Fatehgarh

“ The principal rivers of Faridpur are the Ganges, the Arial Khan and the Haringhata. The Ganges, or Padma as it is locally called, touches the extreme north-west corner of the district, flows along its northern boundary as far as Goalanda, where it receives the waters of the Jamuna or main stream of the Brahmaputra, and whence the united stream turns southwards and forms the eastern boundary of the district. The river is navigable by large cargo boats throughout the year, and has an average breadth during the rainy season of 1600 yds. Rice is the great crop of the district. ”

“ That the Ganges has worked a great space southwards all the way from Patna to Bakhtyarpur, i. e., on both sides of Fatuha as a central point, will be apparent from a glance at the map of the country; the greatest deflection being, as might be expected, just opposite Fatuha. I have not enough of facts to support my theory to the extent that would render it invincible to attacks, but the facts detailed exist beyond all question ”

“ Futteghur, as will be seen by reference to a map, is situated higher up the Ganges than Cawnpore, near Furruckabad. Practically, it is not so much a distinct town, as the military station or cantonment for the place last named. Furruckabad itself is a city of sixty thousand inhabitants; handsome, cleaner, and more healthy than most Indian cities, carrying on a considerable trading and banking business, and standing in the centre of a fertile and cultivated region. ”

“ The ancient royal seat was Fatipoor, twelve coss from Agra, but is now fallen into decay. Between these two is the sepulchre of the king's father, to which nothing I ever saw is comparable: yet the church or mosque of Fatipoor comes near it, both being built according to the rules of architecture. In Agra the Jesuits have a house and a handsome church, built by the Great Mogul, who allows their chief seven rupees a-day, and all the rest three, with licence to convert as many as they can: But alas! these converts were only for the sake of money ”

“ The dado panels are especially remarkable for the charming conventionalized rendering of trees, flowers, birds, and animals. They have suffered much from the hands of some of Aurangzîb's fanatical followers, and all the representations of animate nature have been mutilated. The carving was intended as a groundwork for painting and gilding which were never added, for the Fatehpur Palace was abandoned even before it was finished. Nothing is known with certainty of the lady who inhabited this delightful bower, but she must have been one of Akbar's favourites. ”

“ Thousands of people from all quarters of the world assembled in the courtyard. The Emperor attended every Friday night and on holy festivals, moving from one to the other of the guests and conversing with them. Keene, in his "Handbook to Agra," suggests that possibly the Dîwan-i-khâs may be the building thus described (taking the word aiwan, or hall, to mean a side gallery) , as no other building at all answering to the description now remains at Fatehpur. ”

“ The journey from Allahabad to Cawnpore, although perchance performed in the night, is not one to be slept through by any student of the story of the great rebellion. The Indian moon pours her flood of light on the little knoll hard by Futtehpore, where Havelock stood when Jwala Pershad's first round shot came lobbing, through his staff in among the camp kettles of the 64th. That village beyond the mango tope is Futtehpore itself, whence the rebel sowars swept headlong down the trunk road till Maude's guns gave them the word to halt. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The doorway on the right of this has the following inscription carved over it in Arabic:—
"His Majesty, King of kings, Heaven of the Court, Shadow of God, Jalâl-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, Emperor. He conquered the kingdom of the South and Dandes, which was formerly called Khandes, in the 46th Divine year [i.e. of his reign] corresponding to the Hijira year, 1010 [A.D. 1602] . Having reached Fatehpur, he proceeded to Agra. Said Jesus, on whom be peace! The world is a bridge, pass over it, but build no house there. He who hopeth for an hour, may hope for eternity ”

“ It is the perfected type of the style which we see in process of evolution at Fatehpur, and were it not for the Taj, we might regret the new element which came into Mogul architecture with Itmâd-ud-daulah's tomb. Both of these styles, which appear side by side in the Agra Fort, are intensely typical of the men and the times which produced them. The one is stamped throughout with the personality of Akbar, the empire-builder, and distinguished by the stately solidity of Jain and Hindu architecture. ”

“ Tradition, however, is probably wrong, and the princess was from Jaipur and a true Mussulwoman.
From every height—and particularly from the Panch Mahal's roof—one sees immense prospects and realises what a landmark the stronghold of Fatehpur-Sikri must have been to the dwellers in the plains; but no view is the equal of that which bursts on the astonished eyes at the great north gateway, where all Rajputana is at one's feet. ”

“ In India we find civilized nations first established in the Punjab and on the watershed between the Sutlej and the Jumna. Between 2000 and 3000 years B.C. Oude seems to have become dry enough for human habitation, and Ayodhya [586] (from which the Siamese capital took its name) became the chief city. Between 1000 and 500 B.C. Janakpore on the north, and Rajagriha on the south, were the capital cities of Bengal; but both being situated on the hills, it was not till Asoka’s time (250 B.C.) that Patna on the Soane and Vaisali on the Gunduck, became capitals ”

“ The country near the banks of the two rivers is cut up into ravines and nullahs running in all directions, and is almost entirely uncultivable. Besides the Ganges and Jumna the only rivers of importance are the Pandu, a tributary of the Ganges, and the Arind and Nun, which both fall into the Jumna. ”

“ Farídkot [Pg 280] is a small wedge of territory which almost divides the Ferozepore district in two. The population is composed of Sikhs 421⁄2, Hindus and Jains 29, and Musalmans 281⁄2 p.c. Sikh Játs are the strongest tribe. The country is flat. In the west it is very sandy, but in the east the soil is firmer and is irrigated in part by the Sirhind Canal. ”

“ Janghera, thus happily placed between the rugged scenery of the upper provinces, and the smiling landscapes of Bengal, partakes of the nature of both: the Ganges spreads itself like a sea at the foot of the rock, which on the land-side overlooks a wide expanse of fertile country, having for a back-ground the low ranges of hills which separate Behar from Bengal. ”

