are to the south of the city.”
In the end of the year 1822, when the person who made
these sketches was at Muttra, the levies, as they are called,
were quartered at this place, under the command of Captain
Gillman; and at that time General Reynell reviewed these
troops, on his way to Merut, to take the command of the
army in the upper provinces. The levies were (the writer
believes) troops training to supply deficiencies in the ranks of
3
INDIA.
the regiments of the Bengal army. The cantonments are
separated from the town by an interval of broken ground,
covered with ruins. Speaking of these cantonments, the
India Gazetteer says, “ The buildings are extensive, and
scattered over the plain, but the greater part are unoccupied ;
the troops have been reduced in number, in consequence of
the establishment of Nusserabad and Neemutch as advanced
posts, and the consequent removal of the brigades much
further westward. Muttra, however, is still an important
station, on account of its vicinity to so many wild, indepen-
dent, and turbulent rajahs, not yet sobered down to their
proper degree of temperature.” Since the time that this
passage relates to, a considerable sobering down has taken
place in the neighbourhood of Muttra, especially in the
breaking down of the dominion of the rajah of Bhurtpore,
of which the natives of India had long boasted themselves,
but which was at length unable to withstand the growing
power of the British in Hindoostan.
4
» J ad '
’
= es
:
RUINS OF OLD DELHI.
Tuts plate represents the general appearance of the ruins of
Old Delhi, and so desolate and melancholy a scene does the
remains of this once magnificent and populous city exhibit,
that it has more the look of an assemblage of dilapidated
mansions of the dead than of the living, and it is at this time
difficult to imagine it to have ever been any thing else than
a vast and splendid cemetery.
This portion of the ruins of Delhi serves to shew the
power and grandeur of the first Mahomedan sovereignty of
Hindoostan, called the Afghan, or, perhaps, more commonly
the Patan dynasty. The city was built upon the site, or
nearly so, of the ancient Hindoo city of Indraput, or Indra-
prast’ha; respecting which place, very little information is to
be obtained. The origin of the empire and power of the
Patans, and some mention of the country from whence they
issued forth, to overrun and finally subdue all the northern
parts of India, is to be found in Col. Dow’s dissertation on
the origin of despotism in Hindoostan, given as part of the
Introduction to his translation of Ferishta’s History of the
Mahomedan Conquest of India. The following passage is
extracted from the work that is here spoken of.
‘In the mountains that separate Persia from India, the
nature and face of the country have formed a different species
of society. Every valley contains a community, subject to a
prince, whose despotism is tempered by an idea established,
that he is the chief of their blood, as well as their sovereign.
1
INDIA.
They obey him without reluctance, as they derive credit to
their family from his greatness. They attend him in his
wars with the attachment which children have for a parent ;
and his government, though severe, partakes more of the
rigid discipline of a general than of the caprice of a despot.
Rude as the face of their country, and fierce and wild as the
storms that cover their mountains, they love incursion and
depredation, and delight in plunder and in battle. United
firmly to their friends in war, to their enemies faithless and
cruel, they place justice in force, and conceal treachery under
the name of address. Such are the Afghans, or Patans, who
conquered India, and held it for ages.”
Mahmood of Ghizni, as he is usually called, repeatedly
invaded the northern parts of Hindoostan, from the eastern
divisions of the Persian empire, and laid the foundation of
the Mahomedan power in India. In one of these expeditions,
Mahmood defeated the reigning Indian prince, named Jeipal,
who on a former occasion had yielded to Subuctagi, the
father of Mahmood. According to the Hindoo law, having
been twice conquered in battle, Jeipal became unworthy
to reign any longer; he accordingly resigned his crown to
his son, and, ordering a funeral pile, burnt himself alive in
solemn state. The great riches of India, and the spoils
obtained from it, appears to have been the great induce-
ment to the Mahomedans to continue their incursions into
this country, until they almost entirely subdued it. But an
all-wise and unerring Providence has not permitted it to con-
tinue in their hands. The spirit: of commercial interest
urged Europeans to gain a footing in the land; and, step by
step, by slow and sure degrees, and by a wonderful succes-
sion of events, arising out of circumstances that were alto-
gether past the wisdom of man to foresee, and beyond the
power of man to control, the subjugation of India has been
completed. A wise, and, taking it altogether, a generous
policy in the government, has established, and still maintains,
9)
el
RUINS OF OLD DELHI.
the dominion, that persevering enterprise, and military skill
and prowess, had achieved; so that, not only the natives them-
Selves are astonished at the peace and tranquillity that pre-
vail, but the European traveller of late’ years bears in his
recollection, and wonders at the security and ease with which
he has traversed the plains of Hindoostan from one end to
the other, unmolested and almost unheeded.
“In the beginning of the eleventh century it was, that
Mahmood began to penetrate into Hindoostan. In the year
1193 A. D. Cuttub ud Deen, the slave of the Mahomet Gauri,
took possession of Delhi from the Hindoo princes, and com-
menced the series of the Afghan or Patan sovereigns, which
reigned until the invasion of Baber, the great-grandson of
Timour. In the year 1398, Timour crossed the Indus, and
took and pillaged Delhi, paving the way for a new dynasty,
in the same manner that the irruptions of Mahmood had done
in former times. In A. D. 1525, Sultan Baber defeated and
killed the reigning Patan prince, Ibrahim Lodi, in the great
battle of Paniput, and founded what has since been called
the Mogul empire. Baber, like his ancestor Timour, was a
Turk, or native of Turkistan, and in his memoirs he always
speaks of the Moguls in strong terms of dislike and resent-
ment. Under these circumstances, it seems a strange caprice
of fortune, that the empire he founded in Hindoostan should
have been called, both in the country and by foreigners, the
empire of the Moguls, thus receiving its distinctive name from
an alien and hostile race, which the founder held in detesta-
tion. Then follows a long line of kings, down to the unhappy
father of the present sovereign of Delhi, whose eyes were
put out by the Rohilla Gholaum Kaudir, in order to extort
the disclosure of some treasure, that was supposed to be
secreted, when Delhi was surprised and taken possession of
for a short time by the Rohillas, in the year 1788.”
Lord Lake, in the year 1803, took possession of Delhi,
and released the aged emperor from Mahratta domination,
3
INDIA.
to his infinite joy and satisfaction, though it were but to
change his masters. Shah Allum survived this event only
until the year 1806, when he finished a long and calamitous
reign, of forty-five years, in the eighty-third year of his age ;
the same day the present king, Akbar Shah, was placed on
the throne. Mention has been made, in a previous number,
of this now aged, and, in many points, respectable monarch,
whose reign has been hitherto marked with unexampled
tranquillity; for he has been a prisoner to the English,
though living with the state of a king. But though peace
prevailed without, discord is said to have raged within the
walls of the seraglio, and the interior of his palace was for
some time disturbed by the factions of his family. Almost
every state and class of people, in India, still revere the
nominal authority of their king.
4
a De! a
ti es
rh a nye ie
vy ;
Py Cae
5
f 2
f
; i
Gry .4
i
"4
7
1a
i
.
NE
ra
iad Vo i
6
,
‘ wos
ee Ay
r
j
i
‘é
i
¥ oe" 7
rt Vy
i
1 ,
% '
es 4
~ é
j , P ‘er
) .
* ¥
ak ;
|
;
5 ai
2
a
“
i ‘
°
4
»d
rr a Sy -
k . {¥,
1
’
* e
‘ » 4 }
’
’
«
7
hi 7
- '
?
1) ang A
¥ i
seLee~ mee) “ne
,
TAL We 5
7 *
4 \= tet
gat espe at
-
x
{. Fe \ Hie i ceeate:
4 z “J 4% oF
"TR hid gaan)
: 7 os 1) oe
«A
Ud t *) 4
HUMAIOON’S TOMB.
In the midst of the ruins of Old Delhi, about four or five
miles from the south entrance, or Agra-gate, of the present
city, the tomb of Humaioon is situated. This melancholy
but picturesque scene of desolation is well described in
Hamilton’s East India Gazetteer, in the following words.
“The ruins of Old Delhi cover the plain for an extent of
nearly eight miles (diameter) to the south of the modern
Shahjehanabad, and connects that city with the village of
Cuttub, exhibiting throughout this great tract one of the
most striking scenes of desolation to be met with through-
out the whole world. Some of the gates, caravanseras, and
mosques of the ancient city, are still tolerably entire, but
the objects most worthy of attention are the two splendid
mausoleums of the Emperor Humaioon, and Sefdar Jung;
the smaller but not less elegant sepultures of Khaneh Azim,
the Emperor Mahomet Shah, and Jahanara Begum, daughter
of Shah Jehan ; the fort of Shere Shah, the temporary reviver
of the Patan dynasty; and the curious remains of old forts
and other buildings, ascribed to the Emperor Feroze Shah.”
_ “ Humaidon’s Tomb,” says Bishop Heber, “is a noble
building of granite, inlaid with marble, in a very chaste and
simple style of Gothic architecture. It is surrounded by a
large garden with terraces and fountains, all now gone to
decay, except one of the latter, which enables the poor
people, who live in the outbuildings of the tomb, to cultivate
alittle wheat. The garden itself is surrounded by an embat-
tled wall, with towers, four gateways, and a cloister within,
all the way round. In the centre of the square is a platform
of about 20 feet high, and I should apprehend 200 feet
square, supported also by cloisters, and ascended by four
great flights of granite steps. Above, rises the tomb, also a
square, with a great dome of white marble in its centre.
The apartments within are a circular room, about as big as
the Ratcliffe Library, in the centre of which lies, under a
]
INDIA.
small raised slab, the unfortunate prince to whose memory
this fine building is raised. In the angles are smaller apart-
ments, where other branches of his family are interred. From
the top of the building I was surprised to see that we had still
ruins on every side; and that, more particularly to the west-
ward, and where old Indraput stood, the desolation apparently
extended to a range of barren hills, seven or eight miles off.”
Humaioon was the son of Baber, the founder of what is
called the Mogul dynasty, the last remnant of which is still
lingering in the ancient and famous capital of the Mahome-
dan empire of Hindoostan. But what is now the state of the
“Great Mogul?” Foreigners possess his kingdom ; and he is
himself content to be the pensioner of a people, to whose very
existence, it is more than probable, the fathers of his empire
were strangers. The present emperor, Akbar Shah, lives in
the mutilated palace that was built by Shah Jehan, in the
present city of Delhi, or ‘“Shahjehanabad,” with all the
worn-out ensigns of power around him. He is a venerable-
looking old man, and may be seen going about the courts
and gardens within the palace walls, in his tonjon, and a
herald running before him, according to the custom of the
east, proclaiming his high-sounding titles, as if to mock him
with an empty parade of power; while at the same time he
cannot come forth from the palace-gate without the permis-
sion of the English resident. It must be a curious sight to
witness this aged man, sitting upon the ruinous throne of
the Mogul emperors, and receiving homage from those who
have made him little less than a royal prisoner. Bishop
Heber’s kind and christian feelings seem to have been parti-
cularly affected by this singular sight; and after speaking
of some marks of inattention on the parts of some of the
English rulers in India, he says, “ Under these circum-
stances I was glad to find, that Mr. Elliott (the resident at
Delhi at that time) paid him every respect, and shewed him
every kindness in his power. I was glad, also, that I did
not omit to visit him, since, independently of the interest
2
HUMAIOON’S TOMB.
which I have felt in seeing the venerable ruin of a mighty
stock, Mr. Elliott says, that the emperor had frequently
inquired, whether the bishop also meant to pass him by?”
And again, “I heartily hope that the government will reve-
rence the ruins of fallen greatness, and that, at least, no
fresh degradation is reserved for the poor old man, whose
idea was associated in my childhood with all imaginable
wealth and splendour, under the name of the Great Mogul.”
Humaidéon began his reign in peace, and seemed disposed
to give himself up to the study of astronomy, or perhaps,
more properly speaking, to judicial astrology. But he was
not suffered long to follow this quiet occupation. His
brother Camiran first formed designs against him; and in
the course of time, in the midst of wars and commotions that
gave him no rest, arose the formidable insurrection of Shere
Chan, by which, after a time of almost unparalleled disaster,
though replete with noble and valiant actions on the part
of Humaioon, this unfortunate prince was driven from his
throne, and forced into exile in Persia. In Ferishta’s
history, the usurpation of Shere Shah, and the reigns of
Selim and Ibrahim III. intervene between the beginning
and the end of the history of Humaioon. By means of the
skill and enterprise of Shere he lost the empire, and for a
few years the Patan dynasty was revived; but after the death
of Shere, and Selim his son, the distracted state of India
presented a fair opportunity to Humaioon to regain his
throne. In the year 1554 of the Christian era, this noble
monarch overthrew the Patans in a great and decisive battle
near Sirhind, in which his son Akbar, the greatest prince
that ever sat upon the Indian throne, particularly distin-
guished himself. This victory decided the fate of the
empire, which fell for ever from the Patans. In the month
of Ramzan the king entered Delhi in triumph, and became
a second time Emperor of Hindoostan.
Scarcely a year elapsed from the time of Humaidcon’s
restoration, before the following account of his death is
3
INDIA.
given. ‘In the evening of the seventh of the first Ribbi,
Humaiodon walked out upon the terrace of the library, and
sat down there for some time, to enjoy the fresh air. When
the emperor began to ascend the steps of the stair from the
terrace, the crier, according to custom, proclaimed the time
of prayers. The king, conformable to the practice of reli-
gion, stood still upon this occasion, and repeated the Culma
(the creed), then sat down upon the second step of the stair
until the proclamation was ended. When he was going to
rise he supported himself upon a staff, which unfortunately
slipped upon the marble, and the king fell headlong from the
top to the bottom of the stair. He was taken up insensible,
and laid upon his bed; he soon recovered his speech, and
the physicians administered all their art, but i vain; for
upon the eleventh, about sun-set, his soul took her flight to
paradise. He was buried in the new city, upon the banks of
the river ; (the river is now at some distance from the tomb ;)
and a noble tomb was erected over him, some years after, by
his son Akbar. Humaioon died at the age of. fifty-one,
after a reign of twenty-five years, both in India and Cabul.
“‘'The mildness and benevolence of Humaioon were exces-
sive; if there can be any excess in virtues so noble as these.
He was learned, a lover of literature, and the generous
patron of the men of genius who flourished in his time. In
battle he was valiant and enterprising; but the clemency of
his disposition hindered him from using his victories in a
manner which suited the vices of the times.”
The tomb is in the middle distance in the Plate, and
appears to be of a fine proportioned and massive form,
while the buildings around bespeak the desolation, that is
described in this short account of the once large and magni-
ficent city of Old Delhi.
ee |
ite ab
Lan
eB
Se
ec BAY rts Pi
ay BAA ah at a
PO MT eRe
Shy
a)
°
‘ 7
} Be reser...
tA
dt)
. i? ¢.
" igplary: at eon: a ta ae
. ¥ it a ae,
By BF OLEH St, ia a : ’
PU CEG | Ges sear dy, ome
ee :
) ea ae Pawo of porwna)
Le heey Pee
2° | Sea oe aN.
te
Oo
—-
-
. i]
Yad *
TaN
es i
af 7 fe ; 7 i iH dae :
; ae - ; > a
oa
7 4
i
=| ae
a
RUINS IN OLD DELHI.
