PREFACE.

COMING to India as simple travellers, we were able to go wherever fancy led us—so that, at the expiration of nearly three years, we have perhaps seen much more of that country than many who have passed half their lives there. A friend in England seemed pleased with some letters I wrote to him, giving descriptions of places we had visited; and thus arose the idea of a continued series of papers, which I thought might possibly interest other friends at home at some future period. The idea of publication was an after-thought; and this must be my excuse for the almost colloquial style in which they are written. Those who know me will, I trust, excuse the many imperfections incidental to a first attempt at coming before the public; and I crave the indulgence of strangers also for the same reason. I am much indebted to various friends in India for the loan of some rare and valuable books; also of departmental works belonging to their offices, by means of which I have obtained information on many subjects of interest.

VI

PREFACE.

Amongst the former may be classed Ferishta's 'History
of Hindostán,' translated by Dow, from the original
Persian, more than one hundred years ago; and the
travels of Fa Hiang and Hionen Thsang, the Chinese
pilgrims, who visited India, the former in the fifth,
and the latter in the seventh, century of our era.
Other works I have also consulted and compared with
each other, as opportunity occurred; but many months
spent in camp, with, at times, an almost daily removal
to a fresh spot, has prevented much study for want
of the necessary time and materials. I only wish I
could insure my friends as much pleasure in reading
our travels as I have felt in writing about them.

H. G. M. M. A.

KULU VALLEY, Oct. 4, 1878.

viii

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

Preparing for camp life in Kashmir—Srinagar—Boats used in navi-
gating the river Jelum—The races which people Kashmir—
Liddar valley—Snowstorm in May—Lovely vegetation—Ancient
temples at Martund and Avantipore—Gulmurg—Our log huts—
Return to Srinagar—Dal Lake—Its floating islands—Gardens and
palaces on its shores,

67

CHAPTER VI.

Starting for Ladakh—Sonamurg—Ascent of the Zoji-la Pass—Dras
—Native polo-playing—Namyika and Fot-la passes—Lama Yuru
—Chinese account of the origin of the Thibetans—Their religion
—Exclusion of Europeans from Chinese Thibet.—Visit to Lama
Serai, or monastery at Lama Yuru—Description of a religious
service heard there—Nature of country between Lama Yuru and
Leh,

84

CHAPTER VII.

Leh—The dress of the inhabitants—Festival of the Lasera—Review
of troops—Native dances—Lama religious dances—Visit to the
Ranees—How tea is made in Thibet—Funeral rites—Buddha and
his early history—Return to Srinagar—*Détour* to the temples at
Wangat in the Sind valley—Temple at Pandrethan, near Srinagar
—Leave Kashmir by Banihal Pass—Sialkote—Proclamation cere-
monies at Delhi,

96

CHAPTER VIII.

Belgaum — Sketch of the history of the Dekhan, and rise of the Mahratta empire—Sevaji—His bold incursions—Country round Belgaum — Its climate—Old Jaina temples in fort — 'Idgah at Kurar—Old fort at Sattara—Buddhist cave-temples at Carlee,

113

CHAPTER IX.

A Hindú women's festival at Sangor—Famine immigrants—Food of people in that district—Ghazipore—Opium factory—Tobacco cultivation and manufacture—Afghan population at Lumaneah—Buddhist remains at Sydpore—*Lát* at Bithri,

130

CHAPTER X.

Benares—Hionen Thsang, the Chinese pilgrim, visited Sannath—
Stupa there—Renains of supposed Buddhist buildings near the
Bakariya Kund at Benares,

140

CONTENTS,

11

CHAPTER XI.

Modern Benares—Particulars of a conversation with a learned Hindú
Pundit—Pooja, or certain forms of Hindú worship as practised at
Benares—Descriptions of various temples in that city—Curious
statements taken down from the mouth of a high-caste Brahmin,

152

CHAPTER XII.

Commissioner's durbar at Benares—March to Jounpore—Interesting
mosques at that place,

168

CHAPTER XIII.

Allahabad — Its fort — Miraculous tree in ancient temple — Lāt of
Asoka—Second visit to Agra—My husband's impressions of Taj
—Futtehpore Sikri,

177

CHAPTER XIV.

Muttra—Ancient Buddhist statues found there—Distress amongst
the native population—Old and modern temples at Bindrabun
—Goverdhun—Temple of Hari Deva—Deeg—Bhurtpore,

191

CHAPTER XV.

Jeypore — Amber the old capital of that state—Ajmere — Mayo
College for native chiefs—Mosque said to have been built in
two days and a half—Mohammedan mosque—Its rich foundation
—Ulwar—Hindú reverence for the peepal-tree—Rajah's palace
at Ulwar,

206

CHAPTER XVI.

Third visit to Delhi—Description of various tombs in the neighbour-
hood Patent emperors of Delhi—Kutb Minar—Iron lát, or pillar
—Toghlak dynasty—The city of Toghlakabad—S.P.G. mission
work in Delhi,

218

CHAPTER XVII.

Meerut—Red-Sandstone tomb there—Sikh festival of the New Year
at Amritsar—Baptism of Sikhs—Requirements of their religion
—Origin of city at Amritsar—Golden Temple—Hindú festival of
the diwali,

245

X

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Kashmir closed to travellers—Consequent change of plans—Dalhousie
—Chumba—Visit to native ladies—Dharmsala—Old temples at
Bijnath and Harra-bagh—Native states of Mundi, Sukét, Bilaspore, and Erki—Singular mode of putting children to sleep—
Simla,

256

CHAPTER XIX.

March from Simla towards Kulu—Jalouri Pass—Old temple at Bajoura—Sultanpore—Visit to Ranee—Tea-cultivation in Kulu—Nugger, the old capital—Manāli, and curious wooden temple near Rotang Pass—Lahoul—Sheep and goats used as beasts of burden—German missionary establishment—Prophecy in Thibet respecting Queen Victoria—Showed up in tents at nearly 15,000 feet above the sea—Passes into Kashmir again closed—Return to Kulu,

275

CHAPTER XX.

The Solang valley—Annual fair at Sultanpore—Meeting of the gods of the various villages in Kulu—Parbuti valley—Novel mode of crossing a river—Hot springs at Manikern—Bubu Pass—Return to Kangra valley—Fort at Kangra—Juwala Muki—Its sacred fires—Singular aspect of country near Hoshiarpore — Native Christian missionary—Jullunder—Return to Lahore,

294

CHAPTER XXI.

Lucknow—Its sad associations—Residency—Sketch of the History of Oudh and its rulers—Buildings at Lucknow—Claude Martin, the French adventurer—Fyzabad—Two large tombs—Ajoudhya —Cawnpore,

305

CHAPTER XXII.

Cawnpore to Poona—Rock-hewn temples at Poona—Hyderabad in the Dekhan—Short historical sketch of the present reigning family—The native city—Its varied and turbulent population—A breakfast at Sir Salār Jung's—Conclusion,

316

OUR VISIT TO HINDOSTAN, KASHMIR,
AND LADAKH.

CHAPTER I.

ARRIVAL AT BOMBAY—THE PARSÍS—BOMBAY—ITS PUBLIC BUILDINGS—
SAUGOR—FESTIVAL OF THE MOHURRUM—AGRA—SLIGHT SKETCH OF
THE HISTORY OF THE MOGHUL EMPIRE IN INDIA FROM TAMERLANE TO
AURUNGZEBE.

HAVING for some years had a great desire to visit our
Indian possessions, at length one or two circumstances
combined made my husband and myself resolve to put
this long-cherished plan in execution; and, accordingly,
we left England early in October 1875, and after the
usual uneventful journey through France, embarked at
Genoa, in the Rubattino s.s. Arabia, on the 24th of that
month. We reached Bombay at an early hour on
18th November, and landed at once. On our way into
the harbour we passed close to the Serapis and the
Osborne, and the other vessels escorting the Prince of
Wales; this was all we saw of H.R.H., as that evening
he and his suite left Bombay to go down the coast.

The view of Bombay, as seen on entering the harbour,

A

2

THE PARSÍS.

is not very striking, for one of its great features, the
cocoa-nut palms, only appear a confused mass from
thence; but once landed, everything is so new to one
fresh from Europe, natives from all parts of Hindostán
being seen in their various distinctive costumes:
amongst these, however, the Parsís, with their quaint
head-gear, form by far the largest proportion.

The Parsís, including those of Yezd and Kirman in
Persia, number about 105,500 souls. Their numbers have
dwindled in an extraordinary manner; the cause has not
been ascertained. It is not that many converts have
been made from amongst them either to Christianity or
Mohammedanism, though many of the more enlight-
ened members seem deeply impressed with the excel-
lence of the Christian religion and our general civilisa-
tion; but some who have gone into the subject consider
that their rapid diminution is owing to their mode of
life, which is so sedentary: they occupy themselves
solely with desk-work, or become shopkeepers, and
never invest in land, or become cultivators of the soil.
I have been told, too, that they live almost entirely upon
farinaceous food, and use much oil and ghi (or clarified
butter) in their cooking; but, however this may be, I
have rarely, if ever, seen a muscular-looking Parsí, or
one with well-knit limbs. Both men and women have,
as a rule, a shuffling rolling gait, and badly-proportioned
figures.

In Western India the Parsís number about 100,000,
and are divided into two parties — Conservatives and
Liberals—who are both equally attached to the old faith,
but differ in their modes of life. The Conservatives
adhere to the good old mode of eating seated on the
floor, and use their fingers instead of knives and forks;

THEIR RELIGIOUS FAITH.

3

whilst the Liberals have adopted European customs and appliances.

According to the Parsís, the world is to last 12,000 years, which they divide into four periods. During the first 3000 years the world was created; during the second, man lived by himself without suffering from attacks of evil; during the third, war began between good and evil—between Ormuzd and Ahriman—and raged with the utmost ferocity; this will gradually abate during the fourth period, which must be completed before the final victory of good over evil. They say they do not *worship* fire, and much object to be called "fire-worshippers," but admit that they are taught from their youth to face some luminous object whilst praying to God, and that they look upon *fire*, as upon other natural phenomena, as an emblem of divine power, but never ask assistance or blessings from it.

The Parsís abstain from smoking, and will not blow out a candle if they can help it; thus they would appear to look upon fire with great reverence, much as we Christians regard the symbol of the Cross. All their prayers and services are in the old Zend language, which none understand, not even their priests. They have a most imperfect translation of the Zend Avesta, which was not made from the original, but from a Pehlvi paraphrase; they do not recognise this as an authorised version. Thus, owing to this repetition of the words of their sacred writings without any attempt at understanding their meaning, each one is left to pick up his religion as best he may. They believe in one God, and address their prayers to Him. A priest must be the son of a priest, but all priests' sons need not necessarily follow their father's profession.

4

BOMBAY.

