British in Mahratta affairs and the First Mahratta War in 1775-82. The last Peshwa, Baji Rao II., nominally ruled from 1795-1818. The Mahratta Princes forced him into war with the English, and in the campaigns which ensued in 1803-4 Scindia and the Bhonsla Chief were destroyed in the South at Assaye (23rd September 1803) and Argaum (28th November 1803), while Scindia's forces in the North were crushed at Delhi (11th September 1803) and Laswari (Ist November 1803), and Jaswant Rao Holkar was defeated at Dig (23rd December 1804), and finally compelled to submit. The last general Mahratta war took place in 1817-18, in which the Peshwa was defeated at Kirki (5th November 1817), the Bhonsla Chief at Sitabaldi (26th to 27th November 1817), near Nagpur, and Holkar at Mahidpur (21st December 1817). The Peshwa was deported to Bithur, near Cawnpore, and died there in 1853; his adopted son, the Nana Sahib, stands for ever infamous as the author of the Cawnpore massacre of 27th June 1857. It will be seen from the above brief narrative that, when the British commenced to acquire inland territories in India, the Mahrattas were the dominant people of the country from the Kistna to Delhi and from Gujarat to Orissa ; and there can be no doubt that but for British interposition they could have extended their power over Hyderabad and Mysore to the extreme South of India, just as they had already occupied Tanjore, and over Bengal and Bihar in the North. The Mahrattas are now mostly a race of sturdy agriculturists, though some of them are highly educated and advanced politicians. In recent times it. was supposed that they had lost their martial qualities; but experience in Mesopotamia and elsewhere showed that they held their own with the finest fighting races in India The Bhonsla House died out in 1853 on the death of the successor of Appa Sahib (p. 119), who had been deposed. The principal Chiefs of the Baroda House have been Damaji Gaekwar, the founder (died 1721), Damaji II. (1731 - 70), Sayaji Rao I., Khande Rao (1857), and Mulhar Rao, who was deposed in 1875. The present Chief is His Highness Maharaja Sir Sayaji Rao III., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. (born 1863, adopted 1875). Of the Scindia family the most famous rulers have been the founder Ranoji, Mahdaji Scindia (died 1794), his grandnephew Daulat Rao Scindia (died 1827), and (battles of Panniar and Maharajpur, both on 29th December 1843) Jaiaji Rao Scindia (died 1886). The present Chief is Lieut.-General H.H. Maharajadhiraja Sir Madho Rao Scindia, G.C.S.I., G.C.V.O., G.B.E. (born 1876). The principal Chiefs of the Holkar House have been the founder, Mulhar Rao, who retreated from Panipat, Ahalya Bai (1765-95) (pp. 127-8), Jaswant Rao Holkar (died 1811), Mulhar Rao Holkar (died 1833), Baiza Bai, regent, and Tukoji Rao Holkar II. (died 1886). The present Chief is H.H. Maharajadhiraja Sir Tukoji Holkar III., G.C.I.E. (born 1890). The actual Mahratta population in these three States is very small. THE PARSIS THE Parsis, formerly inhabitants of Persia, are the modern followers of Zoroaster, and now form a numerous and influential portion of the population of Surat and Bombay. Of their total number-101,778 in India in 1921-83,019 were in the Bombay Presidency and nearly 14,000 in Native States, of whom nearly 8000 were in the Baroda State and nearly 2500 in Bombay States. When the Sassanide Empire was destroyed by the Muhammadans in 651 A.D. the Zoroastrians were persecuted, and some of them fled (c. 717) to India-first to Diu, in Kathiawar, then to Sanjan, about 25 m. S. of Daman, where the ruler of Gujarat became their protector, and for some hundreds of years they lived there and in the neighbourhood in peace and quiet, finally making Navsari their headquarters. In the 16th century they suffered considerably from Muhammadan persecution until the time of the British occupation. The sacred fire, which Zoroaster was said to have brought from heaven, is kept burning in consecrated spots, and temples are built over subterranean fires. The priests tend the fires on the altars, chanting hymns and burning incense. They do not worship the sun or fire, as is often commonly supposed. "God, according "God, according to Parsi faith, is the emblem of glory, refulgence, and light, and in this view a Parsi while engaged in prayer is directed to stand before the fire, or to direct his face towards the sun, as the most proper symbols of the Almighty." There are fire-temples in Bombay for public worship. The Dasturs are their high priests. A