WE

CHAPTER XIV.

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS.

E had sailed from the Thames to the HOOGHLY, beheld the CITY OF PALACES, traversed the sultry plains of Bengal, sojourned amid the tiger-haunted wilds of Hazareebaugh, crossed and re-crossed the GANGES, visited the sacred Ghats of BENARES, seen the Meeting of the Waters at ALLAHABAD, lounged in the shadow of the Great Mogul at DELHI, and were now reposing in the once princely city of AGRA. Around us were the noblest monuments of Mahommedan art-the TAJ, that wonderful and unrivalled mausoleum, which eclipses even the splendour of Grecian genius; the Fortress and Palace of the great and world-renowned Akbar, and the magnificent Tomb in which that monarch reposes; the ruins of countless temples, mansions, baths, and serais, and of the majestic capital itself which these formerly adorned; spacious and luxuriant gardens, clear streams, and flowing fountains. There was beyond us, however, a region of more than regal magnificence! a pile more famous and more sublime than any that had yet met our eye! And this we longed to survey. It was THE HIMALAYA! And just as the Rains were setting in, we were ordered to Simla (to join the GovernorGeneral)! The same evening-July 5th-we were on our way!

Stretched at full length in our palanquin-which some eight or ten bearers are shouldering, with groans at every step, like those of an Irish pavior-we are borne along a dreary road at the rate of four miles an hour. Night sets in, the torches are lit, and flare and stink provokingly. We shut the palkce doors, and in solemn and stately loneliness compose ourselves to sleep. An hour or two passes; we are awakened

by loud clamours, and cries of bucksheesh, hand out some small coin, are committed to the care of a new set of bearers, and are again borne onwards. This is repeated five or six times, and now it is morning. Still we hurry forward. There is no delay; fresh sets of bearers await us at every stage, for everything has been arranged by the Post-office. These provinces and the Punjaub are the territories once inhabited by the ancient philosophers of the race, who, after coming over the Himalaya into India, here formulated their earlier tenets into that religion (or, rather, that cruel superstition) to which in later ages the name of Hindooism has been given and which spread at a later age into Bengal. WE ARE NOW IN CLASSIC LAND; in a part of the country said to have been once frequented by the gods. Every spot of any consequence is sacred, and the names of the towns and villages are often given by devout Hindoos to their sons. There, on the banks of the Jumna, lies MUTTRA, of antiquity reaching to at least two thousand years before the Christian era; great in the annals alike of Buddhism and Hindooism;* second only, perhaps, to Benares in sanctity; and most interesting to the social geologist, in view of the succession of races that have dwelt there. Destroyed by Mahmoud of Ghuzni† in the eleventh century, it

Here Krishna and Balarama, "the divine herdsmen," fed their cattle in the forest pastures.

†This fierce invader thus describes the Muttra of his day: "This wonderful city contains more than a thousand edifices, the greater part of which are in marble, as firmly fixed on their foundations as the faith of the true believers; and in this number I do not include the temples of the infidels. If we calculate the money all these monuments must have cost, it would be no exaggeration to estimate it at several millions of dinars; and, it may be added, that such a city could scarcely be built in the space of two centuries. In the pagan temples my soldiers found five golden idols, the eyes of which were formed by rubies worth fifty thousand dinars. Another idol had as an ornament a sapphire weighing four hundred niskals, and the image itself yielded, when melted, 98,300 niskals of pure gold. Besides these, we found a hundred silver idols, representing as many camelloads." Elphinstone tells us that during a halt of twenty days the city was given up to plunder, the idols were broken, and the temples profaned. The excesses of the troops led to a fire in the city, and the effects of this conflagration were added to its other calamities. At Mahawan, near Muttra, the rajah had submitted, and had been favourably received, when a quarrel accidentally breaking out between the soldiers of the two parties, the Hindoos were massacred and driven into the river; and the rajah, conceiving himself betrayed, destroyed his wife and children, and then made away with himself. "The visitor of to-day," says Keene, "going through the streets of Muttra, finds galleries in front of modern private dwellings that are more delicate, more various, and in other respects more generally beautiful than most that are to be seen on the sides of the Grand Canal of Venice."

was afterwards rebuilt; was razed to its foundations by Aurungzebe, and rebuilt again; and is now an unusually well-built native town, filled with Brahmins, mendicants, and pilgrims.* It very much resembles Benares in appearance, ranks next after it in "holiness," and disputes with Kurnaul the title of the dirtiest town in India. It must, however, be a paradise for pigeons, paroquets, peacocks, Brahmin bulls, and more especially for monkeys; for, while the former have unbounded licence and indulgence, Stocqueler says that "in no part of the world are the latter more cherished and RESPECTED. Even princes consider it an honour to contribute to their comfort and support. The place absolutely swarms with them; and in riding through the narrow and crooked streets they may be everywhere seen, gambolling, stealing, pilfering, nursing their young, or engaged in those entomological researches to which these beauties are so much addicted. Every now and then you stumble on a young one, who shows his little teeth and grins with terror; or, perched in the corner of some temple, or on the wall of a banian's shop, you encounter some stolid old fellow, devoured apparently with chagrin and melancholy-who, however, no sooner catches a glimpse of the strange-looking topee-wallah (hat-man), than, arousing from his trance, he becomes endued with astonishing animation and fury, gnashing his teeth as you pass in a manner unequivocally hostile. The monkeys are usually of the common greyishgreen sort; nevertheless, the Hanuman, or great black-faced ape, which is a very fine creature, is common enough. The Hanuman is he who cuts so conspicuous a figure in the history of Hindoo superstitions; who is the hero of some of their tales, and is so frequently represented both by painting and sculpture in their temples. The Hanumans do not associate with the other monkeys; no doubt it would be infra dig. in monkeys of such high historical pretensions. In certain parts of the town are terraces a few feet high, and of a circular form, on which, at certain times of the day, the monkeys are fed. The Brahmin, or he whose duty it is to cater for them, after spreading out the grain makes a signal, and the tribe of

