Part 17 (2/2)

The Bhuderee family give their daughters in marriage to the Bugheela Rajahs of Rewa and the Powar Rajahs of Ocheyra, who are considered to be a shade higher in caste than they are among the Rajpoots. Not long ago they gave one hundred thousand rupees, with one daughter, to the only son of the Rewa Rajah, as the only condition on which he would take her. Golab Sing, the brother of Seoruttun Sing, of Pertabghur, by caste a Sombunsee, is said to have given lately fifty thousand rupees, with another daughter, to the same person. Rajah Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor, who is by caste a Beseyn Rajpoot, the year before last went to Rewa, accompanied by some fifty Brahmins, to propose an union between his daughter and the same son of the Rewa Rajah. A large sum was demanded, but he pleaded poverty, and at last got the Rajah to consent to take fifty thousand rupees down, and seventy-five thousand at the last ceremony of the barat, or fetching home of the bride. When all had been prepared for this last ceremony, the Rajah of Rewa pleaded the heat of the weather, and his son would not come to complete it, and take away his bride. Hunmunt Sing collected one hundred _resolute Brahmins_, and proceeded with them to Rewa, where they sat _dhurna_ at the Rajah's door, without tasting food, and declared that they would all die there unless the marriage were completed.

The Rajah did all he could, or could make his people do, to get rid of them; but at last, afraid that some of the Brahmins would really die, he consented that his son should go and fetch his bride, if Hunmunt Sing would pay down twenty-five thousand rupees more, to defray the cost of the procession, in addition to the seventy-five thousand. He did so, and his daughter was taken off in due form. He has another daughter to dispose of in the same way. The Rewa Rajah has thus taken five or six wives for his son, from families a shade lower in caste; but the whole that he has got with them will not be enough to pay one of the Rajpoot families, a shade higher in caste than he is, in Rajpootana, to take one daughter from him. It costs him ten or twelve lacs of rupees to induce the Rajah of Oudeepoor, Joudhpoor, or Jypoor, to take away, as his bride, a daughter of Rewa.

All is a matter of bargain and sale. Those who have money must pay, in proportion to their means, to marry their daughters into families a shade higher in caste or dignity, or to get daughters from them when such families are reduced to the necessity of selling their daughters to families of a lower grade.

Among Brahmins it is the same. Take, for example, the Kunojee Brahmins, among whom there are several shades of caste. The member of a family a shade higher will not give his son in marriage to a daughter of a family a shade lower, without receiving a sum in proportion to its means; nor will he give a daughter in marriage to such a family till he is so exalted as to be able to disregard the feelings of his clan, or reduced to such a degree of poverty as shall seem to his clan sufficient to justify it. This bargain and sale of sons and daughters prevails, more or less, throughout all Hindoo society, and is not, even now, altogether unknown among Christian nations. In Oude, this has led to the stealing of young girls from our own districts. Some men and women from our districts make a trade of it. They pretend to be of Rajpoot caste, and inveigle away girls from their parents, to be united in marriage to Rajpoots in Oude.

They pretend to have brought them with the consent of their parents, of the same or higher caste, in our territories, and make large sums by the trade.

_December_ 31, 1849.--Eight miles to Sotee, over a country well studded with trees, and generally well cultivated. The soil is, all the way, doomuteea. The road, the greater part of the way, lies in the purgunnah of Nyn, held by Jugunnath Sing, a k.u.mpureea Rajpoot, and his nephew, and the collateral branches of their family. They have a belt of jungle, extending for some twelve miles along the right bank of the Saee river, and on the right side of the road, and within from two to six miles from it--in some parts nearer, and in others more remote. Wild hogs, deer, neelgae, and wild cattle abound in this jungle, and do great injury to the crops in its vicinity. The peasantry can kill and eat the hogs and deer, but dare not kill or wound the wild cattle or neelgae. The wild cattle are said to be from a stock which strayed or were let loose in this jungle some centuries ago. They are described as fat, while the crops are on the ground, and well formed--some black, some red, some white, and some mixed-- and to be as wild and active as the deer of the same jungle. They are sometimes caught by being driven into the Saee river; but the young ones are said to refuse all food, and die soon, if not released.

Hindoos soon release them, from the religious dread that they may die in confinement. The old ones sometimes live, and are considered valuable. They are said to be finer in form than the tame cattle of the country; and from July to March, when gra.s.s abounds, and the country around is covered successively with autumn and spring crops, more fat and sleek.

