Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official Part 59

In the original edition a small coloured ill.u.s.tration of this tomb, from a miniature, is given on Plate 24. See Fergusson, ed. 1910, pl.

x.x.xiii; _H.F.A._, fig. 240; Fanshawe, p. 230 and plate.

16. The tragic history of Dara Shikoh, the elder brother, and unsuccessful rival, of Aurangzeb, is fully given by Bernier. The notes in Constable's edition of that traveller's work and those to Irvine's _Storia do Mogor_ (John Murray, 1907, 1908) give many additional particulars. Dara Shikoh was executed by Aurangzeb in 1659, and it is alleged that with a horrid refinement of cruelty, the emperor, acting on the advice of his sister, Roshanara Begam, caused the head to be embalmed and sent packed in a box as a present to the old ex-emperor, Shah Jahan, the father of the three, in his prison at Agra. The prince died invoking the aid of Jesus, and was favourably disposed towards Christianity. He was also attracted by the doctrines of Sufism, or heretical Muhammadan mysticism, and by those of the Hindoo Upanishads. In fact, his religions att.i.tude seems to have much resembled that of his great-grandfather Akbar. The 'Broad Church'

principles and practice of Akbar failed to leave any permanent mark on Muhammadan inst.i.tutions or the education of the people, and if Dara Shikoh had been victorious in the contest for the throne, it is not probable that he would have been able to effect lasting reforms which were beyond the power of his ill.u.s.trious ancestor. The name of the unfortunate prince was Dara Shikoh ('in splendour like Darius'), not merely Dara (Darius), as Bernier has it.

17. The 'great diamond' alluded to is the Kohinur, presented by the 'Persian adventurer', Amir Jumla, to Shah Jahan, who was advised to attack and conquer the country which produced such gems, (_Ante_, Chapter 48.) The decisive battle between Dara Shikoh, on the one aide, and Aurangzeb, supported by his brother and dupe, Murad Baksh, on the other, was fought on the 28th May, 1658 [O. S.], at the small village of Samugarh (Samogar), four miles from Agra. Dara Shikoh was winning the battle, when a traitor persuaded him to come down from his conspicuous seat on an elephant and mount a horse. The report quickly spread that the prince had been killed. 'In a few minutes', says Bernier, 'the army seemed disbanded, and (strange and sudden reverse!) the conqueror became the vanquished. Aurangzeb remained during a quarter of an hour steadily on his elephant, and was rewarded with the crown of Hindustan; Dara left his own elephant a few minutes too soon, and was hurled from the pinnacle of glory, to be numbered among the most miserable of Princes; so short-sighted is man, and so mighty are the consequences which sometimes flow from the most trivial incident.'

According to another account the prince's change from the elephant to the horse was due to want of personal courage, and not to treacherous advice. (Bernier, _Travels_, ed. Constable, and V. A. Smith (1914), p. 54.)

18. Battle fought between Tours and Poitiers, A.D. 732.

19. The princ.i.p.al mosque of every town is known as the Jami Masjid, and is filled by large congregations on Fridays. The great mosque of Delhi stands on a natural rocky eminence, completely covered by the building, and approached on three sides by magnificent flights of steps, which give it peculiar dignity. It is, perhaps, the finest mosque in the world, and certainly has few rivals. It differs from most mosques in that its exterior is more magnificent than its interior. The two minarets are each about 130 feet high. The year A.H. 1060 corresponds to A.D. 1650. The mosque was begun in that year, and finished six years later. It is close to the palace, and seems to have been designed to serve as the mosque for the palace, as well as the city, for which reason no place of worship was included in his residence by Shah Jahan. The pretty little Moti Masjid in the private apartments was added by Aurangzeb. Fergusson (ed. 1910, vol.

ii, p. 319) gives a view of the mosque. Carr Stephen (pp. 260-6) gives approximate measurements, translations of the inscriptions, and many details. See Fanshawe, pp. 44-8 and plates.

20. Since the Mutiny mult.i.tudes of houses between the palace and the mosque have been cleared away.

21. 'Entering within its deeply recessed portal, you find yourself beneath the vaulted hall, the sides of which are in two stories, and with an octagonal break in the centre. This hall, which is 375 feet in length over all, has very much the effect of the nave of a gigantic Gothic cathedral, and forms the n.o.blest entrance known to belong to any existing palace' (Fergusson, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p.

309). This is the Lah.o.r.e Gate.

22. What recked the Chieftain if he stood On Highland heath, or Holy-rood?

He rights such wrong where it is given, If it were in the court of heaven.'

--(Scott, _Lady of the Lake_, Canto V, stanza 6).

23. The foundation-stone of the palace was laid on the 12th of May, 1639 (N.S.--9 Muharrum, A.H. 1049). (E. & D., vii, p. 86), and the work continued for nine years, three months, and some days. Nadir Shah's invasion took place in 1738. Kashmir was annexed by Akbar in 1587. Kabul had been more or less closely united with the empire since Babur's time.