* Muttra is the centre of a sacred circle of 168 miles, called the Braj or Braj-Mandal (similar to the Panch-kosi at Benares, but much larger), the perambulation of which comprehends visits to five hills, eleven rocks, four lakes, eighty-four ponds, and twelve wells; all to be taken in fixed order.

satyrs, great and small, come trooping down from the trees and housetops, and are soon busily engaged." What a miserable travesty of religion, when its very priests are the servitors of these hideous creatures, these grinning and lascivious beasts!

Muttra was formerly one of our great Military Stations, as many as ten thousand men having before now been quartered there; and it is still a place of some consequence in this respect, though it does not retain the high position it held in Lord Lake's time. A fine fort, once occupied by Perron, the Mahratta Chief, and taken from him in 1804 by our people, still testifies to the importance of the post in old days. The fort contains one of the five stone Observatories erected by Jey Singh, by command of the Emperor Mohammed Shah, some of which we have already seen.

Near Muttra is Bindrabund, another ancient, dirty, and peculiarly sacred city, the reputed birthplace of Krishna, the Hindoo Apollo and Hercules, and a place of pilgrimage; it has numerous temples,† ancient and modern, and many sumptuous palaces built by native princes who resort to it; the very dust of the ground is said to give wisdom to those who chew it. Most of the human inhabitants are Brahmins ; but the monkeys are more numerous than the people! These creatures are to be seen everywhere about the city; but at Bindrabund, as at Muttra, seem to be divided into clans, each of which has a district of its own, to which its members confine themselves, none intruding on their neighbours. One monkey temple cost £1,000,000; the monkeys are said to be sacred to Krishna, and are regularly pensioned. Our officers sometimes give the Brahmins money to provide a feast for the tribe under their immediate protection. It is said that * " KRISHEN, who still in MUTTRA's holy fields Tunes harps immortal, and to strains divine Dances by moonlight with the GOPIA nine."

Hymn to Candeo (Translated by Sir William Jones). "These are clearly," says Sir William Jones, "the Apollo and Muses of the Greeks."

+ Bindrabund contains one of the most elegant and interesting temples in India. (See Fergusson's "Indian and Eastern Architecture.")

It was here that in 1808 two young officers from Muttra shot at and wounded one of the monkeys, when the infuriated Brahmins, attacking the elephant on which they were mounted, drove it into the river, and both were drowned.

the sight of the provisions attracts a large gathering; but that, though wistfully regarding the good things spread out before the lawful owners, those living across the border, aware that they have no right to partake, keep a respectful distance, and make no attempt to share. Bindrabund has also its sacred fish, and its holy peacocks, both of which are also fed by the Brahmins.

GOVERDHUN, another place* celebrated in ancient history as associated with Krishna and the scene of his dalliance with the milkmaids; † and Deeg, famous in war, are also near at hand, but-speed the way! The rain has fairly set in. It pours down in torrents that threaten a speedy deluge. The bearers groan louder and louder, and slacken their pace, and prate almost continually of bucksheesh. The road becomes flooded not a soul is to be seen.

* "The town stands upon a narrow ridge of stone hills, about ten miles long, rising suddenly out of the alluvial plain, and running north-east and south-west. This range of hills is believed by Hindoos to be part of a fragment of the Himalaya Mountains, which Hunnooman, the monkey general of Ram, the sixth incarnation of Vishnoo, was taking down to aid his master in the formation of his bridge from the continent to the island of Ceylon, when engaged in the war with the demon king of that island for the recovery of his wife Seeta. He made a false step by some accident in passing Goverdhun, and this small bit of his load fell off. The rocks begged either to be taken on to the god Ram, or back to their old place; but Hunnooman was hard pressed for time, and told them not to be uneasy, as they would have a comfortable resting-place, and be worshipped by millions in future ages,--thus, according to popular belief, foretelling that it would become a residence of a future incarnation and the scene of Krishna's miracles. The range was then about twenty miles long, ten having since disappeared under the ground. It was of full length during Krishna's days; and on one occasion he took up the whole upon his little finger, to defend his favourite town and its milkmaids from the wrath of Judar, who got angry with the people and poured down upon them a shower of burning ashes."-Sleeman.

† Goverdhun is also the burial or burning place of the Jat chiefs of Bhurtpore and Deeg, "by whose tombs, with their endowments, this once favourite abode of Krislina," says Colonel Sleeman, "is prevented from being entirely deserted."

A fortress of great note and importance, which had once been a royal dwelling, and was garrisoned by Holkar when besieged by Lord Lake. It may be remembered that Sergeant (subsequently Lieutenant) Shipp took part in the storm December 24th, 1804. His autobiography-" Memoirs of the Military Career of John Shipp"-was published in 1829, and republished in the "Adventure Series" of T. Fisher Unwin in 1890. From this book we find that he wrote another work,-" The Private Soldier," which, however, we have never seen, and of which no mention is made in Allibone; though two other works are stated to have been written by him, the "Military Bijou," and "The Eastern Story Teller."