Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official by William Sleeman

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By The Resident
Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Sleeman.
Printed at Lucknow in a Parlour Press.
1852.

Two vols. large 8vo. with wide margins. Printed well on good paper.
Vol. 1 has map of Oude, 305 pp. text, and at end a printed slip of
errata. Vol. 2 has 302 pp. text, with a similar slip of errata. The
brief Preface contains the following statements:
'I have had the Diary printed at my own expense in a small parlour
press which I purchased, with type, for the purpose. . . . The Diary
must for the present be considered as an official document, which may
be perused, but cannot be published wholly or in part without the
sanction of Government previously obtained.' [1]
Eighteen copies of the Diary were so printed and were coarsely bound
by a local binder. Of these copies twelve were distributed as
follows, one to each person or authority: Government, Calcutta; Court
of Directors; Governor-General; Chairman of Court of Directors;
Deputy Chairman; brother of author; five children of author, one each
(5); Col. Sykes, Director E.I.C.
A Memorandum of Errata was put up along with some of the copies
distributed. (_Private Correspondence,_ Journey, _vol._ 2, _pp._ 357,
393, _under dates 4 April, 1852, and 12 Jan., 1853._) The Bodleian
copy, purchased in June, 1891, was that belonging to Mrs, (Lady)
Sleeman, and bears her signature 'A. J. Sleeman' on the fly-leaf of
each volume. The book was handsomely bound in morocco or russia, with
gilt edges, by Martin of Calcutta. The British Museum Catalogue does
not include a copy of this issue. The India Office Library has a copy
of vol. 1 only. Captain J. L. Sleeman has both volumes.

(15.) 1853, Pamphlet.
Reprint of letter No. 34 of 1853 from the author to J, P. Grant,
Esq., Officiating Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign
Department, Fort William. Dated Lucknow Residency, 12th October,
1853.
[Six pages. Describes another attempt to assassinate the author on
the 9th October, 1853. See ante, p. xxvi.]

(16.) London 1858, 2 vols. 8vo.
_A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, in 1849-50, by direction of
the Right Hon. the Earl of Dalhousie, Governor-General._
With Private Correspondence relative to the Annexation of Oude to
British India, &c.
By Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman, K.C.B., Resident at the Court of
Lucknow.

In two Volumes.
London:
Richard Bentley, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1858.
[Small 8vo. Frontispiece of vol. 1 is a Map of the Kingdom of Oude.
The contents of vol. 1 are: Title, preface, and contents, pp. i-x;
Biographical Sketch of Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman, K.C.B., pp.
xi-xvi; Introduction, pp. xvii-xxii; Private Correspondence preceding
the Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, pp. xxiii-lxxx; Diary of a
Tour through Oude, chapters i-vi, pp. 1-337. The contents of vol. 2
are: Title and contents, pp. i-vi; Diary of a Tour through Oude, pp.
1-331; Private Correspondence relating to the Annexation of the
Kingdom of Oude to British India, pp. 332-424. The letters printed in
this volume were written between 5th Dec., 1849, and 11th Sept.,
1854, during and after the Tour. The dates of the letters in the
first volume extend from 20th Feb., 1848, to 11th Oct., 1849. The
Tour began on 1st Dec., 1849, The book, though rather scarce, is to
be found in most of the principal libraries, and may be obtained from
time to time.]

_II.--UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS_

(1.) 1809.
Two books describing author's voyage to India round the Cape.

(2.) 1837.
Journal of a Trip from Simla to Gurgoohee.
[Referred to in unpublished letters dated 5th and 30th August, 1837.]

(3.) _Circa_1824.
Preliminary Observations and Notes on Mr. Molony's Report on
Narsinghpur.
[Referred to in _Central Provinces Gazetteer_, Nagpur, 2nd ed., 1870,
pp. xcix, cii, &c. The papers seem to be preserved in the record room
at Narsinghpur.]

(4.) 1841.
History of Byza Bae (Baiza Bai).
[Not to be published till after author's death. See unpublished
_letter dated Jhansi,_ Oct. 22nd, 1841.]

(5.)
History of the Reigning Family of Oude.
[Intended to form a third volume of the _Journey._ See Author's
_Letter to Sir James Weir Hogg, Deputy Chairman, India House,_ dated
Lucknow, 4th April, 1852; printed in _Journey,_ vol. 2, p. 358.]

