=The Patār Plateau. Kanera=, _February 13_: nine miles.—A new feature in
the face of Mewar was this day disclosed to us. At the termination of
our short march, we ascended the Patar, or plateau of Central India, the
grand natural rampart defending Mewar on the east. As we approached it,
the level line of its crest, so distinct from the pinnacled Aravalli, at
once proclaimed it to be a tableland, or rock of the secondary
formation. Although its elevation is not above four hundred feet from
its western base, the transition is remarkable, and it presents from the
summit one of the most diversified scenes, whether in a moral,
political, or picturesque point of view, that I [627] ever beheld. From
this spot the mind’s eye embraces at once all the grand theatres of the
history of Mewar. Upon our right lies Chitor, the palladium of Hinduism;
on the west, the gigantic Aravalli, enclosing the new capital, and the
shelter of her heroes; here, at our feet, or within view, all the
alienated lands now under the ‘barbarian Turk’ or Mahratta, as Jawad,
Jiran, Nimach, Nimbahera, Kheri, Ratangarh. What associations, what
aspirations, does this scene conjure up to one who feels as a Rajput for
this fair land! The rich flat we have passed over—a space of nearly
seventy English miles from one table-range to the other—appears as a
deep basin, fertilized by numerous streams, fed by huge reservoirs in
the mountains, and studded with towns, which once were populous, but are
for the most part now in ruins, though the germ of incipient prosperity
is just appearing. From this height I condensed all my speculative ideas
on a very favourite subject—the formation of a canal to unite the
ancient and modern capitals of Mewar, by which her soil might be made to
return a tenfold harvest, and famine be shut out for ever from her
gates. My eye embraced the whole line of the Berach, from its outlet at
the Udaisagar, to its passage within a mile of Chitor, and the benefit
likely to accrue from such a work appeared incalculable.[11.4.1] What
new ideas would be opened to the Rajput, on seeing the trains of oxen,
which now creep slowly along with merchandise for the capital, exchanged
for boats gliding along the canal; and his fields, for many miles on
each side, irrigated by lateral cuts, instead of the cranking Egyptian
wheel, as it is called, but which is indigenous to India![11.4.2] If the
reader will turn to the map, he will perceive the great facilities for
such an undertaking. He will there see two grand reservoirs within six
miles of each other, the Pichola, or internal lake, having an elevation
of eighty feet above the external one, the Udaisagar, whose outlet forms
the Berach River; but for which the valley of the capital would be one
wide lake and which, for want of proper regulation, once actually
submerged a third of it. The Pichola may be called the parent of the
other, although it is partly fed by the minor lake at the villa of
Suheli-ki-bari. Both are from twelve to fourteen miles in circumference,
in some places thirty-five feet deep, and being fed by the perennial
streams from the Aravalli, they contain a constant supply of water. From
the external lake to Chitor, the fall is so slight that few locks would
be required; and the soil being a yielding one throughout, the expense
of the undertaking would be moderate. There is plenty of material in the
neighbouring hills and forests, and by furnishing occupation for the
wild population, the work would tend not a little to reclaim them. But
[628] where are the means? With this difficulty, and the severe blow to
our incipient prosperity in this untimely frost, our schemes dissipate
like the mist of the morning. But I cannot relinquish the conviction
that the undertaking, if executed, would not only enable the Rana to pay
his tribute, but to be more merciful to his subjects, for whose welfare
it is our chief duty to labour.[11.4.3]
The summit of the Patar has a fertile soil, well-watered and
well-wooded, and producing the mango, mahua, and nim; and were the
appearance of the crops a criterion, we should say it was equal in
fertility to the best part of Mewar. In ancient inscriptions, the term
Uparmal is applied, as well as Patar, to this marked feature in the
geological structure of Central India: the first being rendered exactly
by the German _oberland_; the other signifying ‘flat,’ or table-land.
In the indented recesses of this elevated land, which covers an immense
portion of Central India, there are numerous spots of romantic beauty,
which enthusiasm has not failed to identify with religious associations.