There are possibly other reasons why they should be unwilling to change their faith; but the three given by Professor Max Müller seem at least plausible ones: 1st, The conciseness of their belief; 2d, The great anti-quity and former glory of their religion; 3d, The feeling that, in relinquishing this, they would be giving up the heirloom they have received from their remote ancestors and their own fathers, thus showing a want of filial piety to those whose memory they cherish as precious and sacred. They teach that morality consists of three things—pure thoughts, pure words, and pure deeds.

The European part of the town of Bombay contains some very fine public buildings, for the most part designed by an officer in the Royal Engineers; and these combine excellence of form and design with the necessary requirements of arrangement for a hot climate. One of the native quarters is most curious and interesting to a stranger—the fronts of most of the principal shops being carved in the style of the well-known Bombay black-wood furniture, and for the most part coloured in green, red, and yellow. Byculla is separated from Bombay by the Chinese quarter. The Celestials are the great workers in bamboo, and make chairs, couches, baskets, and boxes of this material.

The climate of Bombay is said to be at all times of the year hot and unpleasant; and even at that season we were glad to leave it after two or three days' stay, and started off up country by rail to Kureli, a distance of 550 miles, where we were met by relatives.

From this point began our first experience of Indian palanquin travelling, as our destination was Saugor, in the Central Provinces, distant about 75 miles from the railway, and possessing no regular service for the

FESTIVAL OF THE MOHURRUM.

5

conveyance of travellers to and fro. We went chiefly
by night, resting during the day. Each palanquin had
twelve bearers, or *kahars* as they are called, and an ad-
ditional man to act as torch-bearer, who ran alongside
all the way. Early in the morning of the second day
we reached our relations' house in Saugor, and saw the
mode of life pursued in an Indian station, which has
been so often described that it is unnecessary to detail
it here.

Our stay at Saugor was limited to about three
months, which enabled us to pick up a few words of the
language, and also in some degree to realise how vast
the country was which we had come to visit, and to
learn what inexhaustible subjects of interest it con-
tained, whether as regards its various peoples or its
ancient monuments and history.

During our stay in Saugor the Mohammedan festival
of the Mohurrum occurred. It is celebrated every year
in memory of the first alleged martyred Shiahs, Hassan
and Hussain, who were the sons of Ali the cousin, and
Fatima the daughter, of Mohammed. These men, after
the murder of their father Ali, moved from Kufah, the
capital, to Medina. Hassan, the elder, abdicated volun-
tarily, but was afterwards poisoned. After some years'
interval his brother Hussain was invited to return, the
government having been seized in the meanwhile by
Abi Safr, the first of the Omniades, and his son Yesid,
who succeeded him; but on Hussain's arrival he was
murdered, and his eldest son alone escaped of all his
retinue. The murder of these two brothers is the sub-
ject of the ten days' wailing.

The Mohurrum begins when the moon of the first
month becomes visible. Each family, according to

6

JUBBULPORE.

their means, makes or provides themselves with what is called a *tarboot*, or representation of their tombs, which is more or less ornamented. Some of the best we saw were covered with thin sheets of talc, sprinkled over with gold leaf, which gave them a brilliant and dazzling appearance. At the expiration of twelve days (though the fast lasts ten days only) these *tarboots* are all carried in procession through the bazaar; and if, as in the case at Saugor, there is a lake, or large piece of water, the *tarboots*, after being stripped of the best of their decorations, are carried out in a boat some little distance and cast into the water; or, where no water is at hand, a large pit is dug, we were told, in which they are placed, and then burned.

On 1st March 1876 we again set forth on our travels, accompanied by our nephew J., who was thenceforward our companion for some months; and in due course we visited Jubbulpore and its marble rocks, with which we were disappointed, as we had expected grander scenery; but on a second visit to them by moonlight, more than a year later, I much changed my opinion, and should probably have admired them much more the first time had my expectations not been too highly raised by previous descriptions of them.

We passed hurriedly through Allahabad (so I will reserve all description of that place till after our second visit), and went on to Agra. Before proceeding to give a description of the buildings at Agra, it will be necessary, in a short historical sketch, to trace the rise of the so-called Moghul dynasty in Hindostán.

The empire of Persia was governed by petty princes till Timur-Bec, commonly known as Tamerlane, obtained possession of the kingdoms of Zagatay, which compre-

RISE OF MOGHUL EMPIRE.

7

hended Transoxiana, and the provinces of Cabul, Zabulistán, and others towards the Indus. After conquering Northern Tartary, Timur turned his arms against Persia, and entered Khorassan seven years before the death of Feroze, the Patán Emperor of Hindostán. He completed the conquest of Persia in less than five years, and when Feroze died was employed in subduing the provinces on the Euphrates. Timur-Bec, hearing of the commotions and civil wars in India consequent on the death of Feroze, began his expedition into that country A.D. 1397.

During the eight previous years, Timur had extended his conquests all over Western Asia, reduced Northern Tartary, and spread his ravages into Siberia as far as the Arctic Circle. He now advanced southwards, plundering towns and villages, and massacring their inhabitants, burning what supplies of grain he found after reserving sufficient to feed his army. On reaching Delhi, he divided his forces; and himself, at the head of 700 men only, crossed the river to reconnoitre the citadel.

Mahmood III., the then King of Delhi, and his minister Eckbal, seeing such a small force opposed to them, issued forth with 5000 men and 27 elephants. Sillif, an omrah (or noble) of repute, led on the attack, was repulsed, and taken prisoner. Timur, having made the observations he intended, repassed the river and rejoined his army. He found that his generals and princes had taken upwards of 100,000 people captive, whom he caused to be put to death with great barbarity; and this act gained for him the name of *Hilluk Chan*, or the destroying prince. He shortly afterwards again forded the river with his whole army, and not encountering any opposition, Timur encamped on the plains of Feroze, near Delhi, gave battle to its

8

BABER.

king, Mahmood III., and Eckbal, routed them with great slaughter up to the very gates of Delhi, and there fixed his quarters.

Disturbances in Persia, and his ardent desire to extend his conquests to the extremities of Asia on the north and west, deterred Timur from making further progress in India, which he felt he could at any time reduce. On his return from Hindostán he settled the affairs of Persia, and reduced Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor. When planning the conquest of China he died A.D. 1405, on his march thither, and was succeeded by his son Sharoch.

Mahmood III. died A.D. 1413, and Delhi was ruled in succession by six different princes; under the last of whom, Ibrahim II., the country was invaded by Baber the Tartar, who overthrew Ibrahim in a battle at Pan-niput, and thus transferred the empire to the family of Tamerlane, Baber himself being the fourth in descent from Timur.

In A.D. 1531 Baber was succeeded by his son Humaion, whose tomb will be mentioned in the description of the monuments at Delhi. The kingdom during Humaion's reign was convulsed by insurrections, and in 1541 he was obliged to fly, being defeated by Shere Shah, a native of India, of Patán descent, the word Patán sig-nifying a highlander from beyond the Indus.

Shere's father had been governor of Jounpore. On the death of Shere in 1545, his eldest son, Adil, being absent, the government was usurped by the younger, named Jellal, generally known as Selim.

Selim dying in 1552, was succeeded by his son Feroze, a lad of 12. He had only reigned three days when he was assassinated by a nephew of the late

HUMAION.

9

Emperor Shere, who mounted the throne under the
name of Mahomed VI.

The following year the king's cousin and brother-
in-law raised an army, possessed himself of the city
of Delhi, mounted the throne, marched to Agra, and
reduced the adjoining provinces. Mahomed, finding
himself not strong enough to oppose him, fled towards
Chinar, and contented himself with retaining the eastern
provinces.

Humaion, since his deposition from the throne—viz.,
from the year 1544 to this period—had retired to Persia,
where Tamasp was the reigning emperor. His sister,
the Sultana Begum, favoured Humaion, and pleaded his
cause with Tamasp, who told her that if Humaion were
to become a Shiah, and enforce that doctrine in India,
he would assist him to recover his empire.

The Shiahs hold Ali to be the only successor to Mo-
hammed in his apostolic functions; but the Sunnis hold
that there were four, adding Osman, Omar, and Abu-
beker to Ali.

Humaion, accompanied by his son, the young Prince
Akbar, marched through Peshawur, caused the Patán
governor to evacuate the new fort of Rhotas, and
pursued the Patán troops as far as Lahore, from
whence they also retreated, and the king peaceably
entered it.

One final decisive battle was fought before Sirhind, in
which Humaion was victorious, and this finally decided
the fate of the empire, which for ever fell from the
Patáns; and thus Humaion found himself reinstated on
his throne after an interval of ten years.

A year later Humaion was killed by a fall, and in
1556 he was succeeded by his son, the afterwards

10

AKBAR.

renowned Akbar, who may be called a child of the desert, having been born on its confines in the year 1542.

Before he was a year old he became a captive in the hands of an uncle with whom his father was at war, and when a mere child was barbarously exposed on the ramparts of Cábul, when it was besieged, in order that the besiegers' cannon might kill him. After many hairbreadth escapes he was sent into the Punjaub in command of an army, at which time he could have been but a mere boy, as he was already in command when at the age of fourteen he lost his father.

He was at once proclaimed successor to the throne. He had very formidable enemies in Sikunder Sur, in the Punjaub, who tried to seize Delhi; in Mirza Soliman of Budukshan, who made a sudden irruption and seized Cábul; and also in the minister of the pretender Adil, who was advancing towards Agra.

His officers advised him to retreat in face of the superior force opposing him, but he resolved to risk an encounter, and fought a battle at Panniput, a place where the fate of India has more than once hung in the balance—Akbar's grandfather, as we have already seen, having gained an important victory there. Akbar then marched on to Delhi, and entered it without opposition. He erected buildings at Allahabad, Agra, Secunda, Futtehpore, Sikri, and Delhi.

Akbar had been bred up in all the strictness of the Mohammedan faith, but either with a design to choose his own religion, or perhaps from curiosity, he made it his business to inquire into most of the various systems of divinity. He caused himself to be instructed in Christian tenets by missionaries from Portugal, and was

JERANGIR.

11

anxious also to inquire into the Hindú religion, and
tried to conciliate them in many ways.

The Hindús, unlike any other religious sect, say that
every one can get to heaven in their own way, at the
same time maintaining that theirs is the most expedi-
tious method.

In the time of Akbar their Vedas, or sacred writings,
had not been translated from the Sanscrit; accordingly,
Akbar's secretary and great friend, Abul Fusl, the his-
torian, tried by a ruse to investigate the principles of
their faith, and sent his young brother Feizi, then a
mere boy, to Benares to the Brahmins, in the character
of a poor orphan of their tribe. This fraud was practised
upon a learned Brahmin, who received him into his
house, and brought him up as his own son.

When, after ten years of study, Feizi had perfected
himself in Sanscrit, Akbar took measures to ensure his
safe return. Feizi, it seems, on attaining manhood, had
fallen in love with the Brahmin's only daughter, and
her father, seeing the mutual affection of the young
pair, offered him his daughter in marriage. Feizi, per-
plexed between love and gratitude, discovered himself
to the old man, fell down at his feet, and with many
tears entreated his forgiveness for the deceit which he
had put upon him. The Brahmin did not reproach
him, but drew a dagger and prepared to stab himself;
but Feizi seized his hand and conjured him to say if he
could make any atonement for the fraud. The Brahmin
answered that he would forgive him, and consent to live,
if Feizi would grant him two requests—viz., that he
would never translate the Vedas, nor repeat the creed
of the Hindús.

