Invalid Establishment
Appendix:
Thuggee and the part taken in its Suppression by General Sir W. H.
Sleeman, K.C.B., by Captain J. L. Sleeman
Supplementary Note by the Editor
Additions and Corrections
INDEX
Notes:
1. A blunder for 'Sweepers' and 'Washermen'
2. Chapters 37 to 46, inclusive, are not reprinted in this edition.
3. A mistake. See _post_, Chapter 52, note 1.
EDITOR'S PREFACE (1893)[1]
The _Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official_, always a
costly book, has been scarce and difficult to procure for many years
past. Among the crowd of books descriptive of Indian scenery,
manners, and customs, the sterling merits of Sir William Sleeman's
work have secured it pre-eminence, and kept it in constant demand,
notwithstanding the lapse of nearly fifty years since its
publication. The high reputation of this work does not rest upon its
strictly literary qualities. The author was a busy man, immersed all
his life in the practical affairs of administration, and too full of
his subject to be careful of strict correctness of style or minute
accuracy of expression. Yet, so great is the intrinsic value of his
observations, and so attractive are the sincerity and sympathy with
which he discusses a vast range of topics, that the reader refuses to
be offended by slight formal defects in expression or arrangement,
and willingly yields to the charm of the author's genial and
unstudied conversation.
It would be difficult to name any other book so full of instruction
for the young Anglo-Indian administrator. When this work was
published in 1844 the author had had thirty-five years' varied
experience of Indian life, and had accumulated and assimilated an
immense store of knowledge concerning the history, manners, and modes
of thought of the complex population of India. He thoroughly
understood the peculiarities of the various native races, and the
characteristics which distinguish them from the nations of Europe;
while his sympathetic insight into Indian life had not orientalized
him, nor had it ever for one moment caused him to forget his position
and heritage as an Englishman. This attitude of sane and
discriminating sympathy is the right attitude for the Englishman in
India.
To enumerate the topics on which wise and profitable observations
will be found in this book would be superfluous. The wine is good,
and needs no bush. So much may be said that the book is one to
interest that nondescript person, the general reader in Europe or
America, as well as the Anglo-Indian official. Besides good advice
and sound teaching on matters of policy and administration, it
contains many charming, though inartificial, descriptions of scenery
and customs, many ingenious speculations, and some capital stories.
The ethnologist, the antiquary, the geologist, the soldier, and the
missionary will all find in it something to suit their several
tastes.
In this edition the numerous misprints of the original edition have
been all, and, for the most part, silently corrected. The extremely
erratic punctuation has been freely modified, and the spelling of
Indian words and names has been systematized. Two paragraphs,
misplaced in the original edition at the end of Chapter 48 of Volume
I, have been removed, and inserted in their proper place at the end
of Chapter 47; and the supplementary notes printed at the end of the
second volume of the original edition have been brought up to the
positions which they were intended to occupy. Chapters 37 to 46 of
the first volume, describing the contest for empire between the sons
of Shâh Jahân, are in substance only a free version of Bernier's work
entitled, _The Late Revolution of the Empire of the Great Mogol_.
These chapters have not been reprinted because the history of that
revolution can now be read much more satisfactorily in Mr.
Constable's edition of Bernier's Travels. Except as above stated, the
text of the present edition of the Rambles and Recollections is a
faithful reprint of the Author's text.
In the spelling of names and other words of Oriental languages the
Editor has 'endeavoured to strike a mean between popular usage and
academic precision, preferring to incur the charge of looseness to
that of pedantry'. Diacritical marks intended to distinguish between
the various sibilants, dentals, nasals, and so forth, of the Arabic
and Sanskrit alphabets, have been purposely omitted. Long vowels are
marked by the sign ^. Except in a few familiar words, such as
Nerbudda and Hindoo, which are spelled in the traditional manner,
vowels are to be pronounced as in Italian, or as in the following
English examples, namely: â, as in 'call'; e, or ê, as the medial
vowel in 'cake'; i, as in 'kill'; î, as the medial vowels in 'keel';
u, as in 'full'; û, as the medial vowels in 'fool'; o, or ô, as in
'bone'; ai, or âi, as 'eye' or 'aye', respectively; and au, as the
medial sound in 'fowl'. Short a, with stress, is pronounced like the
u in 'but'; and if without stress, as an indistinct vowel, like the A
in 'America'.
The Editor's notes, being designed merely to explain and illustrate
the text, so as to render the book fully intelligible and helpful to
readers of the present day, have been compressed into the narrowest
possible limits. Even India changes, and observations and criticisms
which were perfectly true when recorded can no longer be safely
applied without explanation to the India of to-day. The Author's few
notes are distinguished by his initials.
A copious analytical index has been compiled. The bibliography is as
complete as careful inquiry could make it, but it is possible that
some anonymous papers by the Author, published in periodicals, may
have escaped notice.
The memoir of Sir William Sleeman is based on the slight sketch
prefixed to the _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, supplemented
by much additional matter derived from his published works and
correspondence, as well as from his unpublished letters and other
papers generously communicated by his only son, Captain Henry
Sleeman. Ample materials exist for a full account of Sir William
Sleeman's noble and interesting life, which well deserves to be
recorded in detail; but the necessary limitations of these volumes
preclude the Editor from making free use of the biographical matter
at his command.
The reproduction of the twenty-four coloured plates of varying merit
which enrich the original edition has not been considered desirable.
The map shows clearly the route taken by the Author in the journey
the description of which is the leading theme of the book.
EDITOR'S PREFACE (1915)
My edition published by Archibald Constable and Company in 1893 being
out of print but still in demand, Mr. Humphrey Milford, the present
owner of the copyright, has requested me to revise the book and bring
it up to date.
This new edition is issued uniform with Mr. Beauchamp's third edition
of _Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies_ by the Abbé J. A. Dubois
(Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1906), a work bearing a strong
resemblance in substance to the _Rambles and Recollections_, and,
also like Sleeman's book in that it 'is as valuable to-day as ever it
was--even more valuable in some respects'.
The labour of revision has proved to be far more onerous than was
expected. In the course of twenty-one years the numerous changes
which have occurred in India, not only in administrative
arrangements, but of various other kinds, necessitate the emendation
of notes which, although accurate when written, no longer agree with
existing facts. The appearance of many new books and improved
editions involves changes in a multitude of references. Such
alterations are most considerable in the annotations dealing with the
buildings at Agra, Sikandara, Fathpur-Sîkrî, and Delhi, and the
connected political history, concerning which much new information is
now available. Certain small misstatements of fact in my old notes
have been put right. Some of those errors which escaped the notice of
critics have been detected by me, and some have been rectified by the
aid of criticisms received from Sir George Grierson, C.I.E., Mr.
William Crooke, sometime President of the Folklore Society, and other
kind correspondents, to all of whom I am grateful. Naturally, the
opportunity has been taken to revise the wording throughout and to
eliminate misprints and typographical defects. The Index has been
recast so as to suit the changed paging and to include the new
matter.
Captain James Lewis Sleeman of the Royal Sussex Regiment has been
good enough to permit the reproduction of his grandfather's portrait,
and has communicated papers which have enabled me to make corrections
in and additions to the Memoir, largely enhancing the interest and
value of that section of the book.
Notes:
1. Certain small changes have been made.
MEMOIR
OF
MAJ.-GEN. SIR WILLIAM HENRY SLEEMAN, K.C.B.
The Sleemans, an ancient Cornish family, for several generations
owned the estate of Pool Park in the parish of Saint Judy, in the
county of Cornwall. Captain Philip Sleeman, who married Mary Spry, a
member of a distinguished family in the same county, was stationed at
Stratton, in Cornwall, on August 8, 1788, when his son William Henry
was born.
In 1809, at the age of twenty-one, William Henry Sleeman was
nominated, through the good offices of Lord De Dunstanville, to an
Infantry Cadetship in the Bengal army. On the 24th of March, in the
same year, he sailed from Gravesend in the ship Devonshire, and,
having touched at Madeira and the Cape, reached India towards the
close of the year. He arrived at the cantonment of Dinapore, near
Patna, on the 20th December, and on Christmas Day began his military
career as a cadet. He at once applied himself with exemplary
diligence to the study of the Arabic and Persian languages, and of
the religions and customs of India. Passing in due course through the
ordinary early stages of military life, he was promoted to the rank
of ensign on the 23rd September, 1810, and to that of lieutenant on
the 16th December, 1814.
Lieutenant Sleeman served in the war with Nepal, which began in 1814
and terminated in 1816. During the campaign he narrowly escaped death
from a violent epidemic fever, which nearly destroyed his regiment.
'Three hundred of my own regiment,' he observes, 'consisting of about
seven hundred, were obliged to be sent to their homes on sick leave.
The greater number of those who remained continued to suffer, and a
great many died. Of about ten European officers present with my
regiment, seven had the fever and five died of it, almost all in a
state of delirium. I was myself one of the two who survived, and I
was for many days delirious.[1]
The services of Lieutenant Sleeman during the war attracted
attention, and accordingly, in 1816, he was selected to report on
certain claims to prize-money. The report submitted by him in
February, 1817, was accepted as 'able, impartial, and satisfactory'.
After the termination of the war he served with his regiment at
Allahabad, and in the neighbouring district of Partâbgarh, where he
laid the foundation of the intimate knowledge of Oudh affairs
displayed in his later writings.
In 1820 he was selected for civil employ, and was appointed Junior
Assistant to the Agent of the Governor-General, administering the
Sâgar and Nerbudda territories. Those territories, which had been
annexed from the Marâthâs two years previously, are now included in
the jurisdiction of the Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces.
In such a recently-conquered country, where the sale of all widows by
auction for the benefit of the Treasury, and other strange customs
still prevailed, the abilities of an able and zealous young officer
had ample scope. Sleeman, after a brief apprenticeship, received, in
1822, the independent civil charge of the District of Narsinghpur, in
the Nerbudda valley, and there, for more than two years, 'by far the
most laborious of his life', his whole attention was engrossed in
preventing and remedying the disorders of his District.
Sleeman, during the time that he was in charge of the Narsinghpur
District, had no suspicion that it was a favourite resort of Thugs. A
few years later, in or about 1830, he was astounded to learn that a
gang of Thugs resided in the village of Kandêlî, not four hundred
yards from his court-house, and that the extensive groves of Mandêsar
on the Sâgar road, only one stage distant from his head-quarters,
concealed one of the greatest _bhîls_, or places of murder, in all
India. The arrest of Feringheea, one of the most influential Thug
leaders, having given the key to the secret, his disclosures were
followed up by Sleeman with consummate skill and untiring assiduity.
In the years 1831 and 1832 the reports submitted by him and other
officers at last opened the eyes of the superior authorities and
forced them to recognize the fact that the murderous organization
extended over every part of India. Adequate measures were then taken
for the systematic suppression of the evil. 'Thuggee Sleeman' made it
the main business of his life to hunt down the criminals and to
extirpate their secret society. He recorded his experiences in the
series of valuable publications described in the Bibliography. In
this brief memoir it is impossible to narrate in detail the thrilling
story of the suppression of Thuggee, and I must be content to pass on
and give in bare outline the main facts of Sleeman's honourable
career.[2]
While at Narsinghpur, Sleeman received on the 24th April, 1824,
brevet rank as Captain. In 1825, he was transferred, and on the 23rd
September of the following year, was gazetted Captain. In 1826,
failure of health compelled him to take leave on medical certificate.
