Part 18 (2/2)

Dangerous as the calling of the elephant-driver is, that of the snake-keepers, in the King's service, seems still greater. He has two or three very expert men of this kind, whose duty it is to bring him the snakes, when disposed to look at them, and see the effects of their poison on animals. They handle the most venomous, with apparently as much carelessness as other men handle fighting-c.o.c.ks or quail. When bitten, as they sometimes are, they instantly cut into the part, and suck out the poison, or get their companions to suck it out when they can't reach the part with their own mouths. But they depend chiefly upon their wonderful dexterity in warding off the stoops or blows of the snakes, as they twist them round their necks and limbs with seeming carelessness. While they are doing so, the eye of the spectator can hardily detect the _stoops_ of the one and the guards of the other. After playing in this way with the most venomous snakes, they apply them to the animals. Elephants have died from their bites in a few hours--smaller animals sooner. I have never, myself, seen the experiments, but any one may see them at the palace.

Elephants and the larger animals are too expensive to be often experimented on.

_January_ 4, 1850.--Halted at the village of Onae, alias Gorbuksh Gunge. It lost the name of Onae, after the proprietor, Gorbuksh, who had built the Gunge, and made it a great emporium of trade in corn, cotton cloth, &c.; but is recovering it again, now that the Gunge has become a ruin, and the family of the builder has been dispossessed of the lands. I rode out in the morning to look at the neighbouring village of Doolarae-ka Gurhee, or the fort of Doolarae, and have some talk with the peasantry, who are Bys Rajpoots, of one of the most ancient Rajpoot families in Oude. They told me,--”That their tribe was composed of two great families, Nyhussas and Synbunsies--that the acknowledged head of the Synbunsies was, at present, Rugonath Sing, of Kojurgow, and that Hindpaul, tallookdar of Korree Sudowlee, was the head of the Nyhussas; that Baboo Rambuksh, tallookdar of Dhondeea Kheera, had the t.i.tle of Row, and Dirg Bijee Sing, tallookdar of Morarmow, that of Rajah--that is, he was the acknowledged Rajah of the clan, and Baboo Rambuksh, the Row, an inferior grade--that these families had been always fighting with each other, for the possession of each others lands, from the time their ancestors came into Oude, a thousand years ago, except when they were united in resistance against the common enemy, the governor or ruler of the country--that one family got weak by the subdivision of the lands, among many sons or brothers, or by extravagance, or misfortune, while another became powerful, by keeping the lands undivided, and by parsimony and prudence; and the strong increased their possessions by seizing upon the lands of the weak, by violence, fraud or collusion with the local authorities--that the same thing had been going on among them for a thousand years, with some brief intervals, during which the rulers of Oude managed, by oppression, to unite them all against themselves, or by prudence, to keep them all to their respective rights and duties-- that Doolarae, who gave his name to the village, by building the fort, was of the Nyhussa family, and left two sons, and only two villages, Gurhee and Agoree, out of a very large estate, the rest having been lost in the contests with the other families of the tribe--that these two had become minutely subdivided among their descendants: and Bhugwan Das, Synbunsee of Simree, four years ago, seized upon the Gurhee, in collusion with the local authorities; that Thakoor Buksh Nyhussa, talookdar of Rahwa seized upon Agoree in the same way that the local authorities designedly a.s.sessed these villages at a higher rate than they could be made to pay, and then, for a bribe, transferred them to the powerful tallookdars, on account of default.”

Gorbuksh Sing, Synbunsee, died some twenty years ago, leaving an estate, reduced from a greater number to ninety-three villages. His nephew, Futteh Bahader, a child, was adopted by his widow, who continued to manage the whole till she died, four years after. The heir was still a boy; and Rugonath Sing, of Kojurgow, the head of the Synbunsee family, took advantage of his youth, seized upon the whole ninety-three villages, and turned him out to beg subsistence among his relatives. In this he, Rugonath Sing, was, as usual, acting in collusion with the local authorities of the Government. He continued to possess the estate for ten years, but to reside in his fort of Hajeepoor. Koelee Sing, a Guhlote, by caste, and a zumeendar of Bheeturgow, and its eight dependent villages, which formed part of the estate of Futteh Bahader, went to Court at Lucknow, and represented, that Rugonath Sing had no right whatever to the lands he held, and the Court had better make them over to him and the other zumeendars, if they did not like to restore them to their rightful heir. Bheeturgow and its dependent eight villages, were made over to him; and ten sipahees, from Captain Hyder Hea.r.s.ey's Regiment, were sent to establish and support him in possession. Rugonath attacked them, killed two of the sipahees, and drove out Koelee Sing. He repaired to Court; and Mahomed Khan was sent out, as Special Commissioner, with orders to punish Rugonath Sing. He and Captain Hea.r.s.ey attacked him in his fort of Hajeepoor, drove him out, and restored Futteh Bahader, to twenty-four villages; and re-established Koelee Sing, in Bheeturgow, and the eight villages dependent upon it.