THE remains of the buildings represented in this Plate,
are found standing amongst the most northern of the
extensive ruins of Old Delhi, and within perhaps a mile
of the walls of the present city. The circular Tower, in
the front of the picture, is the most perfect of four struc-
tures, of the same description, that adorned the corners of
a large platform raised upon arches; and in the centre of
which the principal building, that appears to have been a
tomb, is erected, and which may be seen on the left in the
engraving. ‘The name of this monument, no one, to whom
the person who made the sketch of it, had an opportunity
of applying for information, was able to supply, or any cir-
cumstance connected with it; but there is something in its
form and appearance, that immediately arrests the eye of a
draughtsman, as he passes through the midst of the muiti-
tude of ruins that lie about within the wide precincts of this
ancient city. In looking to the right and to the left, as one
who sketches is continually in the habit of doing, for subjects
for the employment of his pencil, this Tower is probably the
object of all others, amongst the many that present them-
selves, that he would first fix upon to delineate. These ruins
are situated in the immediate neighbourhood of the decayed
palace of Firoze Shah, out of the midst of which rises the
cast-metal pillar, commonly called Firoze Shah's Lat, (walk-
wng-stick.) This old Patan palace has been a large and
solid fortress, in which style all, or almost all, the buildings
peculiar to that dynasty have been erected ; denoting a time
of danger, and bespeaking a necessary regard of personal
security, in the rulers of these nations; in the same manner
as the castellated style of the ancient Norman edifices in
England betoken a period in which men were unable to
1
INDIA.
dwell in safety in unwalled villages, and in defenceless
habitations. 3
Some account of the present state of the city of Delhi has
been rendered in former numbers of this work; as well as
various notices of its earlier condition, at least since the
portion of Hindoostan, of which this city has long been the
capital, had been possessed by the Mahomedans.
The circumstance that most distinguishes modern Delhi,
is the siege that it had to withstand, in the year 1804, from
the troops of Holkar, who, when he was retreating before
Lord Lake from Muttra, sent a large force to invest it. This
occurred in the same year that Holkar advanced into these
territories, when he pursued Colonel Monson’s division from
Central India. Hamilton’s Gazetteer gives the following short
account of this transaction :—‘‘ The siege was commenced on
the seventh day of October; and, owing to a variety of press-
ing exigencies in other quarters, the garrison, at that time,
was not only too small for the defence of so immense a city,
but extremely faulty in composition, consisting partly of
Mewaties, robbers by profession, and a body of irregular
horse, whose fidelity could not be relied on. The Mewaties
justified their previous character, by going over to the enemy
at an early stage of the siege; and the irregulars fled at the
approach of their adversary, who, in consequence, advanced
close up to the walls, which were in a dilapidated and ac-
cessible state. Having opened their batteries a few days
afterwards, and several breaches being effected, as much by
the concussion of the guns on the crumbling ramparts, as
by the fire from without, the enemy made an attempt to
carry the place by escalade, in which they were repulsed ;
and soon afterwards their guns were spiked in the batteries,
by a well-conducted sortie under Lieutenant Rose. Being
thus baffled in all their endeavours, they moved off on the
fifteenth of October, although they had prepared their
mines, laid under the bastions between the Turkoman and
2
RUINS IN OLD DELHI.
Ajmeer gates, ready to be loaded. In this manner, by the
judicious arrangement of Colonels Burn and Ochterlony,
and the determined resistance of the garrison, a small force
was enabled to sustain a siege of nine days, repel and
assault, and defend a city several miles in circumference,
which had until that time always been given up on the first
appearance of an enemy.
Although, in the course of this work, mention has been
made, more than once, of the general appearance that the
ruins of Old Delhi present at this day; and though it may
appear like going over the same ground again and again, yet
there is something about this scene of desolation so striking,
and the remembrance of it remains so strongly impressed
upon the recollection of the person who supplies these notes,
and who was occupied for some weeks in wandering about
these mouldering buildings, and contemplating them in all
their points and bearings, that he is willing to believe he
may be excused, in the minds of many, if he should offer
another description of this deeply interesting mass of ruins,
as extracted from Bishop Heber’s journal, who appears to
have felt a peculiar interest in viewing this melancholy
wilderness of mosques, tombs, forts, and palaces. He says,
“ From the Agra gate, to the tomb of Humaioon, is a very
awful scene of desolation—ruins after ruins, tombs after
tombs, fragments of brick-work, freestone, granite, and mar-
ble, scattered every where over a soil naturally rocky and
barren, without cultivation, except in one or two small spots,
and without a single tree. I was reminded of Caffa in the
Crimea, but this was Caffa on the scale of London, with the
wretched fragments of a magnificence such as London itself
cannot boast. The ruins really extended as far as the eye
could reach, and our tract wound among them all the way.
This was the seat of Old Delhi, as founded by the Patan
kings, on the ruins of the still larger Hindoo city of Indraput.
When the present city, which is certainly in a more advan-
3
INDIA.
tageous situation, was founded by the Emperor Shah Jehan,
he removed many of its inhabitants thither; most of the rest
followed, to be near the palace and the principal markets ;
and, as during the Mahratta government there was no sleep-
ing with safety without the walls, Old Delhi was soon
entirely abandoned. The official name of the present city is"
Shahjehanpore, “ City of the King of the World!” but the
name of Delhi is always used in conversation, and in every
writing but those which are immediately offered to the
Emperor’s eye. In passing along, Bishop Heber remarks
the palace of Firoze Shah, that has been mentioned before,
and gives the following account of it. ‘In our way, one
mass of ruins larger than the rest was pointed out to us as
the old Patan palace. It has been a large and solid fortress,
in a plain and unornamented style of architecture, and would
have been picturesque, had it been in a country where trees
grow and ivy was green, but is here only ugly and melan-
choly. It is chiefly remarkable for a high black pillar of
cast metal, called Firoze’s Walking-stick. This was ori-
ginally a Hindoo work, which stood in a temple in the same
spot, and concerning which there was a tradition, like that
attached to the coronation stone of the Scots, that, while it
stood, the children of Brahma were to rule in Indraput.
On the conquest of the country by the Mussulmans, the
vanity of the prediction was shown, and Firoze enclosed it
within the court of his palace, as a trophy of the victory of
Islam over idolatry. It is covered with inscriptions, mostly
Persian and Arabic, but that which is evidently the original,
and probably contains the prophecy, is in a character now
obsolete and unknown.”
At this time, the children of Brahma, and the Islamites,
are alike in subjection to a handful of strangers, who may
well appear to them to have been cast out of the sea, to
subdue, and possess themselves of, the great and magnificent
empire of Hindoostan.
4
e 4 ui
<5 1
“ey Ss wr
vr ee | a) eye ro “
: Pat tie
‘Yin wt
Sis a
on Oe int ek (am)
peas fica ils
rm
BANKS OF THE JUMNA.—DELHI.
Tue Mosque, and the scenery about it, that is represented
in this Plate, is on the west bank of the Jumna, a short
distance without the walls, at the upper part of the modern
city of Delhi. The east side of the Jumna at Delhi is low,
and almost totally without buildings, or interest of any kind;
and the best of the river scenery, on the shore that the city
occupies, cannot be compared with the beautiful banks of the
same stream, where it pursues its noble course among the
princely buildings and stately ruins of Agra. Still there is
something very grand in the appearance of Delhi, as viewed
from the opposite side of the Jumna. Bishop Heber, who,
when he visited this city, approached it on the east bank of
the river, on his way from the military station at Meerut,
gives the following animated description of what he saw :-—
“The morning was clear and pleasant, and the air and
soil delightfully refreshed with the rain. I arrived about
eight o’clock on the banks of the Jumna, on the other side of
which I had a noble view of Delhi, which is a larger and
finer city than I expected to see. The inhabited part of it,
for the ruins extend over a surface as large as London,
Westminster, and Southwark, is about seven miles in circuit,
seated on a rocky range of hills, and surrounded by an
embattled wall, which the English government have put into
repair, and are now engaged in strengthening with bastions,
a moat, and a regular glacis. The houses within are many
of them large and high. There are a great number of
Mosques, with high minarets and gilded domes; and above
all are seen the palace, a very high and extensive cluster of
1
INDIA.
Gothic towers and battlements, and the Jumma Musjid, the
largest and handsomest place of Mussulman worship in
India. The chief material of all these fine buildings is red
granite, of a very agreeable though solemn colour, inlaid, in
some of the ornamental parts, with white marble; and the
general style of building is of a simple and impressive
character, which reminded me, in many respects, of Car-
narvon. It far exceeds any thing at Moscow.”
The modern city, or new Delhi, was founded by the
Emperor Shah Jehan, about A.D. 1631, as it was stated in
the sixth Number of this Work, in describing a view that
represents a part of the interior of the city; and there is no
appearance of its having ever exceeded its present limits,
formed by the new wall of European construction, of which
Bishop Heber speaks. Within this wall are contained all
the modern buildings of any magnitude; and there are many
mosques, palaces, and public buildings, of one description or
another; besides which, there are edifices that bear the
marks of considerable antiquity, especially one known by
the name of the Black Mosque, a large and gloomy building,
of dark-coloured granite, whose rude internal columns, clois-
tered area, numerous low cupolas, and lofty outer walls,
devoid of aperture or ornament, denote an origin coeval with
the earlier Afghan dynasties. Other curious remains of
Afghan architecture are to be found in the fortress of Selim-
ghur, which might be said almost to be a part of the palace:
these antiquities, both in their style and workmanship, form
a remarkable contrast with the light, graceful, and highly
decorated structures of the Moguls. ‘‘The modern city of
Delhi,” says the Indian Gazetteer, “‘ contains many good
houses, mostly of brick. The streets are in general nar-
row, with the exception of two—the first leading direct
from the palace to the Delhi-gate, which is 1100 yards
long by thirty broad; the second, from the palace to the
Lahore-gate, which is one mile long by forty yards in
2
BANKS OF THE JUMNA.
breadth. The first has an aqueduct down the middle, now
again repaired, and supplied with water from the restored
canal of Ali Merdan Khan. Cotton cloths, and indigo, are
still manufactured in the neighbourhood, and a manufactory
of shawls has recently been established with success, by an
enterprising Hindoo merchant, who imports the wool, and
has engaged native Cashmerian weavers to superintend the
looms. The chief imports are by the northern caravans,
which bring from Cashmere and Cabul shawls, fruit, and
horses. Precious stones of a good quality are to be had at
Delhi, particularly the large red and black cornelians and
peerozas ; beedree hookah bottoms (the vessels that contain
the water through which the smoke passes, in the Indian
mode of smoking) are also manufactured here. The culti-
vation in the neighbourhood is chiefly on the banks of the
Jumna, where wheat, rice, millet, and the indigo plant, are
raised.”’
Although the present population of this city will bear no
comparison with that of the time of Aurungzebe, when it is
reported to have been two millions, yet it has certainly greatly
increased since it came under the protection of the British
government. The commodious situation of Delhi, for the
interchange of commodities between India and the countries
of the north and west, has, under the circumstances of secu-
rity which property now enjoys, compensated in some degree
for the reduced expenditure of the imperial court, and there
are, perhaps, few, if any, of the ancient cities of Hindoostan,
which at the present moment will be found to rival modern
Delhi in the wealth of its bazaars, or in the activity and other
indications of a numerous and busy population.
The greatest benefit that has been rendered to the city of
Delhi, since it fell under the dominion of the British govern-
ment, is the restoration of the canal of Ali Merdan Khan. It
appears that the water of the Jumna in the neighbourhood of
Delhi is so strongly impregnated with natron, that in this
3
INDIA.
part of its course it destroys rather than promotes vegetation;
and is in fact almost unfit to drink. To remedy this great
evil, and to provide water to irrigate the land, as well as to
supply the people of the city with wholesome water for com-
mon purposes, it seems that canals had been in former times
constructed, to bring the purer water of the same river from a
distance of more than one hundred miles nearer its source.
In the year 1817, Captain Rodney Blane, of the Bengal
Engineers, was appointed to superintend the restoration of
the canal of Ali Merdan Khan, that had long been choked
up, extending from the Jumna, opposite to Kurmaul, to
Delhi, upwards of 100 miles. The chief difficulty was the
constructing such an enbankment, where the water is taken
from the Jumna, as would resist the floods. The work was
accomplished, and the canal cleared by the month of May,
1820. It appears the water was turned into it in January
following, and took nearly a month to reach Delhi, owing, it
is said, to the absorption of the water by the soil. On the
water’s approaching the imperial city, it was hailed by a great
concourse of the inhabitants with the most lively demonstra-
tions of joy. In the year 1824, the Jumna changed its course,
and the canal became dry once more. The sufferings of the
inhabitants were great ; during the time the canal had been
restored, the wells had been neglected ; water was brought
from a great distance, and sold at a high price, and the gar-
dens were destroyed. It was not until the middle of Novem-
ber that the canal could be once more repaired, when the
approach of the water was hailed again with expressions of
delight, similar to those which its former appearance had
so naturally called forth.
' Ps
aT vide
“4
aie
DELHI.
DeEtuti is situated on the left bank of the river Jumna, in
lat. 28°40’ N. and long. 77° 5’ E. about nine hundred and
eighty miles, travelling distance, in a north-westerly direction
from Calcutta. There is nothing in its locality particularly
attractive; the appearance of the adjacent country is sterile
and unfruitful; and the river, though wide, and presenting
the surface of a fine sheet of water, is unnavigable, during the
dry season, to boats of any considerable burden. The mo-
dern city called ‘“Shahjehanabad,” taking that name from
its royal founder, the Mogul Emperor Shah Jehan, but com-
monly known by the old name of Delhi, lies on the banks of
the Jumna, just above the extensive mass of ruins that was
formerly the ancient Mahomedan capital. The city is about
seven miles in circumference, and is surrounded by a good
fortification wall and a wide ditch, rebuilt within these few
years at a great expense by the British government.
Hamilton’s Indian Gazetteer contains the following account
of the present city of Delhi. ‘The town has seven gates,
namely, the Lahore, Ajmeer, Turkoman, Delhi, Mohur,
Cashmere, and Agra gates; all built of free stone. Near the
Ajmere-gate is a madrissa, or college, of great extent, built
by Ghazi-ud-deen, the grandson of Mizam-ul-Mulk. The
tomb of the founder, who with his family lies buried here, is
much admired for the exquisite sculpture of its screen, of
white marble; as are also the tombs of Kummer-ud-deen
Khan, Ali Merdan Khan, Ghazi-ud-deen Khan, and Sefdar
. 1
INDIA.
Jung. There is also the garden and palace of Coodseah
Begum, the mother of the Emperor Mahomed Shah, the
palace of Saadit Khan, and that of Sultan Dara Shekoh, the
unfortunate brother of Aurungzebe. The first is now a dila-
pidated ruin ; and the last has been converted into an English
dwelling. ‘They are all surrounded by high walls, and take
up a considerable space of ground, as they comprehend both
stables for all sorts of animals, and music galleries, besides
an extensive seraglio.”
In Delhi there are some fine Mosques still in good repair,
the chief of which is the Jumma Musjid, or cathedral,
elevated above the rest of the city, and seen with its lofty
minarets from all directions, whether within or without the
walls of the town. Bishop Heber, in his Journal, calls this
the largest and. handsomest place of Mussulman worship in
India, and describes it in the following words.