In March, 1828, Captain Sleeman assumed civil and executive charge of
the Jabalpur (Jubbulpore) District, from which he was transferred to
Sâgar in January, 1831. While stationed at Jabalpur, he married, on
the 21st June, 1829, Amélie Josephine, the daughter of Count Blondin
de Fontenne, a French nobleman, who, at the sacrifice of a
considerable property, had managed to escape from the Revolution. A
lady informs the editor that she remembers Sleeman's fine house at
Jabalpur. It stood in a large walled park, stocked with spotted deer.
Both house and park were destroyed when the railway was carried
through the site.
Mr. C. Eraser, on return from leave in January, 1832, resumed charge
of the revenue and civil duties of the Sâgar district, leaving the
magisterial duties to Captain Sleeman, who continued to discharge
them till January, 1835. By the Resolution of Government dated 10th
January, 1835, Captain Sleeman was directed to fix his head-quarters
at Jabalpur, and was appointed General Superintendent of the
operations for the Suppression of Thuggee, being relieved from every
other charge. In 1835 his health again broke down, and he was obliged
to take leave on medical certificate. Accompanied by his wife and
little son, he went into camp in November, 1835, and marched through
the Jabalpur, Damoh, and Sâgar districts of the Agency, and then
through the Native States of Orchhâ, Datiyâ, and Gwâlior, arriving at
Agra on the 1st January, 1836. After a brief halt at Agra, he
proceeded through the Bharatpur State to Delhi and Meerut, and thence
on leave to Simla. During his march from Jabalpur to Meerut he amused
himself by keeping the journal which forms the basis of the _Rambles
and Recollections of an Indian Official_. The manuscript of this work
(except the two supplementary chapters) was completed in 1839, though
not given to the world till 1844. On the 1st of February, 1837, in
the twenty-eighth year of his service, Sleeman was gazetted Major.
During the same year he made a tour in the interior of the Himalayas,
which he described at length in an unpublished journal. Later in the
year he went down to Calcutta to see his boy started on the voyage
home.
In February, 1839, he assumed charge of the office of Commissioner
for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoity. Up to that date the
office of Commissioner for the Suppression of Dacoity had been
separate from that of General Superintendent of the measures for the
Suppression of Thuggee, and had been filled by another officer, Mr.
Hugh Eraser, of the Civil Service. During the next two years Sleeman
passed much of his time in the North-Western Provinces, now the Agra
Province in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, making Murâdâbâd
his head-quarters, and thoroughly investigating the secret criminal
organizations of Upper India.
In 1841 he was offered the coveted and lucrative post of Resident at
Lucknow, vacant by the resignation of Colonel Low; but that officer,
immediately after his resignation, lost all his savings through the
failure of his bankers, and Sleeman, moved by a generous impulse,
wrote to Colonel Low, begging him to retain the appointment.
Sleeman was then deputed on special duty to Bundêlkhand to
investigate the grave disorders in that province. While at Jhânsî in
December, 1842, he narrowly escaped assassination by a dismissed
Afghan sepoy, who poured the contents of a blunderbuss into a native
officer in attendance.[3]
During the troubles with Sindhia which culminated in the battle of
Mahârâjpur, fought on the 29th December, 1843, Sleeman, who had
become a Lieut.-Colonel, was Resident at Gwâlior, and was actually in
Sindhia's camp when the battle unexpectedly began. In 1848 the
Residency at Lucknow again fell vacant, and Lord Dalhousie, by a
letter dated 16th September, offered Sleeman the appointment in the
following terms:
The high reputation you have earned, your experience of civil
administration, your knowledge of the people, and the qualifications
you possess as a public man, have led me to submit your name to the
Council of India as an officer to whom I could commit this important
charge with entire confidence that its duties would be well
performed. I do myself, therefore, the honour of proposing to you to
accept the office of Resident at Lucknow, with especial reference to
the great changes which, in all probability, will take place.
Retaining your superintendency of Thuggee affairs, it will be
manifestly necessary that you should be relieved from the duty of the
trials of Thugs usually condemned at Lucknow.
In the hope that you will not withhold from the Government your
services in the capacity I have named, and in the further hope of
finding an opportunity of personally making your acquaintance,
I have the honour to be,
Dear Colonel Sleeman,
Very faithfully yours,
DALHOUSIE.[4]
The remainder of Sleeman's official life, from January, 1849, was
spent in Oudh, and was chiefly devoted to ceaseless and hopeless
endeavours to reform the King's administration and relieve the
sufferings of his grievously oppressed subjects. On the 1st of
December, 1849, the Resident began his memorable three months' tour
through Oudh, so vividly described in the special work devoted to the
purpose. The awful revelations of the _Journey through the Kingdom of
Oude_ largely influenced the Court of Directors and the Imperial
Government in forming their decision to annex the kingdom, although
that decision was directly opposed to the advice of Sleeman, who
consistently advocated reform of the administration, while
deprecating annexation. His views are stated with absolute precision
in a letter written in 1854 or 1855, and published in _The Times_ in
November, 1857:
We have no right to annex or confiscate Oude; but we have a right,
under the treaty of 1837, to take the management of it, but not to
appropriate its revenues to ourselves. We can do this with honour to
our Government and benefit to the people. To confiscate would be
dishonest and dishonourable. To annex would be to give the people a
government almost as bad as their own, if we put our screw upon them
(_Journey_, ed. 1858, vol. i, Intro., p. xxi).
The earnest efforts of the Resident to suppress crime and improve the
administration of Oudh aroused the bitter resentment of a corrupt
court and exposed his life to constant danger. Three deliberate
attempts to assassinate him at Lucknow are recorded.
The first, in December, 1851, is described in detail in a letter of
Sleeman's dated the 16th of that month, and less fully by General
Hervey, in _Some Records of Crime_, vol. ii, p. 479. The Resident's
life was saved by a gallant orderly named Tîkarâm, who was badly
wounded. Inquiry proved that the crime was instigated by the King's
moonshee.
The second attempt, on October 9, 1853, is fully narrated in an
official letter to the Government of India (Bibliography, No. 15).
Its failure may be reasonably ascribed to a special interposition of
Providence. The Resident during all the years he had lived at Lucknow
had been in the habit of sleeping in an upper chamber approached by a
separate private staircase guarded by two sentries. On the night
mentioned the sentries were drugged and two men stole up the stairs.
They slashed at the bed with their swords, but found it empty,
because on that one occasion General Sleeman had slept in another
room.
The third attempt was not carried as far, and the exact date is not
ascertainable, but the incident is well remembered by the family and
occurred between 1853 and 1856. One day the Resident was crossing his
study when, for some reason or another, he looked behind a curtain
screening a recess. He then saw a man standing there with a large
knife in his hand. General Sleeman, who was unarmed, challenged the
man as being a Thug. He at once admitted that he was such, and under
the spell of a master-spirit allowed himself to be disarmed without
resistance. He had been employed at the Residency for some time,
unsuspected.
Such personal risks produced no effect on the stout heart of Sleeman,
who continued, unshaken and undismayed, his unselfish labours.
In 1854 the long strain of forty-five years' service broke down
Sleeman's strong constitution. He tried to regain health by a visit
to the hills, but this expedient proved ineffectual, and he was
ordered home. On the 10th of February, 1856, while on his way home on
board the Monarch, he died off Ceylon, at the age of sixty-seven, and
was buried at sea, just six days after he had been granted the
dignity of K.C.B.
Lord Dalhousie's desire to meet his trusted officer was never
gratified. The following correspondence between the Governor-General
and Sleeman, now published for the first time, is equally creditable
to both parties:
BARRACKPORE PARK,
January 9th, 1856.
MY DEAR GENERAL SLEEMAN,
I have heard to-day of your arrival in Calcutta, and have heard at
the same time with sincere concern that you are still suffering in
health. A desire to disturb you as little as possible induces me to
have recourse to my pen, in order to convey to you a communication
which I had hoped to be able to make in person.
Some time since, when adjusting the details connected with my
retirement from the Government of India, I solicited permission to
recommend to Her Majesty's gracious consideration the names of some
who seemed to me to be worthy of Her Majesty's favour. My request was
moderate. I asked only to be allowed to submit the name of one
officer from each Presidency. The name which is selected from the
Bengal army was your own, and I ventured to express my hope that Her
Majesty would be pleased to mark her sense of the long course of
able, and honourable, and distinguished service through which you had
passed, by conferring upon you the civil cross of a Knight Commander
of the Bath.
As yet no reply has been received to my letter. But as you have now
arrived at the Presidency, I lose no time in making known to you what
has been done; in the hope that you will receive it as a proof of the
high estimation in which your services and character arc held, as
well by myself as by the entire community of India.
I beg to remain,
My dear General,
Very truly yours,
DALHOUSIE.
Major-General Sleeman.
Reply to above. Dated 11th January, 1856.
MY LORD,
I was yesterday evening favoured with your Lordship's most kind and
flattering letter of the 9th instant from Barrackpore.
I cannot adequately express how highly honoured I feel by the
mention that you have been pleased to make of my services to Her
Majesty the Queen, and how much gratified I am by this crowning act
of kindness from your Lordship in addition to the many favours I have
received at your hands during the last eight years; and whether it
may, or may not, be my fate to live long enough to see the honourable
rank actually conferred upon me, which you have been so considerate
and generous as to ask for me, the letter now received from your
Lordship will of itself be deemed by my family as a substantial
honour, and it will so preserved, I trust, by my son, with feelings
of honest pride, at the thought that his father had merited such a
mark of distinction from so eminent a statesman as the Marquis of
Dalhousie.
My right hand is so crippled by rheumatism that I am obliged to make
use of an amanuensis to write this letter, and my bodily strength is
so much reduced, that I cannot hope before embarking for England to
pay my personal respects to your Lordship.
Under these unfortunate circumstances, I now beg to take my leave of
your Lordship; to offer my unfeigned and anxious wishes for your
Lordship's health and happiness, and with every sentiment of respect
and gratitude, to subscribe myself,
Your Lordship's most faithful and
Obedient servant,
W. H. SLEEMAN,
Major-General.
To the Most Noble
The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.,
Governor-General, &c., &c.,
Calcutta.
Sir William Sleeman was an accomplished Oriental linguist, well
versed in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, and also in possession of a good
working knowledge of Latin, Greek, and French. His writings afford
many proofs of his keen interest in the sciences of geology,
agricultural chemistry, and political economy, and of his intelligent
appreciation of the lessons taught by history. Nor was he insensible
to the charms of art, especially those of poetry. His favourite
authors among the poets seem to have been Shakespeare, Milton, Scott,
Wordsworth, and Cowper. His knowledge of the customs and modes of
thought of the natives of India, rarely equalled and never surpassed,
was more than half the secret of his notable success as an
administrator. The greatest achievement of his busy and unselfish
life was the suppression of the system of organized murder known as
Thuggee, and in the execution of that prolonged and onerous task he
displayed the most delicate tact, the keenest sagacity, and the
highest power of organization.
His own words are his best epitaph: 'I have gone on quietly,' he
writes, '"through evil and through good report", doing, to the best
of my ability, the duties which it has pleased the Government of
India, from time to time, to confide to me in the manner which
appeared to me most conformable to its wishes and its honour,
satisfied and grateful for the trust and confidence which enabled me
to do so much good for the people, and to secure so much of their
attachment and gratitude to their rulers.' [5]
His grandson. Captain J. L. Sleeman, who, when stationed in India
from 1903 to 1908, visited the scenes of his grandfather's labours,
states that everywhere he found the memory of his respected ancestor
revered, and was given the assurance that no Englishman had ever
understood the native of India so well, or removed so many oppressive
evils as General Sir W. H. Sleeman, and that his memory would endure
for ever in the Empire to which he devoted his life's work.