“ FATEHPUR SIKRI, a town in the Agra district in the United Provinces of India, on the road from Agra to Jaipur. Pop. (1901) 7147. It is a ruined city, and is interesting only from an archaeological point of view. It was founded by Akbar in 1569 as a thank-offering for the birth of a son, Selim, afterwards the emperor Jahangir, foretold by Selim Chisti, a famous Mahommedan saint. The principal building is the great mosque, which is said by Fergusson to be hardly surpassed by any in India. ”

“ There is a faquir's establishment on the top, and the view on either side is very fine. That looking down over the plain past Rijaori and Nowshera—over the several wave-like lines of inferior hills into the plains of the Punjab of limitless extent, lost only in vapour and distance—is grand from its great extent, and beautiful in its varied features as in its colouring.
The other side presents the masses of the Pir Panjal, covered with snow. This range is of bold massive proportions, and affords the traveller a truly sublime picture of mountain scenery. ”

“ The Ganges and the Jumna are the great rivers that permeate it. As before, we give the names of the most familiarly known divisions or districts—Delhi, Meerut, Allygurh, Rohilcund, Bareilly, Shahjehanpoor, Bijnour, Agra, Furruckabad, Allahabad, Cawnpore, Futtehpore, Benares, Gorukhpore, Azimghur, Jounpore, Mirzapore, Ghazeepore; and if to these we add the names of towns not indicated by the names of their districts—such as Simla, Sirhind, Umballa, Loodianah, Shahabad, Buxar—it will be seen how many places noted more or less in Indian affairs lie within this province or lieutenant-governorship. ”

“ On the 20th of September Havelock again crossed the Ganges with 3,179 men, composed of the 78th and 91st Highlanders, the 64th and 84th, and the 1st and 5th Fusileers, a regiment of Sikhs, and 168 volunteer cavalry. No greater work was ever accomplished by military skill and daring than the relief of the Lucknow garrison by this handful of men. ”

“ Yet, if we compare the civil status of the people of the Punjab with that of other provinces, we will find that they have been persistently denied equality of status with Bengal, Bombay and Madras. The Punjab peasantry, which supplies the largest number of soldiers to the army, is the most illiterate and ignorant of all the classes of Indian population. ”

“ After leaving Lohunga, the first place of note which we reached was Futtehpore, seventy-two miles from Allahabad. At Futtehpore I met some native Christians whom I had first seen in Allahabad, and who were, or had been, connected with mission work, and could speak English. They had returned from Allahabad to look after property which they had been obliged to abandon when they fled from Futtehpore on the outbreak of the Mutiny. These men all [Pg 11] knew Dr. Duff, or had heard of him, and were most anxious to talk to Dr. Duff's countrymen, as they called the Highlanders. ”

“ The independence of the Thirteen Provinces ensures the one, and it is my determination to grant the other, upon the same footing as to our own subjects. Nothing remains in our favour except the territory, a doubtful good and certainly not worth having, if the seeds of a rival power are suffered to be sown anywhere from Bengal to Madras, much less a foreign standard planted either in Bengal or at Masulipatam. ”

“ Though Lord Tremlyn and Sir Modava, with their friends, were invited to the residence of the lieutenant-governor, the party went to the Victoria Hotel, for the viscount thought it would be an imposition to quarter them on the chief authority, being eighteen in number.
"We are now in the Punjab, the north-western corner of India," said the Hindu gentleman, when they were seated in the parlor of the hotel. "It is watered by the Indus and five of its branches, on one of which, the Ravi, Lahore is situated. Punjab means five rivers. ”

“ Your Excellency's separation is the harder to bear for the men of the Punjab because it is our Punjab that is proud of the fact that about forty years ago the foundation stone of all your famous and noble achievements, which not only India, but England, rightly boasts of, was laid down in one of its frontier cities, and that the greater part of your indomitable energies was spent in the Punjab frontier defence. ”

“ We find a considerable number of large and important towns—Lucknow, Fyzabad, Bareilly, Allahabad, Futtehpoor, Cawnpore, Furruckabad, Gwalior, Bhurtpore, Agra, Delhi, Meerut—in the immediate vicinity of one or other of these two rivers. The Company’s military stations are far more thickly posted in that region than in any other part of India—a source of weakness in the midst of apparent strength; for as the native troops were predominant in all these places, their numbers became a manifest evil as soon as a mutinous spirit appeared among the men. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It formed the capital of the great Pandava kingdom, celebrated in the Mahābhārata, and probably one of the earliest Aryan settlements outside the Punjab. Tradition points to a group of shapeless mounds as the residence of the Lunar princes of the house of Bharata whose deeds are commemorated in the great national epic. ”

“ Putting all these facts together, it would appear that the Son must formerly have flowed from a point close to Dâu̇dnagar to Siddhrâmpur, and thence to Sonbhadr on the Pûnpûn, from which it followed the present course of the Pûnpûn and Murhar rivers to Chilbil, south of Phulwâri, where it turned first to the east as far as Panch-Pahâri, and then to the south-east, finally joining the Ganges at Fatuha. ”

“ This flower, too, is peculiar to the jungles of Hindustan; it has no scent, but its colour is flaming orange. The base of the flower is black; the flower itself is as big as a red rose. It is so beautiful that one cannot take one’s eyes off it. As the air was very sweet and clouds had hidden the sun, and rain was gently sprinkled about, I felt an inclination to drink wine. In short this road was traversed with great enjoyment and pleasure. They call the place Hatyā because it was founded by a Ghakkar named Hāthi (elephant) . ”