The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir Part 22

When visiting the old Delhis it is a good plan to drive again through the City and to leave it by the Delhi Gate. Humayun's tomb, an early and simple, but striking, specimen of Moghal architecture, is reached at a distance of four miles along the Mathra road. Outside the City the road first leaves on the left side the ruined citadel of Firoz Shah containing the second Asoka pillar. North and south of this citadel the town of Firozabad once lay. It ended where the Purana Kila' or Old Fort, the work of Sher Shah and Humayun, now stands, a conspicuous object from the road about three miles from Delhi. The red sandstone gateway very narrow in proportion to its height is a n.o.ble structure, and within the walls is Sher Shah's mosque. The fort and mosque are the last important works of the second or Tughlak period. Hindus call the site of the Old Fort, Indarpat. If any part of Delhi has a claim to antiquity it is this, for it is alleged to be one of the five "pats" or towns over which the war celebrated in the Mahabharata was waged. A recent cleaning of part of the interior of the fort brought to light bricks belonging to the Gupta period. From Humayun's tomb a cross road leads to the Gurgaon road and the Kutb. But the visitor who has seen enough of buildings for the day may proceed further down the Mathra road and reach the headworks of the Agra Ca.n.a.l at Okhla by a side road. The view looking back to Delhi up the Jamna is fine.

~The Kutb Minar.~--Starting for the Kutb from Humayun's tomb (page 207) the Dargah of the great Chisti saint and political intriguer, Nizam ud din Aulia, is pa.s.sed on the left. He died in 1324 A.D. Just at the point where the cross road meets the Gurgaon road is the tomb of Safdar Jang, the second of the Nawab Wazirs of Oudh. He died after the middle of the eighteenth century, and the building is wonderfully good considering that it is one of the latest important monuments of the Moghal period.

Six miles to the south of Safdar Jang's tomb the entrance to the Kutb Minar enclosure is reached. The great Kuwwat ul Islam mosque of Kutbuddin Aibak (page 204) was constructed out of the materials of a Jain temple which stood on the site. Evidence of this is to be found in the imperfectly defaced sculptures on the pillars. An iron pillar nearly 24 feet in height dating back probably to the sixth century stands in the court. The splendid column known as the Kutb Minar (page 205), begun by Kutbuddin and completed by his successor Shams ud din Altamsh, was the minaret of the mosque from which the _mu'azzin_ called the faithful to prayer. The disappointment that may be felt when it is seen from a distance is impossible on a nearer view. Its height is now 238 feet, but it was formerly surmounted "by a majestic cupola of red granite." Close by is the Alai Darwaza, a magnificent gateway built by Ala ud din Tughlak in 1310, about 90 years after the Minar was finished. Five miles east of the Kutb are the cyclopean ruins of Tughlakabad (page 206).

~Delhi past and present.~--The Delhi of Aurangzeb was as much a camp as a city. When the Emperor moved to Agra or Kashmir the town was emptied of a large part of its inhabitants. It contained one or two fine _bazars_, and n.o.bles and rich merchants and shopkeepers had good houses, set sometimes in pleasant gardens. But the crowds of servants and followers occupied mud huts, whose thatched roofs led to frequent and widespread fires. In that insanitary age these may have been blessings in disguise.

"In Delhi," wrote Bernier, "there is no middle state. A man must either be of the highest rank or live miserably.... For two or three who wear decent apparel there may always be reckoned seven or eight poor, ragged, and miserable beings." The ordinary street architecture of modern Delhi is mean enough, and posterity will not open an eyelid to look at the public buildings which its present rulers have erected in the city. But at least the common folk of Delhi are better housed, fed, and clad than ever before. It is now a clean well-managed town with a good water supply, and it has become an important railway centre and a thriving place of trade. Since 1881 the population has steadily increased from 173,393 to 232,837 in 1911. In 1911-12 the imports into Delhi City from places outside the Panjab amounted to 9,172,302 maunds. There are some fifteen cotton ginning, spinning, and weaving mills, besides flour mills, iron foundries, two biscuit manufactories, and a brewery. The city is well supplied with hospitals including two for women only.

