Hastinapur

“ The king of North Panchāla, whose name was Dhana, like a law-observing monarch, ruled according to the law in Hastināpura, a city which was endowed with wealth, health, fruitfulness, and greatness of extent and population, and which was free from disquiet, disorder, uproar, and robbery, in which disease had quite come to an end, and which was fully provided with rice, sugar-cane, bullocks, and buffaloes. ”

“ Moreover among the countries situated between the Vindhya and Himálaya mountains, the country laved by the waters of the Ganges is considered most excellent. Therefore monarchs who desire success march first towards the East, and dwell moreover in the land visited by the river of the gods.12 For your ancestors also conquered the regions by beginning with the East, and made their dwelling in Hastinápura on the banks of the Ganges; but Śatáníka repaired to Kauśámbí on account of its delightful situation, seeing that empire depended upon valour, and situation had nothing to do with it. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A pavilion is paved with "black crystal," which the Kaurava prince mistakes for water, and "draws up his garments lest he should be wetted." But now approaches a turning-point in the epic. Furious at the wealth and fortune of his cousins, Duryodhana invites them to Hastinapura to join in a great gambling festival. The passion for play was as strong apparently with these antique Hindus as that for fighting or for love: "No true Kshatriya must ever decline a challenge to combat or to dice." The brothers go to the entertainment, which is to ruin their prosperity ”

“ And, O Bharata, king Yudhishthira the just gave unto each of those Brahmanas thousands of kine and beds and gold coins and damsels.
Thus commenced on earth the sacrifice of that unrivalled hero, the illustrious son of Pandu, like the sacrifice in heaven of Sakra himself. Then that bull among men, king Yudhishthira despatched Nakula the son of Pandu unto Hastinapura to bring Bhishma and Drona, Dhritarashtra and Vidura and Kripa and those amongst his cousins that were well-disposed towards him. ”

“ Ancient halls of proud Hastina mirrored bright on Ganga's wave!
Thither came the son of Pandu, young Nakula true and brave,
Came to ask Hastina's monarch, chief of Kuru's royal race,
To partake Yudhishthir's banquet and his sacrifice to grace.
Dhrita-rashtra came in gladness unto Indra-prastha's town,
Marked its new-built tower and turret on the azure Jumna frown,
With him came preceptor Kripa, and the ancient Bhishma came,
Elders of the race of Kuru, chiefs and Brahmans known to fame. ”

“ In June 1857 the district rose in rebellion, and the usual murders of Europeans took place. Order was established after the fall of Lucknow, on the return of Lord Clyde’s army to Cawnpore. In 1901 the population was 686,391, showing a decrease of 2% in the decade. The district is traversed by the main line of the East Indian railway from Allahabad to Cawnpore. Trade is mainly agricultural, but the town of Fatehpur is noted for the manufacture of ornamental whips, and Jafarganj for artistic curtains, &c. ”

“ 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) . ”

“ 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. ”

“ At the north-eastern angle of that frontier, the Dihang river, the connecting link between the Tsanpo of Tibet and the Brahmaputra of Assam, bursts through the main axis of the range. At the opposite or north-western angle, the Indus in like manner pierces the Himalayas, and turns southwards on its course through the Punjab. This wild region is in many parts impenetrable to man, and nowhere yields a passage for a modern army. Ancient and well-known trade routes exist, by means of which merchandise from the Punjab finds its way over heights of 18,000 ft. ”

“ On the north-west it is commanded by the Bála Hissár, a fort outside the walls. The suburbs with famous fruit gardens are on the south side, and the military and civil stations to the west. The people to be seen in the bazárs of Pesháwar are more interesting than any of its buildings. The Gor Khatrí, part of which is now the tahsíl, from which a bird's-eye view of the town can be obtained, was successively the site of a Buddhist monastery, a Hindu temple, a rest-house built by Jahángír's Queen, Nur Jahán, and the residence of Avitabile. ”

“ The two places are now connected by a railway which passes through the district headquarters at Kohát close to the northern border. There are three tahsíls, Kohát, Hangu, and Terí, the last a wild tract of bare hills and ravines occupying the south of the district and covering more than half its area. Two small streams, the Kohát Toi and the Terí Toi, drain into the Indus. The rainfall is fair, but very capricious. The cold weather lasts long and the chill winds that blow during part of it are very trying. The chief tribes are the Bangash Patháns of Hangu and the Khattak Patháns of Terí. ”

“ Thresk, leaning forward in his chair, looked out through the opening. He saw the moonlit plain in a soft haze, in the middle of it the green lamp of a railway signal and beyond the distant ridge, on which straggled the ruins of old Chitipur.
"Look!" cried Ballantyne. "There's tourist India all in one: a desert, a railway and a deserted city, hovels and temples, deep sacred pools and forgotten palaces—the whole bag of tricks crumbling slowly to ruin through centuries on the top of a hill. That's what the good people come out for to see in the cold weather—Jarwhal Junction and old Chitipur." ”

“ It appears to me quite a mistake to imagine that districts like Mânbhum, Palâmow, the Sântal Parganas, Jhârkhand, &c., could ever have been extensively cultivated and peopled densely like the plains of Magadha or the valleys of the Jamna and the Ganges; the occurrence of ruins among the wilds of Chutia Nagpur can only be due to cities having from some generally intelligible natural cause sprung up at points along a great road ”

