The Washington herald., 1911-01-22
NEWS ANDNGOSSIP
OF OTHER LANDS

|
Moslem university AT Alighar. compar-
able to those at Paris. Berlin. or Ok
| ford. to make that city the intellectual
| capital to which the Moslems of the
world would turn for light and leading.
The Aga himself has promised to con
| tribute a lakh of rupees to further the
| project
The coronation durbar at Delhi Occu-
pies the minds of official India now 20
The exclusion of politics. Sir John Hew-
III, VINO has been appointed chairman
OF the durbar committee. for an Anglo
! Indian civilian. is somewhat of per
soma grata with King George. whose
| guest he was at Balmoral last autumn.
His rlanagemC of the durbar is sure
I" b" Il complete success. He has the
! ways of the 'Sirdar at his fingers ends
and his popularity in England as well as
east of SueZ to IA great degree is due
to Lord LanSdown". whose private sec
retary he was at Calcutta nearly twenty
fiVe years ago. Sir John is keen sh-
kari and devOtee of the willow
AS to the durbar for 1872, there can
he no doubt that it and the proposed
visit of King George to India cmanatc
he considered as an outcome of the
Oriental fancy of Semitic prime min
ister," as the one in honor of Queen
Victoria was said to he, who on that
| occasion was proclaimed Empress of In
dia by her viceroy, Lord Iytton.
But there will he vast difference in
the attendance of the coming royal dur
bar and the one in 1877. when the native
princes of the day for most part were
feeble old fellows. who could not speak
a word of English.
The "graybeards'' have gone. and the
three premier princes who are to enter
! the dubar first under royal salute are
men younger than King George. Sir
Mahbut Ali Khan FNutch Jung. the great
Moslem ruler Of the Io.0tG,O 600 people of
! Hyderabad is a vigorous young soldier
of only thirty four. and well educated in
, English. The Mahara jah of Mysore. who
ranks next (Sir krishnarajah Wadiyar
Bahadur. who was invested with fun rul-
ing powers by Lord Curzon in 1907 and
who attended the durbar in 1892. rules
over 100000 people of the Hindoo race
and is but twenty-siX years old and the
Gaekwar of Baroda. Sir Shomdetch &C,
Rah. to whom and his land / devoted a
column on tn" occasion Of his visit to
this country last year, is forty. educated
in England and Germany. is the sovereign
over some 100000 inhabitants. and the
author Of several English books Of in
terest. He can WELD the modern sword
aS well as the pen. Sndhia. the Maha-
rajah of Gwalor. is thirty-four years old.
ah honorary colonel in the British army.
and has fought with the British troops in
China under Gen. GaZelee. providing that
expedition with a hospital ship at his
own expense. He il was who at a ban
0uet in Calcutta drew his sword and
pledged both his life and his kingdom to
the service of the Queen Empress in the
Boer war
In 1877 Shere Ali Khan. the Ameer Of
kabul. refused to attend the durbar but
now Habeeb lila Khan. who in his per-
son represents five centuries of Moslem
rule in India. from the days of Mahmud
of Ghanzi will take first place among
the native royalties who will do homage
to the British King. There is only one
woman ruler in the Moslem world. the
Begun of Rhopal. She already has mott
fed Queen Mary that she will be present
The vernaCular papers OF the Punjab
are full OF suggestions for the durbar
Although Delhi seems to have been Off
cially selected. a writer in a Hyderabad
paper proposes Agra where the great
Akhbar reigned when Elizabeth was
Queen of England. On the other hand.
some of the Christian vernacular papers
strongly urge that the coronation cere-
VI
in St. Paul's Cathedral at Calcutta To
this there is a sarcastic reply in "A Pun
jab paper that. As the Grand Llama Of
Tibet is now in British India. his holi-
ness should he invited to the sacred
city of Bcnares to crown the King One
correspondent seriously proposes that
the coronation ceremony take place
within the walls of the great mosque
at Delhi. and that the King he seated
on the peacock throne of the Grand
MoEul.
The Sikhs of the Punjab. always loyal.
are selected as the bodyeuard of the
British King. but generously they have
requested that the brave little Cur
khas' shall have the honor. Col Sirdar
Muhammad Asian Khan. an Afghan
noble of great distinction. and now a
very aged man. will be the Kings spe-
cial protector both night and day.
Lord Hardinge. the new viceroy who
succeeded Lord Mimic in India, has a
pretty laboriouS task before him. AL
ready the heights of Delhi" well
known from the days of the Indian mu-
tiny. are being swept and garnished for
the great event two years hence Queen
Mary insists that the royal visit should
be made an extensive pleasure trip, but
to that a number of English papers OBJ
ject strenuously. saying that the King
and Queen should not be needlessly ex-
posed to the treacherous Indian climate
(only the climateD longer than absolute
ly necessary.
The Indian durbars chiefly are cele-
brated because on these occasions the
native princes vie with each other in
their display of diamonds. But even in
this respect the Emperor-King will now
take pre-eminence with his Star of Az
rica and the Koh-i-noor Of Kabui Run
lit Singh. ''the Lion OF the Punjab,'' took
this gem from the King Of kabul but
Lord Hardinge, an ancestor Of the pres
ent viceroy, took it from Runjit.
King George of England has added
another to his numerous reforms. all Of
which go to show his innate modesty
and that wearing a crown has not
.'swelled'' his head. His majesty has or