‘In the front it has a large square court surrounded by a
cloister open on both sides, and commanding a view of the
whole city. This court is entered by a gate on three sides,
with a fine flight of steps to each. In the centre is a great
marble reservoir of water, with some small fountains, sup-
plied by machinery from the canal. The whole court is
paved with granite inlaid with marble. On the west side,
and rising up another flight of steps, is the Mosque itself,
which is entered by three noble Gothic arches, surmounted
by three domes of white marble. At each end of the Mosque
stands a very high and handsome minaret of red stone ribbed
with white marble. The ornaments are less florid, and the
building less picturesque, than the splendid group of the
Imambarah, and its accompaniments, at Lucknow; but the
situation is far more commanding, and the size, solidity, and
rich material of this building, impressed me more than any
thing of the kind that I have seen in India. It is in excel-
lent repair, the British government having made a grant for
this purpose ; a measure which was very popular in Delhi.”
5)
DELHI.
The palace at Delhi has much the appearance, and is
built much upon the same plan, as the Fort at Agra. A high
red stone wall of nearly a mile in circuit, enclosing a sort of
town within, or rather an assemblage of buildings without
arrangement or regularity. This interior is a strange mixture
of mud huts and marble palaces; neglected gardens, and
handsome courts; dirty stable-yards, and pavilions of white
marble. The celebrated and very beautiful chamber, wherein
Persian characters inscribed on the friese, declare, ‘‘ That
if there be an Elysium on earth, it is this, it is this,” has a
desolate and uncleanly appearance ; the birds defile it with
impunity ; ragged curtains are hanging about its beautiful
marble pillars and arches, exquisitely carved as they are,
and ornamented with inlaid flowers, and inscriptions in the
most elaborate Persian characters. On one side this elegant
pavilion is open to the court of the palace, on the other to a
large garden; the fountains are dry, and the whole is in a
state of decay and dilapidation.
The magnificent ‘‘ Dewanee Aum, or hall of audience,” is
in the same neglected state, and the once rich and splendid
Peacock throne, stands a melancholy emblem of the Delhi
monarchy itself. In the gardens of the palace there is a
small marble mosque, of exquisite beauty and workmanship ;
and were the dome of white marble, corresponding with the
body of the building, instead of gilt, it would be a pertect
specimen of Mahomedan architecture. The consignment of
these beautiful halls and pavilions to filth and neglect, while
the whole palace is filled with inhabitants, is a subject of
ereat regret to the European visitor. ‘ Vanity of Vanities!”
says Bishop Heber, “was surely never written in more legi-
ble characters than on the dilapidated arcades of Delhi !”
The open space that appears in the foreground of the draw-
ing that forms the subject of this plate, goes round this Palace
or citadel wall, and the broadest and best street in Delhi,
called the Chandnee Choke, leads up into this space of ground.
3
INDIA.
In this street is the Mosque of Roschin-ud-Dowlah, on the
top of which it is said Nadir Shah, the Persian conqueror in
1736, sat and witnessed the massacre of the Delhians, with
his countenance dark and terrible, as it is described, so that
none but slaves durst approach him; until the unhappy king
of Delhi himself came near in the humblest posture, and
prayed him to spare the city; his supplication was heard,
and the sword was sheathed, after 100,000 of the inhabitants
had been put to death.
Delhi furnishes a fine Were ci of that meanness and
magnificence which so frequently distinguishes the cities of
Hindoostan. Noble palaces, and splendid Mosques; with
narrow streets, and inferior looking houses. A shew of
former prosperity and wealth is visible; present signs of
decline and indigence are apparent. The old Hindoo and
Mahomedan ruins of India go no further to explain its pre-
sent condition, than the Saxon or Norman remains bespeak
the state of England at this time; but decay is written on
the gates and door-posts of the modern cities of India, with
a few exceptions here and there, in such legible characters,
that the hastiest passer-by may read it, the most indifferent
observer may remark it. A consumption seems to be deter-
mined upon the whole land. The hand of the stranger has
been stretched over it, and the progress of the nation’s malady
may be arrested for a season, but the disease has all the
appearance of being incurable.
au aA
ry Hes prey
1 : hi > ety n
mate
ie hate me i
FISHER, SON & > LONDON, 1
=i
w
| >
“s oe JS i 4 ‘
PEE pe proves. vite
oy aa ” ae
Sa cai
i. 4°
tes ;
-
% ee
rea ae a we es ae
. - ee a ‘< A. 7 7 :
ee ena ane
a ah. 7 4 : ‘ P
beze as nee, we. :
SLA ren ~
vey ha
, i
le
; ; ;
j a
cy fet hae + kighs
# oe ete Ke ws a
. me’ ih. aie
J - hi i othe ; : rae ‘7 “uh oa ee
; + Niches Hing 2 ns bs
i ‘ ; : b} MN! rical Sap ae
is 7s 4. ok ; asf « »@4] : oh he aT iF = : 5 ms
die? or od SR a eee
yt Sa bxal cise ae sae
elpinvone” ae Le rex a ‘ aie
ott. Vie ot if vis dela ct bible
. ( ehdbs < TAL Sue a itd
~. ; ‘ : < a Pa = Vy F a ihe ar As wr” vs
| neal. i eo De ie ches soon Se
‘ i >
ian ty 2 mp While Sarit heck: ive
iphél ites: | ae piers, ales ee
“ a) 7 a di ‘as i hag “a - r
’ ey : 2 a an “k 2 we as ‘ i a
by ual ap wt . Gime’. ie . :
te ps OW ss, 6 Se
7 a. yee - dor a.
afi \ ee ae
pal 9 a
ree é f ay i Fee } Ro tits aA
- » ep i ‘ ees ‘are
= a ie —s ae ae ead “"y
a ahd ae eee Gk
" a8 my Sis 2 Ww him
Ce A ts dr Pale a
iy ie ey z
7 es. A | a ry r*
> ba ot . :
COOTUB MINAR—DELHI.
Tuis very beautiful and extremely magnificent tower stands
amidst the ruins that are found about twelve miles to the
southward of the present city of Delhi. It does not appear to
have connection or affinity with the buildings and ruins that
surround it; and the writer believes, that the object for which
it was erected is a matter of great uncertainty at this time.
The gigantic dimensions of this minar, it being about one
hundred and forty feet in circumference near the ground,
for it has no regular base, and nearly two hundred and forty
feet in height in its present state; the fine and substantial
form in which it is built; the simplicity and beauty of its
ornaments ; and the richness of the materials used in its
construction—render it an object as worthy the interest of
the European traveller, and one as likely to strike him with
satisfactory surprise, as any structure he wiil find in Hin-
doostan; with the exception, perhaps, of the Taj-Mahal, at
Agra, and a few other of the most remarkable buildings in
the country. |
Bishop Heber visited this minar; and the following
description is extracted from the diary of his journey
through, what may be called, his extensive diocese. ‘‘ We
left Delhi by the Agra gate, and rode through the same
dismal field of tombs that we had traversed before, escorted
by three of Skinner’s horse.” The writer of these notes,
1
INDIA.
while he was at Delhi, became acquainted with Col. Alex-
ander Skinner, who is partly a native of India, and com-
mands a large body of irregular horse, attached, it may be
said, to the East India Company. Col. Skinner bears a
high and noble name with both Europeans and natives in
the East, not only as a soldier, but likewise as an honourable
and an upright man. In Lord Lake’s wars, this commander
and his corps were peculiarly distinguished for their faithful
adherence to the British cause, and the valuable service they
rendered in the arduous contest in which the English govern-
ment in India were at that period engaged. Many acts of
personal intrepidity are recounted of this officer; and there
may be some, whose eye this passage may meet, who will
probably remember the distinct and clear, at the same time
modest and interesting, way in which they have heard Col.
Skinner narrate many of the most perilous adventures that
-it was his lot to encounter and survive, in a land that has
been at various times a theatre for the exercise of military
skill, and the scene of martial enterprise and danger.—But to
return to Bishop Heber’s narrative: ‘“‘ Before we had cleared
the ruins, another body of fifteen or twenty wild-looking
horse, some with long spears, and some with matchlocks,
galloped up from behind a large tomb; and their leader,
dropping the point of his lance, said, that he was sent by the
Rajah of Bullumghur, ‘the fort of spears,’ to conduct
me through his district. We had no need of this further
escort, but, as it was civilly intended, I of course took it
civilly ; and we went on together to a beautiful mausoleum,
about five miles further, raised in honour of Sufter Jung,
an ancestor of the King of Oude, and the tomb and garden
around it are still kept in good repair.. We left our horses
here, under the charge of the Bullumghur Suwars, and
proceeded on elephants that Mr. Elliott had stationed for
us. Our route lay over a country still rocky and barren,
and sprinkled with tombs and ruins, till, on ascending
2
COOTUB MINAR—DELHI.
a little eminence, we saw one of the most extensive and
striking scene of ruin that I have met with in any
country. A very tolerable account of it is given in
Hamilton’s India, (see the first number of this work,) and
I will only observe, that, the Cootub Minar, the object of
principal attraction, is really the finest tower I have ever
seen, and must, when its spire was complete, have been still
more beautiful. The remaining great arches of the principal
mosque, with their granite pillars, covered with inscriptions
in the florid Cufic character, are as fine in their way, as any
of the details of York minster. In the front of the principal
of these arches is a metal pillar like that in Firoze Shah’s
castle, (near the walls of Delhi,) and several other remains of
a Hindoo palace and temple, more ancient than the foundation
of Cootub, and which I should have thought striking, if they
had not been in such a neighbourhood. A multitude of
ruined mosques, tombs, serais, &c., are packed close round,
mostly in the Patan style of architecture, and some of them
very fine. One, more particularly, on a hill, and surrounded
by a wall, with battlements and towers, struck me as pecu-
liarly suited, by its solid and simple architecture, to blend in
its character, the fortress, tomb, and temple, and to be very
appropriate to the religion of Islam. These Patans built like
giants, and finished their work like jewellers. Yet the
ornaments, florid as they are, in their proper places, are
never thrown away, nor suffered to interfere with the general
severe and solemn character of their edifices. The palace of
the present imperial family is at some little distance behind
these remains: it is a large, but paltry building, in a bad
style of Italian architecture, and with a public road actually
leading through its court-yard.”
This remarkable building is constructed principally of red
stone; but both white and black marble are used in the
upper parts of it. The first division of it has a kind of fluting,
alternately semicircular and angular round it; in the second
3
INDIA.
division, the fluting is semicircular altogether; in the third
division, it is entirely angular. The upper division, as it now
remains, is smooth, and built of marble. There are belts of
writing, (the supplier of these notes believes,) in Persian
characters, encircling the building at different heights; and
they make very beautiful. ornaments. There are various
other inscriptions also about it, which agree in stating the
minar to have been built by the Sultan Shems-ud-din
Altemsh, who reigned between the years of our Lord 1210
and 1231. A winding staircase goes up the centre of the
tower, as in the monument of London, and some of the stones
from the top having fallen down into the passage, makes it
somewhat difficult to gain the summit, from which there is a
grand view of the ruins that lie in such abundance to the
south of modern Delhi. A large unfinished minar is found
to the north of the Cootub, a hundred and thirty or forty
yards’ distance from it; commenced upon a scale almost
double the magnitude of the immense tower that is now
standing. It had not been carried up more than forty feet in
height, when the project of raising it appears to have been
abandoned : there are no steps in the winding passage up the
middle of it; and it is said by the people about, to have been
the intention of the constructors, that a man on horseback
should have been able to ride up to the top.
This place is said to have been the scene of severe
contention between the original Patan invaders of India, and
the Hindoo sovereigns of Indraput; and the Mahomedans
say, that five thousand martyrs to their religion lie interred
in the neighbourhood.
4
7 } y ' ( na . ay ry ir 7 ib i
a iat : { ; ay ; id - A “
, hi, ‘ i oF ur. Is) } * > | ig
a ie ‘ j ~ ? Py - . - AS
onl bane, y Me ge” ey J “4
yy ' y j ¥
eon, ear:
\ & ne iy he
y A 70 b r l »
4 i \ ‘Ga:
¥ e 7 ‘| a ih A ’ Ma
r
aa ae
a
c .an
=<
*
«
=
~
ae
a.
a
en
Le =
ie
=
.
>
taf
—* =
he ne, i 5
Le tL ys od is 7)
\ a < vite
“ dé ~ han 6 ‘OW na 4 - ah,
Tat hoaetos me
jc) va : jet eu 7)
os f : f
he pf
RY ta ;
oie] Aa > AS al '
; eae ; ; ;
,. fio eee ay Fy ,
AD a { Lar Ae Te di
Ls ae ih, We Fh
“yi 5 a2 ee katy
oe eel
—
_
~\
a
«
ie
»
> nee?
FARSAT
ui
e
a
i
HI
l
Ms
; ee
- 2 + nM 4 t
’ ve by ‘io
$ ESR Ios
i
HURDWAR.
Hurpwar (or Haridwar, the gate of Hari or Vishnoo) is a
small town situated on the west side of the Ganges, at
a place where that mighty river appears to have forced its
way through the lower and outermost range of hills that
skirt the southern declivity of the Himalaya mountains ; and
where its fine and clear stream is somewhat lost in the broad
and shingly bed that it formed for itself. Hurdwar, standing
at the foot of this steep declivity, forms one of the most
sacred, as well as one of the most considerable, places of
Hindoo pilgrimage. The latitude of this town is 29° 56’ N.,
and the longitude 78° 10’ E., lying in a north-easterly direc-
tion, about 110 miles distant from the city of Delhi.
There are some handsome and spacious houses in this
small place, built by pious Hindoos, for the accommoda-
tion of the numerous pilgrims resorting hither, decorated
with verandas, and crowned with cupolas and turrets, and
embellished on the outside with fantastic Hindoo paintings.
Flights of steps lead down from the houses into the river.
There is a little cultivation in the immediate neighbourhood
of Hurdwar, and of Kunkle, a new town, standing about two
miles lower down the Ganges ; but beyond this, it is either
thick jungle or desert land. Above the pass, the forests of
the Deyrah Dhoon come close down upon Hurdwar; below,
the wild wastes of the Terraie reach almost up to it. The
jungle and marshes of the Terraie abound with wild animals,
and with game. Elephants, tigers, rhinoceroses, black bears
of a large size, wild hogs, hog-deer, jackals, foxes, and hares,
1
INDIA.
are found in great abundance in these uncultivated tracts ;
and monkeys and peacocks, both which are sacred with the
Hindoos, are very numerous. To those, whose lot is cast to
live on the borders of this desert, the wild beasts that inhabit
it, are a great source of terror and annoyance; the elephants
especially are said to be the: most active depredators, and
have the credit of making great havoc among the rice fields.
In that part of the Terraie contained between the Ganges
and the Jumna, the air is said to be so pestilential, that
every thing which has the breath of life instinctively deserts
it, and seeks the higher ground, from the beginning of April
until October ; and the people who reside in its neighbour-
hood are, during that time, subject to fevers and other dis-
eases incident in jungly and marshy situations.
The month of April is the time of the annual fair at
Hurdwar; and it is described as a very extraordinary scene
by those who have witnessed it. The great benefit in this
place of pilgrimage, is said to be derived from plunging into
the Ganges at a particular spot, at the time that the sun
enters the sign Aries. Every twelfth year, when Jupiter is
in Aquarius at the time of the sun’s entering Aries, the con-
course of pilgrims is greatly augmented, and people from the
most distant and most opposite parts of India, assemble with
multitudes from all quarters, at this great point of attraction
to the devoted people of Hindoostan. Owing to the precau-
tions taken by the British government, the fairs at Hurdwar
have for these late years gone off without bloodshed, to the
wonder of the vast multitude assembled, who were formerly
accustomed to associate the idea of the pilgrimage of
Hurdwar with much loss of life, from the fierce conten-
tion of hostile tribes that were liable to meet upon that
occasion. ,
‘‘ Besides religious motives, great numbers of people
resort hither for commercial purposes; Delhi, Lucknow, and
other important towns, being supplied from hence with the
)
od
HURDWAR.
productions of the northern and western countries. The mer-
chants usually travel in large caravans, and the cattle, brought
for sale, are used also for the conveyance of merchandise.
