Chittorgarh

“ Chittagong is a large town of Mahometans and Mugs, a Birmese tribe who inhabit many parts of the Malay peninsula, and the coast to the northward of it. The town stands on the north shore of an extensive delta, formed by rivers from the lofty mountains separating this district from Birma. These mountains are fine objects on the horizon, rising 4000 to 8000 feet; they are forest-clad, and inhabited by turbulent races, who are coterminous with the Cookies of the Cachar and Tipperah forests; if indeed they be not the same people. ”

“ There is also a large trade by country boats, bringing chiefly cotton, rice, spices, sugar and tobacco. Since October 1905 Chittagong has become the chief port of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam.
The District of Chittagong is situated at the north-east corner of the province, occupying a strip of coast and hills between the sea and the mountains of Burma. Its area is 2492 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 1,353,250, showing an increase of 5% in the decade. A few unimportant ranges rise within the north-eastern portion, the highest hill being the sacred Sitakund, 1155 ft. high. ”

“ Brave men should know when to fight and when to sheath their sword."
"There is no question about their bravery, Norendra Nath; few are there among them who cannot show honourable scars received in this desperate struggle of twenty years. But the bitterness of years, ay, of centuries, between Mewar and Agra is not forgotten in a day, and the loss of Chittore still rankles in the hearts of the warriors of this land." ”

“ Protected on both sides by ranges of hills, the district was, until late years, the least known portion of the most obscure division of India, but recently it has been opened up by the Bengal-Nagpur railway, and has developed into a great grain-producing country. Its population is almost pure Hindu, except in the two great tracts of hill and forest, where the aboriginal tribes retired before the Aryan invasion. ”

“ After visiting the ruins of the celebrated stronghold of Chittore, M. Rousselet entered the province of Ajmere, "almost the only portion of Rajpootan proper that the English possess," and on the 24th March reached the military station of Nusserabad, which then presented a miserable appearance, owing to the destruction effected by the rebels in 1857. Some days, however, were passed there very pleasantly, and M. Rousselet had "one more proof that there are few countries where travellers are treated with more disinterested courtesy and kindness than in the English cantonments of India." ”

“ The inhabitants of Chittore now gave themselves up to despair. Their governor was dead, a great number of the garrison had been slain in the late sally, and no hope of rescue appeared. The effect was dreadful. The fear of falling into the enemy’s hands drove many to deeds of desperation only heard of among those whose minds have been obfuscated by the gloom of that superstition of which idolatry is the monstrous parent. Whole families destroyed themselves, dying in each other’s arms, and with their expiring breaths cursing those who had induced them to embrace such a dreadful alternative. ”

“ The ancient warriors of Mewar, the bravest and the best, were gathered there, and in their presence Pratap Singh made his son swear that he would never give up the design of recovering Chittore. Prince Amar Singh gave his word, and Pratap Singh died in peace."
"Has the Prince then broken his word?"
"A Rana, never breaks his word. He has accepted the peace offered by the Emperor on the understanding that it shall not bar him from the recovery of Chittore when the occasion comes." ”

“ In ancient India this man among men would have carved out a bigger Nalanda—in modern Europe he would have carved out a free republic like another Hindenburg. But in modern Bengal he could only fashion a semi-democratic oasis in the Desert of Autocracy.
And Chittaranjan! The tears for the Deshabandhu, the country’s devoted friend and the refuge of the poor, the depressed and oppressed are not yet dry in an admiring and mourning people’s eyes and to write about him without passion or prejudice, understatement or overstatement is hard indeed. ”

“ Here all the elements of the archaic Hindu system are to be found, a small body of Chhattri kinsinen exercising great influence and possessing large fiefs, Brahmans holding religious grants, the mass of the population paying moderate rents in great ineasure determined by custom, and leaving them sufficient for a most comfortable subsistence. A cluster of village maidens at a well in Khairigarh glisten with silver ornaments, and the whole village tinkles like a sheepfold as the white stranger passes through on his elephant. ”

“ Chitta Ranjan openly spoke out his mind and said, "My Lord, before answering your question, I should mention here a peculiar custom of our country. Every Indian house-holder of the higher castes has in his house a place fitted for religious discussions where members of the lower castes are not admitted, but adjoining it he sets apart another place where all are equally welcome. Your Bengal Club and Calcutta Club can well be compared to the above two places. ”

“ These excitable and impressionable people of the Hindu Kush spring to arms under little provocation when once the spirit of fighting is abroad. News of what was occurring in Chitral would rapidly reach them, and in every house and hamlet little else would be spoken of. Unless, therefore, the British officers in contact with them could steady them by their influence, there would be a great risk that, thoughtlessly, and rashly, they might rise against us as the Chitralis had done. ”

“ The principal rivers are the Karnaphuli, on which Chittagong town is situated, navigable by sea-going ships as far as Chittagong port, and by large trading boats for a considerable distance higher up, and the Halda and the Sangu, which are also navigable by large boats. The wild animals are tigers, elephants, rhinoceros, leopards and deer. ”

“ In the afternoon of April 20th the force marched into Chitral and joined hands with their comrades, who had for forty-seven days been invested within the fort.
This famous march of native troops from the plains of India, led by a mere handful of British officers, over a snow-clad range, through precipitous defiles into the heart of a country flushed with successful rebellion, will ever be remembered as a unique exploit of the Indian Army. The news of the success of the little force was soon spread throughout the empire. ”

