Begums, Thugs and White Mughals

by Fanny Parkes

  December 8th – The Gaja Rājā Sāhib went on an elephant in state to bring the Misses Eden to call on the Bāiza Bāī. They arrived with Lord Auckland in all due form: his Lordship and Appa Sāhib sat in the outer room, and conversed with her Highness through the parda. I introduced the Misses Eden to the Bāiza Bāī and her granddaughter, with whom they appeared pleased and interested. Twenty-two trays, containing pairs of shawls, pieces of cloth of gold, fine Dacca muslin and jewels were presented to the Governor-General; and fifteen trays, filled in a similar manner, to each of the Misses Eden. They bowed to the presents when they were laid before them, after which the trays were carried off and placed in the treasury for the benefit of the Government.

  December 15th – I quitted Allahabad on my road to the Hills, under the escort of our friend Mr F—, near whose tents my own were to be pitched: the country was swarming with robbers; they follow the camp of the Governor-General wherever it may be.

  December 16th – Arrived at my tents at Fatehpur; the scene in the camp was very picturesque; the troops were drawn out before the tents of the Governor-General and all was state and form for the reception of the Chiefs of Bandelkhand; the guns were firing salutes; it was an animated and beautiful scene.

  December 18th – I mounted my black horse and rode at daybreak with some friends. From the moment we left our tents we were passed, during the whole march, by such numbers of elephants, so many strings of camels, so many horses and carts and so many carriages of all sorts, attendant on the troops and the artillery of the Governor-General and his suite, that the whole line of march, from the beginning to the end, was one mass of living beings. My tents were pitched near the guns of the artillery, outside the camp at Mulwah: a Rājā came to call on Lord Auckland, a salute was fired; my horses, being so near, became alarmed; the grey broke from his ropes, fell on the pegs to which he was picketed, and lamed himself; another broke loose; a camel lamed himself and we had some difficulty in quieting the frightened animals.

  December 19th – I was unwell from over-fatigue, most uncomfortable. In the evening I roused myself to dine with Lord Auckland to meet Prince Henry of Orange. His Royal Highness entered the navy at eight years of age and has been in the service ten years, in the Bellona frigate. Accompanied by his captain, he came up dāk to spend a few days with Lord Auckland. The Prince is a tall, slight young man and, apparently, very diffident.

  December 21st – Arrived at Cawnpore, and paid a long promised visit to a relative. As the Misses Eden were at home in the evening, I accompanied Major P— to pay my respects. We lost our way in the ravine from a dense fog: when we reached the tents the whole station was assembled there, quadrilles and waltzing going forward.

  December 25th – On Christmas-day the old Nawāb Hakīm Menhdi, the minister of Oude of whom I have so often spoken, breathed his last at Lucknow. His death was announced to me in a very original note from his nephew and heir, the General Sāhib:

  ‘Dear Madam – I have to inform you that my poor uncle Nawāb Moontuzim-ood-Dowlah Bahadur departed this life at the decree and will of Providence, at half-past three o’clock A.M. the day before yesterday, Monday, the 25th inst., after a short illness of six days only; consequently seeing him any more in this world is all buried in oblivion. The Begum Sāhiba tenders her kind remembrances to you. With best wishes, believe me to be, dear Madam, yours very faithfully, Ushruff-ood-Dowla Ahmed Ally Khān Bahadur.’

  I was sorry to hear of the death of the Nawāb. How soon it has followed on the bad omens of his march!

  December 26th – Received an invitation to breakfast with the son of the King of Oude, who had arrived from Lucknow to meet the Governor-General’s party: went there on an elephant: at immense party were assembled in a very fine tent. Shortly after, breakfast was announced: when it was over we returned to the former tent when the presents were brought forth; they consisted of a fine elephant with a howdah on his back, and the whole of the trappings of red cloth and velvet richly embroidered in gold. Two fine horses next appeared, their housings of velvet and gold, and the bridles were studded with rows of turquoise. A golden palanquin was next presented. On the ground, in front of the party, were twenty-three trays, the present to Lord Auckland; they were filled with cashmere shawls in pairs, pieces of kimkhwāb, and necklaces of pearls emeralds and diamonds. Fifteen trays of shawls and cloth of gold, with fine pieces of Dacca muslin, were presented to each of the Misses Eden; two of the trays contained two combs set in superb diamonds, and two necklaces of diamonds and emeralds such as are hardly ever seen even in India. All these fine things were presented and accepted; they were then carried off and placed in the Government treasury. The Government make presents of equal value in return.