24. 'In front, at the entrance, was the Naubat Khana, or music hall, beneath which the visitor entered the second or great court of the palace, measuring 550 feet north and south, by 385 feet east and west. In the centre of this stood the Diwan-i-Amm, or great audience hall of the palace, very similar in design to that at Agra, but more magnificent. Its dimensions are about 200 feet by 100 feet over all.

In its centre is a highly ornamental niche, in which on a platform of marble richly inlaid with previous stones, and directly facing the entrance, once stood the celebrated peac.o.c.k throne, the most gorgeous example of its cla.s.s that perhaps even the East could ever boast of.

Behind this again was a garden-court; on its eastern side was the Rang Mahall, or painted hall, containing a bath and other apartments'

(Fergusson, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 310).

The inlaid pictures were carried off, sold by the spoiler to Government, set as table-tops, and deposited in the Indian Section of the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington (_Hist. of Ind.

and E. Archit._, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 311, note); but in November, 1902, the Orpheus mosaic, along with several other inlaid panels, was returned to Delhi, where the panels were reset in due course. The representation of Orpheus is 'a bad copy from Raphael's picture of Orpheus charming the beasts'. Austin de Bordeaux has been already noticed. Many of the mosaics in the panels which had not been disturbed were renewed by Signor Menegatti of Florence during the years 1906-9.

The peac.o.c.k throne and the six other thrones in the palace are fully described by Tavernier. (Transl. and ed. by V. Ball, vol. i, pp. 381- 7.) Further details will be found in Carr Stephen, _Archaeology of Delhi_, pp. 220-7.

25. The throne here referred to was a makeshift arrangement used by the later emperors. Nadir Shah in 1738 cleared the palace of the peac.o.c.k throne and almost everything portable of value. The little that was left the Marathas took. Their chief prize was the silver filagree ceiling of the Diwan-i-Khas. This hall was, 'if not the most beautiful, certainly the most highly ornamented of all Shah Jahan's buildings. It is larger certainly, and far richer in ornament than that of Agra, though hardly so elegant in design; but nothing can exceed the beauty of the inlay of precious stones with which it is adored, or the general poetry of the design, It is round the roof of this hall that the famous inscription runs: "If there is a heaven on earth, it is this, it is this ", which may safely be rendered into the sober English a.s.sertion that no palace now existing in the world possesses an apartment of such singular elegance as this' (Fergusson, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 311).

26. All the events alluded to are related in detail by Bernier and Manucci. Sulaiman and Sipihr Shikoh were the sons of Dara Shikoh. The author makes a slip in saying that Shah Jahan sat in the palace at Delhi to negotiate with his grandson. During that negotiation Shah Jahan was at Agra.

27. It is related that the coffee was delivered to the two sovereigns in this room upon a gold salver by the most polished gentleman of the court. His motions, as he entered the gorgeous apartment, amidst the splendid train of the two Emperors, were watched with great anxiety; if he presented the coffee first to his own master, the furious conqueror, before whom the sovereign of India and all his courtiers trembled, might order him to instant execution; if he presented it to Nadir first, he would insult his own sovereign out of fear of the stranger. To the astonishment of all, he walked up with a steady step direct to his own master. 'I cannot', said he, 'aspire to the honour of presenting the cup to the king of kings, your majesty's honoured guest, nor would your majesty wish that any hand but your own should do so.' The Emperor took the cup from the golden salver, and presented it to Nadir Shah, who said with a smile as he took it, 'Had all your officers known and done their duty like this man, you had never, my good cousin, seen me and my Kizil Bashis at Delhi; take care of him for your own sake, and get round you as many like him as you can.' [W. H. S.]

28. The famous inscription of Saad-Ullah Khan, supposed to be in the handwriting of Rashid, the greatest caligraphist of his time; _Agar Firdaus bar rue zamin ast--hamin ast, to hamin ast, to hamin ast_'

(Carr Stephen, p. 229; Fanshawe, p. 35 and plate).

29. All these people were cleared out by the events of 1867, and the few beautiful fragments of the palace which have retained anything of their original magnificence are now clean and in good order. The elaborate decorations of the Diwan-i-Khas have been partially restored, and the interior of this building is still extremely rich and elegant.

'Of the public parts of the palace all that now remains is the entrance hall, the Naubat Khana, Diwan-i-Amm and Khas, and the Rang Mahall--now used as a mess-room, and one or two small pavilions. They are the gems of the palace it is true, but without the courts and corridors connecting them they lose all their meaning and more than half their beauty. Being now situated in the middle of a British barrack-yard, they look like precious stones torn from their settings in some exquisite piece of Oriental jeweller's work and set at random in a bed of the commonest plaster' (Fergusson, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p.

312). Since Fergusson wrote an immense amount of work has been done in restoration and conservation, but it is difficult to obtain a general view of the result.

The books about Delhi are even more tantalising and unsatisfactory than those which deal with Agra. Mr. Beglar's contribution to Vol. IV of the _Archaeological Survey Reports_ is a little, but very little, better than Mr. Carlleyle's disquisition on Agra in that volume. Sir A. Cunningham's observations in the first and twentieth volumes of the same series are of greater value, but are fragmentary and imperfect, and scarcely notice at all the city of Shahjahan.