“ This is what we now call Swaraj or self-government of the villages. These institutions did actually exist in our country from very ancient times; they grew and developed with our growth, and they have a peculiar harmony with the genius of our [40] national character. Chitta Ranjan has therefore proposed only reversion to our older social institutions. But life among us now is not so simple as it was before; it has become complex, difficult and intricate. Hence what was inchoate requires to be put into a system. The panchayet was a natural out-growth of our ancient village community! ”

“ The turbulent people of Chiltistan were making trouble, and profit out of the trouble, it is true. That they would be sure to do somewhere, and, moreover, they would do it with a sense of humour more common upon the Frontier than in the Provinces of India. ”

“ The parents should rather educate their girls; if by chance they do not get married, they can earn their own livelihood and may be so many Car [29] penters and Nightingales in our society". Such is the view of Chitta Ranjan about the present Hindu society. Generous, large-hearted and magnanimous as Chitta Ranjan is, there is something in the texture of his mind that is above the ordinary run. Few men who battle for the right, have the calm fortitude, the cheerful equanimity with which Chitta Ranjan battles to fulfil the burning aspirations of his soul. ”

“ Rana Amar Singh has seen too much of the realities of war, even from his childhood, to like it much. In his heart of hearts he welcomed the Emperor's offer of an honourable peace. But there was something which stood in the way."
"The fear of offending his father's old companions and counsellors?"
"The fear of breaking his word of promise to his father."
"Ha?"
"Even so. Peace without Chittore was bitter to Pratap Singh, the hero of a hundred battles." ”

“ Two hundred Kashmir Infantry under Captains Campbell, Townshend, and Baird, and accompanied by the British Agent, Surgeon-Major Robertson, Lieutenant Gurdon, and Surgeon-Captain Whitchurch, therefore set out from the fort to reconnoitre the Chitrali dispositions. There is no regular town of Chitral, but round the fort, which is merely the residence of the Mehtars, there are scattered over the valley a number of little hamlets, and detached houses, dotted among the cultivated lands which stretch for a distance of about three miles down the valley. ”

“ On one occasion a native havildar with only thirty-four men attacked and put a large body of them to flight. The principal chiefs, reduced to the condition of hunted outlaws in the jungles, soon accepted the promise of their lives, and on surrendering were either settled on a grant of land or kept in confinement. The well-known leader Chitu joined Apa Sāhib, who had then escaped from Nāgpur and was in hiding in the Pachmarhi hills. Being expelled from there in February 1819 he proceeded to the fort of Asīrgarh in Nimār, but was refused admittance by Sindhia’s commandant. ”

“ Spacious cloisters surround three sides of the quadrangle; these are divided into numerous cells for the maulvis and their pupils.
The triumphal gateway, called the BALAND DARWAZA (Plate XIII.) , is really a building in itself. It must be seen from the outside of the quadrangle, for, magnificent as it is there, it certainly does not harmonize with the mosque viewed from the quadrangle. This mighty portal, 176 feet in height from the roadway, is a landmark for miles around. From the top of it the Taj, twenty-five miles away, and the distant Fort of Bharatpur are visible. ”

“ Chitral is an important state because of its situation at the extremity of the country over which the government of India exerts its influence, and for some years before 1895 it had been the object of the policy of the government of India to control the external affairs of Chitral in a direction friendly to British interests, to secure an effective guardianship over its northern passes, and to keep watch over what goes on beyond these passes. ”

“ There is nothing but this self. For this reason, though a Hindu in the true sense of the term, [27] Chitta Ranjan is an avowed opponent of the caste-distinction prevalent in our society. He has two daughters and a son. His elder daughter was married to a member of the Kayastha community and he married his only son to a Vaidya girl of Western Bengal. These marriages he celebrated according to the Hindu rites with the sanction of great Sanskrit scholars. But as usual the whole orthodox Hindu society was in a state of tumult over the inter-caste marriage of Chitta Ranjan's elder daughter. ”

“ One cannot help being glad that the prosaic steam-engine, crowned with foul smoke and heralded by ear-piercing whistles, has not been allowed to trespass in Udaipur, wherein no discordant note is struck by train line or factory chimney, and where everything and every one is as when the city was newly built on the final abandonment of Chitor, the ancient capital of Mewar. ”

“ In no other country is the principle, so dear to the heart of the British Government, of recognising the de facto ruler, more fully acted upon than in Chitral. There was now no attempt to turn the invader out of the country, and no one waited to call in from Gilgit the eldest son of their old ruler. The Chitralis simply recognised as their chief the man who was the last to say he intended to rule them. Sher Afzul was to be their Mehtar. ”

“ It is bounded on the north by the Province of Chittagong, on the east by the Burman empire, and on the south and west by the Bay of Bengal. An extensive range of mountains is the boundary between Arracan and Burmah, over which are several passes—one to Ava, one to Prome, another to Bassein, &c. Only the first is very much travelled. By this we are only six or eight days' journey from Ava. A good deal of this province is mountainous, and much of the rest is jungle or uncultivated land. The people live in small villages, which are scattered over the whole province. ”

“ In the south-east, near Chittagong, corruption has gone even further, and the local dialect, which is practically a new language, is unintelligible to a man from Western Bengal. Throughout the eastern districts there is a strong tendency to epenthesis, e.g. ”

“ This district was under British rule, and refugees from the cruel despotism of Burmah had taken shelter there. The Burman monarch insisted that his victims should be arrested by the English authorities and handed over to him. Besides, he felt that Chittagong belonged naturally to Burmah. And such was his pride and his contempt for British prowess, that he deemed it quite possible for him not only to recover this territory, but even to conquer the whole of Bengal.
When war actually broke out, suspicion fell at once on all the white foreigners residing in Ava. ”