Page images
PDF
EPUB

those places are frequented by multitudes of people from Calcutta and its neighbourhood; and during his boyhood our traveller frequently visited those spots, and shared in the mingling of amusement with religious worship which is always to be found on such occasions. At a later period his journeys extended to Serampore and Chinsurah, which in those days could only be reached by boats, but which are now within an easy distance by rail. Here it should be remarked that thirty years ago the strongest possible prejudice against travelling existed in the minds. of the Bengalees; and to this day there are many families who have never been able to overcome this aversion. An old Bengalee proverb was universally accepted, that he was the happiest man who never owed a debt nor undertook a journey. It was only the old men and old widows who left their homes to go on pilgrimages to Benares and Brindabun; Benares being the sacred city to the worshippers of Siva, and Brindabun the sacred locality to the worshippers of Vishnu in his incarnation as Krishna. These ancient pilgrims never set out without first making their wills; and their return home was scarcely ever expected by their families. Under such circumstances a young Bengalee was rarely allowed to leave the parental roof; and a little voyage up the river to Chinsurah or Hooghly was often a matter of boast, and the hero of the journey was regarded by his associates as an adventurous traveller. The Baboo, however, had made the history of India his favourite study, and soon became imbued with a strong desire to visit the localities which were famous in the national traditions. Moreover, on leaving school he had chosen the hereditary profession of his caste; and accordingly often found it necessary to visit many parts of Bengal to institute inquiries respecting the country produce in which he traded. The first important trip which he undertook was in

[blocks in formation]

1843 to the once famous town of Dacca, which in the days of our grandmothers manufactured the celebrated muslin dresses, each of which was of so fine a texture that it could be drawn through a wedding-ring. Of course our young traveller was not at that period above the superstitions of his countrymen; and indeed never does a Hindoo take any step of importance without first consulting the stars. This is usually done by reference either to a Brahman astrologer, or to the astrological almanack. When business will not admit of delay, a Hindoo will consult either the Sivagyanmut, or advices of Siva,' or the buchuns, or 'sayings,' of Khona, the wife of Varahamira, the great astronomer who was one of the nine gems in the court of Vikramaditya, the great monarch of Malwa, whose era of fifty-seven years before Christ is still in constant use throughout Hindoostan. Before, however, starting on his trip to Dacca, Baboo Bholanauth Chunder had not only to fix upon an auspicious day, but also to perform certain ceremonies which are necessary on such occasions. These ceremonies generally consist in bowing to the elders of the family, males and females, with the head down to the ground, in which attitude their benedictions are received. The intending traveller then carries a leaf of the bale-tree which has been taken out of a brass pot full of Ganges water, and marches out of the house without looking backwards. All these rites being performed, the Baboo started on his first trip, which lasted only a month, and of which the results are comparatively unimportant, and do not appear in the present narrative of travels.

The journeys described in the present volumes were undertaken at intervals between 1845 and 1866, some being for purposes of trade, and others for amusement and information. In the first instance the Baboo relates the story of a trip up the river Hooghly, in which he describes the

principal places on the banks of the river, commencing from Chitpore to Nuddea, and thence from Kishnaghur to Cutwah, and the district of Beerbhoom, where he saw the tomb of Joydeva. Few Europeans probably are familiar with the name of Joydeva; and yet this man, like Choitunya, will hold a prominent place in some future history of India as an enthusiast and a reformer, who has left a lasting impress in Bengal. He too spiritualized the worship of Krishna, and denounced the caste system. One of his most celebrated poems was translated at full length by Sir William Jones, and is buried in one of the earlier volumes of the Journal of the Asiatic Society; and though it abounds with that Oriental imagery and passion which seem to have characterized the most popular Eastern bards from time immemorial, it contains some undoubted beauties, and throws a new light upon some important phases of religious development. From the tomb of this important person our Hindoo traveller proceeded to Moorshedabad, the capital of the former Nawaubs of Bengal, of which he has given a full account; and he has also furnished interesting descriptions, of Gour, Rajmahal, Bhagulpore, Sultangunj, Monghyr, Patna, Ghazeepore, Chunar, and Mirzapore, interlarded with local traditions, many of which are of undoubted value, whilst many, we believe, are not to be found in any other European publication. Having finished these preliminary trips, the Baboo entered upon a tour through the North-Western Provinces about the year 1860, when the memory of the Mutiny was still fresh in the minds of the people, and before the railway could carry its crowds of passengers through the whole extent of Hindoostan. He proceeded from Raneegunj by the Grand Trunk Road, and visited Pariswath, Sasseeram, Benares, Allahabad, Cawnpore, Agra, Muttra, and Brindabun. His description of Brindabun, the great centre of the worship of Krishna, forms one of the most interesting and