This necessarily meagre account of a life which deserves more ample
commemoration may be fitly closed by a few words concerning the
relatives and descendants of Sir William Sleeman.
His sister and regular correspondent, to whom he dedicated the
_Rambles and Recollections_, was married to Captain Furse, R.N.
His brother's son James came out to India in 1827, joined the 73rd
Regiment of the Bengal Army, was selected for employment in the
Political Department, and was thus enabled to give valuable aid in
the campaign against Thuggee. In due course he was appointed to the
office of General Superintendent of the Operations against Thuggee,
which had been held by his uncle. He rose to the rank of Colonel, and
after a long period of excellent service, lived to enjoy nearly
thirty years of honourable retirement. He died at his residence near
Ross in 1899 at the age of eighty-one.
In 1831 Sir William's only son, Henry Arthur, was gazetted to the
16th (Queen's) Lancers, and having retired early from the army, with
the rank of Captain, died in 1905.
His elder son William Henry died while serving with the Mounted
Infantry during the South African War. His younger son, James Lewis,
a Captain in the Royal Sussex Regiment, who also saw active service
during the war, and was mentioned in dispatches, has a distinguished
African and Indian record, and recently received the honorary degree
of M.A. from the Belfast University for good work done in
establishing the first Officers' Training Corps in Ireland. The
family of Captain James Lewis Sleeman consists of two sons and a
daughter, namely, John Cuthbert, Richard Brian, and Ursula Mary.
Captain Sleeman, as the head of his family, possesses the MSS. &c. of
his distinguished grandfather. The two daughters of Sir William who
survived their father married respectively Colonel Dunbar and Colonel
Brooke.
Notes:
1. _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, vol. ii, p. 105.
2. The general reader may consult with advantage Meadows Taylor, _The
Confessions of a Thug_, the first edition of which appeared in 1839;
and the vivid account by Mark Twain in _More Tramps Abroad_, chapters
49,50.
3. The incident is described in detail in a letter dated December 18,
1842, from Sleeman to his sister Mrs. Furse. Captain J. L. Sleeman
has kindly furnished me with a copy of the letter, which is too long
for reproduction in this place.
4. This letter is printed in full in the _Journey through the Kingdom
of Oude_, pp. xvii-xix.
5. Letter to Lord Hardinge, dated Jhansee, 4th March, 1848, printed
in _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, vol. i, p. xxvii.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
OF THE
WRITINGS OF
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.
_I.--PRINTED_
(1.) 1819 Pamphlet.
Letter addressed to Dr. Tytler, of Allahabad, by Lieut. W. H.
Sleeman, August 20th, 1819.
Copied from the _Asiatic Mirror_ of September the 1st, 1819.
[This letter describes a great pestilence at Lucknow in 1818, and
discusses the theory that cholera may be caused by 'eating a certain
kind of rice'.]
(2.) Calcutta, 1836, 1 vol. 8vo.
_Ramaseeana_, or a Vocabulary of the Peculiar Language used by the
Thugs, with an Introduction and Appendix descriptive of the Calcutta
system pursued by that fraternity, and of the measures which have
been adopted by the Supreme Government of India for its suppression.
Calcutta, G. H. Huttmann, Military Orphan Press, 1836.
[No author's name on title-page, but most of the articles are signed
by W. H. Sleeman.]
Appendices A to Z, and A.2, contain correspondence and copious
details of particular crimes, pp. 1-515. Total pages (v,+270+515)
790.
A very roughly compiled and coarsely printed collection of valuable
documents. [A copy in the Bodleian Library and two copies in the
British Museum. One copy in India Office Library.]
(2a.) Philadelphia 1839, 1 vol. 8vo.
The work described as follows in the printed Catalogue of Printed
Books in the British Museum appears to be a pirated edition of
_Ramaseeana_:
_The Thugs or Phansîgars of India: comprising a history of the rise
and progress of that extraordinary fraternity of assassins; and a
description of the system which it pursues, &c._
Carey and Hart. Philadelphia, 1839. 8vo.
A Hindustani MS. in the India Office Library seems to be the
original of the vocabulary and is valuable as a guide to the spelling
of the words.
(3.) (?)1836 or 1837, Pamphlet.
On the Admission of Documentary Evidence.
_Extract._
[This reprint is an extract from _Ramaseeana_. The rules relating to
the admission of evidence in criminal trials are discussed. 24
pages.]
(4.) 1837, Pamphlet.
Copy of a Letter
which appeared in the _Calcutta Courier_ of the 29th March, 1837,
under the signature of 'Hirtius', relative to the Intrigues of Jotha
Ram.
[This letter deals with the intrigues and disturbances in the Jaipur
(Jyepoor) State in 1835, and the murder of Mr. Blake, the Assistant
to the Resident. (See post, chap, 67, end.) The reprint is a pamphlet
of sixteen pages. At the beginning reference is made to a previous
letter by the author on the same subject, which had been inserted in
the _Calcutta Courier_ in November, 1836.]
(5.) Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. vi. (1837), p. 621.
_History of the Gurha Mundala Rajas, by Captain W. H. Sleeman._
[An elaborate history of the Gond dynasty of Garhâ Mandlâ, 'which is
believed to be founded principally on the chronicles of the Bâjpai
family, who were the hereditary prime ministers of the Gond princes.'
(_Central Provinces Gazetteer,_ 1870, p. 282, note.) The history is,
therefore, subject to the doubts which necessarily attach to all
Indian family traditions.]
(6.) W. H. Sleeman. _Analysis and Review of the Peculiar Doctrines of
the Ricardo or New School of Political Economy._
8vo, Serampore, 1837.
[A copy is entered in the printed catalogue of the library of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal.]
(7.) Calcutta (Serampore), 1839, 8vo.
A REPORT on THE SYSTEM OF MEGPUNNAISM,
or
The Murder of Indigent Parents for their Young Children (who are sold
as Slaves) as it prevails in the Delhi Territories, and the Native
States of Rajpootana, Ulwar, and Bhurtpore.
By Major W. H. Sleeman.
----
From the Serampore Press.
1839.
[Thin 8vo, pp. iv and 121.
A very curious and valuable account of a little-known variety of
Thuggee, which possibly may still be practised. Copies exist in the
British Museum and India Office Libraries, but the Bodleian has not a
copy.]
(8.) Calcutta, 1840, 8vo.
REPORT ON THE DEPREDATIONS COMMITTED BY THE THUG GANGS of UPPER AND
CENTRAL INDIA,
From the Cold Season of 1836-7, down to their Gradual Suppression,
under the operation of the measures adopted against them by the
Supreme Government in the year 1839.
By Major Sleeman
_Commissioner for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoitee._
Calcutta:
G. H. Huttmann, Bengal Military Orphan Press.
1840.
[Thick 8vo, pp. lviii, 549 and xxvi.
The information recorded is similar to that given in the earlier
_Ramaseeana_ volume. Pages xxv-lviii, by Captain N. Lowis, describe
River Thuggee. Copies in the British Museum and India Office, but
none in the Bodleian. This is the only work by Sleeman which has an
alphabetical index.]
(9.) Calcutta 1841, 8vo.
On the SPIRIT OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE
in our
NATIVE INDIAN ARMY.
By Major N.[_sic_] H. Sleeman, Bengal Native Infantry.
'Europaeque saccubuit Asia.'
'The misfortune of all history is, that while the motives of a few
princes and leaders in their various projects of ambition are
detailed with accuracy, the motives which crowd their standards with
military followers are totally overlooked.'--_Malthus._
Calcutta:
Bishop's College Press.
M.DCCC.XLI.
[Thin 8vo. Introduction, pp. i-xiii; On the Spirit of Military
Discipline in the Native Army of India, pp. 1-59; page 60 blank;
Invalid Establishment, pp. 61-84. The text of these two essays is
reprinted as chapters 28 and 29 of vol. ii of _Rambles and
Recollections_ in the original edition, corresponding to Chapters 21
and 22 of the edition of 1893 and Chapters 76, 77 of this (1915)
edition. Most of the observations in the Introduction are utilized in
various places in that work. The author's remark in the Introduction
to these essays--'They may never be published, but I cannot deny
myself the gratification of printing them'--indicates that, though
printed, they were never published in their separate form. The copy
of the separately printed tract which I have seen is that in the
India Office Library. Another is in the British Museum. The pamphlet
is not in the Bodleian.]
(10.) 1841 Pamphlet.
MAJOR SLEEMAN
on the
PUBLIC SPIRIT of THE HINDOOS.
_From the Transactions of the Agricultural and Horticultural
Society,_ vol. 8.
Art. XXII, _Public Spirit among the Hindoo Race as indicated in
the flourishing condition of the Jubbulpore District in former times,
with a sketch of its present state: also on the great importance of
attending to Tree Cultivation and suggestions for extending it. By
Major Sleeman, late in charge of the Jubbulpore District._
[Read at the Meeting of the Society on the 8th September, 1841.]
[This reprint is a pamphlet of eight pages. The text was again
reprinted verbatim as Chapter 14 of vol. 2 of the _Rambles and
Recollections_ in the original edition, corresponding to Chapter 7 of
the edition of 1893, and Chapter 62 of this (1915) edition. No
contributions by the author of later date than the above to any
periodical have been traced. In a letter dated Lucknow, 12th January,
1853 (_Journey,_ vol. 2, p. 390) the author says-'I was asked by Dr.
Duff, the editor of the _Calcutta Review,_ before he went home, to
write some articles for that journal to expose the fallacies, and to
counteract the influences of this [_scil_. annexationist] school; but
I have for many years ceased to contribute to the periodical papers,
and have felt bound by my position not to write for them.']
(11.) London, 1844, 2 vols. large 8vo.
RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN OFFICIAL
by
Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Sleeman, of the Bengal Army.
'The proper study of mankind is man.'--POPE.
In Two Volumes.
London:
J. Hatchard and Son, 187, Piccadilly.
1844.
[Vol. I, pp. v and 478. Frontispiece, in colours, a portrait of 'The
late Emperor of Delhi', namely, Akbar II. At end of volume, six full-
page coloured plates, numbered 25-30, viz. No. 25, 'Plant'; No. 26,
'Plant'; No. 27, 'Plant'; No. 28, 'Ornament'; No. 29, 'Ornament'; No.
30, 'Ornaments'.
Vol. 2, pp. vii and 459. Frontispiece, in colours, comprising five
miniatures; and Plates numbered 1-24, irregularly inserted, and with
several misprints in the titles.
The three notes printed at the close of the second volume were
brought up to their proper places in the edition of 1893, and are
there retained in this (1915) edition. The following paragraph is
prefixed to these notes in the original edition: 'In consequence of
this work not having had the advantage of the author's
superintendence while passing through the press, and of the
manuscript having reached England in insulated portions, some errors
and omissions have unavoidably taken place, a few of which the
following notes are intended to rectify or supply.' The edition of
1844 has been scarce for many years,]
(11a.) Lahore 1888, 2 vols. in one 8vo.
RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS, &o.
(Title as in edition of 1844.)
Republished by A. C, Majumdar.
Lahore:
Printed at the Mufid-i-am Press.
1888.
[Vol. 1, pp. xi and 351. Vol. 2, pp. v and 339. A very roughly
executed reprint, containing many misprints. No illustrations. This
reprint is seldom met with.]
(11b.) Westminster, 1893, 2 vols. in 8vo.
RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS, &c.
A New Edition, edited by Vincent Arthur Smith, I.C.S.; being vol. 5
of Constable's Oriental Miscellany. The book is now scarce.
(12.) Calcutta, 1849.
REPORT
On
BUDHUK
Alias
BAGREE DECOITS
and other
GANG ROBBERS BY HEREDITARY PROFESSION,
and on
The Measures adopted by the Government of India
for their Suppression.