partially successful attempt was made in 1852 to restore the creed of Zoroaster, which had become corrupted by Hindu practices, to its original purity. In order not to pollute the elements, which they adore, the Parsis neither burn nor bury their dead, but expose their corpses to be devoured by birds (see "Towers of Silence," Bombay, p. 21). They have been quick to adopt Western ideas, while in many respects maintaining scrupulously their own manners and customs. This has been noticeable in the matter of education, especially female education; and this, coupled with social freedom, has given Parsi ladies in the past an advantage. The Parsis were the first to take up cricket. They largely follow commercial pursuits, in which they are most enterprising and successful. Their charity is well known. Benevolence is their first principle; but it is not restricted to their own community. 1 1 The vernacular name of these structures is Dokhma. THE PARSI FESTIVALS Pateti, New Year's Day-the 1st of Farvardin (approx. September). The Parsis rise earlier than usual, put on new clothes, and pray at the fire-temples. They then visit their friends and join hands, distribute alms, and give clothes to servants and others. This day is celebrated in honour of the accession of Yezdajird to the throne of Persia, 632 A.D. Farvardin-Jasan, on the 19th of Farvardin, on which ceremonies are performed in honour of the dead, called Farohars, or "protectors." There are eleven other Jasans in honour of various angels. Khurdad-sal, on the 6th Farvardin, the birthday of Zoroaster, who is said to have been born 1200 B.C. at the city of Rai, or Ragha, near Teheran; but the date of Zoroaster has not been authentically fixed. Jamshidi-Nauroz, held on the 21st of Mihr (approx. March). It dates from the time of Jamshid, and the Parsis ought to commence their New Year from it. Zurtoshte Diso, held on the 11th of Deh (approx. June) in remembrance of the death of Zartasht, or Zoroaster, in Bactria. The Muktad, held on the last ten days of the Zoroastrian year, (Sept.-Aug.) including the last five days of the last month and the five intercalary days called the Gatha Gahambars. A clean place in the house is adorned with fruits and flowers, and silver or brass vessels filled with water are placed there, and ceremonies are performed in honour of the souls of the dead. ARCHITECTURE STYLE and decoration in architecture are largely conditioned by the character of the materials employed. In primitive India, as among the poorer classes of to-day, the materials most commonly in use were mud or mud bricks, bamboo canes, and other kinds of wood. The simplest kinds of dwellings were constructed of screens of bamboos inwoven with palm branches or the like, the roofs being either flat or arched. In the latter case the bamboos were lashed together at the apex and tied in near the lower end, thus forming a singularly strong framework of curvilinear form, while the walls were strengthened to resist the outward thrust. In other cases the walls were constructed of unbaked brick or mud, and the latter material was also used as a covering for the flat roofs or for plastering the screens of the walls on the wattle and daub" principle. Later on cut timbers came to be used in the more pretentious dwellings, and afforded opportunities for the development of that exuberant surface decoration in which the genius of India has always excelled. No kiln-burnt bricks have yet been found of a date earlier than the 5th century B.C., though it is likely enough that their manufacture was understood long before then, particularly in the N.W. of India. On the other hand, the potter's art was practised in India from time immemorial, and concrete made of broken potsherds and kankar lime was employed for floors at least as early as the 8th century B.C., while roof tiles of terra-cotta were fashioned quite a century before the art of stone-cutting was practised. Lime mortar was used in pre-Muhammadan monuments in Kashmir two or three centuries B.C. These materials left their character deeply and permanently impressed on Indian architecture. From the use of the bamboo came the curvilinear type of roof, which was afterwards reproduced in cut timber and subsequently in stone, and from which was evolved the familiar chaitya arch used over doorways and windows. Log capitals were imitated in stone, the more finished timbering of walls and roofs and gateways in the same materials, every detail, down to the nail heads, being copied with sedulous care and accuracy by the masons of later