Wherever there is a deep glen, a natural fountain, or a cascade, the
traveller will infallibly discover some traces of the ‘Great God’
(Mahadeva) of the Hindus, the creator and destroyer of life.
=Shrine of Sukhdeo. Human Scapegoats.=—By the stupidity of my guide, and
the absence of the indefatigable Balgovind, my Brahman antiquarian
pioneer, I lost the opportunity of seeing the shrine of Sukhdeo,
situated in a dark cleft of the rock, not two miles from the pass where
I ascended. In excuse, he said he thought, as my camp was near, that it
would be easy to descend to the shrine of the “ease-giving” god, Sukhdeo
(from _sukh_, ‘ease’);[11.4.4] but _revocare gradum_ was an evil which,
added to the necessity of extracting all the information I could from
some of the opium-growers in attendance, deterred me. The abode of
Sukhdeo is in a deep recess, well-wooded, with a cascade bursting from
the rock near its summit, under a ledge of which the symbolic
representative is enshrined. Around it are several _guphas_ or caves of
the anchorite devotees; but the most conspicuous object is a projecting
ledge, named Daitya-ka-har, or ‘Giant’s-bone,’ on which those who are in
search of “ease” jump from above. This is called the Vira-jhamp, or
‘warrior’s-leap,’ and is made in fulfilment of vows either for temporal
or future good.[11.4.5] Although most of the leapers perish, some
instances of escape are recorded. The love of offspring is said to be
the principal motive to this pious act of [629] saltation; and I was
very gravely told of one poor woman, whose philoprogenitive bump was so
great, that she vowed to take the leap herself with her issue; and such,
says the legend, was her faith, that both escaped. A Teli, or oilman,
was the last jumper of Sukhdeo, and he was no less fortunate; to him the
‘giant’s-bone’ was a bed of roses. So much for the faith of the oilman
of Jawad! There are many such Leucotheas in this region of
romance:[11.4.6] that at Omkar, on the Nerbudda, and the sacred mount
Girnar, are the most celebrated.
Until the last sixty years, the whole of the plateau, as far as the
Chambal, belonged to Mewar; but all, with the exception of Kanera, are
now in the hands of Sindhia. Kanera is the chief township of a small
district of twenty-two villages, which, by the change of events, has
fortunately reverted to the Rana, although it was not extricated from
the grasp of the Mahrattas without some difficulty; it was taken first,
and the right of repossession argued afterwards. Would we had tried the
same process with all the rest of the plateau; but unhappily they were
rented to old Lalaji Balal, a lover of order, and an ally of old Zalim
Singh! But let me repeat, for the tenth time, that all these lands are
only held by Sindhia on mortgage for war-contributions, paid over and
over again; and when an opportunity occurs, let this be a record, and
the Patar west of the Chambal be restored to Mewar.
I was delighted to see that the crops of Kanera had only partially
suffered from the ravages of the frost of the 3rd, 4th, to 25th, which
extended over Malwa, and that although the gram was destroyed, the
wheat, barley, sugar-cane, and poppy, were abundant and little injured;
though we could have wished that the last-named pernicious plant, which
is annually increasing all over these regions, had been sacrificed in
lieu of the noble crops of vetches (gram).
That the culture of the poppy, to the detriment of more useful
husbandry, is increasing to an extent which demands the strong hand of
legislative restraint, must strike the most superficial observer in
these regions. When the sumptuary laws of this patriarchal government
were in force, a restraint was at the same time imposed on an
improvident system of farming which, of course, affected the prince,
whose chief revenues were derived from the soil; and one of the agrarian
laws of Mewar was, that there should be to each _charas_, or skin of
land, only one bigha of opium, and the same quantity of cane, with the
usual complement of corn. But the feverish excitement produced by our
monopoly of the drug has extended its culture in every direction, and
even in tracts where hitherto it has never entered into their
agricultural economy. Whatever [630], therefore, be the wisdom or policy
of our interference in this matter, of the result there can be no doubt,
namely, that it converted the agricultural _routinières_ into
speculators and gamblers.