At the annual fairs, it is supposed that from 200,000 to
300,000 persons are collected: once in twelve years, when
particular ceremonies are performed, the number of those
present has been computed at one million; and in April,
1819, (but probably with exaggeration,) at two millions.
The most conspicuous persons are the fakeers, or religious
mendicants, of whom there are several sects ;_ but the princi-
pal are the Gossains, the Bairaggies, the Jogies, and the
Udassies; which four classes are again subdivided, and
branched out to a great variety. The most numerous are
the Gossains, who, during the Mahratta sway, were sufli-
ciently powerful to usurp a temporary authority, and not only
collected duties on their own account, but regulated the
police of the fair.”— Hamilton's Gazetteer.
No particular ceremony is used in bathing in the Ganges,
which consists merely of simple immersion. The depth of
the river, at the spot where this advantageous ablution takes
place, is not more than four feet, at the season of the year
appointed for the pilgrimage. Both sexes plunge in indis-
criminately ; but those who are rich, and rigid in the per-
formance of this ceremony, are introduced by a couple of
Brahmins, who dip them in the sacred stream, and reconduct
them to the shore. At the last twelfth-year fair, in the year
1819 or 20, a fearful accident occurred at this place, by which
many persons lost their lives. The principal street that runs
parallel to the river, at the bathing point, stands upon a
bank raised considerably above the immediate side of the
water. A narrow street led down from this to the ghaut, or
steps, from whence the bathers throw themselves into the
stream. This small street, or rather passage, narrowed as it
descended the bank, forming something like a funnel, admit-
ting many more to enter at the upper end than were able to
3
INDIA.
escape at the lower extremity. The town was crowded with
people, waiting for the propitious moment in which to cast
themselves into the river. Between one and two o’clock in
the morning, the alarm was given that the time had arrived,
when a sudden rush took place down the passage that has
been described ; the people at the lower end being closely
pressed from behind, became wedged together so as not to be
able to pass, but blocked up the way. From the main street
the crowd still continued to press into the passage; and so
eager were the people to attain their object, and so much
violence was used, that no less than seven hundred persons,
men, women, and children, were pressed to death. Several
of the British sepoys, who were stationed in the town to
keep order, were carried away in the stream of the crowd,
and killed amongst the mass of the victims on this
melancholy occasion. The East India Company directed
that a freer access should directly be made to the river side ;
and at the time that the writer of these notes was at
Hurdwar, a handsome and convenient ghaut, or flight of
steps, was building, for the facility of the people’s throwing
themselves into the river. The water was turned off from
the shore, for the purpose of completing this work ; and the
Hindoos expressed themselves very grateful for the liberality
of the government, in providing such an accommodation for
them to perform (according to their ideas) this beneficial act
of devotion.
The travelling distance from Calcutta to Hurdwar, by the
nearest way, is about 960 miles ; and its height above the
level of the sea, is estimated at 1024 feet.
4
See Pe ic ; oo re a aed ' ‘
ar’ ~~ ‘dingo ¥
oi veWy el Sake a Ba Seehe Are) *
iT Meh sw Is : ;
ye
a“?
AD aa ws _ aa » a
fe
ix A a) eee J war)
xs fg Bs ya yet bi
? fy iP) 4 : >
ie \" oe) em a4) , Sa
4 j Kia
: ¢ v pede '
r AN ‘ ]
itive,
,
" s j
‘ |
'
a tha a ‘
op j
i
- b A
ve a ; aa : ? ‘ : s ‘<= ;
; aweisiere vw er ‘ Pe | ye 0 _-
re ‘| : oe : a 1 : " i og ' a
IE oe
Bar
Y ry. 2 A;
ue “eee , ‘ ih
bar 7" : “ a e” » . ‘
iD
4
= ae: ne oS er st * eos
“~~ y *-ie
ak ie ery ipl
>»
J : "Wien Poa
hie i weet
* re io, f= ikl
* Me agate Ba) Mae
Ds - ‘yee * 4
\ Ors =
~ 2 i. bi ‘ge
2 PAY ESEN OEE Af 3 Ue
4 =| ‘Jag
:
]
‘ ‘
’ ’
«
+
*}
7
b
j
é
rt
4
f)
“
‘ .
®
.
4
>
GRASS ROPE BRIDGE, AT TEREE,
IN THE PROVINCE OF GURWALL.
TEREE (or, according to the Indian Gazetteer, Trri,) is a
town in the province of Gurwall, which forms one of the
hilly districts that extend along the southern side of the
grand Himalaya range. The Rope Bridge represented in
the Plate is stretched across the Bhagrettee, a large stream
that feeds the upper part of the Ganges, falling into the
main branch of that river between Serinagur, the largest
town in the Gurwall province, situated, like Teree, amongst
the mountains, and Hurdwar, the celebrated place of Hindoo
pilgrimage, which stands at the point where the Ganges
breaks through the lowest range of hills, and begins its long
and winding course across the plains of Hindoostan.
The province of Gurwall is situated between the 30th and
3ist degrees of north latitude ; the snowy range of the Hima-
laya mountains is its northern boundary ; on the south it is
bounded by the great plain of the Ganges; on the east, by
the rivers that form the sources of the Ganges; and on the
west, by the course of the Jumna. The greater part of this
province is a confused mass of hills and valleys, attached to
the southern declivity of the Snowy Mountains, and extend-
ing out from the cordillera to a distance of fifty or sixty
miles, and even further; and a wilder, more broken, or jungly
country, it is scarcely possible to conceive. Lengthways
INDIA.
this hilly tract of land is divided into various provinces, such
as Nepaul, Kumaon, Gurwall, Sirmoor, &c. &c. The general
appearance of these wild regions is thus described in the
Indian Gazetteer, extracted from the writings of Raper,
F. Buchanan, Trail, W. Fraser, Hardwicke, &c. &c. :—
“The face of this province is an assemblage of hills
jumbled together in various forms and directions ; sometimes
in parallel chains, and often connected at their termination
by narrow ridges running across the valleys at right angles.
The summits of all are usually narrow, and of various
shapes, and the distance between each range is short; the
valleys, in consequence, are so confined, that it would be
difficult to find a spot large enough to accommodate a corps
of a thousand men. Some of these ranges are covered with
trees, which are always green; others are naked and stony,
affording shelter for neither birds nor beasts. On the eastern
borders of Gurwall, among the lower range of mountains,
are extensive forests of oak, (the Indian oak, in its form like
the European oak, but entirely differing in the shape of the
leaf,) holly, horse-chestnut, and fir; and beds of strawberries
are also seen, equalling in flavour those of Europe. But a
very small portion of this extensive country is either popu-
lated or cultivated, the large portion of its surface being left
in the possession of wild animals.”
In the very beginning of the present century the Gorkhas,
from the Nepaul country, extended their conquests into this
province, and advanced even as far to the northward and
westward as the Sutuleje, the eastern branch of the Indus
river, which rises on the north side of the Himalayas,
finds its way through the mountains, about the latitude of
32° N. and the longitude of 78° E. The hill chiefs, towards
the Jumna and the Sutuleje, are said to have been accus-
tomed to encroach on each other’s possessions, viewing
all their neighbours’ movements with the utmost jealousy,
and having no common principle of mutual defence. The
GRASS ROPE BRIDGE AT TEREE.
consequence was, that each fell singly before the Gorkhas,
and offered but little resistance to a body of half-disciplined
barbarians, who imposed on them by a wretched imitation of
the dress, constitution, and accoutrements of the British
sepoys. That they might successfully have defended such a
country, scarcely admits of a doubt, yet the invaders were
suffered to capture, without the aid of artillery, every hill-fort
from the Ganges to the Sutuleje.
When Ammeer Singh first attracted notice, he was
employed in subduing the intervening states; and as he
advanced westward, he erected forts and stockades at con-
venient distances, especially at Almora, Serinagur, and
Malown; and on the Seik frontier he established a strong
line of fortifications. A series of encroachments also began
on the British possessions, along the whole northern frontier,
more especially in the districts of Goruckpore and Sarun,
where at length, in 1814, two thanas, or police stations, were
attacked by a large body of Gorkhas, and nearly all the
garrisons destroyed.
The sword was now drawn, but the war lingered, and
several severe checks, such as the British troops had not
been lately accustomed to receive, were experienced, until
1815, when Sir David Ochterlony, having assumed the chief
command, penetrated the hills, and, by a series of skilful
operations, dislodged the Gorkhas from the fortified heights
of Malown, and ultimately so baffled and pent up their
renowned commander Ammeer Singh, that he was glad to
capitulate, and abandon the whole of the territory west of
the Cali.
The large streams in this country being deep and rapid,
are usually crossed by rope and platform bridges. The
bridge of Teree is of very rude construction, consisting of
several ropes of three strands, about the size of a small
hawser, and made of the long coarse grass that grows on the
sides of the hills. The ropes are constantly being renewed ;
3
INDIA.
one always remains suspended over the bridge, until, by its
own weight, it stretches so as to fall down into its place,
where it is secured, and one of the old ones removed. There
is no travelling in this country except on foot, and that is by
no means easy to those so unaccustomed to pedestrianism as
the Europeans in India usually are; the pathways lying
along the broken sides or rocky summits of the hills, fre-
quently up the stony beds of the small water-courses, and
winding up and down the rugged sides of the mountains,
rendering the walking both difficult and laborious.
A few palanquin-bearers, who would persist in accom-
panying the writer of these notes, to carry light burdens,
much used as they were to travel on the plains, had their legs
so pained and swelled by these trying hills, as scarcely to be
able to proceed. It is the custom now, for the English who
have fallen out of health in the upper provinces, to pass a
hot season amongst these hills, where the air and exercise
will restore them as much as a voyage to Europe. Europeans
are usually attended by a number of the Paharees, (or hill-
men, ) who carry their provisions, small tents, clothes, &c. &c.
These excursions are spoken of with great delight by those
who have undertaken them.
4
Pei
ai ' hy 4
Rie al a ey
hd oe OL ae) |
" <7
| ed
ia a.
7 been
}
f “ a J
‘ vi . v ¥/
} tig! ch ip
H . : s : {
, } ' : Fw 1A .
: 7 y } 3 MN
A ; " i > a
} Loy
bs
ag
; rat a
* sal
? 4 ‘
, 7 ? » ir )
' ' A 5 he | am
y “8 ie *
| 7 n
’ ; 2
' \
: 4 uy
bSiry q yr)
f J ne
i
‘
iy : ro, SS 4
4
{ +
i ° cere ”
; AND PRed ‘
¥
4
.
; Li
F 7
/ .
ole >t
") q 4
7 ; , z ,
; t ri P
, 4
4 jw ed
i by
wi
iv
7 ; Dt? t
4 ‘ i 4
4 e % a a
ot Ae eb SP ear a ty Bee, 4
* 9 ra
, »
( sat Ard ty iw
oA AA
; .
<2 | } - "
+ i
' , ie
‘
« 7
‘ & VAD : 44 s ‘
4 Ae pew a ve
4 ‘ Ms y et
. Lad Cw < a0
, + . ; fey ¥
’ : . gms t.é a. *
ae ? , 4 } A, Salve.
ik US t . ie" Pigdad ties) et it he”
; rhe : : i wt 7 an A
f , ts
a ie »
x ’ LW “re }, pei lt aes A ov Oe ‘ x
a vy a el» 4 .
Nig) ‘ oe) . A~* my wr, it my, i Pe é
CR Es 0d a ty OP ee bie et
oie) % . 7 _ vy! :
i + PEPER pt Cnr, 3 ‘wae ae. nd * one vu ne i: »
4 T
d= ; ; oi
f
JERDAIR.
JERDAIR is a very small and remote village, situated amongst
the hills and valleys of the province of Gurwall, within, per-
haps, forty or fifty miles in a direct line from the cordillera
of the Himalaya mountains.
A country, the surface of which is so inimical to cultiva-
tion, from the extreme unevenness of the superficies of the
land, cannot be expected to be found very populous, or to
be ornamented by any towns of considerable magnitude. The
few towns there are in Gurwall are small, and not in good
repair, and the villages extremely poor, and thinly scattered
about over the face of this wild and broken district. _Wher-
ever the obstacles to cultivation are found to be greatest,
generally speaking, there will the industry, ingenuity, and
perseverance of man be most apparent. In this province,
immense labour has been bestowed to prepare the land for
even the small degree of culture that, after all, it is capable of
receiving. - The sides of the steepest hills are formed into
terraces, so as to produce a flat surface for containing water,
for the sake of cultivating rice. Some of these terraces are
based or supported on great stones, with the soil filled in
between, and lying upon them; and so general is this
method of levelling the country, that the sides of almost
every valley look as though a gigantic flight of steps had
been formed from the bottom to the top. The matter of sur-
prise to the traveller is, where the people came from, who
INDIA.
have performed this work. Very few habitations, and a
scanty population, only are visible ; and at this time there are
not men sufficient to till the ground that is capable of cul-
ture ; for many of the terraces are lying waste and neglected.
At some period or other, the inhabitants of these hills may,
and it might be said must, have been more numerous, or a
work of such magnitude and labour could never have been
performed.
In traversing the province of Gurwall, by the narrow foot-
paths that wind about these almost interminable hills and
glens, frequent splendid views of the Himalaya mountains
are obtained; and there is certainly nothing that the material
world can present to the eye of any one, who can look with
ordinary interest on the great and mighty works of the
creation, that strikes the beholder with such awe and
admiration, as the sight of this stupendous and continuous
range of snowy mountains. From the summit of a lofty
eminence among the hills of Gurwall, called Soroo Debee,
there is a grand view of the Himalayas. This hill may be
nearly fifty miles from the snowy range, and is itself nearly
ten thousand feet above the level of the sea, and yet it
appears, when standing upon its summit, to be almost at
the feet of the majestic mountains that rise before it. An
unbroken line of heights, with the finest and most graceful
outline, are seen stretching from east to west, as far as the
eye can reach. The lowest peaks appear to be considerably
above the line of perpetual snow, but the higher portions of
the range rise with an elevation so majestic, that any attempt
to describe the scene would be idle and vain. What a sub-
ject for the skill of a panoramic painter, may be found from
the top of Soroo Debee; to the north, the immense moun-
tains of snow, in all their varied forms of beauty, towering
over the intermediate mass of wooded hills; on the west, the
Ganges may be seen thirty or forty miles distant; on the
east, the Jumna as far off; on the south, the eye traces the
2
JERDAIR.
hills diminishing in height till they reach the Deyrah Dhoon,
then overlooks the still lower range of hills that confine the
valley of the Dhoon, and stretches over the great plain of
Hindoostan, until the land is lost in the indistinctness of
distance.