“ There are four tahsíls, Leia, Sinánwan, Muzaffargarh, and Alipur, the first being equal in area to a moderately sized district. The greater part of Leia and Sinánwan is occupied by the Thal. The southern tongue of the Thal extends into the Muzaffargarh tahsíl. The rest of that district is a heavily inundated or irrigated tract, the part above flood level being easily reached by inundation canals. Dry cultivation is impossible with a yearly rainfall of about six inches. The chief crop is wheat. ”

“ We thus see in Subbi-luliuma the founder of the Hittite empire under the dynasty of the Hatti, which for nearly two hundred years continued to hold its own amid the constant tremblings of the balance of oriental power throughout this time. Relieved for the present from their frontier campaigns, the Great King and his allies seem to have reaped the reward of their good fortune and prosperity. [339] In the capital at Boghaz-Keui, ‘the city of the Hatti,’ the royal palace seems to have stood on the northern crest of Beuyuk Kaleh. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Kapúrthala.—The main part consists of a strip of territory mostly in the valley of the Biás, and interposed between that river and Jalandhar. This is divided into the four tahsíls of Bholath, Dhilwan, Kapúrthala, and Sultánpur. There is a small island of territory in Hoshyárpur, and a much larger one, the Phagwára tahsíl, projecting southwards from the border [Pg 279] of that district into Jalandhar. Two-thirds of the area is cultivated and the proportion of high-class crops is large. The chief agricultural tribes are the Muhammadan Arains and the Játs, most of whom are Sikhs. ”

“ JASHPUR, a tributary state of India, in the Central Provinces, having been transferred from Bengal in 1905. The country is divided almost equally into high and low lands. The Uparghat plateau on the east rises 2200 ft. ”

“ Defective as was the police, heavy as were the public burdens, it is probable that the oldest man in Bengal could not recollect a season of equal security and prosperity. For the first time within living memory, the province was placed under a government strong enough to prevent others from robbing, and not inclined to play the robber itself. These things inspired good will. At the same time, the constant success of Hastings and the manner in which he extricated himself from every difficulty made him an object of superstitious admiration ”

“ If you would enjoy Jodhpur thoroughly, quit at Ajmir the decent conventionalities of “station” life, and make it your business to move among gentlemen—gentlemen in the Ordnance of the Commissariat, or, better still, gentlemen on the Railway. At Ajmir, gentlemen will tell you what manner of place Jodhpur is, and their accounts, though flavoured with crisp and curdling oaths, are amusing. In their eyes the desert that rings the city has no charms, and they discuss affairs of the State, as they understand them, in a manner that would curl the hair on a Political’s august head. ”

“ The entire compass of the dominions of the Great Mogul is two years travel for caravans; reaching from Agra, which is in a manner in the heart of all his kingdoms, in various directions, to Candahar, to Soughtare [200] in Bengal, to Cabul, Deccan, Surat, and Tatta in Sinde. His empire is divided into five great kingdoms: Punjab, of which Lahore is the capital; Bengal, of which Sonargham [201] is the chief place; Malwa, of which Ugam [Ougein] is the capital; Deccan, with its capital Bramport [Burhanpoor] ; and Guzerat, having Amadavar [Ahmedabad] as its capital. ”

“ The rivalry between the English and the French, which had already convulsed the south, did not penetrate to Bengal. That province was under the able government of Ali Vardi Khan, who peremptorily forbade the foreign settlers at Calcutta and Chandernagore to introduce feuds from Europe. The duties of a young “writer” were then such as are implied in the name. At an early date Hastings was placed in charge of an aurang or factory in the interior, where his duties would be to superintend the weaving of silk and cotton goods under a system of money advances. ”

“ Such are the awful expedients by which Nature checks the redundancy of a non-emigrating population with simple wants. Hence the construction of drainage and irrigation-works has not merely a direct result in causing temporary prosperity, but an indirect result in a large increase of the responsibilities of the ruling power. Between 1848 and 1854 the population of the part of Hindustan now called the North-West Provinces, where all the above described physical features prevail, increased from a ratio of 280 to the square mile till it reached a ratio of 350. ”

“ And indeed every misery which the combined evils of war, official plunder, and remorseless exaction could heap upon the unhappy natives, seems to have reigned triumphant through the British provinces and dependencies of India at this period. The destructive contests with Hyder Ali, the ravages of the English and their ally, the Nabob of Arcot, in Tanjore and the Marawars, were necessarily productive of extreme ruin and misery. During Mr. Hastings' government the duannee, or management of the revenues was assumed in Bengal by the English. ”

“ On being left supreme in council, Hastings pressed his demands on the Rája Chait Singh, founding them on the cession of the sovereignty of Benares to the company by the nawáb of Oudh, to whom it had pertained, and on cogent military reasons. In July 1781 he proceeded to Benares to enforce his orders, but the rája resisted, some of Hastings's sepoys were cut up in the street, and he himself had to make his retreat to the neighbouring fort of Chunár. Chait Singh called on the mother of the nawáb of Oudh, with whom he had an understanding, to send men to his aid, and broke into open revolt. ”

“ That province of the Mogul Empire which lay on the Ganges immediately above Bengal, was so called, and still retains the name and character of a province, under the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and embracing the ten modern districts of Patna, Sāran, Gāya, Shāhābād, Tirhut, Champāran, the Santāl Parganas, Bhāgalpūr, Monghyr, and Purnīah. The name was taken from the old city of Bihār, and that derived its title from being the site of a famous Vihāra in Buddhist times. In the later days of Mahommedan rule the three provinces of Bengal, Behar and Orissa were under one Subadar, viz. ”