[blocks in formation]

valuable portions of the entire work; and if the eye of the pilgrim sometimes wandered from the sacred temples to the fairer portion of the worshippers, his remarks only add a human interest to scenes, which, after all, are somewhat strange and unintelligible to European minds. In 1866 he paid a second visit to Delhi, and his antiquarian notices of that city and its ancient suburbs display an amount of investigation and research which are highly creditable to the writer, and his results are worthy of far more notice than can be awarded them in the present Introduction.

As regards the narrative generally, the Baboo has evidently endeavoured to combine all such legendary and positive history of the places he visited as would prove interesting to readers and travellers. He has presented pictures of varied scenes in the light and colouring in which they appeared before his own eyes; and has diversified the details of his information by references to local traditions, objects of antiquarian interest, social and religious institutions, and the manners, customs, and thoughts of his countrymen. In a word, whilst he has dwelt upon scenes and objects with the view of affording materials for Indian history, he has portrayed Hindoo life as it meets the eye in the present day.

Indeed, a journey up the valley of the Ganges and Jumna from Calcutta to Delhi is unequalled in objects of human interest by any other journey in the world. From Calcutta, the city of palaces, the finest European city in the Eastern hemisphere, and where European civilization reigns supreme, the Oriental pilgrim is carried perhaps in the first instance to Benares, the city beloved by the gods, with its mass of temples, ghâts, and dwelling-houses, crowding the banks of the holy stream for a distance of some miles. The narrow busy streets with pagodas on all sides; the gay bazars teeming with Native manufactures; the mysterious

temples with sacred bulls stabled in the holy precincts; the thousands and thousands of people washing away their sins in the Ganges; the idols, flowers, sprinklings with waters, readings of sacred books, prayers of Brahmans, clamouring of beggars for alms, and tokens of religious worship in all directions; all tend to wean away the mind from European ideas, and impress it with a deep sense of ignorance as regards the yearnings and aspirations of millions of fellowcreatures. From Benares again the traveller may be carried to Allahabad, where the holy rivers of Jumna and Ganges are united in a single stream; and the religious mind of the Hindoo is filled with a deep reverential awe at the mingling of the waters, which has its source in a fetische worship which is as old as the hills, and flourished in patriarchal times. This religious feeling finds expression in a great festival which is held at the junction of the rivers; and the European is distracted by the thousand and one nondescript scenes which meet the eye at a Hindoo fair; the jumbling up of the pilgrimages of the Middle Ages with the civilization of the nineteenth century; the conjurors, jugglers, faqueers, women and children in countless numbers; the hundreds of vehicles, the endless stalls, idols, and lucifer matches, books and sweetmeats, brass pots, gilt caps, cedar pencils, toys, note paper, marbles, red powder, and waving flags. From thence the traveller may be conducted to Agra and Delhi, from the centres of Hindooism to the centres of Islam in India. The marble palaces with graceful arches, slender columns, and screens like lace-work. The magnificent Taj with its dome of white marble, and its exquisite interior inlaid with flowers and birds in coloured gems, which, in the language of Heber, seems to have been built by giants and finished by jewellers. Above all there are the wondrous mosques, decorated with holy texts from the Koran; the cloistered gardens in vast quadrangles

« PreviousContinue »