Higher education has been fostered by S. Stephen's College in charge of the Cambridge Missionary brotherhood. The Hindu college has not been very successful. Delhi has had famous "hakims," practising the Yunani or Arabic system of medicine, which is taught in a flouris.h.i.+ng school known as the Madrasa i Tibbiya.

~Imperial Darbars.~--In this generation the plain to the north of the Ridge has been the scene of three splendid _darbars_. When on 1st January, 1877, Queen Victoria a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Empress of India (_Kaisar i Hind_) it seemed fitting that the proclamation of the fact to the princes and peoples of India should be made by Lord Lytton at the old seat of imperial power. On 1st January, 1903, Lord Curzon held a _darbar_ on the same spot to proclaim the coronation of King Edward the VIIth. Both these splendid ceremonies were surpa.s.sed by the _darbar_ of 12th December, 1911, when King George and Queen Mary were present in person, and the Emperor received the homage of the ruling chiefs, the great officials, and the leading men of the different provinces. The King and Queen entered Delhi on 7th December, and in the week that followed the craving of the Indian peoples for "_darshan_" or a sight of their sovereign was abundantly gratified. None who saw the spectacles of that historic week will ever forget them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 146. Darbar Medal.]

New Imperial Capital.--The turn of Fortune's Wheel has again made Delhi an imperial city. The transfer of the seat of government from Calcutta announced by the King Emperor at the _darbar_, is now being carried out.

The site will probably extend from Safdar Jang's tomb to a point lying to the west of Firoz Shah's citadel.

~Lah.o.r.e~ (31.34 N., 74.21 E.). The capital of the Panjab lies on the east bank of the Ravi, which once flowed close to the Fort, but has moved a mile or two to the west. In high floods the waters still spread over the lowlands between the Ravi and the Fort. Lah.o.r.e lies nearly halfway between Delhi and Peshawar, being nearer to the latter than to the former.

~Early History.~--Practically we know nothing of its history till Mahmud conquered the Panjab and put a garrison in a fort at Lah.o.r.e. Henceforth its history was intimately connected with Muhammadan rule in India.

Whether north-western India was ruled from Ghazni or from Delhi, the chief provincial governor had his headquarters at Lah.o.r.e. In the best days of Moghal rule Agra and Lah.o.r.e were the two capitals of the Empire. Lah.o.r.e lay on the route to Kabul and Kashmir, and it was essential both to the power and to the pleasures of the Emperors that it should be strongly held and united to Delhi and Agra by a Royal or _Badshahi_ Road. The City and the Suburbs in the reign of Shahjahan probably covered three or four times the area occupied by the town in the days of Sikh rule. All round the city are evidences of its former greatness in ruined walls and domes.

~The Civil Station.~--The Anarkali gardens and the buildings near them mark the site of the first Civil Station. John Lawrence's house, now owned by the Raja of Punch, is beyond the Chauburji on the Multan Road.

The Civil Lines have stretched far to the south-east in the direction of the Cantonment, which till lately took its name from the tomb of Mian Mir, Jahangir's spiritual master. The soil is poor and arid. Formerly the roads were lined with dusty tamarisks. But of late better trees have been planted, and the Mall is now quite a fine thoroughfare. The Lawrence Hall Gardens and the grounds of Government House show what can be done to produce beauty out of a bad soil when there is no lack of water. There is little to praise in the architecture or statuary of modern Lah.o.r.e. The marble canopy over Queen Victoria's statue is however a good piece of work. Of the two cathedrals the Roman Catholic is the better building. The Montgomery Hall with the smaller Lawrence Hall attached, a fine structure in a good position in the public gardens, is the centre of European social life in Lah.o.r.e. Government House is close by, on the opposite side of the Mall. Its core, now a unique and beautiful dining-room with domed roof and modern oriental decoration, is the tomb of Muhammad Kasim Khan, a cousin of Akbar. Jamadar Khushal Singh, a well-known man in Ranjit Singh's reign, built a house round the tomb. After annexation, Henry Lawrence occupied it for a time, and Sir Robert Montgomery adopted it as Government House. It is now much transformed. Beyond Government House on the road to the Cantonment are the Club and the Panjab Chiefs' College, the only successful attempt in Lah.o.r.e to adapt oriental design to modern conditions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 147. Street in Lah.o.r.e.]