=The History of Opium.=—A slight sketch of the introduction and mode of
culture of this drug, which has tended more to the physical and moral
degradation of the inhabitants than the combined influence of pestilence
and war, may not be without interest.[11.4.7]
We are indebted to the commentaries of the imperial autobiographers,
Babur, Akbar, and Jahangir, for the most valuable information on the
introduction of exotics into the horticultural economy of India; and we
are proud to pay our tribute of applause to the illustrious house of
Timur, whose princes, though despots by birth and education, and albeit
the bane of Rajputana, we must allow, present a more remarkable
succession of great characters, historians, statesmen, and warriors,
than any contemporaneous dynasty, in any region of the world.[11.4.8]
Akbar followed up the plans of Babur, and introduced the gardeners of
Persia and Tartary, who succeeded with many of their fruits, as peaches,
almonds (both indigenous to Rajputana), pistachios, etc. To Jahangir’s
Commentaries we owe the knowledge that tobacco was introduced into India
in his reign; but of the period when the poppy became an object of
culture, for the manufacture of opium, we have not the least
information. Whatever may be the antiquity of this drug, for medicinal
uses, it may be asserted that its abuse is comparatively recent, or not
more than three [631] centuries back.[11.4.9] In none of the ancient
heroic poems of Hindustan is it ever alluded to. The guest is often
mentioned in them as welcomed by the _munawwar piyala_, or ‘cup of
greeting,’[11.4.10] but nowhere by the _amal-pani_, or ‘infused opiate,’
which has usurped the place of the _phul-ra-arak_, or ‘essence of
flowers.’ Before, however, the art of extracting the properties of the
poppy, as at present, was practised, they used the opiate in its crudest
form, by simply bruising the capsules, which they steeped a certain time
in water, afterwards drinking the infusion, to which they give the name
of _tijara_, and not unfrequently _post_, ‘the poppy.’ This practice
still prevails in the remote parts of Rajputana, where either ignorance
of the more refined process, prejudice, or indolence, operates to
maintain old habits.
The culture of opium was at first confined to the _duab_, or tract
between the Chambal and Sipra, from their sources to their junction; but
although tradition has preserved the fact of this being the original
poppy-nursery of Central India, it has long ceased to be the only place
of the poppy’s growth, it having spread not only throughout Malwa, but
into various parts of Rajputana, especially Mewar and Haraoti.[11.4.11]
But though all classes, Kunbis and Jats, Banias and Brahmans, try the
culture, all yield the palm of superior skill to the Kunbi, the original
cultivator, who will extract one-fifth more from the plant than any of
his competitors.
It is a singular fact, that the cultivation of opium increased in the
inverse ratio of general prosperity; and that as war, pestilence, and
famine, augmented their virulence, and depopulated Rajputana, so did the
culture of this baneful weed appear to thrive. The predatory system,
which succeeded Mogul despotism, soon devastated this fair region, and
gradually restricted agricultural pursuits to the richer harvests of
barley, wheat, and gram; till at length even these were confined to a
bare sustenance for the families of the cultivator, who then found a
substitute in the poppy. From the small extent of its culture, he was
able to watch it, or to pay for its protection from pillage; this he
could not do for his corn, which a troop of horse might save him the
trouble of cutting. A kind of moral barometer might, indeed, be
constructed, to show that the maximum of oppression in Mewar was the
maximum of the culture of the poppy in Malwa. Emigration commenced in S.
1840 (A.D. 1784); it was at its height in S. 1856 (A.D. 1800), and went
on gradually depopulating that country until S. 1874 (A.D. 1818). Its
consumption, of course, kept pace with its production, it having found a
vent in foreign markets.
The districts to which the emigrants fled were those of Mandasor,
Khachrod, Unel [632], and others, situated on the feeders of the
Chambal, in its course through Lower Malwa.[11.4.12] There they enjoyed
comparative protection and kind treatment, under Apa Sahib and his
father, who were long the farmers-general of these fertile lands. It
could not be expected, however, that the new settlers should be allowed
to participate in the lands irrigated by wells already excavated; but
Apa advanced funds, and appointed them lands, all fertile though
neglected, in which they excavated wells for themselves. They abandoned
altogether wheat and barley, growing only _makkai_ or ‘Indian corn,’ for
food, which requires no irrigation, and to which the poppy succeeds in
rotation; to these, and the sugar-cane, all their industry was directed.