The manuscripts Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5, and the printed papers Nos. 1,
3, 4, 10, 13, and 15, are in the possession of Captain J, L. Sleeman,
Royal Sussex Regiment, grandson of the author. The India Office
Library possesses copies of the printed works Nos. 2, 7, 8, 9, 11a,
12, 14 (vol. 1 only) and 16.

Notes:

1. The book was written in 1851, and the Directors' permission to
publish was given in December, 1852. (_Journey,_ ii, pp. 358, 393,
ed. 1858. The Preface to that ed. wrongly indicates December, 1851,
as the date of that permission.)

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF CHAPTERS

_Edition_ 1844. _Edition_ 1893. _Edition_
1915.
Vol. 1, chap. 1-36 Vol. 1, chap. 1-36 Chap. 1-36
" " 37-46 " " 37-46 titles only " 37-46
titles only
" " 47,48 " " 47,48 " 47,48
Vol. 2, " 1 " " 49 " 49
" " 2 " " 50 " 50
" " 3 " " 51 " 51
" " 4 " " 52 " 52
" " 5 " " 53 " 53
" " 6 " " 54 " 54
" " 7 " " 55 " 55
" " 8 Vol. 2 " 1 " 56
" " 9 " " 2 " 57
" " 10 " " 3 " 58
" " 11 " " 4 " 59
" " 12 " " 5 " 60
" " 13 " " 6 " 61
" " 14 " " 7 " 62
" " 15 " " 8 " 63
" " 16 " " 9 " 64
" " 17 " " 10 " 65
" " 18 " " 11 " 66
" " 19 " " 12 " 67
" " 20 " " 13 " 68
" " 21 " " 14 " 69
" " 22 " " 15 " 70
" " 23 " " 16 " 71
" " 24 " " 17 " 72
" " 25 " " 18 " 73
" " 26 " " 19 " 74
" " 27 " " 20 " 75
" " 28 " " 21 " 76
" " 29 " " 22 " 77

ABBREVIATIONS

A.C. After Christ.

_Ann. Rep. Annual Report._

A.S. Archaeological Survey.

_A.S.R. Archaeological Survey Reports,_ by Sir Alexander Cunningham
and his assistants; 23 vols. 8vo, Simla and Calcutta, 1871-87, with
General Index (vol. xxiv, 1887) by V. A. Smith.

_A.S.W.I. Archaeological Survey Reports, Western India._

Beale. T. W. Beale, _Oriental Biographical Dictionary,_ ed. Keene,
1894.

C.P. Central Provinces.

E.& D. Sir H. M. Elliot and Professor J. Dowson, _The History of
India as told by its own Historians, Muhammadan Period;_ 8 vols. 8vo,
London, 1867-77.

_E.H.I._ V. A. Smith, _Early History of India,_ 3rd ed., Oxford,
1914.

_Ep. Ind. Epigraphia Indica,_ Calcutta.

Fanshawe. H. C. Fanshawe, _Delhi Past and Present,_ Murray, London,
1902.

_H.F.A._ V. A. Smith, _A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon,_
4to, Oxford, 1911.

_I.G. Imperial Gazetteer of India_, Oxford, 1907, 1908.

_Ind. Ant. Indian Antiquary,_ Bombay.

_J.A.S.B. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,_ Calcutta.

_J.R.A.S. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,_ London.

_N.I.N.& Qu. North-Indian Notes and Queries,_ Allahabad, 1891-6

N.W.P. North-Western Provinces.

_Z.D.M.G. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft,_
Leipzig.

CHAPTER 1

Annual Fairs held upon the Banks of Sacred Streams in India.

Before setting out on our journey towards the Himalaya we formed once
more an agreeable party to visit the Marble Rocks of the Nerbudda at
Bheraghat.[1] It was the end of Kartik,[2] when the Hindoos hold
fairs on all their sacred streams at places consecrated by poetry or
tradition as the scene of some divine work or manifestation. These
fairs are at once festive and holy; every person who comes enjoying
himself as much as he can, and at the same time seeking purification
from all past transgressions by bathing and praying in the holy
stream, and making laudable resolutions to be better for the future.
The ceremonies last five days, and take place at the same time upon
all the sacred rivers throughout India; and the greater part of the
whole Hindoo population, from the summits of the Himalaya mountains
to Cape Comorin, will, I believe, during these five days, be found
congregated at these fairs. In sailing down the Ganges one may pass
in the course of a day half a dozen such fairs, each with a multitude
equal to the population of a large city, and rendered beautifully
picturesque by the magnificence and variety of the tent equipages of
the great and wealthy. The preserver of the universe (_Bhagvan_)
Vishnu is supposed, on the 26th of Asarh, to descend to the world
below (_Patal_) to defend Raja Bali from the attacks of Indra, to
stay with him four months, and to come up again on the 26th
Kartik.[3] During his absence almost all kinds of worship and
festivities are suspended; and they recommence at these fairs, where
people assemble to hail his resurrection.