Akbar died in 1605, and was succeeded by his son

12

NUR-MEHAL.

Jehangir, who erected a tomb to his father's memory at Secundra, near Agra, which will presently be described; but he made Lahore his chief capital, where his palace in the fort is still to be seen.

Jehangir's name has principally come down to us in connection with his wife, the celebrated Nur-Mehal, whose romantic early history is worth relating. About twenty years before the accession of Jehangir, her father, Chiaja Aiass (or Ghias-od-deen, as he is sometimes called), a native of Western Tartary, started from thence for India. He belonged to a noble family fallen into decay, and his wife was as poor as himself. His whole wealth was one sorry steed on which she rode; but she could at that time ill endure any fatigue.

For some time they subsisted on charity; to return to their own country was misery, to advance destruction. To complete their distress, a daughter was born to them. The mother was too weak to hold the child in her arms, and the father was exhausted with fatigue and privations. They saw no alternative but to expose the child on the highway, so they placed her under a tree and went on their way, but had only proceeded a short distance when the mother could no longer contain herself, and cried out to bring her the child. Chiaja Aiass returned to the spot to fetch it, and, some say, found a black snake coiled round the infant; but when he called out the serpent retired, and he took the child up unharmed, and proceeded, by slow marches, to Lahore, where Akbar at that time held his court.

One of the chief omrahs (or nobles) being a relation of Chiaja Aiass, he protected him, and in course of time this poor adventurer rose to be Master of the Household, and his daughter received the name of Mher-ul-Nissa, or the

SHERE AFKUN AND THE TIGER.

13

Sun of Women; but on her marriage with Jehangir her name was changed to Nur-Mehal, or the Light of the Seraglio. In beauty she excelled all, and had no equal in the accomplishments of music, painting, and dancing.

Jehangir (who, till he became emperor, was called Prince Selim) paid a visit to her father, and she, aspiring to the conquest of the prince, showed off all her acquirements, and he was captivated by her charms. This syren, however, had been already betrothed to Shere Afkun, a Turcoman nobleman, whose wife she became; and when Selim ascended the throne and moved to Delhi, his great desire was to remove this man out of the way, and he tried and adopted all sorts of expedients to accomplish this.

Sometimes Shere Afkun himself seems to have tempted fate, for on one occasion, when a tiger had been heard of in the forest of Nidarbani, the emperor went out, and with his principal officers surrounded the ground for many miles. When at length the tiger was roused, Shere Afkun, to show his prowess, begged to be allowed to attack the beast unarmed, which he did, and prevailed, though himself mangled with wounds. He is said to have applied for permission to do so in the following words: "I think it a shame so many hundreds of armed men should be set to attack a tiger; I would, therefore, like to meet him in fair fight without arms. To attack an animal with weapons is both unmanly and unfair: God has given limbs and sinews to men as well as to tigers, and he has given reason to the former to aid his strength."

He then, in accordance with the emperor's commands, presented himself at Court, where a snare, however, had been prepared for him, as Jehangir had given orders to

14

THE LIGHT OF THE SERAGLIO.

the driver of one of his largest and fiercest elephants to waylay him the next time he came, and tread him to death. The occasion thus arrived, the elephant met him in a narrow spot; he had just time to rise from his palanquin, draw a short dagger, and cut off the elephant's trunk. The animal roared, turned from him, and expired.

Another time his life was attempted by assassins, who got at night into his house, but he attacked and dispersed them. He then retired to Burdwan, where he hoped to live in obscurity with his beloved one, but the *suba* (or Governor) of Bengal had received orders to kill him. On some purported insult from the pikemen of the *suba*, Shere Afkun set upon him as he was mounted upon his elephant, and cut him in two. Shere was now thoroughly roused, and dealt his blows around; but at length some of the officers of the *suba* formed a circle round him, and began to gall him with arrows; his horse was shot under him, and seeing plainly his approaching fate he turned towards Mecca, and threw some dust on his head instead of water for his ablutions. Six balls entered his body before he fell.

His widow, Mher-ul-Nissa, was then sent with all care and respect to Delhi. She was fired with ambition to become the emperor's favourite sultana. Jehangir at first refused to see her,—as some say, stricken with remorse, or else being in much grief on account of the death of his friend the *suba*.

Mher-ul-Nissa, ill brooking such neglect, gave herself up to apparent grief for the death of her husband, but still trusted that her beauty would in time cause the renewal of the emperor's former affection for her—a very small pittance only being allowed her for her maintenance. To augment this, she worked pieces of

SHAH JEHAN.

15

tapestry and embroidery, and made paintings on silk; these being so exquisite were bought up with great avidity, and she thus accumulated a large sum of money, and clothed her slaves with great magnificence, whilst she herself affected a plain and simple mode of dress.

She remained thus four years in retirement, when at length Jehangir's resolution to avoid her presence being vanquished by his curiosity, he determined to see for himself the truth of all he had heard, and sought an interview with her. His first glance caused all his former love to return, and the emperor, remarking the splendour of the dress of the slaves, and the rigid simplicity of their mistress's dress, inquired the reason; when the lady replied, that she *liked* to see her slaves richly attired, but that his Majesty was clearly of a different opinion, or the pension which he had presented to her, the humblest of his slaves, would have been a larger one. The emperor, charmed both with her wit and beauty, married her immediately, and gave her the name of Nur-Mehal, or the Light of the Seraglio; and during the rest of his reign she bore the chief sway in the affairs of the empire.

Jehangir dying in 1627, he was succeeded by his third son, Prince Kurrum, who took the name of Shah Jehan during his father's lifetime. His mother was Jodh-Bai, a Hindú of Rajput descent. Before Jehangir's death, the succession had been contested by several of his family.

His eldest son had failed in an attempt to seize the kingdom on the death of his grandfather, Akbar. Jehangir's second son then naturally looked forward to the succession, but proving himself incompetent to rule when intrusted with a nominal command in the Dekhan, where war was then raging between the Mohammedans

16

AURUNGZEBE.

and Hindús, Shah Jehan eventually came to the throne,
though his stepmother, Nur-Mehal, whose early history
was so romantic, intrigued to try and gain the kingdom
for Sheriar, another son of Jehangir's, who had married
her daughter by her first husband, Shere Afkun.

Sheriar assembled troops, gave battle, and was de-
feated; and at the end of a year, all opposition being at
an end, Kurrum mounted the throne.

In 1657, when all his sons were of mature age, Shah
Jehan being then in bad health, his fourth son, Aurung-
zebe, revolted against him, and, after several minor vic-
tories, he and his brother Murád gained a final battle
and took possession of the capital, A. D. 1658, Shah
Jehan being allowed to remain in his palace—deprived
of all power, however. He became then almost forgotten,
though his public buildings still speak for him, and
prove him to have been, if not the wisest, at least the
most magnificent, prince who ever ruled in India. The
Taj alone, erected to the memory of his wife, Mumtaz
Mehal, the niece of Nur-Mehal, will carry down his
name to posterity as a great, if not the greatest, patron
of the arts in Hindostán.

On the celebrated peacock throne he is said to have
spent more than six millions sterling, chiefly in dia-
monds and other precious stones. He also built the
then new city of Delhi, called after him Shahjehanabad.
His son Aurungzebe, whose reign was the longest of
any of the descendants of Timur, and in some respects a
very brilliant one, has left no important buildings behind
him, though one mosque at Benares bears his name.

17

CHAPTER II.

BUILDINGS AT AGRA—THOSE IN THE FORT SUCCESSIVELY THE WORK OF
AKBAR, JEHANGIR, AND SHAH JEHAN—JUMMA MUSJID—TAJ MEHAL—
TOMBS AT SECUNDRA, ETC.

ON arriving at Agra by the railroad, a distant view of
the Taj is obtained; but the fort is the principal object
which strikes the eye, with its great extent of red walls,
and round towers at various distances. The greater
part of, if not all, the walls of the fort are said to have
been built by Akbar. The palace, which is within it,
bears the name of Jehangir, Akbar's son and successor,
though a good deal of it was probably erected by his
father, as it is in Akbar's style, which was very much
more Hindú than Mohammedan. The palace is entirely
of red sandstone, and the principal front is covered with
delicate lace-like carving, disposed in geometric pat-
terns. None of this is deeply cut. It contains many
courtyards. The number of rooms is so great, and the
ground-plan so intricate, that people might easily lose
themselves.

Jehangir's work, as seen in this palace (which, if
not Akbar's work, is believed to have been built by
Jehangir immediately after his father's death), is distinct
in character from the later Moghul style, and resembles
Hindú architecture, inasmuch as it avoids the use of the

B

18

AKBAR'S ARCHITECTURAL STYLE.

arch, is much more massive, and also that the construc-
tion is always obvious. These things combined lend it
a peculiar charm and interest. In some respects this
building gives one the idea of a highly carved and fin-
ished wooden one, which a magician's wand had turned
to stone; and one cannot but think that Hindú archi-
tects and artists must have been employed to build
the greater part of it, as much of the ornamentation,
but more especially that of the central court, is de-
cidedly Hindú in all its parts and details. In this
courtyard are two lofty halls, opposite to each other.
The larger and more highly-decorated one is 62 feet
long by 37 wide, and has a flat stone ceiling. In the
interior of this hall, a space about 45 feet by 20 is
divided off in the centre by massive square pillars,
reaching the whole height of the hall; on three sides
there is a gallery at about half-way up the pillars; on
the fourth side, towards the courtyard, instead of a gal-
lery there is a passage, formed in and by the thickness
of the pillars. From the pillars, at the level of the gal-
lery, start eight stone struts, four on each side, and these
assist the pillars to support the ceiling. In a line with
the river front is a lovely little sandstone pavilion, reached
by a steep staircase, and perched on the roof of one of
the lower buildings of the palace. It is about 28 feet
by 18, and open all round, being supported by square
pillars. The great peculiarity of this, and of all the
buildings in the fort of the same period, is, that no wood
seems ever to have been employed in any part of them;
and yet the style of the carving is much more like
what would be made in wood than in stone, both in
character and in execution.

Jehangir's son, Shah Jehan, much enlarged the ori-

THE KHAS MEHAL.

19

ginal palace: the Angoorie Bagh (a square court with a garden), and the buildings in and immediately round it, are said to be his work. The Angoorie Bagh formed the small court of the zenana or women's apartments; and in the little chambers on three sides of this were lodged our officers and their families during the dreadful summer of 1857, at the end of which the then Lieutenant Governor, Mr Colvin, succumbed from fatigue and anxiety, and his tomb is within the fort. The fourth side of this garden fronts the river Jumna, and has three several pavilions in it, all of white marble. The centre one is called the Khas Mehal, and there the sultana gave her receptions. To the left of this is another pavilion, within a small court. On the side where this court is entered, there is the most exquisite lattice-work, carved out of a solid block of white marble.

