Part 60 (1/2)
53. Otherwise called Sihon, or Syr Darya.
54. Two autobiographical works, the _Malfuzat_ and the Tuzukat, are attributed to Timur and probably were composed under his direction.
The latter was translated by Major Davey (Oxford, 1783), and the former, in part, by Major Stewart (Or. Transl. Fund, 1830). An independent version of the portion of the _Malfuzat_ relating to India will be found in E. & D., iii, pp. 389-477.
55. Ali Yazdi, commonly called Sharaf-ud-din, author of the _Zafarnama_ in Persian (see _ante_, chapter 68, note 46), Ibn Arabshah, in an Arabic work, describes Timur from a hostile point of view. (Encycl. Brit., 11th ed., s. v. 'Timur').
56. It is impossible within the limits of a note to discuss the problem of the origin of the gipsies. Much has been written about it, though nothing quite satisfactory. The gipsy, or Romany, language (_Romani chiv_, or 'tongue') certainly is closely related to, though not derived from, the existing languages of Northern India. Some of the forms are very archaic. A valuable English-Gipsy vocabulary compiled by Mr. (Sir George) and Mrs. Grierson was published in _Ind.
Ant._, vols. xv, xvi (1886,1887). The author's theory does not tally with the facts. Gipsies existed in Persia and Europe long before Timur's time. It is practically certain that they did not come through Egypt. The article 'Gypsies' by F. H. Groome in Chambers's _Encycl._ (1904) is good, and seems to the editor to be preferable to Dr. Gaster's article 'Gipsies' in _Encycl. Brit._, 11th ed., 1910.
57. Before the Codes were pa.s.sed (1859-1861) the criminal law administered in India was, in the main, that of the Muhammadans, and each judge's court had a Muhammadan law officer attached, who p.r.o.nounced a 'fatwa', or decision, intimating the law applicable to the case, and the penalty which might be inflicted. Several examples of these 'fatwas' will be found among the papers bound up with the author's 'Ramaseeana'.
58. See Koran, chapter 2. [W. H. S.] The pa.s.sage is the second sentence in chapter 2. The wording, as quoted, differs slightly from Sale's version.
59. See Koran, chapter 32. [W. H. S.]
60. Ibid., chapter 11. [W. H. S.] Sale's version, with trifling verbal differences. The 'mufti's' reasoning has been heard in Europe.
61. See Koran, chapter 15. [W. H. S.] Sale's version, with modifications.
62. 'This is a revelation of the most mighty, the merciful G.o.d; that thou mayest warn a people whose fathers were not warned, and who live in negligence. Our sentence hath justly been p.r.o.nounced against the greater part of them, wherefore they shall not believe. It shall be equal unto them whether thou preach unto them, or do not preach unto them; they shall not believe.' Koran, chapter 36. [W. H. S.] From beginning of the chapter. Sale's version; a sentence being omitted between 'believe' and 'It shall'.
63. I have never met another man so thoroughly master of the Koran as the Mufti, and yet he had the reputation of being a very corrupt man in his office. [W. H. S.]
64. Aleeoodeen; an unusual name; probably a misprint for Ala-ud-din.
65. The 17th chapter of the Koran opens with the words, 'Praise be unto him who transported his servant by night from the sacred temple of Mecca to the farther temple of Jerusalem', 'from whence', as Sale observes, 'he was carried through the seven heavens to the presence of G.o.d, and brought back again to Mecca the same night'. The commentators dispute whether the journey to heaven was corporeally performed, or merely in a vision. 'But the received opinion is that it was no vision, but that he was actually transported in the body to his journey's end; and if any impossibility be objected, they think it a sufficient answer to say that it might easily be effected by an omnipotent agent.'
66. See Koran, chapter 15. [W. H. S.]
67. The Muhammadans believe that the Christians have tampered with the Scriptures.
68. It would be difficult to give more vivid expression to the eternal conflict between the theological and the scientific spirit.
Compare the remarks _ante_, chapter 26, note 11, on the att.i.tude of Hindoos towards modern science.
69. _Paradise Lost_, Book VIII. [W. H. S.] Line 167; from Raphael's address to Adam.
CHAPTER 69
Indian Police--Its Defects--and their Cause and Remedy.
On the 26th[1] we crossed the river Jumna, over a bridge of boats, kept up by the King of Oudh for the use of the public, though his majesty is now connected with Delhi only by the tomb of his ancestor;[2] and his territories are separated from the imperial city by the two great rivers, Ganges and Jumna.
We proceeded to Farrukhnagar, about twelve miles over an execrable road running over a flat but rugged surface of unproductive soil.[3]
India is, perhaps, the only civilized country in the world where a great city could be approached by such a road from the largest military Station in the empire,[4] not more than three stages distant. After breakfast the head native police officer of the division came to pay his respects. He talked of the dreadful murders which used to be perpetrated in this neighbourhood by miscreants, who found shelter in the territories of the Begam Samru,[5] whither his followers dared not hunt for them; and mentioned a case of nine persons who had been murdered just within the boundary of our territories about seven years before, and thrown into a dry well. He was present at the inquest held on their bodies, and described their appearance; and I found that they were the bodies of a news writer from Lah.o.r.e, who, with his eight companions, had been murdered by Thugs on his way back to Rohilkhand. I had long before been made acquainted with the circ.u.mstances of this murder and the perpetrators had all been secured, but we wanted this link in the chain of evidence. It had been described to me as having taken place within the boundary of the Begam's territory, and I applied to her for a report on the inquest. She declared that no bodies had been discovered about the time mentioned; and I concluded that the ignorance of the people of the neighbourhood was pretended, as usual in such cases, with a view to avoid a summons to give evidence in our courts. I referred forthwith to the magistrate of the district, and found the report that I wanted, and thereby completed the chain of evidence upon a very important case. The Thanadar seemed much surprised to find that I was so well acquainted with the circ.u.mstances of this murder, but still more that the perpetrators were not the poor old Begam's subjects, but our own.
The police officers employed on our borders find it very convenient to trace the perpetrators of all murders and gang robberies into the territories of native chiefs, whose subjects they accuse often when they know that the crimes have been committed by our own. They are, on the one hand, afraid to seize or accuse the real offenders, lest they should avenge themselves by some personal violence, or by thefts or robberies, which they often commit with a view to get them tumed out of office as inefficient; and, on the other, they are tempted to conceal the real offenders by a liberal share of the spoil, and a promise of not offending again within their beat. Their tenure of office is far too insecure, and their salaries are far too small.
They are often dismissed summarily by the magistrate if they send him in no prisoners; and also if they send in to him prisoners who are not ultimately convicted, because a magistrate's merits are too often estimated by the proportion that his convictions bear to his acquittals among the prisoners committed for trial to the sessions.
Men are often ultimately acquitted for want of judicial proof, when there is abundance of that moral proof on which a police officer or magistrate has to act in the discharge of his duties; and in a country where gangs of professional and hereditary robbers and murderers extend their depredations into very remote parts, and seldom commit them in the districts in which they reside, the most vigilant police officer must often fail to discover the perpetrators of heavy crimes that take place within his range.[6]