~The Indian City.~--In its streets and _bazars_ Lah.o.r.e is a truly eastern city, and far more interesting than Delhi, so far as private buildings are concerned. In public edifices it possesses some fine examples of Moghal architecture. Every visitor should drive through the town to the Fort past Wazir Khan's mosque. Under British rule the height of the city wall has been reduced by one-half and the moat filled in and converted into a garden. Wazir Khan's mosque founded in 1634 by a Panjabi minister of Shahjahan, is a n.o.ble building profusely adorned with glazed tiles and painted panels. The Golden Mosque was constructed 120 years later about the same time as Safdar Jang's tomb at Delhi. The palace fort, built originally by Akbar, contains also the work of his three successors. The s.h.i.+sh Mahal or Hall of Mirrors, which witnessed the cession of the Panjab to the Queen of England, was begun by Shahjahan and finished by Aurangzeb. The armoury contains a curious collection of weapons. The Badshahi Mosque opposite with its beautiful marble domes and four lofty minarets of red sandstone was founded in 1673 in the reign of Aurangzeb. The cupolas were so shaken by an earthquake in 1840 that they had to be removed. Maharaja Ranjit Singh used the mosque as a magazine. In the s.p.a.ce between it and the Fort he laid out the pretty orange garden known as the Huzuri Bagh and set in it the marble _baradari_ which still adorns it. Close by are his own tomb and that of Arjan Das, the fifth Guru.

~Buildings outside Lah.o.r.e.~--The best example of Moghal architecture is not at Lah.o.r.e itself, but at Shahdara across the Ravi. Here in a fine garden is the Mausoleum of Jahangir with its n.o.ble front and four splendid towers. It enshrines an exquisite sarcophagus, which was probably once in accordance with the Emperor's wish open to the sunlight and the showers. Near by are the remains of the tombs of his beautiful and imperious consort, Nur Jahan, and of her brother Asaf Khan, father of the lady of the Taj. Another building a.s.sociated with Jahangir is Anarkali's tomb beside the Civil Secretariat. The white marble sarcophagus is a beautiful piece of work placed now in most inappropriate surroundings. The tomb was reared by the Emperor to commemorate the unhappy object of his youthful love. Half-a-mile off on the Multan road is the Chauburji, once the gateway of the Garden of Zebunnissa a learned daughter of Aurangzeb. The garden has disappeared, but the gateway, decorated with blue and green tiles, though partially ruined, is still a beautiful object. On the other side of Lah.o.r.e on the road to Amritsar are the Shalimar Gardens laid out by Shahjahan for the ladies of his court. When the paved channels are full and the fountains are playing, and the lights of earthen lamps are reflected in the water, Shalimar is still a pleasant resort.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 148. Shahdara.]

The Museum in Anarkali contains much of interest to Indians and Europeans. The "house of wonders" is very popular with the former. It includes a very valuable collection of Buddhist sculptures. Opposite the museum is the famous Zamzama gun (page 187).

~Growth of Lah.o.r.e.~ As the headquarters of an important Government and of a great railway system Lah.o.r.e has prospered. Owing to the influx of workers the population has risen rapidly from 157,287 in 1881 to 228,687 in 1911. The railway alone affords support to 30,000 people, of whom 8000 are employed in the workshops.