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  January 6th – At six o’clock, when I quitted my tent to mount my horse, it was bitterly cold; the poor starving wretches had collected on the spot which my horses had quitted and were picking up the grains of gram that had fallen from their nosebags; others were shivering over a half-burned log of wood my people had lighted during the night. On the road I saw many animals dead from over-exertion and famine; carts overturned; at one place a palanquin garī had been run away with, the wheels had knocked down and passed over two camel drivers; one of the men was lying on the roadside senseless and dying.

  On reaching the Stanhope, which had been laid half way for me, the horse gave some annoyance while being put into harness; when once in, away he went, pulling at a fearful rate, through roads half way up the leg in sand, full of great holes and so crowded with elephants, camels, artillery, cavalry and infantry, and all the camp followers, it was scarcely possible to pass through such a dense crowd; and in many places it was impossible to see beyond your horse’s head from the excessive dust. Imagine a camp of eleven thousand men all marching on the road, and such a road!

  Away rushed the horse in the Stanhope, and had not the harness been strong, and the reins English, it would have been all over with us. I saw a beautiful Persian kitten on an Arab’s shoulder; he was marching with a long string of camels carrying grapes, apples, dates and Tusar cloth for sale from Kabul. Perched on each camel were one or two Persian cats. The pretty tortoiseshell kitten, with its remarkably long hair and bushy tail caught my eye – its colours were so brilliant. The Arab ran up to the Stanhope holding forth the kitten; we checked the impetuous horse for an instant and I seized the pretty little creature; the check rendered the horse still more violent, away he sprang, and off he set at full speed through the encampment which we had just reached. The Arab thinking I had purposely stolen his kitten ran after the buggy at full speed, shouting as he passed Lord Auckland’s tents, ‘Dohā’ī, Dohā’ī, sāhib! Dohā’ī, Lord sāhib!’ ‘Mercy, mercy, sir! Mercy, Governor-General!’ The faster the horse rushed on, the faster followed the shouting Arab, until on arriving at my own tents, the former stopped of his own accord and the breathless Arab came up. He asked ten rupees for his kitten but at length, with well-feigned reluctance, accepted five, declaring it was worth twenty. ‘Who was ever before the happy possessor of a tortoiseshell Persian cat?’ The man departed. Alas! for the wickedness of the world! Alas! for the Pilgrim! She has bought a cocky-olli-bird!

  The cocky-olli-bird, although unknown to naturalists by that name, was formerly sold at Harrow by an old man to the boys who were charmed with the brilliancy of its plumage – purple, green, crimson, yellow, all the colours of the rainbow united in this beautiful bird; nor could the wily old fellow import them fast enough to supply the demand, until it was discovered they were painted sparrows!

  The bright burnt sienna colour of the kitten is not tortoiseshell, she has been dyed with hinnā, her original colour was white, with black spots; however, she looks so pretty, she must be fresh dyed when her hair falls off; the hinnā is permanent for many months. The poor kitten has a violent cold, perhaps the effect of the operation of dyeing her: no doubt, after having applied the pounded menhdī, they wrapped her up in fresh castor-oil leaves, and bound h
er up in a handkerchief, after the fashion in which a native dyes his beard. Women often take cold from putting hinnā on their feet.

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  January 7th – This day, being Sunday, was a halt – a great refreshment after toil; and Divine Service was performed in the tent of the Governor-General; after which, at three o’clock, I went on an elephant to see two most ancient and curious specimens of Hindu sculpture, the figures of Rām and Lutchman, which are about five feet in height, carved on separate stones, and surrounded by a whole heaven of gods and goddesses: the stones themselves, which are six or seven feet high, are completely covered with numerous images; and a devi (goddess), rather smaller, is on one side.