Our tents were pitched upon a green sward on one bank of a small
stream running into the Nerbudda close by, while the multitude
occupied the other bank. At night all the tents and booths are
illuminated, and the scene is hardly less animated by night than by
day; but what strikes a European most is the entire absence of all
tumult and disorder at such places. He not only sees no disturbance,
but feels assured that there will be none; and leaves his wife and
children in the midst of a crowd of a hundred thousand persons all
strangers to them, and all speaking a language and following a
religion different from theirs, while he goes off the whole day,
hunting and shooting in the distant jungles, without the slightest
feeling of apprehension for their safety or comfort. It is a singular
fact, which I know to be true, that during the great mutiny of our
native troops at Barrackpore in 1824, the chief leaders bound
themselves by a solemn oath not to suffer any European lady or child
to be injured or molested, happen what might to them in the collision
with their officers and the Government. My friend Captain Reid, one
of the general staff, used to allow his children, five in number, to
go into the lines and play with the soldiers of the mutinous
regiments up to the very day when the artillery opened upon them;
and, of above thirty European ladies then at the station, not one
thought of leaving the place till they heard the guns.[4] Mrs.
Colonel Faithful, with her daughter and another young lady, who had
both just arrived from England, went lately all the way from Calcutta
to Ludiana on the banks of the Hyphasis, a distance of more than
twelve hundred miles, in their palankeens with relays of bearers, and
without even a servant to attend them.[5] They were travelling night
and day for fourteen days without the slightest apprehension of
injury or of insult. Cases of ladies travelling in the same manner by
_dak_ (stages) immediately after their arrival from England to all
parts of the country occur every day, and I know of no instance of
injury or insult sustained by them.[6] Does not this speak volumes
for the character of our rule in India? Would men trust their wives
and daughters in this manner unprotected among a people that disliked
them and their rule? We have not a garrison, or walled cantonments,
or fortified position of any kind for our residence from one end of
our Eastern empire to the other, save at the three capitals of
Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.[7] We know and feel that the people
everywhere look up to and respect us, in spite of all our faults, and
we like to let them know and feel that we have confidence in them.

Sir Thomas Munro has justly observed, 'I do not exactly know what is
meant by civilizing the people of India. In the theory and practice
of good government they may be deficient; but, if a good system of
agriculture, if unrivalled manufactures, if the establishment of
schools for reading and writing, if the general practice of kindness
and hospitality, and, above all, if a scrupulous respect and delicacy
towards the female sex are amongst the points that denote a civilized
people; then the Hindoos are not inferior in civilization to the
people of Europe'.[8]

Bishop Heber writes in the same favourable terms of the Hindoos in
the narrative of his journey through India; and where shall we find a
mind more capable of judging of the merits and demerits of a people
than his?[9]

The concourse of people at this fair was, as usual, immense; but a
great many who could not afford to provide tents for the
accommodation of their families were driven away before their time by
some heavy showers of, to them, unseasonable rains. On this and
similar occasions the people bathe in the Nerbudda without the aid of
priests, but a number of poor Brahmans attend at these festivals to
receive charity, though not to assist at the ceremonies. Those who
could afford it gave a trifle to these men as they came out of the
sacred stream, but in no case was it demanded, or even solicited with
any appearance of importunity, as it commonly is at fairs and holy
places on the Ganges. The first day, the people bathe below the rapid
over which the river falls after it emerges from its peaceful abode
among the marble rocks; on the second day, just above this rapid; and
on the third day, two miles further up at the cascade, when the whole
body of the limpid stream of the Nerbudda, confined to a narrow
channel of only a few yards wide, falls tumultuously down in a
beautiful cascade into a deep chasm of marble rocks. This fall of
their sacred stream the people call the 'Dhuandhar', or 'the smoky
fall', from the thick vapour which is always seen rising from it in
the morning. From below, the river glides quietly and imperceptibly
for a mile and a half along a deep, and, according to popular belief,
a fathomless channel of from ten to fifty yards wide, with snow-white
marble rocks rising perpendicularly on either side from a hundred to
a hundred and fifty feet high, and in some parts fearfully
overhanging. Suspended in recesses of these white rocks are numerous
large black nests of hornets ready to descend upon any unlucky wight
who may venture to disturb their repose;[10] and, as the boats of the
curious European visitors pass up and down to the sound of music,
clouds of wild pigeons rise from each side, and seem sometimes to
fill the air above them. Here, according to native legends, repose
the Pandavas, the heroes of their great Homeric poem, the
Mahabharata, whose names they have transferred to the valley of the
Nerbudda. Every fantastic appearance of the rocks, caused by those
great convulsions of nature which have so much disturbed the crust of
the globe, or by the slow and silent working of the, waters, is
attributed to the god-like power of those great heroes of Indian
romance, and is associated with the recollection of scenes in which
they are supposed to have figured.[11]

