Across India; Or, Live Boys in the Far East

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XXXII

  MORE OF LUCKNOW AND SOMETHING OF BENARES

  "I suppose you recall the events of the Mutiny well enough to understandthe situation here in 1857," said Lord Tremlyn the next morning when thecompany had gathered in the parlor of the hotel. "But there was no massacrehere, as in Cawnpore, to impress the facts upon your memory, though manybrave men lost their lives in the defence of the place. There were onlyseven hundred and fifty troops in the town; but Sir Henry Lawrence had donethe best he could to fortify the Residency, ill adapted as it was fordefensive works.

  "An attempt was made to check the advance of the rebels eight miles fromthe city; but it was a failure, with the small available force, and twodays later the enemy attacked the British at the Residency. Three timesthe brave defenders beat back the assaults of the assailants. These eventson the spot you have visited occurred between the last of May and the firstof July. It was not till the twenty-second of September that Havelock andOutram arrived, and captured the Alum-Bagh, which we shall visit thismorning. It was a terrible summer that the beleaguered people and theirbrave handful of soldiers passed; and Tennyson has commemorated Lucknow inhis immortal verse.

  "But the coming of Havelock was not the end; for the rebels besieged theplace again, and it was near the middle of November before Sir ColinCampbell arrived, with a considerable force. He captured the Alum-Bagh,and, leaving in it a force of three thousand five hundred men, he escortedthe women and children and the civilians to Cawnpore; but returned in Marchto subdue the rebels. For a week he fought them, drove them from theintrenchments in which they had fortified themselves, and the mutiny wasended, as I related to you on board of your ship."

  The carriages were at the door as soon as the party had breakfasted. Theywere driven to the cemetery, where they saw the grave of Lawrence, whosememorial is that "He tried to do his duty." In the Alum-Bagh, which meansthe Queen's Garden, was the grave of Havelock. It was here that Outram hadhis camp and fortifications for the defence of Lucknow during the absenceof Campbell.

  The Kaiser Bagh, or Caesar's Garden, contains some of the principal sightsof the city, which the viscount pointed out and described. It is a forestof domes and cupolas; and the company halted at the pavilion of Lanka,which a French writer called the least ridiculous of the structures in theenclosure, though the professor insisted that it was quite as bad as theworst. It had an abundance of cupolas with arabesque domes; but the edificelooked like a shell, for the veranda, with lofty columns supporting theroof, appeared to take up the greater portion of the enclosed space.

  The most grotesque feature was at the entrance. A flight of broad stairsled to the principal floor, over which was extended what looked like animitation of the Rialto bridge in Venice, with a small temple under themiddle arch and at the head of the stairs. The top of the bridge was on alevel with the flat roof, and the two side-arches started from the ground.The building was handsome in some of its details; but the professor said itwas an "abomination," and Dr. Hawkes called it "queer." The variousedifices are now occupied by the civil and military officials.

  "Where does the name of this place come from?" asked Captain Ringgold."Kaiser Bagh seems to be half German."

  "But it is not German," replied Lord Tremlyn. "These buildings were mostlyerected no farther back than 1850, by Wajid Ali Shah, the King of Oude, whowas deposed by the British government in 1856. He called himself Caesar, andKaiser is simply a corruption of that name, with no German allusion in it.He was the husband of the Queen of Oude, whose burial-place you saw inPere-la-Chaise."

  The next visit was to the palace of Claude Martine, a conglomeration of allthe styles of architecture ever known, and some that were never heard of.At first view it looks like a small palace set on the top of a large one.It is certainly very original and very elaborate. Going to the citadel,they entered by a highly ornamental gateway, which opened to the visitorsthe view of the vast pile of buildings, in the middle of which is theImambara. The vastness of the pile presented before them was bewildering,though they had seen so many immense structures that mere size did not nowoverwhelm them. The Great Imambara is considered the marvel of Lucknow, andshould not be confounded with another in the citadel bearing the samegeneral name. To walk around or through this enormous building was simplyimpossible, and the party contented themselves with a general view fromdifferent points. It is located on a lofty terrace; and its long line ofwalls, crowned with Arabic domes, is very imposing.

  "This palace was erected at the close of the last century, by Nawab, withhalf a yard of other names to fetch up its rear," said Major Shandon, themilitary officer who was doing the honors of the city, with a pleasantsmile. "Like many others of the Indian monarchs, he desired to immortalizehis name by erecting a monument in his own honor; and he offered a prizefor the competition of all the architects of India, for one that wouldsurpass all others. We think he produced a plan that was worth the money hereceived; though we don't think he surpassed the Taj, or some otherbuildings that might be mentioned."

  This immense structure is now a vast arsenal. The other building, whichsometimes robs this one of its honors, is called the Hoosseinabad Imambara;and perhaps the length of the added name may account, to some extent, forthe robbery. It is in the citadel, and in sight of its namesake; but themausoleum, for it is the tomb of Ali Shah, who died in 1841, stands alone;and it does not fatigue the eyes to look at it. It is a light, etherealsort of structure, and looks like lacework. It is surmounted by a beautifuldome, and the roof bristles with the points of turrets and towers. Itcontains, besides the tomb of the monarch, a mosque, a bazaar, and a modelof the Taj, which make up a sufficient variety for an edifice erected for atomb.

  This temple completed the list marked out for inspection in Lucknow. Theparty had not supposed there was much of anything here to be seen exceptthe memorials of the Mutiny; and for these alone they would not have missedseeing the historic locality. The rest of the day was devoted to ridesthrough the streets and suburbs of the city. The avenues were wide, thehouses neat and commodious, and the gardens laid out with English taste.The evidences of British thrift were to be seen in many portions of theplace.

