Prayagraj

“ I have before mentioned that Allahabad, the ancient city of Prayaga, is doubly sanctified because it is at the junction of the Jumna and the Gauges, and these two streams are affluents of its sanctity as well as of its trade. The great plain of white sand which is enclosed between the blue lake-like expanses of the two meeting rivers is the Plain of Alms. In truth, there are three rivers which unite here—the Ganges, the Jumna and the Saravasti—and this thrice-hallowed spot is known in the Hindu mythologic system as the Triveni. ”

“ The prairie tribes have no permanent abiding places; they never plant a seed, but roam for hundreds of miles in every direction over the Plains. They are perfect horsemen, and seldom go to war on foot. Their attacks are made in the open prairies, and when unhorsed they are powerless. They do not, like the eastern Indians, inflict upon their prisoners prolonged tortures, but invariably subject all females that have the misfortune to fall into their merciless clutches to an ordeal worse than death. ”

“ The houses are built on a narrow creek on the right-hand bank of the river; near the country is flat, but the mountains soon skirt the plains. The population of the bay is sufficient to render it a valuable commercial settlement for native traders, if security for life and property could be established, and if the monopolies of the chiefs could be destroyed. To show the insecurity, I may mention that in 1859 the Sultan of Brunei sent a trading prahu there with a valuable cargo. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Their warfare is carried on more by treachery and stratagem than open fighting—they [81] are all warriors, and seldom at peace. The powerful tribes which reside on the banks of the river generally possess several war prahus, capable of holding from twenty to thirty men, and mounting a brass gun (leila) on her bows, carrying a ball of one to two pounds weight. These prahus, when an expedition is to be made against a neighbouring tribe, are manned by the warriors, one or two of the most consequential men being stationed in each prahu. ”

“ Incessant migrations and displacements of various tribes, make it uncertain as to which people formed the substantial lower stratum in Rāḍha, when the civilisation fostered in Karṇasuvarṇa, was humanizing the frontier lands of Vaṅga. The Puṇḍras are found mentioned in the Purāṇas, once in conjunction with the Suhmas and another time in North Bengal, on Assam frontier in the company of two other tribes, namely the Pravijayas and the Bhārgavas. ”

“ Formerly the country north of the Mohan belonged to the owner of the pargana, and there was then no competition for cultivators ; but the country north of the Mohan belongs at present to Naip^l, and its raja This obstacle to a rise bids against the raja of Khairigarh for cultivators. Again, these jungles formerly of rents still continues to a certain extent. afforded a secure hiding place, in the vicinity of the boundless tarai forest, for many persons whose crimes had rendered it impossible or unsafe for them to live in their own villages. ”

“ A small number of white men, in traveling upon the Plains, should not allow a party of strange Indians to approach them unless able to resist an attack under the most unfavorable circumstances. Illustration: Keep Away!
It is a safe rule, when a man finds himself alone in the prairies, and sees a party of Indians approaching, not to allow them to come near him, and if they persist in so doing, to signal them to keep away. If they do not obey, and he be mounted upon a fleet horse, he should make for the nearest timber. ”

“ Prawira, C. 445, from Pra, preminent, Wira, a hero. A hero, a warrior, a chief, a person of rank.
Prawu, the name of a range of mountains between Pakalongan on the north coast, and the Residencies of Banyumas and Bagělén to the Southward. The upperpart of these mountains is called Diyěng, which see. Many remains of Hindu temples and other antiquities still exist upon the Prawu, which is probably derived from Prabhu, corrupted into Prawu, and derived from Pra, C. 430, a particle and prefix implying excess, much, very, exceeding, excellence ”

“ Incidence of Population in Panjab.—The estimated numbers of independent tribes dwelling within the British sphere of influence is 1,600,000 The incidence of the population on the total area of the Panjab including native States is 177 per square mile, which may be compared with 189 in France and 287 in the British Isles. As the map shows, the density is reduced by the large area of semi-desert country in the south-west and by the mountainous tract in the north-east. The distribution of the population is the exact opposite of that which prevails in Great Britain. ”

“ Yet they even now acknowledge no boundaries, but call themselves the lords of the entire Prairies—all others are but 'tenants at will.' They lead a wandering sort of life, betaking themselves whithersoever the seasons or the habits of the buffalo, their chief object of pursuit, may lead them. Although during summer they are not unfrequently found as far north as the Arkansas river, their winters they usually pass about the head branches of the Brazos and Colorado rivers of Texas.
In their domestic habits, these Indians, for the most part, resemble the other wild tribes ”

“ There is again a tribe in the Panjab known as Aheri, who are very probably akin to the Aheriyas of the North-West Provinces.35 They trace their origin to Râjputâna, and especially Jodhpur and the prairies of Bikâner. “They are vagrant in their habits, but not infrequently settle down in villages where they find employment. They catch and eat all kinds of wild animals, pure and impure, and work in reeds and grass. ”

“ From these data it may safely be concluded that the Aryans, when the hymns of the Rigveda were composed, had overspread that portion of the north-west which appears on the map as a fan-shaped territory, bounded on the west by the Indus, on the east by the Sutlej, and on the north by the Himālaya, with a fringe of settlements extending beyond those limits to the east and the west. Now the Panjāb of the present day is a vast arid plain, from which, except in the north-west corner at Rawal Pindi, no mountains are visible, and over which no monsoon storms break. ”