  Passing through the bazaar at Kannauj was a fearful thing. There lay the skeleton of a woman who had died of famine; the whole of her clothes had been stolen by the famished wretches around, the pewter rings were still in her ears, but not a rag was left on the bones that were starting through the black and shrivelled skin; the agony on the countenance of the corpse was terrible. Next to her a poor woman, unable to rise, lifted up her skinny arm and moaned for food. The unhappy women, with their babies in their arms, pressing them to their bony breasts, made me shudder. Miserable boys, absolutely living skeletons, pursued the elephant imploring for bread: poor wretches, I had but little money with me and could give them only that little and my tears: I cannot write about the scene without weeping, it was so horrible and made me very sick. Six people died of starvation in the bazaar today. Lord Auckland daily feeds all the poor who come for food, and gives them blankets; five or six hundred are fed daily – but what avails it in a famine like this? It is merciful cruelty, and only adds a few more days to their sufferings; better to die at once, better to end such intolerable and hopeless misery: these people are not the beggars but the tillers of the soil. When I was last at Kannauj the place was so beautiful, so luxuriant in vegetation – the bright green trees, the river winding through low fields of the richest pasture: those fields are all bare, not a blade of grass. The wretched inhabitants tear off the bark of the wild fig tree (goolèr) and pound it into food; in the course of four or five days their bodies swell and they die in agonies. The cultivators sit on the side of their fields and, pointing to their naked bodies, cry, ‘I am dying of hunger.’ Some pick out the roots of the bunches of coarse grass and chew them. The people have become desperate; sometimes, when they see a sipāhi eating they rush upon him to take his food; sometimes they fall one over the other as they rush for it, and having fallen, being too weak to rise, they die on the spot, blessed in finding the termination of their sufferings. The very locusts appear to have felt the famine; you see the wings here and there on the ground, and now and then a weak locust pitches on a camel. Every tree has been stripped of its leaves for food for animals. The inhabitants of Kannauj, about a lakh of people, have fled to Oogein and to Saugar. The place will be a desert; none will remain but the grain merchants who fatten on the surrounding misery. There is no hope of rain for five months; by that time the torments of these poor wretches will have ended in death – and this place is the one I so much admired from the river, with its rich fields and its high land covered with fine trees and ruins!

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  CHAPTER XLVI

  PLEASANT DAYS IN CAMP

  JANUARY 8TH 1838 – Arrived at Jelalabad without any adventures. Went to hear the band in the evening, but felt weary from not having slept the night before on account of the yells of the packs of jackals in every direction round the tent, and the noise of the sentries keeping off the people from Kannauj. We were in a complete jangal: a wolf came up to my tent at midday, then trotting over to the opposite tent carried off my neighbour’s kid.

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  January 12th – Dined with Major Sutherland, the Resident of Gwalior, who was in attendance on the Governor-General. A number of friends were assembled; a bright fire blazed in the tent; our host was the life of the party; the dinner was excellent. I have seldom passed a more agreeable evening.

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  January 19th – Finished a march of fifteen miles before half-past eight; halted at Nawābganj; breakfasted with my friends; a most kind welcome, a bright fire and an excellent breakfast made me quite happy. The formality of the great camp I had just quitted formed a strong contrast to the gaiety and cheerfulness of marching under the flag of the Resident of Gwalior.

  January 23rd – We arrived at Khasganj, and encamped in the mango tope just beyond the village. After breakfast, I drove four miles to see Mr James Gardner, who had succeeded to his father’s property and was living at his house. I found the place quite deserted; Mr Gardner was at one of his villages some miles off but his wife, Mulka Begum, was at home. I sent word I would pay my respects to her if she could receive me. In the meantime I went into the garden and visited all those spots where I had so often enjoyed the society of my dear friend Colonel Gardner. The pavilion in the centre of the garden, in which I had nursed him when he was so ill, recalled to mind the conversation we then had which ended in his taking me to the tomb of his son just beyond the garden; we sat on that tomb and the dear old man said, pointing to the spot, ‘I wish to be buried there, by the side of my son; another year will not pass ere I shall be placed there; you are very kind in trying to persuade me, my dear daughter, that I have still many years before me, but I feel I am going, my constitution is gone; it is well that with old age we feel all these pains and the ills that accompany it; were it not so, we should never be willing to quit this world.’ Our conversation lasted some time, afterwards he took my arm and we returned slowly to the house. I visited his grave: his son had raised a tomb on the spot selected by his father; it was not quite finished. I knelt at the grave of my kind, kind friend and wept and prayed in deep affliction. His begum had only survived him a few days. She was buried in the same tomb, with her head to Mecca, towards which place the face of a true believer is always turned when laid in the grave. The corpse of a Muhammadan is laid on its back in the grave, with the head to the north and feet to the south, turning its face towards the kibla (or Mecca, i.e. west). The Shī’as make their tombs for men of the same shape as the Sunnīs make those for females; and for women like those of the Sunnīs for men, but with a hollow, or basin, in the centre of the upper part.