Futteh Bahader was poor, and was obliged to tender the security of Benee Madho, the wealthy tallookdar of this place, for the punctual payment of the revenue. The year before last, when a balance of revenue became due, he, the deputy, in collusion with Gholam Allee, seized upon all the twenty-four villages.

Futteh Bahader went to seek redress at Lucknow, but had no money to pay his way at Court, while Benee Madho had abundance, and used it freely, to secure the possession of so fine an addition to his estate. Futteh Bahader, as his last resource, got his uncle, Bustee Sing, of the 3rd Cavalry, whom he called his father,* to present a pet.i.tion for redress to the Resident, in April 1849. Gholam Allee was ordered to release Futteh Bahader, whom Benee Madho had confined, and send him to Lucknow. The order was not obeyed, and it was repeated in December without effect; but his uncle's agent, Gorbuksh, was diligent at the Residency, and the case was made over for investigation and decision to the Ameen, Mahomed Hyat. Finding Futteh Bahader still in confinement, with sundry members of his family, when I came here yesterday, I ordered him to be made over to the King's wakeel, in attendance upon me, to be sent to the Court, to prosecute his claim, and produce proofs of his right. Of his right there can be no question, and the property of which he was robbed, in taking possession, and the rents since received, if duly accounted for, would more than cover any balance due by Futteh Bahader. When he gave the security of Benee Madho, for the payment of the revenue, he gave, at the same time, what is called the Jumog of his villages to him; that is, bound his tenants to pay to him their rents at the rate they were pledged to pay to him; and the question pending is, simply, what is fairly due to Benee Madho, over and above what he may have collected from them. Benee Madho had before, by the usual process of violence, fraud, and collusion, taken eighteen of the ninety-three villages, and got one for a servant; and all the rest had, by the same process, got into the possession of others; and Futteh Bahader had not an acre left when his uncle interposed his good offices with the Resident.** The dogs of the village of Doolarae-kee Gurhee followed us towards camp, and were troublesome to the horses and my elephant. I asked the princ.i.p.al zumeendar why they were kept. He said they amused the children of the village, who took them out after the hares, and by their aid and that of the sticks with which they armed themselves, they got a good many; that all they got for food was the last mouthful of every man's dinner, which no man was sordid enough to grudge them--that when they wished to describe a very sordid man, they said--”he would not even throw his last mouthful (koura) to a dog!”

[* He called Bustee Sing his _father_, as sipahees can seek redress through the Resident, for wrongs suffered by no others than their mothers, fathers, their children, and themselves.]

[** A punchaet was a.s.sembled at Lucknow, to decide the suit between Benee Madho and Futteh Bahader, at the instance of the Resident: and they awarded to Benee Madho a balance due on account of thirty thousand rupees, which Futteh Bahader has to pay before he can recover possession of his estate.]

_January_ 5, 1851.--Halted at Onae, in consequence of continued rain, which incommodes us, but delights the landholders and cultivators, whose crops will greatly benefit by it. The halting of so large a camp inconveniences them, however, much more than us; for they are called upon to supply us with wood, gra.s.s, and straw, for which they receive little or no payment; for the Kings people will not let us pay for these things, and pay too little themselves. Those who attend us do not plunder along the road; but the followers of the local authorities, who attend us, through their respective jurisdictions, do so; and sundry fields of fine carrots and other vegetables disappear, as under a flight of locusts along the road. The camp- followers a.s.sist them, and as our train extends from the ground we leave to that to which we are going, for twelve or fourteen miles, it is impossible, altogether, to prevent such injuries from so undisciplined a band. The people, however, say, they suffer much less than they would from one-fourth of the number under a contractor marching without an European superior, and I give compensation in flagrant cases. Captain Weston acts as our Provost Marshal. He leaves the ground an hour or two after I do, and seizes and severely punishes any one found trespa.s.sing.

In my ride this morning I found that Nyhussa and Synbunsee are two villages distant about ten miles from our camp, to the south-east-- that all the Byses, who give the name of Byswara to this large district, are called Tilokchundees, from Tilokchund, the founder of the family in Oude. He had two sons, _Hurhur Deo_ and _Prethee Chund_. Hurhur Deo had two sons, one of whom, Kurun Rae, established himself in Nyhussa, and the other, Khem Kurun, in Synbunsee. Their descendants have taken their t.i.tles from their respective villages.