The soil is good and strong, and the jungle which covers it very thick. It is preserved by a family of k.u.mpureea Rajpoots, whose whole possessions, in 1814, consisted of nine villages. By degrees they have driven out or murdered all the other proprietors, and they now hold no less than one hundred and fifty, for which they pay little or no revenue to Government. The rents are employed in keeping up large bands of armed followers and building strongholds, from which they infest the surrounding country. The family has become divided into five branches, each branch having a fort or stronghold in the Nyn jungle, and becoming by degrees subdivided into smaller branches, who will thrive and become formidable in proportion as the Government becomes weak. Each branch acts independently in its depredations and usurpations from weaker neighbours but all unite when attacked or threatened by the Government.

Rajah Dursun Sing held the district of Salone from 1827 to 1836, and during this time he made several successful attacks upon the k.u.mpureea Rajpoots of the Nyn jungle; and during his occasional temporary residence he had a great deal of the jungle around his force cut down, but he made no permanent arrangement for subduing them. In 1837, the government of this district was transferred to Kondon Lal Partak, who established a garrison in the centre of the jungle, had much of it cut down, and kept the k.u.mpureea barons effectually in check. He died in 1838, and Rajahs Dursun Sing and Buktawar Sing again got the government, and continued the _partaks_ system for the next five years, up to 1843. They lost the government for 1844 and 1845, but their successors followed the same system, to keep the k.u.mpureeas in order. Bukhtawar Sing got the government again for 1846 and 1847, and persevered in this system; but in 1848 the government was made over to Hamid Allee, a weak and inexperienced man. His deputy, Nourouz Allee, withdrew the garrison, and left the jungle to the k.u.mpureeas, who, in return, a.s.signed to him three or four of their villages, rent free, in perpetuity, which in Oude means as long as the grantee may have the power or influence to be useful to the granters, or to retain the grants. Since that time the k.u.mpureeas have recovered all the lands they had lost, restored all the jungle that had been cut down, and they are now more powerful than ever. They have strengthened their old forts and built some new, and added greatly to the number of their armed followers, so that the governor of the district dares not do anything to coerce them into the payment of the just demands of Government, or to check their usurpations and outrages.*

[* This Nourouz Allee was, 1851, the agent of the k.u.mpureea barons of this jungle, at the Durbar, where he has made, in the usual way, many influential friends, in collusion with whom he has seized upon many estates in the vicinity of the jungle, and had them made over to these formidable barons.]

The present n.a.z.im has with him two Nujeeb Regiments, one of nine hundred and fifty-five, and the other of eight hundred and thirty men; a squadron of horse and fourteen guns. The two corps are virtually commanded by fiddlers and eunuchs at Court. Of the men borne on the muster rolls and paid, not one-half are present; of the number present, not one-half are fit for the duties of soldiers; and of those fit for such duties, not one-half would perform them. They get nominally four rupees a-month, liable to numerous deductions, and they are obliged to provide their own clothing, arms, accoutrements, and ammunition, except on occasions of actual fighting, when they are ent.i.tled to powder and ball from the Government officer under whom they are employed. He purchases powder in the bazaars, or has it sent to him from Lucknow; and, in either case, it is not more than one- third of the strength used by our troops. It is made in villages and supplied to contractors, whose only object is to get the article at the cheapest possible rate; and that supplied to the most petted corps is altogether unfit for service.

The arms with which they are expected to provide themselves are a matchlock and sword. They are often ten or twelve months in arrears, and obliged to borrow money for their own subsistence and that of their families, at twenty-four per cent. interest. If they are disabled, they have little chance of ever recovering the arrears of pay due to them; and if they are killed, their families have still less. Even the arms and accoutrements which they have purchased with their own money are commonly seized by the officers of Government, and sold for the benefit of the State. Under all these disadvantages, the n.a.z.im tells me that he thinks it very doubtful whether any of the men of the two corps would fight at all on emergency. The cavalry are still worse off, for they have to subsist their horses, and if any man's horse should be disabled or killed, he would be at once dismissed with just as little chance of recovering the arrears of pay due to him. Of the fourteen guns, two only are in a state fit for service. Bullocks are provided for six out of fourteen, but they are hardly able to stand from want of food, much less to draw heavy guns.