  Mulka Begum received me very kindly; she showed me her little girl, the youngest, about two years old, whom she said was reckoned very like me. The child was shy and clung to her ayah, frightened at a stranger; I could scarcely catch a glimpse of her face. The eldest boy was from home with his father; the second son, William Linnaeus, so called after his grandfather, was at home; he is a very fine, intelligent boy. I requested leave to bring Mrs H— to pay her a visit that evening, and then asking permission to depart I returned to the tents. In the evening, our party set off for Khasganj: we walked in the garden and visited the tomb. Major Sutherland spoke of Colonel Gardner as a most gallant officer, and recorded several most dashing actions in which he had distinguished himself in many parts of the country; gallantry that had not met the recompense due to it from Government – the value of a spirit such as Colonel Gardner’s had not been properly appreciated by the rulers of the land.

  When the evening closed in, the gentlemen went into the outer house and I took Mrs H— into the zenāna: as dark beauties always look best by candlelight, I had selected a late hour to visit the begum; she was sitting on her gaddī when we went in, surrounded by her three beautiful children and was in herself a picture. The little girl, my likeness, had lost all her shyness and was figuring about like a dancing girl; on remarking the extraordinary change from shyness to such violent spirits, Mulka said, ‘She has had some opium, that makes her so fearless.’ We sat an hour with the begum and then took our leave. We found the gentlemen in the outer house, sitting over a warm fire and an excellent dinner of native dishes was ready; having dined, we returned by torchlight to the tents.

  My friends were much gratified with their visit to Khasganj; I had spok
en so warmly of the beauty of Mulka Begum, that I was pleased to find Mrs H— admired equally both her person and manners.

  January 25th – Our morning march was thus: Mr H—, Major Sutherland and myself on horseback; Mrs H— in a palanquin-carriage that rivalled Noah’s ark; it held herself, three children, three ayahs, two dogs and packages without number; four good Arab horses had hard work to pull it six miles over such roads: the rest of the march was performed in buggies, with a relay of horses on the road. Major Sutherland, on his beautiful Arab, used to fly over the country in true Pindaree style; some of his Arabs I coveted exceedingly. In the evening the gentlemen took their guns; no game was to be found – the land was generally perfectly bare, not a blade of grass – the game had perished for want of food. The whole country around Zezaree was very flat and uninteresting; the only picturesque object we could find during these evening rambles was an old well; these wells we used to seek out and peer into as if we belonged to the Thuggee department and were searching for dead bodies. Our life in tents was very agreeable and I believe the whole party were sorry the next march would bring us to Aligarh, and once more into the form and stupidity of life in a house; for myself, the idea of having any roof over my head but that of a tent fell like a nightmare on my spirits; and the giving up hunting for old wells was a complete sacrifice.

  January 26th – Arrived at Aligarh; were kindly welcomed by Mr and Mrs H—, and pitched our tents in the Compound; in the evening we visited the fort, rendered famous for the gallant style in which it was taken, in Lord Lake’s time, from General Perron. The fort was strong and surrounded by a fine ditch; to have approached it in a regular manner would have taken a month. A party of the — regiment had a skirmish with some of the men belonging to the fort; as these men retreated over the first bridge the English fought with and entered the first gate with them. When within the gate they were exposed to a heavy fire on every side; just under a large peepal tree, close to the gate, six of the officers were killed; the rest crossed the second bridge and fixed their ladders on the wall; but by their own ladders the enemy descended upon them. After dreadful slaughter, the second gate was entered and the English took possession of the fort.