during all the travelling months of the year, generally pitching their tents near towns and holding their courts under trees, an arrangement so agreeable to Indian prejudices, that one of these judges said it was, in his opinion, one main source of their usefulness, inasmuch as an Indian of the humbler class is really always under constraint and fear in a house, particularly if furnished in the European manner, and can neither attend to what is told him, nor tell his own story so well as in the open air, and amidst those objects from which all his enjoyments are drawn. At Allahabad, however, where their permanent abodes are, these judges have a courthouse, though a very humble one, thatched, and inconvenient. The only considerable buildings or ruins in Allahabad are the fort, the Jumna Musjeed, and the serai and garden of Sultan Khosroo. The first stands on the point of the triangle formed by the two rivers, and is strong both naturally and artificially. It has been a very noble castle, but has suffered in its external appearance as much as it has probably gained in strength, by the modernization which it has undergone from its present masters, its lofty towers being pruned down into bastions and cavaliers, and its high stone rampart topped with turf parapets, and obscured by a green sloping glacis. It is still, however, a striking place, and its principal gate, surmounted by a dome, with a wide hall beneath surrounded by arcades and galleries, and ornamented with rude but glowing paintings, is the noblest entrance I ever saw to a place of arms. This has been, I think, injudiciously modernized without, after the Grecian or Italian style, but within, the high gothic arches and Saracenic paintings remain. The barracks are very handsome and neat, something like those of Fort William, which the interior disposition of the fort a good deal resembles. On one side, however, is a large range of buildings, still in the oriental style, and containing some noble vaulted rooms, chiefly occupied as officers' quarters, and looking down from a considerable height on the rapid stream and craggy banks of the Jumna. The Jumna and Ganges are here pretty nearly of equal width; the former is the more rapid of the two, and its navigation more dangerous from the rocky character of its bed, and its want of depth in the dry season. At present both streams were equally turbid, but in another month, I am told, we should have found the water of the Jumna clear as crystal, and strangely contrasted with the turbid yellow wave of the more sacred stream, which is, however, when allowed some little time to clear itself, by far the most palatable of the two, and preferred by all the city, both native and European. The Jumna Musjeed, or principal mosque, is still in good repair, but very little frequented. It. stands on an advan tageous situation on the banks of the Jumna, adjoining the city on one side, and on the other an esplanade before the fort glacis, planted with trees like that of Calcutta. It is a solid and stately building, but without much ornament. It had been, since the English conquest, fitted up first as a residence for the General of the station, then used as an assembly-room, till Mr. Courtney Smith, apprehending this to be an insult to the religious feelings of the Mussulmans, persuaded the Government to restore it to its sacred character, and to repair its damages. The Mussulmans, however, are neither numerous nor zealous in Allahabad, and seemed to care little about the matter. Nevertheless the original desecration was undoubtedly offensive and unjust; and the restitution a proper and popular measure. The finest things in Allahabad, however, are Sultan Khosroo's serai and garden; the former is a noble quadrangle, with four fine gothic gateways, surrounded within an embattled wall by a range of cloisters for the accommodation of travellers. The whole is now much dilapidated, but was about to be repaired from the town duties, when unhappily the Birmese war arrested this excellent appropriation of an unpopular tax. Adjoining the serai is a neglected garden, planted with fine old mangoe trees, in which are three beautiful tombs raised over two princes and a princess of the imperial family. Each consists of a large terrace, with vaulted apartments beneath it, in the central one of which is a tomb like a stone coffin, richly carved. Above is a very lofty circular apartment, covered by a dome richly painted within, and without carved yet more beautifully. All these are very solemn and striking, rich, but not florid or gaudy, and completely giving the lie to the notion common in England, which regards all eastern architecture as in bad taste and barbarous. 99 The houses of the civil servants of the Company are at some distance, both from the fort and the town, extending along a small rising ground, in a line from the Ganges to the Jumna. They are mere bungalows, and less both in size and ornament than at any station I have yet seen in these provinces. The situation is, however, pleasant and healthy. The city of Allahabad is small, with very poor houses, and narrow irregular streets, and confined to the banks of the Jumna. I remained ten days at Allahabad, waiting the arrival of tents from Cawnpoor. During this time I had the pleasure of confirming twenty persons, two of them natives, and of preaching and administering the sacrament to seventy or eighty, of whom some were also natives, or at least in the native dress. The residents here are exceedingly anxious for a chaplain, but that one should be appointed at this time, I entertain but few hopes, though it is very sad that such a congregation should want one. For the present I hope to procure them one of the Church Missionaries. Amid the other necessary preparations for my land journey, more numerous by far, and more various, than I had anticipated, I had to purchase a horse for my own riding, no elephant being either to be begged, bought, or borrowed in Allahabad, and no reasonable hope being held out of my procuring one in Cawnpoor. Indeed, most people tell me that a horse, during the greater part of the journey which I have before me, will be a far preferable conveyance. To procure a tolerable one was not, however, an easy matter. Arabs are excessively scarce and dear, and one which was sent for me to look at, at a price of 800 rupees, was a skittish, catlegged thing, not worth half the money. I went with Mr. Bird, whose kindness and hospitality were unremitting during my whole stay, to look at a drove of up-country horses, just arrived from Lahore and Turkistan, and was exceedingly amused and interested by the picturesque groups of men and animals which met the eye in a crowded serai about