I looked at them, and found that they had had no grain for many years, and very little gra.s.s or chaff, since none is allowed by Government for their use, and little can be got by forage, or plunder, which is the same thing. One seer and half of grain, or three pounds a-day for each bullock, is allowed and paid for by Government, but the bullocks never get any of it. Of the six best guns, for which he has draft bullocks, the carriage of one went to pieces on the road yesterday, and that of another went to pieces this-morning in my camp, in firing the salute, and both guns now lie useless on the ground. He has one mortar, but only two sh.e.l.ls for it; and he has neither powder nor ball for any of the guns. He was obliged to purchase in the bazaar the powder required for the salute for the Resident.

The n.a.z.im tells me, that he has entertained at his own cost two thousand Nujeebs or Seobundies, on the same conditions as those on which the others serve in the two Regiments, on duty under him--that is, they are to get four rupees a-month each, and furnish themselves with food, clothing, a matchlock, sword, accoutrements, and ammunition, except on occasions of actual fighting, when he is to provide them with powder and ball from the bazaar. The minister, he tells me, promised to send him another Nujeeb corps--the Futteh Jung-- from Khyrabad; but he has heard so bad an account of its discipline, that he might as well be without it. All the great landholders see the helpless state of the n.a.z.im, and not only withhold from him the just dues of Government, but seize upon and appropriate with impunity the estates of the small proprietors in their neighbourhood.

_January_ 1, 1850.--Fourteen miles to Rae Bareilly, over a plain with more than usual undulation, and the same doomuteea light soil, tolerably cultivated, and well studded with trees of the finest kind.

The festoons of the bandha hang gracefully from the branches, with their light green and yellow leaves, and scarlet flowers, in the dark green foliage of the mango and mhowa trees in great abundance. I saw them in no other, but they are sometimes said to be found in the banyan, peepul, and other trees, with large leaves, though not in the tamarind, babul, and other trees, with small leaves. I examined those on the mango and mhowa trees, and they are the same in leaf and flower, and are said to be the same in whatever tree found. Rae Bareilly is in the estate of Shunkurpoor, belonging to Rana Benee Madho, a large landholder. He resides at Shunkurpoor, ten miles from this, and is strong, and not very scrupulous in the acquisition, by fraud, violence, and collusion, of the lands of the small proprietors in the neighbourhood. I asked Rajah Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor, as he was riding by my side, this morning, whether he was not a man of bad character. He said, ”No, by no means; he is a man of great possessions, credit, and influence, and of good repute.” ”But does he not rob smaller proprietors of their hereditary lands?” ”If,” replied the Rajah, ”you estimate men's character in Oude on this principle, you will find hardly any landholder of any rank with a good one, for they have all been long doing the same thing--all have been augmenting their own estates by absorbing those of smaller proprietors, by what you will call fraud, violence, and collusion, but they are not thought the worse of for this by the Government or its officers.” Nothing could be more true. Men who augment their estates in this way, purchase the acquiescence of temporary local officers, either by gratuities, or promises of aid, in putting down other powerful and refractory landholders; or they purchase the patronage of Court favourites, who get their estates transferred to the ”Hozoor Tehseel,” and their transgressions overlooked. Those who augment their resources in this way, employ them in maintaining armed bands, building forts, and purchasing cannon, to secure themselves in the possession, and to resist the Government and its officers, who might otherwise make them pay in some proportion to their usurpations.

Benee Madho called upon me after breakfast, and gave me the little of his history that I desired to hear. He is of the Byans Rajpoot clan, and his ancestors have been settled in Oude for about twenty-five generations, as landholders of different grades. The tallook or estate now belongs to him, and is considered to be a princ.i.p.ality, to descend entire by the law of primogeniture, to the nearest male heir, unless the lands become divided during his life-time among his sons.

Such a division has already taken place, as will be seen by the annexed note :*

[* Abdool-Sing, the tallookdar of Shunkurpoor, had three sons; first, Doorga Buksh, to whom he gave three shares; second, Chundha Buksh, to whom he gave two shares; third, Bhowanee Buksh, to whom he gave one and half share. The three shares of Doorga Buksh descended to his son, Sheopersaud, who died without issue. Chunda Buksh left two sons, Ramnaraen and Gor Buksh, Ramnaraen inherited the three shares of Sheopersaud, as well as the two shares of his father. He had three sons, Rana Benee Madho, Nirput Sing, and Jogray Sing; Benee Madho inherited the three shares, and one of the other two was given to Nirput Sing, and the other to Jogray Sing. Gorbuksh Sing left one son, Sheopersaud, who gets the one and half share of Bhowanee Buksh, whose son, Joorawun, died without issue. Benee Madho is now the head of the family; and he has more than quadrupled his three shares by absorptions, made in the way above mentioned.]