Within these few years, the Himalaya mountains have
been found to exceed in height the loftiest peak of the Andes
by several thousand feet. The near coincidence of Captain
Blake’s observations, made in 1814, with those of Captain
Webb, justify the expectation that, when the true height of
Dhawalagiri shall be accurately determined, it will clearly
exceed 27,000 feet. Respecting the geology of the Hima-
laya range, the Indian Gazetteer has the following remarks :
“Throughout the Himalaya, as far as yet explored, the only
rock sufficiently extensive to characterize its formation is
gneiss, the other rocks occurring only in beds and veins.
Granite veins are numerous, in some positions; but it does
not form the leading feature in the geology of these moun-
tains, which differ in structure materially from the Andes.
Other differences occur, among which the most remarkable
is, the total absence of volcanoes. The chief mineral pro-
ductions hitherto found, are sulphur, alum, plumbago, bitu-
men, gypsum, potstone, borax, rock-salt, gold-dust in small
quantities, copper, lead, iron in some abundance, antimony
combined with lead and sulphur, and manganese with iron.”
“West of the Indus, this stupendous range of mountains
is known to the Afghans by the name of Hindoo Cosh, while
to the east of that river it has the more appropriate name of
Himalaya, (the abode of snow ;) but in reality the chain is the
same, and can scarcely be said to be interrupted by the
stream of the Sutuleje, which is the principal source of
the Indus, rising on the north side of the Himalayas, and
breaking through the mountains in latitude 35° N. The
snowy range from the north-east point of Cashmere, has a
south-eastern course, extending along the sources of the
INDIA.
Punjab rivers, that form the Indus, (except the Sutuleje,
which penetrates the hills,) down across the heads of the
Jumna and the Ganges. Further east, the chain is less
continuous, as there is reason to believe it is penetrated by
four different rivers, the Gunduck, the Arun, the Cosi, and
the Teesta. Beyond the limits of Bootan, the chain is lost
in an unexplored country; but it probably extends to the
Chinese sea, along the northern frontier of the provinces of
Quansi and Quantong, declining gradually in elevation as
it advances to the east. So long as it borders Hindoostan,
the height of the Himalaya is enormous; and it may be
there considered as the buttress to the Tibetian plateau, on
the north, into which the descent is moderate, when com-
pared with that of the southern face of the mountains. The
breadth of the snowy belt varies in different parts ; between
the Sutuleje and the Ganges, it has been estimated not
to exceed eighty miles, from the plains of Hindoostan to
Tibet.”
There are difficult passes over the Himalaya mountains
at various places ; and European travellers have repeatedly
crossed them, and descended into the Tibet country.—
Captain Turner, in the year 1783, sent on an embassy by
Mr. Hastings to the Teshoo Lama, had, it is said, an oppor-
tunity, on that occasion, of penetrating a long way over the
vast Tatarian plateau, or elevated plain, that appears to be
attached to the north side of these stupendous mountains.
4
NOW OD NCCT NCW THT ¢ JUN a I QUAL AL SL, O ©. NTL VBL
ES. 4
at an
r
CHANDNGOAN.
Tis temple, which appears to be throughout of Hindoo archi-
tecture, is situated in the south-eastern corner of the Jeypore
territory, and lies in one of the routes from Agra towards
Kota, and other places in Central India. There are few
houses in the immediate neighbourhood of the building; and
as there is nothing deserving the appellation of a village
around it, a cause may be found for the omission of the name
of this place altogether in the East India Gazetteer, from
which so many quotations have already been made in the
course of this work.
In the line of march, this place does not form one of the
halting stations; so that the person who made the sketch had to
return back four or five miles, in the heat of the day, in order
to get this drawing, having been struck with the picturesque
exterior of this building, as he passed it in the morning’s
travels. The road by this route only touches on the Jeypore
territory, which is one of the provinces of Rajpootana; and
the small specimen that is seen of this country gives by no
means a favourable impression of it. Some parts of the country
through which the road passes are covered with low jungle,
and others are rocky and barren. Where the soil is good, it
is light and sandy, and produces remarkably fine crops of
the bearded wheat. The land is teeming with the black and
grey partridge; and the constant call of these birds, in the
morning and evening, is almost fatiguing to the ane
INDIA.
The province of Jeypore lies just to the westward of
Agra, and forms the easternmost portion of the large district
of Rajpootana. At the time that the upper provinces of
India were either subdued or made tributary to the British
government, by the enterprising and successful wars of Lord
Lake, the Jeypore rajah appears to have shewn much back-
wardness in putting himself under the British protection;
and, being left for some years to his own devices, unable to
protect himself against the Mahrattas, his country became a
prey to the most merciless ravages from without, and the
scene of an unceasing war of factions within: yet, notwith-
standing the misery of its condition, this state, in 1818, when
the Mahrattas were finally subdued, was the last to send
negotiators to Delhi, and was ultimately the most difficult to
settle with.
Hamilton’s Gazetteer has the following remarks on the
state of the Jeypore district: ‘‘ So severely had this princi-
pality suffered from the ravages of Ameer Khan (a Mahratta
chief) and other plunderers, that, with the single exception of
the little division of Lalsoont, the Jeypore country, in 1819,
presented little else than an extensive waste. For miles in
every direction, the eye ranged over plains that bore the
marks of former cultivation, but now overspread with short
coarse grass and briar bushes, relieved at intervals by a tract
of babool and dakh jungle. Vast herds of deer were seen
roving about, with a freedom that proved how completely,
and for how long a period, the fields had been abandoned to
them. The villages and towns stand at a great distance from
each other, all surrounded by a mud fortification; and the
general aspect of the country presented an apparent desola-
tion and sterility, approaching to that of desert; yet, judging
from the immense contributions, that of late years had been
extorted from this country by different hordes of depre-
dators, the soil must at some time have been eminently
productive.”
2
—_
CHANDNGOAN.
The city of Jeypore is beyond all question the hand-
somest and most regular-built town of Hindoostan ; and the
four large streets, which diverge at right angles from the
great central square, would bear a comparison with most
streets, either European or Asiatic, in point of width and
architectural effect. The houses are generally three and four
stories high, built of stone, and covered with a fine stucco,
which rivals the lustre of marble. Many of the facades are
decorated with paintings in fresco; and porticos, sculptures,
and other works of marble, are seen on all sides. The most
striking features, however, of Jeypore, are the projecting stone
balconies, enclosed with wrought lattices of the same mate-
rial, or with skreens of stone, painted to resemble lattice-
work, which embellish the fronts of the houses, and produce
a light and picturesque effect. The buildings of the palace,
with its court-yards, its triple succession of gardens, terrace
below terrace, and its noble sheet of water, occupy nearly an
entire quarter of the city. Besides the public apartments,
and the accommodation of the rajah and the individuals of
his family, it contains within its precincts—a mint, an obser-
vatory, a great stud of fighting elephants, and other append-
ages of eastern royalty.—The city of Jeypore is of modern
date, having been built for Rajah Jey-singh, in the time of
Mahomed Shah, who reigned in Delhi from the year 1720, for
about thirty years, and during whose reign it was, that Nadir
Shah paid his dreadful visit to the capital of Hindoostan.
In the beginning of the year 1825, this city was visited by
Bishop Heber, who gives an animated and clear description
of it. The following account of the approach to Jeypore is
extracted from the Bishop’s Journal :—
“This morning (January 28th, 1825) was dusky and
close, with heavy clouds, which however gradually dispersed,
and were succeeded by a good deal of wind. Our march to
Jeypore was one, I should think, of nearly twenty miles. The
early part of it was over a desolate plain of deep sand,
3
INDIA.
traversed by a nullah, the windings of which we twice fell in
with. About eight miles from the city, we came to a deep
water-course, apparently the work of art, and, with a small
stream in it, flowing from the hills to which we were
approaching. The hills, as we drew near, appeared higher
and steeper than those we had hitherto crossed, but entirely
of rock, shingle, and sand, without a blade of vegetation,
except a little grass edging, here and there, the stony, ragged
water-course that we ascended, and which was our only
road. The desolation was almost sublime; the pass grew
narrower and steeper as we proceeded along it; and the
stream which we were ascending, instead of dimpling amid
the grass and stones, now leapt and bounded from crag to
crag, like a Welch rivulet. Still all was wild and dismal,
when, on a turn of the road, we found ourselves in front of a
high turreted and battlemented wall, pierced with a tier of
arched windows, shewing us beyond them the dark-green
shades of an Oriental garden.” Passing through this bar-
rier, and a small street of temples, with gardens perpetually
green, the track emerges on an elevated, but sandy and
barren plain, in which nevertheless some fields of wheat
were seen, and some fine peepul-trees (the Indian aspen)
were growing. This plain, which is surrounded on three sides
by barren stony hills, has in its centre the city of Jeypore,
a place of considerable extent, “ with fortifications,” says
Bishop Heber, “so like those of the Kremlin, that I could
almost have fancied myself at Moscow.” The security of
the town principally depends on the forts that crown the sur-
rounding hills.
4
’ nN Hl Wy dite thy i
Py ;
hbed L@, hte ae he mn
tee hes ca pe ui fae a YY
Tire ) oaretls ef 4 i on if x Ry i i i es a _
one ha) Pay ty a By } le ij x ey gi CT .
Bi Ly il i ey 7 ‘ Y
ae a i) iH | Hs, hii Hi) nets y . ‘ Wey i 4 ‘a ay u 7 7 44) eerie
¥
i" 0
wre ‘i hal ey ie y) }
ae ¥ if ‘ is ; ay ‘ ‘i = f a iN i ee. ae. ¥ ali } Al ; i “a “
's i nt ae ry) he “ie Ve i Hi » a ‘ Devi). ;
Buren, ce ns oe aie ip Rena os Kit 3 ;
, ie ’ ; f an ‘ j q }
ita eer cine sh aan aera
ia a
a anit Nee NN 5
. an : we
ve on i RG re at Ly ‘ + ait , | A? i
i ‘at fan , ML eat Rata Met See
; fi h
ae ae A Vat a ea Par ae ee.
; ; fig
. wir , t ‘ 4 ey
i dw iy
v4 o' Ny
} Om )
Hly aie te
f rs
4 oa ae
io ' ee |
: : So : 2 iy i y ry
- 7 a i - p
? 1
’ 1
am
i a ‘ ’ ; Tees: x "
Aik " ; ve
"i a > ; , F Fi ‘ ‘ ; )
ae | ; ‘ (fea
é r ©) i
”
‘ f
1.4
1
)
r aa fan ON) tae ta ae any | :
' ‘ss ——oOUINIVE RSH Y Agate Hit ‘
Hari : i TA Aas WO tiLb' y ly | j Bin ; ; aun
Ma cm ching Pea hi
‘ t i i A ei ’ ue : t ¢ : 7 iy |
a lg Wi Aiehing op & mA S| \ Me \ yf if
44 =) o Vie ' v wy le ta, Les ‘ , f
' ‘ '
‘ Hy J . j , j | ( j
' ite vill A
va ol Hi j u | ;
Gh ; A ce, Al f tf ' a 4 '
mitt a sale pt \ | . 5
‘oe ht, fi oN
uaa
areas?
op Lay
y tei
a 7 ‘i i \ : \ ay,
; Mi 7 Tesi, Gait i a
nM we ae sa, D 7 et
-
.
o
‘
»
.
i
‘
.
Pa
.
"
%
ete:
~
ete litte oc
i.
of
Pree
>
Fre wee,
pt sae
bP
+ +/ idole
‘ T= r rect d i Ab
Se: ioe .
obi li een Bae:
Lees WO hr ey 3 os avs
oa 3 nile AUN, ‘A sila dik
Ke ‘ f
‘eg the ee ae
tk fond Bete
e
-
ro
ov
it _?
* 7 7
. a
: r
iM 7
SHUHUR.
Suunour (or Shehr) is a small town, and a strong hill-fortress,
in the principality of Jeypore, one of the provinces of Raj-
pootana, a country lying in the north-western part of central
India. The fort presents a striking group of castellated
buildings, crowning the ridge of a lofty and rocky eminence,
that rises abruptly from the midst of an extensive plain. This
isolated height is steep, and almost inaccessible on every
side ; outworks are erected wherever it might be practicable
to escalade it, but the principal part of the fortification is
confined to the summit. The masonry, as well as the rock
on which it stands, is of a light-coloured stone, and has a fine
and very picturesque effect. The town lies on the north
side, and close to the foot of the hill, surrounded with a mud
wall and a wet ditch; but it derives its chief protection from
the munition that rises so majestically above it: on one side
of the town there is a shallow lake, or jeel, and the annexed
drawing, which represents the Castle of Shuhur, is made from
the edge of this piece of water.
Rajpootana is a tract of country that differs widely from
almost every other part of Hindoostan. It lies bordering
upon the great desert that runs along the eastern bank of the
Indus, and partakes in some measure of the sterility of those
desolate wastes. The northern boundary of this district is a
part of Lahore and Delhi; on the east, Agra; on the south,
Guzerat and Malwa; and on the west, Mooltan, and the prin-
cipality of Sinde. ‘ From the western frontier of the Sheka-
wutty country, to Bahawulpore, a distance of 280 miles, the
last 100 miles south-west of Bahawulpore, is wholly destitute
of inhabitants, water, and vegetation, From the Shekawutty
1
INDIA.
frontier to Poogul, a distance of 180 miles, the road is over
hills and valleys of loose sand. These hillocks resemble
such as are formed by the wind on the sea-shore, but far
exceeding them in height, reaching from twenty to one hun-
dred feet. They are said by the natives to shift their posi-
tion, and to alter their shapes, as the wind blows. During
the summer, the passage of this portion of the desert is dan-
gerous, on account of the clouds of moving sand; but in winter
the sand hills exhibit a greater degree of permanence, and,
besides phoke, bear a sort of grass, the thorny bushes of the
baubool, and the bair or jujube, the whole together presenting
an appearance somewhat resembling verdure.
‘‘ Among these suffocating sand-hills a miserable village
is here and there met with, consisting of a few round straw
huts, with low sides and conical roofs, like little stacks of
corn, surrounded by an enclosure of dry thorny branches.
Around these abodes of misery, are a few fields, depending
for moisture on dews and periodical rains, cultivated with
crops of the poorer kind of pulse, and of bajarry, which is
raised with great difficulty. In the midst of these burning
sands, the most juicy of all fruits, the water melon, is found
in astonishing profusion, growing from a small stalk, and
attaining a circumference of three or four feet. The optical
illusion, termed mzrage, is common in this desert, and deceives
travellers with the appearance of extensive lakes, amidst
parched and arid sands. The common inhabitants of the
deserts are Jauts; the higher classes Rhatore Rajpoots. The
first are little in stature, black in complexion, and ill-looking,
presenting a strong appearance of wretchedness and squalid
poverty. The latter are stout and handsome, with hooked
noses and Jewish features, haughty in their manners, indo-
lent, and almost continually intoxicated with opium.
‘“‘ Although Rajpootana is central to Hindoostan, and its
eastern frontier within a hundred miles of Delhi, it was never
thoroughly subdued, either by the Patan or Mogul dynasties.
2
SHUHUR.
Rajas of Ajmeer are mentioned by Ferishta, so early as a. p.
1008, at which period they joined a confederacy of Hindoo
princes against Mahmood of Ghizni, and in 1193 the country
was overrun by Mahomed, the first Gauride sovereign of India.