By Lieut.-Col. W. H. Sleeman, Bengal Army.
Calcutta:
J. C. Sherriff, Bengal Military Orphan Press.
1849.
[Folio, pp. iv and 433. Map. Printed on blue paper. A valuable work.
In their Dispatch No. 27, dated 18th September, 1850, the Honourable
Court of Directors observe that 'This Report is as important and
interesting as that of the same able officer on the Thugs'. Copies
exist in the British Museum and India Office Libraries, but there is
none in the Bodleian. The work was first prepared for press in 1842
(Journey, vol. 1, p, xxvi).]
(13.) 1852, Plymouth, Pamphlet.
AN ACCOUNT of WOLVES NURTURING CHILDREN IN THEIR DENS.
By an Indian Official.
Plymouth:
Jenkin Thomas, Printer,
9, Cornwall Street.
1852.
[Octavo pamphlet. 15 pages. The cases cited are also described in the
_Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, and are discussed in V. Ball,
_Jungle Life in India_ (De la Rue, 1880), pp. 454-66. The only copy
known to me is that in possession of the author's grandson.]
(14.)Lucknow, 1852.
Sir William Sleeman printed his _Diary of a Journey through Oude_
privately at a press in the Residency. He had purchased a small
press and type for the purpose of printing it at his own house, so
that no one but himself and the compositor might see it. He intended,
if he could find time, to give the history of the reigning family in
a third volume, which was written, but has never been published. The
title is: Diary of a Tour through Oude in December, 1849, and January
and February, 1850.
By The Resident
Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Sleeman.
Printed at Lucknow in a Parlour Press.
1852.
Two vols. large 8vo. with wide margins. Printed well on good paper.
Vol. 1 has map of Oude, 305 pp. text, and at end a printed slip of
errata. Vol. 2 has 302 pp. text, with a similar slip of errata. The
brief Preface contains the following statements:
'I have had the Diary printed at my own expense in a small parlour
press which I purchased, with type, for the purpose. . . . The Diary
must for the present be considered as an official document, which may
be perused, but cannot be published wholly or in part without the
sanction of Government previously obtained.' [1]
Eighteen copies of the Diary were so printed and were coarsely bound
by a local binder. Of these copies twelve were distributed as
follows, one to each person or authority: Government, Calcutta; Court
of Directors; Governor-General; Chairman of Court of Directors;
Deputy Chairman; brother of author; five children of author, one each
(5); Col. Sykes, Director E.I.C.
A Memorandum of Errata was put up along with some of the copies
distributed. (_Private Correspondence,_ Journey, _vol._ 2, _pp._ 357,
393, _under dates 4 April, 1852, and 12 Jan., 1853._) The Bodleian
copy, purchased in June, 1891, was that belonging to Mrs, (Lady)
Sleeman, and bears her signature 'A. J. Sleeman' on the fly-leaf of
each volume. The book was handsomely bound in morocco or russia, with
gilt edges, by Martin of Calcutta. The British Museum Catalogue does
not include a copy of this issue. The India Office Library has a copy
of vol. 1 only. Captain J. L. Sleeman has both volumes.
(15.) 1853, Pamphlet.
Reprint of letter No. 34 of 1853 from the author to J, P. Grant,
Esq., Officiating Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign
Department, Fort William. Dated Lucknow Residency, 12th October,
1853.
[Six pages. Describes another attempt to assassinate the author on
the 9th October, 1853. See ante, p. xxvi.]
(16.) London 1858, 2 vols. 8vo.
_A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, in 1849-50, by direction of
the Right Hon. the Earl of Dalhousie, Governor-General._
With Private Correspondence relative to the Annexation of Oude to
British India, &c.
By Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman, K.C.B., Resident at the Court of
Lucknow.
In two Volumes.
London:
Richard Bentley, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1858.
[Small 8vo. Frontispiece of vol. 1 is a Map of the Kingdom of Oude.
The contents of vol. 1 are: Title, preface, and contents, pp. i-x;
Biographical Sketch of Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman, K.C.B., pp.
xi-xvi; Introduction, pp. xvii-xxii; Private Correspondence preceding
the Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, pp. xxiii-lxxx; Diary of a
Tour through Oude, chapters i-vi, pp. 1-337. The contents of vol. 2
are: Title and contents, pp. i-vi; Diary of a Tour through Oude, pp.
1-331; Private Correspondence relating to the Annexation of the
Kingdom of Oude to British India, pp. 332-424. The letters printed in
this volume were written between 5th Dec., 1849, and 11th Sept.,
1854, during and after the Tour. The dates of the letters in the
first volume extend from 20th Feb., 1848, to 11th Oct., 1849. The
Tour began on 1st Dec., 1849, The book, though rather scarce, is to
be found in most of the principal libraries, and may be obtained from
time to time.]
_II.--UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS_
(1.) 1809.
Two books describing author's voyage to India round the Cape.
(2.) 1837.
Journal of a Trip from Simla to Gurgoohee.
[Referred to in unpublished letters dated 5th and 30th August, 1837.]
(3.) _Circa_1824.
Preliminary Observations and Notes on Mr. Molony's Report on
Narsinghpur.
[Referred to in _Central Provinces Gazetteer_, Nâgpur, 2nd ed., 1870,
pp. xcix, cii, &c. The papers seem to be preserved in the record room
at Narsinghpur.]
(4.) 1841.
History of Byza Bae (Baiza Bâî).
[Not to be published till after author's death. See unpublished
_letter dated Jhânsî,_ Oct. 22nd, 1841.]
(5.)
History of the Reigning Family of Oude.
[Intended to form a third volume of the _Journey._ See Author's
_Letter to Sir James Weir Hogg, Deputy Chairman, India House,_ dated
Lucknow, 4th April, 1852; printed in _Journey,_ vol. 2, p. 358.]
The manuscripts Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5, and the printed papers Nos. 1,
3, 4, 10, 13, and 15, are in the possession of Captain J, L. Sleeman,
Royal Sussex Regiment, grandson of the author. The India Office
Library possesses copies of the printed works Nos. 2, 7, 8, 9, 11a,
12, 14 (vol. 1 only) and 16.
Notes:
1. The book was written in 1851, and the Directors' permission to
publish was given in December, 1852. (_Journey,_ ii, pp. 358, 393,
ed. 1858. The Preface to that ed. wrongly indicates December, 1851,
as the date of that permission.)
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF CHAPTERS
_Edition_ 1844. _Edition_ 1893. _Edition_
1915.
Vol. 1, chap. 1-36 Vol. 1, chap. 1-36 Chap. 1-36
" " 37-46 " " 37-46 titles only " 37-46
titles only
" " 47,48 " " 47,48 " 47,48
Vol. 2, " 1 " " 49 " 49
" " 2 " " 50 " 50
" " 3 " " 51 " 51
" " 4 " " 52 " 52
" " 5 " " 53 " 53
" " 6 " " 54 " 54
" " 7 " " 55 " 55
" " 8 Vol. 2 " 1 " 56
" " 9 " " 2 " 57
" " 10 " " 3 " 58
" " 11 " " 4 " 59
" " 12 " " 5 " 60
" " 13 " " 6 " 61
" " 14 " " 7 " 62
" " 15 " " 8 " 63
" " 16 " " 9 " 64
" " 17 " " 10 " 65
" " 18 " " 11 " 66
" " 19 " " 12 " 67
" " 20 " " 13 " 68
" " 21 " " 14 " 69
" " 22 " " 15 " 70
" " 23 " " 16 " 71
" " 24 " " 17 " 72
" " 25 " " 18 " 73
" " 26 " " 19 " 74
" " 27 " " 20 " 75
" " 28 " " 21 " 76
" " 29 " " 22 " 77
ABBREVIATIONS
A.C. After Christ.
_Ann. Rep. Annual Report._
A.S. Archaeological Survey.
_A.S.R. Archaeological Survey Reports,_ by Sir Alexander Cunningham
and his assistants; 23 vols. 8vo, Simla and Calcutta, 1871-87, with
General Index (vol. xxiv, 1887) by V. A. Smith.
_A.S.W.I. Archaeological Survey Reports, Western India._
Beale. T. W. Beale, _Oriental Biographical Dictionary,_ ed. Keene,
1894.
C.P. Central Provinces.
E.& D. Sir H. M. Elliot and Professor J. Dowson, _The History of
India as told by its own Historians, Muhammadan Period;_ 8 vols. 8vo,
London, 1867-77.
_E.H.I._ V. A. Smith, _Early History of India,_ 3rd ed., Oxford,
1914.
_Ep. Ind. Epigraphia Indica,_ Calcutta.
Fanshawe. H. C. Fanshawe, _Delhi Past and Present,_ Murray, London,
1902.
_H.F.A._ V. A. Smith, _A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon,_
4to, Oxford, 1911.
_I.G. Imperial Gazetteer of India_, Oxford, 1907, 1908.
_Ind. Ant. Indian Antiquary,_ Bombay.
_J.A.S.B. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,_ Calcutta.
_J.R.A.S. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,_ London.
_N.I.N.& Qu. North-Indian Notes and Queries,_ Allahabad, 1891-6
N.W.P. North-Western Provinces.
_Z.D.M.G. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft,_
Leipzig.
CHAPTER 1
Annual Fairs held upon the Banks of Sacred Streams in India.
Before setting out on our journey towards the Himâlaya we formed once
more an agreeable party to visit the Marble Rocks of the Nerbudda at
Bherâghât.[1] It was the end of Kârtik,[2] when the Hindoos hold
fairs on all their sacred streams at places consecrated by poetry or
tradition as the scene of some divine work or manifestation. These
fairs are at once festive and holy; every person who comes enjoying
himself as much as he can, and at the same time seeking purification
from all past transgressions by bathing and praying in the holy
stream, and making laudable resolutions to be better for the future.
The ceremonies last five days, and take place at the same time upon
all the sacred rivers throughout India; and the greater part of the
whole Hindoo population, from the summits of the Himâlaya mountains
to Cape Comôrin, will, I believe, during these five days, be found
congregated at these fairs. In sailing down the Ganges one may pass
in the course of a day half a dozen such fairs, each with a multitude
equal to the population of a large city, and rendered beautifully
picturesque by the magnificence and variety of the tent equipages of
the great and wealthy. The preserver of the universe (_Bhagvân_)
Vishnu is supposed, on the 26th of Asârh, to descend to the world
below (_Pâtâl_) to defend Râjâ Bali from the attacks of Indra, to
stay with him four months, and to come up again on the 26th
Kârtik.[3] During his absence almost all kinds of worship and
festivities are suspended; and they recommence at these fairs, where
people assemble to hail his resurrection.
Our tents were pitched upon a green sward on one bank of a small
stream running into the Nerbudda close by, while the multitude
occupied the other bank. At night all the tents and booths are
illuminated, and the scene is hardly less animated by night than by
day; but what strikes a European most is the entire absence of all
tumult and disorder at such places. He not only sees no disturbance,
but feels assured that there will be none; and leaves his wife and
children in the midst of a crowd of a hundred thousand persons all
strangers to them, and all speaking a language and following a
religion different from theirs, while he goes off the whole day,
hunting and shooting in the distant jungles, without the slightest
feeling of apprehension for their safety or comfort. It is a singular
fact, which I know to be true, that during the great mutiny of our
native troops at Barrackpore in 1824, the chief leaders bound
themselves by a solemn oath not to suffer any European lady or child
to be injured or molested, happen what might to them in the collision
with their officers and the Government. My friend Captain Reid, one
of the general staff, used to allow his children, five in number, to
go into the lines and play with the soldiers of the mutinous
regiments up to the very day when the artillery opened upon them;
and, of above thirty European ladies then at the station, not one
thought of leaving the place till they heard the guns.[4] Mrs.