“ Those savage hordes which may be considered as the Prairie Indians proper, have made little or no perceptible progress in civilization. They mostly live by plunder and the chase: a few eke out a subsistence by agriculture. They consist of various distinct tribes, but among whom there is a greater diversity of language than of habitudes. ”

“ The third region, or the triangular table-land in the south, has a character quite distinct from either of the other two divisions, and a population which is now working out a separate development of its own. Broadly speaking, the Himalayas are peopled by Mongoloid tribes; the great river plains of Hindustan are still the home of the Aryan race; the triangular table-land has formed an arena for a long struggle between that gifted race from the north and what is known as the Dravidian stock in the south. ”

“ One day a party of hunters, who were looking for game in the forest, saw the child, and carried him off, notwithstanding the resistance of Kapilá Gai, to Páwápur; when he grew up, the people made him Májhi (chief of a clan or village) , and finally, when in want of a king, determined to elect him, and he was accordingly elected king of Pargana Chaurasi (Sikhar bhum) ; they built him the Pachet fort, and named him Jatá Rájá: on the death of the miraculous cow, her tail was found and carried to the Rájá, who used it as an ensign, tying it to his horse ”

“ Port Praya is the only good anchorage in the island; the old town of St Jago was deserted, in consequence of there being only an open roadstead before it, very unsafe for vessels to lie in. The town of Port Praya is a miserable assemblage of mud huts; the governor's house, and one more, are better built, but they are not so comfortable as a cottage in England. There were not ten Portuguese on the island, and above ten thousand blacks, all originally slaves; and yet every thing was peaceable, although fresh arrivals of slaves came every day. ”

“ There are about 135,000 Indians inhabiting the Great Prairie Wilderness, [63] of whose social and civil condition, manners and customs, &c. I will give a brief account. {114} It would seem natural to commence with those tribes which reside in what is called "The Indian Territory;" a tract of country bounded south by the Red River, east by the States of Arkansas and Missouri—on the north-east and north by the Missouri and Punch Rivers, [64] and west by the western limit of habitable country on this side of the Rocky Mountains. ”

“ All these tribes leave the frame-work of their lodges standing when they move from camp to camp, and this, of course, indicates the particular tribe that erected them. The Delawares and Shawnees plant two upright forked poles, place a stick across them, and stretch a canvas covering over it, in the same manner as with the "tente d'abri." The Sioux, Arapahos, Cheyennes, Utes, Snakes, Blackfeet, and Kioways make use of the Comanche lodge, covered with dressed buffalo hides. All the Prairie Indians I have met with are the most inveterate beggars. ”

“ The tribes inhabiting near the borders of the frontier Indians differ from those that range the far-western prairies in several traits of general character. The former have their fixed villages, and, for the most part, combine the pursuits of agriculture and the chase. They form, indeed, a sort of intermediate class between the frontier and the wild tribes, resembling the one or the other in all important particulars. ”

“ KHAIRAGARH, a feudatory state in the Central Provinces, India. Area, 931 sq. m.; pop. (1901) , 137,554, showing a decrease of 24% in the decade due to the effects of famine; estimated revenue, £20,000; tribute £4600. The chief, who is descended from the old Gond royal family, received the title of raja as an hereditary distinction in 1898. The state includes a fertile plain, yielding rice and cotton. Its prosperity has been promoted by the Bengal-Nagpur railway, which has a station at Dongargarh, the largest town (pop. 5856) , connected by road with Khairagarh town, the residence of the raja. ”

“ This statement tends to show, that even as early as the 6th century A.D., one general name Samataṭa could be used for all the provinces of Bengal, as lay between Orissa and North Bihar. In this connection it is interesting to learn, that in the enumeration of some tribes of minor importance, dwelling in the Rāḍha country on the Bengal frontier, the Purāḍas have designated the tribes as Pravangas. The extension of the name Vanga to the Rāḍha country, is clear in this statement. ”

“ When he misses that he sometimes takes to dacoity. Unfortunately he is often given to strong drink, and, when his passions or his greed are aroused, can be exceedingly brutal. Jat in the Western Panjab is applied to a large number of tribes, whose ethnical affinities are somewhat dubious.
Rajputs.— Rajputs are found in considerable numbers all over the province except in a few of the western and south-western districts. As farmers they are much hampered by caste rules which forbid the employment of their women in the fields, and the prohibition of widow remarriage is a severe handicap. ”

“ The said envoy had bestowed on him 500,000 dām, equal to 7,000 or 8,000 rupees, and I resolved to send the Sharif the equivalent of 100,000 rupees of the precious things of Hindustan. On Thursday, the 10th of the month, a piece of the Subah of Multan was added to the jagir of Mīrzā G͟hāzī, though the whole of the province of Thattah had been given to him in jagir. He was also promoted to the rank of 5,000 personalty and 5,000 horse. The government of Qandahar and the protection of that region, which is the frontier of Hindustan, were assigned to his excellent administration. ”

“ The most valuable district which the Raja of Nepal possesses, is that which formed the western division of the principality, founded by Lohangga, although the district called Mahatari has been separated, and annexed to the Subah of Saptari. The Subah of this district resides usually at Makwanpur, on the hills, but, in the cold season, he visits the plains and resides at Baragarhi, from whence he is often called the Baragarhi Subah. His jurisdiction extends from the Rato, on the east, to the Trisul Gangga, and Gandaki, on the west ”