nightfall, as well as with the fine forms of some of the colts offered for sale, and the singular appearance and manner of the grazier who owned the "cofilah," or caravan, and his attendant saeeses. The former was an elderly man, six feet high, and more than proportionally corpulent, with a long, curling, black beard, spreading over his white peyrahoom. The latter were also large-limbed, tall men, with long hair in black strong ringlets hanging down their backs and over their ears, their little turbans set knowingly on one side, and neither they nor their master much darker than Europeans. Indeed, they exceedingly resembled some of the portraits of Italians by Titian; they rode well, and showed great strength; but what most amused me was the remarkable resemblance between horse-dealers all over the world, in turns of expres sion, in tricks of trade, nay, even in tone of voice and cast of countenance. I had fortunately an excellent judge in Mr. Bird, but even he was perplexed for some time how to advise me. At length I fixed on a very handsome colt, too young, certainly, but strong, and very good tempered, for which I gave 460 rupees. The old man went and came over and over again before he would take the price, but I was pertinacious; and at last, on Abdullah's suggesting that an additional present of something besides money would please him better, I gave him a piece of Dacca muslin, sufficient 294 FESTIVAL OF RAMA AND SEETA. for a turban, and worth about eight sicca rupees, as well as a small phial of laudanum and brandy for an ear-ache, of which he bitterly complained. This satisfied him, and we parted very good friends, Mr. Bird being of opinion that the price was really a fair one, and the horse extremely promising. It was also necessary to buy five tattoes for my servants to ride in turns, as there were no baggage-elephants to mount them on. This, however, was easily accomplished, and the animals, saddles, bridles, and all, were obtained, though very good ones of their kind, for sixteen rupees each. A long string of other necessaries followed, and I had the mortification to find that few of the things I had brought with me from Calcutta could be put on the backs of camels. It was with the greatest difficulty that a carpenter could be found in the whole city to drive a nail, or a blacksmith to make a horse-shoe; it being the festival of Rama and Seeta, all the world was employed in seeing the hero with his army of monkeys attack the giant Ravanu. Many other hinderances and disappointments occurred, but the delay they occasioned gave me an opportunity of seeing something of the Ramayuna festival, which consists in a sort of dramatic representation during many successive days, of Rama's history and adventures. The first evening I went with Mr. Bird to the show, for as such it is now considered, and so entirely divested of every religious character, as to be attended even by Mussulmans without scruple. I found Rama, his brother Luchmun, and his betrothed wife Seeta, represented by three children of about twelve years old, seated in Durbar, under an awning in the principal street of the sepoy lines, with a great crowd round them, some fanning them, (of which, poor things, they had great need,) some blowing horns and beating gongs and drums, and the rest shouting till the air rang again. The two heroes were very fine boys, and acted their parts admirably. Each had a gilt bow in his left hand, and a sabre in his right, their naked bodies were almost covered with gilt ornaments and tinsel, they had high tinsel crowns on their heads, their foreheads and bodies spotted with charcoal, chalk, and vermilion, and altogether perfectly resembled the statues of Hindoo deities, 'Except that of their eyes alone The twinkle showed they were not stone." Poor little Seeta, wrapt up in a gorgeous veil of flimsy finery, and tired to death, had dropped her head on her breast, and seemed happily insensible to all which was going on. The brahmin sepoys who bore the principal part in the play, made room, with great solicitude for us to see. I asked a FESTIVAL OF RAMA AND SEETA. 295 good many questions, and obtained very ready answers in much the same way, and with no more appearance of reverence or devotion than one should receive from an English mob at a puppet-show. "I see Rama, Seeta, and Luchmun, but where is Huniman?" (the famous monkey general.) Huniman," was the answer, "is not yet come; but that man," pointing to a great stout soldier of singularly formidable exterior, is Huniman, and he will soon arrive." 66 began laughing as if half ashamed of his destination, but now took up the conversation, telling me that "next day was to be a far prettier play than I now saw, for Seeta was to be stolen away by Ravanu and his attendant evil spirits, Rama and Luchmun were to go to the jungle in great sorrow to seek for her,' The man ("Rama, your Rama! to greenwood must hie!") That "then (laughing again) I and my army shall come, and we shall fight bravely, bravely." The evening following I was engaged, but the next day I repeated my visit; I was then too late for the best part of the show, which had consisted of a first and unsuccessful attack by Rama and his army on the fortress of the gigantic ravisher. That fortress, however, I saw, -an enclosure of bamboos, covered with paper and painted with doors and windows, within which was a frightful paper giant, fifteen feet high, with ten or twelve arms, each grasping either a sword, an arrow, a bow, a battle-axe, or a spear. At his feet sate poor little Seeta as motionless as before, guarded by two figures to represent demons. The brothers in a splendid palkee were conducting the retreat of their army; the divine Huniman, as naked and almost as hairy as the animal whom he represented, was gamboling before them, with a long tail tied round his waist, a mask to represent the head of a baboon, and two great painted clubs in his hands. His army followed, a number of men with similar tails and masks, their bodies dyed with indigo, and also armed with clubs. I was never so forcibly struck with the identity of Rama and Bacchus. Here were before me Bacchus, his brother Ampelus, the Satyrs, (smeared with wine lees,) and the great Pan commanding them. The fable, however, can hardly have originated in India, and probably has been imported both by the Greeks and brahmins from Cashmere, or some other central country where the grape grows, unless we suppose that the has been mereLy an accidental appendage to Bacchus's character, arising from the fact that the festival occurs during the vintage. There yet remained two or three days of a pageant, before Seeta's release, purification, and re-marriage to her hero grape |