But to proceed with the process of cultivation. When the crops of Indian
corn (_makkai_) or of hemp (_san_) are gathered in, the stalks are
rooted up and burned; the field is then flooded, and, when sufficiently
saturated, ploughed up. It is then copiously manured with cow-dung,
which is deemed the best for the purpose; but even this has undergone a
preparatory operation, or chemical decomposition, being kept in a hollow
ground during the rainy season, and often agitated with long poles, to
allow the heat to evaporate. In this state it is spread over the fields
and ploughed in. Those who do not keep kine, and cannot afford to
purchase manure, procure flocks of goats and sheep, and pay so much a
night for having them penned in the fields. The land being ploughed and
harrowed at least six or seven times, until the soil is almost
pulverized, it is divided into beds, and slight embankments are formed
to facilitate irrigation. The seed is then thrown in, the fields are
again inundated; and the seventh day following this is repeated to
saturation. On the seventh or ninth, but occasionally not until the
eleventh day, the plant springs up; and on the twenty-fifth, when it has
put forth a few leaves, and begins to look withered, they water it once
more. As soon as this moisture dries, women and children are turned into
the fields to thin the plants, leaving them about eight inches asunder,
and loosening the earth around them with iron spuds. The plant is at
this stage about three inches high. A month later it is watered
moderately, and when dry, the earth is again turned up and loosened. The
fifth water is given in about ten days more; two days after which a
flower appears here and there. This is the signal for another watering,
called ‘the flower-watering’; after which, in twenty-four or thirty-six
hours, all the flowers burst their cells. When about half the petals
have fallen, they irrigate the plants sufficiently to moisten the earth,
and soon the rest of the flowers drop off, leaving the bare capsule,
which rapidly increases in bulk. In a short period, when scarcely a
flower remains, a whitish [633] powder collects outside the capsule,
which is the signal for immediate application of the lancet.
The field is now divided into three parts, in one of which operations
commence. The cutting-instrument consists of three prongs, with delicate
points, around which cotton thread is bound to prevent its making too
deep an incision, and thus causing the liquid to flow into the interior
of the capsule. The wound is made from the base upwards, and the milky
juice which exudes coagulates outside. Each plant is thrice pierced, on
three successive days, the operation commencing as soon as the sun
begins to warm. In cold mornings, when it congeals rapidly, the
coagulation is taken off with a scraper. The fourth morning each plant
is once more pierced, to ascertain that no juice remains. On each
morning this extract is immersed in a vessel of linseed oil, to prevent
it from drying up. The juice being all collected, there remains only the
seed. The capsules are therefore broken off and carried to the barn,
where they are spread out upon the ground; a little water is sprinkled
over them, and being covered with a cloth, they remain till the morning,
when the cattle tread out the seed, which is sent to the oilmen, and the
refuse is burnt, lest the cattle should eat them, as even in this stage
they are poisonous. Poppy oil is more used for the _chiragh_ (lamp) than
any other in Mewar. They calculate a maund (of forty sers, or about
seventy-five pounds weight) of seed for every two sers of milk. The
price of seed is now twenty rupees per _mauni_ of one hundred and twelve
(_kachha_) maunds.
One bigha of Malwa land, of the measure Shahjahani (when the _jarib_, or
rod, is one hundred cubits long), will yield from five to fifteen sers
of opium-juice, each ser being forty-five Salimshahi[11.4.13] rupees in
weight: the medium is reckoned a good produce. The cultivator or farmer
sells it, in the state described, to the speculator, at the price
current of the day. The purchaser puts it into cotton bags of three
folds, and carries it home. Having obtained the leaves of the poppy, he
spreads them in a heap of two or three inches in depth, and thereon
deposits the opium, in balls of fifteen rupees’ weight each, which are
allowed to remain five months for the purpose of evaporation. If the
milk has been thin, or treated with oil, seven parts in ten will remain;
but if good and pure, eight. The _beoparis_ (speculators) then sell it,
either for home-consumption in Rajputana, or for exportation.