After this date it continued tributary to the throne of Delhi;
and, on account of the rebellious conduct of its chiefs, was
frequently invaded by the Emperors, who repeatedly took,
and destroyed all their capital towns. The province, notwith-
standing, never became a regularly organized possession
under the Mogul sovereignty, like many other countries much
more distant from the seat of government, but remained in a
sort of half independent condition, paying a tribute, and
furnishing the imperial armies with a certain number of Raj-
poot mercenaries, who were always held in high estimation
for their bravery and fidelity, and served as a counterpoise to
the Mogul and Afghan soldiery.”—( Hamilton's Gazetteer. )
A nominal subjection of this country to the Deihi throne,
continued until the year 1748, when total independence was
assumed by its chiefs and princes. The interval which elapsed
between that period, and the time that it sought and obtained
protection from the British government in 1818, was occupied
by internal warfare, and by invasions of the Mahrattas, and
other hordes of plunderers. Arrangements were made, by
which the provinces of Rajpootana were entirely liberated
from Mahratta interference; and cantonments of the East
India Company’s forces were formed at Neemutch and Nus-
serabad, to ensure the peace and quietness of these states,
that had been for so many years subject to internal dissen-
sion, and external depredation.
Since the British conquests and interference in the coun-
tries adjoining to Rajpootana, a great change has been
wrought in these hitherto distracted nations. Multitudes of
people have emerged from the hills and fortresses, where they
had sought refuge, and have again occupied their ancient
and long deserted villages. In no part of Hindoostan has
3
INDIA.
the alliance of independent states with the British govern-
ment had a more favourable effect, or the peasantry been
more universally sensible of the improvement of their condi-
tion, than in Rajpootana. Security and comfort are now
established, where terror and misery before existed ; and the
ploughshare is in peace turning up a soil, which for many
seasons had never been stirred, except by the hoofs of preda-
tory cavalry.
From the description of this country already given, it
would appear to be altogether devoid of any inducement, to a
marauding people like the Mahrattas, to disturb it with their
excursions ; but though the general aspect of the land is
barren and unproductive, there are parts where the bearded
wheat, cultivated in such quantities in Upper India, may be
found growing as fine as any that the richest parts of the
world could produce. In the neighbourhood of Lall-Soont,
about forty miles to the southward and eastward of the city
of Jeypore, the compiler of these notes saw some remarkably
fine-looking wheat, growing in a light sandy soil, and ready
for the sickle in the month of February, the height of the
dry season. May the inhabitants continue to sow in peace,
and reap in security, and ‘“ beat their swords into plough-
shares, and their spears into pruning hooks,’—neither have
occasion to “ learn war any more.”
| ss ana rae
-s i ,
AW | y i
pen ae: aga ae Me ‘ is
z Py ay aa: f | i iv
ae bi NG i we, ted viet, ie i ni)
Wien. boy | | mn in
iy a LAs “ TAG .
! iF® van
Dit
4)
Ni a) Ks
fs) . ' y \
svn ie
v ‘ih Den 3 |
. ; a H |
‘
Tne.
i
a
‘ ee Lit be
anise ‘Mig gad he ayy | a
.
ee oa
ae
¥ ne cs: bi sas
5 . Cotman.
: i At:
abe. € ‘sdb
[ q
S .
=
.
’
.
4
'
‘
-
-
~
4
‘
’ .
.
vi ’
fu ioe ve aan of
*% Re ia! veraty Pee 4y A
- 4 =
(a Treticen’ 4
Lf tire a> Hl
“a
aad 6
PERAWA.
‘‘ PERAWwA is a small town in the province of Malwa, which,
in 1820, with the surrounding pergunnah, was held of Holkar
by Himmut Khan, the son of the celebrated Mahratta chief-
tain Ameer Khan. ‘This place lies about seventy-five miles,
travelling distance, nearly north of Oojein, the largest city
in the province. It is an irregular and meanly built place,
containing an old stone fort, and encompassed with a low
decayed wall of mud and brickwork, scarcely sufficient to
oppose the trespassing of stray cattle.”
The above is all the information that Hamilton’s East
India Gazetteer contains respecting this town; and in the
fullest history of the country in which it is situated, the
name of Perawa does not appear. The old stone fort, pre-
viously mentioned, is the building represented in this plate ;
it seems to be a mixture of Hindoo and Mahomedan archi-
tecture, and its claim to the picturesque would save it from
being passed over by a draughtsman, though there might be
no circumstance of interest expressly attached to it.
Sir John Malcolm, in his memoir of Central India, says,
“The history of Malwa is involved in darkness and fable.
Oojein, which may still, from its superior magnitude, be
deemed the capital of this province, has perhaps more un-
doubted claim to remote antiquity, than any inhabited city in
India; it being not only mentioned in the sacred volumes of
the Hindoos, but in the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, and
by Ptolemy. We find in Indian mss. Malwa noticed as a
Separate province, 850 years before the Christian era; when
Dungee, to whom a divine origin is given, restored the power
1
INDIA.
of the Brahmins, which, it is stated, had been destroyed by
the Buddhists, many remains of whose religion are to be
found in this part of India. In the excavation of a mountain
near Baug, we trace, both in the form of the temples, and in
the figures and symbols which they contain, the peculiar
characteristics of the Buddhist worship.” From this period,
all trace, however indistinct, of events in this country, appears
to be lost, until the reign of Vicramaditya, who was so cele-
brated, that he gives his own name to an age, commencing
about fifty-six years before the birth of our Lord. From the
time of Vicramaditya, nothing occurs worthy of notice, till
the monarchy of Raja Bhoj, the eleventh in descent, whose
name stands high in Hindoo traditions. This _ prince
changed the seat of government from Oojein to Dhar, where
it continued, till transferred to Mandoo by the Mahomedan
conquerors of Malwa.
“It would be alike useless and tedious,” says Sir John
Malcolm, ‘to trace minutely the history of Malwa, for a long
period after the first Mahomedan conquest, exhibiting nothing
but a series of troubles, in which this province almost lost its
rank as a distinct division of ancient India. We find Hindoo
princes and chiefs, in almost every district, opposing the pro-
gress of the invaders, and often with such success as to estab-
lish dynasties of three or four generations, who ruled over
considerable part of the country. These revolutions continued,
till the more complete conquest of Bahadur Shah, which took
place in the reign of Shah-ud-deen of Delhi, who put that
leader to death, and appointed Dilawur Khan Ghoree to the
government of Malwa, who taking advantage of the flight of
Mahomed Toghluck, and the confusion into which India was
thrown by the invasion of Timur, assumed the titles and
ensigns of royalty. He fixed his capital at the city of Dhar,
which still presents in its ruins the history of this change.
Alif Khan, the son of Dilawur Khan, who became celebrated
under the name of Hoshung Shah, removed the seat of
2
PERAWA.
government to Mandoo. Malwa was again reduced by the
Emperor Akbar to the condition of a province of the Delhi
monarchy, in which state it remained, subjected to the same
changes and revolutions that effected the other divisions of
the empire, till it was conquered by the Mahrattas.”
It would appear that though Malwa was invaded by the
Mahrattas a few years previous to the death of Aurungzebe,
their authority was not established in that province until
about the year 1735, in the reign of Mahomed Shah. The
_ famous banditti, so weil known by the name of Pindarries,
originated in this province, the mighty mother of free-booters.
Occasion may be taken, in a future number, to make mention
of this singular body of adventurers.
In the year 1818, the Mahratta confederacy was com-
pletely broken, and their power destroyed by the British
government. Sir John Malcolm was at this time administer-
ing the affairs of Malwa, and whose ascendancy over the
minds of all ranks of the people was universal ; he is said to
have employed some of the most notorious of the robbers
near his person, and as guards over property and treasure,
which duties they invariably fulfilled with care and fidelity.
An extraordinary story is told in the memoir of Central
India, that serves to shew, that some skill and management
was required to rule this people. The reader will, no doubt,
by this tale, be strongly reminded of the means adopted on
the Scottish border in earlier times, of gathering the people
together on the event of war. ‘‘ The ignorance and super-
stition of a great majority of the inhabitants of India, place
them much in the power of the better informed classes of
their countrymen, who desire to work upon their passions
and prejudices. Never was a stronger instance given to
prove this fact, than one that occurred in Central India in
May, 1818. The war with the Pindarries was over, and the
country was in a state of tolerable tranquillity, when a sudden
agitation was produced among the peaceable inhabitants, by
3
INDIA.
a number of cocoa-nuts being passed from village to village,
with a mysterious direction to speed them to specific desti-
nations. From beyond Jeypore in the north, to the Deccan
in the south, and from the frontier of Guzerat, to the terri-
tories of Bhopal, this signal flew with unheard-of celerity.
The potail of every village, wherever one of these cocoa-nuts
came, carried it himself with breathless haste to another, to
avert a curse, which was denounced upon all who impeded
or stopped them for a moment. No event followed, to throw
any light upon this extraordinary occurrence. Every inquiry
was instituted, and persons were sent, who traced the route
of the signal for several hundred miles, but no certain infor-
mation was obtained ; and a circumstance that produced for
upwards of a month a very serious sensation over all Central
India, remains to this moment a complete mystery. Some
thought it a sign of the thorough establishment of the British
power. Others that it indicated a general rise in favour of the
Peshwah Bajerow, who had not then submitted ; while persons,
sent to trace it into the Jeypore country, brought an account
that a pious Brahmin had circulated cocoa-nuts through his
district, to proclaim his joy and gratitude at the birth of a
son, and that the signal, that spread like wildfire, gained a
portentous character, as it became remote from the simple
cause in which it had its commencement. If this be the
case, and it is not improbable that it was, it exhibits in a
remarkable degree the extent of the credulity, and suscepti-
bility of sudden impulse to action, which exists among the
lower classes of the natives of India.”
pave
gl Tees)
ae) ¢ OL
srr”
: e
.
, spe faric cathic
: roe-¢ ate =
sss,
im we
ie pe
sl
~~ Vi Lie
: : V4 7
, Ate ; ry ay
out nude if
¥ Woe TT
. &
7
y ve
® a
ak’ moh
a
i.
ee
TR
Pe
a F. |
@
!
*
ef a
t
i
reee Ln
* prae i. a
{ aed. OP A
= s i« as ee ea 2 ;
nic ‘ at
ets
rd
'.
i >
fy
f f
is ors |
:
MAKUNDRA—MALWA.
Tue village of Makundra is beautifully situated in a pass,
through a ridge of mountains that divides the province of
Malwa from the country of the Hara tribe, called Harowtee,
in Ajmere. The pass of Makundra is situated about twenty-
eight or thirty miles from the city of Kota, in Central India ;
and though it was, in earlier eastern wars, the scene of con-
tending hosts, it is better known, in these times, as the first
place at which the division, under General Monson, came in
actual contact with the troops of Holkar, during the cele-
brated, though disastrous retreat of that commander, in the
rains of the year 1804.
In the administration of the Marquis of Wellesley in
India, and at the time that the British government was
engaged in a war with the Mahratta chieftain, Jeswunt Rao
Holkar, it was, that the well-known retreat of Gen. Monson
took place. Lord Lake was at that period commander-in-
chief of the British forces, and Major-General Wellesley,
now the Duke of Wellington, commanded a large division of
the army employed in this service. At the commencement
of hostilities, Holkar appears to have been far up in the
north, in or near the territories of the Rajah of Jeypoor, who
was at that time considered as an ally of the English govern-
ment; and upon Lord Lake’s advancing from the direction of
Delhi towards him, he retreated to the southward by way
of Kota, with considerable precipitation. General Monson’s
corps was a detachment from Lord Lake’s army, sent for-
ward in the first place to protect Jeypoor, and afterwards to
1
INDIA.
follow Holkar on his retreat to the southward, where his own
territories lay. In the common course of successful events
that attended the British arms at that period, he could pro-
bably have had scarcely any idea that he should so soon find
himself in his turn flying in the utmost haste, and in the
greatest distress, before the enemy that he was then pursu-
ing. Lord Lake seems, by the accounts given of that war,
in “ Mill’s History of British India,” to have followed Holkar
as far as Rampoora, a large town, and Strong fortress, form-
ing the great protection of the northern boundary of Holkar’s
dominions. A detachment, under the command of Lieut.-
Colonel Dow, stormed and took possession of Rampoora, on
the 16th of May, (1804.) After the reduction of this place, the
commander-in-chief appears to have considered it unneces-
sary to maintain so advanced a position; and he retired, it
is said, into cantonments within the British dominions, leav-
ing General Monson to make such a disposition of his force
as would preclude, in that direction, any sort of danger from
Holkar’s return.
Monson’s brigade continued to advance, and on the first
of July, in the height of the rains, he was at Sonara, within
twenty coss (about forty miles) of the camp of Holkar, which
contained the whole of his cavalry, brigades, and guns. On
the same day, a party from the British detachment stormed
with great gallantry, and made themselves masters of the
strong fort of Hinglais-Ghur. The commander-in-chief
appears to have set a high value on this acquisition ; which he
thought would secure the supplies of Monson, if he advanced to
the support of the army from Guzerat, and afford protection to
the people of the surrounding districts, who appeared to be well
inclined to the British cause. The force under Monson, at this
time, consisted of five battalions of Sepoys, with artillery in pro-
portion, and two bodies of irregular horse, about three thou-
sand strong, advanced to about fifty miles to the southward
of the Makundra pass, where some motion of Holkar’s seems
2
MAKUNDRA.
to have produced alarm, and caused him to make the first
movement of retreat on the morning of the 8th of July. He
retired to the Makundra pass, and on the 10th, a large body
of the enemy’s cavalry appeared: on the following day,
Holkar summoned the detachment to surrender their arms,
and on their refusing to do so, he attacked the British corps
with great vigour, but without being able to make any sensible
impression ; this encounter most probably took place near
the southern entrance of the pass. Monson, not regard-
ing his position as tenable, Holkar having only used his
cavalry in this attack, and fearing lest they should get in his
rear, determined to retire to Kota, where he arrived on the
morning of the 12th, after having been excessively harassed,
both by the enemy, and by the rain, that fell in torrents.
The Rajah of Kota refused to admit them, or to grant them
supplies. The detachment, in great distress, and having
abandoned their guns, reached the Chumbul on the 19th,
but found it impassable; on the 18th, the European artillery-
men were crossed on elephants, and sent on to Rampoora.
It was not until the 23d and 24th that the troops could cross
this river, continually exposed to the attacks of the enemy,
though in one instance becoming themselves the assailants.
On the morning of the 25th, the whole retreated towards
Rampoora, harassed by the hill people and banditti, and
arrived at that place on the 27th.
At Rampoora, General Monson being joined by some
troops sent from Agra to his relief, determined to con-
tinue his retreat to Khooshul-Ghur, where he expected to
find succours from Scindia, leaving a sufficient garrison for
the protection of Rampoora. On the 22d of August he
reached the river Bannas, but found it was not fordable
until the 24th, when the last battalion encountered a serious
attack from the enemy, and escaped with great difficulty.
On the night of the 25th of August, this distressed detach-
ment reached Khooshul-Ghur, having been obliged to aban-
3
INDIA.
don their baggage. At this place, on the 26th, two com-
panies of Sepoys, and a body of irregular horse, deserted to
the enemy ; and on the same day the retreat was continued,
with the troops in an oblong square, Holkar’s cavalry and
guns making repeated attempts to penetrate the mass; on
the night of the 27th they arrived at Hindown, and took
possession of an old mud fortress in that place. On their
leaving Hindown, they experienced the most formidable
attack that was made on them during the whole march, but
though so much harassed and fatigued, they appear to have
repelled it with great spirit. They reached the Biana pass
about sunset on the 28th, but the enemy’s guns obliged them
to continue retreating during the night, in which they fell
into confusion, but they finally reached Agra in straggliug
parties on the 3ist of August.