The strata of the Kaimur range of sandstone hills, which runs
diagonally across the valley of the Nerbudda, are thrown up almost
perpendicularly, in some places many hundred feet above the level of
the plain, while in others for many miles together their tops are
only visible above the surface. These are so many strings of the oxen
which the arrows of Arjun, one of the five brothers, converted into
stone; and many a stream which now waters the valley first sprang
from the surface of the earth at the touch of his lance, as his
troops wanted water. The image of the gods of a former day, which now
lie scattered among the ruins of old cities, buried in the depth of
the forest, are nothing less than the bodies of the kings of the
earth turned into stone for their temerity in contending with these
demigods in battle. Ponds among the rocks of the Nerbudda, where all
the great fairs are held, still bear the names of the five brothers,
who are the heroes of this great poem;[12] and they are every year
visited by hundreds of thousands who implicitly believe that their
waters once received upon their bosoms the wearied limbs of those
whose names they bear. What is life without the charms of fiction,
and without the leisure and recreations which these sacred imaginings
tend to give to the great mass of those who have nothing but the
labour of their hands to depend upon for their subsistence! Let no
such fictions be believed, and the holidays and pastimes of the lower
orders in every country would soon cease, for they have almost
everywhere owed their origin and support to some religious dream
which has commanded the faith and influenced the conduct of great
masses of mankind, and prevented one man from presuming to work on
the day that another wished to rest from his labours. The people were
of opinion, they told me, that the Ganges, as a sacred stream, could
last only sixty years more, when the Nerbudda would take its place.
The waters of the Nerbudda are, they say already so much more sacred
than those of the Ganges that to see them is sufficient to cleanse
men from their sins, whereas the Ganges must be touched before it can
have that effect.[13]

At the temple built on the top of a conical hill at Bheraghat,
overlooking the river, is a statue of a bull carrying Siva, the god
of destruction, and his wife Parvati seated behind him; they have
both snakes in their hands, and Siva has a large one round his loins
as a waistband. There are several demons in human shape lying
prostrate under the belly of the bull, and the whole are well cut out
of one large slab of hard basalt from a dyke in the marble rock
beneath. They call the whole group 'Gauri Sankar', and I found in the
fair, exposed for sale, a brass model of a similar one from Jeypore
(Jaipur), but not so well shaped and proportioned. On noticing this
we were told that 'such difference was to be expected, since the
brass must have been made by man, whereas the "Gauri Sankar" of the
temple above was a real Pakhan, or a conversion of living beings into
stone by the gods;[14] they were therefore the exact resemblance of
living beings, while the others could only be rude imitations'.
'Gauri', or the Fair, is the name of Parvati, or Devi, when she
appears with her husband Siva. On such occasions she is always fair
and beautiful. Sankar is another name of Siva, or Mahadeo, or Rudra.
On looking into the temple at the statue, a lady expressed her
surprise at the entireness as well as the excellence of the figures,
while all round had been so much mutilated by the Muhammadans. 'They
are quite a different thing from the others', said a respectable old
landholder; 'they are a conversion of real flesh and blood into
stone, and no human hands can either imitate or hurt them.' She
smiled incredulously, while he looked very grave, and appealed to the
whole crowd of spectators assembled, who all testified to the truth
of what he had said; and added that 'at no distant day the figures
would be all restored to life again, the deities would all come back
without doubt and reanimate their old bodies again'.