From the year S. 1840 (A.D. 1784) to S. 1857 (A.D. 1801), the
market-price of the crude opium from the cultivator ran from sixteen to
twenty-one Salimshahi rupees per _dari_, a measure of five _pakka sers_,
each ser being the weight of ninety Salimshahi [634] rupees. I give the
price of the drug by the grower in the first stage as a better criterion
than that of the manufacturer in its prepared state. In the year S. 1857
it rose to twenty-five rupees; in S. 1860 to twenty-seven, gradually
increasing till S. 1865 (A.D. 1809), when it attained its maximum of
forty-two, or an advance of one hundred and seventy per cent above the
price of the year A.D. 1784. But some natural causes are assigned for
this extraordinary advance; after which it gradually fell, until S. 1870
(A.D. 1814), when it was so low as twenty-nine. In S. 1873 it had again
risen to thirty-three, and in S. 1874-75, when its transit to the ports
of Sind and Gujarat was unmolested (whence it was exported to China and
the Archipelago), it had reached thirty-eight and thirty-nine, where it
now (S. 1876, or A.D. 1820) stands.
In Kanthal[11.4.14] (which includes Partabgarh Deola), or the tracts
upon the Mahi River, opium is cultivated to a great extent, and
adulterated in an extraordinary manner. This being sold in China as
Malwa opium, has greatly lessened the value of the drug in that market.
The adulteration is managed as follows: a preparation of refined _gur_
(molasses) and gum, in equal proportion, is added to half its quantity
of opiate coagulum; the mass is then put into cauldrons, and after being
well amalgamated by boiling, it is taken out, and when sufficiently dry
is well beaten, and put into cotton bags, which are sewn up in green
hides, and exported to Maskat-Mandavi. The Gosains of these parts are
the chief contractors for this impure opium, which is reckoned
peculiarly unwholesome, and is never consumed in Rajputana. Rumour says
that it is transported to the Spice Islands, where it is used as a
manure in the cultivation of the nutmeg. The transit-duties on opium, in
the Native States, are levied on each bullock-load, so that the
adulterated pays as much as the pure. The Gosains smuggle great
quantities.
Such is the history, and I believe a pretty correct one, of the growth
and extension of this execrable and demoralizing plant, for the last
forty years. If the now paramount power, instead of making a monopoly of
it, and consequently extending its cultivation, would endeavour to
restrict it by judicious legislative enactments, or at least reduce its
culture to what it was forty years ago, generations yet unborn would
have just reason to praise us for this work of mercy. It is no less our
interest than our duty to do so, and to call forth genuine industry, for
the improvement of cotton, indigo, sugar-cane, and other products, which
would enrich instead of demoralizing, and therefore impoverishing, the
country. We have saved Rajputana from political ruin; but the boon of
mere existence will be valueless if we fail to restore the [635] moral
energies of her population; for of this fine region and noble race we
might say, as Byron does of Greece—
'Tis Greece—but living Greece no more!
or the mind is decayed, and the body often palsied and worn out, in the
very meridian of life. As far as my personal influence went, I practised
what I preach; and, as I have already stated, exacted a promise, from
the Rana on the throne to the lowest Thakur, that they would never
initiate their children in this debasing practice. But as mere
declamation can do very little good, I will here insert a portion of the
Agrarian customary code of Mewar and Malwa, which may be brought into
operation directly or indirectly. The distribution of crops was as
follows.