  Lochner's Hotel was their abiding-place, and Major Shandon regaled theparty at dinner and in the evening with stories of the place, and provedhimself to be a gentleman of "infinite humor." The next morning the companytook the train for Benares. They were a very sociable party, and preferredthe conference carriage to being confined to the smaller compartments. Theroute was along the Boomtee River at first, which, some one has said, isthe crookedest stream in the world, and the scenery was worth looking at.But as soon as the ladies and gentlemen had satisfied themselves withlooking out the windows the commander presented Sir Modava as the "talkist"for the trip of six hours, or as much of the time as he chose to occupy.

  "I shall not take more than half an hour for what I have to say, mymuch-loved friends," the Hindu gentleman began, "though I know you are verypatient and long-suffering; and I assure you that I shall not take offenceif you look out the windows while I am talking. The Boomtee River is aspretty as it is sinuous. If you write to your friends in the United Statesabout it, you can spell the last syllable t-i, if you prefer; for Indianorthography is not yet controlled by statute, as I hope it will be when wehave established an _Academie Indienne_, such as they have in France.But Benares is my subject, and not spelling.

  "Where is Benares? It is four hundred and twenty miles by rail fromCalcutta, and is on the left bank of the Ganges. I suppose you know whichside that is."

  "Of course we do," laughed Mrs. Belgrave. "It is on the left-hand side."

  "You have put your foot in it, mother," rallied Louis.

  "Into the Ganges?" queried the lady. "I did at Cawnpore, but not here."

  "Suppose you were coming up the river in a steamer from Calcutta, whichwould be the left bank?" asked Louis.

  "On my left, of course."

  "Then Sir
Modava will have to oblige you by locating Benares on both sidesof the Ganges, and I don't believe it would be convenient for him to dothat," said Louis, laughing at the expense of his mother, who blushed,though she did not see what was wrong, when she realized that she had madea blunder of some kind.

  "Better not have said anything," whispered Mrs. Blossom in retaliation; forhitherto she had had a monopoly of all the blunders."

  "Will you tell me, Sarah, which is the left bank of a river, for it appearsthat I don't know," added the lady out loud.

  "The left bank of the Ganges is the one Benares is on," replied the worthywoman; and she was greeted with a roar of laughter, and a volley ofapplause started by the live boys who were making their way across India.

  "Quite right, madam!" exclaimed Sir Modava, applauding with the others. "Itmay be a matter of no particular consequence; but you will excuse me forsaying that the left bank is the one on your left as you go down thestream, and not at all as you go up."

  "I remember now, for I learned that in my geography when I first went toschool; and it is strange that I should have forgotten it," added Mrs.Belgrave.

  "We know just where Benares is now," Sir Modava proceeded. "It is thelargest city in this part of India with the exception of Lucknow, to whichit stands next, or sixth among those of the country, having a population of219,467. It extends along the Ganges for three miles; and the shore islined continuously with staircases, called _ghats_, which lead up tothe temples, palaces, and the vast number of houses on the banks of theriver. The stream sweeps around the place like a crescent, presenting oneof the finest views you ever saw, with the ornamented fronts of dwellings,public offices, and a forest of towers, pinnacles, and turrets. To theHindus it is the most sacred city known to them.

  "When I was a boy I came here for the first time, brought by my father onaccount of the religious character of the place, if I may call anythingidolatrous by such a name. But the city, when you get into it, willdisappoint you. It is like Constantinople, very beautiful to look at fromthe Bosporus, or the Golden Horn; but its dirty, narrow streets disgustyou. I am afraid this will be your experience in Benares. You will beobliged to forego the luxury of carriages in making your tours through theplace, for the streets are so narrow and crowded that it is impossible toget along with a vehicle. An elephant is equally impracticable, and even ina palanquin your progress would be so slow that you would lose all yourstock of patience."

  "The city must be 'done' by walking, must it?" asked the commander.

  "Whew!" whistled Dr. Hawkes; and the sibilation was repeated by UncleMoses, for each of them weighed over two hundred and a quarter.

  "If the ship were here I would lend you the barge with eight rowers, toenable you to see the sights from the river," suggested Captain Ringgold.

  "A steam-launch shall be provided for all the company, and our obesefriends shall be provided with stuffed chairs, for the survey of the riverscenes; but carriages can be used in some parts of the city, though whatyou will desire to see can best be observed from the river; and we can landwhen you wish to see interiors," added Lord Tremlyn.

  This interruption was heartily applauded by the Cupids, as the fatgentlemen had been called in Cairo, assisted by all the others.

  "The famous Monkey Temple is just out of the city, and that can be reachedby carriages," continued Sir Modava. "There are fourteen hundred and fiftyHindu temples, pagodas, and shrines, and two hundred and seventy-twoMohammedan mosques, so that our good friend, General Noury, need notneglect his devotions."

  "The good Mussulman never does that, whether there be a mosque at hand ornot, for he says his prayers at the proper time, wherever he may be,"replied the general.

  "I know that some of your people are better Christians than some who bearthe name," replied the Hindu gentleman politely. "Benares is so holy, andthe Ganges is so holy, that hundreds of thousands visit it as theMussulmans visit Mecca. Men of wealth, and those who have the means withoutbeing rich, come to this city when they feel that they have been seizedwith a malady likely to prove fatal; for to die here with the Hindu is apassport to eternal happiness. But I am talking too long, though there ismuch more that might be said; but perhaps it could be better said on boardof that launch my friend mentions, and in sight of the temples, towers, andother objects of interest."

  In the middle of the afternoon the train arrived at its destination; andthe party proceeded in carriages to the western suburb, the location of thecantonment, or English quarter of the city.