Colonel Faithful, with her daughter and another young lady, who had
both just arrived from England, went lately all the way from Calcutta
to Lûdiâna on the banks of the Hyphasis, a distance of more than
twelve hundred miles, in their palankeens with relays of bearers, and
without even a servant to attend them.[5] They were travelling night
and day for fourteen days without the slightest apprehension of
injury or of insult. Cases of ladies travelling in the same manner by
_dâk_ (stages) immediately after their arrival from England to all
parts of the country occur every day, and I know of no instance of
injury or insult sustained by them.[6] Does not this speak volumes
for the character of our rule in India? Would men trust their wives
and daughters in this manner unprotected among a people that disliked
them and their rule? We have not a garrison, or walled cantonments,
or fortified position of any kind for our residence from one end of
our Eastern empire to the other, save at the three capitals of
Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.[7] We know and feel that the people
everywhere look up to and respect us, in spite of all our faults, and
we like to let them know and feel that we have confidence in them.
Sir Thomas Munro has justly observed, 'I do not exactly know what is
meant by civilizing the people of India. In the theory and practice
of good government they may be deficient; but, if a good system of
agriculture, if unrivalled manufactures, if the establishment of
schools for reading and writing, if the general practice of kindness
and hospitality, and, above all, if a scrupulous respect and delicacy
towards the female sex are amongst the points that denote a civilized
people; then the Hindoos are not inferior in civilization to the
people of Europe'.[8]
Bishop Heber writes in the same favourable terms of the Hindoos in
the narrative of his journey through India; and where shall we find a
mind more capable of judging of the merits and demerits of a people
than his?[9]
The concourse of people at this fair was, as usual, immense; but a
great many who could not afford to provide tents for the
accommodation of their families were driven away before their time by
some heavy showers of, to them, unseasonable rains. On this and
similar occasions the people bathe in the Nerbudda without the aid of
priests, but a number of poor Brahmans attend at these festivals to
receive charity, though not to assist at the ceremonies. Those who
could afford it gave a trifle to these men as they came out of the
sacred stream, but in no case was it demanded, or even solicited with
any appearance of importunity, as it commonly is at fairs and holy
places on the Ganges. The first day, the people bathe below the rapid
over which the river falls after it emerges from its peaceful abode
among the marble rocks; on the second day, just above this rapid; and
on the third day, two miles further up at the cascade, when the whole
body of the limpid stream of the Nerbudda, confined to a narrow
channel of only a few yards wide, falls tumultuously down in a
beautiful cascade into a deep chasm of marble rocks. This fall of
their sacred stream the people call the 'Dhuândhâr', or 'the smoky
fall', from the thick vapour which is always seen rising from it in
the morning. From below, the river glides quietly and imperceptibly
for a mile and a half along a deep, and, according to popular belief,
a fathomless channel of from ten to fifty yards wide, with snow-white
marble rocks rising perpendicularly on either side from a hundred to
a hundred and fifty feet high, and in some parts fearfully
overhanging. Suspended in recesses of these white rocks are numerous
large black nests of hornets ready to descend upon any unlucky wight
who may venture to disturb their repose;[10] and, as the boats of the
curious European visitors pass up and down to the sound of music,
clouds of wild pigeons rise from each side, and seem sometimes to
fill the air above them. Here, according to native legends, repose
the Pândavas, the heroes of their great Homeric poem, the
Mahâbhârata, whose names they have transferred to the valley of the
Nerbudda. Every fantastic appearance of the rocks, caused by those
great convulsions of nature which have so much disturbed the crust of
the globe, or by the slow and silent working of the, waters, is
attributed to the god-like power of those great heroes of Indian
romance, and is associated with the recollection of scenes in which
they are supposed to have figured.[11]
The strata of the Kaimûr range of sandstone hills, which runs
diagonally across the valley of the Nerbudda, are thrown up almost
perpendicularly, in some places many hundred feet above the level of
the plain, while in others for many miles together their tops are
only visible above the surface. These are so many strings of the oxen
which the arrows of Arjun, one of the five brothers, converted into
stone; and many a stream which now waters the valley first sprang
from the surface of the earth at the touch of his lance, as his
troops wanted water. The image of the gods of a former day, which now
lie scattered among the ruins of old cities, buried in the depth of
the forest, are nothing less than the bodies of the kings of the
earth turned into stone for their temerity in contending with these
demigods in battle. Ponds among the rocks of the Nerbudda, where all
the great fairs are held, still bear the names of the five brothers,
who are the heroes of this great poem;[12] and they are every year
visited by hundreds of thousands who implicitly believe that their
waters once received upon their bosoms the wearied limbs of those
whose names they bear. What is life without the charms of fiction,
and without the leisure and recreations which these sacred imaginings
tend to give to the great mass of those who have nothing but the
labour of their hands to depend upon for their subsistence! Let no
such fictions be believed, and the holidays and pastimes of the lower
orders in every country would soon cease, for they have almost
everywhere owed their origin and support to some religious dream
which has commanded the faith and influenced the conduct of great
masses of mankind, and prevented one man from presuming to work on
the day that another wished to rest from his labours. The people were
of opinion, they told me, that the Ganges, as a sacred stream, could
last only sixty years more, when the Nerbudda would take its place.
The waters of the Nerbudda are, they say already so much more sacred
than those of the Ganges that to see them is sufficient to cleanse
men from their sins, whereas the Ganges must be touched before it can
have that effect.[13]
At the temple built on the top of a conical hill at Bherâghât,
overlooking the river, is a statue of a bull carrying Siva, the god
of destruction, and his wife Pârvatî seated behind him; they have
both snakes in their hands, and Siva has a large one round his loins
as a waistband. There are several demons in human shape lying
prostrate under the belly of the bull, and the whole are well cut out
of one large slab of hard basalt from a dyke in the marble rock
beneath. They call the whole group 'Gaurî Sankar', and I found in the
fair, exposed for sale, a brass model of a similar one from Jeypore
(Jaipur), but not so well shaped and proportioned. On noticing this
we were told that 'such difference was to be expected, since the
brass must have been made by man, whereas the "Gaurî Sankar" of the
temple above was a real Pâkhân, or a conversion of living beings into
stone by the gods;[14] they were therefore the exact resemblance of
living beings, while the others could only be rude imitations'.
'Gaurî', or the Fair, is the name of Pârvatî, or Dêvî, when she
appears with her husband Siva. On such occasions she is always fair
and beautiful. Sankar is another name of Siva, or Mahâdêo, or Rudra.
On looking into the temple at the statue, a lady expressed her
surprise at the entireness as well as the excellence of the figures,
while all round had been so much mutilated by the Muhammadans. 'They
are quite a different thing from the others', said a respectable old
landholder; 'they are a conversion of real flesh and blood into
stone, and no human hands can either imitate or hurt them.' She
smiled incredulously, while he looked very grave, and appealed to the
whole crowd of spectators assembled, who all testified to the truth
of what he had said; and added that 'at no distant day the figures
would be all restored to life again, the deities would all come back
without doubt and reanimate their old bodies again'.
All the people who come to bathe at the fair bring chaplets of yellow
jasmine, and hang them as offerings round the necks of the god and
his consort; and at the same time they make some small offerings of
rice to each of the many images that stand within the same apartment,
and also to those which, under a stone roof supported upon stone
pillars, line the inside of the wall that surrounds the circular
area, in the centre of which the temple stands. The images inside the
temple are those of the three great gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva,
with their primaeval consorts;[15] but those that occupy the piazza
outside are the representations of the consorts of the different
incarnations of these three gods, and these consorts are themselves
the incarnations of the primaeval wives, who followed their husbands
in all their earthly ramblings. They have all the female form, and
are about the size of ordinary women, and extremely well cut out of
fine white and green sandstone; but their heads are those of the
animals in which their respective husbands became incarnate, such as
the lion, the elephant, &c., or those of the '_vâhans_', or animals
on which they rode, such as the bull, the swan, the eagle, &c. But
these, I presume, are mere _capricios_ of the founder of the temple.
The figures are sixty-four in number, all mounted upon their
respective '_vâhans_', but have been sadly mutilated by the pious
Muhammadans.[16]
The old 'Mahant', or high priest, told us that Mahâdêo and his wife
were in reality our Adam and Eve; 'they came here together', said he,
'on a visit to the mountain Kailâs,[17] and being earnestly solicited
to leave some memorial of their visit, got themselves turned into
stone'. The popular belief is that some very holy man, who had been
occupied on the top of this little conical hill, where the temple now
stands, in austere devotions for some few thousand years, was at last
honoured with a visit from Siva and his consort, who asked him what
they could do for him. He begged them to wait till he should bring
some flowers from the woods to make them a suitable offering. They
promised to do so, and he ran down, plunged into the Nerbudda and
drowned himself, in order that these august persons might for ever
remain and do honour to his residence and his name. They, however,
left only their 'mortal coil', but will one day return and resume it.
I know not whether I am singular in the notion or not, but I think
Mahâdêo and his consort are really our Adam and Eve, and that the
people have converted them into the god and goddess of destruction,
from some vague idea of their original sin, which involved all their
race in destruction. The snakes, which form the only dress of
Mahâdêo, would seem to confirm this notion.[18]
Notes:
1. The Nerbudda (Narbadâ, or Narmadâ) river is the boundary between
Hindustan, or Northern India, and the Deccan (Dakhin), or Southern
India. The beautiful gorge of the Marble Rocks, near Jubbulpore
(Jabalpur), is familiar to modern tourists (see _I.G._, 1908, s.v.
'Marble Rocks'). The remarkable antiquities at Bherâghât are
described and illustrated in _A.S.R._, vol. ix, pp. 60-76, pl. xii-
xvi. Additions and corrections to Cunningham's account will be found
in _A.S.W.I Progr. Rep._, 1893-4, p. 5; and _A.S. Ann. Rep., E.
Circle_, 1907-8, pp. 14-18.
2. The eighth month of the Hindoo luni-solar year, corresponding to
part of October and part of November. In Northern India the year
begins with the month Chait, in March. The most commonly used names
of the months are: (1) Chait; (2) Baisâkh; (3) Jêth; (4) Asârh; (5)
Sâwan; (6) Bhâdon; (7) Kuâr; (8) Kârtik; (9) Aghan; (10) Pûs; (II)
Mâgh; and (12) Phâlgun.
3. _Bhagvân_ is often used as equivalent for the word God in its most
general sense, but is specially applicable to the Deity as manifested
in Vishnu the Preserver. _Asârh_ corresponds to June-July, _Pâtâl_ is
the Hindoo Hades. Râjâ Bali is a demon, and Indra is the lord of the
heavens. The fairs take place at the time of full moon.
4. Barrackpore, fifteen miles north of Calcutta, is still a
cantonment. The Governor General has a country house there. The
mutiny of the native troops stationed there occurred on Nov. 1, 1824,
and was due to the discontent caused by orders moving the 47th Native
Infantry to Rangoon to take part in the Burmese War. The outbreak was
promptly suppressed. Captain Pogson published a _Memoir of the Mutiny
at Barrackpore_ (8vo, Serampore, 1833).
5. Lûdiâna, the capital of the district of the same name, now under
the Punjab Government. Hyphasis is the Greek name of the Biâs river,
one of the five rivers of the Punjâb.
6. Railways have rendered almost obsolete the mode of travelling
described in the text. In Northern India palankeens (pâlkîs) are now
seldom used, even by Indians, except for purposes of ceremony.