All the people who come to bathe at the fair bring chaplets of yellow
jasmine, and hang them as offerings round the necks of the god and
his consort; and at the same time they make some small offerings of
rice to each of the many images that stand within the same apartment,
and also to those which, under a stone roof supported upon stone
pillars, line the inside of the wall that surrounds the circular
area, in the centre of which the temple stands. The images inside the
temple are those of the three great gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva,
with their primaeval consorts;[15] but those that occupy the piazza
outside are the representations of the consorts of the different
incarnations of these three gods, and these consorts are themselves
the incarnations of the primaeval wives, who followed their husbands
in all their earthly ramblings. They have all the female form, and
are about the size of ordinary women, and extremely well cut out of
fine white and green sandstone; but their heads are those of the
animals in which their respective husbands became incarnate, such as
the lion, the elephant, &c., or those of the '_vahans_', or animals
on which they rode, such as the bull, the swan, the eagle, &c. But
these, I presume, are mere _capricios_ of the founder of the temple.
The figures are sixty-four in number, all mounted upon their
respective '_vahans_', but have been sadly mutilated by the pious
Muhammadans.[16]

The old 'Mahant', or high priest, told us that Mahadeo and his wife
were in reality our Adam and Eve; 'they came here together', said he,
'on a visit to the mountain Kailas,[17] and being earnestly solicited
to leave some memorial of their visit, got themselves turned into
stone'. The popular belief is that some very holy man, who had been
occupied on the top of this little conical hill, where the temple now
stands, in austere devotions for some few thousand years, was at last
honoured with a visit from Siva and his consort, who asked him what
they could do for him. He begged them to wait till he should bring
some flowers from the woods to make them a suitable offering. They
promised to do so, and he ran down, plunged into the Nerbudda and
drowned himself, in order that these august persons might for ever
remain and do honour to his residence and his name. They, however,
left only their 'mortal coil', but will one day return and resume it.
I know not whether I am singular in the notion or not, but I think
Mahadeo and his consort are really our Adam and Eve, and that the
people have converted them into the god and goddess of destruction,
from some vague idea of their original sin, which involved all their
race in destruction. The snakes, which form the only dress of
Mahadeo, would seem to confirm this notion.[18]

Notes:

1. The Nerbudda (Narbada, or Narmada) river is the boundary between
Hindustan, or Northern India, and the Deccan (Dakhin), or Southern
India. The beautiful gorge of the Marble Rocks, near Jubbulpore
(Jabalpur), is familiar to modern tourists (see _I.G._, 1908, s.v.
'Marble Rocks'). The remarkable antiquities at Bheraghat are
described and illustrated in _A.S.R._, vol. ix, pp. 60-76, pl. xii-
xvi. Additions and corrections to Cunningham's account will be found
in _A.S.W.I Progr. Rep._, 1893-4, p. 5; and _A.S. Ann. Rep., E.
Circle_, 1907-8, pp. 14-18.

2. The eighth month of the Hindoo luni-solar year, corresponding to
part of October and part of November. In Northern India the year
begins with the month Chait, in March. The most commonly used names
of the months are: (1) Chait; (2) Baisakh; (3) Jeth; (4) Asarh; (5)
Sawan; (6) Bhadon; (7) Kuar; (8) Kartik; (9) Aghan; (10) Pus; (II)
Magh; and (12) Phalgun.

3. _Bhagvan_ is often used as equivalent for the word God in its most
general sense, but is specially applicable to the Deity as manifested
in Vishnu the Preserver. _Asarh_ corresponds to June-July, _Patal_ is
the Hindoo Hades. Raja Bali is a demon, and Indra is the lord of the
heavens. The fairs take place at the time of full moon.

4. Barrackpore, fifteen miles north of Calcutta, is still a
cantonment. The Governor General has a country house there. The
mutiny of the native troops stationed there occurred on Nov. 1, 1824,
and was due to the discontent caused by orders moving the 47th Native
Infantry to Rangoon to take part in the Burmese War. The outbreak was
promptly suppressed. Captain Pogson published a _Memoir of the Mutiny
at Barrackpore_ (8vo, Serampore, 1833).

5. Ludiana, the capital of the district of the same name, now under
the Punjab Government. Hyphasis is the Greek name of the Bias river,
one of the five rivers of the Punjab.

6. Railways have rendered almost obsolete the mode of travelling
described in the text. In Northern India palankeens (palkis) are now
seldom used, even by Indians, except for purposes of ceremony.

7. This statement is no longer quite accurate, though fortified
positions are still very few.

8. The editor cannot find the exact passage quoted, but remarks to
the same effect will be found in _The Life of Sir Thomas Munro,_ by
the Rev. G. R. Gleig, in two volumes, a new edition (London, 1831),
vol. ii, p. 175.