~Amritsar~ (31.38 N., 74.53 E.) is a modern town founded in the last quarter of the sixteenth century by the fourth Guru, Ram Das, on a site granted to him by Akbar. Here he dug the Amrita Saras or Pool of Immortality, leaving a small platform in the middle as the site of that Har Mandar, which rebuilt is to-day, under the name of the Darbar Sahib, the centre of Sikh devotion. The fifth Guru, Arjan Das, completed the Har Mandar. Early in the eighteenth century Amritsar became without any rival the Mecca of the Sikhs, who had now a.s.sumed an att.i.tude of warlike resistance to their Muhammadan rulers. Once and again they were driven out, but after the victory at Sirhind in 1763 they established themselves securely in Amritsar, and rebuilt the temple which Ahmad Shah had burned. Ranjit Singh covered the Darbar Sahib with a copper gilt roof, whence Englishmen commonly call it the Golden Temple. He laid out the Ram Bagh, still a beautiful garden, and constructed the strong fort of Govindgarh outside the walls.

~Trade and Manufactures.~--Amritsar lies in a hollow close to a branch of the Upper Bari Doab Ca.n.a.l. Waterlogging is a great evil and accounts for the terrible epidemics of fever, which have occurred from time to time.

The population has fluctuated violently, and at the last census was 152,756, or little larger than in 1881. Long before annexation the shawl industry was famous. The caprice of fas.h.i.+on a good many years ago decreed its ruin, but carpet weaving, for which Amritsar is still famous, fortunately did something to fill the gap. Amritsar has also been an entrepot of trade with other Asiatic countries. It has imported raw silk from Bokhara, and later from China, and woven it into cloth. It has dealt in China tea, but that is a decreasing trade, in opium from Afghanistan, and in _charas_ from Central Asia. There is a considerable export of foreign piece goods to Kashmir and the N. W. F. Province.

~Multan~ (30.1 N., 71.3 E.), though now the smallest of the four great towns of the Panjab, is probably the most ancient. It is very doubtful whether it is the fortress of the Malloi, in storming which Alexander was wounded. But when Hiuen Tsang visited it in 741 A.D. it was a well-known place with a famous temple of the Sun G.o.d. Muhammad Kasim conquered it in 712 A.D. (page 166). It was not till the savage Karmatian heretics seized Multan towards the end of the tenth century that the temple, which stood in the fort, was destroyed. It was afterwards rebuilt, but was finally demolished by order of Aurangzeb, who set up in its place a mosque. Under the Moghals Multan was an important town, through which the trade with Persia pa.s.sed. Its later history has already been noticed (pages 183 and 186).

~The Fort~ contains the celebrated Prahladpuri temple, much damaged during the siege in 1848, but since rebuilt. Its proximity to the tomb of Bahawal Hakk, a very holy place in the eyes of the Muhammadans of the S.W. Panjab and Sindh, has at times been a cause of anxiety to the authorities. Bahawal Hakk and Baba Farid, the two great saints of the S.W. Panjab, were contemporaries and friends. They flourished in the thirteenth century, and it probably would be true to ascribe largely to their influence the conversion of the south-west Panjab to Islam, which was so complete and of which we know so little. The tomb of Bahawal Hakk was much injured during the siege, but afterwards repaired. Outside is a small monument marking the resting place of the brave old Nawab Muzaffar Khan. Another conspicuous object is the tomb of Rukn ud din 'Alam, grandson of Bahawal Hakk. An obelisk in the fort commemorates the deaths of the two British officers who were murdered on the outbreak of the revolt. A simpler epitaph would have befitted men who died in the execution of their duty.

~Trade and Manufactures.~--Though heat and dust make the climate of Multan trying, it is a very healthy place. The population rose steadily from 68,674 in 1881 to 99,243 in 1911. The chief local industries are silk and cotton weaving and the making of shoes. Multan has also some reputation for carpets, glazed pottery and enamel, and of late for tin boxes. A special feature of its commerce is the exchange of piece goods, shoes, and sugar for the raw silk, fruits, spices, and drugs brought in by Afghan traders. The Civil Lines lie to the south of the city and connect it with the Cantonment, which is an important military station.