=Distribution of Crops.=—To each _charas_, _charsa_, or skin of land,
there is attached twenty-five bighas of irrigated land for wheat and
barley, with from thirty to fifty bighas more, called _mar_, or _mal_,
dependent on the heavens for water, and generally sown with gram. Of the
twenty-five bighas of land irrigated from the well, the legislature
sanctioned one bigha of opium, and ten to fifteen biswas (twenty biswas
are a bigha) of sugar-cane. But in these days of anarchy and confusion,
when every one follows his own view of things, they cultivate two of
opium and three of cane, and perhaps two of barley, instead of
twenty-five, to feed the family! What an unnatural state of agricultural
economy is this, when the cultivator sometimes actually purchases food
for his family, in order that he may bestow his time and labour on this
enervating exotic! But should the foreign markets be closed, and famine,
as is not unusual, ensue, what must be the consequence, where the finest
corn-country in India is converted to a poppy-garden! In Haraoti they
manage these things better; and although its old politic ruler makes use
of the districts in Malwa, which he rents from the Mahrattas, for the
culture of opium, being himself a trader in it, yet I do not believe he
permits its demoralizing influence to enter within his proper domain. It
is pleasing to see some traces of the legislative wisdom of past days,
and old Zalim knows that it is by the more generous productions of the
plough that his country must prosper. But our monopoly acted as an
encouragement of this vice; for no sooner was it promulgated that the
Compani Sahib was contractor-general for opium, than prince and peasant,
nay, the very scavengers, dabbled in the speculation. All Malwa was
thrown into a ferment; like the Dutch tulip-bubble, the most fraudulent
purchases and transfers were effected by men who had not a ser of opium
in their possession. The extent to which this must have gone may be
imagined when [636], according to the return, the sales, in the first
year of our monopoly, exceeded one million sterling, in which I rather
think we gained a loss of some £40,000! It is to be hoped the subject is
now better understood, and that the legislature at home will perceive
that a perseverance in this pernicious traffic is consistent neither
with our honour, our interest, nor with humanity.
If the facts I have collected are confirmed on inquiry, the late
measures of Government,[11.4.15] in whatever motives originating, will
only augment the mischief. Even admitting their expediency in protecting
our Patna monopoly, and their justice as affecting the native
governments (the contractors and cultivators of the drug), still other
measures might have been devised, equally efficacious in themselves, and
less pregnant with evil consequences.
-----
Footnote 11.4.1:
[Irrigation projects in Mewār have recently been studied by Sir
Swinton Jacob and Mr. Manners Smith. “Among the most promising
projects are a canal from Nāogāon on the Banās, two reservoirs on the
Kothāri, and a reservoir on the Banās at Amarpura which, if carried
out, will be one of the grandest works of the kind in India” (Erskine
ii. A. 47).]
Footnote 11.4.2:
[Usually known in India as the Persian wheel, represented in Egypt by
the Sākīeh (Lane, _Modern Egyptians_, 5th ed. ii. 26).]
Footnote 11.4.3:
Even now, as I transcribe this from my journal, I would almost (when
“The Annals” are finished) risk a couple of years’ residence in “the
happy valley,” where I scarcely ever enjoyed one day of health, to
execute this and another favourite project—the reopening of the
tin-mines of Jawara.
Footnote 11.4.4:
[Sukhada, ‘giving pleasure,’ an epithet of Vishnu.]
Footnote 11.4.5:
[_Vīra_, ‘a hero’; Skt. _jhampa_, Hindi, _jhapat_, ‘a spring, leap.’
In Rājasthāni, as Sir G. Grierson writes, the _m_ may easily have been
preserved, or more probably the _a_ would be long, and the _m_
converted into a pure nasal, Jhāp being written _Jhamp_. Another
common form is _Bhairava Jhamp_, ‘the leap in honour of Bhairava,’ a
form of Siva. (For human “scape-goats” of this kind see Crooke,
_Popular Religion and Folklore_, 2nd ed. i. 256; Frazer, _The Golden
Bough_, 3rd ed., _The Scapegoat_, 196 ff.).]
Footnote 11.4.6:
[Ino Leucothea, when Athamas, in a fit of madness, killed Learchus,
their son, fled with her other son, Melicertes, across the plain of
Megaris and threw herself with the boy (or, according to Euripides
(_Medea_, 1289) with her two sons) into the sea. A. B. Cook, _Zeus_,
i. 674.]
Footnote 11.4.7:
[For a good summary of the history of opium cultivation see Watt,
_Comm. Prod._ 845 ff.]
