Part 59 (2/2)
312). Since Fergusson wrote an immense amount of work has been done in restoration and conservation, but it is difficult to obtain a general view of the result.
The books about Delhi are even more tantalising and unsatisfactory than those which deal with Agra. Mr. Beglar's contribution to Vol. IV of the _Archaeological Survey Reports_ is a little, but very little, better than Mr. Carlleyle's disquisition on Agra in that volume. Sir A. Cunningham's observations in the first and twentieth volumes of the same series are of greater value, but are fragmentary and imperfect, and scarcely notice at all the city of Shahjahan.
Fergusson's criticisms, so far as they go, are of permanent importance, though the scheme of his work did not allow him to treat in detail of any particular section. Guide-books by Beresford Cooper, Harcourt, and Keene, of which Keene's is the latest, and, consequently, in some respects the best, are all extremely unsatisfactory. Mr. H. C. Fanshawe's _Delhi Past and Present_ (John Murray, 1902), a large, handsome work something between a guide-book and a learned treatise, is not quite satisfying. The late Mr. Carr Stephen, a resident of Delhi, wrote a valuable book on the Archaeology of the city, but it has no ill.u.s.trations, except a few plans on a small scale. (8vo, Ludhiana, 1876.) A good critical, comprehensive, well ill.u.s.trated description of the remains of the cities, said to number thirteen, all grouped together by European writers under the name of Delhi, does not exist, and it seems unlikely that the Panjab Government will cause the blank to be filled. No Government in India has such opportunities, or has done so little, to elucidate the history of the country, as the Government of the Panjab. But it has shown greater interest in the matter of late.
The reorganized Archaeological Survey of India, under the capable guidance of Sir J. H. Marshall, C.I.E., has not yet had time to do much at Delhi beyond the work of conservation. A fourteenth Delhi is now being built (1914).
30. _Ante_, chapter 53, [19].
31. These epistolary formulas mean no more than the similar official phrases in English, 'Your most obedient humble servant', and the like. The 'fortunate occurrence' of the Mutiny--for such it was, in spite of all the blood and suffering--cut out many plague-spots from the body politic of India. Among these the reeking palace swarm of Delhi was not the least malignant.
32. Azrail is the angel of death, whose duty it is to separate the souls from the bodies of men. Israfil is entrusted with the task of blowing the last trump.
33. The resurrection, and the signs foretelling it, are described in the _Mishkat-ul-Masabih_, book xxiii, chapters 3 to 11. (Matthews, vol. ii, pp. 556-620.)
34. The Hindoo 'ages' are (1) Krita, or Satya, (2) Treta, (3) Dwapara, (4) Kali, the present evil age. The long periods a.s.signed to these are merely the result of the calculations of astronomers, who preferred integral to fractional numbers.
35. This kind of education does not now pay, and is, consequently, going out of fas.h.i.+on. The Muhammadans are slowly, and rather unwillingly, yielding to the pressure of necessity and beginning to accept English education.
36. Imam Muhammad Ghazzali, who is also ent.i.tled Hujjat-ul-Islam, is the surname of Abu Hamid Muhammad Zain-ud-din Tusi, one of the greatest and most celebrated Musalman doctors, who was born A.D.
1058, and died A.D. 1111. (Beale, s.v. 'Ghazzali'.) The length of these Muhammadan names is terrible. They are much mangled in the original edition. See _ante_, chapter 53, note 10, and Blochmann (Ain) pp. 103, 182.
37. Khwaja Nasir-ud-din Tusi, the famous philosopher and astronomer, the most universal scholar that Persia ever produced. Born A.D. 1201, died A.D. 1274. (Beale.) See _ante_, loc. cit.
38. Especially the _Bustan_ and _Gulistan_. Beale gives a list of Sadi's works. See _ante_, chapter 12, note 6.
39. This is a very cynical and inadequate explanation of the prevalence of Conservative opinions among Englishmen in the East.
40. Ante, chapter 30, [6].
41. In the original edition the portrait of Akbar II is twice given, namely, in the frontispiece of Volume I as a full-page plate, and again as a miniature, dated 1836, in the frontispiece of Volume II.
42. The most secluded native prince of the present day could not be guilty of this absurdity.
43. Babur was sixth in descent from Timur, not seventh. Babur's grandfather, Abu Sayyid, was great-grandson of Timur. Babur, not Babar, is the correct spelling.
44. This may be an exaggeration. The undoubted facts are sufficiently horrible.
45. Timur was a man of surpa.s.sing ability, and knew much 'else'. See Malcolm, _History of Persia_, ed. 1859, chapter 11.
46. Timur's 'historian and great eulogist' was Sharaf-ud-din (died 1446), whose _Zafarnama_, or 'Book of Victories', was translated into French by Petis de la Croix in 1722. That version was used by Gibbon and rendered into English in 1723, Copious extracts from an independent rendering are given in E. & D., iii, pp. 478-522. The details do not always agree exactly with Sleeman's account.
47. The 'old city' was that of Kutb-ud-din and iltutmish; the 'new city' was that of Firoz Shah, which partly coincided with the existing city, and partly lay to the south, outside the Delhi gate.
48. In A.D. 1303.
49. Now in the Saharanpur district.
50. This is a repet.i.tion of the statement made above. According to _Encycl. Brit._, ed. 1910, Timur returned to his capital in April not May.
51. Bajazet, or more accurately Bayazid I, was defeated by Timur at the battle of Angora in 1402, and died the following year. The story of his confinement in an iron cage is discredited by modern critics, though Gibbon (chapter 65) shows that it is supported by much good evidence. Anatolia is a synonym for Asia Minor. It is a vague term, the Greek equivalent of 'the Levant'.
52. Sebaste, also called Elaeusa or Ayash, was in Cilicia.
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