7. This statement is no longer quite accurate, though fortified
positions are still very few.
8. The editor cannot find the exact passage quoted, but remarks to
the same effect will be found in _The Life of Sir Thomas Munro,_ by
the Rev. G. R. Gleig, in two volumes, a new edition (London, 1831),
vol. ii, p. 175.
9. _Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, from
Calcutta to Bombay, 1834-5, and a Journey to the Southern Provinces
in 1826_ (2nd edition, 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1828.)
10. The bees at the Marble Rocks are the _Apis dorsata_. An
Englishman named Biddington, when trying to escape from them, was
drowned, and they stung to death one of Captain Forsyth's baggage
ponies (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia of India,_ 3rd ed., 1885, s.v. Bee').
11. The vast epic poem, or collection of poems known as the
Mahâbhârata, consists of over 100,000 Sanskrit verses. The main
subject is the war between the five Pândavas, or sons of Pândû, and
their cousins the Kauravas, sons of Dhritarâshtra. Many poems of
various origins and dates are interwoven with the main work. The best
known of the episodes is that of _Nala and Damayantî,_ which was well
translated by Dean Milman, See Macdonell, _A History of Sanskrit
Literature_ (Heinemann, 1900).
12. The five Pândava brothers were Yudhishthira, Bhîmia, Arjuna,
Nakula, and Sahadeva, the children of Pândû, by his wives Kuntî, or
Prithâ, and Madrî.
13. 'The Narbadâ has its special admirers, who exalt it oven above
the Ganges, . . . The sanctity of the Ganges will, they say, cease in
1895, whereas that of the Narbadâ will continue for ever' (Monier
Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India,_ London, 1883, p.
348), See _post,_ Chapter 27.
14. Sleeman wrote 'Py-Khan', a corrupt spelling of pâkhân, the
Sanskrit pâshâna or pâsâna, 'a stone'. The compound pâshâna-mûrti is
commonly used in the sense of 'stone image'. The sibilant _sh_ or _s_
usually is pronounced as _kh_ in Northern India (Grierson,
_J.R.A.S.,_ 1903, p. 363).
15. Sarasvatî, consort of Brahma; Dêvî (Pârvatî, Durgâ, &c.), consort
of Siva; and Lakshmî, consort of Vishnu. All Hindoo deities have many
names.
16. The author's explanation is partly erroneous. The temple, which
is a very remarkable one, is dedicated to the sixty-four Joginîs.
Only five temples in India are known to be dedicated to these demons.
For details see Cunningham, _A.S.R.,_ vol. ix, pp. 61-74, pl. xii-
xvi; vol. ii, p. 416; and vol. xxi, p. 57. The word _vâhana_ means
'vehicle'. Each deity has his peculiar vehicle.
17. The heaven of Siva, as distinguished from Vaikuntha, the heaven
of Vishnu. It is supposed to be somewhere in the Himâlaya mountains.
The wonderful excavated rock temple at Ellora is believed to be a
model of Kailâs.
18. This 'notion' of the author's is not likely to find acceptance at
the present day.
CHAPTER 2
Hindoo System of Religion.
The Hindoo system is this. A great divine spirit or essence,
'Brahma', pervades the whole universe; and the soul of every human
being is a drop from this great ocean, to which, when it becomes
perfectly purified, it is reunited. The reunion is the eternal
beatitude to which all look forward with hope; and the soul of the
Brahman is nearest to it. If he has been a good man, his soul becomes
absorbed in the 'Brahma'; and, if a bad man, it goes to 'Narak',
hell; and after the expiration of its period there of _limited
imprisonment_, it returns to earth, and occupies the body of some
other animal. It again advances by degrees to the body of the
Brahman; and thence, when fitted for it, into the great 'Brahma'.[1]
From this great eternal essence emanate Brahma, the Creator, whose
consort is Sarasvatî;[2] Vishnu, the Preserver, whose consort is
Lakshmî; and Siva, _alias_ Mahâdêo, the Destroyer, whose consort is
Pârvatî. According to popular belief Jamrâj (Yamarâja) is the
judicial deity who has been appointed by the greater powers to pass
the final judgement on the tenor of men's lives, according to
proceedings drawn up by his secretary Chitragupta. If men's actions
have been good, their souls are, as the next stage, advanced a step
towards the great essence, Brahma; and, if bad, they are thrown back,
and obliged to occupy the bodies of brutes or of people of inferior
caste, as the balance against them may be great or small. There is an
intermediate stage, a 'Narak', or hell, for bad men, and a
'Baikunth', or paradise, for the good, in which they find their
felicity in serving that god of the three to which they have
specially devoted themselves while on earth. But from this stage,
after the period of their sentence is expired, men go back to their
pilgrimage on earth again.
There are numerous Dêos (Devas), or good spirits, of whom Indra is
the chief; [3] and Daityas, or bad spirits; and there have also been
a great number of incarnations from the three great gods, and their
consorts, who have made their appearance upon the earth when required
for particular purposes. All these incarnations are called 'Avatârs',
or descents. Vishnu has been eleven times on the globe in different
shapes, and Siva seven times.[4] The avatârs of Vishnu are celebrated
in many popular poems, such as the Râmâyana, or history of the Rape
of Sitâ, the wife of Râma, the seventh incarnation;[5] the
Mahâbhârata, and the Bhâgavata [Purâna], which describe the wars and
amours of this god in his last human shape.[6] All these books are
believed to have been written either by the hand or by the
inspiration of the god himself thousands of years before the events
they describe actually took place. 'It was', they say, 'as easy for
the deity to write or dictate a battle, an amour, or any other
important event ten thousand years before as the day after it took
place'; and I believe nine-tenths, perhaps ninety-nine in a hundred,
of the Hindoo population believe implicitly that these accounts were
also written. It is now pretty clear that all these works are of
comparatively recent date, that the great poem of the Mahâbhârata
could not have been written before the year 786 of the Christian era,
and was probably written so late as A.D. 1157; that Krishna, _if born
at all_, must have been born on the 7th of August, A.D. 600, but was
most likely a mere creation of the imagination to serve the purpose
of the Brahmans of Ujain, in whom the fiction originated; that the
other incarnations were invented about the same time, and for the
same object, though the other persons described as incarnations were
real princes, Parasu Râma, before Christ 1176, and Râma, born before
Christ 961. In the Mahâbhârata Krishna is described as fighting in
the same army with Yudhishthira and his four brothers. Yudhishthira
was a real person, who ascended the throne at Delhi 575 B.C., or 1175
years before the birth of Krishna.[7] Bentley supposes that the
incarnations, particularly that of Krishna, were invented by the
Brahmans of Ujain with a view to check the progress of Christianity
in that part of the world (see his historical view of the Hindoo
astronomy). That we find in no history any account of the alarming
progress of Christianity about the time these fables were written is
no proof that Bentley was wrong.[8]
When Monsieur Thevenot was at Agra [in] 1666, the Christian
population was roughly estimated at twenty-five thousand families.
They had all passed away before it became one of our civil and
military stations in the beginning of the present century, and we
might search history in vain for any mention of them (see his
_Travels in India_, Part III). One single prince, well disposed to
give Christians encouragement and employment, might, in a few years,
get the same number around his capital; and it is probable that the
early Christians in India occasionally found such princes, and gave
just cause of alarm to the Brahman priests, who were then in the
infancy of their despotic power.[9]
During the war with Nepal, in 1814 and 1815,[10] the division with
which I served came upon an extremely interesting colony of about two
thousand Christian families at Betiyâ in the Tirhût District, on the
borders of the Tarâi forest. This colony had been created by one man,
the Bishop, a Venetian by birth, under the protection of a small
Hindoo prince, the Râjâ, of Betiyâ.[11] This holy man had been some
fifty years among these people, with little or no support from Europe
or from any other quarter. The only aid he got from the Râjâ was a
pledge that no member of his Church should be subject to the
_Purveyance system_, under which the people everywhere suffered so
much,[12] and this pledge the Râjâ, though a Hindoo, had never
suffered to be violated. There were men of all trades among them, and
they formed one very large street remarkable for the superior style
of its buildings and the sober industry of its inhabitants. The
masons, carpenters, and blacksmiths of this little colony were
working in our camp every day, while we remained in the vicinity, and
better workmen I have never seen in India; but they would all insist
upon going to divine service at the prescribed hours. They had built
a splendid _pucka_[13] dwelling-house for their bishop, and a still
more splendid church, and formed for him the finest garden I have
seen in India, surrounded with a good wall, and provided with
admirable pucka wells. The native Christian servants who attended at
the old bishop's table, taught by himself, spoke Latin to him; but he
was become very feeble, and spoke himself a mixture of Latin,
Italian, his native tongue, and Hindustânî. We used to have him at
our messes, and take as much care of him as of an infant, for he was
become almost as frail as one. The joy and the excitement of being
once more among Europeans, and treated by them with so much reverence
in the midst of his flock, were perhaps too much for him, for he
sickened and died soon after.
The Râjâ died soon after him, and in all probability the flock has
disappeared. No Europeans except a few indigo planters of the
neighbourhood had ever before known or heard of this colony; and they
seemed to consider them only as a set of great scoundrels, who had
better carts and bullocks than anybody else in the country, which
they refused to let out at the same rate as the others, and which
they (the indigo lords) were not permitted to seize and employ at
discretion. Roman Catholics have a greater facility in making
converts in India than Protestants, from having so much more in their
form of worship to win the affections through the medium of the
imagination.[14]
Notes:
1. Men are occasionally exempted from the necessity of becoming a
Brahman first. Men of low caste, if they die at particular places,
where it is the interest of the Brahmans to invite rich men to die,
are promised absorption into the great 'Brahma' at once. Immense
numbers of wealthy men go every year from the most distant parts of
India to die at Benares, where they spend large sums of money among
the Brahmans. It is by their means that this, the second city in
India, is supported. [W. H. S.] Bombay is now the second city in
India, so far as population is concerned.
2. Brahma, with the short vowel, is the eternal Essence or Spirit;
Brahmâ, with the long vowel, is 'the primaeval male god, the first
personal product of the purely spiritual Brahma, when overspread by
Maya, or illusory creative force', according to the Vedanta system
(Monier Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 44).
3. Indra was originally, in the Vedas, the Rain-god. The statement in
the text refers to modern Hinduism.
4. The incarnations of Vishnu are ordinarily reckoned as ten, namely,
(1) Fish, (2) Tortoise, (3) Boar, (4) Man-lion, (5) Dwarf, (6) Râma
with the axe, (7) Râma Chandra, (8) Krishna, (9) Buddha, (10) Kalkî,
or Kalkin, who is yet to come. I do not know any authority for eleven
incarnations of Vishnu. The number is stated in some Purânas as
twenty-two, twenty-four, or even twenty-eight. Seven incarnations of
Siva are not generally recognized (see Monier Williams, _Religious
Thought and Life in India_, pp. 78-86, and 107-16). For the theory
and mystical meaning of _avatârs_, see Grierson, _J.R.A.S._, 1909,
pp. 621-44. The word avatâr means 'descent', _scil_. of the Deity to
earth, and covers more than the term 'incarnation'.
5. Sitâ was an incarnation of Lakshmî. She became incarnate again,
many centuries afterwards, as the wife of Krishna, another
incarnation of Vishnu [W. H. S.]. Reckoning by centuries is, of
course, inapplicable to pure myth. The author believed in Bentley's
baseless chronology.
6. For the Mahâbhârata, see _ante_, note 11, Chapter 1. The Bhâgavata
Purâna is the most popular of the Purânas, The Hindi version of the
tenth book (_skandha_) is known as the 'Prem Sâgar'. The date of the
composition of the Purânas is uncertain.