At the further end of this court is the so-called *puchecse* board, on the pavement. *Puchecse* is an Indian game. On this pavement the pieces played with were living female slaves, who became the property of the winner. This little court is the entrance to the so-called Jasmine Tower, or boudoir of the chief sultana. There are two apartments, each decorated with inlaid work of precious stones, in the same style as the Taj Mehal, and in the first of these there is a fountain. The whole forms a lovely little retreat,—the view facing the river is most striking and extensive. Over each doorway is a bunch of iris with its leaves; these have been carved out of a solid block of marble, of considerable thickness.

The pavilion to the right of the Khas Mehal consists of three chambers, which were formerly the apart-

20

THE · DEWAN-I-KHAS.

ments of the emperor's children, and is now converted
into a museum. It contains two prettily-carved marble
chairs, and a couch of the same material. The collec-
tion of objects is small, and consists mainly of frag-
ments of Buddhist and Jain sculptures. In the ver-
andah belonging to these rooms are the celebrated gates
called of Somnath, though it is doubtful if they ever
came from thence. They formed the doors of Mah-
mood's sepulchre at Ghuznee when the English forces
took that place. There is a Cufic inscription on the
framework, which some believe was a later addition :
many and various have been the opinions concerning
them. Lord Ellenborough caused them to be trans-
ported to Agra; and his object in doing this would
seem to have been, that he wished to show that as
Mohammedanism had once triumphed over Hindúism,
so we had then become the first power in Asia. Besides
the buildings already described as opening out of this
garden, there is also the Shish-Mehal, or palace of glass,
consisting of two rooms, in each of which is an eastern
bath. These rooms are decorated with thousands of
small mirrors, worked in round a lovely flower tracery,
which is painted white. The effect, as may be imagined,
is most silvery and lovely. The lower panels all round
these rooms have had groups of flowers in brilliant
colours painted on them.

At right angles to the Jasmine Tower is the
*Dewan-i-Khas*, which was the emperor's small hall of
audience, and also built by Shah Jehan. This is
likewise entirely made of white marble, and has
double twelve-sided pillars, which support an open hall
raised on a marble platform about three feet high. It
is also very highly decorated : the pillars and the rest

PEARL MOSQUE.

21

of the structure are all inlaid with various patterns
in cornelians, agates, &c. Behind this open hall, and
entered from it by three archways, is a second enclosed
one, lighted from the back by three windows of lovely
lace-like marble tracery. Both these halls have their
walls panelled with marble, each panel being encircled
with inlaid work in coloured stones, and having in the
centre a group of flowers in *bas-relief*.

Shah Jehan's throne, which is of black basalt, is in
the centre of the terrace of the same courtyard. When
seated on it, the emperor had his back to the river. A
smaller throne opposite to this is said to have been for
the use of his ministers. Taken as a whole, all Shah
Jehan's buildings have a decided Italian character: the
*bas-reliefs* and other decorations, wherever they occur,
are perfectly lovely, and of infinite variety. Looking
down from the Dewan-i-Khas, the spectator can see into
the court called the Muchee Bowan, which was formerly
a tank filled with fish, but is now entirely filled up.
Round this court are two-storied colonnades, whence
the ladies and children in Moghul times could watch
the fish disporting themselves. Opening out of the upper
colonnade, at the north-west corner, is the Nagina Musjid,
a little gem in white marble, about 30 feet long by 18
wide. It is not unlike the Moti Musjid, the descrip-
tion of which is to follow, and was built by Shah
Jehan as a private mosque for the royal ladies of his
Court.

The Moti Musjid, or Pearl Mosque, was also built by
Shah Jehan, A.D. 1654, as stated in the inscription upon
its front. It is placed on a three-storied platform of
red sandstone; but when seen, as it can be from most
parts of the town without, only its three domes are

22

ANECDOTE OF AURUNGZEBE.

visible above the walls of the fort. Bishop Heber says of the Taj, that it looks as if it had been built by Titans and finished by jewellers; and of the fort it may likewise be said, that the walls are the work of a Titan; while these domes may be likened to soap bubbles blown by the giant's children, and arrested half-way in their fall to earth.

A high and steep flight of steps leads up to the top of the platform whereon is the mosque, which is made of pure white marble. It is very lovely; though, when one is standing on this platform, the building seems to want height, as from no part of this court can the bases of the domes be seen, for the parapet hides them. This mosque is purely Saracenic in style, with horse-shoe engrailed arches; and it has a triple row of columns.

The Dewan-i-Am, or large hall of audience, is the only other important building within the fort. It is all of red sandstone, but has been painted white, picked out with red and gold. Like the Khas Mehal, and the Dewan-i-Khas, it is an open hall supported on many pillars. The back or eastern wall forms one side of the court of the Muchee Bowan; and in this wall is an enclosed gallery, or rather recess, to which a small side staircase gives access from the hall. This recess is about 20 feet long by 14 wide; and its roof, walls, and pillars are all cased with marble, richly inlaid with precious stones. In detail and execution this is quite equal, if not superior, to the work I have before described of the same nature.

The Dewan-i-Am, on the contrary, is so inferior to the other halls of audience, both in architecture and material, that there are good grounds for imagining, as has been thought by many, that this hall was not

JUMMA MUSJID.

23

the work of Shah Jehan at all, but was built by his son, Aurungzebe, who, from an anecdote which is told of him, which I will here relate, must have possessed a certain amount of dry humour.

Aurungzebe had issued edicts against the fine arts, as tending to frivolity and irreligion, and on one occasion the singers, actors, and dancers, gave him a singular rebuke. In one part of the palace there was a balcony where he daily sat at a certain hour. One day, seeing a funeral going on upon the glacis, he inquired whose it was. On being informed that they were proceeding to bury Music, who was dead, he answered, "Do so by all means, and mind you bury her deep enough, so that no sound may ever come to me from her grave." The sultan then went away, and from that day forth never again resumed the practice of showing himself thus publicly to his subjects.

All the red sandstone buildings of Akbar have a massive boldness about them, whereas those erected only in the second generation later have an effeminate look: the grandfather's buildings are typical of a warrior, and his grandson's of a man of peace and lover of ease.

The Jumma Musjid, or large Mosque of Agra, is situated immediately opposite the Delhi gate of the fort. It was the work of Shah Jehan, who built it in the name of his daughter, Jehanara, whose name has come down to us associated with her devotion to her father, whose long captivity she shared when he was deposed by his son Aurungzebe. This mosque is all of red sandstone, and has three large domes, which have a zigzag pattern in white marble running round them. The entrance is by a flight of steps to a large square platform, with colonnades on two sides of it, surmounted

24

TAJ MEHAL.

by tiny domed pinnacles running the whole length of them, each supported on four slender shafts, and there is a larger pinnacle of the same shape at each corner. The mosque itself has five entrances or arched doorways: these open into the same number of halls, which all communicate with each other by lateral doorways. All lead into the mosque proper beyond, which has five domed halls of the same form, though the centre one only seemed to have the Kiblah, and the steps used by the moolahs when they are preaching. The outside of this mosque is decorated with small domed cupolas along the top, and a larger one of the same kind at each corner. The central archway, which is much larger than the others, has two pillar-like minarets built on to it, and dividing it from the other lateral entrances.

The Taj Mehal is nowhere seen to greater advantage, as a whole, than from one place inside the walls of the fort, the river Jumna there making a great bend, so that this exquisite creation of mason-work appears almost opposite to the spectator, though it may be nearly a three-miles' drive from the fort to the Taj, which is approached through a large court with recesses in it on two sides: these were probably originally intended for and used, as at present, as a *durrumsala*, or place to lodge travellers. This court, again, has beyond it a large garden surrounded on all sides by high walls, and entered by a grand gateway of red sandstone, laid with white and coloured stones and marbles. Within this gateway is a large octagonal domed chamber; and passing through this the garden is entered, where, at the end of a long vista, the Taj itself bursts upon the view, which is a *coup-d'œil* never to be forgotten. It is as though a heap of snow had fallen from heaven, and

TAJ MEHAL.

25

there become crystallised for ever, the whole effect of the
building being so light looking, and yet it has an en-
during appearance.

The garden and the approach to this tomb are on
the same plan as all those built by the Moghul emperors
—viz., that from the central gateway radiated a broad
avenue, generally paved with marble and adorned
with fountains; another avenue intersected this in the
middle, thus forming a cross. The avenue leading
direct from the principal entrance is bordered on either
side with a symmetrical garden; grand and lofty
palms and flowering shrubs overhang this, and lend
still greater enchantment to the whole scene. At the
upper end of the principal avenue is the tomb itself,
placed on a large terrace or platform. In this instance
Shah Jehan built the tomb after his wife's death, in
order to place her remains there; but more generally
a tomb was built during the lifetime of the intended
occupant, and used first as a *barra-durrie*, or hall of
feasting: but once used as a tomb, from thenceforth the
building was never applied to festal purposes.

The Taj can be compared to no other building in the
world, either in form or decoration, as it has a beauty
of its own, both in the design of the whole and in the
extraordinary minuteness and delicacy of its ornamenta-
tion without and within. The material (white marble)
of which it is composed is almost unique in a build-
ing of that size: the whole of the exterior is inlaid in
the style of the Florentine mosaic-work, with precious or
semi-precious stones, such as agates, cornelians, blood-
stones, lapis lazuli, &c., every detail of which will bear
minute examination, though the finer and more elaborate
work is reserved for the interior of the building.

26

CENOTAPH OF MUMTAZ MEHAL.

A low red-sandstone terrace rises at the upper end of this avenue, and from this rises a smaller white marble platform about 18 feet high, with a tall minaret at each of the four corners, and in the centre is the Taj itself, which is, exteriorly, a square with the four corners which face the minarets cut off. A grand dome rises from the centre, and at each corner of the roof there is a cupola supported on four pillars, and having a small dome. The whole of the outside of the building is inlaid with bold designs in coloured stones, and passages from the Koran in black marble. It has only one entrance, leading into a large chamber. There are four such rooms of equal size, connected by a corridor, which goes right round the interior of the building. In the chamber by which the visitor enters there is a staircase leading down to a large square hall, in the centre of which are the tombs containing the remains of Shah Jehan and his wife Mumtaz Mehal. The inlaid work, even on these, is a masterpiece of art; but the most elaborate and highly-finished work is to be seen on their cenotaphs, which are in a large octagonal domed chamber over this. Mumtaz Mehal's cenotaph is in the centre, and Shah Jehan's is on the left side of hers. Round the cenotaphs is an octagonal screen of white marble, about six feet high, which, in its perfect finish and lovely patterns, resembles old point lace turned to stone. In this octagonal chamber there is a wonderfully quick echo, and the chord of the seventh is said to produce a beautiful effect.

I have already spoken of the low red-sandstone terrace which forms the base of the Taj as being of a considerable size. On the western side of this, or to the left of the Taj, there is a mosque built of red sandstone also,

TOMB OF ITMAD-UD-DOWLAH.