The three and half shares held by his brothers and cousins are liable to subdivision by the Hindoo law of inheritance, or the custom of his family and clan; but his own share must descend undivided, unless he divides it during his lifetime, or his heirs divide it during theirs, and consent to descend in the scale of landholders. He says that, during the five years that Fakeer Mahommed Khan was n.a.z.im, a quarrel subsisted between him and the tallookdar of Khujoor Gow, Rugonath Sing, his neighbour; that Sahib Rae, the deputy of Fakeer Mahommed, who was himself no man of business, adopted the cause of his enemy, and persuaded his master to attack and rob him of all he had, turn him out of his estate, and make it over to Rugonath Sing. He went to Lucknow for redress, and remained there urging his claims for fourteen months, when he got an order from the minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, for the estate being restored to him and transferred to the Hozoor Tehseel. He recovered his possessions, and the transfer was made; and he has ever since lived in peace. He might have added that he has been, at the same time, diligently employed in usurping the possessions of his weaker neighbours.*

[* Benee Madho and Rugonath Sing have since quarrelled about the t.i.tle of Rana. Benee Madho a.s.sumed the t.i.tle, and Rugonath wished to do the same, but Benee Madho thought this would derogate from his dignity. They had some fighting, but Rugonath at last gave in, and Benee Madho purchased, from the Court a recognition of his exclusive right to the t.i.tle, which is a new one in Oude. They had each a force of five thousand brave men, besides numerous auxiliaries.]

On our road, two miles from Rae Bareilly, we pa.s.sed over a bridge on the Saee river, built by _Reotee Ram_, the deputy of the celebrated eunuch, Almas Allee Khan, some sixty or seventy years ago. He at the same time planted an avenue of fine trees from Salone to Rae Bareilly, twenty miles; and from Rae Bareilly to Dalamow, on the Ganges, south, a distance of fourteen miles more. Many of the trees are still standing and very fine; but the greater part have been cut down during the contests that have taken place between the Government officers and the landholders, or between the landholders themselves.

The troops in attendance upon local government authorities have, perhaps, been the greatest enemies to this avenue, for they spare nothing of value, either in exchange or esteem, that they have the power to take. The Government and its officers feel no interest in such things, and the family of the planter has no longer the means to protect the trees or repair the works.

Rae Bareilly is the head-quarters of the local authorities in the Byswara district, and is considered to be one of the most healthy places in Oude. It is near the bank of the small river Saee, in a fine, open plain of light soil, and must be dry at all seasons, as the drainage is good; and there are no jheels or jungles near. It would be an excellent cantonment for a large force, and position for large civil establishments. The town is a melancholy ruin, and the people tell me that whatever landholder in the district quarrels with the local authorities is sure, as his first enterprise, to sack _Rae Bareilly_, as there is no danger in doing it. The inhabitants live so far from each other, and are separated by such heaps of ruins and deep water-courses, that they can make no resistance. The high walls and buildings, all of burnt brick, erected in the time of Shahjehan, are all gone to ruin. The plain, around the town, is open, level, well cultivated, and beautifully studded with trees. There is a fine tank of puckah masonry to the north-west of the town, built by the same Reotee Ram, and repaired by some member of his family, who holds and keeps in good order the pretty garden around it. The best place for a cantonment, courts, &c., is the plain which separates the town from the river Saee to the south-east: they should extend along from the town to the bridge over the Saee river. The water of this river is said to be excellent, though not quite equal to that of the Ganges. There is good water in most of the wells, but in some it is said to be brackish. The bridge requires repair.

_January_ 2, 1850.--We halted at Rae Bareilly, and I inspected the bullocks belonging to the guns of Sobha Sing's regiment and some guns belonging to the n.a.z.im. The bullocks have been starved, are hardly able to walk, and quite unfit for any work. Some of the carriages of the guns are broken down, and those that are still entire are so rotten that they could not bear a march. This regiment of Sobha Sing's was as good as any of those commanded by Captains Magness, Bunbury, and Barlow, while commanded by the late Captain Buckley;*

and the native officers and sipahees trained under him are all still excellent, but they are not well provided. Like the others, this regiment was to have had guns permanently attached to it, but the want of Court influence has prevented this. They now have them only when sent on service from one or other of the batteries at Lucknow, and the consequence is that they are good for nothing. Sobha Sing is at Court, in attendance on the minister; and his adjutant, Bhopaul Sing, a near relative of the Rajah of Mynpooree, commands: he seems to be a good soldier, and an honest and respectable man.

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