7. The dates given in this passage are purely imaginary. Parts of the
Mahâbhârata are very ancient. Yudhishthira is no more an historical
personage than Achilles or Romulus. It is improbable that a 'throne
of Delhi' existed in 575 B.C., and hardly anything is known about the
state of India at that date.
8. It is hardly necessary to observe that this grotesque theory is
utterly at variance with the facts, as now known.
9. The existing settlements of native Christians at Agra are mostly
of modern origin. Very ancient Christian communities exist near
Madras, and on the Malabar coast. The travels of Jean de Thevenot
were published in 1684, under the title of _Voyage, contenant la
Relation de l'Indostan_. The English version, by A. Lovell (London,
1687), is entitled _The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the
Levant, in three Parts_. Part III deals with the East Indies, The
passage referred to is: 'Some affirm that there are twenty-five
thousand Christian Families in Agra, but all do not agree in that'
(Part III, p. 35). Thevonot's statement about the Christians of Agra
is further discussed post in Chapter 52.
10. The war with Nepal began in October, 1814, and was not concluded
till 1816. During its progress the British arms suffered several
reverses.
11. The Betiyâ (Bettiah of _I. G_., 1908) Râj is a great estate with
an area of 1,824 square miles in the northern part of the Champâran
District of Bihâr, in the Province of Bihâr and Orissa. A great
portion of the estate is held (1908) on permanent leases by European
indigo-planters.
12. For discussion of this system see post, Chapter 7.
13. 'Pucka' (_pakkâ_) here means 'masonry', as opposed to 'Kutcha'
(_kachchâ_), meaning 'earthen'.
14. Native Christians, according to the census of 1872, number 1,214
persons, who are principally found in Bettiâ thâna [police-circle].
There are two Missions, one at Bettiâ, and the other at the village
of Chuhârî, both supported by the Roman Catholic Church. The former
was founded in 1746 by a certain Father Joseph, from Garingano in
Italy, who went to Bettiâ on the invitation of the Mahârâja. The
present number of converts is about 1,000 persons. Being principally
descendants of Brahmans, they hold a fair social position; but some
of them are extremely poor. About one-fourth are carpenters, one-
tenth blacksmiths, one-tenth servants, the remainder carters. The
Chuhârî Mission was founded in 1770 by three Catholic priests, who
had been expelled from Nepal [after the Gôrkha conquest in 1768].
There are now 283 converts, mostly descendants of Nepâlis. They are
all agriculturists, and very poor (Article 'Champâran District' in
_Statistical Account of Bengal_, 1877).
The statement in _I.G._ 1908, s.v. Bettiah, differs slightly, as
follows:
'A Roman Catholic Mission was established about 1740 by Father
Joseph Mary, an Italian missionary of the Capuchin Order, who was
passing near Bettiah on his way to Nepâl, when he was summoned by
Râjâ Dhruva Shah to attend his daughter, who was dangerously ill. He
succeeded in curing her, and the grateful Raja invited him to stay at
Bettiah and gave him a house and ninety acres of land.' The Bettiah
Mission still exists and maintains the Catholic Mission Press, where
publications illustrating the history of the Capuchin Missions have
been printed. Father Felix, O.C., is at work on the subject.
CHAPTER 3
Legend of the Nerbudda River.
The legend is that the Nerbudda, which flows west into the Gulf of
Cambay, was wooed and won in the usual way by the Sôn river, which
rises from the same tableland of Amarkantak, and flows east into the
Ganges and Bay of Bengal.[1] All the previous ceremonies having been
performed, the Sôn [2] came with 'due pomp and circumstance' to fetch
his bride in the procession called the 'Barât', up to which time the
bride and bridegroom are supposed never to have seen each other,
unless perchance they have met in infancy. Her Majesty the Nerbudda
became exceedingly impatient to know what sort of a personage her
destinies were to be linked to, while his Majesty the Sôn advanced at
a slow and stately pace. At last the Queen sent Johilâ, the daughter
of the barber, to take a close view of him, and to return and make a
faithful and particular report of his person. His Majesty was
captivated with the little Johilâ, the barber's daughter, at first
sight; and she, 'nothing loath', yielded to his caresses. Some say
that she actually pretended to be Queen herself; and that his Majesty
was no further in fault than in mistaking the humble handmaid for her
noble mistress; but, be that as it may, her Majesty no sooner heard
of the good understanding between them, than she rushed forward, and
with one foot sent the Sôn rolling back to the east whence he came,
and with the other kicked little Johilâ sprawling after him; for,
said the high priest, who told us the story, 'You see what a towering
passion she was likely to have been in under such indignities from
the furious manner in which she cuts her way through the marble rocks
beneath us, and casts huge masses right and left as she goes along,
as if they were really so many coco-nuts'. 'And was she', asked I,
'to have flown eastward with him, or was he to have flown westward
with her?' 'She was to have accompanied him eastward', said the high
priest, 'but her Majesty, after this indignity, declared that she
would not go a single pace in the same direction with such wretches,
and would flow west, though all the other rivers in India might flow
east; and west she flows accordingly, a virgin queen.' I asked some
of the Hindoos about us why they called her 'Mother Nerbudda', if she
was really never married. 'Her Majesty', said they with great
respect, 'would really never consent to be married after the
indignity she suffered from her affianced bridegroom the Sôn; and we
call her Mother because she blesses us all, and we are anxious to
accost her by the name which we consider to be at once the most
respectful and endearing.'
Any Englishman can easily conceive a poet in his highest 'calenture
of the brain' addressing the ocean as 'a steed that knows his rider',
and patting the crested billow as his flowing mane; but he must come
to India to understand how every individual of a whole community of
many millions can address a fine river as a living being, a sovereign
princess, who hears and understands all they say, and exercises a
kind of local superintendence over their affairs, without a single
temple in which her image is worshipped, or a single priest to profit
by the delusion. As in the case of the Ganges, it is the river itself
to whom they address themselves, and not to any deity residing in it,
or presiding over it: the stream itself is the deity which fills
their imaginations, and receives their homage.
Among the Romans and ancient Persians rivers were propitiated by
sacrifices. When Vitellius crossed the Euphrates with the Roman
legions to put Tiridates on the throne of Armenia, they propitiated
the river according to the rites of their country by the
_suovetaurilia_, the sacrifice of the hog, the ram, and the bull.
Tiridates did the same by the sacrifice of a horse. Tacitus does not
mention the river _god_, but the river _itself_, as propitiated (see
[_Annals_,] book vi, chap. 37).[3] Plato makes Socrates condemn Homer
for making Achilles behave disrespectfully towards the river Xanthus,
though acknowledged to be a divinity, in offering to fight him,[4]
and towards the river Sperchius, another acknowledged god, in
presenting to the dead body of Patroclus the locks of his hair which
he had promised to that river.[5]
The Sôn river, which rises near the source of the Nerbudda on the
tableland of Amarkantak, takes a westerly course for some miles, and
then turns off suddenly to the east, and is joined by the little
stream of the Johilâ before it descends the great cascade; and hence
the poets have created this fiction, which the mass of the population
receive as divine revelation. The statue of little Johilâ, the
barber's daughter, in stone, stands in the temple of the goddess
Nerbudda at Amarkantak, bound in chains.[6] It may here be remarked
that the first overtures in India must always be made through the
medium of the barber, whether they be from the prince or the
peasant.[7] If a sovereign prince sends proposals to a sovereign
princess, they must be conveyed through the medium of the barber, or
they will never be considered as done in due form, as likely to prove
propitious. The prince will, of course, send some relation or high
functionary with him; but in all the credentials the barber must be
named as the principal functionary. Hence it was that Her Majesty was
supposed to have sent a barber's daughter to meet her husband.
The 'Mahâtam' (greatness or holiness) of the Ganges is said, as I
have already stated, to be on the wane, and not likely to endure
sixty years longer; while that of the Nerbudda is on the increase,
and in sixty years is entirely to supersede the sanctity of her
sister. If the valley of the Nerbudda should continue for sixty years
longer under such a government as it has enjoyed since we took
possession of it in 1817,[8] it may become infinitely more rich, more
populous, and more beautiful than that of the Nile ever was; and, if
the Hindoos there continue, as I hope they will, to acquire wealth
and honour under a rule to which they are so much attached, the
prophecy may be realized in as far as the increase of honour paid to
the Nerbudda is concerned. But I know no ground to expect that the
reverence[9] paid to the Ganges will diminish, unless education and
the concentration of capital in manufactures should work an important
change in the religious feelings and opinions of the people along the
course of that river; although this, it must be admitted, is a
consummation which may be looked for more speedily on the banks of
the Ganges than on those of a stream like the Nerbudda, which is
neither navigable at present nor, in my opinion, capable of being
rendered so. Commerce and manufactures, and the concentration of
capital in the maintenance of the new communities employed in them,
will, I think, be the great media through which this change will be
chiefly effected; and they are always more likely to follow the
course of rivers that are navigable than that of rivers which are
not.[10]
Notes:
1. Amarkantak, formerly in the Sohâgpur pargana of the Bilâspur
District of the Central Provinces, is situated on a high tableland,
and is a famous place of pilgrimage. The temples are described by
Beglar in _A.S.R._, vol. vii, pp. 227-34, pl. xx, xxi. The hill has
been transferred to the Rîwâ State (_Central Provinces Gazetteer_
(1870), and _I.G._ (1908), s.v. Amarkantak).
2. The name is misspelled Sohan in the author's text. The Sôn rises
at Sôn Mundâ, about twenty miles from Amarkantak (_A.S.R._, vol. vii,
236).
3. 'Sacrificantibus, cum hic more Romano suovetaurilia daret, ille
equum placando amni adornasset.'
4. [Greek text]--_Iliad_ xx, 73.
5. _Iliad_ xxiii. 140-153.
6. Mr. Crooke observes that the binding was intended to prevent the
object of worship from deserting her shrine or possibly doing
mischief elsewhere, and refers to his article, 'The Binding of a God,
a Study of the Basis of Idolatry', in _Folklore_, vol. viii (1897),
p.134. The name is spelt Johillâ in _I.G._ (1908), s.v. Sôn River.
7. Monier Williams denies the barber's monopoly of match-making. 'In
some parts of Northern India the match-maker for some castes is the
family barber; but for the higher castes he is more generally a
Brahman, who goes about from one house to another till he discovers a
baby-girl of suitable rank' (_Religious Thought and Life in India_,
p. 377). So far as the editor knows, the barber is ordinarily
employed in Northern India.
8. During the operations against the Pindhârî freebooters. Many
treaties were negotiated with the Peshwa and other native powers in
the years 1817 and 1818.
9. The word in the text is 'revenue'.
10. Concerning the prophecy that the sanctity of the Ganges will
cease in 1895, see note to Chapter 1, _ante_, [13]. The prophecy was
much talked of some years ago, but the reverence for the Ganges
continues undiminished, while the development of commerce and
manufactures has not affected, the religious feelings and opinions of
the people. Railways, in fact, facilitate pilgrimages and increase
their popularity. The course of commerce now follows the line of
rail, not the navigable rivers. The author, when writing this book,
evidently never contemplated the possibility of railway construction
in India. Later in life, in 1852, he fully appreciated the value of
the new means of communication (_Journey_, ii, 370, &c.).
CHAPTER 4
A Suttee[1] on the Nerbudda.
We took a ride one evening to Gopâlpur, a small village situated on
the same bank of the Nerbudda, about three miles up from Bherâghât.
On our way we met a party of women and girls coming to the fair.