27

and decorated with coloured stones and black and white
marble, in the same style as the principal gateway.
This mosque differs much from the usual form of such
buildings belonging to the Moghul period. It has a
double row of chambers, six in all, each communicating
with the other by arched doorways. Each of the three
hinder halls has a domed ceiling, and its Kiblah in a
recess. Externally there are three large domes; and
projecting from the building on either side is a colon-
nade terminating in an octagonal pavilion of two
storeys, surmounted by a domed cupola which rests on
pillars, giving the whole a light and graceful appear-
ance.

At the other or east side of this terrace, and exactly
similar in size and form to the mosque, is another build-
ing, called the *Jawab*, which means answer or reply;
and this was placed there, as it would appear, simply for
the sake of uniformity, in respect of the whole. This
circumstance alone gives us some idea of the grand
conceptions which were not only imagined, but execut-
ed, in those days—as the entrance gateway, the mosque,
or the *Jawab*, would either of them singly, anywhere
but in Agra (where there is such a wealth of fine build-
ings), have been cited as singularly worthy of remark
and admiration.

On the opposite side of the river to Agra is a tomb
called *Itmad-ud-dowlah*, which signifies, we were told,
“feasting-place of the rich.” It is said to be the tomb
of Chiaja Aiass, sometimes called Ghaias-ud-dín, who
was the father of Jehangir’s wife, Nur-Mehal, and of Asuf
Khan, who was the father of Mumtaz Mehal, the wife of
Shah Jehan. Thus aunt and niece were both renowned,
—the former for her talents and beauty, and early adven-

28

CHINI-KA-ROZA.

tures; while her splendid tomb, the Taj, will for all time
perpetuate the name of the niece.

After crossing the bridge over the river Jumna, a few
yards to the left, is the entrance to the tomb of Chiaja
Aiass, which stands, like all of that period, in the centre of
a garden. It is of white marble, supported on a platform
of red sandstone. The whole of the exterior is very rich in
decoration, being inlaid with coloured marbles. The style
of this work differs much from that of other tombs in and
near Agra, inasmuch as, besides geometrical patterns, are
also trees, vases, water-vessels, &c., among the designs,
which would go some way to prove that this, if not any
of the others, was used as a place of feasting and recrea-
tion previous to its being made into a mausoleum. It is
two-storied, and has domed turrets at each of the four
corners of the roof of the first storey. The upper storey,
which is smaller than the lower one, has in this instance
no dome, but a steep coved roof forms the summit of the
whole. The entrance doorways, and all the openings for
admitting light into the building, are of pierced white
marble. The interior has a central hall containing the
principal tomb, and a wide passage which runs all round
this has mortuary chambers opening out of it at the
four corners.

The Taj is embellished with mosaics made of cornelians,
jaspers, &c.; the tomb of Itmad-ud-dowlah is covered
with designs in coloured marbles.

A few minutes' walk from this tomb is another called
the Chini-ka-Roza, which is said to be that of Ufzul Khan,
a literary adventurer of the seventeenth century, who was
one of the ministers of Shah Jehan. This beautiful and,
I believe, unique specimen, is quite past restoration,
chiefly because the art of producing this style of decora-

AKBAR'S TOMB AT SECUNDRA.

29

tion is lost. At first sight it would appear to have been covered with glazed tiles disposed in conventional flower patterns; but this is not the case, as further examination proves that it has really been enamelled—that is to say, a coat of plaster of a certain thickness was laid on and then enamelled; though how this process was conducted, or how it was managed that no seams or joins should appear—at least at the end of each day's work—is unknown. The centre dome was intact when we saw it, though the rest of the roof was in a very ruinous condition.

Akbar's tomb at Secundra was built by his son Jehangir, who, in his autobiography, mentions that in the third year of his reign, being dissatisfied with the work then done, he ordered it to be rebuilt. The enclosure is approached by a grand three-chambered gateway; the central hall of this is domed, and the side chambers are each flanked by two tall minarets. This gateway is of red sandstone, and is decorated with inlaid work of coloured stones and white marble, disposed for the most part in geometrical patterns. The garden, which is surrounded by high walls, is nearly as large in extent as a moderate-sized English park, and the approach to the tomb is by a causeway of stone with fountains at distances. As seen from the gateway, the tomb gives one an idea of incompleteness. According to the opinion of Fergusson, it was originally intended to have surmounted it with a dome. Possibly Jehangir may, at the end of seven years' labour and expense, have become tired of it, and therefore finished it off without carrying out his original plan, especially as Agra is known not to have been his favourite residence.

In the centre of this garden is a red-sandstone platform, from which rises a building composed of four

30

AKBAR'S TOMB AT SECUNDRA.

terraces, three of red sandstone, and the fourth of white marble. Each terrace has numerous pinnacles, with domed roofs resting on four slender shafts: some of these domes are roofed with coloured tiles. Each terrace is smaller than the one below it: the topmost of all, in white marble, is about 70 feet square, exclusive of a colonnade which runs all round it, and is latticed with pierced white marble in lace-like tracery of an infinite variety of designs. Here, open to the sky, is placed the cenotaph, in the purest white marble, richly carved. The lowest of these terraces has a massive arched colonnade, some part of which has been divided off into separate mortuary chambers, and the rest so arranged as to have been capable of being divided in the same manner, should occasion have required it. The grand portal is of pierced white marble, and leads into a domed hall 38 feet square, painted in rich designs: the colours are chiefly dark blue and gold. From this, a short incline and a long vaulted passage lead down to a vast domed hall, where, in a square tomb of plain white marble, lie the remains of the great Akbar. The whole building, when we saw it, was in process of being carefully and thoroughly restored.

Akbar's tomb is situated about six miles from Agra; and though it appears a very magnificent structure at a certain distance, yet, on closer inspection, the masonry of the lower terraces is seen to be much wanting in finish, and very inferior in all its details to the work of the great hero to whose memory it was erected.

31

CHAPTER III.

DELHI—ITS EARLY HISTORY—SOME ACCOUNT OF THE SLAVE, KHILGI, AND TOGHLAK DYNASTIES—JAIN TEMPLES AT DELHI—THE JAINS AND THEIR RELIGIOUS TENETS—JUMMA MUSJID—OTHER MOSQUES—THE FORT—ASOKA'S LÁTS, OR PILLARS—THE RIDGE, ITS CONNECTION WITH THE MUTINY OF 1857.

Our next move was to Delhi, which has been the site of a city for more than three thousand years, though the earliest monument now existing is the iron column at the Kutb, erected about A.D. 500. There are two stone láts, or pillars, of the time of Asoka, which date much earlier—about 250 B.C.—but these were brought to Delhi from a distance; yet it is mentioned in the Mahabarata that, about fifteen centuries before the Christian era, Yudish Thira founded the great Pandava empire, built his capital upon the left bank of the Jumna, and called it Indraprastha. Tradition, and the ruins which still remain, indicate the existence of thirteen capital cities at different periods within a space of forty-five square miles; and within a distance of eleven miles the remains of five cities can even now be seen—viz., Togh-lakabad, the Hindú fort called Raj Pithara, within which the Kutb now stands, and the cities of Feroz-Shah, Shir Shah, and Shahjehanabad, or the present Delhi.

Three distinct styles of architecture strike the eye in and about Delhi—viz., the Hindú, the Patán, and the

32

RISE OF THE SLAVE KINGS.

Moghul. The first style may be seen in parts of the mosque near the Kutb; the best specimens of Patán work are in the tomb of Ala-ud-din Khilgi, also near the Kutb, and the fine mosque inside the Purana Keela, or old fort on the road to Humaion's tomb; while the last named exists within the walls of the present Delhi. In addition to these three styles, there are also some most interesting buildings forming an intermediate link between the Hindú and the Patán periods, in which the delicacy and elegance of the former are combined with the grandeur of the latter.

The Mohammedan reign in India, and, consequently, their rule at Delhi, dates from the time when the last of the Rajput sovereigns was dethroned, about A.D. 1190—Delhi and Kanouj having been governed up to that time by rival dynasties of this race, who then, as ever since, though a brave and gallant people, have shown throughout an utter incapacity to combine together against a common enemy.

The first sovereign of any note was Kutb-ud-dín Eibak, the first of the so-called slave kings, who began to reign A.D. 1206. He had been brought up by Shahab-ud-dín, the last but one of the Ghori dynasty (who, having no son, was fond of bringing up Turki slaves), became his minister, and was eventually left in charge, as Shahab's representative in India when he returned to Ghusnee after taking Ajmere. Kutb also took possession of Delhi for his master, and of the district called Coél, between the Jumna and the Ganges, and likewise proceeded to Guzerat and ravaged that province. On the death of Shahab-ud-dín, India became an independent province, as, though his nephew Mahmood was proclaimed in all his dominions, yet the

KHILGI DYNASTY.

33

kingdom at once broke up into many separate states,
hardly united even in name by his general supremacy.
Kutb thus became king over the provinces where he had
till then only ruled as governor.

Kutb was succeeded by Shams-ud-dīn Altumsh, of
whom it is related that he was really of a good family,
but was sold, like Joseph, by his envious brethren.
Anyhow, Kutb-ud-dīn is said to have bought him for
fifty thousand pieces of silver.

Gheias-ud-dīn Bulbun, another of the slave kings, had
been brought up at the Court of Altumsh, and, on the
death of that sovereign's grandson, usurped the title in
1266, having already before had all the power. Gheias-
ud-dīn's grandson was the last of this dynasty; on his
death there were two competing parties—the Tartar
chiefs, and the chiefs of the old kingdom of Ghusnec.
The Khilgis of the last named race prevailed over the
Tartars, and their reign began in 1288, in the person
of Jelāl-ud-dīn Khilgi. This dynasty came to an end
in 1321, when the last of the race, a usurper named
Mobarick, was killed in a conflict before Delhi, with
some of the nobles who had risen against his tyrannies
and exactions, amongst whom was Juna Khan, son of
Ghāsī Khan Toghlak, the then Governor of the Punjaub.

On entering Delhi, Ghāsī Khan gave out that he was
willing to place any of the royal line upon the throne,
his only object being to deliver the country from oppres-
sion, but no member of the Khilgi family was found
to have survived, and Toghlak was himself proclaimed
king in 1321, under the title of Gheias-ud-dīn Toghlak,
being the son of a Turki slave of Gheias-ud-dīn Bulbun
by an Indian mother. His son Muhammad bin-Toghlak
succeeded him in 1325, of whom Elphinstone in his

c

34

THE RELIGION OF THE JAINS.

history of India says, "He was the most accomplished prince, and the most furious tyrant, that ever lived."

Muhammad dying in 1351, Firoz Shah came to the throne: his name is associated with the now ruined city of Firozabad just outside the gates of the present Delhi, and he also built the fort at Jounpore.