Footnote 11.4.8:
In all the branches of knowledge which have reference to the comforts,
the elegancies, and the luxuries of life, they necessarily bore away
the palm from the Rajput, who was cooped up within the barriers of
superstition. The court of Samarkand, with which the kings of Farghana
were allied, must have been one of the most brilliant in the world for
talents as well as splendour; and to all the hereditary instruction
there imbibed, Babur, the conqueror of India, added that more useful
and varied knowledge only to be acquired by travel, and constant
intercourse with the world. When, therefore, his genius led him from
‘the frosty Caucasus’ into the plains of Hindustan, the habit of
observation and noting in a book, as set before him by Hazrat Timur,
all that appeared novel, never escaped him; and in so marked a
transition from the highlands of Central India to the region of the
sun, his pen had abundant occupation. No production, whether in the
animal or vegetable kingdom, which appeared different from his own,
escaped notice in his book, which must be looked upon as one of the
most remarkable contributions to literature ever made by royalty; for
in no age or country will a work be found at once so comprehensive and
so simple as the Commentaries of Babur; and this in a region where
everything is exaggerated. Whether he depicts a personal encounter on
which his life and prospects hinged, or a battle which gave him the
empire of India, all is in keeping; and when he relates the rewards he
bestowed on Mir Muhammad Jaliban, his architect, for successfully
executing his noble design of throwing a bridge over the Ganges,
“before he had been three years sovereign of Hindustan,” and with the
same simplicity records his own “introduction of melons and grapes
into India,” we are tempted to humiliating reflections on the
magniloquence with which we paint our own few works of public good,
and contrast them unfavourably with those of the Transoxianic monarch,
not then twenty-five years of age! Nor let the reader who may be
induced to take up the volume fail to give homage to the
translator,[11.4.8.A] whose own simple, yet varied and vigorous mind
has transferred the very soul of Babur into his translation.
Footnote 11.4.8.A:
William Erskine, Esq., of Blackburne, who honours me with his
friendship, and has stimulated my exertions to the task in which I am
engaged, and another in which I trust to be engaged, some of the Books
of the Poet Chand, so often alluded to in this work. [The _Memoirs_ of
Bābur or Bābar, translated by J. Leyden and W. Erskine, were published
in 1826, and a reprint, edited by Sir Lucas King, is about to be
issued by the Oxford University Press. An abridged version by
Lieut.-Col. F. G. Talbot appeared in 1909. A new translation from an
improved text, by Mrs. H. Beveridge, is now in course of publication.]
Footnote 11.4.9:
[For a statement of the evidence see Watt, _op. cit._ 845 ff.]
Footnote 11.4.10:
[_Munawwar_ means ‘illuminated, bright, splendid.’]
Footnote 11.4.11:
[In S.E. Mewār, near Mālwa, opium used to be almost as common as wheat
and barley, but the area has greatly decreased since 1899, with the
fall in the price of the drug (Erskine ii. A. 44). Sir G. Watt,
writing in 1908, says it was then restricted to Mālwa, Bihār, and the
United Provinces (_Comm. Prod._ 851 ff.). Since then, under
arrangements with the Chinese, the cultivation has been still further
restricted.]
Footnote 11.4.12:
[Mandasor in Gwalior State, about 95 miles S.E. of Udaipur city
(_IGI_, xvii. 150); Unel, 20 miles N. of Ujjain; Khāchrod, 45 miles
S.S.E. of Mandasor.]
Footnote 11.4.13:
[The Sālimshāhi rupee takes its name from the Partābgarh chief, Sālim
Singh, who issued them for the first time, A.D. 1784 (W. W. Webb,
_Currencies of the Hindu States of Rājputāna_, 23 f.; Malcolm, _Memoir
of Central India_, 2nd ed. ii. 85).]
Footnote 11.4.14:
[The Kānthal tract, now in Partābgarh State, was so called because it
formed the border or boundary (_kāntha_) between Mewār on N., Bāgar on
W., and Mālwa E. and S. (Erskine ii. A. 197).]
Footnote 11.4.15:
It is to be borne in mind that this was written on the spot, in
January, A.D. 1820.
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