Part 62 (1/2)

In the evening a trooper pa.s.sed our tents on his way in great haste from Meerut to Delhi, to announce the death of the poor old Begam Samru, which had taken place the day before at her little capital of Sardhana. For five-and-twenty years had I been looking forward to the opportunity of seeing this very extraordinary woman, whose history had interested me more than that of any other character in India during my time; and I was sadly disappointed to hear of her death when within two or three stages of her capital.[13]

Notes:

1. January, 1836.

2. Mr. Fox Strangways gives specimens of songs sung at wells in his learned and original book, _The Music of Hindostan_ (Oxford, 1914, pp. 20, 21).

3. Brij Bowla in the original edition. The name is correctly written Birju Baula or Baura. A legend of the rivalry between him and Tansen is given in _Linguistic Survey of India_, vi, 47. His name is not included in Abul Fazl's list of eminent musicians, or in Blochmann's notes to it (ain trans. i, 612), and I have not succeeded in obtaining any trustworthy information about him. Marvellous legends of the rival singers will be found in _N.I.N. & Qu._ vol. v, para.

207.

4. Abul Fazl describes Tansen as being of Gwalior, adding that 'a singer like him has not been in India for the last thousand years'.

Nos. 2-5 and several others in Abul Fazl's list of eminent musicians in Akbar's reign are all noted as belonging to Gwalior, which evidently was the most musical of cities (Blochmann, transl. ain, i, 612). Sleeman appears to have been mistaken in connecting Tansen with Patna. But the musician must really have become a Musalman, because his tomb stands close to the south-western corner of the sepulchre at Gwalior of Muhammad Ghaus, an eminent Muslim saint. No Hindu could have been buried in such a spot (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 370).

According to one account Tansen died in Lah.o.r.e, his body being removed to Gwalior by order of Akbar (Forbes, _Oriental Memoirs_, London, 1813, vol. iii, p. 32). The leaves of the tamarind-tree overshadowing the tomb are believed to improve the voice marvellously when chewed.

Mr. Fox Strangways notes that Hindu critics hold Tansen 'princ.i.p.ally responsible for the deterioration of Hindu music. He is said to have falsified the rags, and two, Hindol and Megh, of the original six have disappeared since his time' (op. cit., p. 84).

Akbar, in the seventh year of his reign (1562-3), compelled the Raja of Riwa (Bhath) to give up Tansen, who was in the Raja's service. The emperor gave the musician Rs. 200,000. 'Most of his compositions are written in Akbar's name, and his melodies are even nowadays everywhere repeated by the people of Hindustan' (Blochmann, op. cit., p. 406). Tansen died in A.D. 1588 (Beale).

5. Shah Alam is the sovereign alluded to. Mahadaji (Madhoji or Madhava Rao) Sindhia died in February, 1794. His successor, Daulat Rao, was then a boy of fourteen or fifteen (Grant Duff, _History of the Mahrattas_, ed. 1826, vol. iii, p. 86). The formal adoption of Daulat Rao had not been completed (ibid., p. 91).

6. This observation is a good ill.u.s.tration of the tendency of administrators in a country so poor as India to take note of the infinitely little. In Europe no one would take the trouble to notice the difference between 60 and 62 rental.

7. Lord Auckland, in March, 1836, relieved Sir Charles Metcalfe, who, as temporary Governor-General, had succeeded Lord William Bentinck.

8. The resumption, that is to say, a.s.sessment, of revenue-free lands was a burning question in the anthor's day. It has long since got settled. The author was quite right in his opinion. All native Governments freely exercised the right of resumption, and did not care in the least what phrases were used in the deed of grant. The old Hindoo deeds commonly directed that the grant should last 'as long as the sun and moon shall endure', and invoked awful curses on the head of the resumer. But this was only formal legal phraseology, meaning nothing. No ruler was bound by his predecessor's acts.

9. This is not now the case.

10. 'It is difficult to realize that the dignified, sober, and orderly men who now fill our regiments are of the same stock as the savage freebooters whose name, a hundred years ago, was the terror of Northern India. But the change has been wrought by strong and kindly government and by strict military discipline under sympathetic officers whom the troops love and respect.' (Sir Lepel Griffin, _Ranjit Singh_, p. 37.)

11. Gerard Lake was born on the 27th July, 1744, and entered the army before he was fourteen. He served in the Seven Years' War in Germany, in the American War, in the French campaign of 1793, and against the Irish rebels in 1798. In the year 1801 he became Commander-in-Chief in India, and proceeded to Cawnpore, then our frontier station. Two years later the second Maratha War began, and gave General Lake the opportunity of winning a series of brilliant victories. In rapid succession he defeated the enemy at Koil, Aligarh, Delhi (the battle alluded to in the text), Agra, and Laswari. Next year, 1804, the glorious record was marred by the disaster to Colonel Monson's force, but this was quickly avenged by the decisive victories of Dig and Farrukhabad, which shattered Holkar's power. The year 1805 saw General Lake's one personal failure, the unsuccessful siege of Bharatpur. The Commander-in-Chief then resumed the pursuit of Holkar, and forced him to surrender. He sailed for England in February, 1807, and on his arrival at home was created a Viscount. On the 21st February, 1808, he died. (Pea.r.s.e, _Memoir of the Life and Military Services of Viscount Lake_. London, Blackwood, 1908.) The village of Patparganj, nearly due east from Humayun's Tomb, marks the site of the battle. Fanshawe (p. 70) gives a plan.