Though Delhi has been for so long a time a stronghold of the Mohammedan religion, and for many centuries under Mohammedan rule, yet we found there two very highly decorated small temples belonging to the Jainas, or Jains—a religious sect of the Hindús, who are most numerous in Western Hindustán, and are principally engaged in commerce. Their name is derived from the Sanscrit word jim—victorious—which is the generic term for the deified saints of their sect. Their doctrines and opinions are interesting, from their striking similarity to the chief peculiarities of the religion of Buddha. The Brahmins consider that they form no part of the Hindú body. The principal points in which they differ from these are: Firstly, denial of the divine origin of the Vedas; secondly, the worship of certain holy mortals who have acquired, by self-mortification and penance, a power which renders them superior to the gods; and thirdly, extreme tenderness for animal life. Their doctrines and customs are similar to those of the Buddhists. They do not entirely reject the gods of the Hindú mythology, but consider them inferior to their holy mortals, who, they say, are 72 in number, of whom 24 belong to the former age, 24 to the present, and 24 to the age to come. The statues of all, or a part of these, are sculptured in black or white marble, and placed in their temples. The most celebrated of these holy mortals are Pársvanátha and Mahavira, who alone

THE RELIGION OF THE JAINS.

35

can be said to have had any historical existence. Some
state that the last Jina died B.C. 500.

General Cunningham found some Jain statues at
Muttra, with the dates 99 and 177 A.D. upon them.
The origin of this sect has been much disputed, some
saying that both Buddhism and Jainism are older than
Brahminism, or modern Hindúism—that is to say, the
worship of Shiva and the incarnations of Vishnu.

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries Jainism appears
to have been more widely diffused than at any other
period. The strange resemblance between the Buddhist
and the Jain religions renders it probable that they had
one and the same origin. Though the Jains of Southern
India preserve the distinction of castes, many things
would lead to the supposition that originally caste did
not exist among them. The Jains are divided into two
classes—clerical and lay; the former subsist upon the
alms of the latter. The two classes are called Yatis and
Srávakas. Their religious ritual is very simple: the for-
mer can dispense with acts of devotion at their pleasure,
and the Srávakas are only bound to visit a temple daily
wherein some of the images of the Jinas are erected,
and make an offering of flowers, accompanied by a short
prayer. They insist upon five great duties — viz., re-
fraining from injury to animal life, truth, honesty, chas-
tity, and freedom from worldly desires.

Apropos of the first of these duties, it is said of them
that in one part of Guzerát, where they are numerous
and influential, they are in the habit of persuading the
cultivators to bring them their surplus male kids instead
of destroying them, as would otherwise be done: these
they place in a shed, putting pans of milk near them;
but these little creatures, being too young to drink the

36

JAIN TEMPLES AT DELHI.

milk, speedily die of hunger; thus no one has actually killed them, so they are considered to have died by the dispensation of Providence.

Of the two Jain temples at Delhi, one is about fifty years old, and the other was built ten years later. They are quite near each other, being situated in a labyrinth of small streets not far from the Chandni Chowk (or great bazaar of the city). They are both alike in style and arrangement; but one, they told us, had been much injured at the time of the Mutiny in 1857, and has been restored in a plain manner, so I shall describe the first I visited, which I believe did not suffer at that time.

Some steps in a small back street lead to a gate-
way of finely carved white stone; a passage then takes
one to a staircase going up to the temple itself—
to reach which a porch and a courtyard are passed
through. The courtyard is paved with white marble,
and surrounded on three sides with a colonnade, the
pillars of which are of the same material. The walls
and ceiling of this colonnade are of white stucco, which
has been painted all over with very pretty flower de-
signs, with much gold intermixed: this ornamentation
has been a good deal injured by time and weather,
though, from the comparatively recent date of the build-
ing, one would hardly expect it could have suffered so
much.

The temple itself occupies the fourth side of the
courtyard, is raised about four feet from its level, and
consists of a large chamber divided into three parts
by double marble columns. The centre, which is the
largest compartment, holds the shrine of the idol Pārs-
vanātha, standing in an enclosed marble erection of
many tiers, one above the other, resembling very much

JUMMA MUSJID.

37

a large wedding-cake, the god being the ornament at the top; above the god is a domed canopy. The whole of this shrine is inlaid with very minute and delicate designs in coloured stones, and looks much like a finely-wrought piece of jewellery. The centre compartment of this, the principal chamber, has a steep coved roof; both it and the walls are covered with gold-leaf, having flowers painted upon it in various brilliant colours, much in the style of the Kashmir papier-maché work. Hanging from the roof, at a little distance in front of the idol, are two bells, with several smaller ones between them; on either side of these are brass stands about five feet high, with large trays on the top of them to receive offerings of flowers, grain, &c. These chambers are capable of being entirely shut off from the courtyard by wooden doors.

At no great distance from these temples is the Jumma Musjid, or large mosque, which is placed in a most commanding situation on a natural platform of rock; and immediately in front of it is a large open space, or *maidán*, as it is called in India. The three gateways are each of them approached by high flights of steps; the principal door facing the mosque is generally kept closed, and the usual entrances are by the north and south gateways. The whole is built of red sandstone, but a good deal of white marble is used in its ornamentation. The domes of the mosque—of the four cupolas at the corners of the courtyard, and of the numerous little kiosques—are vencered with it. The courtyard is of considerable size, and has an open colonnade running all round it, supported on slender shafts: near one of the small corner cupolas there is a space partitioned off, and closed by a padlocked door, which

38

DEWAN-I-KHAS.

they opened for us, and then exhibited some most curious old Arabic manuscripts: two of these, they said, had been written by their prophet Mohammed's son-in-law Ali, and the third by Ali's son. They also show the prophet's slipper in a glass case, and a piece of white marble with, as they tell you, the impression of his foot upon it, and say it came from Medina.

In the centre of the courtyard of the mosque is the tank where the faithful perform their ablutions, and, as is usual, the whole of the western side of the square is occupied with the mosque proper, which has three domes, the centre one having in front of it (but not concealing the dome, as in some of the Patán mosques) an arched doorway, or *propylon*, as it is called, with a minar on either side of it. At each end of the building there is also a very high minaret: these towering up to a great height make the whole building a most imposing pile as seen at a distance, but on a close inspection it can bear no comparison with the finest examples of Patán architecture. Its general effect, however, is so grand that this mosque is considered by some the finest in the East. That it should look well from a little distance was probably what was aimed at by Shah Jehan when he built it, his palace in the fort being directly opposite.

The fort has a circuit of about a mile and a half, and has two entrances, called respectively the Lahore and the Delhi gates. Within the Lahore gate is a courtyard, containing what was once the Noubat-Khana, or music gallery; and further on is the Dewan-i-Khas, or small hall of audience. To the north of this are the royal baths; and on the south a suite of small rooms entirely composed of white marble, and more or less richly inlaid with mosaic-work, in coloured stones or

DEWAN-I-AM.

39

marbles. These buildings are all placed on a marble platform, about four feet high.

The Dewan-i-Khas is open all round, and supported on solid-looking square pillars, with Moorish crenelated arches between them. The roof of this building is flat, with a domed kiosque at each corner, resting upon four small columns, and sloping eaves projecting all round. The whole of the interior is richly ornamented with paintings of flowers, and the ceiling is said to have been originally covered with silver filagree-work, which the Mahrattas melted down and carried away with them when they captured the city in 1759. The value of this has been estimated at £170,000 sterling.

The buildings to the right of the Dewan-i-Khas consist of a series of small chambers, exquisitely inlaid with flower patterns in coloured semi-precious stones. The fineness of the work is equal to that of a jewel casket; and such being the shrine, imagination can hardly picture what must have been the splendour of its contents.

The bathing apartments to the left of the Dewan-i-Khas consist of two rooms, each about 24 feet square, and lighted from above. The first has a square bath in the centre, and a large recess, which formed a dressing-room; in the second chamber the position of these is reversed. The pavement of both rooms is of inlaid work in coloured marbles, arranged in geometric patterns; the walls of each are also of white marble, inlaid with various designs up to a height of about four feet; above this they are of stucco, on which one can still trace remains of painting in some places.

The Dewan-i-Am, or large hall of audience, is about 200 feet long by 100 wide, and rests on rows of red sandstone pillars, the outer being double ones. The

40

AURUNGZEBE'S MOTI MUSJID.

throne, which communicated with the emperor's apart-
ments, and was reached by a staircase at the back, is
raised about ten feet above the floor of this hall. The
throne is surmounted by a canopy resting on four
pillars; this and the wall behind the throne were origi-
nally beautifully inlaid with representations in precious
stones of fruits, flowers, birds, and beasts, which have
all disappeared, and have been replaced by very coarse
paintings of similar subjects. The celebrated peacock
throne stood in this place; it was carried off in 1739 by
Nadir Shah, the then Emperor of Persia, together with
nearly all the treasures of Delhi, when, after defeating
Mahomed Shah at Kurnaul, he marched with his train
into the city, and some of his followers being attacked
and killed, he ordered a general massacre, and gave the
city up to plunder.

The whole of these buildings are believed to be of a
later date than those of Shah Jehan in the palace at
Agra. Of his palace at Delhi, nothing now remains
except those parts I have enumerated, which are all
detached, so that one cannot understand their original
position in the building. It is said, that immediately
after the Mutiny in 1857, a great deal of wanton de-
struction took place consequent on the irritation of the
public mind, which, in less thrilling times, and on sober
reflection, would never have occurred.

The little Moti Musjid, or Pearl Mosque, still remains
to be described. It was added by Aurungzebe, and is
only about 60 feet square, but is much more highly
finished than the one of the same name at Agra. Pos-
sibly, the Jumma Musjid being so near, this may have
been intended for the use of the ladies of the royal
family only. The small courtyard of this mosque is

KALAN MUSJID.

41

surrounded on three sides with a marble screen about
15 feet high, having little minars at distances along the
top of it.

I will here note the difference in the decorations used
by the Arab and the Indian Mussulmans. They both
equally rejected any representation of the human figure.
In India they destroyed or mutilated any Hindu statues
they met with; but, unlike the Arabs, allowed and
used both animals and flowers in their stone-work and
paintings.

The Kalán Musjid, or chief mosque, is now within
the walls of Shahjehanabad, or the modern Delhi; but
it is only reasonable to suppose that formerly it was in
a part or suburb of the city of Firozabad, having been
built in 1387, in the reign of Firoz Shah Toghlak, and
it is very characteristic of the style of that age. It
much resembles a fortress, with its rough-hewn stone-
work and bastions at the four outer corners of the
courtyard; in fact, when looking at it from any point
where the domes are not visible, you might almost
imagine it to be some old Saxon or Norman castle,
which likeness is still further carried out in the high
battlemented walls which surround the whole. The en-
trance to it is by a high flight of steps; the gateway
has a tall minar on either side of it, differing totally in
form from any others we had seen, in that they are
broad at the base, and taper almost to a point at the
summit. The mosque itself, standing within this court-
yard, is of the same solid construction, and consists of a
series of arches and domes: these last number fifteen in
all, there being three rows with five in each row; the
centre dome is slightly larger than the rest. The cloisters,
which form the other three sides of the interior of the

42

THE LÁTS, OR PILLARS OF ASOKA.

courtyard, have also small domes and sloping eaves, supported on roughly finished brackets. The whole building has great simplicity and rudeness, and is not without a certain grandeur.