Fergusson's criticisms, so far as they go, are of permanent importance, though the scheme of his work did not allow him to treat in detail of any particular section. Guide-books by Beresford Cooper, Harcourt, and Keene, of which Keene's is the latest, and, consequently, in some respects the best, are all extremely unsatisfactory. Mr. H. C. Fanshawe's _Delhi Past and Present_ (John Murray, 1902), a large, handsome work something between a guide-book and a learned treatise, is not quite satisfying. The late Mr. Carr Stephen, a resident of Delhi, wrote a valuable book on the Archaeology of the city, but it has no ill.u.s.trations, except a few plans on a small scale. (8vo, Ludhiana, 1876.) A good critical, comprehensive, well ill.u.s.trated description of the remains of the cities, said to number thirteen, all grouped together by European writers under the name of Delhi, does not exist, and it seems unlikely that the Panjab Government will cause the blank to be filled. No Government in India has such opportunities, or has done so little, to elucidate the history of the country, as the Government of the Panjab. But it has shown greater interest in the matter of late.

The reorganized Archaeological Survey of India, under the capable guidance of Sir J. H. Marshall, C.I.E., has not yet had time to do much at Delhi beyond the work of conservation. A fourteenth Delhi is now being built (1914).

30. _Ante_, chapter 53, [19].

31. These epistolary formulas mean no more than the similar official phrases in English, 'Your most obedient humble servant', and the like. The 'fortunate occurrence' of the Mutiny--for such it was, in spite of all the blood and suffering--cut out many plague-spots from the body politic of India. Among these the reeking palace swarm of Delhi was not the least malignant.

32. Azrail is the angel of death, whose duty it is to separate the souls from the bodies of men. Israfil is entrusted with the task of blowing the last trump.

33. The resurrection, and the signs foretelling it, are described in the _Mishkat-ul-Masabih_, book xxiii, chapters 3 to 11. (Matthews, vol. ii, pp. 556-620.)

34. The Hindoo 'ages' are (1) Krita, or Satya, (2) Treta, (3) Dwapara, (4) Kali, the present evil age. The long periods a.s.signed to these are merely the result of the calculations of astronomers, who preferred integral to fractional numbers.

35. This kind of education does not now pay, and is, consequently, going out of fashion. The Muhammadans are slowly, and rather unwillingly, yielding to the pressure of necessity and beginning to accept English education.

36. Imam Muhammad Ghazzali, who is also ent.i.tled Hujjat-ul-Islam, is the surname of Abu Hamid Muhammad Zain-ud-din Tusi, one of the greatest and most celebrated Musalman doctors, who was born A.D.

1058, and died A.D. 1111. (Beale, s.v. 'Ghazzali'.) The length of these Muhammadan names is terrible. They are much mangled in the original edition. See _ante_, chapter 53, note 10, and Blochmann (Ain) pp. 103, 182.

37. Khwaja Nasir-ud-din Tusi, the famous philosopher and astronomer, the most universal scholar that Persia ever produced. Born A.D. 1201, died A.D. 1274. (Beale.) See _ante_, loc. cit.

38. Especially the _Bustan_ and _Gulistan_. Beale gives a list of Sadi's works. See _ante_, chapter 12, note 6.

39. This is a very cynical and inadequate explanation of the prevalence of Conservative opinions among Englishmen in the East.

40. Ante, chapter 30, [6].

41. In the original edition the portrait of Akbar II is twice given, namely, in the frontispiece of Volume I as a full-page plate, and again as a miniature, dated 1836, in the frontispiece of Volume II.

42. The most secluded native prince of the present day could not be guilty of this absurdity.

43. Babur was sixth in descent from Timur, not seventh. Babur's grandfather, Abu Sayyid, was great-grandson of Timur. Babur, not Babar, is the correct spelling.

44. This may be an exaggeration. The undoubted facts are sufficiently horrible.

45. Timur was a man of surpa.s.sing ability, and knew much 'else'. See Malcolm, _History of Persia_, ed. 1859, chapter 11.

46. Timur's 'historian and great eulogist' was Sharaf-ud-din (died 1446), whose _Zafarnama_, or 'Book of Victories', was translated into French by Petis de la Croix in 1722. That version was used by Gibbon and rendered into English in 1723, Copious extracts from an independent rendering are given in E. & D., iii, pp. 478-522. The details do not always agree exactly with Sleeman's account.

47. The 'old city' was that of Kutb-ud-din and iltutmish; the 'new city' was that of Firoz Shah, which partly coincided with the existing city, and partly lay to the south, outside the Delhi gate.

48. In A.D. 1303.

49. Now in the Saharanpur district.

50. This is a repet.i.tion of the statement made above. According to _Encycl. Brit._, ed. 1910, Timur returned to his capital in April not May.

51. Bajazet, or more accurately Bayazid I, was defeated by Timur at the battle of Angora in 1402, and died the following year. The story of his confinement in an iron cage is discredited by modern critics, though Gibbon (chapter 65) shows that it is supported by much good evidence. Anatolia is a synonym for Asia Minor. It is a vague term, the Greek equivalent of 'the Levant'.

52. Sebaste, also called Elaeusa or Ayash, was in Cilicia.