12. The banyan is the _Ficus indica_, or _Urostigma bengalense_; the 'pipal' is _Ficus religiosa_, or _Urostigma religiosum_; and the tamarind is the _Tamarindus indica_, or _occidentalis_, or _officinalis_.

13. The history of the Begam is given in Chapter 76, _post_.

CHAPTER 71

The Station of Meerut--'Atalis' who Dance and Sing gratuitously for the Benefit of the Poor.

On the 30th,[1] we went on twelve miles to Meerut, and encamped close to the Suraj Kund, so called after Suraj-mal, the Jat chief of Dig, whose tomb I have described at Govardhan.[2] He built here a very large tank, at the recommendation of the spirit of a Hindoo saint, Manohar Nath, whose remains had been burned here more than two hundred years before, and whose spirit appeared to the Jat chief in a dream, as he was encamped here with his army during one of his _kingdom-taking_ expeditions. This is a n.o.ble work, with a fine sheet of water, and flights of steps of 'pakka' masonry from the top to its edge all round. The whole is kept in repair by our Government.[3]

About half a mile to the north-west of the tank stands the tomb of Shah Pir, a Muhammadan saint, who is said to have descended from the mountains with the Hindoo, and to have been his bosom friend up to the day of his death. Both are said to have worked many wonderful miracles among the people of the surrounding country, who used to see them, according to popular belief, quietly taking their morning ride together upon the backs of two enormous tigers who came every morning at the appointed hour from the distant jungle. The Hindoo is said to have been very fond of music; and though he has been now dead some three centuries, a crowd of amateurs (atalis) a.s.semble every Sunday afternoon at his shrine, on the bank of the tank, and sing gratis, and in a very pleasing style, to an immense concourse of people, who a.s.semble to hear them, and to solicit the spirit of the old saint, softened by their melodies. At the tomb of the Muhammadan saint a number of professional dancers and singers a.s.semble every Thursday afternoon, and dance, sing, and play gratis to a large concourse of people, who make offerings of food to the poor, and implore the intercession of the old man with the Deity in return.

The Muhammadan's tomb is large and handsome, and built of red sandstone, inlaid with marble, but without any cupola, that there may be no _curtain_ between him and heaven when he gets out of his 'last long sleep' at the resurrection.[4] Not far from his tomb is another, over the bones of a pilgrim they call Ganj-i-fann, or the granary of science. Professional singers and dancers attend it every Friday afternoon, and display their talents gratis to a large concourse, who bestow what they can in charity to the poor, who a.s.semble on all these occasions to take what they can get. Another much frequented tomb lies over a Muhammadan saint, who has not been dead more than three years, named Gohar Sah. He owes his canonization to a few circ.u.mstances of recent occurrence, which are, however, universally believed. Mr. Smith, an enterprising merchant of Meerut, who had raised a large windmill for grinding corn in the Sadr Bazar, is said to have abused the old man as he was one day pa.s.sing by, and looked with some contempt on his method of grinding, which was to take the bread from the mouths of so many old widows. 'My child,' said the old saint, 'amuse thyself with this toy of thine, for it has but a few days to run.' In four days from that time the machine stopped. Poor Mr. Smith could not afford to set it going again, and it went to ruin. The whole native population of Meerut considered this a miracle of Gohar Sah. Just before his death the country round Meerut was under water, and a great many houses fell from incessant rain. The old man took up his residence during this time in a large sarai in the town, but finding his end approach, he desired those who had taken shelter with him to have him taken to the jungle where he now reposes. They did so, and the instant they left the building it fell to the ground. Many who saw it told me they had no doubt that the virtues of the old man had sustained it while he was there, and prevented its crus.h.i.+ng all who were in it. The tomb was built over his remains by a Hindoo officer of the court, who had been long out of employment and in great affliction. He had no sooner completed the tomb, and implored the aid of the old man, than he got into excellent service, and has been ever since a happy man. He makes regular offerings to his shrine, as a grateful return for the saint's kindness to him in his hour of need. Professional singers and dancers display their talents here gratis, as at the other tombs, every Wednesday afternoon.

The ground all round these tombs is becoming crowded with the graves of people, who in their last moments request to be buried (zer-saya) under the shadow of these saints, who in their lifetime are all said to have despised the pomps and vanities of this life, and to have taken nothing from their disciples and wors.h.i.+ppers but what was indispensably necessary to support existence--food being the only thing offered and accepted, and that taken only when they happened to be very hungry. Happy indeed was the man whose dish was put forward when the saint's appet.i.te happened to be sharp. The death of the poor old Begam has, it is said, just canonized another saint, Shakir Shah, who lies buried at Sardhana, but is claimed by the people of Meerut, among whom he lived till about five years ago, when he desired to be taken to Sardhana, where he found the old lady very dangerously ill and not expected to live. He was himself very old and ill when he set out from Meerut; and the journey is said to have shaken him so much that he found his end approaching, and sent a messenger to the princess in these words: 'Aya tore, chale ham'; that is, 'Death came for thee, but I go in thy place'; and he told those around him that she had precisely five years more to live. She is said to have caused a tomb to be built over him, and is believed by the people to have died that day five years.