The two most interesting mosques in the city are the Jumma Musjid and the Zináth-ul-Musjid: the first I have already described; the latter was built much later, during the reign of Aurungzebe, by his daughter, Zináth-ul-Nissa Begum, A.D. 1700. It stands on the western bank of the Jumna, and is a very conspicuous object from the other side of the river. As seen from thence, it stands on an eminence; but inland its terrace is on a level with the city road. It is about 30 feet from the walls of the town; and its terrace, which is about 14 feet high, is built upon arches, which are used as shops or dwellings by the poorer classes of natives. On the north and south are two arched entrances, with steps leading up to the court of the mosque. In the centre of this court there is the usual tank, which has now, however, no water in it.

The tomb of Zináth stood originally on the north side of the mosque, but was destroyed immediately after the Mutiny of 1857: the mosque also was at that time much altered in the interior, when it was turned into an artillery barrack. There are three very bulbous domes to this mosque, striped longitudinally with black and white, and surmounted with gilt pinnacles. At both corners of the front of the mosque there are imense minars, towering high above the domes; these and the small pillars terminating either side of the central archway are crowned with small domed cupolas. There are seven archways forming entrances to this mosque, which are scolloped in the Moorish style; and

MODE OF TRANSPORTING THE LÁT.

43

another such row of archways running the whole length
of the interior divides the building into fourteen cham-
bers. Here too, as in most, if not all the mosques built
by the Moghuls, the inside of the building is very plain,
all the decoration being on the exterior, in this respect
differing much from the architecture of the Hindús,
who finished every part most carefully.

One of the pillars of Asoka, which was originally
erected at Meerut in the third century B.C., was put up
by Firoz Shah Toghlak on what is now called the
"Ridge," to the north-west of the modern Delhi, near
his hunting palace, where two half-dilapidated build-
ings may still be seen. This column was thrown down
during the reign of Farokhsir, by the accidental ex-
plosion of a powder-magazine, which broke it into five
pieces. These, after divers vicissitudes (the portion
containing the inscription having been sawn off and
sent to Calcutta), are now once more united, and the
restored column again put up. This *lát* was never
much more than 35 feet in height, though it is larger in
diameter than the other outside the Delhi gate of the
city, which last is upwards of 42 feet high, and is placed
on a massive building of rubble stone, pierced below
with numerous small chambers, and forming a terrace
above, whereon the pillar rests.

A native contemporary writer gives the following
curious account of how this pillar was removed, which,
I think, is worth inserting, as we in these days are often
puzzled to know how the people of early times, pos-
sessed of only the rudest appliances, could transport
such columns from one place to another. He thus
describes the process: "Kaizrabad is about 90 kos (or
135 miles) from Delhi, in the vicinity of the hills.

44

THE RIDGE.

When the sultan visited that district, and saw the column in the village of Tobra, he resolved to remove it to Delhi, and there erect it as a memorial to future generations. After thinking over the best means of lowering the column, orders were issued, commanding the attendance of all the people dwelling in the neighbourhood, within and without the Doab, and all soldiers, both horse and foot. They were ordered to bring all implements and materials suitable for the work.

"Directions were issued for bringing parcels of the cotton of the sembal (or silk-cotton tree). Quantities of this silk cotton were placed round the column, and when the earth at its base was removed, it fell gently over on the bed prepared for it. The cotton was then removed by degrees, and after some days, the pillar lay safe upon the ground. When the foundations of the pillar were examined, a large square stone was found as a base, which also was taken out. The pillar was then encased from top to bottom in reeds and ram skins, so that no damage might accrue to it. A carriage with forty-two wheels was constructed, and ropes were attached to each wheel. Thousands of men hauled at every rope, and after great labour and difficulty, the pillar was raised on to the carriage. A strong rope was fastened to each wheel, and two hundred men pulled at each of these ropes. By the simultaneous exertions of so many thousand men the carriage was moved, and was brought to the banks of the Jumna. There the sultan went to meet it; a number of large boats had been collected, some of which would carry 5000 and 7000 maunds of grain (the maund is 80 lb.), and the least of them 2000 maunds. The column was very ingeniously transferred to these boats, and was then con-

MUTINY CHIEFLY THE WORK OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 45

ducted to Firozabad, where it was landed with infinite
labour and skill."

I have already alluded to "the Ridge" in speaking
of one of Asoka's lāts, and this spot has a peculiar
though sad interest for all English people, in connection
with the mutiny of 1857, as it was there, in the Flag-
staff Tower, that many of the European residents took
refuge; and this was also the main picket of our besieg-
ing force.

On this my first visit to Delhi, I could not help
picturing the whole of these events so vividly to myself
as to render it quite painful to me to look at any native
of the place who might have been at that time of an
age to have taken an active part in them; but after-re-
flection brought the thought that to the Mohammedans
(whose tools the Hindūs were to a great extent) the
Mutiny was a religious war—almost the same as the
Crusades were to Europe—and in their eyes the joining
in it was as praiseworthy as an early Christian dying
for his faith in the days of the Roman empire is in
our opinion; so that one must not judge of their acts
entirely from the standpoint of the nineteenth century.

46

CHAPTER IV.

LAHORE—EARLY HINDÚ TRADITIONS RESPECTING IT—AFGHAN INCURSIONS
—INVASION BY MOHAMMEDAN FORCES—MAHMOOD OF Ghusnee—HIS
CAMPAIGNS IN HINDUSTÁN — COMPARISONS BETWEEN HINDÚS AND
MOHAMMEDANS—TAMERLANE AND BABER, THEIR EXPEDITIONS TO INDIA
—PALACE IN THE FORT AT LAHORE—KASHI WORK—HOW SUPPOSED TO
HAVE BEEN MADE—JEHANGIR'S TOMB AT SHADERA—NUR-MEHAL'S
TOMB—PERSIAN INVASION OF INDIA—LAHORE COMES UNDER SIKH
RULE—TOMB OF RANJIT SINGH—MOSQUE OF WAZIR ALÍ KHAN.

OUR next move was to Lahore. Little is known of the
pre-Mohammedan history of that city, except from
casual notices in the histories of neighbouring states,
and the glimpses given by early Mohammedan writers.
Hindú tradition traces it to Rama, king of Ajudia (Oudh),
who was the hero of the Rámayana, and I believe it is
generally thought that its founders were of the Rajput
race. The exact date of its foundation has not been as-
certained, but it had already become the capital of a
great kingdom before the end of the seventh century
A.D. Perhaps owing to change of dynasty, or that it
was on the high road between Afghanistan and India,
and therefore subject to irruptions and invasions, La-
hore was deserted about this period, and the seat of
government removed to Sialkote, where it remained till
the invasion of Mahmood of Ghusnee in the eleventh
century, when the conqueror reoccupied the deserted
city.

TREACHERY OF JEIPAL, RULER OF LAHORE.

47

During the period from the seventh to the eleventh century, the Afghans from Kermán and Peshawur, who had even then embraced Mohammedanism, made various incursions into India, and Ferishta, the historian states that in A.D. 682 they wrested certain possessions from the Hindú prince who then reigned in Lahore. In A.D. 977 a prince called Jeipal, of the Brahmin race, reigned over that country, and being much annoyed by the repeated invasions of the Mohammedans, he raised a great force, intending to invade them in their own country. Sabuktagin (of Tartar extraction), the then ruler of Ghusnee, on hearing of this, marched to meet him, and several skirmishes ensued. His son, the afterwards celebrated Mahmood, though then but a boy, gave great proofs of valour on these occasions. At length a very violent storm of hail and wind arose, from which the natives of India suffered much more severely than their more hardy adversaries of the north. This caused Jeipal to treat for peace—he offering the King of Ghusnee a certain tribute and large presents, also adding that whenever the Indian people are reduced to extremity, they murder their wives and children, and rush forward in despair amongst the enemy. Sabuktagin, on hearing this, consented to allow them to retreat, on the payment of a large sum of money, and a present of fifty elephants. Jeipal, stating that he could not pay this large sum on the spot, was allowed to return to Lahore, four trustworthy persons on the part of Sabuktagin being appointed to accompany him, to receive the balance, for whose safety he left hostages. But arrived at Lahore, he imprisoned the messengers, and refused to pay the money. On hearing of this treachery, Sabuktagin was in a furious rage, and hastened towards

48

MAHMOOD OF GHUSNEE.

Hindostán at the head of a great army. Jeipal also assembled his forces, and marched to meet him, being assisted with troops and money by the kings of Delhi, Ajmere, Callinger, and Kanouj; but the forces of Sabuktagin, though inferior in numbers, were much better organised and disciplined than those of the Hindú princes, who were defeated with great slaughter, and driven back to the banks of the Nilab (or blue river), the ancient Hydaspes, and their camp plundered by the enemy, who raised large contributions in the countries of Limgan and Peshawur, and annexed them to his own dominions.

Sabuktagin dying rather suddenly, in 997, and his eldest son, Mahmood, being then in Khorassan, a considerable distance off, the younger son, Ismaiel, usurped the supreme power, and collected an army; but Mahmood, hastening thither at the head of his troops, repulsed the forces of Ismaiel with such vigour that he was forced to retire and take refuge in the fort at Ghusnee, whither Mahmood pursued him, and invested the place. At length want of provisions obliged Ismaiel to treat for a surrender; and on condition of his personal safety being secured, he gave up the keys of the garrison and of the treasury to his brother. It is related of Mahmood, that he, having built a pleasure-house in a garden near the city of Ghusnee, when it was finished gave a magnificent entertainment, to which he invited his father, Sabuktagin. The son then asked his father's opinion respecting the house and garden, which had been much admired by others. The king, to Mahmood's great disappointment, told him that he looked upon the whole as a bauble, which any of his subjects might have erected if he had possessed the necessary funds, but " that a

HINDÚ CUSTOM OF JOHÁR.

49

prince's business was to erect the more durable structure of good fame, which might stand for ever, to be imitated, but never to be equalled, by posterity." One of their poets, named Nizami, made the following reflection upon this: "Of all the magnificent palaces which we are told Mahmood built, we now find not one stone upon another; but the edifice of his fame, as he was told by his father, still triumphs over time, and seems established on a lasting foundation."