days. As a protection against white ants wooden posts were set, as they still sometimes are, in gharas, or jars of earthenware, and from these resulted the “pot and foliage" base, so beautifully developed in the Gupta age. Ignorance of the use of mortar made the construction of true arches and domes impracticable in the pre-Muhammadan period, but arch and dome forms were not unknown, and were imitated both in brick and stone, usually by corbelling the masonry. A striking illustration of the influence exerted by brick as contrasted with wood construction is to be found in the pillars of the cave temples. In the earliest examples the stone pillars are manifestly copied from wooden and are relatively slender, though amply thick enough for their purpose. In the later examples, on the other hand, the pillars are heavy and cumbersome-not because extra strength was required, nor yet, probably, in order to save labour, but because they were copied from the brick-in-mud pillars of famous structural viharas, which necessarily required to be much thicker in proportion to their height than columns of stone. This close adherence to tradition constitutes the gravest fault of Indian architecture; for it has led to the perpetuation of primitive forms long after they have lost their raison d'être, and has deterred the builders from adapting their ideas to new conditions. Conservatism in art is of value in so far as it results in preserving what is appropriate and beautiful; it becomes a defect when it leads to the atrophy of effort and inventiveness. Apart from the walls built of ponderous Cyclopean masonry and a few dwellings of the same character at Rajagriha, the earliest structures so far known to exist in India are the houses recently excavated at Bhita (p. 46), which date back to the 4th century B.C. They were constructed of burnt brick laid in mud, with brick and plaster floors, timbered ceilings, and pitched-probably curvilinearroofs, protected by tiles and adorned with finials of terra-cotta,1 their plan being similar to that of the Buddhist monasteries, of which they are manifestly the prototype. Dressed stone work does not appear to have been introduced into India until the time of Asoka (250 B.C.); but the few examples which we possess belonging to that period, namely, the famous pillars or lats of Asoka, the caves in the Barabar Hills, and a monolithic rail at Sarnath, display in the precision with which they were cut and in their exquisite finish a mastery over material such as was never afterwards equalled by Indian masons, and which even the marble work of the Parthenon does not surpass. This complete mastery over material, coupled with the PersoHellenic character of the sculptures which adorn the lats, would indicate that the monuments in question were the handiwork of Asiatic Greeks, or of Indian craftsmen working under their immediate direction. From this time onwards stone came more and more into prominence, and in the Sunga period (180-70 B.C.) was being freely used by the Buddhists for their sacred monuments. To this epoch belong the famous railings of Bharhut, Buddh Gaya, and Sanchi—all of them manifestly in imitation of wooden models, and adorned with sculptures which, in spite of the introduction of many WesternAsiatic motifs, exhibit a truly indigenous character. Of these three railings, that at Bharhut is the most primitive, that at Sanchi the most developed; and it is interesting to observe how rapidly the art of sculpture improved in the relatively short space of time which intervened between them. The reliefs of both series are simple and naturalistic in style, appealing directly to the feelings by their human sympathy. In the former, however, the carving is wooden to a degree, the figures "frontal" and archaic, and the scenes lacking in composition. In the latter the modelling of the figures becomes free and plastic, there is vitality in their movements, more feeling for decorative effect in composing them, and in general more æsthetic beauty. This rapid artistic development is also remarkably well illustrated in the Mathura School, where a comparison of the sculptures of this epoch, few though they are, is the more significant in that they were produced in one and the same place. Contemporary with these Buddhist lats and railings are the earlier rock-cut temples of Western and Eastern India, which, however, do not belong exclusively to the Buddhists. These rock-cut temples 1 For an illustration of a tiled roof of this kind, see Cunningham, Stupa of Bharhut, Pl. xxvi., 7. |