No one, unacquainted with the state of the country in
India during the rainy season, can well imagine what this
unfortunate detachment had to encounter and endure; and
whatever difference of opinion might have existed, either in
India or in England, as to the necessity of a retrograde
movement at all, there is no question, but that it was con-
ducted with great ability on the part of the commander, and
furnished a fine example of the firmness, patience, and, con-
sidering all the circumstances, faithfulness of the native
soldiers of India, when subjected to British discipline, and
commanded by British officers. Few events, in the long
and arduous wars in which the English government in India
have been from time to time engaged, excited greater interest
than Monson’s retreat.
4
ine
any
Pa
Pier te oe 2 ied A
et fe? oh Ce
' eh pia dinak ahs eax wes
: . 4 ta Ae paid ;
os ‘ : ae
te. ae oa oi \ sphniaee 7 X , .
4 bs ei Fe RE Ae: yi
ne i uid Ati ae
Das tis . ay | ar) , ws ote
> i i - p { a‘ J aa #, i he , hs . ; ’
cin apse sy" ie ee
rae
ae us 4a b AEA a eh as a i s }
ee hth oe: hiv aff
Pees bn at A =
he Se ,
ofed, Fs hal ei Eo i is
\ , 4 2 y
ong eS Pale -
od erly Ri
no fee. ee ee as
a x
Le » Bee ae
. tts 4
" > &
THE WATER PALACE, MANDOO.
Manpboo is an ancient capital of the Malwa province, in
Central India, situated in latitude 22° 23’ N. and longitude
75° 20' E. about sixty-five miles to the S.S.W. of the. still
flourishing city of Oojein, the most considerable town of that
part of Hindoostan. There is a very remarkable notice of
Oojein in the writings of the elegant Mahomedan historian
Abul Fazel, which is translated simply into these words :—
“‘ Oojein is a large city, on the banks of the Sopra, (Sipra, )
and held in high veneration by the Hindoos. It is astonish-
ing that this river sometimes flows with milk.”
The ruins of the once celebrated city of Mandoo occupies
the summit of a tabular mountain, that stands at the edge
of what is called the Vindhyan chain, but which is, in fact,
the south side of a large tract of table land in Malwa, that
forms a precipitous boundary to the north side of the valley
of the Nerbudda. A mound of earth, which, but for the
magnitude of its dimensions, might be considered an artificial
causeway, connects this otherwise isolated hill with the main
body of the raised land.. The sides of this mountain are very
steep, and, in some parts, form a natural scarp, like the hill-
fortresses of India. There appear to have been walls and
defences all round the edges of the hill, the circumference of
which is found, by actual measurement, to be twenty-eight
1
INDIA.
miles. The most accessible part of this mountain city, is
that where the mound, which is below the level of the hill on
either side, attaches it to the table land. This passage is
guarded by three gateways, still entire: the first is at the
foot of the north margin of the chasm; the second, at the
base of the ascent into the town; and the third, at the sum-
mit of the hill on which this strong city was erected.
Though there are the remains of buildings to be seen
scattered all about upon the top of this mountain, shewing
that the city, at one period, may have occupied nearly the
whole extent of the surface of the hill, comprising about
12,654 English acres; yet there are but few remains of
buildings of any magnitude. The principal ruins are—the
Jumma Musjid, said to be the finest and largest specimen of
the Afghan mosque to be seen in any part of India; the
Mausoleum of Hussein Shah, a massive structure, composed
entirely of white marble, standing in a large court, around
which there is a remarkably handsome piazza; the Palace
of Baz Bahauder, a very striking building, placed on an
eminence; and the Jehaz-ka-Mahal, (literally, ship-palace, )
standing between two spacious tanks of water—this pic-
turesque building is represented in the Plate. A fine red
stone is the prevailing material that has been used in the
buildings of Mandoo.
There is something in the situation of this ancient city,
and a stately grandeur about its venerable ruins, and an
utter desolation spread over the whole surface of the place
on which it stood, and a rankness about the vegetation
and jungle that cover the site of this once immense and
magnificent capital, and a total relinquishing of the land
to the wild beasts of the earth—that renders Mandoo
a place of uncommon interest to the European traveller.
The stillness that prevails around the Palace which is repre-
Sented in this plate is solemn, and even melancholy to the
last degree; a deep gloom may be said, indeed, to have
2
THE WATER PALACE, MANDOO.
gathered over its gates, and it is hardly possible to conceive
a mind that would not be awe-struck with the depth of the
solitude that pervades the whole scene. Tigers haunt .the
ruins and jungles of Mandoo in great numbers ; and when
the writer of these notes left the place, after a residence of
three or four days in Hussein Shah’s Tomb, (with some
officers from the Mhow cantonments, in whose company he
was visiting these remarkable ruins,) the guide, who was con-
ducting the party to the Tarapoor ghaut, that leads down to
the valley of the Nerbudda, pointed out the way, and turned
back before the evening began to close, saying, that it was
more than his life was worth to be on the road at night-fall,
when the tigers began to prowl. For more than a century
prior to the military occupation of Malwa by the British
forces, Mandoo seems to have been abandoned to such
parties of Bheel robbers as occasionally sought shelter and
concealment in its halls and fastnesses. The latter have
been expelled ; but, as late as the year of our Lord 1820, the
only resident population consisted of a very few Hindoo
ascetics.
When Sir Thomas Rowe, in the reign of Charles the
First, was ambassador to the Emperor Jehangire, in the
train of that monarch, he visited Mandoo. At that period
it was in some measure inhabited, but the chief part of it
was then in a ruinous state; since then, its desolation has
been rendered quite complete; for it would be difficult to
imagine a more deserted condition, than the space that this
once famous city occupied, presents at this time to the eye of
the casual visitor. There isa scented grass that covers the
face of the country round about, that fills the air with fra-
grance, and from which an oil of the sweetest odour is
extracted. “th
About six miles to the north of Mandoo, are the ruins of
the town of Nalcha, standing upon the table land, a place at
which Sir John Malcolm resided for some time, when he
3
INDIA.
was Settling the affairs of Malwa, after the Mahrattas had
been subdued in the year 1818. At this time the town was
in some measure repeopled, and it was made the head-
quarters of a Bheel corps. There are still here the remains
of a mosque, of a palace, and of a noble artificial lake or
reservoir; and the surrounding landscape is quite luxuriant,
from the profusion of old mango and other trees, that are
still flourishing. The whole route from Nalcha to Mandoo
is covered with the ruins of mosques and other public build-
ings. Sir John Malcolm had built a bungaloh on the top of
a large square edifice in this place, and it made a very com-
fortable and wholesome dwelling-house.
Mandoo was formerly the capital of the Dhar rajahs,
subsequently of the Khillijee Patan, sovereigns of Malwa,
one of whom fixed here the seat of government about the
year 1404. It submitted to Akbar, in person, in 1561, when
Malwa ceased to be a separate kingdom. In 1582, Mandoo
is described, by Abul Fazel, as a city of prodigious extent,
twenty-two miles in circumference. The crown of the hill on
which the city has stood, is from 1500 to 2000 feet above the
vale of the Nerbudda, and the top of the ghaut, that descends
into the plain on the south side of the Mandoo mountain,
commands an extensive view of that well-cultivated tract
of land.
4
(hE at ie Ga ier eA Pein ds vind
Vera CNA aan ti
bts P Dig as Mie i rh , wa a
vi ray Bcvor fe ' i Bes
Ae Ay ee
q viv "
| Peel
ya? : ATER, Ua
‘ ei 7s A , so it |
ry (ah ae i pe Got ‘ ‘ (yer a.
+ a Aris vay
Jolla ' A) aT | ley rw z ¢) § | Arie wo r
: Nara inure pe + 4 », \
La ; i ry ; u ii ‘. a bw ty + kg f
Cee 0 CAE Sa aaa |
7 _ / i qvhi A ih ’
y Sahm i } i 4 ! . J
me vie | wy:
Due i YH
{ ri { ’ . ) gs
wie $4 4
Ps i a
< La : , 7 ‘
i ui | ‘ oF
ry ri, i 7 s ’ ‘ ’
rh +
A 4 ae K ; e.
LY , } ba ‘
fj yy
i SJ
ah 4 < ’
‘ if rh,
Vega ai ;
; =} ¥ \ See |
iy tat ad | 7A
in ane a, "l hath ak > .
at bd ae eR fhe
7 a pe L ius : ¢ a ir )
. as a P a oo
Bie? Po ne Wao aps :
® Pew ie abe) (ue phy i ’ 4
A m | : - a s 7 14 y ) r : ¥
‘te apts re or s y i * f
° © 6 Bana ieee igs ak . F . au heMay a4 on | : +7 ’
. a AS Ae 7 i- ) hy arial! if .
rs wT, © Ol ook } AL ly
I ae ;
q
>
TR,
ee ; Le a *
yh ace
ita Se ‘3
AP
wy
“QirsA
“() OD) ¢ \ i
Pot, args WIE st
Mm
*
Be
" hy
’ wee
ir 9 Ld y
Oc ae :
oe yt
s - a +
‘ 4
of i oa =
=e dx f
: i
]
Mi
pony miys'y *
~ F)
, t
a -
i
‘
¥
>} jr
s ‘ t sty
%,
i i
yo ; F
he ae TEE ee
4 VE Seka obs Tope ae
ee
je
JUMMA MUSJID—MANDOO.
Some account has already been given, relative to the situa-
tion of the once grand and celebrated, but now ruined and
deserted city of Mandoo; which, considering its former
magnificence and importance, viewing its commanding and
picturesque position, and reflecting upon its present wild
and desolate state, forms a place of as deep and serious
interest to the traveller, as any one of the ancient provincial
capitals of Hindoostan. In the Indian Gazetteer it is said,
“The luxuriance of the vegetation, and the mass of the
ruins on the mountain of Mandoo, and for miles around,
have a general resemblance to the site of Gour, the ancient
capital of Bengal; but Mandoo has a decided advantage
in the scale of its edifices, and still more in the natural
beauty of its landscape.”
Sir John Malcolm in his Memoir of Central India, gives
the following short notice of this city:—‘‘ Mandoo lies nearly
south-east, and at a distance of fifteen miles from Dhar,
and had been irregularly fortified, according to the Hindoo
accounts, by a prince of the name of Jye Singh Deo, but we
never find it mentioned as a capital, and though it was
before inhabited, we may refer its origin, as a place of any
importance, to Hoshung Shah, on whose death it became
the seat of government of his family.” Dhar was the first
capital founded by the Mahomedans in Malwa, on their
setting up an independent government under Dilawar Khan
1
INDIA.
Ghoree, who taking advantage of the confused state into
which India was thrown by the invasion of Timur, towards
the close of the fourteenth century, shook off the authority
of the sovereign of Delhi.
‘The site of Mandoo was very inviting. The space
chosen by Hoshung Shah, for his future capital, is thirty-
seven miles in circumference. It extends along the crest
of the Vindhya range, about eight miles, and is parted from
the table-land of Malwa, with which it is upon a level, by an
abrupt and rugged valley of unequal depth, but no where
less than two hundred feet, and generally from three to four
hundred yards in breadth. On the brink of this valley,
(which after rounding the city, descends in the form of wild
and rugged ravines to the lower country, both to the east
and west,) and on the summit of the ridge of the Vindhya
mountains, which form the southern face of Mandoo, a wall
of considerable height was built, which, added to the natural
strength of the ground, made it unassailable to any but a
regular attack; and this advantage, which gave security to
property, combined with the salubrity of the air, abundance
of water, and the rich nature of the ground that was
encircled within the limits of the new capital, caused it early
to attain a state of great prosperity.”
‘“‘ Hoshung Shah was succeeded by his son, a weak and
dissolute sovereign, who was dethroned by his minister,
Mahomed Khiljee, whose conduct, after he attained power,
redeemed the crime of usurpation. It was to this prince
that Mandoo owed its fame and splendour; and the magni-
ficent tomb over Hoshung Shah, and the college and palaces
that he built, give testimony of his respect for the memory of
his benefactor, and of a regard and consideration for his
subjects, that entitle him to that high reputation which
he has attained among the Mahomedan princes of India.
His reign, which lasted thirty-four years, appears, from
Ferishta’s account, to have been a scene of constant action.
‘)
oa
JUMMA MUSJID.
His life was passed in camp; but, with the exception of the
invasion of Malwa by Ahmed Shah, monarch of Guzerat, the
operations of Mahomed Khiljee were beyond the limits of his
own kingdom, the subjects of which enjoyed a prosperity
and repose proportioned to the activity and energy of their
warlike prince. Though living almost always in the field,
his taste and magnificence adorned and enriched every part
of his territories; and, besides the monuments of his splen-
dour which have been already noticed, there are ruins of
many palaces, built by him, at Nalcha, a town beautifully
situated six miles north of Mandoo, on the verge of the rich
open country which here approaches those mountains and
great ravines, by which the site of that capital has been
described as bounded and defended.” As a proof of the
riches and magnificence of the city of Mandoo, it is mentioned
in the same history from which these quotations have been
made, that, at the coronation of the grandson of the last
monarch spoken of, seven hundred elephants, in velvet
housings, walked in the procession through the streets of
this city. It is seldom that any other animal but the tiger,
is now seen to be passing over the same ground.
“The Mahomedan monarchs of Malwa attained, at one
period, a very considerable degree of power. From their
coins, of which there are numbers to be obtained, they appear
to have assumed all those proud and pompous titles which
it is the usage of Mahomedan princes to do. It is not easy,
at so remote a period, to judge with accuracy even the
general character of their government; but the magnificent
ruins of Mandoo, and the numerous remains of towns and
villages, on spots now desolate, prove that this province
must, under their sway, have attained very great prosperity.
There is one fact, however, certain, that they never com-
pletely subdued the Rajpoot princes, and petty chiefs in
their vicinity, and, indeed, within the precincts of their
kingdom. The boldest and the wisest of the princes of this
3
INDIA.
race, seem to have pursued the policy of the emperors of
Delhi, in regard to these brave Hindoos—to have been con-
tent with nominal submission, a moderate tribute, and occa-
sional military service. This is proved from the condition in
which the Rajpoot chiefs appeared, whenever invited or
provoked to opposition, by the weakness or wickedness of
their Mahomedan superiors.”—In the year 1567, Malwa was
annihilated as a separate kingdom, by the invasion of the
Moguls, under the great and famous Akbar ; and it remained
from that time as a province of Delhi, subject to the same
changes and revolutions that affected the other divisions
of the empire, till it was conquered by the Mahrattas.
The Building represented in the Plate was the principal
mosque of the city, and it is said to be the finest and largest
Specimen of the Afghan mosque, to be seen in any part
of India. The ruinous state that it is in, may be readily
observed from the drawing; also the dilapidated condition
of the fine sort of piazza which was attached to it, with the
small round cupolas that denote the peculiar style of its
architecture. A rank vegetation, and a kind of grass jungle
surrounds this, and the other ruins of this city, giving shelter
to the most ferocious of all the wild beasts of the earth; so
that a residence there for even a few days, especially for the
purpose of exploring the remains of mosques and palaces,
may be considered in some degree a service of enterprise and
danger. Sir John Malcolm, when he fitted up an old palace
at Nalcha for himself, had not only to clear away the rubbish,
but to dislodge a tigress with her cubs.