Mahmood having made a vow to heaven that, as soon as tranquillity prevailed in his own dominions, he would turn his arms against the idolaters of Hindostán, marched from Ghusnee, A.D. 1000, with 10,000 chosen horse, and came to Peshawur, where he was opposed by Jeipal, the Indian Prince of Lahore, who had brought a superior force into the field; but, after an obstinate battle, Mahmood was victorious, and Jeipal, with his principal friends, was taken prisoner. The sixteen strings of jewels round Jeipal's neck, each of which was valued at about £320,000 of our money, became, of course, the property of the conqueror. After this victory, the king marched from Peshawur and reduced the fort of Bitindi, releasing his prisoners upon the payment of a large ransom, and the promise of an annual tribute, and returned to Ghusnee. According to a Hindú custom which prevailed in those days, that any rajah who had been twice defeated by the Mussulmans should be considered unfit for further command, Jeipal performed the Hindú sacrifice of johár, or devotion, by burning himself to death outside the walls of his capital. Having first raised his son Anangpál to the throne, he ordered a funeral-pile to be prepared, on which he sacrificed himself to his gods. In the year 1005, Mahmood again left Ghusnee, with the

D

50

THE MARCH OF MAHMOOD INTO HINDOSTÁN.

intention of reconquering Moultán, which had revolted,
and was met by Anang-pál, whom he defeated, and
obliged to fly into Kashmir. Mahmood then entered
Moultán by way of Bitindi, after which he was prepar-
ing to return to Ghusnee, when he heard that Elich, the
Usbee king of Kashgar, in Tartary, had invaded his ter-
ritories. A great friendship had previously subsisted
between them, Mahmood having married Elich's daugh-
ter; but when Mahmood marched into Hindostán, Elich
resolved to appropriate Khorassan, which had been left
quite unprotected.

The armies met near the Oxus, and Mahmood's army
had been thrown into disorder, when he leapt from
his horse, and, kissing the ground, invoked the aid of
the Almighty. Mounting a war-elephant, he then made
a violent assault at the head of his troops, who seem
to have derived fresh courage from the determination
of their leader, on seeing him thus forcing his way
alone through the ranks of the enemy, who were then
driven back with great slaughter. Though Elich never
more took the field against Mahmood, he was, however,
anxious to pursue his flying enemy, though much dis-
suaded from it by his generals on account of the in-
clemency of the weather, it being then winter. But the
king persisted in attempting it, and followed the retreat-
ing troops for two days. On the third night a severe
storm overtook them in a desert district. The king's
tents were pitched with great difficulty, but the army
had all to lie down in the snow. Mahmood having
ordered large fires to be lit near his tents, he and his
courtiers soon became so warm that they began to
throw off their upper garments; and when a chief, called
Dilk, who was renowned for his witty sayings, came in,

HINDU REIGN AT AN END IN LAHORE.

51

shivering with cold, the king turned to him and said, "Go out, Dilk, and tell Winter that he may burst his checks with blustering, as here we do not care for his resentment." Dilk accordingly went out, and returning in a short time, kissed the ground, and thus addressed the king: "I have delivered your Majesty's message to Winter, but the surly season replied, 'That if his hands cannot tear the skirts of royalty, and hurt the attendants of the king, yet he will so exercise his power to-night on the army, that to-morrow morning Mahmood will be obliged to saddle his own horses.'" The king smiled at this answer, and after reflecting a short time, determined to retrace his steps. The following morning some hundreds of men and horses were found to have perished with the cold.

Lahore remained intact thirteen years longer, and another Jeipal ascended the throne. In 1022 Mahmood suddenly marched down from Kashmir. Jeipal II. fled, and the reign of the Hindús was at an end in Lahore, though a final effort was made by them in 1045 to recover their lost sovereignty; but they retired, after a fruitless siege of six months. Lahore passed in succession under the Ghusnivide, Ghorian, Slave, Khilgi, and Toghlak dynasties, till, in 1397, it was conquered by Timur or Tamerlane, who left a viceroy to rule it.

Seen at a distance, the Mohammedan religion appears to be a much purer faith than Hindúism; but the results, as viewed in the present day, are decidedly in favour of the latter. The Hindús, according to almost all persons who have been long in India, are a much more industrious and contented people than the Mussulmans, and are, generally speaking, more honest and moral, and

52

PALACE IN THE FORT.

also more trustworthy in all their relations towards
Europeans and towards each other.

In A.D. 1436 Lahore was seized by Beholi Khan Lodi,
an Afghan chief, who eventually became emperor. In
the reign of his grandson the Afghan governor of Lahore
revolted, and invited Baber to help him. Baber took the
city in 1524, conquered the Patán army sent against
him, and plundered and partly burnt the place. He did
not remain long there, but a few days later marched on
towards Delhi.

This time, however, he only got as far as Sirhind, as
intrigues had begun against him. He returned to La-
hore, bestowed grants of the land which he had conquered
on some of his nobles, and returned to Cabul. Two
years later Baber again appeared. A feeble attempt was
made to oppose him at the river Ravi, near Lahore; but
the force dispersed itself without coming to any engage-
ment, and Baber passed on into Hindostán. This expe-
dition ended in 1526 in the victory Baber gained at
Panniput over the Patán army, in the capture of Delhi,
and the foundation of the Moghul empire.

The palace in the fort has a frontage of about 500 feet
from east to west, and was the work of four successive
emperors—viz., Akbar, Jehangir, and Shah Jehan, with
additions by Aurungzebe, and later by the Sikhs. It is
curious and interesting from the exterior, being richly
ornamented with what is called kashi work. The com-
position of this has been analysed, and found to be a
layer of glass spread on a hard kind of plaster, formed
of a mixture of lime and silicious sand, which accounts
for its bearing the heat necessary to fuse the glass. This
art, as practised in India and Persia, is believed to have
been derived from China at the end of the thirteenth

KASHI-WORK.

53

century. The word kashi is said to be of Arabic origin. This substance was imported into Europe by the Arabians, and was imitated by the Italians in the fourteenth century in their majolica ware. In preparing the kashi work, certain different kinds of sand containing sulphuret of copper and magnetic iron were used. The oxides of these, and the lead which was mixed with the lime, gave the peculiar metallic lustre. Three distinct layers of material were laid on: the plaster called khamir, which was made of lime and pounded glass in certain proportions, formed into a paste with rice-water, then dried by a gentle heat, and afterwards covered with asthar, which was composed of lime and pounded glass containing a good deal of lead. This was rendered soluble, and painted on the plaster. The kanch, or glass of various colours, was then pounded and suspended in a viscid fluid made from certain plants, and the tile painted over with this. The whole was then placed in a furnace till all the glass on the surface was fused. We were told by a friend that some specimens of this work were made in Lahore about twenty years ago by a very old man, who then still practised this art, but would impart the process to no one. This old workman demanded 50 rupees, or £5, for a single tile. The kashi work may be called a species of mosaic rather than true tile-work, as each little leaf or separate piece of colour has been made in the requisite form, and then cemented into its place. On the walls of the palace at Lahore, in defiance of all ordinary Mohammedan rules, there are representations of men, horses, elephants, and tigers.

A gentle winding incline leads to the upper part of the fort, where it terminates in a large square containing many detached buildings now used as officers' and

54

OLD BUILDINGS IN THE FORT.

sergeants' quarters, &c. One building is set apart as a Roman Catholic chapel; and in another, which is entirely of white marble, the services of the Church of England are held.

The old work left in some of these buildings must be of the time of Akbar, I should imagine; the white marble one, however, would appear to be of a later date. All the columns are of red sandstone; some are highly ornamented in their whole height, with carving which is quite equal in execution to the finest work which we afterwards saw at Futtehpore Sikri, near Agra; and, therefore, I am inclined to attribute them to the same period. The spaces between the pillars have been filled up with masonry to convert the buildings into dwelling-houses: in many parts the sloping eaves, with Hindú brackets supporting them, still remain in their original places. These brackets, however, differ in one respect from all others we had seen, inasmuch as instead of the conventional elephant's head, the whole animal is sculptured, with the Hindú bell-ornament hanging from its trunk. Other brackets have well-executed lions or birds carved upon them. Some of these buildings have coved roofs, and small oriel balconies projecting on either side of the pillared colonnade. We entered one of these, now converted into the sergeant-major's quarters, which had evidently been a small dwelling-house. There was a room in the centre, and a colonnade had at one time existed all round; but this in modern days had been partitioned off into sleeping-rooms, and at present only one side of the old colonnade remains. This has been richly carved on the inner side, but when we saw it, it was thickly covered with whitewash; yet one can trace sufficiently clearly the presence of carving upon

JEHANGIR'S TOMB AT SHADERA.

55

the walls to make one long to set to work and scrape off the disfiguring crust which covers them.

Jehangir, as I have before stated, made Lahore his capital. The tomb at Shadera was erected to his memory by his wife, the proud and ambitious Nur-Mehal, in connection with the wish he expressed to be buried at Lahore when he was dying at Rajauri in Kashmir in 1627. It is related that Jehangir left her an annuity equivalent to £250,000 of our money, and she is said from that time forward to have always dressed herself in white, as a token of inconsolable widowhood; but in spite of this she engaged in political intrigues, in order to try and secure the succession for Sheriar, a son of Jehangir by another wife, who had married her daughter by her first husband, Shere Afkun.

Jehangir's tomb is not on the same side of the river Ravi as Lahore, and is placed in a large garden, like all Moghul tombs of any importance. In the centre of this garden is a large square platform, about six feet high. The tomb itself, which rests upon this platform, is built of red sandstone inlaid with white marble. It has no dome, but the roof of the building forms a large terrace, which has a handsome tesselated pavement. At each corner of this terrace there is a minar, with a domed cupola. According to the *khadūns* (or hereditary keepers of this tomb), it had originally a central domed cupola on the roof, and over the whole terrace were spread magnificent awnings of silk and gold stuffs; but they say these were removed by Bahadur Shah, the son of Aurungzebe, and also that it was Ranjit Singh who carried off the marble latticed parapet which surrounded the roof and the galleries of the minars. A colonnade runs all round the interior of

56

TOMB OF NUR-MEHAL.

this tomb, and has small chambers opening out of it. The vault in the centre of the building is approached on all four sides by three small chambers opening out of each other; the walls of all these chambers are painted with various flower patterns, and they, as well as the central hall, have tesselated pavements composed of coloured stones and marbles. Three of these approaches terminate in pierced marble screens, through which the tomb is visible; the only entrance is on the fourth side. In the middle of the central hall is a square platform about eighteen inches high. This, and the sarcophagus which rests upon it, are both of white marble, inlaid with semi-precious stones in the style of the Taj at Agra. At the head of the sarcophagus is a Persian inscription, which has been translated as follows: "The illumined resting-place of his Majesty, the asylum of pardon, Nur-ud-dín Jehangir Bādshah," year of Hegira 1037 (A.D. 1628), which was the date of the erection of the sarcophagus; and adding, "Reason said Jehangir hath departed from the world," year of Hegira 1036 (A.D. 1627), being the date of the emperor's death.

Adjoining this garden there is another, containing the tomb of Asiph Chan, a relation of Nur-Mehal's. This tomb has a singular bulbous-shaped dome; in the centre of each of the four sides there is an arched recess filled up with flower patterns in true tile-work, each group of flowers having a different coloured groundwork. At a short distance from these tombs, but separated from them by the railway which goes to Jelum, are the remains of the tomb of Nur-Mehal, which is of a large size, and was originally very highly decorated, it is said, but now not a trace of ornamentation remains. The Sikhs are believed to have used it as a quarry, and to have built