~Peshawar~ (34.1 N., 71.35 E.) is 276 miles from Lah.o.r.e and 190 from Kabul. There is little doubt that the old name was Purushapura, the town of Purusha, though Abu Rihan (Albiruni), a famous Arab geographer, who lived in the early part of the eleventh century, calls it Parshawar, which Akbar corrupted into Peshawar, or the frontier fort. As the capital of King Kanishka it was in the second century of the Christian era a great centre of Buddhism (page 164). Its possession of Buddha's alms bowl and of yet more precious relics of the Master deposited by Kanishka in a great _stupa_ (page 203) made it the first place to be visited by the Chinese pilgrims who came to India between 400 and 630 A.D. Hiuen Tsang tells us the town covered 40 li or 6-3/4 miles. Its position on the road to Kabul made it a place of importance under the Moghal Empire. On its decline Peshawar became part of the dominions of the Durani rulers of Kabul, and finally fell into the hands of Ranjit Singh. His Italian general Avitabile ruled it with an iron rod. In 1901 it became the capital of the new N. W. F. Province.

~The Town~ lies near the Bara stream in a ca.n.a.l-irrigated tract. On the north-west it is commanded by the Bala Hissar, a fort outside the walls.

The suburbs with famous fruit gardens are on the south side, and the military and civil stations to the west. The people to be seen in the _bazars_ of Peshawar are more interesting than any of its buildings. The Gor Khatri, part of which is now the _tahsil_, from which a bird's-eye view of the town can be obtained, was successively the site of a Buddhist monastery, a Hindu temple, a rest-house built by Jahangir's Queen, Nur Jahan, and the residence of Avitabile. The most noteworthy Muhammadan building is Muhabbat Khan's mosque. Avitabile used to hang people from its minarets. The Hindu merchants live in the quarter known as Andar Shahr, the scene of destructive fires in 1898 and 1913.

Peshawar is now a well-drained town with a good water supply. It is an entrepot of trade with Kabul and Bokhara. From the former come raw silk and fruit, and from the latter gold and silver thread and lace _en route_ to Kashmir. The Kabuli and Bokharan traders carry back silk cloth, cotton piece goods, sugar, tea, salt, and Kashmir shawls.

~Simla~ (31.6 N., 77.1 E.) lies on a spur of the Central Himalaya at a mean height exceeding 7000 feet. A fine hill, Jakko, rising 1000 feet higher, and clothed with _deodar_, oak, and rhododendron, occupies the east of the station and many of the houses are on its slopes. The other heights are Prospect Hill and Observatory Hill in the western part of the ridge. Viceregal Lodge is a conspicuous object on the latter, and below, between it and the Annandale race-course, is a fine glen, where the visitor in April from the dry and dusty plains can gather yellow primroses (Primula floribunda) from the dripping rocks. The beautiful Elysium Hill is on a small spur running northwards from the main ridge.

Simla is 58 miles by cart road from Kalka, at the foot of the hills, and somewhat further by the narrow gauge railway.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 149. Trans-border traders in Peshawar.]

~History.~--Part of the site was retained at the close of the Gurkha war in 1816, and the first English house, a wooden cottage with a thatched roof, was built three years later. The first Governor General to spend the summer in Simla was Lord Amherst in 1827. After the annexation of the Panjab in 1849 Lord Dalhousie went there every year, and from 1864 Simla may be said to have become the summer capital of India. It became the summer headquarters of the Panjab Government twelve years later. The thirty houses of 1830 have now increased to about 2000. Six miles distant on the beautiful Mahasu Ridge the Viceroy has a "Retreat," and on the same ridge and below it at Mashobra there are a number of European houses. There are excellent hotels in Simla, and the cold weather tourist can pay it a very pleasant visit, provided he avoids the months of January and February.

~Srinagar~ (34.5 N., 74.5 E.), the summer capital of the Maharaja of Kashmir, is beautifully situated on both banks of the river Jhelam at a level of 5250 feet above the sea. To the north are the Hariparvat or Hill of Vishnu with a rampart built by Akbar and the beautiful Dal lake.