Prethee Chund's descendants established themselves in other parts, and the descendants of both bear the appellation of Tilokchundee Byses. The Rajahs and Rows are of the same family, and are so called from their ancestors having, at some time, had the t.i.tle of Rajah and Row conferred upon them.

Rajah Seodursun Sing, of Simrotee, who resides in the village of Chundapoor upon his estate, four miles east of Bulla, has been with me for the last five days. He is a strong man, and has been refractory occasionally; but at present he pays his revenue punctually, and keeps his estate in good order. He rendered good service yesterday in the way in which all of his cla.s.s might, by good management, be made to aid the government of Oude. A ruffian, by name Mohiboollah, who had been a trooper in the King of Oude's service, contrived to get the lease of the estate of Bulla, which is about twenty miles north-east from our camp; and turning out all the old landholders and cultivators, he there raised a gang of robbers, to plunder his neighbours and travellers. He had been only two months in possession, when he attacked the house of an old invalid subadar- major of the Honourable Company's service, (fifty-seventh Native Infantry,) on the 21st of December, 1849, robbed him of all he had, and confined him and all his family, till he promised, under good security, to pay, within twenty days, a ransom of one thousand two hundred rupees more. He had demanded a good deal more, but hearing that the Resident's camp was approaching, he consented to take this sum four days ago, and released all his prisoners. The subadar presented a pet.i.tion to me, and, after taking the depositions of the old zumeendars and other witnesses, I requested the king's wakeel, to send off a company of Soubha Sing's Regiment, to arrest him and his gang.

They went off from Rae Bareilly on the night of the 1st instant; but, finding that the subadar-major and his family had been released the day before, and that the village was full of armed men, ready to resist, they returned on the evening of the 2nd. On the 3rd, the whole regiment, with its artillery, and three hundred auxiliaries, under Rajah Seodursun Sing, left my camp, at Onae, at midnight, and before daylight surrounded the village. There were about one hundred and fifty armed men in it; and, after a little bravado, they all surrendered, and were brought to me. Mohiboollah had, however, gone off, on the pretence of collecting his rents, two days before; but his father and brother were among the prisoners. All who were recognised as having been engaged in the robbery, were sent off prisoners to Lucknow, and the rest were disarmed and released.

Among those detained were some notorious robbers, and the gang would soon have become very formidable but for the accident of my pa.s.sing near. He had got the lease of the estate through the influence of Akber-od Dowlah, one of the Court favourites, for the sole purpose of converting it into a den of robbers; and, the better to secure this object, he had got it transferred from the jurisdiction of the n.a.z.im to the Hozoor Tehseel, over the manager of which the Court favourite had paramount influence. He was to share with his client the fruits of his depredations, and, in return, to secure him impunity for his crimes. Many of his retainers were among the prisoners brought in to me, having been present at the distribution of the large booty acquired from the old subadar, some thirty or forty thousand rupees.

The subadar had resided upon the estate of Seodursun Sing; but having, seven years ago complained through the Resident of over- exactions for the small patch of land he held, and got back the grain which had been attacked for the rent, he was obliged to give it up and reside in the hamlet he afterwards occupied near Bulla, whose zumeendars a.s.sured him of protection.* He had a large family, and a great deal of property in money and other valuables concealed under ground. Mohiboollah first seized and sent off the subadar, and then had ramrods made red-hot and applied to the bodies of the children till the females gave him all their ornaments, and pointed out to him all the hidden treasures: they were then all taken to Bulla and confined till the subadar had pledged himself to pay the ransom demanded.

[* The greater part of this property is understood to have been confided, in trust, to the old subadar, by some other minion of the Court, and the chief object of the gang was to get hold of it; as their patron, Akber-od Dowlah, had become aware that his fellow- minion had intrusted his wealth to the old subadar, after he had taken up his residence near Bulla. The estate was made over, in farm, to Benee Madho, as the best man to cope with Mohiboollah, should he return and form a new gang.]

I requested the King to take the estate from this ruffian and restore it to its old proprietors, whose family had held it for several centuries, or bestow it in lease to some other strong and deserving person.

The Tilokchundee Byses take the daughters of other Rajpoots, who are a shade lower in caste, in marriage for their sons, but do not give their daughters in marriage to them in return. They have a singular notion that no snake ever has destroyed or ever can destroy one of the family, and seem to take no precautions against its bite. If bitten by a snake they do not attempt any remedy, nor could Benee Madho recollect any instance of a Tilokchundee Bysee having died from a bite. He tells me that some families in every Rajpoot tribe in Oude destroy their female infants to avoid the cost of marrying them, though the King prohibited infanticide and suttee in the year 1833.

That infanticide does still prevail among almost all the Rajpoot tribes in Oude is unquestionable.