Their legs were uncovered half-way up the thigh; but, as we passed,
they all carefully covered up their faces. 'Good God!' exclaimed one
of the ladies, 'how can these people be so very indecent?' They
thought it, no doubt, equally extraordinary that she should have her
face uncovered, while she so carefully concealed her legs; for they
were really all modest peasantry, going from the village to bathe in
the holy stream.[2]
Here there are some very pretty temples, built for the most part to
the memory of widows who have burned themselves with the remains of
their husbands, and upon the very spot where they committed
themselves to the flames. There was one which had been recently
raised over the ashes of one of the most extraordinary old ladies
that I have ever seen, who burned herself in my presence in 1829. I
prohibited the building of any temple upon the spot, but my successor
in the civil charge of the district, Major Low, was never, I believe,
made acquainted with the prohibition nor with the progress of the
work; which therefore went on to completion in my absence. As suttees
are now prohibited in our dominions[3] and cannot be often seen or
described by Europeans, I shall here relate the circumstances of this
as they were recorded by me at the time, and the reader may rely upon
the truth of the whole tale.
On the 29th November, 1829, this old woman, then about sixty-five
years of age, here mixed her ashes with those of her husband, who had
been burned alone four days before. On receiving civil charge of the
district (Jubbulpore) in March, 1828, I issued a proclamation
prohibiting any one from aiding or assisting in suttee, and
distinctly stating that to bring one ounce of wood for the purpose
would be considered as so doing. If the woman burned herself with the
body of her husband, any one who brought wood for the purpose of
burning him would become liable to punishment; consequently, the body
of the husband must be first consumed, and the widow must bring a
fresh supply for herself. On Tuesday, 24th November, 1829, I had an
application from the heads of the most respectable and most extensive
family of Brahmans in the district to suffer this old woman to burn
herself with the remains of her husband, Ummêd Singh Upadhya, who had
that morning died upon the banks of the Nerbudda.[4] I threatened to
enforce my order, and punish severely any man who assisted; and
placed a police guard for the purpose of seeing that no one did so.
She remained sitting by the edge of the water without eating or
drinking. The next day the body of her husband was burned to ashes in
a small pit of about eight feet square, and three or four feet deep,
before several thousand spectators who had assembled to see the
suttee. All strangers dispersed before evening, as there seemed to be
no prospect of my yielding to the urgent solicitations of her family,
who dared not touch food till she had burned herself, or declared
herself willing to return to them. Her sons, grandsons, and some
other relations remained with her, while the rest surrounded my
house, the one urging me to allow her to burn, and the other urging
her to desist. She remained sitting on a bare rock in the bed of the
Nerbudda, refusing every kind of sustenance, and exposed to the
intense heat of the sun by day, and the severe cold of the night,
with only a thin sheet thrown over her shoulders. On Thursday, to cut
off all hope of her being moved from her purpose, she put on the
dhajâ, or coarse red turban, and broke her bracelets in pieces, by
which she became dead in law, and for ever excluded from caste.
Should she choose to live after this, she could never return to her
family. Her children and grandchildren were still with her, but all
their entreaties were unavailing; and I became satisfied that she
would starve herself to death, if not allowed to burn, by which the
family would be disgraced, her miseries prolonged, and I myself
rendered liable to be charged with a wanton abuse of authority, for
no prohibition of the kind I had issued had as yet received the
formal sanction of the Government.
On Saturday, the 28th, in the morning, I rode out ten miles to the
spot, and found the poor old widow sitting with the dhajâ round her
head, a brass plate before her with undressed rice and flowers, and a
coco-nut in each hand. She talked very collectedly, telling me that
'she had determined to mix her ashes with those of her departed
husband, and should patiently wait my permission to do so, assured
that God would enable her to sustain life till that was given, though
she dared not eat or drink'. Looking at the sun, then rising before
her over a long and beautiful reach of the Nerbudda river, she said
calmly, 'My soul has been for five days with my husband's near that
sun, nothing but my earthly frame is left; and this, I know, you will
in time suffer to be mixed with the ashes of his in yonder pit,
because it is not in your nature or usage wantonly to prolong the
miseries of a poor old woman'.
'Indeed, it is not,--my object and duty is to save and preserve them
[_sic_]; and I am come to dissuade you from this idle purpose, to
urge you to live, and to keep your family from the disgrace of being
thought your murderers.'
'I am not afraid of their ever being so thought: they have all, like
good children, done everything in their power to induce me to live
among them; and, if I had done so, I know they would have loved and
honoured me; but my duties to them have now ended. I commit them all
to your care, and I go to attend my husband, _Ummêd Singh Upadhya_,
with whose ashes on the funeral pile mine have been already three
times mixed.'[5]
This was the first time in her long life that she had ever pronounced
the name of her husband, for in India no woman, high or low, ever
pronounces the name of her husband,--she would consider it
disrespectful towards him to do so; and it is often amusing to see
their embarrassment when asked the question by any European
gentleman. They look right and left for some one to relieve them from
the dilemma of appearing disrespectful either to the querist or to
their absent husbands--they perceive that he is unacquainted with
their duties on this point, and are afraid he will attribute their
silence to disrespect. They know that few European gentlemen are
acquainted with them; and when women go into our courts of justice,
or other places where they are liable to be asked the names of their
husbands, they commonly take one of their children or some other
relation with them to pronounce the words in their stead. When the
old lady named her husband, as she did with strong emphasis, and in a
very deliberate manner, every one present was satisfied that she had
resolved to die. 'I have', she continued, 'tasted largely of the
bounty of Government, having been maintained by it with all my large
family in ease and comfort upon our rent-free lands; and I feel
assured that my children will not be suffered to want; but with them
I have nothing more to do, our intercourse and communion here end. My
soul (_prân_) is with _Ummêd Singh Upadhya_: and my ashes must here
mix with his.'
Again looking to the sun--'I see them together', said she, with a
tone and countenance that affected me a good deal, 'under the bridal
canopy!'--alluding to the ceremonies of marriage; and I am satisfied
that she at that moment really believed that she saw her own spirit
and that of her husband under the bridal canopy in paradise.
I tried to work upon her pride and her fears. I told her that it was
probable that the rent-free lands by which her family had been so
long supported might be resumed by the Government, as a mark of its
displeasure against the children for not dissuading her from the
sacrifice; that the temples over her ancestors upon the bank might be
levelled with the ground, in order to prevent their operating to
induce others to make similar sacrifices; and lastly, that not one
single brick or stone should ever mark the place where she died if
she persisted in her resolution. But, if she consented to live, a
splendid habitation should be built for her among these temples, a
handsome provision assigned for her support out of these rent-free
lands, her children should come daily to visit her, and I should
frequently do the same. She smiled, but held out her arm and said,
'My pulse has long ceased to beat, my spirit has departed, and I have
nothing left but a little _earth_, that I wish to mix with the ashes
of my husband. I shall suffer nothing in burning; and, if you wish
proof, order some fire, and you shall see this arm consumed without
giving me any pain'. I did not attempt to feel her pulse, but some of
my people did, and declared that it had ceased to be perceptible. At
this time every native present believed that she was incapable of
suffering pain; and her end confirmed them in their opinion.
Satisfied myself that it would be unavailing to attempt to save her
life, I sent for all the principal members of the family, and
consented that she should be suffered to burn herself if they would
enter into engagements that no other member of their family should
ever do the same. This they all agreed to, and the papers having been
drawn out in due form about midday, I sent down notice to the old
lady, who seemed extremely pleased and thankful. The ceremonies of
bathing were gone through before three [o'clock], while the wood and
other combustible materials for a strong fire were collected and put
into the pit. After bathing, she called for a 'pan' (betel leaf) and
ate it, then rose up, and with one arm on the shoulder of her eldest
son, and the other on that of her nephew, approached the fire. I had
sentries placed all round, and no other person was allowed to
approach within five paces. As she rose up fire was set to the pile,
and it was instantly in a blaze. The distance was about 150 yards.
She came on with a calm and cheerful countenance, stopped once, and,
casting her eyes upward, said, 'Why have they kept me five days from
thee, my husband?' On coming to the sentries her supporters stopped;
she walked once round the pit, paused a moment, and, while muttering
a prayer, threw some flowers into the fire. She then walked up
deliberately and steadily to the brink, stepped into the centre of
the flame, sat down, and leaning back in the midst as if reposing
upon a couch, was consumed without uttering a shriek or betraying one
sign of agony.
A few instruments of music had been provided, and they played, as
usual, as she approached the fire, not, as is commonly supposed, in
order to drown screams, but to prevent the last words of the victim
from being heard, as these are supposed to be prophetic, and might
become sources of pain or strife to the living.[6] It was not
expected that I should yield, and but few people had assembled to
witness the sacrifice, so that there was little or nothing in the
circumstances immediately around to stimulate her to any
extraordinary exertions; and I am persuaded that it was the desire of
again being united to her husband in the next world, and the entire
confidence that she would be so if she now burned herself, that alone
sustained her. From the morning he died (Tuesday) till Wednesday
evening she ate 'pans' or betel leaves, but nothing else; and from
Wednesday evening she ceased eating them. She drank no water from
Tuesday. She went into the fire with the same cloth about her that
she had worn in the bed of the river; but it was made wet from a
persuasion that even the shadow of any impure thing falling upon her
from going to the pile contaminates the woman unless counteracted by
the sheet moistened in the holy stream.
I must do the family the justice to say that they all exerted
themselves to dissuade the widow from her purpose, and had she lived
she would assuredly have been cherished and honoured as the first
female member of the whole house. There is no people in the world
among whom parents are more loved, honoured, and obeyed than among
the Hindoos; and the grandmother is always more honoured than the
mother. No queen upon her throne could ever have been approached with
more reverence by her subjects than was this old lady by all the
members of her family as she sat upon a naked rock in the bed of the
river, with only a red rag upon her head and a single-white sheet
over her shoulders.
Soon after the battle of Trafalgar I heard a young lady exclaim, 'I
could really wish to have had a brother killed in that action'. There
is no doubt that a family in which a suttee takes place feels a good
deal exalted in its own esteem and that of the community by the
sacrifice. The sister of the Râjâ of Rîwâ was one of four or five
wives who burned themselves with the remains of the Râjâ of Udaipur;
and nothing in the course of his life will ever be recollected by her
brother with so much of pride and pleasure, since the Udaipur Râjâ is
the head of the Râjpût tribes.[7]
I asked the old lady when she had first resolved upon becoming a
suttee, and she told me that about thirteen years before, while
bathing in the river Nerbudda, near the spot where she then sat, with
many other females of the family, the resolution had fixed itself in
her mind as she looked at the splendid temples on the bank of the
river erected by the different branches of the family over the ashes
of her female relations who had at different times become suttees.
Two, I think, were over her aunts, and one over the mother of her
husband. They were very beautiful buildings, and had been erected at
great cost and kept in good repair. She told me that she had never
mentioned this her resolution to any one from that time, nor breathed
a syllable on the subject till she called out 'Sat, sat, sat',[8]
when her husband breathed his last with his head in her lap on the
bank of the Nerbudda, to which he had been taken when no hopes
remained of his surviving the fever of which he died.
Charles Harding, of the Bengal Civil Service, as magistrate of
Benares, in 1806 prevented the widow of a Brahman from being burned.
Twelve months after her husband's death she had been goaded by her
family into the expression of a wish to burn with some relic of her
husband, preserved for the purpose. The pile was raised to her at
Râmnagar,[9] some two miles above Benares, on the opposite side of
the river Ganges. She was not well secured upon the pile, and as soon
as she felt the fire she jumped off and plunged into the river. The
people all ran after her along the bank, but the current drove her
towards Benares, whence a police boat put off and took her in.