4
_ UNIVERSITY OF iuunots
‘it It
(QO) JER Ne
eT A ny i
»
pom:
mr -_
ares ;
x & v *
iar oe 2B teeity
, é x af ‘a ey
| prance wen Cr) Fe fat»
ath oe ts, )}.
Ruder: Ra oie
2 ae ee
aa RK ee on aticias!
f gee omeit: a eee |
Fiat Ge ay: é
KING’S FORT, BOORHANPORE.
BoorHANPORE is the ancient capital of the province of
Candeish, which forms one of the northern divisions of the
Deccan. It is a large and populous city, situated in latitude
21° 19’ N. and longitude 76° 18’ E. on the north bank of the
Taptee river, which rises in the province of Gundwana, and
runs to the westward almost parallel to the Nerbuddah, fall-
ing into the gulf of Cambay at Surat. The Taptee is fordable
at Boorhanpore in the dry season, during which time it runs
in a clear and beautiful stream, winding considerably as it
passes through a country which produces much of the cotton
that is exported from Bombay. The venerable ruins of what
is called the King’s Fort, represented in the plate, stand
over the river on rather a high bank, presenting the appear-
ance of a building of great solidity and strength, now only
remarkable, says the Indian Gazetteer, “ for the great space
of ground it covers, the shapeless masses of broken masonry,
and the court-yards choked up with weeds and rank vegeta-
tion.” These high and massive walls have grown gray with
age, and have assumed that peculiar degree of picturesque-
ness which time invariably bestows upon buildings of this
description.
Candeish, is upon the whole, a wild and jungly country,
and is described as swarming with tigers. Still there are
parts of it that are remarkably fertile, being watered by
copious streams, on which expensive embankments have been
1
INDIA.
constructed. This is one of the original Mahratta provinces,
and so remarkably strong, by art and nature, that formerly
twenty fortresses could be counted in sight, within one day’s
march. arly in the fifteenth century, Candeish was
governed by independent sovereigns, claiming descent from
the Kaliff Omar, and resident at Asseerghur, a strong hill-
fortress, about twelve miles north-north-east from Boorhan-
pore; but towards the close of that century it was completely
subdued, and annexed to the Mogul empire. In recent times,
and more especially when the Mahratta power began to totter,
the greater part of Candeish had been usurped by Arab
colonists, who in fact, without any premeditated scheme, were
in a fair way of becoming paramount in Hindoostan, having
already all the petty chiefs, whom they served as mercenaries,
more or less under their domination.
The account of the inhabitants of this country is not very
favourable. ‘The Bheels (a predatory people) and Gonds
almost universally inhabit the interior, where they cultivate
little, being naturally averse to agriculture, and addicted to
hunting and rapine; the Coolies are found mostly, but not
exclusively, on or near the sea-coast, as fishers and pirates,
but, on the whole, more civilized than the two other tribes.
Their common points of resemblance seem to be an aversion
to regular industry, and a proneness to thieving and robbery,
in which they are so expert, that they were formerly employed
by the native chiefs to desolate the lands of their adversaries.
In religion they are said to be Hindoos of the Braminical
persuasion—yet they bury their dead, a marked distinction ;
and, in feeding, are addicted to many impure practices, for
they eat beef and pork, and drink spirits of every description.
Near Adjunteh, and among the Sautpoora range, are many
converted Mahomedan Bheels, who know little of their new
religion beyond its name. Their language does not differ
essentially from the rude dialects used by the peasantry of
the surrounding country.”
2
KING’S FORT, BOORHANPORE.
‘ Boorhanpore is one of the largest and best-built cities
in the Deccan ; most of the houses being formed of brick, and
many of them three stories high, with neat facades, framed
in wood, as at Oojein, and universally roofed with tiles. The
handsomest portions of Boorhanpore are the market-place, a
square of considerable extent, and a street called the Raj
Bazar; but there are many other wide and regular streets,
paved with stone. The vicinity of this city for some distance
is strewed with the ruins of Mahomedan tombs and mosques;
yet the city, taken as a whole, is remarkably devoid of archi-
tectural interest. Almost the only public edifice worthy of
observation is the Jumma Musjid, a fine pile of masonry,
constructed of gray stone, in a style peculiar to this quarter of
India, with an extended facade supported on low arches;
two handsome octagonal minars, with a grand terrace and
reservoir in front, but destitute of cupolas, which form the
distinctive feature of the mosque in almost every other part
of Hindoostan.”
‘“‘ Boorhanpore is abundantly supplied with water, brought
from a distance of four miles by aqueducts, and distributed
through every street, the stream being conveyed at a certain
depth below the pavement, and the water drawn up through
apertures by means of leather buckets, attached to a windlass.
This town is the head-quarters of a singular sect of Maho-
medans named Bohrah, whose mullah or chief-priest resides
at Surat. They distinguish their own sect by the name of
Ishmaeliah, deriving their origin from one of the followers of
Mahomet, who flourished in the age succeeding that of the
prophet, from whose native country (Arabia) they assert they
originally came, by way of Guzerat. The Bohrahs are the
great merchants in this quarter of Hindoostan, as the Parsees
are at Bombay, and here occupy about five hundred of the
best houses, being the most wealthy of the commercial class.
They are of a goodly exterior, with Arab physiognomies, and.
wear a sort of Arabian costume. They have a small mosque,
INDIA.
about two miles from the city, with extensive cemeteries
adjoining, crowded with tombs.”
The country of Candeish appears to have suffered greatly
in common with other parts of the Deccan, during the latter
times of the Mahratta ascendancy in India; and even now
that it has become a British collectorate, it may be long
before it recovers from the devastation of Holkar’s troops in
1802-3, and the subsequent famine in 1803-4; the Peshwa’s
destructive farming system ; the incursions of the Pindarries ;
and the ravages of the Bheels. Many aqueducts and dams,
constructed for the purposes of irrigation, are lying unused
and neglected. And a proof of the desolate state of the
land is found in the abundance of tigers, that haunt the
jungles and ruined villages of Candeish.
4
iy: a ;
a
ia ne id, ;
" i He Ae
ek hae Me é 7 Lona : i f
- te
il
AURUNGZEBE’S TOMB, ROZAH.
TuHE small town of Rozah is situated about fourteen miles
from the city of Aurungabad, and stands near the brow of the
tabular mountain, on the side of which, the caves of Ellora
are excavated. The town is surrounded by a well-built stone
wall, and there have been some rather fine buildings of the
same material in the interior, but they have already gone, or
are fast going, into decay.
Besides the tombs that are contained within the walls of
the town, there are several large Mahomedan shrines without,
occupying a situation more immediately above the caves,
than the position in which the town itself is built. Captain
Canning, who was the British resident at Aurungabad, in the
year 1823, when the writer of these notes visited that country,
had fitted up one of these tombs as a dwelling-house for him-
self, to retire to during the hot season; and he had converted
a dreary mansion of the dead, into a convenient and pleasant
habitation for the living. The writer was staying for some
weeks alone in this tomb; and there were circumstances in
his situation peculiar enough to render it one of great interest,
and to impress the recollection of it very strongly upon his
mind. The proximity of the ancient and mysterious excava-
tions of Ellora; the solemn beauty of the surrounding scenery ;
the air of sacredness that was thrown around the whole spot ;
the sense of his being an utter stranger in the land, unable to
hold converse with any one; even the awful sound that the
wind used to make in passing through the large and domed
apartment that he occupied, served at times, especially in the
night season, to create a deep and serious feeling in the mind,
that may be more readily imagined than described.
The building represented in the plate stands in the town,
and contains the ashes of the Emperor Aurungzebe, and,
likewise, those of one of his sons; it holds, also, the remains
1
INDIA.
of a celebrated Mahomedan saint, called Seid Zin ul Abdeen.
It was, probably, the supposed sanctity of the spot, that
caused Aurungzebe to choose it as the place of his inter-
ment; and most likely the simple austerity of the character
that he either affected, or really possessed, prevented his
preparing a sepulchre for himself, as it was not unusual with
the rulers of Hindoostan to raise and garnish tombs for
themselves. The Mahomedan sway began to decline from
the time of Aurungzebe, and his successors might have had,
neither the disposition nor the power to raise over his remains,
that kind of magnificent and beautiful pile, which distinguishes
the burying-place of so many of the Mahomedan kings, and
nobles of Hindoostan.
Aurungzebe, who was the successful candidate after a long,
terrible, and eventful struggle with his three brothers, for the
kingdom of his father, Shah-Jehan, mounted the throne about
the year of our Lord, 1658, near the close of the fortieth year of
his age. The following remarks on the character of this great
prince, are extracted from Col. Dow’s History of Hindoostan,
translated from the Persian, and there is certainly much, both
in his habits, manners, policy, and mode of ruling, that might
be considered not unworthy the imitation of even Christian
potentates :—
‘«« Aurungzebe, while yet but twelve years of age, stood
constantly near the throne (of his father, Shah-Jehan ;) and
he made remarks with uncommon sagacity upon the merits
of the causes which were agitated before his father. The
emperor seemed highly delighted at the abilities, which, at
a future time, ruined his own power. When in his early
youth, appointed to the government of a province, he
exhibited upon every occasion an utter aversion to flatterers:
he admitted not into his presence men of dissolute manners ;
the first, he said, insulted his judgment; the latter, dis-
graced him as the guardian of the morality, as well as
of the property, of his people. His dress was always
2
AURUNGZEBE’S TOMB, ROZAH.
plain and simple. He wore upon festival days only
cloth of gold adorned with jewels. When he rose in
the morning, he plunged into the bath, and then retired
for a short time to prayers. Religion suited the serious turn
of his mind; from his youth he never stirred abroad on
Friday ; and did he happen to be in the field, or on a hunting
party, he suspended all business, and diversions, on that day.
Zealous for the faith of Mahomet, he rewarded proselytes
with a liberal hand, though he did not choose to persecute
those of different persuasions in matters of religion.”
‘“‘He carried his austerity and regard for morality into the
throne. He made strict laws against vices of every kind.
In the administration of justice, he was indefatigable, vigi-
lant, and exact. Capital punishments were almost unknown
under Aurungzebe. The adherents of his brothers, who con-
tended with him for the empire, were. freely pardoned when
they laid down their arms: mild and moderate through
policy, he seemed to forget, that they had not been always
his friends. His long experience in business, together with
the acuteness, and retentiveness of his mind, rendered him
master even of the details of the affairs of the empire. He
remembered the rents, and was thoroughly acquainted with
the usages, of every particular district. The governors of
provinces, and collectors, when he examined them on the
state of their respective departments, were afraid of misre-
presentation or ignorance. His public buildings partook of
the temper of his own mind; they were rather useful than
splendid. At every stage, from Cabul to Aurungabad, from
Guzerat to Bengal, he erected houses for the accommodation
of travellers; bridges were built on the small rivers, and
boats furnished for passing the large.”
‘In all the principal cities of India, the emperor founded
universities ; in every inferior town, he established schools.
He called the learned men to court; those that were versed
in the commentaries on the Koran, were raised to the dignity
oF
INDIA.
99
of judges in the different courts of justice.” There is no such
thing in a Christian land, as the raising of a judge to the
bench, on account of his knowledge of the Scriptures.
‘“‘ Aurungzebe was as experienced in war, as he was in
the arts of peace. Though his personal courage was almost
unparalleled, he always endeavoured to conquer more by
stratagem than force. Such was his coolness in action, that,
at the rising and the setting sun, the times appointed for
prayer, he never neglected to attend to that duty, though in
the midst of battle; he never engaged in any enterprise
without prayer; and for every victory, he ordered a day of
thanksgiving, and one of festivity and joy. In the art of
writing, Aurungzebe excelled in an eminent degree. He was
versed in the Persian and Arabic; he wrote the language of
his ancestors the Moguls, and all the various dialects of
India. In his diction he was concise and nervous; and he
reduced all despatches to a brevity and precision, which pre-
vented all misconstruction and perplexity. Though he
entertained many women, according to the custom of his
country, it was only for state. He contented himself with
his lawful wives, and these only in succession ; when one
either died or became old. He spent very little time in the
apartments of his women. He rose every morning at the
dawn of day, and went into the bathing chamber, that com-
municated with a private chapel, to which he retired for half
an hour to prayers.”
Such is the character that historians have bestowed upon
this powerful and assiduous monarch, who, though he appears
to have used arts, stratagems, deceits, and it might be said
treachery, in his way to the throne, yet when he had reached
the summit of his ambition, he seems to have laid them all
aside ; and he has certainly left behind him a rare example
of prudence, moderation, and righteousness in the exercise of
sovereign power, that it might benefit every crowned head, to
consider, and to imitate.
4
Sencar: eee
; ‘ci ta aes emeaaae ae ae oe
aha Ge eae Pe AO ROIS
Bi ay Ree
es < ie Bie Svea 3 aa. 774 Pat ‘ahuaven ola be
cob WAL? rio are ed BQ ne WS, Seay 8 et a CH 2 oe is : oe ;
pga: aia aaa. i, Diba PReTreR SOUS Re) ee Aca re ee ee
- ES,
; +. o F 4 ie
oat Aomigarege oe OR. BENE bles KARNES Pee
Sepia - 2 eB rik ts nes bri.
a Aer ca igo x ‘+ Pct %:, ies ae cK " a | ; ms :
pegs bls watarani a coe sic, i rib hy
a . 4 4 ? + ;
2 a aati: heal aa itr A -Rithehe Mla THATS 4 OT ‘ d ‘
ae * of ;
‘ — é ‘ y |
i me ; . r i
ao, : : ” +s
ae o> se é
«/
ay e
af ‘ Tian, ‘ 7 ye
hate | a 4 = .
, . .
sy) B2A * J 4
; : ‘ 2
by Soi nn pperssey? OFF Sale. om ne f
. ae Ae .
; re tg 8 is 4
Sade sit sath ae DES 2ST
oes guia aly, yarbuad ti besgres eis Sete aE “atin wd ‘ fod i
mati ig salen, id Ge ny W ae woged Graerie wv fo Ow ere
$3! is i 3 Fat 7 /
“
he west nb pegidest 3
*; — Lo ¢ ,
eas KS Se — Syst Greets d ‘ mae wy)
‘*
vd ees Date I wat AF SEE TARA
' ; ‘ t Pues
pricreae: Bid Ae Skates pO ta
. : pes
teeing
hess
re
SH
)
‘e,
ee
Cees
:
Gees
Pe)
LON See ee es Os
ia
:
Ne ~
oe
*,
oe ak
>,
anes
eee
us
oo
whe
os
SB
Sa
<
tire
Heceict
ryt aCe stony
Sepee state ee
EE Fy at SOR Mt ote
air Pores) x
Aig
a
ay
os
¥ te
Det y
a
OG
tithe
ea statis
sig
te
¢
rie
+ y oi
6
wy
eet
Reotaratntat)
DAO
v
aoayhitie
ieee
DSP:
ais
Cx See
aS
ty.
Sehstchsht 9)
anes
os
Ay
cisatstite
ities
ek
hes
oe
eee
ne
as
ese
age
Sees
~
7?)
We
a
~
ee
ig er eh
hes
>
ad
aoe
ay,
PP aks
oy ,
Ava,
‘f
Yi
“e
io
ret
”
eat
or)
A
t
e
at
a
4
,
*
«
4
“
4
‘
NIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-UR
3 0112 077847991
roe
il
canine ype Se aK Sn re
eatg hte oot
7
ee
ae
WSs sss et