_January_ 6, 1850.--Yesterday evening we moved to Omrowa West, [Transcriber's note: this appears to be a misspelling for Morowa West] a distance of twelve miles, over a plain of bad oosur soil, scantily cultivated near the road. To the left and right of the road, at a little distance, there are some fine villages, thickly peopled, and situated in fine and well-cultivated soil. The country is well wooded, except in the worst parts of the soil, where trees do not thrive. We saw a great deal of sugar-cane in the distance and a few p.a.w.n-gardens. The population of the villages came to the high road to see us pa.s.s; and among them were a great many native officers and sipahees of our Regiments, who are at their homes on furlough, Government having given a very large portion of the native army the indulgence of furlough during the present cold season. They all seemed happy; but, to my discomfort, a vast number take advantage of this furlough and my movements to urge their claims against the Government, its officers, and subjects. Nothing can be more wretched than the appearance of the buildings in which the people of all grades live in these villages--mud walls without any appearance of coverings, and doors and windows worse than I have seen in any other part of India. Better would not be safe against the King's troops, and these would certainly not be safe against a slight storm; a good shower and a smart breeze would level the whole of the villages with the ground in a few hours. ”But,” said the people, ”the mud would remain, and we could soon raise up the houses again without the aid of masons, carpenters, or blacksmiths.” It is enough that they are used to them.

Morowa is a large town, well situated and surrounded with groves of the finest trees in great variety; and, to the surprise of the officers with me, they saw a respectable house of burnt brick. It belongs to the most substantial banker and agricultural capitalist in these parts, _Chundun Lal_. These capitalists and their families are, generally, more safe than others, as their aid is necessary to the Government and its officers, and no less so to the landholders, cultivators, and people of all cla.s.ses. Their wealth consists in their credit in different parts of India; and he who has most of it may have little at his house to tempt the robber, while the Government officers stand generally too much in daily need of his services and mediation to molest him. A pledge made by these officers to landholders and cultivators, or to these officers by such persons, is seldom considered safe or binding till the respectable banker or capitalist has ratified it by his mediation, to which all refer with confidence.

He understands the characters and means of all, and will not venture to ratify any pledge till he is a.s.sured of both the disposition and ability of the party to fulfil it. Chundun Lal is one of the most respectable of this cla.s.s in Oude. He resides at this place, Morowa, but has a good landed estate in our territories, and banking establishments at Cawnpoor and many other of our large stations. He is a very sensible, well-informed man, but not altogether free from the ailing of his cla.s.s--a disposition to abuse the confidence of the Government officers; and, in collusion with them, to augment his possessions in land at the cost of his weaker neighbours.

I am told here that the Tilokchund Byses, when bitten by a snake, do sometimes condescend to apply a remedy. They have a vessel full of water suspended above the head of the sufferer, with a small tube at the bottom, from which water is poured gently on the head as long as he can bear it. The vent is then stopped till the patient is equal to bear more; and this is repeated four or five times till the sufferer recovers. I have not yet heard of any one dying under the operation, or from the bite of a snake. I find no one that has ever heard of a member of this family dying of the bite of a snake. One of the Rajahs of this family, who called on me to-day, declared that no member of his family had ever been known to die of such a bite, and he could account for it only ”from their being descended from Salbahun, the rival and conqueror of Bickermajeet, of Ojein.”

This Salbahun* is said to have been a lineal descendant of the _sake- G.o.d!_ He told me that the females of this family could never wear cotton cloth of any colour but plain white; that when they could not afford to wear silk or satin they never wore anything but the piece of white cotton cloth which formed, in one, the waistband, petticoat, and mantle, or robe (the dhootee and loongree), without hemming or needlework of any kind whatever. Those who can afford to wear silk or satin wear the petticoat and robe, or mantle of that material, and of any colour. On their ankles they can wear nothing but silver, and above the ankles, nothing but gold; and if not, nothing, not even silver, except on the feet and ankles. No Hindoo of respectability, however high or wealthy, can wear anything more valuable than silver below the waist. The Tilokchundee Byses can never condescend to hold the plough; and if obliged to serve, they enlist in the army or other public establishments of the Oude or other States.

[* Salbahun must have been one of the leaders of the Scythian armies, who conquered India in the reign of Vickramadittea.]

The late governor of this district, Hamid Allee Khan, is now, as I have already stated, in prison, as a great defaulter, at Lucknow. He was a weak and inexperienced man, and guided entirely by his deputies, Nourooz Allee and Gholam Allee. Calamities of season and other causes prevented his collecting one-quarter of the revenue which he had engaged in his contract to pay. Gholam Allee persuaded the officers commanding regiments under him to pledge themselves for the personal security of some of the tallookdars whom he invited in to discuss the claims of Government, and their ability to meet them.

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