Every visitor must be rowed up its still waters to the Nasim Bagh, a grove of plane (_chenar_) trees, laid out originally in the reign of the same Emperor. Between the lake and the town is the Muns.h.i.+ Bagh, in and near which are the houses of Europeans including the Residency. The splendid plane trees beside the river bank, to which house boats are moored, and the beautiful gardens attached to some of the houses, make this a very charming quarter. The Takht i Suliman to the west of Srinagar is crowned by a little temple, whose lower walls are of great age. The town itself is intersected by evil-smelling ca.n.a.ls and consists in the main of a jumble of wooden houses with thatched roofs. Sanitary abominations have been cleansed from time to time by great fires and punished by severe outbreaks of cholera. The larger part of the existing city is on the left side. The visitor may be content to view the parts of the town to be seen as he is rowed down the broad waterway from the Muns.h.i.+ Bagh pa.s.sing under picturesque wooden bridges, and beside temples with s.h.i.+ning metal roofs and the beautiful mosque of Shah Hamadan. On the left bank below the first bridge is the Shergarhi with the Maharaja's houses and the Government Offices. Opposite is a fine _ghat_ or bathing place with stone steps. Between the third and fourth bridges on the right bank is Shah Hamadan's mosque, a carved cedar house with Buddhist features, totally unlike the ordinary Indian mosque. The stone mosque close by on the opposite side, built by Mir Jahan, was seemingly rejected by Muhammadans as founded by a woman, and is now a State granary. The Jama Masjid is on the north side, but not on the river bank. The tomb of the great king, Zain ul abidin, is below the fourth bridge, which bears his name. In the same quarter are the storehouses of the dealers in carpets and art wares and the Mission School. The last should be visited by anyone who wishes to see what a manly education can make of material in some respects unpromising.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 150 Mosque of the Shah Hamadan.]

CHAPTER x.x.x

OTHER PLACES OF NOTE

I. PANJaB.

(_a_) _Ambala Division._

~Ambala~, 302 N.--764 E. Population 80,131, of which 54,223 in Cantonments. A creation of British rule. It became the headquarters of the Political Agent for the Cis-Sutlej States in 1823, and the Cantonment was established in 1843. The Native City and the Civil Lines lie some miles to the N.W. of the Cantonment. Headquarters of district and division.

~Bhiwani~ (~Hissar~), 285 N.--768 E. Headquarters of _tahsil_ in Hissar.

Population 31,100. On Rewari--Ferozepore branch of Rajputana--Malwa Railway. Has a brisk trade with Rajputana.

~Hansi~ (~Hissar~), 297 N.--756 E. Headquarters of _tahsil_. Population 14,576. A very ancient town. In centre of ca.n.a.l tract of Hissar, and a local centre of the cotton trade.

~Hissar~, 291 N.--754 E. Headquarters of district. Population 17,162.

Founded by the Emperor Firoz Shah Tughlak, who supplied it with water by a ca.n.a.l taken from the Jamna. This was the origin of the present Western Jamna Ca.n.a.l. Is now a place of small importance.

~Jagadhri~ (~Ambala~), 301 N.--772 E. Headquarters of _tahsil_.

Population 12,045. Connected with the N.W. Railway by a light railway.

The iron and bra.s.s ware of Jagadhri are well known.

~Kaithal~ (~Karnal~), 295 N.--762 E. Headquarters of subdivision and _tahsil_. Population 12,912. A town of great antiquity. Kaithal is a corruption of Kapisthala--the monkey town, a name still appropriate.

Timur halted here on his march to Delhi. Was the headquarters of the Bhais of Kaithal, who held high rank among the Cis-Sutlej Sikh chiefs.

Kaithal lapsed in 1843.

~Karnal~, 294 N.--766 E. Headquarters of district. Population 21,961. On Delhi--Kalka Railway. Till the Western Jamna Ca.n.a.l was realigned it was most unhealthy, and the Cantonment was given up in 1841 on this account.

The health of the town is still unsatisfactory. Trade unimportant.

~Kasauli~ (~Ambala~), 305 N.--766 E. Small hill station overlooking Kalka. Height 6000 feet. The Pasteur Inst.i.tute for the treatment of rabies is at Kasauli, and the Lawrence Military School at Sanawar, three miles off.